Christmas 2012

'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The treasured, precious, post-holiday peace - what bliss!

We've now survived our second Christmas in Germany. In many ways this was better than last Christmas, as we're more settled and have worked out some routines. In other ways, things fell through the cracks, as our lives are busy, with everyone more involved in school, work, and social circles. The first weekend of Advent I embarked on a wonderful weekend in London with my girlfriends. While I had a fantastic time (and you can read about on KettwigeFrau and Emma's Expat Adventures) it got me a bit behind schedule in launching into the Christmas season. The second weekend of Advent was my youngest son's 10th birthday, so not much Christmas prep happened then, either. It was the third weekend before I had some cookies baked, the house decorated, and the tree selected (once again with our lovely friends Rebecca and Sam and their three darling children). It was still several more days before we actually had the tree erected and decorated. That happened just in time for our annual Feuerzangenbowle party, the last weekend of Advent.

The in-laws visited for the holiday we sort of merged German and American celebrations by opening family gifts after our Christmas Eve raclette and then the Santa gifts on Christmas morning.

Christmas Day we took all the family out to the Flic Flac Circus in Dortmund. It was a fun afternoon outing, with a great performance, despite the scary fall of one of the performers. I do hope he's OK. So now three of the kids have returned to Hamburg with the in-laws and we'll catch up with them there on New Year's Day.

I regret not getting out any Christmas cards this season - for the first time in over 20 years. I bought the cards and the stamps and even drafted a Christmas letter for distant friends and relatives, but the evening I sat down by the fire with a glass of wine, prepared to write them, I saw the news of Sandy Hook and dissolved into tears over the senseless violent deaths of so many people not far from my home town, and was too grief-struck to send cheerful Christmas greetings. Instead I was glued to the news for several days, as were millions of others, I'm sure. I suppose I should try to send some out this week, but I fear that just isn't going to happen. I do promise to be back on the bandwagon next year (the first of my New Year's resolutions!) and will send out holiday greetings at the very least to those who kept me on their Christmas list!

I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and wish you a New Year with good health and deep happiness!

Below is a little recipe I'll share in lieu of sending Christmas cards :)

Smoked Salmon Christmas Canapés


This year I experimented with some new party recipes and came up with cute Christmas Canapés that were fairly popular. The recipe is super simple:

• Start with prepared miniature tart shells (I found a pack of 24 at the grocery store)
• Add to each a spoonful of softened cream cheese.
  I started with about 1 cup of Philadelphia-brand sweet chili cream cheese into which I blended a tablespoon of prepared horseradish. (Chose your favorite flavor of cream cheese and zest it up any way you like - the onion & chive cheese would be good, too).
• Fold a small sliver of smoked wild salmon over the layer of cheese.
• Add a dollop of guacamole on one half of each tart.
  I made a small batch of homemade guacamole - using half a large avocado, some lime juice (lemon would be fine too), fresh pressed garlic, and some salt & pepper.
• Press a small slice cherry tomato next to the guac, round side up. I cut the tomatoes into sixths.
• Cut slivers of chive and insert then into the guac for added dimension and a darker pop of green color.

The result are lovely bite-sized green & red morsels that take about 30 minutes to prepare and can be chilled until you are ready to serve. I lined a platter with a bright red napkin for a pretty display. 

If you have suggestions for other twists to this basic recipe, please share! 

Cherishing Traditions: American Thanksgiving in Germany

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.

Unlike Christmas, which is mired in commercialism and bears the "burden" of thoughtful gift giving, lavish decorating, and endless obligatory festivities (kids' school parties, your office party, your spouse's office party, the neighborhood cookie exchange, plus the parties with friends that you actually want to attend...), Thanksgiving is so SIMPLE.
Yet so special.

Thanksgiving is our closest loved ones gathering around a delicious meal to give thanks for abundant blessings. It is a time when we relish good food and celebrate life, family, and friendship.  That's it.  No gifts.  Not too much decorating. Not much to stress over. Just a time to reflect and be thankful.

