Disappointment with Patterson

Well, things have been fairly silent on the Seeing Stars front. Mainly cuz I don't have anything to report right now. School is just running smoothly. My new laptop is now fully functional and the current love of my life. I mean, I can actually go on facebook now for longer than 3 seconds because when I click on something...the screen actually changes! And takes me to any page I desire to see! I mean, it's basically a miraculous process! Before I would log in to facebook, click on something, and then fly into a redhot rage because five minutes later the page was still only half-loaded. So anywho, anger therapy is no longer necessary, have quit ripping out fistfuls of my silky brown hair, no longer have bruised knuckles from punching solid stone walls, and all is right with the world again in general.

This weekend I was back in Ellefeld. Unfortunately one friend got sick, the other ripped some tendons in her foot, another wasn't in town, and the fourth had tons of studying to do. So I basically just chillaxed for three days. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Read James Patterson's "The Lake House", which btw has nothing to do with the movie starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. At least I don't remember 12-year old winged children with super human strength in that movie...Anyways, in my opinion the book was very poorly written and I can't quite believed something like that got published. Everything seemed so rushed and juvenile and it felt like the first half of the book was missing. I mean, it's called BACKSTORY and FACT CHECKING!!!! I kept getting the feeling that some pimply-faced teenager who'd never left his mama's basement must have written this book. The language was cheesy and seemed forced. Like the teenagers and children in the book didn't actually know how to be teenagers or children. Heck, my blog is better-written than that book. I mean, no offense to James Patterson. I know he wrote "Kiss the Girls" or whatever it's called, and many other best-selling novels, so I was pretty disappointed with this book. Has anyone else read any of his stuff? Was this just a bad first choice? Cuz I don't know if I wanna waste more of my time reading that kind of drivel. Seriously. I mean, the character development left oh so much to be desired, I felt like I had been thrown into the middle of a story that should have had WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more info, and it just came off so...sucky. I don't know how else to describe it.
Anywho, I finished the book anyways, cuz the core of my inner being can't bear not finishing a book I've started...except that Thomas Carlyle one ... and the Henry James one....but they were impossible to read. But ya. Definitely won't be picking a James Patterson any time soon. That is until I forget how terrible this book was and grab another Patterson by accident...
Um ya. That's about it. I ate, read, watched movies, and just hung out with my "rental family" as I affectionately refer to them...actually, they came up with the term. And this evening I'll be catching the train for the homeward trip. Pretty uneventful, but I figured I'd blog anyways, seeing as how it'd been about 4 days...unacceptable...

Great Expectations

Where did those two weeks go? Two weeks of holidays, relegated to the shelf of memories and recollections. I never cease to find elements of fascination in the passage of time. Whenever I'm anticipating something exciting I always say to myself: "and to think that this will very soon be over and I'll be wondering where the heck it went...but it's a long time til then..." And then suddenly it's over and all I can do is shake my head because I should know better! Everything awesome goes by twice as fast as everything else. It's like, an hour of certain university lectures seem like an eternity, but when I plop down with a good book I might only look at the clock again 3 hours later.
The past two weeks were really great. Two of the best weeks of holidays I've ever had. Yesterday evening I got home around 9 pm and while I am happy to be back in my own little nest where my mess is my mess, where my organizational system rules, and where I don't have to worry about someone else wanting to use the tv right when I feel like watching a movie. But at the same time I find myself sitting in my chilly little apartment (I've gotten so used to heat over the past two weeks that I think that's what I'll miss the most in the next month and a half as my frugal will battles against my numb fingertips...) thinking to myself: where on earth did those two weeks go? I was just getting excited about them! And now things are ordinary again! Back to school tomorrow. And this time it's for the long haul. No more fun breaks until December 19th.
While I know that once I'm back in the swing of things I'll be loving it, I'm finding it hard to return to normalcy today. I think it's because I'm alone. I didn't come back home to a cozy house with the smells of mom's baking or the comfort of dad's voice echoing up the stairs from the basement. I can't run over to Naomi's house and ask for some of Mark's ridiculously unbelievable lasagna and garlic bread. I can't call Bria up and make a coffee date. I can't text Zoe about which terrible movie trilogy we should start next. I can't just spend the night at my bro and sister-in-law's on a whim. When I'm in Ellefeld with my old friends from "the past" :) I really do feel completely at home. Yet here in Eilenburg, while this apartment has become my little haven and this city is starting to feel quite familiar, it's still not the same as being "at home". The people I know here are just acquaintances who are just beginning to get to know me. And I in turn barely know them. There's something undeniably appealing about being here all on my own and getting to be whoever I want to be....these people have no preconceived notions or expectations. But is that always a positive thing? Sometimes I miss the expectations. I mean, reinventing yourself is cool and fun, but I still find it infinitely "cooler" when the people you surround yourself with know exactly who you are and why you are that way - and expect you to behave in certain "patterns"...or misbehave... :P That doesn't mean you can't break out of your shell and show a side of yourself that people might not otherwise normally see; it just means that there are people out there that care enough about you to go to all the effort of KNOWING you. When was the last time you truly appreciated that?

