Tis The Season

Had to go grocery shopping...all out of Wurst.

Why hello again, world.  The latest entry is FINALLY here!  My speaking ability improved dramatically, and friends and coworkers really began noticing.
My friend, Drea, has on multiple occasions exclaimed, "Justin, it is simply amazing how much you've learned!"
"Well, it still is a struggle to say everything I want."
"Yeah, but you understand everything we say," she rebuttals.
"...Well, sort of."

You see, communication and language is not only about words.  It is about inflection, gestures, feeling, context, environment, etc.  All of these factors contribute to what and when one communicates to another human being.  This said, I have had to be especially resourceful in situations where I'm not sure about every word coming from someone's mouth.  It also requires that sometimes I become somewhat of an actor.  I could stop someone at every word I don't get, write it down, and write it down ten times every night before I go to bed.  For the sake of actually communicating like a normal human, though, I choose to let some of those words, or even sentences, bypass my mind with the goal of understanding the "gist" of what  a person says.  A few, actually clueless, "uh-huh's" or "ja's" may seem rude, but it is a useful survival technique in order to allow a conversation to move along.  Sure, I ask people what words mean or if they could repeat themselves, but, say I am pushing someone to their appointment in the hospital, I simply don't have the time for a Deutsch lesson.  I simply have to force myself to "skim" over what people say, similar to skimming an article or book.  The main idea is what is important.  I can tell the difference between when an 80-year-old woman is talking about her grandchildren and their occupations and when they need something when something is wrong, even if it is in the Bavarian dialect.  The more I have just let myself go and stop worrying about the details, I have found that I have begun to actually understand exactly what people say through time and practice.  And in this practice, people talk to me differently: like a competent adult rather than a person with a 5th grade vocabulary.  It is all about believing in one's ability, not being afraid to ask when it is obviously necessary, and portraying confidence in the conversation.  This is the difference between passive and active language learning.  Learning to be in the moment rather than stuck in a grammatical web.  I'm still not perfect.  But I'm better.  A lot better.

Another funny result of living in Bavaria is that I'm picking up the Bavarian language!  Both doctors and patients have at times had trouble understanding me, because apparently I am speaking Bavarian without even knowing it! Add to the fact that I have a (I hope slight) English accent, it must be weird to hear. That being said, people never know I am American.  They usually know I'm not German, though.  I've gotten everything.  Patients have asked (in order of frequency) if I'm from England, Holland, France, or Poland.  The man who asked if I was from Poland didn't like me much, especially when he found out I was American.  He was particularly repulsed by his wheelchair being driven by a foreigner, and got up and walked away on his own when I refused to take him to the cafeteria to buy him cigarettes.  Some very strong words were also thrown my way.  That was the only time I was ever discriminated against.  I had a lot of support from the staff, however, and someone even joked about dumping people like that off the roof. I don't think I would go that far, but it is nice to know people actually do care when someone is representing their country in such a bad light. Nationalism is not looked upon in such a good light—for obvious historical reasons.

For the most part, it has been a warm winter. Too bad that it was a relatively cool summer, though. Despite this, one night there was the most beautiful full snow I've ever seen in my life. I walked home through the light, fluffy flakes. Christmas lights on the Bavarian houses complemented by rolling hills in the background.  Wunderbar!  Pfaffenhofen's town square was lit top to bottom with projections, so it was as if the buildings and town hall were all covered with glowing wrapping paper.  I unfortunately was unable to get a good night shot of this, but it was seriously picture perfect.

Christkindlmarkt Pfaffenhofen

They also had a little Christkindlmarkt.  This Christmas market is common all throughout Germany during the holiday season.  Traditionally, all kinds of good food is available, little booths sell wares including candles, handmade mittens, scarfs, and hats, small toys, and wooden ornaments.  The list goes on.  One of the central features, though is ordering your mug of Glühwein.  This is a type of heated spiced wine, and anytime you go, it's absolutely necessary to keep warm and bring out the good cheer.  There are also events each night onstage as well as an authentic nativity scene full of live animals.  I always joke that it's missing the live baby as well.  Just imagine that job.  Anyway, it was fun to get to see the smaller scale of this market, because there is one in Chicago I frequent, which is surprisingly very authentic and similar to the ones in Germany, but it is just so crowded and overwhelming because it is in a large city.  The one in Munich was also like this.  The nice thing, though is that you get to shop in the real German environment.

Inspecting Christmas Wares

German kids try to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

As far as Christmas traditions in Germany, on December 6th I was surprised to be showered by coworkers with chocolate Santas left and right.  Then, I ran into Felix's sister Tina who wanted to make a visit to the Ott's family home that evening.  I really was exhausted that day and denied the offer, but then was told I had no choice.  It was St. Nikolaus day.  Oh boy, what's that mean?  Well, it is the night Santa comes to Germany.  Did you actually think he could manage the whole Christian world in one single Christmas day?  Usually you leave your shoes out for the night and get small gifts inside.  I got a small stocking filled with nuts more chocolate Santas, gummi bears, and an orange.  In Pfaffenhofen, families with children hire a Santa to come to their homes in a big fire truck and deliver the goods personally.  He also comes with a elf/imp guy who carries a sack.  If you have been a bad little boy or girl, you get put in the sack and taken away.  Tina told me they were terrified and kind of stressful when Santa would come.  Of course, no one ever got the sack, but imagine the thought that you possibly could be carried away in a sack, tortured an imprisoned, eaten alive, or burned or something.  I don't know exactly what would happen to a kid, but you know it wouldn't be good.  For more on terrifying German legends designed for children, just pick up a copy of Grimm's fairy tales.  So that is St. Nikolaus day, but what about Christmas?  On this day comes the Christkind ( in English, Christ child) who is a little blond angel.  This was popularized first at the dawn of the reformation to draw attention away from the Catholic St. Nikolaus, who ended up turning out a lot less Christian even in the Catholic communities.

