Hey, in case you haven't looked at her blog recently, my Mom just celebrated her first Highland birthday yesterday! And it sounds like it was a total blast.
Congratulations on achieving your dream, Mom! (Insert wild pipe skirling)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Musing again
It's night, which means I should be in bed, but I'm too busy up musing. Things like:
- The power went out twice today. It was nice to sit around on the balcony, surrounded by candles, unable to use the computer.
- It was also neat to watch the neighbors doing the same things on their balconies.
- Barbecue sauce is delicious, but it seriously does not belong on non-barbecue things (like pizza). Freaks me out a little.
- But chicken mole is awesome.
- It's so much more fun being a grown-up than a kid. For one thing, even if I don't enjoy it, I can theoretically apply barbecue sauce to whatever I want. For another, the world makes increasingly more sense with every passing year.
- Teaching English at BASF just gets more and more enjoyable. So much so that I feel a little guilty being paid for it. There's nothing like spending your day hopping from group to group of completely unique, motivated individuals to convince you that the world is absolutely stuffed with wonderful people. Of course, I get to see their best sides: the sides that are learning, having fun, teasing each other and being creative and sharing what they did on the weekend and sticking out their tongues adorably as they concentrate on an exercise. After two years of meeting every week, you really get to know these people. And they're all just so... dear! It both fills you with love for humans and, at the same time, makes the evils of the universe almost too much to bear, to imagine that every bad thing that happens certainly involves one-of-a-kind folks like these. Everyone please be nice to each other out there.
- Speaking of lovable humans, I so totally still have a crush on Josh Groban. He's done some cheesy stuff of late, but then he could sing "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" and make it sound like an audible 2003 Bordeaux barrique. The man is Orpheus.
- Plus he looks aych-oh-tee in glasses.
- Lots of men look hot in glasses. Men! Go buy yourselves some glasses!
- In fact, Bert actually looks a little like Josh Groban. Check out this picture. The eyes, the eyebrows, the mouth, even his hairline. Hmmm....
- Shauna got sick in Jaipur. I guess that's obligatory -- every non-Indian is supposed to spend at least a little time being sick, adapting to the different sorts of microorganisms -- but I hope this doesn't mean she missed seeing the Palace of Winds or riding a camel. Hope they're having good travels back to Bangalore now.
- I got to talk to Sarah on the phone yesterday, which was awesome. She's so funny and easy to talk to, I really should call more often.
- Berti is flying to North America in a couple weeks! Vancouver, then Seattle, then Green Bay.
- And I'll be in Green Bay, too, visiting my fambleeeee!
- Speaking of travel, we spent last weekend lurking around near Bremen and got nice and sun-toasted on the North Sea (wrinkles be damned, gimme that Vitamin D!). It was very cool: the tide came in, we swam, the tide went out, we collected seashells. I've never been so far north on the Continent before, and it rocked! I stood on the shore and tried to imagine dragon-shaped longships appearing over the horizon. Bremen was also a fun city, with a gorgeous Innenstadt and lots to see. We hung out with Bert's friends and their two so-charming-it-hurts little boys, explored the idyllic countryside, had breakfast at the new Hofbräuhaus Bremen (gawd, we're such alkies) and just generally had a smashing time in the Stadt of the Musikanten. Plus we're nice 'n' tan! I haven't worn makeup for a week.
- I'm worried about my friend Sara, who just got a visit from some army messenger yesterday trying to call her back into active duty. She has two small children and a husband who's likely deploying before the year is out. Huh?? She has until September 4th to appeal; everyone please send good vibes.
- Well, I'm tired, maybe that means I should go to bed.
- Not before writing one more line.
- One more.
- Blog out.
- The power went out twice today. It was nice to sit around on the balcony, surrounded by candles, unable to use the computer.
- It was also neat to watch the neighbors doing the same things on their balconies.
- Barbecue sauce is delicious, but it seriously does not belong on non-barbecue things (like pizza). Freaks me out a little.
- But chicken mole is awesome.
