Snowman's Nose: It's What's for Dinner

I knew going into this trip to Germany that it was going to be interesting and unique in many ways. For one, there's a bit of a language barrier despite my dad being from the land of bratwurst. I never really picked it up, but I have this ability to get by in the majority of situations. My go-to response unfortunately is nodding my head in agreement and saying okay, which has caused some conspiracy theorists in the family to assume I'm fluent and just refusing to respond in German. Clearly I didn't think through my use of this unconscious reaction, but then again, that's the point behind it being unconscious. Unconscious = no thought involved.
I've been here for a week and a half and have seen numerous Christmas markets spreading from Heidelberg to Wiesbaden to Frankfurt and Bad Homburg. The majority of my travel has involved taking the S-bahn, but I did opt to walk the three miles to Bad Homburg yesterday. I was just excited by the fact that the walking trail went through fields and over the autobahn, with little signs along the way telling me to only cross when it's green to set a good example for the children. I pity any New Yorker who ever comes to Germany.
As I neared Bad Homburg, I reached into my back pocket for my written directions to the Landgraves Castle, but they weren't there. I had to laugh at this because that would be something that would happen. Thankfully with my memory I knew the first two streets I was looking for and as I crossed Urseler Strasse, I realized that I didn't really need directions. For one, there were signs with arrows pointing in the direction of the castle. On top of that, with Bad Homburg being an older town made up of mostly houses, it's quite easy to spot a castle on the horizon. I felt like it was shouting, "I'm over here stupid." Needless to say, I made it to the Landgraves Castle and wandered the small Christmas Market being held in the courtyard before making my way to the Marktplatz and then on to the bahnhof for a ride back to Oberursel.
Upon arrival at Oma's, I realized that my aunt's car was parked outside so I prepared myself for listening to conversations that I would understand maybe one out of every twenty words, which definitely makes it hard to follow. Luckily my brother helped me out with translating when he could, and facial expressions help me realize that my relatives think I was crazy for walking over to Bad Homburg. But my favorite realization was the fact that Youtube videos are a universal language. My aunt happily showed me Crazy Cow and a trailer for Frozen (yes, even the Germans can't seem to let it go). Little did I know that Olaf would provide me with such a humorous talking point over dinner this evening. You see, with my minimal German, there are a handful of awkward silences when my brother and Oma aren't in the room. So when it was just my aunt and I tonight, I was determined to make conversation. My Oma had left a bowl of carrots on the table, so I pointed at them at said, "Olaf Nase." Apparently my aunt thought that was wonderful because soon after my comment, she was on the phone with her sister telling her that we were having Schneemann Nase (snowman's nose) with our bratwurst, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. This continued on even into dishing up our plates with food because she asked if I wanted some Schneemann Nase. In a land where you barely understand the language, it's important to be thankful for any positive contribution that you make in someone's day and I truly believe I succeeded tonight. It's the little things in life that keep you going and tonight I'm thankful for the laughter I was able to create thanks to me learning the word for nose and watching Youtube.

