New Baby Quilt

I just found out that another friend of mine is expecting a baby soon. So I've started on another baby blanket. Look closely, what do you see?

The IRS Thinks We Are Transients

I can't figure out where my tax home is let alone where I want it to be. According to one publication our tax home is not in Germany because we came here for work that is temporary in nature (i.e. at the onset we expected it to be completed in one year or less). It turns out that temporary or indefinite are all a state of mind. If you think that you are going to be in a foreign country for less than a year but you end up staying longer ... you're temporary until you realize that you are staying past the 12 month mark. If you think that you are going to be in a foreign country for more than a year but you end up returning to the U.S. before the year is up then you are indefinite (and your tax home is abroad) until you realize that you will be going back to the U.S. early (at which time you will be temporary). Your status actually changes. You can have a tax home in Germany for 8 months (thinking you will be there for 2 years) and then in the 9th month you find out that you will be leaving in month 11. For the last two months you now have a tax home in the U.S.

Okay ... by this publication we clearly have our tax home in the U.S. But we have no home in the U.S., nor do we do any business in the U.S. so according to another publication ... out tax home is NOT in the U.S. Where is it?

There is actually a formal definition of itinerant worker (the publication clarifies this means transient) but we don't quite meet that definition either.

Baths in Germany Have a Long Tradition

A few weeks ago, we went to Trier, a city established in the first century by the Romans after they conquered the Treveri. The picture above is of the ruins of the roman baths in Trier. This weekend, we went to the modern equivalent: Aqua Land

One area had about 20 different saunas plus 4 hot/cold tubs and various showers. My favorite (to view, not to use) was the cold shower that filled a bucket with a string which you then pulled to dump water over your head ... for those that like their cold shock the old fashioned way. As the pictures above show, there was also a series of interconnected swimming pools and hot tubs under a huge atrium. They had a couple of slides as well. There were grottos where you could lay on warm rocks or on sea salt. The sauna area is "textilefrei" but people wear swimming suits in the main pool area.

I was really nervous about going, but I don't know why. I have been to clothing optional hot springs (namely Harbin Hot Springs in California) but somehow not speaking the language and not knowing the protocol was really scary for me. It was better that we went with people who had been before and that could speak German and I was of course fine once we got there.

I tried a couple of saunas but I am just not a person who enjoys being hot. I definitely do not like to sweat. I do really like sitting in warm/hot water though. One of the hot tubs in the sauna area is filled with salt water. It is outdoors and only heated to about 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit (below body temperature anyway) so it was a bit cold ... maybe in the summer.

Hair Cut!

I woke up this morning and decided I wanted my hair lopped off. So my kind, brave husband, that CAN see in a straight line, cut it for me. I've never been particularly fond of going to the hair salon ... strange, I know. I'm really not good with idle chit chat but it always seems awkward to just sit there. I never really know what I want done with my hair and I always hate how it looks as I leave the salon. None of these make for an experience that I want to repeat very often. Every now and then (once a year or so) I decide that this is the time that is going to be like a make-over show. I will go into the salon and say "Make me beautiful" and out I will come, a swan with a glorious hair cut. The last time I did this, the stylist poked me in the eye with the scissors. (I mean literally, my contact lens came out of my eye.) Arlo thinks that as girly as I am, I should like going to a hair salon to primp (or whatever it is that girls do) every 6 weeks or so like other women. Maybe I'll become a grown up one of these days and become a regular at a salon. I'm sure that would help keep my expectations reasonable and probably give the stylist a fighting chance at helping me choose a style that I like.

Punk Sheep

Since sheep are grazing animals that tend to wander, ranchers need to mark the sheep in some way so that they can be differentiated easily (from a neighbors herd or even within their own herd). Thus the spraypainted blobs on the sheep. This one has a lot going on. You can see the blue behind her head and the pink on her butt. I seem to recall that she had a few other blotches as well that didn't show up well in the picture.

Some days I think it would be fun to have my own sheep for wool production (feed the habit) and I really want chickens. But then I think I must be crazy to want farm animals. Who am I and what did I do with the real me. I don't know ... the more I hear about self sufficiency and eating local produce and shopping from hand-made, home grown businesses the more it sets off my day dreams. I guess we'll just see where life takes me.

