Dec. 9th-15th

Jack Frost Pays Us a Visit

On Monday, Chris, Mike, and I went shopping at the Christmas market. We were trying to find gifts for friends and family back home and had fun consulting with one another on what we thought everyone would like. 

Tuesday, I woke up to a winter wonderland. Overnight, it had snowed. A lot. At least, it was a lot in my mind, since I've only been around the stuff about 5 times in my life:

However, I had several close calls with ice slick walking to campus. I managed to catch myself, but am waiting for the day when my reflexes fail me. A guy riding a bike ahead of me totally ate dirt, or in this case snow, and it looked really painful. 

Wednesday, I had lunch with Krisztina and we talked about possibly going sledding. She has a legit one, with reins and room for two people! I also went shopping again. This time, it was presents for Mike, Chris, Britney and Gergei. We want to get together sometime before break and have a Christmas dinner and present exchange. I managed to find a gift for everyone and bought some stuff for myself as well. 

On Thursday, Chris and I built a snowman and had a snowball fight. I say fight, but I think I only threw maybe five of them. It was really difficult to form a ball because this snow was the powdery kind that does not pack easily. That's also why we ended up with a snowman that was really more of a snow child and maybe 2 feet tall. We also had to improvise with decorating him. We didn't have any carrots or charcoal or old silk hats lying around, so we made do with some sticks and Sweetarts. Yeah. Not the prettiest snowman ever, but it made us laugh: 

"Billy"

Friday, I had my internship as usual, but we also went out for a "Weihnachtsessen"or Christmas lunch. It was at a really nice Mediterranean restaurant. I got lamb kebabs with couscous that were both delicious. It was a big group of people who all work in the museum, and it was fun getting to know everyone better. We all compared Christmas traditions and food and ended the lunch with some delicious espresso. 

Saturday, I cooked breakfast for Damla. She had been nice enough to make me dinner last week, so I decided to return the favor. I may not be the best at cooking dinner, but I can do breakfast. I made her eggs in a basket. It's a fun dish to make. You cut a hole in the middle of a piece of bread, and then crack an egg into it. It's something that reminds me of my childhood, and I hoped that she would like them.

Deliciousness

We sat down and discussed our plans for the break. It was a nice way to start a lazy Saturday. That's it for this week, I am ready for next week to be over with so that I can start Christmas break! Schüss!

German Word of the Day: Schnee- "Snow" We can go sledding in the schnee! 

Dec. 2nd-8th

A Visit from Mom and Dad 

On Sunday, my parents came to visit me in Dortmund. They had been in Germany for a week, on a river cruise down the Danube and came up to see me before going home. They arrived later in the evening, so we took it easy the first night and checked in to the hotel.

Monday, I got to show them around the city. It was bitterly cold, so we had to bundle up. At least it wasn't snowing. I took them around the Christmas Market and showed them the giant Christmas tree. There was, of course, a trip made to TKmaxx. Daddy even documented the occasion:  

We then went to get something to eat. At the Christmas market, there is a lot of food to choose from, but we migrated toward the desserts. My friend Krisztina had told me about a "Germknödel" one day at lunch. It basically looks like a dough ball covered with some sort of sauce. It's actually a type of dumpling and is usually filled with different types of fruit and then covered in a vanilla sauce. We tried the cherry flavor and it was delicious. Here's what one usually looks like: 

Odd-looking... but delicious!

For dinner, I took them to the Indian restaurant that Uschi had showed us. I was not very adventurous, and ordered what I got before, the lamb. It was still just as good. Mom and Dad seemed to like it as well. After dinner, we had tickets for a musical quartet. It was a very tiny venue, maybe half the size of a regular high school auditorium. However, this put us closer to the performers and the acoustics were really good. The ensemble consisted of two violins, a viola, and two cellos. My favorite performer was one of the violinists. He really got into his performance (Brahms, by the way) and his facial expressions were priceless. He also had a habit of shifting his feet and bouncing around in his chair. At one point, we thought he was going to just stand up and continue playing. All of the musicians were very talented, and it was an enjoyable night out.