Nuremberg

I made plans to visit home in America for the holidays.  Before I left, I made a trip to the most famous Christkindlmarkt in Nuremberg, then also stopped by Augsburg.  Nuremberg is the home to the famous Nazi war trials and also was the home of the famous artist Albrecht Dürer.  It was absolutely one of the most beautiful city centers I have been to.  I truly felt that I was in the middle ages exploring all the little nooks and crannies within its feudal walls.  Augsburg, was smaller, but also had its own personality.  I got there after dark, but did my fair share of walking about, sipping on a Glühwein.
So, then my pause in German adventuring began.  One year later, back in the USA.  This was a wonferful reuniting with my family and friends.  I got to see my grandfather four days before his death on Christmas day.  It was very important for me to see him one last time, and the fact that he waited for me to come home was so special.  I helped tuck him into bed and said goodbye.  Well, I rushed up to him again a second time, too.  It was a hard time but also a starting anew, especially for my grandma, who's life is one hundred percent different after being married to Chuck since she was 17.  My family hosted the annual Charlson Christmas Eve party.  It was fun to be the Emcee once again and be with my cousins again.  My Uncle Denny and I played a little blues jam and Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph" with Austin on vocals.  Of course, we had a lot of starting and stopping--we always wait til the day before to actually practice the stuff.  Christmas always seems to just creep up on you.

Home Again.  Thumbs Up.

I got to see most of my friends.  A visit to Munster got me back into the world of industry USA, the South Shore, microbreweries, and blues.  I spent time in Chicago, which I had missed dearly, even when living in Bloomington.  The town of Chesterton seemed nicer to me.  It seemed cleaner, many places were renovated, and it was cool to go to a new restaurant that opened up serving good beer and burgers.  It's called Octave.  Check it out.  Worth your money once in awhile.  Ok, that's the end of the advertisement.  I shot guns for the first time in the backyard.  These included various pistols and an AR-15.  It was quite a unique American experience.  I had mixed feelings about the whole thing, and ethical debates regarding the legality buzzed about in my mind.  But, this evening at least, was like setting off fire works.  It was fun to aim at orange circles in the woods and sit around a bonfire talking about the state of the world with old friends I hadn't seen in literally over 10 years.

Yes, it was amazing, and a mix of sadness and excitement was in the air as I once again said my goodbyes.  I was going to Germany once again, a year later.  A year older.  A year of German under my belt.  I was leaving not just an wide-eyed, excited student ready for a semester abroad to make new friends and see the world.  I graduated to a new level.  Living in Germany has become a part of my identity as a person.  My home is the world.  Chesterton, Åmål, Bloomington, Pfaffenhofen, Lüneburg.  These are places I have called home in my 23 years.  I like to think of myself as world citizen.  Welcome to the postmodern world.  I wonder what's next!

The Beginning of Fall

Well, things have slowed down a bit.  I'm settled into my routine of weekday work and have gotten the hang of the job.  Everyone at the hospital knows me by name, and it makes the day so much better having everything under control rather than guessing all the time.  I come home and usually just enjoy a life without homework.  I bought a guitar for about 150 Euros and have been plugging away at it.  It's a no-name brand hollow-body jazz guitar, and I don't think I'll ever go back to a different design.  You get a real nice nostalgic sound from it...like the opening chord from The Beatles' song "A Hard Day's Night"  Anyway, I've been getting up to speed on my playing since I've been without an instrument for 9 months.  That's really hard for me, since it's always a go-to when there's really nothing else to do and the easiest for me to just simply express myself without trying too hard.

We only have one kitten left here in the apartment, Uwe Maximilian was picked up this weekend by his new family, but mom and brother seem to be getting along just fine.  I think we are considering keeping this one, even.  His name is now Anders, rather than Cosmo...the kitten previously known as Cosmo.  The laser pointer is the new game now.  They both go nuts for it, but unfortunately it evaporates into thin air before they can catch it.

Uwe Maximilian wachte als die Mutter und das Kind schliefen.

Matthias is in the process of moving out, so we will be getting a new flatmate in about a week.  It's a little bittersweet since all of us get a long so well, but he's studying in Regensburg, moving into a house with his girlfriend, and moving on in life.  He also was kind enough to give me a couch, bookcase, dresser, and computer monitor to fill up my room.  Now I have furniture, and so move on from my ultra-minimalist lifestyle.  So now we salute Matthias and welcome in Andy.  He's Martina's boyfriend, and we know him quite well, so things won't be too shaken up.

Martina picking flowers

I'm currently looking into tutoring English for kids at the high school level.  I am seriously considering teaching English to speakers of other languages, as I enjoy grammar, writing, and reading.  I want to get a feel for it and some experience under my belt, so it's a perfect place to start.  It also will provide a little more cash.  On top of that, I am going to start working on my advertisement/documentary for the hospital, which I hope will also help my resume and practical skills in communication and production.

Other than that, I'm taking one day at a time, learning more German stuff along the way, and looking forward to the next.  Enjoy the pictures...

The Forest

The hop fields after harvest

Potato Field

Happy Halloween!

I hoass Oberleitner Waschdl

Once I received the go-ahead from the German government to begin working, I had lots to do. meetings with the bank to open a checking account, setting up my health insurance, and check-up appointments with the doctor were on the agenda through July.  I also had to find a place to live.


There were many ads in the local newspaper, mostly for pensions renting by the day for workers on temporary jobs in the area.  I, however, would need something for awhile longer, and preferably in a place to meet new people.  I made a call one day, responding to an ad looking for someone 18-30 to live in a Wohngemeinschaft (shared living space) with four other people.  At first I wasn't sure about this.  I had long wanted to live on my own, just having my own things, my own agenda, curfew, etc.  However, I thought that the opportunity to live with people my age outweighed the cost of "living on my lonesome".  After all, I really didn't know many people in Pfaffenhofen with my interests, let alone my age group.  I was living in a quiet neighboring village, more ideal for raising a family than experiencing life in Europe to its fullest.  I really realized how important social interaction actually is.  Anyway, I made a visit to the flat, not really knowing what to expect.  Turns out, it was perfect.  The people, the location, and the flat itself all were an instant sell.

My flat mates are: Martina, a self-employed carpenter; Matthias, a DJ and builder of sound systems; Peter, an English major who has started a business making skateboards from scratch.  One of our flatmates, Mario, was gone for about six months on vacation.  In the meantime, they had rented out his room to Veli, a girl from Bulgaria about to go to intensive German studies in Munich.  We have a garden and a fire pit in the back yard as well as a woodshop in the basement, complete with a computer to make all of the skateboard graphics on as well as a turntable to listen to your favorite records while working.  The kitchen cabinets are all painted with a mix of bright primary colors, we have a balcony that looks out over the farm we neighbor, and a central living room with a fish tank and a shared computer.

Die Katzen

We also have a cat.  She has no real name--everyone in the flat calls her something different: Mitzi, Claudia, Elisabeth, or Berbl.  They all work.  Anyway, she was pregnant when I first moved in, so there was great excitement as to when the kittens would come.  "It's DEFINITELY going to be tonight" was spoken about every other day.  Turns out she had them while the men of the apartment were visiting Prague.  She had four kittens, who are at the moment crawling into every crevice, climbing as high as possible, and fighting with our socks.  It's great!  We have owners for all of them, but in the meantime I gave them names: Cosmo, Maximilian, Selma, and Friedrich.  Yeah, so that's all about the cats.

