My week: February 26 ed.

On Monday and Tuesday, A and I were in Poland. (More about that later, or so I hope that it's not an empty promise.)

During the rest of the week, I attended German class and also lazed around the house a bit. The lazing-around gave way to a party at some friends' house in a rural village. A dozen of us descended upon the house for the weekend to cook together, play party games, enjoy some adult beverages, and to hike. 

It was a wonderfully international group of people; those who attended hailed from India, Syria, Egypt, Germany, the US, and Morocco. That also meant that we enjoyed many different types of food. I made grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs. It took forever because the jar of leaves I bought is deceiving; it's about the size of a pickle jar but contains about 100 leaves! Some of the guys helped me and after 40 minutes we finished the darn things. I used the Syrian recipe I had learned a couple weeks ago during the international cooking night.

Even better yet than the marathon of rolling grape leaves? We took a hike in the middle of the party. To more accurately describe it, I'd say we grabbed a couple of bottles of wine and hiked a quarter of a mile up a hill, overlooked the rolling scenery for a bit, then trundled back to the house in the middle of the night.

The next morning we wanted to cook breakfast but didn't have the foresight to bring eggs or milk. My friend said there was nothing to fear for we could buy some at the store. This was Sunday in Germany; where in the world could we find such a thing, since almost everything is closed? 

There was indeed a solution: an automated farm store in the area! How cool is that? In a tiny, sidedoor type store, one can buy milk from a machine, or choose jam, sausage, or eggs from another vending machine. We crammed into the room and my friend filled her milk jug. One can bring her own or pay a small fee for one from the dairy. I had wanted to buy eggs but unfortunately they were all out, which is the first time my friend has seen that happen. 

Seeking an alternative to make for everyone's breakfast, I instead bought 5 kilos of potatoes. Why did I buy 5 kilos? It was the only option. That is a lot of potatoes, folks. I was cooking hash browns for an hour when we got back and I hardly made a dent in the sack of potatoes. For the record, I have very little patience for cooking and prefer baking. I felt as if the task would never be done and that it takes an unreasonable amount of time to cook small strips of potatoes to make hash browns.

All in all, it was a weekend full of just what I like: a diverse bunch of friends and silly adventures.m

My week: February 12 ed.

Hoo-ee, have I been gone for a long time, thanks to my normal winter schedule of taking two German classes a week. Combined with meeting with my tandem partner, that means I'm practicing German four nights a week, and often traveling for funsies on the weekend.

This week, the university German B2 class ended. Even though I enjoy the class, I am glad to be over with it because I was really running out of steam and need at least one free weeknight (besides Fridays) after keeping up this schedule for four months. I'm tired, folks, especially after the night this week that the class at the Volkshochschule started up and I had to run from the uni class directly to the VHS one afterward.

We took the final exam for the uni B2 class on Friday night; I thought that overall, I performed reasonably well on it. However, the listening portion took me by surprise. In previous tests, we were given a minute or two to read the questions first. Since there were about 15 questions and they used an advanced level of German, I was looking forward to reading them first and underlining some keywords.

That didn't happen; our teacher immediately hit the play button and I scrambled around, madly trying to listen to the selection and read the questions as I went. I missed the first few questions because I was so discombobulated. At least there was a second go 'round of listening but I still lost a lot of it.

The selection featured an expert talking about manners and mentioned something called "Knigge." I've never heard of that term before and didn't latch onto any context clues so I had to go with the assumption that it meant some sort of behavior. In a moment of grasping at straws, I wondered if it was like the Danish word "Hygge," which is basically like Gemütlichkeit.

I let wondering about it go because I had to move on with the test. However, later, I was on Facebook and saw a German article about old books that still have value and there was one from Knigge! Apparently he was a writer, Freemason, and Illuminati member [insert dramatic music here, for sure] and is particularly well-known for his Über den Umgang mit Menschen, which describes human behavior. His accomplishments have morphed his memory into being more like Miss Manners. I'm glad to have found this out because I don't like leaving any stones unturned, so to speak ;)

-During the weekend, I attended one of my favorite annual events, the Grünkohlessenabend hosted by the women's club. During the event, we eat kale (any of its health benefits are drowned out by the sheer amount of salt and fat added to it), sausages, and potatoes in order to celebrate northern German traditions (even though we're in SW Germany).

Along the way, we've created our own traditions around attending this event. As is customary, I invited my friend W, who has been my "date" for all of the last three years, including the infamous first year where we wore Dirndls and were lightly schimpfed for the transgression. There, we learned that setting the table on fire is a tradition, drinking alcohol out of a giant wooden shoe and spoons is practiced, and that one will burn her mouth if she doesn't wait for the shot glass to fully cool. The second time we attended, I was the one to set the table on fire. It was definitely very exciting.

