Saarburg And Hangin' With The German Family - Germany

We recently traveled over to the little town of Saarburg, located near Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany.

Did you know that Germany has states? We used to live in Baden-Württemburg, now we live in Hessen. The state names seem to be much more of a mouthful than the state names in America, though. I mean really, Rhineland-Palatinate? Baden-Württemburg? Or how about Nordrhein-Westfalen? Or my favorite, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? Back in America, you couldn't even get people to call California by its full name, it is often shortened to Cali (which I hate). Imagine cramming the state names of Germany into a song like we sing in America about our states. I don't see it happening.

Anywho, we went to Saarburg for one, to see it, and for two, to visit Matt's German Cousin, German Cousin's Wife, German Cousin's Daughter, and German Cousin's Son. German Cousin was really the only one that could speak English. German Cousin's Wife, German Cousin's Daughter, and German Cousin's Son could speak "a little" English and since we can speak kleine Deutsch we had a hard time communicating. So we turned to the international language of Fußball and food to communicate.

My daughter, Ashlenne, and German Cousin's Daughter were reluctant to try to use their language skills. So they reverted to a language every teenage girl knows. iPod's and Google translate.

Matt and German Cousin may have grown up on separate continents, but they have always been close. They laughed the same and had the same mannerisms. They even wore matching shirts.

 

The actual meeting of German Cousin was a little awkward for me. It was the first time in Europe that I got the "Two Cheek Kiss Greeting." And I was not expecting it. I was better prepared when we left, offering my own "Two Cheek Kiss Goodbye." I felt so European.

After lunch we went exploring the town of Saarburg. We climbed the 1,050 year old castle tower (it has been reinforced since then).

Climbing the tower gave us great views of the town of Saarburg.

German Cousin told us that Saarburg is known as the "Venice of Germany" because of the canals that run through it. You tell me, does it look like Venice?

We stopped and got some Spaghetti Eis which is vanilla ice cream squeezed out to make it into long noodle shapes and then topped with strawberry sauce and shaved white chocolate. It is really good.

I tested German Cousin and tried out my sense of humor on him. Don't worry, he laughed. You were right blogosphere. There are some funny Germans out there.

We rode a chairlift to the top of a nearby hill. Our doggie, Minkie, even rode with us. And she didn't even try to jump off once.

We played and relaxed at the top of the hill. That beer is Minkie's, not Alexander's. See how tipsy she is?

Then we hiked back down the hill through the vineyards of Riesling grapes that cover the hillsides.

All in all, it was a pretty good day in Saarburg.

When we got home, I checked another little corner of Europe off my list.

How To Be A German

I recently read a funny article about How to be a German in 20 easy steps, and I laughed... and I laughed some more. Read part 2 and part 3 for even more laughs. There are actually 25 steps now and they say there are more coming. The author of the blog, one hipster named Adam Fletcher, asks if there is anything he has forgotten. Having spent the last 10 months in Germany I have picked up a few things that aren't on the list that I think you need to do, or be, or complete to fully immerse yourself in Germanyness (yes, Germanyness is a real word). In no order of importance here is my list-


1. Wear a scarf. Every day. Everywhere.  When we got to Germany I realized that I was not alone in my love of the scarf. Women wore them around their necks, around their pony-tails, around their waists. And stop right now if you think the scarf is reserved for merely neck warming and cold weather. The scarf is seen adorning the necks of women even in 90F°/32C° weather. It would seem German women have shy collarbones because you never, ever see them. And wait! It gets better. The scarf crosses gender boundaries! Back in the States, male scarf wearing was confined to heavy-wool-coat ensembles and they were always dark in color and lacking fringe. Not here. German men let their freak flag fly with scarves draped around their necks. My favorite "German outfit" which can be seen on the 18-25 year old male German is cut-off shorts, tank top, and then a very "fringey" scarf  loosely draped around those sacred collar bones which must be hidden from view.


