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.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
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
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.
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
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?)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Swimming Around in a Lake of the Undead
I gots busy. Good thing I keep notes! Run-down of my life the past few weeks according to my planner:
6 June
Nothing.
7 June
Nothing.
8 June
Extend visa, catch fever, sleep and drink lots of fluids.
9 June
Pick up train tickets to Rome.
WELTMEISTERSCHAFT BEGINS!!!! GERMANY V. COSTA RICA 4-2 WHOOO!!!
10 June
Train to Rome: leave Augsburg 20:06, switch in Munich 21:03
11 June
Little brother's birthday.
Arrive in Rome 8:09. Meet Camilla at train station, breakfast at cute bakery, little tour of Rome (Piazza Navona, which has an awesome fountain, Campo di Fiori, Piazza Venezia), lunch with grandparents, Italian food is awesome, meet friend Adriana and go to Osservatoria di Monte and San Pietro, get pizza, go to concert, have trouble finding club for concert, get mini-pizzas to become a Real Roman, sleeeeeep.
12 June
Colosseum and ruins, Circo Massimo, Mouth of Truth, relax in park, gelato, WM FUSSBALL ITALY V GHANA ITALY WINS
13 June
San Luigi de Francese (awesome Carravaggio paintings), Pantheon, hang out in park, meet up with Dario and go to Gianicolo to see an awesome view, go to Olympic Stadium which is weird because of facism, dinner, watch Brazil v. Croatia, I hate Brazil, meet Camilla's uncle who was visiting
14 June
sightseeing: Piazza del Popolo, Via del Baubino (monkey street heehee), Piazza di Spagna, Trinita del Monti, Via Condotti, Fontana di Trevi, Quirinale, hang out with Camilla's friend Chicca who has access to tv in English!, giant dinner with 9 Italians who talk fast while Germany and Poland play a terrible game except then Germany got a goal in the 91st minute and won yay.
15 June
Meet another of Camilla's friends at Villa Borghese, hang out in pretty park, shop a little, it is HOT HOT HOT, come home to chill because of heat, make Adam give me play-by-play on England v. Trinidad and Tobago since I can't watch it, notice that Adam hates England, dinner with Camilla's grandparents delicious, watch last half of Paraguay v. Sweden which is yet another of those games where no one decided to score until the final minute (Sweden did), hang out with Camilla and her parents and talk about American history
16 June
Supposed to meet another Hampster (current student one year ahead of us) but can't find him on his cell phone, lazy lazy, see some churches and the river and stuff, go to party at Camilla's friend's house, thankful for the few people who can manage English conversations while drunk, want to speak German when drunk, go home and crash
17 June
Buy postcards and the like, be lazy, get train 21:55, Italy plays US, Italy sucks, final score 1-1 because US doesn't suck as badly as anticipated
18 June
Supposed to get into Augsburg 9:20, train is later than late, finally get back at 11 or so, come home, instead of dying, watch football. Croatia v. Japan is the worst game ever that ends 0-0 because Croatia and Japan are both terrible even though I had such hopes for Croatia after they held their own against Brazil. Brazil v. Australia, hate Brazil but Australia can't get a ball into an empty goal so no idea what to begin with this game. Father's day in US but not in Germany.
19 June
Forgot that my alarm clock lives in another time zone, overslept and missed German, not tragic. Discover I have no Reli, decide waiting nearly 2 hours for Bio is not worth it, so only a double-period of English. Read some sweet little story about an old-timey British boy's first girlfriend, doodle TMBG lyrics all over it. Realize that Germans don't quite get the meanings of deserve, impress. Decide to let it go. Spend newfound freetime planning Hampshire courses for next year, make lots of lists and point systems, have trouble committing, anyone who wants to help please e-mail me.
20 June
Arrive at school to find it covered in white curtains, loud music playing, people in Scrubs standing on roof talking into loudspeaker. Realize this is the famed Abistreik, something like a senior prank. Dance party without actual dancing instead of first 4 periods of school. Have to go to history, nobody pays attention. Have to go to Sozi, Herr Lang doesn't want to work either, discuss Abistreik, look at picture, have argument about whether "park bench" implies simply a certain type of bench, which may or may not be in a park, or a bench of any type that is in a park. Hitzefrei declared on a day we have no afternoon classes (Hitzefrei is when school is cancelled due to heat), go home, play around with courses more, do things on my to-do list but not actually able to check any of them off.
21 June
Too hot for anything, got a good grade on my painting in art, too hot to fall asleep in math even, trying hard not to work, just so so hot, mail postcards, Argie v. Holland, 0-0 because Argentina just played with all their substitutes and neither team really cared because they knew they were moving on to the eighth-finals. First day of summer.
22 June
Alarm didn't go off because I forgot to turn it on, skip school that was just Sozi Schulaufgabe, discover crazy racist ice cream that is delicious, have long discussion with host mom about racism
23 June
Train ran late, kind of paid attention in school but nothing interesting happend, decide to never go to German or Math again and so go home early, do nothing of terrible interest.
24 June
Start uploading pictures of Mary's visit to Butterfly Paper, Jugendrestaurant, in charge of dessert, make best darn mousse from the package ever, watch Germany v. Sweden, great game, 2 goals for Germany in first half, Sweden sucked. Back to kitchen, remain there for next few hours as Jugendrestaurant happens, clean up forever, watch Argie v. Mexico- tensest game ever, 1-1 after 10 minutes, then no more score for the rest of the game and then it had to go into overtime and I bit all of my fingernails off but then Argie scored at 98' and then life was good and the game ended and Argie won and now Argie's going up against Germany this Friday and Piff and I are probably going to kill each other.
25 June
Officially no longer under Experiment's control, which makes me happy. Still want money from them, will get some. Still uploading pictures, go look at them and enjoy and ask questions if you are confused. You can finally see what my amazing city looks like, and also what Munich looks like, and also what my hair has looked like since Berlin since I dyed it but after all the Berlin pictures were taken.
6 June
Nothing.
7 June
Nothing.
8 June
Extend visa, catch fever, sleep and drink lots of fluids.
9 June
Pick up train tickets to Rome.
WELTMEISTERSCHAFT BEGINS!!!! GERMANY V. COSTA RICA 4-2 WHOOO!!!
10 June
Train to Rome: leave Augsburg 20:06, switch in Munich 21:03
11 June
Little brother's birthday.