There are many who criticize Thanksgiving. Some say the whole "Thanksgiving story" of a feast celebrated by European settlers together with the Native Americans they nearly obliterated is a myth; a fantasy to appease our guilty WASP conscience. The nay-sayers dismiss it as an outdated custom from a time that should not be celebrated for the brutality that came with colonization. Others bemoan the gluttony; too much food prepared and served to an overweight society. There are those who fret over the hormone-injected, caged turkeys raised on industrial farms and cruelly slaughtered. OK, I get it, there is always something to find fault with. To each his own.

For me, Thanksgiving is a beloved tradition of humble gratitude and grateful celebration. It's heartfelt and more true than anything else I celebrate all year long.  It's a time to say "thank you" even when life sucks; a time to put my pain and struggle in perspective, and acknowledge that whatever else we may suffer, my family is not hungry or homeless (anymore). We are are not living in a war zone. No matter how much we may have sacrificed since moving abroad, we are not impoverished or even terribly deprived. We have a beautiful home, have made wonderful friends, and we have our health and each other. That's quite a bit to be thankful for!

So once again this year, I made every effort to recreate the family traditions that have marked all the Thanksgivings of my life. The actual Thursday holiday was a normal school/work day here in Germany, so we postponed the feast until the following Saturday. But at the beginning of the week I set the dining table with my antique Gurley candle figures of Pilgrims and Native Americans that were part of a tradition passed on from my Mom who also had a collection of these candles for her holiday table. And I began to test out recipes and plan the menu for the celebration we would share with some of our exchange daughters and close friends.

It was our second holiday in Germany, and I'd learned a few lessons since hosting the feast last year. So this year's "adventures of American cooking in Germany" went off much easier and more relaxed. I knew what ingredients I could easily find, which ones I would need to hunt for, and which I would have to simply do without and substitute. I was able to order a fresh turkey from a wonderful local farm - thank you Buchholz!

I found fresh cranberries in a couple local markets, as well as sweet potatoes and sugar pumpkins. I discovered that the ground pork known locally as "Mett nach Thüringer art" made a fantastic substitute for the spicy sausage I used in my grandmother's stuffing recipe.

To my delight, I even found an adequate replacement for Pillsbury Ready-made pie crusts (Süßer Mürbteig)! Typically I bake at least 4-5 pies with fillings made from scratch, but I despise the tedious process of homemade pastry that never tastes as good as I'd like. So I was very happy to find that the Süßer Mürbteig worked well for the apple pies.

For the pumpkin pies, I got creative and made the "crust" from toasted walnuts, Leibniz cracker crumbs, butter, and brown sugar. The nutty crust, quickly concocted in my food processor and baked for about 15 minutes prior to filling, was a beautiful complement to the earthy flavors of a spiced pumpkin pie!

The food all came together very nicely, with much of it prepared ahead of time, so that on Saturday I had time to relax before our friends arrived for dinner. In my quiet time, I reflected, again, on how far we've come in the last year and how blessed we are.

This is the spirit of Thanksgiving, so unique from other holidays, which I dearly cherish.

                                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Spiced Cranberry Sauce


The homemade cranberry sauce was a first for me and I was very pleased with the flavors and textures. The recipe was simple and I'll share it here for you (measures are estimates)....

500g. fresh cranberries (about 3 cups?)

1 cup of light brown/raw sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup gelatin sugar (optional)

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1 cup water

fresh orange zest

a cinnamon stick

2 anise stars

about 6 cloves

1/2 tsp vanilla or a package of vanilla sugar

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium-low heat for about an hour. Berries will soften and "pop." Stir regularly. Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the whole spices and berry skins. Store the sauce in the fridge until ready to serve. The anise adds a mysterious and exotic hint to the flavor! If you want a whole berry sauce with more fruit pulp, you just need to be able to fish out the cloves, anise and cinnamon before chilling it, or spoon some of the fresh pulp back in after straining and ensuring that there are no spices.

