I spent the 24th by attending mass at St. Leonhard's. Of course it was in English. There were a lot of Filipino families but mostly Americans. The priest was English and his homily centered on St. Joseph. I was really glad the songs were all familiar to me... Silent night, Angels we have heard on high, etc.
The old American couple beside me told me there is a 16th century nativity set right at the side of the Church. While the Priest was giving out the announcements I took a few shots of the Nativity set. It was beautiful.. The couple said, the Church tries to restore each piece and they only do it one piece at a time because it costs thousands of euros.
After the mass, around 5 pm, the entire Dom Romer plaza was full. The Christmas markt was gone and it was full of people now. I had to cross this sea of people to get back to the u-bahn station. The couple said, the locals gather here to hear all the church bells ring at 5pm.
At around 630pm, Angela and her dad picked me up at my flat. I was really glad I decided to join them. Angela's family is just genuinely happy and nice. We had fondue for dinner. Its not chocolate or cheese fondue. You have raw beef or pork in a metal skewer and dip it into heated oil. You pair it with different types of dips. We also had salad, olives, and my new favorite the siling haba with cheese inside. Sarap!
After dinner we opened our gifts... I only brought one gift for Angela. I definitely have to send a thank you gift to her parents too. They gave me three gifts! A picture calendar of all the beautiful places in Germany, a tour book and chocolates.
Her parents were really sweet.. to each other! Her dad made her mom a ppt presentation for his Christmas message to her. She was in tears and him too.. it was really sweet. Angela said they are like that every year and its just usually a card from his dad but this year it was powerpoint.
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The miscellaneous pictures are from last sunday. I spent it with three french ladies! I heard mass in french and it was lovely... Christine interpreted for me. The priest was french but spent the last 25 years in Taiwan, he explained his french wasn't so good. Not that I'd notice. After that we had lunch at a very traditional German restaurant - Adolf Wagner. We had the shared table, the utensils in a common bowl and of course the apple wine (which not most people like but Germans love especially in the Hessen region). I ate beef with mushroom and hashbrowns. Parang lengua natin. Seriously. Sophie had a more traditional one. Pork and veal sausage with mashed potato and sauerkraut - sour cabbage - its like kimchi but not spicy.
they turned off the lights and sang silent night at the start of the mass
i honestly thought i couldn't make it out of here
this is the 16th century nativity at St. Leonhard's
these are jackie and meera. both are hunting dogs, jackie is from spain and meera from italy. The Mehler's got them from the shelter. Both are trained, so sweet and calm.
both of them were in happy tears..
i already look sleepy...-----------------------------------------
sophie and her sauerkraut
with the french ladies - Christine, Constance and Sophie>hugs<
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