By which I mean that I could really get used to not having school when my teachers aren't there- I got home at 11:30 today, and it only took so long because German buses are infrequent and slow. I don't have school at all tomorrow!
Went to Essen on Saturday (Essen is a place name that translates to "Eating." Crazy Germans!) for a Stoppelfeldfest- think giant field, hay bales, small children, and sausage. I very much enjoy Germany's frequent meat and beer festivals, because they are delicious. This one was pretty kid-focused, though, which means boring for older people, and I left Anna and Verena there Saturday night and came home to recover from a day of meeting more people than I will ever remember. Sunday was a nice slow relaxy kind of day, with Uckendorf's Kirmes that night- basically another meat and beer fest, but smaller (because Uckendorf is tiny). More delicious, but I didn't stay long because there weren't many people around, so it was slow, and I had school in the morning. Of course, school doesn't start for me until almost 10 on Mondays, so I slept in until 8 and had mild bus-related misadventures and went to social studíes and then some whole-class meeting about their futures and then back home. Tuesday I had history for the first time and then English and then I got to leave early and had more mild bus misadventures, but more related to infrequency than any fault of my own. Bored all afternoon (gotta find me a club or something) and then people came over in the evening and still can't get the internet working upstairs (so no pics yet) and sleep and then today: wake up, wash hair, breakfast, get in car, get out of car, get on bus, wait on bus, get off of bus, block of English, talk to people, wait an hour, get on a bus, get off a bus, wait 20 minutes, eat pastry, get on a bus, get off a bus, walk, try to call some places concerning things to do in afternoon, get on internet.
Germany's apparent favorite song of the week: "Heartbreaker" (I wanna say it's Dionne Warwick's, but I need to hear it again to be certain. . . I could be remembering entirely wrong and it might be the Bee Gees).
I got a cell phone. It has fishies on it.
Commentors: you will now be asked to verify that you are a human person before you post. As long as you can see and recognize letters of the Roman alphabet and find them on a keyboard, you shall pass this test. I am racist against robots because they wait menacingly outside my house for me to come home.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
More German Fun
First week of school done. . . reading Baroque poetry in German is crazy hard. . . otherwise I'm managing quite well, although I still haven't had history. Next week is gonna be weird. . . 3 of my teachers are away for various reasons, and as Germany has yet to discover substitute teachers, I simply don't have to go to Art or German or Philosophy. . . this means that my schedule, which is already full of holes, is gonna be way empty. I guess I better learn to use the bus!
Fun Differences Between Germany and America:
In Germany, Hazelnuts = Peanuts. This means delicious.
German radio totally loves the 80s and I totally love German radio. They also play "Pave Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot" as if it's top 40 (there's another song that's a little silly for them to always be playing, but I don't remember which one)
Light switches are square. No one bothers to inform you of this difference before you come.
Toilet flushes are also square, and complex (you get to decide how long it flushes). Once again, this is kept as a special secret.
Supermarkets have a section devoted to salami the size of most American supermarkets' entire meat and cheese section. The whole meat and cheese counter takes up an entire wall.
Nutella for breakfast.
Breakfast in general.
Creamighurt.
Bakeries on every corner.
H&M on every corner that doesn't have a bakery (I could spend so much money at this store, and I think I will be buying myself birthday presents there).
Even the graffiti is pretty.
Free periods at school, and cancelled classes when the teacher isn't there.
Blinds are on the outside of the window. Complex but sleek German systems are used to raise and lower them.
School is discussion-based, which means I've gotta improve my German really fast.
I'm not certain I like them, but there are traffic circles at almost every intersection. There are also incredibly stupid and annoying random plots of dirt on the road meaning that people have to drive like they're going through an obstacle course and occasionally stop behind one of these plots of dirt and allow the oncoming traffic through. Bill might enjoy driving here, because the government apparently also doesn't understand driving on one side of the road and not the other.
That's all I can think of for now.
Picture situation: The only computer with internet at the moment is a laptop with one USB port that's rather important and being used. The other computer has more USBs but isn't quite jiving with the internet yet (it is new) and Hans-Josef will get it working sometime next week (He's currently on a bike tour with many of Uckendorf's men) and then I'll post. I promise.
Until then, you can enjoy some of Rose's pictures, starting with sexy tree.
Allyson should be a model, she is so pretty
We love sexy tree, we do.
Please wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Your prince is here!
Naked statues are sometimes astonishing.
Yes, we are awesome.
You don't want to know how much convincing it took to get Dustin to do this.
Immediately after this, Buster set off the alarm.
Fun Differences Between Germany and America:
In Germany, Hazelnuts = Peanuts. This means delicious.
German radio totally loves the 80s and I totally love German radio. They also play "Pave Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot" as if it's top 40 (there's another song that's a little silly for them to always be playing, but I don't remember which one)
Light switches are square. No one bothers to inform you of this difference before you come.
Toilet flushes are also square, and complex (you get to decide how long it flushes). Once again, this is kept as a special secret.
Supermarkets have a section devoted to salami the size of most American supermarkets' entire meat and cheese section. The whole meat and cheese counter takes up an entire wall.
Nutella for breakfast.
Breakfast in general.
Creamighurt.
Bakeries on every corner.
H&M on every corner that doesn't have a bakery (I could spend so much money at this store, and I think I will be buying myself birthday presents there).
Even the graffiti is pretty.
Free periods at school, and cancelled classes when the teacher isn't there.
Blinds are on the outside of the window. Complex but sleek German systems are used to raise and lower them.
School is discussion-based, which means I've gotta improve my German really fast.
I'm not certain I like them, but there are traffic circles at almost every intersection. There are also incredibly stupid and annoying random plots of dirt on the road meaning that people have to drive like they're going through an obstacle course and occasionally stop behind one of these plots of dirt and allow the oncoming traffic through. Bill might enjoy driving here, because the government apparently also doesn't understand driving on one side of the road and not the other.
That's all I can think of for now.
