Oooo, I'm so excited. Berti and I have noticed a lack in recent weeks of Quality Time together; thus we just up and scheduled a week away, just us two, to Dresden in mid-August!
We've been to Dresden a couple of times in the past, but mostly for short visits for specific reasons, like a concert or seeing friends. This time, we're booking a B&B and just exploring the area. There's so much to see and do -- according to the Frommer's guide so thoughtfully supplied by my Mommy in 2006, just before I came to Germany, there are delicious eats, exclusive local beers and wines, lovely bicycle paths along the Elbe, and challenging hikes through the mountainous "Swiss Saxony." Not to mention the amazing museums, with Rafaels and Titians and Caravaggios in the Alte Meister gallery, and Arabic celestial globes from the 14th century in the Science and Mathematics Salon. And the opera! And theaters!
Eeeee, and all this with my very own Saxon. I want to go now!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
More things I likes.
Listing again, because thinking of these things makes me happy!
Owls.
Butterflies.
Herds of gyrating walruses.
The word "bat." (Baaat.)
Single-malt scotch.
Our large, hospitable couch.
1960's western movies.
Sunshine.
My new psychedelic string bikini.
Late brunches on the balcony with Bert.
Riding my bike.
Abba. (It's troo!)
Reading.
Maps.
Bagpipes.
Cozy pubs.
Also beer gardens.
Planning a trip.
Translating.
Wine tastings.
Potatoes. (In all earthly forms.)
Lavender.
Dogs.
Cats.
Rabbits.
Other furry things.
Calvin and Hobbes.
Museums.
Bath houses.
Documentaries.
Walking.
Walking with an ipod.
Driving in the car with Bert and an ipod.
Taking naps... which I think I'm going to go do right now!
Owls.
Butterflies.
Herds of gyrating walruses.
The word "bat." (Baaat.)
Single-malt scotch.
Our large, hospitable couch.
1960's western movies.
Sunshine.
My new psychedelic string bikini.
Late brunches on the balcony with Bert.
Riding my bike.
Abba. (It's troo!)
Reading.
Maps.
Bagpipes.
Cozy pubs.
Also beer gardens.
Planning a trip.
Translating.
Wine tastings.
Potatoes. (In all earthly forms.)
Lavender.
Dogs.
Cats.
Rabbits.
Other furry things.
Calvin and Hobbes.
Museums.
Bath houses.
Documentaries.
Walking.
Walking with an ipod.
Driving in the car with Bert and an ipod.
Taking naps... which I think I'm going to go do right now!
Friday, July 16, 2010
More Ohrwürmer.
Green grow the rashes, O...
(This one gets stuck in my head for days. And I don't mind at all!)
The next one is also beautiful (this time instead of sideways, the image is just jumpy):
Go Kenny and Stuart!
(This one gets stuck in my head for days. And I don't mind at all!)
The next one is also beautiful (this time instead of sideways, the image is just jumpy):
Go Kenny and Stuart!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Not Mars. Nope. Earrrrth.
Say. Does anyone remember this skit from Sesame Street?
The best part of finding it on youtube was discovering from the comments that other people also get this song stuck in their heads, from out of nowhere, 25 years later!
It happens to me when I think of the word "procrastination." My brain sings: Pro-cras-tin-AY-tion. Just a min-ute. Pro-cras-tin-AY-tion. Doin' it later!
Which sounds about right today. It's too hot to work here. German summers should not hang around the 97-degree mark, day after day; that's why I moved away from Arizona. But hang around they have, and you can only do so much swimming and basking and drinking of the cold beers before you start yearning for a good old fashioned freezing-rain shower. It's one thing to vacation in hot climes, another to put on work clothes in them.
(Wait, hahaha! I'm not complaining! Just a little joke! Ha. Please don't smite us with freezing rain showers.)
The difference between heat here and heat in Arizona is that the desert southwest is prepared for it. Vast resources are committed to making sure you need a sweater indoors in the summer. In central Europe, air conditioners are not only seen as horrifying electricity drains, they are also quite unnecessary. Well, usually. Since a good six months of the year are usually dedicated to trying to get warm, I have yet to see the private home that boasts an ay-see.
