It's never to early for a little Christmas cheer

I've been stuggling a bit to get back into things the last couple days. I was a little dissapointed that I didn't exactly feel happy to be back in Munich like I was hoping I would. But in Oslo it was nice having Phil to talk to and meeting his friends, and in Berlin it was nice having Caroline to talk to and meeting other Fulbrighters and then coming back here.... no one to talk to, no good friends, no one to pick me up at the station and welcome me home. I miss all my friends at home horribly, especially Chelsea and Alexis (I hope you two are saving up your money, because you better come visit me!!!). And I miss all my friends who are scattered around the country and the globe, I'm looking forward to Shannon and Jackie possibly visiting in the spring. I feel so disconnected and like it was crazy to ever want to go off and spend a year an ocean away from everyone I care about. Sigh. School's been fine, I just still feel like I'm not particularily needed. It's getting better and teachers are asking me to do more now, but it's still kind of awkward and I don't always know where to go when and what I'm supposed to be doing. Oh, side note, yesterday I was leading a discussion on alternative energy sources and writing notes on the board and I made not one, not two, but THREE spelling mistakes during the class which the teacher corrected. Brilliant Anne, way to know you're own native language... Anyway besides my terrible spelling, things are improving and I'm looking forward to seeing my conversation class again on Thursday. As far as my social life, I just have to get back in gear, several more people e-mailed me about being language partners... so I guess I'll be meeting some new people! and Peter and I are going to a museum or something together this weekend I think. I did have dinner with Katie last night, which was nice. In my effort to reaclimate to Bavarian culture I made Spaetzle with cheese, it was tasty.

Anyway, I was sitting around my messy room not wanting to do anything this afternoon and I finally decided to go to the grocery store just to get out for a bit and there I found these adorable little lights:

I came home and hung them on my window and I'm now feeling considerably better about being back. It's amazing what a few little plastic snowmen can do for my moral... I'm pretty excited about being here for the Christmas season. For all their whining about American commercialism they sure go all out for Christmas here, there's been Christmas stuff in the stores for a few weeks now already, before Halloween was over even. In a few weeks the Christmas markets will be opening up which I'm really excited for. Gluehwein is so delicious... Also in about a month and a half the Schwalbe family will be diving into Munich, much like our namesake, the swallow. I'm a little sad to not be going home for the holidays where I could see everyone... but I'm super excited to show my family around Munich and it's nice that they will get to see where I'm spending the year.

Hmm, maybe I should clean up around here... nah, feels homier with a few piles of clothes on the floor. I think I'll turn on some Christmas music and look at my happy little snowmen for a while :)

A really long post about my recent travels

I put off writing in here last night because I
was so tired and the task seems so daunting, I've done so much in the last week or so! It's all been really great though, a very good break all together.
So from the begining... I left very very early Sunday morning and after a very long train ride arrived at Rostock, a smallish city a couple hours north of Berlin, sometime in the afternoon where I met up with Chris and Julia, two other TAs, at the station. The other TAs from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (German state north of Berlin) also came. It was really interesting to hear about all their experiences thus far. Definitely completely different from mine. They are mostly in these tiny towns where the differences between East and West are still very apparent. Unemployment is really high, it sounded like many of their students have unemployed parents. We talked about German's perspectives on reunification. Many east Germans feel that they lost something when they unified, lost their identity in a way. I could go into a long schpiel here about recent German history, but I'll spare you until a later date. It's just such a different atmosphere in the East from my ritzy suburbs of Munich.
Julia and her flat mates threw a Halloween party in their place Sunday night. It was great fun, a good mix of Americans, Germans, and Brits. I think I stayed up later than I have since getting to Germany. Monday afternoon I walked around Rostock a little with Julia, it was nice to catch up a bit. Rostock is quite a nice little city, I was suprised, it's bigger than I expected.

Monday evening I made my way to Berlin where I stayed with Caroline. No sight seeing or anything, but we did go out to dinner at a Japanese place where I had some very tasty noodles and laughed at Caroline attempting to eat noodle soup with chop-sticks.

Tuesday I flew to Oslo! Phil picked me up at the train station. I hardly recognized him, he had a mustache! apparently it was part of a halloween costume from the night before. He was also limping. He somehow hurt his knee and it had been getting progressively worse and worse until he could hardly walk by wednesday. So he didn't get to go out sight seeing with me. But we did get plenty of time to chat and catch up on the last few years which was nice. I also met some of the others in his study abroad program. So many Minnesotans! I guess it makes sense... who else would go to Norway? It seems like a really cool program though, very well organized. I wish I had done something like that for study abroad, as opposed to my year of being lost and confused in Muenster. It was interesting talking about and comparing Norway, Germany, and the US with them. I got a better perspective on Oslo talking to other americans who've been living there than I would have just being there alone I think.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I did lots of wandering and sight seeing. I saw the Nobel Peace Center which is a brand new super cool interactive museum dedicated to the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize and those who have won it. It was an inspiring place.

I went to a few art museums including the Edvard Munch museum and the national galery where I saw his painting, "The Scream".

For the most part the city of Oslo is not particularily beautiful, not as pretty as Munich anyway, but there is one little section of town with cute little scandiavian houses.
I also saw some real Viking ships which was pretty cool. They were found buried in clay so they were remarkably well preserved.


Friday I took the ferry boat out to one of the islands just off shore near the harbor. I hiked around a little, saw the ruins of an old abby, took some pictures, it was fun. I pretty much had the whole island to myself. Not a whole lot of tourists out on a rainy fall day.




One of my favorite things in Oslo was the sculpture park designed by Gustave Vigeland. It's full of sculptures of people in a wide range of poses and showing a range of emotions and phases of life. It's really big and really cool. I took a ton of pictures and could have easily walked around all day looking at each sculpture. I'm not entirely sure what kind of emotion this man juggling babies is supposed to represent... but I think I've felt it before after a long day of baby sitting.

so in conclusion: Oslo is cool.

Satuday I flew back to Berlin where Caroline picked me up. We met up with some other Berlin Fulbrighters and went out to her favorite pizza place. Afterwords we went to another Fulbrighters apartment for a very christmasy type party with Gluwein (warm spiced wine) and lebkuchen (German ginger bread), yum. After the party we went out to a swingin' little bar where I very hapily paid 2.60 for half a liter of delicious German beer. Norway is rediculously expensive and the beer is definitely not up to par now that my tastbuds are aclimated Bavarian brew. We did a little dancing and hung out quite late. I ran into a Fulbright TA who I vaugely remembered from Orientation which was really crazy. I'm slightly jelouse of the Fulbrighters in Berlin... it's such a big cool raw gritty kind of city, totally the opposite of kitschy gemuehlich little Munich, but I love them both. Caroline has a view of the television tower in Alexanderplatz from outside her apartment, which I think is pretty cool, every time you step out the door it's like, hello communism!

It was fun meeting some other research Fulbrighters, it's such a strange program. It's a bunch of intelligent people partying and studying in Germany for a year, in that order. And they are all studying random stuff, it's the only group of people I could tell about my research proposal about the German facination with Native Americans and they wouldn't even batt and eye. Hooray for obscure academic research topics...

Yesturday I spent mostly sitting on a train on my way back. Today I got up at 6am to go to school which was quite a shock to my system. It's going to take me a few days to get back into the swing of things here. I came home to a rather messy room and I don't have the energy or motivation to clean it at the moment. Right now I've go to go try to do some of the reading I didn't do for class tonight.

That's all for my super long post. I hope the pictures made it slightly more readable :) There are lots more in my Flickr account.

Ciao.

Oslo

It's dark! and has been dark for an hour or so already, yikes. I sure wouldn't want to live here in the winter.

I'm not going to write about everything now because I'm in the university library and have to stand to use this computer and I've been walking around all day and my feet hurt! So I'll just say that I've seen lots of cool stuff, enjoyed catching up with Phil and meeting his friends here, and I've not so much enjoyed the rainy weather... but what are you going to do?

I'll fill in the details when I get back home, just thought I'd let you know that I'm alive and well.

Ciao.

Ich will mit dem Zirkus weg laufen

Have I mentioned that there is a circus accross the street? It's the smallest circus I've ever seen and it's such a random spot to have it. It's just a little square of grass right outside the U-bahn stop. All week whenever I get off the U-bahn I've been greeted with the sent of elephants. It makes me smile whenever I see it though, the little yellow and red striped tent with kitchy circus music coming from it. It's the kind of circus that I'd like to run away with if I ran away with a circus.


So I'm in the midst of doing laundry and cleaning and packing... which you all know how much I love doing :-P I'm so excited to get on a train in the morning! I love traveling by train, I wish we had a better train network in the US. Someone out there needs to get on that.

