Life: Idiotropic

I've mentioned before how beautiful the roadside crosses and chapels are here. When we first got here, it was a beautiful contrast to my own country where Christian images are being pushed out of public space. Here, religion is part of the culture and is still accepted as such. People pay taxes to the church, religion is taught in schools, and crosses are mounted on the sides of people's homes. Catholic blessings are written in chalk above most doorways. I like the crosses here. They are abundant - and always beautiful and well cared for. And, I think no matter what religion one is, they can be simple reminders of the many blessings in our lives.

In the Netherlands, obligatory school starts around the age of 3 or 4. In the US, of course, our obligatory kindergarten starts at age 5 and, upon entering kindergarten, they are considered 'going to school.' Today Arianna saw a girl at the playground and told me that she was at her school. The mother of the girl said, "No, it must be another girl. My daughter is three. She does not go to school." This morning I saw them at Aria's school. It's just verbage, but the Germans do not consider Kindergarten to be school. And why should they? It's really just daycare. They play. They eat breakfast and wash their own dishes. They do a lot of art. The do not learn letters or numbers or any American style learning. School, in Germany, begins at 6. That will be an interesting experience. I am already saving my pennies for the German backpack, that, according to my sources, is obligatory and starts at 100 Euros. That thing better last forever!

The play ground was fun today. Arianna did play with her German kindergarten friend and it was fun for me to listen to her talk. Her friend offered her something and she replied with "Nein, danke." Then they started throwing sand from the play structure saying, "futter Tier" meaning feed the pets. I'm enjoying Arianna's progress. She loves her school and is learning very quickly.

Some days are simple. Not enough, of course, but as the weather improves, I revel in those few days when there is nothing going on. They kids play outside. They run. They climb the bushes. They bike and rollarblade and laugh and make all sorts of racket. Tiara decided to teach Arianna to rollarblade on this day and Arianna had a great time. Luci and Elise ran up and down the sidewalk excited to be with the big girls. And Luci helped Arianna safely on and off the curb when Aria needed help. This was one of those calm, sweet summer days when everyone is relaxed and content - until, that is, it's time to go in for bed.

When I need a good recipe and I don't have time to scour cookbooks, I go to one of three sites on the internet: www.epicurious.com, www.foodtv.com, and www.allrecipes.com.

I'm sure there are other great ones, but between these three, I always find something great. And many found recipes have become regulars in my cooking repertoire.

Last night I wanted to make chili and cornbread - easy enough. This cornbread recipe, discovered on epicurious, is definitely one that I'll add to my favorites and tweak a little to make it mine.

Corn Bread with Basil, Roasted Red Peppers, and Monterey Jack Cheese
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/4410


Preheat oven to 400F. Butter a 9x9x2" baking pan (I used two 8" round pans and it worked great). Melt 1T butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat (I used cooking spray), add 1 cup chopped onion and sautee until tender, about 10 minutes. Cool.

Combine 1 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal, 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 T baking powder, 1 1/2 t salt, and 1/2 t baking soda in a large bowl.

Add 7 T chilled butter and rub into dry ingredients with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and 3 large eggs into dry ingredients and stir until blended. Mix in sauteed onion, 1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese with jalapenos, 1 1/3 cups frozen corn kernels thawed and drained, 1/2 cup drained chopped roasted red peppers from jar, and 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil. Mix well and transfer to prepared pan.

Bake until golden and tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool 20 minutes on rack.

Serves 12.

My notes:
1. Room temperature butter stirred in with a spoon worked great.
2. I didn't add the corn or the red peppers because I didn't have them and it was delicious without, but I'm sure it would be delicious with them also.
3. I used plain Monterey Jack cheese instead of Pepper jack - both are yummy in this recipe.
4. This is a great recipe to play with... next time I'll add some chopped bacon and jalapenos. You could probably even add some chili beans to it and make it a meal.
5. I NEVER have buttermilk. So, when a recipe calls for buttermilk, I measure the required amount in regular milk, then add a bit of vinegar to it - 1/2t to 1t depending on the amount of milk. Mix the vinegar into the milk before adding it to the recipe. It turns out great every time.

