Thanksgiving here at Dotde gives us time to reflect on how rare sweet potatoes are in Germany. So much so that I, after being asked, spent several minutes in class today talking about the different ways to cook them into delicious meals. This mostly meant that I repeated "Uhh, whatever you can do with a potato, you can do with a sweet potato" several times because their practical knowledge of pie is still limited at these early stages of their language instruction. And I wasn't very equipped to draw a casserole on the board, nevermind ready to talk about the greater nutritional benefits of the sweet stuff.

But, apparently, sweet potatoes are starting to inch their way onto the German Billboard Vegetable charts (if you just happen to be interested in vegetables AND music, consider sweet potatoes right around the Billboard Music's rank of The Regis Philbin Christmas Album--a couple spaces below butternut squash).

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is as rare in Germany as the vegetable that makes this holiday a delight for us here at Dotde. However, that doesn't mean we can't wish a wonderful day for our reading audience in Davis, Phoenix, Portland, Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, and wherever you may find yourself today.

Covet those SPs.

D's most recent "Street or Sidewalk" challenge reminded me of this photograph I took a couple weeks ago on the first day of Karnival--the first and only day Mainz'll have until lent. Hence all the trash on the ground in both pictures. Apparently there was quite a parade earlier in the day, or so I hypothesize. I took this picture not to share Karnival with you readers around the world. Rather, when I passed this location earlier in the day on the bus to work, I bore witness to an enormous duck gracing the Platz. Of course, when I reported the existence of this duck back to D, she didn't believe me. Much like she doesn't believe my armchair hypotheses about truffle-hunting dogs and the dominance of German architecture's use of steel and glass.

And yes, while I admit those are completely armchair, I do know when I see an enormous duck sitting in a city. And when I say enormous, I mean it towered up until the 3rd floor of the building you're looking at. Imagine yourself showering in the third floor bathroom and opening a window afterwards to let steam escape (so as not to establish a mold colony in your most frequented room). Now imagine, upon opening such a window, a gigantic duck staring at your sparsely towelled body...


Where has the bird gone? I don't know (it really couldn't fit in that truck, as much as it rhymes with duck). Maybe we'll see it again in the new year. Until then, keep an eye out for me. There's a certain D who finds this hard to believe.

 

December Events: Dotde.blogspot.com

For those readers based around the world, your correspondents at dotde.blogspot.com would like to let you know of events that are in the near future. T-shirts and signed portraits may be available at many of the locations listed below.

12/2/05-12/3/05 -- J! will be on the road in Münster, playing in an ultimate with a local Mainzer team. Though he hears there are some great cathedrals there, he'll probably run around and sleep in a gym for two nights, only venturing into the parking lot on the way out.

12/7/05 -- Arrr, D's brother (and a pirate's favorite), flies in for a month in beautiful Germany. While destinations have yet to be selected, J!, D, and Arr might travel outside the Mainz vicinity, possibly to stay a night somewhere (gasp) else. This also provides a brief period of time when J! won't necessarily have the worst German in the country. Though this might not actually occur, if Arrr already knows "Bitte" and "Danke."

12/14/05-12/31/05 -- Again, Dotde's J! will travel back across the Atlantic for two weeks in Western Massachusetts. Check back during this period to read updates on his short reintegration into the English-speaking world.

12/23/05 -- The entire I family, including those T's (minus R-Co), fly into Frankfurt for a crip winter cruise up the Rhine. What will happen when natives of Phoenix mingle with icicles? How soon until one blurts out "Ich bin kalt!"? Revisit Dotde during this seven day trip to read up on their adventures, if, of course, D's fingers nimble up a bit to make this a possibility.

Happy Birtday, Sister M!

Love, J!

(German treats coming soon (they wouldn't let me ship the alcohol!)--you'll be glad to know that you shared your birthday with *Sandwich Day!!!* here in Mainz)

Funny when someone from your new company signs you up for their early holiday celebration, and you have no idea what it is. You're driven out to the German countryside, and find yourself touring the castle-ish type residence of a coworker, having a glass sekt put in your hand, and then tasting seven or so of the thirty wines they make on site.

It's not like I could find my way back, nor have I the means or the means to do so. But it was a wonderfully disorientating and unpredictable trip.