Abenteuer in Deutschland

More Sparky

2010-04-09T03:25:00.006+02:00

Hi again,

As I hinted at last week, here are more photos of Aengus and sweet Sparky:

Also, an update on my new job: it's awesome! I am getting paid to learn things I would happily learn for free! Don't tell my employers, though....ha, ha, ha. Seriously, though, it is going great, and I am really enjoying it. It's fun after all these months to have a "job job" that I look forward to going to (gardening with Suzy doesn't count - it was far too cool to be considered a job!).

Anyway, I am happy. It feels good to be productive again, and to be spending my time doing something I find interesting, and that I believe in.

Lastly, although I think I only have about four readers, I would like to give a shout out to those people who haven't had the good fortune I have had and who are struggling with unemployment. I am lucky to have what I have, and I appreciate it that much more after having been in your shoes. I am truly blessed.

Warm wishes for a happy Friday!

I'm leaving the ranks...

2010-04-03T05:11:00.003+02:00

...of the semi-/unemployed! That's right, I secured myself a genuine full-time job, and will start on Monday. Hmpf.

Actually, the job sounds pretty sweet, and I feel blessed to have found it. Truth be told, though, it found me. A rather random conversation about six months ago led to an email about six weeks ago, then a few meetings, a nice offer, and the start date on Monday.

I'll be working for an international organic seed and grain company, doing things from shipping and freight to helping regional farmers get their organic certifications. Odds are good that I'll be able to visit farms in the area in the short-term, and possibly get in on some of the international travel down the road a bit.

Although I must admit to having mixed feelings about giving up my vacation lifestyle (challenging, frustrating, and demoralizing though it was at times...), I am so aware that there are millions who would love to be in my shoes about now, shoes that will walk me through the door into what sounds like an interesting job with a paycheck and benefits to boot.

I will miss gardening with Suzy, though. She's a dear, and the work was healthy for both mind and body.

Anyway, that's my news.

This Sunday is Easter. I'm looking forward to a tasty dinner at my parents' house.

Wishing you all a lovely holiday weekend!

Sparks are flyin'!

2010-03-29T15:46:00.002+02:00

Hello again,

Meet Sparky:

He's the one in the back there, behind sweet Aengus (thanks to Jane for the photo), and he'll be staying with us for a week and a half. He's been here for four days already, and he is sweet as can be! He's a perfect complement for Aengus, and they've been having tons of fun.

My camera is broken, so as soon as I can get my hands on Jane's, I'll probably put more photos up.

Also, there's news on the job front! I'm going to wait until the deal is sealed before I share the news so I don't jinx it, but hopefully I'll have an update this week!

Hope you're well. Enjoy the sunshine!

Snowshoes!

2010-03-09T02:50:00.003+01:00

I mentioned in my post from the other day that I received showshoes for Christmas! Here's a photo of me from a couple of weeks ago up in Theodore Wirth.

For me, this was a pretty perfect winter, at least weather-wise. I'm so happy to have warmer temperatures and less ice and snow to deal with during my daily walks, but I'm a little bit sad to have to say goodbye to my snowshoes until next winter. Auf wiedersehen, Schneeschuhe!

Maybe it's Time

2010-03-02T04:07:00.002+01:00

Well, maybe it's time to start writing again. Or maybe I should end that with a question mark? Seems like it could be a good, cathartic thing to do, and why I would want to publish it for the world to see, I have no idea, but here goes.

I am safely and soundly back in the States, and have been for nine months now, almost to the day. Odd, in a way, as that's the same amount of time I spend in Deutschland.

In one perspective, I haven't put my time back home to good use at all. I did garden for Suzy's clients all last summer, which was dreamy and cathartic in its own right, and I've also had plenty of time to take sweet Aengus for our long daily walks - the most precious time of my days, still. I received snow shoes for Christmas this past year, and have enjoyed getting into that, especially because of our abundant snow. I loved the discount on books I received while working part-time at Barnes & Noble during the holidays, and have been reading a ton.

On the other hand, though, I've been hopelessly unproductive. On my good days, which far outnumber the bad, I recognize the hardship and trauma sustained by so many people around the world, which helps me keep my own imperfections well in perspective. I also give myself credit for my job search efforts, even though they haven't resulted in anything full-time/professional. Yet.

On my bad days, which, like I said, are relatively infrequent, I despair, and feel frustrated and glum, but never, ever like a victim. I made my own choices. My present is a result of actions I took in the past, and my future will be a result of my actions now, and to come. No one ever said it would be easy, and I was not raised to expect anything, or to feel that somehow the world owes me something.

Ha, I am tired. I just reread this post so far and realized that my "On the other hand" statement basically mirrors the "In one perspective" one. Maybe I'm not ready to start writing again after all... :)

A couple more Triscuits and cream cheese, possibly a little late night t.v., and then I'm off to bed.

Sweet dreams to you all,

Kate

Magnifique!

2009-04-14T14:08:00.038+02:00

Made it to France on Sunday, via the Netherlands and Belgium. Probably the second most important road race for cyclists happened on that day, and I was excited to check it out! It's called Paris - Roubaix, and is known by the nickname "Hell of the North." To you non-cycling enthusiasts, it probably won't be very impressive, but for those of you who follow racing, know that it was one of the coolest things I've seen.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

Near the finish, in Roubaix:

The team bus of the eventual winner, Tom Boonen:

A Boonen fan before the finish:

Unfortunately, closed roads and crazy traffic made getting to the cobbled sections too difficult, but I did manage a great spot at the velodrome to watch the finish. As you can see, young and old come out to support the racers:

That's a huge tv in the back, with coverage of the race before they reached the velodrome:

Tom Boonen entering the velodrome:

Filippo Pozzato, who finished second:

Thor Hushovd, Leif Hoste, and Johan Van Summern, who finished third through fifth:

I saw Thor Hushovd after the race, by the way. He was standing about five feet from me. Mmmmm.

Aengus liked it, too:

Tom Boonen, accepting his pave trophy:

Oh, and that same Boonen fan, after the victory:

It was such an awesome experience. I wish I could have seen a cobbled section in person, but at least I could watch it on the big screen.

After the race, we had the unbelievable luck of finding an awesome hotel. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, in a town called Orchies, and didn't look particularly special from the road, but once inside, it was magical.

It's a family-run hotel called Le Manoir, and the people are spectacular. The son, Philip, speaks English very well, so communicating with him was easy, but his father speaks only French. It turns out the French and Swiss juniors teams were staying in this hotel, and the restaurant had been closed so they could have their team meetings there after the race, and get a good dinner, but Philip and his father, whose name I wish I had learned, were kind enough to let Martin, Aengus and me in for a wonderful meal. Some kind of terrine with fish for the starter, and then chicken with a mushroom sauce and peas for the entree and an unbelievable cake for dessert. We sat right next to the French team - it was so cool.

Here's the restaurant, on the left:

After dinner, Philip and his father invited us into the little lounge area in the hotel for super conversation. The coaches from the Swiss team were sitting in there, enjoying a local beer, and we all spent probably two hours in there chatting in combinations of English, French, and German. It turns out that the family who runs the hotel are huge cycling fans, and the father in particular was so interested in telling me stories about his experiences. I could dig enough of my French up from college to understand him almost all of the time, and didn't have too much trouble speaking with him. He has an amazing book of photographs and autographs from probably thousands of cyclists. He has one of Erik Zabel's bicycles. Pro teams, including Milram and US Postal have stayed at his hotel. At one point, he went back into the hotel office and brought out an old wooden wheel from 1940 to show me. It was so cool hearing about and seeing everything. They made us feel so welcome. If you are ever near Orchies, and need a place to stay, please check out this hotel. Even if you are not a cycling fan, you won't regret it.

Here are a few pics of the surrounding area:

The next day, we went to Valenciennes for a tea at an outdoor cafe. It's a beautiful, beautiful city.

After leaving Valenciennes, we got lost for a few hours in the beautiful French countryside before driving back up to Muenster through southern Germany:

It was an awesome two day trip. Hope you all had a safe weekend!

Until next time...

Some things are universal

2009-04-10T18:10:00.002+02:00

So, today is Good Friday. For some reason, here, at the Skribbe household, this is the most important of the religious holidays. They're Catholic, so one would think Easter Sunday would be the most celebrated day, but here in Kasewinkel, it's today.

Anyway, Renate made her traditional meal for Good Friday, which is called Stoeven. I've probably misspelled that, but they're traditionally Jewish pancake things with yeast - some with raisins and some without. It is a beautiful day here today, so I sat for almost 5 hours outside with Martin's family listening to a lot of German. At some point, one of Martin's sisters started talking about how the kids from Kasewinkel are now bussed to school, which is in the neighboring village, 3 kilometers (2 miles) away. She thought that was ridiculous, and then Martin's mother chimed in with "when we were young, we had to walk to school, through the snow!" I wanted to ask if it was uphill both directions, but held my tongue. Never mind the fact that here in the Muensterland, snow that lasts for more than one day is record-breaking.

I'm taking a bit of a road trip to France on Sunday. I'll be sure to report back with tales of our adventures!

Take care, and have a safe and happy weekend!

Photo dump

2009-04-05T12:20:00.015+02:00

Hello!

I have a ton of photos I'd like to share from the last few days. There isn't really a consistent theme, although the sun was out during each of those days, so I guess they all have that in common! The weather here has been absolutely beautiful for the last week - I needed that! I even have a bit of a tan already....

So the first thing I'd like to share is from last Monday. Aengus has had his first couple of ticks already, which even the people who live here are saying is really early, so I went to the pet store to buy him some anti-tick stuff. While I was there, I saw this:

Yes, that's Hunde-Bier. Dog beer. Beer for dogs. I swear, only in Germany.

