Fasching

Fitting that I am writing a post about Fasching on Ash Wednesday, but that's just the way it is :)
We just made it through the 2008 Fasching season, the German pre-Lenten celebration that does not get nearly enough press throughout the world.
Depending on where you live in Germany, you could be taking part in one of many different celebrations all lumped in to this Fasching concept. In the north, Karneval (like Carnival) is celebrated from 11 November until midnight Ash Wednesday. In the south, it is Fasching or Fastnacht, depending if you are in the southeast or southwest. All celebrations kick into full gear on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, which is known as "Dirty Thursday," and last throughout the weekend and Monday "Rose Monday," and Tuesday, "Fasching Tuesday."
The country retains an aire of silliness and party throughout the weekend. Many parades take place especially around us, where Fastnacht is strongly celebrated in towns in the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb.
The following are some pictures, not mine, of the typical characters you find in Swabian Fastnacht celebrations:














Okay, so there is a good reason that the above are not my pictures: I HATE FASCHING! I hate Fasching as much as Halloween, actually, I may despise this time even more. Halloween has the decency to last one night. Really, there is nothing wrong with Fasching, but it is not a thing for me.

The one thing that I found thoroughly enjoyable though was our school-wide Faschings celebration that took place this past Friday. Besides party, it is also an opportunity for kids here to dress up and have fun. Our celebration was one of the most enjoyable celebrations I have witnessed thus far at school. It was wonderful to see the kids get all dressed up. Of course, few followed the suggested circus theme, but what can you do? We made a mural, had a snack of a traditional Fastnachtsküchle (Fastnacht cake,) played games, and of course, took part in a school-wide Fasching parade.
We even were lucky enough to be visited by a witch. No, she's not a real witch, but she is a part of a club that takes part in traditional Fastnacht/ Fasching parades in the area. She even put her mask on, which the kids absolutely loved!!!
Honestly, in my 6 years here, I have never enjoyed this time of year. But after Friday, I completely (well not so completely,) changed my mind.

Two Finished Books

Since Joern wasn't feeling well last night, and I still haven't found my voice, we decided not to go to the movie last night. Instead, we stayed home, and I finished up Harry Potter 7, The Deathly Hallows. I also finished another book a few weeks ago, and have yet to post on it.

I have such mixed feelings about the 7th and last installment of the Harry Potter series. First, I have had the book since early September, but as with the past 2 books, I have found the beginning parts entirely boring. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, book 6, took such a long time for me to get through the first 200 pages. This 7th book, was entirely boring for the first 500 pages. Ugh! In the last week or so, I decided to hunker down, that there had to be some excitement, after all, it is Harry Potter, a series which I have throughly enjoyed.
Once I set down, and suffered through the first 500 pages, I finally found the excitement. Then, I didn't want to put it down, didn't want to go to sleep, even though I knew that I had to go to sleep at night because I was so sick.
I won't give endings away, but it was overall a pretty good book. Okay, so the beginning and middle could have been cut down to, "nothing worked for Harry, Hermionie, and Ron for quite a while, and that was bad." And, "some people died."
I think that too many characters died in the book, and I don't know how good it is to teach kids (cause let's face it, kids still adore Harry even though J.K. Rowling tries to say it is not a kids book,) that they should be willing to die for their friends. I would do a lot for my friends, but fighting "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" might not be something I would ever do. I just think the book could have been equally enjoyable without so many deaths, and we all could have understood the moral of the story. The book was good, but it isn't so bad to say goodbye to Harry. I think any further story would be beating a dead horse. Hats off to J.K. Rowling for knowing when to end too much of a good thing.


I also finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, a few weeks ago. I had heard great reivews of the book, and picked it up while shopping in one of my favorite and most missed stores, Borders. I chose it because in the story, the author travels to Italy, India, and Bali. Any book involving traveling is intriguing to me. As soon as I got through the first chapter though, I felt that I could not relate with this character. The main character leaves her husband and then sets off on this journey to learn about pleasure, devotion, and love. I feel like the author wants us to feel with her, but I do not think her choices should necessarily be celebrated. The author comments that Americans are too focused on their jobs, money, etc, and through this, miss a lot of the enjoyment that can be found in life. I agree. But she fails to touch on the fact that some Americans are also far too quick to give up on marriage, that we have come to expect immediate gratification, instead of the pleasures found in waiting and working for your own personal happiness. I did enjoy her descirptions of her experiences in Rome, at an Ashram in India, and her time with a Medicine Man in the village of Ubud in Bali. She also brilliantly writes about other people, and you too almost form a relationship with those she encounters throughout her journey. In the end, it turns into a feel-good, you can be happy book, which is ultimately fine. I would recommend the book to others, it is simply my personal feelings that made the book a little difficult for me.

Headin down the freeway of my childhood.

Some things were inevitable growing up with my mother. You will love shopping, books, and Aretha Franklin. Who's Zoomin Who, Freeway of Love, Chain of Fools, I Knew You were Waiting for Me, these songs have woven themselves into my past, most probably in memories of driving either to or from the mall. Of course, as a young child, the thought of listening to yet another song by Aretha was torture. But as I've grown up, I've truly come to appreciate one of the most influential artists of all time.
Comes as no surprise that this morning, as I prepared for my day of cleaning, I decided that yes, indeed, a little Aretha to spice up my cleaning would do the trick.
I had to really restrain myself though, because, realizing that I had no songs by the Queen of Soul, I wanted to purchase about $50 worth of albums and songs.
Okay, well done Allison, I only downloaded about 10 songs, which I am dying to hear!
Cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom have to be more enjoyable croaking along with Aretha! (Oh yeah, I say croaking because I've had a lovely really horrible cold for two weeks now- thank you all you nose picking 4 year olds!)
Hopefully, this will carry me through the day! Tonight, we have plans with Joern's friend Ralf to go see National Treasure! Yay!

