Yogi wanted me to put this up...

Spiegel Yogi

Yogi, Annie, Förtschi and me!

Arriving in Dresden

Schneefall

Winter in Leipzig

The cause of the riots: Ungdoms Huset

Fire in the street

A one thousand year old town

Yogi and I borrowed two of the Germans’ friends and went on an expedition to Bautzen near the Czech border. Having shared a case of Warsteiner beer over a game of German monopoly (with Deutsch Marks!) the night before, we were a bit sluggish in leaving. Time was quickly gained on the autobahn as Katha cruised at a lazy 170kmh. The idea of the expedition was to see the town that one of my ancestors was from, before he jumped on a ship to Australia in 1848. It also happens to be a one thousand year old town inside city walls with some old churches and bad coffee. Not so conveniently, most things were closed over this Christmas period, but it was great to walk around. We didn’t end up seeing the harsh GDR prison on the outskirts of town because the girls decided that they were hungry for bagels from a shop in Leipzig.

Back on the autobahn, the sign said 166km to Leipzig. One hour later we were there, despite the snow storm (finally, snow!). Happy as a pig in mud, I gleefully began the schneeballschlagt with a well aimed snow ball to Yogi’s right cheek. After becoming sufficiently cold and wet, we sought refuge in the bagel shop then in a church. Useful things, these churches. Our church of choice happened to be where JS Bach is buried and the snow fell persistently on his statue outside, as we enjoyed some funky organ music and heating.

Mutti Förtschi wrote us a lovely note when we left, which went along the lines of wishing us a great trip and to stay as we are – full of drink and full of food. I think she found us quite hilarious, which is not surprising considering our late night Ludo marathons with herself and also Kristina’s grandma. “Oma”, or “Zuper Oma” as we sometimes called her, was almost the MVP of our time in Gera. Two incidents were especially memorable. Super Oma was on a roll with sixes, which is awesome when you’re playing Ludo, but quite funny when you have a grandma crying out “Sechs! Sechs! Sechs! Vielen Sechs für Oma.” Super Oma soon became “Sexy Oma” and we had to find some towels to dry up the rivers of tears from laughter.

The other Oma incident was when I was accosted in the hall, while in my boxers on the way to the shower, and forced to have a coffee before anything else. So I sat there listening to Oma chatter as if I was more fluent in German than herself, sipping my coffee, smiling, nodding and saying “ja, ja”.

So while we didn’t get a white Christmas, we did get a one thousand year old town, some autobahn action, a snowball fight, some German monopoly, about 237 large Christmas meals, many parties with the Hermans, Ludo and much fun with Sexy Oma and Mutti Förtschi and glühwein at the Christmas markets. And, most importantly, a great week with Annie and Förtschi, who are just as awesome as when we last saw them a year ago in Australia. Worthy of the Junket.

A German Christmas: Part 1

In true German fashion, Christmas is spread out over 3 days to ensure that everyone’s stomach can sample all of Germany´s fine foods and (alcoholic) beverages. The festivities are spread over the 24th to 26th with each day consisting of a special feast...

The 24th is Christmas. We went to Anne´s house and gorged ourselves at a traditional German Christmas complete with a visit from Santa. Anne´s youngest sister Jette recited a poem for the “Christmas Man” which is the cutest thing we have ever seen. We each received a Christmas sack full of German goods before being scolded by Santa and Anne´s grandmother for not knowing any English Christmas poems. Does anyone know any poems for next time? East German Grandmas with sticks are scary.

We dedicate this paragraph to food, which deserves a story of its own. We started with coffee and cakes made by the family before moving on to beer and a few glasses of red. Approaching bursting point we loosened our belts and readied ourselves for the main event. Wiener Würste, potato salad, enough cheese to make the Swiss and Danish jealous, more chocolate, more biscuits, rissoles, pickled vegetables, more wine, more beer and finally a strange alcohol flavoured custard digestive in a chocolate shot glass (would work well with Bailey’s too). Anne´s family reveled in our command of the German language, especially Grandma Schlenzig, who slowly began to forgive us for the poem dilemma. As a side note, Yogi thought he was doing well until he found out they were talking about lobster, when he though they were talking about turkey. Well done, Bear.

So what was in this Christmas sack? Well there were sausages of course, chocolates, biscuits, mustard (!), Jagermeister, Champers and finally our very own Räuchermännchen! What is a Räuchermännchen, you ask?, It translates to a smoking man. It is a hollow wooden figure/object that you can split in half. Inside you put a little incense candle, when you light it and put the top back on it looks like the man is smoking. Other examples include little huts and the immortal smoking grandma at Förtschi´s grandma´s house. I think we were more excited than Jette (Anne’s 9yo sister). To make up for this we helped her tune her new guitar and taught her a deep purple riff.

