whopiee sledding! do you remember the JOY!

OK>.......so I am catching up on some lost video from the passed! enjoy! hey this is acting as my scrapbook...enjoy the hoots at the end of the run..remember the JOY of a long hill? I do, but my hills were not close to being this long!

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, German Law Tells You How

04/18/2006

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

German Law Tells You How

It can be easy to annoy your neighbors in Germany. A few too many barbeques can be all it takes. To guarantee harmony, muzzle your mutts and follow these simple rules.

REUTERS

A fence protecting you from your neighbors is good. A little consideration is better.

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”

(Leviticus, xix.18.)

“Love your neighbour, yet pull not down your hedge”

(G. Herbert)

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

(Robert Frost)

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

(Robert Frost)

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

(Robert Frost)

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Our daughter had a sleep-over party with 11 11-year-olds a few years ago. It was a beautiful summer evening and the girls ran and played and made lots of noise, as kids will do, until we corralled them at about 10 p.m. The next morning they were all up and out again by 9 a.m.

That’s when our neighbor came by and complained about the noise, saying it was excessive. I immediately apologized and let him know all the trouble-makers would be carted away within the hour. As a goodwill gesture, I even tried to hush up the girls as best I could until their parents could arrive, as planned, at 10.

Worried about having annoyed the rest of the locals as well, when I saw the neighbor who lives on the other side of our house, I decided to apologize to him too. “Oh gosh, no,” he said. “That was wonderful. My wife and I really enjoyed hearing all those children playing. That was something really special.”

The German civil code states that a home-owner should enjoy his property in such a way as not to have any excessive deleterious effects on the neighbors. This rather flexible rule has landed many German neighbors in court in an effort to define exactly what “excessive” is. Some issues, tangible things like trees or bushes, are clear cut. But what defines excessive noise? Scottish bagpipes? Barking dogs? Children? What if your neighbor can’t stand the smell of grilled meat? Would that be considered excessive too?

The German courts see thousands upon thousands of “neighbor cases” every year. Some seem quite petty and almost humorous: A complaint about croaking frogs in the neighbor’s pond ended with a victory for the frogs. They’re part of nature, the court decided, and the sleepless neighbour needs to get ear plugs. The decision from a complaint about a barking dog in Cologne was a bit more nuanced. The mutt may bark for 30 minutes a day, in 10-minute intervals. As funny as the cases may seem, rest assured that behind them are weeks of arguments and a fair amount of insults being tossed back and forth across the picket fence.

Should you end up living in Germany, however, knowing how to deal with the neighbors is vitally important. The following is a brief list of the ordinances and rules you need to know:

QUIET TIME (Ruhezeit): Quiet time is from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. and all day Sundays and holidays. A little quiet snoring is allowed, but house and garden appliances and machinery are off limits. No midnight clothes washing or Sunday afternoon lawn mowing.

The southern German state of Hesse used to have a legally mandated quiet time from 1 to 3 p.m. every afternoon. It was repealed last year, but many will still ask you to keep it down during this time. You are, of course, fully within your rights to ignore such requests -- after all, the law is on your side should you want to practice drums in the garden after lunch -- but keep in mind that you have to live with these people.

If you have any specific questions, like: Can I use my brand new Super X-G ACME chainsaw to trim daisies on sunny summer afternoons?, ask the Ordnungsamt representative (usually located in your local city hall).

WASHING YOUR CAR: Generally not allowed because of the chemicals in the soap seep into the ground water. Still, you can get away with it (use dish soap) as long as none of your neighbors complain.

BARBEQUES: The general rule is that you’re only allowed to grill once a month. Of course many of us grill much more often in the summer months. What’s important is that the smoke and smell does not bother your neighbors. If you live in close quarters, perhaps just let your neighbors know when you’re firing up the grill so they can close the windows, or move your grill to the other side of the garden.

PARTIES: Generally you are allowed to make noise outside until 10 p.m. Again, it may not be “excessive”. The “rubber-rulebook” also says you may have bigger parties up to four times a year. If you’re planning a major bash, perhaps it would be a good idea to tell the neighbors ahead of time, or better yet, invite them too.

SIDEWALK AND STREET: The homeowner (or renter) is responsible for sweeping the sidewalk and street in front of the house. You also need to pull out the weeds in the sidewalk. (Note: Keep the front of your house clean and tidy -- it will make your neighbors happy.)

SNOW: You must shovel and sand/salt your sidewalk between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. If someone slips and breaks their leg in front of your house during this time, you will be liable. (Note: if you have an elderly neighbor, go ahead and shovel their walk too. You’ll gain a bunch of brownie points for the next grill party.)

BOTTOM LINE: You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your neighbors. It’s the luck of the draw -- they can be great or grouchy (and all you need is one grouchy geezer to make life miserable). Be friendly and helpful. Avoid conflicts if you can. Compromise. And most important of all: talk to them. If you don't, chances are they won't.

Contributed by Rasa Hiob, a self-proclaimed "lifer" in Germany originally from New York. Rasa has been in Germany for 19 years and lives in Bad Soden.

Füller shopping

On Saturday, Wils reminded us that he needed a Füller for school on Monday. Thank goodness he said something on Saturday, as all shops are closed on Sunday.

