Rollerskate away!

Check out the rollerskates! Starlight Express has been running for 17 years now in Bochum...it was a fun show. All in German of course. I was able to catch some of it, but it doesn't matter what people are saying when they are flying around the theater on rollerskates wearing little skirts. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote this in 1984 and since then has updated it with some new music (a rap number) and also some new trains. (The show is all about different trains, and the ICE is the newest fastest train in Germany). What a crazy job this would be...I think they perform the show 7 days a week. They make dancing and singing while rollerskating look as easy as pie. Good times.

more snow...

Despite the snow, we made it to the market...we settled for Essen, the trains to Munster were so delayed. On the news, they reported that people had to stay the night in old bunkers (from the war) because the trains were not running.

Still snowing!

It has snowed and snowed all night and still now at noon...It is all beautiful and white. Markus' father says he cannot remember the last time it snowed like this. The forecast is for another 6 inches to fall....there must be at least a foot already.

Unfortunately it seems to be popular to push over snowmen. Ours has been knocked over by hoodlums twice now. I give up. Down the street I saw a snowman with a little break your heart sign that read: Bitte, nicht kaputt machen! (Please don't destroy this)! It was still standing tall. I wonder if the vandals actually have a heart. I think they just haven't seen it yet...

Evidently, the trains are broken and they had to close the Autoban to fix the powerlines. The snow has closed the airport in Dusseldorf, so it's a stay at home sort of day. We may be able to take a train to Munster...we'll see.

I forgot to tell about our Autoban adventure last week...Markus was driving the new Passat home from his uncles and we topped out the odometer at 115 MPH. We were flying but it didn't feel so fast...plus we were getting passed by other cars...crazy.

Schnee!

This is our Snowman. We were out of carrots. Personally, I like the rose better. He will always smell roses!

It hasn't snowed like this in a few years here...we were the only people out playing in the snow. It is incredibly sticky and light....perfect for snowmen.

Christmas in Deutschland

Weihnachsmarkt (Christmas Market)...in Dusseldorf. I have had the infamous Gluhwein and it was good to me...this is a hot, sweet red wine. The weather here is unbelieveably windy with rain slapping against the house tonight. We are staying in.

Last day of school...

I have my suitcase all packed and I finish the last class today. It is somewhat sad...my classmates have proved to be so likeable and going to class is such a pleasure. This morning I woke up to snow with a bit of a hangover...we all went out last night to Stammtisch. This is some German tradition that always falls on Thursday. I think. Actually I don't know what it is, just that we all meet at the bar and people drink many beers. I chatted with a guy from Poland about American cars. I have never met anyone so infatuated with 'Motorization' as he calls it. He has been to Detroit to the car museum and is especially in love with the Dodge Charger. I didn't feel like breaking his heart by telling him the truth when he asked me if I thought American cars were reliable and beautiful. It was cute.

There was also a slide show of the group. I have been to some of the events, but there is a group that has definitely developed a clique, even with a few new loves. They were all kissy kissy in the pics... It's kind of funny to me, sort of cute and sort of disturbing at the same time. Oh well.

I will go to Gelsenkirchen now to stay for the remainder of my trip.

Books for Birds

Every day I see pigeons. Many of them actually make it into the train station and become part of the morning foot traffic. I have seen them browsing the book store in the station...they seem to flock for the romance novels.

Cock-a-doodle-doo

So, on the train ride home from the brewery, everyone was happy with a few beers and it was a quite jovial group. Somehow I was trying to describe the Wisconsin country side, but since I don't know the word for cow, I mooed like one. From there, we all got started with this....comparing the different animal sounds from our respective countries. Mexico, the USA, Bulgaria, Korea and France were all represented. It is so hilarious how different they all are. ribbit-ribbit, oink-oink, bow wow, meow, cock-a-doodle-doo... Everyone loved the rooster, they made me do it three times. I found myself a bit embarassed for this sound, blushing while cockadoodledoing on a train. They all loved it and with a few beers it is hard to stay embarassed. I find this so interesting! It's not like the rooster speaks english, roosters around the world sound the same, but everyone hears it so different. I can't even begin to spell the Korean words, but they seemed to have a lot of Gr sounds. American dogs would be able to communicate with Bulgarian dogs, both having the bow-wow in common.

