When we lived in Germany 2008-2012, I was a military spouse and graphic designer. I wanted to create something that would serve as a celebration of our time spent in Germany. After all, there were lots of Americans who would love to get to Europe but never had the opportunity. And certainly, there were hundreds of military personnel who have never had an overseas assignment and had been including European assignments on their PCS wish list for years. It was definitely an opportunity we had been afforded, courtesy of the US Military, and well worth remembering.
I designed a poster that encompassed many of the elements we associated with Germany, like the breads, brats, Oktoberfest, Christmas Markets, the Bahnhof, wines and beer. Even döner meat, which is not a German dish, was a popular food that we had never heard of it until we arrived in Germany, so it was included. By the time I finished, there were 26 elements of Germany, many hidden within other elements of the design.
At that point it was completely about Germany, and nothing to illustrate how we came by the opportunity to be here, so I added only two elements to represent the U.S. Military; an American flag and dog tags!
I spent several months assembling all the pieces; each time I thought I was done, I thought of something else I wanted to fit into the mix, which probably could have gone on forever. Somewhere during this process, I was struggling with how to pull it all together - it needed a title - something that would be unique to Germany......like Fasching!
"Somewhere during this process, I was struggling with how to pull it all together - it needed a title - something that would be unique to Germany......like Fasching!”
"A Fasching Great Tour" sent the message I was trying to convey. Several friends (also military) had been watching its progress, and by the time it was finished, they asked how they could get it. Many wanted to use them for either "Welcome to Germany" gifts for people who were just arriving, and others wanted to have their unit sign around the outside and have it framed as a going away gift to those whose tour here was coming to an end. Many friends just wanted to frame and display it as a reminder of their own experience here. So rather than to just print it for our own use, I printed many and made them available to others. Some local businesses (we lived in the KMC at that time) gave them as thank you gifts to their American customers!
Now that we have been given this opportunity again, and I am hoping to share this adventure with others via this Blog, I was again trying to come up with a name for the site, and decided the name of the poster is still about as fitting as I'm going to get!
If you don't yet know what Fasching is, you will:) The meaning of "Fasching" is covered in a separate post in the Lifestyle category. You can also find more information about "the commemorative poster" on this site.
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