Imibis-Inn

So Bryn, Carolyn, and I have discovered the best burger place in the entire world. Seriously. Better than Inn-n-Out. Its dang good!! Tonight after work, Carolyn and I drove over there for dinner. Fries and Chegg Burgers. YUMMY! I can't wait till Paul comes out here, I have a feeling we'll be eating at this little place a lot!

The Chegg Burger.

Cheese and Egg on the burger.

YUMMY!

The Imibis-Inn.

The best burger place in the whole world!!

It Totally Snowed A Lot Last Night!

Isn't my little town quaint?

Happy Black Friday...I'm so glad that doesn't exist here!

Silver Bells...Silver Bells...Its Christmas Time in the City!

So yesterday, Carolyn and I both had the day off from work.
We bundled up.
We wore hats and felt sort of silly, but we were warm!
We walked about half a mile and hopped on a train headed downtown!

We had the whole day to wander the streets of Stuttgart, shopping, talking, laughing, eating, and drinking a wonderful German concoction called Gluewein.
I've written about that before.
Its so yummy..Hot Spiced Red Wine.

A lot of Christmas decorations were up in windows.
But the real surprise was when we turned a corner, looking for the MarktHalle.
And there was a WHOLE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE being set up.
It was so cute!
I took lots and lots of pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Carolyn said that what had been set up wasn't even the half of it!
So I'm really excited to go back downtown again soon!

I got a few Christmas presents...but we mostly just walked and talked.
It was a lovely day.

After it got dark, we hit up an inside mall and got a delish hot dog.
Mayo and Fried Onions is where its at, y'all!
Then we walked across the way to the Schlossplatz where there was an ice skating rink set up amidst the Christmas Village! Thats where we had the Gluewein.
We both made a few long distances phone calls.
Not that we were bragging or anything...haha.

Magical.
Thats the best word I can use to describe our day out yesterday.
Better than Disneyland magical!
And thats supposed to be the most magical place on Earth, right?!

The first Christmas "Haus" we saw.

Hullo, Mr. Nutcracker! I thought you were a Russian?

Decorating and Stocking

Seriously? This is just so cute!

BIG Christmas Tree!

Santa's workshop in front of the Church

They had magnets in the shape of fried eggs!

Dad, I doubt you're reading this.

But if you are...this is a fine tobacco shoppe.

And by fine, I mean, you'd love it!

I tried to pick some winners, if you know what I mean!!

Gluewein/Pastry Stand

Prost, y'all!

(That means Cheers, for all you non-German speakers reading this. Don't get me wrong, I'm one of you!)

Orange Sky, Alexi Murdoch

Well I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky 
Yes I had a dream 
I stood beneath an orange sky 
With my brother standing by 
With my brother standing by 
I said brother, you know you know 
It's a long road we've been walking on 
Brother you know it is, you know it is 
Such a long road we've been walking on 

And I had a dream 
I stood beneath an orange sky 
With my sister standing by 
With my sister standing by 
I said sister, here is what I know now 
Here is what I know now 
Goes like this
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, in your love, in your love 

But sister you know I'm so weary 
And you know sister 
My hearts been broken 
Sometimes, sometimes 
My mind is too strong to carry on 
Too strong to carry on 

When I am alone 
When I've thrown off the weight of this crazy stone 
When I've lost all care for the things I own 
That's when I miss you, that's when I miss you, that's when I miss you 
You who are my home 
You who are my home 
And here is what I know now 
Here is what I know now 
Goes like this
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love, in your love, in your love 

Well I had a dream 
I stood beneath an orange sky 
Yes I had a dream 
I stood beneath an orange sky 
With my brother and my sister standing by 
With my brother and my sister standing by 
With my brother and my sister standing by

SNOW!

It started snowing today!
I think I'm the only person in the whole city of Stuttgart who's excited!
But man, I felt like a little kid when I saw those little white flakes flurring down from the gray sky!
I'll admit it, I screamed,
SNOW!
The girls and guys I work with grumbled.
But then, this is my first big winter I think I've ever had!
And possibly ever will have, but who knows the future?

I just realized that there is no hint of snow in this picture. 

But this is the base where I work.

So, ya know, just image you can see the snow.

Cause I promise you, it really did (is!)

