Dieburger Biergarten

Yesterday I made plans with Ina to do something. She really wanted to go to the Dieburger Biergarten...somewhere I have never been which she described as a rock club. Naturally I am a pretty open person so I agreed to go.

It is not often the case that I immediately realize that I do not fit in somewhere. This was an exception. The fact that I was wearing a white T-shirt already made me an outcast. I immediately needed a beer to try and normalize the situation. I felt very much like I just couldn't categorize anything that was going on

The bar had two rooms and the one that we were in had a "tree" in the middle of the room, which was really just a decorated support column. The rule there is that when you dance, you face the tree. When we first arrived they were playing "medieval metal", like metal lord of the rings music. Slowly it progressed into all sorts of different types of thrash and it seemed to almost be like a cult, because everyone would kind of move backwards and forwards in unison around this tree and it looked almost like swelling. It felt though, as though the tree was there so that people could avoid actually having to make eye contact with others.

What made everything more terrifying is that it was a halloween party and Ina and I were in the 4% of people that were clearly not wearing costumes. The rest of the people it seemed were all pretty dressed up, like what would be dressing up for me. I think however that a lot of people simply added some fake blood, or painted their faces because it seemed like they were wearing the clothes that they would wear normally. They just perhaps went one step further down that road.

For me the highlight of the evening was watching people dance. It was all very intense and aggressive. I have never watched multiple people headbang in public before in a serious manner. I saw a nun headbang. I also have the feeling that the type of people who were in attendance were misfits to some extent, but it was nice that they have a place like this to come.

For me I was just happy to hear some music.

Putting the east back in easter

Around christmas time there seem to be a lot of campaigns about "putting christ back in christmas". I am totally for these. I think however that I have become quite cynical in holidays, and I think this is likely because the true meaning for celebrating isn't the reason that people are celebrating by the majority of the people. In this I mean, people that aren't christians are celebrating. I just always wonder what kids who are raised in secular homes think that the day celebrates. I actually can't quite wrap my head around why non-christians celebrate. I mean I appreciate having the time off, and it is good to have holidays in order to spend time with family. I think in todays age and society, holidays are times to celebrate ourselves more than anything.

To me personally I feel that easter is so much more of an important holiday than christmas. It is naturally important that our christ and saviour was born, but we needed him to take our sins on and die, otherwise we would be no closer to God than we were earlier. But at the same time, I do not believe that one day in my life is more important than another in the eyes of God. Naturally I will have high and low points, but I do not believe in holy days. I think they are nice to use in order to perhaps centre spiritual journeys and ideas, but I cannot just not think about the resurrection in four months. It is as important today as every day. These days are perhaps good times for us to dig deeper into specific themes related to the story and it's nice to have it come conclusion on the fest day. This is another reason I don't understand people going to church on holidays. The day really should be so arbitrary. God is equally important every day. Even on a tuesday....

But I don't understand, where are the housewives and conservatives arguing about easter....??

I was thinking about my faith today, and I think that one of the reasons that I believe is because everything that God represents are things that are so important to me. Why would I ever want to live in a world without them. I also don't believe that these things are mutually exclusive. I think that without God would mean that these things don't exist. I can't believe that we are here by chance. I read yesterday the quote from Albert Camus which really summed of perfectly how I feel at the moment about things in general. “I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless.” I just something have a tough time placing God in this world because sometimes the worlds just seem to different, but I have resolved myself to the fact that I will have to keep pushing, and keep searching for more answers, because satisfaction would never be attainted in giving up and settling.

monuments men

A couple weeks ago buzz feed posted something about a whole bunch of military artifacts that are being kept in storage. I didn't have any interest until there was a little blurb about actual artwork from Hitler himself. I thought this was compelling so I clicked further. There was a little video clip from the documentary that shows this art work, which has been seen by very few people (I mean really....where and how does one post such things, but one also cannot destroy them). The documentary, the rape of europa (great name, considering this is also a famous work of art), details the story of nazis stealing treasured art works during the war and the resistance against this. It was soo interesting. I give it a high recommendation.

The film monuments men is based on this same story. I literally just looked at the cast at christmas, saw the tag line and I was sold. So tonight, I was able to see it, in english, in Germany.

I will start off by saying - the story is so interesting and the whole concept of the film is amazing. Somehow though, it all seemed a little bit to Disney (although not disney), and very sensationalized.