Life for Arianna at the St. Maria Namen Kindergarten couldn't be sunnier. Life is good. School is fun. She is happy. And... she is learning German schnell. Yes, quickly. Everyday she comes home with new words learned. She had friends and seems to get along ok. One teacher in her class speaks enough English to help her if she's really confused.

A couple weeks ago the older kids in the school took a field trip to the police station in Geilenkirchen. They walked to the bus stop and took the city bus there and back. At the police station they got to see a jail cell and a police car. Arianna was the brave volunteer who got fingerprinted and actually sat in the police car.

I finally got all the paperwork filled out and I had help with the translation, so Jennifer, a German with excellent English skills, read the long document and filled me in on what it said - the basics - emergency contact information, health insurance information, allergies, pick-up and drop-off times, basic rules and regulations... and breakfast. For breakfast we are to send in a well-balanced, nutritional meal of bread, fruit, and yogurt. Cheese and crackers are highly discouraged. They don't like American lunchables or string cheese. Packages snacks are verboten. It's good to know. I guess I shouldn't have sent in that left-over pizza with Aria the other day. Oh well... live and learn.

Last October 16th, I got flashed by the annoying temporary tri-pod camera set up by the local school by the police. I knew eventually I'd get a ticket. In January, the ticket finally arrived. Wow. I didn't know such a morph was possible. It was morning. It was dark. I was photographed in poor light behind the wheel of my car with an obnoxiously bright flash. The photo is horrific. Seriously - it looks like a bad combination of Sean Penn and ALF. Based on that photo alone, I think I should seek therapy. It makes all others Hollywood glam.

So, here's the breakdown. I had to pay a 25 Euro fine which isn't nearly as high as I thought, so that was a relief.

The ticket was wonderfully detailed.

gemessene Geschwindigkeit (the speed I was caught doing) 45km/h
abzuglich Toleranzwert (the tolerance over - not very tolerant!) 3km/h

zulassige Hochstgeschwindigkeit (the speed limit in that zone) 30km'h

Geschwindigkeitsuberschreitung 12km/h
(the speed over minus the tolerance)


Keep in mind that this is all in km/h - much slower than mph speeds. And so 12km/h is more like 6mph over in a zone that is PAINFULLY slow... like 15mph-ish.


So, the paperwork all arrived with a little 4x5" yellow and white payment slip pre-filled out with their bank information, so all I had to do was take it to my bank and pay it. Kein problem.

NOW someone on their end doesn't know that we've paid it and I have to play secretary and track down all my receipts to prove that I paid it so that I don't have to pay it again. Apparently this is a common problem here - lesson learned - keep ALL receipts ALWAYS. They come in handy more frequently than I care to admit.

Sittard in the spring is particularly beautiful. After months of scurrying to the bagel shop to escape the cold, today the girls and I walked along the narrow path between the homes of Putstraat and the little fenced off gardens hiding behind.

We hadn't walked back there since late fall, so it felt good in the sun to see something other than the usual concrete. The chickens and sheep were out and people were working in their gardens clearing out old branches as they pruned their trees. Pruning is as common here as buying a pumpkin on Halloween. It's just something that anyone with a tree or bush does. And many of them are polarded (chopped off entirely to a fat little ball at the top from where it will fill out in the spring) or espaliered (with certain branches fanned out along wired creating a flat fence of tree).

All the bare sticks now have little tiny buds and soft green leaves emerging from them. I enjoyed seeing the contrast of this hydrangea - with the dried blooms from last season existing along side the new leaves of spring.

Farmers for the last couple weeks have been out in full force. Every field is sprinkled with tractors of all kinds. Just last week the spargel (asparagus) rows appeared. Then - 7 days later - the snow fell.

So, here's the contrast - photos above from last Monday when it was warm. I wore a light sweater and sandals with my jeans. It was comfortable. This Monday is snowed and now it's bitterly cold snowing, hailing, or sleeting a little bit every day.

