Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Frohe Weinachten!


Lo' How a Rose Ere Blooming

Merry Christmas from Germany!

Our Christmas Eve service at FEG-Rebland was very nice, with caroling at the exits after the service, then we hustled off to the Bruckrainhof for a little musical by the Musik-AG (music club) from Stryker-Ann's school. Stryker played the violin and had two duets to sing. It was COLD! but a very nice evening.


Stryker-Ann "warming up" a bit


The family 'fore the tree

Christmas Day came quickly (we adults were up a bit later than usual, wrapping a few last-minute items) ... the presents were all opened and admired (or played with, or being worn, etc.), the stockings are currently being rifled for the last yum-yums, and the Christmas Tree looks so forlorn now ...


Stalking the stockings

It was a wonderful day! We arose at 6 AM (oh joy) but managed to keep the wolves at bay for another 15 minutes while daddy made the coffee and turned the lights on downstairs. Saint Nicolaus had come indeed, and our friends from the States had been likewise VERY generous, filling our hearts with gladness, joy, and blessings for the Season. Now that the day is past, we are into the 12 Days leading up to Epiphany. In this neck of the woods (Southern Germany) we will most likely be visited by the Three Kings on Epiphany and have our door marked with chalk (the marking will be some variation of "C B M 07" for Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, the traditional names of the Biblical Three Magi, followed by the year of the visit). This custom, which we first encountered last year at the Ferienwohnung, is usually associated with the Catholic areas of Germany, but also occurs in some other spots as well.

May this time of wonder find you all happy, healthy and filled with joy!

The Vosteen family

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Genau!

There is a word in Germany that you use when you:

a) understand something very well
b) want something done just so
c) are describing something that is exact

The word is “genau”. (gûh-now)

Here are some examples of “genau” used in conversation ...

Q: Der deutsche Kurs findet in Freiburg statt? A: Genau.
(The German class is in Freiburg? Exactly so.)

S: Ich wünsche diese Tabelle, die genau so gemalt wird.
(I want the table painted exactly this way)

S: Die Wand ist genau 2,5 Meter hoch.
(The wall is exactly 2.5 meters tall.)

And if you ever want to make sure that someone understands you, you ask “alles klar?” (is everything clear?) and the answer (if it is clear) is “genau”.

Ich trage die linke Socke auf dem linken Fuß. Genau.
( I wear the left sock on the left foot. Exactly so.)

and if I ever forget? I have my “genau” socks to help me.



Alles klar? Genau.

Monday, November 20, 2006

We like packages ...

I confess. I like getting packages. It is fun, it is a break from the normal bills and statements (which often require a little bit of translation) and they always have something for everyone. Sure, regular old mail is appreciated (especially) but packages just extend the fun!

This time, an unexpected offering from some friends back in the states revealed ...

Route 11 Chesapeake Crab Chips!


I love these things. I guess I shared ... I don't recall. Let's just say that for a brief moment I flashed back to my introduction to the (future) in-laws. I had grown up on the York River, and knew (thank you Mom and Dad) how to pick crabs. Actually, all seafood was a “known” factor in my life and as you will read this was a good thing. ... I arrived in Urbanna (on the Rappahannock River) for the first time, having not yet met anyone else in Madge’s family. She deposited me on the back porch with a “Paul, here’s my brother and my cousins, ya'll get aquainted ...” I can’t recall the exact words, but I knew I was ‘on my own’ ... and I underwent the “can he pick crabs?” inquisition. Obviously, I passed, but the taste of Old Bay is a perpetual reminder of that day.

so thank you, oh sender of Route 11 goodness! you made my day.

now, with Thanksgiving on the way, I just have to find someplace where I can get some fresh oysters ... hmmmmm

oh ... ps.,
we've added a guestbook feature. actually, it’s more of a guestMap. so locate it at the top of the left nav, find yourself, and drop us a line.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

St. Martin's Day

The children and I enjoyed another new cultural experience this week, St. Martinstag (St. Martin's Day). On Monday evening we gathered in the village center to hear the story of St. Martin. It was dark and the children had all of their homemade lanterns (yes, I made Wils' lantern), lit with real candles (the fire department was here-just in case), then a rider on a horse appeared and the story of St. Martin was acted out (see legend below). After the story we were led around the village by “St. Martin” and his horse, with the kindergarten teachers playing their guitars, singing songs about St.Martin. It felt like Christmas caroling as we walked on into the chilly night, although we were not singing carols about baby Jesus. But it was fun nonetheless and of course, they served food afterwards..... wurst, wafflen, heiss kinder-punch, gluwien, usw. (und so weiter - same as 'etcetera'). No pictures, I'm sorry , IT WAS DARK!!!

