Kegaln- German Bowling

We got to rent out a lane in a restaurant. The game is a little different. The balls are lighter, without holes. There is carpet on both sides. If a runner can run down the side and go faster than the ball is going - then the thrower owes everybody a round of beer. If the thrower hits the string in front of the lane - then he pays .50 Euros.

There are so many different ways to keep score. You don't get 2 turns to knock down the 9 pins (not 10). We played many different ways. Kept score on a chalkboard:

The best way is to make up special ways to throw the ball. We imagine it is much more entertaining to watch this when more people playing are drunk Germans, but it was still so much fun. We had to throw the ball with an elephant nose...

backwards...

spinning around 3 times and then throw. Hopping from the back of the room to the string and then throw. Also throwing the ball after 3 pushups:

We had so much fun. It sure was different, but we had such a good time as well as making fools of ourselves.

Palace of Munster

This is going to be our new house (we wish). It's the Munster Palace that was bombed in WWII and was restored into a University. This is like "Old Main" of Munster.

There are gardens all over and we got to visit the greenhouses. It was awesome:

This is a vanilla plant.

...and a cocoa plant:

Berliners and Brautwurst

These are our favorite German foods. They are so good! We are going to come home at least 20 pounds heavier.
Brautwurst/ "german street meat":

"I am a berliner." -JFK (wanting to say "I came from Berlin")

A berliner is a berry filled donut with sugar on top:

Happy New Year's Day 2009!

Evening of New Year's Day in Germany and we're still going strong with the fireworks! We saved the bombs for this day. We had so much fun!

Lt to Rt: Lisa, Marijke, Sarah

The Boys mostly lit the bombs and enjoyed throwing them in every direction. They especially liked throwing them down man holes in the street. Boys- they get a kick out of blowing things up.

Lt to Rt: McCord, Hank, Tristan

Sparkler time came and Marijke wanted to light them all (2 boxes worth) and then give them to us. Little did she know that the flaming ball of combined fireworks would make such a big flare of light and heat toasting all of them, and nearly blinding the whole group.

She freaked out and we all laughed histerically

Luckily, we had a spare box and we all took our own sparklers and lit them.

We all had a lot of fun with them after the drama and laughter has subsided a little...

...until Hank threw his sparkler stick into the pine tree next to their house...=) Don't worry, it ended up not hurting anything, but the laughter continued, of course.

We got to experience a German new years tradition. You melt a little figure made of lead in a spoon above a candle flame, then you poor the melted lead into a cool bowl of water. Whatever picture your lead creation turns out to be will predict how your next year will go.

McCord's lead creation came out looking kind of like a dear, we thought (above lead critter). Which means he will be invited to dinner by someone and go on a cruise this year! Mine came out looking like a distinct swam wing, or a bird wing (bottom lead figure). This means that I will have good luck all year round. Woo Hoo!

More and more jokes were over the melting of lead figures, and Tristan accidentally spilled the lead water into the candle wax (which is like pooring water into a pan of hot grease)....- FIRE! A flame shot up about 5 feet in the air off the kitchen table and everyone freaked out! Nothing terrible happened too bad, just fright, but we were all laughing and rolling on the floor after this horrific night of fire. Ha ha ha

This is Tristan laughing with the PAPER lamp that was above the table. We finally decided to go to bed after almost burning the neighborhood and the house...

New Years in Germany 2009!

Happy New Year 2009! We are in Germany- where dangerous fireworks are NOT illegal! It was so cold that the humidity was crystalizing, looking like snow. P.S. We paid $6 E for all of this:

There were fireworks all around us in the air that people were lighting in their front yards. The video is dark, but you can see a little of what we went through.

Downtown Munster

We toured downtown Munster today, and learned a bunch about the catholic church. There are a ton of churches in Europe and those are the historical attractions.
This church was made in 1108 (ish):

Each catholic church has "baptismal". There is a "dove of peace" on the top of the lid. Inside is "holy water" and this is where they perform baptisms.

This church is black on the top because of the polution over the years. There are 3 cages on top of the steeple. They used to put people who made fun of the catholic church up there to die, for everyone to see. Obviously, they don't do that anymore. The stain glass window and ceiling is really pretty inside.

This is a grand cathedral. It was bombed in WWII so it has been restored. It is ginormous. This stain glass window was my favorite. McCord liked the astronomical clock that was made in 1520. It has a hand for the sun, moon, earth, and stars (jupiter, mars, venus). It was the most accurate time clock made for that time. To think that this clock was made 30 yrs after Columbus landed in America.

Tradition: Guys that turn 30 years old and have not married yet, have to wear a funny costume and sweep stairs (covered in debris that their friends scatter on them) of the city hall until he gets 30 kisses from 30 different girls. We had the privilege of seeing this tradition.

BRATWURST! This is the famous bratwurst man. The brats were amazing and we paid 1.70 E for each one. They were fantastic and we all ordered in german only to find out that he spoke English the whole time.

I thought it was interesting that the Germans bundled their babies up in little mummy bag lookin' things, and then put them in the stroller. So there were a lot of mummy-bag babies.

Willcomen si Duchland! Welcome to Germany!

Goodbye Utah. We love the USA! But we are so excited for our new adventure.

This is us boarding our small plane. Only 9 passengers were on board. Air France took us right into Munster:

We have arrived safely! Lisa's ears even popped nice and no problems.

When we got to Germany, Marijke (we are staying in her house) took us to Burger King. Inside we see a drunk young german who probably just turned 21 (or whatever the legal drinking age is) because he was dressed in nothing but his underwear with a Burger King crown on. He and his friends were totally wasted and continued to laugh histerically at every little thing! Lol. It was so funny. "Welcome to Germany," McCord says.

"Paris holds the key to your heart" - Anastasia

We had a 5 hour layover in Paris, France before getting to Germany. We didn't get to leave and see some sites for fear of missing our flight to Munster. We did have a lot of fun in the airport though:

They sold HUGE suckers. McCord was thrilled with those for a little bit. While Sarah and I had fun sampling all the makeup and trying to figure out what all the food was that was being sold.

This is duck..."parts":

Who, in their right mind, would pay such a price for such a product...and then eat it?

And they wear a lot of perfume in Europe (because the average person showers once a week):

Paris was fun and we hope to go visit again to see some more sites.

How to save money this Christmas:

Moving to Germany!

We are now officially moved out of our "cinder block apt". We were nervous with Lisa recovering and not able to lift boxes that McCord would have to do all the work by himself. We sent a text out to a few USU 1st ward members and the next morning had about 30 people come to help us move, including our chinese friend "Lu". We are so sad to leave you guys but thank you so much for everything. See you all in July, when we return home from Munster.

Here are some pictures of where we will be living:

APPENDICITIS!

Lisa couldn't sleep one night because of "cramps". After a trip to the doctor, he sent her to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound confirmed APPENDICITIS. She then went into surgery within 30 mins.
Before: (appendix the size of a golf ball)

After:

The surgery went well and we were blessed with great care of nurses and a great surgeon, etc. She was out of the hospital 22 hours after the surgery (thanksgiving day) and is doing fine now. We thank everyone for all the prayers!

D and Brit are ENGAGED!

Yes! They are ENGAGED! March 7, 2009 We will have a new sister!
We are so happy for you two!

Their colors will be chocolate and mint green. Going to be married in
the Logan Temple.