- It's so much more fun being a grown-up than a kid. For one thing, even if I don't enjoy it, I can theoretically apply barbecue sauce to whatever I want. For another, the world makes increasingly more sense with every passing year.
- Teaching English at BASF just gets more and more enjoyable. So much so that I feel a little guilty being paid for it. There's nothing like spending your day hopping from group to group of completely unique, motivated individuals to convince you that the world is absolutely stuffed with wonderful people. Of course, I get to see their best sides: the sides that are learning, having fun, teasing each other and being creative and sharing what they did on the weekend and sticking out their tongues adorably as they concentrate on an exercise. After two years of meeting every week, you really get to know these people. And they're all just so... dear! It both fills you with love for humans and, at the same time, makes the evils of the universe almost too much to bear, to imagine that every bad thing that happens certainly involves one-of-a-kind folks like these. Everyone please be nice to each other out there.
- Speaking of lovable humans, I so totally still have a crush on Josh Groban. He's done some cheesy stuff of late, but then he could sing "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" and make it sound like an audible 2003 Bordeaux barrique. The man is Orpheus.
- Plus he looks aych-oh-tee in glasses.
- Lots of men look hot in glasses. Men! Go buy yourselves some glasses!
- In fact, Bert actually looks a little like Josh Groban. Check out this picture. The eyes, the eyebrows, the mouth, even his hairline. Hmmm....
- Shauna got sick in Jaipur. I guess that's obligatory -- every non-Indian is supposed to spend at least a little time being sick, adapting to the different sorts of microorganisms -- but I hope this doesn't mean she missed seeing the Palace of Winds or riding a camel. Hope they're having good travels back to Bangalore now.
- I got to talk to Sarah on the phone yesterday, which was awesome. She's so funny and easy to talk to, I really should call more often.
- Berti is flying to North America in a couple weeks! Vancouver, then Seattle, then Green Bay.
- And I'll be in Green Bay, too, visiting my fambleeeee!
- Speaking of travel, we spent last weekend lurking around near Bremen and got nice and sun-toasted on the North Sea (wrinkles be damned, gimme that Vitamin D!). It was very cool: the tide came in, we swam, the tide went out, we collected seashells. I've never been so far north on the Continent before, and it rocked! I stood on the shore and tried to imagine dragon-shaped longships appearing over the horizon. Bremen was also a fun city, with a gorgeous Innenstadt and lots to see. We hung out with Bert's friends and their two so-charming-it-hurts little boys, explored the idyllic countryside, had breakfast at the new Hofbräuhaus Bremen (gawd, we're such alkies) and just generally had a smashing time in the Stadt of the Musikanten. Plus we're nice 'n' tan! I haven't worn makeup for a week.
- I'm worried about my friend Sara, who just got a visit from some army messenger yesterday trying to call her back into active duty. She has two small children and a husband who's likely deploying before the year is out. Huh?? She has until September 4th to appeal; everyone please send good vibes.
- Well, I'm tired, maybe that means I should go to bed.
- Not before writing one more line.
- One more.
- Blog out.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Fahrvergnügen
So hey, maybe I should actually begin thinking about what it takes to be allowed to drive here.
Up to this point, the issue seemed a bit unimportant, even irrelevant, considering:
a) I don't have a car registered in my name
b) the first year I was here, I wasn't sure how long I would stay, and
c) by the time I knew I would stay -- i.e. the second year -- Bert's car was living in the Erzgebirge.
But now that the Opel is once again a resident of Ludwigshafen, and my third year in Germany is heading to its close, it's slowly becoming ridiculous that I don't have a German license. Bert and I have become like those couples in the 1950s, where the husband always drives while the wife sits wifily in the passenger seat.
So I finally sat down just now to peruse the web and see what it would take to get a Führerschein. And would you look at that! Arizona has an agreement with the German government that allows its citizens to simply come in and exchange their AZ driver's license for a German one. Let's see, how much time do I have to do that? About... it says here... oh... "up to 3 years."
ACK!!!!!!!
My three-year mark is next Wednesday!