The legend of St. Martin:
Martin was a knight who lived in the 4th Century. The legend states that one night, he was entering a city when he saw a begger, who looked very cold. Out of pity, the knight drew his sword and clove his cloak in two, giving half to the beggar. That night, Martin had a dream (or vision) where Jesus appeared to him and said " I was the one you gave a piece of your cloak to. you are a good man, Martin, so one day you will become a Bishop."

Martin later became the Bishop of Tours, France (and there was something about some geese being involved in that ... but that would have to be subject of a different 'blog entirely).

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Paris in the Fall

Yes, I know. It has been a long time since the last post, and a lot has happened since then. Relatives have come and gone, school has started, work has picked up, the weather has changed (so has the time), we went to Paris, ... huh?

Now before you get your shorts in a wad over “you went to PARIS???!!??” please remember that it is part of Paul’s job to see what is happening in our neck of the woods (the greater Western Europe community), take photos and video, and record what we see - media-wise. Yes, working as a media specialist for an international company does have it’s benes.

So while the kids had a Fall break (Herbstferien - Herbst is ‘Fall’, ferien is ‘vacation’), we took the opportunity to go visit some friends in Paris. Our trip was tres bon, as we passed many lovely old chateaus on the way - below is a quick pic of the Chateau Chateauneuf, north of Beaune. We did not stop by on this trip, but it looks like it would be worth the visit ...



Arriving in Massy, on the outskirts of Paris, we visited with friends, then decided to go into the city for dinner. Our train ride brought us to the Notre Dame station, and upon exiting the Metro we we greeted with the following view ...



Dinner was very French, except that we had dinner around 5:30 or 6:00 ... the locals started coming in around 7 or 8. Wils and I had galettes, his with sausage and mine with sausage, mushrooms, garlic and a whole ton of cheese melted on top. Madge ordered the fish - deLISH! Stryker-Ann and Vaden opted for the cheese fondue, and as you can see, it was tasty and fun! ...



The next day, after a breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolat, we took in the more touristy places of Paris (the ones that everyone has to see) ...







Leaving our gracious hosts to complete a driving test (which is a pretty big deal in Paris) we headed into the city on day three to visit another friend who is studying at the Sorbonne (how cool is that?). She has a wonderful apartment near some lovely shops and markets on the southwest side of Paris. ...







It was great to just get out in the city and see the sights. The Basilica of the Sacré Couer in the northern part of Paris was very impressive. This was one of the churches that was obviously not bombed out during the Second World War ... not that the attempt was not made (according to a display inside, 10 bombs fell in very close proximity, but none hit the target - kinda makes ya think, ya know?) ...



Lunch at a little Italian café was followed by a stroll through an art market where everything from landscapes to caricatures could be had (and of course, a delightful Parisian singing to a hurdy-gurdy) ...





Paris is not a place to be seen in a hurry, and we must make another trip back to take in the museums and gardens, but this was a great introduction to the city.

Of course - we were glad to get back to the cats ...



oh, sorry, these cats ...

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Storming the castle?

No, these are not pictures from the Black Forest version of "Lord of the Flies" "Ewok Adventure". It's GRILL time for the Ki-Ku gruppe!

