Saturday, April 28, 2007

RichCoast-Indian

What do you get when you mix...
... a Jamaican and an Italian? Little ´Pastafarians´.

... an Indian and a Jew? ´Hinjews´.
...people from Holland and Phillipines? Little ´Hollapenios´.
... a Cuban and a person from Iceland? Ice Cubes!
... a French and a Greek? A ´Freek´!

... a German and a Newfie? Little Goofies!

... a Costa Rican and an Indian? RichCoast - Indian --- get it?

Ok...so the last one is not so funny...but that´s because I added it to what
Russell Peters said!...Who´s Russell Peters, you ask? He´s the guy who answers the question: "How do you say ´Hello´ in Indian?" (Watch this 31 sec. video):




He´s *SO* funny!...Why hadn´t I heard from this guy before?

Here are the links to the videos of his stand-up at "Comedy Now Uncensored":
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (my favorite!), Part 5 (where he gives parental advice!).

UPDATE: Here´s the link of the 45 minute complete video. Thanks, Ishan!


So funny! I make fun of Ishan´s accent all the time!...ha ha!

I also enjoyed this video (about Asians -- yes! Indians are Asians too!), this other one (about the Spanish-speaking), and this other one, where my favorite line is: "Customs and Immigration Offices need to learn the difference between the terrorist and the Indians."

Hope you had the time for these videos...and had a good laugh!

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Happy 25th Month, Fabi!

Fabi celebrated his 25th month by having a normal day: playing with his toys, enjoying the spring weather, running up and down chasing a ball and keeping his Mom busy, as usual.

He´s repeating everything he hears and it´s funny to hear him say: "Oh, wow!" when he discovers something that amazes him (and many things amaze him everyday!)

Fabi is now in the phase of disliking to wear clothes and shoes and doesn´t like the idea of brushing his teeth anymore. He only agrees to wear what HE chooses...*sigh* Oh!...and he doesn´t like to sit on his stroller when we go out. All he wants to do is be able to run around freely. It´s a good thing that we have beautiful children playgrounds around where we live!

We join other mother-children groups during the week: Spanish-speaking families twice a week and German-speaking families twice a week. We hope to soon start going to children´s gymnastics group once a week - as soon as we both recover from a mild cold that hit us with the chance of season.

He doesn´t like sharing and will say: "Bola! Chiquito!" --meaning "this ball belongs to Chiquito", as he calls himself-which means "little one" in Spanish.

His vocabulary has expanded to include words such as:

sucio (dirty)
bolsa (bag)
"tu-tu" (onomatopoeia for train)

"bum"(onomatopoeia for car)
"miau" (onomatopoeia for cat)
"uuuu"(onomatopoeia for elephant)
"mu-mu"(onomatopoeia for cow, and he can also say vaca)
"poto"(onomatopoeia for drum-?!)
moto (motorcycle)
nada (nothing, as in "nothing is left. I ate all of it!")
por aquí (this way)

bola (ball)
moon (which I remind him is said "luna" in Spanish)
aquí (here)
allá (there)
uno (one)
dos(two)
pizza
jugo (juice)
pan (bread)
uva (grape)
sopa (soup)
papa (potato)
queque(cake)
t´elado (helado - ice cream)
té (tea)
ma´na (manzana - apple; sometimes he´s says this to request his favorite YouTube video of the song MahNa MahNa).
ba´no (banana)
bye
Mamá, Ma, Mai
Papá
chiquito & chiquita (little boy & little girl)
muchacho & muchacha (young boy & young girl --even if it´s an older lady)
bebé
sí (yes; which has evolutionazed from "okay" to "ja")
no (his most favorite word!)
más (more - his 2nd favorite word)
panda (panda bear)
pato (duck)
pez (fish)
pulpo(octupus)
palo (stick)
pelo (hair)
peine (comb)
silla (chair)
mesa (table)
taza (cup)
mano (hand)
cabeza (head)
pie (foot)
cae (to fall)
corre (to run - in the house he asks "corre?" and when I nod, he speeds to his bedroom and back - over and over and over again!)
moco (he cleans his nose with a tissue as long as I give it to him)
caca & pipí (to address his bodily functions)
tos (cough)
achuu (onomatopoeia for sneeze)
He tries to say jirafa (giraffe) and pingüino (pinguin).
He calls his shirts "guapo" (handsome) because I tell him he looks guapo after I get him dressed; he says ´pato (zapatos-shoes) and calls his pants mono (although he also uses that word to say monkey).

The name of his favorite Sesame Street characters: Elmo, Bert, Ernie and Cookie (Monster).

His German words include:
Danke
Bitte
Ja
Wasser
Tschüss


He understands a lot more than he can express and this is obvious when you ask him to "close the door" or "go get Daddy´s shoes" when he comes home from work.

The other day Fabi wanted to be alone in his bedroom (he was up to no good and wanted to take out all the wet tissues out of the box). He surprised me by giving me instructions to leave - in Spanish AND English: "Vaya! Go!"

