German Christmas pt.6

Christmas time has been quite hectic and I haven't had much time to sit down and think about what I've been through. I am trying to enjoy every moment for I know that my time here is running out.
Every time I come to Germany I fall more and more in love with it. Even with its recycled toilet paper that sometimes feels like cardboard, even with it's unspoken rules of how to properly open the door and I was not aware of it, I have even gotten used to the stares! Germans love to stare.
This time, my German was perhaps a fraction better (there is still a lot of space for improvement!) and I could see how the people I had met before are even more funny than I thought. And how the people that I didn't like much before, I like now even less.
The other day I was with Mr.J and we met some of his friends at his apartment. I guess we were going to go out later but Germans meet somewhere else first to catch up and catch up on beers. So I met some of Mr.J's people and it was interesting to see how the themes we don't talk about with friends back home as to save the friendships (namely politics and religion) are pretty common topics here and people think nothing wrong with discussing and attacking other people's beliefs. Germans are so direct as to scathe. German humor is also direct and back home I would think "¿De dónde sacó éste tanta confianza para hablarme así?", but here my Puerto Rican skin would have to thicken in order not to feel offended.
There was a moment in the endless stream of German conversation that I realized they were going too fast, that I didn't understand where words began and others ended, that I didn't understand at all what they were talking about, not even the main topic. I was reminded of this episode I saw of the series "Switched at Birth". If you haven't seen it, they deal beautifully with deaf people and the problems they face. The scene I was reminded of was when the deaf kid was surrounded by hearing kids and they were all laughing and making jokes but he couldn't understand, he couldn't read lips and the camera zooms into his point of view and all sound goes out. This is how I felt at this moment. And nobody seemed to notice/mind/care.
On to nicer stories...
The next day I went back to Mr.J's hometown and it was unusually warm for this time of the year. Even though it was dark outside when we were driving, I remembered the streets and houses and I remembered the lights in the windows and the Christmas decorations. But it was not going to be a white Christmas this year like I hoped for! When we finally got home, it felt just like that... Home.