Christmas Apron

Yes, I am wearing a Christmas apron. It was a gift from my grandparents and it earned me the proper respect while I cooked Christmas Eve Dinner. Everyone should have one.

Christmasy Photo

Ingrid and Tiffany decorating our humble tree.

Blog!

Here's what Time Magazine had to say about blogging recently:

Radio had its golden age in the 1930s. In the 1950s, it was television's turn. Historians may well date the golden age of the blog from 2004—when MerriamWebster.com's most searched-for definition was blog. How long can it last? Who knows?

My Prayers are with Southern Asia

I cannot even imagine how horrible it is over there right now. The worst earthquake the world has seen in 40 years. All those people need more than just prayers, but that's all I got right now...

IKEA

Ok, it's official. IKEA is my favorite store in the entire world. No other store comes as close to being an amusement park as IKEA.

To get to the nearest one we have to take the U-bahn, S-bahn, and a bus. In the snow. But it was so worth it. They don't have IKEA in Alaska, so it was doubly worth it for my two fellow shoppers.

I must recommend the meatballs. Mine came with gravy and jam. Don't make that face. Just trust the Swedes and eat it. Ok, maybe someone should send this link to the IKEA advertising department. I'd be more than willing to help them with their upcoming campaign.

So after obtaining the appropriate amount of energy at the IKEA Restaurant, we actually did get to the shopping. I bought myself a rug, stool, tuperware, etc. Made sure to stop at the Swedish specialty food market in the front. I intend to compare Gloegg (Swedish mulled wine) to my Gluehwein (the German counterpart).

In closure, I must add IKEA's current ad slogan: Wohnst du noch oder lebst du schon?

Frohe Weihnachten

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I hope everyone's Christmas (no matter where in the world you happen to be on this day) went well.

Spent Christmas Eve/Helige Abend with the girls: Anna, Rebecca, Ingrid, and her mom. We did a little cooking, played some games, and chilled next to the tree.

On Christmas morning we had breakfast in Ingrid's room while we opened presents. We didn't wrap Tiffany's goldfish (named Courtney and Ingrid fittingly) because that would have been weird. Then we went for a relaxing walk through the Englischer Garten. The weather was amazingly warm for Munich, something like 50F. For this reason, almost the entire city of Munich was out for a walk. It was beautiful nonetheless. It's a big park. We ended up stopping at a Beer Garden on the shore of a little lake. Beer and pretzels sure do make Christmas a bit more Germanic.

When I came home I got to talk to my family! Yay!

Then we cooked (by we I mean that I brought bread, cheese, and pistacios) dinner at Tiffany's. Sauerbraten, gravy, Spaetzle, and Rotkohl salad made up our rather German dinner. Tiffany also made us an apple crisp dessert that we ate while watching Ice Age in German.

Then we went back out for another walk in the wonderfully mild weather (that all of Southern California takes for granted!). When we were outside we all noticed a weird ring around the moon. A German girl walked by ...

German girl - Was ist das? (what is that?)
me - Keine Ahnung (no idea)
German girl - Hoffentlich nicht die Weltuntergang. (hopefully not the apocalypse)
me - *fake laughter*

Ok, now what kind of person says that? She freaked us out! But Ingrid
assured me that it was just a Christmas Moon Rainbow. Apocalypse or Christmas Moon Rainbow? Hmmm...(To find out what it really was click here.)

Wishing everyone Christmas Moon Rainbows (not the creepy kind, the cool kind)!

Helige Abend!

Instead of Christmas Eve, here we call it Helige Abend (Holy Night). I really like that decision. Someone should work on calling Christmas Eve something cooler in the States, I'll collect any suggestions.

Last night I had a nice Christmasy evening with Astrid. She cooked us dinner again and she so awesome! Her family is by far the most generous family that I have ever met.

Now, I am off to do some last minute (I mean last minute) Christmas shopping. (Actually, I'm just off to the grocery store to stock up before all of the stores close for the holidays...but that is technically 'Christmas Shopping')

Wishing everyone an amazing Helige Abend!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum

Here are the lyrics to my favorite/only-one-that-that-I-know German Christmas Carol:

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Dein Kleid will mich was lehren:
Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit
Gibt Trost und Kraft zu jeder Zeit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Das soll dein Kleid mich lehren.

I'll Never Let Go...

...of my eternal optimism.

The elevator in my building is currently out of service - intended to last at least 2 weeks. This is such a blessing. What a great involuntary workout! The best part is that after six flights of stairs, there's absolutely no chance of trecking muddy snow into my room. Woo hoo!

Just in case anyone was wondering why I am currently in such a good mood: we just got back from buying our Christmas Tree!! And now I'm off to dinner and then The Christmas Carol performance. You won't be hearing any 'Bah Humbugs' from me.

SNOWDAY!

