Kinder machen die besten Fotos! Kids take the best pictures!

I'm back, after the long awaited weekend with my family. The snow is falling heavy and fast onto the streets of Gießen, keeping me content and comfortable in my warm room. The past few days were really exceptional, and I have been left with a deep satisfaction. Over the weekend, I came together with all of my half-siblings. This is a complicated story for those you are unfamilar, so I'll just set the foreground; our father had three families and five children spanning a 25 year difference. I am the youngest of this unusal partridge family, and therefore bring to the table a naive perspective to our father and the history of our family. Therefore, spending time with my brothers and sister provides a lot of insight, along with simple enjoying one another. For me, blood relation is a very astonishing connection.

I firmly believe that family can also incorporate those who we choose to admire and love. Growing up I felt extremely connected with friends and their families, but still I have longed to have a tangible kinship consisting of healthy relationships. Put simply, I am grateful for the loving, supporting family that I have. I learn something from everyone, and therefore this desire to get to know family better is an undying urge to further develop my own identity and character. Importantly, having nieces and a nephew propels my hope to be involved. Acknowledging this side of the family broadens the love and support, and that is especially great for the youngest generation. It is evident my siblings have similar feelings.   We could go our whole lives without seeing one another, they have their own families, and life continues to be busy; but it's nice to know that we share an interest in spending some time together. Boiling it down, I'm still smiling from thinking about the weekend. Now I'll cut my blabble and tell you some of the things we did with pictures (most of them taken by Jule, Stine, Kinsey and Jan).

 My brother Alex, niece Kinsey and her dad/my eldest brother Mike

We checked out the Weihnachts-
märkte in Rothenburg
(city known for its year-round Christmas spirit) and Fulda. The evenings were filled with holdiay joy, süßigkeiten and warmth.

I would have named him Milo

Kinsey with Lucy und Pauly

We ate well and enjoyed the outdoors. Going for a wander in the Rhön, I happened upon a new friend. This little cat almost became my new pet; just as we got out of the cars he ran up to me and was completely content snuggling in my arms. He even followed our pack like a dog along our walk. I felt like my niece  Kinsey, who was absorbed in the love of my sister's docile cats.

Family from my eldest brother and sister joined in for the fun arriving from Nord Deutschland for the day. It was fun to talk about politics with Walter, Berlin with Merike, and german-american cultural differences with Elke. And of course even though there was a lot of good discussion, I enjoyed being the goofy grown-up. Teaching camp songs that became the kids latest Ohrwurm, especially the beaver song and Button Joe, new favorites.

 Of course to take advantage of the freshly fallen snow we enjoyed the glorious winter wonderland sledding. Even Mike and my sister Merve were shooting down the hill at top speeds. I became a master of the disk sled flipping even single attempt and ending up with more liquid in my pants than what I drank that day.

Sunday even after drawing portraits of the kids, Merve and I attempted to watch Tatort but ended up snoozing on the sofa. I must say, although Tatort has become a new favorite of mine, last night's plot was moving pretty slowly. I'm pressing the thumbs for next Sunday. 

All in all it was just what the weekend was suppose to be, good time together. I left early this morning, going with Mike and Kinsey to the Fulda Bahnhof, then catching my own train home to Gießen. Now it's time to get ready for classes.  Lastly here is best photo from the weekend, taken by Stine. After I drew a portrait of her she started taking pictures of inanimate objects-carpet, pillows, chairs asking if I could draw them later. Kids are so cool.

Keep that warm light of love glowing. 

Stay healthy, wealthy (in terms of character traits), and well

this winter!

Die Welt liegt dir zu Füßen! The World is your oyster

For the last month there has been an item on my Aufgabenliste (to-do list), that just never seemed to get done. This blog has been sitting on the back burner for too long, and if you are someone that has even taken notice, thank you, and now will catch you up to speed. So much has happened while gleichzeitig life has been very steady. Routine is a way of life that passes time with little reflection; this has my last month: teaching, tutoring, studying and naturally enjoying time with friends. Contemplating a documentation of my thoughts and experiences, I return back to the notion that the world is full of possibilities. This year is a wonderful experience in itself, but also a transition point in which I have the time to think about what steps to take next. Everyone makes plans and goals for the future, but I feel especially fortunate and have the freedom in my life to choose a suitable route amongst the numerous directions available. Deciding this path is made a lot easier by a close circle of friends; so this Thanksgiving I felt eminently dankbar für the love and support of  friends and family, and the excitement of having a Freundeskreis here in Germany.

Okay, so what have I done? Here are some highlights:

Wells Reunion in Germany! This world seems so small when a current Wells student lives only 15 minutes away from me by train. Bryant Sanders, a current Junior is studying abroad in Marburg, a quaint small city north of Gießen that was not bombed during WWII. We met up, and Bryant showed me around through the cobblestone streets lined with unique shops and cafes. We walked to the Schloss (castleWe conversed about Wells, the future, and life in German... all in German (I was impressed by his improvement!) A week or so later he came to Gießen to see the not as beautiful but still very comfortable city.

More recently I went back to Marburg with the Gießen gang to enjoy the new Harry Potter film in original-meaning not dubbed. Hearing Harry auf Deutsch just wouldn't be the same. 

Another highlight was our Kollegen Ausflug (excursion) to Point Alpha. Most of the teachers and administration were able to come on the overnight stay. First we congregated at the former US Army Standort (Garrison) along the Hessen/Thüringen border during the DDR. Lying in the Fulda Gap, the incredible landscape still carries the unbelievable history of this division. I knew elements of this history from Germans personal accounts of the DDR period, and from visiting Check Point Charlie in Berlin. The Grenzmuseum was fabulously displayed the story through multi-faceted methods, but the entire tour is shivered me to know these tragic years are in the memories of many today. History has a way of repeating itself; so it is very upsetting to me when current news reports deaths along manmade physical borders such as between Mexico/US and Israel-Palestine. Such reminders fuel my passion to work towards a life embodying peace. After a heavy history lesson, my colleagues and I had lightened up the night with naturally German food and drink. Talking, dancing, and eventually singing with colleagues that I don't get a chance to work with, was especially rewarding. 

Unfortunately, as many of you know, I often get swept away with life at hand and forget to take pictures. So although I did many other things including visiting my sister for a weekend, dinner parties and dancing nights, I have little to show but memories. I'll leave you with one last picture this time of some Halloween fun. Can you guess who I am? Alright, I'll give you a few clues, because they're needed. I should be wearing a red wig, I'm one of my favorite German movie characters, this movie was ground-breaking with its inclusion of animation along with live-action filming. Anyone? If you guessed Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) you are my new favorite person. There have been two holidays that occurred since my last blog post-Halloween and Thanksgiving. Although were not as highly appreciated here as they would have been in the states, I celebrated then with special recognition that bringing my holdiay enthusiasm warms the chilling weather. With that... it brings me to a new post. 

Take care!