the shortest days of the year...

...and so much has been happening in them!  I have more to report from this last week than I could ever manage to fit into one post.  I will attempt to give you the highlights, along with some pics, and not make this go too long.

Last Thursday I traveled with the family to Aachen, in northern Germany - right in the corner, bordering the Netherlands and Belgium, to be exact.  We stayed with some of their friends, who also have an au pair.  Our two families hung out, and we got to explore the city, see the beautiful church (the oldest part of which was built in the 8th century!), the Weihnachtsmarkt, the Lindt factory outlet, and some touristy things, such as the European equivalent of "Four Corners" in the U.S. - Dreiländereck.

On the Sunday after we returned, I took part in our church's "Raclette und Schokofondue" night.  With the other young people, we did a short skit about Advent, and then sang a song, for which I was nominated to sing with the mic.  I generally avoid singing into a mic of any sort, and definitely not as the only one with a mic!  :-)  Thankfully, the entire group was singing, and the focus was on preparing our hearts for Christ, not so much on us.  Afterwards we enjoyed a very traditional holiday dinner, with melted Raclette cheese over potatoes, with fresh veggies or sliced meats.  Then each table had their own fondue pot - sharing chocolate with friends was the best way to end the evening.

Over the next couple of days, I did some craft-ing with the kids and our neighbors, and then some on my own, to deck out my room with a little bit of holiday cheer.  I happened to decorate just in time to usher in the wintry weather.

Last night, I experienced a different sort of Weihnachtsmarkt.  In Esslingen there is not only the traditional market which you will find in many cities, but there is also a Middle Ages Market.  Here, there were many people dressed up in period costume, various types of craftsman, and a dose of cheesiness as well.  Overall, I found it to be very well done, and perhaps a little reminiscent of the type of crowd you might see at a Renaissance Fair.  Many of those in costume seemed like Middle Ages hippies, complete with dredlocks and drums.  :-)  However, some really did preserve the art and craftsmanship of that period.  My favorite, of course, were the food stands where they cooked, kneaded dough, and baked right in front of you.

This last one is for my Mom, who requested that I find someone who spun their own wool.  Not only did I find the spinning wheel, but also an entire loom.  What can I say...we are kinda fiber nerds in my family.  :-)  Finally, to wrap up my post, here are links to recent pictures:

Weihnachtsmarkt

Wintry Adventures

life is messy sometimes...literally

I was talking recently with a friend about being honest about life, but not over-sharing.  I don't want to give the impression that life here is just one grand adventure after another, nor do I want to emotionally vomit into the world wide web.  Simply, I want to portray that it is real life, with rough days, bad moods, and my usual struggles.  On Thursday, I had the perfect example of this.  Here is my list of everything NOT to do:

1.  Don't wear some nice, fashionable boots with a skirt when driving through German back country (at least, not when you plan do the following things you really should NOT do).

2. Don't be impatient and try to take a back road when there is huge construction truck going 5 MPH on the road in front of you.

3.  When going down said back road and it looks like it doesn't lead anywhere, don't drive till the end where the road turns into dirt, and there is no place to turn around.

4.  When you have to back-up down this narrow road with mud on either side, be sure to remember when your car doesn't have power steering and that a slight curve takes a lot more oomph to go around than usual, and don't underestimate and go off the road into the mud.

5.  When you have backed up into the freshly plowed field and your wheels have gotten caught in the thick clay-like mud, don't let your pride get in the way of calling someone for help.

Now that you know everything NOT to do, let me explain how I managed to recover after doing every single one of those things.  First of all, I can thank my dad and brothers for imparting enough car knowledge to me that I did know NOT to give the car a lot of gas, spinning the wheels even deeper into the mud.  Also, I knew that I needed more traction, so I gathered dead grass and straw from across the road to stuff around and under the wheels.  I would then climb into the car, gradually ease from clutch to gas (oh...right...did I mention yet that I did this with a manual transmission, which I have only been driving for about 4 weeks now?) and move about half an inch, throw up the parking brake, climb out, dig out more mud from around the tire, add more straw, and repeat.  It only took about 30-40 minutes of doing this, and then I was finally free.  I was also covered head to toe in mud, with frozen hands and feet.  I knew I wouldn't want to forget the lesson I learned, so I captured the memory with my phone:

At the very bottom of the photo are the ruts my front tires were stuck in.

