Another Holiday

The Friday after Ascension Day was considered the "bridge holiday" giving us another glorious 4 day weekend.  We spent a leisurely morning together and then Marty had to do the radio show and each of the kids had a friend over.

Josie had the great idea of making slime. Something she had done in her science class earlier in the week.  We bought all of the supplies and she was in charge.  It was a bit messy but a success.  Each of the 4 kids had a bit of slime to take home. 

Afterward we all headed to a nearby park.

Museum Village Düppel

As I've said before, the month of May is filled with holidays.  Someone told us that many Germans take just a few actual "vacation days" but get a couple of weeks vacation out of it

because they but them up to all of these national holidays.
Thursday, May 10th was Ascension Day (Himmelfahrt) so the kids had the day off along with the following day. Apparently some years when these holidays fall on Tuesday or Thursday apparently, they also take the day before or after off as a "bridge holiday" making it a 3 day work/school week and a 4 day weekend.  I could get used to this!!

Our friends that live in Kleinmachnow, just the next little town, invited us to join them at a little outdoor museum village situated right smack in between us. 
Marty didn't get any of these German holidays off since he works for an American company so the kids and I

hopped on our bikes and pedaled over.  I had absolutely NO expectations.  I had no idea what this little museum village was all about.  I have to say it was one of the most unique, quirky and eclectic mix of things but the kids loved it.
It is the reconstruction of an 800 year old village. The recreation of a this medieval village came complete with medieval animals, blacksmiths, plants and workers dressed the part to play music, help with the animals or children (also dressed the part) and the highlight for Benjamin was when they donned their combat gear and started sparring.  He was mesmerized. 
Josie and her friend Oliver both made a

small horseshoe with the blacksmith, we all listened to music and looked around at the recreated village.  Near the end we tried cooking our own stickbread (which is a big deal here in Germany aside from this museum)  where you put a wad of uncooked bread dough on the end of a stick and then cook it over a fire much like you would roast a marshmallow over a fire.  The kids loved it. 
Strange, cool, unique, not sure how else to describe it.  I certainly have never seen anything like it.

Thai Park

Several friends had posted on Facebook about going to Thai Park.  I had no idea what to expect but I did know it was some random park in Berlin where a bunch of Thai people came to sell their homemade Thai food.  I love Thai food!!  So I read up on it and then convinced the family to trek across town on a hot Sunday to make our first visit.
I was amazed.  It was like the best street food congregation ever.  It felt a bit like I was in Mexico and probably a lot like in Thailand, although I've never been there before.  There were several long rows of people selling their homemade food. 

There were clearly more popular vendors and then not so popular vendors.  I knew it probably made sense to buy from the popular vendors.  So we stood in line and bought a huge plate of steaming pad thai or something equivalent.  Vegetarian with a fried egg

cooked up right in front of us.  There was a little condiment bar so we topped it with freshly cut green onions, lime juice and cilantro.  Yum!!
Benjamin chose a few chicken satays in

peanut sauce.  Those were good too.  Josie and I just kept going back.  We would look around and then just buy something randomly.  Each and everything we bought was so SO good!!  Mouthwateringly good.  I was shocked at how excited Josie was to try everything.  Marty loved it but doesn't necessarily like street food.  Benjamin mostly played at a very huge and cool playground that was in the park and filled with kids.  This park had a water feature and he could have stayed there for hours creating dams and diverting the flow of water. 
The story goes that many years ago (maybe 10 or 15?) a lot of Thai people would come to this park and bring along their Sunday picnics.  They would often grill fresh food or cook other items over open fires.  The other park goers started asking the Thai people if they could purchase their food.  The Thai people came together and decided to sell their food there every weekend.  The legend is you know when summer really has arrived when Thai Park opens for the season.  This year it was late April.  And apparently it will run through September sometime.  Oh and nothing we bought was over 5 Euro.  We all left full and satisfied.  We will definitely be back.

Spargelzeit

OK, so I know that most fruits and vegetables worldwide have seasons.  In our house we always talk about how around Benjamin's birthday (April 23rd) is when we can start even thinking about buying berries that taste like actual berries.  And tomatoes... I get it things have a season when they are better, cheaper and more abundant.
I have NEVER ever seen anything like Spargelzeit.  It translates to "asparagus time" and the Germans, or maybe all over Europe, goes nuts for asparagus apparently.  In every grocery store there is a designated section for spargel.  Some stores even have a table set up with huge bins FILLED with spargel and an attendant to bag up your spargel. 

It is mostly white, thick variety not the typical skinny green that we are used to.  This white variety which is much MUCH more common here is grown
 underground so that no sunlight touches it and photosynthesis does not take place.
We like asparagus.  Well, Josie, Marty and I do.  I've roasted the green variety many times here (in and out of spargelzeit) and it was always very good.  I have to say that during spargelzeit it was honestly no better and no cheaper than during other times of the year.  Maybe my palate just isn't sophisticated enough to know the difference. 

I made the white variety also. It had the same flavor just a bit stringier and tough. 

