Today I visited a silver mine from the middle ages. It apparently really kicked off in the 12-13 hundreds. But also has a Roman ceiling somewhere. Forgive me for not knowing so many facts about it, but our guide had a pretty heavy dialect.
Frau Reinl, Rolf, Uwe (Frau Reinl's nephew) and her brother and I all went. It was a packed car, but the ride was less than an hour. Frau Rein's brother is really kind of old to be going into a mine (especially this one because we had slippery ladders and stairs), but his hobby is collecting rocks. Uwe, I think, is the nephew who's a little slow (she told me so, but I couldn't really tell) and has a mustache like the villains in the old westerns.
First we went to a restaurant and ate lunch. I had a pork schnitzel and french fries. It was good, minus the fact that the main taste I had was the cooking oil. But the portion was perfect. You really have to think about what size plate you order, because there are no carry out boxes in Germany. Except for pizza. Which is dumb. Frau Reinl ordered some kind of fish, and when it arrived I stared. They brought her the whole fish. Let's just say, the only courtesy the cook did was gut the thing. The head was screaming at me, and the poor tail was all burnt. And the bones were in still. I informed everyone that fish rarely comes this way in the States.
Another fun part of the conversation was describing all the wild and poisonous animals we have in Missouri. I explained what a coyote is, a raccoon and an armadillo. Then I said we have a lot of poisonous snakes and spiders, but the spiders aren't very big. And of course I described Dad's adventure with the copperhead in the Property basement. I might have scared them all from coming to MO, because Frau Reinl said she'd stay in the Black Forest. And they don't like the concept of tornados.
So, the mine. We outfitted ourselves with galoshes, helmets and jackets. No gloves. Our guide was a very old man, who was surprisingly spry. I"m not sure if I'd want my grandpa responsible for a group of idiots in the dark, slippery mine with lots of wet ladders and stairs, but he was fine. They told him I was an American, so he made sure I could see everything and all. And at one point said I was pretty. But the tour was about 90 minutes. Its a little crazy that most of the holes and tunnels were built by hand. Insane, actually.
The mine had a lot of iron, copper, flourite and something else I forgot. Besides the silver, I mean. Afterwards, I bought a rock, and then the guide was nice and gave us each one for free. Rolf was like, "I don't want a rock" but then Frau Reinl's brother gave him one anyway.
The ride back was quiet. Once we got home we had some coffee and I ate more of my giant RitterSport. Then I've just been writing and stuff until our company just came. And I smashed up some chocolate bars for my chocolate chip cookies. Rolf gave me a hammer and I went to town. I think they're going to be more chocolate chuck cookies, but that's cook too. Wish me luck, and...USA, USA!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Quick Soccer Mention
Its really weird for me to say or write soccer, because in my head, its "fussball." And to call the tourny the "World Cup" instead of the Weltmeistershaft (or WM). Anyways...
Wednesday was a big day. The US played and I got pissed off. GB played at the same time and Germany decided that game was more important, so they didn't show the US on tv. They'd cut to snippets of it, showing all the times we almost scored. And the score (0-0) was shown constantly beneath the GB game's, but I was mad. England's game was boring and after staring at a 0-0 score for 90 minutes, I had no freaking hope for us. None whatsoever. GB (which is Great Brittan, by the way) had only 2 minutes of play after the game (I've totally forgotten the English word for that, but its Nachspielzeit in German) and the US had like 4. So, after the real end of the GB match, it went to the US match. Suddenly we had scored a goal. I was like, "What? When?" Basically I freaked out and started screaming in English. This was OK because I was home alone. But holy shit, thank you Mr. Donovan, as we all know by now.
The German game that evening was OK. We ended up at the neighbor's house, which was also OK. I still resent it a little, because no one told me, till after I'd changed into my pj pants. So I had to change out of them which was annoying. But the neighbors are really nice and fans of Pearl S Buck. Melanie dressed up in all her Germany fan regalia. And everyone freaked out during the game. Maybe I was too tired at this point to freak out, or I just had more confidence then them that we would win. But I was very calm during the game. Everyone keeps encouraging me to blow on the vuvusela (sp?) but I keep declining. Mostly because they're annoying and the one the Reinls have has been on about five different mouths by now. I don't think I have the same antibodies as these people (as opposed to my family), so I'm just trying to be healthy.
Thursday Astrid and Brodo came over for the game. This was after Italy lost and everyone was happy. The highlight of this game was Brodo saying to every player (on the TV) who got hurt, "Get him a skirt, the Italian." But I was very tired and almost fell asleep on the couch. And I was reprimanded for not eating an ice cream. Well, I'll tell you, the last time I ate a store bought bar, I felt bloated for two days. Not fun. And they don't even taste anything near a dove bar or a drumstick.
Today the US plays and Astrid and Brodo are coming over for dinner again. Later I have to make the dough for my chocolate chip cookies. I'm wondering when I"ll have time. The main downside to people coming over, is that I can't wear my pj's and I feel weird excusing myself to go and take out my contacts. But oh well. I'll live.
Wednesday was a big day. The US played and I got pissed off. GB played at the same time and Germany decided that game was more important, so they didn't show the US on tv. They'd cut to snippets of it, showing all the times we almost scored. And the score (0-0) was shown constantly beneath the GB game's, but I was mad. England's game was boring and after staring at a 0-0 score for 90 minutes, I had no freaking hope for us. None whatsoever. GB (which is Great Brittan, by the way) had only 2 minutes of play after the game (I've totally forgotten the English word for that, but its Nachspielzeit in German) and the US had like 4. So, after the real end of the GB match, it went to the US match. Suddenly we had scored a goal. I was like, "What? When?" Basically I freaked out and started screaming in English. This was OK because I was home alone. But holy shit, thank you Mr. Donovan, as we all know by now.
The German game that evening was OK. We ended up at the neighbor's house, which was also OK. I still resent it a little, because no one told me, till after I'd changed into my pj pants. So I had to change out of them which was annoying. But the neighbors are really nice and fans of Pearl S Buck. Melanie dressed up in all her Germany fan regalia. And everyone freaked out during the game. Maybe I was too tired at this point to freak out, or I just had more confidence then them that we would win. But I was very calm during the game. Everyone keeps encouraging me to blow on the vuvusela (sp?) but I keep declining. Mostly because they're annoying and the one the Reinls have has been on about five different mouths by now. I don't think I have the same antibodies as these people (as opposed to my family), so I'm just trying to be healthy.
Thursday Astrid and Brodo came over for the game. This was after Italy lost and everyone was happy. The highlight of this game was Brodo saying to every player (on the TV) who got hurt, "Get him a skirt, the Italian." But I was very tired and almost fell asleep on the couch. And I was reprimanded for not eating an ice cream. Well, I'll tell you, the last time I ate a store bought bar, I felt bloated for two days. Not fun. And they don't even taste anything near a dove bar or a drumstick.
Today the US plays and Astrid and Brodo are coming over for dinner again. Later I have to make the dough for my chocolate chip cookies. I'm wondering when I"ll have time. The main downside to people coming over, is that I can't wear my pj's and I feel weird excusing myself to go and take out my contacts. But oh well. I'll live.
Friday Feiertag, 25 Juni 2010
As I mentioned in the earlier post, I had a half day on Friday. This was because we traveled to Bodensee again, to see Constanz the city. Melanie had a doctor's appointment in Singen, which is half way there, so we picked her up on the day and drove on. Oh, and Rolf, Frau Reinl's boyfriend is in for the weekend, so he was there too.
Constanz is pretty, old and yesterday it was kind of warm. I took lots of pics and napped on the way back home. But we mostly just wandered around, which was fine with me. They have a small Sea World there, but we didn't go. I think the highlight of the trip was seeing the cathedral.
The cathedral was originally built, I think, like 600 years A.D. Then over the centuries, people kept expanding it (tastefully), so it's a mixture of architectural styles. But its a very open cathedral which was the best. For example, you could pretty much anywhere for free. I visited the cloister, and the catacombs and a private chapel. None of these areas are usually open to the public, except at a price. The tower had a fare, which we paid, but it was much cheaper than Vienna and an easier climb than Freiburg. The first level of the tour was basically on the roof and balcony above the city. Very cool. Then the second level was really the tower and had these tiny balconies you could stand in. The highest point was closed, which was dumb, but the other views were amazing, so I wasn't too sour about it.
After the cathedral, we went down to the waterfront. There were a lot of ships and sail boats. But I've noticed one thing. In the States, we have Canadian geese. In Germany, they have swans. I watched a swan chase a mallard duck yesterday, it was funny. From the water front, we visited a mall briefly. This way Rolf could watch a little World Cup and the rest of us looked in various shops. I found some discounted chocolate with weird rabbits on it. There's a picture on FB if you want to see.
The one notable item I did buy, was a Little Man for my Aunt Becky. I couldn't resist and he's holding a book like the gnome in the poster I found (there's also a pic on FB) that she really liked. He's very small, so I don't think he'll break in transport and was somehow cheaper than buying the gnome napkins. I'm proud of my purchase, but I don't think Ron'll be too happy.
Sooo...we really just wandered around and took pictures. I also had a scoop of real chocolate ice cream. It was disappointing. There wasn't near enough chocolate. But the cone was nice. Once we were back in the car, I was glad to sit down. We drove around the island Reichnau on the way home. I'm not sure why Reichnau is an island, because its definitely attached to the lake coast. Its a peninsula if anything. But its somehow considered an island here. You may wonder why its special...they grow vegetables there. And by vegetables, they include watermelon and apples.
I totally took a nap on the way back. I kept waking up a little during it and realizing my mouth was open, so I'd close it. But we stopped by the grocery store on the way home and once home I laid in bed until dinner was ready. The sausages we ate tasted like our sausage links. I told them this and that we eat them for breakfast, and my family laughed. But oh well. There was garlic bread, too and that was pretty satisfactory. But small.
Spent the evening writing, watching soccer. Then I went to start getting ready for bed. This involved sorting my pictures. At this time, Victoria sent me an instant message that surprised me. She ended up getting on Skype and I got to talk with Dad, her and Ryan. It was a really nice surprise. Dad got a haircut, Vic got her cartilage pierced and Ryan's taking Katie on a date to PF Chang's. It was a little weird because I was in bed in my pj's and they were nearing dinner time and Dad was heading off to work (damn union). But, and don't hold this over my head, I went to bed super happy and was sorry to end the conversation. So there.
Constanz is pretty, old and yesterday it was kind of warm. I took lots of pics and napped on the way back home. But we mostly just wandered around, which was fine with me. They have a small Sea World there, but we didn't go. I think the highlight of the trip was seeing the cathedral.
The cathedral was originally built, I think, like 600 years A.D. Then over the centuries, people kept expanding it (tastefully), so it's a mixture of architectural styles. But its a very open cathedral which was the best. For example, you could pretty much anywhere for free. I visited the cloister, and the catacombs and a private chapel. None of these areas are usually open to the public, except at a price. The tower had a fare, which we paid, but it was much cheaper than Vienna and an easier climb than Freiburg. The first level of the tour was basically on the roof and balcony above the city. Very cool. Then the second level was really the tower and had these tiny balconies you could stand in. The highest point was closed, which was dumb, but the other views were amazing, so I wasn't too sour about it.
After the cathedral, we went down to the waterfront. There were a lot of ships and sail boats. But I've noticed one thing. In the States, we have Canadian geese. In Germany, they have swans. I watched a swan chase a mallard duck yesterday, it was funny. From the water front, we visited a mall briefly. This way Rolf could watch a little World Cup and the rest of us looked in various shops. I found some discounted chocolate with weird rabbits on it. There's a picture on FB if you want to see.
The one notable item I did buy, was a Little Man for my Aunt Becky. I couldn't resist and he's holding a book like the gnome in the poster I found (there's also a pic on FB) that she really liked. He's very small, so I don't think he'll break in transport and was somehow cheaper than buying the gnome napkins. I'm proud of my purchase, but I don't think Ron'll be too happy.
Sooo...we really just wandered around and took pictures. I also had a scoop of real chocolate ice cream. It was disappointing. There wasn't near enough chocolate. But the cone was nice. Once we were back in the car, I was glad to sit down. We drove around the island Reichnau on the way home. I'm not sure why Reichnau is an island, because its definitely attached to the lake coast. Its a peninsula if anything. But its somehow considered an island here. You may wonder why its special...they grow vegetables there. And by vegetables, they include watermelon and apples.
I totally took a nap on the way back. I kept waking up a little during it and realizing my mouth was open, so I'd close it. But we stopped by the grocery store on the way home and once home I laid in bed until dinner was ready. The sausages we ate tasted like our sausage links. I told them this and that we eat them for breakfast, and my family laughed. But oh well. There was garlic bread, too and that was pretty satisfactory. But small.
Spent the evening writing, watching soccer. Then I went to start getting ready for bed. This involved sorting my pictures. At this time, Victoria sent me an instant message that surprised me. She ended up getting on Skype and I got to talk with Dad, her and Ryan. It was a really nice surprise. Dad got a haircut, Vic got her cartilage pierced and Ryan's taking Katie on a date to PF Chang's. It was a little weird because I was in bed in my pj's and they were nearing dinner time and Dad was heading off to work (damn union). But, and don't hold this over my head, I went to bed super happy and was sorry to end the conversation. So there.
The rest of the Work Week
The rest of the days this week were rather repetitious this week, so bear with me.
Wednesday, I helped clean and protect these giant museum display cases. It was all by accident, but it worked out, but I hope that solution wasn't toxic or anything. Frau Contenz asked me to help her with a project, so I went gladly. Basically, we first had to clean all the glass on these cases. The short sides were about two feet by three feet and the backs of the cases were about four and a half feet by three feet. How do you clean those? you might ask. Windex? No. There was a special solution we (actually just me) sprayed the glass with and then took a razor blade and scraped all the water and dirt off. Spray again, take a windshield wiper blade and go one direction, spray, wipe the other direction. Then, once its perfect (with no streak marks), spray it all again, grab this giant sheet of adhesive plastic, spray that, stick it to the glass, and smooth it out. Its much harder than it seems. We got five done during the entire day. Whatever that solution was, I got it all over me and my clothes. And my arms were rather sore from scraping and wiping the glass and holding up the plastic.
Thursday, I went down to the foyer by myself to conduct surveys with anyone who walked in for tourist information. I wasn't supposed to be alone, but Matthias was late and no one knew why. But I got a lot of surveys completed while he wasn't there...I'm chalking that up because I smile at people. But he eventually came, his late excuse was that he had to help his dad fix the motorcycle. We just sat down there all day and did the surveys and talked. Lunch was about two hours, though, because he went at noon and I went at one. Monika, the other German/Education Major at Webster was in town, because her sister lives in Villingen and then she and her Dad were going on to visit Bosnia (the homeland) and we were going to go grab lunch. This didn't happen because Monika's sister didn't come home from work on time to take her into the city. I wasn't mad,at all, she called me. I tried to help make her feel better by telling her about the time Mom left me in Walmart. I"m not sure if it really helped, but she laughed.
Friday Matthias and I did more of the same thing, but with a coffee (or tea) break and two cigarette breaks. Friday we didn't have so many people because mostly everyone were tourists, so they'd never visited the Museum or had a city tour. And if they had visited the museum, they were from Villingen and informed us they didn't need to take a city tour of where they lived. But the day ended early, because I got to leave at noon. Before we adjourned, Matthias copied my Tour worksheets for Monday. Despite the fact that I sit right next to the copy machine, I have not learned how to work it.
But, one thing I did learn on Friday, was that I was in the newspaper that day. No one told me I was going to be. But during the coffee break, the janitor (house master, literally) was reading the paper and told me there was an article about me in it. I asked, "Really?" and he said there was a picture, too. This was more concerning, because I wondered where the hell they got the picture from. There was no picture, but the article was real. Basically it was announcing that the American intern would be conducting her first tour for students on Monday about "Giants, Dragons and Mythological Creatures." I don't think there was really much point in putting that in the paper, since its a private tour and not a public one. And Frau Auer didn't mention it at all to me. I still probably would have been OK with it, but it was weird. I was told I should go immediately and buy ten copies of the paper. I didn't.
Wednesday, I helped clean and protect these giant museum display cases. It was all by accident, but it worked out, but I hope that solution wasn't toxic or anything. Frau Contenz asked me to help her with a project, so I went gladly. Basically, we first had to clean all the glass on these cases. The short sides were about two feet by three feet and the backs of the cases were about four and a half feet by three feet. How do you clean those? you might ask. Windex? No. There was a special solution we (actually just me) sprayed the glass with and then took a razor blade and scraped all the water and dirt off. Spray again, take a windshield wiper blade and go one direction, spray, wipe the other direction. Then, once its perfect (with no streak marks), spray it all again, grab this giant sheet of adhesive plastic, spray that, stick it to the glass, and smooth it out. Its much harder than it seems. We got five done during the entire day. Whatever that solution was, I got it all over me and my clothes. And my arms were rather sore from scraping and wiping the glass and holding up the plastic.
Thursday, I went down to the foyer by myself to conduct surveys with anyone who walked in for tourist information. I wasn't supposed to be alone, but Matthias was late and no one knew why. But I got a lot of surveys completed while he wasn't there...I'm chalking that up because I smile at people. But he eventually came, his late excuse was that he had to help his dad fix the motorcycle. We just sat down there all day and did the surveys and talked. Lunch was about two hours, though, because he went at noon and I went at one. Monika, the other German/Education Major at Webster was in town, because her sister lives in Villingen and then she and her Dad were going on to visit Bosnia (the homeland) and we were going to go grab lunch. This didn't happen because Monika's sister didn't come home from work on time to take her into the city. I wasn't mad,at all, she called me. I tried to help make her feel better by telling her about the time Mom left me in Walmart. I"m not sure if it really helped, but she laughed.