Some observations:
There was no need for a love story. That is not what this story was about.

The film in general had a very "f yeah, america!"-vibe. I had initially invited a friend to go with me but she expressed hesitation, because she is sick of seeing movies about how americans are the heroes. I felt quite sympathetic towards the Germans during this, and understood now what my friend said. There were definitely jokes that would go over much easier in North America, but I think that everyone here knows enough of the devastation that Germany experienced during the war that little jokes seemed cruel. I recognize the hostility, but I felt rubbed the wrong way, and I am sure I wasn't the only one in that theatre.

Further on that note, there never seems to be movies that are Pro-German in the war. I would like to see more about people who were scared and didn't know what to do and didn't have the courage to resist. I think that would be an interesting story. To experience some of the manipulation and the thought pattern of the people being influenced by propaganda.

I think it is interesting that the americans became the champions of art. When you think about it today, europe seems much more cultural and historic than america. This makes it interesting that they were the ones here preserving. I mean, if not them then who? Thanks for saving the art, but I think there was a distinct lack to what the europeans did for themselves, especially the italians, and the french who were hiding works from the louvre throughout the countryside. Then I think about the art of america and importance there. Significantly less funding. I think this is why such a difference is noticed between these continents.

So would I recommend this film. Not really, but I do not regret seeing it.

lessons for insurance sales

I am in the midst of changing my insurance here. Interestingly all "public" health insurance in Germany costs the same thing, but each carrier naturally has different benefits. Also, this gets automatically taken off your paycheck.

When I first moved to Germany I started with AOK because that was the first one that I found, and they had a campus representative. Easy was all I cared about. Even back when I decided to stay here I found that I had some difficulties, even living 2 months (unknowingly) living without insurance (which is illegal).

Over the course of some lunches, colleagues and I have talked about insurance, and it seems the consensus was that no one was insured by AOK. I decided, hey why not make a switch because there are some other benefits that interest me.

I finally stopped being lazy and wrote an email asking how far in advance I would need to cancel my insurance. The response...sehr geehrte Herr Schmidt - Dear Mr. Schmidt. grrrrr

I sent off my cancellation letter and received a phone call last week from the sales rep who would need to come by and drop off my papers of cancellation, and I knew naturally would try and convince me not to leave.

He just came by, and sir....I am at home with some killer headaches and you show up with a dual combination of cologne and cigarette smoke. It's clear he is an auto-smoker which is so disgusting. I just wanted him to leave as fast as possible. Instead of inviting him into my house I just let him stay in the foyer. I didn't want my house to smell like him after. There were some last ditch efforts he made in trying to change my opinion, but to no avail. I have some literature but I really do not care to read it. On of the other points he made was that there were many more people insured by his firm than the one I am going to switch to....so what. It could just mean that 24 million people are unhappy.

The impression of the people that AOK hires leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

17-01-14

So yesterday was the day i heard about ellen page coming out...literally my first reaction, was who cares!! I saw the headline and scrolled further. I mean good for her, but it really doesn't make a difference. Later on in the day one of my friends posted the video of her speaking at a human rights convention. I decided, hey, why not, I'll watch. Her speech was just fantastic, and I really appreciated her desire to want all people have fair treatment. She talked about the pressures that she has experienced to be a certain way due to the nature of her job. I thought, at the very least she is a good actress and can do that. Acting however is awful for the soul.

I do think she could have picked a better platform. Everyone gave her a standing ovation after her announcement. Good choice lady. My reaction - I was happy for her, but it still changes nothing in my life.

I thought it was really funny because after scrolling down and reading some of the comments, I got the impression that no one else cared.

I think at this point, there are enough people that it could soon just be normal. Like her casually mentioning in an interview that she and her girlfriend or whatever, or just show up on the red carpet with her partner. Celebs keep their relationships s secret for the most part anyways that it doesn't really matter what sexual orientation you have.

The smallest world

I have another crazy small world story

A colleague of mine has a friend living in whistler

One of my friends from winnipeg has now also moved there...

guess who have become friends!

the need to learn

I often find myself feeling quite guilty just to actually sit and veg out and relax. I think that it would be really cool to be on of those people that simply just knows so many things and can converse in every topic. This is a reason that I enjoy travelling so much, because I get to learn and see and experience.  I also feel like the more I learn about these places the more I gain from it. Often times after I see something I end up doing research after I go somewhere. I wonder if I actually learn to appreciate more after I have been somewhere.

