I think that someone found out that it was summer and hit the fast forward button (possibly so that they would no longer have to hear "call me maybe"). Nevertheless, I feel like time is just flying by! This week we've set up all kinds of grill party nights, travel, and other fun stuff. Currently, we're eagerly anticipating my cousin and her husband's visit. We've got Bier, Bretzeln, and Beds- we're ready! So here was our day:
1. Had a fantastic, hilarious German class. *
2. Did a bit of shopping in the beautiful city center.
3. Went walking and then grilled with Joern.
4. Cheered Germany on in the Semi-Finals against Italy!
*Here is a sample dialogue (translated for your convenience) from today:
Teacher: Louis, träumst du auf Deutsch? Louis, do you dream in German?
Louis: Ja, aber ich verstehe es nicht! Yes, but I don't understand anything!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Day 96-101
Wow, another crazy week full of action. During the week: pretty normal, not much to report.
Friday: Amazing-ness!!! Joern's sister Anke reserved a table at a very fun Biergarten for about 20 people and we watched Germany play against Greece in the Euro Cup. This is a lot like the Super Bowl in that everyone gets into it. Many cities in Germany create a Public Viewing Area where everyone gathers to watch the games together (upwards of 5,000 people here in Nürnberg). Everyone gets completely decked out in their country's colors, facepaint, the works. Joern and I had our faces painted by a guy on the tram who felt we could simply not go out without some kind of decoration. It was a tense game at first, but then Germany found their stride and we won! There was dancing in the streets, flags waving, horns honking and general ruckus for hours.
Saturday: Delightful German thing: Back in the Middle Ages, not so may people had knife sharpeners. So, one of the services a peddler or Tinker would offer was to either sharpen your knife on the spot or trade it out for a sharp one for a fee. This morning, a guy came through the neighborhood in a van with a really loud irritating horn...to sharpen knives! People would come out (like the Ice cream man) only waving formerly sharp things like knives and lawn mower blades (not like the ice cream man). Apparently, this tradition is still alive here in Germany. It was so cool to see this guy at work and think that people have been doing that for literally thousands of years, right here. We may want to re-think the horn and get some music fo rthat guy, but overall, delightful! Also, our friends Jens and Sabrina came over to grill. We had burgers, pasta salad, corn, and strawberry tart. We were so full it hurt, but in a good way.
Sunday: Our downstairs neighbors came over for Coffee and Cake (that's totally a meal here-score!). We now know everything about all of our other neighbors, and assume that by now they know everything about us. Maybe we'll even talk sometime ;-) As a side note, England was ousted in a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out with Italy. So on Thursday, we'll be watching quite the match: Germany vs. Italy!
Friday: Amazing-ness!!! Joern's sister Anke reserved a table at a very fun Biergarten for about 20 people and we watched Germany play against Greece in the Euro Cup. This is a lot like the Super Bowl in that everyone gets into it. Many cities in Germany create a Public Viewing Area where everyone gathers to watch the games together (upwards of 5,000 people here in Nürnberg). Everyone gets completely decked out in their country's colors, facepaint, the works. Joern and I had our faces painted by a guy on the tram who felt we could simply not go out without some kind of decoration. It was a tense game at first, but then Germany found their stride and we won! There was dancing in the streets, flags waving, horns honking and general ruckus for hours.
Saturday: Delightful German thing: Back in the Middle Ages, not so may people had knife sharpeners. So, one of the services a peddler or Tinker would offer was to either sharpen your knife on the spot or trade it out for a sharp one for a fee. This morning, a guy came through the neighborhood in a van with a really loud irritating horn...to sharpen knives! People would come out (like the Ice cream man) only waving formerly sharp things like knives and lawn mower blades (not like the ice cream man). Apparently, this tradition is still alive here in Germany. It was so cool to see this guy at work and think that people have been doing that for literally thousands of years, right here. We may want to re-think the horn and get some music fo rthat guy, but overall, delightful! Also, our friends Jens and Sabrina came over to grill. We had burgers, pasta salad, corn, and strawberry tart. We were so full it hurt, but in a good way.
