Sunday was the local town festival, and I thought I’d give you a sample of what you might see at a typical Bavarian fest.

And what would our little Bavarian be without his Lederhosen?

I’m guessing that if you hadn’t heard Obama was in Berlin last week, you probably live under a rock and are therefore not reading this blog.

I really wanted to go to the speech, but had to watch it on television instead. In retrospect, it was a really good speech, but when I was watching it, I was just a wee bit disappointed. I guess I’ve bought in to the whole messianic thing a teensy bit and I was waiting for one of those “Ich bin ein Berliner”-moments that would bring me to tears and have me giving a standing ovation in the middle of my living room despite severe dehydration from food poisoning.

As far as the family goes, Rainer was impressed by Obama’s vow to rid the world of nuclear weapons. “Poh, big words,” he whispered, his eyes opened wide in approval. Oliver also clapped at this point, so I’m assuming he supports this as well. The other point at which Oliver clapped was when Obama said that Iran must be dissuaded from pursuing nuclear weapons. The little guy already has an opinion on US foreign policy, I guess that’s one of those benefits of raising children abroad.

There are a couple of controversies that have cropped up about the visit:

1. That Obama shouldn’t speak at Brandenburg Gate/he just wanted to copy JFK - First, JFK didn’t speak at the Brandenburg Gate, he spoke at Rathaus Schöneberg. Second, why shouldn’t Obama speak at Brandenburg Gate? As my opinionated German hubby put it, “If Green Day can play there, Obama can speak there.”
2. The Victory Column was a Nazi monument - It was a Prussian monument. If it were a Nazi monument, the Germans would have taken it down a long time ago.
3. Obama shouldn’t have cancelled his visit to injured US soldiers in Germany - I gotta agree on this one. Even if it would have been criticized as a campaign thing, think of the poor disappointed soldiers.

For more on Obama’s visit to Berlin, here are some posts from people who actually attended the speech (and blogged about it):

BenPerry.net: The Grand Spectacle in Berlin Yesterday About Which I Will Avoid Making a Clever Pun with Obama’s Name - It was worth swilling expensive beer and slow-mo bumping-and-grinding through security lines to get within 30 meters (that’s 30 yards) of the Großer Stern—the base of the Victory Column rather than an object “beside” the column as some of the wires had it last week.

Berlin Bites: Bamalama - Yes, the obligatory Obama post. Of course I went. I’d seen Clinton in…’94?…and couldn’t remember a word he’d said and wanted to see if Obama could do better.

Radio Free Mike: Am grossen Stern - Obama did away with the babble about the Victory Column with a single deft line, which I can’t find in his official text — something like “We stand here at a monument to war, in the middle of a Europe at peace.” That took care of his critics, even if you fully swallowed the stuff about Hitler.

Tessa Approves: Super Post - My final bit of news is that on Thursday we decided to take the train to Berlin and see Obama speak at the Siegessäule (Victory Column). Maybe you had not heard, but there was some controversy over where he would speak.

50% of my DNA: Go Obama Go!!! - Unless you are living under a rock, Obama spoke in Berlin last Thursday night at the Siegesssaeule and we were there. The gates opened at 4pm. We wanted to get there early so we got there shortly after that.

What did you think of the speech? Did you go? Leave a comment and I’ll add you to the list!

Lots has happened since I last posted. Oliver had his first birthday and made his first Baby Sign (hungry), Obama spoke in Berlin, Laaber is having a Bürgerfest (I’ll be heading off there in a little while). I also went through a bad case of food poisoning, but I’m back up and at ‘em again. I really wanted to post about all the things that have been going on, so hopefully when I’m back this evening, I’ll have some time to write up my thoughts on all those things (other than the food poisoning, you really don’t want details on that).

Spirit Asia, the biggest Asian Open Air festival in Germany, is taking place in Nürnberg this weekend. Anyone interested?

Off to baby swimming, a hair cut, and lunch with the gals today.

I know, it’s a day late! I meant to put this up yesterday, but ran out of time (and Rainer was hogging the computer watching lectures from iTunes U - eigenvectors are ganz cool!)

Anyways, Oliver is walking and I spend all my time chasing him now. Hopefully I’ll have time to post something again, sometime…

There’s a rabbit killer on the loose in the Ruhrgebiet. In the last year, over 30 rabbits and an unnamed number of chickens have been found decapitated and drained of blood, the blood and heads taken from the scene by the killer. Rabbit owners and breeders in the area have taken to hiding their beloved pets in cages in the woods and only telling close friends and relatives the location, if they tell anyone at all. Police worry that the killer could escalate from animals to humans. For more information, check out the BBC News video here, or read more in the Berliner Morgenpost: Kaninchen-Ripper vom Ruhrgebiet. As a former house rabbit owner, I can only imagine what the rabbit lovers in the Ruhr Valley are going through and hope the police are able to find the killer soon.

Spiegel.de asks, “Sind Sie reif, ein Deutscher zu sein?” (“Are you ready to be German?”). Starting in September, foreigners wishing to obtain German citizenship will have to answer at least 17 out of 33 questions correctly on the politics, history, geography, and law of Germany in order to qualify for citizenship.

I made it, scoring 25 out of 33, though I must admit I did a lot of (educated) guessing. Unfortunately for the non-German-speakers out there, the test is in German, but if you speak German, take it and let us know if you have what it takes to become a German citizen. (I’m especially interested to hear how my German readers do!)