Life: Idiotropic

This is the countryside that we drove through on Friday on our way to France. Eastern Belgium southward is all deep rolling hills with forests and villages nestled among them. Northern France where we stopped was the same way. The region is the Ardennes region and is known for it's beauty and though the Ardennes mountains are far from the tall majestic peaks of the Cascades or Sierras, the large green forest covered hills are still beautiful. As we got closer to France the villages looked the same, but the bricks in many were painted white standing in stark contrast to the deep Kelly greens of the hills and the reds and oranges of the trees.

The forests seemed small - at least those we passed by on the autobahn. We could see many places where there had been clear cutting for forestry, but there was obvious replanting in many areas too. Really, a lot of it looked a bit like Oregon.

From the website I'd learned that we would be staying in the "largest fortified castle in the whole of Europe," so mom and I were looking for something that stood out. The way the roads fall among the hills, you could be very close to something and not see it. The hills and trees hide entire villages that might only lie a kilometer away. I'd imagined Sedan to be a quaint village - imagery I'd gotten from internet sites and my own assumptions. After all, most German and Dutch, and even Belgian towns that I've been in have had a certain amount of charm. Surely, Sedan would also, and it did not look very large on the map. When we drove in to this normal mid-sized French city, it looked as if we were in the wrong place. It wasn't quaint nor beautiful, and there was no sign of a castle anywhere. It seemed like I was driving forever to get into the town when finally I saw a small sign pointing to the right for "Chateau Fort." Just a minute later we'd arrived at this huge edifice that literally appeared out of no where. Here is the large doorway in the outer wall that we drove through to park the car. The little door on the right is the entrance to the hotel portion of the castle where we stayed. We were in the fourth floor looking out that little window just 4 up from the doorway.

The parking area in the inside of the castle buildings is immense. The hotel, like most of Europe, boasts an interesting mix of the old and new. They've repaired, but preserved the original castle walls and incorporated them into the modern framework of the guest areas. The lobby where we first walked in is a large open area flanked on both sides by old stone walls, but with modern furnishings and decor. On the inside wall are old arched doorways in the stone leading to smaller, cozier sitting rooms with fireplaces and television. In one tiny alcove I found a nice Dell flatscreen computer with an internet connection, so I checked my email and hoped to blog a little there. Checking my email was easy enough with the French keyboard, and writing a message was laborious, but possible, but when I tried to log in to my blog, I needed the @ symbol, and while it was there on the keyboard right under the number 2, I could not figure out how to get it. The A and Q are switched as are the W and the Z. The M is where the semicolon should be and all the punctuation is mixed up. I actually had to hit the shift key to get a period. I also had to shift to get any numbers and all the numbers had two symbols with them, so I could get one, but not the other. It was odd. Still, I can't complain. I was sitting in a castle whose beginnings dated to 0800, typing on a Dell flatscreen using a DSL internet connection.

The plan that day was to drive about half-way down to Sedan and then find something fun for lunch. Unfortunately, the way the hills hide the villages, there was no obvious "fun" anywhere near the highway. No signs with "food next exit" and signage for greasy American food. No cute bistros. No patisseries. And I didn't want to get off the autobahn and get stuck winding through valleys for hours (which is very possible). So we ended up getting there and checking in without ever eating and were starving. Thinking that a cute little French cafe would be an easy find, we started to walk and explore the town. We walked down through a narrow windy tunnel down through the other side of the castle where we got our first real view of how big it really was. There was one little cafe open, but I wanted to see more and thought for sure we'd hit upon some gem. We walked, and walked. The streets were narrow, the buildings very different from those I'm used to seeing here. The rooflines are different. They have nice wooden shutters instead of the German metal rolladn. The buildings seem a lot more sooty and the city dirtier, but still, there were little things that stood out like the flowers in the windows and old ironwork on the doors. To the dismay of a couple rumbling stomachs, all the restaurants (and we passed a lot of them, especially Turkish) were closed for the afternoon and wouldn't open until 3 or later. From one nice big roundabout with circled with beautiful buildings to another big roundabout on the other side of town circled with a church and a beautiful old palace/government building, there was nothing open. Finally, on the way back to the castle we found a tiny little cafe. (The photos above: the first of the tunnel leading under and out of the castle, and the second of a church tower in the town... the first tower is visible, the other covered in scaffolding for repair which is a very common site here in Europe. The old churches are almost always being repaired or cleaned.)

