The Aoki-Kramers: Holiday Letter 2015

Greetings from the Aoki-Kramer Family

Thought we'd surprise you all with our holiday greetings a little earlier this year.

Surprise!! (Michael, Miye, and Carol at the One Direction
concert. Chiyo was down on the field)

Most of you might recall that Miye,18 as of this November, left for Fano, Italy in September of 2014.

At the airport early in the morning saying goodbye to Miye
on September 2, 2014

While she was gone, we hosted Hannah, a 15 going on 16 year old, from Bad Aibling, Germany. Chiyo, 16 next week, appreciated not being an only child while Miye was away.

Chiyo and Hannah

During the last week of June our year with Hannah came to an end. It was so very emotional to see her leave, as she really became a part of our family.

Hannah and Chiyo saying goodbye
(for now...)

On July 5th Miye returned home. We met her in NYC and then spent the next 10 days touring the east coast, looking at universities and colleges that were interested in having her as a soccer goal keeper and had programs she was interested in studying.

Picking Miye up at the airport in New York

Miye taking a nap on Chiyo in the car during
one of the long drives between colleges.
Long nights and lots of travel do tend
to wear people out.

Because of Miye and Hannah's experience studying abroad, Chiyo thought she should join the AFS family and study abroad too. This September she found that she was one of 2 from the U.S. to be picked to go to New Zealand this January. She leaves us on January 27 and will return in early December.

The flag of New Zealand

So that brings us to the end of the 2015. We wanted to visit Miye's host family and Hannah's family in the summer after Miye graduates, but realized Chiyo would be gone, so decided to go over the holidays.

Delicious airplane food

We went Rome, took a train to Fano and stayed from the 23rd to the 27th with Miye's host family, the Benedettis.

Visiting the Trevi Fountain with Max

Miye, Oscar (host brother), Sara (Oscar's girlfriend),
Ester (host sister), Massimo (host dad), Eleonora
(host mom), Carol, Michael, Chiyo, Rocky (host dog)

Ester, Miye, and Chiyo warming their backs up in front of
the new fireplace

All of Miye's siblings! Chiyo, Rocky, Ester, and Oscar

The whole Benedetti-Aoki-Kramer family. Michael, Miye,
Ester, Chiyo, Massimo, Eleonora, Oscar, Carol

Little did we know Miye's host mother's parents and brother and his family would also be there, so 14 of us lived together as one big family, eating the most delicious meals one could imagine.

Paella for Christmas dinner!

Sebastiano, Giuseppe (Ele's
brother), Vincenzo, Carmen

Spaghetti with mozzarella and eggplant

The chefs Massimo and Ele

Miye, Nonno Nello and Nonna Anna

The paella

Not only did we see the love they had for Miye, they all welcomed us as apart of their family too. We ate and ate and ate so many varieties of dishes made by Eleonora, Miye's host mother, enjoyed heartfelt moments with the family, visited the picturesque towns of Urbino and Gradara, and enjoyed Fano's open air market.

Gnocchi

Homemade pizza

Carol and Michael in Urbino

Carol, Oscar, Miye, Michael, Chiyo
in Urbino

View of Urbino

View from Urbino

Selfie in Gradara

Benedetti-Aoki-Kramer girls in Gradara

A church in Urbino

It was quite emotional leaving them on the 27th.

Miye and Ele hugging

Marco (Ester's childhood friend),
Miye, and Ester

Carol, Myriam (Miye's Italian
teacher), Miye, and Michael

We next went to Bad Aibling, a beautiful little town a hour outside of Munich, close to the Austrian border, where we got to meet Hannah's family.

Hannah and her little brother Jacob

Chiyo, Miye, Hannah's grandmother, and
Hannah

Lucas (Hannah's brother), Miye, and Michael

Carol, Oliver (Hannah's dad), and
Sabine (Hannah's mom)

We were able to visit two of three of King Ludwig II's castles, the islands of the Chiemsee, a wonderful beer hall at the Tegernsee, shopping and the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, and many friends of Hannah's family, including Hannah's friend Charly who came to stay with us in February last year.

Hannah, Sabine, Jacob, Lucas, Chiyo, Carol,
Miye, and Michael at Neuschwanstein
(The Disney Castle and one of Ludwig II's)

The Swan Castle (Neuschwanstein)

One of the islands of Chiemsee

Beers at Hofbräuhaus with Sabine's friend Alex
(Miye got the wrong size...)

Bratwurst and sauerkraut

The ankle of a pig and potato dumpling

We enjoyed many Bavarian dishes that Hannah's parents prepared and Charly's parents, as well as a New Year's Eve potluck feast that featured dishes from around the world. We were able to spend special times with Hannah's parents and can see why Hannah is such a special individual.

Karl (Charly's dad), Charly (Hannah's
friend), and Annette (Charly's mom)

The fished was smoked the day we ate it! It
was absolutely delicious!

Dinner at Charly's house: smoked fish, potato salad, carrot salad,
beet salad, chestnut soup, and bread

Here are photos from the international dinner

A Moroccan dessert

Hannah made spam musubi

On one very expensive note, at the airport on the day we were to leave Seattle, the ticket agent said that Miye was not allowed to go because her passport was expiring within 3 months of us returning. So Chiyo and Carol stayed with the plans and went to Rome without Michael and Miye. They returned home, were first in line at the passport office Monday morning. The very nice agent commented on how every Monday he gets a huge line of people who were denied their trip over the weekend, but since Miye had all of the correct paperwork completed, he was able to expedite a new passport to her by 11 am. Michael and Miye then rushed back to the airport to see if they could use their tickets from the day before, unfortunately it was all too complicated and no one could give the approval. Michael bought two completely new airline tickets for the two of them. So, please remember that the next time you plan to leave the country, make sure that your passport expiration date is at least 6 months after your return date, or you may not be able to go! (The European Union only requires 3 months, but some countries require 6 months and Miye wants to know what an expiration date is for if they aren’t going to use it).

On the work fronts, Michael was promoted regional manager of RDH's Seattle office. This is his 12th year with RDH and he continues to look forward to going to work every day. It's actually hard to get him to take vacation! Carol continues to work 3 days/week with the Seattle school district, but is starting to work per diem at Keiro Nursing home (seeing if she might be happier in this new setting).

Now that the new year is here, we must quickly get Chiyo ready for her study abroad. We wish you all a very peaceful year and wish you many good times with family and friends and hope you will be be sure to visit us - we'll have lots of extra room as we will have no children from August - December!

Sending you much love from Michael, Carol, Miye and Chiyo