music makes life beautiful!

Some updates from the past week or so...

Halloween in germany is a relatively new thing. kids come dressed up to the door and ask sweet or sour? and if you dont give them something sweet, ralfs dad said something about them slapping or hitting or doing something 'sour' back. so its not really common. its more common to revere the day of the dead and care for graves of loved ones on the 1st of november.

We went to visit Katie in Douai last weekend and fell in love with this northern city of France and i fell in love with the belfry of the city. In the top of it rests a 62 bell carillon, that plays such delicate and pretty chimes. try finding a you tube video of it, the sound is so great! we had a lovely time with katie walking around and seeing her life teaching english in middle schools.

when we went to see ralfs parents on saturday, we also picked up some of his many drums so he can start practicing for November 11th, the official beginning of Carnival in Koeln. its going to be crazy!! we also figured that if the baby comes on time or later, we will also be able to go to the carnival in koeln this coming february and experience this rich tradition, dancing and making music and partying in the streets, i think i will paint my big belly too. maybe its too cold? we will see.

along with the drums we picked up ralfs grandfathers ACCORDION!! from the 1950's as i have always wanted to learn this instrument and have time to do so right now. its so beautiful and not to big for me or my belly! it has a lovely sound. i asked if i could by one i saw for sale last week as i was missing france and ralf said 'oh! we have one already!!'
i can play the notes for jingle bells as of today!

also, not related to music, we are realizing this is really not a healthy place to be living for us as the man ralf works for/rents us the place is super controlling and really crazy. His support of gun use for protection, his ideas to put up cameras so that 'big brother is watching everything' and his fear of every person makes this place feel very uncomfortable for me and ralf. even in the work ralf does, the man doesnt like to throw anything away, even if its broken or rotting and says oh i can use it for something else. but he has three houses/barns full of stuff that i really dont think anyone will ever use. i want and need to have a freezer to start making chicken and beef stock, meals to pull out easily that are healthy and good so i dont spend so much time cooking, especially as the due date gets nearer. so how much longer we will be here is unsure. but finding a job is the difficult part right now and we will start doing more intensive searching over the next few weeks. while everything is still so expensive there are very few jobs available.

the midwife came over on wednesday and took my blood, to get a mutter pass, a required document to get money from the state and other agencies. i cant remember the last time i had my blood taken! its been so long!! we also heard the heart beat from the umbilical cord and from the back. very strong and fast compared to my much slower pulse. baby is kicking strong and hard letting its presence be know all the time. it makes me giggle sometimes how funny it feels! the care and freedom i feel during pregnancy is so great. i just watched this video and encourage you to as well- it makes me so angry there is not wide spread knowledge of the safety of homebirth and midwifery care.

http://vimeo.com/6182741

hopefully my visa will come in the next few weeks?!! until then i am happy learning a new instrument with a beautiful sound.

cheers!