Health and Wellness Weekend at Villa Scherhag

#1 Babysitter

There is nothing like family when you are sick.  And after having a terrible Wednesday afternoon, evening, and night, with a 38 degree C fever (I'll let you do the math) and upper respiratory virus, I made it to Frankfurt, Germany, where Katie, Jo, and even little Victoria have taken such good care of me! Being sick while you are abroad, away from family, etc...is bad enough.  But it was even worse since I has this trip planned to go visit Katie and Jo in Frankfurt.  My number was concern was coming here sick and getting them and little girl sick... 

I promise this post will get better...but I have to explain the bad sicky part first. Here's the short of it. Tuesday night went to bed with a light fever and feeling kind of bad.  But i went to bed early.  Woke up Wednesday feeling a little wonky.  Took some pills.  Came home on the Metro, started feeling pretty bad.  Took my temp.  Light fever. Went to sleep.  Woke up feeling worse. Cried in front of my host mom because I felt so bad and frustrated.  She made me a nest on the couch.  Took my temperature, it was higher.  Ate some soup and jello.  Watched TV and napped with her.  Tried to drink lots of fluids.  Still felt like complete and total poo.

And here is where the story gets better...

I talked to Katie on Skype, and she told me that I was welcome here, especially if I was sick!  We would take precautions to keep my germs away from Victoria, but Katie wanted me here so she could nurse me back to health!

I decided that I would get healthy enough to fly to Germany after classes on Thursday.  I drank more fluids, took my temperature every 2 hours, and went to bed.  I do have to mention that Pilar took such great care of me! She made me soup and brought me water, and offered medicine, and gave my numbers to call when she went to work, and even gave me a kiss on the cheek before she went to work.  

Anyway, I woke up at 7:30, and by 7:45 I was fever-free!  I took a shower (the first in a while...), packed my bag, and headed to school, READY TO GO!  

After class I hopped on the metro to the airport, and next thing I knew I was in the air, so so excited to get to Frankfurt! Flying internationally in Europe is so easy.  

Katie and Victoria picked me up from the airport and I was brought back to Katie and Jo's apartment in a cute little family neighborhood.  

Katie and Jo's doorbell

**Enter health and wellness**

Before even really settling in, Katie drew me a hot bath with eucalyptus oil, bubbles, and a candle.  Oh how I’ve missed baths!!  I also had a pot of tea with a concoction of gripe  (Spanish word for cold/flu) healing herbs and pieces of fresh ginger.  We had a healthy healthy healthy vegetarian dinner of baked eggplant stuffed with gorgonzola cheese and veggies.  After only 3 hours in Frankfurt I felt more healthy and well than I have in weeks!

In the morning, Katie made me a tea/peppermint oil concoction to breath in.  After burning my eye balls out, but effectively cleanring my nasal passages, Katie and I got ready leisurely.  We had yummy müsli and fresh milk with fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice and a new pot of tea.  The only thing on our agenda was to tour a day care with Katie and some of her mommy group friends.

Tea/peppermint oil steam pot

 It was interesting to sit through a 45 minute day care spiel.  Imagine a nice orderly white office with a small round table.  Around the table are seated 4 German mothers (I’m counting Katie as German), 2 German 6 month old babies, 1 day care administrator, and 1 American girl who can also speak Spanish.  I understood two words…Kingergarten and vunbedar!  But it was still fun since I had Victoria to entertain me.

name of the street the day care was on. Try saying that 10 times fast

 After the daycare tour we went home for lunch.  Katie fed Victoria some concoction of veggies and chicken puree and Katie and I had what Jo calls a “Katie lunch,” pasta with tofu, veggies, tomato sauce, and feta cheese.  Again, so good. So healthy. So happy. 

"Katie Food"

Neighborhood butcher shop.

Little V.

Victoria eating lunch too.

She already drinks out of cups!

After lunch I got my first tour of Frankfurt, the city.  We first crossed a beautiful pedestrian bridge where there were lots and lots of love-locks (this is kind of becoming a trend, I’m noticing…)  However, the German love-locks are a lot more professional than the Spanish ones, they have their names professionally engraved on the lock.  On the tour, we walked through the old streets, through platzes (plazas) and past some churches and a convent.  Katie and I lit a candle at the convent.  It was interesting to compare the inside of the church to the inside of the churches in Spain.  They are a lot more Germanic and humble. 

German love-locks

It also cool to note the architecture in Frankfurt.  Although all of the old churches are still standing, many of the other buildings were bombed in WWII, and you can really see what was and wasn’t bombed.  There will be old architecture buildings with pretty window frames, gingerbread, colors, and beautiful slanting roofs next to industrial boxy-looking 1950’s style buildings.  Such an interesting mix.    

Old German buildings.

Peekaboo! 

Katie lighting a candle at the convent

We continued walking around, finding a farmer’s market, where I just about had a happy heart attack, since I love farmer’s markets! Then we stopped for café and kuchen at a rooftop café on top of a department store.  We got to see the sunset and have a little foot rest before heading home.  Coffee and kuchen is also a German must, as I have learned from my mom and grandparents!

