24 Reasons for Learning German – Christmas in Germany

Advent Calendar Day 10

 Day 10 of our Advent Calendar and today’s post has been written by Roberta. Thank you, Roberta!

I have resumed my study of German fairly recently, having been frustrated for many years by my ineptitude at something I should be quite good at.  I am part German and spent my (very) early years in a German Kindergarten; I spent most of my childhood in Germany (albeit I was educated at a private boarding school in the UK) and spent many a happy hour with my German family happily babbling away in German.  I also managed to achieve an A level in the subject.  Since then, however, I have failed miserably at maintaining my knowledge and skill.  I gave myself a stiff talking to a few months ago, found Angelika’s website and, well, here I am.  Slowly, but surely gaining confidence again – if ONLY I could remember the gender of all those blessed nouns.   I surprised myself during a recent visit – not only did I manage to hold a conversation with a grumpy taxi driver around the tragedy (as he saw it) of the much loved  (and mourned) Deutschmark, but also a lengthy discussion with a Veterinary Surgeon on the requirements of the UK Pet Passport scheme…

I have a great affection for Germany and my fondest memories are of doing things there – some of which are becoming part of life in the UK: hunting “bunte Ostereier”,  gazing in wonder at the stalls at the Weihnachtsmarkt (and eating so many Reibekuchen I could barely move), waiting for the arrival of Sankt Nikolas on the 6^th of December and (yes, and) Das Christkind on 24^th.   With the festive season approaching, I can say genuinely that there is nowhere else I would rather spend Christmas than in Germany – it somehow has always felt more meaningful.

Frohe Festtage!

Roberta