WEIHNACHTEN

(Snow!)

Frohe Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas!

I missed Berlin so much last Christmas. Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets) have been my reason for living ever since I visited one for the first time two years ago. I love this "Christmas-y" feeling and I never get that more than when I'm drinking Glühwein and listening to Christmas music in the cold (but not Minnesota cold).

(Amusement-park-like Weihnachtsmarkt at Alexander Platz)






(Warm coats at the Kulturbrauerei)


(zum warm werden)

It's been amazing being at a school too. They "get to" celebrate Christmas in school in Germany. As a person who does indeed celebrate Christmas, this is great. I wouldn't tell congress to change how it works in the US, but it's certainly fun for me here and now. There were Christmas trees everywhere and Advent Calendars in every classroom, mostly homemade ones.

At one school there was a great Christmas concert. I want to put up more pictures, but I wonder how great it is to put up pictures of kids online without their knowing.

(This seems safe)

There were also two buffets for the teachers which I blame for my holiday weight gain in a very good way.

(Maybe a third of the buffet)


(The Christmas party for teachers)

At the other school a class sang a song, told a joke, or told a story in the second period of every day of school in December.

I was also lucky enough to be able to make Plätzchen (Christmas cookies) with Oma.

One type of cookies was apparently so bad that someone had to spit it out, but I'm pretty sure the rest were really great.

Vanessa and I also went to a Christmas concert in the Berliner Philharmoniker. One of the teachers from the school that we work at together sang in it. She was one of many, but I'm pretty sure she sang the best.

(Oh Germany, this is a fancy affair, Pretzels? You're so awesome)


(BVG)

The last of Thanksgiving and Fall before Christmas and Winter

Is it winter? I'm still going to open market today. It's December, there's no snow. People are still eating Kürbis (Pumpkin). I'm wondering if the extra batter for my pumpkin pie is still good or where I could find somethings that purees and what that has to do with questioning whether or not it's winter.

Today I'm going back to Boxxi today for some cheap fresh fruits and vegetables and I'll hopefully be back for the Trödelmarkt (flo market) tomorrow. These pictures are from two weeks ago.

(Cheese and More...)(123 grams of More please!)
(I love the way this guy to the left is looking at me and how I didn't notice it at the time.)


(I also like how this guy isn't looking at me )

And here's the last post about Thanksgiving. Here are some of my favorites of the hand-Turkeys the kids drew at school. They're supper awesome and I had them hanging up in my apartment for the big day. I may or may not give them back (well, ok, I'll give them back, I promised.)

(An American artist wanted to buy this one, but he couldn't afford it)

Health Care in the US and Germany Part 1

One of the teachers I don't know very well said on Wednesday that we have to go to the Zahnartz and I thought I had just misheard him and that he ment HE was going. I didn't quite understand why he was only teaching half a class instead of canceling it, but you know, whatever. But APPARENTLY there's yet another way in which the German healthcare system is better than the American. A dentist comes to the school every year to check on the kids' teeth. And when something is wrong, or even if nothing's wrong, the parents are informed. This is to make sure nothing is ignored if the children have bad parents forget to go to the dentist.

I think this is great. It's apparently paid for by the state which is also great. I dont' know why I find this so crazy. But it's like a doctor coming to your house! (That happens in Germany too, apparently.) They also brush with fluoride instead of using those little trays full of it that we use. The nice dentist and nurse were nice enough to answer all my questions, I should've taken a picture. ("EYYY MS. SIMMONS KANN DEUTSCH AHHHHH""No I can't, shut up, children, or speak English")

This is all opposed to in the US where we're just expected to have responsible parents.

I wanted to prove that German kids have healthier teeth because of it, but I don't learn anymore so my google skills have disintegrated a bit. Feel free to do the work for me. I would, of course, also be pleased with information that proves Americans have better oral health. Win-win. I wouldn't be surprised by that either, though, because no one seems to floss here. They think it's silly and don't use it. And I look for it (that's right, I looked in your bathroom!). I really just can't believe it. Are we being brain washed in the US? I can't believe that either....flossing is just important! It just is! (No, but really, Germans, it's important.)

Side note: I need to go to the dentist and am not insured for it...should I have bribed the dentist here? You think 1.34 euros would have been enough? I've been having those I'm-losing-my-teeth-dreams again..."in dream" that means I've been feeling insecure. I'll feel more secure when a dentist tells me I'm not losing my teeth.

EDIT: And then I was reminded that doctors do come to our schools, or at least they came to my school. No one ever checked my teeth, but they checked my eyes and hearing. (Raise your hand if you hear a beep.) That's pretty great. I give Germany 2 points and USA 1.2. I think that's fair.

DAAD and Thanksgiving

(Proving my application arrived in New York)

I applied for the DAAD this month, a scholarship to do my Masters in Germany starting next year. They would pay for EVERYTHING. Cross your fingers or press your thumbs (drück mir die Daumen), whatever you think is going to help. At least wish me luck!

And Thanksgiving was great! I made a pie! My first pie ever.

And then....!!!





