Deutsch Lessons

Happy May Day

2008-05-01T13:02:00.001-07:00

May first is Labor day in Europe and so a holiday. But May holidays go back to ancient peoples and the residue of such rites are still seen today. In Bonn there are no Walpurgis fires as you find in the north of Germany but there are Maibäume. In the night before the 1st of May, boys bring birch trees to girls houses and decorate them with streamers. They stay up all month while the girls "guess" who brought them the tree. Then on the 31st the boys come back to take the tree away and reveal themselves to the girls.

We live in a city so the trees are tied to any upright fixture in front of the house. Since the houses have more than one family and so possibly more than one girl, the name of the beloved must be inscribed in some way on the tree.

This is a leap year, however, so it was the girls turn to leave trees for the boys. Two of the trees we saw were dedicated to Fred or Freddy. I had no idea this was such a common boys name in Germany.

Items

2008-04-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

1. The scaffolding is gone from my windows.

2. Jenny and Derek's cat Bailey passed away today.

3. We booked out tickets to return to the U.S.

4. I only have 509 things left to do on my list. (Okay, I haven't actually counted but 510 seemed like a good approximate number).

5. We had a nice dinner with friends last weekend (the two in the middle).

6. We will gather with friends this weekend for the Rhein in Flammen celebration. It is fully dark here by 9:30 at night but the fireworks will start after 11:00. I hope I'm not too old to stay up so late.

7. We had a beautiful day on Sunday to walk around the Schloss in the neighboring town of Brühl.

8. I have two more articles to read and I will have read a complete German magazine.

9. The scaffolding was still up when the marathon passed right outside our window.

10. If you haven't yet seen our pictures of Paris, you should do so.

Paris2008

White Easter

2008-03-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

We may not have had a white Christmas around here but we had a white Easter. Arlo thinks that I am possibly the only person in Germany that was excited about the snow. The way I saw it was that everything was closed for 4 days, we had no place we had to go, so snow was fantastically cozy. It even stayed on the ground long enough Monday for us to go out and snap some pretty pictures of Bonn. Here's my favorite:

Of course, we had to make the requisite snow man. I promise ... I'll make a bigger one next year when I'm living in snow country.

While it was snowing outside, we had plenty of color inside.

Using this for inspiration, Arlo and I painted eggs. Arlo painted Chester (who is my favorite). Of course we had to have an Easter egg with flow lines painted on it (keep any spherical-esque objects away from Arlo if you don't want flow lines painted on it). I was pretty happy with my heart flowered egg.

Arlo made a sweet Easter basket for me. Of course it had yummy candy in it and a pretty plant. But my favorite part was this Bunny "card."

The view from the back is pretty great as well.

We found the wrapper of the Lindt chocolate rabbits pretty funny.

I hope you all had wonderful Easter weekends as well. Unless you're a freak like me, I hope yours was warmer and more spring-like.

You may have noticed that I've given up on the post a day thing. It was too overwhelming for me. I found myself trying to find things to "feed the blog." Even when I though of something I wanted to post, I felt inhibited by the fact that I didn't have something for the previous day. So I didn't end up posting. Silly, I know. So, I've given up the idea. I will try to post almost every day.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Have a pint of the black stuff.

Watch out for leprechauns and other fair folk.

Erin Go Bragh!

Rainy Day Crafts

2008-03-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

We had a perfectly cozy day inside while it rained ALL DAY. We pretty much stayed in jammies all day. I knit using these beautiful colors. Here is my progress on the baby blanket:

Can you see the frogs yet? Maybe here:

I made another necklace. It may be my favorite color combination yet ... but I don't like how it looks in pictures so I won't show you here. If I'm serious about selling these, I might need to get a tripod in order to take detailed photos. It might also be good to have a dummy neck to put them on. I'm also going to have to get creative with my naming abilities. Turquoise and Brown on Brown Thread is not the name I'm going for. Do they have color name books like they do baby name books?

I also made lemon squares. Mmmm ... a little taste of sunshine!

Further Signs of Spring

2008-03-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

We took a walk down to Rheinaue Park and were fortunate to come across a baseball game. The Bonn Capitals were playing on two fields. One was a metal bat game (Arlo says he could blow them away) and the game we sat and watched was played with wooden bats. We picked up a schedule and it seems the season doesn't start until April so this must have been some sort of pre-season (Spring Training?) game. It only went 7 innings but this may have been due to it not being a regular season game.

It was quite an interesting mix of German and English. Instead of "good eye, good eye" after a batter waits through a "ball," the team would shout "gut gesehen!" But when telling a teammate that he needs to slide, the team would shout "get dirty!" or "get down!"

Cherry Blossoms

2008-03-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

First come the cherry blossoms. Then there is a green haze to the chestnut trees as their spring leaves come into bud. The puffed out boy pigeons are all trying to impress the ladies. Soon it will be full blown spring here. I find myself wanting to wear dresses and open-toed shoes but we're not quite ready for that. I satisfied myself instead with buying some sort of fruit tree branch that will hopefully bloom in my house and some daffodils that will open overnight. I was excited to find the daffodils for a Euro for a bunch of 10 unopened stems. It was just like shopping at Trader Joe's.

The New View out my Window

2008-03-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, we decoded a message left by out landlord saying that our roof would be worked on and the outside of the building would be painted. Somehow, I was still surprised when men with scaffolding showed up on Wednesday. Now they've gotten past our windows. I was worried that the scaffolding would block the waxing Spring sunshine ... but this does not seem to be the case.

It is disconcerting to see people standing outside our 4th floor (3rd floor European) apartment.

Isn't My Bed Beautiful?

2008-03-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of a cold today. This is my first bit of any sickness since we arrived in Germany and it isn't that bad. But it is making me miss my bed. I really want a nap but I don't like our bed in our apartment (an our couch is not long enough to lay down on). I want MY bed ... the one my husband made for me. Preferably, I would like to have a cat or two on it as well.

Okay, that is all for my whine. I am loving our experience here and we do have a very nice apartment. I am such a home body and I've worked hard to surround myself with things that have meaning to me. So it makes me grumpy every now and then to not have MY things.

New Baby Quilt

2008-03-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

I just found out that another friend of mine is expecting a baby soon. So I've started on another baby blanket. Look closely, what do you see?

The IRS Thinks We Are Transients

2008-03-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out where my tax home is let alone where I want it to be. According to one publication our tax home is not in Germany because we came here for work that is temporary in nature (i.e. at the onset we expected it to be completed in one year or less). It turns out that temporary or indefinite are all a state of mind. If you think that you are going to be in a foreign country for less than a year but you end up staying longer ... you're temporary until you realize that you are staying past the 12 month mark. If you think that you are going to be in a foreign country for more than a year but you end up returning to the U.S. before the year is up then you are indefinite (and your tax home is abroad) until you realize that you will be going back to the U.S. early (at which time you will be temporary). Your status actually changes. You can have a tax home in Germany for 8 months (thinking you will be there for 2 years) and then in the 9th month you find out that you will be leaving in month 11. For the last two months you now have a tax home in the U.S.

