Life: Idiotropic

means one-way street. I have my German driver's license!!!!!! The test has a fairly high failure rate and some German laws are very different, so I was really nervous this morning, but I passed it!!! In Germany they have a Good Samaritan Law which states that if someone is in need that you are obligated to assist in anyway possible as long as it does not endanger you. You can actually be fined and imprisoned for up to one year if you do not act as a Good Samaritan when possible! The other interesting thing is that on autobahns in Germany (not those in other countries here), the speed limit posted is just the recommended speed limit and that no actual speed limit exists. When we took the autobahn to Koln, we averaged 80-85 most of the time. Other cars passed us like we were standing still. Many drivers actually drive 150MPH!!!! So, I am legal to drive in Germany. Later this week we'll take our German licenses to Heinsburg where they will issue our international licenses. Then I can drive anywhere! Scary, eh? I also got my Nato ID today, so I can now shop on base at the Natex which is like the BX, but caters to all the NATO nationalities and is really a lot nicer than the PX on Schinnen (the army base). Kirk made me drive afterwards. I was really nervous about it, but it went fine and I think I'll be ok getting around. We went to lunch at a great Greek restaurant here - it was soooo good. I had baklava afterwards - good, but not nearly as good as the kind Kris makes! Anyway... I will now have more freedom and am no longer sequestered to the gasthaus. Tomorrow I'll get to have the van half the day and do a little exploring! I can't wait! Talk to you later! Tiffany

Pronounced don-ka shern, meaning thank you.

Since Kirk worked on Thanksgiving (not a NATO holiday) and Tiara had school, we postponed our Thanksgiving until today. Kirk got up to see our front door without a view, but covered in white. The wind had blown a layer of snow over it. The snow outside was deep and fluffy and everywhere. Almost every doorway had someone in it shovelling their walks. The cars were all being scraped. It was nice to see so many people out. People were walking their dogs too. Nothing phases them here. The snow was absolutely beautiful. Apparently, it is very unusual for GK to get so much snow and it was obvious by all the kids playing that they were very happy. We had to head out and look at our house before we played. We met the landlord to sign the contract today at 10 and met her husband and her aunt who were also very nice and loved the kids. We looked at the house, planned rooms, and fell in love with it again. It is such a nice place. Frau Bemmelmans told us that she was born and grew up there... it still has a couple of the original light fixtures. Driving to and from our house was great. Fields of white were so peaceful with little houses and church spires in the distance. We still saw the bakery and dairy trucks making their daily deliveries to houses and people were out and about both by foot and on bicycle. A few cars sat in the ditch too, but the roads weren't bad... just snow, no ice. We came home and the kids played. Tiara built a wall. Arianna and Luci ran around picking up big clumps of snow. Elise walked in it and touched it a little. She looked confused, but liked it. I started cooking and cleaning and did that most of the afternoon.

Today was our Thanksgiving and I was really stressed about it because Kirk invited friends and I am operating in a kitchen with a horribly small, "easy bake" oven - not big enough for the turkey pan. The dinner ended up turning out amazing with one sad exception. While all the dinner was perfect, the dessert (usually my crowning glory) was a flop due to the inadequacy of German pumpkin. I will have to stock up on that at the American commissary next time someone goes there. Kirk brought back the only pumpkin that the grocery had locally... it was two jars of pumpkin in chunks floating in a sweet honied brine of some kind. It didn't smell anything like pumpkin and I was not thrilled, but it was all we had, so Kirk pureed it for me, I added all the other ingredients, and I baked it. The crust was excellent, the whipped cream for the top was great (Germans don't do cool whip), but the pie tasted like a bad hybrid of a lemon merangue pie and a pumpkin pie... tangy lemony pumpkin is not exactly appetizing. Not an experiment worth repeating. Luckily, we had Aachener Printen cookies, so we had those with coffee and they were great. Anyway... our friends had a good time and were very understanding about our experiment with German pumpkin... most Americans just eat Thanksgiving on base and don't do their own meals here for some odd reason. They stayed until 2330 and we all had a very nice evening. So... it's tired time now. Tomorrow we're going to the Christmas market in Gangelt and may be the one in Geilenkirchen too... should be fun. Thinking of you... hope you are enjoying a nice weekend.

p.s. Elise is talking up a storm... words like chicken, thank you, daddy, thirteen, hand, nigh-night, help me, up, down, all done, and many more

Kalt means cold and oh my goodness is it cold! Socks and slippers are my new best friends!