Picture situation: The only computer with internet at the moment is a laptop with one USB port that's rather important and being used. The other computer has more USBs but isn't quite jiving with the internet yet (it is new) and Hans-Josef will get it working sometime next week (He's currently on a bike tour with many of Uckendorf's men) and then I'll post. I promise.
Until then, you can enjoy some of Rose's pictures, starting with sexy tree.
Allyson should be a model, she is so pretty
We love sexy tree, we do.
Please wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Your prince is here!
Naked statues are sometimes astonishing.
Yes, we are awesome.
You don't want to know how much convincing it took to get Dustin to do this.
Immediately after this, Buster set off the alarm.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
School!
School started Tuesday and it's crazy. . . it's like a movie or tv show about school in some ways. . . my schedule's actually pretty free because I'm only taking one LK (think major, most people have 2) and I'm not doing math or science. . . English is my LK and I've got art and German and philosophy and social sciences (in English) and history. I've also got a lot of free periods in my schedule- Tuesday's the only time I have 6 classes in a row. . . I don't start until 3rd period Monday and Friday, I have 2 free periods in the middle of the day on Wednesday, and I'm done after 4th period on Thursday. Germans are super-nice and I'm getting to know people and I like it a lot. My English class is really weird because we're talking about America at the moment, and I'm acting as a source of sorts. . . noting where the text is a little wrong (more often than not it's a little too right and is slightly scary). Philosophy is fascinating and a lot like a RtR meeting but in German and is crazy hard but I'm working through it. . . SS is basically economics and seems a little hard but interesting and at least it's in English. . . art is fun and I've been really creative lately. I think the linguistic confusion that is my head has a lot to do with that- pictures are a more natural form of expression for me at the moment. . . a rundown of interesting points from the paper journal, including my big long post-WYD entry:
Sunday: arrival, drizzly, set up tents and figure out what's going on and German everywhere and new people and trying so hard to follow things and I played cards with Verena and hung out and I'm still not certain that I like white wine.
Monday: cold, rainy, gorgeous German weather. . . mostly setup and I don't remember much
Tuesday: still grossish, Verena went to stay with her aunt cause she was bored and I got a real shower and Kaisu and Anna and I went into Düsseldorf that afternoon and it was fun.
Wednesday: Kaisu and I went to Köln all by ourselves and there were people everywhere and it was insane but awesome and we rode trains successfully and saw a pretty decent musical called Rachel that was in like 5 languages. . . also hung out with all sorts of Uckendorf people in Düsseldorf that night at a concert that was boring so we left to get a beer and hang out and that was more fun
Thursday: low-key hang around camp day, do camp things, felt pretty adapted and comfortable, found internet cafe, discovered Beck's Green Lemon which is so delicious
Friday: low-key day again, hung out with Kaisu and Gil (the Brazilian exchange student) and Johannes (Gil's host bro- Kaisu is the niece of one of the Uckendorf people who was around, she lives out Bremen way, I think) and was up too late and had weird dreams (anyone who can tell me what "I'm on my way to being an 80's-style drive-it pouvre" means will be my hero- some dude in one of my dreams said it to me and I think it sounds awesome).
Saturday: got up and then went back to bed and took a nap that was too long but had awesome dreams again and at night we had a big volunteer party and there was dancing and some awesome band from Trinidad and Tobago and they had to teach the Germans to dance American style, which was funny, and I danced for so long and went to bed very happy
Sunday: pack up and head back and realize that school starts Tuesday and try to remember how to live in Uckendorf
Monday: shopping- buy me a backpack and Anna and Verena clothes and lots of food and German supermarkets are still exciting and hang out a little with Franzie and Katharine who are 13 and 15 and live down the street and get ready for school.
Tuesday: First day of school. . . grrr I dislike getting up at 6:30. Elke drove me and Anna and Michelle to school and I talked to the principal and decided to be in 12th grade and I went and checked out the whole class at once, which was intimidating, and then worked out my schedule and it was break time and I wandered and found Anna and then these nice boys from my class introduced themselves but I don't think I remember their names and then I had English and met more nice people and it was really an awesome classe. Double block 3 and 4 on Tuesdays. . . another break and I hung out with some people and then had art which also looks to be interesting and I am meeting people and that is exciting. Looked into a bank account here, but it may be just as expensive as using the debit card- do you know, daddy? I rather like German school- Germans are so friendly- my new German peers are mixing English and German with me, which is okay by me for the moment.
Wednesday: rode the bus to school and English remained fascinating and then I had 2 free periods, so I wandered around Zündorf (where my school is) for one period and then came back and sat on a bench and the weather was pretty and I drew until break time, when people came out and I was social. Had Philosophy, which is hard but fascinating, and the teacher is crazy but understanding. Same teacher for German thereafter, and some insane poem that I think makes sense now. Homework was a little weird- I translated things to figure out what's going on, and had to write about ethical questions for philosophy and spent forever working on that crazy Baroque poem for German. . . I skipped Sport because we still haven't figured the whole 10/11 period thing and I wanted to go to painting with Anna and Verena and I did a pretty cool picture in chalk that I want to hang on my wall. Finished up homework and ate chips and salsa and watched the OC in German (which was weird, but the show is still pretty gripping) and went to bed.
Today: I had Philosophy first, which is a very difficult way to start one's morning, and then Social Sciences (there are only 8 of us in the class, which is awesome) and then art and then Elke came and picked me up and I was home around 12 and worked on translating my philosophy notes so I can write some essay on what good is, or what determines if an action is virtuous, or something like that. The discussion was fascinating when I could follow it, but 2 periods of German philosophy can be rough. After lunch I figured out bus riding plans with Elke so I don't get all lost like poor Gil did yesterday and maybe soon I will be riding the bus home on days when I'm out early or to school on Mondays and Fridays, when I start late. Anna's gone to swimming (which she didn't want to do) and I've gotta think about starting this philosophy thing (I don't have the class again until Wednesday).
Sunday: arrival, drizzly, set up tents and figure out what's going on and German everywhere and new people and trying so hard to follow things and I played cards with Verena and hung out and I'm still not certain that I like white wine.
