Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Leave it to Pro 7

To give me a solid laugh today. So Piff and I were baking some cookies and had the tv on in the background. Know what today's mid-afternoon docudrama theme was? Airports. So first some silly thing where some reporter went to Frankfurt and watched people cry as other people came and went and we rolled our eyes and laughed. Then, oh THEN came "We're a Happy Family," the docudrama that looks at some family's life. And you know what today's family was preparing for? Their daughter's return after 10 months in America as an exchange student. Oh, Piff and I laughed and laughed and laughed at these silly people, all setting up a brand-new television and cleverly hiding it under a flag, and making a big banner, and counting down the hours ("oh she's in Washington with her 7 hour layover now") and putting a frickin red carpet outside their door. And the little brother who saved his allowance for "weeks" to get €14 together to buy flowers. And how they went to the airport and rolled out their giant banner and put a bow on the dog and stood. And stood. And waited. And Piff and I laughed at them, and they waited, and then their daughter came home and looked sort of scared and then acted all excited. Her luggage got sent to Denmark, ha-ha. Then she came back to her house and was all "oh wow red carpet" and walked up to the door but she had no house key, so she had to wait for someone else to come let her in. Then she walked in and was all "Oh WOW it all looks so. . . same. Like it always did. Huh." And then she was too dumb to figure out the tv was under the flag and gosh this thing was funny.

Our cookies turned out okay, too, even if Piff breaks half of them in the process of getting them off the cookie sheet and on to the wire rack.



Don't you dare go getting ideas about a red carpet.

Introducing the Amazing Rockethead

For comparison purposes, a picture of me from last August, and a picture of me from May:




I spent Monday packing. Packing. Lots of packing, totally all packed up now. And I did my Abmeldung from Augsburg and I cleaned a bit and that was Monday. Yesterday, I got out of bed early and went with my host mom and Anja and Nadja to look at pretty castles and prettier mountains. We were kind of bad about taking pictures, but that's why I have the joy of hyperlinks. We went to Neuschwanstein and chose to just look at the outside cause the website has better pictures of the inside than is worth paying money to see for real. Then we went off driving through the mountains and stopped at the Plannsee for a swim and there was a weird guy there who talked to us and we decided later that he must have been a mailman but it was good swimming and we built towers from the rocks. Then back in the car and we drove to Linderhof, which is a very very pretty baroque castle that is mini-Versailles because Ludwig II really really hearted Louis XIV really. Totally pretty pretty place that doesn't let you take pictures inside but you should check it out sometime. Then we had dinner at the little restaurant there and I had real German Käsespätzle for the last time for a while, I guess, but I can totally make my own Käsespätzle. Then we drove home and stopped to stand on a mountain for a bit and then kept driving home. Somehow, a day in the Alps was what I needed right now- a day to go sit in this giant dramatic landscape and have my giant dramatic thoughts, or be able to finally ignore them, because these mountains have been here for so long and will stay here for so long and we can build our castles and highways and ski slopes, but even our tallest towers barely change that horizon, great beasts poking jaggedly into the sky.


I have a lot of things to do today, I guess, which is why I am awake early, I suppose (it is probably just nerves, really, and maybe the heat a bit).


And since I was asked, no, I am not going to be in any shape to play a mandolin this Sunday (hopefully those skills will come back soon, though!) but if the Sparrows want to change their program to include Lord I Lift Your Name on High somewhere, I will totally teach you guys how to sing it in German. Cause my German church is getting pretty good at singing it in English, and it is only fair. I promised.

Herr dein Name sei erhöht
Herr ich singe dir zu Ehre
Danke, dass du in mir lebst
Danke für deine Erlösung
Du kamst vom Himmel hierher
Zeigst uns den Weg
Und du hast am Kreuz bezahlt
Für meine Schuld
Und sie legten dich ins Grab
Doch du stiegst zum Himmel auf
Herr dein Name sei erhöht

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Put Your Records On

Goodness I <3 Jesus Christ Superstar. I mean really. Last night's performance suffered a teensy tiny bit from accent issues (Judas especially) but only a little bit really. Otherwise, it was beautifully done and the director added some nice little sub-sub-themes via costuming: Herod showed up in a bathrobe, hooked to an IV, surrounded by nurse-themed background dancers. Naturally, I assumed he had AIDS, which is equally morbid and hilarious. When Judas did his zombie bit at the end and danced around the cross, his backup dancers were dressed in American flag vests, leading me to the assumption that some sort of blame was being laid on the US, with which I am not at all okay. I guess Americans are the new Jews? Another detail of the crucifixtion scene involved a dude with a video camera all up in Jesus's face, and Anja told me she interpreted that as Mel Gibson, which made me laugh. The Sanhedrin lacked the crazy onion dome hats they have in the movie, but they had some major bling going on and I guess that's cool too. Pilate OWNED his role, and was apparently some sort of understudy cause the guy that was cast as Pilate died 2 weeks ago eeep!? Also I realized that I basically have JCSS memorized, which I am sure will come in handy one day.

