08.11.2013 04:00
The first thing I did on Saturday was sleeping in. I think that it is really hard to get up that early during the week, so I did not get up before 10 o`clock.
At 1 o`clock I met five of the German students and some of their partners at the Plainfield Indoor Water Park. The Park was smaller than we all expected, and most of the kids were much younger than our students. However, there was one big slide and a lazy river, which I personally enjoyed for some time, and I hope that the group enjoyed spending time together. It seemed to be a popular place for birthday parties, and Johanna`s host sister Anna (she turned 13) and my host sister Carolyn (she turned 8) both celebrated their birthdays there and had invited a bunch a friends. Especially the little girls kept me and Mr Ziliak quite busy, but I also had enough time to finish reading my novel.
There are some differences that I noticed between the German pools I know and the Plainfield Indoor Water Park, e.g.
- you have to bring your own lock for your locker
- there are lifeguards all over the place; they watch everybody all the time
- people who do not want to swim can walk around the pool in their normal shoes
- there are no “Rudelduschen” (I have no idea what that is in English...)
After the Water Park we went home, and Carolyn`s friends all had pizza and birthday cake. The birthday cake was a real eye-catcher (see photo):
As it was going to be a pyjama party, the kids all stayed for the night, and I decided to go out with Mr Ziliak. We went to the movies and ended up in a karaoke bar afterwards. I just said that I do not know any American songs (which is nearly true) and managed to get away with that...
On Sunday morning the little girls were still at our house. We played some board games and went outside for a while. The weather was fantastic: lots of sun
shine and blue sky. Carolyn practiced how to ride a bike without training wheels.
In the afternoon we went shopping in a mall. I still haven`t got used to going shopping on Sundays (see photo2). I bought a cute outfit for my little nephew and some boots for myself. Carolyn got some new clothes.
On Sunday night we were invited to dinner by Mr Dawn`s mother. It was interesting to see what other American houses look like from the inside. In this particular house there is a Christmas tree in the living room. It is always there, 365 days a year! We had pumkin pie for desert (see photo 3). According to the elderly lady it is one of the American Thanksgiving traditions they have here. Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. It started in 1863, during the Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national holiday of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens". There are 
usually big family reunions and baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table. Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, various fall vegetables and pumpkin pie come with the turkey. You have never had pumpkin pie before? Well, here comes a recipe for you, but make sure that you find out about the correct temperature (they have got Fahrenheit here) and the size of a cup:
Cook time: 1 hour Yield: Serves 8.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of canned pumpkin purée
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
- 1 good crust
.Method
1 Preheat oven to 425°F. 2 Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.3 Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.4 Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. Note that the pumpkin pie will come out of the oven all puffed up (from the leavening of the eggs), and will deflate as it cools. Serve with whipped cream. (Source: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/suzannes_old_fashioned_pumpkin_pie/, 10.11.2013)
Before I went to bed I suddenly realized that I hadn`t sent off my postcards yet. I`ve had them in my purse (that is the American word for “handbag”) for days, but I have to admit that I do not even know what American mailboxes (that is the American word for postbox) look like. They are probably neither yellow like in Germany, nor red like in the UK. I mentioned the problem to Mrs Dawn, and she told me to put the postcards into the curbside mailbox in front of their house and to put the red flag up. In America the mailman usually does not only deliver the mail, he also collects outgoing mail. That`s pretty handy, isn`t it? And some people even decorate their mailboxes; you can e.g. buy fall or Christmas decoration that is especially made for the decoration of American mailboxes (see photos 4 and 5).
KH