I made sure that once I did get free, I would have somewhere to go and wouldn't drive into more mud.  After this, I backed up till the bottom of the hill, where I could turn around on a small gravel road, and then go back home.  After a good cleaning, the car looks even better than it did before I dragged it through the dirt.  And I recovered well after a hot shower and some hot tea.  Lessons learned.

'Tis the season!

I promised I would bring you a full report on the Weihnachtsmarkt, and I will now follow through.  There is nothing like the atmosphere of a Christmas market on a crisp cold night, surrounded by hundreds of people, drinking Glühwein (mulled wine), and hearing kids sing Christmas carols.  There were all sorts of interesting things that I found at the Weihnachtsmarkt - some that I expected, and some that surprised me.  First, let me report on the menu for the night, because let's be honest, the food was the most important part of the experience.  :-)

First "dinner":  Kartoffel Puffer mit Kräuter Joghurt - two fried cakes of mashed potates with an herb, yogurt sauce

Glühwein #1

First dessert:  Gebrannte Mandeln - sweet, roasted almonds, a very typical food at German markets, fairs, and fests.

Second "dinner" (above): Krautschupfnudeln - potato noodles, sauerkraut, and ham - VERY schwäbisch, and one of my favorite comfort foods here.

Glühwein #2

(After this one, I saw a stand selling homemade maultaschen, in a little wrapper, so you could hold it in your hands and nibble away.  I was so full at that point, but you should know by now how I feel about maultaschen.  This time I could only sit and smell the goodness, and make a promise to myself to come back and eat one.)

Second dessert: Crepe mit Zimt und Zucker - crepes are really popular here, and a warm, cinnamon-y crepe is the best way to end the night.

The best part of the evening was having a friend to share the experience with.

We laughed together about the random people you encounter in a Christmas market.  There were a lot of street musicians out entertaining the masses and adding to the atmosphere.  I was surprised to see several younger kids standing on their own, playing Christmas carols, usually on some sort of wind instrument.  Then there was the typical group of young guys with guitar and percussion singing pop music.  There were trios of more classical types of musicians.  There was a man playing a didjeridoo, and another man playing music (I forget which instrument) with a bright green parrot sitting on his head.  Finally, there were groups of young people singing traditional German Christmas songs.

Wandering through the market, you will find stands selling everything from traditional wood toys/ornaments to silicone kitchenware to kitschy oriental figurines.  There were stands selling knitted or leather/shearling house-shoes (which looked soooo luxuriously warm).  One of my favorites was a stand of handmade pottery and stoneware, where I saw some small stoneware birds that reminded me of something in my grandparents house.  There were a few moments like that, when I saw things that are familiar either from the little bit of German culture that has trickled down in my family, or from traces of German culture that you can still find in Central Texas.  Very cool to see those connections, no matter how distant they are.

Here are the rest of my pics from last night.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Kunst, Spiele, und Weihnachtsmarkt

This weekend introduced me to some fantastic things:

-  Kunstmuseum Stuttgart:  first, let me preface this by saying that for a relatively artsy person, I am not the biggest museum fan.  Unless there is a particular exhibit I am interested in, it is not usually on the top of my list of things to see.  However, I had heard good things about this museum in general, so I decided to spend my free time on Saturday there.  One of the main exhibits right now is a collection from Heinz and Anette Teufel in a particular genre of Abstractionist art called Concrete Art (not actually made from concrete at all).  One of my favorite artists, Bridget Riley, had a painting in this collection, as well as several new artists which I discovered and fell in love with.  Here is a link to the museum's description of the exhibit (with the Bridget Riley painting that I love):

http://www.kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de/en/index.php?site=1&page=2&actualSel=35

