Sightseeing, Relaxing, and Spiele mit Kinder (Playing with children) :)

So here in Germany it has grown quite hot and humid. I know the temperature number in Kansas this time of year is usually higher, but when you walk outside and immediately start sweating it does not matter where you are from that to me is considered hot and muggy. But that does not mean I like Germany any less, especially when it takes longer to reach that point in the day than back home. But for those of you who think I escaped the Kansas heat during the summer, I’m not so sure about that.

This past week was jam-packed with activities. If you have not yet figured out, living in Southern Germany and now in Northern Germany and with families of kids at different ages, makes for very different experiences-which is totally awesome! And trust me, it’s just as busy being on a farm or home with kids-there is always something going on. The only difference-I only helped on the farm when needed, but the kids-I’m around them most of the day and I love to play with them, but at the end of the day you are very tired. It reminds me of what I feel like at the end of the day teaching. J

This week, I spent two days at Bettina’s house. Kai was gone on a business trip, and Ihnes and the kids had plans to do different things so it was nice just to go to Bettina’s home. I helped out with lunch and supper on Monday, learned about the Bed and Breakfast Center she runs for the mentally and physically disabled and then on Tuesday we went to the lake. This lake is what I imagine when I think of a lake. It is still not as big as one of our Kansas lakes, but the lake is much bigger than what I have seen before. There were also a lot of people there at the lake-but even more bikes! Wow all the bikes there! And in Oldenburg too! There are more bikes in Oldenburg than people, and it is the city with the most bikes. But I have heard that Holland is even more bikes-I suppose I will have to go and visit there too. I also got interviewed for a local paper in Wusting. That was extremely funny to take pictures for the paper. We took several photos. I was wearing an American Flag Apron (not really an American flag) and looking like I was eating chocolate, of course Later I had to actually bite into the chocolate bar and I was working to keep from laughing while taking the photo. I also got shown around Hude by an IFYE alumni and local to Hude. And of course as is customary-we went for ice cream afterwards. By the way-the firetruck below is the truck that Til (IFYE Alumni) purchased in South Dakota and had shipped back to Germany! And to my Lowry friends-look closely at the name on the firetruck!

Over the next few days we did a lot of work in the garden in the mornings to get ready for the family’s birthday party on Sunday. Imbetween getting ready we also went to a birthday party of one of the girl’s of their friends, played with the kids-found out letting a four year old take pictures with your camera results in a lot of interesting photos! (yes I kept them all), and other randomness. I got out the play dough that I had brought for Talina and Bjarne, and they played with that for about an hour. Talina offered to make me ice cream and then created a game where you pick one color to eat and then you “eat it” and return it. And do it all over again. I also had music on, and Bjarne was having fun dancing to the music-this is also when Talina decided she wanted to take pictures with my camera! I wish I knew how to write more of the fun times I have with the kids-but how do you write some of this down? It just doesn't seem to do justice to the laughter that occurs, so please just know that these I love getting to play with Talina and Bjarne and they will always hold a special place in my heart.

On Friday, I went to Bremen with Hanna-another IFYE nearby. We toured around Bremen, went to St. Petri’s Dome-and went up to the top(or as high as you are allowed to go anyway) of one of the spirals. If you do not like spiral staircases-this is not something you should do, but the view is amazing! We got halfway and we thought we were at the top, but no. The stairs then got smaller, and it was harder to get up to the top, we even had to pass others coming down-now that was tough even for a skinny person like me. But the view from the top is awesome! You can see so much from up there! After the Dome we took the long way to the Schlachte for lunch-and by long way I mean, we may have gotten ourselves a little mixed up in which direction to go……btw all that training of what to do when you aren’t sure of where you are-yeah that went out the window cuz I didn’t follow a single rule-oops! Anyway we got lunch, then headed to the Schnoor-an area of itty bitty streets to shop and found quite a bit, and then headed back to BotcherstraBe to get tea to take home! By now it started to sprinkle, we bought ice cream, and then decided as the rain started to pick up that it was time to head to the train station and go home. Granted by the time we made it there we were quite wet! But regardless it was a great day, and we plan to go Hamburg now with her host sister and friends too!

