The Christmas season is here!

If there's one thing that I can say about Germany and its people, it's that they really know how to do Christmas! This weekend ushered in the unofficial beginning of the winter, complete with snow on the ground the day after Thanksgiving. And with the beginning of the Christmas season come the Weinachtsmarkts! I headed downtown to pick up a gift at the toy store, but per M.'s request, I made a trip across the square to check out the Christmas market here in my town last night and take a few pictures for him. It was definitely hopping! There are usually lots of little stands with gifts and trinkets to buy (check!), a gluhwein stand or two (check! check!) and food vendors everywhere. It made me wish that I had M. here to enjoy it with me...it's definitely good to attend a Christmas market with someone that you don't mind getting good and close to, because most people go to the market at nighttime, and it's entirely outside. It's a good idea to get yourself a cup of hot gluhwein (I could definitely smell it's pungent spice in the air last night!) and several friends with which to huddle in the night air! Alas, I just made a quick trip, did my shopping and came home. And, not only is this weekend the beginning of the Christmas season here in Germany, it is also Molly's Mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope it's a wonderful day and that all your wishes come true this year!

I did it!

Okay, so about 3 weeks ago, I had an idea: I would travel to Kitzingen, Germany, to run in the annual Turkey Trot 5K. So, the first flaw in the plan was that I only had three weeks to get ready, but hey, it's only a 5K, right? And so I go about telling everyone that I know that I'm running in it, blah blah blah, mainly as a means of preventing myself from backing out. And that's when flaw in the plan numero dos was brought to my attention: this year, the race organizers decided to axe the 5K component of the race, leaving, thaaat's right, a 10K race in it's place. Oh good grief! Okay, so it's too late to back out: I've already told everyone that I'm doing this. Granted, I'm totally unprepared, but so be it: you're not always going to be ready for what life presents you, right? So, I roll out of bed this morning, to find that it's below freezing (nice!) and Bavaria is coated with a thin layer of frost. During the 30-minute drive to Kloster Forest, I'm thinking that maybe, mercifully, the race has been canceled while I slept, or, maybe, noone else will show up...please, please let there just be a way out of this! But alas, frost on the ground and all, about 100 runners were there, me included. Fortunately, as the race got underway, the sun broke through and it turned out to be a really good day to run, and run I did! Never mind that the race organizers accidentally ran the course through a convoy refueling point...with a convoy in it. I'm still trying to figure out what the race handicap is for those of us who sucked down the exhaust from 18 running Hummvees and a deuce-and-a-half or two...that's GOTTA be worth a minute or two! ANYWAY, I made it, and for those of you who know how drastically underprepared I was and were praying for me the whole way, thank you and it worked! See you at St. Patrick's Day, Kloster Forest!

Molly 101

Another milestone: the 101st post on the Adventures of Molly Murphy! And, today, one milestone marks another! This weekend brought my original European traveling companion, my great high school friend K., back to the continent! She traveled all the way here from the states to spend last weekend with me, and we were able to revisit some of our memories of times traveling! We had a wonderful time...but of course, my only complaint is that out time spent catching up was faaaaar too brief! She is also married to an "M."... little do M. & M. know, but their future travel plans may include another European reunion to include them someday, if we have our say! I certainly hope so: it was wonderful to have her here, if only for a weekend! Safe travels home, K.!

Solid Gold Dancers!

I grew up in a part of South Dakota where usage of the word "bar" in the description of a cattle brand (as in, "rafter-bar-J") outnumbers usage in the phrase "bar mitzvah" by oh, roughly, a million to one. As a result, I was pretty much denied the opportunity to attend all but one of these ceremonies as a kid, and witness firsthand all of the glory that apparently accompanies these fetes...great outfits, cool favors, catchy slogans. Which is not to say that I wasn't treated to some fantastic trips down memory lane by all three of my freshman year roommates and roughly half of my sorority sisters who were kind enough to share some incredibly hilarious snapshots from their big days. Now, while I can't get ahold of my college roommate's bat mitzvah pictures and post them here to entertain you (and I guarantee they would do the trick...we were in junior high smack in the middle of the 80s...) But, I can do the next best thing: head on over to Bar Mitzvah Disco (via Gawker) and fasten your seatbelt for a trip back to junior high, circa 1987. Just the fact that the folks at Bar Mitzvah disco make a reference to the television show Solid Gold puts them pretty high on the hipster list in my book.

Saturday Surprise

I get surprises all of the time. Sometimes, they're funny, sometimes they're sweet. And sometimes, particularly with all of the goodbyes that have been happening around here lately, the surprises are poignant. And yesterday, when I inadvertently witnessed a homecoming, was no different. Having accepted an invitation to go holiday shopping with F. (my South Dakotan friend) and a group of her girlfriends, I was on post where we'd agreed to meet before heading out. The group was mostly assembled, awaiting the arrival of the last two girls, S. and her preschool age daughter Emma. Eventually, we saw them coming down the street when S. yelled, "Sorry ladies: no shopping for me today!" She explained that she'd received a phone call from her husband that morning: he was finally on the ground in Germany, on his way home after 6 long months in the desert. She began to reminisce about the deployment, how Emma initally asked about daddy all the time, and then, slowly stopped asking about him. Eventually, Emma began to refuse to talk to him when he would call home on the phone. Apparently, she hadn't asked about him in months, until Friday night. S. thinks Emma overheard a phone conversation about the impending reunion when she perked up and said,"Daddy coming home?" S. said she was so surprised: it was the first time she'd mentioned him in a very long time. Anyway, we hadn't intended to stay, but as we were talking, S. said, "There they are!" The soldier driving her husband's vehicle pulled up alongside the curb where we were standing, a few feet from S. and Emma. S. knelt down and said, "Emma, look, there's daddy." Emma said, "Nooooo. That's not daddy." S. tried again: "Emma, look: it's daddy." Emma strained her neck to see, and said, "It iiiiis?" Just then, S.'s husband stepped out of the truck, and little Emma, blond ponytail flying went running down the street and flew up into his arms. It was a sweet moment. And, when I turned around, I couldn't have been more surprised to see my shopping buddies, most of whom have been through deployments more than once, really fighting back the tears. I guess it doesn't need to be your family: the emotions are just right there on the surface. But the tears didn't last long: little Emma has her daddy back, and it was a good Saturday surprise...both for her, and those of us who got to see him come home!

Post-Halloween musical musings...

So, in a former life, I was a violinist. Well, I guess it's not really a former life, but I certainly don't play as much as I used to! Anyway, I definitely am a former Suzuki kid, and as such, when I ran across an article about the sale of a violin which once belonged to the virtuoso Paganini today on abcnews.com, it caught my eye...for a couple of reasons. Growing up, I took group lessons with other Suzuki students every Tuesday, and I always looked forward to playing the Paganini piece "Witches' Dance" in the weeks leading up to Halloween. At any rate, I was reading the abcnews.com article and reminiscing about playing Pagaini's tune about this time of year, every year as a kid. And then something else caught my eye: the article's author says that Paganini's virtuoso playing "made people believe he had struck a deal with the devil." Hmm...okay, that's not doing much to loosen my childhood association of Paganini with all things spooky! You can find the article here: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1270562 Hope you had a treat-filled, trick-free holiday...I did, too!