IrishOboe

Well, I burnt myself out working so hard the week before and wasn’t as efficient with my time this past week.  I lucked out and had a few classes canceled, which saved me some stress.

In notation class I was reminded why I don’t like teacher publicly discussing student’s work.  I had one college prof pass out tests in order of highest grade to lowest.  Sure it meant I got to leave earlier, but it made the college kids hate the high school kid in the class even more.  I was proud of my accomplishment of doing the notation assignment perfectly since I’d struggled to find solutions previously.  I was happy I’d found the key, and once you do that, the rest falls into place.  The problem is now everyone thinks I’m a notation whiz – including myself.  Only that label failed to help me on this past homework assignment.  Still, I’m proud that I swallowed my pride (huh?) and turned in what I could rather than spend hours and hours trying to find a solution.

That was ego massage number one (with subsequent ego deflation).  At Bible study that night (I skipped German and went to BCF because people are leaving for break and I want to see as much of them beforehand as I can – that and Rebekka gave me those sad puppy dog eyes . . .)  It turns out we had some pretty interesting discussion on stuff I’m not sure about but find important.  We all seemed to still love each other in the end, though it was probably good it was a smaller group.  Anyway, Rebekka told me that she’d met my renaissance dance teacher who had said I’m a very good dancer.  Sometimes those second hand comments are the best.  She often corrects me in class, so it’s good to know she’s doing it because she thinks I can get even better and it doesn’t mean I just don’t get it.  Have I said how much I love dancing?  I would love to have her job teaching it, too.  It’s such a fun combination of entertainment, exercise, socialization (it’s not always a bad word), and escape.

Thursday night Stephanie came to study at my place.  We had dinner together then set our self a break timer and got some good study in before chatting.  She showed me family pictures and I showed her mine – what a wonderfully nerdy homeschool thing to do. ;)  That took quite a bit of time, but then we studied for so long without realizing it that when I went to check the tram schedule I realized that the last tram had an ‘H’ by it, which meant that it only runs on Fridays.  I would have been annoyed at my irresponsibility but it meant that Stephanie would spend the night, which didn’t bother me a bit.  I even had an extra toothbrush because one day they were handing them out in Barfusserplatz . . .

Still, that is proof that I am not a college student anymore.  We didn’t loose that much sleep and I was still out of it for a few days.  It was fun, though, even though we did study most of the time (it’s true!).

(A picture from the week before, but I finally uploaded it.) 

Friday I walked around the Christmas Market with Stephan.  I still have yet to see the city all lit up at night, but at least I saw all the commotion in the day.  At one point I felt right at home – a thin Santa Clause was talking with children just like he does in front of Epoct’s Germany, only he was speaking in Basel German, of course.

(This was taken in Freiburg, but it's the same idea.) 

We went to my place to get Veronika and we all biked to the BCF carol sing.  It was a bit different from what I expected, but fun none the less.  I played oboe with a few other random instruments but we had no piano.  The sad part was that the congregation (seated around tables in a hotel) had no music to read from so we didn’t have the normal lush harmonies we hear each Sunday.  If I’m here next year I’ll see if I can change that. ;)

On Saturday Diana had a Christmas Extravaganza with the youth of the church and some of us big kids were invited, too.  We made Christmas cookies and had fun while others opted to play video games.

Then we all went ice skating, and I think it must have been more than five years since I last went, which I believe was with my highschool boyfriend.  So much for the Germans following the rules, people had no trouble skating in the opposite direction or across traffic and backward skating was allowed as well.  It was generally observed that I seemed to be enjoying myself more than the ‘little’ ones I did find it odd that the Florida girl seemed more comfortable on skates then most of the winter hardened folk.  I got two snowballs in my face despite it being an indoor rink and we haven’t had any snow yet.

Back at the ranch we played a while elephant game and I started the fun by being the first to steal a gift.  I figured it’s better to go with something you won’t mind then get stuck with something I’ll have to find a place to put.  Stephan promptly stole what I stole and it was worth loosing my gift for the laugh it got from the kids.  Besides, I got lucky on my second present and managed to keep it.

