Walking in a Winter Wonderland

So, yesterday, this world was really a winter wonderland. Everything froze so much - again - that it was gorgeously white, and the sun was shining and the sky was a perfect clear blue. This is one way I know God loves me - He sends me sunny days on weekends, when I can truly enjoy them. So, I went out photographing everything I could, went to the Haus im Moor, drove around back-country Germany, and went walking in my favorite spot in the woods. Just gorgeous. And it's a good thing I did this yesterday, because today it's a whole 3 degrees and things have melted, it's drizzly, foggy, and for some reason the entire world has a sickly, yellowish cast to it. Eew.

So, yes, there are lots of pictures, but I can't resist showing them off, because God's creation is so breathtakingly beautiful! Walking around in the silence, hearing the frost fall in showers from the frozen branches, and seeing the brilliant blue of the sky and the shining white of all the ice - it was an incredible afternoon.

I am officially done with ALL wrapping of gifts, eagerly awaiting getting to put them under the tree and watch the kids open them. We don't decorate the tree till tomorrow, I've been told. I really have no idea what the next two days are going to be like, I'm just going with the flow. Whee! It doesn't really feel like Christmas...it's going to be very different. With all the traditins gone, though, it really brings back the focus on why I celebrate Christmas. Without the comfort of my family around me, the only one I have to run to is Jesus Himself, because He never leaves me alone, and that is a comforting thought.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

So, several hours and quite a few purchases later, here I am again! I know, two blogs on one day, but hey. I'm now finished my Christmas shopping! At least until I see Larissa...she's here!! I got to talk to her on Wednesday when she got here, and I am SO STINKING EXCITED to get to see her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did get our Christmas tree today. I think we don't decorate it until Christmas Eve day, though. That's also when presents are exchanged, so I don't know what one actually does on Christmas. I know I will be spending a good deal of it on the webcam, watching my parents and sister open presents at home! Hooray for technology.

I swear it's getting colder, my hands feel like fire after being outside walking around for so long. (I miss malls!) It certainly has gotten foggier since I was writing earlier, I can't even see across the street now. Glad I'm done driving for the day! Nothing to do now but sit back and relax - or scramble secretly to wrap and hide all my gifts for people. I love Christmas! :)

Oh, and yes. I wanted to show you more pictures that I had fun taking of the almost-snow today, since I only got one uploaded to the last one before I remembered I had limited last-minute shopping time. Here you go! Oh! (again) I think one of the wierdest things I've ever seen is frosted spider webs. The house here is COVERED with them, and now they're all broken with the weight of the ice, so there's these thick white strings hanging everywhere, and it looks odd. (see slide picture)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow,

Oh PLEASE, God, let it snow!!! It's SO CLOSE, I can see it, feel it, taste it, touch it - and it's not here. The high has been -5, so if it does snow, it will stick. Everything froze last night, and there's a thick fog, so the world is white - but no snow. It's still lovely, and a thick frost like this is almost good enough to be snow - but I really, really, really realy reallyreallyreallyreally want SNOW! I'm freezing, there should be a beautiful reason to be this cold! A white Christmas! Ein weißes Weihnachten! Please?!?

So, school's out, and work's out, and I still need to finish my Christmas shopping. YIKES! I should get working on that...now....

Christmas Can't Be Very Far Away

Which is funny, because I was just thinking seemingly yesterday how far away it was still, and now I only have one week left to find the last two gifts on my list. Eek! Then next Friday, I GET TO SEE LARISSA!!!! Isn't that a THRILLIFYING THOUGHT??? I'm a little excited, in case you couldn't tell. I'll get to spend 10 days with her and Brad and Debbie. Woo-hoo!!

