I thought I was going to write more about Thanksgiving and Chanukah this week, but I really do not have that much to say. All I really have to say is this: I am terribly homesick; I miss my family and my Jewish community. This time of year is a big deal.
As I have said before, I celebrated Thanksgiving early this year with a Rock n' Roll Turkey.
And for a variety of reasons, I was unable to celebrate Chanukah Shabbat with the Jewish community in Munich. Thus, I found myself still on an American holiday schedule, mentally speaking, and threw me way off.
I was craving turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and all the other good stuff that comes with this holiday... So I settled for making Latkes (Jewish potato pancakes) and Sufganiyot (a special type of jelly donut) for my friends here. A good time was had by all. Furthermore, to no one's great surprise, my pictures of the event did not turn out. Sorry for the lack photographic evidence, but I will try my hardest to fix that in the near future.
So, I am still considerably off my groove. The weather has not helped.... Well, that's not the best way to put that. That previous sentence makes it sound like the weather has been awful, but it hasn't been. At all. It has been quite pleasant. The sun shineth, and the absolutely biting cold of winter has been kept at bay. This is what we in the Game of Thrones fandom call "time of Summer Snows." (I think I have to make at least one nerdy reference per post now.) Yes, we have had a little bit of snow so far, but it is usually followed by an entire day of sun. And yes, at times it cold enough to freeze the condensation from breath onto my beard. (It happens fairly often on the ridge where I go hiking.) Thus, this strange combinatoric climate status has thrown me off because: 1.) It's on par with the weirdness and erraticness of the weather in my native East Tennessee and, 2.) I braced myself for a gray, cold, bitter Bavarian winter. All my German friends told me to make like House Stark and prepare myself for dark and cold (That makes two references now), and my family who had lived here before told me the same. While I am still paranoid about the weather and its fickle nature, I am enjoying the sun, which, with the exception of a two-week period recently, has been shining my entire stay here.
That's right: the sun has been shining almost everyday since the end of September in Germany. That's crazy, and no one here (myself included) quite knows what to do about that other than just enjoy it and complain later when/if the sun disappears.
Add the weather to my mental calendar, and one can observe a strange rhythm in my existence. I am in American celebration mode and even to some extent, I find myself operating on a similar academic schedule as back home. I am stressing that finals are approaching though I have well about two months before those are upon me here.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is this: The mode of existence, the mental and habitual tendencies that extend beyond cultural difference and day-to-day differences, that I find myself accustomed to just do not apply here. I don't know what, if anything, can be done about that, nor do I think it is something I need to worry about fixing. It's kinda just there. I think I would compare it to finding a sticky note that a roommate left. On said note is a list of important upcoming events. Upon examination of this metaphorical list, I find myself saying, "Half of things probably just don't apply to me."
I think that is a good summary of this feeling I have. I just have to look at the universe's sticky note, and I then have to decide what is applicable to me.
As I have said before, I celebrated Thanksgiving early this year with a Rock n' Roll Turkey.
And for a variety of reasons, I was unable to celebrate Chanukah Shabbat with the Jewish community in Munich. Thus, I found myself still on an American holiday schedule, mentally speaking, and threw me way off.
I was craving turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and all the other good stuff that comes with this holiday... So I settled for making Latkes (Jewish potato pancakes) and Sufganiyot (a special type of jelly donut) for my friends here. A good time was had by all. Furthermore, to no one's great surprise, my pictures of the event did not turn out. Sorry for the lack photographic evidence, but I will try my hardest to fix that in the near future.
So, I am still considerably off my groove. The weather has not helped.... Well, that's not the best way to put that. That previous sentence makes it sound like the weather has been awful, but it hasn't been. At all. It has been quite pleasant. The sun shineth, and the absolutely biting cold of winter has been kept at bay. This is what we in the Game of Thrones fandom call "time of Summer Snows." (I think I have to make at least one nerdy reference per post now.) Yes, we have had a little bit of snow so far, but it is usually followed by an entire day of sun. And yes, at times it cold enough to freeze the condensation from breath onto my beard. (It happens fairly often on the ridge where I go hiking.) Thus, this strange combinatoric climate status has thrown me off because: 1.) It's on par with the weirdness and erraticness of the weather in my native East Tennessee and, 2.) I braced myself for a gray, cold, bitter Bavarian winter. All my German friends told me to make like House Stark and prepare myself for dark and cold (That makes two references now), and my family who had lived here before told me the same. While I am still paranoid about the weather and its fickle nature, I am enjoying the sun, which, with the exception of a two-week period recently, has been shining my entire stay here.
That's right: the sun has been shining almost everyday since the end of September in Germany. That's crazy, and no one here (myself included) quite knows what to do about that other than just enjoy it and complain later when/if the sun disappears.
Add the weather to my mental calendar, and one can observe a strange rhythm in my existence. I am in American celebration mode and even to some extent, I find myself operating on a similar academic schedule as back home. I am stressing that finals are approaching though I have well about two months before those are upon me here.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is this: The mode of existence, the mental and habitual tendencies that extend beyond cultural difference and day-to-day differences, that I find myself accustomed to just do not apply here. I don't know what, if anything, can be done about that, nor do I think it is something I need to worry about fixing. It's kinda just there. I think I would compare it to finding a sticky note that a roommate left. On said note is a list of important upcoming events. Upon examination of this metaphorical list, I find myself saying, "Half of things probably just don't apply to me."
I think that is a good summary of this feeling I have. I just have to look at the universe's sticky note, and I then have to decide what is applicable to me.