Yes, you HAVE to read this.

It's the first week of classes and as usual, there is only a bit of preliminaries, and you get out of class an hour early. I'm not complaining, I just feel sorry for you, cause you have to read through another waste of words from yours truly. And this time I really don't know where to start. I'm not listening to any music so there goes that topic. My favorite soccer team lost last night, even though it was close. They're still on number 2 in the rankings, but they need to win their next game. They have lost two in a row now, after a 13-game not-losing streak. And they played with 11 against 10 for the last 25 minutes too. What a bummer. Have you noticed the alliteration I used above? Pretty sweet, huh? I just couldn't let it go unmentioned. It's the only thing this post has going for itself. I almost feel sorry for it. I mean compared to the other ones, it lacks in quality and quantity, even though it has come to my attention, that some are considered 'longwinded'. A ludicrous claim considering that I write the facts and nothing but the facts. Meanwhile, I am totally hijacking this blog. Christina just doesn't have time to post, and when she gets home from work she just doesn't feel like it. I don't blame her. Well, I guess that's it for now. I just hope this post will be able to handle the teasing from its peers. Maybe I will have to give it an outstanding feature that sets it apart from the rest, and that it will be envied for. Like a name. And a tenseful build-up depicting my train of thought coming up with such a grand idea. So everyone that's reading this: Give this post a name! Show your compassion and help relieve some of the damage that its creator has caused. Your help is very much appreciated and will be rewarded.

I made it - ain't nobody believin' me

That's a line from 'Somebody's Gotta Do It' from the latest Roots album. Just to let ya know. Yesterday was quite eventful. I passed my test in LDV (pat on the back) and if I pass the DaF one as well everything is going as planned. I don't expect it to be too much of a problem. And then this semester will be the last one where I have to take classes and then it's my thesis and more oral exams and I will hopefully be done next summer. Awesome.
Then, while I was waiting on the bus to go get my results for the test yesterday (because they wouldn't tell us right away) some drunk dude was at the bus stop and he was just totally gone. In the end he was laying in front of the chairs under the little roof passed out. Of course it was a little bit of a dilemma cause on the one hand I felt sorry for him, but on the other, what could I do that would help him?
Then, when I took my car to do some grocery shopping, there was a flyer stuck in my door, not on the windshield as usual. And it was for a whorehouse here in Trier. I'm not even kidding. I can't make stuff up that's this good. With directions and an internet address and everything.
And finally to round things off, we went over to Alice's house to carve pumpkins. Plenty of fun. Well first we ate a Nudelauflauf we had prepared and some tasty pieces of pumpkin that Alice made and that broke our heart. Bummer. Then we went to gutting and carving and for my first carved pumpkin, I didn't mess it up completely. So plenty of mentionworthy stuff in one day. And that was only Monday. Unfortunately, we have a dentist's appointment today, so let's not get our hopes up.

What's glowing in your backyard?

