Happy Saint Nikolaus Tag!
The 6th of December is a special day in Germany. On the eve of St. Nikolaus Tag children leave their boots outside on the doorstep and so said man comes and if the child was good last year he fills them with candy, fruits, and nuts. If the child was extra good, he or she gets an extra plateful of goodies along with a box of giant chocolate-covered marshmallow sweets. 
I got to see St. Nikolaus twice. Once on the 5th in a Nikolaus Parade in Bislich with the Blasorchester and also on the 6th at the AFS Stammtisch. Amazing how he finds time to stop in so many places. It must be a very stressful job, because his voice changes every time. His gift to the Bislich children was no homework! So jealous. But at the Stammtisch, he gave us personalized speeches and chocolate, so it's all good.
St. Nikolaus was accompanied by his shadow, der Schwarze Mann, who carries a bunch of twigs to hit naughty children. He leaves birch rods or bunches of twigs in the children's boots if they were bad in the past year. Then the parents can do his dirty work.
At the Stammtisch we had a white elephant gift exchange as well as the visit from St. Nikolaus. You could never guess what I got:
That's right. Champagne with Metternich on it. Everybody wanted to trade with me after that. Like, no?
Other amusing gifts include Fabiola from Mexico receiving a CD of Latin music and Federico from Italy receiving women's shower gel. Yuy from Thailand (who is leaving in January, sadly) got a cool Santa Claus incense burner, from which the smoke comes out of his mouth as he sucks on his pipe.
December 6th, 2005 is also special because 88 years ago from this date Finland won its independence from Russia. Katri showed her patriotism by standing up in front of the whole crowd at the Stammtisch and singing her national anthem.
Happy Nikolaus Tag! Love from everybody from China, Italy, US, Finland, Bosnia-Herzigovina, Czech Republic, Mexico, and Russia.
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