Strolling through an empty Shanghai

Today I want to share some pictures with you of our first stroll through the French Concession  - the area we are living in.

It was about time to try out our brand new - and ridiculous expensive- stroller.
In case you happen to know the world of push chairs: We bought a bugaboo - and we did not buy it because of the celebrity world is pushing their babies round in them - no we bought it because the choice here in Shanghai is extremly limited and is the only one suitable for quick action when you have to jump into a cab.

Of coarse the shops know of this and ask for a cheeky mark up of - hold on tight - 500 EUR!!compared to the price in Germany.

At which point we want to say THANKS to Nan and Granddad Lincoln!! who gave it to us as very generous present!!

As expected, Hannah beeing already a little traveller before she was born - enjoys the rides.
And Paul and I almost have to toss a coin to decide who is allowed to push it :-)

So here are some impressions of our first walk:

 

In front of our house:

someone is comfortable:

 

 

In our road: Gao an Lu

(see how empty it is!!)

 

 

 

 

round the corner in Xujahui Park on our way to the Grand Gateway shopping mall:

When we hit the mall we freaked out for a moment: It was sooo crowded with people.

But Hannah could not have cared less and found all the noise probably soothing

 

 

In the neighbourhood:

 

I have to explain to you what you can actually see in this picture:

I´m standing in front of one of those typical street shops in Yongjia Road, round the corner.
The red packages on the left are Chinese fire crackers
The laudry over my head was probably worn for Chinese New year. I was told that
red underwear worn on Chinese new year is supposed to bring you luck..

And the shop owner (yes, wearing arm warmers!) is taking a good look at our Baby. This is what happens to all foreigners with children here. Our babies are sensations and the Chinese are really curious to look at them.

Anyway: Our Bugaboo turns out to be a great buy and is nice and easy to manover around the city. And once Paul has installed the coffe cup holder  I look forward to exploring the French Concession in much more detail with Hannah and my camera on board!

Hannah´s first Chinese new year

China is currently celebrating "Chinese" New Year. It is already the thrid time we are here to experience this. Can you believe it? This time it is the the year of the snake. Like every year this means that  about 1,3 Billion people (and us) are enjoying a week of holiday at the same time.

I watched a docmentary a little while ago where I learnt that this holiday leads year by year to the largest "pilgrimage" on earth. Most migrants are leaving the cities in order to return home to their families. Many of them who only each other see once a year.

Our ayi (cleaner) is one of them. She comes from the next province Anhui, works in Shanghai all year long and once a year for this festival she returns home to see her son who is meanwhile living with her parents. Leaving a child for a year sounds for us westerners hard to believe. But for many people here in this is normal. The parents in the country side often have to leave their children in order to earn money. They have  hope that in future they can live a better life and get a good education.

So with so many people leaving Shanghai the city has taken on a almost village like atmosphere. No huge crowds walking around (at least not back here where we live), no traffic jams, no long waiting for taxis. It would almost be tranquil - it´s brilliant... if it would not be for the fireworks!

I wrote about this already a bit last year when we celebrated Chinese new year from a safe distance in the 17th floor at our friends place.

This year it was just going to be  the three of us at home. Home which is located on the 2nd floor right downtown - right in the meltin pot. We were quite interessted to find out how mad it would be around us and I was a little concerned about how little Hannah would take it. We knew it was that it was going to be LOUD!..I mean not just LOUD - I mean LOUD LOUD!!!..- which according to chinese culture necessary to  scare all evil spirits away.

They are actually celebrating with two nights of fireworks. The first one was the "kick off" going off  last sunday. It symbolises the beginning of the Chinese New years week (Chinese Spring festival). 4 days later (last night) there is follow up fireworks to honour the god of wealth. Those bangers are usually even louder and longer... sure can´t honour god of wealth enough by blasting millions of cash into the air..

Long I had mentally prepared myself for the worst case scenario with Hannah. That she would be frightened and scared by the bangs going off around her. I thought for a second using Pauls noise cancelling head phones. But they  were not an option - maybe for hiding behind.. way too large for this tiny head :-)

However it turned out that all my worries were for nothing. I had expected anything but not how the evening turned out to be. 10 minutes before midnight Hannah was laying in her cot, seeming really excited.

See for yourself what happend 10 minutes later:

Fireworks - as seen from our kitchen:

Hannah´s first Chinese New year:

Xin nian kuaile!

