Good-Byes

Here in ex-pat land, the end of school means people leaving. We had a good-bye party for Maureen Norton last night. She and her family head back to Michigan on Friday after a 4-year stint here in Duesseldorf.

Maddie insisted on wearing her new dress to school today. She was quite pleased with herself.

Maureen (headed home) with friend Robin



Maggie Norton--the youngest of the Norton clan


Maddie Lentz in her Bavarian Dirndle

Munich

We had a holiday weekend in Germany, too this weekend. It wasn't Memorial Day, of course, but Pfingsten (or Pentecost) Monday.

Skip's co-worker, Stephan Schwarz and his wife Sabine, had us down to Munich for the weekend. They were incredible hosts and awfully brave to invite a couple with a six-year-old to visit for the weekend.

Here are some highlights of our trip.


Maddie, Skip, Stephan and Sabine at the Fuggerei in Augsburg. Jakob Fugger, an ancestor of Skip's, was once the richest man in Europe and founded the world's first housing project for the poor. The rent was only 88 cents a year, but the big condition was (and still is) that you must pray three times a day for the souls of the Fugger family. Seems Jakob was hedging his bets.

Even if it was partly to insure the safety of Jakob's soul, the Fuggerei was an amazing innovation. The idea that society was better off if the poorest among it had a clean, safe place to work and live was a new one. Maddie liked knowing that one of her relatives was the first person (at least in recorded Western history) to put into action the idea that the rich might have an obligation to the poor.



The front of the Fuggerei. It still houses low income people today, though the rooms have been updated and it is no longer for families, but the elderly.

Stephan is a big fan of country music and all its trimmings. Here is his cowboy boot collection.


Skip poses with one of his Fugger relatives. Can't you see the resemblance?


Maddie signs the guest book at the Fuggerei and tells that her Oma is a descendant of Jakob.


Maddie and Skip is front of the apartment where Mozart's grandfather lived in the Fuggerei.



Skip and Stephan try on Bavaria's traditional garb. They decided against purchase, but we did get Maddie a dirndle (the traditional female outfit). This may be my favorite picture I've made in Germany!


Sabine, Maddie, Stephan and Skip at a HUGE palace near where Sabina and Stephan live. Bavaria was once a very wealthy country separate from Germany and Munich is full of ornate palaces and buildings.

At the Augsburg zoo, we got to see a brand new baby seal.

Maddie is already captivated by the idea of being a bride. If she didn't look so much like me, I'd wonder about an accidental swap at the hospital.

Bible with the Brits

Am beginning a Bible study tomorrow with a group of British women. It may seem late in the year to begin such a thing, but this group wanted an overview of the Bible in order to decide what they'd like to focus on when school begins again in August. Several of them have little or no knowledge of the Bible and are looking for some direction.

Did you know that on any given Sunday in England only 6.3 percent of the population is in church?!!!! Forget China and Africa. Who knew that Great Britain was a wide open mission field? I have just been stunned by those numbers.

So I'm doing a quick here's-what's-in-the-Bible in four 1 1/2 hour sessions! Prayers appreciated. Am kind of excited to find out what parts of the Bible this group will be drawn to and want to know more about.

Skip's parents return from Spain tonight, will spend two nights with us and then head off on Friday for their whirlwind tour of Germany and all the relatives. They'll be with us for a few days at the end of their tour to rest before returning home.

The big news out of the Lentz household is that Skip's brother Brian and his girlfriend Ann are engaged! We all really like her and are excited that she will be officially part of the family.

America Jones

It's getting bad around ISD. Everyone is ready to go home for a little while this summer. It seems everyone is in need of a little American Culture fix. Because even though being here in Germany affords us the chance to see Europe, 90 percent of the time, it's life as a stay-at-home mom--in a foreign country. The moms who are really done with the school year are those who used to put their kids on a school bus but now have to cart the kids to school (and pick them up) by train, foot, bike or car. Even those of my friends who have really mastered the German language are ready to be somewhere where they don't have to think so hard in order to communicate.

I personally am looking forward to the luxury of American grocery shopping. First of all, all the labels are in English and everyone speaks English and all the weights are in pounds and ounces. Then, there's the checkout. All I'll have to do is push the cart up. The nice lady takes everything out of my cart and scans it, then the nice (if somewhat bored looking) young man at the end of the counter bags my groceries, puts them back in the cart and even offers to tote them out to the car. I may even get a "thank you for shopping at Kroger." Ahhhhh.