The third year we finally had our act together and knew how things worked. W attended and we also invited my friend A. I had written to the organizer because A doesn't eat pork and I checked to see if anything being served that evening didn't have pork (we found out that everything, except for the alcohol, had pork in it. Whoa!). Imagine my surprise when I found out that she could just order from the restaurant's regular menu! W is vegetarian and during the previous two years she had only eaten the potatoes. We had a good laugh that we finally found out that she could've just ordered something vegetarian the previous years.

I told A to expect the table being set on fire and possibly someone burning her mouth on the flaming shot glass of liquor (I was reminded that I was the one who had done that before). Much to my surprise, no one inadvertently set the table on fire and I was very careful to make sure the shot glass had cooled before I drank the contents. A doesn't drink but when we toasted by drinking schnapps out of our special, big schnapps-holding spoons, she took a shot of gravy from her meal. What a team player she is.

There was a wonderful new addition this year: SEA SHANTIES, accompanied with ACCORDION MUSIC. It was very exciting and even better yet, I think that some of them had dirty lyrics. It was hard to translate them and sing at the same time, but one song was talking about ladies, the Reeperbahn, and St. Pauli in Hamburg, which was a notorious area for sailors and the ladies they visited.

Afterward, W stayed over since she's from out of town. We enjoyed breakfast together and then she went on her way home. I ended up napping the whole afternoon, which I needed sorely after being so worn out from exam week and partying down with the women's club. It was a good end to the semester.

My week: August 16 ed.

I did quite a bit of lounging around this week because the week before was the huge event at work that I had organized. In between the lounging, I got out and foraged tons of blackberries. I have several patches that I visit and they're just bursting with fruit. My freezer is doing the same now!

-I drove to the Rursee this weekend, which is located in the Eifel region of Nordrhein-Westfalen, about 2.5 hours north of here. I visited a friendly acquaintance, B, and her husband M. I had been really looking forward to some boating and perhaps some swimming. We had some hot weather leading up to the trip but didn't it just figure that by the weekend, it was cold and intermittently rainy! I wasn't going to bring my jacket but grabbed it at the last minute, which was a wise decision. Don't get me wrong; I like cooler weather but it was such a tease during the visit where I had intended to make full use of the lake.

Upon my arrival, I met M, B, and two of their friends who'd been visiting. The friends were a German and American couple. I was excited to find out that the husband is an apprentice carpenter because I wanted to pick his brain about how to host one of the Wandergesellen, or wandering carpenters. It's an old tradition where some choose to wear Tracht and wander for a time following their training. They offer to do some work around a host's home in exchange for lodging and food. I thought that it was a cool idea and would love to host someone like that and hear his stories. B's guest didn't know anyone personally but mentioned that there are websites where one can try to find the wanderers along their routes. Maybe that will be one of my goals: to find one of these wandering carpenters so I can grill him learn about his travels in the pursuit of Knowing More Things.

After a pleasant lunch, the other guests left. B took me for a walk through the area. The Rursee and Eifel region is beautiful; mountains and lakes/reservoirs snake through the area and the Eifel was recently made into a national park. Opportunities for outdoor pursuits such as camping, hiking, bicycling, and boating draw people to the area. We visited downtown Simmerath where elderly Germans, kitted out in Jack Wolfskin and other weather-suitable attire, bustled by, using their walking sticks to propel themselves through the light crowds.

We even saw some Turducken Thingies! I had to tell my silly story of my first time seeing Egyptian Geese in Amsterdam. It dawned on me that calling them Turducken Thingies is not really accurate because they're more like Gucks or Dugoos since it's not incredibly apparent whether they're geese or ducks.

On our way back, we heard music and saw a beer stand set up in a courtyard of a kindergarten. I absolutely had to know more about this so B agreed to go inside. The Schützenverein, or shooting club, was having a celebration during the weekend. I drank some water and B had some beer. Neither one of us had to pay since apparently the Schützen König (king) was buying everyone's drinks that day. It's part of being king, I guess. I'd certainly join that kingdom!

The next day, we took a boat ride around the Rursee. Even though M and B have lived in the area for years, they hadn't taken it themselves yet. The ride ended at the dam, which was near a Dutch-held campground. That put me into a fit of giggles as I wondered if they had brought enough toilet paper and supplies from the Netherlands (or didn't ahead of time, and bought them in Germany since it's cheaper here). Thank you, Stuff Dutch People Like, for letting me know the ways of my kinsfolk.