Monday: cold, rainy, gorgeous German weather. . . mostly setup and I don't remember much
Tuesday: still grossish, Verena went to stay with her aunt cause she was bored and I got a real shower and Kaisu and Anna and I went into Düsseldorf that afternoon and it was fun.
Wednesday: Kaisu and I went to Köln all by ourselves and there were people everywhere and it was insane but awesome and we rode trains successfully and saw a pretty decent musical called Rachel that was in like 5 languages. . . also hung out with all sorts of Uckendorf people in Düsseldorf that night at a concert that was boring so we left to get a beer and hang out and that was more fun
Thursday: low-key hang around camp day, do camp things, felt pretty adapted and comfortable, found internet cafe, discovered Beck's Green Lemon which is so delicious
Friday: low-key day again, hung out with Kaisu and Gil (the Brazilian exchange student) and Johannes (Gil's host bro- Kaisu is the niece of one of the Uckendorf people who was around, she lives out Bremen way, I think) and was up too late and had weird dreams (anyone who can tell me what "I'm on my way to being an 80's-style drive-it pouvre" means will be my hero- some dude in one of my dreams said it to me and I think it sounds awesome).
Saturday: got up and then went back to bed and took a nap that was too long but had awesome dreams again and at night we had a big volunteer party and there was dancing and some awesome band from Trinidad and Tobago and they had to teach the Germans to dance American style, which was funny, and I danced for so long and went to bed very happy
Sunday: pack up and head back and realize that school starts Tuesday and try to remember how to live in Uckendorf
Monday: shopping- buy me a backpack and Anna and Verena clothes and lots of food and German supermarkets are still exciting and hang out a little with Franzie and Katharine who are 13 and 15 and live down the street and get ready for school.
Tuesday: First day of school. . . grrr I dislike getting up at 6:30. Elke drove me and Anna and Michelle to school and I talked to the principal and decided to be in 12th grade and I went and checked out the whole class at once, which was intimidating, and then worked out my schedule and it was break time and I wandered and found Anna and then these nice boys from my class introduced themselves but I don't think I remember their names and then I had English and met more nice people and it was really an awesome classe. Double block 3 and 4 on Tuesdays. . . another break and I hung out with some people and then had art which also looks to be interesting and I am meeting people and that is exciting. Looked into a bank account here, but it may be just as expensive as using the debit card- do you know, daddy? I rather like German school- Germans are so friendly- my new German peers are mixing English and German with me, which is okay by me for the moment.
Wednesday: rode the bus to school and English remained fascinating and then I had 2 free periods, so I wandered around Zündorf (where my school is) for one period and then came back and sat on a bench and the weather was pretty and I drew until break time, when people came out and I was social. Had Philosophy, which is hard but fascinating, and the teacher is crazy but understanding. Same teacher for German thereafter, and some insane poem that I think makes sense now. Homework was a little weird- I translated things to figure out what's going on, and had to write about ethical questions for philosophy and spent forever working on that crazy Baroque poem for German. . . I skipped Sport because we still haven't figured the whole 10/11 period thing and I wanted to go to painting with Anna and Verena and I did a pretty cool picture in chalk that I want to hang on my wall. Finished up homework and ate chips and salsa and watched the OC in German (which was weird, but the show is still pretty gripping) and went to bed.
Today: I had Philosophy first, which is a very difficult way to start one's morning, and then Social Sciences (there are only 8 of us in the class, which is awesome) and then art and then Elke came and picked me up and I was home around 12 and worked on translating my philosophy notes so I can write some essay on what good is, or what determines if an action is virtuous, or something like that. The discussion was fascinating when I could follow it, but 2 periods of German philosophy can be rough. After lunch I figured out bus riding plans with Elke so I don't get all lost like poor Gil did yesterday and maybe soon I will be riding the bus home on days when I'm out early or to school on Mondays and Fridays, when I start late. Anna's gone to swimming (which she didn't want to do) and I've gotta think about starting this philosophy thing (I don't have the class again until Wednesday).
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Wahnsinn
I have so much to tell you, but I should really keep this short because free internet cafes only work if people don't spend hours in them. . .
I'm in Düsseldorf at the moment in the middle of a field with more tents than I have ever seen before in my life. There are people everywhere and so many languages- the people in front of me at the moment are speaking something that I think is African, and there are Italians all over the place, and Bero was right about the French (they are loud and obnoxious in large groups) and I've seen Aussies and Canadians and Brazilians and Greeks and lots of flags that I'm fairly certain are South American and lots more flags that I can't begin to recognize. I went up in the big television tower thing a few nights ago and I could see all of Düsselfdorf alight and I was something like 168 meters in the air and there were fireworks and it was gorgeous. I went to Cologne yesterday and there were people everywhere and I took pictures and on the unknown future day that I show them to you you will be amazed.
I can't begin to capture how crazy things are right now, and I need to wrap up because Iäm short on time.
I love you guys!
I'm in Düsseldorf at the moment in the middle of a field with more tents than I have ever seen before in my life. There are people everywhere and so many languages- the people in front of me at the moment are speaking something that I think is African, and there are Italians all over the place, and Bero was right about the French (they are loud and obnoxious in large groups) and I've seen Aussies and Canadians and Brazilians and Greeks and lots of flags that I'm fairly certain are South American and lots more flags that I can't begin to recognize. I went up in the big television tower thing a few nights ago and I could see all of Düsselfdorf alight and I was something like 168 meters in the air and there were fireworks and it was gorgeous. I went to Cologne yesterday and there were people everywhere and I took pictures and on the unknown future day that I show them to you you will be amazed.
I can't begin to capture how crazy things are right now, and I need to wrap up because Iäm short on time.
I love you guys!
Friday, August 12, 2005
Denglish Spass
The language of my thoughts is now officially Denglisch, which I guess is a good sign, although the process of translating to type this is terrible. Charlie auf Deutsch= so awesome- they even translated the Oompa Loompa songs and the voices were spot-on and it's so funny to watch it with German people (Jakob was sitting beside me and his occasional comments and gasps of surprise and mild, good-natured offense at the whole Augustus Gloop thing were so funny).
