Our Christmas Tree

We bought our Christmas tree last weekend when we rented a car. It's smaller and scrawnier than the usual trees we get each year, but it turned out lovely. When we last lived in Germany 14 years ago, we never had a Christmas tree, so this time around I purposely brought many of our decorations, though I left the lights and the Christmas tree stand at home. So that meant that we had to buy new lights and a new stand here in Germany. Well, as I said in one of my last posts, Germans definitely know how to do Christmas, but I never knew about their fantastically efficient Christmas tree stands. Totally different than what I've seen in the States. There, we have mostly plastic stands with four screws that you have to basically screw into the trunk of your tree while the other person is holding it up straight. It usually takes a few attempts to get it right and maybe you have to do a bit of chopping with the hacksaw. Well, my friends, not with a German stand, the one we bought is simply ingenious. You place the tree in the stand. There are four bars, instead of screws, all connected by a thick wire. Then, using a foot pedal, you push down on it and it tightens the wires and draws the four support bars tight against the tree at an equal tightness so that the tree stands up straight on the first go. I was amazed. It took two minutes to get our tree in the stand and tightened. We were decorating before we knew it. Hats off to whoever invented this handy little tree stand. I can tell you one thing, it's coming back home with us when we leave.

The Waldbuehne Christmas Market

Two weeks ago, I went with a few ladies from work to the most unusual Christkindl market I've ever been to: the Waldbuehne in Haslbach (http://www.waldbuehne-halsbach.de/waldweihnacht.html) a Christmas market held in the forest. We went in the evening after work and it was just so atmospheric. There are several loop paths through the woods lit with Christmas lights and torches and flanked on either side with all kinds of arts, crafts, and food booths.

As it was my first market of the season, was in 7th heaven. I took a few minutes to soak in that Christmas aroma and then made a beeline for the Teehuette (tea hut) for Gluehwein to get in the shopping mood. The market wasn't very crowded because we went on a Tuesday night, but there was a definite buzz in the air, people just enjoying the festive mood and atmosphere, that mug of Gluehwein gives you that warm glow and certainly loosens the purse strings. After a bit of shopping, the ladies and I had more Gluehwein and a brat to go with it.

Ahh, this is the life, this is the way Christmas shopping should be. Shopping, eating and drinking, and more shopping. I liked this market too because arts and crafts were really reasonably priced, not like in the larger cities.

We also made friends with one of the arts and crafts ladies, she was from Minsk and after a few minutes of conversation, she asked if any of us were single, when my friend Deborah
answered yes, she then asked for Deborah's blood type. I did a double-take on
that question. Well, it turns out she was shopping around a bit for a lady friend for her grandson and believes that your luck in love and your health are dictated by your blood type. Apparently if you get two people with the wrong blood type combination, it will all go wrong. Hmm, something to think about.

Well, it was a very successful first Christmas market outing! More please.

The Aroma of the German Christmas Market

I love the Christmas season, but for the last twelve years in the US, I've truly missed the German Christkindlmarkt or Christmas market. Simply said, nobody does Christmas and Christmas markets likethe Germans! Why? I'm not quite sure, but for me it has to do with aroma, one
that you can find only in Germany. It's a sweet and savory aroma consisting of bratwurstl grilling, steaming hot Gluehwein or mulled wine, and roasting chestnuts and almonds, Lebkuchen (ginger bread) and a few other ingredients, such as cheese or dried meats. Whatever it is, it is the definitive smell of Christmas and you just can't reproduce it anywhere else. The other
thing about the markets is the buzz of happy shoppers and market people, everyone is happy. I'm sure it's the Gluehwein. While our hometown of Bellingham has a lovely farmer's market that becomes a Christmas market in December and several other fine arts and crafts markets, somehow it just isn't the same without that Christmas aroma from Germany. Too bad it can't be bottled or turned into a Potpourri. I'd pay good money for it. The closest I'll get is a winter bbq on the back deck with a vat of Gluehwein. Hmm, maybe that's a new tradition to start when we're back stateside. Any takers?

Living above Hell

Several of you on FB
have asked for photos of where we live. As I've maybe mentioned, we live on the
fourth floor of a small apartment building on the main street in Burghausen. On
the first floor is a woman's department store called Mode Hell. This could be
understood to mean "fashion hell," but Hell in German means light or
bright. For example, ein Helles is a lager (light) beer. Anyway, James likes to
say we are living above Hell, but after our last apartment, it feels like
heaven. At the moment, it is definitely "hell" with all the bright Christmas lights strung up on the main street, which we can see from the
balcony in Ronan's room. The apartment couldn't be more convenient. The train
station is just down the street and there is a shopping center almost next
door, though we don't know for how long because it is supposedly going to be
torn down next year and a brand one built. I have to say, the current one is
pretty ugly and a new modern one wouldn't be a bad thing. So we may be living
next door to a construction site again soon. But we will enjoy our time here
while we can. One other unexpected benefit of being on the fourth floor is that
we get a pretty good view of the Alps and some pretty nice sunsets.

