Before a World Cup match, Thom recommends barefoot soccer in the sand, a quick ride to the farmers’ market, and a large helping of fresh raspberries to spoil supper.
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Tonight was the final night of Freiburg’s Wine Festival, and we squeezed in one last visit between Errol’s train arrival from Bochum, Thom's rehearsal, and the France/Belgium game. The rain threatened to ruin our al fresco supper of pizza and crepes, but it cleared quickly. Something very different about Oberlin, the bigs’ Freiburg school, and Riverside, the bigs’ Princeton school, is the food situation.
In Germany, it’s a foreign concept to serve meals at school. Classes are supposed to end early enough for kids to eat at home. This means a late lunch for most. Another result of this schedule is a large morning snack. Thom and Vinnie come home with tales of feasts inside their classmates’ vesper boxes. If parties are willing, the food can be shared. Vinnie asked me last week if I would buy a specific kind of craker that a girl in her class eats: “They look so good and she never shares.” Vinnie told me the brand was TIC. I agreed to look at the grocery but found no TIC crackers. This afternoon Vinnie came into my room holding a yellow wrapper. “Mama, I was wrong. It’s TUC crackers. Here.” She handed me an empty sleeve of TUC. Apparently, the girl is willing to share her trash. This afternoon the Carl Schurz Haus hosted an Independence Day party at the Ganter Brewery’s biergarten. The kids got more hilarious face paint, and Errol was impressed with the BBQ ribs they served. I loved the bluegrass band. The big kids’ school had a class hike and lunch this afternoon. We love how many of the restaurants in the forest and biergartens have playgrounds. It’s so nice there is an area for kids to be kids while adults do what so many of us love to do: sit around to talk, eat, and drink.
Tonight I went back to the wine festival with my pal Kornelia. It was a completely different experience than yesterday’s. We had wine slushies!
Today was the first day of Freiburg’s wine festival. Errol came home from the office all excited and rounded up the kids to meet Andrew for supper (and wine) on the Münsterplatz. The kids ate some flammkuchen but spent most of their time playing in this corner where a soccer goal and kiddie pools were set up.
It’s tough being an American kid living in Germany on 4th of July, but I tried to make it as festive as possible. We found a hot dog bar!
After church on Sunday we took the tram to Günterstal. We hiked straight up into the forest toward lunch. My German teacher in September had recommended this restaurant, and I hadn’t gone yet. Errol checked it out a few weeks ago and liked it so much he planned to take his fellow philosophers there during his epistemology of ethics workshop. The kids weren’t that thrilled with the hike, but it was beautiful and the food at Waldrestaurant St. Valentin was delicious. Our life these days revolves around World Cup matches, and we made it home to watch Spain lose. Errol’s flight back from England was delayed, but he returned to see the evening game. Between soccer matches, we walked to Mariotti Eiscafe for an ice cream to honor what would have been our grandfather’s 97th birthday on Sunday, July 1. He loved ice cream. Ab and Ward spent their last morning in Freiburg alone at the Schauinsland. The rest of us had the cable car experience earlier in the year, and the kids had school anyway.
We met up with them after lunch and made a quick visit to the Münster before taking the tram to the Strandbad. Abby was fantastic, and we all had so much fun with her at the pool. We ate supper at home and celebrated Ab’s half birthday a day early. Abby and Ward left Freiburg early Tuesday morning. Conveniently, they took the same tram to the train station that the bigs took to school. We loved their visit! Our guests didn’t sleep as well their second night in Freiburg, and we had a late start on Saturday. We were able to show Abby our beautiful Wiehre market, and she watched Thom show off his German skills when he bought eggs and produce.
Each Saturday a chicken truck parks outside one of the nearby groceries. Along with chicken, he sells fresh hot fries. Thom and Ab rode bikes from the soccer pitch to the chicken man to grab lunch. Abby considers herself a fries expert and gave our chicken man’s pommes two enthusiastic thumbs up. We spent Saturday afternoon at the library and swam at Lorettobad. |
Anne Thomsen lordWritings on our year abroad. Archives
September 2018
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