If I miss it, I have to leap through something like 6 months of brutal bureaucratic landmines and examinations and document-issuing before I get to then sweat out around 2,000 Euros worth of behind-the-wheel hours and processing fees.
I gotta get on the ball! Or the wheel, as it were! I'll let you know how it goes...
(Besides, if they make me take a test, they'll realize I still don't know how to drive stick. Yipe!)
Up to this point, the issue seemed a bit unimportant, even irrelevant, considering:
a) I don't have a car registered in my name
b) the first year I was here, I wasn't sure how long I would stay, and
c) by the time I knew I would stay -- i.e. the second year -- Bert's car was living in the Erzgebirge.
But now that the Opel is once again a resident of Ludwigshafen, and my third year in Germany is heading to its close, it's slowly becoming ridiculous that I don't have a German license. Bert and I have become like those couples in the 1950s, where the husband always drives while the wife sits wifily in the passenger seat.
So I finally sat down just now to peruse the web and see what it would take to get a Führerschein. And would you look at that! Arizona has an agreement with the German government that allows its citizens to simply come in and exchange their AZ driver's license for a German one. Let's see, how much time do I have to do that? About... it says here... oh... "up to 3 years."
ACK!!!!!!!
My three-year mark is next Wednesday!
If I miss it, I have to leap through something like 6 months of brutal bureaucratic landmines and examinations and document-issuing before I get to then sweat out around 2,000 Euros worth of behind-the-wheel hours and processing fees.
I gotta get on the ball! Or the wheel, as it were! I'll let you know how it goes...
(Besides, if they make me take a test, they'll realize I still don't know how to drive stick. Yipe!)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sommerliche Tage
What a wonderful summer so far! If a bit busy -- also expensive (!) -- it's been worth it.
Since June should really be its own entry, I'll start in the middle of July, when Mom & I headed out toward Regensburg to visit my friend Sara. She just moved to that area in July with her husband, Jared, a hippie-turned-soldier who's had some pretty unbelievable adventures in the Army before they finally got stationed in cool, green, relatively non-bomb-throwing Europe. It was so great to catch up with Sara again. We hadn't seen each other since she -- herself a hippie-turned-soldier -- left Tucson for said Army in 2003, and yet it was like almost no time had passed. Except for her having a husband and two adorable children! We had a lovely time: explored the town, ate famously delicious Bratwurst, drank beer, chased kiddies, escaped from the Gasthaus.
Oh yeah, the Gasthaus. For the most part, she seems to be settling into Germany pretty well; except for the first couple of weeks, when the whole family was stuck in two rooms in this bizarrely large, yet otherwise weirdly empty, Gasthaus on the lonely end of a sparse collection of houses that somehow, somewhen was generously granted its own name and "village" status. There wasn't even a bus going out there from the equally spooky train station twelve kilometers away... although after half an hour of trying, we did finally get a hold of the only taxi cab within a 30-kilometer radius. I mean it, the only one! Be sure to make your booking in advance! Might be charming, if it weren't completely maddening. Sara and Jared were ready to start throwing themselves against the walls by the end of Week Two, and I considered buying them a large mirror to make them think they had more space -- and maybe even roommates who looked just like themselves -- until they were finally able to buy a car and move into a real house in a real town nearby. I'm really looking forward to visiting again at the end of August.
But first, it was off to Scotland for Mom's momentous move! Check out her blog for details on our fabulous weekend hanging out in pubs and stomping our feet to live Celtic folk music -- IIIII mean, of course, registering her for classes and looking for apartments. (Come on, we did a little of that, too!)
Inverness is seriously great. Not only is everyone friendly and the town cute, but for such a middle-sized community (70,000, I think?), it's also hopping! There's always some event going on. And in the pubs, people actually dance: that kicking, jumping, Scottish-looking dancing that everyone must learn in school or something because they all look really good doing it. And of course you, as a Not Scot, don't even contemplate getting up and joining them because they're all so, you know, authentic, and you're, like, this dorky tourist and stuff. So you just sit at your table bouncing in your seat and having some more whisky. Until the Scots catch you at this -- then you are pulled quite bodily into the ruckus and your whisky-lubricated feet miraculously find their own rhythm. We had way too much fun, and Mom made way too many new friends!, for us to dwell too much on the sadness of Monday's inevitable parting.