Wilkommen Heinemann Familie!!! (Week 1)

Hallo from the Heinemann Family! Am Dienstag, 16 Juli, Ich komme aus Crailsheim am Bahnhof zu Delmenhorst und den bei auto zu Stuhr zu Heinemann Family Hause! (On Tuesday July 16, I came from Crailsheim to Delmenhorst and then by car to Sturh to the Heinemann Family’s home.) At the train station I was met by Ihnes and two very shy children: Talina and Bjarne. The children were not shy for very long. As soon as we got home and started playing, they were no longer shy. Talina taught me a new game with the trampoline and a tiger-or “Through the Tiger Back” as I call it. (Talina loves the trampoline and there is hardly a day where she is not on the trampoline playing, and often times I am playing with her!) By that evening I was tired. I remember now why I was always so tired at the end of a school day-regardless of the age, kids take a lot of energy and leave you drained-but yet excited. Oh, and Bjarne loves the sandbox! He played in the sandbox for quite some time on his own. Kai got home for work and came to join in on the fun. Introductions to my second family: Kai, Ihnes, Talina (4), and Bjarne (1 ½). Stuhr is located in Northern Germany in the state of Niedersachsen. We are very close to Delmenhorst and Bremen. Stuhr is a small city of 1000-2000 people living here.

-Normal Day

So ein normal tag im Heinemann Familie  ist: waking up to hearing the children playing upstairs. The children are usually up around 630 am. Some mornings I hear they kids playing other mornings I generally wake up around 730 and we eat breakfast at 830-ish. After breakfast we may run errands, go to the park, play games inside or outside, work in the garden,  or maybe even jumping on the trampoline. Mittag (lunch) is usually eaten around 12noon and is a simple meal of brotchen (rolls), fleisch (meat), und kase (cheese). In the afternoon is playing with the kids some more. Supper then is after Kai returns home in the evening and the family has a bigger meal. Sometimes it is  traditional German food, but generally it is more modern-ish meals. After supper it is time to get the kids ready for bed. Sometimes this includes a bat (bath), and other days it is only brushing teeth, preparing for bed, and reading a book of their choice before saying goodnight. I get to read off and on throughout the week, and sometimes I get to read to either Talina or Bjarne or both. 

 

So this past week, we have done a lot of different things. Like I said typically playing with the kids and errands are the normal aspects of the day. But in addition to this, we have also visited friends or to other areas as well. On Friday evening I went to Bremen with Kai as he had an interview there and then afterwards we met up with a coworker and US correspondent to their workplace. While Kai was in the interview, I walked around the Marktplaz and went into the St. Petri’s Dome Cathedral. Although I could only go through the open section (not into the museum or up the stairs to see the view) it was still phenomenal and overwhelming to see. I don’t know why, but churches always seem to affect me in some way. I took time to sit down and look around at the construction, the statues and the craftsmanship. I also counted the number of organs within the church -5 in total.   After leaving the church I walked around and took photos-a lot of photos! When everyone finally met up, we went to supper at Pauliner’s. Two of the group ordered traditional Southern Germany food, while two of us at Northern Germany food-can you guess which I ordered? If you guessed Northern Germany-you are right! Now that I am in N. Germany I want to eat what they do now. After supper we toured around the Schlachte, Schnool, Marktplaz, and I think that’s it. It was getting dark but we meandered around yet too. It was quite fun to take random photos throughout the evening-especially when I gave my camera away to have photos taken-those are probably some of the funniest photos.

On Saturday we went to a nearby zoo. It was a smaller zoo, and here it is actually called an Animal Park because it is geared for younger kids. As we meandered through the animal exhibits, there were also dioramas of different fables, primarily by the Brother’s Grimm. Some stories like Cinderella or Snow White and Seven Dwarves, were familiar, but there were many other stories that were not so familiar like the Bremen Musicians. Then about half-way through the park, there is this huge playground area with paddleboats, swings, trampolines, ziplining for kids, a jungle gym, a water play area, and more. It was so crazy how much there was there! But it is definitely the highlight of the zoo. As we moved on we paused at the ponies, and Talina decided to feed them leaves from the tree nearby. And finally we came across the sea otters, and it was so cute! They have so many different sounds that they can make as they are talking. I couldn’t stop watching them. And we also got to watch them eat. I won’t share in case you don’t like hearing those stories.

