Testing, testing,...

I got three Cokes at lunch today. One for me, One for the Mädchen, and one because, apparently, I don't know how to order two Cokes in German

German Brunch

Our German teacher hosted a "German" style brunch party. Students from the different classes came to have a huge brunch together at her house.  We each brought something but German brunch is basically a huge variety of fresh breads, cold meats, cheeses, jams, yogurts and Muesli, coffee and orange juice!  It was all delicious and so much fun. Also now der Junge is on the hook to play guitar for all future parties!

Der Junge and I

2 tables full and more people still coming!

and now for the entertainment...

He's actually pretty good! :)

Detour!

On the way home from Nordinglen, we saw an awesome castle on the hill. Detour to the Neresheim Abbey!

front of Neresheim Abbey

view of the town below, from this vantage point it looks like the tree is the dividing line-  isn't it interesting the clear delineation between "town" and "country"

nice detour and now back to the car to home!

pitiful

Coffee, sunshine, and city walls

Its a beautiful day at a cafe in Nördlingen! Der Hund seems like she wants to explore! I wonder if she is allowed to climb the only fully intact city wall in Europe (whose gonna fact check that one?).

Sitting in the sun drinking coffee

would like to be exploring...

path along the top of the city wall!

don't worry, she's tied to the post!

Checking for invaders

All is clear

camera timer, result: art-house photo?

view from the top of the city wall
the sun made a glare on my pic :(
but a small sacrifice for a gorgeous day!

beautiful weathered doors on church

Abendessen!

We had friends over last night for dinner. A few things I learned:

1) My German skills are well below those of a 3 year old.
2) Our house is decidedly not kid friendly. No high chair, no sippy cups, no small spoons, no kids movies.
3) If a child wants do dance, putting on Jay-Z's Grey Album won't help.
4) A college freshman and a 3 year old have surprising much in common. An iPad plus YouTube and you can entertain them for hours. And, with enough to drink, the college freshman may even be ok with the Rubber Ducky song on repeat for hours on end.

American food per German grocery stores (and another reason why I miss Whole Foods!)

The Real is the bigger (i.e. better) grocery store in town but it is not really walking distance unless you don't mind walking for about an hour and then lugging back your groceries (which on a nice day I actually don't mind!).  So because we had a rental car, I took advantage and went to the Real and today I happened to also have my camera.  So I would like to share what the Germans think that Americans eat. May I present the USA section in the grocery store:

Yes, we have the pop tarts, the Betty Crocker cake mixes, Swiss Miss hot chocolate, Hershey's syrup...  Is it me or are you also detecting a theme here?  The thing is, I actually do want the Cambell's tomato soup and the Swiss Miss hot chocolate!  Except  the price of one can of soup is 2 euro which equals $2.62!!!  I can hold out until I get back home.

Travel Tip #2

Always make sure you are on the correct half of the train. Though the sign says where you want to go don't be fooled! That only means at least one car has to go there. The other half could just as well go to the Ikea in Bagdad. And let's be honest, no one wants to go there.

Luckily, I used my firm grasp of the German language to ask the train conductor... if he spoke English. He then informed me in perfect Queens English that only the front half of the train was going our way.

Good thing I asked. No sooner had we sat down than the train pulled out of the station. Only in retrospect did we realize how close we were to Günzburg-ing all over the place (see also: 2009 debacle of missing friend's wedding).

St. Patrick's Day in Munich

So while der Junge is working here, I have the pleasure of undertaking my true dream job.  I am working out our travel plans and researching the places we are going to go, hotels, sights, events, etc. It is not an easy task and I take it very seriously.  So when I found out that Munich actually hosts a St. Patrick's Day parade, I was super-psyched and declared "we are going to Munich!" Because who doesn't love a parade? Especially an Irish parade!
So after all the plans are in place, train tickets, hotel reservation... I find out that actually Munich's parade was the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day.  What???
Yes, so I found this on another website, please forgive the incorrect grammer, it has been Google-translated from German (Google translate has been my best friend here!):

Q: Why can not direct the parade on 17 March instead of the actual St. Patrick's Day?

