more of the past

Written February 10, 2009



Alrighty! So it’s Tuesday. What has been happening? Um, on Monday it was tour the Black Forest day with Onkel Roland. In order for you to really understand what this meant, you would need to know my uncle. Let’s give you the short version, shall we? : We were in the car from 10am til 9pm. (Well, we did get out at various places to walk around and stuff for a few minutes at a time...you know, for pee breaks etc. ...kind of like pet poodles...actually that might have been more for my uncle's sake, seeing as how he probably didn't want us to wet his Mercedes' leather seats...but you get the idea.) Anyways, that’s 11 hours as his guests. In a very … compact … constricted … ok let's just speak plain english here...SMALL environment. He talked from the second we sat down in the car til the minute we got home. Except for an approximate half hour where Andee and I made mom tell us the story of how she and dad met and fell in love. :P Amazing how I can have been their daughter for 22 years and still have never heard all the details of that story. In fact, I realized I didn’t know much of the story at all! But anyways, my uncle, who doesn’t understand English, was forced to take a little break but as soon as he realized that our conversation was nearing its end he was only too happy to take over again. THANK THE LORD I HAD MY IPOD ALONG!!! :) My poor mother. We made her sit in the front passenger seat the whole time so all stories were directed right at her. :) No one can claim I’m not a clever strategist… :P
The actual tour was nice though. I mean, it’s February so it’s not exactly the ideal time of year to do this, but it was still nice to see the countryside. And we stopped in Calw, which is officially my new favourite German city. Breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it. So the list is growing. If any of you plan on visiting Germany in the near future you must see: Dresden, Berlin, Leipzig, Marburg, Ulm, Dinkelsbuehl, and Calw.
And today the gals (aka. My aunt, my mom, Andee, Brenda, and I) took the bus to Pforzheim, which is also called ‘Gold City’. It’s basically the jewelry capital of Germany and it’s got this brand new crazy modern complex called the Jewelry Worlds where millions of euros worth of jewelry is on display…and everything is for sale, too. I saw a necklace today worth 26 000 euros. I don’t even wanna think about how many dollars that is. Anywho, it was all so gorgeous. Tons of displays by crazy new designers and actually my family on my mom’s side was all involved in the jewelry business and today I got to see a case with jewelry in it from the company that my great-grandfather started! That was so cool.
Ya, so then we went shopping, ate a bunch of pastry, and bussed it on home.
Hm, I’m getting good at giving you guys the short version of everything. Andee and I have been continuing our random German beer tasting evenings and smoking as many cigarellos as humanly possible. Tomorrow we’re going to FRANCE for the day! How cool is that? Strasbourg. I’m so excited!!!
I’ll tell ya’ll about it later this week. :)

for those of you not on facebook here's the first batch of pics...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105330&id=573967603&l=96ff2

The Prodigal Blogger...

HAS RETURNED! No fear folks. I was not swallowed into some lazy-a**, blog-forbidding vortex...I just got home from a 2.5 week vacation this afternoon. And I was so busy the last 17 days that I think I might need another vacation to recover. :)



Well, I tried to keep a little bit of a "journal" while I was gone so I'm just gonna post it over the next few days. Entitled "Adventures with mom, Andee, and Brenda: Canadians invading southern Germany". Enjoy!

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February 8, 2009



So I’ve decided to keep a bit of a journal on my laptop and then I’ll slowly post stuff once I get back to a less primordial internet connection. :)

Warning: this entry contains many many food references. May cause severe hunger pangs, spontaneous drooling, and the urge to max out credit card to join us in our European food frenzy.


So ya…MOM, ANDEE, AND BRENDA are here!!!!! It was a terrific reunion, accented with gifts of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups….many many Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups….giant bags of ketchup chips that all popped before they even hit German ground due to the cabin pressure in the airplane…Papermate ball-point pens…cuz I haven’t found a decent ballpoint pen since I got here…and of course hugs all around. Oh and I nearly forgot all the Captain Black cigars that Andee brought from the duty-free shop at the airport. In this lovely +8 degree weather we’ve been having here, going out for a smoke every evening has been a fun little ritual for the two of us. It’s been so … indescribably nice to have long conversations with someone who knows me well – I don’t have to first go through the endless “get to know me” process. Plus the whole getting to speak in English again is a BIG bonus. And we can talk about all the people we know in Canada … it’s gossip catch up time for me. Lol. It’s funny cuz I’ve only known Andee for…uh…how long have Tim and Andee been together…2 years? But she totally has become one of my sisters. I can’t imagine our family without her anymore!




So what have we been up to? Well, on Friday we kept it a relaxing day. Let me just start out with … we pretty much eat non-stop here at my aunt and uncle’s. I’m gonna be a fat frigging cow by the time these holidays are over. See this is how my aunt's mind works... ‘What’s that? Your plate’s empty? The world as we know it will come to a tragic and final demise if we don’t remedy the situation.’ Food is then immediately repiled onto my plate and my jaws are simply too weak and exhausted from chewing to argue.




