The hare and the hedgehog - a tale of Buxtehude!

We live about 5km from Buxtehude - our big smoke! There are around 40,000 inhabitants, the train station that takes to you Hamburg and several large supermarkets...just being practical.

It's also the location where one day, a very long time ago (about 1853), a hare and a hedgehog had a race.

Its mostly attributed to the Brothers Grimm but it may have been an older fable retold by them. In Germany many towns claim a fairy tale to be their own....ours is the hare and the hedgehog OR in German, Hase and Igel.

The "Buxtehudians" are very proud of their fairy tale and all over Buxtehude you can find little statues, signs or images representing the tale.

The tale goes like this.

It starts with some flowery prose describing the weather and surroundings. The hedgehog was standing by his front door admiring the beautiful day and given the nice weather decided to go and check on his turnips.

As the hedgehog started his stroll, he met the hare. The hare was a very arrogant chap and he was off to check on his cabbages. When the hare saw the hedgehog he asked sarcastically what the hedgehog was doing. The hedgehog replied he was out for a walk. The hare then commented "on those legs, I think you could better use your legs for other purposes". 

The hedgehog was quite offended by these words as he was quite self conscience about his short bent legs. He then asked the hare "Do you think you can accomplish more with your legs?"

The hare replied that of course he could do more. Then the hedgehog suggested a race to which the hare eagerly agreed given that they were to race for a bottle of brandy. But the hedgehog requested that he first return home for breakfast and they meet in half an hour. The race was set.

When the hedgehog returned home he urged his wife to get ready quickly. The actual words from the tale being:....

"My God, man," the hedgehog's wife began to cry, "are you mad? Have you entirely lost your mind? How can you agree to run a race with the hare?"

"Hold your mouth, woman," said the hedgehog. "This is my affair. Don't get mixed up in men's business. Hurry up now, get dressed, and come with me." 

What was the hedgehog's wife to do? She had to obey, whether she wanted to or not.

Off the hedgehogs went to the field and the hedgehog husband place his wife at one edge of the field in a farrow and gave the instructions that when she saw the hare coming she was to stand up and say "I'm already here!"

The hedgehog went to the other end of the field where the hare was waiting for him and on the count of 3 the race began. The hare sprinted off. The hedgehog ran a few steps then lowered himself into the farrow and waited. At the end of the field the hedgehog's wife stood up and announced "I'm already here".

The hare was shocked to see the hedgehog (not at all realising it was the wife) and suggested that they run back. He was off in a flash. At the other end the hare husband was waiting for him. In excitement and confusion the hare suggested another length. The hedgehog replied, lets run as many as you like.

So the hare then ran another 73 times before collapsing dead on his 74th length. The hedgehogs took home the bottle of bandy and lived happily ever after. And no hare challenged a hedgehog to a race again.

And now the lesson to be learned is this:

"First, that no one, however distinguished he thinks himself, should make fun of a lesser man, even if this man is a hedgehog. And second, when a man marries, it is recommended that he take a wife from his own class, one who looks just like him. In other words, a hedgehog should always take care that his wife is also a hedgehog, and so forth".

And that my friends is the tale of the Hase and Igel!

Awesome Autumn

We are at winter temperatures. I just played rock, paper, scissors with Ron to see who takes the dog out this evening. Even if I lost, I probably would have pretended to have some immediate illness preventing me from going out in the dark and cold.

BUT, during the Autumn school break, our place became a Bed and Breakfast. It also transformed into a lunch, dinner and snack establishment. Half the Hamedl clan came to visit. In a vain attempt to try to even up the tally my cousin and her two girls came over in the 2nd week. It was lots of fun and we have almost recovered ;-).

Ron and some of his relatives on a local walk. The trees are now bare.

My girls in Hamburg for a day trip. Say "cheese"!

In Hamburg we found a shop that sold a myriad of rubber ducks - we now have one in our bath tub. After bringing it home we discovered it was the Playboy duck. Carefully selected from about 200 ducks by my little one due to the big red duck lips and fluffy top part of the dress!

Hamedl Group Therapy - waiting for the ferry back to "our" side of the Elbe.

Ecki. Friday with the boys in Hamburg. I was the driver. There was a hole in the wall behind Ecki that was surrounded by a gold frame - cool idea. A very eclectic bar with great music.

 A body slam from youngest to oldest Hamedl cousin.

"Walk like an Egyptain" - along the Elbe. Or the alternative title: "I'll do it MY WAY".

The Hyde Side cousins with Hamburg's Alster in the background - they did not want their photos taken and they are not yet teenagers.

"Underwater" in the Klimhaus, Bremerhaven - self portrait.

The day trip finished up perfectly with a visit to the outdoor markets in Bremen and a ride on this gorgeous nostalgic carousel.

Bye Bye Autumn.

Hello Winter.

Hamburg Freezers

You could be mistaken that I am talking about the weather, but in fact I am talking about the local ice hockey team...The Hamburg Freezers! We watched a home game on the weekend. 

They came onto the ice through a huge ice hockey helmet. It was very atmospheric. The Hamburg Freezer fans were going crazy at this stage. Yelling and cheering their team before they had even touched the puck. They had "FREEZERS" written up on the screen in a burning font.

Ronald bought tickets to take his visiting brother in laws. I ended up joining the gang. We were in the 2nd row, so could hear and feel every bump and bruise. They smashed up against the protective glass many times. I ducked my head under my handbag and spilt my beer - not attractive. The fact that a "fix it" man with a hammer came by a few times did not add to any sense of security. 