This was the third snow of this winter, but the first time I've had a chance to photograph it. So, below are a couple photos of the snow covered spargel rows. I wish I'd had the chance to photograph the daffodils bowing under the weight of small piles of snow balancing on their heads like white knit caps. They were funny to see and would have captured the true feel of this season when one can go from warmth to snow in such a short time with no rhyme or reason.

This morning at approximately 1026 European Central Time, I mailed off a manila envelope containing some paperwork, 5 compact disks, and two checks totalling $3576.

The GKES yearbook, a project that's monopolized my last few weeks, is out of my hands for now and that feels good. Yesterday morning I wasn't ready. I moved the entire collection of photos and files over to another computer and went through it again. By the afternoon I was ready to let it go - for now.

Next I'll get a proof to initial and sign. Then it goes to print and by June we should receive 2o0 copies of our 60-page full color yearbook. That will be a great moment. Yes, I ordered one for myself. I'll have my student staff sign it for me.

Ahhh... so last night late I enjoyed an iced coffee with Bailey's to celebrate quietly by myself. Kirk is in France this week. Last week he was in Italy. Next week he goes to London. Rough life he has, huh?

Anyway... I'll be back on blogger now a bit. Nothing too huge looms in the future, so I have some time to relax just a little. -- Oh, and the art up top is one of about 200 scanned pieces of art that students K-6th grade made at school and we included in the yearbook as borders. It's all gorgeous and sure does add some zing to the pages!

In an effort to experience life to its fullest, I've taken on the role now as taxi driver taking vacations only in miniature by looking out the windows of my van and dreaming of walking through the fields that I can only speed by now at 50Kph.

This is the last week. Though I will still be the official Stahlbaum team bus for my family as they scurry off in all directions to various lessons and play dates, the yearbook (something has consumed more than a bit of my time this last few weeks) will be over next Tuesday for the most part and I will be able to enjoy the metamorphosis that's going on without me right outside my window.

Last year we were still enduring snow and ice. This year Spring has arrived with arrays of daffodils and crocus littering up the green spaces along the roads and in the roundabouts. The pheasant are in the fields again. The bunnies are out in small groups. The birds are happier - everyone is happier. It's amazing what a good dose of sun can do. Everyone is smiling, feeling lighter on their feet and in their hearts. All is well in my community this week and the feeling in the air is almost tangible. And, it's affecting me too - at a time when I might normally be a bit stressed, things are just flowing now and I'm feeling great.

I can't wait to be able to sit and write or blog or paint. The sun is inducing some rather fun avenues of thought and artistry that I'd like to explore. It would be a good day to walk barefoot through the mud or to create a rock garden.

Even the bakeries are changing. Nothing here is ever static. The bakeries and flower shops mark the seasons with more frequency than the fields. Farmers in their tractors litter each field now as they prepare for this year's crops. And my sweet bakery just brought out it's first batch of strawberry tarts. I was so excited to see them that I momentarily forgot the German word for strawberry. The tartlet filled with a sweet vanilla custard and piled with a tee-pee of strawberry wedges with a wreath of toasted almond slivers on the side was as beautiful as it was delicious. I'd intended to take a photo of it, but it sadly disappeared too quickly for that. I guess I'll just have to go buy another.

Either I'm a mom, or the shoemaker's elves have gotten loose again. This evening, late and after a very busy day, I walked into the living room to find my perfectly beautiful mango - the one I bought this morning as an indulgence to treat myself tonight in a moment of quiet - gored unabashedly with a chopstick and sitting like a shocking piece of modern art on my windowsill for all to see.

These are things that those without children will never experience. These are things that I wouldn't have experienced if I'd had the sense to stop at 2... but... I didn't, so the myriad of modern art expressions by my dear #3 continue.

Since before we even moved here, Kirk and I discussed the possibility of putting our kids in the German schools. There were reasons to do it and reasons not to. First we wanted to wait and let the kids adjust to the big move. Then we just loved the school where they were and, I think more than anything, I was just nervous and unsure.