So today was my last Sunday at church, and the Official end of Nadja's work, although she's spending another month in Augsburg to do an internship, but this means there were many sad goodbyes. I have a wonderful big photo collage and all these memories floating around now, and I'm really going to miss my German church. So many amazing people who took me right in to their midst this year and were all a huge part of making me feel so at home here in Germany. By the last song, Nadja and I were both crying, and neither of us is sure we really want to leave. After church came Sommerfest, where we migrated to the yard of St Max (since theirs is green) across the street and grilled and ate and hung out and played around and painted giant musical notes and there was water and then there was rain at exactly the time things were breaking up anyway but it was short-lived and did nothing to stop the heat. Sommerfest was probably the best way to end my Augsburg EMK experience, and as much as I look forward to being back at Trinity, I really do love my church here and saying good-bye is very difficult. And since the Germans were always wonderful and worked their way through songs in English, I promised to teach you guys some songs in German, even if it's just translations of the songs you already know. It's only fair, really.

I plan to spend tomorrow packing, and probably also remember to de-register from the city of Augsburg. Tuesday is a trip with Eva and Anja and Nadja to Neuschwannstein and maybe some other things, Wednesday is when my host parents head up to Berlin for a meeting and Piff has his choir concert, and Thursday is when I fly. Nowhere near enough time. Sigh.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Oh, Right

I meant to update this thing, didn't I?

So first things first, I'll start with July 10th. I got up super-early and went to school and got on a bus and went to Nuremberg, where there is a museum about Nazis. The bus driver was an entertaining old man who told us that we are legally obligated to buckle our seatbelts, and that the police sometimes control this, and that they run into problems in that they stop the bus to control, only to realize that no one is legally obligated to have their seatbelt buckled while the bus is not moving. At the museum about the Nazis, we saw various exhibits about Nazis, and they had super-neat eyewitness interview things that made it much cooler- hearing old ladies talk about how they competed with their friends to see who could see the Führer the most in one summer when they were young is much more interesting than looking at some sign about the Führerkult. Also they had those fun anti-semite children's books like "How to Tell a Jewish Nose" and little children's anti-semite artwork and those make me giggle and also a little sad. Best quote of the museum (from an interview): "We didn't know where they were taking the Jews. I figured it was somewhere like Israel- somewhere for them to all live together, which would be better for them. Instead of just being bankers and captains of industry, they might have to sweep a street sometime, too." After looking at the depressing past all day, it was back on the bus, where our driver told us he never brings movies cause having to listen to a movie is the most boring terrible thing ever and then he told us to look for sheep in the clouds. I found no sheep, although I found some other things.

Then I guess I did less interesting things for a while? The Monday after that (the 17th), I went to Munich with my history class! Another day of getting up super-early to ride a train to meet Andre to drive to a place to get on another train except oops we got on the wrong train and then got off and had to wait for the next one and hahahaha. Then we walked around Munich and saw such important things as Where Kurt Eisner Died (there is a plaque with the outline of his body) and various important buildings, pictures of which live somewhere in the depths of Butterfly Paper. Then we had a quick Burger King lunch and then off to the Residence, where they had shiny shiny crown jewels of the Bavarian Royalty, and a few shoddily reconstructed rooms (here you see an artist's interpretation of what this room used to look like, and this original chair that we found in the attic I guess!). Then I took a more sensible train that took me straight home because that was sensible.

Tuesday was Let's-Go-Out-For-Dinner night with the host family (minus Piff plus Steffi and Nadja), and we realized we had a whole big pile of reasons to celebrate: Anja had finished her thesis, Philipp was back from America, Basti and Steffi were back from Egypt, Nadja and I are each leaving soon (okay this is not a celebratory reason) and Piff wasn't home (that one's celebratory though). It was a fancy Italian place in a courtyard and the appetizer involved recognizably whole squids, which grossed me and Nadja out, although playing with them was fun. Then I had a veal cordon bleu dealie that was really delicious, so thumbs up for Italian place in the courtyard!

Thursday Roo from Canada was in Munich so I went to Munich and hung out with him and his awesome mom! We looked at really really awesome art at the Pinakothek der Moderne (I am a little bit in love with and very scared of Hans Bellmer now) and walked around Munich (I pointed out important locations and only needed the map sometimes) and chilled at the Hofbräuhaus, which is a neat biergarten, and in general had a fun time. Roo took pictures, and he's flying back the day after me, so I'll hook you up some time in early August, I imagine.

