Natalie is 13

We celebrated Natalie's 13th birthday in Berlin on Saturday night (her actual birthday was Sunday the 15th). We looked all over for a birthday cake. We walked into several bakeries and I used my very best German to ask if they had birthday cakes. Each time they said they did and then pointed to some torte thing covered in fruit. That simply would not do for our traditional American birthday celebration. Natalie was a great sport and finally decided that Dunkin' Donuts would be a great birthday cake. We brought those back to the apartment, stuck some candles in them, sang Happy Birthday and it all worked out great. She got a few presents in Berlin (the Harry Potter book she was missing, some clips for her hair, a new goalie shirt). She really wanted some new tennis shoes. We are going shopping for those here in Poland because it is so much less expensive. And we are going to dinner at a restaurant she loved when we first got here. The celebration will continue on Friday night when two of her new school friends will be joining our family for pizza and bowling.

Our trip home from Berlin was an experience! We left the Haupbahnhof (the all glass train station) at 2:30. The first train was less than an hour to our first train change. That went just fine and we arrived in Angermunde on time. We had 10 minutes to catch our next train. But when we got off the train we did not see it. We walked down the platform and the train station worker guy told me no train. I showed him my paper with the schedule and he said that we would not be taking a train, but an autobus. What? Ok, so we have very limited time and we all hurry (with all of our bags) out to the front of the train station where there were indeed, two buses parked.

I showed my paper to the bus guy who nodded and said we were in the right place. Well, I was not convinced. We got seated in the bus and I asked the lady next to me if it was right. She spoke only Polish and German. I know my German must be a grammatical nightmare, but we were able to communicate! She said she was confused as well. So we were on the bus for about 20 km and arrived at a train station in some tiny German town, and we then get on the train to Szczecin (sheshen). We later learned there was trouble with the tracks at Angermunde and we had to take the bus to get around the track work. We arrived in Szczecin which is right on the border of Germany on the Poland side after about 30 minutes. Moving from a German train to a Polish train is like going back in time 30 years.

Our train to Gdansk was sitting there and we hurried onto it. It was packed. These trains have compartments that can technically hold eight people, but really six people is about the limit to be somewhat comfortable. This was the first time on a train that we had to separate our family. As we walked back and forth on the train, we sent Ben into a compartment where there was room. Then we found a spot for Natalie. Abbie and Myles ended up together and Trey and I ended up together. This trip was five hours so we had a ways to go.

Trey was chattering away in our car and I did not know if the four other people with us could understand him or not. At one point one of the young men in our car put the window down and pulled out cigarettes. I thought Trey was going to come completely unglued! Many, many young people smoke here, and they smoke everywhere. I learned that the young lady next to me spoke and understood English when Trey said, "Mommy, he is smoking and it is going to make the whole car smelly!" She thought that was incredibly funny. The young man was very considerate and made a big effort to blow smoke out the window away from all of us. But at home we don't really know any smokers so Trey was undone about the whole event.

Since we discovered that the young lady next to me spoke English we made a little game of her teaching Trey Polish words. She loved how he tried whatever she wanted him to say. He learned how to say "My name is Trey." I can't remember how it goes, but Trey does. After a couple of hours she got off the train. I went and got Natalie and brought her into the car with me. I had been texting Ben and knew he was ok that way. We had been checking on Natalie, but she does not have a cell phone. And I was concerned that she was in a car by herself with strangers, though they were all ladies who seemed perfectly nice.

After about another hour the three other people in our car got off at the same stop. We quickly rounded up Ben, Abbie and Myles and we all ended up in the same car for the rest of the trip. This train did not have a dining car which was a huge bummer. I had brought quite a few groceries back that I had found in Berlin. The kids ate cereal bars and dried fruit for dinner (whatever works!). I had several boxes of cereal that we could have used in a pinch but we ended up not needing them. When I saw Special K at a grocery store in Berlin, I loaded up!

Myles talked in his blog about his philosophy regarding the fast food joints in Europe. I love trying new things and agree that we should as a general rule eat the regional cuisine. Here's the way I look at it and where I get soft...we eat Polish food (or German which I really love!) most of the time. Everyone tried the wurst and liked it fine. But when they see a McDonald's their thoughts drift to home. I have the four most wonderful children on the planet. If I am able to curb their homesickness and a little McDonald's perk will satisfy that, I see no problem with it. They have adjusted beautifully. But they are still Americans who love the comforts of home. I also think it is fun as they find a cucumber slice in their snack wrap, are handed mayo for their fries, or whatever other differences come up. So guess who they are coming to if they get a hankering for a chicken nugget or a cheesburger?!

The kids are at their international school today. The rest of the week will be spent getting caught up with school!