Arrive in Rome 8:09. Meet Camilla at train station, breakfast at cute bakery, little tour of Rome (Piazza Navona, which has an awesome fountain, Campo di Fiori, Piazza Venezia), lunch with grandparents, Italian food is awesome, meet friend Adriana and go to Osservatoria di Monte and San Pietro, get pizza, go to concert, have trouble finding club for concert, get mini-pizzas to become a Real Roman, sleeeeeep.
12 June
Colosseum and ruins, Circo Massimo, Mouth of Truth, relax in park, gelato, WM FUSSBALL ITALY V GHANA ITALY WINS
13 June
San Luigi de Francese (awesome Carravaggio paintings), Pantheon, hang out in park, meet up with Dario and go to Gianicolo to see an awesome view, go to Olympic Stadium which is weird because of facism, dinner, watch Brazil v. Croatia, I hate Brazil, meet Camilla's uncle who was visiting
14 June
sightseeing: Piazza del Popolo, Via del Baubino (monkey street heehee), Piazza di Spagna, Trinita del Monti, Via Condotti, Fontana di Trevi, Quirinale, hang out with Camilla's friend Chicca who has access to tv in English!, giant dinner with 9 Italians who talk fast while Germany and Poland play a terrible game except then Germany got a goal in the 91st minute and won yay.
15 June
Meet another of Camilla's friends at Villa Borghese, hang out in pretty park, shop a little, it is HOT HOT HOT, come home to chill because of heat, make Adam give me play-by-play on England v. Trinidad and Tobago since I can't watch it, notice that Adam hates England, dinner with Camilla's grandparents delicious, watch last half of Paraguay v. Sweden which is yet another of those games where no one decided to score until the final minute (Sweden did), hang out with Camilla and her parents and talk about American history
16 June
Supposed to meet another Hampster (current student one year ahead of us) but can't find him on his cell phone, lazy lazy, see some churches and the river and stuff, go to party at Camilla's friend's house, thankful for the few people who can manage English conversations while drunk, want to speak German when drunk, go home and crash
17 June
Buy postcards and the like, be lazy, get train 21:55, Italy plays US, Italy sucks, final score 1-1 because US doesn't suck as badly as anticipated
18 June
Supposed to get into Augsburg 9:20, train is later than late, finally get back at 11 or so, come home, instead of dying, watch football. Croatia v. Japan is the worst game ever that ends 0-0 because Croatia and Japan are both terrible even though I had such hopes for Croatia after they held their own against Brazil. Brazil v. Australia, hate Brazil but Australia can't get a ball into an empty goal so no idea what to begin with this game. Father's day in US but not in Germany.
19 June
Forgot that my alarm clock lives in another time zone, overslept and missed German, not tragic. Discover I have no Reli, decide waiting nearly 2 hours for Bio is not worth it, so only a double-period of English. Read some sweet little story about an old-timey British boy's first girlfriend, doodle TMBG lyrics all over it. Realize that Germans don't quite get the meanings of deserve, impress. Decide to let it go. Spend newfound freetime planning Hampshire courses for next year, make lots of lists and point systems, have trouble committing, anyone who wants to help please e-mail me.
20 June
Arrive at school to find it covered in white curtains, loud music playing, people in Scrubs standing on roof talking into loudspeaker. Realize this is the famed Abistreik, something like a senior prank. Dance party without actual dancing instead of first 4 periods of school. Have to go to history, nobody pays attention. Have to go to Sozi, Herr Lang doesn't want to work either, discuss Abistreik, look at picture, have argument about whether "park bench" implies simply a certain type of bench, which may or may not be in a park, or a bench of any type that is in a park. Hitzefrei declared on a day we have no afternoon classes (Hitzefrei is when school is cancelled due to heat), go home, play around with courses more, do things on my to-do list but not actually able to check any of them off.
21 June
Too hot for anything, got a good grade on my painting in art, too hot to fall asleep in math even, trying hard not to work, just so so hot, mail postcards, Argie v. Holland, 0-0 because Argentina just played with all their substitutes and neither team really cared because they knew they were moving on to the eighth-finals. First day of summer.
22 June
Alarm didn't go off because I forgot to turn it on, skip school that was just Sozi Schulaufgabe, discover crazy racist ice cream that is delicious, have long discussion with host mom about racism
23 June
Train ran late, kind of paid attention in school but nothing interesting happend, decide to never go to German or Math again and so go home early, do nothing of terrible interest.
24 June
Start uploading pictures of Mary's visit to Butterfly Paper, Jugendrestaurant, in charge of dessert, make best darn mousse from the package ever, watch Germany v. Sweden, great game, 2 goals for Germany in first half, Sweden sucked. Back to kitchen, remain there for next few hours as Jugendrestaurant happens, clean up forever, watch Argie v. Mexico- tensest game ever, 1-1 after 10 minutes, then no more score for the rest of the game and then it had to go into overtime and I bit all of my fingernails off but then Argie scored at 98' and then life was good and the game ended and Argie won and now Argie's going up against Germany this Friday and Piff and I are probably going to kill each other.
25 June
Officially no longer under Experiment's control, which makes me happy. Still want money from them, will get some. Still uploading pictures, go look at them and enjoy and ask questions if you are confused. You can finally see what my amazing city looks like, and also what Munich looks like, and also what my hair has looked like since Berlin since I dyed it but after all the Berlin pictures were taken.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Alibis
Yes, winter has refused to release Germany from its bony clutch- it is still cold and gray here, making me pretty unhappy for a few days, but now I'm used to it.
Yes, you are whining because I haven't updated. Deal.