It could have been anywhere in the states. It had big glass windows with advertising painted all over them, old diner style tables and chairs in mint green with silver metal. The place was full of locals, mostly older people sitting with their coffee, beer, and wine smoking. We sat under the tv with the lottery numbers running. A large man with an uncanny resemblance to Drew Carey, sat squinting with his mouth gaping a bit, quickly writing down the lottery numbers from the screen. Later an older woman sat down with her daughter. The woman writing down numbers and the daughter doing scratch tickets. We asked if we could eat and the nice man listed the available menu for that hour - croque monsieur, another croque, or quiche lorraine. I ordered quiche and a cappuccino. Mom ordered white wine and we knew it was coming when we heard the cork pop. Getting my cappuccino was one of those "Ahhhh" moments when life is just good. I'd been so hungry that staring at that beautiful whipped cream topped coffee was just about perfect. It was much more impressive before this photo was taken, but I couldn't resist sipping on it a bit first.

The quiche was good too and gave us time to sit, relax, and take in the atmosphere. A young man sat near us in jeans, tennis shoes, a sweatshirt, and a stocking cap. He had his ipod on and looked like he should be in New York or any American university district. An old man wearing flannel sat by the mirror on the wall sipping a coffee. There was a Hagen Daz ice cream sign mounted just under the large screen television on our left that had sports on. We stuck out like sore thumbs, I'm sure, but the people were very friendly. We knew "merci," but had forgotten how to say please, so we asked and the man told us "si vous plait." There was not even a hint of the haughtiness that the French are known for among some.

After lunch was discovered the little square and shopping area on the way back to the castle. It was not a large area, but there was a little Disney character carousel in the center, several chocolate shops, a few nice clothing stores, and a costume jewelry shop. We stopped at a little bakery on the corner to get a treat just for fun. I got a sucre torte just to try because I'd seen them in other bakeries. It was just a dough with thick hardened sugar baked on top - not inedible, but nothing stupendous. The meringues were big like baseballs and all the pastries looked perfect. The little dog in the photo was in a yarn shop. He was very friendly and didn't seem to care that I didn't speak French just so long that I give him some attention. His owner was very friendly and spoke to me quite a bit though I didn't understand a word of it.

Getting back to the castle was nice and the lobby looked warm and welcoming. We sat to enjoy it for a while. The leather chairs were comfortable and the bar at the end had a nice table set up with coffee and juices. It was funny to me to see a beautiful silver candelabra with white tapers sitting right next to a Pier-1 style red vase with a spiral bamboo. Eclecticism at its best. It felt nice to sit back in the soft leather chair sipping grapefruit juice and looking at a magazine. French cabaret music played in the background lending a particular ambiance, and I people watched... two rather stoic British women left and then the room slowly filled with a large group of French obviously on some sort of business trip. The were all dressed very nice and many smoked, but the interesting thing was watching the circle as someone entered the room. Every time a new person came down to enter the circle, they all stopped their conversations to greet them, and each took turns hugging and kissing the newcomer on each cheek. By the time the group had reached about 15 people, it took quite a while just to greet the 16th, but still, they took time to do it. It was much warmer and more personable than the typical greeting that I am accustomed to and it was very nice to see.

