Grrrrrrr.

Sorry about the long absence. I had written a blog but my computer crashed completely, the old piece of junk, and so I had to buy a new laptop. And I've been spending all day trying to salvage little bits and pieces from my old computer whenever it feels like turning on and STAYING ON for more than 2 seconds. But setting up the new laptop has been tons of fun. It's so nice to work with something that doesn't move at a snail's pace!!! Anyways, so here's the blog I had written and planned on posting yesterday...


Hia folks! Happy New Year! I cannot believe it’s 2009. Today last year I handed in my application to do this teaching program in Germany. And now my time here is already half over! Unreal. Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m here. It really shoulda sunk in by now, shouldn’t it???
So on the 31st I took the train to Marburg, a famous German university city where my friend, Elisabeth, has been studying for the past 4 years. We made ourselves some supper, drank a bunch of coffee and wine, and then headed out into the city. And what a city! It is absolutely phenomenally gorgeous. I have never seen a city like this before. Now I know why everyone in Germany knows this place. Anywho, so we wandered around just looking at everything and then found ourselves a nice little bar to have some drinks and chat. I had one of the best beers of my life there, by the way. Franziskaner hell. Weizen. Yum. Anywho, so ya, we just sat and caught up on each other’s lives. Then, around 11:30pm we headed up to the castle on the top of the hill…as did everyone else in the city! Lol. There were so many people. Half of them drunk. And EVERYONE had massive sacks of fireworks and stuff. So there we were, at midnight, overlooking the city in front of a giant stone castle and as the church bells struck 12 you could see the entire city light up with fireworks. It was beautiful. We only stuck around for a few minutes because we started to fear for our lives with all the wasted people throwing firecrackers everywhere. LOL. We made it down the hill and over to a friend of Elli’s who was having a bit of a get-together. Around 3 we decided it was bedtime. I was pretty beat from travelling all day.
The next morning Elli announced she was sick. So that put a damper on some of our plans. Poor girl. We got up late and just made a lazy day of it. New Year’s Day usually feels like a lazy day anyway. We read, listened to music, and watched several movies. Lol. I’ve now seen Center Stage, Rebekah H. The next morning we went shopping! We hit every store/boutique in Marburg. So yes, it took us all day. It was snowing and not minus a bazillion, so it was absolutely perfect. Everyone out here walks around in 10 layers with 13 scarves and winter boots….even thought it’s only –4. I’m serious. Elli wears tights, pants, 3 layers of shirts, a scarf, a winter jacket, a hat, and mittens in this weather. I love it. Although I am tired of hearing that I should start wearing something long-sleeved. HELLO! I’M FROM CANADA. DID I MENTION I’M FROM CANADA? YES, YES, CANADA, THAT VERY LARGE COLD COUNTRY ACROSS THE OCEAN. I’M SURE YOU’VE HEARD OF IT. IT’S –30 THERE RIGHT NOW. YES, I SAID 30. BITE ME. Grrrr. Those are the words that would come out of my mouth if I didn’t watch myself. Anyways, we shopped til it was dark outside and then buried ourselves in Elli’s room to watch more movies. 3 movies to be exact. Two German ones and a French one. I miss movie marathons. :(
And then yesterday I took the train back to Eilenburg. I was dreading the stretch from Frankfurt to Leipzig, because when I bought my train ticket the dude said all the seats were sold out. Which meant 3.5 hours of standing/sitting in the hallway. But I snagged myself a spot in the train car for bicycles and sat on my suitcase the whole way, listening to music. Fortunately for me there was a cute guy sitting across from me, so whenever I got bored of counting the dirt clods on the floor I had something to look at. :P
And I naturally left my mittens on the train, so I quickly bought some new ones in Leipzig at the train station because I can’t bike to school every day without gloves. That is one thing that is too cold even for me. (When you imagine the Leipzig train station imagine a giant mall with every possible store and restaurant … and constant arriving/departing trains.) Then I snagged the bus home. I was beat. Unpacked. Turned heater on because bedroom was 4.1 degrees. (It is now a toasty 9.6, so heater is off again. No worries, Katrina…I heard you were wondering whether I would heat when you come to visit. Lol. I only make myself freeze. Not other people. Plus by April it won’t be nearly as cold.) Watched crappy TV. Talked to my mom on the phone. Went to sleep.
That was about it.
Christmas pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93915&l=5c3ae&id=573967603

Will post the rest of the pics once I manage to somehow pull them off of my old computer...this could take a while...