Yesterday December 19, 2010

The snow continues to fall in Germany, as it is across much of Europe. Living in Edinburgh, we hardly had any snow* and if it did fall, it usually only lasted a short time before melting. So it’s been a big change to look out the window every day and see everything covered in snow.

We were told many times this summer that Wuerzburg, on average, has higher temperatures than across much of Germany and with some of the hottest summer weather. We were also told that typically, it doesn’t get as much snow, either (being a warmer climate and all). I’m not sure whether this information was correct or not, because we’ve had a pretty wintry winter so far, and it’s only just begun.

Yesterday the Mr. and I took a long, winter walk up in the vineyards to get some fresh air and enjoy the wintry landscape. Today, the snow has been falling steadily in big, fat, wet flakes so decided to not venture outside at all. I love looking at the snow from the cozy interior of our flat, but if this kind of heavy snowfall doesn’t let up before I start a language class in January it’s going to be rather more tiresome. And I feel very sorry for all the people trying to fly out of both Germany and the UK right now to be with family for the holidays. We’ve heard some of their stories, and it’s a real nightmare.

*Of course, Edinburgh is experiencing a freakish amount of snowfall this winter that has just about crippled the city. So it looks like Mother Nature was determined to give us a hardcore winter this year no matter where we lived!

I Should Have Known Better December 17, 2010

Buddhism teaches that we must work towards detachment, i.e., a state in which a person overcomes his or her attachment to desire for things, people or concepts of the world to be able to attain a heightened perspective.

So I’m wondering if perhaps the universe thought I needed a swift kick in the butt today after glowingly talking about my favorite things yesterday. Maybe like a  “wake up call” that I need to do some work in the “detachment from material objects”  department?

My wallet was stolen earlier today. Although I can be a little flighty and have a tendency to lose things, I’m pretty sure I didn’t lose it and it was, in fact, stolen. I rather stupidly went against all the good advice I used to give to my students in Scotland and made it easy by putting it in a front pocket on my backpack, so I blame myself to some extent. But he/she didn’t get any money (I only had change – sucka!) and we’ve immediately cancelled all credit and banking cards. So for the person who stole it, it was a lot of risk with little to no reward. But I am really ticked that 1) they got my Indiana driver’s license which is perhaps going to be the biggest pain in the butt of all to replace, and 2) I absolutely loved – no, adored – the wallet itself. The wallet was from one of my favorite Scottish stores called Ness. It was a lovely pink tartan material and looked a little like this, only in pink:

I know it’s not healthy, or helping me to reach an enlightened state, to love a wallet this much, but I can’t help it. It’s tartan. And pink. Pink tartan, people! Big sigh.

I have this hope, albeit a tiny one, that perhaps the mean person who stole my wallet will at least be kind enough to ditch it somewhere an honest person can find it, i.e. not a rubbish bin.  And maybe then I’ll be reunited with both the wallet and driver’s license again, which would go a long way to making me a happier girl.  But if the universe doesn’t want it, I guess I’ll work on the detachment thing. And trying to figure out a way to get a new driver’s license.

A Few of My Favorite Things* December 16, 2010

Thought it might be fun to mention some of the things that have been making me smile lately:

Our Christmas tree. It was a saga hauling it back to the flat (well, only because the Mr. made it that way). See, we had discussed and agreed in advance that we would take a taxi from the place we were buying it back home again. Only, at the last moment, the Mr. and the tree salesman are chatting and lifting it and the Mr. says “I think we can carry it back.” Uh, excuse me? So the Mr. and I start to carry that dang thing back in the freezing cold, snow and ice and I start to seethe. What kind of loony idea is this, anyway, to haul this back home by carrying it?! So then the Mr. grabs it, says “I can do it – I can do everything” (that’s him doing his martyr thing – he likes to do it a lot) and he begins hauling it on his shoulders. So I strap on his backpack of groceries to my chest, tighten the straps of my backpack, and become the human grocery cart. But he was carrying a tree and he still made it back to the flat before I did. Holly+ice=walking like a granny. No joke.

