Life: Idiotropic

Well, I sincerely hope that the third time is a charm. I missed the star singers on Saturday. And I was home too, but ran to the door and saw the bright red outside of it and knew it was the star singers and really, really wanted to open the door, but didn't have any Euro cash to quickly find for them, so I stayed quiet and let them move on. It was sad. They were cute all dressed up like the Three Wise Men. It only happens once a year and there are no do-overs if you miss it. Next year I'll have change waiting.

Confused? Well, once a year, usually on or just before Three Kings Day (January 6), a small group of children dressed like the Three Wise Men will come to your home and either sing or recite a poem. They collect money for charity, then write a Catholic blessing on chalk by your door to protect you. It's a beautiful tradition. By some doors here the chalk has lasted years with 6 blessings written in a row - six years of star singers. Tinny told me about them later. I told her I missed them because I didn't have any money. She said she gives them cookies instead. Ok, well, NOW I know.

There are a lot of things here that happen with a knock on the door. There are a lot of things that you just miss out on if you aren't home or don't answer your door. Like the tickets for the St. Martin's festival. They go around once - just once. And you'd better hope you're home. Other people that show up at my door: the chimney sweep who just so happens to look like a female version of Dick VanDyke in Mary Poppins - soot on her cheeks and all - and we don't even really have a chimney to sweep. She does something in the basement. I don't even really know what strangely enough - I just know that she looks legit enough and twice a year I just let her come in for 10 minutes to do whatever it is she does. The T.V. tax guy comes too... but we are American's and are exempt from paying tax on television combined with the fact that we actually don't have any television, that's one short visit. There's a vacuum cleaner guy who goes door to door selling vacuums too. I know the German word now, but at first, when I'd give him the blank stare, he's just say "Kirby" and make a vacuuming motion with his hand. No thanks. I'm not going to spend 800 Euro on a 220 vacuum that won't even work when I move home.

I think I'm going to hang a camera by the door and start taking pictures of these folks. They are so much more interesting the door-bell ringers we had back in Oklahoma.

On a different note entirely, Elise stayed for lunch at school today. It was a short day, so she only stayed one hour extra - and she cried - and she refused to eat. So... we'll see. It was the first day. I think this is good for her. It's definitely good for me... but... we'll see. She's my last one and I'm tempted to spare her the extra school time and shower her with cuddles on the couch.

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