Today is Jesus Christ Superstar at the open-air theatre in Augsburg, and tomorrow is Sommerfest at church, so I guess I'll have more Things To Tell You.


I know, I know, I said that I would quit
All right, I promise, no more after this
You don't know how I've tried
To forget what it was like
I remember now
Why they called it Thunderbird
Before you fall, you have to learn to crawl
You can't see heaven when you're standing tall
To get the whole sky
On the ground you have to lie
I know, I know, I said that I'd desist
All right, I promise, no more after this
Not to be what I was like
Not to soar across the sky
Spread my thunder wings and fly

Friday, July 14, 2006

My Current Project

 

Well, the wrongside of it at least (it looks pretty on the other side, I swear). Arthritis here I come.


(This and walking and drawing pictures is pretty much all I've been doing recently. Well, there was that trip to Nuremberg that was interesting. Wanna hear about it?) Posted by Picasa

xkcd

dPain over dt

Things like this make me wonder if it's too late to major in math.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Wearing a Raincoat

 

Wearing a raincoat is flying around in a yellow rubber airplane made out of a raincoat. But if you think of that, you'll hurt your mind, and you'll need your mind for later on. Posted by Picasa

LEONARD BERNSTEIN!

5 July
Went to school for history and art. Picked up various studies and things from the year in art. Painted really cute picture. Promise to digitize it if somebody asks. Please ask. Portugal v. France, of course France wins. Alliteration.

6 July
Went to school to do Sozi Referat. Talked about immigrants and races and America. Went well. Came home, went to Gerhard's work to help the interns translate a thing about coating the emission material on some part of a lamp or something, discover special Osram words that nobody else in the whole world knows, discover that this sort of translating is hard, but boys are nice and not too bad. Get super sweet Osram swag. Really sweet.

7 July
Skip school, sleep a lot. A lot. Rain, gray, do nothing of interest. Miss pretty weather for going outside.

8 July
Today. Philipp home. Germany to play Portugal. Hope Germany wins. Can't write complete sentences. Update.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

I Think I'd Rather Spend the Day In Bed

"Kari, why don't you update with some sort of regularity anymore?" "Because I hate you all. Also my life is not that interesting, I swear."

26 June
Skip school, go to park and draw pictures instead.
27 June
Go to school, bored out of mind.
28 June
Skip school, visit Nordlingen, Heidenheim, Steiff museum, take pictures of churches.
29 June
Go to school, see duckies. Duckies are really really cute.
30 June
Skip school, Germany plays Argentina. 1-1 after overtime, Germany wins in the penalty shots, country explodes in joy, I cry a little. Get in car, go to cabin in the middle of nowhere with youth group (Piff "knew the way" so we of course got lost), roast sausages over fire, run around in the woods in the middle of the night in the pitchdark without a flashlight (but I did have those little glowstick thingies), watch boys build really big big fire, take lots of pictures, stare at stars, fall asleep.
1 July
Canada Day. Hang out in the sunshine, run around in the woods chasing Anja and Nadja and Jan except Jan hid himself somewhere and none of us could find him forever. Have water balloon fight that turned into water bucket fight because nobody likes waiting for water balloons to get filled. Dry out. Roast sausages over open fire. Roast marshmallows. Germans don't like marshmallows, sources say only Americans truly understand the wonders of a freshly roasted, gooey marshmallow. Play Wetten Das! with all sorts of crazy bets (including pajamas, cross-dressing, and hanging the clothes on our backs on a clothesline), win big. Make losing team run across big field to other house while singing songs about Germany becoming Weltmeister. Watch Truman Show. Watch boys build really really big big big fire (taller than Piff). Sleep.
2 July
Make paper boats, make storm to try to sink them. Hang out. Clean up. Hang out. Come home. Discover Hampshire orientation group is "Crafty Goodness and Exploration." Happy. Sleep.
3 July
Intend to go to school, oversleep, skip school. Go to park, draw pictures.
4 July
America Day. Skip school, make hot dogs. Think about going to park, drawing pictures.

Meta-note: I've gone and added Life Phases to my blog. Certain old entries now display a note "BEGIN LIFE PHASE ____" or "END LIFE PHASE ____." This stuff is probably more significant to me than you, but if you're curious how I sort my life (and it sorts into perfect periods of exactly 8 weeks), maybe you want to check this stuff out. Also you will probably see these sorts of notes popping up in future entries as phases begin and end.