A view from the dam. There were birds on the barrels but they weren't Turducken Thingies.

On the way back from our Schifffahrt (hehe - and isn't that a ridiculous number of f-s?), we came across a jolly good time at the Schützenverein's celebration and of course we had to stop. The brass band played, people drank beer, and people prepared to shoot a gun.

Yes, you read that right: the Verein was having a shooting tournament in the courtyard of the kindergarten. For the record, school wasn't in session and the gun was an air rifle, mounted on a stand and directed at a (reasonably) well-insulated target on a stick. It didn't seem as if too many things could go wrong, despite the drinking.

A target on a steeeeck!

I wanted in.

I'm in no way into guns but in a relatively safe environment with a gun that would cause minor damage, I was cool with that since I believe that it's important to embrace new experiences. I also don't drink beer so that makes things slightly more safe. I signed up to shoot and took my turn with the others. I was the odd one out because I wasn't drinking a beer in between the rounds; it seemed as everyone else was, and once in a while they'd put forth a jolly prost-prost-prost type of cheer. I always love me a good party atmosphere and this was perfectly wacky enough. I mean, the Schützenverein is located in the basement of a kindergarten where they shoot inside during inclement weather, for goodness sakes! Who thinks that is a great idea?

Look at all that flair!

I did think that everyone's uniforms were cool. They had all sorts of pins and medals and stuff (S from work called it "flair"). I've been to an actual Schützenverein lodge in the Pfalz forest by my house once. It was kind of not on purpose (okay, totally not on purpose; R and I got lost on a bike ride) and there was a creepy jackalope on the wall and a general Deliverance type of vibe as we purchased our drinks. Despite that, and despite my feelings of ambivalence bordering on not liking guns, I have to say that I'm a bit intrigued by the concept of a Schützenverein. Since they wear unusual costumes, prance around, listen to brass bands, and shoot at pieces of wood, I must admit that it's a bit intriguing.


With these thoughts swirling around in my mind, I soon said goodbye and thank you to M and B for the lovely weekend.

My Week: May 3 ed.

Phew! It was a busy (as always) week, full of adventures and German learning.

-My new German learning class at the uni Verein started. I had hoped to take B2.1 there since I am already taking B1.2 at the Volkshochschule right now but the Verein stuck me in the same level. I wrote to the leader of the program that I was placed in the wrong class and that I should be in the next class. Well, here's looking back to the February blog entry I wrote about finishing the last Verein class when I didn't take the test at the end of it and was wondering why everyone thought it such a shame I wasn't taking it:

"It also makes me think that I should have researched more fully the benefits of taking the exam! With my luck, it's probably required before taking the next class or something."


Yep, my comment was prophetic: I had to take the test to get into the B2 class and Herr R wouldn't have it that I thought I should move on to the next class since I was already taking B1.2 at the VHS. So, here I am in B1.2 again. However, it's not all bad. My understanding is that the Verein's test is the same one would use to prove language proficiency in order to obtain citizenship in Germany. This will give me an additional opportunity to study and I don't have a deadline to finish all the classes to reach C1 or C2 level. The other bonus is that two of the girls from my previous class are in the new one and we sit together.


Taking both German classes does make for two very long post-work nights a week: I'm either in class or driving between classes for four hours, two nights a week.


-I went on a tour of the new K in Lautern Mall. I'm such an inhabitant of Nerdsville that of course I seized the opportunity to ask all of my burning questions about the mall. I even had my little notebook to record the answers and a blog post about it will follow. I'm sure you just can't take the suspense.


-I spent the weekend in the Stuttgart area with my friends C and K. I was invited to their Garten Party and stayed the weekend at C's parents' house. What a lovely time it was! I was thrilled to experience some very local German life.


C has been hosting this party for several decades now, since he was a teen, at his family's garden plot just outside the city. He invited the same friends who attended when they were all teenagers as well as some newer friends; I was the newest friend (we met in January). It was a lively night with a campfire, grilling, and good company.


I didn't want to crash the party too much so I decided that I would speak mostly German that night. I spoke German, but didn't understand as much as I had hoped that I would because of the heavy Schwäbisch dialects. One guy's accent was so heavy that I only understood about every 5th word! I did enjoy myself and spent a lot of time practicing listening. Their friends welcomed me and were friendly.

The garden. Everything is so beautiful and green now after the spring rain.

