Lucky Nuts In Berlin: Catch-up from late spring

Haley with her teacher at her class end of year party

There was a lot going last May and June, but I was too busy to write about any of it. Instead I decided to use my time off during the summer to do a bit of a re-cap. I've had quite a bit of leisure time this summer, but I have either been too busy having fun, or I have been in places without internet service or without power outlets for my laptop (whose battery lasts only about 45 minutes without a plug), so it has taken me all summer to get the recap finished. School starts tomorrow, so I was determined to get this published before the term started again!! So, just under the wire, here is some of what I was up to before the summer break.

Back in May I went with some AWC members on a road trip to Bolesławiec, Poland, where traditional hand-painted pottery is produced. We had a great time browsing the enormous stacks of cups, plates, bowls, platters, etc. Of course we all came home with several things and it was fun to see what everyone else picked out. We had a nice and very cheap lunch at a traditional Polish restaurant (Pyrogies - yum!)

Teapots!

Rose considers Nicki's selection

Also in May I ran for the second year in a row the Avon Frauenlaufen in the Berlin Tiergarten. Last year I ran the 10K with my friend Liza, but this year I just ran the 5K by myself, not nearly as much fun. Still, it's a nice race and a good tradition so I will plan to run it each year we are here.

Sea of pink

Here's something that can only happen in a big city. One Sunday the kids and I drove to church. We often take public transit, but we do drive when we're running late or we have to carry things to church. So on this day we drove and the church service was normal, but afterwards we had only driven a couple of blocks away from the church before we ran into a huge traffic jam. The traffic on a major street that we normally take was basically at a standstill. After a while, I gave up on that route, turned off at the next possible place to get off that road, and tried to go a different way. I had a couple of minutes of nice easy open driving and then BAM! Another huge traffic jam. What the heck was going on? Google maps wasn't showing anything wrong with the roads, but we were blocked in every direction I tried to go. I called Dan, who had stayed at home, and he discovered that it was the day of Sternfahrt, the day where Berlin shuts down a section of the autobahn and large sections of roads all over town and people can bike all over Berlin. Last year Haley and I rode in the Sternfahrt with our neighbors, and I think it was on a Saturday, not on a Sunday. After making one or two more thwarted attempts to drive around the boundary of the closed roads, the kids and I decided to give up and just spend the afternoon in town.

Stuffed peppers, spiced sausages, yummy sauces

What a fun spontaneous afternoon! We ditched the car and walked around looking for a good place to have lunch. Luckily we were in an area with a handful of places to choose from. We decided to have Turkish food, so we made our way to a restaurant in the area that got good Google ratings. On our way, we passed a cupcake shop and made a mental note to return there for dessert! It's not often (maybe never?) that I allow myself to go out for lunch on a Sunday afternoon, so it was really a treat. We shared delicious Turkish food and I even indulged in a glass of wine. Afterwards we strolled to the cupcake store where everything looked delicious. We bought our cupcakes and, since we weren't in a hurry, sat in the comfy chairs in the cupcake parlor and savored our goodies. Sometimes great adventures are completely unplanned!

Chocolate with coconut icing, red velvet, and carrot cake

What a great find!

For my birthday Dan set up an overnight babysitter and booked a night for us at a former Prussian palace Schloss Lübbenau in the Spreewald, an area about an hour south of Berlin that is known for its network of canals and its pickles. We had a great time! Saturday morning we drove to Lübbenau and right away we rented a canoe and paddled ourselves around the waterways. It really reminded us of Venice, but in the forest! It was kind of swampy looking, and I kept having to remind myself that we weren’t in Louisiana and there were no alligators. One thing that was very strange to us was that the river was completely still. If we didn’t paddle, the boat didn’t go anywhere. It was a very different experience from floating the Missoula rivers where you can sit back and relax and let the water carry you!

While we chose to get our own canoe, the big thing to do in this area is to buy a spot on a party boat, called Kahnfahrten. These boats have benches and tables so you can have a beer or a snack and just ride along while someone else does the paddling.

Biking on trails beside the canals

Plate full of pickles!! And a beer.

In this watery area of the world, a kayak rests against a
street sign

A typical canal in the Spreewald

Schloss Lübbenau

A Kahnfahrt. The guy standing in back controls the boat.

