Being a kid in Hamburg is different from being a SoCal kid

As mentioned yesterday, today was a holiday and I'm guessing that there were a lot of people in Hamburg who were either out participating in crazy activities or trying to sleep off last night's crazy activities.  I stayed home all day and worked on art projects.  Productive, but way too much sitting for one day . . . I'm so stiff . . .

I did get to go have dinner with Joey and Rebecca Roper, though.  It was nice to get to see them because we didn't have ladies' study this week (due to school holidays) and I won't be at church this weekend (because we're going to Indra's house in the country).

We had hamburgers (believe it or not, that was the first hamburger I've had since coming to Hamburg!) and Rebecca made a yummy German potato salad.  Joey and Rebecca have three kids--two girls and a boy--and after dinner the girls had us all go over to the neighbors' backyard, where they performed a mini-acrobatics show with the two neighbor girls.  It was super cute.  They hung a curtain from the swing set and wore swimsuits and tights for their tumbling outfits.  They had some pretty good stunts too--there were human pyramids, backward somersaults, unassisted headstands, cartwheel routines, back bends, and splits.  The whole thing was pre-planned by the four girls, and it lasted ten or fifteen minutes.  They even made tickets that said "Eintrittkarte-Akrobatik" (Acrobatics Ticket) and tore them at the beginning of the show.  I loved it because it reminded me of the plays my sisters and I put on when we were younger.  The backyard was a really pretty setting also, like my cousins' backyard in Ohio: lots of trees and flowers, super thick grass, wooden swing set and jungle gym, and a hammock.  By the way, all the backyards are basically connected--there are no fences between them, just bushes and trees.  Backyards in SoCal are nothing like that!

For being May 1, the weather kind of went backwards today.  It was chilly!  I had to wear my sweater and scarf again when I went out.  But based on all the Facebook posts from everyone in SoCal about hundred-degree temperatures, blasting Santa Ana winds, and smoky air from wildfires, I think I'm pretty content to be in Hamburg right now.

One other interesting observation today: German parents generally seem to be a lot less paranoid than American ones. I was in the train on my way to the Ropers', and there was a little boy in a stroller, around two years old, who started crying when his mom was getting ready to get off at the next stop.  There were two older couples standing by the door, and one of the men started talking to the little boy and tweaking the boy's nose to try to get him to laugh.  The boy stopped crying, and so the man tweaked his nose again.  This time the kid smiled and said something, and the man said something back (not sure what, since it was of course in German).  At that point the train stopped, and the man said bye to the little boy.  The boy said bye to him, and his mom smiled at the man and said something to the effect of "Thanks, bye, have a good evening."  Then a couple minutes later, another mom got up to leave the train with her son, who was three or four.  He was standing at the door pushing the "open" button while the train was still moving, and of course the door stayed closed.  Right before the train stopped fully, she took one of his hands so she could lead him out the door.  The train stopped, the kid kept hitting the button, and the doors opened.  Everybody started getting off, and at that point the kid decided to grab onto the safety handle just inside the door and not let go of it.  His mom stepped out the door and he still wouldn't let go.  A random guy who was getting off saw what he was doing and pried his fingers off the handle, sort of lifted him the rest of the way out the door by the other arm, and set him down, where he went off with his mom.  I was just tripping out that these parents are so chill about random strangers tweaking their kids' noses or lifting them out the train door.  I feel like even if the stranger was being helpful, a lot of American parents would be like, "How dare you touch my child!" and get all freaked out.  It's kind of cool to see people who act normal about random acts of kindness, rather than being hyper-alert and hyper-sensitive.  (Indra told me, by the way, that Germans actually have jokes about Americans and lawsuits, because in the U.S. we will sue anybody over anything.)

Anyway, like I said, we're going to Indra's house in the country this weekend!  Marni is coming too.  Petra was originally supposed to come, but she had a chance to travel to Lebanon, the land of her heritage, and she's always wanted to go there.  She found a super cheap flight last minute, and her parents hooked her up with family there for her to stay with.  So she's gone for two weeks, and it will just be me, Marni, and Indra.  None of us can wait!  We're all super excited.  Indra's dad is an artist, and their whole house is like a giant work of art with every room having a completely different design.  I can't wait to see it--Indra has shown me photos, but it will be so cool to see in person!  Indra says that we will also try to go to the beach on the North Sea, visit a town called Friedrichstadt, and drink real cow's milk.  I love the milk here--it's called H-milch and it is super creamy and doesn't have to be refrigerated--but Indra says that H-milch is disgusting compared to cow's milk.  She says I need to try the real thing.

Not sure what will be happening with blog posts--you may not hear from me until Sunday, depending on whether Indra's family lets me hijack a computer--but you can be sure I'll have lots of photos and stories when I come back!