Rothenburg

I will try to post on Rothenburg as soon as possible. But I just spent 5 hours on a train and have no energy to commit to the cause. I'm sorry, but look for posts on it in the next couple of days.

Best Friend EVER

A couple of months ago I lost the necklace that my parents gave me for my birthday a 3 or 4 years ago. I always wore it, but then one day, the chain broke at Manda's apartment and I lost the cross off it. I asked Manda to keep an eye out for it. I was really heartbroken about having lost it.

However, today when I got back from my weekend trip, I found a package from Manda on my bed. Inside it (beside the letter) was the cross. She had not only found it, but she had also mounted it on a new chain. I cried. It was one of the best gifts ever.

Thank you, Buddy. xoxoxo

Christmas in Bad Neuenahr

The Bad Neuenahr-ians have begun decorating for the Christmas season. In fact, they started last week and have put up the world's most bleak and unfestive Christmas tree ever. It makes me a bit depressed to see this tree actually and i really hope that they are going to add a bit more to it and spruce it up a bit. (seriously- no pun intended there :s) Also, the closet hippie in me feels a bit sad that they cut down such a huge old tree for a few weeks enjoyment. It just seems wrong somehow.,

Crooked Sheds and Fairy Tales, Part II

Although, despite how romantic Crooked Sheds and Fairy Tales sounds, it's probably best to keep in mind that I did take this picture in Germany. Especially since most German fairy tales have a bitter end with an ass-biting moral. Just thought I'd throw that out there for all the cynics among us. cheers :)

Crooked Sheds and Fairy Tales

You may think this is simply just a semi-derelict building carved all crookedy into the hillside and surrounded by the lovely colours of fall in Marburg. But you are wrong. Observe:


I see magic. This charming little shed makes me think fairy tale. Like Grandmother's house in Little Red Riding Hood. Or maybe the Gingerbread House in Hansel and Gretel. I can just see a wolf lurking around the corner or a wicked witch waiting to toss two helpless children into her boiling cauldron. I could even see it as the little cottage in the woods were Sleeping Beauty hides as her Fairy Godmothers try to keep her safe. *sigh*

Building Snowmen

Due to the aforementioned seriously soggy snow, I was able to make a miniature snowman on my window ledge. His name is François. I hope he lasts for a bit, because he is just the right size to hang out with my buddy Pete the Panda. They are so cute together.

François

François and Pete

What The?

The Ahr valley has seen some crazy weather this weekend. On Friday it rained, hailed, and sort of snowed in the space of 15 minutes. Then it kind of half-assedly snowed Saturday and again today. Today it left a thick layer of seriously soggy snow. It also got a bit chilly here.

Itty bitty hail about the size of a pencil eraser

Hail mixed with a smidge of snow

The tree outside my window tonight

A Forgotten Gem

As i was downloading some new pics for some new posts, i came across some pics from last weekend that i had meant to post about but forgot. *gasp* yes, shocking, i know.

Last weekend i was at Meg's place just hanging out and as per usual she walked me to the train station and kept me company while i waited. while we were waiting, this huge freight train came to a screeching halt right in front of us. It was the closest i have ever been to a freight train like that. it wasn't even 10 feet away from us. It just kinda sat there for a few minutes gently rocking and we decided we were going to take a picture of it. So Matt snapped one of us and i wandered back to the bench.
Meg, however, wanted to touch the train ( i think it's one of those hey, totally did that i can add it to my list of random things i've done type things). So she wanders a bit closer and definately goes to touch it just as i say: "dude- don't touch the train. it's prolly going to start moving any second". wow- who knew i was psychic?? It started up again just as Meg touched it.

did we learn some sort of fun moral here? not so much, no. But, i can now cross getting super close to a semi-stopped freight train off my list of things to do in life. YAY.

I miss central heating

I think the title of this post mostly says it all. The weather outside has been seriously crazy this weekend and now the Ahrtal is trying winter on for size. Basically it got to about zero and it half assed snowed with a side salad of grossly damp. Unfortunately for me, almost all of my winter type clothes are currently still in Canada. so, i have spent the afternoon huddled under a couple of comforters, with the radiator cranked, and my back pressed firmly against it. My room is an oasis of warmth and comfort in the freezing night-time desert that is the upstairs of my house- aka, the radiator in my room is the only one on up here and you can definately tell :(

i miss wool socks, winter jackets, and central heating.

