Today is the second Advent, bless you all! My students taught me this lovely song, in celebration of this time:
Wir Sagen Euch An Den Lieben Advent
This means that the christmas season is in full swing! What might this include in Austria? So far, school Christmas parties, concerts, caroling, Christmas markets, Glühwein, baby Jesus, snow, St. Nikolaus and of course his whip-yielding companion: Krampus.
It's been quite an adventure since the first advent, especially teaching. My students have been telling me bundles about how they celebrate (actually a very sneaky tactic in getting my students to talk for the entire class period). My favorite has been explaining to them how scared I am of Krampus and asking them what I should expect. Who's Krampus? Here's the rundown:
Krampus accompanies Nikolaus on the 6th of December. All the good children, if they recite a poem or song receive a chocolate, peanuts and satsumas. The bad ones? They receive a good whipping from Mr. Krampus and if they're lucky, he snatches them up in the basket and takes them away. Here are some friendly greetings from the beast:
Terrifying right? Well, in real life these look like monsters, some of the little guys look like Ewoks, which is almost more frightening. They run down the street with giant bells on their backs, which have an eery ring to them and snatch you form the crowd, mess up your hair, and whip you with horse tails or switches. It's all rather exciting and really awakens this primal fear inside. Fun fun!
Christmas markets are your standard collection of huts filled with Austrian goods: sweaters, roasted nuts, leather goods, decorations. My favorite stands are the food stands. In Hamburg and Vienna (for some reason not in Freiburg or Salzburg) they don't have Potato puffs, rather, they have baked potatoes (not as delicious). So, I stick to mulled wine or cider. Another delicious treat is Kaiserschmarrn, or scratched pancake with powdered sugar and apple sauce. I recently went to the Christmas market at the palace of Hellbrunn outside of Salzburg. It looked like this!
For some reason google added the twinkles and the snow, but it's a fun addition to a rather twinkle-less blog.
This week I'm baking cookies with a teacher, going caroling with my class and am headed to Innsbruck for a snow shoeing session.
For those of you who were as concerned as myself about spending Christmas alone, the Schwarzenbachs in Switzerland have opened up their ever-open door to me and the Christkind will be visiting me there. Because of course Baby Jesus flies through your window on Christmas Eve to decorate the tree.
Wir Sagen Euch An Den Lieben Advent
This means that the christmas season is in full swing! What might this include in Austria? So far, school Christmas parties, concerts, caroling, Christmas markets, Glühwein, baby Jesus, snow, St. Nikolaus and of course his whip-yielding companion: Krampus.
It's been quite an adventure since the first advent, especially teaching. My students have been telling me bundles about how they celebrate (actually a very sneaky tactic in getting my students to talk for the entire class period). My favorite has been explaining to them how scared I am of Krampus and asking them what I should expect. Who's Krampus? Here's the rundown:
Krampus accompanies Nikolaus on the 6th of December. All the good children, if they recite a poem or song receive a chocolate, peanuts and satsumas. The bad ones? They receive a good whipping from Mr. Krampus and if they're lucky, he snatches them up in the basket and takes them away. Here are some friendly greetings from the beast:
This is my own Krampus photo from the Linzergasse Krampuslauf on the 6th
Terrifying right? Well, in real life these look like monsters, some of the little guys look like Ewoks, which is almost more frightening. They run down the street with giant bells on their backs, which have an eery ring to them and snatch you form the crowd, mess up your hair, and whip you with horse tails or switches. It's all rather exciting and really awakens this primal fear inside. Fun fun!
Christmas markets are your standard collection of huts filled with Austrian goods: sweaters, roasted nuts, leather goods, decorations. My favorite stands are the food stands. In Hamburg and Vienna (for some reason not in Freiburg or Salzburg) they don't have Potato puffs, rather, they have baked potatoes (not as delicious). So, I stick to mulled wine or cider. Another delicious treat is Kaiserschmarrn, or scratched pancake with powdered sugar and apple sauce. I recently went to the Christmas market at the palace of Hellbrunn outside of Salzburg. It looked like this!
Part of the Water Tricks at the Palace
the windows are the advent calendar!
For some reason google added the twinkles and the snow, but it's a fun addition to a rather twinkle-less blog.
This week I'm baking cookies with a teacher, going caroling with my class and am headed to Innsbruck for a snow shoeing session.
For those of you who were as concerned as myself about spending Christmas alone, the Schwarzenbachs in Switzerland have opened up their ever-open door to me and the Christkind will be visiting me there. Because of course Baby Jesus flies through your window on Christmas Eve to decorate the tree.
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