Our room was small, but nice. To get there we took the elevator up and then walked down the hallway with an original wall on one side and a row of doors on the other. In the old wall were little alcoves that had just enough moisture in them to grow little maidenhair ferns. When we'd first checked in and gone to our room we were dismayed that the lights didn't work. None of the switches made any difference at all, so we asked at the front desk and she explained that you have to use your key card. The card that opens our door then goes into a little slot on the wall, then all the lights work. When you leave and take your key, the lights are on a timer and go off a few minutes later. It's a great way to save on electricity and you always know where your key is if you're in the room. The small low window in the old stone wall had an iron gate in front of it, but it opened, so when I heard the smoke alarm, I opened up the window to see the cute little square firetruck pull up and all these tiny little fireman jump out with little silver hats on. From our window, they all looked like toys. The tiny silver hats had little silver flaps to protect the neck. There were fire men and women and two female police officers showed up too. A few minutes later they were all gone and we were getting ready for dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Dinner: Ahhhh, dinner. It is not often that I just relax and enjoy a nice meal, but I was spoiled on this trip. I learned that "aperitif" isn't the food variety of appetizer, but an alcoholic treat. We ordered a half-bottle of the most amazing Champagne that I've every had. Laurent-Perrier is light and smooth, slightly sweet, and without any harshness that has existed in every other champagne I've ever had. But, we were in the Champagne region of France where they are produced, so we'd suspected that it might be better here. So, the bottle arrived, the champagne was poured, and the peanuts were served (yep - peanuts and fine champagne... I wouldn't have expected that). Rolls arrived without oil or butter, but they were still delectable. They brought out a tiny plate with little cold white sausage rounds with shallots and parsley. We ordered Foie Gras (goose-liver pate) with walnuts served with gingerbread toast and pear chutney. Honestly, the idea of it was a bit of a challenge, but I did try it and though the flavor was quite rich and heavy, it was good. I would have been happy enough with a basket of that yummy gingerbread toast though! I ordered the Magret Du Canard - a rosemary honey duck dish with a brown gravy and a very creamy portion of slivered potatoes and vegetables. Then, for dessert I ordered "Brochette de fruits frais rotie en cassonade et craqueline de sorbet citron." In English - fresh fruit skewered lightly roasted with a brown sugar glaze and served with a chocolate covered mini ice-cream cone cup filled with the sourest citrus sorbet I've ever had. I've eaten crab apples, limes, and the sourest candies, but nothing has ever been sour enough. This actually made my cheeks hurt, it was so sour. Mmmm... I'd love to have the recipe - it was fabulous!

The next morning we got up and got ready to check out. Since we hadn't made breakfast reservations, we thought we'd just find something in the town before touring the castle, but as we were checking out, the friendly maitre'di in very broken "Frenglish" asked us if we'd had breakfast. The breakfast hour was ending, but he had the receptionist call up and they prepared a table for us. When we arrived, the table was beautifully set with nice little jarred jams in the center. The dining room was completely empty except for us and we had the whole buffet to ourselves with coffee, juice, croissants and other yummy rolls and pastries, jams, meats, cheeses, cereals, and fruit. It was a very nice buffet. We'd talked to the maitre'd the night before. He really didn't speak very much English at all, but he tried and we tried to use the few French words we knew. Throughout dinner he'd come over and check on us. I think he was amused by us - they really don't get many Americans there. And, we were equally amused by him and his energy. In the corner of the dining room is an beautiful old desk where he sat when he wasn't up checking on his customers. It was very official looking. But by breakfast, all things official were out the window and he was a bit more relaxed. As they cleaned up the buffet, he brought over the tray of meats to our table to make sure we got our fill. Soon afterwards he was kicking up his heals in the other room and singing "Tea for Two and Two for Tea" while he danced.

After breakfast Mom and I took a tour of the castle. We had little recorders with us that played recorded information in English, so we just entered the number that we saw posted in the room and then the device would play information about that room. In rooms particularly crowded with tourists, there was an amusing echo effect with 5 or more recorders sounding all at slightly different intervals in English and French. I wish I could remember all that was said about the castle itself. The history was amazing and as Europe evolved, the royalty was so mixed between empires that this castle was tied to several other countries as well. The battlements were enormous and housed old guns at least 8 feet long. The tour took us outside on top of the high battlements and then up even higher on top of one of the castle walls. It was there that we saw men preparing to scale the wall. They were testing a route for a tourist group that was coming in. They climbed one wall, then repelled off another.

I think we spent at least two hours walking all around the castle following the green arrows... inside the battlements, up and down narrow stairways inside the castle itself, through a museum-like hallway filled with old artifacts and examples of how they lived, up to the top of a castle turret with the thick beams where one wall hadn't been painted over and old sketches remained on the wall. Every turn was interesting and every view beautiful.

