Life: Idiotropic

Do you know that in parts of Southern Italy and around Naples, you actually have to pay the Mafia if you want to live there "safely?" Seriously. Now. Today in the year 2008, it is still a truth. I learned this today from a Spanish friend who was going to move to Naples with her husband but were told that they would have to pay first for their protection. It seems so unreal.

I've also learned living here that we do not speak English as we thought, but American. Other nationalities make distinguish the two and I've been told many times that I speak "very nice American." Why, thank you. I suppose if I want to speak English, I'll have to start speaking like Miss. Marple and use words like loo, rubbish, and whinging.

Today I did two strange things.

First, I went to an hour-long fat-burning aerobics class on the base. This may not seem strange to you, but I am a girl who does not like sweat. I will ski. I will swim. I will even dance at a carnival party. But, I do not exercize. Nope. Not for me. I love the idea of being athletic, but just can never seem to get the shoes on. But, I was coerced by a dear Spanish friend to go to this class with her (but did she show up? No, but another Spanish friend came)... so I went and though I was ready to crawl to the local bakery after the first 10 minutes, I actually made it through the class and had... fun. Was it me who just said that? Strange. Doesn't sound like me. Did I actually tell the instructor that I'd be back on Monday? Yep... I think I did. So, this may be the start of something, possibly. It could be a whole new me - one who wears blue. That was the other odd thing... I wore a blue shirt today. That's almost stranger than sweat.

Anyway... on a high from successfully completing an entire hour of exercize, I savored a lunch that was absolutely perfect and decided that I live in the most amazing deli. Seriously. In the states, you can get most anything if you shop around, but here, it's so easy. I had a thick slice of a dark nutty German bread, generously drizzled with the Italian olive oil that Kirk brought back from Sicily, then topped with Spanish grown tomatoes, and a bit of creamy Greek feta cheese. Hmmmm. Simple, delicious, healthy, flavorful. And eating post work-out takes away the guilt factor from eating my oh-so-perfect lunch... that in and of itself could be incentive to go back.

Tiara's nickname around here is "moose," so on one of our websites, I called her "majestic moose." Tonight she was online and asked me what MAG-estic meant (pronounced with a hard G). I told her to look it up in the dictionary. Too lazy to do that, here was her response...


"I keep trying to think of words that sound like it and I all I can think of is maggot."

And she's a 7th grade honor student.

Taken from random chocolate related items on my desk...
I need to write down these chocolates and throw away the scraps...

• Last Thanksgiving, my friend, Maria, brought the most delicious bags of truffles. Both were by J.D. Gross, a brand that is sold by Lidl. The white chocolate champagne truffles are the best and the greatest part is that Kirk doesn't like them and the kids can't have them, so I don't have to share!
  

• Albert Heijn has an excellent selection of toast sprinkles (ruitspekken, venz vlokken, and draagtas). In Germany, they have Nutella on their toast. In the Netherlands, they put chocolate sprinkles on their toast. The sprinkles at Albert Hein come in many shapes, colors, and flavors. And, they are really fun.

• In Paris, along side one of my cappuccinos was a little chocolate by Bouchard. OH, and WOW! Yum! I wanted more. So I can't seem to let go of this tiny chocolate colored wrapper for fear I'll forget. So, here it is: Bouchard Belgian Chocolate. Dark 72%. Noir 72% (I know it means dark, but it's still pretty... French is another pretty language). www.bouchard.be
  

busiata
gnoccoli

arnacini
cuscusiera


it's poetic, isn't it? And I feel just a little bit prettier when I say them. Italian. As delicious to say as it is to eat. Which will be put to the test tomorrow when I cook up my busiata e gnoccoli for my famigia.

My amazing Italian friend just taught me to make two beautiful Sicilian pastas by hand this evening and in exchange, I taught her to make pancakes - half plain and half with chocolate chips which her daughter devoured. I also sent her away with maple syrup which she'd never tasted.

Doesn't sound like a fair exchange, does it? Sicilian pasta versus pancakes? And pancake isn't as fun to say unless you're Italian and you can say it with just the hint of an e on the end that makes it sing. But she was as excited about the pancake as I was about the pasta.

So to 600 grams of durum semolina flour - a very fine pale yellow flour, we put in 1.5t of salt and probably a cup or so of water... kneaded it, then let it rest under a bowl for about 30 minutes. [At this time it would be appropriate to sit with a strong Italian espresso and some tiny round crunchy almond flavored Italian cookie whose name currently escapes me. It would also be an appropriate time to sip a large glass of aromatic Italian red wine.] We rolled it to 1/4" thickness, cut strips, then rolled those strips thin. For the busiata, you place a skewer on one end of the pasta, then roll the skewer so that the pasta spirals onto it. Then you slide it off and you're onto the next one. If you make gnoccoli, you take that same strip rolled thin, then quickly pinch down on the edges of it with your fingertips rolling it slightly towards you. Marilena could do this absolutely effortlessly pinching, tearing into smaller strips, setting aside, then starting over on another strand. I, on the other hand, couldn't get mine to look remotely like hers. Not even close. So, busiata it will be at my house. If you want gnoccoli, go to Trapani. The pasta can be cooked right away in boiling water with a little salt and a little olive oil for 4 minutes, or you can dust it with flour so it doesn't stick together and let it sit under a towel until the next day. She says it's delicious with sauteed eggplant and fresh tomatoes. Mmmm.

