First of all: Christmas. Christmas here in Germany is celebrated (quite) a bit differently than in the States. People decorate their homes, but it's never as crazy as in the US (okay, maybe one or two houses are reminiscent of the typical American-style decorations, but most have a few lights on the house or in a tree or two. What's really common are these:
You see such window decorations all over the place.
The tree doesn't get set up until the 24th, or maybe a day or two before. Christmas trees here are typically smaller, and look more natural (or wild-grown, however you want to say it). They aren't these perfect cones of pine like you expect in the States. It seems common to either have real candles or a string of fake ones to light up the tree. Ornanments seem to tend to be pretty traditional. There are more glass balls and wooden figures than handmade crafty ornaments made by kids.
A pretty typical Christmas tree in Germany.
The 24th is Heiligabend. It's when families go to Christmas church services, eat sausages and potatoe salad, and open gifts. The 25th is the "First Christmas Day," followed by the "Second Christmas Day" on the 26th. On these days, it's typical to visit with the families of each parent. On the 25th, I was in Bielefeld, which is located in North Rhine-Westphalia. We visited an old castle on a huge hill (I miss hills!!). Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring my camera with (Tip to Exchangers: Never leave your camera behind!!). On the 26th, we stayed in the Osterholz-Scharmbeck "county" and visited the other grandparents for goose and duck.
Also, I saw a piece of falling satellite debris on Christmas Eve. I believe it was from a Russian satellite. It looked like a huge, slow-moving shooting star. Pretty cool!
In all, Christmas was a good experience. I got to see how it's done in a different culture, I received some nice gifts, and I ate some delicious food (if a bit too much of it...).
I didn't talk about this topic with too many people, because I wasn't sure until a few days ago if it was really going to happen. Anyway, for a while, I've had the feeling that I don't entirely fit in with my hostfamily. It's not like they were mean or anything, but sometimes you just have these feelings. I decided I should stick it out a while and see if those feelings would pass. It turns out that they didn't. So, after a long while of searching for a new hostfamily, I finally found one. I'm now living with one of my friends from school. There are two daughters around my age and a son a few years younger. They have a dog, a cat, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs and bunnies. I share a room with one of the sisters, but I'm used to that and I get along well with her anyway. I've got a good feeling about this family!
Even though it would have been nice if things worked out the first time around, I feel I've learned a lot about myself. I also feel like I've grown a bit, become a bit more confident and self-assured.
Also, es tut mir Leid, dass es mit uns nicht geklappt hat, aber ich bedanke mich bei euch für alles, das ihr für mich gemacht habt.
This will probably be my last post before the new year. So, here's the second half of my exchange: let it be, simply put, amazing.
Happy New Year! Frohes Neues Jahr!
Bis später!
PS: Yes, I know I'm waaay behind on my 365 project. I'll get working on that... eventually...
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