Christmas Markets + Christmas Parties + GRE Prep = A Great Week

My friend and I stumbled upon this empty church while on a walk in a small village outside of Berlin. Except for the tree, every light was from an actual candle, burning all alone in this magical little place. Take that, Rick Steves!

Lest you think all I do is drink mulled wine and eat desserts, I have to let you know that I have been studying like crazy for the GRE the last 6 weeks. Reviewing algebraic equations I learned in the 9th grade actually doesn't help me learn German, in fact, it seems to really confuse my brain, so I'm taking a brief hiatus from my German class until the test is over next Monday. In the meantime, though, I've upped the cultural experiences (which may be more helpful anyway) in the name of education.

Last week I attended two Weihnachtskaekse Backen (Christmas cookie baking) parties. The first one was with one of the American fellows, Emily, who can speak the hell out of some German and has German friends to boot. Another reason why Emily is fun? Not only is Jewish and still planned a Christmas cookie baking party, but she is from the West Coast and says things like "rad." I don't know how it's possible to remain type A when you're not even working, but when I'm hanging out in "A" land I like to hang out with Emily and her husband to get me at least down to type B. So, we got cracking on that dough (we're all low-tech here in Germany - no "mixers", no "stoves that don't light themselves") and had a great evening speaking Denglish with each other.

Turns out that was an incredible preparatory experience for Friday, which was my ultimate day of Deutsch. My tandem partner invited me to go with her to an amazing village outside of Berlin to spend the day baking cookies with two of her friends. I've been telling her I really need to spend more time attempting to speak - not just listening - so she put the smack down on me. We had 8 hours of Deutsch. Eight. The beauty of doing manual labor while socializing is that you can take a time-out from speaking in the name of "concentrating on the dough kneading" or to focus on separating the gelb (yolk) from the ei (egg). On the way home, though, I nearly waved the white flag and shouted "Mein Kopf ist voll!" because my brain literally could not take in any more sprach-in'. Speaking is how I will get the job done, though, and I am thankful for the opportunity.

Leave it to the Germans to make a cookie in the shape of a pretzel! My favorite kind are the stars ("zimtsterne") - delicious! We bought our Advent "wreath" at a local market.

You're wondering how I'm doing on the Christmas markets. I've just hit the 15 mark, with hopes of hitting 25 by Christmas. FYI - Berlin is a lot bigger than DC. Back in DC, it seemed like a big commitment to go to Northern Virginia on a Saturday night, but now we're used to most trips taking nearly an hour with multiple modes of transportation.

I'll declare a mid-season market favorite: Domäne Dahlem (http://www.domaene-dahlem.de/). If you're from Michigan you've undoubtedly been to Greenfield Village - an outdoor living history museum. While this is on a much smaller scale, it had the same feel and we had the most amazing afternoon browsing beautiful arts & crafts, playing with chickens, and watching kids climb on tractors. This was the first market I've been to that still had a magical quality to it in the daytime. Most aren't worth going to until the sun is down (luckily, you only need to wait until 4pm) and the lights are lit.

In the past week I've seen another live nativity scene, countless small bands and musical acts, and various Santa figures. Here are some favorites:

A band made up of guys who work for the BVG (public transportation system) - their name was "Die Picolos"

It wouldn't be Christmas in Germany if you couldn't tell someone you loved them
with a heart-shaped gingerbread cookie.

LIVE DONKEYS

Busted by the accordion player while taking this picture. She was amazing.

Transatlantic Relations

While I may not be the one here on a fellowship, I'm trying to do my part to promote positive transatlantic relations. When I discovered that my nephew and my tandem partner's son share the exact same birthday, I knew they must meet. The twins really took to each other - lots of hand-holding (they would reach out to each other without even looking - undoubtedly a cosmic connection). Daniel's German twin did also try to eat Daniel's hand, which may not be a typical approach to international relations, but there was no crying, so "kein problem."

Daniel loved celebrating his first Thanksgiving German-style

I have accepted my own Christmas challenge

The little family and Dominic kick off the Christmas market season

One of the main things I was looking forward to experiencing in Germany are the incredible Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmarkts) that begin at the end of November and run through Christmas. The first of them opened while Kathleen, Andrew, and baby Daniel were here last week and they became a near daily ritual for us. While savoring the smell of chestnuts, admiring the endless rows of lights, and singing along to the (nearly in tune) Christmas carols, I came up with a challenge for myself. I will attempt to go to every Berlin Christmas market this December. (It went something like this: Liz 1: "Liz, these are amazing. You should go to all of these." Liz 2: "Liz, okay." There are nearly 60 - ranging from the large and traditional to the offbeat and funky. I will suck it up and try glühwein, cookies, and fried donuts at each market night after night.

There are a few things that make the traditional markets "traditional." There is always a huge central stall that sells glühwein (hot mulled wine) and other hot drinks.

Schloss Charlottenberg Christmas Market

There are many food stalls - filled with hot foods like bratwurst, belgian waffles, and crepes for now, and delicious treats including roasted nuts, gingerbread, and cookies for later. And no surprise, tons of meat.

I'm not the vegetarian in this marriage

Then the shopping. Jewelry, candles, toys, Christmas decorations, soaps, slippers, socks - some handmade, some not.

Even the traditional markets can have a twist. On Friday I checked out the Rathaus Steglitz market and noticed somewhat of an "animal" theme. On my train ride there, I saw a huge fox-like creature (forgive the city girl, I have a tendency to doubt the accuracy of any animal I name). We were approaching nature. When I entered the market I noticed a life-size nativity scene complete with live sheep and donkeys. As I wandered away from that display I stumbled upon two dogs in a fight. (Bringing your dog to the market, a cafe, on the subway - all normal here.) Then we moved on to the "not alive" category of animal. I saw an entire pig on a spit (this was pre-noon). But the grand finale was a fake mounted deer head that sang Christmas carols - while moving its "mouth" - on the main stall.

I had two markets on my to-do list today (yes, I have charted them out by date and location on a huge city map) and upon exiting my apartment discovered that it was pouring rain. No matter. Fewer people, better opportunity for free samples, clear sightlines to see all the goods. Plus, as I learned this weekend - the Germans have a saying, "there is no bad weather, only bad clothing." Well, I don't have weather-proof clothing yet, but I pressed on. And thank god I did. There was fried dough to be had, and I devoured it.