And That's How Pillows Get Made!

Every Thursday I leave behind my hermit existence and walk two blocks to a neighborhood kindergarten, which is different from the kindergarten you attended when you were 5. Kindergartens here are more like daycares or preschools. They're for kids 5 years old and under — they even have groups for infants. And kids go there every weekday all day, even if they have a stay-at-home parent or guardian (it's not as long for kids under 3). Germans feel it's really important for kids to be socialized with other kids starting very early on. In fact, they find it weird and a little shocking that many American kids stay home with Mom until they start school at 5. They see it as hindering a child's social development. (As a never-daycared, never-preschooled kid I take issue with this, but that's beside the point.)

At any rate, I got hooked up with this kindergarten group through a really cool young mom in my ward. Turns out the parents of the kids in this group expressed an interest in having a native English speaker come in sometimes and just hang out and talk to the kids in English so they can hear how it's supposed to sound. I apparently fit the bill and was invited by the two teachers of this kindergarten group of about 20 kids between 3 and 5 years old to come along every Thursday when they go on their weekly outings. I've been doing this for a couple of months now. We usually go on walks to different playgrounds in the neighborhood. But last Thursday we went to a pillow factory owned by the grandpa of one of the kindergarten kids. And it was AWESOME!



Germans, for some reason, use gigantic pillows, as you can see here. These aren't specialty pillows, these are normal, standard bed pillows. You almost can't find pillows in any other size. And they are almost exclusively feather-filled. But I'm not complaining. I love them. It's like sleeping on a cloud.

I also thought this video would be a prime opportunity to teach my readers a few German vocabulary words!

Kissen: pillow
Kopfkissen: literally "head pillow", but used interchangeably with "Kissen"
Feder (fay'-der): feather
weich (vykh): soft

Pronunciation tip: The "ch" sound in German is sort of a mixture of a "k" sound and a "sh" sound. Kind of like making a "sh" sound while wearing a brand new retainer.

Now you will understand about as much of this tour as I did.



JEM

P.S. You may be wondering why Weird Al accompanied us on the tour. That's not really Weird Al, that's one of the kindergarten teachers.