Christmas Day 2009

Merry Christmas to all!

Day #115: Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Everyone in the Bushmann Clan woke early this morning. Thomas took Julia, Marina, Bryan and I to the Nürnberg Christkindelsmarkt. This is a very famous Christmas Markt in Germany; every German knows it. The markt has a 200 year old carosel that is still in working condition! It was beautiful, despite the on and off rain throughout the day. It was nice to spend a day with the kids and act like one as well. I went through Nürnberg and took duplicates of all the pictures I took 2 and a half years ago from the last time I was here. What memories it brought back!
Back at the house, everyone got ready for church and we walked together down the road to the service. The church was very full and beautifully decorated. I love hearing Christmas carols sung in German. It was really nice. After the service, we all walked back to the house where Thomas and Bettina had decorated the living room and the Christmas tree. It was just beautiful, but sadly reminded me of home. Everyone opened their gifts one by one. Julia and I each got German books from the Bushmanns :). I love German books, so much learning involved.
After opening presents we had a HUGE Christmas dinner. We stuffed our faces and were so full. I love spending time with another family from whom I can learn. We played German boardgames and played cards and watched movies and just spent time enjoying each other's company.

Day 111: Saying goodbye for the season...

I met the girls for coffee today and we all spent some quality time together before everyone went their separate ways for the holidays. I'm going to miss those girls in the next 2 weeks. It's hard to believe that 4 months ago we were total strangers and now I feel like I've known them for a lifetime. I love it here.It snows almost everyday now and because the temperature is constantly below freezing the snow doesn't go anywhere and the rivers and creeks are freezing. It's beautiful.

Day 108: Birthdays and Just Plain Fun

Gianluca and Francesco both have birthdays next week so we had a big celebration for them. And also used it as an excuse to have a party before everyone leaves town for the holidays.

Day 107: It must be Christmas...

Tonight I went to my friend Özge's for a Dutch Gift Exchange game, it was really fun. Everyone brought 2 gifts; one gag gift and one real gift. You roll a die and whatever number you role determines what happens.
1. choose a gift
2. unwrap a gift
3. everyone passes a gift to the right
4. everyone passes a gift to the left
5. give one of your gifts to someone
6. take one gift from someone

It was a great time, and really really funny.
After that Christmas party, Veronika and I drove up to Fichtenweg to meet the others at a club called Kuckucks where there was a big Advents party. It was great, it's meant for students so there was no cover charge and the drinks were really cheap. It felt so good to get out of my room and cut loose a bit after finishing classes today. It's officially Christmas break!!!

Day 103: First Snow, Museums and the Krankenhaus

I woke up this morning to Tubingen's first snow fall! Now it wasn't much (didn't even cover the grass), but it was still exciting to see snow in Dezember. I met Krista, Irene, Matt and Julia at the Hbf around lunch and we took the train up to Stuttgart to see a museum exhibit of the Iceage. It was a pretty interesting exhibit even though I couldn't read any of the descriptions, but Krista, who is working on her PhD in archeology filled in the blanks for us. They even had a display of the flute that was found here in Germany by a Tubingen University student that was in the Charlotte Observer this summer.

After the museum exhibit, we all walked through the Weihnachtsmarkt and had some Glühwein and some great food. Then we realized that the next train was leaving in 3 minutes so we ran to the bahnhof, but missed the train by like 30 seconds. So we had to hang out for another hour before we could get the next one. I'm glad we missed that train because Veronika ate a potato dish with, I think, sauerkraut and she had a reaction to it. Her face got all puffy and red and she had hives all over her neck and arms and she could breath. So we had to walk up to the hospital so she could get a shot and everything. It was a bit scary, but she's fine now. We ended up taking the train 3 hours later than planned lol. But everyone got home and she's back to normal.

*It's still snowing!*

Day 99: Ritter Sport Chocolate :)

Got up really really early today and I met my friend, Natalie, for the bus at 7:50 am. We took the airport bus to Waldhorf (about 20 minutes from Tubingen) and went to the Ritter Sport Chocolate Shop. The shop is in the chocolate museum and factory. They have chocolate there for really really cheap. I bought about 4 pounds of chocolate for about $3/lb. I also got a bag made out of the chocolate wrappers and a travel mug :). We didn't go to the actual museum because it wasn't open until 11am and we were there at like 8:30.



When you get off the bus in Waldorf, the entire city smells like chocolate! It was amazing! and when you walked in the store there was sooooo much chocolate. You litteraly feel like a kid in a candy store :). Ritter Sport makes any flavor of chocolate you can imagine. They have about 50 different kinds of plain chocolate and then there's rum, peppermint, champaign, jogurt, hazelnut, karamel, cornflakes; you name it, they probably have it. It was a good day filled with lots of schokolade :).

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Wanted: Fulfillment 3.12.2009

I wasn't able to attend bible study last week due to a late class I have on Thursdays, but I emailed the coordinator and he sent me the scripture and the discussion questions. Funny thing, he sent them to me in German! So, if any of these are worded a bit strangely, it's because they were translated from German and things can get lost or moved around in translation :).

Wanted: Fulfillment I Samuel 1:1-20

1. We often wish for more things. What are some of your dreams and wishes in life? What do we do when these dreams and wishes are not fulfilled?
2. What is Hanna's biggest and unfulfilled wish? Why does she wish for this? Hos is she distraught? What makes it worse?
3. How does Hanna avoid her disappointment? Is her situation really "impossible?" What does she believe about God and what does she promise to God?
4. What does Eli think about Hanna's attitude toward God? How does Hanna's attitude change after her 'chat' with Eli?
5. What does it mean, that God hasn't forgotten us and you are reminded through His word? Moses 4:30,2
6. How do we react when it seems that God has not "answered our prayers?" Can God give us something better than what we have requested?

Ephesians 3:20-21; Psalm 37:4-7; Jacob 1:5-8; Philippians 4:6