So Karneval has come and gone and this week it was officially 6 months since I have been here! Today I helped Nina and Florian set up their new page to look for a new au pair. It's so weird to think that someone else will be here after me but I suppose the other 3 must have felt like that as well.
I took the GRE and got that out of the way right before Karneval which was good.
We had a few shows with LaBoom and at one of them I had my very fitst German Currywurst. Yum Yum
We have had lots of snow and Karneval was really cold. Crazy Germans having a holiday like that in freezing February!
The first party in Ramersbach was right before the GRE so I went to dance and then went home with the kids but I dressed in my LaBoom costume which made me feel slightly ridiculous.
Weiber Donnerstag was fun and this was the day we all dressed up at Flip, from Beine Maja (a sassy grasshopper apparently) I felt ridiculous all day but everyone loved the costumes.
It starts there at about 2pm and it's just for women. There are dance groups, little skits and all kinds of things. We're there for the traditional mittags Kaffe und Kuchen, we had sekt though :)
Then later on in the night more dance groups come and men are allowed to join the party, but not until about 20:00.
All 8 of us. We looked so crazy.
Nina and I
Anja and I....after about 6 hours of drinking which explains my hair....
I also had to dance for LaBoom this day and was completely green!
funny....
We had lots of fun and then the rest of the week was full of parties. It was of course blizzarding one of the days which was followed by a beautiful day of sun and amazing scenery with all the snow. I went on a wonderful walk one day and just enjoyed the beauty that I am surrounded with.
Here are some photos from that:
Winter Wonderland.
Rosen Montag was also lots of fun. I went to Heimersheim for the parade with Tina, Mela, Volker, Marion, and Christoph. I didn't know what to dress as so I wore most of my Flip costume as a leprechaun. Bad idea because I was so cold but it was a fun day into a fun night that didn't end until about 5 in the morning at Osmans...the good bar in Bad Neuenahr.
Marion, Mela, Me, and Tina at the parade.
Babette and I with Osman, the owner. He loves me.
Then the parade in Ahrweiler was the one the kids were in and since Nina and Florian were sick I was with them. It was a cool way to be a part of everything to be in the parade. Lots of drinking and coldness but also very fun. Bennet got sick after that but for the part he was feeling okay for he had fun too.
The kids on the parade float.
Liv was loooooving all the goodies.
For Karneval, the people in the parade throw things out to the crowds. Candy, chips, popcorn, etc. The adult groups also usually hand out alcohol. It's crazy.
Mela and her friend Tina and I who were all in the parade behind the kids made it into the Stadtzeitung (newspaper). woo!!
After the parade we met up with friends and went to a party that was in a hotel. It literally felt like a house party in that there were tons of rooms all of which felt like living rooms. It was crazy.
Center of Ahrweiler after the parade.
Mela and I at the Rodderhof, the hotel the party was at.
Overall, Karneval was crazy and lots of fun and I can't imagine what would happen in America if we adopted the concept of celebrating Karneval. Madness.
Last weekend there was another Box lacrosse tournament outside München, in Neubiberg. It was at the university for the Bundeswehr (the military) which was crazy. It was cool to be on a German campus though. It was fun, we got 4th place out of 11 teams after 2 really rough games in the seni finals. I have lots of bruises but as always, I really enjoyed playing and getting to know my new teammates better.
Now it's back to the daily grind. Tomorrow we will have kaffee und kuchen with the family for Bennet's birthday which was during Karneval.
So much planning of trips this week it was a lot of work but I'm glad I'm doing it. Oktoberfest apartment is booked and most of the places Katy, my dad and I will stay are also booked!
I could be a travel agent now!
mehr später!
