My week: June 28 ed.

I had German lessons and a lot of stress in the beginning of the week. I had so many things to get done at home and realized the enormity of some of our upcoming projects at work. My brother and sister-in-law were visiting at the end of the week. I wasn't sure how I would get everything done until I had the liberating thought: instead of trying to work a couple hours before I picked them up in the afternoon, I would just take the whole day off. Duh. I stress myself out so much by trying to do all the things. As it was, I was up until midnight the night before working on things and then spent two hours the next day preparing. I was so glad that I didn't try to go into work!

-I picked up my family at Frankfurt Hahn, which is not really anywhere near the actual Frankfurt. However, the drive is pleasant; I take the 63 to the 61 to the 50. My GPS was bound and determined that I should take the 6 to the 62 and I told it absolutely not. The construction that way is just awful right now!

We headed to Bingen, where we sat under a tree near the ferry and enjoyed the delicious, vegan picnic I had packed for us (based on this meal that I made for friends) since SIL is vegan. Following lunch, we took the ferry across the Rhein River to Rüdesheim am Rhein and basically repeated the trip I took there in December, minus the Christmas market part. This gave my family the chance to see a twee German town with fachwerk buildings.

-We continued to Cologne, where we walked around, had dinner at Cafe Especial (which is some of the better Mexican food I've had in Germany), and viewed the Cathedral.

The next day, we wandered around Cologne some more, stopping to eat lunch at a vegan restaurant (which had delicious quiche and a "milk" shake with cookie dough that we shared). We also browsed a record store and Saturn, then had to get on our way back home.

Originally, I had planned to meet with my friend R in Kaiserslautern, but we got stuck in a nasty Stau on the 61 and would've been too late. Instead, we met in Mainz and ate at Im Herzen Afrikas, which is a delicious Ethiopian restaurant. I've been meaning to try the Frankfurt version for quite some time. Even though we didn't have a reservation, they were able to tuck us into a corner.

-On Saturday, we got a late start and headed to Heidelberg. Just after arriving, we were stuck in a fierce thunderstorm so we hung out at Red, a vegetarian restaurant where we had purchased lunch.

When the storm had abated, we continued to the Heidelberg castle, taking the Bergbahn (mountain rail) to get to the top. It's possible to hike up there, too, but it's steep, we didn't have time, and we had no interest in coating ourselves in any additional sweat. Unfortunately, we were too late for the English tour, but my family was content with wandering the castle grounds.

Afterward, we walked around Heidelberg and stopped by the Kulturbrauerei, a beer brewery and restaurant.  My brother had wanted to visit a beer hall but this region (and points west) is known for wine and beer halls aren't so common. C, who used to live in Heidelberg, came to the rescue with the name of the brewery. There wasn't any dancing on tables or any lederhosen, but they enjoyed the beer, nonetheless.

We grabbed a train home and ended up back in Kaiserslautern around 11 p.m. My family was hungry but it can be difficult to find a restaurant whose kitchen is still open that late, even on the weekends. We lucked out and convinced the staff at Spinnrädl to cook us something, even though most of the staff had gone.

Everyone was happy with the place; they were able to put together a beautiful vegan salad to my SIL's specifications; I ate some Kaesespaetzle, and my brother ordered some incredibly regional food, liver dumpling soup and Saumagen (a Pfalz specialty that former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl loved to foist upon visiting dignitaries). 

I'm not a huge fan of German food normally (it's too heavy and not always so vegetarian/vegan friendly) but I do like visiting Spinnrädl with guests upon occasion because of its ambiance (it's the oldest surviving fachwerk building in town); it serves traditional, regional dishes that are tasty (well, to the meat eaters); and while it's tourist-friendly, it's somewhere that the locals eat too and prices are in line with other restaurants.

-The next morning, we got up early so I could drop off my family at the airport again. I'm so glad that they visited and I was able to share my life here with them. I hadn't seen them for 2.5 years and won't see them again until next year when I visit the US.

-Following that, I had some work to do, went strawberry and cherry picking, ran to the store to pickup some household things, and even made strawberry jam using hot water bath canning. Phew! 

Getting my forage on

One of my new goals is to learn more about foraging, preserving food, and improving homesteading skills. I'm not 100% sure why I feel the need to have these skills, but I like to keep my brain busy by learning something new, so why not learn something that also has the advantage of being practical?

Considering that I live in the city and it's the most cramped place I've lived so far, it's a bit ironic that I'm getting back to basics. For the record, Kaiserslautern is a typical German city that's no more cramped than other cities here, but it's my first go-round with living in Germany and it's more compact than it was in the US, as is expected, or even where I had lived in the UK.