On Tuesday, we took a day trip to Cologne. It seems that we picked the wrong day to go, because all of the trains were delayed 30 minutes. Once we finally got to Cologne, the weather was really crappy. It was windy and rainy as well. We sought shelter in the cathedral, which mom and dad had not seen. It was very peaceful and a nice respite from the rain. Right next to the cathedral is Cologne's Christmas market, which is a little more traditional than Dortmund's. There were a lot of nutcrackers and handicrafts. Mom and I found a booth that sold Christmas pyramid's and a lot of other hand-carved wooden stuff. She even bought me one for a Christmas present. Here's a video of it in action: 

The tiny candles are real too! 

After perusing the shops, we found a place to warm up and laugh at the people outside struggling with their umbrellas. I saw at least 3 umbrellas snapped because of the wind.  We made our way home and had dinner at Carl's apartment. He and Ann-Kathrin were sweet enough to invite us over and my parents really wanted to meet them, so it was a fun night. We got donür from the Turkish restaurant down the street from Carl's apartment. It was delicious as usual.  I'm glad that everyone got to meet, and I think a good time was had by all. 

My parents left on Wednesday, it was a short but sweet visit, and I was happy to see them before Christmas. 

On Friday, I got to sit in on a meeting for the Hans Breder exhibtion in February. It was really interesting and another behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at a museum. I'm grateful to have the internship and an awesome boss that lets me in on these meetings.

Saturday,  Krisztina was nice enough to invite me to go to Münster with some of her friends. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in one day. It began with breakfast at a Currywurst stand in Bochum. According to Krisztina, this stand is the one that invented Currywurst. It was very good, but honestly, I like anything with sausage and french fries. I also got to meet Krisztina's friend Steph, who was visting from Australia. Then we met up with even more friends, Joana and Markus. We would be driving to Münster together. It was fun to finally meet another Joanna, but even though her name only had one "n," I kept responding whenever someone would say her name. Krisztina suggested they call me Jo-Jo, a nickname I haven't heard since preschool. I didn't mind, and it was a fun car-trip. I had been complaining about the lack of Christmas music.

 In America, they blast it constantly, beginning the day after Thanksgiving. You hear it everywhere- malls, restaurants, sports events, basically anyplace with speakers. I usually get sick of it by the second week of December. But in Germany, it's the opposite. I traded too many Christmasy songs  for none at all! However, Markus and Joana had three CDs full of classic Christmas songs. I was so happy and sang under my breath to my favorites. My quota of Christmas music has now been filled. 

Once we got to Münster, we met up with a couple more friends. Münster has 5 major Christmas markets spread throughout the city. We managed to get to two of them and both were really nice. On top of the Currywurst, I crammed in Reibekuchen (basically a hashbrown that you eat with applesauce), a Krakauer (type of sausage served with mustard on a roll), and a cup of Glühwein and hot chocolate. This was all at the 2 Christmas markets. We then walked to downtown Münster, which was really pretty. There was even a live musical performance along the main road.

As I was to find out, the day was just starting! After we finished looking through the city, we drove to the nearby town of Telgte. We would be attending a Christmas market combined with a type of renaissance  fair. It's called "mittelalterlicher" which basically means medieval. Joana told me that it's a year-round thing, and it travels throughout Germany. I had never been to a renaissance fair, so I guess Germany was as good a place as any to try it out. There was so much to take in. This thing was held in the middle of some woods. No joke. There were torches everywhere lighting the path and a lot of vendors throughout the area. 

There was even a stage for bands to perform. People were also dressed up in traditional renaissance clothing. It reminded me of Game of Thrones. While there, we managed to find even more to eat. I tried a dönur type thing with bits of shredded beef and what tasted exactly like ranch dressing. I asked the Germans and they said they didn't know the name of the sauce, but I swear the lady making these things had a bottle of Hidden Valley stashed away somewhere. We toured some of the stalls, which were a lot different from the city vendors. There was a blacksmith and tanner, and a place that sold bow and arrows! We listened to some of the bands perform (a lot of bagpipes... I don't think I've ever heard bagpipes outside of a funeral, but here, they were used in rousing anthems that had a lot of shouting and foot stomping), and found a big bonfire to sit around and warm up. Then it was time for more food.  Joana recommended an almond hut, where you could get them coated in all sorts of stuff: coconut, butter toffee, and my favorite, Nutella. Then we tried a cheese pretzel. It was the freshest you could get, straight out of the oven and delicious. I stood and watched the man make them for a while as well. Really interesting!   On the way out, I saw some wooden horses that were clearly meant for children to play on. However, I got Steph to take a picture of me riding on one: 

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our FREEEEEDOM!

