Day 13
This is a day with Vio and the little boys. Eric starts to combine the wheat fields and so won't be home until midnight for the next four weeks. He combines all the neighbors fields also so it will take him a long time. His father works with him in the fields. Vio is glad to get away with us today and so we head to St. Martin to walk around and have lunch. I drive with Vio and Louis and Yoseph and Bill and Chuck drive separate. It is so good to talk with Vio and hear how life is for a German family. She used to fly with Lufansa airlines. She gets 4 years maternity leave with one year paid. Everyone in Germany gets 41 days vacation a year no matter how long they have worked or what their job is - that's EIGHT weeks vacation and also holidays! Wow! Louis will start going to a preschool called a "forest school". These schools have more hands on teaching. Kids go to school 11 months out of the year - only getting August off. When they are in junior high they are tested and depending how they score they are then placed in a college track or a trade school track for high school. If they are not placed in a college track they can not go on to college. All trades - waitressing, banking, child care, farming, etc go to school for 5 years after high school. So people feel all jobs are just as important and are not just a stepping stone to another job.
When we return home, Chuck and I walk down to the fresh water creek by the farm/hotel. German's believe it is refreshing and healthy to walk in very cold water. A German doctor discovered that cold spring water helps circulation and rhumatoid arthritis. All over Europe are man made ponds of cold spring water that they walk in to improve health.
We eat dinner again out in the back garden of the Klostermuhle. Wonderful end to a very nice relaxing German day.
A few final thoughts of Germany:
German food is fabulous!
Spatzel: white dough cooked with cheese sauce
Putenschnitzel in Frischkasesauce: Turkey breaded in cheese cream sauce
Bruschetta: French bread with tomatoes and basil and other wonderful spices
Salat: salad with shredded carrots, pickled beans, cabbage with vinegar, UNDER the lettuce covered with a vinegar dressing
Weinerschnitzel: Veal pounded with spices and breaded Sauerkraut
Suppen: soup - fabulous creamed mushroom soup, beef soup, etc
Scweinemedaillions: pork
Rumpsteak: Beef, steak
Bratkartoffeln: fried baked potatoes
Lochs: salmon