Prague Castle

My flatmates and I have made a few great trips together.  In July we traveled to Prague, Czech Republic.  This city is by far one of the most interesting and beautiful places I have visited to date.  There is just something about it.  Strange artwork abounds.  In one part of the city stands a pond with two statues on either side pivoting left and right, peeing into the water.  There are tons of marionette shops as well as a menagerie of strip shows.  In the center of the city stands a giant, towering astronomical clock which shows the time, date, year, and exact position of the universe.  There are skeletons and other cryptic statues and paintings surrounding it.  Besides all the oddities, it also happens to be something straight out of a classic fairy tale.  The castle stands at the top of a mountain, and you get there by crossing the Charles Bridge over the beautiful Vltava river.  Giant detailed statues line the bridge and some are absolutely teeming with spiders catching the many insects that breed on the water there.  The remainders of the Communist era (Czechoslovakia was a part of the Soviet Eastern Bloc for 41 years) are also evident through the architecture, small odes to the working people, and the Communist museum naturally housed above a McDonald's.  What is with that?  McDonald's also lies right on the West side of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin...awkward.

Beautiful Prague

I also had an interesting experience on a trip to Vienna last month.  I was going to meet some people there since I had to work during the day and they wanted to leave early.  There is a website here that allows you to look up registered trips to destinations all over Germany and Europe.  Then, you simply sign up to hitch a ride with a person going in your direction.  For 20 Euros, I got a ride from Munich to Vienna.  220 miles for 20 Euros doesn't seem too bad to me.  It was pretty official.  Eight other people were also traveling in the van.  The way there was absolutely breathtaking.  The Austrian countryside against the towering Alps is such a site.  I want to really check out Salzburg, Austria (which lies in one of these valleys) before it gets cold.  Anyway, I got to Vienna around 10 pm, paid the guy, then gave my flatmate Peter a call.  Well, apparently his number didn't exist, or at least I thought that's what the automated German woman's voice said.  I tried many more times, but it just didn't go through.  Here I was, in the outskirts of Vienna at night, no contacts, the trolley system was stopped up by construction, and I had no map.  Then I realized that the number must not have worked because of using the Austrian networks.  I needed to use the country code!  I was pretty sure that the German country code was -49.  Well, didn't work.  Maybe a 1 before that?  No.  A 0?  Silence...then it rang.  I sighed the most thankful sigh ever.  Well, it didn't really help, though, because he didn't answer the phone.  At this point I had to start sparing my calls, because making calls from the phone in a foreign country costs a lot more.  Somehow, I made it to the city center, where things were open and people were around.  I mostly just wandered around.  I saw the chambers underneath the city that people discovered when the subway was built in the 70's.  I walked past Mozart's residence, and numerous other beautiful, lavish baroque buildings (but I wasn't sure what they were...it was dark and I was very tired from work and travel)  Finally, I got a text from Peter that said they were not yet in.  I had left well over 2 hours earlier, and they still were late.  At least I had contact and wouldn't be having to find a hostel for the night.  Then he called asking me to go to the trailer park where the festival was located.  He had a name, but no street or anything.  No idea where this was in relation to the center of the city.  The girl driving wouldn't come pick me up and there was no clear public map around.  I checked and checked, but I just couldn't find it, so I resorted to a taxi.  The driver was really nice, and we talked a bit about the Bayerisch and Austrian languages.  He got me there, but for 10 euros.  I had only that much in my pocket.  Go figure, there is a subway stop directly in front of the place.  Oh well, the taxi drivers don't tell you things like that.  The people I was due to meet came around within five minutes, and thus began the weekend.

Yardsale in Vienna

The festival was pretty cool.  People were giving away food the entire time on a pay-what-you-want basis (I'm sure they make more that way) there were lots of music acts in the bar, T-shirt printing, cotton candy making, some sort of ball game played in mud, and a yard sale.  I was pretty caught up in the party, you know--sleeping in hippie vans and stuff.  I did a lot of people watching, because honestly I couldn't understand a word of the Austrian dialect.  In any case, we met a guy from Vienna who took us to go swimming in the Donau.  Yet another river to cross off on my "List of Rivers Swam In Abroad".  It was just really cool because the water was clear enough to see the bottom, it is allowed to swim without a lifeguard, nudism is acceptable, and in the distance are giant bridges, a castle, and the mountains in the distance.  It truly was the highlight of the trip.

Hundertwasserturm

After that, we went to see the famous Hundertwasser House, which consists of office spaces, apartments, and a few restaurants and shops.  The artist Hundertwasser believed that the "straight line is godless and immoral" and his architecture embraces this conviction.  The place is beautifully organic, complete with plants growing all over.  You literally walk into another world.  Unfortunately, though, I found out that it is impossible to actually enter, and the surrounding area is super touristy with people taking pictures all of the time.  I have also visited a nearby brewery which has another Hundertwasser building, this being a tower dedicated to the ingredients of beer and the land of hops.  It was much better, becuase you were free to take your time climbing the tower and exploring all the little rooms.  The buildings of Hundertwasser were all built after his death, but there is a certain spirit about his work that the designers have stayed true to.  You experience these buildings.  Maybe one day the style will catch on, the straight line will evaporate from human consciousness, and humans and nature will live in harmony.  We'll see.  My point is that this tower is less famous than the Hundertwasser House, but way better.  There is also a Hundertwasser train station in Uelzen, but it's not too interesting...so moving on!

As for my daily routine, I wake up at about 6ish every day, ride my bike for approximately 20 minutes to work at the Ilmtalklinik, the hospital in Pfaffenhofen.  I essentially do the job that was once mandatory for all young men leaving the secondary school system who did not want to be enlisted in the military.  The law has since been abolished, therefore I have this job.  I pick up patients from their rooms and take them to all of their different appointments, whether that be at the X-Ray, Ultrasound, ECG, or what have you.  I also work in the archive, doing all the necessary filing that comes with running a hospital with many patients.  It may sound simple, and in essence it is, but every day is an adventure.  Let me put it this way, I DON'T SPEAK BAYERISCH!  This is my biggest setback, considering I am at the heart of the land of hops, lederhosen, and pretzels--Bayern (Baviaria) where most people, go figure, speak Bayerisch.  The positive side of this is that if an old patient is really crabby and wants to go on and on, I don't know what the heck he's saying.  Fifteen more "mhm's" and "ja's" later and, well whaddya know, we're there!  Auf Wiedersehen!  But seriously, I really enjoy the patients.  I do understand many of them, and we have nice chats as I taxi them to their next colonoscopy.  One very old woman was familiar with Elkhart, Indiana.  She told me how romantic she thought it was there on the river.  I suppose it seems very American, and even nostalgic to someone looking at it from another country.  She was so interested to hear about where I am from and it totally made her day.  The patients even learn my name pretty quickly, "Ah Herr Justin, mein Freund, wie geht es Ihnen?" is spoken on many occasion.