Lately he only drinks juice if it´s grape flavored and everytime he sees any candle he sings "...to you!" (As in "Happy Birthday to you!")

He´s also a little too dramatic. He likes to yell "OWWww!" when "hurts himself" after a fall...or if another kid touches him or if a beach ball bounces on his head. MasalaDad says he´s going to be an actor ("Actor!", he repeats) and the other day someone else said the same thing after watching him play with other kids at a birthday party.

When we go out he will enthusiastically point out every single motorcycle ("Moto!", which he used to pronounce as "mono") and he also recognizes vehicles with sirens (police cars, ambulances), whether they are making sound or not.

His name is in the waiting list of a kindergarten...as children here start going when they´re 3 years old. He (finally) visited the pediatrician and now has the oficial list of international vaccinations updated.

HAPPY 25th Month, Fabi!

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Sunday, April 22, 2007

You want pictures? I want pictures, too!

I know this had practically become a photo blog...until lately. The fact of the matter is that I have finished unpacking and I didn´t find my camera charger. :( boo!

I had it in the previous apartment and I have no idea were it went! I will have to replace the charger so I can use my camera again. But I still have another issue to resolve. I tried installing my digital camera software on the new laptop and it wasn´t a success. boo! boo!

SO!...Even after I replace the camera charger, I have to figure out how to download my pictures so I can put them online.

I am just lucky that I have pictures of Fabi´s 2nd birthday...and in the meantime I have bought a disposable camera - for emergencies! :)

In the meantime, I´m trying to catch up with other boring (but important) things around here...like the laundry and putting things away were they belong (books in their shelves, clothes in their closets, etc.) I wish I could show you the huge mountain of clothes that need to be ironed! (How I miss the dhobi! ha ha!)

I´ll get back to my chores now before everybody else wakes up in this house...I just wanted to let you know that I will have pictures up again as soon as I can. I might even be able to catch some snaps with the webcam...

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

I´m happy because...


...I am finally using my bedroom in our new apartment.

...lately we have been going to many kid´s birthday parties and Fabi and I have met a lot of new friends.

...I *finally* washed a load of laundry (and the washing machine didn´t shake the whole building during the spinning cycle!)

..Masaladad and Fabi got matching haircuts.

...I will also get one soon (but it won´t match theirs, obviously!)


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Monday, April 16, 2007

You know it´s spring in Erlangen when...

...there´s a line of people who want an ice cream from EisHaus.

...the bycicle repair stand is in front of C&A store.

...you hear a tap on your bedroom window and when you look out you see a squirrel (and you live on the 2nd floor!)

...people are lying on the grass at the Schlossgarten receiving sun rays at a 20C temperature.

...men walk around shirtless and women wear skimpy, tight clothes, while others enjoy walking around barefoot.

...Flohmarktes take place during the weekends.

...cafés and restaurants have more tables and chairs on the sidewalk than they do inside.

...everyone goes out with their own "set of wheels": bicycles, roller skates, tricyles, rollers, etc.

...you go out to do your weekly shopping and on your way home you stop to have a beer...several times!

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Sunday, April 15, 2007

"Perfect Stranger"

Bus ride to city center: 1.50€
Movie ticket: 5.50€
Snacks: 2.50€
Having Masaladad come home early from work last Thursday so that I could go to the movies with a friend: PRICELESS!

Thanks Johanna for the idea of leaving our kids with their Dads so we could go out to the movies. It had been THREE(!) -very long-years since I had seen a Hollywood movie in the theater. It´s *SO* cool to feel normal again ... even if we had to go to the 5:30pm show and were home again by 8:00pm.

Ah! This motherhood gig has certainly changed the way I see the little joys in life...lemme say it again: "I WENT TO THE MOVIES!"

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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Easter: colored eggs, walls and faces...and a trip to the Children´s Hospital

Easter Triduum was one week ago and things went very different from what I had planned for.

Ishan was going to be home on Good Friday (Karfreitag - April 6th) and Easter Monday (Oster Montag - April 10th), so I was looking forward to a long weekend with an extra pair of hands around the house. Our good friend Pamela had volunteered to babysit Fabi on Saturday, so that Ishan and I would be able to get more things done. We were almost done putting up the wallpaper on our bedroom, but with all the things that were pending around the house I still felt as if we were "camping" inside the apartment.

I started to feel sick on Friday evening, to the point where I asked Ishan to stop working on the wallpaper so that he could be in charge of Fabi. I went to bed at around 6:00pm and got up at midnight. Fabi slept well, but the following morning -when I thought I was feeling well again- he fell sick and we had to go to the Children´s Hospital. I woke Pamela up at 11:00am (she had gone out the previous evening and had gone to bed really late). Instead of babysitting, Pamela ended up coming over immediately after I called her and gave us a ride to the hospital (good thing we now have a car seat for Fabi!) I was also really really glad Fabi did not throw up in her car!

