May, Mother's Day, Marvel

I have some pictures from Mother's Day that I can share, but first, here's a little video collage of what Daisy's been up to...you know, normal 3-year-old things like playing the vuvuzela. I'm hoping that it translates into good brass chops. Also, isn't she getting good at gliding on the bike? 

Now for Mother's Day. We had amazingly hot weather for May. I don't think that we wore shorts more than a handful of times last summer!

My wish for the day was to explore the Six Lakes in nearby Duisburg (15 min by train). It looks like it could be Wisconsin, huh?

Sandwiched on the isthmus between two lakes sits a preposterously awesome playground. I took this picture when Chris and Daisy were about to crawl in the tube slide. Later in the day, she climbed up and slid down all by herself!

 The park offered adventurous challenges for kids of all ages:

I should totally note that I chickened out on these balance beams. Couldn't do it. Chris did it all!

We walked around to a boat house and discovered that the row boats were all rented, so we jumped onto this hilarious pedal boat. It was really fun, actually!

Daisy ate her ice cream in a reverent way.

I can't believe that my little girl wears life vests, has enough hair for french braids, and goes down really scary slides. As we sat in the back of the boat and kicked our legs in the icy water, I squeezed Daisy close, so happy for the three years we've had, and so clueless as to what the years ahead will bring!

Happy Mothers' Day

It wasn't until after I left the grocery store that I discovered Daisy's sparkly pink "clippy" perched haphazardly above my hairline. I had thought that I had noticed an unusual personal glance from my cashier. Unlike the embarrassment that accompanies the public discovery of a bit of spinach in my teeth or a remnant sticker labeling the size of my jeans, the feeling I had at that moment was pure glee, like I was part of an inside joke.

It was like when my mom would french braid my hair and when she would bravely let me experiment with hers; it was like my aunts painting my face on my 7th birthday, and me drawing on my friend's Converse in 7th grade. It reminded me of seeing my piano student's tiny red fingernails and imagining her mother, smiling, holding, painting.

When I let my daughter play with my hair today, she snapped on a memento. Her clippy, in a tiny, sparkly way, somehow proved to me and to whomever looked that we shared a moment, that I share myself with her, and that we are all more than individuals.

Here's to lipstick marks on the cheek and other tangible reminders of impact this mothers' day.

Happy Easter!

Here are some belated pictures of Daisy painting Easter eggs. We were invited to Hanna's family garden on Thursday and had a great, sunny time with the gang. It was even hot enough to let the kids play with the hose and the kiddie pool afterwards. The next day, we went to Paris for the weekend! More pictures of that soon...

Rosenmontag

Rosenmontag is the only Monday of the year that is 3 times as fun as any weekend day could be. 

We started the morning at a friend's house for breakfast, Berliner (kind of like jelly doughnuts), sparkling wine, Karneval radio music, and face painting. 

Adorable German family - costumes or real??

When you paint faces here, you do the whole face - none of that "a rainbow on one cheek" sort of thing.

Then, the 12 of us trooped over to the parade route to catch our candy and check out all the costumes.

I wondered where the day had gone, when, at 4:00, I realized that it was time to meet Chris at our friend Trixi's house.

We ate dinner, and more Berliner, and more sparkling wine, and ended the night by dancing in Trixi's living room with the volume turned way up. 

Why can't every Monday be like this?

Karneval

Yesterday morning, as Daisy and I were hustling off to music class, we crossed paths with our downstairs neighbor, Herr Pieper. Although it is impossible to imagine calling someone "Mr." anything for over two years back in the US, it will always and forever be Herr Pieper for us. Which means that when I accidentally offered to help with a "Brauchst du Hilfe?", I quickly realized my casual/familiar "du" misstep and corrected myself with a self-effacing slap on the forehead: "Entschuldigung, Sie sind kein 'du!'"  Herr Pieper faintly chuckled, paused, and then suggested, "Ach...Es ist Karneval."

