Christmas, and the Coming.

First up: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Just wanted to post that as well as giving you guys a super detailed (well, for the first half of the post until I realise how long it takes to write so much and give up)look at Christmas here in Germany, before I relate to you my feelings on what shall from here on be referred to as The Coming.

Christmas in Germany is like 17 Fairytales rolled into one. Seriously. Christmas markets are all the rage, as are CLASSY (READ: No tinsel or other 'gaudy' things) decorations. Think (white) fairy lights and Christmas Trees ALL OVER THE CITY. Every city. And every house. Look at my Dresden photos for more details, but this picture is taken in a Train Station. Yes, you read that right. A train station. And it looks like that all over Hannover, all over our house, all over Max's house, and every other place I've been to the last few weeks.

They also celebrate Advent here so every Sunday we light another candle and the kids get to open a packet from their Advents Calendars every day. It's all very lovely and exciting. And yes, of course everyone's got shopping fever here but somehow it's not as bad as in Sydney when it's ONLY about how much stuff you can buy. It's much more about family and tradition here. I like it so far.

This weekend has been my German Christmas Weekend. Friday night I was with Jenny and Sarka - the last time we'll be together all 3 till after New Years - Yestderday Sarka went to Berlin and then tomorrow (lucky lady) she goes HOME to Czech Republich to her FAMILY for Christmas. Jealous much? Yes. But soon is The Coming so it's ok. And on Tuesday I'll be in London with MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a bit happy. So we went to Jenny's, watched a movie and ate Pizza, chips, biscuits and chocolate. And M&Ms. It was good.

Then yesterday was Christmas with Max. That was fun - he was allowed to plan something and then he wouldn't tell me what it was. He just said on Saturday as he was leaving home to pick me up "pack your bikini and a towel" I was like "ok.....". First we had to go to Hannover and there we met the lovely Caroline. She wasn't feeling too good so Max invited her along too. We went and got her swimming things and went to . Yes, the site's in German, but take a look at the pictures. It was amazing! We went in that pool that goes round and round and then it also has a whirlpool there. Then we went in the pool where it's super warm and you are inside and then you swim outside and that was pretty cool. Then we went in the Sauna and then back in the fun pool at the start. Then we all went and drank cocktails (Mojito with Mango = AMAZING) and then we all went home. GOOD TIMES. Not telling what my present was - you'll find that out later but I WILL say, it's super awesome.

Today. Was church. And now I'm at home and later I'm going to the GodZFellaZ (the Young Adults group) to drink Feuerzangenbowle (see for a recipe) and watch the film of the same name. Good times.

And now: The Coming.

They are, indeed in Europe, kind of MY AUNT to inform me because they couldn't even do it themselves, and I will see them on Tuesday. Party ALL the time. Frog ALL the day. Excitement plus.

Also, Johanna is way too excited to meet Sarah.

Dresden Wrap-Up

So on the weekend I was in Dresden. It was pretty rad.

Kendall and I took the train down - after a small adventure on the way to the train station, that is! We sat on the train for a long time, where I enjoyed my first ever slice of pumpkin pie (left over from Kendalls thanksgiving feast). I'm still a little weirded out by sweet pumpkin, but it wasn't bad. We had a half hour stop in Leipzig and we walked around and bought fruit and stuff and then got on the train to Dresden.



Interesting side note: On both of our trains (yes, including the one that left at 9:36am) were groups of people drinking sekt. Actually, on the first train they were also doing shots. Fun times!

Anywho, so we got to Dresden, took a roundabout way to the hostel, checked in and decided to go for a walk while we waited for Max to arrive (Max's boss is stupid and made him work Saturday so he drove down later).

We walked down the street, discovered an AMAZING TEA SHOP, walked a little further, then both decided we wanted to go in. So we walked back and looked at the menu in the window, agreed that we wanted to go in, I actually started opening the door and then my phone rang. "I'll be there in 5 minutes, we're meeting at the hostel, right?" Thanks Max. We went to the hostel and waited, then when Max was checked in we dragged him right back to England England (the tea shop) and Kendall and I had 'Tea For Two' (we got NINE cups of tea out of this pot)and drank out of Royal Albert tea cups :)

Then we went walkies and saw lots of Christmas Markets. That's the big thing here - Christmas Markets. Germans LOOOOOOOOVE Christmas! ANyway, that's about the theme of the whole weekend. We walked around the city and looked at Christmas markets. But I'll tell some other highlights too.

Kendall and I tried our first ever Glühwein - mulled wine popular at this time of year - and it was amazingly delicious!

We had cocktails at the hostel bar - not the most amazing cocktails in the world but not so bad either.

Ate breakfast at the hostel.

EXCITING/HILARIOUS EVENT:

We were at the main Christmas market in Dresden and a TV crew spotted us and started interviewing us - how do you like the market and so on, then they asked where we come from (I was the one doing most of the talking) and I said that I'm Aussie, Max is from Hannover and Kendall is from America. After they finished interviewing us (in German), they said to Kendall (in English) "You speak English, come here we'll do another one in English" and dragged her off to do an interview in English. At this point Max and I looked at each other, and started laughing. In case you were wondering, apparently we don't speak English in Australia. I still can't believe that I wasn't asked to do a TV interview in English!

Anywho, then we walked some more and then we said goodbye to Max and got on our train home. And that was Dresden.

Languages Are [Sometimes] Fun!

So for all you sorry souls out there wondering just how hard it is to learn a foreign language, here's a little update on my boss German skillz (apologies for the z but I'm still convinced it makes me look more gangsta).

As most of you will or will not be aware, in March I took my one and only intensive German course. That means I did 5 weeks of school, 4 hours a day, 4 days a week. This was what is commonly known as the A1.1 course. As in, super basic beginners course, which was a tiny bit too easy for me after about 1 month here in Germany.