Happy New Year!!

The arrival of our "Dragon" Girl

Today the Chinese year of the Dragon is coming to an end. In a few hours Shanghai will turn into a "war zone" like city with fireworks (REAL Chinese crackers!!) going off all over the place in order to welcome the year of the "Snake".

If you are born as a Dragon in China you happen to carry the best of all star signs and are considered blessed with luck and fortune for the rest of your life. I read somewhere that alone in Shanghai it is estimated that an additional 40.000 babies were born this year, just to ensure to get this star sign.

Out of luck our little Hannah turns out to be one  of those 40.000. And before the year ends I thought we share with you briefly how Hannahs arrival was for us.

Well, in a nutshell: It was beautiful!

Everything turned out - almost like - planned. Just a little faster than expected. Hannah was born on a Wednesday night. Only the Saturday before we had been to see the doctors who assured us that if anything our baby would arrive a few days later than the expected due date which was originally 26.01.213.

Based on that information I felt quite relaxed about that our babies arrival and was looking forward to another 2 weeks of relaxing and pampering myself.

On Wednesday, 16th of January I woke up and felt good. I made my shopping list for the day when I noticed some pain which grew a bit stronger..I was pretty sure that these were practise contractions and didn´t pay it much attention.

Over the hours they became a bit stronger so I decided to skip shopping and to watch a DVD instead.
By 3 in the afternoon I found myself watching the film and moving between the sofa with my hot water bottle and my birthing ball, too ease the pain.

Just out of  interesst I thought I could try and see if I could time these "contractions"..It seemed like they were coming every 5 minutes - but I was pretty sure that I meassured it wrong this was a false alarm  But just in case  I gave Paul a call to tell him that I was not feeling too great and that I had asked Lisa, our midwife, to come and have a look later.

5pm and I found myself not beeing able to stand up straight any more. All I could do was walking around the appartment...For the first time the thought occured that MAYBE this could be the real thing??

5:30 Lisa arrived and checked me. The answer:  This is real - Your little girl is on it´s way!
My reaction: WHAT?????? .. Can´t be!!! She is not supposed to come for another 2 weeks!! I still need to practise hypnobirthing!!

6pm Paul arrived home from work, having to cancel his team building event. Having heard the news he managed to stay all calm, packing the hospital bag together.
As it was rushour in Shanghai I decided to take a bath next to relax me..The pain got worse, which is an indication that you are REALLY in labour.

7pm - ok, maybe time now to go to hospital. We got in a cab and on a different level of conciousness I thought: This is hillarious, like a film scene: Me laying half accross the back of a cab in Shanghai, groaning with each surge, leaning onto Paul, holding onto  my belly..
You would have thought that the taxi driver was putting the foot down..no!.. we had the slowest driver on Shanghai in front of us, impossible to overtake.

30 Minutes later we arrived at the hospital, where I was let into the birthing suite and got checked.. All good.. baby definately on the way. My Doctor was not on duty but I heard that MK, the midwife was still around. I asked if MK could come and see me because I knew I could trust her to execute my birthing plan. My birthing plan had foreseen all sorts of stuff: yoga, watching DVD´s, listening to my hypnobirthing CD, mediate with the baby..

Well, no time for any of that left! MK arrived at 9pm and I went into the Jacuzzy to relax. We turned off the light, lit some candles and listened to some musik.I lost the feeling for time eventually but felt all looked after by Paul and MK and knew it would all be ok.

Eventually MK asked me to come out to check the baby and me ..I heard her saying: OK, not long now we are getting very close. My subconcious response was: Oh my god! Already?? I´m going to be a mum in a minute!!..Is this serious??

At 23:45 time seemed to come to a stand still and little Hannah slipped gently into this world. 
It was a celebration of life. No words can describe it.

But what we can share with you are some impressions on what happened after that -
The first 3 days of with "Shanghai Dragon Baby"

Hooray we are family:

 

with MK...

 

So tiny...

 

everything is still too big!

 

afternoon snooze...

 

 Mommy recovering fast:

Best hospital food ever!!.. amazing a´la carte menue.. well if you pay 8.000 EUR for

this kind of "holiday" you can expect decent food :-).

Good that we have insurance!

After 3 days: Ready for the first journey!!

And guess what: She likes Shanghai Taxi´s! -. even the speedy ones!!

 

 

 

 

Family Lincoln is checking out...

