Wednesday and Thursday

By Tuesday night, Kirsten got sick as well, so we slept in a little on Wednesday morning. A round noon we headed for the school where Daniel is an English teacher. It's in a town called Hamm. Maybe I'm getting old, but big groups of teenagers irritate/intimidate me. And there were kids everywhere when we got there. We decided to find a bathroom, because we were a little early. It was really nasty!!!!! And there was no toilet paper. Foul. Luckily, we had Kleenex. How do you have a bathroom with no toilet paper? Gross. Then we waited in for Daniel. We told him the bathroom story, and he said the staff bathrooms were nicer. Too bad we didn't wait. I went to class with him (Kirsten stayed out and studied, as it would have been too many people for her to come to). Haha, Ashton just told me he saw a "moldy lizard." I think he meant it was green. Daniel kept telling me that the students weren't very good, like I would mind. I could sympathize with them, since I had been trying to speak German (mostly unsuccessfully) for nearly a week. They were reviewing for a test, and My task was to help with essays. The students were supposed to write a short essay about a job they wanted to have, and why, and then I proofread them. The first group wrote an essay together, and had a really hard time with it. They kept calling Daniel, and he kept telling them to ask me. They didn't want to, because we didn't really tell them how much German I understand, and they didn't want to speak English. They were funny. They would try and come up with a sentence, but they wouldn't actually write it down. So finally, I helped them by saying, that sounds good, write it down. Anyway they decided they wanted to be Kindergarten teachers, and the funniest mistake was that one of the activities they came up with was to puzzle with the children. Haha. I had a little trouble, and had to ask Daniel how much I should correct them. It was hard for me to hear something I would never say, but was kind of correct, and not make it better. For example, one of the girls asked me if I would become a boy or a girl. I wasn't expecting the question (not usual to be questioned about your pregnancy there), but when I thought about the German verb bekommen (it means to get something), the question made sense. Daniel said, "remember, you get a cheeseburger, you don't become one." The point being, getting a baby, although admittedly better than becoming one, sounds totally strange to me, like I'm going to procure a child from the local Wal-mart. But I can see that's it's simpler for beginners than learning what sounds right in what sentence. Also, it was strange for me when some of the students in later groups said they wanted to work in a retirement home, and wrote about all the things they would do with the "old people." But that really just has to do with political correctness, rather than grammar. All in all, it was a really interesting experience, and the hour and a half went really quickly.
After the class we walked around a lot waiting for Daniel to be through with a meeting. There was a lake there that was nice if you didn't get too close. Kirsten and I sat there and talked for a while. When Daniel was done we went to Burger King. It was exactly the same as Burger King here. I ordered by myself, and the only mistake I made was ordering ketchup and mayo instead of just ketchup. Not too bad. Then we talked about linguistics. I love words, so it was really interesting to me. Then Kirsten and I met Verena for a choir rehearsal, but just as we were leaving Verena's house, it got canceled. So we relaxed that night instead.

Thursday, we shopped a little, and packed for Copenhagen. I bought Dirk Nowitzki's biography. So far I have only looked at the pictures, but it will be good practice when I get around to reading it with the help of the dictionary. I bought books for my brothers, and I giant book about Germany with lots of pictures. I spent more money at the book store than any other single place (except the train ticket), which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. Also, we went by Kirsten's Gymnasium (High School). That was fun. we saw the little monument her graduating class (70 people) made. It was really neat, every graduating class makes one, and they are all over the courtyard. I took these pictures of them. The other ones have Kirsten's friends names on them, so I took pictures of them to. Mostly because one of the names is Batty. It's a nickname for Sebastian in Germany, but I can't help but conjure up a vision of an old lady who lives alone with 25 cats, and always wears the same black sweater (even in the summer), and stares at you when you walk by like she is surprised you aren't a cat, and goes to the grocery store with a big black bag, and buys only cat food (she must eat it herself). I have never met this lady (prolly because I made her up), but she is what I think of when I see "Batty," so it always makes me laugh.