2. Have a garden. Germans love their flowers. Flower and bush nurseries dot the outskirts of villages. Hours and hours are spent obtaining a perfection that seems to border on obsessive compulsive. Ask an American who has lived in Germany if they have ever seen a German sweep their dirt in their yard. Not sweep the dirt from the yard, but actually sweep the dirt so it gets all nice and smooth and even. And just because you live in an apartment is no reason why you can't do your part to beautify Germany. In these same village outskirts you will see parcels of land with little shacks on them and beautifully maintained gardens. At first I thought they were the shanty towns of Germany. No, these are the city dweller weekend gardens where they escape to have the opportunity to plunge trowel into German soil.




3. Love dogs. Their owners on the other hand? Not so much. Germany has to be one of the most dog friendly cultures I have ever lived in. Your dog can join you in the mall. There is nothing like shopping at Karstadt and have the woof of a Labrador Retriever echo out in the stores. You can take your little doggy with you into restaurants too. If you have a cute and good dog, most Germans will approach your dog and rub their head and lavish praise upon the dog. I will never forget when I had two German repairmen in my apartment who were looking at me with thinly veiled contempt. My dog Minkie bounded into the room and started licking their hands (traitor dog). They changed in an instant into happy and friendly people. "Du bist ein gut Hund!" Or you are a good dog. They scratched her, loved her, let her lick their faces, and practically rolled around on the floor with her for about five minutes before I had to break it up. As soon as Minkie left, thinly veiled contempt was back.


4. Don't care about other peoples problems. Many a time I have heard the wail of people here, American and German alike, about the lack of customer service. I am not saying that Germans don't care about people, like if you were on fire they would probably put you out. But let us say something broke and you are trying to return it to the store, or a shop is closing right as you need to run in just to grab some milk and could they please just let you in for just a second. Good luck.

5. Go out to eat and stay the whole night. To go out to a popular restaurant in Germany you are probably going to need your table to be reserviert, or reserved. There really is no need to put a time down because the table is basically yours the whole night. Want to eat at 9:00 at night? No problem because your table is reserviert and you can show up whenever you want. Or do you want to go early, and then never leave? You can do that too. In fact, that is mostly what we see. Matt and I went out to dinner at a cute little restaurant in the next town over. After eating and enjoying our drinks we looked at all the other patrons. Just as we were getting ready to leave, they were ordering after dinner drinks and talking and laughing and looking like they were just settling in after being there for almost three hours. Going out to dinner isn't something you fit in between weekend activities here. It is the weekend activity.


6. Never wash your car on Sunday. But somehow, always have a clean car. There is a law in Germany that makes Sunday car washing illegal. And through word of mouth I have heard that if you decide to bend the rules (break the law actually) and try to wash your car, the public shame is right up there with crossing the street on a red or dissing sauerkraut. You just don't do it. About 95% of Germany drives a black or dark grey Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, or Mercedes. And they always look clean. As in right off the show room floor clean. How do they do it? You know what my German/American husband would say? Something about the superiority of German engineering, even their dirt and how they have designed it not to stick to cars. Where can I get some of this non-sticking dirt because my car is always filthy.

7. Complain about the graffiti. But claim that it was all done by immigrants.













8. Go to the grocery store every day. And then the bakery. And then produce stand. And then the butcher. A typical German kitchen and refrigerator are quite small by American standards so there is no "stocking up" on items. You buy what you need for that day, maybe a little for the next and then that's it. And you go back tomorrow.











9. Claim to speak only a little English. And then proceed to speak in better English than the native English speaker who asked you. Germany has high rates of people who fluently speak English as a second language. And they speak it well. I have met some Germans who I have known spoke pretty good English in the past, yet they refuse to speak to me because they might be a little rusty. I told them that I could guarantee them that their English was gazillion times better than my German, so come on! Let that English fly! One girl claimed that she never really learned and then in a heated discussion she piped in and I pointed at her, "Ah-ha! You do speak English!" 

10. Celebrate every holiday by not going to work. And then also celebrate the day after too. And maybe even the day before. We are wrapping up the spring holidays in Germany right now that center around Christ. Easter, Ascension, Pentecost. And also May Day (German Labor Day), Muttertag, and Vatertag (German Mother's Day and Father's Day). It seems these people hardly work. Germany is a place of industry and I know things get done around here. But with the number of days people get off, it amazes me. And they don't take one day, they take like three. And everything shuts down. I guess they really are the model for efficiency with the amount of things they get done in the amount of time they work. The holidays make for nice driving though. The streets are empty.

