The Holiday Months (2007)

I have to start this blog edition with two very funny stories about Edgar. The first story:

While I was in the US, he did a lot of hiking. He even went to Austria to hike in the Alps! On one of his more local hikes, he stopped at the grocery store first and picked up some dates (the fruit, not another woman!). He put a few of the dates in a clear plastic bag and off he went. During the hike, he was munching on his dates. In the distance, he saw a group of hikers, who were walking towards him. As they got closer, he noticed that they were visibly taken back and grimacing in horror, all the time looking at Edgar and Schotzie. As they went past, he heard a few words in German, one of which was "Hundescheiße". He continued along the path and then it hit him what they were looking so perturbed about. The dates in the clear plastic bag looked like "dog shit" and when he reached in and ate one, you can imagine what the German's were thinking. Hundescheiße is dog shit in German. They thought Edgar was eating dog shit!! I wish I had been there to laugh with him when he figured it out!

The second funny Edgar story:

Also while I was gone, Edgar attended a birthday party for our friend and neighbor Gabi. At my suggestion, he went to the local florist in our village to pick up some kind of flower arrangement. When he got there, he noticed that they have these really pretty Fall table decorations with fresh evergreen clippings and dried flowers, in a nice basket. Very tasteful, he decides. He bought two, because he’d actually missed another neighbor’s birthday the week before (while in Bavaria hiking), he got two cards and he's all set – right! He shows up at the Birthday dinner with these and Gabi's husband says in German "who died". Not thinking anything of it at first, he then noticed the puzzled faces at the table (Gabi’s mother, other neighbors…). He still ignores it and continues to have a fun time at the party. When I got home, the neighbors confided to me that those decorations are SPECIFICALLY made to put on grave sites (ONLY). They didn’t want to tell Edgar because they didn't want to hurt his feelings. I, on the other hand, laughed hysterically when they told me and when I told Edgar, he agreed that it was pretty damn funny.
Edgar's getting quite the reputation in the neighborhood -- between eating dates (dog poop) and giving unusual birthday gifts.

After my stay in the US...and the summer-like weather there, it was a little shocking to come back to Germany and see the leaves mostly barren and the weather cold and dreary. But, I shouldn't have worried, the German's always find a way to party in ANY kind of weather.

This past weekend (11/9-11/11), we found plenty to keep us occupied. On Friday night, my friend Gabi had a jewelry party for a woman here in town that makes her own sterling silver and real gemstone jewelry. Although she sells it in various venues across Europe, she occasionally will do a home show for a friend. There were about 15 women there. I brought two friends of mine, Becky and Edna. The rest were Gabi's friends. I think everyone bought as least one piece. They are quite unique, which is why I had to have one of the necklaces!

On Saturday evening, the entire village (or what seemed like it) gathered at the local school and watched a short play about St. Martin. Who was St. Martin?

St Martin of Tours started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized when he was grown up and became a monk. He was a very good and kind man, and eventually became the Bishop of Tours. As well as being kind, he was quiet and simple. He didn't want to become Bishop, but he didn't have much choice. There are many legends about his life. The most famous is when he cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. Another legend is about his trying to hide so as not to become Bishop. The story is that he hid in a stall in a barn, hoping to escape the people who were hunting for him. They had come to take him to be appointed Bishop. A flock of geese made a lot of noise and gave away his hiding place. The goose is the animal symbol of St Martin and a favorite food on Saint Martin's Day.

In Germany, St Martin's Day is used to mark the beginning of the Carnival season. It is mainly celebrated by children. The children buy or make lanterns, and form a procession through the streets singing special lantern songs. Quite often at the end of the procession, they have a bonfire.
So, after the play at the school, we walked through the village with all the children singing lantern songs and carry their homemade lanterns, made safer by the fact that the local hardware store sells a stick with a bulb hanging on the end, that you insert into your paper lantern to make it glow. It was quite a sight. We walked to the village gathering spot and there was lit a huge bonfire and we drank Gluehwein (hot mulled wine, which was delicious) and the kids ran around and played and drank apple juice. The festivities lasted about two hours.

