Relatives

Aunts, uncles and cousins from Mom's side

Aunt Andrea, Natascha (Mom's cousin), Mom, Aunt Maria, Uncle Jakob - watching Elona paint her piece in a collaborative painting.


Dauft kaun onse Urgroosma's seete Stemm nomoake: "...en lieber
Heilaunt, moak daut tjeena nich veloare jeet; daut aula aula onsre ons em Himmel wada seene..."

My cousins Jan and David

With these guys I can reminisce of adolescent summers, when we went cherry picking for extra cash. We labored so hard, and then wasted buckets-full on spontaneous cherry fights. (This happened on one particular Sunday afternoon, and I remember we utterly ruined our church clothes.)




Jakob's aunt










Our family with Uncle Willi's family, circa 1999









At Tante Miche's table










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My cousins Jonas, Lukas, Zhora, David, Eddy

Erna

My look-alike aunt

Uncle Jascha's Family

"Russlanddeutsche Christen"

I learned some new words.

Stammtisch

I was telling my cousin in Germany about a group of gals that I meet with every Friday at a certain tea house. "We call that a Stammtisch," she told me. Soon I was telling other friends about my Stammtisch, and their eye-brows raised and their eyes went big. "You drink?" they asked.

I guess Stammtische are usually located in a bar.

Tippelei

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The Tippelei is a journey certain tradesmen in Germany must make. Everyone on the Tippelei must wear traditional clothing and may own only what he can carry on his back with strips of leatherMy cousin Eddy on the Tippelei

Armut

My grandpa was telling me how people had integrity back in his day. The key to their intact marriages, he said, was "Armut." I didn't know the word Armut, but from the conversation, I gathered it was something really great, and something my generation doesn't have.

So as soon as I got the chance, I looked up the word.

It means neediness. It means adversity. It means deprivation.

Vor er starb, sagte er noch zu mir....

Opa: Du wirst eine gute Mutter sein.

Ich: Ich? Ich hab noch viel zu lernen!

Opa: Gerade Du.

Auf seiner Beerdigung, sagten viele das er ihnen ein ermutigendes Wort gab.

With my cousin at Grandpa's funeral

Dad and his siblings singing "only a guest on earth"