Birthday Week

Maddie and her new cat Whitesa

Flying at Okidoki

Yes, Maddie's only six, but she wanted candles on both hot dog cakes

Maddie on her birthday with Oma and Opa

Maddie and me with her new Baby Born

Maddie helpingto decorate her hot dog and fries cake

Maddie with friends Madison and Meg at Okidoki

Liam blows the candles on his bug cake

This week has been all about birthday. Here are some pictures of Maddie's 6th birthday WEEK, including the actual day with Oma and Opa and her joint party today at Okidoki Kinderland with friend and classmate Liam.

A New Addition to the Family

Yes. We have a new pet--Whitesa the cat. Maddie must take on extra jobs, earn money to take care of the cat, feed the cat, take Whitesa in for regular checkups and make sure she is properly hydrated. And no, Whitesa is not a real cat. She is a WebKinz. A new breed of stuffed animal that comes with it's own special code so that you can go on-line and care for the cat in a virtual world.

Thanks Aunt Beth, Uncle Vern, Justin and Seth. We have not missed a day logging on to care for Whitesa. Hopefully, this will help us to hold off on obtaining the kind of pet that comes without a log in name and password!

Duesseldorf Days

Well, unfortunately, my in-laws have experienced true Duesseldorf living during their trip--it's rained every day. But Skip put it into perspective by telling them that it hasn't been that bad. The sun has shined at least once every day they've been here!

Getting ready for Maddie's big b'day party. It's a join venture with her buddy Liam at Okidoki Kinderland. And yes, Okidoki is absolutely as heinous as it sounds, but it's paradise for a bunch of six-year-olds.

Horst and Maja leave for Spain tomorrow and will be back for a couple of days next week before heading out on their meet-the-relatives-tour of Germany.

Of course, taking our attention today is the news that Acxiom has been sold. Will be interesting to see how all that plays out. Life is never boring, is it?

How did I get to the Froggy-cupcake-making stage of my life?

I was up at 8 a.m. on Mother's Day slicing sour apple gummies in half to make little froggy cupcakes for Maddie to take to school for her birthday tomorrow. Using the American can of frosting that my mother-in-law had to fight for (she put it in her carry on luggage without realizing it counted as a "liquid". When the security guard told her she would have to take it, Maja said, "You can't have it! It's for my grandaughter's birthday!" Guess they figured a terrorist wouldn't have used that excuse?)

Anyway, after coloring the frosting blue, icing 24 chocolate cupcakes and cutting 24 gummies in half, I got Maddie to put the gummies on the cupcakes, I added white frosting for the eyes and she placed mini-chocolate chips in the whites. Let's hear it for Family Fun.com. Stay tuned for the cake that looks like a hot dog and french fries for actual birthday party next Saturday. Maja hauled over a box of Twinkies for that one!

I really miss my friends at Community Bakery!

Maddie's teacher put together a book of what all the kids in her class love about their moms. Maddie's said, "My mom is called Anne. She is thirty seven years old. She likes to read. My mom makes books with me. I love her because she helps me go to bed."

My favorite was the kid who wrote this about his mom: My moms eyes are blue and her hair is blonde. When she pulls her hair up, under the blond hair is brown hair.

Nice.

Oma, Opa and the Cheese

With Horst and Maja still recovering from jet lag, Maddie awoke at 5 A. M. with some sort of sympathy pains or something. We took off for Wesel for an outing with friend Klaus's parents--Ulrich and Caroline.

I smiled and nodded a lot as everyone spoke in German--although I must admit, I understood quite a bit more than I would have several months ago.

From there we headed to a lovely castle/art museum. It was a lovely time and Ulrich and Caroline are delightful hosts.

But our big event today is that we finally cut the cheese I made back in Feburary. You can tell by the pics that Maddie was less than impressed.


Caroline, Ulrich, Skip, Maddie, Maja and Horst


Maddie tries the cheese

Life in Germany

Really exciting day today. I can now get snack-size Ziploc bags here in Germany. Since Maddie will only eat in the cafeteria about twice a month, this is a big deal.

Took friend Mary (who's only been here about 3 months) to the REAL for shopping. Showed her the good chicken nuggets and gave her the scoop on the super-concentrated vinegar here.