On my Friday after a busy week, I was almost hoping that she couldn't come and cook today, but now I feel lighter and refreshed. So much so that if I had more flour now, I'd spend the rest of the evening rolling out and twisting up tiny busiatas until my fingers ached. Spending time with Marilena is fun anyway. We laugh at silly words as we try to communicate. She speaks English well and the words she doesn't know, I can usually figure out via Spanish. And every Italian word I have to repeat a few times, savoring slowly each syllable and slight inflection like a connoisseur would taste a fine wine.

Next time I will learn to make arancini which, I'm sure will taste just like they sound - delicious balls of rice stuffed with meats, ragus, or spinach, then fried. Can't be bad. Nothing she makes is bad. Marilena owned and ran a pasta shop when she lived in Italy. She can do anything!

Oooh, oooh.... and today... I went to Aachen with a friend and enjoyed a fabulously relaxing non-obligatory day when I didn't really have to do anything and tossed any sort of must buy or must see lists that I would normally have in hand when going to Aachen. I only knew I must sit and infuse myself with Starbucks- the coffee and the comfy chairs. So I had a triple Venti caramel latte (I think) non-fat, with whip... and it was good, though a bit sweet. It's been too long. I used to rattle off tongue twister coffee orders with pride. Every specification had a place and the rattling of those words were in cadence - almost poetic in it's own caffinated way.

ANYWAY... that is where Holly pointed out our oddest visual of the day: A beautiful raspberry marbled cheesecake looking thing sitting, all by it's lonesome, on a large dingy black cart - you know those big carts that you would use in a Costco to move heavy boxes? Yep. One big cart and one cheesecake. May be the cart is for the one who eats the cake.

Oh... that, and the wind-up sushi that I was oh-so-tempted to buy for Kirk just for a chuckle. I thought, how funny. I'll make up some sushi and then let this little one roll right off his plate.

The high for the day aside from the coffee and the delicious gruenkohl mit mettwurst I had for lunch, was finding a pair of jeans that not only fit, but were also on sale. Yippee! And, to watch a woman go from absolute stony coldness to slightly friendly and almost warm just by switching my words from English to German was really quite funny and sadly typical. Still... I got jeans, a cultural oddity, and a half smile all in one store!

Found a really cool French table at an equally cool Dutch chocolate shop - the Chocolate Company - where I again managed to salivate over everything and not buy one eensie weensie item. Am I nuts? Yeah! This is just not right. Next time, I'm buying chocolate... and may be one of those cookie cream things with the raspberries on top and a ring of marzipan holding it all together... mmmm...

You'd have photos, but I forgot the camera. :( Left it at the school on Wednesday after a yearbook meeting and there it sits. Now I have to go an entire weekend without a camera... don't know if I can make it... withdrawal is imminent.

One of my favorite restaurants in the U district of Seattle was a small Greek restaurant that served all my favorites. And, I think of all cuisines I've tried, I'm especially proud of my Greek dishes. It is amazing food.

The people are wonderful too - always positive, smiling, optimistic.

Tonight was Greek night at the IWC - an evening that I could just relax, eat, and bask in that happy optimism.

Their theme this year was the Greek diet which, to my surprise, has it's own pyramid. I should have known better - really. Why would the USDA food pyramid be the only one in the world? It wouldn't. The Greeks have one that is really interesting. And, unlike ours that changes every few years, theirs is based on the dietary habits of rural Greeks before 1960 - a time when the Greeks had heart disease rates 90% less than Americans.

So, in their pyramid, red meat is at the very top, consumed less than sweets, only 1-2 times each month. Sweets, poultry, eggs, and fish are consumed 1-2 times a week. But daily, they eat moderate amounts of cheese and milk, olive oil, 1-2 glasses of red wine, and plenty of grains, fruits, and vegetables.

The appetizers were a thick, hard seedy bread covered with tomatoes, a little bit of feta cheese, and a generous drizzle of olive oil and freshly made tsaziki with french bread. For dinner we had phyllo pockets with feta cheese, potatoes, baked tomatoes stuffed with rice, and giant beans.

When dinner was over and the raffle was finished, the music went on and we started dancing. The Greek dancing is simple with steps that many of us learned in elementary school and it's easy to learn because the music starts out slow. You watch and move and once you have the steps down, the music gradually speeds up until you're dancing in fast forward around in a circle like a record player on high speed feeling like you're going to fly off at any second. Then the music ends and you take a deep breath before starting slow into the next song. The timid have no chance. The Greek ladies will reach out and grab your hand and pull you to the dance floor patiently teaching you the steps until you are doing it beautifully. They must have taught well.. a nice German lady asked me if I was Greek. Such a nice complement.