This week flew by. There were lots of classroom discussions about Halloween in the US, and a few little class Halloween parties including the little party I made for my discussion group. I made carmel apples for them, they went over quite well and we had fun playing games and eating sweets. School is fun :) Halloween has only come to Europe in the past ten years or so. American comercialism is taking over the world.... A few kids go trick-or-treating (They say Suesses oder Saueres) but those that do are usually greeted with several people who are very confused and certainly don't have candy prepared for them. One girl said she went trick-or-treating last year and a woman at one of the houses they went to went off on a rant on how Halloween was all American nonsense. She was probably right, it is nonsense, but it sure it fun! I miss Jack-O-Lanterns and candy corn...

I met a couple more potential language partners. Martin, 22, sociology major. Very alternative type guy, we talked about the mass media and how sensationalized the news is and how he thinks the major German news programs have a conservative bias. He prefers the public stations or Austrian stations. Then I met Karl, 29, Austrian, working and studying here to get his Ph.D. in Computer Science. We talked about the Sound of Music, German and Austrian dialects, the pros and cons of living in a big city (he's also from a smaller town in the country).

I also met Peter again Thursday night at a get together for other language tandem partners, it was fun. I went to a party with Katha and her friends Friday. It was an 80s party, I like people who have theme parties. I miss Chelsea and Alexis..... The party was ok, a little awkward since it was smallish and they mostly all knew each other.

Today I slept super late. It was wonderful, I've been exahsted all week it seems like. I went to the train station to buy my tickets and then I decided to take a little stroll to Marienplatz just for fun. It was really crowded, it always feels festive on the weekends. I got some hot roasted chesnuts from a stand and then stood and listened to a classical quartet performing on the street. I love Munich :)

I'm really going to pack now...

Servus!

I finally saw them!

So I've been living in Munich for over a month now and I had yet to see the Alps. I had seen postcards of the city with the Alps in the backdrop, and people kept telling me you could see them from this or that place in the city, but I was begining to disbelieve them because everytime I tried to see them it was too hazy. But I had heard that we were having Föhn conditions the last few days which is supposed to be the best time to see them. I was done at school by noon, so I took a short trip to Lake Starnberg to see if I could catch a glimps of the elusive peaks. And sure enough, there they were, plain as day! They looked so close, it's hard to tell in the picuture, but I could even make out the snow caps on the biggest peak. It was quite breathtaking. I'm really not used to mountains, so it's a bit strange to see this wall of rocks out there in the distance.... In Colorado and Navada I didn't like them much, I feel too trapped having mountains all around. But they are far enough away here, and only on one side, so it's just exciting to see them. Plus, they're the Alps!


Here's a close up of the tallest peak, you can make out a bit of snow even in the photo:

Overload

So last week I found this website called Sprachduo set up to find tandem language partners in Munich. Great idea! I need to meet more people my age, and I need to speak more German. I looked on the site and there's just a big list of names, what language they speak, and what they'd like to practice. Other than that it just had ages and what school they're at. So, I figured I'd just send out an e-mail to the first 12 or so people my age looking to practice English. I thought probably a lot of people still have their name on the site who already have a partner or aren't interested anymore or something, but aparently I was wrong. Now I have like 6 people who want to practice English/German with me! Yesturday afternoon I met with Peter, 25, studying medicine here. He's sweet, very typically Munich I think. He actually went to one of the schools I teach at! Today I met with Katharina. Also really nice, she's studying to be an English and French teacher. She's from northern Bavaria (there's a large distinction between northern and southern Bavaria). She spent a year in France as a TA doing the same thing I am now, so we had plenty to talk about. She invited me to go out with her friends tomorrow night, I'm going out with real German students!! There are still like four more people who've e-mailed me, but I don't have any time left in the week! I can't say no though... I feel like I'm interviewing people to be my friend or something, it's a little strange.

So... rewinding a bit...

Saturday I baby sat. The boys I'm watching are so sweet. They're always excited to see me and never want me to leave! In the afternoon I had synchro. The girls on the rutine I'm learning had to leave early and the coach, Claudia was a little upset with them for leaving I think, so she worked with just me for a while, and boy did she make me work! It was really fun for me actually, to have such a good experienced coach working with just me on verticals and spins. We never had enough time to do a lot of drills or one on one work at UR. It's nice to have a more familiar physical challenge to work on and escape from the other daily challenges here.

Saturday night I went out with Uta and Marcus, two of the teachers from one of my schools. Both I think are Referendaren, or student teachers. It was really fun, Uta's friend had rented out a bar for her birthday party. Lots of her friends are also teachers. I did some dancing and spoke lots of German. It was funny to be hanging out with real teachers... young professionals mostly in their mid-late twenties. Uta is a hoot, she's really sweet and it was nice to see her and Marcus outside school, I think it will be easier to talk to them at school now. I usually sit alone in the teachers lounge when I don't have a class to go to and feel awkward because no one knows quite what I'm supposed to be doing there, and niether do I. So at least now I have a few teachers to talk to!

Sunday I met Peter and then I baby sat for a new family. Just one little boy. Yay for money!

Today at school in one of the classes I went to we talked about their stereotyps of Americans, here's the list they came up with:
fat
conservative
patriotic
uneducated/ignorant
focused only on America
fond of weapons
helpful
friendly
hospitable
religious
willing to attack other nations
positive way of dealing with tragedy

They they made a list of what they thought our stereotyps of Germans are:
beer
saurkraut
bratwurst
Hitler/Nazis
punctual
cowards (for not joining the war in Iraq)
law abiding
boring
no fun
thrifty
unpatriotic
serious
cold
serious

You can make of that what you will, I just thought it might be interesting.

This afternoon I went to the english class about food in literature. It's quite good. We're reading The Devil's Larder by Jim Crace. I like it. It's not a novel really, more of an experimental kind of collection of pieces all of which involve food. The writing is very good, he really captures a wide range of emotions and passions all connected to foods.

So, clearly I've been a bit busy! I'm looking forward to our break next week. I'm going to Oslo! I guess I haven't even mentioned that here yet... First I'm possibly going to Rostock, near Berlin, to visit another Fulbrighter and then to Berlin to stay with Caroline, my flight to Olso is on Tuesday. There I will be staying with Phil for a few days. I'm excited but I've had so much other stuff to think about it hasn't really sunk in yet. It will be nice to travel again, it's been like what? 6 weeks now? I've got a bit of Wanderlust again :)

This post is totally all over the place... but so am I, so you'll just have to deal with it.

Servus!

back to school

Thursday at school: Yet another discussion on American high schools. I've got the whole rutine down pat now for any teacher who asks me to come to their class and talk about American high schools. I start by asking them what they know about American high schools and we make a mind map on the board (teachers here are crazy about mind maps, and they call them "mind maps" in english, it's funny), the first things they usually say are that we have school uniforms, I don't know where they got that from, I have to explain that only some private schools have uniforms. Then they usually say that we have cafeterias, which I explain is because we are in school all day until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Here most of them are done at 1pm, so they go home for lunch. Then dances come up, prom, homecoming, prom king and queen, social stuff like that. Then of course sports, football and cheerleaders. So, in case you were wondering, those are the defining aspects of "American High school" according to German high school students.

In my conversation class, which, incidentally is all girls around 15 years old, I had asked them to bring along an item for show and tell. It was a good excersize. We ended up talking about vacations, because several of their items had to do with places they had traveled. I knew before that the schools I'm working at are in pretty posh areas, but I hadn't realized quite how posh... most of their families had a second house in Italy or somewhere and they had traveled all over, Greece, Croatia, Sylt (an island in northern Germany near Hamburg), London, Irland, far more traveled than I was at that age. My family usually just drove to Ohio to visit my Grandparents, or a couple times to California also to visit relatives. I guess the distances are conperable, but still. I was a little suprised by just how affluent their families are. One girl's father is friends with the president of Egypt and they're going to visit him for the upcoming fall break! At the end of class I busted out electronic Catch Phrase which was a huge hit (Thanks Mom for sending it!).

Today I went to school as a student! Being a student is so much easier than being a teacher. You just have to show up and play along, teaching involves soooo much preparation. Anyway, first I went to an incredibly boring lecture on romantic poetry, I don't think I'll be going back to that one. I don't quite see the point in Vorlesungs, Lecture courses, it's just one hour once a week of listening to the professor read off their note cards. Blah, if I want to know about romantic poets I'll read a book, thank you very much. Next I went to a seminar on Animan figures in romantic literature. I think I might stick with that one. It would be hard for me, being that it's in German, but I don't have to get credit or anything, so I should be ok. And the reading is interesting, I've always wanted to read Puss and Boots in German :) Next I went to an English-German translation course for non-native speakers. Holy Brittish and Irish people... heaps and heaps of them. Also a couple american girls here doing Junior year abroad. I'm looking forward to the class, the teacher is cool and it will be great for improving my really terrible German grammar!

Tonight I went for a great run in the woods and now I'm quite contentedly staying in my room for the night. It's been an exahsting week and tomorrow I'm booked solid, babysitting in the morning, then synchro practice then one of the student teachers from my school invited me to go out with her and her friends. Yay german friends!


Geez.. .so much to do... it's like I actually live here or something....

