a tale of snowy nights, balmy days, and the adventures in between

After such a long silence, I definitely owe you some good stories.  I will try not to bore you with tales of travel difficulties to all the places I visited, and instead focus on the places themselves.  Suffice it to say, after 2 hours waiting in sub-freezing temps for my bus, I will avoid flying out of Frankfurt Hahn Airport (a.k.a. the middle of I-don't-even-know-where) ever again.  Overall, my travels were characterized by waiting, sitting, icy roads, and over-priced snacks and drinks.  A strange highlight and/or confession that I must quickly share - I went to my first McDonald's here in Germany.  It was the only place open and warm on that cold night in Frankfurt when I was waiting for my bus, and being able to get an espresso macchiato in their McCafe was a gift that night.  Grace comes in strange ways.

My first adventure over the holidays was to visit my brother and sister-in-law in North Africa.  I couldn't wait to be around family, have familiar smiles looking back at me, and share new and old holiday traditions together.  Because they had a lot of sprucing up to do around their apartment - cleaning and repairing and arranging - I was actually able to experience some parts of life that I would, on a "normal" vacation, never have seen.  Some examples would be visiting half a dozen "drogerie" or hardware stores in five block radius for various parts, tools, and questions;  having one shop owner offer to find me a husband;  and seeing my sister-in-law bargain like a pro in the marketplace.

Our Christmas preparations were also a little different - first having a small "family" celebration via Skype, then in a kitchen which had just been turned upside-down by the cabinet maker, preparing all our Christmas day foods.  I am proud to say that breakfast did not disappoint - it was up to par with what a Harding Christmas breakfast ought to be - right down to the sour cream coffeecake.  My other unique non-vacation experience was going to get our Christmas chickens - at a store where all the chickens are squawking in the back, you say what size you'd like to have, then they butcher, pluck, and clean them right there.  I did not watch the butchering - however, I did see some serious plucking going on.  And smelled some smells like I had never smelled before.  I also learned that you must get your chickens butchered the day before, as they must rest before they are cooked.  All that being butchered and plucked is hard work.  Thankfully, the smells wafting from the oven on Christmas day were not even in the same realm as those I had smelled the day before.  Dinner was amazing, and it was such a blessing to be with those I love.

On my last day in the city, we finally had some nice warm, sunny weather (after 4 days of solid rain and wind).  We were able to go explore the old city, walk through narrow, winding streets shared by donkeys and mopeds alike, and look at all the brightly-colored pottery, spices, and fabric.  There were also times to simply talk - one of my favorites was sharing coffee with my sister-in-law in an outdoor cafe on the top of cliff, with the Atlantic Ocean crashing down below.  At the end of the week, I was ready to sleep in my own bed again, but that was about the only thing tugging me back to Germany.  I could have enjoyed some more family time and warm weather for at least another week.  ;-)  Ah well.  I guess I'll just have to go back.