Our Humble Abode

No real introduction needed here -- enjoy a tour of our home, which is now fully equipped (vollkommen ausgestattet).  One quick little shout-out is necessary, though -- my dear Meredith, I know you're excited about our awesome shower... you can have first dibs to it in the mornings when you come visit.

Because I'm just that nice.

Drum roll, please...

We May Be In Germany, But...

We're still Americans.  Today is 7 December (Happy Birthday, Pop Pop!) -- I hope each of you had the chance to date a check, or stamp a time card, or see the calendar above the cashier in the liquor store and realize that today is Pearl Harbor Day.  It was exactly 70 years ago today that our entire nation experienced the shock of the assault on Pearl Harbor.

U.S. Navy photograph taken three days after the attack.  The black lines are thick streams of oil still spilling from each of the injured ships.

It's interesting to realize that, at the time of the attack, Hawaii was not yet a state (remained independent until August 1959).  However, our nation lost almost 2,400 of its citizens with more than 1,000 wounded right there in the cluster of the Hawaiian Islands.  The attack that day was intended to kill Americans outright and compromise our nation's ability to participate in what was quickly becoming a worldwide war.  (Of course, we all know how well that plan turned out for our adversaries...)

After 70 years, Battleship Row still carries its scars -- two of the battleships destroyed in 1941 are in their final resting places just off the coast of Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.  Those two ships still hold many of the sailors and Marines who could not escape during the attack; and as this piece from MSNBC reveals, some of the lucky few who survived 70 years ago are paying the ultimate tribute to their fallen brothers and being laid to rest by their sides.  (I hope) you don't have to serve in the military, or live your life in the military, to understand and relate to these men.

I have seen nothing here in Germany (not even on post as far as I know; bad form!) attaching any significance to today's date, proving how personal this memorial is.  In America, I hope that there are news programs and specials running constantly today, reminding everyone why we are free and the costs our citizens have paid to remain this way and enjoy the American freedoms we sometimes take for granted.

So here is a completely insufficient "thank you" to all those in our military -- in the generations before us, in uniform today, and in the generations yet to come.  As Americans, we will always remember your sacrifice.  And we will carry your legacies with us and do all we can to ensure that your sacrifice is not in vain.  Thank you.

The World Is Liam's Playground

It has been too long!  We finally have our Internet connection established and my next big task is figuring out how to establish a phone connection and begin using our fabulous Internet phone.  That's a beast of a project, though, as most instructions are in German and my crackpot foundation of Deutschspeak leaves me lagging behind (thank goodness for Google Translate).  But the blog is in dire need of some updating, so here goes!

As Zeke let many of you know, our man Liam is a playground connoisseur.  He surveys every new place we find and then makes sure he exhausts every square inch of fun available.  It has gotten to the point that whenever he passes by certain areas of our neighborhood or post, he recognizes the territory and starts yelling, "PLAYGROUND! PLAYGROUND!"  Liam even knows where little hidden gems -- the indoor playgrounds -- await.  And now every other kid knows, too, with how loud Liam can be.

Being a creative soul, Liam also knows how to make a "playground" out of any space willing to let him flex his muscles and vocal chords.  He believes that if you've got toys to fill both hands, a good lungful of oxygen, and some pleasant company to share it all with, you've got yourself a playground... a fact we've exploited in some clutch moments.

Chutes and Ladders: the Reality Edition

It won't stop bouncing!

Miles?

German swings are SO safe

Sir Edmund Hillary, eat your heart out

A bridge (die Brücke) that would bring tears to Indiana Jones' eyes

FrankyLand? Here I come!

Rollin' out in downtown Bamberg

How German supermarkets (die Supermärkte) do shopping carts

"Fwog! FWOG!"

And the playground montage would not be complete without a little video for you guys:

Coming soon:  updates on our fabulous new digs (furniture included!); some tours of Bamberg and Nürnberg (Nuremberg, if you prefer); and some holiday festivities.  Stay tuned!

Machen dieses Haus wird einfach sein!

And once you see the following pics and video tour, I think you'll agree:  Making this "home" will be easy!  We received a nice little treat for Halloween this morning -- a brand-new washer/dryer set, a fridge, and loaner furniture to get us by until our sorely missed comforts from our NC home arrive here next week.

A view of the Esszimmer (dining room) -- big enough for our gigantor dinner table! -- from the Wohnzimmer (living room)

Liam high-tailing it through der Küche -- check out the awesome cabinets and appliances!

Spare Badezimmer across from the kitchen

Don't worry, Liam's very careful with these stairs!

Killer view from the second floor

Liam's Schlafzimmer -- slightly smaller than ours, but not by much

One more floor to go...

Third-floor loft room, which will serve as a study and guest room for all our visitors hint hint

The video is a bit long, but that's because this house is just plain ridiculous.  The finished space is 160 sq.m. (more than 1700 sq.ft., and the master BR is around 15x15!), not including the basement apt. being rented out by another woman.  We have yet to cross paths actually with this housemate, and there's a good chance that we never will even in 3 years.  As my former (supercool fabulous wonderful) roommate Val and I know well, you can share a building with people for 3 years and never have to carry on a conversation with them  ;)  I have a feeling she'll be worth knowing, though; she has a PUTTING GREEN instead of a backyard.  If she turns out to be a cool Frau who lets Zeke work on his short game, teaches me German and feeds Liam cookies, we're totally game.


Our home is fairly typical for newer developments in this area -- the German folks place importance on good-quality materials, efficient use of space, and especially bathroom space and functionality.  They treat granite like concrete and I think "carpet" is a dirty word.  As you'll see in the video (and I ramble a bit about it as well), there are rarely (if ever) closets in bedrooms.  Instead you'll find die Kleiderschrank (wardrobes or wall lockers).  It just dawned on me how much more functional and efficient this change in style is.  Instead of losing 2 feet of depth along one side of an entire room just for a closet cubby and door, folks here bring in a 2-foot-deep piece of furniture that just takes up a bit of wall/floor space.


