Juliánna & Morten

Not exactly an A to B kind of thing

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | New York New York, Pregnancy 2010 | 1 Comment

My belly keeps getting rounder and bigger and I can barely go 2 hours without having to visit the bathroom. My feet are swollen and my fingers slightly resembling wiener sausages minus the mustard. The baby is quite active, kicking and turning around – must be the music I have in the background, opera is quite popular, she is likely to be a drama queen, wonder where she got that from? We are excited to feel life taking shape in a more physically tangible way, at the same time I can’t help thinking about how this would affect our little family dynamic – we were having dinner at the Splendores last night, the house full of the whole family, Matthias running around, interacting with everyone including Molly, it sort of put things into perspective, how it feels or must feel to have a larger family. Knowing Matthias and the attention he demands, and is getting, I am a bit concerned, but then again,  ”we’ll rig it”, as Kincsem always says. One very encouraging factor is that he loves babies at his day care and is extremely intrigued by them. Well, at least one of us does. I have yet to tap into the well of my feelings for little screaming creatures that resemble either of the two of us in ways that freaks me out and makes me feel enormously proud at the same time. We are becoming parents for a second time. A trivial piece of information for many, to us – a little miracle.

PS. The baby still needs a name. It’s not even funny.

Bronx Zoo

Sunday, August 29th, 2010 | La familio en la mundo, New York New York | 6 Comments

We spent yesterday at the Bronx Zoo - eventhough we have seen only maybe 1/5th of the whole zoo, this is the most impressive one we have ever been to. It is extremely large, built in a huge area in the middle of Bronx – it took us around 2 hours with the subway to get there, but the trip was worth taking. We especially enjoyed the Asian Monorail – 20min ride in a secure and comfortable train, where we got the chance to see Asian tigers, a red panda, Indian rhinos, deers and buffalos, Mongolian horses in their natural habitat, without intruding or disturbing them too much. The view across the Bronx River was spectacular! It never ceased to amaze us that these animals were clearly at home in the middle of an urban area, specially designed for their needs, moving freely and apparently enjoying their life there. Matthias caught sight of a peacock walking right past him, he went up and said hello, the peacock couldn’t have ignored him more… We plan to come back before the weather gets colder to see the rest of it, one day is very little for this adventure, but at the same time, it was an extremely rich in information, educative and enjoyable afternoon.

Jammin’ on the porch

Sunday, August 29th, 2010 | Matthias, New York New York | 2 Comments

Matthias and I have developed a ritual when arriving home – we would sit on the bench right in front of our house, he would take the broom and give me the dustpan, and we’d be jamming. It looks something like this:

And it sounds like this: (the neighbours don’t mind, so far)

26 months

Sunday, August 29th, 2010 | Matthias, New York New York | No Comments

My monthly newsletters are becoming more and more difficult to write, munchkin. Because you develop so fast, into so many directions, at such a dazzling speed, that we just stand there and marvel at the way chemicals make connections in your brain cells, at the muscles that are stronger and the movements that are more precise, at the feelings you show and reciprocate, your invariably entertaining sense of humour, your developing interests in the world around you – it’s almost like you started out with one Lego block, than multiplied it by tenfold, constructed and deconstructed structures, and suddenly you stand there with a myriad of options available, conscious of them, enjoying the multitude of possibilities and entertaining yourself  exploring all of them. I’ll be honest with you: I never was a kids person, not too good with little people, not too good with people who do things slowlier, need to be explained things, in general. You changed that without knowing. I’m suddenly more patient, more involved, more attentive, more human and more secure, in so many ways. You’d think it would go from parent to child, but in my case, it started viceversa. For this, and so much more, köszönöm szépen, kisfiam. Thank you for sleeping in your bed and not crying, but simply coming over in the big bed when you wake up. For saying “köszönöm” and “tak” and “thank you” to us and the world when you are given something. For your patience with us when we do things not the right way, god knows we are trying. For settling so easily in the new situations that life and we are throwing you into.  For sharing your cookies and fruit with us, without being asked. For helping setting the table and cleaning up after eating. For being everything we dreamt you would be and so much more. Szeretettel, Anya.

Setting things into perspective

Sunday, August 29th, 2010 | New York New York, Rant | No Comments

After having watched my previous posting, Liss-Lotte suggested we should listen to the song Streets of London by Ralph McTell. You’re right, Avineto, loneliness and city angst is relative, like everything else in life.

Indeed, how does it feel?

Friday, August 27th, 2010 | New York New York, Song of the Day | 1 Comment

At times, a city like NY, with the people we know in it, with us being a tight family, still feels lonely.

Asta 10 weeks old

Friday, August 27th, 2010 | Asta, Gudmor Sofie & PaPa Steen, New York New York | No Comments

These pictures came in the post from Gudmor Sofie today. We are so happy to see Asta grow and thrive so well. Happy 10th week, little princess!

The plot thickens

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 | New York New York, Rant | 8 Comments

Remember when I posted about the need to apply for a work permit for Matthias in order to get a social security card for him, so we can claim his day care expenses (a smaller fortune, nearly as high as our monthly rent of a 3 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn NY) on our tax return? Right, We did that. Paid the 340USD, applied electronically and received a rejection in a letter – the wording is “not eligible status”. They tell you that after you have applied, on their request, after you ticked apparently the wrong box, after they processed his biometrics (done automatically, no human involvement other than setting up this illogical system) and the decision is irrevocable, the application fee non-refundable. Or in the wording of the officer we spoke to “we didn’t ask you to tick the wrong box, you sent in the application yourself.” Mea culpa. Based on what I was advised by the social security office, which made kind of sense, since it was the same procedure as that of Kincsem’s, and both of them have the same visa status. You can of course submit a request to them to look at your case again, the processing fee is double the cost of the work permit, what they do not tell you (read the fine print, and boy did we read it this time) is that this won’t change the situation, as the law cannot be changed. (we’ve seen examples of that in history, but those were major issues, lady, not some minor tax issue) The law being: if you are two foreign citizens, residing legally in the US, making money and paying taxes in the US, and you happen to have a child who goes to day care, but he is not born here (ergo no social security number), he is not allowed a work permit/social security card. Never mind he is 2,5 years old, everybody knows Shirley Temple or Baby Michael Jackson. Right. Though there is a solution! Takes a while to find out about it, but there is one. Turns out we need to talk to the IRS and get what they call an “individual tax return number” designed for foreign nationals without a social security number, residing and working in the USA. He does only the first so far, the latter might come (sooner or) later. Next step: finding help to fill out the forms appropriately and to make sure we do things the right way. Aaah, the beauty of legal language and accounting calculus that we yet have to find and appreciate.

Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 | Cultural, New York New York, Song of the Day | 1 Comment

One of my Facebook friends posted this and I just sat there, watching it over and over again, with goosebumps on my arms, having images of a butterfly fluttering in stormy weather, never losing its grace, strength or direction.

Astoria – Queens

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 | La familio en la mundo, New York New York | 5 Comments

We have spent this afternoon in Astoria (Queens) – our very first trip to this neighbourhood – our impressions were mostly of a “Greek Coney Island” – maybe because of the layout when the train pulled into the station, maybe because of the distinctive European (read mostly Mediterranean) feeling you get, almost like a holiday island with pavement cafés and restaurants, odd buildings in the middle of industrial projects and a quiet, peacefully developing street scenery marked by colourful grafittis and murals. A charming 2 hour spent here, with solid Greek food for dinner. We need to explore more, as we feel we have seen only the top of the iceberg – however, one clear advantage is the proximity to the city – we were on Lexington avenue in 15 minutes, and at home in a record 1 hour, less than it takes Kincsem to go fencing! The European supermarket was a treat – we found here Transylvanian “zakuszka”, Hungarian “majonézes torma” (horseradish with mayonnaise), “Gyulai kolbász” (Hungarian sausages), Turkish delight, nuts with honey, Transylvanian mineral water (“Borsec”), Danish rye bread - it was almost like being in one of those border shops that you can buy souvenirs to your friends across on the other side. We stocked up on a few items, like children who break lose from their parents in a toy store – noticing well-known products, drawing each other’s attention to some we found interesting or odd for some reason – all this, from across the Atlantic, thousands of kilometres away from Europe. This is New York for you. Makes you feel at home and away on an adventureous trip, all in one day. We’re definitely coming back again, maybe for a Mets game?