Moving along... I meet every Thursday with Anke, a neighbor here in Kasewinkel. She is a German teacher by profession, and is also interested in improving her own English, so we meet once a week to speak a little English, for her, and a little German, for me. She is really helpful. We usually met at her house, although this last Thursday she called and asked if I would like to take our meeting on the road to the Baumberge, or "tree mountains." I had driven by there - it's about 30 minutes away by car - but had never hiked there, and was excited to go! It was beautiful. Here are a few pics from our trip:

We walked for about an hour and got to this awesome restaurant/cafe where we sat outside for a bit on the patio:

It was great.

Then Friday was school again, but it was the last day before "Osterferien," or the Easter holidays. It lasts for two weeks (so I don't have school again until the 20th of April), and for the equivalent of high school students here, it marks the last day of classes before they head to University. They still have tests to prepare for and take, but their classes are now over. The diploma they receive is called an Abitur.

Martin picked me up after class on Friday, and we walked through the city with Inma, my friend from Spain, to meet John at the Stuhlmacher - that old bar/restaurant I have mentioned before. When we arrived at the Domplatz, where the huge farmers' market is held, we saw this:

It's traditional for the "seniors" from different schools to meet there after class on Friday, to celebrate being done with classes. They had whistles and were shouting and seemed to be having a great time. The German "Ordnungsamt," or state office that maintains order in German life, was there to be sure nothing got too out of control, but the students were living it up.

From there we walked to the Stuhlmacher, and encountered these students along the way:

Each group of students from each school had their own t-shirts made up for that day. This school's shirts say "Abibama - Yes We Can!" Their diploma, remember, is called an Abitur. I'm sure the rest is obvious...

A bit later in the day, John, Martin, Aengus, and I rode over to Handorf to visit Martin's dad in the cemetery. Friday was his birthday, and because Martin's father was a lover of schnapps, Martin goes there every year to pour a schnapps on his grave.

The day before was Aengus' first time walking next to a bike, and he did amazingly well - like he's been doing it all his life. It is so common here for people to bring their dogs along on the bike, and it looks like Aengus will fit right in! We'll still get our daily walks in, though.

And lastly, here are a couple updated shots of my garden:

I didn't finish it until dusk, thus the dark photo. So far I have carrot, leek, and tomato seeds planted, as well as zucchini and cucumber plants. Those tomatoes in the foreground will go in pots, as well as peppers. I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Hope you're all well!

Miscellaneous bits from the last couple days

2009-04-01T19:28:00.017+02:00

Guten Tag! Hope this finds you well.

Unbelievably, the sun has been out here for the last three days! It has jump started my spirit a little bit. Today was the nicest of the days, though, and probably reached about 70 degrees. I'm so sorry to say that - I know it is snowing in Minneapolis today!

I went to a neighboring town called Wolbeck today, and took a few pics along the way. Here's a brief tour of our adventures:

I thought this was kind of a pretty doorway:

The gate into a pretty little park:

That building in the back was built a long time ago, and was the home for a relative of the Bishop, I guess. I'll try to do a little research and come up with a better explanation for you! It's a pretty building, though, and is now a museum. Here are a few photos of it:

From there, we walked to a beautiful wooded area, so Aengus could have his daily exercise.

And along the way, we encountered this little fellow:

It was Aengus' first experience with a frog. Once he got used to the (infrequent) hopping, Aengus was enamored.

A little further along he rolled in a dead fish, which really wasn't as pleasant for me as it must have been for him. Bath time again tonight.

After we returned from the park, and given the beautiful day, I dug in (wow - no pun intended) and started my garden! Martin and his mother have four big garden beds, and have kindly allowed me to make use of one of them for vegetables. I'm planning on planting tomatoes, red, yellow, and chili peppers, carrots, leeks, beans, green and yellow zucchini, and cucumbers. I'll probably have to do the tomatoes and peppers in pots, though. In addition, I have dill, parsley, and basil to go into an herb garden. I'm excited! Here's how the garden is coming along so far....

Awww....

Here's the finished bed, but I haven't planted anything yet. That's tomorrow's project!

I have a few more things in mind to post here, in addition to the too many updates on the garden you'll probably get, but dinner is calling! I'll write more soon.

Take good care! Spring is on the way!

Thursday

2009-03-26T15:15:00.003+01:00

Greetings once again from soggy Deutschland.

I had my first ever day of paid manual labor today. It was fantastic! I know a man - I could probably even call him a friend - who is a landscaper/gardener, and he agreed to let me help him on occasion. I moved a ton of wood (in logs), removed the dead foliage and leaves from in and around a small pond, raked a bunch, bagged up what I had raked, and trimmed a few bushes. We worked for five hours, and it only rained for two of them! Once it started raining a bit harder, we quit, but really, it was good for both my body and mind. I wish I had a bathtub to soak in, though - as you all probably know, that kind of work uses many other muscles than walking does! It was good for me, though. I may go back tomorrow after class, and then again as he needs help.

So, as I was working, I was thinking more about the German language. There are so many things here that are so normal for German-speakers, and that have become normal to me now, but if I really think about them, I still find humor in them. Gloves, for example, are called "Hand shoes," an airplane is called a "Fly thing," and when they refer to their hair, they refer to it in the plural, as in "My hairs are dirty," or "I had my hairs cut." In a way, it makes perfect sense, although I still snicker to myself sometimes.

Anyway, I have no pictures to show for today's work. Not that it would be that interesting to you, anyway. Hopefully it'll stop raining soon so I can get out and take a few more photos. Things always look better with a little sunlight.

Hope you're all well.

Heavy

2009-03-23T16:38:00.005+01:00

It is raining here. Not really raining anymore, actually. The skies are dumping out water with too much force for it to be called rain. And the winds? Wow.

With fewer than ten exceptions, every day for the more than 180 days I have been here I have taken Aengus for a long walk through the countryside. Not today. I have freedom, free will, and the determination to use it today. Something tells me he would rather be snoozing as he is now on my bed than out in the current weather, anyway.

I am lucky to have a roof over my head, though, and to have that free will I spoke of. These people did not:

They were Albert and Sidonie Sander. In 1942 they were taken from their home, on Salzstrasse here in Muenster, and were brought to the Warsaw Ghetto, where they died. Albert was 73 at the time, and Sidonie, presumably his daughter, was 40. Muenster commissioned an artist to set these brass cobblestones into the streets in front of the homes from which Jews were taken, as a solemn reminder of the atrocities that occurred, and as a tribute to those who lost their lives.

There was never a large Jewish community in Muenster; before WWII there were only around 700 Jews. Of those, 247 were killed during the war. It's not exactly known what happened to all of the others, although 28 are known to have survived the deportations, and 264 successfully emigrated.

The community, while still not large, has revived itself. The synagogue that exists in the city today was rebuilt on the exact plot of land where the previous one had stood, before it was burned to the ground in 1938. Incidentally, (please note the irony - it's far more than incidental) the Jewish community had to pay for the gasoline that started the fire.

I know there are a few German readers here. The Holocaust and the war in general remain emotional topics, and it's not my intent to offend, stir the pot or place blame. I am fully aware that my own country has a history of performing and being complicit in devastating acts. Sadly, we continue to abuse our power and have not yet learned our lessons, as you have.

I only hope to share a little of the history and atmosphere of this place with the people back home who have not had the pleasure of being here.

Wow, miraculously, during the time it has taken me to write this, the storm has passed and the sun even peeked out from behind the clouds for a couple minutes. Maybe Aengus and I will get out after all.

Perhaps something a bit lighter for the next post?

Wishing you well...

Today

2009-03-19T17:38:00.016+01:00

Since we took a little tour the other day from my bus stop in the city to my school, I thought it only fitting to take another one from my bus stop near Kasewinkel, back to the house.

Oh, but before I hopped on the bus, I stopped at the Stuhlmacher for a cup of tea outside. The sun was shining again today, and it was one of those days where it's a bit cold in the shade, but in the sun it's fairly warm. Or, at least it felt that way. Here is the view from my chair:

The Stuhlmacher is relatively significant in Muenster. You may have heard of the Peace of Westfalia? It ended the 30 Years War, and was the first time a war was ended diplomatically, rather than by overpowering force. Well, that treaty was signed in 1648 in Muenster's city hall, two doors down from the Stuhlmacher. The building where the Stuhlmacher is was built in 1470, and the restaurant has been there since 1890. It was all of course destroyed in the war (WWII), but has been re-built with amazing attention to historical detail. Almost all of Muesnter has been, actually, which makes it a rather remarkable German city. Anyway, to this day, many diplomats stop at the Stuhlmacher while in town. Henry Kissinger paid a visit, as did Bill Clinton, and the Secretaries of State/Foreign Ministers under Reagan and Gorbachev "celebrated" there after the wall came down.

Oh, and that's Lambertikirche in the background. I'm not sure if you can see them, but three cages hang toward the top of the spire. In the 1500s a group of Anabaptists tried to change the religion here from Catholicism toward their own beliefs, but the Catholics wouldn't have it. No-sirree. As a reminder to other people who might think of trying such a thing, the Catholic church took the bodies of three of the leaders of the uprising and hung them in the cages up there for all to see. Since that time, Muenster has been fervently Catholic.

So, back to Kasewinkel. I get technically get off the bus in Handorf, which is the nearest town to where I live. It's about a 15 minute walk back to the house from there. Here's the road I walk along (or bike, but today I was on foot):

Kasewinkel is technically a "Bauernschaft," which basically means a community of farmers. There are no businesses, other than the farms. The sign on the top there says Landschaftschuzgebiet, which means we live basically in a nature preserve. It doesn't stop the hunters from killing things, but it does prevent any further development in the area.

