Christmas in Karlsruhe
Posted on Thursday, December 26, 2013
Christmas is a state of mind. The moment the Christmas Markets were set up and snow started falling here in Europe, the festivities more or less began with... Spontaneous ice skating in Karlsruhe!
When you live somewhere, you always delay seeing the sights because they're just there. So, after 3 months of living in Karlsruhe, I finally saw the Karlsruhe Schloss (castle) as that was where the temporary rink was set up. I was actually really enchanted by how big and majestic it looked! Oops! Better late than never.
Eva brings her own skates from Belgium!
Love how everything is set up, with the rink sitting nicely around the statue and the Schloss in the background. Oh, and since Karlsruhe is a small little town, it's MEGA cheap. Entrance fee for ice skating is €2.50 euros and skate rental is €3.00 for as long as you want???
And off we go! I haven't skated in years so I'm tempted to rent those penguin stands to help me (just €1.00 each), but they won't because they say it's only for kids, cause like, old people don't fall when ice skating right?
Rinderwurst and Glühwein break with Bekir cause our toes are freezing!
Pieter gets sneaky hands!
These people are adorable :>
And we're done! Two hours of ice skating is enough to make you want to crawl home to a hot cuppa!
One thing I always look forward to on exchange is family dinners every Sunday night. Every week someone in our ever expanding family takes turn to host and cook their own cuisine - this week (and the last dinner for the year!) was at Pieter's... the reindeer!
Hearty Belgian food - I have 3 whole servings!
After dinner is Secret Santa time! Super excited for this! Last week we pre-drew lots of one person whom we had to get a gift for under €5.00!
So many presents :3
First up is Eva's! Her Secret Santa is Valery, who gives her a set of new gloves! Practical!
The Secret Santa then gets to be the giftee, and I am Valery's Secret Santa! I buy her lots of cat related stuff because we all think she looks like a cat, keke.
Then it's my turn! I get the most perfect hot water bottle that is covered in the softest, Christmas themed sweater to match mine from Gregory (with the help of Pieter!) Couldn't have asked for a better gift!
Steffy gives Pieter the most hilarious Secret Santa gift - penis shaped pasta and a lollipop! ("Since you like dicks!") Now where oh where did you find them, Steffy? :)
Eva gives Steffy a book, which is super thoughtful and intellectual hahaha.
Jonas gets Bekir alcohol! Boyssss.
And Jonas gets beer back from Sanna, HAHA.
Sanna is the sweetest because she also gets all of us mini presents of Rittersport! My eyes light up whenever I see chocolate, really.
In fact, we all get cards from Eva and Valery. Super nice! I have so many gifts now :')
Pieter pops out the grand finale - his famous Biscuit (bis-kweet)! He's baked this so many times on exchange, and every time he ups the level of decoration!
"Valery, are you alive?"
Sorry Jonas, just had to!
We ChatRoulette, watch funny videos, cute animal videos, cartoons and what not till late!
So glad to have a core group of friends on exchange :) While we are all over Europe now celebrating the actual Christmas, I'm glad we managed to have one last meal together. Till next year!
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