At the hospital, we had to wait a long time for a doctor to see Fabi. A few other kids were also there -apparently with similar symptoms. Fabi had high fever and could not hold anything in his stomach. I just hoped he didn´t get dehydrated! At some point during our wait, I thought I was going to faint. A glass of water was enough to distract me and then it was Fabi´s turn to get examined. The doctor just gave us a prescription of a medicine to keep his temperature down and sent us home with instructions of what to feed him. We were there for 3 hours!

After we came out of the hospital, we were starving so we decided to get a
Döner Kebab on our way to the farmacy. Initially, Fabi and I were going to wait in the car while Pamela and Ishan went to get our lunch, but then changed plans when they realized the food place had free tables and we could sit down and eat. I took Fabi out of the car and went inside the restaurant. Fabi watched all of us have lunch while he couldn´t even have a sip of juice! As we headed back towards the car, Pamela realized that I had locked the keys inside the car!!!! So....I had to take a bus home while Pamela called a friend to bring her the extra set of keys she had at home.

I managed to carry Fabi home and waited for Ishan and Pamela to do some shopping and bring home the medicine. It took me a couple of days to get better, but it took Fabi FIVE whole days to recuperate. He´s had colds before and fever due to vaccinations....but was never as sick as this past Easter weekend.

I had to cancel my trip to Nuremberg, where I was going to go to a special Spanish Mass on
Easter Sunday. I wasn´t even able to go to Church here in Erlangen...and since I was home I started (and finished!) painting our bedroom - after having finished some small details of the wallpaper job. Ishan took a picture* of me and my paint sprinkled face (and hair). I had "star white" all over me and at some point, even Fabi had paint on his face. We F.I.N.A.L.L.Y! were able to assemble our bed SEVEN weeks after we shifted to our apartment!! Now all I have to do is convince Fabi that he will have to sleep in his own bed - in his own room by himself. (Wish me luck!)

I did not have a good Easter holiday...but not because of what happened last weekend. I did not make the most out of my
Lent, hardly prayed, fasted or meditated. I was too busy with my own little tragedies to make it a point to renew my purpose in life. However, on Easter Sunday afternoon, I made a purpose to get into the spirit...as soon as I got a call from Irfan who wanted to wish me HAPPY EASTER! Thanks, Irfan...!

So, as of today, I will celebrate this great week...spring is here and best of all...



He is risen! ¡Resucitó! Er ist auferstanden!



Prayer: Lord, make me a messenger of your love not only with words, but with my entire life. Amen.

* I now have a disposable camera because I still can´t find my camera charger. I hope to find it soon after I have completely unpacked...if not...I can´t believe I lost it. These things aren´t suppossed to happen to me!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

¡94 abriles!

A propósito de cumpleaños, mi abuela Carmen celebra hoy sus noventa y cuatro(!) abriles.

Se escucha muy bien por teléfono y esperamos que hoy y el resto de esta Semana Santa la pase muy contenta.

Un gran abrazo de parte de todos nosotros - la MasalaFamilia! :)

(Foto tomada en el 2006 durante mi visita a CR)

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Birthday pictures and party report



Thanks to my friend Rong for Fabi´s great gift and for the CD of pictures with the memories of this second birthday.

(You can click on the slide below to have a bigger view of the snaps or you can have the traditional view of pictures here.)







Last March 27th, Fabi celebrated with his friends from the playgroup (Krabbel Gruppe) "Creciendo Juntos". We are a group of about 10 mothers and children that meet on Tuesdays from 10:30am to 12:00 noon. Fabi is the eldest kid, as the rest of the babies are around the age of one year, which means the party was basically for the mothers ;)

The main dish was homemade"
Milch Reis" (a version of Kheer) -yes, I made it myself! I´ve been practicing and that´s pretty much the only thing I know how to make...besides Guacamole, which I also prepared for that day and served with potato chips. Other goodies included Pillsbury mini-croissants (similar to this), which I prepared some with cheese, some with ham and others with chocolate cream filling; mini chocolate muffins and bread sticks (some with sesame seeds, some were chocolate covered). Fabi blew out his two "teddy bear" candles, this time on a big muffin and then the grown-ups had a toast with a light cocktail "Fruta y Pasión Himbeere-Maracuja".

We sang the traditional birthday song in Spanish, I helped him blow out the candles and some pictures were taken (I hope to have them soon). Each baby received a party bag with some goodies (like a bottle of bubble blowing fun and a wooden shape with their initial) and even their moms received a small surprise (a lip gloss).

Thanks to Diego Andrés, Emil, Manuel, Gabriela and Anna Emilia -and their moms- for a nice time and the happy memories. We missed Nicolas, Lucas and Martín that day, but on behalf of everyone Fabi got a cute birthday card and a gift certificate for the "Kinderstube" toy store in Erlangen. ¡Muchas gracias a todos!

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