Glynn Family Update - Christmas 2004

Merry Xmas to all! I'm afraid that this will probably be the last of our family updates. I can find nothing funny about living here anymore. I have resigned to the fact that all Fall, Winter and Spring it will be cloudy with high chance of rain, near freezing, and dark at four o'clock everyday (in fact Mr. Sun decides to stay in bed most of the day or hide behind the clouds if he even dares peek out!). Even our dog goes to bed at 7 p.m. and refuses to get up until 8 a.m. or so. I used to hate going into the grocery stores for fear of the self bagging process whereby the clerk scans all the stuff and the fastest possible speed, leaving you to manage the chaos of goods flying your way. The other day I found myself nearly ripping packages out of her hand as I was managing to load the groceries faster than she could scan. I was thinking to myself, "I guess I made it through this adventure...".

Also, the other day I was waiting to pick my daughter up from a school trip at about 10 at night. It was freezing out (of course). One of the parents walked by and we both laughed as we commented on our desire to be in any other country whereby we could sit with the car turned on to keep warm, but not here, where we all did "the German thing" and turned off our cars to save the hole in the ozone and contemplated death by freezing. I digress... The big news is that we are expecting another (planned - in case you wanted to know!) addition to our family (and yes this is of the human persuasion even though Conner is certain that it is his turn for a dog as Kailah is not his dog but Kira's). The next member of the family is due Friday May 13th (a good day - Kira was born on a Friday the 13th and this is Jaq's bday!). We just got back preliminary results from the amnio and all looks well. For those who have never had children or are not yet old, the amnio looks for genetic problems, and in our case, Downs Syndrome which increases in likelihood with the age of the mother (yes, Dianne I know you are still 29). Anyway, all results came back with no issues. From about the first month of pregnancy Dianne predicted that another girl was on the way and began to compile names. She was spot on with Kira and Conner. While getting a very cool ultrasound (technology has come a long way, even since Conner), with the amnio tests, the doctor asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. We said of course, and she proudly honed in to the uniquely male part of the anatomy and said, "no questions here, it's a boy!" I think Dianne had a small tear in one eye, but I can't be sure. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that next year's clothing budget just dropped by 90%. We are back to square one on the naming process and have spend hours on http://www.babynames.com/. We are trying to come up with something Dianne, Kira and I all like and still won't give our parents a complete heart attack for weirdness. No luck yet, but we have definitely ruled out Conner's suggestion of "Spiderman".

For those of you asking "Tom, do you plan to make this birth?" the answer is yes, I absolutely plan to be there, but timing is everything! We have decided, for various reasons, that Dianne will return to the States early with Conner, and Kira and I will hang out until school ends in late June. It would be a legal nightmare if the baby was born here to a couple of Canadians with permanent residency in the US. The baby would not be German by birth as we are not German. It would probably be Canadian and then we would have to fill in tons of forms to bring the baby into the US. We also fear the German name police. Of course, you can't just make up any name for your child, it must come from a approved government list, as we came to find out from someone who tried to give their daughter a middle name of "Bonn" to commemorate the time they were here...it didn't fly, not approved. Anyway, I digress again. With Dianne going back around the end of March, my plan is to fly back to California for a two week window near the birth (Kira will stay with friends) and be part of the birth process from afar. Dianne is saddened about this as Kira was the stellar coach in the last session!. Timing is everything, but I have no fears of missing this one .

Conner just celebrated his 3rd birthday and he was sure he grew four or five inches in the night. We had a small party with a couple of the kids in the neighborhood who came for cake and ice cream. Conner had a small list on the birthday wish list and got almost all of it. He beamed ear to ear when he pulled out his Sponge Bob boxer shorts. The book, "Trucks at Night" has now been read nearly 100 times. After opening his new doctor kit, he immediately asked the two girls if they wanted to play doctor. Of course they said yes, and the surgery was begun. He didn't get anymore more swords, as I feel sword fighting an hour or two a day is quite enough for me at this time. However, I feel he is approaching the desires of his cousin (the proud owner of what appears to be dozens of swords) who asked for one thing only for Xmas, and that was a real sword, that could really cut something. Conner thinks Everett is the coolest guy on earth - he has so many swords and shields and knight stuff. Maybe next year.

Kira is a growing teenager. Several weeks ago her first report card of the year came home. There are two marks for each class; a number from 1 to 7, 7 being the highest, and then an effort grade, marked from "A" through "F". In grade 6 Kira got pretty much all 7s and "A"s. Last year it was split between 6 and 7s, and all "A"s. This year it was mostly 6s, some 5s and a couple of "B"s. Of course we went off the deep end, suspending her non stop phone access during the week, cutting off MSN, requiring more homework be done and if she didn't have enough, we'd assign it. We went to parent teacher conferences expecting to hear about Kira talking in class, drooling over the boys, not doing homework, inattentiveness and other such new problems. We heard nothing but glowing things from the teachers, telling us not to worry, that her marks would improve and that they loved having her in the classroom. Every one of her teachers said that she was one of the hardest workers in the class, a treasure to teach, and always, always, always willing to offer an answer. We went home, told Kira what we had heard, and loosened the noose (slightly) that we had put around her neck. She is still on track for one boyfriend per year, with Trenton in grade 6, Kyle in grade 7 and now Lenny in grade 8. Of course, things change by the minute, or so I'm told. Everything with her is a drama and the age of 25 is far too far away for me. We got busted trying to pick her friends this year, and after getting an earful at very loud decibels, we are working on being more discrete.

Dianne is doing very well, with her traveling for work nearly done. She is counting down the days until repatriation to the States, and is trying to manage the strange food cravings that pregnancy brings. With Kira, every evening at around 8, it was "Tom, WE need ice cream" and I would head out to the neighborhood 7-11 for Ben & Jerry's. This go around, it's non alcoholic beer, which of course is totally bizarre, because she normally doesn't drink beer. We have a couple of 6 packs sitting outside our back door (the fridge is too small - remember?) when the urge strikes, I make a dash into the cold, and return with a frosty cold one (I can't stand the stuff). Conner has told all the preschool teachers that he has a baby brother in mommy's tummy and that mommy wears really big pants. Things are going well.