It is Karneval, the celebrations leading up to Lent. If I had to sum up the German "Mardi Gras" for Americans, I would say that it also has a parade - on Monday, not Tuesday - and it is a blend of 1) Halloween (costumes, for all ages) 2) Partying for adults (sort of like New Year's Eve or St. Patrick's Day) 3) Punk behavior (kids in costume tripping adults walking by....or disrespecting elderly neighbors by calling them "du") 4) The particular German tendency to stretch out holidays over several days (Think Christmas markets beginning in November and the trickling flow of singing children at the door the whole week of St. Martin's Day.) Even at the beginning of February, groups in costume appeared in Cologne, singing silly songs in the train station. Daisy's school group on Wednesday did face painting and got out dress up clothes for those kids not already dressed up. Yesterday, there was music and beer tents and a marching band downtown. Every child at the elementary school we walked by today was in costume. We've been advised to avoid the trains this weekend. Everything will return to normal on Ash Wednesday next week.

On Monday, I will dress up Daisy and attend some parties at friends' houses. Midday, there's a parade through the city, which actually begins right outside our apartment. Here are some pictures I took last year (which was snowy February) and never posted.

Setting up the floats for the parade
(Taken from our bedroom window)

The Karneval court bestowing medals
(Also from our window...tram lines)

One of the floats

The floats, manned by various groups in the city, aren't elaborately decorated. People on the ground shout "Helau!" and gather the candy and toys tossed out by the people on the floats. Sometimes people use open umbrellas to catch the candy - otherwise there's some digging in the tram tracks, etc to get the goods. The parade is popular and well attended - there's loud German dance music thumping and neighbors leaning out their windows and dancing.

Daisy's loot

So, think of us trying to join in the German revels during the next few days. Maybe Chris and I should use this opportunity to get every insulting thing we could ever accidentally say or do out of our systems!

St. Martin's Day #2

Laterne, Laterne
Sonne, Mond und Sterne

 (Lantern, Lantern, Sun, Moon and Stars)

As it's the last day of November, I really need to share pictures from the big event of the month in Germany: St. Martin's Day. Otherwise known as All My Pictures Are Blurry For Some Reason Day. 

Last year, we tried to celebrate St. Martin's Day. We made the lantern, we learned the songs, we memorized the story (see last post via the link for details). However, I couldn't find the kids' parade and I only overheard other kids singing door to door. This November 11 was different.

First of all, I learned how to put the lantern on a stick and make it light up. No, it's not by dangling a flashlight from a coat hanger, which was really what I thought I needed to do. They sell, in all of the drugstores, fancy plastic sticks with a hook and dangling light bulb:

Daisy (and I - mainly I) made her lantern in Maxigruppe out of the special lantern paper they sell here, chestnuts, and feathers. It looks so pretty all lit up!

We sang the St. Martin's Day songs (there is a repertoire of about 10 songs that everyone knows) door-to-door with a couple other families. Daisy loved it. Can you imagine if kids sang at Halloween? Especially if they were songs about compassion and light? Fun!

Next, we went to a special kids' service at the Catholic church (it and the Protestant church trade off hosting). It was loud, kids were running and squealing, and we sang all the songs accompanied by a loud brass quintet. The pastor tried to give a little sermon while the kids played with their lanterns.

Leaving the church for the parade

The brass band accompanied us on a parade around the old town, where we all sang our songs again and neighbors leaned out of their windows to watch the event. Unfortunately, it was raining and Daisy fell asleep in her buggy during our parade. We woke her up because there was a bonfire back behind the church and we were waiting for the horse and rider to come. But we were all miserable in the cold rain and left early. Oh, well. Not "next time," but in my imagination...

This is a holiday only for kids. The only way people who aren't kids or who don't have kids celebrate is by having buckets of sweets around for the singers. Kids sing haphazardly in the week around St. Martin's Day - when the parents have work off, or when groups of neighbors go out together. The mom I was talking to at Maxigruppe said that she is always surprised when kids come and she has to scramble around to find something (interestingly but not related, she was eating a tupperware of sauerkraut at 10:00 AM while mentioning this to me. So German). We also had a special Maxigruppe night where all the kids came with their siblings and both parents to sing songs and eat treats. I was so happy that Chris got to come to both the church night and the Maxigruppe night! We are going to miss this lovely tradition when we are back in the US.