I should be studying for my test on Monday, but instead I thought I'd write a little something for my hungry audience. Only problem is, I have nothing to write about. But that has never stopped me before. I will just ramble on. That's smarter than you think cause I'm actually listening to Led Zeppelin, not II though, Houses of the Holy. Good record. So I guess I can talk about music a little. Had to happen sooner or later anyway. While in France, and I kinda mentioned it in my previous post, which apparently some people found too long, I acquired some CD's that I have been looking for for a bit already. I got There's A Riot Goin' On by Sly and the Family Stone, Hard Again by Muddy Waters and Sensimilla by Black Uhuru.
Hey Alice is calling. Hi Alice!
But back to the music. Let's start with Black Uhuru. I only knew one of their songs, Sensimilla, before I bought it, which I listened to from a reggae compilation I once borrowed from the Vigo County Public Library. That was a good compilation too, that introduced me to some reggae artists besides Bob Marley. Anyway, knew one song and the fact that they were produced by the famous Sly and Robbie. Don't know that much about them, but apparently they are a very important team of producers and are connected to the dub sound. Great album, even though we have different ideas about the use of certain plants. But it seems that good musicians work better when drugged.
Next up we have Sly and the Family Stone. Everybody knows 'Everyday People' by them, which is not on this album. This one is somewhat political and REALLY funky. Or something. At one point, and this is especially strange for me as a German, they are actually yodeling on that record. Crazy shit. No other term for it. Also, their music greatly influenced Miles Davis during his 'electric' period, so I just had to check it out.
Now we come to Muddy Waters, and here I actually have half a story to tell. I'm really not into Blues that much, but after starting to listen to Bob Dylan and some American folk music, I got more interested. So I went for the obvious, BB King and Ray Charles, but for me they go more into R&B than the kind of Blues I was looking for. Not that I don't like them, but I was ready for something dirty and raw. So what do you do when you want to find out about music? That's right, you plan on visiting your girlfriend's family, so you can listen to music on the plane. Too much effort just for that you say? Well, I like elaborate plans. Never know when they're gonna get you. So on the plane, actually on the way back cause I wasn't gonna give those bastards money for headphones that should have been free, but on the way back I had some (Thanks Brandi), and I was checking that stuff out. And there was Hard Again by Muddy Waters. The little text said, that it was his first release after a little bit of a hiatus. I could check if that's true, but why should I? It's not like any of you care. Heck, I could tell you he recorded this in his underground lair in the mountains of Kansas, living off of frosted mini-wheats and concentrated orange juice for 3 months and 4 days, and using a home-made plywood rubber-band-powered tape recorder with 173bits,and you'd still believe it. You are so silly. But it was an awesome listen on that plane. So I look for it in the stores here and, can't find it. But they had it in France, for a great price, and I just couldn't resist. Got the Black Uhuru for cheap too and Sly and the Family wasn't too bad either. They called it Nice Price.
So to make a long story short, I'm very much enjoying these CD's. Do I think you care? No. But it was time to write something short and snappy and I had to deliver. Except it's not short, or snappy, but it's less long, less interesting and it sure as H-E-double-golf-clubs will keep anyone from coming back here. NO! Don't leave. I was just joking, you know I crave your attention. I ever tell you about this fortune I got in a cookie? It said 'Everybody loves you'. I am not kidding you. How can those things be so much on point? But still get the lotto numbers wrong every time? Alright, I will investigate and post the results later.

