Happy Winter Solstice

Last Saturday, we celebrated the solstice with bonfires at a Wintersonnwendfeier (winter solstice celebration) at Waldschänke Brückkanal in Feucht, just south of Nürnberg.


The Waldschänke (restaurant) is located in a forest on Brück canal, hence the name, and it was hard to find in the dark. But it was worth it. They had two large fires and one small one for the kids, and they were serving Glühwein, bratwurst, and, of course, beer. It was a nice change from the usual Christmas markets.

Integration Program

For the last two weeks, I have been spending four hours every morning in an orientation course, learning about German history, politics and culture. It was the last module I had to take to complete the integration program, which is required if I want to apply for permanent residency. And I do!

Last year, we renewed our residency here in Deutschland, and it was a hassle--so many papers to submit from Bob's work, the kids' schools, our apartment lease, etc. And we have to do it all over again next summer. So last fall, I decided to find out how to apply for permanent residency. Since 2005, anyone who wants permanent residency has to participate in an integration program to learn the language. Through the program, one can take up to 600 hours of Deutsch classes for only 1 Euro per hour. When I took the placement test, I was told that I could take the last 100 hour module to improve my spoken Deutsch, or take the B1 test directly and then the orientation course. I decided to take the exam, because I couldn't fit 100 hours of class into my schedule.

The Goethe Institute sets up classes for six levels of Deutsch proficiency--A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Passing the B1 exam means one has an intermediate level of written and spoken German. I passed the test in July and am now finished with the orientation course. What's next?

I have to ask the Rathaus (City Hall) what comes next, and if I can apply even though Bob hasn't done the program. After all, we are here in Deutschland because of Bob's work. He's the one that may have to get permanent residency first.

Stay tuned...

Garda, Amalfi, Vieste and Ferrara

Since it was too expensive to fly back to Chicago this summer, we decided to go to Italy instead, which was not cheap either. Our first stop was Lake Garda, and thanks to Oscar, we didn't stay directly on the lake. We stayed in the foothills of Monte Baldo in a town called Pai.



I had made several reservations at hotels claiming that they allowed dogs, but they emailed me back saying "small dogs only." At 30 kg (66 pounds), Oscar is not a small dog. I finally found a place called Locanda San Marco that allowed large dogs in the village of Pai di Sopra. It was perfect! We had to walk down to the lake, which meant we had to climb back up, but Pai was quiet, unlike the touristy, crowded lakefront. Pai became lively only in the evening when everyone was outside in the main square eating, drinking and talking. One night they even had live music.



The boys brought their skateboards thinking they would be skating all over Italy. Lake Garda turned out to be the only place flat enough and safe enough for skating.



Because we knew Amalfi and Ferrara would be the cultural parts of our trip, we decide to do something touristy before driving farther south. We went to Gardaland. Gardaland is a large amusement park on the southern end of the lake. I don't usually like amusement parks, but this time I had a great time. Gardaland has a lot of roller coasters and water-based rides, nice on a hot day. And they have a 4D theater, which is just 3D with moving seats, but fun. It was very crowded, and since the waits for most rides were up to an hour, we spent an extra 48 Euros (after spending 113 Euros to get into the park) for express tickets. This meant we could stand in the express lines for only 10 or 15 minutes. Expensive, but worth it; otherwise, we would have ridden only half of the rides we did ride.



After a long day of driving south, past Bologna, Rome and Naples, we arrived on the Amalfi Coast. We rented a house built into the side of the cliffs overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. We parked the car in the garage off the street and walked DOWN many steps to our house and even more steps to the sea. It is amazing to me that people actually live here. The streets are narrow and twisting with three way traffic--the normal two way and the Vespas and motorcycles down the middle. There are no sidewalks, so everyone walks along the side of the road. I felt like we were risking our lives every time we left the house. And since it is not flat, we were either walking up- or downhill. (The top photo is a view from one of our balconies and the bottom is the house we rented.)


Our house was located about 500 meters up the hill from Minori and on the road toward Ravello, which overlooks Minori.


While on the Amalfi Coast, we went snorkeling off the rocks below our house,


took the ferry from Minori past Atrani, another coastal town,


to see the cathedral in the town of Amalfi.


While in Ravello, we checked out the pool at the Hotel Caruso.



And we spent time just hanging out on the balconies of our house.


