XIX

Christmas around here was very silent. In the morning I walked over to the train station to get my bottle of wine. I came home and slept all of the possible daylight away. After awakening, I held off awhile before corking the Bordeaux; I thought it best not to start right in with the drinking in what was my "morning", lest I actually prove the real wino I am. After a few hours I settled into bed once again and started watching some Twin Peaks that I had rented in preparation for the holiday alone. I got to speak with Clay briefly before he had to run off for his own family celebrations. Later still I had an overwhelming experience with the Skype internet telephone thing. Griog got us all in a conference together; Mother and Gramma on one phone together, William, Griog and I. Of course I didn't get much speaking time in that conversation. I suppose it was nice, nonetheless.

Today it snowed here, leaving a pretty decent little coat on everything. I finally went out to return DVDs and purchase more wine and rations. In other news, the hotel in Prague is finally reserved so everything is in place now for the little vacation Clay and I will take when he arrives here in February. Only thing left is to wait, but not for too long!

XVIII

(These are not my pictures. The internet gave them to me.)

In mid February when our semester break begins Clay is flying over here to visit me for a month. After he gets a chance to rest we are going to take off for Prague and stay there for a couple of weeks as a vacation. The plane tickets are purchased and the hotel reservations are underway.

I am incredibly excited. It will be nice to take our time and liesurely see the sights instead of popping around trying to make sure we see everything there is to see. I think I am a lazy tourist anyway. I would rather sit in the coffee shops and eat at the restaurants and stroll through the streets and the parks and take pictures of really inconsequential things I pass such as a wood, a feather, a stone, a water or a child or perhaps even such as the wall of a building. That is what I like to do no matter where I am.

XVII

I live in Narnia.
You can see here the lamppost which I use as a guide in finding the door back into the "other" world. And of course in the background you see Cair Paravel. Now I know that the distance between these two points might seem a bit skewed. As in they seem much closer to one another than they actually are.

XVI

Today I passed a major milestone. I was successful in making an omelette for the very first time! It didn't even break at all! I have tried so many times in the past with much failure. Today, when it came time to flip that sucker, I was so nervous! But then it flipped! AND IT DIDN'T BREAK! I am so proud! And it tasted good!

What are your favorite ingredients to throw down in an omelette?

XV

Shopping for Arlo in the toy store today was basically like this, "Ooh I want that! Ooh I want that, too! And this one! Ooh wait no I want that one!" I should have every single figurine made by this company. I want to set up and photograph all the battle scenes from all the epics. I want to construct forest scenes with all the animals. I want to build an iceberg and photograph the polar bears and the penguins just chillin'. Ahgh!

XIV

This morning I finished making my skirt. Mom, you might recognize the material, as it is from the shirt you gave me. I sewed it by hand, not taking as long as I had expected, but I don't know how sturdy it is! We'll see if it ever tries to come apart while I am out.

Now I get to wear it while I am out being busy busy today.

XIII

For those of you who do not yet know.

This is a picture of two shadows, the first belongs to me, the second to my love, my best friend, my life partner, Clay. That was a day very well spent with one another on the coast of Oregon, in Manzanita.

Obviously he is one that I miss a lot. In February he is coming to me, and we will stay for a couple of weeks in Prague. Then a couple more here in my town.

I'll get to feel home.

XII

Neglect, neglect, neglect.



The nearer Christmas approaches, the more Heimweh¹ settles in. I miss my family and I wish I could be there to decorate the tree and pull out all of those old dusty boxes of Christmas decorations that always make the house smell that certain way. When it comes time to open those boxes I always find myself suddenly thrown back to our era at 617 McCubbin Street. No matter how many years pass those boxes still remind me of that house. For obvious reasons I suppose, all of the Christmas' of my formitive years were spent there. I remember rushing into the livingroom first thing in the morning, looking outside and being disappointed by the lack of snow, plopping down on that awful (awesome?) brown carpeting, and the rush of excitement at what the dressed up packages might hold, even though we often picked out something personally, there was always a surprise or two. Especially the stockings. Oh the stockings! My second favorite part of Christmas, the first being the smells and tastes.

This year I will probably be alone. Last Christmas I didn't go home, and instead spent it with my best friend Alice and her family. It was really nice to have been invited, but it was hard for me to enjoy all of the festivities. I believe that just having spent it with a cozy little family made me miss mine even worse. I somehow convince myself that I will be better off if I do not do anything particularly special. I will enjoy myself probably. I will probably stay inside, stay warm, and drink plenty of Glühwein². I have a few friends here but I believe they have plans to travel other places. My roommates all have families in close proximity so they will probably be away as well. I have been invited by my new friend, Amandine³, to join her on her trip back home to Toulouse, France for the holiday. I might do that if the transit doesn't cost me too much! I haven't had the chance to see much of France!

I think I am going to use footnotes forever. I feel less rambly.


¹One of my favorite terms in the German language; from "Heim", meaning "home" with an emphasized connotation of the perspective of home, belonging, familiarity, etc. and "weh" which describes an aching pain, sorrow, grief. In short, "homesickness", obviously. But when I think of the concept within the frame of German and what the two seperate terms imply together, it hits my gut a little bit harder. The Germans have a way of economizing a lot of sentiment into single words or simple word combinations. The entirety of the language seems to be based on this combining of words to make new ones, or changing the action of a verb by giving it a different prefix. As students of the language when we come across a particularly amusing example of this we often use the expression, "Deutsche Sprache, kleine Sprache" meaning simply "German language, small language".

²The German version of Mulled wine, usually red wine, combined with cinnamon sticks, cloves, sugar, and am besten with some orange peel. I have made it for myself and friends before in the wintry season. You just put all the ingredients in a pot on the stove and let it slowly warm up. The citrus fruit isn't necessary, but I like the added flavor. Sure to warm your tummy! It is also good with a shot of rum for added punch, especially since most of the alcohol content of the wine is cooked away.

³I have a girlfriend in Portland named Chloé, she and her family are from France. When she was a teenager they moved to Portland, but later when they all returned to France, she stayed behind in Oregon. Amandine is her sister. When Chloé realized that her sister and I were in the same town studying German, she helped us to get in contact with one another. As it turns out we also have a class together.