Hmm. . . went to the theatre Monday, saw Woyzeck, which is a classic German play about men peeing where they shouldn't, apparently. It was interesting. Spent the night at Berni's house, which mostly meant crashing in her brother's room, then waking up and eating breakfast and not having to walk to school for once, which is nice! History was pretty cool on Tuesday- we talked about Marxism and I stayed awake for the entirety of that topic, which is quite an accomplishment for me. It also marked the second day in a row that one of my teachers was all "Communism and Christianity are basically the same idea," which everyone knows already because duh and Shaw. (Confused? Grab a copy of Androcles and the Lion from your local library and read the prologue.) We spent Sozi whining about how the Berlin trip planned for next September has to be either moved or cancelled due to some teachers whining. At some point, Herr Lang said "Well, the sex change process takes longer than 6 months, so you're out of luck," which I wrote down. Don't remember the context on that one. Wednesday was art exam- went to school, had Reli, remembered that there are parts of Job (bibical) that are actually cool, went to Art, painted awesome awesome picture of girls swimming in bottle cap- a hope for the summer that will one day come. Even if I have to move to the Southern Hemisphere come November, I am getting summer this year. English was pretty enterating on Wednesday- I have the quote "An increasing number of officers who are out have had a very good experience in the navy." written down, and a note that we played Homos through History by speculating about Alexander the Great and Shakespeare. Not exactly revolutionary, but I got a chuckle out of the fact that no one else seemed to know these things. Thursday. I don't remember much about Thursday. I have the folowing quote written down from Sozi: "Anyone know they'll be busy 14-15 December? Mom's birthday? Grandma's? Someone's funeral?" Also, I apparently stayed awake in history, although I did not absorb a single fact. I had all of 2 periods on Friday- there was a chemistry exam that meant I had no Bio, there was no math, and I skipped German because there is no reason to wait 3 hours to go to one of my more pointless classes. So got up, went to history, where we apparently listed every single labor union in the history of Germany for the whole class. I slept. English was more time-wasting- we discussed some literary text, and by "we" I mean "people that are not me" and by discuss I mean "half-answer boring questions while reading the text line-for-line while Kari doodles They Might Be Giants lyrics all over her paper instead of paying attention." After that, I went home and uploaded pictures for a while- Picasa's being all flickery, so it's taking forever, but Berlin pictures are slowly filling Butterfly Paper. That night was lock-in at church, where we built rockets and watched Spiderman and played games and did not sleep. Got up next morning, drove to field in the middle of nowhere (Piff got almost lost on the way), sent our rockets into the sky all fizzzzzzzzzz boooom whooooooooosh booooooom fall down chase through long grass and wildflowers. I just like hanging out in fields full of wildflowers, really. Was half-asleep the rest of that day, stayed up kinda late anyway, went to church Sunday, turns out wearing red isn't a Pentecost requirement in Germany, had Communion and it was the very same service of word and table as in America, just in German, which made me super-super happy. I really wish the Germans would do Communion with some sort of frequency, because I miss it. Went to the go-kart place that afternoon with the bros and go-karts sure are fun because zzzzzzoooooooooooooooom fast. I am stil sore but that's okay. Ummmm, not a whole lot more going on. Today is Ferien, and I'm off for two weeks! Woo Pentecost. Heading out bowling shortly, incredibly lazy today, need to do a bunch of things that I am happily ignoring.
I slept in today and woke up to a really great conversation, and I'm using the power of the internet to hook me up with a bunch of country music cause I'm in that sort of mood. A mood for bittersweet country love songs about people being far away.
UPDATE: Guess who won at bowling? Steffi's little sister Simone. We played 3 games and in the first two, Basti beat me by about 2 or 3 points each time- so just barely. Piff was farther ahead, in competition with Simone, Steffi fell in various places. Then Game Three. Final Scores: Simone: 125. Kari: 124. Piff: 121. Basti: 102. Steffi: something less. I BEAT THE BOYS. WHOOOOOOOOO. This is possibly the first time in my life I have beaten my brothers at bowling. Ha.
Yes, you are whining because I haven't updated. Deal.
Hmm. . . went to the theatre Monday, saw Woyzeck, which is a classic German play about men peeing where they shouldn't, apparently. It was interesting. Spent the night at Berni's house, which mostly meant crashing in her brother's room, then waking up and eating breakfast and not having to walk to school for once, which is nice! History was pretty cool on Tuesday- we talked about Marxism and I stayed awake for the entirety of that topic, which is quite an accomplishment for me. It also marked the second day in a row that one of my teachers was all "Communism and Christianity are basically the same idea," which everyone knows already because duh and Shaw. (Confused? Grab a copy of Androcles and the Lion from your local library and read the prologue.) We spent Sozi whining about how the Berlin trip planned for next September has to be either moved or cancelled due to some teachers whining. At some point, Herr Lang said "Well, the sex change process takes longer than 6 months, so you're out of luck," which I wrote down. Don't remember the context on that one. Wednesday was art exam- went to school, had Reli, remembered that there are parts of Job (bibical) that are actually cool, went to Art, painted awesome awesome picture of girls swimming in bottle cap- a hope for the summer that will one day come. Even if I have to move to the Southern Hemisphere come November, I am getting summer this year. English was pretty enterating on Wednesday- I have the quote "An increasing number of officers who are out have had a very good experience in the navy." written down, and a note that we played Homos through History by speculating about Alexander the Great and Shakespeare. Not exactly revolutionary, but I got a chuckle out of the fact that no one else seemed to know these things. Thursday. I don't remember much about Thursday. I have the folowing quote written down from Sozi: "Anyone know they'll be busy 14-15 December? Mom's birthday? Grandma's? Someone's funeral?" Also, I apparently stayed awake in history, although I did not absorb a single fact. I had all of 2 periods on Friday- there was a chemistry exam that meant I had no Bio, there was no math, and I skipped German because there is no reason to wait 3 hours to go to one of my more pointless classes. So got up, went to history, where we apparently listed every single labor union in the history of Germany for the whole class. I slept. English was more time-wasting- we discussed some literary text, and by "we" I mean "people that are not me" and by discuss I mean "half-answer boring questions while reading the text line-for-line while Kari doodles They Might Be Giants lyrics all over her paper instead of paying attention." After that, I went home and uploaded pictures for a while- Picasa's being all flickery, so it's taking forever, but Berlin pictures are slowly filling Butterfly Paper. That night was lock-in at church, where we built rockets and watched Spiderman and played games and did not sleep. Got up next morning, drove to field in the middle of nowhere (Piff got almost lost on the way), sent our rockets into the sky all fizzzzzzzzzz boooom whooooooooosh booooooom fall down chase through long grass and wildflowers. I just like hanging out in fields full of wildflowers, really. Was half-asleep the rest of that day, stayed up kinda late anyway, went to church Sunday, turns out wearing red isn't a Pentecost requirement in Germany, had Communion and it was the very same service of word and table as in America, just in German, which made me super-super happy. I really wish the Germans would do Communion with some sort of frequency, because I miss it. Went to the go-kart place that afternoon with the bros and go-karts sure are fun because zzzzzzoooooooooooooooom fast. I am stil sore but that's okay. Ummmm, not a whole lot more going on. Today is Ferien, and I'm off for two weeks! Woo Pentecost. Heading out bowling shortly, incredibly lazy today, need to do a bunch of things that I am happily ignoring.
I slept in today and woke up to a really great conversation, and I'm using the power of the internet to hook me up with a bunch of country music cause I'm in that sort of mood. A mood for bittersweet country love songs about people being far away.