Out on top of one of the battlements, a beautiful herb garden was kept. The names of the herbs were handwritten on pieces of shale. Herbs labelled this way were also growing out of cracks in the old walls.

Leaving an enormous footprint, the Chateau Fort is almost entirely in tact except for the old governor's portion which was rather humorously blown up when the army was testing explosives right next to it leaving just a nice green hill leading up to the rest of the castle where a nice old fortress once stood. So, I guess that batch was a good one. Wonder how the governor took it. The first photo below shows the now empty field. We'd stood on the turret above it which is a lot higher than it looks. The next photo is of the large courtyard inside from that same area by the turret. You can see the hotel portion of the castle and my mini-van, just a tiny grey speck, to the left of the little door.













The tour ended in a little gift shop and cafe where we bought a few little souveniers and stopped for a cappuccino before we left. The men who'd been climbing the castle were in there and talked to us a bit. They were very friendly and one spoke great English.

Basically, the short time we were in France, everyone was friendly. There was not a bit of the stereotypical French attitude from anyone. From the castle to the cafe, to the shops, and the fellow tourists, everyone was very kind and welcoming. The only shred of rudeness actually came from the British ladies in the castle who seemed offended that mom would ask them a question about the bar area... "go ask at the front desk" was their curt reply. There is so much of Europe to see that I don't know if I'll end up back at Chateau Fort, but I wouldn't turn down the opportunity if I could go again. The castle itself is amazing, the people very warm and wonderful, and the area fabulous. While I don't need to walk the streets of Sedan again, there area a lot of nice areas around Sedan that would be great to explore. We only had one day... I could have been happy there longer. But... Luxembourg awaited... so after our tour, we were on the road to a new country.

Normally I would be sitting down about now, sipping my coffee on this fine Saturday morning while my oldest child slept until 11 and my three youngest played quietly downstairs with legos - ahh... a few sweet moments of tranquility.

Alas, this morning I woke up to an alarm clock, and now, instead of telling you about our day in Aachen or the wonderful Turkish dancing I witnessed last night, instead of downloading beautiful photos from the last few days and giving you juicy details about how absolutely fabulous it's been here, I can only tell you to wait.

Photos and notes will be posted on Sunday. Photos of Aachen and of the Turkish wedding... photos of Sedan, France and Luxembourg. In about one hour, I will be heading out into the soppy wet grey of Germany towards the soppy colder wetter grey of France with my mom, *(without the kids) for a fabulously peaceful 3 day vacation.

Kirk is working towards sainthood (a title he's always hoped for - that and being a guest star on the Simpsons) and keeping the kids for the entire time. I hope to return on Sunday afternoon to a house with 4 children and a husband... we shall see.

So... I'm off... if you want a tease, click the links on France and Luxembourg... we'll be staying there.

I'm never really quite sure what to expect at International Women's nights. Will I be force fed unpalatable food by a blindfolded Italian, line up with other women with our noses sticking through a sheet to be identified, or get pulled onto the dance floor wearing jingly coins around my hips?

Tonight, my belly was covered, but I did do a little dancing.

The Turkish ladies put together a beautiful evening showing us parts of a traditional Turkish wedding- parts that were very similar to our own mating ritual, and others that are very different.

The first skit showed the girls walking in the town and catching the eye of some "handsome" men. Nagihan dropped her scarf as she walked away as a sign that she was interested and like a high school boy, he eagerly picked it up. In the next scene we saw the meeting of the parents to arrange the wedding complete with nervous bride-to-be and the commanding mother-in-law. When they seemed to agree, the prospective bride and groom were given rings tied together.

Then - it got interesting. The told us of the tradition of painting the girl's hands the night before the wedding - the Henna night. Nagihan walked in veiled and dressed in a beautiful red gown. She was surrounded by women carrying candles. As she sat down, the "mothers" stood behind her with the tray that would have held the henna. The other ladies surrounded her in a circle placing the candles on the floor and began dancing. The tray was brought forward and one women wrapped the hand the would have been painted completely in cloth. Then ladies took turns bringing gold bangle bracelets and putting them on Nagihan's other arm while she sat there the entire time quiet and veiled. Then the groom came in. She stood and they danced - he on the outside of the candle ring and her on the inside. After a few minutes of dancing, he picked her up and carried her off.