My friend who has been here for four years had the moving folks come to pack up her air shipment to send back to the US today. She says she feels like she graduated from ex-pat school. Her transition should be interesting since only one of her four kids has even a vague recollection of what life in the US is like. She never learned German because she arrived here with three kids--ages 5, 2 and 3 months. By the time she got the oldest one in school, the middle one in pre-school and found a babysitter for the youngest so she could go to German class, she found out she was pregnant. She decided that perhaps this was not the time in her life to learn a new language.

Skip's parents arrive here early tomorrow morning from Connecticut. They will be here a week before heading off to Spain and then they'll be back here for a couple of nights before heading off on the tour of the German relatives and then end up back here a few days before heading home.

And by the way, just in case anyone was counting, only 50 days until we're back in the states for summer vacation. Woo hoo!

Catch Up

Maddie hits the indoor slopes

Haven't posted in a few days, so here's a quick catch up on what's happening here in Germany.

The rain is back. No rain for almost six weeks, but now that it's back, it's supposed to stay awhile.

But the weather was great for the International Fest. There were booths from Australia, France, China, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, India, Latin America, Greece, Israel, the Alpine countries, Korea, Japan, Italy, Belgium and the USA. You can't even begin to imagine the amount of food! It was much bigger and have many more people than I ever would have expected.

Skip's cousin Joerg and his wife Annelie were able to join us for the weekend and they enjoyed the festivities as well.

Note Maddie standing next to the Canadian Mountie. It's one of her favorite countries, because that's where her friend Madison is from. We're losing Madison this summer to New Jersey, so that will be hard for Maddie. She only has six weeks of school left at at least three of her friends won't be back next year. Madison to Jersey, Brendan to Michigan and Meg to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It's a weird world we live in here. Buddy Liam's family has signed up for another year, and they will be sharing a birthday party later this month.

On Sunday, Skip took Maddie for the second time to the indoor ski hall in Neuss, Germany. Skip is about to burst that Maddie is taking to skiing like a duck to water. She LOVES it. Finally, Skip has someone in the family who will be able to keep up with him on the slopes!





Maddie and buddy Liam at the Prep class's presentation of the Very Hungry Catapillar


Maddie with friend Eedra (Liam's little sister)


Maddie dressed for Team USA hangs out with our neighbor from the North

Birthday

Had a really nice birthday. Skip took me out to a new Mexican restaurant in Duesseldorf (hard to find here!) and the surprise was that he invited several of our friends to join us. We had a great time. The restaurant is called Sausalitos and is a chain here in Germany. Some of us had eaten at the one in Aachen--about 40 minutes down the road--and were excited to see they had come to Duesseldorf. Mexican food probably tops most American's list of what-I-miss-about-America.

I really got the special treatment because those same friends took me out for coffee the morning of my birthday because they didn't want me to think they weren't doing anything.

Today I pre-cooked 120 spareribs that will be barbequed and sold tomorrow from the American booth at the ISD International Fair. The International Fair is the main fundraiser for ISD and is quite the production. All of the countries represented at ISD have booths with food and drink from their home countries. The Americans will be selling ribs, hot dogs and lemonade. The Germans are selling beer and pretzels. You could pre-order some noodle dishes from the Koreans and of course, obtain meatballs from the Swedes who share a booth with the Norwegians. There are also games for the kids to play and a huge silent auction.

Cousins Joerg and Annalee will be joining us. They are coming down from Lubeck in the a.m.

Should be a fun day.

May Day

Yesterday was a holiday in Germany. Holidays here mean that EVERYTHING except for restaurants are closed. So groceries, beverages and anything else have to be purchased the day before. And there are two more holidays coming up this month.

Unfortunately for Skip, he was in London where May Day is not a holiday. Maddie and I celebrated with friends by going into the Altstadt of Duesseldorf for ice cream and taking a boat back to the Altstadt of Kaiserswerth and having dinner at the Italian restaurant that is one of Maddie's favs--as it is next to a big playground.

Today she's having a playdate with one of her German friends. As Maddie's German skills increase, her English grammar is declining. It's true of all the American and British kids. Spending so much time with kids for whom English is a second language makes for some interesting verb conjugations. I heard a dad correct his American son yesterday when the kid said, "I rided here on my scooter." Oh well, small price to pay for bilingual-ness. Maddie's English may not be perfect, but she is a pro at ordering ice cream for the whole family in perfect Deutsch!

This Week in Germany

One of the things that has been hard to get used to here in Germany is that people on the street or on the trains don't smile or say hello to people they don't know. And if you smile at them, they kind of look at you like you're probably a little simple--or they ignore you.

