Romania: Days 1-4

A few things before I get started....

1. I'm SEVERELY behind on the blog.  Like almost a month behind.  It's gotten to the point where I'm so behind I don't even want to try and catch up, but then I remember how special it will be to have this crazy experience all documented and I feel a little more motivated.

2. Romania! I was super excited for this trip because it was kind of off the beaten path, but was supposed to be beautiful.  We planned this trip for the beginning of November because we had heard that the leaves were supposed to be especially pretty and it would give us a taste of fall.  We caught the latter end of fall the first few days we were there, but by the time we left, it had completely transitioned to winter. Snow and all!!

3. Romania was the first country we went to that we could tell how underdeveloped it was.  We definitely didn't plan for the lack of infrastructure between cities, which often meant nowhere to stop for lunch or gas while driving.  We came to the conclusion that Romania is the perfect place to go and get away if you want to relax and do a lot of nothing, but we do that when we aren't travelling (well, at least I do!), so we are always ready to hit the streets and do a lot of sight seeing.  I also think that it would be a great outdoorsy vacation when the weather is warmer because there were tons of hiking trails and even some ropes courses that were set up.

4.  We listened to Dracula on tape as we were driving around Romania.  We thought most of it would be set in Transylvania, but it actually takes place in London a lot.  We also thought that the style of writing probably wasn't the best for a book on tape, but it was a good choice for us because I'm not sure either of us would have read it otherwise.

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Okay, onto the good stuff.  We arrived in Romania early in the morning and picked up our rental car without any real trouble.  Everything is pretty spaced out, so we knew a car would be almost essential.  Our first stop was Sibui, which was pretty far from the airport.  Perfect for a car nap! Ha! One day Mike is just going to kick me out of the car for sleeping so much.  It's become quite a thing now.  I just sit down in the car and fall right asleep.  Pregnancy plus an early morning wake up were asking for it.

Anyways, we arrived in Sibui just in time to check in to our hotel and head out for dinner.  We were spending two nights in Sibui and had one full day there, which was probably too much time.  Sibui is a cute little town with a town square, church and lots of restaurants and shopping.  There isn't a ton to do, but would be a great place to stay if you had day trips planned.  Our original plan for this trip was to get out of Berlin and our routine so that we wouldn't be sitting around following the election news (the election was the day we left and we knew the winner would be announced the next day our time), but since Sibui was so small, we ended up not having a lot to do and, instead, sitting around following the election. Almost a month later and I think we're still in shock.  For another post....or not.

Such a cute little town

We found the Natural History Museum...and some autumnal colors!

After a slow day in Sibui, we bid our farewells the next morning and headed for Alba Iulia.  We only had one night there and by the time we got there, it was just enough time to explore, grab dinner and call it a day. Again, there wasn't a ton to see, but it was a cute little town where there was enough to fill an afternoon. 

Baby Maximus (staying warm under a bajillion layers) and I hanging out!

There is a really cool citadel there, which we walked around. After dinner and a few drinks (of beer for Mike and water for me), we called it a night.  The next morning, we hit the road for our next little town, Moldevensc.  This brought us out of Transylvania and into the northern part of the country.  We were the only people at the bed and breakfast we stayed at and the town was TINY.  The bed and breakfast was nice and the owner even gave us an authentic Romanian liquor as a welcome drink.  When I told him I was pregnant, he insisted it wouldn't hurt.  One whiff of it and I had to disagree.  Whatever it was, it was strong!! The wifi in the hotel didn't work, so we spent the night reading. It was quite romantic and cozy, but I think at this point, we were both pretty bored. 

We had kind of a rough start to Romania, not because it wasn't beautiful, but because we kind of planned our trip wrong.  We thought we would need an entire day in these cities, but as it turned out, a few hours would have done the job.  Unfortunately, they were so spread out (4+ hours of driving), so in order to see them, we needed to spend the night.  This is where the infrastructure and lack of development played a role. In the summer, there are lots of things to do outside, but considering it was in the 30s during the day, we opted out.  Luckily, the second half of our trip was a little more exciting and included a bear sanctuary and visits with Olmsted Scholars!   

Two Years.

Two years ago, we were doing this.

Our first year of marriage flew by.  We had a big move to Turkey from DC about halfway through and I felt like year one was over in the blink of an eye.  Year two was looking to be a little less crazy, but then an evacuation, a coup, and a (planned!) pregnancy made things just as exciting. Last year, I did 22 things I learned about Mike in our first year of marriage.  While I'm sure I could come up with 22 more, I figured I'd stick to two of my favorite things year two has shown me about Mike.

