Gemutlichkeit

Monica, one of the "little" girls from my DC dance group got married this past weekend - okay, she's 22 but I still remember when she actually was little- how could I possibly know kids who are getting married when I haven't aged at all??!! Yeah, it makes me think I should feel old but really I still don't.

Anyway, the wedding was an opportunity for us to leave the kids behind - Josh had another action packed ( Bible School, batting cage, miniature golf, going out for dinner and playing with their neighbor's son) vacation with my Mom and Dad and Dima stayed here at our house with Chris's Mom and Dad since their house isn't ready yet. He did a lot of goofing around our yard picking new plants to go into our front landscaping and then and helping to water, water, water.

We stayed with friends and had a nice time hanging out on Friday night then on Saturday it was great to see everyone and to have a chance to catch up with people that I haven't talked to in a while. Even when we've returned to the area to do shows we didn't have that kind of time to sit around and talk since we're usually chasing kids when they're with us and when a show's going on it's hard to really talk.

Of course the bride was beautiful - she's always happy and perky any way and seemed to be having a great time. I was glad to be there for the wedding and later there was an after-party at the groom's house that was awesome and truly the meaning of Gemutlichkeit -a difficult-to-describe-in-words feeling of warm friendliness; amicability. The elder Joe Smeill (a world-class musician who teaches button box camps each summer) was playing his button box accompanied by our friend Mark Meuschke and his tuba and then the younger Joe brought out a clarinet. Wow, wow, wow what great, spontaneous music! For me that was one of the highlights of the day. They not only played the usual German stuff but a wide variety of music. Monica and I ended up dancing in the living room that really didn't have a whole lot of space. That was a lot of fun.

When the guys do this kind of dance they all face each other and I think it's a male bonding experience for them. For the girls you're definitely aware of the other girls but you don't see each other like the guys do while you're spinning so you have to do other things together to get to know each other. In my old group I had the little girls - they're STILL little to me - braid my hair whenever possible and I've tried to do that in the new group too cause it gives you time to sit together and time to talk and catch up on what's going on with each other. That feeling of friendship is really what Gemutlichkeit is all about.

We - the DC group - have hosted some German groups as they've come through town and as well as taking them to the touristy stuff we'd also host a regular American picnic of some kind and once the eating part and official welcomes and all that are done we tend to get the musicians to start playing informally and then people start dancing then that's when you see and take part in the real deal - people who don't necessarily speak the same language spinning and learning from each other. Learning all kinds of things from information about the dances and our costumes and even different ways to braid each others' hair.

The guys in Alt Washingtonia have gotten together for at least as long as I've been around to do the Gamsprung everytime we get together for a special event or visit someplace. The dance has been done at all kinds of locations - including Chris dong it on a glacier in Alaska, at the MCI center in DC, on the steps of the Capitol building and for lots of celebrations. One of these days I want to start a list of all the places it's been done since I'm sure it's pretty impressive. Anyway, as we were on our way out of he afterparty and I rounded up the guys to dance and the only place big enough was the cul de sac in front of the house and so the neighbors got a free show! After the bride and I provided the music for the dance (da-da-da-da dadada dadadadada dadadadada.... )I had to get going since the couple we were staying with drove us there and they were already in the car ready to go as soon as the dance was finished but I would have loved to stay since I saw them starting another dance as we were driving away. That's the stuff I miss about that group.


One thing about that area I don't miss at all is the humidity. Saturday morning when we got up the temp was 78 and the humidity was 81% oy, that's muggy! They said that the weekend was exceptional but I think especially since I'm not acclimated to it anymore it felt oppressive every time you went outside. I dressed in a dirndl for the wedding and couldn't wait to get out of it but didn't bring along anything to change into so I was literally looking up and down the aisles of the Giant grocery store for a Centreville, VA tourist shirt while the guys stopped for beer. Since there were no clothing stores handy and no tourist stuff either I thought I was out of luck until I remembered that the little girls from the group sometimes give me hand-me-down clothes. I asked once we got to the party and was glad that they think of me when getting rid of their old - sometimes still with tags clothes. At least I didn't have to wear the layers and layers of costume, slip, bloomers, and tights. We had our shoes off anyway - apparently a rule of the house - where the entryway full of shoes reminded me of the Sex and the City episode where they have to take theirs off at a party.

After the after party we had another gathering at out hosts house with another family from the group and one of Chris's former hockey teammates and his family - again a different group to talk to and lots to catch up on - for me anyway - Miss Sarah needs to start her own blog so I can read hers since she's a reader of mine and already knew what we're up to. Right now she's preparing for vet school and she should write down stuff to read through later and so we know what she's going through in the name of helping animals. And keep us up to date on after- midnight trips to the Alamo - or I guess whatever's local at the new school. Saturday night was full of some funny, funny moments and I discovered the magic of a flat iron - yes Sarah, I have one now and will think of you when I use it- it's great!!

I'm glad we'll be back to visit the group in August for the Hottestoberfest or Augustoberfest in Hagerstown, MD the kids will be with us then so the group can see them again and Josh and Dima can hopefully get up and dance with them again. Through the course of the weekend we did get to see all of our kids' Godparents and though it would have been nice for the boys to see them too it's just as well so we had time to pay attention to our friends.