Jena

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

2005-01-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

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...

2004-12-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

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...

2004-12-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

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!

2004-12-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

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

2004-12-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

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

2004-12-02T23:45:00.000-08:00

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

2004-12-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

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.

Stuff(ed)

2004-11-26T12:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Belated Turkey Day to everyone! I hope you all had fun celebrating and eating yourselves to the point of incapacitation. Congrats Faye and Amber on finding a great place! We can all be thankful that y´all didn´t have to spend your Thanksgiving hiding from that reincarnated witch, Heidrun!

I spent my Thanksgiving day working, naturally, because here it is not a national holiday. I did, however, get to explain the story of Thanksgiving to some Germans, though, so that was kind of fun. In case you´re wondering, most Germans do recognize the holiday, even though they don´t celebrate it (yet, but give commercialization some time..j/k) and might not know the story behind it.

I did have a pretty fun evening. I met some new friends on Wednesday night who invited me over for dinner on Thursday-so though I didn´t have a traditional Thanksgiving, I did have a nice evening getting to know new friends and eating spaghetti. There were five of us altogether-the four roommates, Julia, Romi, Basti, and Daniel, and then me. All of them are students, two go to FSU here in Jena and two go to a different school nearby, but all of them study something called BWL, which is basically business economics.

By the way, when Daniel and I were watching the sauce while the two girls went to pick up their other roommate, he kept tasting it and saying something was missing. I suggested red wine, and he was like, "Really? I´ve never done that before." "You just can´t have sauce without red wine. It´s the key," I explained. I added some red wine and voila, the sauce was a huge hit. I have to give my dad credit for that one-he can make one mean sauce.

Anyhoo, hopefully I´ll get to spend some more time with them in the very short period I have left here. I can´t believe I only have about a month left!

Pictures without a Home

2004-11-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

I just posted a couple of pictures I had, but wasn´t sure what to do with to an album. There are only two now, but in the future if I have other pictures that I have no place else to stick I´ll put them in here and then post an update.

Ice skating fun and a little German culture

2004-11-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend I tried to go the the Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" show at the planetarium, but it was sold out. All´s well, though, because I bought a ticket for this Friday, and there will be a little party with a band and stuff so in the end it worked out better.

On Sunday I went to Erfurt to go ice skating (this, by the way, I´ve discovered is a very hard word to say if you´re not a native German speaker. Everybody ready? Here we go-´Schlittschuhlaufen´, pronounced shlit-shoo-lau-fen, the ´au´ is pronounced like the ´ou´ in ´mouse´. Say that three times fast. Phew, that was a toughie.). Anyway, there is an indoor ice skating rink named after some famous skater(speed skater, I think, not figure) from Erfurt that I´ve never heard of, who also had a difficult name to pronounce and remember. It was a good time for sure. And it´s also nice that I´m starting to hang out with my fellow Aiesecers more, now that the Jazzmeile is winding down and there aren´t so many fabulous concerts to go to. Afterward, we went to a coffeeshop to warm up a little bit. I tried ginger coffee-mmmm. It was really good, strong coffee sweetened with honey and it had whip cream and ginger powder sprinkled on top. Tasty, to say the least.

Anyhoo, I kind of lied before when I said I haven´t been going to concerts lately, because it just so happens last night I went to one. hehe. It was at a church called Michaelskirche and we saw and heard Mozart´s Requiem. It was very beautiful, the music, the symphony and choir, the church-definitely and all around nice atmosphere.

Check out some pics from my wonderful Sunday!

Gobble Gobble

2004-11-20T17:40:00.000-08:00

After a night of learning some latino dance steps and cooling down with a mango margarita at the "el sombrero", I checked my email and...

I received the story below in an email from one of the aiesec listservs. I have no idea about the story´s degree of truth or lack thereof, but I do know that the Turkish translations all check out if that´s worth anything. I am posting it here only because I thought it was pretty interesting. I hope you do, too.

----------------------------
Talking Turkey: The Story of How the Unofficial Bird of the United States Got Named (by Giancarlo Casale)

How did the turkey get its name? This seemingly harmless question popped into my head one morning as I realized that the holidays were once again upon us. After all, I thought, there's nothing more American than a turkey. Their meat saved the pilgrims from starvation during their first winter in New England. Out of gratitude, if you can call it that, we eat them for Thanksgiving dinner, and again at Christmas, and gobble them up in sandwiches all year long. Every fourth grader can tell you that Benjamin Franklin was particularly fond of the wild turkey, and even campaigned to make it, and not the bald eagle, the national symbol. So how did such a creature end up taking its name from a medium sized country in the Middle East? Was it just a coincidence? I wondered.

The next day I mentioned my musings to my landlord, whose wife is from Brazil. "That's funny," he said, "In Portuguese the word for turkey is 'peru.' Same bird, different country." Hmm. With my curiosity piqued, I decided to go straight to the source. That very afternoon I found myself a Turk and asked him how to say turkey in Turkish. "Turkey?" he said. "Well, we call turkeys 'hindi,' which means, you know, from India." India? This was getting weird.

I spent the next few days finding out the word for turkey in as many languages as I could think of, and the more I found out, the weirder things got. In Arabic, for instance, the word for turkey is "Ethiopian bird," while in Greek it is "gallapoula" or "French girl." The Persians, meanwhile, call them "buchalamun" which means, appropriately enough, "chameleon."

In Italian, on the other hand, the word for turkey is "tacchino" which, my Italian relatives assured me, means nothing but the bird. "But," they added, "it reminds us of something else. In Italy we call corn, which as everybody knows comes from America, 'grano turco,' or 'Turkish grain.'" So here we were back to Turkey again! And as if things weren\'t already confusing enough, a further consultation with my Turkish informant revealed that the Turks call corn "misir" which is also their word for Egypt!

By this point, things were clearly getting out of hand. But I persevered nonetheless, and just as I was about to give up hope, a pattern finally seemed to emerge from this bewildering labyrinth. In French, it turns out, the word for turkey is "dinde," meaning "from India," just like in Turkish. The words in both German and Russian had similar meanings, so I was clearly on to something. The key, I reasoned, was to find out what turkeys are called in India, so I called up my high school friend's wife, who is from an old Bengali family, and popped her the question.
"Oh," she said, "We don't have turkeys in India. They come from America. Everybody knows that."
"Yes," I insisted, "but what do you call them?"
"Well, we don't have them!" she said. She wasn't being very helpful. Still, I persisted:
"Look, you must have a word for them. Say you were watching an American movie translated from English and the actors were all talking about turkeys. What would they say?"
"Well...I suppose in that case they would just say the American word, 'turkey.' Like I said, we don't have them."