Sciurus Vulgaris

As far as natural environment goes, Munich is, for the most part, pretty similar to Minnesota. The weather is about the same (this morning was freezing), the plant life is about the same, it's flat for the most part (I know the Alps are out there somewhere, but I haven't seen them yet), there are even a couple lakes, though they aren't nearly as nice as at home. So most of the time when I'm walking around it doesn't really feel like i'm living on another continent. But every so often one of these little alien creatures shows up running up a tree or scampering accross the sidewalk with it's funny looking big ears and scrawny little black tail and I suddenly feel very out of place. It is, of course, the European red squirrel. Granted, it's not exactly and alien creature, but to me they are rather exotic looking and it's enough to make me remember that there's a whole ocean between here and my native soil. Incidentally, the grey squirrel has actually begun to take over the habitat in much of Europe, and the Red Squirrel population has been declining. Hmm... A North American breed slowly taking over and pushing out the traditional European breed... What a great extended metaphor or motif that would make in a novel about modern Europe...

Today in school: I gave a little speal on American resume's. I think the differences between the American resume and the German Lebenslauf say something about our different cultures. The Lebenslauf, litterally translated "Life run" is traditionally written in letter form with paragraph. It always begins with date and place of birth and includes your elementary school and high school before you University education. It also nearly always includes a picture. It's pretty strait forward, there aren't any tricks to it, it's quite simply your life story to this point. The American resume, on the other hand is all about marketing. We use every trick in the book to make ourselves sound as impressive as possible. No paragraphs to read through, everything important in bolded or underlined. We would never dream of including a birth date or place or our elementary school. We don't include a birthdate because then employers could discriminate based on age. Employers aren't even allowed to ask your age in the US. It's a similar story with the picture, a picture would indicate, age, race, sex, all things that could be discriminated against, so it's not included. So Germans simply say, "This is me, where I was born and where I grew up are part of who I am, my age, my appearance, my race and my sex are also part of who I am and the group I belong to. These are the things that I have done in my life." On the other hand an American resume says "Look at me! I am not my age, my race, my birthplace or my sex, I am unique and special, my identity trancends such practical labels. I am better and more qualified than anyone else and here's why." Hello American individualism. Like our grey squirrels, the American style of resume has begun to take hold here and the Lebenslauf in now sometimes written in bullet points. Poor little Red Squirrels (They're even RED squirrels... it is a living metaphor!)

An interesting side note on gender: There is a law in Germany that the name of your child must indicate his or her sex. So Alexis could not have been Alexis in Germany.

Culinary Adventures

Today I went grocery shopping at PennyMarkt, where shopping is always an adventure. It's one of the discount grocery stores where you never know what they will have from day to day. Sometimes oranges, sometimes peaches, sometimes turkey, sometimes ham. It's not the kind of place you can bring a shopping list to, you just have to go and see. There is also a section in the center of the store with random stuff like sheets, pots and pans, rugs, a dvd player, small apliances, socks, shoes, ya never know. Today I found a hand held blender for 9 euros. I was pretty excited about this because I've really wanted one ever since Gudrun made me all kinds of yummy vegatable soups with hers. So after finding the blender I went to see what kind of vegatables i could find. I decided on a bag of brussel sprouts. I'm not sure why, I never eat them at home, in fact I think I've only had them in the Richmond dining hall. This afternoon I made my very own brussel sprout soup. It is suprisingly good. Something about good hot soup on a crisp fall day like today... mmmm. I have lots of it left over since I figured I might as well use up the whole bag of sprouts. The recipe is from the BBC, as you can see, thank goodness I have an Irish next door neighbor to explain to me what a knob of butter is!

This evening I went to class! Yay school! I'm really excited about it, Katie is taking it too so I went with her. It's about food! One of my favoritest topics. It's called something like Food in politics and poetics, and it's in english! yay english! The professor is really nice and there's only 15 or so of us in the class. I'm still waiting to hear back from a family who may want me to babysit monday evenings though, so I'm not positive I'll be able to take it. I thought I was burnt out on school, but it felt really good to be back in a classroom as a student again, and I think it will be good to take a class on something I havn't studied before and to take a class totally voluntarily with no huge daunting research paper to write. I'm looking for other classes I can take on Fridays. There's one German philosophy course I think I'll try to get into, that one's auf Deutsch. There are a ton of really interesting courses, unfortunately not many of them are on Friday, so my choices are limited.

Things I miss: The Food Network, gargantuan grocery stores open 24/7

Waldfriedhof

friedhof1
Originally uploaded by annieswims05.

I went for a long ramble today in the big (really really big) cemetary nearby. It's quite beautiful. Several people I've talked to think walking in cemetaries is creepy or something, but you wouldn't think so if you saw this cemetary. It's a nice place for wandering and conemplating.

contemporary? modern? post modern? or just junk?

hornbed
Originally uploaded by annieswims05.

Saturday night was the Long Night of Munich Museums, a city wide event where something like 80 different museums, tours, and exhibitions open their doors from 7pm to 2am. I went with my neighbor, Katie. I decided to avoid the big museums that I could see on any weekend and we went to several small strange modern art exhibitions. Some were not terribly interesting, but a few were really cool. My favorite was this exhibition inside an old hotel. A bunch of different rooms had various installments in them, some were strange, but in an interesting to look at kind of way which I enjoy in modern art. There was another exhibit in a church which I thought was quite neat, you can see the pics in flickr.

Ein frische Lüftchen

I just came accross this website with some very nice pictures of Munich. Much nicer than any I will ever take, so I suggest you look at them if you want to see what the city is like!
I like this one very much. While Caroline and Grant were here, we stopped in this little covered shopping area one evening and there was a lovely quartet of older men playing classical music. A beatiful moment in a beautiful place. The street performers in Munich are incredibly talented, I've been blown away by quite a few of them. Exept for the statue people, they're just weird.

I've actually not been into the city center for the last few days. Thursday I had school. I got to watch part of The Merchant of Venice (a well done film, I think) with one of the advanced classes. They're reading it now in class. The teacher actually asked me if Shakespear was read in all American high schools and she was suprised when I said, "Of course!" We aren't barbarians after all... anyone who speaks the english language should at least have to read one Shakespear play. I went to yet another class where they are learning about the American South, it's almost enough to make me start missing Virginia! In my conversation class we played some improv games which they liked so I think I'll do more with them in the future, and we continued our discussion of American and German high schools. Of course they all said that American high school looked like it was more fun. I tried to tell them that we did actually go to class, not just football games and dances and pep fests, but they seemed unconvinced.

Last night I went with Katie, the Irish girl who lives next door, to a party for international students. I feel in many ways like I'm still in college and just studying abroad again, only this time is far more fun so far. I feel strange telling people that I have a Bachelor's already. The party was PACKED, probably because it's the first one before classes start next week. I met some people, did some dancing, it was a good time. I haven't met any American exchange students here yet, I know they are around somewhere, but it's probably best if I don't know them anyway.

Today I had no school! I have Friday's off for good now, my schedule is finally somewhat solidified. I cleaned ay little room. It's quite nice now. I've been trying to figure out how the heat works because it's getting pretty cilly at night. Most buildings here have radiators heated with hot water. Have I mentioned German's and their obsesion with frische Luft (fresh air) yet? They open the windows all the time, even when it's freezing outside. At school they always open them between classes and then close them again after five minutes or so. I don't know if there is an actual reason for this, like buildings aren't well ventilated, or if it's just a crazy german old wives tale that it's good for your health. There is actually a sheet that came along with my rental agreement about room temperature and it says to open the windows for at least three minutes a day even in winter to circulate the air, but to make sure to turn off the heat for those three minutes. More proof that Germans are crazy...

Tonight I baby sat. Yay for money! The kids were sweet, three boys. We played chutes and ladders which I used to love, but for the life of me can't remember why, it's not a terribly exciting game. When they went to bed I got to watch TV! I don't have a TV in my room, so it it something of a rare treat. As was lounging on big comfy couches in a real house. I'm going to stop now before I make myself homesick and get into my lonely little bitty dorm room bed.

Gute Nacht!

eins, zwei, drei, vier...

I'm going to be so good at counting to eight in German by the end of the year....

I went to another synchro practice tonight and actually met the girls on the team I'll be swimming with. They're younger than me I think, I didn't ask, but they must be 19 or so. They already have the rutine written and know it all, I guess it's the same as last year's just with a few new members and a few members missing. I should be able to catch up, it's quite a while before any competitions.

I forgot how hard synchro is! I can definitely tell I haven't done it for the last six months... I think I'll be sore tomorrow just from trying to learn the first hybrid.

In school today... I sat in and watched two classes who were giving oral book reports. Herr N, one of my advisor teachers, had me fill out evaluations with him, it's kinda fun giving students grades, in an evil power trip kind of way :) They grade much harsher over here though, definitely not as much grade inflation as in the US. In the discussion group I had this afternoon we talked about rules of politeness in England, America, and Germany. Lots of little cultural differences. I think Americans are more polite and definitely more apologetic than Germans. Although Bavarians are big on greetings. Every one is always saying "Gruss Gott!", when you walk into a store or pass someone on an empty street, it's cute, I like it.

