As American as Apple Pie

We had a Christmas office party on Wednesday to which everyone brought something they either bought or made. I figured I'd make something that was typically american. And apple pie was the frist thing I could think of. Although apple pies came from the English (and the Dutch had a version as well) it's as close as I could get without just bringing in corn. But the beautiful thing about America is that everything is easy. If you wish to make a pie you can simply go to your grocers (that is typically opened later than 8pm) freezer and get the frozen crust that come in a handy aluminum pie pan. (I originally wrote 'tin', but an aluminum pie tin doesn't make sense.) Thanks to Toytown the English speakers in Germany forum, I was aware of the difficulties I was about to face. There were a few forum discussions about pie crusts and other differences between baking ingredients here and the states. It's hard to ask Germans about these differences because at work yesterday we were talking about cooking and I said "There's no brown sugar in Germany" and I got the 'sure there is' response. I suppose they're right too, it may be brown sugar, but it's certainly not the same as the american stuff. But that's beside the point; there's no brown sugar in apple pie (however, there is in apple crisp). From Toytown I knew I would not find frozen pie crusts anywhere. I also knew that it would very difficult to find (or expensive to buy at KaDeWe) both a pie pan and crisco. I had found an recipie online that looked doable enough. I'd link it for you, but I don't remember which website I got it from. I needed one that didn't take ice water because we have no freezer so I had no way of getting ice. The one I found called for cool but not cold water, so I was good to go. I also needed Crisco, but I knew what to look for as a German equivalent (Biskin) and all-purpose flour (which I read is Mehl 405 in Germany).

I had stayed at work a little late and had to go pick up my bike from the shop. (My tire is fixed!) I stopped by Kaisers at first because it's pretty big and should have had Biskin according to Toytown. They didn't, of course but I still needed a pie pan, so I thought I was inevitably going to have to stop at KaDeWe, which according to the website closed at 8. It was 7. I didn't want to have to buy everything there because things would be cheaper elsewhere and I thought there was a possibilty that Woolworths would have pie pans. They have all sorts of different bunt cake and tart pans, but no pie pans. So I was hurrying to Gesundbrunnen because I was trying to get on the S-bahn before my two hours expired from coming home from work and the KaDeWe was closing soon, when I saw a sign from Kaufland. I had read about this place too. This is basically like a Giant or a Wegmanns or any other super food store. I knew I would be pushing it time-wise, and if I were smart I would have gone to KaDeWe and came back to this place since I think it was open later, but I didn't care, and I went investigating. After a long period of stupidly staring and wandering through the butter/margarine aisle, I finally found a small block of Biskin, and they also had pans that were generally pie shaped, so I figured they would do since I knew via Toytown that American pie pans were €22 at KaDeWe and that just wasn't worth it.

Victoriously, I returned home to make my pie. The directions in making a pie crust that I found had two places where they said something along the lines of 'DO NOT touch touch the shortening with your hands, make sure you touch it only with the flour because otherwise the heat from your hands will melt the shortening' and 'DO NOT exsessively knead the dough like you would bread'. I'm pretty sure I did both of these things. Not intentionally, I just wasn't sure how not to. I say this because it was supposed to 'look like peas' at one point and it never really did and it was supposed to actually hold together in a nice ball and it never really did that either. But, gosh darn it, it somehow worked. In the end, it rolled out rather successfully and turned into a delicious pie. I only wish I had a slice of American cheese to put ontop of it.

