Movies et al

We went to see Open Season this afternoon, which is called Jagdfieber or "Hunter Fever" here in Germany. It was in German, so I didn't understand most of it, but language was not a barrier when the animals went after the hunters. Cartoons so often don't even need dialogue.

The movie theater we went to is part of a big complex up in Oberhausen--about 30 minutes away from here. What used to be an empty armory is now a big mall (American style), movie theater, hockey rink, live theater and a boardwalk full of restaurants. So after the movie, we headed down the boardwalk (or promenade) to find something to eat and had an odd experience. Our typical experience in Germany has been that the food is great, but the service is so-so. Wait staff here don't really work for tips, so they're just not as solicitous as their American counterparts who depend on them. We went to a Spanish restaurant and the staff was the best we've had, but the food was probably the worst.

Coming home we were listening to CD of music that Maddie's Sunday School class will be singing for a Christmas program at the Anglican church we've been going to. It's a nice mix of classic carols and some new music as well. When the CD was playing What Child is This?, Maddie said (completely straight), "You know what, Mama? It sounds like they're singing 'when shepherds fart' but they're really singing 'whom shepherds guard.'" I couldn't help it. I laughed until I cried, and then finally told Maddie that it was really good that she knew the right words before she had to sing them in church.

Our sad news for the weeked is that another member of Grace church died. Susie Groff was very special to me, and she and Maddie shared a passionate love for Gummi Bears. It's hard not to be there, but I am so happy that Grace has called a new interim minister. Gail Perkins is a wonderful pastor who I'm sure will help Grace continue to grow in Christ.

I will listen more carefully to Maddie's singing of Christmas Carols to make sure that she is getting all the right words, and I guess we'll head back to the restaurants where the wait staff ignores us.

Sounds of Home

Usually Maddie and I go to school on the train, but today I decided to drive. The train is always easier because it's impossible to find a place to park, but we were running late this morning, and it was easier to hustle Maddie into the car than to hurry her along all the way to the train stop.

Realized in the hustling that we forgot her backpack. I say she forgot it. She claims I forgot it. Anyway, I had to get her into class and then turn around for the backpack and deliver it. I tried not to stress over the fact that this would make me late for an appointment with my vacuum cleaner.

Throughout the driving I was listening to the British Armed Forces Radio Station. I came in on the tail end of a competition the morning personalities Mark and Lynne were having. Apparently each had brought in a song from home--one of their all-time favorites. I didn't hear what the songs were, just the updates on how the votes were going. As I was pulling into the Maddie's school with her backpack, the results were in and the song was played. None other than Glenn Campbell singing Rhinestone Cowboy. I still know all the lyrics.

Am finally in at my workout club. My friend Melanie caught a cold and we switched appointments, so I got in earlier. The big plus of this gym (to balance out the smoking and beer drinking) is that the tvs get CNN. You can plug your headphones into the treadmills, stairclimbers or bikes and get all the news in English. This is where my friend Joy and I learend of Ed Bradley's death. Kind of sucked all the endorphins right out of us.

As you might guess from my excitement over English radio and television, my German has not improved much. I was waiting until we got our house settled to embark on German lessons, but since that still hasn't happened, I need to get going on that. But what I have learned is that learning German in Germany is really expensive. Many of the companies who have American and English workers pay for employees and their spouses to learn German and many of the schools and private tutors have rates that reflect that. Am looking into a few other options. Even though you can get by in this part of Germany without learning the language, it just seems rude not to at least try.

St. Martin's Day

Last night we participated in Kaiserswerth's celebration of St. Martin's Day. This day is commemorated in several countries in Europe, though the Brits in town were as new to it as we Americans. I don't quite get it, but it was interesting to partcipate.

St. Martin was a nobleman who was riding along on his horse one day and saw a poor man without a cloak, so Martin tore his cloak in half and gave it to the man. Later he has a vision of Jesus and Jesus tells him that he was the man in the cloak (all very Matthew 25:40) and St. Martin dedciates the rest of his life to service in the church.

