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Peter and his wife Karola and baby Sam came to Bremen for a short but totally wonderful visit this past weekend! Luckily the weather cooperated for us enough to take a walking tour of town and have lunch on the beach-y bank of the Weser.
Peter and Sam at brunch time…
These blue eyes gunna break some hearts…
Well, maybe once he learns how to wipe his mouth 
A “Rundfahrt” or “tour” around Bremen… 
Some awesome Sam-appropriate graffiti on a building in Viertel (artists quarter)
Doesn’t Seth wear this baby well?
Guess he doesn’t look bad here either…
It was an amazing weekend. Peter and Karola are such super-amazing parents. It was so wonderful to have them stay with us in our little place. Sam is totally beautiful and will be a genious!!
Oh, and last week I finished my first sweater. Very simple and for a munchkin (another friend with a new baby), but looking pretty good!
Not bad, huh? I guess I can start taking orders.
Hope everyone has a nice week and safe travels! oxoxox
So. Gym locker rooms are different here than in the U.S. Although I haven’t been a full member at a gym or spent a lot of time in locker rooms outside of school, perhaps my previous experience puts me at a loss. Here’s what we are dealing with here:
When Seth and I signed up to work-out at Eisenhower gym here in Bremen, we had no idea the great service, excellent results and friendly staff that we were going to experience. We really enjoy going there 3 or more times a week. We know all the employees, and work out with many of the same people, who are always very kind.
But how kind should a person be when they are completely naked, their towel around their head putting on lotion with one leg up on the bench of the locker next to yours “Uh, hallo, hier is mein Schließfach…” “Excuse me, but this is my locker.” Can you please scoot your naked butt a little further down and maybe turn the other direction with your leg up like that while you are coating yourself with lotion so I can just throw my coat in here and RUN AWAY….
Even speaking in the direction of such a naked stranger seems inappropriate to me, let alone looking in their direction or holding a whole conversation with them. It is quite fascinating to hear the naked ladies just carrying on conversations with each other in their birthday suits like it isn’t a big deal.
My eyes have been burned a few times when, upon first entering the locker room, there stands right across from the entrance, a half naked woman, towel around waist, boobs swinging freely, drying her hair in front of the “wall ‘o mirrors”.
Where in our social development as Americans did we lose this sense of comfort with nudity? Seth thinks it was those Puritans really messed us up. Although shocking to me when I encounter it without preparing myself, I find it really wonderful that they can still feel secure and comfortable enough with their gym colleagues (who may also be work, or school colleagues too–eek) to bare it all. Sport, and wellness are strong in tradition here. Wellness including things like spa, sauna, massage, all those sense-based and homeopathic types of remedies. Also tanning is really popular here, especially among retiree-types, which is also different from the U.S. Our gym probably has an average age of 55-60 and there are 6 very serious tanning beds in the locker room. We also have what I think is a co-ed sauna, though I can’t say exactly since we haven’t really experienced it first hand yet.
I just remember in High School, and Junior High, no one ever set foot in the showers. I am so sorry for our poor teachers who had to endure the stink after gym. There were a majority of us who opted to take gym as a summer school class, just to avoid this problem ourselves. Considering how much time it would take me to get showered and ready in the morning, there was no way you could replicate that in the 10 minutes you are given to change during the class period within the regular school day.
> Also, who wants to even think about those big banks of shower heads poking out of the cold, tiled wall in the huge open room which looks less inviting than an examination room in a morgue. At least in college they had finally accommodated the majority of us prude, shy, self-conscious students with individual stalls where you could shower in relative privacy.
Why are children programmed to laugh at nude art? Why do some adults squirm or giggle in the same way when they, too, observe even the most famous of nude sculptures like David?I guess until I can think more about the root of this idea, I will be keeping my eyes lowered, stare at my shoes, and continue to cower facing my locker, fully clothed, while the others fully enjoy their whole wellness and training experience.
Hi everyone,Yesterday and today I had really tough but enlightening experiences at the Ausländerbehörde. This is the office where people from other countries go to get their work and residence visas. Because I had been hired by Berlitz language school to teach, I needed to get my Visa changed so that I was able to legally work.
Yesterday I went in, and the secretary looked at my passport and visa, I told her my story, she went to talk to a colleague, came back and she said, “no, actually the type of visa you have says that you can’t work until it runs out and you renew it.” I was so frustrated. How could the answer be just, no. I called my friend Mariam and she was free so she met me and we went back to the office. But, of course, it was already noon, so it was closed. We cornered one of the security people that was working there earlier in the day when I came alone. Mariam asked her a bunch of questions, tole her our story and the lady said I could try to come today at 6:30am and get on the waitlist to hopefully be seen by someone who could better explain or help me.
So, Seth and I got up this morning and took the bus to the other side of town, got on the waitlist as #1 for the day, went to the correct office, waited. Then at 7:30 they started sending us down to the correct office to meet with someone face to face. We lucked out with a very nice young lady as our helper, and in the end, she said Berlitz had to do some paperwork, and it had to be sent around to a couple of offices, so if everything were in order, my work status would get approved, but not in time to work at came Friday or the next week, either. Although I was bummed, I felt better. I felt like someone actually took the time to investigate my situation and got a real answer, even if it wasn’t the best one…I guess it wasn’t the worst one, either.
So, until it gets worked out, I’ll resort to other methods of earning a few bucks. I’ve been experimenting with my photos, and posting them on a website called Zazzle. Feel free to browse the store below!
Other than that, I’ll just be preparing for a little jazz show I’m singing for a evangelical rock-n-roll style church fundraiser…. Yeah, yeah, I know. But it pays money, and it will be a fun, laid back chance to sing with a friend of mine from German class playing keyboard (and accordion, too ).
That’s all for today, folks!
Seth got together a SUPER b-day fest for me yesterday. Three pairs of our best buddies here in Bremen came over for what was to be an attempt at re-creating our eating experience in Venice in January. Here are some pics of the delicious results.
It was so very nice to be able to spend a lazy Sunday evening with friends. We thrive so much on these friendships. Being so far from home, from what we know, it is so helpful to have these really genuine pals who are ready to help and give advice at every tricky corner. The work we do, and our nomadic lifestyle have made it hard for us to cultivate these types of friendships in the way we really would like to. Hopefully in the next few years we can get to a place where we can have more opportunity to do this. Have a great week everyone! And thanks to all of you for your birthday wishes!
Seth picked out a good grappa from Vom Fass, a chain store in Germany that sells licqour out of barrels or giant glass beakers. They always let you taste, so the job of picking one out proved to be very fun for Seth.
Here are our finished Tramezzini. They are just simple little sandwiches with no crusts and cut into triangles. Ours were filled with home-roasted eggplant, Red/Green/Yellow peppers, and a cream spread you can buy here that is sort half-way between Miracle Whip and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. YUM. We need to roast eggplant more often.
The most fun of our day was making the “assembly line” where we would put together our little bites of goodness. Seth particularly appreciated the planning of this. My usual style of cooking is just a little of this and a little of that, but yesterday I could give more specific instructions. He was a wonderful sous-chef.
These are our finished Fig-Parmigiano-Orange Marmelade Cicchetti. Like little leaning towers. The marmelade was a little sour, the parmigian was a little salty, and the figs were sweet and chewy. They were my personal favorite.
I got a good close-up of one other bite, this one was a Pesto-Ricotta spread with Lingonberries. This was really easy to make because we just blended about 1/4 cup good fresh pesto with two small tubs of ricotta cheese. The lingonberries are sometimes available fresh here, but for some reason, I couldn’t find any this week, so I used some out of the jar. That little burst of sweetness is really nice and unexpected.
Our third cicchetti recipe we tried to re-create was for Artichoke Tapenade-Brie. The tapenade was just two cans of artichokes, drained, and blended a food processor with two cloves of garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. This we piled atop a slice of brie, and sprinkled just a dash of pepper on top. We also had some fried olives, fried sage leaves, almond-stuffed olives, and sweet and sour shallots. Grappa, gelato, coffee and amarettini for dessert.
Here was our final set-up of the buffet table. With 8 people in the house, we had to borrow some plates and the lovely Carolina saved the day with her delivery of glasses and plates.
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