Pardon?

According to weather.com, the current weather conditions for Hannover are -7°C (-13°C with windchill) and haze.  I don't think I've ever seen a forecast of haze, but that describes pretty accurately most winter days in Europe.

Extracurricular Activities

I thought you guys might like to see of the things I've been doing when I'm not at school teaching.  The first weekend after school started back, my roommate Poisy and I went to a snowboarding competition that one of her friends organized.  It wasn't huge and, of course, Hannover doesn't have any great skiing resorts, but they made an impromptu dual slalom course and some awesome jumps.

The next week the snow still dominated most of Hannover, and I saw this great sketch on the back windshield of a car on my way to school.  "Moin" is a Low German/Frisian greeting that is used as slang in a lot of northern Germany.

Last weekend I went to my first professional soccer game and saw Hannover '96 get soundly defeated by Hertha BSC (from Berlin).  George, Rosy and I still had a good time though even though it was pretty frigid, and the Hannover stadium the AWD Arena is pretty amazing.  The modern looking roof was added before the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

 

Last but not least, today I went to the Hannover Landesmuseum (state museum) which has a pretty cool ongoing exhibit on the history of portraits in the art world and pop culture.  The Landesmuseum is right across the street from the Neues Rathaus.  Even though it was about -3°C and the Maschteich was frozen, the sun made a rare appearance, and I couldn't resist a nice stroll.

 

 

 

Notice how most of the snow has melted away.  Don't be fooled though, it's basically been converted into huge patches of ice across much of the city, but the roads and sidewalks are mostly clear now.

Hannover in Snow (Catching Up)

These photos are from the first half of January when Hannover was blanketed with a good foot or so of snow, and it snowed for at least a few hours everyday for about ten days (no lie).

 

 

 

The first two photos were taken in the Eilenriede, the city forest in Hannover, near where Bill lives in List.  The second two photos were taken outside of my bedroom window--notice the igloo my neighbors built (it's still standing) and my bike covered in snow (it hasn't gotten much use lately).

Photo Recap of Berlin

After New Years, Jackie and I walked around Berlin Mitte for a few hours to see how Berlin was recovering from both the night before and the heavy snowfalls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting note about the second picture--this is from approximately where Jackie and I stood in front of the Brandenburger Tor on New Year's Eve.  Notice the inordinate number of Rotkäppchen bottles (German Sekt) and the ankle-deep Schneematsch (snow slush) that we had to endure.

Santa Claus got lost on his way to Hannover...

So you may or may not have noticed this most recent absence of mine from Hankins in Hannover, but fret no longer because I have returned!  Expect a few posts this week detailing my adventures from the past few weeks including Christmas Break.

So after spending the first few days of 2010 in Berlin, I returned to Hannover last week to find an actual pile of presents waiting on me!  Advice for anyone spending the holidays abroad--make sure to tell you family they have to ship presents before Dec. 1st if they expect you to get them in time for Christmas.  I actually thought it was kind of nice getting a post-New Year surprise.

 

But going back to the beginning of Christmas season--like I mentioned before, I spent Heiligabend (Christmas Eve) with Louisa (a teacher I work with) and her family.  I arrived at their house around 3:00 pm, and we went straight to the 4:00 pm church service, at this cute little church near where they live in Kirchrode.  It was interesting to attend a Christmas service in Germany because while I understand the biblical Bible Story (New King James, the songs and hymns were completely, well, "foreign" to me.  Afterwards, I went home with them to relax, eat a typical German Christmas Eve meal of Würstchen, Kartoffelsalat and Herringsalat (sausage, potato salad and herring salad).  I was surprised to see that Germans actually still light real candles on their trees, though it seems like a pretty bad idea to surround a dead, dried out softwood tree in fire, but to each his own.  The family then exchanged gifts, where I was surprised by Louisa with not only a set of gift certificates to the movie theater in downtown Hannover but also with an amazing German goodie basket filled with beer and food like sausages, cheeses, chocolate, gummy bears and other assorted awesomeness.

In a manner not too different from my typical American holiday experiences, the beer and schnapps were flowing freely in Kirchrode this Heiligabend.  Did I mention that I baked a big batch of peanut butter cookies to take them?  The reaction was overwhelmingly good--I was pretty surprised since peanut butter just isn't nearly as common here in Germany as it is in the US.  While it's not all too hard to find anymore, it's still definitely far from common.

Fast forward to me back in Hannover--I had not only a package from Chuck with a warm sweater, but also stocking stuffings from my Mom and my "secret Santa" gift from Josh and Kelli.  Combined with the remnants of Sam's package from December, I know have enough American food and candy to last me at least through the winter (maybe). 

  

The Starbucks travel mug was actually a Christmas gift from myself that I bought in Berlin but notice that little piece of awesomeness next to it!  So thanks to everyone who made this a great Christmas season--I couldn't have been happier (special thanks to Josh and Kelli for the iPod nano that has already gotten tons of use!).  Last but not least, in Chuck's package my mom threw in some more warm socks, which I was really excited to find (it's been freakin' cold here), and I now I feel old and boring since I look forward to gifts like thick socks.

The New Year

I've always been a bit of a New Year's Eve Scrooge--of all holidays this one has always seemed the most overhyped and underachieving.  I mean, you are supposed to go to crazy parties and events and also start the year off on a good foot?  Seems fairly counterproductive to me.  My normal NYE ends in completely unnecessary drama and letdown.

 

This year I spent New Year's Eve at the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin...what a way to ring in the new year.  It had snowed for a few days across northern Germany and kept on snowing through New Year's Eve which ended up being a mixed blessing.  Jackie and I made our way after dinner a very special New Year's Eve dinner at Andrea's, and grabbed a couple of drinks at the Tor while we waited for the countdown to begin.  The snow added a really cool festive and fun atmosphere and also kept some of the crowd from venturing outside, but it was also pretty cold and slushy.  Still, supposedly there was just under a million people partying at the Brandenburger Tor, and it really was kind of like one giant party.

Last but not least, let you be warned, that Germany can be pretty dangerous during New Years.  Starting at dusk on Dec. 31st, everyone and their mom starts lighting fireworks in the streets.  As the night progresses and the level of intoxication increases, this sometimes is elevated to trying to scare bystanders and pedestrians.  It's pretty weird to have someone set off a bottle rocket over your head while walking downtown in one of the largest cities in Europe.

Also (the real last thing), I made a quick stop in Hamburg and got a picture outside the FC St. Pauli Stadium.