But the best part of our time on the Amalfi was visiting Pompeii and climbing Vesuvius. I was expecting it be educational, but it was fascinating! There are the temples (to Jupiter, above),



the well preserved frescos,


and the snack bars. And so much more.


After Pompeii, we ascended Vesuvius. Our GPS took us up the old road, which apparently happens a lot, and so a tour operator has learned to take advantage of this. At the end of the paved road, if one wants to continue up, one must pay for a ticket on a 4WD bus that will take one up the dirt road. Yes, expensive, but it was fun riding up the winding road on a very bouncy bus. At the end of the dirt road, we walked the rest of the way up to the crater. Vesuvius may not be as impressive as Kilauea--there is no smoke and no smell of sulfur--but it is a volcano the way I always pictured volcanos. And it is active. It erupts every 100 years and the last eruption was in 1944.


From the Amalfi Coast, we drove straight east to the Gargano Peninsula. Here we rented a bungalow just outside of Vieste. On the way to Vieste, we stopped in Monte Sant'Angelo. Supposedly, St. Michael made several appearances here in the 5th Century, and now it is a popular pilgrimage site. Although we were not on a pilgrimage, we found the town very charming and very white.


Unfortunately, after arriving in Vieste, we were a little disappointed with our accommodations. The views were great,


and the pool rivaled Hotel Caruso's in Ravello. But the bungalow was in disrepair and very dusty, probably because of the dirt path that led up to the door--I thought camping in a tent would have been better and cleaner.


On the brighter side, the beach was not far, and the beaches of the Gargano coast are covered in soft, yellow sand, unlike the rocky beaches of Garda and Amalfi.


And the Adriatic Sea is not as tame as the Tyrrhenian. A couple of times we thought we were going to lose the boys.


Obviously, the seafood was great, and some of the restaurants are found in trabucci, wooden structures unique to the area and built for fishing.


Our last stop was Ferrara, and Ferrara is my kind of town--a college town, a medieval college town. It is the Italian version of Erlangen and Madison. There are students and bicycles everywhere. Of course, there is also a castle, Castello Estense, with a moat,


and a labyrinth of narrow streets in the medieval quarter to explore. If we should ever move to Italy....

Oscar also came along on this trip, and a couple of his photos are on his blog.

Endlich Sommer

Finally, the last week of school is here! And summer vacation begins on July 31. It has been an interesting year academically, especially for Philip. He started Realschule this year, and initially, I was relieved that he wasn't going to Gymnasium. I was told that Gymnasium was harder and moved a lot faster than Realschule. If this is true, how come more kids aren't dropping out of Gymnasium?

I was surprised at what Philip was expected to learn in Realschule. First, he had algebra and geometry classes this year, fifth grade. I didn't learn algebra and geometry until I was in eighth or ninth grade. And they moved fast--it seemed that he had only a few days to grasp a concept before moving onto the next one. Luckily, Philip picks up math quickly. Unfortunately, he made a lot of mistakes on exams, so his grades didn't reflect his understanding. He's passing, and his grades improved over the year, especially when I stopped helping him.

Second, his biology teacher taught biology to fifth graders the way I taught Intro to Bio to freshmen at Northeastern Illinois University. For example, he was expected to memorize the names of all the major bones and muscles in the human body (even I didn't make my students do that), the entire circulatory system (this my students had to learn), animal classifications, and botany. They're finishing up the year with human reproduction, also known as sex education.

In Deutsch class, he had to write grammatically correct essays from the beginning of the year. His teacher in fourth grade made them write one essay after another, so he was used it. But Philip still has problems with grammar, so he's passing but not with good grades.

English was his best subject. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise, but Philip was never a good speller. I was really worried at the beginning of the year, because he had to learn a long list of vocabulary in a short period of time. And he did have problems at first, but he's developed into a very good speller, in both English and Deutsch.

Overall, Philip did better as the year progressed, and so did Alex. I have to admit, I'm so happy that Alex isn't having the same problems in elementary school that Philip had. Alex's teacher told me that he makes the same mistakes that the German kids make. In other words, he's learning at the same level they are and should be able to get into Gymnasium or Realschule without any difficulties.


Other than school, Alex finished a triathlon. He swam 50 meters, biked 3 kilometers, and ran 500 meters. He finished somewhere in the middle, and everyone got a medal.


Philip played piano in his music school's annual concert. He played well and was proud of himself. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good photos of him while playing. After the concert, we celebrated at a local Biergarten.

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th was uneventful here, except that I realized that I haven't updated my blog in a long time.



