Francais!

I have just about the best french class ever invented.

I got back today from the musikfreizeit (more about that later) with pretty mixed feelings.  Elation, yeah, because it was such a good time, but also sad because when everybody else said their goodbyes knowing that they'd probably meet each other again next year, I said mine knowing that chances are good that we'd never meet again.  On top of that, I was (and still am) drop dead tired.

In any case, as soon as I got in the door Lotta informed me that my french class had sent me a package.  How amazing is that? 

Anyway, I've been thinking about that.  Why is French class so special?  Aside from the fact that Madame is simply the best and the french students kick ass, French is also just about the only class in LHS that stays mostly together year to year... french power!  Honestly, though, I think it's that continuity that makes French class the favorite class of so many people, even those that don't like the french language.

  That, and the fact that Madame is the best.

In any case, a big thank you to all you guys.  Collette, especially- I couldn't think of a better care package than one including your amazing cookies.  You truly are the epitome of woman.

I'd also like to say that I love Mentos (pronounced men - toss here in el deutschland), the candle that Chris the Commy sent smells just my grandparents' house (that's a good thing, Chris), and Alex thinks my Lynnfield hat is pretty damn cool. 

And thanks, everyone, for your well wishes.   I really appreciate it... French 5 is the best!

bah!

Hello there!

I want to apologize; I had a really wonderful Weihnachten, but I can't write about it right now.   These last few days have been monopolized by family, friends, and UPenn's app.  And now, we're headed out the door for our Musikweek!  I promise to tell you all about that- and Weihnachten- as soon as I get back... pretty sure that's the second of January.

Guten Rutsch!
Happy new year!

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (Robert Frost)

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

 

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Informatik

For the last two weeks and the rest of this week I've had Informatik as my HKTU unterricht.  I'm actually in class right now.  We've been designing websites and learning HTML, which is pretty cool.  I doubt I'll actually do anything with the website, but I think it turned out nicely.  If you'd like to take a look, you can find it here.

In a fit of productivity, Tim pulls off noch ein post!

So yes, enough with backtracking.  Or at least, enough with so far backtracking.  Yesterday, I met up with Devin, Rachel, and Todd in Hamburg.  Devin, Rachel, and Todd are all AFS USA.  Two other girls- Alejandra and Marethe (or something like that), also joined us, and even Lotta and Mia joined us for a while.  We did some Christmas shopping and sight seeing, and we checked out Hamburg's Weihnachtsmarkt.  It's got nothing on Luebeck's.

Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures of that.  I'm waiting for Devin to put his on Facebook, and then maybe I can add them.  We'll see.  What I do have, though:

A relatively epic photo of the Rathaus, albeit a little blurry.

The remains of our dinner.  Merethe's pants ripped, so the girls went off an looked for some jeans.  Us men, meanwhile, had much more important things to do.  Todd happened to have a coupon for a free jar of Bruschetta, from REWE, a grocery store here.  We got the Bruschetta, but then we realized that you can't eat bruschetta without baguette.  So then we grabbed a baguette from the bakery.  THEN we realized that our meal would be that much classier with a bottle of wine, so we found a nice Italian red and a few cups.  Then we figured that we had come this far, we may as well go all out and grab a candle, for effect.  Finally, we shared a very lovely candlelit meal of baguette and bruschetta with Italian wine on the streets of Hamburg.  Pretty classy.

Later, Todd, Rachel, Devin, and Marethe came back to Luebeck to spent the night at my house.  We raided the supermarket, grabbed some quesadilla stuff, eggs, peppers, and a few drinks, hit up the movie store, picked up some badass Viking beer and Feuerzangenbowle, and then came here.  16 quesadillas, a couple glasses of distilled Viking, a classic deutsch film, and some friends together makes for a pretty good night.

BUT this morning is snowed!  I'm not too happy about that, but I guess it was inevitable.  It had to happen sometime.  And I can't lie- while snow is cold, wet, dirty, and not fun, at least it looks nice.

Advent in Deutschland

I suppose now that I'm back on my blog writing stuff down I ought to mention Advent here in Deutschland.  It's   much bigger deal than in the US- the advent wreath is omnipresent (even in school!), people wish you a schoenes Advent as a farewell, and sometimes we all sit and eat cookies and sing advent songs.  It's kinda nice.

In school, first thing every Tuesday during Advent we all sing some Advent songs.  With the exception of a stark few, I'm very impressed with the impromptu chorus made out of the Oberstufe (grades 9-13).

There are some things very specific to Advent time:

The big cookies are called Lebkuchen, and they're pretty much the cookie of the season.  The little round balls in this photo are Marzipan Kartoffeln- translated literally, marzipan potatoes.  There's no potato in them, though, they just look like little potatoes.  They're super sweet.  Marzipan is around all year here in Luebeck, but there's certainly more come Advent.  Also- clementines (here called Mandarinen) are another advent-specific treat.  I like clementines.

Luebeck has one of the most famous Weihnachtsmarkts in Germany- the whole center of town is lined with stalls selling food- usually bratwurst, candy, sweets, or baked goods- drinks- usually Gluehwein or Punsch, fortified with Rum or Amaretto, and handmade arts and crafts things.  It's fun just to walk through the city and take it all in. 

By far the best part of the Weihnachtsmarkt, though, is Mutzen- think fried dough, except baby-sized, and German.  It doesn't get much more delicious than that.

Also, check out my sweet hat in this last photo.  Thanks to my family back at home for sending that package!  The raisins are all gone, but my trombone is beautifully clean and my ears are warm once more.

Geo and I went and did some Christmas shopping last Friday, and on the advice of Anke we looked in Heilige Geist, an old hospital-turned-Weihnachtsmarkt during the Christmas season.

It was very nice, and there was an amazing amount of variety in there.  From alpaca sweaters to salmon-leather belts to the biggest spoon ever invented, it was all there.

Anyway.  Luebeck is very beautiful!

Heute ist Sonntag

Hallo!  Ich habe leider für zu lang nichts geschrieben...

Some very important things have happened, though!  Very important indeed- shoes, candy, the whole show.  On the fifth, we all cleaned up our shoes for St. Nick.  Mine were particularly dirty- Alex is rebuilding the bathroom and I helped in take a wall out, and half of the wall turned into shoe dust.  From this photo you can see the difference.

Anyway, once we all had our shoes gut-geputzt we stood them all by the door, along with cookies for Nikolaus and some straw for his donkey.

In the morning, the shoes were filled with delicious treats!

Mmyes.  That's pretty cool.  Later that day (the 6th), there was an AFS chapter meeting, and I actually got to meet Nikolaus and his friend Knecht Rubrecht himself!  Mr. Ruby hit me a few times with a stick, but then they gave me a present, so alles war wieder gut.

Here's a nice photo of Vincent and me.  Geo's in the back, too, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it's a nice photo of him.