Cookies, Grissini and Friends

The weekly play date that moms organised for Sunshine and his friends, which DH calls mom's gossip date, started again yesterday after a rather longish break. We had to take a break because of Ms Positive's loss. Since it was after a while and it was going to be a full house, I decided to do some baking. I made some oatmeal cookies adapted from, Joy of Baking recipe. I replaced the egg with a pureed pear and some milk to make it into a paste and the all purpose flour was replaced by whole wheat flour, except for a couple for tablespoons.

I also baked some whole wheat grissinis since everyone in the family seem to be addicted to them at the moment and has been munching on the store bought ones. I hope I can convince them to switch to the home baked ones instead.

It was so much fun to have all the kids running around in our apartment although I wished we had a bigger place with a garden so that they have more place to play their messy games. I generally don't stop Sunshine from messing up the living room since his grandparents are using his room at the moment.

Ms Positive and her family joined us for dinner later and it was a fun afternoon and evening. I went to bed feeling happy although I was tired.

Lotus Seed Pod Hoax

I had the misfortune of seeing the lotus seed pod hoax photo and had two excruciating days following it. A disgusting photo of an alleged skin disorder which is apparently caused by the use of some kind of soap or shampoo is doing the rounds. If anybody clicks on it, your computer gets infected by virus or malware. But for unfortunate souls like me who suffer from some sort of phobia, just looking at the snap downloads nightmares and disgusting images into the brain.

I was unaware that I had any kind of phobia until that fateful day that I set my eyes on that cursed snap. It is a lotus seed pod photoshopped onto the snap of a person's hand to make it look like a disturbing skin disorder. After watching it, the image started flashing in front of me wherever I looked. I couldn't sleep at night and felt suffocated and nauseated most of the day. My body would start itching all over at random times during the day. I could do most of my work and household chores on autopilot, but I was very disturbed. I thought it will go away after a while, but when I couldn't take it anymore, I decided to face it and overcome it. I searched google to find out that it is a hoax and no such condition actually exists. But even after I got this information, there was only mild relief.

I googled lotus seed pod images and looked at about a hundred of them. I tried pranayam and meditation and chanted  over and over again that it is just a flower, a beautiful creation of nature and nothing sinister. I feel much better now, but when I shared this incident with some friends yesterday and as I type this out today, I get mild itching and nausea, but atleast it is nowhere near as intense as it was.

I am trying to be positive about this and think that I just discovered a problem I had and I am still trying pranayam and positive suggestions to overcome it completely.

Feeling Sorry

I have joined the rest of the world, including the opponents Germany in feeling sorry for Brazil. I had sat down to watch the semi-final match of the 2014 football world cup and was supporting Germany, but after the third goal by Germany, I started feeling bad for the hosts, Brazil. I couldn't believe what was going on. Instead of a tough nail biting match that I had expected, it was a one sided match which was so completely dominated by Germany that they stopped celebrating their goals after a while.

I went to bed after 55 minutes because I did not want to see Brazil's humiliation any more. When I went to bed, the score was 5-0 and when I got up, it was 7-1. Poor poor Brazilians. I felt hardly any joy at Germany's victory although I was supporting them. Hope they don't let it get into their heads and play well in the finals.

Today was a back breaking day for me. I had to finish a training at work and pass some tests with 80% correct answers. Then I had to assist the maid in the weekly cleaning, clean the fridge, make jam from some strawberries and raspberries that were showing signs of going bad, stow away some stuff in the cellar, load the washing machine and hang the clothes, empty the dishwasher and load it again apart from making a warm lunch and a warm dinner. I even managed to call my mom and talk to her after many days. I guess I will pat myself on the back.

Home Remedy

Garlic is my magic pill. For cold, I grate garlic into some olive oil and apply it in the nose, ears, throat and chest and repeat it a few times every day until the cold is gone. A friend of mine told me that diluted apple cider vinegar can be used to bring down fever. A couple of days back, Sunshine started the day with a bit of temperature. So we decided to keep him at home although he wanted to go to his kindergarten. During the day, he seemed to get warmer and finally I decided to measure his temperature.

He wouldn't let me stick the thermometer in his mouth; so I decided to check the temperature of his armpit. But he wouldn't let me raise his shirt, so I had to measure over the cloth. Before the thermometer beeped, he pushed it away and the reading was 39.5. So, I assumed that the real temperature might be somewhere close to 41. His grandparents panicked, but I remembered that his doctor had once told us that 41 for kids is not the same as 41 for adults. So, I decided to try my friend's home remedy before taking him to a doctor.

I mixed 1 part apple cider vinegar with two parts water and dipped a face towel in the mixture and wiped down Sunshine's body and face. He complained about the smell and cried because the towel was too cold. However, I could feel his body temperature dropping already. Later, DH returned from work and measured his temperature and it stayed normal. Yesterday, we decided to keep him at home so that he gets some rest, but instead he was out playing in the sun and later in water, but his temperature stayed normal. He had a bit of running nose at night, but he went to the kindergarten today.

