Christmas in Canada was good. It was exactly as expected. Lots of visiting with family and friends. Lots of snow. Lots of drinks. Lots of vodka soaked gummi bears (let me know if you want to see some videos of these ;). Although I did experience a bit of reverse culture shock upon landing in Winnipeg and heading to Redvers. Being in an English speaking place again was weird. As was the flatness of the area. What was nice though was to see proper amounts of snow and winter, and people carrying on just fine. Rather than ‘some’ people freaking out over 15 cms….
All the friends and family that went out of their way to come visit me, ask me how Belgium and travelling was, share some stories from back home, and have a drink definitely made me smile. What else makes me smile is the new camera I got for Christmas.
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| This picture was unfortunately not taken with my camera |
The trip back to Brussels was good but long. I was very excited to see my bed and sleep when we arrived at 9am. However the break from travelling didn’t last long as we had train tickets to Hannover the next day. That trip was equally long and painful, as the train ended up arriving in Hannover an entire hour later than expected because of ‘weather conditions’, and we ended up sitting facing backwards for half the trip which made me motion sick. All in all, not a very fun trip, but I was very glad to get to Hannover to see Vera and Julija again!
Our few days in Hannover were great, in a very large part thanks to Julija, her family, and Vera. However the thanking Vera will probably come more after our days in Berlin. Russian hospitality and Julija, are amazing. Russian New Year is crazy. I knew Russians liked their vodka, and drank it straight, but wow. Many, many shots of vodka followed by a pickle categorized the afternoon and evening before supper. And yes, apparently vodka and pickles go very well together. Do not try to tell a Russian otherwise, or you will get a look of total and utter bewilderment of your apparent lack of knowledge of vodka. And when they ask you what you drink your vodka with, do not tell them mixed in a glass with orange juice or 7-up. This will only lead to a look of further confusion.
Russians also take their drinking, and eating, very seriously. I believe we had 2 glasses of Baileys, a beer, and 5 vodka shots before even heading over to her parents place. Julija on the other hand had already had another 4 while cooking with her mother earlier in the day. The food was like a fabulous feast. Everything from the table layout, to the variety, to the food itself, to the many glasses of sparkling wine, to her parents that didn’t speak English was amazing. And of course, the random vodka shots that were scattered throughout the meals and at every celebration of New Years (Russian, Latvian, and German).
Then after this we went to a friends place and watched the fireworks outside. Let me tell you, Germans do New Years and fireworks right. I think every family had a set of fireworks and was lighting them off all over the city. As a result, we were all outside with a few bottles of sparkling wine and plastic champagne flutes watching the fireworks displays that were erupting all over the city and continued for the better part of an hour.
In true form, because they drink like Russians, but party like Germans, Julija and Vera didn’t get back in that night until 8am. Me being jet lagged and a Canadian who does not have the habit of clubbing until 8am, was in bed by 5am, and David the Belgian was in bed by 6:30am. All in all it was a fantastic New Years and séjour in Hannover, despite the fact that I didn’t want to look at vodka or food the entire following day. Russians say that how you greet the new year will be how you will spend your year. So here's hopin.
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