Life Outside of School and Wintermarkets

Sometimes life in Wolfsburg can be pretty interesting.  The last month before the winter holidays was actually a pretty exciting time with all of the wintermarkets, going to the Van Heen concert, and cooking lots of good food.  Early in December we were invited to a basketball game by Mike's mentor, Mattias.  He lives in Braunschweig and is a big basketball fan, so he got us all tickets to the Braunschweig New Yorker Phantoms game against some team from southern Germany. 

Braunschweig Phantoms are in yellow.  The team, currently sponsored by the teen clothing store New Yorker, is the only basketball team in the area, so Wolfsburg and VW also have a stake in the team.

The entire evening was full of surprises and quite the adventure given that we had never tried getting to Braunschweig on our own before.  It was a long bus ride and a little interesting trying to figure out the street trolley system, but we did manage to find our way to the arena. 

The game itself was actually extremely entertaining and enjoyable -- definitely surprising for me since I never was all that interested in how the Timberwolves did or basketball in general.  A lot of European pro-basketball players are American players that did not get into the NBA.  There was a ridiculous amount of fouling and the Phantoms actually managed to blow a huge lead and lose the game in overtime.  So it goes. 

I was extremely amused by their mascot who, half way through the game, trading his stalking around the court to scootering across the court.

 

The other amusing part was the dancers.  Compare these kids to the cheerleaders at the Target Center...

Just before the game started we decided to grab a bite to eat since we hopped on the bus immediately after school.  Hilariously, we ran into another Waldorf teacher colleague who was also there to cheer on the Phantoms.  This was fortunate because he happened to also live in Wolfsburg and we then had a ride back to Wolfsburg!

Of course the basketball game was an exception to our usual outings.  More typically, we take the bus out to the city center in Wolfsburg and walk around the shops or catch a bite to eat.  One weekend we met in a more "historic" part of Wolfsburg for coffee with the other new teachers at our school.  It was in a quieter part of the city where the buildings were more quaint.  Our drinks came in bowls and they had delicious cake. 

Afterward, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant that someone recommended. 

We split a very yummy pizza and salad.

 

Strangely, we've probably had more Italian food in Germany than any other kind of food.  But it is good...

Hannover in December

To continue our winter market series, the following weekend we visited Hannover, a town Jo knew well from his student days.  It is about an hour drive west of Wolfsburg.  Mike and I were very excited to go somewhere other than Wolfsburg and Braunschweig.

Jo remembered that the main church in the Hannover city center offered free concerts every evening, so the first thing we checked out was the musical offerings for the night.  Miraculously, we arrived with about forty minutes to spare before a service with a bassoonist and a vocalist (to avoid performance fees, Germans tend to combine concerts and recitals with church services).  It had been a while since either of us heard a talented musician play, much less a bassoonist, so we both enjoyed ourselves.  The church was also quite beautiful.

Set up around the church was a series of nativity displays from various time periods and in many different forms and interpretations.  They were very interesting to compare.

Some were more traditional.

 I like the color in this one, but there is something unsettling about the use of different materials.

The details can be pretty incredible.

Again, different...

This was the placard for one of my favorite versions.

I thought it was a very cool setting -- West Side Story-esque?

The line was moving quickly, so this is a very hurried close-up of Mary and baby Jesus.

My other favorite.  All of the figures are made of painted stone.

Yet another close-up (courtesy of Benjamin).

This last one is completely made of wood.  It was beautiful, but unfortunately, baby Jesus had not arrived yet...

After the concert we did the usual wintermarket deal... lots of food, shopping around the stalls, searching for good Gluhwine, and trying to stay warm.

This wintermarket also had a giant European candle mill.

Jo has a favorite bookstore in every city that is not Wolfsburg, so of course we had to visit the one in Hannover, which was open late.  We ended up spending a good amount of time there (Mike and I like bookstores, too!), especially because they had a massive music section in the basement.  In honor of pets, below is a picture of a book in the store that looks exactly like my family's cat Berlioz back in MN.

Facial Landscaping

On our way back to Germany Mike decided he would go the extra mile in keeping his face warm from the biting winter cold.  When we landed on this side of the ocean, we immediately felt like we were on spring break -- the temperature was a balmy zero degrees centigrade!  Nevertheless, Mike decided to go forwards with his plan.

I have to admit that the facial hair adds a touch of maturity to his otherwise youthful image (not that you can tell in this picture).  Besides the scratchiness, I didn't mind too much.  He definitely surprised a lot of people when school started again.  The sixth graders absolutely hated it and moaned and groaned about it at each rehearsal.  Some teachers gave positive feedback.  The seventh graders thought it was cool.  Probably completely unrelated, the eighth graders have taken to calling Herr Anderson "Mr. Gangster".  (Don't ask what the original nickname was...)

The cutoff date was Sunday.  Then we had fun seeing what the many faces of Mr. Gangster could be...

Goatee...

Moustache...

All done!

This is my favorite face  :)

Winter Wonders

All over Germany through the month of December is a smattering of traditional winter markets or Christmas markets.  Our Waldorfschule had one in November.  The city of Wolfsburg also held its own in the town center during the shopping season.  Although we were quite surprised and delighted when we stumbled upon the small Wolfsburg market by accident, we were told by everyone that we had to experience a "real" winter market -- one more traditional and with higher quality gluhwine, a traditional spiced and mulled wine made specifically for the holidays.  So, Mike and I also visited three other Christmas markets:  Braunschweig, Hanover, and the Autostadt (which is in Wolfsburg).