Friday Matthias and I did more of the same thing, but with a coffee (or tea) break and two cigarette breaks. Friday we didn't have so many people because mostly everyone were tourists, so they'd never visited the Museum or had a city tour. And if they had visited the museum, they were from Villingen and informed us they didn't need to take a city tour of where they lived. But the day ended early, because I got to leave at noon. Before we adjourned, Matthias copied my Tour worksheets for Monday. Despite the fact that I sit right next to the copy machine, I have not learned how to work it.
But, one thing I did learn on Friday, was that I was in the newspaper that day. No one told me I was going to be. But during the coffee break, the janitor (house master, literally) was reading the paper and told me there was an article about me in it. I asked, "Really?" and he said there was a picture, too. This was more concerning, because I wondered where the hell they got the picture from. There was no picture, but the article was real. Basically it was announcing that the American intern would be conducting her first tour for students on Monday about "Giants, Dragons and Mythological Creatures." I don't think there was really much point in putting that in the paper, since its a private tour and not a public one. And Frau Auer didn't mention it at all to me. I still probably would have been OK with it, but it was weird. I was told I should go immediately and buy ten copies of the paper. I didn't.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Two Tours in One Day, 22 Juni 2010
So today was surprisingly busy and tiring at the Museum. We had two tours, of which I really only observed and yelled at some kids, of elementary students. Matthias was initially supposed to give them alone, but since he's still got a gimpy foot, a lady, Frau Pernt, was recruited to help. She did most of the tours, with Matthias either taking a second group or being an additional resource.
The first tour was turned out to be very crazy. I wasn't really sure what was going on and neither did Matthias. When I met him and Frau Pernt in the foyer, he was carrying a real lance with a tennis ball speared on the end, so it wouldn't stick anyone. The next hour was sprinkled with him pretending he was going to cleave my head in two. But then I got to carry it for a while that made me feel pretty cool. But the tour started with us going outside to the Museum garden and then to the Romaeus Turm (tower) ne Michaelturm. This was a little cool but the sun was out and it was nice. The kids knew a lot about Romaeus, which was surprising, but maybe they were from Villingen and no one told me. From there, we went all the way up to the Aktion 2, which is a fancy way of saying a classroom on the third floor.
From there we handed the kids worksheets and then shortly thereafter, released them into the museum to find some answers. This is where it got bad. Matthias had gone over with the kids to not run, be quiet, and not touch things. Well, lets just say for the next half hour I think we had to deal with rule breaker for all of those rules.
I found myself saying, "langsam" or "slow" and confiscating pencils. Towards the end, Matthias actually shouted at some boys who were beginning to wrestle. The girls were mostly sweet, though. One of them drew a picture depicting Romaeus (who died in 1513) as a hiphop artist. That was pretty good. I saw them later outside the museum during my lunch break and they all were happy to see me again and waved. We were glad they were gone, though.
I took about an hour and a half lunch break today. I figured there was nothing else I could do and after that tour I deserved it. I went back to the garden and ate lunch staring at the Romaeus fountain. Then I went by the library to use a computer. This was not a successful endeavor because all two of the internet computers were already occupied. So I walked to Mueller and bought some more conditioner, since the first stuff I bought is almost gone and is crap. Then I went back to the Museum, let the copy machine repairman in and drank some tea until it was time to meet for the next tour.
The last tour was actually quite enjoyable. The class was second grade, and we divided them into two groups, which were quite manageable. I went with Matthias and we did the clay jar activity first. This was the same tour about the Celts that I went on a few weeks ago, so I didn't really learn anything new. But the kids were good, though the boys were ALL smartalecks. It did kind of bother me, but I wasn't the teacher. I mean, five people telling you one after the other what they know about the Celts: "They're called Celts." And they were all kind of pushy.
But the kids dug in the sandbox model of the Magdalenenburg again. This time it was less messy. But I think the bench Matthias and I sat on has been broken since the last time we sat on it; it kept rocking back and forth today. But the kids all cooperated and we filled up the time well.
It was kind of sweet, too, while the kids were getting their bags from the coat check, the girls wanted to translate their names into English. Apparently "Randy" was really funny. But after the tour and clean up, it was time to catch my train home.
The first tour was turned out to be very crazy. I wasn't really sure what was going on and neither did Matthias. When I met him and Frau Pernt in the foyer, he was carrying a real lance with a tennis ball speared on the end, so it wouldn't stick anyone. The next hour was sprinkled with him pretending he was going to cleave my head in two. But then I got to carry it for a while that made me feel pretty cool. But the tour started with us going outside to the Museum garden and then to the Romaeus Turm (tower) ne Michaelturm. This was a little cool but the sun was out and it was nice. The kids knew a lot about Romaeus, which was surprising, but maybe they were from Villingen and no one told me. From there, we went all the way up to the Aktion 2, which is a fancy way of saying a classroom on the third floor.
From there we handed the kids worksheets and then shortly thereafter, released them into the museum to find some answers. This is where it got bad. Matthias had gone over with the kids to not run, be quiet, and not touch things. Well, lets just say for the next half hour I think we had to deal with rule breaker for all of those rules.
I found myself saying, "langsam" or "slow" and confiscating pencils. Towards the end, Matthias actually shouted at some boys who were beginning to wrestle. The girls were mostly sweet, though. One of them drew a picture depicting Romaeus (who died in 1513) as a hiphop artist. That was pretty good. I saw them later outside the museum during my lunch break and they all were happy to see me again and waved. We were glad they were gone, though.
I took about an hour and a half lunch break today. I figured there was nothing else I could do and after that tour I deserved it. I went back to the garden and ate lunch staring at the Romaeus fountain. Then I went by the library to use a computer. This was not a successful endeavor because all two of the internet computers were already occupied. So I walked to Mueller and bought some more conditioner, since the first stuff I bought is almost gone and is crap. Then I went back to the Museum, let the copy machine repairman in and drank some tea until it was time to meet for the next tour.
The last tour was actually quite enjoyable. The class was second grade, and we divided them into two groups, which were quite manageable. I went with Matthias and we did the clay jar activity first. This was the same tour about the Celts that I went on a few weeks ago, so I didn't really learn anything new. But the kids were good, though the boys were ALL smartalecks. It did kind of bother me, but I wasn't the teacher. I mean, five people telling you one after the other what they know about the Celts: "They're called Celts." And they were all kind of pushy.
But the kids dug in the sandbox model of the Magdalenenburg again. This time it was less messy. But I think the bench Matthias and I sat on has been broken since the last time we sat on it; it kept rocking back and forth today. But the kids all cooperated and we filled up the time well.
It was kind of sweet, too, while the kids were getting their bags from the coat check, the girls wanted to translate their names into English. Apparently "Randy" was really funny. But after the tour and clean up, it was time to catch my train home.
Recognition Ceremony, June 21, 2010
It was a bit of a surprise, but I had vaguely remembered something about it. We had our Recognition Ceremony yesterday at the Duale Hochschule, which is the partner university here with Webster back home. All I was told was where, when and that I should prepare to say something about myself for two to three minutes. I left work early and Frau Brause picked me up and we drove to Schwenningen and met Frau Reinl.
We were amoung the first there, and Dan was there, too. He was frantically scribblings notes for his speech. I hadn't written any notes and wasn't really worried, but I still started thinking about what I should say. We sat down and Dan and I talked, in English, a little. Then people started pouring in. I expected to see the German students who are coming to the States in late July, but none of them showed up. Instead, all these other students.
It turns out, the "Recognition Ceremony" was really a tiny graduation for all the Russian exchange students who'd been there the past semester. There was really no point for the two of us Americans to be there. A bunch of Hochschule personal gave long speeches in English. Their English wasn't that good and they said some words funny, but I had to remind myself not to judge, because my German isn't really that awesome in the scheme of things. But finally, Frau Brusis said that the students could now speak about their time here. Let's just make it short and sweet, for the sake of my lovely readers, even though the actual experience kind of sucked.
Four groups of Russians went and all gave powerpoint presentations. I think the shortest presentation was fifteen minutes long. And I didn't know any of them, so it didn't really matter to me. They basically just thanked everyone, and showed all their vacation and party pictures. Two girls started crying when they went to give their speech. So what did we, the audience do for the crying girls? We applauded them. For crying. Then when they kept crying, we laughed at them. So, when two Russians are crying in public, you should apparently clap, then laugh at them to make it all better and show your empathy.
But finally Dan and I got to speak. Frau Brusis told us to just go up together. Dan went first and I felt pretty damn bad for him. I think I've heard Ryan (my brother) link a better German sentence together than Dan did. But he tried very hard and was nervous, so that didn't help. Then I spoke, and felt bad for upstaging him, since my speech flowed very well. But my host moms were impressed and Frau Reinl gave me a giant RitterSport because I did so well. I don't think it was that great, but that's typical of me. When everyone clapped for me, Dan asked and then told me to clap for myself and that he clapped for himself. I replied that I wasn't arrogant.
After some more speeches and receiving our diplomas, a baseball hat and a pen, we had some cake and coffee. And tea, but I only got a half a cup because the Russians really really like tea and I didn't push or race my way to the table. The cake was all right, but I think we Americans do cake better.
After hanging around for far too long, we finally left. Not before Frau Brause talked in English to some of the Russian students, I learned Frau Auer has been singing my praises to Frau Brusis (that was surprising) and I learned that Dan has to now pay more attention to the bank. Its probably bad of me to relay, but its so funny, so I can't quite resist. He made it sound like he's spent most of his money on Doener Kebaps, which is even better, since his quote on the first night, "I could eat these every day!" upon eating his first Doener.
We were amoung the first there, and Dan was there, too. He was frantically scribblings notes for his speech. I hadn't written any notes and wasn't really worried, but I still started thinking about what I should say. We sat down and Dan and I talked, in English, a little. Then people started pouring in. I expected to see the German students who are coming to the States in late July, but none of them showed up. Instead, all these other students.
It turns out, the "Recognition Ceremony" was really a tiny graduation for all the Russian exchange students who'd been there the past semester. There was really no point for the two of us Americans to be there. A bunch of Hochschule personal gave long speeches in English. Their English wasn't that good and they said some words funny, but I had to remind myself not to judge, because my German isn't really that awesome in the scheme of things. But finally, Frau Brusis said that the students could now speak about their time here. Let's just make it short and sweet, for the sake of my lovely readers, even though the actual experience kind of sucked.
Four groups of Russians went and all gave powerpoint presentations. I think the shortest presentation was fifteen minutes long. And I didn't know any of them, so it didn't really matter to me. They basically just thanked everyone, and showed all their vacation and party pictures. Two girls started crying when they went to give their speech. So what did we, the audience do for the crying girls? We applauded them. For crying. Then when they kept crying, we laughed at them. So, when two Russians are crying in public, you should apparently clap, then laugh at them to make it all better and show your empathy.
But finally Dan and I got to speak. Frau Brusis told us to just go up together. Dan went first and I felt pretty damn bad for him. I think I've heard Ryan (my brother) link a better German sentence together than Dan did. But he tried very hard and was nervous, so that didn't help. Then I spoke, and felt bad for upstaging him, since my speech flowed very well. But my host moms were impressed and Frau Reinl gave me a giant RitterSport because I did so well. I don't think it was that great, but that's typical of me. When everyone clapped for me, Dan asked and then told me to clap for myself and that he clapped for himself. I replied that I wasn't arrogant.
After some more speeches and receiving our diplomas, a baseball hat and a pen, we had some cake and coffee. And tea, but I only got a half a cup because the Russians really really like tea and I didn't push or race my way to the table. The cake was all right, but I think we Americans do cake better.
After hanging around for far too long, we finally left. Not before Frau Brause talked in English to some of the Russian students, I learned Frau Auer has been singing my praises to Frau Brusis (that was surprising) and I learned that Dan has to now pay more attention to the bank. Its probably bad of me to relay, but its so funny, so I can't quite resist. He made it sound like he's spent most of his money on Doener Kebaps, which is even better, since his quote on the first night, "I could eat these every day!" upon eating his first Doener.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
French Parades Suck, 20 Juni 2010
Sooo...today was rather odd and I usually had no idea what was going on. I am very glad to be home.
I woke up at 7 45 after going to bed around 1 am because we literally did not get home until then from the concert (Carmina Burana). Part of this was because we went to an Italian cafe afterwards and I ate some spaghetti. But it was a late night and then I had to sneak my stuff out of the bathroom since I couldn't use it since Melanie's uncle was sleeping in the bedroom next door.
But I got ready for what I thought was going to be a wedding. I had a feeling it was going to be cold, so I wore pants and a blazer and my winter coat. Then I packed my black heels and contact solution and whatnot since I wasn't sure what the day would hold. Melanie drove Frau Reinl and I to the bus, which turned out to be a private coach bus. We waited with a bunch of other citizens dressed in Tracht (the regional historical cultural costumes here)for about twenty minutes before finally getting on the bus. After about a minute, the bus driver started talking and then told everyone I was on the bus and I was an American.
The drive was pretty, though I'd already seen half of it when the Brauses took me to see Gengenbach. The entire thing lasted about two hours and then we were in France. There was no border patrol that I saw, which was good because I'd forgotten my passport. But I had a driver's lisence which apparently counts here. Frau Reinl forgot her ID card, cellphone and house key, so I was pretty prepared in comparison to her anyway. This part of France has a lot of vineyards, which go up and down the hills which is pretty.
After getting off the bus, we walked into the old part of town which took about fifteen minutes. I guess in France no one drives on the street on Sunday, because most of our group just walked in the middle of it. But we finally got to the City Hall and were greeted by a Frenchman magistrate of some sort who spoke German. We waited around for a while and then the day was presented by the Monsieur Mayor and four other people. All of their speeches were in French and very long. I think one would have been enough personally. During most of the speeches, though, a little French girl decided the speeches weren't worth listening to. She was maybe three years old and suddenly just started singing. This was funny because she was standing about four feet from the guys making speeches and she just looked at everyone and sang away for about twenty minutes. No one told her to be quiet either, even though her mom was actually holding her while she sang.
After all the speeches were over, there was free wine, cake and cherries. Apparently this region is known for their cherries. They're good, but a little lighter in flavor than ours. But very red. I don't think the organizers really thought the whole free cherry thing through, because there was absolutely no place to put the stems or pits. So we all just spit them into the street at our feet. The street was messy by the evening, I'll tell you.
I didn't have any cherry cake or tart or whatever it was. I was tempted, but I didn't feel like finding a trashcan if I didn't like it and I wasn't really hungry. But it was kind of funny...there were fresh cherries in it, but they hadn't been pitted. So...you're eating this tart and have to worry about spitting out the pits. Knowing me I would have dug in and hurt my teeth or something on a pit.
The entire day was not a wedding as I soon found out. It was really just a festival of some sorts, which meant a lot of cherry sales, live music and traditional dancing, craft fair booths, food, pony rides, and later there were a few stages set up for the dance troupes to dance on. But there was also a parade, and St. Georgen had been invited to show off their Tracht. There were a few other German towns there to representing their Tracht style and then some French styles, too.
But before the parade, we wandered around the craft booths and I found Victoria's souvenir. But in picking it out, which was weird because the owner of the booth barely spoke German and no English (this was a first for me in a long time, not being able to communicate with someone in Europe) and I had to try every single ring on before I found one that would pass. But in doing so, Frau Reinl and I lost track of the group who went off to lunch without us. So, we found our way back by ourselves, with the aid of an elderly gentleman. This part of France was always changing hands between France and Germany, so the old generation all speak German, but their kids don't. But lunch was back by the bus, so we had to walk all the way back. I think we should have just come later for lunch or just the parade and not stood through all the speeches.
Lunch was long and kind of boring. I was given a plate with a mountain of sauerkraut, three slabs (and I mean slabs) of very fatty ham, a giant misshapen meatball of what I think turned out to be liver, two wursts, and a potato. I managed to eat the wursts and the potato. I tried the meatball, which no one else could figure out really what it was, and it was gross. So that was that.
After lunch the girls who'd come also dressed in Tracht got some aid putting on their hats. I guess they're hats. They're really just crazy lampshade crown things that weigh about 4 kilos, which are covered in paper roses, mardi gras beads and Christmas tree ornaments. This was for the parade.
So, we then walked up to the parade, which I didn't figure out it was a parade till we got there. I was initially excited for the parade, because the groups going looked interesting and their was an orange tractor pulling a wagon with kids distributing cherries. Since I wasn't part of the parade, due to my lack of Tracht, I went with one of the moms who also wasn't wearing Tracht to watch. And here is where it gets disappointing. I think I'll just list.
1) The "Hip Hop" Dancers sucked. I have seen two years with better hip hop skills. I mean, you can't just "step-touch" and wave your arms around and call that hip hop.
2) The French here, during parades, have no manners. The parades going on, and the bystanders are walking into the middle of the street during the march. And they would come and stand right in front of me while I was taking a picture, even if there was plenty of room elsewhere.
3) If you're going to show off your mad Brazilian dance fighting skills, don't form a circle around the two dancing. The rest of us can't see.
4) There was the Country Club of Offenburg Hillbillies. Seriously. They all had the cowboy boots, hats, "western" jewelry and would randomly whoop like a cowboy in an fifties film. I had to ask out loud if these people even knew what a Hillbilly was. I explained to Frau Reinl that a Hillbilly was a derogatory name for someone who lived in the country. I mean, I can't think of anyone who would want to be a member of a Hillbilly club.
5) Some of the dance troupes didn't dance. They just walked normally. I was, come on, do something, you're in a parade.
6) For some reason there was a Hawaiian dance group. And most of the girl literally only work fake coconut bras on top. Do they really do that there, or is that a stereotype? I'd like to know.
7) If you're carrying a sign that announces your marching band, don't bend the sign together so we can't read it.
So, yeah. That was the worst parade I've ever seen. But all the traditional clothing was cool. It just didn't quite make up for the other bull shit. And there were cherry pits being spit everywhere (there was also a spitting contest). And the on one of the stages later, a saw one second before turning away, but there were a bunch of preteens beginning to dance to Thriller. But not with the right choreography, so it was a mess. When I expressed my distaste for it all later, I learned that the Germans never interrupt a parade by walking into it and that the reason it sucked was because everyone was French. Ha.