Yesterday my friend Renee took the little ones and I to Sittard (in the Netherlands) while Kirk and Tiara were at school. Sittard is a nice city and according to friends, the Dutch speak English better than the Germans. Sittard has an open air market every Thursday all year, so we went there first. They had a ton of fabrics - beautiful fabrics in all types. The curtains were amazing, so I'll get curtains for our new house there, I think. Prices seemed very reasonable. I will take visitors there. They have waffle stands at all markets it seems serving various flavors of hot belgian waffles with powdered sugar. The girls and I got some chocolate-covered waffles. The market also had beautiful flowers and arrangements and advent wreathes. I could have gotten 30 beautiful fresh roses for 4 Euros which is about 5 dollars. There is no reason here to not have fresh flowers at home. The plants all looked amazing too. There was an egg booth with stacks of cartons of brown eggs sitting out on the counter... I'm sure in summer they must do something with them, but in this cold, there's absolutely no need for anything. Entire booths of fresh meats and cured fishes were tempting and the produce was amazing and cheap! Big bags of Clementines were only 2 Euro! We didn't say very long because of the cold, but it was nice to see it all and know what was available there.

After the market we drove to a nearby chocolate factory. Apparently the family invented some machine to shave chocolate into curls and sold it and made a fortune, so the son now owns and runs this small chocolate factory and is just enjoying an "easy" life. They give tours many days, but yesterday he was busy. We got to peak in the back and see all the machinery and the big pool of liquid chocolate. The ladies there gave the girls all free samples. I got a couple little pieces to share with Kirk and they were quite good. That's another nice little place to take visitors. When Kirk got home we all got really bundled up and took the train to Aachen. Aachen is an easy 30 minute drive, but the train was cheap and fun for the kids and less stress for Kirk. He was told that the Christmas market in Aachen was in walking distance from the Bahnhof (train station) so we got out there, but were told from locals there that it was a good 15 minute walk (longer with kids, of course), so we took a taxi to the market. It rained on and off lightly and was quite cold, but we all had a great time. The girls rode on a carousel, then we had hot drinks in a covered area to warm up. We did a lot of looking and thinking about what goodies we may want to get later. It was like many open air market/fairs... Christmas ornaments, food, Shmuck (jewlery), toys, decorations, glassware, and other crafts. My favorites were these amazingly detailed stoneware houses that you could light. They are so incredible. I think we might get one each year that we are here, so that we can have a little Christmas village to display each year. We got these hot candied nuts that Kirk had remembered and loved from his time here and then we had hot dogs and fries (the currywurst line was way too long). I kept seeing people with 4-6 of these patties and I didn't know what they were, but sooooo many people had them that I told Kirk to get one too. They were like an extra thick potatoe pancake, and sooo good. Ours came with melted cheese and ham over the top.

This market was nestled at the bottom of an amazing old Rathaus (government building) and curved around to the backside of the old Aachener Dom (dating back to Charlemagne). It was so beautiful to look up at this building and it was lighted too at some of the statues. The towns call the cathedrals "Dom" and each big town usually has one large (OLD) Dom. Aachen looked like a very nice city... old cobblestone streets and old cathedrals all sprinkled among new modern shopping centers and buildings... and Starbucks! People all seemed very friendly too.

Anyway... we took the train back and were all so tired that bedtime went very smoothly. We did get one thing at the market - Aachener-Printen - a traditional cookie of Aachen that is very cakey and covered in white, milk, or dark chocolate. It has a very subtle anise flavor. They are good and remind me of cookies I used to have during the holidays at Grandma's house.

Last night it snowed, so we are staying in today. Kirk is at work. Tiara is at school. Arianna and Luci are playing monster and Elise is walking around with backpacks slung over her shoulder. I'm going to do some cleaning today. Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving, so I have to get the house ready for a day of cooking. We're also seeing our house again tomorrow to sign all the contracts. It will give me a chance to sketch rooms and do some planning.

Love you all and hope you're not too "kalt" there where you are.