Okay ... by this publication we clearly have our tax home in the U.S. But we have no home in the U.S., nor do we do any business in the U.S. so according to another publication ... out tax home is NOT in the U.S. Where is it?

There is actually a formal definition of itinerant worker (the publication clarifies this means transient) but we don't quite meet that definition either.

Baths in Germany Have a Long Tradition

2008-03-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went to Trier, a city established in the first century by the Romans after they conquered the Treveri. The picture above is of the ruins of the roman baths in Trier. This weekend, we went to the modern equivalent: Aqua Land

One area had about 20 different saunas plus 4 hot/cold tubs and various showers. My favorite (to view, not to use) was the cold shower that filled a bucket with a string which you then pulled to dump water over your head ... for those that like their cold shock the old fashioned way. As the pictures above show, there was also a series of interconnected swimming pools and hot tubs under a huge atrium. They had a couple of slides as well. There were grottos where you could lay on warm rocks or on sea salt. The sauna area is "textilefrei" but people wear swimming suits in the main pool area.

I was really nervous about going, but I don't know why. I have been to clothing optional hot springs (namely Harbin Hot Springs in California) but somehow not speaking the language and not knowing the protocol was really scary for me. It was better that we went with people who had been before and that could speak German and I was of course fine once we got there.

I tried a couple of saunas but I am just not a person who enjoys being hot. I definitely do not like to sweat. I do really like sitting in warm/hot water though. One of the hot tubs in the sauna area is filled with salt water. It is outdoors and only heated to about 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit (below body temperature anyway) so it was a bit cold ... maybe in the summer.

Hair Cut!

2008-03-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and decided I wanted my hair lopped off. So my kind, brave husband, that CAN see in a straight line, cut it for me. I've never been particularly fond of going to the hair salon ... strange, I know. I'm really not good with idle chit chat but it always seems awkward to just sit there. I never really know what I want done with my hair and I always hate how it looks as I leave the salon. None of these make for an experience that I want to repeat very often. Every now and then (once a year or so) I decide that this is the time that is going to be like a make-over show. I will go into the salon and say "Make me beautiful" and out I will come, a swan with a glorious hair cut. The last time I did this, the stylist poked me in the eye with the scissors. (I mean literally, my contact lens came out of my eye.) Arlo thinks that as girly as I am, I should like going to a hair salon to primp (or whatever it is that girls do) every 6 weeks or so like other women. Maybe I'll become a grown up one of these days and become a regular at a salon. I'm sure that would help keep my expectations reasonable and probably give the stylist a fighting chance at helping me choose a style that I like.

Punk Sheep

2008-03-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

Since sheep are grazing animals that tend to wander, ranchers need to mark the sheep in some way so that they can be differentiated easily (from a neighbors herd or even within their own herd). Thus the spraypainted blobs on the sheep. This one has a lot going on. You can see the blue behind her head and the pink on her butt. I seem to recall that she had a few other blotches as well that didn't show up well in the picture.

Some days I think it would be fun to have my own sheep for wool production (feed the habit) and I really want chickens. But then I think I must be crazy to want farm animals. Who am I and what did I do with the real me. I don't know ... the more I hear about self sufficiency and eating local produce and shopping from hand-made, home grown businesses the more it sets off my day dreams. I guess we'll just see where life takes me.

Pining for Pets

2008-03-06T08:08:00.001-08:00

I have to say that I am a bit tired of my pet-free existence. I have to admit that I've been checking out the Indiana animal shelters looking for the next kitty in my life. I have also been reading the House Rabbit Society page and found this adorable guy. As a kid, I was allergic to bunnies but then I was allergic to cats too and I've never let that stop me.

Wherever we go we end up taking pictures of animals ... often people's pets. Since Arlo often has the camera when we're together we have photos of every stray cat that I meet and pet along the way. I already showed you the restaurant cat that we met in Utrecht. This is evidentially a thing in the Netherlands since we had a restaurant cat in Amsterdam as well.

By the way, you should take a closer look at the sign in the photo:

This was outside the restaurant that we ate lunch in Amsterdam.

Beaded Necklace

2008-03-05T07:56:00.001-08:00

These beaded necklaces are my latest craft venture. I make them by knitting crochet thread on which I have strung beads. I love how it twists up so that you can see the two colors (one on the "front" and the other on the "back"). I can't seem to get a good photo that shows them off as much as I want to. I think this is partially due to our north facing windows and low winter sunlight. But I think I am also not using the right settings on my camera. I'll keep trying ... then maybe I can see if they will sell on Etsy.

Here is the first one I made:

Bike Riding

2008-03-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Or maybe I should title this post "Unflattering picture of happy, proud Kat."

At some point in my childhood, all my friends started riding bikes that had the seat level with the handlebars. I did not like how this felt and so stopped riding bikes altogether. I think I was about 12 years old. I tried once more when I was about 15 and visiting my Aunt and her family in Oregon. I actually started to cry I hated it so much.

I've noticed several people in the past few years riding bicycles that allowed them to sit upright. Hmmmm .... This is especially prevalent in the Netherlands (my friend says Dutch people are born riding bicycles). I've been thinking that I would like to try riding again ... upright.

While we were in Killarney, I wanted to go out to the Muckross house which is in the Killarney National Park. The house is about 5 km from town. This is, of course, walkable. But we had limited time (we needed to catch an afternoon bus back to Cork). I surprised Arlo by suggesting that maybe we could rent bicycles and ride out there.

I made the bike rental guy lower my seat ... he thought I was nuts. This wasn't optimal since the bike was not made to be ridden this way. My butt was too close to the pedals which put some strain on my knees. This made going uphill quite difficult as well. But I was nearly upright and so much happier. I didn't like riding in the street but I was comfortable on the dedicated bike lanes and once in the National Park where there were no cars.

We ended up riding about 17 km. I'm not sure my sit bones will ever recover. I loved that we could see so much more than if we were walking. For instance, it would have been quite a long day to walk out to this waterfall:

Perhaps when we get back to the States I can find a touring bike that is actually meant to be ridden upright.

Baby Blanket

2008-03-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

Our friends Laura and Cam (back in Arizona) are having a baby this month. I usually make baby quilts for friends but since I didn't move my sewing machine across the Atlantic, I though I would knit a quilt. This is the Modern Baby blanket from Mason Dixon knitting.

I hope they like it. I'm getting it out in the mail this week.

Cork, Killarney, Ring of Kerry

2008-03-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Ireland must have had a much more mild winter than Germany. There were Daffodils EVERYWHERE!! Peeking through these is Blarney Castle (a bit outside of Cork ... in, of all places, Blarney). Arlo kissed the stone. I declined as I had done so once before (more years ago that I care to think about). Something about kissing this stone where lots and lots (kerjillions of lots) of people have place their lips gave me the heebie geebies last time. I asked Arlo about it and he agreed.

We spend the weekend in Killarney which is in county Kerry. We took a bus tour along the famous Ring of Kerry. I love the ocean.

Amsterdam

2008-03-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've become fond of canal cities and the Nethelands in particular. I like that everyone speaks English and seems to be happy doing so. I thought I would feel a huge amount of guilt that I wasn't even trying to learn Dutch (Nederlands) but I rationalized that I couldn't try to learn two languages at once ... particularly not for one or two day trips here and there.