In January, we made the decision that we should try it, so I took applications for Arianna, Luci, and Elise in to St. Maria Namen Kindergarten in our village of Gillrath. There was no room at the time, but we'd be put on the waiting list. Then I got a call that there was space and paperwork would arrive in the mail. Two days later we got an envelope in our mail slot. I was excited to see some official paperwork of admittance and opened it to find that there was nothing inside addressed to me. Each girl received a letter addressed just to them... "Liebe Arianna..." The letters told them that they had a place at the school "010807." Kirk and I were so excited that they had places that for several days, we completely ignored the date and told all our friends that the girls would be starting that month! Then, it dawned on me that we'd forgotten to switch the dates. Here, the day ALWAYS comes first. So, instead of the 8th of January, our girls will start the 1st of August!

Then, just a couple weeks ago, I got a call saying that there was a place for Arianna. Since Aria will be at the age to attend the Greunschule next year, they wanted to bring her in now so that she can adjust to the language before the bigger school. Here, kindergarten is for children ages 3-5, and it is more of a Montessorie-style play time to learn socialization than a true letters and numbers learning environment. Then, at age 6, they go to Greunschule and learn what our kids normally learn in kindergarten.

Wednesday was Arianna's last day at GKES - the American school she's been attending. I baked cupcakes for her class and she smiled ear to ear that she was going. She was so excited and happy to be starting a new school. Yesterday was her first day. She was there from 8-12, and from 2-4. In the middle is mittags pause - the lunch break - when mom's take their children home and feed them. She took her breakfast in the morning. They sit together at a nicely set table with their food on plates. They serve themselves milk, kakao, or juice and then they wash their own dishes and dry them with their own special towels.

Arianna is in the Froschgruppe, but she has the freedom to go anywhere in the school. She just has to move her photomagnet on the board to the right place to show her teachers where she is. Her teachers are Frau Hildegard and Rebecca - both are very nice.

I brought her in with the required items: hausschue (house shoes that are worn when they are in the building), shorts and a t-shirt for gym time, and gummi pants and jacket for playing outside in the muck and rain so they don't get their regular clothes dirty.

Yesterday she came home happy and bouncing. I heard her playing in the playroom pointing to things saying "das und das." She also learned the word: orangen. Today; however, she melted. We faced a morning of tears and kicking, fighting and hiding in the corner resolute not to go to German school. She said that yesterday kids were talking to her and she didn't understand them. It took a lot of talking, but we got here there and when I picked her up, she was playing happily outside with a couple other kids. It's hard to see her unhappy, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. She just needs people and it's hard for her to be in this place where she doesn't understand. Hopefully, that will give her the impetus to listen and learn quicker. She already is, really, we played in German phrases all afternoon and she was doing very well.

We finally got the adult "formulas" yesterday, so we can officially register her and find out how much it's going to cost. The kindergarten is pro-rated according to how much you make, so we have her there with no solid idea on how much we'll end up paying per month - kind of scary, really... but we'll see.

I have SOOO much to blog... the Austria trip and Arianna's first loose tooth, Aria's first day of German kindergarten which may seem rather sudden, but it's something that's been brewing, this whirlwind week full of odd little bits of trivia, and my weekend in Heidleberg which starts tomorrow... but, of course, I'll be gone all weekend, and next week I'll be drowning in yearbook stuff... that will last another two + weeks and then I'll be sane again, if only for a short time. So... hang in there. I have SOOO many photos to share! They'll be up slowly, but surely.

Here are the "teaser" photos... I'll get to the blog later in the week.

We got back late on Saturday night. Yesterday was spent unpacking and it's still not done and now I've jumped head-first into yearbook photos and layouts trying to get things all ready to do the layouts with the kids and have this thing mailed off by 20 March. It will be a crazy few weeks.

So, blogging will be my stress-relief when I can no longer look at yearbook stuff and I'll get my week in Austria blogged in parts over the next week or so. A few other random bits will show up on the blog in the next few days as well... little things that I didn't get time to share before the trip.






This last photo is a bit of a sore subject... it is the ONLY photo that we got the entire trip of the 6 of us and our local ski club captain jumped in at the last minute. When the yearbook is finished, I'll see if I can Photoshop him out and put Frosty the Snowman in his place. Grrr.