Over the course of the next few hours, I watched some traditional dancing (there's a good amount of stomping), almost had a major contact problem from too much smoke in the air, learned that there were no warm, alcohol free drinks to be bought in the area that wasn't coffee, walked around, ate a warm pretzel with too much salt, bought a bottle of apple-cinnamon juice (tastes almost like cider, yum, got stared at by a really creepy guy (who either is a sociopath or mentally handicapped), tried and failed to understand French, and listened to a bunch of St Georgens play cow bells for music. Really. Its special to this area.They just ring them, though, instead of beating on them a la "I need more Cow Bell." Sadly this type of music didn't click to well with me, so I sadly had the first moment I truly did not need more cow bell.
While we were waiting for the bus to fill, two strange things happened. One, a guy with a handlebar mustache which extended about three inches on either side of his face, asked one of the girls to let him hold her hat. She refused, and rightly so. I wouldn't hand a hat of mine to a guy who has a mustache like that, who beckons you to come to the side of his car like a complete creeper. Then, the sociopath/mental patient stared at me or the group for thirty minutes. I don't know if it was a girl or boy, but he just stood behind the outer door (that had bars on it), stared and had one of the weirdest, manic small smiles I've ever seen. I really expected him to suddenly bolt out of the door, screaming, and attack us. But I kept this idea to myself. Oh, and you may ask, why were we there waiting for thirty minutes? Well, the leader of our group got stuck talking to a Frenchman for that long and we left thirty minutes late.
I slept for an hour on the bus and then spent the remaining hour talking with Frau Reinl about the differences between our school systems (she likes the community aspect of ours better and was surprised to learn there were still same-sex schools) and what types of books we like to read. The bus dropped us off at our street and I used my key to let us in. Sooo...the relaxing and football is nice and Brazil's winning as usual.
I woke up at 7 45 after going to bed around 1 am because we literally did not get home until then from the concert (Carmina Burana). Part of this was because we went to an Italian cafe afterwards and I ate some spaghetti. But it was a late night and then I had to sneak my stuff out of the bathroom since I couldn't use it since Melanie's uncle was sleeping in the bedroom next door.
But I got ready for what I thought was going to be a wedding. I had a feeling it was going to be cold, so I wore pants and a blazer and my winter coat. Then I packed my black heels and contact solution and whatnot since I wasn't sure what the day would hold. Melanie drove Frau Reinl and I to the bus, which turned out to be a private coach bus. We waited with a bunch of other citizens dressed in Tracht (the regional historical cultural costumes here)for about twenty minutes before finally getting on the bus. After about a minute, the bus driver started talking and then told everyone I was on the bus and I was an American.
The drive was pretty, though I'd already seen half of it when the Brauses took me to see Gengenbach. The entire thing lasted about two hours and then we were in France. There was no border patrol that I saw, which was good because I'd forgotten my passport. But I had a driver's lisence which apparently counts here. Frau Reinl forgot her ID card, cellphone and house key, so I was pretty prepared in comparison to her anyway. This part of France has a lot of vineyards, which go up and down the hills which is pretty.
After getting off the bus, we walked into the old part of town which took about fifteen minutes. I guess in France no one drives on the street on Sunday, because most of our group just walked in the middle of it. But we finally got to the City Hall and were greeted by a Frenchman magistrate of some sort who spoke German. We waited around for a while and then the day was presented by the Monsieur Mayor and four other people. All of their speeches were in French and very long. I think one would have been enough personally. During most of the speeches, though, a little French girl decided the speeches weren't worth listening to. She was maybe three years old and suddenly just started singing. This was funny because she was standing about four feet from the guys making speeches and she just looked at everyone and sang away for about twenty minutes. No one told her to be quiet either, even though her mom was actually holding her while she sang.
After all the speeches were over, there was free wine, cake and cherries. Apparently this region is known for their cherries. They're good, but a little lighter in flavor than ours. But very red. I don't think the organizers really thought the whole free cherry thing through, because there was absolutely no place to put the stems or pits. So we all just spit them into the street at our feet. The street was messy by the evening, I'll tell you.
I didn't have any cherry cake or tart or whatever it was. I was tempted, but I didn't feel like finding a trashcan if I didn't like it and I wasn't really hungry. But it was kind of funny...there were fresh cherries in it, but they hadn't been pitted. So...you're eating this tart and have to worry about spitting out the pits. Knowing me I would have dug in and hurt my teeth or something on a pit.
The entire day was not a wedding as I soon found out. It was really just a festival of some sorts, which meant a lot of cherry sales, live music and traditional dancing, craft fair booths, food, pony rides, and later there were a few stages set up for the dance troupes to dance on. But there was also a parade, and St. Georgen had been invited to show off their Tracht. There were a few other German towns there to representing their Tracht style and then some French styles, too.
But before the parade, we wandered around the craft booths and I found Victoria's souvenir. But in picking it out, which was weird because the owner of the booth barely spoke German and no English (this was a first for me in a long time, not being able to communicate with someone in Europe) and I had to try every single ring on before I found one that would pass. But in doing so, Frau Reinl and I lost track of the group who went off to lunch without us. So, we found our way back by ourselves, with the aid of an elderly gentleman. This part of France was always changing hands between France and Germany, so the old generation all speak German, but their kids don't. But lunch was back by the bus, so we had to walk all the way back. I think we should have just come later for lunch or just the parade and not stood through all the speeches.
Lunch was long and kind of boring. I was given a plate with a mountain of sauerkraut, three slabs (and I mean slabs) of very fatty ham, a giant misshapen meatball of what I think turned out to be liver, two wursts, and a potato. I managed to eat the wursts and the potato. I tried the meatball, which no one else could figure out really what it was, and it was gross. So that was that.
After lunch the girls who'd come also dressed in Tracht got some aid putting on their hats. I guess they're hats. They're really just crazy lampshade crown things that weigh about 4 kilos, which are covered in paper roses, mardi gras beads and Christmas tree ornaments. This was for the parade.
So, we then walked up to the parade, which I didn't figure out it was a parade till we got there. I was initially excited for the parade, because the groups going looked interesting and their was an orange tractor pulling a wagon with kids distributing cherries. Since I wasn't part of the parade, due to my lack of Tracht, I went with one of the moms who also wasn't wearing Tracht to watch. And here is where it gets disappointing. I think I'll just list.
1) The "Hip Hop" Dancers sucked. I have seen two years with better hip hop skills. I mean, you can't just "step-touch" and wave your arms around and call that hip hop.
2) The French here, during parades, have no manners. The parades going on, and the bystanders are walking into the middle of the street during the march. And they would come and stand right in front of me while I was taking a picture, even if there was plenty of room elsewhere.
3) If you're going to show off your mad Brazilian dance fighting skills, don't form a circle around the two dancing. The rest of us can't see.
4) There was the Country Club of Offenburg Hillbillies. Seriously. They all had the cowboy boots, hats, "western" jewelry and would randomly whoop like a cowboy in an fifties film. I had to ask out loud if these people even knew what a Hillbilly was. I explained to Frau Reinl that a Hillbilly was a derogatory name for someone who lived in the country. I mean, I can't think of anyone who would want to be a member of a Hillbilly club.
5) Some of the dance troupes didn't dance. They just walked normally. I was, come on, do something, you're in a parade.
6) For some reason there was a Hawaiian dance group. And most of the girl literally only work fake coconut bras on top. Do they really do that there, or is that a stereotype? I'd like to know.
7) If you're carrying a sign that announces your marching band, don't bend the sign together so we can't read it.
So, yeah. That was the worst parade I've ever seen. But all the traditional clothing was cool. It just didn't quite make up for the other bull shit. And there were cherry pits being spit everywhere (there was also a spitting contest). And the on one of the stages later, a saw one second before turning away, but there were a bunch of preteens beginning to dance to Thriller. But not with the right choreography, so it was a mess. When I expressed my distaste for it all later, I learned that the Germans never interrupt a parade by walking into it and that the reason it sucked was because everyone was French. Ha.
Over the course of the next few hours, I watched some traditional dancing (there's a good amount of stomping), almost had a major contact problem from too much smoke in the air, learned that there were no warm, alcohol free drinks to be bought in the area that wasn't coffee, walked around, ate a warm pretzel with too much salt, bought a bottle of apple-cinnamon juice (tastes almost like cider, yum, got stared at by a really creepy guy (who either is a sociopath or mentally handicapped), tried and failed to understand French, and listened to a bunch of St Georgens play cow bells for music. Really. Its special to this area.They just ring them, though, instead of beating on them a la "I need more Cow Bell." Sadly this type of music didn't click to well with me, so I sadly had the first moment I truly did not need more cow bell.
While we were waiting for the bus to fill, two strange things happened. One, a guy with a handlebar mustache which extended about three inches on either side of his face, asked one of the girls to let him hold her hat. She refused, and rightly so. I wouldn't hand a hat of mine to a guy who has a mustache like that, who beckons you to come to the side of his car like a complete creeper. Then, the sociopath/mental patient stared at me or the group for thirty minutes. I don't know if it was a girl or boy, but he just stood behind the outer door (that had bars on it), stared and had one of the weirdest, manic small smiles I've ever seen. I really expected him to suddenly bolt out of the door, screaming, and attack us. But I kept this idea to myself. Oh, and you may ask, why were we there waiting for thirty minutes? Well, the leader of our group got stuck talking to a Frenchman for that long and we left thirty minutes late.
I slept for an hour on the bus and then spent the remaining hour talking with Frau Reinl about the differences between our school systems (she likes the community aspect of ours better and was surprised to learn there were still same-sex schools) and what types of books we like to read. The bus dropped us off at our street and I used my key to let us in. Sooo...the relaxing and football is nice and Brazil's winning as usual.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
New Host Family, 19 Juni 2010
So, I actually moved in with my second host family this past Tuesday, but its all been good.
The Reinls live near the center of St. Georgen, in a house that Grandfather Reinl built. Each storey (3 total) is its own apartment and I essentially have the whole third floor to myself. Frau Reinl has the first floor, and when he can (I'm not sure on the whole timing of it all), her boyfriend Rolf lives there, too. He normally works in Hamburg, but comes here to live during his vacations. Melanie, who works at City Hall, has the second floor and has one of the coolest decorating schemes I've ever seen. They also have a cat, Lissy, who is the baby of the family. They bring her to a cafe sometimes and during the day when no one's home, the neighbors come and pick her up so she's not alone all day.
Things are a little more relaxed here, in the sense that there's muesli for breakfast. Its very filling and the only downside is that I pick out the almonds, since I'm allergic. But it lasts a long time during the day.
I'm not completely moved into the apartment, but sleep in the small bedroom next to it. Frau Reinl's brother in law is going to stay with us for a night this weekend and will have the apartment, so she didn't want me to have to move in and then have to move back out. But I like the room I'm in, its cozy and warm. I can also use my computer in the room, because the Reinls have WiFi. This is especially useful when I don't remember the word for "Steel Mill" (Stahlwerk) in attempting to explain Granite City and where Dad used to work.
One thing I've noticed, and this may be hard for my family to believe, but whatever the floors are made of here, they make one very quiet. I'm constantly accidentally sneaking up on people. I feel bad, but I don't want to necessarily slam a door or really clomp down the stairs to announce my presence.
Another very cool thing this house has, is the oven. In the three German houses I've been in here, each one has had a wood oven. But they usually don't look like ovens. The one at the Reinls is especially cool, because it really heats up the room and on two sides, there's a bench, so you can lean on the warmness and watch tv or eat dinner. Or write this like I am now. Its the equivalent of sitting on a heating vent. I think I definitely want one of these in my future house. Lissy likes laying on top and sleeping. Sounds good to me.
The Reinls also have a real Kukuk Clock. It "sings" every hour and half hour. Sometimes I don't here it even if I'm in the room and think I'm going crazy for not hearing it. But I did actually here it from the third floor bathroom last night.
Frau Reinl also supports my Fussball watching completely. She and Melanie aren't really fans, but I usually watch the game at 8 30 (or if the US or Deutschland play) and she'll sit in the room with me. She also has one of the rally horns and insisted that I blow it yesterday when we scored. And she offered me alcohol, as a joke, if the US lost. Which, we didn't really. But that Ref should be fired.
Today I got to sleep in for the first time in a few weeks. I went to sleep about eleven-thirty and woke up around eight and went back to sleep. It was glorious. My mattress is actually really hard, but I've slept well on it. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining. We were going to go to a cave today, but it rained and so the cave is closed because it could potentially be dangerous. It works. We're going to go next weekend.
But, tonight, we're going to a concert. The entire score of Carmina Burana. I'm excited. Its supposed to be about three hours long, which I hope I'll last. It begins at eight this evening. But, its a choir and orchestra piece, so it should be great. And tomorrow we're going early to a wedding. Most everyone's wearing the traditional Tracht, but I'll just wear something else (nice). It should be pretty and interesting.
The Reinls live near the center of St. Georgen, in a house that Grandfather Reinl built. Each storey (3 total) is its own apartment and I essentially have the whole third floor to myself. Frau Reinl has the first floor, and when he can (I'm not sure on the whole timing of it all), her boyfriend Rolf lives there, too. He normally works in Hamburg, but comes here to live during his vacations. Melanie, who works at City Hall, has the second floor and has one of the coolest decorating schemes I've ever seen. They also have a cat, Lissy, who is the baby of the family. They bring her to a cafe sometimes and during the day when no one's home, the neighbors come and pick her up so she's not alone all day.
Things are a little more relaxed here, in the sense that there's muesli for breakfast. Its very filling and the only downside is that I pick out the almonds, since I'm allergic. But it lasts a long time during the day.
I'm not completely moved into the apartment, but sleep in the small bedroom next to it. Frau Reinl's brother in law is going to stay with us for a night this weekend and will have the apartment, so she didn't want me to have to move in and then have to move back out. But I like the room I'm in, its cozy and warm. I can also use my computer in the room, because the Reinls have WiFi. This is especially useful when I don't remember the word for "Steel Mill" (Stahlwerk) in attempting to explain Granite City and where Dad used to work.
One thing I've noticed, and this may be hard for my family to believe, but whatever the floors are made of here, they make one very quiet. I'm constantly accidentally sneaking up on people. I feel bad, but I don't want to necessarily slam a door or really clomp down the stairs to announce my presence.
Another very cool thing this house has, is the oven. In the three German houses I've been in here, each one has had a wood oven. But they usually don't look like ovens. The one at the Reinls is especially cool, because it really heats up the room and on two sides, there's a bench, so you can lean on the warmness and watch tv or eat dinner. Or write this like I am now. Its the equivalent of sitting on a heating vent. I think I definitely want one of these in my future house. Lissy likes laying on top and sleeping. Sounds good to me.
The Reinls also have a real Kukuk Clock. It "sings" every hour and half hour. Sometimes I don't here it even if I'm in the room and think I'm going crazy for not hearing it. But I did actually here it from the third floor bathroom last night.
Frau Reinl also supports my Fussball watching completely. She and Melanie aren't really fans, but I usually watch the game at 8 30 (or if the US or Deutschland play) and she'll sit in the room with me. She also has one of the rally horns and insisted that I blow it yesterday when we scored. And she offered me alcohol, as a joke, if the US lost. Which, we didn't really. But that Ref should be fired.
Today I got to sleep in for the first time in a few weeks. I went to sleep about eleven-thirty and woke up around eight and went back to sleep. It was glorious. My mattress is actually really hard, but I've slept well on it. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining. We were going to go to a cave today, but it rained and so the cave is closed because it could potentially be dangerous. It works. We're going to go next weekend.
But, tonight, we're going to a concert. The entire score of Carmina Burana. I'm excited. Its supposed to be about three hours long, which I hope I'll last. It begins at eight this evening. But, its a choir and orchestra piece, so it should be great. And tomorrow we're going early to a wedding. Most everyone's wearing the traditional Tracht, but I'll just wear something else (nice). It should be pretty and interesting.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Highlights of the Work Week, 13-18 June 2010
Monday was actually by far the best day of the week. It didn't rain in the morning, but was cool as well. There's going to be construction in the depot in the museum in the next couple of weeks, so we had to rearrange things to make way for the workers. So I not only got to wear jeans and a tshirt to work, but I got to walk around, carry things and look at cool old stuff. I realized that I really miss moving around during the day, like at Sherwin Williams. Sitting at a desk all day kind of blows. But we actually rearranged everything in one day. I didn't do a lot of lifting, because most of what needed to be moved were gigantic wardrobes that were even difficult for several men. Though I did help move a seven foot tall artists' easel. During the vesper break, Frau Contenz mentioned how Frau Haas, the secretary liked to talk. She looked at me and said, "You probably know half her life story now." This is exactly how it is. Frau Contenz also said Frau Haas lives alone and gets lonely, so she talks to us. This is completely true, and to further prove my point, later that day Frau Haas asked me how my weekend was. I spoke three sentences in about a minute. The next twenty minutes were spent listening to Frau Haas tell me about her weekend, even though I didn't ask.
Monday had fairly rainy weather and I actually walked home in the cold rain. It was not so fun and I looked like a drowned raccoon when I finally got home. Mascara bleeds, you see. I then ate my first Berliner, drank some tea and somehow by the grace of God, won a game of Rummy. But this was real Rummy, were there were no pairs, only runs and you could opt for a card if it wasn't your turn and if a card wasn't picked up once it was discarded, then it was in the trash permanently. So, I won, but I think I like the rules I learned by better.
Tuesday, I received the text for the Plant tour Frau Auer wrote. She said I could translate it if I wanted to. So I looked up all the words I didn't know. Then I spent a while making a color-coded calendar of all the WM games left. I think I spent about two hours on it. But its very pretty and organized. In the afternoon, I, drawing on some inspiration from a friend, drew a giant castle in space next to a space waterfall. Its pretty cool. A little cuter than cool, really, but oh well. I then took several pictures.
