Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I presume by now that the turkey has been consumed, the stuffing has been stuffed and the cranberry sauce is now just a condiment on the leftover turkey sandwiches. The thoughts of football games and naps, and of course post-Thanksgiving shopping looms large as the stores open at midnight (or so I have read...)

The difference in day-to-day life here is most striking on a traditional North American holiday. Now, our Canadian friends celebrated Thanksgiving back in early October. Here in Germany, both days are just workdays, so life proceeds as normal - sort of. At RIA, we are conducting teacher development days both Thursday and Friday. And, as I have said before, these are not just days for the teaching staff to play hooky. We are working on our curriculum guides for the specific subjects we teach - these guides help in two ways: They allow us to objectively map the scope and skills of what each class will learn over a year, thus bringing consistency and we can look for synergy between different subjects. Curriculum guides are also a step in preparation for our accreditation process. I will be writing guides for the computer classes for each of the 10 grades that I teach (Pre-school to 8th grade).

Unfortunately, I have come down with a pretty good head-cold. I am thankful that it is nothing worse than a cold (we have had a couple of teachers out with strep this year). It is also a blessing that I didn't miss any classes, but I will be staying home today to rest and recuperate (I am tired of blowing my nose - even if it is 4-ply tissue!).

Delynn and I will likely celebrate our turkey dinner this weekend - it will be a simple affair but we will have a small bit of turkey (Sorry Luke!) as it is tradition. Maybe next year, we will go with a more authentic Thanksgiving goose just for fun (I haven't mentioned that to Delynn yet...)

Let us all take some time over this holiday to be thankful to God for the many blessings we each enjoy in our lives, regardless of where we are physically, we can be united spiritually in a gift of thanks. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Leaving comments

After a couple of emails from friends and family, I finally figured out that it is really painful to leave comments on our blog. I dug into it just a bit and now, everyone should be able to leave comments. If you don't have a login, you can select "anonymous" when posting a comment. If you do an anonymous comment, we would appreciate if you leave your name in the text of the comment somewhere so that we know who you are :-)

We had a great worship yesterday - it was such a privilege to be singing in a praise team again. The music reminded me a lot of Vancouver First Friends Worship songs. We sang "I Stand in Awe of You" which is a quite new song to ACB and the congregation loved it. The team leader, Karin, has invited me to sing again on Dec 2nd and to serve as a backup singer when other singers are out of town.

Hope that the change allows you to post - please let us know if there are more issues.
Love to all!

Fall has arrived in a big way

First, I need to sincerely apologize to anyone that endured physical, psychological or social pain due to the picture of Roquefort cheese that I posted last week. It was not our intent to harm any of our friends or relatives by displaying the picture. However, we had some more last night and it was sure yummy...

Delynn is snuggled over on the couch doing her German homework (wearing headphones and practicing her German listening and speaking skills with a CD). Did I mention before that Delynn and most of the other teachers are taking weekly German lessons? It is so good of our German instructor, Herr Hermann, to stay late on Mondays to teach the teachers. Since our apartment is so small, we use headphones as much as possible to avoid bothering each other.

Well, the weather here has turned in a decidedly fall-like direction. We have even had a few flakes in the air in the last week, but nothing that sticks to the ground. Our high one day last week may have hit 0 (that's in Centigrade). Psychologically, it feels colder whenever the temperature hits a negative value (it was -2 this morning) because we are so used to Fahrenheit temperatures where -2 is REALLY cold. However, when one walks everywhere, -2 Celsius is still pretty darned cold. It is so different without an automobile - last Sunday morning we bundled up with multiple layers (I like 4 layers personally) to get to the bus, transfer over to the tram and then make the short walk to church. Once inside, it is a bit like unpacking to get all the layers off and stowed away so they don't get in the way during worship, then packing it all back on as we make the return trip to Weil a. R. The Swiss have a saying: "There is no cold weather, just poorly dressed people." We'll see how poorly dressed we are when winter does get here... We also find that we do not keep our apartment nearly as warm here as we did in Vancouver. In our apartment, we have radiators rather than thermostatically controlled forced air for heat, so we have to conciously turn them on/off and adjust them. As such, we don't turn them on as much but choose rather to wear more layers, sweaters, etc. even when at home.

I am quite looking forward to chuch tomorrow. I have the privilege of joining one of the praise teams to lead singing during worship. We had a great practice Wednesday and I know most of the songs - there are a couple of new ones but it will be great to help lead worship songs again.

I took my fizzy vitamin C this morning to help fortify my immune system against the weather. Oh, yeah - another thing we find interesting is all of the fizzy tablets. You know: a tablet that you drop into water, like Alka-Seltzer. Well, almost all over-the-counter vitamins and minerals are sold in these tablets. We can even find aspirin in fizzy tabs. Fortunately, the vitamin C (with Zinc) has a palatable taste which goes down well.