I used this recipe for the crust and this recipe for the filling...

And that was a really good idea because I then didn't have to worry about conversions or not being able to find American products. I think it turned out pretty well! This was just another way way my German has helped create something wonderful.

And then some people ate it at my apartment among other things.

And I also went to Chemnitz with the Sagerts (I'll be calling them my German family from now on). We went to a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). Also great! And also more or less where I'll be for the next month (although not in Chemnitz)....(I mean at a Christmas market).
Christmas markets are amazing, there is no better way to prepare for Christmas. Since the middle of November Berlin as well as, I'll assume, most German cities, if not all, have been littered with Glühwein (warm wine with spices) and gebrannte Mandeln (roasted almonds) and Lebkuchen (gingerbread) and wooden toys and Räuchermännchen (figures that you put little triangle candle like things into that then smoke up through what is normally the mouth of a guy or girl) and so on and so forth. This is...I pretty sure...my favorite thing about Germany and I'm so happy to be here for it again.

And I got the present of meat from Frank, Father Sagert.



Germany's great.

I am, however, getting pretty bad Heimweh (homesickness) this year. When I was here for 10 months from 2007-2008 I don't remember having really any Heimweh at all. Maybe it's just not knowing when I'll be home again or what I'll be doing next year. Will I see my family in a year? 2 years? 3? 3???!!!! That would be far too many. 1 year is kind of pushing it.

They're doing a Christmas concert at the R.Fox elementary school and they were practicing yesterday. I teared up at "Swing low, sweet chariot" because of how many times they sung "home." I wondered why they're singing a song that was sung by slaves who wanted to die and be brought back "home" (read: to heaven) for a Christmas concert, but to each his own.

What's important, though, is that as an American I can now, with good conscience, start celebrating Christmas (now that Thanksgiving is over).

Übrigens, three Germans mentioned Black Friday to me when I mentioned Thanksgiving, but they didn't know why we celebrated Thanksgiving or what we did on this day. Hm.
(Disclaimer: I mean nothing bad about Germans with this, it's just..interesting)

My room and general update

(-I'm so happy to be here! -Me too!)

I actually moved into my apartment at the end of August, but it has only recently started to feel like my room. I just need art and curtains.

I ended up looking at about 9 apartments. When I visited this one I put a star by my name when I wrote down my name and phone number next to the other dozen people who had already come over. They said the star really helped.

The sofa and two armchairs I bought on ebay for one Euro. Whoa.
Any idea on what I should name my new yellow cat (see rug) would be appreciated.

And I am, by the way, very lucky to know the Sagerts. They're the family of a German girl I met when I was 17 in Ireland (hi, Hanna)! They were nice enough to loan me the mattress, the table, the small shelves, as well as doing countless other things for me. I'm sure my Heimweh (homesickness) would be much worse without them.

(Yes, those are beds)



Oma! (Grandmom)

So anyway, this is the biggest room I've ever had in my life.

It's in a nice Altbau (old building) and it's with two great roommates (find my blog yet, Flo? : ))

It's in a great area. Very far from my work, but I wasn't going to live anywhere near my work anyway.

The Euro signs are where are work, the green house is where I lived 2 years ago, the volcano is where I live now and the 'i' is there I studied. And these two fucking little yellow stars I just can't get rid of.

Why is everything so crazy far from where I want to live?

It's really been ok, though. I only have to change trains once, which just gives me time to people watch and read. At the moment I'm reading Russian Disco by Wladimir Kaminer, I very much recommend it. It's particularly great if you know Berlin.
I've finally opened a library account (I needed my visa first). It's amazing, they have all sorts of books and magazines for German as a second language (DaF). I'm also reading these Deutsch Perfect magazines from the last couple of years, I really wanted them before but they're like 6 Euros. They're really great, because they give definitions of the hard words in German at the bottom of the page and all the topics have to do with Germany (obviously). Also highly recommended.
I also took out a beginners French book and CD, a book on how to write love letters in German, which is pretty hilarious, and at least 6 other books. Two weeks for magazines and 4 weeks for books. Seems reasonable. They charge you 2 Euros for anything that's on the bestsellers list, so it's going to be classics and just plain old books for me, but that's fine.

Berlin's changed a little bit. It's always so weird when I see something new. This guy here for example was not there before (see picture at the top of this page). Not SO many things are different, but I also just forgot how some things are and I'm not going to pretend it didn't take a little effort to get used to everything again. A lot of my friends had moved away, I'm not going to school anymore, so making new friends is harder and just the paper work in general was crazy.

So having a couple Minneapoliser here when I got here was nice.

Micah BF and I got to hang out a couple times, including at the Fuck Parade ("less commercial Love Parade", sure why not).

Make it a parade against Nazis? Sure, as long as we're protesting against SOMETHING.



Then Micah left.

I also got to hang out with Kiley.



...but then she left too.

Now I spend my time working and trying to get myself to do anything else. I had been sick for a couple weeks, so I'm excited to have some energy again.

Be excited to find out more about the school system in Berlin.