La Petit Venise- Colmar, France

Time for an update! This past weekend we had Friday off for German Unity Day, celebrating the reunification of east and west Germany. To celebrate the extra day, Bruce and I headed to Colmar, France, which is about a 2 hour drive from Mannheim (gotta love Europe!). If you Google "Colmar" you will find some postcard-like pictures, which show exactly what the town looked like. Honestly, I thought I walked into some sort of photo album of adorable European cities. The houses were colorful and traditional, and the small canal that goes through the town is covered in flowers as small boats take people up and down its path. Heading down there right after work, we arrive at our hotel around 8 ready to head out and grab some dinner. The maître d' told us about a restaurant about 10 minutes drive away called 'The Theater'. Walking inside we are welcomed by such beautiful, warm and cozy decor with lots of antique pieces, supposedly used in an old theater.

 veggies

I ordered a seasonal vegetable dish, and Bruce ordered some white fish in a white wine sauce, which was deliciously heavy and warm. We started off with some foie gras, because well...when in France... I can't say I'm a super fan, but nothing can taste bad on an authentic French baguette right? (the first of many this weekend)

The next day we woke early, grabbed a bite from the hotel continental breakfast (see here www.youtube.com/watch?v=st21dIMaGMs) and then drove downtown to park and begin wandering the small side streets and shops for the day. We began by getting our bearings from the information area, but ultimately we zig-zagged through streets and squares, sometimes back tracking and going in circles, but seeing something new each time.

 

We spotted some restaurants sitting next to the small canal going through the town and decided to squeeze onto a table in the sun. Grabbing some wine and a snack, we enjoyed people watching and had to keep double checking that it was real. This town is just so picturesque it's unbelievable.

 

 shadow puppet pizza

From there we found ourselves in a small indoor market selling anything from fresh produce to cheeses to even some Arabic dishes. Two discoveries were uncovered here. The first was headcheese. Yep. Head. Cheese. Firstly, there is no cheese involved in headcheese. Unfortunately, there is some head. Chunks of meat from different areas of the head (cheek, chin, brain, etc.) are put into a kind of jelly mold (I know I'm selling this well aren't I?) and served in slices to put on a nice baguette with some mustard. The butcher asked if we would like the tongue headcheese, blood headcheese, or just the mix of all the different head parts. Of course we opted for the latter. After getting a slice of our headcheese we met a man selling his wine who recommended us to go to his shop in town to visit his coworker who would let us try some wines. We decide to take him up on that offer and go into the shop to make a new friend and learn a lot about the wine area of Colmar.

That row of bottles you see in the background is the tasting list from that afternoon. Not only was the man friendly, but he also loved America and told us all about his adventures there with his family to the national parks and other west coast cities. I told him he should try the east coast sometime too!

Don't worry, I didn't forget about our headcheese. After tasting a significant number of delicious wines and swapping business cards (well...his card) we picked up some bread and mustard to follow the butchers advice with regards to this...treat...

Again, similarly to the foie gras, I can't say I'm a convert. A bit too meaty and jelly-like for me. But hey, you have to try everything once right? After our snack we wandered the town some more and enjoyed the perfect weather we were amazingly lucky to have.

 

American Biscuit aka Oreo....

That afternoon, we decided to explore Colmar via water and hop on a boat tour. The canal itself is apparently about 40 km long, although the tour would only cover about .5 km of that. We traveled up the canal a bit learning about the houses back there (going for multiple millions of Euro) as well as the wildlife (some sort of aquatic rodent making its home there). We learned about the houses. Those with hearts on the shutters that means the woman of that house is looking for love, and the shutters with diamonds are hoping for lots of children. Bruce compared it to a facebook status. A bit more difficult to change the shutters than a status, but similar concept I suppose. "It's complicated" might be hard to translate in to shutter. Anyway- I'm getting sidetracked. We enjoyed the quick, but pretty boat tour and continued on our walk around the town.

Harris

 

Sneaky sneaky

At one point we snuck (sneaked? snuck? snook?) into the Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi museum, the man who created the Statue of Liberty. Turns out, Colmar is the birthplace of Bartholdi, and his presence is made known all over the town in small miniature tourist knick-knacks of the statue, fountains, and even hotel room artwork. Anywho- no one was at the desk, and we didn't really feel like shelling out the 5 Euro to see the museum, so we decided to take a quick self-guided, and free, tour ourselves. Naughty Americans, can't take us anywhere.

