Elternzeit

First of all I want to tell you that is post is grossly mislabeled, mostly to forestall any freak-outs from people who know German.
In Germany, after a woman has a child, her husband can take leave from work to help raise the kid. This time taken off is called "Elternzeit" or "parent time" in English.
However, this blog is not a clever way to tell you I'm pregnant (I can promise I'm very much NOT), but I think it sounds like a good title to put all the adventures my parents and I had over here under.
Without further ado, our adventures:

After the shenanigans of trying to get them here (dang storm in Newark!), they flew into Hamburg where Blake and I picked them up.

Mom, Eli, and Dad in front of the Rathaus

Side note about the S-Bahn ride to the airport: Blake and I got on the proper line but saw that it split about half way along the trip and one line went to the airport and the other line went to some little name we didn't know. We were worried, did the train go to the airport and back track? The other side and backtrack? Because we were already late....
Much to our amusement, the nice voice told us that if we wanted to end up in (insert name of stop here) then we should kindly move to the last three cars. Isn't that the coolest? The last three cars split off and go to a different stop!

The first day with my parents wasn't too exciting. We walked around the city a bit, mostly just to find a place to eat. The poor waitress at the steak house we found (trust my carnivorous father and brother to sniff one out here) didn't speak a lick of English and I had to translate most of it. By the end of dinner the family was tuckered out and we saved any more adventures for the next day.

As soon as everyone had a day or two to sleep off jet lag, we were off. This time, to Amsterdam! I know, when you think of Amsterdam, you think of smoking and the red light district. Why would I want to bring my parents there? Two words: Amsterdam Dungeon. Not only is it the coolest one I've been to, but they also present it half in English. If you've been following this blog you'll see how I raved about it the first time. I'm happy to report that we had even MORE fun than the first time I went!

A little think you need to know about my family before I go on is that dad, being tall and bald, always gets picked for things. He just seems to look like a good guy to pick on. So when I tell you that they call up at least one person in every room, just know that the red head and the big, bald guy got called up a lot more often than you would think. One of the times that dad got called up and accused of selling not only him, but everyone in the room to the VOC ships, he called mom up too. Eli got questioned by the inquisition and I got burned at the stake for being a witch.

For me, the coolest thing was the witch burning. The actress in the room called me forward and sat me down with my "book of spells". As she's talking to the rest of the crowd about witches, she points to the side of the page where there are flags for different languages. I flip to English and begin to read. It's simple. They are asking me to act along. They are going to "burn" me at the stake. If I wish to continue, look scared. If you don't want to, just shake your head.
PWHA! This room was made for me!

I put on my best scared face and closed the book. She demonstrated the powers I had by making me stare at flowers until they wilted. Then she tied me up to a pole on top of a pile of wood at the back of the room where there was a nice sign placed just where I could see. It asked me to act like I was choking. Screaming helped.
WELL HECK! This room really was made for me!
It outline that when the lights went out, the whole contraption would get turned around and I was to remain still as the attendant finished the story.
As the lights went out and the platform turned, I let out a high pitched wail of a scream.
Ah, another one of my shining moments.

Among other things we did in Amsterdam, the canal tour was probably the best. It's always nice to do so you can see all the culture without killing your feet. Mom and dad seemed to be much more into it than Eli, however. We went by some neat churches, houses, and the Anne Frank house.




The next day, instead of going to Potsdam and seeing an awesome Renaissance festival there, we found one much closer, even if smaller. Heavy emphasis on the -small- part. I think the best part of that adventure, though, was the fact that we got to go on a ferry. Coming from a state with few rivers and fewer lakes, needing a ferry to cross anything is neat! I think mom found it coolest. She, promptly upon getting onto

said ferry, started taking pictures, much to the chagrin of the other passengers.
Once we get to the other side, we drive and drive until we end up in a small town with a little yellow sign pointing us to the outskirts where the fest is being held. I do have to applaud one thing, though. the dogs in Hagen im Bremischen seem to be very capable. Running shops all on their own like that....



On our way back home, we passed through an interesting little town that mom just had to take a picture with.:

Hint: Her maiden name is Popken

Our next adventure brought us south of Oldenburg to a little town I love called Sandkrug. This town has some of the best forest nearby. So we packed up a lunch, hoped in the car, and headed down south....for about a 10 minute drive. We walked to the forest, had lunch, and explored a little, but we kept hearing music

and announcements coming from farther down the tail. We also kept seeing families going past with kids. We decided we didn't want to miss out on cool things happening, so we went down the path and stumbled upon a family fair!

We joked about dad giving me his hat and letting me hop onto the mechanical bull ride they had there and showing them how a REAL cowgirl does it, but we never really got the chance.....sadly...

We saw some fun things, like the booth that sells all the cookie hearts which seem to be very popular here. I've seen them at just about every fair or fest I've been to so far. There were neat rides, fun booths, and lots of people just having a good time. Towards the end of the fair there was more of a kids circus where kids could try tightrope walking, juggling, hula hoops, and balancing spinning plates. As we were standing out of the way, talking in English, a very nice carnie came up and handed Eli and I sticks with plates already spinning on top of them. Let's just say, this might have been the starting point to me wanting to run away with the circus.

TADAH!