So instead of working, I'm going to sit here in my pajamas with the fan pointing at me, and look up some more cute videos. Oh look, the yip-yip aliens!!! Squeeeeee!
And discovering a radio. ("Ray-dee-oh. Happyhappyhappy!")
The best part of finding it on youtube was discovering from the comments that other people also get this song stuck in their heads, from out of nowhere, 25 years later!
It happens to me when I think of the word "procrastination." My brain sings: Pro-cras-tin-AY-tion. Just a min-ute. Pro-cras-tin-AY-tion. Doin' it later!
Which sounds about right today. It's too hot to work here. German summers should not hang around the 97-degree mark, day after day; that's why I moved away from Arizona. But hang around they have, and you can only do so much swimming and basking and drinking of the cold beers before you start yearning for a good old fashioned freezing-rain shower. It's one thing to vacation in hot climes, another to put on work clothes in them.
(Wait, hahaha! I'm not complaining! Just a little joke! Ha. Please don't smite us with freezing rain showers.)
The difference between heat here and heat in Arizona is that the desert southwest is prepared for it. Vast resources are committed to making sure you need a sweater indoors in the summer. In central Europe, air conditioners are not only seen as horrifying electricity drains, they are also quite unnecessary. Well, usually. Since a good six months of the year are usually dedicated to trying to get warm, I have yet to see the private home that boasts an ay-see.
So instead of working, I'm going to sit here in my pajamas with the fan pointing at me, and look up some more cute videos. Oh look, the yip-yip aliens!!! Squeeeeee!
And discovering a radio. ("Ray-dee-oh. Happyhappyhappy!")
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
New design!
Check it out, blogspot has really extended their blog design options. I think I'll play around a bit with the seasons and my mood. What would be really cool is if you could save a design to go with a year/post/etc, so that when you click on posts from April to June, it automatically shows a certain background, and so forth. But so far, it's fun just to have the extended options.
Interwebs are neet!
Interwebs are neet!
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Red and Black and Gold and White and Blue
What a lovely, double-patriotic weekend.
After that long, dark, cold, dark, long, cold winter, followed by a wimpy drizzling spring, the weather gods -- exasperated with our pleading -- finally slapped us with a sarcastically hot summer weekend. "Here! Are you happy now?!"
It was great. I know most people around here find the mid-nineties ridiculous, but when you have enough cold Weinschorle, breezy shade, and brand-new string bikini at your disposal, it felt like vacation.
After sleeping through the morning heat on Saturday, we gathered at Lui's in the afternoon to watch the German national team give the arrogant Argentinians a lesson in teamwork. The energy was amazing. Everyone in the shady beer garden was decked out in jerseys, cheeks streaked with black-red-and-gold paint, wearing flags like clothing, warding off the heat with cold beer and ice cream sundaes, and leaning forward in tense unison to watch that big screen. Each time the German boys magicked the ball into the Argentinians' net, you could just hear the whole city erupt into a cheer that practically lifted you off your feet (because you were already out of your chair). If the USA couldn't go any further, I'm glad Germany is now in the semifinal!
Today, we decided to escape the heat by driving an hour out of town, up into the cooler Odenwald and to a little lake that we'd discovered on a hike a few weekends ago. The temperature was definitely more pleasant than in the Rhine valley; we lay in the perfect sun and dipped in the cool water, and watched kids play badminton and football on the grass, while families prepared a summer dinner with their portable grills. It was a perfect 4th-of-July sort of day, except that no one was celebrating the 4th of July...
That's something I do miss. I always liked the 4th -- who doesn't? -- with its family and grill parties and fireworks and festive flags that make everyone feel like one big community. It's the ultimate summertime holiday. And now that I've, well, expatriated, I have developed a much more personal understanding of what it is to be American. As a result, I find I get more and more wistful for a real Independence Day celebration with each passing year.
