Beauty in Peculiar Places

In Germany we seemed to find beauty and artistry in some unusual places. The first place I noticed it was in doors. As we walked about town I noticed the doors, in a drab or ordinary looking building the door would pop out, it might be ornate, funny, bejeweled, loud, or overwrought. It seemed as if the owner, maybe even the building itself, was saying, 'I may be simple but look there is a part of me that shines, there is a quirky or showy side to me and here it is.' I too late began to carry my camera around to take pictures of these doors and missed so many that made me stop and smile.

If it wasn't their door then the windows almost always had something hanging for display. I can't see many Americans doing this, but there were often hearts, streamers, stars, or lace doilies.

This brings us to balconies and patio areas. Germans love to be outside and will spend as much time as possible outside, eating, drinking, cooking, socializing, or just having a beer at the end of the day, so no matter the size of their balcony it was always decked out with grill, table, chairs, perhaps lights, always flowers, and usually some type of covering to shield their goings-on from private eyes; I often saw bamboo coverings. The amount of flowers is what first drew my eye to the every day use of apartment balconies. It seems as though Germans have mastered the art of hanging flower beds and mini-gardens, to see a balcony without flowers either draped over the outside or inside of the balcony railing was a rarity.

Nature seemed to weave atypical beauty too.

Though, the place I least expected to find artistry was in the ice cream shops, and there it ran abundant.

The most prominent type of ice cream is called spaghetti eis and it looks like this.

I wasn't sure how to describe it so I went to wikipedia and this is what it said:
In the dish, an often light or white colored ice cream is extruded through a modified Spätzle press or potato ricer, giving it the appearance of spaghetti. It is then placed over whipped cream and topped with strawberry sauce (to simulate tomato sauce) and either coconut flakes, gratedalmonds, or white chocolate shavings to represent the parmesan cheese. Although it is not well known outside Europe, it can be found at some gelaterias and specialty ice cream parlors, at special events and at some hotels and restaurants around the world.


What a great chance for me to see beauty in the most peculiar places, it was wonderful.

Mass and Remembering

In Roxel the church, St. Pantaleon, is truly in the center of town with everything radiating out from St. Pantaleon Strasse. It is a beautiful church built in the 12th century, the above are a few pictures of the church. Mass is only in German with no English language option; we decided to attend what we thought to be family mass. We walked to church with the loud clang of bells beckoning everyone in town to attend. We sit in the back, at first just taking in the beauty and wonderment of being a in church built, and with foundations dating back, long before America was discovered. Eventually, I begin to look around at the people and discover that for a family mass there are no children or families in church. I begin to see that everyone appears to be around 50 years of age or older. Of course, our children begin to act out and express themselves as though filled with the Holy Spirit, and when in a church filled with other kids and families, it doesn't seem to echo so loudly and if heads turn to stare you can perhaps pretend they are staring at the kid in the next pew and not yours. When your kids are the only kids in church and the old people give you looks, it feels different, wrong, like you what were you thinking bringing children to this place. Pete takes the offending child to the back while I pull out books, stickers, coloring crayons for the ones left with me, and even this distraction seems to make more noise than our neighboring parishioners want. Soon Communion is upon us, just as we are to go up and receive it, the doors to the back open and families begin to trickle in. They are loud, talkative, carrying little bits of paper and craft projects, the parents stand in the back chatting, and these child-parent combos receive no looks of ostracism. To the best of my knowledge Family Mass must mean that the families get to go to a parish hall to color and learn about the gospel through crafts, while the adults enjoy the quietness of a solemn Mass.

After Mass Pete showed me the small crosses in the back with names and dates, these are the names of people who died during WWII. For such a small town  it was sad to see a whole wall filled with the names of men who never came back to their families. It was also in that moment of sadness I realized when studying and teaching others about WWII it is easy to see the Germans, as a cruel people who began or played a large role in beginning both of our World Wars. This is far too simplified and uncomplicated, and it should be remembered that no matter what- in war men with families kill other men with families and it brings sadness and heartache to all involved.