 

MK told us that that night they had another 5 deliveries which for a private hospital like this one is a lot! It makes me wonder how many they have today, with the last chance to bring a little dragon into this world.

I can not believe that it has been over 3 weeks that Hannah has joined us. She is developing beautifully and like a little hungry caterpillar she is feeding well, making up for her original low weight.

Let´s hope she sleeps like a baby on today new years night! :-)

Welcome, little Hannah!

This post doesn´t need many words..

we just want to share the sheer happiness we feel about the arrival of our little daughter

Hannah

January 13th, 23:45 

Beautiful 2770gramm spread over 51cm

Chinese star sign: Dragon

It was the most beautiful experience bringing her into this world.

And every moment since last Wednesday seems like magic..

 There is so much more to tell you. But for now we are all going to take a rest for some time so that we are ready to face all these new adventures out there...

Thanks life for bringing this little wonder to us!

PS: Mommy is mega excited: My own super model living with us in our bedroom!!

PSS: Paul should be given an Oscar for turing over night into super dad

P.S.S: Hannah doesn´t mind Shanghai crazy Taxi driving :-)

Xīnnián kuàilè - Happy new Year!!

We hope everyone had a good start into the new year and made  a smooth and happy transition  to 2013. We slipped fairly quiet into 2013 in our warm apartment in Shanghai and got to enjoy some fireworks from our living room. But overall the city was very quiet. The big party is still to come in February - when China celebrates  it´s of new year - this time the one of the Snake (also my Chinese Birthyear!).

Shanghai is experiencing it´s coldest winter for over 20 years. We even got to experience snow fall for a few days. It therefore was a nice surprise that  the new year started with a lovley sunny day which we decided to enjoy with a nice stroll in Century Park.

It is the larget Park in Shanghai and is located on the other side of the river in Pudong. Over the past 2 years it has somewhat become our the closest "countryside -get away" - even though you are still right in the center of Shanghai :-)...but you get to enjoy a  bit more space around you and a view reaching further than the other side of a road.

Here are some impressions of this nice day:

At the entrance of Century Park - near the Science and Technology Museum

Shanghai is currently building it´s own Disney World.
We assume that´s the reason for the Mickey Mouse shaped gates..

A winter classic: 

Cabbages used as  flower decoration:

Excitement: 

Sheets of ice in the little streams!!

The lake inside  Century Park:

A wonderful day to enjoy the sun...

With about 10 degrees, it was warm enough to enjoy the first picnic of the year,

so many had their tents pitched on the green:

Next time we come here it will be the three of us :-)

Our Shanghai Christmas...what a year!

 

When I opened the curtains in our bedroom this morning I found myself gazing in astonishment at white roof tops in  the garden and snow  covering the trees in Gao An Lu.

As I stood there I got this wonderful seasonal feeling that you only get in the days just before a year is coming to an end.
I looked back in my mind and thought: Wow, 2012 is soon over - our 2nd year in Shanghai is completed - what a year has it been!! - One of the most amazing ones in our lifes.

Alone if we look back at our  travelling adventures:
Starting with a my month long yoga experience in India, our joint paradise get away in the Philipines in May  and a couple of months later  a wonderful long summer holiday back in Europe. And last not least our dream of seeing the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia coming true in October.

Sure it was not all about holidays :-)
2012 has also been a challenging, but very sucessfull business year for Paul. I could not be more proud of him. Not does he just do his job very well, he really feels fulfilled and enjoys it. Since we live in Shanghai I have met very few people who take on the challenge of working in a Chinese enviroment as well as he does.

As for myself: I  continued learning Chinese, developed my new webpage and started getting first (and very positive experience) for my own future business: "Angelika Lincoln Photography" (www.AngelikaLincolnPhotography.com)

This year we were also again able to welcome various friends and family  who made all the effort to come and see us. And for the ones who did not come: We experienced once again that despite the distance to home we are supported and loved by our friends and family back home.

After 2 years in China we don´t take this for granted and we could not be more thankful for everyone making us still feel part of a their lifes.

Lat not least: The biggest "award" in 2012 goes to life itself which surprised us in May with the news that we are going to have a baby. We could not be more grateful for this little wonder. The pregancy has been the most amazing journey - only 4 more weeks to go!

