Christmas with my second boyfriend

Each year around Christmas we get to spend time with our friends Christoph and Patrizia and their little boy Alessandro (who we call my other boyfriend) ;) . Christoph was with Alex the night Alex and I met, so he is a special friend to us. The first year we had dinner together just after Christmas and they had just found out they were pregnant with Alessandro. The next year was Alessandro’s first Christmas and he was still a newborn baby. This year, we got the three of them, with Alessandro being a toddler now, and Patrizia is expecting a new baby again in June of 2008. These are the sweetest people I have met here in Germany (outside of Alex of course!) and I just love spending time with them. It would not be a complete holiday season if we did not get to see them and their ever growing family!

Christmas in Germany

Christmas time this year ended up being a bit different than planned. Originally we had decided to go to the southeast region of Germany, called ‘Schwarzwald’ (Black Forrest) and do the holiday with Alex’s dad and grandmother. Sadly, while I was in Manchester on business, Alex’s grandmother passed away. So we changed our plans to go to Alex’s dad’s house and have a quiet holiday there.

The day after I arrived home from Manchester for the Christmas holiday, I was not feeling well. The next day, I had the flu with a rather high fever. Alex was a great nurse and took very good care of me. Still, not at all a fun way to start the holiday. Not to mention, because I was in Manchester all during the work weeks, we had been running around like crazy people getting presents and packing and shipping them. Remember how everything is closed on Sundays here? This was what we were doing on our Saturdays, so needless to say; I was ready for a vacation and did not want to spend it sick in bed. Also, Alex’s dad came down with a cold so when we arrived on Christmas Eve, his dad and I were a lovely sight!

We did our Christmas dinner and gift exchange on Christmas Eve. His dad had bought a beautiful tree that they decorated. We spent the afternoon just relaxing (me sleeping off my flu bug) and enjoying the lovely cookies his dad made. Seriously, no holiday is complete without his dad’s cookies! That night we dressed up for dinner and did our gift exchange. I can’t even list all the things I got because the two of them spoiled me! I did receive some great books to read. His dad made a great dinner and we enjoyed some nice champagne and wine. It really was a lovely holiday and I enjoyed spending my first Christmas with Alex in person!

Christmas Markets

One thing I love most in Germany are the Christmas Markets. The Germans really know how to do Christmas right. You go around to all these booths that are filled with arts & crafts, wonderful foods and the best booths have Gluhwein (which is a hot spiced red wine). My favorite food that they had were roasted chestnuts. I am starting to gather that this is the country where all Christmas carols were born – “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”

We went to the Rathaus area (which is German for “Town Square”) first. As you can see from the pictures, the crowds were all there to enjoy the treats.


One of the honors bestowed from this market is the “Snow Queen”. This is the 2007 Snow Queen riding in her snow cloud above the crowds. (How’s that for Miss America??)
From there we went to the waterfront and watched the new ice skating rink and other booths.

We could not pass up the opportunity to ride the Ferris wheel!

Last, but not least, we ran into a grocery store and happened to find an American food aisle! I don’t know who was more excited… me finding Mac & Cheese (though it’s not Kraft) or Alex finding Reese’s peanut butter cups!

When do you want me in the UK?

Until the end of November, my job has been uneventful. I have mostly been proofreading English translations and took my German course. One of the senior managers came to me and asked if my passport would allow me to travel outside of Germany, say to the UK. After I told him that it would, he said I might be going there to Manchester. It goes for a few days and I don’t hear anything. One day I am bored and without work, so I go to another senior manager to see if he has anything I can help him with. He says that I can help him by being in Manchester the next day! How crazy is that?? (I have to preface this story with Alex’s business required him to be in Hamburg this week and we were staying at his hotel together which is next door to my office – so I would not have to take the train and endure the long commute that week. All I had to do was to go to the hotel and get my already packed suitcase and head to the airport!)

I flew to Manchester that night and was “forced” to sit in business class because that was the only seat on the plane available. I then found out that we always travel business class when traveling for a client, so I have to say I like this German philosophy!

The town I was to work in for the next few weeks is called Bradford. It used to be the richest town in the world during the days when oil was plentiful. Since the recession in the UK, it has become rather “dodgy”. However, it is also the first town that the Southeast Asians (India population) immigrated to and therefore hosts the best curry restaurants I have ever been to! Also, Bradford is where the Bronte family is from and you can see the church they grew up in and a museum of their belongings. Their father was a vicar so that is why they lived in a church. Because the town our client’s office is in is dodgy, we were staying at a Marriott in another town. I love England because everything is so historic looking and unique. Here is a picture of our hotel, it was so beautiful!

After spending a few weeks in England I came to the following conclusions: I now know what to order at Indian food restaurants, I have tasted every Cadbury chocolate candy there is on the planet, I love the British dry sense of humor, but I really cannot be around the Manchester accents for a long period of time. I had to call for a taxi once and when I said I needed a taxi, the man on the phone said “wash your face”. Obviously, this was confusing to me, so I asked him to repeat himself a few times. I then handed the phone to one of my British colleagues and he started laughing. Apparently the man on the phone was saying “what’s your name?” And they say Americans have funny accents!!