Aka. "Destination Anywhere", "The Boy and Girl from County Bavaria"... After a very intense year in Würzburg (Germany), I'm back in Salamanca. I probably won't have that many experiences to write, but there's always an excuse to post a new entry!

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!! :D

2009 was quite an intense year, and I hope 2010 is just as good - or even better! I'm still sort of worried that I didn't stick to my usual rituals, but let's hope everything turns out right. Some of you might now that I spent the last days of 2009 and the first of 2010 in Germany, which means no Three Wisemen or grapes on New Year's Eve. Nevertheless, I got the chance to see lots of snow (again!) and to experience a tradition I didn't know about.

It's called Bleigießen and it's a way to predict what kind of things await you in the new year. After the countdown and toasting to the new beginning, you light a candle and use it to melt some small figurines made of lead. Once the lead is melted, you throw it to a pot filled with water and see what it transforms into. Each of these forms has a meaning. For instance, a cake would mean that you have to be careful with your weight. Unfortunately, I don't remember what I got anymore, but it sounded quite positive.

Apart from this and "Dinner for One", fireworks are another New Year's Eve classic in Germany. People buy them in the stores and release them in their own gardens around midnight, and those who don't have fireworks of their own, go out to see them. It's really impressive, and they release so many that in the end there's smoke and fog everywhere. What I found kind of funny was that no-one clapped after the fireworks (oh, so it's fine to clap your hands when the plane lands but not then? What the hell?) In any case, I hope it's not the last New Year's Eve I celebrate there ;)

Before I forget it, that "Dinner for One" I was talking about is a British sketch which is the only thing that German television broadcasts in the original language with subtitles. It's about a woman who's celebrating her 90th birthday with her butler and some... how to describe it? Let's say imaginary friends. I tried to find it on You Tube, but none of those I saw was the original.