Being American can provide an easy talking point and something I am well-versed in.  Rather than it being a problem that I have trouble sometimes understanding, it becomes a way for me to learn as we try to communicate.  Usually, it just takes some slower speaking.  Eventually, I figure it out or learn a new word.  Once you learn something really useful, it often sticks in the mind really well.  I feel good about my job because I am helping people.  While I am not a direct healer, I am still part of that process.  People don't like being in the hospital.  They don't go get operations and lots of medication for the fun of it.  They are hurting, and every moment to brighten up a day is received very warmly.  Just making sure to say simple phrases, "All the best" or "Have a nice day" can make people feel like human beings, even in their capacity as temporary vegetables pent up in beds for weeks.  It's all about showing compassion for human beings, giving them something that an ultrasound can't.

Then I do some grocery shopping and either work on little projects like an animation I'm doing for my flatmate's DJ business or writing this blog.  I'm on my feet the whole day (approx. 10 miles per day) so I get pretty tired out after the whole work day.  But it's worth it, and I've been meeting all types of people along the way.  Most importantly, my German improves all the time, and I am finally starting to notice all that I've learned.  Speaking only German all day at work without any help in English is no problem at all, in fact I'm probably more well-versed in the German vocabulary of a hospital than English.  I'm really enjoying myself, and hope the next months will be just as rewarding.

PS The title of the blog post is "I hoass Oberleitner Waschdl", Bayerisch for "Ich heisse Sebastian Oberleitner", German for "My name is Sebastian Oberleitner".  Waschdl is a Bavarian version of Sebastian, and it's sometimes the name I am referred to.  Sometimes you'll find me hanging out in Lederhosen, eating a pretzel, sipping a Weißbier as I look out our balcony at the rows of hops growing all along the rolling hills.  I'm just more Bavarian than the Bavarians sometimes...

Life in Bavaria (and Sweden, too)

For the remainder of May and all through June, I was waiting for permission to work in Germany from the work agency and to receive a visa from the immigration office.  In the meantime, I had quite a bit of free time.  I got set up with an apartment in Pischelsdorf and began living somewhat on my own.  Besides no internet, it is quite beautiful and clean with a great view of the rolling hills in the distance.  I've taken walks through the woods and journeys around the area by bicycle.  Pischelsdorf is quite sleepy, though, so as I waited and waited the sleepier and more discouraged I got.  I just wanted to DO something.  I was offered hours at Bloomingfoods and I already had an apartment to return to in the States, so there was quite a draw for me to come back home and get on with my life.

But I stuck it through.  All the days I felt homesickness was made worse by the fact that I existed in limbo.  No idea what would happen, always waiting and wondering, and plenty of free time to think about doing stuff with my family and friends back home.  I tried to counter this inevitable feeling by keeping myself occupied with all that Germany has to offer.  I feel like I've done everything in Munich that there is!  Sarah RahRah came to visit, which was a refreshing break from all the Germanness going on, and though it was bad to speak so much English, it would be the last visit with and American I would have.  We explored the city a bit and saw all the main attractions.  Then, on a whim, we visited the Bavarian Film Studios where such films as The Sound of Music, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Das Boot,  and The Neverending Story were produced.  For 5 lousy Euros, we got ourselves into a "4D experience", which really was a 3D ride with moving seats, smoke, and spraying water.  Wow, it was a blast...  The sets and exhibits in the studio area looked interesting from the outside, but we were too late for a tour.  I was very interested, seeing as film is one of my specialties, and I ended up making a second visit when Sarah went on her way to explore more of Europe.  The tour was pretty cool.  I ended up meeting some people from Sweden and an old Florida couple.  They were pretty astounded at all the "movie magic".  I rolled my eyes a lot.  I also visited the old olympic village and park, BMW's headquarters, the zoo, and one time I was so bored that I got on a 30 minute train to the airport and back.

I also spent time in the halls of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität where Hans and Sophie Scholl dropped hundreds of leaflets citing Goethe, Aristotle, the Bible, Novalis, and Schiller in opposition to the Nazi regime.  They and six other core members of The White Rose were caught and executed by decapitation in 1943.  She was 21 years old.  It sends chills down my spine every time I'm in that hall.  Besides that, though, the university is amazingly beautiful and there are all kinds of lectures and events happening.  The surrounding area is full of great bookshops and cafes, which I happily frequented throughout the day.

After going to a few parties and outings, I have met many new German friends who are really cool and nice.  I'm having to really get used to the Bavarian language as it is almost impossibly different than German.  The younger generation doesn't use it so much and are easier to understand than some older people, but the accent sometimes remains depending on who you are talking to.  Sometimes I feel like the token American, but I guess that is exactly what I am, an "Ausländer".  Nevertheless, I've met even more people that I first knew way back in 2006 and have had quite a few good conversations.  I'm looking to start playing music with some people, too.  It's been far too long, and to finally find some people with a space, a drum kit, and instruments is music to my ears (haha).

I frequented the immigration office very often, inquiring again and again whether my visa would go through.  Unfortunately, I couldn't work at all until I got the visa, and the days became long and dull.  I just hate sitting around for weeks doing nothing, especially amidst my fervent stress wondering what will happen, and whether something went wrong with the visa processing.  The visa was supposed to be ready by May 31st at the latest.  Turned out my student visa would expire and I would be given a "Fiktionsbescheinigung" providing a grace period until June 30th, yet another deadline.  Apparently, Germany is just super slow.  Bureaucracy is the devil.

