This Christmas and New Year’s were firsts in many ways. Obviously it was the first Christmas I ever got to spend in the United States – and also the first one I did not spend in Germany.
Further it was the first end of a year I did not spend with any of my family members. Here’s what that was like for me.
I have not yet had a single day when I felt any kind of homesickness, mainly because of the amazing people I am surrounded by, and Christmas was just like that: We (my family and I) spent the night at my host Dad’s parents’ together with his aunt and uncle and his brother and nieces (my “host cousins”). I love every one of those persons and – in not even 4 months! – they have become like a family to me!
I talked to my Mom on the phone, and she was just happy I was and am happy, even though it was the first Christmas for her in 15 years that she could not spend with her son.
The traditions in Germany and the United States are very similar, but it was nice to attend an American Christmas service at the church my host Dad grew up in, to see my host cousins all excited about Santa and be somewhat brought back to the times when I was just like that. My host uncle had this app on his phone, which simulated where Santa was at the time… SO awesome! And the joy in everybody’s eyes when receiving their presents was – very contrary to what I had to read on Twitter, which I wrote a German blog post about – plain beauty.
The days after Christmas, between New Year’s and my birthday on the 2nd of January went by pretty fast. It was the first real vacation I had in the US, and so it was nice to just be able to not do anything at all. I listened to my host parent’s old records (man, I love the feeling and quality of vinyl albums!), spent some time just writing about whatever came to my mind and played some guitar, met some friends – usual business for me, but I enjoyed it a lot!
As a Christmas present to my host parents I will invite them out to dinner at a German restaurant, and we decided to do that today – on New Year’s Eve.
All of it was simply another beautiful experience, which is unbelievably hard to describe if you have never been part of something similar.
I wish all of you all the best for 2012, hope you enjoyed your holidays and vacation! Talk to you soon.
[s∂]