So there I was, at a dead end. I began to realize only too late that I had unwittingly stumbled upon a problem whose solution lay far beyond the capacity of my own limited resources. Obviously I needed serious professional assistance. So the next morning I scheduled an appointment with Prof. Sinasi Tekin of Harvard University, a world-renowned philologist and expert on Turkic languages. If anyone could help me, I figured it would be Professor Tekin.

As I walked into his office on the following Tuesday, I knew I would not be disappointed. Prof. Tekin had a wizened, grandfatherly face, a white, bushy, knowledgeable beard, and was surrounded by stack upon stack of just the sort of hefty, authoritative books which were sure to contain a solution to my vexing Turkish mystery.

I introduced myself, sat down, and eagerly awaited a dose of Prof. Tekin's erudition. "You see," he said, "In the Turkish countryside there is a kind of bird, which is called a çulluk. It looks like a turkey but it is much smaller, and its meat is very delicious. Long before the discovery of America, English merchants had already discovered the delicious çulluk, and began exporting it back to England, where it became very popular, and was known as a 'Turkey bird' or simply a 'turkey.' Then, when the English came to America, they mistook the birds here for çulluks, and so they began calling them 'turkey" also.

But other peoples weren't so easily fooled. They knew that these new birds came from America, and so they called them things like 'India birds,' 'Peruvian birds,' or 'Ethiopian birds.'

You see, 'India,' 'Peru' and 'Ethiopia' were all common names for the New World in the early centuries, both because people had a hazier understanding of geography, and because it took a while for the name 'America' to catch on. "Anyway, since that time Americans have begun exporting their birds everywhere, and even in Turkey people have started eating them, and have forgotten all about their delicious çulluk. This is a shame, because çulluk meat is really much, much tastier."

Prof. Tekin seemed genuinely sad as he explained all this to me. I did my best to comfort him, and tried to express my regret at hearing of the unfairly cruel fate of the delicious çulluk. Deep down, however, I was ecstatic. I finally had a solution to this holiday problem, and knew I would be able once again to enjoy the main course of my traditional Thanksgiving dinner without reservation.

Now if I could just figure out why they call those little teeny dogs
Chihuahuas....

Map of Germany

2004-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a map of Germany. I underlined Jena with a green line so you can easily identify it. I know I should have posted this a long time ago, but better late than never! Anyway, the internet is busting at the seams with information, y´all could´ve found your own darn map if you wanted one so badly!

One Intense Weekend

2004-11-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

Hellloooo!

Before I start rambling on about my weekend, I want to first give some mad props to a couple people-mainly my family. First, my mom, who somehow manages to send me more cards, letters, and packages, than I thought the postman could carry. Not to mention photos of all you guys, too, which in addition to being a wonderful little present also make up most of what little decoration I have in my room. Thanks mom! Second my aunts-auntie rob and clare for sending me letters and auntie johnnie for sending me goofy little smily faces wearing lederhosen and scarfing down beer and bratwurst. Thirdly, my bros definitely earn an "A" in participation points. Thanks for posting comments regularly and making me feel like this thing is more like a dialog, which is what I was hoping would happen. You have to admit, I have been doing a pretty good job of "keeping in touch", eh? You´ve probably heard more about me than you did in all my years at IU combined!

Okay, now to get on with the story of my weekend. Nothing too wild n´ crazy, but it was pretty intense. This was the first weekend of the Planspiel. That name should sound familiar to you, because it is what I am trying to set up this whole web conference thing for. This was the first one to happen since I´ve been here, and they will continue to happen periodically throughout the semester. I don´t really want to get into all of the details, but I will say that it is a business game that is packed into 1 1/2 days split into 3 financial "periods" of trying (just to name a few) to communicate and negotiate in different languages, adjust product capacity, price, and quality, and come up with a marketing campaign for a joint-venture company. Whew.

At the end I got a little certificate saying I completed the course, though. Woohoo! This is normal here. The students receive a Schein, kind of like a mini-certificate, at the end of every class they take. So, I was a student for 2 days at FSU (Friedrich Schiller University).

Oh, and many of you I know are curious what my plans are for Thanksgiving. Well, first it is known here by most people, but as you´d probably guess not celebrated that much. My roommate´s birthday also happens to be at the end of November, right around Thanksgiving, and I think we want to plan a surprise party. Maybe we can cook a giant turkey, too. We´ll just have to see. Either way, keep me in your thoughts, because I know you won´t have any room in your hearts seeing as how your bellies will be vying for whatever extra space they can find.

Thuringer Wald

2004-11-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I just wanted to share with you guys something I just found out. The first weekend in December, I am going to go on a little weekend retreat in the Thuringer Wald! I included the exact description I received about the weekend festivities so the English is not perfect, but you can get the idea. I´m really excited to see a real German Weihnachtsmarkt after having gone so many times to the Kristkindlmarkt in Chicago. I hear that to really see the best one you have to go to Nürmberg, but Dresden is also supposed to have a pretty cool one, too. Heck, I´ll be happy just with the one in Jena.

Here is the information I received about the weekend:
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And what will we do? Good question, because it depends a lot on the weather. Hopefully we got snow and go snowtubing or just walk through a winter-wonderland. Playing, talking, eating, drinking and just having fun. The cottage is situated in Neuhaus am Rennweg, my hometown and it is around 1 km away from other houses and perhaps 10m away from the forrest. Each Saturday, some cover-bands are playing famous rock songs in the Kulturhaus and maybe we can spent some hours there, too. The last day, Sunday, we got to leave the cottage at least around noon. We will visit the famous christmas ball market in Lauscha. I believe you haven’t heard much about Lauscha but it is wellknown for its glass-artcraft: beautiful christmasballs and figures. I arranged that we can visit the museum and other buildings for free. Also, there will be a beautiful glass-princess (I know her and perhaps we can make a picture with her) and the christmas market.
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And here are a couple of pictures I received-

of the cabins:

and the town of Lauscha:

(Hopefully it will look as snow-covered as this when we go)

Announcement: Anonymous Comments

2004-11-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

I just changed the setting on my blog to allow anonymous comments. This means that you don´t need to register with blogger.com to post a comment on my blog. I did this to encourage anyone and everyone to let me know you didn´t forget about me and you check my blog every now and then, and to keep me posted with the haps wherever y´all are, too! Let the comments flow from those fingertips! Oh, and though you can post anonymous comments, it is nice to know who´s posting and easier to respond-so if you could post your name, initials, whatever, it´d be much appreciated.