So, I did leave with a recipe - one for the giant beans. If you can find the beans, the recipe is a must make.


Giant Beans in the Oven

Ingredients:
1 packet of giant beans
1 cup of olive oil
4 big ripe tomatoes or 2 cups of canned thick tomato juice
1 big onion
3-4 garlic cloves
finely chopped parsley
1 small chili pepper (optional)
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Soak the giant beans overnight or at least for 10 hours before cooking. Then, drain them out before boiling.
2. Boil the giant beans in salted water for about an hour. Drain them out again.
3. Saute the chopped onion, cloves of garlic, and parsley in half a cup of olive oil. Add the grated tomatoes with just a dash of sugar and let it boil over medium heat for half an hour. Season with salt and pepper. Add chili pepper (0ptional).
4. Mix the tomato sauce with the boiled beans in an oven proof pan. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.
5. Bake the bean in the oven covered with aluminum foil for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. Serve with fresh bread and feta cheese.

Tsaziki
Combine fresh yogurt, diced cucumber squeezed, garlic pressed, olive oil, salt, and pepper... all mix to taste.

Another Paris post: http://estrogenpalace.blogspot.com/2007/12/rue-mouffetard-saturday-morning.html


The recap:

• On Monday I discovered that the zoo of humanity that fills the enormous costume shop is Heerlen the week before Carnival vanishes completely once carnival is over. They were; however, dressing all the mannekins in bunny costumes, I suppose in preparation for the big Easter rush? I also spent a couple hours painting pottery for Spaghetti Fest donations and rediscovered a love for the paintbrush.

• On Tuesday my day was an absolute whirlwind of 1001 activities that are way to mundane to put here, BUT, Luci went to the post office and mailed me a letter. This wouldn’t be quite so exciting, but because of our circumstances here where the school is DOD (Dept. of Defense) and the post office is run by military and we all have PO boxes, Luci and her classmates not only WENT to the post office with their Valentine’s... but they went INSIDE where the workers are and were able to put their Valentine into their own PO box. Kirk checked the mail later and, surprise! There was a Valentine from Luci that she’d put in our box herself!

• On Wednesday, I had another flurry of activity, but a very kind German computer guy came and got my internet hooked up on my new computer! Yeah! The problem was that US computers only look for channels 1-11. In Germany, they have 13 channels, so our internet system was programmed to channel 13 and my computer couldn’t find it!

• On Thursday I enjoyed a much needed Spanish morning here at my home during which I tried to explain the US election process which is difficult in English let alone Spanish. And, I had to smile when my friend, Noemi, looked at me strange for eating cheese and apples together. They did like the cheddar cheese, though which surprises me... it’s good, but nothing like the stuff here. The grass is always greener...

• Thursday night was the Spaghetti Fest at the school where we served 350 people, entertained, and raised $3000 for this year’s yearbook! I had gone to the classes last week with my paints, brushes, and an assortment of bisque and allowed each class to collectively paint one piece. I embellished, then we raffled those off too! The pottery raffle brought in over $300! And, the kids loved to see the finished product. The most popular item was the ladybug platter - the kindergarten kids did big red thumb-prints on the white background and I did the rest. Simple, but cute.

• On Friday I relaxed in Beeck over breakfast with a friend, then finished my day with 8 girls at my house.

• And... on Sunday we took a walk to the local Cafe. 5 cups of hot cocoa and 2 large slices of delicious cherry fladen cost me only 8 euros. When we arrived a horse drawn cart was going by. It turned around, much like a car would, then parked right in front of the restaurant. The woman stayed with the horse for a moment and the man ran in to pick up cake! In my next life... I would love to travel via horse drawn cart. Too fun.

The above title was an actual headline in this Sunday's Super Sonntag - the weekly Sunday paper. It means, "Clothing forgotten?" or "Did you forget your clothes?"

This last Sunday was the first Sunday after the crazy Carnival Sunday and Monday when most of this region was celebrating with dual beers in hand... and shots of who-knows-what from those crazy costumed folks in the parades. Given that many Germans here try to take in at least 5 if not 8 or more parades and often go to the parties that follow... they do end up with a little bit to drink, thus, the headline.

So... here's the article (loosely translated):

Since the movie, Ratatouille, and her Leapster program in which she can "cook" and make up new recipes, Arianna is, well, a little obsessed. It's good, I guess. Her brain is working and she's being creative and excited about trying new things. So, I will oblige her, a little and we will try her newest recipe, but I think I may have to make a couple moderations... suggestions?

Here it is:

Recipe by Arianna (original written with black felt tip marker on a paper towel)

14 oranges
1 eggs
9 cups of milk
5 cups of egg betr (she means beaters)
9 appels
1 cups of flowre (flour)

oevin 1=12-1=11 (She translated this last part to mean - put it in the oven for 11 hours)

Today after Spanish Morning and the ever-dreaded trip to Schinnen, the base where I go for groceries that seems to suck the life out of you, I made ice cream with the girls!

Not that we needed the ice cream or that it was in any way a warm day - I did have to scrape thick ice off of my windows this morning... But, after being mildly ill and very tired all week, I was feeling guilty for being boring.

