IKEA and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Saturday Kathy and I made it to our long-coveted destination: the IKEA store in Mannheim. Kathy’s neighbor, Alex, lives in a suburb of Mannheim and offered to drive us up since he was headed in the direction. He also lives 5km or so from IKEA. Lucky guy...

Finally was able to get a more suitable pillow – true, it’s not as firm as the Target brand pillows I have at home, but this one is a down pillow (smells of ducks), has a better overall texture to it, and was as expensive a pillow as I was willing to buy. The next pillow “up” would have cost me €40, and that’s too much, the way I see it. Also found a decently colored MATCHING pillow case and comforter cover. I’m sorry, but the 60’s mismatched flower pattern’s really isn’t my thing. Speaking of comforters... Found one for €8,99, a very good deal compared to the normal price (for my dad’s reference, it’s the Mysa Frost blanket, one “step” down from my Vind at home). Are you reading this? I’m a complete IKEA snob. It’s a good feeling. Several other “cheap” purchases were made: candles, make-your-own-organization-boxes, mesh shelfy thing for my desk, a proper jar for sugar, clothes drying stand (no more hanging shirts on doors and windows) and a chair. HAHAH! I bought a chair! A lovely, lovely chair that I would be able to put together myself once Alex drove back to Landau for the week. So exciting, in fact, that I almost didn’t purchase it, thinking that I could do without it for a bit longer, maybe even peruse the Flohmarkt for something reasonably cheap. There was also an option of buying a more inexpensive version of the Poäng chair, called Pello or something (this second version was very uncomfortable to sit on). But something in my head said, “No, buy the one that’s much more expensive, and that will cause you to really hate everything around you for a 2 hour period while you struggle in vain to put it together, making you realize that your being vertically challenged does have its hindrances, that you are in fact quite flexible, and all the while causing the pain in your wrist acquired from clothes washing to resurface. C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

So I bought it.

Sunday Alex drove back and he and Kathy brought the remainder of my things over to my apartment (thanks, guys :P ). They left, I got to work. I’ll just say now that it’s a good thing I had cooked and ate dinner an hour or so before hand, otherwise I would be either starving or bleeding profusely from my hands at this time. Cooking while highly agitated is not something that should be done by anyone. I actually snapped when Andi dropped by for a bit because the doorbell was pushed one too many times. But I was able to calmly explain my situation, as well as politely decline her invitation to join her and some of the other exchange students for tea. No people for Kaija last night – end of discussion. The chair was finally put together (the mesh support slip didn’t fit right because of packaging creases, the cushion was stupid, and the slip cover gave me a hard time. I’m just happy that the thing didn’t bust when I sat down on it for the first time. Had it done so, I would have been sobbing for the remainder of the night instead of typing this), and it looks nice. I now have something more in my room to make it more home-like, and somewhere nice to sit and read.

As I mentioned earlier in passing, I also had some trouble with my wrist last night. Yesterday was my self-proclaimed “Putztag” (cleaning day). Admittedly I didn’t get very far because the all-purpose cleaner I have is no good for glass surfaces – or any surface, really, other than my stove – so I picked up some dust bunnies and tried to scrub off a fermented coffee stain that is XX years old off the side of my desk. I also washed some laundry, but only got through socks and underwear before my left wrist started to seriously hurt. I recognized the pain, finished up a shirt and quit. All of the repeated scrubbing and wringing water motions ends in pain...

I will say this now for those who don’t know it yet: THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO WASH LAUNDRY HERE. Unless you have your own machine (which, sadly enough, might be cheaper), washing laundry blows. It’s too expensive to buy tokens every time I want to wash something, and washing by hand gives me some pre-symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Even when putting the chair together the pain resurfaced. I can’t grip anything other than air in my left hand without it hurting. Now I can’t finish the rest of my laundry for a few days until my wrist “heals.” I’m also going through candles like a pubescent girl goes through maxi-pads. Back on topic, the director of Kathy’s apartment, Dominique offered to let me use their washing machine. Kathy has to pay €1,30 per load, but only at the end of the month. And that’s if she’s honest about it. You sign your name, the date, and the number of loads you’ve washed. At the end of the month they total up and you pay up.

And off the topic, Mannheim reminded me of Bonn, except for the fact that at least one point the street cars run through the middle of a street that’s half street-car usage and half Fußgänger Zone (pedestrian zone). No obvious division of the two. Mannheim has three H&M stores (so we were told), two Burger King’s, at least one McDonalds, and a Subway. Meh. After IKEA Alex offered to take us to a mall with him (where he had to buy a present), drop us off at the Hbf (Hauptbahnhof = main train station), or in the city center. Taking option three we got a quick tour of the city to help orient ourselves, and then split. We didn’t walk around for too long other than to find somewhere to eat (we ended up at McDonalds – something I hope to not repeat for a very, very long time. I figured out fast food gives me stomachaches, which I guess is a good thing.) and a bookstore that accepted AmEx (hurrah David Sedaris’ latest book in paperback for €9!!). Mannheim will be visited again in full at a later date. From Mannheim to Neustadt it takes about 30 minutes by train, then 15 from Neustadt to Landau.

Note: Many movies and books are less expensive here than they are in the states. John Chaimov: any movie requests for which you would, of course, reimburse us? You can get practically anything under the sun here with German and English subtitles and spoken language. There’s this German movie called 7 Zwerge (a comedy take on Snow White) that I wanted to buy and take a look at – maybe you could use that for a Märchen class later on? We’ve also seen almost every film we’ve ever watched in class, including Emil, which we know we didn’t watch, but we saw it, regardless. All in DVD format.

Today is the first real day of classes, but my only Monday class won’t be held for the first time until the 7th. Tuesday is All Saints’ Day, and therefore a holiday.

Making nice and France

Yesterday I went to France. What’d you guys do?