My dad also loves to learn and has been doing some online exploring of mennonites in Amsterdam and sharing some of these insights with me and I am even more appreciative. I wonder if knowing everything makes an impact on how much a visit to a new place will touch and affect you.

home and alone and quiet

I just spent the most wonderful vacation at home with my parents. I left on the 20th of december and returned to Germany again on the 5th of January. It was the first time that I was able to celebrate christmas (on the actual day) with my family in many years. I really did end up getting almost everything done that I wanted to thanks to some solid planing...

Some reflections from the trip

It was a total fantasy - I barely did any housework and didn't have to clean up once. I just slept and ate and was literally driven wherever I wanted. I preferred not to drive due to the fact that the roads are an utter nightmare in Winter. I almost saw two car crashes as a result of this - not to mention to one flip I did experience on the QEW highway outside Toronto and many cars in ditches. This lack of having to do anything clearly made me a bit of a diva, and it is hard to give up when I think that here I have to do literally everything for myself. I think that being at home I realized that it was not the real life and that if I did decide to move back home it would not be like that.

Continuing on with this idea of being home isn't a reality, being at home made me miss being in Germany. Perhaps it is because I am still discovering so many things here. I always had to have a list ready in my head as to why I liked it better in Germany, often tailored to my audience. The concept of "Ich fühl mich wohl" is often difficult to translate and communicate into English. But I do feel like in Germany, I am living as the truest of myself. Perhaps this is because I do not have the same kind of support system and this I am at the bare minimum. I also like my friends here and I have grown very comfortable and consider this to be my home. Staying at home, I don't think I would grow up properly because I would still want to rely so much more on my parents, who naturally would do the correct thing in throwing me out of the nest, annoying me in the process.

I felt like a weird hybrid of kid-adult. I was living the same life that I had as a kid. I even went to visit a friend and as we were leaving his place (a grown up thing) we were each getting picked up by our parents, and I remarked to him that I felt like we were 15 again.

I got to see my grandparents in person again for the first time in 2 and a half years. It was really wonderful. They have gone through a lot in this time. Adapting from a downsize from their farm into a house, and now they are really starting to see a lot more road signs telling them "You are old". My grandmother has also been diagnosed with Alzheimers and has began to see many of her freedoms being taken away, which for a woman of her confidence and determination is quite difficult for her. It was so lovely to see them, and also have the chance to reconnect with two cousins at the same time. Grandma also spoke to my mother the day after I was there and said it had just been a delight to have us all together. I really did value my time with my grandparents and especially one cousin whom I had never really connected with. Despite my time at Brock and being in the same area I have always felt quite distant and not connected with my mothers side of the family. At least the first 18 years of my life it could be blamed on proximity. I guess the argument is valid again.

Being home again is the first time that I have been completely alone in 2 and a half weeks. It's nice, but I do miss the company of others and loved ones at little.

again - about role models

I think a while ago I wrote about having role models and how I thought that worship of another person is totally unnecessary and I did not believe in it.

I do actually wish to revisit this topic, because there are people that I have the great respect for. I think one of the things that actually qualifies these two individuals is because they are in general what I think to be such humble people. I also think they are the most down-to-earth (which you will later find funny) and kind and loving people. Upon more consideration I think what I like most about them is not necessarily what they want to do but how they push to accomplish their goals.

The first is Tim Gunn who is just a delight. So charming and wonderful and decisive in what his tastes are. He is a teacher and inspiration.

Then Chris Hadfield, the canadian astronaut also fascinates me because of his joy and pleasure in making space and scientific exploration accessible and inspiring to those outside of his field. What struck me the most in an interview is how now after being in space he is able to look at all people with the thought of "one of us"

Remembrance Day in Europe

Yesterday a couple that is also staying where I am in Italy arrived from England where it was remembrance day. My parents also had the day off because of this occasion. My dad ended up asking if there was such a holiday in Germany. I have now been thinking, if we celebrated this in Germany there would be people up in arms, because this would be glorifying Nazi-ism, and celebrating what they did.

