Thoughtfulness of friends, warm fuzzies, and Moo

I love love love my expat life here in Germany. However, that doesn't mean that I don't miss my US-based friends and family, either. Thanks to things like Facebook and Skype, I can still connect with them, which bridges the gap a little bit, at least.

In addition to keeping up online, sometimes there is a wonderful physical reminder of home: a package! Friends and family have brightened the day by sending thoughtful packages. Often they are related to a fun event, memory, or joke we've shared.

Here are some things that people have sent, and seeing the photos makes me smile all over again. Moo is always helpful (well, as helpful as a cat ever will be) as a model so that I can send photos to the generous gifters to show us enjoying what they sent.

My friend H. sent me what I thought was a heart-shaped tooth fairy pillow and some vegan recipes as support during the vegan challenge. I took strength through this kind gesture and was all smiles when I saw the picture of her dog, whom I consider my special little dog friend. I spend as much time as I can cuddling him when I visit. H also included a lovely card, reminiscing about some crazy and hilarious adventures we shared, including accidentally being present during a riot (we had nothing to do with it, promise).

This photo shows Moo at a low point in his little cat life. Unfortunately, he has a little problem with catnip and is known to abuse the substance. My cousins enabled him in his addiction and gifted him with his "drug" of choice. He was a pleased kitty and I enjoyed the ornament from a German-style Michigan tourist town that I enjoyed visiting, some gingerbread in various forms, and even Peeps on a stick (I hate to say it, but...Peepcentipede). I was putting everything together to take a picture when I had to leave the room. Moo just couldn't help himself and set up the scene for himself.

I feel lucky to say that I have multiple families: my biological family; my second family (good friends of my parents, and parents of my best friend); my original German teacher's family who "adopted" me, and my family of friends, too. Imagine the delight in receiving some homemade pillow cases that my second family made from super cute bacon print fabric. Moo thought it was great too and has been sneaking onto the pillow every chance he gets.

These are just a few of the thoughtful packages I've received. It is so awesome of my friends and family to share such kindness. So, what reminds you of home? Do your friends and family send it?

How I spent 2014 Christmas

This year's Christmas day was somewhat low-key. I spent half the day lounging around then texted a friend to go for a hike. I needed the diversity in activities, after all.

He brought a friend and the three of us hiked from the university up to the Humbergturm, a tower with a nice view over the city of Kaiserslautern. We had a fun time hiking; both guys are Bangledeshi and very merry. We chatted about different holidays, including in their country, and how people celebrate them.

On the way, we passed a decent amount of hikers, including two cute older ladies. They wished a merry Christmas and told us to hike faster to get to the top. Considering that we were already going at a good clip, it was pretty funny! I'm always so impressed by the active elderly Germans. They totally kick it on the trails.

Once at the top, we climbed the tower and admired the view and debated what various buildings were. One can see the whole city of Kaiserslautern from there.

Humbergturm, Kaiserslautern: built 1900

View of Kaiserslautern, to the north, from the Humbergturm

On the way back, some German hikers asked if we were returning to the city and if they could follow us, which we agreed to, stating that we were going back to the university. I can totally understand how it's easy to get lost; the only reason I knew where I was going was because I had been up that way two years ago for a volksmarch to the tower. In total, we hiked about 12 kilometers.

When we returned to the car, I said bye to the guys and hustled home. C was cooking Christmas dinner and I threw together a side dish and a pie. In total, we had:

• Crock pot ham, marinated in cranberry juice with cloves stuck in the top (for every pound of ham, add an hour of cooking in the crock pot at low heat)
• Mashed potatoes with bacon, leeks, celery, and garlic
• Cornbread stuffing with added cranberries, celery, and bacon
• Brussels sprouts cooked in a glaze of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar with blue cheese and fresh cranberries (I used this recipe but steamed the brussels sprouts first because otherwise they are too bitter for my taste; I also omitted the barley and pecans)
• Apple pie, using Uncle Paul's Pie Crust recipe

All of it was delicious! C did a wonderful job of creating everything and gave it that special touch, which is, in my book, pork products, which she knows I like ;) Since I am done with the vegan challenge, I could enjoy it all.

After dinner, we watched The Signal, a sci-fi thriller about alien abduction. It was super interesting, with lots of moving pieces. The plot kept building and building without us being able to see where the movie was going. In fact, they did such a good job of it that we couldn't exactly get the ending! A bit of Googling made it clearer. We both that the director had quite a bit of talent and will only get better as his style matures.

It was late so C turned in. I skyped my family for a bit to wish them a merry Christmas. It was a lovely day, spent with friends and connecting with family.

An expat Thanksgiving...times two

For Americans, Thanksgiving is a time to spend with those who are special and to be thankful, of course. Thanksgiving is a truly American holiday and besides Christmas, it's when most* US stores and businesses are closed so people can spend time with family and friends.