Roomies gave me a little picnic with amazing pastries from the bakery tonight, and we sat and talked until it started to rain (again- I walked/ran to the movies in the rain and at first we were at the wrong cinema and it was pitiful but we had fun) and then we came inside and there was some cute little German boy running around dressed up like a girl and he made us giggle and I took a long overdue shower.
Now the roomies want to sleep and I need to journal and I hope those Betreuers get home soon from their night of drinking (it is Bero's last night, so there is some goodbye partying going on, too) because I need to know what I'm doing tomorrow.
Roomies gave me a little picnic with amazing pastries from the bakery tonight, and we sat and talked until it started to rain (again- I walked/ran to the movies in the rain and at first we were at the wrong cinema and it was pitiful but we had fun) and then we came inside and there was some cute little German boy running around dressed up like a girl and he made us giggle and I took a long overdue shower.
Now the roomies want to sleep and I need to journal and I hope those Betreuers get home soon from their night of drinking (it is Bero's last night, so there is some goodbye partying going on, too) because I need to know what I'm doing tomorrow.
Explanations and More
Remember that strange thing I told you I did Monday night?
Our
little trip to the boy's hall common room constituted visiting the
island of Albatros. In this civilization, soil is holy and revered.
Women, who are fertile like the soil, are likewise revered above men.
Women are the only ones allowed to sit on the ground, whereas men must
be above it in chairs. Men must wash before they eat, and only women
are allowed to prepare and serve food. The closest contact a man can
have with the earth is in a traditional ritual in which the woman bows
close to the earth and the man places his hand on her back. The people
of Albatross communicate using hums and hisses to get attention, and
then with telepathy.
There was severe culture shock throughout our group, and then great
understanding.
Be very slow to judge.
That'll be familiar to the mailing list- they got that message yesterday because I love them more. (You can join this group any time you want.)
Hmm. . . gondola ride yesterday was awesome and Dustin took piles of pictures and says he'll upload them eventually so I'll show you sometime.
Disko at SIT was kinda lame but Rose and Dustin and Allyson and Christine and India and desk boys Jakob and Alwin and I hung out and it was cool and we walked home really really slow and played on the merry-go-round (the same one Rose and I hung out on the day we were late to school) and talked and then we all sat and looked at the stars and there are so many visible here and it's so pretty and we all saw a shooting star, but none of us saw the same one, and then we went in and sat for a while and hung out until Christian made us go to bed (it was 12:30) and it was a pretty cool night, lame dance notwithstanding.
Today: Jenny was sick and didn't go to school, and it was of course the one day that we discussed something interesting (Nuremburg trials) and then we came back for lunch that was sort of okay fish and pretty awesome sauce and then Jenny and Jake and Lydia and I worked on our presentation on German media (nothing like throwing a project together at the last minute) and then sat through long presentations and then Emily and I led each other around Tuebingen blind and it was pretty cool.
I'm going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory auf Deutsch tonight, and then the roomies are having a picnic for me because I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't know how long it'll be until I blog again (I am going camping for a week, after all), but I still love you all.
Our
little trip to the boy's hall common room constituted visiting the
island of Albatros. In this civilization, soil is holy and revered.
Women, who are fertile like the soil, are likewise revered above men.
Women are the only ones allowed to sit on the ground, whereas men must
be above it in chairs. Men must wash before they eat, and only women
are allowed to prepare and serve food. The closest contact a man can
have with the earth is in a traditional ritual in which the woman bows
close to the earth and the man places his hand on her back. The people
of Albatross communicate using hums and hisses to get attention, and
then with telepathy.
There was severe culture shock throughout our group, and then great
understanding.
Be very slow to judge.
That'll be familiar to the mailing list- they got that message yesterday because I love them more. (You can join this group any time you want.)
Hmm. . . gondola ride yesterday was awesome and Dustin took piles of pictures and says he'll upload them eventually so I'll show you sometime.
Disko at SIT was kinda lame but Rose and Dustin and Allyson and Christine and India and desk boys Jakob and Alwin and I hung out and it was cool and we walked home really really slow and played on the merry-go-round (the same one Rose and I hung out on the day we were late to school) and talked and then we all sat and looked at the stars and there are so many visible here and it's so pretty and we all saw a shooting star, but none of us saw the same one, and then we went in and sat for a while and hung out until Christian made us go to bed (it was 12:30) and it was a pretty cool night, lame dance notwithstanding.
Today: Jenny was sick and didn't go to school, and it was of course the one day that we discussed something interesting (Nuremburg trials) and then we came back for lunch that was sort of okay fish and pretty awesome sauce and then Jenny and Jake and Lydia and I worked on our presentation on German media (nothing like throwing a project together at the last minute) and then sat through long presentations and then Emily and I led each other around Tuebingen blind and it was pretty cool.
I'm going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory auf Deutsch tonight, and then the roomies are having a picnic for me because I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't know how long it'll be until I blog again (I am going camping for a week, after all), but I still love you all.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Bloeder Computer
I had a really nice long finish to my previous post typed up on Tuesday night, and then the internet died and I lost the whole thing. Wednesday I didn't have time to touch a computer because we went to Stuttgart to look at art and take pictures in the sexy tree. Today I am short on time and so will keep this ganz kurz for the moment, because my schedule looks something like this:
7 am- wake up
7:30- announcements, breakfast
8- give Bero my last cash (or so I thought until I found 5 more euros in change), leave one suitcase with him to be shipped to host family, leave for school
8:30- class begins
10- break, go to store, buy chocolate bar
10:30- class
11:45- lunch (yummy)
12:45- class
2:45- leave SIT
3:10- return to hostel, skip art, get on computer
6- announcements, dinner
7- Gondola ride
9:30- SIT dance
sometime after 12:30- sleep
And now Casey (who owns this computer) and her group want to use it for research, so I'm getting off of here.