So on St. Martin's Day, kids and their parents gather for a parade. All the kids carry these paper laterns on lighted sticks (someone's making a fortune on these sticks) and walk through town following St. Martin on his horse. It was quite the experience for Maddie to carry her lantern (which she made in school) throughout the streets of Kaiserswerth with a whole mix of German, English and American kids and their parents. It was a long walk for anyone and a REALLY long walk for a five year-old. Naturally, when walking behind a horse, someone (Skip) is bound to step in some manure.

Then after winding through the streets of Old Town Kaiserswerth, you end up with this huge crowd (at least 1000, if not more) of people at a re-enactment of St. Martin giving his cloak to the poor man. Then a narrator on a microphone tells everyone how important it is to share what you have with others.

Now this would have been a great time for everyone to leave some food or clothing or something that could be shared with the poor (it would have to be exported because there aren't poor people in Kaiserswerth), but instead everyone rushes for this building where you can exchange the ticket you bought last week for 2.50E for a bag of goodies. Then you can go around to the various merchants in town who will also give you treats. Like Christmas in the US, there seems to be a disconnect between the message and the celebration.

Maddie hasn't even finished her Halloween candy and now there's a whole new bag of goodies--although I was pleased to see that for St. Martin's Day, apples and oranges are standard as well. And in Germany, nobody thinks twice about eating an apple that someone has handed them--even if you don't know them personally.

An Exercise in Patience

Once again, nothing happens quickly in Germany--unless you're behind the wheel of a car.

I finally decided to join the local "health club" even though people are drinking beer and smoking cigarettes on the first floor while you're working out on the second. So Skip went with me because some of the folks there speak really good English and others only speak a little. Germans who only speak a little English are reluctant to use it because they can't do it perfectly. You'd think once they hear my attempt at German, they'd be put at ease!

Anyway, the deal is that you can't join until you have a fitness assessment with one of the trainers and the first available appointment is in a week-and-a-half. So I can't go ahead and pay my money and start working out. I have to wait. These people are lousy capitalists.

Then from there I went into the town center. Headed into the little "convenience store" where I buy my phone card, train pass, etc and had to walk right back out again before even getting what I went in for because the smoke was so thick I could taste it. Ugggg.

So I get on the train to go get Maddie at school and one of the folks who checks tickets comes through. When you have a monthly pass, you get a plastic card that lasts for a year and each month you place a new stamp-size ticket in a little slot. My pass has already been checked twice this month, but this lady holds me up because the pass number on the plastic card has not been written on the little monthly part. She is telling me that this could cost me forty euros because my pass is not valid. While this is going on, I miss the stop for Maddie's school and have to turn around at the next stop. I end up getting off with a "warning" after she simply copies the number into the right place.

And of course this would be the day that everyone got this month's issue of the Radschlager, the magazine of the American Women's Club of Duesseldorf. And everyone keeps telling me how much they appreciated my little article on Thanksgiving on a day that I'm feeling anything but gracious and thankful. Careful what you put in writing. That must be why I usually didn't write down my sermons!

Random Scenes from Germany

We had a very German weekend.

Friday, I took a field trip to the Polish Pottery wholesaler in, of course, the Netherlands. Everyone knows to get a great deal on Polish Pottery, you have to go to Holland. ???

When you think of German cuisine, you may think of bratwurst, schnitzel, sour kraut and beer. What you may not think of is frozen pizza, but the Germans have great frozen pizza. We have some at least once a week. Friday night's pizza of choice was of the Turkish variety--featuring spiced beef, yellow, red and green peppers, onions and a few dollops of sour cream.