So off we go to Müller's, a local general store, that has a great school supply department, to buy a left handed fountain pen. At the store there are many choices, but the lefties are harder to find so we ask for help. Now asking for help in most US general stores, is tantamount to asking "just show me where the stuff I'm looking for is located" and getting a reply to that request:"over here". Well, in this store, it is not the case. When we asked for help, the saleslady, came over asking if this Wils' first Füller and then slides out a glass table top from the sales rack and precedes to gather several pens for Wils to try. I am snapping pictures of this poor lady to document this cultural exchange, while I know she is thinking we are the craziest Americans she knows.

Wils got his first Füller and is up and off today, after a nice Easter break to give it a try on school work.

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Do you need translation?

Sometimes we all need a little help ... with life, with living in a foreign country, in dealing with cultural differences ... and church is no exception. So, to that point, we sometimes partake of the English translation available at our local Gemeinde ... especially when our main leader is preaching. He is a fantastic speaker, and brings a new insight to so many aspects of the Gospel based on his own personal background (he was raised Muslim) ... ok, I've gotten a little off-track ... back on track.

Our preacher talks fast, and makes a lot of side-comments that are all really interesting, so we do the half-and-half translation (one ear listening in German, the other through the headphones in English) to make sure we get the full-impact. This morning, we seated ourselves on the back-row (English translation row) and got ready to do the split personality thing when one of the workers in the church came by and asked us "will you be needing the translation?" Nothing unusual about that, right? Um. He asked us in German, and I swear that for a moment I had a complete brain dysfunction. Do I respond in English? Then obviously I understood him and don't need translation. Do I respond in German? Obviously, translation is not required. The "deer in the headlights" look should have been enough to answer, but fortunately our daughter (fluent little thing that she is) spoke up and said "yes, they will need translation" ... danke.

Granted, the guy who asked us that question was not stupid, but this was SO much like a Bill Engvall routine that I almost lost it.

Vitra Design, George Nelson

As we are in the midst of Spring Break and we have so many museums in the neighborhood, went today to see this world famous design museum: The Vitra Design Museum.
It's focus is on modern design of architecture and furniture. There are no permanent exhibits so part of the excitement is to see what is new. Today we saw George Nelson // Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher.
It was really a good exhibit to see because it was all so familiar. At least Paul and I felt it familiar, as being children of the 1960's, one could not have been living in that time period with out having seen his work. For example, he was the designer of the GULF logo. George Nelson was also a main influence in the design of the modern office, with his work stations, color and surfaces. His work is all over the 1950's, 60's and even onto the seventies. He seems to me to be the forerunner to the Ikeas of the world. So in honor of his work we zipped right over to Ikea to see how the 2000's view of compact space design compares to the 1960's. Except for the colors it is pretty much the same...sleek surfaces, metal frames and pleasing use of space.
For a look at the museum here is a link:
www.design-museum.de/museum/weil/ausstellung/index.php

I found a terrific quote by him:
"I was feeling pretty smug and looking forward to a tranquil life as an academic because it seemed all so safe and pleasant. But if you are lucky, you are not allowed to stay safe. You're thrown into jeopardy." - George Nelson, 1977

music from Schüpfheim, CH

We had cousins in the area so we made the short trip over the Swiss border to visit and hear some great music.
Here is a video of the Midlothean choir in the Schüpfheim church April 5, 2009...Beulah Land. Can you pick out Tommy and Kidder?

Easter Greetings

treehouse

Since we left Richmond, the kids have been needing a place to call their own ... I had built them a tower in the backyard back at our old house, and while they have had a pretty good time playing in the yard, something was missing ...

A couple of trees in the back of the house were decent candidates for some extra work, but as I did not want to impact the fruit trees, the birch was the best candidate.

the birch tree in question (planning shot)

Man at work

the new owners move in. It is really more of a platform built around the tree rather than IN the tree ... but they are not complaining!

cleaning crew at work - just need two more guardrails to be absolutely safe, then we're done ...

snowflakes March 2008

The Big show! This Dance school preforms a recital every three years, so they save up all of their dances and energy for one big show. "Lotte und die Reisegeist"...."Lotta and the Travel Jenie" is the result of their work. Lotta has a dream, the Jenie comes to grant her wishes and she wants to travel. During her travels to Africa and the North Pole, an evil Ice Queen steals her little dog. In order to get her dog back she must find the special crystal. So off she goes and ends up in America, dancing with Indians, then to New York and ends in Chicago. All along this journey we are treated to various dances ranging from the little first graders as bluebirds to the Adult tap and ladies flamenco dances with the ballerinas, hip-hoppers, breakdancers, jazz and modern in between. A nice variety and for the most part very good choreography .

The only differnce I could see from this and our experiences in the Sates was the language...it is a comfort to know that kids are the same the world over, they just may communicate a little differently, because they certainly move the same.

Easter Tradtions in Germany

I am borrowing from "The Week in Germany" an email newsletter sent out by the German Embassy in DC.

www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Culture/06/Easter/__Easter.html

www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Culture/06/Easter/Roots.html

www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Culture/06/Easter/Eggs__bunnies.html

www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Culture/06/Easter/Regional.html