Winter Has Come to Jena

2004-11-09T15:00:00.000-08:00

Today is the first snow we´ve had-yaaaayyy! And it has been snowing aaalll day. It´s pretty, though.

Pro-Snow. It doesn´t necessarily have to be here in Jena, but I am appreciating it which is why I put it down. But, and this brings me to...

Con-Since it is only the first snow, and everyone says that when it snows here it normally doesn´t stay for very long anyway, it´s not sticking. Pretty in the air, but turns everything just plain wet when it finally settles.

Pro-I´ve come to the realization that Germans put seeds in everything. I happen to like it. You can also write this one down in your notebooks as another big difference. There are seeds in bread (sunflower, pumpkin, and lord knows what other kinds), yogurt (I think the stuff I saw was made out of corn or something), salad (I had one today that had garbanzo beans, I think, and these other beans that i think were the seed for those fat, crunchy-when-raw sprouts used in asian food-water sprouts or something like that, instead of the yucky, skinny bean sprouts), sauces, and well that´s all I can think of right now, but that´s still a lot.

Con-The Simpsons still isn´t funny. And I watched the past 2 "new episodes", which for me were not new because I had already seen them. I think that the new episodes here are a little behind because they have to translate them, so the new season here is a little behind the new season in the states. And it comes on Saturday evenings instead of Sundays!

Crazy Story Time with Tante LB

2004-11-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

Back in my day we used to walk to school with no shoes on in the middle of winter. It was so cold we would take turns carrying each other on our backs so we wouldn´t get frostbite on our feet and have to have them amputated. We didn´t have modern medicine back then. The only doctor we knew was our grandmother who´d treat everything with a shot of whiskey and a good story...

Story #1: I went to listen in on James´ lecture the Thursday after the election results. Afterward, I stuck around for a few minutes to talk with James´ girlfriend who happened to also come and listen that day, and when I left the room I noticed that two of the students were standing at the end of the hall looking like they were waiting for something. As I walked down the hallway, I noticed that as I approached them they made eye contact. As I got closer they approached me and began to introduce themselves. I thought, "Oh geez, I´m going to have face a barrage of questions about American culture, beliefs, and politics." After the girls introduced themselves, one of them began her question-"Here it comes," I thought. "Where do you buy cheddar cheese?" she asks. Now, this caught me so off-guard that I could only respond with, "huh, uh, what?" It turns out she had spent some time in the states studying and fell in love with cheddar cheese, but here in Jena it´s relatively hard to find. I just laughed out loud at this situation. I told her I´d look around, and tell her if I had any luck. I haven´t had any luck, by the way, not even at the Walmart. I know you can find it at one place in Weimar, but I think that´s the nearest location. Sheesh.

Story #2: This is a story I heard from my friend Stefanie today. A while back in one of her classes, all of the students had to memorize a poem to say in front of the class. She had worked really hard on hers, so when it was her turn she delivered a smashing performance. After class, a guy in her class, who was from Africa, walked up to her and said, "Stefanie, you did such a great job! I almost wanted to shout out, ´Heil Hitler!´" (For those of you who don´t know, this would be something COMPLETELY inappropriate to say to a German...unless they were wearing a Nazi flag in plain sight, then it might be okay.) Anyway, She was completely in shock and said she even started crying at this comment. He explained that where he was from they didn´t learn too much about German history, etc., and that he only knew Hitler as a very powerful German man and symbol, so he reasoned it would be a great compliment to a German to say something like, "Heil Hitler." Yikes, talk about cultural awareness.

Knee Deep in Jazzmeile

2004-11-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

On Friday I ventured to Erfurt for a little concert with the Terence Ngassa Afro Jazz group. The venue was a little tricky to find, but I somehow managed to find it with relative ease and I was actually kind of early. No matter, I ordered myself a beer, had my pick of the all the seats in the house, and sat back to observe my fellow audience members start to shuffle in. I happened to notice, though, that aside from the very kindly older gentlemen that ran the place, the crowd was also a little bit older, too. This kind of surprised me-I can´t really explain it very well, but I was expecting more younger folks to come out to an afro jazz show. In the end it didn´t matter, the music was sweet and my tablemates were also very friendly. Though I wanted to stick around and talk with the band, I had to head back to the train station to catch the last train that left that evening unless I wanted to sleep on the cold streets that night.

My plan for Saturday was to do more city exploring and see what I could find. I also got a couple tips on record stores around the city and I wanted to see what they had to offer. The weather was downright nasty in the morning. It was raining mostly, but occasionally there would be a drop of slushy-type stuff. The great thing about this place so far, though, is that it doesn´t really stay cold here for very long. We´ll have to see how much that changes in the dead of winter. Anyway, Saturday evening I ate dinner with Conny and we went over to our friend Basti´s house for a game night. We played Tabu (the same game like you´d find in the states), and yes it was really hard for me to play in German but fun nonetheless. Then we played a game called Palermo-this is one of those card games where there are murderers, citizens, and spies/detectives. I´ve played versions of games like it before, so I´m sure a couple of you know what I´m talking about. That was a blast as well. I also found out through perusing Basti and Ralf´s collection of movies that there is a version of Spaceballs dubbed in German...crazy.

Sunday morning Conny and I went to Grunowski for a little breakfast buffet..mmmm, breakfast buffet. And that night I went to a jazz concert here called the 3 Guitars with Larry Coryell, Badi Assad, and John Abercrombie. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. The woman that played with them added a really interesting element-at one point she played a solo song where she was making sounds with her mouth (like in a lot of African songs), humming, and playing crazy guitar all at the same time! Mainly the whole show was just the acoustics, but occasionally they´d add a little flute-like instrument or the thumb guitar-thing. I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me during the break, and he said that he was surprised to find out I was from the USA because I didn´t have an accent. I brushed this comment off saying that when I speak English, some people think I have an accent because I´m from the North, but this did make me feel like the month and a half I´ve spent here has at least improved my German a little. Woo hoo! I definitely do not sound anything like a native speaker, but we have to think little steps, people.

