Wiesbaden/Mainz, Germany Trip

Hubs was born here in Germany, on the other side of the country. We wanted to take a trip to see where he was born, and we had that opportunity this Valentine's Day weekend.

The hospital he was born in is now some sort of detention facility or something. Heavily guarded, lots of cameras and fences. I was mildly concerned about being detained for questioning with all the pictures I was snapping of this place. Anyway, there it is. The building my husband was birthed in.

We walked over this bridge into Mainz, where there was lots of really cool Roman ruins dating back to the single digits A.D. We're history lovers, so we got a huge kick out of being here.

The buildings are nice to look at in Europe, everywhere we go. The colors stand out, the intricate details on the buildings are incredible, and it all looks so great together.

There are also always tons of statues. I love them.

So this stuff, above and below, was under a mall in Mainz. Apparently, when the construction began on the mall, they uncovered all these super fabulous ruins from the Temple of Isis. So they preserved it all and turned the basement into a small museum of sorts, free of charge, for the public to enjoy and learn about ancient Romans. It was awesome.

Heading back to the S-bahn, we found the ruins of an ancient Roman theater. Again, incredible. It was easy to tell what it would have looked like back then, with the arched rows of seating and the rounded stage area in front.

Ancient city wall was directly behind the theater. Clearly, it's been repaired in places, but it was still a sight to behold.

Wiesbaden at night. Just as cool as during the day.

We spent the night in the Army Lodge in Wiesbaden. It's a nice hotel. Very modern, very American-style (large room, plush everything, super amenities). Average price ($127.50US per night for two people). Great location.

And then we headed out for our next destination, which I will share with you tomorrow.

Bill Nye Insults Homeschoolers

READ ME FIRST

So, basically, Bill Nye the Science Guy posted on his facebook page that he was there to answer (good) questions. 

I posed one. 

I asked him if he would consider building a curriculum for homeschoolers. 

His response was surprisingly stacked against homeschoolers, basically asserting that homeschoolers will never be engineers because they don't work well in groups. 

From there, the conversation devolved into a war of words. 

Mr. Nye, since you claim that evidence will change your opinion, here is a list of homeschooled people. Perhaps you've heard of them? 

George Washington Carver
Albert Einstein
Michael Faraday
Ada Lovelace
Joseph Priestley
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

...just to name a few. 

Mr. Nye, your comment to me was ignorant and rather unscientific. I hope you will educate yourself soon. Some colleagues of mine plan to help you do just that. Good day, Science Guy. 

Learning the 50 States, their Capitals, and their Map Locations

One major item I'm working on this semester with Kathryn is the location of all the US states on the map, and all of their capital cities' names. I don't have a curriculum for this. I'm using a bunch of varied materials to help teach this lesson. Here's what we're using. 

50States.com is a great, free resource with tons of information for learning the 50 states and capitals. You can print blank outline maps here. This worksheet is a good printable for a quiz. And here you can find all 50 official state songs. 

Worksheet Works has another 50 states & capitals quiz (for free). 

Postcards from North America is a fun boardgame that sends you around the United States to collect capital cities and landmarks. It teaches familiarization with US geography and offers capital city exposure. Plus, it's fun to play. And fun wins every time. 

States and Capitals Flash Cards (this link will take you directly to the set we actually use). These are great for busy days, carschooling, and cuddling on the couch school days. You get to see the outline of the state and the location of the capital cities. 

US Map Tutorial by Sheppard Software teaches the location of each state in an interactive manner. Sheppard Software is free! Free is good!

US Map Jigsaw Puzzle by Sheppard Software is an online map puzzle. You drag the state shapes to their place on the map, then the site labels the state's name. 

If you like to cook together, this site has recipes from the 50 states that you can prepare together to tie several subjects in. 

For kids who enjoy coloring, Crayola has a coloring page for every state. 

And this has to be my favorite states and capitals resource by far...

Impromptu Nature Walk

On our way home from a co-op field trip (the kids got to tour Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits behind the scenes), Kathryn and I stopped on the side of the road to check out a little body of water and some plants. 

It's so gorgeous here. 

In other news, I changed my hair. I went from this:

To this:

I like it a lot. 

We're Moving to...

That's right! We're on orders to move from one gorgeous duty station to another. We'll be leaving behind our beloved Bavaria, Germany in six months, and heading to Fort Richardson, Alaska. We'll miss Germany for certain, but I have to tell you: we're definitely stoked to be moving to Alaska! So many new adventures to be had!

