This is called the Spaghetti Eis. It's my favourite ice cream and not available anywhere except Germany. And for that matter I can't seem to find the ice cream anywhere else in Germany except for Bad Iburg.
So that trip I've just gone on can be considered my little holiday, though it's not really holiday for the sake of going somewhere, it's for the sake of visiting family. Early Friday morning Dad and I set off to go to Potshausen for the annual Familientag (Family Reunion). On Sunday night Dad took an overnight train to Zürich so that he could get to his Swiss workplace on time without bothering with any hotels (once a month for the past 2 years or so Dad's workplace has been in Switzerland but that will stop soon-the problems with working for a Swiss company eh?) while I stayed in Bad Iburg with his parents until Tuesday.
It's actually been 3 years since I last went to Posthausen so it took me a while to realise why everyone was so surprised by how much my German had improved. I myself found it surprising that various (2nd) cousins of mine had improved their English. In another little culture clash I failed to understand why everyone was making such a fuss when they found out I'll be spending a year in Heidelberg. I did know that Heidelberg is Germany's oldest University, what I didn't know was that getting into Heidelberg is like getting into Oxford-coincidentally Britain's oldest University. But I honestly didn't realise that Heidelberg is that well-renowned.
Right now I want to make a little comparison between my 2 families, since this year I was fortunate enough to be part of a family gathering of my English half of sorts through the event of my Grandma's 70th Birthday. I was astounded by Sue's (eldest of Mum's sisters) lack of knowledge of what Nathan and I were up to, Mum's job (the same one she's had for 8 years) and other kinds of life-pivotal things. In fact, no one in my English family (except Grandma) even realised we regularly ate pickled gerkins. As for my German family, if you didn't learn something amazing about someone at Potshausen, then the news will somehow get announced some way, normally through a mass email. Now the reason why so few of them knew I was going to Heidelberg was because that was a relatively recent decision, my parents didn't even know 'til shortly before Easter. Also my English family receives astounding news of great achievement with a nod of respect or maybe sends a communique of congratulations. My German family prefers to gush all over the wonderful person. Suits me fine but it can get annoying if it goes on too long.
Right, I think I'll start playing Soul Calibur 4 now. It arrived today and Nathan's currently out of the house.