So this week I got on the train to go to German class, sit down and the woman across from me says, "Morgan (morning)". I was stunned and kind of excited to have been greeted on the train by a stranger who was German. "Must be the nice weather," I thought. So then, she asked me something in German and I explained that I spoke only a little German and could she please repeat. She was asking me about the book I was holding and I simply told her it was good--which is about as far as my Deutsch will take me. Pleased with my friendly little encounter, I turned to my book and the woman kept talking. She wasn't talking to me. She was talking to herself. And she kept talking to herself. It didn't take long to realize that the woman who had greeted me so kindly was mentally ill. Which goes along with what my friend Sheree's German teacher told her--that the only people who will talk to strangers on the street are crazy people. MY German teacher --who knows about my ongoing battle to get Germans to smile at me--thought my encounter was the funniest thing he'd heard about all week.

On another note, it's getting warm here and no one has air conditioning. That includes businesses. It's really odd to walk through an un-air conditioned store--though nice not to have to take a sweater with you because they've got the temperature down to near-artic temperatures. It's not uncomfortable (yet), but it's a little stuffy. I wonder if income for retail takes a downturn here in the summer.

It's Spargel (asparagus) season in Germany and every restaurant has their Spargel menu and every vegetable stand boasts frische Spargel. It comes in standard green or big fat stalks of white Spargel. It's only here through May, so for about six weeks, everyone eats it until they don't want to see another stalk of asparagus until next April!

Corporate Bonding

In order to strengthen the relationship between the Acxiom and one of their clients, Skip and his cohorts decided that a cooking class was just the thing to help them bond with the group they interface with at the bank. So they all headed off on Tuesday night to prepare and eat a gourmet meal under the careful guidance of the master chef at Duesseldorf Cooking school. It was apparently fun and enjoyable and Skip escaped with only a minor cut on his finger.

But then, he had the nerve to forward me the e-mail with the recipes of the night in case I wanted to prepare those dishes in the future. I thought I might at least get a home cooked meal out of the deal.

Kruller-Muller

Sculpture Garden at Kruller-Muller Museum

Black and White Garden Sculpture

Dad getting up close and personal with the exhibits


Expert bikers


Mom and Dad and I hit the Kruller-Muller Museum and Park in Holland. The museum has a huge sculpture garden and one of the largest collections of Van Gogh on display anywhere. But the big selling point are the bicycles that any visitor can pick up for free and ride around the grounds. Mom and Dad are experts now, having bought their own bikes last year. We had a really great time.

Bielstein

Bielstein

Skip in front of the worlds oldest kloster (or monastary) brewing. This order has been brewing beer since 1050.



The view of the village across the river from Bielstein from the top of the Closter


Skip and I left Maddie with mom and dad for a night and headed off to Bielstein--a little village on the Mosel, pop. 135. It's a beautiful little village built right into a hill between a bunch of vineyards. We can highly recommend it.

Rothenberg om der Tauber

Maddie overlooking a grape field in Rothenberg

Yes. It's been there since 1374!






Haven't been very good at updating the blog lately, but I'll try to catch up.

Last week, Mom and Dad and Maddie and I went to Rothenberg, a Medieval walled city about 4 hours south. It is really beautiful and full of all this amazing history. We should have planned to stay longer.

There's a really great story about how they restored the part of the city that was destroyed during WWII. After the war, they sent out word across the world that anyone who would send 80 francs toward the rebuilding of Rothenberg could have their name embedded in the wall that surrounds the city. As you walk along the wall, you can read the names of people from all around the world who had seen and loved the city and helped it rebuild.



On the way home we took the scenic route through the little villages of the Bayern area of Germany. Just by the side of the road we found this little chapel that was open to whomever wanted to stop in.

John and Nancy in Germany

things are bluming in Duesseldorf

It took a bit to recover from the jet lag, but my mom and dad are here in Duesseldorf and having a good time. At least, Maddie is having a good time with her Nana and Papa John.

We went to a castle yesterday and Maddie got Nana and Papa John up on what she calls the "flying benches" and what is in reality a chair lift that takes from Oberburg to Untersberg. Even those of you without formal training in German may be able to figure out those names.

Tomorrow, we head off to Rothenberg--a medieval city just about 3 hours south of here.

Skip takes advantage of the Grandparents' visit


my mom and dad on the "flying bench"

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