And therefore it happens that this holiday season  Paul and I stay in Shanghai. Despite Christmas not beeing an official holiday in China, Paul took 2 weeks off. Together  we are enjoying a wonderful cosy time in our appartment in Gao An Lu. We are forgetting a little about time and the hustling and bustling world around us whilst we are enjoying the wonders of this little life inside of me.

Whatever 2013 will bring for us - one thing is for sure - it will be a year with probably the biggest adventure since we have been together. We are ready to take it on and are looking forward to it with excitement and  joy.

And so we are closing the blog for 2012. But not without sharing with you a bunch of impressions of "Shanghai Xmas feeling" - and a few pictures from our very own little Christmas in Gao An Lu..

We hope and wish that all and each of you start the new year healthy and with joy and happiness.

 

May all your wishes come true!!

With Love

AnGelika,  Paul and soon a  little one...

Impressions from Shanghai Xmas Market:

 

Organized by the German Consulate as tourist attraction for the locals,

 

Look "Bratwurst"!!! "Glühwein" was also sold..

The sausage was not too bad at all!

and in case you wonder:

Yes, we did see people eating Bratwurst with Chopsticks!

 

 

Santa hats were handed out at the entrance gate...

Our little Shanghai Xmas:

 

Home, sweet home..

 

Traditional Raclett on Xmas Eve

(costing a fortune because of the cheese!!)

 

 

 

Paul preparing traditional English XmasDinner

Instead of a Turkey a chicken had to do.. Chinese style...

 

Yummy result..was sooo nice!!

 

 

 

This morning - snow in Shanghai!!

 a very rare phenomenon!

 

 

See you soon with new adventures in 2013!!

 

Today I ran into Santa Claus

It may be hard to imagine but Shanghai is in Christmasfever. The decorations are up in many shopping malls, the super markets blast "Jingle Bells" and "Last Christmas" from their speakers -
and even Santa Claus is coming to town.

Today I had the honour to meet him in person as I walked along Taikan Lu. He happened to over sudden stand there right in front of me and asked if I would mind taking a picture with him

With his reindeers beeing too scared of Shanghai traffic he had arrived in a car London Cab sponsored by Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts. However his golden sack did include a few goodies well worth me posing for this little promotion :-)

I could not quite figure out what character his buddy was supposed to play (who shared with me that he was Spanish and had no clue how that costume was supposed to match the theme, either)....

But I had a little word with Santa when we finished and advised him to work a bit harder on his belly.
So far he can certainly not compete with mine, yet!!!

The adventures of pregnancy in China

 

 

Slowly the year is coming to an end and my football sized belly is blossoming in it´s full 9 month gloom. I have not had a chance to write much about the whole pregancy experience so far. 

But you shall know that we have been enjyoing a wonderful time  until now. Everything is going well and smooth (touch wood!). We are in the hands of very good doctors, we feel safe and understood and are looking forward to receiving our little one here in Shanghai end of January.

Still,  living over here makes the whole experience extra special. Therefore I want to share some of what we  have learnt in the past months and  the little challenges we have here in Shanghai with you.

Today I want to tell you about some differences in western and chinese cultures when it comes to starting a family:
 

"Hooray we are pregnant!!" so:

When do you tell your family and friends?

In the West most couples wait until they have reached the save 12 week period. When I told this to my chinese teacher Vicky she just laughed in disbelief. Than she explained to me that in China  you start telling your family long before you actually try for a child because the family planning is often timed with the retirement of the grand parents. They will be the ones who will eventually take care of the baby because the parents both have to go back to work. There is no such luxury as parenting time like we have in Germany.

How many children can you have?

The one child policy in China is very well known around the world. The truth is slightly different. China has noticed that long term this will cause a problem because there will not be enough people to support the "multi siblings"-generations from the past.  Therefore if you live in the country side you can have more than one child without problems. If you are a Shanghai Citizen than the one child policy applies  – unless – you pay 70.000 RMB to the government, than you can have another one.

...and if you have twins?

than you are just lucky. Foreigners are of coarse excluded from the one child policy. My friend Suzenne is a family of 5. Can you imagine the looks she sometimes gets when they are all going out to play in the park?

Getting ready for Pregancy:
 

Paul learnt by his colleagues that Chinese men prepare themselfes for about 1 year before trying for a baby. It requires the father to be to stay off alcohol and various foods (don´t ask me what exactly). In order to be able to still attend official dinners (which usually involves loads of drinking) it is actually officially told to colleagues at work if a men is in this preparation period and this is than respected by everyone. I don´t want to know what they thought of Paul who did not follow a special diet, functioned during those "meetings" as ususal and over sudden coming out annoucing he is going to be a father??