But even the journey back to Edinburgh, while a bit melancholy, was very beautiful. The Highlands really look just like they do in the films. The train pulled out of Inverness into a low-hanging dawn, and I spent three hours watching the mist swirl between mountains and over rocky brooks that wound their way through dark purple heather. Kind of matched my mood. Add some atmospheric music to the mp3 player (in fact the "Gladiator" soundtrack is superb for watching landscapes) and you have yourself one transcendental train ride.
I didn't have too much time to brood, however, because the following weekend ging es gleich wieder los. Bert and I drove down to his mom's place on the Bodensee and, along with his dad and uncle, celebrated Gert's birthday. And I discovered where the sun goes to when it's on vacation from Scotland! On Friday night, we set up a tent under the apple trees in a garden overlooking the water, roasted potatoes in a campfire, and drank beer under the Milky Way until we simply couldn't stay awake any later.
By eight-thirty the next morning, we were waking up to the smell of fallen apples; taking a dip in the Bodensee; drying off on the grass in the sunshine; then having lunch in a Biergarten before driving out to yet another lake for frisbee and more basking in the sun. I tell you, it was vacation. Even the climate reminded me a bit of California: that golden light and soft air... riding along the coast with the windows down, summer-clad, cool wind on your sunwarmed skin, watching the light flash off the water and glow through ranks of graceful white sails.
On Sunday it was pretty hot, so on the drive home, we made a stop to walk through a lovely Altstadt and have ice cream coffee.
Just like Baden-Württemberg has a prettier "Ludwigshafen" -- on the Bodensee -- it also has its own Haßloch, this one friendlier and spelled "Haslach"
We stopped again near sunset because we spotted another lake from the road and simply had to get out of the car and jump in it.
Swim in meeeeee!
View from the lake. Isses net schee?
Monday, I actually -- gasp! -- got some work done. And then on Tuesday, Steve came!! He stopped through Frankfurt on his way to visit Shauna in India, so we got a whole day and night to play together. Which he and Bert took full advantage of, too -- I had no idea how late they were up hanging out until I tried to wake them up to trundle them off to their respective airports and jobs. Last word was that Steve made his flight on time... it makes me happy to think of him and Shauna reunited now!
So here it's Wednesday night, and Bert and I are already checking the weather to see how it will be in Bremen this weekend. He's got friends up there who've been bugging him to come up and visit for years, so it looks like we're escaping this wine country heat to check out some more ships, this time zurück in the cool north.
Anybody been to Bremen before, or Bremerhaven? Anything we should be sure to see? :)
Since June should really be its own entry, I'll start in the middle of July, when Mom & I headed out toward Regensburg to visit my friend Sara. She just moved to that area in July with her husband, Jared, a hippie-turned-soldier who's had some pretty unbelievable adventures in the Army before they finally got stationed in cool, green, relatively non-bomb-throwing Europe. It was so great to catch up with Sara again. We hadn't seen each other since she -- herself a hippie-turned-soldier -- left Tucson for said Army in 2003, and yet it was like almost no time had passed. Except for her having a husband and two adorable children! We had a lovely time: explored the town, ate famously delicious Bratwurst, drank beer, chased kiddies, escaped from the Gasthaus.
Oh yeah, the Gasthaus. For the most part, she seems to be settling into Germany pretty well; except for the first couple of weeks, when the whole family was stuck in two rooms in this bizarrely large, yet otherwise weirdly empty, Gasthaus on the lonely end of a sparse collection of houses that somehow, somewhen was generously granted its own name and "village" status. There wasn't even a bus going out there from the equally spooky train station twelve kilometers away... although after half an hour of trying, we did finally get a hold of the only taxi cab within a 30-kilometer radius. I mean it, the only one! Be sure to make your booking in advance! Might be charming, if it weren't completely maddening. Sara and Jared were ready to start throwing themselves against the walls by the end of Week Two, and I considered buying them a large mirror to make them think they had more space -- and maybe even roommates who looked just like themselves -- until they were finally able to buy a car and move into a real house in a real town nearby. I'm really looking forward to visiting again at the end of August.
