German Christmas Markets 2017

I look forward to Christmas every year, and for some reason this year's came up even faster than the previous ones. Must mean that I'm getting old. However because this year, I knew that I'd be in Germany for the before-Christmas-festivities, I was even more excited. I had heard so many people, both German and non- saying how amazing the Christmas markets leading up to Christmas were.

One of the vendor stalls at the Christmas market
in Braunschweig. 

Each city pretty much had their own Christmas market. We live in the state of Thuringen and are in close proximity to two other popular cities. We managed to got to the markets in Jena, Weimar, and Erfurt. Jena and Weimar weren't too impressive, but I especially loved the one in Erfurt.

The markets consisted of 3 major components: Glühwein, fried food, and vendor stalls. Glühwein is red wine mixed with a bunch of spices and is particularly popular around Christmas time. It's grown on me more than I'd like to admit. During December, Ben and I ended up drinking it two or three times a week.

Two of the many Glühwein we drank

Something that I loved was how the Christmas markets brought people together. I assumed that Ben and I would visit the major markets near us on the weekends, but we ended up meeting up separately with friends, colleagues and classmates too. Although the market in Jena wasn't the most impressive, I found it really memorable because of the friends we went with.

Some of the markets had an "old" market vs. a "new" market. The old markets were of course more rustic, had cooler cups, and cost more. I didn't notice too much of a difference between the new and old markets other than some different Glühweins that were offered. I do have to admit that I found new favorites.

Ben also managed to take me to the Christmas market in his hometown in Braunschweig. Another beautiful market! I thought the vendor stalls were more impressive and creative than at any of the other markets that we'd visited. Some sold traditional German-made wooden ornaments and candle holders, and some sold homemade Christmas goodies. We even saw a stall of iron woodworking tools made out of chocolate. :-O

I got really psyched to see a specific nut vendor stand. Ben and his family told me how people stood in line for hours waiting to buy the spiced nuts from this particular stand. Of course, I wanted to check it out.

This was only part of the line, but it went all the way to the back of the market and we saw it on a slow day...I think most people were excited to see the guy making the spiced nuts. He stirred them by hand, so his one arm was very muscular and his other arm was more normal sized. It was amusing to see because the line was always at least 50 meters long.

The Christmas markets were really amazing to see, but I think what I liked best was that it gave everyone an excuse to get together and do something, not just on the weekends, but during the week as well-- in the morning, around noon or later at night. Also, of course the food. I am so addicted to Glühwein and Kräppelchen/Schmalzkuchen.

How can little fried pieces of dough
be so yummy???

I figured I had to post this before the new year. Wishing everyone a wonderful start to the new year surrounded by family and friends. :-D

A German Weekend in the Woods

I really haven't written a post in a while, but I've been meaning to write one about a Choir trip that I took a couple of weeks ago...

One aspect that I enjoy about Germany is that it doesn't seem to matter what age you are, you can find a group or people who share an interest of yours. Actually, it seems like it's highly encouraged to be a part of a group or a "club." I've been missing singing in a choir ever since I left Concordia. There's just something about singing and music that makes everything feel wonderful. It's a drug-like side-effect that's only comparable to that of exercising, in my mind.

Anyway, I joined a choir at the beginning of the fall semester in October. I had already decided that I wanted to join one back in May when I got here, but it wasn't possible because the semester was almost over. I found three options in Jena. I decided to join the choir that sang a mixture of popular and classical music. They were also a smaller group, so I thought it might be less intimidating to speak and make new German friends.

The audition came around and I was nervous, as usual, but Ben had helped me practice some basic questions that they might ask me (Did you sing in a choir before, which part did you sing, do you play any instruments, etc.), so I felt pretty well prepared. It was all fine until they asked me to sing "Bruder Jacob."
Huh? Turns out that's the name of Frere Jacques in German. I unfortunately didn't know that song in German, but the two choir directors and I sang it in a canon~ them two in German and me in French...I wasn't expecting that twist.

It felt so good to sing in a choir, but socializing was a bit more of a challenge. I thought that since I would see the choir members every week, making friends would be easier. However, I noticed that Germans aren't so forthcoming even when you're all doing something that you love together. I really wanted to strike up conversation but I've learned that Germans don't ask "How're you doing?" as a greeting or conversation starter. So all I could manage was:

Me: <smile> "Hallo!"

Acquaintance: <maybe smile> "Hallo."

Me: "..."

Then I was stuck because I didn't know what I should talk about. I can't ask them how they are! Maybe the weather...? Ugh. Such a struggle. It's boring to talk about the weather every week. Usually I was saved because we would start singing and there wouldn't be time to chit-chat with one another.

Therefore, I was both scared and excited when I found out that there was going to be a choir retreat. Making small-but-not-small-talk in German for 72+ hours, hmm...

Let's just say that I had more fun at the choir retreat than I could've imagined. The first evening we had a couple of hours of rehearsal, but then we just played some getting-to-know-you games. I have to admit those were a bit tough because sometimes I'd have to learn double the vocabulary (a.k.a. someone's name and then a fruit/vegetable that began with the same letter~ side note: not many fruit/vegetables begin with J in German).

The second day consisted in majority of singing (surprise!) and I even managed to convince some people to go hiking with me. :-) In essence, it was nice to be "stuck" together as a group and be forced to talk to each other. I learned so much more about other members than I would have through just weekly choir rehearsals.

Also, I haven't mentioned one thing about food yet in this post...I discovered some standard (and very yummy) German junk food. The top one is two cookies sandwiching a little bit of chocolate. I think it's probably similar to Nutella. And the bottom picture is similar to puff corn but with a peanut coating on the outside~kind of genius!

That's all for this post. Big take-away from the weekend: Germans get a lot friendlier and talkative after they've had a beer. Let's not make that a stereotype, but it was definitely an observation.