Conner keeps me busy most of the time, but I still mange to make time for my athletic training and still have a goal of doing a major triathlon in the Spring. I'm getting in pretty good shape again (hold on.... Dianne is looking over my shoulder and just asked if this e-mail was fact or fiction..."Fact", I snapped and asked her to keep further comments to herself). Someone who hadn't seen me in a couple of years discreetly asked a neighbor if I had a major disease or illness causing me to look so thin. I can assure everyone that I am not only alive and kicking, but at around 165 pounds, I have no fear of fading away anytime soon. I'm starting to think about work again and have ordered educational training materials to get my CPA license current again. We shall see what the summer brings.

We just came back from Prague. We tried to do a "German" vacation, but were not so successful. When deciding on a location to visit for the weekend, most people here go to the web and look at cheap flights by these discount airlines that are everywhere. Destinations are dictated by cheap tickets. We were torn between Rome and Prague, both with tickets for under 30 euro per person. We did a bunch of research on the web over the course of an hour or so to see what there was to do, before deciding on Prague. We also felt that we would someday return to Italy, but may not ever be back to Prague. We found a cheap hotel and made reservations. We then flipped back to the airline web page to book the airline tickets and found out the tickets had just doubled in price. We still went, but have become a little smarter a long the way. Prague is a beautiful city that is incredibly cheap and very western. Everyone speaks English and there are more jazz and blues bars than there are in New Orleans. I thought it was much more western than most cities in Germany. We had a great time, even though we all got the one day flu (yes, Conner threw up all over Dianne again. I think this has happened seven or eight times now and it wouldn't be the same if we didn't go on a trip without Conner blessing her with the contents of his stomach. Dianne has been honored on planes, trains, automobiles and now restaurants!).

We have decided to spend our last Christmas here in Europe and are planning a ski trip to Austria with friends from Danville. We leave this weekend and are excited to be off. We booked this in the Spring, so Dianne had every intention of joining us on the slopes, but now we shall all wave to her in the chalet as we attempt to keep from breaking our legs on the ski hills. Good news for Conner is that mom and him can make snow angels everyday (which he practices nearly every night) and better news for Kira is that mom won't be bugging Kira on the slopes to slow down so mom can catch up!

Kira is planning another snow boarding adventure - she learned how to snow board this summer at a family style camp we went to in the Netherlands. Yes - a country that is extremely flat, no hills and Kira learned how to snow board in the hot summer months (hint: indoor ski hill). She is really looking forward to practicing her skills for another upcoming ski/snow board trip to Austria with her friends from youth group in February. Kira is also off to her first long distance travel adventure in early February when she will travel to see Grandma Kershaw and her friends in sunny CA for a week during winter break. Mom is already worried about her travelling alone and is making this a very comfortable experience for Kira by donating her mileage points (Kira has flown more business class trips than me!).

As always, I've spoken for far too long, so "Merry Christmas to All" and we look forward to seeing blue skies and happy people in the not to distant future. Love to all Tom. Dianne, Kira, Conner, Baby "X" (name suggestions are always welcome!)

Tom's First Triathlon

I completed my first triathlon on the weekend. It was a humbling experience! The course was a 600 meter swim, 22K ride and 6K run.

The course was about 2 hours from my house in some small little town I'd never heard of before. They ran 4 triathlons, one each hour for 3 hours of 400m swim, 16K ride and 4K run and then the little longer sprint triathlon that I entered. I expected it to be a family type affair with a broad mix of people. This was a serious event! I consider myself in pretty good shape, but most of these guys were in excellent shape. The average age was probably late 30's and almost all guys (2 women I think). There were some pretty cool bikes and other fancy gadgets. In my group there were about 30 people and I'm sure I was the only newbie. I now take back everything I ever said about smoking, drinking, out of shape Germans. I never saw so many fit German athletes in one place!

We started out in the pool and when the whistle went, I let the other 5 folks in my lane go first. I had practiced with a slower pace and knew I could do 10-15 of the 24 laps without stopping, but I started out a little too fast and ended up taking a quick break after each 50 or so meters. I was also getting passed by the 100th meter and so I'd use my rest to pull off to the side and let others get around me. I was third last out of the pool with a time of 14:35, right around where I expected to be. I made a wrong turn and by the time I figured out what they were screaming at me in German, I changed course and ended up being last out of the complex. My mid summer swim lessons kept me from drowning, but my weakest link needs a little work still!

The first transition area was very comical for me. I chose to wear a 1/4 zip cycling jersey for my tri top. With my wet body, I couldn't pull it over my body. I think I struggled for 3 minutes trying to get it on. I also took a while to put my socks and shoes on. It appeared that no one else wore socks. On the way out I knocked my computer off the bike. Dianne told me some of the top finishers were out of the transition area in seconds. I was over 4 minutes. I need practice here (and a Tri top)! I couldn't get my HR monitor to pick up my HR as I headed out. I should have probably turned it off and back on again. As I rode away I was thinking to myself that I wonder if I put my helmet on backwards. I didn't, but it sure summed up the way I felt!

On to the bike I made up a little time, but was hopelessly behind most people by now. The course was a 7 loop out and back circuit. A couple of guys just flew past me. They were strong and looked good on their tri bikes. I averaged 233 watts, which is slightly higher than my typical cruising speed of around 200 watts or so. The bike part was very comfortable and I could have gone longer and a little harder.

The bike to run transition went a lot better and I was out of there pretty fast. I need speed laces though!

I felt pretty good on the run, averaging a 7:21 pace for the 6K run. I had given up trying to get my HR monitor to work, but I'm sure I was in the high 130's or slightly higher. I couldn't sustain this pace for 26 miles (yet ), but no problem for the 6K. I passed a few more folks and was feeling pretty good.

I finished the race feeling good. It was great to have Dianne and Conner cheering me on. On one pass of the run I could hear Conner screaming "Daddy, Daddy" a few times and then turning to Dianne and saying "Where are the Pringles?" A short attention span, but a good supporter! He also wanted to use the camera, so I now have many pictures of bushes and other random things.

Dianne drove us home so that Conner and I could snack on the way. Based upon his two hour eating frenzy, I believe Conner will be sprouting up about 3 inches in the next week or so.