This past week was the summer camp (Summerlager) for the Kinder Kulture group here in Rümmingen. There were different activities each day: crafts, cooking (via an ingredient scavenger hunt through the village, some kids go door-to-door to "find" eggs, some get flour, some gather fruit, etc.), a "Zirkus" day (with a very good juggler who taught the kids some tricks), fun water-games, and finally the preparation for the grillen (authentic German word for cook-out)! Our group was off to the Schwartzwald to gather wood for the fire and sticks for grilling wurst and cooking dough (Stockbrot - literally "stick-bread"). The adults went off the trail to cut small (usually) saplings to make the grilling-sticks and the kids used their pocket knives to trim the sticks to sharp points. Amazingly, no eyes were put out and no-one got skewered on the hike back down the hill.

Meantimes, while Madge and Wils were being Ki-Ku campers, the girls were down in the Southern Alps of Switzerland, practicing their Schweitze-Deutsch ... and land hockey! We'll let them tell the story themselves on this, or their own blogs, but we drove down some equipment last week when the camp started. The pics below do not do the true experience justice, but they give a taste ...





oooo...purty

wait, is that the guard-rail?

wer hat richtungsweg?*

and just where does that go?

ah, that way ... huh?

oh, so that is a guard-rail ...

and here we are ...

*in Germany, or Switzerland, the bus ALWAYS has the right-of-way. The van backed up (under excellent direction from a local) and the bus slid by (literally, centimeters to spare) and we proceeded ...

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Song of the Poppy Fairy

As a family back in the States, we so enjoyed from books the art of Cicely Mary Barker. Now we have a chance to actually see some of the flowers of which she wrote her poetry and drew about. Enjoy this poem by her from Flower Fairies of the Summer, the photos by Madge.

THE SONG OF THE POPPY FAIRY

The green wheat's a-growing,
The lark sings on high;
In scarlet silk a-glowing,
Here stand I.

The wheat's turning yellow,
Ripening for sheaves;
I hear the little fellow
Who scares the bird-thieves.



Now the harvest's ended,
The wheat-field is bare;
But still, red and splendid,
I am there.









(please click on pics to enlarge)

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Notes from Camp

With permission from Vaden I am sharing these notes from her experience at camp. This was a week long trip at a youth hostel with her class. So she had Deustch learning 24/5. The schools here do this with each class every year.

To Mom for Monday, July 10,2006
Dear Mom,
Today is Monday my first day here and where is "here"? Well, it's past Todtmoos and Uburg is a very small village near where we are staying.
We just got back from a 4 1/2 hour hike to a lake and it was really cool, only the walk home was kind of hard, but it was hard for everyone. We were going up a very big mountain, and got some pix over the cliff :)
Love and miss you and I'll write everyday,
Love, Vaden
p.s today on our hike we met the best dog. It was a redish color and the owner let us play tug of war with him. :)

For Mom for Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Dear Mom,
Today we went on a really, really, really long hike. First we walked up a big hill to get to a bus stop, then we rode the bus untill we got to a large lake (But I think it was a river) and we all thought we would stop right there and start to swim but Herr Klatt said let's go a little farther, this was about 10:00, then we hiked 9K, 9K!!!! and then we were finally at the place to swim. We hiked the 3K to take a tour boat back to the dock where our bus would come back. And then the bus driver saw we were all very tired and asked why, so Herr Klatt said and then somebody said to a friend that we would have to walk home too, and the driver said,"I'll take you to your house", so that was awesome and I think he got thanked a billion times :)
Miss You,
Vaden
P.S. There lots of horses around where we are staying.

to: Mom for Wednesday July, 12, 2006
Dear Mom,
Today we went to St. Blaisen, a town 5K away and when we got there we were given a list of questions and to find the answers we had to go all over town, asking people, looking at things, that sort of thing (oh and we were in groups) but the cool thing is that there were several tour buses from England there and a couple of the people we asked only spoke English so I used my translation skills and we got several answers, right answers!!
But the bad thing is on the hike back one of the boys got a really bad headache and he had no waterbottle so I think it was mostly from dehydration (or however ya spell it) but I had forgotten mine too, but I had bought a bottle of water so they asked to have it and then I gave it and then we got to a cold drinking fountain and filled our bottles there. But the worst thing is about 15 kids went the wrong way at a fork, but they got back safely, they just had to climb a bigger mountain. (I wasn't one of those kids) :)
Love ya,
Vaden

to Mom for Thursday July 13, 2006

Dear Mom,
Today was very cool, but several boys were playing soccer and one boy accidently hit one of the twins (Benny) on the ear and it hurt so much Herr Klatt took him to a doctor, and it turns out he has in his right ear a hole in his eardrum and is now very senestive to sound, so that put a damper on the day, but we must go to bed n'all, I'll tell you more later. :)
Love and see you tomorrow,
Vaden

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

How to build a rolla bolla

What??

