November 26-December 2

Monday November 26

ME went to her first dance class (same school as MK) this afternoon: Irish Step with her friend, Y from school. She was thrilled! Took the bus with her and HR, picking up GE from Kindergarten on the way. While she was dancing I went outside with the two little girls and wandered through the Bad Godesberg Weihnachtsmarkt. It's small and sweet: food and drink (Glühwein) stalls, hand made goods, and more. We stopped at a food stall selling Stockbrot (soft dough wrapped around a stick and baked over a fire) and soft Bretzeln. HR picked out a Stockbrot with Streusel (sprinkles) for all of us to share.

Tuesday November 27

Went on a run with SL (the friend I meet weekly for Kaffee and conversation): 8.45 km from her home to the Rhein, through the Rheinaue park and back to her home. Forgot my timer so I don't know how long we ran, but she is definitely faster than me so I had to push myself a bit to keep up. Still able to hold a conversation though. Then picked up a few groceries on my way home. In the afternoon I met with ME's 4th grade teacher for a parent-teacher conference. She's really pleased with how ME is fitting in and suggested we get her some supplemental materials for ME to work on some math and German skills that will help to bring her up to the class level (although she's doing fine, she can certainly use the work on German grammar and some more practice on some math skills). It's wonderful that she (this teacher) took the time to think about what would be good for ME--she had noticed that at certain times during instruction (especially German class) ME is bored because she doesn't have enough to do on her own level.

In the evening MSD picked me up to go the Beuel for another rehearsal with the Musikkreise--this time in the church venue for our concert on Saturday. Very live acoustics in an old stone built church. The ensemble is made up of Baroque Blockflöte (wooden recorders): piccolo, soprano (your standard size recorder), alto, tenor, and bass (these are huge requiring either a neck halter or a floor stand!). The sound in this church was amazing. It is, however, very loud and so I ended up accepting the mic that was offered just to save myself from having to shout to be heard! Lots of fun though and will be a lovely concert when it comes together on Saturday.

Wednesday November 28

GE and I had another stay-at-home day. I needed to bake cookies to send in with ME and HR for their school's Weihnachtsmarkt next weekend and GE was strung out from our weekend away and resisting going to KG. So, she "helped" me bake some Nutella cookies (yes, that's right: Nutella cookies. Only 5 ingredients: Nutella, brown sugar, flour, egg, and a little sea salt which I omitted because I didn't have any). If you want to try it yourself, here you go:  Nutella Cookie Recipe. These actually turned out a little weird but I think it's because my oven is different and the Nutella here is different than in the U.S. I'm going to try them again tomorrow (not very many left after the first burned ones and the girls got into them after they came home) after I get some more Nutella...
Then we made Molasses Cookies which turned out really good. MK said she wanted me to make some for her to take to school on her birthday. Next I made Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies but these were also a bit of a dud. They tasted incredible but were too flat and gooey for sending into school for a bake sale. I think it has to do with the difference in almond butters--here it's pretty runny but I remember it being more stiff in the U.S. So, if I make these again, I'm going to add some ground almond meal or flour or use quick oats instead of regular old fashioned. Finally we made Spiced Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies which were also really fabulous. The girls didn't like the muffin-like texture of the applesauce cookies but I loved that about both the molasses and applesauce cookies--neither were terribly sweet and both had a lighter texture than the nut butter cookies.

Our neighbor RP invited GE and me to go along to an indoor playground in the afternoon. J arrived just in time for me to go and he stayed with the other girls. ME had a field trip to an art museum with her class today so she didn't have any homework. MK had gotten hers done during the Pause at school and HR had finished hers with me in between batches of cookies. GE got her wiggles out running around the small basement gymnasium while the moms sat by and drank tea/coffee and chatted (while intermittently chasing some small child or rescuing a toddler from some situation). We came home around 5 and I set out Abendbrot and then raced off to my Laufen Training group. Showered and then snuggled some girls in their beds when I got home and am now waiting for my tea to cool off enough to drink...

Thursday November 29

After taking GE to Kindergarten, I used my Martinslosungs (raffle tickets from St. Martin's parade) to pick up my winnings: one bread and a gift certificate to the Leyenhof Biohof. Then I went home and baked a few more batches of cookies for the girls to take to school tomorrow. This time a snickerdoodle recipe, a molasses crinkle cookie, and another batch of the Nutella cookies (this time I added a little more flour and 1 T. of finely ground almonds and they turned out great!).

HR came home for lunch, finished her homework and then her friend's mom picked her up to go play at their apartment for the afternoon. HR was scared to go--I'd gone with her last time--but I told her that if she was scared while she was there she could always ask E's mom to call me and she could come home. In the end, she didn't want to leave and had a wonderful time (as I'd expected). I had really waffled about making her go--didn't want to force her but didn't want to set a precedent of her always staying at home or me having to go along.

Tonight is choir practice and ME has practice for the children's Nativity play (she's the Donkey!).

Tomorrow MK's friend R is coming home with her after dance class and spending the night. They're excited! 

Friday November 30

MK went to dance in the afternoon and ME to children's choir. As soon as they were home, we bundled everyone up and took the train into Bonn to see the Weihnachtsmarkt at the Münster Platz. As we walked towards the Münster Platz, HR saw all the lights of the Markt and exclaimed with unbridled enthusiasm: "Da hinten!" (Back there!) We hadn't eaten supper at home, so we sought out the warm supper goodies and followed it up with a heart-shaped Lebkuchen (gingerbread) or chocolate covered apples for the girls (plus one: MK's friend R was with us). Hot Glühwein (the real deal!) and warm spiced almonds for the grownups. Lots of cool huts selling handmade finery. Must return to get some presents but couldn't get them while I was there because of the kids being along. We checked out the giant moving teddy bear display in the Kaufhof window and then did a turn on the ferris wheel.

