Bielefeld Weinachsmarkt

Christmas markets (weihnachsmaerkt) are common Christmas traditions in Germany. Around December 1st, a bunch of cute little huts that look like old style German houses were trucked into the town center and set up in the middle of the pedestrian streets. They sell all kinds of things, but the majority of them sell food. Gluehwein is the traditional drink of Christmastime here...it's a mull wine kind of like sangria with spices instead of fruit. People gather in groups and stand outside in the freezing cold and drink Gluehwein and eat bratwurst and lebkuchen (like gingerbread- so good!). There are also a few fair-type rides set up, and a huge talking moose head that sings Christmas carols in English and German.
Christmas spirit is very big here. Everyone seems cheery and excited and social for the whole month of December (except the ones that have had too much gluehwein).
They have santa claus here too, but he's not quite as big as in the states. They also have a special day for Saint Nicholas (December 6th), when kids put their boots outside their door the night before and wake up to find candy and surprises in them. This tradition is their version of our stocking tradition.
We really didn't expect it to snow in Bielefeld before Christmas, but we got lucky! We've actually had quite a lot of snow already, and it really intensifies the Christmas spirit, especially when you don't have to drive or shovel it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had been planning for this holiday for a while...we were determined to have Thanksgiving in Germany. There were a number of obstacles to overcome first...For example, there is no concept of pumpkin pie in Europe. In fact, there is no concept of our idea of "pie" at all. No canned pumpkin, no pie crust, no pie pans... When we tried to explain it to people, the closest thing they could think of was cake, and that's not close at all! We couldn't imagine Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. As soon as I had learned how to make it from a real pumpkin, all of the pumpkins were gone from the grocery store (beginning of November). Luckily, we happened to find an international grocery store in Amsterdam that sold canned pumpkin :) So with a homemade crust in a casserole dish, European pumpkin pie was born! Our friends liked it a lot.
Cooking any traditional Thanksgiving food from a recipe is different here because of the metric conversions. So, we winged it. Thankfully, our traditional dinner turned out great. Our friends even did some research on Thanksgiving beforehand and brought apple pie and cranberry sauce.
It was hard to be away from family on Thanksgiving. When you are far away from America, you think more about the meaning of American traditions, and they matter to you more than they did before. But, it was special for us to celebrate over here, and bring an international aspect to our tradition. We are thankful for our friends over here, and for the friendly relationship between Germany and America. We wish the best for both countries.
We hope all of you back home ate too much turkey and enjoyed your much warmer weather!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam

Click the image above for more pictures from our weekend in Amsterdam!

Our trip to Amsterdam was great! We went with two friends; one is from Amsterdam, and the other lived there during college. Touring a new city with natives is the only way to go. We were able to pack so much more into our little time there than we would have been able to otherwise.
One of the most striking things about Amsterdam is all of the bicycles. Bikes have the right of way, all the time. Pedestrians have to watch out, and so do cars. There are literally millions of bikes...on the roads, on the bike racks, attached to every street pole in the city...There was even a "central station" for the bikes: a 4 or 5 level parking garage just for bikes. It was unbelievable.
Amsterdam also has some great museums. We went to the Van Gough museum (Van Gough was from Amsterdam) and the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank House was very well done. It's a very emotional museum to walk through, but it feels necessary and worth it as well. After World War II, Anne's father Otto campaigned to save the house from demolition, and turned it into a museum so that people could learn from their experience. The museum is dedicated to educating people about prejudices all around the world.
We also went to the annual "museum night" where you buy one ticket, and you can go freely to all of the museums in Amsterdam at night. Tour gides give tours by flashlight. We got to see a zoo, a botanical garden, and a science museum.
While we were in Amsterdam, we stayed in a cute little canal house hotel. Amsterdam is filled with canals. It was a major port city a long time ago, and today the canals are still used by locals, to give tours, and for numerous houseboats.

Check out our pictures...there are a lot of them!

Fall in Bielefeld

Our New Apartment!