Afterwards, there was a lot of dancing. The ladies all wore beautiful coined scarves around their hips that jingled when they danced. The room had quieted down a bit after the wedding skit, then the music started and Mel came over, took off her scarf, and tied it around my waist, so she and I danced in the middle of the room. She called the other Turkish ladies over and I waved for my mom to join us and pretty soon there was a very nice crowd all dancing to the music. After that, the ladies took back their scarves and put them on to perform for us. They did a lot of dancing and it was all beautiful.

After a couple dances to the music, the drummer came out and the ladies danced with little square glittery clothes in their hands. The drummer was a petite lady wearing a classy short black dress and black spike heals.
The turnout for the wedding was amazing, so they had to add tables before they could start. They served chicken and rice with curry powder and a nice green salad. For dessert they made baklava which was wonderful for me, but too sweet for my Spanish friends. Mom and I spent the evening at the Spanish table and had a wonderful time. They are all very friendly. Pepi has learned German, but not English and brought a German friend who speaks a little English, so it was interesting talking to them, saying one thing in Spanish to Pepi, then translating it into English for her friend or trying to use a few German words here and there.

At all IWC dinners there are door prizes. This night the line for raffle tickets was unusually long as the gifts were unusually beautiful. Sennur (one of the Turkish ladies) designs and makes beautiful jewelry, so she brought beads and supplies from Turkey and taught her friends to make them and they all made matching necklaces and earrings to give away. Some of them were absolutely stunning. And I didn't win... but I know Sennur and am hoping that she'll teach me too!

So far, this was the best IWC dinner of this year - the cultural exchange was amazing and we were given a lot of information about the ceremony. Next month is Italian night and they're serving pizza! (We're forced to economize for these events or the food would be much more extravagant.)

Kirk was off of work today and we needed to get out and do something, so we took Mom down to Aachen. She'd never been there before and it's a really nice little town - not too much history - it was only the capitol of Charlemagne's empire.

The potentially rainy day was absolutely beautiful, so we enjoyed the walk around the city. We started out in the square by the rathaus as usual where they were setting up the cute little wooden buildings for the upcoming Christmas markets, then we walked down one of the main shopping streets towards the Dom where Charlemagne just so happens to be buried. We've been to Aachen quite a bit, but it hasn't gotten boring. It is still a beautiful city and the Dom is so detailed that I still see new things each time I visit it. The cathedral is immense which always makes me curious since I've only seen a small part of it. It was built over hundreds of years too, so the architectural styles vary quite a bit from one part to another as is common in European cathedrals and castles.
From there we walked back around towards the market and the rathaus. Cut Christmas trees lined many streets leaning on light posts ready to be set up. The market on the back of the church had been mostly done and some vendors were already setting out there things, but a huge stack of trees lay in the middle not yet decorated. The youngest two girls kept trying to climb them.

Kirk enjoys the architecture and loved the gargoyles on the Dom. My mom and I enjoyed looking around and ducking quickly into shops to see what was there. We saw a beautiful tweed jacket that was a mere 600 Euros (and that was 50% off!) and a beautiful purse that would fit my camera perfectly - just "coffee money" at 990 Euros. The shop windows are all decorated for Christmas and the printen shops, especially, were inviting with foot and a half stacks of different flavored printen cookies filing the windows - some covered in different shades of chocolate and some not - it was hard to walk away without buying a bag of it. Tiara moped until I let her get her camera out and take her own pictures.
But the little ones, I think had an even better time than anyone. Instead of whining about being bored, they skipped along to the movable fountain where a man played the accordion and a older lady danced with her grandson, then searched the sidewalk for really big leaves. Then, as we got closer to the church, they found a sweet little grey pigeon to chase. Arianna was following it carefully trying not to scare it away, then Luci and Elise would run up and watch it flap, raise a foot of the ground, and land just a couple feet away. Then the process would begin again. Those three always manage to stay entertained.

