Settled In

As bleak as our recent blog posts have been, the last couple of weeks have been really nice.  We feel much more settled (hot water and a kitchen help) in our new place and have seen that the people here in Münster are actually really nice, if a little unapproachable.  Maybe it was because of our high stress level, but I actually thought that it was illegal to smile in Münster because I never saw anyone smile.  I imagined that if a police officer caught me giving a stranger a polite nod and smile, I would get a 20 euro ticket.  Maybe there is a ‘mind your own business’ law or something.  Anyway, over the last couple of weeks, it doesn’t appear that way. 

This past weekend, we went on Saturday to the community pool (freibad.)   Community pools here in Germany are much more than that.  This freibad has 5 different swimming pools including a kiddie pool where we hung out (it’s the only place where it is acceptable for a 7 month pregnant Dana to rock a bikini and not get strange looks, although she did get a few disapproving glances from older German women), a large water slide, and a playground.  There is a minimal entrance fee and it is only a 10 minute (15 with Dana) bike ride there. 

Having fun in the pool.

In the kiddie pool

Yup, he's wearing a speedo.  

If you look closely you can see a big smile on his face coming down the slide. 

Lots of laughs for the big splash at the bottom. 

Dylan was definitely the only 3 year old (or person with Swimmies on) to be brave enough to go down this massive water slide.

On Sunday, Dylan and I went to the local golf course to practice on the driving range.  We have been there pretty much even weekend since moving here and we haven’t been banned yet.  We normally hit a bucket of balls on the driving range and practice on the putting green.  Dylan loves to practice and is becoming better and better with his little clubs.  I somehow got my 8 iron, pitching wedge, and putter in my luggage when we came home from Christmas, so I get to work on my short game.  It takes us 10 minutes to get there by bike and it is usually the highlight of the weekend. 

In addition to playing golf, Dylan’s favorite thing to do with ‘Daddy’ is to go to my office on the weekend.  He loves taking the train into the city and taking the elevator to my office.  He is normally occupied for 2-3 hours watching videos, which is wonderful for me because I get to put in some extra work and nice for Dana because she gets some time alone.  Two weekends ago, I bought Dylan some ice cream on our way to my office.  Dylan insisted on getting the flavor that was called ‘Mozart’, which looked like chocolate.  I ordered the ice cream cone and the ice cream scooper (the person working there) said something about if this was for a child (kind).  He was holding a cone in his hand, so I thought he was asking me if it I wanted a kids cone.  I said no, a normal cone would be okay.  He shrugged his shoulders and gave me the cone.

Fast forward 10 minutes later and Dylan is really enjoying his ice cream cone.  This is usually the time he asks me help him clean up the drips.  He handed me the cone and I proceeded on cleaning up his mess.  After two licks, this ice cream tasted different than most.  In fact, this tasted like liquor!  I had bought my three year old ice cream that had alcohol in it.  Suddenly, I realized what the ice cream store worker was trying to tell me.  Oops.  Reason #792 I feel unfit to be a Dad.