SNOWDAY!!! The first real snowday of the year here in Munich. The snow makes me so excited...which causes many people to laugh at me. But Eddy - my Tunisian friend - is just as foreign to snow as I am. It doesn't get much better than a beautiful snow day in December.

Tollwood Christmas Market

Tiffany, Eddy, and I went to a Christmas Market and fought the crowds and the snow. What a wonderful winter day!

The Perfect Conditions for Snowman Making

Tiff and Eddy during the complicated process of snowman construction.

Eddy der Zweite

Let me introduce "Eddy der Zweite' (Eddy the Second). We named our snowman after Eddy because it was Eddy's very first snowman experience.

How cute is that?

Tiffany and Eddy showing some love to the finished snowman...directly after our poor rendition of 'Frosty the Snowman.'

English Movies!

I saw both Ocean's 12 and Bridget Jones' Diary this past week in English. It kinda feels like cheating, but I really loved it. It's fun to be sure that you got every single joke.

I liked the first Bridget Jones' better than the second one, but I think I like Ocean's 12 better than 11. Fun movies!

JYM Weihnachten (Christmas)

Our Christmas Party at JYM was on Thursday. Tons of Gluehwein, sweets, and singing. We even had Mistletoe!

Christmas Music

The boys performing Christmas music for the JYM Christmas Party.

O Tannenbaum

Cute scene from our JYM Christmas Party. The ladies all busting out into Christmas Carols - A Capella!

Frohe Fest!

Here's our Christmas Tree in the JYM Office. We decorated/trimed it on Tuesday to be ready for our party on Thursday. It's really homely in many aspects, but it worked. (Frohe Fest! is the most common way to wish someone a Merry Christmas in Germany)

A Slightly Different Picture

Well, if I would have taken a picture from my balcony this morning it would have looked much different. The tree tops are again brown. The weather decided to warm up a bit, which is cool but confusing. I decided that BBC does the best job at predicting the weather when compared to other sources.

Snowy Treetops

Woke up to an abnormally bright sunrise. It was really a relief because I've been having difficulty waking up in the mornings to nothing but gray and more gray. Took this picture from my balcony just for fun, but I really liked how it turned out. So here's my first shot at trying to convey the feeling of winter in Munich.

Indian Dinner

Just got back from a great night at an Indian restaurant. Actually, it was the very first Indian restaurant ever opened in Munich...according to the manager dude. It was really a fun night with a big group of us who try to visit different restaurants throughout Munich together. There was an excessively long wait for our food (which anyone who goes places in huge groups is used to) so the manager gave us all a free round of drinks. He was really cool and it was a fun atmostphere. We ended up spending over 4 hours there...but that's just the European way.

Advent Calendars

I used to really love advent calendars, all the different types of them. We had one with the little mouse that hopped from day to day, he was the staple during the month of December. In Germany, advent calendars are really big and they have even more types than I remember in the States.

I bought myself a cute little Sesame Street one (actually it says Sesamstrasse). I have to admit that I anxiously opened the first window only a few minutes after midnight on December 1st. Now maybe it's the lackluster quality of the chocolate or something, but I can't even get myself to catch up to date now. The last window I opened was number 8. I would much rather eat a cookie or eggs or anything. Advent calendars just don't have the same effect on me as they used to. They really don't serve a purpose anymore - I now know how to keep track of time much better than I did when I was four and I can now go to the grocery store to buy chocolate whenever I get a whim to do so. Wow...I am becoming a jaded old woman.

Tunisian Dinner

Well...where have I been? Got myself caught up in stuff and kept procrastinating updating my blog. Sorry. It happens. I cannot maintain my 'on the ball' status year round.

Ok, so today, I went to one of the many Christmas markets in Munich with Ingrid, Tiffany, and Markus. This specific Christmas market is one of the few 'anti' or 'alternative' markets. That means more artsy, new agey....and less commercial. It was cool...I had a chocolate and banana crepe that was to die for. Crepes are kinda the 'Funnel Cakes' of German fairs. We should work on importing Crepe Stands to American fairs. Or do they already have them?

We made sure to be home on time because we had a dinner invitation. Eddy - our cool Tunisian friend - cooked us a Tunisian Dinner. It was way cool! I did learn the German word for hot/spicy (scharf)...if that's any indication. After dinner, we ate sweet dates (the fruit) straight from Tunisia and watched Christmas Vacation (the Griswolds) in German. Eddy could hardly believe the portrayal of 'American Christmas' traditions. It was a nice dinner and a nice evening with my pals.

Christmas is in the air. For anyone who thinks that my day sounds 'atypical' for Christmas season, you need not worry. No matter how weird it sounds, Christmas is always in the air here. I will go as far to say that Germany is the land of Christmas. It's a bit difficult to describe...I'll work on that.