Well, we're finally in a permanent place. It has been a long month. Finding an apartment in a new city is usually hard, and then not being able to communicate with the landlords, or set up appointments to see a place, or look up places to see in the newspaper without someone helping us makes it even harder. Luckily, we have had a lot of help from people at the university...not just with finding an apartment, but with everything. We learn a little more every day.
Our new place is about a 10 minute bike ride from the university. There is a bus stop that goes into the town center almost right outside our door, and there is a bus stop that goes to the university about 5 minutes away. We are in an older neighborhood, so it's quiet and safe, and the neighbors have been very friendly to us, even though none of them so far speak any English. People still make a good effort to communicate with us and be friendly, even though we do not understand each other.
The lady who lived in our apartment before us died after living there for 30 years, and all of her things are left in the apartment. So, we have a lot of nice furniture, dishes, etc. and we don't need to buy everything right away. Still, we are trying to fix up the place and make it more modern, so we've been having fun planning and redecorating. We will post some pictures later of our progress.

Bielefeld Zoo

In Germany, Sunday is a mandatory day of rest. That means all the stores and businesses are closed, and we've had to get into the habit of planning ahead for groceries, etc. on Saturday. We've been looking for something fun to do around Bielefeld on Sundays, so last week we went for a hike down a nordic walking trail that's right next to our temporary apartment. There are really nice trails all over the city...almost anywhere you need to go, you could take a trail instead of the road, and they weave through some nice scenery.
The trail we took led us up a pretty steep climb almost all the way up the hill range that circles the city. There's a nice view from up there. We came across a museum with a big windmill that was built in the 1600's. After we went a little further, we noticed an awful lot of people walking in the same direction, so we decided to follow them to see if something interesting was going on. The people led us to a FREE zoo in the middle of the woods! There are no gates to get in or out...you can walk around and see the animals 24/7. All of the animals were slightly different than ones we were used to, because they are all northern species...some were totally different than anything we had seen before (Billy's favorite was the marder hund- translates to "raccoon dog").
The zoo was really well designed. Every exhibit was set up so that you felt like you were really close to the animals, not always towering up above them and watching them down in a pit. Many of the animals were safe to touch, and for all of those animals there were feeding zones and bars to touch them through. We got to pet some reindeer and lots of goats. I think that because the zoo is free, people are a lot more willing to buy food to feed the animals, and because people are feeding them all the time, the animals are right up at the front of the cages all the time.
We had a great time at the zoo, and I look forward to going back there again (as many times as we want since it's free) and trying to take better pictures. In the meantime, enjoy these ones!

Tier Park

Cologne, Germany

Last weekend Patty and I took a day trip to Cologne Germany. Without a doubt, the most impressive building I have ever seen in my entire life is the Cologne Cathedral. It was absolutely enormous! Construction of the cathedral started in 1248, and it took over 600 years to be completed. The cathedral is one of Germany's most recognized buildings, and one of the largest Gothic churches in Northern Europe. At one point, it was even the tallest building in the world, before it was surpassed by the Washington Monument. During WWII, 95% of Cologne was destroyed by bombing. Luckily, most of the cathedral remained intact. The inside of the cathedral was just as grand and ornate as the outside. Unfortunately, most of my pictures from the inside of the church didn't turn out because it was too dark. Overall, we liked Cologne. We couldn't really see it all in one day, so we will definitely have to go back. Enjoy the pictures!

You can see all our pictures from Cologne by clicking the picture below.