..... The photo is Esther Williams, the origional synchronized swimmer.....

Frauen Power

So apparently Angela Merkel is going to be the new Chancelor of Germany. I'm confused... last I heard Schroeder was getting a coalition of the left wing parties together so he could be chancelor. But now Merkel and the CDU have made a coalition with the SPD... the conservatives and the socialists.... how's that going to work? Probably not well, seems to be the concesus among newspaper editors. Basically they will be sharing power so they'll fight over everything and not end up changing much, which could be very bad because Germany is desperately in need of an economic kick start right now. Time will tell I suppose.

Anywho...

I love fall! The weather has been grand the last couple days. Sunny with a slight chill in the air. Perfect weather for my cute corderoy blazer and cool new scarf :) I went for a long walk today in the woods, very pretty and peaceful. I'm really glad I'm a little ways out of the city and can go walking on paths where I can just see nothing but trees for a while, I need a little nature sometimes.

I met someone who lives on my hall! And she's Irish! Yay for English speakers :) haha. She is very nice, and shared her ice cream with me, which makes her pretty darn cool in my book. She's an Erasmus student, there seems to be a lot of those around here...

You should get used to more frequent blogging now that I'm set up in my room with little to do in the evenings.

Ok, I need to prepare lessons...

My computer works!

Just thought I'd let you know in case you were losing sleep over it... I took it to a very friendly Brittish man with his own computer repair buisness and he plugged it in with a German power cord and it worked just fine. So I bought the cord and all seems to be going well so far.

I finally got all my pics up from Oktoberfest and Caroline's Visit!

Today I didn't do much at all and it's been wonderful. This may be the first day I didn't have to go to school or go into the city center for anything... it's nice. Living in the tourist capital of Germany can be exahsting. Everytime I get of the U-bahn at Marienplatz it's the same thing. Hundreds of tourist snapping photos, carrying around shopping bags, drinking coffe and beer. Bustle bustle, rush rush, crowded streets and crowded subways. I'm begining to miss the suburbs...


I did have to go register my new address today, which involved some waiting in line for a long time in a big government office, but it wasn't too strenuous. As an American I feel very strange having to register my address with the state. Every time anyone moves here they have to go and register again. It makes sense, to know where people live, but still, it's a pain and why do they need to know anyway? There are so many little things here that make me realize just how deep set my American mentality. Privacy, competition and capitalism, convenience, consumerism.... oh America! There are other things that I've noticed while talking to my students. In one of the discussion groups we were trying to come up with a debate topic and someone suggested drinking age. I thought that sounded good so I asked them to list a few pros and cons, but when I asked for the pros of having a higher drinking age, say 21, they just gave me blank stares. Granted, they are all 14 or 15 and looking forward to drinking legally at 16, but still, clearly there are enough pros to a higher drinking age that the whole of the united states has it set at 21. I think it's stupid too, but it occured to me that such law would never even occur to germans. I think a discussion of Abortion rights would lead to a similar dead end. In the US Abortion is always sure to be a hot debate topic, but it would never even occur to German students that the government could or would ban abortions. It's out of the question entirely. So the government has a right to know your address, but when it comes to drinking and abortions you're on your own. Sounds like a fair trade to me. Meanwhile I'm running out of controversial political issues to discuss!

Gute Nacht!

Minor crisis...

Ummm... my computer won't work :( I don`t know whats wrong, when i turn it on it sounds like its starting up and the Compaq screen comes up, and then it blinks and shuts off. Everyone told me that I didn`t need to use a transformer because its built into the laptop... so it shouldn't be that. I wasn't using a surge protector though, because I didn't have one yet, in fact i was out shopping and I bought one and then I got back and it didn't work. Boo. I found the number of a repair shop here, so I guess i'll have to call and bring it in.... I hope its not too expensive. So I'm back in an internet cafe. sigh.

Anyway... my week of visitors... Grant and I picked up Caroline on Wednesday and then we all went out for some bavarian food. Grant didn't seem too impressed, though I don't blame him. Grant left sometime Thursday morning while I was at school and Caroline did some sight seeing on her own. School was fun, I showed my discussion group my high school yearbook. They all said "it's just like the movies!" Which Wayzata high school kind of is I suppose. I feel almost guilty showing them my high school. It so rediculously huge and wealthy, its not exactly representative of all american schools, but then I dont know what school would be. It's hard to explain to German students that our schools are funded based on property taxes so there are huge gaps between the suburbs and the inner city. The schools I work in here are both in wealthy suburbs, but they still only have a couple computer labs that are working half the time and just a few televisions to share among all the classes. Every school in Bavaria gets the same amount of government money. Its also hard for them to understand school pride. They don't have school sports here. Many of them are in sports, but its always city groups or private clubs. There's no competition between schools here, they are all the same. Thats socialism for ya. Anyway. I have a few teaching assignments for next week! One class is studying the american south and I said I could prepare something about debutant balls and southern society for them... including some Ring Dance pics :) I warned them that my perspective on the south is probably not accurate, being a midwesterner, but the teacher was interested in hearing what other americans think about the south. And in another class I'm going to teach them how to write American resumés, which is really different from the German or Brittish Cirriculum Vitae which is written as a narrative in paragraphs.

So... Thursday night, Caroline and I walked around a while and went up to Schwabing, the 'trendy' area near the university. The Bavarians would say it is 'Shicki Micki' meaning something like yuppie or preppie. We found somewhere for dinner and some drinks and went to another bar later closer to the city center. Fridays I don't have school so we had the whole day to be tourists. We slept quite late and then decided to go to Victuellenmarkt for lunch. Victuellenmarkt is a big permanent market place in the city center with butchers and bakers and fruit and wine and cheese and anything you could ever want. It took us quite a while to wonder around and find what we wanted and utensils to eat it with, but it was yummy! Then we went to the Deutsches Museum which is supposed to be a very famouse museum of science and technology. We were rather dissapointed. It is really big and there is tons of stuff in it, some of which is very cool and interesting. But it is badly in need of an update. Everything looks like it was set up in the 70s and there was just too many different topics and no flow to anything. There wasn't very much interactive stuff, and the few things that were interactive were not working. Boo. If you are really really into mechanics or ships or planes or textiles or printing or flying then you might like it more than I did. So, after that we consulted Lonely planet for some suggestions of what to do in the area we were in which is called Heidhausen. We found a great cafe and a really cool little movie theater that shows english movies. We walked around alittle too, I really like the Heidhousen area, more more than Schwabing I think. the buildings are all pretty and there are lots of cafes and resturants. the theater we went to had a world record for the longest running movie ever!! It's been showing the Rocky Horror Picture show for 29 years! How cool is that? I think I'm going to have to go back and see it sometime :) Caroline and I saw Broken Flowers, I enjoyed it in an artsy realism open ending kind of way.

Caroline left Saturday morning. I went to meet another family who wants me to baby sit probably at least once a week for them. I stayed and whatched the two boys for an hour while their parents did some arrands. They were very sweet, 5 and 7 years old. Their mom is American and their dad is Swiss and works for Microsoft and was transfered here a couple months ago, which seems to be a theme among families who have contacted me. Their house, it turns out, is quite close to the Walmart here in Munich so I decided it would be a good time to make a trip there. Yay Walmart! If you think Walmarts in the states are a little crazy and disorganized then you should have seen this one. It was still nice to see a somewhat familiar store though. I ended up spending a few hours there and buying a ton of stuff. I'm still trying to figure out how I spent so much money with out buying anything over 15 euros. When I got back my coputer was dead... but I had lots of time to set up my room! It's very pretty and gemütlich now. I haven't met many people in my building, just one spanish girl who is nice but doesn't speak very good english or german...

Today I decided I should find a church. I heard some bells ringing earlier, so I figured I'd just leave before ten and walk around until I found a church service. This may sound crazy, but this is Bavaria we're talking about, extreamly catholic and a church on every courner. Sure enough, I found one just in time for mass. Its just couple blocks away and is a pretty Rococo kind of style builing (I think) The average age of the congregation was probably 60 or so, but thats allright, I'll probably go back next week. While walking I saw a bit more of Großhaden, the area I live it. There's more there than I thought, a couple resturants and bars, a few big beer halls with beer gardens, naturally, no street corner would be complete without a beer garden in Munich. This afternoon I went for a run and ended up running into part of the huge cemetary near me before realizing what it was, is it disrespectful to run in a cemetary? I'm not really sure, I guess I should stick to the paths through the adjecent forest . It is a really pretty and really really big cemetary though, perhaps a better place for rambling, if I can manage to not get lost.

I really really hope I can get my computer fixed soon :-/

Feeling Gemütlich

Gemütlich is my new favorite word. Bavarians use it all the time. We don't really have a direct translation, but it means something like cozy or homey or comfortable. As in, München ist eine Gemütliche Stadt.