Ok, if this post title causes confusion, move on (or as we say over here "build a bridge and get over it"). This is as much about community building as it is project work. :-)

The second week of August is also the second week of the Sommerferien (Summer vacation) for the kids in Baden Württemberg. In Rümmingen (our home town), the younger kids have a week-long camp. We are going to be helping out the Ki-Ku group (Kinder Kulture) with this camp. Madge is helping with the Zirkus (circus) day and “volunteered” to provide a rolla bolla. Now for those not in-the-know, a rolla bolla is an old-time balancing device; simple in it's design and function, a bit tricky to master. (For a good look at someone who knows it well, check out the site of Signora Bella. Her photos page has her on the rolla bolla - look at photo 3). So. After a little online shopping I discovered that we could buy one for 50£, or ... TOOL TIME!

A little more searching on the ‘net produced enough photos of a decent rolla bolla to give me both dimension and design. A trip to the local Hornbach (think “German Home Depot”) provided the necessary items, and two hours of work produced the final product. One of the great blessings we have in our house here in Germany is the owner left a few power tools (insert obligatory Tim Allen grunts) and I put the table saw to work making grooves for foot traction on the board.

What? You want more detail than that? OK. here ‘tis.

Shopping list:
1 30x80cm board (I used a laminated shelving board. The lamination gives it strength and does not have warp). 75cm would be a good length too.
2 2x2x29.5cm pieces of wood for stoppers (to keep the bolla from shooting off the rolla. I used some scrap sections that I had laying about)
6 wood screws (no more than 3cm long)
1 30cm wide roll of rubber shelving padding (you can also just use rubber sheeting, but I could not find this)
1 30cm section of PVC pipe. I used a DIA 11cm with a .5cm thick wall. Actually, I started with a thinner pipe, but it flexed a bit too much with a 12 yr old on it, so I opted for the thicker pipe in the final version. The best possible “rolla” would actually be made of solid wood, as Signora Bella has it, but we're going for value here.
Drill-press or hand drill
Staple Gun
Table saw (or equivalent)

What to do (this is so easy).
Using the table saw, cut .3cm deep grooves the width of the board on both ends (I spaced mine about .5cm apart for a section of 23cm of the ends of the board).
Sand the board smooth (to get rid of jaggies from the table saw)
Flip the board and on the other side (opposite your “tread cuts”) lay down the rubber shelving padding.
In the 2 2x2 stopper sections, drill 3 pilot holes.
Screw the stopper sections down over the rubber padding on each end of the board, making sure that the padding is taut between the stoppers.
Staple the padding down in a few spots to prevent slippage.

So. The 50£ cost to buy versus the 7€ we spent in materiel, plus the two hours of labour, means that I saved a few euros :-)

Finishing:
A couple coats of polyurethane or wood varnish would not be out of line (before assembly) to keep it nice and neat. We may disassemble and paint the final product for the circus theme.

Use:
Put the bolla on the rolla and rolla bolla along!

Parts:


Final product in use (note use of ‘safety stairs’ for early learning):

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Birthday, America!

We celebrated the 4th with a cookout today. Hamburgers and hot-dogs on a grill. Madge made up some deviled eggs, baked beans and broccoli salad. MMMM MMM MMM.

It was a lovely day!

... then we watched the WM game ...

Italy advances! Germany had so many chances to score, and missed every time. Ah well. Italy would not be at this point in the WM if their team was no good, right? So I guess I'll have to pull for France, as they are right next door, anyhoo.

Congrats to the Italy-Malta team. You know who you are ...

Friday, June 30, 2006

World cup update ...


