Lantern-eh, Lantern-eh, Sonnen, Moonen Schtern-eh

That was phonetic. 

St. Martin’s Day was celebrated last week on Friday (in our village).  I had never heard of this holiday, but when I received the invitation from Griffin’s kindergarten with a date and time on it, I knew I’d have to study up.  They gave me the pamphlet with music all over it and said, “Maybe you come und sing vit us fur Sahnt Mahtin?” 

I bristle when I get pieces of paper from Kindergarten with dates and times on them because I know they are expecting me to go somewhere where there will be other parents.  When we are at these events, we get the “grandparent that needs a Miracle Ear” syndrome,  where Grandpa is there in the room and the family is socializing, all having a conversation, but he’s off in the corner and kind of zoned out, so he’s not really THERE, there.  That’s us – we’re there physically but that’s it.  We can’t understand anyone, and for a while, like Grandpa does, we strain and stretch our imagination and limits to try to pick out a familiar word here or there and maybe we’ll even try to say something once or twice.  It’s usually not relevant or even understood, so we end up off by ourselves in a corner getting the feeling that they’re all talking about putting us in a nursing home, but not really knowing for sure.  It makes for a tense and paranoid evening.  But then she added, “Zer will be a fire, und the gluhwein too, so we hopes to see you zeyre!”  Now wait a minute – she said gluhwein so that changed everything.  Like Grandpa, when you add a little alcohol to an awkward evening, it can only help.  And gluhwein is my current love – it’s a hot, spiced, usually red, wine that they simmer in kettles and ladle out in mugs at outdoor events here in the Germany.  Sweet, warm and Christmasy - like Santa pee!

St. Martin’s Day is celebrating…yes…that’s right…St. Martin!  It’s a kind of celebration/reenactment thing.  St. Martin (drop the St. at this point) was a Roman soldier and very kind.  The legend says that one day he was riding through a village and spotted a freezing beggar in the streets.  He ripped his cloak in half and gave half to the beggar.  What a guy. Later, The Church made him a Bishop and (also legend), he accepted this position rather reluctantly – The Church actually had to hunt him down by lantern light in the night because  St. Martin was all, “Noooo I don’t wanna be a Bishop!”  and The Church was all, “Oh THERE you are!  We can see you with our Lanterne – now go! Be a good Bishop and we’ll all re-enact this someday!”

The celebration, which mainly involves the children of the village,  goes like this:  You meet at the church and there’s a brief service (brief because every child in the village is there and you can’t hear anything), followed by a trek through the streets with music and lanterns (held by the kids) to a big bonfire party at the Kindergarten.   

So we met at our village’s church, which reminded me of somewhere they might hold a witch trial.  The church is in the middle of town, and rather run down looking, and inside it’s just plain white walls and honey colored oak pews and accents.  The bell tower functions just fine (it’s always sounding the time at 15 minute increments), and about 15 minutes before the celebration, we heard the bells summoning us to the church – kind of cool.  It’s never called US before! We walked down and soon saw everyone else coming from all over Mackenbach.  Please view the video to the right to hear the stern German church guy (Pastor?  Father?  I have no idea) giving his sermon – I just so loved his voice – he had that stereotypical Colonal Klink voice – the Angry German voice – we all know it.  Seemed out-of-place at this kid-oriented thing.  And since we couldn’t understand him, we could only imagine what he was saying to the kids…

NOW YOU CHILTREN LIZZEN TO ME!  IF YOU ARE NOT GOOD LITTLE KINDER VOR YOUR MUTTERS AND FATTERS, VEE VILL COME FOR YOU VIT DEESE LANTERNS AND BEAT YOU VIT DEM OVER YOUR NOGGENS UNTIL YOU COMPLY! *

It didn’t seem to be scary though because there was some laughing and funny stuff happening.  I think.

So here’s a picture of the boys with their lanterne (lantern-a) about to go down to the church…

We bought Cameron's Lanterne, but Griffin made his at Kindergarten.

Griffin had been studying the songs for awhile at school, and I punched them out at home on the piano a few times and sang along on the walk to the Kindergarten. 