A: The parade takes place on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day. This has very pragmatic reasons. It is much easier to get regulatory approval for the closure of one of the main streets of Munich and the Odeon Square in the heart of the city. And finally, we would not wear on a normal weekday so many people.

Which amounts to, no parade for us, because by the time I found this website, it was too late. :(

Ah but, next year St. Patrick's Day is Sunday and we have all year to decide whether to go to the Munich parade OR maybe even go to Ireland??? Hmmm.... 

So although we missed the parade, we did make it a good trip and we had beautiful weather (it was actually a rainy weekend last week for the parade anyway). We also went to the Deutsches Museum, which is a must-do for any trip to Munich and especially if you have a science nerd in your party (this is not an insult as I use the term "nerd" in the most loving way and der Junge is also a self-proclaimed science nerd :)

My science nerd :)

What is that?!
(oh yeah, and some of the exhibits are not translated into English yet, the museum is working on this , so it actually comes in handy to have your science nerd available for explanations!)

Der Hund looking very pensive

Note der Junge and Deutsches museum in background!

Not-so-smart phone

I consider myself smart and techno-savvy. Let me give you some friendly advice if you are entering the smart phone market or if you are considering switching your type of phone.

iPhone: good
droid: good
Windows phone: avoid it like the plague

Breakfast for dinner?

It seems we have not mastered the sausages in this country. Our stew is filled with what, at first taste, seems like it would go better with Eggs Benedict.

Dog food

We had some veggies we wouldn't be able to use before they spoiled. We put most in stew for tonight. The rest we mixed in the food bowl for Der Hund.

Result: our kitchen floor is now littered with smooshed potatoes clearly sniffed to death under intense investigation and bite sized carrot pieces that would mix perfectly into a stew.

"There is nothing to fear but... fear itself"

So we adopted Kiwi when she was 8 weeks old...

and we have prided ourselves on trying to socialize her very thoroughly so that she would behave well with people and tolerate all kinds of experiences without fear.  She has grown up in a city where she has had exposure to traffic, bicycles, all types of dogs, all types of people (babies, homeless people, people in wheelchairs, etc).  We have taken her on many trips- by car and now plane and train.  She did have an adverse response when we took her to Savannah and Charleston and she was terrified when she first saw a horse (they have many horses/carriages as part of their tourism trade).  She barked and growled when she saw, smelled, or heard them (it was really embarrassing).  We trained her to be calm and she eventually adjusted to them and is fine, still really curious, but does not bark/growl.  We thought "she is so well-adjusted, so able to handle new experiences..."

Or so we thought until we came here.

Kiwi met her first skateboarders.   She has never seen a skateboard.  She went CRAZY!  It was truly frightening. We were walking past a park and some young kids, probably around 12 years old, rode by on skateboards and she was uncontrollable.  Barking loudly and thrashing around to break free from my hold on her.  I had trouble keeping her under control.  This happened several other times if skateboarders approached and even with der Junge and I both present, she was unable to be re-directed.  You never want to believe that your dog would ever hurt anyone, but it was really scary and you just don't know...  She was scared or felt threatened, I'm not sure, but she was a ticking time bomb for any approaching skateboarders.  Really scary.

So we knew what had to be done. We had to buy a skateboard.

These are the photographs documenting our "training session" (You can feel free to laugh to see der Junge on a skateboard! The live experience is priceless.)

our practice grounds (beautiful countryside)

Kiwi in her jacket (yes its cold!)

yup, there he is, "the offending skateboarder"

after many, many trials: desensitization at work! Der Junge also perfecting his technique and picking up speed!

A success! Kiwi is at peace with the skateboard.

Well, mostly....  She is not so reactive now but does still become highly alert- hair standing up, eyes wide- upon approaching skateboarders.  Der Junge may have a new alternate mode of transportation
by the time we are finished training!

Pizza Party!

