Oh, hey; I have an online journal.
As I look out of my bay window, I see the snowfall beginning anew. It's always a comforting sight: fat, lazy flakes slowly drifting down from the gray evening sky. I wonder how many more inches we'll have by tomorrow morning.
For, yes! We in Celle have quite a bit of snow. Being a Southerner, this is an unfamiliar sight, and I'm enjoying almost every minute of it. Of course, with beautiful snow comes freezing temperatures...and it's kind of hard right now to feel my cheeks.
But, yes! Online journal! Which means that I record events and stuff here! So, as some of you may remember, I had traveled with Maryle to Leipzig and Dresden for the New Year. I may add that this was quite a fun adventure. After riding on regional trains to which one actually can set his/her watch, Maryle and I spent a couple of hours in Leipzig, whereupon we visited the two churches that Bach frequented when he was the head homie of the city. Leipzig, by the way, is a rather musical city, as many composers (and poets, etc., for that matter) did frequent it. The churches themselves were impressive feats of architecture, but the most enjoyable aspect for me was just wandering around this very East German city (well, and finding a very Jen-sized door near the Thomaskirche, which shall be featured in an upcoming MOJ). It was actually refreshing seeing the Ampelmann crossing lights again, along with the very, very East German architecture, somewhat awkwardly working in conjunction with the older parts of the city that were either restored or there first. And though we were not there with any particular agenda, Leipzig is a city that I definitely wouldn't mind seeing again.
After mailing off a postcard from Leipzig (one of our top secret missions, you know), we set off to Dresden, where, upon meeting Maryle's college friend and current Dresden Fulbright scholar, Rachel, we three headed to Rachel's humble (and awesomely hospitable) abode. The night was spent getting to know Rachel a bit, along with setting up bedding and whatnot. I've discovered that I'm actually quite okay with residing in a stranger's place, but that may have been because Rachel seemed like a person I could trust with my well-being, if at least for three nights.
The next day, New Year's Eve, consisted of visiting the art museum, the Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister...which was, in all honesty, as crowded as an art museum can be. However, I did manage to see two works by Vermeer as well as Raphael's famous work with the little cupids (which is why they're all over Dresden souvenirs). Yes, this is me not being accurate. I will try to fix this later. Upon exiting the museum, I took to what I usually am wont to do: wandering. True, the wandering did not extend to anything too much further than the Frauenkirche (which does resemble a Dalmation, Maryle), but it did its job; I took an ungodly amount of photos of the beauty that is the Altstadt of Dresden. I also should probably post these said photos here, but...I'm...lazy. My apologies.
Upon reuniting with Maryle and Rachel after my brief wanderings (and listening to a rather good street trumpet player), we three trekked over to one of the cinemas to see Avatar in 3D...and dubbed in German. It's not a particularly Oscar-worthy film by far, but it was entertaining, at the very least, watching a pretty film in German. Never mind the thin plot. Plus, the 3D glasses? Pretty awesome. It is a pity that we had to give them up after the feature.
After our German cinematic experience (featuring an...American film), we three took the tram to Rachel's initial home-stay family (two sisters, Jeanette and Dana) for a New Year's Eve gathering. Though it was a bit awkward suddenly introducing ourselves to Germans our own age, it was incredibly nice spending the evening with Dana, Jeanette, and Jeanette's boyfriend, Frank. We played board games, drank champagne, and trekked to the mountain to watch the fireworks have a field day on the Dresden skyline. And I will tell you: everyone and his/her German dog owns and abuses fireworks here. It's...ridiculous and dangerous at the same time. But, upon midnight, we watched the spectacle from an almost-safe standpoint, hugging each other, saying "Happy New Year!" in both German and English, and playing relentlessly with silly string and sparklers. Barring a delayed tram at 2:30 in the morning, it was a fantastic way to start off 2010.
New Year's Day was also a rather fun time, though a lot more relaxed, seeing as we...slept in until about 1:30 in the afternoon. It had snowed that morning, so we three went about the Altstadt again, taking pictures of the snow. After having dinner at an Italian restaurant in the area of the Frauenkirche, we did call it an early night, but only to watch wonderfully bad German (and German-dubbed) television, including Cool Runnings in its not-quite entirety. After bidding farewell to Rachel in the morning, Maryle and I returned to good ol' Celle, and life has gotten back to as normal as it can be here.
For, yes, I started back to work this past Thursday, and by Friday I was pretty much back into routine. The first day passed without too much ado, seeing as 4b and 3a, though fond of me, aren't particularly loving. Friday, though, went much better in that regard, as little Anne-Marie, the adorable cherub of 2c, tackled me upon my entering the room. Additionally, when Lia and Michelle hugged me in the hall, Anne-Marie also had to join in...of course. But, it was what Lia said to me that clinched it: "Martha muss Sie sehen! (or: 'Martha must see you!')" And, rest assured, she did. Apart from having to be a substitute for the Philosophy AG with some problematic fourth graders, it was a good start to getting back to it. Go me.
Phew. I've finally come to the conclusion...of this post, anyway. I don't know what happened, but posting just got away from me. I will, however, be more diligent about my posting henceforth. 'Til next time, duckies (which actually may be very soon).
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