merry christmas

Our apartment living room last night:




And our apartment living room tonight:



Big sigh of relief and thanks on our end; our shipment is here. It all looks great. We joked in September that it would "be like Christmas" when our shipment arrived .... hmm. Little did we know it would literally be Christmas! Nevertheless we are having a blast opening boxes that we haven't seen the contents of in 2 1/2 years - dishes, artwork, wedding gifts. It's a little bit like receiving them all over again.

And we are so thankful for God's kindness in it all. We'd be totally fine without any of it - it's just stuff - but how delightful to enjoy things that feel like home to us, that we find to be beautiful, that remind us of people we love and miss.

Now, we just have to figure out how to get the couch in through the second story window....

finds

I am quite determined to post some apartment photos soon.... I've waited thinking it would be far more fun to take photos when we actually had things IN our apartment (empty rooms kind of just feel like real estate ads) but maybe I'll just have to go ahead - seeing that our things don't seem to be coming anytime soon...

In the meantime, a few photos from our world. The stained glass is actually from a grave marker, the bronze keys from the front door of a church, and in the last photo, look at the clock tower and know that our apartment is right next to it. We can literally lay in our bed, look at the roof window and see the tower. Kind of feels like we could reach out the window and touch it - or like maybe some action movie hero could leap from church roof right through our open window ...

Our apartment is pretty quirky but we love it. I think we'll love it even more as we personalize it a bit and make it a home. It's really right in the middle of town. That clock tower has bells in it that faithfully ring every 15 minutes: once at the quarter hour, twice at the half, 3 times at 45 and then 4 on the hour plus a different chime to count down the hours. Sometimes the bells just go crazy and ring for awhile - we haven't quite figured out what that's for yet except when it happens on Sunday mornings before church starts. Yes, they are loud but not the least bothersome to us. I actually really love the sound.

We've picked up some second-hand furniture that I got paint for today. Maybe those will make the blog first... We have a few things for preparing and eating food, a bed to sleep in, and a few other miscellaneous things for cleaning and living life. Minimal. Kind of like camping at home. And yet we've adjusted to it and are starting to wonder if when we get our other household belongings they will feel unnecessary. We were so excited when we got a washer and dryer (used from a couple moving back to the US) that we kept randomly saying to each other, "we have a washer and dryer!" for a couple of weeks. Mostly we've figured we'll feel just as thankful when it will be things like, "We have living room furniture!" or "I have a spatula to turn pancakes with!", but I also think we'll be struck by what we managed without.

We could have borrowed any number of things from people and have chosen not to (mostly expecting things to arrive anytime). Yet I wonder at what the Lord is cultivating in us - contentment, gratitude, dependence, insight. Its good stuff. I might feel a twinge of remorse when our shipment comes - remorse for losing a certain amount of raw teach-ability because I'm not figuring out how to cook dinner with a leatherman knife, a pot and a pan. We have two plates, two bowls, two coffee cups and a few glasses, two forks, four spoons, two butter knives, a Nalgene bottle and a rubbermaid spatula - and we've been able to have friends join us for small meals or tea... pretty amazing how little we need, pretty amazing how the Lord provides, pretty amazing to think what it takes for us to notice things sometimes.

juxtaposed

About 30 minutes drive from us is Basel, Switzerland - a pretty old city. At least it seems to be from my limited knowledge and American perspective. Anyway, every fall they have this big festival (essentially a harvest festival) at the end of October/beginning of November. This year's was the 540th annual Herbst Messe. (yep - 540 years) We're guessing they didn't have Ferris Wheels and Eddie Murphy pictures in the early years.



So look at this contrast - old city and cathedral with this huge Ferris wheel. I don't think it bothers anyone around here, but somehow it was just really striking to me to stand in these beautiful old city squares and be surrounded by State Fair rides, music and lights.


All this to say, that I think we are feeling the constrasts of our own worlds, trying to fit pieces together in a new place. We'll figure it out eventually - or at least enough to be at home.


(the Rhine river and part of old city Basel)

And John just looked over my shoulder and asked what the salad had to do with anything... pretty much nothing. :) It's just a local seasonal favorite that we'd never had before - Feldsalat (field salad). We highly recommend it.

