It's beginning to look a lot like Weihnachten

     Well, dear readers, it's been a lovely, cold, cheery, Christmas-y week. Let me preface this entry by saying I am full to the brim with tea, cake, Lebkuchen, and Glühwein, so anything I say can and will be used against me in...what?

     Anyway, I apologize for skipping blithely over the last nine days of Christmas. If I know you, my dear readers, most of you have spent that intervening time crying over your computers, sobbing into your coffee,  and bemoaning your place in the universe that has someone caused you not to have been gifted with an update into the fascination of my life.

      Not to worry. I'm saving you. (I warned you about the Glühwein effects, did I not? Don't whine.)

      Skipping over the end of last week, which I frankly have very little recollection of, this past weekend brought a true Christmas treat (for this California girl, anyway): our first real snow! Though it "stuck" for only a couple days (and if I must be honest, only on the streets for about...two hours, but please, grant me this one?), it was way too exciting, and the promise of like a full week of snow starting this weekend has me more thrilled than I care to admit. Except I am admitting it. Thank me for my honestly later. See the sacrifices I'm making for the sake of this blog's verity?

      Okay, people from snowier climes than mine, hush your laughter. I can hear you all the way over the  Atlantic. I'll admit, it's not super impressive looking, but it's more the promise of snow to come that I'm excited about. And there's something magical about the first snowfall of the year. (I say this with the wisdom of someone who grew up having, on average, 0.33 snowfalls annually. Thus, I know.)

      About two hours into said snowfall, kids, parents and I bundled into the car to head into town. Anne and Michael were heading to a friend's party that evening, and it was far enough away they decided to get a hotel room for the night rather than drive back late, so the kids and I were scheduled for a whole night (plus following morning) together. I, of course, had to complicate this by having a choir concert that afternoon, so some juggling ensued, ending with the solution that the kids hang at Michael's sister's house until my concert was over, where I would collect them and take them home on the U-Bahn/bus. Fortunately Michael's sister and her husband live in an apartment only about an eight-minute walk from where my concert was, so all seemed to be working out well!

      I headed over to the church where my concert was (Damenstiftskirche St. Anna, in case you were wondering), thankfully in the grateful company of my umbrella, and arrived in perfect time. The church we sang in was lovely--quite small, with probably seating room for only about fifty, but beautifully decorated and resonant. One slightly odd feature was a life-sized sculpture of the last supper: ever sang a concert with 13 men staring at you from behind? Slightly unusual. The concert hall was also freezing--almost literally. I've never before sang a concert where I could actually see my breath whilst singing. My hands almost fell off. The concert went quite well, and definitely better than I'd expected, at any rate! There was quite a good audience turn-out, as well. For those interested, here was the program (with links, if you care to hear them. Not of us singing, though.):

     Rorate coeli desuper mit ne irascaris und consolamini (Listen here)

     Palestrina: Missa Gabriel Archangelus, Kyrie (sorry, not on youtube)

     Gregorianischer Choral: Gaudete in Domino, Dominus prope est (Listen! And yes, we sang off that manuscript)

     Palestrina: Missa Gabriel Archangelus, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei I & II

     Jakob Arcadelt: Ave Maria (More listen!)

     Palestrina: Alma redemptoris mater (Listen)

     Palestrina: Sicut lilium (listen here!)

     Max Reger: Und unser lieben Frauen Traum (Weihnachtslied) (listen!)

     Heinrich Isaac: Puer natus est nobis (starts at 2:50)

     Michael Praetorius: In dulci jubilo (AKA Good Christian Men, Rejoice)

     Praetorius: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen ( AKA Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming)

     Sei uns willkommen, Herre Christ (here!)

     Zoltan Kodaly: Adventi enek (AKA O Come, O Come Emmanuel)

     Everything was very well received, and really a lot of fun! Unfortunately I was about to drop dead from the cold afterward, and the puddle I'd stepped in in my no-longer-waterproof boots didn't help. Struggling back to Michael's sister's apartment afterwards (in the rain, I might add) was quite a challenge. But I made it! Ulrike and her husband had made pizza for the kids and had me stay, of course, which was a nice chance to let my soaking wet socks dry on top of the radiator. The pizza was good too (though I had to surreptitiously pick the pepperoni off).  When the kids started getting in fights with their cousin Julian over who was hitting whose blocks (Julian is 18 months old, so you can get the picture), I knew it was time to go. Mentally preparing myself for the fifteen-minute trek to the U-bahn, and then the half an hour it would take to get home, I was more than thrilled when Ulrike told me her husband would drive us home. Given the snow that was now falling quite heavily, I was glad the opportunity came up.

