The one where we all caught Covid

Well of course we couldn't avoid catching Covid-19 forever and our luck finally ran out. We aren't actually totally sure where we got it from but we suspect it was probably from Mini's daycare. I'm actually impressed we even managed to go a full two years without catching it!

Mini came down with symptoms first - a high fever and the first few nights were rough. She complained of tummy pains on and off as well as having a blocked congested nose. Luckily, she seemed to fight it off quickly and was back to herself after a few days. For me it felt like a really bad headcold and I felt crappy for around 4-5 days then very run down for several days after. For hubby it was more like a bad flu and he suffered the most with it. Thankfully we all seem to be fully recovered now.

Timing wise it was unlucky because I wasn't able to go out on St. Patrick's day. I had been looking forward to meeting a few friends at the local Irish pub beer garden and the weather was meant to be sunny. So we just dressed in green at home and I cooked a wholesome shepherd's pie. I haven't been able to celebrate Paddy's day with friends for several years now due to the pandemic.

In Germany, the plan is to drop lots of the restrictions from April. Time will tell whether that's a good idea or not! If you read my previous post you'll see I have somewhat mixed feelings about it all. The good news is that since we have recovered from Covid, we now have some immunity for a few weeks/months at least so we are getting out an about more which is really nice.

(I guess from this photo it's not so clear but there's a faint second line on the Covid-19 antigen test.)

Hope all my readers are keeping well and staying safe!

St. Patrick's day in lockdown

It is already the anniversary of one year since the first lockdown in Germany during the pandemic. I certainly had no idea how long it was going to last! Recently Facebook reminded me of a post I shared a few years ago. It was a collage of how I celebrated St. Patrick's day in Germany over the years. What struck me now looking at the pictures was just how sociable a day it is.

Every picture shows me and my friends having fun. Last year I had planned to throw a little Paddy's day party at my house but that had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. This year we won't be able to meet up with anybody either unfortunately.

However I still plan to make the most of it. I'll be cooking shepherd's pie for lunch and baking scones for dessert. Mini and myself are both wearing green. (The GerMann says his only green top is in the wash!). I read her a story about how St. Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland last night. My family and friends have been messaging me with photos of how they are celebrating the day.

Check out previous Paddy's days in Germany

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!

Life lately

I thought I'd share some updates on what I've been up to since March.

St. Patrick's day

I knew I had to celebrate in some way even if only for a few hours! Some friends and I decided to go to one of the Irish pubs in town. Even though a few of them were going to bring their kids along I decided to leave Mini at home as I knew the pub would be crowded and sometimes she just gets overwhelmed in loud and busy places. My husband was happy to stay with her and I enjoyed getting to catch up with the girls over a Guinness or two. I actually rarely drink Guinness! I tend to prefer sweeter drinks like wine spritzer but it was Paddy's day after all so I ordered a pint with some cheese and onion crisps.

It was a fun afternoon. Everyone was in really good spirits. There were a mixture of all nationalities in the pub and I enjoyed mingling. For some reason this only seems to happen at Irish pubs in Germany I find. At the German pubs people tend to stay with the groups of friends they arrived with. Of course I had Mini dressed in a cute green outfit for the day. Hopefully next year she'll be old enough to enjoy the celebrations a bit more.

Daycare adjustment

In March Mini started going to KITA (daycare /creche). In Germany they do a very gradual settling in process called "Eingewöhnung" which typically lasts 4 to 6 weeks. It started off well, the first week there we went for around an hour each day and I even left her a few times. She was happy to explore the new place new but soon it clicked that Mummy was leaving her there and then she started crying at drop off. The very worst day was when she was upset for almost half an hour after I left. It was very hard on both of us. I burst into tears myself and one of the minders gave me a really big hug!

I felt a lot of guilt around sending her there, wondering whether I was doing the right thing. I reminded myself that I knew she was in good hands. The childminders there are lovely and I knew they would be comforting her and distracting her. Thankfully that one day was the worst and it got better from then on. The following day she was upset for around ten minutes after I left and subsequent days only a few minutes max. On some days I handed her over to the minder and she got upset but then I would wait outside the door for a moment and I could hear she had already stopped crying. I was also able to peak into the window and see her playing which helped with the guilt. She is now settled and happy there which is a huge relief! I've been working more hours now and that's been going well too.

Time outdoors

The weather has finally started improving here and we've been able to spend more time outdoors lately. The German winter lasted a long time this past year but now all of a sudden we've started getting warm Summer like days. Hubby and I got a yearly pass to the zoo and have already been there a few times. There are lots of playgrounds and a nice park area so it's a lovely place to walk around even if you don't go to look at the animals.

As Mini gets older she is able to partake more at playgrounds. I can put her into the baby swing or let her play in the sand with a bucket and spade for instance. Of course she still tries to put things like sand and stones in her mouth so I have to keep a close eye on her! One of my friends and I also went to the park for a picnic recently and Mini was happy to sit on the blanket and snack. The weather lately has been a bit like an Irish Summer actually which is pleasant. Once it gets to August/September here then you get this extreme heat which makes being outside during peak times less tolerable.

Watching / reading

Like most people, we are following and enjoying the final season of Game of Thrones! It will be strange once it's all over. I'm currently reading "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty and we've also been watching the TV series. I like the casting, the actors they've picked mainly match my idea of the characters. My book club met recently to discuss out last book which was "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman.

We've a few trips planned this Summer which I'm looking forward to. Anyway, enough about me. What's new with you?

March recap

Thought I'd share what I've been up to the past few weeks.