11. Drive really well. Germans are known for their love of their cars. And for a place to really get out and drive those cars, the Autobahn. But you can't just drive around Germany like any 16-year-old-freshly-minted bonehead. You had better know your stuff, as in you had better know the rules. Like every other car when merging. Like use your blinker every time. Like get out of the left lane for passing cars. I actually really love driving here because people don't mess around. I feel a lot safer here going 160 km (100 mph) on the autobahn than I did back in the States with all those other idiots doing 65 mph. 







12. Wear only black. And for just a little variety dark blue jeans, grey, and brown. And for when you are feeling a little crazy... wait for it... Tan! Build your very limited but very expensive wardrobe around these colors and you will blend right into the German population. And to look even more German, have a slightly annoyed look on your face. Unless you are sitting all night at your favorite restaurant or petting a dog.










There is my list of How To Be A German. And in only 12 steps! Have I forgotten anything?

Tchüß,

Kelly*

*Is secretly really pleased when mistaken for a real German and not the poser impostor she feels like most of the time. 

Beautiful Belgium

Several months ago we decided to travel to Belgium for the weekend. Actually, it was decided for us by our local Boy Scout council when they scheduled a hike to the historic site of the Battle of Bastogne in Belgium and I volunteered my husband to go. Imagine his delight to find out he got to participate in a 10 mile hike along a highway in Belgium. In the rain. Did I mention he forgot a coat and had to wear a garbage bag during the hike? Why were there no cameras?! Since we love to multitask we combined the hike with a four day vacation in Belgium. Here we go!

Let me first start off with a point. I didn't know that much about Belgium other than it's place on the map and apparently an important battle for WWII happened there in December 1944 in Bastogne (thank you Boy Scouts of America). My mind was ready for information, facts, culture, and language. The first thing we learned is that there are three languages spoken in Belgium. Dutch in the north, French in the south, and German in the east. The second thing we learned is Belgians obey the speed limit on their highways. In fact, they go under the speed limit by as much as 10 kmh. Makes for very slow going. And then third, that these same speed-limit-on-the-highway-obeying Belgians drive like complete a-holes on the streets (excuse my French). We were almost killed no less than three times trying to cross these streets. They speed, they race around corners, they drive on the sidewalk. I was shocked! Here in Germany everyone is pretty considerate when they drive. Rules and laws are almost always followed. Turn signals abound, people let you merge, speed limits are followed. I thought that was the case for all of Europe. That, however, is not the case. There are even worse drivers in Italy, if you can believe it, but that is for another post. 

I drove up with my daughter and our dog, Minkie. Dear husband and sons were already up there (go Boy Scouts!) hiking in the rain. We rented an adorable cottage on the border of Belgium and The Netherlands. And when I say "it was on the border," I mean it was really on the border.

I am standing in Boekhoute, Belgium and the cottage is in Philippine, Holland. Because the cottage was on the border the owner said it was hard to find on a GPS, or navi here in Europe, and that he would email us directions. Great! I drove off toward Belgium, followed the instructions to a T and hit a huge problem about 5 km away from the cottage. There was construction in a cute little Belgian town called Assende and I had to go another way. Of course I got lost. After driving around for about an hour, calling the owners caretaker who spoke rudimentary English with a heavy Dutch accent for instructions, calling Matt who was hiking in the rain, I finally found it. Posthoorn 8. Knocked on the door. The elderly man who answered had no idea what I was talking about, mostly because he didn't speak English. But thank heavens, his daughter spoke English and she was there helping him clean. They then explained that the two neighboring towns had identical addresses through out and I was in the wrong country. I was at Posthoorn 8 in Belgium. I needed to be at Posthoorn 8 in The Netherlands. Ahhh... wrong country. Gotcha. After nearly crying with relief because I was so close to crying in desperation they directed us on our way. We finally arrived. 

Isn't it cute?

