National Avery’s Christmas Vacation

This was my first Christmas away from my home and family and that was definitely hard for me at times, but I think I handled it really well and ended up having a pretty good holiday. I was fairly busy during this time, so I’m going to structure this blog a little differently and just talk about Monday-Thursday as a whole instead of four separate days. In Germany the technical “Christmas Celebration” time lasts from the 24th-26th and I really enjoyed that because it feels like the part never stops! We went to a different type of concert each day. The first was on Christmas Eve, we went down the street from Oma Inga and Opa Günther’s house where about 15 people from the street (including my host parents and Oma Inga) all played music in the street. Even though it was raining, their spirits weren’t dampened. We ate cookies and drank Kinderpunsch afterwards and it was delicious. The second concert we went to was on Christmas Day. It was at the city hall in Schweinfurt, Germany and the band played traditional Christmas music from America, as well as some other music from Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. They had a singer as well to accompany the band and she had a very nice voice. The third concert we went to was on the evening of the 26th at the church in Grafenrheinfeld (which is a smaller village outside of Schweinfurt where Oma Edith and Opa Kalli live). At this concert they played a huge variety from Christmas music to Harry Potter and the music was really enjoyable! Afterwards, we drank kinderpunsch again!

In addition to a concert each day, we also ate a huge meal together each day. On Christmas Eve, we went to Oma Inga’s sister, Beate’s, house. We ate a huge home-cooked dinner with delicious food and of course, the meal was finished with delicious dessert (my favorite part of any meal). This was the night that “Christ-kind” came and brought presents to all of the people. Here is a link to some more information about the Christkind: https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/15915-die-geschichte-vom-christkind Christkind brought for me a very cute scarf (actually from Oma Inga), a box of chocolate (actually from Aunt Beate), and a food tour in Bamberg (actually from my host parents). On Christmas Day, we ate a very big lunch at Oma Inga’s house. Oma Edith and Opa Kalli also came over so there were very many of us. On the 26th of December we had a very huge fondue lunch at Oma Edith and Opa Kalli’s house. At that lunch, I ate a Brussel sprout and almost threw up at the table. Those things don’t taste good, but I managed to get the nasty taste away with some more delicious dessert!

Here are some notable things that happened during the week: my host dad and I went with the kids to a labyrinth and we had a lot of fun there. We played in the hay and it was obvious that the boy’s really had a great amount of fun. As we tried to leave, our big Ford bus got stuck in the mud! The tires were spinning and no matter what we tried, we couldn’t get free. Thankfully, a man came and towed us out. On Christmas Day, I stayed up late with my host parents and Oma Edith and Opa Kalli playing games. It was so much fun! We played skipbo and also a game called Qwirkle that comes from Canada. Oma Edith and Opa Kalli always do the best job of making me feel like I’m part of the family and I am very grateful for them. On Thursday, I was babysitting the boys and the younger one was crying and screaming for his mom while both other kids were trying to sleep and so I picked him up and put him in the bathroom so he wouldn’t disturb the other two. This is the conversation we had: “My mom should come home!” “No, she’s not coming home.” “Call her right now!” “No I’m not going to.” “Go away from me!” “No.” “Go…back…to…America!!!” I just laughed when he said that because it was very funny.

And that was my Christmas time. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair… and now I’m on holiday in Düsseldorf, so I am a very happy girl!

27 December: I woke up at 8:30 in the morning at Oma Edith and Opa Kalli’s house and repacked all of my things. Then, my host mom drove me to the main train station in Schweinfurt where I was picked up by the flixbus. The flixbus ride from Schweinfurt to Düsseldorf lasted 6 hours, but it wasn’t so bad. I got randomly assigned the seat in the very first row of the bus, so I had a very panoramic view. I slept for some of the ride and I also talked to a girl who said I speak very good German. I arrived in Düsseldorf at 4:00 PM and Malte and his mother picked me up from the bus station. It was so nice to see them again since I was only able to see them for one day in September. I got to see the house where Malte grew up and still lives and we ate a snack and drank some delicious apple juice. We watched some Modern Family and just talked and when Malte’s dad arrived home, we drove to the city for dinner. I got to see the outside of the Christmas Market and some more of the beautiful qualities Düsseldorf has to offer. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant and I had an amazing cheese pizza of course and we also ate tiramisu for dessert! It was so delicious! When we got home, we watched a movie and then went to bed. This was a great day!

28 December: I woke up and ate breakfast with Malte and his mom, Kerstin. Then, Kerstin and I took the bus and the U-Bahn to the central part of the city. We went shopping and looked at all the expensive stores. Versace, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, all the of the places I will only afford when I am an independent billionaire business woman. My millionaire husband will not support my shopping addiction, but it won’t matter because I will make more money than him anyways and will not be controlled by a man who is only making millions. After a while, Malte also met us in the city and we all went together to a Lebanese döner place. I had my typical falafel sandwich without salad because sometimes it’s nice to have a break from the healthy stuff and it tasted really yummy that way! We ate and walked along the Rhein river to the “Rheinturm” which is the beautiful TV tower in Düsseldorf. We went up to the top and enjoyed hot chocolate and the gorgeous view! We were really lucky to have beautiful weather with a shining sun, so the view was even more picturesque. After the tower, they showed me the harbor and we took some pictures. Then, we went to the movie theater with their family friends and we saw Star Wars. It was completely in German and I have only seen one other Star Wars movie, so it was a little difficult for me to follow, but the 3D was so awesome it didn’t even matter. For dinner, we ate together at an upscale Italian restaurant and the food was delectable. I had cheese pizza (of course) and for dessert, more delicious tiramisu. Then afterwards, Malte and I went to his friends house for an hour and two. I had a really nice time and a really great day!