It's All Fun and Games

Gute Nacht Dear Reader!

I have just got home from a lovely evening of playing games with my tandem language parter and her wonderful friends. My tandem partner and I meet up every now and again for her to teach me German and me to teach her English (although my English speaking skills were called into question tonight when I tried to call a triangle a three-corner). Our conversations vary wildly in topic and language, so I always look forward to our meetings. I am slowly discovering fluency in Denglisch (a mixture of Deutsch and English), with some of my favourite Denglisch words being 'geschnitzelt', i.e. to have eaten schnitzel, and also 'gewent', i.e. to have gone somewhere. Tonight I went to her flat in the Paradies area of Konstanz (far more southern and nearer the centre from where I live) and was introduced to her very friendly Haustier Kaninchen (house rabbit), who was called Lotto. Lotto seemed to want to be the star of the show and once he got used to the idea of there being a large group of people in his home, decided he would make the most of it by getting the maximum attention, being fed the occasional grape, trying to steal the board game pieces and generally running around madly.

All too soon it was time to go home, and on my bus journey back saw my very first Christmas tree of the year - a huge traditional Tannenbaum outside Lago (the main shopping centre) covered in little white lights. Usually I bemoan the start of Christmas being too early and that decorations should only be put up in December, but this year I am prepared to indulge given that my end of term is not until the 22/12! Already my Mitbewohner (house mates) have bought supplies for Christmas baking, and I am excitedly awaiting my trip to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) next week when it opens. I admit I am in love with the lead up to Christmas and I hope that this year I can do all the things I am usually too busy to do, such as going to see a Nativity, attending a Carol Concert and bake yuletide delicacies (of which there seem to be many here, though no mince pies spotted as of yet...).

On a side note, I do not really recommend watching Der Vorleser (The Reader) before 10am when you are half asleep. For those who have seen it, I am referring in particular to the scenes in which Michael is young...For those who have not seen it, I recommend waiting until later in the day to view, as it is a very good film (Kate Winslet got her Oscar for it) and stays fairly true to the original book's plot line by Bernhard Schlink.