There is a monument to the both wars that basically says-We Remember for the World. Being a history fan I wanted to learn much about Germans, WWII views, and so much more, but when the subject of war, the country bring divided, or despot rulers came up the subject was quickly changed. Perhaps this was because we were Americans, but it seemed as though the topic received a quick yes, no, and then on to the next subject please. Germans are not an open people with strangers, basically it is a Southern family feeling of what happens in the family stays in the family and we will not talk about it. However, with Germany you cannot hide things like different crosswalk signals for East and West Germany, dishware with a made in West German stamp, the poverty that still lingers in East Germany compared to West Germany, and the fact that even now they do not issue phone numbers that contain the letter combinations which would spell Nazi. Still they remember and they know how the world was affected but instead of dwelling on it, let's just move forward, seems to be the mentality.

Shopping Carts

The boys and I went to the soccer fields to kick the ball around and get out some major negative energy that was circulating through the apartment, it ended up being a fun time of ball kicking, flag carrying, and rolling pennies off a small shed, but then we realized we were hungry! We decide to just walk on over to store for brochen, salami, gouda, and some fruit. I had the three boys by myself (Thomas was in the Baby Bjorn) and no stroller but the walk isn't far and it was nice out so off we went. Though when we arrived I realized a few things: 1. I didn't bring bags for the groceries 2. I didn't bring any more money than what was in my pocket 3. Luke , Thomas, Jack, groceries, no stroller or Pete--hmmm, how would I get home?  Well, we were already there and as I put my Euro into the grocery cart I had, what seemed at the moment, a brilliant revelation, I could put Luke and Jack and the groceries in the cart and push it home. I mean I did put my Euro in it, doesn't that make it mine for awhile? As I push the cart around the store I remember something about these shopping carts--they suck. I mean American shopping carts aren't great either but in comparison they are like the sports cars of shopping carts, while my German shopping cart was this ragged old beat up car nobody wanted. To push it straight takes great effort, to turn it requires great strength, and after trying to maneuver it around just the store you are pretty worn out. Still, there was no turning back, I had no other options, I would persevere. Once we got outside I had to cross the street into the town square which isn't difficult but it dawned on me that I would look weird, odd, a bit like a thief, pushing a shopping cart with two kids in it and groceries with no bags across town. I decided to hell with what they think, I can't understand them anyway! I pushed my shoulders back, held my head high and began to walk through the town square, old people and their opinions be damned. Only it didn't look quite so pretty and strong as it sounds. I had to ground my feet, hold on tight, push hard only to have it want to go off to the right, so I had to stop put my left foot back and lean into the cart and push it to the right with my upper body. Then the cart would decide to go to the right so I had to stop and again use the whole might of my little body to push it straight. Luke was the most secure thing in the cart because he was in the child seat while Jack and the groceries were just  being thrown around in the back of the cart. I decided to try a different technique and grab the back part where Jack was and see if this would work any better. It did not, unless you count causing the cart to actually begin moving in wide arcs around me as working. I hadn't even cross the street out of the town square yet. I got to the crosswalk and made it to the other side just fine, but then saw that I would have to lift the cart up onto sidewalk. I didn't have much time before trucks would start needing to use the space my kids and I were occupying so I tried and tried to lift that cart onto the sidewalk but to no avail, when suddenly a little old lady with a walker took pity on me and she hoisted the the shopping cart on the sidewalk for me just as cars began to drive where I had been standing. Needless to say I no longer had any pride left-- a lady who is in need of a walker to just get around town looked a me and thought wow she really needs my help and then proceeded to do what I could not in a matter of seconds. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The rest of the way home was a straight walk down that sidewalk but it didn't get any easier and finally noticing that the cart really wanted to be pushed with me walking straight and it off to the right that is exactly what I did. So my right arm was extended out to the side and the cart did much better that way. Oh it wasn't easy still, Jack nearly got his head lobbed off by trees and he almost fell out a few times because of cracks in the sidewalk, but we made it home. In hindsight it would have been easier to buy bags, carry Thomas in the baby carrier, and carry Luke in my arms than to use that blasted shopping cart. I was covered in sweat and out of breath by the time we made it upstairs. Without the help of that little old lady I may still be trying to lift the shopping cart onto the sidewalk--so, danke schön.

Signs signs everywhere

What happens when you are in a new country and you can't read the signs? Well, luckily in Germany, many of the signs are very visual and entertaining-- no German reading skills needed.

Watch out and don't fall in the water!

No squatting in the forest

tank speed limits on the bike trail--what?

No dog poop here

Stop or you will kill the kids

Really, no dog poop