We were in Amsterdam last Wednesday because Arlo was invited to talk at University College Cork (in Ireland). Bear with me here, this does make sense. The university would pay for a direct flight into Cork on Aer Lingus. The two nearest options were Amsterdam or Berlin. We chose Amsterdam this time ... no particular reason.

Karneval

2008-02-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

I think I jinxed us with my post about our beautiful weather. The sun never came out today. According to the weather website I check it should be like this tomorrow as well but then beautiful on the weekend.

It is a bit strange to talk about the weather on a blog post. But I find that once you actually have weather you end up talking about it. I suppose we shall have no end of conversation topics once we move to Indiana this summer.

The gray skies today made me think about the festivals that are held throughout the winter months, trying to warm us up and bring color into our lives. We just finished with Karneval, here in the Rheinland area of Germany. There were too many pictures to post on the blog so I am providing links to two Picassa web albums. I think you will be impressed with the amount of color involved in the 6 day festival.

Karneval starts in November (11/11 at 11:11) but other than a kick-off event, most of the Karneval events are held in private residences. It really starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. We were still in Utrecht at the time of the official start (11:11 of course) but we traveled back to Bonn that evening, changing trains in Köln. We were possibly the only people on the train not in costume.

On Sunday, the people of Bonn stormed the Rathaus (see photos here). After being turned away several times and returning with more and more soldiers, the prinzenpaar (royal couple) finally succeeded in winning the keys to the city until Wednesday when all would return to normal.

On Monday, we went to Köln to see the huge Rosenmontagzug (see photos of Monday's parade here). It was extremely cold and it rained off and on while we were there. We watched about 2 hours of the parade and then I asked someone how long the parade lasts ... 5 hours or so was the answer. Arlo and I decided that we were cold and hungry enough to be satisfied with what we had already seen. All through the parade, people throw things into the crowds. We came home with a large bag of candy, a small stuffed Karneval clown and several flowers. (No roses even though it was Rose Monday ... I got tulips and a carnation).

We've discussed Karneval at length in my language class. I learned that this is, historically speaking, a time when a person could say anything they wanted without fear of recrimination. This explains the predominance of politically motivated floats in the parade.

During my last language class, we had a debate as to whether Karnaval is good or bad. On the negative side, were arguments about the excessive alcohol consumption and the greediness of people when it came to gathering the throws from the parades (to the exclusion of looking out for children), the amount of trash that is on the streets during this time period and the extra workers needed to police the streets and man the hospitals, and the lack of meaning of the festival seeing it only as an excuse to exhibit behaviors that would be otherwise socially unacceptable.

I couldn't help but see this as a "Bah Humbug!" argument. There seems to be a similar argument regarding all of our winter holidays: Thanksgiving is just about food, Christmas is too commercialized, Valentines Day is a "Hallmark Holiday." I've been reflecting on this a lot and I think that we get out of any holiday or celebration what we put into it. I hear people talking about the commercialization of Christmas and, after having it explained to me, I can see what they are talking about. But somehow it doesn't affect me. I enjoy putting myself out there for people and I get a lot of reward. I saw the same in the German people at Karneval. These rather stoic and reserved people were friendly and outgoing to an outsider (me).

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T07:41:00.000-08:00

Well, it is my first attempt at crochet and my first attempt at writing with embroidery. So it is a bit lopsided and the writing is a bit wobbly. But I am happy with it as a first attempt. Jennifer of Craft Sanity linked to this blog with the pattern. And it was Jennifer's idea to embroider the candy heart sayings. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day.

Beautiful Day

2008-02-13T09:04:00.001-08:00

We have had the most amazingly beautiful weather for almost a week. This past Saturday we walked up to Kreuzberg where we had this gorgeous view of the city. The tall spire in the center of the photo is the Munster in the center of the pedestrian zone city center. We walked for about 3 and a half hours (there, around and back).

On our way up, we walked through a graveyard (beautiful old trees). Arlo added to his mathematical site collection with the gravestone of Felix Hausdorf.

Here is the church and proof of our gorgeously clear sky.

And this is the view of the penitent stairs. This portion of the church is only open on Easter Sunday when pilgrims go up the stairs on their knees, in prayer. You can see the ornately painted ceiling in this photo. This ceiling is throughout the entire church.

Well ... It's February Already!

2008-02-02T02:47:00.001-08:00

I guess you can all tell that posting to my blog everyday was not on my list of New Year's Resolutions. Hopefully, I still have a reader or two left out there. This post is not about anything but rather everything. I have gathered a smattering of photos that represent the last two months of my life. Here we go ...

Things I've knitted:

Poor Arlo had no scarf to call his own. He had been using an old wool scarf in a blackwatch plaid that I have had since my travels to Scotland back in the early 90s. I knit him this doubleknit scarf that is 8 feet long. He can wrap and wrap and then wrap some more.

I knitted these fingerless gloves for my sister, Karen, and her husband, Joe. The pattern was based off of Kristen's fingerless mittens pattern but I added a partial thumb. I could not hand make all of my Christmas presents this year but I'm glad I chose Karen and Joe as recipients since they gave Arlo and me hand made gifts this year. That was a fun, bonding, coincidence.

This is the baby jacket that I knit for Isobel -- Sheri and Ron's GORGEOUS baby.

I knit this bauble for Carolein -- the secretary at MPI. She has been an amazing resource and friend to Arlo and me this year.

And finally, for myself I knit my first successful sweater. This is my third sweater. The first was made from free yarn that just did not match my skin tone. Nor was the variegation in the yarn suitable for anything other than a crazy animal print. It was great practice and a good lesson in how a sweater is put together. The second sweater looks fantastic ... spread out on the bed, but definitely not on me. I've been wearing this new sweater all the time. It is quite snuggly and warm. Plus I love the color.

Cooking:

I have felt that I've needed to learn to cook all over again. Recipes that I love in the U.S. seem to not work very well here. Many ingredients that are commonplace and inexpensive in the U.S. are not available or extremely expensive. Okay, maybe not extremely but more expensive than I want to spend on food. We would much rather spend Arlo's salary on travel. The two categories of food that I miss the most are Chinese food and Mexican food. In theory, one can get Chinese food here in Germany ... but I haven't had any that tasted good. There are no Mexican restaurants. I have found a pan-latino grocery store ... but I'm not really sure what to do with most of the items ... and again, it is expensive.

My friend Daniel and his wife Gabrielle invited me over to learn how to make Tamales. They had brought mole and some chilies from Mexico.

My kitchen does not have enough light to really photograph the cooking experience well. But here is the best photograph of my version of Orange Chicken. The frozen version from Trader Joe's had been a go-to meal in our busy life in Tucson. I found myself craving it. So with much experimentation, I figured out the batter for the chicken (egg whites and cornstarch) and I made a sauce with orange juice and hoisin sauce (available in the asian food store).

