Sugar and spice, and all things nice

This past weekend, was a goodie. For the last few days Oma and Opa have come to stay, while Nicole’s been on a business trip to South Africa. Which is great news for me, as Oma is a fantastic cook, lots of yummy warm German food, on a cold winter’s day! Still waiting for snow, but alas it’s been too warm this year, and actually the chances of snow at Christmas aren’t looking so good either (sob, sob). The chill in the air hasn’t stopped me from getting out and about though. I went out to dinner and a stroll around the Wiesbaden Christmas market on Friday night with friends. I’ve been looking forward to the Christmas markets since arriving here, and I wasn’t disappointed. The market place, was filled to bursting point with everyone wrapped up in their winter woollies, the smell of roasted Chestnuts and people sipping Gluehwein, which is a red wine, that has spices added to it and is heated up over fire and served in steaming cups.

The market was truly spectacular with all the lights, sights and smells. Long rows of little booths all lined up and decorated, and selling everything from hand-made ornaments to musical clocks. Each corner brought new smells, of either the aroma of Stollen (baked fruit bread), Bratwurst, roasted almonds or Lebkuchen (gingerbread), a spicy cookie. After dinner and before heading home, I walked around a bit by myself along Wilhelm Straße, soaking up the atmosphere where all the trees were lit with fairy lights. Already with a spring in my step, I found the ice-skating rink, filled with impossibly young, stylish teenagers on their cell phones, and then wandered down to the newly restored park in front of the Kurhaus, Wiesbaden’s Casino.

In the morning, the 4 metre high Christmas tree arrived and Frank spent the rest of the weekend pottering around the house, putting things up. The outside of the house, looks like something out of an American movie. There are still many more boxes of things to be put up inside, so I will wait till everything’s finished before I put some photos of inside up for you. Thanks to Crystal (the old Au Pair) I have been given a little work babysitting for a Russian family here. Yana and Dina, two very cute little girls are a breeze to look after and the parents are so nice I even stayed for two hours after finishing work, to hang out and have pizza with them. Crazily enough, Vadim had just got back from a business trip to Azerbaijan, a small country between Russia, Georgia, Iran and Armenia and had brought some Feijoas back with him. Now pretty much no one I know in Europe have ever heard of a Feijoa, so I was more than a little surprised to see some sitting on their table. I got to take a few home with me, and all though they were only a sixth of the size, of the ones my Grandfather grows back in New Zealand, it was better than nothing. For those NZ’s who didn’t know, Feijoas are otherwise known as Pineapple Guava and are South American, who knew!

Straight after I left the Russians I was on to the Irish Pub, to meet up again with James. After several pints, a couple that has just moved over from the UK met us at the pub and then we all headed to a Thai restaurant. I can’t speak for the others but I had a fantastic night. I thought the two new brit’s were just the bee’s knees. Mark moved here nearly six months ago, but Ellie’s just moved over and I’m hoping I have a new ally as Ellie (for the time being) is a lady of leisure like myself, and will hopefully help me explore a bit more of the area. Mark worked for eight years on 'Top of the Pops', and is now working as head of marketing for Panasonic in several countries, so he might have a few contacts which he might be able to put me in touch with, in regards to event management (fingers crossed).

The next day I met up with Cora, a girl from Couch Surfing I was supposed to meet up with months ago. Originally from Frankfurt, but now studying across the river from me in Mainz, Cora has already travelled around a lot of the world (including New Zealand) and we walked all around the Christmas markets in Mainz for a few hours. Of course I had to throw my healthy eating plans out the window and tried some Bratwurst, and mulled wine. Also got more than a little carried away in the sweet sections and brought Lebkuchen, liquorice, peppermint slice and roasted chestnuts.

I was supposed to met up with my sister, Ana at the Airport as she made her way to Belgium, but it wasn’t to be. But I will be seeing her a Christmas soon enough. So now I need to think of what to do for my birthday which is next week and where on earth should I go for my January vacation?!?! Any suggestions would be warmly received!

A few more German differences I didn’t put down last time:

They tend to use two duvets instead of one big one, on larger beds. I guess it puts an end to the whole ‘hogging the blanket’ debate.

Mayo is preferred more often than ketchup, as a topping on fries.