A whirlwind trip through the past three months

Hi friends!  Sorry for my long delay in writing.  I was in the US for a month, followed by a week in Reykjavik, and then a busy few weeks getting back into the swing of things in Kassel.  Not great excuses, I know.

We've hit the mid-point of summer now, and in traditional German fashion, the weather is... total crap!  Remember a while back when I made fun of your snowpocalypse, and I gloated that the weather was finally nice?  Well, karma's a real jerk.  It's been cold and rainy for a while, and I don't see it getting much better.  Oh, there's beautiful weather in the states and you're all headed to the beach?  Of course.  Of. Course.

Anyway, onto the reminiscing!

In May, (which seems like years ago), before my flight home, Eduardo and I went to Italy for a few days to meet up with some of his friends from Chile who were touring Europe.  We visited Rome, Florence, Bologna and Venice, and even though I had been to most of those places before, it never gets old.  We had a wonderful week, and I really enjoyed spending time with some friendly Chileans.

Pictured: 5 friendly Chileans, and a gringa

 After an awesome week in Italy, Eduardo and I flew back to Germany, stayed up all night in the Frankfurt train station, and took an early morning train back to Kassel.  I unpacked from Italy, re-packed, and the next morning took a train back to Frankfurt for my flight to the US.  It was exhausting.  (I never said this was a good plan.)


Still, it was great to be going home for a spell.  Too short, naturlich, and there are many people I just didn't have time to see, but still great.  It was a whirlwind, from start to finish, but I'll try to share the highlights.

The first week started with some unpacking, a memorial service for a dear friend of my parents who had passed away, and a folk concert.  My Dad and I went to the Narrows, in Fall River, Massachusetts, which is an excellent venue, to see Chris Smither perform.  He's an acoustic guitarist/songwriter, and he's funny.  Oh, and talented.  SUPER talented. The venue was small and intimate, and I am looking forward to going back.  So for all my southern New England friends: check it out.

The first weekend, my parents and I went up to my sisters to attend her choral concert.  She's been singing with the Manchester Choral Society for years, and they consistently put on a good show.  The concert was great, and they sang in German!  I understood nothing, of course.  We spent the night in New Hampshire, and on Sunday morning I went with Chrystena to her masters swim practice.  As you may recall, I've been swimming a lot in Kassel, and I wanted to swim whenever possible while I was in the US.  Chrys told me I could come, but she warned me that this is a practice, and I would have to swim the whole thing.  I was afraid of collapsing, but I went anyway.  I was in the slow lane, which was actually a good pace for me, and I swam the whole thing!  I wanted to die afterwards, but whatever.  I was proud, and Chrys said that maybe they can make a swimmer out of me.

We came home from New Hampshire and went straight out to Martha's Vineyard.  I haven't been there since last October, but I haven't been there in the summertime since 2009.  I desperately needed a fix.  The weather was wonderful, the company was great, and I was completely happy.

Maisie, doing her typical "running in circles" routine. 

Maisie, exhausted after running in circles, in her chair on the porch.

The Ewens hard at work. 

The following week, Jess and Vinnie came up with baby Hannah 2.0, and "big" Hannah 1.0 came down from New Hampshire.  2.0 is a super sweet baby, and has impressive pipes for a 9 month old.  She wanted to show off her yelling skills for Aunt Amy and Mama Sue, and we were impressed.

In all seriousness, she's a wonderful and smart little girl, and I loved spending the weekend with her.  We just happened to catch her at this unhappy moment.  Hee hee.

We were truly impressed with her "standing up" skills.

I can stand, but I want to be near Mom.

Hannah made friends with Maisie

Pee-yew

Mama Sue showed her the porch

And the wind chimes

I'm good at baths

Hannah 1.0 and Hannah 2.0 learning Spanish.
Arriba!  Avajo...

I'm cool dad.  I'll just eat this maraca. 

We had a wonderful weekend talking, taking walks, eating burgers and drinking beer.  We visited a pub in Providence that I have been wanting to try for a while, called the Olde English Ale Cellar, near Thayer Sstreet, and it was awful.  Just awful.  It has so much potential- the beer list is extensive and impressive, the decor is authentic old timey England, but they managed to ruin it by playing house music and having $1 Bud Lights.  So the crowd is drunk Brown University students who are passed out in front of the bathroom and the music is so loud you can't hear yourself think.  Maybe I'm getting old, but that is NOT my idea of a good time.

