How the Grinch stole my weekend

A certain irony from my last post: Apparently my body doesn't care if I have time off and want to ride my bike through the city so late at night.. Sleep equals health. No sleep equals sickness. I have fallen victim to the latter. Fortunately, it's a bit gloomy outside so I won't feel too guilty about staying in my room and teaching myself how to crochet. (Seriously that is what I'm doing today..)

This weekend I went to Heidelberg and saw just how well Germans celebrate Christmas. Every town has at least one--most have more like 3-5--"Weinnacht Markts" or "Christmas Markets". They have warm food, Christmas trinkets, a carousel, music, and of course-- delicious Glühwein. Glühwein is red wine, mixed with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, and citrus, served piping hot. You pay 2 Euro for a cup, and then put another 2 Euro deposit down for the mug that you could get back assuming you return said mug. But since the mugs are adorable, it's also a really cheap way of obtaining a souvenir.  

Christmas season in a foreign country has been pretty dang cool so far. It's also made me realize some of the things I appreciate most about the ol' Vaterland. For example-

I appreciate that people take time to sit down on benches and stare at people, even if it's blatant. I appreciate that they close every store on Sundays (except coffee shops), even if it's inconvenient sometimes. And.. I appreciate that they have a strong commitment to advent calendars-- not just the little chocolate-a-day ones, they sell out in November on Star Wars advent calendars, princess castles, pirate ships.. It's no joke here. But homemade one's are always the best. This one is mine, made for me by a good friend from Düsseldorf. Thank you, Cecile!!! I love it.

Remind me to tell you sometime of the train ride from Heidelberg to Stuttgart with a Brit and a German and a bottle of Saskia mineral water, or something like it... It's been the little experiences that've made this whole move so great.