Travelog for: Sumi

Hi! My name is Sumi. I am a handmade duck with the image of a big mouth. April, the maker, said I am a lucky duck because she received a nice present from her husband the date she made me. If that's true, I hope I could bring more luck to others.
Today is a sunny day even though it's still a bit cold. April prepared me a bowl of hot water for bathing. This is my favorite thing. I like bathing!



（Enjoying reading after bath！）


This is my best friend Ball Ball. We always have afternoon tea together. Last time when we met, I told Ball Ball the idea that I hoped to go outside to knew more about the world. He thought that's great and encouraged me to fulfill that idea. Then I told April. She really understand me and helps me become a TV.
Now I am waiting for someone who will take me. Hope to be your friend and brings happy and good luck to you!

Last Saturday, I went to Macao with April. She was going to met her friend Fiona who married that day. After that, she took me to look around. Macao is a nice city. April had her university study there. I can feel that she love that place very much. Oh! Yes! I am going to leave for Germany for my first Christmas. I am expecting it！

I arrived savely in Germany. It was already nearly dark by the time I was picked up from the mailbox by my host, but we took some pictures anyway to show you where I am now that I am so far from home.

This was taken at the bus station next to the post office. The postoffice is in the building to the right, in the background you can see an old house and some of the Christmas decorations.


This is St. Peter, the only Romanesque church in the Saarland (the state I am in) that's still intact. Isn't the sky lovely, too?


And here's tiny Fellenberg castle, now a museum bout the history of the area. They've put up icicle lights and a Christmas tree.

Today we decided to make muffins for our host to take to work with her.
We mixed butter with sugar, vanilla sugar and eggs, added flour and baking powder andmilk. Later one batch got some chocolate splits, the other some buttermilk and juice.

Don't they look good?

We have snow!

Yesterday it wasn't much fun. We had a 4h drive and for 3h of those we could see nada. At down to -14°C (6.8°F) had to stop 6 times to wipe frozen snow-salt-sludge off the windshield. Luckily we got somewhere it was a little warmer (-8.5°C/16.7°F) and less new snow before it got dark.

But today it was great. We took a long walk in the snow.

Today is also the 4. Advent, the last Sunday before Christmas. All the lights on this more modern "Advent wreath" are burning now.



Next to me you see a little poinsettia, Christstern in German, the traditional flower here for this season.

People also put up some window decorations

and lights in their windows and gardens, mostly just plain white lights in the area for this year.

In other years there used to be blinking colored lights or stars, reindeers etc. and some people still use those, but most of the decorations we see are simpler. There are traditional Schwibbögen, handmade wooden candleholders from a region in eastern Germany. Maybe we can show those some time later.

We went to the Christmas market again for some last minute presents. On top of this booth you can see some typical decorations. There are big nutcrackers, often dressed like soldiers.

The multistoried wooden structures are called pyramids. On can get them in all sizes. Little candles are placed in the holders around each level and when they are lit the warm air rises up and turns the little propellor on top. That moves not only the propellor, but also the plates of the different levels on which figurines are arranged. They often show Mary, Joseph and the Christ in the manger, shepherds and their sheep, the Magi and/or (choirs of) angels, depending on the size.

Here's one of the many booths selling hot spiced wine, hot cocoa with liquor and other hot drinks.


This is an oldfashioned children's carrousel. Unfortunately we were too small to ride and it's more fun at night anyway.


The rest of the city center is also decorated with lights. It's called Lichtwochen (light weeks) and stays throughout the dark season. There's a different topic every year, often a capital city, but this year it's the Ruhr area(including Essen), as European Capital of Culture in 2010.

This is one of the major sights and an event place: Zeche Zollverein, a former coal mine and Industrial Complex. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This 'light-picture' shows one of its towers.

In preparation for Christmas Eve we are wrapping presents.

Eebee and I are very helpful:

Isn't it pretty?


And another bow:


The presents will stay here and come with us to grandma's house on Christmas Eve where they will be put into neat stacks for the different people in the 'chimney-room'. No young people are allowed in there before the official present opening because they might accidentally surprise the angels and the Christkind. That woudl turn their hair all white like grandpa's and who wants that?

