Hannover Aktion!
So. Pferd Mädchen arrived on Wednesday. It was great getting to see her again. I was incredibly excited, not to mentioned surprised, when my host parents told me about her arrival... hmm, did I write about that already? anyway. I couldn't remember the last time i had talked to her, much less seen her, so it really was a pleasant surprise. the family has been busy, with the parents having mucho arbeit at the office and the kids starting school again. (I know it seems early for that, but the Germans get lots more breaks during the school year than we do. And not wimpy '3-day-weekend' breaks, either... nice week or 2-week-long things.) So we've had time to hang out and see some of the area by ourselves. Yesterday we went to Celle, which is a sweet little town a bit north of Isernhagen (where our host family lives). We did some shopping and ate. Today we ate with our host parents at this wonderful breakfast buffet in downtown Hannover near Kröpke. I haven't wanted to eat since because we had soooo much great food. (this is strange for me since it is already a quarter past 5!! Usually I think a lot more about food...) Then they took us to a Picasso exhibit at the Sprengel Museum, which was really cool. So many pretty pictures... unfortunately no really famous ones, like Guernica, but still really impressive. Then Pferd Mädchen (who I will now refer to as PM) and I went CD shopping to buy all the cool German music that isn't 'erhältlich' in the States. I got the Silbermond album (they're a lot like Evanescence), the new single 'Troy' from the Phantastischen Vier, and the Dragonstea Din Tei song, if only to remind me of this entire summer (it was all over the radio, along with those two songs from Eamon and Frankie). Of course, I left with yet another Die Ärtze CD. This one is from 2000 and has a cool blue case which is fuzzy. weird band. I restrained myself from buying their DVDs because of the price... but they have no country code, and when am I ever going to be in Germany again??? AND their new DVD comes out Monday, the day I leave. Hopefully I can stop by some store and pick it up before I catch my flight out. It would have been even better to go to one of their concerts. Last week they played in Salzburg, and this week they are taking a break. I am SOOO jealous of the certain Asian kid who went to see them in concert in June. ARRRGH.
Anyway. Oh, and PM and I randomly stumbled across a international youth conference. they were holding some kind of fair and had 85 different countries represented by booths with food samples. The Canadians were nice and gave me a flag, and one of the Brits handed me a candy bar and kindly told me what was going on. the Swiss made me try fondue, and then when I said 'schmeckt alkoholisch', it was then that they told me about the white wine in it. I made sure the bread was on the fork really well, because PM says if your bread drops in the pot, you have to kiss the person on my left. I didn't know who the person was on my left, but chances are I wouldn't wanna kiss whoever it was.
So. Leaving on a jet plane on Monday. I know I will miss Germany in particular and Europe in general, but for now I am just glad to be going home to see my family. and my friends, of course. Stay posted for sad withdrawal posts. _wink_
don't know when I'll be back again
20.8.04
16.8.04
so.
Back in Hannover. Can't say I wasn't glad to see it again. Especially the part where I rolled into Isernhagen and my host parents were there on the platform to greet me. My trip is finally winding down... only a week more and I will be back in Olympia. This is perfect... I want to spend another week learning and practicing German and hanging out with my host family, and I need more time anyway to get my stuff together and pack and buy enough souveniers to bring home. But on the other hand ('andererseits'), I really don't think I'll last much longer without seeing my family. I love them so much! and my sister sends me the cutest darn emails. Prolly a little too hyper, honey!! Anyway. And things have changed at home even in these few short months... the truck is being traded in for a new one, and Dad has started plans for building a new house out by TESC. Plus the new office is currently being built, and and and... crazy. Anyway, can't wait to see the Olympia crowd, hopefully before they all go back to school. Just one more week... and it's just right. now, time to shop!
bis demnächst!