On Sunday, Kai took me to Bremerhaven to the Immigration Center. There is a museum of what it would have been like to immigrate from Germany as far back as the late 1600s when the first immigrants left Germany up through parts of the 1900s on the ships. Throughout the museum you can listen to stories, and history, and records from diaries about people’s experience on the ships and upon entering America. Each person also receives and individual person’s story to follow through the museum. The person I had left Germany in 1939 because her family was Jewish. They were also doctors that when they reached the US-their medical degrees were no longer valid. It was a long and complicated process for her family to come to the US. I learned too, that at Stanten Island you were asked 28 questions, and had 30 seconds to answer each question. We went through a simulation of these questions in order to find out if we would be admitted or not. Luckily we got through. There was also a room where you could research about your own family’s history. Since we have little information about the Funk’s I emailed home for all the information we had for both the Funk’s and the Frantz sides. I was able to track our family back to the first Funk’s, but I was unable to find  out when either the Funks or  the Frantz immigrated as the records from 1860-1900 have been destroyed due to lack of space during that time. But it was still awesome to look up the information and find out more about our history. When I put in my Great Great Grandfather’s name and it came up my response was literally “hey that’s him!” My goal now this next year, is to put a family tree together for my Dad’s side and to make it current, so that we have our history written down as that is very important.   

 

I think I will stop there and start with Monday on the next blog, since that is due to be posted in a few days anyway. Sorry for the late blogs-you know I am no good at posting these on time. A few observations/learning:

·         Dogs can go just about anywhere! Even at the zoo they had a place for the dogs to play a game and cool-off from the heat.

·         So University here for students does not cost the students anything but a few hundred euros to pay for parking and a few other fees. Everything else is covered by the federal government and states.

·         The Waste System here seems a little complex at first hearing about it, but it really isn’t and it is something I think the USA can learn and utilize to eliminate so much trash. They have three trash cans and recycle paper in one; plastics in another, and finally everything else in the final one. And most people have a compost pile. In some areas in the USA you can recycle things, but this seems very efficient and easy for everyone to do.

·         Also-I think I finally understand the school system here! It was confusing and too confusing to try and explain here. So if you are interested, send me an email or a message and I’ll try to explain it, or wait until I get back.  

City Girl at the Farm

Ok so in the past I may have said, “I’m a City Girl, but I’m quickly turning into a country girl,” but ummm….yeah you are not really a country girl until you’ve been on a farm. Well I can officially say I have lived on a farm for a short time and although I have lived in more rural areas the past several years, living on a farm is still incredibly different. Since July 5^th, I started helping in the 4^th barn to get ready for new baby turkeys to arrive the following Tuesday. I only did a few hours of work each day, so it didn’t seem like a lot, but there is plenty of work to do to get a barn ready for new turkeys including cleaning, setting up food bins/cartons, fences, and more. When the turkeys arrived they come in bins. We had to unload them in as much darkness as possible in the middle of the afternoon, and you have to watch your step as they run around under your feet, somewhat of a challenge in dim lighting! Little turkeys look just like baby chicks-and they are loud. When you get so many into one space, and the sound echoes-it is deafening. Ich weisse nicht how I handled the loud sound without getting a headache-but maybe I grew used to it. Throughout the week we would continue to work with the turkeys a little bit at a time, and they grow quite rapidly. By the time I was getting ready to leave, we took down the fences, picked up the cartons for food, and attached the food bins to a hanging device that could be raised as they grew bigger and also the feed was distributed directly into the bins instead of having to be done by hand (which is a lot of work!)

Outside of the turkeys, this week on Mittwoch (Wednesday) I made lunch: BBQ turkey sandwiches (I brought Famous Dave’s BBQ Sauce with me), oven-baked pommes (fries), and mixed vegetables. I also made choco-mallow bars! So yummy, and I think the choco-mallow bars may have been the favorite item from the meal for the family. As is usually the response, they don’t look as good as they sound, until you try one and find them to be delicious. Originally I had not planned on making them here because I didn’t think I would be able to find marshmallows, but Aldi’s had them, and that was great!

Anna and I went to the pool in Satteldorf with the neighbors. Anna’s friends then came for dinner and we made these kartoffel pockets-they turned out interesting to say the least. Dessert was more choco-mallow bars.

