Random Wednesday!

There isn't much to update on as we have been just getting the last bits organized for our trip to PARIS tomorrow! EEEEEEKKKK!! We are so excited! We had dinner at the Scherenbergs on Monday and they hooked us up with a map and told us about all the must see places. We plan to rent bikes while we are there to get around the city easier! So seeing as we've been Paris, Paris, Paris all week, there isn't much else to talk about. So this is about to be one very random filled post!

*Hans has become pretty obsessed with Kevin lately. If asking me almost daily where he is and what he's doing isn't enough, our Play-doh time the other day was taken over by his love for Kevin. It started out simply wanting to make an "eishockey schneemann."

However, it soon turned into wanting to make a hockey player, and then a Freezer, and then just "I want to make Kevin!" So here it is, ladies and gents... Kevin in play-doh! Forget the fact that Kev has red hair and green limbs, we only had so many Play-doh colors to work with.

*We went and saw Toby Keith play on the Reeperbahn last night. He put on a good show but we were slightly disappointed that he only played a little over an hour and didn't come back for an encore. Good thing we were lucky enough to get free tickets because if we had paid 50 Euros like the rest of the crowd, we would have been whistling in anger with the rest of the Germans in the building! There were definitely some other Americans at the concert because I saw some people waving American flags!

*Before the concert, Kevin had to attend an autograph signing session downtown in the big indoor shopping complex called the Europa Passage. Kevin said that there were a good number of people there for autographs and the promotion should help for the next game also because they were selling tickets for only 10 Euro. The Freezers are still in 2nd place heading into the break this weekend.

*We found our beer and liquor store in this city! There is basically a warehouse nearby with a ton of different beers and a lot of liquors we don't find at other places. Horst and Gale, we already picked you up a bottle of Absolut! And my dad will be pleased to know if I'm really feeling homesick I can turn to a bottle of MGD!

*I got a haircut! Not just a trim either, went back to my chin like I had a few years ago.

Have a great weekend, and we'll have many pictures and things to write about after this weekend! Tschüss!

...Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne...



Hans and his friend Hanna



Tuesday night Kevin and I joined Hans and his dad to parade the streets for their "Lantern tradition." Kids trick-or-treating for Halloween in Germany has just taken off within the past 5 to 10 years and is still not very popular here. Instead, around Halloween, people celebrate the life of a 4th century bishop on St. Martin's day. The tradition is usually held on the eve of St. Martin's day (Nov. 11th), however, the Scherenberg's church held they're "festival of lanterns" on Tuesday. The tradition is that kids go through the street with lit up lanterns or candles singing songs about St. Martin. In some areas of Germany, the kids go door to door to carol and receive candy for their songs.



As for us, the night started out with a short church service and after the children and their parents along with the church band took to the streets parading with their lit up lanterns. Some lanterns are homemade and some store bought. The Scherenberg's bought me a lantern to carry and Hans had helped make 2 at home, one for his dad and one for him. He had been looking forward to this for about a month, constantly singing the lantern song leading up to Tuesday night. Below is the song Hans sang all the time, and the only song I was actually able to learn!



Kev and I with our lanterns



Laterne, Laterne
Laterne, Laterne
Sonne, Mond und Sterne
Brenne auf, mein Licht,
Brenne auf, mein Licht
Aber nur meine liebe Laterne nicht.

Here’s the English translation...

Lantern, Lantern

Lantern, Lantern,
Sun, moon and stars,
Burn, my light,
Burn, my light,
But not only the light of my dear lantern

After the children finished walking, they came back to the church where they were selling hot dogs and drinks. It's quite a sight to have 100-150 kids walking through the streets with their lanterns. It's nice to be apart of these different traditions.

Hans and I have been getting along now more than ever. Last night, he even asked me to stay by him in bed while his parents were out to the theater. Some days he wants nothing to do with me and others he is asking me not to go home at all and stay with them all day/night. I am done with work for the weekend, and tonight Kev and I are going to go downtown for a real North American night... burgers and an english movie! We are taking full advantage of Kevin having a Friday night off with no games! Have a great day! Tschüss!

You've been caught!

The Schmidt family will all get a kick out of this post! As you all know, Kevin's dad was in town a few weeks ago. Well we happened to get this in the mail yesterday regarding his trip to Europe.

As you can see with the yellow circle, this document is from the Police!

That's right, Horst got a speeding ticket while he was here!

Don't worry, Kev got one too, 3 days later in the exact location you got yours, buddy. We are thinking it is for the airport. Lucky for Kev though, only your photo evidence has made it onto this blog!

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday! Tschüss!

AND................... We're Booked!!!

The DEL has a break from games next week and after the boys have practice next Wednesday, they are free for 4 days. So we've finally booked our first trip out of Hamburg. We're going to...........

PARIS!!!!!!

Eiffel Tower, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers Lagen!

Kevin and I are so spoiled here because we once again had visitors in town last week. Kevin's brother, Mike (or Slick, whichever you prefer!), and 2 buddies, Brad and Dan came to spend a week in Germany. And boy, did they have a whirlwind of a trip! They literally did a German tour in the span of 8 days! Let me tell you a bit about this trip!

night one on the Reeperbahn

Day 1. Arrival: The boys get into Hamburg on Friday, take a nap, and start drinking to pre-game for Kevin's hockey game that night. We go to the game (Freezers won) and have a few more beers there. Kevin drops them off at the Reeperbahn for a night out and I hear them fumbling with the key to get back into our place at about 6:45.  A.M.!! What?????? I have never been more impressed!

Day 2. Saturday: Kevin leaves in the morning to go down to Dusseldorf with the team for Sunday's game. The boys don't get up until late afternoon just in time to go to the Hamburger HSV soccer game. They were hurting pretty bad after Friday so they were home and on the couch before I was home from a dinner out with the girls.



Brad, Dan, and Mike downtown



Day 3-6: The boys take Germany's high speed train (travels 260 kilometers/hr) to Dusseldorf to watch Kevin's game. They proceed from there to Munich and Berlin before coming back to Hamburg. Somehow they also find the energy to stay out into the early morning hours in all of these cities as well! They get back to Hamburg Wednesday afternoon and treated Kevin and I to a steak dinner downtown.

Day 7: Thursday: Kevin had to leave once again to head down to Iserlohn with the team for Friday's game. The boys met me downtown after my class to shop around and go to a Currywurst restaurant. Shannon and I take them out for the night and trick them into a "boy band" karaoke sesh of "It's Raining Men" at one of the bars on the Reeperbahn. It's considered an early night for them and we are all home by 4 a.m.






"It's Raining Men, Hallelujah!"



"Wannabe" Spice Girls











Friday night is much more relaxed for these guys and Saturday morning, it was off to the airport we went! Needless to say, these boys enjoyed their trip, being able to run around Germany consuming countless numbers of beers and making up their own German slang, "Cheers Lagen!" What does that even mean???? Kev and I were really happy to have them here with us and wish their stay could have been longer!

Mike in front of the Schmidt Theater, a comedy theater on the Reeperbahn

As for a hockey update, the boys won their game yesterday and are currently in 2nd place in the league. They only have a game on Sunday of this week and then have a break for a week with no games. After last nights game, the team captain organized an amazing dinner at an Italian restaurant downtown for the entire team and their wives/girlfriends.

It's back to normal around this apartment and back to a regular work week for me! Hans and his father ended up just joining me for the game yesterday and really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was Hans's first hockey game and the entire game he kept asking me where is Kevin, is Kevin playing now? He's taken a real liking to Kev and even saved him a seat in the VIP room after for dinner.

That's all from here for today, Tschüss!