Happy Silvester!

New Years, or Silvester, was great, even though I couldn't celebrate it with my new German friends. I originally had an invitation, but on December 30th the host told me she was sick and couldn't get together anymore.

A last minute scrambling of phone calls didn't reveal any opportunities, and I was sure I would have to celebrate with the street (which isn't bad, only there's normally no teens about my age present). Then Alicia called and said she didn't have anyone to celebrate with either, and so she invited me to come over and we could cheer 2006 in together.

The night started out well: grilled cheese, meatballs from her host mom, and apple cider. I still don't know how I had room for it all after the Kiefer's traditional Silvester meal of sausages, potatoes, and sauerkraut. Then we went to her room to listen to music and chat (in German, of course). We heard the macerena a grand total of 5 times, though there were about 21 days worth of music on the computer and one would think we could have listened to songs without repetition.

Midnight rolled around, and 2006 started off with a bang. In Germany, see, fireworks are legal, and people were setting them off in the street. We went outside to watch for about a half hour, attempting to take pictures.

Instead of going straight to bed, we stayed up talking. Then at 2 in the morning, we started iming our families simultaneously, which was fun. It's really great to have conversations with your siblings, especially when you're sleep-deprived. We finally went to sleep at 6:30 in the morning (my personal record) utterly exhausted. Unfortunately, it was too early for sunrise, but it was good enough. Maybe next year...