Cross One Off the Bucket List

I'm a diehard soccer fan. My father is from Germany, so it's the only ball sport he really knows, so I grew up not only watching games, but also playing since I was five years old. My competitive career ended in the 8th grade because I was a better cross country runner than I was soccer player, but I played intramural soccer in college and indoor soccer last winter with a bunch of guys (I was 1 of 2 girls) from around the world. We joked that it was our own little UN meeting in Mount Pocono.
Even though I haven't kept up on my skills, I have definitely kept up with my fandom. From my memory, I've watched all the World Cups since Valderamma played for Colombia (I remember his crazy hair). I was in Germany for the 2006 Men's World Cup and the 2011 Women's World Cup. When it comes to men's soccer, I cheer for Germany since I'm a dual citizen and they clearly have a better team than the United States. When it comes to women's soccer, though, I struggle because both Germany and the USA are so good. If they aren't playing each other, the choice is easy. But when they play each other, it's a real toss up because I appreciate both teams so much.
Back in 2010, I was bummed that there was a USA vs Germany game in Cleveland the day before I left on my cross country roadtrip. It would have been awesome and amazing to begin the trip by going to the game, but that just wasn't in the cards in 2010. Thankfully, though, I was able to cross a USA vs. Germany soccer game off my bucket list last night. Team USA is currently on a victory tour since they came home with the Olympic gold medal from London. When I was watching one of their televised games, I noticed the billboard in the background advertising that the USA would play Germany, so I quickly went online for details. At first I was bummed again because the first thing that popped up was that the teams were playing in Chicago, but then I realized that there would be a game in East Hartford, CT, only 3.5 hours from home, which to me is just down the road. I immediately purchased tickets and anxiously awaited for October 23rd to arrive.
Yesterday I muddled around the house before I hopped, well more like hobbled, into the car to drive to Rentschler Stadium for the game. I arrived around 5:30pm and was thankful for my water resistant winter coat and Goretex pants since it began raining and did not really let up until the tail end of the game. I waited in line outside the gates since they weren't open yet, and then I made a beeline for the merchandise stand to buy a scarf. On my way there, I quick stopped to purchase a program on the off chance I would be able to get autographs, and plus, I enjoy reading so it seemed like an appropriate fan purchase. I then made my way to my seat, which was in section 121 row 8 seat 9. When I sat down, the woman in front of me turned around for small talk, making me feel welcome and at home in a stadium of over 18, 000 people. She had apparently flown up from Virginia specifically for the game and was a little bummed about the rain, but happy that she was there.
I was really happy with my seating arrangement right at midfield. It made for optimum picture taking, since I wanted to document the moment the best I could. Taking pictures during the game did detract slightly from me focusing on the big picture, but I witnessed all of the goals and don't feel like I missed out at all. I was able to get some great closeups of both German and American players, and some great action shots as well.
Even though the game ended in a tie, I was very happy for the number of goals. Each team scored two goals, and each one was unique in execution. I was thrilled for the header by Abby Wambach, since she is a legend in the sport already. It was also great to see the up and coming Tobin Heath score a goal. The Germans definitely dominated possession in the first half, and I couldn't even be frustrated that they scored since I really like the German team. I'm just a bit rusty on who plays because the team is young and my two favorite players, Prinz and Gerafrekes, have both retired from international play. The game was definitely thrilling, and I felt very at home in the crowd because I was able to answer certain questions about players and I was able to joke about the weather with the woman next to me as she gave me updates on the front from her iPhone. For a diehard soccer fan, the night couldn't have been any better. Drier, but not better.

Bad Nauheim: A Town Known for Elvis, Saltwater, and Alligator Farms

On Thursday, our last full day in Germany, I had my usual breakfast of a buttered sesame seed roll and a cup of coffee. During breakfast, Uncle Winfred called and told Oma that he was going to take Nick and me to Bad Nauheim at 1:30pm. Since I assumed this would take up the majority of the day, I decided to run some errands in Oberursel-Mitte and pack before he arrived.

The trek to Bad Nauheim via the autobahn was only about a half an hour. As we got closer to town, my uncle started pointing at these brown signs that had a picture of an alligator and the word "farm" on them. Apparently on the outskirts of Bad Nauheim there is an alligator farm; go figure. My uncle parked on the street and as soon as we got out of the car, he pointed to the Cardiology Center that we were next to and said he had stayed there for three weeks at somepoint in the last year. This didn't really surprise me considering he has 5 stents already and he is pretty much a walking heart attack who smokes like a chimney. We then wandered over to what appeared to be a giant wall of roots with a water wheel, which is apparently one of many places where saltwater is mined and pumped to the surface in Bad Nauheim. We continued to wander through the park and into the main part of the town to the information center where there were banners advertising the upcoming Elvis festival. Apparently Elvis Presley was stationed in Bad Nauheim for 2 years while he served in the US army, and the town has lived off his legacy ever since.
Up the street from where we were was the Hotel Grunewald, which is on the corner of Elvis Presley-Platz. There is a monument erected in his memory across the street, which happened to have some flowers and candles placed on the ground in front of it, since people who can't make it to Graceland in Nashville tend to use this as a memorial to the King of Rock 'N Roll. After gazing at everything Elvis, we decided to have lunch at Wiener Kaffeehouse. I opted for a slice of chocolate cream cake with a cappucino, which was a marvelously delicious decision.
On our way home from Bad Nauheim, Uncle Winfred drove us up over the Feldberg and into Bad Homburg so that we could see some sights in the park there, including a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, a Thai temple made of gold, and a fountain. Soon we were back at Oma's for our dinner of schnitzel and potatoes. Oma spent some time meowing at me and laughing because my cat back home is named Schnitzel and she has always been confused that I might actually eat my cat. The joys of a language barrier yet again. I guess the big surprise for everyone, though, was the fact that Uncle Winfred was actually drinking water out on the back patio. From my interpretation, I guess he typically will not eat or drink at Oma's because of the dog. The rest of the evening was spent chatting with Oma, Aunt Edith, Uncle Winfred, and Monika before heading off to bed for some sleep since we had to get up at 5am for breakfast before Herta and Ralf drove us to the airport.