Apologies! Life got in the way...

So this is something of a travel smörgåsbord post; thinly disguised as an apology for having shirked my writing responsibilities for so long. You see, lately I've been way too busy living life to find time to write about it. I've drafted dozens of posts in my head while traipsing through the summer and early fall. But now sitting before an intimidating blank screen prepared to illustrate them in full-color glory, I hardly know where to begin!

At the start of summer I took off for Munich, and wrote a review of that Summer trip slated "First up: Munich" but then failed to ever report on subsequent forays. So here's a belated recap of some other summer adventures, with a couple teasers for travel posts still to come...

Switzerland
In late July, we visited Lucerne, Switzerland with my brother and his family. I wish I had been able to capture better photos, but the weather most of the time was miserably cold and rainy. What I do need to share is that we took an awesome (albeit freezing cold and wet) excursion that, one day, I'd like to repeat under fairer skies and which I strongly encourage you to take if you find yourself visiting the Swiss Alps. It was the Golden Round Trip to Mt. Pilatus. This tour involved a ferry ride across the incredibly beautiful, turquoise-blue Lake Lucerne, followed by a slightly scary spectacular ride up the world's steepest cog railway. Once atop the nearly 7,000 foot peak, you have the opportunity for some awesome hiking and sightseeing. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much, entombed as we were in formidable rain clouds. To descend the summit, the tour includes an aerial cableway ride part-way down, then you switch to smaller gondolas for the remaining trip to the foot of the mountain at Fräkmüntegg. A short bus ride then returns you to the starting point in Lucerne.

Another day trip in Alpineland included a boat ride to Europe's largest waterfall: Rhine Falls and a hike through the town of Schaffhausen. This was nice, but if you've been to Niagara Falls, Yosemite Falls, or Viktoria Falls (among many other gorgeous river cascades) prepare to be unimpressed.

One of the more exciting adventures for the men in our group was a day of Canyoning in Interlaken. Unfortunately, since the younger kids were too small for this, my soon-to-be sister-in-law and I got stuck taking the four little ones to a noisy, chlorine-filled indoor water-park. The kids loved it, we couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and crack open a bottle of red!

Bavaria
We departed Switzerland after a few days and headed for the fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle. At least on this day, the weather gods blessed us so we were able to enjoy stunning views in the German Alps. Arriving too late to get tour tickets for the famous structure that inspired Disney's Cinderella Castle, we were able to tour the neighboring Hohenschwangau Castle, where King Ludwig II spent his summers growing up and actually lived while building his dreamy princess palace. The tour was fantastic and I was really glad we did it. The rooms of the castle are richly furnished and the wall murals are amazing. We were able to get a sense of what life was like in the castle during the early to mid 1800s.

The castle visit was followed by another trip to Munich so my brother and family could visit my daughters and experience a traditional German beer garden, among the other great sights of this historic city. Most of this rainy trip included the same points of interest I reported in the Munich blog post, minus the sunshine.

The Maldives
The final trip of our summer was a three-week dream vacation to a tiny atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean - part of the Maldive Islands. That trip, which was a gift from my in-laws, is going to need its own blog post, so I promise to get one up in the next couple of weeks! Right now, I'm still sorting through the thousand photos we took and trying to assemble an album to give them as a thank-you present.

Autumn Adventures
Then summer ended, I celebrated my birthday, and the first full year of my new life in Germany came to a sentimental close. School resumed and life moved on at a somewhat normal pace, with the expected highs and lows of kids continuing to adjust to a challenging situation. We were all grateful when fall break arrived. And with it, came a visit from the American grandparents. That, too, deserves its own post. So as soon as I gather all the photos from the various trips we took to the Baltic, to Belgium, along the Rhine, and throughout the Ruhr region, I'll get them up for you!