7 am- wake up
7:30- announcements, breakfast
8- give Bero my last cash (or so I thought until I found 5 more euros in change), leave one suitcase with him to be shipped to host family, leave for school
8:30- class begins
10- break, go to store, buy chocolate bar
10:30- class
11:45- lunch (yummy)
12:45- class
2:45- leave SIT
3:10- return to hostel, skip art, get on computer
6- announcements, dinner
7- Gondola ride
9:30- SIT dance
sometime after 12:30- sleep
And now Casey (who owns this computer) and her group want to use it for research, so I'm getting off of here.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
It's Like Shaking a Bottle of Soda, But Instead of a Cap, Use Your Face
I'd give that context, but it's more fun without.
Last night:
Caroline (who was being a man for reasons I'd rather not discuss) and I went into a room on the boy's floor where two people were waiting for us. They began rubbing our legs and humming, and we eventually figured out that they wanted us to do the same. They then had me remove my shoes, and Caroline went to sit in a chair. I kneeled on the floor beside her. One of the people brought water for Caroline to wash her hands, and we both were given bread. Caroline then, following the example of the others, pushed my head towards the floor as I bowed.
Today:
Dustin overslept because Jesh's alarm didn't go off, and we were late leaving for school. Then, because we didn't really want to go, we stopped at the bakery and played on the merry-go-round and I got dizzy and we did eventually get to school and Carla didn't care so it was cool. We even paid attention all morning and bought some soda during break and lunch was so amazing- some sort of beef cut with this butter and herbs on it, and fried potatoes that were divine and even the salad was amazing. After lunch things were more boring but Andreas was back but Rose was passing notes to him and trying to steal him from me. I am pretending to be mad at her for it.
It is time for ballroom dancing! I will finish this later.
Last night:
Caroline (who was being a man for reasons I'd rather not discuss) and I went into a room on the boy's floor where two people were waiting for us. They began rubbing our legs and humming, and we eventually figured out that they wanted us to do the same. They then had me remove my shoes, and Caroline went to sit in a chair. I kneeled on the floor beside her. One of the people brought water for Caroline to wash her hands, and we both were given bread. Caroline then, following the example of the others, pushed my head towards the floor as I bowed.
Today:
Dustin overslept because Jesh's alarm didn't go off, and we were late leaving for school. Then, because we didn't really want to go, we stopped at the bakery and played on the merry-go-round and I got dizzy and we did eventually get to school and Carla didn't care so it was cool. We even paid attention all morning and bought some soda during break and lunch was so amazing- some sort of beef cut with this butter and herbs on it, and fried potatoes that were divine and even the salad was amazing. After lunch things were more boring but Andreas was back but Rose was passing notes to him and trying to steal him from me. I am pretending to be mad at her for it.
It is time for ballroom dancing! I will finish this later.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Good News!
I got all this extra time today when they cancelled the gondola ride (maybe due to unpredictable German weather) and so I uploaded pictures, because I know you wanted to see them. I have a bunch more, but it nears time for dinner.
This is a view of some houses along the Neckar (local river) that I'm in love with- I really like the way they are slightly crooked and all colorful and they are maybe my favorite thing to walk past every day.
This is the city hall- isn't it amazing and pretty full? Apparently the Tuebingen webcam is near this spot, and I can now prove that I have been past it and if you haven't seen me it is your own fault and not mine.
This is me and the Roomie's awesome door sign. Because we are awesome.
This is Mary attempting to row a boat. Mary should never be allowed to row a boat, because she is absolutely terrible at it.
Somewhere through all that good German fog you can see the castle Hohenzollern, which is very important to the history of this area for reasons I can't quite remember.
This is part of the outside of the castle we toured in Meersburg. It has a name, but I can't remember what it was.
There was an awesome view from the top of the tower- so so many steps, though (the Germans do love their steps).
I think that's Austria, but it might be Switzerland.
The following picture is whichever one the above isn't (I think- it's awfully hard to tell).
These are the living statues that I fell in love with. They were amazing.
BEGINNING OF LIFE PHASE UCKENDORF
This is a view of some houses along the Neckar (local river) that I'm in love with- I really like the way they are slightly crooked and all colorful and they are maybe my favorite thing to walk past every day.
This is the city hall- isn't it amazing and pretty full? Apparently the Tuebingen webcam is near this spot, and I can now prove that I have been past it and if you haven't seen me it is your own fault and not mine.
This is me and the Roomie's awesome door sign. Because we are awesome.
This is Mary attempting to row a boat. Mary should never be allowed to row a boat, because she is absolutely terrible at it.
Somewhere through all that good German fog you can see the castle Hohenzollern, which is very important to the history of this area for reasons I can't quite remember.
This is part of the outside of the castle we toured in Meersburg. It has a name, but I can't remember what it was.
There was an awesome view from the top of the tower- so so many steps, though (the Germans do love their steps).
I think that's Austria, but it might be Switzerland.
The following picture is whichever one the above isn't (I think- it's awfully hard to tell).
These are the living statues that I fell in love with. They were amazing.
BEGINNING OF LIFE PHASE UCKENDORF
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Casey got her Internet to work
So now I can maybe post more frequently- I don't have to go as far to ask for a computer.
Today was pretty quiet. We slept until noon (it's 6 am US time, so that sounds better, right?) and then Casey and Emily went to Istanbul for lunch and brought back some really delicious pizza that Mary and I finished off for them. Did you know that Casey and Emily are Methodists, too? It's weird that we ended up in the same room.
After lunch we had a talk about culture with Swantje that was fascinating- she kept using this metaphor of there being a big flood and the 55 or so of us being the only ones left and I really liked that idea for some reason- it's fun to imagine what we'd be like after 15 or 20 years living cut off from anyone else, just us (and the children that Swantje kept saying we'd have). There was a really nice element of cultural linguistics to our talk, too, which just makes me even more happy.
Other than that, I've pretty much just been knitting and reading and hanging out and I have to do a project on German media with Jenny and Jake and Lydia- we'll make a dvd, of course, to prove that we are way better than all the other groups. Roomies and I went for ice cream and now I am back here, on the computer. Nice slow relaxing day.