Wednesday I took all of an hour and a half to write out the English text of the tour. Other than randomly amusing myself and going to the library, I don't' remember much else of what I did. But it did rain all day. Frau Reinl picked me up at the train station (more on that later) and we did a little grocery shopping before going home.
Thursday I went to Europa Park, so I didn't work at all.
Friday, today, I spent almost two hours designing a crossword puzzle for some kids using my tour vocabulary. I then decided it needed to be pretty, so I drew a dragon and then a unicorn on it. And took pictures. I doubt my computer at work would let me download a crossword puzzle maker, so I drew it all (boxes and whatnot) on graph paper with a pen and pencil. That was really the only work I did, aside from review my other tour worksheet for highschoolers. As of now, I have three tours (in English) booked. But the first one isn't until June 28, so I have a while. Frau Auer then told me at noon I could go home early.
This was especially cool since the first WM game (that's World Meisterschaft, by the way, otherwise known as the World Cup) started at 1 30 and Germany was playing. So, I dallied around for a bit, caught the 12 55pm train home, walked up a hill and let myself into an empty house. It then took me fifteen minutes before I could figure out how to turn on one of the four tv's here, but I succeeded and watched some soccer. However biased and awful it was.
Monday had fairly rainy weather and I actually walked home in the cold rain. It was not so fun and I looked like a drowned raccoon when I finally got home. Mascara bleeds, you see. I then ate my first Berliner, drank some tea and somehow by the grace of God, won a game of Rummy. But this was real Rummy, were there were no pairs, only runs and you could opt for a card if it wasn't your turn and if a card wasn't picked up once it was discarded, then it was in the trash permanently. So, I won, but I think I like the rules I learned by better.
Tuesday, I received the text for the Plant tour Frau Auer wrote. She said I could translate it if I wanted to. So I looked up all the words I didn't know. Then I spent a while making a color-coded calendar of all the WM games left. I think I spent about two hours on it. But its very pretty and organized. In the afternoon, I, drawing on some inspiration from a friend, drew a giant castle in space next to a space waterfall. Its pretty cool. A little cuter than cool, really, but oh well. I then took several pictures.
Wednesday I took all of an hour and a half to write out the English text of the tour. Other than randomly amusing myself and going to the library, I don't' remember much else of what I did. But it did rain all day. Frau Reinl picked me up at the train station (more on that later) and we did a little grocery shopping before going home.
Thursday I went to Europa Park, so I didn't work at all.
Friday, today, I spent almost two hours designing a crossword puzzle for some kids using my tour vocabulary. I then decided it needed to be pretty, so I drew a dragon and then a unicorn on it. And took pictures. I doubt my computer at work would let me download a crossword puzzle maker, so I drew it all (boxes and whatnot) on graph paper with a pen and pencil. That was really the only work I did, aside from review my other tour worksheet for highschoolers. As of now, I have three tours (in English) booked. But the first one isn't until June 28, so I have a while. Frau Auer then told me at noon I could go home early.
This was especially cool since the first WM game (that's World Meisterschaft, by the way, otherwise known as the World Cup) started at 1 30 and Germany was playing. So, I dallied around for a bit, caught the 12 55pm train home, walked up a hill and let myself into an empty house. It then took me fifteen minutes before I could figure out how to turn on one of the four tv's here, but I succeeded and watched some soccer. However biased and awful it was.
Tuebingen and more Football, 13 Juni 2010
Sunday began way too early, as well, are you noticing a pattern here? But, the Brauses, Frau Reinl and I all went to Tuebingen. It was about an hour away, I think, and the sky was not particularly pleasant. It was raining in St. Georgen, but by the time we arrived in Tuebingen, it had stopped. Thus, I did not wear my rainboots, though I had brought them and we didn't bring any umbrellas from the car.
The first thing we did was find parking, which was on a hill kind of far away from the center of the city. We then walked down a bunch of steps to get there. I've been collecting any bottle caps (usually beer) I find on the ground, and let's just say Tuebingen was a good place to collect them. But the first thing we did was head towards the City Hall. Tuebingen is a very old city and fairly hilly. Wet Cobblestones and Hills are usually not a good combination, but no one fell.
This must be the season for art/craft fairs, because there was one here, too. This one was pretty cool, mainly because it had different booths than the others and there was one that particularly caught my eye. A man was taking old coins and making jewelry out of them by cutting around the main subject, making a medallion type thing. This was particularly awesome, because he had some Aussie coins, which included kangaroos. There was also an owl and a phoenix. I was very tempted to buy one, but I couldn't decide and they were at least 20 euros. But I took a picture of the phoenix.
After wandering around the fair for a while, we made our way back to the Main Square. After deciding on one of the cafes, we ate lunch at one featuring Flammkuechen. Since a main ingredient of this food is onion, I wasn't too keen on one of the normal ones, so I ordered the apple and cinnamon one. Its seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten. There could have been more apples, but it was like the best version of apple pie without being a pie. I also had a hot chocolate because it was pretty chilly and I mainly wanted to warm my hands.
After lunch, we went up to the Schloss. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool. The hike up to it was pretty steep, but not really comparable to the hike up to Neuschwanstein. I took a lot of pictures, so don't worry. Even better than just the Schloss itself, though, was the Museum inside.
While waiting around for a bit, I'd peered in the massive windows from inside the schloss (there was a open square of space in the middle) and saw all these giant sculptures. This made me pretty excited and then we did in fact go to the Museum of Archaeology.
It was really really cool. And about half of their collection was stuff from the actual area. Mostly pottery and tools, but they were from the Stone Age. I mean, have you ever looked at something in a museum and thought about how old it is? And that it was created within miles of where you are? And has lasted, and would still function till and at that moment? Its freaky. We don't really have these sorts of objects in the States. Someone correct me if Cahokia is pre-Roman and Greek. I've forgotten. There was also a large display of Egyptian artifacts, including at least five sarcophagi. Then, finally, the sculptures I'd seen through the windows. They weren't originals, but were all plaster casts of them. But still, they were ginormous and amazing. I took my time and kind of made my host families wait a bit for me, but I was in a lot of awe and took pictures.
After the Schloss we walked around the city a bit more. We had to be back home in good time because of the Deutschland WM game. We went into a Gummi Bear shop and walked along the river. The river walk was cool because there were gondola type boats ferrying passengers for tours or just for fun and the walk had about 80 giant giant oak trees forming a lane down the path.
The walk back to the car wasn't bad, going up all those steps. There's also a lot of graffiti in Tuebingen. But Frau Reinl and I got the car and met the Brauses at the bottom of the hill.
We ate some dinner and then were all eyes and ears for the game. It was great, as you all should know by now. Before the game even really started people were honking their horns in the street. Oh course, afterward, i was only worse, but it was awesome. I haven't heard that much sport celebratory noise since the Rams won the Super Bowl the first time. I think it actually went on for about forty five minutes after the game, but I fell asleep soon after.
The first thing we did was find parking, which was on a hill kind of far away from the center of the city. We then walked down a bunch of steps to get there. I've been collecting any bottle caps (usually beer) I find on the ground, and let's just say Tuebingen was a good place to collect them. But the first thing we did was head towards the City Hall. Tuebingen is a very old city and fairly hilly. Wet Cobblestones and Hills are usually not a good combination, but no one fell.
This must be the season for art/craft fairs, because there was one here, too. This one was pretty cool, mainly because it had different booths than the others and there was one that particularly caught my eye. A man was taking old coins and making jewelry out of them by cutting around the main subject, making a medallion type thing. This was particularly awesome, because he had some Aussie coins, which included kangaroos. There was also an owl and a phoenix. I was very tempted to buy one, but I couldn't decide and they were at least 20 euros. But I took a picture of the phoenix.
After wandering around the fair for a while, we made our way back to the Main Square. After deciding on one of the cafes, we ate lunch at one featuring Flammkuechen. Since a main ingredient of this food is onion, I wasn't too keen on one of the normal ones, so I ordered the apple and cinnamon one. Its seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten. There could have been more apples, but it was like the best version of apple pie without being a pie. I also had a hot chocolate because it was pretty chilly and I mainly wanted to warm my hands.
After lunch, we went up to the Schloss. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool. The hike up to it was pretty steep, but not really comparable to the hike up to Neuschwanstein. I took a lot of pictures, so don't worry. Even better than just the Schloss itself, though, was the Museum inside.
While waiting around for a bit, I'd peered in the massive windows from inside the schloss (there was a open square of space in the middle) and saw all these giant sculptures. This made me pretty excited and then we did in fact go to the Museum of Archaeology.
It was really really cool. And about half of their collection was stuff from the actual area. Mostly pottery and tools, but they were from the Stone Age. I mean, have you ever looked at something in a museum and thought about how old it is? And that it was created within miles of where you are? And has lasted, and would still function till and at that moment? Its freaky. We don't really have these sorts of objects in the States. Someone correct me if Cahokia is pre-Roman and Greek. I've forgotten. There was also a large display of Egyptian artifacts, including at least five sarcophagi. Then, finally, the sculptures I'd seen through the windows. They weren't originals, but were all plaster casts of them. But still, they were ginormous and amazing. I took my time and kind of made my host families wait a bit for me, but I was in a lot of awe and took pictures.
After the Schloss we walked around the city a bit more. We had to be back home in good time because of the Deutschland WM game. We went into a Gummi Bear shop and walked along the river. The river walk was cool because there were gondola type boats ferrying passengers for tours or just for fun and the walk had about 80 giant giant oak trees forming a lane down the path.
The walk back to the car wasn't bad, going up all those steps. There's also a lot of graffiti in Tuebingen. But Frau Reinl and I got the car and met the Brauses at the bottom of the hill.
We ate some dinner and then were all eyes and ears for the game. It was great, as you all should know by now. Before the game even really started people were honking their horns in the street. Oh course, afterward, i was only worse, but it was awesome. I haven't heard that much sport celebratory noise since the Rams won the Super Bowl the first time. I think it actually went on for about forty five minutes after the game, but I fell asleep soon after.
Monday, June 14, 2010
More Switzerland and an Island of Flowers, 12 Juni 2010
My Saturday morning began way to early, but it was still a good day. After driving for about an hour or more, we passed through the Germany/Switzerland border and continued to Stein am Rhein. Yes, that literally translates as Rock on the Rhein.
This was a pretty historical town, kind of like a different version of Rothenburg, but on the waterfront. While this meant it was pretty, it also meant there were clouds of giant gnats everywhere. It kind of sucks when you either have to walk really slow while looking at the ground to avoid a bug in the eye, or walk at normal speed and wave your arms around like a ninny. But, I'll quickly go through the highlights of Stein am Rhein.
1. St. Georgen Kloster, or monastery. Its really cool and old. I took some pictures, but I always feel bad taking pictures of holy places, because I feel like I"m being irreverent.
2. Chicken broth with homemade pancake noodles and toast for lunch. This was the best toast I've ever had (except when I'm sick) and it was the perfect amount of food.
3. Getting a free concert from two professionals who left the windows open. They were practicing for the night's concert. Flute and Piano duets are awesome.
4. Chocolate shop. This place was crazy and I felt like it was one of the closer stores to being related to Willy Wonka. They're really serious about their Lindt chocolate there, but there were plenty of other things to look at. It was hard decided what to buy.
From Stein am Rhein, we drove down to the Bodensee and went to the island Mainau, or Island of flowers, as its nicknamed. There really weren't that many flowers outside of the Italian Rose garden, but it was still pretty cool. It was like an almost better version of our Botanical Gardens, complete with a giant play area for kids. And topiary, like a giant peacock. And weird daisies with faces.
But, the best part was the Italian Rose garden. I bet there were over two hundred different types of Roses, all kinds. Wild ones and tame ones, bushes and vines and more normal ones. Some were really small, and I swear that others were bigger than a softball. Do you have any idea how crazy that is? And of course there were all colors imaginable, save for any blue ones.
Another cool thing about Mainau is the baroque schloss. We couldn't go in, though it looked nice. But there was a small Baroque church, which was cool. Not as nice as the Birnau one, but still quite good. Don't worry, I took pictures.
From the schloss, we went to the Butterfly House. This was my first butterfly house, unless we count the tiny one at the zoo. It was super hot and humid and I learned that butterflies are hard things to take pictures of. But I managed a few.Then I took a picture of the turtles on a raft and my camera died. Oh well.
I somehow did not fall asleep on the way back home. Its getting annoying when you wake up and think, "When today will I have time to nap?" usually the answer is never. But, after getting home, we ate some dinner and I quickly answered a bunch of emails/messages (thank you) and then watched USA's WC/WM debut.
I wasn't sure how we were going to do, because we're typically not so, so great. But I was pleasantly surprised and totally happy with the results. I didn't really expect to beat GB, but a tie is pretty damn good. I hope we beat the next team. Excuse me for not knowing, but my short term memory is only good for today's games. But I know we play Friday at 4pm. So there. Someone in St. Georgen set off fireworks after our first goal, so, I guess we have some supporters here. I also ate so many strawberries during the game, I had no more room for chocolate. I'm surprised myself.
This was a pretty historical town, kind of like a different version of Rothenburg, but on the waterfront. While this meant it was pretty, it also meant there were clouds of giant gnats everywhere. It kind of sucks when you either have to walk really slow while looking at the ground to avoid a bug in the eye, or walk at normal speed and wave your arms around like a ninny. But, I'll quickly go through the highlights of Stein am Rhein.
1. St. Georgen Kloster, or monastery. Its really cool and old. I took some pictures, but I always feel bad taking pictures of holy places, because I feel like I"m being irreverent.
2. Chicken broth with homemade pancake noodles and toast for lunch. This was the best toast I've ever had (except when I'm sick) and it was the perfect amount of food.
3. Getting a free concert from two professionals who left the windows open. They were practicing for the night's concert. Flute and Piano duets are awesome.
4. Chocolate shop. This place was crazy and I felt like it was one of the closer stores to being related to Willy Wonka. They're really serious about their Lindt chocolate there, but there were plenty of other things to look at. It was hard decided what to buy.
From Stein am Rhein, we drove down to the Bodensee and went to the island Mainau, or Island of flowers, as its nicknamed. There really weren't that many flowers outside of the Italian Rose garden, but it was still pretty cool. It was like an almost better version of our Botanical Gardens, complete with a giant play area for kids. And topiary, like a giant peacock. And weird daisies with faces.
But, the best part was the Italian Rose garden. I bet there were over two hundred different types of Roses, all kinds. Wild ones and tame ones, bushes and vines and more normal ones. Some were really small, and I swear that others were bigger than a softball. Do you have any idea how crazy that is? And of course there were all colors imaginable, save for any blue ones.
Another cool thing about Mainau is the baroque schloss. We couldn't go in, though it looked nice. But there was a small Baroque church, which was cool. Not as nice as the Birnau one, but still quite good. Don't worry, I took pictures.
From the schloss, we went to the Butterfly House. This was my first butterfly house, unless we count the tiny one at the zoo. It was super hot and humid and I learned that butterflies are hard things to take pictures of. But I managed a few.Then I took a picture of the turtles on a raft and my camera died. Oh well.
I somehow did not fall asleep on the way back home. Its getting annoying when you wake up and think, "When today will I have time to nap?" usually the answer is never. But, after getting home, we ate some dinner and I quickly answered a bunch of emails/messages (thank you) and then watched USA's WC/WM debut.
I wasn't sure how we were going to do, because we're typically not so, so great. But I was pleasantly surprised and totally happy with the results. I didn't really expect to beat GB, but a tie is pretty damn good. I hope we beat the next team. Excuse me for not knowing, but my short term memory is only good for today's games. But I know we play Friday at 4pm. So there. Someone in St. Georgen set off fireworks after our first goal, so, I guess we have some supporters here. I also ate so many strawberries during the game, I had no more room for chocolate. I'm surprised myself.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Museum Education Programming
First of, I would like to scream, TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a little tired. My alarm woke me up from a dead sleep and dream, in which Victoria and I were at a gas station, met some Brits, and were eating ice cream with them. It was a good dream. But I got ready on time, at some strawberries with breakfast, dressed appropriately today and remembered my sunglasses. So, it was a good start to the day.
If I mentioned earlier this week, I was able to attend a seminar today for local teachers. It was interesting, and made the day go by fast. Though I am not pleased at all with the end result.
After arriving to the Museum, changing my shoes and drinking a cup of tea, I helped Frau Haas carry the tea and coffee to the room we'd be using for the seminar. Its in the actual Abbey, on the third floor. Teachers, or teachers in training (they all seemed around my age) came and we began more or so less by going on a small tour of the museum with the theme of Fashion. Frau Auer gave the tour. This was actually fun, because it was interactive and I like historical costumes. I got to dress up, complete with fake panniers. My dress was from the 1500's, not literally, but an imitation. I could not move my arms very well. But I guess all I was to do during that time was embroider tapestries or something.
After the tour, we were offered coffee (no thanks) and another lady gave a rather long talk about Museums Education, how it wasn't boring and you could learn about any subject in a museum, regardless if the museum was for history or not. From there, we were given an assignment. We were to create, in groups, a costume/outfit using the following materials: chicken wire (that had a bunny on the wrapping, so I guess here its called bunny wire), paper, poster board, batting, random yarn, and of course glue, staples and scissors. It took a long time and I got poked a lot by the wire.
Originally my group was going to have me be the model for the outfit. But Monika decided we should make pants, so I couldn't be the model because I was wearing a skirt. That turn out to be fine, because I didn't need to be poked endlessly with chicken wire. The project was actually interrupted by lunch (an hour), which I used to eat, write an email or two at the library, and buy a chocolate croissant. We worked on the project for about another hour. Let's just say that ours looked like shit. I am embarrassed of that handiwork. Granted, most of it was not my idea, but its bad when the best part was the hat, which was a big circle cut out of poster board.