Obviously living in Germany does make me sympathize a little bit with this side, because despite what side you were on, you lost people that you loved, which I am not right with in any case. After all, I have many colleagues and friends who have never been able to meet family members. I think it is a clear indication that history is written by the victors.

My last week was full of situations - here is a breakdown

Thursday - I had to transfer my rent for the month. Upon doing so I was in such a rush that I left my card in the machine. Didn't realize this until Saturday, so I was able to pick it up on monday morning

Monday - had to tell my roommates that I was moving out

Tuesday - got back from choir and my roommate locked us both out of the house by leaving the key in the door on the inside, and then shutting it

Thursday - trying to take out money for Italy I realize that my account is locked out, from when I went left my card in the machine. Had to order a new one, which arrives during the week I am in Italy. I would prefer to have this card in Italy though

Friday - having to clean the entire apartment by myself

Sunday history lessons

I would say that I am quite a nut about history. I love learning about history and have since I was young. Do I regret not studying it - no, because I have a job: yes, because I would love love love to work in a museum.

Today, instead of going to church I decided to take a little trip to the Schlossmuseum. I also find it quite saddening to think of how long I have lived here and haven't gone. I am quite embarrassed with how little I know about Darmstadtian history. When I think of Darmstadt I just think of farmland, and rural life because outside of Germany, now one knows about it. Before I came here, what I did I know of this place...??? nothing. But some real stuff happened here, and it really is not an insignificant little corner. Although there wasn't a King here, there was a earl and then later a duke who was in charge of this area. I did know that there was a connection to two daughters being ladies in waiting for Marie Antoinette at Schönbrun in Vienna.

The Schlossmuseum was quite nice and it was super interesting to hear things about the city that you are living in and help you appreciate things and find out why they were there.

One of the hospitals, that is still very active was actually a gift to an old Princess (Elisabeth).

But the biggest history-gasm of the day was finding out that the daughter of Queen Victoria (the Queen Victoria) married a minor prince of Hessen, which was the lineage for the Tsarina Alexandra of Russia who passed along haemophilia to her son Alexei stirring up the whole Rasputin thing in Russia prior to the first world war.

Also, Alexandra's brother Ernst Ludwig who is super important in Darmstadt (was a duke) who was very influential in the Jugendstil movement is the Godfather of Prince Charles

Minde blown!!

I am certainly going to need to learn many more things, because these discoveries really get my blood pumping with excitement.

Bitte nicht Schubsen

The picture above translates to "please don't push - I have a yogurt in my Backpack"

A dear friend sent this to me the last time I  had a slight accident with strawberry yogurt resulting in the destruction of my blackberry.

One would think that a person would learn from such an expensive incident.

I didn't

This time I managed to destroy a purse. Somehow now electronics or valuables were destroyed. It was only literature in the form of Ernest Hemmingway - sorry sir!

NO more yogurt for this girl!

starting a life abroad

I am at the point on my life, and I think I have been at this point for quite some time, where I am strongly considering the move to live on my own. I have wanted to do this for a while, since before my roommate issues started. The strongest driver for this is just being able to have only my stuff where I want and being able to arrange everything how I want. I really have a difficult time allowing over people around me to have their own space and ideas about how things should be run. One thing I will miss is the occasional someone to talk to, but I think that the benefits outweigh the negatives. At this point I do not care to have roommates who are friends, because when I am home I like to be at home...and I like being by myself. Weirdly, this huffington post article made me realize - not all point are true but I find resonance with a lot of them.

One thing that really really sucks about moving out though is that it is so expensive. Moving out on my own automatically means that I will be paying more for rent (less travel) and I have to buy normal cookware and housewares for my place. I hate when you live somewhere and get used to using certain cooking vessels for different purposes, but then when you, or your roommate move out you don't have them anymore. The nice thing about living in winnipeg would be having family and parents that are always looking to get rid of things, and they can tide you over until you can afford nice things for yourself.

If and when this move does happen, I will be hitting lots of second hand shops!

Deutsche Bahn - you have irritated me

So on 18.09 I decided it was time to buy my ticket for my trip this weekend to Munich. I did this just as I was leaving work...got home and found a coupon for 10 euros off. A little irritating, but whatever..I went online and wanted to see if I could amend my ticket. It looked like I could - there is a button that says "stornieren und umtauschen" which literally means cancel and exchange. When there is a button that says "cancel" I assume that when I am making the exchange I am going to cancel and get a new one. There is also a button under that says "stonieren" or cancel. I of course just wanted to trade the more expensive ticket for the ticket for which I could save my 10 euroes.

