Back in CA and Germany recap part I

I am back home after an incredibly short time in Germany (or so it feels). I was really not quite ready to go back (to work), but I won’t complain because I had a really wonderful time… and Christmas is only 3 months away!
As you could tell from my absence here, I really had no time to update. Every single day was filled with at least two, if not more, “dates” with family members and most importantly, quality time with my sister.
I really do miss her already.

I’ll try to give you a short recap of last week, even though this post might still get somewhat lengthy. I apologize in advance – but I herewith warned you! :)

The long Schützenfest-Weekend

The first weekend in Germany, there was Schützenfest in my hometown. It was half intentional, half coincidental that I happened to visit right around that time – but it’s traditionally a family weekend and therefore it was a very good opportunity for me to see as many members of my family (and lots of other people that you usually don’t see throughout the year) as possible.

Saturday morning, I went shopping at the Wochenmarkt (similar to a Farmer’s Market) downtown. I love going to the Wochenmarkt with my Mom! We had coffee with some of my Mom’s colleagues at a little café later and then I went home to await Kim‘s arrival! She was visiting a friend in Düsseldorf and decided to also come and see me for a short while. Yay!
I doubt that she was aware of what she was in for, but I had told her in advance that, if she wanted to come and see me, she would have to participate in our usual “Schützenfest program” – which meant witnessing the “torch parade” in the evening, struggling through large crowds of people on the fair ground and eating a late night snack at one of the many food stands (“Backfisch“).

 

I am pretty sure that she didn’t enjoy the evening as much as I did, but she hung in there and it was great to have her around!

We slept in on Sunday morning, had an extensive breakfast and pretty much talked and talked until I had to get ready for the afternoon activities with my family and Kim had to leave for Bremen again. As always, time was much too short.

In the afternoon, my family and I went to see another Schützenfest parade downtown and then had coffee and cake with my granddad and great-aunt (also a tradition in my family for many, many years).

On Monday, there is traditionally a Frühschoppen (Morning pint) at the Schützenfest tent. It simply means that people get together in the late morning and start drinking before noon (ha, doesn’t that sound particularly German?!). The Frühschoppen usually starts at 11 a.m. and goes until the late evening.
The Monday of a Schützenfest-weekend is the least-structured day and usually the best day to just “socialize”… a good opportunity to see many people that you usually don’t get to see on a regular basis.

I went with my sister and my parents in the early afternoon (after a yummy Rindfleischsuppe (beef stew) for lunch – the traditional meal for that day in our family) and we met quite a few old acquaintances. It was nice to catch up. However, what I thought a little bit puzzling was the fact that almost everybody approached my sister with an extended arm and felt up her belly. I mean, seriously! Why the hell would anyone do that? Just because she’s pregnant doesn’t mean that everybody is entitled to touch her belly now. I found it quite annoying.

Granted, I couldn’t stop touching her belly either (especially every time she mentioned that the baby had kicked or moved around), but a) I am her sister and b) she practically invited me to feel her belly.
Not so all the other people. Argh. What were they thinking?

On Tuesday, we had more family (great-aunts and uncles, aunt, and cousins) come over for coffee and cake in the afternoon and at 6 p.m. I went to the fairground with my aunt, my cousin and my godson, who is almost 2.
I took him on a ride on the carousel, he “fished for ducklings” (it’s one of the “games” at the fairground where you have a fishing pole with a magnet and you try to fish for “plastic ducks” with magnets on their heads that are swimming by and if you collect enough with a “mark” on their bellies you  win a prize) and he went on a pony ride.
Afterwards we watched a torch parade, once again (yes, there are 3 parades over the course of four days and we saw them all!) and had some dinner at the fairground.

You can find all the pictures here.

Mexican Dinner

On Wednesday, I had an appointment with my cosmetician (nothing better than getting pampered for 1,5 hours!) and afterwards went to see my granddad for a while with my sister.
Later in the afternoon I went over to Nina’s place to help her prepare “fajitas”. We were going to have dinner with her husband and my friend Ira later.

 

 

The four of us usually have a blast together. We had yummy food, great conversations and later in the evening got a little silly even and took some really funny pictures :)
It was a really special evening. It is hard to describe, but the time we spent together felt really condensed and intensive. I guess, being away for most of the year does make the time that you get to spend together much more precious than it usually is already.

I spent the night at my sister’s place, we had breakfast together in the morning and just hung out. I just love hanging out at her place in our pyjamas and talk. 
In the afternoon, I went to the gynaecologist with my sister and was allowed to be present for the ultrasound. OMG! Seeing the ultrasound pictures and my sister’s big baby belly are one thing, but actually seeing the ultrasound when the baby moves around is amazing. I was totally mesmerized. My sister is due in another 5 weeks and the baby is fairly big already.

I cannot stop thinking about the fact that I won’t be there when my sister delivers her first-born :( I know, we intentionally planned it out that way, because it would have been quite difficult to try and make travel-arrangements around her due date. But still. I cannot believe I won’t be there for her when she becomes a Mom.

 Time to go home… to be continued.