This is the oldest farm in the area. It dates from the 1100s, and has been in the same family since then, although obviously didn't look this way then.

It's a beautiful farm. I'll try to get better pictures up soon.

More bike-friendliness, although this is a rather quick, narrow road with traffic in both directions. Not a good choice for recreational riding.

Here's the "intersection" at which I go left:

A self-portrait of me:

I've noticed I look older and more tired lately.

The third-oldest farm in the area, dating from 1462 (and in the same family since then):

It's a huge dairy farm, with 150 cattle, a couple horses, and a mean German Shepherd. As with almost all of the farms here, several generations live together. The man running this farm now is 36, and a super fellow. He has agreed to give me 10 liters of milk and a starter kit so I can try making my own cheese! (Dad - this is Leo's farm, where we visited while you were here.)

Continuing on, and getting closer to the house I live in:

And finally, my driveway:

I turn in there, walk through this gate:

Into this...

...and an awesome dog who is always happy to see me.

Thanks for joining me on the tour. I love living in the countryside, especially with such a beautiful and historic city so close. Now if only people here would smile a little bit!

Hope you're well. My best to you all.

Walk with me...

2009-03-18T14:33:00.007+01:00

Hi there,

I shot a few photos during my walk from the bus stop to my school yesterday, so you could follow along and see a few of the things I see....

I get off the bus behind where I was standing when I took this photo, and a bit to the left. It's across the huge Domplatz, where the big farmers' market is held every Wednesday and Saturday.

A bit further along... That's Ueberwasserkirche in the background (Over Water Church).

Here's the water that actually flows next to the church, not under it. It's a river called simply the Aa (named by the Romans, or so I hear - I think they could have done better), and flows into the Aasee, or Aa Lake, in English.

Moving along...once I cross the Aa, I see this, although in this shot I turned around and took a photo of what I'd just passed:

That's the Dom in the background. Looking forward from where I'm standing, or, rather, in the direction I need to go to get to my school, I see this:

I don't actually walk down that street, but take a narrow little road to the left of the pink building for about a block and a half, and I'm at school.

Notice the lovely gray skies. Somehow, miraculously, the sun came out a bit later in the day. The sun! I spent all afternoon outside, and soaked it in. Hopefully it charged me up for a while.

Hope you're all well!

Guten Tag

2009-03-16T15:02:00.004+01:00

Greetings once again from Deutschland. Guess whether is the sun is shining today! If you guessed no, you're 100% correct. I spoke with a man from England during the break from my class today, and even he said the weather here is depressing, and England isn't known for great weather. I don't know why, but somehow I believe the sun will eventually shine here again. I'm fully prepared to admit I'm wrong, though.

There's not a ton going on here, really. I had my first full commute to school on my own today - bike to the bus stop, bus to the city, walk to school, walk back to the bus stop, bus back to Kasewinkel, bike back to the house. It made me feel a bit like a local, although there are many reminders that I'm not.

I walk past the cathedral on my way back to the bus stop, and stopped in on Friday to light a candle for Mom. Here are a couple pics:

It's a nice church, and one of over 70 in Muenster.

Michelle Obama is still getting press here. The Sunday newspaper had a full-page article about her yesterday, with the headline, in English, "Isn't She Lovely?" The sub-headline, or whatever it's called, said something about how she's educated, popular, and has great upper arms. That's oddly not the first article I've seen about her arms. I guess we haven't come to expect much in that regard from our First Ladies, but certainly her political and social contributions to the country are more important than her biceps.

I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in English the other day with Martin. Not a bad movie at all. Funny, though, Martin asked after it was over whether that was Brad Pitt's real voice. Something I hadn't thought about before, but all the American movies and tv shows here are dubbed, so no one knows what the real actors sound like.

Umm....I don't have much else. I hear it's supposed to be 60 there today?? Good for you guys! Enjoy it!

Until next time....

Hola! Bonjour! Привет!

2009-03-10T20:03:00.004+01:00

Wow, I can truly say I am learning more of the world here. The coolest thing about my class - I'm now in the second level - is all the people! Most of the people from my first class also enrolled in the second, and there are four new students: one from Russia, one from Ukraine, one from Argentina, and another person from Nepal. It's so great.

I'm sure you've noticed, whether in college or just around town, there tend to be two groups of people - Americans, and everyone else. I remember when I was at St. Thomas, all the international students completely stuck together, and kind of had their own family. Now I understand how that feels! I am in that group now, and am thankful for the opportunity. Really, it's so cool. We are all away from home and are dealing with the stress that involves, we are unfamiliar with the language, we are getting used to a new culture, and we can do it together.

I've befriended an Iraqi woman - she is 26 - and it's amazing how friendly she is toward me. I was a bit apprehensive, because she has every right to be wary of an American, but when it comes down to it, we're just two people, from very different worlds, who are sharing common experiences. I said, rather naively, the other day that if more actual citizens of the world could interact - not as representatives of their governments - the world might face a little less turmoil. Idealistic, I know, but the experience of getting to know the people, and not the stereotypes has been very cool for me.

Inma, my new friend from Spain, invited Martin and me over for dinner on Friday night. She prepared a beautiful assortment of tapas:

Starting from the back: chopped oranges with olive oil and salt; fresh olives, made by her father from his own olive grove in Spain! How cool is that? Pan fried potatoes with a little salt; chorizo sausage; an onion/egg tart that Inma calls an omelet; Serrano ham; and tomatoes with a bit of cheese and oregano, heated in the oven until the cheese melts. It was all so tasty! Inma's name, by the way, is short for Inmaculada, which sounds so beautiful when she says it.

Then today after school, Estelle, from France, invited Inma and me over for lunch, along with Alina, from Ukraine. Alina is 28 and has her PhD in......astrophysics. Yes, astrophysics. I should apologize to Mom and Dad now for not making more of my 20s. Or 30s, for that matter. :)

Alina explained to me today how she has been working to see if she can detect parts of stars that are cooler in temperature than the rest of the star. She uses telescopes and spectrometers and analyzes light. I kind of wanted to ask why it matters if one part of a star is cooler than the rest of the star, particularly since she said that the stars she just started studying may in fact no longer exist since they could be billions of light years away, but before I could figure out a polite way to ask that, she said it has something to do with the evolution of the sun. And she also added that the work she is doing now won't benefit anyone now living, but might be of some use in several hundred years. Yep.

Anyway, Estelle cooked a fantastic quiche today, accompanied by a tasty salad. The quiche had ham - more bacon, really - and cheese, along with onions, something I couldn't recognize - maybe celery? - and walnuts. I wouldn't have thought walnuts would go well in a quiche, but she's French and she knows what she is doing! It was super tasty. I want to have a group of people out to Kasewinkel for dinner sometime, but I don't really know what to cook that's typically American. Hotdish is out of the question. I was thinking ribs with potatoes and cole slaw? Any other ideas? I don't even know if I can get ribs here.

Anyway, I'm blathering. I think I have one or two more photos to share, though.

Here's something I was lucky to catch on "film":

Blue sky! The sun was out for about three or four hours here the other day, which was a short but nice respite from the clouds that have been hanging overhead for about the last month. It has to stop raining at some point, right?

Okay, I just looked, and I don't really have any other interesting photos. I will do my best to get out and take some more before too long.

Hope the sun is shining on you wherever you are.

November all over again

2009-03-02T07:23:00.003+01:00

Greetings once again from gray and damp Deutschland. The sun has not shone here for weeks, and it's starting to get on my nerves just a little bit. The air is thick and humid, and my hair has actually started taking a bit of curl. A couple days ago on the radio the weather guy said we're supposed to have showers for the next few days, and in between the showers, we'll have a little rain. At least they try to have a sense of humor about it.

Ready for a little more fun with German? Okay, here goes...

Many of the words in German are so similar to English that one can figure them out with no problem (e.g. Foto, plus, minus, skandal, slogan, etc...), but there are some funny exceptions. "Gift" in German, for example, means "poison," and "sinnvoll", pronounced like our "sinful", means "sensible," or "meaningful."

I got to see two little baby goats being bottle fed yesterday, which was pretty dang sweet. Billy goats on the other hand...not really so sweet.

I have a big test in my class today. Wish me luck!

My best to you all.

Karneval!

2009-02-26T14:36:00.029+01:00

Karneval officially ended here on Tuesday, and while there were festivities for about five days, I only witnessed one day. Monday was "Rosen Montag," and there is a huge parade through the city every year on that day. I had the good fortune of being able to watch it from the apartment of one of Martin's friends, and thus didn't have to deal with the crowds on the street.

The floats in the parade tend to be political in nature, and many this year had to do with the financial crisis. Other themes included various bicycling-related causes, local youth clubs, and did you ever hear about Petra the black swan? She made an appearance, too. There were also many Dutch floats which were probably the coolest in the parade. They were not generally political, but must have required hundreds of hours to complete.

Here are more pictures than I'm sure you'd like to see:

This one says "Muenster, the Land of Smiles!" You have no idea how ironic that is...

Take this little girl, for example. Doesn't she look happy?

Or this guy?

I guess I wouldn't be happy, either, if I was wearing that.

Here's one of the Dutch ones:

And another...

And these guys below look festive, don't they? Their float is to let people know about an alternative to the current German federal system....they want Kaiser Wilhelm back (the German Emperor from 1871 - 1888). If that's not a good cause, I don't know what is!

As you can see, it looks like they're having a great time...

Here is another Dutch one:

These guys are German, and I guess were responsible for reducing traffic accidents between cars and bicycles in Muenster's main roundabout:

This is pretty sweet...

