Life: Idiotropic

Let these photos be a warning to you. Yes, without warning, this blog, come July or August, will become my own personal whining space. Readers will be bombarded with original statements like, "It's hot," "It's horrifically, miserably hot," and "It's probably cooler in Africa." I could even go into some editorial rant entitled, "Why in land's sakes is there NO air conditioning anywhere in Germany????!?!?!?"

Yes, unless I am able to successfully escape to somewhere cooler like, say, the Arctic, I think I may just go mad.

And, I won't be the only one. My poor neighbor is already complaining. It's hot and it's still APRIL! The man in the pizza place was griping too. If you've planned a trip to Germany for the summer, well, think again. Unless you enjoy listening to an endless barrage of fussing over the weather. I think that's all I'll be hearing - and doing.

April 23rd is the day on which the Republic of Turkey was founded and it is also celebrated as children's day. Attaturk, a Turkish commander and elected president at the time, loved children and declared the day a holiday where people exchange gifts. It is much like Christmas for the children, but they also celebrate cultures from around the world. It is a day of peace.

So, each year on the base, the Turkish here put together a celebration for all the children and their families. Luci, with her dance school, performed two times. Now Luci is perfectly capable of dancing. If she wants to dance, she looks fantastic and knows the movements better than most of the girls in her class. But, she's stubborn and hasn't wanted to dance these last few weeks. She especially didn't want to dance today on the stage, so while she was up there, and she did all the movements correctly, she was very robotic and performed a very emotionless, flat performance. Still, I have to be the silly mom taking photos. So, the first dance, she wore a colorful skirt and did a really fun jazz dance. The second dance she wore the white tutu and did a nice little ballet. Both times she was adorable in spite of herself. And... the photo with the thumbs up? Yes, that was on stage in front of a packed auditorium, during the performance, looking right at me.




When the long kick-off talent portion of the day finally ended, we all headed outside into the sun. Food was cookin' -- burgers, hot dogs, and cotton candy. Large inflatable jumping toys were set up with kids crawling, jumping, and climbing all over them. A simulator had a long line of kids waiting for their turn to try it, and the adults of all nationalities stood around in clumps visiting with each other.

A karate demonstration began and Kirk was happy to show the martial arts to the girls. Arianna, especially, was really excited about it and now wants to sign up. After that outdoor demo, a group of young German carnival dancers came out to do a silly dance dressed as animals and the 7 dwarfs from a very popular German comedy. Then, came my favorite part - the Turkish fold dancers. They wore the same costumes as last year and did the same dances, but it was still beautiful. The women danced well, but calmly. The true "bam" of the dancing came from the men, whirling, jumping, and dancing with such flare. I watched from behind my camera clicking constantly to capture as much of the movement as possible. (Check out the guy in this first photo - both his feet are above ground and the long part of his jacket is flying! The girls in the wedding dresses did most of their dancing on their toes wearing silver high-healed mary-janes.)







(The colorful costumes of the women in the second dance somehow looked absolutely brilliant. Looking closely, you can see colors and pattern juxtaposed that you'd never dare set foot from the house wearing, but somehow, they worked and looked terrific. Truly, it was a little bit of Turkish embroidery mixed with a few oversized florals from the 1960's grandma's closet. Add some crazy bright wool socks and you've got it. The young girl looking over towards me in the photo above was so sweet and fun to watch. Every time I had my camera poised near her, she'd look at me and smile.)

After the dancing, the food, lots of jumping, and a lot of play, we took the small train ride around the base hoping that it would lead us to the AWACS that was open. It didn't. Instead, we just did a big boring circle and missed the plane except for a brief view as we drove passed it. The kids still enjoyed the ride although Luci was so hot, she leaned her head on the train car door and starting absentmindedly licking her salty arm. Just before we left the girls got cotton candy - a sweet end to a fun, but exhausting day.



During the the entire post-dancing fun, Tiara had been having big girl fun at an ice-cream shop with one of her friends. We picked her up and the kids played for a bit on the trampoline before we left for the night.