So, what's happened since I've written last. It's been a busy holiday season so far, with Christmas parties everywhere - school, kindergarten, work, and this week I have two for my house-group from the church and for choir. Yesterday was our choir concert, J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium. I sang it two (three?) years ago with Phoenix Symphony Chorus, too. It's a fun piece - and a harder one you're not likely to find. But I officially have the first three parts memorized! Yay me? We sang with an orchestra from Osnabrueck and four professional soloists. They were all wonderful, but the tenor and the bass - woah. Astounding. The whole thing went very, very well. It was sad not to have anyone in the audience to watch me, though. :(

What else has been going on...last Friday was fun, Celeste and I went out to the Weihnachtsmarkt and the movies. She's an Aupair from my German class, she's from South Africa and a Christian, too! What more could I ask for in a friend over here? It's so exciting to have a friend! haha (no, really...) We went and saw Der Goldene Kompass (try translating that one, it's realyl hard), which was really good, even in German. I was watching specifically for any anti-God whatnot and didn't find any, so I don't really see why people were putting up such a big fuss about it.

Other than that, there's just been fun with baking! Warning for all who dare attempt this recipe: Marshmallow Creme Fudge is sticky business!!

Morgen kommt der

Weihnachtsman! Well, not. Last night der Nikolaus came, though. A little info about German Christmastime. December 6th is the day that Sankt Nikolaus (St. Nicholas) comes and fills the children's boots with mandarin oranges and apples and nuts and chocolates, and on December 24th the Christkind (Christ child) comes and gives them their big presents. So, yesterday afternoon we cleaned up the kids' boots and set them outside the front door, including a little one for Lennard, and stuck their wishlists inside for Nikolaus to take (to give to the Christkind? I don't know.)

This morning we woke up, and I came downstairs to find Tina rejoicing over the chocolate and small gift left in her boot. When I went back into my dark entryway to put on my shoe, I narrowly avoided squashing an unexpected surprise in my shoe. Wow, der Nikolaus found my tennis shoe, even though it wasn't outside! How nice of him! He also sent me the coolest cd ever - Die Schöne und das Biest (Beauty and the Beast, in German). (thanks again mom!!!!!) (now I really want to watch a Disney movie - particularly this one!) (sorry for all the parentheses.) (really.)

Then tonight, as we were sitting around after dinner and the kids were watching tv, Tina just about shrieks and runs in to cling to me out of fear because "a man knocked on the window." Maybe it was der Nikolaus? She was terrified, almost in tears, and apparently it happened again. I didn't hear it either time. But with Florian on my hip and Tina clinging desperately on my other arm, and Benni laughing at the "Angsthasen" (scaredy rabbits), we opened the door to see if someone was there. Presents! Three bags full of even more chocolate for the kids, and on a second look later, two plates of even MORE chocolate, one of which was for me! I feel so special. First an advent's calendar full of chocolatey goodness, then a shoe full, and now a plate full. I love the Christmas season. ;)

For the most humorous description of the St. Nikolaus holiday I've ever heard - thanks to Brad Ellgen - go read this: David Sedaris's 6 to 8 Black Men.

It's beginning to look a lot like

Christmas! Yes, it's finally December! Wow! How exciting is that?? Very!! The first day of advent's calendars is here! haha I helped Christiane make calendars for the kids, they're rather sepectacular. I remember advent's calendars as being flat, with little doors you open and find a chocolatey surprise. Well, they seem to be a bit of a bigger deal here. We spent about 3 1/2 hours making them, because you have to make all the little pieces, fill them, glue them together, and stick them on. It was fun!! here in the picture, you can see me building it. I was very sticky afterwards. Then it was so sweet, because I woke up this morning and came into my living room and found an advent's calendar hanging on my wall! Tina and Benni filled it up for me.


We've decorated the front door, there's a string of star lights on the wardrobe, I have strings of red beads in my room (I need to buy some lights!), and there's a silly santa sitting in my chair. My favorite, though, is driving through town. The main street is lined with real Christmas trees, in various stages of decoration, and there are lights! It looks so pretty! Now, I just need to praaaaaaaay for snow! I want my first white Christmas! It all looks so lovely. And the Weihnachtsmarkts (Christmas markets) have begun in cities all over the country. That's very exciting - I can hardly wait for tonight so I can go to my first one!