(more on France later)

Tip: If you want to practice and improve (as I wrote this it took me a few seconds to think of the English word “improve”...) your German, you must make nice with the other foreign exchange students. The main reason being that your common language is now German. Unless, of course, your group of exchange students is made up of primarily English majors – then it is beneficial for them (but not you) to speak both German and English. However – German is best, because that’s why we’re all really here, isn’t it? At first it will be, I’ll admit, very intimidating to speak German to or around these other exchange students. They will have most likely taken German language courses for longer than you have. They will also seem to sound better at speaking the language than you do. Truth is, they’re not. Heh.

First: After several hours of sitting with them and talking to them you realize that each of them has their own accent when speaking German. In a way, it’s just like when we’re (we being the US kids) speaking German, but with European accents. It’s really fun (now) to listen to them speak, because once you’re able to recognize that they have accents as well, there is one less thing for you to be self-conscious about. This is not our mother tongue, and we all sound funny when we speak it, so get over it. Plus, they sound funny when they speak English, so if you’re counting points, you have one-up on them.

Second: Even though the other exchange students (plus Kathy, “The Dictionary” from our Coe German classes) seem to know a lot of big words in German, many of them relating to studies here, or credit systems, or other... complicated things. This, in turn, gives the impression that their overall vocabularies are larger than ours. But, I can say this from experience: when it comes to four-letter words in German, or other self-expression words in the “swears” family, or certain slang words, or more contemporary things, no one tops us. As mentioned in the previous post, the phrase “Ich liebe dich, du Arsch” came up during our trade-fest last Friday. As also mentioned, the two Polish students I was grouped with had no idea what that meant. “That” being “Arsch.” I knew, and thought that it was basic knowledge. I also taught Joanne, the same Polish student who didn’t understand the above phrase, the word “verdammt” (damned). She tried expressing something about her bike (in anger) and I mimicked her situation using the phrase “verdammtes Fahrrad!”, to which Joanne said, “Ah! Verdammtes! Ja!” Whether I was reminding her or educating her, I don’t know. It’s a good thing I watch foreign films, and have been reading comics in German. I know lots of good words :) Another point for the US kids.

Third: I have to admit that when it’s just the three of us (Kathy, Andi and myself), we speak English. There is no temptation like the ERASMUS or IPAS people talked about – we just do it. It comes naturally. The Polish students speak Polish to one another from time to time, as do the Greek students with Greek. I will say now that I would like to work at it so when the three of us are together we are not speaking in English, save high-stress or extreme situations. Also, the more we try to speak German amongst ourselves, the more we can work on improving during the times we are away from the other students. Hopefully by the end of the year we’ll have greatly improved.

So Wissembourg, France, is a very nice little city. Today, however, the streets were literally empty until around 4 P.M. Then there were some crazy grade schoolers on bikes and other people. Kathy, two of the Polish students (Ewa and Kati) and I took a train and were surprised when the 30 minute ride was over.




There was a circus in the city today, so my guess is that everyone was there. For a €1 cover charge, it’s apparently something not to be missed. There's one older church (the one in the background of the first photo) and a newer one that's too cold feeling.

It didn’t hit us until we got into the main train station that it was seriously all in French. I did hear some people speaking German, however – at one time a little boy demanded something from Ewa, one of the Polish students who came with us (she kind of backed away from him and said “Nein...um. Nein?”), and we all kind of looked at him and tried to move past him and his group of friends. Then a little girl from the group asked us “Wie viel Uhr ist es?” (what time is it?) and we all went “Ooooh, ja, _____!” The kid had asked for the time (Andi told us afterwards), but we didn’t get it. It was cool how the other kid spoke German. Comes in quite handy. Other than that we spent the day as German tourists in France.

Cakes and pastries in France, even though it’s just across the boarder (30 minute train ride), are SO much prettier than here in Landau. I didn’t buy anything, because those kinds of things need to be purchased with a coffee and enjoyed on the spot, not taken with and eaten in a student apartment. We’ll go back again on a busier day to really experience it. It was, however, a relief to get back to Landau and see the Berliner, pretzels, and other simple pastry or breadstuff items for under €1.

Joanne met us at the station and she and Kathy and I went to a local Italian restaurant/café where we can get an “exchange student” discount for cappuccinos and huge pieces of tiramisu. I had never had tiramisu before, so one of the waiters said if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t have to pay. Tiramisu, as I saw it = cake + pudding + cocoa powder. The waiter came back later and asked if we had liked it. We leaned back from our plates (empty) and I (bluntly) said “Nee, es hat mir nichts geschmeckt.” (= nope). Then we laughed, we cried, we were moved. It’s good tiramisu. The workers at the café have a great sense of humor and enjoy talking to and joking their customers – the owner came by a few times and asked us where we were from, etc. That kind of establishment is nice because you don’t feel like you’re being rushed to sit down, eat/drink, pay and leave. Even though you’re a paying customer, you’re an equal.

Sweets, Carbs, etc.

Germans like their Nutella.

Other than the standard glass jar of chocolaty goodness (€1,60 at the Müller store), it comes as chocolate bars, chocolate filling for chocolate bars, filling for raised doughnut pastries, filling for croissant pastries (my personal favorite), topping for ice cream, pancakes, whatever. I made most of those up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was right. Kathy told me about the Nutella-injected, chocolate glazed doughnut she had one day, and I’ve become partial to the Nutella-filled croissants at the Discount Bäcker. It’s like Americans with ketchup or A1 steak sauce (which I suddenly really miss...). You can use it (Nutella) with almost anything, at any meal during the day. It’s the wonder topping of the century. Moving on.

Germans also like their carbs.