The crowd with their lanterne and 4-piece brass band making our way across the village.

 And finally we made it to the bonfire party – there was Gluhwein, Kinder-Punch (gluhwein for kids), brats (of course), and two kinds of pretzels (bretzel).  And Lo!  There were many American families there who either lived in the village or had kids in other classes at the Kindergarten.  Who knew.  No matter – after a couple mugs of gluhwein I was brave enough to talk a little of the German to some tolerant elders at the fire.  I will elaborate more on how the language thing is going, but I’ll just sum this night up as a victory in that department.  The kids ran around with each other in the pitch blackness over rocks and near fire, the eltern drank and ate and socialized, there was a somewhat elaborate re-enactment in there somewhere (if the video loads, it will be down by the church one soon) and it made us feel at one with our village in a way we hadn’t experienced before.  A sense of camaraderie and kinship and a sense of Father Church being ever-present (there is no separation of church and state here – the Kindergartens are all run by the churches) was there in a way we don’t get in American towns.  Trick or treating is the closest thing we have to it, I suppose.  As you might know, we would definitely not describe ourselves as religious, but I appreciate how going to religious services can make “many feel like one”.  This event had that feeling to it.

Later, Paul was scolded by the attending fire dept for letting some German kids too close to the fire. As if he was with them.

Look Out St. Martin! Me and my ducky light are coming for YOU!

 

* I’m sure that by writing these things out like this, or saying Colonal Klink or whatever that it’s offensive to some, but I’m intending for it to be offensive to me and my kind and not to Germans.  I’m doing this for effect and from the standpoint of us – the stupid Americans that don’t know any better and are bewildered at everything – we hear it that way, it doesn’t really sound that way.  For the record, I think German is gorgeous, contrary to what I thought before I took the time to learn a little.  It’s musical, and intricate and exact and very beautiful.  I can’t wait to learn it well and have “an American accent”.

And Speaking of Black Eyes…

This is kind of a cheat post, because I’m basically copying something word for word and calling it my post, but holy crap – this is really something Cameron brought home from school – what’s more, it’s the SECOND.  In a SERIES.  It’s too good and I can’t wait for more.  I’d post the first one, but it confused me – something about freeing your inner horses.  Cameron and Paul say that to each other all the time now - Dad! Just free your horses!  and they guffaw afterwards.   The whole premise is that it’s supposed to be a “cool”  “kid-hip” tool to bring all those feelings to the surface, empower, and generally to bring the student into a more positive way of being.  That’s the true intention.  In reality, if one was to put any of this into practice within earshot of any other student, it would bring the student into a more beat-up way of being.  Or perhaps I’m just being cynical.   whatever.

So here’s this month’s – Cameron brought it out of his bag and said “You’re gonna LOVE this one”.  We all read it this morning together as a family and we cackled all the way through, so I guess it’s working in a way – it’s bringing us together, and lifting our spirits, though not in the way this misguided guidance counselor intends.  

Dear Parents,

In this week’s lesson, Kelly and Jerome entered the Land of Feel to enlist the help of the Gray Knight in finding the Spiral of Success.  There they learned that the Gray Knight once had possession of the golden spiral but lost it in the Forest of Confusion.  Feeling badly about his mistake, he has been sad and gloomy ever since.  Kelly, Jerome and the students help Gray Knight learn to use positive words (attached*) to change his thinking.  He learns that no matter what he hears others say to him, he can control his thinking and still feel good about himself.

Suggestions for this week:

1. Ask your child, “for what do you use these helpful words?”

2. If you see your child get upset by something someone says to him or her, you could ask [and get a HUGE eye roll in response]:

- [Cameron], are you feeling stormy inside?

- [Cameron], what would Gray Knight do about those feelings?

- [Cameron], let’s say the helpful words we learned this week.  Together.

Thank you for assisting your child with this important learning experience.  We appreciate your support!

*  The helpful words never made it home with Cameron which is shocking and somewhat anti-climactic because I would have loved to use some of them on Cameron to see what he’d say.  Wait.  He probably had them laminated and posted in his cubby at school.  To remind him. 

