Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday I opted to skip my German class. I'd have only gotten four hours of sleep before I would have gotten up for class and I just couldn't bring myself to do that. Last time I went to class, my teacher commented on the fact that I'm always yawning. I figured I would spare her of that this time around. I lounged around all morning and then made my way over to M's for lunch with her and L. It was the first real, hot meal I had since before the weekend in Amsterdam and I was grateful. After lunch I went into town. I wanted to walk around a bit and see the progress of the Christmas Markets. I got home later than usual and HM and the kids were back by the time I got back. I spent the evening cooking some chicken and rice soup. HM liked the soup so much that she told me I need to cook every week.

Tuesday was a long day. I went to drop off the kids with HM. As we were getting the kids out of the car, One got mad at me for opening the door. HM started talking to him and he told her that he wasn't her son anymore and that he also wasn't my son either. I dropped HM off at work and took the car home. At home I ironed some of the kids clothing as my daily chore. I went for a run in the late morning and later I went into town. I've been slowly acquiring more warm clothing, sweaters in particular. I did a little shopping, though I didn't find anything I liked. I couldn't spend much time in town, as I had to leave the house at 3:30pm to pick the kids up from school so that HM could work late. It's interesting how much more the kids like me when HP aren't around. I first got Two, who smiled and wanted me to pick him up immediately. Whenever I set him down, he came back to me with his arms up. We made our way over to collect One, who screamed, "Farrah!!" when he saw me and then ran over to me. I wish they would always be so sweet. I brought them home and the three of us watched a movie and played until HM got home from work. We all ate dinner together, including some of the soup I had made the night before. One liked it so much that he drank up the broth. HM said that she could eat it every day. I was playing with One while HM put Two to sleep and he got mad at me (which is very commonplace). He often tells me about how we aren't friends anymore. This time he told me that he wanted to invite me to his birthday party (in April), but he wouldn't be able to do that if I wasn't going to listen to him. Kids say the darnedest things! Soon after this, I had to take him into the bathroom to get washed up for bed. He got really mad at me and started screaming and crying. I kept trying to calm him down because Two was trying to sleep, but every time I tried to talk, he just got more mad and screamed louder. Eventually I grabbed him and hugged him tight. I was sure that he was going to hit me - something he does from time to time. Instead, he buried his head in my neck and slowly calmed down. The entire exchange made me realize that I'll have to be more quick to switch up my approach when something clearly isn't working.

Wednesday wasn't as busy as Tuesday. The morning working hours were without incidence. I had a few chores to do, but mostly odds and ends and not one thing too time consuming. I went back to sleep once they were done, as I was exhausted. I finally got up, showered, and then went to the grocery store for some fresh bread. I spent some time facetiming with my mom in the afternoon before I made my way into town again. I went back to the American store to see if they sold condensed milk to make my pumpkin pie, but I couldn't find any. HM dropped One off with me and then left with Two for swim class. One and I hung out and ate dinner before they all got back. At one point I was reading his book about the ocean out loud in German while he played, per his request of course. HM and Two got home while we were doing this. One exclaimed, "Mama! Farrah can speak German! Really good German!" HD got home later and HM left almost immediately to go over to the neighbors. HD and I put the kids to sleep and then HD also left for the neighbors. I spend the evening "babysitting" the kids while they slept so that HP could visit with the neighbors and some other friends who were in town.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! I worked the usual hour in the morning. It was strange waking up to a house that didn't already smell like cooking food and to not have anyone wish me a Happy Thanksgiving immediately. I didn't do anything throughout the day, just lounged around and relaxed. At 4:30pm my Thanksgiving adventure finally began. I met up with Eddie, Basti (short for Bastian), and Patricia at the Hauptbahnhof. Basti is German and possibly Eddie's best friend. Patricia is also German. The four of us made our way to München (Munich) for a GRiZ concert. I'd never heard of GRiZ before I started hanging out with all these guys. GRiZ is an American DJ and producer who makes electro music with a "funk" feel. We arrived in München without problems and put our bags in a locker in the Hauptbahnhof. We were on the subway heading to the venue when we realized that Eddie had left our tickets in the locker. After some backtracking, we finally arrived at the concert venue. The concert was supposed to start at 8:30pm, but I think it began at 9:00pm. It was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I had only heard one or two of his songs beforehand, so I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a really small venue. At one point I was standing at the front of the stage just a mere three feet from the artist. That was pretty cool. The concert ended around 11:15pm or so. Our train from München was supposed to leave at 12:30am. We spent the hour walking around and trying to see if we could find a cool bar. We didn't have any luck. The train at 12:30am went to Ingolstadt, where we had to get off and wait for three hours. Yep, you read that right. We had to wait for three hours. We were able to sit and wait inside the lobby. About five other people were also waiting. At one point, Basti, Eddie, and myself were all sleeping while Patricia was listening to music. One of the other people waiting in the lobby approached Patricia with his phone in one hand and his other hand clutching his chest. He didn't speak German and his English wasn't good. We eventually figured out that he wanted us to call the ambulance for him. We did and they came. When all was said and done, there were about five police officers, four train workers, and two paramedics there. The man was eventually taken to the hospital. Basti and Eddie thought he was faking it to get a few nights in the hospital, but I'm still undecided. It was definitely a strange situation. There was something off about it, but I can't say what. It's possible that the man was a refugee, but I'm not sure about that either. About 30 minutes before we were supposed to get on our 4:17am train, Patricia realized that the ticket we had wasn't valid and it wasn't possible to buy the one we needed (the reasons for this are very complicated and I won't get into it). We spent awhile trying to figure out what to do. We even asked a Deutsche Bahn employee about what we should do, though she ended up giving us bad information. We didn't realize this until entirely too late,  almost resulting in us missing our third train. We had to change trains again in a place called Treuchtlingen. Our connection was tight and the bad information about the train tickets almost caused us to miss the train. Alas, we finally made it back to Ansbach at 5:45am. The journey to München took just under two hours. The journey back took over five. The reason for this is mostly simple: the last direct train from München to Nürnberg/Ansbach left around 8pm, which was obviously never an option for us. No trains run between about 1:30am and 4am, hence the three hour wait in Ingolstadt. Instead of spending another hour and fifteen minutes traveling from Ansbach to home (40 minutes from Ansbach to Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof on the local train, 15 minutes waiting at the Hauptbahnhof, 10 minutes on the local train to my stop, then another 7 minute walk home), I opted to crash in Ansbach.

My first real holiday in Germany has come and gone (excluding Halloween because it doesn't have the family component to me)! It wasn't as strange to be away from home as I anticipated, but it was still a little strange.