Advent Craziness

Somehow I've been extremely busy the last couple of weeks!  Besides actual work, it's been a mix of preparing lessons for school, doing homework for university, getting graduate school applications together, and socializing.  At school I've gotten the chance to do some fun lessons, like Thanksgiving with the sixth graders, a trip down Route 66 with the eighth graders, and art of the New Deal with eleventh grade history classes.  The latter is especially nice because one of the classes I'm taking at university right now is on the Great Depression and New Deal.  It's been very fascinating to finally learn about this in depth, especially in light of the present day situation.  I have to say that my knowledge of the present day crisis is probably much less than my knowledge of the 1920s and 1930s now though.
Amidst all of this, Advent is now upon Germany.  True, they've been selling Christmas food in grocery stores since September, but now it is officially Advent.  The whole progression to Christmas seems to be a bit more widespread here.  Advent calendars and wreaths are standard, even in pharmacies and my school.  The fifth and sixth grade classes even had a Christmas craft period to decorate their classes for the holidays.

Advent wreath with lit candle outside of the teacher's room at school

Most exciting for the the tourist-in-Germany is that the Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets) are open.  I've gotten the sense from many Germans that they aren't quite as exciting, especially since they're the same every year.  But since it's only my second Christmas in Germany, they're still quite novel.
I figure I'll write about different aspects of the Christmas markets to share the full experience.

Food stand in Hannover

Today: Food.
Mainly because I just picked up some Lebkuchen and was extremely happy about it!
But food is a large part of Christmas markets.  I think many of these foods are general carnival foods, but they're worth mentioning anyway.  Some of these are less in Christmas markets, but just general Christmas goodies.
Lebkuchen and Früchtebrot:
Back when I lived near Nürnberg/Nuremberg I enjoyed the special Elisenlebkuchen (gingerbread with more than 25% nut content) and Früchtebrot (fruit bread).  Turns out that they really are both very regional, because the only place I've found them here are at the Nuremberg stand at the Christmas market.  The downside is that they're both rather expensive (€1,80 for one cookie,) but you can still get regular gingerbread everywhere.  Here are the Elisenlebkuchen I bought today!  The woman at the stand let me try the regular Lebkuchen and the Elisenlebkuchen and there was definitely a difference; the latter are much moister and more delicious.  They're placed on wafers and can be covered in a glaze.  Früchtebrot is a bread with not much flour - just dried fruits and nuts.

Kartoffelpuffer:
Potato pancakes, with an option of apple sauce
Gebrannte Mandeln:
Almonds tossed with cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla sugar are the standard variety, but you can also get different nuts and different spice mixtures.
Stollen:
I haven't seen this at the Christmas market yet, but it's common in stores.  This is a specialty of Dresden.
Spekulatius and Vanilla Kipferl:
Two other common Christmas cookies.  Spekulatis are spice butter cookies in shapes.  Vanilla Kipferl are nut and butter cookies in crescents tossed in powdered sugar with vanilla sugar.  The one pictured is actually homemade by me at an international student event at the uni.

Other foods: Sausages of all types, baguettes, chocolate covered fruit, mushroom sandwiches, sheep cheese sandwiches, Germknödel (dumplings in vanilla sauce with filling,) roasted chestnuts, cotton candy, crepes - sweet or savory, fries.