April showers bring May flowers...

And May flowers bring lots of pollen. Ahhh-cheww! Good thing we have the Costco-size bottle of allergy medicine. We have just enjoyed our first May Day in Germany. While it was fairly calm down here in the south, May Day (sort of the Europeon Labor Day) brings with it the usual protests for higher wages and some rioting in the larger cities. It also marks the start of vacation season. We have some friends that could not find a hotel room in Vienna for the weekend (oh, there was that suite for €800 per night...). I think they decided to take some day trips around Weil. I conveniently came down with a cold, but I have effectively knocked it back with lots of Vitamin C (fizzy tablets of course), liters of juice and walks in the sunshine.

Our town of Weil a. Rh. had a lot of activity this weekend. The weather was in the low 20's (low-mid 70's F.) with clear skies. Weil hosted two different festivals - the first was a fitness festival in which they closed down a section of the Hauptstraße (see below) to allow vendors of various types to hawk their goods. The model shop had a course laid out for kids to race some remote controlled cars. There was a para-glider and scuba diving vendors, cardio-fitness, body care products and insurance sales (okay, so it is a loose definition of "fitness").

But they also had PowerRisers! This seems to be an up-and-coming thing in the Dreiländereck - they are short, springy pogo-stick like extensions for running. Delynn said that they remind her of something from Star Wars. I captured the guy mid-flight in picture below. Looks like great fun, but I think I will stick to a bicycle...

This old bus was on display right outside our apartment building. It can be rented out for special occasions - weddings, retirement parties, etc. I think that in the past, the Deutsche Post also ran some bus services (probably to the outlying towns) because this bus has several Post emblems and what looked like a slot on the side of the bus for posting letters. Anyway, I thought dad would like this picture, so here it is.

WARNING: for the slightly squeemish, one of the following pictures and descriptions may need to be vetted by someone of less delicate constitution.

So, in the middle of town, we are having a loosely-defined "fitness" festival while simultaneously, not 3 blocks away, Weilers are celebrating a Schlachtfest! which literally translated is a "slaughter festival" (yeah, really.) I had to ask my German friend Karin about this one. So, in the past, when someone in the village would slaughter an animal (which was a pretty rare event in those days) like a pig or a cow, they would throw a small party. While most of an animal's meat and parts can be preserved using various means (most involving salt and smoke), there are parts of the animal that must be consumed quickly. So you invite the neighbors over for the party to share in the meal. Karin said that the farmer would inflate the animal's stomach like a balloon and post it on the fence to signify the party place. Yum!

No inflated animal parts here, but in springtime, Germans, like people throughout the world, will take any excuse to set up a bandstand and tables, erect food stalls to sell Wurst, Schumpfnudlen (concoction of potato noodles, sauerkraut and bacon), and Heissemandeln (hot candied almonds) and just enjoy the sunshine together. Of course, a Schlachtfest would not be complete without bringing out the mechanical bull.
And, here it comes... An ox on a spit. Now, some people will find this rather disgusting, but I have seen one before and really it is not much different than roasting a chicken, it just takes a bigger rotisserie. I took this picture on Friday morning, just as the fest was starting up. Delynn and I both sampled the ox and it was delicious - a very tender roast beef flavor. Germans eat very little beef, so this is quite a treat. By late afternoon on Saturday, this entire ox was consumed - it was literally bones on a spit (sorry, no picture of that one - I didn't take a camera)

I hope that from our postings, we do not mislead everyone - it probably seems like all we do here is travel and have fun - right? Well, we are doing good work here too. Our students and their families are our focus. We are greatly blessed to be able to be here and do not take it for granted. We are grateful for your thoughts, your prayers and your support. Love to all.