There were 2 good things about winter in Germany....

I was looking through some of my old photos taken in January, and I thought that while my digital camera isn't working and I don't have a replacement yet.  That I'd share a few old photos. 

  One advantage of the long cold winters:  I could hang my Dr. Pepper, in a sack, out on the door handle of my classroom.  It would be icy cold by lunch.

This is the school parking lot.  You can see some 'footprints' and sometimes we had to walk across this snowy mess.  There was no path from the cars to the school- you had to walk across the grassy area for about 8 feet or more (now under the snow of course) over the snow to get to the road that was in front of the school.   See the arm?  That raises and lowers for the buses to leave the road/loop right in front of the school onto the actual road that leads into the parking lot and to the school.  The actual road is between the 2 different sections of  parked cars.   This area had a slight incline too and when it got icy - it was very difficult to get to your car!   Even with snow boots!   One morning, we had to form a human chain to get across the 'bus road' right in front of the school -- because there was black ice and you couldn't walk alone.   WE just shuffled our feet slowly and held each other up.  

This is the start of the 'mountain of snow' from the plowing of the snow in this immediate area.  This was so that cars could park in immediate area.   This mountain of snow got much bigger as the weeks passed.  This photo was taken in early January one year.  Eventually, you wouldn't be able to see the school.   We'd have a guessing contest for the kids to guess 'the date' the date that the snow in this mountain would finally melt.   In April.     *IF YOU look right in front of the green car -- see that area from the front of the green car to the dark grey blacktop road?  That's the area that teachers had to cross after getting out of their cars.   It was never shoveled.   We'd make several pathways with our feet- and it would get icy and we'd have to make new ones.  You had to wear snowboots just to get from the vehicles to the road because this snow would be 2 feet or more in places.

What was the 2nd good thing about the long German winters?   YOU could go grocery shopping and then go out to dinner and not have to worry about the food in your vehicle spoiling! 

Hey, I had to find the good where I could.  ha ha