Partial Mobilization

I reached out to some friends a couple weeks ago to pray for our Ukrainian ladies who are trying to get settled in Berlin. I am sad to report that Olga and Mariia are still in a horrible apartment. I wish it were different.

Depending on who you ask, I would say Alla's living situation is about to improve. She will likely be moving in with Team Biggs from October-December. While looking for a German class for Paul, I found a German "Integration" class that coincides with Alla's staying here. She is currently on the waiting list pending payment paperwork for this class. But, through a generous gift of Paul's coworkers, we might be able to get her in that first class without the official payment from the state. The community college's preference is to enroll students who have state financial support. However, they said that if there were still spots available in October, they would let us self fund for her to enroll.

The enrollment process for her German course was helpful for me to see a little bit more of the experience of Ukrainians living in Germany right now. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of paperwork. There is a lot of good state support, but knowing the ins and outs is complicated and stressful. We had "moderate" success at the enrollment appointment but not without a few rounds of anxious eyes welling with tears.

While at the community college, we ran into a Ukrainian woman I met in one of my German classes. She was going to enroll her sister who has been living with her since the start of the war. The ladies exchanged some brief information about where they were from, exhaled a collective sigh, and then went to keep on living their unchosen life in exile. Learning a new language, finding housing, and trying to create a life while worrying about the people you love is exhausting.

Alla is, understandably, hesitant to move in with these people:

Wha? Someone wouldn't want to live with us?

However, three months with us will give her more time to look and save for an apartment of her own. Paul's company has a generous offer to give employees 300 Euros a month to host Ukrainians. I think it is a comfort to Alla that she won't be a financial burden. Also, I was already planning on only heating two bedrooms in our house, so that leaves one open for her. And yes, we will also heat that one too.

In the meantime, we are doing a "partial mobilization" of eBay furniture to help our house feel less chaotic. I've assured Alla these are projects were already necessary, so we're just moving things along. My pride prohibits me from before and after photos, but that same pride requires me to post our transportation methods:

New Lego Shelf: This particular move required carrying this huge cabinet down five flights of stairs, a trip back home for tools, and Paul to reschedule some meetings to walk the bike back. Whoops.

New Under-stair Shelving: This was my redemption round after the lego shelf debacle. It was 45 minutes door to door with no tools required.

This is the look of a woman who thought she was picking up some free food and additionally scored some extra organizational bins:

 Thanks Val!

On that note, I need to spend less time blogging about calming the chaos and more time organizing.

Hugo is 5

Per usual, our attempt to keep birthday craziness in check resulted in four seperate birthday celebrations for Hugo. But who's counting?

Pre-Party Daddy Trip to Munich

Paul and Hugo went to meet our friends from Portland - Claudia, Jorge, and Lucia - in Munich for a couple days. Hugo was a little bigger than the last time we made that trip.

Ten day old Hugo

Crosby had to stay back in school, and Carmen is a bit more of a handful on a 4.5 hour train, so they stayed back with me in Berlin. While Hugo was doing this:

Living his best Bavarian life.

Carmen and Crosby were doing this:

Eating last night's salad on the bike ride to school and Kita.

Ninja Faux Pas Party

The first party was a major German faux pas: celebrating a day before the actual day. The concept of the party revolved around Grandpa and Abuela's much loved Ninja outfit gifted during their last visit. Hugo's idea was to invite one of his other ninja friends for pizza and a piñata.

My friend Anja's middle school Spanish class just happened to be selling their recently made piñatas for a class fundraiser. Thankfully the kids thought "Ninja Sword" instead of "Sword of Domocles". 

As is our tradition, we only invited one family. As such, a piñata completely full of candy seemed like a little overkill. I took the opportunity to "mommy sabotage" by filling the piñata with useful, yet still fun things - bath colors, bandaids, tooth brushes, fruit bars, and yes...some candy too. 

Birthday Miracle: mommy sabotage was well received by all parties involved. 

Val's Dino Cake

It wouldn't be a party without our neighbor Val on Hugo's actual birthday. 

Per usual, Val's cakes are the gifts that keep on giving. The next day we made cinnamon rolls with the left over buttercream frosting.

As you can see from Crosby's skilled elbow cough, this was one of our activities being home sick with colds.

The up side of being sick after a birthday is we had some exciting new additions to our toy reperatoir. Other sick day activities included:

Rounds of Looping Louie Board Game (Thanks Papa and Coco)

Team art inspired by Auntie Joy's PJ Mask Birthday Card

Legomania (also courtesy of Papa). Hugo's superhero ladder climbing skills in his new snowsuit, not pictured.

Rice Krispie Treats at Kita

Yesterday the kids were looking like they were going to turn the corner so we put the cooker to work preparing his Kita birthday treat to share with his friends.

I swear I used a recipe, but somehow the marshmallow ratio is way too high. Let's just say Hugo will likely be popular among his Kita friends today.

Book Report: Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans

This book is magic. It's magic because we got another book by an amazing author, two years after she died unexpectedly at the age of 37. Furthermore, this collection of essays weaved together as a memoir/faith manifesto keep getting better and better as you read (or listen as it were).

The audiobook is read by some of her best friends, her husband, and sister. All of whom are bosses and have varying degrees of fun twang (namely Canadian and southern). You can imagine them all coming together and laughing and crying about what the gift her short life was here on earth. The pieces of the book that mention the dreams she has for her kids, who were not yet one and three when she died, make the story even more poignet. 

I wanted to blog about the brilliance of this book upon finishing. But, I decided that in tribute to an amazing woman who could not physically be present to raise her kids, I would spend time with one little man. A little man who thinks he can swim, when in fact, we have quite a ways to go.

I mean, who wouldn't want to return to this beautiful place the last week before it closes for the winter?

Jokes: I have no idea why the whole Pankow outdoor swimming pool is surrounded by abandoned run-down buildings and five times the necessary staff. The pool itself is lovely. The slides, per European standard, are amazingly dangerous. 

Our swimming lessons all end the same way:

Mobile snack. Seen here eating a pre-made curry dog. Just one of the culinary delights available in the baked goods section of the finest German supermarkets.

Mobile nap.

On that note, Hugo isn't the only one around here who's tired.