Soooo... so much stuff to write about right now. This past weekend was way more fun than anyone should be allowed to have. I finally have a bit of time now and shockigly the computer at one of my schools is actually working!

So, I'll start back on my birthday. Gudrun made a very tasty dinner and it was very fun and festive and there was a cake with candles and all in all it made me feel quite warm and fuzzy inside and not so homesick and lonely. Tuesday I went to Schoss Nymphemberg with 60 5th graders. Whoa. We actually all took the S-bahn there... can you imagin? 60 10 year olds on public transportation? insanity. The Schoss is kinda cool, if you are into Baroque or Rococo architecture. Wednesday I tought my first discussion class. It's a group of about 10 15 year olds, all girls! they seem sweet, hopefully I can come up with some good topics and materials to get them talking. Then I went to a synchro practice, most of the masters team wasnt there so I just kinda did some laps myself and then met the few that were there. But, they said I can compete with them! I have to find out more about it and the time comitment and everything, but I really want to do it, the national competition is early July I think.

Jumping ahead to Saturday... I have my own room!!!!!!!!!! Its quite nice, a hundred times better than the building i lived in in Muenster. I have my own little bathroom and I share the kitchen with just six people. I also have my own teeny tiny refrigerator. I haven't had much time to set everything up yet though because I've rather busy. Saturday evening I met up with a group of six other Fulbrighters who came from all over Germany to come to the fest. Saturday we just went to a couple bars, and then we met up Sunday morning at Oktoberfest. It was GREAT!!!!!!!!!! We got there at like 10 am and actually got into a tent, though we couldn#t get a table. It didn't really matter though because it is such an amazing crazy cool fun atmousphere. I understand now why people come from all over to go to Oktoberfest. Really, its just this huge beer drinking party in every tent and everyone is instantly best friends adn they play bavarian music and old cheesy american music and everone dances and sings and its so so so fun. And its the same huge party happening in all twelve tents! I will get pictures on my Flickr account soon, I promise. The one of me in my dirdle is in the tent, that guy behind me is one of the other Fulbrighters, Matt. We stayed in the tent for several hours and drank our fair share of beer then we headed out to go on some rides. Weeeeeeeee. So Much Fun. Eventually we made our way back to the city and went to a resturant there to get out of the freezing rain. We got some food and sobered up a bit and then hung out and chatted. It was really great to hang out with a bunch of Americans again and to share our experiences so far. I'm definitely glad I'm not in a tiny town in east Germany, one of the guys was having a kinda rough time there. A few of the girls stayed on my floor sunday night because they have their fall break now and were headed to Rome in the morning.

Then, Monday was a national holiday, the day of German reunification. When I asked Gudrun about wheather or not they do anything to celebrate it she said something along the lines of, it's not really something to celebrate. there is definitely a feeling among Western Germans that they would be better off if the East had remained its own country.
Anyway... So monday I made some attempt to unpack my room, clean, etc. I also met a woman who may want me to baby sit for her. yay! Then.... Grant came! Monday was also the last day of Oktoberfest, so I had to take Grant there. We went on more rides and got into one of the tents to eat dinner. I'm pretty sure Grant had fun even though he doesn't drink. Oh, and we saw a real Flea Circus! I'm a little sad and a little glad that the fest is all over. Sad because I don't know when I'll every be able to go back to it and because I like seeing people walking aroud in dirndle and lederhosen all over, but glad that the city will hopefully be slightly less crowded and there will be slightly less throwing up on the u-bahns....

So, yesturday, back to school... blah. I need to figure out the fastest way to get to school from my new place because it's been taking me like an hour by bus and then S-bahn and its only ten miles away. School is actually pretty fun. I really like being in high school all day. Teachers are definitely the best people and there are some really good ones here. I've learned a lot just going and watching their classes. And the students are of course all very nice, even when they do misbehave. Anyway, afterschool I took Grant on a long walking tour and then we ate really yummy Indian food. Today he is hopefully out exploring the Olimpic park on his own. And... tonight.... Caroline is coming! Thats right, no breaks for me! I'm never going to actually set up my room, but oh well. Grant is leaving tomorrow and then Caroline is staying until Saturday morning. Hoorah for friends!

Whew. So in conclution.... Munich is great :) Now I have to go to class!

Don't I make a cute bavarian?

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück

Today I am 22. Twenty-two... whew... I feel... rediculously young. This often happens to me on my birthay because I was usually one of the youngest in my class at school, but here in Germany I feel it even more so. They have 13 grades here, so most dont finish high school until they are 19, then most people take a year off, the boys often have to serve in the military for a year and girls often nanny or travel or work or something. Then they get around to going to University, few finish in four year and even after their studies they usually still have a couple year of Praktikum, practical training for their job before they are officially working adults. Gudrun was shocked to learn that in the US there are 22 year olds who can be teachers or can have real paying jobs. Everything is kind of fast tracked in the US. Partially because after paying $30,000 a year for school most american grads are in debt and need to make money, Germans pay little or nothing for University so they aren't forced into the workforce quite as quickly, although that will most likely be changing soon.

Anyway... about me... I can't think of everything that I've done since last time i wrote. I did meet some other exchange students here from all over Europe. I met one Italian boy last weekend, and he's in a language class and living in dorm so he knows lots of the other internationals. So friday? night I went out with some of them to eat Bavarian food and then one of the guys with us who actually lives here had a friend in an acapella group that was performing, so we went. Turned out the performance was called 'acapelle meets improve'. It was a very entertaining evening watching Germans singing acapelle songs and then a group of them did some improve games. Random, but fun. Saturday I went to the Oktoberfest for a little bit in the afternoon, this weekend was Italian weekend. Yikes... I was there at like 2 in the afternoon and there were so many very drunk Italian men. I decided I'd had enough of that pretty quickly, but I did enjoyed walking around soaking up the festive carnival atmousphere. There's even a flea circus there! Today I was out in the Englisher garden and holy nakedness... I guess the other times I went it was a either a weekend when its full of tourists or the weather was bad. But today was nice and sunny and it was the place to be if you enjoy full nudity. Lots of buisness people actually go on their lunchbreak and you see them there, lying on the grass, their suits folden very neatly in a pile next to them. Oh Germans...

Tonight Gudrun is making dinner for me and Frau S. and her family are coming over for my birthday, I think there will be cake involved. Its very sweet of them to do something for me on my B-day. I've been feeling a bit homesick lately, I guess after a few weeks the vacation menatality has worn off and its hitting me that I'm not going home for a long long time. I miss having people around who already know me well and I can just relax with. And people who speak the same language as me... BUT, Grant is coming on Monday! He gets a big prize for being the first to visit me :-) Other things to look forward to... tommorrow is a 'Wandertag' (fieldtrip) for the 5th graders and I get to go along to Schoß Nymphenburg here in Munich which I havn't seen yet. Wednesday I teach my first discussion class all on my own. Wednesday night I'm going to a synchro practice with the masters team here! Thursday evening I might to to a teahers Vollyball league :) Nevermind that I havn't played Vollyball since 8th grade! There are a few other pretty young teaching who are still working on their Praktikum to get their license an they are really nice, so I'm looking forward to it. Saturday... I get my own room... woo hoo! Today I went and got the rental contracts and found out that my room includes an internet connection, YES!!!

Good things. Happy Birthday to me :-)

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest
Originally uploaded by annieswims05.

weeeeeee

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest
Originally uploaded by annieswims05.

soooooooo many drunk people...

group

group
Originally uploaded by annieswims05.

Me with Linsay & friends slightly tipsy at 2pm in front of the Rathaus on Marienplatz. Like our cookies?

meandlinds

meandlinds
Originally uploaded by annieswims05.

Here I am at Oktobefest in the rain with Lindsay, another Fulbrigher visiting from up north

Surfs Up!

I'm trying to download a picture to put on here... but its not working, so here's a link. Yes, surfing in Munich. What don't they have here? I was in the English garden yesturday and saw the a few guy surfing, its pretty crazy, especially considering how cold it is.

So, what else is new in München? not a whole lot I guess. I've been going to some more classes at my schools. I haven't actually done any teaching yet, just introducing and observing. I'm getting a little frustrated with the head teachers because they still havn't worked out a concrete schedule for me. As a result I usually get dragged along to school at 7am and then sit around until someone decides to take me along to a class that they don't really need me in.... arg. Hopefully they'll figure it out soon. The classes I have gone to have been kinda fun. Its basically about the same as american high school. I'm excited about the higher level conversation classes that I'll get to teach on my own. Today in one of the upper level classes we talked about oil prices and huricanes and racism... oiy. It's hard being the one American put on the spot, I feel like I should know way more about things than I really do. I also I guess should have more definite opinions on everything, but I can't very well speak for all Americans. I'm going to be getting a whole lot better at keeping up on current events this year.