Saturday, we hit the Real (pronounced Ree-Al) which is the closest thing you can get in Germany to a Target, and Skip finally broke down and bought a third pair of shoes. Because our shipment still isn't here, he's been wearing either his running shoes or his one pair of dress shoes. Now he and Maddie both have some boots for the cold weather. I got my boots several weeks ago because I only had one pair of shoes here that didn't have open toes!

Saturday afternoon, Maddie's friend Meg came over to play. When her parents came to pick her up, we were very German-like and all sat down to coffee, tea and cake for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday, we were back as the token Americans at the Anglican church. Still trying to adjust to the big stained window that features a knight on a horse slaying a dragon. Am told by folks in the know that this is an image of St. George. I'm just relieved that it wasn't depicting some Bible story from a book that I had just completely skipped along the way!

Sunday afternoon, Skip and Brad finished putting up the last of our lights. No more wires hanging down from the ceilings and a light in every room and staircase. Then we got to go over to Brad and Melanie's for a fabulous meal and Maddie got to play with their eight-year-old daughters, Paige and Zoe.

Still no word on when our stuff will arrive. But the right people are bugging the right people, so hopefully it will be soon.

We had a really good weekend except for an upsetting e-mail that the church where Maddie was baptized in Boston recieved a threatening letter because they are welcoming of African-Americans, Chinese and homosexuals. Somehow I will feel better if the person who sent it is mentally ill and not just plain hateful. Please keep Fourth Presbyterian Church in South Boston in your prayers.

Random Updates

Skip has installed two more lights...all on his own!

I have invested in non-slip socks to wear in the house since I slipped on the stairs this morning and have a big bruise on my posterior and a pulled something or other in my left hand.

Maddie and her friend Leoni will be carrying a Latana or latern in the school assembly for their class tomorrow. It is in anticipation of St. Martin's Day which is coming up next week. It's a big deal here in Germany and all the kids make paper laterns and then stores sell these battery-powered light sticks to hang them on.

You can tell we are non-Germans by the front of our house. Nothing adorns the door, no flowers in the window and we've just about let the potted plant on the front stoop die. To remedy this, we have ordered a wreath from my sister-in-law. Check out her site at New England Barn Wreaths

Lights...Never Take Them for Granted

I may have mentioned before that German homes don't come with lights--just wires hanging down from the ceiling where you can install the lights that you purchase. I might also mention that these lights won't work in the US, so we'll need to sell them before we return.

Today our friend Brad came over to help us install a few more lights. There are 11 wires hanging down in all and after today we have all but four of them up. Each fixture presents its own set of problems:

The ceiling over the dining room table presented a problem because there seems to be a concrete block in our ceiling. So a fairly large light fixture is hanging from only one screw.
Brad and Skip are thinking of investing in titanium drill bits to see if that will get through the concrete.

In the kitchen, the wire had a slit in it and it hit the brace of the light, scorched the metal in the light fixture and blew the fuse. It fused the light switch to a permanent "on" position. Brad and Skip just switched out the stuff from another switch that doesn't seem to do anything. I should mention that Brad builds robots for a living.

They couldn't get to all the fixtures, so Brad left all his tools here for Skip to venture forth on his own. Just something else to add to your prayer list.

More on Skip's Trip

Skip's colleague and our friend Ren has a burning desire to be included in this blog. So here are a few more pics of Skip's "business trip" to the states.

Ren is the one pointing at you.

Halloween

Just a few pictures from Trunk or Treat. I understand several places in LR are doing that this year as well. We highly recommend it. Maddie had a blast and got lots of candy without having to trek from house to house. And people really went to town decorating their cars. Everyone but us, that is. I just couldn't spend money on Halloween decorations when Skip and I may have to buy coats because we still don't have our shipment from the US and it's getting cold! Okay, I could have bought decorations, but the coat thing is a good excuse.

Fortunately it wasn't too cold tonight.

Last Week

Last week, Skip had to return to the US for some very important training. Here is a picture of his time there, sharing a time-honored Arkansas tradition with one of his German colleagues.