1. He is my kind of traveler.  He likes to venture out of the city occasionally, but definitely isn't a wilderness guy.  He never hesitates to tell people he doesn't camp, but will always be ready for a hike or a national park.  He doesn't expect to stay in the nicest hotels all of the time, but occasionally splurges for a night in a good bed.  Besides a few spots, we seem to make good travel buddies, which is good because we travel A LOT.

1. Behind that beer drinking, sometimes politically incorrect, tough Naval officer is a very caring guy. Not that I didn't already know this, but year two showed me a deeper and different side of him. Watching him throughout the first half of the pregnancy has brought me to tears because he is already so in love with Baby Maximus.  He will rub and kiss my stomach and tell Baby Maximus that he loves him. He talks about all the things he wants to do with the baby and has been so supportive throughout the whole thing, even when he doesn't know what to do.  It just confirms that he will be a great dad.


Year two was quite the unplanned adventure, but I still look over to the other end of the couch and have to remind myself that this is real life and not a dream.  I actually did get to marry that guy who makes me smile. Year three will bring another (hopefully our last for a while) move back to the United States, a new addition to our family, a reintroduction to the Navy and probably lots of other adventures!

Cheers to a successful and adventurous year two with hopes for a similar year three!

xoxoxo I love you Mike!
Sarah

Baby Q&A

I've been getting a lot of questions about our whole situation over here once the baby comes, so here's some answers to the more common questions!

Will you deliver the baby in Berlin?

Yes! I have a great doctor who we both feel comfortable with and the healthcare in Berlin is supposed to be phenomenal.  In fact, it's so great that our insurance won't approve us to go and deliver at the American base.  I've heard nothing but great things about having a baby in Germany and most Americans say they prefer it to delivering in the United States.  Things like a week in the hospital and more emphasis on mother/child bonding are always among the highlights people speak about.

Why the name Baby Maximus?

Ha! This one is a joke between Mike and I.  Well, at least I see it as a joke.  Ever since I've known Mike, he's always said he wanted to name his first son Maximus.  I vetoed that before marriage was even on the table, but we've compromised and have been calling the baby Maximus until it's born.  We're keeping his real name a secret until then, so this is just our code name.

Are you still going to travel once the baby comes?

We're going to try! Obviously, it won't be quite as intense of a travel schedule and Mike will probably be doing some solo travel so that he can still fulfill the goals of the Olmsted, but we're hoping to do some smaller trips once we've got our bearings.  Luckily, we will have at least three months (maybe even closer to four depending on when Baby Maximus makes his appearance), so we're hoping to get some decent travel in.   We have no idea what life will look like post-baby, so maybe we're being really ambitious, but we'll only have a few months left and don't want to miss out on anything.

Speaking of leaving, what will that look like?

The big question to which we have no idea what the answer is.  Here's what we're hoping.  Mike finishes school at the end of July, which means we'll probably move at the beginning of August, since his Department Head school starts September 1. This means Baby Maximus will be about three and a half months old.  Everyone tells me this is the perfect age for a big trans-Atlantic flight because they're not a newborn, but they aren't crawling/walking all over the place.  We're just hoping and praying that the military is generous and gets Baby Maximus his own seat on the plane.

The biggest hurdle will be all of the stuff that babies need and what to do with all of that. Right now, I have registered at Amazon, that has all of the stuff that we will need in Germany and then Babies R Us which will have everything we need once we get back to the United States.  Hopefully, we can pack most of the stuff that we will need from Germany into our suitcases (clothes, burp cloths, bottles, etc) since we won't need things like high chairs and baby gates quite yet.  Anything that can't fit in our suitcases will have to go with the movers, which means we won't see it for up to 60 days (and sometimes more).  We're trying to be minimalists while here in Germany when it comes to baby stuff because we know it all has to be moved back.  Plus, experienced moms tell me that less is more.

What about a nursery?

We aren't doing one.  Well, at least not in Germany.  We have the room here in our apartment, but given the short amount of time, it's just not worth it.  Baby Maximus gets to be roomies with us the entire time we're in Germany (which he probably would be even if he had a nursery of his own).  We found a really nice pack n play that comes with a bassinet, so we'll use that while we're here and then take that with us when we leave, so we have it while we're waiting for all of our stuff to come.   I'm sure our guest room will be partially a baby storage room for things like clothes and diapers, as well.  We didn't want to deal with getting all of the furniture for a nursery because so much of our stuff has gotten damaged and/or broken during moves.  So, we'll just wait until we get settled in the United States.

Are you having a baby shower?

