This isn't the best journal entry, it's just a tribute.
Sorry for not having updated this in quite a long time. Since the last time I wrote, I experienced the craziest 'Holiday' and have gotten another year older.

The craziest bestest holiday is Fastnacht...or Karnival or Carnival...depending on where you are. In Mainz it is called Fastnacht. It is five days of people wearing (Halloween-esq) costumes and drinking in the streets. I was so tired on the Thursday of Fastnacht because I had worked the whole day and still had to work on Friday as well that I didn't join the festivities until Friday night. It was so funny because I dressed up as a Trucker and my roommate Elaine dressed up as the Tooth Fairy. We were both wearing bright blue wigs and had all sorts of slutty make up on. Everyone at work told me I had to hit up Eisgrub, this club in the Altstadt. So, we got there around 8pm and the place was packed. I couldn't believe it. So, we went in and everyone was in a weird costume and dancing. One guy was dressed up as a NY police officer and he totally startled me because it looked so real. This guy was like 6ft tall and had the whole uniform...and to me his costume of a police officer looked more real than the actual police officers here. They wear green here and just don't seem as intimidating. I also saw a lot of people (guys actually...) dressed up as 'Housewives' and had wigs and aprons with sponges glued to them. It was so great. We ended up going back there on Saturday night as well. On Sunday, I went to a parade with some friends and that was also hysterical. The people in the parade were all drinking and the people watching the parade were all drinking and this was on a Sunday morning at 11am. I couldn't even fathom drinking... It was frankly too early and the two previous days had wiped me out. But, I did have the energy to wear a costume. In fact, if one does not wear a costume when going out on these five days, people look at you weird. Since it was cold, I just dressed up as a Runner and wore the blue hair again. (It was almost like a hat...) At the parade, they threw out candy like one might expect at a regular parade...but, I somehow got a packet of German political cartoons (which I gave to a friend studying poli sci...) and Elaine got some cheese. (I told you it was a great holiday.) The next day...Monday, we all went out again (dressed up and all!) into the city and watched a few hours of the parade that was going on there. The entire parade lasted 6 hours. It all starts at 11:11am and it went until after 5pm. At 5pm they closed down part of a street in the Altstadt and had a gigantic stereo system set up with a stage and tv screens and had a huge street dance. It was so halarious. They were playing typical club music (hip-hop and stuff) as well as german music. The entire street was covered in left over trash from the parade as well as thousands of broken bottles of beer and sekt. But, it was so much fun. There were thousands of people in the street all dressed up crazy and dancing on a Monday night. The funniest thing was going into work on Tuesday morning and almost no one even bothered to come into work. I ended up going home early because I just didn't have anything to do because no one was there. So, if you get the chance...visit Mainz during Fastnacht.

I'll write about getting older later. I've gotta do some job searching...better late than never! And, if anyone knows of a job where they need someone who speaks german, let me know!