Found out something else new this week: for those of you in the States that support your public TV or Radio stations, I applaud you. Here in Germany (as I think with most of Europe), we get to pay a TV & Radio tax. If you own a TV or a radio or both, you pay a monthly tax to help fund the standard TV channels. The tax applies to EACH television and radio you own (if I am reading the form correctly...) even if you only use it to watch DVDs. The thing is, these channels (some national, some local) still have advertisements, so it's not like we are paying to keep the programs commercial free. And, it's not like we watch a lot of German TV... I probably watch more than most because it does help with my listening comprehension. And, I am starting to enjoy the odd football game now and then. Luckily, before we filled out the form to pay 17 €/month in taxes, we talked to our landlords and found out it is covered already in the "associated costs" we pay with our rent.

Oh, we have to tell you about the wonderful tarts we bought the other day at the Lörrach Farmers Market. We were just walking down the aisles when we came across a pretty looking Apricot tart. They are sold in quarters (just enough for two) so we also picked up an apple tart for Sunday. In talking with the stall keep, we found out that she bakes them herself at home and brings them (along with all of the fresh fruits and vegitables) to sell at the market. Seems like I am talking about food alot but that's what my family does :-)

By the way, just look at this pumpkin! It is so striking that I had to take a picture of it before Delynn cooked it up for storing. It will make a wonderful pumpkin-something-or-other I'm sure.

Here are a couple pictures from our school's "Crazy Hair Day" - some of the kids did a great job don't you think? I have been thinking about RIA and what makes is so different and one thing that hits me is that here, no student can get lost. We know every child; recognize how special God has made them are and can motivate, encourage and love them as individuals, not just as a class. That is really cool.

Our students: this is not the way they look every day...

The Coen sisters really got into the spirit of the day.

Gotta love it!

As Delynn and I complete a little over three months of living in Weil a. R. it has given us pause to reflect on the incredible number of changes we have experienced. With this wholesale change of every aspect of what we called our life, it seems like it has been much longer than just three months. As I have said before, we are blessed beyond words and we first thank God for allowing us to make this move. But as with all change, it is not all smiley faces and without some tears. We do feel like this is home and don't see ourselves living anywhere else or doing anything else - at least for this time in our life together. We look forward to seeing how God leads.

It is hard to explain the feeling of being here. There are times walking down the Hauptstraße in Weil and seeing our apartment building in the distance, looking into the eyes of a student during an "Aha!" moment or riding the tram across the Rhein to church when we think: "we could live here forever" This is life! You gotta love it.

We continue to run into those small differences that make our life here interesting. Some of them we think - why don't we have this (or do this) back in the states? Other times we think: Okay, that's just the way it is here and we drive forward with a prayer and a smile.

One example: do you know the kleenex we have in the states is wimpy! In Germany, blowing one's nose with gusto is not frowned upon and I think in some ways encouraged... When we bought our first box of kleenex some time ago, we discovered after returning home that it way 4-ply thick! not the flimsy 2-ply stuff found in the states - and one can even find 5-ply tissue. Delynn, who in her daintiness does not need 4 sheets, took to peeling apart the kleenex and used only 2 layers at a time. But Michael loved being able to blow my nose without shredding the tissue all over the place. And no, blowing my nose does not actually attract geese, it just sounds like it... The next time we went shopping, we got two boxes: the regular 2-ply for Delynn and the hefty 4-ply for Michael. We are at peace.


Another example is the cheese. First, if you are at all squeamish about cheese, please skip this section - I'm thinking specifically of you cousin Donna. Interestingly enough, cheese is one of the few items that is, on the whole, less expensive here than in the States. I know that most of you have read our entry about a month ago (5 Sept) on cheese. Well, last week, we bought some Roquefort cheese - this is the blue cheese that comes from a particular region of France. In fact, only cheese aged in specific caves in France can have the name Roquefort. When we opened the package, we could see that unlike all cheese produced in the states, this cheese was still alive! I took a picture below just in case you have never seen blue cheese up close and personal. We were overwhelmed with the multiple layers of flavor: tangy, tart, sweet, salty. It is truly wonderful - if you like blue cheese that is.

Ummm. Served best at room temperature...

And sorry Dad, but I can't ship it back to the States...

More cheese: I can't believe we did this, but Delynn and I actually bought a fondue pot. Yes, I know it is soooo 70's retro but it is also very traditionally Swiss. In the fall, when the weather is crisp and cool, the Swiss turn to fondue and Raclette. Raclette is melted cheese on toast topped with various yummy things which is served at most of the festivals in this area of Germany and Switzerland. Fondue, and I mean real fondue, is not from any package but is instead made from melting Emmenthal and Gruyère cheeses into a heavy ceramic or cast iron pot. Neither Delynn or I know anything about fondue, so we were risking nearly a pound of cheese on our little experiment (luckily cheese is one of the few items that is less expensive than in the states). At first, we thought we would just try it ourselves before inviting others over to try, but in the end we had Aubrey and Amy-Jo (two teachers from RIA) over to take part in our little food experiment (we had them sign a waiver first...). We cubed up the baguette, laid out the traditional condiments: baby gherkin pickles, olives and little pickled onions as well as some non-traditional items: fresh mushrooms, par-cooked carrots, apples and pears we picked up at the farmer's market. As the cheese was slowly added to the pot, I was at first concerned that it would be too clumpy, then too thin, then too thick but in the end, it came out great! We had a such fun together telling stories, chewing over world issues and sharing our lives as we dipped and twirled each morsel.

