My Grandma King taught me to knit when I was young in early grade school. I remember how long it took me to perfect the stitches. Knit five rows, realize that you accidentally dropped or added several stitches and then rip them all out and start again. It was madening. Despite the fact that she was so patient and took as much time teaching me as I needed, I was an impatient learner, and after many attempts, had finally settled on the fact that maybe I was supposed to only be able to knit straight long rows. And what comes in straight long rows? SCARVES! So, I knitted as many hot pink scarves as my heart desired, but when no one in the family really wanted to wear them, I eventually gave up knitting.

It wasn’t until fall of 2004 that I came back to knitting. I don’t even remember why or who suggested it, but I do remember going out to Meijer’s to buy some cheap yarn and needles along with a Learn to Knit book. I had realized that it wasn’t the hot pink scarves that drove me away in the first place (or my brothers refusal to wear them), but it was the lack of variety. It was the fast that I hadn’t given Grandma King enough attention and tried to learn more than just knit one row, purl the next. I wanted to learn to make the slippers that she gave everyone in the family a pair of for Christmas (and you had better not wear through the bottom of them until next Christmas cause odds were you would have to wait and she wouldn’t give you more early). I wanted to learn to knit socks (and maybe be able to make a Christmas stocking just like Great Aunt Mary used to). I wanted to make myself a sweater just like the one Grandma King did when I was in grade school (I remember it being so big then and she told me not to worry cause I would grow in to it – I can still wear it to this day). I wanted to be a knitter, not just be able to knit.

I have to admit it was a bit intimidating, but with patience (more than I had in grade school), my practice started to pay off. First, I relearned scarves in lots of different yarns, then I mastered patterened potholders (oh boy!), then the slippers (in multiple sizes for my family and friends) just like Grandma King used to knit, then a baby blanket for my friend Jen’s newest addition to the family, then a hat and gloves for my friend Krishna (although she would have to have giant hands to be able to wear the gloves), etc. I was hooked. I knitted all the time, i.e. while watching tv, listening to music, doing dictations at work, talking on the phone. I realized that it calmed me. It silenced my mind after a long day of work. It focused my semi-ADD traits. It was my therapy! In all of this though there was one thing that still frightened me. Socks. And why you ask? Well, because socks involve knitting in the round on double pointed needles that are so small they look like toothpicks. With enough stuborness though, I bought the needles and yarn and off I went. I loved it. I don’t know what I was so scared of. It was so satisfying. Socks have so many things in them as far as stitches and complexity, but besides all that, who doesn’t like getting a handmade pair of socks from a friend (probably much more than a hot pink scarf right?)

So with the thought of this trip, when I asked Chris if I should take my knitting, he gave me this puzzled stare and then blurted out vehemently, YES! YES YOU ARE TAKING YOUR KNITTING. I was a bit shocked. He went on to explain that he also saw that it calmed and focused me and that going on a trip as stressful and long as this one that I should definately bring something to do. With the space limitations I decided that socks were my best bet and was glad that I had taken the time to learn how to make them. So, I have knitted three pair of socks so far on this trip and am working on my fourth. When I run out of yarn I find a store and pick some up. I have knitted with Spanish, British and German yarn now and couldn’t be happier (and neither could Chris for Lord knows what I would be like without my yarn therapy).

Grandma King passed on in 2000, and I still miss her, but I am sure she would have been happy that I picked up knitting again. I am sure she would also be shocked with how far I have come from the scary scarves I knitted so long ago.

Thank you Grandma King! I Love you!

Categories: Becky Blogs, Germany
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We had wanted to do a boat tour of the Rhine as we were coming back from the U.K., but my sickness put and end to that and we postponed it for another day. The longer we sat at Julie’s though, enjoying doing nothing at all, the more we realized that we were going to have to do its soon or not at all, as the end to the boat season was October 29th. As Julie lives close to one of the main starting points in Bingen, we thought that a day trip would work well, as we didn’t want to take all our luggage with us as we were still in the midst of planning the rest of our trip.

The Rhine river is one of the busiest shipping rivers in the world and has been ever since the times of the Roman Empire, when this land was the Empire’s northern boundary. It is riddled with castles from the 11th-13th centuries. They became popular on the Rhine with the “robber-barons”, or petty rulers, as a way to collect fees for allowing boats to go down “their” section of the river. (At one time there were 300 independent countries in Medieval Germany). Now a majority of them are either in ruins from wars or have been turned into museums you can tour or hotels/hostels. There are ferries that take you between the towns along the river and it has all turned into a very touristy thing to do.

The day we decided to tour the Rhine it of course rained and was in the 40′s. There were barely any people in Bingen waiting to board the boat. We were surprised then when the boat arrived and it was filled with Japanese tourists. It was very surreal as we were on a boat in Germany where we were obviously the minority. The tour was in German and English but now also Japanese. The waitresses were Japanese and they were all serving Sake. Weird! So, I of course took photos of groups of people, trying not to let them catch me. They also were taking pictures of us, but not as inconspicuous at all as they were giggling while doing so. One cute little man came up to us and wanted a photo with us. I thought he must be confused into thinking we were German, but even after finding out we were from the States, he still wanted our photo! I still have no idea why but maybe it was because Chris was so tall and towered above him like King Kong. I tried later to take his picture, but as he was constantly taking pictures, this proved too difficult. Very weird experience. ( I had a similar one in Kauai once with my mother while boarding a boat bound for the Fern Grotto. We accidentally got on the Japanese tour boat and spent the rest of the time with a Japanese tour guide and lots of Japanese songs.) Even though we are all human, cultural differences can create some interesting experiences.