On Sunday, we decided to drive to Koln (Cologne), about a two hour drive. I don't think we were paying too much attention to the fact that it was 11/11, the beginning of Carnival season! Carnival actually starts on 11/11 at 11:11 pm - big parties and balls launch the Carneval season and private groups have parties throughout the season. The real festivities start February 15 this year and last until the 22nd - Ash Wednesday. Carnival is much older than Christianity and started as a ritual to drive out the winter blues and the ghosts of darkness. People had processions, wore horrifying face masks, and made a lot of noise to drive the ghosts of winter away. The Goddess of fertility (Freya) was honored and the beginning of spring celebrated. The modern image of a jester's ship is said to relate to the memory and worship of the Goddess Isis whose ship was towed through villages in the annual Carnival processions.

I can't even begin to describe the sight in Koln. The streets were full of crazy people, many were absolutely drunk, in crazy costumes and there was lots of music. On every corner was a group of people making music, with a lot of drums. Our pictures of the people just didn't turn out very well. Here's one shot....



The best pictures we took were of the Cologne Cathedral, shown here.

The Cologne Cathedral is one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany, and Cologne's most famous landmark, described by UNESCO as an "exceptional work of human creative genius". Cologne Cathedral is one of the world's largest churches, being the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument followed by the Eiffel Tower. It has the second-tallest church spires, only surpassed by the single spire of Ulm Cathedral, completed ten years later in 1890. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest facade of any church in the world. The quire of Cologne Cathedral, measured between the piers, also holds the distinction of having the largest height to width ratio of any Medieval church, 3.6:1, exceeding even Beauvais Cathedral which has a slightly higher vault.

The boys arrived for their Thanksgiving visit on November 15th for ten days. We pretty much just relaxed and played games but we did make a trip to Felsenmeer, which is about an hour away. Felsenmeer (means sea of rocks) is an incredible amount of huge rocks and boulders that once served as building blocks for the Roman Empire. We went there with my neighbor Gabi and her two kids, Johannes and Paulina.



Edgar went to London for the week to meet his girls, so we had the run of the house. Nothing like getting to sleep in a big bed all by yourself, once in a while!! Of course, Schotzie had to horn in on some of my space, but she's nice and furry, so it's not so bad.

Andrew and Jake went to Johannes handball practice and the coach let them participate. They really liked handball, which is a cross between soccer and basketball. Very fast paced. We ended up going to a game later in the week, which was great to watch. Johannes' team won!

For Thanksgiving, I invited our friends Chuck and Edna (and their dog Scooter) (picture below)and my neighbors Gabi, Peter, Frank, Sandra, Johannes and Paulina. I brined my first turkey and it was the best turkey I've ever made. It wasn't that much extra work but the result was well worth it. I even managed to figure out how to fit a 20 lb. turkey into a small German oven! I will admit that the last ten minutes of trying to get everything out was like a scene out of some comedy show.
Over the weekend, we went to a local Christmas market at a winery in our village. Lots of goodies to purchase and free wine tasting (that's the part I liked the best). We ended up talking around a firepit, drinking wine while the kids stoked the fire and played tag. Later that night, we ended up, quite by accident, going to a party at a friend of Frank's. This friend, Thomas, is quite the character. He drives a souped up Ford Mustang, owns a chain of jeans stores (Frank manages one) and is restoring a home in Wiesbaden. The party was to celebrate the restoration, so the house was in the throes of construction. We got to the party by all climbing into Franks van (Frank, Sandra, Peter, Gabi, me, four kids and Schotzie). Here's a pic of the boys acting nutty.


So, we get to this party and there is someone singing upstairs. So we climb the stairs and to our surprise, there is a transvestite singing. I think the boys were quite taken back by the sight!! This picture is the singer with Thomas, the host.


On the way home, we picked up Edgar from the train station. Paulina has quite the thing for Andrew and wanted to sit on his lap. She ended up falling asleep but woke up while I was trying to get the picture. Here she is pretending...with a smile on her face!

