Yesterday was a public holiday here in Germany. I think it’s roughly equivalent to Labor Day in the U.S. — it’s what the communists used to call May Day.

We didn’t get out of bed until noon yesterday, as the kids are still having trouble adjusting to the time change, and were up very late. Last night wasn’t much better. CeCe did better, but Carissa was up a lot last night.

We spent yesterday afternoon touring the countryside, including a drive along several roads that looked like scenery for cars commercials. You know the ones I’m talking about– twisty roads that double back on themselves, hairpin turns, the works.

We found the only store in Germany that was open yesterday. It was (not surprisingly) McDonald’s. Carissa and Cece were happy to have a meal that seemed like home. However, the toy that came with the happy meal is about the scariest thing I’ve seen in a while. It’s a doll, based on the “DivaStarz” which are popular toys in the US and Europe. It has a wind-up motor in it that causes the doll to turn it’s head and wink. The only problem is, it’s easy to get the head out of alignment, so it looks like the little girl from the Exorcist with her head spinning around. Plus, the motor always winds down with the doll half-winking, so it looks like she has some weird, lazy eye. Add to that a really terrible haircut, and you’ve got a truly scary toy.

Last night, we went to a going away party thrown by our landlady, Sabine. She lives in the place we are renting, but she will be going to Austrailia for 2 years. It’s a German tradition to throw your own parties for special events. Besides throwing their own going away parties, people throw their own birthday parties, for example.

We met several of her friends, as well as her parents and her brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, who live downstairs. Many of the attendees spoke at least some English, and we tried out bits of our limited German vocabulary. Several people offered us their phone numbers so that we could call to ask for help.

All in all, it was an interesting day, even if they did practically shut down the whole country. This practice of EVERYBODY actually taking time off for the holidays will take a little adjustment. Especially when you come from a country where you can shop at K-Mart on Thanksgiving!

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