Ultimately, the models were photographed, made to promenade in the museum foyer and outside for the public. It didn't help that my group members decided our costume looked Asian, so the girl made up some Asian sounding words as the name of the costume. It was all stupid. When we went outside, I stood on the other side of the garden.
But, all in all, it's a cool program/seminar/outreach program for teachers, or teachers in training. I don't think we have anything like this in StL, though Frau Auer said this concept came out of the States. It kind of makes me want to see if we do have such programs, and if not, demand that the Museum District (Forest Park) hires me and I get to design all the programs. I guess then I'd be something like Frau Auer, but more specific on my time management.
I was glad to be done with the day, and go home. But, I had to wait, as always, an hour before the next train. I went inside a shop I hadn't been in before. It was for old ladies, it turned out. This is something I've noticed today and yesterday, a shop will have cool clothes on the street rack, but inside, its full of clothes for older women. They fool you/me. Then I went inside Mueller, to look at the chocolate, even though I knew I wasn't going to buy any. But I discovered they do indeed sell Koala Yummies. Which is good. After that, I decided to go inside a store that's right outside the last city tower on my way to the train station. They have a nice pair of shorts I've been eying for a few weeks, and I wondered what else they have.
I feel awkward going into some of these stores, because they're so small. And often I"m the only one in there, so I feel very exposed, and almost bad if I don't buy something, because the shop person knows I didn't. But this lady was at least quiet, and left me to myself. I will try on those shorts one day, and tragically, I found about five pairs of cute shoes. Why, seriously, does European fashion have to be so much better than ours? And why do the shoes have to be so cheap? Bah.
The train ride and walk home was OK. It's a bit cooler in St. Georgen, so I wasn't completely miserable this time upon coming home. I still changed immediately, though. And laid on my bed for about six minutes cooling off. Frau Brause wasn't home, but Herr Brause was watching the first game of the Cup. I finished it with him, and if you don't know, it was South Africa against Mexico. They tied, one-one. Next up is France and Argentina. I'm excited. And tomorrow we play and then on Sunday the Germans play. I believe we're having a party for it.
It totally felt good to lay on the couch and watch other people exercise. And finish my tea from the morning (Frau Brause's been sending me to work with a giant canister of tea).
Dinner was pretty good, I plowed through my steak. I didn't chew most of it. This is not because I was so hungry, but because the cut of meat sucked. But she tried, and I discovered that goat cheese is excellent on salt potatoes. I think goat cheese is one of my new favourite foods. Upon returning home, I will investigate a good one from Whole Foods. Right now, I'm just wasting time until France's World Cup debut. I have about a half hour.
If I mentioned earlier this week, I was able to attend a seminar today for local teachers. It was interesting, and made the day go by fast. Though I am not pleased at all with the end result.
After arriving to the Museum, changing my shoes and drinking a cup of tea, I helped Frau Haas carry the tea and coffee to the room we'd be using for the seminar. Its in the actual Abbey, on the third floor. Teachers, or teachers in training (they all seemed around my age) came and we began more or so less by going on a small tour of the museum with the theme of Fashion. Frau Auer gave the tour. This was actually fun, because it was interactive and I like historical costumes. I got to dress up, complete with fake panniers. My dress was from the 1500's, not literally, but an imitation. I could not move my arms very well. But I guess all I was to do during that time was embroider tapestries or something.
After the tour, we were offered coffee (no thanks) and another lady gave a rather long talk about Museums Education, how it wasn't boring and you could learn about any subject in a museum, regardless if the museum was for history or not. From there, we were given an assignment. We were to create, in groups, a costume/outfit using the following materials: chicken wire (that had a bunny on the wrapping, so I guess here its called bunny wire), paper, poster board, batting, random yarn, and of course glue, staples and scissors. It took a long time and I got poked a lot by the wire.
Originally my group was going to have me be the model for the outfit. But Monika decided we should make pants, so I couldn't be the model because I was wearing a skirt. That turn out to be fine, because I didn't need to be poked endlessly with chicken wire. The project was actually interrupted by lunch (an hour), which I used to eat, write an email or two at the library, and buy a chocolate croissant. We worked on the project for about another hour. Let's just say that ours looked like shit. I am embarrassed of that handiwork. Granted, most of it was not my idea, but its bad when the best part was the hat, which was a big circle cut out of poster board.
Ultimately, the models were photographed, made to promenade in the museum foyer and outside for the public. It didn't help that my group members decided our costume looked Asian, so the girl made up some Asian sounding words as the name of the costume. It was all stupid. When we went outside, I stood on the other side of the garden.
But, all in all, it's a cool program/seminar/outreach program for teachers, or teachers in training. I don't think we have anything like this in StL, though Frau Auer said this concept came out of the States. It kind of makes me want to see if we do have such programs, and if not, demand that the Museum District (Forest Park) hires me and I get to design all the programs. I guess then I'd be something like Frau Auer, but more specific on my time management.
I was glad to be done with the day, and go home. But, I had to wait, as always, an hour before the next train. I went inside a shop I hadn't been in before. It was for old ladies, it turned out. This is something I've noticed today and yesterday, a shop will have cool clothes on the street rack, but inside, its full of clothes for older women. They fool you/me. Then I went inside Mueller, to look at the chocolate, even though I knew I wasn't going to buy any. But I discovered they do indeed sell Koala Yummies. Which is good. After that, I decided to go inside a store that's right outside the last city tower on my way to the train station. They have a nice pair of shorts I've been eying for a few weeks, and I wondered what else they have.
I feel awkward going into some of these stores, because they're so small. And often I"m the only one in there, so I feel very exposed, and almost bad if I don't buy something, because the shop person knows I didn't. But this lady was at least quiet, and left me to myself. I will try on those shorts one day, and tragically, I found about five pairs of cute shoes. Why, seriously, does European fashion have to be so much better than ours? And why do the shoes have to be so cheap? Bah.
The train ride and walk home was OK. It's a bit cooler in St. Georgen, so I wasn't completely miserable this time upon coming home. I still changed immediately, though. And laid on my bed for about six minutes cooling off. Frau Brause wasn't home, but Herr Brause was watching the first game of the Cup. I finished it with him, and if you don't know, it was South Africa against Mexico. They tied, one-one. Next up is France and Argentina. I'm excited. And tomorrow we play and then on Sunday the Germans play. I believe we're having a party for it.
It totally felt good to lay on the couch and watch other people exercise. And finish my tea from the morning (Frau Brause's been sending me to work with a giant canister of tea).
Dinner was pretty good, I plowed through my steak. I didn't chew most of it. This is not because I was so hungry, but because the cut of meat sucked. But she tried, and I discovered that goat cheese is excellent on salt potatoes. I think goat cheese is one of my new favourite foods. Upon returning home, I will investigate a good one from Whole Foods. Right now, I'm just wasting time until France's World Cup debut. I have about a half hour.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday June 10, 2010
Two things I forgot about last night. As I was going to bed, I heard this strange rustling outside my window, which was open. I looked outside, and found Felix and the neighbor's cat. They began to sing, if that's the right word. I have never heard cats make this sound, but its singing. Bad singing, but there's no other way to describe it. Then, I noticed off in the distance there was lightning on the horizon. I do think it rained over the night, but I didn't wake to any storms.
When I did wake up, it was cool and looked rainy, so I dressed for it. Mistake. Let's just say I got so miserably hot today, I had to go out and buy a tshirt.
Today the tour wasn't really a tour as I'd thought. It was actually just Frau Auer, Matthias and I walking around the city for a hour on a tour route that he might one day give to a group. So, I just listened and felt hot. I'd also left my sunglasses at home, so, today was not a good day for me.
I went and bought my tshirt on my lunch break. I went to three different stores before settling on H&M. After I got back, Frau Hass went on her lunch break, then came back and talked to me forever. Once she finally left, I had some quiet to try and research a Count to figure out if its an eagle or phoenix on his coat of arms. I couldn't find out.
Matthias came in at one point, and Frau Auer started talking again. He listened for a minute, then slowly walked into my adjoining room. I gave him this look, and made the gesture with my hand indicating that she was talking too much. He laughed, and even when he was fully out of the room, she still talked to him, even though he didn't reply. Wow.
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading random Wikipedia articles, and looking through the tour text to find good vocabulary words. I also got the clear from Frau Auer to have next Thursday off, so I can go to Europa Park. It'll be interesting.
In my hour to kill between the end of work and the next train, I went to the library and looked at all the movies. The American ones generally have the German titles, which is fun to look at the translations. For example, instead of "Bend it like Beckham," it's "Kick it like Beckham." And I found a book written by a German about Sacajewa (sp?), saying she's the biggest female legend in America. I'm not sure about that, but it was interesting to find.
The walk home sucked because it was so hot, I immediately changed from my pants, knee socks, wellingtons into shorts and a tshirt. Much better. Dinner was fish, rice, and leftover corn on the cob. Strawberries for dessert. I"m full and just finishing my scribing on the computer. So there.
Oh, and for those of you who have Facebook, or know someone that does, I put up a bunch of pictures last night. Enjoy.
When I did wake up, it was cool and looked rainy, so I dressed for it. Mistake. Let's just say I got so miserably hot today, I had to go out and buy a tshirt.
Today the tour wasn't really a tour as I'd thought. It was actually just Frau Auer, Matthias and I walking around the city for a hour on a tour route that he might one day give to a group. So, I just listened and felt hot. I'd also left my sunglasses at home, so, today was not a good day for me.
I went and bought my tshirt on my lunch break. I went to three different stores before settling on H&M. After I got back, Frau Hass went on her lunch break, then came back and talked to me forever. Once she finally left, I had some quiet to try and research a Count to figure out if its an eagle or phoenix on his coat of arms. I couldn't find out.
Matthias came in at one point, and Frau Auer started talking again. He listened for a minute, then slowly walked into my adjoining room. I gave him this look, and made the gesture with my hand indicating that she was talking too much. He laughed, and even when he was fully out of the room, she still talked to him, even though he didn't reply. Wow.
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading random Wikipedia articles, and looking through the tour text to find good vocabulary words. I also got the clear from Frau Auer to have next Thursday off, so I can go to Europa Park. It'll be interesting.
In my hour to kill between the end of work and the next train, I went to the library and looked at all the movies. The American ones generally have the German titles, which is fun to look at the translations. For example, instead of "Bend it like Beckham," it's "Kick it like Beckham." And I found a book written by a German about Sacajewa (sp?), saying she's the biggest female legend in America. I'm not sure about that, but it was interesting to find.
The walk home sucked because it was so hot, I immediately changed from my pants, knee socks, wellingtons into shorts and a tshirt. Much better. Dinner was fish, rice, and leftover corn on the cob. Strawberries for dessert. I"m full and just finishing my scribing on the computer. So there.
Oh, and for those of you who have Facebook, or know someone that does, I put up a bunch of pictures last night. Enjoy.
Wednesday 9 July, 2010
Well, yesterday at work was a little more interesting, but I also received all the news of how much more interesting it will be in the near future.
Frau Auer actually talked to me, and we even worked together a bit yesterday. Mainly we went through the museum looking for plants. It turns out the tour covers all plants and flowers we can find in the museum, not just roses, tulips and carnations. Most of what we found were on old tapestries. I think she was impressed that I knew so many flower names, in German and English. I was a little impressed, too. But that took an hour. Then she said that she'd write the text soon and then I could translate it. Then she also said I could come on a tour on Thursday that would include Matthias. On Friday the Museum's having an educational program for local teachers and I get to go to that, too. It lasts all day, so I'm excited. On Monday I get to go help clean the warehouse, or rearrange it.
I also have two tours booked for my English translation of Frau Auer's tour on Mythological Creatures. One is a university group, with Frau Brusis (the lady who did my orientation) and another is with a fifth grade group. Apparently neither group's English is very good, so I have been advised to dumb it down. I think I can do that. And I"m to create a crossword puzzle of vocab words for the fifth graders. I can do that, too.
Originally, Frau Brusis wanted to bring her group on July 9. I emailed Frau Auer saying that that date wouldn't work out too well, since I leave on the 8. She replied that Frau Brusis had told her I was here until the 16. Then the date was moved to July 4 at 4pm. I asked if it could be moved, because my host families wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July with me. So, the date finally got moved to the last possible day, July 7, at 5pm. I'll pack sometime that day.
After finding all the flowers we could in the museum, I researched the new ones meanings and whatnot. Then it was time for my luncheon walk.
On this walk I discovered several things. One, a restaurant with the name of "Ott" which is hilarious because that's one of my co-worker's last names. I took several pictures. Right next door to it was also a cool shop that sold lots of Asian art, namely Chinese and Indian. Most of the artwork was far too big to bring back, though.
The secretary, Frau Haas, talked to me as well for almost an hour. That woman does not know when to shut up. She's very nice, but I'm not sure if I needed to know all about her having breast cancer twice, and being sick in Freiburg for two years, or what's in her wardrobe, or her opinion on how much jewelry one should wear. And it's a one sided conversation, because she talks so fast, I can't even begin to utter my own opinion. I think I'm at the point where I can not listen, but still smile, nod and murmur, "mmhhh" at the right moments. I suppose it would be less annoying if I could also talk.
The Wednesday train was on time, surprisingly. The walk home was fine, though it was certainly nice to get out of my shoes once I was home. Then we ate dinner on the patio. Frau Brause asked if I knew how to cook corn on the cob, and I said she could either boil it or grill it. She boiled it, but I was too full from all the other food to eat any last night.
Frau Auer actually talked to me, and we even worked together a bit yesterday. Mainly we went through the museum looking for plants. It turns out the tour covers all plants and flowers we can find in the museum, not just roses, tulips and carnations. Most of what we found were on old tapestries. I think she was impressed that I knew so many flower names, in German and English. I was a little impressed, too. But that took an hour. Then she said that she'd write the text soon and then I could translate it. Then she also said I could come on a tour on Thursday that would include Matthias. On Friday the Museum's having an educational program for local teachers and I get to go to that, too. It lasts all day, so I'm excited. On Monday I get to go help clean the warehouse, or rearrange it.
I also have two tours booked for my English translation of Frau Auer's tour on Mythological Creatures. One is a university group, with Frau Brusis (the lady who did my orientation) and another is with a fifth grade group. Apparently neither group's English is very good, so I have been advised to dumb it down. I think I can do that. And I"m to create a crossword puzzle of vocab words for the fifth graders. I can do that, too.
Originally, Frau Brusis wanted to bring her group on July 9. I emailed Frau Auer saying that that date wouldn't work out too well, since I leave on the 8. She replied that Frau Brusis had told her I was here until the 16. Then the date was moved to July 4 at 4pm. I asked if it could be moved, because my host families wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July with me. So, the date finally got moved to the last possible day, July 7, at 5pm. I'll pack sometime that day.
After finding all the flowers we could in the museum, I researched the new ones meanings and whatnot. Then it was time for my luncheon walk.
On this walk I discovered several things. One, a restaurant with the name of "Ott" which is hilarious because that's one of my co-worker's last names. I took several pictures. Right next door to it was also a cool shop that sold lots of Asian art, namely Chinese and Indian. Most of the artwork was far too big to bring back, though.
The secretary, Frau Haas, talked to me as well for almost an hour. That woman does not know when to shut up. She's very nice, but I'm not sure if I needed to know all about her having breast cancer twice, and being sick in Freiburg for two years, or what's in her wardrobe, or her opinion on how much jewelry one should wear. And it's a one sided conversation, because she talks so fast, I can't even begin to utter my own opinion. I think I'm at the point where I can not listen, but still smile, nod and murmur, "mmhhh" at the right moments. I suppose it would be less annoying if I could also talk.
The Wednesday train was on time, surprisingly. The walk home was fine, though it was certainly nice to get out of my shoes once I was home. Then we ate dinner on the patio. Frau Brause asked if I knew how to cook corn on the cob, and I said she could either boil it or grill it. She boiled it, but I was too full from all the other food to eat any last night.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Top Ten Cultural Observations
1. I have never seen more socks and sandals in my life.
2. Germans love Ice Cream. A lot.
3. No one likes Italians.
4. German tv goes where American tv will never dare go.
5. Bread and potatoes seem to be more important than meat.
6. Everyone makes fun of St. Georgen, where I'm living. It's boring apparently.
7. I hear more Eagles and John Denver on the radio here than at home.
8. George Clooney may have replaced Kevin Costner on the hot list.
9. If you don't get to the bakery early, they will run out of everything.
10. They do drink beer here and other alcohol a lot.
2. Germans love Ice Cream. A lot.
3. No one likes Italians.
4. German tv goes where American tv will never dare go.
5. Bread and potatoes seem to be more important than meat.
6. Everyone makes fun of St. Georgen, where I'm living. It's boring apparently.
7. I hear more Eagles and John Denver on the radio here than at home.
8. George Clooney may have replaced Kevin Costner on the hot list.
9. If you don't get to the bakery early, they will run out of everything.
10. They do drink beer here and other alcohol a lot.
Tuesday Was Better, 8 Juni 2010
I have exactly one month before I come home, yay!
Work was better today. I accompanied Matthias, the guy who's the same age as me on a tour he gave to Kindergartners. They were adorable. Lots of energy and excitement. And their little kid German was awesome. There were only seven, which was perfect.
After the tour, I helped Matthias re-assemble the model Magdalenenburg the kids had used to pretend to be archaeologists. I had nothing else to do until 2:30. After that, I read Wikipedia and Matthias asked if I could help him Wednesday with a translation. Sounds good to me.
At lunch, I visited a jewelry store, like Claire's. I believe I need some studs, since my piercings are giving me trouble. I found a few promising pairs, but will decide which ones tomorrow. Then I went to H&M and tried on a shirt and did buy it. I researched and cannot buy this shirt in the States, because H&M doesn't send the lovely European clothes to us. Which is sad. But I'm excited, since I won't look like a bum.