      Staying the night alone with the kids was more nerve-wracking than I would have anticipated. I was supposed to set up the baby monitor so I could hear them in the night/morning, but I couldn't find it, so I figured I'd just leave my door open and it'd be fine. But the thought of them waking up and me not being up, or freaking out in the middle of the night really got to me, and I tossed and turned most of the night, dreaming about child abductions and such things. I finally went up to lie on the couch at about six, and then Kilian snuck down at about 6:30, and thus the day was started. Anne and Michael had assured the kids they'd be home "in the morning," but Kilian's five-year-old brain translates "morning" as "when we eat breakfast." Thus, he was a nervous wreck by the time his parents came home at about 10:30. I gratefully escaped back down to my room to shower and recuperate before my second concert. 

     The second concert also went very well. It was at a church within a senior care center, so most of the attendees were elderly people in their wheelchairs, who were incredibly appreciative. My family was also sweet enough to come for the first half hour (which was sadly the hardest-to-appreciate half), which was really fun for me. After the concert I headed into the city center to meet my family at one of the Christmas markets so they could buy me a glühwein (I love Germany and Christmas). Then I headed off to meet a friend at the nearby Medieval Christmas market in Wittelsbacher Platz. 

     I sadly didn't take any pictures, so I'll be sure to go back so I don't let you down. But basically picture a Christmas version of the Renaissance Faire! There were booths selling bows and arrows, belt knives, suits of armor, Renaissance dresses, homemade fruit wine (free samples!), and lots of other fun stuff, even fire-eaters up on top of one of the booths. The food was even more exciting: lots of delicious concoctions like cheese breads, Kaiserschmarren, noodles, Bratwurst, skewers of grilled meat wrapped in dough, and even a booth roasting an entire pig. Like, as in its little face looked at you as it turned over the fire. Eww. The highlight were the Feuerzangenbowlen. It's your typical glühwein, but with a sugar cube on the side and rum poured over the whole thing, then lit on fire. NOM. SO NOM. 

     The rest of the week was fairly more low-key. Tuesday night I went out to Tollwood, the huge Christmas market/festival on the Theresienwiese, the meadow where Oktoberfest takes place. The huge tents from Oktoberfest are present, but instead of being filled with drunken, beer-sodden maniacs, they're full of shopping booths! It's very similar to the huge trade show areas at county fairs. There were booths of everything: children's toys, weird clothes, handmade slippers, jam, a huge booth of mustard, pesto (one was called Li-Bi-Do, for Man and Woman. Aphrodisiac pesto=awkward?), picture frames, smelly soaps, and basically everything imaginable. A particularly memorable one was the booth of rare sausages: zebra, eland, gnu, and wild boar. 

SO MUCH SENF

German version of Teavana

Scary

     Yesterday and today were the kids' Christmas celebrations at the Kindergarten.  Any traditional kids' class ends before Christmas with a play, and this rule follows in Germany as well. Cliona's party on Thursday began with a cute play called "Ein Märchen im Schnee (A Fairytale in Snow)." Basically, man goes for a walk with his dog, drops his glove, animals use it for a bed. Very hard to follow with loud kids shrieking and not saying their lines, but very cute! Cliona, being one of the youngest, was a snowflake, and did a very cute little snowflake dance (that being spinning in a circle with some cotton in her hands). They then all sang a song, for which Cliona stood front in center with her hands up to her mouth giggling hysterically. Perhaps acting is not in her future.  Play is followed by salads and goodies and treats (and of course, the ubiquitous glühwein).

     Today was Kilian's play, the "Concert of the Animals." The kids were all dressed like different animals (from rabbit to sheep to mouse to cat to rooster to bird to elephant), and the little groups came out, played their instrument, the older kid in the group said a little poem, then they danced a little animal dance. Kilian was a bear, and he said his poem and danced super well. I was very proud.

Kilian's the tall one!

All the kids

Bears playing their tambourines 

Kilian in the middle. Note the little nose-picker on the left.

     And what did we do after the play? You guessed it. Ate goodies and drank glühwein. There are days when being an au pair can be tough, but my friends, today was not one of them! Unfortunately this batch was a little burnt, so it tasted a bit like someone had left coffee in the pot with the wine...