Tasty Tasty

It occurred to me today that i write about food a lot here. i could go into the deep psychological reasons for said writings- but that is boring and no one wants to read about it :)

But, back to the point at hand... Cheese. Damn, it is so tasty. Back home you know how it is. It's basically 3 options for cheese that isn't going to cost you an arm and six legs: Cheddar, Mozzerella, Marble. Then you have things like Havarti, Gouda, Feta... but they are usually out of the price range of a struggling twenty-something like me.

however, here these super tasty cheeses are so much cheaper. So i have been working my through various types trying to find the one i like the best and add a little variation to my daily diet. (almost like my buddy Nick- but he is slowly working his way through the various Schnitzels available in the local restaurants).

So far the list of Cheese i have tried is kinda extensive, but they are usually served by the family at supper (without their labels of course) and so i don't really know what they are called. Of the ones that really sick out in my mind:

-->some sort of honeyed goat cheese. it is softer than Feta and infinitely more tasty
-->Havarti (spicy kind)- it was a bit of a let down. not spicy at all, but it did melt well on pizza :)
-->Emmental- OMG. It was the most TERRIBLE thing i have ever tried to call cheese!! it smelled so good, but in the end tasted like old rubber- we are talking worse than Double Bubble here folks. *ugh*
--> Gouda- this is so far my fav cheese here. there is some fantastic Dutch stuff floating around here. YUM. it so far melts the best and tastes the best by itself.

There's a shout out to the weird cheese that is filled with fresh herbs and wrapped in grape leaves too. it is so random, it needed to be mentioned.

I'm also going to take a moment here to state that i haven't had the nerve yet to try the weird cheeses with streaks of green (of any sort) in them. That just seems wrong to me somehow :s

Speaking of Toking

In my last post i definately mentioned toking. It actually reminded me of something that came up in one of my classes yesterday.

I was reading an article with my grade 10's about American feelings on legalization of marijuana and homosexual marriage in Canada. The article's author basically stated that America was too uptight to go with the flow like the Canadians were doing. The kids, at the mention of pot, started nudging each other and you could definately tell who was on a first name basis with MJ.

I thought it was maybe one of those semi appropriate times to use a word that the Germans don't really expect me to know. In trying to explain the author's viewpoint, I may have said something to the effect of -vielleicht sie glaubt, dass die Amerikaneren noch nicht genug gekifft haben?- maybe she thinks the Americans just haven't smoked up enough yet?

Yes, it was followed by a split second of- did you hear what the FSA said? and then by a full minute of gut splitting laughter from the students. Even the teacher chortled a bit.

This is where my German minor has brought me- making weed jokes to the next generation of potheads. *sigh*

The Cult of the Bike

That title is no joke, folks. it really is basically a religion here. It's right up there with soccer. Everyone has a bike here. There are a plethora of bike path's, bike racks in front of almost every store, a bike repair shop on every corner.

My host sister told me that "Fahrraeder sind ganz praktisch, oder?" (basically -bikes are super practical, aren't they?). I may have laughed a bit. I fail to see what is so practical about using a bike in the rain or for really long distances in a short time period. I get that using your bike is free and yeah, that is nice. (yes mom, i hear you adding that all that excercise is good for me) But when it is dark and cold and you are biking home- cursing the rain and dark, how practical is it then?

Even with my bike light i have almost hit parked cars and it always seems like something is breaking on it and needs to be replaced. so i have pretty much come to the conclusion that a bike is basically just a really weak sauce car, but at least a car (despite the many things that can go wrong with it) is actually kinda practical- a car even has storage space that is not limited by the size of my backpack.

But at the same time, i find myself falling in line and checking out the newest bike gadgets, riding my bike everywhere... i am feeling disgustingly like a conformist. lol. However, I do have a song to cheer me up here:

although this video is kinda strange so you may potentially feel the need to toke before you watch it- i think it may be the only way to make it less WTF-ish.

Time Well Wasted

I have just finished watching two of the world's most awesomely offensive/amazing movies EVER. They are so much garbage that i can't help loving them. The movies? Beerfest and Eurotrip.