And now since I´ve just thought of a couple, it´s time for everybody´s favorite thing....More Pros and Cons!

Pro-I like how Germans will greet everyone personally every time they arrive. Okay, maybe not every single solitary time, but pretty darn close. And not just a universal "hello" to everyone when they walk in the room, but a hand shake and/or hug to everyone even if the room is so crowded everyone can barely move and it would just be a whole lot easier to say "hi everybody!" and leave it at that.

Con-I think I´ve been spoiled living in the almost entirely no-smoking-in-public-places Bloomington (with the exception of bars until 2005). Smoking is allowed pretty much anywhere except a few places which don´t include trains. I smell like smoke a lot of the time even though I have successfully remained a non-smoker. Eww.

My Halloween Weekend

2004-11-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

First, this title is a little bit misleading seeing as how I really didn´t celebrate Halloween; nonetheless, I had a really fantastic weekend. My plan on Saturday was to walk around the city, my normal routine, and then in the late afternoon go see the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" multimedia show that was playing at the planetarium. The weather was just plain icky-cloudy, foggy, overcast, and drizzly all mixed into one day. This didn´t stop me though...

First I wandered into this old bookstore that surprisingly had some LP´s, too. Of course I had to look through them all, but most of them were the German equivalent of those old classical records that most people don´t really want-you know, the same ones that every record store has sitting in a crate somewhere. Then there were the crazy American records that found their way there, too. And there was absolutely no order to it all; I saw Gwar, Eddy Grant, and everything in between in one crate. It felt good to get my fingertips all dusty again, though.

After that I went to this coffee place that had a really cool atmosphere-very warm and old. Now I normally don´t drink coffee, but like I said before, it was an icky day and it was nice to just be inside for a short spell and since I was there I thought I´d check out the coffee scene. So I order a normal (or so I thought) coffee with milk in it, but what was given to me was a bowl of coffee with milk. I have never seen a "cup" of coffee like that before! After that unusual beverage/gigantor breakfast, I hit the streets again.

I found a cool little African store. I think it was pretty new and didn´t have that much merchandise, but it was a cool discovery.

Then I started toward the other side of town to check out the planetarium and purchase a ticket for the Pink Floyd showing that night. On my way I found this combination second hand shop that carried hip hop LP´s. It was definitely a great find. The shopkeepers were really nice-one of the guys, Frank, showed me a whole bunch of German hip hop LP´s. It was so hard not to buy stuff, but I´ve told myself I can´t buy LP´s (or at least too many) because they´re so hard to handle when you´re traveling a lot. I asked the girl there (I forgot to ask her name) what the deal was with the hip hop scene here, and coincidentally there happened to be a hip hop show that very night. I really wanted to check out the planetarium thing though, so off we go...

When I went there, though, I found out that all the tickets were sold out for the multimedia show and that sell-outs are common for the weekend shows. D´oh! I even asked about the one playing next weekend, and tickets were already sold out for that one, too! I´m still going to try and see it, but I´ll probably have to go on a weekday.

Anyhoo, it was kind of a blessing in disguise. I went to the club, Kassablanca, to check out the hip hop show. When I got there, there were a couple of dj´s spinning before the main hip hop act who called themselves the Waxolutionists. The dj´s were just okay, but I think I was just really grateful to be hearing music that wasn´t the radio or some songs that I recognized that weren´t Vanilla Ice or California Dreamin´. They played a bunch of stuff and even worked some J5 and stuff in there-for some reason the only song I can remember them playing that y´all would know is "Just to get by", but I know there were a couple of other ones, too. I decided to check out the little upper deck for awhile and I went up there at just the right time, because right when I peaked over the rail the crowd had just formed a circle and some break dancers were starting to show what they were made of. They were really awesome and by this point, I was definitely regretting not bringing my camera. Then came the Waxolutionists...

I really didn´t know anything about this group before they performed except their name, but I was so glad that I went to see them. The setup was 2 dj´s on 3 tables (and they had a couple of other toys, too, but didn´t use them that often), a drum set, keyboard, bass, and 2 mc´s. For one of the songs they even broke out an acoustic guitar and did a song with just that and one mc. I can´t remember (or maybe I never knew) where they´re from, but I think maybe Wien. After the were done with their set, the entire group hung around while all the gear was being packed up and took turns on the tables just playing songs for the still wired crowd. I left when the group left at 4 a.m., but there was still a good amount of peope dancing to what the other dj´s were putting out. I had seen enough, though, and the other dj´s didn´t have quite the appeal they did when I first got there before I saw the Waxolutionists.

Anyway, it was German hip hop I was looking for and it was definitely German hip hop that I got. I´m going to try and find one of their LP´s and break my "No LP" rule and bring it back home-even though I´m not really sure how their studio sound compares to their live performance, but I digress...

On Sunday night I went and saw this movie called the "7 Zwerge" (The Seven Dwarfs). I don´t really know what to say about this film. It was a comedy, that´s for sure, and yes the title is a reference to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", but this movie was definitely for adults. Hmmm, though the movies are completely different it has kind of the same type of humor as the Naked Gun or Police Academy movies-not a deep meaning or anything by far, but I thought it was funny.

More Pros

2004-10-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

The windows are impeccably well-engineered. You can either turn the handle so that it is positioned horizontally and swing the window open like a door, or you can turn it 180 degrees, and tilt the upper side of the window in. How cool is that?!

The trails that surround the little towns. There are a lot, too. Hopefully the weather will stay relatively mild, because I´d like to get a couple more hikes in before the weather gets cold. A full day´s hike is a great way to see so much, and to get some much needed exercise (More and more I´m starting to look a little like Plumpy from Candyland-especially when I wear that bright green jacket).

Milka chocolate. Mmmm. Hershey´s got nothing on this baby. Plus they have this one kind of candy bar that´s milk chocolate and has a little picture made out of white chocolate of a landscape and a cow (Milka´s logo) fused across half of the top of the candy bar.

Unlike in the states, you can bring your pets pretty much anywhere. I can´t imagine the problems you´d have trying to bring your dog into the mall, but here it´s no big deal. And everytime I´m like "whoa! you can bring your pet in here?!" Somebody replies with, "Why not?" My sentiments exactly.