P.S. Any Dickens fans catch on to my blog title today??? :)

P.P.S. My last Berlin pics are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80993&l=dd02c&id=573967603and

I added some more randoms to this Facebook album. just skip the stuff you've already seen.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69362&l=27d46&id=573967603

obviously the root of all evil is ... THE MULLET

Ok, first things first. I need to get this off my chest. WHAT IS WITH THE MODERN MULLET THAT SEEMS TO BE SPRINGING UP ALL OVER THE PLACE OUT HERE? I mean, I was fairly certain the entire human race had unanimously agreed that it was the worst hairstyle ever inflicted upon mankind...yet it seems that everywhere I look acute cases of amnesia have set in as the youth (here in Germany, anyways) seems to be intent on making the same mistakes their parents made. (YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LEARN FROM HISTORY!!!!) Perhaps they're too young to remember the havoc wreaked upon our species due to this god-forsaken hair-deformity, but PLEASE...that is no excuse. YOU HAVE EYES PEOPLE...and hopefully a mirror!!!
I see them everywhere I go out here...

I'll admit, these examples are not NEARLY as bad as their 80s predecessors, and if you have one of these haircuts I hope you're not too offended. If you're really funky you can probably even pull it off. I just think we are TREADING DANGEROUS TERRITORY and I cannot condone this reckless foray into style-suicide. No one should every attempt to flirt with the dangerous line between mullet and non-mullet.

Everyone say it together now:

I will NOT ...I repeat NOT... fall prey to the mullet-lie that they keep whispering in my ear: "Business in the front. Party in the back." LIES! ALL LIES!

______________

Now, onto a completely different subject.

Thursday I was back at school with the older kids. I just wanted to quickly tell you what an awesome end to the day I had. It'll probably seem super insignificant to you, but it made my day! :) So my last class was with the grade 12s. It's a little strange walking into a grade 12 class. I mean, they're all either 18 or 19 years old....which is only 2 or 3 years younger than me. And they are all sitting there, staring at me with completely blank expressions on their faces. And then you see one of them turn to her/his friend and whisper something. All I can think is: are they talking about me? did my eyeliner smear across my face? is there toilet paper stuck to my shoe? did i forget an imperative article of clothing when i got dressed this morning?

So anyways, I sat down during the class to observe and then at the end the teacher gave them about 10 minutes to "talk to the foreigner". Which I was already kind of dreading because in all the grade 10 and 11 classes the students would just sit there and shyly smile at me. As I have mentioned earlier, they tend to be too intimidated and self-conscious about their English and are only now starting to open up a bit. But I was really quite pleasantly surprised with these grade 12s. They actually used up the rest of the class time to ask me questions and as soon as I told them where I was from and really started speaking to them (in English of course) all their faces opened up and I became "the cool Canadian". They were actually smiling and laughing by the end!

I got the inevitable "how old are you question"....unfortunately the older the class, the less impressive my answer...but I decided to just make them guess my age ...they figured 24! lol. (But that's cuz I said I had already studied for 4 years. I started college at 17 but most kids here only graduate at 18 or 19.)

Then one of the girls asked me why I have always wanted to be a teacher. I had to seriously think for a minute...I'm not sure if I've ever even asked MYSELF that question...the desire has just always been there. And then I turned to her and said: "I love school; I'm a nerd (**with a following definition of "nerd"**) ... and I can't imagine my life without it."

In the past months several people have pointed out to me that I took this year off for a break from school...but I'm still at school every day. (Albeit now I'm the one who gets to say "you have a test monday. study hard!" instead of the one groaning as the sheets stained in red ink are handed back after exam week...) I like to think of it this way: The one thing I can never fully obtain is knowledge - in all its overwhelming entirety. There are ALWAYS new things to learn - the very thought just makes me giddy! (heehee. funny word...giddy...) What an incredible challenge! We can be such underachievers!

I love being at school every day. I wouldn't have it any other way.

_______________

Oh, and my friend Elisabeth was here for the weekend. I was camera-lazy so only after we got back from our little Leipzig-trip on Saturday I decided to take a few pics for y'all. The first 16 pics of this link are ones you've already seen. Just skip to pic 17 ... that's where the new pics start. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69362&l=27d46&id=573967603

those who CAN do, teach....

As you may have noticed I like to use common phrases in my blog titles. Today is no exception, however I decided to change the idiom...slightly. But it's amazing how omitting a " 't " can infer the exact opposite of the original statement. The actual phrase ("those who can't do, teach") has always bothered me. Obviously because I've wanted to be a teacher since before I can remember but also because I consider myself quite a capable person. I didn't choose to teach because I'm unable to do other things. I chose it because I love the idea of watching little minds unfold and discover. To be not only a part of it, but actually the one doing the "molding", as it were, is not only exciting to me, but awe-inspiring. At the same time it lays a huge burden on my shoulders and is not a task that should ever be taken lightly. In my 17 years of being a student I have come across too many teachers that don't give a rat's behind about their duties or, more importantly, the young people passing through their classroom year after year. It has also become clear to me that people don't forget their teachers - good or bad. I certainly haven't. So I firmly believe that those who CAN do should be the ones to teach. Otherwise...we're all screwed.

Another gem of the 80s...