I'm also getting a tad sick of living with Gudrun, the teacher I'm staying with. Like I said, she's nice and she cooks for me and its allright, its just annoying to have to tell her where I am and when I'll be back all the time, and she likes me to come home at 6 for dinner. Which means if I go into the city I have to leave by like 5 to get there. If I know ahead of time I can tell her I wont be home, but I never really know what I'm going to do. And she hasn't given me a house key. Yesturday I was going to the school she doesn't teach at and didn't need to be there until 11, so she had to give me a key to lock up. She gave me like a 10 min. lecture on how to properly lock the doors and how even though Munich is pretty safe there may still be thieves and how her key is registered so if it were lost it would be expensive to replace.... oh my goodness! She lives an hour outside the city in this little residencial town with mostly elderly people and young families. sheesh. Oh, and when she left in the morning she actually locked me out of the whole bottom floor of the house. She's a little crazy... But of course I am gratefull that she's letting me stay with her and am incredibly lucky to have a free room. I'm just anxious to get my own room and have a set schedule so I can get into some kind of rutine.

Ok, so enough complaining about me. other things going on in Germany.... Elections!!! I don't really understand how things work. No one really won the election, neither the SPD nor the CDU had a majority, but aparently Schöder (SPD) has formed a coalition with the Green party and the Leftist (comunist) party so that all together they will have the majority. I don't get how thing works out exactly, sounds like a lot of choas to me. I can't believe the comunist party is so big, the got something like 9% of the vote, and its mostly the eastern states that support it. One would think that they saw how poorly comunism worked the last time and wouln't want to go back to that, but Germans are very idealistic people I think. For the most part Germany is very liberal, except for Bayern which is an island of conservativism. I talked to Gudrun about the election a bit, she has a fairly pesimistic outlook on Germany's future. She said things will get worse before people realize things need to change, i think the same could be said of the US. She seems surpised in general that I would come here to Germany, she said young people are leaving here to go to the US, not the other way around. I guess thats true, but Germany is not exactly impovered at the moment, especially not Munich. But true, the economy is on a downward slide. I don't think I'd ever move here permanently, but there are plenty of things I don't like about the US too, there are always positives and negatives.

In other news, I haven't been back to the Wiese'n (site of Oktoberfest) yet, but I may go tomorrow or saturday. I did go to that Bavarian theater thing last Saturday with Gudrun and Frau. S, it was fun I guess. They were speaking in real Bavarian dialect, so I didn't really understand much and I definitely didn't get the jokes. Its amazing to me that a languange can vary so much from one little region to the next here. I also went to the big parade on suday which was HUGE. Its a parade of people wearing the traditional Trachten, costumes, it was at least 2 hours long of marching bands and groups from all over germany, austria and switzerland dressed up and walking through the city in the freezing rain, its pretty crazy. I couldn't believe how many people were in it.

Someday I'll be able to post my pictures, but at the moment niether of the schools I'm working at has a working internet conection. !!!!!!!!!! The're a little behind on these things at German high schools... hopefully they'll get it up and working soon so that I don't go broke paying to use internet cafes!

Servus!

... another bavarian greeting. I love Bavarians! Seriously.... why did I ever go to Northern Germany? People here are great. Since I last wrote... I wandered more, I saw the modern art museum. Yesturday I met up with Jen, another American Fulbrighter here and we hit up a biergarten in the Englisher Garten (big city park) and then walked around more. I bought a dirndle!! It's really cute. I'll post pictures when I can. Then last night I went to visit the relatives I have here in Munich... my grandpas half brother Hans and his wife Ilse. I was a little worried because they only speak German and I've only met them like once, but they were very nice and welcoming and I got to here some fun stories about Grandpa :) Their grandson, Martin, also came over. He's probable 30 or so and said I should call him sometime and he'd take me out. So I sat around with my distant realatives, speaking German, it was nice.

and today..... Oktoberfest! I met one of the other American Fulbrighters who came with some of her friends from Boston College. Unfortunatly its rainy and freezing outside, so I had to forgo the dirdle for today... maybe later, I have two weeks yet. Anyway, I met them there around 11, we sat out in the freezing rain because its impossible to get a table inside on the first day. beer starts flowing at 12, and we had downed our first Maß (2 liters) by 1:30 or so. We were feeling pretty friendly and not quite so cold by then. We met some nice guys from Ireland, I think they really just wanted to use our umbrellas... but they were entertaining anyway. It was far too cold and wet to sit outside and eat though, so we came back into the city to eat at one of the beer halls here. so we had some tasty and sobering Bavarian fare. Then they had to catch their train back, they're staying like an hour away because, well, thats about the best you can do around Munich for Oktoberfest.

And now... here I am in an internet cafe. I'm going to head back to the teachers house soon. She and another teacher are taking me out to some kind of Bavarian theater tonight. Such a long day.... drinking in the afternoon really throws me off. I'm ready for bed!

Tomorrow is the big huge parade through the city, yay parades! This is great... I still can't believe I live here.

bummeln durch die Stadt

bummeln is a great German word. it means something like rambling, or bumbling, or just wondering slowly through the city. So that`s pretty much what I've been doing the last few days. The U-bahns are not running at the moment because there is a strike, so I'm been walking a whole lot. I did get my Visa yesturday so I'm officially alowed to stay! I can't believe I'm really living here still. its a little crazy. I do like the city, its very pretty and there seems to be another monument or church or museum or park everywhere you turn. And yet it doesn't feel quite as touristy as I expected. I mean, there are plenty of tourists flooding in now before Oktoberfest starts tomorrow, but still when I'm walking around I feel like most the people actually live here. It's a nice mix I think.

I'm seriously considering buying a dirndle . There are second hand shops all over selling them. I tried one on yesturday and it was pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. I almost got it but then chickened out, but maybe today I will. I have to be prepared for the Oktoberfest after all...

So other than wandering I don't have a lot to do. I need to meet people very soon or I'll go crazy. The only person I have to talk to is the 50 some year old woman I'm staying with... She is very nice, I think she really likes having me there. I'm so spoiled having someone cook for me every night. And she bought me Ámerican' cereal yesturday, she said it was her nephews favorite kind, it's pretty much like cinimon tost crunch. I don't usually eat sugary stuff, but it sure is good and I just thought it was so cute that she got it for me :) Anyway, today I'm going to meet up with one of the other American fulbrighters here for lunch or something and then this evening I'm going to find my great half-uncles house to visit them. And tomorrow hopefull I'll get to the Oktoberfest! So I guess I'm keeping pretty busy.

Monday I´ll actually start going to classes. Frau S. would like me to plan some lessons about Germans in America. Immigration, what traditions are still visible today, things like that. Gesundheit, Kindergarted, and Kaput are mostly the words I can think of, and Oktoberfest parties of course. I'll find something I'm sure. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Tschüß!

Grüss Gott

That's a very Bavarian greeting. I haven't heard to much Bayrisch around here, a few people with a little bit of an acent, but nothing I can't understand. But I'm in a big city and I guess it's like living in Minneapolis, no one has that thick MN accent and we all kind of make fun of it. I am begining to understant why northern Germans think people in Munich are a little snotty. Yesturday the woman I'm staying with was telling me about how great Munich is and that it is the most beloved city by Germans and that every German would certainly live there if they could afford it. This totally reinforces my comparison of Bavaria and California. If fact it sounds exactly like something a certain uncle of mine might say about northern California....
Anyway. Yesterday I saw my schools and met a ton of English teachers and then i went out into the city and rambled a whole lot. It's big! I saw the Rathouse and the Frauenkirsche. I havn't been in any museums yet, the big ones are so big I'll definitely have to set aside a whole day for each.
Today I'm out and about again and feeling pretty on top of things. I successfully matriculated at the University this morning! woo hoo! If you have any idea what German beurocracy can be like then you'll understand why this is such an accomplishment. I felt like I was in some kind of really boring video game. I went to one office and they looked at some papers, told me I needed something else, went to another office several blocks away, got more papers, went back to the first office where they could check me off to send me to another office which was on the other end of a huge building.... and so on and so forth. And of course there was a line to wait in at every office. weeeee. After that I went to another office and got my transportation pass that I get for free as a student so now I can use all the U-bahns! (subways) I'm mobile! I could get my visa today though because that office was closed. So there is still more beurocracy and lines and waiting to come. I also went and walked by the dorm I'll be living in. It looks pretty nice and is right accross from an U-bahn station. excellent. I am so totally on top of this whole living in a forigne country thing. no sweat.

And now I'm pretty exhasted, but I'm going to wander a bit more anyway and make my way home.

Bis Später!