Yet I also give up just a little more each year, because it's just not the same when no one else is celebrating anything. I imagine it's what Christmas in Egypt must be like: attempting to actually do anything just makes you a more wistful than satisfied. So this year, when people asked me if I had any plans to celebrate my national holiday, I said, "Not really; it's not the same outside the States."
So here we were at this lake today, with families grilling and the sounds of splashing and playing, with grass and a beach towel prickling my sunwarmed skin, and I thought, hey, maybe it would have been nice indeed to have a little barbecue, and too bad we hadn't made any plans in advance. Oh well...
Okay, I had not made any plans in advance. On the drive home through the gorgeous summer evening, however, I discovered that my scheming boyfriend had just happened to pick a lake in the vicinity of a place he had espied one day last year and had kept in his head since then: an American diner in the middle of the Odenwald!
The sneaky little thing. I was terribly pleased to suddenly find ourselves at a table on the patio, wearing our barely-dry swimsuits under our clothes as we enjoyed a delightfully authentic feast of charbroiled burgers, chili cheese fries, and coleslaw, washed down with lemon iced tea and cherry coke. We could have been in the States! There were American flags waving in the setting sun and everything.
After we got home, we sat on the balcony and lit some sparklers. I hummed an American tune or two, watched my sparks cheerfully burn down -- "...le-et freeedom ringg" -- and then we went inside.
Thanks, baby. Go Germany! Go USA!
After that long, dark, cold, dark, long, cold winter, followed by a wimpy drizzling spring, the weather gods -- exasperated with our pleading -- finally slapped us with a sarcastically hot summer weekend. "Here! Are you happy now?!"
It was great. I know most people around here find the mid-nineties ridiculous, but when you have enough cold Weinschorle, breezy shade, and brand-new string bikini at your disposal, it felt like vacation.
After sleeping through the morning heat on Saturday, we gathered at Lui's in the afternoon to watch the German national team give the arrogant Argentinians a lesson in teamwork. The energy was amazing. Everyone in the shady beer garden was decked out in jerseys, cheeks streaked with black-red-and-gold paint, wearing flags like clothing, warding off the heat with cold beer and ice cream sundaes, and leaning forward in tense unison to watch that big screen. Each time the German boys magicked the ball into the Argentinians' net, you could just hear the whole city erupt into a cheer that practically lifted you off your feet (because you were already out of your chair). If the USA couldn't go any further, I'm glad Germany is now in the semifinal!
Today, we decided to escape the heat by driving an hour out of town, up into the cooler Odenwald and to a little lake that we'd discovered on a hike a few weekends ago. The temperature was definitely more pleasant than in the Rhine valley; we lay in the perfect sun and dipped in the cool water, and watched kids play badminton and football on the grass, while families prepared a summer dinner with their portable grills. It was a perfect 4th-of-July sort of day, except that no one was celebrating the 4th of July...
That's something I do miss. I always liked the 4th -- who doesn't? -- with its family and grill parties and fireworks and festive flags that make everyone feel like one big community. It's the ultimate summertime holiday. And now that I've, well, expatriated, I have developed a much more personal understanding of what it is to be American. As a result, I find I get more and more wistful for a real Independence Day celebration with each passing year.
Yet I also give up just a little more each year, because it's just not the same when no one else is celebrating anything. I imagine it's what Christmas in Egypt must be like: attempting to actually do anything just makes you a more wistful than satisfied. So this year, when people asked me if I had any plans to celebrate my national holiday, I said, "Not really; it's not the same outside the States."
So here we were at this lake today, with families grilling and the sounds of splashing and playing, with grass and a beach towel prickling my sunwarmed skin, and I thought, hey, maybe it would have been nice indeed to have a little barbecue, and too bad we hadn't made any plans in advance. Oh well...
Okay, I had not made any plans in advance. On the drive home through the gorgeous summer evening, however, I discovered that my scheming boyfriend had just happened to pick a lake in the vicinity of a place he had espied one day last year and had kept in his head since then: an American diner in the middle of the Odenwald!