We actually felt sad as we said “goodbye” to our Asian visitors and went to explore the towns of Bacharach and St. Goar. In Bacharach we climbed a steep path up to the castle, which is now a youth hostel. From it were amazing views (despite the rain and haze). We had at least an hour or two in each of the towns before the next boat came to ferry us away. Even though the towns were pretty deserted, as it was almost the end of the season, we still had a great time and it made for a wonderful day trip. The only downfall of the day came at the end when the ferry ended at a town on the wrong side of the river (Rudesheimer), despite their sch edule saying otherwise, and never dropped us off back in Bingen. Oh there is always something to go wrong while traveling isn’t there. LOL At least this wasn’t major. A few Euro and another boat, “a personferry” took us back to our starting point, where we could walk to the train station and head back to Julie’s. It was all in all a lovely little day trip.

Tags: Bacharach,Japanese Tourists,Rhine River Boat Tour,St. Goar
Categories: Becky Blogs, Germany
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I had done nothing but sleep and cough for four days when I finally felt ready to try to return to the land of the living.   I attempted a lukewarm shower on Wednesday the 11th after the fevers and dizziness had partially subsided. (As an aside, never let your mother talk you into taking a warm shower with a fever. Your blood pressure will drop and you can faint. I did so spring break of ’92 and broke my foot. It is still a source of disagreement between us to this day as to whether she said shower or bath, of course with the bath theory I could have passed out and drowned.  Thanks Mom! ) Anyway, by Thursday the 12th I was feeling  more hungry  and actually started to eat more than soup and  on Friday the 13th I actually got dressed and left Julie’s apartment to take a short walk! Ooh yeah – go me!  For 4 days though, I basically sat on Julie’s couch in the living room listening to the military radio station “AFN - The Eagle – Music Worth Fighting For” repeat the same songs and ads over and over again. In the midst of this I had two furry visitors meowing simultaneously  trying to get petted. Now don’t get me wrong, I love cats, but my immune system doesn’t and they cause me to become a itchy, sneezy, drippy, wheezy, hive infested mess. I could resist one named Crud, who is a bit more “voluptuous or big-boned” , because every time she would jump on my stomach it was like a brink had landed on it and all the air in my chest was immediately gone. Poor crud. Julie got her in Turkey and apparently they breed them bigger over there. Milly though was not as easy to resist. Milly is a sweet little loveable handicapped kitty who has no use of her back legs. She has a hard time getting around on the tile floor but she manages and when she looks at you with those sweet little eyes they just scream “pick me up and pet me”. So I of course do, and then later pay for it and find myself scrambling for my Allegra, Singulair & Albuterol.

Tags: AFN The Eagle,Crud,Julie's Couch,Milly,Music Worth Fighting For
Categories: Becky Blogs, Germany
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Some of you may have noticed that I am way behind on my blogs. In fact I am working on blogs over a month old. I called it “back-blogging”. I am a slow writer, bad typer, suck at grammar (great at math) and that results in me not enjoying the whole writing/ blogging process, thus all my blogs are behind. Sometimes i get over whelmed on how much behind I am in my writing that I can’t write. See the cycle? here? A cool person named Jenny I met on a Haggis tour in London suggest to cut my losses and just write current stuff. Then at my leisure do my back-blogging.

Here’s a tip so you don’t miss one of my back-blogging older blogs. Since I dated the blog on the day I should have written it will not appear on the main page as a new blog. For its already outdated. The trick is to watch and remember the blog number next to my category “Chris’s blog” and when it changes you know I have written in a new blog in the past so to speak. Just click on the category to see the newish back dated blog. I know it’s a little off but it’s me. =) Maybe I will catch up and back-blogging will no longer be necessary. Ha!

Tags: Chris Blog,reading
Categories: Chris Blogs, Germany
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Well it’s time to write a new blog. It has been a couple of weeks since the last post. Don’t worry we are in fact alive and well. We did a cool tour in the UK called Haggis and didn’t have any internet. More on that later. Becky and I are now relaxing and recovering in Germany at my friend Julie’s place. It’s good timing too. Recently, Becky came down with a bad cold/flu and she is so miserable she does not have the energy to blog. That means I get to catch up! =P Meanwhile, I am sitting here trying to decide what to write. Frankly I am little burn out and all I want to do is veg. Doing things that we miss from the states. Like snuggling on a couch under blanket and watching a movie. You don’t know how satisfying that is if you have not be able to do it for 6 weeks. Relaxing in your own place and not that of a hostel or a couch. No worries of stranger drunk youths waking you up or thieves trying to steal your shit. Thank God for Julie and her place. An oasis in our travels.

Tags: blog,snuggling
Categories: Chris Blogs, Germany
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