Updates 2

So much has happened!

• I went on a few lovely walks, walk descriptions will follow. One of them in the Harz mountains in Germany, would you believe it? I didn't take many notes though, I was having too much fun with my two highschool friends who walked with me.
• I finished my Open University course on statistics - took a lot of time! I didn't realise it was going to go for a whole year when I signed up... Exam results will be out soon, I think I got 75-80% - we shall see. (Update on this update: it's 85% !)
• We're moving! My flatmate bought a new flat, one mile closer to town, with a tiny strip of grass (the garden) and a fox. We'll have a guest room...

Friends and Weddings

A lovely wedding last weekend. It had everything: Lovely food and excellent service, witches and magic mirrors, ties tied around heads, obscene drawings, serious hangovers, bad dancing, and best of all: Almost all my uni friends in one place!

Has anyone taken photos? I feel like I remember cameras. And can we please do this again soon? Another wedding anyone?

Germany

I'm on holiday in Germany to recover from my stressful life in Edinburgh and to warm up. What I'm doing to spend my time:

• sleeping
• napping
• reading
• complaining about the heat
• eating wurst

Old Friends

It is great to make friends all over the world, but meeting people only shortly makes it less likely for friendships to last, and only very few and very special people stick and stay more than Facebook friends. But people you grew up with and share your roots with will always be known - even when you weren't more than acquaintances in the first place. 

Surprise

It's been quite a while since I was in Germany and I have meant to go back and visit for some time now. The thing is that the more I look at flights the more expensive they get. But after spending hours figuring out all possible connections between Edinburgh or Glasgow or Manchester or Newcastle and Hannover or Hamburg or Köln or Berlin, none of which were either affordable or practical, I eventually remembered my bonus miles I had with British Airways. I think they came together with a oneway flight to Australia and maybe one more return flight in Europe. But surprisingly, the number of collected miles was well beyond what I needed for a return flight from London to Hannover. And I could pick a date! This means I'll be at my mum's birthday this year for the first time since 2009 :)

Hamerstorf Morning

The New Christmas

I'm spending Christmas with my family at my parents' house, the house I grew up in. Everything seemed to be like every year until my brother arrived yesterday and we had to have the talk. About video games under the Christmas tree. Which were not appreciated last year and will not be allowed this year. 

As a compromise, he moved the living room TV to his bedroom for the duration of the week he is spending here, since this device is apparently the only one that is capable of being connected with the playstation. Now he can blow off people's heads in the privacy of his room. 

Before a different TV could be organized to fill the empty spot, however, my mum did this:

 

The TV spot filled with heaps of gifts, which, admittedly, are more decorative, there is no room left for a replacement TV, and for the first time since the beginning of time we won't be watching TV on Christmas!

But what to do instead? Talk? Play boardgames? Yesterday, we went to the Christmas market in Uelzen with the almost complete family (just one brother still missing). That was fun, especially since my parents paid for all the Glühweins and Bratwursts and sweets, AND my dad drove. But back home again, my dad still looked a bit forlorn, sitting in front of the TV spot, missing the seven o'clock news, looking at Christmas gifts instead, and listening to the radio. Since this is all the excitement that happens in our little village I promise to report about new developments in the TV crisis as soon as they arise.

And in this spirit I generically but genuinely wish everyone a merry Christmas, happy Hannukkah, and stable stomachs for the upcoming feasts.

10 nice surprises

1. First meal in Germany: White asparagus, potatoes and schnitzel.
2. Germany in spring is beautiful.
3. Germans are tall.
4. Bags at the supermarket check-out cost money.
5. German bakeries beat American bakeries.
6. Germans are obsessed with wurst.
7. So far, every single German I have had to deal with was very friendly.
8. Screw gouda, I want my cheddar.
9. Hannover is hip.
10. It is nice to be back home again.

Bin wieder in Deutschland

Habe schon ausgepackt und Spargel gegessen, Akten sortiert, beim Bundesverwaltungsamt angerufen, Klamotten aussortiert und gaaanz lange geschlafen.