Anyway, I think that a lot of people might foster the idea that getting back to the basics requires a lot of land and aptitude. Let me tell you: I have neither land nor aptitude, but I'm bungling along reasonably well and am enjoying myself, to boot.

Foraging wild foods is not impossible, nor does it necessarily have to take place in the countryside. Now that I've learned about some common things that are native to this area, I've found them easily in the city. I've had even better luck out in the countryside surrounding Kaiserslautern.

On just one stretch of country road a half mile in length, I recently found: wild sour cherries, elderflowers, black berry plants, and rose hips. These are only the things that I know; I imagine that there might be even more things! I look forward to learning just what those things might be.

Hehe

A friend and I were talking about rednecks and he called them "hilly billies." I was so tickled that I couldn't tell him that he was just a little bit off ;)

What the Phuket?

We celebrated a friend's birthday at Phuket, a Thai restaurant, and I ordered one of their notorious volcanoes of liquor for our group (complete with a burning centerpiece). I clearly did this in violation of German Birthday Traditions (wherein the birthday boy would have bought everything for his guests) but I'm American so I'm immune on this one ;)

Anyway, we got a volcano bowl with a really weird...hula dancer? Mutant? Mutilated ceramic figure? What is going on with this weird little creature?!

NPR article about seasonal eating in Germany

NPR featured a piece about seasonal eating and festivals in Germany. Check it out; it's well-written and on-point.

What I found to be especially true is the part about shoppers being accustomed to a smaller selection of produce featuring what's in season at the discount supermarkets. Indeed, this is the case at Aldi, Lidl, and Penny. When I'm cooking things that are out of season, I have to visit the big guys like Real or Globus.

My week: June 21 ed.

I'm freeee! Okay, not quite, but I will now have a little more free time since one of my German classes ended this week. Now I'll only have two lessons a week instead of four. It took a lot out of me to have so many classes per week, with just the amount of time alone that it took!

-I met up with my dear friend D for a walk, some wild foraging, and an evening of German speaking, which I normally don't do with my friends. We also ate at my favorite restaurant. It was perfect. 

-I collected more Holunderblüte, or elderflowers, and put together a mix for a fizzy elderflower lemonade-style drink. I'm really enjoying learning more about foraging wild food. While I was looking for some more sambucus (Latin name for the tree), I found some wild cherry trees. Score! It will be awesome to learn more because being able to identify plants and their uses changes one's perception of the countryside.

-I went to a group campout with a dear friend I haven't seen since earlier this year. We had been partners in the "crime" of wearing Dirndl in the Pfalz. We also met up with an awesome guy and fellow cat lover whom I had met in Munich in January. All of us got along fabulously and we hope to meet up in Kaiserslautern...sometime. All of us have such crazy schedules that it's hard to get together. It's hard to say, well, maybe we could all see one another again in August, or...?

I was even more excited when I found out that first friend is planning a trip to the US next year with her boyfriend. They'll be there the same time I will be. My good friend from work, C, had already planned to meet up with me. After some excited conversation and some texting to the US, we determined that all four of us will meet up and go on a road trip. I'm super excited; it'll also be an opportunity to introduce them to my US friends. I love how small the world can be sometimes.

-Even though I was super tired after coming home from the campout, I did drag myself out of a nap and met up with some friends for dinner. That was awesome!

So, this week was tiring but excellent, with a chance to reconnect with some friends I know from all over, and to plan for future adventures.

A capital Experience

I recently learned of an "official" diagnosis for something that I've seen, and I'll admit, drives me a bit nuts: Random Capitalization Syndrome, as explained by Mike Pope here.

It's so strange to me. I've seen things online where people have randomly capitalized things that aren't proper nouns, don't start a sentence, and have no business being capitalized. I've tried to decode these actions. Is it a certain type of word? Why does one do it? Does the person not even know the rule or does she purposefully do it?

Whatever motivates other people to do this, I can't say. However, I've found myself mixing up capitalization lately and it's really annoying. It usually happens if I'm writing in English but mention a German word that fits the best. If it's a noun, I find myself getting tripped up. Should I capitalize it since it's a German noun, even though everything else is English? I do end up capitalizing it but then finding myself starting to capitalize some English (regular) nouns.

I was considering this when I was reading Mike Pope's piece and laughed really hard when I got to his "German 101" Theory. Pope notes that "Sufferers from RCS might have been exposed at a critical time in their writing development to German 101, where students learn that all Nouns are capitalized." Ha! 

Unfortunately, that theory holds no water for the majority of other people I'm seeing who do this. They're native speakers and do not know foreign languages. All I can say is that I hope that they Please Stop.