Friday, Dec. 19, 1969
11:30 AM
Dear Mother, Dad, Serena, John, Mary, Grandma, Aunt Mary, Uncle Bill, Marianne, Cris, and Rob,Hi! This is the last letter I'm going to write until January 12 so don't throw it away. Save it and reread it every 3 days or so whenever you're wondering where I am or what I'm doing. I'll probably be riding on a train somewhere between leaving Münster and arriving back. My Rucksack is all packed -- in addition to what I'm wearing (a pair of slacks and a sweater) I'm taking another sweater, another slacks, a skirt, sleeping sack for hostels, pajamas, towel, washcloth, assorted soap & shampoo, and a book to read Die Sterne Blicken Herab [The Stars Look Down] by A.J. Cronin. I also have a bag of food to take but I doubt seriously if there will be enough to last 3 weeks. . . . The train leaves in a little over two hours, so all I have to do is eat lunch and catch the bus to the station.
We had a really nice Christmas celebration the other night. We had fondue (?) for dinner. I'm not sure if that is the correct name but it was little chunks of meat which we put on sticks and cooked over the little fire right on the table. There were all sorts of relishes and sauces to go on them along with bread, cheese, and pickles. It was really yummy. The dessert alone would have been enough to satisfy me, for it was fresh fruit with whipped cream.
Mütti then stuck Ann and I in the kitchen to dry the dishes and when she called us out again it was if Santa Claus himself had found us. She had made us both dresses -- identical except mine is a little longer since I'm 4 inches taller, and we got matching baby-doll pajamas, dressy purses (mine silver, Ann's black), handkerchiefs (we're always using Mutti's paper towels or toilet paper for kleenex), beer mugs, candy, cookies, and I got a little umbrella that opens up pretty big, and a heavy blue sweater which I'm wearing today. I also got to open the package from Mike which was a beautiful book full of poems and photographs, Tender Bough. It was a really nice Christmas, I suffered my little bit of homesickness, and now I'm just raring to cover Europe. It'l probably be up to me to keep our group spirits up on the actual Christmas day as Rosie and Alan are already getting down in the dumps about it.
My time here is half up but I think the second half is going to go flying past about twice as fast as the first which has gone fast enough. Dr. Spaltmann, the director, is already making arrangements for the arrival of the spring group on Good Friday. I told Mutti she wouldn't need to take anybody from the new group, I would stay here. Much as I would like to, I'm also anxious to get back to Kalamazoo and it might be difficult to do both. It seems a pity that we have to be here while it is so freezing cold and then leave as Spring begins.
It's time to eat. I hope you all have good holidays and that you, too, enjoy the next decade!
Love,
Catherine
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