Anyway, apart from the disappointing beer hall experience, we had some delicious cupcakes from the Duck & Bunny on Wickenden Street.  The occasion was Hannah 2.0's 9 month birthday, and even though we put her to bed before we ate them all, I think she appreciated it.  We also stumbled onto the Providence Art Festival downtown, which was an excellent surprise.  I haven't been to the Festival in years, and it's gotten better with time.  I genuinely enjoy Providence, and I wouldn't be opposed to living there in the future.  Just improve your beer halls, OK?

After Jess, Vinnie and the Hannah's left, I went up to Boston for a baby shower for my friends Tez and Adam.  I hadn't seen a lot of Boston friends in a long while, and it was great to catch up.  And to see the proud almost-parents of course.  Tez should be close to having her little girl, if she hasn't already, and I couldn't be happier for them.  They're going to be excellent parents, and their dog, LB, will be a very good babysitter (as long as he doesn't drool on the baby too much).

I had a few days of downtime and then I flew out to California to see my friends Jenna and Dave who had just had twins!  Jenna is one of the most capable people I know, so she already had a good system in place, but new babies are a challenge, and two of them is insane.  I tried to help as much as I could, which mostly involved cuddling with the newborns, Ingrid and Theodore.

Snuggle babies.

 Fortunately for everyone, Dave's mom, Kathy, was visiting as well, and she's an old pro at the baby thing.  She was clearly a huge help to Jenna, and I only hope that I was a bit of a help as well.  I didn't explore much of Oakland (apart from trips to the local swimming pool and a maternity store) but I have been there before and I will be there again.  The point of my visit was to see the new Musselman-Yotts and to help the older Musselman-Yotts as much as possible.  Oh, and to deliver a present that I am super proud of:

Baby dirndl and baby lederhosen

I got a cold towards the end of my stay, which limited my helpfulness with babies, but I could still vacuum.  Unfortunately, the 7 hour flight back to Providence was awful, and my cold got much, much worse.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but I had to pack up everything in the next day or two, wrap up all loose ends in Providence, and go out to Martha's Vineyard.  I know, I'm making it sound so awful, and going out to the Vineyard is a treat, not a chore, but I had a lot to think about because I wasn't coming back to Providence.  I left directly from the boat to the airport, to fly to Reykjavik and then finally to Germany.  I had to think strategically with my packing and make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, while being strung out on cold medicine.  It was a challenge.

Ending my US-month on the Vineyard was great.  It was my Dad's 70th birthday, and my Mom and I were bustling around like worker bees trying to prepare.  Well, she bustled, and I got myself stuck in a parking lot in the next town and had to be rescued.  It's an embarrassing story and I won't get into it, but let's just say that a key for a Honda CRV looks a lot like a key for a Honda Element, but that doesn't mean it will work in the ignition of said Element.  oops.

The party was a success, and it was wonderful to see so many people there.  It was a joint party for Dad and our good friend Bob who was turning 65, so it was quite the party.

Delicious.

The Birthday Boys

Of course, it was also bittersweet, because I left the next morning at 9:30 to fly back to Europe.  I was looking forward to it, and it's always nice to come back to my European home, but it's always hard to leave my US home.  The trouble is that I feel at home in both places, and there are people and places and things that tug at my heart in both places.  I struggle with this "split-soul" feeling, as my friend Amanda calls it, and every time I get on an airplane I'm simultaneously happy and sad.  This is the life I've chosen, and I wouldn't change it, so this will be something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life, no matter where I end up living.  I will always have family and friends and memories in other countries, and I'll always feel a tug of sadness when I leave.

Please don't go.

Well then, enough melancholy reflection.  I was lucky to be able to visit Reykjavik, Iceland for a week for a training workshop and the CHER conference.  I arrived at midnight, and met my colleagues who were coming from Europe.  I was afraid that we would be confused and lost at midnight, but a few things worked in our favor:  1) we were a large group, traveling together, 2) there were clear signs and buses to take to get to the city, and 3) it was still daylight.  In summer, the sun never fully sets way up there in Iceland, so you don't have to worry about wandering around in the dark.  On the other hand, you don't have to worry about getting tired either, because your internal sleepiness monitor gets whacked out by all the light.  It took a lot of adjustment, and I'm not sure I ever fully got into a rhythm.

The workshop was a huge success, and I was really energized about the topic.  It helped that we had such an excellent group and excellent presenters.  We also had some pretty good food, and a lot of conversation and Icelandic beer.  We talk a walk one evening right before midnight to watch the sun "set", (although it was never fully gone) and I took 400 pictures.  Here are just a few:

These flowers are arctic lupine.  They were everywhere.