An anti-doping float:

This one is also cycling-related, although I'm not quite sure what the point is. It appears to be about racing, but then there's that biker on the top pulling a cow? Maybe one of you knows....

Here's one from the financial crisis. Those heads in the basket are of German financial leaders:

Cheery, no? And great for kids, too...

Here's another bike one (I've mentioned it's a big cycling city, right?):

Hm, tough call. I was going to say my favorite thing about this float is that happy lady on the right, but I just now noticed the lovely gal in the center with, possibly, a bratwurst?

Are you getting bored yet? Just a few more, I promise...

Here's another Dutch one:

And another:

God drinking beer and dancing with devils....

And finally, the Karneval Prince:

He's the one in the white. And, look - a smile!

Really, those of you who are still reading are pretty lucky! The parade lasted for about three and a half hours, and even though this is a long post, you've probably only had to spend about three and a half minutes here!

It was a fun day. Hope you're all having a little bit of fun in your day, too!

Until next time....

German Order

2009-02-12T14:31:00.003+01:00

Germany is completely driven by order. They're known for efficiency, as you likely know, but more than that, there's a sense here that everything must be done properly. NO ONE, for example, crosses the street on red, even if there's not a car in sight. There's even a state office here for order and discipline. Everything has it's place, and nothing is out of order.

Well, yesterday I learned that Germany also has a Ministry of German Behavior. Their most recent mandates are 1) that people are not supposed to say "entschuldigung", i.e. "excuse me", after sneezing, because sneezing cannot be controlled, and one should not ask to be excused for something one cannot control, and 2) people are not supposed to say "gesundheit" after someone sneezes, as it reinforces the pity the sneezer might feel for having sneezed. I'm completely serious.

Also, Germany has a new Finance Minister. Here's his name: Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Wilhelm Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried...

Hope you're all doing wonderfully well. I'm having a traditional Spanish meal tonight at the house of one of my classmates. I'll be sure to update you !

Greetings, Once Again!

2009-02-10T17:40:00.014+01:00

Wow, over a week since I've posted here. One might think I actually have something to do during the days now!

My class is still going well, if a bit slowly. I'm still amazed by how international the group is - it's like a miniature world in the classroom. Since I posted last week, four more people have joined the class - one from Bangladesh, one from Sri Lanka, one from Paraguay, and one from Vietnam. It's so fun to be in the middle of so many different cultures! And I am getting to know a few of them, too. As I mentioned last week, two of the women are from France, and I'm surprisingly able to remember enough of the French I learned at St. Thomas to communicate with them. Not perfectly, of course, but good enough. One of the women invited a few of us over to her house tomorrow after class for homemade quiche! I'm pretty excited about that. Also, last week a few of us had tea at the woman from South Korea's apartment. We've all exchanged phone numbers and email addresses, so I'm sure we'll continue to be in touch, and hopefully after the course ends, too.

The weather here has been really strange lately. It was really nice last Friday - maybe in the 50s, - but then it got cold again and has been snowing off and on yesterday and today. Aengus and I timed our walk well yesterday, but got stuck in a super windy snowfall today. I guess in a typical winter, Muenster gets about 10 minutes of snow, and this year I would say there have already been at least 7 or 8 snowfalls. It's kind of nice for a native Minnesotan like me.

I haven't mentioned before what brilliant recyclers the Germans are. They separate waste into four categories - bottles, bio, which is for anything organic, true trash, and another one that holds most of what I would think of as true trash. It's called the "yellow bag", and it's for any kind of packaging, wrapping, plastic stuff, cans, etc. And, to give you an idea of how much they actually do recycle, the yellow bag gets picked up every week, and the true trash only every other week. It's pretty cool, really.

Oh, and the North Sea! Martin had been asking me for weeks - months, probably - if I wanted to check it out. I've heard from several Germans how nice it is, particularly the Dutch coast, so I conceded and agreed to bring Aengus and go. We went to Egmond aan Zee, and although it was super windy and quite cold, it was really beautiful. We took a 10K walk up to the next town, and Aengus loved running on the beach and through the sand dunes. Here are a few pics:

The sand dunes:

On the way back, we took a driving tour through Amsterdam. It was awesome to see the sights there again. Upon arriving in the city, though, one of the first sights we saw was this - a Dodge pickup with confederate flag stickers:

I'm pretty sure I was in Amsterdam and not Mississippi, though.

Here are a few more photos, but they're really not that great since we didn't get out of the car. Next time I'll go without Aengus.

I don't see too many of these in Muenster, but versions of it appear all over the Netherlands:

Pretty sweet way to get yourself and your child around town!

I guess that's about it for now, but I hope to have more soon. Take good care, and be well!

Until next time...

Back to School

2009-02-02T19:13:00.006+01:00

So, my German course started today. Have you ever had that dream where you're supposed to start a class somewhere, but you can't find the room it is in, or somehow you go to the wrong class? I'm happy to say that not only did I make it to the correct classroom this morning, but I didn't even have that dream last night. I could definitely feel my nerves this morning though - how silly to be nervous about it.

I was surprised to learn that the class is being taught entirely in German, but today, at least, I was able to understand everything. We did super basic stuff today, though, and the teacher seems pretty good about making sure we all understand everything before she moves on to something else.

It's a super international class. There are 13 students - two each from France and Brazil, and one each from Poland, Italy, Algeria, Iraq, the Philippines, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden. And me.

I also learned this morning about another German custom: die Schultuete. Apparently it's customary to give first-graders a "school cone" on their first day of class. Below is the one I received this morning from Martin:

I kind of felt like a first-grader today, especially as I was reciting the German alphabet and counting from one to ten with the rest of the class, so even though I'm 33, I guess the schultuete was pretty fitting for me.

Here's my school:

It's right in the city and only about a five minute walk from John's apartment. I like learning, and so far I like this class, but having a pretty building to go to somehow makes it a little bit nicer.

In other news, I made it up to the North Sea coast in the Netherlands over the weekend. It was cold and windy, but beautiful. I'll try to get pics up within the next day or two.

Hope you're well! Take care!

More Random Tidbits

2009-01-29T22:00:00.002+01:00

Hi there. I'm kind of having a hard time thinking of interesting things to post here, so I hope you don't mind if I share a few more random bits that don't at all relate to one another, but that I find a bit interesting.

For one thing, Germany seems all but obsessed with Michelle Obama. She has generated such a buzz here - almost more than the president, himself. The day after the inauguration, the front page headline of one of the newspapers here mentioned nothing of Barack, but did ask "Wie sexy ist die neue First Lady?", and had a full page photo of her in her white dress dancing with Barack. I have seen at least four articles solely about her, including one in Der Spiegel, and it seems as though the Germans are mesmerized by her. She does seem extremely likable, and I, for one, think she looked damn sexy on inauguration day. How refreshing to have a president and first lady who actually seem like real people.

Moving on....if you happen to have been born after, say, 1960, you might want to see if you can track down a copy of "Herr Lehmann." It's a movie, based on a book by the same name, and is a good snapshot of German culture during the late 1980s. The themes are universal - love, loss, finding one's self - and are presented in a simultaneously comedic and melancholic way. I've seen it twice now, with English subtitles, and really enjoy it.

Germany is not known for producing a ton of great music (Kraftwerk, anyone?), but also worth checking out is a band called Seeed (yes, with three e's). They are, I think, a 17 member band from 9 countries, and incorporate Reggae, Latin beats, hip-hop, and some African rhythms. It's fun. Also really good is the solo project from one of the lead singers, Peter Fox.

So, I hope it's not too evident, but my English is taking a nose dive here. Concentrating on German has really handicapped my English skills. I actually said "drived" here the other day, in the context of "Mark drived us here." Really.

Oh, and speaking of language, if you happen to be near a native German speaker, ask him or her to try saying the word "months." I think it is possibly the most difficult word for Germans to pronounce, and I must admit, I get a little bit of pleasure out of knowing there is at least one word I can say better than the people who master "maulwurf", "nachrichten", and "umstrukturierungsprozess" (no idea what that last one means, but it is a word taken straight out of the newspaper).

Perhaps the best example of the difficulty of German words, though, is the following one, which also happens to be their longest:

Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft.

I dare you to try saying that. Also notice the three f's in a row there. Nothing says German efficiency like an 80 letter word with three f's in a row. The word translates to: association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services. Why say that with multiple words when one will do?

Okay, I think that's enough for me for today. I will try to come up with something good for next time. Until then, be well.

Deutschland

2009-01-26T18:50:00.007+01:00

Greetings from Deutschland. There's not a whole lot new here these days. I think it's safe to say, and a bit sad, that I am getting used to being in this strange land. There are still a few things that seem odd, though, like for example, while napkins are offered most of the time during meals, they are often not used, and almost never put in the laps of Germans. Also, they tend not to put leftovers in the fridge, but rather leave them out overnight. People seem to keep living, though, so I guess it's not the end of the world.

I registered for a German language course here. It starts next week at the Volkshochschule, which is basically like a community college. Three and a half hours a day, Monday through Friday, for four weeks. My German is coming along nicely as it is, relatively speaking - I can go about my daily business in German without too much trouble - but it will be excellent to have the formal education. I have almost no knowledge of how grammar works here, so that alone will be a benefit of the class. In addition, there are some verbs that get split, and the second half goes at the first part of the sentence, and the first part goes at the end of the sentence, sometimes with several clauses in between. For example, the word for "to call" someone is "anrufen", but to say "Call me tomorrow at three o'clock when I am in Paris", you would say "Ruf mich Morgen um drei Uhr wenn ich in Paris bin an." Not really an easy language, and I have a lot to learn. And, unfortunately, I won't be in Paris at three o'clock tomorrow.