The cherry on top was the fire-breathing dragon head near the exit. I couldn't get a picture of it in action, but it was still cool nonetheless. It was a long but really fun day, and I was happy to meet some new friends!

Schüss!

German Word of the Week: Bauchschmerzen- "stomachache" If you want to sample all of the food at a Christmas market, you will probably have a Bauchschmerzen by the end of the day. 

Breakfast, Bond, Bombs, and Ballet

Nov. 25th-Dec. 1 

Wow! I cannot believe I've been here 3 months already. It feels like just yesterday I was packing up the car to go the airport. But! I will stop being sentimental and get to the interesting stuff.

Sunday, Gergei had us over for breakfast. He was cooking Hungarian eggs and advised us to bring our appetites. They were very good. Scrambled eggs with lots of different sausages and onions mixed in as well as fried lard. Yes, you read correctly, fried lard. I felt right at home with all the fattiness and cholesterol mixed in to the food. Afterwards, I think my stomach had expanded to twice its normal size, but now I can say I've had authentic Hungarian eggs. It was really nice of Gergei to have us over, I will have to invite him over for some equally delicious and fattening biscuits and gravy.

On Monday, Lena invited me over to her house for dinner. She lives in the city, but I was proud of myself for managing to find it on my own. Of course, I did get on a train going in the wrong direction, but that's normal, right? Lena cooked chicken pasta that was delicious. I could get used to having people cook for me every day of the week. We talked about different Christmas traditions and what we wanted for Christmas. After dinner, she took me down to the Dortmund Christmas market for a cup of Glühwein and a tour of the booths. Glühwein is kind of liked a spiced/sweet wine that is a Christmas tradition. I sipped some of Lena's, but I think I like apple cider better. There were also vendors who had chocolate covered everything: coconut, strawberries, almonds, etc. I got some pineapple that was really good:

Tuesday, I went with a few friends to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. We found a movie theater that was showing the film in the original English, but with German subtitles. However, this theater was also located within a train station. It was the one of the oddest movie experiences I've ever had. There was only one screen within the whole theater, but it looked pretty normal. However, every 15 minutes or so, you could hear the trains coming into the station. This was not that noticeable during the action sequences, but it got kind of annoying during quiet scenes, when, all of sudden, there would be the sound of screeching wheels and a conductor's whistle. Oh well.

On Thursday, my boss at my internship invited me to an exhibition opening. It was about gift shops in museums and the phenomenon of buying fakes and souvenirs of famous works of art. There would also be a guest speaker on the subject. It sounded really interesting, and I was looking forward to going. However, I was a little late to the opening and managed to sneak in toward the back. I had been there about 2 minutes when maybe 20 police officers came rushing in. Someone who looked to be the captain made an announcement (in German, of course) and everyone gasped and started getting their things together. I had no idea what was going on, but was a little freaked out. I found someone who spoke English and he told me that some construction workers had found a live bomb from World War II and they were having to evacuate everyone within a 5 block radius. The German word for this is "Blindgänger," which means dud. This 5 block radius included the museum, a lot of residences, and two hospitals. It was kind of chaotic going out on to the street, my new-found friend also told me that the police were going door to door telling people to evacuate. It was like a step back in time. He also told me that they may be able to continue with the speech and exhibtion if the police gave the all clear. I decided that I did not want to stick around one way or the other and made my way to the train station. It reminded me that even though the war ended over 60 years ago, the remnants still remain. It was an interesting and unique experience, one that I can't say I want to relive again. Here's a picture from where they found the bomb, you can see the museum in the background:

Here also is a link to an article about the bomb, it's in German, but you can kind of pick out the gist of what was going on: Blindgänger.

On Friday, I went to see a ballet. My language teacher is also part of the Dortmund Opera House and had a small part in Der Traum der Roten Kammer or The Dream of the Red Chamber. It's based off a 17th century Chinese novel.  It was a lot of fun. I got a discount because I am a student, but this fact also put me in the balcony. I was squinting the whole time trying to pick out our teacher. It was one instance where I really wanted some of those fancy opera glasses.

Oh you fancy huh?

