Early to rise

Today we woke early to meet some friends for breakfast.  We ate what I would call a typical German breakfast, which was bread, honey and fruit.  I only knew one of the people we met and the rest were all new to me.  One of the persons spoke English, which was nice, though most of the conversations were in German.  I noticed I was able to understand more and follow the conversations better.  Maybe these classes are working after all??  Now we are home and having some coffee out on the balcony before leaving for Stuttgart.  We are going there to celebrate the birthday of one of Carsten's friends.  We will spend the night there and then return tomorrow.  More on life in Germany upon my return!!

Completed one class!!

Today was my last day of my first German language class.  Did you follow that?  The classes are divided into A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.  I just finished A1 today and will begin A2 on Monday, though I won't finish that class as I begin my integration course before the A2 ends.  I am happy you be done with this class.  I tend to get down on myself for not knowing more but then I need to remember I only had 2 months worth of classes.  Some things come easier than others and some things I wonder if I will ever fully understand.  But for this weekend I am a bit freer in terms of studying.

A funny story

This happened last week Thursday (2/19) and for whatever reason I kept forgetting to write about it.  It was during break from class and I was running to the store to buy some fresh bread.  On my way out of the school a student from another class came up to me and started talking in English.  She has spoke with me briefly on two other occasions.  Here is how the conversation went:

Her:  So, where are you from?

Me:  Chicago.

Her:  And what about that other girl you talk with?

Me:  Oh, she is from Mexico, but she has lived in the US for a few years.

Her:  That would explain the similar accents.

Her:  So how long are you going to be in Freiburg?

Me:  Probably for a while; a couple years at least.

Her:  Oh, your married.

And she just walked away without saying goodbye.  I have seen her since then but she has not said anything to me.  Of course my first thought was, "was she trying to come on to me?"  Of course I answered that in the affirmative.  And then this song came into my head for some reason.  Wow, do I ever need help :)

Going to the gym...maybe

Tonight Carsten and I looked into two gyms that are in our area.  Neither one is anything special and they both really, really smell like a locker room.  I mean, wow, is it ever overwhelming when you walk in.  Anyway, both gyms are small, one is a bit cheaper in price than the other, though neither one is really all that special.  On Monday we will go to the first one for a free trial and see how we like it.  I can't wait to start going to the gym again.  My hope is that with working out regularly I will be able to sleep better.

Another small success

Back in Munich most of my small successes entailed going to the dry cleaner and being able to communicate with the ladies there.  Well today I have moved up the corporate ladder and spoke to someone at the Post Office.  For some reason Carsten felt I was capable to mailing off his tax information; seriously I don't even have enough faith in me mailing off my own tax info.  Anyway, I was to mail it off in the morning; however, I could not find the nearest Post office.  Where I thought it was turned out to be a bank.  So during my break in class I found one near the school and was able to send it off without any problems.  Now, let's just hope it actually arrives :)

My newest guilty pleasure...please don't hate me!

It was either by accident or through Carsten that I obtained my latest guilty pleasure.  In reality, it was only a matter of time really.  Here is the turn of events that led to this.  A couple weeks ago, Carsten said he had something on TV that I should see.  He said he thought I would really enjoy it.  That it was how people see American life.  The show is called Next and is one of the biggest pieces of trash I have ever seen (three times).  However, this is not my guilty pleasure; yes, it gets worse.  After Next comes one of the most entertaining, laugh out loud series I have seen in ages.  It is called Paris Hilton's My New BFF.  Seriously, it is messed up but I have not laughed so hard in for-ev-er!!  If you want a good laugh this is the place to look.  Oh, and my comment about this only being a matter of time; for those of you who don't know...I own the Paris Hilton CD and the three Maxi-Singles released as well.

My week begins

Wow, did I need sleep.  I went to bed at 9:30pm last night and feel asleep right away, which is unheard of with me.  I slept until 12:30 and could hear Carsten in the other room.  I feel asleep again shortly before 2am and then slept off and on until morning.  Still the best sleep I have had in months!  Carsten and I took my bike tire into the shop today, so hopefully I can get that repaired tonight.  Carsten was nice enough to let me use his bike to go to school today, since we live close enough for him to walk to work this does make the most sense.  So far a pretty good day.  Let's see what the evening brings!

A low key day and early to bed

Watching the Oscar's really took it out of me.  It didn't help that I woke up after only about 4 hours of sleep and I think I ate some bad pizza yesterday, as my stomach is not too good.  However, since today is basically a holiday for me (I know some of you are thinking "he doesn't even work now, what does he mean holiday"), I decided to spend much of my day studying.  Actually, I spent the same amount of time I would have been in class, plus my 2 hours of studying and did that.  Yes, I'm a nerd, what about it?!?  I made too much food for dinner tonight and now I am pooped, so I am off to bed.

Rosenmontag

Today in Germany is Rosenmontag.  It is part of Karneval and is similar to Mardi Gras in the US.  To learn more about Rosemontag, click here.  What this day means for me is that I don't have class, which is great since I was up late last night watching the Academy Awards.  It also means I have an extra day to study and just be,with my cats, in the apartment.  Carsten unfortunately has to work today, which meant he was not able to stay up and watch the Oscar's with me.

Dedication

It is 6am here and I just finished watching the Academy Awards.  Yes, I stayed up the entire night to see who won and what everyone was wearing.  If you missed the show and want to know who won or you don't remember, click here.  I must say that although I am a bit biased since I do love this show so much that I thought tonight's show was really quite nice.  I was entertained and thought that the changes made were nice.  I am already looking forward to see next year's show!! Good night :)

Favorite day of the year

Today is my favorite day of the year.  No, it is not my birthday and no I don't get gifts today or anything like that.  It is the Academy Awards.  I have loved this day since I was young...younger that is.  This day historically has been spent with friends.  

Back in Madison I would go to my friend Laura's place and we would have pizza delivered and spend hours watching and "observing" the dress choices of the stars. Then in Arizona I did the same with my friend Amy, though I think ice cream was added to the mix.  In Chicago the event was celebrated with my friend Alica and then in recent years an Oscar party was added to the mix with my friends Mike, Rob, Ron and Chris, and of course Alica.  

This year, while in Freiburg, I have no friends to celebrate it with.  However, Carsten has informed me that it will air here, at 1am in the morning.  So, I will be watching it and though I won't be with friends or ordering pizza, I will be "observing" what people are wearing.  

ECHO Awards 2009

Tonight we watched the Echo Awards, which is basically the German version of the Grammy Awards, but with no commercials and more/better live performances.  Even though I didn't understand it all, it was quite entertaining and I was able to see one of my favorite bands perform.  To see their performance, click here.  I also thought Katy Perry did a great job as well with her acoustic version of Thinking of You.  To see her performance, click here.  The show ended with a Lifetime Achievement award and performance by The Scorpions, though not my kind of music in general, they sounded fantastic.  My new favorite band didn't win anything, but you can watch their videos by clicking here and here.  And although this song, Scheiß Liebe, was not nominated, I really like this band, LaFee, and their sound.  To see the video, click here.  By the way, the song title in English is Sh*t Love for those of you wondering.

Another movie review

This evening we watched another movie.  Carsten had wanted to rent Wall-E, but it was all checked out.  So instead he rented Tropic Thunder.  It was really quite funny.  I was shocked at how many curse words were in it and was impressed with the lack of CG special effect and the fact that they had real explosions, etc.  However, the best part of the whole movie was Tom Cruise.  Wow, I never thought I would type those words :)

A funny thing happened on the way to the market,

my tire blew.  Picture it, we are riding to the city centre to go to the "nice" store (which really means it is over-priced but sometimes has things on sale).  I am having a hard time peddling my bike and am thinking to myself "If I say anything to Carsten he will either make a comment about a). my age or 2). being overweight" (yeah, he's like that).  So I say nothing.  A little bit later I go to slow down and then it popped.  Carsten continued on to the store and I made the walk back home with my bike.  After roughly 30 minutes I made it back home and then saw that the boots I was wearing cut into my ankles while walking home and I now have blood on my white socks.  I'm gonna guess it is going to be one of those days :)