Carolein (at MPI) invited me over to her house during her Christmas holiday in order to make a Goose. We cooked most of the day on St. Nikolaus Tag (6 December). Arlo and Carolein's husband arrived after work. Carolein's parents also joined us. We really enjoyed being a part of a German family celebration.

Travels:

Since I've last posted, Arlo and I have been to Münster (Conference for Arlo), Ireland (Christmas and New Years with Sheri and her family), Darmstadt (Arlo's first invited talk), Mainz (on our way back from Darmstadt), Nijmegen (to visit Eric and Mette on our way to Utrecht), and Utrecht (Conference for Arlo).

Münster:
This was our first overnight trip within Germany. It turned out to be a nice trip. But it sure did not start out that way. I picture myself a strong, confident traveler ... but this trip tested me in such a way that I had difficulty regaining my confidence on further trips.

The second day of the trip went much better than the first (I'm still not quite ready to talk about the first day). I wandered through the city and saw lots of old things. We also went through the Münster Christmas market. It was slightly different from the market in Bonn. It was a lot more crowded. We had a fantastic drink ... an 'After Eight.' This was a shot of a mint liquor in a hot chocolate. That drink alone should be enough to wipe the difficult experiences on the first day from my mind.

Old Tower ... part of the medieval wall.

Evening view of the main pedestrian street. (There are so few people because everyone is in the market that is off this street.)

Ireland:
We had been planning on spending Christmas and New Years with Sheri and her family since we first decided to move to Germany this year. I loved getting to see my friend and meet her beautiful daughter. I got some quality kitty time as well (the Gress-Wingrove clan have 4 cats in the house).

Here's Isobel. We're standing in front of Sheri and Ron's house.

I had one tourist goal for our trip. I wanted to see New Grange. I've tried to get to New Grange twice before. This first time, we didn't even get out of the bus station in Dublin. The last time we got to the site a few minutes after the last tour had left. And this time ... this time ... well, this time we arrived in plenty of time ... but all of the remaining tours were sold out.

A kind docent told us of a road we could drive on that would get us close enough to take the picture above. Along this road is another passage tomb that has not been excavated in modern times. We could not go inside (gate blocking the entrance). But we could wander around the site. This is where the following picture was taken.

Arlo and I took a few day trips into Dublin. We went to the Guinness Storehouse (which was a much different tour that I had taken back in 1993) and to the Kilmainham Gaol where the political prisoners during Ireland's path to independence were held. This tour was just as fascinating as I remembered.

We also took an overnight trip to Waterford. This is a port city ... but not a coastal city. So we took a city bus down to a coastal town so that I could see the ocean.

Darmstadt:
Arlo gave his first invited talk at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. The editor of the journal that accepted his first paper is a professor here. When he found out that Arlo was in Germany he invited him to give a talk.

While Arlo was giving his talk, I wandered through the city. Darmstadt was Germany's epicenter of Art Nouveau. It was a residence town during the prince-elector system in Germany. Like Bonn, the residence has been converted into a main University building. And the town was nearly leveled during WWII. So there is quite a mix of architecture around. Here are some of the photos from around town.

View of church through Herren Park that borders the University.

Art Nouveau wedding tower for the emperor Ludwig.

View from the Residence gate towards to old city hall.

Tower that was once part of the medieval wall. The copper top was added in the 1700s.

Mainz:
The next day (after Arlo's talk in Darmstadt) we needed to travel through Mainz to return to Bonn. We decided to take a long layover there.
A view of the Mainz Dom.

The facade of the Gutenberg Museum.

We spend most of the day in the Gutenberg museum. It was a fascinating exhibit not just about the man and his printing press but about the history of printing both in Europe and Asia.

Nijmegen:
Arlo registered for another conference in Utrecht. This is in the Netherlands so this was our first trip outside of Germany within continental Europe. We have friends in Nijmegen so we journeyed there first. It was fantastic to see them and we were able to save a night's hotel cost.

Eric walked us around the university (where Mette works as an Art Historian).

So this was a bit of an awkward photo to take. But I never really understood what was meant by "red light district" and I suppose it is possible that some of you don't either. Those red lights are in big picture windows that have a girl in them. Along the lines of a department store display window. This is in Nijmegen and is much smaller than the red light district in Amsterdam (so I've been told). I'm sure that Utrecht also has such a place, but I did not see it.

Utrecht:
Arlo did not get to see much of Utrecht as he was busy in a conference the entire time. He had two dinners in the city center (with me the first night and as part of the conference the second) so he only saw the city at night. Our hotel and the university were off to the east of the old city center.

Right in the center of the old part of town lies the Dom. This is a protestant church now. Interestingly enough, the church is only the choir of the original cathedral. The nave was destroyed by a tornado several hundred years ago. So the tower below is separate from the rest of the church.

I was unable to stand in such a way to get the entire tower. I did however climb it.

This is the view from about 95 meters up the tower. This is not quite the tippy top ... but as high as one can go and actually stand on a balcony. You can see the two canals that run through the city center.
A pretty cherry tree in the cloister garden.

Canal view

We have gotten used to dogs being allowed EVERYWHERE in Germany. They are in restaurants and in department stores as well as anywhere else that people go. Well ... Utrecht was a cat town.

This fellow was in the restaurant that we ate dinner in out first night. He seemed to be recommending the salmon to everyone.

Although, he might have preferred herring since he is a dutch cat. Eric joined us on the second day of Arlo's conference. He convince Arlo to try the (raw, pickled) herring that is a dutch specialty. I had a small taste of Arlo's but chose the Chicken Satay for myself. Eric says that when you buy this as street food (imagine living somewhere where it is safe to eat fish as street food) you hold it by the tail and eat it -- bones and all. In the University Refer one is normally more civilized.

Local Ventures:

We spent quite a bit of time at the Bonn Christmas Market. It was the place to meet up with friends, listen to music, eat fun food, and make a wish list. Most towns in Germany have a Christmas Market during December. Occasionally they have a special theme.

Siegburg is the town at the end of the streetcar line that passes in front of our house. I had heard that they had a medieval christmas market. So we went to see.

Here is a woodworker using a foot pump to turn his lathe.

Here I am eating Räubersfackeln (robber's stick) we are still unsure as to what type of meat this was. As I ate it I thought it was chicken. But we've heard all sorts of things from pork to horse meat. I have no idea. It was really good though.

Speaking of good ... the bread that we bought was made in these stone ovens. It was fantastic.

This fair was a challenge to my German skills because they were using archaic words. (Just like we would at our Renaissance Faires). For instance instead of things costing 1 Euro they would be 1 Teil (one piece). We ate a lot of amazing food (including some apple fritters that were the best apple thing I have ever eaten) and saw some entertaining stage shows. Arlo even bought me a Christmas present while we were there (a pretty hair clip). We were there on a Sunday afternoon. I understand it was really pretty at night since they did not use any electricity ... so there were candles everywhere.

January was a busy month for us. In addition to our trips to Darmstadt/Mainz and Nijmegen/Utrecht we had to use the coupons that had been given to us when we registered with the city upon arrival in Bonn. They expired at the end of 6 months.

We used the free Bonn Theater tickets to see La Boheme at the Opera house.

