Advent

Traditional window decor aus der Erzgebirge

Goofballs decorating with a ton of tinsel

Bringing home the tree by Strassenbahn

At the Weihnachtsmarkt

Nikolaus came to visit on 6 December!

Baking SWEDISH cut out cookies (the dough was given to us by our Pastor's wife who is born and raised in Sweden!)
Our home made Advent paper-chain calendar. Chocolate pieces and bible reading for the day along with a craft or song
Louisa's school sang at the opening of the Christmas market! She's in the front row in the middle!
Stollen ! And the traditional " Pyramide"
View from our Christmas market downtown....




Advent in Deutschland is quite the celebrated time of year. It's the time of year when the Chrismtas markets open, the gluwein and glog appears, the Advent calendars are sold by millions, the "echte Erzgebirge" wood carved Christmas decorations are displayed. I find it VERY interesting as in the States Advent is purely a spiritual celebration as we prepare for the coming of the Newborn King! I doubt that EVERY christian family has an advent wreath in their own home. However, here Advent wreaths are sold in huge variety and lit in each home to mark another week closer to the opening of all those presents, I guess. Always the mixture of secular and spiritual.........this year I've struggled as a parent to know how to HANDLE that with the kids. Sometimes the blessing of so many world experiences and seeing how others celebrate confuses how WE are going to do it in our family too. I experienced growing up with Santa bringing the presents and we LOVED IT and it never seemed to confuse my Joy that Jesus was the reason for the Season. The Christmas program at church was the BIG event! Indonesia and Africa lacked so much of what I KNEW as Christmas that it was difficult for me but our kids knew that RAIN and thunder and high humidity felt like "christmas weather" and we had very little by means of commercialism and it was just fine ( I was the one running out to purchase over priced imported chocolates from England or South Africa to make it FEEL like Christmas.......ugh). Last year we drove the insane 1,500 some miles and two hotels one way just to be " HOME for Christmas" as I hadn't done so in 11 years and for once we were on at least the same continent. That was nuts but worth the feeling of walking in my parents front door to all the long missed familiar comfort!
THIS YEAR I feel we're part of a tiny conservative church which strives to stay humble amidst all the secularism . It's refreshing and yet brings me back to ..........so how do the WE, the Felgenhauers celebrate? What are OUR traditions? In a few days my niece and nephew arrive from the USA and we are HUGELY excited. So this year we'll attend the worship services here in Zwickau and "zwishendurch" ( in between) we'll dash out to see some GERMANY sights with our guests! Finally, that our children KNOW and find JOY in the birth of our SAVIOUR from SIN is the greatest tradition ! One we'll keep passing on no matter what other customs we take part in!

Herbst Ferein ( Fall break)

So Louisa had two weeks off for fall break. The first was dreadfully rainy and even snowed a tiny bit. We did craft projects galore and snuggled inside for most of the week. When living in an apartment house there are certain things to figure out. For one thing as soon as your apartment door is open anyone walking by the outside hallway will have a glimpse into your chaotic lifestyle.......with 3 wild kids running around we're trying to instill in them that we do NOT have an open door policy here. Still working on it.

When the weather starts getting blustery then it's also time to bring in the balcony plants and flowers....where to go with them? INTO the stairwell hallway. Our once bare stairwell now has plants and flowers adorning each level! We even stuck a pumpkin display outside our "front door" stairwell! Bummer, tho, that our balcony/terrace isn't of much use anymore..........sigh.

The second week of "schulferien" was a real treasure! A rented car ( big stuff for non car owners). The OPEN ROAD...... and then a week of fun with a dear german/austrian family who lived in Malawi as missionaries at the same time as us and this topped off with an "american weekend". The WELS Reformation Retreat with area WELS'ers who live in Germany and the surrounding European countries. For me the joy of worshipping auf English and hanging with people of like minded language, culture and faith! Ben was so excited to meet another american boy his age and just as wild he yelled out the first night " MOM, he said NO in ENGLISH.......he's an ENGLISH BOY!" People also crack up as our kids are unfamiliar with things like doritos and root beer and these retreats are always loaded with american snacks brought on us army bases! The kids frequently wanted to know " Is that something we like?".....I assured them. YES YES, we like Doritos. Eat them!

