In Germany, New Year's Eve is called Sylvester, and as well as wishing people happy new year you also wish them "ein guten Rutsch", which means a good slide. So, have a good slide into the new year. Cute, oder?
A few to catch up on now, and most importantly I would like to tell you about December in Trier, Germany. December in Germany means many things, the coolest of which is....Christmas Markets!
Trier has a particularly nice one. Not huge but big enough and undeniably pretty.
Trier by Day, looking at the Cathedral. Photo courtesy of Tylor.
Trier by Night, the Hauptmarkt.
During the day they're a little cold, but there's plenty of stuff to look at, and in the evening the place becomes full of people young and old, local and foreign drinking Glühwein from commemorative mugs and eating yummy yummy Bratwurst. During the month of December until I flew home on the 22nd I think I went to the markets about 17 times. So, most days.
The next fun activity myself and the other assistants decided to indulge in was ice skating! Not once, but twice sogar.
The relative skating ability of the assistants was directly related to where they'd grown up.
Tylor and Hilary, having grown up in Canada, a land where you eat ice for breakfast, were brilliant and put us all to shame.
Whitney won the bronze medal representing Alberquerque, USA.
Then the UK in its entirety were the runners up, shuffling around the ice with the occasional wobble, progressing to a half decent and reasonably fast but definitely not stylish parade around the ice.
Special mention to Gunjan, who was a champ on her first time, especially considering she grew up in India, where (according to the ever trusty Wikipedia) there are a grand total of 5 indoor ice rinks.
Trier Assistants on Ice, December 2012. Photo courtesy of Hilary.
What else? Oh yes, my mum came to visit! Bringing my aunt with her, we spent a few days exploring Trier, sliding around in the snow (this was the same week that I got caught in the snowstorm) and buying stuff at the markets. We also headed to some other markets, one at Saarlouis (disappointing) and Saarbrücken (better).
My final weeks involved drinking Glühwein with the Lintzstreet chicks, singing christmas songs (the best German one is called in the Christmas Bakery/In der Weihnachtsbäckerei) and teaching kids about Christmas back in Wales. All I managed to do was give the impression that we drink a lot, oops.
We also had a Christmas pot-luck dinner amongst us assistants, which resulted in lovely food, a great secret santa exchange and a group viewing of The Muppet's Christmas Carol. As we say in Wales, lush.
On December 22nd I flew home for Christmas and I was genuinely saddened to go. I love my life here in Germany, I have made amazing friends, enjoy my job and believe it or not my German is getting pretty good too. I realised I would be incredibly sad to leave in the first week of June but hey, that's still 5 months away so in the meantime I will make the most of it.
Bis gleich! xxx
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