OCEANS AWAY

Forced holiday spirit, and ugly Latin dance moves

Filed under Out & About

My most played albums right now: Michael Bublé’s “Christmas” and the Polar Express soundtrack. I won’t have any decorations in my apartment this year and the weather out there is A JOKE but I have decided that Christmas season has officially begun. I wait for this all year and then it always flies by before it ever really begins so: Christmas tunes, fairy lights and a single candle, CHRISTMAS NOW GODDAMMIT.

Also: Christmas markets. Do they have them around the world? I can’t remember. They have them in Cologne, that’s for sure. Last Friday, we went to a market close to the office with everyone during our lunch break. It was a calm day at work, anyway, and the weather was… ugh… sunny and blue skies? Not exactly fitting for a Christmas market but oh well. I had Reibekuchen which is apparently a typical Christmas market food here; it is not where I’m from so I had to try! — On our four-block walk back to the office, we passed two first-aid guys picking up an unconscious homeless man, trying to get him into the ambulance. I felt extra lucky and grateful.

Straight from work, my friend and I went to Zumba at a dance studio downtown. If you remember, we planned to go last week and then were frustrated about having to pay €10 for a single try-out lesson. It turns out that you get the full €10 back if you decide to sign up for the class which- that seems reasonable. So we finally went, and it was really good! The guy who teaches the class is super nice, and it’s not as hard as I expected. I feared having to quit half-way through but I guess the regular work-outs I’ve been doing on my bike at home all this time paid off. In fact, I wasn’t anywhere near as out of breath and sweaty as I used to be after biking! Maybe because I was too busy trying to master the complicated Latin dance moves…? I looked like an idiot. I did notice that it exercises lots of different muscles, though, and it’s not as mind-numbingly boring as exercising by yourself at home. I will definitely go back.

Straight from Zumba, we went to a different Christmas market in Cologne – at Neumarkt. It’s on a big square surrounded by trees and they put these super pretty lit up paper stars in the trees, and for weeks now I’ve been looking forward to see them “in action”, as it were. Friday night was beautiful. It wasn’t as crowded yet – because, again, this warm weather just RUINS EVERYTHING – but it was perfect to get a first look at the place. We had Currywurst and Glühwein. And talked way too loud and laughed like maniacs at everything and everyone because we were so exhausted from the long day and so thrilled to have survived Zumba and so enchanted by downtown Cologne at Christmas time.

Christmas market at Neumarkt, Cologne