I read more Wikipedia articles until a little after two pm, when I packed up and walked over to the Kulturamt. I stickered, stamped and stuffed envelopes for two hours. I didn't finish, because I had to sticker the envelopes and that took some time. Oh, and I sealed them all, so they're ready for the post. Maybe they'll ask me back tomorrow and I"ll get something other than reading Wikipedia done.
It also poured for about ten minutes, then sort of cleared up. I guess the winds up there were really strong and kept blowing the cloud away. This was good because I didn't get rained on at all on the way home.
Dinner was a homemade lasagna, which had a white sauce and was very good. Now I"m just typing and done. And Frau Brause brought me a Nugat Ritter Sport. I"m not sure why, but it was very nice of her. And its raining. Well, we're all caught up, sorry if its more dry than normal. Or if I'm lacking on my snarky comments (Todd).
Work was better today. I accompanied Matthias, the guy who's the same age as me on a tour he gave to Kindergartners. They were adorable. Lots of energy and excitement. And their little kid German was awesome. There were only seven, which was perfect.
After the tour, I helped Matthias re-assemble the model Magdalenenburg the kids had used to pretend to be archaeologists. I had nothing else to do until 2:30. After that, I read Wikipedia and Matthias asked if I could help him Wednesday with a translation. Sounds good to me.
At lunch, I visited a jewelry store, like Claire's. I believe I need some studs, since my piercings are giving me trouble. I found a few promising pairs, but will decide which ones tomorrow. Then I went to H&M and tried on a shirt and did buy it. I researched and cannot buy this shirt in the States, because H&M doesn't send the lovely European clothes to us. Which is sad. But I'm excited, since I won't look like a bum.
I read more Wikipedia articles until a little after two pm, when I packed up and walked over to the Kulturamt. I stickered, stamped and stuffed envelopes for two hours. I didn't finish, because I had to sticker the envelopes and that took some time. Oh, and I sealed them all, so they're ready for the post. Maybe they'll ask me back tomorrow and I"ll get something other than reading Wikipedia done.
It also poured for about ten minutes, then sort of cleared up. I guess the winds up there were really strong and kept blowing the cloud away. This was good because I didn't get rained on at all on the way home.
Dinner was a homemade lasagna, which had a white sauce and was very good. Now I"m just typing and done. And Frau Brause brought me a Nugat Ritter Sport. I"m not sure why, but it was very nice of her. And its raining. Well, we're all caught up, sorry if its more dry than normal. Or if I'm lacking on my snarky comments (Todd).
Wikipedia Day, 7 Juni 2010
I woke up, went to work. Was never given an assignment, even though my boss was in the same room as me twice. So I read European History Wikipedia Articles all day. Of course sometimes I day dreamed, and I had my hour lunch. My lunch hour was spent looking in different shops for a head messager, which I couldn't find. And I went to the bank to drop off a deposit. In the course of getting instructions on how to give the bank the deposit, I was also informed that I should always watch my purse on the street and be careful in clubs so no one slips me Ecstasy in order to rape me. The secretary likes to talk, I guess. Good advice, but I stood for ten minutes nodding my head as she kept talking. Then after work, I went by H&M again, for the hell of it. Caught my train, walked home, ate dinner and met two grandchildren and helped one study for an English vocab test. Then I started writing people, which took forever, but was nice because that means I"m loved. So thank you, everyone who wrote me and reads this blog. I have more fans than I realize. Cool. Then I talked with Gavin on Skype, since I have almost no one else to talk to (the rest of you, get Skype!)and went to bed. This was Monday.
Bodensee, 6 June 2010
Today was another early and busy day. Frau Brause didn't come with us to Bodensee, because she's sick, and is still today. Some sort of cold and nasty cough. But Frau Reinl drove and so she, Herr Brause and I went.
The drive was nice, of course, but much flatter, even though we were technically headed towards the Alps. Frau Reinl also had her GPS in the car, a TomTom. I'm not sure how useful he really was.
Our first stop was Ueberlingen. Here we walked around by the lakeside and I took some pictures, since my camera was charged. Its definitely a waterfront, with palm trees and that kind of housing (think Florida or Greece), though the lake itself is rather neutral smelling. We also had ice cream here, though it wasn't even lunchtime. There was no chocolate (which I don't understand), so I had a "Queen Mary" which was chocolate and raspberry. But I think the raspberry, was more of a liqueur, but it didn't feel warm going down, so it was just the taste, I think. It was nice to eat ice cream in a cone again, I hadn't in a long time. Herr Brause also got ice cream in his beard and let me take a funny picture of him licking the ice cream.
After Ueberlingen, we drove on to a church at Birnau, which was in Baroque style. It was one of the prettiest things I've ever seen, and its hard to even describe it. Luckily I took some pictures and bought some postcards. Its a very pink church with a lot of frescoes and detail. Really quite the fairytale.
Now it was lunchtime, but I wasn't hungry. The heat kills my appetite, I guess. But I drank some hot chocolate (with milk)while Frau Reinl and Herr Brause ate lunch. I did try Frau Reinl's soup, it was some sort of French fish soup. I didn't like it, but I tried it.
From lunchtime, we drove to a small town and were transported back the the STEINZEIT!!! Or the Stone Age. There was a village and lots of found artifacts in the area. It was pretty cool, since the people built their houses on the lake, and the lady who gave the tour demonstrated how the people made their tools. There were also some cool ducks hanging around.
Our last stop of the day was Meersburg. We walked around, had some Kaffee and Kuchen and watched some old people dance at their tea party dance. The cafe provided live music and two dance floors. It was cool, and everyone was mostly still very graceful. Most of the shops in Meersburg were also open, and so we visited a couple. There were also some swans in the lake, which I captured on camera.
After all that, we were pretty tired. I can't remember if I did fall asleep for a bit on the way home; I might have. But it took much longer getting home because we ran into a giant construction traffic jam. So then I had the joy of explaining how in StL highway 40 was closed for more than a year.
The other two highlights of the day, were eating a radish and watching tv. It was interesting and I think I could eat more of them in the future. The tv program was a drama, which involved shots of horses and a little girl who couldn't talk after her father died. But there was a happy ending, so it was quite predictable. But it was nice to have the relaxation time. I went to bed early.
The drive was nice, of course, but much flatter, even though we were technically headed towards the Alps. Frau Reinl also had her GPS in the car, a TomTom. I'm not sure how useful he really was.
Our first stop was Ueberlingen. Here we walked around by the lakeside and I took some pictures, since my camera was charged. Its definitely a waterfront, with palm trees and that kind of housing (think Florida or Greece), though the lake itself is rather neutral smelling. We also had ice cream here, though it wasn't even lunchtime. There was no chocolate (which I don't understand), so I had a "Queen Mary" which was chocolate and raspberry. But I think the raspberry, was more of a liqueur, but it didn't feel warm going down, so it was just the taste, I think. It was nice to eat ice cream in a cone again, I hadn't in a long time. Herr Brause also got ice cream in his beard and let me take a funny picture of him licking the ice cream.
After Ueberlingen, we drove on to a church at Birnau, which was in Baroque style. It was one of the prettiest things I've ever seen, and its hard to even describe it. Luckily I took some pictures and bought some postcards. Its a very pink church with a lot of frescoes and detail. Really quite the fairytale.
Now it was lunchtime, but I wasn't hungry. The heat kills my appetite, I guess. But I drank some hot chocolate (with milk)while Frau Reinl and Herr Brause ate lunch. I did try Frau Reinl's soup, it was some sort of French fish soup. I didn't like it, but I tried it.
From lunchtime, we drove to a small town and were transported back the the STEINZEIT!!! Or the Stone Age. There was a village and lots of found artifacts in the area. It was pretty cool, since the people built their houses on the lake, and the lady who gave the tour demonstrated how the people made their tools. There were also some cool ducks hanging around.
Our last stop of the day was Meersburg. We walked around, had some Kaffee and Kuchen and watched some old people dance at their tea party dance. The cafe provided live music and two dance floors. It was cool, and everyone was mostly still very graceful. Most of the shops in Meersburg were also open, and so we visited a couple. There were also some swans in the lake, which I captured on camera.
After all that, we were pretty tired. I can't remember if I did fall asleep for a bit on the way home; I might have. But it took much longer getting home because we ran into a giant construction traffic jam. So then I had the joy of explaining how in StL highway 40 was closed for more than a year.
The other two highlights of the day, were eating a radish and watching tv. It was interesting and I think I could eat more of them in the future. The tv program was a drama, which involved shots of horses and a little girl who couldn't talk after her father died. But there was a happy ending, so it was quite predictable. But it was nice to have the relaxation time. I went to bed early.
Freiburg, 5 June 2010
Hello, so this will probably be less detailed, but it is a memory from several days ago and not the day of. Sorry, but I've been tired and kept busy. Except at work, but we'll get to that.
So, Saturday, my host mom took me to Freiburg. Herr Brause was originally supposed to go, but he decided not to. He stayed home and painted a giant bird for someone instead. However, Frau Brause and I left relatively early, since the city is about an hour away. Since Dan is living quite close, I sent him a message saying where we should meet and at what time. The drive was nice, and took us through some crazy mountain roads. Upon getting there, it took us a while to find a parking space in the garage. But we found one eventually.
It was only quarter after eleven, fifteen minutes before Dan and I were supposed to meet, so we headed towards the cathedral. The Saturday market was there and we walked around to see and use the time before Dan was supposed to show up. To summarize the next forty minutes, I"ll just say that I stood in one place, ducked into the church, and wandered around briefly looking for Dan. He never showed and turned out he didn't get my message until too late. Oh well.
After deciding not to wait any longer, Frau Brause and I went to a cafe and had carbonated apple juice and water, respectfully. Freiburg has like Villingen, the open gutters with running water throughout the streets. We watched all the little kids play for a while. Then we met her daughter, Meike, who was working a wedding after party in the square.
From there, we just wandered around the city for awhile, until lunch. I discovered at this point that my camera was about to die. I think I only have six pictures of Freiburg, consequently, sorry. Lunch was OK, I wasn't really hungry, but ate one and a half wurstchen and one piece of toast. There was also a statue of an alligator head sticking out of the water in the gutter next to the cafe, which was pretty cool.
After lunch, we went up to the Schloss Turm. Or, I did. The hike was a little strenuous, because it was basically up a small mountain, and then 153 steps to the top of a tower on the mountain which over looks the city. Frau Brause has bad knees, to clarify, so she waited on a bench for me to come back down. I felt bad, but it was pretty cool and the breeze up there was very nice. This was really not the day to wear flats or a skirt, though I will admit. Though I didn't really bring any shorts, so if it's warm, I have no other options.
After coming back down from the tower, we went into a small shopping mall. She wanted to look at the fabric (we'd actually already looked in two fabric stores at this point) and I bought my postcards and checked out the grocery store, which had one of the largest collections of chocolate I've ever seen. I bought some for the family and friends, so there.
After that, we went into the Cathedral since it would be less crowded at this time of day. It wasn't and was a little boring. I've noticed that Gothic style cathedrals, while awesome and breathtaking on the outside, are usually rather plain on the inside. But I am comparing it to Baroque style, which is unfair. After looking around inside, I decided I was going to climb the tower. I had ten minutes, and 300 steps, in a tight circular staircase. It was hard, plus you get dizzy and you're rushing and trying to keep your skirt out of the way. But I did it, paid one Euro, the climbed more stairs and was as high as you could go. It was worth it and crazy.
Once I was down, Frau Brause and I had some water at the ice cream parlor in the square. We also observed a child lose his balloon and wail, then listened to a street performer play a bassoon. He was all right, but then the waiter asked him to leave. The bassoonist proceeded to stomp the ground really hard.
That basically concludes Freiburg...we left after that, and I had trouble staying awake in the car. I was a little dehydrated, I admit. Which I promptly drank a lot of water once we were home.
So, Saturday, my host mom took me to Freiburg. Herr Brause was originally supposed to go, but he decided not to. He stayed home and painted a giant bird for someone instead. However, Frau Brause and I left relatively early, since the city is about an hour away. Since Dan is living quite close, I sent him a message saying where we should meet and at what time. The drive was nice, and took us through some crazy mountain roads. Upon getting there, it took us a while to find a parking space in the garage. But we found one eventually.
It was only quarter after eleven, fifteen minutes before Dan and I were supposed to meet, so we headed towards the cathedral. The Saturday market was there and we walked around to see and use the time before Dan was supposed to show up. To summarize the next forty minutes, I"ll just say that I stood in one place, ducked into the church, and wandered around briefly looking for Dan. He never showed and turned out he didn't get my message until too late. Oh well.
After deciding not to wait any longer, Frau Brause and I went to a cafe and had carbonated apple juice and water, respectfully. Freiburg has like Villingen, the open gutters with running water throughout the streets. We watched all the little kids play for a while. Then we met her daughter, Meike, who was working a wedding after party in the square.
From there, we just wandered around the city for awhile, until lunch. I discovered at this point that my camera was about to die. I think I only have six pictures of Freiburg, consequently, sorry. Lunch was OK, I wasn't really hungry, but ate one and a half wurstchen and one piece of toast. There was also a statue of an alligator head sticking out of the water in the gutter next to the cafe, which was pretty cool.
After lunch, we went up to the Schloss Turm. Or, I did. The hike was a little strenuous, because it was basically up a small mountain, and then 153 steps to the top of a tower on the mountain which over looks the city. Frau Brause has bad knees, to clarify, so she waited on a bench for me to come back down. I felt bad, but it was pretty cool and the breeze up there was very nice. This was really not the day to wear flats or a skirt, though I will admit. Though I didn't really bring any shorts, so if it's warm, I have no other options.
After coming back down from the tower, we went into a small shopping mall. She wanted to look at the fabric (we'd actually already looked in two fabric stores at this point) and I bought my postcards and checked out the grocery store, which had one of the largest collections of chocolate I've ever seen. I bought some for the family and friends, so there.
After that, we went into the Cathedral since it would be less crowded at this time of day. It wasn't and was a little boring. I've noticed that Gothic style cathedrals, while awesome and breathtaking on the outside, are usually rather plain on the inside. But I am comparing it to Baroque style, which is unfair. After looking around inside, I decided I was going to climb the tower. I had ten minutes, and 300 steps, in a tight circular staircase. It was hard, plus you get dizzy and you're rushing and trying to keep your skirt out of the way. But I did it, paid one Euro, the climbed more stairs and was as high as you could go. It was worth it and crazy.
Once I was down, Frau Brause and I had some water at the ice cream parlor in the square. We also observed a child lose his balloon and wail, then listened to a street performer play a bassoon. He was all right, but then the waiter asked him to leave. The bassoonist proceeded to stomp the ground really hard.
That basically concludes Freiburg...we left after that, and I had trouble staying awake in the car. I was a little dehydrated, I admit. Which I promptly drank a lot of water once we were home.
Friday, June 4, 2010
1/2 day Friday, 4 June 2010
Work today was interesting. Frau Auer and I actually got to the door at the same time, and I used my key to get in. I went to my workplace and despite the fact that she came in twice to get things, she didn’t talk to me until about eleven when she came to get me to have me go through the tour. Until then, I researched a few more things, but mainly either stared into space, or looked up the meanings of precious stones and where they come from. I learned that Colorado’s state stone is aquamarine (yay!) while Missouri’s is mozarkite. Mozarkite is a made up name and I’m not sure what the stone really looks like or which kind of value it has.
When Frau Auer picked me up, I thought she just wanted to go over the translation. But, then suddenly we were pretending she was an eleventh-grade student on the tour for an English class and I was to give the tour. I was not prepared for this. I had to reference my notes a lot (and try to remember things from memory) and I didn’t remember where everything was. But Frau Auer took me to the objects in order of the tour, and she hadn’t expected me to know that. It was a little overwhelming. I know I can do better, but had I known even two minutes before she said it, I probably would have been better. She also responded to me in English…which, I’m not sure if her accent was in imitation of an eleventh grade student or not, but it was a little distracting.
But, all in all, she said I did a good job, I just have to remember where things are, and work on remembering everything from memory instead of using notes. I can deal with that, and I don’t even have any bookings. I also don’t have to show up on Sunday to help give or just go on the tour, which is nice. And then she said I could leave at noon. So, I spent half an hour amusing myself and then left.
Of course it was too late to make the train, but I had anticipated that. I had already planned to go on a walk around the outside of the city wall and take some pictures. This accomplished, I still had almost a half hour, so I wandered back into the city. I tried to walk very slowly, and spent most of the time looking at the clothing boutiques. There area lot, and I’m still trying to figure out which ones are for teenagers/students and which are for people over thirty. Its had to tell, because inevitably I’ll see a grandma shopping at ESpirit, or a very frumpy teenager. Oh well.
Oh, did I mention today the sun is finally shining? I woke up and looked out the window and was a little blinded. Definitely, finally, needed my sunglasses. But its still cool enough to wear pants. Perfect weather, really. Which is nice after this entirely gray and rainy week.
When Frau Auer picked me up, I thought she just wanted to go over the translation. But, then suddenly we were pretending she was an eleventh-grade student on the tour for an English class and I was to give the tour. I was not prepared for this. I had to reference my notes a lot (and try to remember things from memory) and I didn’t remember where everything was. But Frau Auer took me to the objects in order of the tour, and she hadn’t expected me to know that. It was a little overwhelming. I know I can do better, but had I known even two minutes before she said it, I probably would have been better. She also responded to me in English…which, I’m not sure if her accent was in imitation of an eleventh grade student or not, but it was a little distracting.
But, all in all, she said I did a good job, I just have to remember where things are, and work on remembering everything from memory instead of using notes. I can deal with that, and I don’t even have any bookings. I also don’t have to show up on Sunday to help give or just go on the tour, which is nice. And then she said I could leave at noon. So, I spent half an hour amusing myself and then left.
