A Change in Plans....

So this week seemed to be a little different-wait haven’t I said that before-like almost every week? Or maybe I’ve always taken it out, lol-regardless this week, plans were made and plans consistently changed throughout the week. In retrospect, it is somewhat entertaining how much plans for the week changed actually, and how quickly plans changed. Some plans slowly changed while others were quite drastic within the length of about five minutes. All in all-this week still turned about to be a good week, because regardless of the plan changes, sickness, trains running amiss, and confusion-every day there was something to smile and laugh about. Of course with having two little kids around-how can a person not find something to laugh or smile at?  That’s like not enjoying a nice cold drink on a hot summer day-just not possible. Anyway, it has surely been an interesting week at the Heinemann’s.

 

Schutzenfest:

If you remember, I attended festivals while I was in S. Germany as well. Well this festival is extremely different than where I had been. In S. Germany-the festivals seem to be so much more about the music, while here the Schutzenfest is to celebrate the achievements of the shooting clubs for that town/area. I played in the band I played in on Friday night. We marched through the town, and then at the tent we played for like two hours! But drinks were free-yay! I don’t have to pay to stay hydrated! I was entertained by the fact that throughout the performance, the other clarinetists were giving me instructions for each song. We only played maybe five of the tunes we practice Friday evening, and so I was sight-reading much of the music. By the end of the day, my normal response became, “k, I  think I got it, but I’m going to follow you”. And it worked pretty well-no one else realized that I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing or when I was supposed to stand or sit while playing! It was fun. By the time we were done, my hands were sore, and my lip was sore, and it was hot-I was ready to be done.

Plans go awry:

·         Montag: Planned to go swimming at the lake-canceled due to sickness

·         Mittwoch: planned to go to Netherlands with two other IFYEs nearby-the train never showed! This was a new experience not having the train appear. As soon as I could I called one of the other IFYEs that I was meeting to explain the situation and ask them to call Ines and ask her to come get me at the bus station. It was frustrating that my train didn’t come, but I didn’t have time to focus on that as I returned my tickets and then stood at the payphone to call Hanna and Ines trying to figure out to use a payphone! I have not used a payphone in so long that I had forgotten how, nevermind being in german. So that was an interesting adventure Wednesday morning. And no worries that my day may have been boring-remember I have two very energetic kids running around-they loved having me home to play with and I loved being there!

Other Events:

Horse Jumping Competition: On Sontag (the only day plans went normal), Ines, Talina (she rode her bike), and I  walked to the horse show, and it turned out to be a longer walk than we originally thought. It took us about a half hour walking-which doing the math of 1 mile to 15 minutes equals about 2 miles each way-talk about a morning workout! We got to the horse show and watched the horses warm up at first and talking about English style riding versus Western. I know nothing about horse shows, although I do love to ride horses. The horse show was a jumping competition, and as such the riders were dressed like jockey’s. They wore special boots, pants, and tops to compete in. In the USA-at rodeos and a few pictures I’ve seen of horse competitions-people are usually in jeans and a western shirt, with boots. I’m sure there are competitions where USA riders dress the same, but I have rarely seen a horse show itself to know so that was neat. I enjoyed watching the various competitors and horses-seeing the different speeds of each horse, the jumping styles of various horses, and trying to determine how experienced the horses were based on how they jumped. It was fun to watch and take pictures.   

“An American Supper”:

On Montag, I cooked an “American Supper”. It consisted of BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Creamed Corn (my family’s recipe), and fried zucchini. Originally I had planned on making potatoes, but due to time constraints and the fact that there is a lot of zucchini from the garden-I chose to make zucchini instead-with input from Kai. This meal is very quick and easy to make, and still one of my favorites. The corn was probably the most interesting as I had to convert measurements, and I was making two separate cream corns-one for me and one for the family (mine was with goat cheese since I can’t eat cow dairy products). I was not sure how the corn would turn out, but it was also good. Before eating we took a picture, and then everyone ate, and everyone enjoyed it.

On Dienstag, I also made chocolate chip cookies. I made the kid recipe of chocolate chip cookies, and I call them the “kid” recipe because this is the first recipe I remember making of cookies, and these cookies are very sugary-but they taste good and the kids loved them! The cookies were pretty much gone by the time I left.

Final Thoughts:

As I prepare to leave the Heinemann’s it is incredibly bittersweet. I have grown used to playing with Talina and Bjarne each day, talking with Ines and Kai and just hanging out. It is not easy to leave a place you have grown accustomed to or have enjoyed being so much. Maybe I should be used to this feeling by now from living and working in various areas-but I don’t think one can ever grow used to having to say goodbye. And so it is tough. But I look forward to staying in contact, and someday I hope to be able to visit again, or maybe someday the Heinemann’s can come and visit me in the USA and I can return the generosity they have shown me. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for a wonderful time here!