You'll have to talk to Anna and my mom about that one.  They have a grand plan that I am not allowed to know about. :)



What other questions do you have?  Mike and I are quickly realizing how clueless we are when it comes to babies, so this plan could all get scrapped once Baby Maximus makes his arrival, but right now, this is what we're going with.

Munich with the Russos!

Our last stop on the Russo Family Germany tour was Munich.  My aunt had to return to Chicago, so after dropping her off at the airport, my parents, myself and my other aunt headed south to Munich for three nights.  I think Munich is the perfect contrast to Berlin.  While Berlin is great because it's a huge international city with tons of history, Munich has that German feel that most Americans think of. 

We stopped in Bamberg halfway through our drive for lunch and some walking around.  It's such a quaint, picturesque German town that it's hard not to stop.  Of course, everyone fell in love with it.

That evening, we got to Munich around dinner time so we checked into our hotel and made our way into the city for dinner. We had dinner at one of the many Augustiner beirhauses in the city, which was a good taste of beer drinking culture in Munich.

The next morning, I played tour guide and we did a little sight seeing around the city. 

That afternoon, I scheduled a Sandeman's Walking Tour for us.  I've done them in a few European cities, but hadn't done the Munich one. Mike did it when he was right out of college and still describes it as the Holocaust Apology Tour.  Despite his less than stellar reviews, I had faith and I'm SO glad we did it.  Our tour guide Austin was maybe the best that I've had and he specifically said at the beginning that he was going to focus on other parts of German history other than the Third Reicht (Sandeman's does a whole Third Reicht Tour in Munich, so if we wanted that, we could have done that). He was hilarious, super knowledgeable and a great tour guide. The walking tours are such a good way to see the city and learn lots of random facts.  This was my third time in Munich and I still learned a ton!

Our last day in Munich, we headed out to Dachau, where there is a concentration camp memorial. It was my third time going, but there is a ton of information and, once again, I learned something new.  I think Dachau (or a concentration camp memorial) is such an important stop on a Germany tour because it provides such insight into the causes and times leading up to the Holocaust.  While it might not be the most exciting or uplifting experience, it's an important stop so we can make sure that history doesn't repeat itself. 

Afterwards, we came back to the hotel to regroup.  We grabbed dinner nearby and called it a night.  The next day was spent on the road with another stop in Bamberg before arriving back in Berlin.  We ordered dinner to be delivered to our house and hung out with Mike for a little while.  My parents and aunt were staying at a hotel that night, so they went there while Mike and I stayed up to watch the Cubs win the World Series! It made for an exhausting next day, but it was totally worth it.  I headed to the airport with my parents and aunt early the next morning to say my farewells and tearfully headed home on the bus. 

It was SO nice to have my family come and visit.  On top of telling them about our new addition, I loved being able to show them my neighborhood, my apartment and my new city. I miss them so much every day, but it felt so good to have "my people" in my new home. 

Potsdam, Germany

Mike and I love having visitors and Berlin is such an interesting city to show people.  That being said, we like to try and do at least one new thing with each of our visitors.  This time, we had an extra day, so we figured it was a good opportunity to visit Potsdam, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has two palaces that were once home to Frederick the Great.  It's also right outside of Berlin and easy to get to via the metro.

I didn't really know what to expect from Potsdam, but it definitely exceeded my expectations.  Before going, I read that you only needed about 5 hours, including transportation, for Potsdam, but we ended up spending all day there.  We only went inside one of the castles, but it was incredible.  There is a whole room decorated out of sea shells! Mike said it was one of the coolest things he'd ever seen, and I think we all agreed. 

After our tour of the castle, we walked by the other (smaller) one on our way to lunch.  The town of Potsdam is small and cute and has a walking street with lots of shops to look at. 

We caught the train back to Berlin around mid-afternoon and were back by the early evening.  We did some souvenir shopping and wandering around before calling it a night!  I'm sure Mike and I will be back to Potsdam with other visitors, or maybe just on our own, because it was such a great day trip from Berlin with a lot more to offer than we expected. 

Dresden with the Russo Family

There are a million things to do in Berlin and you could spend a year here before completing all of them.  That being said, if you have a week in Germany, there are lots of places near Berlin that are worth a visit, one of them being Dresden.  Dresden is fascinating because a lot of the old town burned down during WWII.  There's an Olmsted scholar and fellow Naval Academy c/o 2010 living and studying there, so I arranged for her to meet us for lunch and to play tour guide for the afternoon, which she was more than happy to do. 

We walked around the old town and learned about the fire, as well as pre-WWII history which is equally as interesting but often overlooked. 

