Well folks, the leaves have turned colors and began to fall, the sky has darkened and I officially turned my clock back last Sunday. Theres no doubt about it; fall is in full swing, and winter is around the corner. The colors here seem much darker than at home; the reds are more of blood reds, or a dark brown red, and the yellows aren't bright but rather a full gold. It's really quite breath taking; all the colors that have quietly yet quite suddenly creeped into the corners and hills of Marburg. I'm loving it, but yet dreading the cold months ahead. Incase you didn't know this about me, I'm a huge fan of the "beauty of snow" but a major anti-cold months activist. I'm all for snow on christmas, and the cute little snow covered pine trees and street lights during the romantic christmas season, however, come december 26th, it could all evaporate for all I care. But clearly, I'm not moving to Madrid or Miami any time soon, so I might as well get used to it. Although its been about 20 years and I'm still whining. So, give me about 20 more I guess. Anyways. Winter is a comin', and I'lllllllll be hoooooooooooome for christmaaaaas... Ok. Enough. Back to the point.
It was cold for basically all of October, yet the first few days of November have been in the 50s, so I'm not sure how to describe this weather to you. But one thing I have realized, the cold here is completely different than the cold in Wisconsin. I used to think we were all so tough and macho, surviving winter after winter of the -35 degrees, -50 degree windchill. Yeah, yeah, frozen tundra blah blah. We're so tough.. well folks. Have you ever felt a WET cold? It is an entirely different feeling. At approximately 30 degrees, I am shaking in my layers and layers of clothes, because the cold literally settles into your bones. I don't even want to feel how Russia is in winter. No wonder they chug vodka. It's your only saving faith in this wet cold crap. But lately it hasn't been bad, so cross your fingers that somehow we make it through the next month and a half without me having to deal with it again. Ok, thank you :)
Happy Halloween! I know it's late, but, I've been sick for about 2 weeks with a stupid bacterial infection in my lungs, so, give me a break. I was in Hamburg over this past weekend (despite illness.. I had not yet been to a doctor at that point) to celebrate the holiday with my usual friends, along with a girl from my program which I brought with me. Halloween is definitely not a huge holiday here; almost no one celebrates. Ok, some little kids go around trick or treating, but by some, I mean an extremely small number, and it is no where near as glorified here as in the States. It was kind of a strange experience. Teenagers or young adults sometimes have halloween parties, but other than that, there really are no huge celebrations. My friend Patrick had the Halloween Party last weekend. I went as a Pirate, Chris as a Zombie, Sarah fuchs (my host sister from before) went as Cat Woman, and my friend from my program here (Carissa) went as a hippie. We had a ton of fun trying to make our costumes and then at the party itself. Definitely a unique Halloween experience.
(the picture where I am not dressed as a pirate, that's my host brother, Timo, next to me, after Sarah finished making him into a zombie.. really freaking scary..)
We didn't actually take any pictures at the party itself; we decided for the safety of our cameras just to leave them in a locked room with our jackets for the evening. Another side note about Halloween here, most think that the costumes for adults should be scary. Ok, clearly, not all think this, but yeah. It's a common theme. This amused me since at home we all know that young adult costumes are generally quite scandelous or at least funny. Just a new cultural theory I suppose. Ohhh the holidays. Have to love them!
Also in the spirit of Halloween, my host family, carissa and I all carved pumpkins together. This is also an extremely American tradition, but they had so much fun doing it; even my host mom Heike made a pumpkin. Hers was actually the best by far.. but the whole thing was so fun :) And they all turned out so cute!
Oh weren't they cute! The other activites of the Hamburg weekend involved going to an "all-american" restaurant. I had a chicken burger; oh it was so dang good. But I must admit, there were quite a few things you wouldn't really find on a typical American menu, like corn on the cob, but hey. It was cute. And delicious. So can't complain.
We also spent a day showing Carissa around Hamburg, and on one evening found ourselves at a gay bar for cheap cocktails. No, we didn't know it was a gay bar; it was one of those "live and learn" experiences. We figured it out after our only guy friend in the group had his back rubbed by the waiter and when they called it "ladies night" for us girls who were there.. yeahhhh. I love my random experiences. I should really write a novel.
(oh the sisterly-twin love..)
Gay bar!
So yes, as you can probably see in most of the pictures, I was sick (still slight am, but now I'm on the mend) with a bacterial infection in my lungs. It sounds way worse than it is, but basically I sounded like Richard Simons for 2 weeks and coughed every 30 seconds. It was kind of repulsing, but eh. No one can judge; we've all been ill and Richard Simons sound alikes at least once in our lives. right? no? Just me? alright. Well. Don't be too jealous. Anyways. I went to the doctor Tuesday and he prescribed me some antibiotics (for those pharmacy friends, the Z-PAK!! haha) and then i slept for the next 2 days. I really wouldn't have bothered writing this, except I have to tell you all about the medicine packages here. They all have brail on them! It's so fascinating! I know that Marburg has an extremely large blind population due to a blind school here, but I asked my friends in Hamburg and apparently all pharmacutical packaging comes with brail. It's so cool. I tried taking a picture, so hopefully you can see it..
Ok maybe I'm just a nerd, but i thought that was so cool!!
Other than those events of the past weekend, and my doctors visit, my life has been rather dull this week. This weekend is the last weekend free before my mad month and a half of traveling begins. I'm hoping my immune system will be amazing after this week of recovering, or at least strong enough to carry me through this next month or so. I plan on spending the weekend grocery shopping, cleaning the apartment, catching myself up on my dvd collection, and maybe attempting to make this thing called an apple sauce cake. I really suck at baking here though, so don't hold high hopes for me. Although, I must say, my cooking skills have improved immensely over these last 2 months. Just yesterday I made an amazing Cream of Broccoli soup. So, maybe there is hope. However, there is no brown sugar in Germany, so baking is always an interesting adventure. Well, I'm off to meet my friend Senta for dinner at a local place in the Oberstadt. That is, after I find my damn Umbrella..
Oh and here is the link for all of the halloween weekend photos..
http://picasaweb.google.com/113919949355390501172/20101031?authkey=Gv1sRgCM72yrDvqoTirgE&feat=directlink
You got your pirate shirt at H&M? I wore that yesterday!
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