Since our biking trip around the Chiemsee, we've hiked to the Teufelstisch (Devil's Table) in the Fränkische Schweiz.



Biked around another lake, the Brombachsee, not far from Nürnberg. The Brombachsee is actually three lakes, and the largest one in smaller than the Chiemsee (about 17 km around vs. 60 km), so this was a day trip.



Of course, there was the Bergkirchweih with a new ride this year--River Rafting.

During Projektwoche (Project Week) at Alex's school, his class was learning about the USA, so I came in to talk about the elementary school system in the US, the sports kids play, and Chicago. And I had to use my broken German! I was more nervous speaking in front of a 3rd grade German class than I ever was speaking in front of college-aged Americans. Alex also gave presentations on the Empire State Building and Mt. Rushmore--he was not nervous.


Alex and his friend, Felix, played guitar during mass at the local Catholic church. This was their first public performance, and they were cool--that is, until that Sunday morning. Nevertheless, they did a great job.

We celebrated Philip's birthday at a local indoor/outdoor playground, Tucherland. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, because they were busy running around for four hours.


And then there's been the World Cup, or Weltmeisterschaft in German. And Germany is doing quite well. Every time they win, the police close off the main streets and intersections so that people can celebrate, and celebrate they do!

Chiemsee

Since Monday was a holiday, Pentecost or Pfingsten auf Deutsch, we spent the long weekend biking, about 60 km, around the Chiemsee. On Saturday, we biked from Prien, an upscale resort town on the west side of the lake, to Chieming, a smaller town on the east side. We followed the northern route, which we read was the more scenic route, and it was. We spent the night in a very nice, and large, holiday apartment in Chieming and on Sunday followed the southern route, part of which runs along the highway, back to Prien. There was no shortage of restaurants along the way, and we ate at one place on the northern route, Schalchenhof, that was exceptionally good and had a great view of the lake.


Before the trip, I was a little worried about the boys being able to bike 30 km a day, but they were great! They were tired but didn't complain. They actually enjoyed it, and Alex now wants to bike the Bodensee (Lake Constance), about 300 km around.

Super Al

Here's Alex holding up a one ton train part.


And, as promised, Alex riding, here on Flöcke (Snowflake).

American Marshmallows

For the last 3.5 years we've been buying Rocky Mountain marshmallows for Philip, who likes to roast them, and of course, they're made in the USA, because who else would make them. What I noticed only recently was that they are made in Elk Grove Village, IL. Home, sweet home, Chicagoland!

Alex's First Communion

On April 18, 2010, Alex, like Philip, made his first communion. And like Philip, he spent many hours in after-school classes preparing for this big day. But the best part was having his grandparents fly in to celebrate. (They flew into Frankfurt one day before all the airports in Europe closed because of Eyjafjallajökull.)

Ski Happy

Just like every year during spring break, we returned to Radstadt and Obertauern, Austria, for skiing and hiking. One of the highlights from this year's trip was skiing a Schwarz Piste (black diamond ski run in the US). It was the first time for the boys, and my first time since before Philip was born. There weren't a lot of moguls, but it was steep.


Both boys had orange helmets, so they were easy to follow. Philip was a little more cautious than Alex, and therefore, closer to Bob when he took the photo. Alex is closer to the bottom of the hill.


The boys also discovered something new to eat--the Germknödel. The Germknödel is a large ball of sweet dough filled with plum jam and covered with vanilla sauce, powdered sugar and poppy seeds. The boys each ate one everyday of our holiday. The best place for Germknödel was the Heu Stadl (hay barn?) in Obertauern, where the music, played loudly, was a mixture of local folk, yodeling and variations of popular songs, such as Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry." In the Heu Stadl version it's "Don't Worry, Ski Happy," but in German, ski is pronounced "shē," so "Don't Worry, Shē Happy."


We also did some hiking, through the forest, up a steep hill to the Bürgerbergalm. Hiking in Europe is very different than in the US. If you want solitude, the US is much better. But if you like the convenience of a warm meal and a beer in the middle of a forest or on top of a mountain, than Europe is the place to be. In Europe, the hiking trails are sprinkled with Hütten, which are cabins with a restaurant and sometimes rooms for overnight. The Bürgerbergalm, overlooking Radstadt, is a small Hütte with a restaurant only. The food was great and cheap, and we met the family that runs it. The daughter told us to come back in January or February, when there's lots of snow, so that we can go sledding down the access road to Radstadt. "At night it's better, because than you can see the cars coming."