Rhododendron garden

May 27 the AWC visited the Gartens der Welt, one of three major gardens in Berlin. This had been on my list of things to see in Berlin, so I was glad when they scheduled a trip. We didn’t have the greatest weather for visiting gardens - chilly, threatening rain, cloudy. And while we enjoyed ourselves, I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed by the gardens. There are different areas for different parts of the world: China, Japan, England, etc. which were nice, but I guess I expected it to wow me a little more. It seemed like a lot of the garden complex was closed during our visit, or under construction.

Part of the Chinese garden

This was a very strange part of the garden. Called "The Christian Garden", it
was designed to represent European culture. The walls contain lines of text
from the Old and New Testaments as well as "literary
and philosophical texts". Above is a reference to Augustine.
But we also found the "philosophical" text below left.

The Scorpions' "Winds of Change" lyrics share space in this garden with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John!

Our group poses on the beautiful tiled floor in the
Oriental garden

Our talented author, Tabitha

Last fall I agreed to coordinate the Women’s Salon (formerly Scholar’s Salon) for the AWC. This is a bi-monthly gathering in someone’s home where we invite an artist or performer or author or scholar to present their work and then we discuss it and ask questions. The last Salon before summer break was a reading by a young author, Tabitha Wood, who is a member of our group. She read an excerpt from her novel, an as-yet unpublished young adult fantasy novel about mer-people. Not normally my cup of tea, but it was extremely well-written and you know it was a good book when none of us wanted her to stop reading; we all wanted to know what happened next! What a talented bunch of women are assembled here. If anyone reading this has publishing contacts and is interested in Tabitha's book, let me know!

Lunchtime discussion

Carter has gotten involved in scouting here in Berlin. He didn’t really love Cub Scouts and Webelos, but now that he has crossed over into Boy Scouts it is right up his alley. He is thriving on the scout-led activities and the independence that this level of scouting encourages. The boys are in charge of their own meetings, they elect their own leaders, and they choose their own badges and activities. They also do a lot of camping and the boys have to do everything for themselves: they pitch their own tents, cook their own meals, do all the clean-up, etc.

Carter's troop in Switzerland

At the beginning of every summer the Boy Scouts have the opportunity to go to a week-long international scout camp. Normally they go to a camp in southern Germany but this year they couldn’t do that for some reason and so they chose to attend a camp in Kandersteg, Switzerland. No one else from Carter’s former Webelo troop signed up for camp so I was surprised and impressed that Carter decided to go with some of the older boys from the troop. They took an overnight train from Berlin, packed into sleeping compartments with six bunks each. They camped all week long and did different badge activities during the day. Carter earned five merit badges during the week! They did a lot of swimming and hiking in a beautiful setting. Carter said they also did a lot of cooking, cleaning and arguing! Since the boys were split into small groups and had to cook and clean for themselves, he said there was quite a bit of disputing whether or not everyone was sharing the work! It’s all a great learning process for him and I know that an experience like that is going to be something he will always remember.

Returning from camp

Many months ago I bought tickets to see a major rhythmic gymnastics competition in Berlin, the Berlin World Masters. I had never seen rhythmic gymnastics live, and I thought Haley and I would enjoy doing that as a mother/daughter outing while Carter was at boy scout camp. It was really cool! We had great seats and there were 3 or 4 hours of competition to watch. I had to laugh at myself because I was surprised when we entered the arena and there was only one floor set up in the center. I had expected it to be like artistic gymnastics where there are multiple events occurring at once, but I realized that of course that isn’t possible in rhythmic because all routines are performed to music!

I definitely appreciated the athleticism of the rhythmic gymnasts, but after a while we both started to get a little bored. Many of the moves are the same, just with a different apparatus: a double roll throwing the hoop in the air, a double roll throwing the ball in the air, a double roll throwing the clubs in the air, etc. I’m a bit biased, but I still think artistic gymnastics is the most exciting sport! Interestingly, we watched a little bit of rhythmic gymnastics in the Olympics in Rio and saw some of the same routines, so it seems that we watched some of the world's top teams perform!

Here is a video of the German team performing in group hoops and clubs. The music selection has come a long way from when rhythmic gymnasts performed only to classical ballet music!

Towards the end of June the AWC had the opportunity to visit the South African embassy. The embassy in Berlin was the first South African embassy to be built following the end of apartheid. We started our visit watching tourist videos to familiarize us with the different regions of South Africa. I didn’t realize it was such a big country. Then we had a Q&A session with a member of the diplomatic staff, and finally a tour of the embassy. It was interesting to hear how all the details of the building were designed to reflect the personality of the country. Most of the materials used in construction came from South Africa.

