That's All Folks...or is it?

Margie!! It is great to hear from you! You know, I always think about you every now and then, and wonder how the hell I'd get in touch with you. And then you go and surprise me like that. You should send me and email and let me know how you're doing. I still have my IU account.

Wow, my last two weeks in Europa Europa ended with a bang..literally. Will and I went to Prague for New Years Eve and met up with some friends. It was fantastic, and I've never seen so many fireworks in all my lifetimes combined! Good down-home Czech. pubs with great (and cheap!) Czech. beer, a little Gluehwein, fireworks being thrown in the streets as early as 7pm...what more could you ask for? For the actual stroke of midnight we were on top of a hill that was tall enough to see the whole city, which I will reiterate, was ablaze with fireworks.

On the 2nd Will and I went up to the Riesengebirge, the mountains in N. Czech. on the Polish border. It was simply amazing. The first day there was a ton of snow and it snowed the whole day! There were snow drifts that were taller than Will! The second day the wind was so strong at the top of the slope that they closed one of the ski lifts, and it was kind of rainy, so we just walked around and drank some Gluehwein and played in the snow...well, actually Will jumped and rolled and slid around in the snow, I kind of just watched all the silliness.

On the 5th we headed north to Berlin and stayed with Faye and Amber. Berlin is an awesome city. I wish we'd had more time there. By the way, Will tallied up the transportation and we ended up taking 3 different buses and 4 trains before we finally made it to the apt. sheesh. We walked around and explored together, because Faye and Amber are also relatively new to the city just having moved there about 3 months ago. We saw this building known as Tacheles, which was partially destroyed by bombing in the war. The back of it was blown off, so they just left it and put glass up, which looks really cool. And inside there are just a bunch of artist studios and a cafe, a movie theatre, a theatre theatre, and I think some apts. way at the top. The back yard part of it is littered with art, huge metal letters and stuff, and there were some huts or something being built, but we don't know what they were for. There is also a ton of really beautiful graffiti all over (Tacheles and the city, too, for that matter). Sometimes businesses will commission graffiti artists to write names or advertisements on walls and stuff.

We visited some historical sites, like Checkpoint Charlie and the museum, and the Topography of Terror, and we saw Museum Island, but didn't get to go to any of the museums. One night we met up with Will's old buddy, Thilo, and we all went to this place called the Mudd Club. The first group, Yebo, came on stage, who were supposed to be a reggae grouped, but looked a little suspect because all of the members except one guy looked like a bunch of little white pop singers from the '50's. They were really awesome though. Two of the members, one which played the trombone and one playing the sax, were great elements and added a lot to the unique, though still very much reggae, sound. And I think the drummer looked like Will's dad. Then the 2nd group, Radium 2000 or was it 3000, I can't remember, came on. Boy were they a trip. I don't know exactly how to describe them. They were a little ska, punk, and reggae mixed together, and the main instrument was the clarinet, which was just unbelievably cool.

Will and I didn't really sleep that night, because he flew out the next day at 10 am, and we didn't even think about sleep until about 5 am. Seeing as how we were planning on taking the metro to the airport at around 6:30, it just didn't seem like sleeping was a good idea. After I got back from the airport, I slept, well, I don't know exactly how long. I didn't get back until at least 10, but I had to meet my friend Stefanie at 12:30pm, and it takes about an hour to get to her place from where I was. I had some tea with her and her boyfriend, Matthias, and picked up my huge green suitcase, big bertha. I hung out with Faye and Amber most of the day, and packed, but Faye and I did go to the flea market a couple of blocks away from their place, which was awesome. If I wasn't leaving that day, meaning I would have had to pack all my crap, I probably would've bought a lot of needless stuff. At 7pm I met my ride that would take me from Berlin to Frankfurt. We arrived at the Frankfurt train station at about 11:30pm or so, and I took a train to the airport. I'm not exactly sure what time I got there, but I just hung out in the airport the whole night until things started to open again at 8 am. I wandered up to the ticket counter and asked if there was an earlier flight (than my flight scheduled at 4 pm) with an open place. Just my luck, there was one at about 10 am! Even better, I was the only one in a row of 3 seats so I could stretch out!