Another wacky adwenture

Bonjour mes amis, Christina and I took a trip to France on the weekend. We left on Friday around noon and got back on Sunday night. Our destination was the beautiful town of Chartres which lies about an hour southwest of Paris. We went there to see one of the most important gothic cathedrals, which one of my relatives enthusiastically talked about the weekend we spent in Wiesbaden. So we thought we better take the opportunity to go there while we still live so close to France. The drive was about 4 1/2 hours, and we only had a little bit of bouchon around Paris, not that we didn't expect it. What worried me more were the monkeys, that were hanging on to all sides of the car, and their bananas, but more about that later. Okay, so where do I go from here? You know this will be long so you better get something to drink or a snack cause I'm going to keep you up all night. It's cold today, isn't it? So we drive and drive and drive: through Luxembourg, and into France and at Thionville we take a shortcut that takes us down this beautiful, curvy road with lots of trees and we did not get lost, and we get on the autoroute, which costs money, and we drive through the Champagne region, and we approach Paris, and we drive and drive, and finally, we see the cathedral, towering from afar.
It was truly a magnificent view. The cathedral's up on a hill, so when you drive in all you see is the cathedral, as if it's sitting far away in a field or something. Or at least almost. So we get there, get turned around a little and go straight to the cathedral because: Oh no, I'm not telling yet. Have to create tension, tie my readers to these words. We found parking and get out of the car (surprise, surprise) and what do I see on my car? Unbelievable, that pigeon I mentioned earlier, that was sitting on my car when we left, was still sitting there. Rode with us the whole way. Have you ever heard such madness? It must have gotten tired of flying. At least it could have helped carrying the car, but how do you argue with a pigeon in France, knowing only enough of their language not to starve? Next thing, we are walking towards the cathedral, up these little roads until we are right in front of it. Two towers...well...towering high above, all kinds of sculptures all over the place, flying buttresses galore. The church is pretty 'fat' for cathedrals I think, a lot of the others I have seen give a less wide impression. So we walk in and, as anyone who has ever been in such a building will know, the first thing you do is look up, only to realize that, yes, the ceiling is really, really high. Mon Dieu! Apparently Chartres has one of the largest vaults in all of Europe and on top of that the sides are also pretty wide when you're inside. They also have one of the largest collection of stained glass windows there that, what else, tell stories from the bible. And finally, we have reached the because. In Chartes there is, on the floor and made with black and white stones, a labyrinth, that is usually covered by chairs, but that is cleared on Fridays. You can't get lost in it, but we were told that we should definitely walk it, in and out. The reason they have it, is because pilgrims come to Chartes and when they enter the church, they walk the labyrinth. It is to symbolize their journey, and I personally read it as a metaphor for life, and it offers a look at life that I found very interesting and rewarding. Now I'm not the most religious type, but I think everybody knows the times of uncertainty or doubt or what-have-you in life. And religion is what people use to cope with the things they can't explain or when they seem to be stuck. So while I realize that there is a pretty good chance that religion is basically something that humans made up to explain what we don't understand, I do think that the metaphors that are used can help to evaluate certain things. They just shouldn't be held up as the only valid truth that leads to the solving of all problems or you go to hell. Oh and when I say religion, I mean Christianity, don't know about the others. Doesn't make sense right, well, I might elaborate later.
So we walk the labyrinth, and the path is curving and there is only so much that you can predict, even though you always see the middle, and finally you get there and you can stand still for a moment and look around and it seems you have reached a point of clarity, you can see clearly for as long as you stand there, but ultimately you have to walk back, things are just as confusing as they were before and you just have to trust that however twisted the way is, it will always lead you back out. You see the parallels, right? Life is a winding road and it is hard to tell exactly what your goal is, and you wish so much you could see around you and know exactly what will happen, and you might reach that point at some time, but this clarity cannot last forever, you will have to walk on, cause the moment you see clearly, is also the moment you stand still. I think that is not entirely wrong.