This is the second time in my life when I've been thousands of miles away from my family for Thanksgiving. The first time, I was a student in a suburb of London (England). I spent the evening with two of my friends, who also happened to be American. We took the train to London and ate dinner at Cheers (yes, it's based on the show!). As we walked through the park and to Buckingham Palace after dinner, I called my family to wish them a happy holiday. It was a neat experience.

That was thirteen years ago. I now live in Germany and faced another Thanksgiving far from my hometown. It was not a lonely Thanksgiving, though; thanks to the connection that expats feel and to my friend's kindness, a bunch of us gathered at her place for a lovely meal on Thursday evening. We had a late dinner since only the two Americans had the day off. It was to be quite an international event, with Americans (just two of us), friends originally from the UK (the largest group there, strangely enough, and I teased them that we had this holiday because the Pilgrims had been trying to get away from their forefathers), a Romanian, and some Germans. It was really fun to share our holiday with them.

In the wonderful way that merging social circles goes, my friends from town were also invited along. My two groups of friends met through a party at my place and then at subsequent events.  We left for Heidelberg a bit early and dropped off the pies that I made (more to follow about them in a future entry!) and some of ingredients for the other dishes I was going to prepare. Then, we headed to downtown Heidelberg to take a peek at the Christmas market. It hadn't officially opened yet but the booths were open, regardless. It was very pleasant to wander through them and not have to fight crowds.

Since it was going to be a few hours yet before dinner and I hadn't eaten much all day, I grabbed an ice cream cone from Gelato Go. It was quite cold out so it makes total sense to eat something even colder, huh? I don't always make the wisest choices in this regard but I didn't care because the ice cream was delicious! I ordered a scoop of marizpan (I think) and a scoop of Spekulatius, which had bits of chopped cookie of the same name. I forgot how huge the scoops of ice cream are there so I had quite a bit to eat! Some people complain about the price for the ice cream (mine was 2,20 euro for the two scoops) but I don't think that the prices are bad considering how much they give per scoop and that their offerings are organic. There are even vegan offerings!

We walked around a bit more and I did some scouting for the upcoming trip that I'll be taking there with my cousins, who will be visiting from the US in December. It was then time to head back for the dinner.

In addition to the pies I made, I prepared green bean casserole (which I personally detest, but it's such a typical dish that I felt that I needed to make it or else I'd be denying my Midwestern roots). I also made a dish of seared brussels sprouts with gorgonzola, pecans, and cranberries from this recipe. If I were to do it over, I'd probably bake or steam the sprouts first, then sear them in a pan, adding the cranberries almost at the end. I felt that they were slightly bitter since they didn't cook as much. The cranberries split open so that's why I'd add them later. It was a tasty dish, nonetheless, and I wouldn't mind adding it to my painfully slowly expanding repertoire of things I cook for events.

This was our hostess's first time cooking a turkey. She made a gourmet turkey, taking the time to prepare it in a brine. I don't usually eat meat, myself, but I took a small bite and it was quite nice, flavorful and moist. The meat eaters raved about it.

As we sat down to eat, I told the guests that we had to do our very special and typical American Thanksgiving ritual: a special prayer, okay even for the nonbelievers. We even taught the guests the super important hand gestures too. It went as follows: rub a dub dub (rubbing one's belly); thanks for the grub (holding hand out); yea god (doing jazz hands). I wish I could have had a video of this.

We then commenced to eat way too much and it was entirely delicious! Our hostess made a wonderful meal, pulling out all the stops with homemade cranberry relish, cornmeal stuffing, mashed potatoes with bacon (for which I will always make an amendment to my usual disinterest in eating meat), homemade cornbread muffins with bacon and sundried tomatoes, a lovely salad, my side dishes, and for dessert, a cheesecake she made and my pies (pumpkin and apple).

The company was lovely and the food delicious. My friends commented that they didn't that they have ever been so full before! Just before midnight, the three of us who live in Kaiserslautern waddled back to the train station to go home. I was in bed by 2 a.m. It's funny because the last time I celebrated Thanksgiving abroad, I was out really late too. In the US, I'm usually in bed by 10 p.m. after Thanksgiving festivities, probably because of the food coma.

The fun doesn't stop here, though. Another friend invited me to his Thanksgiving celebration, which will be today. Most of the other guests are Germans so it made sense to have it on a day that they wouldn't be working or in school. I purposefully didn't eat much on Friday because I needed a break in between two days of feasts. I must say, though, that I feel lucky to have such great company :)


*too bad it's not all of them! This is an example of where the US can really take an example from the Germans and allow everyone to celebrate holidays with their families instead serving corporate greed.

Danger: Bacon!!

German word of the day: der Speck (bacon). Be careful with this, though; sometimes Speck can also be the bacon fat and is served as a spread. That might or might not be to a bacon lover's delight. A safer bet would be to ask for Frühstücksspeck, which basically means "breakfast strips."

 

Bacon lovers, beware!

Woop woop! Danger!

Bacon is not just bad for your arteries!


I met someone who broke part of her tooth off when she was eating a piece of bacon.

I'm not sure how that is even possible, but what a chilling discovery it is.