A Georgia Girl in Germany

I went to Hamburg a few weeks ago to speak to a class of students at the Fuhrungsakademie der Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces Academy) -- the equivalent of a joint Air Command and Staff College. I was nervous, but the speech was well-received, and I had nearly an hour’s worth of questions and discussion afterward. Since I was in Hamburg, and had never been there before, I scheduled my return train ride to allow me a few hours to wander through the city. I had hoped to spend an extra day in the area visiting with a high school friend (an exchange student from Germany), but it wasn’t a good weekend for her ... guess that means I’ll have to make another trek that way to catch up with Sabine 21 years after we went to school together.

My first stop in Hamburg was to Saint Petri Church. The ornamental bronze door handle is considered the oldest piece of art existing in Hamburg. The church itself is the oldest parish church in Hamburg, with documentation dating back to 1195 when an ecclesia forensic (market church) is mentioned.

The former gothic style church was destroyed by the Great Fire that destroyed much of the city in 1842, when only a few foundation walls were left. In 1849, a new church in the current neo-gothic style was completed and consecrated. The current tower was consecrated in 1878, although the original frame gives evidence of the tower foundation dating back to 1342.





For a nominal fee, you could climb the tower for a view of the city, so I paid my euro and began the 544-step ascent to the top of the 433-foot tower. There were three large bells along the route. I had made it one level above the bells when the small one began chiming at 1 p.m. I was standing directly above it when it let out its first note. Egads, that was loud!!! It rang for 15 minutes straight! For the sake of my ears, I didn’t stick around for its complete serenade, but continued my climb.

I had a beautiful view of the city from tiny porthole windows at the top of the tower. The Rathausmarkt (town hall market) is to the right, the ruins of Nikolaikirche (Church of Saint Nicholas) are further back to the left, and the Michaeliskirche (Saint Michael’s Church) is further in the distance with the harbor to its left.

My next stop was to the ruins of Nikolaikirche. This church was built on the site of a former 14th century church that was also destroyed in the Great Fire of 1842. It was rebuilt between 1845 and 1874, then destroyed again in 1943 during Allied raids of World War II. The ruins are now maintained as a monument against war.



The blackened Nikolaikirche steeple is 482 feet high, making it the third tallest steeple in Germany. It was amazing that at every turn there was a completely different view of the remaining steeple -- all different and beautiful. The church must have been absolutely amazing before it was destroyed!





This is a nice little garden area. The bronze statue is titled “Friedensgebet” -- “Prayer for Peace.”

Through this window, you can see the bronze statue, “The Ordeal.” It was created by a local artist to memorialize the Sandbostel Prisoner Camp. Sandbostel was one of the Nazi’s largest prisoner camps, where more than 50,000 people from many countries died. The sculpture’s pedestal is built from original stones from the prisoners’ barracks.

No man in the whole world can change the truth. One can only look for the truth, find it and serve it. The truth is in all places.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

After admiring the Nikolaikirche for a while, I made my way toward the Michaeliskirche. Along the way, I passed several neo-gothic warehouses that once stored goods arriving in Europe from all over the world while awaiting further transport throughout the continent. Hamburg is, after all, a port city with canals weaving their way throughout the city.

I could see the top of the Michaeliskirche from several blocks away as it towered above the busy streets. It definitely stood out, not just because it towered 434 feet above the city, but also because it is decorated with the largest tower clock in Germany.

I didn’t see where to catch one of these tour rides, but figured it would have been a great way to see the city. I can only imagine the workout the tour guide is getting by peddling three people and unique bike around the city!



Michaeliskirche was first built between 1648 and 1669 as the city’s fifth parish. In 1750, the church was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. The church was rebuilt in 1751-1752, and the tower was built between 1777 and 1786. The old church with a triple nave plan was extended to become one of the largest Protestant baroque churches set over a Greek cross. In 1906, fire once again destroyed the church. However, it had become such an important symbol to the city that it was reconstructed true to its original external design. It was also severely damaged in 1943 during World War II and was once again rebuilt.

The view of the harbor from the top of Michaeliskirche spire was amazing. If you look closely at the bottom left of this photo, you can see (part of) the Rickmer Rickmers museum ship. It was built in 1896 and is one of the last three-masted sailing ships. Unfortunately, I only managed to get one of the masts in this shot. You could definitely tell that Hamburg is a very busy and bustling harbor city!

There was even a nice view of the Nikolaikirche remains from here. It was real windy and cold up there, but fortunately, I didn’t have to climb the 453 steps for this view -- there was an elevator after about three flights of stairs. Nice!

After four hours wandering through Hamburg, visiting three churches and going to the top of two church steeples, I was one tired tourist! Fortunately, the Hamburg train station has lockers where you can leave your luggage if need be. Even though I traveled light with just a small pull-behind suitcase, it made my afternoon wanderings so much easier knowing my suitcase was safely waiting for me at the station.

After retrieving my suitcase, I headed down to the platform to catch the ICE -- Inter City Express -- train back home. Of note, all of these trains are local and regional trains, not the ICE. I made sure I was on the platform waiting for my high-speed train when it arrived since they don’t stop for very long.

Labels: Germany, Travel

The next time Santa asks me if I think the kiddos would enjoy Silly Putty in their stockings, I will tell him, “Thanks, but NO THANKS!” While Benjamin absolutely enjoys playing with Silly Putty, I have found it stuck to too many things that it is not intended to be stuck to, such as coins, Lego people and the TV remote. Do you know how difficult it is to get Silly Putty un-stuck from the tiny rubberized buttons on the TV remote? The Silly Putty attaches like glue since the buttons are rubberized. Trying to rub the remaining ball of Silly Putty over the buttons in attempt to get the concoction to stick back to the larger ball only makes matters worse. Fortunately, Zachary and I took turns freezing the Silly Putty off the remote (using ice in a ziplock bag), and it’s still in working condition... and no worse for the wear.

Unfortunately, the latest victim is Benjamin’s pajama shirt. I noticed he was holding his arms in front of his stomach last night before bed. When I asked him what he was hiding in his shirt, he replied, “Nothing,” and moved his hands away from his shirt to prove his point. Yeah, right -- the Silly Putty was tucked inside his shirt and stayed when he moved his hands. So, he fell asleep with Silly Putty tucked inside his shirt. Since he sleeps on his side and stomach, it caused the Silly Putty to warm up and wholeheartedly embed itself into the fibers of his pajama shirt (and on his sheets as well). Grrrr!

This is what’s left after MacKenzie and I managed to get the bulk of it off. We’ve tried using ice in a ziplock bag again, without nearly as much success as with the TV remote. We’ve tried putting his pajama shirt in the freezer, with the same minimal results. We’ve resorted to old-fashioned scraping. Not fun. It’s back in the freezer overnight, and we’ll re-attack again tomorrow.

Santa, no more Silly Putty, please. And while we’re on the subject of sticky substances used as toys, no more Play-Doh, Goop or Slime either.

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas

Benjamin has had a loose tooth for a while now. For several months, in fact. However, it’s taken a while for it to become loose enough to actually come out. When he woke up Wednesday morning, it had suddenly become loose enough to be ready. Seemingly overnight, his tooth could now wiggle forward at a 90-degree angle! It could also wiggle side-to-side. It was so loose that I was worried Benjamin might inadvertently swallow the tooth during lunch or snack, but he wouldn’t let me try to pull it. He told me that he wanted it to fall out during school because “there’s a nurse at school.” I chuckled at his logic ... and wrote a note to his teacher about the extreme looseness of his tooth.

When I picked him up at the end of the day, I asked him to smile at me so I could assess whether he still had the tooth in his mouth. Yup, it was still there. He had swim lessons, and I silently hoped that he wouldn’t get bumped and lose it while in the pool. My fears were unfounded, and after his lessons we went to the library to pick up Zachary and MacKenzie.

While I helped MacKenzie request an inter-library loan on the computer, Benjamin calmly walked around the circulation desk wiggling his tooth. He then walked up to me and calmly told me he’d pulled his tooth. I wasn’t quite sure whether I should believe him, so asked him to smile at me. Sure enough, he was gap-toothed and bleeding slightly where the tooth had been just moments before.

When we got home, Zachary and MacKenzie showed him the pewter hippo and tooth pillow for him to choose which he wanted to use to leave the tooth for the Tooth Fairy. He chose the pewter hippo. I told him that I needed a photo of him holding his tooth and showing off his new smile, to which he told me that he didn’t want to since his tooth would soon be gone (exactly my reasoning for wanting to take the photo!). Fortunately, he humored me and allowed me to take his photo WITH the tooth. Since he didn’t want to hold it, he opted to set it atop the hippo’s snout. I think that was a fair compromise.

And, yes, the Tooth Fairy brought him two new quarters in exchange for his tooth. He was excited!

As an interesting note, he cut his first tooth at an earlier age than Zachary and MacKenzie (7 months vs 9 months and 12 months + 2 days), and has now lost his first tooth at an earlier age as well (11 months before Zachary, and 4 months before MacKenzie). Hmmm, what does this say about when I should expect him to meet other maturation milestones!?!!

Labels: Benjamin, Kid Quotes

Benjamin is getting very good at sounding out words and writing what he hears. I thought it was cute how he spelled his middle name here (yes, he writes “Ben” instead of “Benjamin” -- although he often writes “Ben 10” after his favorite cartoon character). He definitely sounded out “Matthew” when he wrote “Mathyou.” Too cute!

Labels: Benjamin

MacKenzie lost another tooth toward the end of March. She wasn’t thrilled when I pulled it out, but (again) it needed to come out and didn’t take much tugging. She claimed that it hurt more than usual when I pulled it, although Zachary and I don’t think she has much room to complain after what he’s been through several times with dentist-pullings (including an infection and “serial extractions” with the roots).

Regardless, she took this opportunity to leave a note for the Tooth Fairy. Actually, she used the same note she left when she lost another tooth a month earlier. I still chuckled when I saw her reasoning for requesting $5 to $20 for this latest tooth: because of all the pain she went through when I yanked it. Good try, but the Tooth Fairy didn’t bite.

Labels: MacKenzie

MacKenzie left yesterday morning for a campout with her Girl Scout Troop to the Girl Scout Chalet in Switzerland. I am so jealous! I was her leader for two years, but wasn’t able to coordinate a trip for her previous troops to go there. But, I’m also excited for her to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I even let her skip school Friday to go.

She was very nervous about being away from me for so long. I’ve gone TDY enough times that I’d think she’d get used to short breaks away from me, but apparently she didn’t think so. I actually think she’ll do fine once she gets busy with their scouting activities. But just in case, I also wrote four notes for her to find and read while she’s away (one per day). She's almost at the half way point now, and hasn’t made any phone calls home yet. I love how Benjamin decorated her lunch bag for the drive yesterday. Think he’s missing her? And no, despite his reminder on her lunch bag, she didn’t take any beads with her for the trip.

Labels: Girl Scouts, MacKenzie

For the first time in her Girl Scout career, MacKenzie was able to participate in a Powder Puff Derby. She designed and raced a car as part of a church derby in Alabama, but this was her first official scout derby. She worked hard on designing her car. Zachary pulled out his five previous Pinewood Derby cars, she found her winning car from four years ago, and she came up with a race car design that blended what she considered were the best attributes of each of the other models. She chose yellow because it’s bright, painted the driver’s outfit and used every last firebolt decal she had. I think it turned out pretty well.

Unfortunately, her car didn’t race very well. At all. We had difficulty getting the wheels aligned correctly. It took a lot of finagling to get them where we felt comfortable turning in her car. However, once the car is turned in, it’s impounded until after the races. Something must have came loose after we turned it in. We had it so precariously aligned, that I’m sure it didn’t take much.

Each car raced six times -- once per lane, so no car had an advantage if one lane ran faster than the others. MacKenzie’s car started off pretty well -- when gravity took control and led it down the incline. Unfortunately, her car had six DNF’s. My heart broke for her as she watched her car screech to a halt each time before crossing the finish line.

Even with the not-so-good races, she was glad she made the car, and handled defeat with grace. Maybe next time we’ll figure out how to get her wheels in better balance and alignment.

Labels: Girl Scouts, MacKenzie

Benjamin’s reading ability has really blossomed the past few months, and he sometimes amazes me with what he can read. He’ll read notes Zachary leaves me on the table. He’ll read the dialogue on one of his Wii games. He’ll read notes home from his teacher. He absolutely loves to read.

Nothing seems to intimidate him. A few weekends ago, he sat down for breakfast with Dr. Seuss’ classic book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” I don’t think he actually ate anything while he concentrated on the book, although he did stop after every few pages to take a sip or two of strawberry milk.

He read every last word on every last page ... completely on his own. What a trooper. As he closed the book after reading the last sentence, he sighed and commented, “Whew, that’s a lot of words!” I’m so glad he seems to love reading!

Labels: Benjamin, Kid Quotes

I love the artwork that my kids bring home for me. They are so very talented and creative! I know, I know, just about every mother thinks that’s true about their children ... but mine really are artistically talented.

Recently, Benjamin’s school hosted an art extravaganza -- an art show. We weren’t able to attend the entire event due to swim lessons, but we managed to make a fashionably-late appearance. Benjamin said “hi” to a few people, including his art teacher, and helped us search out his exhibit: a still-life variation of an apple. He was happy to find his work on display, and very proudly showed it off. What a wonderful masterpiece!

Labels: Benjamin

Zachary is really doing well in Boy Scouts. He’s embraced being the troop scribe, and has made awesome progress on earning merit badges. It’s been more than a year since his last Court of Honor (he missed the beginning-of-the-school-year one since we had just moved here and hadn’t settled on a troop yet), so he was presented with quite a few honors this time -- including merit badges he earned with his last troop. I’m going to brag on him, because I CAN (that’s a mom’s prerogative!) -- although I can hear him telling me that he doesn’t like boasting (hence why I’M doing it). Anyway, he was presented with ten merit badges: Railroading (thanks to Uncle Sam for taking him to the Rice Yard and showing him around!), Rifle Shooting, Snow Sports, Personal Management, Personal Fitness, Family Life, Canoeing, Swimming, Citizenship in the Nation and Photography. Five of those are Eagle-required badges. He was also recognized for volunteering at the annual Ramstein Welfare Bazaar and for earning his God and Church Religious Award. Whew! That’s quite a few accomplishments. Yeah!

Then, to top things off, he earned his Star Scout rank last week. He’s already well on his way toward earning Life Scout (he has more than enough merit badges and is already working on the other requirements). After Life Scout comes Eagle Scout. Wow! He’s still bound and determined to make Eagle before he turns 16 (the Boy Scout age limit is before his 18th birthday). I have no reason to doubt that he’s capable of doing so!

Labels: Boy Scouts, Zachary

Benjamin really enjoys being outside. A few weeks ago, he took his baseball launcher outside so he could hit a few balls. This toy tosses the balls straight up so he can hit them -- much more consistently than if I’d tossed the balls toward him. He’s a natural! I wish I would have had the time to sign him up for T-ball this season. Oh well... hopefully he’ll keep this up and be interested next year.

Oh, and yes, he’s batting left-handed. I guess he takes after me with those ambidextrous tendencies. I had him bat right-handed some, and he couldn’t get the hang of it -- or rather, he couldn’t get the swing of things.

Labels: Benjamin

Since Zachary won his school’s spelling bee, he qualified for the European Spelling Bee. He was excited about participating, and was a little nervous about being one competition away from making it to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. There were 34 spellers -- all champions -- from DODDS schools throughout Europe (Italy, Spain, Turkey and Germany) who gathered at Ramstein for the 2009 championship bee.

Zachary didn’t practice much for this competition (nor did he for his school-wide bee). Fortunately, he’s a pretty good speller. However, I’m sure he would have felt a little more confident had he cracked the book a little more than he did.

He invited two friends to come watch the bee, and to be there for morale support. Brandon came for the beginning of the bee, but had to leave after four rounds so he could get to a Boy Scout activity (which Zachary, naturally, opted not to attend).

Zachary started out pretty well. Round one: “interrupt” ... 29 spellers remained. Round two: “tofu” ... 24 spellers remained. They took a break before starting the next round.

Notice that Zachary didn’t appear as nervous as during his school spelling bee -- when he put his hands in his pockets each time he stood at the mic to wipe the sweat off his palms. Round three: “amnesia” ... 16 spellers remained. Round four: “inane” ... 13 spellers remained.

I couldn’t figure out why Zachary covered his face often during the bee. I thought he might be covering yawns, but he doesn’t usually yawn that often. I asked him later, and he said he was covering his mouth while he spelled the words given to other spellers. Aha! Makes perfect sense.

Round five: “cravat.” He hesitated, asked for the language of origin and was told it’s a Slavic word. “K – R – A – V – A - T – E.” He was disappointed, but not devastated, when the judge replied, “That is incorrect.” When he sat down beside me at the end of the round, he leaned over and whispered, “How do you spell that word?” When we made it home and confirmed the correct spelling in his book, we noticed that he had spelled it incorrectly when we’d practiced it at home too. But, he tied for ninth place with the other four spellers who were eliminated during that round. (The girl behind him in this photo ended up winning the bee a few rounds later by correctly spelling “debacle” and “edelweiss.”)

Just after he sat down after being eliminated, his friend Jenna arrived. She and her family drove up from Stuttgart so she could see him during the bee. Well, her parents also came up to do some antique shopping and visit other friends, but Zachary and Jenna were excited to see each other nonetheless. She joined Zachary and I for lunch afterward, and spent the afternoon with us while her parents and brothers were off shopping and visiting friends.

Even though he didn’t head off to D.C. for another round of competition, he was pretty pleased with himself, and rightfully so. He placed in the top third of the competition and had two friends (plus his mom) support him during the bee. I think Jenna being there for the end of the competition brightened his day and was a wonderful counter to the possible downer of not winning. I also think he had realistic expectations, especially since the judges (and I) emphasized several times that everyone there was already a winner representing their own schools. I’m so proud of him for doing as well as he did -- he’s definitely a winner in my book!

Labels: Zachary

Ramstein-Miesenbach held a Fasching parade back in February, and since we enjoyed the one we attended in Esslingen with the Stonemarks two years ago, I figured we’d see how this one compared. Besides, the kids were out of school that day so we needed to find something to do -- the buses couldn’t run their routes because of the parade, so they canceled all schools on-base that day.

Fasching is roughly equivalent to Mardi Gras, and is also held on Fat Tuesday. People are supposed to wear costumes to ward off evil spirits, and the Fasching parades are chock-full of all kinds of characters. Benjamin decided to wear his Halloween bear costume again. Unfortunately, the zipper broke when he tried it on the day prior, so I had to safety-pin him into it (after questioning him many times about whether he needed to go to the bathroom first).

We found a spot on the parade route right next to the Rathaus (city hall), so we had a front row seat on the burgermeister’s commentary (although I didn’t understand much of it other than a few chants I learned at the Volksfest and Frülingsfest).



The kids enjoyed standing along the parade route waiting for candy to come hurling at them from some of the folks in the parade. However, this parade was MUCH more tame than the Esslingen parade we went to. The kids had to fight off vexes to keep the candy they’d collected that year. I don’t recall seeing a single vexe this year. There were many cheerleader-types, smurfs and even a group of Elvises. But no vexes.



It was a bit chilly outside, so the kids didn’t want to keep their hands out of their pockets if they didn’t have to (like when they were picking up candy). Zachary even fashioned his hat into a bowl to try to catch candy as it was thrown his way. I don’t think he actually caught any, but he thought it was pretty ingenious.



We didn’t stay for the entire parade -- they started getting cold, and after a while the parade looked the same. After an hour or so, we made our way to our van and headed home. Benjamin claimed to be tired, so he persuaded me to carry him on my back (the only way I can carry him any more) about halfway back. It was a nice mid-week day off, and a relatively relaxing getaway.

Labels: Benjamin, Germany, MacKenzie, Zachary