The week started off very slow. I spent my days still unpacking boxes and trying to get the house set up. It took a lot of time, but most everything is now unpacked and put away. We still have tons of empty boxes for the company to come and pick up, but the house is really feeling more like home. We have most of the pictures hung, some of the curtains hung, and all the furniture is in the right spot. Things are really starting to take shape here. There are still some odds and ends that need to be finished up, but all in all, it looks pretty good. We still have quite a bit of electrical work to do. Dan is having a hard time finding all the time to put the light fixtures in. To make it easier on him, I asked an electrician to give me an estimate for putting all the light fixtures in. The quote came back at 2,500 Euro. It sure is a blessing that Dan can do some electrical work himself. We will just have to have patience and let Dan get it done as he has time.
The stores around here are getting ready for Easter. I did find one egg dying kit. It cost 7 Euros and it didn’t look like the kits from home. I don’t think that dying your own eggs is very popular here. All the grocery stores and open markets sell eggs that are already dyed bright colors. I don’t know if they are hard boiled or not—we didn’t buy any. They do have baskets, candy and toys, but not as hyped as home. One thing that they have here is an Osterlamm. It is a pound cake made from cast iron “lamb” molds. They dust it with powdered sugar to be woolly white and tie a red bow around the neck. It is a traditional Easter dessert, symbolic, I’m sure. They sell them by the dozens.
On Sunday, we were heading off to church, just in time to be on time, when we turned out of our driveway. Ahead of us, coming up the street, was a parade of people from the church at the end of the road. The priest and the whole congregation were coming up the street carrying pussy willows. They carried these instead of palm frons. We were told that these are easier to come by here, that they are a sign of Spring and new life, and that the priest would have blessed them before their march. They were singing a hymn, being led by the priest who had a microphone and portable speakers. It was neat to watch them and listen. We recognized the tune of the hymn, but they were singing in German, so it was hard to decipher if we knew the same words. It was also a great opportunity to teach the children about all the events that happened in the life of Christ from the Triumphal Entry all the way up to the Resurrection. It was worth being late for church to experience that.
On Friday, Dan had the day off work. The kids still had to go to school. Dan and I packed bags for everyone and we headed to the school, as Deagan had a “How-To” Expo. Each of the kids in kindergarten had written a book about how to do something. Deagan’s was “How to Make an Apple Pie”—which was interesting to me because I don’t think that I’ve ever made an apple pie—lots of other pies, lots of apple desserts, but never an apple pie. Thanks to the Murphys (our neighbors in Indiana), though, for delivering such tasty apple pies regularly, Deagan was obviously not deprived and must have learned his skills from them. The kindergarten kids had to read their books to the whole class and parents. Each of the books were “published” and will be in the school library for other children to check out.
After the expo, we picked up the rest of the kids and whisked them away to the airport. It was a huge surprise. No one knew that we were going on a trip. They were all very excited and hard to contain on the way to the airport. As a special treat, Dan stopped at a McDonalds for the kids to have a snack before getting on the plane. We only go to McDonalds during their “Monopoly” season, and they do it here in Vienna, as well. It was weird ordering nuggets in half German, half English, but it was nice to have a little taste of home.
Nothing is more American than apple pie, cute!
ReplyDeleteThat pound cake lamb is making me salivate!