Sunday: Our downstairs neighbors came over for Coffee and Cake (that's totally a meal here-score!). We now know everything about all of our other neighbors, and assume that by now they know everything about us. Maybe we'll even talk sometime ;-) As a side note, England was ousted in a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out with Italy. So on Thursday, we'll be watching quite the match: Germany vs. Italy!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Day 95
Well, this week has flown by! The highlights included seeing my first movie in three months in English and in 3D.* We also had a great grill night with Anke, and later we saw Deutschland kick its way to victory in a public viewing arena in the city park! We also did a lot of relaxing during the day. Oh, and I made a curtain. Backwards. It was meant to cover the triangle-shaped window in our living/guest room, and I did the whole thing backwards. So now I have approximately five square meters of useless fabric...so who wants a pillow for Christmas? Perhaps a nice tablecloth? Today was pretty good as well:
1. Had a substitute teacher for our German class today (no one played any tricks on her, I promise).
2. Saw an ad in our local Aldi shopping flyer that they will have an 'Amerika' themed sale next week.**
3. Considered planning a 4th of July party...
4. Went walking in the beautiful, sunny city park along the river.
*Both of which I found to be overwhelming. 98% of the time, I live in a great little bubble where I don't really understand everything that's being said around me. To cope, my brain just filters out most spoken language. I get just the essential stuff, and the rest is pretty much white noise. Understanding every single thing that anyone on screen said (even in the background) and then thinking about it and deciding if it was relevant or not was exhausting. The 3D gave me a bit of a headache.
**My favorite being a picture of an entire roast on a dinner plate next to french fries, jelly beans, ice cream, donuts, and a hot dog.
1. Had a substitute teacher for our German class today (no one played any tricks on her, I promise).
2. Saw an ad in our local Aldi shopping flyer that they will have an 'Amerika' themed sale next week.**
3. Considered planning a 4th of July party...
4. Went walking in the beautiful, sunny city park along the river.
*Both of which I found to be overwhelming. 98% of the time, I live in a great little bubble where I don't really understand everything that's being said around me. To cope, my brain just filters out most spoken language. I get just the essential stuff, and the rest is pretty much white noise. Understanding every single thing that anyone on screen said (even in the background) and then thinking about it and deciding if it was relevant or not was exhausting. The 3D gave me a bit of a headache.
**My favorite being a picture of an entire roast on a dinner plate next to french fries, jelly beans, ice cream, donuts, and a hot dog.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Day 89 (The Subway)
1. Tried to learn past perfect in German (mixed success).
2. Got stuck in the subway.*
3. Had new blinds installed in our bedroom.
4. Created a mozerella-pesto-chicken masterpiece for dinner.
* I literally got stuck in the subway car. My friend and I were waiting to get onto the subway, and two girls were ahead of us, blocking the door. When they didn't move I went around them and jumped into the car. My friend tried to do the same, but then the doors began to close. Thinking that German subway doors were like elevator doors, I stuck my bag in the opening and waited for the doors to jump back. Except they didn't. They crushed my bag (which was slung over my shoulder) and held on tight. I tried to pull it out, but to no avail. I was frantically shaking my head and wondering if I would get sucked out of the car in the tunnel between stops. Luckily, my fast-thinking friend got the driver to open the doors and let her in and release my bag, and we all made it home, albeit with a few dents.
2. Got stuck in the subway.*
3. Had new blinds installed in our bedroom.
4. Created a mozerella-pesto-chicken masterpiece for dinner.
* I literally got stuck in the subway car. My friend and I were waiting to get onto the subway, and two girls were ahead of us, blocking the door. When they didn't move I went around them and jumped into the car. My friend tried to do the same, but then the doors began to close. Thinking that German subway doors were like elevator doors, I stuck my bag in the opening and waited for the doors to jump back. Except they didn't. They crushed my bag (which was slung over my shoulder) and held on tight. I tried to pull it out, but to no avail. I was frantically shaking my head and wondering if I would get sucked out of the car in the tunnel between stops. Luckily, my fast-thinking friend got the driver to open the doors and let her in and release my bag, and we all made it home, albeit with a few dents.
Day 88 (The Dentist)
So, right after Sweden my next German Course started, so Joern and I have been doing a lot of running around! Here were the day's highlights:
1. Began my next German course.*
2. Went to the gym.
3. Had my first German dentist appointment.**
4. Did all of my homework.
*It was so great to see many of my old classmates there with me! I also got to meet lots of new people as well. It's a slightly bigger class, but I can tell that we have a lot to learn!
