Thanksgiving in Germany, aka the Trial Run

This year's turkey day was far from traditional. It was business as usual at the Waldorf Schule all week, and that Thursday was no different. Thursday is always conference day and each week the teachers get together for hours to talk about what is going on at the school. And, when I say hours, I mean we usually don't get home till at least 7 pm. Maybe we'll expound on the Waldorf conferences another time.

What made this particular Thursday unique was that we were invited to go to a concert in Braunschweig with our colleague Rolf (Rolf also happens to give the Japanese English teacher, Mike, and me German lessons, but that's another thing). He happened to come across three free tickets to Herman van Heen's show. We left school immediately after the conference and hitched a ride with some other colleagues for the 30 minute trip to Braunschweig to make the concert at 8:00. Even though we had to run to the train station, take the train back to Wolfsburg, and then grab a bus back to Detmerode to arrive home by midnight, the adventure and craziness were well worth it. The show was entirely in German, but the humor, the poignancy of some of his comments, and, of course, the musicality still came through to me. (It also helps that I have picked up some basic German and my companions translated some things for me.) Van Heen sang, played violin and guitar, and told a lot of jokes -- most of which were quite dark. He also had a great accompanists on piano, violin, viola, and guitar. It was a very, very good evening.

Our more traditional thanksgiving came that Saturday, when we went in the kitchen in the morning and didn't come out until much later in the day. We had invited Annette, Jo, and Benjamin over to share dinner with us and we obviously had to live up to the expectations of an elaborate American thanksgiving dinner. We had picked up the largest turkey we could find at the grocery store earlier in the week -- a whole eight pounds! This was acutally plenty to feed the five of us and still leave enough for a week of leftovers. I was curious as to how the bird would turn out since we had no roasting pan and a weird European oven, but all in all, it was just fine.... maybe a tad on the dry side.

We also made mashed potatoes, green beans, corn on the cob (definitely NOT like what we're used to... unfortunately), wild rice (yes, we found wild rice in Germany... though I don't think it's real wild rice), stuffing (soooooooo good...), gravy (out of the turkey juices), and pumkin soup.

Surprisingly, pumpkin soup is amazingly delicious. We were introduced to it at school when one of the French teachers made it for her birthday for a mid-conference break treat. This was the second pumpkin soup we made out of Hokaido pumpkins. There is a bit of freshly grated parmesean cheese sprinkled on top. (Funny side note, at least to me: we were re-watching episodes of Top Chef the night before, in particular, the one where Jessie puts too much cayenne pepper in her squash soup. Guess what I did to our pumpkin soup...)

Here's our spread. I know... we made a lot of food.

Another view of our food.

The main event...

Mike attempting to carve the turkey...


We had a very Thanksgiving-like table cloth.

For dessert, we made an apple crisp with rice flour (becaue Annette can't have glutin). It was perfect with vanilla ice cream.

All in all, I am very proud of the dinner we made for Thansgiving. I can't believe we pulled off each dish and that it all tasted good!

The one thing that was missing for Mike was pumpkin pie. This void, however, was quickly filled. Mike and his 12th grade English class read an article about the Amercian celebration of Thanksgiving, which happened to include a recipe for pumpkin pie. Pumpkins and pies are not strange to Europeans, but pumpkin and pie together is a whole other story. So intrigued were his students that the asked to make pie during class... and that's what they did. Everything was done from scratch -- no condensed milk, no canned pumpkin. Some how they ended up making enough filling for about eight pies, so Mike and I made a few extras one morning before school...

Our homemade pie crust...

Whipping our own whipped cream.

And the final product.

Everyone was surprised that pumpkin in pies actually taste okay! Chisako, the Japense English teacher liked how it wasn't too sweet. Nevertheless, we ended up with a lot of leftover pie... we definitely had it as lunch a few times...

The big test of our culinary skills, however, is coming this Monday where we are making a "Thanksgiving dinner" for the all of the teachers after the staff production of the nativity play. Of course turkey is on the menu. There will also be three kinds of potatoes, a salad, a little bit of stuffing, wild rice, and some desserts that include cake, apple crisp, and pumpkin pie. Annelie, Mike, and I will start cooking as soon as school gets out. Hopefully it all goes well!

Weekends in Wolfsburg

Markets, or as we know them in the US, farmers markets, are very common in German towns. Our neighborhood, Detmerode, is no exception. Local farmers come to the mini-"shopping center" across the street from school every Thursday and Saturday to sell their goods. More often than not, their products are organic, which is pretty cool. The weekend market brings about nine different vendors. It's not very big, nor is the selection expansive, but going down for groceries is always an enjoyable experience. We try to go every Saturday to pick up fresh eggs, bread, and some produce.