Towards the middle of June, I decided to make a trip to Sweden to visit my relatives in the event that the visa did not come by the end of June.  Before leaving Europe, I just had to see them again.  I stayed for about a week.  First, I stayed with my cousin Mikael and his family for four days.  We took it easy, visiting the small city of Karlstad and taking walks through the forest.  We visited the residence of Sweden's greatest poet, Gustav Fröding.  The area of Värmland, where we were, is especially known for its natural beauty, and I can easily see why so much poetry came from the area.  I went on my own one day with a bike and a map, riding along the river and taking obscure paths.  It was fun to just have an adventure in a peaceful, quiet place. Sweden is just stunning.  Little red cottages and barns popping up once in awhile out of the pine forests or rolling fields, the myriad of boats lining the rocky coasts of huge lakes, blue skies against yellow buildings in the town centers.  Just great. 

Next, I returned to Sven and Gun's summer cottage, where I stayed the good part of August 2006.  It's great there, just a little red and white summer cottage in the woods, about a minute walk from lake Vänern, the largest in Sweden.  They were both so happy to see me, and I was of course so glad to have made it back.  First we just played cards and talked.  Anna and Jan visited with their kids.  Their daughter, Alice was born when I last visited.  The dark haired infant I remember was now a blonde little girl full of energy, running around with her now ten year-old brother, William.  I had a nice time with them, and afterwards Sven, Gun, and I had a barbecue with pork steaks and wine.  Good to be back!!!  The next day was to be a small lunch party outside.  We got lucky, because it just happened to be the one beautiful sunny day on the trip.  My cousins Frida, Magnus, their son William, her brother Johan, Frida's grandmother, and their dog Vilma came all the way from Gothenburg.  Also, Sven's sister Bibi and her husband Mats came again with the grandkids (Alice and William).  It was a big success.  Johan had never met, but we hit it off pretty well almost immediately.  He is a drummer in a band called Vitors (you can listen here) and is very much into film as well.  Considering he knew one of the most obscure movies by Werner Herzog and one I've written quite a lot about, Even Dwarfs Started Small, we had a lot to talk about.  So the two Williams and Alice got along great together, and played with Miki the tortoise a lot.  The older Swedes hung out a bit, and I caught up a bit with Frida's family, as well as conversation about music, film, culture, politics and the like with my long lost Swedish cousin Johan.  Another great day, followed in the evening by another great little barbecue with sausages and wine.

The next day, Frida and family picked me up to go to their home in Gothenburg, my final destination before my flight back to Germany.  I said goodbye to Sven and Gun, but promised I would be back.  It was bittersweet because we had such a good time, but only had two days.  In any case, it was good to see Sven in the best shape of his life at age 75 and Gun still her charismatic and loving self.  Going back is definitely on the agenda. 

The drive was long, but of course it was great just getting a nice glimpse of the Swedish countryside.  When we got to Gothenburg, we were all quite tired and ordered some pizza.  We just hung out, looked at YouTube videos, maps of America and Sweden, and reminisced until two in the morning.  Yep, the sun was still up.  We got up in the morning and had a great Swedish breakfast complete with strong coffee, fresh vegetables, flatbread and all kinds of assorted meats.  Oh yeah, and this paste they make out of fish.  It is the one thing I have never tried and also have no desire to.  Pulverized shrimp, salmon, and fish eggs in a tube I can do without.  The days were quite windy, so we never got to go out on their new boat, but I at least got to see it.  Very spacious and beautiful, Swedes sure do love their boats.  It's understandable.  There are so many inlets, rivers, and lakes along the coast of Sweden, you can have adventures for months going through different landscapes, cities, and towns all while sailing along.  We also went to a cool record shop and a tour of the harbor where my Great Grandpa left for America.  The city is building up quite a bit, and there are tons of apartment complexes rising up along the waterfront.  They are all different, some take the look from the industrial buildings they replaced, others are colorful and modern, but they all are gigantic and ridiculously expensive.  It almost seems worth the price given the spectacular view and vicinity to the city center.  Good luck eating, though.  We took a walk through the main city area and took a boat tour that goes all through the city, under some bridges so low you had to almost lay down to avoid being decapitated.  They took me out to the scenic coast as well, where there are traditional houses scattered all along the rocky shore.  You have to drive the car onto a ferry to get to some of the islands, so it took a little patience, but the atmosphere of old Sweden is very much alive once across.  The boats everywhere, the old barns, cottages all along the docks are just a site to see.  Sweden is just ethereal, and you just have to sit and take it all in.  Breathe that clean air as much as possible, too!  During the nights, we just hung out lazily, which was great.  William and I played the new rage amongst kindergarteners, Beyblades, essentially your classic tops that spin and hit each other.  The player whose top stays spinning wins the match.  Amazing how enthralled he was.  Who knew that after hundreds of years, this toy would still be "in".  The kids aren't allowed to have them at daycare, so they make their own from scratch with materials there and play anyway.  Crafty little Swedish kids.  He never understood that I couldn't understand him, so we often conversed not knowing what the other was saying.  It was quite fun.  It was finally time to go back to Germany, and I felt nicely rested and happy that I could meet my cousins again and spend good quality time with no rush.  Of course there is so much I could say about these people I really love a lot, but I hope I at least covered the fact that I had a great time!  Magnus took me to the airport, and we said goodbye until later.  Copenhagen, then Munich bound.  Oh yeah, and I wasn't just going back to Germany as a visitor, but as a newly accepted resident in German society.

The visa FINALLY was approved!!!!!!!

I would now be staying in Germany until May 31.

A new phase in life to begin.

soon to be continued...

Servus! (hello and goodbye)

Hobo Sandwiches with Scott, Chase, Chris, and Leslie

(play this music as you read)

The last month has been jam-packed.  Every week involved adventures and trips within the state of Niedersachsen, where we were able to travel within free of charge with our student passes.  The first trip was a random excursion to the town of Goslar, a UNESCO World Heritage Sight and one of the southernmost parts of Niedersachsen.  Little does anyone know, this town is actually where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs took place.  The dwarfs mine for silver and coal in the depths of the Harz Mountains.  Really?! Of course not!!  But, this small, timeless town actually does host a May Day celebration in which "Witches" come to celebrate the coming of spring.  Since we all were broke at this point in the semester, hobo sandwiches were in order--our favorite meal: cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, salami, lochs, baguettes, cheese, and wine.  Plopped ourselves down in a parking lot--the most scenic place in town--and had ourselves a time.  I was insisting we get to one of these mountains, and like always I led us in a few wrong directions.  The others were tired and gave up...little did they know only two minutes ahead was a beautiful clearing overlooking the entire town.  Finally, the hills were alive with the sound of music.  We just had a great time yelling Jethro Tull songs and enjoying each others' wacky company.  Chase, Chris and I planned to return again the next weekend with a crazy idea (that we surprisingly pulled off): to sleep the night on the mountain!

