Can we say Danke for the sausage?!

I promised myself that I was going to go completely vegetarian this
summer. Lately I had just been eating chicken for the past couple
months to get a little protein. Well, that went out the window when I
went to Germany because every single meal we were offered had some sort of tasty sausage!
That is right. I was never a big fan before, but oh my goodness it was amazing. I
tried about five different kinds and while India and I were there we
had sausage at least every meal. It is not a hot dog my friend,
they have those too, but they had sausages with chicken, pork, beef and all very different and very tasty.
To begin: India and I found each other in the Hamburg airport on Tuesday (thank
goodness) and the wonderful Kirsten (Ina's sister) picked us up at the
airport. She was just as I remembered her five years ago when I saw
her with her father in Malaga, Spain except now her English was even
better! I was so impressed! Almost everyone speaks English in
Germany, which makes me feel like a heal because I wish I spoke
German. I tried my best to learn what I could, but very often I just
kept saying Danke, Danke...which means thank you. Believe it or not I
was so thankful for the entire five days I was in Germany. The
Brammer family are the most giving people in the entire world. They
had no reservations about letting us stay in their home for three
nights four days before the wedding! Amazing! They were the most
impeccable hosts showing us around Hamburg, Leunaburg (spelling) and
the village of Raven. (sounds like Rafen.) Not to mention they were the calmest I have every seen a family before a wedding. Every thing went so smoothly and right on schedule. But I digress...here is
how it all began with the German wedding of a life time.
Tuesday:
We arrived in the village of Raven: population 250. The main occupation of this region is farming. Ina's father is a serious farmer as well as everyone else in the community. When we arrived we were welcomed by rosy brick buildings and multiple barns built out of wood and brick. It was just how I imagined a village in Germany would be. I am not surprised that Ina over 10 years ago when she came to Central High School, oh my gosh, was well adjusted to the farm country of the Shenandoah Valley. She went from one farm land to another. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the families in Woodstock, Virginia came from Germany. Ina's house has been owned by the Brammer family for over 200 years and there is a tree in their front yard that is over 300 years old. Can we say, older than our country? The gardens that they have in front of their house are beautiful and I couldn't help but notice the very cute goats that the neighbors had next door. To think that in Africa I will be eating goat...eek!
We were shown around Ina's gorgeous house with beautiful paintings that were made by her mother. When we went upstairs India and I were shown to our room with a double bed. In Germany they had blankets that I was not familiar with. I wasn't sure if I got in them correctly, but they fold them in half on the bed. They are extremely fluffy so I decided just to leave half for underneath me and one half for over top so I was like a pig in a blanket! Later I found from Ina that it is not the way they do it, but India and I insisted to continue with the tradition of being like a sausage all cozy in the blanket.
That night there was to be a party. The entire village was invited to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Ina and Stefan. It was, as I like to call it, the breaking of the plates party! I am going to bust out my favorite phrase 'it was amazing!' As soon as you arrive you bring old plates and pots that you don't care about and you throw them up against a stone and they break into a thousand pieces. This is good luck for the bride and groom because it scares all of the ghosts away. At the end of the evening the bride and the groom have to clean it all up. It was a great way to get out aggression and then after you throw the plate you take a shot with the bride and groom. The bride and groom had to greet and witness every guest that came to the party. I was so impressed with stefan and ina's stamina. :) They were great hosts. The party was outside, but we also could go inside a building that was an old sheep barn, but now it was converted into a dance floor and bar. Talk about a great idea. There was an open bar and sausage served all evening. India and I were downing the coca colas as we had not adjusted to the time zone yet. Not only did we meet all of Ina's family, but the entire village as well. We met her grandmother who we all fell in love with. She didn't speak any english, but she knew one phrase, 'I love you!' I found that ironic because the only phrase in German that I knew at the time was 'I love you' as well. So we just kept going back and forth saying I love you to each other. She is a dear woman. Love truly is the universal language.
Well, India and I discovered that night that Germans know how to dance! (also Ina's now husband Stefan is a professional ballroom dancer so they definitely showed us all up.) But everyone of all ages were out on the dance floor. I got kind of, lets call it, 'stuck' with neighbor Frank for a very long time on the dance floor. We had a lot of fun, but he definitely kept asking the American Girls to dance. India at one point even called me over and we all began to dance together. You owe me India. :) It was a great night. We definitely slept really well that night, but decided to get up early the next morning and trek through Hamburg!
Wednesday
Ina's brother and sister Kirsten and Andreas took us on a tour of Hamburg. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and you can definitely tell because it is very metropolitan. It also has the 6th largest port in the world so we took a boat tour of the port and admired all the ships coming into the city. It was great to be on the water and enjoy the amazing weather. We then walked around the city and enjoyed the shops, walked around the river, stopped at starbucks, (which has only been in Germany the past two years), visited the town hall and tried to avoid birds as much as possible. India has finally found a soul mate of a fellow fear of birds. Her and Kirsten would shy away at every bird we met and Andreas and I did our best to save them from the 'flying rats' as Andreas liked to call them. We tried fish and chips and at the end of the day Turkish food filled with doner. I wasn't sure what that was at first, but India and I were relieved to discover that it was lamb. Whew!
Thursday
Mr. Brammer decided he would show us around his farm. We got in his jeep and off we went through the vast potato fields. It had not rained the moth of may so it had his own irrigation system. It was a good thing he did because he has over 500 acres of land filled with sugar beets, potatoes, barley, a yellow flower that creates oil (I forgot what it was called) and wheat. What more could you ask for? We actually did have some of their home grown potatoes for lunch one day and they were honestly the best potatoes I had ever had! They were filled with so much flavor, I could have eaten them all day long.
