Playing with Fire

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. There is just something deliciously nostalgic about barbeques, fireworks, Summer, swimming, friends, family and patriotism all rolled up into one holiday. And it's really the one time a year that Americans really go nutters for fireworks. I have always been fascinated by fireworks. But they also scare the crap out of me. I've never really had good luck with them; I'm kind of a magnet for firework dangers. One year I was playing with a sparkler in my aunt and uncle's front yard with all the other kids (we were sky writing words) when all of the sudden a spark popped off the sparkler and landed on my collarbone and burned me. Quite predictably I screamed and got all the adults running. Once I was in the kitchen my mom inspected the damage and found that my vest had been burnt along with my skin. I was horrified, more about the vest than my burn at this point, because it was my Fourth of July vest. I have always been quite festive when it comes to holidays. Aloe vera and some hugs stopped the flow of my tears, and I soon was back playing with the other kids. The burn eventually healed, but the mark it left was more a figurative one. I didn't play with sparklers for years after that day.

You can imagine my excitement and fear when I was told that Germany is really big on setting off fireworks for New Years. It's such a weird concept to me, Americans really don't do the whole firework thing on this holiday. I remembered coverage of other countries in past New Years specials on T.V., I just always thought it was strange they set off fireworks. I'm so used to the ball drop in Times Square being the big festivity. Fireworks only fit in two places in my brain 1. 4th of July 2. Disneyland. So I found myself getting excited to ring in the new year a little different than usual.

I spent New Years Eve day reading. No, I'm not that big of a nerd. I put down my book to join my German family (and their friends) for dinner. We had meat fondu. Which is yummy, but tortuous. Nothing like sitting and waiting for your food to cook while your stomach roars like a angry lion. After dinner we went outside to the street to set off fireworks. Since the kids were going to bed before midnight, they didn't want to miss out on the fun. All the fireworks were "kid friendly." Sparklers of course were amongst the options. Which I avoided until I just couldn't stand it anymore. They are just so sparkly. I also had quite a bit of fun with the cherry bombs. Martha and her friend (with their dads) were having quite the thrill setting off little fireworks that whorled and spun around on the street. Frieda and her friend just stuck to the sparklers and cherry bombs like me. But we had just as much fun as the older girls! Once we were out of fireworks I said good bye and headed out into the night to meet up with my friends.

I walked over to Nacha and Bernie's flat which is conveniently quite close to my apartment. Balin (sorry if I'm spelling your name wrong... I'm lousy with names), Bernie's friend, came along too. We all hopped onto the Straßenbahn and found ourselves surrounded by fellow New Years celebrators. After staring at a girls holey stockings for a good 15 minutes (I just couldn't understand why she would sacrifice being warm in order to look so scandalous), we got off the train with all the other passengers. Apparently Durlach was the place to be. After a short walk up a hill we found ourselves at the Turmbergbahn station. (Which I visited with Lea back in October). We found Albert, whom we planned to meet there, and squished onto the oldest train in Germany with a bunch of other people. Thankful to be free of the claustrophobic train, I burst out onto the look out platform only to find it just as crowded, and even more chaotic.

Just a half an hour to midnight, the excitement was tangible in the air. People were all over the place; drinking, talking, and setting off fireworks. Our little group made our way over to an area near the guard rail of the lookout platform. If I got on tiptoe I could see the breathtaking view of all of Karlsruhe lighting up the night. One we settled in one spot, the drinks began to flow. Nacha told us to bring our own cups, which made for a funny sight. Alcohol just looks silly in a water cup. The guys started examining the stash of fireworks we had brought along, just itching to set them off. While they were busy being boys, I people and firework watched. I tried to keep my distance, but because everyone was so squished together it was an impossible feat. Some sparks landed on my jacket several times (one burned a hole) but the boys were much quicker to react and brush off the sparks than I was. Thanks guys!

The view of all Karlsruhe from the lookout platform. Legit right?

These are like beyond illegal in LB, but perfectly legal in Karlsruhe! Wahaha.

As the minutes ticked by, the pandemonium grew. More and more fireworks began to explode above and in the crowd. And then the countdown began. When the clock struck midnight, my world exploded. The noise around me was deafening, as the roar of people and fireworks joined as one sound. And when I looked out over the city, I saw that it was blanketed in the most amazing impromptu fireworks show I have ever seen. It was like the city was on fire. I couldn't rip my eyes away from it.

