Hey guys! This doesn't really qualify as a post, more that I just wanted to point out that if you look all the way to the right side of the page, there's a "Shameless Self-Promotion and Other Travel Blogs". I was just finally able to add in another blog called "Travels with Simba." Hannah Scupham is a fellow Valparaiso University alum who is in Valpo teaching English through the Fullbright Program. She is also here for a year, and keeping a blog. Hers is a lot more informative on Germany and Germans in general, so you should check it out! Mine tends to be quite self-reflective (I'm sure you all love that...), so if you want actual concrete information, hers is the way to go. She's also living in the north of Germany rather than the south, so at the very least, you'd get some perspective on life in other part of the country.
So, until next time, auf wiedersehen!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Christmas in Germany
Germany, as a whole, gets really into Christmas. "Weinachtsmarkts" or "Christkindl" markets are in nearly every city, in varying sizes. Even little Kornwestheim, which is a branch of Ludwigsburg, which is 15 minutes away from Stuttgart and it's massive Christmas market, puts together their own tiny version for a weekend. Even the Grinch himself would have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit in this country. You would have to work very hard to stay grumpy at this time of year.
Especially considering the fact that the "Gluhwein", which is essentially a warm spiced wine (I guess we would call it mead?) is served about every ten paces, regardless of the size of the Christmas market. It's good (the apple version is my favorite), but it also packs a punch (which, if you're like me, you may not realize until it's too late...). They also serve something that could maybe go in the same family as eggnog, but it's pretty gross. Egg liquor is not a thing that should exist. However, it's almost pure alcohol, so if a fast drunk is what you're looking for, or if you have an exceptional tolerance, that may be just the thing to order.
Anyway, the best part of all the booths at these Christmas markets is to look up at the roofs. They're decorated so extravagantly, and most of them are extremely creative. It's quite clear that a lot of the vendors spend a great deal of time thinking through their decorations during the year (or maybe they just reuse the same ideas over and over again...I have no context for comparison). They are mostly selling knick-knack type items, winter gear, food, and alcohol. I haven't bought anything other than Gluhwein, but everything smells amazing so I would assume the food is also decent. I'm sure I'll find out eventually about that element, but probably won't buy anything that can't immediately be ingested. I'm not one for scarves or ornaments, and I would question my ability to pack or ship anything home from here in such a manner that it would arrive in one piece.
Speaking of home, I am actually ecstatic about the fact that I will be going home for the holidays. My grandfather was meant to visit, and then we were going to travel through Italy, and while I am disappointed that that has had to be postponed for health reasons, it is actually a huge relief to be headed home for a bit. I really thought I could handle being away for Christmas...I've never had issues with homesickness in the past, but there's just something about being gone for this time of year that was really, really bumming me out. My family is pretty close, and we've always made Christmas special, and I think missing out on that for the first time in 23 years is just something I am not ready for yet. It also would have been pretty lonely once all my friends left for their homes. And I'm sure Nicole and the kids would have been really nice and mostly willing to include me, but I wouldn't have wanted to intrude on their Christmas. It will be so good to see my family and friends and dogs and cats and just be back in the states for a bit. I do like a lot of elements to life in Germany, but it still hasn't succeeded in passing by New Zealand or home.
Although, as far as Christmas at home goes, I could be playing off nostalgia a bit. My parents, siblings and I may want to kill each other after thirty-six hours together. Though in this case, I severely doubt it. We weren't expecting to all be together again for another seven to nine months, so this two weeks is an unexpected gift, and I think we will take full advantage of it. Plus, it means I'll get to visit the lovely Chicago Christkindl market and compare it to a real German one. I'll try to be unbiased, but that's unlikely. So I'll take photos and then you can compare them yourselves.
So, here follows a few photos from the various Christmas markets. I'll probably keep adding onto them...I've been forgetting to take pictures a lot lately, and as a result, my photography skills are not quite as good as they once were.