    Following the play, we headed briefly over to a friend of Anne's who was participating in an Adventskalendar party. The idea is that a neighborhood agrees on doing the party, and every night of Advent a different house hosts a gathering. Very low-key, just out in front of the house in the driveway/street, with glühwein and Kinderpunsch and perhaps some cookies. So we stood out in the bitter cold for half an hour or so, drinking glühwein and talking to people, while children ran pell-mell all around us. There were even chestnuts roasting (on a barbecue though. Rats.)! Alas, they always tasted better in my head. Then, full and freezing, we headed home.

     And here I am! The weekend holds not a lot of excitement--babysitting both Friday and Saturday nights, Sunday morning my choir is singing for mass at Alterpeter, the big church in the city center, and there's a caroling afternoon at the American church, so should be fairly relaxing! And then Monday Nate flies in from Sofia for two weeks, my family departs for Ireland on Wednesday, and Christmas joy really begins!

      

Kiddo Anecdotes! (And lots of 'em!)

     Happy 11/11/11! Only eleven days into the month and I'm at Post #3--things are looking up this month! I halfheartedly wished at 11:11 this morning, only to be reminded that 11:11 tonight technically doesn't exist...it'll be 23:11 at that point. I'm going to wish anyone. Don't tell.

      As promised, this is a wholly child-orientated blog. Nothing whatsoever about dreary visits to concentration camps. I PROMISE.

      Yesterday was the festival day of St. Martin, which is a big holiday in Germany. Who is St. Martin? Good question. I had no idea. Read all about it here, if you're really interested!  Anyway, his feast day has evolved into traditions that spread through most of Europe. Also called Laternenfest, St. Martin's Day is celebrated really only by preschool kids. I've been hearing about this celebration for a couple weeks, but had really no idea what it was for, but last night I got to experience it myself!

      The kids were already at the kindergarten for the day, but around 4:30 the rest of us packed up and got into warm clothes and headed down there to meet them. The kindergarten was of course an utter madhouse. There are six groups with about twenty children in each, and add that to parents and siblings (and au pairs :) ), and that place was packed. The kids were packed into coats and hats and gloves, and then we all set off into the night.

      Where the lantern part of the festival comes from, I don't know, but on St. Martin's, the children all carry beautiful homemade (or in this case, kindergarten-made) lanterns. There were owl lanterns, pumpkins lanterns, ladybug lanterns, hedgehog lanterns, and others. The small children have them attached to electric lights, but the big kids had real candles lit inside theirs. With these lanterns, kids and parents go trooping through the neighborhood and woods and fields nearby, singing the traditional St. Martin's songs.

      This was really my first genuine German traditional holiday. (Unless you count Oktoberfest, which I don't really think I do.) I was utterly enchanted the entire time. Yes, it was about 33 degrees out and terribly foggy and wet, but it was so much fun. The kids with their lanterns singing their songs about St. Martin's...so much fun!

      After about ten minutes of walking, we came to a clearing where the Vorschulkinder (oldest of the kindergarten kids) performed their St. Martin's play for us.  A firetruck was there to provide the lighting for the play, and the kids all stood in a row and recited their lines. The main story of St. Martin's features the soldier St. Martin on his horse, encountering a poor, freezing beggar. St. Martin is moved by the beggar's plight and cuts his military cloak in half, giving it to the beggar. This is, of course, acted out by the kindergarten teachers (with an echtes Pferd! (a REAL HORSE!)) Kilian said his lines very well and we all cheered madly. Then we all sang a couple St. Martin's song along with the brass quintet playing.
Here's one:

Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin,
Sankt Martin ritt durch Schnee und Wind,
Sein Roß, das trüg ihn fort geschwind.
Sankt Martin ritt mit leichtem Mut,
sein Mantel deckt ihn warm und gut.

Im Schnee saß, im Schnee saß, 
im Schnee, das saß ein armer Mann,
hatt' Kleider nicht, hatt' Lumpen an.
"O helft mir doch in meiner Not,
sonst ist der bittre Frost mein Tod!"

(Saint Martin, Saint Martin,
Saint Martin rode through snow and wind,
His horse carried him very swiftly.
Saint Martin rode with easy bravery
his coat kept him warm and well.

