German Traditions: Nikolausabend

The holidays over here in the USA are different than in Germany. I will try to show you some German traditions - and today I will start with one pretty much every kid in Germany loves (or fears hehe): Nikolausabend! 

It's a lovely tradition that makes waiting for Christmas Eve a little easier for the kids, because it's another little holiday to look forward to before the BIG one! I know I loved it, and these days my niece and nephews enjoy it, too.

photo via: Augenblickchen_pixelio.de

Let me start off saying: Nikolaus is NOT Santa Claus. Nikolaus is a Saint, and Santa Claus is a commercialized leftover of when the dutch originally came to America. They established the colony of New Amsterdam and brought the legend and traditions of Sinterklaas with them.

So what's Nikolausabend/Nicholas Eve?

In Germany, kids might be cleaning their shoes right now. Why? Because it's "Nikolausabend" - Nicholas Eve.

Expat Life: Voting!

There are many things people don't know about "Aliens" - or expats. Since I'm a green card holder, I'm only allowed to work and live in the USA, but no jury duty for me, I could never be a State Trooper (dang it!),and most definitely no voting in any of the elections over here. I can apply for a citizenship this year, but since I want to keep my German citizenship as well, there's a whole lot of paperwork involved. And I'm just not ready for it. Yet.

My whole family and tons of friends still live in Germany, so I sure keep an eye on the news from over there. Germany is still "Heimat". Home. It's where my roots are, where I lived 31 years of my life. I was born there, and who knows, I might move back at one point.

"To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain." ~ Louis L'Amour

With the German "Bundestagswahl 2017" creeping up, keeping an eye on the news is very important to me.

Back to Reality

My 3 weeks in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands went by way too fast. I'm back since Tuesday night, and VERY much back in the daily routine.

I flew into Louisiana Tuesday evening at 8:30pm, and went back to work the next day already. Tough one! The jet lag going TO Europe is usually worse, but this one coming back was a bitch anyway. Germany is 7 hours ahead from where I live over here, so that's petty much the opposite time of the day. Well. Almost. But you get the concept. Anni tired.

Today is Sunday, and I slowly feel as if I'm back in THIS time zone again. I actually wanted to start posting some pics already, but I cant't. I almost died a few minutes ago, realizing my folder with ALL my pictures from the trip wasn't on my Dropbox, nor on my computer. My brother came to the rescue, and checked the SD card I used over there... HALLELUJAH! Everything is still on there. But now he has to do a file transfer one day this week. I'm just super happy I didn't lose all my photos. I was this [-----] close to a nervous breakdown, right here in the coffee shop. Dang.

On top of this post you can see a little preview of what to expect! There were tons of very very magical moments during my trip, but this up there was one of the most breathtaking ones. Stay tuned!

Oh and during my trip I already quickly put together the 2 clips below. Nothing spectacular, but I hope you'll enjoy anyway!

Later! Happy Sunday!







 

Life Lately

Man. I've been doing so good blogging every day during the NaBloPoMo in November. And BAM, December starts, and my blogging comes to a halt.

I have mentioned it here and there, but just in case you missed it: I will be going home for Christmas this year. Which in my case means: I'm flying to Germany for 3 weeks, to finally spend Christmas and New Years with my family and friends again.

I will finally meet my first niece Ella. She was born July 2015, and now she's already running around. I will meet my new nephew Ferdinand, who was born a few weeks ago. And of course my boys: Luis and Tillmann, the best nephews an aunt can wish for!!

I'm beyond excited, and I keep bursting into happy tears a lot lately. But since I will be gone for a pretty long time work-wise, my past weeks were ridiculously busy and stressful. But I'm all caught up, finished everything plus some extra, and can relax without feeling bad. Thank goodness for HootSuite and great coworkers.

Right now I'm sitting at a Starbucks, taking a break from buying the last Christmas presents, and thought I'd give you guys a little update. And especially show you I'm still alive.

I just hit Hobby Lobby to get some fabric, because I almost forgot the new tradition I started: I'm sewing my nephews PJ pants for 3 (?) years in a row now. This year flew by and I just remembered last night in bed that I haven't done it yet. So after I get off work at the restaurant tonight, I will sit down with my sewing machine. I'm actually looking forward to it :)

Tomorrow there's NOTHING on my schedule. I actually wanted to do Christmas shopping tomorrow, but since Hobby Lobby is closed Sundays, and I promised to help out at the restaurant tonight, I decided I'd rather have a busy Saturday, and not doing anything Sunday.

So this was my life lately. The next few days will be full of laundry and packing my suitcases. But stay tuned for beautiful pictures and stories from my homeland! I'm actually thinking about some kind of video diary as well... We will see!

 

Merry Christmas - Again! // Where's Karl?

I am still alive! There was so much going on, including moving into the new place, so blogging was on the back burner for a little... yea, I know: Again!

While going through all the photographs I took for the blog during the past couple of weeks, I've realized I didn't even share my latest Christmas present with you!

I kind of had another Christmas mid January, when my other sister's package arrived. If you are a follower of this little blog for a couple of years already, you should know I have this thing for Karl Lagerfeld. I love this crazy dude, and his fluffy cat.

Until the minute I opened the gift, I didn't even know this book exists!!! So this was a huge surprise!

The book is a Karl version of the classic "Where's Wally?" books. It's super funny and the illustrations are awesome.

Besides the book, I got some awesome body lotion from rituals, and a picture frame with a whole bunch of photos of my niece and nephew. LOVE!!

Did you get any belated Christmas presents as well?

Christmas: The Aftermath

Hooray! You all survived the holidays! And so did I! Pictured above is the food I MADE. Yes, I cooked. Nope, no one died. #nailedit

The company I work for gave every employee a turkey for Christmas. Or a ham, but since I don't eat pork, the decision was easy...

For an expat, the holiday season is the toughest time of the year. Being away from family, best friends, and all the traditions is hard. I have shed a countless amount of tears during the past couple of days. Who am I fooling... WEEKS! Actually, I've just cried at Starbucks, cause I opened my mailbox and there was an e-mail from my uncle. I'm a crybaby lately.

Since my personal life is far from rainbows and unicorns right now (I'll be moving out in a few weeks), I felt extra lonely this year. Oh and have I mentioned my niece? She was born in July, and I haven't met her, smooched her, held her yet,... nothing. It breaks my heart.

Just like last year, me and my family used FaceTime to hang out on Christmas Eve. FYI: In Germany, the BIG Christmas day is Christmas eve. That's when Santa, or in our case: the Christkind, brings the gifts, the whole family gathers around the tree, and eats potato salad & hotdogs for dinner. Well, my family does. So no one has to spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen while everyone else celebrates.

Only one of my siblings' gifts made it to the USA on time, so here is what my sister and her son gave me for Christmas:

My MacBook might be just as happy as I am now!! Well, my sister asked what I want for Christmas, so... I love this pouch! I love the design, and that it comes with a little bag for the cord.
My nephew made me some (unintentionally PG-rated :oD) candles at his daycare. I died laughing when I unpacked the big one! He is such a sweetheart though. I miss him so much!

I got my other Christmas gift little early, 13 days early: Tickets for a NBA game in Houston.

If you follow my blog for a little, or read THIS or THIS post, you might know I'm a HUGE Los Angeles Lakers fan. Always been! Kobe is one heck of a player, so it was MUST for me to see him playing LIVE again before he retires by the end of the season.

I will share a recap of the trip to Houston, Galveston, and the game later this week!

What did Santa drop off for you this year??