Quick Update

I really wanted to post today, but getting my entire blog post about Turkey finished in two days was not realistic, but here are a couple things.
I know this post is lacking, but I have a few posts in the works that I am proud of and think people will enjoy.

About a week and a half ago was Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday. Naturally I wanted to do something since this holiday is a big part of American culture. I came up with the idea on Wednesday, and everything went according to plan. I didn't have school on Thurday, and I needed to go into town to pick up a few things for my trip to Turkey. While out I bought some contruction paper in the traditional Thanksgiving colors. I knew I wasn't going to find a turkey anywhere, and it's not like I can cook anyways. I figured if I couln't have a real turkey, I could have a fake one. It's funny because I am the opposite of artsy, in fact, the words "arts and crafts" evoke the same terror in me as a small child has when she sees a scary clown. I thought making paper turkeys was something I could tackle. In addition, my host family isn't exactly artsy either so I had to assure them that if kindergarteners could handle it, so could we.  Most of you probably saw this on Facebook or Instagram, but here are a couple photos of our little art project.

Because the day after was my host dad's birthday and I was leaving in the morning for my trip, we also went out to dinner. I ate Schnitzel with turkey meat, so that's the closest I got. This past Friday when I returned to Germany (a week later), it was my host mom's birthday. The next day was also St. Nicholas Day, and the tradition is when you wake up in the morning there are chocolates and little gifts in your shoes! That night we had a dinner party with family friends to celebrate my host mom's birthday. With the celebrations at my house along with the gifts from family for St. Nicolas Day, there is an abundance of chocolate at my house, which of course is a good and bad thing :)

Another wonderful thing was that when I arrived home, the house was all decorated for Christmas. It makes me so excited for Christmas because it is the most important holiday here and people get very into it! 

Something I find very interesting is that people celebrate advent, and the majority of people aren't religious at all here. Everyone has Advent calendars, and "Happy Advent" is a thing (I'm not sure what the correct adjective is, so we're going with a standard "happy"). As in, you might wish someone a Happy Advent, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year for the holiday season. 

My host family and I will be going to a Christmas market, which are very famous and important to the Christmas experience here in Germany. They range from huge markets in famous cities to little ones that are only set up for a day in a small town. We're going to a big one in a city that is apparently 3 hours away and for which I can never seem to remember the name.. Oh well, I'm very excited!

Over break, my friends and I also have a day planned to do lots traditional Christmas baking, not sure what that includes but I'm looking forward to it! 

Shannon