Visitors, Fire and Ice Fest, and a Belgian Celebration

So I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry folks. I finally now just sat down to my computer, and with nothing else to do besides read, I figured I'd post!

So Tuesday after my class, I hopped a bus to the train station, then caught a connecting train through Stuttgart to Mainz to meet up with Doug and Jennie. By the time I got to Mainz it was dark out, so there was not much sightseeing to be done, just the night life. I was supposed to meet them at the train station, but thought I'd walk out into town to see if I could find with my map where we were going to eat, the Heiliggeist (Holy Ghost). I made my way through the city, walked most of it despite the cold, and then got a call to head back to the train station. After waiting all weekend to see them, there they were, in the little Ford sitting by the bus station. From there we all said our hellos and then set out in search of the restaurant. After we found a place to park, we went to look for it. It turns out that I actually had walked right by it earlier, and then had to walk all the way back when they called. Oh well I guess. I got to walk around Mainz at least!

We ate dinner, and I was glad to utilize my German speaking skills for Doug and Jennie, who had previously resorted mostly to pointing and saying things like "Da" (there) or "Entschuldigung" (excuse me). After dinner, we walked a little bit more and took some pictures around the square.

Doug and the model of the church!

The main square by the restaurant, that I had walked to earlier, was decorated for Christmas time!

After walking in the cold, we headed back to Tuebingen. I've never had to navigate a car around Tuebingen before, so it was really difficult to find a place to park. We ended up parking somewhere that we shouldn't have and got a 25 Euro ticket, but that comes later.

I had class the next morning, and so said goodbye until 12 and met up with Hannah to walk to class. After class, I got everyone up and moving, and we set out for the day. There was some sort of market going on throughout the city, so we just walked around enjoying the sights. I felt kind of bad, because I felt like I wasn't entertaining enough. Before we walked around a lot though, we decided to check on the car to make sure it hadn't been towed. We saw from afar that the car was still there, but then we saw the ticket on the windshield. I had no idea how to pay the ticket, or where else to go to park, so we stopped in the bookstore across the street to ask where to park and how to pay the ticket. Well, I should say that I had to ask all this. I don't mind talking with other people, I just usually like to plan out what I'm going to say first, otherwise I look like a complete idiot when talking to other people. This older woman came out to attend to us, and I had to spit out the closest thing resembling and "Excuse me, do you know of a good place to park". She did not, however, seem to understand the first time, so I tried again. I think she got the gist of what I was saying though, because she began to say how difficult it is to park anywhere in the city. She gave me directions on where to look for parking. She spoke rather quickly and with a bit of an accent, but I found that it was easier to understand her after being here a while and talking to so many people. I then asked her if she knew where to pay for the ticket, which she responded to "Poor thing" (in English for some reason, but the rest she continued in German). She told me that you had to do a bank transfer, and that she got tickets often, the city here is so strict with tickets and parking, and that she had to pay a total of three hundred Euros for tickets since a certain period in time. I thanked her and we left. We walked around some more, and found some souvenirs for Dougie. From there we bought some things to make food at the super market for dinner. Doug and I made dinner, and then Jennie took a nap (as they were driving back to Berlin that night) while Doug and I ran to get some chocolate and then watched some Pushing Daisies.

I walked them to their car, which we had parked at a parking garage not far from my house, and we said goodbye.

The weekend came, and after an uneventful Friday and beginning of Saturday, Hannah, Rachel, Jake, and I went to the Fire and Ice Festival at Reutlingen. They had ice sculptures and Gluehwein (which is pretty much really warm, really strong wine). It was fun, and all the shopping was open late that night. 

They were in the process of building the church or something. But they were on break here.

The decorations and fest-goers.

 My thought was, that because everything closes so early and because everything is closed on Sunday, that whenever there is any sort of event that keeps stores open late, people jump on it here. These poor people are deprived from such luxuries.

A little more detail on the sculpture.

They had a giant igloo that you could walk through and get Gluehwein, surrounded, of course, by giant inflatable flames.

Hannah, Rachel, and Jake with their Gluehwein. (Even though Jake ended up drinking all three, as the others did not like theirs).

For some reason I took two pictures!

At work at last, those lazy bums.

The street was lit up in a way that reminded me of Disney at Christmas time!

Inside of Mueller! It was super decked out for Christmas!

Rachel might have been a singing princess in another life. She found a singing Chipmunk. =]

Rachel, Jake, and Hannah by the decorations.

Me, Jake, and Hannah!

We got really cold after a while, and tried to catch a train back, but missed one by minutes. While we were waiting, we got a call from Steffi, a German girl who had studied in Valpo and lived in the German House last year, and went to say hi to her and her friend just for a minute before having to catch the next train home.

Sunday passed without incident, and when Monday came around, I realized that I needed to get stuff done. I had burned my hand last week on my stove, and it was getting so bad, that I had to go to the Apotheke for something to put on it. I figured this would be a good way to practice my German yet again, and it would get me out of my room. I went to the Apotheke, told the lady my problem, and had to run to the bank to get some cash before buying the stuff for my hand, because the purchase was too small to put on my EC card here. After the Apotheke, I did some grocery shopping and headed back to my room. I was disappointed yet again to see that my package had not arrived (three weeks now), and made myself dinner. After dinner, we all met up to go to a party with our Belgian friends Helena and Niels. They were throwing a party to celebrate Christmas traditions in Belgium. They had Belgian chocolate (which was delicious), bread, beer, and other treats! It was a lot of fun!

They had little plates set out and we feasted!

Afterwards, we tried to catch a bus back, but ended up walking all the way back to Downtown Tuebingen (Altstadt). It was really cold, but it was probably better that we walked, that way I could walk off some of the chocolate that we all ate. 

I had class today, (still no package) and just caught up on homework and now blogging. I am thinking that I should plan a trip soon, as I am getting kind of antsy just being in Tuebingen on the weekends with not a lot of homework. Any ideas? I would have Thursday night/Friday morning to Sunday night. Not long enough for a big trip, but maybe a little trip somewhere!