Hi everyone, Here's a quick run-down on my lovely Sunday I had today.
Tea Party A few days ago I received an invitation to a tea party / meet and greet with the woman who organizes the English Conversation course that I and 3 other people teach. (Different kids, different days). We had been told that the family was deeply religious, and in fact, the bottom of her e-mail contained religious service information. Nevertheless, Eric, Emma, Miles (new, Vanderbilt/Wheaton/Wesleyan) and I trekked out to meet the family, taking an unfamiliar bus route. We were met by one of her sons (she has 4) and his girlfriend. Once we got there, introductions were made and she had us eating cake, drinking coffee and conversing. Eric was particularly nervous and said on the bus (not quite jokingly) that he'd love a beer. It was funny because the father of the family offered beer and Eric and Emma took him up on his offer. Of course, he later offered everyone snuff, but that was declined. It was a perfectly lovely afternoon, and I even wore a dress and my new shoes (but only for 10 minutes, because I now have a new hole in the back of my ankle...sigh). So it was a very nice time.
At one point in the conversation, I apologized to the mother for not being able to find her son the first day. She looked confused, and I reminded her I'd sent her an e-mail. She then told me that all the e-mails she's received from me (about 5) had been completely blank! She somehow managed to think that was normal...lol. What had really happened is, without fail, every time I send her an e-mail it bounces back. It does so because it says I have invalid characters - because the e-mail address line has a title with umlauts...so I'd been clearing it out and clicking send again...after it'd erased my message. Whoops. So I'm glad THAT got cleared up.
Maibaum On our way back to the bus stop about an hour and a half later (and the bus only comes once per hour on Sundays), we were astounded to see a very large may pole coming our way. It was being carried by a whole fleet of firemen (decked out in full uniform...on a hot day...), part of a soccer team in uniform, and various other stragglers. The guy in front yelled at us to help, and although I first thought he was joking, he definitely wasn't. We yelled we had to take the bus, and we got a little crap for it, but they soon rallied themselves with a song. Honestly, Germans and their singing...
Anyhow, there's a game night happening out in my kitchen, so I'm going to run along (gingerly) and join in the fun. Hope all is well, Steph PS The picture is to show the size of the may pole, and I would've given some left body part to have had my camera along!
So, I realize that I probably shouldn't have said I'll post more often right before I go away for the weekend. Also not helping is the fact that I came down sick...but more on that below.
Theater Weekend Retreat I must admit that this weekend was a lot less hard-core. I had to ride the train this time, with 10 other people, because there weren't as many drivers available. We went to the tiny town of Abtschlag - about 2 hours by train. It was slightly funny because no one noticed we had 11 people, we just assumed we had 10 until we got to the town - we'd only bought 2 Bayern tickets that were good for 10 people total! Our theater instructor Christine had a good laugh over that. The first night I went to bed around 1:30, unfortunately the walls were like paper and it was impossible to sleep for an hour. I hadn't been feeling 100%, my joints were hurting a bit and my neck was sore. The next evening my symptoms exploded - I was simultaneously feeling fevered and chills. I got mothered by Sara and whisked off to a different room that Andy (the other instructor) gave up for me. I'm pretty sure I had a fever, but it broke by the next (Sunday) morning. After 11 hours of sleep, I woke up with a killer headache and no voice. I had some tea and took an early train back with a couple of other people. I got back to Regensburg by noon, took medicine and slept for 7 more hours...However, today I am feeling much improved and will continue to get lots of sleep, water, vitamins, decongestants, allergy medicine and cough drops pumped into my system. Yay.
On a less Depressing Note Spring has sprung in Regensburg. Yesterday and today were delightfully (and unfortunately, headache-inducing) sunny and warm. The trees have all frantically shot out their leaves and the grass and flowers are growing rampantly. The fountains have gurgled back to life, the pigeons are obnoxiously wooing outside our windows and the statues have come out of their boxes. And since it's the season for new beginnings, two more strikes are on. It is rumored that the train strike is actually over. However, the buses and the post are on strike. This doesn't effect me really, as the only mail I normally get is from the bank and that's all they are not delivering. Apparently they just want to hurt the businesses. A German naively asked me what happens when our post goes on strike (which they're not allowed to do, under federal law) and I told them that we don't have the expression "Going Postal" for nothing and we don't like to tempt fate.
The Pant Dilemma I have decided to try to make do with my 2 remaining pairs of pants and my two pairs of capris. I also have some springy dresses and a skirt or two, but let's not kid ourselves people. I will try to save myself the 30-60 euros for something important. Like icecream on hot days when it's too hot to breathe in my room.