We used our Bonn Orchestra tickets to see the National Youth Orchestra at Beethoven Halle.

Both of these performances were amazing. We also used our free tickets to several of the museums in town.

Busy Elf Here

2007-12-11T23:19:00.000-08:00

I have so much to post but right now I'm knitting Christmas presents and have no time. So in the meantime, you can watch Arlo and I do our elf dance here.

Thanks to the people at OfficeMax for helping me waste precious time.

A Trip to DHL

2007-11-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

I finished my Christmas cards for my Christmas card swap on swap-bot. These green stars are from the same packet as the white ones that I used in my Christmas decorations. I also finally mailed the scarf that I finished eons ago (see here). The deadline for mailing the scarf got moved from December 1st to December 15th. I hope I get mine before I leave for Ireland. My main reason for heading to DHL today was that Arlo needed some application materials mailed. This job search is really taking a toll on him and I'm trying to help wherever I can. There isn't much that I can do ... but I'm really good at walking to DHL.

Now here is the weird thing. Arlo's officemate took his envelopes of application materials to the Post Office and was charged 8 Euro per envelope to mail them to the US. I took a batch (a week or so ago) to DHL which is owned by Deutsche Post (the post office) and was charged 4 Euros per envelope. But today when I took in the packets of materials, I was only charged 2 Euros per envelope. Maybe Deutsche Post is owned by Xeno.

It was quite an international shipment today. Arlo's materials were being mailed to the US and Canada. The scarf was mailed to Sweden and the three cards were mailed to Belgium, Australia, and the US. I should have mailed something to Chris and Renee in Japan just to round it off. Maybe next time.

November Wrap-Up

2007-11-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Well here it is the last week of November ... not a good blogging month for me. I had this huge Elephant in the room whenever I sat down to blog ... Catan. I thought if I just posted his picture with dates that would appease the elephant and I could get back to blogging but it seems to have taken some time to work. As fate would have it, I had signed up to participate in the NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth this year. All I was supposed to do was post every day (no matter how short) during the month of November. Oh well ... maybe next year.

To answer those of you that wrote comments and sent me kind emails, I'm not exactly sure what happened to Catan. The wonderful family that was keeping him for me while Arlo and I played here in Germany think that he ate something ... possibly antifreeze. I am suspicious of the timing. I have always had black cats and I've never allowed them to go outside during the weeks around Halloween. I have no evidence of foul play, however and his host family (we joked that he was an exchange student this year ... living with a family that spoke both cat and dog) had no choice in letting him out. He managed to escape a few months ago. He stayed close to the house, but wouldn't let anyone come near enough to scoop him.

Moving on to more timely topics ...
Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. We opened our house to all of our newfound friends. However, since it was a Thursday and clearly not a holiday here in Deutschland, not all of our friends could come. While we missed people it was probably a good thing since the 19 people that were here had a tight fit. I could have bought a turkey here, with a special order, but the smallest turkey (about 9 lbs) would not fit in my oven. So instead I cooked 3 chickens. The chicken was good, but I missed the turkey gravy ... chicken gravy is just not the same. I bought fresh cranberries for my cranberry sauce. I was quite excited to find some in the grocery store that specializes in gourmet and foreign foods. I made mashed potatoes (of course) and my cornbread stuffing. Many guests brought additional dishes. Everything was tasty.

My greatest culinary achievement for the season was in making a pumpkin pie. Would you believe you can't buy pumpkin in a can here? Nor can you buy ready-made pie crust. So I bought a pumpkin and I made my own crust (so easy ... I should have learned this years ago). The pie turned out really well. I had to make up my own spice mixture since I did not find allspice. I have since been told that it is available (its is called pimento). I was unable to make my favorite ... pecan pie, but Arlo was thankful that he was able to eat his "vegetables" for breakfast in the days following Thanksgiving.

I'm usually a little afraid of Black Friday and so tend NOT to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. However, here in Bonn, last Friday was the opening day of the Christmas Market. There are hundreds of booths selling handcrafted and traditional Christmas items. The food is fantastic as well. I wandered through part of it with my friend Carla after our language class. Then Arlo and I went out again Saturday evening to see everything lit up. There are three Christmas trees near the center of town that have not been decorated yet. I am not sure when they will be. It seems that the tradition here is to decorate your Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I don't know if this goes for public trees as well. This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Avent so perhaps they will be decorated then.

I decided that I needed a little Christmas spirit in our apartment. Of course I did not bring any of my Christmas decorations and I am not willing to spend money decorations for just a few weeks. We won't even be here for Christmas itself. But walking by the equivalent of a dollar store, I stopped in to see what they had. I bought this tiny set of lights and the white stars for less then 4 Euro. The Tannenbaum branches were 3 Euro at a flower stand. A guest at our Thanksgiving dinner gave me the Angel as a present. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I just read a fantastic book ... "The Queen of the Big Time" by Adraina Trigiani. I had heard of this book about a year ago but never had a chance to read it. It was in the library here, in the English language section. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. It spans a woman's life in an Italian community in Pennsylvania from her teen years in the 1920s through her death in the 1970s. Trigiani is a fantastic storyteller and I hope to find more of her books at the library.

My sister sent me "Anne of Green Gables" a few months ago. I had never read these books as a kid and I clearly missed out. I loved it. I keep checking at the library but while they have the 3rd through 6th books on the shelf, they have not had the 2nd book. I think I can probably go online and request the book, but that requires working in German. I'll check a few more times before I resort to that. One of the blogs that I read had this post, recently. She (the blogger) is writing a cookbook based on the food found in the beloved childhood classics. I think that is a book I will want when she finishes it.

Well, while I won't win a prize for NaBloPoMo this year, I hope this long blog entry makes up for some of my lack of posting lately. I am happy to say that I did win a prize in a drawing recently. I often listen to CraftSanity while home during the day. Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood has fantastic interviews with all sorts of crafty folks. Her last interview was with Kristin Roach who puts together Craft Leftovers, a zine and packet of crafty odds and ends that she sells each month. She does all of this as a college student. I'm really impressed. I won the December Craft Leftovers packet and it is being sent to me. Here is the post that shows what is in the packet and here is the post that names me as the winner.

Catan James Caine July 9, 2004 - November 2, 2007

2007-11-16T08:21:00.001-08:00

Martinstag

2007-11-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

Martinstag is November 11th. This starts the Karneval season in Catholic Germany. On this day, the children of Germany carry lanterns, sing songs and are rewarded with candy. In addition to going from door to door, most towns have a parade "Martinszuge" ending at a huge bonfire. I don't understand the reason ... but Martinstag was celebrated on different days this past week in each of the local communities. The celebration for central Bonn was on Friday night. I stood in the Munster Platz and watched the parade go by. It took a half an hour for all of the children to pass me. I then joined in with the parents walking along the side of the parade to the bonfire in the Markt Platz. I marvel at the Germans' lack of fear of fire. Children (some as young as 3 years old) carry paper lanterns with candles in them. There were fire fighters all over the center of town and particularly concentrated at the bonfire.