Here is a view of the market.

Typical things you find are squash, mushrooms, eggs, Brussels sprouts, apples, carrots, celery root, and lots of different kinds of potatoes.

I was extremely amused when I saw that most of the vendors use weights to calculate how much product you buy. I'm not very farmers market savvy so maybe this is normal, but seeing that definitey brought me back a couple hundred years. If you look closely at the middle of the picture you can see the weights and scales.

No German market is complete without someone selling some sort of bratwurst.

Emphasis on some kind.

I was hoping that the sign above the lady would be more clear, but unfortunately the print is too small and it's very awkward to whip out a camera at this very small market place in the first place. Anyway, the very first line says "Pferdwurst".

Yup. Very early on in my Rosetta's Stone experience I learned that "Pferd" means horse in German.

Anytime we ask people (who don't live in Detmerode) about it, they all get very squeamish -- which is not surprising. In Detmerode, however, it's not so abnormal. Eating horse meat is a practice that originated around the war era when there wasn't enough traditional protiens around.

Do you think we tried it?

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Hesitantly, but yes, we did.


Very typical German food is something called "Currywurst", which is bratwurst smothered with German ketchup (it's sweeter and tastes a little like barbeque sauce), and sprinkled with curry powder. Sometimes the brat is cut up into small pieces. I think this is because they don't make breads that are made for sandwiching sausages or brats like American hotdog buns. It's very strange when you receive a round kaiser roll with your very long sausage inside. Anyway, above is Mike eating Pferd-Currywurst. We shared it. After you forget the fact that it is horse meat, it's not so bad. It doesn't taste quite like normal sausage, but it's not overtly strange tasting either. At the same time, it's not a food I will miss when back in the states.

Waldorf Basar

Winter markets are a huge part of German Christmas tradition. All of the big cities have some sort of winter market and many of the little ones do as well. In addition to having various kinds of food and drink, there are vendors galore selling all sorts of little trinkets. Depending on the size of the site, these winter markets can take place every day from the end of November till Christmas, on the weekends, or a specific week. All of the Waldorf schools in Germany host their own winter markets --- the Waldorf Basar. Fortunately for us, the bazaar lasts only a day - a Saturday. Preparation for it, however, begins far in advance.

At our Waldorf school, each class is in charge of a specific task. The elementary grades (1-5) turn their classrooms into different "stands". One room was turned into a book store, another into a tea and coffee lounge, and yet another into a mini cafe. The sixth class took turns at some of the outdoor kiosks like the fresh waffles stand or the punch tent. Obviously the parents play a large part in making all of this happen.

The older classes have similar projects. The seventh class made and sold pine wreaths. Although they started this at the beginning of the week, their parents were scrambling at the end to finish. Other things included homemade cookies, a used bookstore, and making key chains out of pieces of wood.

Classes ended at noon the Friday prior to the bazaar. Each class was assigned a task to begin setup. Decorations had to be put up, lights had to be strung, and tables and stands had to be built. Outside vendors began coming to the school to put up their displays and goods.

The Waldorf Basar is also a chance for the school to put itself on display for the community. Our English colleague Annalie's pride and joy is her handcrafts class where she teaches the students how to card wool, spin it into thread and yarn, and then weave scarves or shawls -- all in English, of course. After setting up the chairs and stands for our sixth grader's next performance up in the loft of the main building, Mike and I helped Annelie set up her display.

The round thingies are the spinning wheels -- like Gretchen's!

Here is Annelie posing with the yarn that she and her classes dyed with natural substances like herbs and vegetables.

More naturally dyed yarn made by Annelie and her classes.

The main hall was packed with different stands. There were ceramics, wood crafts, display dolls, fruit leather....

This is what it looked like Friday afternoon.

And this is what it looked like Saturday morning.


A view of some of the classrooms...

The bazaar committee (made up of teachers and parents) had planned interesting activities outside of the classrooms as well. One example was a chance to do some metal smith work with a real anvil and hot metal. What kid doesn't like to whack hot metal pokers and send sparks flying?

They offered archery in the gymnasium.

We had a cafe set up in the music room of the main building that was run by the 8th class parents. They brought in cakes and desserts galore to sell all day. To accompany your dessert of choice a bit of musical entertainment was provided every hour by the students. There were short pieces on the piano, flute, a strings/flute ensemble, and lastly the 8th class performed a bit of African drumming and dancing from their class play they will be performing in February. It was quite a sight.