The day before Christmas Eve, time to put up the Christmas tree. We bought a big one. It was packed into a net and now has to be shortened and put into the holder. Then the net can come off:

Is it turned the right way?
Later lot's of tiny lights are put in which is the biggest piece of work. A few hours, 3 different chains of lights, some replaced little lightbulbs and lots of frayed nerves later it looks like this:

Then comes the fun part. There are many different ornaments in big and small boxes: stars made of straw; glass orbs in many different sizes and colors, shiny, matt or transparent, with or without little pictures or stripes; wooden angels, Santas, skiing children, moon and stars...
We decided to go for the very traditional Christmas colors: red, green and gold this year.

Tadaa!

In Germany most families celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December, Christmas Eve. On that day the shops are mostly open until midday and many offices are also open for half a day. The Christmas Days, 25th & 26th of December are holidays: no shops are open and only people in emergency services have to work.
We started out the celebrations with "Kaffee & Kuchen" as they say here, meaning coffee and cake, even if you have tea or cookies instead.

The advent wreaths are in use and many older people have self-embroidered table clothes for holidays.

Here's an old nativity set. Some people leave out baby Jesus until this night and only add him to the scene now.

After dinner everybody gets to open some presents and many people go to midnight mass.

It's Silvester (Sylvester). Actually that's the name day (saint's day) today but it has prevailed as a description for the last day of the year. A long time ago, nearly all the dates were given not as a day and month but as a name day. We are running some errands.

Tonight everybody will do their own small fireworks. Fireworks may only be sold to non-prefessionals in these few days before Silvester because it's the only time of the year that people may do their own fireworks display without needing a special permission. There are also some big organized fireworks of course, but most people do their own tonight. The tradition goes back a long way and is suppposed to chase away evil spirits. Unfortunately it's not a very good photo opportunity, so we can't show any pictures.
People also give each other little talismans like horseshoes to protect home and hearth, chimney sweeps, who used to be the first ones out and about on New Years Day, clover leaves and little pigs made of marzipan or other sweets or simply of plastic.

To begin this year we had a lot fo snow and since temperatures remain below freezing day and night and since the city doesn't do a whole lot about clearing the roads, it's pretty much all still there. Perfect for a long weekend of course. We have kind of a winter wonderland:

It's Jan. 6th, Dreikönigstag or Epiphany. All over Germany children are designated as offcial Sternsinger (star singers). They dress up as the Magi, carry a star and go from door to door to pass on the message of Christmas by singing carols and to collect money for charity. The houses where people donated money are blessed and get a sign on the doors:
year +C + M + B + year (CMB for "Christus mansionem benedicat" (Christ bless this house) which nicely conincides with the common names for the Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar)

They also leave a flyer explaining the tradition and this year's purpose for the donations.

The weather forecasts predicted snow storms all over Germany for this weekend. We had a few new centimeters of snow and a lot of wind but nothing too terrible here. People are prepared, though. Salt, snow shovels, portable ovens, de-icer and other equipment are sold out in many stores.

I have made up my mind to brave the snow outside. My host promised to carry me in case it got too cold or wet. We are planning to walk around 3 km.
Here's a playground in the snow. I doubt anyone will play on this for a while. All the childern we passed were dragging or riding on sleighs.

Directly behind it are some fields where it seems like there's nothing else but fields and sky but in reality we are in the middle of the city.


This is the farm.
Some of the area is protected. The sign says Landsschaftsschutzgebiet (landcape protection area) which isn't quite as strict as a nature protection area but should still be a place where migrating birds can rest etc.


Look how deep the snow is. And we are only standing in a footprint.


In the tree behind us some blackbirds are eating the red fruit, one of the few things they'll find at the moment. 


Here's a city graveyard.

Right next to it ia a protestant one. The catholic graveyard is a few hundered meters away.


Behind the field there are some half-timbered houses.


One photo for the background.

Look, we came all the way along the line of trees to the right.


This is a hospital and the little building in the front is a hospice. There's a nice private park behind the buildings, mainly for the patients in the hospice.


There are many townhouses from the early 20th century in Essen, but most aren't in very good repair.



Here are some relatively typical multi-family houses:

and some row-houses from the 1960s:

Exciting news, we are going to go on a short last minute trip to a big European capital. We're leaving tonight. More news when I get back. Wish us a save journey!