Today was the big day -- the day that Luci has been waiting for for more than 6 months -- the day of her 4th - oops - 4 1/2 birthday party. Yeah, her birthday was in September, but we had visitors, and then Kirk was TDY, and then there were holidays and more visitors and vacations planned and busy weekends and more TDY's... until, at last, at age 4.5 and two weeks, we finally pulled it off. One princess party with a houseful of friends.

The invitation information was printed on really cute pink princess paper. Here's the info as printed (without our contact info):

Here Ye, Here Ye…

Due to a dreadfully busy schedule in the Palace Stahlbaum at the time of Princess Lucienne’s 4^th birthday, the old Queen neglected to organize a party. In order to properly mark the joyous occasion of Luci’s birth, she is throwing a royal bash in Luci’s honour to celebrate the Princess’ 4 ½ birthday.

Your presence is now requested on behalf of Queen Tiffany to celebrate the momentous occasion of Luci’s 4 ½ birthday in grand style.

The celebration will be held at the Palace Stahlbaum on 21 April 2007 from 10:00 until 1:00.

The palace is located in the quaint village of Gillrath at...

Please call in your acceptances or regrets to the Queen herself or send an email to tifany74@yahoo.com.

So, the my girls all dressed up in their princess dresses. I had the table set with pink roses, and pretty crystal bowls to hold the treats. The cake was a castle with ice cream cone turrets.

Most of Luci's friends dressed up. They made wands, crowns, and beaded jewelry. They colored and played. We had sack races in the courtyard. Once the yard was cleared of tree debris, they played on the slide in the garden.

The one part that I never like is the present opening part -- it's boring for the other kids. This year I had all the kids sit in a circle around Luci and then the quietest ones went first to pick out their present from the pile, and hand it to Luci. Luci would open it, say thank you, and then I'd get a picture of Luci with her friend. I'll probably print out the photos to put in the thank you notes. It also is helping to keep track of who gave her what for thank yous AND it got the kids up and involved a little more so it wasn't such a boring process. The Italian's open presents as they are handed to them as guests arrive, so it is totally out of the way and not an event at all. I like that too and may try that for the next party.

I wasn't as organized as I usually like to be. Some things planned just didn't happen, but the kids all played and had a good time. Tiara painted faces and made the girls extra pretty with dress up stuff and everyone stayed at least until 1. Some stayed until 2 and then we all rushed off to ballet practice.


It was a nice evening. Luci was at dance for about an hour, then we came home for play time. Tiara had a sleepover to get to and the evening remained pleasant. The sun shining always helps.

I took these pictures tonight when I drove home from taking Tiara to her sleepover. Without our trees, it is still strange to drive into our driveway. I don't like it. It is open and brighter, but very sparse. The birds were flocking tonight in the few trees that remained inside the yard. They seemed skittish - and after losing 12 trees, I can't blame them. I'm sure we have several homeless birds pigeons here now. This is the year for changes here. No more trees and no more windmill views. The road is in now and I'm sure that in no time, the 40 new houses where yellow and purple floral fields stood last year will be built to block our view of most of the 29 windmills that Tiara can see from her bedroom window.

Today I parked across the street at the bank because a huge truck with a crane on it was parked in my spot behind the garage. They removed the 12 50+ year-old pine trees that lined part of my driveway and yard today worried that they could cause too much damage in a storm. I kept peeking out the window to see the crane lifting large trunks and carrying them over the top of the garage roof into the bin on the other side. Six hours later there was still a mess to carry over into Saturday, but all 12 trees were down and chopped up. It looks strange.

Tonight we went to a friends house for a BBQ and we made some fabulous grilled veggies together - sliced zucchini, asparagus, olive oil, sea salt, and fresh garlic tossed together and then put into a grilling basket to steam on the grill. Delicious!