This is the view to the west. Every morning the fog would creep slowly across this field. In those trees to the left there was a dirt road that we road bicycles on. 

After Matt and the boys arrived we planned out our cities. Bruges first. Bruges is pronounced Brooj. The g makes a sound like the ge at the end of garage and the s is silent. One problem I am having is that cities all over Europe are spelled differently in their native language than the map I grew up studying. Bruges is actually Brugge in Dutch. Makes it hard to find something on your GPS. Bruges is a beautiful, small village in north-eastern Belgium. It has been called the "Venice of the North" due to its many canals that ring and cross through the city. Bruges had a golden age from the 12th to 15th century. It is a great location for trade and many people located here and built homes and businesses. However, during the 16th century the main canal that fed Bruges started to silt up making it difficult for the larger ships carrying the all important goods to access the city. With the goods in decline, the money and people declined soon after leaving Bruges all but a ghost town by the 17th century. Since then Bruges has practically stood still in time. All the architecture is original because the town never had the money to rebuild. It has been since declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's a great town to visit. Easy to get into, tourist friendly. The problem is that everyone knows it. It can get pretty crowded. Luckily we traveled in the off-season. Okay, history lesson over. Our first order of business was getting Belgian waffles. Here they were called Brussels waffles but they tasted just as great.

After a delicious lunch of waffles we began to walk around beautiful Bruges. Here is a photo from the market square of the Provinciaal Hof palace. It is very imposing.

After about an hour of walking we decided that a canal cruise would offer the best views of the city. Here are some photos from that.

One interesting factoid is that the line of the roof looking like steps is called Flemmish architecture. It was fun to ride around the canals looking at all the different styles of homes and businesses. And it was also fun to capture the left shoulder of the person in front of me in the bottom right hand corner of my pictures. Didn't want to lean to far out of the boat. Didn't want the cruise to turn into a swim. 

Most of the buildings in Belgium are built out of bricks. That is because they had no easy access to large amounts of limestone or sandstone to use like in other parts of Europe. They had to make bricks out of the large amount of mud readily available to them due to the high water table.

I just loved the canals and little buildings built all around them. It was like being in a fairy tale land almost. 

A fairy tale land complete with swans. 

All in all I would say Bruges is worth the trip if you are in the neighborhood. Next, Ghent.

Where Bruges is a bright and colorful town, Ghent is much edgier and grittier. Ghent is Bruges' tough big brother that has a tattoo and drives a motorcycle. There is a lot of Gothic architecture throughout Ghent.

The Saint Bavo Cathedral in the historical center of Ghent.

The Belfry.

The Old Post Office.

Here you are presented with one of the major problems in traveling in Northern Europe in the winter. Lack of daylight. It is 5:15 pm in this picture and it is basically dark. You can't see anything. Cold we can deal with. Dark, not so much. So after only spending about an hour in Ghent, we drove back to the Belgium/Netherlands cottage.

We spent the next day in Brussels. Brussels is bi-lingual. You have French and Dutch street signs everywhere. NATO and the European Union have their main institutions in Brussels. 

Belgian parliament building.

Alexander and Ashlenne in the city center of Brussels. 

After doing some sightseeing we went for lunch. We ate at a hip trendy lunch spot where everybody spoke French but us, and then we went for some chocolate. I have been hearing about Belgian chocolate since we got here so we were very excited to pick some up. After wandering around the nearest chocolate store for 15 minutes we finally decided to pick up an assortment of bags. I saw no price tag on them but figured they couldn't be too much so I grabbed four. At the cash register the snooty French/Belgian lady began to ring them up. They were 15 Euro each! That's 60 Euro for all of them. That's around $85.00 for chocolate, and here is the best part. It was horrible. I don't know if I went to the wrong shop or bought the wrong kind but we were disgusted. I choked down a couple of pieces from each bag just out of principle. But after everyone had their second piece and couldn't take any more, we stuck it in the back of the car, and when we got home we threw it away. Goodbye $85.00.

It was getting late and cold so we decided to say Tot ziens (Dutch for goodbye) to Belgium. Here is our goodbye photo.

