What I Learned {Last} Month | November 2018

I seem to have developed a habit of writing these posts a couple of days late. Well, c'est la vie. 

Without further delay, here's the November edition of what I learned this month, inspired by Emily P. Freeman's regular practice.

Anne Bogel, (aka the Modern Mrs. Darcy) has a degree in Christian education. 

Bogel is best known for her blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy, and her podcast, What Should I Read Next. I've enjoyed her work for ages - thanks to her my to-be-read list is massively long. While I knew that she had a German minor, I had no idea that she had a degree in Christian education. You learn something new every day if you're lucky.

I crave a multi-generational friend-group.

Last year I almost exclusively spent time with peers, which had me feeling a little off-kilter. So this year I decided to join a women's Bible study group, of which I am by far the youngest member, and to help lead my church youth group. So far, so good, but I recently started feeling off-kilter again. I'd swung too far in the other direction and was craving some solid time with peers! Y'all, we all need people from various generations in our lives. I'm currently working out how to cultivate friendships across generations while also doing all the things necessary for life. Figuring out a social life can be challenging!

Turning the heel of a sock is not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be. 

I knit my first sock last month, due to an impulse-buy of a sock-knitting kit at Aldi. I've knit off and on for years, but never attempted socks, due to the notorious difficulty of turning heels. But thanks to this YouTube tutorial, I got through without a hitch.

There was, in fact, turkey at the first Thanksgiving. I quote William Bradford:

"All ye somer ther was no want. And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter appoached, of which this place did abound when they came first. . .besids water foule, ther was a great store of wild Turkies." 

Every year news stories crop up about how there really wasn't turkey at the first Thanksgiving. Those journalists are not doing their research.

I cannot define pie.

I'm not talking about the numeral here. I'm talking about the dessert. Pie isn't a thing in Germany, so when I had some friends over for pumpkin pie last week, they were all quite intrigued. Being German, they hadn't ever had pie, and being German, they wanted a definition. It was entertaining: as I started to slice the pie they all gathered around and started peppering me with questions.

"How is it different than Kuchen [German torte]?"

"Well, it has a crust."

"Is the crust always the same?"

"No..."

"Is the filling always a similar consistency?"

"No..."

"Doesn't it sometimes have a top crust?"

"Yes, but it doesn't have to..."

"Is it always sweet?"

"No..."

"Is quiche a pie?"

"Yes? No? Sort of?"

Eventually they gave up trying to get a definition out of me and simply contented themselves with the goodness that is pumpkin pie.

According to the dictionary, a pie is "a baked dish of fruit, or meat and vegetables, typically with a top and base of pastry," but that doesn't quite seem to capture the essence of pie. Help!