Happy New Year!!

The day after the car accident, Simon, Hannes, and myself were scheduled to drive, in the family car, to Berlin to celebrate New Years.  Obviously the accident put a little kink in our plan since we then had no car to take.  So that morning Simon went and rented a car.  

We picked up Vicky at the train station when we got into Berlin. It was quite crammed on the drive to their apartment, but luckily, it wasn't too far.  

 We had fun enjoying all the "fancy" bells and whistles that we don't have in our cars.

Please note the speed.  I am not used to this

Once in Berlin, we shopped for all of the necessary items for the next couple of days.

 We DID NOT only buy beer, but I had never seen SO MUCH beer in a simple super market before.  I was shocked.  This wasn't even all of it!

  

So we have the food, we have the drinks, now we just had to wait until the next night so the fun could begin.  Well, that's not completely true.  The next morning we took a walk through the downtown area and enjoyed the beautiful day.  

Our destination had been KDW, but it was closed so we couldn't go in and look around.

:) 

In Berlin, unlike Munich, there was still a Christmas market open.  So, on our way back to the apartment, we walked through.  

 A chocolate tools stand.  They were kinda cute.  :)

 When we got back to the apartment, Vicky made the table look adorably perfect for the evening!

All ready for our 2nd Raclett experience.

 We all had tiny little hats. hehe I loved them.  

Vicky's brother and his girlfriend joined us for the night, which made it even more fun: the more the merrier!  

After a long dinner we watched "Dinner For One" and poured champagne as we watched the clock for the new year.  There were cheers and toasts, we collected the fire works we had brought from Wunstorf and went down to the streets, along with everyone else, it seemed, to set them off and watch the sky around us, enjoying everyone else's firework shows as well.  

Giant sparklers! They were wonderful!

The year had ended, but the night had begun.  After out fire work fun we went back to the table and played some games.  We played until almost 4:00 

This is me holding a spoon over a candle to melt the metal figure in the spoon. After it is melted I was to throw it into a bowl of water and see what shape it solidifies into. Mine was a sort of a whale/snail blob. We all took a turn and each time we debated and joked over what the little blob looked like. Your shape made some prediction about your life in the new year.  I had never seen or done that before and we had fun with it. 

Here is Simon also doing it.  

This is Hannes trying to think of more questions to ask so he could figure out his mystery celebrity stuck on his forehead. 

Playing Telestrations.  Definitely has funny moments when dealing with two different languages!

After a late night we slept in the next morning and then left after breakfast to go back to Wunstorf for a couple more days before flying back home.  

Thanks Hannes and Vicky for having us!! It was a great way to celebrate the start of 2014!!

The Accidental Accident Incident

It is funny how things sometimes turn out: Unplanned, unexpected, unforeseen. But then you're left to deal with them- left to figure it all out. 

Sunday morning, our second and last Sunday in Germany, the family readied ourself for the hour drive to church. Saturday had been busy; Our long drive back from Munich, putting us home at 10:00 that night. The morning had surely come too soon for all of us. Nevertheless we were ready, basically on time, and off we went. 

It was a wet day; as had been yesterday's drive, although today, it wasn't raining yet.  I was taking the long drive as a chance to nap. My morning cup of coffee had not done its job. 

Hopefully I could get my napping out then and avoid an accidental doze in church: always imbarassing. 

Little did I know that staying awake would soon be the least of the days problems. 

As I fell peacefully into a short slumber on Simon's shoulder I was abruptly awoken by an alarmed yell of warning from Irene to Martin. As my eyes flew open I saw the road and trees gradually shift to the right and felt Irene grab my arm as we crashed into the railing that seperated us from the incoming traffic. 

Here are the events that followed:

We called the peoplice because the road railing had been damaged. 

They were very friendly and helpful and waited with us until the towtruck came. 

It started to rain, because it always seems to rain during things like this. 

The towtruck arrived. 

He loaded the poor little thing into the truck.

We all crammed into the cab of the truck (Hannes sat in the passengers seat)

Here is my creepy picture of  tow truck driver. 

Here is the damage.  The car was too damaged for it to be worth replacing, so a couple of days later Simon's parents began the search for a new car.  

After we dropped the car off at the auto repair, the nice man drove us to the Straßenbahn.  We were all really thankful for that, because it would otherwise have been a really long walk.

The morning was stressful and no fun for any of us. I feel very blessed that no one was hurt, that no other cars were involved, and that everyone who helped us with the incident (police, etc) were very friendly and helpful.  All of those factors made the morning much smoother and seem less terrible than it would have otherwise.