Stille Nacht

I hope that you all had as good a holiday season as I did! Having Christmas and New Years in another country was a little scary, but there is so much going on all the time that it took my mind off of it a bit. Being away from my family is alway a hard thing to take in, but during the holiday season, it was even more difficult. I do,however, have the privilege of living in the always fabulous technology age and can see my family through facetime and skype quite often, so it made the season a bit better. As you may have seen from my previous post about Christmas markets here in Germany there was plenty for me to do this season!

I cannot believe that I am living in another country! I do believe that during this season it is just now dawning on me. As a Christmas gift from my host parents I was given a 2 way flight to England. I had discussed wanting to go at the end of January and told them the dates, and as my gift they bought the tickets! How completely amazing is that?! I got two homemade blankets, a huge puzzle (that I finished in 6 days), a new jacket, a very pretty candle, and oh did I mention that the gift to my mother and myself from my father was that my mother gets to come over here for two weeks? Yeah, completely out of this world! I am pretty sure that we already have the majority of the trip planned. We are going to be in Germany, Paris, Scotland, and Ireland in those two weeks and I could not be more excited!!!! (You'll notice the four exclamation points, one for each country.) I also got the conformation that my friend Lacey will be coming here in March and we are going to make a round trip of Germany! (I am never allowed to complain about wanting to travel again.)

Anywho, back to Christmas!

During the month of December there were many people in and out of the house, including Stefan coming back from Australia! I decided to throw a small party for Sophia and a few of the friends that she chose to come. What did we do? We, and by we I mean they, built gingerbread houses! It was a blast! Each of them made at least three small houses, and ate half the decorations, had a small break between and came back for more. I will most definitely be doing this again in the future. This was also my first Advent. I am not Catholic like my host family, I am Christian, just not Catholic. I thought it was really cool to be able to see two different religions in two different places. Going to the Church mass, where I also found out that Stefan is an extremely talented organ player as well singer and pianist, was an exciting moment in my life and I will never forget it. Ending the service with "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night), just like my university ensemble directer said that he had experienced when he was stationed in Germany. I cried... It was absolutely beautiful! I cannot wait to experience more of this world and the many different customs that it holds.

Just after Christmas we took a trip around to some of the nearby cathedrals to see the nativities that they had displayed. Now, surprisingly enough, I seem to not have any pictures of what we actually went for, but I do have plenty more!

There was also a time just after Christmas when our power went out for over four hours and I have never had a more beautiful night! Sabine had a friend over that night (one of the loveliest women I have ever had the joy of meeting!) whilst she was on her way back to Holland. We lit over 60 candles that night and just sat around reading stories and drinking red wine. It was absolutely wonderful!

Well, not to cut Christmas short, but I would like to add in a bit about New Years. I cannot even begin to try to explain a German New Years Celebration, but I can tell you that it is something similar so America's Independence Day. I met many new people (I am still freaking out a bit because there is an American family currently here and the wife is an Opera singer with the Met, I live with Stefan one of the worlds best Tenors, there was a friend of Sabine here from Holland who is also a Soprano, and I met an opera/theatre director on New Years. The oddest part of all of it is that I get to call these people by their first names!!! Only freaking out a little.) in the span of just a few weeks! Life is just so magical sometimes! (This is how you cool beer in Germany.)

(My first ever taste of mead!! Very good!) Hope that your new year is going well and all your days were merry and bright before that! Until later. Bis dann. Bis später!