In snow sat, In snow sat,
In snow, there sat a poor man.
Had no clothes, only rags.
"Oh but help mir in my need,
the bitter frost is my death!)

And my favorite one:  (listen here! --> Ich geh' mit meiner Laterne)

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne
und meine Laterne mit mir.
Dort oben leuchten die Sterne
und unten leuchten wir.
Mein licht ist schön, könnt ihr es sehn?
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum. 


(I walk with my lantern,
and my lantern with me.
There over the stars shine,
and under we shine.
My light is beautiful, can't you see it?
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.)

      After the singing, we continued the walk around and ended up back at the kindergarten, where there was a big fire out in the back garden, and were served Sanktmartingänse (St. Martin's geese, goose-shaped cookies!) and Lebkuchen, accompanied by Kinderpunsch and, for the adults, Glühwein.

      A comment about Glühwein: I've been looking forward to this traditional German Christmas drink basically since I've been here. Glühwein is what we'd probably call mulled wine; it's hot wine that's had fruit soaking in it, with cinnamon and cloves and vanilla and other yumminess, and it's the preferable hot drink that accompanies all Christmas functions. And after my first experience with it--NOM. SO GOOD. SO EXCITED FOR THIS ENTIRE CHRISTMAS SEASON.

      So, full and freezing and slightly inebriated, we headed home to put two grumpy, exhausted children to bed, and then Anne and I ate an entire pizza together at the coffee table in the living room. It was a great night.

Our St. Martin's procession!

Kilian with his Laterne 

Kids putting on their St. Martin's play

Cliona being distracted from her exhaustion with a pretzel..

Totally worked. Because I am hilarious.

      Other than that, all's ordinary. So some general kid knowledge, now!

      Kilian occasionally drives me utterly insane, but we've done really well the last couple of weeks. He's suuuuper smart for his age, really. He doesn't read yet (which seems so weird to me, but they don't teach kids to read in Germany until they're six, basically. Clearly they turn out all right in the end, but it still strikes me as odd.) For example, about a month ago, the kids and I were painting with watercolors. They're three and five, so clearly these were not incredible works of art, but kind au pair (and person) that I am, I of course told Kilian how pretty his painting was. My appreciation was greeted by a scathing look and the response, "Did you know, Laura, that parents just say that because they don't want to make their kids angry? Really they don't think it's pretty at all. They are only lying." Ouch. I try to make my compliments very sincere now.

      We're actually able to have conversations, which makes Kilian frequently a lot more entertaining to be around than Cliona. We learned last week all about how whales eat, which was fun. He also likes to teach me stuff, be it wrong or right. For instance, when cars open their doors on the freeway, they burn. I'm not sure where this idea comes from, but he's told me like ten times.

      He's also incredibly sensitive. Some of it is I'm sure the age, but more is just his personality. He hates being told multiple times to do something (what kid doesn't?) He also loathes nicknames--"Buddy" was a cool nickname when it came from Nate, but from me it is totally unacceptable, and I get in massive trouble if I ever use it. He started crying one morning because I told him to "get your coat on, Coughy." (He was coughing. Makes sense.)

      Kilian has a very strong sense of justice. Or so it seems, but I've discovered that the whole kids-want-things-to-be-just deal is more a sense of entitlement than anything else. Kilian will dissolve into furious tears if I do something unacceptable like 

                           --let Cliona sit on my lap before he has a chance to ask

                           --beat him at a game

                           --give Cliona a band-aid and not him

                           --pick him up from school when they're about to start something fun

 ...and et cetera. The immediate response is generally, "Laura, I find that unfair." He also has started to occasionally employ the "I hate you" card, which always breaks my heart a little, but I did score an "I love you" today, so I take that as a great win.  The other day Cliona wouldn't stop howling because she fell on her bike and scraped like a nanometer of skin on her pinkie, so she got a band-aid, and Kilian refused to stop pestering me until he got one too: which he placed smack in the center of his forehead, of course.

      Kilian's best friend, who I've maybe mentioned before, is a little curly blonde cutie named Ben. Kilian STILL cries every time I pick him up from Ben's, and today during football practice they ran around the whole time holding hands. Kilian also started howling when they got put on separate teams. It's super sweet. 

       The other day, he told me, very seriously, I needed to stop saying "Poifect." (You know, perfect, but in Boston. Bwaston. It's a habit.) His reasoning: it isn't a real word so it is stupid and I find it very stupid. My response to this was "Tough!" (Kind of me to omit the -shit, wasn't it?)

