Christkindlmarkt

Santa Claus is coming. Less than a month until Christmas, which is weird, because I feel like the Christmas decorations are usually in full swing by now, but it hasn't been so bad this year. Maybe it's because Halloween is becoming bigger and bigger in Australia, so the Christmas decorations don't start until after Halloween is over, whereas they used to start going up at the start of October.

There was a German Christmas market held at the Town Hall today. I don't spend very much time at the Town Hall. It always reminds me of Age of Empires, and I imagine people dropping off food, wood, stone and gold there. That's not what happens at all. I've been to a Melbourne Comedy Festival event there, and I saw a pianist there once. So there is quite a large hall. Which is why I was expecting quite a large event.

This is what happens when you let your expectations get ahead of you.

It was a fairly cosy event. I'm not just saying that to be kind. It was run by the Australian-German Welfare Society, which seems more like a community group than something like Alliance Française (which does a lot of the French events in Melbourne). There were a lot of older people at the event today, though that's understandable, as it was held during business hours on a Wednesday. I was only able to go because I happen to work in the CBD.

There were a lot of Christmassy things for sale.

I was pretty tempted to buy one of those laser-carved puddings ($35, IIRC), but I don't even know what I'd do with it. The Christmas cards were also amazing (all hand-made), but I haven't sent any Christmas cards for a while. :(

The last one I sent was to someone who was here from Canada. Funnily enough, it was a Christmas card with snow on it, and she gets a lot more snow that I do. But it didn't arrive until March, mostly because I attached a bunch of other stuff to it.

It was more of a "Come back to Australia!" gift than a Christmas card, but it doesn't seem to have worked, because she seems very content freezing her ass off in Canada. I was also thinking that some of her Canadian friends might not believe some of the things she said she ate while she was here, and it might help her show them that Vegemite is real.

I was tempted to buy some stollen at the market, but I asked the woman what it was like, and she said it's like a cake. I asked if it was sweet, and she said it tasted like cake. That didn't really answer my question. I was curious to know what it tasted like, in case I ever wanted to make my own, but maybe I'll just wait until we return to Germany (if we ever do).

I was expecting more food at the event, as I had planned to get lunch there. They had a menu with bratwurst on it, but all I could see was cake.

Not that cake is bad, who doesn't like cake?! But it probably doesn't make a very good lunch. It was too hot to eat lunch anyway, and I ended up just having a smoothie for lunch. A vegan, gluten-free smoothie. Pharmacist would be proud. Not really. Nobody tell him.

Oh, and before anyone points out that I haven't made ice-cream this month, it is churning as we speak! It won't be ready until tomorrow, but I technically made it today.

I have decided that I'm going to call it quits on the monthly ice-cream challenge at the end of the year. I have really been struggling with my weight lately, and I don't think all that fat and sugar is really helping. Once I've removed the shackles of all these obligations, I feel like I'll have more time for the gym, and more time to cook healthier food. Well... that's what I'm claiming now.