Cologne Germany

More about Seefeld, now that we're not so exhausted

Seefeld was an awesome town...it looked like a little Christmas village that you'd set up on your table. Every building had balconies overflowing with flowers, and there was a mountain view behind everything you looked at. While wandering around I found a gravel trail that took me back into the woods, up against some family farms. The people who lived there had put up those feeding stations where you can put in a coin and get a handful of food to feed their animals. I didn't get to feed them because they wouldn't come to the gate, but I saw a bunch of horned deer and there was a sign nailed to a tree with a picture of a moose. I'm assuming it probably said "don't feed the moose"...that's one of those times when you could get into trouble not knowing the language.
Another neat area I found was just off the trail next to a lake. There was a spot in the woods where 5 or 6 people were standing or sitting totally still with their hands out, all facing different directions. I walked over to find out what they were doing, and I realized there were tiny little birds of all different colors eating out of their hands. I found a spot to sit down and take pictures and just watched as a dozen or more people came and went, feeding the birds and squirrels from their hands.
The hotel we stayed at on our trip was really, really beautiful. Even better was that our meals were included in our board, and they were feeding us almost constantly. We got to try some great authentic Austrian food.
Despite the great trip, travelling is exhausting and it's important to have a home to go back to. We've been trying to make the apartment we are in this month as "homey" as possible, but we're looking forward to being in our permanent apartment soon. We're still not totally sure where that will be, though...

Seefeld, Austria

Within a week of arriving in Germany, Patty and I were sent to Seefeld, Austria for a workshop related to the research project I work on. Seefeld is a small ski village in the Austrian Alps. The mountians were amazing, and we were able to take a couple of hikes while we were there.

Photos From Bielefeld, Germany

Our legs just won't walk anymore

We made it through the big move!  Once we finally got here and got into our temporary apartment, it took us 3 or 4 days to get over the jet lag.  We are 6 hours ahead of Florida, and 7 hours ahead of Tennessee.  On top of jet lag, we have probably been getting 20 times the level of exercise we were used to, because we walk everywhere.  Needless to say, we have been pretty tired.
We have not bought bicycles or cell phones yet..still trying to find the right ones.  We have also been hunting for an apartment (we only have this one for one month), and today we found the one we want!  Now we have to wait to find out if we get it.  Over here, the landlord often lives in the same building you are renting a room out of, and multiple families share a laundry room and staircase, etc...For that reason, the landlords will see multiple people who are interested in their property and they will choose carefully which one they want.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!
It has been a struggle trying to make decisions and big purchases in a place where there is such a language barrier, but we have a wonderful woman in the university's international office who is helping us with pretty much everything.  It looks like we will both be taking German language classes at the University starting in October.
On a side note, thank you so much to all of our friends and family who came to our going away party in Lawrenceburg. It meant a lot to us to have a chance to see everyone before we left.  As for the St. Pete folks, we miss you already and we're glad we got to see that side of the family too.
Feel free to leave us comments anytime on our blog posts, or send us an email!

Where We're Goin...

View Larger Map

Bielefeld Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Area 257.8 km2 (99.5 sq mi)
Elevation 118 m (387 ft)
Population 323,084

"Dr. William Land"

Years and years of hard work have finally paid off....you can call him Dr. Billy now!  The ceremony was really special for the PhD graduates.  The graduate gets "hooded" by their major professor...the one who has been their mentor and closest advisor throughout their graduate career.  I know Billy appreciates everything Dr. Tennenbaum has done for him over the years, and that relationship will continue on in years to come.  We're all so proud :)
Saturday night, there was a graduate reception for the students in Billy's program.  It was a nice chance for the students to say goodbye to each other and to their professors.
If you would like to see the graduation and didn't get a chance to, you can still watch it on the university's website: http://learningforlife.fsu.edu/graduation/. You can fast forward to see his hooding, which takes place at 1:58:21 in the video.

In the beginning...

We knew from the beginning we would come to this moment together, but we never could have expected the whirlwind of great opportunities and big decisions that we would face all at once...
Decision number one: We're moving to Germany!
Decision number two: We're going to get married!
Decision number three: We're going to get married...this weekend!

And that brings us to today. We decided that we wanted to marry each other so much that we would have TWO weddings!  Plus, now that the pressure of visas, finding jobs, etc is off, we can move to Germany happily married and plan our ceremony as we please.  Doesn't get much better than that....

On August 29th, we officially leave for our four year European honeymoon!