Kilian with his "rocketship."

Kilian trying to find something interesting in the Sueddeutsche Magazine.  

Distracted with more age-appropriate activities.

I told him this was for my friends back home, so he kindly put the apple all in his cheek so you could get the full effect.

Playing with his racetrack.

At football practice. He's the greenie. I have no idea what he's doing.

Sometimes the stress of trying to play football gets a bit much for him. He's more of a stand-and-think kind of kid.

 

Cliona alternates between the bane of my existence and the love of my life. She is the cutest freaking thing. But oh oh oh, how she can scream and holler and carry on! Case in point: in a hurry to get home for her dancing today, we were walking very quickly. It was super cold, so I told Cliona to put on her mittens. She can't do it herself. I attempt to help. She doesn't understand the concept of the thumb going in the hole by itself, and it is super hard to do for her. I hurriedly just told her to put her whole hand in the mitten to keep it warm (she's riding in the pram, afterall; she doesn't NEED her thumb to be in the right place). Mean Laura. She screamed the whole way home.

      She's also having a lot of fun lately testing her limits. Fortunately it isn't just with me, or I'd think I was doing something wrong.  She will occasionally refuse to eat any of her dinner, or sit down, or do anything. She used to be afraid of getting yelled at, but now I think she almost enjoys it. She was kicked out to the stairs for most of our family dinner tonight for refusing to eat. She thought it was hilarious. Little attention whore.

      She really is the most adorable thing though. After she howls and yells, she'll look at me endearingly and croon, "Meine Laura" (my Laura), and pat the seat next to her so I'll come sit. She also screams with excitement every time I come to pick her up from kindergarten. Her third birthday was about a month ago, and I bought her a little cheapy set of plastic jewelry from the toystore: clip-on earrings, bracelet, crown, necklace. She has faithfully worn it nearly every day since, and when she gets home from school she'll insist we go up and get her bracelet to wear. "Du hast's zu mir gegeben!" (You gave it to me!) It's so sweet.

      Cliona speaks English but she definitely prefers German at this point. Her English is decidedly German-flavored as well: "I want not that!" "I love not apples." Her most frequent comment to something is "very silly!" Her word of the week is always entertaining: last week it was "Angst haben" (be afraid of, have angst), and let me tell you, sie hat Angst of everything. The living room, the kitchen, the pasta...This week it's Quatsch! (Very mild expletive along the lines of Baloney! Balderdash! Hogwash! I've been a Quatschkopf a few times.)

      The highest insult in this family is to call someone a Blödmann (kind of like a dumbass, stupidhead, imbecile.) Blödmann Cliona! and Blödmann Kilian! are frequently yelled. I think I'm supposed to be discouraging it. All was okay until Cliona pulled out Blödmann Mommy last week...Anne lectured her angrily, having to turn the other way to laugh every now and then.

      They also call things "baby" a lot. When I tell Kilian to clean things up, he'll say "Okay baby" in a rather rude tone. It's funny? But rather irritating.

      Every time we read a book, the kids pick who they want to be. On every page. I usually get stuck with a dwarf or a frog or a flower. But when it's just me and Cliona, she lets me be the princess with her.

      Cliona is the girliest of all girly-girls. She LOVES pink, LOVES princesses, LOVES everything girly. Today she wore her tutu home from dancing, and one of the men working out front at the neighboring house said,  "Look, there's a princess!" It was the highlight of her day.  

Most terrifying moment of my week was when Cliona and Kilian decided to do some horseplay in the kitchen. I knew as I watched it that I should tell them to go play in the living room, because it was too dangerous to play in there, and even as I thought it, Kilian yanked Cliona's leg and she slammed her head into the handle of the drawer, a huge lump immediately coming up. Like half of her forehead is still blue. We iced it for a while with a frozen stick of butter. Fortunately I have an awesome au pair family who is fully aware that their children are utter klutzes and would never think to blame me. Kilian has been known to ride his bike off of the curb and into cars because he's looking at a Porsche or a passing skateboarder. I felt awful regardless. But she handled it well.


I could honestly go on and on, but you probably get the idea by about now! I'm off to bed. Tomorrow morning I take off to Salzburg for a couple of days, then Thursday morning at the crack of dawn is my flight back to LA for Katie Ascani's wedding! Busy week coming up!