Cross Country Skiing...

Two of our friends are really into cross country skiing (or in German, langlauf).  The husband races, and the wife is fantastic, and their two year old even gets out on skis and shuffles along (which is super cute).

They've been wanting to get us into the sport for a while and yesterday we finally made it out to Altenburg (a quaint German town) where they have groomed cross country ski trails.

Now, knowing our luck with outdoor adventures (*note: I broke my sled two days after Christmas :(), we weren't expecting things to go smoothly... and they didn't- though all things considered, I think we're on an upward trend.  We wanted to rent skis in Dresden before we left for the hour car ride, but they were out.  Strike one.  Traffic was slow and we got stuck in a traffic jam... I'd call that half a strike since we didn't run into any fallen trees or un-snowplowed roads.  In fact, it was very pretty so I didn't mind the extra time in the car.

And when we got there we found there was an hour and a half line to rent skis.

BUT, after renting skis, we were ready to try out our new sport.

I'd been cross country skiing before.  Probably about 17 years ago.  And I remember it being entertaining.  But our friend raved about it so much, I was convinced I'd been doing it wrong all those years ago and it was going to be like a totally different sport.

Um... not so much.  Pretty much its like walking with skis on.

I tried to learn good technique and "glide" more, but our rentals were so sticky that I couldn't even glide downhill!!  It was a great workout. And I'm sure will be more fun next time with better equipment.

At least there was pretty scenery to look at.

I was so tired by the end that when we saw this awesome horse drawn carriage, I almost jumped on.  But I stuck it out and skied back...

Am I a cross country convert.  .... Not yet.  But moving to NY where we'll have plenty of time for outdoor winter sports, I might have to give it a few more tries!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends!  Hope it was wonderful!

We missed our families this year, as we spend Christmas here in Dresden, but we were lucky enough that a few of our "Dresden Families" were able to stop by to share a bit of Christmas with us.

We started the day by waking up early to see if Santa came (we were a little worried, because Santa knocks on doors to bring the presents here instead of comes down the chimney (he has to start earlier in Europe to make it all around the world in one night!) and were were out on Christmas Eve!).  Luckily, he must have been able to let himself in (or maybe he made a chimney exception) because he DID COME!!

Bob got some mittens and I got a snow jacket and pants and we both got sleds.  The cats got lots of toys and snacks too, but they seemed to like our presents the best :)

We had friends over for a giant brunch, and a few more stopped by after having dinners with their families.  It made for a very festive Christmas day.

I am now a bit sad that its all over because I looked forward to it for so long, but it was nice to be able to enjoy the festivities here in Germany.  Now we'll spend a week more enjoying the tree and playing Christmas music (because we can!) and hopefully enjoying the snow outside.

Last night we tested out our new sleds- it was BEAUTIFUL out!!

Hopefully there will be lots more sledding and snowboarding and cross country skiing and ice skating to come!!

Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year!!

Snowboarding Trip to the Czech Republic

Saturday we went on an adventure to the Czech Republic (well, we were super close to Germany, but we were still in another country!) to go snowboarding and test out our snowboarding legs in preparation for a ski trip in January!

The snowboarding place was called Bournak and promised to be much better than the other ski areas within a two hour radius of Dresden, though that doesn't say much...  If you've ever been skiing at a decent ski area, this left a lot to be desired... nothing like having only 6 trails and NO CHAIRLIFTS (but more about that later...)

We left at 10 with plans to be there around 11:30.  Yet, we didn't end up arriving until after 1.  Why you ask?  Well, let's just say it was an adventure....

We started out driving in Germany for the first hour or so.  As we drove, we saw more and more snow, which was very exciting.

Look at all that snow!!!

The conditions were going to be great :)  BUT, we still had to get there.

First, we tried a road that was so narrow that if a car had been coming the other way, one of us would have had to back all the way up to the end.  AND, about a mile in, the road just STOPPED! Not stopped like it never continued, but stopped like the plow guy got tired and decided to turn around and go home for some hot chocolate.  Fortunately, he'd plowed a turn around, so we turned around and tried another route.

Well, that went pretty well until about a 5 miles in when we came upon this :

It must have JUST fallen right before we got there because the road was pretty well traveled and cars started backing up behind us right away.  What were we to do?  Turns out big pine trees are pretty heavy.  Not even Bob could lift it with the help of our friend Chris!

So... once again, we plotted a new route.  But go figure: the third road was just like the first- single lane, giant snow banks, sudden stop-- only this time we almost got stuck!

So we decided to go back and check on the status of the tree.

But first, we made a quick stop at this store to see if they had a saw (just in case). No saws, only cigarettes...

When we got to the tree: nothing.  Though the line of cars was much longer and there were some police men...

We didn't have any more alternate routes to take, so we agreed to wait it out for half an hour.  And luckily, within 15 minutes, the tree was chainsawed to pieces and gone!!

There's the pile of tree on the side of the road!

We finally got to the ski area just after 1pm.  I was a little disappointed upon arriving because there weren't any chairlifts :(  And it wasn't a super tiny mountain or anything... I guess T-bars (or schlepplifts) are just cheaper?

Being a snowboarder, you have to ride up sideways with the bar between your legs (NOT comfy!) and balance on your board as you get dragged up the hill.  And these hills were steep... and long... so pretty much by the time I got to the top, I was already exhausted!

But we had a great time-  We snowboarded for a while... that is, until the T-bar broke down... then we sat in the snow for a while... and then snowboarded a little more...

