German July 4th

This was our first Fourth of July celebration without fireworks, country music, or a park full of people decked out in red, white, and blue. Despite missing some good old American patriotism, it was nonetheless a great day!

Before the day really began, James roused the four of us into singing a spirited version of the Star Spangled Banner (with James taking the high parts), including impromptu marching, saluting the curtains as a flag, and fabricated cymbal crashes. That was about as much a part of the American way of the holiday we spent celebrating our independence.

As noted in the previous blog post, we started the day with bread and coffee, then made our way out for a stroll around the pedestrian shopping district, enjoying the simple ability to walk around outside in a city. Since the weather here has been pleasant, we made our way to an outdoor cafe, and had baguette sandwiches with locally brewed pilsner beer, and read our books, wrote in journals, and watched the good-looking Germans riding their bikes or walking their dogs.

James at the Turmchen cafe

After spending a few hours relaxing at Turmchen cafe, we met back up with the Muellers at the apartment for a nice 6-mile run in the nearby forest we had previously run in. Although James and I have been mainly confined to gym workouts and treadmill runs over the past year, we have felt in good enough shape to partake with Linden and Rob as Linden is training for the Berlin Marathon (26.2 miles) in September. The forest running has been amazing for our eyes, souls, and legs! We have truly enjoyed our time outdoors, in the soft, lush, green forest with a safe, wide running path. (more on running in a future post)

Running in the German forest

After the run, we went to an end-of-year barbeque at Linden's university. It was Linden's last day of school for the semester, and her coworkers wanted to celebrate. With a few exceptions, her coworkers were mainly German or Scottish. So the food was German: meats, breads, and potato salads (no true barbeque flavors, mainly bratwursts with mustards and lots of--you guessed it--good bread) and the entertainment was Scottish.

Chunky playing the bagpipes

One of the Scottish blokes (nickname: Chunky. Pasttime? Hill running) had brought along his set of bagpipes, and he was really good at it! After serenading the Americans with the three American songs he knew (Amazing Grace, Star Wars, and In the Jungle), some of the other Scottish teachers suggested dancing, so we moved ourselves to a nearby patch of land for some true dancing--Scottish style!

Before Chunky started up his bapipes again, he taught us all how to "Strip the Willows," a male/female separated dance, focused on couples, pair-by-pair. First, the woman strips the willows (dances a short jig with each man in the line). Next, the man strips the willows on the female side of the dance line. Finally, each partner goes down, stripping the willows on each sides, and jigging with their partner in the middle in between each new person in the line. It was breathtaking, and quite an exercise! After, we were also impressed with Chunky playing the bagpipes the whole time!

Nicolas and I "stripping the willows"
(A Scottish partner dance to bagpipes)

James and Anike stripping the willows

Rob and Dominic stripping the willows

After the party, we walked over to the Mueller's friends' house to chat a bit before heading home. It was another full, fun-filled day!

Chunky let Linden try the bagpipes...
With Linden's clarinet background, she impressed us all!