The First Week of Winter and Weihnachten!

Well what a week! I don't think I could have packed any more into it if I tried. 

We started the week baking another round of Plaetzchen - these ones are called Vanilliekirfel and are also delicious. Nadin (my flatmate - pictured below in her NZ apron) also made her workmates Schneeballen (snowballs) for that coming Friday - you'll find out why in a bit.

On Wednesday I accompanied a class on a trip to 'Mobil Martin' which is a department/furniture store similar to Ikea, but I bit nicer. We were given a tour by the boss himself of the store and also the logistics out back and how they manage their stock/orders etc. It was really interesting to see and the systems they have in place for example, the computer will automatically tell the workers when an item needs to be refilled on a shelf if the inventory has dropped below 5 due to sales.

On Friday it was the 6th of December which in Germany is St Nikolaus day. It is based on a story that a long time ago a rich man felt sorry for all the poor children in his village so he went out one night and filled all the children's shoes with gifts Now every year on the 6th December children wake up to small gifts - usually sweets traditionally in their shoes, but a teacher also told me it can be a plate left out on the table. 

I was lucky enough to be visited on my bedroom door! 

That evening I met up with Lauren (who lives in Wiesbaden) and 2 other American Assistants Whitney and Kersey and we took the train to the quaint village of Ruedesheim to visit the Christmas Market. The market in Ruedesheim is well known and attracts a lot of tourists because the village setting is so beautiful and also the Christmas market is an international one with stalls from all over the world.                                                                                

On Saturday afternoon I caught the train to Saarbruecken to visit Jessica (from NZ) who I haven't seen for about a month! 

That evening we went out for dinner to Vapiano, which is a Italian restaurant. You order at the counter and they make it in front of you while you wait. We also meet up with some of the other assistants living in Mainz including two Americans. We then headed to the Christmas Market in Saarbruecken for a Gluehwein and some other delicious Christmas Market Treats including crepes and Dumpnudlen which are like dough balls filled with jam and covered in custard and cherries!

On Sunday we took the train to Trier which is about an hour away from Saarbruecken to visit the Christmas Market. Its a really pretty town/city with a lot of old heritage buildings!

After a three hour train ride home I arrived to Nadin baking more Plaetzchen! We are swimming in Christmas Cookies at my flat!

The rest of November!

11th - 17th November!

On Monday 11th November I organised with a new friend Lauren (an American Assistant living in Wiesbaden) to meet and check out the Hochheim Market. The market is a yearly tradition in Hochheim (small village just outside of Mainz and across the river) which has been running for over 500 years! There was so much on offer there inlcuidng, sweets, currywurst, beer, Gluehwein, even a bath! I think that was meant to be part of the 'old market' as a feature though.

 

 

During the week the weather really started to get colder and I also started to get a cold. I was feeling pretty average but then in the weekend of the 14th and 15th my friend Chris came to visit me from Cologne! 

We spent Saturday exploring Wiesbaden, which is a town/city across the river from Mainz. It is actually bigger than Mainz by about 100,000 people, but I think Mainz is a lot nicer! On our adventure in Wiesbaden we came across this tree getting ready for winter as well!   Wiesbaden is meant to be well know for its wellness and many people travel there to relax, they also have thermal pools in the middle of town. They also have the a huge Catherdal, one of the only legal casino's in Germany and the worlds largest Kukuclock. However it was a bit disappointing on the strike of the hour as it did open at the top to reveal little figures moving around but they didn't pop out.

Worlds Largest Kuku - clock.

18th - 24th November

Still being plagued by a cold and being also quite tired I started the week a little slow. Monday morning I became an offical resident of Germany until 30/06/14!! Which gives me a whole month to travel after the end of school on 31 May 2014. Nadin my amazing flatmate made me chicken soup to help me try to banish my cold and also my slight homesickness! I arrived home on Tuesday evening to find the cutest note from her. The translation is: Hello my sweet, I hope you are feeling better today. I made chicken soup for us. The noodles take 4 minutes to cook. Kiss kiss Nadin. 

Later in the week I ventured over to Wiesbaden again with Shem to meet Lauren for some dinner and a catch up. We went to this yummy Japanese modern style restaurant - similar to Wagamamas and then to a cafe called 'Central Park' afterwards for drinks and cake!

On Friday night Shem and I went to the Mainz Theatre to see an orchestra perform. The Theatre is Mainz is located right in the middle of town, you cant miss it. Its also such a pretty building! This photo was from one afternoon where I just sat with a coffee on a bench opposite it and enjoyed the view (and did some people watching!)


In the weekend of 23/24th I joined the American Assistants for my very first Thanksgiving! It was held at one of the American Assistants former apartments, which had a huge living area and really nice kitchen which the owner was kind enough to open up and share with us. The table was set beautifully on arrival and everyone bought a delicious dish with them. I bought the dessert - a Pavlova! The Americans had never tried a Pavlova before and most of them liked it!

The Thanksgiving table all set!

The feast

The feast part 2

Thanksgiving guests!

All the Americans at Thanksgiving

The Pavlova I made!

25 November - 1 December

Well this was the week that Christmas decided to explode here in Mainz and I'm assuming the rest of Germany. Every window was filled with Christmas trees, the streets began to glitter after dark with lights and the Christmas market filled the square with its aromas of nuts and Gluehwein!

Mainz Christmas Market

First Gluehwein on the first night of the Christmas Market

Stall at the Christmas Market

Germany really knows how to celebrate Christmas they have so many traditions and everyone really gets into the Christmas spirit. Another German Christmas tradition is plaetzchen! These are traditional German Christmas cookies, which come in a thousand different flavours - the most common being Zimtsterne (Cinnamon stars) and Vanillie Kipferl (No translation sorry) and every family makes these at Christmas time usually from family recipes and then they share them with friends and family during the holiday season. We made our first batch in the last week on November (they are almost gone now) which were the Zimtsterne. They were delicious! My flatmate actually hid them from me (on my orders) to stop myself from eating them all everyday. 

Another great tradition which we have but is nothing compared to the way the German's do it is advent. So we have the typical chocolate advent calendars which counts down to Christmas and you get a chocolate everyday but German's take it to the extreme with huge advent calendars usually home-made and filled with all sorts of wonderful treats. I even spotted a 'coke advent calendar' - a can of coke for everyday counting down to Christmas. ... Sounds healthy. 

So that was the rest of November, I realise we are now well into December, but blog writing is hard! Addison arrives this week though, which I'm beyond excited about so I will try to update my adventures before then!

Bis dann!