Bean Quarter Festival

Last night we went to the Bohnnenviertelfest in the Bean Quarter of downtown Stuttgart with our friends Mark and Biergit. This area reminded me of the Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City.

Some history of the area. It was the poorer section of Stuttgart's population that originally lived here. Their staple diet was beans, which thrived on the native soil and gave the area its name of Bohnenviertel, or Bean Quarter. Beans were planted in the gardens behind and between the houses, or even draped round the houses like garlands. There were a great many traditions, songs and rhymes to do with beans. For example, once a year a cake was baked containing one bean. When the cake was cut into pieces and served, whoever got the piece with the bean was crowned "Bean King" and held court at a (bean)feast, which ended, after an excess of food (and more particularly drink), with the bellowing of a song with no fixed text, popularly known as the "Bean Song”.

Towards the end of the 19th century there was a great shortage of living space in Stuttgart. Houses were built on every available site. The gardens of the Bean Quarter were replaced by blocks of buildings where tradespeople settled.

Today the quarter has secondhand bookshops, antique shops, galleries, jewelery and craft shops. The night of the festival a few of these shops were open including some entrepreneurial kids out on the side walk selling their “wares”.

But for the most part the area was blocked off to cars, streets were lined with tables, makeshift outdoor cafe, bistros and restaurants, live (and recorded) music venues with beverage stations every few meters thought out the quarter.

It was a fun evening and a feast for our senses. We enjoyed walking through the crowded streets, taking in the sights, smells and music!

The Oneth Family has been traced back to Worms, Germany so we took a road trip and got off Autobahn 61 at exit 58

We found a charming town with a Key and Dragon Coat of Arms.

Worms holds the symbology of the "key" as well as "the dragon" very sacred in their history and traditions. Apparently a 17th century chronicler told the tale that the "key" in the city arms of Worms, represents "wisdom, reason, and the welfare" provided by the authorities; and "the dragon" as a symbol for "armed vigilance". However, the folk tales of the area tell a different story - as written in the Jewish-German translation by Juspa Schammes (1696: Amsterdam) that a widowed queen who ruled Worms in pre-Christian times had brought great prosperity to the town in her time. But one day, a horrible Lindwurm (Dragon) approached the city walls threatening to flatten the city unless a townsperson was sacrificed to him each day. So the victims were chosen by lot, and one day the lottery chose the queen. To prevent this sacrifice, a courageous locksmith made an iron set of armour with shearing blades from top to bottom, would wear the armour and be offered to the dragon in her stead, if she promised to marry him and make him king. The queen agreed and the locksmith thrown to the dragon. As the dragon attempted to eat the locksmith, the armour sliced and diced the dragon into pieces with every snapping bite the dragon made. The smith was victorious and cut himself out of the carcass and became the rightful king. To honor this victory, the key was added to the city arms and the defeated dragon to bear the shield.

There were narrow cobblestone streets and we found a Woolworth Department store in the shopping plaza!

The highlight of the town was this beautiful Cathedral

To Read more about the Cathedral:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/worms-cathedral.htm

Cute bronze dragons each decorated differently all over town

Reminded me of the Buffalo found around Oklahoma City

The Cathedral tower could be seen from miles away and resembled a castle from a distance...

It was a great day trip, a short distance from Stuttgart and we hope to be able to bring Mom here some day in the near future!!

Sunset in Roma and other thoughts and observations

It was great to see the sunset in Roma, Italy. But I must admit it was strange to spend 4th of July away from America. To be in Rome and experience the history that eventually lead to the westward migration to this great land now known as The United States of America was a good change of pace. And while I did enjoy the sun setting near the area known as the Spanish Steps, I missed my home country, the hot dogs and watermelon and the night time fireworks!! It caused me to reflect on the differences between where I am now and where I was a year ago.

These last 7 months being in Germany has been filled with so many new experiences but also many instances of what I call Culture Shock. The language is the biggest difference; we have picked up a limited German vocabulary but are certainly not proficient enough to even order from a menu in German let alone carry on a conversation with the neighbors. I am learning more everyday and will be able to stumble my way through before coming home but picking up a new language doesn’t happen overnight.

The traffic laws are different and the signs are many, but we have managed to get around in purple car with minimal difficulty. The roads are narrow and parking is limited so we are looking forward to our much smaller car (to be picked up tomorrow)!