Later that day we met up with Ina and Stefan at their apt. It was great to see where they both lived and look at old photo albums from the Central High School days. It is amazing how much we have grown up in ten years! We then went out and explored the town of Luneburg where Ina and Stefan live. This city is exactly what I imagined a German city to look like. It is one of the few cities that was not destroyed in WWII so it is very historic and the buildings are all very old. Stefan insisted that we have the best cheese, bread, and sausage at the market so we took a break from walking and had a little picnic near the market. It really was amazing. When you add cheese to the mix I am never going to complain. We then walked to the top of a water tower that looked out over the city. It was completely filled with red brick houses and trees. It was quite beautiful.
On our way to dinner (yes, we decided to eat again) we passed a US store. I was very curious and was very disturbed to find that it was filled with army figures and camouflage. Is this what Europe thinks of the US? It is only filled with the idea that we are a military? I was very concerned. So of course we took a picture of me looking very confused.
For dinner we had curried sausage (yes more sausage) but it was so good! What has happened to me? I am loving meat! :) We had a great time catching up over dinner.
Friday
The next day Kirsten showed us around the village where the wedding took place. Also where our hotel was located. We hiked through the woods and walked around a very large lake. It was so peaceful. Kirsten explained to us that every year they choose a queen of the villages that reins for one year. It reminded me of the beauty pageant at the Shenandoah County fair. Some cultures really do overlap. That evening Ina and Stefan took us to our hotel and we went out to dinner and got some ice cream. There is something about the European ice cream. It is so much better, in my opinion than the ice cream in the states. It has so much flavor. It just so happened that it was strawberry season in the northern part of Germany so I was getting strawberries on everything!!! I couldn't get enough of them! It was another great day in the land of Germany and the next day was the all day wedding!!!
Saturday The Day of the Wedding!
Traditionally in Germany the couple goes to the court house to get married before they have the church ceremony in front of all of their guests. India and I were privileged enough to join Ina and Stefan's immediate family for the civil ceremony. It was very emotional, we were in a room and their was a minister who said a bit about them and gave them their vows. There was not a dry eye in the house. For this event we wore a more casual dress, but had to be prepared for the church ceremony where we got all done up! This started at 10:00 in the morning. The best man and the maid of honor signed the marriage certificate and they were married in front of their closest friends and family. Then when they came out of the court house we all threw rice, drank champagne and they had to saw a log together. I am not sure what that symbolized, but it was great to see them all dressed up, sawing away at the log and working together as a team. We all left the court house and arrived at Ina's house to have tasty wedding soup for lunch. At home
my grandmother used to say however many meat balls you got in your soup is how many children you are going to have. Well, um....I am going to have an army then if that is true. It got at least 20 in my soup! We then had some more champagne and then got ready to go to the church. The church is right down the road from Ina's house and it is over 500 years old! It really was beautiful. When Ina walked in her wedding dress with her father I got chills. She was so beautiful. Traditionally the father doesn't give the bride away in Germany, but Ina wanted her father to give her away. He said to Stefan, the love for a daughter is like the love for his wife. It grows like a rose and now I am giving you my rose and please take care of her as I did. (It was something along those lines in German.) The only thing that India and I could truly understand were the songs that were sung in English. But the meaning behind what was being said was clear. I have never seen such a happy couple. As we processed out of the church, everyone from the village was waiting outside with rope that ran across the road. They were hold up the rope to stop the bride and group and they were supposed to give them candy, champagne or a gift. It was hilarious. We had to stop so many times for people in the streets. Can you imagine if we had to walk through the entire town of Woodstock, or NYC?!
We then celebrated at Ina's house all afternoon drinking more champagne and then the real party began! It was time to go to the hotel and celebrate! We got in our cars and drove to our destination!
The party was amazing! We really had the best table. They were all our age and all spoke English and were very happy to do so. They informed us of everything that was going on. There were speeches from multiple family members and lots of dancing. When it finally came to throw Ina's flowers all the girls hesitantly got in a clump, but no one wanted it! We then decided to blind fold Ina and get in a circle around her, when the music stopped she threw it. She threw it right at her brother's girl friend who was standing next to me but she dodged out of the way so it went between us! I went to pick it up to give it to her, but then everyone cheered that I was going to have a wedding in America and everyone was invited. I said, 'no, you got the wrong girl, this isn't for me!'. Everyone knew though that it truly belonged to Andrea's girl friend. I later gave her the flowers and told her I couldn't possible take them to Uganda. She laughed and she took them. The truth is, she is probably the next one to be married! My favorite part of the evening was when they played the West Virginia song. 'Take me home, country road.' It was so surreal! Ina and her father sang and danced to it we me and India. Who would have thought that we were be dancing to that song in Germany. :) The party continued into the night and at 2AM they gave us all a snack, can you guess what it was? That is right, meat and cheese! We also cut the cake and ate more strawberries. I don't think I had eaten that much in one day since....well....maybe Spain. :)
India and I decided to go to bed at 2:30 cause we had to get up at 6:30 to leave for the airport at 7:00. I can't believe how quickly the time went and how many things we saw and people we met. I have to say that without a doubt that the Brammer family is amazing! But no longer is Ina named Ina Brammer, but Ina Merker. Best wishes to them and may I return to the land of sausages once again!