This afternoon I took Tiara over to the AF North International School in Brunssum to complete her 7th grade registration. She was both excited and nervous. I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. The large building houses preschool through high school classes, but it's divided into colored pods which shrink the building down quite a bit when most of Tiara's classes will be in one place. 7th grade occupies the red pod. Her locker will be one of many that outline the perimeter of the large open space. All the 7th grade classes branch off from that space, so getting to classes is quick and easy. As of now, it looks like she'll be leaving her pod just twice a day - once for high school French (she'll get high school credit for it!) and once for 8th grade math (she's totally capable and it will save her from the narcoleptic 7th grade math teacher - no joke).

I was there to sit and smile. The guidance counselor talked to Tiara 95% of the time. She asked Tiara questions and went over a survey with her. Tiara was nervous, but I think she feels good about moving to a different school.

I'm mixed. Excited for new opportunities that Tiara will enjoy. Excited for change and the newness of it all. But... it comes with new challenges. I know that academically, this year will be difficult and, there is more that I will want to shelter her from - but with less control. While I was with the counsellor, a 9th grade boy came in upset because he got in trouble for reading a Maxim magazine at school and then made his oil lamp in the shape of a bong. Tiara wouldn't know what either is at this point. Some things she just doesn't need to know - not yet. May be not ever... come to think of it... I don't know what a bong looks like either... and I'm doing just fine!

Anyway... the school is big and looks nice from the outside. The entire school is surrounded by fences and there is a security gate there, so you need an ID to get on the school grounds. It is probably more secure than the school she's at now even though it's separate from the base.

While we were getting registered, Arianna was at the Visser Chocolate factory in Schimmert, NL. She and her kindergarten friends went on a field trip there for a tour of the factory. They all liked the cute white hair net caps that they wore and they all came back with a large tablet of milk chocolate. The chocolate was ok, but not anything spectacular enough to make the drive there. Rousseau in Sittard is better.

Not long after the busy afternoon was International Women's first Spanish night ever! The Spanish have never had enough people here to really do their own night, but this year they started and put the rest of us to shame. There have been a lot of great nights, but this one was the perfect combination of great food, entertainment, fun, and conversation. A slide show with music played while we ate dinner and visited with friends.

Serrano ham and delicious cheese sat on the tables with sliced baguettes, alioli, and green olives. Just before we went to get our food, two men came out carrying one of two LARGE paella pans filled with a delicious paella to show the crowd. A finished paella is like art with the giant prawns and shellfish placed carefully around the edges with lemon wedges in between. With our paella, we had a slice of Spanish tortilla (a potato/egg pie), and one of the best sangria's I've ever had.

After dinner, two of the Spanish ladies, dressed especially in costume, came to do a traditional dance from the Feria de Abril. They danced beautifully for about 10 minutes - enough to entertain and not bore, to share their culture and not squelch our conversation. After the entertainment, coffee and interesting anise flavored cake donuts (rosquillas) were made available while the Spanish ladies all danced together.

Soon it was our turn to learn the flamenco. So with our right hand we were told to "pick the apple, eat the apple, then throw it away," and our hands clumsily tried to mimic the elegance of the Spanish ladies with no success. Still, a few sangrias later and we were all having a great time dancing together. The funniest moment was towards the end of the evening when I was the only American dancing in a large circle of mostly Turkish women. One Spanish woman was there and a Spanish song came on. My friend, Mel, kept looking to Maria for the movements to the song, but Maria didn't know them, so Mel, a beautiful Turkish woman, ended up teaching the entire group the hand movements to this Spanish song!

The door prizes were all very special - embroidered scarves from Spain, Spanish wine, and other treasures. I, like always, left prize-less, but the night was fabulous and I'll look forward to their next one in January.

With the bread and other treats on the table was a bowl of Alioli. Noemi made it and it got rave reviews from the ladies at my table. Here's her recipe:

I really don't have the time or brain capacity at the moment to sit and editorialize this one, but I think, on it's own, it says enough. I'm an not sequestered to the house nor forced into old fashioned attire, but there is a tangible awareness in certain situations of one's womanhood - and not in a sexy way, but in that "I'm not a man" kind of way that is sometimes a bit limiting.

