Monday Memories: "The Goal is between the Flip Flop and the Backpack"

family fun at the beach!

We are far from the most athletic of clans, but we make up in enthusiasm what we lack in regard for the rules. Sportsmanship is not our strong point. Most games end in all of us collapsing on the sand, out of breath, vigorously contesting which side claimed victory (and frequently, even at the very end of the game, still discussing who is on which team). Some members of the family seem to think you can compensate skill with rigorous debate. I belong in this camp. My motto is:  you can cheat, foul, yell, pull shirts and trip ankles, just as long as you're pulling off an adorable orange blouse while you do it! 

In this photo, my father is failing to catch, my sister is failing to block him, my cousin is failing to care, my mother and aunt are failing to participate and my grandma is just hangin' out in the middle. I may suck at sports, but it must be because an apple does not fall far from the tree. And amen to that, because I wouldn't give up this crazy clan or my genetically predetermined two left feet for anything!
 
Look up at the Sky!
 
Zanna

PS. Hanging out with the same crew at the lake, in a restaurant, and around the pool, way back in the day.

PPS. Another picnic at a California beach!

Monday Memories: Swimming in Chapada Diamantina

loving Brazil: a refreshing swim at the end of hike!

Really, is anything more delightful than a quick swim in cold water on the stickiest and sweatiest of summer days? I think not. Right now we're enjoying lukewarm sunshine and those first trickles of warmth but pretty soon August will be roasting us alive in our own skin and I for one cannot wait! I loved running through sprinklers during hot summers as a kid and I love jumping into cool lakes now that I'm (kind of) grown up. 

Mom and Zelda

This picture was taken on a family vacation to Brazil a few years ago. One of the highlights of our trip was the Chapada Diamantina National Park. Here, we were at the end of a long, hot, but breathtakingly beautiful hike that lead us to a lovely waterfall and this natural pool. Of course all four of us had to hop in!  It was sooooo refreshing and--once the water-tag started--so much fun!


Look up at the Sky!

Zanna

PS. Monday Memories of hiking in Costa Rica, a romantic weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland, and skiing in the alps with friends or just with Karl!

 

Monday Memories: Childhood Monopoly Games

Playing monopoly in our pajamas!

I love this old photo of my friend Sam and me playing Monopoly in our PJs. We have been friends since before either of us can remember, and our younger sibling are perfectly age-matched too (well planned, parents). We were so sad when our family moved to Berlin and they stayed in New York City, but every now and then one of us flies over the pond for a visit.  On these occasions, we kids used to play a single monopoly game for four or five days straight. The younger kids dropped out after a couple hours (lightweights), but Sam and I played on and on, each with about equal properties values and no intention to quit. If fact, I distinctly remember him bailing me out with a cash infusion when money got tight on my side of the board. Of course, our parents still had activities and sightseeing scheduled for us, so we always woke up extra early to squeeze in a round before breakfast. Ah, to be a kid again....


Look up at the Sky!

Zanna

PS. Sorry for the bad quality of the photo, it's one of those real physical printed ones that you had to pay to get developed way back in the day.

PPS.  Monopoly continues to be one of my favorites...check out my top five games here!

Monday Memories: Picnic in California

Family picnic at the beach (those not pictured are off treasure hunting for sea glass and shells!)

Today I had two exams back to back and they are going to keep on coming. One last two-week sprint, and the semester is behind me! 

All this studying and stressing and stupid, stupid procrastination is taking it's toll, and what I need now is a little sunshine. One of those special memories you can keep tucked away, only to be unfolded every now and then, when you really need it.  Just pressing away the well-worn creases and drawing strength from the remembrance of happy times. 

Part of my family lives in California and whenever we are visiting we always make time for a visit to my favorite beach in the world for a bagel picnic by the sea. I love those long, lazy afternoons, all of us hanging out together, eating on a blanket spread on the sand and then dispersing for naps, walks, and beach-treasure-hunting.