Fast forward a few months, it's now November, and next weekend I'll have been a whopping 10 months in Germany. Today I went to the school to do the 'test' to see which course they should put you in.

What I learned from this test:
1. I am a problem child (tell us something we don't know)
2. The reason I am, in this particular instance, a problem child, is that I speak SUPER GOOD GERMAN, but have SUPER BAD GRAMMAR.
3. This means for my speaking skillz (see? Gangsta!) I wouldn't even bother doing another course, but for my Grammar skillz (you saw it that time) I should start from the very beginning.

PROBLEM???

YES!

The lady was nice though and told me a few things about previous students with similar problems and such and ended up saying B2, which is more than I expected, and then she said "I hope you don't find it TOO boring" (talking about the speaking skillz), which was really nice of her.

However, I'm not paying that much money to be bored, I know plenty of places I can get that for free! So, I went out and bought 2 German Grammar help books and from now on until I finish the books I'll be doing 1 hour every day of German grammar work at home. This will include not only the grammar books, but reading every day a short article in the newspaper, and reading some German novels. Gritta said she would help me choose some that were well written and fairly simple. So that's good.

If my grammar improves, I'll sign up for a special course that prepares me to take the German as a Foreign Language Test, and if not, I'll sign up for the course they wanted me to take, then prepare myself for the German as a Foreign Language Test.

This test, not if, but when I pass, will give me:
1. An internationally recognised certificate that says I can speak German
2. The ability to work and, more importantly,
3. ... Study here in Germany.

(I can also work without the certificate, but having it helps).

So thats where it's at, yo (another gangsta reference for those keeping up)

Baby, it's cold outside...

It's getting cold.

Like today in the middle of the day it was 0 degrees. Like, no degrees. That's not cool. Or rather, it is, and that's a problem.

My father was thoughtful enough to post this on my facebook the other day:
"I can remember Rachel saying she was cold when a breeze came through the window one day. It was 35 degrees. When she said she was going to Germany I did not think she would last this long."

Firstly, thanks Dad.
Secondly, this update is for you.

I'm doing ok. Really. I have gloves and a beanie and a jacket and all on, but I'm doing ok. Not avoiding leaving the house yet, although Max told me it's going to start getting cold around the start of December, in reply to which I thought firstly "Cold? What the heck are you talking about? IT'S 2 DEGREES!!!" and secondly "Oh by golly, how cold?". He than went on to say "You know, like -15." Like, MINUS 15. MINUS.

I'll keep you posted.

Budapest In A Nutshell

So Budapest was cool. Actually, apart from a small incident at the start of the week involving a little old lady and the theft of my camera, it was AMAZING.

Really.

So here's a little sum-up, along with the standard apology for not blogging as often as I should.

Monday I flew to Stuttgart, then after 3 hours there flew on to Budapest. Had a beautiful view thanks to my window seat, and was slightly disappointed that it was raining. Anywho, I caught the train to one of the main train stations and then walked from there to my WONDERFUL hostel where, thanks to the tourism low season, I enjoyed a 6 bed dorm all to myself.


Tuesday, I headed off walking. I went through the city park and then into the thermal baths (AMAZING TIMES). Unfortunately no photos thanks to the slimy old lady who stole my camera (sucks to be her - it's pretty much dead so she'll NEVER be able to sell it!!)

Wednesday I did a walking tour of Buda - BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Cant really remember what else I did but Buda was cool.

Oh yeah, I also went and bought new shoes because my others were no good. Fun times.

Thursday I did another walking tour (when it's free, why not?!) this time of Pest.

Pest was also amazing. I can definitley say Budapest is a STUNNING city. And a photographers dream (Caroline, read: GO THERE!!!). Pity I only had my iPod but I managed to get some ok photos anyways. Then I walked up another hill (a super big one) and saw some cool stuff. Then as I was sitting in the hostel kitchen in my PJ's (coz I'm cool like that) after dinner, the hostel manager (who was on duty at the time) comes past with one of the guests - a 55 year old NZ man, and says to me "We're going to the bar next door for a quick drink. It will be quick because I'm still working. Go get dressed and come with us" and I of couse said "Sure" so went and dressed and went with them. We had a Hungarian schnapps and then he went back to work (LOVE IT!), and the NZ guy, Peter, and I went and had another - he had an amazing story. He's been travelling for about 7 months and is headed home this week. What a great guy.

Friday I walked some more (any wonder my feet hurt?). I walked to an island (don't get smart - there's a bridge) in the middle of the Danube where it's really pretty.

At the very end of the island, they have a Japanese garden (see picture), and the whole island is like a giant park. They also have two swimming pool complexes (closed - too cold) and other stuff so it was fairly cool. Then I walked home again. Also came across a cool monument to the people shot into the Danube during the war.

Cool, no?













Saturday, I had the most brilliant idea of all time (yes, I have in fact examined all ideas in an independant manner and come to the conclusion that mine is indeed the best).

Christmas shopping. Oh yeah, I went there. You should all feel real bad because I've bought SEVERAL Christmas presents PRE-NOVEMBER. Go me. Also, I went to the market hall where it's all cool and stuff. Then I went into the St Stephans Basilika where it's all old and Catholic and stuff. Went up the top. Lots of stairs but a good view.

See?
















Sunday I didn't do heaps. My back was sore and my feet too and I just chilled a fair bit. In the evening I went to a small market that was kind of cool. Ate delicious food and then went back to the hostel where I ate more delicious food. So, all in all, a good day.

Monday I flew back home. After 5 hours in Stuttgart. So, that's it I guess.

Go to Budapest. Seriously.