Today I checked my account balance and it looked a little low...a lot low...so I got a print out of my transactions and see that there was an extremely large charge from DB. So I logged onto my account and see that in fact I have two train tickets for my journey tomorrow. Not necessary. So I called in and the service agent tell me that I do in fact have to manually cancel the one ticket.

This website makes no sense. If I have to manually cancel anyways, why is there a button with the cancel and exchange option??!!! By cancelling today I have to pay a 15 euro service fee, meaning that using this coupon has essentially cost me 5 euros.

I called in to find out this information and said that it was misleading, and the service rep says that I should have called in...what is the point of having a website??!! It is also frustrating because I have so many options now of people that are driving to Munich with other Carpooling websites that I could have saved a lot more money.

29-09-13

Todays plan was supposed to be a nice little trip up to Frankfurt to celebrate Oktoberfest. Due to some high shoes, a long dress, and turkish circle dance, one of my dear friends ended up spraining her ankle last night. This meant that our plans could not be fulfilled and I did not have any friends to go with. Alright, that sucks...

....but I was happy because I was going to be able to go to church. I think after going three weeks in a row in summer I was "churched out". Even during the week I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to go this week or next week. Well as luck turned out, God wanted me to go to church this week.

I was also happy that I was able to go. I got into another little tiff with my roommate last night, because I asked him to wipe up after he spills his coffee. (Side note: if changing the colour of countertops was an art form, my roommate would be in the Louvre) I also had sent a group text earlier to him and my other roommate earlier saying (translated) "The front door was left open twice today. Please pay attention". He takes everything I say as a deep dark criticism. I also look stupid because last week I looked in the bathtub and saw hair and said - hey can you please clean that out - and he found my hair within the mix....a bit of egg on my face. So he said that he can't ever believe me now because I criticize, but then do the same thing. Sir, I do not pour coffee on the counter and not wash up. For him it is simply too difficult to admit that he perhaps erred. It is impossible to have an form of discussion because he turns immediately defensive or tries to shift the blame.

I wanted to go to church today, especially because I had a difficult time sleeping last night because I was a little distraught over what had happened. I also wanted to take the time and try and learn something and how God can help me handle the situation with more grace.

Grace is at the moment a huge theme for me, and I think for my dear father as well. It is easier to act with pettiness and sarcasm, but grace is something God has shown us, and how we should choose to interact with the people around us.

Anyways - I am very happy to go to church. I think it may have been the first time that I ever paid attention to the whole sermon. He was talking about how there are rules for living in a community, which then led to the ten commandments. The speaker then made a comparison to the fact that in Germany there are over 67,000 individual rules in the German Law Books...

Each law is based on some sort of situation. There would be no need for the law, unless there was some sort of precedent set. That is sad. Even if you are not a christian this is sad. Why do people try to do bad things to hurt other people? Why do people think that it is more important to think of the self? And Germany is much more community minded than North America.

I think people need to act with more grace towards each other. By treating each other poorly we simply encourage retaliation and acting rash does not make the situation better.

Before I die I want to...

The popular theme with kids these days seems to be yolo-ing.
I think one of the really strong influences is the show the buried life in which the four main hosts (for lack of a better word) have a list of 100 things they want to do before they die. And not just simple, I'd like to go to spain or go skydiving...but virtual unrealistic things like asking a movie star out on a date. I think this is an neat concept and people should think about what their dreams in life are but I do not have any dream like this. I do not have a "before I die list". Each episode they also help someone else achieve their dream, often quite touching moments are spurred from these, as they tend to be a little more serious.

I don't think this is the most applicable list for how I want to live my life. I feel like making a list and having goals is extremely important, but my only thought is what happens when you get to the end of the list. Then it seems like you are living your life solely for this list.

I do have lists of things I want to do, but these are more of a guideline because all I want to do right now is travel and explore and learn. I worry that by having such a focus on a list I will lose the opportunity to discover something new along the way. For me I just have more generalized lists. I would like to go to every country in Europe. I also wouldn't be mad if I went to every country in the world, but I am not going to be bummed if I don't even get to half. I feel like it would involve backpacking and reliance on locals which I do not necessarily feel excited about. I also have a list of foods that I need to eat, and libraries that I need to visit.