FYI, our shipment comes from the US this week - Tuesday or Wednesday. Woohoo! If we can figure out how to get it all up the narrow little stairwell to our apartment, we'll actually have something besides us IN the apartment!

a walk

Want to take a walk with us?

Today was a beautiful day for a walk! The Kandern area is known for its miles and miles of trails through the Black Forest. The other day, a gentleman in town told John how to hike to a castle ruins nearby so today we checked it out. We stopped by the bakery to grab a couple of buttered pretzels and mineral water to take along for lunch and headed out. We can literally walk out the door of the Art Factory and be on a trail in less than 5 minutes. It was nice to be able to take our time; the road/path was pretty ethereal. The Black Forest is full of these trees with tall, dark, smooth trunks and (at the moment) bright golden leaves. We would walk along and ahead of us the breeze sent these golden leaves cascading down, flickering in the sunlight. So beautiful. And so quiet!


Here's just a sample of the view from the top of the tower. John spotted the alps in one direction, and you can see into France from another direction. Totally worth it.

So what ran through my head the whole way home? German. Our teacher will ask us in class, "Was haben sie an Wochenende gemacht?" (what did you do this weekend?) So, I was rehearsing in my head how I will answer her - in Perfect verb form with lots of clarifying phrases in the middle of course! (We spend LOTS of time drilling Perfect tense). I probably don't have it quite right, but here's what I'll say: "Am Samstag Nachmittag habe ich mit meinem Mann und meinem Hund von Kandern zu einem Schloss im Schwartzwald spatzieren gegangen. Der Wald war sehr schon (sorry - don't know how to type the umlaut over the "o"). Die Baumen hatten veil Farben." I might try more, but we'll see. :) It never quite makes it out of my mouth as easily as it runs through my head, but if I get it right, our teacher will be really excited.

cattle dog of Rottweil

Rottweilers were originally "the cattle dogs of Rottweil". The town is actually pretty close to us here in Kandern.

When I came home from class today and opened up the computer, these photos popped up. John took them while out on a walk with Nia this morning. I had to post them.

One very clean faced cow...
busily grazing....


while one very eager dog obediently waits to check her out.


The dog gets to smell the cow...
and multiple cows come closer to check her out.


A brave one takes a turn coming Nia's direction.


However, despite her audience, she loses interest....

and so do they.

raclette

We had our first experience with raclette this week at Dinner and Dialogue here at the Art Factory. I was so curious before hand how this meal worked - there's a special cheese, a special electrical appliance, and then all these other accompaniments like potatoes, baby corn, sausage, tomatoes, peppers, pickles, onions, mushrooms. Can you imagine why I was curious? Have you ever eaten a hot entree with all of those foods playing a role?

So what I learned: Raclette: named for the specific kind of cheese that is sliced and placed in little trays under a heating coil to melt. Above the heating coil is a cooking surface where you can cook/heat your various vegetables and meats. On your plate is a boiled potato that you pour the melted cheese over and add all the other stuff in a combination of your choosing. I also learned from my tablemates that the French make it with a very distinct set of ingredients (potentially quite appalled by all the things we were including), that the pickles are a must have to Germans, that we see all the Raclette machines in the store windows right now because "it's the time of year for Raclette" -- and that it tastes really good. :)

first glimpse of Kandern

First and foremost, the Art Factory, where we are staying in a guest room while we find an apartment. It's been great fun to see all the ways it's changed since we saw it over 3 years ago.

It's apple season, and we caught our first German festival the Saturday after we arrived. It was a craft festival in a nearby village, but at the food tent, they were making fresh apple juice.


John hiked up the hill just behind the art factory, and this was the view across the valley on the other side.







And this is typical inside of town.





We walk down this street into the center of town to get to most everything. It follows the edge of the river, the Kanderner, and is a main road connecting area villages.


We're not exactly sure what this is - maybe some kind of lever for operating the shutters? At any rate the heads added for embellishment caught our eyes.








We're both delighted to be here in time to catch the fall colors. The hillsides are beginning to light up with orange and gold.



I have no explanation for this one. Maybe they are trying to appeal to American visitors?


So much that is beautiful around us - we are relishing it and grateful!