GERMANY ADVANCES!

I know that most folks are following the World Cup pretty closely on their own and do not need to be reminded ... but ...

GERMANY ADVANCES!!!

Argentina gave them a good scare today. The Sud Amerikaners scored first, and threatened to seal it up several times before Germany managed to put a ball in. With the score tied at one apiece, the game went into extra time, then an additional 40 minutes, then finally into 11m kicks ... and ...

GERMANY ADVANCES!!!!!!!

ok, we're all abit excited around here, and the cars are all honking their horns and the neighbourkids are riding their bikes and ringing their bells. It's going to be a long night!

... now we just have to wait and see it England can pull it off against Portugal ...

Monday, June 26, 2006

A wundervoll happening 

Some days you reflect and think how wonderful God has been to place you where you are and at this precise time. Saturday was such a day. We arose fairly early to travel to Swizterland for our first field hockey mini tourney. (Yes we are living in Germany but Basel has the closest team, just 20 minutes from us.) Vaden was to play in at least three matches. She just started the sport the last week of April, is catching on quickly and seems to enjoy it. Wils and Stryker-Ann also play with their own age groups.
To say the day was a success for us personally is an understatment. Vaden started the first half field game and looked like a deer caught in the head lights...no idea where to go or what to do.  (Field Hockey Momma here had to bite her tongue more than a few times and be reminded that children are not born with 5 years training in sport, no matter how genetically predisposed they may be, ha-ha to me) the second game was a great improvement, and the third 25 minute game revealed a changed player –running around the field attacking balls and actually stealing a couple. It was a miracle to me.
 And so now for the rest of my story:
While the kids are doing their thing there is alot of time for the parents to do their thing, which happens to be cheering and talking.  Ok, we have only been in Germany since January and our language skills are growing but not fluent, and then we are in Switzerland, where they speak Schweitzer-Deutsch, not Hoch-Deutsch (High-German)....well it gets better.....one of the first ladies we meet at hockey practice a couple of months ago introduced herself as Fiona.....she is Scottish, but is married to a Frenchman, speaking French in the home, but is also fluent in Swiss-German, which her bi-lingual children speak. Another family recently relocated to Basel from Uraguay, their daughter speaks Spanish and English, no German yet (Vaden says she helps her out sometimes with the German). Another girl on this team is orginally from Chile, but only remembers a little Spanish, her German mother is fluent in German, of course, but also Spanish and English.  Needless to say I have plenty of people to practice my language skill with who can understand me in several ways. Well, the miracle comes in to wrap this up with the hockey coach himself, this young sweet man speaks the Schweitzer-Deutsch of Basel, Hoch Deutsch, English, Spanish and Italian. He uses all of his langagues in each practice with his players. How wundervoll it that!! How and where in all the world, except by God's hand, would/could we be placed here to experience this?

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

confusing nationalities

The World Cup has been going full-tilt for 11 days, and we're enjoying every moment we catch. It's funny, tho, how we decide which team to cheer for. We cheer for Poland, 'cause we've got friends in Poland, then we cheer for Ecuador, 'cause we've got friends in Ecuador, then we cheer for Mexico, then for Costa Rica, then for Ghana ... it can get a little confusing who to cheer for. But we really have to take a step back and make the decision about where our loyalties (at least in Fußball) lie, and have come to the decision ...

GERMANY IS GOING ALL THE WAY!!!!

There. I've said it. Are there any other folks from the farm willing to put their adopted national pride on the line?

The national fever has caught us up at last, and we're proud to be flying the black, red and gold. Yes, we also pull for the red, white, and blue ('cause we have friends in France and the Netherlands as well) but as they say in Germany "es ist egal" (it's all equal). I used to like watching the soccer matches in the states (when they were on) but it's just different here.


(Banner from FOTW Flags of the World website at http://www.fotw.net/flags/)

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Hey, we said Brunnenfest, not Brennenfest!*

The fountain festival almost became something else. Sorry we only got one photo, but we arrived after the cleanup and then the batteries died on the camera... so here is the run down.