Standing on the steps of the Rathaus we could see Starbucks over the tops of the little wood stands, so we went there for coffee. This the the only place where I break my rule not to go to American fast food... I still haven't gone to Subway, McDonald's, or KFC, but Starbucks is good and reliable. I know I can find spacious seating for myself and the girls, a clean bathroom, and really decent food. The food at Starbucks here is much better than anything I've had there in the states anyway... with a lot more healthier choices too! It was nice to have a small snack and relax before heading home. The girls know where the kid corner is too, so when they were done eating, the "older" people got to chat without wiping chocolate cookie off of anyone's face.

Both before and after our Aachen adventure, we let the kids have 15 minutes on the slide. It's great. The REALLY tall slide is just by the parking garage that we use, so they can climb up the narrow windy staircase to the top, then slide down the big tunnel. They figured out that they went faster sliding down on their coats, so the coats came off and they slid fast. Luci slid right off the end of the slide and then Tiara came flying off the end right after her with Elise on her lap. Last night Luci asked if we could go back to the slide again... it always leaves an impression.
So my kids, after living in Europe, will not remember the historical stuff at all, but they'll remember that Europe has cool slides and fun playgrounds. I guess that's ok.

Oh my goodness, I've created myself!

I remember the days when I'd cry if I got a B on a test. At the time it seemed quite rational. Now I realize that there is a bigger picture involved. But, my daughter is just like me in that. Last year she enjoyed being the only straight A student in her class. She got used to seeing A's on almost every test and assignment. Now, in 6th grade, she has the toughest teacher in the school and it's hard. I'm thrilled because I'd rather that she be challenged and get B's than earn an easy A and not learn anything. This year she's challenged and she's learning a lot. But report cards just came out and my emotional daughter got a B - one B. That upset her more than anything. She said that it would have been easier to get 2 or 3 B's but only one means she was very close to having straight A's again and no matter how hard she works, she won't be able to stand on the stage at the end of the year as one of the kids who got straight A's all year long.

So, I was the proud parent the other day looking at her report card knowing that she's learning and working hard. She looked at it and burst into tears then sobbed into her pillow when it was time for bed. So I sat there trying to reason with her and comfort her while she kept saying that "B is for Bad." It was like a bad Sesame Street episode. If she's going to cry this much over a B, I'm really in for it when she starts dating. Should I find a good therapist now?

Autumn is in full swing with misty rain, cooler temperatures, and gorgeous deep oranges and reds in the trees. A small protected forest weaves itself around the base and near several towns in the area, so there is gold all around as the sun shines through and a good wind sends the leaves down in a bright confetti mix not unlike the showers of flower petals that covered the streets in the spring. The girls are busy collecting leaves and pressing some and I am looking up online crafts to figure out what exactly to do with all of them. I sure love this time of year.

This morning I got up before the crack of dawn to go to Tongeren, but it wasn't painful like most mornings. The Sunday antique market there is so fun for me now that I couldn't sleep. I kept waking up worried that I overslept and would miss it.

The drive at that hour is beautiful and serene with virtually no traffic even in busy Maastricht and the home stretch from Maastricht to Tongeren is a straight 16 kilometers lined with antique shops, green cow covered hills, and cute bakeries.
It was relaxing to walk today. The colder weather and spotty rain kept a lot of people away, so crowds were easy to navigate. I brought just a tiny bit of money which made spending a lot a bit of a challenge, so the treasures that I did want to run away with were out of my reach. We walked all over the entire market area, then stopped for coffee and a small snack. Mom had an apple tart and I had pannekoeken with fruit.

The truly amazing finds of the day were hard to walk away from. One was an exquisite Steuben glass vase. The man was asking 350E for it, but it was from the early 1900's and a similar one on ebay had been bid up to $2600 and hadn't closed yet. It's easily worth at least $3500 - probably more. Another treasure was an English secretary in pristine condition. It was cherry and all original finishes with even the original ribbons on the inside flaps to hold notes and such. It was another absolutely amazing find - just perfect and worth so much more that it's 750E price tag. Most all these things in Tongeren appreciate the second they make it to the U.S. It's hard not to go a bit crazy here. Everything is beautiful and "special."
I did walk away with some very pretty prisms for my Christmas tree and mom found a fur muff. It wasn't quite as satisfying a shopping day as my first trip, but that was only because those things I found that were truly spectacular were sadly out of my reach. I'll go again next month with Kirk.