We headed outside of the old city on the tram to one of the castles in the woods and, although we didn't go inside, the woods surrounding the castle were beautiful, as were the views. 

Us with our tour guide Claire!

We got back home around six, just in time to order pizza and hang out with Mike for a little bit

Dear President Trump...

Dear President Trump,

I'm not going to lie. You scare me.  I think you're a bully.  Some of the things you have said over the past year and before are deplorable, to use one of your favorite words.  I hope that over the next four years, you change my mind.

First and foremost, I am a woman. I believe that I am capable of the same things men are and deserve the same respect a man would get.  It scares me that you have a history of disrespecting women. You have rape allegations in the double digits.  Just this year alone, you have called women bimbos and ugly in public.  I'm afraid to hear what you call them behind their backs.  We got a glimpse into that when the Billy Bush video went viral.  Some people have argued that you said those things just to get ratings or attention, but I don't believe it.  You've been saying those types of things for a long time and it shows a pattern of belief.  I hope that, as you serve as our president, you realize that women are more than just their bodies. We are intelligent, hard working, respectable human beings.  We are able to make decisions about our bodies, our education, and our employment.  Please remember that as you serve in the Oval Office. You will be working alongside many women in the United States and abroad as you serve as our president and should show them the respect they deserve.

Second, I am a teacher.  I have worked in schools in some of the poorest areas in our country. In Jacksonville, Florida, I worked in the lowest performing high school in the state. Ninety four percent of them were African-American. In Boston, the majority of my students lived in Dorchester, which is known for it's poverty. The majority of my students were on food stamps and received government assistance.  I lived in those neighborhoods, alongside those people and never got "shot walking to the store," like you said happened. Instead, I met hardworking, intelligent people who are trying their best to succeed.  I encourage you to visit communities like these and meet the people living there. Pour money into the schools in these communities, as well as the more well-off communities.  In doing so, you will set these communities and our country up for success.

I am also an LGBTQ ally. I have two uncles that I care about deeply who are lucky enough to have found each other.  Because they live in Washington, DC, they are legally married.  The fact that if they lived 5 miles south, in Virginia, they couldn't get married and have access to so many benefits baffles me. I care about them and the rest of the LGBTQ community and believe they deserve the same rights as my husband and I do.  I feel like it's unfair to deny them of benefits based on their gender, just like it's unfair to deny someone benefits based on the color of their skin.

I am also a military spouse. My husband is a naval officer.  In a few short months, he will return to a submarine where he will face underways and deployments that will affect him, his fellow soldiers and our family.  Please remember them as you are making decisions about our military.  They are not just numbers in a strategic plan, but spouses, parents, and sons and daughters.  The decisions you make about them will affect the military personnel, as well as their communities.  I couldn't be more proud of the men and women in uniform and respect the sacrifices that they make every day.

I also am currently living abroad.  I spent the last year living in Turkey and recently moved to Germany. When in Turkey, I taught English to adults.  One of the worst days of my life was when I had to go to class and explain why you didn't want to let them into the United States.  Just like my students in Jacksonville, these people were hardworking, loving, open-minded people.  They are not terrorists and Islam is not a religion that promotes hate. In fact, studies show that between 82-97% of victims of terrorist attacks are Muslim.  These are the people that need our help and our acceptance the most.  I hope that, before you close our borders to all Muslims or all Mexicans, you remember that they are not all drug lords or terrorists.

Last, I am expecting a baby boy in April.  He will be a white, middle-class male with many privileges that many Americans don't have.  That being said, I want him to understand how lucky he is to live in a country that is already so great and to have so many privileges that his fellow Americans and other world citizens lack.  I want to teach him to talk to people and get to know them before judging their character. I want him to know that it is important to help those who are less fortunate, even if it means making sacrifices of yourself. I want him to live in a world where misogony, racism, xenophobia, and bigotry are not tolerated.   I want to bring him into a world that is filled with love and respect.

Before I go, I just want to share a story with you.  One of my teacher friends and I were talking shortly after you said you wanted to build a wall to keep Mexicans out.  She teaches kindergarten.  She called me distraught because one of her students was playing with blocks one day and built a wall of blocks around himself.  He told a Hispanic boy that he couldn't come inside the wall because the boy was from Mexico. The Hispanic boy came crying to my friend and when my friend approached the wall builder and asked where he got the idea for the wall, the student responded "Donald Trump is building a wall."

Our children are watching you President Trump.  The world is watching you.

All of that being said, I respect the office of the presidency and will try to support the decisions you make over the next four years.  Congratulations on your win.

Sincerely,
Sarah Hogan

PS Here is the letter I wrote to President Obama when he was reelected for a second term.