2022 was another big year for our family. I finished my nursing apprenticeship and started working as a home care nurse, we moved into our new apartment and, most notably, our daughter was born. We also managed a trip up to England and a family holiday on the German countryside.
The new job and apartment pretty much happend at exactly the same time - the start of April. Before it had even sunk in that my last year of toil was finally over, we found ourselves in the middle of a move. That's just the way it goes.
The new apartment is really nice, though. I've always wanted a place to do some gardening, so the balcony is awesome. We've also got a beautiful park right out the door. The most important improvement, though, is the increased space. We have a room for our bikes, a room for washing and another for drying, a much bigger cellar and, of course, a kid's room.
Lily Ruth Clark was born on the 17th of October, 2022. It didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked, but mother and child came out healthy. Lily had gotten her cord wrapped around her neck a couple times and a C-section became necessary. It was a bit dramatic after that but, upon seeing my newborn daughter for the first time, all doubts were replaced with what I can only describe as a surreal sense of wonderful purpose. I had become the father of a perfect little miracle.
I really couldn't be happier with my family here in Germany. I love that Lily is going to get to grow up going on family trips with us to places like Meschede where we went this year. This last May we stayed at a campground on a lake called Hennesee from where we rode the Sauerland Nordstreife and stopped at Möhnesee for cake at an old thatched-roof inn called Torhaus. We also hiked K1 in Willingen and rode the Sommerrodelbahn (a toboggan ride).
We also get together regularly for family breakfasts and visits to art exhibits, museums and little countryside towns like Conenburg. And then there's our friends. We meet for BBQs and dinners, and go to events like Japan Tag (Japan Day), church conferences (this year for Pentacost in Frankfurt), and Kräuter sammeln (collecting herbs with my tutor from my apprenticeship who also happens to be a sort of herbologist/guide); we got a Stadtführung (city tour) from our friend Irina in Cologne and again the same in England from our friend Steve who we also visited shortly last year.
England is always a good destination. Under normal circumstances, getting there's not only cheap but easy. This year was a bit tough, though, as we were traveling during the summer holidays which, in Europe, can be a bit tricky! Having decided to use the amazing, yet limited, 9-euro ticket on offer at the time, we had our work cut out for us right from the beginning. With the 9-euro ticket, which allowed unlimited travel on local public transport, we were able to go all the way to Cologne on the cheap. Only problem being that local transport doesn't go directly to Cologne. We arrived only an hour before our flight to find that the line for security was two hours long! The flight was boarding on schedule and, as if still being in the line for security wasn't bad enough, they closed the security gates due to limited security staff. Not only that, but the airports were flooded with three times the expected foot traffic! Nevertheless, we waited on pins and needles until they opened the gates again and started allowing people through. Amazingly, the flight had waited on us and even continued to wait for a further 11 passengers.
By the time we arrived in Gatwick, it was quite late. We had planned on that, though. We had even planned on the lack of public transport due to strikes. What we hadn't planned on was that even the Ubers were on strike! Thankfully we had booked somewhat within walking distance of our hotel. It was no picnic, Indra being pregnant and all, but we managed to hike the four or so kilometers without any trouble.
The next day we had lunch in Horley near Gatwick, which was surprisingly nice little town, and took the train to Brighton. We then hired a couple hourly bikes and rode to Rottingdean and back along the white cliffs. Then, after dropping our stuff off at our beachfront Airbnb in Lancing (best deal ever!), we had Indian for dinner at one of the many restaurants lining the main street there. The next day Steve picked us up and we went to do some archery.
We then had lunch at Beachy Head followed by clotted cream scones with jam and cream tea at Birling Gap. After a walk along the beach we drove to a cool little town called Alfriston, had drinks at old English pub and finished with a burger back in Lancing. Finally, on our last day, we had an English breakfast fry up at Perch on Lancing beach and then spent the rest of the day making our way back home.
