Scorpions, Nikolaus & Weihnachtsmarkts

For a while in November and early December we had a period of complete frost. What I mean by this is that it didn’t snow, but everything stayed covered in frost for a about a solid week before it warmed up and finally melted. It was super cold, but it made everything really pretty.

In Bad Zwischenahn for the German test

My street

After the German test (that’s Lily)

It’s actually quite warm here right now, which sadly means no snow, but means I can still get everywhere by bike. I really don’t know how I’m going to live without my bike.

A girl in my English class invited me to come ride her horses, which ended up being quite relaxing, as we rode through the frosted trees on trails between the fields. She really likes to whitewater kayak, which surprised me as there didn’t seem to be any good rivers nearby. She showed me pictures, and her club does these sort of slalom courses in the river or practices eskimo rolls in the pool. They go to real whitewater on a yearly trip to France or Southern Germany in the summer. She showed me lots of pictures, and I showed her some from the Nahanni trip, which she was impressed by.

SCORPIONS – Rock you like a hurricane!

Fabiola is a huge Scorpions fan, as well as my host mother, so her host parents bought us all tickets for their concert in Hamburg. Fabiola has been prepping me with all of their songs since she found out we were going to their concert, so I could sing along with some of them and nod my head vigorously for the others. It was an awesome concert, and although their songs were in English, they are a German band and spoke to the crowd in German, which was cool because we could understand them in both cases.
December third was the German test for Rotary exchange students, which I did decently on. It was easier than I thought it would be, and the people who I had to have a conversation with were very kind. Getting together with all of the other exchange students was also really fun, although sad while the ones from Australia and NZ are leaving in early January (because of their different school year).
It’s been getting busier here in Germany as Christmas approaches. Advent is a big thing here, where we light a candle on each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. December sixth is Nikolaus: the night before, you leave your boots outside, and during the night Nikolaus comes and fills them with treats. Sort of like stockings in advance. Nikolaus was very generous, and I still have plenty of chocolate left over!
The Weihnachtsmarkts (Christmas markets) here have also all been set up. I actually got to volunteer at one; my badminton club ran a game booth at a smaller Christmas market in a community close to my house. Yes, there’s not just one for Varel, but even smaller ones that set up for just a weekend in even smaller ‘towns’! I’ve been to a few other markets including the massive two in Bremen, and wherever you may be, Bratwurst and Gluehwein are always nearby. Among many other booth foods, in Bremen I got to try a Bratapfel, which is a baked apple with your choice of filling (in my case Kinder chocolate).

Bratapfel

Speaking of food, Fabiola and I made our very first Apfelkuchen (apple cake) ourselves using a German recipe (only had to look up a few words), which we were very proud of. It tasted delicious, but once again I forgot to take pictures (only Snapchats ha ha sorry).

I also tried Gruenkohlessen (traditional northern German kale-based side dish) with Kasseler, Kochwurst, and Bratkartoffeln. Pam brought it from the restaurant at the tennis court house, and while I thought it tasted great, Rainer wasn’t as satisfied, saying you have to make a massive pot (as in for ~50 people) of Gruenkohl in order for it to taste good, no matter how many people you’re cooking for.
Monday was the school’s Christmas concert, in which I played piano with the Big Band and Rock band. The next day, teachers and students came up to me who hadn’t before and praised my playing, which was super nice. It was also nice not to arrive late this time (ha ha thank goodness). Tuesday was my Rotary Club’s Christmas party, which was really fun. There was tons of delicious food, we sang traditional German Christmas songs together, and one man even recited German poetry for us. Fabiola and I had calendars to sell as part of a Rotex fundraiser (each exchange student had to sell five), which we thought was going to be difficult. They were full of pictures of us on the Germany trip, so I was thinking of buying one for myself or sending one back to Canada, but by the end of the night they were all gone! It started at seven in the Anglican church for a private service, and then moved to a big buffet room in a nearby restaurant. We ate around eight, and it finished around eleven.

Well, my next blog post will probably after Christmas (but before my ski trip), so I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Ich wünsche euch eine Frohe Weihnachten!

Hannah