I woke up without any aches or pains and I'm still training for another one, so things didn't turn out so bad.

One year left for athletic stories and then I go back to work!

An overview of my cycling adventure in France

As you may be aware I set off on a cycling adventure to ride up and down some of the French Alps during the first week of June. Attached is a small map of the area.

I was really well trained for this expedition (thanks to my coach!) and felt good for all the days and had plenty left in me when I packed up and headed home.

Monday was a travel day and I drove the approximately 8 hours from Bonn to Bourg d'Oisan easily and with little traffic. It was pretty uneventful until I had about 1.5 hours to go and I was very near Grenoble, France. The site of the Alps coming into view was incredible. I went from flat to rolling hills to huge mountains as I rounded the corner. It was kind of frightful just thinking I would be climbing these in a day or so. I arrived safely at the hotel in town and unpacked. It was truly a flea bag hotel, but it was cheap and, being a single guy it was not a big deal. I walked around the town in the evening (it took 10 minutes) and realized all the hotels were flea bags. It started to rain in the evening.

Tuesday morning it was raining. I waited around for a bit but decided to go cycling regardless of the weather. It would be rather silly to train all year and then sit inside because of rain when the day came to perform. The first course I picked was to climb Les Deux Alpes and then head back on an out and back course. At 50K, the course was short to get me warmed up for cycling the Alps and to get a boost of confidence for the days ahead. The top was 1650 meters and it meant about 900 meters of climbing as Bourg d'Oisan is about 730 meters above sea level. There were very few cyclists of the road, probably because it was still early in the year, it was mid week and the weather was not cooperating. As I was climbing the visibility was getting worse. It was like I was climbing into a cloud. About 2 miles from the top they were doing construction and had closed the road down to one lane. They had stop lights at either end. It was weird because it was pouring rain, no one on the road but me and I hit the red light. I decided to stop and wait because I couldn't see more than 50 feet in front of me, but I ended up just standing there for 5 minutes by myself in the rain. When the light turned, I climbed back on the bike and finished the climb into the little ski village. I took a few pictures and headed back to the hotel. I took the descent really slow as I have no descending skills, it was still wet and I couldn't see very far in front of me. I also didn't want to break a collar bone on the first day out.

Wednesday was the planned epic day and I was on the road by 8:30 or so. The route was supposed to be about 160 km and 5000 meters of climbing. Of course the weather wasn't cooperating on this day either and there was a very light rain when I headed out of town and went towards the first pass at Col du Glandon at around 1900 meters. The road was very quiet and I only passed one other person, an old guy (70 ish!) on the way up. The scenery was spectacular with cliffs, waterfalls, huge reservoirs and incredible views. There was one really steep section at around 12%, but the hill averaged 4.7% grade, so it was a slow grinder for a couple of hours. When I hit the top there was some construction going on, so I had one of them take my picture.



One kilometer away was the top of Col de la Croix de Fer at 2067 meters. It was deserted, so I took a couple of pictures, ate some fake food and then prepared for the descent. The top was cold and incredibly windy. Luckily the weather was starting to improve, because the first part of the 45 minute descent was very cold, but the sun began to appear and warmed me a little. It was a slow descent as I held the brakes with a death grip and twisted around the steep turns at incredibly slow speed. I had picked up a map at the local cycle shop in town and it was generally excellent, giving details on 10 or 12 rides in the area, including the one I was doing. At one point at the bottom of the descent the map stated that I should turn on to a different highway. When I hit the intersection there was a big detour sign, with a freshly painted road going one way and a crappy road going the other way. The map said to take the crappy road. I sat at the intersection for about five minutes before I decided to go with the highway signs and follow the detour and the new road. Long story short I added 10 Km to my route and one more Col. After connecting up with the main route again I headed for the next mountain top. The ascent of the Col du Telegraph was another grinder, but very doable. I felt very good. I stopped at a few towns along the way to buy drinks. I had someone take my picture at the top of the Col and then headed off for Galibier at 2600 meters. As I came around a corner just outside of Valloire I got a glimpse of the climb ahead of me...it made me pretty nervous to see this huge hill with a bunch of switchbacks that looked incredibly steep. At the same time I was also passing a small chalet that happened to have a bunch of people drinking on the balcony. They all gave me a round of applause so I smiled, waived, grit my teeth and headed up the hill. Within minutes it seemed like they looked like ants. As I got closer to the top there was more and more snow. It was pretty cool to have a fifteen foot snow bank to your right and a cliff to your left (with no barriers of course!).

The last 5K was pretty tough; I think they save the steepest part for the top! I knew I could get to the top, but it was pretty slow going and I was thankful for all those climbing repeat drills I was put through in training. It turned out that the summit was closed and only the (long dark) tunnel was open so I couldn't climb the last 100 meters. There was a store at the stop, so I headed in, bought a sandwich and thought about the long 50K descent home. I was covered in sweat from the climb, but again the top was freezing and incredibly windy. Within minutes my teeth were chattering uncontrollably. The descent was tough for the first bit because of the strong winds and the tight hairpin turns, (again with no guardrails!). I am in total awe of professional riders who descend at 100 kph or more. I was lucky to hit 40 kph. I don't think I have ever descended for 50 kms before and I don't think I pedaled for more than a kilometer or two on the way back into town. It was pretty cool. I flew past the Col du Lautaret without even noticing the summit. I passed the huge La Meije glacier and a couple of really cute little towns, but didn’t stop for pictures. I was happy to be back in town and I actually felt good at the end of the day, eight and a half hours of riding and 170 km after I started.

