The Rotweinwanderweg

The Rotweinwanderweg is a hiking path that runs through the red wine vineyards of the Ahr Valley. it's really pretty and you can veer off of the main path to take random little pathlets that go other places. Yesterday, Nick, Joey (the Sister), and i all went for a walk, aka- hike. It was really fun, lots of cool scenery and the view from the top of the "mountain" we climbed was worth the 2 1/2 hours it took us to get there. We saw the ruins of Landskrone, some sort of old castle that sits on top of the hill we climbed.

Here are a couple of the pictures i took:

one of the pathlets


Nick, Joey, and Mayday at the summit of Landskrone


Grapes ripening in a vineyard


Us after about 4 hours of hiking

She thinks she's being sneaky...

My host mom knows i am not super keen on fish. at all. and still she either tries to nag me into eating it, or she just dishes it up onto my plate and says nothing. She knows that when i bite into it, i won't be able to complain about it at risk of her not cooking for me anymore. She's quite crafty when it comes to the "go around the wall, not through it" approach with me. Like tonight, where she made a mushroom quiche and a spinach quiche. She dished up the spinach quiche for me (which i don't mind) and sat there waiting for me to discover the damn source of omega-3's she had baked into it. I. Hate. Fish. With a passion. She knows it too. And she just sat there watching me eat it, with aforementioned crafty gleam in her eye. So i had to clean the stupid plate completely. Battle to you, host mom. But the war will go to me...

Sociables This!

Pre-dinner drinks, salad, main course, dessert, post dinner drinks... this is almost always how dinner goes when the Family has company. Last night it took 3 full hours. I'm all about the food, but it kinda stumps me how they can take so damn long to eat. Plus, they have been having guests over more and more often lately, which means more really long dinners than normal. However, even when it is just the Family it takes about an hour and a half to eat. Also, the dinning room is chilly- so they sit there all chilly and sociable like for a crazy long time. I just don't get it, i hope it's just cause i am foreign though.

I'm a little touched

Today in the kitchen my host mom hugged me and told me she was really happy that i was living with them. it was just so completely random and impulsive for her, i was actually a little touched.

Practically Awesome Possum

I have been enjoying the fall break for 2 days now. Fall break ends on the 20th of October. That's right- after only a month of work, i get almost a month's paid vacation. Nice. This is a pretty sweet job i think :D

Checking Out Neuenahr

For the past week or so i have been hearing requests for pictures. I guess when i started blogging, i told you all that i would add lots of pics so that when the story was boring/lame you would at least have some pics to look at. That said- a few pics from friday when Nick and I went to some sort of street fair thing in Bad Neuenahr:

Basically we just went to all the different booths that sold beer and tried their specialty beers :) Then we mixed in a couple of crepes each. Then we went to the Irish Pub and finished the drinking off with a Guinness. My first Guinness ever, in fact. Ahhh, the stout that drinks like a meal. I gotta say, i really think it's an acquired taste :s

Ranting

Seriously- i have been to the Visa office 3 towns away, every thursday afternoon for a month. And it just occurred to Herr Schunk today that he might have to tell me how much it's going to cost for my F*ing visa. Right- well, 50 Euros says that idiot con-artist is going to have to bill me at his inconvenience. no, i can't really be that mean- i do like the guy. We don't even speak German anymore when i go to "visit" him about my friggen Visa. It was just the icing on the cake of a day filled with a myriad of stressful/annoying things. *sigh*

I REFUSE to believe it

After a full month of missing my favorite TV shows and their awesome season premieres, i have taken to watching them on the internet. Lately i have been really into Stargate Atlantis- which for a spin-off is definately just as fantastic as the original series. I am currently only in season 3 of 5. BUT- i cannot in good faith completely love a show that will kill off one of my favorite characters, spectacular episode or no. Absolutely outrageous! Poor *SPOILER ALERT* Carson Beckett, dying all heroically after saving that weak sauce lackey from certain death. I mean, his character was great- he had three seriously sweet-ass things going for him:
1- HOTT
2- HOTT accent
3- making the big bucks from SGC.

why would you kill off someone with some much potential??? I demand a rewrite!