We live in farm country. Tiny villages are surrounded by fields. Large old brick homes encircle large courtyards big enough for farm equipment and all sizes of tractors. These tractors come in handy for all sorts of occasions. I've seen them tow away cars after traffic accidents and, for carnival, they haul balloons and floats and whatever else is needed.

Today while running some last minute pre-vacation errands, I got behind two slow tractors. Usually I'm complaining that autumn's sugar beat trucks are slow or I'll have the sad misfortune to get behind one of the fertilizer trucks, but today I slowed enough behind this tractor hauling a Karneval parade float to take this photo and just up the road was this little tractor turning the corner with large bags of yellow balloons. Everyone's getting ready for the small local parades now and it's fun to see the farmers get involved too.

The window is a very mediocre example of the windows here. Some are incredibly ornate filled with clowns, balloons, and streamers in red, yellow, and green. I always enjoy driving around this time of year in particular and seeing what fun things people have put in their windows.

Karneval is coming to town... the parties have started and this weekend, the big parades start -- the biggest one in Cologne on Rosenmontag. We'll be in Austria, so we'll miss most of it.

But this morning while drinking coffee and visiting with friends, I heard a bunch of racket from outside, so, as usual, I grabbed my camera and ran to the front door. The local German elementary school (the one Aria will attend next year), was having their big costume parade through the village and they were turning right in front of my house. The best costume was one boy dressed as a giant Kinderegg - the toy filled chocolate eggs.

Luci left this morning for school dressed in her fancy dress because she wanted to be a princess. Her class is taught by German teachers, so they like to do the local holidays big. They had a party with a lot of music and dancing and a small parade around the building to show off their costumes. (Luci's the one in the peach dress)





Tiara had a party this afternoon too. I stopped by to drop off cookies and ended up staying a while to take pictures for the yearbook. The costumes were hysterical. Three boys dressed up as girls - one in a extravagant pink and purple dress with fur and a jacket and hat and pink fishnet stockings. It was a bit frightening. The girls were all dressed cute as baseball players, cats, rock stars, and one wore a mardi gras feather mask. Tiara was a 50's girl. They played duck- duck-goose, dodge ball, musical chairs, and a few other games.





Arianna didn't have a carnival party with her class, but I took pictures of them in the computer lab learning to use the computers. They learn to log in and go into specific programs. The teacher (who is still living in the dark ages when it comes to computers) was trying to teach them to put stamps on their worksheets in the art program. It took her so long to explain it and then the network kept crashing when the kids tried to log on, that most of the kids never even got the program open before the class was over.

Today is women's day here in Germany - a day during Carneval where women reign supreme and can do anything, supposedly. One Dutch woman tried to explain, "you just forget that you're married and have kids for one day and just go out and have a good time."

May be next year, I'll dress up and go observe it although I don't think I could participate fully.

Men are told to be careful, to wear only ties that they don't care about, and on their uniforms to not wear patches or to wear old ones. Today is the day that women can cut off men's ties and steal their patches. Yes, adult, married, responsible, normally sane women, go around cutting off men's ties.

It's the one day a year here when the normally intimacy unlucky can find companionship. And yes, alcohol does play a role.

Tonight at Il Genio's, it was mostly men who came for the pizza. Most of the women were out. The party on base started at 11:11 - a significant time for carnival. It won't end until midnight. Driving around today I saw an abundance of clowns and nuns behind the wheel. Women in red with horns walked along the street holding each other up.

Tiara participated too. In host nation class, the teacher let the 6th grade girls loose to each cut a piece off of Dr. Emerson's tie. He did wear his ugliest tie to work today for the occasion, and the girls had a good time doing the normally forbidden. Tiara was upset that someone stole her piece of the principle's tie from her desk, so she doesn't have her memento anymore.

I'm being a mom today and Kirk is out with his friends still. I'm sure I'll hear all about it tomorrow, but, next year, it's his turn to babysit.