I am really still not sure of the rules or how the players know when to come on and off, which appears very ad-hoc. The umpires were entertaining as they tried to dodge the puck and more importantly aggressive players with long sticks. Seriously I would have been happier with a helmet...and these were the more expensive seats.

The game ended in a draw and went into overtime. Then it was best of 5 goal attempts. It was still a draw then it was sudden knock out. The Freezers won!

There was additional entertainment. The boys enjoyed the ice cleaning ladies ;-). All in all a fun evening - GO FREEZERS!

Fairy Floss and Toffee Apples = Estebrugger Markt

The other weekend it was the Estebrugger Markt. Its one of the biggies in the Estebrugge calendar! There is the Schutzenfest (in spring) and the Markt. The whole place gets involved. Then we hunker down for the long winter.

Saturday opens the weekend with a children's flea market. The kids set up their stands to sell pre-loved toys, books, shoes and anything else kiddie related. Of course they have already spent their cash windfall before its even earned. There was also swapping and give aways to friends. Being in the heart of the village our house doubled as the local toilet and refreshment area! A few photos before the rush of the afternoon. There was a pizza and crepe stall and several side show alley games and a mini carousel. I should have charged the kids a small fee to take Goldie for a walk - would have made a killing!

The local shop owned by a Turkish couple made kebabs which were delicious. I tested it twice to make sure.

My girls were temped by the sweet things. Fairy Floss rules!

Given we are living in the land of apples, there were lots of toffee apples being consumed.

This is what it looked like outside our front door. You see those kids working for their money?!?

 The evening kicked off with a local band featuring Marlene's English teacher as the drummer.

The kids danced the first set and had lots of fun.

I tested Silvia's cocktail bar! She is our Tagesmutter (Day care Mum), who is much loved by both my girls. She made a mean Caipirinha ;-)

This is our 3rd Markt weekend and we are closely involved by default. Our neighbour, the fire station, hosts the disco. Its really gets going about midnight and it finishes up about 5-6am in the morning. There is an element of if you can't beat them - join them. But when you have little kids waking up at the normal hour and husband also away, it really hurts when you have a hangover and your mother in law is due to arrive at 9.00am. So there was a certain amount of restraint on my behalf. This is what it looked like outside my front door as I made my way home.

We had outsourced one child and a dog (who we thought might bark all night at people outside the door), and I fell asleep to the doff, doff beat. I was then up bright and early to welcome my in-laws.

Pumpkins galore

The days are distinctly shorter. I almost need to put on the lights in the morning. But there are a few good things about this.

Soup, soup and more soup. Ok, we can also mash it and bake it.

Just up the road from us is this stall.

Basically you pick up what you want and pop the money in the mail box. Each pumpkin has a sticker on it describing its type and giving the price.

There are also some hand written notes about the best way to use the pumpkins. For example, baked, in soup, it has a very creamy texture, a nutty flavour and so on. Some even have wacky faces on them.

These ones need a quick trip to the dentist! There is a huge variety of shapes and sizes.

Its only for a few weeks each year, but I am glad they take the time to make this a just a bit more special than most road side stalls.

Australia is BIG

This Friday, I start a new Australian Animal Elective at the local junior school. I have 11 kids in the class and looking forward to see how the dynamics play out. There are a few boisterous ones, so will have to keep them in check...somehow!

I have some materials I can adapt and re-use but in the first week I wanted to give a sense of how big Australia is. I found this map, which is in fact demonstrating why Australia has no Autobahn. Germany is the yellow thumb print like shape with blue lines and dots.

I was pretty blown away by the map as it says it is to scale. I really hope the kids like it.

I know Australia is big having flown across it for hours and hours, many, many times. We also learnt at school that it the biggest island in the would but smallest continent. But I also thought Germany is quite large having driven from top to bottom (Ok that was with my kids in the car, which can make any journey seem long). I also have to admit that I have lived in much smaller European countries where you can stretch your arm out the window and need a passport! So maybe I have lost some perspective being "away" for so long.

Hope you enjoy the sense of perspective.....Australia is BIG.

A week of "Chariots of Fire"

For one young girl it was week of running.

Now start humming the theme song of Chariots of Fire, it will give the post more gravitas! Go on start humming, you will not be able to get the tune out of your head all day.


Monday morning -  ran off to school for the first day of Year 3.

Monday afternoon - family run of "the bridge to bridge" (our local round with the dog), no homework, slept.

Tuesday afternoon - ran to a friends house to play and escape going to baby gym with little sister.

Wednesday morning - Sport Award at school. Each child needed to run a minimum of 15mins non-stop. Our running gal crawled home. She had surprised herself and us by running for 1 hour non-stop and achieving the highest award.

Wednesday afternoon - rested, ate everything available without complaint, slept.

Thursday morning - swimming with school, complained of cold water.

Thursday afternoon - running training with school, ate ice cream, slept.

Friday morning - school, babysat little sister for 20mins (not an easy task).

Friday afternoon - watched Tangled (Rapunzel) film on TV, told us what was going to happen before it did e.g. "the next part of really funny Dad", laughed like a mad woman, slept.

Saturday - Played horses with a friend. This involved making a complicated course in the garden of sticks and obstacles then running and jumping over them...like a horse...vocals included!

Sunday - 2km Run in Buxtehude. Ran as part of the Primary School team, ate ice-cream, bike riding with Goldie, fresh waffle at local church, slept!

"Da di da di dum"......   It was a big week for a young girl.

Here is the school team getting ready for the big race. The sun was shining and it was a super warm day for the run. More than 500 kids ran the race. The historic Buxtehude Museum is the lovely building in the background of both photos. Well done all on a great race.