Enough from me, you'll get an ear- and eyeful in the video.  Enjoy!

Scoping out his 'hood

Das ist ein Vogel! Das ist ein Flugzeug! Nein, das ist SuperLiam!

So Liam loves his new toy chest.  And ja, we know it's a suitcase (der Koffer), but it gets the job done:

Liam also has his own idea of what a greasy, unhealthy french fry (die Pommes) is:

And who needs a microphone (das Mikrofon) when you have a paper towel roll?

Das Leben ist gut!  Like I said before -- life is good!  I love me some Deutschland and how well it seems to suit us  :)

Mommy and Gangsta Liam

Liam body-slammed me right after this pic was taken. Maybe a future in pro wrestling?

Essen und Trinken in Bamberg und Memmelsdorf

We flew 5000 miles to go here for lunch:

Seriously?  Seriously!

There are two McDonald's locations in the city of Bamberg, and on post (as with every Army base I know of), there is a Burger King, Pizza Hut Express, Charley's Subs, Subway, and Popeye's, along with probably a few other American comforts I've overlooked.


But don't get us wrong.  We may have given in to our Whopper craving.  But we haven't missed out on the rich culture of Franconian food here in Bamberg (of Upper Franconia).  Side note: the Franconia - Bavaria affiliation is much like the Texas - USA affiliation.  The people of Bamberg are technically located in the state of Bavaria, but the specific region within the state is Franconia.  The natives of Bamberg and other Franconian regions much prefer to be considered Franconian (read: Texan), not Bavarian (read: American).  It's a less testy issue now, but in recent history I guess it was way more important for these folks to align with their region of Franconia rather than their state of Bavaria.


Back to the real issue at hand:  Food.  Anyone who knows the Kellys knows we love essen und trinken -- to eat and drink...  So our sponsor family, Jon and Sara, have been *fabulous* since before we got to Bamberg, making us feel welcome and prepared for our time here.  Beyond giving us an international "starter" Handy (mobile phone) and setting us up with our temporary lodging, Sara has been willing to be seen with us in public.  I KNOW, right?!?


Most recently, Sara took us out to Memmesldorf, a village on the outskirts of Bamberg, and we joined some new friends (Maria and her bud Joe) for Abendessen (literally, "evening eating").  The place?  The Höhn.  The experience?  Fabulous!  


The drinks were fun and thirst-quenching.  I started with Maria's recommendation of a Federweiß, which is a "young" wine -- wine provided after only the first pressing, early in the fermentation process.  The literal translation is "feather white" and is named such because the fizzy action gives the appearance of white feathers tracing along the glass.  The wine is sweet, light, fruity, and cloudy (but each glass looks slightly different given the nature of the wine -- it's not regulated like a completed wine).  Zeke enjoyed a glass of the house beer called Görchla.  We also each tried the Görchla Bock.  Another side note:  Bocks are sweet, not bitter, lagers with little to no hops presence (the Europeans actually measure hops levels with the International Bittering Units scale which determines the bitterness of beer created from hops concentration), and while Bocks range widely in color, they all have in common a higher alcohol content (from 5% to upwards of 12-13%) and are produced seasonally (usually fall-Christmas, with the Christmas lager from each brewery typically being the strongest).  Fun FYI:  Bavarian monks would drink Bocks to help nourish them during fasting periods.  Ja, let's give devout religious isolationists high alcohol beers and no food for extended periods of time.  Awesome.


As for the food at the Höhn?  Delectable!  Borderline-excessive amounts of meats (but not fried or heavy), veggies (of all shapes and sizes), starches (but not guilty ones), salads (and you don't pick a dressing; it just comes the way it is and you'll like it)... delicious.  Pictures wouldn't do it justice, so enjoy the following video to get a "taste" of Germany!

Bamberg Fall Plärrer

So it is officially Herbst, or autumn, here in Bamberg.  The leaves are falling, the nights are chilly, and the air is crisp.  Even in the late afternoon, we've already been able to see our breath.  Gorgeous!

The Berliner Ring, a main road in and around Bamberg

Typical building on post

Crazy cool trees here

One of the athletic fields on post -- with the Bamberg skyline in the distance

It seems that Germany has festivals and celebrations through most of the year, and now is no different.  The 178th Oktoberfest just ended in München (Munich), but on its heels, Bamberg is hosting a Plärrer -- essentially, a small fair for the city, operating until the end of October.  

We walked to the fair the other night and were pleasantly surprised to see some familiar sights:  fair rides, games, food stands, bales of hay, and lots of happy people.  Liam was hypnotized by the techno lights of the super fast tilty ferris wheel ride, and Zeke and I got a kick out of the fact that the bumper cars and train cars had American license plates!


And, of course, there was das Bier stand.  We enjoyed a Hefeweiß (a primarily wheat as opposed to barley beer in which the yeast is unfiltered -- cloudy and golden in appearance) and a dunkles Hefeweiß (darker malts are used, so the color is darker than the Hefe).  In America, we've seen similar beers labeled as Hefeweizen, but they're not half as cool as the Bier here.  ;)


We opted for hot dogs for dinner.  These tubes of meat were in a completely different league than American dogs; they were grilled, 1.5" in diameter, about 12" long, and one was smothered in Danish fixings and the other was done up Mexican style.  The buns were sourdough and the experience was unforgettable.  


Zeke and I enjoyed the company of some friends while downing die Bier und die Fleische (beer and meat)... and Liam preferred throwing rocks and blabbering to German passers-by.

Ich mag Felsen werfen -- I like to throw rocks!!