No, I didn't get any photos of my cute kids shoving candy in their mouths like I starve them, but they did all have parties today. Arianna and Luci have been making very cute lollipop valentines for a week, so they took those into school today with candy to share. I didn't have to bake for these parties, so that makes me happy.

Luci came home with a shoebox overflowing with Valentine's and candy. The best Valentine: A 8" heart-shaped balloon on a stick with the message handwritten on it. (That mom does have too much time.) Her least original: one of the 4 Barbie princess valentines that were identical.

Arianna came home with a very cute paper plate pouch with yarn woven through it so that she could hang in around her shoulders like a mailman's bag. It was covered in hearts and also overflowed with valentines. The most original was the 3D bug made with a smarties candy body and pipe cleaner wings and legs. Her least original was the barbie princess valentine that Luci got 4 of. They had ice cream sundaes at school, so that was fun and better than the traditional boxed cupcake mix.

Tiara told me on the 13th after school that she needed to make Valentines. That was in addition to her homework, the yearbook meeting, and her ballet class. So, I bought gummi bears and printed labels to put on the little packages. "Happy Valentine's Day 2007 From: Tiara" I could tell that other parents were just as irritated. It IS 6th grade. They don't care. One kid gave out bags of chips - no tag or sticker... just chips. Good for them.

Now I have to gear up for the Carneval parties that Tiara and Luci will have tomorrow. I kinda think that may be there should be a 1 party a week limit at school! 2 in one week? Too much.

Yesterday I was alarmed to hear a voice sounding over a loudspeaker outside my home. It seemed like some scary moment from a movie where I should come out with my hands up. Dramatic, may be, but you never really know.

So, I ran outside to see what it was and found a small Deutches Rotes Kruzes (German Red Cross) van driving ever so slowly down the B56 with an endless line of cars creeping along behind it. The little loudspeaker stuck out from the side and the voice was booming. All I caught from the string of German utterance was the number 16.

Thankfully, my housekeeper came to the rescue with the interpretation: Spende Blut.

There's going to be a blood drive. Ok. That's pretty normal. They have them in the area fairly frequently. But, really... a loudspeaker?? Are they that hard-up for blood? And I thought the ice cream man back home was obnoxious.

Three parties in one day!

This afternoon we were invited to join the Spanish for Paella! Paella is a delicious traditional Spanish rice dish cooked from start to finish in one pan. A family might have a pan for 12 or 16. The paella pan they used today was especially made for 50 people.

The tables were set with bread, cheese, green olives, and big bowls of delicious sangria. The paella was cooking still when we arrived on a pan that was probably four feet across. The rice and chicken cooked first, then, when the rice was almost done, they put on the mussels, large prawns, and other shellfish. It was like art the way everything was arranged perfectly set on top. Just before serving, Joanna sliced wedges of lemon so that they would rest on the edge of the pan in a way that the juice would run into the food. YUM! This is a recipe I'll get - full of flavor, but not spicy or overpowering in any way. One Italian lady was there and she brought Tiramisu for dessert - another recipe I need.

During this party, Arianna attended a party at the Hoensbroek castle for her friend where they got to dress up in fancy period costumes and go on a scavenger hunt across the castle. Such a nice dream for little princesses to party at a real castle. They had a great time.

After that we headed to another friend's house for a good ol' American birthday party with chili and other potluck items - a nice time with friends. It's relaxing to settle back into English after listening and speaking Spanish for part of an afternoon - to just talk without thinking is a good thing sometimes.

(photos will arrive soon... sadly, my camera battery died and I'd left the spare on the charger... so I'll post photos as they are emailed to me from friends)

Here's a little bit of the U.S. - the Girl Scouts. Arianna has participated in Daisy's this year - the kindergarten group of the girl scouts. She's enjoying it quite a bit. Today was "thinking day" where every different girl scout troop in the area chose a country to represent and they presented a completed project board, a snack, and some demonstration to the rest of the groups. Arianna and her class performed The Bremen Town Musicians since that is a story based in a German town. In the real town of Bremen, there is actually a statue of the donkey, cat, dog, and rooster. The girls had fun. Arianna is enjoying a large piece of Canadian candy in this photo - hence the lopsided grin.