Time's going to fly between now and then. So much to do, so little time. And that includes a trip to Rome and Pompei. :) I love my Army life. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

An Update to the Ear Situation

We've been dealing with an ear infection since before the new year. Read this post first, if you haven't already. 

I had two Lieutenant Colonels on the phone with me apologizing and assuring me actions were being taken within a few hours of filing that formal complaint. I was given my change of clinics immediately. And my daughter's referral to the ear-nose-throat doctor was rushed through the system. 

Not a moment too soon. 

On Monday, we saw the ENT, a local German doctor. German medicine is incredibly effective, straight-forward, and far more advanced than anything I've experienced state-side (so don't believe the US is medically superior, because we are very much not). I was happy to have my daughter seen by a competent specialist. He looked in her ears, asked her questions, and showed me the very large hole and scar tissue in her ear drum. 

Back up: Our "second opinion" told us that IF her eardrum had actually burst, he saw no evidence of it at all, and that was a week ago, and here I am, with my untrained eye, looking at my daughter's scar tissue and very much visible eardrum hole. That doctor is incompetent. 

Our German doctor expressed frustration at the lack of medication given to Kathryn by our health clinic, saying she never should have been given steroid drops as a growing child, and that antibiotics should have been the very first measure, given her dizziness, falling down, and extreme ear pain. That would have prevented the pus -- yes, pus, from entering her nerves and damaging her hearing. Had her eardrum not burst, the infection would have back-traveled into her bone, requiring surgery, and could have caused menengitis or worse. 

She was given a hearing test, and thankfully, it looks like there will be no major damage done there, but her ear will ring for quite some time, as this was a big, nasty infection, which, again, could have not become so had the clinic given us medication right away. 

Since sharing this story, many people I know who are seen by the same providers have shared horror stories with me about botched circumcision by the same doctor as our "second opinion," which means he screwed up a child's penis for crying out loud. I've heard people being called idiots behind their backs, being told that chest pain and heartburn are the "Bavarian crud" and told to go home... I encourage all of these people to file formal, written complaints, not with this terrible clinic, but higher than that, the head of Bavaria medicine, or even higher. This must not stand. We deserve adequate health care, and none of us are receiving it here. Shout it from the rooftops. Be your own advocate, because no one here is doing it for you. 

Kathryn's prognosis is good. We're taking a wait and see approach, since it's too late to administer antibiotics. We'll check back in two weeks. She never should have been put through all of this pain because two men couldn't see past their egos, and one of those couldn't see past his medical school training, because he's not had enough life experience to know better. The other, well, he's a complete ass with a god complex who does not belong in medicine, or in any field dealing with humans. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

I've been enjoying a fabulous birthday week. Last weekend, I threw myself (that's right) a party. I had six friends come over and everyone brought something tasty to share: we had tomato-olive tart, potato soup, Doritos casserole (that's a thing!), buffalo chicken dip, macadamia-caramel cheesecake (as delicious as it sounds), lemon cookie cups, noodle soup, and more. I made these tasty, fun Caesar Salad Crouton Cups and some birthday cupcakes (red velvet/cream cheese). We did crafts. One of my guests brought candle-making supplies and taught everyone to make their own candles. We all got to take home two highly-scented candles and a couple of tarts, too. I led another craft, which I'll share with you tomorrow. 

It was a fun party. There was laughter and chatting, and everyone got to take home some hand-made items. 

Presents! Aren't birthday presents fun? My husband bought me a new blender, the Ninja. It's fabulous! It can turn whole carrots and spinach into a milk shake when blended with some frozen fruit and milk or juice. I received some terrific presents from friends, too. One of them brought me a Polish pottery vase, which was such a perfect thing to receive, as I've been wanting some Polish pottery for a long time. Another friend brought me this adorable fish I can't kill. She and I went shopping together a couple of weeks ago and we spotted this ingenius setup. A vase, some aquarium rocks, and glass fish that bob around in the water. It's adorable and you can't kill the fish. Win-win. I love it! I received a bouquet of flowers, too, at my party, which are happily brightening up my kitchen table now. And finally, my mother bought me a set of hiking/Nordic walking poles, which I can't wait to start using. 

I haven't had a birthday celebration since I turned sixteen, and today, I turned thirty-five. A very happy birthday. I'm so thankful for wonderful family and friends to share this day with. This is going to be a terrific year. 

Look, even Google wished me a happy birthday!