One could also find plenty to eat outside. There were three big tents that were set up that morning - one for dining and special Christmas punch (apple and cherry flavored); the second for grilled food like brats (it is Germany), thinly cut steak, vegetable kabobs, pommes (french fries), and potatoes; and the third, a tent for an activity comparable to making s'mores... but not really. That third tent held a fire pit for kids to roast a special kind of bread on a stick. It's as simple as it seems - you glob a bunch of dough onto a stick and toast until done. I did not get a chance to try it, though it is apparently a very German tradition. A picture is below.

Here is the 7th class's display of handmade wreaths.

And to go full-circle, Mike documented my attempts to spin wool at Annelie's station. Let's just say it did not go very well at all. Mike was actually better at it than I -- and more patient!

It was a long and full day for us, but also extremely interesting. We had a lot of food, looked at a lot of little trinkets, and got to hang out with some of our students. It was really nice to see them in a setting outside of the classroom.

Scenes from the back yard

Something's cooking at the Waldorf School...

Oh no! Fiver has had a vision! What has he seen?

It's never good when a rabbit has a vision! We're all doomed! May El-ahrairah save us!


Don't be such a fear monger, Holly. You say that every time Fiver has a vision.

We're doomed! We're doomed! Take shelter. May El-ahrairah take pity on us all!!

Calm down. Fiver says it's not bad. It's just an event at the Waldorf School.

I don't care. I'm going to hiding. Down into the bunkers!

I bring word from the god El-ahrairah! Go to the Waldorf School! Go to the Bazaar!

What? This cannot be! A message from the great El-ahrairah? You lie!

No, it is you who lie, Holly! You're a blasphemer, a thief, and a philanderer! You steal the treasures from the men and women of Watership Down! Capture him!

Nooooooooooooooo! I'm doooooooooooooooooomed!

Yes, yes you are. Be gone from our lands forever. And to all others: Go to the Bazaar!

Bazaar! Bazaar!

Not a turkey, but just as yummy!

What could be considered the German equivalent of Thanksgiving is a day known as Martinstag or St. Martin's Day on November 11th. The day celebrates a Roman soldier who later on became a monk. The story goes that Martin, a plain Roman soldier at the time, was riding down a road in the bitter cold when he came upon a beggar. Seeing that this man would freeze to death, Martin gave him the only thing he owned -- half of his red cloak. The other "half" belonged to the Roman army.

Towns all over Germany celebrate this day with reenactments of the story. The school began its celebrated with a little concert from our sixth grade band (which also happend to be Mike and my first performance with them). We held the concert in the main hall of the school with all of the lights dimmed. It was a very nice atmosphere. If you're curious, our program consisted of four little pieces - one of which was called "Bus Stop Blues".

Since the previous week the elementary kids had been creating paper lanterns - another St. Martin's Day tradition. Benjamin's class (3rd grade) made big round orange ones. Then at dusk (after our little performance), all of the children took their lanterns and went on the St. Martin's Day procession. The long line of children, their parents, and teachers went winding through the forest across the road from our apartment. Each child had a lit candle in their paper lantern. The trail lit up by swaying lanterns made for a very nice sight, but it was also a bit shocking to see such young children handling flames. Miraculously nothing caught on fire this year. Apparently most years there are at lesat two flaming lanterns and weeping children. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my camera that day.

We trekked through the woods for about half an hour and then returned to the field behind the gymnasium. There they had roped off an area where a re-enactment of the story took place -- with a real horse! Mike played a trumpet fanfare to begin the performance and played a couple traditional St. Martin's Day songs. Then the third grade class sang us the story as one of their classmates went around in circles on a pony who wouldn't stand still.

At the end of the play parents and students brought around baskets of bread. In the spirit of Saint Martin, you were to break the bread in half and share it with someone else.

St. Martin's Day is also recognized as the end of fall and the beginning of winter. To recognize the winter season, many people have a St. Martin's Day goose. Annette and Jo were kind enough to arrange for a very lovely goose dinner the following Saturday in a cute old fashioned part of Wolfsburg called Vorsfeld.

The restaurant was a very nice place.

They even gave us special goose napkins for our meal!


Benjamin took a picture of us at the table.

The first thing that came out of the kitchen was an absolutely delicious goose cappuccino. I know, it sounds gross, but it was so yummy. It consisted of the juices of the goose (no espresso whatsoever). And just like a real cappuccino, there was a nice layer of froth on top (also made from goose juices).

Then came our meal.

The goose tasted very good. Its texture is closer to duck than chicken, but maybe just a little bit tougher. The gravy made from the bird was so good than even Mike had more! Underneath the goose is a traditional red cabbage "salad". It tastes pleasantly tart and is served warm. There is a bit of roasted parsley on the plate and under that are German knudeln. From what I understand, knudeln is a "meatball" that is made of flour or bread or potatoes.