Teaching English Conversation So, I have had 2 sessions teaching my group of high-school aged kids English conversation. I had 8 the first week and it was a bit awkward at first. They hadn't gone to the last scheduled meeting, so Molly hadn't been able to tell them that she probably wouldn't be teaching them the next semester. Also, the kid (literally, about 7...) who was supposed to meet me and take me to the room apparently couldn't figure out who I was. So I had to find it myself, with a phone call from Molly. There weren't a ton of awkward pauses, I had brought along a bunch of questions (ie. if you got stuck on a dessert island, what 3 things would you bring? etc) and did a couple of other activities. We played 2 truths and a lie, which went over well and then tried to do a current event (which went horribly...lol). However, the hour passed swiftly and I felt assured that YES I COULD do this. The second week only 3 showed up, but the others should be back next week (they/we have a holiday this Thursday). I had quizzed them about adverbs and nouns the week before as a set up to Madlibs. They loved them. I also had printed out an adverb list with such gems as lackadaisical and abhorrent (along with much easier ones), so they maybe learned some new vocab as well. We also played Never Ever Have I Ever...and that was fun as well. I had planned to do a fill-in-the-blank lyrics sheet, but we didn't have time. So that's going well!
Anyhow, I have some homework to read through for tomorrow...so until next time! Steph Ps. The pic is me all dolled up for Molly and Emma's B-day Extravaganza where...I think I look weird without any bangs...but I did my hair myself!
Hi "all" Anyhow, I'm not going to even get into that. I am, however, going to try to be a better blogger and try to post every other day or so. It'll help me not forget little things (that are probably funny and I forget about) and make it seem like less of an ordeal for me.
The Bane of My Life... I have decided that I can blame society (and thank Global Warming) for supporting one of the most difficult areas of my life - clothing. If public nudity was allowed (along with encouraged by a semi-tropical climate) I'd be a much happier person. I'll be the first to admit I'm picky about clothing, but my body shape doesn't help me out any either. The most traumatic shopping experiences of my life were probably prom dresses...which is why the instant I found my last prom dress (about 7 months before prom) I bought that sucker. However, a close second to those ordeals is always jean shopping. I HATE buying new jeans. I have hips and I'm tall and the very thought of non-bootcut jeans my make my ankles want to crawl up and seek refuge in my stomach. I refuse to let them, as it would be hard to keep my balance without my ankles. At any rate, due to the harsh washing conditions in Germany and to the trip with my rents, I have walked through one pair of jeans in the last month, and another pair (making them my 2 favorite pairs, of course) is tentatively hanging on by it's last threads. (Yes, a pun...groaning yet?). So I thought to myself - "Something should be done!". Luckily, Sara's dad and partner are coming in May, and Sara said that Kris would very likely (and very graciously) be willing to bring a pair of jeans from the US if I ordered online and shipped to her house. So far, super...right? Ok. Let's start listing the problems....but first - the reasons why I'm not buying jeans here...
1. Remember that ankle/tight jeans phobia? Skinny jeans are THE JEANS here....ahhhhhh 2. Clothing is very expensive...even at H &M where they use child labor (which Eric argues prevents child prostitution...it is a founded belief...) 3. I know what I like.
So here are the problems... 1. I have searched the entire web and both styles of jeans (one Mossimo and one Levi's) have been discontinued. In fact, they don't even have the same label for Mossimo anymore. 2. I don't know my size for sure in any other model = even the 2 pairs are different sizes!
I wish I had a happy ending...but I don't. Or a twin that could try on jeans in the US for me. And all I really want is Levi Signature stretch lowrise bootcut jeans size misses 8 long Dusty Road-colored. Is that too much to ask for? Any suggestions? Ha. Steph
Hi all! So, I don't have anything terribly exciting to talk about, although I'm sure you weren't expecting a blog entry so soon! Anyhow, here's a few little quips about life with me...
3 Meals a Day?!?! Ok, so, I might have been a little lazy for the past few months (although also thrifty...) and I was basically only eating two meals a day (one around 1 pm and the other around 8 pm) as I was practically nocturnal. However, I set up a bit of a challenge and now not only am I striving to take a vitamin daily and ingest three meals, I'm also trying to eat red meat twice a week. I've become a sort of involuntary vegetarian, as meat has to be purchased with a plan. Most of my meals come from items I've learned to stock and are semi-quick. However, sometime in December/January I started to notice that my stomach was NOT happy whenever I ate red meat, ranging from slightly queasy to You Probably Don't Want to Know. During the month of March with Chris and my parents around I actually ate some more red meat and so that seems to be going ok now - I had spaghetti with meat sauce with Dinkel pasta. Dinkel has the pleasant connotation of being whole-grain, but somehow seems tastier under this title, and I honestly loved it a lot. Anyhow, I really wouldn't have a problem cutting red meat out of my diet, but I really think I've been lacking in iron (and other sources such as spinach and beans are harder to use in my diet and more expensive/time consuming). I'm trying to self-motivate myself into actual exercise, but I might settle for 1-2 bike rides a week and walking from campus to town a few times a week once the weather evens out. We'll see...
