Sunday, May 6, 2012

Deutsche Ostern

Germany is a country with a number of publicly-recognized religious holidays. Pentecost? We have a weekday off for that, plus the long weekend. Day of Ascension? Yes. Three Kings Day? In Baden-Wuerttemberg, you bet we do. So not only did we have Good Friday off, but we also had a holiday on Easter Monday. It was going to be a long weekend with few amenities or options for entertainment outside of my apartment. Then, when one of the families for whom I babysit invited me to celebrate Easter with them, I jumped at the chance. I was excited for a nice family day and some full-on new cultural experience, and these guys have taken such good care of me since I've met them, I knew I was going to have a nice time! I asked whether I should dress a little more formally than usual and whether they were attending church services, but they assured me it was just a casual day with the grandparents. I was somewhat relieved, if only because of the language barrier; religious services are usually somewhat of a cultural experience for me in their own right, but I always find them very interesting because I can...you know...follow what's being said. In German, with a potentially heavy Swabian accent, I wasn't too confident. At any rate, with none of that to fret over, I baked some hazelnut chocolate cookies to bring along as a little hostess gift, and was promptly picked up around 10am to make the hour or so drive to Beilstein, north of Stuttgart to the childhood home of Christine (their mother). Her parents still live in the house in which she grew up, and it's located in a lovely, smaller town that looks like many others dotting the Swabian countryside.

We arrived and had some delicious Easter cake to tide us over for an hour or so until lunch, which was very traditional and most definitely excellent. For our noon meal we had pan sauteed meat medallions with very typical sauteed and sauced vegetables and spaetzle, and of course, wine! Then the adults (including me, to my surprise!) were presented with small gifts and sweets--hint, I got a lot of yummy Easter chocolate--and the kids went outside to hunt for the gifts and sweets left by the Osterhase (the Easter Bunny)!

 Here's the Ostereierbaum (Easter Egg Tree) in the front yard

  Anna (9) looking for her presents from the Osterhase while her Grandmother provides some tips

 Lamin (nearly 14) is a little too cool for present hunting, so I had to help because I (nearly 23) am not

Anna and Lamin with their haul of goodies and sweets

After the hunting and some eating, we headed up to the castle in the town to see a flight show put on by the falconers there. As far as I could gather, they are a bit like our local Upper Valley institute VINS, and not only raise falcons but also rehabilitate injured or endangered birds. We saw two different types of falcon, an owl, a European bald eagle, and finally two vultures! I then spent a couple of hours playing an older version of a game something like Trivial pursuit with the kids and their grandmother. This was good fun for us since between the date of manufacture and the German/European subjects of many of the questions, I had just as good a chance of getting many things right as the kids. We played in teams and their grandmother gave us lots of hints, and Anna and I ended up winning. We were very proud! We then all ate an enormous deutsches Abendbrot ( German evening bread), which usually consists of an enormous array of bread and rolls, meats, cheeses, and spreads. This one did not disappoint, and I am a big fan of any such array that can be accompanied by a good old-fashioned juice schorle (like a spritzer). All in all, it was a really great day, and I was back in Tuebingen in time for a movie and bedtime. Good stuff!

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