Just a fun moment. Last month, we celebrated Allison's birthday while we were without Internet (with much crying and gnashing of teeth...) Anywho, it was a sort of dress up party - we were all supposed to dress up as a super-hero. As you can imagine, we didn't bring a lot of costumes in our luggage with us, so we made due with what we had around the house. We thought you would enjoy a picture of Geek-boy and Tartan-girl! - our super-hero alter egos. Luckily, Delynn brought a lot of scarves with her and I found the funky glasses in the toy section of a department store and yes, that is duct tape on the bridge of the glasses. (Thank you Jerry and Rhonda for sending the roll of duct tape - it added that authentic geek touch). I could only wear the glasses for short periods of time because I couldn't see nearly anything!

"Auf Wiedersehen" from Tartan-Girl and Geek-Boy

RIA Hoe Down!

Just a couple of pictures from the RIA Hoe Down! party at school a couple of weeks ago. This is a chance for our school families to get together, enjoy some grilling and social time. Everyone had a great time - we were blessed with beautiful weather and a square dance group from Weil a. R. came out to dance. We had face painting, goats and pony rides. Michael helped fellow teacher Cam on the BBQ grill (very manly work!) while Delynn kept the books. A bunch of the fathers and kids had a pick-up football match (i.e. soccer).

Another happy RIA family enjoying the Hoe Down!

Nothing better than an candied apple on a beautiful fall day. After giving the children lots of sugar, we like to give them back to their parents...

Goats were well fed and Michael is left holding the bag...

Faces got painted...

And the square dancers danced.

This photo shows the Square Dance Klub from Weil a. R. that came to dance for us at the Hoe Down! The couples come from all over the area - including a couple from France that travel across international borders to dance. After showing off their stuff, the eight dancers dispersed into the crowds of families to snag a partner - including Michael (who was quite fetching wearing the cow apron that my nephew Matt made for me years ago). We formed two rather lopsided squares of dancers as we learned some elementary figures - does anyone remember the doe-si-doe from 3rd grade? Yeah, that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with the camera during the whole sordid affair, so we don't have anything to post. No, really.

Fall festivities abound in the Dreiländereck

Throughout Europe, the fall is time of special celebration. It seems like the average person is closer to their agrarian roots than we are in the States. Now, before you write and angry retort, I realize that most county and state fairs are associated with the end of harvest, but we don't seem to connect them as closely with harvest or have so many festivals, celebrations or special events tied specifically to the end of harvest. In a town just north of us (Haltingen), they hold a harvest thanksgiving church service. There are special events going on every weekend in the various cities, towns and villages - one of the largest is the Herbstmesse in Basel. This festival is like the state fair but without the 4-H exhibitions. They have food, rides, handcrafts, carnival games and roasted chestnut stands across half a dozen venues around the city. Fortunately, most of them are within walking distance of each other. The atmostphere is festive on these cool, clear, autumn days. On Sundays, since shops are closed, these are the places to to after church - but you can forget about any personal space.


Among the venues is the Bellevue wheel. Someone mentioned that this is the largest temporary Ferris Wheel in Europe, which I find credible. Each of the 42 carriages can hold six adults and the apex reaches higher than the nearby cathedral's steeple. Needless to say, Michael declined the invitation to ride but gave the camera to Delynn to bring back pictures.

Even though the day was a bit cloudy, there is still a nice view of Basel from the Ferris wheel. This is looking down on the Marktplatz (market square) and Basel Rathaus (town hall - the red building in center).

Of course, after an exhausting ride on the Ferris Wheel, one needs to refresh and replenish themselves with...

Apfelstrudel of course! Especially when it is served warm with vanilla sauce. Ummm good - doesn't Delynn look happy? Near the Apfelstrudel stand is a ride that is more Michael's speed. The video gives a small taste of what this two-floor "Karussell" is like. It takes a rather large amount of time just to tran-load the children between rides but it is beautiful to watch.

While Delynn and I certainly miss our friends, family and faith community back in the States we also realize what a precious gift God has given us to experience this place, its culture and people.

Thank you for your patience.

We got our Internet restored just a few days ago, so we will start adding some entries to get everyone back up to speed on our lives. There is so many things to share - Kleenex, cheese, square dancing, Herbstmesse, but rather than do one big long entry, we will break it into a series of posts. Delynn and I think we have figured out why so many people think that German is such a difficult language. Take for example the following (please forgive the pixel-ation):

This 42-letter compound noun is an actual picture from and actual business in Basel, Switzerland. Now, while this may seem daunting to read, just forget trying to pronounce it! I think it works out to about nine syllables that tell us that it is a Christmas shop that specifically has jewelery and other Christmas furnishings. Whew - gotta love this place!