Back in Hannover. Can't say I wasn't glad to see it again. Especially the part where I rolled into Isernhagen and my host parents were there on the platform to greet me. My trip is finally winding down... only a week more and I will be back in Olympia. This is perfect... I want to spend another week learning and practicing German and hanging out with my host family, and I need more time anyway to get my stuff together and pack and buy enough souveniers to bring home. But on the other hand ('andererseits'), I really don't think I'll last much longer without seeing my family. I love them so much! and my sister sends me the cutest darn emails. Prolly a little too hyper, honey!! Anyway. And things have changed at home even in these few short months... the truck is being traded in for a new one, and Dad has started plans for building a new house out by TESC. Plus the new office is currently being built, and and and... crazy. Anyway, can't wait to see the Olympia crowd, hopefully before they all go back to school. Just one more week... and it's just right. now, time to shop!
bis demnächst!
11.8.04
hmm. where were we last time I wrote? I think Vienna.... well, we were in Munich after that, and now we are in Stuttgart. (That's not entirely accurate... we stayed mostly in small towns about a half-hour outside of the big cities. But anyway.) Friday we will leave for Ballingen, and then Sunday (August 15th) I will be back in Hannover. I don't really feel like writing a whole lot right now, so I'll just leave y'all with this little message from an email I recently received:
my dad just handed me a gin a tonic today with the words "son, if you want to be an intellectual, you had better learn to drink these." works for me.
awesome.
my dad just handed me a gin a tonic today with the words "son, if you want to be an intellectual, you had better learn to drink these." works for me.
awesome.
1.8.04
jeff and i are in Vienna, Austria now... went to see Bellevedere castle today, and went to an orchestra concert last night which was obviously tourist-geared, and played only Strauss and Mozart because they were Austrian, but it was still good and lots of fun. we also went to a really cool 'Schatzkammer' (treasary) place which has all these relics, both ecclesiastical and secular, including one of the nails that held christ to the cross!!! crazy. Anyway, we have to leave tomorrow, unfortunatly, but we'll be heading back to Germany, which will be sweet. i'll post more about Zürich, Switzerland (we were there between our time in Paris and Vienna) and then the rest of my trip later.
26.7.04
here we are in Paris. I like it here all right... the language barrier kinda frustrates me, but it's my fault for coming to Paris and not knowing much French. I've got the important phrases down now, though.... like 'bonjour', 'bonsoir', 'sie-vous plait', 'je ne sais pas', 'je ne parl pas francais', 'merci', and 'au revior'. 'Je ne parl pas francais' comes in especially handy when a random guy at the landromat starts talking to you to ask you for something involving fabric softener (as far as I could tell) or at an internet cafe asking you how to print out something from the computer. (Both of these happened to me. I can't figure it out - perhaps the French are friendlier than the Germans? Because nobody in Germany ever did this type of thing.)
Anyway, tomorrow we leave for Zurich, which is too bad, because Paris has a lot to offer. (Not bad that we're going to Switzerland - just bad that we have to leave Paris...) We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower (of course), and Versailles, to name a few. It was all fun to see, noting of course that every place we go is crawling with tourists, unfortunately, and that statement includes the Metro (subway), which is overcrowded and piping hot most of the day, and then stops running at 1:00 AM. This is crap, because in Germany the subway cars are big, you can almost always find a seat, they are fast, efficient, and punctual, they run until 3 AM and all night on the weekends, and you can buy a day pass instead of individual tickets for EACH TRIP. blah. stupid French.
Anyway. Time to take off... later gators.
Anyway, tomorrow we leave for Zurich, which is too bad, because Paris has a lot to offer. (Not bad that we're going to Switzerland - just bad that we have to leave Paris...) We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower (of course), and Versailles, to name a few. It was all fun to see, noting of course that every place we go is crawling with tourists, unfortunately, and that statement includes the Metro (subway), which is overcrowded and piping hot most of the day, and then stops running at 1:00 AM. This is crap, because in Germany the subway cars are big, you can almost always find a seat, they are fast, efficient, and punctual, they run until 3 AM and all night on the weekends, and you can buy a day pass instead of individual tickets for EACH TRIP. blah. stupid French.
Anyway. Time to take off... later gators.
17.7.04
just a quick blog entry and I'm on my way.