Discount Bäcker: Location and concept introduced to me by my Italian neighbor, who appreciated the bakery’s “self-serve” policy. You go in, put a plastic glove on your hand, grab a sheet of wax paper, a tray, and load on up. Pay at the cashier, ditch your glove in the plastic-trash bin, put your pastries in a bag (there are several bag-size choices, ranging from single-pastry purchases, several pastry purchases, loaf of bread purchases, baguette purchases), drop the tray in the crate, and off you go. This is not a second-hand bakery, nor a day-old bakery. If you want to stock up it’s crucial to go at the beginning of the day when the items are fresh and available. In all seriousness, if you go at the end of the day you’re lucky if you find ONE of your favored items. It’s nuts. But it’s so, so good, and not as pricey as other bakeries. Of course, their Berliner (jelly doughnut) aren’t as appealing as the Berliner at the café/bakery where we went that one time and had the not-so-good-coffee and not-so-good-torte. That bakery bakes Berliner by the billions, it seems, and instead of a cheap-looking powdered sugar, they use the granulated kind. They cost €0,80 a piece (or 5 for the price of 4, bwuahah!). But unlike jelly doughnuts that can be found in the US, these jelly doughnuts are mostly doughnut. So the filling is not overbearing or runny – it’s just the right amount, and properly jam-like. I actually have to put a stop to my own pastry-purchases. It reminds me of what happened when my cousin and I were in Germany for a few weeks last May. After a week in Bonn, eating Brötchen (bread rolls that come with many different pre-names, like Sesame, Butter, etc. They come with different nut or seed toppings, different shapes, but basically all in the same size. Good to buy fresh, and in not-so-large quantities, as they dry out rather quickly if left in the bag. Dry Brötchen are hard to cut, as I found out one night when my left middle finger attempted to end its own life with a paring knife, cleverly using a Brötchen as cover) with almost every meal, my cousin said “I swear, Kaija, I am DONE with Brötchen... I can’t take it anymore!” She was wrong. The next morning, at breakfast in our hotel, we sat down to a nice breakfast of granola, yoghurt, cheese and Brötchen. No matter how sick of them you think you are, you really aren’t. You can’t escape them, and they can be eaten with anything. They’re the perfect accessory to any meal. You can find bread products or noodles just about anywhere.

So I’ve established that bread is everywhere. There are at least two bakeries on every street, so you can get a variety of shop-owners if you like. It’s also nice because each bakery seems to specialize in baking one item. Some specialize in pretzels, others in Berliner and tortes, and still others in cheap yet good anything. Once again, moving on.

At the beginning of last week we went to the first ERASMUS meeting, where information on the University, city, organizations, and housing was hammered mercilessly into our heads. The majority of the group present that day was female, with one male student from Korea who’s not really in ERASMUS, because Korea, if you were unaware, is not part of Europe. Neither is the US, which is why in our applications we checked a box marked “Bilateral Agreement.” Which more or less means that they made some changes to let us be a part of the program as well. Oh, Americans. There are four women from Poland, two from Greece, one from France, one from Italy, and the three of us from the US. The meeting was boring, more of a Q&A dominated by, and unfortunately geared toward, the European exchange students. Most of the information was irrelevant to us, which was unfortunate. At one point we were given packets that have all kinds of forms and information on the University and the city, as well as a (in my opinion) poorly prepared “where can I find...?” phone list for generic needs. The packets also included sheets for credit transfer agreement somethings – which the three of us from the US did not have. The woman leading the meeting waved her hand at us semi-dismissively and said something like “Your school has already told you how things are going to work.”

As soon as she turned her attention back to the other students present we put our heads together and whispered how we really DON’T have any idea how it’s going to turn out. Our system is a hit-and-miss as far as credits go – we need to choose classes we think will count toward credits at Coe, and then write to our corresponding professor and hope to God that we’ve made good choices. The European students have a 15-credit system and have seem to know what they have to do. I am jealous.

Neither Kathy nor I went with the group to the University library tour, since we’ve either figured things out on our own, or learned that it’s okay to ask for help. I’ll write about the library later, pictures included. We also didn’t go on the city tour, because we’ve toured it. That’s why I wanted to come a month early, so I could find things for myself, and if not, ask for help and use my language skills to do so. It’s gone quite well, too.

On Friday we went to a communication workshop sponsored by a group called IPAS (Intergratives Projekt für Ausländische Studierende). Our same group of students was there, minus Sonia, my neighbor, and the Korean student, but plus one male student from Poland. There is also another French student coming, but the existing student didn’t know when he would be arriving. I really wasn’t looking forward to sitting in a small room for 7 hours in some kind of conversation workshop, because I’m self-conscious about my speaking ability as it is. I know it’s fine, and that I can speak German fairly well, but it’s still difficult to do so with other people. However, it turns out that it was a kind of “get-to-know-each-other” type of thing.

The first two hours went by reeeeeally slowly. I don’t like mixer activities unless I’m the one running them (think part-time jobs of Kaija’s past). It was hard to get points across – there was an interview activity, and I paired up with Hanane (French) and Ula (Polish). One of the questions was “what are you studying?” Hanane and Ula got by easy, but when it was my turn to answer, things got weird. Hanane asks me “Was studierst du?” (What are you studying?) and I tell her, literature, writing, and German (the language). She and Ula look at me for a bit, then Hanane repeats “Yeah, but what are you studying?” I repeat my answers. More blank stares. They understood me, I know, but courses of study here seem to be lumped into one category. There is no “Literature” or “Creative writing” major. You can pick which courses you want to take, but it’s all lumped. You don’t say, “I’m studying behavioral psychology as well as clinical psychology.” It’s “I’m studying Psychology.” I’m still not sure what happened at that question, but we got over it and moved on.

There was also a “fun” question, “How long would a plant live in your house?” I told them of the 15-year-old plant I have at home in my mom’s house. When I was five I had an eye-operation. A few days after the operation, we opened the front door to find a plant on the step with a “Get well soon!” card attached to it. A hospital that gives plants? Whatever. A year or two ago I was home on break and asked my mom what was with the plant in my room – I think I wanted more space for books or something. She says, “It’s your plant, YOU take care of it!” I say, “What ‘My plant’?” “That’s the one from after the eye-operation,” says she. I recoil in mild shock. 15 years later that thing is still living? Hanane and Ula were just as surprised. Hanane was greatly amused when I said that it was because of my indifference that the plant thrived. At times, if I had a bit of water left in a water bottle, I would shrug and dump it in the plant rather than in the sink. But now that I think about it... The past few times I’ve actually given it more water, and now it’s down to one leaf and seems kind of sad. Maybe I need to not care about it, so it gets mad and grows just to seek revenge on me. Silly plant. That night Sonia asked me to watch her plant while she goes back home for a week. I’m worried that if I take too much care of it, it’ll die to spite me. So for now it’s on the floor by my door-window with the curtain separating it from me and the rest of the room. I gave it a little bit of water last night.