I spoke with H, who is African and is also learning German at about the same level where I am. She asked me why I wasn't drinking any beer. Well, the gardens have no official restroom facilities once the restaurant closed, so I didn't want to tempt fate. We were giggling about not wanting to be "Garten Pinkelerinnen.*"


We escaped the party unscathed and returned to C's parents' house. The next morning involved clean-up and then some time spent with R and G, his parents. They are absolutely lovely and welcomed me warmly the whole weekend. We had some nice conversations in German and English. They proudly showed me pictures of an American family who had previously been their tenants and they had befriended. It sounds as if they had become like family for R and G. I can see where they would have grown close, just based on how warmly R and G welcomed me into their home. When I was leaving for home, R hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, asking me to come back again so they could show me around the area more. G shook my hand and said that I was welcome back any time. It was a wonderful experience and I do hope to see them again.

*basically, it means garden (lady) pee-ers. I have no idea if it's really a German word; it probably isn't.

My Week: April 19 ed.

-I had German lessons and my weekly tandem meet-up. I still need to speak German more. Wash, rinse, repeat, right?

-I was super busy with preparations for my birthday party. I had 15 people over and it was excellent. Everyone admired the pinata that I made even though it does have a strange shape. It was a mash-up between Tony the Tiger, a rabbit, and then mummified, I guess. Hey, I'm not artistic, so what can I say? We had a ton of fun whacking the pinata outside.

Moo and Tony the Rab-ata

Moo was excited to host what was, to him, essentially a meeting of the Moo Fan Club. He was lavished with attention, used as a pillow when he was sitting on the back of the couch, and used the same friend as a pillow right back. It's awesome to have a cat who loves parties!

We also enjoyed the Most Exciting Cake Ever from co-worker S and delicious cheesecake from co-worker C. The celebrations lasted until 2 a.m. I'm still smiling from the kindness and warmth of my friends. It is truly a wonderful gift to be around people who can make a foreign country feel like home.

The Most Exciting Cake Ever: Or, Why My Coworkers Are the Best

It's my birthday soon and I wanted to have a few (well, maybe 15-20 or so) friends over for a party. The last few years I've had lower-key birthdays but this year I wanted something a little bigger, especially since I know more people now and it's always fun to party!

My coworkers are awesome. S asked me if I'd like a cake and offered to make carrot cake. That sounded awesome so I took her up on it, finding out that she made a Bundt cake. Of course that prompted us to watch the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the main character's non-Greek future in-laws bring a Bundt cake to her Greek family, with hilarious results. We were in hysterics.

S decorated the cake in the style of the movie's cake but made it even ever so much better. I just about died of delight when I saw it. It's the most exciting cake I've ever seen! I love all the little chocolate bugs around it with the unsettling, anthropomorphic faces. The bunch of lollipops with happy birthday candles shooting out is very lively. She even wrote multiple letter As around the cake.  There's so much going on with this over-the-top cake that it is beyond fantastic.

Best. Cake. Ever. Thanks, S! It is such a treat to work with such awesome, thoughtful (and funny!) coworkers.

Is this not exciting?

Don't squash me! I have a human face! says the chocolate bug.

How I prepared for St. Patrick's Day

I'm not Irish, but I do enjoy some aspects of St. Patrick's Day. In preparation for the celebration, I made cupcakes for a potluck at work. One of our colleagues made a corned beef and sauerkraut stuffing/casserole thing and it was the hit of the potluck! Based on what my colleague told me about the recipe, I would guess that this is similar to the recipe she used if it wasn't the actual recipe.


Even better yet? When I picked up the official mail for work, I did my interpretation of Irish dance in the mail room. I really enjoy harassing people (in a nice way) and I always tease the Post Office workers because they taped a line on the ground that visitors aren't supposed to cross. I regularly taunt them by placing my foot over the line. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I took the harassment to a whole new level by Irish dancing on the wrong side of the line.

My week: December 14 ed.

This week has been a roller coaster of stress, Incredible Hulk-angry moments, tiredness, cat surgery, cat acting alternately like a spoiled brat followed by being the sweetest fuzzy dude ever, German learning and lessons, party-throwing/friend hosting & hanging out, favorite Christmas market-visiting, and relaxing in PJs/movie night. I can happily say that the stressful beginning of the week gave way to a relaxed and full of warm fuzzies end of the week.

-Moo had surgery. He had a benign tumor on his calf that the vet thought should still come off. I had to zip him over to the vet before work and was able to pick him up after work.

Of course I had very little time and too many things to do so he had to sit in the cat carrier while I ran to the store to buy glasses for the party I was hosting on the weekend and some treats to mail to my previous coworkers. I felt a bit guilty about that but the stores close early so it had to be that night.