Or not.

And the Judges Give Him a – 3.1415926535…

Well Cameron’s school conference went swimmingly – he’s enjoying himself in his class, has many friends there and is well-behaved and bright, according to his teacher.  Teach went on to remark that Cameron’s particularly keen in the mathematics field, and thusly has been placed in the highest math group – they work at individual levels because they vary so much at this stage.  Further, he added, “Each morning, I write a difficult math problem on the board and ask the kids to solve it so they don’t bother me for a while *, and Boom – Cameron gets it right away every time.  And these are hard problems – he’s a good critical thinker”.  Then he brought out some paperwork and handed it to us and explained that each teacher gets one pick from their class to join the Math Olympiads and if Cameron was interested, he could be the chosen one.  I have no idea what’s involved in the Math Olympiads but I’ll find out because Cameron was all over it.  In the meantime, in preparation for the inevitable, I have to Google Search:  How to treat a black eye.

*  He’s a funny one, Cameron’s teacher – he always takes the sarcastic route – a route I know well.  He’ll continue with this teacher through the fourth grade which is awesome.

The Leavers

Well, Wendy’s about to leave.  Everyone has to leave here at some point, and now it’s her turn and I’m pouting.   I met Wendy through the Book Club (!) turned Let’s Just Forget the Book Part and Eat Somewhere Club (!!!).  I immediately transformed myself into her very own ghost, often apparating in a mist before her when she least expected it and demanding her full attention.  Once she determined I would not harm her, and that also I was not going to leave her alone, she seemed to tolerate my presence quite well, and dare I say she and I became friends.   Really she had no choice, poor girl. 

I’m pretty anti-social at heart and something snapped in me the day I met Wendy that made me turn on myself.  She has this way of making people feel like they’ve come home when they’re around her – the effect is enhanced because  anyone living over here feels  a little homeless, being so far from our extended families and not knowing our links from our rechts.   It’s not just me that feels the effect – I often have to fight for her company because there’s a line outside her door. Paul likened her to a nice, warm and cozy blanket – she’s that kind of person – homey, hearth-y, helpful, hospitable – she wraps you all up in her warm self and makes you feel cared for and appreciated.  She’s generous, forever P-E-P-P-Y!, in love with life, her family and friends, and oh – p.s. – she’s fluent in German and knows this country like the back of her hand.  She’s been very good to me and for me.  I miss her already.  I can’t apparate all the way to Texas either… yet.  

Hold on…no I’m NOT….it’s just that there’s something in my eye…NO I’M NOT!

And…our Christie just left.  She was the first person we met here in Germany, actually before (via email and telephone calls), assigned to help us with our transition into this country.  I written previously about her.  She went over and above and beyond the call to make us feel welcome and settled.  She drove our butts all over the countryside looking for houses to rent before our car arrived.  She had us so scheduled and regimented the first day as I recall, she even forbade us to sleep until after 8 pm to reduce the jet lag effect – we couldn’t!  She made sure!  She taught my kids to count in German and Griffin fell in love with her.

HIM:  Mom.  I’m Miss Christie’s Sugar Plum.

ME:  You’re my Sugar Plum too, hon.

HIM:  NO! I’m MISS! CHRISTIE’S! SUGAR! PLUM!

ME:  Good lord, child. 

She works in Paul’s office, worked…(something…again…eye) and after they initially butted heads (can you imagine? Paul?), being different personalities altogether, dare I say they became friends?  Yes.  I dare.   I was won over by her immediately – she’s funny as hell.  She talks with this dry, sarcastic sounding quasi-southern accent…  I dunno, whadda YEW wanna do?  And she’s dry and scarcastic, just like her accent.  I don’t know – it’s endearing.   She’s easy-going (usually), a good shopping partner, for whatever reason likes my kids, is kind and open and warm.

See?  See how I lucked out here? 

And the coolest part of befriending both these spirited fillies is that they were so generous, they each presented me with my very own city!