But first, it was off to Scotland for Mom's momentous move! Check out her blog for details on our fabulous weekend hanging out in pubs and stomping our feet to live Celtic folk music -- IIIII mean, of course, registering her for classes and looking for apartments. (Come on, we did a little of that, too!)
Inverness is seriously great. Not only is everyone friendly and the town cute, but for such a middle-sized community (70,000, I think?), it's also hopping! There's always some event going on. And in the pubs, people actually dance: that kicking, jumping, Scottish-looking dancing that everyone must learn in school or something because they all look really good doing it. And of course you, as a Not Scot, don't even contemplate getting up and joining them because they're all so, you know, authentic, and you're, like, this dorky tourist and stuff. So you just sit at your table bouncing in your seat and having some more whisky. Until the Scots catch you at this -- then you are pulled quite bodily into the ruckus and your whisky-lubricated feet miraculously find their own rhythm. We had way too much fun, and Mom made way too many new friends!, for us to dwell too much on the sadness of Monday's inevitable parting.
But even the journey back to Edinburgh, while a bit melancholy, was very beautiful. The Highlands really look just like they do in the films. The train pulled out of Inverness into a low-hanging dawn, and I spent three hours watching the mist swirl between mountains and over rocky brooks that wound their way through dark purple heather. Kind of matched my mood. Add some atmospheric music to the mp3 player (in fact the "Gladiator" soundtrack is superb for watching landscapes) and you have yourself one transcendental train ride.
I didn't have too much time to brood, however, because the following weekend ging es gleich wieder los. Bert and I drove down to his mom's place on the Bodensee and, along with his dad and uncle, celebrated Gert's birthday. And I discovered where the sun goes to when it's on vacation from Scotland! On Friday night, we set up a tent under the apple trees in a garden overlooking the water, roasted potatoes in a campfire, and drank beer under the Milky Way until we simply couldn't stay awake any later.
By eight-thirty the next morning, we were waking up to the smell of fallen apples; taking a dip in the Bodensee; drying off on the grass in the sunshine; then having lunch in a Biergarten before driving out to yet another lake for frisbee and more basking in the sun. I tell you, it was vacation. Even the climate reminded me a bit of California: that golden light and soft air... riding along the coast with the windows down, summer-clad, cool wind on your sunwarmed skin, watching the light flash off the water and glow through ranks of graceful white sails.
On Sunday it was pretty hot, so on the drive home, we made a stop to walk through a lovely Altstadt and have ice cream coffee.
Just like Baden-Württemberg has a prettier "Ludwigshafen" -- on the Bodensee -- it also has its own Haßloch, this one friendlier and spelled "Haslach"We stopped again near sunset because we spotted another lake from the road and simply had to get out of the car and jump in it.
Swim in meeeeee!
View from the lake. Isses net schee?Monday, I actually -- gasp! -- got some work done. And then on Tuesday, Steve came!! He stopped through Frankfurt on his way to visit Shauna in India, so we got a whole day and night to play together. Which he and Bert took full advantage of, too -- I had no idea how late they were up hanging out until I tried to wake them up to trundle them off to their respective airports and jobs. Last word was that Steve made his flight on time... it makes me happy to think of him and Shauna reunited now!
So here it's Wednesday night, and Bert and I are already checking the weather to see how it will be in Bremen this weekend. He's got friends up there who've been bugging him to come up and visit for years, so it looks like we're escaping this wine country heat to check out some more ships, this time zurück in the cool north.