The best part of Friday: we were split up into 4 or 5 groups, then sent into the city for an hour with a hard-boiled egg. Our task – to barter with shops or people on the street to see what we could get as a trade for the egg. We had to use our German skills and trade our items as many times as possible by the end of the hour. My biggest worry – what a fanTASTIC impression to give the people of Landau of exchange students. “Hello, people of Germany! What will you give me for this hard-boiled egg!” I went with Joanna and Ewa, also from Poland. I took them to Susi, the best chocolate store ever (the lady who works there is so nice), where we hit jackpot for our first trade. The woman, although not the lady I know, knew of the trading game, and gave us a bar of Lindt chocolate. I told the Polish girls that we should quit while we were ahead. Instead we went further, and our trades were as follows: bar of chocolate for a pack of GummiBears, GummiBears for a postcard, a blow-up beach ball, and a picture frame (back-up items, SCORE!). The postcard read “Ich liebe dich, du Aarsch” (my suggestion...). The Polish girls didn’t know what it meant until I told them, at which point Joanne (25 years old) said “What have we done...!?” I told her it was okay, just find a younger couple and trade something. Which we did (I win!). Trade continues: Postcard for a tiny thing of Lacoste cologne, cologne for three Thomas Mann pins (from the bookstore). None of us wanted to give up Thomas Mann, so we took out back up item number one: beach ball. The ball we traded for a pack of tissues from a very weirded-out and distant-like woman with twin girls, age 4. (I felt bad afterwards, but I thought we’d get a completely different reaction because she had to kids with her who might like the ball.) The tissues we traded for a pen, and the pen for an empty paper cup (stupid store). The paper cup was finally traded for HALF of a GOLD COLORED, PAPER BOX. OmIgOd WoW! I am never going to the store that gave us that half-box, ever again. Cheapskates. We really should have stopped at the chocolate bar. Or at least gone to the chocolate store and gotten the egg back (also my idea, laughed at, but not supported).

Later that evening we went out to “Friends”, a pub rather far out from the city center, but with a nice atmosphere. Other IPAS tutors met us there, we talked with the other students (in German, and a bit in English – most of the exchange students are either English majors or Psychology majors) and had a good time talking about books, films, etc. I finally tried the banana juice + beer mixture, then a cherry juice + beer mixture. It’s basically watered down beer with a very slight fruit after-taste. Two 0,3L glasses ≠ even the slightest buzz. So you’re thirst is quenched, but you’re not loopy. Even though there are some age differences between all of us (the two Greeks and the three of us are the only 20 year olds), we all have a lot in common. It’ll be nice to see some of them in classes and around the Wohnheim. Things are going well.

P.S. the market is not only on Tuesdays, but also on Saturdays. It’s good to know that I don’t have to wait an entire week to get cheap, fresh food. I bought a whole pineapple for €1. :)

Bike-tastic

Last night I decided that it would be a good time to start on laundry, so I basically tore apart my bed and such to come up with a good amount (one month's worth) of things to wash. I brought a few loads the six flights downstairs to the basement, loaded up one machine, and then noticed these little box things with coin slots. After a year with Coe's new "pre-paid" laundry service, I was a little reluctant to believe that I needed to pay upfront to wash my laundry. There was also no amount mentioned on the coin boxes, so I had no idea how much this joy would cost me. In the end, I had already shut the door to the machine, and for whatever reason, pressing the button to open the door didn't work. I called my neighbor, Sonia, and asked her if she knew how to use the machines. She told me about some kind of token that I needed to purchase from the Hausmeister (it turns out that she had really guessed at this, and had no real idea of how this laundry room worked, or how to get in to it). I told her what had happened, she said a few swears of sympathy, and I returned to my apartment, saddened, a bit frustrated, and short one load of laundry.

This morning I headed back to the basement to buy these magical tokens that make my clothes clean. The Hausmeister asks me where I'm from, and what room, then asks if everything is working out okay so far. I said things were great, but that I had made a mistake last night with the laundry facilities. He asked if the stuff in the fourth washer was mine. Haha, yeah, it is. Friends, it is EXPENSIVE to wash clothing here. One token costs €1,50. Four tokens, €6. That's almost $10 worth of little arcade-sized coins. The washing machines are single-loaders. Triple-load machines in Three Rivers, Michigan, cost $1.50. It goes without saying that I will be air-drying everything from here on out. Hausmeister said if there were any problems to let him know.

Not five minutes had passed when I went back to the Hausmeister to tell him that I know it hadn't even been five minutes, but I already had problems. The door to the first washing machine wouldn't open, and I had put one token into the wrong token-box. The boxes are placed diagonally from their corresponding machine, something I learned only after the machine didn't begin the cleaning process.

Hausmeister gives me a look. I shrug and laugh, he shrugs and goes to the laundry room, glancing over his shoulder at me, again, with this "Are you f-ing kidding me?" look. Wonderful! My first time meeting the Hausmeister and he already thinks I'm an idiot. Problems were solved as follows: Hausmeister walks right past the first machine, goes to the third one, the one that is now ticking with my token minutes, takes out whatever was in there (since it's already clean), I say "oh" in a small voice, and he shrugs again and leaves. I didn't bother to tell him that I had alreadz put soap in the first machine. 75 minutes later every dry and safe surface is govered in wet bedsheets and pants. Two loads down, too many more to go.