Purple carrots. Two of my favorite things ever. combined.

mustard utter

Victoria though I was the kuchen!

Since my cold was a few days old now I also got to play with Victoria lot more.  And even more through the weekend.  Although I love talking with Katie and Jo, there is nothing better than some good baby time!  I got to play, bathe, change, tickle, cuddle, push, dress, hold, and do anything else I wanted with little baby V.  And I have to say that after 3 whole days of babytime, I still have not had enough! Victoria is an awesome baby.  She is rarely fussy, expect one night when she didn’t want to go to bed…but other than that she wakes up singing and laughing, eats, sleeps, eats some more, sleeps some more, laughs again, and sleeps.  It was so much fun (and strange) to get to play with Katie’s baby.  Never did I imagine that the cycle would come around where I would be looking after Katie’s baby…we had a babysitter moment when Katie went to the bathroom and I was left alone to watch little V.  I already told this to Katie and Jo, but I will fly across the Atlantic any day to come babysit Victoria, even just for a night. 

On the other side of things, its so fun to see Katie and Jo in action as parents, Katie especially.  She kept mentioning thins she remembered doing with me when I was a baby, so I like to think that I maybe am part of the reason she is such a good mom. J But really, Katie and Jo are so great with Victoria, and obviously so in love with her, as any self-respecting person would be, she is so darn cute!!! 

If you don't love that punum....you're crazy.

Anyway, Friday night, Katie let me make a yummy salad and we ate dinner and watched Date Night on the couch.  When Jo came home, he brought us chocolate chip ice cream to eat on the couch while we watched our movie.  We were just like two best friends, hanging out in our PJs having a sleepover, and really that’s what the weekend felt like the whole time. 

I told Katie at the end, that it is so nice to know her now woman to woman.   We talked about things we never would have been able to when I was younger and I really feel like I know Katie in a whole different way now, and although she is always going to be my babysitter, we are friends and can really talk about real things and she also has some great stories and advice, and we just had a weekend full of deep conversations, and some awesome jokes as well.

Doing the dirty.

Saturday morning was a wonderfully lazy morning.  We woke up, lounged about.  Jo made pancakes that we are with quark (a yummy yogurty food), poached eggs, and fruit salad.   We all just took our time eating and getting ready, feeding little V. 

Making breakfast.

Apfel pancake

yummmmmmmm.

Walk through the city

Eventually we left and headed to the Jewish Museum across the river.  The museum was really cool, with a history of Jews in Frankfurt starting in 1500 and was actually located on the site of the old Jewish ghetto and the original synagogue in Frankfurt.  They even had some of the ruins left from some of the houses and than an interesting exhibit on Jewish traditions, which was funny for me to read but really interesting for Katie and Jo, and they had some of the marble pieces left from the old synaoguge.  It was also next to the old Jewish cemetery, since it was Saturday, the cemetery was closed, but we could still peak in and see some of the headstones that had not been decoyed by the Nazies.  On the wall of the cemetery are plaques with the names and information of all the Jewish from Frankfurt who died in the Holocaust.

Wall of names

old headstones in the cemetery

Anne Frank (a native Frankfurter)

Sign commemorating the old synagogue.

Also, all around the city, there are little gold plaques in front of houses on the sidewalk with the names of the Jews who lived in those houses and their birthday, where and when they were deported and where and when they died.  You can see plaques where there were whole families taken away.  It is refreshing how much the city has done to rebuild the memory of the Jews who were taken, with the museums, plaques, and memorials.  There also are documentaries on TV all the time about the war, and although Germany is obviously ashamed of its past, they do not try to hide what happened, but rather acknowledge it and try to make amends.

plaques with names of Jews who used to live in the apartments

Frankfurt at sunset

.Jo.Lily.Katie.

For dinner, Katie and Jo took me to one of their favorite Apfelwine bars, which is also a traditional German-food restaurant. Throughout the weekend I got to see so many of Katie and Jo’s “spots,” from their grocery store in the renovated building of the old train station, their gym, pool, neighborhood bakery, butcher shop, and we even would run into their neighbors on the street.  But back to the apfelwine…Katie and Jo’s neighborhood is known for all of the little apfelwine bars in the area.  Apfel wine is fermented apple alcohol drink.  Kind of like cider, but not really. You mix it with sparkling water to cut the bitter taste, but I liked mine with a little more wine than sparkles.  It was funny to get into the crowded tavern-like restaurant with little sleeping Victoria in the stroller, but we made it work.

Apfelwine served in a cool jug.