On the first day of...

SNOW! YES, SNOW! I LIVE SOMEWHERE WITH SNOW!! Isn't that exciting?!?! There we were, sitting in German class, when the teacher looks out the window and says, oh, it's snowing. What?!? Celeste and I (my fellow desert dweller, shivering here in the frozen north) ask for permission then run outside. SNOW! It was too warm for it to stay on the ground, but it was coming down pretty thick, and it was beautiful! Sadly, I didn't have my camera dabei any of the times it snowed, because I was either in class or driving. But still! It snowed! And I have high hopes for more! I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

Then, today was full. We made cookies! Watching four kids (Lena was over) and trying to bake cookies and clean up all at the same time is a handful. And tomorrow I get the kids all alone, all day long. Eek! A true test of my abilities. But yes, the first cookies of the season! Woo-hoo!! I love this time of year!!!!!

Tiffany's Trip

Well, this was a fun weekend. Tiffany Pritchard took a weekend out of her semester abroad in England to come visit. Now, this is especially interesting when you realize the fact that we've technically never met before...but don't worry, neither of us are totally random strangers. She went to NCS, too, for a bit, and we had a great many of the same friends there, so we've talked before and heard stories on one another. The thing is, when you're over here, if anyone you know - or sort of know - is on the same continent, you just have to get together. You can't let something like that pass you by!

She flew in Thursday night and I picked her up, and Friday morning we set out at a nice dark 7 am for Munich. The drive is about 8 hours, and since it was the day after Thanksgiving - despite Thanksgiving not existing in Germany - we listened to Christmas music the whole way there. Our goal was Dachau, one of the largest concentration camps, which still stands as a memorial today. We got in about 4:30, meaning it was already dark, and there was still some snow laying on the roofs and the gravel was icy. The first time I ever visited a concentration camp was 7 years ago when PCC went to Mathausen in Austria. I'll never forget the experience, but I think this one was even more impacting. Perhaps it's just because we were in Mathausen on a sunny summer's day, and here in Dachau we visited in the dark, the bitingly cold and windy and wet late fall. Walking across the roll call area between the main building and the barracks, it really made me think a lot more about what life there might actually have been like. You can go into one of the two remaining barracks and see where the prisoners lived, and I can't imagine how awful, and how cold, it must have been. The walls and floors are bare wood, the beds three on top of eachother, no space in between - at one point a room that was supposed to house 60 men held about 400, crammed into these beds. There's a museum in the old kitchen/office building at the camp, across the parade ground from the barracks. We didn't have enough time Friday night to look through all of it, because the memorial closes at 5, so we came back Saturday morning to get another chance to go through. There's so much information, so much horror and pain and tragedy. There was a Nazi demonstration in Vechta last weekend, and it makes me wonder, after seeing things like this, how can people possibly want to go back to that? I know it's just a select, sick few who venerate the Nazi way of life, but how can someone even think of doing this to another human? It makes me ill.
So, the rest of the trip was fun. We stayed overnight in Munich in a hostel, a first for both of us. Happily, none of the horror stories we've all heard were true for us. The hostel was clean and safe and pleasant. There were four other girls in our room, two of whom were British and we spoke to for about a minute before going to bed, two others we only saw as shapes in dark beds as we left early the next morning. After our second forray into Dachau, we went to downtown Munich for souvenirs and the like. In the process, I encounted the most annoying parking experience EVER. We waited in line to get into the parking garage for a good 40 minutes. Yes. Really. It - and the others - were so full that you had to wait at the ticket machine until someone left, then go hunt down their old parking spot. Ha. I had to try and park at AZ Mills on Black Friday last year. Europe, not having Thanksgiving, must do everything the Saturday after, because this was i.n.s.a.n.e. Parking at the mall would have been a breeze compared to this.