So, we were talking to Luci's dance teacher about the stage set-up on Sunday when they will have a big performance and she told us that it changes year to year and she tries to tell them what they require to perform (which is basically a cleared off/safe stage area)... and here's her quote:

'Tis the season for wandering fields of bright yellow flowers and kleenex. While we were in Normandy, the raps began to bloom there and when we returned the fields around our house were vibrant with gold.

Sniffles or not, I'll enjoy the next month or so of yellow blooms before they are gone.

Everywhere I go here there are fields. And they are all beautiful.

Raps is abundant here as it's used to make bio-diesel - an oil that they use for their tractors and other things and although a recent German study said that rapsol is more carcinogenic than petroleum, it's still a much supported industry here.

Today was our second of Federica's birthdays and the third Italian birthday that we've been to and I always look forward to them. The food, company, and atmosphere are always so special. There is no clock, itinerary, or watch. No rush, no stress, no fuss. Just great people, and amazing food at a party that could last 2 hours or 5.

So this year I asked if Kirk would take Luci as I had things to do at home and wanted to have a stay-at-home day. He took her and within 5 minutes of arriving, my phone rang. It was Kirk. "They're wondering where the rest of the family is. They want you all to come." I should have known. Unlike some American parties where you don't want to step on toes by bringing siblings, and the entire family is usually not invited, here, it's all family. They had the party at the IYA on base (International Youth Activities building) - a place with a big playground, so the kids played for hours and the adults sat around the picnic benches drinking very sweet Italian iced coffee - like the coffee version of Southern iced tea. It was delicious and I usually don't like sweet coffee.

Inside was a table filled with different chips and sodas. Another table had two trays of Marilena's amazing panini - one with ham and cheese and the other with spinach. All delicious. The third table was completely covered in trays. A cheese cake with a strawberry gelatin top, a chocolate cake with a powdered sugar decorative top, a large pan of the most delicious tirumisu I've ever had, and a mountain each of chocolate profiteroles, vanilla profiteroles, and two flavors of cannoli -- ALL baked/hand-made by Marilena the night before. Those were just the snacks. All home-made - all phenomenal.

An hour into the party, she came in and brought out the ice cream cake that she also made and served that to everyone. I thought that was the birthday cake. I was wrong. Another hour and then the real cake comes... a beautifully decorated Italian cream cake covered in candles and a sparkler and we all sung happy birthday in Italian and English.

And then the party continued with talk and play. The dads got into a water balloon fight. The ladies tried to stay dry. And, eventually, the bottle of Asti was opened for all to enjoy a toast. The usual boring present-opening ceremony doesn't occur at an Italian birthday. Federica opened her gifts as her guests arrived and handed them to her. The gifts were appreciated, but they weren't the focus. I like that.

So we ended up leaving after about 3.5 hours of party... the last of the Americans to go. The Italians who'd all arrived a little over an hour before we did for a lasagna lunch were all still there enjoying the sunny day.

I was sent home with a tray filled with profiteroles, cake, tirumisu, and cannoli. Then, just as I turned to go, I saw her come out with brand new, trays, heaped with even more cannoli and profiteroles. She must have baked hundreds. Amazing. I'll get the recipes.

This is one special lady, loving my girls as if they were her family. She talks to them and plays with them, sits with them in the courtyard, and walks them over to see Bonzai, the miniature pony next door. And they get excited to see her at the window. They run to see if she's home when we come home. They take her treats and sit at her kitchen table telling her stories as if she understands every word. And she smiles and speaks back to them just like they've known each other forever.

She is our family away from home.

These are the typical painted eggs that one can find in every grocery store and every bakery counter not only during Easter, but all year 'round. They are especially popular during Karneval, but people here eat a lot of hard-boiled eggs and so why need eat pretty ones? Last year we found these hidden among the flowers at the train station. Children were picking them up to eat. I still have my American aversion to any egg that's been out for any length of time, but people here do eggs differently. My girls didn't like these. They like the eggs I make. But, I still had to buy some and take pictures.

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.