I would like to begin by wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year. I hope you find joy in all of your indeavours, old and new. Also, a very late happy holidays whether that's Christmas or another winter celebration.
Now this post will cover quite a bit so, I hope I haven't let anything out... if you have any questions about it send me an email or a comment. :)
I can now say a few things that most people may age probably
can’t…. probably most people in general actually…. I have celebrated both
Christmas and the new year in Germany. This post will be about the following:
-
Celebrate Christmas in a foreign country (Germany,
of course)
-
Going shopping with two friends in another city
-
Beginning and celebrating a new year in a
foreign country (again, Germany, of course)
Christmas here wasn’t SO different from my Christmas in the
US. Christmas with my host family began with a late breakfast (11am) with 6/14
of the family, then after that, we have cake. Later we (10/14) ate dinner.
Later, we exchange gifts, but you have to roll a 6 before you are given a gift.
Everyone buys gifts for one person…. Like a secret Santa exchange except that
they are given a list of what the person wants (I got a ‘the Hunger Games’ book
in German, a Ballerina jewelry stand, dance shoes for Karneval, a small wooden
elephant statue, and the new Taylor Swift CD). The ‘celebration,’ honestly,
wasn’t anything special or different from what people do in the U.S. Then, we
played the game were you have a name of a person on your forehead and you have
to ask questions and guess who it is…. And Uno. Then, I went and skyped with
the family (my mom’s side). Then, I went to sleep on Christmas Eve in my traditional new pair of pajamas sent all the way from Kansas.
On the 25th we visit the Grandma in a rehab
center for people who need taken care of after surgery or just in general. Then
when we got home, we ate leftovers from the day before and played Uno and the
other game again and then I (again) skyped with the with family (but, it was my
dad’s side this time).
On the 26th (it’s considered a Christmas day
here), we visited my host mom’s sister and I played monopoly with Sarah and ate
a Dӧner (which is a German-Turkish wrappish thing… can’t really explain it… it’s
huge and delicious and not American… if you ever go to Germany, you must eat
one)
And that was my
Christmas.
The next day, I went to Dortmund with two friends and went
shopping. Luckily, the train wasn’t full this time and we had seats on the way
there and back…. We shopped at Primark (which I have identified as the best
store because all the clothes are sorted and inexpensive unlike TJ Max and
other stores that are cheap and everything is just mixed together and you have
to dig through to find what you want and in the right size)(imagine I’m saying that last sentency thing because in my
mind I’m speaking super fast and rambling on and on) (just want you guys to get
the full effect)
I bought some nice clothes but the store was FULL. It was
difficult to navigate through and the line for the dressing rooms were so long
that once you were finished with eight and you had more you had to go to the
end of the line… that was not fun.
Then we ate lunch…. The food court seriously had 4 out of 8
restaurants being Asian food… but it was the first time I had really seen Asian
food here so we ate that…. It was disappointing.
So, more shopping… I tried on this dress and it was too
tight so I wasn’t go to buy it… only problem, how was I going to get it off? I think like almost every woman/girl has had a
time where they couldn’t get a piece of clothing off alone. Luckily, Sarah and
Sophie were waiting for me right outside the room so, Sarah helped. But , the
doors were those curtains and not real doors and the room was SUPER small. So
she ‘s trying to get the dress off me without ripping it (because I don’t want
to have to buy it) and at the same time I am trying to keep the curtain from
opening on a side… it was difficult but after five minutes (no exaggeration) there
was success.
So, our feet hurt, we have tons of bags, it’s raining, and
we have just enough time to catch the next train. We step outside and… rip… all
of the Primark bag’s handles (being that they’re paper and it’s raining) have
just ripped off. And, we had to carry the bags to the train after trying to
stuff as much clothes into the other bags as possible… but, we did NOT miss the
train so, I think the day was a success.
So, I have just rambled on and on abut shopping because…
well, I think it’s funny but, if you don’t… whatever.
New Years Eve wasn’t SUPER exciting. I hung out with Sarah,
Dana, und Danielle. We listened to music, played twister outside where it was
cold and wet, played darts (I won J),
watched fireworks, and played with fire (like seriously… we played with the
lighters… it was fun) And, then went
home and slept….
Nothing super different or exciting happened here that
didn’t also happen in the U.S.
So, Happy New Year!!
I hope everyone has an amazing 2013. Sorry, I posted so late
but we haven’t had internet for over a week.
The redhead Kansan in Germany,
Madison Jeannine Wallace
P.S. More info and pics in the next post!
