For Sad Piggies :)

I have to run right now to make lunch for the kids and Bea. Just went for a bike ride through the farm fields and that was beautiful. In one hour we leave for the kids swim classes and then go straight to Miriam's house (Bea's pregnant sister - due next week) for her son Samuel's birthday party. I didnt get a picture of Daniel as the "BAD MAN" yesterday during Simi's party but it was amazing! We will recostume today and then take a pic so you can see what it was like! :) Daniel looks great in a pair of dark sunglasses and dressed in black! It was so exhausting throwing that birthday party. We were up at 6 something with 5 hours rest, prepared all morning by cleaning, frosting cupcakes, decorating, all while taking kids too and from the last day of school, oh, and having a mini "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" celebration with presents at breakfast, then entertained 10 munchkins for 3 hours (felt like forever), and finished with a family gathering until 8 pm. Daniel and I fell in our bed at 9 and we were almost too exhausted to change into PJs and brush teeth. Again, I didnt wake up until 9am! Not loving that, but apparently needing it. Woke up with my periauricular sinuses (???the ones around my ears) feeling full again, and throats a little scratchy. Wondering if it is more sickness or just flushing of bonfire smoke from my system. Anyway, will post more later! I promise!

Elia Sagt, "Al-erna & Dal-el" (Marlayna & Daniel)

Carrots & Coffee, Ferrari's, and an Old Church

So, I was about to blog that Daniel wasn't home yet from "job hunting" and it was 8:30pm. He left at 2:00 this afternoon. I figured he'd either accidentally gotten lost, accidentally done something illegal and gotten into trouble (because we are still learning a new laws here every now and again), or been very successful with his search. Fortunately, it was the latter of the three. He said he went to one location to apply, couldn't seem to find it, but instead landed in front of a Ferrari & Maserati Dealership. He was like a ray of sunshine bouncing up to the door tonight with this good news. Apparently, he felt this event was divinely inspired and, therefore, he had no hesitations about going inside to inquire about work there. It went really well, they gave him a tour of the shop, told him that their car detailer who usually works there is out, and that they would consider using him as a replacement. The owner said that tonight he would be happy to discuss it with his partner and get back to Daniel. I hope Daniel will blog more for you on his search for work here. :)

Yesterday we went into Hannover to check out the Altstadt (old part of the city)and to see a small festival going on in the town. Our camera was dead so I dont have any pictures taken by us personally to blog for you. But these will do just fine. :) This is the church from the original part of Hannover before it was destroyed. Parts of it are still completely black from soot and being burned. This first picture is of what it looked like when the roof was gone.

For dinner we were geeked to find this super cool Bio-vegetarisch (Organic & Vegetarian) cafe open so late on a Sunday. We had been eyeballing it for a week or so but not had a chance to stop in. I was feeling rather hot emotionally and I was super happy when I found they had special Ayurvedic teas that I could try - Pitta, please. :) I bought a box. I wish I could have taken pictures for you because this cafe is in the prettiest part of town (this is where i would live). Suprisingly there are quite a few trees, cobblestone roads, tiny shops, and this adorable cafe. Its bright, cheery, and the mother-daughter couple who own it are very friendly. Apparently they also teach cooking classes from their resturant. This midget picture does not do it justice. I felt very much at ease there. It was calming. A really warm environment. Daniel had a homemade vegan burger with a housemade mustard, horseradish sauce and small salad - delish, but not sure what the dressing was - vegan of course. Mine was a smoked tofu sandwhich on wholegrain brotchen (mini bread roll), with arugula, and a little meaux mustard. Daniel had a vegan amaranth, millet, ?#?, raisin cookie for desert. I wanted a small date/almond tiny truffle-ball like desert but they were actually out. It was a very nice place. :)

This is the type of buildings this place is in but this picture is rather dark and does not give you a good idea of the feeling it evokes when you are in this section of town. I hope to take more for you so that I can share what I love about it. Or, you could just come visit and give me another excuse to go to Carrots & Coffee? :)

Frohe VatersTag

My Father, My Hero

Dad, you're my hero in so many ways,
And I am so grateful to you.
I have such respect for the man that you are,
And the many wonderful things that you do.

You have a heart "as big as an ocean,"
A "soft side" just for your daughter to know.
All of your life you worked for your family,
You taught me and helped me to grow.

You were the man I knew I could lean on,
Someone I trusted to be my life's guide.
The father who gave me his love and affection,
And who has always remained by my side.

All of my life, Dad, I will be thankful,
That I had a father so true.
I have never had to search for a hero,
Because the hero in my life is you.

A Calm Saturday

Today Daniel, his new friend Markus and Cord will all be going to an American car show near the town of Celle (see the last blog). I, on the other hand, will ride my bike through the small town of Resse, try a new recipe to make a mashed cauliflour dish, and hopefully make it IKEA to return some lamps and buy more candles. PS. if you haven't been to IKEA lately, they have an amazing apple/cinnamon/spiced-cider candle :). It masks the smell of kitties in our house (if you know what I mean.)