I looked up how to make it and get this, the Germans even have their own special "spargel pots" tall and thin so that you stand the asparagus up with the more fragile tips up and out of the water.  I already knew they had special "spargelschalers" asparagus peelers.  When we used to come in the summer we would often bring them

back as gifts.  And now that we know there is a season for asparagus the reaction we would always receive from a worker in a store makes so much more sense. 

We would go into a kitchen type store and ask for a spargelschaler.  The worker would look at us bewildered and say "it is not spargelzeit!"  I guess it would be the equivalent of looking for a bathing suit in December in Seattle.  But how were we to know.
In addition to the stores selling it, there are pop up stands on every 4th street corner and in EVERY single restaurant they have their daily menu/specials and the entire thing is SPARGELZEIT.  This popped up in early April and since I am behind in my writing I can tell you that just recently (early June) sparelzeit is starting to fade.

In some (few) of those pop ups and special sections in the stores and restaurants, spargel is being replaced by Erdbeeren (strawberries) but I can tell you there is much less gusto with the enthusiasm over the strawberry compared to the insane way people here take to the asparagus.

Berlin in the Spring

 We had a bunch of friends visit us this Spring.  Several in April and then a couple in May. We had no idea how incredibly beautiful our spring weather would be but Berlin really sparkled, at least weather wise, for all of our out of town guests.
Many years ago I met Michelle through my friends Marjie and

Stina.  Then when I started teaching Spanish at Shorecrest I realized that she also knew (and went to high school) with my friends and teaching partner Siri.  What a small world.  I always liked Michelle but like many friends we drifted apart after I got married and had kids. 

A few months ago she said she was going to be in Berlin for a couple of days and was hoping to meet up.
It is always a fun excuse to just jump the train and hang out in the city center which is what I did to meet Michelle on Thursday night.  I even looked into and asked around about cool, hip restaurants. 

We rarely ever leave Zehlendorf and although we have many great restaurants here I wouldn't say any of them are necessarily hip.  One restaurant/bar was recommended several times so I tried to make a reservation but there wasn't even 2 seats available. We never make reservations anywhere we go which proves my point that we obviously don't go to the hip places.   Apparently right next door and in the same building as the highly recommended restaurant was also a hip bar, no

reservations required.  We decided to meet there.  It was called the Monkey Bar and I have to say, it was cool.  The view was spectacular and the drinks pricey!!  We met up with another one of her high school friends, Brian, who happens to be living in Amsterdam and just so happened to have done his own House Hunters International episode with his wife and two dogs just 6 months before we filmed ours.  I have yet to meet another person that has been on HHI.  So crazy! We shared our very similar stories.   The view was gorgeous and the conversation fun.  Really, just fun to be out and in the big city on a school night on a beautiful night in May.

The next day Marty and I hopped a train just after school drop off and Marty did his tour guide showing Michelle the sights around Brandenburg Gate, Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's Bunker, etc.  And to end her stay we headed to Hackescher Markt for lunch before we had to race back to school to pick up Benjamin and she had to head to the airport to fly back to Seattle.
Thanks for visiting, Michelle.
The next day, Kathi Wiley, my brother-in-law, Fred's, older sister and her partner (also named Fred) were visiting Berlin and were kind enough to meet up with us in boring, old Zehlendorf and our hippest restaurant in town called Good Time. 

After a quick tour of our digs, we all walked up to the nearby restaurant and had a great time talking through the cultural differences and all the places they had seen during their several days in Berlin.  One of the reasons we love this restaurant aside from their awesome food and the close proximity to our house is that there is a large, grassy patch where the kids love to play while we eat, talk and drink.  Fun for everyone.
Thanks for the visit, Kathi and Fred!!