The sneaky little thing. I was terribly pleased to suddenly find ourselves at a table on the patio, wearing our barely-dry swimsuits under our clothes as we enjoyed a delightfully authentic feast of charbroiled burgers, chili cheese fries, and coleslaw, washed down with lemon iced tea and cherry coke. We could have been in the States! There were American flags waving in the setting sun and everything.
After we got home, we sat on the balcony and lit some sparklers. I hummed an American tune or two, watched my sparks cheerfully burn down -- "...le-et freeedom ringg" -- and then we went inside.
Thanks, baby. Go Germany! Go USA!
Friday, July 02, 2010
Go Black Stars!
I hope Ghana whips Uruguay's butts the same as they did ours. South America has seen enough football triumphs, but an African country has never yet made it to the semifinals and it would seem fitting for this year, what with the Cup being held for the first time in Africa.
So now that you guys have clawed and bitten your way up here, go all the way!
So now that you guys have clawed and bitten your way up here, go all the way!
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Schade
Chrissie & Scott & I watched the USA-Ghana game last Saturday at the Niederkirchener Weinfest. They whooped our butts. Ghana was fast, clever, strong, and talented, and definitely deserved the win.... unfortunately, they also displayed a healthy tendency to see what they could get away with, committing foul after foul. Quite unnecessarily, too, considering that although the US made an admirable showing, Ghana still could have beat us cleanly. Even more frustrating, most of these fouls were never even called! (Seriously, this World Cup will go down in history as displaying the most inconsistent and weird whistle-blowing practices of any tournament. There has never been so much outrage at the bogus calls, missed fouls, and discounted goals.... it's all over the news.)
That left us feeling not only disappointed at the loss but also unsatisfied at the messiness of the whole thing. Especially because, for some reason, everyone in the room was belligerently against us. E.g., every time Ghana would score, the whole room -- seriously, all the different tables -- would turn toward our table and hoot. We weren't being obnoxious; I can't think where this scorn came from. They were probably just drunk; and since Ghana is the last African country still in the tournament, everyone was predisposed to root for them, which is understandable. But I think a factor was also that this game was perceived as the "underdog" African nation versus the "superpower" USA, and oooo, let's show those arrogant Amis that they aren't so high and mighty. To be fair, this is indeed true economically: the US is (was...?) a superpower, and Ghana is much poorer. But exactly the same comparison could be made between Germany and Ghana, or any European country and most African countries, and yet this let's-all-gnash-our-teeth-at-those-bullies attitude was nowhere in sight for those games. It's like we were the world's good guys for just too many years, and so now everyone delights in our every little misfortune, including in sports.
I'm tireder than ever of this let's-all-disapprove-of-America fashion. I rather hoped that by now, it had become fashionable enough to not be considered fashionable anymore.
That left us feeling not only disappointed at the loss but also unsatisfied at the messiness of the whole thing. Especially because, for some reason, everyone in the room was belligerently against us. E.g., every time Ghana would score, the whole room -- seriously, all the different tables -- would turn toward our table and hoot. We weren't being obnoxious; I can't think where this scorn came from. They were probably just drunk; and since Ghana is the last African country still in the tournament, everyone was predisposed to root for them, which is understandable. But I think a factor was also that this game was perceived as the "underdog" African nation versus the "superpower" USA, and oooo, let's show those arrogant Amis that they aren't so high and mighty. To be fair, this is indeed true economically: the US is (was...?) a superpower, and Ghana is much poorer. But exactly the same comparison could be made between Germany and Ghana, or any European country and most African countries, and yet this let's-all-gnash-our-teeth-at-those-bullies attitude was nowhere in sight for those games. It's like we were the world's good guys for just too many years, and so now everyone delights in our every little misfortune, including in sports.
I'm tireder than ever of this let's-all-disapprove-of-America fashion. I rather hoped that by now, it had become fashionable enough to not be considered fashionable anymore.
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