Freakishly Happy

Ranting:
Although I'm not currently suffering through finals week, like my Mitstudenten/Innen in the States, I am never the less suffering through midterms. BLECH. The worst is over now, and I can finally get back to blogging.
We have been very good boys and girls, and Santa has already visited us every day since the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas (the 14th). Better yet, we've had snow 2 times already this week. The snow here doesn't really stick, but it is beautiful to watch falling because it looks like huge feathers floating down from the sky.
John has been very busy this last week, building us a four-post canopy bed. He's working away buisly at it now. The sounds of wrenching and drilling can be joyfully heard throughout our apartment. I'm very excited to see the finished product!
John's parents are going to be making a trans-atlantic journey to visit us, during the last part of January. We are eargerly awaiting their arrival and have already started making some preliminary preparations (YAY!)
The town is still filled with Christmas cheer. It is amazing to go in to the Altstadt at night. All of the buildings and trees are lit with white lights, and the storefronts are all bedecked with Christmas.
I finally got to try the hot fried potato things last week, and man alive were they fabulous! We didn't feel too hot the next day from all the grease, but man were they worth it!
My fingers and hands have finally cleared up for the most part, after eating no wheat, milk or eggs for the last 3 or so weeks. It's been really hard, because the holiday pasteries are so tempting, but it's worth it to be able to bend my fingers.
Well, I must commence my faulenzin' around (laying around and being lazy). Its been a cozy afternoon, and I think I'll read a book and take a nap.
I hope all is well with all of you!
Love,
Joni

Ranting:
Lately I've been noticing how many problems I've been having exiting or entering buildings here. I'm never at all sure whether to pull or to push. This has given me a new found respect for foreigners in the States. Here, as in the US the doors are all labeled, but the markings "Ziehen" for Pull and "Drucken" for Push, don't even begin with the same letter, or look remotely alike, and I STILL can not figure the dumb things out. It must be nearly impossible for non-English speakers in the States.
I have a serious feeling I'm going to spend a LONG time relearning the system when I return.
Unlike America, Germans do not feel the need to "code" their doors. In the US a door that is to be pulled has a vertical facing pull bar and a door that is to be pushed has a horizontal pull bar. This is not the case here. All the doors are however the heck they feel like being. This poses serious problems to those of us from "coded" door countries. You can tell who we are because we are often found standing, with a pile of snow on our heads outside of a door with a vertical handle, pulling with all of our might to no avail.
Does anyone else know what the door situation is in other parts of the world?