Well, I guess that last entry about it being just about spring was a bit early! A few days after that, we got a light snow "shower", if you could call it that. The snow was really sticky, great for building! Mathilde and I collected-- yes, you read that right, COLLECTED-- the snow into a pile and built in it for a good two or three hours. At the end, we had a nice little table and three stools. Granted, the stools were about Fisher Price size, and that mine broke every time I sat down in it and got back up, but still. It was fun, and it was an experience for me! I don't think I've ever had that happen before, that I had to actually search for the snow to build anything, whether it's a fort, a snowman, or whatever!
And then the cold came. There was a cold front or something from Siberia, and it was high pressure, so of course it stuck around a while. About a week and a half, to be exact. Temperatures were about -20 C at night and got up to about -8 C by day. That's what I call winter!!! And we got some snow with it, too, althought it still wasn't really a ton.
It froze hard enough that the standing water in fields froze over. One day Mama and I went on a bike ride to one of the fields, and it was all covered in ice! The next day we all went back with skates, and had a blast. Of course, we had to push all the snow away first, but that didn't take long. I had never been ice skating before (whenever I say that to any other American, they look at me and say, "I thought you were from Michigan???!!!"), but I borrowed a pair of skates that Jonathon had grown out of, and managed to survive. For as long as the ice was there (it still is, just now it's not thick enough to walk on), we went ice skating every afternoon.
We played hockey a bit, but we only have 4 sticks, so the team sizes were always a bit limited. After a while, I was even able to join in on the fun! But I wasn't too good. Oh well, it's just the fun that counts, right? Some neighbors met us a few times, and then it was really great!
We took tea and
Gluehwein along to drink when it was cold. That was really great, and it warmed you right up!
I've already decided, next winter I'll have to buy skates for at home. It's really fun, and I really enjoy it! I can't do any tricks, but now I've gotten a bit self-confidence out on the ice. At least I'm not scared of falling down all the time now!
Like I said, though, now the snow has all melted away again, and it's gotten a lot warmer. Well, I guess I should say that it's probably positive degrees again. Although that doesn't necessarily mean that it's warm!!!!
For the past two weeks I've been doing an internship through the school at a bakery. I really enjoy it, it's fun! Even getting up at 5:20 doesn't bother me too much (okay, after a while of being the only person in the house who has to get up so early does get old). Seeing such a typical German custom (eating bread all the time) is intriguing. Plus, it's an opportunity for me to see what the baking industry is like firsthand and decide if it's really what I wanna do. YEAH!!! :)
