To Us

To that tired mom staring off into space, finding herself questioning every life decision she has ever made — I see you.

To the moms who traded in their Type-A careers to stay at home and raise the kids they have brought into the world. To the moms who once navigated the challenges of the workplace with effortless calm and precision, but now are grappling with the often irrational whims and moods of infants and toddlers — I see you.

To the fiercely independent babes who once backpacked alone and swung off to solo adventures in their previous lives, who now find themselves planning virtually every nook of their day to day around what may least trigger their kids to be uncomfortable or unruly — I see you.

To the fellow moms taking a rare, peaceful break from the insanity on the exceptional moment that none of the kids need to be consoled, fed or changed at this singular point in time — here’s to us.

May we survive (as we always try to do), and still be happy with whatever version of ourselves we find once we finally stop grasping for air, and are finally just able to breathe.

Following the Trail in Hamelin

I realized that I voluntarily brought my two small kids to a town famous for losing all of their kids mysteriously overnight — have I lost my mind?!

Hamelin’s golden rat guarding over the bridge

Before our trip, my curiosity was piqued while listening to this Hamelin podcast episode from Stuff You Should Know, which claims that the legend of the Pied Piper is one of the few fairy tales which might actually be based on truth. Strange circumstances, like a very specific date in the tale itself, to numerous artifacts referring to the sad day when the town “lost its children”, made historians take a closer look — and made me want to take a peek at the town as well.

To be honest, I was in for a surprise when I first caught glimpse of Hamelin. Perhaps I was expecting something, well, more like a hamlet? A small, almost theme-park-ey town devoted to a fairy tale? What we met was actually a bustling, sprawled-out city — not exactly as busy as Hamburg, but Hamelin was bigger than I thought and had more to offer than simply rat-themed tourist traps.

Raritätenzoo Ebbs: What New Thing Will You See Today?

To be honest, visiting a zoo for exotic animals was not the first thing I thought of when I was planning a short visit to Austria, but here we are.

Before seeing it with my own eyes, I had no idea that this animal existed.
(Coati or Nasenbär, native to South America)

I was simply looking for a good place to stay overnight as we made our way back to Germany from Kärnten, and I stumbled on a few sights in Inntal, grazing the border of Austria and Germany.

How Stuttgart Airport Made Time Fly By While Waiting with Kids

After two years of not flying anywhere, I found myself positively giddy on my first time back at an airport — even if I wasn’t the one getting on a flight at all. We were bringing my sister to board her flight, and we had the whole gang in tow: me, my husband, my 3-year old and my 6-month old.

I barely remembered how small Stuttgart Airport was — you could probably walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes (maybe 5 minutes if you’re late for a flight and are running). We arrived at the airport with a lot of time to spare before boarding time, so we roamed around trying to find a decent restaurant where we could settle down with the kids while we wait.

Aside from the McDonald’s and a rather well-stocked Edeka supermarket, there wasn’t much going for options (the big buffet restaurant is now unfortunately closed). What we did stumble upon had no food, but was actually a better option for keeping the little ones entertained.

Insel Mainau: Come for the Flowers, Be Awed by the Playground

Visiting beloved flower gardens during spring is always a good idea; it’s time for Mother Nature to show off her vibrant hues and delicate silhouettes.

The last time we went to Insel Mainau, though, we did not have two kids in tow yet. Now that I’ve seen the park through the eyes of an ever-alert parent, I just realized how much of a refuge it can be for families with small children.

It’s Wild in Pairi Daiza

I never really thought of visiting zoos as a children’s activity; I’ve always enjoyed meandering in zoos as an adult whenever I travelled. Now that I have a toddler who is thoroughly fascinated with making monkey and lion sounds all day, now I see the appeal of taking along your kids to see living, breathing, amazing animals.

Everyone’s Favorite Topic: Politics

My husband (born, raised and living in Germany) and I (born and raised in the Philippines, now living in Germany) have had variants of the same heated discussion several times: it would typically start with a short news piece on the radio, and then he’ll go and complain about what nincompoops they have in their government. An outraged me will then reply that if he thinks that this is what idiocy in governance looks like, then he’s ungrateful and has no idea what suffering under a dysfunctional state means (I mean, how could he not appreciate Mummy Merkel?!?). He’ll then respond that it’s not fair to expect him to just shut up whenever he’s unhappy with leadership. In fact, if there’s one thing he gained from all their WW2 history lessons, it’s that he shouldn’t hold back on criticizing the government, no matter how negligible others may think matters may be.

I haven’t felt the gravity of his reasoning, at least not until now. I’ve labelled him as a whiner, perhaps because I wanted him to see how he won the place-of-birth lottery, as compared to my fate where governance was mainly symbolic: a big circus, where you never really expect any output except maybe for scandals and entertainment. I wanted him to see that he was stressing out about nothing, that he has an amazing security net, in comparison to my place of birth, it was every man for himself.

But now, more than ever, I realize that he was right all along: I shouldn’t tell him to complain less; if anything, I should have complained MORE. Their culture of holding their leaders accountable, no matter how trivial you think the issue may be — maybe if Filipinos had that, maybe we wouldn’t be in the sorry mess we are now. A famous quote from Lee Kuan Yew points out that the Filipinos’ downfall was that we were too quick to forgive and move on, that we spared harsh punishment in the name of virtue, a habit of amnesia and leniency that generations to come will pay for dearly. I used to think that if I myself couldn’t do a better job, then I am in no place to complain. Now, perhaps, I should adopt his way of thinking and hold people to a higher standard, and to never underestimate what people are capable of delivering.

Living in the Strangest of Times

As many others have pointed out, a lot of us haven’t considered a Russian invasion and possibly WW3 in our February 2022 bingo, but here we are.

A Random Post About Roaches

In a few years, I would have been living abroad longer than I have lived in my childhood home. Whenever I return to the Philippines, there is that tiny, nudging feeling that agitates me whenever I think of spending the night sleeping in my childhood bedroom, and I think I’ve FINALLY pinpointed one big factor why: COCKROACHES.

I don’t remember being particularly morbidly afraid of roaches. Unpleasant as they are, they were a common sight in the house, and then there’s the occasional flying one. As if that wasn’t enough, every now and then, you would catch the whiff of what is unmistakably a dead rat stuck that got stuck somewhere behind all the furniture. I abhor these pests, yes, but not enough to lose sleep over them — not until now. When I moved abroad for the first time to Singapore, I discovered that you could actually live in a house and not actually have to worry about disease-ridden insects crawling all over your stuff. Once you go roach-less, it’s a bit hard to literally go back.

I’ve always thought that our pest problem was because of how our childhood home was situated — a house built in the 70’s with a growing pile of discarded junk in our backyard. I thought that this state was unavoidable — or is it? Is it actually only our home that was this way? The thought of asking my friends how it was growing up with roaches in their own homes never crossed my mind. If you’re not bewildered and disgusted yet with this random post and would care to fill me in, please do enlighten me.

It’s in the Bag

Back in my previous life as an oft-solo backpacker, I almost had packing down to a precise ritual. A typical packing list for a weekend getaway would look like this:

• At least 1 pair of denim shorts
• 2 tank tops
• A dress, if space permits
• Small notebook and pen
• Kindle (or a compact book)
• My handy-dandy wrist wallet
• Passport
• A shoelace (just in case I need to tie anything)
• A pair of flip-flops
• Plastic bag for dirty clothes
• Underwear
• 2 pairs of swimsuits (the bikini tops are to be used as bras)
• Deodorant and travel-size bottle of shampoo (to be also used as body wash)
• Very light shawl (to double up as the flight blanket)
• Camera (optional)
• Phone and phone charger
• Small accessories (earrings, necklaces, or bracelets)

And that was it. Everything would fit in my impossibly narrow but somehow spacious carry-on backpack. My mantra was to pack as little as possible, and improvise for whatever I left behind.

Walchensee, Come and See

Say what you want about Tiktok, but without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon this gorgeous local secret. I mean, I completely understand why Bavarians would want the Walchensee all for themselves. Just take a look at that sparkling turquoise water!

Wackenwald: The “WOBBLING” Forest

I was today years old when I found out that in Germany, there’s a forest where the ground is so soft, that the trees shake when you jump. Talk about wacky!

When my in-laws told me about a forest with “natural trampolines”, I just thought that they meant that the ground was just mushy. I foolishly just brushed it off, until on an extremely sunny weekend, we checked it out on a whim. It was so cool in real life! See the video below:

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