Christmas

(Image courtesy of someone else, due to the fact that there's probably something wrong with the cord that connects my camera to the computer.)

Despite the huge amount of Christmas here (demonstrated by the picture above of the Schlössle-Galerie all decked out for Christmas, and of course the Weihnachtsmärke), I feel like I'm kind of skipping over it this year. I have yet to bake any cookies, I have not learned any Christmas songs on the piano or recorder, and I haven't listened to any Christmas music, since I don't have Sufjan Stevens CDs here, and nothing tops his rendition of "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming"!

I sang a little with Martha at the AFS Christmas party. It made Regina really happy because she loves hearing me sing, which I think is sweet. She told me a few weeks ago that I should sing more because Katharina sings all the time, which made me feel kind of bad. The Christmas party wasn't so much fun -- I felt kind of lonely and I was really exhausted for some reason. Sometimes I feel a little lonely when I am with all the exchange students together, because they are already very close and I feel a little left out. However, I did manage to get a video of a short segment of Nicola's Special Christmas Story, which is coming soon to this blog... I hope. My USB/Camera issues make me SO FRUSTRATED; luckily, there's still the trusty DM camera machine, where I can easily buy printed photos whenever I feel like it.

Yesterday I felt really sad, but the day ended on a good note: the Mexican exchange student in my Deutschkurs asked me to edit something he'd written for his English class, and it turned out to be about eighteen severed heads that were found in Tijuana! Plus, it contained the most adorable and hilarious grammar I've ever seen. I wanted to take a photo of it with my blue pen marks all over the paper, but I was worried he might be offended, so I didn't (probably wisely.)

Regina is in Freiberg (and they have snow... awwwww) and Hans-Peter worked late tonight, and Sonja is sick, so I had a nice evening with Alex. I made Maultaschen and Alex and I talked a lot about exchange. He would like to go to America in two years for a university exchange. It was great getting to talk to him today because I don't ususally get the chance to! He's really busy, but I enjoy talking to him because he understands a lot about how I feel as an exchange student, and I also feel more comfortable mentioning my problems with specifically life in my family with him sometimes, rather than with my host parents.