Portuguese People and Ed Sheeran!

Oh hey!

Yesterday Al and I spent an absolutely fabulous day in Hamburg.  We got up super early because it was a three-hour drive (or sleep, if you were me), and we had PLANS!

Plan 1: The Portuguese Consulate

Sigh.  Yes, I was way-overdue for a trip to the motherland's far-flung German outpost, namely because I moved nine months ago and never went to them to get my address officially changed.  I came prepared with every document I've ever gotten from Portugal (birth certificate, parent's marriage certificate, receipts for the hundreds of dollars said certificates cost), and of course neglected to bring any documentation proving I had changed residences.  Damn.  I was like, hey, from one porkchop to another, please? And Consulate Man was like, nope, need something with your address on it.  So I searched around in my wallet and found my organ donor card, which incidentally I had received two days before.  And filled out, by scribbling my address on there in the off-chance the doctors feel the need to notify Roommate that they're borrowing my liver in the event of my untimely death.  Somehow, this was accepted by Consulate Guy without comment.  And that is how I changed my address at the consulate.  With the hand-written information on my organ donor card.  Portugal win.

Although Portugal is apparently entirely uncaring about the official-ness of your supporting documents, they are exceptionally obnoxious about changing things.  I have to wait for a letter in the mail, which I then have to bring in person to the consulate in order for the change to be official.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but that's a ten-hour round trip train ride, in the middle of paper season.  Thank everything we ride the train for free, or else I'd suffer the loss of the 3 euros I paid to get the damn piece of paper anyway.

At any rate, Al and I got to enjoy forty-five minutes of Portuguese cooking shows.

Plan 2:  The Christmas Market

Hamburg's Christmas market opened yesterday, HOORAY!  I love love love Christmas markets.  Even though I had a God-awful Christmas in Germany last year, the Christmas markets were the one redeeming aspect of my life, and my love for them has not waned.  They are fabulous.  They are fabulous because you look at shit and eat things.  Al and I split a  a 3 foot piece of licorice, a bag of roasted almonds covered in Nutella, a thing of fried dough covered in powdered sugar (Schmalzkuchen), and then caved and got our own individual fish sandwiches.  I got the children's version because it came with a lollipop.  Which I didn't share.  And everything about everything was amazing.  And I love Christmas markets.

Plan 3:  Ed Sheeran concert!

Al and I had tickets to the Ed Sheeran concert!  Actually, Al surprised me with those tickets a couple months ago and I was SUPER pumped because I really really really like Ed Sheeran because I'm a girl like that.  And it was brilliant--the things that boy can do with a loop pedal are pretty spectacular.  I was a little nervous when hearing that the venue holds ten thousand people, only because I pinned Ed Sheeran for super coffee house and reserved practically to the point of standoffishness.  Nope.  It was fabulous fabulous fabulous he was so good and so cool.  Epic points to him.  And the guy that opened for his was pretty awesome too, although it took me about a minute of listening to decide if I liked it, at which point I decided I did, very much.  Here, have a song:

What I'm trying to say is.  Go see both of these people in concert.  And I think it's very tragic that Ed Sheeran is opening for Taylor Swift on her next tour.  He's fabulous, she can't carry a tune in a bucket, but don't tell my sister I said that.

Adios!