Laura Beth in Germany

The girl I tutor in English came for her lesson the other day and said, "we're learning about America in class now. My homework is to read a story about a real American high school!" Sounds amusing, yeah? We open her book and... the entire chapter is about Hermann, Missouri.     At some point, some text book author either visited the town or discovered it in his research, and now there's photos of Main Street, farmers, tourists, Octoberfest, and the festival hall. I couldn't believe my eyes! I said to Fabienne (the name of the girl I tutor), "I've been there , and there , and I danced the polka in there . I used to play [and lose] volleyball games at the Catholic gradeschool in Hermann when I was your age."   "Lots of people live on farms outside town." Vital information.     Obviously this made the homework more interesting for both of us, and I felt like a real expert on all things Midwestern/Missourian. Fabienne sai...

Altweiberfasching ("old lady carneval") is celebrated under many different names in different regions of Germany on the Thursday before Lent begins. In regions that go all-out for Carneval (a.k.a. Mardi Gras in St. Louis... but without the boobies), the ladies officially begin the festivities at 11:11 a.m. on Thursday by toasting champagne and then walking around the office with a giant pair of scissors, literally cutting off "male power symbols" (a.k.a. their ties). If you don't want your tie ruined, you have to pay up - either in cash, chocolate or alcohol. In the evening, all the women (and some men) go out to bars or party in the streets, dressed in costumes of all kinds. The traditional disguise is a clown, but it's just like Halloween - as time goes by, young people find ever sexier ways to dress up as a banana, penguin, police officer, etc. This year I attended the Altweiberfasching party in Beilstein with Margit and her friends (...