The time I spend not working is mostly what I write about here, and that will be no different on this occasion:) I’m typing a bit carefully right now, because I have a bruise on my left palm below my index finger that swelled up yesterday while playing in the final of the Winter Cup. Frankfurt was the host, so that meant getting there at 8 a.m. to set up, which in turn led me to leave the house at 6 a.m. to get there.  I can’t take all the credit for our 2nd place (out of 20 teams) finish, but I did earn a few points in some of the games on Saturday. It was quite a long day, but it was so nice to lay in the sun for a few minutes between games. We cheered on Frau Rauscher, the Frankfurt women’s team, and I couldn’t help but admire the playing of a few of the experienced players. I have plans to get more involved for this upcoming summer season, and I got some encouraging words from some of the women to practice with them. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how welcomed I’ve felt among the Frankfurt team, and how fast I’ve gotten to know them over the past month. I suppose it happens easily when you spend practically all of your Saturday with each other.

Aine’s short visit from Thursday evening to Saturday morn was great as well, and we saw the German movie, Die Welle (the wave) on Thursday night in Mainz with Rachel and Danni. Apparently it’s based on a true story that happened at a high school in California, but basically is an experiment gone out of control among high schoolers who see what autocracy is really all about. On Friday we were escorted to Wiesbaden by my school principal where we saw the Biebrich palace by the Rhein, and then later the amazing views atop the Neroberg. A rainy day was finally clearing out and we saw a nice sunset before heading into the theater for some refreshment before the performance. Her daughter joined us for the show, which was the Comedian Harmonists, and I liked the singing, and the comical lyrics of this Berliner group who began in the late 1920s. Unfortunately Nazi Germany forced the group to exile, and eventually break up, but their harmony was just perfect. The building itself was magnificent, and during the intermission we checked out the best seats of the house where the former German Kaiser Wilhelm sat. You could see the performers in the eyes, and they could see if the leader of their country was well pleased, or sleeping.

Ok, but now it’s back to work for a few days before Spring Break.

This was the great comparison Lori made regarding the Mother Tongue team that played in a tournament this past weekend in Göttingen. I do credit her for her enduring encouragements to play, and for the hint that I should make my first appearance in a mother tongue jersey. There were many musings as how to initiate the new players, as there were 2 other newbies, many of which included the tongue, but in the end, there was no extra pomp and circumstance in addition to the bucket of first time experiences. Lori cheered so loudly when I got my first point on Sunday morning, that I responded to with a smile and double high-fives, but was definitely a more muted celebration than her jumps and cheers. It was a great feeling at the end of the weekend as we all worked hard, and most importantly as a team to win half the games we played. The party on Saturday night was good, and after the all-Fulbrighter beer race, which the Germans totally dominated us on, we shared our drinking culture by teaching them beer pong and flip cup. This is what being an informal ambassador of the US is all about, right? Another favorite part of the weekend was the dinner we had at an Indian restaurant in the main city. It was family style, and very authentic, meaning amazingly yummy! It’s a good feeling to be part of a team, although I don’t think I’m an official MT member yet if I haven’t played the sport in it’s purest form: outside with the wind in my face. Spring and the outdoor season, here I come!

Did you know that Gutenberg’s real last name was Gensfleisch (translation goose meat)? It’s a funny last name, so no wonder why he wanted to change it! Well, yesterday I found myself in the museum dedicated to his invention, which of course was the movable type. The demonstration in their rebuilt workshop was once again impressive, and I knew I should have raised my hand up quicker to be the one to work the press, as there were no little kids to compete with this time around. Well, I was there, because Christiane and her co-hort Franzi came up for the day on special assignment. I met them in the afternoon, and to our surprise found that there was a special church service at St. Stephen’s (it just happened to be the first Tuesday of the month at 3 o’clock; what are the odds, seriously!), so they’ll just have to come back again to see the pretty Chagall windows. Our time was short, but sweet, and the good news is that I have finally cast-off my first ever hand-made scarf! I wore it today, as it got cold, and it’s 28 degrees out now. I know everyone in St. Louis is snowed-in, but I did see some flurries today, but no accumulation. On the mountains, however is a different story…

This evening was also filled with culture. Rachel and I went to the Opelvillen, which houses different art exhibitions. Henry Moore and his sculpture is the current show, and they offer guided tours on Wednesday evenings, and the museum is open until 9. It was informative, and was surprised at how many others were there. Mind you, most were over 60, but young people care about the arts too! It was a change from the usual movie theater visit, and I’m glad we went. I guess this town isn’t so bad after all-although we did see some crazy speeding drivers as I was waiting for the bus back home. Every city has its problems though.

