Congratulations to us!

The Birthday Girls!

My dear sister Elisabeth arrived in Germany in time to celebrate our birthday together! (We were worried for a bit because of the snow...but what's meant to be is meant to be.) I met her in Frankfurt and we took the train to Saarbrücken together.

I made Elisabeth go to school with me on our birthday. I am introducing myself to some new classes at Rotenbühl, because I am now with 7th and 8th grades. They're pretty cute, I hope they stay that way and it wasn't just the first-day excitement. And I went to one of my old 9th grade classes, and they had made a cake for me! And they all signed a card! Really sweet...The teachers at my school got me an apron with a typical Saarländisch motto on it: Hauptsach gut gess! roughly "Main thing/Most importantly: eat well!"And an oven mitt to match! So that was a really thoughtful , perfect gift for me!

My roommates Johannes and Nabiha

Then, that evening, we had a birthday celebration here at my apartment for my friends. Elisabeth has the pictures, so they will be posted later. It was a lot of fun, and I was really excited about my friends who traveled from nearby towns to be there. I am also excited about my new cookbook, the German version of the game Apples to Apples, and a new guide book to Paris. And thanks to everyone who sent their birthday wishes from the US, it really meant a lot!
Elisabeth learned how the Germans greet you on your birthday...as everyone came up to us and said "Congratulations!" We both find it amusing that you "congratulate" someone on their birthday, but the Germans do say Herzlichen Glückwünsch, so they just translated that.

The whole gang at our birthday party

Thursday night I went to the Staatstheater, our big theater building, to see the opera La Traviata. It was really beautiful. I've also seen a lot of movies lately, as I am recovering from a cold. One teacher lent me a bunch of German movies, so I saw their kitchy Christmas classic, Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel, "Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella." In this version she gets wishes from magic hazelnuts instead of a fairy Godmother...it's one of those movies where the filming and the effects make you realize how far we've come...

Well, I am a bit embarrassed to say what I'm doing tonight...I am going to Hooters. I have never even been to Hooters in the US, but there is some big football game on and my American friends want to at least catch the beginning (with the time difference it's very late here). The only Hooters in all of Germany is in the Saarland, not far from Saarbrücken, close to the American military base of Rammstein. So maybe that will be fun.

I added the picture later. We did make it and here's proof!

I have also finally uploaded pictures of Trier, Germany's oldest city, from my visit with Will in October. Click here to go directly to that post.