UPDATE: Guess who won at bowling? Steffi's little sister Simone. We played 3 games and in the first two, Basti beat me by about 2 or 3 points each time- so just barely. Piff was farther ahead, in competition with Simone, Steffi fell in various places. Then Game Three. Final Scores: Simone: 125. Kari: 124. Piff: 121. Basti: 102. Steffi: something less. I BEAT THE BOYS. WHOOOOOOOOO. This is possibly the first time in my life I have beaten my brothers at bowling. Ha.
Monday, May 29, 2006
The World Ain't Slowing Down
Sorry, I've kinda ignored you guys recently, but I've been busy. I have an hour and a half before I need to run out the door again, so I think I can give you a run-down of the past two weeks.
Wednesday, very very nearly missed my train (as in, if it hadn't been 5 minutes late, I would have missed it) but did make it to Wittenberg to see Mary and Casey and also that church that Martin Luther nailed some theses on or something. It was Casey's birthday yay Casey! We took millions of pictures of that and other things, and then got ourselves on a train and went to Berlin, where we found every single other American person who was with us in Tübigen and also in Cologne (well, Jesh wasn't there that day but he came later) which makes our group awesome for not getting anyone sent home. Um, lots of talking and whining that night? The next day, we went to the Amerika Haus, where a Jew from England told us that Germans "moan" too much, among other things. We then let Allyson, whose host sister lives in Berlin, show us around the city a bit (yes, more pictures, will upload sometime) and there was shopping for silly things and we found a Mexican restaurant! You know we ate dinner there, and it was Rose's birthday, so they made it happy hour early for us. That night, we chilled at the hostel and tried to write a song for the Bundestag and gave each other massages. Friday was Bundestag day! Rose and I were handcuffed to each other the whole time because handcuffs are awesome and we wanted to make sure we would have an appropriate reputation. We met all sorts of new people who are also C-Bers in some way or another, and then they chose to not let Buster do the original song that we made but instead had some other group do a cover of some pop song translated (badly) into German. We were slightly peeved. There were many politicians doing what they do best, including a pretty awesome dude who looked like Trotsky. After Bundestagging it for a while, we hopped on a bus and went off to set foot on American soil at the Embassy! The real Ambassador was not there, but some other dude was, and we mostly enjoyed our Bratwurst and potato salad and danced around on the grass and tried to have fun, although the DJ was pretty terrible and the party got boring fast. It was nice of him to play Sweet Home Alabama, though, so us few crazy people from below the Mason-Dixon line could scream it and dance in the rain. When the sun came back out, we discovered that paper plates make really terrible frisbees, and they eventually decided we could leave because we were going on a boat tour. Proof of Experiment's amazing organizational skills: they did not buy any sort of public transportation tickets for our large group to go on this required boat ride, so we all had to shell out on our own to get there, and also no one thought about your average public bus's ability to handle a group of, oh, 120. I hear there was some illegal riding and some €40 tickets handed out, and we ended up having to take two buses (one coming half an hour after the other) and it was a fiasco. Somehow, we all made it to the boat, where Rose and I promptly went to the bottom level and fell asleep. I hear there were pretty things to see, but we were exhausted. We were left to our own devices to get home from the boat ride, and we all had a good laugh as we watched Mary and Katelynn get on the subway in the wrong direction and ride away looking scared (they got off at the next stop and caught the next train back- they hopped on before we figured out which train we needed to take). Saturday morning brought paperwork and more paperwork, and a pretty neat alum named Dillon or Dylan or some spelling of that idea who told us not to begin sentences with "Back in Germany" or "One time in Germany" or "Germany" and also not to yell at our moms for buying gross bread because America does not have good bread. Bustin Roses decided to finally get some of their many awesome Betreuer songs from the year on hard disk, and me and Mary and Emily and Christine and maybe some other people hung out and listened to them be awesome. (Bustin Roses is Buster, Dustin, Rose and Tootlez, for ye unintiated.) It was rainy and Mary and I went into the city to buy hair dye and hope to sightsee, but we ended up cowering in the mall because the weather was gross. The Betreuers had told us to meet up at 7 at a Biergarten, and Mary and I ran into the members of Bustin Roses in the train, and the 6 of us tried to find the Biergarten, and eventually asked a snarky newspaper stand man who told us where, and we arrived to find Swantje and her boyfriend and nobody else. We waited a while and then a giant Bero-led troupe of Americans showed up and it was raining and the Biergarten had no space for us, so we went and got on a train and rode somewhere and stood on a corner for half an hour until someone told us we could go to the bar across the street, where we ordered drinks and hung out and Rose and Dustin and I talked to Alum Dude Dyllan (who is from Virginia Beach and goes to William and Mary) and he eventually offered to head back to his place but Rose and Tootlez and I were tired and cold so we went back to the hostel and mooched internet and my Roomies came home and there was post-midnight wishing of Mary a happy birthday (her birthday was Sunday) and it was super-cute when the South American dudes brought her a birthday beer, which she may or may not have actually drank. Emily dyed my hair at 3 in the morning and we slept nowhere near enough. Sunday was all good-byes, which my brain doesn't even begin to understand because I have to many of them and they are rarely real, and then I hopped on a train and listened to wonderful travel music and I love the café in the train where I can get a cup of tea and sit and watch the countryside- THE way to travel. Got home, my host parents had some guests over so there were drinks and desserts with people I barely know, and also sweet sleep. I went to school on Monday, went to school on Tuesday, went to a football (soccer) game in which I saw the WM (world cup) team from Togo beat the Bayern All-Stars or something of the like. Went to school Wednesday, picked up Mary from the train station on the way home from school, Thursday was Ascension, so no school and I gave Mary the Grand Tour of Augsburg (there are pictures of this, too) even though everything but Burger King and Subway and McDonalds was closed. Took Mary to Munich on Friday in the pouring rain and Munich is a pretty nice city to hang out in, actually. Pictures pictures pictures, found the best non-used bookstore ever, had the best beer ever, got really wet. We chilled on Saturday and went shopping in my city (which is the second-oldest city in Germany, by the way, having been founded in 20 BCE) and I bought pretty things for way cheap at H&M, as usual. Yesterday was Confirmation Sunday and church was full and there was a praise team there that even played a song I knew, and we met Mary's British friend Jim that afternoon and then Mary got on a train and I came home and crashed. School today was uneventful, and I'm leaving in one hour to go see a play with my German class and stay and Berni's house because we will get back late and there is no train.