The bookstore in town hosted a reading by the Krimi (Criminal novel) author Klaus-Peter Wolf, and I was invited because he was reading at our school today as well. It was a small group and I was definitely mistaken for a student and not a teacher, but I kinda dressed the part in my jeans, tennis shoes, and hoodie. He was an interesting guy and told us what happened when he went to a prison to read. He made it very clear that it wasn’t like a school, but also how important it is to read to kids when they’re little, as many of the inmates never had that opportunity. Connection maybe? I have to admit it’s different reading by yourself than being read to. There’s the element of performance included and the characters come more to life. It made me want to go out a buy a book on tape.

I am currently reading Robinson Cruose by Daniel Defoe, and just finished Momo by Michael Ende, the guy who wrote the Never Ending Story. That story was about time thieves, and made the point of just how precious time is. It certainly got me thinking about how I use my time, and this week’s article on lilly7 (see http://www.lily7.com/consider-lily/) was about balance. Basically I have a lot of fodder for thinking about why I do the things I do, and the purpose behind it all. I just ordered some books from Amazon and will get to enjoy them in a few weeks. Motivation’s a good thing.

http://www.klauspeterwolf.de/Aktuelles.html This site’s in German, but gives some background on the author and his new series for adolescents.

Oh, and he’s a pic from Lori’s visit at the beginning of the month.  We’re in front of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.

to Wayne’s Birthday extravaganza I went. Cool points if you just sang that. Well, on Saturday afternoon I joined the birthday partiers for a hike up to Fuchstanz, which is on the outer limits of Frankfurt in the Taunus hills. The day was beautiful, and we took a nice, relaxing, 14km hike (there and back). When I say relaxing, I mean it in a “Wow, the woods are so pretty, and I love being out in nature” kind of way. However, my legs and feet were quite numb once we made it back down the mountain at twilight. Hanging out with some other Frankfurt Ultimate players I met at practice on Friday night was cool and the frisbees were flying up and down the trail. I would have seen even more of them yesterday at a tourney in Mainz had I not been so sore from my sudden sporty re-awakening. I just had no desire to leave the house yesterday when every movement hurt.

Today I can move with less pain, but all I have to say is Wayne knows how to throw a party, if it takes me a whole Sunday to recover from it! I met some other cool people in the evening at his apartment, and almost got talked into being an assistant director of a play. Culture tid-bits: I overheard this question at the party, that you will only hear in Germany: “Do you have to take the kitchen with you when you move?” Yep, that’s right. Germans often take their kitchen with them changing apartments! Fortunately this isn’t always the case and they won’t have to de-frost the fridge and load it into the moving truck this time around.

Moreover, I forgot my movie theater etiquette on Thursday night. I saw 27 Dresses, and went with 3 other friends from town. I forgot that Germans have reserved seating and split off from the group to pay, but realized I had blundered and went back over to them standing at another register together. The woman working there didn’t seem too happy to re-locate me next to them, but, well, just let us pick our own seats if it bothers you so much! I find that there are a lot of commercials before the previews here, and at this theater in Mainz, they come around selling ice cream like you would see peanut and beer vendors at the ballpark at home. It was at least a 5 minute break until everyone got their ice cream before the previews started, and while this is all good and fine, it just kinda bugs me that you come to an 8:00 show, and the feature presentation doesn’t start until 8:30! Na ja… I’ve just realized I’ve seen 9 movies in Germany in the theaters in the past 6 months. I can’t even count the number I’ve seen on DVD or TV.  I need to do this hiking thing more. It’s cheaper and less sedentary.