Thursday morning I felt great and was not sore at all from the ride on Wednesday. Thursday was Alpe d'Huez and then the Col du Sarenne before looping back into town for a total of about 50K. I was a little nervous about climbing the Alpe d'Huez and so just took it slow and methodically. The first couple of switchbacks were the steepest, but then it seemed to be a little easier for most of the way up the rest. 21 switchbacks later I made the top in a time 1:15. I hung around for a while and got my certificate for climbing the hill before heading off to the next mountain top. I mentally underestimated the Col de Sarrene. On paper it is around 160 meters higher than the Alpe d'Huez, so I figured it would be no big deal. It was incredibly windy between summits and there were a couple of pretty steep spots. I passed a group of riders so I felt pretty good. I was glad to make the summit and noted mentally to never underestimate again! I stopped at the top for a few minutes, but again, it was incredibly windy. The descent was treacherous to say the least. It was a very narrow road without guardrails, water was pouring over the road in many spots and rocks/gravel littered the road everywhere from the spring run off. The hairpin turns I sped through at around 2 miles per hour, often with one foot unclipped from the pedals for fear of hitting a boulder or falling over from such slow speed. My hands were sore at the end from one hour of death grips on the brakes. I was glad to be done that piece of it. At the bottom, the road had completely washed away in areas and there were large construction teams doing repairs. The main highway near La Grave never looked so good. This picture shows some of the descent heading over the Col de la Serenne.


Friday was a 100K loop heading out of town towards Grenoble and then up and over the Ornon pass.


I picked the route from the cycling store map and it turned out to be a very nice tour. At the summit I met a couple of other cyclists, chatted with the store owner (there is a chalet at the summit of every hill I think), drank a couple glasses of peach ice tea, ate more fake food, filled my water bottles and headed back into town. My chain was rubbing slightly for about half the trip and I couldn't seem to correct the problem. I ended up cleaning and tuning up the bike in the evening and the rubbing thankfully went away.

The last day of riding was going to be a 60km out and back course to Berarde and back, but at the last minute I decided to do Alpe d'Huez again first and then start out to Berarde. I was still feeling very good and I wanted to see how fast I could get to the top of Alpe d'Huez if I tried a little harder than Thursday's effort. I ended up at just over an hour at 1:03 and still had a little left over. I coasted down to town, grabbed a quick lunch and headed out to Berarde. There were professional photographers near the Alpes d’Huez summit, and I ordered a few pictures.

This ride to Berarde was a great ride with lots of steep climbs, tough switchbacks, narrow roads, dark tunnels and of course lots of areas with no guardrails.


If you are not aware by now, heights bother me quite a bit. I came around one corner and saw a small bridge in front of me that couldn't have been more than 5 feet wide, no guardrails and what looked like 1000 feet down on each side. I had about 10 seconds to decide what to do as I approached. I thought about trying to walk across, but thought I may freeze in fear half way across. I considered crawling across and dragging my bike, but thought I would look stupid if another car or rider came by. I eventually just rode across going 3 miles an hour and staring 5 feet in front of my front wheel. I stressed about having to cross the bridge again for quite a while! I got a local person to take my picture in the town of Berarde and then headed back to the hotel for a beer to celebrate a fun week in the hills.



Sunday morning I packed the bags and piled the car high with my stuff. The drive home was uneventful. It was a fantastic trip, but I was glad to be home.

I have a bunch more photos on the web which I will send in a separate e-mail link (because I can’t figure out how to link it properly here!) If you hit the slideshow button and select the fast mode, you’ll be through the 100+ pictures in no time!

Tom

Glynn Family - European Update Spring 2004

To All,

It’s been a while since we’ve published our family update on life on the other side of the planet. I’m sure many of you are thankful! For a while I wasn’t sure if we’d just lost our sense of humor or possibly we’d simply become used to this place and felt that things and situations that once seemed odd and entertaining are now completely normal.

It was impossible to have a sense of humor in the winter here in Bonn. It was cold and grey for months on end and we all feared the sun would never shine again. Being much further north than California meant that the days were short and the nights were long for far too many days. Now that spring and summer are upon us, the days are growing much longer and the sun comes out on a regular basis. Our senses of humors are returning.


We had our German tax returns audited.

In Germany they give you money for having kids. The term is “kindergeld”, which roughly translates to children’s money. It is very unclear as to who is actually entitled to receive this money. I have talked to a number of ex-pats over here and some get it, some do not. Some have applied and been rejected, but other people in the exactly same situation and fact pattern were granted the money. It appears to be luck of the draw and the local bureaucrat you get to help out. Dianne and I never bothered to apply for the money, because any government money we receive would have to be returned to Dianne’s company. Several people in Dianne’s company do get the funds and then owe the money back to the company when it comes time to pay the tax bills.

After Dianne’s company filed our tax returns, we got a notice in the mail asking how come we had not put our kindergeld on the tax return. We showed that we have kids, so there should be income shown. We sent the letter to the Ernst & Young tax department, explained that we didn’t get the money, and could they please inform the German government.

A little time passes and we get another notice saying they received our letter, thanks very much, but we needed to prove that we didn’t get the money. Of course, they didn’t explain how to prove a negative. We came up with the brilliant idea that the German taxing authorities should simply have called the kindergelt department, run our name through the computer and find that we, in fact, did not get the funds. Per the taxing authorities, it is not possible. “nicht möglich” is a favorite response to most logical questions – not possible.

After discussions with Dianne’s tax department, their advice was to apply for the funds. We applied, and of course, we were promptly denied, citing a provision in the tax code that stated that American ex-pats were not allowed to receive the funds. Of course, we are Canadian, and many of Dianne’s co-workers, all American ex-pats, were receiving kindergeld. We had no intention of appealing, rather we simply sent the rejection letter to the taxing authorities and we now believe that our tax problems are behind us. When you think nothing could be more confusing or complicated than the American IRS, along comes the German government!


We Went on Vacation to the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are Europe’s version of Hawaii. The islands are off the coast of Northern Africa, but belong to Spain. You can get warm weather by Easter without visiting Asia, the Middle East or Africa.

We used the Internet as we have done in the past to find a place to stay. We have always had good luck. We rented an apartment from a British couple on one of the Islands that was made up of predominately British and German tourists. The place was close to the beach and even had a pool and satellite TV. Kira was thrilled to be getting a pool and a chance to watch English TV for the first time in a year and a half.

