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jan: marlon wasn’t in kindergarten today. he’s sick.

me: yeah? with what?

jan: he has urinary tract infection. blasenentzündung.

me: oh, really? poor marlon.

jan: did you know that urinary tract infection is more frequent in boys than in girls?

well, yeah. but i didn’t expect my 3-year old to know that. i mean i didn’t even expect him to be able to pronounce blasenentzündung. i personally have a problem with ü.

it’s too early to tell, but if jan turns out to have an aptitude for science, it wouldn’t be a surprise. i don’t expect it, and i certainly don’t consciously do anything to nurture it, but having two scientists as parents, an interest in science will already be there by default.

me: drink your juice, brush your teeth and go to bed.

jan: and if i get thirsty again?

me: then you’ll have to make do with water.

jan: papa, why am i not allowed to drink juice during the night?

papa: because juice has a lot of sugars and it will increase the insulin levels in your bloodstream. and it’s not good to increase your metabolic levels during sleep.

jan: aha. right. ok.

i should have thought of it earlier, but as education is free in germany, it slipped my mind. i forgot that we are probably one of those families who aren’t rooted to a certain place. not just yet. or maybe never. at any rate, there’s no telling where jan will go to school. and college? sure, but that’s more than a decade from now, we can be anywhere in the world by that time.

education plays first priority in our books. if we had the money, there’ll be no discussion: jan will go to an international school. except for homeschooling, it’s the only option that can offer him the flexibility a nomad needs. internationally accepted standards, plus the possibility to hop in and out of schools in different countries without major adjustments and timing issues to think of. it’s the only logical choice.

but arrrgh, we can’t afford it. we’d gladly scrimp on everything else if it’d secure jan a place in an international school, but no amount of balancing of books and tightening of belts will end us with a pool of money attending such a school will require!

and that’s just primary and secondary schooling. what about college? i have been browsing baby center’s recommended tips for saving for college education, but it seems that the programs are only for US residents. sure, there are also financing plans in the philippines similar to the 529 plans, but which are privately-run and are not state-supported. however, i’ve been hearing a lot of news lately about plans that do not materialize, so after much consideration, it’s a risk i’m not sure i’m willing to take.

seems that although it probably won’t give the best return-of-investment, the safest way to save up for a college education (or any purpose, for that matter) is thru the banks. we do have a a small savings plan to which hubby’s employer also deposits a contribution, but who knows if that will suffice?

am now looking at the ayala life fund (thanks noemi for the link!), but i think i need someone to explain to me how it works. something to do next time i visit home.

what about you? what sorts of investments are you putting your eggs on?

germany goes to the achtelfinale (round two) and plays against sweden tomorrow. you better win, boys, otherwise these tomatoes or eggs, all in your national colors, will fly!

one of our favorite day-trip destinations is marburg. it’s just 30 km from our place, and though it’s also a university town, it has a totally different feel compared to our city. we’ve gone to the altstadt and the castle atop the hill countless times, and i’ve taken countless photos of the valley below. comparatively, it was not heavily damaged during the war, and houses that are more than 500 years old, all skewed and seem to be on the verge of falling apart, abound. houses were built snugly against the hill, as close as possible to the castle, which is supposed to have conferred protection against the barbarians, i guess. becasue of the steepness of the ground on which the houses stand, i’ve seen attic flats or second storey rooms which can be conceniently accessed through the windows instead. quaint, charming and romantic.

in summer, however, the valley is also abuzz with activity. we spent a languid afternoon last week pedal-boating along the lahn. it’s amazing how such a simple activity can be so soothing, yet bring so much fun for kids like jan who love the outdoors. and it’s cheap too. an hour’s rent for the boat costs only 8 euro!

after an hour on the river, however, my boys are already planning doing a marburg-giessen boat trip, with a camping break in-between. am not sure i’m up for it though. languid, yes. camping? ugh.

ok, perhaps this is indeed true. berlin is listed as the fourth most courteous city, while manila ranks down there at number 22, and tagged as one of the least courteous cities in the survey.

right, except that i think the criteria used were simply wrong.

the last few days –or has it already been weeks?– i have been feeling antsy. i have to do something. but i don’t know what. i feel i have so much repressed energy i don’t know what to do with, and not being able to release it ironically makes me feel tired and in a slump. i just want to do something. something to break the ennui. something new, something productive, something right-brained. but what?

90 minutes. most of which passes by with virtually nothing happenning. so can i help it if my attention strays and notes that:

• germany probably has one of the most beautiful national anthem– both the music itself and lyrics. the flag, too, actually. pity that they never (!) display their flags except during football matches.
• germany’s goalkeeper looks like david hasselhof
• the croatian team look like harlequins in their tricots
• the brazilians look like chiquita bananas in theirs
• and the mexican captain can play without (i wish, hehe)

they may be the most irrelevant to the game, but what do you expect from someone who doesn’t even know what abseits means til a few days ago?! but hey, i watched nearly the whole germany-poland match (germany scored a goal at overtime!), so that means my attention span is improving!

go, germany! berlin, berlin, wir fahren nach berlin!

it’s fun to see how jan’s drawings of pirate ships are continually becoming more detailed, more imaginative. compared to previous illustrations, this one –complete with a complicated sail, an arched bow typical of pirate ships, the wooden planks, and the blue waters underneath– is a big leap from his viking ship half a year ago.

hubby and i often say how difficult it is to imagine how life would have been like without jan. he’s been our constant companion for just three and a half years, but somehow it feels like he’s been there all the time. i honestly, really cannot imaigne anymore how my life would have turned out, what stuff i’d be preoccupied with, what principles in life i would or would not have adapted, had jan not come into our lives.

it’s definitely something different, but yesterday, and until tomorrow morning, we’re “child-free”. jan is on a 3-day excursion with the rest of the kindergarten kids –all 25 of them and their 6 caretakers– in a farmhouse a few kilometers from our place. and unless absolutely necessary, we’re requested not to phone.

at the very least, it feels weird. except for once in 2004, when we left him with opa and oma to spend a weekend in nürnberg, jan has never spent a night without at least one parent. afterall, he’s not even four! how old were you when you made your first sleep-over, anyway? i was 14, i think, and it was only because the whole class had to spend the night in school to be able to leave early in the morning for a school trip. 14!

it’s not to say that we’re not taking advantage of jan’s absence. i spent a lovely day yesterday with pia, AnP and raquel: truffle chocolate cake and caffee mocha at starbucks in the morning, apple cider aboard the ebbelwei express and cookie crunch at häagen dazs in the afternoon. all these capped by a 3 hour timeout in the evening with hubby at the spa. bliss!

but still, it’s weird coming home to a flat devoid of jan’s presence. despite the lego and playmobil pieces scattered on the floor, there’s a vacuum only jan’s laughter, or whining, can fill.

today is the 6th day of the sixth month of the sixth year this century. 06-06-06. ominous? i don’t know. i just came back from a 500+-km drive from berlin, which took a couple of hours longer than it should due to heavy traffic. i’ve got to pack jan’s stuff for a 3-day sleepover in a barn. and i’ve got a lecture to prepare for my class tomorrow.

the number of the beast is not 666. it’s 15, the number inscribed on my flat iron. that beast’s gonna see a lot of work today.