In Thüringen right now there´s something going on called the Jazzmeile. In all the cities in the area there are tons of jazz concerts until the end of November. I´ve bookmarked a couple I´d like to try and see. The one I think would be the coolest is kind of far away so I don´t think I can make it, but it´s a group from Ghana. If you´d like to try your hand at Deutsch or if you are one of those people reading this that can actually understand it, check out this site: www.jazzmeile.org

Taking Advantage of the Good Weather

2004-10-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I decided to make the most of my Saturday, and woke up early for an all day excursion. I hiked on a couple of the little mountains around Jena and saw an old castle, the Erlkönig statue, a really old fort ruin from the 12th or 13th century, and lots of picturesque nature. Take a look for yourself!

Top Ten

2004-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I´d just go through a run down of things that I´ve noticed. I´ve been keeping a list of things I like and miss in my head. It´s kind of like my version of "top ten things..."

The Good Stuff
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First, I like cobblestone and brick sidewalks and roads. I´ll admit, sometimes it makes it kind of hard to tell where the road ends and the sidewalk begins, but as long as you have cat-like speed and reflexes you can dodge those crazy drivers just fine. Same goes for old architecture. Nothing fancy, just character through age.

Mountains-plain and simple. With lots of trees on them.

A fabulous transportation system. Even though Jena feels about the same size as Bloomington, even it has 3 train stations, a tram, buses, and taxis.

Lately, some great music I´ve heard includes Guru´s Jazzmataz, Carla Bruni, and the soundtrack from this movie called Underground. Now that I think about it, I heard a lot of awesome music at Jorge´s party, too-I´m going to have to ask him to burn me some stuff.

Also hearing American music everywhere.

Speaking of America, most of you have probably heard of the site www.jibjab.com They have two really funny song parodies called "This Land" and "It´s Good To Be In DC". If you haven´t seen one or both of these, you need to do it right now. One piece of advice-don´t try and watch them if you don´t have speakers/aren´t able to hear sound-seeing as how these are SONGS, it kind of ruins it if you can´t hear them.

Food. The best things I´ve tried were the döner and bratwurst. They also have really awesome bread-think the complete antithesis of Wonder bread. It´s really heavy and all different kinds are made with every kind of seed imagineable (sunflower, pumpkin, other kinds of nuts).

Stuff That Just Isn´t The Same
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The daunting task it is just to find a jar of friggin´ peanut butter.

The Simpsons. As you all should know, this one is big. Don´t get me wrong, they do air the Simpsons in Germany, but dubbed in german it just isn´t the same. You might even dare to say it´s just not that funny. Though I have seen Ducktales, Jaws, and Beavis and Butthead in german and that was pretty funny.

My refrigerator. It is a common stereotype that Europeans buy food more often instead of just stockpiling it in pantries and jumbo-sized refrigerators. Though it is a nice concept, I still want my jumbo-sized ice box. I don´t see why we can´t do both-buy often and have unnecessarily large cooling appliances. My refrigerator is about the size of a dorm-sized one, by the way. You know, the ones where you can´t fit any size container that is bigger than a single serving?

The absence of a living room. The apartment I live in has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. The size, variety, and number of rooms varies with the place you´re living in. That is, my friend lives in a house which is really no different than one you´d find in the states. And another friend lives in an apartment which is bigger and thus has a living room. Perhaps you can get away with no living room if you have something else to take its place like a kitchen. Our kitchen is primarily the "social" spot which is okay, but sometimes you want to relax on a sofa to hang out and talk with everyone, not sit at the kitchen table. Know what I mean?

A fun-filled day

2004-10-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got the chance to go on one of those hiking trails I´ve been wanting to check out for so long. It was really nice. I went on one that takes you to a really old tower known as the "fox tower". I´m not sure what it was used for way back when, but I assume it was a lookout point for enemies because even though the tower isn´t that tall by today´s standards, it´s location on the top of the little mountain lends way to a great view. I took some pictures at various points. Conny´s friends Basti and Susie came to visit from Dresden, so all five of us went on a little hiking tour.

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I also finally went and bought a winter jacket yesterday. It still is only mildy, fall-ishly chilly, but I saw one that was a great deal and couldn´t pass it up. Granted it´s bright green and yellow and making people feel like a giant moving stoplight is probably the reason it was marked down so much, but I digress...I kind of like it anyway.

Last night was also Jorjé´s birthday dinner. I had an amazing time. We ate salad(greens and an egg salad), cheese, this fried dough made with pumpkin and squash with this feta-tomato dip(there were a couple of different bowls of it with different spices that added a nice variety). And for the main course there were bread pockets that looked like giant bread pierogies or calzones. They were stuffed with meat and hard-boiled eggs and these awesome olives. Everything was really tasty. There were also some kind of yummy pastry and brownies made with coconut and cherries for dessert. I didn´t know there was coconut in the brownies, so I took a piece and took a huge bite out of it. Eeww. They were actually really tasty if you like coconut, and tolerable for me even though, as most of you know, I don´t like to touch the stuff, which was a good thing because I didn´t want to be rude and go spitting it out saying, "Oh my god! There´s coconut in this! Blacgh!" Oh, and wine...lots of wine. I slept like a baby last night, let´s just leave it at that.

After dinner, we broke out instruments-a guitar and a bunch of little hand instruments like a triangle, wooden castenets, marracas, etc. First we sang happy birthday to Jorjé in Spanish, German, and English. Yeah, sometimes my mind feels like it´s going to blow up because there will be conversations in German and Spanish happening and me thinking in English, too, and my brain just wants to say, "Dammit! Pick a language already!"

After the birthday medley we sang all kinds of different songs. We also shared songbooks that they had-both spanish and german ones. It was really interesting because every song that was sung was known by a few people here and there, so we made a little game of trying to find a universally/internationally known song. We found two: "Glory, glory Hallelujah" and "Jingle Bells". Actually, I think most people knew "Guantalamela", too. So I guess the tally comes to a total of three.

You can check out the pictures here.

15.10.04

2004-10-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

I added some info about the Zwiebelmarkt to that post so if you´re interested in learning about the festival of onions grab some breath mints and check it out.

I went to get my visa yesterday. I love having to take the tram or train anywhere, because the mountains are so cool. I´m going to try and go on a hike or two this weekend, but word has it the weather is going to be less than desirable. Anyway, the lady was really scary. She took her job way too seriously. I´m so glad I had a native german speaker there with me, because I was afraid to even make an ´eep´. But anyhow, it´s over and taken care of. Now I have some really cool visa stickers in my passport!

