Those of you who know me well know that I drink pink lemonade (or regular to spice things up) almost constantly. When I really wanted something special I would drive to my local Starbucks or Caribou and have myself a Tall Carmel Hot Apple Cider (aka Hot Apple Spice) with whip topping. Much to my horror I learned that these items are not available in Germany. At all. They are, like Fig Newtons and Fritos and Canned Cream Soups - a good 3500 miles away. For me this continues to be a serious beverage crisis. My current substitute of Coke (Pepsi is findable but not popular) is probably not so healthy. But really, drinking bubble-enhanced water is just not refreshing. Everyone here drinks flavorless carbonated water. I do not claim to understand.
Yesterday I forced Kevin to take vacation and have a family day. I had warned him that there would be happiness and joy and bonding, all day. This was tough to do as Eli is still recovering from his sickness and is not the sweetest of boys. We did manage to get to the toy store, which was fun, and found a Christmas Tree. Christmas, by the way, is December 24th and is called Weihnachs (Holy Night). It is followed by the 2nd and 3rd days of Christmas - three holidays.
So we went to the one place that has trees - like a Home Depot - and were the only people buying one. The folks around here don't sell or buy trees til one week before Christmas. Kevin's coworkers say the tree will die and think we are crazy Americans. But I think we figured it out - their tree stands are not made to hold water - they just hold the tree. So it looks great - I'll include a pic soon.
And today - the 6th - is St. Nicholas Day. Tradition has it that children put their shoes outside their doors the evening before and St. Nicholas will give them some treats and small toys if they've been good - or beat them with a switch if they've been bad. Germans of our generation say the 'bad kid' part of the story is not so popular anymore and gets left out of the story. Eli put out his shoes last night. We decided to blame his attitude on being sick and let him have his little treats. Besides, he had already gotten a taste of the switch last night during an incident at bath time. Mary got nothing - it's tough being a baby.
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Four Flikkemas adventuring through Europe from our temporary homebase in Germany.
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"SURE, WE'LL MOVE TO GERMANY. WHY NOT?"
While the decision remains the same, the actual experience of relocating to a foreign country is far more difficult and complex than that answer, made quickly and long ago. We imagined, but are only now beginning to know, the obstacles moving overseas brings (language, culture, assets/finances, and relationships to name a few). We've already seen confirmation that we are on a path of God's choosing and look forward to the challenges, adventures and blessings that await when we follow His lead. This is our ongoing story - from now until 2010!
1 comment:
Carbonated water, that just sounds nasty. So they don't have pink lemonade at all? Could you find non-carbonated water, lemons, sugar, and a dash of raspberries for color or something?
I had never heard St. Nicholas Day until last night. One of my Jr. High students was really excited about it last night because she was looking forward to what she would find in her stocking the next morning. She said that she is German and St. Nicholas Day was one of the traditions that stuck in her family.
Later,
Barry
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