The ceiling lights and other decorations are made to look like woven
baskets. You can't see it in this picture but the balcony railings have joints
that look like bangle bracelets.

The embassy has a lovely rooftop garden!

Beautiful wire tree sculpture

Our group with the South African flag

The official podium. The wall behind is decorated in a
traditional style.

Buddy bear with South African animals.
On the left are Karen from New Jersey, a new
BIS parent, and My-Linh, our club's president

With Ambassador Emerson

In July, thanks to the outgoing personality of the leader of the American Women’s Club, we had the unique opportunity to attend a reception at the residence of the US Ambassador to Germany, John Emerson. We had some time to look around the 1st floor of the house, which was filled with artwork. Some was in the family’s own personal collection and some was borrowed and on display from artists from the US or Germany. Hors d’oeuvres and wine were offered by waitstaff. The Ambassador spoke to us for an hour or so about his background and how he came to be an Ambassador (by political appointment - he isn’t a career diplomat. He is a personal friend and supporter of both the Clintons and Obamas). He answered our questions about German-American diplomatic relations, Edward Snowden: hero or traitor? (He says traitor without question), and difficult moments during his tenure (one example: the revelation that the US had been spying on Angela Merkel’s phone calls). Sometimes living over here I feel very far away from the US, but visiting with the Ambassador made me feel included again. I felt like I was part of something larger; a part of the powerful United States but also a citizen of the world.

A member of staff serves while we listen to the Ambassador

Part of the lovely public area of the house

Clashing with the art!

The moderator and Derek Chollet

I don’t typically get very involved in politics; I figure I can do more good sending money to charitable causes than giving it to political campaigns. But a friend of mine was a co-host for a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Berlin so I decided to go to support her and to throw my hat into the ring against Trump. It wasn’t really my crowd so I am probably one and done with fundraising events, but it was interesting to see 50 or 60 Americans gathered together in Berlin to talk about the election. Security and Defense Advisor/Expert Derek Chollet was the guest speaker and he answered a bunch of questions about policy and Obama and Hillary. Due to his living in Washington, D.C. and working in foreign policy, he admitted that he was in “a bubble within a bubble”, so he definitely didn’t really seem to quite understand how everyday people are thinking. But I am still interested in reading his book, The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America's Role in the World.

Spread of food at the USA booth

June 25 was international day at the kids’ school. This is my favorite school activity! There were more than 70 booths from different countries represented in the school. Each booth had food and/or drinks and/or games and crafts from their country. It is so much fun to walk around and taste the home-cooked food from all over the world: kimchi from Korea, coffee from Ethiopia, scones and Guiness from Ireland, maple bars from Canada, paella from Spain, goulash and spiced meats and Pimm’s and on and on. There is way too much food to try everything. I helped with the USA booth last year and I co-chaired it this year. I made Paula Deen’s mini corn dogs both years and they disappeared quickly! There is also a stage show with performances by children and parents from the school and various talented friends of the school. This year I organised the stage show so it was a considerable amount of work leading up to the day, but I tag-teamed with someone else to run the show on International Day so that I could just watch. It worked out really well and I was free to visit booths and enjoy the performances. Last year International Day got rained out about an hour and a half into the celebration and this year rain was predicted as well, but thankfully it never came.

Booths fill the school's inner courtyard; a man fans himself on this scorching day while watching the stage
performances (right)

An enormous pan of paella at the Spanish booth

Haley with her friend Isabella

The daughter of one of my English students, performing on
the gayageum, a Korean traditional zither instrument

Haley decided to cut her hair short again towards the end of the school year. She had planned to have it cut even shorter than this, but the hairdresser didn't do what she asked. We thought about trying to donate her hair but it wasn't quite long enough.

Before

After

It was Haley's turn to choose the outing for our last Berlin Exploration Day of the school year. She chose a trip to Buschmann und Winkelmann, a farm about 40 minutes away, to pick strawberries. It was cheating a little, because she and I had been there last year. But Dan and Carter hadn't been, so for them it was exploring Berlin. We picked a ton of strawberries, which for me is kind of a mixed blessing. I LOVE strawberries, and these fresh ones are amazingly good, but it's also a lot of work to get them all cleaned and cut the tops off, and it's a race against time to find ways to use them all before they rot. This year I made strawberry cake, strawberry oatmeal bars, coconut pound cake with strawberries, and strawberry syrup for strawberry milk. The rest we ate plain, on cereal, in yogurt, etc. Our three huge containers lasted several weeks!