We did NOT do Halloween this year at all. We've quite the interesting track record of Halloween celebrations. In Malawi we usually got together with a handful of other americans and bobbed for apples in the back yard and then paraded from the back yard to the front yard and knocked on the door for trick or treat. One year we HID candy bags.......but I always felt wierd because we did this in the presence of our malawian workers ( gardeners/houseworkers etc..) and witchcraft is widely practiced within their culture and here's me printing witch and ghost pictures for the kids to color.....UGH.......and last year in Canada we did the full blown neighborhood thing which was almost overwhelming and FAR too much candy.....tho' the kids really loved that. Here in Germany it has become popular altho' more the gruesome part of it all and therefore very much avoided by christians. So we just let it go and that is really fine by me. We bought a pumpkin and I let the kids make paper jack o lantern faces. I really don't think it necessary for anyone here to get ito the custom and unless you've grown up with it like we do in the good ol' USA then why get into it at all.

HOWEVER, we DID get to be a part of some very nice german traditions. That being REFORMATION celebrated as a public holiday and bakeries selling "reformation brotchen" top pic - not sure what makes them special altho I guess sometimes they have a cross pressed into them) and also the traditional " laterne umzug" or Lantern parade. This is held in honor of St. Martin's Day. Lousia's school holds theirs in honor of Dr. Martin Luther who was in fact named after St. Martin. Weeks ahead of time patterns for paper lanterns are sold in stores everywhere as well as cheap electric lights attached to a long pole. Some children still traditional use a lighted candle IN their paper lantern ( eeks! never ever allowed in the usa) but our kids got to try both as we attended two parades!

After a short program touching the work and life of Martin Luther and singing of some songs the children line the streets with all shapes and colors and designs of lighted lanterns! Then in the end everyone gathers for..........yes.......Bratwurst ( here they are referred to as "Rosters") and "kinder punch" as well as spiced wine and cookies!

All Natural

Benjamin has had a terrible chest cough. Stefan went to the "Apotheke" (Pharmacy) in search of some cough syrup. This is what he was given. FENNEL/HONEY syrup ! I love it.....now that the wind and rain of Fall have arrived the stores are all advertising their natural healing products for colds! Teas/salves/syrups made of herbs and natural oils ! It just wouldn't happen, in the USA, ( as far as I know) that a Dr. or Pharmacist would recommend a natural healing product !
Meanwhile, for 6 Euros....Stefan also purchased this TEENY tub of Vicks ( called WICK here - pronounced VICK). I could buy at least 3 for that price in the USA and each about 3 times as big!

Transport

Last year I drove a mini-van. My kids each had their own spot. They had drink holders. Often they watched a movie on the flip down screen! When on Mom drop off/pick up duty I also had my own spot. The drivers seat.......with lots of interesting buttons and gadgets for me to be in control of. I adjusted the speed, temperature and tunes to my own desire and settled my beverage of choice into my drink holder. I sure I hope I never complained........because from my current perspective I couldn't think of anything more luxurious than having what I've just described. Not to mention the wide, smooth roads! ( OH YES.......if you've lived in Africa........ALL ROADS in America are smooth.....it appears the same applies if you are currently living in a German town where all roads are STILL cobbled stone!)

So we sold the mini van......and jumped on a plane. Now we haven't ANY vehicle of our own........none. To be sure we are living in a prime location for this to be the case. On a main downtown road. Public transport is right around the corner. Ahhhhhhh public transport with a family of 3 small children. At first I thought it was refreshing. Just sit back and let someone else do your driving. But then I noticed some of the drivers are just plain crabby. Some drive far too fast. Everyone and their Uncle smokes about a pack of cigs at each transport stop. Bus stops are NOT a fun place to hang out with kids......We're dying of 2nd hand smoke and no one's helping me when I have about 3.5 seconds of trams doors opening/closing to get 2 kids with heavy backpacks, jackets and umbrellas and heave one kid locked in the stroller with grocery bags and purse hanging off the end of it up the steps and quickly find a place for us to sit while securing said stroller before it whizzes off and jerks us all backwards. (I've enough to worry about and still I've saved countless number of old ladies from falling on their rear ends! ) Once the doors whipped shut on my arms and so from now on Ben lets out high pitched squeals if he thinks we aren't going to MAKE IT in or out on time. The thing is we're quite a comedy act for the other passengers. Add to it the fact that we speak English most of the time and that causes quite a stir of heads. When my finger was all bandaged due to the (OOPS I cut my finger instead of the bread incident) there was a young man who hopped out of his seat and helped us all get on then watched for our stop and helped us all off and I nearly wept with thankfulness at this act of kindness. We ARE thankful for transport.......we are aware of the health benefits of so much walking !! ( clap clap) and we know it won't be like this forever.