I guess it's Memorial Day, too, isn't it? Hmmm. My upcoming schedule: art Schulaufgabe Wednesday, Ambassador Project due Thursday and I still haven't written that paper, lock-in at church Friday-Saturday, then comes 2 weeks of Pentecost break and I am thinking about heading to Rome the second week of that because there is a future Hampster down there and she is willing to show me around yay! Still trying to figure out if I should go somewhere the first week- anybody want me for a few days?
Wednesday, very very nearly missed my train (as in, if it hadn't been 5 minutes late, I would have missed it) but did make it to Wittenberg to see Mary and Casey and also that church that Martin Luther nailed some theses on or something. It was Casey's birthday yay Casey! We took millions of pictures of that and other things, and then got ourselves on a train and went to Berlin, where we found every single other American person who was with us in Tübigen and also in Cologne (well, Jesh wasn't there that day but he came later) which makes our group awesome for not getting anyone sent home. Um, lots of talking and whining that night? The next day, we went to the Amerika Haus, where a Jew from England told us that Germans "moan" too much, among other things. We then let Allyson, whose host sister lives in Berlin, show us around the city a bit (yes, more pictures, will upload sometime) and there was shopping for silly things and we found a Mexican restaurant! You know we ate dinner there, and it was Rose's birthday, so they made it happy hour early for us. That night, we chilled at the hostel and tried to write a song for the Bundestag and gave each other massages. Friday was Bundestag day! Rose and I were handcuffed to each other the whole time because handcuffs are awesome and we wanted to make sure we would have an appropriate reputation. We met all sorts of new people who are also C-Bers in some way or another, and then they chose to not let Buster do the original song that we made but instead had some other group do a cover of some pop song translated (badly) into German. We were slightly peeved. There were many politicians doing what they do best, including a pretty awesome dude who looked like Trotsky. After Bundestagging it for a while, we hopped on a bus and went off to set foot on American soil at the Embassy! The real Ambassador was not there, but some other dude was, and we mostly enjoyed our Bratwurst and potato salad and danced around on the grass and tried to have fun, although the DJ was pretty terrible and the party got boring fast. It was nice of him to play Sweet Home Alabama, though, so us few crazy people from below the Mason-Dixon line could scream it and dance in the rain. When the sun came back out, we discovered that paper plates make really terrible frisbees, and they eventually decided we could leave because we were going on a boat tour. Proof of Experiment's amazing organizational skills: they did not buy any sort of public transportation tickets for our large group to go on this required boat ride, so we all had to shell out on our own to get there, and also no one thought about your average public bus's ability to handle a group of, oh, 120. I hear there was some illegal riding and some €40 tickets handed out, and we ended up having to take two buses (one coming half an hour after the other) and it was a fiasco. Somehow, we all made it to the boat, where Rose and I promptly went to the bottom level and fell asleep. I hear there were pretty things to see, but we were exhausted. We were left to our own devices to get home from the boat ride, and we all had a good laugh as we watched Mary and Katelynn get on the subway in the wrong direction and ride away looking scared (they got off at the next stop and caught the next train back- they hopped on before we figured out which train we needed to take). Saturday morning brought paperwork and more paperwork, and a pretty neat alum named Dillon or Dylan or some spelling of that idea who told us not to begin sentences with "Back in Germany" or "One time in Germany" or "Germany" and also not to yell at our moms for buying gross bread because America does not have good bread. Bustin Roses decided to finally get some of their many awesome Betreuer songs from the year on hard disk, and me and Mary and Emily and Christine and maybe some other people hung out and listened to them be awesome. (Bustin Roses is Buster, Dustin, Rose and Tootlez, for ye unintiated.) It was rainy and Mary and I went into the city to buy hair dye and hope to sightsee, but we ended up cowering in the mall because the weather was gross. The Betreuers had told us to meet up at 7 at a Biergarten, and Mary and I ran into the members of Bustin Roses in the train, and the 6 of us tried to find the Biergarten, and eventually asked a snarky newspaper stand man who told us where, and we arrived to find Swantje and her boyfriend and nobody else. We waited a while and then a giant Bero-led troupe of Americans showed up and it was raining and the Biergarten had no space for us, so we went and got on a train and rode somewhere and stood on a corner for half an hour until someone told us we could go to the bar across the street, where we ordered drinks and hung out and Rose and Dustin and I talked to Alum Dude Dyllan (who is from Virginia Beach and goes to William and Mary) and he eventually offered to head back to his place but Rose and Tootlez and I were tired and cold so we went back to the hostel and mooched internet and my Roomies came home and there was post-midnight wishing of Mary a happy birthday (her birthday was Sunday) and it was super-cute when the South American dudes brought her a birthday beer, which she may or may not have actually drank. Emily dyed my hair at 3 in the morning and we slept nowhere near enough. Sunday was all good-byes, which my brain doesn't even begin to understand because I have to many of them and they are rarely real, and then I hopped on a train and listened to wonderful travel music and I love the café in the train where I can get a cup of tea and sit and watch the countryside- THE way to travel. Got home, my host parents had some guests over so there were drinks and desserts with people I barely know, and also sweet sleep. I went to school on Monday, went to school on Tuesday, went to a football (soccer) game in which I saw the WM (world cup) team from Togo beat the Bayern All-Stars or something of the like. Went to school Wednesday, picked up Mary from the train station on the way home from school, Thursday was Ascension, so no school and I gave Mary the Grand Tour of Augsburg (there are pictures of this, too) even though everything but Burger King and Subway and McDonalds was closed. Took Mary to Munich on Friday in the pouring rain and Munich is a pretty nice city to hang out in, actually. Pictures pictures pictures, found the best non-used bookstore ever, had the best beer ever, got really wet. We chilled on Saturday and went shopping in my city (which is the second-oldest city in Germany, by the way, having been founded in 20 BCE) and I bought pretty things for way cheap at H&M, as usual. Yesterday was Confirmation Sunday and church was full and there was a praise team there that even played a song I knew, and we met Mary's British friend Jim that afternoon and then Mary got on a train and I came home and crashed. School today was uneventful, and I'm leaving in one hour to go see a play with my German class and stay and Berni's house because we will get back late and there is no train.
I guess it's Memorial Day, too, isn't it? Hmmm. My upcoming schedule: art Schulaufgabe Wednesday, Ambassador Project due Thursday and I still haven't written that paper, lock-in at church Friday-Saturday, then comes 2 weeks of Pentecost break and I am thinking about heading to Rome the second week of that because there is a future Hampster down there and she is willing to show me around yay! Still trying to figure out if I should go somewhere the first week- anybody want me for a few days?
