Weihnachten in Deutschland

Frohe Feiertage!

Happy Holidays! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. It's definitely been a busy time for the Coopdorfs.

Clarke's birthday was November 24, but since that was a Monday, we chose to celebrate the following Sunday, November 30. It's considered bad taste/luck to wish someone happy birthday before their actual birthday here, so we couldn't hold a party the previous weekend. We had a number of our friends here for a luncheon featuring a spread of various items one usually finds at such gatherings - multiple types of bread (of course), cheeses, vegan sandwich meats, potato salad, veggies and dips, fruit, chips, etc. We also served a cake that I made which includes egg liqueur (yes, that's a thing here). It was quite tasty.





A couple of gifts Clarke received were perfect for people like us who are still adjusting to life on Hamburg. Both books will be very valuable to us as we explore the city in the coming year.



I also started my third German language course on Clarke's birthday, which wrapped up last Friday. This is a super-intensive course which includes three hours of speaking every Friday. I'll start my next four-week course on January 5, and continue with these classes through May. This is a requirement for my Language Learner visa, which was the easiest way for me to stay in the country while Clarke finds work. I have a temporary (fictitious) visa while they finish processing my Residence Permit application, so I'm legal for now.

Speaking of language learning, I finally received the results of my Telc exam that I took early in November. A passing grade is 60%, and I received 92.5%. Not bad, if I do say so myself! 😇

One of the things that Germans do really well is Christmas (Weihnachten). After all, they practically invented many of the traditions observed around the world. Everywhere you go this time of year, you will find Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets). These range from very simple pop-ups to elaborate set-ups that will put you into sensory overload. We visited a couple of them in the Stadtpark (City Park) close to our apartment, and enjoyed some yummy vegan sausages, followed by kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) with garlic sauce. These are almost like hash browns, but in patty form. Very warming on a cold winter day!



Sadly, in the middle of the month, we both came down with colds and were out of commission for several days, which put a damper on our Christmas activities. I really wanted to visit the Christmas Market at the Rathaus (City Hall), which is supposed to be amazing, but we couldn't fit that into our schedule. Maybe next year.

In Germany, Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) is the most important Christmas observance, when people usually gather to share a meal and exchange gifts. Our friends (family really) Claudi and Eberhard opened their home to us for a lovely raclette dinner. If you don't know what a raclette is, it's a table-top grill of sorts with two levels. The top level is for grilling meats and vegetables, and the lower level has eight compartments where you can toast your custom potato, veggie and cheese plates. In the photo below, you can see the raclette in the middle of the table, surrounded by dishes of various ingredients that we use to assemble on our little cast iron dishes. These are then slid under the heating elements on the lower level to toast. So yummy!!!


After dinner, we played games (two different versions of Uno). Overall, a lovely evening with lovely family. It was nice to have something to do since we don't have any Christmas traditions to speak of yet. I expect something like this will become one.

The following morning, we had a beautiful Christmas breakfast with our new friends Elke and Uli, and their daughter Corinna and her friend Freddy. Elke sings in the choir with Clarke. We ate way too much, so we decided that a long walk was in order. Typical of many Germans, our hosts thought nothing of hiking a couple of kilometers in sub-freezing temperatures. They wanted to show us the moors nearby, which were beautiful. We didn't walk as far as we planned just because it was so cold (-5C; about 23 degrees F), but I was able to get in almost 12,000 steps for the day. Here's a photo Clarke took which shows how beautiful the marshes are.


As we walked along, we passed a site that was once the Wittmoor Concentration Camp. There were some photos of what the camp looked like during WWII, along with a memorial marker.


Translation:

REMEMBRANCE

OF THE MILLIONS OF JEWS MURDERED IN GERMAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS, THE VICTIMS OF THE RESISTANCE, THE MURDERED SINTI AND ROMA, THE KILLED HOMOSEXUALS, THE MURDERED MENTALLY ILL, THE PEOPLE WHO HAD TO DIE FOR THEIR RELIGIOUS OR POLITICAL CONVICTIONS.

FEDERAL PRESIDENT RICHARD VON WEIZSACKER 8.5.1985

IN MEMORY OF THE WITTMOOR CONCENTRATION CAMP, WHERE UP TO 140 PRISONERS WERE IMPRISONED FROM MARCH TO OCTOBER 1933

One of the things I appreciate about Germany is that they don't try to whitewash their history. They acknowledge the atrocities committed in the past so that such things will never be repeated.

Today is the second day of Christmas, a federal holiday (like I said, they take Christmas very seriously here). Since everything is closed, people have nothing else to do except go for a walk. I chose to do the same, and went for a stroll through the Stadtpark. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea - there were literally thousands of people all over the park, walking, jogging, riding bikes. Kids playing on the playground. If people weren't all bundled up, you wouldn't know that it was just above freezing for a short time this afternoon. Germans really love the outdoors, and don't let the weather get in the way of enjoying nature. Even the lake was frozen over, but that didn't keep the geese, ducks, and seagulls from hanging around on the ice.


We knew when we moved here that the days are very short here during the winter due to us being so far north, but the reality has been difficult to adjust to. I took this photo at 2:40 this afternoon, and you can see that the sun was already starting to go down. Sunset right now is just after 4:00, although each day that inches up about a minute now that we're past the Winter Solstice. I'm looking forward to brighter days ahead.

That's all I've got for now. I hope all my readers will have a safe and happy new year. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Bis zum nächsten Mal!

Until next time!

David

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