We also made dream cookies.  The name generated quite a stir and there was a question among the ‘big’ kids whether or not they would live up to the name.  When word got out that there wasn’t any egg in the dough the expert young tasters unanimously determined that they did indeed feel like dreaming – or at least most of them closed their eyes, took a deep breath, sighed and came back for more.  The older crowd took longer to be convinced, but the dream cookies were the first to go.  I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that there weren’t as many of them to start with . . .

What do you do with the left-over colored sugar for dream cookies?

MOV03418.MPG (How it happened)

After some games the all-day party came to a close and I was grateful that Stephan had a mobility car.  I’m not sure I’ve explained it before, but many people don’t have cars and rather than rent one when necessary they are members of “Mobility” which allow them to borrow a car for a cheaper rate.  I’m not sure how it works, but I was happy for the ride home.

Sunday morning came around too quickly, but I was happy to go early for a Bible study time with the young adults (those too old for youth group but still under parental supervision and thus can’t get to other Bible studies on their own).  It was small, but full of smart questions and strong faith.  It was nice to sing hymns in harmony again, and for the first time in ages I zipped off after coffee hour rather than hanging out with folks.  I biked to an unkown forest in an unkown part of town and found a large crowd of people who were quite well known – I’m sure you’re relieved.  Veronique, my renaissance dance and notation teacher celebrated her 50^th birthday outside on a freezing December day.  We ate meat and chocolate bananas roasted on the fire, drank gluhwein, talked in any number of languages, and of course, we danced to French songs and two early bagpipes.  I want one, but that’s nothing new.  We weren’t cold when we were dancing and it somehow felt original dancing in the middle of nowhere in Europe with fires and feasting – what else could you do in the winter months?

2007-12-16_dancing_to_French_song.mpg

After a few hours I biked back home but misunderestimated the time it would take and had to catch Stephan and go right to the concert.  I certainly got my exercise for the day biking a ring around town.  At the concert my friend L joined us (as did many of the wood sprites I’d seen earlier) but L is one of those great gals who often speaks German to me.  We’d started talking while Stephan was in the bathroom and I tried to ignore him when he came back – not to be rude, but it made me rather self-conscious about my German.  I think it goes back to what I’ve heard other say: you most often stick with the language you first started speaking in and if you switch, it’s strange.  Anyway, I even had a little chance to witness, which would have really made me uncomfortable if I’d had time to think.  Stephan gave me the proverbial pat on the back afterwards and corrected one mistake, so I suppose both made it worth it.  The concert wasn’t one of my favorites, but the zinks were beautiful.  In intermission my friend was telling me that people had told her to change her hair style because she looked insert some German word here.  I asked Stephan for a translation, and as he rattled off possibilities “decent” was one my friend latched on to.  When I mentioned aloud that nobody at the school had ever mentioned anything about my appearance to me she said “But you don’t look decent.”  I got a nice laugh out of that.  I’m still not sure what was objectionably ‘decent’ about my friend’s hair, but my sis might like to know that I need a lecture on how to dress ‘decently’ in public. ;)

After the concert I had dinner at Stephan’s and it became evident again that I’m quickly learning to speak both poor German and poor English.  I used an English sentence with the correct German preposition: “The family I lived by before . . .” lol

Today was Monday and I am thinking about break and I don’t want to work.  I still managed to get practice in and rehearsed for notation tomorrow, but I had much more fun with my . . .

. . . CARE PACKAGE!  NMKB sent me tastes of home.  I’m not sure what magic she used to send candies and cookies and a jar of peanut butter without the cookies even cracking, but they came in pristine order and they are now broken in my tummy.  :)  I’m a happy girl.  I even got measuring spoons so I can bake my own goodies now, though they just don’t taste the same as when they’re sent full of love.

The best part of the package was a video from thanksgiving.  Despite being called a ‘fish’ by my dear nephew Jonathan, it warmed my heart to see everyone sitting around the table, standing around the kitchen counter, lazing on the couch reading comic books and playing all manner of music together.  Next time Stephanie asks to see family pictures I know what to show her.  It captures our spirit better than any photo I have!