Of course it was too late to make the train, but I had anticipated that. I had already planned to go on a walk around the outside of the city wall and take some pictures. This accomplished, I still had almost a half hour, so I wandered back into the city. I tried to walk very slowly, and spent most of the time looking at the clothing boutiques. There area lot, and I’m still trying to figure out which ones are for teenagers/students and which are for people over thirty. Its had to tell, because inevitably I’ll see a grandma shopping at ESpirit, or a very frumpy teenager. Oh well.
Oh, did I mention today the sun is finally shining? I woke up and looked out the window and was a little blinded. Definitely, finally, needed my sunglasses. But its still cool enough to wear pants. Perfect weather, really. Which is nice after this entirely gray and rainy week.
Holiday, 3 June 2010
Thursday was a holiday and it was well used. I fell asleep for a few minutes on the carried home and by eleven-twenty at night for proof. But, I woke up earlier of my own accord that my alarm was set for. For about thirty minutes I just lay in bed and stared at the wall. I believe I was thinking something, but I can’t remember. So, I got up and helped with breakfast.
Frau Brause was still getting ready for the day, so Herr Brause and I got most of everything ready. Instead of the normal broetchen, there were chiabatta, which were very good. Herr Brause put them and the pretzels in the toaster oven. Frau Brause had also bought some goat cheese; I’m guessing because I told her I liked it. And it was good, especially on a warm pretzel. I also had an entire pot of tea to myself, but that’s normal. Herr Brause also turned on some music (classical).
After breakfast I went and got ready for the day. It had been decided earlier that Frau Reinl would pick us up at noon, and from there we would go on the day’s expedition. Until then, I just sat in the dining room and wrote, making up all the blogging I haven’t done. At five till noon, I quickly put in my contacts, and threw on my sweatshirt and coat (it’d been raining all morning, but that wasn’t stopping us), grabbed my purse, camera, umbrella and rain boots and ran back upstairs. Frau Brause decided not to go with us, because she felt sick and had a throat ache.
Oh we drove through the rain to a small town called Huefingen. Their specialty was that around Easter time, they make a big carpet of flowers along the entire main street. This was gone, since Easter happened a long time ago, but there were smaller ones in front of alters along the street. They were pretty, but there wasn’t much else to see. I didn’t even buy postcards, let’s put it that way.
From that town, we drove a bit and parked along side a field. Gathering the umbrellas and cameras, we walked down a trail into the forest. This was the Orchid Forest. It’s really just a short (maybe a kilometer) trail where you can see flowers, especially orchids. However, there wasn’t much to see, because we’re sort of in between blooming seasons. I did get a very nice picture of an orchid called a “Lady’s Shoe” though. And some of the views from the trail were great, despite the rain. My boots were really a lifesaver yesterday. And Frau Reinl said they were more stylish than the ones they have here.
After the trail, we drove to Schafhausen. I had no former knowledge of these placed until yesterday, so it was a good surprise. Frau Reinl asked if I had some form of identification with me. I said I had a driver’s license. Why would I have brought my passport? It turns out they were taking me into Switzerland to see the Rheine falls. Wow. We decided we’d see what would happen at the border and drove on. It was a bit of a drive from there, and on the way Frau Reinl said we would have to buy some Swiss chocolate because it’s the best.
The Rheine Falls is the largest waterfall in Europe. It’s actually quite small in the scheme of things, but it was still gorgeous and powerful. We parked at the last parking lot and hiked up to the Falls. When I say “hiked up to,” I mean that we walked along the bank of the Rheine and then to various lookout points. I took far too many pictures, I think, and my exposure was probably off, but I did the best I could. We also walked over a bridge that went over the Rheine up to the Schloss (on a cliff above the falls). When I see a castle/schloss I really want to go in, so this was very cool for me.
Schloss Laufen as its called, is really old, but modern. It, like the other schloss from Saturday is a youth hostel, but this one has a restaurant in it, and you can go inside a good amount of the building, which is a weird museum. We had coffee, cappuccino or hot chocolate at the restaurant. This was the first gray scale room I thought was pretty. The hot drink was also welcome since it was a little chilly outside. But, the rain had stopped. After our drinks were gone, we went out to the courtyard and took some pictures. Then we needed to figure out how we would get back.
There were two options, take a boat back across the Rheine or walk back. I was game for either one, but we opted to take the boat; it was faster and we were getting tired. Frau Reinl went to buy the tickets, and then Herr Brause and I wandered off. We thought she went to the ticket kiosk, so we went there. She wasn’t there (or we somehow missed her), but I bought some postcards, and Herr Brause bought two toblerones. Switzerland is expensive. We couldn’t find Frau Reinl, so we kept walking around. I thought this made us more un-findable, but I didn’t want to be left alone.
We ran into Frau Reinl, who was looking for us, and we went down to the boat. On the way, are some really super close lookout points for the water fall. At one of them, we were less than a foot away from the rushing water. And then I almost got splashed on, but jumped back in time. The boat ride back was short and full of Asian tourists. And the man we bought our tickets from almost didn’t give Frau Reinl her change. It fell out of the machine and instead of handing it to her, he put it back in the slots. I assume he didn’t realize what he did, but she insisted that he hadn’t given her the change (he tried to say it fell on the floor), but gave more to her anyway.
We walked back to the car from the dock. I was pretty hungry by this point and it was after five o’clock. I’m not sure why we didn’t get lunch, but oh well. On the way back home, before we crossed the border, we stopped at a gas station and bought some chocolate. I’m not sure if this is for all of Switzerland, but this close to the border at least, they accept Euros. It was hard to pick out which kind of chocolate to buy. There was a lot of Lindt, which I didn’t need to buy (I think it’s overpriced) but I did settle on a dark and milk chocolate to try. I know we’re going to go to the Bodensee sooner or later, so I didn’t worry about buying chocolate for everyone back home. Don’t worry, I will buy some before I leave. Trust me.
The ride back home was a little more than an hour, I think. We got stopped in two traffic jams. One was for construction and the road became a one way street for a bit. I didn’t say much and resisted the urge to open up one of my chocolate bars. I knew I’d eat all of it I was so hungry. And then I started nodding. I closed my eyes for just a few minutes though and opened them again before I really fell asleep. I didn’t want to sleep with my contacts in.
When we got home, Frau Brause convinced Frau Reinl to stay for dinner. Then we’ll go to Frau Reinl’s Friday for dinner. Dinner came in a half hour, which during the waiting time I put all the new pictures on my computer and organized most of them. Frau Reinl really like the ones I took of flowers and Felix. Dinner was steak, peas, and noodles. The steak was kind of hard to chew (I’ll blame it on the cut of meat, whatever it was)…I think I ended up half chewing it and then swallowing. For dessert there was ice cream, which Herr Brause was very happy for. I tried some of the vanilla, but it was the same base as the stracciatella, and so both make me sick. But I had some new chocolate to try, and one of the toblerones Herr Brause bought was given to me, so I had that, too.
After dinner I put my pictures up as a slideshow for Frau Brause to see. I had to excuse myself in the middle of it to take out my contacts. Then I showed them pictures of Darren’s graduation from the Guard. A picture of Andrew’s belated birthday cake was in the mix, and they asked if Lola would come to Germany and bake for them. Frau Reinl left shortly thereafter, and I quickly got online to check things. Luckily there were only a few messages to respond to.
After I was done, I joined my host parents to watch the Friendship game between Germany and Bosnia. When I came in the living room, we were down one-nothing, but ended up winning three-one. It was nice and the team played better the second half. After that, it was about ten-thirty. I showered and went to bed. It was glorious.
Frau Brause was still getting ready for the day, so Herr Brause and I got most of everything ready. Instead of the normal broetchen, there were chiabatta, which were very good. Herr Brause put them and the pretzels in the toaster oven. Frau Brause had also bought some goat cheese; I’m guessing because I told her I liked it. And it was good, especially on a warm pretzel. I also had an entire pot of tea to myself, but that’s normal. Herr Brause also turned on some music (classical).
After breakfast I went and got ready for the day. It had been decided earlier that Frau Reinl would pick us up at noon, and from there we would go on the day’s expedition. Until then, I just sat in the dining room and wrote, making up all the blogging I haven’t done. At five till noon, I quickly put in my contacts, and threw on my sweatshirt and coat (it’d been raining all morning, but that wasn’t stopping us), grabbed my purse, camera, umbrella and rain boots and ran back upstairs. Frau Brause decided not to go with us, because she felt sick and had a throat ache.
Oh we drove through the rain to a small town called Huefingen. Their specialty was that around Easter time, they make a big carpet of flowers along the entire main street. This was gone, since Easter happened a long time ago, but there were smaller ones in front of alters along the street. They were pretty, but there wasn’t much else to see. I didn’t even buy postcards, let’s put it that way.
From that town, we drove a bit and parked along side a field. Gathering the umbrellas and cameras, we walked down a trail into the forest. This was the Orchid Forest. It’s really just a short (maybe a kilometer) trail where you can see flowers, especially orchids. However, there wasn’t much to see, because we’re sort of in between blooming seasons. I did get a very nice picture of an orchid called a “Lady’s Shoe” though. And some of the views from the trail were great, despite the rain. My boots were really a lifesaver yesterday. And Frau Reinl said they were more stylish than the ones they have here.
After the trail, we drove to Schafhausen. I had no former knowledge of these placed until yesterday, so it was a good surprise. Frau Reinl asked if I had some form of identification with me. I said I had a driver’s license. Why would I have brought my passport? It turns out they were taking me into Switzerland to see the Rheine falls. Wow. We decided we’d see what would happen at the border and drove on. It was a bit of a drive from there, and on the way Frau Reinl said we would have to buy some Swiss chocolate because it’s the best.
The Rheine Falls is the largest waterfall in Europe. It’s actually quite small in the scheme of things, but it was still gorgeous and powerful. We parked at the last parking lot and hiked up to the Falls. When I say “hiked up to,” I mean that we walked along the bank of the Rheine and then to various lookout points. I took far too many pictures, I think, and my exposure was probably off, but I did the best I could. We also walked over a bridge that went over the Rheine up to the Schloss (on a cliff above the falls). When I see a castle/schloss I really want to go in, so this was very cool for me.
Schloss Laufen as its called, is really old, but modern. It, like the other schloss from Saturday is a youth hostel, but this one has a restaurant in it, and you can go inside a good amount of the building, which is a weird museum. We had coffee, cappuccino or hot chocolate at the restaurant. This was the first gray scale room I thought was pretty. The hot drink was also welcome since it was a little chilly outside. But, the rain had stopped. After our drinks were gone, we went out to the courtyard and took some pictures. Then we needed to figure out how we would get back.
There were two options, take a boat back across the Rheine or walk back. I was game for either one, but we opted to take the boat; it was faster and we were getting tired. Frau Reinl went to buy the tickets, and then Herr Brause and I wandered off. We thought she went to the ticket kiosk, so we went there. She wasn’t there (or we somehow missed her), but I bought some postcards, and Herr Brause bought two toblerones. Switzerland is expensive. We couldn’t find Frau Reinl, so we kept walking around. I thought this made us more un-findable, but I didn’t want to be left alone.
We ran into Frau Reinl, who was looking for us, and we went down to the boat. On the way, are some really super close lookout points for the water fall. At one of them, we were less than a foot away from the rushing water. And then I almost got splashed on, but jumped back in time. The boat ride back was short and full of Asian tourists. And the man we bought our tickets from almost didn’t give Frau Reinl her change. It fell out of the machine and instead of handing it to her, he put it back in the slots. I assume he didn’t realize what he did, but she insisted that he hadn’t given her the change (he tried to say it fell on the floor), but gave more to her anyway.
We walked back to the car from the dock. I was pretty hungry by this point and it was after five o’clock. I’m not sure why we didn’t get lunch, but oh well. On the way back home, before we crossed the border, we stopped at a gas station and bought some chocolate. I’m not sure if this is for all of Switzerland, but this close to the border at least, they accept Euros. It was hard to pick out which kind of chocolate to buy. There was a lot of Lindt, which I didn’t need to buy (I think it’s overpriced) but I did settle on a dark and milk chocolate to try. I know we’re going to go to the Bodensee sooner or later, so I didn’t worry about buying chocolate for everyone back home. Don’t worry, I will buy some before I leave. Trust me.
The ride back home was a little more than an hour, I think. We got stopped in two traffic jams. One was for construction and the road became a one way street for a bit. I didn’t say much and resisted the urge to open up one of my chocolate bars. I knew I’d eat all of it I was so hungry. And then I started nodding. I closed my eyes for just a few minutes though and opened them again before I really fell asleep. I didn’t want to sleep with my contacts in.
When we got home, Frau Brause convinced Frau Reinl to stay for dinner. Then we’ll go to Frau Reinl’s Friday for dinner. Dinner came in a half hour, which during the waiting time I put all the new pictures on my computer and organized most of them. Frau Reinl really like the ones I took of flowers and Felix. Dinner was steak, peas, and noodles. The steak was kind of hard to chew (I’ll blame it on the cut of meat, whatever it was)…I think I ended up half chewing it and then swallowing. For dessert there was ice cream, which Herr Brause was very happy for. I tried some of the vanilla, but it was the same base as the stracciatella, and so both make me sick. But I had some new chocolate to try, and one of the toblerones Herr Brause bought was given to me, so I had that, too.
After dinner I put my pictures up as a slideshow for Frau Brause to see. I had to excuse myself in the middle of it to take out my contacts. Then I showed them pictures of Darren’s graduation from the Guard. A picture of Andrew’s belated birthday cake was in the mix, and they asked if Lola would come to Germany and bake for them. Frau Reinl left shortly thereafter, and I quickly got online to check things. Luckily there were only a few messages to respond to.
After I was done, I joined my host parents to watch the Friendship game between Germany and Bosnia. When I came in the living room, we were down one-nothing, but ended up winning three-one. It was nice and the team played better the second half. After that, it was about ten-thirty. I showered and went to bed. It was glorious.
TGIW, 2 June 2010
Wednesday was probably the fastest day of work I’ve had yet. After translating something I’d forgotten to on Monday, it was nine-thiry and I went down on an invitation from Frau Contenz to one of the break rooms. When they have time, everyone but the bosses go down around 9:30am for coffee, tea and first or second breakfasts. I just had some tea (I’m wondering if I should bring my own next time) and tried a weird sort of cracker. It was super hard and shaped like a skinny doughnut. But smaller than a normal Ritz cracker. We stayed and talked till about ten fifteen.
Then Frau Contenz came up and we looked over my translation. If I hadn’t mentioned it, she grew up in Tanzania, so her English is very good. We corrected a few things, but over all I was fine. We weren’t done yet, but she had an appointment at eleven, so while she was gone, I resized a lot of pictures, which she showed me how to do. That was a lot of clicking the mouse, and a little tedious because most of the pictures were of old stones and there would be five pictures of one stone. I understand the importance of cataloging the museum, but I resized over 300 pictures, which took three clicks of the mouse to complete one re-sizing.
I worked until after twelve, when I took my lunch break. I went to the library to check my mail, which I had some. I replied to a few Facebook messages, I think, and wrote down an address I’d forgotten to earlier. I was intent on mailing my postcards, which, yes I have. I also went and bought my dress from H&M, then stumbled upon a fabric store, from which I bought two meters worth of black ribbon. The dress doesn’t have a fitted waist, but I figure I can make one by using the ribbon as a belt. I also looked around the toy floor at Mueller. They had some vintage Barbies, which were cool to look at.
After lunch Frau Contenz came back and we finished looking over the translation. She said I did a good job. We then talked for almost two hours about all sorts of things. Like Harry Potter (she was flabbergasted when I told her that some American’s had had book burnings of HP books), Russell Crowe, rates of violence in teens in both countries, drug and alcohol abuse, the rising amount of child abuse in Germany, etc. It was nice and we laughed a lot. Then it was three thirty and she went back to work.
I amused myself by resizing more pictures. Then I packed up and went in search of the post office. This was a mess. I walked half way around the city in search of it (I knew I’d seen it around somewhere) in twenty minutes, to end up at the Museum again. I did discover a cool rose garden and whatnot, but not the post office. So, I grabbed a map from the museum tourist info center and went out again to look. Still couldn’t find it, just the cinema. But, when I was turning back, an Indian guy asked me if I knew where “the Bahnhof was.”
I replied in English, “It’s back that way, but I can’t find the post, so I’m going there myself.”
He was surprised to hear my English, but I showed him the way and learned that he was visiting his sister who worked in Schwenningen. I explained I was from the States and of course he had never heard of St. Louis. But once at the train station, I found the post office. I had been one street over too far. Dumb. And by now it was raining quite hard. It’s been gray all week. But, I had ten minutes before the train, and somehow I bought the stamps and sent off those cards. And made it to the train.
There must be something with Wednesday trains, because I think this happened last week, too. But it was not only late, but then we sat there for another ten minutes. There were a lot of soldiers in uniform on board, I think they were off to do their customary year of service. After we finally got going, it took the usual time, about eight minutes, to get St. Georgen and from there I walked home.
After dinner I got online and wrote my emails, etc. Then, to make a long story shot, I discovered that my family does in fact that wireless set up, they just didn’t know, and then spent a long time, with the aid of Gavin through Skype, trying to figure out the password (which was on the back of the router). By the end of it, the hypothesis is that the router settings are somehow funny and there’s nothing I can do at the moment. A cousin of theirs set up the whole network, so the Brauses don’t know anything, either. Oh well.
Then Frau Contenz came up and we looked over my translation. If I hadn’t mentioned it, she grew up in Tanzania, so her English is very good. We corrected a few things, but over all I was fine. We weren’t done yet, but she had an appointment at eleven, so while she was gone, I resized a lot of pictures, which she showed me how to do. That was a lot of clicking the mouse, and a little tedious because most of the pictures were of old stones and there would be five pictures of one stone. I understand the importance of cataloging the museum, but I resized over 300 pictures, which took three clicks of the mouse to complete one re-sizing.
