February 20th, 2012

Today I was feeling a little stir crazy. The dog was following me everywhere, whining. The cat was chasing me around attacking my feet. I couldn't even enjoy Keeping Up With the Kardashians because of them. So, finally I threw my hands in the air and yelled "I need to get out of the house!" to no one, because I was alone with my animals.

Anyway, I figured I'd go to downtown Ansbach to walk around and get some fresh air. I didn't know that it's carnival time, called "Fasching" but I figured it out pretty quickly.

When I got into the square I was greeted by a lot of noise and children running around. I thought it was odd because it's a Monday, and while I understand it's presidents day, I didn't think Germans particularly cared about American democracy.

As I walked on I saw a lot of people in face paint, wigs, and altogether silly costumes. I walked into rain showers of candy being thrown and finally I stumbled upon this performance. I can only assume the man on stilts is a clown or comic of some sort, he bounced around to the drum circles beats, dancing and tapping along on his shield. It was entertaining if not a little confusing for an outsider.

I get really annoyed with living in Germany a lot of the time, I don't like being away from my family, I miss the food and the shopping and just everything. But, I never would have walked around downtown Des Plaines and stumbled onto something like this. It's pretty cool getting to know a different culture.

Either way, it got me out of my stomping rut this morning.