R and MK with their Lebkuchen hearts.

ME and HR with their chocolate covered apples (HR did have a hat somewhere!).

A very handy feature: a string necklace to make sure you don't lose your Lebkuchen in the crowd!

Love this pic: J, having given up his hat for the comfort of his eldest daughter, warming his hands on a mug of Glühwein with the Glühwein offerings painted on the window behind him!

By then everyone was cold enough that we all wanted to go home! The temps dipped below freezing this week and with the sun down, it was quite bitter. We'll probably go one more time between now and Christmas unless we manage to get our fill of Weihnachtsmarkts (is that even possible?!)

Saturday December 1

J joined GE at the Kindergarten for a Vater und Kind activity: Drachen Basteln (Kite making). I joined my running group for a long run (9 kms) through the frost covered woods. Our trainer kept saying "Ist das nicht schön?!" and "Herrlich!". It was pretty spectacular: sun streaming in between the tall pines, frost on the path and sparkling on the meadows that are along the woods at the top of the ridge, crisp cold air.

While I was out running ME left to go to her friend's house and they went to see the new Dreamworks movie "Die Hütter des Lichts" (Rise of the Guardians). After lunch MK rode the bus with her friend back to Bad Godesberg where her friend then could find her own way home. Meanwhile I took the train to Beuel and walked to St. Peter's Kirche (St Peter Vilich-Bonn) for the last rehearsal before the 5 p.m. concert with my friend's Musikkreise: 

„Jauchzet dem Herrn“
Musik zum Advent
Mit den Blockflötenensembles 

Fluturas und Fidelitas
Leitung: Elisabeth Braselmann
mit Werken von:

Hassler, Dowland, Schütz, Morley, Mozart und anderen Komponisten

Samstag, 1. Dezember 2012, 17 Uhr
Kirche St. Peter, Bonn-Beuel-Vilich
Adelheidisstraße, 53225 Bonn

I sang with a small ensemble of female voices on a couple of songs and then lead the audience in a traditional carol, Advent isch a Leuchten, and sang the soprano line to Machet die Tore Weit and as the encore, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus (in C for the recorders).

After it was over, I went home with MSD, her daughter, L, and her god-daughter (who happens to also be an old friend from our days in Marburg) for a quiet Raclette dinner at MSD's house. About 9 p.m. we realized it was snowing! Thankfully not enough to make the roads dangerous. Sunday a.m. it snowed again a bit.

If you're not familiar with Raclette: you put some food (we had boiled potatoes, slices of tomatoes, corn, tuna, sausage, and red peppers) on the little black trays (stacked in the foreground), lay a slice of cheese over top, then put it all under the Raclette machine (sort of like a mini-broiler). Sit, talk, wait, listen for the sound of bubbling cheese... then eat! YUM!

Sunday December 2

More snow! Just showers and it didn't stick, but what a way to welcome in the new church year (today is the first day of the new church year and the first day of Advent). (You can hear GE in the background: "Ich auch! Ich komme, Mama! It's snowing!")

The girls opened their first Adventskalendar windows (yes, the chocolate kind!). I also got one that tells the Christmas Story as you open the windows each day.

The church was full of families! ME went early to practice with the children's choir. The Kindergarten kids from the KG associated with the church (not GE's KG) also presented a little song. Lots of carols for the congregation to sing. Love Christmas time!!

During the fellowship time after church one of ME's classmates approached me and asked if they could play together after church. We already had plans to go to Siegburg to the medieval Weihnachtsmarkt there, so I asked if she'd like to come along with us. She asked her parents who said she could. So we all hurried home, ate a light lunch, bundled up again and met her at the corner near her house on the way to the U-bahn. The U-bahn to Siegburg takes about 3/4 of an hour, so J read The Hobbit off the Kindle to the big girls and the little girls played the alphabet game and I Spy with me to pass the time. We changed trains at the Hauptbahnhof and then about 2 p.m. arrived in Siegburg. A short walk later and we arrived at the Marktplatz full of people and wooden huts. A main stage performance area was set up near the entrance and an ensemble of 3 women were singing/playing lively medieval tunes.

MK (on the left) the Typical Tween: refuses to wear a hat!

Bundled up right!

The pipes were really loud!

She's not sure what to make of the antics on the stage!

ME with friend J (classmate and friend from church)

We stayed and watched a bit, then split up: J with the two little girls, the three big girls (ME, her friend J, and MK) and me. I wanted to do some secret shopping, so J kept the little girls busy: riding the hand-cranked carousel, eating some fire-baked goodies and hot Spätzle with ham and cheese. The older girls explored, bought themselves some food and hot cider, and simply enjoyed wandering around.

Monday December 3

GE: "Ich auch!" (Me too!) "Das darfst du nicht." (You can't do that!)

I had Tee and conversation at my friend's house this time instead of meeting at the bakery. She showed us her workroom where she stashes all the yarn and patterns for the slippers and things that she knits and felts. I'm admiring a particular loop shawl but want different yarn... Time yet to decide.

After I picked up GE from KG I dropped her and HR off with our neighbor and rode bike with ME to her friend's house to go to their Irish Step class in Bad Godesberg. It was snowing or mixed snow and rain all day and continued while we rode. Pretty, but cold and wet! I did a little more shopping while ME was in dance and then home again to get warm. Otherwise a pretty uneventful day.