I have only been at my school here in Germany for two days but I already love it. Yesterday was much more of an informative day than anything else. I was first taken to the building for grades 9-12 in East-Eilenburg where I met the language department director, Steffi G. I sat down with her and my mentor teacher, Rita, and worked on a schedule for the next two weeks where I'll just be sitting in on various English classes at all different levels, to kind of get a handle on the kids and their English capabilities. I met a bunch of the teachers, but there are almost 100 of them, so my main concern is to get to know the English teachers.

One of the coolest parts of the last two days has been (get ready for another lame Julia-moment) GETTING TO SIT BEHIND THE STAFFROOM DOOR. It was always that mysterious area that we were never even allowed to glimpse as young students at Niverville Collegiate and whenever I had to knock on the door to ask for a teacher I would crane my neck to try to catch a peek. Maybe it's only exciting to me, but I actually have keys to both of the school buildings! I may be completely outing my utterly geeky keener-hood, but I think it's cool. Oh, and I even registered at the city library yesterday, which is right near the school with the grades 5-8. That was the second-most exciting part of my day. Ok, I think if I hadn't completely laid my dorkiness on the table 2 sentences ago, it's all out now. Seriously, tho. I already took out a bunch of books and am half-way through one. Plus they have an English section, too! I could live in that building.


But back to the cool me.


So today was my first real day IN the classroom. I was in two 6th-grade classes, a 7th-grade class, and a 5th-grade class. It was really fun. All the teachers started off by letting the students ask me any questions they wanted. I had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed interacting with the students. I wasn't nervous at all. I felt completely comfortable, which was a major relief. The 7th-grade class was slightly .... PSYCHOTIC. But strangely enough it didn't bother me. I don't find it nearly as annoying as I thought I would. Maybe cuz I'm not in any way intimidated by them, which is what I was starting to fear. In the past 6 weeks every single person I've come across has been like, "why would you want to be a teacher? Have you met German students lately?" But I didn't find any of these students to be much different than we were 10 years ago. Again, these are all first impressions, but in general I think most of these kids have good hearts. And I strongly believe that as a teacher it is vital to maintain that point of view. Or you'll just go under in a dark and dismal spiral combo of depression and sleeping pills. Haha. But I really hit it off with most of the kids. Although it was a little odd when a girl in the 7th grade class asked me if I'd ever been drunk before. Thankfully the teacher jumped in at that point. :)


So I'm back at the school for the younger kids tomorrow and then on Thursday will be my first day in the "older kids" school. I'm curious to see how that's going to be. I'm excited. And then Friday is my day off! I get a day off every week, but I requested Mondays, so starting two weeks from now I'll have every Monday off. Long weekends! Yay.


I'm basically a spoiled brat...

Get over it.

xoxo

This is far too long, but I couldn´t shorten it anymore...apologies

I have returned from my lengthy two day absence. I know many of you were already on the brink of a psychotic breakdown without your daily dose of juliahoolia, but it’s Sunday morning, which means I have some time to spend with you! :) Honestly, you might want to wait til you have a serious moment or two…or more like kajillion-besquillion…to spend with me. I have a feeling this will be an unimaginably LONG-WINDED post. Or you can divide it up over several days. Whatever floats your proverbial boat. :) Just giving fair warning that this post may cause severe exhaustion, spontaneous eyeball ejection, and depletion of all patience-when-dealing-with-Julia’s-mad-ravings reservoirs.

So on Friday I left Maike’s family for Ellefeld. It was kind of sad. I felt like an adopted daughter already. Maike’s parents were incredibly amazing to me the whole time I was there. I’m glad that I ended up leaving earlier though, than I had planned, because I was starting to feel guilty about taking advantage of their kindness. I said my goodbyes to her grandparents the night before and her Oma told me that she hoped this wasn’t the last time we would see each other. How sweet is that? Her dad also said goodbye to me the night before because he leaves for work early in the morning. He gave me a big hug and also told me how happy he was to have met me, wanted me to keep them updated as to what I am up to, and if I ever have any trouble anywhere or need any form of help I should call them. He actually reminds me a lot of my own dad. A lot. And the next morning, Betina (Maike’s mom) dropped us off at the train station and she told me to stay just the way I am “weil ich wirklich sehr lieb bin”. Basically I’m awesome. Haha. Just kidding. She said “cuz I’m a really nice girl”. The connotation is actually a bit different, and completely non-patronizing, in German, but that’s basically the translation. So Maike and I took the train from her town to Frankfurt. I asked her to come that far with me, because I was a little intimidated of the Frankfurt train station. It’s an international one, so it’s pretty huge. And folks, let me tell you, asking her to come with me was the only reason I actually got onto my train to Nürnberg. This is the story:

So, when you buy your train tickets here you get a really really REALLY nice and helpful itinerary. It tells you exactly when your trains are going to arrive/leave, what tracks they arrive at, and which tracks you need to book it to in order to make your connecting trains. So we got to Frankfurt on the S-Bahn (city train), which comes into the “basement” of the train station, track 101. So you need to take the escalators two flights up to get to the “Fernzügen” (long distance trains). Well, no problem. Took, like, 5 minutes to get up there and find Track 6, which is where my itinerary told me to go. So there was an ICE train to Köln standing there, but it wasn’t my train (the ICE25) nor my destination. But we were almost 15 minutes early, so I figured this train would get out and mine would come in. All the tracks have these digital signs with the trains that are arriving shortly: the train number, the destinations, the time etc. So we looked at the sign for track 6 and it said ICE25 to Vienna, stopping at Hanau, Würzburg, Nürnberg, etc. So that was obviously the right one. Anyways, it’s 10:20 and my train is supposed to be leaving in one minute…but it still isn’t even there! All of a sudden Maike turns around, facing Track 7 and says to me “I think that’s your train”. We both looked at the digital signs and now all of a sudden it said ICE25 on the Track 7 sign. So we quickly walked up to one of those train attendant persons (the long distance trains have attendants like planes have flight attendants) and asked him whether this was our train. He asked where we wanted to go and then told me to hop on. Literally, I stepped onto the train, the doors closed, and off it went. If we had waited ten more seconds I would have missed my train. THAT IS NOT COOL. I REPEAT NOT COOL. I’M COMPLETELY NEW TO THIS TRAIN THING. WHAT THE FREAKING HECK?????????????????
So there I was, on this train all flustered and confused, hoping desperately that I actually WAS on the right train. So then I was standing there, had no idea where to go or what to do. But one of those train persons was standing there so I asked him if he knew where I had to go. He kind of looked at me and was all “I dunno, don’t you know where you’re going?” Let me just put this out there and clarify something for everyone. Over the last 3 weeks I have come to realize that the phrase “customer service” as we know it in English DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS COUNTRY. Seriously. I have not had one friendly cashier or receptionist. Except the guy who sold me my train tickets. But he wasn’t exactly uber-friendly either, just not rude. Anyways, honestly, no one here has to be afraid of losing their job if they act like jerks to their customers. It’s just not important out here. Which I find so funny because I’ve been working in customer service since I was….16, I think? And it’s SO BEYOND IMPORTANT in Canada. I mean, important to the extent of determining whether you keep your job or not. Now, it’s not like German people are all mean or rude. They are unbelievably friendly and hospitable when it comes to personal relationships and friendships. But don’t ever expect a store clerk to be friendly…or even helpful for that matter. I mean, it can happen, but don’t expect it.

That was my mini-rant for the day. And I’m allowed to say these things because a) I’m out here and these are my personal experiences plus b) I’m German so I’m technically slamming my own ethnicity. James, if you make a Nazi joke I’m gonna punch you when I get back.
So anyways, the train attendant guy was all “well I don’t know where you’re going. You should know that.” So I said, “I have a seat reservation in car 27, seat 71.” To which he replied “well, this is car 38 and you can’t walk through to car 27” because it was like 2 trains kind of stuck together with no door in between. So he made me follow him all the way to the front of the train we were in, which is not all that easy with a giant back pack and travel bag. Then I had to stand at the front there for 15 minutes til the next stop in Hanau. He told me to then get out and run to my car. Well, I jumped off that freaking train and booked it forwards when we got to Hanau, but I have no idea how this freaking train system and its cars work. So I’m speed-walking along, find car 28 (which was after car 38…go figure) and keep going but then it all of a sudden said car 26-11. And then someone yelled “Alle einsteigen” (all aboard), literally about 30 seconds after we had stopped, so I just ran for the nearest door and jumped back on. So whatever, I just kept walking and found a seat number 71 and sat down. It turns out I was actually in car 24, but it actually doesn’t really matter. As long as you have your train ticket and no one comes along saying “that’s my seat” you can sit wherever you want. Seat reservation is actually optional. So I just sat there til Nürnberg. But now I was all paranoid that this was going to happen to me all the time; that trains were just going to be randomly on the wrong tracks all over the place. Anyways, the train made it to Nürnberg and I now had to switch to the IRE 3089. So before you get to the train station they often announce, on the actual train, all the connecting trains around the same time that you’ll be arriving. So they said IRE 3089 to Dresden on track 19, which is what my itinerary predicted. I got off the ICE25 and found my way to track 19, looking at every single sign along the way. They all said IRE 3089 on track 19 to Dresden over Plauen (which was my final destination), so I got onto the next train and hoped for the best. Well, the person who comes along to check everyone’s tickets didn’t say anything like “you’re on the wrong freaking train, moron” so I figured I was safe. I made it to Plauen and hopped off, into the waiting arms of Tante Nancy. (She’s not really my “tante” (aka. aunt) but that’s what we always called her as kids cuz she was like an adopted aunt.) Anyways, I was just relieved. And the second I was off the train my brain just automatically switched to my old dialect – full-blown Vogtländisch. It was weird. I couldn´t believe how natural it is! Josephine was along too. She’s so grown up! I remember when she was born. I used to take her for walks in the park! Now she’s in, like, grade 6! But she actually recognized me, which was cute. She’s such a sweetie. But I was just beyond relieved that I was finally back in Sachsen with some familiar faces. So then we went for a much-needed stress-relieving ice cream. Mom, remember that Eisdiele in Treuen where we would go occasionally after piano lessons with Nancy and Sebastian (who by the way is all grown up now…what the heck? He’s 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!)? They have that same place in Plauen too, so I had my good ole Shokobecher. Oh yummy. You should see some of the creations they make. Why don’t we have ice cream parlours like that in Winnipeg? Or do I just not know about them?

Driving back to Ellefeld was so strange. Everything was so indescribably terribly familiar and yet so completely strange all at the same time. We even drove past my old school, the Wilhelm-Adolf-Trützschler Gymnasium (no James, the “Adolf” does NOT refer to Hitler….), which is no longer a “Gymnasium” (the kind of high school that goes til grade 12). It’s a “Mittelschule” now, which ends at grade 10. It was cool to see it again – like a dream almost. It’s hard to believe I used to LIVE here. Seems unreal sometimes, even now. And then we made it to Ellefeld. It’s like I’ve never left now.

my old elementary school

the next few are my view from my window at Nancy´s

Oooooooooooooooooooh, and I finally got FLEISCHSALAT for supper!!! (It’s basically mayonnaise with Lyoner sausage, pickles, and onions all mixed together in a “salad”, which you smear on bread.) It’s the greatest food discovered by mankind and I have been waiting five years for this. I ate the whole container full in less than a day - and I´m not ashamed. But no worries, Jürgen brought a fresh one home yesterday. Which I ate for breakfast today. HEY, DON’T KNOCK IT TIL YOU’VE BLINKING TRIED IT.

So I’m now taking up Jürgen and Nancy’s guest room, which has it’s own en suite bathroom! It’s strange, the kind of amenities that are capable of provoking squeals of utter euphoria these days. That’s what happens when you haven’t had a place of your own for 2 months. I can get up and shower in the privacy of my own room. No one ever has to see me with bedhead or racoon eyes. I’m preventing permanent emotional scarring everywhere! :) Luxury.

And yesterday I got together with one of my very best friends from Germany, Daniela M. It was all very exciting. Lots of hugging, giggling and exclamations of “I can’t believe you’re finally here” and “I can’t believe I’m here either!” All very estrogen-related. We were so excited I actually forgot to grab the house key on the way out, but Sebastian had noticed and since he was going to M.’s (I’m trying to avoid using last names on the Internet; when I think of it, anyways) later for Lydia’s birthday party, he brought it along for me. Awesome. Anywho, Daniela came by around 2 pm and we drove to her parents’ place in Dorfstadt. The home where I spent many many many happy hours as a kid; sleepovers, skiing, fort building. sigh. They have a giant yard full of apple, banana, cherry, walnut, pear, pine, and bamboo trees. Blueberry, raspberry, goose berry, currant, and many other berries-that-I-don’t-know-in-English bushes. Chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, cats, sheep. A hay loft. Ponds with the most ginormous lily pads and purple flowers you’ve ever seen. Everything a child needs. Especially because we didn’t have a yard while we lived out here. (Yards and gardens are precious commodities in such tiny country with a population that’s busting at the seams.) I was reunited with Gerd & Elke (Dani’s parents), Susann, and Lydia (Dani’s sisters), as well as Daniela’s grandparents – with exclamations of “what a tall young lady I grew into” all around; and I finally met little 4-year-old Gideon (Gerd and Elke’s surprise child) for the first time. It was amazing. I got two tours through my old stomping grounds. Once with Daniela and once with Gerd, who of course told me the name of each tree and told me how high they had grown in the past 8 years since I last played amongst them. The memories! I can’t even begin to describe. My favourite cherry tree is gone now, but THANKFULLY they have more. We just walked around eating everything right off the bushes. I could live off of the produce in that garden! And we practically did some days as kids. I ate some kind of leaf that tastes like licorice and the freshest blueberries of my life yesterday! Mom, your mouth must be watering right now. :)

Ok ok, I’m coming to my last paragraphs here. If you’re even still reading. ;P Around 5:30pm Daniela, her boyfriend Christian, and I left for the Zwickauer Stadtfest (basically a big city party in Zwickau). We met up with a bunch of their friends: Holger, Corinna, Micha, Franziska, and Konrad. They were all incredibly nice people. I’m always a little reluctant to go meet a huge group of someone’s friends at a big party like that cuz you never know what’ll happen. Sometimes they’re all really genuinely accepting and they readily ask you questions to find out who you are and what you´re all about; but other times they all just ignore you, pretend you’re not even there, and carry on with their own little conversations and inside jokes. But I was very pleasantly surprised yesterday. We all wandered through the hugest crowds I’ve ever seen in my life for about 4 hours. There were three giant stages set up in different parts of the city’s center with tons of live performances. Food booths with everything from the typical German Bratwurst to American mini donuts. I had a Hungarian specialty call a Lagos. Basically fried dough with herb-sour-cream, tomatoes, and mozzarella (but the soft, juicy stuff, not the mozzarella you buy in Canada). We eventually found a cool little bar where we could enjoy a drink and rest our tired feet for an hour or so. Coolest bathrooms, ever, by the way. They were built into the cave walls of the basement. By the time we left the festival (at 12:30am when all the crazy people start to get really wasted and annoying) I felt like part of the group. They were really interested in my life, who I was, why I came over from Canada, what it’s like in North America, etc. And mostly wondering how/why I speak perfect German with no accent! Whenever I get introduced somewhere it’s as "Julia from Canada" and then everyone kind of looks at me and they introduce themselves slowly and loudly, like I’m deaf or something. To which I reply that it’s ok, I can understand them just fine. :) (But it makes me happy every time someone tells me they would have no idea that I’m “a foreigner”. I still feel like I’m missing a ton of the vocabulary I used to have, but at least no one else can tell!)