Nacha, the boys, and I toasted to the new year as it began to rain. I just looked up into the sky and smiled. It was the most simple and beautiful way to start of 2012. Fresh rain washing away an old year. And a new year being escorted in with the startling power and beauty of fireworks. All while surrounded by new friends in a new place. I've never experienced a New Year's like it.

Several moments throughout the night. (All the night's pictures were taken by Nacha).

Not long after midnight people began to clear out, giving the Bernie, Balin, and Albert more space to set off our fireworks. Then next two hours consisted of drinks, fireworks, and laughter. I even dared to play with a sparkler. Twice in one night was really pushing my luck. Nacha (who is from Chile) taught me a couple New Year's traditions from her country. My favorite was taking 12 pieces of rice and putting them in my drink and making wishes on them. Once I drank almost all of my drink, I was to swirl the dregs of my drink and rice around and then toss it out of my cup. If all the rice was gone in one toss, my wishes would come true. If some stayed, I would not get all my wishes granted. All my rice went out in one toss, so I expect some wish granting this year fairy godmother! Haha.

Me staying very far from my arch nemesis... the sparkler.

Note the boys are showing off one of their prized fireworks.

At some point during our two hours of revelry, I was talking to Nacha when something caught my eye and I looked up to find a firework flying straight at me. Looking back, I should have ducked, but my first instinct was just to close my eyes. (Which was a very good instinct. I might not have eyesight in one eye if I didn't.) Almost instantly after I shut my eyes my right eyelid exploded with pain. I tried to flick the firework out of my face but I wasn't very successful so Nacha jumped to the rescue. She was soon able to get the pieces away from my face, but I was still in pain. My eye was crying involuntarily, and I was freaking out about opening my eye. I was so worried if I wasn't going to be able to see anything when I opened it.

Finally I opened my eyes to find that both eyes were in working order. But it was my eyelids that were crying out in pain. After assuring everyone I was okay, I made a beeline to the bathroom to inspect the damage. Once in front of a mirror I realized my upper and lower eyelids on my right eye had been burned. My eye looked perfectly fine. So with relief filling my stomach, I set about wiping what was left of my eye makeup. I soaked the burn in cold water for a bit and then rejoined my friends.

Fireworks and I just don't get along.

The guys set off the rest of the fireworks as Nacha and I just talked. I was quite happy to avoid any chance of getting burned yet again. And talking with Nacha is always fun. So it was a win win situation. When our little group finally decided to leave we were among the few stranglers left of the mountain. We soon discovered the Turmbergbahn was closed and that we would have to walk down the mountain (more of a really big hill in my opinion). Which was quite the adventure considering all of us were quite tipsy. It was quite the giggle and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. But don't worry, all five of us made it safely back down and got on the correct Straßenbahn. The whole way home Nacha blew kiddy bubbles (you know, the ones with those bubble wands). I was dying of laughter. Such a strange place for bubbles.

I got home and was quite happy to curl up in bed and go to sleep. It was quite the eventful New Year's. I wonder if that means this is going the be quite the eventful year. Only time will tell.

Update: My burn has healed quite nicely. Now I just have a scar. Lovely.

17 Again? Nope.

Last week I had the pleasure of being reminded that I am most definitely getting old. This twenty-year-old body just isn't the sprite youthful thing that it used to be. Kidding... sorta. As much as twenty-somethings have youth and spunk unknown to their elders, we don't have the crazy energy of teenagers. That is zapped out of you quite quickly once you aren't a teenager anymore. This past week Johannes and Christiane's seventeen-year-old niece stayed for a couple days. I absolutely adored hanging out and going on adventures with Lea! It was one heck of a couple days. After which I proceeded to take a nap.

Lea and her family dropped by for a few days before they went on their Fall holiday house boating in France. Everyone in Germany gets a Fall holiday, how fancy is that? But Lea and I had so much fun that she decided to stay for a few days once she was done house boating with her family. This first adventure was before they went house boating, all the rest are once she got back.

On Monday (not this past week, but the week before) we visited was Karlsruher Schloss, which is one of my favorite places to just frolick about. It was a gloomy, cold, and windy day. But I love those kinds of days. Lea and I roamed about the vast castle grounds, including the Hartwald (a forest). I told Lea that one of the things my friends and I love doing is taking pictures when we are on adventures (or when we are bored haha). So I made sure we took a couple pictures while we walked around. My favorites are the ones of us walking on one of the tile spokes that show that the castle is in the middle of the city and most of the streets radiate out from it. After the castle we went to a fancy little cafe and drank absolutely amazing hot chocolate.