After arriving in Chi-town I took the train and met my bro at his work, and we promptly went out for some beer and a platter of fried goodies (ahhh, the good ol' usa). We picked up his car and made it back to our parents house at about 8:30 or so...just over 24 hrs after the start of my journey back home in Berlin.

Now I'm on the hunt for something new again. Can't sit around forever. I've been accepted to an 8 week program in Turkey, but I'm not sure I can work everything out with visas and plane tickets, etc., before the start date of Feb. 2nd. We'll see. I would really like to go, it would be an amazing experience, but if not, I will find something else. Today I start on the hunt...

By the way, I have some new pics, but it may take me some time to post them. Don't worry, I'll get them up.

I promised pictures...

I know I mentioned I'd upload some pictures of the Christmas parties I talked about. I finally had a chance to do that. There are pictures from my work Christmas party, that was in a place called the Wein Tanne. We also had a secret santa. Some people wrote a little funny poem and the person whose gift it was had to read the poem, open it, and try and guess who their secret santa was. The food, the company, the presents, and especially the Glühwein were exceptional.

Last night there was a little get together at our apartment. Just a few close friends. We ate some dinner and talked and hung out. Everyone is driving back to Dresden today so it was kind of a Christmas party, last time we'll see each other before the new year party, and an engagement celebration all in one (Juli and Philip showed up a little later and announced their engagement).

Coming soon...

HOHOHO Merry Christmas!!

Happy Chanukkah!!

And an all-around happy merry holiday no matter what it is you're celbrating!

I survived last week's craziness, as I hope all of the other people, who were scampering around taking finals and turning in projects on 25 mins of sleep for the week, no food, and caffeine running through your veins, did. Woo hoo! I also somehow managed to fit a couple of Christmas parties in there, too. I went to an Aiesec Christmas party and a work Christmas party. I took some pictures and will upload them soon (I'm going to try to do it tomorrow). I will also post a longer blog with all the details. I just wanted to let you all know I was still here, and I wanted to wish everyone a happy day! Keep on the lookout for a new entry...

Movies and Parties and Erfurt, Oh My!

Hello all!

So I´ve done some pretty great things in the past few days. I went and saw this old German film called Die Feuerzangebowle, which was pretty entertaining. It was made in 1943 or ´44. The Nazi´s wanted to make a funny movie to cheer up the people, so they made this one, which was about an older guy who goes back to school. Think along the same kind of lines as Billy Madison only this film is black and white, the guy is much older, and the students are between 15-17, and, of course, it´s in German. That brings me to another point, actually, because some parts of the movie were difficult to understand. This was a combination of the sound quality being a little iffy and the German they spoke back then (i.e. the dialect) was just a lot different. If you´re thinking maybe it´s just because German is not my mother language, then how do you explain so many Germans who see this movie saying the same thing?

The actual term ´Feurzangebowle´ has to do with a type of drink. Picture this: A huge clear-glass bowl with warm red wine. On top of it there is a metal screen with a bunch of sugar cubes sitting on it. You pour rum over the sugar cubes, then light them on fire. The sugar cubes slowly melt and drip through the screen into the warm wine. It kind of tastes like Glühwein, if y´all know what that tastes like. It´s good stuff.

The movie is definitely considered a German classic, and it´s played every year. Kind of like Miracle on 34th Street or something. And no matter how many times you´ve seen it, it´s just a tradition to watch it every year. We went and saw it one of the nights they were playing it in the University. They were selling Feuerzangebowle and playing music outside. Then during intermission, they gave out little prizes and had a guy dressed in a Santa outfit beat-boxed. He was actually pretty good. I managed to record the last song he did, which was a Christmas one. It was not the best by far-he did some crazy complicated stuff that I didn´t tape. The quality of the picture is also not good, because it was all dark in there and they just had a weak spotlight on him.

On Friday was Thomas´ birthday party. We had some snacks, a cake, Czech. beer, and Glühwein (of course). The highlights were definitely dance time and limbo time. You can check out photos from the movie and birthday party in this album.