I just booked flights for a visit to the Bay Area this spring and I can't wait to head to the ocean and feel the sand squidge between my toes and that salty spray on my face. Here's to getting through the next couple weeks!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. Memories of a ski trip with Karl, playing "Who am I?", having some summer fun at the lake, a romantic weekend in Lausanne, and last year skiing with friends!

Monday Memories: Sun, Snow, Skis!

The view from the living room window.

As I mentioned here, Karl and I ditched this icky winter weather last week for some sunshine and sport on the slopes!

We spent five days in the tiniest tinyest alpine village you ever saw, where the views are breathtaking and the rules are rigid. Seriously, only four families live there year round, and

Karl on his board--he's actually a certified instructor!

you can bet everybody knows everybody else's business. Karl's family has a vacation home there, and you can ski right up to your own doorstep! They have been visiting the same valley since his grandfather's day. Though his mom officially owns it, all cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends are welcome. You just have to give her a call to see if it's free when you want to go. Needless to say, Karl knows the village and the slopes inside out--but this was only my third time so I'm still learning! 

Stopping at a ski hut for luch!

It was great to get away just the two of us, especially as I am entering exam season now and won't reemerge for a couple weeks.  We had wonderful weather and new snow and lots of time to talk and smooch around on the lifts. I'm so glad we made time for this little trip!

One of the highlights was enjoying that hearty Bavarian cuisine. Lots of "wurst" (sausage), knödel (bread dumplings), spätzle (egg noodles), and pretzels with extra sides of meat and carbohydrates and more meat and more carbs. Just what you want after along day skiing in the cold! Of course, Karl loves his apple strudel, but my favorite is "flädle suppe", a flavorful broth with thin strips of pancake floating around. Yum!
 

Knödel soup, pretzel, apple strudel and flädlesuppe!

 Look up at the Sky! (or down at your plate!)

-Zanna

PS. More monday memories of playing "Who am I?", lake fun, a romantic weekend in Lausanne, and hiking in Brazil!

Monday Memories: Skiing in the Alps

Patrick, Frederika, and Karl with our epic snowman!

Just a short post today, because we are beyond the reach of reliable internet...in the Alps! I love it here. The mountains are majestic and the snow makes everything so serene and still.

Karl's family has a vacation place here and we come almost every year for some snow, sunshine, and skiing. Last year, we went with a couple of friends from medical school, Patrick and Frederika, but this years it's a romantic getaway à deux, which is lovely after the hustle and bustle of these busy winter months. 2015 is just flying by and I'm so happy to have a couple days of calm with my sweetheart to leave it all behind and just enjoy eachother's company (and some hot chocolate and good books too)!

Look up at the Sky (it's a fantastic night sky here)!

-Zanna

PS. More Monday Memories here, here, and here.

Monday Memories: "Who am I?"

 

One of the greatest blessings in life is family, and I am lucky enough to have two. I like to call them the bloody and the non-bloody families, because that's what they are: the one I am genetically related to and the one my parents built for me. 

In a way, I was born into both of them. I have my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins galore who all live far away. I also have an incredible, close-knit group of "aunts" and "uncles" right here in Berlin, friends of my parents who have known me from birth and whose kids, in turn, are like nieces and nephews to me. We all love hanging out together at our lakeside mini-cabins and we try to meet en masse as regularly as we can! Here is our annual Christmas Goose-Eating Event (held at a restaurant this year so no one spends four days cooking and no one cleans up!) We love Engelbecken in Berlin--they have the best Wiener Schnitzel around!

Zelda entertains the gang

Kiki, whose artistic talent graces many napkins at restaurants all over Berlin

Papa makes a point

 Sleepy Cousins

The restaurant empties around us

The evenings tend to get long, and the kids get antsy while the wine is still flowing freely on the adult side of the table. So this time, I took some decisive action in providing entertainment.

Multi-generational Who am I ?!

And it turned out amazing. So. Much. Fun!

Everyone, young and old, gets to write out a name for their neighbor. The not-yet-learned-to-write faction gets a little help.

We ended up with quite an eclectic cast of characters. 

