Berlin Trip, 2008

HOST GIFT

The plans for my October trip to Berlin are coming together.  Items are being checked off my list and one by one I am "getting there".  One item kept spinning in my mind, though, and that was "what do I take to Germany for a host gift"?

When my cousin, Gerhard Kolberg, came to visit us in Michigan in 2000, along with his two adult grandsons, they brought hostess gifts.  There are so many wonderful items in Germany that Americans would appreciate but in reverse it is hard to decide just what to take to Gerhard from the US that would be of interest to him.

After much debating I hit upon an idea.  I bounced it off my cousin, TK of Before My Time, and she concurred that it would be a wonderful gift to take.  My idea for the gift is....

An Ancestry family history book on our Kolberg family!

I am a member of the Ancestry web site, and while I find their membership fees very pricey, there is so much information contained in Ancestry that it is worth the expense.  Those of you who also use the Ancestry site will recognize that Ancestry has added a feature that allows a user to create a family history book.  I read the instructions and decided to tackle such a project.   

This did take an enormous amount of time to create but little by little the book came together.  When I finally had a finished product I placed the order with Ancestry and am pleased with the final appearance.  Ancestry promises delivery in 2 weeks which will work well into my trip schedule.

I do feel this is a very good host gift in this circumstance and I hope that Gerhard enjoys the book.  

Thinking of doing your own family history book?  It was fun and a challenge as well as a lot of hard work.  I have proofed it so many times that I am dreaming about Kolberg ancestors.  But I feel it met my goal which was to find a perfect host gift for Gerhard.

ADDENDUM:  For the purposes of this series, I will be using the spelling of the Kolberg surname as either Kolberg or Colberg as appropriate.  In my study of churchbooks from the 1800's I have seen the surname spelled either way with no rhyme or reason.  For that reason I have decided to use the spelling of Kolberg throughout this series and throughout my entire blog.  However, I have learned from Gerhard that his grandfather, Johann Colberg, used the spelling of the surname with the "C" and that many of his descendants followed suit.  Gerhard, however, and his father opted for the spelling with the "K" so for the purposes of this series I will try to use the correct spelling as best I can.

Copyright 2008, Cheryl J. Schulte

Berlin Trip, 2008

FROM SIXTEEN WEEKS TO SIX WEEKS

Where have the weeks gone?  Ten weeks ago I began planning for my trip to Berlin, Germany in October.  At that time I had 16 weeks to go and I felt that I had all kinds of time to arrange this trip.  But the weeks have flown by and what have I accomplished:

1.  The tickets are ordered and paid for.  I am flying out of Chicago to Düsseldorf and then to Berlin.  I have been to Berlin before in 1993 but at that time I had not connected with my Berlin Kolberg cousins and my trip was mainly a sightseeing event.   This time it will be different and the opportunities to really tour the city and connect with family will be great.

2.  I have an apartment already reserved and paid for by my cousin, Gerhard.  He told me that his new apartment building has a "guest apartment" that is kept available for guests of the tenants so he ordered the apartment for me.  He describes it as a 2 bedroom apartment with living room, kitchen, water closet, bath, balcony and TV all for 60 Euro a day.  That is a pretty reasonable price compared with the pricing for neighboring hotels or a Gasthaus in the area.  Of course the Dollar to Euro is at a terrible exchange at this time but one can't worry about that.  A trip can't be planned entirely around the monetary exchange rate. Here is a photo that Gerhard sent me of his new apartment complex.  It certainly looks like a relaxing atmosphere and what I need is definitely relaxation: 

Gerhard Kolberg Apartment in Berlin, Germany

3.  I applied for and received my passport.  My former passport had expired and it was necessary to obtain a new one.  It was rather humorous to have my passport photo taken at a neighborhood Walgreen's as they have the customer stand out in the middle of the store against a backdrop while they take the passport photo.  I felt like a criminal lined up for a mug shot but the photo actually came out decent and that is saying something about myself!

4.  I found a fellow medical transcriptionist in the area to cover my work.  This is major as finding people willing to take on more clients is difficult.  I really need to find a second person because my 4 clients are heavy dictators and I doubt my friend will want to take on all 4.

5.  A big challenge was finding a way to get from St. Joseph to Chicago 90 miles away.  When I was living in the Detroit suburbs it was never a problem to get from the suburbs to Metro Airport.  There were services throughout the Detroit Metro area, from various hotels, that would transport passengers to Metro for reasonable rates.  Here in tiny St. Joseph that option does not exist and it is very difficult to find someone willing to drive into Chicago.  That is like asking a person to drive across the country in a torrential downpour at 2 in the morning.  Nobody wants to make the trip to Chicago with their horrendous traffic.  I did learn though that in Michigan City, Indiana (just about 30 miles from here) there is a similar shuttle service to what I am familiar with from Detroit.  My neighbor offered to drive me to the shuttle in Michigan City so that I can get to O'Hare for my flight.  Thank goodness for helpful neighbors.

6.  This same neighbor also loaned me her brand new luggage.  My luggage is old and heavy.  My neighbor insisted on letting me use her brand new luggage which includes a case for my laptop so I am pleased about that.

Now all seems to be set with the majority of the plans.  What remains is trying to decide how much money to exchange here for Euro's, getting my work caught up and getting everything I want on my laptop transferred from my desktop computer.  I have lists, lists, lists but that is the compulsive/organized person in me.  

What remains is what to take Gerhard for a host gift.  When he and his grandsons came to Michigan in 2000, they brought me lovely hostess gifts.  It is tough to try to decide just what to take to an older male as well as something for his daughter and her family.  I have come up with what I think is a winner and that is the topic for the next post.

Copyright 2008, Cheryl J. Schulte

Welcome To My Blog

Today is August 27, 2008 and I will be traveling to Berlin, Germany in a few weeks to visit with Kolberg family cousins.  While I have followed other genealogy blogs for a few years I decided that today would be the perfect time to start a blog of my own.

In the past I have attempted to start a blog but quickly grew frustrated with it and deleted them.  Perhaps it is the fact that I am busy with my career as a medical transcriptionist and that I also work for two other medical practices doing administrative work that I have little free time to devote to blogging.

But I have been motivated now, and with my exciting trip on the horizon, I am going to take the plunge and begin with this new blog "Two Sides Of The Ocean".

Copyright 2008, Cheryl J. Schulte