25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Yesterday, November 9th, marked an important date for us Germans. It was the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since I was born in East Berlin, I experienced first hand the collapse of the communist regime in 1989. The fall of the Wall did not only reunite East and West Germany as one country again but it also signaled the end of the cold war.

"The fall of the Berlin Wall showed us that dreams can come true - and that nothing has to stay the way it is, no matter how high the hurdles might seem to be, "said Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor since 2005. She added that its collapse offered hope to regions where “freedom and human rights are threatened or even trampled on.”

To mark this historic date, organizers put up 7,000 illuminated helium balloons perched on 3.6m (11.8 ft) high poles - matching the height of the barrier built in 1961 by East Germany- along the 15km (9 miles) long "death stripe" where the Wall once stood.  The artistic display of balloons dramatically illustrated how the Wall cut thru the entire city and past historic landmarks such as the Brandenburger Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Reichstag. More than 300,000 spectators came  to celebrate this event and watched when on Sunday night one balloon after another was released into the night sky. The timing of the release of the balloons roughly coincided with the historical moment, at 6:57 pm, when on November 9, 1989, then-East German Politburo member Günter Schabowski replied to a journalist’s question at a news conference to the effect that the Communist state was to open its borders immediately. His response prompted hoards of Berliners to flock to and breach border crossings as East German guards stood by.

The Berlin Wall had its origins in an attempt to stop people from fleeing East Berlin in search of political freedom and a chance for a better life in the West. Once an East German citizen made it into West Berlin he or she could apply for asylum, and many of those who defected were educated professionals, which caused a "brain drain." By 1961, the crisis became so acute that it prompted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, along with his East German allies, to order the Berlin Wall to be built as a means of stemming the tide. Thus, during the night hours of August 13th, 1961  the German Democratic Republic started putting up temporary barriers that completely cut off (by land)  West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. Over the next few days and weeks, the coils of barbed wire strung along the border to West Berlin were replaced by a wall of concrete slabs, hollow blocks and guard towers. From one day to the next, the Wall separated streets, squares, and neighborhoods from each other and severed public transportation links but worst of all, it separated entire families for more than 28 years.

Yesterdays celebrations also paid tribute to those who died trying to flee Communism for the West. At least 138 people were killed trying to escape  to West Berlin and many who were captured ended up in jail. Altogether, around a thousand people died attempting to cross the 856-mile border between the former West and East Germany. Today, there are several pieces of the Wall remaining and are used as an art gallery or for tourists to see.

East Side Gallery

In all fairness, I have to say that even though I was born in East Germany, I was only 8 years old when the Wall came down. I do remember the tumult, anxiety and excitement of the aftermath of the collapse and I can vividly recall our first walk thru the Wall openings a few days later to visit West Berlin. It for sure was one historic and memorable event (my little brother, 1.5 years old at that time, totally missed it because he slept in his stroller). Even though as East Germans we were deprived of many things such as  freedom of speech, opportunities, and bananas (and we had no idea what pineapples were either), my childhood was still great and memorable. My family made the most of what they had and lived their lives as normal as possible (we did had family members living in West Germany, who my parents were allowed to visit once in a while- no children were allowed to go to make sure that the parents will return to East Germany). 

References: Sun Sentinel, November 9th, 2014 edition.  
                    Huffington Post, November 10th, 2014 edition.
                    Online WSJ, November 9th, 2014 edition.
                    www.berlin.de/mauer

So Many Milestones this Week

During the past week a lot of  milestones had happened in our house. Out of nowhere, my baby boy stopped nursing last Sunday. This is the baby who nursed at least 4 times during the day and once or twice each night. And then, he suddenly stopped, which was exactly what his sister did at a young age of 5 months. However, Elliot never took the bottle though. But since we started introducing organic whole milk to him a few times before in a sippy cup, he now happily drinks his milk 3 times a day (morning, before nap and evening) from a cup, just like his big sister. I think he wants to be like her and copies her and that's why he stopped nursing. I was planning on weaning him by the end of November anyways, but this came quite sudden and unexpected and did make me a bit sad. My baby boy is no baby anymore.

At the same time, I noticed that he had another mental growth spurt this week and is acting so much more like a toddler now instead of a baby. He wants to be independent and doesn't like to be told what to do because then he has a mini-tantrum. He also started to fight back when Amelia takes things from him. There is for sure some sibling rivalry going on here and some jealousy too. Especially when I sit down to eat something, they both come right away and fight for the spot closest to me. So funny...they are both mooches.



Standing by himself and singing a song

And then two days ago he took his first few steps all by himself. Since a few days now, he is standing on his own and does a good job at it. But seeing him walk by himself was a big milestone. In only 3 short weeks, he went from not being interested in walking to taking his first steps by himself. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it on video yet, but hopefully soon I will. Until then, I just post a cute video of Elliot pushing his sister around in her car. Such a strong, little boy.