So, armed with a bunch of ice and some zip lock bags, we made up some rather yummy home-made ice cream that all 4 of my girls LOVED.

Here's the recipe:

In a gallon sized ziplock bag put 6 T rock salt and an entire tray of ice.
In a snack sized ziplock bag, combine 1/2 cup milk or cream (we used 2%), 1 T sugar, and 1/4 t. vanilla.

Put 1 or 2 filled snack sized ziplock bags into the gallon-sized bag with the ice and salt. Seal well and shake gently for 5 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency.

*In one baggie, we added 1/4 t. coconut extract (instead of the vanilla) and a pinch of shredded coconut. It was delicious. Peppermint extract with crushed candies would also be yummy. The combinations are endless.

** This can also be done using different sizes of coffee cans instead of the baggies and rolling the cans across the floor for 5 minutes.

A friend sent me this quote not to long ago... I don't remember if I've posted it here before or not, but it pretty much sums up living here where my days almost always include at least one odd thing like the man in the jogging suit with two little terriers walking by with a ginormous parrot on his shoulder, or the man riding a recumbent bicycle past my house while walking his dog, or the chicken handing out shots of Bailey's at the carnival parade, or the boy riding a bicycle and "walking" his horse.

Today I found an egg on my stairs. I suspect that my 20-year old cat must have laid it for there is no other explanation. We were out of eggs. I had just come home from the store with a new batch, then after putting the groceries away, I went to walk up stairs and found a warm, hard-boiled, brown egg sitting on the bottom stair. Tiara had no idea how it got there. Arianna looked just as clueless. Luci had been shopping with me and was also completely befuddled. Elise told me that someone was trying to get into the house and put that egg there. I did check my new eggs and none were missing. There were no miscellaneous eggs rolling around my fridge. Which leaves me to the cat unless some stranger did somehow sneak into our house unseen or heard by anyone other than Elise, and put an egg on our bottom stair. Either way, it's strange.

If you're checking in, we're fine. Carnival put us on this party high with activities and events. Even when we were home, the streets were busy... traffic, parade floats, music, balloons. Now the season is over and Lent has begun. The streets were dramatically quieter today and the dreary gray skies seemed to match their mood. Rain, gray, quiet. Gillrath was a ghost town. And I'm sick and miserably pathetic, so that isn't livening things up one bit. I did start on the Paris blog today while uploading yearbook photos for my students... but the computer is so slow it makes it difficult. I should be able to finish another day tomorrow. If nothing else, I'll throw some photos up there for ya.

Photos: 1) The first tractor "float" of the parade followed by group of Robin Hoods 2) A group of kids behind the Hansel and Gretel float. If you enlarge it, you'll see the one boy is smoking and the other is drinking beer. Not illegal and quite typical.

Today the party came to our house. We'd decorated with bright balloons and streamers in our front windows and like the rest of our neighbors, we put balloons on the upstairs windows as well. I made cookies and put out a few snacks. We served hot chocolate with marshmallows and Bailey's on the side.

Photos: 1) A group of people in front of our home. 2) Luci in the crowd with Kirk as a monk in the background
And then they came. Most of the Gillrath Americans live in the neighborhood behind us, but from all corners, Americans came to perch themselves in front of our home (not because we're so special, but because our home is conveniently located right on the parade route within easy walking distance from most of their homes) to watch the first Gillrath Karneval parade in 26 years. It was an effortless party thrown by the town so we just served some cocoa and enjoyed. We had over 53 friends in front of our home most of the parade with a constant flow of people in and out of our home. A couple times I turned around to see people I didn't even know walking in our front door. Kirk told me later that he'd escorted a couple German neighbors in to use our bathroom.

So, it was lively. The kids ran in and out of the street yelling, "ALAAF!" and gathering up all the candy they could to fill their baskets, bags, and inverted umbrellas. The adults watched the parade and other spectators with amusement visiting with each other and making funny faces for the cameras. The parade was fantastic - but NOTHING like anything we'd ever see back home.

The had floats, music, and a band. They had themes and wore costumes. They threw A LOT of candy. All that is pretty normal, right?

They also walked the parade while drinking beer. Many smoked. Many had a beer in one hand and a bottle of liquor under one arm and a stack of disposable shot glasses in the other hand. Many gave out shots to the adult spectators. I even got a shot of chocolate Bailey's from a chicken. There was no rowdiness... no obvious drunken behavior. They were relaxed and smiling and having a good time. They had no trouble walking. But - alcohol was prevalent, accepted, and handed out for free. An orange faced witch gave beers to a couple of the guys in our party. Not normal? It is here.

Photos: 1) The chicken who also gave a shot of Bailey's to me 2) A couple blue bears? Notice the bottle under his arm and the Bitburger beer bottle and shot glasses in the other hand.








Another "not normal" thing -- it wasn't just candy and shots. One green bear passed out cubes of cheese. He just reached out with a bag and you had to reach in and grab one. Our local produce guy passed out potatoes. Arianna and Luci both got apples and oranges in their baskets. Popcorn was popular too. And, the cooking group passed out soup mix, heads of lettuce, carrots, and other ingredients including little cocktail wieners on toothpicks.

