Secret Santa

A big, American breakfast was in order this morning. I made scrambled eggs with some veggies and cheese, bacon, and pancakes and it was just what I needed!

 My beautiful American breakfast!

I spent my day relaxing - for some reason, this weekend felt like a long weekend (most likely because of the Thanksgiving celebration) and I was not dreading going to work tomorrow.

I ended up watching some movies. The first up was Now You See Me, one of my favorite movies. I sat, drank some coffee and ate my breakfast to it.

While I was watching my movie, I had the chance to finally do something I haven't had time to do in a very long time - write letters! I spent about an hour writing and addressing letters to family and friends back home. Despite my being home in only 20 days, I am hoping it will be appreciated. They're going to be a surprise to those who get them. :)

A bit later, I began The Notebook, but wasn't able to finish the whole thing tonight.

Tonight was Lineke's small Christmas gathering! We went up to her room for some tomato soup and sekt, as well as Christmas music, and just chatting and enjoying everyone's company. We did a Secret Santa exchange. I had Lineke! I ended up doing a craft I found on Pinterest - I decorated a mug and gave her some Lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies) and a Daim Milka bar.

The mug I decorated for Lineke

The mug craft is something that I have pinned a few times with different designs because it is so simple to do and such a nice idea. It turned outlooking great! I was very happy with it. :)

Once the party was done, I went back to my room and, a bit later, Dawn came down for some tea before we headed to bed.

American Pancakes and Kulturnacht

Ahh, sleeping in. What a wonderful feeling on a lazy Saturday!

I headed over to Pennymarkt with Julia and Joe in the late morning to pick up a few essentials for our pancakes.

Julia took over the cooking, using a recipe from home, and let me tell you - that Finnish girl's American pancakes were the best pancakes I have ever had in my life! We got some berries to go on top of the pancakes, and we also cut up some honeydew melon on the side. Good God, I was stuffed.

It was when we were eating pancakes that Sam, one of the Valpo students, was telling us about his Oktoberfest experience. Before this point, I was very sure that I was not going to make the trip to the Wiesen in Munich. However, Sam explained that Oktoberfest is not like anything you have ever experienced; there are rides, great food, and even better beer, along with crowds of people who are all looking to have the same experience that you are.

I could feel my resolve fading from "Eh, I could take or leave Oktoberfest," to "I MUST GO TO OKTOBERFEST!" We decided to head to Munich tomorrow on a whim.

Before we could head to Munich, though, we had to get through the rest of our Saturday. We ended up going into town to search for some Lederhosen for Joe when I received a call from a Student4Student who could not give the keys to her two students that day. It was frustrating, but understandably necessary, for me to be pulled away from my fun and in to work.

I would have been fine handing out the keys to these girls, but not when they keep me waiting for over two hours for them - I was told that 5:00 p.m. is when they would arrive, and they showed up around 7:00 p.m. I was furious, but couldn't show it. Again, like many other circumstances where I have to deal with people I may not be particularly happy with, I pasted a smile on my face and welcomed them to their new home in Reutlingen.

That night, some friends and  I experienced the Reutlingen Kulturnacht. There were people of all ages sitting around the Marktplatz, or stopping in a shop to hear some music or poetry along the streets of downtown Reutlingen. My friends and I ended up in the Irish pub with a Student4Student (different than the earlier Student4Student) and his friends. He walked up to me, and when I introduced myself, he asked me if I knew his cousin, Mathias. I met Mathias when he studied abroad at Valpo in the Fall of 2010, and then hung out with him when I was abroad in Germany for the first time in Spring of 2011. What a small world that I would meet the cousin of one of the few people I know in Germany!