Been living it up here in Berlin... been here since Wednesday and man is it cool. So much interesting and important historical stuff... we went to the Reichstag (German equivalent of the White House) two days ago, and then yesterday we walked down the East Side Gallerie (the longest piece of the Berlin Wall still standing in Berlin) and saw the Topographie des Terrors, which is a series of pictures chronocoling (sp?) Hitler's rise to power, the Third Reich and its victims, supportors and opposers, and then the collapse and the following division of Germany and so on. Good times. We also ate at a restaurant which, much to our delight, was called 'Kaiser-Sosse Cafe'. Very down-to-earth and somewhat Bohemian. I didn't take pictures of it but we might go back to do just that. Today we'll spend our last full day in Berlin hanging out, seeing the Olympic Stadium and whatever else we feel like doing. But I must be off now, so... more later. Sometime. I promise.
Been living it up here in Berlin... been here since Wednesday and man is it cool. So much interesting and important historical stuff... we went to the Reichstag (German equivalent of the White House) two days ago, and then yesterday we walked down the East Side Gallerie (the longest piece of the Berlin Wall still standing in Berlin) and saw the Topographie des Terrors, which is a series of pictures chronocoling (sp?) Hitler's rise to power, the Third Reich and its victims, supportors and opposers, and then the collapse and the following division of Germany and so on. Good times. We also ate at a restaurant which, much to our delight, was called 'Kaiser-Sosse Cafe'. Very down-to-earth and somewhat Bohemian. I didn't take pictures of it but we might go back to do just that. Today we'll spend our last full day in Berlin hanging out, seeing the Olympic Stadium and whatever else we feel like doing. But I must be off now, so... more later. Sometime. I promise.
4.7.04
do people not check their emails anymore? dar.
perhaps it's because of the time difference.
Blogs are such handy things to have. I can check in on all my friends and see if they're doing okay, and it doesn't force me to call each person. yay!
in other news, I went to Schützenfest for the second time this weekend. It's this LakeFair-type event, only about 3 times as big, and with cooler rides. Plus, most everyone speaks German, drinks beer and plays trombone. (well, less people do the latter activity.) There's a thing called a Lüttje Lage which is only found at Hannover's Schützenfest. It's basically a triple-shot of beer taken simultaneously with a tiny martini-glass-like thing of some type of alcohol. I was coerced by my host father into trying one yesterday, and it wasn't bad at all. The funny thing about it is that they sell them individually for 60 Euros a piece, and the next level is 11 for 6 E, and then 15 for 7.50. Germans are awesome.
We go to Würtzburg tomorrow, and we've already been to Köln, Kassel and Berlin (in chronological order). The rest of the group leaves on Wednesday - I'm so glad I get to stay another month and a half!!!
til later...
Das sind Dinge, von denen ich gar nichts wissen will
lass mich doch im Ruh', und texte mich nicht zu
Das sind Dinge, von denen ich keine Ahnung haben will.
Behalt den Kram für Dich - Es interessiert mich nicht!
Die Ärtze - Dinge Von Denen
perhaps it's because of the time difference.
Blogs are such handy things to have. I can check in on all my friends and see if they're doing okay, and it doesn't force me to call each person. yay!
in other news, I went to Schützenfest for the second time this weekend. It's this LakeFair-type event, only about 3 times as big, and with cooler rides. Plus, most everyone speaks German, drinks beer and plays trombone. (well, less people do the latter activity.) There's a thing called a Lüttje Lage which is only found at Hannover's Schützenfest. It's basically a triple-shot of beer taken simultaneously with a tiny martini-glass-like thing of some type of alcohol. I was coerced by my host father into trying one yesterday, and it wasn't bad at all. The funny thing about it is that they sell them individually for 60 Euros a piece, and the next level is 11 for 6 E, and then 15 for 7.50. Germans are awesome.
We go to Würtzburg tomorrow, and we've already been to Köln, Kassel and Berlin (in chronological order). The rest of the group leaves on Wednesday - I'm so glad I get to stay another month and a half!!!
til later...
Das sind Dinge, von denen ich gar nichts wissen will
lass mich doch im Ruh', und texte mich nicht zu
Das sind Dinge, von denen ich keine Ahnung haben will.
Behalt den Kram für Dich - Es interessiert mich nicht!
Die Ärtze - Dinge Von Denen
1.7.04
TICKET EXTENTION AND THE STUPIDITY OF LUFTHANSA UPDATE
My departure from Deutschland is now offically scheduled to be the 23rd of August. I will be back in Olympia sometime on the 24th (thought probably not as a fully functional human being, considering travel time and jet lag).