These arent pictures I actually took but we have plent of fields of bright red and orange poppies growing here. :) Quite uplifting to look at.





I had never seen a "Lion" until I came to Germany. I found this little one running around the backyard, so cute and confused. Its a hedgehog but when I asked Cord what it was he quickly turned to me, straight face, NEVER SKIPPED A BEAT, and said, "its a lion. Be careful, they are very dangerous". I have to say, this was in the first week we were here and just beginning to get used to hearing the German language spoken, and I wasnt even looking him in the face when he said it, but I really thought, "a lion? Did he really say a lion? Was that German or English? A lion? Thats funny, because we have the same word in English but it refers to something totally different!" Of course, it really only took me about 2.5 seconds to buy into it and then totally burst out laughing because he actually told his first joke in English and I fell for it completely!

A Night in Celle...

Celle is an old town one hour from Resse (where we are living). When we found out they were having a little festival we decided to visit and see what that was like. These are some of the photos and videos from our adventures after spending the day in Hannover. You are going to laugh when you see the video of the old folks playing very German music in the town square around lots of beer stands. Very much your stereotypical idea of Germans. I laughed while filming it, telling Daniel you would all get a kick out of the video, and feeling funny while the townspeople around me watched as I acted very much like a tourist!

This is from our drive there. In between every city & village are beautiful farms, fields and woods. These were a few wind turbines we passed along the way.


The woods. Daniel said it looked like Florida forests.



In the city center was a very long oval shaped park. It was beautifully manicured and had plenty of flowers and small streams. A nice backdrop to the cobblestone streets and old buildings.



A building I thought you might like.



This is in the very middle of the city. There are no trees here. Just old old Fachwerkhaeuser.




Trying to find our way...


Looking very intellectual in front of the Bibliothek.


Finding our way...and laughing at what we find.



This building was built in 1534. Check the next photo.





Pretty flowers.



Beautiful lampposts.



A flower shop.



I thought this basketweavers stand was super cool. Look at his demo/display of how he makes his baskets!



A band on a bicycle.



A young boy watching one of the street bands.



Daniel said he used to love the "tall man at the circus," so I took a picture for him.

I am going to post this, but please come back to see the video that i took. I will update this blog in about 45 min.

Nutella

For breakfast I had Nutella, for mid-morning snack I had Nutella with Gummi's, for lunch I had an Expresso with Nutella mixed in and a side of toast (with Nutella spread on it THICK)...then I downed a few Gummies. Then I snuck a few more Gummies. Then for dinner I had more toast with Nutella, and had a few Gummies for dessert....then ran over to our cottage and had another spoonful of Nutella while Marlayna was cleaning. Then I went for a bike ride and when I got back I had to scrape the Nutella jar because Marlayna finished off the rest )c:

I like Nutella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mmmmm-mmmmm good!

-Daniel

Downtown Hannover

Saturday Daniel and I went to Hannover. It was our second time taking the car to venture onto the autobahn and try to arrive at a special destination. The first time was to go grocery shopping at a store called REAL ("Ray-all") which is just like a giant walmart. It's in a city 25 minutes from here called Altwarmbuchen and it definitely took us about an hour+ to make it there! Frust-rat-ing!!!! Anyway, we made it to Hannover fine, but we had trouble with the parking garage. You pull in and get a plastic coin from the machine, and when you walk up the stairs there is another machine where you are supposed to put your coin when you leave to pay. Well, we didnt understand at the time, because we werent sure if we were supposed to cash in our coin to get a ticket with an arrival time written on it before we went shopping or...something else. Well, we made that exact mistake and paid 1€ for 7 minutes of standing around conversing about what we should do with said coin. Then we took the ticket upstairs to a kind gentleman who didnt speak any english and was working the desk and tried to explain to him our confusion...in broken english/german. He must have pittied us because he was very patient and tried to explain to me what I should have done (but I couldnt understand) and eventually he gave up, ran in the back room, grabbed a red coin, gave it to me, smiled and waved me away. WE WERE STILL CONFUSED. Frustrated, we walked away and decided we didnt care anymore and we were going shopping. We had a great time, saw some funny people, and I bought some new leggings and a small magnifying mirror for putting on makeup. When we came back to the garage we were so excited to find that our red coin let us park for FREE. :) Sometimes being a confused foreigner has its bonuses...although its extremely exhausting before you get them.

On our way there...

Daniel looking like a tourist. :) He says he's going to attack me for saying that.

Shopping!

Lots of great shopping along the two sides of this street and also underground.

Pretty apartments.

Hil-ar-e-ous! A beer bike! A swarm of men jumped up on these seats as soon as this bike pulled up in front of the train station/shopping center.

Bicycle taxi & the "hauptbahnhof" = Main train station.