I wanted to write this joyful post last night at about 10.00 last night when I was in an incredibly buoyant mood, but unfortunately I remembered that I had to prepare a lesson for first thing today, so sadly I allowed my responsibilities to come before recreation, hopefully for the last time ever. Anyway, let me tell you ALL ABOUT why everything is so great at the moment, with the help of what I like to call 'bullet points' because that's their name.
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| Dresden cathedral looking majestic |
Last Friday a group of ELAs from Chemnitz and Zwickau went to Dresden to visit the Christmas market which had just opened. Dresden is beautiful usually, but with the markets as well it is incredible; there was a wonderful Christmassy atmosphere and all the Glühwein you could ever wish for. I took several blurry pictures, but it's impossible to capture the true feel of it with a mere phone camera. However that will not stop me trying repeatedly every time I visit a Christmas market, which is pretty much every day at the moment.
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| Feuerzangenbowle in action |
We tried the famed Feuerzangenbowle, a Glühweiny drink made by lighting a sugar loaf soaked in rum and letting it burn until the sugar has all melted and dripped into the drink. In Dresden they gave us miniature versions in mugs with a little spout on which to balance the spoon and flaming sugar cube. It turns out that Feuerzangenbowle is incredibly strong, especially if the sugar cube goes out after only a minute or so, as mine did; the rum (which according to Wikipedia is 54% alcohol) doesn't burn away properly and you feel incredibly tipsy. But in a definitely merry way.
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| Shortly before I became too tipsy after that one drink to form comprehensible sentences |
Anyway, Dresden was lovely, and I will be returning there with Zoe this weekend for Stollenfest, which apparently involves a literal tonne of Stollen and lots of celebrating. That's all I know.
- Chemnitz - A Whole New World
The Chemnitz Christmas markets opened on Friday, and Jack and I went at the first opportunity, which was Saturday afternoon after I moved house! The moving itself was astoundingly stress-free; we took a taxi from Sonnenberg to Zentrum with a really friendly taxi driver (whom I at first thought was the passenger in someone else's taxi because she was sitting in the 'passenger seat', also known as the 'driver's seat' in Germany - GOOD ONE). Everything went astonishingly smoothly, Melanie was here to let me in and give me keys and the form to sign, and I'd even got money out for the deposit.
The flat itself is cuter than I remembered; the bathroom and kitchen are teeny tiny but have pretty much everything you need. Melanie had cleared space for me in the bathroom, kitchen and on the shoe rack which felt disproportionately friendly and welcoming, and she'd also given me a duvet in case I didn't have any bedding of my own. Fortunately I'd borrowed a duvet from Heike - taking very literally the offer, "If you need anything, just say!" - so I now have two single duvets on my double bed. It is fantastic. The one complaint I have is the lack of kettle, although it's not as bad as I feared, as the stove heats up instantly. However, I may still fall back on the aforementioned offer from teachers at the school and scout around to see if anyone has a spare.
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| Dodgy panorama of bedroom |
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| Aaand the other side... |
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| Dodgy panorama of kitchen |
I attempted to show my family the flat yesterday on Skype, but as so often, it didn't work very well and was too blurry to see properly, so hopefully you can all see it now! More excellent news is that there is wifi too, after a false start at the weekend when it wasn't working. However, someone came to fix it on Sunday, despite my doubts (I've heard promises like that all too often), and even when it wasn't working there was still cable internet, so it is heaven compared to the last flat!
Another nice thing is that there's a music school on the floor below, which means you can quite often hear strains of music drifting up through the walls/floor. It's very reminiscent of living in halls in first year, as there was someone in the building who used to play quiet acoustic guitar; I never found out who it was but I'd have liked to thank them, as they lulled me to sleep for many of the numerous naps taken between lectures in first year.
All in all, currently everything is ideal. Melanie is patiently allowing me to practise my German on her, which is much appreciated, not only for the language but also for the human contact that was so obviously lacking in my previous place of residence. I am also absolutely loving having the Chemnitz Christmas markets a ten-second walk away - Glühwein and Wurst whenever you need them! On Saturday Jack and I found a waffle stall that sells the most amazing waffles in the world. It was almost a religious experience, that waffle. I find myself thinking about it sometimes.
Also today was my first concert with the university choir, at the Hoffest held in the courtyard bit of the university. As I had expected, it was FREEZING COLD (the weather app says it feels like -6 degrees outside), but fortunately my three jumpers, coat, and two scarves seemed to do the trick and I made it through the entire fifteen minute performance of various Christmas songs. It's an interesting experience singing in German when it's everyone in the choir's native language, and singing in English when I'm the only one who really knows how to pronounce it. I dread to think how scathingly they'd react to some of the choirs I've been in singing German songs. Our accents were just terrible. Anyway, there was no time to hang around after the concert, as I had an urgent appointment at the Christmas markets, where I accidentally bought some white Glühwein (possibly even better than red) and a Bratwurst.
In recent days I've been obsessively checking the weather app on my phone and also the German weather website to see when in god's name it is going to snow. My wish came true yesterday, at long, long last - it only snowed lightly, but it was just so pretty that I was made instantaneously completely happy; I might even say my cup overfloweth, to use a Biblical reference in this slightly less vehemently atheist than usual time of year. Also, I was incredibly flattered to receive perhaps one of the greatest compliments ever for a person who prides themself on being practical: "You are the first language assistant to have worn sensible shoes for this weather." Yessss!! You know it! While snow is wonderful though, the hazardous cycle to school is worth mentioning - help.
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| Moral: don't leave your bike outside in the cold overnight. It will look so sad and reproachful the next day |
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| Marx and Engels looking disapproving as usual, despite their snow accessories |
Finally, there are exciting plans for the weekend! Zoe is coming tomorrow (!!!) and we're going to Freiberg on Friday (hopefully) and Dresden on Saturday, as I said. The aim is to prove that Sachsen (and especially Chemnitz) isn't so bad after all. I must make sure to take her to the waffle place. Then after Zoe leaves on Sunday morning for her marathon eight and a half hour journey back to Vreden (waah), I've been invited to visit Annaberg in the Ore Mountains by a teacher whom I'd assumed didn't even really know I existed, despite having several lessons with him. So that was a surprise, but a lovely one as I've heard Annaberg is the place to be at Christmas.
So there we are! I hope you've all been experiencing as much Christmas spirit as I have in the last few days, and may all your days be merry and bright, and jingle all the way, and deck the halls with Santa Baby, and so on.
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