Essen-Kettwig

And as a side note on crazy adventures, last week, in the middle of the fall break, with the grandparents and rest of the family as witnesses, my girlfriends and I participated in the Essen-Kettwig Drachenboot Race. This was a huge amount of fun and definitely worthy of its own blog post, but since my co-conspirators KettwigeFrau  and Expat Emma already blogged about it, I'll refer you to their wonderful sites! (And they're religious about updating their blogs, so check in often and you might even learn more about what I've been up to).

So, apologies again for not writing in so long. One of these days I'm sure life will slow down enough for me to find no other excuse for blog-procrastination! Until then, I hope you all are enjoying adventures of your own!

Girlie Breakfast: Expat Bonding at its Best

About once a month, I eagerly run the kids off to school, kiss the hubby goodbye, and race out the door dressed up pretty for "Girlie Breakfast." This morning was one such occasion.

But it was special, because the expat bonding celebrated at these gatherings was extended to a new girl, and in a way, it was for me an example of friendship coming full-circle.

Less than a year ago, I was the lost and lonely "new girl" in town. Then I was invited to my first Girlie Breakfast. Nothing in the world could have done me more good at the time, as I was wallowing in the "overwhelmed new expat" blues.

It started with Rachel, a lovely British woman I met at an Expat Quiz Night (via MeetUp). Rachel reached out to me, the newcomer, and welcomed me to join her and a group of her friends the next morning at a beautiful little boutique and cafe very close to my home (Villa Landleben). I was a bit apprehensive about going, but also desperately in need of connecting with other women, especially anyone who could relate to my experiences as a mom in a foreign country. So I went.

And it was one of the BEST things I ever did! During the two or more hours we lingered over lattes and a splendid breakfast buffet, we talked and laughed like I hadn't done in months.

I left that first Girlie Breakfast feeling, for the very first time since moving to Germany, like everything was going to be ok. I was so grateful for the warmth and easy friendship of this group of near-strangers. They made me feel like part of a family and gave me perspective and hope. Over the next half year or so, I learned their individual stories, the reasons they came to Germany, the reasons they stay. Each month the group in attendance at breakfast may vary between 5 and 8 ladies who manage to get there between jobs, kids' appointments, household repairs, etc. In total, there are about a dozen women in the group. Each one is very different - who knows if we would even be friends in other circumstances. But here in this little corner of Germany, being expat moms is a pretty powerful common bond.

My new girlfriends, who hail mostly from the UK and US, all call this country "home." None of the women in this particular circle of expats are here on a temporary basis. Some, like me, are married to Germans. Others have expat spouses, too, but their children were either born here or have lived here long enough that it is the only place the kids feel at home; so the parents have put down roots and decided to stay for the long-term. I think that makes this group unique from many expat communities. And it makes it the perfect fit for me. I feel enormously blessed to have found them!

Now I am able to "pay forward" the tremendous gift Rachel gave me, when she extended that first invitation to breakfast....

Last night I was at a German Parent-Teacher Meeting for my son's 8th grade class. It was the first one I attended at his new school and I didn't know anyone. But then I realized the woman sitting behind me (the only one who had brought her child to the meeting) was whispering in English with her daughter. My son had mentioned a new girl from South Africa had joined their class. And she didn't speak ANY German. And they just moved here. Over the last week he'd mentioned the new girl and her family a few times and I was already feeling a bit sorry for their apparent struggles, never having met them.

I leaned over and asked them if they were new to the school. Bingo. I introduced myself as the American whose son had just come to school mid-way through last year, and we proceeded to chat and pass notes in the back of class like "bad kids" :)

I couldn't help but invite her to breakfast. I knew EXACTLY how she felt. So this morning, I swung by her apartment on my way to Girlie Breakfast and took her to meet the best expat group there ever was. And just like they had done for me, they welcomed her with open arms. By the end of breakfast there were hugs for the new girl and offers of any help she needs. She was so grateful. So relieved. And I know exactly how that felt for her, too.

She has a very tough year ahead for herself and her family. But every month or so, we've got Girlie Breakfast.

