Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Taste of German Christmas

December 9th

I knew this was going to be a fast week as I was starting my classes on Tuesday thanks to the national holiday the day before.

At the post office I picked up a package from my Aunt Angie and Uncle Dan.  They had sent me hard shell tacos, seasoning mix, and other ingredients for Mexican food.  I'll cook a meal this weekend.

For my past two years in college I've avoided drinking coffee as I didn't want to become addicted to caffeine.  I've always preferred sleeping more and exercising in the morning rather than trying to power through with a caffeinated beverage.  Here in Spain though, I've succumbed to the necessary evil of having a "café con leche" before my afternoon set of classes.  With my classes being in Spanish, I need to be fully awake to absorb all of the information.  There is a cafe down the street from my college and I have been stopping by there twice a week before my Tuesday and Thursday afternoon classes.  Today I was the only one at the table and was reading before my class when three Spanish students asked if they could share the table as the cafe was quite full.  We ended up having a good conversation and I liked that they had made an effort to be social.

My afternoon classes went well.  We'll have an extended lecture on Thursday for Teoría del Estado for presentations.

Back home, I hung out with Hieko and Nathalie as they were celebrating part of the advent calendar, pre-Christmas events.  We had hot wine (glüvine, not sure how to spell it) and traditional German Christmas cookies.  I did some studying before going to bed. 

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