We went to Braunschweig's winter market with Jo, Annette, and Benjamin.  The first and most noticeable difference between this market and the one in Wolfsburg was the atmosphere and surroundings of the city.  Braunschweig is a much, much older city than 70-year-old Wolfsburg and has a richer cultural background.  There are beautiful old cathedrals and baroque architecture all throughout the city center.  The market itself was still carnival-esque, but the vendors were set up in wooden stands instead of the plastic tents like in Wolfsburg.

 Entering the Christmas market.

The nutcracker standing guard at the entrance.  It's definitely Christmastime.

This life-size display was outside of one of the churches.

An example of Braunschweig's loveliness.

A part of Braunschweig that was not touched by the market, but just as beautiful.

The main idea of the Christmas markets, like most festivals, is to eat and drink.  We went on a quest for good quality Gluhwine and tried at least three or four different ones to no avail.  It was strange for Mike and me to be drinking hot wine.  Most frustrating for Jo, however, was that all of the Gluhwines available were overly sweetened.  There were other options, of course.  Pictured above is a pretty eggnog with a very rain-soaked girl (this was all before Europe got plummeted by snow).  The eggnog, like a lot of German foods and drinks, was not what we expected.  Instead of something thick and creamy, the eggnog had a more runny consistency and tasted strongly of rum.  On the non-alcoholic side was hot chocolate and kinderpunsch or the non-alcoholic version of gluhwine -- ever popular with kids.

Annette was most excited to have her first Kartoffelpuffer of the season, which is a kind of German potato pancake.  They are served with either applesauce or Preiselbeeren, which is like cranberry sauce made with lingonberries.  Other commonly found foods at the winter market:  bratwurst, fries, cooked mushrooms, pizza, crepes, candied nuts, roasted chestnuts, and chocolate covered fruits.

The winter market crowd and some of the food vendors.  You can even see the rain that soak everyone and everything.

A very cool giant-sized European candle mill (disappointingly not powered by candles... or torches.)

As we headed home for the night, Mike spotted this car in the parking garage.  We were quite amused.  Who knew that police departments had such hardcore choirs?

Apparently I had enough energy left at the end of the night to show off my newly acquired Norwegian-style hat and glove set (it also came with a headband) that I desperately needed in the cold and rain of the typical German December.   

Christmas in January

It's time to celebrate! After nearly three months we finally have wi-fi up and running at our apartment. It only took all of six appointments with Deutsche Telekom through the service provider O2; canceling service with O2 because they said DT claimed they "couldn't find our apartment"; signing on with another provider, Vodafone; two appointments with DT through Vodafone (and not only did they find our apartment both times, but they didn't have to schedule the next visit for six days after our call); and a phone call to their helpline. Whew!

I know there are tons of photos to catch up on. We're certainly not done with all the Christmas ones. To ease back into the photo uploading (which should be much easier now that I can do it from home), I bring to you the festivities that had been on display in our apartment building.

Again, apartments in Germany are setup quite differently than they are in the states. One apartment building has several "house numbers" that denote a specific entrance for that building. We are number 17, which happens to be the second entrance of our building. When you enter, you end up in the basement and find the elevator and the stairs. Instead of a hallway, the stairs only go up to landings for each floor. Each landing belongs to two apartments - one on the left and one on the right. Some people make their landing very nice. Since our elevator broke on numerous occasions throughout December, we got to see how some of our neighbors decorated their landing for the holidays.






I have to admit that it was a little strange to be taking pictures of random people's doorways. One picture (not on display here) was a close-up of something hung up on the door to the apartment. Of course the person happened to need to leave the apartment at that moment and opened the door. Mike's reflexes might have been fast enough so that the person didn't see we were taking a picture of his doorway, but we still felt very awkward walking down the stairwell with our cameras out. So it goes.

Letze Warnung

With only obligatory reference to the Brothers Keepers song, we have received a double warning for this weekend. The first, and more innocuous, of the two is that we are supposed to have bad weather this weekend. We have been warned that we might get 30-40 cm (circa 12-16 inches) of snow and should stock up on food, water, candles. . .

Hopefully it won’t get that bad. Though, if it does, we’ll build a fort in our apartment (pictures will, of course, be taken).

Unfortunately, if we do end up having a snow day on Monday, we will have to resort to the methods of the 1990s to discover if there is no school. No, the Waldorf School does not have high-end Honeywell Instant Alert systems that text message you when school is cancelled (so we won’t find out at 4pm the day before). They do not have anyone to update the website to inform us if school is on or not. There is not even a telephone number we can call to find out if school is in session. No, we will have to listen to the radio or watch the television (or out our window) to see if the buses are running or if school is canceled. Oh, the technological atrocities of yesteryears.

In other warning news, today was officially boar-hunting day. From 9-13 hunters were allowed to go into the woods and – that’s right – hunt wild boar. So, first of all, that finally determines if there was any validity of wild boars in the forest (at least in my mind; feel free to have your own opinions). Second of all, and I quote, “you are not allowed to go into the forest . . . are supposed to pay a good attention when you are around the forest [and] there is danger of stray bullets and boars running out in despair!” I believe that sums up the second warning. I slept through the boar-hunting season (the joys of long-term jetlag), but Vicki said that she heard a gunshot this morning. We’ll keep an eye on the local menus.

Well, dear friends of the Earth, we will still be careful as we walk next to the forest today and hope that you all have an enjoyable, safe, and forewarned wild-boar hunting day.