Kinder Küche Kirche

Children, kitchen and church.  In the late 1800’s as women started taking more and more interest in politics, a counter movement insisted that these 3Ks were the proper place for women.  In 1934, Hitler argued that for the German woman her “world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home”and he bestowed the Cross of Honor of the German Mother  on women bearing four or more babies.   Well, I don"t have four or more children but certainly find my days extremely busy and fulfilling handling our 3 Ks plus a T (tourist outings).

 




Kinder The kids are all taking music lessons and over the course of these 6 months, we’ve finally learned the way things run here.  Learning an instrument is challenging anyway but who know the notes would change?  B still exists but only as B flat.  Emma’s violin lessons are 62 Euros ($82) a month for 30 minutes.  Renting a violin was unpredictably complicated (apparently most people buy and then trade in).  Therefore we were thrilled when Emma’s classroom teacher offered us one from the collection he had in storage at the school.  Yippee!  Her teacher is from Azerbaijan and was surprised that Emma had started when she was five.  

Serena’s school offers subsidized piano lessons after school.  How very convenient!  33 Euro per month seems a steal.  We had forgotten Serena’s books in Milwaukee so the Grafs sent them only to have the envelope arrive empty!  Of course, an investigation turned up nothing so much to our surprise, the Grafs and our former piano teacher repurchased her books and mailed them again!  Her current teacher, a cheerful and friendly German lady, started Serena right off the bat with some contemporary pieces much to Serena’s delight and now can also continue with her familiar books.  She and Emma do a great duet to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Since the girls both started their instruments at five, Declan was very disappointed that he had to wait until he was six but it was nearly impossible to find a studio or a private teacher here who would teach someone his age anything other than the recorder.  Luckily we finally located a wonderfully, warm and chatty Frenchman who accepted him as a piano student (65 Euros per month for 30 minutes).  He now has a small collection of mastered  songs which include the left hand - favorites are Yankee Doodle and Sum Sum Sum.

Serena is the top bridge

The girls have also joined the Artisten Kiste, which combines tumbling, juggling, unicylces and acrobatics.  Three hours at week cost 83 Euros a month for both of them. Thanks to their years at Swiss Turners in West Allis, the tumbling was no problem.  They were placed in a group where the average girls are between 11-14 and needed to quickly learn to juggle and ride a unicycle.  

That's Emma on top

Emma has the Einrad down (literally translated, one wheel) and Serena’s close but regarding juggling, both girls are far from getting 3 of anything to stay in the air.  The acrobatics are fun for them, being the youngest and therefore the lightest in the group, they’re always on top!  Here are a few shots from their Christmas Parent Show.  Their first formal performance will be in May in Mannheim, yes, as in Steamroller.  Mannheim is a 3 hour train ride away. They’ll travel with the team, watch the German National Gymnastics Finals and prepare for their performance.   More to come on that.

It seems to be common practice here for you to pay the teacher/organization even when there's no service provided ie school vacation, teacher or student is sick or needs to cancel. We pay for all these lessons, and in fact every other regular bill by automatic transfer. This “Bill Pay” option is of course widespread in the US.  One small difference is that I can transfer an amount to another bank or to my neighbor or anyone without paying any fees and it has been so at least since I studied here in 1994.  Many Germans are astonished that the American banking system is so antiquated and that people still hand write checks!  If they only knew the charming personal check designs available… 

Küche 

Cooking and baking abroad are always a challenge as ingredients either don’t exist or aren’t easy to substitute.  We miss good Mexican food, cheddar cheese, ranch dip, prepared pie crusts, fruit leather, and Trader Joe’s hummus.  During our first couple weeks here, we all commented on how many foods in Germany just seemed…bland.  One certain granola with caramel and chocolate pieces was such a disappointment because it looked delicous on the box but just wasn’t sweet enough so we added sugar.  Seasoned rice, soup,  even chicken breasts just seemed a tad blah without that extra salt.  (Unlike many chicken breast suppliers in the US, the meat here is not injected with a salt solution.)  It turns out, the problem was us and all the additives we’re used to.  I’m happy to report that in the meantime, our tastebuds seem to have recovered and recalibrated and we are now absolutely enjoying our meals here.  As for that granola, the only addition necessary now is milk and a spoon.

There are so many wonderful cookbooks in our kitchen so I’ve decided to try a recipe for a new local dish every week.  Nothing as ambitious as “Julie & Julia” but still a fun challenge and most of them have turned out.  This one is hollowed out potato halves, simmered in beef broth, then broiled with sausage and onions.  Lecker!    

The dessert below is called Maulwurfkuchen (Mole hill cake) with a surprise of chocolate flake cream and bananas in the middle.

Mmmm, lard....

Bavarian cuisine is relatively heavy – lots of pork, game, bread, and potatoes.  One notable item is Schmalz.  This is basically lard.  I have vague recollections of my grandparents eating lard sandwiches and we kids would always feign vomiting so you can imagine my surprise to discover that it survived the Great Depression to emerge quite a popular spread!  Andrew likes a certain brand with bacon bits, in case the caloric intake wasn’t high enough alone.  At the Pöllinger Weinfest, you could only order Wurst with mustard, Schmalzbrot or sliced cheese with freshly ground pepper.

Another local spread making a regular appearance at our dinner table is Obazta, a creamy mixture of camembert, butter, paprika, cumin, salt, onion and pepper.

Kirche   

We are all getting a crash course in Catholicism living here in Bavaria.  There are crucifixes in every classroom, public buildings, city parks and sometimes along side a road at the sight of an accident.  All three schools offer the kids some version of religious instruction.  Serena reports that they are learning the books of the Bible and Who’s Who in the Gospels, Emma’s class is focusing on family and what makes a good friend.  Her friends taught her the sign of the cross.  Declan says that his class sings and prays.  Then he sang a cute little song and shared a chant.  “And what do you pray about?” I ask.  “Penis, bagina, weiners, weiners, weiners, boogers, butthole, weiners, kaka.”  I should have been happy with the song.

A common greeting here is "Grüβ Gott." (Greet God) There are even several religious  holidays in Bavaria that are either not legal holidays in the rest of Germany or just simply not celebrated.   You even are automatically taxed 7% (Kirchensteuer) when you file your yearly taxes.  You can claim exemption if you check that you don't belong to either State Churches - Landeskirchen. (Catholic or Lutheran)

Upon our arrival in Neumarkt, we visited several churches and were constantly amazed by the gilded ceilings and pure historic relevance of these tremendous buildings. None the less, the old ones are cold!  No basement and no heating system.  Brrrr!  On our first visit to the Free Church in Neumarkt, we witnessed a bit of chaos:  they were between pastors, the guy who had played piano jumped up and gave the sermon, then there was a problem with the overhead displaying the songs.  Little formality, no overly choreographed music and wonderful, welcoming people - we were home!  Bonus - lots of familiar songs from our years in Kiel.

All in all, services are similar to our Free Church in Milwaukee with a few variations in communion and format.  Most are somewhat reserved in style.  A recent Ugandan visitor made the observation that the Germans definitely feel moved to clap and cheer and passionately sing in joy... when it comes to Fuβball, not in church.  Maybe he's onto something there...!