ShenanINGRAMS

I have a small family, by most worldly standards.  I have one brother and he has a wife and 3 kids.  Joe has one sister, and she has a husband and one child.  So I have 1 nephew and 3 nieces.  Ken, my brother, is my polar opposite.  It's amazing that 2 people can create siblings who are so vastly different.  Don't get me wrong, the things that really matter are very similar...our love of family and our faith...but our personalities are just different.  He always told me that I needed to be a lawyer because I argue so much.  I disagree.  I don't argue.  I'm just opinionated and not "skeered" to say it.  He also says that I constantly got him into trouble.  He fails to mention the various apparatus that he tried talking me into sticking into a light socket.  Yes, I did drive him into a bob-wire fence, but honest to goodness, that rooster was gonna get us!  I just HAD to look over my shoulder.  Fortunately, Ken's shrill scream let everyone know what a bad dri...

We finally figured out why the German we're learning from the books isn't translating out in public.  We live in southern Germany, and they have what the locals call "farmer-speak."  In other words, "hick."  We have been studying high-German, which is a very proper way of speaking, and they just don't talk that way.  I guess it's similar to the southern U.S. where we have our own way. The proper thing to say might be something like, "In a few moments, I will venture to the store for sustenance."  What we REALLY say is, "I'm fixin' to go get some grub."  So, I don't feel so bad about my inability to communicate effectively.   On the way to Cochem Castle we stopped to go to the restroom.  We had learned, "Wo ist Bad" for "where is the bathroom," but when Joe walked in and said that, the guy behind the counter said, in very broken English, "I no speak English."  I said, "We're speaki...

2 weeks ago we went to a medieval city called "Rothemberg," pronounced "Rotten burg."  It is a completely walled city that still has arrow slits.  It was neat to see, but they've turned the inside to kind of a tourist trap.  We happily walked into it.  There were beautiful gardens and the view from the city walls was pretty spectacular.  The churches were gorgeous.   Yesterday, April 26th, we took a drive to Cochem Castle.  You should look it up online.  It's beautiful!  Luke and Scott, our 2 Lieutenants that we've semi-adopted, drove ahead of us.  It's quite challenging to follow them.  When we stop, we remind Scott that we do NOT have a sports car.  Most of the roads on the way there were mountain roads, not autobahn.  The autobahn, by the way, isn't so scary now.  You just have to follow the rules and go slightly faster than you would in the states.  Anyway, we got to see the Castle from different sides due to the road that wound around the mo...