Alles Gutes

Another New Years has come and gone. This was my fourth New Years in Germany and I think I finally got it figured out. You can't wish anyone a 'Happy New Years,' 'Frohes Neues Jahre' until midnight! If you do it is considered bad luck, but you can wish them a 'Good Slip,' 'Guten Rutsch.' It sounds weird, but we tell people to 'Break a Leg' when they are about to perform. Then the day after New Years you can wish people 'Alles Gutes,' which directly translates as 'Everything good' but it convey, 'I hope everything goes well in the new year.'

The Germans go crazy with the fireworks. They throw them out the windows into the street and shoot them off from their Balconies. It is crazy and a little scary. They don't worry too much about where they throw them and sometimes the young guys light them in the subway stations and throw them into crowds of people. I prefer to watch from my apartment balcony and windows but you still have to keep an eye out for stray ones.


I have been thinking of a good new years resolution but I have come up with a good one yet. I don't want to do the standard, Lose x amount of weight or run a marathon. Those kind of resolutions never seem to work. I Guess I will resolve to focus on my goals and to not allow my self to get lazy. I mean, I can have a bad day or two and I can be stuck, but I will not allow myself to give up. I will just keep at it.

The goals I have are general. I want to lose weight and become healthy and fit. I want a full time job. I want a new apartment and I want a dog. All of these goals are not as easy to achieve as one may think. I have some work ahead of me to insure I achieve these goals. So I will have to stay focused to the task at hand. which is not one of my strong points, hence my Resolution.