Wendy gave me Heidelberg – she lived there for a time and has been back often.  We went there together, just us, and she showed me her favorite places, shops, foods, and people-watching spots.  She kept quiet when we came to the part where the castle revealed itself, because it’s better to keep quiet.  She casually tossed me a Kleenex when, Oh My!  A Castle!  Holy… I started to tear up on cue just taking in its looming gigantic-ness.  She expected nothing less than tears from me – that’s why she  let me go with her.  She trusted me to love it in the way that she loves it and while I’ll never know it as well as she does, and might never fall head over heels the way she did, I think there might be something there between us – me and Heidelberg.     

Christie?  She had it easy – it was Paris she gave me.  Yes!  OK!  If you insist! I’ll take it!

We took the high-speed train to and from in one day – crazy n’est pas?  My first time – a dream from when I was just a tween.  Again, just us girls – no significants or offspring involved.   We travelled, for the most part, by foot which was amazing – I trod upon so much historic-ness!  My feet thought otherwise about the whole arrangement after about 7 hours walking, but my eyes never noticed because there was so very very much to take in.  We drank hot wine and ate Croque Monsieurs (ham and cheese sandwiches covered in egg batter and pressed) in front of Notre Dame.  We sat at a little outdoor cafe (in November – there were gas heaters) and had onion soup.  We shopped for and bought $14 cookies that I’m still afraid to eat.  We walked the steps to Sacre Coeur and beyond to the Artist District, my favorite part of the day.  In total, we saw almost all the monuments, and even the Moulin Rouge all lit up - glorious even with scaffolding –  and later worried about catching our train, which is a good thing.  If you find yourself, after only a day in Paris, sitting in one of the train stations nice and early, awaiting your train’s arrival, well, you didn’t do Paris-In-A-Day correctly – it’s a soak-up-every-last-second kind of town.   I suppose doing Paris in a day is never correct come to think of it, but I took what I could get.  We couldn’t stay longer – Christie had a plane to catch. 

So while Wendy will go to Texas to her New/Old house, Christie finds herself back in Oklahoma in a New/Old life.  And me – I’m going to try my hardest to keep up with these new/old friends and do Europe right by them, and someday, I’ll pass my cities on to someone else.  But for now, they’re mine – MINE!

Good luck you two, and thank you.

Bitter. Sweet. October.

Yesterday I awoke to see the effects of the Autumn’s first frost, and so I grabbed my camera and took these pictures on my morning walk. 

It felt a little forensic, the capturing of the evidence of the previous night’s gruesome rampage.  The gore was everywhere -  it coated every last leaf, every petal of every remaining flower.

I walk early.  It was silent, cold, and still outside.  By the time I had finished, the sun was higher and had melted much of the ice.  The petals were dripping wet and browning, and by today most of these plants are now dead or officially dormant. 

 

Welcome Winter, you heavy-handed bastard.  I’ll have nice thick dunkle brown and turn on some football to celebrate.  And I’ll raise my glass to you, Summer, you died trying your hardest – you don’t melt slowly and fade out like Winter – you rush into your unavoidable death in full bloom.

“October is nature’s funeral month.  Nature glories in death more than in life.  The month of departure is more beautiful than the month of coming – October than May.  Every green thing loves to die in bright colors.”
-   Henry Ward Beecher

 

** To see the remaining pictures, click HERE.

Car-versation

On base today:

 

Griffin:  Mom! Look!  The flags are down!

Me:  Yeah, they are! I wonder why they’re down? – it usually means someone died. 

Me (to myself, but out loud):  I wonder who it was that died, I didn’t hear anythi…

Griffin:  Michael Jackson.

…

Griffin P. – MINDFREAK

And oh, I’m totally not telling how he did this – don’t even ask me.  I especially like how he almost loses interest in the middle of the reappearance trick – he’s the magician for the love of pete! 

Nothing Up His Sleeves

If I See Even One Lord A-Leaping, I’m Out of Here.

