Christmas Cookies, Leipzig and Dresden

Monday consisted of another standard day in the school. I was however approached by a teacher and asked if I could do a spontaneous talk about Thanksgiving. I explained that I don't know much about it, as we don't celebrate it England and the teacher was really surprised at this news. She genuinely thought that it was just as big of a celebration in England, as it is in America. She then went on to describe us as 'boring', due to not celebrating it. A little hypocritical I would say, but we all know the Germans like to speak their mind. On Monday afternoon, I met once more with my tandem partner and we had a good chat. I look forward to it and I really appreciate the fact I get to practise German in an informal and friendly environment.

Tuesday was another normal day in school. However on Tuesday, I found myself amidst a heated discussion about the England VS Germany football friendly which was on that evening. As I've said before, the Germans LOVE Football. And although it was only a friendly, they were getting pretty serious about it. I'm not really sure what happened next. The teachers were speaking very fast German and I didn't understand much of what was being said. The Headmistress had come to join in the conversation too. They were talking with me, but 'with' is a word I use loosely, since I didn't know what was going on. They were laughing a lot (I'm pretty sure it was at my expense - The fact that I'm from England, and we're not exactly well known for having a good football team) Before I know it, the Headmistress offers an outstretched hand and explains that we're going to make a bet. If England win, she will buy me chocolate. If Germany win, I have to buy her chocolate. Everyone was watching and I felt I couldn't refuse so I shook her hand. I know it's only chocolate at stake, which is probably a good thing, since my hopes weren't too high. I almost thought of buying it that very afternoon, just to save an almost certain job later in the week. The other teachers loved the fact they could 'take advantage of the Engländer' and I started receiving other offers. With a strong suspicion that England would lose, I declined all the other offers.

On Tuesday evening, I decided to watch the football. As I'm sure you all know, I'm hardly a football fan, but with nothing better to do, a bar of chocolate on the line and just because it was England VS Germany, I made my way into town to the local 'Sport Theatre'. This is a former cinema, which is now a bar/café and it shows all the major sporting events. It's really cool because the old cinema screen is still used, so I was able to watch the game on a HUGE screen. The atmosphere was surprisingly calm and the place was far from full. But non the less, it was an enjoyable evening. I bought myself a beer and just watched the football - I felt like a proper German! The match was good to watch and I even caught myself fist pumping a few times as England got close to scoring. I decided to control my enthusiasm, as I was surrounded by Germans in a German bar in Germany after all - Did I mention it was England VS Germany? Unfortunately the result wasn't in England's favour (Although losing 1-0 against the super-talented Germans is practically a victory for England). I had better go and buy that chocolate bar!

On Wednesday, it was a national holiday here in Germany. 'Bus und Bettag' is a religious celebration, where protestants are meant to go to church and repent their sins. Not many people actually do this and the children are just happy for an extra day off school. That, of course, means no school for Lois and I either! Hooray! We received an invite from one of Lois' teachers for lunch at her house. I thought it was lovely that I was invited too, considering I'd never met her. The town in which Gisela lives, is located between both Regensburg and Eichstätt, so I met Lois there. Gisela picked me up from the station after already picking Lois up and we then went to her house. Her house was lovely and we were greeted by her husband and two children. They were all very friendly and welcoming and just genuinely lovely people. The house was nice, modern and totally spotless. Very neat and orderly, just as you might expect. I was even given a pair of slippers, from their special 'Slippers for Guests' collection. Wow. We were given refreshments and then proceeded to bake some Christmas cookies with her children. We must have made about 60 different 'Plätzchen' and then decorated them. After this we enjoyed some hearty German soup, followed by homemade Apple Strudel (what else?!). We left around 3pm, as we were pretty worn out from all the intense German being spoken, but not without our own little lunchbox full of cookies. It was a really nice experience and they're such a lovely family. I'm sure it wont be the last time I see them.

