Update from a bus

Short version: I traveled, ate, burnt my nose, and overall had a good vacation.

Longer version:
I am on my way back to Bad Ischl after a two week trip visiting friends in Germany and celebrating Christmas and New Years. The two weeks before Christmas were filled with visiting Christmas Markets, drinking Gluhwein (mulled red wine) and Punch (sugared tea with rum), getting all my Christmas presents finished, baking Christmas cookies, eating way way too many christmas cookies...experiencing the usual before Christmas stress. I had school Monday the 22nd and Tuesday the 23rd before Christmas, but asked for them off. (I love my job that isn't really a job).

So my holiday started on Thursday the 18th of December. I had two classes and then headed back to my apartment, grabbed my as usual overly large back pack, and jumped on the bus-train-trian-Straßenbahn to Stock 12 in Freiburg, Germany. What is absolutely amazing about the following adventures around Germany and Austria is in the last 2 weeks I have taken 8 trians, 2 buses, and 2 Straßenbahns and have had a total of 5 minutes of delay, and no missed connections. I need some wood to knock on, cause under usual circumstances that is just not possible for the Deutsche Bahn/ÖBB. Stock 12 was the floor I lived on in the student dorms 2 years ago. We had a good time. I learned that there are such things as Advent Songs (sung during advent), and Christmas Songs (sung at or after Christmas). Many of the people who lived there when I did have since moved out, but the newbies seem to be good people too. The other exciting event that happened in Freiburg is I burnt my nose. I was trying out a new sort of tea and wanted to smell it after I had just poured boiling water over it. Yup I stuck my nose in boiling water, and ended up getting a blister on the end of my nose. It hurt, but I couldn't stop laughing, cause honestly who burns their nose in tea?

Next stop Munich to visit Peter. We went to a poetry slam. Which I was able to understand almost everything. So proud. It was more standup/poetry slam. Some people were good, and some not so, but there was a good balance.

Next stop Murnau to see the Glück family. As usual my kids keep getting bigger. We watch videos from when I was their nanny five years ago. Super cute, and luckily staring mostly the kids, and not Suz.

The Christmas stop was in the Rauth a 400 year old farm house in the middle of the alps in Tirol. I celebrated it with my German family. I am so lucky to have 3 families. My family in the US, my nanny family the Glücks, and the Büttners, the family I lived with the year I nannied. I was so glad to celebrate Christmas with the Büttners. I did have some moments of homesickness, but I got to talk to my Mommy and Daddy shortly which helped. I spent a week in the Rauth. I ate too much. Won at cards, (ok I lost too, but that isn't important). Unfortunately the snow was on the icy side, so instead of skiing I snow shoed up the ski slopes, and back down. Did get a few funny looks for that one, but that never stopped me. Read my book. And am almost finished with my application for doing a second year as a Teaching Assistant in Bad Ischl. (I hate writing applications, but Rita and Rupi helped me make it sound all smart.)

Final stop was Ebersburg to celebrate New Years with Peter. We had a good one inclusive Cheese Fondue, a night bike ride, and a small fire.

Now I am back in Bad Ischl with 2 weeks of dirty laundry. Oh so much fun, but I am excited to no longer be living out of a back pack aka living out of the pile of stuff that exploded from my back pack everytime I stopped somewhere.

That is the snooze from this side of the ocean. School starts up next week on Wednesday. I liked having vacation, unfortunately my bank account did not. Oh the real world.

I wish all of my blog readers (this sum I am assuming is greater then or equal to zero) a good 2009. Or as they say in German ein guter Rutsch ins neues Jahr: A good slide into the New Year.