Enschede

On Tuesday morning we went to Enschede, which is in The Netherlands. Kirsten's Mom (in the pic) was back and came with us. It's only about forty minutes from Kirsten's house. We went to the market there as well, and it was cool. It was kind of flea markety, but cooler than American ones. We bought some fruit. I actually have a mandarin orange from there in my purse. I hate to throw it out, cause it's from the Netherlands. I'm sure I was supposed to throw it out before customs, but I forgot it was there. Anyway, I'm sure we have much scarier bugs here than there. We walked around and shopped. Kirsten's Mom bought each of us a shirt, and teddy bears for all my kids (even the unborn one), which was super nice!!!! I couldn't understand Dutch people very well, even when they spoke German. We went to a restaurant, and I didn't have a clue what was on the menu. I just let Kirsten pick something, and it tasted good. This was a random plastic couch on the street. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm mad I didn't take more pictures, but it looked a lot like Germany, so I forgot. I could tell the signs weren't in German, but that was about it. Haha. When we used the bathroom by the parking garage, we had to pay, and it was like a tiny cell inside, and the light was blue. It was kind of freaky.

Billerbeck

We decided on Monday that we would talk to Kirsten's friend who is a pharmacist, and see if there was something I could take for motion sickness even when I'm pregnant. The pharmacy is in a cute town called Billerbeck, about twenty minutes from where Kirsten lives. I was able to get some homeopathic motion sickness medicine, and I was very impressed that they would give you that in a regular pharmacy (and glad, since it turned out that's all I could take anyway). After we got the medicine, we walked around. I held the camera and took a picture of us, but I think it turned out pretty well.

This is the St. Johannis Kirche. It was really cool.

This is another part of the Saint Johannis Kirche.

These are some really old cool buildings that were by the church.

This is me by a cool looking hotel.

This is the Cathedral of Saint Ludger.

Here it is again, I couldn't get it all in one shot. There was a cool toy store, and I got Ashton some pirate stuff there. I was trying to speak German to the clerk, but he knew I wasn't German (imagine), and he concentrated very hard and asked me if I wanted a bag in English. It was funny, I didn't notice at first and automatically answered in English, and then caught myself and switched to German, and then realized I answered in English because he asked in English. Funny. That night we went to see Mama Mia with Kirsten's Grandparents. I had seen it in English, and knew I didn't care if I understood what they were saying. I actually preferred it that way. don't get me wrong, it would have been nice if they also sang in German. Or even better if they didn't sing at all, but hey, you can't have everything. I wanted to go to a German movie theater, and would never have been able to follow anything that actually had a plot. Besides, I had taken cold medicine (I unfortunately developed a cold on Saturday night), and Kirsten and I had stayed up till two the night before rehashing the concert, so my eyes were open but no one was home.

Woohoo

Hey!!! I have less than 100 days to go!

Sunday Morning and Afternoon

On Sunday morning I went to Mass at the church where Kirsten's Father works. We sat next to the organ, and it vibrated the floor. I liked that a lot. Afterwards we went to Kirsten's parents house. It was fun to see where she grew up. After a while her Father came home (her Mother was on a trip). We talked. I mostly listened, but I could understand quite a lot. Kirsten's Father was really patient about speaking slowly and simply so that I could understand. And putting up with my feeble attempts at talking. After a while we went to a restaurant with Kirsten's Father, sister Verena and Verena's Husband Marcus, and Kirsten's brother Daniel. Daniel is an English teacher, and I sat with him on one side and Kirsten on the other. I was a little tired, and Daniel spoke to me in English, so I'm afraid I didn't try that hard to figure out what everyone else was saying unless they were talking to me. After lunch we went home to rest a little bit before the Wise Guys Concert.

Germany trip (Thursday and Friday)

Ok, I'm finally gonna grit my teeth and write about my trip. It's gonna take me a while, because I want to do it well (or at least thouroughly). I decided to do one post for each day (or couple of days) of my trip.