Above find a series of photos depicting a day in the life of some of our transport scenes......Louisa gets a ride to school and Anna and I take Ben via bus and tram to Kindergarten.....and then back home again which takes about 1 1/2 hours of travel/wait time. The pics show our afternoon scene .......bus and then tram to pick up Ben......walk about 8 blocks and up an unbelievably steep hill to Louisa's school.....back down and bus home........walk to our apartment and up 5 flights of stairs ( this is usually where the real crying starts in......so actually drag ourselves up) and another good 1 1/2 hours goes by.

PS: When stefan first showed me the hill we had to walk up to get to Louisa's school my brain simply didn't register the reality of it. I was like, DO PEOPLE think this is NORMAL? THANKFULLY we don't have to go UP it every single day twice a day! Note also Louisa's cubby where all the kids change from their "house shoes" back into their street shoes. :)

Wander tag

Am Samstag Stefan was in Leipzig for the opening of the new Seminary year. The kids and I decided to go for a walk........a beautiful day! We discovered a new park ( simple and few here but the kids make the most fun out of them) and walked along "Der Mulde" river. We walked across the "Paradies bridge" so named from one well known Reformer who visited this area in 1522 ! Way to still be on a billboard Marty! We ended our wandering.....with an Eis! Mind you...4 huge ones for a total of 2.80 Euros! Not so bad ! Sunday Stefan showed us the well loved fall tradition of making "igel" (hedgehogs) and men out of "kastantien" (horse chestnuts which are found in abundance here!!) Enjoy the fotos! (in backward order of post description! Ach ! )

Tschuss!

Language and culture

You can't just learn a language. One needs to also learn the culture in order for the language to make sense. Here's an example. In America a child usually starts school at around age 5 and goes to Kindergarten. We take pictures and buy a new backpack. School life has begun. In Germany a child starts school in first grade. A huge hoopla ensues regarding the child having reached the magic age of becoming a schulkind. Anything before first grade is NOT SCHOOL. It's Kindergarten. This is for "babies". Children aged infant to age 5 or 6. In Kindergarten they are cared for and they play creatively to enhance their development.
In my mixed up mind I forget that my Benjamin ( aged 5 and in Kindergarten) is NOT a school boy here. So the other day a nice Mom says to me (auf deutsch) "SO when does BEN go to school?" I smartly answer back ( auf deutsch) " AROUND 8 AM".......and the response on her confused face tells me I didn't answer right. OOoooohhhh when does he become a SCHULKIND? " Not till next year"....
And it takes time to fit into a new (different) culture. As soon as the plane touches down and one enters their new land there will be immediate changes. Foods, drinks, fashions, ways of life, discipline, education. Travelling to different lands and testing out these different ways of life is very adventureous and interesting! Settling down into a different culture can be a little more difficult. When a family starts making their routine and traditions it's more of an upheaval to suddenly drop in somewhere new where the old routines and traditions don't work out as well anymore. One's identity starts getting confused. I am thankful for the adventure the Lord has given me and my family. However, I'm beginning to be hugely envious of people who fit in at "THEIR PLACE". Their town, their friends, their traditions, their foods and ways of life.......a continous pattern and cycle of life which feels comfortable and makes sense. I suppose that's why we miss Malawi so much. Living there both Stefan and I missed different cultural aspects from our own perspective lands........however in Malawi we started our family life and our own traditions. They worked and made sense and we felt comfortable. For a year now we've moved around among different places and our routines haven't worked out as well and we've missed our traditions and ways of life. The kids seem to be doing remarkably well considering the upheaval. I myself feel a need to figure out who we ARE and what it is we DO. To be certain we know this: We are children of God and we are in this world but not of it. Heaven is our Home. That knowledge gives me joy! And a desire to make a temporary home wherever it is we currently are in this world.

Opa's garten

We recently visited my in-laws. Something commonly practiced in a land of apartment dwellers is to have an area of town set aside and divided up into "garden lots". Having a garden lot gives you the opportunity to have a bit of "yard" all your own. We LOVE going to Opa's garden. It's like entering a little paradise of flowers, fruit and veggies! It's one of my favorite places to take pictures. My prayer is that Opa's love for gardening would one day be appreciated by him as God's creation and gift! May something so beautiful as a purple plum tree or a dazzling dahlia stir in his heart the love for a Creator! And a need for a Savior from all the thorns and disease amidst this beauty!