Christmas!!!

Last Christmas I gave you my heart,
and but very next day I turn into gay you gave it away

[George Michael-Last Chritmas]

This is the song that drives me crazy during Christmas 2 years back. It was played like every fricking 5 minutes on MTV, the only English channel in Germany, so pathetic I know *nangis* Tu pun kadang-kadang they even translate it in German. Boleh bayangkan tak Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie speaks German. No? Neither do I. Feels so weird. Oklah I'm here not to talk about the lack of English in Germany. When I was still studying in Germany, Christmas is one of the holidays that I always always love. Sebab masa tu cuti. 2 minggu pulak tu. Sapa nak bagi weh? And also masa before Christmas tu feeling dia macam lain. Suma orang macam friendly, excited. And Sigmaringen, that's the name of the place where I studied, never fails to have a white Christmas every year. Siap snow tebal lagi. Memanglah tebal dah kalau bulan 11 dah start snowing. Amik ko hari-hari pergi kelas meredah salji macam polar bear dekat Artic. Tu yang ade orang slalu ponteng masa winter semester. Opps, sapa ntah taktau..

Snow yang tebal lepas 2 jam snow. Taken from my balcony. Compare pic 1 and pic 2, nampak tak ade jalan kecik yang pergi ke hutan tu. Matilah hutan padahal tu jalan U. Dalam pic #2 takde kan? Sebab tu malas nak pergi kelas. Matilah pemalas guna alasan snow tebal.

Orang German ni Christmas tradition dia macam lain. They don't have Santa Claus but they have Nikolaus. Tapi taktau la kot-kot Nikolaus ni adik-beradik atau bau-bau bacang dengan Santa Claus sebab nama pun dekat-dekat sama. And Nikolaus ni akan bagi chocolate yang akan diletakkan dalam kasut budak-budak on 7th December. Awal gila. Agaknya Nikolaus ni lupa nak adjust kalendar dia to 24th Dec kot untuk bagi hadiah. Sometimes, I would find chocs dalam my mail box, I don't know who put the chocs there but it's either one of my classmates or someone yang duduk block tu yang sangat baik hati. Masa I buat practical dekat this one company, I jumpa Santa figurine choc in my shoe drawer. So comels. Tapi balik rumah terus kena makan Santa tu terus dah tak comel. Huhu so kesian

What I like best about Christmas in Germany is their Weihnachtsmarkt or Christmas Market. Dekat sini diorang jual macam-macam, from food and drinks to Christmas deco to fancy/funky self-made accessories. And one of drink is Gluehwein. Gluehwein ni red wine yang dipanaskan and campur spices macam bunga lawang,cengkih,cinnamon and orange slices among other things. Tapi of course la Muslim can't drink Gluehwein kata wine kan. Nak minum jugak ko tanggungla dosa masuk neraka kaedahnya lepas tu. Tapi ada non-alcoholic version, Kinderpunsch a.k.a punch untuk kanak-kanak. Bahan-bahan sama jugak tapi instead of red wine dia guna grape juice. Yang bestnya, bila minum badan akan rasa panas dan takdelah menggeletar macam matpit tak dapat dadah sebab sejuk. Dan masa nak beli tu dia akan letak in Christmas decorated mug yang kita kene bayar pfand or deposit of 1Euro, let's say drink tu harga 2Euro + 1Euro pfand for the mug = 3Euro. After minum, kalau terjatuh cinta dengan mug tu boleh bawak balik and burn la duit pfand tu, kalau tanak kita pulangkan balik & dapat balik lah duit 1Euro kita tu. Dekat sana semua botol plastic and kaca ada pfand. Sebab nak galakkan orang recycle kan. So kalau beli air, make sure simpan botol tu then trade balik dekat mana2 kedai jual drink, they'll give you your pfand money back. 1 botol kecik 250ml-500ml dalam 15cent pfand. Yang botol besar dalama 25cent. Pernah sekali kumpul semua botol2 plastic dekat rumah, sekali trade dapat 10Euro. Just imagine berapa banyaknya botol dekat rumah aku tu. Terasa macam pengutip sampah pulak. Huhu.

I don't have any Weihnactsmarkt picture to show you but I do have pics of me and my friends goofing around during Xmas. Goofing around tu sudah tentulah. Aktiviti paling bermanfaat sekali masa cuti. Enjoice!

Ice skating in Frankfurt Eishallen ke apentahnamadia

Christmas tree in Frankfurt Roemer circa 2005. Trivia: Frankfurt Roemer is the old town of Frankfurt. Hence the sort of medieval architectural building in pic below

What are we trying to do here pun taktau. Tergeliat urat sebab terlampau sejuk, barangkali? Who knows..

Cukuplah tu 3 gambar je. Yang lain tu tidak sesuai untuk tontonan umum. Hiks.

And oh just wanna wish all of you,

Frohliches Weihnachten und einen Guten Rutsch ins neues Jahr!

atau dalam bahasa orang senang nak faham,

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!