Bunny Monster Abroad

2007-11-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

I spend quite a bit of time each week exploring the online crafting world. So many people have marvelous crafty businesses. Maybe at some point I will put some of this effort to work for myself ... but for right now I just inundate my sister Karen with information for her crafty business -- Karen's Monsters.

I am privileged to own the very first bunny monster, called L'original on Karen's site and Häschen Monster by those who know him in Deutschland. We were recently in London visiting friends so we took the traveling egg cup idea to a new level:
This is at the Alter Zoll in Bonn. We needed to try out a few techniques for holding the Häschen Monster in front of the camera.

Look kids, Big Ben ... Parliament Building.

Westminster Abbey

We asked the Beef Eater politely to hold the bunny monster for the picture and he just as politely said "No ma'am!"

Rebuilt Globe Theater (Shakespeare's old haunt)

Strickentreffen and other Knitting news

2007-10-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday mornings in Tucson found me in Espresso Art (a cafe by the University) knitting with a great group of women. While I love knitting alone, I really like the social aspect of gathering to knit. I've noticed that I don't knit nearly as fast in these groups as I do alone ... but I love to see what everyone else is doing. We end up teaching and learning from each other and just sharing our lives.

Since coming to Germany, I've been trying to fill some of this void with my internet explorations. The knitting/personal blogs that I've been reading have been quite inspiring. I really like the knitting podcasts that I've been listening to. I treat these almost as I would a knitting group ... I put on the podcast and start knitting. But it is not the same.

I went into a yarn store here in the Fußgangerzone but the proprietress was so unfriendly that I didn't ask her if she knew of any knitting groups in town. I posted an ad on Craigslist -- Köln has a city entry but Bonn does not. I figured Köln is not too far away and perhaps Bonn people look at it. This would have the advantage (or disadvantage, however you look at it) of reaching knitters that speak English. But alas, I had no response to the ad.

One of the women in MPI suggested that I go to the Münster (the main catholic church right in the city center). She was fairly sure that they had a knitting group. So I found the Münsterladen (church store) and asked about this. The nun I spoke to (I started in German, but she switched to English) was very confused by my question. She wanted to know who had told me that the church did such a thing. After much explanation she said that no they do not have a knitting group. I should try the Protestants ... they do that sort of thing.

Well before I could go to Kreuzkirche (the big Protestant church in the center of town) I went into a different yarn store in town. This proprietress was very friendly. She responded to my attempts at speaking German by speaking very slow, simple, clear German herself. So I asked if she knew of a knitting group that I could join. She owns two stores and her store in Rheinbach (two towns over -- about 20 minutes by regional train) has a Strickentreffen (knitting meeting) every Thursday evening. I've gone twice now and it has been great. I get to listen and practice German ... but if I'm really confused they will clarify in English. It costs 5 Euro per week. I wish it didn't but if you think about it, I spent about 5 dollars each week buying a coffee in the cafe where I met up with my last group.

So now some postings of my latest projects:
Here is a scarf I made for my niece in California. It is based on the scribble scarf in Mason-Dixon Knitting. It is very lightweight and yet snuggly ... perfect for California. This was made with stash yarn. I think the blue is shine sport from Knitpicks and the white is boucle that I got in some super yarn sale Michael's had last summer.

I mentioned that I didn't like the washcloths here so I was knitting a few out of some cotton yarn I had in my stash. It washes nicely but after one use it is completely out of shape. I think I could get used to knitted washcloths, however, I like the feel on my face.

I finished Arlo's hat (Mütze auf deutsch) I like how the crown looks on his a little better than I like the look on mine. That's okay though since I won't see the crown of my hat when I'm wearing it. Although, I will be hard pressed to see the crown of Arlo's hat when he is wearing his.

Lastly, I finished my first knitted swap project. It is not due for mailing until December 1st ... won't my partner be surprised when she gets this in October. I knitted this 6 foot 2 inch scarf from the touch of whimsy pattern. I had never done an I-cord cast-on and cast-off. That combined with the double knit edging makes for a beautiful border.

I'm still working on the baby jacket for Isobel. I have the back and the two front pieces done. I'm working on the arms now. I would like to start a sweater for myself. I think I will go buy some more of the blue yarn that I used for the scarf. If I get truly bored, I could always knit one of these ... if only I knew a horse:

Internationales Frauenzentrum

2007-10-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks, I have been incredibly busy with the Internationales Frauenzentrum (International Womens' Center). About a month ago, there were a bunch of organizations with tables in the Marktplatz. I saw IFZ there but did not have the confidence to try to speak with them (it turns out they probably could have spoken with me in English). I went home, instead, and looked them up on-line. While they have some information in English, most of the events are described in German. Through my poor translation I thought there was a meeting on the second Monday of every month to introduce women to the center. So I waited, then last Monday (the 8th, I think) I went to the center. It turns out that the event I thought was an introduction to IFZ was in fact a tour of the city and it is done on the second Monday of the month ... when there is enough interest. I.e. I needed to have called ahead.

I ended up speaking with the president of the organization who speaks Korean and German ... but very little English. There was a lot of pantomime and dictionary flipping ... but I managed to understand what was going on. So now I go to 3 classes a week and co-run another. I am taking a sewing class. It is a good thing I already know how to sew. Our teacher speaks only German and speaks very very fast. Add to this the fact that everyone else in the room is talking and she is usually sitting at the sewing machine with me behind her (not a good set-up for my hearing problem) and I understand very little. It is going well though. I am also taking an "Integrierender Orientierungskurs für Migratinnen" -- a course for immigrant women to help them understand Germany and integrate more smoothly into society. I missed the first class. Last week was a bit of geography, learning about the German states and capitals but focusing mostly on the state we live in -- Nordrhein Westfalen -- and particularly the Bonn area. The class is entirely in German but there were lots of pictures and maps and I got a lot out of it. Tonight and next week's classes will discuss Democracy in Germany and the following week will be on the festivals and holidays of Germany. I'm really looking forward to that last one.

The third course is Deutsch Konversationkurs -- German Conversation. I think this will be a really good class for me ... but I didn't like the last class very much. I will try again this week. The teacher kept speaking English to me. Oddly enough, she did this for words I understood. I kept telling her I was understanding fine, but maybe I had a puzzled look on my face. My father thinks that perhaps she wanted to show-off her English skills. Who knows.

The center needed an English speaker to lead the English Konversationkurs so I did that this past Monday night. There is a Kenyan woman who is able to lead the class some nights, but not every week. I brought in a Wikipedia article about the Western United States and we read and discussed it. The class seemed to really like it. The previous class, the text that was chosen was at a college level. Most of the participants were struggling to understand and so they were not getting an opportunity to practice speaking.

Perfect Fall Day

2007-10-03T07:24:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we went to Braubach to see Marksburg Castle and had the most amazing day. The forecast called for rain but if you let weather make your decisions for you ... you might not see anything in Europe. I believe it did rain in Bonn, but in Braubach and Koblenz we only had a perfect fall mist. It was cool enough to be called crisp and have the changing colors of the leaves make sense, but not too cold to be uncomfortable. Braubach is a very small town and it was clear that the people all knew each other. Everyone said good morning to us and it was a great Deutsch speaking experience. In Bonn, if I have to ask someone to repeat or slow down, they almost always switch to English. In Braubach, however, people were unhurried so they were happy to speak slower and simpler for me. The tours of Marksburg were only given in German with a written guide in English (or a few other languages). The written guide was about 2 sentences long for each room and the tour guide spoke for 5-10 minutes in each room. While she spoke very quickly I was able to get a general picture of the information she was giving.