Apparently the guy who won the German version of American Idol was signing on one of the stages and got egged! We were sad we missed it, but we were taking in this other guy’s concert a couple streets down. Good times. And after nearly 6 hours of a good ole German party we drove home. Hugs all around (the younger German generation has made it past the physical closeness phobia…) and lots of “really nice to meet you” ’s….and “hope we see each other again” ‘s… It was a fantastic day/night.

Well, Daniela should here any second. So much to catch up on. :) And so many people to visit this week! I’ll keep you all up to date. Hopefully with much much much shorter posts. I don’t blame you if you weren’t able to make it through this. You need some serious endurance to finish this record-breaking entry. I’m gonna steal all the pics Daniela took yesterday and post them on Facebook eventually too. The link will be up when I get around to it. :) Have a gooder!

xoxo Julia

I wish I was Morgan Freeman's ... Dubber-Person

Just so you all know I set a personal record: I have now been without Miracle Whip for an entire week! That’s right. Didn’t think it was possible, did you? Well, thank goodness Maike’s family has ketchup or I might have wasted away! Also, German orange juice tastes different. I always thought it did as a kid, but when I got older I assumed it was just my brain. I can now firmly claim that Canadian orange juice is better. Oh, and guess what? Maike’s grandpa breeds, raises, and SHOWS pigeons. PIGEONS. Isn’t that hilarious? I mean, don’t we tend to throw rocks at them? Plus they have a rooster. We’re in the middle of town and you can hear the rooster crowing all morning. Love it.

Saturday:

So I met Maike’s parents today. They just got back from a three-week vacation in Hawaii where they celebrated their 25th anniversary. It’s funny how many cards came for them in the past few days, congratulating them on their "Silberhochzeitstag". Most people in North America can barely remember their own anniversary, not to mention how many years it has been. Can you imagine other people remembering when it’s your 25th anniversary? Crazy. But so totally German. Just like Maike’s birthday the other day. She was talking to her grandma about it and mentioned that only one person had called to wish her a happy birthday. Her grandma couldn’t believe it! And then Maike told her mom about it today and her mom couldn’t believe it either. Here in Germany, you REMEMBER peoples’ birthdays and you bring them flowers or AT LEAST phone them up. And they really celebrate out here, too, especially the older folks for the 'special' birthdays (60th, 65th, 70th, 75th...you get the picture) - I mean, you never know how long you're gonna be around, hey? Like, full out renting a hall or restaurant where all your friends, family, neighbours, and stray dogs come to feast and drink. I would think it was funny if someone actually called me on my birthday! Or sent me flowers. Haha. In Canada the only way people remember my birthday is if they are my mom or Facebook reminded them. I find these cultural differences quite amusing.

Ooooh, the church bells just started ringing. It’s 4pm on Saturday right now. I just asked Maike why they’re ringing…is it a wedding, a funeral…??? And she said, "no, they just always ring at 4pm on Satrudays." Hmmm. Alrighty then.

Sunday:

Maike’s dad (Roland) made this awesome meal with linguine and homemade mushroom sauce, with, like, real forest-picked mushrooms. Maike’s mom (Betina) asked me if we had "Steinpilze" (directly translated, this means ‘stone mushrooms’) in Canada. I was like, "I have no idea. Canadians don’t really know anything about mushrooms except that they exist and that we eat them." And that’s the end of my story.

After lunch Roland drove us to the stable where Maike used to board her horse and where she still goes to ride her friend, Irene’s horses. It’s amazing how many are boarded there! Dozens. All the stalls are in these giant stone houses with cobblestone courtyards. Right in the middle of town. That is also very German. But the funny thing is that when you look up and see a head poking through a window, it’s not human. Just these random horses looking out to see what’s going on. It was really odd. And then we drove out to Caldern, which is right near Marburg (one of Germany’s famous University cities…known for being absolutely gorgeous. My friend, Elisabeth Thoss, is attending University there.) to watch Irene in a dressage competition with her horse, Hera. It was lots of fun to watch everyone preparing their horses, getting them warmed up. Right up your alley, Zo! Watching them go through their routines was really neat, too, but I definitely wish I knew what to look for. As in, what the judges look for when deciding what score to give.
Oh, funny moment. Right when we got there we were just walking onto the grounds and these kids were running in front of us. This gate (you know, the kind they use in horse jumping, with the poles that fall when the horse knocks them out?) was standing in the middle of the yard, I’m guessing for decoration or to give everything a horsey feel? you know, besides all the HORSES standing around, and this one boy (maybe 9 years old?) ran towards it to show off in front of his friends and swing from the pole. Which promptly fell out … right on top of him. He was so shocked, lying there on the ground with a massive pole on top of him and then he just started bawling. You could tell his pride was hurt more than anything, in front of all those people. Anyways, maybe you had to be there. But it was hilarious! Maike's brain, however, functions much faster than mine and she helped him get the pole off.

And on the way home we passed a Burger King billboard. This is what it said:

Hawaiian Week
Chicken oder Beef?

Can you believe that? Only one German word in the whole thing…namely the least important one! What the????