And on Saturday a group of us had breakfast at 11am, and then took the train to Erfurt for a city tour and to check out the christmas market. At night it´s especially cool when it´s all lit up. I also managed to sniff out a second-hand shop. heheh. By the way, when you look at the pictures of Erfurt, you´ll see a few of the Kremabrücke. This is really cool. It´s a bridge that goes over the river in Erfurt, but it´s built like a street with houses and shops and stuff. So when you´re on it, you think it´s just another street until you walk around to the back of the houses and see that they´re built over the river.

Oh, and I added a couple of pictures to the This & That album, too.

Neuhaus and Lauscha

Before I get into my weekend festivities, there is a much more important matter of a birthday we need to discuss. That´s right, on the 6th day of the 12th month known as St. Nicholas Day, is actually an important day of a different Nicholas we all know and love. "And who is this person that is more popular than any St. Nicholas," you may ask. Nicholas Brunetti, of course! sooo...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

All gifts, cards, and well wishes should be sent his way today.

Okey dokey. Now to begin with the story of my Wald weekend. On Friday, Luis, Micha, Sandy, I, and our stuff, all squeezed into a European-sized car and prepared for about an hour and twenty minute drive through southwestern Germany to Neuhaus. We made a short stop at a cookie factory where you can buy about a billion different kinds of cookies for really cheap since they are produced right there. They also had a little table in the back where you could drink coffee and eat cookies for free!

We somehow managed to fit all of the cookies we bought into the few remaining pockets of space in the car and off we went. We arrived at our Wanderhütte, chose our beds, and then made a short trip to the grocery store to load up on enough food to feed the 13 people in total who would be there by Saturday night. Only 4 more people came on Friday, of those only 2 in time for dinner.

After clean up we moved all of the tables and chairs and Luis and I taught a little Salsa and Merengue. When everyone was all danced out, we played a little less active game where you all sit in a circle at a table and position your hands so that the people sitting to your right and left each have a hand between your hands on the table. Then someone starts and you go around the circle-one slap on the table means the order of the hands doesn´t change, while two slaps reverses the order. If someone messes up or takes too long, they must remove one of their hands. Sounds a little confusing, but is actually harder to explain in words than to play. It´s really fun, though.

Saturday, we went for a little hike in the forest and we did a couple team-building activities. First, we played the game where one person is blindfolded and their partner must lead them around first by guiding them by their arm and talking; and once the blind person feels more comfortable then they are guided only by their partner´s explanation of what´s in front of them. The second blind activity we did was this: everyone was blindfolded and hung on to a string so we all stayed in a group. We had to move and communicate as a group to find our goal destination, which was one of the trees labeled with a sign and some candy. This was really funny, and we spent what felt like a good five minutes stuck in some little trees and talking about what the hell we should do next. Apart from that, we found our goal pretty fast.

We hiked back and had a late lunch at about 3pm. The 3 more Aiesecers came and we spent some time chit-chatting and warming up with Glühwein. Then it was back outside in the cold while the sun was setting for one final team-building activity. We had to get all of our team members through a "spider web" before the big spider caught us. The person going through the web could not touch it at all because it was poisonous, so if they touched it they had to go back and start again. You also could not go over or under it you had to go through one of the spaces in it, and two people could not go through the same space. We managed to do it without too many setbacks. I was the one that was lifted to go through one of the highest spaces and I have to admit, it was a little scary.

We cooked dinner and again after clean up, it was game time. We played a LOT of this game Palermo, which is basically a version of a game that I feel like most people know. The name seems to always be different and a few of the rules, too, maybe, but the concept is always the same. In this version, one card is dealt to every player, and you are either a mafioso or a citizen. It is then night time in Palermo so everyone shuts their eyes. The mafiosos "wake up" (open their eyes) and select a victim. Then the mafiosos go back to sleep (close their eyes). Then the moderator says it´s morning in Palermo and everyone wakes up to see who was murdered during the night. Then everyone must discuss who they think the murder(s) are. Finally nominees are chosen and voted on. The person who is chosen as a mafioso is "killed" and this is repeated until the mafiosos win and kill all of the citizens or until the mafiosos are caught. The way the citizens know if they have caught all of the mafiosos is if they go to sleep and everyone lives through the night. It is a great and entertaining game, and we played it for a loooooooong time. Most people went up to bed after that, but about six of us stayed up for a little while longer to have another little Salsa session.