Oh! I forgot to tell you about the living statues that I fell in love with a little bit yesterday. They were really awesome, and reminded me of Chris Yates a lot. We decided that living statue is Mary's future career, provided we don't push her out the window so we can steal her stuff. I promise I love my roommates.
END LIFE PHASE RICHMOND-TÜBINGEN
Today was pretty quiet. We slept until noon (it's 6 am US time, so that sounds better, right?) and then Casey and Emily went to Istanbul for lunch and brought back some really delicious pizza that Mary and I finished off for them. Did you know that Casey and Emily are Methodists, too? It's weird that we ended up in the same room.
After lunch we had a talk about culture with Swantje that was fascinating- she kept using this metaphor of there being a big flood and the 55 or so of us being the only ones left and I really liked that idea for some reason- it's fun to imagine what we'd be like after 15 or 20 years living cut off from anyone else, just us (and the children that Swantje kept saying we'd have). There was a really nice element of cultural linguistics to our talk, too, which just makes me even more happy.
Other than that, I've pretty much just been knitting and reading and hanging out and I have to do a project on German media with Jenny and Jake and Lydia- we'll make a dvd, of course, to prove that we are way better than all the other groups. Roomies and I went for ice cream and now I am back here, on the computer. Nice slow relaxing day.
Oh! I forgot to tell you about the living statues that I fell in love with a little bit yesterday. They were really awesome, and reminded me of Chris Yates a lot. We decided that living statue is Mary's future career, provided we don't push her out the window so we can steal her stuff. I promise I love my roommates.
END LIFE PHASE RICHMOND-TÜBINGEN
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Weekends are the Best
A lot of people are going out dancing tonight, and, as I have no wish to dance to terrible American pop nor the rhythm to look decent while doing it, I've finally managed to get a laptop and have enough time to really use it, so I'll go into more detail on all the stuff I've done here.
Buster's sitting here making up a song about the out of tune guitar and it was wonderful.
My memory's terrible, so I'll grab highlights from the paper journal:
July 31 (the day of arrival)
In DC, there was a "Wall of Concerns" that we were supposed to put questions on. Mary put things like "When do we get to eat?" and "Does buying someone a drink constitute soliciting prostitution?" Legitimate concerns, but the panel failed to respond to them. . . .
August 1
I feel like I've been here at least a week. I can barely keep track of how long it's been sice I've done things, because I'm doing so much more than normal. . . Mark led us on a tour and showed us all sorts of useful things (like where to make the cheapest phone calls and where to exchange money and bookstores and the best bakery in town). . . After dinner we discussed our feelings and Swantje (I'm still working on that pronunciation) told us it was important to write down our feelings so we'd remember. I'm so excited I can barely sit still, and I just want to learn what's available to me so I'll know what I want. I can still barely believe I'm here, but I love everything about it. Honeymoon indeed. We made our door sign prettier with crayon drawings and I've been talking to my roommates for a while. I went in a German grocery store today! It was exciting. I bought water.
August 2
After waking up late 'cause Emily's clock was wrong, I hung out with Rose until it was time to go to SIT (Sprach Institut Tuebingen). It seemed pretty far going there, but we made it, despite the rain. We were early and had to wait a bit, then we went to our classes. I was with Rose and Jenny in group F. Scott and Kenzie were in another, but they switched to ours.
August 5 (yea, I got lazy for a few days and didn't write)
Roomies and I went in a rowboat and I got us stuck in a blackberry bush and we were all pitiful at rowing and Mary doesn't follow directions well- she ran us into a gondola once, and nearly hit one another time. School's pretty cool, too- yesterday the Greeks were away and we had new people- one from Switzerland (the French-speaking part and she had an awesome accent) and from Isreal and a nun from Croatia and a girl from France and one from Japan. It was really cool to talk with people from so many countries- I wish I had records of all our conversations. It was back to normal today, but it was still pretty interesting- we talked about education and also about the low birthrate in Germany. . . I'm in the Art AG Group with Mark and we met last night and it was all girls and we drew portraits (I drew Bevelyn) and Rose and Dustin and Buster (the local troubadors) mae an "Art Club Sucks" song, and then made a Bero song that's actually really catchy and I love it and I wish I were talented like them. I love the way Rose sits in her window and plays guitar and sings and we can hear it all over- even from the rowboat on the Neckar! Rose and Dustin were working on a song for Swantje that's awesome and they plan to do one for each Betreuer. . . We watched some strange movie that was apparently co-written by Tom Tykwer and it was confusing but I sort of liked it. I've successfully done laundry here as well. It was simple but cost 3 Euro. I've been helping other people I bit with their Deutsch- Mary's working on hers now and I'm helping her on pronunciation (like my accent's so great). We got totally lost on the way to lunch yesterday- there's a circle and like 8 streets and we tried so many and couldn't find the restaurant and finally we went around a corner and found it and it was funny but also pitiful and I laughed.
Friday Night
Emily, Casey, Mary and I went and bought a bottle of white wine and some cups and a corkscrew and took it to the park. It was a little strong for my tastes- Mary had two glasses, Emily one, Casey a little bit, and I had about 3/4 of a glass. We also had frozen eclairs that we didn't bother to let defrost, and it was so peaceful to sit in the park and watch the ducks and drink wine and talk and it was beautiful. We ran into Austin and Blair and talked to them for a bit and then headed toward town. It was getting dark, and we wandered looking for a restaurant because we were a little hungry and wanted to also try a little German beer. We ended up at the Biergarten right on the river where you can sit outside and we got one beer to split and some weird cheese and bread. We settled in and I actually rather liked the beer- it was certainly better than the wine, although Mary hated it. Our Betreuers showed up and it's really weird to drink with one's counselors, but it was fun. It started to rain a bit and Bero said our cheese tasted like sweaty feet, so we gave up trying to eat it, and Bero told us Karnival stories that we all giggled at and we finished our beer and went for ice cream and it started raining really hard and we were running back to the hostel sheltering our delicious ice cream (mine was hazelnut) and we got back soaked and Casey and Emily went roller skating in the hall and we started watching some movie or another and fell asleep. Definitely an awesome evening.