Pining for Pets

I have to say that I am a bit tired of my pet-free existence. I have to admit that I've been checking out the Indiana animal shelters looking for the next kitty in my life. I have also been reading the House Rabbit Society page and found this adorable guy. As a kid, I was allergic to bunnies but then I was allergic to cats too and I've never let that stop me.

Wherever we go we end up taking pictures of animals ... often people's pets. Since Arlo often has the camera when we're together we have photos of every stray cat that I meet and pet along the way. I already showed you the restaurant cat that we met in Utrecht. This is evidentially a thing in the Netherlands since we had a restaurant cat in Amsterdam as well.

By the way, you should take a closer look at the sign in the photo:

This was outside the restaurant that we ate lunch in Amsterdam.

Beaded Necklace

These beaded necklaces are my latest craft venture. I make them by knitting crochet thread on which I have strung beads. I love how it twists up so that you can see the two colors (one on the "front" and the other on the "back"). I can't seem to get a good photo that shows them off as much as I want to. I think this is partially due to our north facing windows and low winter sunlight. But I think I am also not using the right settings on my camera. I'll keep trying ... then maybe I can see if they will sell on Etsy.

Here is the first one I made:

Bike Riding

Or maybe I should title this post "Unflattering picture of happy, proud Kat."

At some point in my childhood, all my friends started riding bikes that had the seat level with the handlebars. I did not like how this felt and so stopped riding bikes altogether. I think I was about 12 years old. I tried once more when I was about 15 and visiting my Aunt and her family in Oregon. I actually started to cry I hated it so much.

I've noticed several people in the past few years riding bicycles that allowed them to sit upright. Hmmmm .... This is especially prevalent in the Netherlands (my friend says Dutch people are born riding bicycles). I've been thinking that I would like to try riding again ... upright.

While we were in Killarney, I wanted to go out to the Muckross house which is in the Killarney National Park. The house is about 5 km from town. This is, of course, walkable. But we had limited time (we needed to catch an afternoon bus back to Cork). I surprised Arlo by suggesting that maybe we could rent bicycles and ride out there.

I made the bike rental guy lower my seat ... he thought I was nuts. This wasn't optimal since the bike was not made to be ridden this way. My butt was too close to the pedals which put some strain on my knees. This made going uphill quite difficult as well. But I was nearly upright and so much happier. I didn't like riding in the street but I was comfortable on the dedicated bike lanes and once in the National Park where there were no cars.

We ended up riding about 17 km. I'm not sure my sit bones will ever recover. I loved that we could see so much more than if we were walking. For instance, it would have been quite a long day to walk out to this waterfall:

Perhaps when we get back to the States I can find a touring bike that is actually meant to be ridden upright.

Baby Blanket

Our friends Laura and Cam (back in Arizona) are having a baby this month. I usually make baby quilts for friends but since I didn't move my sewing machine across the Atlantic, I though I would knit a quilt. This is the Modern Baby blanket from Mason Dixon knitting.

I hope they like it. I'm getting it out in the mail this week.

Cork, Killarney, Ring of Kerry

Ireland must have had a much more mild winter than Germany. There were Daffodils EVERYWHERE!! Peeking through these is Blarney Castle (a bit outside of Cork ... in, of all places, Blarney). Arlo kissed the stone. I declined as I had done so once before (more years ago that I care to think about). Something about kissing this stone where lots and lots (kerjillions of lots) of people have place their lips gave me the heebie geebies last time. I asked Arlo about it and he agreed.

We spend the weekend in Killarney which is in county Kerry. We took a bus tour along the famous Ring of Kerry. I love the ocean.

Amsterdam

I've become fond of canal cities and the Nethelands in particular. I like that everyone speaks English and seems to be happy doing so. I thought I would feel a huge amount of guilt that I wasn't even trying to learn Dutch (Nederlands) but I rationalized that I couldn't try to learn two languages at once ... particularly not for one or two day trips here and there.

We were in Amsterdam last Wednesday because Arlo was invited to talk at University College Cork (in Ireland). Bear with me here, this does make sense. The university would pay for a direct flight into Cork on Aer Lingus. The two nearest options were Amsterdam or Berlin. We chose Amsterdam this time ... no particular reason.

Karneval

I think I jinxed us with my post about our beautiful weather. The sun never came out today. According to the weather website I check it should be like this tomorrow as well but then beautiful on the weekend.

It is a bit strange to talk about the weather on a blog post. But I find that once you actually have weather you end up talking about it. I suppose we shall have no end of conversation topics once we move to Indiana this summer.

The gray skies today made me think about the festivals that are held throughout the winter months, trying to warm us up and bring color into our lives. We just finished with Karneval, here in the Rheinland area of Germany. There were too many pictures to post on the blog so I am providing links to two Picassa web albums. I think you will be impressed with the amount of color involved in the 6 day festival.

Karneval starts in November (11/11 at 11:11) but other than a kick-off event, most of the Karneval events are held in private residences. It really starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. We were still in Utrecht at the time of the official start (11:11 of course) but we traveled back to Bonn that evening, changing trains in Köln. We were possibly the only people on the train not in costume.

On Sunday, the people of Bonn stormed the Rathaus (see photos here). After being turned away several times and returning with more and more soldiers, the prinzenpaar (royal couple) finally succeeded in winning the keys to the city until Wednesday when all would return to normal.

On Monday, we went to Köln to see the huge Rosenmontagzug (see photos of Monday's parade here). It was extremely cold and it rained off and on while we were there. We watched about 2 hours of the parade and then I asked someone how long the parade lasts ... 5 hours or so was the answer. Arlo and I decided that we were cold and hungry enough to be satisfied with what we had already seen. All through the parade, people throw things into the crowds. We came home with a large bag of candy, a small stuffed Karneval clown and several flowers. (No roses even though it was Rose Monday ... I got tulips and a carnation).

We've discussed Karneval at length in my language class. I learned that this is, historically speaking, a time when a person could say anything they wanted without fear of recrimination. This explains the predominance of politically motivated floats in the parade.

During my last language class, we had a debate as to whether Karnaval is good or bad. On the negative side, were arguments about the excessive alcohol consumption and the greediness of people when it came to gathering the throws from the parades (to the exclusion of looking out for children), the amount of trash that is on the streets during this time period and the extra workers needed to police the streets and man the hospitals, and the lack of meaning of the festival seeing it only as an excuse to exhibit behaviors that would be otherwise socially unacceptable.

I couldn't help but see this as a "Bah Humbug!" argument. There seems to be a similar argument regarding all of our winter holidays: Thanksgiving is just about food, Christmas is too commercialized, Valentines Day is a "Hallmark Holiday." I've been reflecting on this a lot and I think that we get out of any holiday or celebration what we put into it. I hear people talking about the commercialization of Christmas and, after having it explained to me, I can see what they are talking about. But somehow it doesn't affect me. I enjoy putting myself out there for people and I get a lot of reward. I saw the same in the German people at Karneval. These rather stoic and reserved people were friendly and outgoing to an outsider (me).

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, it is my first attempt at crochet and my first attempt at writing with embroidery. So it is a bit lopsided and the writing is a bit wobbly. But I am happy with it as a first attempt. Jennifer of Craft Sanity linked to this blog with the pattern. And it was Jennifer's idea to embroider the candy heart sayings. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day.

Beautiful Day

We have had the most amazingly beautiful weather for almost a week. This past Saturday we walked up to Kreuzberg where we had this gorgeous view of the city. The tall spire in the center of the photo is the Munster in the center of the pedestrian zone city center. We walked for about 3 and a half hours (there, around and back).

On our way up, we walked through a graveyard (beautiful old trees). Arlo added to his mathematical site collection with the gravestone of Felix Hausdorf.

Here is the church and proof of our gorgeously clear sky.

And this is the view of the penitent stairs. This portion of the church is only open on Easter Sunday when pilgrims go up the stairs on their knees, in prayer. You can see the ornately painted ceiling in this photo. This ceiling is throughout the entire church.