Yesterday afternoon, we had another first: his first haircut. It was definitely necessary as some strands grew already over his ears and his front needed trimming too. We decided to give him some snacks and do it outside. He sat still for the most part. Daddy thought his bangs should be very short so we kept cutting and cutting as he moved and it was uneven. In between, he looked very funny (aka dumb and dumber funny). I really had to laugh hard when I saw it.

During the haircutting, he looks like Dumb and Dumber..lol

Luckily, after finishing the job it doesn't look bad. A little short for my taste, but it will grow back quickly. For sure though, the haircut makes him look older. Afterwards: Styled like a rock star and then how he would normally wear it. 

Elliot is becoming more and more independent and it makes me proud but also sad. He is growing up way too fast. Sometimes I wish I could stop time and hold on to those precious moments of babyhood. But then I know that I should be happy and thankful for the good things in life, not sad and mournful. As bad as I want to shed some tears because this means he is growing up,  I'm fighting back the temptation and instead thank God for allowing us to reach these precious milestones. Like every mother, I try to savor every moment of my life with my baby before he is no longer dependent on me.

 

On another note: We had a pretty quiet weekend as we all were feeling a little sluggish. Somehow the kids are having a low grade fever, but no other symptoms. And because of that, Elliot felt a little down today. Yesterday, he felt fine and so we played in the backyard and rode our bikes outside. Elliot has been pushing his little princess sister around in her car, but then she returned the favor and pushed him on his bicycle. They are so sweet to each other (of course, not all the times but mostly).  The weather was nice too, not too hot and not too cold. Just perfect.

Today it's a different story: pretty much rain all day and a cool front arrived this afternoon, which means we can open our windows again. So, we just relaxed, watched some football and Amelia enjoyed doing Play-Doh. She loves Play-Doh but I'm not so fond of it as I usually find some pieces of it scattered around the living room.

We hope you all had a good weekend too. I pray that the kids feel their normal self tomorrow and that we can have a fun week. Until then, I enjoy cuddling with my baby boy as he seems to need me most when he is feeling sick (I'm still needed after all :)).

Becoming a U.S. Citizen

Today, on November 7, 2014 I became a U.S. citizen. I'm very happy and proud of it. However, it took a long time, lots of paperwork, money, patience  and the help of other people to become a citizen.

I have been in the U.S. for over 13 years now, and this country does not make it easy for someone to legally stay here and become a citizen. There are a lot of bumps (and even hills) in the way in order to get a U.S. passport. Now, you must know that it was never my intent  to become a U.S. citizen or even stay longer than a year when I came to the States in 2001, but God had a plan for me and I just followed along as I best as I could.

Between tons of paperwork and money, different visas, working permits and lots of help from friends and motivated bosses, I was finally able to apply for my citizenship this summer. And I have to say, that it didn't happen because I married a U.S. citizen. No, I wanted to achieve that on my own. And I was on my way there, when I married my loving husband and we were able to speed up the process of naturalization (process of becoming a U.S. citizen).

On the other hand, once I applied for the U.S. citizenship, I also had to apply for a certificate from the German authorities in order to keep my German citizenship. Unfortunately, Germany has the law that if you voluntarily (i.e not by birth) become a citizen of another country (except in the EU or Switzerland), you automatically forgo/ loose your German citizenship. I wasn't even aware of that law until I already applied for the U.S. citizenship. By coincidence I read about that law when I prepared the paperwork to apply for my kids' German passports (by birth they are dual citizens), and had to move fast to make sure that my certificate is approved before I become an American.  I  didn't just had to fill out some forms, but I also had to submit a write-up of why I needed to keep my German citizenship and why I needed the U.S. citizenship. It was quite cumbersome and a bit annoying as I am a German citizen by birth and I felt offended that I had to come up with several reasons why I wanted to keep my German citizenship. Luckily, all my paperwork was correct and I received my certificate a couple of weeks ago.

Once I qualified to apply for naturalization, there were 3 more steps. First, I had my biometrics appointment, where I was once again fingerprinted for analysis and my picture was taken (both is send to the FBI for record keeping).

Secondly, I received an appointment for my naturalization test, which was on Monday. This appointment consisted of an interview with an immigration officer and  an English and Civic Test. In order to be eligible for naturalization, one must be able to read, write and speak basic English and one must have a basic knowledge of U.S. history and government. There are 100 questions to study for but for the test you must answer 6 out of 10 correctly. These are not tough questions at all, more common knowledge and some are really easy. Here are some of the questions:

1) If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?   - Speaker of the House
2) What did the Declaration of Independence do? - Declared our independence from GB
3) How many justices are on the supreme court? - 9
4) What are 2 rights in the Declaration of Independence? -life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
5) How many amendments does the constitution have? - 27
6) What do we call the first 10 amendments to the constitution? - Bill of Rights
7)Who was the first president? - George Washington
8)When do we celebrate Independence Day? - July 4th
9)What did the Emancipation Proclamation do? - Freed the slaves
10) Name 3 original States. - New York, New Jersey, Georgia
For the reading part I had to read one simple question: When is Columbus Day?
And for the writing part, I had to write down: Columbus day is in October. As I said, not hard at all.
And lastly, once I was approved to become a citizen, I had to be sworn in. So today, I took the Oath of Allegiance and received my naturalization certificate. 