A vacuum

No, not a space void of matter, but something that cleans and we finally got one!!  Yes, it is the little things.  It is not nearly as nice (or as expensive) as our vacuum cleaner in the US, but it should work fine.  I am letting Carsten use it first, which he is doing as I type this, since he is the one who paid for it.  I know, I know, you are thinking "Wow, he is so generous and thoughtful.  Carsten really is a lucky fellow."  And I would say back to you "That's for damn sure!"  

Lack of sleep is making me crazy

Last night was another sleepless night.  I had gone to bed at 11pm but was still laying wide awake at 2am.  So, what's a boy to do?  Well, instead of studying or working on my German I decided to log onto 'facebook.'  Though I was sucked in and barely made it out alive,  on the upside my cousin and his family were also logged on and we were able to chat for a bit.  We tried to do the video chat but I am too electronically challenged for that.  Maybe next time though.

I know you are curious as to what time I finally went to bed.  Well, at 4:10am I went back into bed.  At 5am I was still not asleep.  I dosed off for a bit and at 6:44am Carsten's alarm went off.  I slept off and on then for a couple of hours and then had to get up to study some more for my test.  On the upside. I thing I did pretty well on it, though I won't know for sure until Wednesday.  

As part of the class today we took a tour of the city, which seemed silly to me at the time as I have seen the city centre and this course isn't cheap (meaning I would rather be working on learning my German than walking).  However, in the end it was quite nice and reminded me of how much I love Freiburg.  It is crazy that things we notice when we go out of our routine.  After the tour we stopped for some coffee, though I had a beer, since German beer really is the best you can find.  Now I am home, doing laundry and cleaning a bit before making dinner.  Cross your fingers, say a prayer, do whatever you can to help me get a restful sleep tonight.

A thing about Fridays

So, every Friday I have a test in my German class.  I have done well, though with each passing week my score declines...I know, it isn't suppose to happen that way.  What this means is that I study all week, do homework, etc and then on Thursday night and Friday morning cram/try to memorize as much as possible.  By Friday afternoon my brain is warped and all I do is clean to have a release.  Tomorrow is Friday and I am in no mood for another test.  So, I am off to bed instead :)

Finding respect

Last night when I couldn't sleep I was thinking of respect and respecting oneself.  It had occurred to me that I found respect, value, worth, etc. for myself from my work.  My colleagues respected me, my clients seemed to respect me and through them I seemed to respect myself.  Here in Germany I am not working and will likely never work with my degree, which is something I need to move past before it consumes me.  As such, I need to find alternative methods of finding respect, value and worth within myself.  I think this will be easier once I feel as though I am integrated in the Germany culture and society, i.e. can speak more coherently with those around me.  I guess I took for granted that I could feel valued by people around me and never really had to rely solely on myself for this.  Ahh, always learning and growing.   

Finally, some sun

It seems like ages since I was able to ride my bike to school in the sun.  Okay, maybe only one week, but seriously the snow and rain are a pain to deal with.  I was so thrilled to see the sun out this morning, but don't go thinking it was warm here.  I would guess it was in the low 30's (F) and about 1-2 (C).  But I was dry and that is all that matters to me at this point in time.    

My My Time Flies

I have noticed that since moving to Freiburg, the days and weeks go by rather quickly.  The weekends are over before they begin and I no sooner finishes my breakfast dishes and it seems that I am doing the supper dishes.  I am in no way busier here than in Munich, though I do have a lot more homework here-but I do much less cleaning-by my standards (hard to believe I know).  I don't seem able to keep up with my emails and phoning people as much as I would like, which is partially due to the time difference.  Again it boggles my mind that I was able to accomplish so many things in Chicago while working so much and have the commute I did.