Weihnachtskonzert in Mittenwalde

This weekend the Blasorchester had it's last concert of the year, followed by a party. However, as usual, I didn't exactly know what was going on most of the time. I mean I understand the stuff they tell me, like when to get there, what to wear, and what and when we're playing, but along the lines of what is going on where we are playing is what I never fully understand. I knew we were joining another group. But what I didn't realize is that this group was some sort of marching band consisting of drums, marching glockenspiels and piccolos. More piccolos than should ever be allowed to play together in one place. All of the piccolo players also had a bugel hanging on their belts that they would also play depending on the song. But mostly it was the piccolo. Let me tell you, you have not lived until you have heard the piccolo/glockenspiel/drum versions of selections from ABBA or Andrew Lloyd Webber. I should probably get out my flute and practice since it's been awhile, and I tried to play someone's piccolo later in the night and wasn't very successful. I mean I could produce a sound, but reading the music and forming any semblance of melody was very much lacking. In fact, I bet the majority of people around me wish I has been unsuccessful at creating a sound. This melodic failure could very much be the result of the celebratory Champagne and crates of beer that the Blasorchester provided its members in celebration of the last concert of the year and Christmas. That's right, I said crates of beer. Beer that I've seen bought it bulk in Germany comes in plastic crates instead of cardboard cases. I'm guessing this is to make it easier to collect and return the empty bottles, since Germans are much better at recycling than Americans. Plus they have the incentive of getting money back for returning most empty glass and plastic bottles. Aside from my atrocious piccolo playing, the after party was a very good time. It can best be described as like the dance portion of a wedding reception. The host band offered us a classroom in which to spend the night since we weren't in Berlin. About a dozen or so people did so, and then they provided breakfast the next morning (free food being one of the main reasons I stayed). It was an all around good time.

One thing I don't understand is that while I'm pretty sure the whole occasion for the concert was christmas, I didn't hear much christmas music. The set we did in the beginning was apparently standard German christmas songs. I recognized a couple as tunes to hymns at church (one of which was Thine is the Glory, so evidently the text is very different from the German version since, for us, that's a song about the resurrection and not the birth of Christ) but that was about all I knew. Our second set had no Christmas songs at all and from what I heard of the other groups, they didn't play much Christmas music either (though one group did don santa hats). The DJ did blast Christmas songs over the loud speakers during any down time. This includes when they introduced the Blasorchester at the very beginning, when the large white room divider (we were in a gym) that was constituting a curtain slowly rose during which a dramatic version of the little drummer boy was crescendoing in the background. It was intense.

The Saga Continues

The Saga to which I am referring is that of my Fahrrad (bike). I got back from the states on a Thursday afternoon. Needless to say, when I awoke on Friday, I didn't really jump out of bed. After hours of snooze hitting, I finally dragged myself out of bed and into the shower (that was in the kitchen!) and decided not to bike, because I was too tired. I would just start biking again on Monday. I should also note, that I had brought my bike lock back with me from the states, because the one that came with my bike was pretty hit or miss as to whether or not I could get the key to turn. Sometimes it would take a little jiggling. Anyway as I was walking to the U-bahn, I realized I didn’t have anything smaller than a 50, since I had just gotten back. No ticket machine takes 50’s. Some of them don’t take any bills. Those ticket machines are really annoying at how picky they are sometimes, but that’s a different rant for a different day. So I turn back around thinking, screw it, I’ll just bike. I went to retrieve my bike, and sure enough had to jiggle like crazy to get the key to turn and get it unlocked. I thought to myself, “should I go get my other lock? Nah, it was probably just cold since it’s been sitting there for a whole week without being used." And I rode to work.

Upon leaving work, I went to unlock my bike. I inserted the key, and turned...nothing happened. No lateral movement whatsoever (ok, so I don't think the key turning constitutes lateral movement, but whatever). So I took the key out, and put it back in. I tried using my left hand. I took my gloves on and off. I said some 'magic' words. Nothing. So I left it there, telling myself I had planned it that way, since I was moving on Monday anyway. I can just wait until I move, and ride it to my new home after work on Tuesday.

Intermission story: On Monday I was riding the U-Bahn to work since my bike was still locked up at work. I was reading one of the books my parents bought for me while I was home: Green. Your Place in the New Energy Revolution, by Jane and Michael Hoffman. (I would recommend it if you want to learn about energy). I was sitting next to a man who was also reading. When people read on the U-Bahn, I like to look to see what language they are reading in, and this man was reading in English. I don't remember what it was. He must have done the same thing as me, because when he got up to leave, he said to me, "please visit this website, miss" (yes, in English) and handed me a card. And just like that, he was gone. (Ok, so that was a little dramatic) but he did seriously leave the train. I looked at the card and it says the following (I still use it as a bookmark):