München!

here I am at last. I got in last night and was picked up by one of the teachers I'll be working with, Frau S. and her friend who I'm staying with for the next week, Frau G. She's very nice. Very German. She lives alone and is incredibly neat and clean. She seems happy to have a guest and wants me to speak english with her so she can practice, she teaches French and German. It's a little awkward of course, living with a stranger, but it should be fine. Germans are so funny... it cracks me up. She asked if I liked cold milk with my cereal, which, of course I do, then she told me that cold milk is bad for the stomach. Who knew? Apparently eating salad in the evenings is also bad for the stomach. Don't ask why. She made a very good dinner which was excellent and very much appreciated because the food in Altenberg was pretty terrible. I went to bed right after dinner pretty much, I was so exahsted. And I love German bedding :) The huge sqare down pillows and duvets. Mmmm.

Today is the first day of school so everyone is a little hectic. I'm teaching at two different schools. I went to one this morning, I'll call it School A (I'd rather not publish the names of the high schools) , there I got some paperwork sorted out and talked with my advisor teacher Herr N. It seems I'm going to be in very high demand. Frau S. gave me the impression that there was a little tension between the two schools in working out what days and times I'm going to be at each one. Now I'm at School B waiting to meet Frau G for lunch. After that I'm going to go out and ramble in the city a bit. The schools are kind of out in the suburbs, so It doesn't really feel like I'm actually in Munich yet. I'm excited to see all the famous tourist stuff :)

This coming weekend is the begining of Oktoberfest. Some of the other american Fulbrighters are planning on coming down so hopefully I can meet up with then and go see what all this hub bub is about.

Orientation

whew. I'm back in Köln. We had our orientation for the last four days in the little picturesque city of Altenberg. It was.... I don't even know. I'm so wiped out right now. It was really great to meet so many people there. I didn't quite realize how huge this program is. There are about 120 americans here with the Fulbright thing and then there are also tons of British, Austrailians, Canadians, etc. Then there are also groups of French, Italian and Spanish teachers coming to Germany. Our group was only 1\3 of the english speakers. So it was pretty overwhelming. It was kinda like the first few days of freshman year, meeting everyone for the first time except that we all at least had a common interest in Germanness. There are a ton of Minnesotans in the bunch, all that German heritage I suppose. I ended up hanging out a lot with the two Canadians that were there.... Crazy Canadians. I made lots of friends with people who will be all over Germany, so I've got lots of travel buddies and places to visit. There are actually two other american girls in Munich.
The orientation involved a lot of meetings and group work. We had to do little practice teaching lessons. Of couse we also had some liesure time. The place we were staying was pretty neat. Its a church complex with big cool cathedral out in the middle of nowhere. We were locked in every night at 9:45, but they provided cheap beer and wine, so no one complained to much. Good times.
I can't think of what else to say about it right now, I'm sort of in a daze. We were supposed to wake up at 6am to catch the bus this morning. I overslept, there were going to leave without me, luckily a friend noticed i was missing and got me just in time. But I still have that feeling like I'm dreaming or something.
In a couple hours I'm off to Munich! It's about four hour train ride. Nap time for me! My teacher is picking me up at the train station. I'm really excited to get to a house with a bed and a washing machine.

Köln

Hello all. I'm in Köln (Cologne) at the moment, but I'll be leaving for our orientation in Altenburg in a couple hours. The rest of my time in Münster was great. I'm so glad I went there first, seeing friends made me feel much less alone here in Deutschland! I got to Köln the night before last. I'm staying at a hostel and it's been a lot of fun. There are a bunch of us Fulbrighters here along with people from all over of course. I've had quite a lot of Kölsch (local beer) and seen some of the important sights. I climbed the Dom of course, I think it is still my favorite Cathedral ever. It's just so unbelievably huge!

Hopefully orientation won't be too bad. It's in a tiny dorf outside Köln. I guess we have to do lots of practice teaching and stuff. As well as filling out plenty of paper work I'm sure. There will be no shortage of Beurocracy :-P

I'm not sure if I'll have internet access or not while I'm there. At any rate I'll be off to München (now that I have umlauts I'm all about the German names of cities) on the 12th! I'm really looking forward to settling in somewhere and not having to worry about my ginormouse suit cases anymore!

Ciao!

Ich bin Münsteranerin

Here's a picture of the Asee Kügeln (balls), coincidentally, they were desigened by the same artist who made the cherry on the spoon in Minneaopis. How about that?

It's been so nice here! Last night Silke came over for dinner and then she and I went out for coffee while Eva stayed in to watch the political debate. There's an election coming up for Chancelor. It will most likely be between Schröder (Social Democratic party) and Merkel (Christian Democratic Union). Silke thinks Merkel will win because the economy has been so bad under Schröder. The CDU is more toward the right end of the spectrum. Merkel is a woman by the way, I think it's pretty cool that this seems to be a non-issue here, although Silke says she doesn't like her because she's ugly and mean looking! The Al Gore problem... Germany isn't quite so dominated by only two parties though. I've been seeing signs in the city for a Marxist Lenenist Party! Anyway, talking to Silke was much more informative for me than watching the debate I think. We talked about all kinds socio political economic issues in Germany and the US. She is such an interesting person to talk to, she always has a wordly kind of perspective on things, perhaps because she has grown up in the US and in Germany and sees the flaws in both systems. She also has had to fight had to get through University because her family can't suppot her. She knows that socialism doesn't always work.

We talked a lot about our diffent school systems and what the pros and cons are. In Germany kids are tracked after 4th grade into Gymnasium (college track) Haubtschule (usually go on to apprenticeships) and Realschule (the lowest level). In theory it is more fair because students are tracked based 'purely' on grades and test scores. Of course that doesn't always work. For instance someone with dislexia is pretty much doomed to be put in Realschule because they don't have special education classes. Also, immigrants from Turkey or anywhere else are most likely put into Realschule because they haven't learned the language well enough yet and the schools are not required to teach them. So, the system is flawed. But is it worse than our American system where kids are doomed simply because of their parents income and the school disctrict they live in? I don't know. There has to be a better atlternative.

Anyway, Silke and I had a nice talk over coffee. Today I went out into the city again, but today the stores were actually open :) I went to Deutschbank to see if I could still use the account I opened last time, which I can. I had -1 euro in it! But I deposited some money and got my account number and they'll mail me a new card. I was pretty proud of myself because I did this all auf Deutsch. Then I went to buy a Handy (cell phone) and the guy started talking about networks or something... I must have had a pretty blank look on my face because he asked where I was from and then spoke english to me. But I got the cell phone, so all is good. I did a little more shopping, made the mistake of going into H&M where I naturally wanted to buy everything, but I resisted when I remembered how heavy my backpack already is... I did give in and buy a new book though because I wanted a German book to read. It was so exhilerating to walk around the city when it was so busy. It's been a while since I've even seen that many people at one time... much less that many Germans! I went to a cafe to have a coffee and read.. and there was Silke! That's the nice thing about little cities... So I had coffee with her and her friend and we arranged to meet later by the Asee Kügeln, which we did. We sat on the grass, drank some wine, Silke played guitar and we sang some great Folk songs, a few German ones but mostly American of course. It was odd to be sitting with a bunch of Germans singing... 'West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country road...'

Oh, and Eva let me use her bike so I took the long way to the Asee... Weeeeeeeeeee... I miss riding a bike everywhere! How could I ever have disliked anything about this city?? Oh right.... rain... and Germans... :-P

Tomorrow I'm off to Köln! (I love having ulauts again! äöü)

Münster!

Hallo! I made it! I'm back in Münster! Getting here was about as fun as can be expected... long, tiring, blah. But when I finally got here Eva and Silke welcomed me with open arms. We had a nice late supper and then I went promtly to bed and slept until noon today. I headed out this afternoon and wadered around the city. It's so pretty! The weather is gorgeous right now and there were people out everywhere, window shopping, walking around the Asee, sitting in the cafes. I went to the Botanical garden behind the Schloss, it was gorgeous. I got some gellato and sat in the city center for a bit. There is a new Einkaufzentrum (shopping center) that they were building when I was last here. It's half done now and it's really nice. I thought it would be ugly to put a mall in the middle of such a quaint city, but it really flows well with the rest of the city. It opens up to the street in a few places. I actually almost walked by it all together without noticing, that's how well it seems to mesh. Leave it to Germans to make a mall pretty and practical. The rest of the city is about how I left it. I even walked by my old apartment building... I'm glad I'm not living in that anymore! I am a little sad to not be living in Münster though, as much as I was ready to leave it last year, I miss it now that I've been gone. But Munich will be a tad more exciting. Eva said I have to 'lick all my fingers' which I guess is a german saying refering to how lucky I am to live there. Bavaria is like the California of Germany, beautiful but way to expensive for most to afford it, housing is hard to come by, and it's a world of it's own with a whole different culture. I mentioned Oktoberfest and Eva said, 'Uhg, that's only for Americans, no northern German would ever go, it's far to Bavarian for them' Haha, I guess I'll have to see for myself!

I have a few more days to bum around and recover from jetlag here with Eva before I head back to Colonge. just thought I'd let everyone know, all is well !