As you can assume, we landed safely at JFK. Chrissy was kind enough to pick us up from the airport to drive us back to East Stroudsburg. I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with her about life from the past two weeks since we both have had a lot going on. I made sure to stay awake until 11:30pm in an attempt to get me back on a normal sleep schedule. This has only partly worked because I have been wide awake since 5:15am. Oh well, I have plenty of time to catch up on sleep and recuperate before I dive into the real world and try to find myself a job.

Pepper Grinders Are My New Weapon of Choice

Since I know tomorrow will probably be hectic with relatives coming in and out to say goodbye before we leave, I thought it best to update my blog tonight instead of tomorrow to limit my time out of the house. In doing so, I had to venture out into what I thought was a passing rain storm. This storm seemed to progress with my each and every step towards the internet cafe with whipping winds, donner und blitz (no not felt-tipped antlered reindeer for Christmas in July, but thunder and lightning), and eventually hail. So I am now sitting with wet pants and shoes (despite my umbrella) as I am typing this, so please appreciate the effort put in to bring this information to you.
Last night we went out to dinner with Aunt Edith, Aunt Herta, and Ralf to Pizzeria Giolio. Considering I know how the Germans make pizza, I opted for spaghetti and tomato sauce for the evening. We had appetizers of bruschetta, while Ralf had what appeared to be tuna salad. He asked the waiter for ground pepper, which in America, wouldn't be an intimidating task. Alas, in Germany, they must disperse pepper with Theodore Roosevelt in mind. The Germans live by the rule of "talk softly and carry a big pepper grinder" being as I'm pretty convinced this monstrosity was nearly three feet long. The remainder of dinner was very pleasant with casual conversation about sports, news, the weather, and how nothing in the world beats Apple products, at least according to Ralf.
As we exited the establishment, Ralf was hoping to get a picture of us all standing on the sidewalk. This went well until about 2 seconds before he took the picture, which was when Aunt Edith thought it would be funny to open her umbrella to block all of us from his camera. Eventually Ralf did get his picture, though it did take some coaxing. We then wandered to the Eis Cafe on the corner for some icecream and cappucino. I opted for the "Pinocchio" eis, which was a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate with two M and M's for eyes, and a cone for a hat and the tip of a cone for the nose so that it actually resembled Pinocchio. I ordered this for two distinct reasons: I enjoy being a kid and it was the smallest amount of icecream available. Following our icecream, we wandered back to Oma's for some rest.
Today I was awoken by Oma's version of an alarm clock; her knocking on the pipes in the kitchen with a pair of scissors so that the vibrations travel up to the radiator in my room. I soon wandered down for a breakfast of a buttered sesame seed roll and cup of coffee (13) and promptly entered into the most awkward breakfast conversation ever (yet strikingly normal for Oma). First she mentioned my late uncle and a trip she had taken with him, my dad, and one of my aunts when they were kids. Then she brought up how my Opa had a stroke in 2001 that impaired the left hand side of his body. This was followed by her stating that Opa told her that she wasn't Amalie, but his oma because she had gray hair and Amalie had black hair. To make things more interesting, she brought up how my aunt Edith's ex-husband used to be the one to take care of Opa when he was still alive. And to top things off, she asked me how my other grandmother is doing and that my dad really liked Pete (my late grandfather). After swallowing all of this and my breakfast, I went to retrieve Nick from upstairs so he could eat and we could leave with Uncle Winfred and Monika for our trek to Rüdesheim and Koblenz for the Bundesgardenschau (BUGA 11).

We left Oma's around 9am after Nick prayed for us in the garden. Our first stop was Rüdesheim, which is a quaint little town on the Rhine River. We wandered along cobblestoned streets, passed old hotels, and into shops. Monika bought some chocolate that she shared with us all. This chocolate was filled with Asbach, which is made in this region. Oh, I forgot to mention, but Asbach is cognac. Nothing like two cognac filled pieces of chocolate before 11am to give you a little extra jolt in the morning. After we finished wandering, Uncle Winfred donated our parking pass to a family from England so that they didn't have to pay.
He then drove us on a scenic road aong the Rhine that took us the 54km to Koblenz. The best way to describe this drive is as follows: Castles. Vineyards. Castles surrounded by vineyards. Vineyards surrounded by castles. Okay, so that last one might not be so accurate, but you catch my drift. Some of the names of these castles included Schloss Stolzenfels, Pfalzgrafenstein near Kaub, Oberes Mittelrheintal, Braubach mit Marksburg, and my personal favorite, Maüsturm. In Koblenz, we saw many flowers and another castle. Koblenz is where the Rhine River meets the Mosel River, which can be seen best from the gondola that goes up onto the hillside across the rivers. You can really see where the rivers meet because the Mosel has darker water than the Rhine. We also found time to wander through the Basilica of St. Kastor before catching a bus to the castle gardens. It was truly an experience to see all of the various flowers and architecture in and around Koblenz.