Oh, and we watched Spy Game last night. Now, any DVD you rent/buy out here gives you the option of watching in English, without the German dubbed over. But Spy Game was on TV, ie. that option is not available. sigh. I officially can’t stand whoever does Brad Pitt’s voice in German. It was too high-pitched and not nearly distinctive enough. Brad Pitt has a very very very distinctive WAY of speaking. I could pick his name out of a movie blindfolded every time. I know you're all sick of hearing me talk about the dubbed over thing, and I didn’t think it would really affect me so much, but it totally makes a huge difference and seeing as how I am such a film freak, much to the chagrine of my parents, I need to talk about it one more time. After a few more days to analyze my feelings on this topic (yes, I actually have FEELINGS towards it...) it turns out movies are actually far less interesting once they’ve been dubbed over. For some reason half of the passion, cleverness, wit, and attitude gets booted out the door with the original voices - and it would be the same if you translated a movie from German to English, such as "Lola Rennt" (Run Lola Run), which thankfully only has English subtitles on the American version, instead of being dubbed over. It all just doesn’t seem to fit or make sense anymore. Plus, due to the fact that you usually have to translate it pretty directly, it all comes out kind of stiff and awkward, because the thing that is being translated from English into German would really never be said that way in German, so it ends up falling flat instead of being funny, or biting, or angry, or euphoric, or whatever emotion the screenplay was trying to convey. (Now that was along sentence! Sorry.) Often I can actually listen to a dubbed over German sentence and figure out its exact English counterpart in my head - the exact sentence that the American actor would have said - because I know that it’s a common phrase in English, and I know this phrase does not exist in German. And then suddenly the sentence is funny because I’m thinking of it in English. I don't really know if I'm expressing my thoughts clearly enough. I hope this makes at least a little bit of sense to y'all...otherwise you just wasted five minutes of your life that you'll never get back... :)

Hey, did you know that in general if Mr. X does Brad Pitt’s voice in one movie, Mr. X does Brad Pitt’s voice in all his movies? I mean, it obviously makes sense that the German audience would get attached to certain voices, too - consistency is a necessary element in most cultures! But it just struck me as kind of funny: These peoples’ careers hinge entirely on the success of random Hollywood stars. If a celebrity commits some form of career suicide (Robert Downey Jr.'s drug problem several years back) or just decides to quit making movies for a while (Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Claire Danes), they have inadvertently ruined another person’s career, at least for several years. That’s just creepy. So you’d better hope you get a "good 'n BUSY celebrity" if you’re in the dubbing business: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, Harrison Ford, Matt Damon… Holy cow, I just thought of something! Whoever does Morgan Freeman’s voice must be loaded! That guy is in every other movie out there!!! Seriously. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even consider acting ‘work’ anymore. Hmmmm, intersting. I should totally get into this industry. Forget teaching…


PS. I recommend going on YouTube, typing in "Kelly Family I fell in love with an alien" and click on the first video that pops up. Brilliant. Melodie and Reb H, I guarantee you two will LOVE it. Quite the music vid.

Manitobans invade Ontario ... for a weekend

Sidenote: I had been working on this post for almost 3 hours when everything got screwed up and I had to re-upload all the pics and redo everything. So I am NOT doing the usual amount of colourful words and such because I am just beyond ANGRY that I had to do this all again. Sorry!

So this weekend has been a busy one. My brother, Tim, and his wife, Andee, the ones that just got married...see the post I'm Eloping...came out for 5 days. It has been really fun, especially knowing that I won't be seeing them for a whole year after this. So they got here on Friday morning....early....meaning they got up around 3:30am to get here....and Rebekah and I proceeded to drag them around Ottawa since we were already at the airport, which is pretty close to the Parliament buildings and none of us (except Rebekah of course) had seen them yet.

Wow, Tim had the REDDEST eyeballs I have ever seen, by the way. Apparently he hasn't been sleeping much the past few weeks. I'm guessing he's been working a ton or something (gotta pay for that wedding somehow, hey? another reason I'm eloping...lol) but seriously, he looked like an extra from "Outbreak" who just got smooched by a diseased monkey and was about to start bleeding from various orifices. Haha. Gross.
We also walked around the ByWard Market again (I had to get the sweet Indian-style anklet I had seen the other day and was forever after kicking myself for not purchasing). Then we took the poor travellers home where they proceeded to nap...for 4 freaking hours! Apparently we wore them out or something.

Let's see, what happened on Saturday? Um, oh ya, we went to IKEA. Second time in one week for me but I knew that Andee loves loves loves IKEA so I figured we should take her. And I was right. I actually had to backtrack through the store because Craig and Rebekah were already at the checkout while Tim and Andee were still stuck in the bedroom section. But in reality that is actually Tim's fault. Let's just say that Andee had to wait for Tim for a while. 23 minutes to be exact. But I won't divulge any further information here on the there-for-all-to-read world wide web. If you really want to know, you'll have to ask him. :)

That evening we watched "Untraceable" (Diane Lane, Colin Hanks...) and I ate, like, 15 of the President's Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I'm actually not even exaggerating about the number of cookies I consumed. I just can't stop with those things. Like, they're my cryptonite. Oh man. But just to make myself feel better I'm going to reveal one of Rebekah's secrets. She ate almost an entire container of Jalapeno chip dip that night. Our piggishness must be directly related to some form of genetic mutation. That's my story aned I'm sticking to it. I'm pretty much from X-Men, then, which makes it cool...right...??? I'm sooooo marrying Wolverine. That psychic telepathic chick's got nothing on me!