He has been very unhappy about wearing the cone of shame and has been acting out a bit. He found out that he can use the cone as a battering ram of sorts, slamming against the bedroom door and demanding to be let in when I'm sleeping. He even figured out how to get out of an earlier cone of shame! C. had to shove it back on him when I was away at German class. Moo has been demanding and needy since the surgery. Can one blame him? He finally settled down (mostly) by the end of the week. I think it's because he received a lot of attention during the party and from friends staying over.

I made him 3 cat beds and he laid on the house shoes for guests. Silly kitty!

-I had German classes three times. I didn't meet with my tandem speaking partner because of Moo's surgery.

-Work has been incredibly busy. I gave a presentation at another location and rushed to get ready for that. I probably would have worked on it a bit more at home the night before but I just had nothing else to give at that point; I was flustered and exhausted most of the week from everything going on.

-Finally the weekend came! I rushed home to co-host a party. There's no way that I could have done it without the help of my friend C. who's visiting right now. She planned, shopped, cooked, cleaned, and decorated! It was completely awesome and she did a great job. She even bought gold "medals" made of chocolate so I came up with some games so we could award them.

The party was a holiday party and White Elephant gift exchange (optional). Since only two people brought things to exchange, I decided to liven it up by going "shopping" in my house and added some things to the bag so everyone could take something home. Considering that I try not to have too many extra things in my house, it got interesting! One friend won a packet of cat food, which Moo said was okay to give away since it was the friend who normally cat sits him. Guests also won cool things like a package of tissues and a piece of chocolate.

We then played charades that I devised at the last minute and became the hit of the party. I came up with Christmas-related characters or things doing strange activities. For example, Little Baby Jesus received a parking ticket and a Christmas pyramid was angry and breaking ornaments. We were in hysterics as the players acted them out.

I also love that we were such an international group. Half of the guests were from non-Western countries and only three guests speak English as a first language. When I was coming up with characters and situations for charades, I tried to pick things that everyone would know. However, I did have to explain to one guest was a sled was. That was fair enough, as her country doesn't ever see snow!

-Two out-of-town friends spent the night after the party and we had a lazy morning of eating leftovers. One friend left and we then went to the Haus der Nachhaltigkeit's Christmas market in the woods, picking up another friend along the way. I explained that this was my favorite market and my friends loved it too. We drank bio Glühwein (the only kind I'll drink now), wandering among the booths in the forest.

Along the way, we ran into the Big Boss from work (our boss's boss's boss, if that makes sense) and his wife so we said hi. I was surprised to hear that Mrs. Boss did not like the market. She was unhappy because she had gotten bopped by umbrellas (it was raining) and she felt that there wasn't much to buy. I can see where it might not have made for an experience that she would enjoy.

It's still my favorite Christmas market though; I think it's partially because of the lack of a feeling of overt commercialism there. Sure, every booth is selling something, whether it's food, drink, or a product, but items are handmade and high quality. Not everyone needs a sheep's fleece or hand-made brooms. However, it feels like a magical place in the woods where the main point is to celebrate with friends.

-On Sunday, we ran some errands and dropped off our friend M, who had stayed one extra night since it was reasonably late by the time we came home the night before. Later, C. and I had a lazy evening of watching Detroit Unleaded and Adventures in Babysitting, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. It was the perfect ending to a busy and previously stressful week.

This is the worst Wurst I've seen!

During our Halloween celebrations, we stopped by the store to get some more wine and party things. My friend picked up a jar of Halloween Würstchen, which were somehow dyed or marked to show pumpkins on the skin.

My friends took them back to the party and ate them right out of the jar. I don't even...

Fasching season begins!

Today (technically right now, thanks to the wonders of blog scheduling!) is the start of Fasching, or Carnival season in Germany. Fasching has various names; in my area, that is its name. Other names includes Fasnacht and Karneval.

I attended the Fasching parade in Wiesbaden the first year I was here. Last year, I didn't do anything for Fasching since I was in the middle of my university classes and being sick/getting over being sick/becoming sick again. Since the main Fasching events won't take place until February of next year, I can't say at this point what I'll be doing.

To read more about Fasching, check out these tagged posts that I wrote.

My Second Halloween in Germany

I celebrated my second Halloween in Germany last month. Halloween isn't a huge thing here, but  people were definitely out celebrating.

I can't say much about what children do here since none of my friends have kids and I was out with friends. On the way to the train station, I some kids and their parents dressed up and standing in the foyer of their apartment. My neighbor's child carved a pumpkin and put it out on the front steps. There are events on the nearby military posts for the military kids, such as trick-or-treating in a centralized area. Beyond that, though, I can't say if the German kids go trick-or-treating, but I think for the most part that they don't.

