Christmas and New Year's!

Sooo this should be considered a retroactive post ... but I felt like I could just post a few videos which might describe my adventures during the Xmas and New Year's holidays with a few descriptions!

Before the Christmas holidays began, Tyler and I decided to visit Trier, which is located in western Germany on the Mosel River. Trier is probably most famous as being the "oldest" settlement or city in Germany. According to Wikipedia, it was founded around 16 BC. Most interesting in the city is the ancient Roman ruins and the Porta Nigra, a gate used by the Romans in the ancient past. Along with collecting an awesome Christmas market mug (Weihnachtsmarkt Tasse) - also another story: my mug collection! - we heard this awesome "boy band" on the street! Hehe.

Probably the biggest, most well-known and famous Christmas market is in Nürnberg. My friends, Mary and Tyler, and I traveled to Nürnberg and Bamberg during the weekend of December 9th to experience the Christkindlemarkt.

 For Christmas, I travelled with Marianna and Kim up to Sweden! Yes, it was quite  dark (especially after 4 pm), but it was actually not that cold! We've had colder during the month of February! We trekked it all the way up via train from Germany! I started my trip at 1 am on a weekday and arrived in Göteborg around 7 pm. We did have a three or four hour layover in Copenhagen. The entire trip took around 10-11 hours on the train. The most interesting part of the trip was when they placed the train on a ferry! This occurred b/t Germany and Denmark. Quite exciting! The views from the ferry were just simply superb.

 We stayed with in Göteborg (Gothenburg) near Marianna's relatives. For our Christmas Day dinner, we made a splendid dinner!

In addition, we were able to visit the Swedish version of the Christmas market and luckily got to see an ice skating show!

After Christmas and before New Year's, our group from Marburg got together in Münster for an after after Christmas day dinner! This video shows Kim mastering the art of the Feuerzangenbowle, which is a drink involving a sugarloaf soaked in rum being set on fire. Then the stuff drips into the mülled wine. According to Wikipedia.

For New Year's, Mariko, Dave, Mary, and I enjoyed a nice dinner in Bonn and then trekked up to Cologne to see the fireworks. There wasn't a real "fireworks show" like in the states, but rather, a 1000 mini fireworks show. I think you can get the idea from the videos below. It was a little scary to have a mini fireworks show going on 10 feet from you. I didn't want to lose any bodyparts that night ... eek.

I guess you gotta go big or go home.

Redewendungen

Redewendungen = idiomatic expressions, idioms, phrases

Ever since that glorious day I learned a few idiomatic expressions during my summer language course, I have been a little obsessed with learning new ones every day (jeden Tag). In English, we use these common phrases in our everyday language; however, I believe it's more difficult in another language. You basically need to memorize what the entire phrase means. Otherwise, it might be some jibberish about broccoli in someone's pants or something (that isn't a real expression, or I hope not). But I thought I'd make my next blog entry about a few expressions I've learned and started to use. They are quite funny.

am Arsch der Welt = middle of nowhere, buttfuck nowhere (literally - the ass of the world)
ex. Othello, Washington ist am Arsch der Welt.

nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben  = to not have all one's marbles; to be a little crazy (lit. to not have all the cups in the cupboard)

eine Naschkatze sein = to have a sweet tooth (lit. to be a snacking cat)
ex. Ich bin eine Naschkatze, weil ich jeden Tag Schokolade und HARIBO esse. (I have a sweet tooth because every day I eat chocolate and HARIBO.)

Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen = to compare apples and oranges (lit. to compare apples with pears)

aus allen Wolken fallen = to be taken by complete surprise; to be flabbergasted (lit. to fall out of the clouds)

am Zug sein = to be somebody's turn/move (lit. to be on the train)

aus der Reihe tanzen = to march to a different drummer (lit. to dance/step out of line); to be an individual (basically, the folks who live in Seattle)

ex. Die Leute, die in Portland wohnen, tanzen aus der Reihe. (The people who live in Portland march to a different drummer.)

den Mantel nach dem Wind(e) hängen = to float with the tide; "to go with the flow" (lit. to hang your coat to the winds)

lange Finger (haben) = to have (sticky hands); to steal (lit. to have long fingers)

aus der Haut fahren = to jump out of one's skin; to blow one's top (lit. to drive out of the skin)

jemandem (genau) auf die Finger sehen/gucken/schauen  = to keep a sharp eye on somebody (to look/see someone on your fingers ... it doesn't really translate well into Englisch ...)

auf dem Zahnfleisch gehen = to be on one's last legs (lit. to go off the gums (teeth gums, teeth flesh)

ex. Ich ging auf dem Zahnfleisch nach dem Marathon. (I was on my last legs (exhausted) after the marathon.)

It doesn't matter to me, whatever, regardless, meh. = 

Mir (ist) egal.

Egal.

Das ist (mir) Jacke wie Hose (lit. jackets like pants, jackets to pants)

Das ist gehüpft wie gespungen = Gehüpft wie gesprungen. (lit. that is like hopping to jumping)

wie eine gesengte Sau fahren = to drive like a maniac, crazy person (lit. to drive like a singed (scorched) pig/sow)

Hope you enjoyed these phrases! They are my favorites!