At the beginning of the month I took a trip to Dublin. The GerMann wasn't able to make it. It must have been the first time I'd gone back 'home' without him in about three or four years! I mainly caught up with friends and spent time with family. I got to meet up with some old work colleagues I hadn't seen in almost two years as we hadn't been able to get together on my previous visits back, so I'm glad that worked out. We met for lunch near my old company and it was a real trip down memory lane. Crazy thinking I've lived in Germany almost seven years already!

Hubby and I celebrated St. Patrick's day (March 17th) which is always fun. We invited lots of friends, whoever was around basically, to join us at the local Irish pub for drinks and live music. There were about ten of us in the end. It was the perfect evening! We partied a little too hard though and we both felt pretty hungover the following day! Worth it though.

In terms of our journey to try to become parents, we had our appointment at the new clinic at the start of the month. I got a uterine biopsy two weeks later, as suggested by my new doctor and am still waiting for the results before we proceed with a fourth and probably final IVF this Summer at some stage. I'm not sure of the timing yet. Lately I've been feeling like there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. I'm sure everyone has weeks like that though! It's been a busy month between big projects and deadlines at work, trying to get the paperwork sorted for our new clinic, getting organized for the upcoming holiday and keeping up with household stuff. On top of that we had some unforeseen expenses regarding rusty pipes that needed to be replaced and had plumbers come fix things.

Spring has finally sprung and we've been able to sit out and enjoy the sunny weather. The GerMann and I did some gardening! Some flowers he planted several months ago have started to bloom and I planted some herbs and vegetables; basil, spinach, rosemary and pumpkin. I'm excited to see if any of them grow. Gardening reminded me of my previous IVF transfers where the doctor 'plants' the embryo and then it may or may not stick and grow. But then I guess everything reminds me of fertility lately haha!

Last week I went to see the new Beauty and the Beast film with a friend here and we both loved it. It's just feel good and fun! I can imagine that some people might find it too silly and Disneyish but as someone who loved the original film as a kid, I thought it was well done. There were new songs plus Beauty's character was played with more heroically by Emma Watson. The relationship between her and the Beast was more developed and hence believable. We also saw Passengers this month, which couldn't have been more different but also very good, a sort of romance sci-fi set in space.

What did you get up to in March?

Paddy's Day - different but still good craic

Saint Patrick's Day, which is a national holiday and a big deal in Ireland, feels very different in Germany where it is more or less a non event in most places. This year I worked, which felt somewhat strange (normally I take the day off). The majority of Germans don't seem to even know what St. Patrick's Day is or even if they do know, they forget which day it is. In fact in Germany it's just a normal day in most places. I've heard in the States it's common to pinch people who aren't wearing green on St. Patrick's day. Well if I were to do that here, it would have been a very busy day of pinching! It would have been faster to point out the people who were wearing green.

After work I made my way to one of the local Irish pubs, and that felt more like it! There were lots of people, singing songs, drinking, laughing and it was just a great atmosphere! And of course there was lots of craic, which is a special fun atmosphere that only Irish people can produce.

Then last weekend we were also invited to a Paddy's Day themed party hosted by another Irish-German couple like us, which was also good fun. We watched some of the highlights online from the St. Patrick's day celebrations in Ireland. I hear that is was a four-day affair this year with loads of different events organized. And everything green of course!

Several Germans asked me about Saint Patrick, the man himself, and embarrassingly I couldn't say much apart from him being the patron saint of Ireland and that he got rid of all the snakes! And they also asked me about typical food we eat on the day, which was also difficult to answer. It's not an event revolving around food (but rather drink!), it's more about celebrating everything Irish!

Hopefully some year we'll make it back to Ireland for the few days. Flights then are always extra-expensive, of course. In the meantime, all the Irish people abroad can get back to planning our secret mission of world domination or - at the very least - world inebriation!

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day where you are?

Paddy's day - the usual madness

This year's St. Patrick's day was probably the best I've had since I've been living in Germany. Unfortunately it fell on a Monday this year but I didn't let that stop me from celebrating and took a half day from work. The weather was fantastic, a sunny 20 degrees. Better weather than they were having in Dublin that day ( I checked!).

Standing outside one of the local Irish pubs drinking Guinness with some friends was perfect. Having lived here nearly four years at this stage I know a lot of people and feel more relaxed and at home in general. I was also able to chat away in German to some German friends who came without struggling to find the correct words or follow the conversation.

The few days leading up to Paddy's day I was starting to feel a little homesick though, seeing my Irish friend's facebook pages. And also this video:

I love the generation emigration section of the Irish Times. It makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger- one of many many Irish people who have emigrated and are living abroad and trying to find our way in a new county, while still holding on to our cultural identity. My American friend at work commented that my Irish accent sounded particularly strong the days leading up to Paddy's day which was funny. I also painted my nails bright green, because why the hell not!

How did you celebrate St. Patrick's day?

Rainy St. Patrick's day celebrations

It's that time of year again, when people celebrate being Irish, Ireland or just wear green and get drunk. I thought we would even end up having snow on St. Patrick's day here since it snowed at the start of the week and it's been freezing, but instead we just had heavy rain. Irish weather I suppose!

The celebrations here are a lot more low key compared to back in Ireland, it's mainly only the irish pub community who organize anything, but it was a fun day all the same. Happy St. Patrick's day to you, wherever you are!

ps. Wedding preparations have been keeping me very busy. Organizing a wedding in Ireland from Germany has been challenging at times. The good thing about my situation? I'll get to have two hen parties! One in each of my two "homes".