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Run Run Run
I made it to 107 of 127 in Paris picture posts, I believe- this means I have 80 pictures that are just going to have to wait. Until then, overload on visual stimulation for a while, then take a few days to recover and PREPARE.
This weekend was awesome- we had a great time at Mädelsabend making wraps and singing songs and watching a super-sweet movie that made me miss someone, and just hanging out and not getting enough sleep. Saturday morning brought losing at Sorry (which is called Mensch Ärger Dich Nicht in German) but not as bad as Nadja lost, and then driving Jaclyn home and getting to stay for delicious lunch instead of me and Nadja and Anja foraging something from our leftovers. Back home, turned leftovers into a salad for dinner, up to church, meet up with boys, drive to Conference. It rained like CRAZY. The radio was terrible and I surfed it constantly and maybe heard one decent song. My iPod isn't friends with Piff's cd-player-to-cassette-adapter, even though the speaker jack fits in the hole. We were too early and it was wet and we walked and hid from the rain and ate and hung out. The Teenie Konferenz suffered from having less energy than a similar event in America would have, but a fun band played some praise songs that I know and some praise songs that I didn't know and there was a silly dance! Ummmmm. . . slept in the Sporthalle that night, which isn't the most awesome place to sleep, but we passed out on our air mattresses and didn't wake up until people started waking up and being noisy in the morning. It was nowhere near enough sleep. Breakfast and packing and wandering for the 2 or 3 hours until stuff got started, then an overly-long ordination service where we tried really, really hard not to fall asleep with minor success, and then waiting in the longest line for lunch and they were out of schnitzel and tomato-mozzerella sammiches, so we ended up with Wurst and pea soup and a pretzel (you can play a guessing game to decide who got what!). Hanging out for a long time, Nadja ran into some people she knew, Anja saw a few people she knew, but mostly only from our church, walked around, avoided the off-and-on-rain, eventually went back for the afternoon service, which proved to be a lot of fun with an awesome xylophone-based band and a cool Baptist dude making a keynote (I know, Baptists, but this guy was neat!) and a surprise visit from the goalie from Stuttgart, who I guess is a famous Fußball player and also pretty religious! Lots and lots and lots of Fußball in general. . . end of the fun service, headed home but not without stopping by Nadja's mom's house to say hi cause it was Mother's Day and all. . . half-sleeping in the car. . . get home, "help" Piff with his English homework, sleep. . . Monday at school. . . skipping Bio in the afternoon because I had to buy birthday presents for a ton of people because I will be seeing them today (!) and then Tuesday and more school and fully intending to bake cookies, but then I fell asleep on the train and missed my stop and thus got home an hour late and then had lunch and started uploading Paris pictures and Piff had a lot of homework and cookies didn't happen. Sorry, guys.
I AM GOING TO BERLIN TODAY. WILL BE GONE UNTIL SUNDAY. WILL HANG OUT WITH CRAZY AMERICANS, TAKE MANY PICTURES, HAVE ADVENTURES, MAYBE EVEN TELL YOU ABOUT THEM.
This weekend was awesome- we had a great time at Mädelsabend making wraps and singing songs and watching a super-sweet movie that made me miss someone, and just hanging out and not getting enough sleep. Saturday morning brought losing at Sorry (which is called Mensch Ärger Dich Nicht in German) but not as bad as Nadja lost, and then driving Jaclyn home and getting to stay for delicious lunch instead of me and Nadja and Anja foraging something from our leftovers. Back home, turned leftovers into a salad for dinner, up to church, meet up with boys, drive to Conference. It rained like CRAZY. The radio was terrible and I surfed it constantly and maybe heard one decent song. My iPod isn't friends with Piff's cd-player-to-cassette-adapter, even though the speaker jack fits in the hole. We were too early and it was wet and we walked and hid from the rain and ate and hung out. The Teenie Konferenz suffered from having less energy than a similar event in America would have, but a fun band played some praise songs that I know and some praise songs that I didn't know and there was a silly dance! Ummmmm. . . slept in the Sporthalle that night, which isn't the most awesome place to sleep, but we passed out on our air mattresses and didn't wake up until people started waking up and being noisy in the morning. It was nowhere near enough sleep. Breakfast and packing and wandering for the 2 or 3 hours until stuff got started, then an overly-long ordination service where we tried really, really hard not to fall asleep with minor success, and then waiting in the longest line for lunch and they were out of schnitzel and tomato-mozzerella sammiches, so we ended up with Wurst and pea soup and a pretzel (you can play a guessing game to decide who got what!). Hanging out for a long time, Nadja ran into some people she knew, Anja saw a few people she knew, but mostly only from our church, walked around, avoided the off-and-on-rain, eventually went back for the afternoon service, which proved to be a lot of fun with an awesome xylophone-based band and a cool Baptist dude making a keynote (I know, Baptists, but this guy was neat!) and a surprise visit from the goalie from Stuttgart, who I guess is a famous Fußball player and also pretty religious! Lots and lots and lots of Fußball in general. . . end of the fun service, headed home but not without stopping by Nadja's mom's house to say hi cause it was Mother's Day and all. . . half-sleeping in the car. . . get home, "help" Piff with his English homework, sleep. . . Monday at school. . . skipping Bio in the afternoon because I had to buy birthday presents for a ton of people because I will be seeing them today (!) and then Tuesday and more school and fully intending to bake cookies, but then I fell asleep on the train and missed my stop and thus got home an hour late and then had lunch and started uploading Paris pictures and Piff had a lot of homework and cookies didn't happen. Sorry, guys.
I AM GOING TO BERLIN TODAY. WILL BE GONE UNTIL SUNDAY. WILL HANG OUT WITH CRAZY AMERICANS, TAKE MANY PICTURES, HAVE ADVENTURES, MAYBE EVEN TELL YOU ABOUT THEM.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
508
Pictures on my camera from Paris. 200 live at Butterfly Paper now, the rest will come when I get a chance.