Then I found out my cell phone has stopped working. "Inactive SIM." Man at the O² shop sent me to the Mobilcom shop where I bought my O² card (oookay?), and Mobilcom man (who said, "Hallo" at first, then "Ah, what can I help you with today?" when he recognized me. I did, however, conduct the visit in German from there-on out. I have some pride, too) has NO idea what's wrong, and puts the 'please hold!' music that's coming from the line on speaker phone so I can hear that he can't get through. When I stopped back at the end of the day he still had no idea what was up, and seemed frustrated with the service people he had been trying to call. I have to go back there tomorrow, too, and see if anything new has come up.

Later we rolled my... excuse me, THE pitiful bike down to a nearby shop to have it fixed. I still can't call it "my bike" and feel good about it. At one point I said to Kathy, "Can you hold... that for a bit?" and pointed to the two-wheeled pity-wonder. The man at the bike shop was nice about things; I told him I was an exchange student and that my German was not that good (he said "Ah, the same as me, then!" -- so he's not from around here), and then proceeded to explain what needed to be fixed. He got what I was saying about the brakes, and noticed the upside-down handle bars on his own. Then he asked about the light, and pointed to this weird silver thing hanging off the side of the back tire. I had noticed it myself only this morning, and I said "Licht?" (light), with some surprise. We tried saying that the light was a minor thing, and that I would probably not even use it (mostly because I have no idea HOW to use it), but we were then informed that, if the police were to stop me (for reckless wheeling, who knows...), I could be fined €20 for having a broken light. So I said he could fix it.

He also poked at the tires a bit, inspected the chain and then gave his diagnosis: "Das ist ein schlechtes Rad." (This is a bad bike -- my grammar is probably off, fyi) Tschyah!, I know! Look at it! He then said how the bike was probably worth €10. The repairs will cost apprx. €30-€35, but a 'new' used bike would cost me around €80. So repairs are in order. He said to come back tomorrow morning to pick it up. I found it odd that he didn't ask for my name or a contact number, so I asked him if, when I came back tomorrow morning, I would even have a bike. He laughed and said that he'd have to pay someone else €10 just to take it off his hands. But tomorrow I will have a repaired bike, and would ride off into the sunset, but my apartment is north of the city.

Wallace and Gromit

Yesterday we walked south past the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to the larger movie theater in Landau to see the new Wallace and Gromit movie. It’s a good 20 minute walk, but we were stopped about four blocks before the street the theater is on by a woman in a car who was – coincidentally – looking for the movie theater. We told her we were on our way there as well, and she offered us a ride the rest of the way. Kathy sat shotgun, and I got into the back of the car to sit next to the woman’s four or five year old son and his car seat. Kathy starts to tell the woman where to go, and I look at the kid and say, “Hallo.” After a short pause (during which I began to buckle myself in and where he was seemingly assessing the situation and deciding what to do) he says, “Hallo” back. Success! The child speaks! Then I made a comment about his shoes (Spiderman) and asked if he liked Spiderman. The kid nods, and I say I do, too. The child seems amused. Then I tell him that, unfortunately, for my shoe/foot size (Fußgroße? I have no idea how to express this concept, yet), they do not make Spiderman shoes. This is a lie because I have not done any actual research to back up this assumption. We ask what movie they’re off to see (The March of the Penguins), tell them what we’re seeing, and arrive at the theater (Film Welt) a few moments later.

Our movie started at 11 and thanks to the woman and her kid we arrived 15-20 minutes early. Tickets were €5,50, a small bag of popcorn €1,70, small beverage €1,70. Not too bad for a movie theater. Normal prices. Other options included other fountain beverages, candies, nachos (and other similar foods), more candy, coffee drinks, ice cream things, and alcohol. Yes, in a German movie theater you could kick back with popcorn and a Pilsner or Karlsberg beer and watch the March of the Penguins or the Little Polar Bear 2. The popcorn, as it turns out, is not the salty buttery goodness I am used to. It’s not caramel popcorn: it’s like they’ve taken sweet popcorn balls and broken them up so the pieces fit nicely into a paper bag. I was quite disappointed. I had purchased a cappuccino and Berliner (not a citizen of the city of Berlin, but rather a jelly doughnut) for breakfast, had brought mandarin orange candies with me as movie-theater back up, and then purchased a Coca-cola and bag of SWEET popcorn. I was not ready to go on a sugar high, and was very much looking forward to enjoying some movie theater SALT popcorn. Next time, I’m bringing along a bag of chips.

The movie was good. Go see it.

Afterwards we walked back to the city center and sat on some benches around a tree, where I learned how to crochet. Then a street performer with a Jamaican puppet set up closer to the square behind us and “played” a few Bob Marley songs for a surprisingly large audience. I didn’t look. I hate puppets. We left soon after and headed to our favorite (and only?) crêpe stand. Sunday was the last day of the festival, and out of all four days, today was the most crowded. All of the stores and shops were open and the streets were absolutely filled with people. It seemed like there were even more people in Landau yesterday than there were in Neustadt’s festival last weekend. Made me feel kind of proud.

I bought a winter semester course catalogue, and am hoping to set up a time to met with Prof. Wagner next week to go over my options and selections for classes. I’ve found some that I’d be seriously interested in taking (hoping that they will count for credits at Coe), and some that I don’t really want to take, but would most likely be candidates for counting towards my majors. Just like at Coe. This week also marks the start of my quest to fix the bike I have, so I might get an adventure out of that.

I’m starting to really like it here.