I saw many adults celebrating Halloween. Our group met up, working on our costumes at our friends' house and enjoying some drinks and snacks. We then went out to stand in line for about half an hour at a club. We decided that was futile so we moved on to a different club to dance. Along the way, we saw many adults in costumes. Most costumes involved face paint and weren't as elaborate as the ones I've seen in the US. I'm also not surprised because there aren't as many options for commercially-available costumes at this time of the year here.

It was a nice night out. I was pleased to meet, in person, a friend of my friend, who had recently visited Detroit. She was looking for company when she was there so I recommended contacting some of my Detroit friends. They hung out over the summer and it was so cool to see Facebook pictures of her with my friends in my old stomping grounds. I then met her in person this weekend so we took a picture and shared it with our Detroit friends. I love how social networks can connect people!

What I've been up to: the August 31 ed.

Here's a quick run-down of what I did the week of August 31:

-was invited to dinner at my new German-English tandem partner's home; she cooked a delicious meal and we spent four hours (!) that went by quickly: talking, laughing, and improving our language skills;

-made the promise to myself that I would spend at least 10 minutes working on learning German in some form or fashion;

-attended a somewhat-impromptu dinner at a friend's house; about 20 people showed up and enjoyed tacos and conversation (and even met some people in our social circle who came from Saarbrücken and Bad Dürkheim);

-stopped by the local book store to look at books used for the Volkshochschule course that I am considering; I have to decide if I'm going to take A2.1 or A2.2;

-got a badly-needed haircut at Sandy's Salon and had my hair cut by the fabulous Sandy herself (oops, it had been 3 months since the last one!);

-attended a farewell lunch for a colleague in another division;

-spent Thursday night a bit grumpy because I had to pack for my upcoming holiday (I despise packing);

-flew to Vienna with my friend C. for the Labor Day holiday weekend; got rained on but had a good time (more to follow about this).

Jump Around: the Pug Version

We recently found out that our coworker has a Pug. Well, more accurately, we found out that his daughter has a Pug. Of course we wanted him to bring the dog to work. We've been begging him for months and this week he finally did!

What a sweet Pug she is, too. She wandered around the office all day, visiting each employee and begging to be petted.

Then our coworker showed us her "trick." Apparently she gets all riled up when "Jump Around" by House of Pain is played. She doesn't do this with any other song. I even caught a video clip of it. I love Pug Day at work!

Brussels, happiness, and friends

This past weekend, I took a trip to the Netherlands for some business-related needs, then moved on to Brussels to see a friend whom I had met in Detroit three years ago. Later we made a stop to Ghent and met up with my friend's friend who lived there. It was a fantastic weekend of reuniting with an old friend and making some new friendly acquaintances!

It was such a wonderful weekend that made me so happy. It made me think of the saying that it "made my heart swell with joy." That is a really cheesy saying, I think, but that's how awesome it felt. Well, until I started dissecting the statement; I was thinking that if one's heart were swelling, it might indicate a build-up of fluid and heart failure...then I told myself to stop being so dang literal.

Regardless, it was a fantastic weekend. I love how small the world can be; after all, I was able to reconnect with a friend I had met thousands of miles away and years before. We now live and hour and a half from each other but reconnected in Brussels. I made plans to meet with the couple from Paris when I'll be visiting the city soon for other reasons.

There is more to say, but that's it for now as it's late.

We partied like rock stars at the Deidesheim Wine Fest

**Note: the Deidesheimer Weinkerwe (wine festival) is continuing next weekend,  15-17 August. More information is available here.**

Some friends and I took a jaunt over to the Deidesheim wine festival. We ended up partying like rock stars, but more like if one thinks about geriatric rock stars ;) It's been a busy time for each of us and after about a glass of wine each, we were all ready for a nap! This is what happens when one gets old. However, I'm not sure if that's entirely true and we didn't have any excuse because I saw a lot of adorable elderly German couples who were partying and didn't seem sleepy.

We took a 40-minute train ride to the picturesque town that is situated on the German wine street. Once there, we disembarked the train and examined booth after booth of wine and food. I settled on drinking a Hugo, which is a mix of sparkling wine, soda water, elderberry syrup, and a mint garnish. It was fantastic! Of course, I do love elderberry syrup (which I only recently learned about, and only knew about elderberries before that because of Monty Python). My friends chose wine and we also grabbed some food.

The band that seemed to play 30 second clips.

We sat near the stage, under the trees, which was quite lovely. Eventually, the band came in, dressed in tracht (i.e. lederhosen). It was the strangest thing, though: they did a few warm-ups, then left. They came back, played about 30 seconds of a song, then left again. Then they came back and played some other songs, too, but it felt as if they didn't play the entire song. It was really strange!