If it looks like this was taken out of the sun roof of a car...that's because it was....

From there we went to a restaurant, located right on the canal, recommended to us by the boat tour guides. This time, I went for the onion soup (again, when in France), while Bruce decided on some trout. Turns out the trout was trying to get back at the world for killing it for dinner by exuding an exorbitant number of bones in each bite. Eating it was like checking for landmines in the DMZ (Ahh see what connections I made there?). It tasted good, but overall an average French meal. Beautifully plated though!

We headed back to the hotel to get some good sleep before a day of resting and relaxing at the Caracalla Spa in Baden-Baden. About an hour and a half drive, we headed off to the spa in hopes of getting some sun and some mineral water therapy in the different baths. I didn't bring my camera into the spa with me (for obvious reasons) but if you Google the spa you can get a good idea of how gorgeous this place was. The indoor pool connects with the outdoor pool and hot tubs are sprinkled around everywhere. Waterfalls and other faucets provide some great back and shoulder massages as well. While it wasn't exactly a super hot day, it was clear and bright, and we competed to see who would get more sun after the day (Arabic skin takes the lead!).

After soaking up the water and sun we packed up and hit the road back home to enjoy a night of sushi and drinks with friends before passing out immediately. While we didn't do anything too crazy, it was still a lot of walking and driving, which drains you. I love being able to talk to friends from home and say that I visited France for the weekend though, so that makes it all worth it in the end!

Time for another week with the kiddos! Also, I will be moving into my own apartment this week, so pictures of that will be up as well!

German of the Post:
"passieren die Sülze bitte"
 Pass the headcheese, please!

Fests on Fests on Fests

Hallo! Time for the update from the past few weeks! I haven't had a chance to sit and write this out, but I promise I'll get better! Exciting news from this past week, the teacher I've been covering classes for in 3rd and 4th grade has arrived, so now I am only teaching my Reception (prek/kindergarten) classes! This has been a long time coming. I felt so much less stressed this week, because I only had to plan for my own classes. It's amazing what those few extra lesson plans add up to be for teachers. Overall, I'm getting more used to the school, routine, and students. I think I'm starting to learn how to teach these tiny humans! They are so adorable though, so it makes it all worth it. If you want to see what we have been doing in class, check out the school blog site--http://miskindergarten.blogspot.de/

Now an update for what I've been up to exploring and celebrating! Last weekend we had a welcome dinner for parents and teachers at the school. It was so nice to talk to the parents outside of the school setting. It was at a restaurant on the edge of a golf course, and it had a huge bouncy house for the students to enjoy while the boring old people talked. We chatted and enjoyed good food, sunny weather, and new friends.

This past week, we had a field trip with the kiddos at a corn maze nearby! The students basically sprinted through the maze trying to find the castle with the "super fast slide" to play on. My coworker, Ms. Krisztina, and I tried to keep up with them and take photos of the adventures along the way. Again, the weather totally cooperated with us again, and the sun kept us warm as we navigated the labyrinth.

Yesterday, a group of us went to the Oktoberfest celebration in Stuttgart. Oktoberfests are happening all over the country right now, the biggest one being in Munich, but from what people have said, the Stuttgart fest is a bit more intimate, less crazy crowds, and much closer! I was the only one on the bus not dressed up in the traditional garb of lederhosen or dirndl. Guess that will have to be on the list of things to get while I'm here so I can fit in a bit better.

Once we got into the festival we went into one of the giant tents made for lots of drinking, dancing, and singing, all while wearing any variety of lederhosen or dirndl you could find. We found an empty place at a table with a group of French guys who immediately became friends with us all of course. The atmosphere was lively, but friendly! Everyone is cheers-ing, hugging, and sometimes trading shirts (don't ask questions).

This next week is a 4 day weekend, because the school recognizes "German Unity Day". I will be headed to Colmar, France (or little-Venice) as well as Baden-Baden! Commence traveling around all European countries in the 2 hour radius.