Following numerous hours walking around, Uncle Winfred drove us back to Oberursel via the autobahn. It was a pretty relaxing drive home, but he made sure he got the adrenaline pumping by going 180kpm (about 111mph). We got home safely, which this blog post is a testament to. Oma made eggs over easy, potatoes, and salad for dinner, which I washed down with some Coca Cola.
Tomorrow brings packing, cleaning, more coffee I'm sure, and the procession of 'goodbyes'. That for me is always somewhat awkward being as I never really know when and if I will see some of my relatives again. But no time to think about that. Time to head back to Oma's since the lovely little storm has now passed.

Friends, Fellowship, and le Tour de France

Nick and I awoke early on Saturday so that Uncle Winfred could drive us to the airport at 5am. This was so that we could catch our Air France flight to Paris. Other than the flight being delayed for 30 minutes, all went smoothly and we found ourselves in Charles de Gaulle airport by 10am. We wandered through the crowds to a tourist information booth in order to purchase our Paris Visite pass, which would allow for unlimited train travel for the next two days. We then wandered down to the tracks to hop on the B line to Saint Michel-Notre Dame. This was our first taste of French train travel, and it was pretty interesting.
Once we emerged from the train station, we found ourselves in the hustle and bustle of Central Paris. We made our way to a bridge across the Seine River, which gave us a spectacular view of Notre Dame Cathedral and Palais de Justice. We slowly walked in the direction of Notre Dame, taking numerous pictures along the way. To my chagrin, and Nick's amusement, I have very much turned into my father since I take numerous pictures of the same structure, just at different angles. We walked the perimeter of Notre Dame and I stopped briefly in a souvenir shop to purchase a Tour de France shirt for my Uncle Bob and myself. Soon we found ourselves on the steps of Shakespeare and Company, which is a local English bookshop that Nate had recommended to us. I thoroughly enjoyed this quaint little shop, and ended up buying a book by Bill Bryson on Shakespeare, which I'm sure will be hilarious.
After our stop in the bookshop, Nick and I ventured into the Latin Quarter. Everywhere we turned, we were intrigued by new sights and sounds. It began to rain, but instead of getting discouraged, we ducked into Le Petite de Cluny, which is a nice little French cafe. The food culture of France worked in our favor because by the time we finished sitting and eating our meal of a panini (Nick) and ham and cheese sandwich, the rain had cleared and we could venture on without getting completely soaked.
The next stop on our list of things to see in Paris was the Louvre. We took a train from the Latin Quarter to Chatelet, where we transferred to the 1 in order to get off at Louvre-Rivoli. If you haven't ever had the chance, I would highly recommend trekking to the Louvre because it is a spectacular piece of architecture. Nick and I could not get over how massive it was, and thoroughly enjoyed gazing at the structure. We didn't have time to go inside, and that would have been difficult anyway due to the fact that we had our backpacks with us. We then wandered off in the direction of the Arc de Triomph before veering off along the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower. Nick and I were constantly pointing and saying, "That looks so cool! What is it?" We would then get out our map and realize that it was number 15 on the map, but we were too lazy to actually look it up. (Number 15 happens to be the Grand Palais for those interested). Other sights that we walked past but refused to look up at the time included Sainte Chappelle, Conciergie, Musee de l'Armee, Musee de Cluny, Musee de Orsay, and Petit Palais. We finally made our way to the base of the Eiffel Tower and spent a lot of time just gazing up at it in wonder.
Once we got tired and realized it was getting late, we decided to head back to the train station to make our way to Massy-Verrieres, which was where Nate was planning on picking us up. This, of course, was not an easy task given that part of the C line was under construction. This meant that we could take the C line from the Eiffel Tower to Invalides, where we had to hop the 8 train to Concorde and then the 4 train to Chatelet before we could get on the B line towards Massy-Verrieres. Nate and Kaden were very happy to see us once we arrived and we had a pleasant car ride back to the apartment, where I thoroughly enjoyed the comfort and simplicity of watching Cars with Kaden and rolling a marble back and forth on the floor.