*Note to self: grow a backbone -> if not successful attempt to find and purchase said backbone somewhere…

Um, ya, anyways, after lunch on Friday mom, Brenda, Andee and I decided to go for a walk in an effort to work off at least a hundredth of the recently ingested calories. We stopped at the local grocery store before heading home to purchase anything chocolate related that you can only get in Germany, for Andee and Brenda to try, as well as a bottle of each German beer we could find in this little store. Upon our return home bowls of ice cream were plopped in front of our faces and … well … you get the picture.




Then we went for another walk with my aunt, uncle, and Jasmin (my cousin) to my uncle’s vineyard. (to at least alleviate the ice-cream-induced guilty conscience…) Needless to say a supper of insane amounts of bread, meat, cheese, and wine was consumed shortly after, followed by more wine, schnaps, and a beer tasting session where mom, Brenda, Andee, and I shared 6 bottles of beer and rated them. Honestly can’t remember what our favourite was. I think the final consensus was the Beck’s beer, but don’t quote me on that. The Warsteiner was pretty good too.




And yesterday we all drove to Heidelberg to look at the famous castle and go shopping. Unfortunately it rained all day, but you can’t keep a girl down when she’s got shoppin’ on her mind. Plus that’s what God invented umbrellas for. Lunch was the typical German schnitzel and French fries in some sweet medieval looking restaurant. Followed by more sight-seeing, Starbucks, and many German bakery purchases. My uncle turned into a real bear with all the waiting outside stores til our shopping urges had been satisfied…until we spotted another cool boutique…so we eventually told him to go home with mom and Tante Edda (we had two cars in Heidelberg) after which we (aka. me, jasmin, andee, and brenda) could more thoroughly enjoy the ching-ching of cash register drawers and the friendly “sank yo fo kumming”s after each purchase. Heidelberg has one of the largest American army bases in Germany so you honestly hear more English there than German and every salesperson and waitress has to speak it nearly perfectly. Made Brenda and Andee’s lives more easier, that’s for sure. :)
Just to clarify, though, I only bought a t-shirt from Esprit that I’ve been eying for the past 3 months but was waiting to find on sale…which I did yesterday. Zoe has booked our flights to Egypt and Rome in June, so I gotta send the moolah back to Canada with my mom. J It means resisting temptation on the endless shopping tours, but somehow I’ll manage. :P
And then on the way home from Heidelberg we stopped at another grocery store and picked up 10 more different beers for further alcoholic endeavours.
After another massive supper, a cigar break, and the slaughter/consumption of various baked goods we drank the traditional 10pm champage … which took an hour … and went to bed.

Um. Ya. That’s all I’ve got. It’s been a chaotic two days of constant translation and hand gesturing to make sure everyone is understood … and there have been hundreds of hilarious moments that I am simply incapable of recounting. Seriously, we have been laughing for 2 days straight. But I don’t think the worldwide web has enough room for all this craziness. Never mind the fact that it would bore ya’ll half to death. So anyways, my other cousin and her husband just got here. Now everyone around me is visiting. Very loudly. Cuz they’re Germans. And SWABIAN Germans on top of that. And I can’t even hear myself think anymore, so I’m just gonna join in the volume. One of my many hidden talents. Then again "hidden" might not be the most appropriate word there...

My Magic Money Tree

So my winter holidays were only supposed to begin tomorrow after my usual first two classes (from 7:40-9:15am) cuz I got Friday off, seeing as how my mom gets here tomorrow...aka. Thursday. But it turns out that the teacher's sick...just like half of the rest of the teachers. So I'm officially on holidays already! And I already had one less class than usual today because another teacher was sick. They're dropping like flies! So that means I just got off of a 5 day weekend, had a one day "work week", and am now taking off for 2.5 weeks of vacation. Life is grand, ain't it? Well, after 4 years of stressful never-ending back and forth between university and work this year has been a much-needed change of pace....like from break-neck speed to slow-mo. I can already notice a huge difference in myself. Much more calm and laid-back.


So I'm not so sure I actually "work" for my money...it feels more like ... like taking constant holidays and rejoicing over the fact that 800 euros (about $1300) magically appear in my account on a monthly basis... Um...but who's complaining? Certainly NOT yours truly...

Ok, well it's not entirely true. I don't exactly write about all the classes I take part in cuz a) it would take forever and b) it would bore you to tears. But it's definitely MUUUUUUUUUUCH less stressful than what I'm used to...

Anyways, just wanted to let ya'll know that I'm once again not sure how often I'll be updating my blog in the next while due to the usual craziness of being on holidays. So have a good one!

That's right...

Fact: There are 57 songs by Celine Dion in my iTunes.

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And I'm not ashamed.

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I thought that was worth a blog entry.

Strike Day!

So I'm at home today. Even thought it's TUESDAY. The teachers are on strike. I mean, just for today. They can't exactly go on strike permanently, seeing as how it's kind of the future of the country's young people at stake. But anyways, they're on strike for the day today and everyone took off to Leipzig to demonstrate and sign some kind of petition thingy. So I officially had a 5-day weekend. Friday was field trip, so that counts as a weekend day, then saturday and sunday, like usual, monday is my weekly day off, and then today, tuesday. Weird, hey?