A Good Night's Rest

It just so happened that the next weekend, a renaissance fair was going on in Goslar celebrating its history as one of the Hanseatic Cities.  These were those of a trade route that spanned all the way North to Norway and was composed of different guilds and merchants.  Since the town's mountains were rich in mineral resources, it was very rich in the middle ages.  It's so funny seeing each town's building's unique look and feel.  In Hamburg, it's all stone.  Lüneburg's buildings are all brick.  The town of Goslar, everything's either half-timbered or made of scales of slate.  Anyway, we brought some others along for the daytime part of our trip.  We hung out around the festival.  Kids on the street also were selling molds of their own teeth that they were painting on the side of the road for 50 cents.  Great deal!  They made a lot of money off of us Americans who thought that was downright creative...and weird.  I'll never forget the group finally leaving us for the night on the mountain.  No tent.  No sleeping bags.  No flashlights.  Just our blankets, 7 layers of clothes...and hobo sandwiches.  It turned out to be a really pleasant night.  I definitely was not too cold.  Took a walk in the woods and definitely heard someone yipping or cawing several times--I can't explain it, but it creeped me out.  Damn witches...I woke up to the sound of a dog barking (people always walk their dogs out there) as it had "found us" and was very excited to notify its master.  She wasn't surprised by us, we were sleeping in a big clearing, and just told the dog to shut up and let us sleep.  Chris went off on his own that morning and found some hostels and cabins higher up the mountain.  One day, I'm coming back.  It was such a fun place to discover.

I also made trips to Bremen, Hanover, and Lübeck--all of which were very rewarding as well.  In Bremen we ate duck, which I always am strangely averted by due to the fact that I sit there and watch them at the pond every day.  It's one of the only animals that I really would prefer not to eat--such nice animals when alive, strange texture, but delicious.  I have the same dilemma with veal.  Hanover is really modern and is totally multicultural.  There are a lot of Italian mob bosses that sit in coffee shops and some really strange characters wandering the streets.  An anti-fascism protest was going on right next to a big tent promoting Lego's new Ninja playset.  I loved people-watching there, and the miles of gardens were also great in this particularly warm spring.  Lübeck is also nice.  It's an island, and going there in spring proved to be much more rewarding than in winter.  We had some hobo sandwiches, and since most places close by seven, just kind of wandered around again.  A big shopping center called Karstadt was open.  It was some kind of special entertainment night, so there were musicians playing throughout the store, a chef that sang while he cooked (so stupid) and a woman painted/dressed as an avatar who just stood there.  What a great time that was.  I went to the bathroom in a kind of port-a-potty that came complete with relaxing music and even cleaned itself after use.  The floorsdrop down and it sprays water from the ceiling...ingenious.

Lauenburg

We also went to a very small town called Lauenburg that was absolutely beautiful.  Our final crazy stunt was a dip in the Elbe River...in April.  Chris, Chase, and I found a dock and just jumped in.  You really can't think about it--just run and dive.  It was so cold that the only thing you could really do was yell.  It was very hard to breathe, but totally satisfying.  Usually it's cold when you get out of a body of water and stand in the wind, but my experience with this was quite the opposite.  That cold air off the river was warm as could be.  After ten minutes, our mission was complete.  Time to get a beer.  The same weekend we visited our friend in Hamburg for the evening.  It was May 1.  Every year in Hamburg and Berlin, the people fight the government in a big riot.  It was mild this year, but apparently many cars were lit on fire, bottles and glasses were hurled by St. Pauli punks at the swarms of policemen.  It's a sign of solidarity, although I feel what once was an opportunity for workers to retain their rights and be heard has now just become a party and a chance for the police to show off their new tanks in the streets.  People were making free margaritas!  Some fireworks went off and some people got pelted with water cannons.  I have about an hour of footage from this spectacle and was very happy to have gotten to see such an event...there is no such thing in our country.  It seems like protests and the like are much more commonplace in Germany.  I believe this use of freedom of speech is very important for the country.  May 1 is a celebration of this freedom, even if its meaning has been lost by some.  The political discussions I had with people on the streets may indicate that people in fact have not lost touch, but are very much aware of the situation that exists in the world today as a whole.

The Elbe

With the coming of spring, as always, I started really wanting to be out of school.  The days went by, and pretty soon the end of the semester crept up on us.  I was very busy as I ended up putting together a presentation for the international USAC study abroad conference in Washington DC that the director of the German program attended.  I also was of course learning a lot of German and taking a lot of pictures, which I'm now including in my entries.

Felix, Ich und Tina Reunited

During Easter Break, I went down to Pfaffenhofen to meet my host family from when I was on an exchange program in high school.  After five years, it was like a dream coming back.  I saw so many friends, some of whom just saw me in a restaurant and couldn't believe it.  "Hey!  Where did you come from?!"  We visited the beer garden, took some time near a lake, and just relaxed enjoying each other.  I also met many of their neighbors, one of which is the manager of the hospital there.  It just so happened that they had an opening for international people.  It just so happened I was in Germany and was almost finished with my studies.  It just so happened that I ran into the opportunity of a lifetime.  I was planning on going with Chase to work on an organic farm in Uppsala, Sweden for some weeks, visit my cousins there, and then come home.  I had to change my plans though, because the position offered to me would not come around again.  After returning to Lüneburg to take my finals, I came back to Pfaffenhofen to go to an interview for a position as a nurse's assistant.  It doesn't sound glamorous--and it really isn't, but it gives me an opportunity to stay in Germany, improve my German language skills, and meet more people, perhaps in my area of study with communication and media.  I also get to help and interact with people.  After a year of work in all areas of the hospital, I will have a certification as well.  I believe it will be a life experience and a totally worthwhile enrichment furthering my communicative reach, my contacts, and my travels.  The interview went extremely well.  I was really nervous because everything was in German and the southern accent is hard to understand.  Luckily I had been over at the manager's house several times, played volleyball with his family, and even was invited over to play Wii one evening.  They want me to do a documentary film for their clinic and are even going to supply me with a good camera.  One of the other directors invited me into his office after the interview, watched YouTube clips with me, and showed me all the fish he's caught on the Pfaffenhofen's fishing club website.  It now depends on the immigrant office and labor agency's decision to give me a yearlong visa to live and work in Germany.  I have all the paperwork in for the time being and have the job if all works out.  My host family here has helped me make a strong resume in Germany and provide me with support as I get on my feet in this foreign country--even more foreign now without having any Americans around!  Homesickness comes and goes depending on the day.  At times, I find myself asking, "What am I doing?  It's all going so fast.  Should I just go to America where I'm familiar and at home?  It's so exhausting speaking German all the time.  I wish I was in Sweden right now...etc, etc..."  Other times I'm one-hundred percent certain this is the best possible thing that could have happened to me and an ideal situation I only dreamed about months before.  I think this is true, and I am now old enough and prepared to meet this life challenge head-on, only to become stronger, more knowledgeable, and self-reliant.  Doors open every second.  Hello, life.  Here I am.

