Day 131

1. Had some pretzels for breakfast.*
2. Hit the gym for a back-to-reality workout.
3. Did a mountain of laundry.
4. Ate some pasta we found in the back of the pantry.

*Since we got back so late on Saturday, we couldn't go shopping.  Here pretty much everything except bakeries are closed on Sundays.  Like, I mean, EVERYTHING.  Some days I feel like it's great because you really take the time to spend with family/friends- but that's provided one of you remembered to buy some food. 

Day 130

1. Had our last big breakfast at the North Sea.
2. Cleaned up everything and closed down the house 'til next time.
3. Ate one last fish sandwich for lunch, and sent good thoughts towards my cousin's wedding.
4. Drove home!

*We were also able to visit with Joern's Grandma (Omi) for the past two days as well.  We had a great time!  She taught me one of her favorite soup recipes and she also told us about her past and her life.  There is certainly a reason that it's called the Greatest Generation!

Day 127 Wednesday

So we're on vacation on the North Sea at Joern's Father's summer home.  Sounds great, right?  We got the ocean, sand, sun...okay we actually don't have sand or sun at the moment.  We don't have sand because the North Sea beach is pretty different from all of the other beaches in the world.  The tides don't go in and out a couple hundred feet, they go in and out for miles.  The soil here is actually more clay than sand, so a lot of the time when the tide is on its way in or out, you have a pretty huge mud flat, charmingly named The Watt (vatt).  People here love to walk around in the mud here because in other parts of the North Sea the mud is actually quicksand, and the tide is so fast you're likely to get swept out to sea by it.  So, all in all, the mud here is pretty appealing by comparison.  Except when it's really cold outside and raining, like it's been for most of our vacation week.  Not to worry, we've been consoling ourselves in the Sauna and building fires.  It's actually pretty cozy.  We also went to one of the best restaurants in the area.  Their specialty is a dish called Flammkuchen.  It's in the pizza family but not actually pizza.  It's paper-thin dough spread with crème fraîche, onions, and bacon, and then baked in a wood-fired oven.  It's my new favorite dish until probably Christmas (when Lebkuchen comes out...you know, I could totally order my year around different types of kuchen...).  So here's the coolest/weirdest thing that happened while we were there: The people at the table next to us ordered a round of Schnaps.  From each shot glass hung a piece of pickled herring.  Everyone, including the waiter, put the piece of herring into their mouths, the waiter yelled "the fish's gotta swim!" and then everyone drank.  Not bad entertainment for a Wednesday night. 

Day 118

In the interest of my sanity, I have decided to do my four lines per day for the past week in one long post (below) and then do today’s in a shorter one.  Like I said, the summer weather makes it really hard to be motivated/stay indoors!

1. Continued the relentless study of German grammar while trying to get my fellow students to eat more leftover cake.

2. Wondered which language was actually harder, German or English?*

3. Went walking with Joern and enjoyed the great weather.

4. Ate some salad with chicken (much needed healthy food). 

*Here is the conclusion that I read on the internet, and I must say that I agree wholeheartedly.  How much more fun to learn to communicate?  Children learning to talk don't care how many words they say, they simply use what they know to make a message.  It's about quality, not quantity. 

Week in Review

Saturday (Day 109)

Drove to an American import store to stock up on Reese’s and Dr. Pepper Diet.

Grabbed some McDonald’s in true American style.

Celebrated our friend Martin’s birthday!

Took over his son Julian’s kiddie pool in an attempt to stay cool (it was ridiculously hot!).

Sunday- 110

Had breakfast with the Wendelken family.

Drove to France to see the Carney family.

Ate more Flammkuchen than was scientifically possible.

Ate even more dessert.

Rescued Carly and Kevin from Stuttgart.

Monday- 111

Went to school so that Carly and Kevin could sleep in a bit.

Bought groceries after realizing they would want to eat later.

Headed downtown to better enjoy the rain.

Ate at the oldest Bratwurst Kitchen in the world.

Tuesday- 112

Prepared and ate an amazing traditional German Breakfast.

Saw the castle, churches, and got some luck at a pretty fountain.

Ate käsespätzle for lunch.

Grilled some brats and Kartoffelsalat on the balcony for dinner.

Wednesday- 113

Dropped off CK at the train station before class.

Learned 10 different ways to essentially say ‘because.’

Went for a walk in the now-clear weather.

Ate some much-needed salad.

Thursday- 114

Practically swam to school.

Discussed where our class should have our celebratory last-day lunch.

Swam home from school.

Went for antoher walk with suddenly sunny, pleasant weather.

Friday- 115

Stuffed our washer to capacity in an attempt to make 40+ loads more like 35-ish.

Re=stocked the guest-suite with water, towels, and mints.

Went shopping for more food (guests seem to like it)

Hung out with Joern

Saturday- 116

Cleaned the apartment and did our Hausordnung.

Picked up Joern’s friend Andy from the train station.

Walked to Mögeldorf for some ice cream.

Grilled burgers, zuccinni, potatoes, and had some cake for dessert.

Sunday- 117

Ate another wonderful German Breakfast.

Perfected my “1 Day in Nürnberg” tour.

Snuck in a quick workout at the gym.

Grabbed a bite with Andy and dropped him off at the train station.

Day 106 Träumst du auf Deutsch?

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!

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!