Amelia occupied herself by feeding her Sheep during the ceremony

At the ceremony, we were 150 people from 29 different countries (2 Germans but 63 Cubans) ready to become Americans. It is a formal event, and today was a special ceremony as they also held their Veterans Day Ceremony at the same time. Since Derrick had to work, it was just me and the kids. They did very well for the entire hour of speeches, video clips, national anthem, pledge of allegiance and the oath of allegiance. In the end, everyone received their naturalization certificate and is now a proud U.S. citizen. I must say, my eyes did get kind of watery during the song "Proud to be an American" and I can't believe how others must have felt that escaped their home country to be free.

I'm proud to call myself an American now. It sums up all those years of living in a country far away from home and my family and friends, all the tough times, struggles and tears that came with it but also the laughter, new friends and good things it brought me. But I'm also proud to be a German citizen (especially during soccer season) as I will always have my roots and my heritage there. I can say though that I found my life and liberty here and that we, as a family, are continuing in our pursuit of happiness.

Busy but Fun Weekend

We were really busy this weekend but we had fun enjoying all the different activities. And on top of it, we are having our first cold front of the season and it just feels so nice outside. Of course, Friday night we enjoyed trick-or treating and the kids went quite late to bed. But we still had to get up early on Saturday morning, as we were participating in a garage sale (my first one ever) at our friend's neighborhood. The past few weeks, we got stuff (mostly baby clothes, toys, bedding, glassware, etc.) ready to sell and let me tell you, we had a lot. It was a pretty successful garage sale and we ended up selling 2/3 of our stuff and made some good money. It was fun, even though a few people really tried to nickel-and dime me. And what does Santa do when he is not preparing for Christmas? He goes garage sale shopping. He was very nice and even took some pictures with our little ones.

After the garage sale we went home for a nap because in the afternoon we had plans to attend the annual St. Martin's festival (lantern fest) hosted by Amelia's preschool: the German School of Ft. Lauderdale. There was some delicious German food, friends to play and talk with and a nice walk around the park with our lanterns. It was quite chilly once the sun had set, which felt a little bit like being in Germany where St. Martin festivals are traditionally held on November 11.  

 

And today, we got up early again because of the time change. We gained an hour, but unfortunately the kids don't know that and were up at 6am instead of their usual 7am. It wasn't too bad though as I was invited to go horseback riding at 7:30am anyways. It was a beautiful, but definitely chilly morning in South Florida with temperatures of 53F degrees (11C). Luckily, the sun was out and the sky was cloudless and perfectly blue; just great weather to be on a horse.

And since we enjoyed the cooler temps so much, we spent pretty much all day outside. We went for a walk and in the afternoon we had snacks in the backyard, blew bubbles and played in the sandbox. Hopefully this cold spell sticks around for a while longer so that we can enjoy having our windows open and playing outside.

 

Halloween Celebrations

Fall is flying by and we have stayed pretty busy. Especially during the past week as we were  celebrating Halloween. The kids sure had lots of fun this Halloween. My little girl dressed up as a cat and my baby boy was an alligator/ dragon. Pretty much all week long, we did a Halloween related activity: from arts and crafts at home, to looking at decorated houses/ storefronts to baking Pumpkin cookies and having Halloween parties, we did it all.

On Wednesday afternoon,  we had a Halloween Party at the Park with our friends and their mommies. The kids showed off their costumes, painted some pumpkins and enjoyed a spooky spread of delicious foods.

After a month of being on vacation and not going to preschool, Amelia finally went back on Friday and was very happy about it. Especially since they did their Halloween Party that day. Every child dressed up and so did their teachers. They did a little parade, played games and enjoyed some special treats for lunch.  

And Friday evening, it was time for trick-or treating. Amelia (and even Elliot) were very excited and didn't nap that day. Of course, the extra sugar she had at school didn't help either. We were invited at a friend's house for a pizza party and other delicious treats before we all headed out for some trick-or treating. The weather was perfect as it cooled down some and the kids weren't too hot in their costumes (always a concern in sunny Florida). Amelia and her friend Noah happily knocked on every door, saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" and filled up their buckets quickly with candies.

We all had a great time, enjoying spending time with friends and seeing the kids being so excited in their costumes and having fun. A great Halloween indeed :)

The next morning, Amelia had to inspect her "treasures" and was excited to find a lollipop among all those candies. She is not interested in anything else and knows that she only gets one small piece of candy a day (pretty soon the candy bag will disappear and no one will ask). That way, we stay away from the dentist for a while.