Der Hund ist Lustig

For a long time Mads resisted using any German words other than 'kartoffel' and 'nein'. But gradually - so gradually - this is changing. I get the feeling that she understands a lot of what is said to her, especially when it's along the lines of 'do you want anything more to eat/drink?' as well as 'wash your hands and let's go outside.' She has also just recently started singing entire songs in German - I think some of the words aren't entirely right (I can't actually tell)- but it's still amazing for me to hear her singing away in another language.

Then this week there has been another big jump: she has started talking to other children in German. There is just a slight issue that what she says doesn't always make a lot of sense. I suspect that sometimes she is quoting lyrics from songs she's learning at kinder. Still, I'm so impressed that she's even trying. Yesterday for instance she bowled up to a small boy and said 'St Nickolas kommt heute Abend!' which was not strictly true but got a very positive response. Then she said 'Der Hund is lustig,' and the boy looked at her blankly, probably because we were in a shop and there were no dogs around, funny or otherwise. I guess it's lucky that she's still at an age where kids do just say random, seemingly non-sensical things. I remember a small kid coming up to me in a park once in Melbourne and saying in a very confidential tone; 'I'm wearing underpants.'
'Good work,' I said. 'So am I.' I mean, what else can you say?

'Tschüss!' said Mads to the boy, as we left the shop. 'Bitte aufräumen!'

Loser State

We seem to have lost Victoria from our Australia puzzle.

For a while I kept spotting it in odd places around the flat and a couple of time thought it was some food-based item squashed onto the floor. I even laughed about what an unattractive shape it is, once removed from its neighbours. It looks like something that accidentally went through the wash in someone's pocket. But this morning I couldn't find Victoria anywhere and I feel bad about it. Like a traitor. If it had been NSW that wouldn't have mattered so much, but to lose your own State, that feels unforgiveable.

It's probably just as well then that the grandparents are arriving on Saturday to give us a top up on all things Victorian.

So, what happens if you leave your boots out on the 6th of December in Hessen? St Nicolaus comes along and fills them up. It's kind of like a early indicator of if you're on track for a good haul of Christmas presents - if you've been good, your boots are filled up with tasty treats. If you've been bad, you get sticks. We did wonder about this, because Mads is quite fond of sticks and we thought she might prefer them. St Nicolaus was onto it though and put in some pretzel sticks in with the lollies. Oh, what a humourous guy he is.

In other thrilling news, today I had my first ever German haircut. I've been putting it off for ages, worried that I might end up with something like this but finally I decided that I had to do it, to hell with the risk. Besides, I figured if it was truly terrible I could just hide it under a hat for the next three months.

So I went to a place around the corner that a friend recommended - no appointment, 12 euros. The most alluring part was that the hair dressers there don't speak any English so I knew I wouldn't have to engage in painful small talk. The result? A twelve euro haircut. Eh. Oh well. It'll do. My favourite part was that at the end I had the option of whether I wanted the hairdresser to dry my hair or if I wanted to dry my own. Of course I went the dry my own option - partly because I always hate the way it looks after it's been 'done' by a hairdresser and also because doing it myself meant I could get the whole process over with even quicker. It didn't lower the price however, which I thought was a little unreasonable.

Laternin Fest

In November there is a German celebration called St Martin's Day where all the small children walk around holding lanterns. St Martin was this guy who was walking through the snow with his lantern one day and came across a man, freezing to death. St Martin took off his coat, ripped it in half and gave half to the man. (I imagine it was a cloak, or some sort of wrappy thing because otherwise surely half a coat would be of minimal use to either man.) So St Martin's day is all about celebrating this gesture (although no one wears ripped up coats I noticed).

I suffered a certain amount of stress when instructed by Mads' kindy teacher that I needed to purchase a 'stick with a light bulb on the end' so Mads could hang her lantern on it. It's a strange thing, searching for something in the shops when really you have no idea what it is exactly that you are looking for. As it turned out I easily recognised the item I was searching for. It was the stick with the small light bulb dangling from the end. That was a relief, but there was further stress when I realised the stick needed batteries - two 'baby batteries' the instructions said. Baby batteries? Never heard of them. I sent Thieu out - he is the battery guy - and he came through with the goods. I'm still not sure why they're called baby batteries though. They weren't even small.

So at 5 pm the following evening Mads and I (Thieu was working) loaded the lantern up onto the stick and joined the other parent/child combos at the kinder. Then we paraded through the backstreets of Langen until coming to a halt outside the local, and rather drab, Langen pizza shop. Then, for some reason that is not clear to me, everyone began to sing a German song to the tune of 'Oh When The Saints Go Marching In.' Maybe we were begging for food? No food was forth-coming, unfortunately, and we all turned and marched back to the kindergarten.

At the kindergarten I bought some soup, a pretzel, some kinder-punsch and a gluhwein and staggered back into the kinder room to find all the chairs were occupied. A man saw me looking around, stood up and carefully lay his coat and umbrella across one of the seats, eyeing me with a look that clearly said 'this is my seat. Rack off.' Then he left the room, presumably to purchase food. So Mads and I stood and somehow managed to balance all the items in my hands without spilling very much at all. 15 minutes later the man returned with no food picked up his belongings and departed, seemingly oblivious to my hateful glares. Had he understood any of the St Martin's Day message of sharing and being neighbourly? Luckily, the gluhwein had kicked in by then and I resisted grabbing his coat and ripping it in two.