We walked around the festive and decorative downtown Munich for a couple hours, enjoying the Christmas-specialty smells and fighting the crowds. The only time I've seen anything here this crowded is the day we went to Heidelberg. Lots and lots and lots and lots of people! But it was fun nonetheless. Then, sadness, it was time to go home. Back in the car with the Christmas music! We had no traffic on the autobahns the whole weekend, but getting out of Munchen was gridlock for a looong time. Then there was the adventure of trying to find food and not being able to, of Jane not sticking to the windshield because she was cold, and of adventuring trying to find our way home because the autobahn (#33) was closed and we had to try and find our way in the dark because Jane was insistent on taking it. Whee. Fun times.

Up again this morning to beautiful sunshine and blue skies! It has since changed and is drearily gray and cold and rainy out, but on our way to the airport it was lovely. Tiffany is now back in England, and going home in 2 weeks! Wow. Part of me almost wishes I was here for a semester thing like that, but everyone says the last 6 months go by SO fast, so here's hoping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my fourth favorite holiday, unless you count Christmas Eve and Christmas as one, in which case it becomes my third favorite holiday. I love sleeping in a little, sitting in my pajamas and watching the Macy's parade, seeing the sun streaming through the windows in that way it only does on holidays. I love the festive feeling that makes me smiley, and wish that the parade would drag on a little longer before I have to start cleaning and cooking. I love having the whole family over and eating - even though I'm really not fond of turkey - and eating and eating some more, and then starting on the dessert (mmmmm pie!). I love decorating the house in fall colors and turkeys and leaves and pumpkins, which somehow we never seem to remember to do until Thanksgiving morning, and it all gets cleared away the next day for all the CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!!

This year, things are different, although I am very thankful that God sent me that special holiday sunshine here in the sun-forgotten land of Germany. Imagine - seeing the blue sky! What a treat! And not freezing without three layers of long sleeves on! Incredible! And I still got to do some cleaning because Tiffany's coming tonight, so it sort of does feel like Thanksgiving. I'll scrounge on youtube and find some old Macy's clips to complete my day. :) No pumpkin pie, though.

So, some things I'm thankful for.

♥ My family!! Who knew I'd ever miss them so much?
♥ My friends, who keep me sane.
♥ all the people - YOU - at home, who are praying for me
♥ The chance to live in another country - and the fact that it's halfway done!
♥ the hope I have, all because of what God has done for me
♥ the sunshine
♥ all the little ways God blesses me and sends smiles into my days

Then there are future thanks:
♥ getting away for the weekend
♥ getting to see Larissa next month!!
♥ getting to listen to CHRISTMAS MUSIC tomorrow!!!!

Another Day

Today is rather how I thought life here would be - a very typical aupair day. Wake up to a smile, take people to school, go to German class, come home, do homework, eat lunch, grab a nap before spending the afternoon playing fetch and being a stoplight for racing traktors and pushing swings, seeing the most colorful sunset here to date (this picture is at 4:15 pm) then coming in (to a nice warm fire after FREEZING outside) and playing after setting the table, picking up, eating dinner, helping get kids to bed, and spending a lovely evening reading by the fire and listening to the German "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," before coming upstairs to call my bestie on her birthday, finishing travel plans, and settling down for one more chapter of HP7 (third time in as many months, I know, I know) with my cup of Kamille tea and a couple cookies before bed. Just a good day.

Eek!

So, due to some random whim of the internet, my blog seems to have been deleted, but here I am re-instated on the same site, so we'll just continue from here. After all, it's a new leaf to go with the fact that -

I've been here 6 months!!!!

Can you believe it?!?!? I can't hardly believe it! From now on, every day that I am here means that I have been here longer than I have until I go home. Counting down and not up. Half-way!! Not that I'm so terribly anxious to leave already, but it's a huge thing. Think: I have been living in Germany, in Europe, for half a year! Half-way! What a concept.

Oh, and its amazing how much of a lift one can get from talking with one's best friend for the first time in 4 months. :)

Anyways, if you could all continue to keep me in your prayers, it'd be much appreciated. What with holidays approaching, the homesickness is creeping in! Eek. And pray that Tiffany and I have a safe trip next weekend, that everything goes well!