Technically this week’s blog update has no relevance to my “German Trip”, but I am posting anyway. There are actually some extremely informative cultural components of the post, so it works well.
I have been excited for this past weekend for just about a year now. Two of my best friends from St. Henry were married this weekend, and I was able to take a small “time-out” from Germany to travel home and partake in the celebration. This also gave me the great blessing of seeing my family again after a long draught of being apart from them physically for the past three months. It was awesome.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
I flew out of Munich at 10:00 AM on Wednesday this past week. The flight was around 8.5 hours, but I landed in New York at around 12:30 PM. Longest 2.5 hours ever! The time change did little to faze me… I was just happy to be back in the States! After multiple checkpoints through customs and a three hour layover, I boarded to fly to Dayton. At 7:00 PM, I was walking out where I started the journey back in March… and again, my family was there… only this time for a warm greeting and BIG hugs. We celebrated with some Skyline before driving an hour north back to St. Henry.
Since I had been away for so long, we had to make up for some lost time. My family had baked a cake so we could celebrate a few missed birthdays (and one to come!). Between my brother, sister, and I we are 63 years old!
Thursday, June 23, 2011 (Corpus Christi)
Today was chill with the family day. Despite a little cloudy weather, it was perfect. Between driving again and doing our typical Taco-Bell weekend dinner run, I couldn’t be happier to be home. Later in the evening, we sampled a few German goods I had brought home. I had to share some of that German beer and chocolate I had been talking about for the past few months! …we even had toast and Nutella before night’s end.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Today, wedding prep was underway. I spent the afternoon with the groom at his new house. He grilled up some good old fashion American beef patties (HAMBERGERS!), and we caught up after I got a quick tour of the couple’s new abode. We had the wedding rehearsal that night and I was able to see a lot of good friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Shock sort of hit when I realized I am now one of the only guys still in school! It was basically just awesome catching up though. Naturally spirits were high, and we were ready to get the show on the road!
Saturday, June 25, 2011 (Wedding Day)
Of all the days I was home, this one was the only perfectly gorgeous days in terms of weather. God spared us the clouds and rain and brought on sun with a cool breeze. I’ll summarize here by saying that the wedding was simply beautiful. A beautiful couple, a beautiful day, and God’s beautiful love. I mentioned that this blog had some cultural significance, so here it goes… The Mercer County Wedding.
In any country, you have culture in general… and then you have subcultures. The fun thing about Mercer County is that it has certain characteristics that do stand out, and some actually stem straight from our strong German heritage. For those of you reading this from home, this description may be old hat, but to those from out of the region or country, it could be interesting. Our wedding day typically rolls something like this…
The first order of business is the wedding mass. This is your typically wedding service in a church, but the mass is actually the most important component. Our region has a couple of other nicknames that give testament to the importance of faith in Midwest Ohio. One is simply, “God’s Country”. The other is “Land of the Cross Tipped Churches.” After many Germans immigrated to the Cincinnati area in the mid 1800s, many traveled north to develop farmland in Midwest Ohio. To support the faithful and the communities, churches with tall steeples were built in rather close proximity to each other. Mercer County is as flat as a pancake, so you can literally stand in certain areas of the countryside and see five or six steeples from surrounding towns. To tangent back, this wedding was in Cranberry, Ohio where the tiny church of St. Francis was built. In this small church, we had the wedding and witnessed our friends exchange vows before God.
Typically following the mass are pictures. Nothing unique here…
**Shameless Sales Pitch: My cousin Julie Link did the wedding pics. You can see her work at http://www.photobyjulie.blogspot.com/. Obviously the pics for this wedding are not up yet, but if you are looking for a good place to get some pictures taken, she does an EXCELLENT job!**
From this point, most wedding parties from our area will jump on a rented bus and do some bar-hopping before finding the reception hall. We had a bus, but basically we took some more offsite pictures with the time we had.
Following our wedding ceremonies, there is always a reception at a local K of C (Knights of Columbus) or American Legion Hall (could be anywhere, but these two are most popular). The wedding party arrives at the hall AFTER everyone else (family, friends, etc.) are already there. Total, we’re talking anywhere between 250 and 500 people on average. Anyway, the wedding party is announced, enters the hall, etc., etc. There is always a big banquet to start the night off. The newlyweds start things by cutting the cake which is usually followed by smashing it in each others’ faces. Adorable, right? Next, there is a prayer for the meal and toasts. These toasts are small “speeches” given by the best man and the maid of honor. …and then FINALLY dinner follows. Mercer County wedding dinners contain the staples served in a buffet style… fried chicken, mashed potatoes n’ gravy, noodles, stuffing, corn, and cake. Served at the bar is always Bud Light, Miller Light, and some sort of cheap mixed drink. All I can say is that the meals are always amazing. This wedding was especially incredible, because we had homemade ice cream and pie to supplement the cake. My dream come true…
Throughout dinner, it is also traditional to make the couple kiss by “klinking” your knife against your wine glasses. Also fun and sometimes amusing…
Once everyone is sufficiently full (i.e. all the gents have loosened their belt buckles one or two notches), it’s time to dance. We have the traditional first couple dance, bride-father dance, groom-mother dance, and bride-mother dances. After these, anything is fair game. In our region, we typically have at least two or three square dances. We learn these as student in middle school, and from what I hear, these are not so typical in the city. One of my friends brought an Indian student to the wedding as a date and it was his first American wedding. He thought it was awesome! I had to laugh when I heard my mom had even taught him how to square dance!
Outside of throwing the wedding bouquet and the bride’s garter, we have another tradition I believe is officially called the “Hog Trough Dance”. It has been morphed over time, but supposedly it goes like this… When a younger sibling gets married before the older one, it is bad luck for the new couple. To break the bad luck, the older sibling needs to dance in the trough until it breaks. Typically this involves more forceful action than simply “dancing”. It is hysterical to watch… especially when the trough is made particularly strong. It can also be dangerous if you are not careful!
So that is most everything… fried chicken, Bud Light, square dancing, and hog troughs… I love weddings!
Sunday, June 26, 2011 / Monday, June 27, 2011
I didn’t take too much time to recover after the wedding. I went to mass on Sunday morning with the family, and we had an American style brunch afterwards. Yes… real breakfast with eggs, bacon, and hash browns! I took off towards Dayton that afternoon for my 6:00 PM flight to Chicago. Goodbyes the second time around were no more cool than the first time. Isn’t there anyway to skip that part?? The good news is that it will be only two months until I see everyone again, so the more difficult half of being away is already over.
Jet lag on the way back to Germany was a little worse than going home. I lost six hours in transit, so I got back in Germany around lunch time. The good news is that I actually slept on the plane! Lufthansa is the BEST airline I have ever flown on! I flew economy class, and we still saw first class service! Complimentary wine before dinner… hot towels… grilled chicken and greens… after dinner coffee… …and then a night cap. Not too shabby, right?
Now I’m back at it. Hard to believe that weekend actually happened. It went WAY too fast, but I’m glad I was given the time I had at home. Now it is time for bed here. I am wiped.
Gute Nacht!
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