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the ballet. The dancing was magnificent, and I had a good view of the orchestra pit as well.

That's all for now, Schüss!

German Word of the Week: Die Ananas - "pineapple" Ananas is delicious, especially when dipped in chocolate. 

Week of Thanksgiving!

Nov. 18th-24th

On Monday, I went to Chris's house to watch a movie. He rented City of God from the library and said it was one of his favorites. It's based on a true story about kids in the slums of  Rio de Janero. It was interesting, and had a sort of happy ending as well. (As happy as you can get with these types of things). 

On Wednesday, I made cookies for the Thanksgiving Dinner. The International Office puts together a dinner every year and everyone brings a dish and a present. I spent all last week trying to get ingredients together for my chocolate chip cookies. They turned out to be chocolate chunk cookies, because I couldn't find chips anywhere. I also had to make my own brown sugar (1 cup of regular sugar + half a cup of molasses for those that are interested), since that is also a rare commodity over here. The cookies actually turned out okay. Ann-Kathrin told me they tasted like the ones you can get from Subway, and those are freaking delicious, so I took that as a huge compliment.

The dinner was a lot of fun. Instead of the typical giant 25 lb bird, we had four smaller turkeys. It was just as good as anything I've had before. There was also pumpkin soup, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes. Everything was delicious and I'm grateful I had a successful Thanksgiving in Germany. After everyone was done eating, we exchanged gifts. It was like Secret Santa, where you just pick out a random present. I got a bottle of wine, which I'm always happy to get. Ann-Kathrin got a  Rubik's cube and we spent the rest of the night trying to solve it. We ended up stopping once we got one side done.

Close Enough! 

On Friday, Mike, Laura, Robin, Chris, and I went out to Sausalito's. It was a nice way to unwind at the end of the week. I spent most of the night learning how to do the last half of the Rubik's cube. I don't think I'll ever be able to string it all together. Mike had to write down the instructions on a napkin, so now I have a sort of cheat sheet. 

Saturday, I went to the K20 Museum in Düsseldorf. For my art history course, we have three museum excursions throughout the semester. We actually get to see firsthand some of the art we discuss in class, which I think is always a nice thing. I managed to find the museum by myself. I looked it up on Googlemaps the night before, but was still kind of worried. I knew to keep the Rhine on my left and managed to stumble upon the place. We focused on the American section of the museum and learned about Warhol, Pollack, and Rauschenberg.

Name that artist! 

 It was a fun way to spend a Saturday, and I'm looking forward to our other excursions. Okay, I'm done for now, Schüss!

German Word of the Day: der Würfel- "cube" The Rubix Würfel is both frustrating and fun. 

Nov. 12th-17th

Nov. 12th-17th

Well this week flew by for some reason. On Monday, Chris, Mike, and I found out that there is an English DVD library on campus. It's kind of tucked away behind some old classrooms, and I was expecting a copy or two of Grown-Ups and the complete series of Dark Shadows. In other words, my hopes were not held high. I was very wrong, as I often tend to be. This collection blew me away. They had recent movies (Hunger Games, Brave) as well as the classics (The Godfather, Gone With the Wind). You could even rent video games. You can only check out two movies or one series per week, but I will definitely be frequenting the library when I have more time to actually watch movies.

I also spent this week learning how to do a Rubik's Cube. Mike told me he brought his along and could show me, so I figured I'd give it a try. I figured out that it's not as complicated as it looks, but my brain definitely got a work out. The key is imagining what the cube will look like after you make a move. I always sucked at those spatial reasoning problems on math exams, so I think it's going to take a little longer for me to learn. 

What cube matches the flattened design? Answer: We may never know

On Wednesday, Chris and I went to see The Dark Knight Rises. We found out that there's a film club on campus and every Wednesday they show a movie. Most of the films shown are in German, so I got a chance to practice my listening skills. However, I was happy that I had seen the movie when it came out, otherwise I would've been completely lost. Even in the English version, the way that Batman growls makes it difficult to understand what he is saying. I asked Chris a few times what he just said and he said he had no idea. German + growling does not equal coherency. Other than that, it was an enjoyable midweek break from studying and reading.

On Friday, we got to have dinner with Uschi. She is the sweet lady that picked me up from the train station when I first arrived. Chris and I decided it would be nice to treat her to dinner one night. We went to an Indian restaurant that was delicious. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. I ordered a lamb and almond dish that came with a huge side of rice.