We were freezing our bums off here. Except for Minkie Dog. She wanted to stay and chase Belgians. We thought about it. Maybe they would give us our 60 Euro back that we wasted on crappy chocolate. 

The Dry Spell

Hello World!

May I say first, that I missed you. I realize we may have some catching up to do. Eight months of catching up.

Let me explain. No, is too long. Let me sum up (from The Princess Bride).

Last summer husband came home for R-n-R. Went to Canada on vacation. Kids felt extremely ripped off that their first foreign country experience was exactly like the United States. Walmarts and Chevron gas stations everywhere. Well, not exactly the same. They call a restroom a washroom. I know, how exotic!

Vacation ended. Husband returned to Middle East. Children became seriously depressed. Promised them a puppy. Bought said puppy for $500.00 American dollars. Named her Minkie.

Children returned to school. Children tried out for competition soccer teams. Children made competition soccer teams. And that right there is where my life ceased to exist. All we did was soccer. Eat soccer, breathe soccer, sleep soccer. Soccer, soccer, soccer!!!

Husband's deployment ended. Husband came home for two months. Husband's new training at a base out of state began. Husband leaves.

Sigh.

Alone. Again.

Well, not really alone. I do have a dog now. Yes. She is now a dog. Not a puppy. A barking, eating, pooping, chasing the neighbors kind-of dog. We love her.

So that is pretty much it.

Oh, and this one other thing. Found out that my husband is going to be stationed in Germany and we are moving in three months.

I feel like spiking the football! I don't really play football, but if I did I would be spiking it right now. What does this mean? It means Europe! It means living and eating and breathing in Europe! It means living an hour from France, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Two hours from Austria, Poland, Denmark and Italy. Can you say do you have your passport ready?

What else does it mean? It also means selling a home that I love. Leaving neighbors and friends that are more like family. It means saying goodbye to my parents and brothers and their wives and children. It means packing up our belongings and shipping them across the ocean. It means I will be leaving a place I have lived my entire life.

Sigh.

On to bigger and brighter things, right?

I thought you might be interested. So I hope you will stay tuned for Maybe Too Blonde... European Edition! Come and watch as I have "Blonde Moments" in different countries.*

Hope to see you around!

*People have had a lot of questions about our great move so here are some FAQ's.

1. Where will we live?
-In a town called Wiesbaden. It's in southwestern Germany. It's beautiful.

2. Do we have a house there?
-No. We actually won't know where we will be calling home until we get there. The Army has 30 days to provide housing for us and they have to provide a home that offers a bedroom to every person. I have four kids so that will be a 5 bedroom home. Or actually, an apartment, because that is all they have. So, if after 30 days they haven't had an apartment become available we are able to go out and secure a home for ourselves. Anyway you look at it, I'm living in a hotel for at least a couple of weeks.

3. Do I speak German?
- No, I do not. My husband, however, is fluent in German. I am hoping to learn. At least to say 'How many Euro's?' and 'Does this come in a shoe size 8.5?'

4. Will my kids go to German schools?
- Not at first. We have several reasons for this. First, my children don't speak German. Second, German schools operate on a German calendar. My husband's job will operate on an American calendar. I really don't want my kids having to go to school on say Thanksgiving (not a holiday in Germany) while my husband has a four day weekend. We will look into it after we've been there awhile.

5. Will the Army move us?
- Yes. They will ship our HHG (house hold goods) over on a boat. Takes about 6 weeks.

6. Will they ship our cars?
- They will ship one car. If we want more over there, we have to do it ourselves.

7. Are we going to travel?
- Every chance we get. We are actually going to buy a big map of Europe and laminate it and hang it on the wall in our home over there. We are making it a goal to see every country in Europe.

8. Are we excited?
- Surprisingly, yes. I am not a big fan of change. Probably why I've lived in the same place all my life. But something about this feels so right. I can see myself there. I can picture it. And the fact that my husband is German and loves it over there is a big factor.

9. Can we take our pets?
- Yes.

10. Are we selling our house?
- Only if someone will buy it.

11. Can you come and visit?
- Yes. What I've told everybody is come on over! Bring an air matress and a Euro Rail Pass. See you soon!