On the 26th, I went to see The Departed with Julia. Excellent, bloody, brutal movie. I enjoyed doing nothing for two days, but I would have probably died of boredom on the 26th (not really), so I was very glad to get out a little. Before the movie we went to Starbucks, and heck, we may have four of them downtown, but it sure took us forever to find one. We had a delicious peppermint mocha, and some nachos with cheese at the theater. Good movie and good snacks, made for a good evening.

Today (the 27th) I did nothing much. I did call my sister tonight, and we talked for almost 2.5 hours which was great. We talked about a lot of things, about her life, and mine, since we missed out on so much of each other. We also got to talk a bit about Adelina, her daughter, my niece, who passed away last year. We agreed to meet up on Tuesday, and I will be going to the hunting and fishing museum with her and her two boys (they already had that planned so I said I would love to come along). I cannot believe how old my nephews are, and I have never met them. One is 10, the other 5.5 years old. I have never even seen a picture of either of them, so I am very excited about this. That and seeing my sister again after 10 years. I hope we will have a good time. And I do not think I ever actually went to that museum, so that will be interesting as well. It will definitely make for an interesting, exciting start of the new year!

Tonight Tina came over for a few hours, we gave each other our Christmas presents. She got me a book I had actually been meaning to buy but had not yet (but she didn’t know that), so it’s awesome. It is Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, and she also got me the cute angel figure you can see in the picture. We just hung out in my room and chatted until she had to leave because it got kind of late. It was a good time, first time I saw her since she visited me in Heidelberg.

Tomorrow I am going bowling with Christoph, Tatjana, Tina and Julia. Bowling is so expensive in Germany, I had no idea. The only time I had been bowling here was once with work for Christmas 2003, and I obviously did not have to pay for that, and then once with Petra and her kids on the base in Mannheim. We will pay €13.50 for the track for one hour, and since we got it for two hours, that makes €27 plus €1.90 each for the shoes. Since there are five of us, it is not too bad. Evenings (€23/hr) and weekends (€35/hr) are even more expensive! That is kind of sad, because even though I go bowling about once a year, I really like doing it, but seeing how expensive it is, chances are, I will not be able to go bowling more often.

Friday, I will be seeing Babel at the theater. I had been waiting for this movie since September. They showed it at the film festival in San Sebastián but it was sold out. Originally I was planning to go with Lejla and Eva, but Tina and Julia also want to see it, so it looks like there will be five of us. I really love going to the movies here, since I like the theater and they show everything in English. (Okay, that is mostly why I like it so much, that and their nachos with cheese - only the one from the machine though - are excellent, and they sell Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!)

Saturday I am going to Passau with Tina. I never visited her there, since she started school there in 2003, and since she is transferring to another school, it’s about time to visit the town, because she will not live there after February. We’ll be staying until Sunday, which is New Year’s Eve.

Now, I would love to tell you what I am going to be doing for New Year’s Eve, but the sad truth is, I do not know. Somehow my friends and I have not managed to make plans yet that work for everyone. I hope we can figure something out by Friday, because anything I may have to buy for Sunday I will have to buy then (since I’ll spend Saturday in Passau).

So, yeah, I have been having a good time home. The only stress I am having are the dreams I have had lately (I dream about school/work/something stressful every night, I guess that shows that I really needed this break), and that pile of papers and books calling out to me to write that damn termpaper but so far I haven’t done anything, so really, that was not very stressful at all. I have not yet gotten started on the books I have to read for class, because I figure that wouldn’t take more than a couple of days, if I really get into them, and I finally got to the point where I am not reading more than one book at a time. I have finished two books since I got here, and started a new one yesterday, and I also really want to read the one I got from Tina today.

Four more days in the year, and I get to see a bunch of dear friends before 2007 starts. While 2006 has not been the greatest year, I know I will enjoy the end of it (providing that we can think of a good way to spend the last few hours, heh).

In Germany Christmas Eve is when everyone gets their presents, The immediate family gets together, has a nice dinner, and then is Bescherung, when the little and big kids get their presents. Christmas Day is usually the day you have lunch with relatives, but since the part of our family we do keep in touch with is a few hundred miles away, we just had a relaxing quiet day at home.

By the way, here is a picture of the presents I got… I am very happy about everything. <3

I also want to take the chance to share this Christmas poem with y’all. It is in German and English, so some of you may be lost, but I hope the ones who understand both languages will enjoy it. Some of you may know it already, since it is a bilingual classic…

When the snow falls wunderbar
And the children happy are,
When is Glatteis on the street,
And we all a Glühwein need,
Then you know, es ist soweit:
She is here, the Weihnachtszeit

Every Parkhaus ist besetzt,
Weil die people fahren jetzt,
All to Kaufhof, Mediamarkt,
Kriegen nearly Herzinfarkt.
Shopping hirnverbrannte things
And the Christmasglocke rings.

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Hear the music, see the lights,
Frohe Weihnacht, Frohe Weihnacht,
Merry Christmas allerseits…

Continue reading Christmas Day…

This is a bit late by German time, but anyway…

I just spent a very enjoyable Christmas Eve with my parents, Chris and Tatjana. We had a yummy dinner together, unwrapped our presents, watched the movie Maria Full of Grace, and played Skip-Bo. We had a really good time, and I hope you had or will have a lovely Christmas as well!

Much love,
Viviane

I am only two nights from leaving Heidelberg for two weeks. I have started packing and I am actually as done as can be right now (with the exception of some things I use every day). I can not pack everything just yet, but I have gotten pretty far. As usual, I feel like I am taking way too much stuff, but it is winter, so clothes just take up more space, I guess. I bought my train ticket the other day, and made a reservation for the train at 1700, because that way I will definitely have plenty of time Friday, in case something comes up. Usually I don’t make a reservation and just decide spontaneously which train I take, but two days before Christmas Eve a reservation is a must.
This week classes have been quite laid back; actually we watched movies in like half of them. I have only one more class tomorrow, and work, and then I am done until January 8th. Except for that term paper that I need to write. I made copies of another book I will use for that paper today. I wish I could have just kept the book over the break but they do not do that at the department libraries. I had a break in between classes today for 1.5 hours and I spent most of it at the copy shop. I also picked up the last Christmas presents and wrapped them when I got home, and now I am 100% done with my Christmas shopping.

Well, I cannot wait to get home. This semester isn’t over, but after Christmas there will only be five more weeks, and the semester after that should not be near as stressful. I will probably take some extra classes, not just what I need to take, but even then I should not have more than maybe 16 hours of classes a week (as opposed to 24 this semester). (I only have four more mandatory classes to take after this semester, a total of 8 hours, but the requirements for graduating are really a joke; you cannot really pass if you only take the classes you have to take.)

I hope y’all are enjoying the holiday time and not getting too caught up in the stress that comes with it.

I was at Nelly’s birthday party tonight, and I was talking with Sheela and Dani about StudiVZ (the German Facebook).

Dani: So what is this StudiVZ good for?
Viviane: You can stalk people from your classes, find out what they listen to, etc.
Dani: So I could just type in someone’s first name, and find them? Sheela, what was that guy’s last name from that one class?
Viviane: Yeah, you can, but say, the guy’s name is David*, you’ll find a lot of results, because the name is fairly common.
Sheela: That guy’s name is David*. Did you know that?
Viviane: No, I just thought of it randomly.

I don’t remember what was said by Dani and Sheela, but that is the extent of the conversation. I thought it was hilarious. I was trying to think of a common name, and that name popped into my head, and then that guy’s name is actually David*! I am so telepathic. Haha!

* Name changed. ;)

Yeah, I had a good time.