The Importance of Pronunciation

Today as i sat in a Cafe drinking wine with my buddy, Nick, we started to talk about the wine we were drinking and then all things wine like. Remember my post about Sekt? A sparkling German wine, if you don't pronounce it properly it can lead to awkward situations:

Me: This is really good, better than Sekt. When was the last time you had Sekt?
Nick: (stammers and blushes) uhhh...excuse me? Is that really something we need to talk about right now?
Me: huh?

It's a bit tough to speak Denglish. If you're not paying attention, the german words take you a bit by surprise and you don't hear them properly. Think about it like this- Sekt is pronounced with a Z, making it basically Zekt. Now, trying saying it again- saying the S as an S, in my lazy North American accent. I think we all know why Nick was a bit embarassed. And yes- it was awkward and strangely funny...

Fall

As i rode my bike home today along the bike path, i noticed that fall seems to have struck the Ahr Valley with a vengence. Then i got to thinking- if Spring has sprung, can one say that Fall has fallen? I mean, i suppose it's grammatically ok, but it sounds a bit off. i started thinking maybe it was just a matter of finding a synonym for fallen. Here is what Thesaurus.com pulled up:

1 thesaurus results for: fallen
Main Entry: fallen
Part of Speech: adjective
Synonyms: dead, debased, degraded, deposed, depreciated, disgraced, dropped, immoral, lost, prostrate, shamed, sinful, slain

I think i may have maybe not done this search using the right word. Because, as sure as i am that no one really says "Fall has fallen", i am even more sure that no one would ever say "Fall has depreciated" or "Fall has dropped". Maybe i should hit the drawing board again here. There seems to be some fundamental flaws in my thought process on this one...

The only time hearing "I don't want you" will brighten your day

This morning i taught a half baked lesson i had cobbled together on Canadian history. it started with the Vikings and ended 'round about 1885 with the trans-continental railroad. So, yeah, a bit skewed maybe- seeing as i may have missed a hundred years or so after Confederation, but it went over really well with my grade sixes :) They liked reading a challenging piece and they had a lot of questions. It was the first class that i had today and it really set a positive tone for the day.

Also setting a positive tone was when the teacher of my last class told me she didn't want me today :) They were watching some sort of random/weird DVD and i would have just sat there anyway, so i totally got to peace out early. I think this will officially be the only time ever that "i don't want you" will make someone's day- cause it sure made mine :D

Can't Touch This!

I would just like to point out that the radio station i listen to here, BIG FM, prides itself on playing today's hotest new music. 20 minutes ago they played MC Hammer. i am glad they have kept up with the times.

His, his, his music hits me so hard.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcNUx0-XEfw

He was pretty good live too. Thank you River Cree :)

Sekt

Basically a german sparkling wine, it is definately the quickest buzz i have ever found. A glass of the stuff the Family drinks can make you tispy. 2 glasses can make you cut. keep this in mind.

That is all.

No seriously- what is it?

Remember the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where Ian's mom brought a Bundt cake to the Portokalos Family BBQ and Toula's mom had no idea WTH it was??? ok, well, i have a "WTH is that" as well. But, sorry to disappoint you all- it is not food. It is, in fact, an installation in my bathroom. And at least twice everyday for the past month i have looked at it and thought "no, seriously- what IS it?"



Plus, i can't just ask- what if the answer turns out to be something seriously simple and i look like a tard. Or what if the Family asks why haven't i been using it? Or maybe it's cause my bathroom when i was growing up was simple and all-canadian? I dunno. but everyday i wonder a little bit- wtf is it??? i think it is maybe the weird position of the faucet that confuses me the most. seriously. i have ideas, but i would appreciate it if someone i don't have to live with for the next 8 months could maybe tell me what its function is. And yes Kim, thanks- i get that the one on the left is the toilet ;)

750 g of Awesome

So today is definately all about the food. i made another trip to the Aldi on my way to my weekly meeting with the HOTT guy processing my visa. to make a long story short- basically it's taken about 3 weeks to get it all together (thus, 3 seperate visits *sigh*) So, in Aldi i came across Zimt Chips. ok, cinnamon, i can do that- beats the hell out of the boring ass cornflakes the Family eats for breakfast. So i get home, whip 'em out for snackies and am definately pleasantly surprised. 750 g of Cinnamon Toast Crunch- aka all that is awesome in one happy little box. I have to admit though, that judging a ceral by its box can be risky business, but the box made it look like healthy, hippie cereal. Plus, like all things at Aldi, it was cheap- so definately if it was terrible, i could afford not to eat it.