 

Do´s and Dont´s for the mother to be:

 

Make up – Chinese women are not supposed to wear make up, colour their hair or fingernails.  Actually something discussed in the west, too. But here in China you really want think this trough. Only a couple of  months ago I read about a case of facial products which contained mercury causing serious health issues.You just never know what´s inside the bottles you buy here! One reason why I stricktly stick to importing all my drugstore items over from Europe.

Keeping Fit: Sports for a pregnant woman is a "no-no" here in China. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) the mother to be´s are supposed to rest and take it easy. As soon as the belly is starting to show you see many here wearing huge baggy aprons walking super slow. I think if I wouldn´t stick to my yoga practise I would also feel like a wobbling wine barrel by now (Actually despite yoga I probably very soon will reach this stage..)

 

"Happy" Birth day:
Giving birth (in a traditional Chinese Hospital) is mostly a caculated event.

The c-section rate (cecsarian/Kaiserschnitt) in China is well over 60%. The reason for this is not a fashionable but logic one: Chinese hospitals just don´t have the medical staff or facilities to support a natural labour that lasts hours and hours. The women also don´t get as well prepared by their doctors during pregnancy. A cecarian is an easy solution to overcome this problem. It  just takes half an hour and can be planned in well for everyone.
And let´s be honest: If you can make money with 10 C-sections in one day, why worry about one labor in the same time ???
 

How much does it cost?

Well that depends on if choose to deliver in a Chinese or International hospital (where natural birth is encouraged and fully supported). But to give you an idea what a cecarian for example costs: Chinese hopsital: ~10.000 RMB, International ~90.000 RMB ( including prenatal check ups). We are are very glad to have a good private health insurance that provides us best coverage in a very good international hospital. We don´t have to miss out on anything we would get back home.
 

Stay in bed!

For the time after birthing I learnt that Chinese women really stick to their 4 week rest in bed. The family gets together and helps mother and baby recovering from birth. Nor mother or baby are supposed to leave the house in this time.
This I can somehow understand and if I´m honest: The thought of staying in a cosy warm bed, whilst it is freezing outside in February is a very nice one.

But what makes this a bit of a tough time is that if you do the REAL thing then the mother is also  not allowed to shower or bath! This is a rule that follows an old TCM advise, probably going back to the times when water was provided only cold and not clean. Cold water can make the mothers bones (which lack calcium after birth) go brittle, dirty water can cause infections in the body parts which were opened. ..makes sense somehow.. just not sure if it is still necessary to apply these days? Now this part I will definately skip!

There are a LOT more differences I could tell you about. In a way it is fun to sit in the middle and to be able to learn from both sides.Why should West know always everything best?

I believe all cultures have established their guidelines based on their experience and different backgrounds. I try not to judge and get confused but to take the helpfull elements and apply them when it feels right.

And anyway-  if you listen carefully you can hear this little life inside you that tells you from deep within what is right or wrong for it :-)

 

and right now it is telling me to get up my chair,  lift up my legs and to take a rest..:-)

 

So much going on!!

It has been a little quiet in the blog and you may wonder why. It is not because life has become boring over here.. no the opposite is the case! There is soo much going on! Since I got back from Germany I had at least 10 different topics in my head I wanted to write about..
But there was little time to spare in front of the computer since the weather was great and we have had a bit of a wave of visitors recently. For example:

Zack from Australia in September:

Andi, Enrico and Serkan last weekend:

Than we went on a amazing holiday to Cambodia and Thailand

 

 

and in between I have been busy with Photoshop classes, Photo editing, finding new "mummy" friends (to have someone to learn from), Chinese lessons, Yoga, going web shopping crazy for baby stuff and the ususal every day Shanghai life... Ah.. and sometimes I take a rest and just enjoy watching my belly growing nice and round.

There is soo much I want to tell you, but the next visitor (Mella) is already boarding the plane to us  I´m really excited that she stays for 2 weeks where we hopefully get the chance to venture out together with our cameras. It is probably going to be one of the last excursions since I´m starting my 8th month now..Can you believe it??

Once I can´t move so much around anymore and it is getting colder I should have plenty of time to tell you from my comfy sofa about the recent fun and challenges of (a pregnancy in) Shanghai.

