I Only Understand "Train Station": Mein Auslandsjahr in Deutschland: December 2013

Thanksgiving
The last Thursday in November, as I'm sure everyone is aware, was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated at all in Germany and so it was really weird to be in school while everyone at home watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. However, due to my love of culture (and turkey), I knew I needed to celebrate. I cooked the dinner on Saturday, when I had time, and cooked for about nine hours. Nine hours. My host mom and sister helped with the turkey, whom we named Francisco, but I cooked the rest. The most ambitious dish I'd ever cooked in my life was probably Paula Deen's parmesan cheese sauce. This consisted of about three ingredients: cheese, milk(or half and half), and, of course, butter. On Saturday, however, the menu consisted of:

Garlic-lemon green beans
Sweet potato casserole (topped with marshmallows)
Orange-cranberry sauce
Stuffing
For dessert, maple bread pudding

I would have loved to make a pumpkin pie or something of the sort, but canned pumpkin isn't available here and I couldn't see the scenario myself attempting to smash pumpkin ending well. Pecans are available although very hard to find, and so I settled on walnuts instead. I was so glad to have the measuring cups that my parents had sent over so that I didn't have to convert everything, which would have been a nightmare. I had to run to the grocery store to pick up celery and parsley, and we had to use a neighbor's oven for everything while we cooked our turkey. Finally, though, everything was finished. My host family and I sat down and all said what we were thankful for, like I've often done on Thanksgiving back at home. Finally, we ate. I have to admit, I was really proud of myself. We're still working on those leftovers. Leftovers are also another new idea for Germans. They typically just don't save food like that. Grocery shopping, at least in my experience, is just to pick up a couple things, whereas at home we buy a lot more, not as often. Of course, I included some pictures of this Thanksgiving dinner. I may have been thousands of miles away from my family, but I'm so glad I celebrated anyways!

Christmas Markets
My absolute favorite part of the Christmas season here has easily been the Christmas Markets. Almost every village and city has one. Some last for just a couple days, some last all of the advent season. My village had one which was absolutely precious. These markets consist of two parts. One: shopping. Two: food. There were over a million lights there and dozens, maybe even hundreds, of small wooden booths. Some sold mistletoe, others sold handmade crafts, some just sold toys and candy. I also roasted bread. In America, we may like roasting marshmallows, but here you literally just put bread dough on a stick and hold it over fire until you have a roll. To be honest, it was delicious. Then, today, I met up with an American friend in Dortmund. That Christmas Market was huge, complete with a gigantic tree. We also went to Essen, where there was yet another market. It reminded me of something that Busch Gardens, the amusement park, would try to do. Traditional accordion music, plenty of bratwurst; it really couldn't get more German than that! There was a ton of fruit for sale, so we felt obligated to buy a coconut...and we did. We also accidentally stumbled upon a medieval market. Everyone was in traditional dress, and the vendors ranged from selling rabbit furs to make-your-own various wooden toys. I had no idea what was going on but it was great. Of course, I've included photos of almost everything below.

Oh! Forgot to mention. December 5th was Nikolaustag! I was on a class trip, but all of the children in the village walked around with lanterns and sang songs, followed by a visit from St. Nikolaus himself. Then, all of the children put their shoes out with bits of bread for St. Nikolaus's horse, and the next day there's candy inside the shoes. Also, thanks to my awesome host parents, I'm enjoying a lovely Kinder chocolate advent calendar. It almost beats the Lego one I got when I was little. Homesickness also hasn't set in yet, and I'm hoping Christmas-away-from-home won't be as hard as expected. It'll be strange though, that's certain. Anyways, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll post after Christmas, but until next time,
Tchüss!