Anybody been to Bremen before, or Bremerhaven? Anything we should be sure to see? :)
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Horrors and Delights
Mom and I were looking at some gowns on display in the window of a formalwear shop the other day. For each one, I heard myself loudly issuing some supercilious evaluation: a dress was "hideous" or "gorgeous," "appalling" or "breathtaking," or "would be nice if there were fewer sequins and more of that turquoise color." Everything was either horrible or delightful.
So in that vein, I give you: This Past Weekend, as Judged by the Opinionated Nikki!
- Horrible: Bert left for Munich last Thursday evening. A weekend without him, aiee! Speaking of Bavaria, I've been meaning to gripe: what's all the fuss about, anyway? That area is so overexposed. How come it gets all the recognition when the Pfalz is just as pretty but less self-aggrandizing?
- Delightful: His trip was just in time to give Mom & me a little catch-up playtime before we fly to Inverness next weekend. Hooray! Hanging out together in Germany, then in Scotland!
- Horror: We watched the movie "Troy" last night, which is fun, but just as often ridiculous. I mean, how does Briseis suddenly allow herself to be seduced by Achilles just when she was in the middle of despising him? Silly girl!
- But Delight: Thumbs up to her spirited verbal volleying!
- Horror: And how many times does the movie need to keep hammering the "I will be immortal through my memorable deeds" theme? Answer: at least eight. (Several of which are accompanied by Achilles' squinting thoughtfully off into the distance, just in case we missed the point.)
- Delight: Eric Bana is a babe. More scenes with Hector!
- Horror: By the way, I discovered that Hefeweizen aggravates my fructose malabsorption issues. Nooooooooooooooooooo......
- Delight: At least Weißburgunder turns out to be an acceptable alternative to fructose-fraught Rieslings, the main ingredient in a Weinschorle! Ahh, the Schorle: refreshing summer beverage, I salute you.
- Horror: Planning lessons on a Sunday sucks.
- Delight: Mom and I went for a long walk in Luisenpark on Saturday.
- Horror: The Strassenbahn tracks are being worked on, and there was no tram to take us home from the park.
- Delight: So we went for a beautiful 3-mile walk back to Berliner Platz on our own two (four) feet.
- Horror: The Frogurt is also cursed.
- Delight: But you get your choice of topping!
So in that vein, I give you: This Past Weekend, as Judged by the Opinionated Nikki!
- Horrible: Bert left for Munich last Thursday evening. A weekend without him, aiee! Speaking of Bavaria, I've been meaning to gripe: what's all the fuss about, anyway? That area is so overexposed. How come it gets all the recognition when the Pfalz is just as pretty but less self-aggrandizing?
- Delightful: His trip was just in time to give Mom & me a little catch-up playtime before we fly to Inverness next weekend. Hooray! Hanging out together in Germany, then in Scotland!
- Horror: We watched the movie "Troy" last night, which is fun, but just as often ridiculous. I mean, how does Briseis suddenly allow herself to be seduced by Achilles just when she was in the middle of despising him? Silly girl!
- But Delight: Thumbs up to her spirited verbal volleying!
- Horror: And how many times does the movie need to keep hammering the "I will be immortal through my memorable deeds" theme? Answer: at least eight. (Several of which are accompanied by Achilles' squinting thoughtfully off into the distance, just in case we missed the point.)
- Delight: Eric Bana is a babe. More scenes with Hector!
- Horror: By the way, I discovered that Hefeweizen aggravates my fructose malabsorption issues. Nooooooooooooooooooo......
- Delight: At least Weißburgunder turns out to be an acceptable alternative to fructose-fraught Rieslings, the main ingredient in a Weinschorle! Ahh, the Schorle: refreshing summer beverage, I salute you.
- Horror: Planning lessons on a Sunday sucks.
- Delight: Mom and I went for a long walk in Luisenpark on Saturday.
- Horror: The Strassenbahn tracks are being worked on, and there was no tram to take us home from the park.
- Delight: So we went for a beautiful 3-mile walk back to Berliner Platz on our own two (four) feet.
- Horror: The Frogurt is also cursed.
- Delight: But you get your choice of topping!
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