In between, we've got good old-fashioned Girlfriends (and Quiz Night, and Book Club, and Birthday Cocktails, and lots of other excuses for getting together!).

And like they did for me, these Girlfriends will do for the new girl: We've got your back. Welcome to the Girlie Breakfast Club!

My Life from My Brother's Perspective?

In less than 24 hours, my "kid" brother, his significant other, and their combined five children arrive in Germany for a 2-week visit. I'm very excited to see them all and to welcome them to my new home and my new country.

But as I've been cleaning the house, shopping, planning day trips in the region, and otherwise preparing for their stay, I find myself wondering what my brother will think of my life here. What differences will he notice; what rituals will he find odd? How will he judge me and my life compared to what he used to know?

Will my brother be surprised that our one fridge is half the size of either of the two we had in Maryland? What will he think when he sees that we now buy milk and juice in little 1-liter paper boxes, rather than mega 1-gallon plastic jugs?

I suspect he'll find the scale of many things here - including our house and yard, to be much smaller than he expects.

Will he notice that none of the windows or doors have insect screens?

I expect my brother might be startled when we're sitting around the living room in the evening and electric shutters over all the windows roll down automatically and entomb us in secure darkness :)


Will he wonder why there are two buttons above the toilet for flushing (will he ask what's the difference between them)?

Will he be surprised that the towels, which we hang dry after washing, instead of using an electric dryer, are a bit stiff and scratchy - as opposed to the super soft-fluffy towels we always had in the States?

Will my brother miss breakfasts of pancakes and waffles and bacon, as we gather around a table of bread rolls and jams, cheeses, honey, and Nutella?

He already knows we now have only one car, rather than two, having ditched the mini-van before we moved, but will he be surprised when he realizes how much and how far we walk everyday? Or ride our bikes? What will he think that the kids ride trams and trains to meet their friends in neighboring cities?

When we head out, will be be surprised that we pay for use of public toilets? That we need to put a coin in the grocery cart? Or bring our own bags to the stores?


I look around at the life I have here, which is starting to feel normal and familiar, and wonder what will be strange about it to my brother?

But no matter how odd and out of place things may seem, one thing will be very much the same: I'm still the big sister and he's my grown up baby-brother :) And I can't wait to see him!

Summer Travel - First up: Munich

Summer is here! Well, sort of. The calendar says it's summer. And finally the schools have capitulated and released our kids for six weeks. The weather...well that's still holding on fiercely to a cool rainy spring program. Nonetheless, with the young ones out of classes, it's time for our travel season to begin! First up: Munich.

My oldest two children are getting a bit cheated this summer. They have to spend the first three weeks of break in a different kind of school: intensive language camp. They moved to Germany as high-school aged teens and were dumped into a traditional Germany college-preparatory in the manner of "sink or swim." Although they were made to repeat a year of school in the name of "catching up" with the language, it was evident at the end of the academic year that they still needed a lot more help improving their vocabulary and strengthening grammar. Understand: they did amazingly well under the circumstances, passing all of their classes and maintaining in some cases better grade averages than their German peers. But they want to and can do better. So we enrolled them in a program through the Humboldt-Institut that offers 30 hours per week of intensive German language training to kids aged 15-18 years old. The camp operates out of a Youth Hostel in Munich, so we drove them there this weekend to drop them off.


It was a great chance to tour the beautiful city, spend quality time with my girls before their camp started, and visit with two of our former YFU exchange daughters. Despite grim forecasts, the weather in Munich cooperated beautifully for our visit and both Saturday and Sunday we were graced with a fair amount of sun and moderately warm temperatures (low to mid 70'sF or 22-25C).