A Whole Lotta People

Yesterday we walked south past the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to the larger movie theater in Landau to see the new Wallace and Gromit movie. It’s a good 20 minute walk, but we were stopped about four blocks before the street the theater is on by a woman in a car who was – coincidentally – looking for the movie theater. We told her we were on our way there as well, and she offered us a ride the rest of the way. Kathy sat shotgun, and I got into the back of the car to sit next to the woman’s four or five year old son and his car seat. Kathy starts to tell the woman where to go, and I look at the kid and say, “Hallo.” After a short pause (during which I began to buckle myself in and where he was seemingly assessing the situation and deciding what to do) he says, “Hallo” back. Success! The child speaks! Then I made a comment about his shoes (Spiderman) and asked if he liked Spiderman. The kid nods, and I say I do, too. The child seems amused. Then I tell him that, unfortunately, for my shoe/foot size (Fußgroße? I have no idea how to express this concept, yet), they do not make Spiderman shoes. This is a lie because I have not done any actual research to back up this assumption. We ask what movie they’re off to see (The March of the Penguins), tell them what we’re seeing, and arrive at the theater (Film Welt) a few moments later.

Our movie started at 11 and thanks to the woman and her kid we arrived 15-20 minutes early. Tickets were €5,50, a small bag of popcorn €1,70, small beverage €1,70. Not too bad for a movie theater. Normal prices. Other options included other fountain beverages, candies, nachos (and other similar foods), more candy, coffee drinks, ice cream things, and alcohol. Yes, in a German movie theater you could kick back with popcorn and a Pilsner or Karlsberg beer and watch the March of the Penguins or the Little Polar Bear 2. The popcorn, as it turns out, is not the salty buttery goodness I am used to. It’s not caramel popcorn: it’s like they’ve taken sweet popcorn balls and broken them up so the pieces fit nicely into a paper bag. I was quite disappointed. I had purchased a cappuccino and Berliner (not a citizen of the city of Berlin, but rather a jelly doughnut) for breakfast, had brought mandarin orange candies with me as movie-theater back up, and then purchased a Coca-cola and bag of SWEET popcorn. I was not ready to go on a sugar high, and was very much looking forward to enjoying some movie theater SALT popcorn. Next time, I’m bringing along a bag of chips.

The movie was good. Go see it.

Afterwards we walked back to the city center and sat on some benches around a tree, where I learned how to crochet. Then a street performer with a Jamaican puppet set up closer to the square behind us and “played” a few Bob Marley songs for a surprisingly large audience. I didn’t look. I hate puppets. We left soon after and headed to our favorite (and only?) crêpe stand. Sunday was the last day of the festival, and out of all four days, today was the most crowded. All of the stores and shops were open and the streets were absolutely filled with people. It seemed like there were even more people in Landau yesterday than there were in Neustadt’s festival last weekend. Made me feel kind of proud.



I bought a winter semester course catalogue, and am hoping to set up a time to met with Prof. Wagner next week to go over my options and selections for classes. I’ve found some that I’d be seriously interested in taking (hoping that they will count for credits at Coe), and some that I don’t really want to take, but would most likely be candidates for counting towards my majors. Just like at Coe. This week also marks the start of my quest to fix the bike I have, so I might get an adventure out of that.

I’m starting to really like it here.

I smell cash and candy

When we were in Neustadt at the festival I bought a real candied apple. I had never really seen one before, but knew what it was. An apple dipped in red something. That's what it looked like. I'll tell you about the eating part. Ate the apple yesterday. The candied coating was kind of thin, kind of not, but was so sweet that I drank a full bottle (maybe 40-50 oz. worth) of mineral water, brush my teeth (until my gums kind of bled -- i'll admit that my toothbrush's bristles may be a bit too hard...but it was two for one, I couldn't resist) and STILL felt like I had been overdosing on sugar. Another illustration, perhaps? In the less-than-24-hour time span that the apple sat in its little baggie on my kitchen counter, the candied coating ate through the plastic and puddled a jam-lid sized blotch on the stainless steel. Toxic candied apple. I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

As for today... today I had a quick look around the market (which is set up only on Tuesdays, and only until 1 P.M.) and decided that it would be my new Tuesday morning "thing". Market food is so much cheaper, not to mention fresher, than Wal*Mart food. My dignity has been returned! Then I headed off the DHL man and (correctly) guessed that the package he had was for me. The paper on the side of the package had the contents listed in my mother's hand writing: jacket, stuffed animal, scarves/mittens, pens. The package cost over $40 to send. It sounds materialistic, but if that's not a validation of parental love, I don't know what is. They're willing to send me this stuff so my life here is easier, and yet it costs them more than I want to know. It cost me €1 to send a postcard to Japan, and €2 to send a letter to the US. I think I'm understanding how expensive it is to live here. For example, at the bank today, I wanted to withdraw €50. The woman behind me asked for €250, like it was totally normal. Is it?

Moving along, today I also found €60 on the ground (outside) at the University. No one else but Kathy was there. And there is not, to my knowledge, an office in which I can leave something like that. So do I just keep it? For now, hellz yes I do! Before I'm judged by anyone, I'll write here what I said to Kathy earlier today. I will keep this money, and if I wasn't meant to keep this money and Karma kicks in... if I lose a sum of money like that, I will not complain. Too much.

Winzfest: Success!! (plus, first photos!)

Maybe it was because we knew we had made mistakes in the past. Maybe it was because we had prepared a day in advance, figuring out when we would be able to leave and return. Maybe we were wiser. Whatever it was, we made it to the Neustadt wine fest without a hitch.

It was all very exciting -- the adrenaline from having taken the right train added with the amount of people and activity in Neustadt (and, the biggest part, the festival being right by the train station, so we didn't have to wander around looking for it) made me giddy. Those of you who have seen me giddy know what it's like. (hint: it's scary)

They had food stands, game stands, shiny thing stands, a plant stand, and, of course, drink stands. Sometimes drink was mixed with food in a not-so-normal manner.

Did you know, that you can make a crêpe usingliquorss? For example, Bailey's? Good news! You can! A hot crêpe with Bailey's and sugar makes a nice, toasty late breakfast. Would you like a shot oliquorer with your pancake? Why, yes, I would!

We tried some of the local Cremant (Pfalz); tasted fine, but I wasn't partial to it. There was a band playing 50's and 60's songs until they broke out with "Achy, Breaky Heart." Wine glasses lifted high, we sang along. We should, after all, know the words better than most Germans.