Here are some links to my fav artists.  I would post pics, but I don't want to cross any copyright lines...so check them out for yourself.  :-)

http://www.galerie-la-ligne.ch/--herzlich-willkommen/kuenstler/kubiak-uwe.html

http://www.trocadero.com/griffintrading/items/591534/item591534store.html

http://www.regio-kunst.de/regio-kunst/druckansicht/konkret.html

http://www.spielvogel-galerie.de/html/bilder-brandt-liste.html

http://www.galerie-hoeppner.de/kuenstler/fruhtrunk_gunter.php

A lot of the paintings had very intense colors or very stark lines which are naturally hard to capture in pictures, but I thought I would give a little a flavor of the exhibit, and what I spent hours studying.  It was wonderful to go in to the museum and simply lose track of time.  Good times.

Last night, I was introduced to a couple new German games, and my competitive spirit was delighted to be able to be expressed.  :-)  One is a game several of you are probably familiar with - Die Siedler von Catan (Settlers of Catan).  For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it is a game of establishing towns and streets and strategic land holdings and all other sorts of things that I just barely scratched the surface of in our one simple game (and also learning all of this in German made things even MORE interesting).  I am a little hooked already, so all of you Settlers fans out there, be ready - I want to play and I want to learn more...my competitive spirit just can't resist it.  :-)  We were actually playing with the original version of the game, in the original German (since it was created here...go figure).  Pretty awesome.

Finally, here is a teaser for the next post:  While in Stuttgart, I saw the beautiful craziness that is a German Weihnachtsmarkt (or Christkindlmarkt).  Unfortunately, because of the stomach virus mentioned in the last post, I was unable to enjoy the full experience, i.e. Glühwein (mulled wine) and all the awesome German confections.  So, I plan to make a return trip to the huge market in Stuttgart (as well as to our local market in Waiblingen) and give a full report.  Stay tuned...

What a month!

And November isn't even over yet!  I knew going into this month that it would be crazy.  Now that it is almost done, I'm thankful to have made it this far still in one piece...but just barely.  :-)  Just in the last week I have baked 2 cakes, 1 pie, and 1 dish of stuffing;  celebrated a kid's birthday...twice;  helped prepare for a thanksgiving meal for 18 people;  and been attacked by a stomach virus not once, but twice.  Also in the last week I passed the two-month mark of living in Germany.  Though I have been up to my nose in the craziness of this week, I am really thankful for the joy it also held.  Moments like making sour cream coffeecake with the older of my two girls, carrying a bit of my family tradition with me here, and passing it along as well.  Or, being able to celebrate the younger girl's birthday with the family, and see her face light up over a box full of duplos. (oh! the memories it brought back!)  Or, sitting down to eat some of my favorite Thanksgiving foods with friends nearby, kids clamoring in the background, and laughter abounding.  Or, being able to share stories with friends of my family's Thanksgiving traditions which made me feel a little closer to my family back home.  And now, here are some of the highlights, in pictures:

After a full day of baking:  my pumpkin pie in the front, the sour cream coffeecake in the back.

The happy birthday girl (with cake for breakfast! but you must know, she didn't even finish her whole piece before asking for "brot und leberwurst".  Leberwurst over cake...I will never understand that.)

 

The whole family getting involved - "new" duplo's aren't just for kids.  :-)

When every possible table and anything that could pass as a seat is used, you know its going to be a good party.  (I stand in the back...in the vicinity of the kid's table, of course).

a first time for everything

In the last week, I have had several "firsts".  Last Thursday was my first time driving in Germany.  Yes, it was on a little-used back road, and yes, I never went higher than 3rd gear, but I drove!  Reacquainting myself with a manual transmission will take a while, as I drove a car with an automatic transmission since getting my driver's license, and it has been a long time since my brother first taught me how to drive a stick-shift.  Thankfully, the road laws are not too different here - soon I hope to be out on the road and holding my own with the German drivers.  :-)

On Friday, I went to "Turnen" with the girls and their mom.  This is an exercise class for kids - they get to run around a gym, walk on balance beams, do somersaults, climb over obstacles, and jump on a trampoline.  When the weather is cold and wet, Turnen class is a fantastic outlet for all that pent up energy.  With the kids, parents, (and au pairs!), it's always a big hit.