Church was fun Sunday, and Nadja's promised me the pictures that you will love love love. Went to school with Piff Monday. . . I talked to his class about America and school and I honestly don't remember what else. . . fun people, though, and a change of scene is always lovely, especially on a nice day when Piff has a free period and we can sit on the grass and bask in the sun. Slept in super-late Tuesday (til 8!) and went to 2 classes, and was also lazy, I guess, but I did at least get to the post office with the biggest stack of postcards ever. Yesterday was Wednesday and I went to school and then I was sick and I came home after history because I really only felt obligated to go to Bio anyway and then I slept and then Adam did his best to make me smile and forget my aching stomach for a while and then I slept some more. Felt better today, went to my 3 classes, still really love Sozi even though the whole discussion of marriage in the German context is so much more boring because there is so much less controversy than in America. Mostly they are all "would somebody please get married before they are 35 and also maybe have some kids because our population is shrinking so much and we are going to die out according to people who exaggerate things." And in America we're all "gays sanctity of marriage divorce rates church state children aaaaaaaah" and it is emotional and controversial and you can have a debate. Oh well. The sun came back out after being gone for two days, and that was nice, but I spent a good portion of my afternoon uploading pictures for you fine folks. Mary is a very bad photographer no matter how dearly I love her and I apologize because my camera is also pretty bad and that makes certain pictures, like of the pretties in Versailles, less pretty, but there is nothing I can do about it. The pictures of the statues in the Louvre are some of my favorites. The 5 pictures of the parking lot at Versailles are not my favorites at all, why did Mary take them? The pictures of me making silly silly faces are also not my favorites, but Someone likes them and up they go.
I am really tired and I have not studied for my Bio Schulaufgabe that is tomorrow and that I guess I have to take cause Fosse kind of expects it of me. Ugh. Good thing I have a free period, I guess.
Tomorrow night is Mädelsabend at Anja's, and it's General Conference Saturday-Sunday, so I'll be scarce this weekend, but I'll try to get all the pictures up before I go to Berlin, which I do on Wednesday.
BUSYBUSYAAAHBUSYEEEEEEP
Church was fun Sunday, and Nadja's promised me the pictures that you will love love love. Went to school with Piff Monday. . . I talked to his class about America and school and I honestly don't remember what else. . . fun people, though, and a change of scene is always lovely, especially on a nice day when Piff has a free period and we can sit on the grass and bask in the sun. Slept in super-late Tuesday (til 8!) and went to 2 classes, and was also lazy, I guess, but I did at least get to the post office with the biggest stack of postcards ever. Yesterday was Wednesday and I went to school and then I was sick and I came home after history because I really only felt obligated to go to Bio anyway and then I slept and then Adam did his best to make me smile and forget my aching stomach for a while and then I slept some more. Felt better today, went to my 3 classes, still really love Sozi even though the whole discussion of marriage in the German context is so much more boring because there is so much less controversy than in America. Mostly they are all "would somebody please get married before they are 35 and also maybe have some kids because our population is shrinking so much and we are going to die out according to people who exaggerate things." And in America we're all "gays sanctity of marriage divorce rates church state children aaaaaaaah" and it is emotional and controversial and you can have a debate. Oh well. The sun came back out after being gone for two days, and that was nice, but I spent a good portion of my afternoon uploading pictures for you fine folks. Mary is a very bad photographer no matter how dearly I love her and I apologize because my camera is also pretty bad and that makes certain pictures, like of the pretties in Versailles, less pretty, but there is nothing I can do about it. The pictures of the statues in the Louvre are some of my favorites. The 5 pictures of the parking lot at Versailles are not my favorites at all, why did Mary take them? The pictures of me making silly silly faces are also not my favorites, but Someone likes them and up they go.
I am really tired and I have not studied for my Bio Schulaufgabe that is tomorrow and that I guess I have to take cause Fosse kind of expects it of me. Ugh. Good thing I have a free period, I guess.
Tomorrow night is Mädelsabend at Anja's, and it's General Conference Saturday-Sunday, so I'll be scarce this weekend, but I'll try to get all the pictures up before I go to Berlin, which I do on Wednesday.
BUSYBUSYAAAHBUSYEEEEEEP
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Goodness
I am exhausted.
I went to Paris, I had fun, I arrived home safely. There are millions of photos, and I will upload mine sometime in the next weeks- the pictures are better than any words I could produce. Mary has a bunch of photos- click on the link to her blog down there and you can figure out how to get in touch with her to see hers if you are impatient. I also stole a few from her and have put them on the Butterfly Paper, so you know what to do.
I am going to finish the Zwickau post one of these days, too, I swear.
I have been going to school while I wasn't traveling, and it is still school. The weather is warming up, the sun is shining more frequently, and that makes me pretty happy. I wore shorts today, even.
Life is really busy and yet pretty quiet. It's a nice pace and I'm very happy and that happiness translates into less blogging, I guess. Sorry guys.
I've got my Hampshire e-mail address now: kmec06@hampshire.edu. If you have something against gmail for some strange reason, I guess you can reach me there. Also, that means I now have Facebook, which is strangely addicting.
Hampshire housing forms are now available and I am trying to figure out if I prefer "very quiet" "quiet" or "semi-quiet" housing, or if I would be deeply offended by having a roommate or not, or if I go to bed before 11, between 11 and 12, between 12 and 1, or after 1 on weekdays. I went to bed at 2 last night. I plan on going to bed at about 9:30 tonight. I have no idea how to interpret those sort of discrepencies, which are entirely normal for me. Hmmmmm.
Tuesday marked 1 year of Beige Space existing. I want presents.
I went to Paris, I had fun, I arrived home safely. There are millions of photos, and I will upload mine sometime in the next weeks- the pictures are better than any words I could produce. Mary has a bunch of photos- click on the link to her blog down there and you can figure out how to get in touch with her to see hers if you are impatient. I also stole a few from her and have put them on the Butterfly Paper, so you know what to do.
I am going to finish the Zwickau post one of these days, too, I swear.
I have been going to school while I wasn't traveling, and it is still school. The weather is warming up, the sun is shining more frequently, and that makes me pretty happy. I wore shorts today, even.
Life is really busy and yet pretty quiet. It's a nice pace and I'm very happy and that happiness translates into less blogging, I guess. Sorry guys.
I've got my Hampshire e-mail address now: kmec06@hampshire.edu. If you have something against gmail for some strange reason, I guess you can reach me there. Also, that means I now have Facebook, which is strangely addicting.
Hampshire housing forms are now available and I am trying to figure out if I prefer "very quiet" "quiet" or "semi-quiet" housing, or if I would be deeply offended by having a roommate or not, or if I go to bed before 11, between 11 and 12, between 12 and 1, or after 1 on weekdays. I went to bed at 2 last night. I plan on going to bed at about 9:30 tonight. I have no idea how to interpret those sort of discrepencies, which are entirely normal for me. Hmmmmm.
Tuesday marked 1 year of Beige Space existing. I want presents.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
CRAZY
So I started to write a summary of my Zwickau adventures, and I swear it will get done eventually, just not. right. now. Because I am going to Paris tomorrow, and school started again this week, and my weekend is summed up in the above picture [although you can't tell from the picture, Piff is wearing Lederhosen], so things are a little crazy now. Not sure when regular word-based blog postings will resume, but there are lots of pictures from Zwickau on the Butterfly Paper, and you can feel free to leave comments there asking me what stuff is and I will tell you about it, I promise. Otherwise, I have about a million things I need to take care of and very very little Lust.Also, I set a date to fly back to the US. July 27. It is not moving. It allows me one month before I have to be at Hampshire (August 31). Feel free to write it on your calendars and plan to take me out for smoothies and kosher sandwiches or Mexican food. Or to have a party. I like parties.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Just Traveling Through
Well I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm not sure of where I've been
But I know I must keep travelin' till my road comes to an end
I'm out here on my journey, trying to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit
Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home
Where that is no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' on
Questions I have many, answers but a few
But we're here to learn, the spirit burns, to know the greater truth
We've all been crucified and they nailed Jesus to the tree
And when I'm born again, you're gonna see a change in me
God made me for a reason and nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes with many kinds of pain
Oh sweet Jesus if you're listening, keep me ever close to you
As I'm stumblin', tumblin', wonderin', as I'm travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
Oh sometimes the road is rugged, and it's hard to travel on
But holdin' to each other, we don't have to walk alone
When everything is broken, we can mend it if we try
We can make a world of difference, if we want to we can fly
Goodbye little children, goodnight you handsome men
Farewell to all you ladies and to all who knew me when
And I hope I'll see you down the road, you meant more than I knew
As I was travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin'
Drifting like a floating boat and roaming like the wind
Oh give me some direction lord, let me lean on you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
Like the poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find my own way home
Oh sweet Jesus if you're out there, keep me ever close to you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', as I'm travelin' thru
Thank God for Dolly Parton. I'd like to apologize to all the people I keep leaving, but I can't help it, and I don't want to do otherwise. I'm going to spend the rest of my life leaving. Know that I cherish every moment we have together, but I can't stay, and I can't spend my time looking back or ahead. I have to focus on the road immediately before me, and I have no idea where it will go next. I know it's hard on everyone that doesn't have this need to run, but know that you can always call me or e-mail me or whatever and I will be there for you as if I had never been gone.
I've learned that space and time do not bind me, and I am so so thankful.
But I know I must keep travelin' till my road comes to an end
I'm out here on my journey, trying to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit
Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home
Where that is no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' on
Questions I have many, answers but a few
But we're here to learn, the spirit burns, to know the greater truth
We've all been crucified and they nailed Jesus to the tree
And when I'm born again, you're gonna see a change in me
God made me for a reason and nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes with many kinds of pain
Oh sweet Jesus if you're listening, keep me ever close to you
As I'm stumblin', tumblin', wonderin', as I'm travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
Oh sometimes the road is rugged, and it's hard to travel on
But holdin' to each other, we don't have to walk alone
When everything is broken, we can mend it if we try
We can make a world of difference, if we want to we can fly
Goodbye little children, goodnight you handsome men
Farewell to all you ladies and to all who knew me when
And I hope I'll see you down the road, you meant more than I knew
As I was travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin'
Drifting like a floating boat and roaming like the wind
Oh give me some direction lord, let me lean on you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
Like the poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find my own way home
Oh sweet Jesus if you're out there, keep me ever close to you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', as I'm travelin' thru
Thank God for Dolly Parton. I'd like to apologize to all the people I keep leaving, but I can't help it, and I don't want to do otherwise. I'm going to spend the rest of my life leaving. Know that I cherish every moment we have together, but I can't stay, and I can't spend my time looking back or ahead. I have to focus on the road immediately before me, and I have no idea where it will go next. I know it's hard on everyone that doesn't have this need to run, but know that you can always call me or e-mail me or whatever and I will be there for you as if I had never been gone.
I've learned that space and time do not bind me, and I am so so thankful.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
A Little More Unconventional
Everyone's posting about how great their Easters were. I guess it's my turn.
So I slept in until 10 or a little later, which isn't that late compared to the last few days. I got up and showred and bummed around until Basti and Steffi came over and Basti showed off his awesome grilling skills for lunch (it was yummy) and then we packed ourselves and the dog into the car and drove off to Andechs on the Ammersee, where there is a mountain called Holy Mountain with a church and a former nunnery and current brewery. You get to guess what we were there for. The beer was delicious, it rained when we first got there, but then the sun came out and it was even pretty and we sat and drank and laughed at the big Bayer dude with his lederhosen and his giant beer. The clouds were coming back up, so we left (and stole one of the beer glasses but shhh) and drove home and saw no less than 2.5 rainbows. Yay April in Germany. Steffi and Basti have headed back to Steffi's for the night, and I need to pack to go to Allyson's tomorrow and probably clean up a bit, too.
This was a good Easter. Basti is a good big brother, and I get to see Allyson TOMORROW and stay with her for a whole FIVE days and we will have an awesome time in East D-Land. I'm going to get the final group of pictures up on Butterfly Paper today, too- there are lots and lots there, and you might have missed some, so go check it out.
So I slept in until 10 or a little later, which isn't that late compared to the last few days. I got up and showred and bummed around until Basti and Steffi came over and Basti showed off his awesome grilling skills for lunch (it was yummy) and then we packed ourselves and the dog into the car and drove off to Andechs on the Ammersee, where there is a mountain called Holy Mountain with a church and a former nunnery and current brewery. You get to guess what we were there for. The beer was delicious, it rained when we first got there, but then the sun came out and it was even pretty and we sat and drank and laughed at the big Bayer dude with his lederhosen and his giant beer. The clouds were coming back up, so we left (and stole one of the beer glasses but shhh) and drove home and saw no less than 2.5 rainbows. Yay April in Germany. Steffi and Basti have headed back to Steffi's for the night, and I need to pack to go to Allyson's tomorrow and probably clean up a bit, too.
This was a good Easter. Basti is a good big brother, and I get to see Allyson TOMORROW and stay with her for a whole FIVE days and we will have an awesome time in East D-Land. I'm going to get the final group of pictures up on Butterfly Paper today, too- there are lots and lots there, and you might have missed some, so go check it out.
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