bunnies

When the first snow fell in November, I discovered that some of my language school classmates were seeing snow for the very first time in their lives. I don't remember what prompted it, but I suggested making paper snowflakes. A couple of them got pretty excited about it, and my teacher gave me a bit of time a few days later to show everybody how to cut snowflakes. My teacher got really excited, asking me to get green and red paper so we could make more for Christmas decorations. I don't generally make red and green snowflakes.... but why not! I've discovered that my classmates from Russia (including my teacher) really like decorations to have some glitz and flash to them. White is simply too plain and not festive enough.

Snowflake cutting session two with red and green was again quite a hit while being a bit comical. Picture a room full of adults with inadequate vocabulary to explain or ask questions, sharing a few pairs of scissors, and fumbling through a new (and for many, rather awkward) activity. We immediately hung them all over the room. Culturally they had no qualms in quickly evaluating the quality of everyone's work out loud.

Fast forward to last week. Somehow the snowflake cutting got linked to origami because a classmate brought a book of origami in to show me afterward. There are distinct themes to the state approved language text books; holidays is one of them. Now on our fourth textbook with the same series of themes, we're all a little less interested in talking about holidays - again. However, my teacher has decided that we need to decorate for Easter and asked me to find some Easter origami patterns we can use.

Easter origami. I chuckle a little bit inside thinking about melding this classic Japanese paper art with a distinctly Christian holiday. However, you can find anything online, right? I've noticed that bunnies and eggs are the primary Easter decor theme in Germany, so I looked up patterns. Bunnies were easy to find. I didn't find origami eggs. Can't say that I'm surprised by that one. Really, who wants to fold a piece of paper into a flat egg shape? Wouldn't it be easier to cut it out? I found this pattern, and brought it along with origami paper to class. After trying it out at home, I knew that as origami goes it's pretty simple, but would take some explaining.

Oh the excitement! My class is down to about 8 people. It's just great to give highly capable intelligent adults something like an origami pattern to contend with - totally outside their element! Origami is tricky to explain verbally in your own language let alone in one you're still learning, so I was quite out of my element as well. It pretty much came down to me running in circles individually showing each step to every person or pair of people. The initial excitement and eagerness by all (particularly endearing to hear these men excited to make a bunny to give to their daughters) shifted a bit to comments about how much patience origami requires. Nevertheless, we all had a good time and enjoyment prevailed.

I wonder how often any of them get to sit down and have the pleasure of making something. I could ramble quite awhile about how we need that pleasure, how it gives us a chance to be who we're designed to be - reflectors of our Maker.

We're supposed to make tulips sometime this week... I heard several ask with hope in their voices, "is the tulip easier?"

BTW if you're interested, here are some of the ideas I found (remember I was thinking quick and easy for my class):






origami tulip diagram

spring!

While we know that most of our friends and family have been suffering through prolonged winter weather the past month or so, it has been simply beautiful here. Evening walks in this little village are awfully picturesque.

And then sometimes it's just plain quirky. For example the side of this house....

Have you figured it out yet? Snails. Stone snails making a line across the house. Lots of things are named after snails around here - like restaurants. Hmm. Not sure about that one.

It's also traditional to decorate your trees for Easter like this:


There are so many song birds! I'm not sure if it's just quiet enough here to hear the birds or if there truly are more song birds in this region, but either way, its pretty incredible. One night we walked past this really plain looking black bird with an orange beak. And then it started to sing - beautiful! They make the most amazing sounds!

Fruit tree blossoms are everywhere. I think this one is a cherry tree. When we ride the bus everyday, we pass fields with woods in the background. All the grass is bright green with fresh green foliage on most of the trees. The cherry trees covered in white blossoms stand alone in the midst of all that green.


Just off our balcony is a Magnolia tree. It's huge though not particularly well shaped. Nevertheless, we watched it bud anticipating how grand it would be when it flowered. We were not disappointed.




The sheer volume of blooms has been quite a spectacle while they've lasted.

And to top off all this spring glory? Allergies. I'm sparing you the sight of my half swollen shut eye and rashy face. That one's not so pretty.