So yesterday I wrote my writing skills test for the U of M. My landlord is a University professor so she could serve as my proctor. The University faxed all the info and instructions on Friday, which Ulla kept until yesterday cuz I wasn't allowed to see any of it til I actually wrote the 'exam'. I got three questions to choose from and one of them was perfect. It was on the debate about mandatory homework and whether it should be discarded, as it were, from the school system because many kids are disengaged already and homework just makes them more disinterested and rebellious. My first ...and only.... reaction: YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! NO MORE HOMEWORK? That is just about the most ridiculous thing I've heard all year. Why don't we just let our kids watch TV and eat pizza all day long? When did the education system start catering to the desires of 12 year olds instead of thinking about what's best for them, whether they like it or not? We're not there to be their best friends...we're there to TEACH THEM TO BECOME RESPONSIBLE HUMAN BEINGS. Aren't we??? Of course kids don't WANT homework. But it's an essential part of the learning process...

Ok, I'm getting too carried away. I guess I shouldn't make you all suffer through my thought process. lol. Anyways, I am obviously completely pro-homework and I let out ALL the reasons 45 minutes allow, which took up a whopping 9 pages double-spaced, for the benefit of the university selection committee and educators everywhere. Haha. Well, at least it's over. Application process officially finished.

me after i finished the essay. my landlord likes to take pics. :) ... wow i look tired without makeup...

Um ya. So that's about all the exciting news. Oh, except I got another random email from a complete stranger who heard from the people I tutor Thursday nights that a Canadian was in Eilenburg and now she wants me to help out at some kind of special kindergarten or something. Like, play sing and read to the kids, all in English. We'll see. I haven't decided. If it works out timewise I'd definitely like to do it, but I'm getting so many offers that I'm running out of time...which has been sparse to begin with...I'm telling you, I need 36 hour days!

Well, I need to get to the library before it closes. I leave for 2.5 weeks of holidays early Thursday morning and need to make sure I have an adequate amount of reading material. 2 MORE SLEEPS TIL MOM, ANDEE, AND BRENDA COME. Yes, I realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record...

My Fair Lady

So my birthday is officially over.

Now you're probably thinking "geez Julia, your birthday was a month and a half ago. You're really not that important." But I have a good reason for making that statement. Namely, my last birthday present "took place" yesterday. The teachers from my school here know that I love theatre and stuff like that, so for my birthday they got me a ticket to go see the musical "My Fair Lady" in Leipzig with them (well, only with 4 of the teachers...not all 100...). I was absolutely blown away! I LOVE MY FAIR LADY.

Now I'll admit, I was afraid of being disappointed for two reasons: 1) I know this play backwards and forwards in English... and this interpretation would obviously be in German...and we all know by now how I feel about translated movies/plays/songs/musicals; 2) The lead roles would obviously not be played by Rex Harrison or Audrey Hepburn and seeing as how she is pretty much the love of my life I thought my standards might subconsciously be much too high for the poor girl who would have to convince me that she really is Eliza Doolittle ... in GERMAN no less.


All that worry for naught! First of all, the translation was an absolute work of art. Almost word for word, yet the songs still all rhymed and were total musical theatre genius! I mean, I obviously had the English version running through my head the whole time, too, which was a little annoying, but no complaints on the translation front...for the first time ever! lol. And the acting was terrific. The leads were excellent and wow could the girl playing Eliza sing! Fantastic operatic voice. The sets were beautiful, as well, the costumes were great. It was all set in a little more modern setting than the movie, but not in a flashy or terribly noticable way. You really only got that impression when you looked at some of the costumes.

The orchestra gets 5 stars from me. The music was just phenomenal and it sounded E-X-A-C-T-L-Y like in the movie. A+++++.

All in all it was a great experience. The only problem was that they don't use microphones (it's quite a small but gorgeous theatre in the slightly rundown heart of Leipzig, kind of like some of those old theatres in downtown Winnipeg). Anyways, like I said, they didn't use microphones and sometimes it was really difficult if not impossible to understand the words they were singing. During the speaking parts it was no problem, mainly cuz the orchestra didn't play then. But that's really my only complaint. I totally understand why "My Fair Lady" got such great reviews and why it's booked out solid til April, which was the reason that we couldn't go closer to my actual bday. :)


Ya, and then I was taken out to dinner yet too! In this restaurant that is right inside the theatre. It was so cool in there. I've never been in a restaurant like that. It was very old-school English and one of the rooms had an INCREDIBLY high ceiling and was decorated like an inner courtyard with washing lines full of laundry hanging up high. Really neat.


Anyways, ya. That was the official end of my birthday. And after waiting for it for a month and a half it was definitely a fantastic conclusion to the festivities. Honest to goodness, I have never had such a good birthday. Ever. I know I said this already in December, but I just need to reiterate it: who woulda thunk my funnest birthday would be celebrated far far far away from home, family, and friends? DEFINITELY not me.



Only 3 more sleeps til winter break and my mom, sis in law, and her mom arrive in Germany!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!