The Real Deal "Karneval 2009"

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So if you have been reading my blog for a while you might remember one about a big festival in Cologne on November 11th. This blog is about the actual celebration of Karneval in Germany. So every year in the end of February Karneval is celebrated. It is the time before Ash Wednesday when people go crazy before they are supposed to fast. It starts on a Thursday they call Altweiber or Old Lady. This day kicks off carnival with women dressing up and cutting ties off men. At my job in the city hall the mayor threw a party to kick off the weekend. I attended the party with my coworkers and was actually interviewed for the news paper. It was pretty funny to see so many drunken old ladies at noon. Below is what the newspaper wrote about me. It basically says it was my first Karneval in Germany and it had lots of crazy ladies.

"Viele crazy ladies gibt es hier." Matthew Hiltner, Praktikant aus dem amerikanischen Minnesota, staunte nicht schlecht. Was eine echte deutsche Weiberfastnachtsparty ist, erfuhr der 23-Jährige gestern im Remscheider Rathaus am eigenen Leib. Remscheid RGA

On Friday is when my Karneval plans started. After work I got dressed in my costume and headed to the Karneval headquarters Cologne. I dressed as Harry Potter since I have been reading the books to pass time on trains. You could already see all the crazy costumes on the train heading to Cologne. We headed to the old city Cologne and saw a small parade and concert playing the famous Karneval songs. We had lots of friends coming from out of town to celebrate Karneval. We spend a good part of our evening Friday welcoming out friends at the main train station. We had a good time but planned on meeting up with more people the next day in Cologne. I stayed with friends in Dusseldorf that night since it is much easier to get to Dusseldorf than Remscheid late at night.

The next day we had an amazing breakfast and got all cleaned up for later that night meeting up again in Cologne. Saturday was much crazier in Cologne. You saw some of the craziest costumes like robots and Christmas trees. We had about 10 people from my program together for Karneval. It was really fun having all of us together for this crazy holiday in Germany. We got home late on Sunday morning and I decided I needed a day to relax and spend with my host family. On Monday I had the day off work and so I went with my host family to Lennep for a Karneval parade. It was really fun seeing the kids dressed in costume and fighting to get the candy that was thrown during the parade.

Carnival was a really fun time and I had a blast spending it with both my friends and host family. I have to say I have never been so happy to get back to work and relax as I was after the long weekend.

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Photos

Clown Marching Band
This was during the parade on Monday in Lennep

Harry Potter
This was my costume. I even had the Remscheid coat of arms on my cape.

Cologne Concert
The concert was filled with people on Friday.

Karneval Group
This was the group that got all together from my program

The Kids in Costume
This was the kids waiting for the parade to start.

Host Dad
Even the Parents get into Karneval.

Farmers search for Wifes?
This ones one of the floats during the parade.