Suzanne hiking in Schmitterhof. 

Karla, our landlord, feeds her pet goats in her backyard. 

Reinhold, our landlord, picks cherries in Schmitterhof. 

Joe holds Zoe back from a bird caught by Reinhold, our landlord. 

Oh deer me. What a site to see in Schmitterhof! 

Suzanne in Schmitterhof 

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2004

Howdy everyone. Well, September was back to reality for me because I started back to work with yet another job change. But it keeps me creative. I’m teaching gifted learners ½ time and a remedial reading program called Read 180 ½ time. I’ve had to organize my classroom to accommodate both and I guarantee you, it was not easy. I’m basically teaching at both ends of the spectrum. It keeps me on my toes every single day. Joe hasn’t been traveling much lately. He was supposed to go on tour to Slovakia but it was cancelled for some reason. Here’s the latest with us. We’d love to hear from you and of course, OTTCO Travel Agency is always here to help you with your visit to usJ

GERMAN PURITY LAW
I recently heard Joe joking with some friends about the quality of German beer. Of course, we try to eat healthy and natural foods as much as possible. It’s easy to do here in Germany. He was commenting on the German Purity Law. According to his theory, beer can only contain four ingredients. This is so that the product is all natural and not full of preservatives, added ingredients, etc. I thought his theory was as good as any and certainly an excellent rationale for drinking beer. I laughed at his “joke” until I found out he wasn’t joking at all. There really is a purity law and this is not simply a theory of Joe’s. We now have a legal reason to continue our consumption of healthy beverages.

ICASUALTIES.COM
I was recently talking with a German friend of mine and she was asking me if I was able to get any information of an American soldier. This man was a pilot who lived with her family when she was a young child. He is a colonel and he visited them before deploying to Iraq. They haven’t heard from him in over a year nor have they been able to contact his family via snail mail, email, or telephone. They fear the worst. I said I’d try to see if I could help them but honestly didn’t know what I could do.

I have another friend whom I work with whose husband is deployed. I told her about this situation and she ever so casually said, “Well, why don’t you check icasualties.com?” I had no idea what she was talking about so she explained. This is a website that lists all the injuries and deaths of people who have been deployed to Iraq. I was shocked at how casually she mentioned this website. She lives day to day, along with her 5 year old son and 7 year old daughter, with the thought that her own husband may not come home. He is at the frontlines and she knows what possibilities may arise. Luckily, I did not find this Colonel’s name on this website but it still haunts me to think that spouses, mostly women, are checking this site daily for information about their husbands, friends, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons. I thank God everyday that Joe is a musician and although he may be deployed, he will not be fighting.

TWO TENT EVENT
Our lovely little one street village recently had its own festival. Most larger towns do this but we have been here for three years and never had one. In fact, there hasn’t been a festival for 20 years! We have been to several of these fests and they usually involve beer, bratwurst, and vendors selling everything under the sun. We tried to figure out where they would even find a space to hold this event. Well, they found enough space for two tents. Thus, it became the “Two Tent Event”. One tent for beer and one tent for brats. Who needs vendors?

BABY’S FIRST WORDS
We live across the street from two of the proudest grandparents you will ever meet. Helga and Heinz, also known as, Oma and Opa. I continue to practice my German with little Eric who is now 6 years old. His baby sister, Leah, is just beginning to speak. She and Eric along with Oma and/or Opa like to visit Zoë the wonder dog. Zoë love to do the same. Well, it seems that Leah’s first words include the following: Mama, Opa, Oma, and……..Zoë! Yes, among Zoë’s talents, she is now teaching young German children to say her name. She’s quite infamous in our little village.

ALL AMERICAN BLUE’S BROTHERS
The USAF-Europe band had a good old fashioned concert in the park in September. The concert featured the concert band, the rock band, and the jazz band. Two of the vocalists decided to have some fun and did a skit from the movie, “The Blues Brothers”. It was hilarious. If you haven’t seen the movie, then you can probably relate to two of our German friends. We (the Americans) were laughing hysterically. It was funny because we know the performers and because we know the movie. One of the German girls was laughing as well because her boyfriend was one of the performers and he made sure she saw the movie before the concert so she would understand what he was doing. The other girl had no idea and didn’t think it was that funny. She said, “The music is nice. I like it. What is so funny?” As the saying goes, “You had to be there,” or “You had to see the movie”.

VOTING WITHOUT COMMERCIALS
As you all know, the presidential election is upon us. We have access to just about everything you have in the states with one exception……and that is the vicious commercials. We have seen the debates and can easily make judgments of both candidates that way. But when CNN reports on the impact of the commercials both candidates have made, we have no idea what they are talking about. Just a reminder to you that we do not get TV or radio commercials at all. I started thinking about this and realized that perhaps I can make a better decision because I don’t have evil and vicious commercials playing somewhere in my subconscious. I don’t know if it’s true and I think I’ve always tried to make my own decisions but those commercials can be powerful.