I always try to avoid taking medicines for small ailments and these days I am convinced this is the right way since I hear so much about drug resistant variants of diseases from my friends in the medical field. I am glad my friend told me about this very simple and effective in my experience remedy for fever. I hope it is of use to others as well. I am trying to spread the word over FB and Whatsapp and other social media.

Precious Child

The news of a Georgia toddler who died of extreme heat after being left in the car by his dad is so disturbing. The police apparently found evidence that the dad had searched online for details on infant death by overheating. It looks like the dad actually wanted to kill the child. The mom apparently said that she stands by her husband and trusts him.

Nobody knows what the truth is, but if parents do not want to have their kids anymore, why don't they give them up for adoption? On one side there are devastated parents who lose their children to accidents, diseases and crime and on the other side there are parents who abuse or even murder their children. There are numerous couples who cant have children and wish so earnestly for one. I wish people knew that there is another way.

I cannot fathom how anyone can hurt an innocent child, who loves and trusts the adults in its life, especially when it is your own. I do not have words to describe what I see and feel when I look into Sunshine's eyes. It makes me melt and gives me the kind of happiness that I have never experienced otherwise. Ofcourse bringing up a child is hard work, but just the sight of its innocent eyes is worth it. The hugs, the kisses, the milestones, the drama and the incessant array of cute things that little kids do - they give us a lot more than they get from us.

Nevertheless, it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Some people might have gone ahead and had a kid, thinking it is, or might have had a kid accidentally. Whatever the case, I wish people would just bring their kids to a safe place when they feel that parenting is not for them instead of hurting their kids.

Football Fever

The most popular game in the world is probably at the peak of its popularity at the moment because of the world cup. Every time there is a match involving Germany, plenty of people can be found on the streets and at the public viewing areas wearing German colours and drinking beer.

The world cup makes me nostalgic as I used to watch the world cup matches with my dad when I was a child. He loved to watch sports on TV and since he didn't have sons and nobody else at home was interested, I think he liked the fact that I joined him. He would patiently answer all my questions and would let me stay up late when the tournament was held in a different time zone. Argentina and Italy were my childhood favourite teams and some of my favourite stars were Maradona, Baggio and Batista.

Now, much to DH's consternation, I support the German team. There are ofcourse no superstars or on court dramatics. They are methodical and consistent and are often accused of being boring. We went for an exhibition match before the national team left for Brazil. While the fans were happily cheering their team, there was no euphoria, no fan-girls or anybody trying to get up close to their sporting heroes. I think the celebrity worship culture has not yet caught up here or maybe it is because they play as a team and there is no one superstar in the team. I do not follow german media and that could be the reason why I have this impression. But, I know for sure that if it were a cricket match in India, there would be plenty of fans going wild trying to get as close as possible to their favourite player. Sachin Tendulkar ofcourse has the status of God in India. I didn't feel that any of the German players enjoyed that kind of cult status. Anyway, all of these factors don't really stop me from enjoying the matches. I would love it if Germany or Argentina won the world cup. Go guys!

Lost in Heidelberg

I had to pick up Sunshine from his Kindergarten yesterday as DH was busy at work and had several meetings. Papa and Mummy also joined us and we went to a park so that Sunshine could play for some time before we went home. He was in a nasty mood and started crying for a lolly pop as soon as we reached the park. I had to put in a lot of effort to calm him down somehow. While the drama was going on, a little blond boy approached us and tried to strike a friendship with Sunshine. He told me in halting German that he was from Ukraine. He was looked about 8 years old and usually Sunshine loves the company of older kids. But he was probably tired and did not pay any attention to the boy. So he left is alone.

A little later, when Sunshine and I were sitting on a bench, the little boy came to us and tried to play with Sunshine again. He tried talking to me again although he was finding it difficult. He asked me if I could speak any Russian. Unfortunately, I cannot. He then asked me if I spoke English. I obviously do, but the boy could speak only a few words in English. Nevertheless, we started a conversation in English and German and he told me that his name is Daniel, he is from Ukraine and he lives in Heidelberg with his mom. His dad is apparently still in Ukraine. He has started school in Heidelberg. An elegant and obviously affluent German lady was standing next to us and listening in on our conversation. She also tried asking him some questions, but he seemed to grow a little conscious and wandered away.

Later, I started thinking about Daniel and his circumstances. He must be feeling lonely in a new country where he can speak very little of the local language. He didn't seem to have any friends either.  He must be missing his father. I felt like a total idiot because Papa can talk fluent Russian and I could have asked Daniel to talk to him. I could have got some more details about him and maybe help him find his feet in this new place.

Anyway, it is too late now and all I can do now is pray that Daniel finds some new friends soon and is happy here. I hope I will meet him again some day.