Klauslis in Korntal

I know I am back in Germany when…

• I can walk to the local bakery shop to get fresh rolls for breakfast
• I have to remember to bring my own shopping bags to the grocery store
• The instruction manual on how to recycle is 47 pages long
• I drive 20 mph on the famous Autobahn because of traffic jams
• My washing machine runs for two hours
• I have vast number of choices in the grocery store when it comes to sausages, cheeses and chocolates
• I buy milk in one liter containers (about 40 per month)
• I can often get places faster by train than by car
• I need to air out my house every day (since there is no central heating or air)
• I have not closets in my apartment
• The children can ride their bikes to the local grocery store
• My main means of transportation are my feet
• Applications for just about everything run through the government
• The local church bells tell me the time if I forget my watch
• I pay $8 per gallon for gas

Christmastime Traditions

One thing that characterizes the Christmas holiday are the traditions that each culture and family brings to the celebration. I thought it might be fun to highlight a few "different" Christmas traditions that we experienced this year in Germany:

1. Herring Salad
This is probably the most unusual one. In Julia's family the "salad" consists of shredded apple, onions, beets, pickles mayo, fresh cream and, of course, cut up pickled herring filets. Although, I am usually not that big a fan of seafood, I took seconds of this.

2. Christmas Eve Service
Nothing that unusual here, with the exception that virtually everyone goes. In the baptist church in Julia's hometown in Braunschweig (the largest of its kind in Germany) they had four different services ranging from classical to gospel choir (2pm 4pm 6pm and 11pm) at which most of the attendees were non-members. Even people who have nothing to do with church the entire year go on Christmas Eve in order to catch the "Christmas mood." Needless to say it is a great opportunity for evangelism, and many churches take advantage of the opportunity.

3. Opening gifts on the 24th
This is an unusual one for me since growing up (and the majority of our friends) opened gifts on the 25th morning. This fits, however, with everybody going to Christmas Eve service.

4. Christmas Goose
As a I kid, I only sang about eating Christmas goose at Christmas time, but having a goose is one of Julia's family's traditions.

5. Christmas Market
Almost every town in Germany seems to have, of one sort or another, a Christmas market consisting of little huts built in the center of town that sell all kinds of gifts as well as traditional Christmas foods. This year we went to three: the one in Stuttgart, the smaller one in Ludwigsburg, and the one in Julia's hometown of Braunschweig. Especially noteworthy were the foot and half long sausages that are grilled up and served on a much smaller roll.

6. Fireworks on New Years Eve
If you can imagine everyone in the USA all agreeing to set off their fireworks at the same prearranged time this would give you some kind of picture of what it's like at midnight New Year's Eve in Germany. At midnight every kind of firework imaginable is set off--not by large firework shows (though these exist, too) but also but in front of every house and apartment building. It's quite breathtaking (or is that all the smoke?) but also a bit chaotic and lots to clean up on New Year's morning. Since our kids went to bed early, we lit sparklers when the sun went down and a couple rockets. The other three rockets we saved for midnight . . . .