Since Saturday was the first day of Summer Break for North-Rhine Westphalia, we set out by 3:30 am to beat the anticipated heavy traffic. It was well worth it, as we made the drive straight through in about six hours, arriving in time to meet our Italian daughter, Tamara, for breakfast (she had taken a bus up from South Tirol, also getting in about 9:30am). We indulged in scrumptious Nutella-filled French toast at the lovely Richart Cafe in Marienplatz - I highly recommend it! - with perfect views over the square to the Town Hall with its famous musical clock tower (Rathaus-Glockenspiel). After breakfast, we got out in time to watch and listen to the Glockenspiel which plays for about 15 minutes every day at 11am (and a few other times each day during the summer). 

We then spent the next 4-5 hours walking off the gluttonous meal while devouring the magnificent architecture of the city. We visited the Asamkirche, the Frauenkirche, the Residenztheater, and the Stadtsoper, among many other places. The pictures here don't do these incredible structures any justice - you must see them yourself!

By mid-afternoon, we needed to rest and were prepared to take in more delicious tastes and sights, so we returned to the city center and snagged awesome seats on the terrace of another Richart establishment: the Cafe on Markt in the Viktualienmarkt. Here we sampled traditional Kaiserschmarrn (cut-up sugared pancakes with raisins and apple sauce). Yummy! Must. Do. More. Walking.

Next we headed to our hotels to check in and clean up (we'd now been up since 2am and were starting to turn a bit Zombie-like). We walked out to the Best Western near the main train station (Bahnhof), where our Italian daughter had a room, and then trekked clear to the other side of town where my family was staying at the Marriott Residence Inn closer to Ostbahnhof (east side of town).  Both hotels were very nice and I can recommend both, although I was a little more comfortable on our side or town. The area around the main train station is diverse and lively :) 

After showers and fresh clothes, and band-aids on our blisters, we decided to drive to the Englischer Garten and substitute Beer and Pretzels at the Chinese Tower for dinner. I'm afraid the pictures from that evening escapade are not suitable for publication ;) Needless to say, we all had a great time!


Sunday we were up and at 'em early again, as we had breakfast reservations at another amazing Marienplatz restaurant: The Glockenspiel Cafe. Ok, after this trip, I need to join a gym, because I'm not sure the intense kilometers of walking are enough to cover the calories we consumed! At least my half avocado filled with shrimp salad and accompanied by massive amounts of fresh fruit was a healthier option than the French toast with bacon :) 

Again, this place should not be missed on a visit to Munich - but do make reservations; they serve the breakfast menu until 4pm, but also have lunch and dinner menus. We chose to sit outside, since we'd already witnessed the Glockenspiel - but if you want a view of the Town Hall (Rathaus) then ask for a table inside.

Right after breakfast, we went over to St. Peter's Church (Peterskirche) and spent the best Euro and a half per person you can possibly invest in Munich! After a vigorous workout climbing more than 300 narrow wooden steps to the steeple pinnacle, we were rewarded with the one of the most beautiful panorama views in Bavaria. On a clear day, you can see from St. Peter's beyond the other church spires to the majestic Alps.

It was incredibly windy at the top, and we were rather winded from the climb, but after catching our breath, we snapped some breath-taking photos! (How many cliches can I use in one sentence?)

Reluctantly we eventually made our way down from the tower and headed back to the Englischer Garten. On such a beautiful day, we knew we'd find surfers at the Eisbachwelle. I'd never seen river surfing before and thought this was pretty cool. On our way there, we gawked at the naked sunbathers and stopped to take free lessons in  slacklining from a few kids who were practicing in the park. All new and fun experiences!

Detouring through Hofgarten on our way back, we were serenaded with a fantastic solo Cello performance.  That was easily worth another Euro investment :) We also visited the Ludwigskirche, where our German exchange daughter from summer 2000 was recently married to her Swiss love.

Finally, we met up with a group of friends at Munich's oldest continually-operating cafe: Luigi Tambosi near Odeonsplatz. Here we lingered for a few hours over Aperol Spritzes and other cocktails, just enjoying the balmy weather and the company of good friends before delivering the girls to language camp and driving back to Mülheim.