Sunday morning we woke up and took the train to Lauscha. Like most German cities around this time, they had a Christmas market. They are very well known for their glass blowing, just like much of the south. We went to the glass museum, which was really cool. Then we had a lunch of Bratwurst and Glühwein, and went to this place called the Glass Studio. You could actually watch a few guys making, vases, little figurines, etc., and of course they had a ton of stuff you could buy. A few of us got to make our own ornament. It was really neat. I was a little nervous for some reason-I think it was mostly because of the extremely hot ovens and me being at the end of a pole on which the other end was a glowing red-orange clump of melted glass. Now I have to manage to bring my ornament home without breaking it-no small task indeed.

I, of course, took a ton of pictures of the whole weekend. I also sent the link to all of the people who were there, so hopefully they will upload the pictures they took, too. Mine are already uploaded and I will post an update if anyone else adds more.

Picture Time

I uploaded a couple of new pictures to the miscellaneous album, as well as created a new album with some pictures of Javier´s birhday party on Sunday.

Freizeit Stress

Time is winding down, I´m smack dab in the middle of the period when I should be buttoning down the hatches and bracing for the typhoon of work I´m up against in the next couple of weeks, so what am I doing? Making more social committments than I ever have before, naturally.

Last week Wednesday I finally made it to the Unikat. It is a new club that was started by my friend, Robert, that is open every other Wednesday. I missed the first two times, but I made it a priority to go this time. Ralf was going around with a digital camera and took some pictures of the people there. I think I may be in a couple of them, and there are also a couple of my friends in some-the new ones I made that night (Romy, Daniel, and Julia), as well as Basti, and I´m guessing Robert, and maybe a couple of others. The photos don´t have peoples names or descriptions with them, but they might be fun to check out anyway.

Last week on Friday I went and saw (finally!) the Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here show at the planetarium. It was very cool-a mixture of lasers, smoke, video clips, pictures, and music(of course). After the show, they just put the planetarium projector on to show the normal night sky and played Pink Floyd music. It was really kind of neat..and relaxing. It was like sitting outside on a perfect night and Pink Floyd music being the soundtrack of your life.

Sunday was Javier´s birthday party. Birthday parties are great, and this one was no different. ´Nuff said. He did get a lot of wine, being that it´s customary to bring something over to the host´s house and the most common thing is a bottle of wine, but thank goodness I managed to go home early enough and escape having to drink myself into a slumber.

Last night, Tuesday, I went to a little Russian/Slovakian party at the Wagner Café. It was about as normal as any other party in a café except, as you´d expect, there were a lot of Russians and Slovakians singing along with the songs in languages like Russian and German, of course, but there were also some songs in English, too-old "classics" like the Beatles, and Oasis, and stuff like that. I thought it was kind of interesting how one group of people would sing along with Russian songs, and others with Slovakian songs, but when a song in English was played, it seemed like everyone was singing along. It still amazes me that so many people in so many places listen to songs sung in English and that a lot of bands from different countries choose to write and sing songs in English. I mean, I understand why, but it still just blows my mind sometimes.

Tomorrow there is another party at a club that is being organized by the FSU multi-media students. I´ve heard it should be pretty neat, so we´ll see.

And finally, this weekend is the big Thuringer Wald weekend! Hooray! Remember when I told y´all about that way back when? Anyway, I´m really looking forward to it, and hopefully I´ll get to take some great pictures.

On Monday of next week, which is my dad´s birthday and St. Nicholas Day -HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! There´s a card in the mail, I swear- I´m going to go to a presentation about Czech. and Slovakia. It should be pretty interesting, plus it couldn´t have happened with better timing seeing as how I´ll be heading down that way at the end of this month.

Good, so I think that´s about everything for right now. Whew, I´m wiped out just talking about it.