I will have to start real life again before too long, and actually have some employment prospects, but for at least this week I am still able to live the vacation lifestyle, including taking my sweet dog on long walks through the countryside. Here are a few pics from the last few days:

And, just when I think it doesn't really look any different from Wisconsin, I see this:

Yes, that's a nun walking down the street. In the States it was kind of easy to forget they exist - really, when was the last time you saw a nun? - but they are all over the place here.

I'm gearing up to prepare spaghetti and homemade sauce for dinner tonight. John has been here almost all day, which has been a treat.

Hope you all have a lovely evening.

Simply...

2009-01-20T18:50:00.000+01:00

Wooooo Hoooooooo! It's about time.

Tidbits

2009-01-18T15:49:00.003+01:00

Here's a new German word for you: lecker. It means tasty, and man was it an appropriate word for last night's dinner. I was invited, along with Martin, by Berthold and Tatiana for dinner at their home last evening. I have eaten there a couple times before, and an invitation for Tatiana's cooking is something one does not turn down. She is fantastic. Last night she served an appetizer of little zwiebak crackers, I think they're called, with a pate of salmon and tuna, a slice of green olive, and a parsley leaf on top. Awesome. After that she served homemade carrot ginger soup - again, awesome - and then for the main course, lamb with the most amazing French sauce, a salsa of tomatoes and cilantro, and rice, and green beans. So dang tasty. And for dessert I bravely tried a bit of Rumtopf, which translates to "rum pot". It's a traditional dessert here and, as you might have guessed, has a lot of rum in it. It's basically fruit soaked for a year in rum, with a bit of sugar, served with vanilla pudding. Tatiana's pudding was fantastic, but I'm not so much a fan of rum, so the fruit wasn't really my thing. Perhaps the most amazing part of the evening, though, purely because it was so unexpected, was the cheddar cheese she had on the cheese plate she served last. Cheddar cheese is nearly impossible to find here, and it was such a nice treat!

Also, we went to the dog park at the military base again yesterday. No machine gun casings this time, but here's a pic of one of the cars scattered around:

It's such a strange place. Fun for Aengus, though - there were a bunch of other dogs there yesterday.

It's Sunday today. Aengus and I went for our walk through the rain, but have a pretty low key rest of the day planned. All the shops here are closed on Sundays, including the grocery stores, and things kind of shut down. Not very often, really, but sometimes it hits me that I'm actually living in Europe.

I heard it was above zero there - break out the flip flops!

The Thaw

2009-01-14T16:25:00.002+01:00

Amazingly, the snow is gone here now. The last two days have been above freezing, and everything is now mushy and muddy. I assume we'll have some colder weather again before spring truly arrives, but I think it's on its way. There are even small flowers - "snowbells" and narcissus - popping up through the earth.

I wish I would have had my camera on my walk today. Aengus played King of the Hill on a 10' tall mound of manure. Particularly nice after the thaw we've had. Bath time for him today.

I have extended my return ticket to the States until March 4th - my last legal day here unless I decide to seek employment. Whether here or there, I will have to find a new job. Kind of a crossroads for me, I suppose, and not particularly inspiring given the current economic situation (which is not much better here than there). I am feeling okay about it, though, and trust I will be able to find something. I've always been an optimist, though...

Hope this finds you well. Stay warm and be safe.

New Record

2009-01-08T19:53:00.002+01:00

Ok, so, according to the newest reports, I guess this current stretch of cold weather is the longest and coldest in Germany in the last 100 years. Fabulous time to be here. I guess it is still better than Minnesota, barely, but it's far short of balmy!

Also, I heard today that the amount of sun we've had in the last two months - probably about twelve days total, including the ones in November where the sun merely made a brief appearance - is way above average. A lifelong local resident said today that in an average winter (about 5 months, he was saying) they have ten days of sun. In five months.

Mexico, anyone?

Blue Winter

2009-01-08T17:06:00.006+01:00

I guess I brought winter back to Germany this year. It's the coldest winter the country has seen for 22 years, and some areas haven't seen cold like this since the mid-50s. I realize it's still better than Minnesota, although it was below zero - fahrenheit - here for several days/nights, the ponds, lake (they only have one here, and it's man-made), and rivers have all frozen solid , and we've had several snows. Here are a few pics from a few days ago:

Hope you're all staying cozy and warm. Spring is coming!

Signs

2009-01-04T13:20:00.011+01:00

As you may know, Germany is a country of many rules and regulations. I think it is a federal offense to be late to a dinner party, for example. Well, it turns out, they are also a country of many signs, and for good reason. If, for example, you are driving along and hit a pothole that was not adequately marked with a sign, you can sue the state for the damage to your car. So, yes, it's also a litigious society. But back to the signs. Here are a few of my favorites:

This one warns bikers and pedestrians that they're about to go downhill:

The hill has a gradual slope that extends for about 12 feet. Nice to have the warning.

This one warns autos that they're about to go uphill:

Handy, in case drivers can't see the "mountains" approaching, 10 kilometers away.

Muenster is exceptionally bike-friendly, and has all kinds of signs for bikers, including their own stoplights:

And street signs giving the distances by bike to the nearest towns:

There are, of course, standard speed limit signs for cars all over the place, as well as many speed limit signs for tanks, like this one:

This sign warns people not to go past the gate, or their life may be in danger:

As you can see, it is treacherous:

This one evidently warns of giant frogs:

And this one, that Jane spied, is my absolute favorite sign so far:

Notice the complete lack of nearby water. Maybe Germany has a problem with quicksand.

It's snowing again today, and it is beautiful. Hope this finds you well.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T10:36:00.005+01:00

Happy New Year, and best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy 2009!

2009 arrived with gray skies and a touch of snow here, but the last seven - seven - days of December were wonderfully sunny. Not that kind of sunny where the sun makes a brief appearance, which counted as sunny in November, but the not-a-cloud-in-the-sky kind of sunny. It was dreamy.

Of course, I didn't really take any pictures outside during those last seven days of December, but here are a few from yesterday...

This is the house I live in:

It is very unusual for Kasewinkel, a community otherwise populated by old farm houses and barns. This house was designed by Martin's father, and was built in the 1950s. It's hard to tell from this photo, but it has nearly 4000 square feet of living space.

Here's the street I live on:

And rocks in a nearby river:

It looks like the gray weather will persist through today - it is super foggy and lightly snowing - but hopefully there will be clear skies again before too long.

Hope you all had a fun, safe New Year's Eve. Until next time...

Today

2008-12-30T16:46:00.003+01:00

Greetings from Kasewinkel.

Kind of a strange day today. All the farmers in the area must be eating pheasant for New Year's, because I swear every single one of them was out hunting today. Now that I'm a country girl, temporarily, I get to think about gunfire and where it is coming from, and am adept at scanning the fields and woods for blaze orange. Aengus and I were out walking for almost two hours today, and I probably heard at least 100 gunshots - no exaggeration. It makes for a more tense walk than I would prefer, but I guess I'm the guest in their community, and I shouldn't really complain.

Speaking of pheasants, while we were in the woods today, two females took flight about 10 feet from us, but either they're better at running along than flying, or they were freaked out by the hunters, because both of them flew directly into tree trunks. One of them fell to the ground before flying off again, but the other managed to stay airborne.

And one last tidbit that has nothing to do with anything... People here in Kasewinkel do not do laundry between Christmas and New Years. Evidently there is a longstanding superstition that if one does laundry during that time, and specifically if one hangs the laundry to dry, that someone in the family will die. I think it is ridiculous, but nevertheless, I have not done laundry since the 23rd.

Aengus and I came back to an empty, quiet house. No people, no music, no tv. A rarity. It is bliss.

Stay warm.

Update

2008-12-29T14:48:00.015+01:00

Well, Jane is gone. Having her here for Christmas was one of the best gifts I could have asked for. We had tons of fun, and it was great to see her again. Here are a few photos from her visit, including some from Christmas:

Trimming the tree:

The finished tree, including Jane's homemade star on top:

Christmas Eve, lighting sky lanterns that are supposed to drift up into the air like hot air balloons, with our wishes inside:

But unfortunately, all four of ours landed here:

So instead of having our wishes sent up into the sky, we now have a wishing tree in Borghorst. Thankfully it didn't burn down that night!

On Christmas Day, Renate served wonderful food for us:

And then had gifts and a plate of chocolates and homemade cookies for each of us:

Here is breakfast on the morning of the 26th. That thing in the back is called a Berliner. JFK's quote? Ich bin ein jelly doughnut.

I learned a new game here called Carcassone, and Jane, Martin and I played it a few times:

It has been years since I've played board games, but it was super fun.

Lastly, here are a couple pics of Jane and me. Thanks again for being here, Jane. You're the best (except for those couple of people in Asia)!

More to come soon...

Cologne

2008-12-23T21:13:00.016+01:00

Hi, it's Kate again.

On Sunday I made my first trek to Cologne (spelled Köln, in German). Martin's sister lives there, and his mom wanted to go for a visit, so all three of us hopped in the car and set out. Jane had just returned from Paris and wasn't up for another day of traveling, so she stayed back and kept Aengus company. I found it to be kind of a strange city (they have lots of mimes and a live miniature horse), but maybe it was just because it is holiday season? Or maybe it was my mood, I don't know, but everything seemed just a bit off.