The day concluded with a trip to a church for a late night service. That´s right….. we went to church. Now we’re probably not the best person to comment on church services… however this service was straight out of Dr Who, complete with a time machine. We arrived late and missed the hymn sheet, so were given many strange looks when we sang Silent Night in English. Finally we managed to get a hymn sheet which exponentially increased the fun as did the Jäger from our Christmas sack. The challenge then became to match the German words to the English hymn. Ben and I felt like Mr Bean singing Hallelujah in the church scene.

Some memorable quotes from the service:
Ben (pointing to the priest): “Is that the Pope?”
Andrew at the stroke of midnight: “Go Jesus, it´s your birthday, we’re going to party like it’s your birthday! If you’ve got a bit of Myrrh put your hand up, if you’ve got some Frankincense put your hands up, if got a little Gold put your hands up, everybody in the church put your hands up!!!”

Finally home, both enlightened and with painful stomachs. When asked how our day was, Yogi replied “Ich habe viel zu viel Weiner Würste gegessen” which loosely translates to I have eaten way too many Wiener Sausages. I was talking about the Vienna sausages, however Ben understandably wet himself at the thought of me having eaten too many Weeners. Not wanting to end the day on a confused note we cracked open a bottle of red and some chocolates and relaxed. A perfect Christmas, and only day one of three…..

Eat, drink and be merry!

Merry Christmas to the english speakers
Joyeux Noel for the French
Frohe Weihnachten to the Germans
Glaedelig Jul to the Danish

I'm spending this evening (24th) with Yogi, and the German girls Annie und Kristina and their families. Hope everyone back home and in Copenhagen and around the world has an awesome time too.

Nach Dresden

We’re currently driving to Dresden with Förtschi, Annie, Marvin and Katha listening to the Rot Heiss Chilli Pfeffers. Not sure how the little Peugeot is doing it, but we’re sailing along at 140hmh (and being overtaken at lightning speed on the autobahn).

Nur in Deutschland...

Only in Germany could the following happen. With German precision, Yogi and I rocked into Gera and were greeted by Förtschi (Kristina). “We have a party organized for you in Jena (a half hour drive)…. Bring your sleeping bag.” We dressed in our finest clothes to impress: boardies and flip flops. One of the germans smiled, which could only be an expression of hilarity.

Partying with Hermans (our clever nickname for the Germans) was an altogether German experience. On arrival we were served a punch of white wine, peaches and ice cream. We were then crowded into the bedroom by six german girls who thought the best thing to do on a bed with 2 aussies was play karaoke. That’s right – play karaoke – not only do you sing, but score points for being in tune. The Hermans won.

Although no one spoke English when we arrived, the Hermans quickly loosened up with the right combination of tasty german beer, less tasty ice cream and wine, even less tasty cherry spirits (bitter and sweet) and pina colada schapps, followed by Christmas glühwein. This all made for a stellar hangover the next afternoon when we woke up. The girls then took us out for goblets of ice cream – the perfect winter warmer when it’s seven degrees outside.

This is our welcome to the land of big beers; apartments that look straight out of the World Movies channel, complete with yellow walls (have you seen “Goodbye Lenin”?); and lots of friendly people.

Train on a ferry?

I just found out that we were on the ferry today. I don’t know how Yogi was awake to realise that the train had lazily cruised onto a ferry on its way from Copenhagen to Hamburg. We arrived home from our last night in Copenhagen just in time to pick up our bags and catch a taxi to the station. Taxi drivers in Copenhagen should be Kroner millionaires at the rate the meter ticked over… at any rate, we paid for his Christmas duck.

On the postive side

We have all made many new friends around the world, and I for one will be making an effort to meet them again. The great thing about exchange is that the majority of people you meet are open-minded (enough to leave their own culture to live in a land of pastries and weird language), yet oh-so different. I have borrowed language, culinary skills and humor from the Catalans, French and Italians. Of course I also enjoyed the company of the English and Germans (but let them keep their food and humor). Great times.

A sad send-off

Too many tears this week amongst the departing exchange crew. It’s so hard to part with great friends; made in an intense environment and who have shared the last 5 months of your life. The worst thing is, that outside of Copenhagen, we all have different lives: never will we all be together again and that is hard to deal with. Tears flowed openly in pubs, bars and homes around town, and this certainly wasn’t part of the brochure.

Proud owner of a Law degree

This post has been a long time coming; as exams closed in I became very busy, especially since the severely shortened daylight hours made me oh-so lethargic!

But I have been re-energised by the fact I now have a law degree!! Whoohoo! Each of my three law subjects finished with an oral exam, and they give you your mark on the spot. All three passed = very happy! Also passed module 2 of danish language today (just!), so I can now officially talk nonsense.

Big party at the student house tonight - Al, Kev and myself have pooled our beer tickets from working to put on three kegs of Carlsberg's finest for all the international students. Time to go and set up!!

3.30pm sunset over the lakes

 

Rainy and "Jule-y"

 

Christmas starts early here....

 

And then there was one....

 

Den Sorte Diamant