Climbing trees, thanksgiving and more
12.8
Two weeks ago (on Nov 22 after all my visitors left) I spent a lot of time working on classwork. I had a small presentation on Monday, and Tuesday it rained like mad and we just went to the library to research images in children’s books for our studio project. I spent Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday hunched over my laptop and my arduino board, building a simplified prototype of an interactive piece for my sculpture class. (Though I also found time for a mini pajama party watching Away We Go and to try some veggie Chili Sin Carne at the Weinachtsmarkt!) Friday the 26th we had the first real snow of the year… it wasn’t much, but it was beautiful to wake up to.
Saturday the girls and I woke up early to get to Oberhausen to participate in Tree2Tree, a climbing park / obstacle course. I don’t know the official name of the sport, but Will and I spotted it the week before and wanted to try it, though we were too late in the day for the training. We arrived in the cold, not knowing if they would even be open due to a little ice that was sticking everywhere, but they were, and they let us brave the ice in the trees! This was a really fun and new experience for me. I love zip lines! Each course lasts a little less than an hour, and we spent 4 hours monkeying around until the “schwer” course proved a little too much. I was pleasantly surprised by my own abilities, even if I did kind of fall here.
Sunday was my belated Thanksgiving dinner… a truly international one! Luckily all my friends here are incredible and really wanted to share the holiday with me. We all cooked our own dishes and brought them to Rao’s apartment. It was a little chaotic with everyone in the kitchen… just like Thanksgiving should be. I even made everyone say what they’re thankful for. I think I almost cried. Everything was delicious, and it was worth the hours I spent preparing tofurkey and gravy, unstuffed stuffing and pumpkin pie.
On the 29th it was back to class, but we were surprised by a really big snowfall and we played in it quite a bit. Tuesday I worked on my studio project and Wednesday was a pretty lazy day after our class was cancelled… Maeva and I sat around watching How I Met Your Mother (season one) while I crocheted and she origamied. Thursday we decided to go to Hattingen, a cute little town near Essen to check out their Christmas market. The buildings there are older and it’s a nice environment, except it was 15 degrees that day and windy. We grabbed some chestnuts and cotton candy and then headed home to make a crêpe dinner with our friends.
Friday was a bit lazy again, until Maeva and I decided to go shopping for some fancy Christmas clothes, and later we met Linus at Marius’s birthday party in South Essen. It was a great long night which even featured Loopin’ Louie, a favorite game from my childhood. After sleeping through most of the morning, we prepared for an Erasmus dinner at Christa’s house (our international advisor and Linus’s mother). She was extremely generous to let 12 students join them for dinner, and made us a giant pot of yummy ratatouille. I also brought a salad and a second pumpkin pie, and we had a lot of drinks and generally a great time talking to our hosts. Linus and his sister Nora joined us, and papa Dieter took pictures, changed the music and washed dishes, all with good spirit.
This week has been filled with even more work than last week. I think this means it’s crunch time? Time to wrap up my projects and return to good old Ohio! I miss you and I can’t wait for the holidays! However this also means it’s time for goodbyes. Already said goodbye to Rao on Tuesday night, and we’re hoping to have a couple get-togethers this weekend. See you soon on the other side of the ocean…