Especially considering the fact that the "Gluhwein", which is essentially a warm spiced wine (I guess we would call it mead?) is served about every ten paces, regardless of the size of the Christmas market. It's good (the apple version is my favorite), but it also packs a punch (which, if you're like me, you may not realize until it's too late...). They also serve something that could maybe go in the same family as eggnog, but it's pretty gross. Egg liquor is not a thing that should exist. However, it's almost pure alcohol, so if a fast drunk is what you're looking for, or if you have an exceptional tolerance, that may be just the thing to order.
Anyway, the best part of all the booths at these Christmas markets is to look up at the roofs. They're decorated so extravagantly, and most of them are extremely creative. It's quite clear that a lot of the vendors spend a great deal of time thinking through their decorations during the year (or maybe they just reuse the same ideas over and over again...I have no context for comparison). They are mostly selling knick-knack type items, winter gear, food, and alcohol. I haven't bought anything other than Gluhwein, but everything smells amazing so I would assume the food is also decent. I'm sure I'll find out eventually about that element, but probably won't buy anything that can't immediately be ingested. I'm not one for scarves or ornaments, and I would question my ability to pack or ship anything home from here in such a manner that it would arrive in one piece.
Speaking of home, I am actually ecstatic about the fact that I will be going home for the holidays. My grandfather was meant to visit, and then we were going to travel through Italy, and while I am disappointed that that has had to be postponed for health reasons, it is actually a huge relief to be headed home for a bit. I really thought I could handle being away for Christmas...I've never had issues with homesickness in the past, but there's just something about being gone for this time of year that was really, really bumming me out. My family is pretty close, and we've always made Christmas special, and I think missing out on that for the first time in 23 years is just something I am not ready for yet. It also would have been pretty lonely once all my friends left for their homes. And I'm sure Nicole and the kids would have been really nice and mostly willing to include me, but I wouldn't have wanted to intrude on their Christmas. It will be so good to see my family and friends and dogs and cats and just be back in the states for a bit. I do like a lot of elements to life in Germany, but it still hasn't succeeded in passing by New Zealand or home.
Although, as far as Christmas at home goes, I could be playing off nostalgia a bit. My parents, siblings and I may want to kill each other after thirty-six hours together. Though in this case, I severely doubt it. We weren't expecting to all be together again for another seven to nine months, so this two weeks is an unexpected gift, and I think we will take full advantage of it. Plus, it means I'll get to visit the lovely Chicago Christkindl market and compare it to a real German one. I'll try to be unbiased, but that's unlikely. So I'll take photos and then you can compare them yourselves.
So, here follows a few photos from the various Christmas markets. I'll probably keep adding onto them...I've been forgetting to take pictures a lot lately, and as a result, my photography skills are not quite as good as they once were.
One of the Christmas trees for the Stuttgart market
The Nutcracker in Stuttgart. I'll let the photo speak for itself.
The Ludwigsburg market. It's the favorite of my family. But as an American, I must admit to being impressed by the sheer size and gaudiness of the Stuttgart one.
Ludwigsburg does have its own charm though...
This is What Happens When You're Living Rather than Traveling
Anyway, the GOOD thing about traveling all the time (besides, the obvious of, well, traveling all the time), is that it creates very natural, narrative-type entries for this.
Which means that while spending the past month and a half staying put in Stuttgart has been at least as enjoyable as traveling (and sometimes more so), it doesn't necessarily lend itself to neat, tidy, ordered, or even particularly fascinating posts. I guess it's time for me to recruit those writing skills that I spent four years and thousands of dollars honing.
But, enough rambling! (see, I'm already losing out on order). As a result of me spending all my money for the months (and then some...I can only justify so many trips to the ATM pulling money from my American accounts...) in Paris and Strasbourg, I've spent the past month or so exploring Stuttgart. And by exploring, I mostly mean going out to eat, for coffee, and drinking(this is Germany, after all). And, to be honest, that stability has been nice. It's also been great to have finally established a couple of different groups of friends to spend time with. I adore the family I am living and working for, but, as I've said before, having a group of peers is essential to maintaining sanity. Especially in the beginning, being here made me long for college, when there was always someone who you could find to give you attention at any time of day (except from between 6-8 am...and sometimes even then).