The German people are wonderful to live near, they are quite and respect the privacy of their neighbors even though most of the year you could sneeze within the walls of your house and be heard 3 doors down. The weather is different from Oklahoma but there are definitely 4 seasons, hopefully summer will be much shorter as there are not many places to get away from the heat; it was 96 yesterday and we have No A/C. I have been told the reason is that AC is not natural (plus it costs extra) and so therefore is not used in most German homes.

The money is different and we still have to used American dollars for anything we buy on post so we now have Dollars mixed with Euros in our wallets. We are learning the coins but can’t pick one up and instinctively know it is a 20 cent euro piece yet. I don't remember learning the coins (quarter, dimes, nickels, pennies) it just seems like I have always known them. Thankfully the numbers here are the same so I don't have to learn new symbols at the same time!!

The Holidays are different also. Germany of course does’t celebrate Martin Luther Day, Presidents Day, 4th of July or Columbus Day, Veterans Day or Thanksgiving but there are many others they do celebrate. However in Germany a holiday doesn’t mean there will be extra discounts/sales and long hours in the mall, they revere holidays and by law most everything closes down so that time can be spent with family and friends. Shops around the train stations and rest stops on the Autobahn remain open so those traveling will still have a place to gas up, grab a bite and refresh themselves for the rest of their journey. And remember those road side rest stops with picnic tables, well in Germany they are actually still used. It reminds me of family trips with picnics from the ice chest at the road side stops between Oklahoma and Colorado and Nebraska!

Sundays are a day of rest. They are supposed to be spent in worship, quiet fellowship with family and visiting with friends. The stores are closed, there is no grocery shopping so you better stock up before 2:00 pm Saturday or you might find yourself being very creative with what remains in the pantry. You are not allowed to do outside yard work, wash your car or anything that looks like work or makes loud noises. Families are known to fill this time with trips to the park, museums (which remain open on Sunday), walks in the forest and visits with friends. Or visits to the cemetery to decorate the gravesite of a loved one. It is a quite day and much like I remember from my childhood.

The clothes are different too. We are seeing men in capri pants this summer but their short shorts are more shocking, you know the length worn in the late 60 early 70’s. The women are more up to date fashion wise but their color pallet seems to be limited mostly to black, grey and white. We seem to stand out in our brightly colored wardrobe. And the women wear the most impractical shoes. I see them wearing 2-3 inch heels walking around on the cobble stone streets and sidewalks. I’d be in the hospital with a broken ankle without my tennis shoes and crocs.

Swimming Pools are the place to be! There are very few backyard swimming pools, in fact I have seen very few backyards big enough for a pool in my travels around the city. So when it gets hot outside the people flock to the public pools. Foot, scooter and car traffic quadruples around the pool with drivers jockeying for a parking spot and when these are full the street become jammed with double parked cars and those circling looking for someone as they are leaving. We have decided to avoid one road altogether on hot summer afternoons as it leads to our local Bathing House. Again this reminds me of my childhood hours spent at Kimball Park Pool. However there was no clothing optional area at Kimball!

Germans treat their Dogs like part of the family. If they are taking the family out to dinner, the dog gets to come along and the restaurant staff will even bring Fido a bowl of tap water (free of charge; which is unheard of for humans)!! Dogs get to go to the mall, shop the sales racks, browse the book stores and pursue the food court. There are many Speciality stores were you can buy your favorite 4 footed friend a special treat. I did however see a No Dogs sign at the meat market, I guess the owner was going broke giving away sample sausages (ha ha). Dog walking seems to be a favorite past time. This serves more than one purpose, it gets the dog outside to do his business, helps keep the owners waistline down, provides companionship through the forest and a measure of security. This picture was take at the Ruins of Pompeii and is said to be an original BEWARE OF THE DOG sign (mosaic tiled) at the entry of this home.

One of the biggest difference is not being around family. "It is what it is” and you make the best of it. Just like you don't get to pick family, you don't get to pick those that will end up PCS’ing with you. But you do get to seek out friends to fill the family gap. The people that you connect with become your family away from family. You travel with them, care for them when they are suffering, help each other pick cherries, lead a hand when needed and spend holiday time with them. We are growing our pseudo family and have enjoyed their friendship, camaraderie and adventurous spirit.

While there are many differences between our new German culture and our homeland this is not to say these are good or bad, just different and we are adjusting. We are picking up on some new things that will remain with us for the rest of our time here and there will even be some things we bring back to the USA with us. We will be changed for the better as a result of and I am looking forward to new experiences as we serve our country while here in Germany.

Trip to Roma!

Alan walking down the Spanish Steps at Dusk. We had been to the Hard Rock for T-shirts and were headed to our favorite Italian restaurant.

The Mitchell’s and Stewart’s at lunch in Pompeii (as my son says, the tourist special 10 EURO each for pizza, drink and dessert)

Here I am sitting on a Rock bed in what used to be a Brothel in Pompeii

The Coliseum on a rainy afternoon

The Coliseum at Dusk, it was so amazing to see!

There were reminders of our Fathers even in Rome...this is the Fountain of the Bees

And Alan has always called his Father “Pops”...

Here we are at the Fountain of Trevi...I guess we should have asked someone to take our picture together!!

The Gardens at Pompeii flourished in the fresh Mediterranean air

Time to update Our Background Picture

Hopefully today we will get a Great Waterfall picture together so we can update this background picture to reflect summer! Yes we are headed to the Black Forest town of Triberg. Alan missed the trip last time and I want to show him this cute little town and maybe even pick out a Cuckoo clock to bring home. I plan to take him to the Bier Garten for lunch and then a walk in the forest followed up by some Triberg main street shopping. Pictures to follow!!

May 17

30 YEARS Married to the most wonderful man, father of my sons and love of my life; God has His hands all over it!

Wow a lot has changed in the last month

Since I last posted my life has changed dramatically. I am still posted in Stuttgart Germany and still have the same job, but on a personal level it has been an emotional roller coaster.

I took an unexpected trip back to Oklahoma on 24 April to be with family as my father faced life threatening surgery. It was a 23 hour trip and we were flying the first weekend after they re-opened European airspace from the volcanic dust cloud drifting over from Iceland.

Upon arrival we were met at the airport by son Sean and his wife April. They took us to Mom’s house to spend the night (ah vertical). We got up early Sunday morning and headed to the hospital to see my Dad. He was sleeping when we got there but I sat and took his hand. After a few minutes he opened his eyes, gave the a very big smile and in a very clear voice asked an excited “How are you?”. He was pleased to see me and I felt the same. I talked about life in Germany, he told me he loved me the best he could and listen more as I talked. Before long he drifted off to sleep.

We went to lunch with Alan’s parents and Mom and Van’s Pig Stand (sure was good) and then headed back to the hospital where we got to visit a short time with Aunt Susie and John Potts. I am not sure how long we stayed at the hospital that day but it seems like Daddy was making great progress and would soon be back on target for returning to Cherry Laurel Drive.

The next morning we were met by Daddy’s Nursing Home doctor and were floored by his complete lack of bedside manner. Alan took charge and called in the reinforcements and by the next day Daddy was back in the care of his long time family physician,

Annaleise was scheduled for an Ultra-Sound and the results while not completely conclusive indicated that their new baby was a girl! They were not fully committed to the results so were reluctant to start going PINK.

Daddy seemed to be doing so much better until Wednesday and then he took a turn for the worse, a breathing machine was ordered along with other tests and all the family gathered at the hospital waiting and watching the stats as they cycled across the machine. Somewhere late in the week Daddy slipped away and never reopened his eyes. We made plans to honor his wishes to “Go Home” as Mother promised.

Monday, 3 May, The kids decided they wanted a better answer on BUG (Baby of Unknown Gender) so they scheduled another ultra-sound and invited family to come and witness. This was amazing, I heard my grandchild's heart beat and saw her precious profile and watched her move around. It certainly was refreshing and uplifting to watch this new life, and tears flowed! They confirmed the BUG is a girl.

Following the ultra-sound and lunch at Charleston's we went shopping for pink stuff. I found a cute Daddy loves Me pink outfit that had cute little lady bugs on it and another pink giraffe print outfit that said Mommy and Me and the matching giraffe wind up musical toy for the baby. Another great diversion - shopping.

Then the kids had us over for Birthday/Mothers Day as we were scheduled to fly back home on 4 May and they would not get to be with us on these special days. The food was great and the gifts were so thoughtful! On our way back to Norman we stopped at the hospital to check in. No change so Monday evening we decided everyone needed a good night sleep (as much as one can get under these circumstances) and everyone went home.

WE had had 2 different doctors tell us on Monday that if we got on that Tuesday plane we would be turning right back around and flying back so we made the decision to stay for another 8 days. Delta Airlines was so wonderful, they made return flight arrangements and did not charge us any additional fees.

Tuesday, 4 May, was spent in the hospital and and for some reason I just could not leave Daddy’s room. Things were not looking good and we called Perry suggesting he might want to come back to Norman. Around 6:45 during a breathing treatment, Daddy’s heart just stopped beating and he quietly passed. The hospital staff surged and we were immediately surrounded with care givers both for those of us in the room and Daddy. Perry was a few miles away and Pat went to get Mother, Alan made phone calls and the hospital staff took over and cleared the room taking all the “stuff” out making room for our family as we waited for the funeral home to came pick Daddy’s body up.

Let me tell you that 4th Floor Staff was amazing, they were always there caring, comforting making sure we were looked after as they cared for Daddy. They had a very hard job and did it with grace and compassion. It was a blessing to us to have such wonderful caregivers handling Daddy during his last earthly days. And how fortunate we were to have 2 skilled doctors know when it was the right time to tell us not to leave; postpone your flight and stay you will be needed.

It was a tough night but you know when you are a believer, it was also a comforting night. Daddy was no longer suffering. Several comments were made but the one I liked the most was that Dad a self taught carpenter was now in Heaven with the Master carpenter.

5-7 May, Plans were made and Daddy’s body was put to rest, services were held on Friday 7 May. Family gathered at Moms for an evening meal. Sean was so gracious for pulling this all together for us and it was so good.

Saturday, 8 May, Mother’s Day was approaching and so we went to the Mall to shop for gifts, I slipped in a puddle of spilled Coke (?) and hit my head, passed out and felt like I had broken my wrist and severely bruised my hip. Another trip to the hospital where X-rays and CT showed everything was fine but I would be very sore for a few days. Meds were given and we headed back to Norman. Sunday morning, 9 May I awoke and planned to go to church with Mother but either the meds or the bang to the head put me back in bed for the day.

Thankfully we had not picked Monday, 10 May for the service as that evening the Oklahoma weather spun up and spilled out all over the state. Norman and nearby Noble were hit hard as well as Moore and Choctaw. We stayed the night in Edmond and had a nice visit with Donita before she left to go to Ponca City (she waited out the storms).

Tuesday, 11 May, we went to the Greenview to check on damage. It was obvious that there had been hail in the neighborhood and our roof needed to be looked at but thankfully no additional fence panels were donwed. So as we prepared to head back to Germany Alan was going to have to try and work insurance and roof replacement remotely. Then Alan got a call from Sean about the claims that had started rolling in. He suggested that perhaps Alan could stay work with our insurance people direct and help work claims if Laura thought she could use the extra help. Alan was reluctant to send me back to Germany but I reassured him I was fine and would be going back to our home, my job, friends who had proven in the past to take good care of me. That day we went to eat lunch with my DISA family from building 201 where I used to work. It was so good to see them!

Wednesday, 12 May I got on a plane and Alan started working insurance claims and appraisals.

Thursday, 13 May I arrived back I Germany, it was strange that the trains were not coming by every 5 minutes but I got to the bus stop just in time to get on a waiting bus. After arriving home the landlords told me it was a German holiday so thankfully I had gotten to the bus stop just in time or would have been waiting an hour in the rain. Zapped and needing a nap I fell into OUR bed, after sending a few quick emails and setting up the Magic Jack.

Friday, 14 May I spent the day lounging around watching TV and reading a good book “90 Minutes in Heaven”.

Saturday, 15 May was spent getting things done around the house and writing Thank You notes, we had so much to be thankful for including the 2 plus weeks I was home.

Sunday, 16 May I ventured out, mailed the thank you notes, bought and put up some lace curtains (Thank you Mom and Pops Mitchell) and prepared myself for returning back to work after a 2 week break.

Yes a lot has happened since 24 April, we suffered a great loss, cried some long postponed tears, celebrated the life of my father, listened to the heart beat of our soon to be born grandchild, spent good times with friends, spent waiting room time with family (not quality time due to the circumstances but it was good to be with them) caught a few moments alone with each other, celebrated Birthday and Mother’s Day with family and now as I reflect back on all this before heading back to work tomorrow I am happy.

As my daughter-in-law recently posted there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3). Which then reminds me of a favorite hymn It Is Well With My Soul: When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul