American Thanksgiving in Germany

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I think this was the longest time I’ve spent with my oldest sister and her family—sad, but true. And, as they say, better late than never, right? Hah. Anyhow, I was lucky enough to be able to convince Lee to have a real Thanksgiving, which they hadn’t celebrated for years.

After toting my luggage to class and to work, I made it safely to Germany on Wednesday night and was met by Lee at the airport.

Thanksgiving was celebrated on Friday evening, so we spent most of Thursday and Friday cooking, which was tons of fun. Living in someone else’s house and having someone cook ever meal for me, I´ve really missed cooking, or at least being allowed free range of a kitchen. Plus, anyone who knows either Lee or me, knows that our focus was on dessert (yes…cappuccino chip cheesecake…mmm!). I also got to bake cookies with the girls and managed to get Jonathan to help me with the mashed potatoes. Lee and Jan invited their English-speaking friends and we celebrated over a delicious meal. It definitely wasn’t the same as spending Thanksgiving at home, but I am so thankful that I got to spend it with family.

The rest of time, we just hung out, watched movies, read, played games, and all that jazz. Lee took me around Augsburg on Saturday, which is super cute. It was already totally decked out for Christmas with tons of holiday-oriented booths set up in the town square.

The kids are so adorable and it was so much fun to finally get to spend some time with them! They’re all way more grown up than I had realized, and as cute as I had remembered. So much fun getting to watch Jonathan play handball, listen to Christa practice the flute, and trying to communicate with Christa as she blabbered to me in that crazy German that they speak. :-p

So yeah, all in all, a sweet but short trip. Lee and family—watch out for Easter…!

Not too much else is going on. I miss you all! Keep writing! School’s going well, although I fluctuate between feeling completely lost due to the language and feeling like it’s so easy that I’m not even in school. I guess we’ll see when exams roll around…

I recently decided to move out of my current living situation for second semester so I am in the process of trying to look for a new room in an apartment, hopefully with some Spanish students. I'll keep you updated!

PS--Happy 21st to all my November babies!

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Photos

Reading with the girls
Charis (left), Christa (right), and me (center!) readng bedtime stories. In English! I had to do all that I could in the little time that I had to get their English up to par... (actually, they've all improved a lot since I last saw them, especially Charis!)

Jonathan and me
Pillow fight! Haha, yeah, my nephew totally kicked my butt. Good thing I´m not a sore loser or anything...