Donnerstag (Thursday) came with a trip to Crailsheim to go shopping for a Dirndl!!! Woot I now have my own dirndl! We also went to the market where I got tea from this area, as it is made from flowers and we don’t have that (or at least not that I know of), and German chocolate.

 

This weekend then in Reubach was a Sommer Theatre Festival. I helped on Friday night prepare the sandwiches, and then got to watch the play. That was interesting to watch a play in German. Although it was in High German it was still tough for me to completely understand a lot of what was being said. But I understood the plot right away, and the actors although locals and amateurs, were great because they were not afraid of using facial expression and really analyzed the script as I later learned from one of the actors. On Samstag, I also helped make the what I call “German Hamburgers”-these burgers are made from bratwurst instead of hamburger and had cucumbers instead of pickles on them-but they still tasted great, and after a discussion on Freitag, we determined they needed Schenken (Bacon) on them. And of course to being asked if I thought bacon would be good on the burger my response was the stereotypical American response (or at least in the Midwest)- “Everything is better with Bacon!”.

Sunday was a day of relaxation as Rainer, Ute, Lina, and I went to lunch and then to a lake-Erdlendsee. It is not a big lake like you would think of in Kansas. There is no boating or even jet skis on the lake, but it is secluded from the road, peaceful, and quiet. It is nice to go and chill at the lake, swim a little(although the wasser is serh kalt!), and big difference-you don’t have to pay for parking or for an entrance fee! Who knew! On my last day, we went back to the turkey barn, grilled for lunch, I went swimming with Lina and a neighbor in a nearby see(pronounced “say” and means lake/pond), followed by eating at a neighboring restaurant/festival.  

I am very thankful for the Hollenbach family. I feel very blessed to have been able to spend time with the Hollenbach family and cannot thank them enough for taking me in. I only hope to someday be able to return the favor :)

July 1-8

So as I sat and started writing about this week in preparing to post a blog at the end of the week, I realized-I never posted about last week! I apologize, this blog writing is a lot harder to keep up with than you think it is. This past week, I have learned a little history, seen how hunting dogs are trained here, done laundry, gone to festivals and a castle.

So this past week has been a little different. Some mornings I have to myself, others Anna and I are just chilling, and other days I go for walks through the woods. I don’t mind having the mornings to myself as it gives me a little bit of time on my own to. Mainly to catch up on journaling and to go on walks-which I enjoy here as well. I have really grown accustomed to walking through the woods and seeing the various lighting aspects from the sun’s rays through the trees. After walking or about 11:30am, I go see what I can do to help with lunch. Some days there is a lot for me to help with, other days nothing. Either way is fine. In the afternoons, I am usually helping in the garden, at the turkey gardens, or some days I am hanging out with Anna and Lina. It really just depends on what needs to be done that day. Anna and I also started watching Harry Potter towards the end of the week. We watch in English with German subtitles-which is so nice of her to do for me so I can understand the movie. It also actually is helping me with understanding German as I will hear what they say and read the bottom of the screen in German too. I am still struggling to speak German, in fact it is way too easy to speak in English, but I am trying.

Last Montag we went Wurttenburg, and I got to learn a little bit more about the history of the walled in city. During the 30 year war, the pillars located around the wall were used to house soldiers and the soldiers would stand at very small windows to attack. There were two levels that they would attack from. They also had cannons, and there was one still sitting to view. They would often use wagons to transport supplies and it still amazes me at how the animals made it up the steep slopes whether here or when we were in Israel. There was also two gates leading into the city. The first gate they would allow the enemy to enter in through while the second gate was locked shut. They could then attack from above and surprise their enemies. Very smart.

On Donnerstag we went to the Residenz Castle in Wurzberg! It was a very large castle with 360 rooms (I think). We went on a tour, and I had the choice of going on an English or German tour. I stayed with the family instead of going on the English tour because I didn’t really have time to make a thought out decision-meaning I didn’t know how I would meet up with my family after the tour was done-but I later realized we could have met in the store. Oh well, I enjoyed looking and seeing everything more and can look up more history later. The main ceiling was painted by Michelangelo and it is the biggest painting in the entire world. It shows history of every country. Several rooms were created by only one or two people. One of which was a man named Weber. The reason I remember this is because there is a music composer named Weber (one of my favorite clarinet composers) and I wonder if they were somehow related. They both were living around the same time. Anyway-many parts of the castle were destroyed during WWII-it was destroyed by bombs from the USA. That was a sad portion of pictures to see, but they have been able to reconstruct the rooms and designs of the castle, including the Mirror room-which is only open to tours. We went to the garden which was just beautiful and incredibly large. It was fun to walk around and take cool pictures with Anna.