In addition to listening to music clips, we also took a walk around town. Deidesheim is really quite lovely, with many Weinstuben and restaurants tucked along the streets. There is also this lovely Gasthaus zur Kanne, from the 12th century. The whole time we were walking around, I was imagining what my dad's response to this town would be. I could hear him in my head saying, "Oh! This is so gezellig!" The amusing thing about that statement is that gezellig is a Dutch word and my dad isn't remotely Dutch. However, my mom's family is and for some reason, he loves that word. It does fit the town well though: it cozy, cute, and quaint. When my family comes to visit, I have to take him to this village or a similar one.

During our wanderings, we also came across another fountain with Gernot Rumpf's sculptures. He has created other fountains and sculptures throughout the Pfalz and I love his whimsical creatures. They also have some naughty jokes within them. At this fountain, visitors can stick their heads into the statue and look like an old fashioned man and woman. However, the woman is a bit different, though I'm not going to say how. You'll just have to find out for yourself.

The fountain is filled with goats. It turns out that Deidesheim has a traditional festival near Pentecost in which a goat is auctioned off. Actually, the festival seems more invested with drinking and partying, but it's traditional, eh?

Rumpf really has quite the sense of humor. He includes goat "pellets."

Rumpf's signature mouse.

My Second Autofreies Lauteral Bike Ride

Bike riders on the B270. Photo by J.

Sunday was a great day! Some friends and I grabbed our bikes (or, more accurately, 2 of the 3 bikes were mine ;) and headed out for the car-free day on the B270 road from Kaiserslautern to Lauterecken.

I did this ride last year with some friends (read about it here) and loved it. It's a day to enjoy the two-lane highway without the threat of motorized vehicles. Most people ride bicycles but we also saw rollerbladers, skateboarders, and even some unicyclists! It's a great day for all ages; we saw everything from grandparents to children along the route.

Along the way, there are food stands, oompa music dance parties, rock music parties, plenty of town fests, sausage and meat stands (lots of them!), booths with community information, and even bike repair stations. It's basically a 20 mile-long party. That's right up my alley!

We began at the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern, the first stop, and rode along the river to join the B270. In Otterbach, we had the friendly Technisches Hilfswerk people adjust the bike seat on my old bike that J was riding and add air to my bike's tires.

Our next stop was at the hippie corner. Okay, it wasn't called that, but it certainly appealed to my inner hippie with an organic snack stand and a drum circle. We enjoyed some Holunder schorles (elderberry-fizzy water mixes) from the friendly ladies at the Bund Freunde der Erde stand, then proceeded to play drums with the welcoming drum instructor. Everyone was jamming!

My friends were hungry after all that jamming so we made a meat-packed stop. M had saumagen, which is a very typical regional meat for the Pfalz (more info here). J. gleefully announced that Helmut Kohl, a former German chancellor who was from this area, always proudly offered it to guests. We snickered as it is not something that everyone would like; M's serving of it looked like a huge hunk of meat, but she did like it. I could imagine a few international guests choking it down and trying to appear to enjoy it.

Meat fest! From left, clockwise: steak, Rotewurst, and Saumagen. Photo by J.

The next stop was my favorite: we visited with a herd of Haflinger horses on the side of the road. I fed them some delectable grass that was just out of their reach and J played horse paparazzi.

A horse enjoying some of the grass I gave it. Photo by J.

We finished the ride in Wolfstein, stopping to eat some ice cream. Originally, we had planned to bike all the way to the end, Lauterecken, but a sudden downpour of rain divested us of that idea. We loaded our bikes onto the train (which became more and more cramped with bikers) and returned home. It was a great ride! Had the rain held off, we probably would have biked back for a total of 30 miles, but the 15 mile ride was also good. Even better yet was that I was barely sore afterward, a welcome change from last year.

At First I Saw These Guys and Was Confused, Then I Saw Their Leader...

First off: this week's blog entries (or lack thereof!) are brought to you by the Letter E.

E is for exams. I am finishing degree #3 THIS WEEK. Yee-haw. I will soon have my life back and will be able to read for fun and volunteer again after a year of devoting a large amount of my free time to studying.

--

Anyway, on to the blog entry that the title references (which is modeled on those ridiculous titles of viral cat videos like, "I Thought This Video Was Going to Be Dumb But I Clicked on It Anyway Because I Was Conned by a Stupid Title Like This Yet Again" -- what IS it with those titles? I get suckered into them every time even though I think they're ridiculous).