In Which Steph Inherits a Job...sorta. So, I had been trying (literally for months, exhaustively through e-mails) to get a job involving English conversation. As soon as I abandoned designs on ever achieving a job, one lands in my lap. Since the Colorado kids actually have an adviser on campus, he steers them into jobs. Luckily for me (and Eric), most of them have vastly different schedules this semester and won't be able to continue their English Conversation Course at a local high school. The job is incredibly easy (or hard...) - all I have to do is get 14-16 year old boys and girls to talk in English. Although my group apparently has 2 very radical teenage boys and so the students are not allowed (under any circumstances, says Molly - the girl who's day I got teaching) to pick their own topics. So, my first day is tomorrow, and it's only for an hour. I figure we'd do the "Get to know you" day, and try an ice-breaker or two. Honestly, after Upward Bound I think I can handle just about anything. As long as they don't ask me to sing.
Class...or Not... I realize I am using an absurd amount of ellipses, but really, with the way my English is going down the tubes, it's not only a reflection on my state of mind, but is also indicative of the chaos that I call my life in the first week of classes. Or non-classes, as it happened for the SECOND time this week. However, at least the secretary came and told us that our professor was "sick" - although a lot of professors seem to be "sick" conveniently and the beginning and end of the semester. So, once again I had gotten up at a completely unreasonable hour, to find out my 8:30 class was canceled. So Eric and I coerced Kim (Korea) into going to breakfast - does a sandwich count as breakfast? We always speak English with Kim, which is actually probably far more valuable to him than German will be. I pestered him with questions (not that I've ever done that to anyone before, right mom?? : p) about topics from school to Korean funeral traditions. I now am a repository of funeral etiquette (ie, from bowing to a picture frame of the deceased twice - the only time you bow twice in Korea- to the fact that superstition is rampant and many people have dreams of the deceased coming back and telling them to move their graves from water, which they do by dowsing...). So, I actually did some learning at 9 in the morning.
Britain's Got Talent 2008 Episode 1 Ok, so I kinda got sucked into youtube...so I'm going to post a few videos from the 2 most amazing acts I saw... they should be on the bottom. The kid's voice is so amazing it gave me goosebumps, and the dog trainer probably has no human friends or a life...but WOW. Enjoy!
In Which Steph Begins a New Obsession I was reading an article I found through www.fark.com (great for boredom and random dinner conversation = perfect for Steph) and I found an article on African Pygmy Hedgehogs being the new rage in England. What are they, exactly? They're little balls of pure-magicness and I thoroughly succumbed to being enamored with them this afternoon. As I type, the cost of 190.00 is slowly shocking me less and less. They're just so darn Cute. (As you can see above...awwww). And yes, Mom, it is a rodent...and it's nocturnal....and expensive....sigh. Want Want Want Want Want....and it's much more realistic than the chickens I wanted to hatch a few years ago. I guess I'll have to wait until I'm back in the US and see how much time (and money...) I have to commit. Although they are pretty ideal for apts and college students, as they wake up in the evening and only need a little room to romp in. Guess I'll just have to see...
Steph Finally Passes Muster I finally had something to call home about yesterday (although I refrained, since last time I called my mom with news she freaked out in a minor way, automatically suspecting something terrible...obviously I've been calling home a whole lot...lol). I went to retrieve my English paper -finally- from my English lecturer. I was a little apprehensive because I wasn't sure what kind of possibly-impossible grading scale I might be facing as I was American and I supposedly know English. However, I was shocked to discover my grade... a 1,0! (A+). The best part was the fact that I got to choose a topic completely not covered in the course - Heinlein's Science Fiction and his Female characters not fitting classic literary archetypes (dork...dork...dork...) Damn, I just set off the "Dork Alarm" on my blog. I bet you didn't even know they had one....
Ok guys, I'm sure that was disjointed and about as random as I could get. But, um, one last request. I always say hello to everyone and refer to my readers in the plural (which, considering I know my Mom, Dad and Grandma read this, is probably technically correct), but it makes me wonder...is anyone ELSE out there? You could leave a comment with a "Hi" or something...it'd pretty much make my day... Take Care, Steph