On Lufthansa: they are still stupid, but the friendly lady who helped me get a reasonable return date was über cool. Thank you much, my good woman.
My departure from Deutschland is now offically scheduled to be the 23rd of August. I will be back in Olympia sometime on the 24th (thought probably not as a fully functional human being, considering travel time and jet lag).
On Lufthansa: they are still stupid, but the friendly lady who helped me get a reasonable return date was über cool. Thank you much, my good woman.
28.6.04
hey there!
long time, no blog. This last week, I have been in Hanover, Germany, hanging out, getting to know the city, speaking German, all of this fun exchange-student stuff. the original plan was to stay in Germany until August 16th, but it looks now as if I am going to be staying until about mid-September, due to stupid airline restrictions in conjunction with my stupid student-fare ticket. Not that I'm complaining.. Germany rocks, and I've done more interesting stuff in this last week than I think I've done for a long time. Still, though... there are friends at home I want to see, a brother that I have to see off to college, and an old high school friend's wedding to attend. what to do, what to do... nothing but what the airline tells me to.
A word about public transportation in Germany: sweet mother of Pete, this stuff is good. The family I am staying with lives about 18 kilometers away from the heart of downtown, and there is a train every hour that gets me from here to there in just about 13 minutes. The station is less than a 10 minute walk from my house. From the Hauptbahnhof (main train station downtown), it's a short U- or Strassenbahn ride to school, and there is one of these every 3 to 5 minutes. Everyone uses this system, not just poor students and even poorer street bums: there are old ladies, blue and white collar workers, small school children who would NEVER be allowed to do this if they had American parents, and even housewives. It's much faster and more cost-efficient than driving a car. If we adopted such an efficient train and bus system, we could achíeve the same thing in America... but granted, there are a few things in our way, namely a) the way America is much more spread out, b) our faithful marriages to our SUVs, and c) Bush's devotion to making sure none of his buddies in the petroleum industry have to go without their annual new vacation house in the Bahamas. (yes, I have been reading too much Michael Moore.)
A few weeks more, and Jeff will be joining me in Europe, where we will be going to fun exotic cities such as Paris, Zürich, Vienna, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Munich. Then I will come back and spend another month in Hannover chilling out and having fun, hopefully.
Anyway, I don't want to spend too much more online time, and I am sick of using the German keyboard which has the 'z' switched with the 'y', and puts special symbols in weird places (i still can't find the 'at' symbol for email addresses). But macht's gut, everyone, and I'm sure you'll hear from me sometime soon. (Postcards are on their way.)
long time, no blog. This last week, I have been in Hanover, Germany, hanging out, getting to know the city, speaking German, all of this fun exchange-student stuff. the original plan was to stay in Germany until August 16th, but it looks now as if I am going to be staying until about mid-September, due to stupid airline restrictions in conjunction with my stupid student-fare ticket. Not that I'm complaining.. Germany rocks, and I've done more interesting stuff in this last week than I think I've done for a long time. Still, though... there are friends at home I want to see, a brother that I have to see off to college, and an old high school friend's wedding to attend. what to do, what to do... nothing but what the airline tells me to.
A word about public transportation in Germany: sweet mother of Pete, this stuff is good. The family I am staying with lives about 18 kilometers away from the heart of downtown, and there is a train every hour that gets me from here to there in just about 13 minutes. The station is less than a 10 minute walk from my house. From the Hauptbahnhof (main train station downtown), it's a short U- or Strassenbahn ride to school, and there is one of these every 3 to 5 minutes. Everyone uses this system, not just poor students and even poorer street bums: there are old ladies, blue and white collar workers, small school children who would NEVER be allowed to do this if they had American parents, and even housewives. It's much faster and more cost-efficient than driving a car. If we adopted such an efficient train and bus system, we could achíeve the same thing in America... but granted, there are a few things in our way, namely a) the way America is much more spread out, b) our faithful marriages to our SUVs, and c) Bush's devotion to making sure none of his buddies in the petroleum industry have to go without their annual new vacation house in the Bahamas. (yes, I have been reading too much Michael Moore.)
A few weeks more, and Jeff will be joining me in Europe, where we will be going to fun exotic cities such as Paris, Zürich, Vienna, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Munich. Then I will come back and spend another month in Hannover chilling out and having fun, hopefully.
Anyway, I don't want to spend too much more online time, and I am sick of using the German keyboard which has the 'z' switched with the 'y', and puts special symbols in weird places (i still can't find the 'at' symbol for email addresses). But macht's gut, everyone, and I'm sure you'll hear from me sometime soon. (Postcards are on their way.)
19.6.04
Recent email dialogue between me and Jeff:
Jeff's initial question:
Tell me if I should feel bad. I was at Mcdonalds for breakfast. And
my food cost 3.67, so I gave the guy 10.67. But he thought I gave him 20.67
and gave me 17.00 back. I was like "wtf?!?!?!". But I didn't say that. I
just took my change and left. Think about your answer. Be specific with your
examples. This is for a grade.
My response:
McDonald's is a huge corporation that can't possibly be hurt by the loss of
ten bucks and an egg mcmuffin. They hire undereducated people and exploit them
by paying them minimum wage and providing nigh-insufferable woring conditions;
by doing this, they are in a way just begging for a lawsuit. If I were you, I'd
feel proud that you caused so little a stir in the fast-food industry. Just be
glad you didn't get a chicken foot in your hash browns.
Jeff's rebuttal:
Partial credit. The question was not concering what kind of company McDonalds
is (McDonalds is a "tasty" company by the way). You failed to address the
question of my personal moral situation. Does what I did equal stealing? How
and why does it matter who I took the money from? If it is something to be
proud of, where do I draw the line? In this case it was $10, but should I have
accepted $100 extra change? $10000? Should I have reached behind the counter,
snatched as much cash as I could, and run? Suppose McDonalds was running an
audit and discovered that money was missing, and then held one of the
"undereducated" employees responsible, and then fired him. Being
undereducated, he is unable to find work anywhere else and can't afford to feed
his family. What about my personal principles? Even if nobody was hurt by me
taking $10, how does the fact that I took something that was not rightfully or
lawfully mine reflect on my chracter. What about my motives?
...
ha, haha.
Jeff's initial question:
Tell me if I should feel bad. I was at Mcdonalds for breakfast. And
my food cost 3.67, so I gave the guy 10.67. But he thought I gave him 20.67
and gave me 17.00 back. I was like "wtf?!?!?!". But I didn't say that. I
just took my change and left. Think about your answer. Be specific with your
examples. This is for a grade.
My response:
McDonald's is a huge corporation that can't possibly be hurt by the loss of
ten bucks and an egg mcmuffin. They hire undereducated people and exploit them
by paying them minimum wage and providing nigh-insufferable woring conditions;
by doing this, they are in a way just begging for a lawsuit. If I were you, I'd
feel proud that you caused so little a stir in the fast-food industry. Just be
glad you didn't get a chicken foot in your hash browns.
Jeff's rebuttal:
Partial credit. The question was not concering what kind of company McDonalds
is (McDonalds is a "tasty" company by the way). You failed to address the
question of my personal moral situation. Does what I did equal stealing? How
and why does it matter who I took the money from? If it is something to be
proud of, where do I draw the line? In this case it was $10, but should I have
accepted $100 extra change? $10000? Should I have reached behind the counter,
snatched as much cash as I could, and run? Suppose McDonalds was running an
audit and discovered that money was missing, and then held one of the
"undereducated" employees responsible, and then fired him. Being
undereducated, he is unable to find work anywhere else and can't afford to feed
his family. What about my personal principles? Even if nobody was hurt by me
taking $10, how does the fact that I took something that was not rightfully or
lawfully mine reflect on my chracter. What about my motives?
...
ha, haha.
15.6.04
I thought people stopped posting when they went to college. Now they have stopped since coming BACK from college. I'm beginning to believe that people have just plain abandoned their blogs.
I'll be leaving for Germany in 5 days and counting. Check back here for updates on the trip - hopefully they'll be in English.
I'll be leaving for Germany in 5 days and counting. Check back here for updates on the trip - hopefully they'll be in English.
11.6.04
10.6.04
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