Last things from Jena

Only a few days left here in Jena!  It has been a nice visit, although the weather is definitely better in the spring and summer!  We have enjoyed seeing some of our friends from previous visits and meeting some new people.  My German has deteriorated and I am sad to say it is not like riding a bicycle, it is like I forgot and cannot remember.  The kids, thankfully, are another story.  And our legacy here will be some German families making zucchini muffins and sweet potato muffins long after we leave!  German cakes are drier and not as sweet as what we are used to and they don't usually enjoy the switch but somehow the vegetable muffins are the exception.  Odd huh? 

Last weekend we went to a Carl Zeiss Jena Football (read soccer) game at the stadium here in town.  It was kind of cold but fun to watch the game.  Possibly more fun to watch the fans!  Each team had a large area at the end where the hardcore fans sat.  They each had a "conductor" as Kegan called him, who perched on the front of the fencing in front and directed them in group cheering.  Mostly men, and each had drummers, they sang, jumped, swayed, held up scarves (and twirled them in unison!), chanted and I am pretty sure even watched some of the game.  It was quite a production.  At the beginning of the second half the opposing team set off red and white smoke bombs (their team colors).  The stadium announcer said in the most resigned, bored voice "At the Ernst Abbe stadium it is forbidden to set off smoke bombs."  And then everyone waited till it cleared.  Clearly not the first time!  There were many riot police there and after the game they used a truck with a fence attached to the front, to ensure that the fans left by different roads/paths from the stadium.  It was fun!

Last weekend we had some American families over for dinner and ordered in pizza and it is an interesting thing that pizza is not delivered cut up, you must do it yourself.  It was a lot of work to cut up that much pizza and I have to say that for a while I will remember to be appreciative of that little service!

I am grateful the US government is no longer shut down.  Kegan is the only one who wasn't asked often to try and explain how this could happen.  Sigh.  But I suppose it was a good civics lesson for Logan! 

And finally, for some pictures that didn't fit anywhere else...

 We are living where there is a restaurant called the Scnitzel Paradise - definitely Germany!

 I believe this little camper is even smaller than the Scamps at home!

 

A few weeks ago when we hiked the Dragon Gorge, we noticed that the German penchant for orderliness even extended to their timber cutting!  These will all be hauled out soon but in the mean time there is no need for the logs to be untidy or cut to unequal lengths!

 When the kids and I visited Berlin we saw this street musician using all these glasses to play music (they were filled to varying heights with water).  It was quite an improvement over running your finger around the rim of your beer bottle!  And impressed us with the time it must take to set up and tear this down each day.

 At the Pergamon Museum there was a display about Uruk, the ancient city in Mesopotamia where Gilgamesh lived.  Kegan and I were entertained because the statue was labelled (as were other statues in the exhibit) as an iconic hero so known because of the six curls of hair and the lion being held.  Those six curls of hair were frequently mentioned.  Very odd!

 Logan mentioned walking by vineyards a few weeks ago but failed to mention that he did his share of sampling.  It was neat that along the path there were one or two plantings of all the different grape varieties, over fifty different ones at least.  It really was possible to taste the differences between them.  And it kept everyone pleasant til we got to the restaurant.