Moving Slowly

We are moving today/this weekend. Typical here in Germany is that it takes forever to move. It's absolutely unbelieveable. Even in normal commercial companies, like a realtor, there are only certain times you can reach them and then you have to make an appointment. And most places are closed on Wednesdays, only open in the morning on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and are there on Fridays, but don't answer the phone and leave early. I honestly don't know where the Germans got their reputation for being hard workers. And how in the world did they build up Germany again after the war? They must have been possessed with other spirits at that time. Or this is a new ande lazy generation. It's a wonder they get anything done around here! I'm getting really sick of it. And they complain that their economy is so bad. That's why! No one can get anything done, and if they want to, they still can't because of the other people around them they have to wait for. I have had to learn to calm down and expect that things just take longer. We wanted to move last week. But that doesn't work because they have to write a new rent contract and that takes at least 3 days. Then, we tried to call on Monday, Tuesday and finally got a hold of someone and made an appointment to go sign the contract. Then, after signing the contract we had to make an appointment to go to the apartment with someone to officially get the key. I hope they tie a big ribbon around the house and have big scissors there for us and hand over the key all offical-like as if we were the mayor being sworn in. That's what they treat it like.
On a lighter note...
Ammon was sitting in his stroller the other day singing and talking happily to himself. Most of the time, I just tune him out because I am paying attention to other things. But, once I began to listen to him. He was shouting over and over:
"Come here, Christmas!" I guess he just can't wait. Remember that feeling? And it seemed to last forever. Now Christmas flies by so fast, I hardly even notice it anymore. Maybe this year, being in slow Germany, I will notice it because I'm, forced to relax and go slow.
Lately Ammon has been singing a lot. He sings about Kindergarten, about Dinosaurs, about anything he can think of. One of his favorites is "Rock a bye, don't you cry, we will go to Grannies." Sometimes he sings it normally, but other times he substitutes Grannies for "pet store", or "Laura and Cody's". He thinks it's really funny.
His speech is still quite unclear, but it is so cute. He says for example "Tahfoffen" for Kartoffeln (potatoes). I think that one is my favorite.
When I told him we were going to our new house, he got all excited and said "Then we a see a Grandma and Grandpa?" It broke my heart though. I had to explain to him that our new house is still really far away from Grandma and Grandpa, but that it's close to Oma and Opa. He was sad, but then he said "Oma and Opa have blocks and toys too."

Kneipsches Bad

These days the frost in the morning is so thick you can see the crystals on every blade of grass, every wooden fence, and if you stay outside long enough, on the tip of your nose. And the frost doesn't melt during the course of the day. There's just as much frost at 3:30 in the afternoon when the sun goes down as there was at 8:30 in the morning when the sun rose. The biting wind doesn't seem to stop at your skin, but blows right through your blood to your bones and back out the other side. You're crazy to go out without thick tights under your pants, a thick coat, hat, gloves, scarf, a couple of wool sweaters, thick socks and insulated boots. But the sun still shines often. You can't imagine how the rays dance on the frosty crystals and how your breath almost freezes solid in mid air as it leaves your nose and mouth.
As I tell you this next thing, keep in mind the above weather conditions. Patrick and Matthias like to drive to the lake around 8:00pm and jump in once, twice, or even three times, and then come back home and take a hot shower. With every evening that they go and come back, they do seem a bit stupider. I think some of their brain cells freeze and then die every time. That's why they continue to do it. Matthias says he wants to do it all winter long about 3 times a week.
As for the apartment, we found a better, but smaller and cheaper apartment. We haven't moved in yet. The beginning of next week though if everything works out with it. It's on the third floor (which makes me feel better, because no one can break in, but makes me nervous about Ammon falling out the window. So, I'm getting chains for all the windows so he can't open them more than a few inches. The view is nice, we look out our living room and see trees and a park. The windows are low to the ground, so you can sit on the couch in front of the window and have the sill right by you and look out. Ammon has a little tiny room big enough for a bed, a shelf, and a toy box. We have a room to ourselves for once, and then a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom with a tub. Everyone is donating things to us. The address is Legienstrasse still, but it's number 17 instead of 21. Just once house down, and on the 3rd floor. You'll all have to come visit soon. It would be fun to show you around. You can experience how we live here.

Ramadan

Patrick's sister's husband, Rawad, is a muslim originally from Palastine. His father was kicked out and they went to Lebanon. Rawad was born in Lebanon, and when he was 11 years old, his family moved to Germany to get away from the political unrest. Ramadan is a time of year in Islam where they fast during the sunlight hours. When the sun goes down, they eat together. This lasts for I believe 40 days. Rawads family invited us over to enjoy their last Ramadan feast before the break of the fast the next day. (Too bad we couldn't go to the break of the fast on the last Ramadan day. That celebration is like our Christmas for them.) Unfortunately, I had to go to class on that day. But Wednesday, we were there. They have 10 kids from the first marriage and a new baby from the second. (Their mother died of cancer 2 years ago.) The second wife is from Lebanon and doesn't speak a word of German or English. We had to communicate with her through the children, who all speak fluent Arabic. Arabic television was on in the background the whole time, though no one was watching. There was a calender on the wall that they referred to just for Ramadan. Everyday has a different and exact time when they are allowed to eat. (Before sunrise and after sunset.) When we arrived, everyone shook our hands and we were offered something to drink. Just for us, they had set the table with hundreds of cookies and treats on it. The cookies were filled with figs and dates. The candies were chocolate and marshmellowy things with coconut on the outside. We played with the kids for a couple of hours until the sun went down. All the women and the father were in the kitchen preparing the meal. Just before sundown, they layed a table cloth down on the floor and started bringing in food and setting it on the cloth. The smell was so enticing I could hardly stand it. There was chicken, rice, fish, salad, bread, and dip for the bread. And everything was so beautiful. The rice was made to look like a big flower with different colored peppers as petals. The salad so colorful as well. At sunset, we began to eat. First we were served an asparagus soup. Then we were allowed to take from whatever we wanted on the table. My first bite of chicken changed the way I think about food. It was the best thing I had ever tasted! I said, "This is the best chicken I've ever tasted!" From that moment on, the father watched my plate carefully. Whenever I had finished my chicken, he put another piece on my plate. After the third, I told him there was no more room in my stomach. He understood that, finally. The chicken is baked with yogurt with garlic and 7-land-spice. (That's my translation, I don't know what it's really called in English.) But it has coriander and cummin and cinnamon and nutmeg and I assume 3 other spices in it. Here, you can buy it as a mix already. After that chicken, why eat chicken spiced a different way??!! After we were done eating, everything was carried back into the kitchen and the table cloth was taken off the floor. Then, they wanted to make us coffee, but we told them we don't drink it so they made us fruit tea. They brought out dessert and tea. The dessert were like pancakes folded in half, filled with walnuts and brown sugar, and fried in sugar and butter. That was yummy too, but by that time, my stomach was about to burst. Patrick and Rawad's father talked politics as they ate. I believe his father thinks the the war between the US and Iraq is a religious war and that Bush wants to wipe out the muslim nations one by one. That is what they hear on their news. And you have to admit, that's what it looks like. Now he's bugging Syria. They think: Is Lebanon next? He also told Patrick of his plans to visit Mecca next year. He says the problem is the money. It's very expensive there. When we left, the father told us we could come anytime, without an invitation. That was my cultural adventure for this week.