Bob suggested that we try someplace new to ski next year, but I think I like having a "second home" in Radstadt.

NOTE: Oscar, as always, traveled with us--click on the link to his blog.

Easter Sunday

I'm sitting in my kitchen looking out the window onto the playground, and Alex is currently digging a hole in the sand with Timo, Philip is playing ping-pong with Jan on inline-skates, and Jan's sister just rode up on her unicycle.

Blatant Bragging

Alex scored two back-to-back beautiful goals in Sunday's handball tournament. He's scored before but never with this much style. He jumped before reaching the goal perimeter line, flew through the air, and threw the ball before landing in the goal area. And he did this twice. Both of his coaches congratulated him on his magnificent goals, and German coaches are not quick to compliment. I hate this word--awesome--but it seems appropriate here.

Wanderung

Yesterday the temperature was 3 degrees Celsius, or about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. The snow is definitely melting, but in the forest it's still pretty icy. In my opinion, not a good day for a long walk in the woods. But it was the perfect day for a Wanderung, or hike, for many Germans. I was surprised to see so many people in the Wald by our apartment. I had to take Oscar out and was planning a quick walk, but it turned out to be a longer walk because so many people in the forest meant more people stopping to pet Oscar (have I ever mentioned that Germans love dogs?).

And many of these Wanderer were elderly. It never ceases to amaze me how many seniors in Germany are out and about walking or riding their bikes. In Chicago, I saw our elderly neighbors only in the summer and only in their yards. Here, I see them slowing shuffling to the bus stop or grocery store or with their walking sticks on long hikes through the hills. There are even a couple who look to be about ninety with osteoporosis still riding their bikes.

This is probably why the German government gives monetary benefits (Kindergeld) to people with children. We get 328 Euros every month for the two boys, and all we did was fill out some papers. It's like getting free money. But Germany has a decreasing growth rate and an increasing number of pensioners (mandatory retirement is at 65 or 67). Obviously, they have to give incentives to people to have kids in order for the social safety net to continue working.

They may want to consider increasing the Kindergeld, because the old folks around here look very fit. And balanced--I was the one slipping on the ice yesterday, not them.

Starbucks, Erlangen

I almost walked into Erlangen's one and only Starbucks. I should add "brand new;" they opened shortly before Christmas.

And I almost walked in after going without having a Starbucks coffee for three and a half years. This was not due to lack of opportunities--Nürnberg has two that I know of, and we've seen many throughout Europe. I've just never really liked their coffee. I've always thought it tasted as if it had been overcooked and sitting in the pot all day.

I also feel some animosity toward Starbucks. Before they invaded Chicago, there were many small, independent cafes, each with its own unique atmosphere. And let's face it, if you've been in one Starbucks, you've been in them all. They, along with Seattle's Best and Caribou Coffee, drove many of these cafes out of business. In some cases directly, like when Starbucks took over Scenes Cafe on Clark and Belmont.

But I almost walked in today. Maybe their coffee is better here. And I doubt they'll close down any indigenous cafes--cafes are ubiquitous in Europe, like hot dog stands in Chicago. But as in The Exterminating Angel, I couldn't make myself cross that threshold.

My Little Cowboy

Before Christmas, Alex decided he wanted to try horseback riding, actually pony riding. So I signed him up for a class at the stable where I ride. I was so sure he wouldn't like it. My teacher expects her horses and ponies to be cleaned spotlessly before saddling, and I was so sure that Alex would hate brushing the pony's coat and picking his hooves. I was wrong. He actually enjoys cleaning his pony, and so now we go riding weekly.

His first few classes were on a longe line, but last week he rode solo. He basically went through the same exercises I do--walking and trotting around the arena, walking and trotting through a slalom course, riding in circles, etc. He hasn't tried galloping yet and a few other exercises, such as sidestepping.

The pony he rides is black with a thick, fuzzy coat and appropriately named Fussel, which means fluff. I promise to someday post a photo of Alex with Fussel, but right now I'm too nervous that the flash will frighten the pony and he'll throw Alex off.

...the bombs bursting in air,...

This is midnight, New Year's Eve, from our terrace. Note that these are not professional fireworks, but just ordinary Bürger (citizens) unrestrained one night a year. Can't do this on any other night. We tried blowing up fireworks on 4th of July and were reprimanded by our neighbors.