I left on a Thursday. My plane left at 4:10, but we got to the airport around 1:00. I waved to my family the whole way through security, and then I was ALONE. I ate at Bennigan's because all the ones by the house closed, but it was kind of yucky. Then I bought an entire liter of water. I read my book forever before it was time to board. The row I was sitting on was full, but the flight attendant came and told the people next to me that once the plane took off, they could move to an aisle where they could sit with their son. When they moved I had an extra seat to myself, which was great!!!! I was unfortunently motion sick the entire time. Too sick to read, watch the TV, listen to my iPod, or even really open my eyes. It was a really long nine hours. After we got underway, they served us mystery meat. They said it was chicken, but I had my doubts. It was uncharacteristically dark and chewy. I had a Luna bar instead. Then I tried to avoid seeing the movie that was playing, so that I wouldn't get sick. After that I tried to sleep. I could kind of scrunch up and lay sideways, and I managed to doze through most of Drillbit Taylor (a good idea, judging by the few seconds I saw of it). When I woke up, the plane was bouncing, and I was hungry. A bad combination when trying to fight a battle against barf. I lost, but luckily the bathroom was empty. Then I ate some peanuts and waited impatiently for breakfast. It was slightly more paletable than dinner, as long as I didn't pay too much attention to the color of the eggs. By then we were almost there, yay!!!!! BUT, we were almost there half and hour too long because of wind, and we flew in a circle around the airport. So fun!!!! We finally landed around 9:30 AM. On the tarmac. Then we had to ride in a shuttle for 20 minutes (not exaggerating, I promise, the Frankfurt airport is massive, and the shuttle was SLOW). Finally we got to the building, and I only went the wrong way once. I really had no excuse for even that time (except missing a night of sleep, I guess), all the signs were in English and German. I got my passport stamped, and went through "customs" There was only a sign asking if you had anything to declare. There wasn't even anyone standing there, and I didn't have to fill out any paperwork. I went through the doors, and Kirsten was waiting for me!!!! She had a big welcome sign (purple, of course). I'm mad I didn't take a picture, but I was too excited to see her. Luckily she led the way after that, because that place is a maze!!!! The exit was crazy and twisty, I'm nearly positive my van wouldn't have made it. I would love to write about all the cool things I saw on the three hour car ride home, but all you can see from the Autobahn is trees. Kirsten told me about all the areas we were passing that I couldn't see. I looked at the cars though, and they were interesting. Mostly hatchbacks. Kirsten said regular sedans aren't cool cars there. And all the license plates start with the first few letters of the county it belongs in. I slept a little, because a) there really wasn't much to see, and b) I decided that I would only sleep in the car so that I could get used to the time difference. When we got home We talked and then went to a few grocery stores. And bought LOTS of chocolate. And some yummy yogurt. Those are two of the things that have a WAY better selection than in the US. And both taste better there. It was fun to be in a foreign grocery store. Oh, and one other interesting (to me anyway ;-) tidbit: they lock the shopping carts up, and you have to put a coin (or a fake one) in to get it out, and you get it back in the end. And everyone brings baskets to shop with. I think that's really cool. I'm thinking about bringing my ikea bags to use instead of plastic shopping bags. We got food at a place I forgot the name of, but it was really good. I had Frikadelle (I'm nearly positive I didn't spell that right) and french fries (NOT with mayo, which seems to be the norm there, yuck). I went to bed at 9:30, and I was really proud of my self for making it that long.

I just read through this and realized it was really long ad boring, but ya'll are just gonna have to deal.

Wise Guys concert

This picture is from the Afterglow. They sang one song ("She" the one from Notting Hill, it's at the beginning and the end). We went to the restaurant in the bottom of the concert house after the concert, and after a while they came down to meet fans and talk and sign autographs and take pictures, and they call that the Afterglow. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the actual concert. The concert was AMAZING though. For anyone who doesn't know, they are a five man A Capella group. Their songs are original, and pretty much entirely in German. The concert was about two hours long, with an intermission. By the second half, everyone was standing, and dancing, and singing. They were really great at getting the crowd involved. They really danced around the stage, and I only noticed them out of breath once. They also sang three encores. There were probably four to six thousand people there, but only maybe 100 to 200 people at the Afterglow.

