Martinstag

November 11 is St Martin's Day.  St. Martin was a Roman soldier that was baptized as an adult and became a monk.  He later, reluctantly, became a bishop and is most remembered for cutting his cloak in half and sharing it with a beggar in a snowstorm.  Later he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the cloak he had given away and Jesus said to the angels, "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clothed me."

To celebrate St. Martin, children will walk through the villages carrying paper lanterns and singing songs to honor him.  Often a man dressed as St. Martin on horse back will lead the procession.

The Spielgruppe (play group) that Lore Mae and I go to weekly organized a Laternenlauf (lantern walk).  The mothers made lanterns for the kids and we all met on Thursday, November 11 to walk around the village and sing songs.

Cy's lantern that he made a kindergarten.

We were supposed to have a "Laternenlauf" with the kindergarten up to castle ruins nearby (super cool), but unfortunately the weather was bad and it was cancelled.

Lore Mae with her cow lantern.

Trying to get a group shot.

Kids with their lanterns.

Cy's lantern lit.  It only stayed lit for about 5 minutes.  He wanted to blow it out as soon as we lit the candle.

Lore Mae was not interested in joining the rest of the kids for a picture.  Nor did she want to hold her lantern or even walk for that matter.  Oh well...it was pretty cold that night.

We all gathered afterwards in the FC Rettenberg (Rettenberg's soccer club) club house for wieners, pretzels and Gluhwein (hot mulled wine).  Here is Cy and Lore Mae playing.

Thanks to our great Spielgruppe leader we all had a good time.  I am sorry that we won't be here next year to do it again.

Maybe we can have a Laternenlauf in Moncks Corner? 

Tag der offenen Schule

Sarah's school recently celebrated it's 100 year anniversary.   On Saturday all students and their families were invited to a "Tag der Offenen Schule" (open house).  It is a school for only girls between the 5th class and 10th class.   It is filled with art and Sarah was very excited for us to see it.

Maria Stern Maedchen Realschule

Sarah showing us the globes they made in Earth Science.  This is her "homeroom" that had been turned into a cafeteria for the open house.

In this room there were many of the "handarbeit" (hand work) projects on display; quilts, hand-painted pillows, knitted scarves and socks.  This is where I decided that I wanted to go to Maria Stern.

Sarah sporting her Maria Stern hoodie and showing us where her desk usually sits.

View from inside one of the classrooms.

Standing at the bottom of seventy something stairs that she has to climb 4 times a day!

I wish we had gotten more pictures.  It really is a beautiful school.  Sarah is so happy there and recently asked if we could stay in Germany long enough for her to finish school at Maria Stern. 

Halloween

Halloween in Germany is just becoming popular (at least where we live). Not many people celebrate and those that do are for the most part young adults looking for another opportunity to have a party.  Knowing this, last year we really did not celebrate.  Some neighborhood kids invited us to go Trick-or-treating at the last minute, so Tommy took the girls and Cy.

This year the kids were determined that we would have an American Halloween.  We had Jack-o-Lanterns and the girls planned their costumes, and the whole family went Trick-or-Treating in our village.

It was quite a different experience from home where some folks go all out with decorations and costumes, and there are literally hundreds of kids that bombard the subdivisions of Moncks Corner to collect candy.  We only saw two other groups of kids that were Trick-or-Treating.  One was Grace's school friend and the other were the boys that live across the street.  We were a little hesitant at first about knocking on doors, but since the girls had gone last year they remembered which houses were good ones to go to.  Not everyone that answered their door knew what was happening.  A couple of folks said that they didn't have any candy.  Most people, once they realized what the deal was, went in search of something to give to the kids.  One lady   had to search her refrigerator for chocolate, and one person gave out Christmas candy.  At one house the lady that answered was expecting Trick-or-treaters and was prepared.  She even said she had been waiting all night and since it was getting late she figured she would not see anymore Trick-or-Treaters and gave us all the candy that she had.

 Cy as Spiderman for the third year in a row.  Don't know what we will do when he out grows this costume.  I guess we get a bigger Spiderman costume.

Lore Mae was a princess.  It was a little cold, so the princess had to wear a sweater. 

 Sarah (witch) and Grace (dracula) with Cy getting into character before heading out.

On a side note: Sarah made her broom out of a stick and some grapevines.  I thought it was awesome!

 Trying to get a pic with the Jack-O-Lanterns.  Some folks had walked by earlier and thought it was so funny that we had "Kurbis Koepfe" (pumpkin heads).

We had barely gotten in the door from Trick-or-Treating when Lore Mae got into her stash of candy.  Don't know how, but she ended up with the most!