Here are a few pictures of Marksburg Castle:

The castle on the hill

The herb garden (along the battlement) has been continuously cultivated since medieval times.

These window seats show the thickness of the wall of the castle.
From the kitchen -- this may have been the item that most impressed Arlo. He loves how you can see the centuries worth of use on this butcher block top.

Here is the cute tram that took us up the hill to the castle.

We walked back along a path that was once a medieval road.

Where we could look down upon the old city wall and tower.

This Inn is just outside of what was once the city gate (for late-comers I suppose).

Here is a street in the Altstadt.

Today is German Reunification Day (a national holiday) so it is only right to end this post with a picture of some pieces of the Berlin wall. These are situated at the Deutsch Ecke (German Corner) where mother Mosel and father Rhein meet (Koblenz is at the confluence of these two rivers).

Funny Signs

2007-10-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

So, we've come across many funny signs while here in Germany. We thought we should start photographing them and sharing them with all of you.

This sign is 60 meters from the river (the Rhein) in Bad Godesberg. The street has a bit of a downhill slope and ends at the crossroads of the pedestrian pathway along the river. There is a guardrail, but I guess they took artistic license and left that out of the picture.

We saw this sign in Braubach (a small town upstream and across the Rhein from Koblenz). It is in a garden at the old well. I think it should have been on a shorter pole if they want the dogs to be able to see it.

Podcasts and Craft Swap

2007-09-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

I have been spending a lot of time listening to podcasts lately. It has been great! Since I am so late to the game, when I find a podcaster that I like, there are tons of back podcasts to listen to. My favorite knitting podcaster is Kelly from Knit Picks. Knit Picks is my favorite internet yarn supplier and I'm very sad that they won't ship to Europe.

Well, I've made it through all 21 of Kelly's podcasts (22 comes out later today sometime ... but I probably won't hear it until Monday) so I've started in on Sister Diane from Crafty Pod. She posts to the blog daily ... with all different crafts and posts a podcast once every other week. (You can click on the podcast category to find all of the podcasts). I still have 43 of those podcasts to go. That should last me a few weeks.

I've learned about all sorts of craft ideas from Crafty Pod. Currently I'm excited about this idea of a craft swap. She had an interview with the founder of Swap-Bot (Crafty Pod episode 45) which is a website that features all sorts of craft swaps. Here's my understanding of how this works. An organizer says I want to start a swap for ___. They post it saying when people need to sign up by, when items need to be mailed and how many partners each person will have. People sign up to swap ___. Once the sign-up deadline arrives, the computer matches people ... this is done in a way that an uneven number of participants can play. People get emails saying who their swap partners are. They can then look up information on their partner's profile and make a very special ___. They send theirs out and they get one in return ... made specifically for them.

So I've signed up for three starter swaps. One paper craft, one knitting, and one networking. The first (and easiest) closed today. I should get an email tomorrow as to who my partners are. I will have four partners to whom I email my blog address. I will also get four blogs to check out. It is encouraged to post comments and actively participate. -- So look lively folks, we're about to get company. My paper craft swap is to make three Christmas cards and send them out. That should be fun. And my knitting swap is a winter scarf. This swap is a Europe only swap so I will "meet" two other European knitters (one that I send my scarf to and and one that sends a scarf to me).

Düsseldorf II

2007-09-27T07:51:00.001-07:00

Longtime readers of this blog (way back from two weeks ago) may notice that there was never an original Düsseldort post. Good Job! However, this trip to Düsseldorf last weekend was our second trip.

What these two trips had in common:
1. Beautiful Weather
Both times we traveled to Düsseldorf we had bright blue sky and it was at least 70° F.
2. Charming Altstadt
Here is a photo of the Rathaus (city hall).
3. Walk Along the Rhein
Many people enjoyed the last hurrah of summer weather.

Here the similarities ended. The last time we went to Düsseldorf we went with a group of at least 50 Goethe Institute participants. The normally excellent German train system was out of whack. There was a problem on the tracks which delayed all trains and made it difficult to get from Köln to Düsseldorf. So we went via the Netherlands (not quite ... but almost). Anyway, it took 4 hours the first time but only an hour this last weekend. With such a long delay the last time, we only had a few hours in Düsseldorf but we did see the Media Harbor, the Altstadt, and Königsallee (Rodeo Drive of Germany).

Königsallee has a canal (part of the Düssel for which Düsseldorf is named) running through the center. There is a street on either side (one direction of traffic each) and then expensive shops. The first time we went was a Saturday ... the street was so crowded you couldn't even look in the windows. The second time was a Sunday so all of the shops were closed. This seems like a great time to window shop ... but I was with two men.

The trip this last weekend was for the purpose of meeting up with our friend Eric. I've known Eric since my first year at CSU Hayward (for my masters degree). While at Hayward, I took some mathematics classes at UC Berkeley where Eric was a graduate student in Mathematics. Eric taught me lots of math. Fortunately for our friendship, Eric and Arlo really like each other and I really like Eric's fiance Mette. Eric and Mette are currently living in Nijmegen in the Netherlands (a common theme when it comes to us and Düsseldorf) where Mette is working at the university (Art History). Unfortunately, Mette was sick and a bit overwhelmed with her course load and so was unable to join us this weekend.

It was Sunday so there were very few places open. However, the main point of the trip was to visit and catch up ... so we walked for a while and then sat for a spell before we repeated. We had a beautiful lunch in the Altstadt (on what I call Restaurant Row).

The mathematicians deep in conversation
Lunch in the Altstadt.
While walking through the Hofgarten we saw this sleeping beauty tree (or the mys-tree as Arlo and Eric wanted to call it). The case appears to be preserving some sort of lichen on the tree ... but I'm not sure.
It seems like the wrong time of year for babies ... but these baby black swans were adorable. I tried out the movie feature on my digital camera. I think it came out pretty well.
Some interesting architecture in Düsseldorf (in the media harbor)

Deutschsprechen and Laundry

2007-09-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

For the first time in years I am carting laundry to a laundromat (washsalon). While I will always prefer a washer and dryer in my own home, there is something to be said for the laundromat. When I lived in Los Angeles (the last time I had to use a laundromat) I would drive over with bags and bags of laundry and get an entire month worth of laundry done in an hour and a half. I would usually go on Sunday morning and bring my most favorite of all periodicals -- The Sunday Paper.

Here in Bonn, I have to walk many blocks with the laundry so I can't let it stack up like those who live in a car world. So I go every week. I tried going on Monday mornings but it seems that everyone that doesn't go on the weekends goes on Monday mornings instead -- very crowded. So I have gone on Tuesday or Wednesday for the last three weeks. I bring my knitting and have a fairly enjoyable time.