A few minutes later, the sun was on its way back up. 

The CHER conference started on Wednesday and went through the weekend, and it was really interesting.  It was a smaller conference, and more intimate than others I've been to, but the topics were also more interesting.  Additionally, I think I'm starting to feel more like a researcher, because I asked a lot of questions and I thought more theoretically than I have in the past.  At least, that's what my boss says.

In addition to nerdy higher education stuff, I took advantage of some of Iceland's natural wonders.  Namely, the Blue Lagoon Thermal Spa and a whale watching trip.  Neither disappointed.  The Blue Lagoon was relaxing and fun and regenerative, and the whale watching was exciting.  If you ever find yourself in Iceland, I highly recommend giving these two things a try.  Plus, there are buses that go straight from the airport to the Blue Lagoon.  You can't lose!

Seagull feeding frenzy

Minke whales breaking up the feeding frenzy

As close up to a puffin as my camera could capture

Relaxing in the Blue Lagoon with a smoothie

 I left Reykjavik at the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM (although the constant daylight helped a lot!) and flew back to Frankfurt.  I was tired, exhausted actually, but looking forward to getting home.  As an added bonus, my good friend Missy was on her way.  She had been on vacation with her family in Portugal, and she flew to Germany to spend a few days with me.  It worked out that we could easily meet in the airport and take the train back to Kassel together.  We arrived around supper time, so naturally we took her right to a beer garden.  She wanted to try delicious German bratwurst, but unfortunately we didn't find any.  The beer garden at Fiasko is excellent, but the wurst is the worst.  (Get it?  Wurst?  Ahh, shut up.)


The next day we went to Hann-Münden, a small town near Kassel where I bring most of my visitors.  Hann-Münden is full of old houses from the second century, and hasn't changed much.  It's a nice place to visit from Kassel, because as I've said before, Kassel is not full of cute Fachwerk houses and Hansel and Gretel streets.  It was destroyed during the war, so in order to see cute German towns, you have to go elsewhere.  After a few hours in the tiny town, we got bored and came back to the big city.  Then we went to another beer garden.  (I think there are enough beer gardens in Kassel to go to a new one every night of the summer.)

Beer along the Fulda River

 On Wednesday we went sailing with Eduardo and our friend Dominik, which was incredibly fun.  We had some wind, although not too much, which allowed us to putt around the lake, and jump in for some swimming.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being out on the water.  Beautiful, until the thunder clouds rolled in.  We made it back to the dock just as the sky opened up and a downpour began.  We had to take down the sails and stow everything while the rain drenched everything.  Surprisingly, it was one of the most fun parts of the day.

We look GOOD. 

Always bring beer when sailing

Trying to get back in the boat

On Thursday Missy came to the university for lunch with my friends, and she got to experience the magic of the Mensa.  I've gotten used to the food there, and sometimes it's pretty good, but for a visitor, it can be, well, interesting.  I give Missy a lot of credit for keeping her thoughts to herself!

She had to leave on Thursday night since her flight was so early on Saturday.  I was really bummed to say goodbye, because it was so nice to have some days with just the two of us.  I didn't see her that much while I was in the US, and I miss having time to talk and just hang out.  Odd that we had to come all the way to Germany to do that, but it was awesome anyway.

It's also a shame that she had to leave on Thursday because Friday was a beer garden tour to celebrate two of my classmates, Ania and Natalia, submitting their theses.  I'm incredibly happy for them, but also having a small crisis about my own thesis.  Still, Friday was about them.  We went to four beer gardens, all of them new to me, and we enjoyed ourselves every step of the way.  There are many pictures of the night, but they look like every other picture of morons in their fourth beer garden, so instead I'll just share my favorite.

With my accomplished friend Ania

After such an eventful couple of weeks, I was sort of relieved to settle back into a routine of working all day and reading all night.  I'm doing really well with thinking about my thesis, but there is so much information, and I'm reading so many different articles and journals and books and websites that I'm overwhelmed.  I need to try to narrow down my topic and figure out my research questions, but it's very difficult.  I'm still on track though, I'm just starting to panic.

I will try to update more as exciting things happen, but since I'm living in a cave of books and articles, this may not be often.  But I can promise at least one more exciting post because next week my good friend Aimee is coming to visit, and Ania's bachelorette party is coming up too.  Of course, after the bachelorette party comes the wedding in Poland, and that is sure to be an adventure.  After these events, I will probably fall off the digital face of the earth for a while, so you'll have to forgive me.  But until then, enjoy your weekend!