For now I invite you to take a peak into my recent published gallery with pictures form old Shanghai, taken whilst Zack was here.

Click HERE Snapshots of Old Shanghai

Vicky, Buidling Sites and "Aufbackbrötchen"

We have only just been back from our 2 weeks holiday in Cambodia and Koh Samui (which was awesome and I will share with you in the next post) but so much has happened since our return.

First of all when we the  taxi dropped us of in front of our door last sunday we were stunned by the looks of our house: It has turned into a building site! The little cafe below our kitchen - which only recently had been turned into an art galery for leather sculptures (whatever that was supposed to be) -has changed owners again and is right now in the process of beeing redbuilt into a new clothes shop.It must be an exclusive store because they are putting a  hell of an effort into changing the place.

Walls are torn down, new windows broken trough, the old floor and sealings removed. I don´t know how many containers of dirt they have already drilled out of this little place. The noise is only just bearable (I feel a bit sorry for the baby who apparently can hear since a couple of weeks amd until now was used to listening to the sounds of the ocean from a hammock..) And I´m a bit concerned that one morning we wake up and our kitchen has sunk one floor. There can´t be much left for them to drill out anymore.

Mr. and Mrs. Jing and I hope they stop soon, because  the dirt is now also coming throught the windows (and our floor!! wonder how thin it is already??). However the excitement of getting a new neighbour is there and we can´t wait to see what fancy place it is going to be when it is ready.

When we returned from holiday  we were also happy to find out that the weather in Shanghai is currently at it´s best. With about 23 degrees Celcius during the day, sunshine and bright blue skies perfect to spend the days outside.

Today I used this nice day to meet up with Vicky, my Chinese teacher. She is no longer my official teacher as I didn´t sign up for another mandarin course with school, but we agreed to continue meeting up every now and then to keep on practising.

Chatting to Vicky is always interessting because besides practising Mandarin it gives me a chance to get some insight into what´s going on in China beyond what I can understand. She has a fairly western view also because she is in a long term relation ship with a French guy. But every time I see her she surprises me with some comments.

Today she told me that she and her boyfriend are considering moving to France for a couple of years to study French. She doesn´t want to go there forever because she feels like the future lays more in China than in Europe. She may not be wrong. However one of the concerns she has was that she heard that Chinese people get robbed by French because they believe Chinese people are rich...

I gently tried to explain to her, that yes, Shanghai is probably  one of the safest cities in the world but that if someone wants to robb someone they probably go by whoever shows it most and that this would not be a France related problem. Maybe it is unlucky that the Chinese like luxury handbags and like to show it off. I bet this case was built based on one case and hit the media here.

So I tried to explain this to her based on an example: If a Chinese eats dog and makes the news everyone in the rest of the world thinks all Chinese eat dogs. That made a lot of sense to her. Already because she is tired of explaining to her French relatives that this statement is simply not true (and she is right!)

After 3 hours chatting in the sun at Tianzifang she was keen to show me a new import supermarket where she likes to go shopping. It´s a brand new "City shop" which is one of those import chains here.

Oh my god!! It is sooo nice! It is huge and to me the first supermarket where I felt like I´m going shopping at home (providing I ignore the prices). What a nice selection of cereals, coffe and tea! Cottage cheese and "Quark" on the shelf which is still soo difficutl to find here. But my heart nearly stopped beating when I noticed "Aufbackbrötchen" = Frozen bread rolls for baking before breakfast!!

I have never understood why no one had the idea of importing them before. I almost thought that the local bakeries had some involvement to bann the sales of frozen bakery products. And there - FINALLY! - there they were: propper "Koppenrath und Wiese Dinkelbrötchen" - with about 8EUR for 6 rolls costing a fortune, but worth every penny: Another piece of "normal"life had found it´s way to Shanghai. I could not help it - it made me feel like home.

Still in the supermarket I took a picture of the package and sent it by SMS to all our German friends. The reaction was sheer excitement. I think even the baby started dancing inside of me.

So the weekend is here and somehow for the first time  it feels like a normal friday night back home in the "old days". We are not going out, but will enjoy a nice lazy evening in our cosy home and forget about the big city out there. I´m already looking forward to waking up to fresh brewed coffee and the smell of roll in the oven tomorrow morning - providing the kitchen is still standing!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!