While catching up on posting photos over on my deviantART page, I noticed the face of a Chinese man in these pictures…
Did you see it? Let me show you again…
And now those faces cannot be unseen! Or maybe this church is a giant pink wizard transformer?
December 26th is “der zweiter Weihnachtstag” in Germany which literally translates to the 2nd day of Christmas. Naturally this brings to mind Bob & Doug McKenzie’s rendition of Twelve Days of Christmas from their Great White North album. Christmas 2 seems to be celebrated in a similar fashion to Christmas 1 (religious observation not withstanding). Most stores are closed and most restaurants are only open for part of the day. Add this to the half day holiday on Christmas Eve and you’ve got two and a half days dedicated to staying home with friends and family.
Being alone at this time could very easily get depressing. This is combated by the knowledge that I have almost three days to do whatever I please with no obligations to anyone. For example, this year I spent most of Christmas Eve playing video games online with friends back in the States, half of Christmas Day volunteering at the train station, the other half of Christmas Day watching non-typical Christmas movies, and Christmas 2 watching football and lounging in my pajamas.
What I find frustrating, though, is the seemingly excessive amount of holiday days the locals take. As a freelance trainer, if I’m not in the classroom I don’t get paid. So when everyone takes three weeks off this time of year I have to tighten my purse strings and hope I had enough set aside to make it through until February. There’s also a lot of holiday days taken in Summer time while people’s kids are off of school. More power to everyone for being able to take so much time off, but it’s something I may never get used to coming from an economic society that is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
So happy Christmas 2, Boxing Day (if you’re in Australia, Canada, or the UK), or, as I like to call it, Monday.
I’ve noticed a peculiar holiday decoration here in Germany. A lot of houses and apartments are furnished with some sort of “Weihnachtsmann” hanging from their window. I took a walk around my little neighborhood and captured quite a few of them on camera. Enjoy…
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…yes, you did see one at the local transit stop. Frohe Weihnachten!
jknitt