What does this have to do with speaking German? I'm glad you asked. It seems that anyone who has a question regarding the operation of the machines turns to me. I'm thinking this might be because of the domestic air my knitting lends. It might also be that I've gotten into the habit of smiling at people as a pre-apology for being unable to understand or communicate smoothly. Whatever the case, laundry has become an opportunity to speak German. You wouldn't think I would need to create these special opportunities since I'm living in, well, Germany but I do not tend to strike up conversations ... I need to be forced into speaking to strangers by commerce needs or by being approached first.

Last week I educated an extremely friendly Polish woman, Agnes, on the mysteries of the washsalon. She is also learning German but is much more advanced that I am. We exchanged phone numbers and I was actually brave enough to call her and set up a Deutschsprach date for this past Saturday. She doesn't speak any English (although she understands a few words) and I know no Polish ... so German and pantomime are our only options for communication. It went well ... exhausting, but really good. We met for two hours after I had already spent 4 hours shopping with my other German friend, Deborah. In the past, I have done well in forcing myself to speak German to Deborah ... but evidentially I can't speak German AND walk on cobblestones WHILE navigating the crazily busy Saturday streets.

Craft Update

2007-09-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

I finished my hat on Friday. While I am happy with how it turned out it is not quite like the hat I saw on Etsy that I was trying to model. I've included a picture of that hat and the top view of my hat for comparison purposes. I think this knitter used a smaller needle (or thicker yarn) and he definitely did his decreases differently than I did. I don't feel I can just post a picture of someone else's hat so here is the link to his Etsy store. As you may recall, this is the prototype for making Arlo a warm winter hat. All I have to do now is get him into a yarn store to pick out the color he wants.

I've also added several pages to my art journal. Here is my favorite one:

Tour of Bonn Zentrum

2007-09-25T08:06:00.001-07:00

Last week Bonn experienced a last hurrah of summer. We had beautiful blue skies and about 75 degree (Fahrenheit) weather. So I at long last took a photographic walking tour of the Fußgangerzone to show the folks back home. The tour starts at the Max Planck Institut für Mathematik (where Arlo is working for the year), winds its way through the center part of the city and then gives a tour of our apartment. Be sure to check out the map feature.

Here is the Picassa Album with the tour.

P.S. I emailed this specifically to some people ... it hasn't changed.

Köln

2007-09-19T06:30:00.001-07:00

Arlo and I figured out how to take the train to Köln yesterday. This is the largest city (although not the capital) in the state of Nordrhein Westfalen. I think I will be going to Köln often as it takes less than a half hour and is in the range of the monthly train pass that I purchase. The train pass is good after 2:00 on weekdays and all day on weekends.

For this first trip we focused our attention on the Köln Dom, the medieval cathedral. The cathedral was begun in the 13th century (1265 to be exact) and worked on through the mid 1500's but work stopped for 300 years. In 1842 construction resumed (using the original plans) and was completed by 1880. During the war, most of the medieval windows and other items were removed for safe keeping and so the originals are in the cathedral today.
We walked around by ourselves for about an hour before taking a tour in English. Unfortunately, you cannot enter the oldest portion of the cathedral during confession so our tour did not take us there. We did, however, see much of it on our own. I would love to take the tour through the excavation site (there was an earlier church on the site that dates back to at least 870) but the tour is only in German ... so it will have to wait (she says with great optimism).

On a lighter note, we also walked down the Rhein to the Mmmuseum. This is a chocolate museum. It was very interesting. I had no idea what the cocoa tree and its bean looked like. (This is a picture of the tree with its blossom. There were no bean pods on the trees but they are about 20 times the size of the flower.) The museum has a small, operational, chocolate factory. It shows each step, from the extraction of the cocoa powder and cocoa butter down to the wrapping of individual chocolates. And of course we got to taste the result.

Crafting in Germany

2007-09-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

Germany has been very good for my crafting life. I did not get my normal summer break this year. Almost as soon as the semester ended I started teaching in the summer session and immediately following that I taught a professional development class for two weeks. I then had just enough time to get the house packed up and put into storage before we left for Germany and began our language class. Well, now the language class is over and while this is bad for my goal of learning German it is excellent for my goal of quality craft time.

I completed my first bit of color work with this fair isle pattern. I had to tear it out several times, not because of the fair isle stitches but because I didn't like the rolled brim of the pattern. I decided to make a boucle brim but I had never really knit with this before and it took some working through.

Using some stash yarn (yes I brought a bit of my stash with me) I knit some pot holders. Our apartment did not have any and I am not very good at using towels as pot holders. I also knitted a slip stitch scarf with both the white and a purple boucle yarn. It is very warm and cozy. On my needles now is another hat. I saw this hat on Etsy and thought I could recreate it. So far it is going well, I am just about to start the decreases so we will see. I think this one will be my size so once it is finished I will see how much bigger I need to make it to fit Arlo. He doesn't like the yarn in my stash however so we will have to go yarn shopping -- terrible, I know. I am also starting a jacket for Isobel (Sheri's baby, in Ireland), knitting a present for my niece, and some washcloths (the washcloths here are like mitts and since things don't dry here as fast as they did in Tucson I don't like these very much. I had some cotton so I though I would try a washcloth pattern. My first one came out wide enough but not long enough so I am working on version number two.

I am also resurrecting my love of paper crafts. I saw some beautiful journals on Craftster (can you tell I've been spending a lot of time on crafting websites?) and thought I would make one for my self.
Here are two pictures of the calendar pages that I've water- colored. The nice thing about water colors is that you can either write first or paint first. It comes out either way. My goal is to write in a square each day at the very least. I also have other pages for books, crafts and of course general thoughts.

Language Lessons

2007-09-17T03:48:00.001-07:00

The month of August was almost too overwhelming to write about. We attended a language class at the Goethe Institut in Bad Godesberg for 4 1/2 hours a day for 17 days. This was thanks to John, Arlo's Dad. This class was amazing! I can't believe how much we learned in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, without the structure of the class, I am having a hard time continuing my studies. I am making progress though.

In addition to having our class daily, we had to figure out all of the things that keep life moving. It may not seem like a big deal to do laundry or go grocery shopping but everything is just slightly different. (Ask me sometime about my epic journey to find baking soda.) We managed to get a bank account, set up phone service and high speed internet, as well as register with the city -- all with hand gestures, a few German phrases and lots of patience. While students here learn English all through their schooling, the typical German does not want to have to speak it. If asked they will almost all reply that no they do not speak English. If you try to operate in German and throw in a few English sentences here and there they seem to understand you just fine ... but it is nerve wracking. I felt so guilty that I had come here and didn't know the language. I am doing much better now ... I get tongue-tied and I don't always know the right word but I have become familiar with the people I interact with and this has helped.

Living in Deutschland

2007-09-17T03:19:00.000-07:00

Arlo and I moved to Bonn, Germany at the beginning of August. Arlo has a 9 month appointment at the Max Planck Institut für Mathematik that began on the 1st of September. I will be spending my time learning the language (yes, we both came here knowing about 5 phrases of Deutsch), exploring and working on my favorite crafts: knitting, paper crafts, and cooking.