Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!!

This year Katy and I went over to one of the guys on the team. There we hung out for a while and ate some good German food/snacks that his girlfriend had prepared. We also played a game where you put a name on a piece of paper and then put it on someones forehead. Since they cant see the name on the paper, they have to guess who it is. The person can only ask ask yes or no questions. If they get a question wrong it goes to the next person. If they get their question right they can keep asking questions (as long as they get them correct) until they either guess their person or get a question wrong.

Here in Giessen they dont have a big fireworks display that you would see back home on the 4th of July or like many other bigger cities here in Germnay have for new years. Instead everyone does their own fireworks. Here anyone over 18 can buy the fireworks that shoot up into the sky and explode. I think if you want to do that back home you have to get a permit or its illegal or something like that. Here, every grocery store or pretty much every gas station you go into has the fireworks that shoot up into the air and explode.

Well, at midnight, even though it was pretty cold there were tons and tons of people outside and they were all lighting off fireworks. As you looked up and down the street, and over the apartment buildings on each side of the street you could see fireworks exploding. After a little while the smell of fireworks was all around and there was a haze that was everywhere. When you looked down each way the street went you could tell it was there way off in the distance. And we were engulfed by it where we were as well.

With everyone lighting off fireworks, it wasnt just the adults, it was kids as well. I can see why they dont allow those types of fireworks back home. Fireworks were hitting apartment buildings, they were hitting cars, people were shooting them down the middle of the street (even though there were cars parked on each side) we even had one come close to us. A kid wasnt really paying attentiong to what he was doing (at least I hope thats what happened and it wasnt intentional) and shot one our way. It hit a 4 foot high brick wall in front of us, but we were a little worried for a second.

Aside from that it was neat to see all the fireworks going off. It seemed like you could always hear a firework exploding, even if it was in the distance. And for that 30min-1hour stretch around new years everywhere you looked you could see fireworks.