Once a month we get the Pfarrebrief in our mail slot. It is the area's church newsletter that covers events for three different local churches. This newsletter is where I found the information for our local St. Martin's Day celebration. In Teveren, we'd met at the school and ended at the school is a purely secular celebration, but in Gillrath it was very different. I knew that we needed to be there at 5 and though that there may be a mass, but I wasn't sure. We walked to the church from our house and got there just as mass was starting, so we sat in a pew in the back - or mom and Kirk sat and I stood to keep tabs on the kids and deal with a squirmy Elise. St. Martin was on the stage with his traditional red robes and his long fake white beard and gold helmet. The mass, of course, was all in German, but my mom, being Catholic, understood a lot of it. Kirk understood it all except the singing. I knew some of the songs because Luci had learned some St. Martin's songs in school and they sung them in church as well. The service lasted about 45 minutes and ended with communion and a couple songs. People trickled in quietly in the back. The girls behaved well, so I was very proud of them.
When it was over we walked outside to see the huge crowds of people who did not attend the mass. The band was assembled and the street in front of the church was packed already with children bearing lanterns and their parents holding Styrofoam cups of gluwein.

The band started playing and the crowd walked a short distance to the small town parking lot where all the local celebrations are held. Tonight the firemen were the ones holding the torches as we all walked along. In the lot was a huge bonfire like the night before in Teveran. I was glad that I'd been to Teveran because the crowds were so huge in Gillrath and the reenactment so brief that by the time we got to the back of the crowd, it was over and St. Martin was already riding away on his horse, leading the parade. So we walked again, down a long street, looping up right in front of our house, then walking all the way back the the church. St. Martin's horse waited outside. Fathers milled around talking and drinking gluwein and mothers joined the throng of kids and lanterns pushing in through the narrow church doors to see St. Martin. It took a while to get in and the kids were frustrated, but we saw why inside. Whereas in Teveren, many people handed out the bags of bread and chocolate to the children, in Gillrath, St. Martin shook every child's hand and gave them their treats. So we waited in line and Arianna and Luci both shook his hand. Elise was scared, so I grabbed her and Tiara got the goodies for both of them.
When we got back Tinny and Finny were waiting to see us. They'd waved as we walked by in the parade too. Finny said that she'd helped put together 495 goodie bags earlier that day. The church took all the donations for St. Martin's day and spent all of it on the kids, so each of my girls received in their goodie bag: 1 large St. Martin's bread, 2 clementines, 1 apple, 1 hanutta chocolate wafer, 1 full sized snickers bar, a package of 12 chocolate covered Aachener printen cookies, a bag of marzipan potatoes, a full sized milka chocolate bar, and a large package of butter spekulaties (cookies). The bags were almost too heavy for the kids to carry home. So the kids stuffed themselves on bread and fruit, and Kirk and I went for the printen. YUM! Mom and Kirk went to Il Genio's to get dinner afterwards. For some odd reason, the kids just weren't that hungry... :)

Tiara was there... she's in the first picture. The lanterns are carried on hooks on little poles with batteries inside and a little light bulb that hangs down into the lantern. They are VERY cheaply made, so poor Tiara made a lantern that afternoon, but her light just wouldn't stay on. Eventually, she just got tired of it and walked without it. Elise didn't make a lantern, so she carried a flashlight part of the way until she dropped it and it broke to bits. Next year, they'll all make lanters and we'll use glowsticks inside... those would be a lot more reliable.

Tante Tinny sung a song with the girls earlier that week. Here are the words: "Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne, Brenne auf mein Licht, Brenne auf mein Licht: Aber nur meine liebe Laterne Nicht!"