Not me!

I have the day off tomorrow and I'm getting excited!
Carolyn and I are going to do some Christmas shopping and we're going to get the rest of the ingredients we need for our Thanksgiving feast we're cooking on Saturday.
Because we're both working on Thursday.
Double Pay.
Oh Yeah!

I'm in charge of sweet potato fluff, green bean casserole, creamy dreamy apple pie (compliments of PW's lovely pie week recipes!) , and pumpkin pie. I'm also going to make a relish tray, because it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving to me without the pickles, olives, and (hopefully!?!) okra before the meal! Yummy! Carolyn is making the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and homemade cranberry relish that is apparently the stuff turkeys dream of! And she's in charge of the drinkage...I heard a rumor that champagne will be on our menu! Bryn (but really Nate!) is making mashed potatoes and rolls. Our friends Brandon and Crystall are coming over, too! I'm excited!

Mittwoch Menu

Done with "no carbs" and good riddance!
Big bowl of cereal (see above!)
Good work day
Library! :)
Thai Food Take Out
MILKA chocolate
Package from the Grandparents! (thank you!)
stressing about the puppies (you know you want one!)
soooooo sleeepy!

"This is my late Veterans' Day / PC dislike / I love America but every country has its problems" Post

Living in a foreign country sure makes me glad that I'm an American with certain unalienable rights.
When I think about all the men and women who have fought to make and keep our country free, I'm incredibly overwhelmed with thankfulness and pride. I want to believe that not one has died or been injured in vain.

I try to keep up with the news from my native land as much as possible. I watch the news on TV almost every night. I check out foxnews.com and knwa.com and other news sights frequently. Some of the news that comes across, though, is disturbing. It seems to me that so many basic rights are being snatched away, especially from students, in order to be "politically correct." I asked google to "define: political correctness." Here is an example of one of their definitions:

• Politically Correct claims to be non-offensive speech for all people It is lies, deceptions, or slanted opinion designed to hide the truth and morality. A better name would be Truthfully Deceptive.
  stobie.home.sprynet.com/work/oxymorons.htm

In one school in California, a boy who flew the American on his bicycle in honor of his Veteran grandfather, was asked to remove it because "the Stars and Stripes could spur racial tensions on campus." (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/12/school-reverses-course-ordering-student-remove-flag-bike/) He was later allowed to put it back up after many parents and locals were outraged.



A school in Chicago was honoring "Ally Week," where students could show their support of gay students and rally together to promote anti-gay bullying, which has been a problem in schools all over the country.  A couple of boys wore t-shirts that said "straight pride" and quoted a bible verse. Some students were offended and school administrators had the boys remove the bible verse. The next day a couple more boys did the same thing and they were asked to completely cover their "straight pride" t-shirts. The school has since agreed to host a forum in order to work out what should be done in these types of situations, because according to one administrator "“The important thing is, even if someone is on the opposite side, you need to respect their opinion.”  (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/12/chicago-high-school-uses-straight-pride-shirts-rights-education/?test=latestnews)


It seems to me that the majority of mainstream society is overly concerned with not offending the minorities of mainstream society, while the minorities of mainstream society have every right to offend and be offended by the majority. I don't understand it!


Bryn has a real life example of this type of double standard I feel is upheld in our country. She is taking a class this semester called Anatomy of Human Sexuality. She always comes home with the most interesting stories. In her class there are people both gay and straight, men and women, young and older, married and single, with and without kids, black and white and brown and every other color out there, so it is a diverse learning environment. Last Wednesday when she got out of class she came to pick me up from work, absolutely steaming. She had gotten into a debate with a self proclaimed young man who was gay. Apparently, he is often overly vocal and often pushy when it comes to their class discussions. The teacher had posed the question "should homosexuality be presented as an acceptable lifestyle to publish elementary and middle school children?" No one said anything for a few minutes, which Bryn said was pretty unusual. Then she spoke up. "No, it should not be...I do not want my children to be taught that homosexuality is ok, especially from such a young age. When you are in middle school and elementary, you are beginning your path to self-discovery and sexuality. That kind of lesson plan could be extremely harmful to children, especially those who are already attention seeking or self destructive." Well this guy flipped out on her. He said that homosexuality was the future and basically called her small minded for not realizing that. But she stood up for her point. I'm very proud of her for that. If she had called him small minded for his opinion, I think he would have gone even crazier on her. 


