Celebrating Hanukkah

Our family is a blend of religions that works for us pretty well.  My husband, Dan, is Catholic, and I was raised in the Jewish faith.  We celebrate selected holidays of both religions, trying to teach our children the elements of religion and how to be good people.  Our goal is to raise our kids to be adults who are open to experiencing the world, and not only tolerant, but supportive of people who are different from them. 

I was raised in suburban New York, in an area with a large Jewish community.  It was a cultural shock when I moved to the South for college, and ever since I have not met another Jewish person that I know of.  Even though my knowledge of Judaism is not what it should be, I am accustomed to sharing what little bit I know with friends and family, because so many people I know have never had a Jewish friend before. 

Despite not meeting many other people who share my faith, the Hanukkah celebration is still familiar  to most people.  I could always find candles for the menorah, dreidels, and Hanukkah decorations at stores like Target, Harris-Teeter, and Bed, Bath, & Beyond. 

When we moved we did not bring our gazillion boxes of various holiday decorations, because we weren't sure how much space we would have for storage in our new place.  But I did bring the kids' menorah, one dreidel, some wrapping paper, and a teddy bear that sings the dreidel song. 

Unfortunately, I was not able to find menorah candles anywhere, or a single item relating to the celebration of Hanukkah in any store I searched.  Absolutely nothing.  Needless to say that I am extremely disappointed by this and it has left me wondering about the current presence of Jews in German society. 

 

So, we made an alternative menorah using tea lights and I felt a deeper sense of importance that the children need to learn the words to the prayers we recited each night.  We made latkes, found some Hanukkah songs on ITunes Radio, and I printed some themed holiday coloring pages.  I also visited Ryan's class and we taught the kids how to play dreidel. 

There is much more that could be said on this topic, but for now, Hannukah is done, and it is time to move on to the traditions and festivities of my husband's faith. 

 

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season, and that all of your celebrations are merry and bright. 

Ulm WeihnachtMarkt

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 

Today is December 11, and Christmas festivities are in full swing all around the globe.  It has been very interesting watching the Christmas traditions unfold in Germany, many of which are the same, and many which are new to us. 

Christmas Markets are a big deal all over Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland.  Many markets try to differentiate themselves in some way, and the Ulm market's claim to fame is being in the shadow of the tallest church in the world. 

There are stalls set up selling jewelry, hats, trinkets, candles, toys, ornaments, food, and gluhwein.  The food mostly is sausage served in a rolls, but there is also soup, baguette pizza, cheesy spaetzle, roasted chestnuts, and candied nuts.  When we have gone we have had sausages, but I am hoping to try some soup next time we go.  Gluhwein (hot spiced wine) has captured my heart and tastes like Christmas in a cup.  There is also 'kinderpunsch' which is mulled fruit punch for the kids to warm up with.  The gluhwein and kinderpunsch is served in special Christmas Market mugs that you pay a deposit for, and then get your money back when you return the mug.  Of course, we had to bring our mugs home as a souvenir! 


Mugs full of warm Christmas cheer!

kid heaven

 

There are a couple of carousel-types rides for the kids, a small train ride, and a nativity scene with live sheep and a donkey that they could pet. 

 

Ryan's favorite thing at the Christmas market is the glass blowing demonstration, and I think he could stand there and watch the men make ornaments and glass flowers for an hour if we let him. 

I think these star displays are so pretty!

 

 

Visiting the Christmas market is a nice way to participate in the holiday festivities, but I must admit that instead of feeling 'holly-jolly,' we find it a bit stressful!  There are so many people milling about that it is difficult to do much shopping without having to elbow your way into the fray.  Keeping the kids from darting off is a job itself, and we are in constant fear of the kids having steaming hot gluhwein spilled on them accidentally.  Add those factors to not being able to find a parking spot and freezing your jingle bells off, and after about 30 minutes we are ready to head home.  Luckily, we can have our cups of Christmas cheer at home in our cute Ulm Weihnachtsmarkt mugs!