In honour of these piles of awesome-ness, i have included some of the better quotes. Unfortunately, the ones from Beerfest are too inappropriate to post here. But i did manage to find some gems in Eurotrip:

-->You didn’t tell your boss you were leaving the country?
No. they would have stopped paying me- this just seemed easier.

-->Tu n’est pas le robot

Man, in fifteen years i see these two movies being considered classics- on par with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Crocodile Dundee. Classics.

T-SS Sufferers Unite!

Twenty-Something Syndrome (or T-SS - not to be confused with TSS) is something I have managed to catch in the last couple of years. In fact, it snuck up on me and before I realized it, I had a full blown case.

But what is T-SS you ask? T-SS affects young women in their 20's. It is classifiable by these stages:

1) Job that you are only moderately happy with- see reference to It-mostly-pays-the-bills-itis.
2) Lack of Manfriend. Self-explanatory. This stage leads to:
3) A dog. Usually a small breed- Pug, Shih Tzu, Chihuahua... etc.
4) Excessive and frivolous spending on No 3.
5) Chinese Take-Out. Boxes begin to litter the house as you realize cooking for one sucks and the dog is eating Ceaser and Beneful anyway.

I am currently suffering from stage 4 T-SS. I guess maybe I should start planning creative ways to dispose of the take-out boxes...

Pull Your Head Out Your Ass

Every day I come across people I feel the need to say this too. Unfortunately lately the people I have had the strongest urge to say this to is the Family. Whenever something comes up and it is clearly a case of cultural difference, the Family says "you are in Germany now- adapt".

However, the problems that are created due to a certain lack of "Pull Your Head Out Your Ass" on either of our parts makes me (usually) very frustrated and very out of sorts. Lately it has had a tendency of leaving me out in the cold too. Literally.

In the past week and a half I have been locked out of my house TWICE. Seriously. I don't have a key to the front door anyway (which is a prerequisite to using that door from the outside because it locks automatically the second it is shut- you must have a key to open that door) because the Family did not want to cut one more key. I would gladly pay for the stupid thing and get it cut myself, if that meant I could have one.

So I use the side door. I always feel a bit like I am skulking into the house. Plus, due to a bit of "cultural difference" aka- a serious paranoia about any door being unlocked, even when people are home, they stick a key in the inside of the lock. So, when i come home in the afternoon, I get locked out if i haven't remembered to basically unlock my entrance from the inside (pull the key out) on my way out of the front door in the morning. It is unpleasant to say the least. Especially seeing as today I was not dressed to sit around in the chilly damp weather we have been having here lately.

Ugh. Pull-Your-Head-Out-Your Ass-itis is apparently running rampant here.

Starting Early

I am getting an early start on the Christmas prep here in the Ahrtal. I bought some Christmas lights a couple of weeks ago at the Aldi and today i deemed that it was finally acceptable to put them up. Now I have a lovely string of lights gracing my ceiling. I am thinking about maybe adding some more Christmas type things, otherwise it will continue to look like pub-style lighting and not Christmas.

I will post some pictures when i feel that the decorating is complete. I will leave you in suspense til then.

xoxoxo

Meeting New People

Meg and i have been trying to meet new people, hopefully even German people. imagine that hey?

Yeah, not so much... I think we could say it all started with a pretzel. A hot pretzel. It was so hot and tasty that i forgot to pay for it. The guy gave it to me and i was so excited about it that i immediately turned to Meg and started talking about it. That would have been ok except i hadn't paid yet. i was holding the money though, so i wasn't being a kleptomaniac intentionally. Turns out, that the only other guy at the pretzel place just happened to see what happened and also spoke English. Nice. I was kind of like- that's great. i think i am just going to wander away here really quick and never think about that guy again. HAHAHAHAHA. Apparently fate can be a bit cruel here...

So Meg and i wander away and manage to find a couple of seats next to an older woman and a young girl. Turns out they were Pretzel Boy's mom and daughter. They were waiting for a train as well and the five of us sat there and chatted. Then, as their train pulls up to the station buddy hands us a card with his name and cell number. He didn't even catch our names and we sure didn't catch his until we saw it on the card. lol.

Anyway- turns out his name is Matt. And yes, we did call him. Also- he is not a crazy stalker, so not so bad. And all because i have a tendency to get excited over fresh pretzels.