,,The origin of the most far-reaching undertaking often lies in barely noticed events"
Vision of Idealistic Citizens Everywhere sponsors
,,Hands around the Globe" on 6.26.2026
(then there's a drawing of a world with people holding hands around it and next to it a picture of what looks like a rolled up peice of paper tied with a ribbon.)
Support a Citizen World Peace Agreement for Freedom and Justice
BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER
www.voice-consensus.com
epluribusunum@t-online.de

I have no idea if I got the card because he noticed I was reading an English book, or because of the book I was reading. Either way, I thought it was interesting and went to the website when I got to work. It's a bunch of really long narratives written by someone with English as their second language. I didn't take any further action. But, I'm passing on the website to you, so there.

Now it's Tuesday. The move went smoothly, and I'm ready to bike to my new home. I slowly approach the bike. It's been sitting there for 4 days now. I tell myself it'll unlock easily on the first try. No deal. But, alas, it's the same as before, plus it's really cold so my hands are freezing and my nose is running. I start to think of all of the irony behind the fact that the bike is here in the first place. So I began cursing my life and threw a mini temper tantrum to myself in the courtyard of the Umweltbundesamt, complete with a couple of tears (I kid you not) and then tried one more time. Success! Now I see why kids throw tandrems, apparently it works.

I rode happily home on my bike and continued riding the rest of the week. On Sunday I decided to go to church. It just doesn't seem like the Christmas season yet (despite the numerous amounts of lighted structures in the streets) so I figured I'd see if church would add to the Christmas spirit. I went to a place I pass on my way to work, only about 10 minutes down the road by bike. It was the family service so it was very kid oriented. They talked a lot about Saint Nikolaus since the day before was St. Nikolaus day (the reason we got an orange from Santa in elementary school) and I know nothing about him, so it was kind of boring. After the service, I went to unlock my bike only to notice the completely flat back tire. I definitely need a new innertube. So I had to walk back the whole way, dragging my bike. I've been riding the U-bahn to and from work this entire week.

From Sea to Shining Sea

So a lot has happened since November 14th (like Ashley's birthday - Happy Birthday) and my surprise trip to America. It felt good to be back, even if it was only for a week. I ate so much junk that my digestive trac is still in the process of forgiving me. But it was good, American junk. The most important part of the trip (not relating to seeing people) was that Lehigh finally beat Lafayette. My excitement was slighty masked by the fact that I couldn't feel my feet due to the cold. But, such is life.

Immediately after my return to the Fatherland, I left to go to Bad Saarow (which is somewhere not in Berlin) for the practice weekend retreat thing with the Blasorchester. Think band camp without all of the wierd tradition stuff and more ping pong, but an equal amount of beverage consumption. It was a lot of fun. I talked to a lot of new people and may have even come out of it with a swimming partner. On the way back on Sunday, those that wanted to participate went to this indoor/outdoor heated pool of salt water. When we were outside in the cold air, but warm water, it reminded me of the hot spring Ashley took me to when I visited her in Alaska. It was very relaxing.

Then the next day (last Monday) I had to move after work. So there I was moving to a new apartment with practically no clean clothes. But the move went well. Monika and Dieter drove me and my stuff, and they brought a box and a couple of bags to help me fit everything into some sort of transport device. Living with more people is so much nicer. And the apartment isn't as old and crappy. My room is no longer big enough to do a cartwheel in, but it's bigger than the one I had in college on Polk Street (I think, I've never been good with spacial relations). And, I have a bed now. No more plain mattress on the floor for this girl. Mila, the kitten is adorable and everyone is really nice and asks a lot of 'how is it in America?' type questions. Fun Fact: Apparently Germans (or at least the ones I live with) don't just stick potatoes in the oven and then eat them skins and all (a la baked potatoes). Because I did that this weekend and they all commented on how they had never seen that before. The more you know. This is rushed and not as entertaining as usual because I'm hungry, and I get to go home now. One bad thing about the new place is we haven't gotten the internet figured out yet. So this weekend I watched an embarassing amount of Dawson's Creek on DVD.