Kirk celebrated his 35th birthday tonight in Sittard at Mr. Kim's De Wok restaurant - a great Chinese restaurant on the market square that has only a buffet, so it is one price and you can eat until you drop. One table has fruit and sushi, another fried foods and typical Chinese meat dishes, and another long bar had endless bowls of meats, fishes, vegetables and noodles for soup or Mongolian BBQ. They also had a Japanese chef working at another grill cooking Japanese style tilapia, salmon, swordfish, and other yummy fishes. I hadn't eaten there before, but when I asked a Dutch friend for restaurant recommendations in Sittard, he suggested Chinese or Greek. Aren't there any good Dutch restaurants? No. "Dutch food is really bland and most people just cook it at home." Dutch just really like international food. The best restaurant in Maastricht is a satay bar.Tiara missed it, poor girl. She had point class from 1715-1815 and then a rehearsal immediately afterwards until 2030. When we picked her up afterwards she was exhausted and starving so we rushed home to feed her, eat cake, and open presents.

Kirk wanted bienenstich for his cake, so I baked that for him. Bienenstich is a German cake with candied almonds on top and custard in the middle. The name translates to "bee sting," so it is a sweet cake and very good. (I'll post the recipe eventually, but I have about 10 recipes for this that all differ slightly. This one wasn't as good as others I've made, so I need to find the better recipe... now I'm on a quest.)

For his birthday he was spoiled with a first edition book that he's wanted, an autographed Billy Joel LP, and a really nice bottle of wine. He was very happy and the girls were all excited to watch him open presents. They love birthdays - no matter whose birthday it is!


It gets dark here by 6, so Sittard was very dark as we walked around the market square, but the church is lit up at night and everything is pretty. So the photos below are of the market with the church... and me.

If any of you have ever stepped off of an airplane after a transatlantic flight, then you know the nauseous, overtired, achy, just-got-hit-by-a-semi-truck feeling associated with the word "jetlagged." Some might refer to this by saying, "I feel dead," and indeed, one might think by the pale, drawn, corpse-like appearance of some jetlagees, that they are on their way there.

My mother, upon arriving in Dusseldorf after a 12+ hour flight from Portland, did not look jetlagged. She looked irritatingly refreshed and beautiful (I never look that good), but she did feel a bit tired. So, sweet, considerate daughter that I am, I took her to a cemetary that morning.

WHAT?!!!??!?!?! Is that your reaction? Well, it might have been seen as a really cruel joke, but Tiara was singing with her class at the Margraten American War Cemetary at 11 for a Veteran's Day ceremony.

Due to some interesting navigation by our GPS, we got there right as it was starting. Both the Canadian and American anthems were sung, then some brief introductions, a shorter speech, and then the presentation of colors and wreathes and books of poetry done by elementary students. The half-hour ceremony closed with songs by both Af North Elementary and GK Elementary schools.

(As it was ending, I was thinking... I drove ALL OVER THE NETHERLANDS for this??!?!?!? And, as it turned out, the kids weren't even really assembled in a nice manner, but clumped together off to the side with the onlookers, so I couldn't even get a good photo of her singing, so, yes -- I drove 2 hours round-trip to attend a 30-minute ceremony during which I got a profile shot of my daughters head among a sea of tweenish heads that will be about the size of a pin-head in a standard 4x6 photo. Hey - the upshot is that I can rightfully call her pin-head now... she'll love that!)


When the ceremony was over, the classes began the "peace walk" around the perimeter of the cemetery. While they walked, Elise and Luci gathered large maple leaves from the ground and handed them to mom. The grass was dewy and reflected the sunlight very beautifully. The day was perfectly crisp autumn with a cloudless sky and a clear view of the Limburg valley below.


As the students returned from the quiet walk, they were each given one long stemmed rose to place by a grave. The boys humorously all sniffed the roses while the girls seemed indifferent to them. Tiara thoughtfully placed her rose at the foot of a cross of a man from Oregon. I turned to gather up Luci and Elise who were hugging the white marble crosses and we went home.

If it wasn't for the ceremony today, I would have forgotten about Veteran's Day. The weather was perfect though and the cemetery is in a beautiful part of The Netherlands in green hilly farm country, so even the getting to and from was special. On one narrow street a beautiful horse stood above us just on the edge of a grassy ledge looking out. It was one of many photo-ops untaken.