Snow on a Beach, the Smartest Dog I've Met, and Sugary Potatoes

Posted by Kyle Desrosiers February 11, 2018

Snow on a Beach, the Smartest Dog I've Met, and Sugary Potatoes

A weekend in Schleswig- Holstein

Seeing a snow-covered beach where there should normally be sand was very strange.
(Schilksee, S.-H.)

Friday 2 Feb. 2018 - Monday 5 Feb. 2018

My favorite travel experiences are- without a doubt- those in which I had the opportunity to be a guest in a someone's home. I have gotten to do this in Turkey, in Colorado, and now, in northern Germany. There is nothing warmer and more generous than when people open up their home to you. In these experiences, I have seen the beauty of being a guest, which has led me also to enjoy hosting others, such as when I welcomed my friend Joao from Brazil to join my family's Thanksgiving holiday.

This weekend very kind folks in Schlicksee, Schleswig-Holstein welcomed my friend Keila and me into their home. They were a married couple with grown children, and longtime family friends of Keila's parents. Keila is studying with me in Berlin, and she was invited to visit, along with a friend.

So, we took a five-hour Flix Bus to Kiel, the capitol of Schleswig-Holstein, a historic port city.

Windmills along the highway viewed from the best seat on the top deck of
the double-decker Flix Bus coach.

Upon our arrival, we met Thomas, the father of the family. He brought along his border-colley, which has to be the smartest dog I have ever seen. (More on that later.) Thomas showed us around the harbor in Kiel and pointed out prominent buildings, such as the Rathaus and church in the city center. The evening air was freezing, but it felt good to stretch my legs after such a long bus ride.

We drove about 20 minutes north from Kiel, up the coast of the North Sea. Thomas pointed out prominent sites. As we drove, I learned that Thomas was a former competitive sailer, later a coach for the Olympic sailing team. (He traveled with the German sailing team to South Korea in 1988.) Their children were doctors in other places in Germany, and so they had their empty family home to themselves.

The house was situated right on the coast in Schilksee, near the sailing harbor and training facilities that were built to host water events during the Munich Summer Olympics of 1972.

I woke up to one of the first snows that Kiel has seen in an abnormally dry winter.

At home we joined Thomas, and his wife Susan for dinner, a very generous spread of German breakfast-type things (as it was fairly late when we arrived). The conversation was good, and like many Germans I've met, they loved talking about American politics. I ate it up.

Afterwards, we took a walk with Thomas, and he showed us all up and down the beach-front promenade. We saw the marina, the Olympic sites, and the lighthouse way in the distance, up the shore.

Snow by the marina.

The footprints at bottom are from Smilla, the crazy intelligent dog.

The Dog

The family dog is the smartest animal I have ever seen. That's no joke. Of course I have lots of affection for my dog, and she brings a smile to my face with her everyday antics. However, this dog was unlike any other dog I'd ever seen.

Named after a pet dog from the Danish royal family, Smilla, lives up to the regalia of her namesake.
Her German vocabulary was more extensive than my own. At first when Thomas told us she could identify over 40 toys by name and bring the correct one when prompted, I was in disbelief. But, sure enough, she did! She knew the difference in the commands "bring to me", "put it in the basket", and "give it to ____".

Every toy had a humorous name. Some of my favorites included:

Erdo-Hähn (a play on the name of the president of Turkey). The toy was a chicken, which is “Hähn” in German)

Pute-in (this when is a duck. The toy’s name sounds like that of Mr. Vladmir Putin, but “Pute” means duck in German.

Smilla playing on the grounds of the boarding school where Susan works.
Susan and Thomas showed us the boarding school on Saturday.

Thomas spinning Smilla on a daily walk.

Some of her toys she has destroyed in her play, and made them into two or three parts she could identify. For example, there was “Frog” and “Frog Leg” and “Front Ankle”.

When you said “aufräumen”, she understand and would begin picking up her toys.

In addition to this, and being exemplary about normal dog behavior (sit, stay, etc.), this dog could also “slalom” and weave between obstacles on her walk, jump on command, and was able to catch anything throw her way.

She also had a very random vocabulary regarding other aspects of doggy life, as well. For example, whenever Thomas was drying her off from playing outside, she knew to count each leg separately, and when he said “Ronaldo”, she knew to make like the trademark pose of football Christiano Ronaldo, and jump and spread her hind legs apart.

It’s hard to say that being wowed by this genius, athletic dog wasn’t a highlight of the weekend.

A stroll on the beach.

Grünkohl and "sweet" potatoes

Susan offered to cook us a traditional Schleswig-Holstein supper on Sunday night. At first when she told us about the famous Grün Kohl (cooked kale), she insisted that we would not like it. But we assured here we would, and sure enough, it was delicious.

We also had praline "sweet" potatoes, which were not the orangey yam-type potatoes, but rather yellow potatoes that had been fried in sugar. Some parts of the state cook the potatoes salty, but in their region, sugary potatoes was the prep style of choice.

Yum!

There was also delicious spiced cuts of pork, that was supposed to be eaten mixed up with the kale. We had a spot of schnapps afterwards (which is traditionally claimed to aid in digestion). The family's matriarch, Thomas's mother joined us for dinner.

Sharing a meal is always something special. Especially with kind people, good food, and engaging conversation. I could eat those sugar potatoes all day!