It makes me wonder though, if i had tried to steal some weinerschnitzel, would i now have a new German friend? Is that really how this meeting people thing works????

Squished...in Marburg

This is a photo of Meg's reaction after squishing my hand into a wall as we were trying to pose for a picture in Marburg. We were at the castle and the view was spectacular. Unfortunately, Meg was more interested in accidentally flattening my hand than she was posing...

Meg's reaction at first...

Her reaction after seeing she hadn't busted my hand...

I am a little sad though. I took some pictures of the castle, but they didn't turn out that well. So, to make up for that i put up a cute one of Meg and Matt standing with some weird rock things :)

The Mall

I went back to Meg's house this weekend for some girl time :) it was pretty sweet. We went shopping and hung out in the mall. I'm usually not so into the mall but i did need a few things and Meg was really helpful in finding them.

However- there was some randomness in the mix. the mall in Wetzlar is already decked out for Christmas. But somehow that involved putting fairy tale scenes surrounded by faux snow in the middle of the mall. so random. I've included a shot here so that people around the world can enjoy the Christmas season Wetzlar style:

Meg and Little Red Riding Hood

Also Meg and I had some chow at the Chinese place in the Mall. It was strange- it tasted more like really dry chicken noodle soup but whatever. It also took us a lot of effort to make this shot, so again- please enjoy.

Interested

If anyone can tell me exactly what they do for Remembrance Day here I would really appreciate it. between me and the net, I don't think we've got it completely accurate. Let me know, eh?

Remembrance Day

I was reading KB's post (catch the link on the side to Little House in the Big Woods) about Remembrance Day today and figured I should maybe write up a bit on it as well.

I too remember standing alongside my family in the freezing cold. I remember marching as a Sea Cadet in the solemn journey past the cenotaph. I remember the sadness in the eyes of those who are old enough to actually remember, the bored shuffling of teenagers, the shrieks of babies. I remember the misprints in the program. A serious day with reflective silence, Remembrance Day to me is a religious observance. 11 11 11.

Now, to be in Germany of all places on Remembrance Day. How to describe it here? Unimportant sums it up well. The only organized remembrance of any sort to remember the German dead and their national scars is Volkstrauertag.* I can understand not putting much emphasis on commemorating not one, but two resounding loses. And I really don't expect that an entire country should 90 and 63 years later, pay an exorbitant price for the mistakes of generations who are fading away or already sleeping. But Germans have their wounds and their painful memories as well as any of the victorous. One can say that they brought it on themselves and yes, maybe they did. But I wonder if as a nation, Germany has ever really been allowed time to heal within the privacy of their own borders.

It seems that acknowledging their guilt to the world and then accepting the harsh repercussions has never really given them the opportunity to privately grieve for their hurts- everything was played out in the world theatre. So now Germany doesn't make a big deal out of it and doesn't really talk about it, choosing instead to begin the festivities for Carnival on November 11th and "forget" what the rest of the world remembers with a vengeance.

When I was back home in Canada, I recall thinking about things done by the Axis Powers and especially the Nazi Regime. And man, could I ever hate them for what they had done. But the people I know here today aren't Nazis. They haven't tried to rip the world apart. They have tried to help us heal it.

I think perhaps it is now time for the descendants of the Allies to work with the descendants of the Axis on a deeper level than just petty treaties and agreements. It is time for us to remember WHY we remember. We remember not to remind ourselves of the enemy's atrocities, but rather to remind ourselves of the fact that we could not pull together as the human race to fix what we ourselves had broken.

So with this in mind, as the day quietly fades away into evening and into November 12th, Remembrance Day is finished with the Last Post and heartfelt wish for a better future where we don't make the same mistakes. Lest We Forget.

*See post below on Volkstrauertag

Volkstrauertag

Wikipedia had this to say on Volkstrauertag and how it is commemorated:

"Volkstrauertag (German: national day of mourning) is a public holiday in Germany. It is observed two Sundays before the first of Advent, and commemorates those who died in war. It was first observed in 1952.

A Volkstrauertag was proposed in 1919 by the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) as a commemoration for German soldiers killed in the First World War. It was first held in 1922 in the Reichstag and in 1926, it was decided to observe Volkstrauertag regularly on Reminiscere (the second Sunday of Lent.)...

