pics – Page 3 – Welker Fam

SK update

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since we’ve arrived! Time is cruising by but December still seems like a long way away.

We’re slowly moving outside of our bubble, although our day to day routine keeps us within it most of the time (which is why we don’t have many new pics). The process of applying for our visa’s has broadened our scope a bit though. Today we all went to get the required physical exams necessary for temporary stay permit/visa. My colleague had a terrible experience with this, so I was expecting scenes from the movie Hostel; dirty medical equipment in a dark office in the basement of a rundown building. Maybe it was my low expectations, but it wasn’t bad at all. He must have paved the way for us, or maybe having Skye with us forced a more proper establishment from the lady taking us around.

Continue reading “SK update”

random pictures

Here are a few pictures I’ve taken recently.

The first set is from Slavín, a war memorial and cemetery on the hillside that commemorates the liberation of Bratislava from the Germans in WWII. It’s crazy to think that the history of the war that you hear about on TV and read about in books actually happened here. It also has a really good view of the city (I have more pics, but I want to make a panorama of them before posting them all).

The first image is of the memorial itself. It really is fairly tall, more so than I had imagined. The second image is a view of Bratislava looking east across the city. The third image is a view of Bratislava Castle, and if you look closely on the left, you can see the top of St. Martin’s Cathedral (not taken from Slavín, but from a break in the houses on the walk back home. On a side note, there are some amazing houses up here.)

And the second set is, of course, pics of our little one who is just too cute not to photograph every second. In the set is her first bump on the noggin that she got the other day. She likes to stand next to the shelves we have on the ground here, and pull out everything she can and throw it on the floor. She was doing that, and was standing on a book, which slipped out from under her, and she fell and began to cry. We consoled her from the couch, because she often falls and doesn’t hit anything, just scares herself, and that’s what we thought happened. When we looked over a few moments later, she looked at us and smiled with a bruise on her head.

The first image shows her little bump on the noggin, not bad, but it was her first one. The second image shows her new thing lately, where she tilts her head to one side and looks at you in a shy, cute kinda way. The third image is her in the tub with bubbles, which she wasn’t sure of at first, but is starting to enjoy more and more each time.

Well… that’s all for now, more to come, I’m sure.

Meeting new people

This last week we went to an indoor play gym we had been contemplating for a while. I think Skye was a little overwhelmed, she didn’t really start playing for several minutes. She would just watch the 2 older children there playing. They had a ton of varying toys for varying ages, ALL of which are a new inventory of her current toys. It was fun to do something for her that I’m sure she’ll enjoy doing more of. She loves watching older kids and is fascinated by them. I’m hoping it will be good for her to be around other kids. She’ll still too young to really interact with them, but I think it’s important for her to be exposed to people under 30. It only cost 2 euro/hour (in the states something like this was about ~15/hour). We stayed for an hour, talked to an Irish mom for a minute and Skye finally started exploring. She loved the balls from the pit, but she also liked being pushed around in a toy dump truck. (camera died after this pic)

When we were back in the states and I was panicking about moving with a baby, I found an SK expat (foreigners living in another country) website and started asking questions from other expats. I started talking with this guy from here, asking him stupid questions like, can we take a stroller on the bus (panicking, yes I was). We finally met up with him, his wife and their 18-month old daughter for lunch. She is from here, he is from Texas. They were really nice and it was great to socialize for a bit. Hopefully we’ll hang out again, but even if we don’t, it was great to hang out with another family, the same age and in a somewhat similar situation.

From this same website, a few expat mothers are trying to get a playgroup started. The first is this Wednesday, so we’ll see how that goes.

This week we also have our first pediatric appointment for Skye. The doctor is a close friend of my boss and through our e-mails he seems like a really nice man. Skye is fine, we just wanted to make contact with him and ask a few questions about her upcoming transition into her first year.

It’s really bizarre and way out of our comfort zone to extend ourselves like this. You totally have to put yourself out there, be vulnerable and see what happens. At this age, you are just accustomed to having your circle of friends and take advantage of the fact that they can be called at any moment to hang out. So here’s to making a few new friends in a foreign land!

downtown bratislava

Another picturesque street scene

Saturday Cameron took us to downtown Bratislava, in the pedestrian only zone, and then we went to the mall, Aupark, across the Danube. It was a chilly but sunny day, but it was so nice to get out and about finally. I read a few historical things about Slovakia before the move, but it is entirely different to then come here and actually see thousand year old churches and structures; to be where another countries history took place, such as WWII or the Russian occupation, where it actually happened; to walk down these cobble streets, it makes you wonder who else has walked this path and under what conditions. It is very impressive and it made me feel more a part of our world and long history. I felt unimportant and small, humbled even, but very grateful to experience a tiny piece of another rich history, which really is my history too, since we all reside on one planet.

(more pictures after the break) Continue reading “downtown bratislava”

so we made it… barely.

fscn2009
(this is just our carry on stuff, and I’m carting some too!)

We were still moving and cleaning the house on the morning we were supposed to leave. In this haste, I thought I packed stuff I needed only to find out once I got here that I didn’t. Benjam and Co. were still making trips to the storage about 2 hours before we needed to leave to the airport and at the end, anything was being tossed into any box just to get rid of it. We never would have made it out without the help of our families and friends over the last few weeks, and are forever in gratitude.

Continue reading “so we made it… barely.”

El Fede

Amber stayed over the night she got the call. She had been getting reports all day about what was going on with Fede and the accident. The chilling, high-pitched cry that woke me up will haunt me for years to come, I have no doubt. The room was barely lit and when I heard her crying his name, it felt like I could see the mountain top through the darkness. The room was cold and empty and his lingering presence in this world was fading. The room felt extremely heavy and time stopped. Ever since that night, I have been afraid of the dark and her shriek that lies within.

I am saddened that the world will go on without him and the fact that he will no longer be a part of our lives. But the biggest tragedy is watching and feeling Amber go through her loss. What she must be feeling without her other half, her best friend. What lost future she is mourning. Every little detail of her daily life that will remind her of him and bring the ache flooding back. Wondering how she will survive without him.

It is all so horribly sad and tragic.

thanksgiving-08-064

Fede touched many people’s lives, and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

Federico Campanini

March 26^th, 1977 — January 8^th, 2009

thanksgiving ’08

Usually most holidays are all the same, a good time, but nothing to write about. For some reason this year’s Thanksgiving was really nice. At my family’s holiday parties, it seems like someone is usually in a rotten mood and it will spoil the whole day. This year, everyone was in a great mood, no one was in a rush to run off and my mom was a little ambitious planning something extra that, while we all waited for her, we just hung out and enjoyed each others company with no gang-up-on-someone-and-make-fun-of-them sessions. For whatever reason we hadn’t celebrated Nate, Jami and Benjam’s birthdays this year. So my mom decorated each of the basement bedrooms in a party theme unique for each person, with gifts, decorations and desserts to boot. Instead of everyone poking fun at mom, we all just went with it, sarcasm and all, and had a really fun time.

(Pics after the break)

Continue reading “thanksgiving ’08”

Endearing meltdowns when she just sits pouting at the injustice of it all.

Stuffy nose snoring through the baby monitor that sends me off to sleep.

Any one of a million different, toothless smiles.

Spending the last hour listening to the sounds of a 7 month old talking to herself.

Becoming the playground to be crawled over, sat on and toppled over.

Long, quiet walks.

Daily pulling of my lips, sticking her fingers in my nostrils and jabbing my eyes.

At times, being the only one she wants, until I hold her and she pushes away.

No matter how completely draining today may have been, I always look forward to doing it all again tomorrow.

Tag: pics