Gehen, Gehen ... Nicht Weg, Gehen

Going, Going…..Not Gone-Going

As we sat at the table after supper last Samstag (27 Juli), Ines and I made a plan for the week. Little did I realize that our plan meant that every day was there not only something going on, but every day we were going somewhere! (minus Sonstag) I mean when you have two little kids around, there is never a dull moment, but going places with little kids is also tiring-but oh so much fun! Probably one of the best things to do is getting to hang out with the kids at various places. Now we also spend time at home playing games, and that is just as fun or entertaining at times-especially if you were to see my room currently-it has become a mixture of my room and a playroom! As I was told this evening-“is your room for a 2-4 year old or a 24/25 year old? I’m not sure I can tell”-well I’m not sure that I can either! Here is a summary of the week: Birthday Party, Labrynth Maize, Swimming, Errands, Party, Hamburg, Errands-walking, practicing clarinet/my room becomes a play room (I couldn’t walk around my room by Friday evening), band practice, and nine pin activities!

So on Sunday-we actually stayed at the house since it was the birthday party for the entire family. (I think I mentioned this before.) The Heinemann’s invited a few families over and to start with we were all around the playground and the slackline. As the day continued, everyone mainly sat around the table talking or out near the playground/slack line. And yes I have tried the slack line and successfully walked across, now the next challenge would be to walk across a slack line placed higher off the ground-maybe I will have to take Kai’s advice and buy my own slack line when I return to the USA. Ha.

Montag-here is when we started going places. In the morning, shortly after breakfast, we packed up the car, drove to Talina’s friend’s house to pick up her friend, and then drove to the corn maze-or as it is called here-Labrynth Maizfeld. I think this may have been one of my favorite days of the week! It took Hannah a little bit to warm up to me, but very quickly, we were going through the maze, the girls trying to scare me, or I them, or me tickling them, or them pushing me, and of course throughout searching for the next station. Of course when I followed the girls, I would ask “rechts oder links?” (right or left?) And then I felt like Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz when Dorothy is standing on the yellow brick road and he points right, left, and then crosses his arms. (And yes I actually did the actions a few times in the corn field). So I may not be the biggest fan of Wizard of Oz, but it seems that you may take a girl out of Kansas, but Kansas travels with her.

Donnerstag-Hamburg with Hanna (another IFYE) and friends. We were shown around Hamburg by one of the girls who goes to school there. We went to the Harbor, walked around the Reeperbahn where we found the “Monument to the Fab Four”-which is for the Beatles, and the street is named “Beatles Platz”. While walking through Hamburg made for a very long day, I did see various sections of Hamburg-a few that would not be seen if I was only being a tourist. And my only summary of the day has been: Hamburg is a city and with that comes everything that makes a city. BUT-there are many cool things about Hamburg as well, including street artists-I even purchased my own piece of art that I watched be made and will bring home to put in my house somewhere!

On Freitag afternoon, I got out my clarinet to play and be warmed up for the band rehearsal that night. I ended up giving a private concert to Talina, Bjarne, and Ines. We took a break for cake, and then Talina decided that I must play some more, while in my room she created a space just to play-only problem-it was very hard to get in and out of my room! That evening I went to  a band rehearsal for the Klosterblatach band. They are performing in a Schutzenfest on Somstag un Montag. It was fun to play with an ensemble, although this ensemble is a smaller ensemble, but to get to play again is always fun for me.

Samstag: Nine Pin-a different kind of bowling-except not really. So I learned what the game Nine Pin is all about. It is very similar to bowling in that you are using a ball and an alley in order to knock down pins-but it is different. The lane has a dip in the center, the ball is much smaller, and the ball should start from one side, roll to the other, and back to the other and hit off center. It is actually kinda fun to play. On Samstag though there was a Nine Pin Session for students on holiday (summer vacation). I am not actually sure how many students there were, but they were all split into five groups. There were several different games that you played ranging from regular, to only odd numbers count, and others. My job varied throughout the day-sometimes it was taking action photos, later it was checking/doing math (which is not my forte, and with lots of students staring over your shoulder waiting for their score it is somewhat nervewracking!), ball retriever, and finally a player. After the competition was done, we played two different games with the jr. high group! I really enjoyed the two games, and hopefully I can bring the one that was new to me back and we can play it while bowling! One of the boys in the group even came up and spoke a little English to me since he is learning English at school! I love it when the younger kids will try and speak English with me to check their knowledge-it’s so fun! At the end of the day, I now know what Nine Pin is, I enjoy it and although I should probably stick to bowling since I can’t break those habits, I think Nine Pin is a great game and one I would enjoy playing again!

*And for all you Dutch Blitz players out there-I finally figured out what game it is in Germany! Remember me writing of learning Wurfel Ligretto? Well there was a card game before dice, and I now have my own game ( a gift from the Heinemann’s) but in looking at the directions I realized this is dutch blitz!!! How cool is that! 

*This week I learned how to make Rouladen and Kartoffeln Knodel! Ines taught me how to make the Rouladen and helped me with the dough for the Knodels, but then both Ines and Kai had to go upstairs and get the kids ready and in bed. So I was left on my own to Finish. I was able to figure out how to shape the Knodel and then get everything else ready for supper-and although I was nervous, everything turned out pretty good and tasted amazing!