New years in Allgäu

First of all it will be in order to start by wishing all the Daad bloggers and all the readers a happy new year! Despite having crossed over from 2009 there are a number of unfulfilled dreams or desires that still linger in our minds and we probably wish we would be given more time to fulfill those tasks. There is a proverb in Swahili that literally translates “forget the past and focus on the future”. However, there are some important lessons that serve as important landmarks in our lives, which we ought not forget. One thing that I have learnt and would wish to pursue this year is the element of wise time use. Where I come from we say no hurry in Africa to imply that there is no need for keeping time and I have learnt why the wise said “time is money” since I arrived here in Germany, that reminds me of how I spent my new year allow me to recount.

I never made it to the Euro trip as I had earlier accounted, reason being that just at the last minute when we were scheduled to purchase the tickets something pressing came up and I was alerted that I had to look for a room, as there was a problem with my current contract. Therefore, I had to set aside cash for paying deposit and the rent for January, as I had to vacate my room by the end of the year. Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on that as if I had booked my ticket earlier then despite the small mishap, i would have still gone for the euro trip, my point is precisely plan early for everything!

view from outside my host house

A scenery from garmisch-partenkirchen

Anyway I vowed not to spend my new year in Bremen but venture out and visit my friend in the southwest of Bavaria at a place called Allgäu. But I still did not learn my lesson so instead of purchasing the discounted ticked that would have cost me only 29 Euro I delayed for only five minutes and found the offer gone, I had to part with more money. After travelling for 10 hours due to the delays by the ICE I finally made it to Allgäu, ohh it is a beautiful countryside with lovely friendly people and the scenery is amazing. Since it was the eve to New Year, I was treated to a meal known as fondue; it’s a funny meal originating from the Swiss and involves dipping pieces of flesh in hot oil over a small gas burner. It requires a lot of patience and with the hunger that I had, eating one piece of meat and waiting for the next piece for five minutes was really an uphill task but somehow I managed. For the New Year celebration we had a family day indoors and I had fun playing with the kids just being a kid again and carrying kids on my back felt good.

On the second day of the year we started the day by shoveling some snow as the previous night it had heavily snowed, don’t be surprised when I tell you that my first encounter with snow was here in Germany and am still intrigued by it so shoveling snow is an experience never to be forgotten. We set out for a journey bound for Innsbruck in Austria but could only manage to cross over the boarder and fuel and turn back due to the heavy snowfall and heavy traffic along the way. Most of the people were coming from Austria and there were a number of vehicles stuck along the highway, which coupled with the fact that the main attraction that made us set out the journey, the ski jump had been cancelled due to heavy snow.

Trying out the sledge

Consequently, we decided to enjoy some sledging in Ostallgäu instead of going back without any activity.

On our way back we passed by the Olympia Skistadion, a testimony of how man can be creative, it’s a site to behold. All in all despite having not achieved the objective of the day I can say with certainty that I am enjoying every little bit of my stay hear. And the greatest thing of all is that my lessons start next week so I can extend my stay here for a few more days before finally heading back to Bremen. That reminds me of these things called resolutions, have you made yours or should I say did you fulfill all last years’ resolutions? Please tell me about your experiences with resolutions.