My German Christmas

The past two weeks have been so much fun and exactly what I needed. I'm going to have
to work hard to remember all the details because it all seems like a blur at this
point.

I left Ireland in the afternoon on Tuesday the 22nd. My flight was delayed, but I'd
expected that. I was so happy when I made it safely to Berlin and saw Audrey, Andre,
and his father Dieter. (Audrey is my old Taco Bell coworker. She married a German
exchange student and is now living in Erfurt with him.) They drove me to his parents
apartment in Berlin. Dieter and Kristina are so amazing! They don't speak any English,
and I thought that it was going to get in the way. However, they were so warm and
welcoming and treated me as a part of the family. I was so lucky to spend Christmas
with them. Kristina took the opportunity of having people in the house to spoil us with
lots of good food and wine. I ate way too much, to say the least. :) The next day,
Andre planned a full outing in Berlin. We went to the TV Tower, which has a ball at the
top that contains two levels, one for viewing the city, and one that has a restaurant
that has tables only on the outer ring and that ring rotates! So We sat and had red and
green beer and saw the city. It was really cool. Afterward, we went to a little shop
that sells little wooden men that are hollow with a hole for a mouth. You put incense
inside and they look like they are smoking! It is probably my favorite thing of all
time. I got a little snowman as a gift and I named him Dietmar. :) After the shop we
went to the museum island and visited the museum with huge pieces from the Middle East.
It was very interesting. They had lots of mosaics, which is my favorite form of art.
After the museum we grabbed doner (seriously amazing...) and ate it on the way to the
cinema. They had movies in English, and Andre took us to see Avatar. I was pleasantly
surprised at how much I liked it. :) Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe which was done
serving food when we arrived at nine. (Stupid, no?) So we went back to the apartment
instead.

The next day was Christmas Eve. We piled into the car and made our way to Potsdam,
where Andre's grandpa lives. We were supposed to go to the Christmas market there, but
it closed early for the holiday. I was greatly disappointed, but I got over it quickly.
We were all eager to get back to Berlin to have dinner and open presents. :) Dinner was
delicious and the gift giving was really fun! I didn't expect to get anything, but was
surprised with lots of gifts from Dieter and Kristina. They are so wonderful! They gave
me a Christmas cd, lots of Berlin souvenirs, and perfume. The evening was pretty much
perfect. After all of the festivities we cleaned up and watched several clips of
movies/shows all dubbed in German. The weirdest one to see was European Vacation
because we normally watch Christmas Vacation each year. Somehow Chevy Chase's humor
transcends the language barrier, but the rest of the movie didn't. :P Christmas day was
pretty low-key. Dieter and Audrey went with me to Christmas Mass in the morning after
breakfast. When we got back we had lunch and began preparing Christmas dinner. Audrey
and I were in charge of the pumpkin pie and the side dishes, while his mother took care
of the goose legs. (Never had one before, but surprisingly delicious!) At one point
Audrey and Andre went into their room to talk and I was left in the kitchen with
Kristina who continued to talk to me in German as if I had any idea what she was
saying. I ended up saying "ya" and "danka" a lot in that time period. I also tried to
work on the pie without having the recipe which incidentally was in Andre's room. But as
soon as Audrey came to help me it all worked out well and the dinner was great. Later
that evening we all went to the huge cathedral down town to see an instrumental
concert. His parents bought us all tickets! The music was lovely and the dome was
amazing. The pictures won't even come close to representing it's beauty.

The next day we went to a Christmas market down town. I was so excited that there was
still an open market somewhere so I could experience it! It did not disappoint me. It
was dark out and the whole block was filled with little booths strung together with
white lights. We walked though it and stopped occasionally to browse. I bought another
packet of incense for my little smokeman but refrained from buying anything else. I was
already dreading fitting everything into my luggage. After the market, Dieter dropped
us kids off at Andre's friend's apartment. It was his 23rd birthday and my friends
wanted to stop by for a bit. Robert rents a studio apartment in downtown Berlin. We
could hear the music from the street, so we had little trouble finding his door. When
we walked in, I was surprised to see how many people he could fit in there. I knew
going in that Audrey and I would end up in a corner sipping beer and talking to only
each other. I was perfectly okay with this because I didn't want anyone there to feel
like they had to use their high school English to try to include me. A few people there
did talk to me a bit, and that was nice. We didn't end up staying too long, but it was
fun to go and hang out for a bit. I always find it amusing to be in a room full of
people who are drinking when I have little to no alcohol. :)