Thursday was another normal day and nothing particularly notable happened (apart from Lois arriving in afternoon - hooray!) On Friday morning we began the long journey to Leipzig, where we would stay for two nights. The journey is 5 hours from Regensburg, so armed with a breakfast of Pretzels and Lebküchen we made ourselves comfy. We arrived in Leipzig at lunch time and went to our apartment. The apartment was however closed. and only after knocking on the door several times, were we told that check in wasn't until 4pm. Great. We trudged back to the centre, suitcases in hand, pretty fed up and seriously cold. We strolled round the centre and tried to get a feel for the city. First impressions were actually a little disappointing - We had heard so much about 'the wonderful city of Leipzig' and that following the fall of the wall (Leipzig was in the east) lots of money had been invested to restore it to its original beauty. Yes, it was a nice city, but it really wasn't anything special. Maybe we were seeing it on a bad day or maybe we were in the wrong part of town, but it didn't make a huge impression on us. We warmed up with a coffee and then made our way back to the apartment. We made ourselves comfortable and then went to buy some food and made a delicious pizza for tea. Following this we went out again, back into the centre to meet some other Language assistants that we had met on the course and one of whom, Lois had gone to school with. Here we were shown the student area of Leipzig and enjoyed a really nice evening in one of the bars. It was great to compare stories and reassuring to discover that everyone is experiencing the same feelings as us. It was a really nice evening.

Saturday we decided to see a few places of interest in Leipzig. We visited the Stasi Museum - For those of who don't know, the Stasi were the East German Secret Police, who would spy on the citizens to make sure everybody was staying loyal to the Government and not doing anything untoward. The Museum is in the actual former offices of the Stasi and it was interesting to look round. There was far too much information for us to take it all in, but it was interesting to visit. On our way back, we very nearly got caught up in a huge protest. We had noticed hundreds of police, head to toe in Riot Gear earlier (It's not like English Riot Gear either. These policemen looked like Terminator) and the crowd had gathered just as we arrived in the square. The atmosphere was actually quite scary, but we were both curious so we watched a little bit. The crowd had been drinking and they seemed very aggressive. As the march started it soon became apparent that things were getting violent. We saw pyrotechnics being lit, explosions sounded and fireworks were thrown. Police began running in all directions and lots of police vans suddenly started arriving containing even more police. We decided to move on and stay away.

















We made our way to the Völkerschlachtdenkmal which is a huge monument (the picture really doesn't do it justice) which commemorates Napoleons defeat at Leipzig. It was just outside of town and pretty impressive. Unfortunately, due to the weather, which was grey and miserable for the entire weekend, we weren't able to appreciate it fully and weren't able to visit the observation deck at the top. But it was definitely worth the visit. Following this, and with a desire to make the most of our visit to the Eastern Bundesland of Saxony, we caught a 90minute train to Dresden. As I'm sure you're all aware, Dresden is known for being (controversially) completely destroyed during the bombing campaigns of the Second World War. Dad warned me before the visit "Don't let them hear you speaking English!", but from stepping off the train, it was clear that the city had moved on. From the train station, we wandered through a beautiful arcade area with modern shops and a really friendly atmosphere. Like everywhere in Germany right now, Christmas Market stalls are being set up, which never fails to fill us with excitement. From here we entered the old town district. The city has been rebuilt to look exactly how it was before it destroyed. And they've certainly done a good job. We saw the city as the sun was setting and it was a lovely time to see it. The buildings are beautiful and the little streets are really nice. There just seemed to be a very friendly and warming atmosphere and the city itself reminded us of Prague or Vienna. You honestly wouldn't be able to tell, the city is less than one hundred years old, as the buildings have the architecture and design of a much older era. We didn't stay for long but we felt we got a feel for the city. It really is spectacular and we sort of wished we had stayed there instead. But we made our way back to Leipzig and had a cosy night back at the apartment.

Leaving on Sunday morning, we both said that we had had a really good weekend. It was great to catch up with friends and although we were a little disappointed with the city of Leipzig, we're really glad to have visited it. Maybe the problem was, that it had just been 'bigged up' a little too much. Dresden was however lovely and we could definitely visit again. On the train back we had an exciting chat about Christmas, which ended up making us far too excited and consequently a little homesick. Because of the markets and the decorations that are appearing all around us, it feels like Christmas is actually here, but we need to keep our feet on the ground and hang in there for another four weeks. Hopefully they will go fast!

This week is my last week in my current flat. Unfortunately the flat has to be vacated next Saturday, meaning I need to find somewhere else. Now, I'm sure you remember the difficulty of finding a flat in the first place, so finding somewhere for three weeks in December is almost impossible. Despite the best efforts of my teachers and friends, it's looking unlikely. Therefore I may end up in a Hostel/Hotel. It's only for three weeks and I'm in the fortunate position of having Lois' flat in Eichstätt that I can share at weekends. I'm feeling nervous right now as I'm going into the unknown, but I'm sure it will work out ok. And as Lois' teacher said on Wednesday, there's plenty of bridges on the Donau. i.e You can sleep under a bridge for three weeks. Hopefully not!

So I'm really not sure where I will be writing my next post next week from. But until then...


Tschüß