Saturday was my first entire day with the kids, from waking up to going to sleep.  Occasionally there are weekends when both parents have to work or be in class.  Usually this happens once a month or once every two months...however, a schedule change meant that I had two of these weekends in a row to start out November.  During the first, I was taking care of the kids only while the mom caught up on sleep from a night shift, and then there were two of us around.  This weekend, however, I was on my own for the whole day.  It was good to see how the routines from the weekdays carried over to the weekend, making the day go by a little more smoothly.

On Sunday, I was here once again with the children, but that evening, our church here had an evening for the families to have fun and spend time all together.  The evening was celebrating St. Martin's Day (which just so happens to be today!), which celebrates a Roman soldier who became a monk and offered help to the poor.  It is celebrated with paper lanterns which the children make in kindergarten, then light up with candles for the Latenernlauf.  The origins of the lanterns is unclear, though some say it symbolizes the hope that St. Martin brought to the people he served.  When I went with my church, there were a ton of kids there, and as we walked through the dark, deep woods, with only lanterns and torches to light our way, it definitely had a festive, magical feel.  That night was even more special to me, because of the way everyone took care of the girls and me.  We always had an extra hand to hold, when my hands were full, an extra pair of eyes to look out for us, and new friends to talk with along the way.

Finally, here is one small thing that made my day.  With the kids, I only speak English, so that they have another input of that language (their dad also speaks English with them).  They mostly speak in German, especially the younger one, with a few English words thrown in.  Last night, when we were brushing teeth, the little one looked out the window into the night and spontaneously said "It's dark outside."  It was a phrase she has heard a lot, but its rare that she uses the English words, not to mention an entire sentence!  That made my night.  I'm learning so much from these kids.  I'm glad that they are learning a little bit from me as well.  :-)

Berlin, and back again

Greetings, friends!

It has been quite the adventure over the past couple of weeks:  leaving for a week-long vacation to visit my friend Liesl in Berlin, experiencing what big city life in Germany is like (as opposed to small quiet town life where I am in BW), and going full speed through life without much rest.  It was fun for a while, but I'm ready to calm down and catch up a bit.

My trip to Berlin was amazing.  My friend Liesl's roommate let me borrow his bike, so we rode ALL over Berlin, saw many different sides to the city, mostly avoided the tourist traps, hung out with her friends, and ate some great food.  We actually cooked a lot - and every morning had a fantastic breakfast - we share a love for that meal.  For me, it was fantastic to just live life with her for a while - to see the school where she works, meet her friends, party in real Berlin style, bum around when it was rainy and cold, and share stories about the respective kids in our lives.  I didn't take a ton of pictures, since we were on our bikes and enjoying the time without stopping every 3 seconds.  But, I captured a few highlights.  Here a couple favs, and then a link to the whole album (with captions and wiki links for the landmarks).

Tiergarten

Liesl and I, at the Brandenburg Gate

Der Löwe

If you'd like to browse the whole album, you'll find it all right here: 

In den Ferien

Much love from Deutschland.

Exercising my creative muscle...

Even though I am here in Germany in a job that has little to do with my "occupation", that doesn't mean that my creative side is being neglected.  Quite the contrary, in my first month here, I have planned out and completed a design on a huge blank wall in my room.  Here is the process, in all its stages.

my blank slate (with a fresh, white base coat):

The concept:  a chestnut tree silhouette (a very common, traditional tree here) that I traced in Illustrator, and then I played with the colors/width/placement of the stripes and tree until I found something I liked:

My stripes measured out and taped off (can I just say...I love the metric system! So easy...no weird half or quarter measurements):

After sketching out my tree and buying my key turquoise paint, the painting FINALLY begins:

With a little mixing, I have my two different shades of turquoise.  The tape is ready to be removed:

The next day, sans tape, and after retouching the tree in white:

Finally, my cozy coffee corner, in the cool shade of a chestnut tree:

One month, and counting...