The picture below has an interesting story behind it. Frank wanted one of those giant snowmen that blow fake snow inside. He could never figure out how to go about getting one because they aren't found in Germany (somehow that doesn't surprise me). We came up with a shipping solution and now it graces the entrance to his jeans store. Frank believes he is the only German with such a display!

We visited Boleslawiec, Poland for four days - 11/29-12/2. What a great trip!! The Poles win the prize for the most gracious, friendly people that we've met so far. While the scenary wasn't all that spectacular, the people more than made up for it! We went on our trip with our friends, Edna and Chuck. Schotzie rode along too.

The trip took about six hours from our house, so we didn't get there until late in the afternoon on the 29th. Our lodging, The Blue Beetroot, was phenomenal. It was originally a barn and was lovingly refurbished. Check it out at http://www.bluebeetroot.com/. The owners are transplanted Londoner's, Barbara and John. You felt like part of the family while you were there. Schotzie certainly did...she ate in their kitchen most every night! She also frolicked with the resident dogs...Sir Maximillian is shown here with Barbara. The first pic is the outside of the Blue Beetroot.We spent the entire day Friday in several pottery stores. We managed to purchase quite a bit, especially since the Polish currrency, the Zloty, is a decent value to the dollar. Seems like Poland is one of the few places in Europe where the dollar isn't being crushed!


After we tired of buying pottery, we decided to go visit an 11th century castle. Grodziec castle was about 30 minutes outside of town and was probably the highlight of our trip. The caretaker, Mr. Zennen, provided us with a flashlight and let us go off and explore. By the time we got there, it was almost dark, and once inside the castle, it got hairy. Little light, narrow paths and circular staircases made for an adventure. Not to mention one dog that doesn't like circular stairs and Edna on crutches. Once we finished exploring, we were brought into a huge room with the largest fireplace I've ever seen. Mr. Zennen sat us down with coffee, tea, bread and some privately-made wine that was excellent. We wanted to buy some but he said it wasn't possible. Then he brings out two tiaras, armor, swords and various other medievel accessories and has us all dress up. The queens are below, along with a video of Edgar and Chuck.








The next day, we headed out to the Dudek Pottery, which still uses the same methods to create their pottery as they did hundreds of years ago. We had a wonderful host here as well, who wouldn't let us leave without a few gifts. We didn't leave empty-handed, as we all had to have a few pieces of this authentic pottery.

From here we went to the Studio Borowski, where they are world renowned for creating some impressive pieces of artwork from glass. We took a tour of the factory with the daughter-in-law of the owner, and finished up our tour by (yep, you guessed it) making some purchases. Edgar got a wonderful piece of artwork, a chamelion with a big mouth that you could use as a vase or bowl. Here is a picture of the glass blowers working on part of a vase.

After we left the glass blowing factory, we made a couple of stops in more pottery stores, just to make sure we hadn't missed anything. Then we headed back to the Blue Beetroot, where we had dinner for the third night in a row. We liked it there so much we never ate anywhere else!

All in all, a wonderful trip. I'm sure we'll make it a point of visiting Poland again.

Christmas in Germany is wonderful. The Christmas Markets are in full swing, and every town and village, no matter how small, has one. Some are only one day, some are every day (like in Frankfurt, Koln and Rudesheim). I'm trying to go to as many as possible, and collect a gluewein (hot spiced wine...which is really tasty and keeps you warm as you stroll among the vendors outside) mug from each. So far, I've been to Erbach (our village), Eltville (the next village), Mainz, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Rudesheim. I hope to go to Nuremburg too. Here are a few pics from various markets. The first three are in Frankfurt:



From the Mainz Christmas market:

From the Rudesheim Christmas market:


This past weekend (12/8-12/9) was Edgar's work Christmas party. Without boring you with all the details, Edgar was elected to be Mrs. Claus. The party started at 7pm and at 4pm, he decided it was time to figure out what to wear! Watching the transformation was the most fun of all, but here he is in all his fake and real parts:


Later, he put on casual clothes. The theme of the party was a Hawaiian luau. I didn't go in theme but many others did. They gave out quite a few door prizes and I won one....an 8 GB IPOD Nano...exactly what I wanted for Christmas. I was so excited!! Some pics from the party....

