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.