Just Tuesday

T-minus 2 weeks until full time German is over! Hazel and I are both counting the days down to when we have our freedom back! I actually like learning the language (well today any way) and want to continue, but perhaps not every day. Notice your German lessons have come to an abrupt stop as I don't want to think about it anymore after 4.5 hours of class and at least 2 hours of homework. I'm sorry, or "Tut mir leid" as we say here...so there is a lesson for you!
The cultural issue in class that has been driving me crazy would be the complete disrespect for others. I have mentioned before that most of the students here are from Libya, which is fine and they are nice people BUT I want to take their cell phones and throw them out the window!!! Some of us have been taking these lessons seriously and would like to not be interrrupted by loud and annoying ring tones that are not silenced. Sometimes they start talking right there in class and other times they start talking while making their way out of class, but most of the time they just let them ring. Hello! Turn off the phone, or silence it at least. I haven't exactly figured out why our instructor has let it go on...Hazel and I have just chalked it up to cultural differences.
German aside, we did recieve good news today...we are receiving our new, improved, and road worthy car on Friday at 10 am. What does this mean? Well, it just might mean the first snowboarding trip of the season!!! TJ and I actually watched a super cheesy movie called "Out Cold" last night about a bunch of snow boarders...starring Jeremy London (you may have remembered him from Party of Five). Today, since we still do not have internet at home, I am at school searching for the closest glacier. It will be far, cold and Tut will need to pack his sweaters, but we can't wait!
Finally, I would like to give a shout out to three of the four of my closest friends who will be "hangin' tough" tonight at the NKOTB concert. Carrie, Kelly, and Bec have a fabulous time tonight with former heart throbs Jordan, Jonathon, Joey, Donnie, and Danny. If I could be there I certainly wouldn't miss it!
Have a good day! Auf Wiedersehen

Weekend Update

This weekend was both awesome and then not-so-awesome. Friday was good except for the hair cut thing. Lets not go there! Then TJ, Tut, and I had a nice evening in with my ultimate favorite meal, spaghetti, and of course the Champagne. Saturday was better in that we went to Weinheim to a friend's house where we had a cookout! The food was great in that Debbie brought American steaks from the military base to grill, and then we had a number of sides. It was sehr gut! (Side note...thank you Debbie for bringing me pumpkin filling from the base, now TJ can have his pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!) Then we headed out to a festival in the Altstadt (old city) of Weinheim for drinks and good fun. First it should be mentioned that the Altstadt is fabulous! There is a tannery district that looks very typical of old Germany. If you have ever been to Epcot Center at Disney World, it is most like their interpretation of Germany. Very quaint and cute! At this festival their were 27 bars with 27 bands, and then also a street fest. Our last stop was a psuedo-mexican place that had an 80's band upstairs. That was certainly TJ and my favorite! FYI, cover bands in Germany generally play American music. Any way here are a few pictures...

Below is where we warmed ourselves as we drank in the street. There were a number of these barrels throughout the Altstadt.
A peak at the cute buildings that are original to the Altstadt...

The street fest at the entrance of the Altstadt...

Going through the entrance...and the last picture is the large entrance to the Altstadt and it is far more impressive in person!

It was a fun night that ended with my father calling us at 1:30 AM to tell us about Iowa's fantastic win! It was a perfect ending to the night!

Sunday was Sunday. It sort of sucked as we have no internet right now. I think something is wrong with the router. For us this is bad because no internet means no vonage telephone, and no slingbox! Oh well, hopefully it will be fixed before long. A day like this gave me the chance to make a fabulous Midwestern dinner, and try out a new dessert recipe. It was very good. We also got a chance to look through some old pictures and videos, and then watched a movie. It was mostly a lazy day!
This week will be normal for both of us, but we really want our new car so we can go glacier snowboarding this weekend, so say a prayer to the big Guy for us to get it, and also a prayer to the snow Gods for tons of powder!

Auf Wiedersehen

Champagne to Forget

I spent the better part of the afternoon in the hair salon getting my hair dyed twice, cut far too short, and then was murdered on my bill. I am now in my sweats with my hair pulled back and a half bottle of champagne in trying to forget about this horrible experience. A couple of nights ago John Stewart was making fun of a woman who had her hair overstyled, claiming she had parentheses around her face. It came back to haunt me as I walked into the house and and my husband said, " WOW! You have parentheses around your face!" Then when I told him how much it cost him he didn't think it was funny anymore! Ha! To make it brief there was a slight language barrier and a large difference in taste. I should have known something was up when you could hear a pin drop in there! All I have to say is thank God for the apprentice who was about twenty who understood what color I actually wanted...too bad she couldn't cut and style me. I am hoping after I do it myself and put a flat iron to it that it won't be that bad. After this experience I am going to wait on the Chiro, I am not ready to trade walking for headache relief quite yet. I would attach a picture but I have more dignity than that, although I am sure you will see some pictures next week as we are going to Weinheim tomorrow for the last festival of the season...until Christmas Markts start in three weeks. I'll let you know how it went on Monday!
Auf Wiedersehen