An official observation of Volkstrauertag takes place in the German Bundestag. The German Bundespräsident traditionally gives a speech with the Chancellor, the cabinet and the diplomatic corps present. The national anthem and the song "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" are then played. Most states also hold their own ceremonies.

Because of the relation to Advent, the date is the Sunday nearest 16 November, i.e. in the period from 13 November to 19 November."

(check out the full article here--> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkstrauertag)

Despite this, so far i have heard no one mention it. I hadn't even heard of of it before I was writing my piece on Remembrance Day. I don't think it is a really big deal here, but time will tell and potentially nullify part of my post on Remembrance Day.

Winnetou, Part II

Remember my crazy buddy who dressed in the buckskins and wandered around town. Well, i saw him again the other day again. I'm just gonna say though- the second time was still so shocking and random that i may or may not have stared...again. i am a bad and shallow person :(

Is that a Salami in Your Pocket....

My salami loves you all really lots- so much that it underwent extra processing....

My Kitchen

I cooked some stuff the other day and i realized that i hadn't shown you a picture of my kitchen. it makes me a bit sad that the kitchen i have and don't use all the time is way bigger than the kitchen that my buddy Meg uses on a daily basis. She doesn't even have a freezer in her fridge :( it's a bit ridiculous.

My awesome beer fridge :)

St. Martin's Day

Apparently Saturday was St. Martin's Day. I am not really sure why he was so important and neither was my host family. But the mom had us do up some oranges real fancy like with cloves and tealights for a centre piece.

The results:

Lena and Quenten

My contribution to the crafty-ness

An Oft Repeated Statement

so we talked about Obama today while waiting for the world's latest teacher. the kids basically came to the conclusion that Sarah Palin was a gun-toting moron and were glad that McCain didn't win- because they were certain he would die in office and Palin would become president.an interesting thought, although i think they may have pirated that oft repeated idea off some sort of website...

A Few Minutes Late Indeed.

Hmmmph. If someone says that they will be a few minutes late, i don't mind. But 25 minutes is not a few minutes. However, if mentioning this lateness happens just before the class starts and the teacher hands you (the assistant) the text book and says get them to read this page- that is not ok.

Especially since these kids are UNRULY at best. There was throwing and yelling and being just generally disruptive. it was also a suck ass boring text about going to colonial williamsburg. after about 10 minutes i just ditched it. i figured whatever- the teacher isn't going to show up, she doesn't get to pick the material. we talked about the election instead.

Anyway, when the teacher finally showed up she was like - did you read and discuss the text? Are you finished with it? what are you doing now? It was a stressful class and was i not after a great recommendation on my resume a couple months from now- i would have jumped down her throat, mentioning that it says in my contract that i don't ever teach without the teacher in the room. *sigh* any time these people want to get it together, cause this sure as shit ain't the first time it's happened....

Clear and Concise

Today the teacher had me read a few paragraphs on the American Electoral System in order to expose the students to my "crazy/unclear/unaccented" Canadian English. So i did. however, as i was reading it to the students, i realized that i was reading in my absolute best jeopardy clue voice. you know the ones where they speak super slowly and incredibly concisely?

During it I was kinda thinking a) i am making Trebek super proud b) no Canadian (or anyone really) actually talks like that. so doesn't that kind of defeat the point of me reading so they can hear my accent? I know we speak all garbled and lazy like. so was the whole thing about listening to english or was it about hearing my weird accent?

Words That Crack Me Up

There are just some words that my kids can’t say right no matter how hard they try. I try my best not to laugh- but I thought I would write you a list of some of the most common ones from our Native stories unit:

Bee-A-fer- a beaver
BEERS - Bears
Kewill- quill

I know I do the same sort of thing when i speak German. But it does crack me up when they put the emphaaaaasis on the wrong syllaaaaaable. I may have laughed a bit when one of the kids asked me where can you find BEERS in the woods. I may have almost mentioned the Kokanee Sasquatch.

Vocab Excercises

Last Wednesday:

Me: Ok kids, can anyone tell me what “to sniff” means?
Student: (mimes doing a line of crack across his desk) It’s like this teacher.
Me: Ummmm….actually that’s snorting. There is definitely a difference.