As of yesterday, I have been living in Germany for one whole month.  On one hand, it feels like I've been here such a long time, and so much has happened.  On the other hand, this month as flown by, and I can't imagine how quickly the rest will go by as well.  As I thought, one year here is really not that long, yet so much can happen.  I'm looking forward to it.  Here are a few pics from this past week:

Being charged by two, pajama-clad "liebe Tiger" (sweet Tigers):

Up close and personal:

An afternoon in Schwäbisch Hall, for their Grandmom's birthday (waving "hallo" to the camera):

cloudy with a chance of maultaschen

In reference to today's title:
   a.  One of my fav books is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and I really need to see that movie.  As soon as it is released here, I'm totally there.  (Also need to read the book to my kids.)
   b.  I'm pretty sure if that book was written in German, it would be maultaschen instead of meatballs.  Maultaschen is an equally comforting food - a pocket of pasta filled with meat and/or veggies, with a similar mystery to its ingredients.
   c.  It pretty much describes life here:  cloudy days, with a high chance of maultaschen being on the menu, for a good autumn comfort food meal.

Ready for another round of highlights?  These are all from today, so you can tell it has been a good day:

At breakfast this morning, which was very lovely, by the way, I was delighted to find among the various fixings on the table, a small jar of crunchy peanut butter.  The reunion was great.  I have missed you, PB.  There is a small part of my heart that nutella can't satisfy.

Playing outside, when you can see your breath in the air, brings out the kid in me.  So, getting caught by the neighbor literally "horsing around" with the girls, i.e. racing back and forth on the drive way, neighing, slapping imaginary reigns, really didn't phase me too much today.

Making hot cocoa together after playing in the cold - making good memories.

Had fun teaching the girls some English phrases (like, "On your mark, get set...GO!), and began to hear the older one repeat a couple phrases that I say often.  But the "monkey see, monkey do" also translates into the older one playing "mom" and trying to correct her little sister and send her to her room - glad she gets the idea, but not the kind of game I would like them to play.  :-)

With our dinner of milchreis and stewed apples, I brought out the cinnamon (Zimt) to the table.  After asking if they wanted some, the older girl enjoyed adding a bit to her rice.  Each time I refilled her bowl, and she asked for it, she pronounced it differently:  cimmomin, cimminon, cinninin.  I think almost every kid (including me) has mixed that one up.  It was fun that she kept trying to say it too.

Finally, I am in love with the skies here.  Since we are near the top of a small hill, we have some lovely views, especially to the west.  After living in a big city, where a panoramic view of the sky was VERY rare, I am basking in every amazing arrangement of clouds and color.  So I leave you with this, the view from our dining room:

Frühstücken

For those of you who don't know, today's title is one of my favorite words in German.  It means "to breakfast", which of course describes one of my favorite meals and past-times, and also makes me very happy they have a specific verb for eating breakfast, but not any of the other meals (that I know of...correct me if I'm wrong).  Finally, it's simply a fun word to say.  So, to give an example of how it is used:

"Am Donnerstag frühstücke ich mit meinen Freunde."

"On Thursday I breakfast with my friends."

This morning, I started out the day in one of the best ways possible:  after dropping off the girls at kindergarten, I rode my bike to the train station, hopped on a train (with Hugo), then hopped off and rode to my friend's house.  Even though I was little later than I had planned (missed the train by half a minute, and waited 25 minutes for another), it was a relaxed and lovely morning.  I am still at a point of being very slow to pick up on conversation, thinking hard to come up with the right words and right phrase to express my thoughts, and laughing a lot at the rough attempts at communication.  However, having friends who listen and ask questions is priceless.  And through this time of learning a new language, I am learning to listen...A LOT.  Especially in a large group of people, almost all I do is listen right now.  If I am able to engage somebody one-on-one, that is fantastic.  However, in a large group, the conversation moves so quickly that by the time I have formed a thought in my head, we have moved on to something totally different.  This will be a challenge to my tendency to clam-up in large groups anyway, even when they are speaking my language.  But I like challenges, and I think this is a good way for me to be pulled out of my shell.