Now for today's events! We got to sleep in a little later- 7:15 or so, and got up to get breakfast and pack our lunches and head off to Lake Constance. It's a 2 hour bus ride to Meersburg, and we got there and took a tour of the castle (the tour was boring but the castle was pretty awesome to see- it's old and still privately owned) and then Casey and Emily and Mary and I wandered around the city for a while. It's very pretty and I took pictures and I'll upload them later. We went to some gorgeous baroque church then, and they wouldn't let us take pictures, but it was full of gold and murals on the ceilings, and marble that was 4 or 5 colors all at once, and it was so so pretty. We then got to take an unexpected side trip that made me so so so happy- Monkey Mountain! It's this place where they have all these monkeys that you get to feed, and they come up and sit on the fence and take the popcorn right out of your hand and it is so cool. Carly and Allyson and I had so much fun, and John seemed to keep scaring the monkeys away and Mike befriended them and the monkeys make this aggressive face when they're upset that's so so funny and I think Mike got a picture of it- I didn't take my camera in because I wanted to focus on the monkeys- I want one so bad. I also want a duck- the Neckar's full of them, and swans, too, and weird black swimming birds that have this funny head wobble when they walk. Back at the hostel after the monkeys, Christian barbecued for us and it was so delicious and I have a happy full belly and I'm tired and Buster's singing praise songs in the hall and Mary wants a turn, so I think I'm going to go shower (I really need to) and maybe just relax tonight.
Billy- do you know "I Can't Stop Falling in Love with You?" Buster's singing it in the hall right now and it sounds awesome- the Sparrows might like to do it.
Buster's sitting here making up a song about the out of tune guitar and it was wonderful.
My memory's terrible, so I'll grab highlights from the paper journal:
July 31 (the day of arrival)
In DC, there was a "Wall of Concerns" that we were supposed to put questions on. Mary put things like "When do we get to eat?" and "Does buying someone a drink constitute soliciting prostitution?" Legitimate concerns, but the panel failed to respond to them. . . .
August 1
I feel like I've been here at least a week. I can barely keep track of how long it's been sice I've done things, because I'm doing so much more than normal. . . Mark led us on a tour and showed us all sorts of useful things (like where to make the cheapest phone calls and where to exchange money and bookstores and the best bakery in town). . . After dinner we discussed our feelings and Swantje (I'm still working on that pronunciation) told us it was important to write down our feelings so we'd remember. I'm so excited I can barely sit still, and I just want to learn what's available to me so I'll know what I want. I can still barely believe I'm here, but I love everything about it. Honeymoon indeed. We made our door sign prettier with crayon drawings and I've been talking to my roommates for a while. I went in a German grocery store today! It was exciting. I bought water.
August 2
After waking up late 'cause Emily's clock was wrong, I hung out with Rose until it was time to go to SIT (Sprach Institut Tuebingen). It seemed pretty far going there, but we made it, despite the rain. We were early and had to wait a bit, then we went to our classes. I was with Rose and Jenny in group F. Scott and Kenzie were in another, but they switched to ours.
August 5 (yea, I got lazy for a few days and didn't write)
Roomies and I went in a rowboat and I got us stuck in a blackberry bush and we were all pitiful at rowing and Mary doesn't follow directions well- she ran us into a gondola once, and nearly hit one another time. School's pretty cool, too- yesterday the Greeks were away and we had new people- one from Switzerland (the French-speaking part and she had an awesome accent) and from Isreal and a nun from Croatia and a girl from France and one from Japan. It was really cool to talk with people from so many countries- I wish I had records of all our conversations. It was back to normal today, but it was still pretty interesting- we talked about education and also about the low birthrate in Germany. . . I'm in the Art AG Group with Mark and we met last night and it was all girls and we drew portraits (I drew Bevelyn) and Rose and Dustin and Buster (the local troubadors) mae an "Art Club Sucks" song, and then made a Bero song that's actually really catchy and I love it and I wish I were talented like them. I love the way Rose sits in her window and plays guitar and sings and we can hear it all over- even from the rowboat on the Neckar! Rose and Dustin were working on a song for Swantje that's awesome and they plan to do one for each Betreuer. . . We watched some strange movie that was apparently co-written by Tom Tykwer and it was confusing but I sort of liked it. I've successfully done laundry here as well. It was simple but cost 3 Euro. I've been helping other people I bit with their Deutsch- Mary's working on hers now and I'm helping her on pronunciation (like my accent's so great). We got totally lost on the way to lunch yesterday- there's a circle and like 8 streets and we tried so many and couldn't find the restaurant and finally we went around a corner and found it and it was funny but also pitiful and I laughed.
Friday Night
Emily, Casey, Mary and I went and bought a bottle of white wine and some cups and a corkscrew and took it to the park. It was a little strong for my tastes- Mary had two glasses, Emily one, Casey a little bit, and I had about 3/4 of a glass. We also had frozen eclairs that we didn't bother to let defrost, and it was so peaceful to sit in the park and watch the ducks and drink wine and talk and it was beautiful. We ran into Austin and Blair and talked to them for a bit and then headed toward town. It was getting dark, and we wandered looking for a restaurant because we were a little hungry and wanted to also try a little German beer. We ended up at the Biergarten right on the river where you can sit outside and we got one beer to split and some weird cheese and bread. We settled in and I actually rather liked the beer- it was certainly better than the wine, although Mary hated it. Our Betreuers showed up and it's really weird to drink with one's counselors, but it was fun. It started to rain a bit and Bero said our cheese tasted like sweaty feet, so we gave up trying to eat it, and Bero told us Karnival stories that we all giggled at and we finished our beer and went for ice cream and it started raining really hard and we were running back to the hostel sheltering our delicious ice cream (mine was hazelnut) and we got back soaked and Casey and Emily went roller skating in the hall and we started watching some movie or another and fell asleep. Definitely an awesome evening.