Next Hessen tradition: finding out what happens to your boots on the evening of Dec 6..

I still call Australia tasty

The sudden shift in seasons has taken us a little by surprise. Weren't we frolicking through golden hued leaves in light-weight clothing just a few weeks ago? Temperatures of 9 and lower sent us scuttling for warmer clothing. But even wearing all our warmest Melbourne clothing at once didn't seem to be enough. I felt like someone who has turned up to an auction, feeling confident that they'll do well, only to have the bidding whirl past their highest price in a matter of seconds. Gazumped by the cold as Thieu put it.

It's feet that are my problem - coldness thereof. Mine are often cold when they have no good reason to be, so the downturn in degrees has not been pleasant for them. Last week I went and purchased some (fake) fur-lined boots and some furry innersoles to shove in them for good measure. Bliss. It's like sticking your foot into an inverted teddy bear, but it's certainly made a difference when I'm standing around in the local park.

So far Mads hasn't seemed too bothered by the coldness. In fact, she mostly complains about being too hot when we get on the train or go to the shops where the heating is insanely high. Otherwise, life continues as normal. Mads is enjoying playing with the Australia puzzle sent by the grandparents, but more as a set of ingredients than as a puzzle. Here is a tasty feast she cooked up for us on the weekend:

Somehow I managed to wangle it so that I scored Western Australia. It was a little dry in the middle but quite delicious around the coast. Thieu got South Australia and said it tasted of Farmers' Union iced coffee and frog cakes.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag

Now that Mads has had her first German Birthday, I thought I'd make some notes on things I've learned about German Birthday customs. They may be of use next year.

No Pre-Birthday Birthdays

Maybe I'm wrong here, but my feeling is that in Australia if you are going to have a 'do' for a Birthday you choose the day closest to the actual day. So, if your Birthday is on a Saturday but you want to have a cake and champers at work, you'd do it on the Friday rather than wait until the Monday because it's closer in actual days. Is that right? In Germany it seems to be bad luck (or at least bad form) to pre-empt a Birthday. You don't wish people happy birthday in advance and you can't take a cake to the kindergarten before the day.

Also, I discovered to my horror, you are expected to bake a cake for your child's kindergarten birthday. Explaining that you are a terrible cook and the cake will be very flat makes no difference. You have to do it anyway.

Cake Carriers

I must admit I used to chortle whenever I saw people walking around carrying their cakes in one of these. I guess they are probably available in Australia, I'd just never seen one before. Maybe we are a nation that simply doesn't transport cakes much or maybe it's more about my own deliberate avoidance of cake-making or carrying. But when I realised there was no way out of making a cake for the kindergarten, I borrowed one of these transporters from someone and frankly, it was great. The cake barely moved as I swung it around, although that could have been because the cake was about 5 centimetres high and somewhat heavy. Still. It did make the train trip easier and the cloudy plastic stopped people from being able to see just how flat my cake was.

Birthday Registries

I've noticed that a lot of the big department stores here have a system where a kid who is about to have a birthday is given one of the store's plastic tubs to fill up with all the things they'd like their guests to give them. Then the tub is labelled and left in a shelf so that guests can come and choose things from it to give at the party. A sort of bridal registry, I guess, but for kids' gifts. Do these exist in Australia? I've not seen them.

And finally:
A kid dressed up as an obscure bright red super hero with bunny ears will attract less attention at Rome Termini than you might expect.

(See below)

Still here

So yes, there has been slackness on the blogging front of late which has been owing, in part, to there being a large amount of writing to be done in a short amount of time and to our recent slew of visitors (all of which we adored having!). First there was the delightful Marisa who overcame an unfortunate incident with a bad burrito early on in her stay and rallied to play endless games of 'Super Mouse' with Mads, even though she was herself only ever allowed to be 'regular cat'.

Then last week Matti and Evie arrived, which was very exciting, not the least because they speak German so finally we had someone to tell us what our mail said. I did discover, however, that it's a little humilating to have an 8 year old order for you in a cafe, so I began pretending I had larynjitus. One evening we took them to one of the Sachsenhausen Apple Wine Bars where the photo above was taken. I am leaning forward because I always look like I have a pin head in photos (although my head is actually quite large) and frankly, I'm tired of it.

Another day there was a visit to a reconstructed Roman barracks. I didn't go on that excursion, but apparently there was an impressive display of barracks-related items including a sandal, some weapons and handcuffs. It made quite an impression on Mads. When she got home she went straight to her room and made handcuffs for the Donnies (both hard and soft) with pipe cleaners. Then she left them on her floor to think about their misdeeds.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to the Frankfurt book fair. It's the biggest book fair in the world and I suspect it will be a somewhat sobering experience in some ways, but it should be interesting too.

Then on Friday we are going to Itri to meet up with Evie and Matti for the weekend and hopefully catch the last of the rapidly diminishing European warmth.