I leave in less than two days, and to be honest, I'm nervous about it. It's not just the close to 20hour span from leaving here to getting home, which is a little daunting. Most of all, I have that familiar feeling that always comes when it's time to say goodbye to Christian for some months. It's like a jittery feeling, and it hits me every hour or so when I realize that this time on Tuesday, I'll be on a plane flying thousands of miles away from the one person that has the biggest part of me. People ask me if I'm happy about coming home. Yes, I definitely am looking forward to seeing everyone again, but I would be lying if I said that I'm not nervous. I know that after the holidays are over and I'm back into the everyday life that I had before I left Fort Wayne (work, school, work, school) I will really miss being here in Germany. The best I can do is be positive about it, find things to look forward to, understand and appreciate the comforts of home... but it's like I told one of our roommates, since I met Christian, home isn't really home anymore without him.
Moving on now from depressing things. Christian and I went to Gera last weekend to visit Gerd, Angelika, Doreen, Franks, Oma, and Peggy der Hund. It was great to get out of the city after being there for two straight months. It was refreshing to see some countryside and to get some peace and quiet. However, when we were there, we were pretty busy. On Saturday, Christian and I were invited by Frank and Doreen to a little wine tasting. It was in a tiny bookshop/wineshop, and we sampled 6 different wines and 6-7 liquers over 6 hours. It was obviousl that the man hosting us really knew his stuff because he stood and talked to us the entire time, telling us the differences in the wines, what to look for in different ones, etc. He had finger foods and some seriously good cheese for us. It was an interesting night. I feel like I learned some more about wine, even though most of them were French and previously I hadn't had very good experiences with French wines. All the wine was very very good, and
it was obvious of the quality, because after 6 hours of sampling wine and then going home to sleep, I didn't have the slightest headache in the morning.Earlier that day, before the wine tasting, we went to a little Christmas market in Gera. Actually, it was tiny! But really cute, as you can probably see in the photo. They had a lot of handmade things like ceramics, baskets, woodwork, etc along with Gluehwein (spiced wine), homemade crepes and bratwursts.
That Sunday was St. Nicholas Day, the day that you find presents left in your shoes. I don't know if we celebrate it in the USA, and if we do, I think it's on a pretty small scale. Christian and I woke up to find gifts from "Nikolaus" his family. We got such a haul that it felt like Christmas! It was such a pleasant surprise. I got a homemade calendar from Frank and Doreen, a candle from Oma, various sweet things from Angelika and Gerd and we went to dinner that evening wit
h them as well.It was difficult saying goodbye to Christian's parents at the train station on our way home to Berlin. I know that it will be a long time before I see them again. They've done so much for me during my stay, opened their home to me and accepted me as part of their family. I'm really lucky to have such loving and good people as in-laws. I really like them all a lot. I definitely consider them family now.
This past Tuesday, Gunter and Katherina invited us to dinner in the apartment. We don't all cook and eat together very often, and Gunter took it upon himself to cook up some vegetarian enchiladas with homemade tortillas. It was really tasty stuff. He made homemade Mojitos for us all too. Since then, Christian and I have been taking it easy and just enjoying the time together whether it's staying in and cooking and watching a movie or going out and doing something. We're just trying to enjoy the time we have! Well, I don't think I'll update this again until I get home. So, until then, take care and enjoy the season.
