Culture surprise!

At this point in our stay in Germany (a little over half-way), I'm finding it unexpected to be experiencing culture - not shock, exactly, more surprise. Yes, culture surprise. Situations that leave me thinking things ranging from "Hm, what an odd way to think/behave!" to "Now why would you do that?" and finally to "Oh no you di'n't!"

Zum beispiel (For example):

1. Butting in line
This keeps happening to me. If there's a line, I stand directly in front of the goal, behind the person who is actually paying or putting away their step (in step class at the gym). Inevitably, someone cuts in from the left or right, standing beside the person in front of me at the cash. I suppose they are physically closer to the cashier, but then they actually have to step in front of me, who has been there longer.
When it happened at McDonalds (and got between me and my child's food), I, a Canadian (here's how I know I've been here for a while), said something! And here's how we know we're not in Canada: it was all very pleasant. They smiled apologetically, and said, "Oh well, look, here's our
food - we didn't make you wait very long!" I smiled and wished them a good day. In Canada we would probably have settled for dirty looks and cold shoulders (after I apologized for standing in their way!). I think I might prefer this pleasant confrontation instead of unpleasant politeness. (I would have said something the other day to a lady who butted in line, but Kaia had just fallen into her change room and caused a bit of a ruckus, so I let it go. Sometimes, it's better that way.)

2. Birthdays
Birthdays may not be celebrated in any way before the actual date of birth. Very important. This is causing some difficulty for us since Lia's will happen in the first 4 days of holidays. I wanted her to be able to celebrate her birthday at Kindergarten. So, I talked it over with a friend, and said that maybe I could just send the cupcakes (NOT cookies - cookies are only for Christmas time. The crazy Canadians sent maple leaf cookies on July 1st, can you believe it?! What is this, Christmas in July?) during the last week of kindergarten, less than a week ahead of her birthday. However, it can't be done. I inquired as to why, and from what I gather, it's just considered bad luck. But I'm not superstitious and neither is my friend. Still, she said, "But really, you can't do it." Shade!

3. Pigeons - the rats of the air
Neighbours beside us (we can just see their roof), have a multitude of pigeons living on their roof. We felt so sorry for them. The noise. The smell. The pigeons!! Ick. I wondered what could be done for them. Then one night, we were sitting enjoying a steak grilled on our charcoal grill (apparently propane BBQs are for old people nearing death - but I much prefer them), when we heard a strange sound above the pigeon ruckus. It sounded almost like someone calling to the pigeons. Indeed, we stood up and saw an arm reaching out of one of the windows, and the pigeons all gather around the window. And then - horrors - the pigeons went IN THE HOUSE. I almost screamed.

The next day I told my German teacher about this awful scene, and she said, "Oh, pigeon racers!" She told me all about the poor man's horses. They raise pigeons to race. They have special clocks in which they place the fastest pigeon's ankle bracelet, and then bring the clocks to a special location where they drink a beer and figure out who wins and give each other tips on how to care for their rats - I mean - pigeons.

Wow. I just looked up pigeon racing, and there are so many links. Here's a few to enjoy:
www.speedpigeon.com
www.purebredpigeon.com
www.pigeonnetwork.com
http://forum.pigeonbasics.com/m-1225393326/

And of course, Wikipedia explains how it works: Competing birds are taken from their lofts and must race home. The time taken and distance are recorded and the fastest bird is declared the winner. Races are generally between 100 and 1000km in distance. To compete in a race, it must wear a permanent, unique numbered ring or band that is placed on its leg at about 5 days of age. For a race to be conducted, the competing pigeons must be entered into the race, usually at the organisation's clubhouse, and taken away from their home to be released at a predetermined time and location. The distance between the bird's home loft and the racepoint is carefully measured by GPS and the time taken by the bird to return is measured using one of the two acceptable timing methods. Here's a picture of an old-style timer.

So, I can imagine how the racing is interesting and fun, and that it's gratifying to be part of a worldwide community etc, etc. Sure. But at the end of the day, when you have rats living in your attic (and I spoke to witnesses who say it STINKS), you gotta ask yourself if maybe you should get another hobby. Or at least locate them in an outbuilding!

