January 2011

In January Neil completed a two training session in San Antonio and will be doing a follow-up two week session in April.  He is obtaining the skills to transport wounded soldiers via airplane from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Force Base/Landstuhl Hospital for the first leg of transport.  Then for the second leg of transport after stabilization and brief recovery the wounded soldiers will then leave Germany to go to Andrews Air Force Hospital in the DC area.  He is enthused about his new mission.  While Neil was gone Ansley insisted on buying her father gummy life savers for his "care package".  Her memories of care packages hearken back to the days from Nov 2009- May 2010, the duration of time when Neil was deployed to Afghanistan.  

As soon as Neil returned from the US we decided to do a day trip to a nearby town, Idar-Oberstein.  The village is one of the centers of the gem/jewelry industry in Germany.  We parked in a typical German parking garage that should have a sign "Honey I shrunk the parking lot" with minature spaces that look like they should be for motorcycles instead of cars.  Next we went to the shopping center and perused the jewelry and rock vendors.  The next leg of our tour was to climb the stairs up the mountain to an Evangical church built into the hillside.  The vista of the church looked as if someone had blown a hole into the side of the mountain with dynamite.  Then a church was constructed to fit inside the hole.   

Idar-Oberstein at one point in history had its own source of agates.  German craftsman are skilled in hewing the agates.  Eventually the agate source was depleted and tradesmen turned to Brazil and Africa for the raw materials.  Eventually the relationship with Brazil and Africa led to the trade of a variety of gem stones.  

Bruce Willis was also born in the village.  I assume his parents were in the U. S. Military as well.  

The grand finale of the day was when we visited the "Schmuck" museum.  Schmuck is jewelry in German.  We decided to divide and conquer and took each toddler on a personal tour of the museum.  We drew straws and I chose Evan.  I have to say out of the three children he is the roughest around the edges at the moment,  mostly because of the developmental nature of a 2 1/2 year boy.  A gem museum is a giant hands-on zone. The stewards of the museum, clean cut, high quality German citizens (probably volunteers) followed us around with Windex and a paper towel as Evan made his way with hands prints on the glass cases.  In the display room with the looming over sized quartz crystal Evan felt compelled to reach beyond the rope and inside the three foot tall violet crystal geodes.  I winced as one of the enormous geodes teetered back and forth.  How could something that was a thousand pounds and made of stone rock back and forth thanks to a minuscule push from our dear toddler?

Idar-Oberstein

Most intriguing in the museum were iridescent stones, hand carved with Greek figures and characters from the Goethe novels.  Germans had a 17th century obsession with the story of Dr. Faust. The protagonist is an accomplished scholar and comfortable in the world.  Yet his dissatisfaction still looms.  As a result, he makes a deal with the devil and bargains for magic to indulge in the pleasure and knowledge of the world.  In his evil personal exploration he manages to seduce, an attractive young maiden, Gretchen.  Eventually Gretchen is freed from his clutches.  One of the carvings depicts the damning deal between Dr. Faust and the devil.  

On our way out of the museum we spotted a Jewish memorial dedicated to all of the Jews in Idar-Oberstein that were deported or killed during WW2.  One could picture individuals being captured from their store fronts and row houses only to be sent away unknowingly to the concentration camps.  All of these individuals were every day folks trying to operate the local bakeries, banks, and so forth.  Names like Levy and Steinbeck were posted on the memorial.  The name Hestor Eckstein caught my eye, and as I gazed over to the nearest jewelry shop the name of the store read "H. Eckstein Schmuck".  

When Neil was deployed, I was pregnant with Colin.  I prayed to God that Colin would be similar to his Father. It is too early to tell but so far he has been all smiles and giggles.  He is now seven months and is crawling, saying mama and dada, and pulling up.  Up until now we have not know the color of his eyes.  They have been a generic baby blue.  Recently his eyes have been turning greener.  Maybe he will be like his father after all?

Colin 6 months

Several night ago as Evan was lying in bed retiring for the evening he told me "Mom I can't wait for breakfast.  It is just too long.  Can I have my cereal in the orange bowl tomorrow morning?" and he frequently asks "Can I dress up and be a Roman tomorrow morning?"