Blog 101

It's come to my attention that some readers do not realize that you can click on a picture and view it in its original size. Also, any underlined word in the text is a link to a related site. Just click on it to learn more.

Shopping Frenzy

We made a bit of an error today. Shops in Germany, by law, are closed on Sunday. So after church today, we thought it would be nice to head into the Alstadt and have lunch. Only the restaurants are open, so it wouldn't be too crowded and we could have some practice navigating that area of town by car. We inadvertently chose one of the three to four Sundays of the year when shops CAN be open. It was wall to wall people.

We actually had lunch at the Carsch Haus, which is an upscale department store. They have an entire market area with all sorts of restaurants. We ate at a really good Indian place, but there was also Chinese, seafood, a champagne bar, a pub and a deli.

Now today Skip just had curry chicken, but he's really been making some unusual choices (at least by American standards) at restaurants lately. On Friday night, he had a pig's leg. Really. A roasted pig's leg. Another day this week, he ordered a mushroom pancake. And as a special treat today for breakfast, I fried him up a thick slice of leberkase topped with a fried egg. Leberkase is a pate made from pork or veal liver, pork belly, garlic and onions and shaped into a loaf and sliced. I knew he wanted to get back to his German roots, but I didn't realize it would be a culinary journey.

Halloween in Germany

okay, it's not Halloween yet, but we did get to go to a Halloween party put on by the American Women's Club.

Halloween is funny here because it's not really a German thing, but people seem to have adopted it. There is a big Halloween bash planned in downtown Duesseldorf and all the area zoos will be having different events--kind of like our Boo at the Zoo. It's a great excuse for Germans to party because November 1 is All Soul's Day and a holiday. Nobody has to get up to go to school or work!

The British ex-pats here do Halloween except the costumes are always spooky. Never cute. Can you guess who the American kid is in this picture?

I was working at one of the games at the party with an English woman and she described the candy corn we were giving away as a prize as "some bizarre American Halloween candy." Guess Candy corn is not big in the UK.

There were prizes given away for the best costumes. This was my pick. I guess even witches sometimes need maternity clothes!

More to come about Halloween. I'm carving pumpkins on Monday for the prep and first grade classroom tables. They had to get the American moms to do it because the English, Dutch, German, Japanese and Korean moms have never done it before!

3 R's--Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Just in case you're finding it too time consuming to recycle because it involves having two different receptacles for trash, let me offer a little lesson on the German way of disposing of waste.

I have FIVE different receptacles in my home and really should get a sixth.

One is for organic matter. Egg shells, vegetable and fruit peels, etc. What cannot go in here is cooked food. This bin mercifully seals airtight until time to dispose of it.

One is for items that have the Green Point symbol on them. These are things like cans, milk containers, ice cream boxes, etc. These cannot be thrown in with the regular trash.

One is for stuff that doesn't fall into any other mandated category. And oddly enough, there is quite a bit of this.

The above items can be taken to large receptacles at the end of our little street and put in the appropriate bins. But that's not all there is.

Another bin is for paper and cardboard items that are not Green Point but can still not be included with the regular trash. And then there are glass bottles that are non-returnable. They have to be taken and put into the appropriate bins according to whether they are green, clear or brown glass. It's actually kind of fun to smash them into the bins. So far I do not have a separate container for these as we don't generate too many of them. There is not a receptacle for these items at the end of our drive, so they have to be walked or driven to the appropriate depository.

My fifth bin is for deposit bottles that can be returned for money.


This is yet another reason why most German women do not have jobs outside the home. Sorting and depositing trash takes up too much time. I guess being kind to the earth takes more effort than I realized. And all of the effort it takes to get rid of the garbage makes you more inclined to reduce and re-use.