My company bike

I may have mentioned that the company provided me with a bicycle. In fact, there are thousands of company bicycles that roam the plant's roads and bicycle paths. We even have bike sheds and a bicycle repair shop on site. I think the local bike shop down the road does a roaring trade providing and repairing company bikes. Yes, Germany is a bike-friendly country and that is one of the things I really appreciate about it. Haven't figured out yet how to best get miles on my road bike, cause the roads don't have any shoulder for fast road riding, so gotta stay on the paths. Most of them are paved, but then they sometimes turn to dirt roads, albeit very well maintained dirt roads that you can ride on using a road bike. I've just started spinning classes at the local sports club and hope to find some folks to ride with in the spring. Mountain biking seems to be really big here, so I may have to break down and purchase one so I can go up into the Alps, but let's get through winter first. It just started snowing tonight, so let the White Christmas begin!

Pancakes and Pillows

I'm going to take inspiration as it comes and go a bit out of sequence, I have lots of catching up to do but wanted to write about today - Black Friday in the US and the kick-off of the Christmas shopping season. But here in the Higgins household, Christmas came early because our shipment finally arrived from the States after two months. Ronan was excited about his toys and couldn't wait to open every single box and bin, and he was especially keen to set up his Lego Castle next to his new Ninjago Lego sets, James was busy unpacking his art supplies and musical instruments. Speaking of which, the moving guys were very confused by the stick attached by a string to the metal bucket, aka the "washtub bass". I had to demonstrate. Anyway, what was I excited about? Pillows and pancakes. Those of you who've experienced German pillows might understand my excitement. While they are not so bad, traditional German pillows are square instead of rectangular in shape and kind of squishy. So if you don't fold them over, half the pillow is wasted, and when you do fold it, it's still kind of squishy and doesn't provide great support. Bedtime reading hasn't been quite as comfortable these last two months and the pillows just haven't been doing it for me. So am looking forward to bed as soon as I finish writing this.

Also, since I was aware that it's almost impossible to find pancake mix in German supermarkets, I included a big bag of it in our shipment, along with other comfort foods from home. So, the one thing I've been looking foward to when our shipment arrives is a pancake breakfast. So you can imagine my disappointment when, while unpacking our boxes, it didn't look like my food boxes had made it through German customs, which generally don't allow food imports. So, as I became increasingly bummed that I was not going to have pancakes breakfast tomorrow morning. And I kept thinking it was silly to be so disappointed about pancake mix, when everything else had arrived intact, like my bike, clothes, shoes, computer, books, etc. Then I opened the last box that was labeled kid stuff and, low and behold, there were my food boxes. Wow, that made my day! So I have to go to bed now so I can wake up for a fantastic pancake breakfast (yes, with maple syrup and bacon, which you can get in Germany). Sometimes, even when you love living in another country, there's just nothing like comfort food from home.

Touching Down in Munich

After years of
talking about it and several months of
planning, James and I, along with our son Ronan, have made it back to Europe.
We moved to
Burghausen, Germany, about 6 weeks ago so I could take a job as an in-house
translator with Wacker Chemie AG, a major German chemicals company based in
southeastern Baviaria. Our journey to Munich involved a one-day layover in
Iceland,
where we rented a car and drove around part of the island for several hours,
weary with jet lag, yet excited to add a new country to our list of places
visited. Iceland was beautiful and bleak and devoid of people, just vast
distances with bleak landscapes. Ronan was so tired that he slept through a lot
of
the drive. The weather was cold and rainy, but still a great day out. We spent
the night in Reykjavik and determined that we definitely didn’t have enough
time and want to go back.
We flew off early in the morning for Munich, arriving
on a gorgeous sunny day at the end of September. Except for my interview, I
hadn’t been back to Germany for 15 years and James hadn’t been back to Europe
for just as long, so it was kind of surreal stepping off the airplane.
As we walked through the terminal, James suddenly erupted in a fit of
hysterical laughter. It took me a few minutes to see what he was laughing at.
Like so many countries, Germany too has banned smoking in public places, thank
goodness, but to accommodate smokers at airports, a "smokers' box"
has been provided. It looks almost like an aquarium with
“Homo Sapien Smoker” on display. Men and women stand around inside this box
puffing
away. As an ex-smoker, James just found it hilarious. Even with the box, the
smell of tobacco hits you like a steam train as you walk through the airport.
Cheapskate smokers could practically avoid smoking their own tobacco by just
entering the box and standing around breathing in the smoky air, they'd almost
achieve the same effect, no cigarette necessary. You'd really have to be hard
up for a smoke to enter the smokers' box. We were both very glad not to be a
smokers anymore, but it’s interesting to see how the Germans are trying to
accommodate both smokers and non-smokers alike. All in all, however, arriving
in Munich felt almost like coming home, it was good to be back.