Fasching in Tübingen

All throughout this month, Germany celebrates the coming of Spring, by "scaring" away the winter. This is done at large festivals of fire, music, and people dressed in scary costumes.  There are parades in small towns throughout Germany to celebrate.

I will point out some differences between these parades and other parades I have attended.

Last Sunday, there was a large parade in our town that lasted for 5 hours.  Before leaving, we dressed up a little, preparing for a "Carnival" experience, but it was nothing like "Carnival."

This is what it looked like outside our front door.

The parade consisted of groups dressed in very scary costumes to scare away the winter. They would dance, chant, scream. They would even "kidnap" children in the audience and run with them down the parade route. They would cover you with paint, throw glitter on you, try to surprise you with screams. If I were a child, I would be tormented by the parade! Adults of course loved it. 

They pass out candy to children and small bottles of liquor to adults. Damian got some liquor from one of them after they covered him with shredded paper.

The masks are pieces of art and some of them are hundreds of years old.

I was even frightened by some of them so I hide behind people in the crowd so they wouldn't come after me.

Different groups performed stunts at one point in the route.

I want to point out that there was plenty of drinking going on, but, unlike the South Side Irish Parade where people walk around with red Solo Dixie cups, the Germans walk around with glass pints!

Celebrating 19 weeks of pregnancy by...

SKIING!

Damian and I went to the Black Forest two weekends ago where Damian hit the slopes for the first time (and I played it VERY safe on the slopes).

Europe is experiencing a very mild winter. So much so, that the town where we live has only had two days of snow, which never stuck to the ground. This is very unusual. We have had only a handful of HOURS below freezing temperatures.

We were jealous of all the crazy snow the U.S. was getting, so we trekked to the mountains to find some snow to play.

We stayed in a lovely Bed & Breakfast (no TV, no WIFI) and skied for two days.

Here are some pictures and a video of the weekend.

Stopping for lunch and hot chocolate...

A video of me casually skiing...

Pregnancy in Germany - VERY different from the U.S.

I've never been pregnant anywhere else but Germany, but I do know a lot of people who have been pregnant in the U.S. and I can tell you that my experiences are vastly different. Here are some interesting differences that I've noticed so far:

1. Midwives: one is required by law at every childbirth. It is expected that I find a midwife during my pregnancy who stays with me throughout the nine months as well as assists during the first few months of the baby's life. My doctor recommended one for me and she is fabulous. She spends a lot of time with me when I go to my doctor's visits. I have her cell phone number and email address. When I broke out in a terrible rash, I sent her an email and she emailed me back a list of homeopathic treatments.

2. Medicines: natural remedies come first.  When I told my doctor I was dealing with horrible nausea during the first trimester, he gave me a list of natural remedies. I told him that I was drinking ginger tea and that seemed to help. He told me that it would be better to buy the actual ginger root, shred it, and boil it with water rather than buy the tea bags. I've never had a doctor in the U.S. up my game on a natural remedy!

3. Maternity leave + parental leave: a potential 14.5 months (YES - 14.5 months!) paid leave.  Maternity leave starts 6 WEEKS PRIOR to the birth of the baby PLUS 8 weeks after the baby is born. You receive FULL pay during these 14 weeks. THEN, starts the parental leave (taken by mother or both mother AND father) which is until the baby turns 1. With that you receive 67% of salary PLUS child's money (184 euros /month) to cover the extra expenses of raising a child.

4. Hospital stays: For vaginal delivery, the average stay for mother and baby in the hospital is 5-7 days (if everyone is healthy). It's much longer if there is something wrong or if it was a C-section.

5. Laws protecting the pregnant woman: Pregnant women are not allowed to work more than 8.5 hours / day, they're not allowed to work with chemicals, they're not allowed to be on their feet for an extended amount of time, they're not allowed to carry more than 5 kgs, and many more. If their job usually entails these things, the employer must make modifications for the expectant mothers.

6. Ultrasounds: doctor's love these. I have had an ultrasound every time I've visited the doctor. That would make 4 ultrasounds and I'm 18 weeks pregnant.

I'm sure there will be more along the way, but here were the first few outstanding ones.

Pictures from our apartment...

Our apartment is slowly coming together, thanks to the help of IKEA and friends!

Here are some shots from our place:

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Living Room and Office:

More pictures to come soon of dining room and kitchen...

You know you've been in Germany for awhile if...

1. You have tried most of the 30+ Ritter Sport chocolates and you have a favorite.

2. You go to the grocery store everyday or every other day (or three times a day). If you didn't your produce, meat, breads would go bad since there are limited preservatives in the foods.
(I know I've mentioned the tiny refrigerators, but I'm not sure if I've mentioned the freezers. Damian and I can barely fit a frozen pizza in ours - and ours is the standard size!)

3. You leave your bike unlocked in your front yard, in the middle of the city center, and no one steals it.

4. You've watched countless hours of The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons dubbed in German.

5.You ride your bike up the steepest hills.

6. You are accustomed to feeling really stupid for not speaking German while everyone else speaks your "foreign" language, English.

7. You still can't figure out the trash, recycling, compost system and secretly dispose of all in the trash to hide your ignorance. Germans are very serious about their recycling and composting.

8. You realize the "timeliness" of the German trains is only in the stereotypes and not reality as the entire country struggles with the outdated train infrastructure.

9. You get overwhelmed entering a large grocery store.

10. You are becoming more comfortable being naked around strangers. This may seem very strange at first, but the Germans are MUCH more nonchalant about their naked bodies than us non-Germans. Three examples of this: 1) communal showers at all of the gyms 2) non medical gowns at the doctors office, you just get undressed right in front of the doctor 3) Spas, with thermal baths and saunas are a very common way to relax and enjoy time with friends. All of them offer portions or entire spa requirements to be nude to enter.

LONDON

Damian and I went to England for Christmas. We spent the holidays with family there in a town called Bath. When we first arrived, we all spent the first two days in London before heading to Bath.

After spending Saturday with family, catching up over drinks and food, we rested well. Damian and I woke up early and rented bikes to explore London. Here are the pictures of us out and about in London.

Buckingham Palace (parade of guards)

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Damian with the statue of Richard the Lionheart outside the House of Parliament.

The London Bridge

Using my cell phone in a British phone booth:

Our last stop was The British Museum which houses the entire collection of Greek and Egyptian artifacts stolen from the tombs and the Acropolis. That actually isn't true, but it feels like they have all of ancient Egypt and Greece with the extensive collection.

Here is the famous Rosetta Stone:

Before heading to Bath for the week, Damian and I made a quick visit to the 221B Baker Street to visit Sherlock Holmes.

Could I pass for a detective?

Sherlock's study:

Professor Moriarty and Teacher Moriarty: can you tell which is the evil one?

Esslingen Medieval Christmas Market

The Esslingen Christmas Market is a bit more famous than the Tübingen one because it's much larger and there is a whole section that turns medieval. All of the workers are dressed as various Medieval characters such as monks, priors, friars, merchants, peddlers, craftsmen, maids etc. They sold things like wood carvings, handmade soaps, animal fur. I ate some delish Knight's Soup of veggies and various spices. 

Here are some medieval entertainers performing with fire and music.

There was a larger carnival section with medieval games. Watchout Katniss!

Here are some pictures of the traditional Christmas market section.