Our flight left from Frankfurt early in the morning so we decided to do the hour and a half drive the night before and stay the night in a hotel by the airport. After arriving, Dianne and I talked Kira into a little babysitting job (paid of course!) and we wandered downstairs for a drink at the bar to get our vacation started properly. The place was very nice and we were jut getting through the first round and thinking about the second when one of the patrons pointed out to the bartender that he would like to have a cigar from the many displayed in a beautiful glass case. I’m not a cigar expert by any means, but there were cigars from around the world, including Cuba (which I think are supposed to be good??). Within minutes a couple of others also requested cigars. Dianne and I were sitting and watching the formal procedure for opening and lighting the cigars when their smoke began to fill the room. Within seconds I started to cough mildly, trying not to let the smoke bother me. In the next minute my eyes were watering uncontrollably and I was coughing like someone about to die from some horrible disease. Plans for round two were quickly modified and I had to make a dash for the exit as the guests all stared at me crying hopelessly and coughing like a maniac. I waited outside for Dianne to pay the bill. I was glad to be rid of Germans and their smoking, if only for a while. I couldn’t wait to spend time with a bunch of Spanish folks and only hoped that they were not as heavy smokers as the Germans. (I sure do miss California!)

Regarding our trip planning, we made a lot of assumptions and didn’t ask enough questions, as we found out later. When we arrived, we found out that the apartment was in the German area, not the British area as we had assumed. Of course the pool was out of commission and the satellite TV was hooked to the German networks. The walk to the beach was 15 minutes downhill, 30 minutes back uphill, not quite “close to the beach” especially with Conner in tow.

Germans love all-inclusive package deals. They often book at the last minute and are very aggressive about finding low prices. These all-inclusive places serve buffet style breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel. As a result of this, and the fact that we were in a German tourist area, meant there were only a handful of restaurants. Thousands of tourists and there was practically no where for us to eat. We had originally planned to eat dinners in, and lunches out. We ended up frequenting the same couple of restaurants multiple times.

Germans love sun bathing. Everyone was lathering on the sun tan oil, getting as dark as possible. I guess they don’t have skin cancer over here. Many of the women were topless, but of course they were all 80 years old or weighed-in somewhere over 200 pounds. Now I know why we have laws to protect us from these sort of sights in the US. The only thing worse was what appeared to be a new fashion craze (OK, maybe I’m a little out of touch!), and that was men in thongs. I hope you are never afforded the agony of seeing a 300 pound man in a thong, strutting down the beach as we were subjected to! But the crowning glory occurred when Thursday before we left, Kira and Dianne were sitting, quietly reading and mind their own business, when a man, about 100 feet in front of them, decided a full frontal nude sun tan pose was appropriate - now we have seen everything!

Of course, I stood out like a sore thumb, wearing a baseball cap, shirt, long shorts and sandals. Any part of my body that was exposed to the sun had sun block at the highest rating possible. I was there for a week and I hardly had a tan.

The beach was wonderful and there was white sand for miles. Conner loved the beach and still talks about it. The brochures mentioned that the island was the windsurfing capital of the world. I thought that was pretty cool, not that I surf or anything. It didn’t occur to be that the first part of “windsurfing” is wind, and we quickly realized that this beach was going to have a very strong wind for the entire vacation.

By the way, there are no Spanish people on the island; no Spanish restaurants and no local “flavor”. Welcome back to Germany, only warmer. We did get a chance to meet the person caring for the house a bit. He was German. When he found out we were from the US, he proceed to inform us that he was very concerned about terrorism in the world. Before we had a chance to say anything, he made it clear that George Bush was leading us all into Armageddon. About three minutes of complete silence after his comments, Dianne and I quickly moved the conversation on to more pleasant topics, like the weather. Politics is NEVER something to discuss with a complete stranger, especially without a beer in hand and three or four in the belly! We were thankful the conversation never came up again.

I’m glad I have the ability to learn from my mistakes in life.

Conner ensures that on every family vacation Dianne has been duly "blessed by him" - for those of you who do not remember the flight home from California at Xmas included vomiting on Dianne soon after the plane took off - of course Conner had a change of clothes - although I think the others in the plane wanted Dianne to parachute out! This trip was not exception - our last Friday on the island Conner is sitting quietly on mom's lap at lunch and soon Dianne feels warm and wet - Conner peed a lake on Dianne leaving her to dry off in the sun while he, of course, had another change of clothes!


Family Update

I am happily in a routine and have been keeping busy. The only remotely interesting thing going on is my upcoming bike trip to climb the French Alps. I’ll send out another annoying update on that when I get back.

Kira is happy at school and as I’ve stated before, she will be sad to move back. She is working on boyfriend number two. I guess one year was enough for number one. We never did get the full scoop on why they parted company, but they still seem to be friends. Goodbye Trenton, hello Kyle. Kyle is a year older and his hormones are raging nearly as high as Kira’s. I’m trying hard to be a “cool” parent and I am working hard at being communicative. However, I have already had several discussions with Kira with such topics as, “it’s OK to hold hands in front of parents, but making out is not appropriate”. I must be getting old.

Conner is a happy young kid and is doing very well. He loves to go to his little preschool/day care and our mom & me toddler group. He talks a mile a minute and we understand about half out what he says. I am teaching him well. He is working on potty training, but this seems more important to his parents than it is to him. We have good days and bad days.

Dianne has been extremely busy at work. She was assigned a client from hell in Italy and has been there for most of the past four weeks. People have flown in from different parts of Italy, as well as France, Germany and Greece to help out. We miss her a lot, but when she does come back occasionally, we get to howl with laughter with great stories from expats around Europe as they bemoan life overseas. I’ll leave most of the story telling to Dianne, but will pass on a few of my favorites.

Greece is a place of corruption, bribery and shoddy workmanship. None of the locals seem to mind. When sewer pipes where laid, the pipes were too small to accommodate the needs of the population. As a result (OK, this is a little gross so feel free to skip ahead), you are not allowed to flush toilet paper down the toilet. Think, wipe and discard. Keep in mind that there is no air conditioning in the country and you can imagine what office and public washrooms smell like on a regular basis.

Years ago Greece applied to the European Union (EU) for funds to help build a twin boar tunnel through a heavily congested area. The EU agreed and stated they would pay in installments as the work was completed. The Greeks finished the first boar grossly over budget and did not have the funds to complete the second boar. Someone came up with the brilliant idea to start the second one, and then paint a large mural just inside so as to appear that the tunnel was almost done. After completing the picture, EU officials were driven to the first boar and then quickly past the second. The funds to complete the remaining boar were released by the EU. The tunnel was never completed and the mural still stands today.