22 hrs to take-off

So how am I feeling on the eve of my departure? Pretty darn good overall. My bags are packed. I ended up with one more bag than planned. I'll still be able to get it all on the plane without incuring extra fees, but let me tell you its going to be reeeeeaaaally fun trying to get it all onto a train by myself... can't wait for that. Oh traveling... I love it and a hate it all at the same time.

Before I go I'd like to write down a few goals for the upcoming year that I can look back on at the year progresses.

1. Be a dedicated teacher. Stay on top of lesson plans, be creative, get to know the students and keep them interested. Impress the students and teachers with your maturity and confidence. And speak loudly enough for them to hear me!! Go above and beyond. Find a project you care about and follow through, start an after school club. Remember, teaching is the reason I'm in Germany!

2. Utilize free time. You are in Germany for goodness sake. Get out of your little dorm room and do something cool! Visit every museum, church, park you can. Walk, hike (in the Alps!) , ride a bike, get moving! Take interesting classes, do the reading, learn something! Travel as much as possible and travel alone sometimes. Try new things, be open minded and adventureous.

3. Meet people. Be outgoing, be confident. Make friends, but don't spend all your time with the same people, this is the perfect oportunity to meet new, different, and interesting people. Be open to anything and anyone (just don't be too naive).

4. Speak German! Don't spend ALL of your time with English speakers! practice, read German, take classes in German, study German, write in German. German, German, German!

5. Budget. Plan a monthly budget and stick to it. Make some extra money to use for traveling. Cook your own meals, don't buy clothes or stuff you don't need and can't fit in your suitcases anyway! Be smart, plan ahead.

6. Stay in touch. Send postcards, write e-mails, take pictures, write letters, make phone calls, blog blog blog. All that good stuff I can do to let you people know how much I love you even though I'm so far away.

I realize that these aren't the good kind of goals that you can actually measure, but at least it's something to look at if I'm ever feeling lonely, homesick, or just off track. Mostly I hope that I can have a great time, be happy, have fun, all that. And I hope that I can make it meaningful!



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My heart goes out to all those affected by Hurricane Katrina and to those who are doing all they can to help. The images on the news are shocking and appalling, I can only hope that relief finds all the people stranded there as quickly as possible.

Have I ever mentioned...

how much I hate packing? I image that I probably did, last time I went through this. But now it's worse. I have to pack for nearly an entire year!! 9 months! I'm still in the early stages, but there is already a huge spread of clothes to pack on my futon plus two loads of laundry I have yet to add to it and a large box of books and I haven't even begun with the shoes.... I'm thinking I'm just going to have to live without a whole lot of it. Or ship it... there's always that option.

I have a place to stay! The teacher I'll be working with is going to let me stay with her for a few weeks. So that's awfly sweet of her. The little problem is that Caroline wanted to come visit for Oktoberfest, but I can't exactly invite her to stay in someone elses house. so we'll see. At any rate, I shall not be living on the street, which is good, because I've got far too much crap to be lugging it around the streets of Munich. Someone remind me to get some kind of nice MN gift to bring with me for the teacher.

Other than the whole packing thing I am ueber-excited about leaving on friday! I watched several episodes of Passport to Europe today (there's an episode on Munich coming up in the next couple days if you're interested), and I am so pumped about going to Europe. I'm even excited for the traveling part! And to see Eva and Silke in Muenster! I'm excited to be a tourist for a few days in the city I used to live in... and then to meet all the other Fulbrighters in Colonge and go through orientation. And I'm thrilled, thrilled! to go to Munich and I can't believe that i'll be there for so long. I can't believe I'm doing this, teaching english, living in Germany... it's all so cool. There's nothing else I'd rather be getting ready for right now. So I should probably suck it up and pack already...

Chelsea and Alexis and I had a very nice time up at the lake, sneaking in a few last days of summer while we can. We performed a few secret rituals to worship the gods of the Lake and the Sun, to show our gratitude and ask for good fortune in the comming year. I think the Lake and Sun were listening because it was especially woderful and gorgeous out there. Or maybe it was just me.

I feel like i'm just bursting right now
I could just BURST!

So many exclamations points in this post
That's ok, I feel like I AM an exclamation point right now

Out on the dock fishing for Bullheads after dark

See Flickr for more summer photos

Sloppy Joe, slop-a-sloppy joe, yeah!

Sorry, this post actually has nothing to do with sloppy joes. I'm watching the best of Adam Sandler SNL right now and that lunch lady song just cracks me up!

5 DAYS!!!!!!!

I'm up at the lake house with my family right now (minus Bob who is already at school in LA). It's so nice up hear! Yesterday while I was driving here, all by myself in my very own car driving fast on empty country roads, listening to Jo Dee Mesina and singing along loudly, I was thinking how much I love the US. I felt like I could just give the whole country a big good-bye hug for being so great. This is very cheesy, I know, and there are all kinds of bad things about the US, but really, all in all, it's a great place to be. And I'm really going to miss my car :( and my friends and family too... but not quite as much as my car :P

Chelsea and Alexis are coming up tomorrow for a last summer hoorah. This summer has been just about as perfect as it could be, but all good things must end. This afternoon I was reading outside and watching a little chipmonk gathering acorns. He was really cute, running into his hole with his cheeks all puffed out full of acorns and then running back out to get more. Anyway, the point is, like the cute little chipmonk, I too must prepare for the year to come. (so much velveeta tonight...) I've got winter clothes, boots, coats, my backpack and guidbooks, all the stuff I need. All I have to do is attempt to fit it all into two suitcases. No sweat... right.
I'm so ready to go!!!! eeeeeeeeeee!

11 days

Having now past the two week mark it seems appropriate to begin the countdown until take off. 11 days from now I will be somewhere over the Atlantic ocean, or possibly still in Chicago... but at any rate, well on my way to Germany! yipes!
Housing status: I have a room in a student dorm! The problem is that I don't get the room until Oct. 4th, and I have no idea what I'll be doing until then. Incidentally, Octoberfest is Sept 17th- Oct 4th, during which any and every hotel or hostel or even campground withing 50 miles of Munich has been booked solid for months. The woman in charge of international housing in her e-mail said, "Haben Sie jetz keine Gedanken..." Which, roughly translated, means, "Stop your obsessive worrying you nurotic American!" Sigh. So there's nothing I can do really but believe it will all work out. I can always stay with my great uncle and his wife who live in Munich. I met them once... I think. They're both over 80 years old. Staying with them for a couple days would be nice... but a couple weeks would just be awkward and rude of me I think.

I found out that there is going to be another Fulbright TA working in Munich. She posted something on the ToyTown site so I sent her an e-mail. So far I know that she is from detroit and she sells Mary Kay products... but I'm going to give her the benifit of the doubt and assume that we'll get along great ;) Kidding, kidding, it will be nice to have another TA close by to compare experiences and share ideas with.

As for the rest of my life... nothing too exciting. Saturday I went w/ Chelsea, Alexis and Kelly to an engagement pary/bbq for Chris and Rachel. Chris who went to high school with us, and Rachel who went to college with them. Awww. They make a very sweet couple and the party was great fun.

Yesturday I went up to the lake with my family. Dad butchered a couple of our chickens and I decided I wanted to try making southern friend chicked because I had seen it on Good Eats. It was a tad more work than it looked like on TV... but it turned out to be quite delisious. mmmm. foooood.

Anyway, maybe I should go pack or something. Nah, plenty of time for that yet...

Flickr

I just got my very own Flickr account as you can see in my side bar. There you will find pics from our trip to the MN history center and Irish fair in St. Paul last weekend.

Bring on the rain

I've been babysitting this week for Sarah and Molly because they're regular caretaker is out of town. Yesturday it rained nearly all day and let me tell you it was a loooooong day trying to entertain them indoors. So today I was anxious to get them outside even though it was still looking pretty cloudy. We decided to walk to the Rose Garden in Minneapolis where they like to climb trees in the park and watch the turtle fountain. So we got there and climbed some trees and played hide and seek and ran up and down the big hill a few times. Then is started to sprinkle a bit, but not hard so we kept playing. Then is started to POUR. There is absolutely no shelter of anykind nearby of course so all we could do was stand under a tree and get soaking wet. Sarah, who is generally scared of everything including getting water in her eyes, surprised me by deciding to run around in the rain. Eventually it slowed down and we were able to walk back, dripping wet, shivering, and jumping in every puddle we found along the way. The girls looked like a couple of drowned rats, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Oh to be a kid again...

Summer Daze

Do these ladies look relaxed or what? What a lovely couple days up at the lake! We left Thursday evening, watched a movie, played a knee slapping game of Scategories and then sat out on the pontoon boat to watch the meteor shower. It was clear and gorgeous just staring up at the starts and we saw quite a few commets. Today there was swimming, sun tanning, hammock lounging, and chit chatting, what more could a girl ask for?

We also played a little "Would you rather...?"
Would you rather have wings or gills?
Would you rather have a novel published or win an Olympic metal?
Would you rather have a stable and content life, or a roller coaster of emotions, highs and lows?
Would you rather give up cheese or chocolate?

I heart friends and summertime :)