Weihnachten & Whatnot

Christmas is more expensive than ever thanks to Joe Biden and the Democrats.

– GOP Twitter

Intro

Several years ago now (time flies) a young virgin became with child. This didn’t cause an immediate stir, as communication technology was not so refined as today. Eventually, word got around and most people believed her because fake news and deepfakes were not as common back then. This babe went on to touch the hearts of many, and his birth is celebrated the world over. This seems to be especially true in Europe, where people really went hog-wild. Some say they are still going hog-wild to this day (‘some’ being me).

Museum for Details

For hundreds of years, European artists and artisans and artisanal tradesfolk could render no other form of art apart from this baby and his mom and generally the whole circumstances of his birth. To see the centuries of Jesus art, we went to the Augustiner Museum. I was pleased to see that the true auteurs still managed to work in their own subtle details to make the scenes their own. This one imagines the sacred circumcision to have been aided and abetted by an out-of-work saxophonist.

This detail was not in MY bible, but going forward this blues brother is going to be gracing my nativity sets always.

Another detail that really came alive for me involves the announcement of the babe by the Angels to the Shepherds. I had always imagined this as an incredibly impactful moment; the heavens torn asunder, and beings so radiant you cannot look at them bellowing the coming of the child. This mental image could not be further from the truth. It just so happens that the birth announcement was conveyed by a toddler breathlessly asking the shepherds to “just come look”.

Safe to say we learned a lot.

Somewhere along the line, people got less interested in the birth of this child, and much more fixated on the brutally violent death he suffered. And boy, did the artists go to work. This art is rendered in such detail that I think most of the artists were trying to work through something. Cheaper than therapy amiright.

Fraunhofer ISE Christmas

Christmas and New Year are times of reflection and introspection. People around the globe are asking themselves have I been naughty or nice? The same goes for companies therefore before the ISE Christmas party, we had corporate introspection in the form of an AGM. I’m a new employee, so I was absolutely frothing at the mouth to impress the party goer’s.

I don’t have technical skills, or people skills, so it was difficult to find a way to make a splash. I surveyed the doors to the building and found that other eager beavers were already at these posts ready to open the door for others. Eventually, I spied the perfect thing – a photobooth with props. What an excellent opportunity to show some team-building skills! My attention turned to finding the office person I knew the least, and I demanded they take some fun pictures with me.

The pics were flawless. I wore a beard, and he wore funny glasses. In short, we were killing it. The hall was abuzz with the news of our magnificent coworking friendship. “This new kid, Reid, real potential” I heard some say. Others went further proclaiming “amazing team building skills”. As our photo session wound to an end, I went up to the camera to do a full face closeup. I wanted the person who downloaded the picture to be pleasantly surprised by this closeup photo and perhaps think that I was quite the scamp, that had a fun-loving side capable of safe-for-work pranks to compliment my amazing team leadership skills.

Satisfied that I had placed myself on a tenure track I returned to the small side room where the ISE choir was preparing to bring down the house. As we buzzed our little lips, and did our little dances, the main hall entered a lull in the program. The camera that had captured my bearded likeness was the very same as the one that had been capturing the evening events. Events such as the ISE year-in-review speeches, the freshly minted Ph. D.s receiving their congrats, and various awards being given out. These images were set to loop from the projector to serve as a screensaver while the choir got ready (cannot rush art). Some 350 partygoers got to go on a trip down memory lane that concluded with my beard pictures, and this one:

Thankfully, the pictures looped several times before the choir finally took the stage, so everyone got a good look. All those try-hards that went for the door-opening route really missed a huge opportunity for exposure. Better luck next time.

As for the choir performance, it went unbelievably well. The warmups paired with the liter of olive oil I had been nursing all night had prepped my vocal chords to be limber and primed. Not only was there no problem with hitting the notes but there was also no issue with nailing all the German words.

Markets and Friendship

Our first visitors from Canada made it after only a slight flight delay of 36 hours. It is great to have a taste of home and to remember to be tourists here as well. Their interest in Freiburg and the surroundings rekindled ours. We took in plenty of Glühwein, markets, and surrounding towns.

I actually didn’t go to Colmar or Gegenbach because I was still hustling and earning bread. One of our pals who goes by the moniker Chef Supreme (to protect his identity) had to go home after just a few short days. This was easily the hardest moment of my life. Watching him drift away on the train felt as though a wheelbarrow had plowed over my heart.

As Chef Supreme rocketed away from us we screamed and yelled so many swears that we needed to go to church. Fortunately for us, there was one just across the street.

Conclusion

We have some phenomenal friends, both here in Germany and from back home. With no prompting a co-worker named Glutes McAllister offered us his flat for the holidays. This gesture of kindness made for such a great time – more space than the RV, full kitchen, posh and prim livin’. Unfortunately for Glutes, we plan on applying squatters’ rights and not returning the keys. Certainly, this will make for slightly more awkward work interactions, but I’ll still bring mail and things for him.

We feel very lucky to have had friends come and remind us that this adventure is a great one, and to make us feel like yes we are making progress at integration and settling down. It was fantastic once again to see Freiburg through fresh eyes. We missed our main people back home over the holidays, but some technology softened it (certainly no replacement).

We are thankful for friends:

We are thankful for German vending machines that distribute cakes:

Thankful for kickers that absolutely ball out:

And thankful for sweet little 8lb 5oz baby Jesus:

Frohe Weihnachten from our Squad!