Photos: 1) Sorry for the sideways photo - too tired to fix. This is Tinny with her head of lettuce she got from the parade folks and a small cocktail wiener in the same hand. 2) The green bear passing out cheese






Arianna, Luci, and Elise all had a great time running all around, playing with friends, and gathering treats. Arianna yelled "Alaaf!" as much as she could thinking it would bring her more treats. Elise spent most of the time with her best friend, Hattie. And Luci, my adventurous girl, was in and out of the street grabbing any candy between groups that had dropped short of the crowd. The yellow hat came from some one in the parade, so once she got it, she wore it the entire afternoon.

The clown and the tourist are Mike and Karyn - a fabulous German couple that lived in the states for a while, own a guest house and rental home in Gillrath and are very friendly and well-known among the Americans. They were at our house too.

The talk in Gillrath is that if this parade is successfull (and I think it was), that they'll do it again next year. And, if they do it again, you know who will be in the parade??? Yep. The Americans are going to put a float together... but I won't be passing out cheese and potatoes.

Note: After writing this, posting it, then finally going through the basket of candy the kids brought in, I must laugh at the absurdity of some. Obviously not all the things thrown are for kids. I enjoyed several Turkish coffee candies. And, in this pile of odd things I'll throw away, I have several "Rooibos Tee" tea filled candies, a couple cough drops, a "Classic New York" pear flavored chew, a hard candy labelled "golf son gual," several from "WWK Versicherungen," and one called "Air Liquide."

This morning we woke up with a completely unexpected surprise that neither local German or Canadian news had predicted - that wonderful white fluffy stuff the girls hoped for in Paris but never saw - SNOW!

I was tired and tried desperately to sleep in while the girls came in every couple minutes looking for pants, a glove, or a hat. Kirk got up early with them and took them out to play in the little dusting of snow that we had and they built two snowmen before coming in.

Arianna and Luci's was the biggest with rock eyes, a hat and scarf, twig arms, a carved smile, and candies for buttons. Elise and Daddy built a little snowman, but he was too fragile to decorate.

Carnival parties are the biggest of the entire year and even at the kindergarten, they like to celebrate big. Frau Gisbertz told me that adults wore costumes too, so I knew about that and my friend, Holly, had gone last year and told me that the mothers did shots, so nothing today really shocked me. It is good to be prepared.

Elise was a princess - not a big shock - wearing her "fancy" dress like she does 2-3 times a week at home for play. I put a little color on her lips and cheeks to make her fancier, but she didn't like it much. The other children were completely decked out in full costumes - some with their faces covered in makeup and some with painted hair as well. The most popular costumes this year among the boys were cowboys and Indians. Even one mother wore an Native American costume.

I wore my pink hair and dress that I'd worn the week before. About 80% of the parents were dressed up at least a little. Many were witches and then the "homeroom moms" all had green viney costumes. I'm still not sure what they were supposed to be.

The tables were set up in the common area with a potluck of sweets and snacks brought by all the parents. Sodas and juices sat at one end near the cups and near a 6+ gallon pot of what they called "bowle," a type of white wine sangria. That's where the majority of the mom's gathered with their cups drinking - not shots this year, but cup after cup of their fruity wine.

The tuernhalle was set up as the stage area, so throughout the 2 hour party, we were ushered in and out of this crowded room again and again (6 times) as one group would perform, then the other groups would get ready while we ate and talked, then again we'd go in while they performed... over and over. All three classes did something. The Katzengruppe went first - that's Elise' class, but Elise clung to me and wouldn't join them. Since they've studied Hansel and Gretel, they had their cardboard house there and a bunch of paper trees. All the children were dressed up in costumes - a Hansel, a Gretel, a bunch of dancing trees, and a small group of red mushrooms with big white spots - a traditional symbol of luck here. The song was sung and they acted out the story. The Froschgruppe and Schmetterlingsgruppe both danced for their turns - with some small hat, but nothing as elaborate as Elise' class. The parents did a puppet show and the Gillrath Carnival committee did an appearance bringing two young dance troupes and presenting awards. One group of girls wore witches costumes and danced with brooms. The other wore a more uniform-like costume and also danced. It was all really interesting.

The head teacher of the school is a large lady and quite a character. She's scary, really. Not horribly, but she is that stereotypical serious German lady who you just don't want to mess with. She doesn't smile much either. Today - wow. She LOVES the microphone. She had the speakers turned up REALLY loud and she had the microphone so close to her mouth, the sound was quite fuzzy. And she was yelling. Gillrath -- ALAAF! Carnival -- ALAAF! Kindergarten -- ALAAF!! Even the kids were plugging their ears. She had a safari hat and a large animal print batik print shift on and held a cup of that bowle in her hand much of the time. Even the other parents were shaking their heads at her - she certainly was comical today and not her normal serious self.