But, getting back to business, it's just been lovely to have friends. There are two groups which I tend to circulate between. One I've met through Laura, as she's been kind enough to include me in outings with her friends. They're mostly all other Americans who are also in Germans as au pairs (they all also mostly have, or have had, German boyfriends. Must have missed the memo on that one...). And then the other group I also met through a girl named Laura (not confusing at all...). She's a grad student from the UK, and somehow managed to build up a group of "misfits" (as I so kindly like to describe it...). There's her, me, a British guy named George, a Croatian girl named Sara, a French guy named Adrien, and a German girl named Martina. They're all students, aside from George, who teaches English.
I like spending time with both groups, but at the risk of sounding snooty, it can sometimes be a bit more refreshing to not spend all my free time with au pairs. Because when you get a group of au pairs together, the conversation tends to gravitate toward talk (i.e. complaints) about the family and the hazards of being an au pair. It devolves into a complaint fest, where everyone tries to one-up the other on who has it worse. It's really great conversation, and I always come off as snotty since I don't have a reason to complain. As far as being an au pair goes, I have nothing to complain about. I am in as ideal of a situation as I possibly could be, and have nothing negative to say about my family. But that being said, it can be nice to just be silly and hang out with a bunch of girls my own age who are from my country. No one makes fun of my accent (as George and Laura like to do...because obviously Brits say things "correctly" and Americans are just wrong...), and when I say particularly American things ("This Christmas market isn't as good, it's too small." "I can't believe they made me give exact change, I'm paying THEM for something."), it doesn't come off as weird. Though I'm definitely also not on the same page as most of them when it comes to German men. I will admit that they do tend to be quite nice-looking, but, at the risk of fulfilling stereotypes(but there is some truth in all of them...I frequently am the loud American, particularly once alcohol is involved...), I find their humor to be lacking. Sarcasm is not a German trait. Not that ALL of them are not funny; just I personally haven't met a German guy who had me in fits of laughter.
With the other group, the conversation tends to be a bit more varied. I think between the six of us, we've been to nearly every major city on the globe. As usual, I tend to bring up the rear when it comes to travel experience, but that's not an issue in my mind. It gives me an even bigger pool of people from whom I can get insider advice on where to travel, and what to see and do once I'm there. Plus, Chicago, LA, and New Zealand are usually flashy enough to keep me above water as far as street cred is concerned.
Anyway, I've been having a lot of fun getting to know my way around the city (I probably only get lost every other time now) and checking out the cafes and nightlife. I still think French coffee is better, but it's also more expensive, so it may balance out. I've yet to find a club that I enjoy in Stuttgart (but it's hard to find a club I enjoy period...), but the bars are a lot of fun. My personal favorite is called "Tequila Bar." You get a free shot of tequila with every beer you order. It's such a good deal (there's the recent college graduate showing again).
I hope I didn't bore you all too much! Here's a few photos of day-to-day life just so you all have some visuals to what has been going on. I'll be writing another post shortly about the "Weinachtmarkts" that are EVERYWHERE in Germany. Basically, it looks like Santa Claus vomited all over most of Germany at this time of year.
This is Lina. She is a Cocker Spaniel mix. We go on lots of walks.
One of the randomly pretty spots we go through in Kornwestheim.
And another.
Schlossplatz. It's the most beautiful spot in Stuttgart. It's all decked out in Christmas now.
The group out on a Friday night.
Hedgehogs are all over the place in Germany. They call them "Eagles". Which is particularly bizarre considering what an eagle is in English.
German 'spaghetti' ice cream. It is delicious. Though strawberry sauce in Germany is more like jam than the syrupy version that we have in the states.
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