I went to the ´f-haus´ last night because there was a beginning of the semester party there. Since it was sold out, there were about a billion people there-a little too many for my liking. There was a dj and a little movie screen hanging from the ceiling where there were crazy graphics morphing along to the music. Oh, and I thought this was pretty neat-one of the dj´s crew went around and took digital pictures of the audience for a little while. Then they integrated them into the graphics, so there were pictures of people from that night on the movie screen, too. Isn´t that kind of a cool idea?

Tomorrow Jorjé is having a little dinner party at his house. I´m really excited about it actually, because I want to try all the Chilean food that will be there.

Woohoo! The sun finally fought its way through the clouds! I´m going to blow this pop stand.

Weimar Zwiebelmarkt

2004-10-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

I´ll actually write more about this market later, but for now just enjoy the sights. :)
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Okay, so here´s the scoop on Zwiebelmarkt. As you already know, it´s held in Weimar, a city very close to here(about 20 mins by train). I went there in the early afternoon on Saturday, because somebody had mentioned it to me during the week. I was interested in what it had to offer, and I wanted to check out Weimar, too.

Anyway, it is a weekend-long festival where you can buy just about anything. There are stands (food, clothes, pottery, art, knick-nacks, wreaths made out of onions and balls of garlic) set up around the entire city, oh, and several stages of varying size, too. Also, a lot of the stores are open and put stuff on the sidewalk to attract people.

Some of the sections of the city have themes-for instance there was a kids section where a magician performed and told funny stories, and a medieval section where all of the stands looked old and made out of wood and there were candles providing light at night. They also had homemade wine in old-fashioned barrels and jugs. I tried a honey wine called ´met´(I think it´s meade in english) that was served warm. It was very sweet, but good, and the fact that it was warm was even better, because once darkness fell it was COLD.

The music covered a wide range of styles, including this one band that played in the midieval section that had an instrument i had never seen before. It roughly looked like a compact guitar with some kind of slab over its strings, and it had a little hand crank coming out of the bottom.

Though I went there by myself, one guy I work with lives in Weimar and I ended up running into him and his girlfriend there. The sun was just starting to set and I wasn´t sure how late the festival went or when the last train left, so I was thinking about heading back, when out of the corner of my eye I see someone throw a piece of paper at me. When I turned to look, there was James! It was actually really great to run into them, because since they´re from there they showed me around. I don´t think I would´ve ever found the midieval section on my own.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the streets in these towns seem like they have no rhyme or reason. There´s no sign of a grid-layout like a lot of neighborhoods in the u.s. I think it is a mix of building in the mountains and that the towns are so old. Anyway, needless to say, if you´re not familiar with a place, you can easily pass up a lot of little interesting streets-especially when there are a billion people walking around. Before I ran into them(James and his girlfriend), I felt like I had covered pretty much all there was to see, but they showed me a couple of places I didn´t even know existed(like the kids and midieval sections).

All in all, I´m very glad I went, and suggest it to anyone who happens to be in the area when it´s happening.

Pictures of Jena

2004-10-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I promised you them, so here they are-some pictures of Jena. My next task is to get some people on film to post. Hope you enjoy them and get a sense of the city.

Pictures of my apartment

2004-10-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Y´all can look at a couple of pictures of my apartment. They aren´t that exciting, but maybe you´ll be interested. I have taken some other pictures, but I left the room for awhile and forgot to turn the camera off so when I came back it was dead. I´ll charge my camera tonight and upload them tomorrow.

7.10.2004

2004-10-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

Since this entry is kind of a random mixture of things, I decided just to go with the very unorginal date header. I figure if I´m so clever and witty all the time, all of you will get so used to it you´ll find everything else is just a big bore. Oh, I´m only kidding.

First, the club scene. This is the way I´ve described my experience with it thus far, so a couple of you may be experiencing some deja vú:

i went to a couple of clubs -one called the ´f haus´ and one called ´ogs´. the f-haus is basically the club everyone goes to early to drink a lot because drinks are cheap. the music there was fan-flippin´-tabulous, though. the "dj"(and i use the term VERY loosely) played everything from Michael Jackson, to Madonna, to new Outkast stuff(heyy-ah), to sweet home alabama(oh yeah, for this one the "dj" turned down the volume for the chorus and a bunch of germans singing about sweet home alabama was just about the most entertaining thing i´ve seen), to that oldies song that goes "if you´re going to san...fran...cisco. be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" all laid over a techno beat. it was like an 80´s/early 90´s party or something at a club. when that one oldies song came on i said it was like some hippies opened a club and everyone came to party. hah.

ogs was a cool place, though. it has 3 floors first of all, all with a bar on them, so that was a plus. the top one just had some music coming out of mounted speakers all around, and there were a bunch of black leather couches and red-orange lighting-think like a chill room jazz club style or something of the like. the middle floor had some pretty awesome music(hip hop and stuff) mixed with some really awful dance music with english words. and the bottom floor had a mix of snoop to hip hoppy to songs like "push it", and also a mix of some terrible american-ish dance club music. i love hearing old american music all over here-it´s really funny. for instance, stop me if i´ve mentioned this before, but during dinner the other day i heard vanilla ice on the radio!

As far as interculture and IWK, both are still pretty fresh. I´ve met just about everyone in the IWK department (there is one lady that is still out of the country-I think in Costa Rica or was it Portugal. As you can probably tell, I have no friggin´ clue). I´ve already mentioned Professor Bolten and Marion Dathe. I have also met a lady named Sonya, from England, who I really like. She´s got a great english accent and the other day I wore this white blazer and she said, "my, you´re looking rather smart today. I have to go teach a class soon, can I borrow your jacket?" As I read what I just typed it doesn´t sound that great, but it was really funny when she said it. Then there are Javier and Jorjé(I´m not sure if that´s how you spell ´hor-hey´ in Spanish, but since it´s my blog I have the freedom to spell things how I want)-Javier is from Spain and Jorjé is from Chilé. That´s about everyone in IWK-it´s a pretty small department, and they kind of recruit professors as projects develop that require a person with knowledge of a certain region.

