6 Stunden des Lernens

Our Apple tree is full!

My neighbor, Gudrun, really wanted to hang out with me thought I should do a better job at both picking my very ripe apples off our tree and improve my German a bit, so she suggested we spend a day making Apple Marmalade.

A long time ago, I would sit at my grandmother's kitchen table and witness the complete "jelly making" process,  and quickly decided I would much prefer to spend the whole buck fifty to get my toast and jelly 'fix'.  But ma's sure did taste good and so do the jars Gudrun drops off at our door, so I was all in for this lesson. 

I admit, I began to get a little nervous when Gudrun rang the buzzer, in order to explain to me, auf deutsch, exactly which apples I was to pick and how to prepare them before her arrival the following week.  As she left, I smiled and waved goodbye, while thinking...I'm in trouble now because either my ears were on pause or my German Apple picking skills were not up to par, but I was left standing under the Apple tree clueless. 

The day arrived and so did my teacher loaded with all kinds of tools;a special pot, jars, ingredients and various kitchen tools that were all new to me.  I smiled again as I showed her my big bowl of Apples that I had picked just as she had instructed.  She smiled just as big as she instructed me, "gehen Sie zu dem Apfelbaum und holen zweimal so viele."  In other words, my German lesson had begun and I had many things I needed to learn about making apple marmalade. 
 

 First time I've every used real vanilla!

Six hours later... my German vocabulary had expanded, my apple tree branches had grown lighter, my recipe book had grown by one, my children's tummies were full of applesauce and my cupboard had a whopping FIVE jars of homemade Apple Marmalade.  The best part, our friendship grew stronger and I had a blast. 

I am sure my grandmother would have laughed (as Gudrun did) when I asked at the end of our day, "Um, really....6 hours for five jars?"  Her answer was not in German words, rather a simple gesture of putting a spoon in my mouth!    

My homemade Marmalade!

Mom's applesauce doesn't look like Grandma Hoff's!!