Stuff From Home

Skip made it back after being in the states for almost a week with a suitcase full of goodies from home. Cornbread mix, chili mix, baking soda and powder, children's Tylenol and cough syrup (hope we won't need it!). He also hauled back two 10 by 16 cookie sheets, but he could have saved the room. They are too big for the oven. Yes, that would be 16 inches. Too wide and too deep. Won't fit either way. Mercifully, I found this out poping in some ready-made waffles for Maddie and not after I had made a huge batch of cookies!

We also got some movies and TV series on DVD. I don't have to watch television all the time, but I do like to watch it SOME time and there is nothing I can watch here--especially since Skip is out of town so much. Maddie gets some English and German cartoons, Skip gets all sorts of sports, but all I can get is BBC Prime, and even though it's English, I can't understand what they're saying.

side note: I do have to say I like the fact that you don't have to be pretty to be on television in Europe. The people who play cops on BBC and German channels look like they could be cops--not underwear models. Kind of refreshing, really.

Anyway, I'm afraid my true colors are coming out. Church on Sunday morning at the English-speaking Anglican church didn't do much to help me cope with being a stranger in a strange land, but the episodes of Grey's Anatomy that Katie Kasten taped and transferred to DVD for me did wonders for my overall attitude.

Never take for granted

your ability to decide to go somewhere and be able to do so without getting lost at least once (and more likely several times) or possibly having to give up the idea altogether because your desired destination is impossible to locate.

Yet another life lesson one learns from living in a foreign land.

Pics from the Duisberg Zoo

Even a better zoo than Cologne with an even more spectacular playground.

Testing

Having trouble posting. Just testing

The food IS different here

Okay, I really didn't realize how different the food is here until today at Wal-Mart. There was a guy just inside the door with a hot dog cart selling "American Hot Dogs." On our way out, Maddie asked if she could have one. She's not a big hot dog eater, so I asked if she was sure and she insisted. She ate all but two bites of a FOOT LONG hot dog with a bun and ketchup. She kept saying, this is a great hot dog, Mommy. She has decided that hot dogs are the Friday Special at Wal-Mart and that we can get one there every week. Hope she's right! She hasn't eaten that much of a meat product since we got here.

Just some of the food differences between America and Germany:

They often serve mayo with french fries.

Curry is the condiment of the hour. Curry powder, curry wurst, curry sauce. Heinz even makes a curry sauce in a bottle that looks like ketchup.

They like to plop a sunny side up egg on top of things that really don't call for it.

You can't buy popcorn shrimp in the frozen food section of the grocery store. This was a previous staple of Maddie's diet.

Vinegar is big.

Produce, except in large grocery stores, is ridiculously and wonderfully fresh. Maddie eats at least an apple a day and so far, the old adage has held true.

Mexican food is VERY hard to come by.

McDonald's fries their fries in something other than vegetable oil. In fact, just about all restaurants are frying in something other than vegetable oil. Not sure if it's peanut oil or animal fat, but it's heavy!

The Atkins diet must have flopped here big time. Nobody could give up the great bread you can find here.

This is kind of a food thing that I just realized today. Duesseldorf reminds me a lot of Boston. And in Boston, people were almost permanently attached to cup of coffee wherever they went. In Duesseldorf, you almost never see anyone walking around with a cup of coffee. You sit down to have coffee. However, you see people all the time walking around with ice cream cones. When we lived in Boston, it was just the opposite. People walked all over with cups of coffee, but the outside of ice cream parlors was always crowded with people who were sitting down to eat their ice cream. Don't know what it all means. Just found it interesting.

Anyway, I'm going to go make my kid a breakfast-for-dinner meal of American pancakes (that's the name of the mix) and bacon. The bacon here is so salty that I can't eat it, but Maddie and Skip seem to like it.

Cologne Zoo

Just a few pics of the zoo and the zoo playground at Cologne. Great zoo. Lots of indoor exhibits to escape the rain and a chance to be really close to the animals in the outdoor exhibits as well. First time I ever heard the noise a hippo makes. It's not pretty.