After they finished singing "She" they dispersed among the crowd and Sari stopped right in front of Kirsten and I. He is a really fast talker, and unleashed about half a paragraph in two seconds to me, none of which I understood. I said, "tut mir leid, mein Deutsch ist nicht gut" (I'm sorry, my German isn't good) He said "it's ok," and immediately started speaking English to me, even though it seemed like he was a little hesitant about it. We talked a minute, me trying to think of something intelligent to say while also listening to Kirsten explain (in German) where I was from, and that I knew all the words to the songs, etc. He really paid attention to what we were saying, which was nice, considering there were like 200 other people who wanted to talk to him (they all did that with everyone, it was so nice). Then Kirsten asked if she could take a picture of me with him, so here it is. I feel dumb, because I think all I needed to do was ask him to speak a little slower in German, and I would have done ok, and I feel like it was rude of me to make him feel like he had to speak English. Oh well, he was really nice, so hopefully I didn't offend him.

This is Dän. It looks like we are having a great conversation, but all I said was thank you for the great evening (in German). Then he said something I didn't understand. Kirsten just took a picture at the right time. That thing on the table is mine (the mini poster, not the beer), and I got all five of them to sign it. We talked to Eddi for a minute, and took a picture with him, but he asked us not to use the flash, and it didn't turn out. I feel REALLY bad and guilty, because I got all their autographs and pictures with them, and Kirsten didn't get any. She took the pictures. It was so sweet of her to do that for me. I should have done the same for her, but I was so crazy trying to understand, and being excited, that I didn't think of it in time.

Münster

On Saturday morning, we got up and ate Brötchen (yummy rolls), that we got at the bakery. Then we drove to Münster, parked, and rode the bus in. We went to the market first. That's where we bought these tiny strawberries. They tasted great to. The market had cheese, meat, baked goods, fruit, vegetables, and some other random stuff. It was really fun to see everything.

This is the Aasee. That would be Aa lake. Interesting name. There were people sailing on it, and it was pretty.

This is the Lamberti-Kirche. It was really pretty. Now I'm going to copy a text Kirsten sent me about this church: Here, there is also the market and city church, St Lambert’s, the most gorgeous late Gothic sacred building in Westphalia. A night watchman still "sounds the hour" between 9.00 pm and 12.00 am from the balustrade. Below it, there are the three hanging iron cages where in 1536 the three bodies of the leaders of the Anabaptist Revolt were displayed.(modern art in the city) By simple means Lothar Baumgarten alludes to the "Kingdom of the Anabaptists". The artist mounted a light bulb in each of the cages at the South side of St Lambert’s spire. At the onset of night a photosensitive control switches the lights on. Flexible copper wires allow for swinging movements. The installation lights up at a height of 60 meters and can be seen from many locations. After their execution in 1536 the bishop had the bodies of the Anabaptist leaders displayed in these cages. Kirsten's Dad said that they were executed mostly for their communist ideals, rather than because they were Anabaptists.

This is a castle. For real. They use it for a university building now. We couldn't really look around inside, because they were having an event that involved driving fancy cars around. They let me in to use the bathroom though. So I used the bathroom in a castle. There is a sad lack of bathrooms there. So when I saw one, I used it. Especially if it was free.

This is the Überwasser Kirche (over water church). It is easy to remember because it is Romanesque, rather than Gothic. Also it isn't named after a saint, so the name sticks better in my head.

This is Kirsten under a bridge that leads to the Bishop's garden. This is also the water referred to in the name of the church above.

This is the market, with the Saint Paulus Dom in the background. I think this is the one with the cool clock I wasn't allowed to take a picture of. At noon, it had a bunch of moving parts and played a song.

This is what every street corner in Münster looks like. There are thousands of people riding bikes everywhere. I was slightly afraid that I would be squished by one. That would have been a really undignified way to go. I was trying to explain my fear of one hitting me to Kirsten's Father the next day, and he thought I DID get hit by one. A testament to my bad German.

This is a cool bear statue in Münster. We did some shopping and sightseeing, and had a great day. Our feet and legs were SOOOOO sore the next day!!!! That night we went to Kirsten's sister Verena'a choir concert. They were great, and it was fun. They sang a couple Wise Guys songs, and I knew the words to one of them even better than Kirsten did!!!