This is the best tea ever. It’s herbal, so you can drink it any time day or night, and it’s sweet. It’s seriously like drinking a big cup of sugary candy goodness. Before we moved away from the UK, I bought like 10 boxes of the stuff, but I think they might ship internationally. I sure hope so, but I won’t have to investigate for a while.

A hat the Mr.’s sister made by hand and gave him years ago, and I now wear just about every day. The Mr.’s sister studied textile design and is a very talented artist. She created this hat during her studies, and I tried it on and fell in love. It’s made with a reflective material of some sort, so it also gets a big thumbs up for safety first as you can’t tell during the day, but headlights at night light it up like a Christmas tree. It’s really warm and so stylish and unique – I love it!

Maultaschen in a soup, but mine was better!

I discovered that I could buy vegetarian maultaschen in a packet at the grocery store. For those unfamiliar, maultaschen are a type of German dumpling that is usually filled with meat, but sometimes you can find vegetarian versions, too. I always order vegetarian maultaschen at our favorite restaurant in Würzburg, but now I’m super excited that I can eat them at home without going to the hassle of making them from scratch. I added a couple of dumplings to a vegetarian soup that I had made the night before and it was de-lish. (I’m not sure whether I can call the soup I make homemade or not. I cut up and prepare all the vegetables, but I use a pre-made vegetable stock for seasoning. I like to think of it as one of few dishes I make from scratch, but maybe dumping cut vegetables into a pot and boiling them for a half hour and considering that a culinary masterpiece is a bit of a stretch. But it tastes good.)

Christmas movies & music. Come November, I stop listening to just about everything except Christmas tunes. I have a fairly decent collection of the classics and mostly old crooners singing them.  My new favorite radio station here in Germany is Klassik Radio. They play an interesting mixture of classical, instrumental music from film soundtracks, and even chill out electronica. They also play a lot of choral and instrumental Christmas music at the moment. And I’ve been steadily working my way through the Christmas movies in my home collection. So far I’ve watched Elf, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Looking forward to Miracle on 34th Street, Love Actually, A Christmas Story and The Snowman. What’s missing from my list and is your favorite holiday film?

This was fun. I might need to make this a recurring post!

*I came up with this title this time. I’ll resume stealing from my source soon again.

Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey December 11, 2010

Just a quick post to say that, a little like The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (who’s now known as Prince), my hubby has undergone a bit of a name change. While we aren’t legally changing his name to “the Mr.”, I have decided I should make more of an effort to keep him (as much as possible) out of my kooky antics known as “the blog.” Mia shall remain Mia, and I shall become known as the Queen of Witty and Entertaining Blog Posts.

Just kidding. You can still call me Holly.

Getting Better December 9, 2010

A little less than a couple of weeks ago, the Mr. and I had a two-day shopping spree in (given how much time and money we spend there) what must be our favorite place in the world: Ikea. The goal was to buy some sort of storage system for the lounge. We gave this considerable thought as anyone who’s ever shopped at Ikea will understand – the choices there are practically endless. (It’s why they have a restaurant. You show up, walk around the showroom on the top level, feel overwhelmed, and need refreshments – stat!)

Anyway, we decided on Ikea’s Besta series as it could serve as concealed storage for the stuff we don’t want people to see, as well as a way of displaying things we do want to people to see. Like all of our nifty alcohol bottles. Seriously. We have a bazillion bottles of whisky after living in Scotland for 5 1/2 years.

So, behold the magnificence that is Besta:

Oooh, aaahhhh - storage!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are a few other photos of how the flat is coming along:

The lounge

Mia's new cat tree. She freakin' loves it as she can watch the world go by from her cozy perch above the heater =)

the entrance room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re thinking about buying another smaller version of Besta for the wall of the lounge next to the door to the office/guest room as we’ve come to the realization we have quite a few CDs and DVDs, and we don’t particularly like having them on display. So we’ll probably reorganize what’s on display if we do get another unit.