Johnny Depp

Wagner

Moses

Dumbledore

David Cameron

Mika Häkkinen

Then, you go around the table and each person asks yes-or-no questions until they hit a no. Then it's the next person's turn. You go around till everybody has guessed who they are. Unsurprisingly, the kids did way better than the adults!

Richard Wagner was a tough one...

The five-year-old wins first place!

It was a wonderful evening and I'm missing the crew a lot right now! There's just nothing like spening a cold winter evening cozy inside, with a whole big bunch of family. 

Zelda holds Kiki and we all say goodbye

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. These photos were taken as a group effort (ie. a camera was lying on the table and most everyone fiddled around with it for a while. Thanks, Team!)

PPS. Past Monday Memories: A Day in Lausanne

Monday Memories: Lake Fun

The sleeping loft of our Laube (=hut)

Today I'm dreaming of summertime! The weather is drab and grey and I looked in the mirror this morning to see an exhausted vampire girly staring back. Seriously, I can't stand how white I get this time of year, I look transparent or ill or both! So this Monday I'm looking back on a beautiful July day last summer.

 Lunchtime

My parents have a small hut (German: Laube) at the Wannsee, one of the many spectacular lakes in southern Berlin. It's tiny, open-roofed, slightly nordic-looking, and adorable.  The primary use is to laze around near the lake on hot summer afternoons and sleep over when the city gets too grimy and hot to bear. 

Kiki horsing around in our hammock (yup, we have hammocks, and they're awesome!)

The best part is, all of our friends have huts nearby, so every summer evening becomes a big ol' party. The kids are all "cousins" and are communally and constantly covered in Popsicle gunk. Its a great big family and I miss them when I'm not home almost as much as I miss summertime!  

I can't wait for those long, lazy days when it's legitimate to wear a bathing suit and a sarong from morning till night, when ice cream becomes a primary food stuff and the ubiquitous sand mixes with random smears of sunscreen to create something disgusting between my toes.  Can't wait.

Here's to sunny memories getting us through these short, cold days. 

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. More Monday Memories here, here and here. 
PPS. Inaugural Post here!

View of the Lake

Monday Memories: A Day à deux in Lausanne

Morning walk with Karl to a hilltop in Lausanne

Last year, for various career-y and professional reasons, I was living in Paris while Karl was in Lausanne. This went on for about six months or so before we both elegantly bowed out of this unsatisfactory arrangement. Lessons learned: long distance sucks, skype does not suffice....but absence does make the heart grow fonder.  I remember those weekends together so much more vividly than the weeks apart.  We tried to spend every second weekend together and to alternate visits, so we got to explore both places pretty thoroughly (and yes, we got lucky that both are incredibly romantic, fascinating, and breathtakingly beautiful cities). Those weekends together, far away from family and friends, in a foreign country together, were so...well, for lack of a better word: intense. Not necessarily physically, more just a unique moment of being removed from the constant distractions of real life and focusing competently on one person for 48 uninterrupted hours. Just being me, being him, being us away from absolutely everything else. We talked a lot and we were silent a lot. In some ways we discovered who we really are as a couple. Maybe the fact that neither of us had cell phone service was a factor. I don't know exactly what cocktail of circumstances came together, but I remember discovering new places while re-discovering my beloved partner; I remember long, timeless days that went by in a blur; I remember great happiness, and more than that: great peace.  

Here are three snapshots of a day we spent in Lausanne, which is a wonderful city: quaint, lively, and perfectly situated on the shores of the lovely lake Geneva. Also, exorbitantly expensive, but lets focus on the positive.

Ending the day with a visit to the Olympic Museum and Headquarters

Look up at the Sky!

--Zanna

PS. More Monday Memories here, here, and here.

PPS. Who is Karl?