So the pigeon racing isn't actually a German culture surprise, exactly, since they do it all over the world, but I heard of it here first. And in Canada, they sure wouldn't be living in your attic.
Oh, Germany! What will you think of next?

Happy Canada Day!!

We just had a Canada Day party last night, with almost 20 German friends here, sporting red and white clothes and even a Vancouver Canucks T-shirt. Marc had made a Canadian music playlist, so we were grooving to Great Big Sea, Barenaked Ladies, Bryan Adams (well-known in Germany!), and even a little Shania. I had posted info around the room and then asked questions about Canada and we had prizes for correct answers. The buttons and tatoos were big hits. I had baked (cherry cheesecake like a Canadian flag, maple butter, maple syrup pie, red berry pie and a taco salad, along with other red and white food) and decorated up a storm. Lia thought it was as good as Christmas (and all the more exciting since it seemed to come completely out of the blue, though I had been planning for a while) since she even got gifts from people, and I sent maple leaf cookies for all the kids at kindergarten. We were even more patriotic than in Canada. Germans don't really get patriotic...culturally nationalism is a bad word here, given their history. But they really have a lot to be proud of. And so does Canada! Herzlichen Gluckwunsch, Kanada!

Fun times!

The past little while has been quite busy. We haven't been blogging because it's been nonstop, and because our blog is about our time in Germany, and well, we weren't here! Maybe we'll write about it, but that'll be later. For now, back to the German adventures...

So I have this friend. She's very fun, and is always thinking of interesting things to do. For my birthday, she gave me a girls night out- tickets to what she called an adult circus (for lack of a better description). I was thinking that it wasn't my thing, exactly, but we're kind of "when in Rome"-ing it these days, so I went. It turned out to be a pretty amazing variety show, even in German. Skills like that are translingual.

This variety show puts on a new show every two to three months, featuring acrobats, jugglers, dancers, singers, illusionists and comedy. It's in a tent (seating 300 and serving food and drinks). Totally fun!

EXTRASCHICHT! (http://www.extraschicht.de/)
A night of excitement. A night of discovery. A night of industry and technology?? Once again, I had to trust my friend, and just go along with her, even though it didn't sound very exciting. On the drive to our first location, I was able to read up on it, and it started to sound much better...
"Once a year the Metropolitan Ruhr District celebrates a colorful cultural festival: For one night only, former industrial plants are turned into unforgettable stages for performances by international artists. More than 160,000 visitors will embark on an exciting journey of discovery and be treated to an impressive taste of what the European Capital of Culture 2010 will offer. "

So we started out with some food - always a good start, although I have to say I was a little disappointed since that was definitely not the focus of the evening (like, there were pretzels, sausage and cake - that's it...), and I really like food.
But, we saw some cool jugglers, had great conversation, got caught in the rain, took a boat ride, ate some birthday cake, saw some art, a physics show, and odd exhibits (like these two guys on exercise bikes connected to record players and film strips. An interesting sound/light/motion experiement. Turns out it's very hard to pedal consistently, although I'm not sure they were trying to. Neat effect.). I was introduced to Brause - a candy(?) that all German kids love. (learn more: http://www.todocandy.com/fizzy-sour-candy-ahoj-brause.php) Myself, not a fan, though it was an experience. Kinda fizzy, but mostly foamy. And quite medicinal.

They had these cool light balloons all along the river which added to the festive spirit. And all the industrial buildings were lit up in various fun and interesting ways. The finale of our evening was a Waterworks show (like fireworks, though with water fountains), set to music by 4 avant-garde violinists. Very cool. It was inspiring to see this area (very industrial, blue collar) embracing its roots, and combining that with art in a way that was totally exciting and inspiring. Awesome!

Ja hoo!

The past few days have been personally satisfying and Germanly encouraging for me.
Today I took both girls swimming. The event started and ended with some tears (not mine, thankfully!), featured pee on the floor, and a dirty swim diaper, but on the whole it was a raging success. We swam outside, played in the kids' pool, sat in a warm tub and had a tonne of fun.
Yesterday I went to a flea market (ALWAYS exciting) with my friend, and despite the rain, found a few items for my new nephew who will be joining the world in August. Yay! Then Kaia and I headed to the dentist since she had a little fall that resulted in a pushed-in tooth. Everything seems fine for now. The visit was encouraging for me since the dentist didn't speak English. I filled out the form, booked new appointments for Lia and Kaia and spoke with the dentist and receptionist all in German. Let's just hope I understood as much as I think I did!
After picking up Lia at Kindergarten, the three girls went shopping with a few goals, one of which was to get haircuts. Despite some major fussiness BOTH Lia and I got our hair cut. (Wow!) The girls were angelic while they waited for me, and I spoke German to the hairdresser. I even explained "hockey hair" to her in order to illustrate why I wanted the back trimmed a little shorter.
So I feel that I've turned another corner on the language front. Although it's always difficult, and I get impatient, I'm pretty encouraged, too. And Lia is always willing to translate for me! :)

Those Were the Days

Fire day
As we drove back from spending Easter weekend in Maastricht, we passed hundreds (literally) of bonfires in fields and backyards. We thought this was a little odd, but it turns out that in Germany on the Saturday night before Easter, that's what you do - burn stuff. Happy Fire Day!













Pillow Fight Day
During a recent visit to Cologne (April 4th), we noticed the air was becoming increasingly filled with little fluffs (which we assumed came from trees or flowers). Walking back towards the Cathedral, we noticed more and more feathers on the ground and in the air (and in our lungs). And then, in the plaza in front of the cathedral, we saw hundreds of people engaged in a giant pillow-fight, ankle-deep in feathers and goose down from exploded pillows (and a few synthetic-filled pillows). City clean-up crews were standing at the sidelines, waiting for their turn to move in and start to clean up the mess.
Happy Pillow Fight Day! (www.pillowfightday.com)

Maastricht and Valkenburg

Marc here (I love ice cream).




















Karla and I got a chance to get away for 2 days while my parents were visiting. We drove 1.5hrs to Maastricht, and spent our time at a spa hotel in Valkenburg. The weather was beautiful (20~23 degrees and blue skies/sunny) and Maastricht is a beautiful, diverse city. It's in the Netherlands technically, but it's surrounded by Belgium and Germany.
We ate ice cream, shopped a cool flea market (and bought some antiques that made Karla's day), dodged bicycles in cobbledstones pedestrian areas, enjoyed the river Maas, and the usual 12th century Romanesque Basilica that you find in all nice European towns :)






















Valkenburg is mostly known for some castle ruins "the only castle in the Netherlands that's built on a hill", according to the tourist information. It turns out that it's also the only hill in the Netherlands :)

Underneath the castle hill, there is 800 years of limestone quarrying history (to build the castle and surrounding village). The resulting caves became a kind of tourist attraction in the 1800s, and were decorated with a whole series of carvings - they have also housed clergy escaping persecution in the 1700s, and more recently over 600 villagers for 6 days during the liberation of Valkenburg in 1945. There is graffiti spanning hundreds of years, including a series of profiles of American soldiers (and signatures, rank, and home city info). On a sad note, in 1993, two boys got into the caves somehow (they've tried to lock down every entrance), and were unable to find their way out :(
In one section of the caves, you can see where the limestone quarry intersected a well from the castle above - it's amazing to see how deep inside the hill you are you actually standing, when you look up the well shaft (and then down, even further). Good times!

Fear and Loathing in Das Spielplatz

Going to the Spielplatz gives rise to some surprising and contradictory feelings in me. First there's the fear and loathing (surprising) and then also contentedness and dread (contradictory).
So the contentedness comes in as I take in the beautiful sunny day, realizing I'm taking my children on an outing that is good for them and that they enjoy, but then, I dread the boredom of standing in the sweltering sun, chasing kids from one either dangerous or boring piece of equipment to the next. And also, sand in my shoes, and the walk home with whiny kids.
The fear and loathing is tied to the language/cultural barrier I experience on a daily basis, but even more acutely at the playground. I realized today that I find it necessary, (and helpful) to repeat silently, "I do not have the plague, I do not have the plague, I do NOT have the plague!" as I circulate at the Spielplatz. As much as I have learned in these few months of twice weekly language classes, I still can't converse with someone who doesn't have significant patience and/or an English education of some sort.* Strangers are, by definition, unknown, and as such, are generally out. So I stand in silence, smiling a LOT. I see Moms from the Kindergarten, but we don't do any more than smile since communicating is so difficult. I am hesitant to talk even with my own kids in English lest I give away my un-German-ness to those who don't know me already as "The Canadian" (as if the grinning idiot schtick didn't tip them off that I am "different").
By the time we arrive the benches are full, so I lurk by the tree, trying to keep sight of both girls. Or else I follow them around, hoping they don't meet a friend and make me go back to my tree. No really, when they meet a friend, I'm thrilled - they're integrating! They're having fun! That's good!
My ever-watchful gaze lands on some little boys and girls with big sticks, whipping them in the air, millimetres from each others' eyes. An attacked boy retreats to a bush where he yells loudly at the bigger boy, clearly distraught by his near blinding. And no one intervenes. Where are their parents? Should I step in? Perform a rescue? But who to save, as the hunted becomes the hunter.
Truth is, playground etiquette confuses me in my own land, never mind in another culture. At least this playground is fun, and not too dangerous. High platforms, huge gaps between stairs, loads of moving parts. What could go wrong?


*Note: Most Germans have had English in high school, but apparently the classes are very boring and stressful without much speaking practice. They tense up immediately upon realizing that I speak "nur ein bisschen Deutsch".

Die Neue Spielplatz!

We have a new playground! (Spielplatz).
Over the past week, the old decrepit equipment at our local playground disappeared. The only clue that something good was going to happen was that 2 new benches were installed. But now, just in time for our first full sunny weekend since the fall, a whole bunch of new playground stuff was installed! The whole neighbourhood was out in force, watching their kids play on the new stuff. It was really fun, because it`s been a very grey couple of months, and now it`s sunny and everyone is out and about.
We know many of the parents and kids because they also attend our neighbourhood Kindergarten - so that just adds to the feeling of community.

This past week, Lia had to take a standardized German langugage test (every pre-school kid needs to take it) and she passed with flying colours (better than some of the native German-speaking kids - can you tell that we`re proud? :)

Emergency Preparedness 101

You never really expect that you'll see someone's fingernail pulled out (unless you watch the show 24 a lot), much less your own child's. But that's what happened this weekend. Poor Kaia got a heavy wood lid slammed on her hands. The resulting injury didn't actually break any of her fingers (although they didn't look too good), but the middle finger of her left hand was hurt the most: Kaia's fingernail was ripped right out (!)

Yes, it was as graphic and terrible as you could imagine. We got Kaia to the hospital to have her finger bandaged and X-rayed (and to update her tetanus shot), but before we got there, things were a bit crazy. Every piece of gauze and tape in our first aid kit is designed for grown-ups - so bandaging a tiny, tiny hand (while the child is flipping out) was a big challenge. It also turns out that opening bandaids while you`re shaking is way harder than it should be!
The German health care system has been awesome (as usual). Kaia was seen and treated within 10 minutes in the ER (although getting the X-ray took longer because it was lunch time). We've been to a pediatrician once already to rebandage everything, and we have several more appointments booked.
Kaia is holding up very well and didn't need any painkillers after the first 12 hours or so. It's hard on her parents though... :)

Helau! It's Karneval!

It's Karneval time! (or was, when this post was written)

A little background...
Apparently Karneval developed in this area really strongly because it was a way to express subversive anti-Prussian and anti-French thoughts in times of occupation, through parody and mockery. Cologne and Dusseldorf are the epi-center of Karneval happenings - and you either love it or hate it.
Basically, it runs from the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, to Ash Wednesday itself. On different days, there are different emphases - like on Altweiber, women cut off men's ties. Then there's the carnival fools take over city hall literally. Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), most businesses are closed and there are parades and more tomfoolery (read: public drunkeness before lunch). In Bochum, there is even a special Goose-riding club that puts on a crazy event where horseback riders try to catch a greased goose. Cultural idiosyncrasies are tough to translate at the best of times, so yes, it is as weird as it sounds :)

So far, for us, all we know is that Lia gets to dress up (like a Princess, of course!) for 4 days, and she's pretty excited. I put a little bit of blush and lip gloss on her this morning, and she just looked at me adoringly and said, "Mommy, I love you!" I melted. She was very solemn as she danced to crazy polka music at the kindergarten. Funny.

We didn't participate in too many other Karneval events, but we did do the Rosenmontag parade (walking distance from our house) - and our kids both collected more candy than they'll be allowed to eat in a year!

Just an ordinary day

So, we've been a little quiet lately. Nothing much going on, is all.
Except for another WWII bomb finding which closed the main street near our house for a bit.
And there was that time when Marc had a business trip to Paris for the day, and I locked myself (and the kids) out of the house...at least I didn't lock a child in the house! We took refuge at the neighbours'.
Normally, things aren't that exciting. Marc goes to work, I go shopping (easy come, easy go?) I go to the gym (I'm really getting into the Step class - which is called Step Intro, but I feel like I've jumped into the deep end - I'm mixing metaphors, but you know what I mean !), I learn German, I play with Kaia, and I pick Lia up from Kindergarten. And feeding the kids seems to be a full-time occupation these days. Picky!! However, they both enjoy my meatloaf, and I can sneak lots of vegetables into it, so Kaia's eating pretty much nothing but. She also LOVES cashews and Cornflakes. And Bologna (I found some nitrate-free lunch meat, so I'm not feeling so guilty anymore! Yay!). Lia likes waffles, bread with cream cheese, peanut butter and Nutella, Tzaziki and peppers. And Special K - but not Canadian Special K, German Special K. There is a huge difference. Seriously. And I have to agree with her.

Here's Kaia enjoying her indoor sandbox (featuring Love Rice imported from Canada - it's a long story - thanks Dad!)















I'm also taking steps toward starting an English language conversation class which is very exciting! I can't wait to start teaching again.

Oh, and I had my first massage since leaving Canada. It was awesome.

A headache recently has been the lice outbreak at the kindergarten. That's been an ongoing situation for a month now. We do 2 hairchecks a day - and this on a child who doesn't stand for any amount of hairbrushing by the gentlest person with the gentlest brush on the gentlest day of year. We've washed everything we own at 60 degrees several times (some things are smaller, and white things are darker) and are living with no cushions, throws or rugs anywhere. We haven't really "gotten" lice, but there have been a few visitors from other kids at the kindergarten. So we are making it as inhospitable as possible. Lice, begone!

We have a card which gives discounts at various attractions in the area, so it's encouraging us to get out on the weekends, even in these frigid temperatures. -3 is REALLY cold! We went to Sealife and parked in the designated parking lot which is so incredibly far from Sealife itself, it's hilarious, and there was a fairly brutal wind. Add to that the ridulously long ramp (I guess it was a pretty steep incline, and there must be some very conservative German rules about the slope of a ramp for wheelchairs, because while Lia and Marc managed the stairs in about 30 seconds, Kaia and I zigged and zagged down that ramp for nearly 30 minutes, it seemed. Back and forth, back and forth...) and then being unable to find Sealife for quite a while (we were thinking that had we been on the Amazing Race, they would have shown us looking really foolish and lost, and then a closeup of the sign clearly indicating our destination which we just passed several times) we were REALLY glad to get there. The kids loved it, and we got some funny photos:




















Another Saturday we took the kids to a local pool/sauna complex, and then returned by ourselves for Valentine's Day - very relaxing and fun. They have a wave pool, a smaller pool with slides for the kids (which Kaia loved, and I was so relieved since she HATED it the first time I took her swimming), a work-out room, a warm indoor pool, a cool outdoor pool and two warm outdoor pools that have a very high salt content. And they have a huge sauna area which is pretty spectacular with many flavours and styles of saunas, as well as a steam room. Great fun for the whole family.

Lia and Kaia celebrated their half-birthdays with peach pie and a Mary Poppins DVD. They are growing by leaps and bounds, becoming more and more independent and funny. And cute. And sweet. I love them dearly, and they make even the most ordinary day something spectacular.

Amsterd&#% !

We've just returned from Canada...what a trip!

At the outset, we were a little nervous about the flight. Kaia seemed to be teething. We loaded up and went to get Lia from Kindergarten with lots of time to get to the airport. Lia came to the car sobbing because she had bit Marc, and when he yelled, she was scared and sad. And maybe sorry. Maybe.
A block into our journey, I felt a cold and wet sensation and discovered that I had forgotten to put the valve in Lia's milk which was in the backpack on my lap. We had to return home and clean out the whole bag - it had leaked on all the food we brought, and there was a lot! But our neighbour saw my plight and helped, which was great.
So, a good trip until...our Dusseldorf to Amsterdam plane had a mechanical problem which caused a 3 hour delay and we missed the plane to Toronto. The only option was to overnight in Amsterdam (with no luggage, which remained in the system), and take a flight to Toronto via Paris early the next morning. We slept for 7 hours in Amsterdam (having been in airports for the previous 7 hours, and having only managed to travel 300kms), and got up early the next morning to fly to Paris which made no progress, but took quite a lot of time. And then we almost missed the flight from Paris to Toronto, since the connection was so short. After security, Marc scooped up both girls, and I grabbed all our stuff, and we took off running. I suggested that Marc not run over the nuns, and he missed them narrowly. As he was huffing and puffing along, Lia started rubbing his chest and said, "This is hard, eh, Daddy? It's hard. But it's okay. It'll be okay. It'll be okay, Daddy." And it was, kinda.
We arrived in Toronto 18 hours late, but we were glad to just collect our bags and head to our family and friends so we could -- what? No luggage? Upon making this discovery, we were a little ... crestfallen. And we spent the next several hours making a luggage claim, renting our car (and a carseat, since it had been checked, along with our stroller and bags containing clothes and Christmas presents), and making many trips to the potty. But at last we were on the road in our shiny red, massive SUV (Welcome to North America!) which would have been really handy if we had had all our gear!
I made a 2am (Germany time) trip to Zellers to get our 'first needs' (hopefully covered by KLM) with my wonderful sister who kept me on task and made the decision making and purchase process a joy. Or something as reasonably close to a joy as one could expect. It was very nice to be together.

So we had a very busy whirlwindy two weeks,visiting, celebrating Christmas for the 3rd time, welcoming our first nephew, Luke (VERY sweet), and somewhere in there, Marc worked fulltime! I really enjoyed singing in the Praise Team on Sunday. I miss that so much! It was wonderful to see family and friends and just be together. We visited our favourite restaurants, and had many great conversations. Lia and I even got to make a snowman together.














Our luggage came, one piece at a time, usually at midnight, right before we needed it. Marc got his work clothes Sunday night, and we got the Christmas presents right before heading to my sister's for "Christmas". God continues to teach me the importance of doing everything in love and the unimportance of stuff. In fact, a dependence on stuff can be quite inconvenient!
Right before we left, we were hit with some illness...imagine a house with 6 children and 4 adults. All children and at least one adult throwing up...somehow it wasn't so bad. Although I was really nauseous for the entire flight home, and Kaia vomited upon landing in Amsterdam. Marc sat between the kids and did a fantastic job. The people behind him said, "Good parents!", but they were talking to him! (We did get our luggage this time, by the way! We were pleasantly surprised.)

It's nice to be in Germany. Feels familiar and home-like. And it's nice to be done traveling. We're quite tired of loading/unloading the stroller to get past security checks, planing/deplaning, and going through revolving doors that aren't designed for strollers. Maybe we'll never travel again...
Ah, who am I kidding? But only direct flights from now on. That is our new rule and our advice for anyone traveling with children.

Here are some random photos of our adventures in Canada...

The snow finds us

Last week we decided that we needed to have some snow this winter. Never mind that we're visiting Canada in January in the snowiest snowful winter ever. So with our neighbours we drove a few hours north and went schlittenfahren. Fun time had by all. Except the kids. We should have maybe more paid attention to the fact that ALL the families returning to their cars included multiple children bawling their eyes out. I made a mental note not to stay THAT long, and set forth.
Every trip to the bottom of the hill was met with, "Noch mal! Do it again!" Lia had a blast. We didn't stay that long, we really didn't. And yet, all 4 kids were crying as we returned to our cars. We had a lovely time at a bakery to warm up, then drove 3 hours in a snowstorm to get home again. Yes, the snowstorm lasted for the duration of our drive. Yes, that means the snow came with us. First time since 1997, there is snow in the Ruhrgebiet.

Here are some shots of our adventure.