Countryside Cleaning

Once again, we had a delightful breakfast of rolls with either butter, meat, and cheese, or nutella, or peanut butter, or jelly, or whatever mixture of those you desired. Our goal for the day was to prepare the "barn" for Katrina's rehearsal dinner/reception. We drove from East Germany to West Germany, passing the needle, Checkpoint Charlie, and several other historic sights (including the airport that Americans and others would airdrop food when the people were surrounded and starving). As we drove, it also started pouring down rain...as has been the weather's custom these last few days. Usually, I don't prefer rainy weather, but this rain is both warm and includes fantastic lightning shows! I tried to take a picture of the lightning but my timing isn't that good.

The "barn" is located in the middle of a green field and next to a "petting zoo" of pigs, goats, and horses. I say "barn" because it looks like a barn, but when you enter, you feel like you've been transported to the dining hall of a king in medieval times! There is a huge fireplace, stone floors, wooden tables and chairs, old artifacts randomly distributed about the room, and tall candle-holders with about 12 candles on each. Unfortunately, it was also very dusty, dirty, and disorganized (probably another reason it felt like the Medieval times, but that is not the look Katrina is going for). So we got to work. We swept and vacuumed the floor (which took a couple hours...no joke), cleared cobwebs, hung up pictures of Katrina and Marco, rearranged the furniture, and counted plates/silverware/cups. At one point, I was sweeping the corners of the room so the person vacuuming could easily clean the dirt. A jolly, older German man entered the room, said something German and laughed (so I politely smiled) and walked out. I turned around to Lukas who was standing near me and he simply shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "well...that was interesting." I also ran into a scary spider (and we all know how much I love spiders!) which Lukas observed as a dangerous one and kindly killed it for me.

Some of the friendly pigs:

Before we deep cleaned/while we were organizing tables:

The Barn

Suzie sweeping cobwebs

At about 2:30, we declared the room ready, knowing that the decorations and table settings would be distributed Saturday. We were also hungry so we decided to stop for lunch on the way home. One of the best things I remember about Germany was eating a Doner (kind of pronounced dooner). It is best categorized as Mediterranean cuisine, but the only time I've ever had it is in Germany and it is amazing! (It's a pita, filled with meat, some veggies, and a yummy sauce) We quickly stopped to grab food, so Stephen, Suzie, Lukas, and I braved the torrential rain to run across the street for a Doner. Just as I remembered, it was absolutely delicious.

The rest of the evening has been so much fun hanging out. With the Kinzel family (Mrs. Andreson's side of the family), the Andresons, Carissa White, her dad, Lukas, Suzie, Marco, Stephen, and I all in one house, there is never a dull moment. A couple of us played hearts for awhile, until dinner. Then a few of us girls chatted while Suzie experimented on Stephanie's gorgeous hair. Now we'll probably watch Father of the Bride and head to bed. :)  Good night!