Sorry, Not Sorry

One (of the many) thing(s) I have learned while living here is that Germans, as a whole, NEVER apologize.  They never admit fault, they nearly always fight back if accused of something and seem altogether hard and tough on the outside.  But also, nearly every single time, you scratch the surface of the tough exterior and they are lovely, genuine, friendly people.
Unfortunately, it is hard to remember that all you need to do is scratch the surface when your day to day interactions with strangers here don't allow you the opportunity to dig any deeper.  Their "never say sorry" attitude reminds me of what I was always told if you are in a car accident.  Never apologize.  Check to make sure everyone is OK, sure, but don't apologize and never admit fault.
Several perfect examples.  In the grocery store (why does this always come up?  The grocery store?  I tell you it is STILL the source of most of my stress here.  I do understand German a bit better but it never really was about my lack of language.  It is just a completely different cultural experience here.  In the US if someone accidentally bumps you with their cart, typically both the bumper and the bumpee would say "oh, I'm sorry"  Then both smile and move on.  Even if both thought the other one was at fault, what good comes from bitching at someone for bumping you or bitching because somehow you thought the person was in your way.  There is typically a quick apology on both sides and then both parties move along.  Not here...  The other day a man barely bumped into the back of a woman in line at the grocery store.  She turned around and snarled at him "well, the line is not going to go any faster if you bump into me!"  He then with no thought of an apology replied "I didn't think it was going to go faster I was just making room for the people behind me" they both huffed and grumped and then checked out and went on with their day.  Neither side apologizing, both feeling that they were completely in the right and there was no gain in time or self dignity.
Another example, the other day the bus came a few minutes early.  One of the riders complained to the driver for taking off too early.  Did she have a watch?  Was she waiting for someone?  I do not know but she complained to the driver for the next 4 stops. He never apologized.  He asked her to please stop yelling at him while he was driving.  She didn't apologize.  She just kept on yelling.  FOR FOUR MORE STOPS.  It was crazy.  They do not back down and they do not apologize.
We have had one pretty major apology since living here.  So maybe when they really know they are wrong they go overboard.  I had gone grocery shopping.  While paying with my (equivalent to a debit) card I saw on the register read out that it was 51 Euro.  I thought what the heck?  How did I spend 51 Euro.  We go nearly every day, every 3rd day at the VERY least and we spend around 20-30 Euro each time.  How could I have spent 51!!  I had bought a pound of coffee which I only buy about once a month, some cleaner and other non- daily items but there was no way I spent 51!  I was not going to try to explain it to the hot and bothered checker because there was an equally hot and bothered German customer right behind me waiting for me to move so they could hurriedly stuff their purchases into their bag.  But I took the receipt and was going to think through my limited German on how I was going to return whatever was making my bill so high.  But then I looked and it said 31 Euro.  I blamed it on my bad eyes and rode my bike home not giving it another thought. Marty who reconciles every bill and purchase asked me a day or two later what I bought at the store because it was 51 Euro (it really was nearly double what we have ever spent at the store so it really did stand out) Then I dug out the receipt.  It had in very large numbers the 31 Euro.  But then underneath in really super small print it said I was charged 51 Euro.  I stated that I had asked and received 20 cash back.  Marty and I went in and talked to someone about it.  They didn't apologize.  We figured they wouldn't.  The assured us that they would look into it. We figured we were out the 20 Euro.  We went back in a couple days later.  They were OVERLY nice to us.  Apologized once or twice, gave us our 20 Euro back AND a bunch of flowers!!  So, I guess when they feel like they are in the wrong they really do apologize.  They must not normally ever feel that they are in the wrong.

I'm still very much American and this idea of not apologizing is still (thankfully) very foreign to me and my family (thankfully!!) All 4 of us are very VERY quick to apologize when he have done something wrong within our family or with others.  I've always known that we are all quick to ap so I'd like to apologize for being so far behind in the blog.  I know a lot of people have read this throughout our journey and then with school and life and guests, I just got too far behind and felt like I'd never catch up.  But I reminded myself that this is kind of like our journal and even now, even just less than a year from our original move here, it is really quite remarkable to be able to look back 6 or 9 months ago and see photos of what we were doing and read how we were feeling so I'm trying to play catch up.  I'm going to date them when they happened and not the day I'm writing (today is actually June 6th but I'm dating it May 3rd to keep it chronologically accurate.)
So, I'm Sorry!!  Why are those two words so incredibly difficult for the Germans to say?  I hope we as a family don't lose the ability for a quick and easy sorry!!

Holiday Monday

Monday, May 1st was the first in a whole bunch of German holidays and "bridge holidays"   I have never seen so many days off in the school calendar aside from the long summer and winter breaks.  And because so many of these holidays happened to fall on a Thursday or Friday they tended to take the day off in between the holiday and the weekend.  In the month of May the kids would have:
  7 - school days off
  3 -  four day weekends
  1 - three day weekend
  1 - full week of classes with 5 actual school days. 

There really are so many more days off and holidays throughout the school year here.  Summer vacation is only 7 weeks instead of the Seattle's 10+  So it makes sense and I have to say I quite prefer breaks here and there and cutting down summer break by a few weeks.  Someone told me the other day that the ONLY month that the kids have a full 4 weeks of school at JFK is in June.  So, maybe I should wait and see what that is like before I give my preference.

But it is really crazy how many holidays are in May in Germany. 
Monday was the "bridge holiday" because Tuesday was the actual holiday - Labor Day- in Germany.   We decided to meet up with some friends at the nearby lake - Schlachtensee.  Clayton, his brother, Gavin and mom, Shantal met up with us as did my friend (another one I don't see often enough) Gillian from Maine but lives just a 10 minute bike ride from us.  Her two kids, Oliver and Maddie who attend BBIS and her British husband, Andy.  We all brought a picnic lunch. 

We rented three boats and divided up the people.  The minute and I kid you not, the MINUTE we all got into the boats a huge storm blew in.  It has been beautifully sunny and warm and calm until we got into the boats.

 And then.. huge storm that made it so incredibly difficult to paddle anything but around in circles right in front of the rental area. 

The kids hopped from boat to boat.  Nearly everyone had a chance to paddle.  In the end we all tied up together and then tried to meander slowly back into the slips of the rental place.  SO funny.  Everyone had a good time though. 

After the picnicking and the paddling, Marty and Andy both had to check out early to get back to work...  it wasn't a holiday in Seattle so he had to get back to do the radio show. 

  

The moms and the kids stayed at the park and they played and laughed and we thoroughly enjoyed the first of many May vacation days.