As you know, Athens is preparing for the Olympics - although this preparation should have begun 4 years ago....Recently they had a bike road race test to see how the course on the streets might work. Athens has a severe wild dog problem. The Greeks do not believe in euthanasia but rather castration and release - so the road race began and for the next 50 miles the cyclists were darting in and out of wild dogs chasing them! Might make for faster time trials! Athens will probably look pretty good on the TV when the Olympics come but from what we have heard the city itself will be in disrepair - a freeway built from the airport to the city to serve the increased traffic expected during the Olympics was built with poor quality - surprise - The city has had to tear out the newly constructed freeway after it buckled in several places -. To date the new freeway has not been laid and it is unclear if it will be ready in time for the Olympic games. Remember rolling black outs in California - well it turns out that Athens was supposed to put in 5 new power stations to support the need for power during the Olympics. Of course Athens has not accomplished this yet so...they plan to have rolling blackouts in the city during the summer games as it is clear the power grid will be unable to handle the traffic.....

June is a sad time in Bonn as friends pack up and head home as their assignments end. There is a continual rotation of people, but it is always hard to say goodbye to friends. Lisa, the partner Dianne worked with left a couple of weeks ago and Dianne was very sad to see her go, as they had become the best of friends. Another co-worker, Patrick is set to head home in the coming weeks. Both will be sorely missed as they made our transition to Bonn as smooth as can be expected and made us feel welcome from the outset. I’m sure we will keep in touch with both Lisa and Patrick for years to come.

I’ve written enough for now, so it’s time to say goodbye once again. I thought I would throw in a newspaper article I came across a while ago. I’m always making fun of the German shopping experience and low and behold, the Wall Street Journal Europe runs an article of the peculiarities of this country’s obsession with discount, no frills or service, grocery shopping experience. I’m really not making this up!


Enjoy.

The Glynns


Tom, Dianne, Kira, Conner





===============================================================


Bare-Bones
Shopping


Germany's discount retailers are among the world's most successful. Here's how one does it.


By ERIN WHITE and SUSANNA RAY
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 10, 2004; Page R6

By some measures, Germany should be a discount retailer's nightmare. The highly regulated market prevents would-be budget trimmers from freely making some of the kinds of cost cuts taken for granted in the U.S. The country has strict rules regarding the hiring and firing of workers, and retailers generally can't sell "below cost." There are even laws about when stores can open and close.

Yet Germany has one of the most successful discount retail sectors in the world. In grocery retailing alone, discounters account for about 40% of the market, say Christian Schrahe and Frank Pietersen at KPMG in Germany. And behind this success lies a simple but intriguing strategy: To keep expenses low in a market with high labor costs, keep service to a minimum.

German discounters have learned that shoppers are more than willing to put up with bare-bones service and a no-frills environment when rock-bottom prices are their reward. German consumers are famously price-conscious, so the strategy has a natural home here. Its leading practitioner, the superlean supermarket chain Aldi, with some 4,000 stores in Germany, strips away nearly every bell and whistle that shoppers expect at a traditional grocery store. But Aldi has found the approach also works -- at least to some degree -- in other markets as well, having opened about 2,200 stores in 11 other countries, including the U.S., Britain and France, according to estimates.

"They're only doing what's necessary to keep the store open," says Bert Keizer, who follows retail at consultancy Capgemini in the Netherlands.


Aldi Facts

The first Aldi was started in 1948 in Essen, Germany, by the Albrecht family. Around the early 1960s, the retailer split into two companies, each run by a family brother, Aldi Nord Einkauf GmbH & Co., based in Essen, and Aldi Süd Einkauf GmbH & Co., based in Mülheim an der Ruhr, according to Rachael Aggarwal, international program manager at IGD, a U.K.-based food and grocery research firm. The privately owned companies are separate but follow the same principles, analysts say. Their combined revenue, including overseas operations, is estimated at 32 billion euros ($37.8 billion), according to Ms. Aggarwal. Aldi is famously tight-lipped. A spokeswoman for Aldi Nord confirmed the company origins and the family's ownership, but declined to answer other questions. Repeated calls to Aldi Süd's main number went unanswered.


The success of Aldi's approach was evident at a popular outlet on a busy corner in Frankfurt recently where shoppers in tailored suits and in workmen's overalls filled their carts side by side. Items for sale included a liter (about a quart) of orange juice for 59 European cents (70 U.S. cents), a bottle of red wine from France for 1.19 euro, a six-pack of pilsner beer for 1.79 euro and a box of 25 peppermint tea bags for 39 European cents. By comparison, the cheapest liter of orange juice at the Kaufhof grocery store in downtown Frankfurt was 1.49, and the cheapest box of 25 peppermint tea bags cost 79 European cents.


Aldi's strategy starts with hiring fewer store staff, analysts say. Its stores typically have about four or five workers per outlet, compared with about 15 at a normal supermarket, KPMG says. This way Aldi can pay good wages to its store clerks and still save on labor costs. KPMG says Aldi's labor costs are about 6% of revenue, compared with about 12% to 16% at a typical supermarket. Mr. Keizer says Aldi also avoids more costly "specialist" clerks, such as butchers or bakers. At Aldi, meat and bread typically come prepacked.


Aldi gets by with fewer workers partly because its stores are smaller: typically 750 square meters (8,100 square feet) of selling space, compared with about 1,000 square meters at a traditional supermarket, says KPMG. But even so, there is only so much that so few can do.


On a recent evening at a Frankfurt Aldi store, only two of the four checkout stands were open, with lines at least a dozen shoppers deep. Only two other employees were visible in the whole store, and they were focused on pulling out empty boxes or restacking full ones, with no attention paid to the lines forming behind them and little time to answer customers' questions.


Ready or Not


Once shoppers reached the cash register, they had to spring into action. German grocery stores don't employ baggers in general, but at Aldi stores their absence can have potentially messy consequences. There are conveyor belts for the products leading up to the price scanner and register, but at that point the counter ends. Hurried checkers in the Frankfurt store pushed items through at assembly-line speed, and if no shopping cart or bag was waiting to receive them, cartons of eggs would simply end up on the floor.


Ledges on the other side of the checkout stands were lined with carts and shoppers bagging and rearranging their goods to haul them home. The store had no parking, and the carts were outfitted with devices to lock the wheels if they were taken off the premises.


Aldi also doesn't waste time or money arranging products on shelves. Food gets stacked in its original packing boxes, with the tops ripped off, piled high either on top of pallets against the walls or on simple shelving units. Prices are plainly listed on paper signs attached to boards hung from the ceiling. Boxes of goods in the Frankfurt store, such as cornflakes and peppermint tea, were piled up in stacks as high as six feet.


There's no piped-in music or soft lighting to get one in the shopping mood. And while some thought is clearly given to arrangement -- drinks are generally stacked together, for example -- many items appear to just be piled wherever there's room. At the Frankfurt store, steam cleaners were being sold next to bottles of plum liqueur, raisins next to rice and sparkling wine next to stockings.


If You Don't See It...


The tiny store staff doesn't have to worry about keeping shelves consistently stocked because Aldi doesn't replenish its goods very often, says Mr. Keizer.


"They fill up their stores once or twice a week," he says. That means shoppers sometimes can't find what they want, but they don't seem to mind. Some even rearrange their schedules to hit Aldi at the best times. "In the evenings, they often run out of bread and vegetables," says Audrionis Lapeikis, a Frankfurt construction worker, "so we just try to shop a little earlier."


Another way Aldi keeps its displays simple is by offering a limited range of goods, analysts say. About 95% of Aldi's goods are private label, says Ms. Aggarwal of IGD. And it often stocks just one product type per category. A typical Aldi store carries about 700 to 1,200 different products, compared with as many as 20,000 for a typical supermarket, says KPMG. At a Frankfurt Aldi, for instance, shoppers who wanted fresh milk could get only whole milk.


Aldi also keeps its marketing costs in check by pursuing a simple, straightforward advertising strategy. In Germany it avoids expensive TV commercials and instead sticks with options like print ads, says KPMG. Since Aldi is already such a well-known retailer in Germany, its ads focus on simple product-oriented messages rather than fuzzier and potentially more expensive "brand-building" extravaganzas.


Christiane Beckort, a lab technician from Frankfurt who shops at her neighborhood Aldi once a week, says she remembers a time in her childhood when friends' parents refused to frequent the store because the food wasn't displayed in proper cabinets or shelves.


"They said picking out of boxes on the floor was for poor people," Ms. Beckort recalls. Today, she adds, "that stigma is long gone." --Ms. White is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's London bureau and Ms. Ray is a reporter for Dow Jones Newswires in Frankfurt.


Write to Erin White at erin.white@wsj.com

Weekend in France

This is just a quick note to say hello to all and give you some details of our weekend trip to France. Monday was a holiday here in this part of Germany and Carnival is in full swing before the start of Lent on Wednesday, so we did the German thing and went on vacation like many of our neighbors. It’s either that or visit parades and drink for 5 days in a row. If I was 20, I might have stuck around.

This was a quick trip and we drove Sunday morning to a small town in France called Amiens, about 4 hours from our house. It is most famous for its cathedral, which is the largest in France. The building was indeed spectacular. Kira wants to return on June 24th to visit. The cathedral was built after John the Baptist’s head was given to the region in 1209. Every year on Saint John the Baptist Day, they bring out the head on a platter for all to see. It that cool or what? (OK, so it’s weird!). No pictures of the head, so don’t race through this looking for one! We did see a picture (it was actually just the face, and it was rather gruesome. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the head or the body for that matter).

There is nothing much else to Amiens from what we could see. It looks like a very depressed town. Much of the town is built of a white cinder block construction and this looks dismal when dirty and, having a grey sky made it even more depressing. Only a few shops were open Sunday and even many of the restaurants appeared to be closed. Our guide book suggested one of two places; a local and an exotic. The local was closed so we opted for the other, a Tex Mex place in the middle of nowhere. I don’t think I’ve ever had a chicken burrito served with Velveeta cheese melted on top and served with French fries on the side. The beer was good though.

We went looking for breakfast on Monday morning, and again nothing was open, even at 10:00 a.m. We ended up in a little bakery eating croissant type stuff. They didn’t have coffee. We even went to the tourist office, staffed by 5 people, all sitting around talking, and couldn’t get a recommendation for a place to eat at 11:00 am on Monday. Very weird. I know why Starbucks is doing well in France. I only wish they had one in Amiens. As an aside, Starbucks opened last year in Cologne, a nearby city to Bonn. However, as Dianne found out on her first visit there at 7:30 a.m. before a meeting that the place doesn’t open until 9:00. How weird is that!

We all laughed at our ability to completely destroy the French language. For some reason, the couple hundred German words I know keep popping into my head at the most inopportune time. I have no idea how people can manage to speak 3 or 4 languages without mixing them all up. Needless to say, we servived.


Amiens was also near the front lines during the First World War and there are war memorials and grave yards everywhere around. Even the church had several plaques thanking the various Allied troops for helping to defend the church and the town.

We went to visit a famous WW1 battleground at Vimy Ridge, about 20 minutes from Amiens. This was the Germans most heavily fortified hill on the front, which extended down from Belgium to Switzerland. The two sides were stalemated for several years, when the Canadians were given the task to take the hill. The battle was characterized as one of the greatest of the war, in which the Canadians stormed up the hill and took possession of the field.

We walked around some of the trenches. It was amazing that the two sides were literally 100 feet apart. During the summer months you can also go down into some of the tunnels, where they would dig to the other side and set large explosives under the enemy. They will also give personal tours for all Canadians. We also saw one of the grave yards, the huge monument built on the hill to honor all the Canadians lost in the war, and a little museum with pictures and small video clips. Most of the graves were marked only as “Known Only Unto God” as their names were not known. The monument has inscribed the names of all the thousands of Canadians missing and presumed dead during the War. The battleground is filled with huge craters and there are still thousands of unexploded shells around. Don’t leave the designated walking areas! It was very impressive.

A link is included for those Canadians in the e-mail. http://pages.interlog.com/~fatjack/vimybattle.htm
As Dianne says, it definitely makes one proud to be (or have been) Canadian after visiting.