Servus is the best title for this chapter.  It's Bavarian for Hello and Goodbye.  I've said goodbye to so many good friends I've made, goodbye to my undergraduate studies.  I say hello to Bavaria and friends made five years prior.  New beginnings perhaps are on the horizon.  If the visa does not work out, another door will open back in the States.  Who knows what will happen in these next weeks.

The adventure continues...

Spring Break

For my spring break, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; and Stockholm, Sweden.  It was definitely a trip of a lifetime.  Quite a quick tour, we spent two days in Edinburgh, two in Dublin, and three in Stockholm.  Here's the story in a nutshell:

We started off on Sunday with a big group of people.  Ryan Air was quite an adventure.  You kind of feel like a cow herded onto the plane, but you get used to it.  After an hour or so of listening to ads for smokeless cigarettes and lottery tickets, we arrived in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.  It was so different than Germany.  First of all, people drive on the left side of the road.  This took some getting used to, especially when trying to cross the street.  Looking left before right has been so ingrained in my mind that I was quite mixed up.  The buildings, rather than your usual red tile roofing and brick or stucco siding, were now gray limestone and chimneys were everywhere.  I didn't know much about Edinburgh, let alone Scotland, so some of us went on a walking tour of the city.  It was 3 hours, but well worth the price: FREE!  I saw all of the interesting sites of the city, including all of the Harry Potter landmarks (the book was written here).  One of the funny things was that the graveyard had a cage in the ground.  This was for the purpose of letting the bodies decompose before putting them in their rightful places in the ground.  The university was giving big money to those who could bring in bodies for anatomy classes.  Thus, a booming grave thieving business began.  A pair of men by the names of Burke and Hare began simply killing people.  These serial killers managed to kill and sell 17 people to the university before being caught.  Hare ratted out Burke and was eventually released.  He is said to have become a beggar in London.  Burke, on the other hand, was hanged.  His body was donated to the university, where his skeleton is to this day on display and used as a model for medical students.  We went up to the Edinburgh castle and enjoyed the view as well as the numerous historical artifacts.  There were prisons for Americans of the Revolutionary War.  It was interesting seeing the ancient graffiti that they carved into the doors.  The Scottish Crown Jewels also were housed there.  Quite a few diamonds, I must say.  People sure do like shiny things.  We saw some live music in a pub and had some great meals and beers as well.  They deep fry everything, by the way.  It was a good time.  The hostel was in an old church.  Kind of smelly, and the mattresses were purely springs, but nothing beats the price when you're a poor student in Europe!  And if you were wondering, it's true, you hear the word "Fuck" on the street every other second.  After two days it was back on the plane.

Next came Dublin.  What a different world it was.  While in Scotland I understood less than in Germany even though they were speaking English, the Irish were a bit more understandable (by a little).  When I first got in, I couldn't tell the difference between it and Chicago.  Hey, there are lots of Irish in Chicago, too!  I was back on the North side, complete with little parks and brick row houses.  The doors are all painted different colors.  According to an Irish taxi driver, this is because during the English rule, they were forced to paint the doors all black.  When Ireland gained sovereignty, they of course rebelled by painting the doors red, green, yellow, blue...anything BUT black.  I found it kind of funny.  We didn't see a lot of the beautiful nature that I would have liked to see in Ireland, but we did explore its urban side.  St. Patrick's Cathedral was very nice.  It was here where St. Patrick spent the days converting all those pagans.  What's interesting is that a lot of the pagan imagery and culture was kind of intermixed rather than totally destroyed.  You could say this is good or bad, really.  Of course, we had our first Guiness in Ireland at lunch in a pub, ate corned beef and cabbage in a pub, watched soccer in a pub, danced to traditional Irish music in a pub, etc.  We made our obligatory visit to the Guiness brewery, too.  It was pretty fun.  There is a museum there in the shape of a giant Guiness glass, complete with free samples and a great view of the city and the nearby mountains from the top of the tower.  The hostel we stayed at felt just like the Irish living facilities that the boxers and prostitutes received in the movie, Far And Away.  Luckily, this really didn't bother me.  I was busy playing Irish tin-whistle in the street.  I bought a copy of James Joyce's Dubliners, so I'm excited to get going on the book to see exactly what Dublin was like at the turn of the century.  Any different?  I must say that the Gaelic language also seems very interesting and beautiful.  It is written on most signs and streets with the English equivalent.  Irish children are taught it in school and everyone knows it more or less--to get into certain colleges, one needs to take a Gaelic test.  They just don't use it.  But according to that same taxi driver, if you go to some smaller coastal towns, they might bash your brains out if they catch you speaking the words of the English.  Onwards to Stockholm!

We arrived in Stockholm on a cold midnight.  It was a two hour bus ride from the airport to the city (RyanAir gets you there!) and we ended up in the empty center of the city by 2...no English on the signs here!  I asked a taxi driver where the ambiguous road our hostel was on was, and he didn't know off the top of his head, but offered to look it up on his GPS.  He wrote it down and told us how to use the metro, but we took his taxi instead.  Stockholm is made up of different islands, so it would have been quite confusing and difficult to walk the few miles it would have taken at night.  He brought us to where we needed to be and even got out to show us exactly how to get there as the road we needed was only for pedestrians.  We found our hostel, which is totally unmanned and automated by door codes.  A night of rest and we were ready to go.  Every morning we went to the store and bought supplies for "hobo sandwiches" which we would eat in the park.  Good Swedish flat bread, herring, tomatoes, cucumber, potato salad, and salami were all we ate that trip.  It was awesome!  We got really lucky with the weather--it was especially sunny and mild the entire time.  We walked the whole city back and forth, sliding on ice and taking pictures of the scenic city.  A boat that also served as a hostel was docked in the harbor, and I invited my friends to have Swedish Fika, or coffeebreak.  It was great inside the ship looking out onto the beautiful harbor.  We really enjoyed just talking with the owner and workers there, playing cards, and watching the news.  While we did not have the funds to go to museums at this point, walking through the city was a blast.  People are so friendly there!  We would end up having great conversations with Swedish shop owners.  I would tell them about my family in Sweden and they would teach me Swedish phrases I would need to know.  When in line at the grocery store, the clerks always thought I was Swedish.  People in front of me would be spoken English to, but not me!  If I didn't know what they were saying, I would just nod.  Tak!  Hej då! (Thanks! Bye!)  It was great.  That evening we met up with some girls we met from America on the plane.  We went to this terribly expensive restaurant with black lights everywhere, Jimmy Buffet style jungle theme, little fountains and bamboo everywhere...a real nightmare if you ask me.  They ended up splitting off from us.  We were scouring the map for something cheaper to do that night when a group of Swedish guys came up and asked us if we needed help.  They invited us out with them, and I must have met a dozen different people that night.  I learned even more Swedish phrases and taught them German.  I ordered in Swedish very successfully and told the true stories of what prom is to Swedish girls.  Some of the guys we met even walked us back to our hostel.  It was an awesome night.  Let me say it again, Swedes are the friendliest people!  The next day we relaxed by the city hall and saw the Swedish palace (We also got more coffee)  Gift shops all sell memorabilia of the royal wedding of Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling, so I got a few postcards to commemorate the "big day".  It was great, and I can't wait to go back.

After break, I was very exhausted.  I even managed to pick up a cold which kept me inside for the next weekend.  I'm since better and have finished my second German class.  Now that we have about 4 weeks left of school, I'm wondering where all the time has gone!  In any case, work on the documentary is well underway, and it will be a nice capstone in honor of this great trip.  It's not over yet, though, and I can't wait to share with you the rest of my story in Lüneburg and my planned adventure back to Sweden in May.

Wilkommen March

Happy March!  I took a walk in the Kurpark (cure park) the other day where there is this giant wall of sticks.  Salt water trickles down the entire 30 foot wall and clears your sinuses.  What a great invention!  Then I found interesting playground equipment including a running machine and a back massager.  It was very welcome after carrying my heavy backpack around for days.  Then I watched some ducks by a pond, some dogs catching frisbees, and an insect hotel near some small gardens.  They also have a little mini golf course and a nice patch of woods to stroll in.  That's a great way to start a day, I must say.

One thing I have really enjoyed has been Germany's way of integrating relaxation with work, nature with urbanism.  There is this wonderful park near my apartment with the coolest playscape ever.  People aren't so worried about getting sued, I guess, so unique wooden ones still exist.  Twisting slides, and a seesaw that you hang from rather than sit on, and rope bridges...I don't care how old I am, it's too tempting not to romp a little on the stuff.  I like to go spazieren (stroll) down by the gardens near my apartment, too.  Since people live a lot closer to each other, especially in towns like Lüneburg, there isn't enough room for backyard gardens.  So they have these garden districts people can rent that include a little shed or cottage where people can come to get away from the bustle of the city, do some yard work, or just relax and enjoy.  It's like being in a different world.  There are these little streets and fences made of bushes, just really interesting and always calming.  I really want to see what the inside of the cottages are like.  Very German!  Oh, and there are gnomes everywhere.

I went to Hamburg a few more times and walked around some more.  The atmosphere is always really merry, and of course we always go after the football team St. Pauli plays.  They are the underdogs of Germany, and have gotten into the 1st division league this year, giving all of these other teams a run for their money.  Imagine if the Cubs were demoted from the MLB and had to be minor league, but then made a huge comeback and actually did well.  That's what it's like.

Some friends and I have been going in on dinners, and it's starting to become a tradition to look forward to every week.  I've met other people's roommates-some from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Germany.  We all have a great time just feasting and talking about all of our antics and adventures together.  Curry chicken, red wine, potato pancakes, and piglet pie (my invented desert of kiwis, peaches, and strawberries on angel food cake, topped with piglet shaped candy) was the latest meal.  We also are fiends of a turkish sandwich called a döner.  It's like a gyro, but it's either beef or chicken in a pita with cabbage, cucumbers, and tomato.  It's the fast food here, and I've had one from every döner place in town (7 total).  Doppel Döner Dienstag (double döner tuesday) is a weekly holiday, as well as Dönerstag (a play on Donnerstag, the German word for Thursday).  You can guess what we order those days.  Time to settle down on those for sure!

I went on a trip this weekend to Berlin, Germany's capital city with 9 other friends.  We got a hostel for two nights and had a great time.  The city is amazing!  It is definitely one of my favorite cities.  We did a lot of walking around of course.  There was a great market that sold all kinds of things--from books to records to artwork to flags to hats to produce with accordian music in the background.  I saw all kinds of landmarks.  The Brandenburg Gate was off limits for 25 years when Berlin was split by the wall.  I am thankful I was able to freely walk around this monument.  I got to see the Reichstag where the German parliament meets.  Every building in this middle area of the city is so majestic and amazing.  We went to the history museum and saw the Hitler exhibition which was really interesting.  It really hits home seeing the giant eagle sculptures, uniforms, and writings.  A small group of us woke up very early each morning and went to the far east side of the city near where the Stasi headquarters were.  These are the people who spied on their own citizens with cameras, hidden microphones, and "scouts".  It was so much different.  Whereas Germany has been a pretty familiar place to me, I definitely felt like I was in a foreign country over here.  It's like going back into the seventies with many squares and rectangles, uniform buildings and just this very solemn vibe about the place.  Yes, the wall is gone, but East Germany is not.  We walked through a park across from Stasi headquarters where graves were strewn about unkept.  Then after the stroll through the park, we got breakfast at a little bakery and had great political discussions.  I really enjoyed myself and would like to come back and explore this living time capsule.  Seeing people walking past me in the street I begin to think: Not so many years ago, these very people were not allowed go past the wall.  It's a lot different than "Checkpoint Charlie".  That was the entrance to the American sector.  It's mockery at its finest, and has a party feel to it.  Gas masks and Soviet military hats are sold by street vendors, McDonald's and Starbucks tower over the street, then you look behind you and it's quiet and white.  Here lies the interesting spot of polar opposites meeting.  I like it better in the middle of town, where it's not so full of in-your-face capitalist neon billboards, but not dismal and dead, gloomy and controlled either.  That wall did a number on this city and it is just so weird to see it before your eyes.  All the same, there is such a great spirit and atmosphere that has risen from the ashes of WWII and the Cold War.  It is a beautiful place that should not be missed if you ever go to Europe.  I will definitely be back.

I will be leaving tomorrow morning for my spring break adventure to Edinburgh, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; and Stockholm, Sweden.  More on that when I return!