New blog announcement

Sorry...it's taken way longer to let you all know that we are moving blogs. New location, new career paths, new member of the family have all contributed to the new web address.

Please go to our new blog called Aix-Aix-Aix!

http://thebergmanscruz.wordpress.com

Beef, red beans and Edith Piaf

Hmm..this blog is becoming less and less about Strasbourg...this entry is all Kyoto..Japan. 

So tonight I got a rare insight of life with my mom when I'm not around.  Her pal took us out to eat beef.  In Kyoto this is a serious affair.  The beef is served raw on a bed of rice..like sushi, or slightly grilled, or in little balls all tastefully accomp

anied with delicate vegetables.  After a few be

ef dishes, we get to meet the cow that fed us...well th

e certificate that is.  Yup this place actual

ly buys an entire cow and they have the paperwork to prove it.  We learned the name, where it was born, how old was the lad, his licence number, what was his last meal and skin complexion.  This was proudly displayed with a certificate of authenticity at the center of ouor table.  Sorry bess, but you taste mighty fine!

Sadly it was time to go back to the conference centre, and back to work for our hos

t.  Our taxi driver, inspired with our french speaking, sneakily finds Edith Piaf tunes to whom my mom and her pal immediately start singing and whooing the taxi driver!  The guy was so drunk with infatuation that he missed the turn off..twice!

Fountains

If you have been to Aix, then you know it's the land of the fountain. Every block or two, a fountain has managed to be built, usually in a formidable manner right smack in the middle of a courtyard or road so as to be noticed and awed. What we learned when we moved here is that Aix had been riddled with the plague, so to bring in water, the Aixois politicians decided to not only build faucets all over the city, but beautiful fountains of all shapes and sizes. There is one fountain in the city that still has warm thermal water while the rest are cold. However, I discovered that the moss fountains which are in the middle of Cours Mirabeau, the main drag of Aix, are both supposed to have warm water too. So this forced me to go to the Tourism Office to solve this mystery. It turns out, after waiting in line for 15 minutes, wondering if I really needed to know, that the warm water will come in the winter. For the summer, they turn off the warm tap and bring in the cool water as to keep the hot city a little cooler.

Mystery solved. Now I can sleep.

New town, one-handed

So we've moved...yet again. This time, it's temporarily in Aix-en-Provence, the heart of provence where, oh yeah, thermal spas used to and still exist!!! We officially put our bags into the apt on Sep 7...at night...and then early morning Sep 8, I went into labour. So in essence, Aix and the new apt has been my reality only since coming home with Mila on the 15th.

So far, so awesome. Mila sleeps! Mila eats! Mila farts like a trucker! Which means exploring our new home has been actually pretty easy and fun to do. So far, we've become regulars at the everyday food market, finally found the Saturday market today (the best market in France, hands down, well, from what I know of this country), figured out where to print stuff for Axel (across the street...it's his regular hangout), found an ADEQUATE boulangerie for all things croissant (this will be another project I hope to partake in the coming months), and have figured out a way to nap whenever possible.




Even though this blog was originally about Alsace, we must move on. Still debating about the possible blog title change. Though Alsace was really the beginning of this adventure, so I don't really wanna lose it. So because it's really about French living, I will refrain from posting my new mama and papa trials and tribulations on here and focus on our new digs and all things that come with it. However, I will post a few things about birthing and having kids in france that I think will be interesting to those out of the country who read this blog, only because of the great healthcare debate/debacle happening in the good ol' US of A. It's been very interesting to see what our money and insurance gets us (and her).

So I hope to get back on the blog bandwagon sooner than later and give you all some insight to Aix, provence, and southern french administration (if you thought Strasbourg administration was an adventure...!)

for a little blog break...

...we just had pickles! At 6:08 am this morning (Sept 8, yes a month early). It's a girl. Mila (and maybe Mahara...still trying to figure out if this works ok in french), and 2.27 kg (5 lbs almost exactly). She came out after 24.5 hours of some pretty intense work and a lot of debate whether it would be possible for me to get her out because of the narrowness of the pelvis. Well, she made it out through the pelvis so now we know the weight limit of birthing for me. My water broke at 5:30 am on the 7th so we had no choice but to birth today.

Axel is pretty tired having to snooze on various chairs all day and night but he has started the real entry for this. Just thought I would let you all know that we're parents!

where to buy a bike in köln...and how to test your german

this comes with a disclaimer that I was only brought to this shop unknowingly.

Russian 1 had come to class a bit late way back in June and squeezed himself in the corner of the room next to the window, where there was already little space. Every 5 minutes, he would get up and look outside the window. At the break, he ran out and I watched him go and check his bike locks. When he came back in, I asked him if it was a new bike, and he said yes and he put two locks on it to make sure it wouldn't get stolen.

We have looked around quite a few bike stores and noticed that it is way more expensive to buy a bike here than in France, so I was curious to how much he paid for his bike. He told me that after class, he will bring me to the store. Price is too crazy to talk about in class.

Well, did that every peak my curiosity. After class, a few of us went to check out his new bike. Aluminum frame with apparent good quality welding, disc brakes, racing wheels...he got this and another similar bike for 300 euros total. wow. Axel and I have seen crappy bikes for more than 300 euros, used crappy bikes go for 100-200 euros. So yeah, this was a good price. Especially for 2! So we all went to the bike store together. It is on my way to school and I noticed it but saw that all they had in the front of the store was crappy old used bikes. When we went in, spoke russian, he took us to the back of the store...and there they were. Gleaming frames, with no labels, all waiting to be ridden. The owner was very wary of us being there, since there was only one who could speak russian, but he reassured him that we were all friends.

So now I can safely say that I know where to buy a bike in Köln. And that I'm in with the russian mafia.

Anyway, a few weeks later, I brought our roommate Jonatan and two of Axel's co-workers, Sarah from Scotland and Matthieu from France. I tried to get him to show us the back room without asking but because we weren't russian, there was no way he would. However, this was the first time I tested my german, in a real setting. Not only did we manage to purchase two bikes, but I got a discount through a bit of bargaining. I managed to impress myself. I realize now it's all about the confidence when you speak german. The sentence structure is crazy, but when it comes down to it, can almost be avoided entirely when bargaining for bikes with russians who really just want you out of your store.

Banned

It's true. Pregnancy really fills you up with raging hormones that cause you such weird emotions. Yesterday I cried when I read about Sam, the koala that was rescued last year during the Australian bush fires who drank water from a bottle, had to be euthanized.

This morning I sent Axel an article about some french tourists who died in a flash flood during an excursion on Mt. Pinatubo, the volcano near my town in the Philippines which erupted in the early 90s...and that region is still feeling the repercussions. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting for Axel since he went with my uncles on the exact same trip in 2006. That's all. There were no tears shed for this story. Just out of pure interest.

This was his response:


"Ok you are officially banned from reading depressing news from around the world. 
Headlines that contain the words:
Afganistan
Iran
Iraq
Dead
Missing
Torture
Kidnapped
Gangs
Hurricane
..any natural disaster
Politics
North Korea
homeless
refugee
kids
woman
racism
plane
crash
survivors
shooting
bomb
suicide
money
corporate
business
drugs
 
..are all off the headline LIST!!  until next year.
 
That leaves:
 
Home
Familly
Sports
Cycling
Hockey
Tourism
Design
Technology
Medicine
Post Cards
Health
Cooking
Gardening
Kids
Parenting
Dogs
Cats
Pets..especially articles that provide tips on resisting the urge to get one
Interior design
Sustainable development
Green energy
Space"

It's as if Axel is intentionally wanting to turn my brain to mush.