Anyway, if it’s Tuesday, Dianne must be in Moscow! It’s back to daily life.

Tom, Dianne, Kira, Conner

Glynn Germany Update

It’s been a while since the last update, so here goes!

We’ve had new neighbors move in directly across the street from us. They are British but plan to live in Germany for many more years. They have two kids, Eleanor and Ingrid about 2 ½ and 4. Conner is in love with both of them. We are constantly on the lookout to see if they are around. The kids come and visit 3 or 4 times a week to play with Conner’s toys and watch videos. A picture is attached.

Conner is doing well adjusting to his new ½ day program at school. He is in with the “big” kids who are all two years of age.

Kira is plugging along at school, enjoying the social aspects and the fact she gets little, if any, homework on a regular basis. A couple of weeks ago her German teacher encouraged the kids to further develop their language skills by joining a German sports group. German kids go to school from about 8 a.m. to around 1 p.m. and then go to various activities, including these sports clubs. It is kind of like the parks and rec activities in the States. Kira was the only one in her school to sign up.

I took her for her sign up and first practice last Friday. She was pretty nervous and made sure that I notified the person signing everyone up that her German wasn’t that good and she was a native English speaker. After the signup, which went very smoothly (as I am now an expert at filling out standardized forms), we waited for the class to start. Four girls, all obviously friends, came bounding in, dressed in official basket ball gear for Germany (Deutsche Telecom sponsors the big team here) and were loud and boisterous. I think if Kira could have backed out at that moment she would have. At the appropriate time we moved into the gym to start. We introduced ourselves to the coach (he was probably late teens) and let him know that Kira’s German was not at the expert level. He said, in perfect English, “No problem, I speak English”. Kira grew about 2 feet taller and was very relieved. Once the kids were seated, the coach introduced everyone. He was excellent; within 2 minutes he had all the girls names memorized. He explained to everyone that Kira spoke English. One of the girls (in German) said, “but this is a German club”, at which time the coach replied back, “no, it’s a sports club”. Kira, who could understand both, was beaming. Kira fit right in and could do all the drills including dribbling, lay ups, and shooting from various different spots in the court. At one time another one of the girls said to everyone (in German) and to no one in particular, “Why is she so good?” referring to Kira. The coach replied, “She’s American, they are all good at Basket Ball”. Kira, who told no one that she could understand German, smiled for the rest of the class. Halfway through the practice, the girls were split into two groups to play a pick up game. Two of the German girls were told to each pick a person until everyone was assigned to a team. Kira was one of the first picked. Needless to say, Kira is already talking about joining next year. I think she is braver than I ever was (or will be!)

Dianne’s work is picking up at Deutsche Telecom and, as a result, has been traveling a lot less. She has one trip to Moscow planned and a possible trip to Warsaw, but no major events planned.

Unfortunately Dianne had her wallet stolen from her purse at work earlier in the week. She didn’t discover it missing until she was heading home in the evening. After discussing the issue with the internal security she headed home to start canceling credit cards and figuring out how to get all the ID back. Most of the process was surprisingly easy with calls to the US to get new cards sent on the way. The only major issue we had was trying to get hold on the German bank to cancel our ATM card. There is no 24/7 banking here. They had an automated number to call, but as it was all in German, and we were forced to give up pretty quickly. Dianne decided to call the bank directly first thing in the morning. At 8 a.m. she called the branch and explained the issue. She was told there was no one there to help and could she please call back at nine. Very weird. At 9:00 she went over to the branch and explained the problem. They asked if should would mind waiting 5 days before doing anything, because, supposedly in Germany, many wallets are returned in the mail, with only the cash missing. She explained that she used the card everyday and really needed it cancelled and replaced. She was told it would be a 10 day wait. She asked what would happen if she waited for the wallet to come in the mail for a week and then it never appeared. She was told it would take 10 days from then to get another card. All the pleading in the world was wasted; we are now waiting 10 days for her card to arrive. Thank goodness I have my card, or so I thought. I went to the bank the next day (I bank most every day!) and put my card in the machine to check balances and verify transactions. The machine grabbed my card and told me to see someone in the bank. To say that I was stressed was an understatement. How could we get by without access to cash or ATM for the next 10 days! I went into the bank and tried to explain in the best German I could muster that I really needed my card back. I was told that I could get the card back the next day if I brought my passport with me. I left, not quite sure if the card would be any good, and by the way, with about 4 euros to my name. I returned 24 hours later and got my card back. Luckily it was useable at the machines and stores around town. I still have never figured out why they took my card.

My official job is to think about where to travel next. Only a year and a few months to go! We have booked our Easter vacation to the Canary Islands. They are part of Spain and located off the coast of Africa. They are the German version of Hawaii and the Islands are always full of German tourists. We found a nice little apartment on the web and will be staying for 10 days. Temperatures are very nice at that time of year and we plan to make this our sit and relax vacation. No museums, churches or 1000 year old buildings. Kira is thrilled.

We just returned from a weekend in Amsterdam (three hours from here). We had a great time in a really neat city. We saw the Van Gough museum, Anne Frank house, did a canal tour and did a lot of walking. Pictures are on the web and if anyone wants to see what the city looks like. Let me know and I’ll send you a link.

Dianne’s parents along with her brother Brian and his significant other will be joining us in June. Where else to go but Italy? Our favorite spot in the Tuscany region again is on the agenda.

I have also booked a hotel for around a week in early June in Le Bourg D’Oisans in the French Alps at the base of Alpe D’Huez and plan to do some cycling around the legendary Tour de France climbs. I’m in training now. The downhills are easy; just a little fast. It’s the uphills that I’m worried about. I’ll keep practicing and see what happens!

Kira and Conner will probably be off to Canada with Grandma and Grandpa when they finish visiting us. I’ll probably fly back to pick them up and return to Germany. We are still working on details.

The weather has been fantastic lately with temperatures in the 50’s. Next week the temperature should drop again, but we’ll take the good stuff when we can. I’ve attached a picture of Conner preparing for winter weather.

We had a great time in the US and Canada over Xmas and can’t wait to see everyone again.

Tom (Dianne, Kira & Conner too!)