Me again!

Hi,

It's been 2 weeks since my last update so it's well and truly time for another one.

Well I think the weather has improved a bit since last time, all the snow has melted and right now it's 5C outside. Positively tropical!

Yesterday was Nikolaus day. It's a little complicated, but Nikolaus is pretty much Santa. He puts gifts in kids' shoes on the night of the 5th of December. I always wondered how Santa managed to get so much work done in one night, but it makes much more sense now that I know he starts on the other side of the world 3 weeks earlier. So to celebrate this, we had a dinner at my supervisor's house with most of the Australian/NZ contingent from work. We had raclette for dinner, which is a cross between fondue and teppanyaki, and of course got a visit from St Nikolaus.

Still on the Christmas theme, these Christmas markets sprung up all over the country a week or so ago. In Potsdam, there are probably 50 little stalls all up and down the main street, they sell everything - the obligatory Bratwurst and Gluehwein (mulled wine), Christmas decorations, hats, gloves, wooden toys, etc. Buskers are playing strange instruments I've never seen before, and all kinds of street performers entertain the crowds. There's even a temporary ice skating rink in the middle of Potsdam. One of my flatmates is actually selling candles in a Christmas market on the other side of Germany for the whole month.

I also finally went to see park Sanssoucci. It's the most famous thing in Potsdam, so I felt a little guilty because I've been here 3 or 4 months and I've never set foot inside the park. Every day my bus drives right past it, too. I think most buses drive past it though, it could easily occupy a quarter of the area of Potsdam. So it is definitely a very big park, with some very big ornate buildings, and some very nice statues. Although they close all the castles for winter to protect them from humidity, the outsides of them are very nice. They even have a building called the Orangerie, where they put all their tropical plants over winter so they don't get frozen!

I think my German is getting a little better. I think most of the time, when I concentrate hard, I know half the words people use. But the other half are mostly nouns and verbs. So I definitely don't understand half of what people say. The other day I had a little victory when I went to the bakery and wanted 2 baguettes. They only had one on the shelf, and I managed to ask if there were any more baguettes, and then (this is the amazing bit) I understood when she said there were more in the oven and they wouldn't be ready for 10 minutes.

Hope you are all well. Although I really enjoying hearing news from home, please don't tell me about the weather!

Adam