It snowed. Again.

I'm beginning to think that the ground is going to be white until I leave. It's already been snowy here for, what, almost a month? I can barely remember the warm weather. Then again, it never was that warm while I've been here. Snow looks nice and all, but I'm already sick of the cold, and unfortunately it's gonna be cold until, like, April. Man. I'll have to start psyching myself up for that.

K, time to talk about my digital camera. I love it! It has so many more features than my old one, plus it zooms in really far, plus it has optical image stabilization! Which is excellent, because usually no matter how hard I try, my pictures are just a tiny bit fuzzy. The downside is that it sucks batteries dry, even when I don't use the LCD screen. Thank goodness for rechargeables.

Saturday was actually a little bit warm, that was nice. I only froze a little bit on my way to German class instead of a lot bit. And Saturday night I went to Gegenwind again. It was ok...not great. But afterwards we went to McDonald's--that was my first experience actually eating in a German McDonald's (usually I only go in to use the bathroom). It was PACKED. Although I guess that could be since it's the only restaurant that stays open past 10 PM. It actually stays open until 2 AM, which I was very surprised about. Also, it's really expensive! I got ice cream, and it was €1! That junk back in the US is like 50 cents! I didn't even feel like I was eating in an American fast-food chain. I mean, the food was the same, but there was other stuff too, a lot more healthy options (also more expensive). And the inside was actually clean and nice. Plus, there was this McCafe, which was kinda like those cafes in Barnes and Noble, selling coffee and little cakes and pastries.

Sunday...did nothing. It was pretty great. Oh wait, I did do something. I finally booked my hostels for Italy. The only ones left that I have to get are for my last night, which I'll be spending in Rome, and my trip to Cinque Terre. Nothing there is within my price range, but I really really want to go. I'll figure something out. Here is my agenda: Rome Dec. 22-25; Naples Dec. 26-28; Florence Dec. 29-31; Cinque Terre Jan. 1; Milan Jan. 2; Venice Jan. 3-4; Rome Jan. 5; back to Germany Jan. 6. Two weeks in Italy! How great is that!

Monday was alone with Johanna, then Tuesday was alone with Dominik. On Monday the weather was crazy--it was pretty clear out, then out of nowhere, in the space of about 30 seconds, this huge storm of snow comes in. It snowed and hailed for about 15 minutes, then it stopped, after which the ground was completely coated in snow. It snowed even more Monday night, so now we have about 2 inches. Dominik played outside for a while yesterday and built a tiny snowman, which is now sitting on the terrace. Adorbs!

Oh, and I've been practicing some English with the kids too. Just to get you up to speed: they both understand everything I say in English, but really struggle with speaking it, Johanna especially since she's never really been forced to. But yesterday, when I practiced with Dominik, he did a great job! He said full sentences in English, which he has never done with me before! I was so impressed. I think if we keep doing that a few times a week, by the end of the year he'll be able to speak English with me.

I always feel like I have to come up with some conclusion to these posts. Well, this time I'm not. I'm stopping right here.