Weekends

Apparently people still read my blog (a lot of you did this weekend anyway) so I should write you something new.

The weekend was a quiet one, and we did that on purpose. Last weekend Brian had a teachers' happy hour on Friday (translation, happy 6 or 7 hours) followed by a little enchilada party at our house on Saturday. We didn't intend for it to be a dinner party but we ended up inviting 6 people who all wanted to come. So I made the tortillas and the salsa myself (you can't buy anything that tastes vaguely Mexican and good here), Brian tidied up and rearranged the furniture, people came, ate, drank, produced a lot of dirty dishes, and all of a sudden it was 2am.

This weekend there was no drinking and no socializing. There was only bike riding, rollerblading, baking, homework, reading, and movie watching. Last night we tried out Mass in Spanish. There are no English speaking Masses here and going to the nearby one in German isn't quite as fulfilling as we'd like. Maybe that's 'cause we can't understand what they are saying. Consequently we don't go as often as we used to back home. So we figured that at the Spanish Mass, at least I'd understand everything and Brian wouldn't  understand any less than he does at German Mass. There was a difference - it was a younger crowd, they seemed to know each other well, there was more smiling and shaking hands and hugging. And I knew what the priest was saying too.

Afterward we went out for Indian food - not to the Indian restaurant across the street that you've read about before, but another place. I know, you must think we are such traitors to cheat on our local place. But this restaurant is owned by the parents of one of Brian's 6th grade students. All year they have been telling him to go. Also, the 6th grader said that the restaurant across the street from us sucks. So we decided to try his family's place out. It was a little fancier than what we are used to, and  the food was good, but we won't be regulars there. It's hard to beat the a restaurant that you can see looking down from the living room window.

Next weekend we are hosting a St Patrick's Day party. As far as I know it will be the best (only?) Irish-American St Patrick's Day party in Hannover. A lot of the school staff are coming as well as my few Hannover friends. If we are lucky there might be a couple of real Irish people there, along with some Canadians, Germans, at least one Pole, Americans, Australians, English, and maybe a Danish/Indian guy too. This week I have to try writing a note for all of our neighbors to let them know we are going to have a party and to call us if it's too loud, or just come on over. They probably won't do either, but we should at least try to be polite. Since in class we already  practiced writing notes to our neighbors about letting in the meter reader, I will give it a shot. Then I'll get someone who actually knows German to help me with it.
After the party there will be two days of intense cleaning, then my parents come to visit.

So don't worry, the posts will become a little more exciting as the weather warms up and we do some more traveling. Until then, I'll keep writing about mundane things anyway as long as you keep tuning in.