I had a traditional German meal, which started out with apfelwine and an appetizer of soft cheese and “noise” (chopped raw onions) covered in vinegar served with bread and butter, which we ate with caraway seeds because they are supposed to reduce the amount of “noise” after the meal….if you get what I mean.  Jo ordered a nice pink piece of pork with sauerkraut and potatoes.  Katie and I split eggs and potatoes with green sauce, a really fresh and yummy sauce special to Frankfurt made out of some sort of spread, like mayo or something healthier and 5 different herbs chopped up.  We also had a bratwurst with sauerkraut.  So I got my wurst, and it was just as delicious as I expected.

soft cheese with "noise" and caraway seeds to help the "noise"

eggs, potatoes, Frankfurt "green sauce"

worst wurst I ever had. 

just kidding.

After dinner we rolled out of the restaurant, because it was getting noisy and busy and Victoria had just woken up, but we left more because Katie and I had a serious cookie baking date to tend to.  We went to the grocery first to pick up a few things.  Even the grocery store was cool! It is located in the old train station, so its like a big old brick building and it just looks like a train station.  I love grocery stores in general, and its always fun to go in another country.

We got home, changed into our pjs, drank some water to counter all the salty food, took a deep breath, and started on the cookies.  Most of you (whoever is reading this) probably don’t know about the chocolate chip cookie tradition, but it’s a thing between me, Katie, and Stan. Whenever Katie came over to babysit, we would make chocolate chips cookies.  This tradition is so strong, that we once baked chocolate chip cookies and sent them in a tin over to Katie in Germany.  So Katie and I basically reenacted this.  Katie had 1 bag of Nestle Toll House chocolate chips that she brought over from the states, which is obviously the most important ingredient.  She also had some brown sugar from the states because you cant get that in Germany either.  We had to negotiate on the vanilla extract and use “aroma vanilla and butter” but the cookies were still bomb.

Cookie supplies

vanilla-butter aroma in my hand

We made sure that each task was split evenly between us, just like how it used to be with me and Stan.  One cup of flour each, 1 egg cracked each, 1 cup of sugar each, and we got to lick the spoons, bowl, and mixer evenly.  At one point, when we were cutting the flour to let it breathe, (only Katie and Stan will understand this fragile term, which apparently was somehow lost in translation to my 4 year-old self and means something completely different than what I thought, and Katie doesn’t even remember doing this, Stan!) Jo came in and was so confused and lost at what Katie and I were doing.  We made him take some pictures of us, but he had to get out of the kitchen because the whole situation was just to weird and crazy. J

And thats a tame picture...

Well, the cookies turned out great.  We added sprinkles and corn flakes and even whoppers to some of them, and they were all so good, but nothing beats the traditional chocolate chip cookie.  

Cookie bounty

Good ol choco chip

Then Katie and I stayed in the kitchen and chatted for over 2 hours!  When Jo finally came back, he scared the bejeezus out of me when he walked in and said he had watched a whole movie and was wondering what the hell we were doing in the kitchen this whole time.  Of course, Katie and I had just been catching up, sharing stories, chatting, and giggling like old friends.  Saturday night was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend. 

Sunday I was woken up in the best way possible.  Jo came in with little Victoria and laid her next to me in bed and we just got to slowly wake up together and cuddle a little bit in bed.  Best alarm clock ever = baby.  Katie and I took a walk to the neighborhood bakery to get some German-style rolls and we also got a pretzel so I could try a real German pretzel.  When we came back, Jo was finishing up the egg/veggie/cheese scramble, and we had a full assortment of homemade jams from Jo’s parents farm in the country and cheeses and spreads to eat with our rolls.  My favorite was the grape jam and the grainy white honey from Jo’s region.  YUM YUM YUM! Sunday was more lounging, and Katie and I took a quick walk before we had to head off to the airport. 

bread in the bakery

me and the bag of bread in the platz!

breakfast spread, complete with Nutella and pretzels

egg scramble

Victoria passed out in the middle of Jo feeding her

The bread Jo made with raisins and almonds. I forgot the name, but it was just like challah!

But best of all is the poop story.  Sorry Katie, but I just have to tell this! Katie was changing Victoria’s diaper and I was watching, naturally.  As Katie was leaning over to the right, Victoria projectile pooped right on the changing table, and even a little got on the floor.  Good thing Katie hadn’t been there or she would have been hit square on with the poo.  It was also an important milestone because little V has been semi constipated since starting to eat real food and this was one of her first chunkier (and smellier) poos.  Katie went to get a towel to clean up, after we got our giggles together, and when she left I said at least we know Victoria just went and wont go again.  Then we Katie was cleaning up, I saw Victoria’s face scrunch up and turn all red and next thing I know, more poo!! This time Katie and I dissolved into silent laughter.  Completely unable to control ourselves.  And little V just giggled and smiled along.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

No caption needed.

Katie took me to the airport, where my flight was an hour and 20 minutes late, which gave me valuable homework time in the airport.  Also, right as we were supposed to take off  at our new time, the air-traffic control workers started their planned strike, so we had to wait another 30 minutes on the tarmac.  Anyway, I got home to Pilar’s house at 1 pm, but I was event tired after my relaxing health and wellness weekend at Villa Scherhag!