We looked around a little more, but went to check in at the hotel, since we were taking a guided tour the next day. The hotel was right on the river that runs through the town, the Eure, and it was so pretty. I like that, how in towns that are on two sides of rivers, the river is actually like a canal, and there are old walls everywhere, and houses right on the river. Better not drop anybody out the window. You could also still see the places where people used to wash their clothes. We were told that there are good, but expensive restaurants along the river, and holy-maloney, they were expensive. But we found this other cool place, that turned out to be the 'hip' place to go, and the food was cheap. Unfortunately, I could only read parts of the menu, and we ended up getting these dark, crepe-style pancakes, filled with cheese and ham and what have you. I thought we were getting something with bread. Oops. Luckily we were almost starving and after initial skepticism, it was a pretty good meal. We also had a tasty white wine with it. Can't go to France and not drink wine. That's out of the question. We finally wandered back to the hotel, by walking all over the historic downtown and checking out the cathedral by night. And when we were walking back by the river, what do we see? That ole dog that I mentioned before, that sat on our car, was taking a bath in the river. The nerve. So I told her, hey, if you want a ride home you better wash yourself good and get some money together, cause I ain't taking no stinking, broke and hungry dog home with me. See how I didn't use bitch? Wrote that first, but thought it was too obvious. No need to make that joke for the 100th time. At the hotel we just went straight to sleep, and if we didn't you'd never know cause I wouldn't tell.
The breakfast buffet at the hotel was excellent. Croissants and baguette and everything you could ask for. The tour wasn't until 12 so we walked around a little and shopped (they had a great selection of music at the local FNAC, There's A Riot Goin' On is all I'm saying for now) and we got some tasty chocolate and a bottle of Bordeaux. That may have been after the tour, but who keeps track of these things. Tour was okay, mostly about the windows, also went up the north tower, which is the fancier one of the two and visited the Crypta. All very interesting, but I don't want to make y'all jealous and I want to spare you from the details. Plus I'm getting tired of typing. But you insist on hearing all about our great lives. Had a picnic with baguette and cheese on the steps of the cathedral, with swarms of kids looking at the town, craziness. We had planned on going to eat that night and drink a little but we ended up getting french fries at the bar and a little bit of wine. Merci beaucoup to the French waiter who was patient with my lack of French and didn't charge us for the fries.
Another great breakfast, with the only trouble being the rhinoceros that kept blocking the buffet, I was starting to get sick of that thing and seriously considered not taking him home with us. So now we are heading home, with a quick stop at the Chateau de Versailles. Found the way there easy, took a guided tour and looked at all the gold and the paintings and there is just so much to see, it's overwhelming. And I'm sorry to say this, but that stuff was gaudy as hell. It's so over the top it's unbelievable. But hey, if you're the king and had a mistress, why not give her outrageous furniture for her room, IN YOUR VERY OWN CASTLE!!! I bet he promised Madame Bovary he would one day marry her and so she kept sitting there hoping, but really all he wanted was some skin. Or maybe she was playing him for the money. Okay, Versailles was pretty, basically what I expected, still cool though.
And now the trouble begins. I had directions printed from the 'internets' that worked pretty fine. But I forgot to look up the way from Versailles to Trier, so we end up heading into Paris, our map is not detailed enough to tell us where the heck we're going and when we see the Eiffel Tower we know we're not right. Merde! After a number of wrong turns and missed turns and growing tension in the car, (I had by that time told the freaking ostrich who's boss and it was hangin on to the back of the car, from the outside) I say, let's just head back in the direction of Chartres, and as soon as we can, we just get off and head the opposite way. Turns out that that's a long way around, but we made it back home. Zut alors. We also stopped in Reims to check out the cathedral there, and it was pretty cool too, but we didn't have much time, so we got us a bottle of Champagne, that is real Champagne people, not fizzy wine, for a very fair price, and the guy even told us that it's an excellent kind (take that Moet & Chandon and all you other 50 Euro bottles) while we were trying to pick some out. Not that I'd know the difference, but so what? Back in Luxembourg we get some gas and head home. I park the car and finally, after clinging to the bottom of the car for the entire weekend, that stupid turtle decides to walk off. And all of a sudden it starts running real fast and takes a leap and PUFF! just goes up in smoke and a mysterious key falls to ground. Attached to it was a rolled-up piece of paper with a weird message and a map, but that will be the topic of another story.
So now you think, 'Finally this is over and I can go back to eating my ice-cream, but no, I just keep rambling on and on and never stop. So what have we learned on this trip? When traveling near Paris, make sure you have good directions and a detailed map. It helps to know the words on a menu when trying to figure out what you're ordering. And never, ever, ever, ever travel with wild animals. Oh, and you have something on your chin there, yeah, now you got it. Sorry, where was I, oh yeah, lessons learned. Well that was pretty much it. Weather wasn't all that great but who cares. Better to go in rain than not to go at all. Hey, another great comparison to life in general. Or is it? Anyway, it was fun talking to you, remember how much I love you all, and maybe it's time you took the trash out.

B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y-!

It's Christina's birthday today! Everybody give her a hug. I just want to use this opportunity to tell her Happy Birthday (again). I consider myself so lucky to be with such a wonderful woman. I know, this is hella cheesy, but it is a great way to tell all the world that I love her. And I don't know anything better to write. I hope you can get over the crappy presents. Well, I could go on about how great it is to be with her, to hear and see her laugh, to go on trips with her, to act silly with her and all that good stuff, but I'll spare you. I love you, Christina.

Where am I?

There isn't much to talk about except that I have to work all day today (usually I get off early on Fridays) and I even have to come into work tomorrow for a company meeting. It is going to last all day on a Saturday. That is just inhumane. Actually, I need to be preparing a presentation for the meeting for the project I am project manager of, but I am feeling lazy today. Like most other days. However, since I don't have too much to tell, I thought I would share a funny story with you about Christoph. I know what you are thinking....a funny story about Christoph....that could never happen. Well, here goes anyway.

What I am about to unfold occurred during the week that we got back home from the US at the beginning of September. Since my boss needed to catch a train to go to Berlin and was late (like always), I had to go with him to the train station so I could take his BMW back to his house. So I said goodbye to my boss and then had the problem of actually getting his car back to his house. If any of you non Germans have ever driven a car in Germany you know how complicated it can be to drive here. Especially when you don't usually drive here, don't know the roads too well and don't have a valid German drivers license. But of course me being me, I told him that I could handle it and that I would figure it out. Silly him, he trusted me. I knew I could just call Christoph and he would come take the car back to his house. So I called Christoph from my cell phone and asked him to come to the train station to help me. I could tell that I woke him up, but it was like 12:00 p.m. so he needed to wake up anyway. So I asked him if he was awake and he lied and said, "Yes." So I asked, "Can you come to the train station and pick me up?" He was like, "But I don't know where the train station is or how to get there." At first I was just silent, because we have been to the train station hundreds of times and I know for sure that he knows where it is. Then I said, "Ummm what?" He then asked again, "How do I get to the train station from here?" I then started to tell him, but then was like, "Hey is this Christoph? I am at the BAHNHOF.....in Trier...." Then it clicked. He was like ok. But I decided then that it would be better if I drove the car to our house (which I managed to do) and pick him up. When I got there, he told me he thought we were in Indiana and he was trying to figure out how to get from our house outside of Jasonville to the train station in Brazil, IN, because he had never remembered seeing one there. Isn't it crazy how when we are asleep it is like another reality takes over? Ok, so this story doesn't sound so funny once it has been written down, but if you would have been there or if you would have heard me actually retell it, you would have peed your pants. Well, ok maybe not, but at least you can pretend like it is at least a little funny....right?