In case you were wondering

One of our little junior kindergarteners is very close to becoming a big sister. She is currently the youngest of 3, but her mom is due in the next few weeks. So, I was asking her about the baby today. Here is an excerpt of our conversation... and just a warning, it WILL make you laugh :)

Me: "So, are you excited about the baby?"
E (that's her first initial,): "Oh yeah, I already love the baby!"
Me: "Oh, that is so sweet of you. Have you already seen pictures of the baby in your mom's tummy?"
E: "Yeah, it looks all funny though. Do you know where we got the baby?"
Me: "Where?"
E: "We went to Canada and my mom got a baby in her tummy."
Me: "Canada?"
E: "Yeah, Canada. That's where you get babies from."

So now you have it. Trying to get pregnant? Go to Canada!

Who benefits the most at an international school?

I`ve realized that I don`t give my job nearly half of the credit it deserves.
Since September, I´ve been at an international school, which is quite a change for me, coming from my experience working for the US Government. I absolutely loved working at my old high school, and am so thankful for my 5 years working on a military base. The people I met were all wonderful, and my base access provided me with a much needed link to home that helped me transition into living abroad.
Now that I feel I have sprouted some roots here, I feel like my new job is really a perfect fit for me. I adore the international community. While I am not entirely with Germans, the international school provides me with the opportunity to meet people from all corners of the world. And while I will probably never get to live in many other countries (after all, I am fortunate to have two home countries now,) I am simply so delighted with the experience of working with kids from many other countries.
My lesson today? Colors.
The Japanese kids have been drilling me about colors for months now. But today, as I sat with a Japanese girl, an Italian girl, and a German boy, we all discussed colors in our native languages. The experience was incredible. I feel like I don`t deserve pay for a job that provides me with daily opportunities to learn about the world around me.
So, here`s what we talked about today:
ENGLISH JAPANESE ITALIAN GERMAN
blue ao blu blau
red aka rosso rot
yellow kiiro giallo gelb
white shiro bianco weiss
black kuro nero schwartz
purple murasaki porpora lila
orange oranji arancione orange
green midori verde grun

Okay, so it looks like a boring vocabulary list, but put into action, and conversation between a 28 year old, a 7 year old, a 4 year old, and a 3 year old, the experience was absolutely incredible. I am so lucky to be a part of this world. So my question: Parents spend thousands of Euro each year to send their children to our prestigious school. But in the end, do the kids or the teachers benefit more from this very unique and wonderful community?

Residency

My German green card expires in 2 weeks. I have had to renew twice since moving here, because German green cards expire every 3 years. I was really excited to hear that after living here 5 years, you can apply for permanent residency. Aaahh, that sounds lovely. I would be so happy to be a permanent resident! Life would be great! So, I asked about it 2 weeks ago, when we went to the Rathaus (town hall) to renew my residency permit.
I can apply, but am required to give them all sorts of documentation to support the fact that I am basically a good person :)
The same night, I quickly gathered all my documentation to hand in to the authorities. Only thing that I would need to get, biometric passport pictures. Those lovely new passport pictures in which you are not allowed to smile, which I find extremely upsetting, because my smile is a part of me :)
Well, here we are on January 20th, and I still do not have a biometric passport picture! It is the one thing we keep forgetting. To make matters worse, we´re getting down to the wire now with my residency permit! Argh!
We´ve decided to go back with the short-term permit, because we`re kind of out of time! I do miss not having to renew residency status at home. Alas, I will never take citizeship or residency for granted again!!

The Next German Superstar

Germany is looking for a Superstar is the German version of American Idol. It has a huge following here, and we're gearing up for a new season.
Obviously, the enthusiasm to become a world-wide icon has spread all the way to the animal kingdom. Our first animal superstar, without a doubt, was the cuddly Knut. Born in December of 2006, Knut's mother rejected him. The Berlin Zoo quickly decided that Thomas Doerflein, a zookeeper, would raise Knut, instead of letting nature take its course. With this controversial decision, Knut was thrust into the international spotlight. But who could chose otherwise with such a cuddly little guy?

He became a beacon for environmental and animal rights activists throughout the world.
Although every German knows exactly who Knut is, he has definately pulled away from the spotlight. He went from a teddy bear like baby to a frolicking teen to an overweight young-adult who is mostly brown from playing so much in the dirt.

Obviously, we are in need of a cuddly new Superstar! Last week, the news was filled with contenders. Unfortunately, one polar bear mom in a German zoo actually ate her two babies! And then came the news about Vera, the new mom who couldn't seem to properly care for her little baby. For a few days, we all witnessed the horrible videos played over and over. A delighted Vera brought her baby "Flocke" out to show the world, and then dropped her. After picking up the little baby, she dropped her again, and again, and again. The poor baby just fell to the ground like a little rag doll. Each time, mom tried again, and each time, it was more and more obvious that Vera was an unfit mother. The zoo decided to take the little baby away from the mom, for her safety.
The new baby is now catapulting through the media, and it appears, is on her way to becoming the next German Polar Bear Superstar! Fortunately, Nuremberg, the zoo that is home to our new baby, is much closer to us than Berlin. Maybe we'll get to visit the new little one before she looks like Knut!