I found out today that I´ll get to particpate in the physical form of the game(Planspiel) on which I´m working for the virtual classroom. For all of you IST-ers, I´ve heard it referred to as a game or simulation interchangeably, even though it is clearly a game and ´spiel´ literally means game, but I don´t want to ruffle any tail feathers this early in the game (no pun intended). For each group that represents a different country, all participants are supposed to be natives of the land they are representing. Javier is leading the next Planspiel, and has asked if I would like to be a member of the american group. I decided to accept the offer because it is a) a pretty interesting project and b) i believe it will help me develop a better overall design for the virtual form. Being an actual participant will allow me to experience what the students go through(needs, wants, positive/negative aspects are throughout the game). If there are snags in the physical form of the game they will no doubt be amplified in the digital one, so hopefully I can identify them first-hand and flush them out. The Planspiel doesn´t happen until the middle of November, so I think I´m getting a little ahead of myself. Let´s get back to the here and now.

Mario and I have kind of been grouped together, because has been hired on as the interculture "IT guy" (even though I think he studied politics and economics) and, like is often the case, I am known as "the Informatics major", so any technological problems in IWK or interculture are thrown our way to try and figure out. I don´t think a whole IT department could know absolutely everything there is to know about technology and computers, but somehow when people hear your name used in the same context as technology and there is any sort of remotely related computer or electronic device problem, they come running to you begging for the miracle solution that you should (obviously, because "you´re an Informatics major!") have on the tip of your tongue. Anyway, back on topic-I told Mario I´d try and help tackle several of the issues interculture´s websites have, etc. I will probably have to learn a new programming language/software program or two and refresh a couple that are somewhere in the back of my mind, but it´s actually a good thing. I don´t think I have the will to pick up a programming book on my own and learn it just for the sake of it being fun, but I am grateful when I feel I have a handle on a program/language.

Really, besides helping translate some of one of the websites from German to English (which I´m hoping will vastly improve my German vocabulary), that´s about it. I have the freedom to begin any projects that "are of interest to me", and though it´s actually nice to have so much freedom it´s also a little hard because everything in the department, company, processes, etc., is so unfamiliar now. Still, I have a couple of things to work on for the time being, and as the semester progresses it will be interesting to see how my work progresses, too.

Ralf and Connie are going to Dresden this weekend, because it is Ralf´s mother´s birthday. The local aiesec committee may take a day trip to Erfurt, a city very close to here. I´m not positive I will go with them(aiesec) yet or not-there are a couple of places here I want to stop by so if I do that before Saturday, I might just start on a new city, but we shall see.

By the way, I´ve been noticing more and more that my english grammar is dissintegrating(it actually took me about a full minute to think of what that word was, and I still don´t know if it´s spelled correctly) exponentially fast the harder I work on my german. I´ll do silly things like type ´hear´ instead of ´here´ or just forget words completely. Who knew that you could flush so many years of english vocab and grammar quizzes down the toilet with just one foreign language?

Oh, and I do have a few pictures, but no, they haven´t been uploaded yet(before you start griping, I just want to say that I´ll work on it next week). I haven´t taken any pictures of any people, only the town, trees, mountains, etc. Marion told me something pretty interesting. She explained that Jena is one of the warmest(it´s all relative, though, I suppose) places in Germany, because the small mountains(more like large hills) are made of limestone and limestone retains heat very well. She said it never really snows here but I refuse to believe that, so let´s just agree on believing it occasionally snows but doesn´t stay for very long. The weather has been mostly sunny, warm, and beautiful, though it can get rather chilly in the evening, and yesterday it was a little dreary and cold enough to definitely need a jacket.

Let´s see-and some interesting thoughts about food: I wouldn´t believe it myself if I wasn´t here, but peanut butter is REALLY hard to find. In fact, I´d say just about impossible-I even looked in Walmart(though not really that hard). I suppose maybe in large cities in the west you can find it, but I´m not so sure. Instead of peanut butter, Nutella is what´s really popular. If you´re thinking about the chocolate-hazlenut stuff, you´re right on target. It´s actually really tasty, but if you ask me, it´s just on a completely different page than peanut butter. Also I´ve seen little plastic containers(like what spreadable butter/margarine comes in) of basically spreadable fat. It´s pretty much the same stuff as the drippings from frying bacon or something-I know some of you that have lived on a farm(mom) or some of the older generation will know what I mean. I knew that some people like to use it kind of like butter, that´s not so unusual; but I thought it was a little crazy that it´s sold in little containers in the grocery store. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, yes there are vegetarian options available(both in the school cafeteria and a few places sell falafel, too). I haven´t tried searching for hummus, but I imagine if there´s falafel, hummus has to be nearby. Then again, it´s not really that hard to make either.

Here we Go

2004-10-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Heya,

First, congratulations Faye and Amber. Welcome to the `Motherland´(that one was for you, Corinna!)! Hopefully I´ll make it up to Berlin one of these weekends. I hear it´s not really that far of a journey.

I´ve started my first full week here at interculture.de. It´s still a little slow because the semester doesn´t start until next week, I think, so more of the people who work in the IWK department will be around more often then. I feel like the atmosphere won´t change that much, though. It´s one of those you-set-your-own-hours type of places, which is both a good and bad thing-kind of like classes!

I have been assigned one big project and have been trying to gather a bunch of information on it. It basically entails setting up a virtual-type classroom through videoconferencing and a whiteboard. In addition, I may have to translate some of the content from the main portal site of interculture from German to English so in the future, the site can be offered in both German and English. Also, James, the American master´s student in IWK has asked that if I have time, perhaps I could take a look at what he´s been working on. Everyone in the department is responsible for developing material on the particular region they are an expert in. I think most people are from the region/country they are responsible for with perhaps maybe one exception. Anyway, James, being an American, is responsible for American culture and asked if I could give him some feedback on what he has so far. Lastly, I have the freedom to develop anything else I want to. That is, I can work on other projects that I have an interest in. I emailed all of the people in IWK telling them a little bit about myself and that I if there are any projects which they need help with to email me back. Hopefully I will get to work on a non-technology related cultural education project, maybe dealing with Africa or Asia. Yeah...that would be swell.

I didn´t make it to Oktoberfest this past weekend. Most Germans I´ve talked to haven´t really been there, and based on their view of it I decided to see the city/region when there are less tourists there and it´s more in its natural state.

