Kleines Künstlern

Martha, Frieda, and I spend a lot of time together. And a good portion of that time is spent drawing, painting, and craft making. I love this bonding time. It's so great to color alongside them, help them when they need it, and spark their creativity. Art was a really big part of my childhood, and I'm always glad to pass it on to others. Especially in an electronic age when it's more exciting to color on your touch screen than it is to actually get paint on your hands. I love electronics, don't get me wrong, but when it comes down to it... I would rather have a pencil and paper any day. But I'm rambling. Point is, I love all this creativity that the three of us make together. It's been so cool to see how their artistic talent has grown over the months I've been here. I hope even after I go home they continue their desire to be creative. If I could leave one impression on these girls, that would be it. Use that imagination. It's there for a reason.

Now like any proud parent/sibling/etc, I feel the need to show off my favorites of the kiddos ever so awesome artwork. Which you will "ooo" and "ahh" at like the good people I know you are. Or else. (haha).

Martha. First drawing we ever did together. (crayon, marker, and colored pencil)

Frieda. Can you guess what her favorite color is? (watercolor)

Martha. This was during her Harry Potter craze. (marker)

Frieda. "Das ist ein Straße!"(marker)

Martha. She and her friend dressed up as witches trick-or-treating. (colored pencil)

Frieda. (watercolor)

Martha. Part of my Christmas present. (colored pencil)

Frieda. I spy a hand print! (watercolor)

Martha and Frieda. This is a Christmas cat... whatever that is haha. (marker and pencil)

Martha. The Easter bunny on his rounds. (colored pencil and marker)

Frieda. One of my favorites of her drawings. (pen and colored pencil)

Martha. A rainbow! (marker)

Frieda. (colored pencil)

Martha. This is my absolute favorite of Martha's. (watercolor)

Frieda. Reminds me of the world. (watercolor)

Martha. Self portrait of her kayaking. (watercolor and colored pencil)

It's a little ridiculous how proud I am of Martha and Frieda. My little art proteges, aww. Doesn't matter if they never pursue art later in life, I'm glad I was here to nurture love of art early on. Because life without art (or a love of it) would be a dreary place.

Die drei Hexen

As an American, if you take a step back from our culture you will find that Halloween is a pretty strange holiday. I mean, come on, think about it. We dress up and go door to door asking strangers for candy, we create creepy houses that are meant to scare us on purpose, and we aren't really celebrating anything in particular. Weird? Most definitely. But fun? You bet.

I was really sad that I couldn't celebrate Halloween here in Germany. People have tried to start it up here, but it hasn't really caught on. Christiane told me that it is such a unique American tradition that it would have a hard time really catching on in other cultures. Which totally makes sense. But even though I couldn't really celebrate like usual, I was determined to celebrate in my own way.

I woke up on Halloween morning really excited. As I styled my hair and makeup crazily, I formulated a plan for the day. It was to be a day full of crafts, dress up, and pumpkin carving.

Martha was on Fall holidays (Yeah. They get a week off just because it's Fall. Why didn't they have this when I was in school?!). And because of the holidays she had her best friend Carlotta (from Freiburg) over for a couple days. The house was full of a lot of energy and happiness, perfect atmosphere for a holiday!

When I walked in the apartment the girls pronounced that I looked like a witch (we talk of nothing in this house but Harry Potter these days). I personally was going for the 80's vibe, but I was totally stoked to be a witch if that's what the girls wanted. They liked my hair and makeup so much that they begged me to do the same for them. I obliged of course. I got the biggest giggle out of the finished product. Big, ratted, poofy hair. Dark brown eyeshadow and some mascara (Johannes thought they looked like vampires haha). Martha got the idea to dress themselves up in "witch costumes." They ended up looking much more wild than I did. But utterly adorable of course.

My 1980's/witch "costume"

The morning and early afternoon consisted of lots of playing pretend. The house was not just anyplace, it was Hogwarts. Martha was Professor McGongall and Carlotta was Hermione. I was not allowed to join in, but I got the biggest kick out of watching them. While they played, I set up different crafts. When they needed a break from playing they would come and do a craft with me. We made ghost windchimes, mason jar lanterns, halloween themed pictures, and paper plate monster masks. Both Martha and Carlotta did an amazing job! I love how all the crafts turned out.

Our ghost wind chimes.

My ghost lantern.

Martha's pumpkin lantern.

Carlotta's lantern.

Martha's drawing of her and Carlotta as witches.

Our paper plate monster masks.

In mid afternoon Frieda came home from Kindergarten with Johannes in tow. She, unlike Martha, didn't have Fall holidays. All five of us spent the rest of the afternoon outside soaking up the nice crisp Fall weather. Frieda scooted up and down the street on her "bike" (it doesn't have pedals), while Martha whizzed around on her unicycle, and Carlotta tailed behind on roller blades. Johannes and I were pretty much just there for moral support (and to make sure they didn't get run over). For awhile I held Carlotta's hand to help her with her balance, but soon she was zooming around without my assistance. And gosh, I must say I am so impressed with Martha. She has balance I will never have. My disastrous self will not be riding a unicycle anytime soon. But she on the other hand, can fly down the street and turn around and come back without falling. Martha did take a couple spills, but she knows how to fall properly. She definitely did get frustrated towards the end of the afternoon when her falls became more frequent, but with some encouragement from Johannes and I she kept at it. Totally proud of her!