Plugging Your Car In

I never thought i would laugh when someone's car wouldn't start because of the cold. i mean, that is just so unfriendly. Also, we've all been there, done that where we didn't plug the stupid thing in and stranded ourselves the next morning. However, that was in Canada where it gets genuinely cold.

Aaron's car (see post below) wouldn't start because it was too cold. I really feel the need to point out it was maybe 0 or -1 the night before. It really just didn't make so much sense to me how it could have been to cold to start. So after an unsucessful attempt to boost the damn thing, we definately ended up pushing it up and down the street a few times for a roll start. it took 6 attempts. yuck.

Later, i asked Aaron why he hadn't just plugged it in. He looked at me like i was nuts. I guess the cars here don't have plug ins on them. it led to a whole bunch of random questions on how plug ins and block heaters worked. i just wish i had known how they worked so i could have explained it better. i think i mostly just confused Aaron :s

An Accidental Roadtrip

On Saturday Megan had a soccer game and needed to back in Butzbach in the early afternoon. We were too slow going in the morning to walk to the train station, so Aaron said he would drive us down there. But his car wouldn’t start- it had gotten too cold the night before (which I will so post about later today). Anyway, we ended up missing Megan’s first train. So we decided we would have time to take her to Remagen (because her ticket had her changing trains there with a layover of 30 min).

My host family helping Aaron boost his car.



Meg looking seriously less than impressed with things.

Well, we missed that train as well. Eventually we got the car started. So we agreed to just take her to Koblenz and have her catch the train there. We were about 10 minutes to late for her to catch her train, so Meg went to talk to the Travel Centre people. Aaron and I were sitting in the parking lot at the Koblenz train station talking about our plans for the rest of the day, when Aaron was like- we should call and see if she can get another train. Alas, again no luck. Meg was going to be late no matter what train she ended up taking. Aaron apparently like driving really lots so he offered to drive her home to Butzbach. So basically, the three of us made the most indirect trip to Megan’s house as humanely possible.

The roadside public bathrooms. They definately looked nicer than they actually were :(

Aaron psyching out the people driving on the right side of the car...



The tapedeck in the car and Aaron's personal mix tapes. This one is just for Evan.

I wanted to post a map with the route on it but i couldn't figure out how to make it work. Basically the route went from Bad Bodendorf to Koblenz, Koblenz to the outskirts of Frankfurt am Main to Butzbach. So very indirect. check it out on google maps. its not so pretty. Also, getting in the car and driving basically the distance from Edmonton to Calgary is kinda frowned on here. The Roadtrip/driving for fun is not so socially acceptable here it seems

Halloween Hocus Pocus

I am starting to get old I think. This weekend almost killed me. Meg and Aaron and I definitely got our party on on Thursday. It was pretty sweet. We took our case of beer and bottle of wine to the playground and we sat in the tower thing where it was dry and just chilled. It was good times.

The result of Aaron's "can I do this with no hands?"

However, that said, we were pretty wiped on Friday morning. So I suggested we just take the train down the Ahr valley. It only took about 45 minutes, but the train we used was the only train going through that part of the valley. So it only came once an hour. Meg was feeling a bit motion sick and she put her foot down, saying no way was she getting back on the train so soon. So we wandered around and finally saw an open restaurant. Meg and I had the most awesome chilli we had had in a while. Aaron managed to wolf down his plate of schnitzel and fries, some of our plate of fries, the leftovers of our chilli and the bread that went with it. It was pretty intense.

The insane amount of food we ordered. There was a lot more to the portions than we had expected.

Aaron making sure none of it (except the beans) went to waste.

It was a nice and relaxing day and when we got back to my place, we decided to watch some sorta scary movies. We ended up watching the old X-Files movie and Constantine. We were in bed before 12.30. lol

The World's Biggest Dust Bunny

No word of a lie. This dust bunny was so big that it almost ate the broom I attacked it with. So I definitely needed to document it for you all. Feel the fear. This was no mortal dust bunny.

The Young Americans

Last week the Young Americans came to our school to do a 3 day workshop with our kids. I'm still not really sure what the Young Americans really do, so here's a link to their website and wikipedia:

http://www.youngamericans.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Americans

They preformed well and the kids did an even better job. I was really impressed. Here are some pics for you: