Schnee

That is German for snow. Snow. Every time I told someone that we were going to Germany for a month, they all sighed and told me how wonderful it would be to go eat Sauerkraut, Bratwurst, drink Bier, see all the snow, people wearing Dirndl and Lederhosen.... well I've never been to Baveria and don't have any current plans to go there. I don't have anything against Bavaria, but when I travel to Germany I come to visit friends and all of my friends live in the northwest or the former east. And by the way it almost never snows in those parts of Germany. Most people in the USA think Germany=Bavaria, alps, cows on the side of hills, women wearing bizzare dresses, people eating unbelievably unhealthy food all the time, and snow. Oh did I say snow?

We arrived in Germany on December 22nd. It is now January 13th. We have seen the earth a total of two days since we have been here. Otherwise there has been Schnee, Schnee, Schnee, überall! Trains have been delayed and canceled, airports shut down, Autobahns closed or filled with miles and miles of traffic jams. We have gone sledding... a lot. Lena is now an expert sledder. We rode a sled being pulled by a miniature pony one afternoon. We have frozen, and been blown backwards by wind, we have warmed up again by the fire with a hot cup of tea, hot chocolate, etc., and we have loved it.

Unfortunately I discovered that the snow boots I brought with me give my legs horrible bruises and I can no longer wear them at all. Fortunately everywhere we have been someone has had the same size shoe as me or has a neighbor who has had a pair of boots for me to borrow. Lena and Laura have gotten about three or four children's (at least in Eugene) wear out of their snow pants, and have become quite good at Anziehen (getting dressed to go outside) with snow pants, boots, scarves, gloves, hats and know all the words for those things in German.

This isn't exactly how I had imagined our trip, but it has been a great alternative to my expectations.