Tag Archives: #Nathaliecuty

Crazy Euopean People, Crazy Family, Haruki the Shiba, Me, Our cute daughter, Our cute son

New Year and no real news

January 19, 2020 CrazyChineseFamily 19 Comments

2020 has been going on already for a while and it has been over one month since my last blog post. There are multiple reasons for that such as stress with work and with it also an uncomfortable few weeks. As some know my wife and I have our own exporting business and it has been going downhill since summer. As the business is our only means of income it is really not a nice feeling when you realize that everything you built up for several years just vanishes in your hands. It is not that we were running our business in such bad way but due to the market changes in China ever since the trade war with the USA began. All the products we are selling are now available just like that in China as all the companies opened up their own webstores as exporting for them became easier last year for German companies (to fight against the trade war…). In the end small companies such as ours are the losers in such wars and all other people in Germany my wife know with a similar kind of business say that 2020 is the last year for them.

Nathalie checking out the situation outside the hotel

So now it is time for me again to start some job hunting but at least we are not in such hurry as back in 2014 when we moved here as I couldn’t get any kind of insurance for us without work or a “thumbs up” from the employment agency (we got a “thumps down” from them after I was already employed for a few months, bureaucracy is just insane and slow in Germany). So back then I just took the first opportunity I got and the payment wasn’t the best in the world. Anyhow now I can carefully select were I will apply for and won’t rush anything.

For January 2020 we had the great plan to travel to Finland so the kids can finally see some snow. That plan was scratched as Finland is experiencing the mildest winter in recorded history and there is no snow anywhere near our cottage (never happened before). This winter is also the first time that the big lakes are not freezing which also is just wrong. But hey, Global Warming is just a hoax anyways invented by the Chinese according to a very trustworthy source from the USA.

Haruki also wants food at the restaurant

Besides these not so nice things we had last weekend a family gathering just like in 2017 and it was wonderful to see so many of my cousins with their families again. Next gathering might be my fathers 80th birthday! However not all plans are scratched for this year as we will still travel to China from April to May again. This will be the last time for us to travel outside the school holidays as Nathan will start his school life this August. After that we won’t be able to travel anywhere outside those set school holidays for the next 16 years or so.

Nothing new in China from the crazy family either as Granny is still doing fine despite that the cancer has spread to muliple organs already. She doesn’t feel any changes in her life yet and she also still does not know anything about the disease either. She won’t be told at all till the bitter end. Last year the family was afraid of losing her already by summer time but she is still going strong so I bet we will meet her this spring again.

Happy kids at the Hotel Strandleben in Schleswig

Nathalie enjoying the attention from one of the cousins

How has 2020 started for you?

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Crazy Family, Haruki the Shiba

New Year and Fireworks done wrong

January 6, 2019 CrazyChineseFamily 32 Comments

2018 is history and with it hopefully all the bad luck which accumulated towards the end of the year. Now we welcome 2019 and have big hopes that it will turn out better. So how did we celebrate the New Year? Same procedure as every year! We celebrated at home and had some Raclette with my father and brother. My mom decided as every year to have her peace from the family and just watch TV till we would come downstairs around 11pm.

Picture from few years ago but it was pretty much the same again this time

Yes there was nothing extraordinary with our New Year celebration and I am really happy about it as I had kind of other worries. Until we got Haruki the Shiba I never really thought much about the effect fireworks might have on animals. No, I was never one of those idiots buying a massive amount of fireworks and crackers to basically burn away my money on New Year but I liked to have few rockets ready for the big event. This year is was slightly different. In November Haruki and I had already a bad encounter with some youths throwing firecrackers at us in the dark resulting that the dog was terrified for a week and did not dare to go out of the apartment. He recovered but this made me worry a lot about New Year.

Nathalie stealing Harukis’ spot at New Year

I don’t know how it is in other countries but here a lot of people just go crazy with their private fireworks. For example this year the police arrested a man with over 850kg of fireworks! Who on earth needs that? As soon as there are posts online about respecting the animals and not to have such big fireworks they get swamped with hate comments. It is just insane how people think that their freedom will be taken away just by asking them to buy fewer fireworks. I really doubt that anyone will suffer from not being allowed to blow up half the neighbourhood on New Year but nothing is done against it and won’t be done in the next years.

Not only we had the bad encounter in November but just two days before New Year once again some youths threw firecrackers at us and they exploded right at Haruki resulting in a terrified dog with burns in his face. So I was preparing for the worst on New Year but the little warrior kept relatively calm during the whole evening even when outside. Only when the big fireworks began he started to shake but my mother kept in safe in her arms and he calmed down. Now that 2019 has begun I read every day posts from people searching for their pets as they ran away on New Year. I wonder how many are actually able to find their beloved pet again as those animals are terrified and just run in any direction during the fireworks. Once I read an article where a dog had run to another State and was found few years later over 200 km away!

For the next time New Year is coming up I will try to get some “training” done with Haruki in order to prevent too extreme reactions. Besides that I will also try to find something to throw at those kids if they get too close with their fireworks!

How did you celebrate New Year?

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Crazy Family, Haruki the Shiba, Our cute daughter, Our cute son

Enjoying the colorful autumn

October 28, 2018 CrazyChineseFamily 11 Comments

Today we had finally time to enjoy a wonderful autumn day. This year is a strange one as the incredible hot and dry summer has shown already. Also this autumn is a very warm one and I could even wear shorts and t-shirt until a week ago. Now that we have at least today a bit more time we took the kids and our puppy out for a nice walk through the nearby park. Last time I wrote about such walk was back in 2015!

The street we live in is an old one full of historical buildings. It is always nice to walk by them as they have such a different feeling to them compared to what has been built here since WWII. Nearly all of them have some interesting story attached to them such as the family who built them or that one even has been moved to its current location by a kilometer over a hundred years ago to make space for a much bigger mansion. Sometimes I envy those people who live in those buildings but then again I remember how much work it takes (and money) to maintain those old houses not to speak about the terrible insulation they often have.

Our main goal today was the park just five minutes away from our home. Autumn turns the entire forest to a colorful place from some fairytale. Not only did our children enjoyed running around the park but also our puppy Haruki. Usually I always need a leash for him as he wants to play with everyone we pass by so going to the park was a perfect opportunity to let him run freely around. He never ran far and was very happy that he had no restriction and perhaps also because he felt that we trust him (more or less, he is a crazy one). Shibas are a bit different and many of them never really experience to run around without a leash as they have their own mind and decide on their own when to listen to their “master”. For now Haruki still listens to us but we still have over 1 1/2 years till he is more or less grown up and a lot can happen.

It is nice to have sometimes a bit less to do and have more time for the family. The walk was really refreshing and it felt like I had more energy after it. The entire week was a bit wild with lots of work, helping a friend renovating and moving and going crazy with my computer (there might a post about my computer upgrading stuff even though I know that 99% of my readership does not have any interest in such things).