All in all, it was ok. There was no shortage of entertainment, food, or drink. The people were nice. The kids had fun. Candy and popcorn were thrown liberally between each group of dancers, so the kids all went home with pocket and bagfuls of treats. Most parents brought bags - I had no idea. Elise was ok, but the entire experience was LOUD and overwhelming. She did uncling and play with friends some, but she still isn't completely comfortable there and this was a pretty crazy party.

Definitely not anything we'd experience in the states. Alcohol at a school event??? And, this is a church sponsored preschool with ages 3-5. They go to the church for children's services occasionally. They pray before meals. And, the mothers drink at the class parties. In their defense, they were all having a good time and there was absolutely no sign of drunkenness of obnoxious behavior. It is just a part of the culture and this time of year especially. They look at alcohol in a very different way than we do as Americans.

The entire month of January, Elise' class at the German Kindergarten did a unit on Hansel and Gretel singing songs, reading the story, doing crafts, and even learning and acting out the play. Since I usually make gingerbread houses each Christmas, I asked the teachers if they would like a gingerbread house this month - an offer they happily accepted.

So last night I baked gingerbread making all the pieces for a house and an entire forest of trees. This morning I made a large batch of frosting and sealed it up in decorator bottles. Then at 1030, I took all that with a bunch of colored sugar sprinkles and candies to the kindergarten so the kids could make the house.

Honestly, last night I couldn't find my recipe (ended up finding it on this blog!), and really had a bad attitude. I was tired and kicking myself for volunteering for yet another unnecessary project. But, I have always enjoyed and felt it was important to be involved with the girls' classes at school and though it's more challenging at this school, I still want to be involved. It's good for Elise and I'm aware of the impressions that I can make here as an American living among Germans.

By the time I got there, I'd mellowed and once I started working with the kids, I was so happy to be there. The class split into two groups, so I had half at a time. They decorated their trees, then worked together on the large sides and roof of the house, each small group of 2-3 kids "gluing" candies onto the large cookie piece. They asked a lot of questions and I understood and could reply to half. To the other half, I told them that I couldn't speak German, but, I was telling them that in German and they looked so confused, then just continued to talk to me as if I should understand everything perfectly. There was no grabbing or rude behaviour. They sat and worked, listened and watched. I think they were as intrigued with me as I was with them, but it was nice.

When all the children had a turn and the house and trees were done, I cleaned up and moved to a tiny table in the corner to assemble it all - a process that is slow as the frosting has to set between each heavy piece of candy covered house. I sat there working and at all times had at least 10 kids crowded tightly around me silently watching. Once in a while someone would say something. They all pointed out each piece of candy that fell off. And, they wanted the cookie Hexe (witch) that I made to go inside the house before I put the roof on, so I put her in carefully, then they all had to get up on their tiptoes and peer inside.

The next day, the little house with the forest around it was sitting on the small table in the entry as you enter the classroom with a little note saying that Frau Stahlbaum has made this house with all of the children. All the kids wanted to eat it, but Frau Gisbertz said that it was too beautiful to eat and they will get enough candy at Carnival. True. I'll have to make a small batch of cookies so they can at least have a taste of American gingerbread that is so different than t

For those of you with little time, I will occasionally be publishing these blog entries with "Tifnotes," a condensed, to-the-point summary of the usually long winded entry. Here's the first Tifnote-- the full entry will follow for those with time to read.

Tifnotes version: We went to the Children's Carnival Parade in Sittard and had really delicious hot chocolate from Bagels and Beans. The costumes were amazing and I saw first hand that Dutch people really enjoy silly string.


The Carnival season is here and though some events are definitely not for kids, the Kinderoptocht (Children's Parade) is made exactly for children, but leaves out no one.

We hadn't been to this before and though I've heard of it, I only found out when it was through the Dutch Bagels and Beans newsletter that I always try to "read" through though I can only pick out words here and there. Luckily this time I could understand "kinder" which is also child in German and could understand that they were going to be open on a Sunday which is quite unusual, so I used Babelfish to look up Optocht and confirmed what I suspected - the parade!

It's always fun when a little detective work uncovers a treasure. And, this parade is that. I found the website for the Sittard parades that includes photos of both the adults and children's parades dating back to the 1920's! Amazing!

We didn't show up particularly early, but still found parking in the residential areas without difficulty and walked to the center. I let the girls pick out wild headbands knowing that putting them in costumes would take too long and I wasn't 100% sure if spectators would be wearing costumes. Wow. Confirmation came quickly. Everyone that we saw crossing the streets and walking towards the square was in costume. The children - ALL OF THEM - were completely decked out with costumes, elaborate makeup, wigs and props. And even the adults were not altogether boring. Though some looked "normal," the majority if not in full costume, were at least wearing silly hats, boas, glasses, and other funny accessories. I felt very American and there was no avoiding that. Next year we'll dress up and come armed with silly string and loads of confetti so that we too can cover all passers by with it - the police cars, the tubas... all covered in silly string.