Diebels Live

This is the brewery where they produce more beer than I have ever seen in one place. For over 100 years, Diebels has been producing beer. We toured the brewery, and then had beer and dinner. The machine where they clean the returnable bottles was amazing. The multiple machines take the bottles through the process of being cleaned, filled, capped, and packaged. It was quite an assembly line.
I was not sure how to eat this fried hunk of flesh. I managed to get a few good bites. There were 17 of us at one table. Imagine the table with 17 of these plates. The sourkraut was good but I did not care for the potato pasta buried under it.
This is one of my classmates. Her German is super and she speaks with more playfulness than I have heard. She is amusing. I only met her once. By the way, I believe Woodman's in WI sells Diebels beer if anyone is interested...

One more gray day

The weather here is stubborn and gray. It will not budge. I am starting to understand the classic German winter that Markus speaks of. I think it would be more difficult than winter in Wisconsin. It is warmer yes, but incredibly gray. We have sun and cold, take your pick.

It is my last week of school. One month is officially too short. I am starting to be more comfortable but I now realize I have so much more to learn. I will have to come back again.

I left Markus in bed this morning and took the train to school. He is suffering from jet lag and went to bed at 4 in the morning. I hope he will catch up. Last night, we visited his uncle and cousin. His cousin has a built a new house and it was interesting to see new construction in Germany, they build with bricks and plaster walls mostly. They rarely use wood to frame the house like we do in the USA. They heat with a small wood stove inside and it was so nice and warm. They also have heated tile floors. I would love to have both of these at my house.

Tonight I will go to Diebels brewery for a tour and to sample the beer of course. I think it will be a good time.

Fog

This church in downtown Gelsenkirchen, we wandered around there yesterday....it isn't big but still it's nice. There has been amazing fog here. It is a nice addition to the gray sky and it sometimes lasts all day.

Bikes and more bikes!

You have to love a bike store where you can browse at bikes on a bike! They had some very cool models, all the commuter bikes with fenders and lights and cheap! We may buy one to bring home. They are just too cool.
This is the Dutch style...all enclosed. They are super fun to drive.
Markus in motion....

Ballet

Last night I attended this Ballet in Gelsenkirchen. I got this pictures off the internet. It was quite a production with as many as 25 people all dressed in these see through fishnet costumes everyone with a thong. One could easily imagine them dancing in a fetish night somewhere in a dark club. The audience sat captivated and clapped for a full 10 minutes at the end. The end was a bit funny to me, perhaps it has been ages since I was at a ballet performance, but the troop must have bowed 40 times or more. First all together 5 times, then in pairs, then again all together. Then they repeated the whole thing again. There was one woman wearing a real ballerina type dress. It was quite something....more tool than I have ever seen one person wear. She could hardly keep on the ground, she looked as if she would just float away on a pile of tool. I usually don't think of myself as prude, but I have to admit that it took a half hour or so to get past all the bare butts dancing on stage. They all had amazing bodies and the costumes sure showed them off.

Markus is here!

I am now in Gelsenkirchen for the weekend with my honey. It is very nice to see him. He is quite smiley also, so I suspect he missed me.

Perhaps, I may go to a ballet tonight. I said I would go as long as it is not the Nutcracker. That will just put me to sleep.

French Fries

This is one of the many art museums. I have seen the Henri Matisse exhibit twice here.
This is the house next door. This Mini is always parked here. It is adorable. One time I was on the bus and I think I saw it out...it was gone when I got home. What a small world! I went out with a boy from class for French Fries. There are multiple places that sell nothing but French Fries. The sauce is a sweet curry sauce, mayo and onions. Vincent loves this. He lives in S. Korea and his dad is some sort of weaponry scientist and owns a company with 3000 employees. We ate our fries and chatted in broken Geman mixed with broken English. He is 17 and here to study for high school. He is quite entertaining in a 17 year old way. He told me in total seriousness that he wants to be the president of S. Korea and work for peace. I asked how his dad felt about peace, since it would seem that with peace (we may not need guns) he would not be affluent with houses around the world. As Vincent is gesturing with a fake gun in the air (neither of us know "weapons" in a common language), he tells me his dad thinks there must be guns to have peace. I suppose this is one way to peace. We also talked about how S. Koreans feel about N. Korea. It was very interesting and totally timely since that day George W. was in S. Korea trying to make nice with them. Evidently, Bush doesn't help with his rhetoric about how barbaric N. Korea is. Vincent says there is a clear distinction between the government and the people there. The government is bad and the people are nice. It is always a chore to attempt a conversation like this, even with someone that speaks your language. I have to say I don't know much about the history with N. an S. Korea, but it seems that maybe George knows less.

Yesterday I was reading about American Democracy in the New Yorker...I didn't know that Webster (the dictionary guy) was so extreme! He was not Thomas Jefferson, that's for sure. Webster fought against the people that wanted to amend the voting laws for everyone to get a vote. He felt that one had to earn the right to vote with an education and by owning property. I can't help but feel for him. I remember feeling so bummed out that I only got one vote in the last election despite all the news I read and how educated I was about it. My one educated vote equaled the one totally ignorant vote, of the guy who thought Kerry had a big nose. Good old American Democracy. That was quite a tangent.

Shopping!

How much is that doggie in the window? The one decked out with Rhinestone collars??
Even headless models look good here.

This is boot heaven. Unfortunately my accountant has advised me not to frequent these shops. My friend went here and took a picture for me (yea right)...I may have to partake in a nice shiny brown pair...

Donnerstag

Everytime I hear the word I think of reindeer. It is Thursday. Tomorrow Markus arrives in Germany. That will be exciting! Today we had a test in class and I thought it was easy! So did everyone though, so it must have been really easy. We are learning so many new words! Also past tense verbs, these are good to know. Up until now I have only known present tense verbs. Imagine trying to talk with only one timeframe. I have go to the supermarket. (instead of) I went to the supermarket. Like I said yesterday you say what you know. I surely sound like a 4 year old.

It is fun to see people here become friends. I am not making too many because I will leave and I hate goodbyes. Some people will study here for many months.

I may be getting a cold. Today I sneezed and sniffed my way through class. I hear it snowed in Wisconsin. That must have been nice.

My favorite classmates

On my right is Rueben. With spikey black hair and glasses, he is from Venezuela but works for 5 years on an American cruise ship. He has traveled much of the world working as a server on the ship. He is one of the most likeable, unassuming people I know, he is always giggling at something. Rueben told me he can carry up to 16 plates on tray, while wearing a suit and a smile. This is an unbelievable feat to me. He wants to learn German to better serve the people on the ship.

Then there is Francis on my left. She was born in Greece and went to architectural school in Michigan. She lived in downtown Chicago until this September when she moved to D-dorf with her new husband. They met through her job in Chicago, he is also Greek, but born and raised in Hamburg, Germany (where they speak 'high German'). He moved to Chicago for one year to work, and now he transferred here. They would like to move back to the States. I went out to dinner with them last night. She has a diamond rock almost 2 karats. It is super big. The joke was that since no one is into diamond rings in Germany, her husband says everyone will think it is fake. They will possibly move to Switzerland soon, they are living out of boxes in an apartment from his company. He drives a company car and listens to Christian music. I think if I lived here I would be friendly with them....they are really good people.

I am having a lot of fun in class. There are a couple class clowns who always distort the practice exercises a little....for example today we had to describe our ideal house. We had a castle and a vineyard, the group next to us had a big apartment next to school for nurses.

It is always funny to try to describe something with a limited vocabulary. You settle for something you know how to say. For example in a restraunt. I will order something that I understand and can say. It isn't always my first choice but I settle for it. This isn't a bad way to live. One learns to be flexible and happy. Or flexible and unhappy.

Yesterday I had a hilarious conversation from a Greek student here to learn classical piano. She had not one nice thing to say about Germany, the food, or the people. She has been here 1 year and has 4 to go. I think that some people are just like this. Flexible and unhappy. She chooses to be here, learn German and eat the food, although unhappily. Her complaining was comical. She was unforgiving when describing German tendencies and especially she when describing the breakfast here (lots of bread, cheese, and meat or boiled eggs is common). She said 'Sometimes I see people eat bratwurst for breakfast!' This horrified her. The only thing that she seems to like here is the piano.

So, overall...I really can't complain.

Mittwoch

Sorry for the short posts as of late. I am slowly starting to get into a pattern here, it feels more familiar. It is a funny thing. For the last 3 days I have leisurely walked to the bus stop until I saw the bus, then I jog to catch it. In the same place for three days I have had to run. One would think I would learn to leave the house 30 seconds earlier...I see the same children pushing each other around on the bus. I see the same mothers scolding their children. I walk by the same shops, I recognize street names. I even gave a man directions yesterday. I know just as I feel secure here, I will be leaving. The time goes so fast!

I went to the Henri Matisse exhibit yesterday for the second time. I enjoyed it more I think. He certainly went through many styles of painting, although kept a consistent theme of bare breasted women. It was interesting because along side the exhibit were some photos taken in his studio in the 1930's. The photos show him painting with a naked woman posing for him. It is so interesting how provocative the photos are...and how the art is so different to look at. A nude painting vs. a nude photo. Pornography vs. art? Is that the question?