Our little town of Rümmingen (how still we see thee lie - sorry, I could not resist the Christmas in June reference!) had prepared and set up booths and tents for the Brunnenfest this weekend. Early on Saturday afternoon, we heard sirens (those great European sirens, you know, the one's you hear in all the eurofilms NeeNah NeeNah NeeNah). We heard them go by, and thought "well, someone got too rowdy, already". But no. One of the booths had caught fire from the grill, and before they could get the portable extinguisher going, the propane tank caught. They quickly left the booth (wise choice) and the tank exploded, engulfing the entire booth and scorching a nearby tent. Here is the aftermath (after the Feuerwehr guys did their thing):

you can just make out the flattened charred remains of the booth over the boys right shoulder. The damage to the tent is rather obvious. Praise item - NO ONE WAS INJURED! and the house next door was not even touched! wow. If this had happened two hours later, there would have been MAJOR injuries to a lot of people.

We thought that would be the end of the food from that group (which would have been a bummer, as they were making the gyros), but strike it up to German ingenuity and efficiency, there was a new booth on the same spot (they removed the damaged tent) within 45 minutes of the clean-up. So we were able to have our gyro lunch on Sunday (woo hoo). It was amazing to see those folks get it done.

Which brings us to Sunday. The Ki-Ku Club (Kinder Kultur - or children's culture - club) was handling the watergames, face-painting and picture-drawing contest. The theme was "Under the Sea", but the face painting was whatever the kids wanted. I (Paul) got into it as one of the "Profismalern" (professional painters) for the Schminken (face painting, actually "make-up"). Actually, I was volunteered, but that's quite alright (Madge can handle the next program!). The first customer (Kunde) was a young lady who just happened to ask for the most complex face in the book (the lion)! I figured, well, if I can do that one, the rest will be easy...
Tigers, pirates, faeries, and a shark were to follow. The other Profismaler in the group (who is also the Ki-Ku organizer) did ladybugs (Maikäfer), zebras, and undersea-scene faces. It was fun!

Wils, of course, got soaked in the Wasserspielen. Pictures say more than words, right?
So here goes:


Kinderschminken und Haarbändchen (face-paint and hair-wrapping combo)


Maler at work (ein Tiger)


Art for art's sake


Wasserspielen! Note the waterballoons (Wasserbomben) about to be unleashed. What joy!

The best part of my day was holding the mirror up for the kids to see their faces after they were painted. Their eyes would light up, and invariably a smile would erupt when they saw how they were 'transfigured' by some colour and simple brushwork. All in all, a very rewarding day.

*Brennen - literally "burn"

Friday, June 16, 2006

Always a party in Rümmingen ...

We love our town. Ok, it's more of a village. An 'Ort' ('place', auf Deutsch) if you will. It is small, and we like that. We like the Dorfladen (it's on the 'net!!! check it out!) 'cause it's like the village hub. We like the excursion train that 'toots' through every weekend. We like the people we have met and the places we have been. And, hey, what's not to like? These folks like to have parties! We (that is the collective, village, we) are preparing for the Brunnenfest that takes place this weekend. It's a two day festival to celebrate the fountains in town (we have two). Some towns have more than that, good on them, we like ours. Back at the beginning of May we had a big Maibaum (May tree) party to celebrate putting up ... um ... the ... er ... Maibaum (of course). Pics included here:

Jezt kommt der Maibaum!


A permanent hole just for the Maibaum!


Decoration is key ...


Up it goes ...


A final adjustment ...


Music for the occasion!


I think I need to take my whistles with me tomorrow for the Brunnenfest, you never know when some Irish music may be needed in a German village ...

