Guess Who’s Back

Hello all! I know I haven’t posted in a while, and sadly, it’s not because I’ve been off doing amazing things! Mostly I had been pretty busy at school wrapping up Thanksgiving stuff, and now I’m working with a new teacher who is temporarily replacing another teacher on maternity leave (she gets over 6 months off!). And then on top of that, I was sick for most of the weekend. I felt pretty lethargic and achy and bummed that I didn’t accomplish much. Of course, everyone who had Friday off and had a long weekend since yesterday was a holiday posted all their cool pictures of the trips they went on.

But! I’m trying to make up for my lameness. Today I went to an Aldi’s grocery store, which I just recently discovered thanks to someone who put ad booklets in the stairwell of my apartment complex. I was pretty stoked to go since it felt a little like home! Weird to think there is an Aldi in Columbia, Missouri and Madrid, Spain. I’m the type of person that gets excited about going grocery shopping, so going to a new store was pretty fun. It’s based in Germany, and thus, there were some things you wouldn’t find in the more Spanish supermarkets.

Later I made some snickerdoodle cookies as a test run for a cookie exchange I’m participating in this weekend. They’re cooling right now, and hopefully, are delicious. I also thought of some Christmas craft ideas for the kids and did a little trip planning. I also found several Christmas presents. I’m sticking to shopping online and shipping gifts to people rather than shipping from here. Though when I leave, some of you will be lucky enough to have something foreign 😉 And to keep the momentum going, tomorrow I’m going to go clothes shopping for the first time since I arrived here! That’s what happens when you don’t live 5 minutes from a Target. I actually need some things anyway, a nice heavy sweater and scarf for my upcoming trip once winter break starts. I’m leaving the 19th for Berlin and Prague. Then will be in Paris for New Year’s with some friends from college. I’m very excited to travel to some new countries! I’m going to take as many pictures as possible (aka until my phone runs out of space), and expect a lot of them to be of food.

That’s about all I’ve been up to for now. Oh, and I’ve been trying to learn some basic German for the heck of it. The further north you go in Europe, the more people tend to know English, but I thought it would be nice to know some vocab and phrases. Also, it’s kind of fun to learn a new language after Spanish had been my life for so long. I love how some German words are so close to English words, for example “Du trinkst Wasser.” = “You drink water.” Some of them you can simply guess! I’ll leave you with some random pictures that have been accumulating on my phone. Hope everyone is staying warm. It got so windy today that it actually felt like a day in Kansas!

I’m not sure I ever shared pictures from a Medieval festival I went to. This is from awhile back.

Also from the festival: A man leading a gaggle of geese.

This one goes out to my Papa Joe who has a knack for making and collecting frog figurines. When you rub their back with a stick it makes a ribbit sound.

This mysterious hole opened up one day on some steps near my apartment.

And then this happened. Someone fell down the hole?

Still laughing at this translation. Two idiots still stupider???

But for real though.

Not up my alley, but it felt like home.

Asian American Prehistoric fusion restaurant? It’s in the town I work in and apparently pretty good.

Taken in an old metro station no longer used. There is an exhibit right now free to the public about the history of the metro.

Isla Canela = Cinnamon Island. Still confused.

These little dolls or whatever you want to call them are pretty popular right now. The stork is the mascot of my school.

Don’t forget to do your whorshet.

My amazing turkey hat.

This little boy Hugo’s hat cracked me up. You can’t quite tell from here, but the turkey legs stuck straight out like it was doing the splits.

Our Thanksgiving festival was postponed because of rain but we finally celebrated last week by wearing turkey hats and dancing to a terrible song 5 times.

Why would there be eggs in the classroom anyway?

This morning’s sunrise.

Almost fainted when I saw Trader Joe’s here. Unfortunately, this was the only thing I found.

My cookies! About to go try one now.