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Reported by Painted Turtle Guesthouse German interns Anna & Kat: On Thursday, November 25, Kat and I planned to go to the "Ladysmith Light Up". A few days before, something had happened that nobody had believed: it started snowing. Therefore, Nanaimo looked very festive and ready for Christmas. I started to think about having a "White Christmas" on Vancouver Island. But the snow ended up being the cause for the cancellation of the Ladysmith festival. It is kind of crazy that the inhabitants of the Central Island complain quite often about a lack of snow and when it snows they decide to cancel whole festival... A week later we were still looking forward to the "Light Up". We went there by bus, which was organized by the Vancouver Island University and met interesting and new people on the road. It seemed like the whole Vancouver Island was coming to Ladysmith this evening! There were traffic jams everywhere and it took us about an hour to get there. As we arrived, it was dark. Most parts of Ladysmith had no lights at all because they wanted the light up effect to be as overwhelming as possible. First of all, we went for a little walk on 1ST Avenue where the main action took place: people sold smokies, mini doughnuts, hot apple cider (our new favourite beverage), BBQ flavoured popcorn and hot dogs. Santa and Ms. Claus arrived at 6.30pm in order to light up the city. Everything that had been dark and cold turned into an ocean of warm lights. You could really feel that Christmas was close. The following Kinsmen Parade spread even more Christmas spirit: Santa and Ms. Clause, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, snowmen and festive lit up trucks passed by. As soon as the parade was finished, everybody streamed to Aggie Hall, where the fireworks took place. Suddenly, the first firework exploded into heaven. It was breathtaking! You could see millions of different colours and we were speechless for about fifteen minutes. At the end of the fireworks, everybody joined in singing "Silent Night" together. Having finished singing, Kat and I decided to have a look at Aggie Hall itself. It turned out that there was a Christmas craft fair inside, which we nearly missed! You could buy native art, handmade socks, and Christmas decoration. I couldn't help myself from buying nice earrings. Now I am a proud owner of gingerbread-men-shaped jewelry :) santaannakatAlthough it was freezing cold outside and we couldn't feel our toes anymore after watching the parade for about an hour, it was very nice in Ladysmith! Best wishes from Santa and us(Anna & Kat)! For our German friends...

Kat und ich planten am Donnerstag den 15. November zum Ladysmith Light Up zu gehen. Nur wenige Tage zuvor passierte etwas, mit dem niemand gerechnet hatte: es begann zu schneien. Deshalb sah Nanaimo sehr weihnachtlich aus. Ich begann auf “weisse Weihnacht” zu hoffen, aber letztendlich war der Schnee die Ursache fuer die Absage des Ladysmith Fetsivals. Es ist verrueckt, dass sich die Leute immer ueber zu wenig Schnee beschweren und wenn es dann schneit, werden ganze Fetsivals verschoben.

Eine Woche spaeter freuten wir uns immer noch auf das Festival. Wir fuhren mit dem VIU Bus dorthin und lernten viele interessante Leute kennen. Es schien als wolle ganz Vancouver Island an diesem Abend nach Ladysmith! Ueberall war Stau und wir brauchten fast eine Stunde bis zu unserem Ziel.

Als wir ankamen war es dunkel. Der Grossteil von Ladysmith war unbeleuchtet, um den Light Up Effekt so spektakulaer wie moeglich zu machen. Als Erstes entschieden wir uns einen Spaziergang ueber die 1st Avenue zu machen, wo das hauptsaechliche Geschehen stattfand: es wurden Bratwuerste, mini Doughnuts, Heisses Cider ( unser neues Lieblingsgetraenk) und Popcorn mit BBQ-Geschmack angeboten.

Santa und Mrs. Claus kamen um halb sieben in Ladysmith an. Puenktlich begann die ganze Stadt wie ein Lichtermeer zu leuchten. Man konnte foermlich spueren, dass Weihnachten nahe war. Die anschliessende Kinsmen Parade verbreitete noch mehr Weihnachtsstimmung: Santa und Mrs. Claus, Rudolph das rotnasige Rentier, Schneemaenner und komplett beleuchtete Trucks fuhren an uns vorbei.

Sobald die Parade vorbei war, lief man zur Aggie Hall, wo das Feuerwerk stattfinden sollte. Ploetzlich schoss die erste Rakete gen Himmel und explodierte. Es war atemberaubend. Wir sahen tausende von veschiedenen Farben und waren einfach nur sprachlos. Anschliessend stimmten alle in “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht” ein.

Nach dem gemeinsamen Singen, wollten Kat und ich uns noch die Aggie Hall von innen anschaun. Es stellte sich heaus, dass eine Art Bazar in ihr stattfand, den wir fast verpasst haetten. Man konnte Traditionelle Kunst, selbstgestrickte Socken und Weihnachtsdeko kaufen. Ich kam nicht umher Ohrringe zu kaufen und bin jetzt stolze Besitzerin von Ohrringen in Lebkuchemann-Form.

Obwohl es draussen eiskalt war und unsere Zehen fast einfroren, war es ein toller Abend in Ladysmith!

Weihanchtliche Gruesse von Santa und uns!

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