Favorite moments from this week, so far:  a 4-way Skype call with my family;  putting new tires and tubes on my bike, all by myself(!), and then playing "repair shop" with the girls;  exploring the farmer's market with a classmate (and eating kiwi berries!);  and finally, hanging out with new and old friends last night and this morning.

Ein Blick auf BW: A View of Baden-Württenmberg

This morning, after I made a little coffee and grabbed a quick snack, Hugo (the bike) and I took off on a little adventure. I wanted to explore a little more of the area I rode in last Sunday, as well as take some pictures of the vineyards on the hills near here. My sense of direction is challenged here by unexpected twists and turns on the back roads. However, today I did pretty well, and ended up on some hills overlooking a neighboring town. The views were amazing...the hills, BRUTAL. I'm hoping by the end of my time here to be able to power up those hills without a second thought. But today, the higher altitude and my lack of experience made me walk up a couple of them. Here are some snapshots from the ride:

Rewind: Design update

This has absolutely nothing to do with Germany. Except maybe for the fact that this fashion design project was the main contributor to my "Fly-to-Germany" fund. So, thank you, dear client, for helping me to get to the place that I am now.

Although not Germany related, it is an important part of life that I want to share with you, knowing how many of you have encouraged me during this past year, supported me through creative ups and downs, and looked forward with me to the final product. Here is the first freelance design completed by yours truly:

Freelance design: 1950s formal dress

ein neues Fahrad!

Meet my new friend in Germany!












He goes with me almost everywhere.












He is from the 1980s...just like me.









He needs a little TLC, which I am more than happy to bestow. But soon we'll be cruising all over Baden-Württemberg together, well, not ALL over, but as far as I can manage to go. :-) And he needs a good name. A good, german, '80s name, preferably. Any ideas?

What I've learned so far...

1. There is no limit to the number of things that can spill, break, or get lost on your first day of taking care of two children under the age of five.

2. In Germany, the way you make an elephant noise is to pinch your nose and then say "tier-err" in a nasally, trumpet voice. If you, the "mama" elephant can stick your other arm through the crook of the nose-holding arm to make a trunk at the same time, you really impress the "baby" and "sister" elephants.

3. What makes a biergarten in the "suburbs" different from one in the city? It has a playground in it so that the parents can have a beer together while the children go play.

4. Eating a lot of ice cream is a part of the German culture that I gladly welcome. :-)











It isn't capogiro but it sure was fun to see the Italian lady's face light up when I pronounced "stracciatella" correctly.

And just a few more pics of my family:

Destination: Germany

Well friends, in 4 days I will embark on another journey. Getting onto a plane and taking off on this adventure, I will soon be on the other side of the ocean from most of you. The purpose: learn German, be immersed in the culture, but most of all, serve and love this family who I will be living with and working for. That is the great thing about the idea behind being an au pair - it is a partnership, joining with the family, not being removed from daily life, but being involved in what matters to them. I will be taking care of two girls, ages 4 and 2 1/12 years old, for around 30 hours a week, taking German classes at the local community school, and exploring both near and far in my free time.

My commitment in Germany is for a year. I do hope that I will be able to use this time wisely, in order to see places that I really want to see, and meet up with friends/family who are in or near that region. During this year, I want to keep you up to date on both the day-to-day life, and the occasional adventures that I have. While I am in Germany, I am hoping to learn some good cooking and baking skills, to broaden my experience in those areas. So, you might also find some recipes up here (though they may be in metric...sorry, depends on if I am able to translate them or not...it really is better anyway).

For now, I have many things to do in order to prepare for this move. Bags must be packed, furniture must be moved, and the room must be cleaned. I suppose the adventure has already begun. Thank you for reading and following my story! Wilkommen und viel spaß!