One of the biggest things I’ve noticed about Germany-you go out and socialize with people every day of the weekend  (or maybe those my age do at least), and I participated in that this weekend. By the end of it, I was tired and questioning how people do this every week! Back home we might go out once over the course of the weekend, but that is usually only every couple weeks even then. Not like here-although I enjoy it here because you are going to festivals and meeting people, listening to music, dancing, singing, and having a great time. In Southern Germany, there are festivals every weekend-they move from town to town. Samstag was probably my favorite festival to go to though so far. Anna, Katja (a friend of ours) and I went to the MusikFesival in Oestheim to see the band, dorfRocker. Anna and Katja are huge fans of the group. It was so much fun. At festivals there are tables and benches that everyone sits at. We got there early enough to find a table, which was filled in with another group of people that we became friends with and hung out with for the remainder of the evening. They were even willing to speak English with me! Actually I later learned, that they thought I was Katja’s cousin and a German until they learned that I could speak very little German. I asked whether I looked or acted like a tourist at all-to which they said no, and in turn asked if I wanted to be a tourist, to which I said of course not! But regardless, it was cool to hear that I looked like I fit in with the people here. The band was very good, although I knew none of the songs (they are all German) I was able to learn and sing with the chorus of the traditional German songs that are sung at the festivals. During which, everyone is standing on the benches or tables, singing and dancing! So different, but so much fun!

Ok-time for some more cultural differences:

·         People here tend to just drop by and visit. Phone calls and plans are unneeded, people are welcome to just stop by. Coffee and cakes are always offered to the guests. I think this is really neat, and so nice that people can just drop by. That would rarely happen in the USA as we are such a go-go-go culture. Germans are somewhat that way as well, but I think the USA is over the top. It also reminds me of the stories you read from the 1700-1800s of women visiting one another to keep themselves busy. Although it is different now as to anyone can visit, it seems as though this tradition as continued in a way.

·         American Pop music is all over the radio in Germany. I think I hear more American songs than German songs. Although it has been nice for me at times to have music that I know (especially when we don’t have wireless so radio is all I have), I feel bad that American music is dominating everything else. There are good German bands and songs (I may not know what they say but they sound good). I think I am also beginning to tire of hearing the same select pop songs from America-it is getting repetitive and old.

·         Laundry-very different than in the USA. Instead of setting the washer to permanent press or regular, it is set to the temperature you want your clothes washed at. Laundry is then typically dried outside on the line or drying rack as much as possible.

·         Energy in Germany is very expensive. Many homes have solar panels on the sides of the house or on the barns in order to save money on electricity.

·         Hard-boiled eggs are only eaten at breakfast.

·         Generally in good weather-Germans seem to eat their meals outside-I want to continue this at home, granted this is not as easy to do in the summer when the heat gets really high.

·         Wandering through the streets of Wurttenburg-Anna, LIna, and I heard some boys say they needed to fix their hair! (btw-their hair looked perfectly styled and hair sprayed) We laughed and laughed at this that the boys cared so much about their hair-this is typically girls.

Zu Esse, Kochen, Und Lernen (To eat, cook, and learn)

 So as promised, here is a blog about German Food.

First off, you already know that I can eat ice cream here as the fruit ice cream is made with water!!! Although I am extremely excited and thankful for that, it is difficult seeing the specialty ice cream dishes that the Italians can make here knowing that I can’t eat that, the side effects are not worth it. There are many ice cream shops, but I have been informed that the Italian shops make the best ice cream. In Wurttenburg, the ice cream shops that are run by Italians are only open in the summer, as they go back to Italy during the winter. That is an interesting concept.

There are many interesting things about getting food in Germany. In some places, like up at Gesche’s house-there is an ice cream truck that goes through each day. Here there is not an ice cream truck, but instead every Samstag there is a Backerei (Bakery)  truck that comes through and sells brot (bread), brotchen (rolls), pretzel, and other pastries/desserts. It is quite nice that the people can get fresh bread each week instead of having to drive into a city to find a backerei.  I stupidly did not take my camera this morning though, so sorry-no picture. Maybe I’ll remember to do so next week. I will also miss the Brot and Pastries here, they are so good!

