Christmas season coming

Now is a time of much anticipation. Christmas and new year are coming, and along come a lot of holidays. People are busy planning their vacation trips. Germans usually plan their hoidays well ahead of time. They usually spend Chritsmas with parents and then head for popular locations for the new year celebrations. Looks like there will be no snow on Christmas. There was some snowfall last Monday but it didn't stay long. It is, however, getting colder. There are Christmas markets in every city. This is usually a lot of stalls put in the center of the market with a lot of lighting and Christmas trees. Unlike shops, these markets are open late and on Sundays. Big stores are offering attractive discounts on their products to be given as Christmas gifts.

The university is closed for the next week. Even the heaters are shut down so nobody can work there. This is the first time i have heard of a complete shut down. We are also planning to visit our friends across the farthest parts of Germany. We also plan to help the next batch of HEC scholarship holders arriving at the end of this month. We remember what difficulties most of us faced when we first got here in Germany. So we intend to go to the airport and at least help them in getting on the right trains to their respective destination cities. They'll most probably arrive late on new-year night with nobody to guide them. This is what happened to us. Although it is a good experience but some of us had a very painful experience.