Leaving tomorrow, sans Bố

Tomorrow our flight leaves Frankfurt bound for Philadelphia. I have a list of things to pack and a list of things to buy in the US to bring back to Frankfurt. Here's a list of the top 5 things I am looking forward to:

1. Mass consumerism. Can't wait to buy cheap clothing, processed food in large packaging, and FDA approved drugs.
2. Food. Hopefully we can get Mexican, even if it's crappy Mexican. And Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. I will drink it every day.
3. Rutgers Ag Field day. Plan to meet up with Gianna's Vietnamese peeps and some old Rutgers friends.
4. Happy People. Germans are so serious, can't wait to hear people laughing again.
5. English. What a novelty to be able to ask for help at the airport or store.

...and the top 5 things I am not looking forward to:

1. Driving. Do NOT miss traffic, commuting, paying for gas, tolls, accidents, delays, etc.
2. Our NJ house. I'm imaging a pack of rabid raccoons has moved into the attic by now and the flower beds are over taken by Canada thistle.
3. Jet lag. By the time Gianna gets adjusted to the time zone, we will be flying back to Frankfurt.
4. Cold weather. It's been sunny and mid 70's here for the past two weeks and I hear it's cold and rainy on the East Coast.
5. Gianna's doctor appointments. She has to get stuck with needles and diagnostic testing. She will be cranky.

Also, I do not have an American cell number, so if we are staying with you, we will just show up on your doorstep with our suitcases and wait for you to come home from work, or break in through the back window, you know, the one you keep unlocked ;-)

Easter weekend

Today is Easter Monday, another holiday in Germany where businesses are closed. The Palmgarten was open, and advertised an appearance by the Easter Bunny and an egg hunt for kids. Turns out it wasn't The Easter Bunny, rather three live bunnies in a pen. Just as well, the bunnies were quite cute. They had a sub-par orchid show and an average showing of spring blooms. Sorry Germans, your gardening skills are not superior to the rest of the world.

Yesterday at 7am I awoke to the sound of Frankfurt church bells ringing. Some churches had sunrise bonfires, but we didn't go to any of those. Instead, we opted for an 11am service at the local Lutheran church followed by a lunch that I prepared for friends. I encountered a few difficulties preparing a typical American Easter lunch. First, they don't sell the same kind of pre-cooked ham in Germany like they do in the US. They have uncooked Schwarzwälder Schäufele, which actually turned out delicious with a pseudo-brown sugar glaze (they also don't sell brown sugar here). Second, Germans don't eat pies. I've never seen a single pie around town and finding a pie plate or pie dough to make fresh strawberry pie proved impossible. Instead, I bought a similarly sized spring-form pan and ready made streusel dough. It wasn't quite the same, but still delicious. After lunch, we took Gianna across the street for a little "egg" hunt. Since Germans don't sell those plastic eggs to fill with candy, she had to settle for hunting little Easter themed bags of candy.


Pics from the weekend and other spring events can be found in my Picasa album.

Good Friday

Just chillin' here on Good Friday. Although Germans aren't particularly religious, everything is closed for a State holiday today and Monday. Your options are to take a walk, go to the park, or hang out on your balcony surfing the internet like me ;-) I just finished reading Xenophobe's Guide to the Germans, very enlightening. This morning we went for a long walk along the greenbelt that circles downtown Frankfurt. The weather is beautiful and Gianna looked so sweet in her dress.

Easter in Germany

We have been getting ready for Easter this week, dying eggs and buying chocolate bunnies and lambs for Gianna's Easter basket. The Germans do Easter baskets, but apparently not egg hunts. I searched high and low for community egg hunts with no luck. The only ones I found were hosted by the American Women's Club and an American children's play group. Unfortunately both of the hunts were outside of the Frankfurt city limits and we don't have a car. I bought little bags to fill with treats so Gianna can have her own little hunt. Maybe this is a good time to get her practice, so that next year she can go at it with the bigger kids.

Darth has been enjoying his Easter/Passover staycation at casa de la Schmidt. Bruno has been a fine host, teaching Darth how we do things in his house, like dogs sleep in the kennel and do not bark or beg at the table. They spend most of their time alternating between play-fighting and sleeping on the couch. I'll miss little Darth when he goes back home. Having two min pins is a real comedy show.


One more thing on my mind, Germans are always in your business as I've mentioned before. There is one bakery that I frequent where the baker speaks English, but will still only speak to me in German. He likes to correct my German pronunciation of his pastries and laughs at me when I mix English with German (oh the horror!). Today, there were two drug addicts on the corner singing in English and playing guitar for spare change. The women in front of me in line were obviously mocking them to the baker. When it was my turn, I order a pudding pretzel and he asked me in German if those were my English friends on the corner, laughing. Ha-ha, very funny Mr. Baker, like every person that speaks English must be friends. Yeesh. I keep going there because I like to antagonize this guy by continuing to mispronounce the names of his fine German pastries. It really gets his goat.

Dipperness

This morning we went to Toys R Us to buy Gianna a new kick bike (more on that after we actually get it assembled and working) and then went to Dipperness in the afternoon. We were quite a crew, two min pins, Gianna in her stroller, me, Dan, Donnell, and Nicole. Dipperness was advertised as a "German Folk Festival" but was more like a regular old carnival, but with better rides than I've seen at US carnivals. How do they transport that huge ferris wheel?



















Gianna's first ride on a carnival merry-go-round. She wasn't impressed. One turn before the ride stopped, she said "all done" and wanted to jump off while it was still in motion. She did enjoy the real horses which were part of a pony ride operation.

Kanonesteppel

Darth's parents are going back to the US for Passover, so we went to Kanonesteppel for one last pork-laden meal before their pig-free trip. Kanonesteppel is a traditional German restaurant on the south side of the Main specializing in lots of German delights including Frankfurter Grie Soß, Tatar (raw ground meat), all sorts of wurst and schnitzel, and of course, apfelwein. Check out their menu to see what you are missing...or to see what's in store for you when you visit. Tonight Darth comes over for his staycation. I set out to Darth-proof the house, but it was too nice of a day. Instead, I took Bruno to the dog park to get out some energy and chatted with my sister-in-law. Tomorrow we will go to Dippemess, a German festival of sorts. Hopefully the weather will stay as sunny and warm as it has been all week.

Mẹ and Gianna drinking apfelwein

Dan is eating zweibelschnitzel with fried potatoes and sauerkraut. He is drinking water from a sippy cup. The Bauernbratwurst was donated from my plate and came with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. And of course, the apfelwein served in a traditional bembel. Gianna is a huge fan of Kanonesteppel!

Strassenraub!

A sign on our door today says that an old woman had her handbag stolen and was "substantially violated" according to Google translate (German reads: "dabei erheblich verletzt"). The robbery happened on the other side of the block from us near Holzhausen Park at 10:20 at night. See Dan, this is why I refuse to take Bruno out to do his business at night! I could have had my hand bag stolen and been substantially violated. The 62 year old vic describes the perps as "4-5 young men dressed in so-called Hip-Hop style wide cut pants, hooded sweatshirts, and baseball caps." The funny things is, I never see anyone around here dressing in wide legged pants, hooded sweatshirts, or baseball caps...except us ;-) The Europeans are huge fans of the skin tight jeans, as you probably know and they seldom wear hooded sweatshirts or baseball caps. So maybe I will call the Kriminalpolizei today and tell them I know of someone that wears a baseball cap, hooded sweatshirt, and baggy pants that walks his dog around 10:20 pm in the area in question. That would be a very German thing to do, turn in your own spouse. He matches the description, I had no choice but to do the "right" thing!