Purchasing meat: Meat can be found in the market/store, but people can also get their meat from local butchers. Which is really not that different than in the USA either.

A lot of the village people here in Kleinansbach have large gardens with various produce-including erdbeer! Aka Strawberries! I am getting very spoiled by eating fresh strawberries multiple times a week, going back and not getting fresh strawberries will be very tough.

Ok onto the meals: breakfast I have already learned varies from family to family, just like in the USA. Some have more, some less-but in all it is good. At Gesche’s we had a full breakfast with brot, brotchen, jam, fleish, kase, tea, kaffee, milch, saft, wasser,  and maybe veggies (bread, rolls, jam, meat, cheese, tea, coffee, milk, juice, water). Here at Hollenbach’s breakfast is simple: brot, jam/miel (honey), or kuchen-yes cake. Most mornings, I go in the kitchen make my tea, and eat a piece of brot and a piece of kuchen. (FYI-kuchen may be eaten at breakfast, for mid-morning snack, and afternoon snack-very easy for a person to gain weight! Luckily for me, gaining weight is very difficult).

Unlike in the USA, lunch is the big meal of the day. On the farm, we typically also have workers who also come to eat lunch. A few of the workers are here on a very regular basis and so I have gotten to know some of them over time. It is really fun that a couple of our regular guys are from Poland, and regardless of the language barrier, we are able to communicate. One speaks only a few words English, very rough German, and I speak only a little German but we have worked to teach each other words-mainly by pointing. So at lunch it is a two course meal. First-you eat soup. Then the rest of the meal consists of salat (salad), fleish(meat), and noodles or potatoes. Typcially the fleish is either wurst(sausage), ham, or turkey meat. I think I have only had beef a couple times in Germany (granted this may be more normal for being on a Turkey farm). For my friends with cattle and heavy beef eaters-I can only imagine how much you would miss beef, as I have started to miss beef again as I did when I was in Israel. I do not mean that I need beef by any means or am unhappy with the meat we eat, only that I also miss beef as that is what I am used to. Instead being on a turkey farm, we eat a lot of turkey. But the turkey steaks that we have, they are quite good!

Supper then is usually a very light meal. Sometimes it is leftovers reheated, sometimes it is sausages, or currywurst (ketchup over German sausage with curry sprinkled on top), or fleish, kase, und brot (meat, cheese, and bread.  

A couple interesting things:

Weinachten (Christmas)-instead of eating a big turkey or ham with all the fixings, they eat geese! The geese are raised in a farm and they are white. (At least in this part of Deutschland)

A friend apparently makes very good hamburgers-but they are not made with hamburger, instead they are made with sausage! I decided to call it a Sausageburger, lol.

So the refrigerators in Germany are probably only ¾ the size of just the refrigerator in the USA (not including the freezer). This means there is not much room to store food. It is not unusual to see food left in the pots on the stove throughout the afternoon. Especially as students come home at random times from school to the middle of the afternoon it stays on the stove to be reheated. And no-it is not kept warm at all, no two hour rule here of putting meat in the fridge. And yes I have eaten a meal hours later-it still tastes good, and I have not gotten sick at all-so its all good. I’m starting to wonder if in the USA we are too worried about our food, or maybe it has to do with the way the meat is processed in the USA that makes us so concerned, I don’t really know.

Kochen: So cooking-I have learned how to make several dishes:

Southern German Kartuffel Salat (Potato Salad). Instead of making it with mayo, pickles, onions, and eggs like we do-here it is made with vinegar and seasonings and you slice the kartuffel instead of chunks or mashed.

Deutsch Shokolade Kuchen (German Chocolate Cake): So I got to make real German Chocolate Cake, the recipes we have in the USA are not true German Chocolate Cake. But I think the chocolate sheet cake that my Grandma Funk makes, and in turn we make sometimes, is a very similar consistency to these cakes.