The office/guest room. A work in progress.

And you may notice the naked woman (or at least her top half) in the photo to the right. Yes, the naked ladies are still with us. The Mr.’s grandfather was a talented artist and I like quite a bit of his work, but the almost life-sized portraits of the four seasons as big-breasted, bare-crotched women have become the bane of my decorating efforts. I mean, what the heck does one do with four enormous portraits of naked women?! (If you’re the Mr., you hang them in your entrance hallway so it’s the first thing a prospective girlfriend sees when she’s visiting your flat the first time. But that’s another story….)

Old Brown Shoe December 7, 2010

One of the most enjoyable things I find about living abroad is discovering all the new traditions and holidays of the host culture. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been able to experience a number of Christmas season “firsts” here in Germany. On Sunday 28th November, the Mr. and I traveled to his Aunt and Uncle’s house for their annual First Advent party. According to Wikipedia, Advent “is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.” Many people here purchase an Advent wreath, and they light a candle on each Sunday of Advent leading up to Christmas until all four candles are eventually lit. I’m not sure if the idea of doing something on the First Advent is simply a family tradition or is more generally something many Germans do, but the Mr.’s family get together for brunch and spend the afternoon visiting.

Then this past weekend, the Mr. and I travelled to Nuremberg to experience what is considered one of the best Christmas markets in Germany. We felt a little disappointed that the setting of the market wasn’t a bit more impressive. Nuremberg, like many German cities, was bombed heavily during WWII. Most of the buildings that were put up during the reconstruction period were simple concrete structures that sadly don’t have much character, so the square in Nuremberg where the main market takes place is disappointingly surrounded by such buildings. Nevertheless, we did enjoy other aspects of the market. Firstly, there was a fantastic horse-drawn carriage that made a couple of appearances while we were walking around. We also enjoyed visiting smaller “breakout” markets that were located near but apart from the main one. The first we saw was a world market where all the cities around the world that Nuremberg is partnered with as a “sister city” each had a stand. A few of those cities included Venice, Verona, Atlanta, Glasgow, etc., so it was interesting seeing all the wares each for sale. I found the Glasgow and Atlanta stands particularly interesting, but sadly no Cheetos or Twiglets on offer. We also visited the Children’s market which had a fantastic double carousel and other rides for kids. Above each of the rides were wooden figures on the signs that moved – pretty cool for young and old kids alike. After walking around the market for a couple of hours, we couldn’t feel our toes anymore (it was about 19 degrees fahrenheit) so we headed to the cinema to see the latest Harry Potter film in English. Big, happy sigh. It was a great day out, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to visit Nuremberg again (I was briefly there when I was 18). Apart from the convenience of having lots of English-language films showing on a regular-basis, the shopping seems to be fairly good. I discovered they had a Lush store, squealed with joy, and went on a mini shopping spree. Yes, I think there will be many more visits to Nuremberg in the future.

My boot

The Mr.'s boots

And finally yesterday I had another German Christmas “first,” goodies in my boot from Nikolaus. According to The Local, Nikolaus “was a Greek Christian bishop known for miracles and giving gifts secretly, and is now the patron saint of little children, sailors, merchants and students.” Germans remember his death on 6 December by having children put out a boot the night before to be filled with treats in the morning if they’ve been good. The Mr. and I debated whether we should celebrate Nikolaus or instead put up stockings on Christmas Eve to be filled for Christmas morning (as is the American tradition). We toyed with the idea of doing both (double the treats – hurrah!) but then remembered we won’t actually be here for Christmas morning (d’oh!)  I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing, so I bought the Mr. enough treats to fill TWO of his boots. But it was probably still less than what I would have bought to fill a stocking. Oh, and Nikolaus really did visit us – we had a chocolate Santa sitting on our bookcase outside our flat door in the morning =)