Hello! We are here in Germany and getting settled. We've been here just over a week and are finally feeling "normal." I'd never had jetlag before, but this last dose just about killed me. Kirk and Arianna sat a few rows up from the rest of us on the flight. Misha slept in her carrier under the seat in front of Kirk right at his feet and did great. I had Elise and Luci on either side of me and Tiara in the seat just across the aisle. The flight left around 6 in the evening and was only 7 hours long, but when it landed it was 9am in Brussels. The stewardesses were mostly Dutch and were strikingly tall, but very friendly. The food was great and the movie and music selection was wonderful... but still, not enough to keep the kids happy. At least half of the flight I spent standing in the back of the plane talking to other restless passengers and rocking back and forth with Elise in my arms and Luci hugging my legs hoping that they'd both eventually fall asleep. They did, just 30 minutes before the plane landed. They were tired and miserable when we landed and had to wake up and there was a long treck to baggage. Customs was nothing. We flashed our passports and that was all. They didn't even notice our cat. We got our baggage and met our friends who told us we would have to wait for another passenger who would arrive in an hour. So we went to the cafe and had white wine and chocolate mousse... the only things that sounded good in my sleep deprived state. I felt ill all the way back to our gasthaus (lack of sleep or mousse and wine... who knows...). The ride was a blur. I just remember being so tired I was nauseous and the driving seemed crazy and irrational at the time. Now I know that's normal driving here.

The kids are all doing great now. It only took us 3 days to get over the jet lag. Tiara started school on Monday. Arianna and Luci will start school in January after the holiday break. Kirk is already at work and I am going stir-crazy here in the gasthaus with not enough to do and no license yet. I should get my driver's license here next week and enjoy a little more freedom.

We found a wonderful house in the next village. Kirk was dragging his feet a bit with looking for houses, but I wanted to see what was out there and knew that even in the off season, the good houses go fast, so I called two numbers on our list and made appointments for Friday afternoon. The first house we saw was ok, not great, but I'd decided that if there was nothing else out there that it would suffice. The second house was amazing. I loved the entryway and with each room, it just got better. The landlord just happened to come by when we were there, so Kirk was able to tell her that we'd like to think about it and let her know the next day. That night it kept bugging me... and Kirk and I finally decided to call and take it. It's so beautiful and has so much space and a big back yard. I love it and will be so sad when we move - it's so much more than we could afford in the US and it has plenty of guest space! We move in on December 12th just before a little weekend trip to Bayreuth in Bavaria to visit some friends.

Last weekend we went to Cologne which is just a phenomenal city right on the Rhine. Train tickets are only about 10 Euro, so I think I'll be taking that trip ALONE once Kirk is up for a day with all the girls. We drove it and it only took about 50 minutes to get there. We parked underground right next to the Dom. It was cold that day - extremely cold, so we didn't do a whole lot. The Dom was amazing - so much detail to see - it was hard to focus on the details with the immensity of it all. We went inside just in the back and didn't walk around much. It was a Sunday, so the worship areas were roped off for non-tourists. We walked around the shopping areas near the Dom. The stores were beautiful and modern. The backeries were over the top and so inviting. Each pastry was bigger and more magnificent than the other and they all looked very inticing. Weihnachtsman-shaped breads were stacked in the window beside large cakes overflowing with custard. Large cookies hung above. We wanted to eat inside, but there wasn't any seating. It got colder, so we ducked into Starbucks where we found seats right by a kid play area. It was nice to get a hot coffee and panini and escape from the cold. Speaking English we caught the attention of a gentleman from the states who sat down by us. He is a UPS pilot and comes to Koln regularly. We enjoyed the chat and the kids played. Arianna tried to ask a German family where they lived as we were leaving. The father understood her, but seemed confused. Her openness is not common to Germany where people are a bit more reserved. We walked back to see the Dom again before leaving. There were three men in front of the Dom standing on objects and posing as statues. One was a Greek Athlete with long johns sticking out underneath his white sheet and laurel leaf headpiece. One was dressed with animal skins and a creepy mask. The kids weren't fond of him. The best one was dressed all in silver and squeaked when you put a penny in his jar. All of them moved if you put coins in their jars and then would bend down and shake your hand. The girls were a little nervous, but enjoyed it and especially liked the "squeaky man." As we left we walked through the Weihnachtsmark as they were setting it up. It looked beautiful with little wooded buildings almost like a little village all around the base of the great cathedral.




















Happy Thanksgiving! I almost forgot about that. Thanksgiving isn't a NATO holiday, so Tiara is in school and Kirk works. I'll cook my big dinner on Saturday. Tomorrow evening we'll take the train to Aachen and visit that Christmas market. Christmas is just HUGE here. Without Thanksgiving, they start celebrating/decorating very early too.

The advent is this Sunday which is the official kickoff. On December 5th we'll all put our shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill with goodies. Anyway... I'm off to get dinner started. Kitchens here are horribly small, but that won't stop the cooking! More notes when I'm settled in the new house!