Rhodes5 in Deutschland: Christmas Time!!!

Christmas in Germany is pretty darn cool! They have so many Christmas Markets and other happenings and even though we have no snow, it definitely feels "Christmassy". Here are some pics from the last few weeks....

Our 10 dollar Christmas Pyramid from Poland - it makes me happy :-)

As we were outside waiting to meet some friends, Bryan got a little bored and thought he'd try out his luck....

The Bamberg Weihnachtsmarkt. It has become really touristy over the last few years, but still such a nice market!

Our favorite Flammenkuchen and Gluhwein/kinderpunsch stand!

We had our little Advent reunion with our friends in Bamberg

No snow - but a gorgeous sky!

So adorable!!!

Candle dipping!!!

St. Nikolas came on the 6th of December. Camden wasn't here, but his boot was filled regardless :-)

I laugh at this picture! I really am not a big fan of cooking - AT ALL. They had one of these machines though on ridiculous sale at Thanksgiving and so we bought one. I joke that it makes me look like a "real professional cook". Mia was in HEAVEN with the news of this purchase! She is such a crafter/baker/chef etc. In German she is called "Fleissig"

...so our first trial with the new machine was homemade pizza dough... It actually worked!!! Here is Mia trying be all "Italien" by throwing it in the air! Ok- maybe this is a bit staged (us being silly)

Luckily she caught it - because we only had enough dough for 2 pizzas!

Bryan preparing his own masterpiece (ok - just kidding)

They came out delicious, but we joke that the pizzas ended up being much more expensive than if we had just bought them at a restaurant! Oh well! We'll keep experimenting with the machine though. Next on the agenda - Amish White Bread and Bavarian Pretzels!

Camden had such a fun week last week at "Stemposium"in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is a week long "camp" type thing with about 100 kids from all over Europe who attend. They work all week with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). He went with 5 other kids from his school and when they got there, they were divided into 17 different teams (with the idea of not allowing kids from the same school to be on the same team). The teams had different tasks all week and were judged by a panel at the end of the week who voted the winning team.

I found this photo on one of the sites they posted on... It looks like orderly chaos!

Another photo that I found on the site (surprise - Camden took not one photo the entire week!!!) - this is the ropes course - so much fun!

I was absolutely blown away when Camden came home and told us that his team (Delta) won 1st out of all 17 teams! He was so excited!!! It was really an amazing experience for him and they put so much time and effort into making it a once in a life time learning experience for the kids. They shot rockets, designed robotics, went to a climbing course etc... As much as I complain , I am truly grateful for these opportunities for my kids!

This was Camden's model (made with a 3D printer -so cool!) of his underground house that he would build in order to sustain living on Mars. He explained to me that it would be buried under the surface for sustainability. The theme for the week was "Mars" and they had to work with their team to create a colony on Mars with the idea of staying there for 5 years, but then eventually returning to Earth.

These were other bits made from the 3-d printer. Here are a couple of links with more info. on the Stemposium event:

https://www.stripes.com/news/dodea-s-tech-symposium-takes-off-for-mars-1.443127

https://www.facebook.com/STEMposiumDoDEA/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

*if you watch the second video down on the facebook link, you can see Camden's team getting their 1st place award

Our little Christmas Market in Amberg

And another up on the hill (would have been cozier at night and with snow - but still fun!)

Horse rides though the forest

And a rare glimpse of the sun!!!

Gorgeous!!!

This was adorable! On the way down the hill, there were these little kids all alone hanging out near the path (walkway down)...In their little German accents they told us that they had a "kinderflohmarkt" (children's fleamarket) with items for sale. I asked if it was benefitting anyone, and one kids chimed in: "the Kirche (Church), then another started arguing with him and said, NO - it is for the "Arme kinder" (poor children) and then they all started arguing (but in a super cute way). No parents in sight - just a bunch of kids organizing this on their own!

and this was our purchase (donation) from kids at the "flohmarkt" above - so cute!!

We learn something new here all the time and even after living here 9 years - we continue to do so. In certain parts of Germany and Bavaria, they have "Krampus". Krampus are basically the opposite of St. Nikolas. St. Nikolas brings good boys and girls treats in their boots on Dec. 6th. Being the opposite of St. Nic, Krampus are scary, evil, aggressive "Monsters" who scare and bring fear to the bad kids (yes - such a wonderful Christmas idea - NOT). They seem to choose not celebrate the "Krampus" in Bamberg, but in other parts of Bavaria and Austria it is quite famous. They had a Krampus "show" in Amberg and we went with some friends. Lots of creepy looking costumes, LOTS of fire, and scary music. They can be very aggressive with the audience too, grabbing people and banging chains. VERY interesting to say the least!!!