Cologne does have the largest cathedral in Europe, other than St. Peter's in Vatican City. I told Mom today that I have seen more churches in the last three months than I have in the last three years! There are a lot of them here, and many of them are stunning. This one, though, called simply the Cologne Cathedral, wasn't my favorite. It is huge, and very impressive from the outside, but the inside had a really unusual energy. It was cold in there, for one thing - we could see our breath, even though it was nearly 50 degrees outside. And the collection of artwork didn't really seem to fit the space. It was very eclectic, and includes everything from "the oldest remaining monumental crucifix of the western world", dating from the 900s AD, to a huge pixelated stained glass window that the Pope declared was not in fact art. Also, in 1164 the bones of the Three Kings (yes, those three kings) were brought to the cathedral from Milan, and they remain buried there today. Kind of like I can't imagine how much a trillion really is, in real life, I also can't imagine 1164. Or the 900s, for that matter. I would expect people to be traveling by foot, maybe horses for the wealthy, certainly on unpaved roads, and cooking with primitive utensils and whatnot, but then somehow they found the wherewithal to build this:

Oh, and you can't see it, but this priest was standing near the front entrance with a leather money/donation bag around his neck, talking on a cell phone. That also seemed a bit unusual.

After checking out the cathedral, we went to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market). The vendors there sold different kinds of things from the ones in Muenster - it was fun to see.

It was fun to see another new place here, although in ways I can't seem to find words to explain, it did seem like kind of an odd city.

And finally, just because he is so cute, here are a couple pictures of Aengus:

Tomorrow will be filled with gift wrapping and eating. Christmas lasts for three days here, the first and most significant for the Germans is tomorrow (the 24th). I'll be sure to update you on the festivities! Happy Holidays from Deutschland!

Guest post: Martin's house and Nature

2008-12-22T16:51:00.009+01:00

Jane here again. Martin's house is really cool, and the walks with Aengus are really cool, so here are some photos.

Here is the hallway from the living room to the kitchen. My bedroom is along the right.Here is the same view but from further away. Kate's room is in the door on the left.
Here is Martin's room.
Here is the outer room in Kate's room. I guess she has a suite!
Here is Kate's room. Don't you love how bright this house is?

Here is part of the kitchen:

And here is another view of the kitchen:
Aww...

Martin in his office:Here is Aengus on the back patio:

Cool stuff from the walk we took today:

Here are some sheep. Those lumps of dirt are made by moles. The word for "mole" in German is "Maulwurf" which is hilariously ridiculous to pronounce.
And here's Aengus and me in the little woods right across the street from the house.

Guest Post Part II

2008-12-22T16:13:00.006+01:00

Jane here, guest-posting again.

Martin had a birthday last week, and we went to Frankie's restaurant for dinner. The restaurant is called Farenheit 451... no that's not it, but something like that. Martin's friends are good people. Here're some photos from that night.

This is a cute/weird photo of Kate and me. (There is another one that is even cuter, but maybe Kate will want to post it somewhere, it is just that cute.)

In the above photo you can see the carrot ginger soup I had. In the photo below, you can see my empty plate. I had a sort of pizza with fig and goat cheese. It was great.

Frankie gave the table (about 10 of us) a bottle of prosecco to split so we could do cheers for Martin's Geburtstag (birthday).

On Saturday we went to Martin's friend Klaus' birthday party. It was pretty fun. Everyone speaks English, to some degree or another, so conversing went well. Everyone asked where I was from, and as usual in Europe, I found myself telling people "I'm from Minneapolis; it is near Chicago." But some people wanted to know more in detail, so I drew these fabulous maps:

The "C" is for Chicago, the star is Mpls/St. Paul, the "T" is Toronto and the "M" is Montreal. The circles are three of the Great Lakes.

Here's Kate at the party with Frankie, owner of the restaurant mentioned above.

These two guys are Michael and Christophe. They were fun and funny.

I thought I had more, but I guess this post is long enough. Bye for now!

European Road Trip

2008-12-18T22:55:00.028+01:00

If you've been reading along, you know that Jane is here visiting John and me, and on Tuesday she and I took a little road trip. She has friends who live in the Netherlands who were kind enough to host us for a couple of days, and the four of us (plus Jane's friends' two kids) took a day trip to Antwerp, Belgium yesterday. It is a stunning city and was a highlight of my three months here so far. Bear with me as I share our adventure with you...

I have access to a car, so we piled our bags in the back seat and hit the road. I did a small bit of research and found the route I wanted to take, and except for one wrong turn that brought us from Holland back into Germany, we did just fine. It really was only a small detour, and didn't set us too much off course. The weather, however, could have been nicer. This was a pretty standard view out the windows....

Needless to say, we couldn't see much of the scenery, but we entertained ourselves and still had a good time.

We arrived in Tilberg, our destination, at about 6pm - about four hours after our departure from Kasewinkel. Jane's friend Wouter met us at the train station (an easy landmark for out-of-towners), and led us to their home. It is a lovely, cozy European home, and he and his wife Cath were exceptional hosts. About an hour after our arrival, Wouter served RACK OF LAMB that he had prepared, along with a sliced potato dish, beans, homemade cole slaw, and for dessert, a homemade key lime pie. Absolutely amazing.

Then yesterday, after breakfast of toast with peanut butter - a rarity in these parts, but entirely welcome! - we hopped on bikes (literally, for Jane, that's her on the back there) and headed to the train station to catch a train to Antwerp.

Here's the train station in Tilburg:

And this magnificent building is the train station in Antwerp:

Absolutely stunning. Although, the Tilburg train station did have this, which was pretty cool:

Again, Antwerp is Stunning. I had been to Belgium once before, but never to that city. I was impressed.

Here's a photo of Jane and me in front of a statue of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), who was an influential Baroque era painter.

And some Guild Houses built in the late 1500s for individual guilds, or trades (e.g. Coopers, Grocers, Archers, and Carpenters):

Here's the Antwerp Weihnachtsmarkt, with the Cathedral of Our Lady of Antwerp towering in the background. It's the largest Gothic church in the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg):

It is amazing. And huge. And has four Pieter Paul Rubens paintings inside. It was constructed between 1350 and 1520, which is a wonder to me. How could they build something so massive so long ago?

After touring the city for a bit longer, we ended up in a fun and unique bar/restaurant for some awesome food.

Here's Jane's steak with mushroom gravy, and the requisite pommes frites:

Today Jane boarded a train for a couple days in Paris, and will return to Muenster on Saturday. I made the drive back from Holland by myself, and was thinking that it really isn't much different from driving through Wisconsin, except there are fields of miniature horses everywhere, and the highway signs have way more vowels (and directions to the crematoriums, curiously).

Hope you enjoyed the sights. If only you could also capture the smells and tastes....

Until next time, be well.

Job Search

2008-12-16T12:24:00.003+01:00

I did a little job hunting in the newspaper here the other day, and found a few interesting things. For example, any job application must be accompanied by a photo. This is not specific to Germany alone, however apparently in Europe if one is unattractive, he or she won't be able to offer as much to the company. And speaking of he or she, many ads in the paper also specify that both males and females are welcome to apply. That's nice of them. Lastly, the ad that made me put the paper down, was for a model (men need not apply for this one), with exact, specific, required measurements included. Down to the centimeter. Jane says that because the ad is for a model, putting the measurements in there isn't too bad, and helps the company eliminate people they don't want right from the get go. I see her point, but I still think that company is lame. Or maybe the whole industry.

We're off to Holland and Belgium today. We'll be back in a couple days with more tales of adventure. Until then, stay warm, and be safe.

Special Guest Post

2008-12-15T18:40:00.014+01:00

Jane here, posting aus Deutschland. I arrived the other day and proceeded to stay awake for 40 hours. What did we do in that 40 hours? We had wonderful fresh (still warm!) German bread for breakfast. Then Kate and I went on a walk in the countryside. She lives outside of Muenster, in Kasewinkel. Later, there will be an entire post on the whack-jobs that live in Kasewinkel. Here is a cool tree we saw, which is typical of the cool stuff you see around here. This does NOT depict the green that is all around. The very tree trunks are green! I was so goofy from no sleep I had to confirm with Kate that some of this stuff really was bright lime green. Maybe I'll get photos of that stuff later.

We also saw this Audi hubcap:
And this sign, which says something like "Your life is in danger if you enter here."

Then Kate, Martin and I headed into Muenster and met John, his daughter Josie, Josie's mom Nessie, Anna (Nessie's grown-up daughter) and Nick. At this point, I had been awake for about 24 hours. I had two mugs of Gluwein, which is warm red wine. At some point I switched hats with Josie, who is 6 years old. The hat is much more dorky-looking in real life. Here we are:

There was a band nearby playing Christmas songs. The best was when they played Feliz Navidad.
Here are some boots (mine are the burgundy ones):

Later we went to eat at some restaurant that was from 1609. I had some some food that was delicious, and consisted of two kinds of sausage, a pork patty that was great, but I found out later included liver and brains, and some blood sausage which no one touched. The obligatory sauerkraut and potatoes were muy excelente.

Kate, Martin and I returned to their place and somehow killed a coupla bottles of wine. It got a little crazy, and Kate and I busted out the gang signs:

Please keep in mind that in the above photo I had been awake for about 39 hours. In fact, just a few minutes later, I might have dozed off for a second:

I eventually went to sleep and slept for 14 hours. I had been waking up and falling back asleep all morning, and thought no one else was up yet, because I didn't hear them. I guess the walls are really thick in this house, and they had been up for hours. Kate said she was sitting there reading for quite a while, and suddenly mid-sentence she thought I might be dead, and she went to knock on my door. I had just woken up. Imagine my surprise to find out it was 2:00 in the afternoon!!!

So I woke up, Kate and her dog Aengus and I went on a walk, and then we went to the Nobis Krug, which is right around the corner. It dates from the late 1500s. The owner, Ulla, is also the chef. Her grandparents bought the place in 1914. The other four people ordered Sahneschnitzel, and I had one bite of it and can state categorically it was freaking delicious. I ordered the Rouladen, which is a sort of roast beef rolled around pickles and onions and then cooked to such a tender point you can't even discern the pickles and onions, but it tastes great!
Here are the potato croquettes, very delicious:
As you can see, the lighting was delightful and we were right in front of an open fireplace.

And for a coupla final pictures, here is my room:
And here is a big tin of pretzel shaped cookies Martin's mom Renate made for his birthday, which is today. They are excellent, a little bit like shortbread:

And now we are about to leave for another dinner, this time at Frankie's. As you can see, for me Germany is all about food, wine, friends, and food. Oh, and food. This morning at breakfast, Renate told some great stories about bizarre occurences in Kasewinkel (pop. 92), which I hope to recount in another post, if Kate will let me!

A few random observations...

2008-12-11T17:41:00.003+01:00

Muenster seems to have an above average number of tall people. Very tall.
Many farmers here drive new and stylish Mercedes sedans.
Muenster simply turns off many of the traffic lights at night, even on major roads.
The idea of a queue is not entirely embraced here.
When people here sing "O Tannenbaum", they don't sing "O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum", they sing "O Tannenbaum (pause) O Tannenbaum". Maybe not very interesting, but tricky to a non-German singer of the song.

There are certainly more, but these few always make me wonder.

I have fantastic things to look forward to in the coming days. I'll be sure to update you!

Chilly greetings from Germany.

St. Nicholas Day

2008-12-07T18:11:00.008+01:00

Yesterday was St. Nicholas Day. I did a little research just to bone up on the history and tradition of this day, and to help make us all a little smarter (except for those of you who already know this history, of course...). The following is from Wikipedia. I could have just put a link there, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. :)

"The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day, usually on 6 December, is a festival for children in many countries in Europe related to surviving legends of the saint, and particularly his reputation as a bringer of gifts. The American Santa Claus, as well as the Anglo-Canadian and British Father Christmas, derive from these legends. "Santa Claus" is itself derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas.

The history of the festive Saint Nicholas celebration is complex and reflects conflicts between Protestantism and Catholicism. Since Nicholas was a canonised saint, Martin Luther replaced the festival that had become associated with the Papacy with a Christkind ("Christ child") celebration on Christmas Eve.^{[citation needed]} The Nicholas celebrations still remain a part of tradition among many Protestants, albeit on a much smaller scale than Christmas.

In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel outside the front door on the night of December 5 to December 6. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on a per-behaviour basis. This has become more lenient in recent decades."

And, just to show it's not all fun and games, here are the next two paragraphs from Wiki:

"But for many children, Nikolaus also elicited fear, as he was often accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Ruprecht), who would threaten to beat, or sometimes actually beat the children for misbehaviour as using this myth to 'bring up cheek children' for a better, good behaviour. Any kind of punishment isn't really following and just an antic legend. Knecht Ruprecht furthermore was equipped with goatlegs. In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli, he would threaten to put bad children in a sack and take them back to the dark forest. In other accounts he would throw the sack into the river, drowning the naughty children. These traditions were implemented more rigidly in Catholic countries and regions such as Austria or Bavaria.

In highly Catholic regions, the local priest was informed by the parents about their children's behaviour and would then personally visit the homes in the traditional Christian garment and threaten to beat them with a rod. In parts of Austria, Krampusse, who local tradition says are Nikolaus's helpers (in reality, typically children of poor families), roamed the streets during the festival. They wore masks and dragged chains behind them. These Krampusläufe (Krampus runs) still exist."

So, there's the history. Here is how it went down yesterday...

I had breakfast with Martin's mother, Renate, and was greeted at the table by this:

I can't remember what it is called, but it is a traditional bread for St. Nicholas Day. It is also traditional to give chocolate St. Nicks, like the one to the left in the photo above. Fun!

The afternoon held another fun day at the Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas Market, and then in the evening I was invited to some acquaintances' house to sing carols around a huge Christmas tree in their back courtyard.

And, for your aural senses, here's a quick video:

Hope you all had a good day!

The Amt

2008-12-06T12:49:00.005+01:00

Wow, if I would have felt like being more than a fly on the wall, I would have taken pictures. I had my first visit at "The Amt" on Thursday, to check on my residency options here. My legal 90 days were due to run out on December 16th, and not wanting to be here illegally, I took the big step and visited "The Man". Sitting in the waiting room kind of felt like waiting to be processed in a jail, or so I imagine. Interesting group of people, and I was just like them.

Turns out "The Man" didn't speak English, so I had the good fortune of dealing with an extraordinarily chipper young-ish woman, who didn't seem to think there was any problem with my being here, so she said "You have 3 months to find a job. Come back when you have one" (that's chipper, for Germans). So, I am now legal at least through March 4th, with permission to work here, which, believe it or not, is quite a big thing. I even received a fancy little official document that fits in my passport.

That woman, whose name I never learned, really was great, and the whole thing was much easier than I ever would have imagined. Thank you, "Man", and friendly lady at the Amt.

Die Sonne!

2008-12-01T12:43:00.002+01:00

The sun is out today!!! Seriously, it's notable. Even the wildlife seems to appreciate it. The little birds are chirping away, and Aengus and I saw a ton of pheasants on our walk today. He also found a couple deer to chase, which I'm sure the farmers, who are all of course also hunters, loved.

And, in keeping with the harmony of the day, we also heard machine gun fire from the nearby military training ground. It is an odd place, really. It was an airfield during WWII, and I think Messerschmitts (the first jet powered fighter planes) were first tested there. Now it is used as a training ground for I think the German and Dutch military, although when they're not practicing, it is an off leash dog park. Strange, indeed. I have only been there once, but saw spent machine gun cartridges on one of the fields, about six burned out cars, presumably used for target practice, and two of those plastic human target things with bullet holes right through where the heart would be. It has an interesting vibe, to say the least.

Anyway, the sun is out! I'm off to enjoy it...

Yesterday's Weihnachtsmarkt

2008-11-30T16:43:00.008+01:00

Went to the market again yesterday. More pics...

(Notice the ladies with the Santa hats on in the background, too. They were certainly not the only ones!)

Wintery greetings from Germany.

Thanksgiving in Germany

2008-11-29T11:40:00.004+01:00

For the most part, it was a success!

Here's the before picture of the 20 pound bird:

And the after:

And the rest of the food:

It was a super fun night. I spent about 2 or 2.5 days preparing the food, which would have been challenging enough without converting everything from milligrams to ounces, and Celsius to Fahrenheit. Surprisingly enough, the dessert turned out okay even though what I thought was a half cup measuring cup was actually 100ml (which is actually .42 cups).

Hope you all had a Thanksgiving as nice as ours was.

Yesterday

2008-11-25T14:47:00.015+01:00

I'll let these photos speak for themselves, mostly...

This is the street I live on (that's the mailbox on the left):

The Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) started yesterday. It lasts from now until right before Christmas, and goes from morning till night.

And this is Gluehwein (which I have consistently been spelling incorrectly...):

Mmmmm......

I'm sure you'll see more pics like these soon.

More of the same, but better

2008-11-24T08:30:00.012+01:00

I woke up to absolute beauty here, in a way that only happens every 10 years or so. It was the second consecutive day of snow, and it is gorgeous, and a reminder of home.

Here's the view from my bed (notice sweet Aengus there, too):

By comparison, here is how it looked when I arrived:

And this is the garden this morning:

And when I arrived here:

And, in keeping with the snow/dinner theme, here's a pic of dinner last night at the Nobis Krug:

It is called sahneschnitzel (schnitzel with cream sauce), and is pretty much heaven on earth. I guess people have been trying and failing to replicate that sauce for years. It's an old family recipe - the Nobis Krug is a wonderful, old, traditional German restaurant that has been in the same family for decades. It was founded in 1578, and was the first guest house in Muenster, and I guess it originated as a tax station, for people bringing salt to the "city" back then from the east. I have some good, old photos that I will post later.

They're a dog-friendly restaurant - they all all are here, really - so Aengus joined for dinner, too!

We sat right in front of the open fire, which was lovely on a snowy evening:

AND, the Weihnachtsmarkts start today! A perfect day for it. I will stop by this evening for my first gluehwein and will be sure to take pics!

Snowy greetings from Deutschland!

More snow

2008-11-22T14:13:00.008+01:00

Woke up to this today in Kasewinkel. The pic in the post below was from Borghorst, where Josie and Nessie live, but we had snow overnight in Kasewinkel, too.

Oh, and here's a picture of last night's dinner. It's called currywurst, and is basically a cooked bratwurst, sliced, put into a little paper thing, and then covered with curry sauce and curry powder. It's quite popular here, and is almost always offered with pommes, in this case rot/weiss (red/white, meaning with ketchup and mayo).

Warm wishes from Deutschland...

Word of the Day

2008-11-21T18:24:00.002+01:00

Schnee. It means snow.

Lousy day here today. I know it doesn't compare to Minnesota, and I'm a Minnesotan tried and true so I won't complain too much, but it was still a lousy day. I had soup for lunch, though, after being outside for an hour, which really hit the spot. It was a salty broth with chunks of cauliflower, and this weird stuff that looked like slightly orange cheese and with the consistency of tofu, but which was actually egg cut into pieces with sharp edges. Not sure how they did that, but it was tasty.

Not too much else to report. I have bronchitis, although am feeling better today, and the sun still has not come out. I hear November is the worst month here, though, so I still have hope.

Sorry to hear the weather turned cold there. Hang in there...

The City

2008-11-15T17:03:00.018+01:00

Okay, I finally did the tourist thing and took some pictures of the city. As you can see, it was another lovely sunless day.

This is on Salzstrasse, one of the oldest shopping streets in Muenster. It is called Erbdrostenhof, and it was built in the 1750s as a city palace for the deputy archbishop.

This is Prinzipalmarkt, which is an amazing area that goes for about 4 long blocks. Along with Salzstrasse, it is in the Altstadt, or old city.

The Peace of Westfalia was signed in 1648 in one of the buildings on the left, called the Rathaus. It ended the 30 Years War and was the first time a war was ended diplomatically.

Saw these guys while walking...

They look pretty excited. Turns out the Muenster Karneval Prince was was proclaimed today. In New Orleans, I'm pretty sure Mardi Gras goes for 5 or 6 days? Karneval here is the same kind of celebration before Lent, but it started on Thursday and lasts until February. I'll let you make your own assertion there...

The Prince is the one second from the left with the red and white clothes. The man on the very left is the mayor of Muenster. I'm not sure who the woman toward the right is, but I'm pretty sure she is not the Princess.

After that brief diversion, I headed toward my intended destination, the farmers' market.

It is hard to get a good picture of it, but it goes from where I am standing back to the church in the background. That's Muenster's Dom, or cathedral, and this whole place where the market is held is called the Domplatz.

An olive stand...

A butcher....

And one of my favorite things about the farmers' market - Backfisch. Deep fried fish with basically a mayo sauce. Mmmmm.

Oh, and they also have plenty of fruits and veggies, although it's hard to tell from this picture. That's the Dom again in the background.

We're almost done here....just a few pics of a fun area of town with cute bars and restaurants. A lot of students hang out here, and John lives about a block away.

And the Schloss - the huge castle right in the city.

One of two distinctly American sites from today:

Yes, that's a Woolworth. And the second...

It's heads up, so hopefully it will bring me luck. Maybe the sun will even come out again someday soon.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. More to come soon...

I know, I know...

2008-11-12T11:53:00.004+01:00

I swear, I do go into the city, but country living is so new and fun for me! Just look at this cute little cow, for example....

When they're that young, if you give them them your hand, they kind of suckle the fingers like udders with their toothless little mouths.

Ok, I can see that this is too much country!

Someone else has had my camera for the last week and a half, but I swear I will get pics of the city up soon, and of some other things here that you might like to see. In the meantime, here's a picture of yesterday's breakfast table. Today's was much the same.

Every day's is much the same. Fresh broetchen (little bread, literally), homemade marmalade, cheese, various "meats", which I tend to stay away from, and a cup of tea in a mug from Minnesota.

Speaking of questionable meat, about a month ago, before I knew what it was, I had about 4 tablespoons of the best liverwurst I have ever tasted. Could possibly have been the only liverwurst I have ever tasted. I'm not sure I would have tried it if I had known beforehand what it was, but it was purchased fresh from the farmers' market that morning and was exceptionally tasty. Probably won't eat it again for a while, though.

I am going to the city today to pick up my camera, and promise to have intriguing and scenic shots of things other than cows up soon!

Best wishes from Deutschland.

Fog

2008-11-06T11:43:00.006+01:00

As I said before, the sun has vanished. Here are a few pics from Tuesday afternoon:

I hear the Minnesota fall has been spectacular. Enjoy!

Election Day

2008-11-04T13:25:00.002+01:00

It's finally here! Or...there. I did send in my absentee ballot, though, so I feel like a part of it even though I'm thousands of miles away!

And this really is an election for the world. People here in Germany are so excited to hear the results, and an overwhelming majority are hoping for Obama. I live in a very Catholic city, and the newspaper had an article this morning urging people to pray for an Obama victory! I also ran into a neighbor yesterday who said he got a new dog and named him Obama! People are really fired up here.

I am going to make chili tonight and settle in front of CNN to watch the early results come in. Unfortunately, with the time difference, I think it will be midday tomorrow before I will know who won!

Moving Picture

2008-11-03T23:09:00.004+01:00

My hand was kind of shaky, but this is an extremely typical scene here. It is on the edge of the old town (the old town is behind where I am standing), and I shot this while just standing outside waiting for my brother at about 3:00 in the afternoon. The amount of bikes here still amazes me, but this scene is not one bit uncommon.

Teutoburger Wald

2008-11-03T13:47:00.009+01:00

Aengus and I visited the "mountains" yesterday. You can kind of see them in the distance here, behind the windmills:

They are about a 30 minute drive from Muenster. I believe they are the highest point in all of Westfalia, although at only about 1000 feet, they are named for the forest, and not for the mountains.

You can't tell in any of these pics, but it was packed with people - alpine walkers, regular walkers, "real" mountain bikers (as opposed to people riding Hollander bikes in street clothes on flat unpaved paths and calling it mountain biking), and tons of kids and dogs.

The sun was shining for part of the afternoon, which was great, but it soon gave way to more clouds and fog. It was still beautiful, though.

Aengus seemed pretty happy about the trip, and afterward he got to accompany us to dinner at the Nobis Krug to lie by the fire while I ate the best Sahnerschnitzel ever made. It's awesome how accepted and welcome dogs are everywhere here, but I do realize that my love for him borders on obsession!

We're still doing pretty well here. Hope you are well, too. Until next time...

Doldrums

2008-11-01T23:18:00.002+01:00

The sun has vanished here, and I don't think she'll shine again until March. Maybe April. It promises to be a long winter, but I have the Weihnachtsmarkt to look forward to. It is a huge outdoor market, not exclusive to Muenster, with booths for food and various gifts, along with gluewein - kind of like mulled wine. The part I am looking forward to most is the feeling of community from all the people standing around socializing together. The Germans have many occasions to get together, but I remember a certain warmth surrounding the Weihnachtsmark, despite the cold and often rainy weather.

I spent the day in Borghorst with Josie today. My German is increasing enough so that I can get the gist of most everything she says. I certainly cannot understand every word, but we do fine. She is practicing her English, too, which is super fun to see.

There hasn't been much reason to take photos for the last few days, so I'll put a couple from last week when the sun was still shining. Aengus and I are still walking every day, but now I'm adept at keeping an umbrella hoisted along the way.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween. It is not a huge holiday here and I only saw 2 people dressed in costumes (they were about 8 years old). I don't much care for Halloween, so I didn't miss it.

More to come soon. Enjoy the weekend.

One more thing for today

2008-10-25T14:58:00.003+02:00

This was outside my kitchen window this morning...

So cute! I think she's about 4 weeks old. Her mama and a couple other cows live there, too, but they're often in the next field over. Fun to have them right out the window!

Muenster Send

2008-10-25T11:22:00.008+02:00

I went last night to a festival here called Send. It is basically a miniature version of the State Fair, with rides, food, vendors, except that it was held in front of a huge castle here in the city and the food wasn't on sticks. John coined it the Great Muenster Get Together. The people watching was spectacular, although not too unlike what you would find in Minnesota.

Nick, John, and Martin under flattering green light:

We didn't go on the ferris wheel...

But Nick and I did go on this, the "Break Dance":

The four of us then went on one of those boat things that swings on a huge pendulum, and the Wilde Maus roller coaster, which was sketchy enough to scare us all. Once was enough on that ride.

It was a fun night, complete with bratwurst, currywurst, pommes and warm candied almonds. Mmmm. Might go back today with Josie.

German efficiency

2008-10-23T22:29:00.004+02:00

Ever-efficient, the Germans have created packaging that, when the mustard is gone, can be used as a water glass. Evidently they've been doing this since the 60s, and people have cupboards full of them. Kind of the German equivalent to the Uptown pint glass.

Recent Days

2008-10-21T14:21:00.013+02:00

It has been lovely here the past couple of days, although today is gray and rainy. Fortunately I was able to get out into the sunshine a bunch before the clouds rolled in again. I didn't really think the sun shone in this part of Germany, but it turns out it really does, and the fall here has been beautiful.

Went into the city with John and Josie a couple days ago. She snapped this pic of John and me, and if you look closely, you can actually see us.

And, as usual, my walks with Aengus lately have been the highlight of each day. These yellow plants are called Raps and are used to make biofuel. There are fields of them everywhere here, and even though I already have about a thousand pics of them, I can't seem to help taking more.

I took a ton of pictures on our walk yesterday. We were out for about an hour and forty-five minutes, and went along the river Werse, through some fields and a bauernhof (farm), and then back through the woods. It's the best of everything.

Oh, and I gave Aengus a bath on Sunday. Apparently not liking being clean, he decided yesterday on our walk to immerse himself belly-deep in mud. I was too stunned to take a picture of that, but this is the aftermath of his second bath in two days. That floor is normally white.

There are so many other fun things to take pictures of here. I will try to move on to something other than countryside!

Until next time...

Dinner

2008-10-18T14:36:00.004+02:00

Went to dinner last night at Franky's and had the most amazing meal. So good that I asked the chef how to prepare it. It was schnitzel (like a pounded pork fillet) with equal parts onion and dijon mustard, but the onions and the mustard were underneath the lightest of breadings, made only of flour and egg. It was divine. No pics of the food, but here's one of a seriously satisfied Kate.

Also, twice so far today I have heard hooves on the street outside, only to look up and find people riding horses past the house. It's a strange thing to trade the sound of airplane traffic for the sound of horses. I'm not missing the airplanes...

A blog

2008-10-15T23:43:00.004+02:00

Didn't think I would ever have a blog, but it seems to be a good way to document my adventures in Germany. I took the photo in the header at a castle called Burg Vischering, just south of Muenster, which was built in the 1200s.

This is along one of my many walking routes in Kasewinkel with Aengus:

And this is my new ride....

Everyone here rides bikes!