Hannah's News from Germany
Here's a newsy piece from our outbound Youth Exchange Student, Hannah Bates. Hannah is from Salmon Arm.
Hallo!
November warmed up after a period of complete frost, so as for now we have no snow here in Varel. That hasn’t bothered me too much though, because it means I can still get everywhere by bike.
Fabiola (the other exchange student here) is a huge Scorpions fan, as well as my host mother, so we all went to see them live in Hamburg. It was a great concert, and although their songs were in English, they are a German band and spoke to the crowd in German, which was cool because we could understand them in both cases.
December third was the German test for Rotary exchange students, which I did well on. It was easier than I thought it would be, and the people I had to have a conversation with were very kind.
It’s been getting busier here in Germany as Christmas approaches. They take advent quite seriously here, lighting a candle the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. December sixth is Nikolaus; on this day, Nikolaus comes and fills your boots (left out the night before) with chocolate and treats. Sort of like stockings in advance. Nikolaus was very generous and I still have lots of chocolate left over!
The Weihnachtsmarkts (Christmas markets) here have also all been set up. I actually got to volunteer at one; my badminton club ran a game booth at a smaller Christmas market in a community close to my house. I’ve been to a few other markets including the massive two in Bremen, but wherever you may be, Bratwurst and Gluehwein are always nearby. In Bremen I ate a Bratapfel, which is a baked apple with your choice of filling (in my case Kinder chocolate).
Speaking of food, I made my very first Apfelkuchen (apple cake) using a German recipe, and tried Gruenkohlessen (traditional North-German kale-based side dish), which were both very tasty.
Monday was the school’s Christmas concert, in which I played piano with the Big Band and Rock band. The next day, teachers and students came up to me who hadn’t before and praised my playing, which was super nice. Tuesday was my Rotary Club’s christmas party, which was really fun. There was tons of delicious food, we sang traditional German christmas songs together, and one man even recited German poetry for us. Fabiola and I had calendars to sell as part of a Rotex fundraiser (each exchange student had to sell five), which we thought was going to be difficult. They were full of pictures of us on the Germany trip, so I was thinking of buying one for myself or sending one back to Canada, but by the end of the night they were all gone!
I hope you are all doing well in Salmon Arm and are enjoying the snow!
Thank you so much!
Frohe Weihnachten/Merry Christmas!
- Hannah
Pictures: Bremen Weihnachtsmarkt, and Bratapfel (with chocolate sauce)
