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.