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Sprechen Sie Englisch has gotten me a long way. So far I have made it through getting my brows done, getting clothes altered, communicating with a grocers and the schuhmacher, and finding a hair stylist. Sounds pretty good, right? Well I need a chiropracter and that is just one thing that I am a tiny bit nervous about. As I abused my body through my fitness career I always had at least one that I went to that had a good reputation. The latest one I had in the QC was the best ever, he saw that my knee was out of place and after he adjusted it I was a new lady. Seriously I think it was an injury from figure skating and that was done 12 years prior! I became a Monday regular at his office through the spring and summer and was completely asymptomatic. Fast forward three months and I am a mess! I think my atlas is out and I have had a headache for at least five days, and the rib that is always out is out again. What is a girl to do? How do I know if a chiro is good, and I am sorry he/she must speak English! It should be a requirement that if you crack my neck we should verbally understand eachother. TJ said he has heard through the grapevine that there is one in Heidelberg. When I asked him who knows or has been to him he said he was unsure, in fact no one knew the name. Not good. This is one time when I would feel so much better if I either spoke fluent German or was in the US. Clearly both of these things aren't going to happen any time soon! Wish me luck on this one...
Auf Wiedersehen

Obama Wins!

For the first time since arriving in Germany exactly two months ago, last night was the first time I had missed being in the US. I know that had we still been living in the Quad Cities, we would have made the 3 hour trip to Grant Park to witness Obama's acceptance speech. This picture is from our friend, Adam's blackberry. He, as well as, many of our other friends were a few of the quarter of a million Americans who gathered there. Instead TJ, Tut, and I stayed up in our German apartment a half world away to witness American history. The funny thing is that I am sure we were not the only ones. Congrats President-Elect Barack Obama, and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden! You have saved my family from having to return to the same mess we left not long ago. Take a look at Chicago last night... Chicago has seen many great events through out history, so what could be left? Hopefully the Olympics 2016!
Auf Wiedersehen

Election Day

I am really excited about this year's election and have decided to get in the spirit as it is the first in recent years that I haven't had to teach an early morning class. So the first thing I did was make the fabulous decision to skip school tomorrow so we can stay up all night and check out numerous of my favorite news boyfriends...Anderson Cooper (known to me as "Andy), cute little Luke Russert, super funny Stewart and Colbert, and of course the always adorable George Stephanpoulos. I have tried to convince TJ that he needs to take the day off for America as well, but he loves John Deere too much! Good thing he doesn't sleep well and will stay up most the night anyhow. Just in case I have a plan to watch the coverage in the computer room (I love you, Slingbox) and roll out the futon so the man and the dog can take a snooze if needed. We also are having a meal, snacks and many desserts that remind us of US/Iowa. We are having Sloppy Joes, baked french fries, baked apple w/ice cream for dinner and then our late night snacks are my moms taco dip and chocolate brownies. Good thing I am skipping school tomorrow as I will need to hit the gym extra hard! It is also very easy to be excited here as the Europeans are too. They still ask me all the time who is going to win, and today I said..."for the last time I don't know yet". Then there was a debate in class and Riccardo from Italy said, "It doesn't matter if McCain is low in the polls, he will win as American politics is anything but predictable". I had to laugh!
If you haven't voted yet, please do as this election has been the best one yet and we all should be a part of it! Happy Election Day, everyone!
Auf Wiedersehen

Weekend Update

It was so wonderful...we did nothing, well almost nothing. Friday we went to the Mannheim Zentrum and had dinner with some German friends and some of their friends. We ate at this great Italian place called Vapiano. Then we headed out to an old water tower in Ludwigshafen to listen to a band. It was very cool and interesting since it was in a water tower. We met up with some more Deere people when we got there. TJ and I laughed at how we hang out with people from so many different countries and all at the same time. We were the only two Americans, then there were five Germans, two Spaniards, and of course an Irish guy who literally spoke like a leprechaun! I kid him because I love the Irish! Anyway, the rest of the weekend was very relaxing. Except for managing the dog, we didn't leave the house on Saturday and even ordered in from a local take out place. It was actually pretty good, and we were happy just to find something as Saturday was a Freiertag (public holiday) and most everything was closed. Today was a little more productive as I got up early to hit a morning yoga class and completed my homework, Tj cleaned the house and went for a jog, and Tut and I took a super long walk. But the best part about today was dinner. TJ needed a steak so we went to Die Kartoffel (translated it means the potato) in Ladenburg. You might ask why I didn't make one...well I could have but it would have tasted not so good, and the grocery stores have been closed for two days because of the Freiertag and Sunday. The Germans do not raise cattle for beef, rather they have dairy cows for milk and also butcher them for beef. The meat...dry and tough without flavor. This is true unless you go to Die Kartoffel! This restaurant only serves Argentinian beef and it comes out raw on a hot stone and you cook it to your liking. As an infrequent beef eater, I can tell you it was excellent! And it comes with a serious potato cooked to perfection. The best part is this restaurant is five minutes from us in the next town. We will definitely go back! Other than that we were lazy! The laziness only can last a few more weeks as we are in a slow season. The slow season is after the festival season (April-October), and before the Christmas Markets that begin the last week in November and go through Christmas Eve. Lazy or not this weekend was great.
Since our weekend was about food, I thought it would be appropriate to teach you how to order in German.
Ich habe gern eine Kartoffel und ein bier, bitte. This means, I will gladly have a potato and a beer please. Ich mochte die rechnung, bitte. And this means, I would like the check please. Those are the basics so if you come to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or sometimes Luxembourg you can get by in a restaurant.
Thats all from us, Auf Wiedersehen!