Monday Memories: Pool Cousins

Cousin Bobby plays "the throwing game" with Zelda

I only have one sister- Zelda the Goofball, Queen of Makeup and Math, our family's fashion arbiter and eternal baby. I sometimes wished for more siblings, but other times I was jealous of the attention my baby sister commanded and was glad our parents' booboo blowing and artwork admiring skills were only split between us two. In the end, it just felt right to be just us four--and continues to feel right to this day. But we had a saving grace: a large, chaotic, and kid-heavy extended family. And although they live on the other side of the country, if not of the other side of of the world from us, the adults always made a huge concerted effort to meet at least once a year, often in California. And of course, those sun-drenched days of being spoiled by grandparents and carted around in a caravan of cars were fun fun fun for us kids.The only hardship I remember was the mandatory 30 minute wait after lunch before being allowed to reenter the pool. Only the half hour before the doctor gives you your test results compares. 

Cousin Lina, Zelda, Me and Cousin Bobby in Grandma's Pool

I can't wait to see my kids and Zelda's playing in a pool together. Cousins have such a unique position in a kid's life: age matched, not as bicker-y as siblings and closer than friends.  I hope my kids have as awesome a relationship with theirs as I do with mine! This week we found out Bobby got into Stanford Law School and I am just over the moon proud for him. 

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. If you need a overview of the cast of characters find one here!

PPS. More Monday Memories here and here!

Monday Memories: Hiking in Brazil

This week I'm missing my family! After spending so much time together over winter break its strange to suddenly be separated. Since we all live scattered around the globe, vacations have always been the most important way we connect. Meeting up in some foreign place and discovering new sights and sounds together tightens our little family community like nothing else! My grandparents (who used to live in Mexico but are now in California) are the most adventurous travelers of us all and continue to travel across the Atlantic, visit new countries, and even attempt to learn new languages far into their eighties! They are such an inspiration, so today I've found a old photo from 2008, when all six of us met in Brazil where my mom had some work to do, and traveled around that amazing land. Awe-inspiring landscapes, a vibrant and unique culture, and an impressive diversity knit together in a melting-pot to rivals that of the US... it's no wonder we all fell in love with this country (and particularly with the Brazilians who are the coolest of the cool people you'll ever meet). We actually made the trek from far-away Europe twice, that's how much we loved it! 

Here, we're hiking in Chapada Diamentina National Park with our friendly guide (in blue). It took a six hour bus ride from Salvador de Bahia to arrive at Lencois, a picturesque colonial city from which all walks in the national park commence. We hiked every day, all day, including lots of clambering over stones as seen here, and my grandparents were amazing;  they scrambled over boulders and laughed the whole way. We had the time of our lives, and I still look back so fondly on those days in the Brazilian sun, stopping for picnic lunches and watching Grandma inch across the most unstable hanging bridge you've ever seen with a huge grin on her face. We're so lucky to have this time with family, it's the greatest luxury I can imagine! I hope I am blessed with good health and an indefatigable spirit in old age, so that I can give my grandchildren the same kind of memories they gave me.

Here, we stop in a rock formation near a waterfall for lunch. Zelda and Mom at the bottom appear to have dug in before the rest of us even arrive! Grandma's in her sunhat, me and Papa are last in line. Grand-papa is our resident photographer, so he's never in any pictures...

Look up at the Sky!

--Zanna

Monday Memories

Hiking in the Rainforest in Costa Rica with my fabulous sister, Zelda (left, in shorts)

I love traveling the world (and sometimes staying at my comfy, cozy home) with family and friends. On Mondays I'm going to try to take a look back at some happy memories, and remember to be grateful for all the wonderful opportunities life has provided!

This one is from trip to Costa Rica we took as family the summer after my first year of medical school. My parents, Zelda, and my grandparents all flew over and met in San Jose. We spent many happy hours trekking different trails and enjoying the amazing nature of the tropics. We were able to visit both coasts and spent a week in the middle of the Rainforest at a research station studying the habits of fruit bats! We had to wake up at four in the morning because bats are most active at dawn and dusk, but it was such a unique experience even this epic sleep-inner loved every minute! 

I also love this photo because I vividly remember bickering with Zelda about whose turn it was to carry the backpack with our picnic lunch the whole way up that mountain. Now she lives in Rotterdam and is so far away, I would carry her backpack for her every day if I could! Funny what growing up does to you.

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna