Tonight the three of us went bowling down at the SHAPE bowling alley. Now, please keep in mind that SHAPE is the headquarters of NATO, so there are 28 nations sharing space at this post. I believe that bowling must be an international past time for many nations, because there were only 3 lanes open when we left and one of them was broken.
So the odd thing is, at this international post's bowling alley, they played all American music. Well, there was one Iron Maiden song that played, and I think they're British. Other than that, it was all American and much of it was country music. Don't ask me why, but I didn't think that American country music had that broad of appeal, but it was a bowling alley. Maybe there are some staples on a jukebox that just come with the machine.
The people next to us weren't English speakers, the lanes next to them weren't either. At most, there were 20 Americans or English speakers and that was way less than half the people there.
It was just strange.
We did have a great night. With the help of bumpers and the slide, my son handily beat me in both games. Really beat me. Where's my Dad's bowling talent when I need it?
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Boxing Day with the Brits
My family was invited to come over for Boxing Day at one of my friend's houses. I've heard of Boxing Day, but didn't really know anything about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day I believe now, it's just an excuse to get together with friends and extend the Christmas spirit another day.
We have never, absolutely never, been anywhere with more attentive hosts! My friend and her husband, and her parents were all over us, and everyone else, getting them drinks, refilling drinks, making us try new drinks. It was crazy. My poor husband (ha) was about 4 drinks in after an hour. After all this drinking, they opened up the food table and her father told us to "muck in."
They had homemade Cornish Pasties, pork pie, sausage rolls, trifle, christmas cake, and tons of other things. Her family is from Cornwall, so the Cornish Pasty is sort of their fame and glory and her mother's were delish!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_pasties My husband was in heaven. My friend's parents were overjoyed to tell all about their part of the UK to two Americans. We have an open invitation to come to Cornwall to visit and have personal tour guides.
Boxing Day was a great time. I look forward to enjoying it again next year. Especially when I don't have to be the DD.
We have never, absolutely never, been anywhere with more attentive hosts! My friend and her husband, and her parents were all over us, and everyone else, getting them drinks, refilling drinks, making us try new drinks. It was crazy. My poor husband (ha) was about 4 drinks in after an hour. After all this drinking, they opened up the food table and her father told us to "muck in."
They had homemade Cornish Pasties, pork pie, sausage rolls, trifle, christmas cake, and tons of other things. Her family is from Cornwall, so the Cornish Pasty is sort of their fame and glory and her mother's were delish!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_pasties My husband was in heaven. My friend's parents were overjoyed to tell all about their part of the UK to two Americans. We have an open invitation to come to Cornwall to visit and have personal tour guides.
Boxing Day was a great time. I look forward to enjoying it again next year. Especially when I don't have to be the DD.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Sharing the Christmas Spirit
We just had a visitor at the door, sharing a gift of Belgian cookies and biscuits!
Last week we made some Christmas goodies, nothing to fancy, I'm not an expert baker and the oven is still beyond my abilities. But, we made some goodies to share with our Belgian neighbors that live on our road. Six containers of cookies in all. Even with our broken French, with the help of http://translate.google.com/ , we were able to have enough French to offer them the goodies, tell them "Joyeux Noel" and let them know we're the Americans down the road.
A few of the goodie boxes we just had to leave outside the door with the Christmas card, but they were picked up in the morning when we drove to school. The ones we were able to deliver in person, we received very well. Even after telling one neighbor that we didn't speak enough French to understand her, she continued to thank us and talk our legs off.
Now today, our "Egg Lady," brought us our ziplock container back full of Belgian goodies. There are little sugar cookies, small, sweet waffles and some crisp wafer-like cookies as well. We haven't eaten dinner yet, but I'm already planning on brewing some of my gingerbread tea and having some Belgian Christmas biscuits this evening.
Life is good.
Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel
Last week we made some Christmas goodies, nothing to fancy, I'm not an expert baker and the oven is still beyond my abilities. But, we made some goodies to share with our Belgian neighbors that live on our road. Six containers of cookies in all. Even with our broken French, with the help of http://translate.google.com/ , we were able to have enough French to offer them the goodies, tell them "Joyeux Noel" and let them know we're the Americans down the road.
A few of the goodie boxes we just had to leave outside the door with the Christmas card, but they were picked up in the morning when we drove to school. The ones we were able to deliver in person, we received very well. Even after telling one neighbor that we didn't speak enough French to understand her, she continued to thank us and talk our legs off.
Now today, our "Egg Lady," brought us our ziplock container back full of Belgian goodies. There are little sugar cookies, small, sweet waffles and some crisp wafer-like cookies as well. We haven't eaten dinner yet, but I'm already planning on brewing some of my gingerbread tea and having some Belgian Christmas biscuits this evening.