The other day I saw a partridge.  And do you know where it was?  Well, DO YOU?  Yep - it was sitting in a mother-f**king pear tree.  I don’t make this stuff up.  This is where it all comes from, people.  This is all your storybooks, all your beloved songs.  Every day.  Here.

***

I always love when I find food items at their source.  My favorite thing to grow in my gardens every year is potatoes because it’s like unwrapping a present.  A really dirty one (and by dirty I mean dirt covered, and not this).   Uncovering the little brown globes in the earth gives me a rush every time.  Boring?  Not to me.  I have to embrace it because the glee generated by these things can’t be hidden and is already well documented.  I have previously dedicated a post to my neighbor’s cherry tree (how do I track back?  Someone?), and I have spent many hours online googling things like “where to find and dig wild ramps in Dayton, Ohio” or “Wild Ohio Mushrooms Non Hallucinagenic and Edible”.  If I owned a pig I’m sure I would have attempted truffle hunting at least once because that is right up my alley (yes – I know it’s a special pig and a specific geographical location, but you never know – has anyone truffle hunted in Ohio yet?  They COULD be there!).    So upon moving here, I was delighted to find a whole new batch of foodish items previously only found at my local Kroger

GROWING!    HERE!    IN THE WILD!   

And that, ladies and gents, makes my heart beat madly.  Ka-thump.

In mid summer shortly after we moved here to our house, we went walking and I collected the below all within 50 yards of this house:

!!!!!

Yep – those ARE two different kinds of plums…I KNOW! 

If you shake it, they will fall.

Griffin is always riding shotgun on my foraging escapades.

It’s now the very end of plum season, or Zwetschgen, as they’re called, and I have 5 jars of jam in the fridge to last me until next we meet, all picked from the tree outside our back door.  Moving on to grapes – Trauben -  grapes are in full swing here and there are roadside “camps “set up everywhere where one can bring a jug and fill it with fresh grapejuice and Neuer Wein (the partially fermented and very sweet first wine of the season),not to mention whole Dornfelder grapes piled high in baskets ready to eat.

Last weekend, we attended a culinary wine walk in the Western Pfalz (wine country).  You buy a large glass of wine (white, red or neuer) and start walking on a 3 mile path that meanders through the vineyards.  Every 50 meters or so?  Wine tents for filling up.  Did I mention these glasses are .5 liters? It should be renamed the culinary wine crawl.

The Starting Tents

If only all exercise was like this...

The previous week, my energies had been focused on finding figs at local markets.  Our German neighbor who I’ve become very fond of excitedly informed me that plums?  Plums were so last week and that now!  AT LAST! it was fig season!  Me (wide eyed):  <blink! blink!>  I had to find them, but I was distracted from beginning my quest by last Saturday morning’s soccer game.  We parked, and were hiking to the field when a chestnut tree (YES!) caught my eye, rather, the debris UNDER the tree caught my eye.  The spiney thorny coverings of chestnuts had DROPPED, earlier than I had expected, because you see I had been tracking these babies for months now and I thought I had at least another couple weeks.  Well, I picked up as many as I could find, and intended to go back the next day (with gloves and a pail) to the hidden grove of chestnut trees on the East end of the base that I had gotten wind of.  The next day was the wine walk so I didn’t go.

Toward the end of the walk, we happened upon a boy selling these chestnuts from a wagon.  500 Grams  - 2 Euro said the sign.  Me:  <blink! blink!>

I bought 500 grams.  Here they are along with the others I had picked up the previous day:

Ouch.

OK so I haven’t made them yet.  They’re sitting on the counter because every day I find a creepy crawly thing in the dish that wasn’t there the previous day so that means they’re comin out of…and the thought of eating these is a little, well…I’m not there yet. 

But the point is, I’m just so very smitten with it all, and I can’t wait to see what each new month, each new season brings because we haven’t even hit the charming ones yet!  I’ll bet Christmas just puts me over the edge.   I may end up buying a goat and making my own cheese or something.  I want to own this charm, to make it mine and soak it up.  Is anyone still reading? 

<sigh>…a partridge…in a pear tree…

Foosball

Well the elections have come and gone – don’t know any results and even if I did, I couldn’t say whether they were results that would make terrorists gleeful or that would twist their collective panties.  Panties of terror.  Do they even wear panties?  Panties are soothing and terror can’t be soothed.  Can a terrorist be happy, or gleeful even, or do they get kicked out for that? I will keep attempting to focus on these and other such questions and in doing so, hopefully relieve my mind of the sc ariest of scary thoughts.  What can you do anyway?  Until something goes not so normal, we’ll just be grocery shopping and trying to keep on as usual – as Daisyfae reminds, it’s situational awareness, is all.  And so I smoothly segue into the normal – the normal-est of normal Fall activity: my kid’s soccer.  It is in full swing and I plan to tell you all about it.

Cameron’s in the 9-10 league because he’s almost 9 and the 7-8 was full or something so they called it “close enough” and put him in with the older kids.  I thought the first practice might be the last when I saw his team mates.  They’re all giants.  I think some of the boys have facial hair.  Ha – no not really, but they’re big-’uns they are, so there is the size factor that could work against Cameron.  Then there’s the mindset – Cameron’s never been all that forward in soccer, and by that I mean assertive.  He moves a lot, but little actually gets done – I think he thinks all the movement dazzles us, his team, or the other team or someone.  I don’t know, but it’s all for show.  He rushes the ball and then at the last minute holds back.  He’ll charge balls-out after an opposing  player only to “lose” them in the midst of a gentle left turn.  Why then do I put him in?  He always acts like it’s a better way to spend an afternoon than de-linting my sweater collection, so we keep joining up along with every other kid in gradeschool, season after season, but he never really finds his own on the soccer field, and it’s always a battle to get him motivated.  Until this season, that is. 

He may be a mite wee, but he jumped right in with these kids and has won everyone over – his team members, his coaches and of course, us.  He’s assertive, vocal, compatible physically (he’s a quick one, that boy) and mentally and while there still seems to be the occasional “dazzle move” with no end result, it’s far less obvious than before.  He’s just a cool kid out there.  Perhaps it’s that he is more competitive now and in this 9-10 league, the notion that “everyone’s a winner” is not as prevalant as in the younger leagues.  They keep score.  They have records.  Cameron’s all about competing.  The coaches are all business, and they play the kids in positions suitable for their skillset – the daydreamer never plays forward – you earn your place most of the time.  Cameron is fast and he’s sharp so he alternates between mid-fielder and his new passion – goalie.  I think I’ve mentioned him playing goalie before, and the passion hasn’t settled down any, let me tell you.  Part of it is that he’s getting personalized attention out there, the coach and him and he feels gifted, or special and singled out so he keeps asking to play that position as much as possible.  Perhaps part of it is that it’s different from all the other spots so just by doing that, he can’t be compared?  I don’t know.  He’s pretty good, not great, but he’s finding his way and when a ball gets by him, he gets MAD, not sad.  He’s out for blood.  It’s a new Cameron out there and I’m thrilled that he’s coming into his own and finding his strengths.   I wish you all could see him play.

…

Some highlights - he loves that goalie shirt...

Juuuuust Super.

The following came over the wires today…

Today the U.S. Department of State released a Travel Alert for Germany. This is not to be considered a travel restriction but scrutiny should be applied for those who have planned travel in Germany. Please ensure the Department of State travel alert is disseminated to the lowest level. Travel Alert U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular Affairs This information is current as of today, Thu Sep 24 08:01:26 2009. Germany September 23, 2009 The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens that Al Qaeda has threatened it will conduct terrorist attacks in Germany immediately prior to and following the federal elections on September 27. This Travel Alert expires on November 11, 2009. Al Qaeda recently released a video specifically warning Germany of attacks. German authorities are taking the threat seriously and have taken measures to enhance the level of security throughout the country. The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to maintain good security practices at all times, and to maintain a heightened situational awareness and a low profile. Americans are advised to monitor news reports and consider the level of security present when visiting public places or choosing hotels, restaurants, and entertainment and recreation venues.

… … …