Excitingly I was able to cross my first library off my list this past weekend on my visit to St. Gallen.

It was sad because I really wish that I could have been there to share it with my father, but I am happy that I had his blessing (so I put his name in the guest book)

cat meetups at midnight

Today was my friend Rominas birthday. To celebrate we went to her garden. Seeing as I do not possess a motorized vehicle I decided to accept her (Romina's) offer of driving me to the celebration. To get to her house I took my bike. This also meant that she would need to return me to her house to pick up said bike to return home; about a five minute ride.

Once we arrived back at her place I saw a little kitty cat and started talking to it in a way people would assume I was dropped on my head as a child. Romina remarked that this cat belonged to her neighbours. The cat followed us from the car to Rominas house where she contemplated taking it inside because she was scared to have it get hit by a car. In Canada jerks leave their cats out all the time so I figured this must have been what happened. The neighbours car however wasn't there (assumed not home). I jokingly asked the cat if I could put her in my basket and take her home. Romina took this as dead serious...

as much as I want a cat...no.

She then opened the gate and the cat rushed inside the yard. Romina then went in to ask her parents what we should do with it and in that time her Grandma comes out from the upstairs apartment in her nightgown. Oh yeah, her grandma has Alzheimer's.

Situational hilarity ensues.

For the next five minutes her grandma keeps calling for "Sheila" (her cat), but everytime she gets close to the cat she realizes it's not Sheila. And she keeps saying the cat is always around on her balcony and that she sometimes sleeps with it. Why is this lady letting strange cats into her house.

But we just carried on having more discussions about the cat and how it is often on her balcony and she feeds it. Then Rominas dad comes out and is irritated because it is midnight and what are we doing out here with this dumb cat.

I took this as my cue to head home, Romina went inside....I hope her grandma did too.

Versailles

One of my dreams of 15 years was to go to Versailles....and I was able to do that when I was in Paris. I know this is long overdue considering I have been there more than a month ago - but just deal with it.

It is weird going to places that you have heard so many things about and seen a million pictures of. It's almost underwhelming because the anticipation is so big. This is honestly one of the reasons that I did not elect to go to the Louvre. One reason I was so excited to see Versailles is because of my early childhood (and continued) interest in French Revolution. It is so interesting to see Paris and the separation of church and state and see that in contrast to Germany. Paris in reminded me of America in the obvious patriotism and belief in state.

The experience at Versailles was also interesting. I elected to go with a tour as it would be the easiest way for someone to take me there and would give the best tour around the grounds. An Irish lad with the Parisian attitude was our guide and he was...alright. I think that already having a seemingly good knowledge was not beneficial. I was hoping he would shove a lot more in my face.

After the mediocre tour I made my way inside the palace with 4 strangers from my group. Even better - being a European citizen allowed me free entrance. What was great was that the one girl let me nerd-gasm all over her. I just let out all my facts without caring if she wanted to know. I think she appreciated them. It was interesting just hanging out with total strangers for the day. I think 4 years ago D would have tried to find them on facebook and immediately regret it when you realize you have no idea who these people are. Anyways - after we were done the girl and I decided to head out to a nice supper and wander. I wanted to go shopping but by the time we got anywhere things were already shutting down. I gave her my business card (because I'm so cool) and I haven't heard anything. It was nice though and I won't forget her.

being away from mom and dad

I was reminded again yesterday that sunday is mothers day. For me mothers day is an annual event that I usually forget. Usually I will be reminded that day in church (usually I'm also in church because I'm newly home from school) and then I will whisper to my mom.

For us it's not a big day. It's in the same category as valentines day. It's nice to celebrate, but I'm not going all out for it.

It's also crazy to think, I have been away from my mother (and father) for about 6 years. I find that so strange. It's weird to think that we have spent 6 years apart (summers not included for the 5 years). I miss living with them. They were the best roommates I ever had!

I also realize that I can't stay a child forever but I am definitely feeling that I am almost completely in the category of having an adult relationship with my parents. I'm sure this is part of my lack of financial dependence as well (although I still owe them from school).

I am excited to travel with them this summer too. During uni I was never able to make family trips with them...but now the old tradition begins again!