And so it begins

The season kicked into full swing on Thanksgiving evening when the new lights on Bahnhofstrasse were lit for the first time. We went downtown to watch.

Then we took a nice walk throughout the city admiring the Christmas decorations all lit up.

We even got a glimpse of Samichlaus and Schmutzli, his sidekick!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a regular school day here, of course. We celebrated the day by making many of our favorite dishes from the U.S. The "pumpkins" here are more like spaghetti squash than like our pumpkins back home (they are dark green and not orange on the outside, too), but we made a pie anyway. We couldn't bring ourselves to spend over 100 francs on a tiny turkey, so we bought a turkey leg instead for more money than we care to admit. It was delicious though.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone--we are thankful to have the opportunity to be here having this experience!

Bern onion market

On the fourth Monday in November, the city of Bern holds a Zwiebel Markt. The festival dates back to the mid-19th Century. It only lasts for the day, with many booths set up throughout the city selling onions, produce, and crafts. As it grows dark, vendors sell confetti and small plastic squeaky hammers. Kids throw confetti at each other. Kids throw confetti at grown-ups. Grown-ups bonk the kids on the head with squeaky hammers. Grown-ups bonk each other on the head with squeaky hammers. It is an amazing amount of fun. We are still finding bits of confetti in our apartment and probably will be for a long time.

American Christmas

Wouldn't you know it? One of our favorite department stores has an "American Christmas" theme this year.

We actually have a great time poking fun at them. We sure miss our disco ball ornaments and plastic red palm tree--it just doesn't feel like the holiday season without them!

Making Grittibänzen

We wanted to try making some Grittibänzen of our own. It was a lot of fun and they came out great. Here's the recipe we used:

Grittibänz

(makes 4 small Grittibänzen)

500g white flour

20g yeast

2 t salt

3 dl warm milk

50 g melted butter

1 egg, plus an egg yolk for brushing the dough

4 t sugar

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and make a well. Add the yeast and warm milk. Mix yeast and milk and cover the bowl with a damp kitchen cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes. Add the remainder of the ingredients and mix together to make a dough. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and put in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes. Shape into little men, decorate with raisins, chocolate, almonds, sugar, etc. Brush with egg yolk. Bake at 200 degrees C for around 20-25 minutes.

And here are our results:

Grittibänz

As St. Nikolaus Day approaches, the local bakeries and grocery stores sell little bread men, called Grittibänzen. They are made from a slightly sweet brioche dough.

We've even seen them on billboards.

And the newspaper recently did a comparison too:

Church bells

There's a large church just around the corner from our apartment. Right after we arrived they closed for remodeling--this included taking down the bells from the tower. To celebrate the return of the bells and the newly renovated space, the church held a Messiah concert, which we all enjoyed.

We are so glad to hear the bells ringing each day again.