It was nice to have a vacation within our vacation with Nate, Erica, Kaden, and Luca. Nothing quite like spending time with English-speaking, Christians in my book. We had a lovely dinner of paninis, which Nick is very astute at creating and making, to the point that we believe he should bail on his nursing profession and open up his own little panini cafe. We enjoyed pleasant conversation and shared understanding of the difficulties in the language barrier and how sometimes you end up agreeing to things you don't mean to agree to.
Sunday morning we had a breakfast of croissants before wandering to Eglise Reformie Evangelique for church. The sermon of course was all in French and I could only understand the word "Jesus", but I still felt very much at home with my fellow believers. Apparently the message was based upon Peter's denial of Christ, which is found at the end of Matthew 26. I passed my time by copying down the Lord's Prayer and Apostle's Creed in French from the back of the hymnal for a friend back home. After the sermon, I was approached by I woman. I told her that I did not speak French, and she promptly spoke to me in English and asked me if I was associated with the language school. I said that I had relatives in Germany that I was visiting and that I knew Nate and Erica. Apparently this woman has a 27 year old daughter living in Germany that she and her husband were going to be visiting for 8 days soon before travelling to Ireland. I was then approached by another woman dressed completely in magenta. She was very friendly and apparently her name is Evelyn. We had a very lengthy conversation about how she grew up in the Champagne region of France and how they have plenty of vineyards and strict quality codes to follow in order to make champagne. She isn't a fan of the cheap champagne that is produced in California, which I can understand. She shared about her younger years, which apparently included a 3 month kabutz in Israel. She was very happy that I taught her that in English, a portable is a cell phone. She actually took out a little notepad to write this down, which I thought was cool. I also informed her that the German's call it a handy before parting ways.

I went outside to find Nick and Kaden playing on the playground. We soon wandered home for a very quick lunch of sandwiches before Nick, Nate, Kaden, and I went into Paris to watch the last stage of le Tour de France. We staked out a spot on Rue de Rivoli, just up from the corner of Rue de Moldovi, which is across the street from the Louvre. First, there was a parade of random cars advertising everything from water to lighters. Then all of the team cars and buses drove by. Then came the long wait for the cyclists. I knew that they were coming due to the helicopter flying above us, obviously filming the race. I got some pretty cool pictures and video of the racers flying by on 4 of the 7 loops that they do. We decided to bail early so that we could go to Sacre Coeur in Montmartre.
We took a train to a station that apparently has a lot of stairs, so we waited with everybody else to get on the elevator. I was surprised to see how massive this elevator was; probably the combined size of my kitchen and living room at my apartment in the Burg. We went up one floor and foolishly got off, bringing some unlucky people with us. We then had to walk up four flights of a spiral staricase before we reached the exit of the station. We were greeted by more stairs up to Sacre Coeur, but the view over Paris that we got was definitely worth it. Nick and I did the quick walking tour of Sacre Coeur and then enjoyed the street performers. There was a guy on a pedestal performing amazing tricks with a soccer ball, along with a man on the steps playing acoustic versions of "Let it Be" and "Wonderwall". We then went back down to the base of the stairs so that Kaden could end his day on a high note: the carousel.
Around 8pm we wandered back into the apartment for another delicious meal Erica prepared. This time it was sausage on a bed of white rice with tomato sauce, green beans, and French fries (my first time ever eating them in France). It was a very relaxing evening filled with fun conversation, a tasty chocolate chip cookie cake extravaganza, music, and prayer. It was a wonderful blessing to be able to gather in fellowship and pray for one another before crawling into bed.
Monday, Nick and I found ourselves on a plane back to Frankfurt. We landed around 11am, and ended up taking a scenic bus ride through Frankfurt to Süd Bahnhof because we got on the 61 bus instead of the shuttle to Terminal 1. We then hopped on the S5 back to Oberursel, where we wandered the streets of Altstadt, had lunch at the bakery, and sat and relaxed on the steps of St. Ursula's church. When we arrived back at Oma's, we were greeted with cake and coffee. Uncle Winfred and Monika were there and giving us details on the trip we will make to Koblenz tomorrow. I was also greeted with the surprise that I had actually won €27.50 when I played the lotto for Oma the previous week. I also learned that Winfred has an astute sense of hearing because he told us to be quiet and listen to the car driving by; apparently it was a Ferrari. Who knew my family was filled with such fun secret talents? The rest of the afternoon was spent lazily watching television, eating a dinner of rice and chicken in white sauce, and chatting with Aunt Edith. A very long, but relatively refreshing day.
Finally, for those interested in the score, it's Kayla 12; coffee 0.