I worked until after twelve, when I took my lunch break. I went to the library to check my mail, which I had some. I replied to a few Facebook messages, I think, and wrote down an address I’d forgotten to earlier. I was intent on mailing my postcards, which, yes I have. I also went and bought my dress from H&M, then stumbled upon a fabric store, from which I bought two meters worth of black ribbon. The dress doesn’t have a fitted waist, but I figure I can make one by using the ribbon as a belt. I also looked around the toy floor at Mueller. They had some vintage Barbies, which were cool to look at.
After lunch Frau Contenz came back and we finished looking over the translation. She said I did a good job. We then talked for almost two hours about all sorts of things. Like Harry Potter (she was flabbergasted when I told her that some American’s had had book burnings of HP books), Russell Crowe, rates of violence in teens in both countries, drug and alcohol abuse, the rising amount of child abuse in Germany, etc. It was nice and we laughed a lot. Then it was three thirty and she went back to work.
I amused myself by resizing more pictures. Then I packed up and went in search of the post office. This was a mess. I walked half way around the city in search of it (I knew I’d seen it around somewhere) in twenty minutes, to end up at the Museum again. I did discover a cool rose garden and whatnot, but not the post office. So, I grabbed a map from the museum tourist info center and went out again to look. Still couldn’t find it, just the cinema. But, when I was turning back, an Indian guy asked me if I knew where “the Bahnhof was.”
I replied in English, “It’s back that way, but I can’t find the post, so I’m going there myself.”
He was surprised to hear my English, but I showed him the way and learned that he was visiting his sister who worked in Schwenningen. I explained I was from the States and of course he had never heard of St. Louis. But once at the train station, I found the post office. I had been one street over too far. Dumb. And by now it was raining quite hard. It’s been gray all week. But, I had ten minutes before the train, and somehow I bought the stamps and sent off those cards. And made it to the train.
There must be something with Wednesday trains, because I think this happened last week, too. But it was not only late, but then we sat there for another ten minutes. There were a lot of soldiers in uniform on board, I think they were off to do their customary year of service. After we finally got going, it took the usual time, about eight minutes, to get St. Georgen and from there I walked home.
After dinner I got online and wrote my emails, etc. Then, to make a long story shot, I discovered that my family does in fact that wireless set up, they just didn’t know, and then spent a long time, with the aid of Gavin through Skype, trying to figure out the password (which was on the back of the router). By the end of it, the hypothesis is that the router settings are somehow funny and there’s nothing I can do at the moment. A cousin of theirs set up the whole network, so the Brauses don’t know anything, either. Oh well.
Sleepy Tuesday, 1 June 2010
I was awakened by Frau Brause knocking on my door and calling my name. She said, “I think you’ve overslept.”
To which I replied, “I think so, too.” It was seven ten, forty minutes late.
But I somehow got ready and ate breakfast. It was one of those no makeup and no contacts day. And I wore my pumas to work. And almost forgot my purse on the way out the door. But Frau Brause did not have to drive me to Villingen, even though she offered. I would have felt really bad.
On Tuesdays, a woman named Frau Ritter (Mrs. Knight) works at the desk opposite me. Every other day she works at a different museum. But she’s very nice and gave me a mini Merci chocolate. Between her and the secretary, Frau Haas, I was kept entertained between reading Wikipedia articles. Frau Haas likes to talk a lot, which is nice. I learned that you can talk about almost anything in Germany, not like in the States where certain topics you just avoid (like gay marriage and religion). It wasn’t so cold on Tuesday, but we turned on the heat in my room anyway. It was very pleasant.
I also ran into Matthias, who was limping around on crutches. He told me when I asked that he’d hurt it playing handball. And that he might not come into work on Wednesday.
During my lunch break, I took my sandwich and nectarine out to the garden behind the museum. I hadn’t known about them till Monday, and the day was nice enough I went. I took some pictures, too, before my camera died. But they’re quite nice, and I also got a closer look at the painting of Romaeus on the tower. From there I walked around the block and decided to go into Mueller because I had the time.
Muellers kind of like a Target, except with three floors. Very cool. But I discovered that in Germany one can buy all the kinds of fun, patterned tights that are not to be found in the States. This made me excited and sad. Excited, because I finally found ones I like, but sad because, I feel like I should buy clothes here and they’re super expensive. I will most certainly be thinking about buying a pair for a long time before I do. And yes, I’m sure I can’t find these in the States, because I’ve spent hours looking on line, where you can find everything.
After work (the afternoon was spent reading Wikipedia) I decided to look in H&M because I had an hour to burn. It’s so not fair. The H&M’s (which is originally a European brand) at home usually kind of suck, or things don’t fit me. But here, their clothes are awesome. And a little expensive. But why are there so many clothes here that look awesome? Anyways, I did find a dress on sale. I did go ahead and try it on, though there were so many (old) people at the dressing rooms that I thought I was going to miss my train. I didn’t have the time to buy it, and I figured I’d sleep on it.
Frau Reinl never called my family, and when I got home, another grandson was there. He’s the younger brother of Jan, is fourteen and was researching the Wembly Stadium for an English presentation. And his name is Silas. I think I read for a bit, and then looked over his writing to correct any mistakes. There were just a few. Frau Brause called the Reinls and asked Melanie if they had any plans, which they didn’t so we figured out dinner. We went to Mira’s, which I thought was a friend’s house until we got there.
Silas came with us and I discovered Mira’s was a restaurant. Its actually a Yugoslavian restaurant, which was cool because I discovered they had cevapcici, which is a type of sausage. The other specialty is Flammkuchen, which is a kind of flat bread. My first exposure to the cevapcici was in Vienna, Gavin and I would buy them frozen and he’d make them—yummy. However, these were extraordinarily bland and I didn’t really like them. The french-fries were amazing, though. Super crispy, but there were too many.
It probably wasn’t good manners, but I ended up building a tower out of my leftover French-fries. It was pretty tall and then Silas and I took pictures with our phones. Then we make a card tower out of the coasters. Frau Brause told Silas to go ask for more from the owner, which then we built a large card house out of them. And then Frau Brause put one coaster half off the table, used the back of her hand to flick it up and then caught it. We all tried, working our way up to 3 coasters a time. Remind me to show you when I get home. From there, we moved onto building a tower out of an empty water bottle (glass), a candle and a placard. It was all quite fun, but not really appropriate for a restaurant. Even if the only other patrons were a bunch of old men who were drinking.
One thing I’ve noticed about Germans in restaurants, is that they are usually in no rush to leave. Once we’re done eating, we’ll sit there for another forty-five minutes. Which can be nice, but I noticed this because once I was done eating, this time, I was in a bit of a rush to leave and go home. But we stayed for a while longer. It’s kind of nice, not to have that rush. Usually at home, once we’re done eating, we might stay for another ten minutes, but then we just leave.
At home I got on the computer. I needed to convert the US cooking measurements to metric. The Brauses are very curious about corn bread. So, I found a recipe and translated it. She even found some corn flour. It’s going to be interesting because the flour is really fine, not quite like our cornmeal, but it shouldn’t taste too bad. They also have polenta, but those are really big grains. I don’t think it would turn out too well.
I’ve been trying to get ready for bed starting at ten o’clock, so I’m sleeping by eleven thirty, so my evenings end rather early. But I did remember to set my alarm clock.
To which I replied, “I think so, too.” It was seven ten, forty minutes late.
But I somehow got ready and ate breakfast. It was one of those no makeup and no contacts day. And I wore my pumas to work. And almost forgot my purse on the way out the door. But Frau Brause did not have to drive me to Villingen, even though she offered. I would have felt really bad.
On Tuesdays, a woman named Frau Ritter (Mrs. Knight) works at the desk opposite me. Every other day she works at a different museum. But she’s very nice and gave me a mini Merci chocolate. Between her and the secretary, Frau Haas, I was kept entertained between reading Wikipedia articles. Frau Haas likes to talk a lot, which is nice. I learned that you can talk about almost anything in Germany, not like in the States where certain topics you just avoid (like gay marriage and religion). It wasn’t so cold on Tuesday, but we turned on the heat in my room anyway. It was very pleasant.
I also ran into Matthias, who was limping around on crutches. He told me when I asked that he’d hurt it playing handball. And that he might not come into work on Wednesday.
During my lunch break, I took my sandwich and nectarine out to the garden behind the museum. I hadn’t known about them till Monday, and the day was nice enough I went. I took some pictures, too, before my camera died. But they’re quite nice, and I also got a closer look at the painting of Romaeus on the tower. From there I walked around the block and decided to go into Mueller because I had the time.
Muellers kind of like a Target, except with three floors. Very cool. But I discovered that in Germany one can buy all the kinds of fun, patterned tights that are not to be found in the States. This made me excited and sad. Excited, because I finally found ones I like, but sad because, I feel like I should buy clothes here and they’re super expensive. I will most certainly be thinking about buying a pair for a long time before I do. And yes, I’m sure I can’t find these in the States, because I’ve spent hours looking on line, where you can find everything.
After work (the afternoon was spent reading Wikipedia) I decided to look in H&M because I had an hour to burn. It’s so not fair. The H&M’s (which is originally a European brand) at home usually kind of suck, or things don’t fit me. But here, their clothes are awesome. And a little expensive. But why are there so many clothes here that look awesome? Anyways, I did find a dress on sale. I did go ahead and try it on, though there were so many (old) people at the dressing rooms that I thought I was going to miss my train. I didn’t have the time to buy it, and I figured I’d sleep on it.
Frau Reinl never called my family, and when I got home, another grandson was there. He’s the younger brother of Jan, is fourteen and was researching the Wembly Stadium for an English presentation. And his name is Silas. I think I read for a bit, and then looked over his writing to correct any mistakes. There were just a few. Frau Brause called the Reinls and asked Melanie if they had any plans, which they didn’t so we figured out dinner. We went to Mira’s, which I thought was a friend’s house until we got there.
Silas came with us and I discovered Mira’s was a restaurant. Its actually a Yugoslavian restaurant, which was cool because I discovered they had cevapcici, which is a type of sausage. The other specialty is Flammkuchen, which is a kind of flat bread. My first exposure to the cevapcici was in Vienna, Gavin and I would buy them frozen and he’d make them—yummy. However, these were extraordinarily bland and I didn’t really like them. The french-fries were amazing, though. Super crispy, but there were too many.
It probably wasn’t good manners, but I ended up building a tower out of my leftover French-fries. It was pretty tall and then Silas and I took pictures with our phones. Then we make a card tower out of the coasters. Frau Brause told Silas to go ask for more from the owner, which then we built a large card house out of them. And then Frau Brause put one coaster half off the table, used the back of her hand to flick it up and then caught it. We all tried, working our way up to 3 coasters a time. Remind me to show you when I get home. From there, we moved onto building a tower out of an empty water bottle (glass), a candle and a placard. It was all quite fun, but not really appropriate for a restaurant. Even if the only other patrons were a bunch of old men who were drinking.
One thing I’ve noticed about Germans in restaurants, is that they are usually in no rush to leave. Once we’re done eating, we’ll sit there for another forty-five minutes. Which can be nice, but I noticed this because once I was done eating, this time, I was in a bit of a rush to leave and go home. But we stayed for a while longer. It’s kind of nice, not to have that rush. Usually at home, once we’re done eating, we might stay for another ten minutes, but then we just leave.
At home I got on the computer. I needed to convert the US cooking measurements to metric. The Brauses are very curious about corn bread. So, I found a recipe and translated it. She even found some corn flour. It’s going to be interesting because the flour is really fine, not quite like our cornmeal, but it shouldn’t taste too bad. They also have polenta, but those are really big grains. I don’t think it would turn out too well.
I’ve been trying to get ready for bed starting at ten o’clock, so I’m sleeping by eleven thirty, so my evenings end rather early. But I did remember to set my alarm clock.
Monday, 31 May 2010
I woke up on time and got ready without any problems. I can’t remember what I wore, but I know it wasn’t warm enough for the day. It was very cold as it turned out.
But Monday was my most productive day at work so far. I met with Frau Auer and “helped” her write another press advertisement. I also had the bulk of my translating to do. And then I researched the topics a bit more. Frau Auer’s text is currently very lofty and academic, which is a little hard for kids who are seven to understand. So, I tried to find some more interesting facts that kids would enjoy. I also took my hour lunch as usual.
Since I had tentative plans to talk on Skype with Ryan and Gavin that evening, I needed to make sure they’d both gotten my emails from the day before. So I went in search of some free internet, since I can’t check my own at work. I went to the city library, which is in the same square as the cathedral and city hall. I’d seen they had an internet café, and I planned on using it. It was barely after their opening time (noon) when I arrived, and quickly scarfed my sandwich in the foyer before going in, but the internet café was already full.
This can be explained by the fact that their café only has two computers. However, there are about eight computers for checking the library database. I didn’t have all the time in the world, so after looking around the books and movies (to wait and see if I could use one of the computers in the café), I took matters into my own hands. Though I did find an informational VHS tape on belly dancing that looks like its from the early 80’s. Basically, I used one of the database computers. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to, but I did it quickly. Everyone had gotten my messages, which was great.
It was so cold I couldn’t comfortably walk around outside, so I ducked into Billy’s. Billy’s is the equivalent of a Spencer’s in StL but with more china and nicer gifts. Though not without the inappropriate ones, of course. I won’t go into those details, though. After looking at everything I went back towards the museum. I also stopped in the bakery across the street to see if they had an chocolate croissants, which they didn’t. I always feel bad for going in a store, being the only customer, so the salespeople have to talk to you, and then not getting anything.
I spent the rest of the afternoon “researching” which included attempting to do real research with academic sources. This is impossible, because the Museum has put restrictions on the computers. After not being able to find any real sources through the search engine (Bing), I said screw it, I’ll go to Webster University’s Library page and look up some articles there. When I went to actually read the articles, they were blocked. So, I did what all my teachers and professors have been telling me not to do, but I had no other choice. I used Wikipedia. And then I read the wiki articles about the Franciscan, Dominican, Benedictine monls, and the massacre of a bunch of French “Heretics” in the 1300’s.
The walk home from the train station sucked. I ended up with a very bad throat ache and then my jaw (around the ears) also hurt really bad. I quickly changed clothes, then drank some juice and the piece of cheesecake they’d saved for me. I felt a little better. I was also to go over to the Reinls that evening to translate something for Melanie’s work and then use their wifi for Skype. I was at their house by 6:15pm, still a little rushed.
What ended up happening, was that the translating was already finished. So we ate dinner (turkey curry goulash with noodles) and then I set up the wifi with Melanie’s help. I had not anticipated so much free time with the internet. I had told Ryan to contact me on Skype at about 7:40 and Gavin at 8:00. So I had almost an hour and a half to do nothing. I know I read the PostDispatch and got on Facebook. Somehow I kept myself occupied.
Ryan failed to get on Skype and I still don’t know why. But that’s OK. Gavin had had to go buy a camera from Best Buy that day and then set it up (his real one is coming next week) and basically had a nightmare of a time setting it up. An hour later, we could finally see each other and then I didn’t have my microphone turned on. After figuring that out, we talked for over an hour. I didn’t leave the Reinls till about 10:30pm. Frau Reinl drove me home and asked me to give her love to the Brauses and said that maybe the next night we should eat together and she’d call the house.
By the time I got home, Frau Brause was already asleep, but I said goodnight to Herr Brause. I also forgot to set my alarm, which I found out the next morning.
Lazy Sunday, 30 May 2010
Sorry I’ve disappeared off the face of the planet, but I have not really had time to write. At least in the evenings.
Sunday
Sunday was basically a lazy day. I know I slept late, then woke up and had breakfast. After that, I remember trying to read LOTR, which I think I succeeded in at that point. Then before too long we had lunch. Which, was hot turkey with a curry sauce (it was good), rice and carrots and peas. Then I helped clean up and tried to get back to my reading. Then soon after that, their daughter, grandson and great-grand daughter came over. This was only minorly chaotic. At the time, Herr Brause was napping, so we were all trying to be quiet, but I’m not so sure we were.
The great-grand daughter, Jamie, is two years and five months old. She immediately began asking for her doll (Meine Puppe!) over and over. Which, this doll was in the loft above where Herr Brause was sleeping and she couldn’t go up to play. Jan, her dad (who is my age, I believe), went up and brought the doll down complete with a carriage. The family hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so they ate our leftovers. They’re currently trying to train Jamie to not use a hand in addition to her fork, so there was a lot of “Hand raus!” or “Hand out!” of her bowl. After lunch, they let her down from the table and she spent a lot of time taking off the doll’s clothes and trying to put them back on.
When Herr Brause woke up, she dragged him off to play, much against his will. But there’s something hilarious about a very small child dragging an adult over six feet tall by the finger out of the room who’s saying, “I don’t want to!” They disappeared for almost over an hour. In the meantime, Frau Brause, her daughter and Jan and I played a board game. It’s called “genial” and I’m not sure if this exists in the States. Basically, you put these colored tiles on the board to get points. I’m still not sure how you really count the points, but I won.
That morning Frau Brause had made a cheesecake out of quark. I’m not sure how to explain what that is, aside from the fact that it’s a dairy product. But the cheesecake was good. Not really very sweet, and the texture was a little more spongy than ours, but it was good. Around five pm we had “coffee and cake” and tea. We set the table very nicely with a new table cloth and the Sunday china (yes, we actually use it on Sundays and holidays). Frau Reinl, my second host mom also came.
However, one quick funny story. When Frau Brause called Frau Reinl to come over, Frau Reinl had to call us back. But when the phone rang, Jamie beat Frau Brause to it and immediately started calling for “Ronnie!” She didn’t give up that phone too easily, and when she did, she then disconnected the cord. So, Frau Reinl had to call back. Again, Jaime beat Frau Reinl to the phone and asked for Ronnie. This time Frau Brause got the phone away and explained it was her great granddaughter who kept beating her to the phone. Jaime then discovered that the easy chair in the dining room had a remote that would adjust it. This occupied her time for the next half hour.
Once everyone left, I think I tried to read more, and check my emails. We also watched some tv, but I don’t remember what. But I went to bed early and slept well.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
