29 November 2008

thanks giving

the other day was great. we put off thanksgiving till friday so we could fit it in better with peoples' schedules here. it's not a holiday, so nobody had off.

i was just looking through that last post from my journal. it's probably a bit confusing without complete explanation, so if you are reading it scratching your head at points, shoot me an email and i'll clear it all up.

but our dinner was great. lots of people filled the house and we ate and ate and ate. six hours after the dinner, i still had a proper belly-ache. that's how you know it was good.

i've got a lot of thinking to do, about life in general, though, so the thankfulness comes almost as an afterthought. this is kindof loaded too, but i'll clear it all up in the next few posts.

.jrs.

28 November 2008

ripped straight from the journal

so, what follows is from my journal entry for today. i'm gonna leave it unedited, maybe to give a better feel for everything i was thinking and how i was scratching down my mind, maybe because i don't really want to read through it all again and make it into a project.

anyway, here's my story:

28 November 2008
17-? – Thanksgiving dinner

Well, I woke up a bit late today, but I still got some solid info and am looking forward to a good day. I cleaned the bathroom a bit and got ready for the day, then I helped Karoline make some stuffing. We baked our pies last night—Karoline two pumpkin, I two apple—so we had room this morning for cornbread and this afternoon for the turkey. Everything’s just kind of getting ready now. Karoline is cleaning this or that because Jozeka and Miriam are coming back this weekend, I think with some friends.

Oh but let me catch up a bit. I’ve been missing a couple days here and there, usually trying to fill in the blanks, but now I’m just gonna leave them blank and fill in with a quick recap. Let’s see, the last I wrote was Tuesday, so the last two days then. Wednesday was the opening of the Weihnachtsmarkt downtown, so I met a bunch of people from Stammtisch to try out the glühwein and hang out. It was pretty nice. Glühwein is just mulled wine, nice and warm and tasty to boot.

The next day during our break, Katarina wanted to go through the Markt, so I tagged along for fun. I think she really wanted to buy cigarettes, but I kept her from that maybe. Good thing though. Then we were walking through and I realized the place we avoided because they were selling beer instead of glühwein was from Papiermüle, the local brewery. So, at 10.30 I took down a sweet, smooth Pils with no regret. Katarina made fun of me for drinking so early, but it was good.

Rocco did the book table in the city, but instead of going right there after class, I went with Katarina and Dinny (that’s how your supposed to spell here name I found out) to Burgau which just on the way out of town to see a “Weihnachtsmarkt” there. Bogus. It was just a garden supply store with a few fish and birds too. Laaaame. But we went there anyways, it was fun hanging out. Katarina told us then that she’ll probably be stopping the class we’re all in because it’s not challenging her enough. It’s true, but I enjoy the pace right now. I think I need to do more work though to feel some real growth. Maybe she’ll find a better class and we can all transfer over.

So that brings us pretty much up to today. A day late, a couple dollars plus and minus (I figured out my banking stuff, but still am bleeding some money into transaction fees. Sparkasse said I can open a Girokonto there for free though, so I might jump on that bus) I am thankful for so many things. I’m trying to take pictures to share with everyone, but we’ll see how far that all goes. I’ll probably be able to send them out on Saturday if not this evening.

welp, smell ya later.

.jrs.

20 November 2008

i've been trying to watch more tv

well, that is not exactly true. it might be true if i thought it would be a good idea, but what is true is that i've been trying to check out more news programs in german.

mainly i've been peeking ard's online news, but i try to read some other stuff too. they have a lot of video's which i find easier to put on in the background so i can do other things all the while and pick up on german piece wise.

sometimes i feel like watching foreign news, even though i understand it all, is a lot like watching something put together by an airline to show on thier inflight entertainment. when i start to think about all the different programs and things i'm taking in now, my mind often also wanders to the fact that there are so many things going on around the world.

i need a helmet, because my minds about to be blown.

so what's in the news? if you're on a merchant ship near somalia, watch out for pirates. if you are a member of the bedouin tribe in israel, congradulations with obama. if you buy a new macbook, you probably download movies off itunes, and now you cannot watch them on an external monitor (sorry).

ok those last two weren't german, but they're news.

.jrs.