I'll leave you with the First Amendment from the Constitution of the United States of America:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The point of the that amendment is to ensure freedom of speech for everyone, the "offensive" majority and "offended" minority alike. 

Mittwoch Menü

Starting a new thing on this here blog and that is Mittwoch Menü, or Wednesday's Menu! Instead of writing paragraphs about my Wednesday, I'll just make a little menu (list) so you can get a "taste" of my day!

That pun is for you Auntie!

So here goes nothing!

7:30 a.m.
veggie scrambler and Canadian bacon
day one no carbs
LIBRARY!
Work
Ribs
Blog

and later...

Phone Home
Bed early (ish!)

And if you feel that you can't go on

In the light you will find the road

Led Zeppelin

Riding the Train to Work

Yesterday I rode the train to work again. Since I had already taken the train by myself to the Staatsgalerie, I felt comfortable about going solo. I hopped on the train and realized immediately that something was different about the car I was riding in. For one, the seats were bigger and comfier, but there was also rails everywhere, sort of like in a handicap bathroom, ya know? So I thought that it was possible that I was riding in the handicap car, but there were no signs anywhere that made me think that...so I just got to work writing a few post cards when this lady with bright red (dyed) hair and a tight little mouth who began yelling at me in German and showing me a badge of some sort. I asked her if she spoke English and she began repeating the word "ticket, ticket, ticket!" So I showed her my ticket. It was the wrong type of ticket!! "Come wis Me," she ordered. So I went! She kept lecturing me in German, but I had no idea what she was saying. Then she pointed at a big number 1 painted on the wall. Thank goodness there was a nice young woman that motioned for me to sit down next to her. I plopped down in the seat and asked her if she spoke English. She did and asked for my ticket. Then she explained to me that I had been sitting in First Class when I had paid for a coach ticket. Who'dve thunk that there'd be a first class section of an inter city train?! Obviously, not this clueless American!

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

On Saturday, I headed downtown via train to explore the Staatsgalerie, an art museum. It was amazing! 42 rooms of masterpieces. The first room I walked into was Abstraction - Figuration by Neo Rauch, a German national who's work is haunting, but I just couldn't look at them long enough. Another artist that caught my eye was Max Beckmann, another German artist. He lived and worked during the expressionist movement, but his "expressions" are quite different from those of Monet, Manet, and that lot.

Beckmann's Girl with Banjo and Mask

Surrealism and the work of Salvador Dali, among others, was another of my favorite rooms. I think what I like about surrealism is the attention paid to intricate details and the "surreal" subject matters that are often very complex.

Salvador Dali

Then I got to the Picasso rooms. And Oh My Gosh! I love Picasso. I wish I could marry Picasso! (Actually, I've read he was quite the womanizer and plus he's dead...so maybe not) The Staatsgalerie has a wonderful Picasso collection. One website claimed that it was one of the largest in Europe. I'm not sure about that, but it was wonderful. 

The great thing about Saturday was that even though I had a great afternoon, I barely got through half of the museum! And since Saturdays are free admitance, I have a feeling I'll be spending many more lovely afternoons there.

Fall Market

Here in Echterdinger, we have a famer's market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Yesterday (Thursday), I woke up and looked out my window.
What do you think I saw?
A market.

At first I was confused.
"Did I get my days mixed up? Is today Wednesday?"
I knew I wasn't that mixed up!
So I asked Carolyn, out in house expert on Echterdinger.
(And boy are we lucky to have her!!)

"Its the fall market...like a craft market!"

So of course I went and walked around and checked it out!

There was a tea stand.

And a spice stand.

There were jewelry stands.

There were also stands with HUGE underwear hung up.

There were rolls and rolls of cloth.

Very pretty cloth.

There was this stand of fur merchandise.

Poor little fluffy fox tails.

And deliciously warm looking sheep's wool slippers!

There was also lots of candy stands. 

And sausage stands.

And beer stands.

Typical Germany.

Sami, if you are reading this, I got a part of your Christmas present! 

Longer Post Later

So this is what we did today!!

http://www.sensapolis.de/en/infos

Pretty dang fun!