The entire stay in Munich was less than 34 hours, but we managed an impressive array of sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences. Still, there is much more to be discovered and I'm looking forward to returning in a few weeks when camp is over and my brother is visiting with his family, as well!

Anyone have suggestions for my next Munich adventure?

Happy Birthday America, With Love from Germany!

Often it's the holidays that are the hardest for an Expat. We miss celebrating traditions with our family and friends from "back home." But these can also be a wonderful opportunity to connect with new friends in an adopted country. So while today is a huge national holiday back in the United States, while merely an ordinary school and work day here in Germany (we're not even out on summer break yet!) I'm making the most of it all week and enjoying sharing a little American history and culture.

With summer holidays starting next weekend, we chose to ignore German taboo and celebrate early. So last Sunday, July 1st, we decked the house out in full patriotic flair with red, white, and blue streamers and flags hanging from all the windows and eaves and lining the drive to clearly announce that Americans live here.

We put up a tent, strung bright balloons everywhere, with lots more flags in the backyard, set out decorated tables and chairs, and invited over 50 friends from our German neighborhood and the local Expat community - meaning Brits and Singaporeans and Scots, as well as other Americans.

I had spent weeks hunting down patriotic paper ware and decorations from Internet stores. I scrounged up classic recipes and calculated metric conversions and figured out ways to improvise on missing ingredients. (They don't sell blue Jello in Germany!).

I also spent way too many hours compiling a "patriotic play list" of music for the party. Of course it included classics like Springsteen's Born in the USA, Mellencamp's ROCK in the USA, and Greenwood's God Bless the USA. But my kids also contributed modern hits like Redneck Woman from Gretchen Wilson, Party in the USA from Miley Cyrus and a Beyonce version of God Bless the USA. 

While grilling cheese burgers and hot dogs, served with BBQ baked beans, various salads, chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies, and Jello shots, we clarified that this was a celebration of our country's independence from Great Britain and not the end of the American Civil War (some Germans had a heated debate about that!)

We were thrilled that nearly all of our guests, without prompting, dressed in red white and blue - one enthusiastic guest even had the US Flag painted across her face! It was brilliant (despite the Union Jack flag on her shirt)!


We were very lucky the typically miserable weather played nice and we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. Lots of kids came, and it was fun to listen to their exchanges in "Denglish" (or "Germish") as they played - since all of the kids present were fully bilingual in English and German.

Two of the American women who joined us have lived in Germany for at least 10 years, married to German men with kids born here. I had met each of them incidentally through businesses they own locally. While I didn't know either very well, I thought they might enjoy a taste of home and invited them to celebrate with us. I was very excited that they came and had a great time. Both have written this week to tell me how great it was to connect after so many years with other Americans and to eat foods from home (like Rice Krispie treats!). It made me feel good to offer them a bridge to their native culture.

Today it was a bit sad to pack the kids off to school (like it was on Thanksgiving Thursday, as well). But they each wore their patriotic colors and took some American treats to share with school friends. One son prepared all the ingredients for homemade buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup and cooked breakfast for his class!

And tonight we have our monthly Native English Speaker Quiz Night, where the Quiz-master has promised an appropriately-themed array of questions. He's sent us some warm-up items and I'm afraid my chances of winning at this one are rather slim, but I know it will still be fun!

Can you answer these?!

• Which president's pet parrot had to be ejected from his funeral for screaming obscenities at mourners?
• Which president, when short of funds, offered White House china as the ante in poker games?
• Eleanor Roosevelt made news in 1939 when she served what dish to visiting King George VI and Queen Elizabeth?
  

Anyway, lesson of the week has nothing to do with American history, but everything to do with attitude. As long as it is a holiday in our heart, then it can be a happy occasion!

Happy Birthday, USA, with lots of love from Germany!!

Photo credits for most shots: Viki Behm, our German exchange daughter (06-07) who drove up from Passau to spend the weekend celebrating with us! Oh the joy of throwing a party and being surrounded with the laughter and love of family & friends!