I Just Want To Celebrate

Last weekend we attended three outdoor events. The first was the Fourth of July festival on Patch Barracks. It wasn’t particularly ambitious, well-attended or fun. And even though I love German food, I was disappointed to see only wursts there and no traditional Independence Day hamburgers or hot dogs. Luke and I were home asleep before fireworks, but Dave and Claire snuggled on a blanket and enjoyed a good show.

The next day we attended a 4-km hike and picnic with Luke’s kindergarten. That was fun except that I mis-translated the announcement and thought we were supposed to bring tongs and meat to put on a grill. Instead, we were to bring knives to carve long sticks to cook meat over a campfire. Oops. Chicken legs don’t cook well on twigs, so we just ate salad and bread. No big deal. The kids really enjoyed the playground that they had. There was no bathroom, which was interesting with 100 little kids.

The next day we had the Katherinenfest at St. Kat’s Church in Stuttgart. It was a mixed gathering with our English-speaking Anglican congregation and the Old Catholic German congregation. I had made an awesome buttermilk chocolate cake, the kind that my Mississippi grandmother might have taken to our little white clapboard Methodist church in the woods back home. I knew that it wouldn’t be like an old-timey Southern church social, but part of me really hoped it would feel like one.

The church service was bilingual, and it was great that we had a written translation of the sermon. We were told the kids “just had to” go to the children’s service during the sermon, but it ended up just being a table with crayons. After church we went out and bought tickets to buy food, which consisted of catered German wursts and potato salad. There was really no place to sit. Because a king years ago gave the church land for its building and not the surrounding grounds, the church had to rent its own lawn from the city. There was so much dog poop (like in France) on the grounds that we couldn’t find a place to put our picnic blanket. We tried to put it on the sidewalk, but we were told it was a public pathway. There were a few tables, but not nearly enough. So we had to balance our glass plates and cups and try to eat that way. When it came time for dessert and coffee, we had to buy that too. So I had to buy a piece of my own cake to see if it came out okay. I’d much rather have made a flat donation up front and been done with it, but that’s not the way it works here. Oh, and did I mention that it poured rain? I did not feel very warm and fuzzy about the whole experience.

Next year I think we will go away for July 4th weekend like all of our American friends did. If we’re not going to be in America for the 4th of July, it really doesn’t matter where we are.