But like actually. This was the most international New Year's I've ever had. At the crack of dawn on Silvester morning (Silvester is what the Germans refer to New Year's Eve as, because it's St. Sylvester's Day), Rae and I hopped on a train to Berlin and met up with Evan along the way. We arrived in Berlin around 11:30, made our way to Alexanderplatz in the east part of the city, where we met my friend David, another Fulbrighter who went to BC, and settled in to celebrate the ringing in of a new year! We grabbed some lunch at a burrito place called Dolores- we ordered in English and it was pretty close to American Mexican standards, I'd say! Evan is from Phoenix, so he was in heaven finally having some decent Mexican- and Monterrey Jack cheese! Braved the checkout lines at Netto because just like the rest of Germany, we had a few more items to secure before the festivities began.
Back to David's and we met some of his friends who were there for the holiday as well as his roommates. David lives with a German guy, a Swiss girl whose Swiss boyfriend was there as well, and an Italian guy. James was also there (another BC Fulbrighter), then David's Chilean friend, Diego, and another guy studying in Berlin, Gabriel, who's from France, but is actually half Brazilian. Phew! And all of us in in the capital of Germany!
When we returned, of course had to get glitzy for the occasion. Rae's family got me a beautiful bright red sequin dress for Christmas and in true keeping with my New Year's Eve traditions, was able to continue with sequins! May be more economical to start reusing some of these dresses though...
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| red for 2013! |
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| silver for 2012- and of course making all the girls wear matching eye glitter |
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| and black for 2011 |
The day started off like any day-drinking event- music and chatter and card games and some food...once it got dark though, people everywhere were lighting fireworks (and remember that it gets dark by 4:30). Around 11, we all made our way to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) to ring in 2013 with the crowds. It was a pretty cool experience. I've never been outside in a crowd for New Year's and I assume that this is like the Times Square of Germany- they said one million people were expected. The only sad thing was that there was no countdown and no Auld Lang Syne, so without those staples, I didn't even know that midnight had hit and had to ask my friends, whoops!
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| Me and Rae- the Gate on our heads |
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| The Gate in neon colors! |
Afterwards, we made our way to a massive whole-building house party on the west side of the city which was absolutely insane. Germans, and Europeans in general, party so much differently than Americans and I'm always stunned at their endurance and perseverance to last the whole night! Back to David's and slept New Year's Day away; Rae and I didn't even leave the apartment (luckily I've already spent five days in Berlin back in 2008 and saw all the touristy things, and will be back for another five days in March for the mid-year Fulbright Conference). Made our way back to Münster yesterday morning, and it's been about 30 hours back, and other than two runs and grocery shopping, I've just been vegging out and it's been glooooorious.
I guess I'll work backwards on this post. That was New Year's but what about Christmas in England? It was absolutely lovely! Rae's family is lovely, and everyone I met was so nice and friendly, and we just ate and ate and ate and watched enough movies and TV to last us the rest of our TV-less time in Germany. We got in wicked late on Sunday night, so didn't do much. Up on Christmas Eve and were supposed to go shooting down the farm with Rae's uncle for his birthday but it was pouring rain (true to the stereotype, it rained every single day I was there- although there were some intermittent periods of sunshine, and enough dry time on Thursday for me to fit in a run). I actually wasn't too bothered about not going shooting- I really have no interest in shooting a gun (I know, how un-American! ...at least that's how all my students see it hahah) Instead, we made our way to the Barley (one of Stockton's pubs) for a classic pub lunch of prawn cocktail, steak and chips, and Guinnesses and Lagers. Met more of Rae's family and the locals from her village- eating and drinking and merriment, just how Christmas should be :)
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| Starting off Christmas Eve with a Guinness |
Made our way into the other room with Rae's brother Joe, and his two friends, and then Rae's cousin- basically just all the young people. Then we switched pubs and had a dart contest and I won! My arm was actually sore the next two days from two hours of throwing darts. I collected about 11 pounds in winnings which just went straight back into the beer fund. Afterwards we switched pubs once again, with more darts and pool, incessant plays of "Fairytale of New York" and no dearth of English banter.
Closed down the pub and Joe, Rae, and I devoured the chilli Rae's mom had left for us and then passed out in bed. Woke up the next morning to a stocking of presents at the foot of the bed! SO British! Downstairs to open our presents, had a nice big English breakfast, then went to Rae's uncle's and cousins' to exchange more gifts, and then to the village over to see Rae's other uncle and other grandmother for a marvelous food spread and the Queen's speech and more gift exchanging. It was a slow move back to Rae's because we were all so full. I insisted on making everyone watch "Love Actually" and then we all had a big turkey dinner, and went into food coma right afterwards.
Oh the holidaaaaze.
The day after Christmas is Boxing Day in the UK, so it's actually a thing. We went to an open house at one of the neighbors in the village who had the most beautiful house! It was a lovely party and then Rae and I went to her friend's pub afterwards for a Boxing Day get-together. More darts and pool. My prowess at darts unfortunately did not last. The rest of the week was very uneventful- just lots of eating and drinking and watching movies...Rae and I did go see "The Hobbit" (couldn't see Les Mis like the rest of America because it doesn't come out until next week in the UK and not until NEXT MONTH in Germany! Needless to say, I am heartbroken and completely jealous and indignant because everyone is hopping on the Les Mis bandwagon, yet it's been my favorite musical for about a decade. Humph. Posers. I'll get over it...maybe.) and went for a lovely curry the next night. Rae and I both consumed green chilli peppers during appetizers and I almost died. Most of you know I can handle quite a bit of spice on my pallet (ordered the lamb vindaloo and once again, the waiters looked at me like I was crazy- who is this white girl getting a vindaloo!?) But the chilli pepper...never again.
Oh yeah. And after months of contemplation, I decided to dye my hair blonde. Why not? It's basically the one color I've never been bold enough to do, but I figured that I'm in Germany and on break from school, so I might as well go for it. I hated it at first, but I think it was just the initial shock. I like it better now, but after less than a week it's already fading, so I'll have to go over it again in the next couple days to get the spots that were missed. Some people get tattoos or piercings when they get bored with their appearance, but I'm sure mom would be happy that I'd rather dye my hair "permanently" than ink up or put holes in my body.
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| It's already faded from this color lol |
I'll end with this- as Americans, we have a lot of things we think about England. I've learned some to be true and some to be false, but the whole, receiving milk in bottles outside the house in the morning is actually a thing! (I mean, I think that was a thing for my parent's generation...but I don't know anywhere where it still happens at home today) So, cheers!
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