It’s tempting to say that nothing much happened this week, and then we remember that I graduated! Since I was nowhere near Idaho, I of course didn’t walk across the stage in a funny hat, but I watched a bit of the procedings online and saw my name on the list of graduates. To celebrate, we had a Mexican food night at home and I spent the week decompressing and doing a few things just for me.

On the Christmas Celebration front, we took the S-Bahn down to an area south of downtown called Markkleeberg to a light display in the park. The weather has been warmer, so that’s been nice for being outside, but it also means that things look a little less magical with no snow. One nice bonus was a couple of buskers in the train station. They were sponsored by the city and they were quite good. As far as the lights in the park, it was nice, but definitely not what we’re used to. They don’t seem to put strings of lights in trees around here and there were no spectacular light shows, but there were some pretty displays and it was just good to get out and participate in some festivities. We stopped for some sushi and Pho on the way home and that was yummy.

We also went into town last night and wandered around with the masses through the markets. We had a tasty dinner at an Irish Pub.

One afternoon we went to the main library. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but since this city has a long history of music study, the top floor of the library has a big music library and a couple of digital pianos. Needless to say, Nathan really likes it and he can choose a piece and practice a bit while we are there. I take my computer and work on projects while he reads and practices. It’s a nice place to be and they have more reliable internet than we have here at home. That evening we stopped by the Christmas Market for our favorite wursts: Thuringer brats.

We did decide this week that we are going to stay here in Leipzig through the end of February. Our rent is reasonable and since the continent is a bit sleepier during the winter, we don’t see any reason to run off on ambitious adventures yet. We are also still in the process of acquiring our residence permits. We have both been approved, but we each have an appointment to start the process of making our official ID cards and then it could take up to five weeks for those to arrive. When we have those, we will have a bit more freedom to move about Europe, since we will be official residents of Germany. The whole process has seemed to take a long time, as bureaucracy here moves at a snail’s pace and few things seems to be handled online. But we have made progress and that is satisfying.

Next week I will skip blogging since it will be Christmas Eve and Christmas, so I will take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas! We are grateful for so much this year. Being far from loved ones makes us appreciate you even more. Much love to you all!