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday evening here in Germany. A week ago I took my exams, and passed the one, and am waiting for the result of the second one still. I celebrated last week by inviting Rachel over for a game night and drinking Mimosas. We played Uno and wrote a few silly Mad Lib stories, and I showed her some of my pictures of family, and she showed me some of hers. Things got good and busy when Aine arrived in the Rhein-Main area on Thursday evening. We spontaneously decided to join up with a group who were going to see “The Importance of Being Ernest” put on by a student theatre group in Mainz. It was in its original English, and was pretty funny. It was moments like those where the audience was laughing at the joke, that I realized just how English is the lingua franca of today. Only if English was a must for German school students would there have been such a large turn out to an English play. I wish we had something similar at home; and maybe Spanish is becoming that already.

Well, on Friday we spent the afternoon in Darmstadt.

It was another beautiful sunny weekend, but still with cold temps. We walked up to the Mathildenhoehe and passed this statue and the laughing girl on our way. The reflection of the wedding tower in this pool of water was inspired by being at such an artistic place. It used to be an artist’s community around the 1900s and the architecture is in the Art Noveau style. We decided to see a movie as well and ended up seeing “The Orphanage.” It’s produced by Guillermo del Toro, who was also responsible for Pan’s Labrynth. It was pretty intense and suspenseful, but a good film. When Aine went and asked the guy at the ticket counter whether the film was in Spanish with subtitles, the guy looked at her a bit strangely, and said, it’s in German-of course! Pretty much every foreign film here is dubbed, which is something us Americans just don’t understand!

Saturday was our big excursion of the weekend and we headed down to Saarbruecken, the capital of the Saarland, one of Germany’s smaller states.

It’s just about a two hour train ride from where I live, and we joined up with some other British TAs from the area who planned the trip. However what spontaneously ended up happening after we saw the main sights in the smallish capital was that we took the tram to France! This state borders France to the northeast, and it was just a 30 minute ride across the border. Thanks to the European Union and some of its open borders, we enjoyed some French pastries, and did a bit of grocery shopping before returning to Germany.

And of course we bought stereotypical products: cheese, bageutte, and wine. We enjoyed said purchases on the train ride home and I also taught the British guys how to play Bohnanza. It’s a card game where you have to trade different beans in order to get money. It’s great and good for your bartering skills! It was good that some of the guys also had a bit of French in school, or else ordering at the cafe would have been a lot harder. It was weird not being able to communicate, and we even ventured into a cheese shop, but quickly left after entering because after I told the woman “No parle vous Francais,” (I don’t speak French) she uttered a not so sympathetic, “Aww.” So much for French hospitality!

Sunday we just couldn’t stay inside when the sun was beckoning for us to come out and enjoy it. I had gotten a flyer about an Easter egg market that was in a nearby Monastery, so we spent the afternoon gawking at the most beautifully painted, beaded, and etched eggs.

It was amazing just how much time these artists put into painting such delicate objects, and I bought a few for gifts, and for myself.

Lots of other people came out for the market too, and after we just couldn’t see another egg, we got some refreshment of coffee and cake, and took a quick tour of the monastery. The vineyards surround the hillsides of the building, and the monks knew how to make a good glass of wine. There were many barrels inside, and the simple, yet large church was also quite impressive.

We had about 15 minutes back down in the city of Eltville that is on the Rhein river, so we took a quick look around, and were also impressed with a fortress on the river as well as a little promenade. The sun was setting in the background, and it was a nice way to end a lovely Sunday afternoon outing.

Helau!

How many times did I say that at the Rosenmontag parade in Mainz on Monday?

Here were are after about the second hour standing in the cold watching the marching bands, floats, and dancers pass us by. I also picked up quite a bit of candy, but tried to be nice to the little girl next to me, and gave her a few of my bon-bons. Experiencing the fifth season of Faschings in Mainz last weekend was pretty crazy and it all started with going to a costume ball on Friday night. Lori came that afternoon and I had borrowed the parrot and the captain’s hat the day before from Wayne and April. The party was fun and we saw some pretty interesting costumes. There were live bands too, and I tried to learn the words to a Faschings-hit. Something about a star that has your name and that will shine beyond the ages. Romantic, isn’t it? We met some other pirates and left the party shortly before 2am, but had to wait until 4am for the train to take us back to Ruesselsheim.

Back to Monday: The evening after the parade evolved into a huge dance party in the street with more party-hits, and lots of broken beer bottles and trash in the streets. Despite the drunkeness of about 75% of the people in the city that day, it was a fun Rosenmontag.

When we weren’t celebrating in Mainz, we were either relaxing at my place, cooking yummy food and watching movies/Super Bowl commericals, or we were in Frankfurt watching the game live at a sports bar. Why we got so into it this year, I’m not totally sure, but I guess it was the American coming out in us. The after midnight kick-off time didn’t bother us too much, although we did leave the bar around 3am after the 3rd quarter ended and we saw the end of the game back at Wayne & April’s apt, whispering our cheers for the Giants.

Food seems to be a central part of a visit, and we visited some nice cafes in Ruesselsheim and Mainz, me drinking my coffee and eating either ice cream or waffles, and Lori drinking tea or her warm milk with honey. After she left on Wednesday evening, the usual low after a great visit set in, and I realized that I need to do more studying for my upcoming exams on Wednesday. However, I haven’t been cracking the books all the time, and spent the night out in Frankfurt on Friday night with Rachel, Danni, and the other British TAs in the area. I spent a few hours in the library in Mainz yesterday, but will be going for a jog here shortly as the sun has been shining since Friday, well except for at night of course! I’m training for an Ultimate Frisbee tourney in a month, and am wondering who in town wants to break in my new Frau Rauscher disc with me. Any takers?

So, I needed a few days to recover from another adventure-filled weekend, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the pictures from my trip into the Rheinland.  On Friday morning, I hoped on the train and was determined to finish the book Aine had lent me when I visited her last.  I did a good job on the ride up, but I was distracted a bit by the view of the Rhein.  I am still amazed at the castles and small villages that make their home along this waterway.  I should take advantage of this more, and a Rhein cruise is definitely on the agenda this spring.  At 1pm I’m in Düsseldorf, but Aine’s not.  There was a bit of a misunderstanding, and she was on a later train, so that means more time to read!  Once she arrives we walk to the Kö, short for the Königsalle (King’s avenue), for our favorite meal time-coffee and cake.  But that day I was in the mood for something different, so I indulged in a beer in the Biermetropole (Beer metropolis).  After some refreshment we walked futher towards the Rhein to see the architecture in the Medien Hafen (Media port).

We walked by this palace and I swear there’s a statue on the other side of the pond that I’m trying to imitate, so do your best to find it!  We spent just a short time in the city and then it was off to Bedburg to visit Aine’s host family, as she lived with them for a year after high school.  They were gracious hosts, and the house was full of energy from her lively host mom, and 3 brothers.  We spent much of the time at the table conversing, and it was just nice to be in a household, seeing another side of Germany, and hearing Platt!  This is a dialect of German that I’ve been learning about in one of the classes I’m taking this semester, and it was crazy to hear it live.  I could understand it fairly well, but it was a challenge to decipher it at first.

Saturday morning we helped with some moving, an experience in itself, but we just couldn’t stay inside, so we took the afternoon off for a bike ride through the city and its surroundings.  In the first picture you’ll see a few power plants in the background.  This region produces a good chuck of Germany’s energy, and I learned that Aine’s host mom lost her hometown to the finding of brown coal in the area.  We saw the city’s castle and went to the bordering city of Alt Kastel.  It was a great medieval city with the walls around it and a ruin of a fort right next to it.

It felt great to be on a bike again, and the weather was downright spring-like.  That evening was another long dinner sitting around the table conversing.  On Sunday morning, the grandparents came over and brought with them a traditional Karneval baked good, that was basically a round doughnut.  They were so yummy though that I ate about 7 them during the brunch.  The dad liked to put a smiley face on the cappuccino’s foam too during this festive season.   Speaking of, this weekend is the highlight of the season and Lori will be coming in to visit.  We’re going to a costume ball and will be among the masses during the Rosenmontag parade-all in Mainz, one of the centers of Karneval.  Helau!

I had been looking forward to this weekend since I found out last month that the SMD Mainz was having a retreat. If they will go, I come, is kind of my motto regarding retreats. There’s just something special about spending a weekend away together. I got to know the other members a lot better and had some good conversations about faith and other important things. Being the token American, the topic often leaned towards my homeland and how that compares to Germany.

The weather was quite mild, and I didn’t need all the layers of my winter jacket when we took a nice 4km walk in the woods on Saturday afternoon.

Friday night we played quite a few games as a group, such as “We are family,” and this game using paper, rock, scissors (Schick, Schnack, Schunk in German) to advance up or down a level. The levels being a tadpole, fish, chicken, dragon, knight, and wise man. I had won the first two times, but descended to the starting level again, but somehow got on a lucky streak and was the 3rd person to make it to wisehood. But, in all honesty, I got really excited when we played capture the flag on Saturday night. Well, our flags were glow sticks (practical I suppose, but not true to the game’s name)

We played three rounds, and I was mostly staying back as a defender, but in the first game, I was bringing a prisoner to jail, which was in the middle of the field by the referee, when I see that a fellow team member was running toward our side with the flag. By the looks of it, she wasn’t going to make it without being caught, so I run over to support. She is in fact caught, and there was some confusion by the opposing team as what to do with the flag, where I come up and say “Just leave it where it is” but with ninja-like moves quickly grab it and to be polite add a “Danke–Thanks!” and bolt it up the hill to our side. Somehow I fall running up and am sure someone is on my tail, but I make it to the ref safely, leaving the opponents in shock, I suppose. Unbelievable that I got away with it like that when they all were just standing there!

I was also somewhat interested as to what we would all be doing during the retreat as an item on the packing list was clothes and shoes for dancing. Well, it turns out that there was an option of a dance workshop, and of course I was in! We ended up learning a hip-hop choreography to a Kirk Franklin-led gospel song and it was so much fun, I’m still feeling the effects. Seriously, I am sore today, but I liked the dance and we had a nice small group of 5 learning the dance.

Today as I was at the train station in Ruesselsheim, I saw people dressed up in Karneval costumes. There was a parade in town this afternoon, but my bus was taking me out to my house, plus I was so wiped, that I’ll just have to wait for the massive parade in Mainz that’s on the Monday before Ash Wednesday.

As a final note/thought, I saw this huge wooden bear as we were coming back from our hike yesterday. Gotta love Germany!

Alas, my days of sleeping in until whenever I feel like getting up have ended and was back at school this morning. All the teachers greeted one another with Happy New Year handshakes and we talked about our breaks. They of course asked how my time at home was, and some were surprised that I was already back in Germany as of two weeks ago. Christmas does seem a while ago already, although I’m still munching on Christmas cookies that Doro’s mom sent back with me.

But, I used the last days of the long break to visit Aine in her sweet pad in Kierspe in the Sauerland. We relaxed mostly in her hip living area by watching movies and cooking yummy food, but took a trip on Friday to the biggest city in the county-Luedenscheid.

The city had a nice old center and I had to get used to walking up and down the numerous hills. I’m trying to be sneaky and not get caught ringing the doorbell of the Green Party’s quarters, but their office was a brightly-painted house.

On Saturday we mostly stayed in, but ventured on a lunch-time walk to a path that leads out of the city. It was raining some when we started, but once we were in the open, the wind and rain just picked up and we were glad to be back inside after the half hour drinking our hot chocolate. Aine had invited another TA from Spain over on Sunday afternoon for some tea and cake, and we had fun making the Malwurftorte that was just as much cream as cake.

It was a fun tea party and Aine got to display the pretty tea set her landlord let her use in her apartment that is on the lower level of the house. We took the same walk after the cake-eating, but this day it was sunny and I could get a proper view of the hills of the Sauerland. It was certainly an adventure to reach her city not accessible by train (a rarity in Germany), but was well worth the travel. Thanks for a fun and relaxing weekend Aine!