I guess it was a good thing we weren't planning on a tough day of training or anything, seeing as how we only got in 4 runs or so... but it was definitely an adventure!!

A Super Awesome Weekend

So there's only 8 days to finish getting ready for Christmas... In all the craziness, I totally forgot that I had yet to post about my totally awesome weekend!  Better late than never...

This past weekend my friend Heather came to visit.  Big deal, right?  Friends visit all the time... But this was a pretty big deal, as Saturday at 3:30 was the first time we'd seen each other in about FOURTEEN YEARS!!  For all of you Gulletters out there, that's longer than its been since you've been born... weird huh?

Anyway, after getting over the fact that we are both now grown up, we had a blast.

We did a whole bunch of Christmas-Marketing (so maybe this post only needs a couple Christmas Market photos...

Here they are:

We had to take some pictures of us together (to compare with photos from when we were little, and for posterity, of course!)  BUT, all the pictures of us when we were little are at my parent's house, so you guys only get to see the now versions...

Enjoying some punch at the medieval market

Pretending that cats like Christmas pictures

We also gathered a group of people together one evening to play the Box Game... which, if you haven't played, is an awesome party game-- especially when you're in the mood for limbo but can't find a pole...

Pretty much you take a box, and instead of going under a pole, you must reach down to grab something off the box with your mouth (we used empty cupcake tins).  Same rules: you can't touch the floor with anything but your feet.  Instead of lowering the pole each round, you lower the box by cutting off an inch or so.

Here is a picture of me playing the box game.  I won't post pictures of anyone else-- depending on your method, the pictures tend to be very unflattering :)

CAUTION:  Face plants are a definite possibility!!
In practice, you may want to put a pillow or other soft object below the box in case of accidental toppling.


Happy Box-Gaming!!




So, all in all, a fantastic weekend of Christmas Market shopping with my oldest friend!

Thanks for coming Heather!!

Our Weihnachtsbaum!

We went out last night to buy our Christmas Tree :)  We have an authentic Nordmann Fir... (ooo, sounds fancy, right?? But such is not the case- they are the weirdest shaped trees ever!)  The best part of our Christmas tree is the stand.  It too is authentic: a V4.  Very fancy.

After putting the tree in the car and bringing it home, up to our apartment, it was time to stand it up, give it a trim, and add the lights.  As we were turning it and arranging the lights to cover all the bare spots, I heard a strange rustling and thought our authentic German Tree Holder might not be as strong as we hoped.

Thankfully I was wrong.  The tree holder was even better than we hoped:  not only was it holding up a tree, but it was also supporting a climbing cat!

We had to settle for a tree that didn't have a sptizen, or top point because we wanted one that was pretty tall and didn't have too many holes in it.  I was a little bit worried about what to do with the top since there really wasn't anywhere to put the star...

problem solved

You'd think after climbing to the top once, she'd be done and just hang out on the ground, but Metzger found herself at the top of the tree at least 3 times before we went to bed (no telling how many times she climbed up and down during the night!!)

So now our apartment is ready for Christmas.

I think we all like the tree, but maybe one of us a bit more than everyone else...

Create Your State Update

I worked with another Create Your State participant from Texas, art teacher Samantha Melvin, to write this article that was just published in School Arts Magazine!

Its a little confusing because its all written in first person, but the "Our Artistic Approach" section is about Ms. Melvin's school, and the rest is about Gullett!

Way to go Create Your State Participants!
                                                                                                                                                     

	Check This Out!
Create Your State

A Christmassy Dresden at Night

Just wanted to share some photos of the decorations near our house at night.  They're beautiful and very Christmassy

The view from our balcony

Leipzig Zoo and the most beautiful Christmas Market in Germany

Yesterday was my mom and sister's last full day here and guess what?  They finally got their luggage!  Just in time to go home...

After driving to the airport to pick it up, we got bundled up (for real this time) and got in the car for a trip to Leipzig.

My sister loves aquariums and the Leipzig Zoo is open year round, so stop #1 was the zoo.  We mostly visited the indoor exhibits since none of the animals wanted to be outside in the snow.

Except for this tiger, who looked right at home, pacing through the snow piles.  I wish I had tiger fur to keep warm!

Next stop, the train station.  Silly, you say, since we drove?  Yes, but Leipzig and Berlin are the only two cities (I know of) that have giant malls open on Sunday and Leipzig's is in the train station.  We did some shopping and admired the decorations before heading out to the Christmas Market.

Almost every German town has a Christmas Market- Dresden's is the oldest and Leipzig's is supposed to be the most beautiful.  But like Dresden, Leipzig is big enough to have multiple Christmas Markets, which was a little confusing because they were all right next to each other and along a bunch of streets.  The traditional Christmas market in Leipzig was very beautiful.  In between some gorgeous snow covered buildings, the matching huts with red and white striped roofs and decorations were great!

 The rest of the market was nice too, but since we didn't know Leipzig well, it felt like we were walking in circles.  AND it was pretty cold out even with our warm clothes.

 

 

There were some really cool things there like jewelry made from mammoth tusk and fancy things carved from wood and lots of different food than our Christmas Market has (though not all of it was good, like this disgusting waffle that we all tried!)

After driving home, it was time to pack (well, not for me, but for my mom and sister) and then off to bed so we could get up to pick up a few last things in the morning and get to the airport.

Thanks for coming Mom & Jen!