It's blurry, but trust me, it was delicious

Our conversation over dinner was interesting, it was kind of funny because Chris and Uschi kept switching to German and then reverting back to English when talking to me. After dinner, Uschi took us to preview the Christmas market. Almost every major city in Germany has one, but Dortmund's is the best, according to Uschi. They do have the tallest Christmas tree in the whole world. It's made up hundreds of smaller trees and is pretty impressive.  I will post pictures when it's lit up.

Saturday, Ann Kathrin and Carl invited me over to play Mario Kart. Chris and Mike also came along, and I had a really great time. We ordered pizza and played video games to our hearts' content. I had forgotten how much I suck at Mario Kart. Like, really bad. Carl was the winner of the night, I think he won every race he tried. I kept running off the track and taking nonexistent shortcuts. We then switched to the battle mode, where you have to burst other player's balloons. It was so funny, because when Ann Kathrin and I played, we just kind of drove around and around until we met somebody to attack. On the other hand, the boys played to win and would actually use the map to stalk out opponents. I will admit, there was a lot of swearing from everyone, but it was all in good fun. I think I ended up winning once, so I didn't bring shame to Toad's name.

That's it for this week, Schüss!!

German Word of the Day: Die Banane- "banana" When playing Mario Kart, watch out for Banane peels or you will come in last every time. 

Nov. 5th-11th

Nov. 5th-11th

This week was kind of dreary. The weather was foggy and damp most of the time. Like this:

My classes were at least interesting. We have started The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in my fantasy bestsellers class, and we have a screening planned for later in the month, when we will watch the movie that came out a few years ago.

On Monday, Mike, Chris and I went to get Dönur at a little shop on South campus. Apparently, Mike and Chris are regulars there, because the owner brought out free samples of a delicious coconut cake. Score!

On Wednesday, I had a group presentation in my American literature class, and I was a little nervous. However, everyone came well-prepared and the class was very engaged. Thursday night, we decided to make shrimp po-boys. Chris and I did most of the cooking, and it wasn't a Paula Deen recipe! Now, having never tasted an authentic po-boy, I have no way to gauge how good ours were, but  Gergei, Mike, and Britney seemed to like them. It was a fun get together, and we've got a lot of shrimp leftover, so we will have to figure out something else to cook.

Friday, I had my internship as usual and have made a lot of progress in the archive. I spent most of Saturday holed up in the library, catching up on my TV shows and doing some studying in between. The monthly internet limit is kind of annoying sometimes, so I have to use the free Wi-Fi in the library whenever I get the chance.

Sunday, Chris and I went to Cologne for Karneval. Remember how I was complaining about a lack of Halloween costumes in my last post? I found out that Germany just does Halloween a few days later! Everywhere you looked, there was someone in costume. I saw: cookie monster, Batman, Hobbes (from Calvin and Hobbes), Buzz Lightyear, and many many more. What's cool about Karneval is that everyone dresses up, not just the kids. I saw a group of elderly ladies in carrot costumes. I also saw a group of old guys in full-out Braveheart gear. I can't imagine this being the case in America, I kind of wish Halloween would extend past your 20s, like Karneval.

So a panda, solider, Scotsman, and a Native American walk into a bar....

Ghostbusters!!! Their containers were filled with beer. Welcome to Germany.

Unfortunately, I was not made aware that Karneval involves costumes, and made do with a tie-dye shirt and crazy hat. Lame, I know, but it was the best I could come up with. Chris borrowed a skeleton costume from someone and fit right in. We went to a party with one of his doubles, and it's not every day that you get to party with Red Riding Hood, two polar bears, Spiderman and the Hulk, and Alex from A Clockwork Orange. My favorite part was probably the parades. At any given time, there were at least three going on around us. There were marching bands, people on stilts, clowns handing out free pretzels (which were delicious, by the way) and all sorts of other crazy stuff. It was a long day, but I'm glad to have had the experience of Karneval, and I hope I can go again someday-with an amazing costume, of course.

That's it for now, Schüss!!


German Word of the Day: Die Brezeln- "pretzels" Be wary of free Brezeln, unless they are given by a clown.  