Saturday, June 03, 2006

language, ha,ha No.107+

I am almost finished my first course of language classes. I will have finished Book One of three books, however I am going to try out what I have learned for a couple of months, then go back to pick up Book 2 in October. My plans are to rejoin a Nordic walking group (they have breakfast together afterwards, yum) and then start in with a ladies bible/book study. All in Deutsch.
The children continue to grow by leaps and bounds in their language and knowledge of living in DE, so...
Here is the HA,HA :
We had a chimney sweep by the house last week (it is required to have that service preformed yearly). I went out to greet him and said "Hallo", which was enough for him to stop in his tracks and piece together words to say that he did not speak English too well. One word was all I said! No problem for me, I don't speak German that well, either!
Fortunately the kids were here and they translated all he and I needed to say to each other, plus helped me to figure out that we did not need the gas on at all in the summer ($$$) and looked at the hotwater heater and turned that down as well. I did try out some of the things I had learned in class and the sweep was good natured enough to help out with the "der, die, or das".
The kids are off from school for Ascension Day, May 25th, until June 13th (including the Pentecost Holiday, June 5th).

Sunday, May 21, 2006

So what is your church like?

I admit, we get this question fairly often...both from folks here, and our friends back home. It's taken us a while to nail this one down, mostly because church here is SO totally different from what we know/knew in the states. Take a deep breath - this a longer post than we usually get out.

Let's start with the building style.
It's a barn.

Literally, that is what it is. But before you think about all the barns you know, consider this. Barns here in South Germany are generally rather nice. This particular barn is owned by a farm that produces apples, grapes, cherries, etc. Not a dairy barn.
We meet in an upstairs loft area that is rather large. Old theater rows are used for seating (attached to plywood bases for easy maneuvering). There is an advanced sound and overhead display system for the services and even a translation service (for us Amerikaner who do not quite catch all of the sermon text).
Downstairs from this area is a restaurant (run by the farm - it's called the "Funfschilling" - literally "Five Shilling") and what is known as KIGO-land. This is the children's area and also where we shared meals with the church community. I use the past tense there, as the meals have stopped in preparation for the Summer break - and also to get ready for a move to a new facility in September.

Summer Break? um, yeah. Most FEG's around here have a break for the Summer. Not uncommon, in fact. FEG, remember, is the Frei Evangelische Gemeinde (free evangelical community) and they encourage the use of small groups - to the extent that when the services stop next week (on Sunday), the expectation is that worship will continue through September in small groups. We are looking into a group that is English-speaking (not being 100% certain of our ability to function in a German-speaking Bible study). Once things start back up in September, there will be a LOT going on. Look for the link at the end of this mssg for info on FEG-Rebland (all in German - welcome to our world, hehehe).

Offering plates.
At the opening of the service, after a song or two has been sung by the praise band, two bags are passed along the rows. One bag is empty, for offering. The other has popcorn in it. Kettle-corn, actually. Some folks in the mission community refer to FEG-Rebland as the "popcorn church".

Music.
Quite good, actually. A praise band meets every week to go over music for the service. There are many 'standard' praise and worship songs sung. Not "Come to Jesus in whole notes" (a reference for the DBC choir director - hi Dave!!! WE MISS YOU!!!!) but generally a really good, solid song. Rock, more often than not (Dave, I know you've added drums to some aspects of the service, now if you can just add more cowbell ...). Of course, the majority of the songs are in German (sometimes with English subtitling, but more often without). There will usually be a guest group or singer at the very start. This week it was a trio, rapping in German, about family and friends. The sermon was on relationship, so that worked.

Youth Group.
This is one area that these folks are nailing pretty well. They encourage the youth to meet in small groups for Bible study (all auf Deutsch, so we are handling this at home for our two oldest, until their German is better enough to dive in) and then they have two tracks, based on age, for the youth. Younger youth have the "Big Games" (BG) every weekend. This is divided by gender (Big Games for Girls, Big Games for Guys) with one joint BIG Big Games each month where guys and girls get together. For both groups, it is more game-oriented. Fußball, mostly. This past weekend the girls went to see "Asterix and the Vikings" in the Kino in Lörrach. I was rather proud that both my girls went to this all-German, no subtitled movie and had a blast. Understood it, too. (And my oldest brought a friend from her school, which was cool). I've attached a couple of pics from the previous BG for an idea of how it looks.

Interesting thing about the BG - no Bible study! hmmmm. It's all about the friendships and relationships - which is how Jesus began his ministry, so why not start that way as well? It is actually a VERY good model for us to follow. As a community outreach, you can get more youth involved just by offering something for them to do together, then get them into smaller groups as you go along. A different model for growing community and discipling than what we are used to, but it seems to be working pretty well in this church.