Within so many of the desserts, hazelnut is used. It is kinda crazy how much hazelnut I have probably eaten when I have never eaten hazelnut before coming to Germany. And if you know me, you know I do not like nuts in my desserts especially in chocolate-ok, I have to say I think I’ve changed my mind. Here the hazelnut is finely chopped/minced into little pieces and adds so slight a crunch to the cakes/desserts that you barely even notice.

I have also learned to make Spatzle. There are apparently two different ways to make this-one very difficult with brot and a knife; the other with dough and a spatzle tool-I learned with the tool and was very proud to learn to make it. It is tough though to press the tool all the way-builds good muscle in your arms!

Snowballs-this is a dessert that I am going to learn how to make from Ute yet. And then I may need to buy a snowball press (that’s what I’m going to call it anyway) to bring home with me, and I can make them for all of you!

I have also made something similar to dumplings. It is dough and two spoons-you go back and forth between the two spoons to round the dough before dropping it into the boiling water to cook and turn into a soup.

As far as American dishes: I have made and showed Anna how to make French Toast. She has tried it without me, and decided she is not very good at it. But I said we will try it again, this time she can make it while I am there to help, and I’m sure it will go better. As I have learned, it takes time to perfect making French toast, and a lot of butter! Lol.

I also plan to make a barbecue dish this week for my family. We have been trying to find a time for me to cook, but stuff keeps getting in the way, but I hope to do so soon. I’m also going to make one of my favorite desserts-Choco Mallow Bars, and if you’ve had them, you know why I’m making them!

 

I hope you are all enjoying summer and had a wonderful 4^th of July! To those of you at the conference in Phoenix, I hope you have a great time and that you are able to make many connections and see God at work around you and can be open to him working in you also. Take care, Tchus!

Familie, German Activities, und Musik Festival!

Welkommen to Kleinansbach und the Hollenbach Familie!



In Freitag, 22 Juni, 2013, I left from Getsche’s house and went to the train station with Charlotte in Borg. (I apologize in advance for any misspelled German words!). This was my first time riding a train! Some of the trains are fancier than others, it really just depends on what train you are on, and where the train is going as to the condition of the train. Early in the morning, the train was pretty open, but by the time I got to the fast-high paced train, it was packed. I had to change seats twice because I was sitting in a reserved seat. I quickly learned how to say “Ist das frei?”-meaning “Is this free?” and pointing to the seat. It was not unusual on any of the trains to see people just standing or sitting in-between cars. I also realized what Bettina meant by “finding your luggage,” because on the train, people store their luggage either above, like in an airplane, or they put them by the door-which is where my big suitcase went halfway through the four hour train ride I had. That is something that I don’t think would happen in the USA, we are so careful about keeping our bags with us, concerned about terrorists or people stealing stuff that we keep our bags by us constantly, so you can imagine this was a bit of a shock and a little tough for me to leave my suitcase over there. I was constantly watching to make sure it was still there after every train station (I could see from my seat). Finally, after 6 ½ hours in trains, I made it to Crailsheim to meet my host family! Now in Germany-this is a very long trip, in the USA-this is considered an easy drive for a vacation. Anyway, I got off the train and had to go from one platform to the other, but I got downstairs and didn’t know which way to go. Thank goodness Ute and Anna came to look for me, cuz that’s where we found each other, lol.  By the way-going to the bathroom in a moving train is tougher than in a moving airplane!

We drove back to their house, and Anna showed me around the house, and the farm. The Hollenbach’s own a turkey farm, they have three barns full of turkeys! The family consists of five members: Rainer (Father), Ute (Mother), Max (Oldest), Anna (middle), and Lina (youngest). We ate leftover goulash for supper and then I had time to unpack and get settled in my room.

Throughout the week, we did a lot of farm work, a little sight-seeing and various activities. These activities included building silos (yes I did help build silos!), a roof on a small stone structure, going to Wurttenburg, a community celebration of summer, a special church gathering for a good summer and harvests, high ropes courses, and playing in a band.  We also tend to play games in the late afternoon/evening. So far a favorite seems to be Wurfel Ligretto-a game I would like to bring home! This week, I also learned how to cook some different German food-but I think I will write a different blog focused on food and various observations, as it will be easier and better since this post will be very long.

