Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Birthday in Germany

It's my birthday today and so far it has been pretty uneventful. I received a couple of phone calls, including one from a birthday twin and a really cool gift from B - a digital photo frame/alarm clock which also works in the US.

I have been busy all afternoon sizing my favorite photos and making adjustments in Photoshop which I save to my 2GB SD-card that plugs into the back of the digital frame. I should be baking a cake but I am already baking a pumpkin pie tomorrow for a cookie exchange event on Thursday.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Happy Nikolaustag



To get out of the house and the funk I have been in, B and I went to buy our Christmastree today. It's a potted blue fir with such sturdy, sharp needles that B put the lights on with his gloves.

We also went to see the local Christmas market this afternoon. The atmosphere was just wonderful with a brass band playing Christmas music on the town square. Video above has music but it was Jingle Bells being piped through from somewhere and it wasn't really as noisy either but there were kids playing on gravel all around us.

Today is Nikolaustag (St. Nick's day) and, traditionally, children clean their boots and put them in front of the door on the eve of Dec. 5 to find goodies in them on the morning of Dec. 6. If a kid has been bad over the year, which rarely happens, he/she receives boots filled with charcoals. We went to fill up the car with gas today and B actually got two free St. Nick chocolates from the station attendant. I guess, we've been good.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Winter Blues

I don't know if it's the terrible weather or just the fact that I have cabin fever but I've got a serious case of the winter blues. I am spending an inordinate amount of time playing online pictionary with the world here.

I am in Xmas denial, postponing shopping and mailing cards. Along those same lines, I came across this web site - just to put off some more chores and waste more time.

B's company Xmas party is this evening. He asked what the dress code would be and they said anything from jeans to "Stoffhosen", which we take to mean dress pants. Or maybe, it's so people don't wear their Lederhosen (snicker!).

My B-day is next Tuesday and I miss all my friends in the US. In a year of living here, we have not yet made any friends. Heck, we don't even know our neighbors because we rarely see them. I hear that complaint a lot from expats about Germany - it's difficult to make friends with locals. Maybe that will take another decade or so of living here....