Our German teacher is so wonderful! I can't say that enough...
She invited us to a "homemade pizza making" party Sunday night with a bunch of the other students!
Here are some of the pics...
(Oh and when she learned that der Junge plays guitar, he was required to bring his guitar and play!)

Our German teacher, Sara and der Junge

practice session with Sara's son

mmm.... homemade pizza!

Stick Shift Lesson #2

There is a sweet scent in the air this morning of perspiration and burning clutch.

Aalen: Because when else are you in going to be in a city that starts with two A's?

Quick day trip to Aalen today. Its only about a 30 minute train ride North of Heidenheim. It was Der Hunds first trip by train, so we wanted to test out a short trip before doing a longer trip.

Good girl!

Keeping a lookout for our stop

Nice guided walking trip through the town. The one thing we learned: The spy of Aalen had a sweet beard and smoked a cob pipe.

According to legend (that is, the Legend of Wikipedia):

..., the citizens of Aalen owe the “Spy of Aalen” (Spion von Aalen) their city having been spared from destruction by the emperor’s army:

The Imperial City of Aalen was in quarrel with the emperor, and his army was shortly before the gates to take the city. The people of Aalen dispatched their “most cunning” one out into the enemy’s camp to spy on the strength of their troops. Without any digression, he went straight into the middle of the enemy camp. He was seized and presented to the emperor. When the emperor asked him what he was doing there, he answered: “Don’t frighten, high lords, I just want to peek how many cannons and other war things you’ve got, since I am the spy of Aalen”. The emperor laughed upon such blatancy and naïvety, steered him all through the camp and then sent him back home. Soon the emperor withdrew his army as he thought a city with such wise guys deserved to be spared.

Center of Aalen with Old Town Hall in background. Note the “Spy Tower”
Built in the 14th century, and destroyed/rebuilt after a fire in 1634, it was the
 the town hall of Aalen until 1907. The Imperial Town of Nuremberg presented
a clock which was partly destroyed by another fire
in 1884. Only the head of the “Spy from Aalen” was
saved and can be seen on the tower. The Spy of Aalen head in the tower actually rotates
to "keep watch" on the town below.

playing with photo software to create a vintage look-
das Madchen and der Hund in front of an old church on the cobbled street

Also good to know for world travels- The Limes Museum is at the place of the largest Roman calvary fort north of the Alps.... or something like that (wiki fact check me).

Travel Tip: Don't be fooled by the English signs in the front. The were put there by a clever marketer. After you pay the 4 EUR apiece, all the signs are exclusively in German. Der Hund peed on the grounds in protest. 

Ick-eah (this is really the way Germans pronounce it!)

Yes, much to der Junge's chagrin there is an IKEA! So the last time we went to IKEA der Junge made me promise that he would not have to accompany me to IKEA for one year.  Well folks, it is about 1 year later...
So I really enjoy IKEA, for me it is like being inside a 3-D version of an HGTV day-long marathon.  You can go from room to room and imagine having your house set up like that.  This is exactly the reason der Junge hates IKEA.  It is very much a day-long event.  This time however, since we don't have a car yet, and the IKEA is in the next town (45 minutes away), we rented a car.  We rented a manual (on purpose!) so that der Junge could practice driving in preparation for buying one.  (Automatic cars are frowned upon here and impossible to come by.  I don't understand it.)  And I need to mention that also der Junge has only driven a manual car once and that was about 10 years ago and apparently not a confidence-boosting experience...  I will leave that story for him to tell... :)
So I, of course, took pictures to document the whole event:

yes, we were given a Chevy (how American can you get!)

can you feel the tension?

we made it!
Except being Saturday, the Holy day of shopping in Germany, the place was jam packed and we had to find parking... not der Junge's strong suit with a manual car! We had to go through the round-about in the entrance twice because there were pedestrians crossing and it was either go through the round-about or take out a family of 4.  We went through the round-about.

many hours later...

not impressed

Yay!!! (well from my perspective anyway!)

Now our return home.... the adventure continues

the flag says it all.  we are home, we made it, victory is ours!
Later that night I asked which is worse, IKEA or driving a manual?
I did not get an answer...