Good Luck, Rudolf..

I'm not sure anymore how much snowfall we've had here, but it's got to be around 1.5 feet, maybe more. Right now the sky is actually resembles a sort of blue-ish color, not quite a pepermint blue, but it's getting there! :)

I only have one more day of school before Xmas vacation. And yes, here they actually call it Christmas break. There's no beating around the bush calling it "Winter Vacation" or "Period of Time During Which We Have No School Due to No Specific Holiday in Particular," hahaha! I suppose it makes more sense in California since our Winter lasts for a few weeks at best and is actually contained to our school-free time from Xmas to New Year's. What would make things confusing would be if California schools suddenly decided to follow a more German schedule, placing another vacation at the beginning of February. What would we call that one? Not-Quite-Spring Break? Something to ponder while we stand in the cold at the bus stop ;)

Recently I've felt as if weeks in Germany have just flown by. I remember doing things and going places, but it seems a bit as though I am seeing someone else's memories in the format of a film. I know that I'm not the same person as when I left America. I'm still me, but getting better at German has also made alterations to my thought processies. I'm no neuro-specialist, but I know that when you start to think in two languages, something must have happened to your brain. Being a language-phile, I find this quite interesting. But I must say that it's just so WEIRD to be both the specimen and the observationist.

Now, on to a much more pressing matter. I have not been able to find holiday sprinkles. ANYWHERE. Either elves decided to double their cookie quota, evil nomes are plotting to steal all the sprinkles by xmas, or all the sprinkle companies' employees are boycotting because their health care doesn't cover sugar-induced hysteria. Those are the theories. Improbable though they may be, wasn't it a great detective who once said that, "when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Of course, that brings about the question, define impossible.

As you probably know, I've changed host families twice this month; once to a temporary host family and then to my second permanent host family. Well, I suppose I can't really call my first situation a permanent host family, lol. Anyway, having lived now in three different German families, I've come to notice some similarities and differences. One odd thing that seems to catch my attention is how people load their dishwashers. Whether they put their utensils handle up or handle down. I have absolutely NO idea why I notice this, but I just do. Next time you help out cleaning up in a friend's kitchen, you might just look to see how they load the dishwasher. (Hmmm, this reminds me of a Dr. Seuss story...)

One last little thing before I post this. My birthday is only a few days from now, on the 27th of December :D I just wanted to let everybody know that YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET ME ANYTHING!! Most of us are far to busy this time of year, so here's one thing that you can do for me and we'll call it even. Spend time with your family this year, and remember those who are spending the holidays away from home, protecting our country and making it possible for us to sit around a fire (or the television watching the yule log station. oh c'mon, we've all done it!) surrounded by family and friends and good cheer. So here's to families, rather big or small, blue or green, conventional or unconventional, like us or not. Have a Happy Holiday, and a Very Merry New Year. TGWTC, raising a glass (non-alcoholic, of course!) to the family.

I'm Ba-ack!!

Hey, so you may or may not have completely forgotten about me by now, and I can't really blame you, either. So many people are busy gearing up for the Holidays, which we all know is one of the craziest times of the year. Germany is no exception. In fact, Deutschland is sort of the Christmas capitol.

For one, we have been having Schnee, and lots of it. Talk about a Winter Wonderland. I find it to be both extremely beautiful and incredibly interesting to deal with. Last weekend we had a sudden rise in temperature, which led to rain instead of snow, which melted a lot of what was on the ground, resulting in a slushy, yucky mess. Then overnight, everything promptly froze again, turning every pathway and sidewalk into a treacherous, slippery, ice-covered surface. Being completely new to this sort of thing, I did my best to not fall flat on my posterior. I am glad to report that there were no falls, but twice I did have to wave my arms around to remain standing.

There's another thing about the snow that just entrances me. Snowflakes. Those shapes we California kids cut out of translucent white tissue paper every year to hang in our windows as a sorry substitute for the real thing. Here I must admit ignorance, for I had grown to believe that the iconic six-sided shape of a snowflake was something grown-ups had made up because it would look pretty on a ballerina's tu-tu. So to Tchaikovsky, I apologize. Your costuming was accurate.

I think I may be coming down with a cold. Not surprising, given how cold it's been. I'll leave it to my readers to check on what the weather's like in Berlin, but I will say that when the temperature rises above zero Celsius, it's quite a phenomenon. Sorry if I seem to be drawling on--I've got a bit of a headache along with a perpetually stuffed up nose. But hey, at least I'm not going on about German politics. Now there's an interesting subject, lol. If ye be brave and strong of heart, then test thy fortitude and master an understanding of the workings of the political system of Germany, hahaha!

And now for a short history of all that has passed since I've been AWOL.
-Left host family and school in Potsdam. Everyone was very kind to me, but things just didn't end up working out. It happens sometimes. I wish them all the best.
-Moved to a temporary host family in Berlin. They're wonderful people, and I'm still in contact with them because they don't live that far away from my new host family. Their daughter and son go to my school, and I'm so happy I still get to see them.
-Moved to a new host family (which will hopefully be my host family for the rest of my time here in Germany!). I got to keep my new school and even the same group of friends, too. I've already made lots of friends here, and my new host sister and I are tight because we both have never had a sister before.

In the last few weeks, my world has been turned upside-down and inside out, in a good way :) In addition to my change in location has also been a change in the weather. My bit of earth started out being a gingerbread house with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar, which someone then placed in the freezer, which then seems to have had an encounter with a sweet-toothed pair of youngsters who have a rather heavy hand when it comes to the marshmallow fluff, lol.

Oh, and I believe I forgot to mention that the snow storm that has so far been contained mostly to the south of Germany has now hit Berlin. The whole thing reminds me of those films of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Who knows, maybe we'll see his nose up in the sky this year. :) And to answer your questions, yes, I believe we're going to have a White Christmas.

Well, this may not be the best blog post I've made so far, but I think it's enough for now. I'll make sure to tell more of my adventures next time! TGWTC, attempting to learn how to walk in the snow!!