Anyways...

So then it was Sunday! We decided to go heathen for a day and embarked on a trip to New York! (The state, not the city. sigh...someday I will be Carrie Bradshaw for a day and try on all the Manolo Blahniks I can get my hands on...). We packed a lunch and drove for an hour and a half to this place called Rockport where you can take a boat tour

through the Thousand Islands (which just happens to be my favourite salad dressing...coincidence??? i think NOT!) to Boldt Castle.

This picture is JUST the playhouse...as in a house >::::::>this mini-castle here is just the power house for generators
where you perform plays for fun

this is the actual castle...with burlap sacks hanging out some of the windows from renovation work

It's this really cool place that this super-millionaire hotel owner (obviously his name was Boldt but he owned the Waldorf hotels...) built for his wife. He actually had the island chiselled into the shape of a heart. Like, talk about having too much money...! So ya, he started building this castle for his wife in 1900 but she died in 1904 so he stopped all the construction and never returned to that island again. Isn't that just so melodramatic and romantic? Awwww. So we took a boat to this place, which is in New York. The whole place is being renovated and finished up the way it was supposed to be. I think they said all that work started up in the late 70s. Beautiful beautiful place. Did I mention it's in New York? (Andee and I were both pretty excited about that fact)

I want this piano...

ME! ->

plus we managed to break the little-kid cart thingy. it was HILARIOUS

And I can't talk about that day without mentioning this stuff called Moose Tracks ice cream, which is basically vanilla with GINORMOUS chunks of fudge and mini-Reese's peanut butter cups. Like, it's pretty much ecstasy in a cone. with chocolate. and peanut butter.

When we got home we ate some take-out and quickly lit a bonfire cuz we could see the clouds rolling in and we were really set on having a fire. We were going to make s'mores with the President's Choice cookies but ... I had eaten them all the night before so that was a no-go. But we had beers and cigars. And rye. So we were set. We got about 2 cigars worth of bonfire time and then it started to POUR. So we went straight-up redneck and hunkered down in the garage for the rest of the evening. Good times were had. :)

And yesterday? First thing after breakfast we went skeet shooting in Craig and Rebekah's backyard. Ah, the joys of having a 10 acre lot. I have an awesome video of it (including Jaden saying "shotgun shell") but it's 21 MB too big for me to upload here...sigh. This was my second experience with a 12-gauge shotgun. I have to say, I love shooting guns. I didn't actually hit any of the clay pigeons, but I had fun blasting away at them! :) Plus you gotta love it when you get to pull that part of the gun that makes the empty shell pop out, smoking and whatnot. Just makes you feel like a Quentin Tarantino movie.

HOW COOL AM I? :P

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>this one was taking during the gun's kickback. haha

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>gotta love Jaden's hearing protection. :)

K

K

And in the afternoon we went go-carting. Let me rephrase that. Everyone went go-carting while I enjoyed relaxing on a spectator bench with my i-Pod, the July issue of Vogue, and a can of coke. What can I say...I just don't love go-carting. I mean, I can already drive and own a real car... On a real road... Going faster than 10 km/hour...without having to worry about some crazy 10 year old kid smashing into me. So I'll just stick with that. ... The afternoon was still fun for me though. I actually really enjoy watching other people have a good time with activities like that. Just like water sports. People just don't seem to understand that I have more fun WATCHING other people doing those kinds of activities than I do taking part in them (ie. wakeboard, surf, waterski, etc. Except tubing. Apparently I'm pretty hard to shake off, according to several boat drivers :) ) Like, I'm just not pumped about doing some of those things, so why would I? People just don't seem to get that about me. When I decide to just sit and watch they always think one of two things: a) I'm too scared or b) I'm a snob. Neither of those is true ... most of the time. ;) I just don't see the point in participating in (or paying for) activities that I personally just don't find exciting or enjoyable. I mean, I'll happily go on roller-coasters, shoot a shotgun, I want to try bungee jumping one day...those are things I'm interested in...but maybe people just find it hard to believe that someone wouldn't enjoy the same things they do. Anyways, I just refuse to succumb to all the pressure people always try to put on me to "try something new". I've tried go-carting...and waterskiing. Just take my word for it when I say I DON'T LIKE IT. Like, some people don't even seem to consider that a possibility!!! Yeesh! :) Haha.

Anywho...That's my mini-rant for the day. No worries, though - It's not like anyone tried to make me go go-carting yesterday. It's just something that frequently happens in situations like this, which is why I went off on this tangent. But seriously, I enjoyed watching everyone else go-cart. Especially Rebekah with Jaden in the seat beside her. Cute!

L

K

And ya, that was pretty much our weekend. I'm not sure what we're doing today. I think just bumming around home. We wanted to do a pool day but it's not looking so hot outside, so we'll see. Tonight anyways we're taking Tim and Andee to the airport for their evening flight home. It's kinda sad. I'd been looking forward to this weekend for so long and now it's over. sigh. Well, that's how things go. But in exactly one week I will be arriving at the Frankfurt airport!! Isn't that crazy? I think it is....