Miss you all and can't wait to see you soon! (Maybe Christmas time?) Or you could come visit! I will hopefully be moving into my own place in the next few weeks :)

Until next time!

German Phrase of the post: 

Was meinen Sie damit Sie nicht wie Bier?
"What do you mean, you don't like beer?"

Hallo from Germany

I made it! This week has been nonstop with school, moving in, checking out the area, and telling people I don't, in fact, know any German whatsoever. I landed in Frankfurt last Saturday evening to find that all of my luggage was stuck in Moscow. According to the very kind baggage claim woman, Moscow has a history of keeping baggage hostage. Leaving all of my info with her, I was greeted in the welcoming area by Bruce and his friends wearing their finest lederhosen. What better way to enter the country than by a group of guys in the traditional clothing of Germany really?
That first weekend consisted of walking around Kaiserslautern, and catching up on the time zone before going into work on Monday. As I had to stay back in Korea the week before to help the new teachers get all settled in, I missed the orientation week for my school here. Thank goodness Monday was a holiday so I could go and check out my school. The whole day was full of preparing our room, meeting teachers, and figuring out the schedule (which is still a bit flexible). I am teaching Reception 1 and 2 classes (aka 3 year olds to 7 year olds) English and Math. I can't wait to get to know my kids more over my time at MIS! They are so adorably cute and are from all over the world!

 This past week has been insane because some teachers haven't been able to get into Germany due to some Visa issues. I offered to help them cover some classes (perhaps I was a bit too helpful), so I have been covering English classes for 3rd and 4th graders as well! Needless to say, I have been running around the school like a chicken with her head cut off trying to figure out what grade I should be teaching at what time. I'm really looking forward to being able to relax and just teach my kindergarteners. Not that I don't love the elementary students, their wonderful too! I just want to focus all of my energy and planning into one class. Plus having lunch and planning time would be a bonus.
Something to get used to at this new school is the fact that I can't go putting up cute kids pictures on this blog like I did with the Korean students back at Little America! I'll tell you that my kids are the cutest you have ever seen though....just to tease you a bit.

 This past weekend, I went to the Saturday farmers market in Kaiserslautern. Every week, this square in town is full of booths selling fresh veggies, fruit, flowers, cheese, meat, and everything in between. It was so adorably European, I couldn't get over it.

Spinach and cheese filo dough

tomato, basil, olive bread- SO GOOD

 From the market we took a looonnggg detoured drive up to Bernkastel-Kues, where there was a wine festival all weekend. Driving up to the town, I was sure this was what is on all of the posters and greeting cards for anything Germany-related. The houses and small side streets were not only full of people enjoying the festival, but also the buildings were all traditional architecture with the woodwork and curving exteriors.

man and his dog (Zoey)

Bread and cheese

meat on a hanging rotating grill

We wandered around the festival, trying bottles of wine as we walked. One of our favorites was a Federweisser which was a sweet, but delicious, sparkling, refreshing treat between the wines. We took our wine bottle and tried to go up to the castle on the hill, but unfortunately, upon hiking about half way there, we encountered some tape blocking the path from walkers like us. Not discouraged, we walked back down enjoying the views of the valley an the river below us.

We grabbed some dinner at a restaurant with an amazing view of the river. Zoey was not too pleased with the lack of food being dropped under our table.
For the rest of the evening we wandered the festival area, and then found a spot along the river to prepare for the fireworks display later that evening. They had been setting it up during the whole afternoon. The display exploded along the hilly country side above the valley town all along the pathway to the castle and even down by the water. Everyone 'ooed' and 'aahhed', enjoying the blazing show. Zoey, on the other hand, went into burrowing mode and tried to hide from the explosions in my lap. She was shaking so much I was worried she wouldn't stop! After the booms subsided, Zoey took the first chance she could to escape and darted away from us in the crowd- to be found, thankfully, soon after.  We drove back home (with several detours, thanks to construction) and finally made it back, tired, but full of good wine from the day.

Overall, despite the insanity that is this new job, I really am loving it here. I can't wait until I reach that time when I am fully comfortable and prepared for my job, established in an apartment, and ready to travel around Europe! For those of you who want to visit, you know you have a friend here to give you an excuse to come!

German of the post (aha- keep up with the language changes here):
"Tschüss!"
"Bye!"