We got cocoa and coffee to go and found a good place to stand just outside of Bagels and Beans where the road curves and the parade would come straight towards us down Putstraat before turning and going around the corner to the Markt. For about 15 minutes, we stood there in the cold wind hugging our warm drinks and watching the party going on around us - kids running around the empty spaces, throwing confetti and chasing each other with cans of silly string, then picking up streamers and confetti off of the ground so they could throw it again. There were a lot of little boys with toy guns that made a loud crack every time they pulled the trigger. The group next to us were all decked out in the Dutch Carnival colors - red, yellow, and green with hats, and feather boas in those colors. Entire families stood together from infants to elderly - all bundled and ready.

The lead car was a police car slowly arriving already completely covered from front to back, windows and wheels, with all colors of silly string and piles of confetti. Just as he got to us, he used his windshield wipers to clear it. It's amazing he could see anything before that. That was the first of many a person or car to arrive on our corner decorated by the crowd. Even band instruments had string handing from them. At first, I watched the small procession of cars going by thinking, "is this it? How lame!" But then, the cars were gone, and the fun stuff started. For 2 full hours we stood watching group after group go by all dressed in amazing costumes. I wish that we could have read the Dutch. All the groups had signs. I could only read a few of them.

There were a couple traditional floats, but most groups came with just their costumes and smaller float-style props like strollers and wagons that had been completely transformed with balloons, foam, and other items into whatever they needed them to be. Families walked together. Babies in matching costumes and with makeup on, slept with their heads flopped sideways in their fancy stollers completely oblivious to the noise around them. Bands played and most groups had a wagon with a speaker system hidden inside playing traditional carnival music loudly.

They threw some candy, but not a lot. The girls also got a few little things... a heart flashlight key chain, a pen, and a ball. One group ran around with ribbons and strips of netting tying them to people's arms. A young girl tied a bow around both Arianna and Luci's arms and though my girls didn't understand why (nor did I... couldn't read that sign), they liked to be given something. Towards the end of that group a mother and 2-year old girl dressed alike came up to Elise and gave Elise a small handful of ribbons tied in bows. I think we're supposed to remember something.

Have I mentioned that these people can make absolutely anything out of foam???? It is amazing! The bird hats in the photo above are entirely made of that brightly colored thin craft foam that is so vogue for kids these days. We saw hat after had made of that and even strollers wrapped all around in foam with foam windows to make it look like a pirate ship.

Anyway... that was it. Two hours of costumes and fun. The little girls all enjoyed it. My big girl tolerated it. I loved it. I love seeing the families together - seeing infants and children walking, riding, and being carried by their parents and grandparents, all wearing the same costumes and participating together. It's a beautiful thing and people were all smiling and having fun. We'll definitely next year and then, we'll all dress up.

Yesterday, I started out as a responsible brunette running errands, volunteering at the girl's school, doing a 5K walk for charity, and attending a special story time with the girls.

Then the wig went on and truly, I now believe that blonds have more fun! Pink is definitely more fun than being a brunette and wearing a wig is great! I love it!

Kirk, or shall I say, Father Kirk, and I went to the CSA Carnival party at the Officer's club on the base - got there about 1745. I got home at 0120. Crazy, but so fun. A lot of our friends went -- both American and non-American. The majority of the guests were either German or American, but there as a large group of Norwegians and Italians and one Spaniard.


The costumes were amazing - some people really go all out with professional looking hair and makeup. Last year we had a lot of Robin Hood costumes. This year seemed like more of a mix. We had folks from the 20's, 50's, 60's, and 70's - the pirates, the vikings, the European period folks in Renaissance garb or Roman armor. Napolean, clowns, devils, a band of Zorros, a tiger, and a strange Mozart mix. Oh... and we had Jup and Rosie - my good friends who dressed in traditional German garb and wore blond wigs. Ya ya!

And the entertainment is great too! I love the mix of bands and dance troupes. Just when you get tired of dancing, a new group of professionals come in to entertain. Then, as fast as they came and before they could possibly get bored, they go and either a new group comes on or the band is on for more dancing. Let's see... we had 3 bands, 2 Elvis impersonators, 2 tiny little solo dancers who could cartwheel without hands and touch their knees to their ears, 6 dance troupes that I can remember (could be more), a 95 year old Carnival club from Heinsburg with their king and queen, band and dancers, and 2 awards ceremonies where they give out very fancy medals to guests of honor and important participants in the party.

We had appetizers, a huge dinner with 4 meat entrees and all the sides, then an amazing dessert spread with delicious German tortes and donuts. Most people had at least 2 if not 4 large pieces stacked upon their plates. Delicious!

And the dancing. Normally I am extremely shy about dancing in public. I don't like it. I don't feel comfortable with it. Even at International Women's events, I usually try to stay in the back where people can't see me. But with the pink wig - it was different - like being on stage and playing a character. I played an outgoing, bubbly girl who couldn't stay off the dance floor. I danced the whole night and it was great!

Funny moments: I still laugh at the music that even during this German holiday party, is 95% American from Beach Boys to Reggae, and Michael Jackson's Thriller to country western. And... the internationals seem to know it better than the Americans do. The oddest musical moment was later in the night when a tribal band got up and began to play and sing "Cumbaya" - a song we always used to sing around the camp fire at church camp each year. That morphed into "Ooga Chucka" which morphed into "A lion sleeps tonight." Crazy. It was funny to see the Elvis' together. The French '73 Elvis stood on the side videotaping the Danish '68 Elvis during the latter's first act.