When we were in Amsterdam, we ran into tons and tons of stag and hen parties. I saw a bunch of guys sitting around Dam Square wearing gnome hats and drinking beer. I love gnomes so I thought it was interesting, but I wasn't sure exactly what the hats had to do with anything.

Okay, later picture when they put on their beards, too. You get the drift.

About 10 minutes later, their friend dragged the groom back to the group and all was illuminated. We had a good laugh at the concept (but not at the rough shape the groom was in).

Poor Snow White seemed to be struggling.

The apples were a nice touch.

Chillin' with my gnomies at the Frankfurter Garten

We saw these gnomies at the Frankfurter Garten. Ganz toll, eh?

An interruption: happy new year!

I'm still in the depths of writing about the epic travel adventure in December but now that it's January 1, 2014, I must say this: happy new year! Frohes neues Jahr!

My friend in Heidelberg invited me to a party at her friend's place. I've been there once before for another party so it was one of those nice situations where I knew most of the people there already. Even though I'm an introvert, I have learned to enjoy the challenge of attending a party where I only know one person and by the end of the night hopefully I've met/chatted with everyone else there too. Initially, as an introvert, it feels weird to do that, but it has the nice result of many friendly new acquaintances.

It was a fun party because it was such a mix of everyone. I love hanging out with international groups. It was funny, too, because the spoken languages kept changing all night. I heard lots of German, some Russian, Dutch, and of course, English. My German has progressed enough that I could listen to some conversations in German and understand them enough that I could ask related questions in English.

Just before midnight we headed outside and stood on the cold, windy bridge which had a nice view of the castle and the downtown. This was my first new year's eve spent in Germany. I know that people go crazy for fireworks, as I believe it is the one night of the year that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is allowed to buy mass quantities and set them off. However, it was very striking at just how many were going off! It sounded like a battle outside. I took a short video (horrible quality, unfortunately) and it doesn't even give the whole effect. Despite the slight feeling of danger because it was the amateur hour with some people incorrectly setting off the fireworks sideways, it was still an amazing experience. In the video, the castle is in about the middle of the screen. It's somewhat lit up.

Noticing that some people were accidentally setting off fireworks sideways, we decided it would be a good time to go back inside for the party. One of the guys was asking in German for what I thought I heard as a "stück," which means "a piece." I was asking what on earth he wanted a piece of. Apparently he wanted a stick (I misheard him) and we soon found out why: he was organizing a limbo dance! It was really fun to watch the tall German and Dutch guys try to dance under it.

Soon it was 4 a.m. and it was a good time to say good night and walk back to my friend's house. The aftermath that night's festivities was staggering; there was trash all over the place from the fireworks and empty liquor bottles.

Just a small sampling of the trash left behind, seen the next day.

I woke up today with a bit of a headache from enjoying some drinks, but nothing too bad. My friend made us queso and chips for breakfast and it helped to fortify our faintly aching heads. After "brunch" I bid her goodbye and met up with another friend who was in town.

That friend and I agreed that it would be nice to take a stroll through Heidelberg.

View of the castle on the hill.

We stopped at the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge).

This is a cheeky monkey near the bridge. It was sculpted by Gernot Rumpf, who also made the fountain in Kaiserslautern as well as other towns in the Pfalz. Tons of tourists were sticking their faces into the bottom part of the monkey's face for goofy pictures.

To the left of the monkey are some mice, which are a common theme in Rumpf's works.

We continued our plans for a hike on the Philosophenweg, which is a steep path up the Heilingenberg that gives a lovely view of the town. To get to the path, we crossed the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) to the north side of the river, turned left immediately off the bridge, crossed the road, and started the trail on Schlangenweg.

The (steep!) trail is in the middle of the picture, just to the right of the white building.

What a workout it was! The path up the hill is walled and very steep with uneven cobblestones. It's not remotely accessible for those with disabilities and I had to watch my ankles on the uneven ground because I'm prone to spraining them. My friend C and I huffed and puffed up the hill and enjoyed the views at the top.

We then gingerly walked down the super steep path to the west and passed some beautiful homes as well as some Heidelberg University buildings. My friend recommended that we visit the park under the Theodor-Heuss bridge. Apparently it's a really popular place for picnics during warmer weather. We laughed at the honking geese and hissing swans (who weren't impressed by the dog that came up to sniff at them).

It is said that what one does on New Year's Day sets the tone for the whole year. I am happy with how I spent the first day of the new year: being with friends, enjoying some residual happiness from a party, seeing historical sights while getting a great workout, and even eating some non-traditional breakfast foods. It was a very pleasant day, made even better by fair weather (51 degrees F and even a bit of sun!).

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.