Lea in front of the castle.

Me walking on the blue tile "spoke".

Lea came back on Sunday with her family, and then they left that evening to go back home. Monday morning we found ourselves trying to figure out what to do. The museums aren't open on Mondays, so we couldn't go there. And other things would take too long (I had slept in a little too late). So we decided to watch the movie 'Bride Wars'. We laughed so much! But for the afternoon we did go on an adventure. Lea and I took Martha to the Karlsruhe Zoo. Now, when I think of a zoo, my mind goes directly to all the trips I have made to the San Diego Zoo and the LA Zoo. Both are huge and have a certain fancy California feel to them. The Karlsruhe Zoo is pretty much the complete opposite. It's really quaint, sprawling but not huge, and has a fanciful quality to it. It is almost like a park. I would say the main focus of this zoo is its botanical gardens (which are gorgeous) and then amongst the gardens, lakes, and rivers are the little exhibits. Another thing that surprised me was that they have animals I would never expect in a zoo because I don't consider bunnies, goats, sheep, Shetland ponies, and ducks to be exotic. There is even a petting zoo within the main zoo. This is where we spent most of our time. Martha was totally enthralled by all the goats. She spent the better part of a half an hour "training" them. It was so adorable; and Lea and I couldn't stop giggling.

See! I wasn't joking about the Shetland Ponies!

On Tuesday we once again found ourselves not being able to go to a museum because they were closed for some reason. But that morning we had more time, and were able to go sort of far. So we chose to take a train to Durlach (a suburb of Karlsruhe) and ride the Turmbergbahn. What is that? Well it's the oldest train in Germany! And it goes up the side of a mountain (more like a hill) where at the top you get an amazing view of Karlsruhe and the surrounding areas. You can even technically see France. The Turmbergbahn was really neat! But when we got to the top of the "mountain", I stopped thinking about trains. We climbed up a old watch tower from like the 1200's or 1300's to get the best view of it all. I was totally floored. The view was so amazing! The pictures I took just don't capture the vast beauty. Lea had packed us a snack (gummy bears and cookies) and we ate those as we basked in the view. It was really windy, but I like to think that it made it all much more epic.

Lea and I in the Turmbergbahn.

Just one of the epic views from the top of the tower.

Once Lea and I left the Turmbergbahn, we realized that we still had time to kill before we went to pick up Frieda from Kindergarten. Lea suggested we go and see Gottesaue Schloss, which was actually about a five minute walk from Frieda's school. The castle isn't really a castle. Nor has it ever been, so I'm not quite sure why it is called one. For a really long time it was a monastery. And then at some point it became a music college. Unlike a lot of old historical buildings, this one is not a museum. This meant we could only look at the outside. Which was fine; it was neat just strolling around the grounds  listening to all the students practicing their music.

Me in front of Gottesaue Schloss.

Lea in front of Gottesaue Schloss.

On Wednesday we finally got to go to a museum! And what a museum it was. I was super impressed by it all; I have never been to a museum like ZKM. I was really excited to go because ZKM is a modern art museum. And I do love a good art museum. But, unlike all our previous adventures we couldn't take the train (because the workers were on strike that day). So it was about a twenty minute walk from the house, in the rain. Great day for the train workers to be on strike right? Ha. The museum is in the same building as an art school, which I thought was pretty darn smart. Lea and I spent the morning nice and warm (as opposed to our walk in the cold, cold rain) looking at and interacting with the exhibits. The main exhibit at the moment is all about crazy modified cars. But the mini exhibits were all about technology. There were iPads, classic arcade games, karaoke, futuristic virtual reality games... the list goes on. It was the most amazing thing to see stuff that I am familiar with, in a museum already. I can already tell I am going to be one of those grannies that takes her grandkids to the museums and says, "When I was your age the iPad was a new fangled idea..." Nothing wrong with that right? Oh geez.

Me playing with bubbles that react to my shadow.

One of the cars from the main exhibit. It was an art piece all about the environment.

All these morning adventures combined with watching my girlies in the afternoon really made me one tired girl. When Lea left I was super bummed that I was losing my adventure buddy; but man, was I stoked to spend the next morning at home in my pajamas. Lea still has that teenage vivaciousness that I can't quite keep up with anymore (though I am pretty sure I talked her ear off). And I adore her all the more with dealing with me: the tuckered out twenty-year-old.