The rest of my time in Berlin was much of the same. We spent time with his family and
ate lots of food. Monday morning, Dieter drove us to the train station. A few hours
later we were in Erfurt, the city where Audrey and Andre live. I fell in love with it!
It is a cute little town that has lots of pretty houses and a HUGE cathedral on top of
a hill. There was no snow when we got there, which was promising. (As much as my heart
swells with the vision of snow, I was happy to be without it if it meant sight seeing
would be possible.) After settling in at their apartment we went to Andre's aunt and
uncle's house for dinner. In addition to the five of us, there was also his two cousins
who are our age, another aunt and uncle, and another cousin Leon who is three years
old. Leon was the star of the night! I had so much fun playing with him. It didn't seem
to matter that we couldn't understand each other. Apparently playing is an international
language. He did look at me like I was crazy a few times when he actually listened to
what was coming out of my mouth. For dinner, Jana made lots of different meats and
veggies that we picked out and cooked for ourselves on a grill in the middle of the
table. That thing was SO cool! If they have those in the states I am buying one! His
relatives didn't speak English with the exception of Jana who spent time in Australia.
She was so sweet and fun to hang out with. After dinner she went with us to a bar to
play foos ball and I had my first German beer!

The next day we went to lunch with Andre's company and afterward we went grocery
shopping. I made tacos for them that night and we watched a movie. The next day we were
supposed to go see the city, but Audrey wasn't feeling well and I was perfectly okay
being lazy. It was one requirement for me on my holiday. Later, she was feeling better
so we went to their favorite Italian restaurant for pizza. Mmmm.... The following day
was New Years Eve. Audrey and I went out to finally see her favorite parts of Erfurt.
We soon realized that nothing was open on New Years Eve. Apparently they like to party
early! Or maybe they just like to rest up before the party begins. Regardless, we were
both disappointed. It had snowed the day before so the roads were all slick and I was
ok with cutting our day short. Thankfully, the cathedral was open. I was amazed at the
beautiful altar. I wish that I could have taken pictures with flash because the church
was so dark that it's beauty did not come out at all on camera. I bought a little book
on the Cathedral with good pictures though. We sought out coffee but were again
disappointed with the lack of open businesses. We headed home and enjoyed the warmth of
the apartment and coziness of the couch. Later, we met up with Audrey's schoolmate
Christian who came over to hang out with us for the night. We all went to an Irish pub
owned by Andre's cousin. A few beers in, Andre left because he was feeling sick. It was
disappointing, but we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway. A half hour before midnight,
the three of us left the pub and walked up an icy hill to have a good view of the
fireworks that were to come. We were not the only ones who had that idea. The hill was
filled with people who were not only there to see the fireworks, but were also there to
set them off. When midnight hit there was a huge cloud of smoke lurking above us that
came from the firework free-for-all around us. Audrey and I drunkenly sang "Oh Say can
You See" while Christian mocked us. What a way to ring in the new year! We walked back
to their apartment and played cards for a bit before Christian had to catch his train
home. Audrey put on a movie but I fell asleep ten minutes into it.

That morning at half seven I woke up to the windows completely covered in snow. I
opened the window and saw that it had snowed several inches within a few hours! It was
so pretty! They live on the top floor of their building so I could see all the white
rooftops and the footprints in the snow down below. We didn't do anything that day but
hang out inside safe from the cold. More of that insured laziness. :) The next day we
packed up and hopped into the car that Andre got from his company. He was bragging
about the size of the car and how fancy it was. Unfortunately the size ended up being
the car's downfall when snow got involved. However, Audrey and I were still able to
appreciate the fanciness of the car, especially the seat warmers! We drove up to Berlin
and arrived in the early evening. Andre's mother had dinner ready for us when we walked
in. Oh how I love it there... The next day we hung out with his parents and avoided
thinking out my trip to the airport and return to Ireland. It had been so nice being
with them all for those two weeks. The idea of coming back to work was not inviting.
Neither was the idea of being in an airport and airplane. (I hate airports more than
doing to the dentist, going to the doctor, pulling my own hair out...etc.) Anyways, the
time inevitably came and I was there at the airport alone. A few hours later (delays
due to snow and ice on the engines...yikes...) I was on the plane and headed for
"home." I arrived back in Ireland to lots of ice on the roads and a half hour wait in
line for a taxi. I didn't get home until about half one, which didn't matter as soon as
I saw Kaitlyn waiting in the icy driveway for me with open arms. I slid into that hug!
The past few days have been ok. Everyone swapped holiday stories and we did a huge deep
cleaning of the house on Monday. Today we attempted a day trip with the kids but ended
up only being able to take them to the cinema and Burger King. They seemed to be okay
with the substitute, but all of us volunteers were truly bummed to miss out on the
children's museum! Some other time, we hope... Now we are resting and wondering if the
new girl from Canada will actually make it here tomorrow morning. The weather is so
bad...

Ok, well I suppose I've run out of things to update. I hope life is good over there in
your 45 degree weather. :D Love to you,
Claire