The Week of Halloween

Monday, Oct 29th- Nov. 4th

   I had a really nice week. Though the title of this post includes "Halloween,"  I didn't really do all that much for the night of fright. Apparently, Halloween has only recently gotten popular in Germany, and even then it's not that widespread. The kids don't get to dress up and get free candy (a travesty, in my opinion), but there are costume parties around town. However, this is only one costume shop in all of Dortmund, so they can basically charge whatever price they want. Without a costume, I decided to stay home for Halloween. I didn't want to be that one person that shows up with no costume and then awkwardly stands around for the rest of the party while everyone else secretly talks about them and their lack of creativity or Halloween spirit.

I decided to watch a scary movie and eat some candy instead. In hindsight, this probably wasn't the best idea since I am a self-professed scaredy-cat. My roommate was also out of town, so I was alone to cope with my fear. I chose to watch a classic, Friday the 13th. Even though I watched it with all the lights on and the volume turned down really low, I was still scared by the end of it. I decided to just go to bed (lights still on, of course). Around 1 AM,  I heard a knock on the door. I immediately resolved to not open the door. I've seen what happens when you answer the door, alone, on Halloween night! Whoever it was must have found someone else to creep out because they went away after I didn't answer.

The day after Halloween is a holiday in Germany. I got to spend most of it with Ann-Kathrin. She brought me along to the open house of her mom's adorable boutique/florist. I even got to meet her grandpa, grandma, and aunt as well! They were all super nice and welcoming, and we had all the delicious cider and fresh waffles we could eat. I also bought a really pretty Christmas ornament and candle.

Yay for Christmas ornaments!

After the event was over, we drove home. However, Ann-Kathrin stopped at Carl's house on the way to pick up a package for him. While we were there, I got to meet his family as well. His dad recommended some of his favorite museums in the area and his mom and sister invited us to New Year's. We also discussed the different Christmas traditions in Germany and America, and I was excited to recognize we shared some of the same ones. The proper name is a "pomander" but I usually just describe it as an orange that you stick cloves in, and it smells awesome.

It usually looks like this:

It was such a fun day, and I can't wait to see both Carl and Ann-Kathrin's families again.

On Friday (Nov. 2nd), I also spent the day with Ann-Kathrin, along with her friend Laura. We went to Movie Park, a theme park that stays open later the week of Halloween, and has people dressed up as monsters to scare everyone. They even have several haunted houses set up throughout the park. The purpose of the trip (besides having fun!) was actually for a class. In my British horror class, instead of writing a standard essay, we have the option of writing an essay about a trip to this theme park. However, since all three of us are easily frightened, we decided to get to the park early so we could enjoy most of the rides in the daylight. We rode a lot of them, but my favorite by far was an old wooden roller coaster, which we rode three times.

I also had to laugh at the names of the rides. The park used to be owned by Warner Brothers, but was later sold to MGM. However, the rides are still Warner Brothers themed. For example, we rode a time travel ride thats name was "Back to the Movies." It even had the same logo as Back to the Future. For some reason, it was narrated by John Cleese (?), but it was fun nonetheless. There was a museum of movie props as well, and we got to take pictures in the boxing ring from Rocky.

They also had some really cool props, like an Indiana Jones whip and a sword from Lord of the Rings. However, I was really excited to get a photo with one of the costumes from Kill Bill

At 6 pm, the park shifted into scary mode. People in costume were walking around the park, and they had fog machines set up to make it difficult to see. We probably made easy targets, since we all linked arms and flinched our way through the park. However, once you were scared by the ghost/zombie/vampire/other, you could take a picture with them! We got a group picture with Dracula and Ann Kathrin was even brave enough to take a photo with Jason.

We only went into one of the haunted houses. Most were rated 17 and up, so we decided the one with the 12 year age limit wouldn't be that bad. We were wrong. I don't know if I've ever been more scared in my life, I just held on to Ann Kathrin and Laura and rushed on through. I kept my eyes half-closed most of the time, so I didn't see much. I am sure a more experienced horror buff would have scoffed at this haunted house, but it was enough for us and we left the park as soon as we made it through. All in all, it was a great time, and I would love to go back to ride some more roller coasters.

That's it for this week, Schüss!

German Word of the Day: Der Nebel- "fog" Der Nebel makes haunted houses 10 times scarier.