No, I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth. I know I haven't posted on here in quite some time, but that crazy thing called work has really gotten in the way of my fun. I was actually planning to be back in US around now and would stay through Christmas (for work actually), but a really big project came up here that was too good of an experience to turn down. Now, I'll be back right around Christmas and stay through New Year's.
This weekend, I did some Christmas shopping around the many Christmas markets here in Munich. Germany is well known for its hand-made Christmas ornaments and other decorations such as nutcrackers. These are similar to an arts and crafts fair we see at home. Most of the vendors are from Germany, but I also saw some from Africa and Ukraine. I was actually quite surprised this year and found some really neat gifts -- now I just hope the recipients think so too!
The Christmas markets are also a place to go to socialize. They have sausage and other food stands and various types of hot alcoholic drinks. The most common one is gluehwein (a spiced wine), honey wines, or other punch-type drinks. There is even one called a "feuerzangenbowle", which is a cup of gluehwein with a shot of rum and a sugar cube on the side of the glass and is lit on fire so the sugar slowly melts into the wine. It sounds too sweet to me, so I haven't tried that one. My favorite is the honey wine.
Mmmm, sausage.
Just when I thought I couldn't think of anything else to give anyone, I ran across this! (yeah, that's right, dreads and "conrows".)