**So, here is a key difference between many Americans and many Europeans. Americans love teeth. We love brushing, flossing, whitening, straightening, and everything else you could do with teeth. We have deep personal relationships with our dentists and hygienists (as a kid, a glowing report from the dentist was right up there with a good report card). We have at least 50 different varieties of floss, toothpaste, and mouthwash, excluding those toothpick things for in between meals. We have the wisp. Teeth should be straight, plaque-free and always white. Can teeth that are not straight and white be healthy? The Americans reading this will be giving this question a lot of thought, and are probably skeptical. Here's the thing: the answer- against our upbringing- is yes. People all over the world have teeth that are not perfectly straight or chemically whitened. Many simply brush and floss. This is not all that noticeable or weird, it simply is. People here just don't love teeth the way we do. Keeping this in mind, I was unsure of what to expect at our first dentist appointment. Essentially the dentist came in, poked around in there a bit, and declared my teeth and gums healthy (as if I would let Dr. Kao down!). She noticed that my bottom gums were inflamed and we figured out it was from my over-the-counter bite guard. So she suggested a new toothpaste and a custom bite guard, and were there any questions? I was crestfallen. Where was the scraping? What flavors did they have for the little grindy thing? Who would floss me? Apparently, these answers could only be had if we were willing to pay, as that was a "cosmetic procedure." What?! I was estimating the cost of a flight to America every six months and almost didn't hear her mention that the bite guard was completely covered by insurance. This would have cost around $800-1,000 last I checked. So now I'm not sure what to think. Here, making my teeth pretty is expensive, but the piece of plastic to keep them safe is part of my insurance. In the meantime, I'm hoping my supply of Altoids and 3D WhiteStrips lasts.
1. Began my next German course.*
2. Went to the gym.
3. Had my first German dentist appointment.**
4. Did all of my homework.
*It was so great to see many of my old classmates there with me! I also got to meet lots of new people as well. It's a slightly bigger class, but I can tell that we have a lot to learn!
**So, here is a key difference between many Americans and many Europeans. Americans love teeth. We love brushing, flossing, whitening, straightening, and everything else you could do with teeth. We have deep personal relationships with our dentists and hygienists (as a kid, a glowing report from the dentist was right up there with a good report card). We have at least 50 different varieties of floss, toothpaste, and mouthwash, excluding those toothpick things for in between meals. We have the wisp. Teeth should be straight, plaque-free and always white. Can teeth that are not straight and white be healthy? The Americans reading this will be giving this question a lot of thought, and are probably skeptical. Here's the thing: the answer- against our upbringing- is yes. People all over the world have teeth that are not perfectly straight or chemically whitened. Many simply brush and floss. This is not all that noticeable or weird, it simply is. People here just don't love teeth the way we do. Keeping this in mind, I was unsure of what to expect at our first dentist appointment. Essentially the dentist came in, poked around in there a bit, and declared my teeth and gums healthy (as if I would let Dr. Kao down!). She noticed that my bottom gums were inflamed and we figured out it was from my over-the-counter bite guard. So she suggested a new toothpaste and a custom bite guard, and were there any questions? I was crestfallen. Where was the scraping? What flavors did they have for the little grindy thing? Who would floss me? Apparently, these answers could only be had if we were willing to pay, as that was a "cosmetic procedure." What?! I was estimating the cost of a flight to America every six months and almost didn't hear her mention that the bite guard was completely covered by insurance. This would have cost around $800-1,000 last I checked. So now I'm not sure what to think. Here, making my teeth pretty is expensive, but the piece of plastic to keep them safe is part of my insurance. In the meantime, I'm hoping my supply of Altoids and 3D WhiteStrips lasts.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Some more Sweden Impressions
since Katie will blog later, here some more pictures upfront from our past 2 days in Stockholm:
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Sweden Impressions so far ...
Hello, Joern here (I hacked our blog since Katie is shopping with Camilla) ... and I figured, I could post some pictures from our Sweden impressions so far (Day 1, 2, 3, and 4) until the girls get back :-)
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| A "real" Swedish, wood-fired, outdoor sauna close to the lake :-) |
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| The Vasa (or Wasa) ship is a Swedish warship built 1626-1628 |
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