After our romps outside, my little witches and I decided to go buy ourselves a pumpkin. We tromped down to the local supermarket with the girls chattering away the whole walk there. We searched the store but came up empty handed. All the big pumpkins were gone! So the next best thing was to pick out three mini pumpkins and hope that we would be able to carve them. While we were in the check out line, I realized we were garnering quite a bit of attention. I mean, it must be a rare thing two have three witches walk into a supermarket (haha). The checkout guy looked up when he took my money and his mouth just hung open. It was all I could do to not bust up laughing right then and there.

Once we got home we went straight to work. Carving pumpkins is of course serious business. I covered three areas of the kitchen table with newspaper and got out the knives. Yes, I let seven-year-olds handle knives. I (along with Christiane and Johannes) helped them of course! We don't need missing fingers thank you very much! Frieda then decided that she wanted to join in on the fun. Thankfully we just happened to have a extra mini pumpkin lying around the house.

Bernard the pumpkin (my creation).

After some serious carving time, the pumpkins were complete. I got the votive candles and all three girls set the pumpkins out on the balcony and lit them. They took out our lanterns too. As it grew darker and darker the lights became more and more distinct. It was so pretty and eery all at once.

Our creations!

After dinner Martha and Carlotta came to my room to tell me they were going trick-or-treating. I laughed. I figured that was going to be something I missed out on this year. Well, I figured wrong. Christiane, myself, and the two girls headed out into the night to go to Christiane's office. Two of her co-workers were still there so that's were we were we would get our treats.

It was a chilly night and I was thankful I had thrown on a scarf and sweater. We walked for a good fifteen minutes and actually ran across a few other trick-or-treaters. When we arrived at the office, the excitement was running high. The girls rang the doorbell and announced "treat-or-treat!" to Christiane's co-workers. Lots of smiles and laughter followed. We stayed and talked for a few minutes and then we were off again. The girls of course got candy and were utterly happy. Christiane surprised me with a Twix bar. So even I got candy. Which made me really happy too!

Me, ridiculously excited that I got to go trick-or-treating.

Over all it was a great, very eventful day. It may not have been the usual Halloween for me, but I enjoyed myself all the same. Halloween with a German twist... what a treat!

Harry and Me

When I was eight years old I found a book in my mom's hope chest. One of her students (she is an elementary school teacher) had lent it to her so she could read it. But my mom doesn't really enjoy "fantasy" books (and movies) so she set the book aside and forgot about it. In fact, she thought she lost it, and had to buy her student a new book. Well, I found it a couple months later and my mom said I could keep it. That very day I began to read it, and gobbled it up within a matter of days. And suddenly, Harry Potter became apart of my life.

I grew up during the time when the Harry Potter books were being published. Being eight (1999) when I started reading, I was able to read the first three and then I only had to wait for the other four. Of course this waiting took most of my childhood since the last Harry Potter book came out when I was in the tail end of high school. I also had the pleasure of getting to see all the movies in theaters. I guess you could say I grew up with Harry Potter.

I have read and re-read all the books over and over again. Each time I discover something I didn't see before. There is just something about these books that never gets old. I re-read other books, but not as frequently as the Harry Potter series. I usually end up pulling out the series if I need some comfort or escape from every day life. Books are a means of escape for me, which can be good and bad like most things. But usually I read to remind myself that it is all going to be okay. No matter what goes on in a book, life always moves on; things change and grow. Harry goes through so much shit. But he isn't sitting in a corner crying the whole entire series. Sure he has his moments, like everyone does, but he always picks himself up and keeps going. And in the end, through all the pain and sadness, there is a happy ending for him. Harry always reminds me to keep going. He gives me hope.

Right now I am re-reading the series again (Christiane has all the books in English, yay!). I grabbed them all off of Martha's bookshelves and put them in my room. Over the past week I made my way through The Chamber of Secrets. I just started on Prisoner of Azkaban last night. Why am I reading them right now? Well, if I am completely honest with myself, I am feeling a little home sick. I miss my life. Halloween being tomorrow is totally not helping in the slightest. I feel so very far away from everything I know, love, and feel comfortable around. Not that this makes me regret my decision to come here in the slightest. I know this is where I need to be. And really do love it here. But not having a firm grasp on German has really made it hard for me. So once again I find myself turning to my Harry Potter books. It's really amazing how much better I feel after reading a chapter or two. The sense of panic in my stomach leaves and I am able to truly enjoy being right where I am. Of course it doesn't take away the home sickness, but it lessens it.

Me and three of the seven books (these are the UK editions)

Sometimes I wish I was eleven again, and that I was hopping onto the Hogwarts Express. But then I remind myself that living in a world of witches and wizards wouldn't solve all my problems. As much as my life isn't a cake walk, I have been blessed with so many wonderful people and opportunties. I would be a fool not to see that my life is magical in it's own right. I may not have a wand, invisibility cloak, or a lightening shaped scar; but I do have determination, imagination, and a life full of possibilities ahead me. I don't doubt that many other adventures await me after this one. I just have to be brave and strong enough to welcome them with open arms.