Now for today's events! We got to sleep in a little later- 7:15 or so, and got up to get breakfast and pack our lunches and head off to Lake Constance. It's a 2 hour bus ride to Meersburg, and we got there and took a tour of the castle (the tour was boring but the castle was pretty awesome to see- it's old and still privately owned) and then Casey and Emily and Mary and I wandered around the city for a while. It's very pretty and I took pictures and I'll upload them later. We went to some gorgeous baroque church then, and they wouldn't let us take pictures, but it was full of gold and murals on the ceilings, and marble that was 4 or 5 colors all at once, and it was so so pretty. We then got to take an unexpected side trip that made me so so so happy- Monkey Mountain! It's this place where they have all these monkeys that you get to feed, and they come up and sit on the fence and take the popcorn right out of your hand and it is so cool. Carly and Allyson and I had so much fun, and John seemed to keep scaring the monkeys away and Mike befriended them and the monkeys make this aggressive face when they're upset that's so so funny and I think Mike got a picture of it- I didn't take my camera in because I wanted to focus on the monkeys- I want one so bad. I also want a duck- the Neckar's full of them, and swans, too, and weird black swimming birds that have this funny head wobble when they walk. Back at the hostel after the monkeys, Christian barbecued for us and it was so delicious and I have a happy full belly and I'm tired and Buster's singing praise songs in the hall and Mary wants a turn, so I think I'm going to go shower (I really need to) and maybe just relax tonight.
Billy- do you know "I Can't Stop Falling in Love with You?" Buster's singing it in the hall right now and it sounds awesome- the Sparrows might like to do it.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Tuebingen ist eine Universitaet
I can't believe I've only been here 4 days- it feels like a month. I'm really learning my way around- I love going to Osiander (the book store) and Mueller (the everything store) and we found an AWESOME store across from school this morning- we'll definitely be going there on our breaks often. School- that's the Sprach Institute Tuebingen, where I go with Rose, Dustin, Jenny, Scott and Kenzie for more advanced German classes, which is really sweet- there are 7 Greeks and 2 Columbians in our classes, which leads to really great discussions- today our topic was "Home, Folk, Nation," which you can imagine was fascinating in our international group. I don't really like that we have to walk 20 minutes to school while everyone else stays at the hostel, but at least we'll be in better shape and we have a better idea of what stuff's around town- not to mention finding that awesome store!
Other than that, I've been getting closer to people here- we started a knitting club because so many of us do and there's an awesome yarn store in the city. This place is so so beautiful- I don't have time to upload photos now, but I'm hoping to when I get settled at my host family. I wrote them a postcard yesterday, but haven't gotten myself to the post office yet- stamps are SO expensive here! It costs 1 euro to send a postcard to America, and 1.55 for a letter. Don't expect too much from me, guys! Chocolate bars, however, are CHEAP- I got a Caramac for 29 cents, and Milkas are 69- it's so awesome. It's hard to find bottled water here, though- it's all mineral water or it's bubbly, but I found some apple flavored that's pretty good.
I bought a copy of Wilde's Dorian Gray in German and it's really hard to read (I'm on page 10, and it starts on page 7), but I'm having fun with it. It's hard to speak German all the time with so many Americans around, but I'm reawakening the Deutsch- I speak it to shopkeepers and at school and the like, and it's getting less foreign.
Well, I'd better let someone else have a turn, so I'll end for now- bis spaeter!
Other than that, I've been getting closer to people here- we started a knitting club because so many of us do and there's an awesome yarn store in the city. This place is so so beautiful- I don't have time to upload photos now, but I'm hoping to when I get settled at my host family. I wrote them a postcard yesterday, but haven't gotten myself to the post office yet- stamps are SO expensive here! It costs 1 euro to send a postcard to America, and 1.55 for a letter. Don't expect too much from me, guys! Chocolate bars, however, are CHEAP- I got a Caramac for 29 cents, and Milkas are 69- it's so awesome. It's hard to find bottled water here, though- it's all mineral water or it's bubbly, but I found some apple flavored that's pretty good.
I bought a copy of Wilde's Dorian Gray in German and it's really hard to read (I'm on page 10, and it starts on page 7), but I'm having fun with it. It's hard to speak German all the time with so many Americans around, but I'm reawakening the Deutsch- I speak it to shopkeepers and at school and the like, and it's getting less foreign.
Well, I'd better let someone else have a turn, so I'll end for now- bis spaeter!
Monday, August 01, 2005
I'm in Germany Now (In Case You Hadn't Noticed)
Well, I guess I've gotten here alright- the rest of the time in DC was pretty awesome. We had an alumni panel Saturday morning that answered a lot of questions and concerns and was very helpful. We left the hotel at 12 to go to the airport and spent HOURS waiting for them to check our bags. It was very boring and we all starved because we hadn't had lunch. Finally, they took our luggage and we got on a shuttle to go to our gate and I had some terrible pizza and hung out waiting for the plane (which started boarding at 4:30). Once on the plane, I discovered that I was sitting between two Germans, but we didn't talk much. Planes are boring and rather unexciting, especially night flights. I didn't sleep (okay, I squeezed in a few minutes around 2 German time, but it's too hard to sleep on a plane). We landed at 7 and the whole place was SO beautiful- from the air, Germany is a whole bunch of hills and the early morning fog settles around them and there are little villages dotting it and it's just amazing. Frankfurt's airport is far less interesting- there was English everywhere and it made me sad. The bus ride to Tuebingen was about 3 hours and it was really funny with 50 people and 100+ suitcases on one bus- we were close and crammed and it was wonderful. I talked to Allyson the whole way and felt like the 6 hours I had lost coming over had been spent sleeping. We got to Tuebingen a little before 12 and moved into the Hostel- I'm rooming with Mary, Emily, and Casey and we had to haul all our luggage upstairs, which was terrible and I'm very sore. We wandered a little before lunch, which was just open-faced sammiches, but they were SO good! The meat and cheese and bread here is amazing- I could eat it forever. We walked around the town a lot more after that- the hostel's right on the river Nekar, and it's about 100m from the main area of town and there was a festival going on and it's so beautiful- I'm trying to upload pictures.
Okay, it's dinner time, so I'll try to post more later.
Okay, it's dinner time, so I'll try to post more later.
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