Life is good.
Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Kaiserslautern, Germany
This weekend we went over to the Ramstein, Germany area for a wrestling tournament and to have a taste of "Little America." I've said before how large this air base is, but every time we go, I'm completely overwhelmed at the amount of Americans in one place. It's huge, everything is new, housing, playgrounds, lodging, schools, everything. The wrestling tournament, however, was at Ramstein's forgotten step-sister base, Kaiserslautern.
Kaiserslautern is right next to Ramstein, think Omaha/Council Bluffs close. Now, I don't know if Kaiserslautern is mostly Army, but it is definitely getting the short end of the money stick. I understand putting money into one, centrally located place and building up the amenities for that base that everyone can enjoy. This was a huge difference in facilities though. And there's no shortage of hard feelings, if I was reading the vibe correctly. The announcer at the tournament was even calling Ramstein, "The Empire." Ouch. As far as I know, it is no one person's fault that Ramstein gets the money and the other close by bases get the leftovers. But the sound of second fiddle was almost deafening.
While in the area, we decided to check out a Christmas market. My husband hasn't gotten to go to one yet with all his wrestling commitments, and wanted to see what the hype was about. I knew there would be gluhwein, so I was game. We asked the lovely lady at our hotel about the markets and the closest one was back in Kaiserslautern. We drove the few miles back and explored. The market wasn't large, but bigger than the one in Mons. (hubby hasn't been there either) We found a great little hut to eat at that was selling some yummy concoction out of gyro meat and spiced baby potatoes. That was lovely. The gluhwein stand was right next to it. The stand was one of the beautiful things at the market.
It looked like this, except one layer smaller. It was really neat. Our son got to ride on a mini ferris wheel that had 6 small cars, he loved that. A few hat/scarf stands, a wood crafter stand that made beautiful cutting boards and cheap swords, crossbows, things that my boys loved. There was a high school symphony that was playing music from Dances with Wolves when we walked back to the car.
It was a nice evening, not too cold and not too late. The nice thing (wow, never thought I'd say that) about it getting dark so early is that the markets are beautifully lit up by 1700, so it doesn't have to be a late night to see the markets in the dark.
This was just a small market, but the hubs and the son had a good time. At the end of the week, we plan on going to Brussels with another family. It's much bigger as I've blogged before. Since they liked Kaiserslautern, I think they'll love Brussels....unless it's absolutely jammed packed. In that case, it will be a good thing we're taking the train, because the husband may need a drink or two to loosen up and enjoy the atmosphere.
Kaiserslautern is right next to Ramstein, think Omaha/Council Bluffs close. Now, I don't know if Kaiserslautern is mostly Army, but it is definitely getting the short end of the money stick. I understand putting money into one, centrally located place and building up the amenities for that base that everyone can enjoy. This was a huge difference in facilities though. And there's no shortage of hard feelings, if I was reading the vibe correctly. The announcer at the tournament was even calling Ramstein, "The Empire." Ouch. As far as I know, it is no one person's fault that Ramstein gets the money and the other close by bases get the leftovers. But the sound of second fiddle was almost deafening.
While in the area, we decided to check out a Christmas market. My husband hasn't gotten to go to one yet with all his wrestling commitments, and wanted to see what the hype was about. I knew there would be gluhwein, so I was game. We asked the lovely lady at our hotel about the markets and the closest one was back in Kaiserslautern. We drove the few miles back and explored. The market wasn't large, but bigger than the one in Mons. (hubby hasn't been there either) We found a great little hut to eat at that was selling some yummy concoction out of gyro meat and spiced baby potatoes. That was lovely. The gluhwein stand was right next to it. The stand was one of the beautiful things at the market.
It looked like this, except one layer smaller. It was really neat. Our son got to ride on a mini ferris wheel that had 6 small cars, he loved that. A few hat/scarf stands, a wood crafter stand that made beautiful cutting boards and cheap swords, crossbows, things that my boys loved. There was a high school symphony that was playing music from Dances with Wolves when we walked back to the car.It was a nice evening, not too cold and not too late. The nice thing (wow, never thought I'd say that) about it getting dark so early is that the markets are beautifully lit up by 1700, so it doesn't have to be a late night to see the markets in the dark.
This was just a small market, but the hubs and the son had a good time. At the end of the week, we plan on going to Brussels with another family. It's much bigger as I've blogged before. Since they liked Kaiserslautern, I think they'll love Brussels....unless it's absolutely jammed packed. In that case, it will be a good thing we're taking the train, because the husband may need a drink or two to loosen up and enjoy the atmosphere.
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