Wow, what a wicked weekend

So I guess I better tell you about our weekend with the family. I'll leave out the boring parts. Alright, who am I kidding, there'd be nothing left to tell. Plus, I'd make it boring, even if I could make it interesting. That's how much I care about you all. So it all started one Saturday morning, the sun was rising over the lush green hills of Trier, and we had to get up at like 7:30. Considering that when I have to go to school and Christina to work we sleep until 8:00 at least, that 30 minutes really hurt. I'm still feeling it. So sensitive. I think we left around 8:20 or so, so we could meet at 10:30 at the hotel in Wiesbaden. The rest of my family left at 6 from Löhne, so we thought, we might be a little late. So we get on the Autobahn here in Trier, and pretty much right when we get off to drive the Hunsrückhöhenstrase, a car is flashing its lights at us. We were like, What's that guy's problem?, until we saw the cars stopped and lined up. Great, on the road for maybe 15 minutes and we're stopped for who knows what. Well, it wasn't all that bad. There had been an accident and a helicopter had landed on the road and people had to wait for the oncoming traffic to go around it. Plus there was police and a firetruck further down where the car had crashed. Didn't look too bad though. So, we're not even there, and I've already written all this crap. I bet you're getting really excited. And let me tell you, it's going downhill from here. The rest of the way was fine though and after a little bit of a search we found the hotel.
And I gotta say, the directions I got off of viamichelin.com were okay, but when it tells you to turn on K467 or something, right in the middle of Wiesbaden, you know you're not gonna find it. Streets have names in the cities, not numbers. So we get there thinking we're definitely late now, but nobody's there yet. Good. But they got there like 5 minutes later so that worked out perfect. We meet all the relatives: My aunt and uncle, two cousins, my cousin's boyfriend, my brother and girlfriend, mom and dad (so far everybody's from Löhne), my dad's cousin and husband and his other cousin and wife (these folks are from or around Wiesbaden). My grandma and sister couldn't come. We check in at the hotel and pretty much leave right away to look at this hot spring right in front of the hotel and take a bus to the train station. We take a train from there (bet you didn't see that one coming) to go to Rüdesheim on the Rhein. And now, the first highlight: On the train we were treated to Weck, Wurst and Wein. They pronounced it different but I'm not even gonna try to spell that. Which basically that's a bread roll with sausage and wine. It was 12 and we were starting to get into that stuff already. I'm reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas right now, and I'm beginning to see parallels. No I'm kidding, everybody pretty much had a glass. So we rode the ole train and took a boat ride with the Rössler Linie to (drum roll): Assmannshausen. Yes, you read that right, it's called ASSMANNSHAUSEN. Oh, immature you call me? I know you laughed too. I heard it. Don't even try to pull one of your tricks on me pretending like you're so much better and all grown-up. We switched boats there and went back to Rüdsheim. Since my dad's cousin's husband pretty much knows everybody in and around Wiesbaden, we got to sit on the VIP deck at the front of the boat and had some more white wine. Also, I talked to some of the relatives I don't usually see and that was cool. In Rüdesheim we checked out the world-famous Drosselgasse, which had all the signs in German and Japanese. On the way back we stopped in another town called Eltville and my dad's other cousin gave us a tour of the town. Like a professional, only that not everybody was all that interested. I still appreciated it though. Went down to the Rhine again and had some more wine, my dad's treat because it was his birthday that Friday. Then we took a couple of busses to go eat in a suburb of Wiesbaden. The food was good, but the place was too loud. Couldn't even talk to the people across from you. By that time two more people had joined us, a son of my dad's male cousin and his wife. And my mom annoyed us by insisting that all the 'young' people sit at one table, even though there wasn't enough room, we couldn't talk to each other and we all kinda sat together anyway. I think she just wanted us all to 'bond'. Needless to say it didn't happen. Oh, we also ate some grapes from a vineyard on the way there.
Okay so this thing is turning into a book or something, but just stick around a little longer and we can do this. There's a reward at the end. Don't believe it? Dang, you're slick. You're on to me 24/7 ain't ya? Well, I like attentive readers. So we head back to Wiesbaden and decide to have another drink downtown. We were dead tired but I figured, I don't see these people that much so let's just intoxicate ourselves a little more. So we went to a place called 'Eimer' which means bucket (here's your German lesson Ginger) and it was the coolest place. Who would have thought. So we get in there, there is some old geezer playing the piano, all kinds of weird crap is hangin' from the ceiling and there is like maybe 8 people in there. And the place was a freaking tin can. So the 15 of us pile in there, everybody else is asked to move so we can sit together, and the good times went a-rollin'. The piano man was playing away, we were all talking and having some wine and it was just the coolest little place. Now who can guess what's next? Yes, you there in the read shirt with the funny hat? No, didn't go jogging. Over there in the brown coat? Yes, that's correct, we went to the hotel to go to sleep.
The blanket wasn't really big enough for two but we made it. Only to discover the extra blanket on top of the closet the next morning. Oh well. We had breakfast at some fancy place (what else do you expect from Wiesbaden) which I thought was okay, but not that great. We also had to rush a little to catch this train-lookalike car to take a tour of the city. That was okay too, some of the stuff we had already seen (thanks Henric) and other stuff was new. Then we went to get our cars and drove to this wine maker's place, which also the cousin's husband knew, and got some wine to take home. Not that there isn't plenty in Trier, but he showed us his tanks and machines too and we went home after that.
So that's it. Aren't you glad you made it? Now you can tell your kids about it. And here's the reward (see I wasn't lying after all): Another great story: On the way back we stopped at a flea market and bought this cool mirror. Well Christina got it but the guy that sold it to us was so cool. It was this old grandpa with a peg leg and he just kept talking and talking about everything. And he seemed real happy to talk to everybody there. And then Christina mentioned she was from the US and that just made his day: He got these postcards from his car that people had sent him from the US that he sold stuff to. What he does is he gets all this old stuff and cleans it and then paints on it, so he can sell it. And the people from the US were just loving it. Cause you can't get that stuff over there. He also told us a dirty joke, but this blog is PG-13 and I won't tell it. Unless you are willing to throw some money in. I'll open a PayPal account right away. Does this count as charity? How could it not? But you know what, the joke's not that great, so I'll just spare you.
We get home exhausted and tired after what turned out to be a pretty fun weekend, as far as family time is concerned. And the sun sets on the Mosel, the birds sing their last song for the day and I see a leaf falling from a tree, gently drifting to the earth, and softly landing on a patch of grass.

The Rhein and Relatives

This weekend Christoph and I are going to be spending some quality time with his family. On Saturday we are going to meet his immediate family in Wiesbaden where we will then meet up with parts of the extended family. So I get the chance to meet some more of the family. Yeah! Christoph doesn't really know these people very well either, so I am sure it is going to be an adventure for him too. We are also going to take a boat ride down the Rhein. Since I have never done this before, I think it will be fun as long as the boat doesn't sink or wreck. However, Christoph seems to think it is going to be the most boring thing on earth, but once he has a few drinks in him I am sure he will see it differently. Oh well, only time will tell. I will keep you posted on how it went. Have a nice weekend everyone! Cheers!