Das Problem ist, eigentlich sollte hier diese grossartige Email von Olivia stehen, und die stand hier auch zuerst, aber das ist ja nun eine von diesen Sachen, die man nicht macht, wie ich mir ins Gedaechtnis gerufen habe, und deshalb habe ich sie wieder rausgenommen. Schade, jetzt ist es ueberhaupt nicht mehr nett, aber was soll man tun. Der Betrieb muss trotzdem irgendwie weitergehen.
Hi Olivia,
it was truly great hearing from you, and special thanks for taking
care of Karlas rock collection! She will be so relieved.
We are in Dresden now, the kids and Zeb stayed in Berlin. Both girls
were delighted to see the folks again and are still strangely
unaffected by the whole big change thing. Karla is very elated about
not having to go to school anytime in the foreseeable future. We don't
know where to send her as long as we don't have a permanent place to
stay. My mother is greatly worried by this, school
is mandatory in Germany and she expects the police any minute.
Anyway, yeah, it is the zoo, ice cream and
shopping every day for the girls at this point.
(I just talked to Meta on the phone, she is very concerned that her
room in the new house/apartment might not be big enough. Little
people, big worries.)
They were good troopers on the plane, the flight to Amsterdam was a
piece of cake, Meta and I drew almost the whole time, since the TV was
like seven rows away. We stayed in Amsterdam for 7! hours, during the
last half hour of that both girls fell asleep and basically sleep
walked in and out of
the plane to Berlin. After this, however, the evening was very long
and exciting, followed by a long sleeping in until 2 in the afternoon.
Good old Zeb had a tolerably good trip too, I think, at least he
looked completely well and not traumatized at all when he appeared in
his cage on
Berlin airport. Maybe they really have this mythical dog hotel/spa in
Amsterdam where dogs are
treated to facials, light snacks and massages while waiting for their
transfer. He seems to like Germany, the place where they have dog poo
everywhere and people take their dogs to malls and on the bus. I took
him on a long three hour walk the other day to the places where I used
to walk with Lilly. He came along happily, sniffing poo along the way
and not seeming to get tired.
Also, he had his first bus ride.
We are staying in the guest house of this institute where Benjamin
works now, a very sober little concrete place. We look at houses,
falling in and out of love with poor old heaps of debris at a great
rate. They always have these two cute little attic rooms, just perfect
for the girls.
Actually, we saw one we sort of really liked that wasn't too
dilapidated and still kind of cheap, maybe we'll buy it. Of course,
all the financing credit approval business takes a long time even
though it does seem possible and not too scary (we talked to a bank
guy), and all the maybes still don't give us any idea what Karla and
Meta will do in two weeks.
Well, I guess we are doing not too badly considering the three days we
were at it now.
Oh yeah, it is really cold and snowy here, which makes for an
interesting change. We even went sledding once, in this park in Berlin
were the wall used to be. For lack of any other document I attach a
picture of the Mauerpark in Summer,
there is a steep slope behind that swing (I don't know the person on
it) that we went down on garbage bags. Just a little extra information
for you guys!
Concerning that Rogers credit we got, I don't think sending it here
will be of any use. You could just throw it away, or if it is not too
much trouble deposit it on Benjamins account, R. B. (on
W.),
account no. xxx. Oh, it would be easiest if you just
misplaced it forever, I guess.
Well, we miss you guys, and we miss Ottawa and our nice orderly life.
Say hello to Sam and B.,
and to Sierra and the other kids.
All the best, regards, cheers or whatever they say in those letters,
Ulrike