Ah, I forgot to mention the rides. They had those, too. Mentioned.

Moving on: there was a parade, that we waited 45 minutes for, then gave up because I wanted to buy a bottle of the local Rieseling. And, as predicted, as soon as we left our spots the first bit of the parade came up the street. Not like we could see much of anything. There were flags waving and being tossed in the air, but for all I could see... they were just flags being tossed in the air. I managed a picture of one float -- but I have no idea what it's for.




But what I mostly saw were legs.


There were also these guys in tuxedos riding on the swings, tophats and all.




So things went well. We made it to Neustadt and back in one piece, and had a good day. Even though the weather started out shady, it turned into a tolerable afternoon and the woods behind my apartment building had a lot of activity. Silly woods.

All calm

For the past few days I've been coming here, to the University library, and calmly replying to e-mails, creative writing workshop sheets, etc. The connection is good, and I found a nice little table in the basement where I can connect my laptop without having 50 people stare back at me.

There are a LOT more computers at the library here than at Coe. Plus, there's one desk space between each computer, so you're not leaning on the person next to you. If that's your thing, the leaning I mean, you might get some separation anxiety.

Prof. Wagner (our contact and savior on this side) gave us/me a bike. I wrote briefly and lovingly about it before, I think. Earlier Kathy and I had decided that the handle bar of the bike felt kind of strange -- it's angled a bit funny, and judging by the way the paint has been scratched off in one place, my suggestion was that the handle bar had been turned around. But, seeing as it is a "special" bike, I assumed it was normal.

This morning, I had decided to ride the bike into the city center and then back up to the school library, when I discovered something that looked like a bell trigger on one of the handles. And, Oh, shock!, I learned the secret of the twisted bike. Handles aren't backwards, no, no, they're UP-SIDE-DOWN. The bike is supposed to be a speed bike. A two-triggered (one on each handle) X-amount speed bike. The bike has been completely messed with, the speeds can't be used, and the brakes are squeaky, making the thing (and I say 'thing' lovingly) virtually impossible to ride.

I was more disappointed that the trigger wasn't a bell.

Petshop

After a day of filling out forms, registering for any and everything, I still find myself behind in some aspects. Tuesday was a rough day, and the bike Prof. Wagner gave us (me) is bright green and purple. It also has flat tires. I am riding a limp, barney themed mountain bike. But at least I've got something! Still, it was a mentally draining day. We ate lunch in the Mensa, for 1.60 euro each. A huge glass bottle of water cost me onlz .75. The food wasn't half bad, either. It's fine.

p.s. I could buy a chimpunk as a pet. Now THAT'S what I would consider good times! Jessika said "but you would have to keep it in a cage" and I said "or WOULD I?" That was the high point of my day -- seeing a cute, woodland creature trapped in a 70 gallon glass tank with two other chipmunks. The joys of life, eh?

Monday is a free day

It's some kind of holiday here today, so everything is closed except some restaurants and cafés. I slept until 12.30 P.M. Hah! It's cold again, but at least it stopped raining for the time being. I finally got to the internet (as you can see), and was somewhat hysterical about it. I didn't know I missed it that much.

It's interesting walking around the city on Sundays and holidays (still don't know which one it is...). There are a surprising number of people walking around, taking their time looking in the windows of shops. I kind of like that. It's laid back, without rushing.

We also stopped at a café; I had an Eiskaffe I didn't really like (they taste better in Bonn) and a piece of cake I didn't really like more than I didn't like the Eiskaffe. What can I say -- I'm a sucker for pretty tortes. Too bad most of them end up not tasting very good. There was also this pigeon... At first it would walk into the café, but then it flew in like "Biatch, I'm the wicked pidgeon of the Marktplaz, I DO WHAT I WANT!" and then strutted around the inside for a good 20 minutes before someone shooed it out. Then it flew to the opposite side of the street to a window sill and watched the rest of us. We left soon after.

**note: tuesday we met with one of the students who had met us at the airport to take care of every kind of registration under the sun. She asked us if we knew what the holidaz was, we said no, just that we knew it was one. Yes, the holiday, as someone pointed out, is the National holiday that recognizes the reunification of east and west Germany. However (this is to defend my positions on the subject), the majority of Germans, our student said, see it as a good a day as any to have a day off of work. There are no elaborate flags or sales, speeches or demonstrations. It's a free day. SO, growing up in a society where every single holiday, major or not, is celebrated with streamers and cake of some kind, I seem to be tainted.

Kein Oktoberfest :(

we didn’t go to oktoberfest. things might have gone better had there been someone at the ticket booths to help us out, but, being sunday, help was not to be found. when we finally got IN the station (you can buy tickets outside, but it sure as hell helps if you know what you’re doing) we found a machine that showed time tables. 6 minutes of speed reading and touch-screen pushing later, we had tickets to münich via other stops. we run to the platform, almost miss the train, but i get the door open and we find a spot to sit. then we realize: neither of us remembered in which cities we switch trains.

20 minutes later we still don’t know what’s going on and i suck it up and finally get a hold of someone at the Dt Bahn Auskunft (DB helpline), where i tell the lady on the other end that my german is bad, but i need help (like they only help people confident of their verbal skills or something). i tell her what’s up and she tells me the cities we stop in, then something about a train leaving at 9.38, which makes no sense to me because it’s only 15 after. thanks, bye.

Then we start to drive through the lesser stops of Karlsruhe, a considerably larger city south of Landau. I once again suck it up and go to the front of the train to the driver. Hello, driver, can I ask you a question? Yes? Good. I explain to him what’s going on, and are we on the right train. He says “leider nicht.” a.k.a. you screwed up (actually means “unfortunately not.” At least they can fake sympathy without making me feel like I’m 12). But yes, we can catch a train back to Neustadt from the main Karlsruhe station, but we could also catch a direct train to München. Nice. There is no ticket conductor, so no one was able to tell us before hand that our tickets were basically invalid since we were on the wrong train. Maybe because it’s Sunday?

So we get off at Karlsruhe, and look at the departures chart. The train behind us (the one we just got off of??) leaves for Neustadt at 9.36, and a train to Münich will leave only at 12.05. I tell a group of elderly British people what we’re trying to do (how is it that they understand the time table but we don’t?), and one of them says “Well, so you’re looking at one crap journey, or another crap journey!” I agree, although what I really wanted to say was “Quite quite!” We get back on the train, and even though I’m ready to go to Münich because I’ve been through quite enough shit for one day (for three days, actually :p), thank you very much, we have a problem. Kathy agrees to try to get to Münich if I’m confident that once we get to Neustadt, we’ll be able to get to Mannheim, and then to Münich. Of course I’m not confident, I got on the wrong damn train going in the wrong damn direction, and spent more money than I’d like to think about on a wasted ticket. Oh, and I can’t read train time tables correctly. There’s that, too.

We get off at Landau, I check the chart, and we had started on the wrong platform. There are two trains that leave at 8.38, one of them going south (the one we took), the other heading north (the one we wanted to take). We were off by one platform.

In the front of the station, where it was dead this morning, there has bloomed some kind of Sunday party, complete with stage, musicians and singers, food carts, and a merry-go-round. Turns out it was the DeutscheBahnFestival 2005 – a celebration of I don’t know what, but I was able to buy a good old Bratwurst mit Brötchen. We mocked the singers for a while, then headed back in the direction of the NetC@fe, which was, thankfully, open. There I was able to write e-mails canceling our hotel and hostel reservations for the weekend. I’m hoping they get through. Now it’s raining again and I’ve got a killer headache (my body’s way of retaliating against lack of beer for the weekend?), and my new teapot works like a dream. I plan on posting these officially tomorrow, where they can be enjoyed by all.

I also don't know why I switch back and forth between using capitals and not.

Germany D2, Landau D1

Day two started out like any other day; I woke up early, maybe around 6 A.M., needing to pee so bad it hurt, but missed that window of consciousness and fell asleep again until 8, when my alarm went off. After several other events, including re-setting my alarm and falling asleep again, I woke up a bit before 10, also known as the time I was supposed to be downtown to meet Kathy. Showered, dressed, left. Got to the bottom of the stairwell and saw it was raining. Went back to my rooms to get the umbrella I had (psychically) purchased the night before. I am good. Decided to take the path through the woods and cut through campus. FUNNY, because there are pathS. Many many paths. I got lost in my own little backwoods. I am not good. Finally found my way to campus, 15 minutes later, and was greeted by 1970s art-deco whitewashed buildings with silver and blue metal framing. There are a lot of windows. Found what seems to be the library, but didn’t go up to any of the buildings. Made it into town quarter to, wove my way through streets, magically found the C&A (like Sears) store, then found Kathy at a phone booth down the street from her housing.

First thing we did was get our mobile phones (Handy) taken care of. Then we walked around for a bit, found a nice Döner shop, and it took me an hour to eat. We also went to the Net-Cafe and took care of e-mails. Cost €2/hr. Then we went back to the ESG sat for a bit, Kathy reading through her Handy hand...book, me working on my Döner and calling my dad. Then I ran out of credits (expensive to call International). I should be able to top-up my credits online, but online I have none. So I punched in some of the “Konto-” numbers, and got texts about how to top-up. Then I found a three digit number I thought would be kind of like a 411 for the O2 SIM card.

A tip from me to you: if you call the German police and ask to top-up your phone card, or find out how to do so, you can’t.

Me: Sprechen Sie Englisch?
Man: Ah, wenig’s.
Me: Ah (laugh) okay.
Man: (laugh)
Me: Uh...kann ich meine Telefonkarte ausladen....
Man: Uh...
Me: ....um, ausladen...(has no idea how to ask “over the phone”)
Man: (probably has no idea what or why I’m asking) Um...
Me: uh...ausladen...bei Telefon?
Man: *mumbles through my talking*...Polizei
Me: Uh, over the phone. Can I add more credits over the phone?
Man: *something something*...Polizei
Me: (thinking he thinks I want to call the police, or that I’m at a police station, generally confused)...Nein..
Man: ...doch.
Me: *silence* What? (realizes now something’s not right, but still doesn’t get it)
Man: Hier ist Polizei.
Me: EEH? (gets it.)
Man: Hier ist Polizei.
Me: Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t...I’m sorry.
Man: Okay.
Me: I’m sorry...um..bye?
Man: ...Bye.

I am an idiot.

We stopped in a few stores around, including a DM store (small walgreens), where I got much needed kitchen sponges. I ended up buying three books and a map of the city. I think I felt pressured because I told my dad how nice they were, and he said “And you have nothing to put in them.” in a mocking tone. Hah! Now I have books and less money. I went for the teen fiction section, figuring the reading would be easier. I now own: Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer), Eine für vier ([The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants]Ann Brashares), and Sabriel (Garth Nix). I already know Sabriel is an amazing book, and I know the story, so the reading shouldn’t be too bad. I’m also happy to say that the walk back to my building went better than the way down, because I actually knew which paths I was supposed to take.

Unfortunately, because of the rain, and the cold, I am getting tired earlier. It’s 5:30 P.M., and I’m yawning every 5 seconds. Tomorrow we leave early for München to see the second to last day of Oktoberfest. Tuesday we take care of bank accounts and university registration.

By the way, Kathy called me at 8:22 asking where I was,

Kathy: I thought we wanted to leave at 8.
Me: Yeah...what time is it?
Kathy: Quarter after.
Me: Oh my God! Oh! Sorry, I thought it was still night!
Kathy: ....
Me:....
Kathy: Is...it? Still night?
Me: (checks alarm clock, checks phone) Yeah. P.M. Definitely P.M.
Kathy: Oh, no... Wow. You can laugh at me now.
Me: Okay.

That’s what happens when you drift in and out of sleep too much.