It has been a few months since the last blog and some changes in our lives.

Where to start…

In April, we moved from New York to Berlin. Woohoo!!!!

The move had been brewing for awhile and a confluence of events led to it happening this year - primarily me getting a solid job opportunity here in Berlin. We were thinking it may not be until 2010, but 2009 it is!

In short, that explains the blogging absence since March.

Aside from the change of cities/countries/contents/languages/cultures/time zones etc. the other big change is that my wife and I have now swapped roles.  She’s at home for a bit, watching the little one and I am back to the office.

With a mixed heart.

I love being with my son…when he is not bringing us up the wall like a 2 year old can tend to do.

Until he was about 18 months old, tantrums, fits and general terror-making were not in the cards. It was not always easy. T-shirts were my everyday wardrobe as spitup, smeared food and spilled drinks were a regular occurrence. Sitting down for more than 15 minutes at a time at a cafe or such was not possible. But those things could be worked around.

Taking the train at rush hour with the little guy? Could be challenging giving him a bottle while standing up and holding on to the pole. But manageable and without attitude.

Since the 18 month point, which was about September of last year, however, things changed. Attitude entered into the equation. As well as physical development that somehow makes the 3 foot tall man incredibly strong! Changing a diaper with the little guy kicking or him straightening himself from head-to-toe like a board is not easy or fun.

For every couple minutes that would melt my heart and make the world around me disappear in a moment of inexplicable bliss and harmony, there would be a 5 to 20 minute spurt that would somehow wipeout the last 2 years of holidays.

Yeah, so is life.

And at the same time, my wife was feeling as though she was missing out a bit, having spent almost the first two years of his life working. My SMSs may have prodded as well…

Monday afternoon - “Just at the park, walking around the Reservoir, looking at the skyline on Central Park South”

Tuesday afternoon - “Just walking through Chelsea, checking out the galleries.”

Wednesday afternoon -  “Just playing at Madison. Need my sunglasses. Sunny today:)”

Thursday afternoon - “Enjoying an espresso and cookies with Big Man.”

Friday afternoon - “Off to MoMA…or maybe the Met”

At home with the kids does have a sweet schedule.

Well, the time had come, so we decided to switch roles.

While an office life does not have the best schedule and I definitely now miss some of those beautiful moments with my son, sanity and mental stimulation are a bit easier to grasp on a daily basis.

Finding the balance. We’re working on it.

For the time being, we’re just trying to get settled into our new home. Here are some random thoughts from the past few months.

Leaving friends is rough. Just plain sucks and is painful.

Somehow though, everyone has their own life path to lead. Since we left just 4 months ago, one friend has already left the city. And two other friends are damn close to moving far enough outside the city to make it not so practical to have see them on  a regular basis anyways.

While friends and family are what makes life in any city beautiful. It somehow seems challenging to stay in a place just because of friends. At some point the city will become too expensive for them, if it did not get us first. Someone will get a job somewhere else, etc.

When we arrived in Berlin, it seems that our stroller somehow never made it on the connecting flight in Duesseldorf. Not a great start to life in Germany, dealing with a 2 year old, no stroller and about 4 or 5 pieces of luggage. But hey, so is life.

Still trying to figure out how a city that offers so many options - museums, exhibits, concerts, markets, film, there are always seemingly endless announcements of events - can be so incredibly chilled and laid back.

Some statements about Berlin that I think about on a regular basis and that so far in our young experience here, seem so relevant.

“Berlin is where ambition goes to die” Some blogger or forum post. Living in Prenzlauer Berg and working in Friedrichshain, I constantly say to myself - “Cool neighborhood…what do these people do all day to earn their living?”

“Arm, aber sexy” - “Poor, but sexy” from the current Mayor Wowereit.

“Berlin has always been a city of the future.” Roughly quoted form philosopher or historian around 1906.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 0:13 and is filed under Berlin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.