A quick note: the pics are not from the church, but from another building - the Tonwerk - just down the road. Kind of a rustic place to hang out for the youth.

Sermon.
Interesting. Fresh. German. We have to get this through translation, so some things are literally lost, but the young man who speaks most often (I say young, he's 33) does try to put in a fairly balanced message of biblical truth, contemporary info, and sound theology. I can't be critical on the last bit, as my gifts lie in the realm of Web site design and art, not in hermeneutics or eschatology :-) He's generally pretty good. Other speakers have been likewise gifted.

Does this answer the question about "what is your church like?" probably not entirely. The very word, church, over here is geared so much toward a structure. It is a building (eine Kirche) and not a community. That is why the G part of FEG (the "community" part) is so important. We live in one community, worship in another, work in a third, learn in a fourth. The idea of interlocking rings suggests itself, and it is where those communities overlap that our real work lies.

[for more about where we go each Sunday, check out feg-rebland.de]

Untitled ... ... while running errands

I finally have something that I feel is blog worthy. I have been absent from blogging for various reason, most of which have to do with time margins and then also the problem of too many wonderful things to write about or not enough and if I were an actual honest to goodness writer they would have been wonderfully transformed onto blog "paper". 
Well I have one for you ... I am  running errands, you know dropping off kids, picking up kids, going to the grocery store. That errand running busy stuff, when on the radio comes this song ... we are living in Germany now, right?, so you would think that I listen to German radio music, if only it were that simple and that easy. The music that comes over the airwaves in our neck o' the woods is a combo of American TIMEWARP 70's and 80's with some German pop thrown in and German DJ's for the news , traffic and weather, because we are in Germany, right (?). The Germans love this type of music. Hey, it's good for me. I get to embarass my kids by singing and actually knowing all the words to "Joy to the World", no, not the Christmas carol, but I do know all the words to that one, but I mean "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog", you remember that one? ...and others. Well, I'm winding down a road when I hear this twang of a song come on and I have never heard it before , so I turn it up ... it is one of the campyest 70's/80's songs I believe I have ever heard and I needed to ask myself where was I? which decade?, which continent?, which planet even? ... then I remember that only in Germany would I hear in English, while winding at 70 kph in a Ford mini-van, through beautiful senic vineyards, this long lost ballad by Stan Ridgeway, "Camouflage".*
Ain't life grand? I laughed till my sides hurt and I even sat in the car in the driveway till the song finished ... just a snapshot of our life here so far....
*ps...it is a song about a marine in '65 in the jungles of Veeitnaam, and how this soilder, "Camouflage," saves him from the enemy. The soldier returns to camp safely, only to find that the person who helped him, had been lying dead in a tent for a week......
pss..for the record I love campy songs

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Herr Mutter

That's Mr. Mom, in German (or as near as I can make it).
Madge has been in language school going on 5 weeks now. Over the halfway point and looking for that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel ...

Basically, what this means is that I have been trying to cover her bases as well as my own, 'cause frankly she is not much able or willing to take care of house and kids when she has a ton of homework. And, ya know what? I'm not quite sure how mom's do it all (I certainly appreciate her more!) and I'm positive that I do not do nearly as good a job at it as she does. The kids have been great, real troopers, although I think that the PBJ's get old pretty quick. Being the cheauffer, short-order cook, house-cleaner (not a good one, mind you) and yard-boy (ok, I'm good at that) is rather exhausting.

I know that Madge is looking forward to getting back to her routine of walking our son to kindergarten, hanging out with the other moms (and understanding the conversations a little better) and generally being able to relax for a change.

So this is me saying "Happy Belated Mother's Day" to all the mom's out there (on the field and off). You've got my admiration and understanding!!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Going 'home'

Took a trip up to see the relatives. North Germany is flat, aside from the dikes, and very windy. More pics to come, but this is just a sampling...


Germany meets Ireland - sightreading by watching fingers on the accordian

The family at the town limits.

Running up the dike.