The leaves are starting to change color, although you wouldn´t guess it´s the beginning of Fall by how gorgeous the weather has been lately. I was told one of the most beautiful times in Jena is Fall because there are several trees that are plainly visible in the distance(because of the mountains), so in the Fall it´s supposed to be really amazing. I haven´t been to the tourist information center to get my own copy, but I´ve seen a map of all the hiking trails in and around the city. I would like to get a few hikes in before the cold starts to set in. Also, Marion said if she ever takes a weekend trip, to Bonn or someplace, that I could come along.

Other than that, I´m discovering what there is to do in the city. I spent a lot of the weekend walking around and finding different things-the few places open on Sunday here, a Sushi place(Will), and the German version of Aunt Carmella(I swear she had the same pursed-lip look and everything!). I also took some pictures, but I think it might be a little while before I post any. Oh! And this morning I saw an accident! Some biker tried to cross the street when his light was red, and took his sweet time doing it, and the car had to screech it´s breaks to a halt but couldn´t come to a full stop in time. Luckily, the car had slowed enough to wear the biker was just knocked over. I´m pretty sure neither the bike or person wear damaged, because after everyone asked their "are you okay"´s, everyone just went their separate ways. Just goes to show that if you´re going to break the law, you´d better do it damn fast!

Other than that all I have to say is that for those of you who might not have noticed, there is a place for you to post comments. They don´t have to be long or deep or anything. Perhaps if you just have a simple question like, "LB, do they have bratwurst in Thüringen?" And I´d say, "Yes, so and so, they do. As a matter of fact, the people in Thüringen claim theirs is the best bratwurst in Germany, and they are damn proud of it. At the bbq I went to, I was asked if I liked the bratwurst at least five times, and each time my answer was followed with the person telling me how Thüringen bratwurst can´t be beat." My only request is that you keep those posts clean(relatively), because I know how you guys are! Except, Sheena, you have my permission to tell poop jokes; and NO pirate jokes, Will!

Interculture

2004-09-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I went and saw the film ´Der Untergang`, which roughly translates into ´the fall´ as in the fall of an empire, about the last 10 days or so of World War II. Instead of being about the war, though, it was more of a personal account of Hitler and his cronies(like Himmler and Goebbels). It was interesting, as an American whose only exposure to Hitler was in American films about WW II where he basically ran around in a suit and dorky mustache and said nothing of consequence except terrible lies about the Jews, to see a film made by Germans with Germans for Germans. I hope one day it comes to the states(this is pending, of course, the fact it has to be dubbed with English subtitles), but it won´t be for awhile if it does because it just came out in the theatres here about a week or two ago.

I also had a meeting today with the people I will be working for at interculture.de. All of them were very welcoming-we sat and ate cake and chatted for a little while. Then an American, James McDonald, showed me around all of the different webpages and explained to me in a little more detail what projects I´ll be working on. It is difficult to explain, but the company is kind of the practice of the theory one studies at the university(the culture and business theory, that is). The department which works with the company is referred to as IWK, the Interkulturelle Wirtschaftskommunikation, which basically means the interculture business(wirtschaft) communication. There are basically two parts one can focus on, the business culture or the more social culture(which can then be broken down into several things-body language, customs, etc.). Anyway, that´s much to much information. The professor, Professor Bolton(spare any lame Michael Bolton jokes please), is basically the man-the guy who´s in charge of it all and Marion Dathe is next on the list of very important people.

There is apparently an intense 2 day "game" that intercultural business students participate in at the university that Professor Bolton would eventually like to be able to run through the internet using web cams and a live video/audio stream. My job(along with a really cool guy named Mario from the Czech Republic) is to make it happen with technology, because Professor Bolton just has the vision but is relatively clueless when it comes to the practical technology part. I will also help with the design of some of the webpages, but I´m not exactly sure which ones they will want me to work on or if I will be developing, critiquing, or translating(German to English). If I have time I might serve as a consultant-type figure for James on what he is working on, too. Basically the cultural dept. is a mix of Latin American, Russian, Asian, American, and I´m sure I left a few out people that develop cultural modules where someone can basically stick in a CD-ROM and participate in a module where they can learn about another culture. It´s a pretty sweet position for me to be in because I get to meet people from all over the world while already being immersed in a completely different culture. Anyway, James, being an American, is doing a project on American culture and asked if I had time to take a look at what he´s done so far and give him some feedback.´

After work I walked around the town center and checked out some more stuff. James showed me some places, and told me about some cool things to do and see.

Tonight I´ll probably go to a party. There are two to choose from at different clubs-a beach party(indoors), and a disco party. Both should be a good time.

I guess that´s about it so far.

I made it!

2004-09-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

Well, after a long plane ride and a seemingly longer train adventure(I use this term because I had to transfer to three different trains to get here), I finally arrived in Jena at about 3pm on the afternoon of the 27th of September.

The town is about 100,000 people, but has the feel of Bloomington. It lies in between small mountains, and most of the buildings and houses are very old. There is only one "skyscraper" known as the tower, and I´m sure if you look at pictures of Jena on the web you will see it. It has the word Intershop(I think that´s what it is) on the top. It was built a long time ago by the communist party as an example of how amazing and progressive the socialist movement was. There are regulations now that require buildings to fit in with the surrounding environment, and actually, that is what my roommate does-decides whether or not a building permit is granted based on whether or not the proposed building fits in with its surroundings. Mainly offices are located within the tower(including the one I will be working in! I will go in Thursday or Friday of this week, but won´t probably officially start until next Monday), except for the lower floors where there may be shops or something.

I have met a few people here-the crowd is a mix of young and old like Bloomington, because there is a university here. My first night I ate dinner with Ralf, Connie, and Petra. Last night I went to a bbq and met a whole slew of young folks. Tonight I am going to a movie about Hitler-it´s apparently pretty popular here, it was just released about a week or so ago. No subtitles though, 100 percent Deutsch, so I will have to pay extra close attention. Everyone has been helpful and kind so far. Most of the college-aged people can speak or understand at least a little bit of English, but most of the older generation have no knowledge of it. My German is rusty to say the least, but I have been improving little by little. My roommate says that I speak pretty good German and that I learn quickly, so hopefully I´ll have it under my belt in no time. I can understand when spoken to(if it´s not too fast), but since it´s been so long since I´ve spoken, my vocabulary has been flushed down the tubes of forgotten long ago.

Though it´s been mainly overcast since I´ve been here(I´ve only seen the sun shining once, and that was today for about half an hour), I haven´t felt nervous, or sad, or any negative feeling really(except toward the blasted keyboards because they´re set up differently and I have to re-learn how to type!).