Pam, Edna and Becky:

Dan and Edgar:

John, Chuck and Edgar:


On December 13th, we had the first gathering of the very informal spouses group. I guess we had about 12 or so people and we spent a few hours strolling through the Wiesbaden Christmas market. Hopefully, after the holidays, I will host a happy hour at my house and we'll get some more new faces!!

The next day, Sandra and I took a 2.5 hour train ride to Nurnburg, to that Christmas market. It was as large as Frankfurt's and the city was beautiful. They also have a huge shopping area. The trip down seemed kind of long, but on the way back, we shared cheese, bread and a very good bottle of French wine and we got home very fast! We were very happy by the time Edgar picked us up at the train station.






The funniest thing I saw (notwithstanding the accordian playing Santa with his elf dog) were numerous stands selling nut and fruit people. I didn't quite get the attraction, but here's a picture of one of the stands:




One last Christmas market....Edgar and I went to Colmar, France on December 22nd. While it was painfully cold outside, we enjoyed seeing the French version of a Christmas market and strolling through the wonderful town. Incredibly, we ran into our friends Edna and Chuck (and her son David and his girfriend Kristin) while we were there. How odd it is to see someone you know while you are away from your local surroundings! A bit of history, which I did not remember, is that the people of France gave the Statue to the people of the United States over one hundred years ago in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution. I guess that's why a miniature version stood at the entrance of town.



This was the first time I was away from home for Christmas. While I missed seeing my parents, sister and brother and other friends and relatives, it turned out to be a very nice Christmas. Gabi and Peter invited us to their house for Christmas Eve. It was also Paulina's birthday, so the day started with a gathering to celebrate her birthday. We got her some inline skating pads, which Paulina wanted before she used her new skates. Later that day, we gathered for dinner. And what a dinner it was. Gabi andher mother prepared a fondue feast....turkey, beef tenderloin and pork tenderloin, various dipping sauces, salads, bread. It was fantastic. The tradition in the Golla family is to open gifts on Christmas Eve and the floor around the tree was packed with gifts. One of the nicest surprises was a gift to Edgar and I from Frank and Sandra...an outdoor fire pit! Gabi and Peter gave us the most useful gift....a wine cooler bag, along with a bottle of wine! One of Paulina's gifts was the game of Twister, which provided some amusing photographs.



On Christmas Day, we spent a very quiet day opening our gifts to each other, calling back home and watching movies. Edgar requested risotto for our main meal, and I found a wonderful recipe that turned out fantastic. The boys arrived on the 27th, and as soon as we walked in the door, they opened their presents. The most frustrating part of that was that Jake's gift (an electric guitar) didn't make it here in time. In fact, it arrived the day after he left for home. He took it gracefully, but I could tell he was very disappointed. We enjoyed a very short five days together, before they headed back to the US.

On New Year's Eve, we celebrated with our German friends again, this time at the home of Moni and Christian. There were 20 or so adults and around 12 children. Frank had taken Andrew out a few days before to buy fireworks. It's the only night of the year where fireworks are allowed to be set off. Andrew was so excited, as he loves everything about fireworks. He wasn't disappointed. I have never seen so many fireworks go off at once in my life, not even on 4th of July. Because Moni and Christian live up on a hill, we were able to see firework displays for miles. Frank also purchased these very cool balloons (each family had at least one) that looked like miniature hot air balloons. They were powered by a small piece of paraffin looking stuff that you lit and waited until the balloon filled with hot air and then you released. While releasing, each of the families made a wish for the new year and sent "it off to heaven". Very cool.

I'll close this post of my German blog with all the best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2008 to all my friends and family...here and abroad!!


Pam