I really need to sit down and talk to one of my German friends about Carnival. Each year I pick up a new bit of understanding, but the more I read the newspaper and glean bits of what's going on around the area, the less I know - or the less I understand. Each town has a Carnival Association that puts on the Rose Monday Parade, the costume ball, and the Altweiberball. Sometimes there are more activities planned, but there is always a Prince and sometimes a Princess and they dress in traditional red and white costumes. They bring with them dancers and bands and hand out medals. It's all fun, but taken extremely seriously and there seems to be a great pride there. Last year the Aachen Prince came to our party, but this year he was booked, so he sent medals and we had the Heinsburg committee come who also brought dancers and music and medals. The president introduced each group as if they were his pride and joy and told us that they were the oldest group in the region - except of course for Aachen. The Prince and Princess through roses and after all the celebrating and about 25 minutes, they marched grandly out just as they'd entered.
A dance group brought by the Heinsburg Carnival Association - The princess and prince of Heinsburg (at least during Carnival time)

Today I went into Schleypen for a coffee and saw they had treats there I've never seen before. In fact, there are several sweet treats that are popping up in bakeries that are completely new.

It's Carnival. Just like we'd eat elephant ears at a State Fair, they've got their own versions of fat laden, sugary dough here too - but it's better.

This morning, I just tried one thing - the Eierlikor Krapfen. Oh my goodness! It is SUCH a good thing that I only got one because that was so delicious that I easily could have eaten 3. It looked almost like an overgrown donut hole, but with a rugged outside and a puff of a dense custard on top with just the slightest hint of eierlikor - not overpowering at all. Instead of a soft spongy donut, this broke apart into a soft, but slightly crisp pastry dough and the entire center was overfilled with that amazing sweet custard. Wow. Carneval could grown on me.... and with treats like this. I think I'd grow a bit too if Carneval lasted all year.

I met Senur not long after I moved here, but like a lot of the Turkish ladies, she was quiet and didn't speak a lot of English, so it was hard to connect with her. Most of the Turkish ladies stay together at our International Women functions because of the language barrier. She stood out in that not only is she a beautiful blond woman - not common in the Turkish community, but she always has the most amazing necklace and earrings on. Once I asked the question - where did she get them? She made them. Wow. I went through the jewelry making phase in high school, but I couldn't imagine making anything as intricate as what she could put together.

Last year she spent months designing and making about 40 sets of earrings and necklaces to raffle off during the Turkish wedding night. I bought a lot of tickets, but I didn't win.

This year, I finally asked her if she would have some time to teach me how, and today, she did!

I'd asked if I could bring a couple friends along and my Spanish friend, Maria, knows Senur as well, so she and Joana (otra Espanola) came as well.

We all picked through a tin of finished necklaces to find a "model" that we liked. Then Senur helped us find the beads, wires, and other pieces that we'd need to make it and she supervised while we worked.

It was simple - four ladies sitting on the floor surrounded by boxes of beads in all shapes, sizes, and colors, working on our necklaces and looking for help once in a while. It was unusually quiet as we all tried hard to concentrate and the talking we did was a crazy mix of English, German, and Spanish with an occasional Turkish word used that I couldn't repeat if I had to - the sounds are very difficult.

Senur had a tray set out when I arrived with a fruit topped cake on it, plates, and cups. Not long after she brought out hot cheesy wiener wraps (crescent rolls with hot dogs and cheese - not expected from a Turkish woman - I was surprised) still steaming from the oven.

She offered drinks to us. The Spanish declined. She put a plate of food in front of Joana. Joana said she couldn't eat and Maria would only eat one small wiener wrap. So I got the big plate. She offered drinks again and I had coffee and the Spanish let her bring them water. It is her culture to have something prepared for guests, and I understand how disconcerting it can be when guests refuse. I laughed later when she said that no one ate and told her that the Spanish don't eat. Really - in the morning, it is especially true. They eat very little with their coffee. And even later, the portions are always small.

When we'd finished, she asked us all to pick out a "model" for next time which was music to my ears! I would love to go and visit with her again. And, I learned that jewelry isn't' her first love. She did oil painting first and had very nice paintings in her home that she had done. She wants to learn ceramic painting, so she's going to come to my home soon and I'll show her how to work with ceramic paint.

**Side note: Another thing that struck me about this day was the quality of the materials that Senur works with. She gets all her materials in Turkey because it's cheaper there and she did have a handful of glass beads. But she had no silver - only inexpensive metals, and most of the beads that she uses are plastic! Some are the same beads I've purchased for my daughters to play with. So, working with them felt strange - I'm used to picking out beads with more weight and value. But, when it was finished, my necklace and earrings were stunning. They hung well. The weight was nice. And when worn, no one can tell it's plastic. I would never have guessed that Senur wasn't wearing something quite fine.