It was interesting in seeing how a German Roof is built. Rainer thinks that a German roof would be able to withstand a tornado or hurricane. German homes are also made from stone, so my host family thought they would be tougher against tornados and hurricanes. But I have seen old stone buildings destroyed by tornados. I have yet to see a structure that could withstand a tornado or hurricane

On Samstag (Saturday 6/23) we went to a community party to celebrate summer. There was food: turkey steaks and German sausage for supper. Stockbrot, which is roasting bread on a stick (this is after the main meal kinda like we make smores after the meal, they make stockbrot). And in typical German fashion there is many different drinks, from carbonated water to pop to beer. For this party, there was a great big bonfire, that I got to help light, and then people stay up all night long and wait for the sunrise. I learned that a sunrise here is not like a sunrise in Kansas. While the sun does not go down until 9:30 or 10pm at night, there are not really colors in the sky as we see at home. The same is with a sunrise, the sky lightens, and that is considered the sunrise.  Anyway, the party was fun, several of the adults tried to speak with me and we could understand one another at least to an extent. There were a couple people there (outside of my host family) who spoke English that I could talk with too, which was very nice as it was my second day here in S. Germany and the dialect in S. Germany is very difficult to understand.  I think that may have been the toughest part in coming to Germany so far, is the language barrier the first couple days here in S. Germany. While my family is wonderful and talking with me and helping me learn English, it was tough helping to build silos and trying to figure out the language at times too.

On Sonntag (Sunday) afternoon, we also went to Wurttenberg, which is a Medieval village that is still standing. We went and walked around a bit, ate ice cream (I can eat the fruit ice cream here! It’s made from wasser (water) not milch (milk)!) Rainer pointed out various places within the city, we stopped at the cathedral, but it was closed so we couldn’t go in, and we also walked along the wall. You can see a lot of the city from within the wall, so it was very interesting. Wurttenburg is considered to be a big tourist location-all Americans and Japanese tours make a point to stop at Wurttenburg.

On Montag, I went with Anna to go to a high ropes course. I have never done a high ropes course, and although I wasn’t sure about it, I knew that I would rather go with Anna than stay and sit at home. Plus this trip is also about trying new things, so why not finally conquer a ropes course? The ropes course is different from at home, they have various levels of courses and various heights off the ground. It is also all self-led. Once you go through the informational section you are on your own to complete the course. Instead of using ropes, they use clamps to hook into each section with. Maybe that made it seem less scary, I don’t know, but it was still difficult moving through the courses. We never got to the 50 ft high course, but we did complete the two hardest courses at the site. I cannot decide whether this version of a ropes course where it is all self-led is better, or having to learn to trust someone with a rope is better. I think each way has its + and –‘s. One thing I do like, is you progress in stages, not just high or low. That was a lot of fun!

On Freitag, I went to Blaskapelle Rehearsal in Kirchegard. It is a community band made up of families. Rainer and Ute’s cousin is the conductor of the band. In Germany there are three levels of bands, and this was considered a middle level band. As I discussed with one of the clarinetists later, I think that playing music should be fun regardless of the difficulty. Yes, I can play and enjoy the challenge of tough music, but if it is not fun-what is the point of playing? Music is meant to be fun, and playing to play was so much fun! It’s been a long time since I have played in an ensemble and I enjoyed it a lot. I also met several people at the rehearsal which was fun.  They invited me to play on Sonntag (6/30) at a Musik Festival in Bavaria. Before I could even answer, they had everything figured out and called Rainer and Ute to inform them of the parade. So I got to participate in a German Musik Festival!!! How cool is that! We marched and played (first time for me since um 8^th grade, I would have been 13 or 14 then!), and at the end of the parade all the bands gathered outside the tent where concerts were held during the festival. There were between 25 and 30 bands in the parade, so that amounted to something like 400 musicians! And we played as one large band then! We played: Festmusik by Wagner, Mein Heinmatland, Bayerhymne (Bavaria State Song), and Deustchlandlied (German National Song). One of the cool parts-I could understand the director’s instructions and announcements for each song! It was great! And to play with so many people! Oh my goodness! It was crazy, but such a neat experience too!

There is a lot to learn about Germany customs and food and many new experiences being on a farm and all. Probably one of the greatest things though, is hanging out with my host sisters too. Last night, we couldn’t stop laughing from various random funny things that were said or happened. Lina even got one portion of laughter on a recording! I enjoy spending time with the family and playing games, laughing, or just relaxing.