 



Looking at a bronze model of the city of Ulm

I hope to be able to see some of the Christmas markets in other cities, but I am not sure that we will make it to very many this year.  Luckily, we will still be here next Christmas!

Das Auto... and Weasel Insurance

Germany is a car lovers paradise.  People take great pride in the German car manufacturers-and for good reason!  Mercedes, Porsches, BMWs, and Audis zip past us on the Autobahn as if we are standing still.

 

 

When we first arrived in Germany, we had an Audi A3 rental car for one month.  Since Dan works 30 minutes away, and Ryan had to start school, the kids and I had to drive Dan to work before dropping Ryan off at school.  This ended up being over an hour in the car for me and the kids, plus another hour to pick him up in the evening.  Needless to say, this got old fast, and getting cars leased was a priority.  We assumed this would be a relatively painless process once we found an English-speaking car salesman.  It wasn't. 

We were able to find an English-speaking salesman at the Audi/VW/Skoda dealership.  In our experiences buying cars in the US, you simply go to a car dealer, where they have hundreds of shiny new cars, negotiate hard for the entire day, and drive away breathing in that new car smell.  We were completely exasperated that it took us three weeks of going into the dealership 4x/week, and having to spend hours there each time, all with kids in tow.  German car dealers may have some inventory of used cars, but if you want a new car or to lease a car, you must first place an order, then wait 3-4 months for the order to be fulfilled.  We obviously needed cars quicker than that, which is what made the process so difficult.   

Our very kind, but garrulous car salesman, Jens, finally found us good deals on a VW Passat (for me), and a VW Jetta (for Dan).  Both cars are sedans, and we were able to get good leasing prices on them because apparently Germans do not want to drive sedans.  Wagon/hatchback styles are much more common here than in the US, since they provide a bit more capacity without the fuel requirements of a SUV. 

Many cars in Germany do not have the model identified on the back of the car (it doesn't say Passat).

 Manual transmissions are more common here, as are engines using diesel instead of gas.  Germans are very environmentally conscious, and diesel provides better fuel-efficiency.  Hybrid cars are less popular here than in the US.  With only driving around town, my tank of diesel lasts up to three weeks before I have to fill up again.  The cost of a liter of diesel right now is about 1.43 Euro, which would be equivalent to 5.46 Euro per gallon.  Not cheap.

My favorite features: remote starter and heated seats!

Insurance is also a bit different here, as it is purchased directly from the car dealer, and not a third-party company.  Because of the different makes of our cars, my car required more thorough insurance than Dan's car.  Through out the weeks-long leasing process, we were a bit concerned that maybe we were getting shafted used-car-salesman-style due to our lack of German language skill.  This feeling culminated when Dan went to sign the insurance papers, and Jens was translating all the different types of disasters that my car in insured against. 

Jens:  'You have flood, hail, accident, and blatt insurance.'

Dan: 'Blatt insurance?'

Jens: 'You know, it comes with thunder.'

Dan: 'Lightning?'

Jens: 'Yes! I mean lightning!'

Dan: 'OK' (thinking Jens is a *bit* nuts)

Jens: 'You also have weasel insurance.'

Dan: 'Hold on...weasel insurance?' (thinking we are definitely being scammed)

Jens: 'Weasels are a very big problem here with cars because they chew up the car wires.'

 

Jens then pulls up Google and shows Dan pictures of these adorable but highly destructive animals that are called marders (martens in English), and love to chew through warm wires and hoses, especially in the Spring mating season.

So cute!



Not so cute!

As it turns out, it is a good thing we have this insurance, because almost everyone we ask has had trouble with these critters, and we are pretty sure we have some living in our roof (they also seem to like to use our upstairs balcony as an outhouse. Yuck.)  Our children have become terrified of the idea that there might be marders living in our roof, and are scared to go upstairs if the lights are off, for fear that one might be lurking in their bedrooms!

So, yes, getting cars was extremely challenging.  We are happy with what we ended up with, but I must admit that I miss my minivan!  Our next mission is to get our German drivers licenses, which we will need to take a written test, but luckily not the driving test.   Then come spring we will be on the lookout for pheromone crazed rodents!