This past weekend I saddled up and did a little trip to the center of Germany. My former co-worker from Eglin, Danyel, came to Aachen, picked me up and we then spent the weekend at her place. Danyel has a little girl, Serenity, and we met her friend at Bitburg Air Base and from there went to the city of Trier. Trier is a city of about 80k, and although I was there at night could tell how beautiful it was. Wikipedia tells me that it was founded around the time of Christ. However, the best part of Trier was the amazing sushi restaurant that we went to. An all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant which sends sushi around on this small little conveyor belt and you just pick off the tantalizingnesses that is! It was great.
I went to the Air Base at Ramstein and I had another slight identity crisis. Next month marks the end of my 22 year career as a military child. I have mix feelings about this. As it is, I haven't really been a military kid since 2003 and after my dad died I became even less of one. Mom moved to Ohio, I was at Florida State and for the longest time the only thing I did with the military was get my insurance renewed and talk to other military kids. So why now am I having this slight panic? I think its part of my childhood identity and being an Air Force brat certainly shaped part of who I am as a person. My first job, first friends, my entire childhood and mostly my Father's identity was also intertwined with his career in the Air Force. This is part of growing up I suppose, freaking out about getting older, being more independent and saying goodbye to that part of our lives that we know the most.
While at the base, I also realized how different I am now and how different my life has become. I don't share that military lifestyle, etc. It was so strange, I was in Germany, paying in dollars, speaking in English and watching poorly dressed American's shop. The BX alone was strange as I have been in Germany long enough to get used to not having one central place to shop. As much I would like to be associated with this little slice of America, I just don't think its for me anymore. I guess to some extent it will always be part of me, but I'm not sure. I think this is just part of the greater problem of growing up, changing friends, life, end of my university life and not sure what to expect next. I guess I'm good though for the next two years as I got my work and residence visas yesterday.
On the way home from the base, I rented a car. The class above the cheapest class of car (the cheapest one with GPS-which I need here) was a Mercedes A class. It was beautiful. I was the first person to drive this puppy. It had 3km on it when I started the car. I will never buy a car that is not in a similar class again. So easy to drive and the gas mileage was great. I took the Benz on the autobahn and cruised around at 130mph. It was fantastic.
Life is progressing here. I am excited though to go home for the Christmas break. It will be nice to see my family and my baby niece. And, I just miss my family. I miss my friends too and that is mostly natural. Unfortunately I feel that in the two years that I'll be in Germany I will have lost a few of them, even those that I've been friends with for several years. I am not the type of person who can go a year without talking to you and then just magically catch up ( I mean, I can but I don't like to do that). I need from time to time an email, a phone call. I live in Germany, not Rwanda. Its not hard to get a hold of me. I'm tired of investing into people and not getting any investment in return. Its disheartening. Still trying to meet people in Aachen (esp outside of the office) and thats kind of at a slow down right now, but I'm working on it. Otherwise my colleagues are great, we get along splendidly, often having lunch and chatting. However, at the end of the day, I'm still lonely. Which is not a feeling I particularly enjoy.
I miss academia, Target and spontaneous lunches with friends. Oh, and Bullwinkle's too.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Dates of vacation
For those of you keeping track, and I know you're out there...here are my official dates of vacation and break. This is FYI so you can plan your life around coming to visit me or vacationing with me. :)
I've not included the weekends before and after the dates.
Christmas Holidays: 24. December through January 5th (so in reality 21 December through 7th of January)
Carnival!: February 4th and 5th (include 2nd and 3rd)
Easter Break: March 20th through March 26th
So, now, who wants to party?
I've not included the weekends before and after the dates.
Christmas Holidays: 24. December through January 5th (so in reality 21 December through 7th of January)
Carnival!: February 4th and 5th (include 2nd and 3rd)
Easter Break: March 20th through March 26th
So, now, who wants to party?
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I could learn to love you
A great weekend was spoiled by a week of work. The weather has reached top bottom. This bone chilling type of mist covers the Northern German landscape and in the middle of it, Aachen.
Toto, we're not in Florida anymore.
It's November 15 and the low for tonight is expected to be 26 degrees. My apartment is freezing. My room thermometer says 68F but it feels much colder. I took a nap and woke up shivering from the chill. I'm now wearing long sleeves, a sweater vest and a sweater on top. I'll be wearing it to work tonight too. Its just really cold and windy. The Taxi driver that picks me up every Tues and Wednesday tells me though while it is colder in December, the weather is dryer. That is something to look forward to.
Germany is famous for their Christmas Markets and Aachen is no exception. Monday workers began assembling wooden houses in the middle of the square. Its rather quite odd. Next Saturday thousands of people will descend on Aachen from all over to visit the Markt. Glühwein (mulled wine) will be served hot with ginger cookies. This part of German culture I'm looking forward to celebrating. Having thousands of people daily in front of my office being loud no doubt something I'm not looking forward to.
I've been drinking coffee as if it was the essence of life. At least two cups in the morning before I leave the house followed by coffee at lunch often. In the evening, Starbucks might get a little visit. I've discovered this amazing chocolatier in Aachen (from The Netherlands) who makes their own hot chocolate. They bring you a cup of steamed milk, then you go to the counter, pick a flavor of chocolate (its chunked onto a spoon) and then you dip the spoon into the milk and stir. Bam! Amazing hot chocolate. I'm going to take back the states lots of these little amazing chocolate spoons. Then you get a slice of cake or brownie or amazing apple strudel for €5.00! So cheap! Its so tasty too. :) Their website can be seen here. While it has no information, you can look at cool pictures of it, chocolate company.
Speaking of Dutch companies, its amazing really how much Dutch I am able to read and understand. I've watched a Dutch movie before and was able to understand about 65% of the script. Dutch is a mix of German, English and I believe a dash of French. For example, the word for chocolate milk in Dutch is chocomelk. Especially when I see something in context its really amazing my level of understanding.
Thanksgiving is next week and its so hard to believe that I'm doing nothing for one of my favorite holidays this year. :( It is certainly something that I will miss. In other news, to get my German drivers license, it turns out I don't have to take any exams at all. Only get a translation of my current license, which inlingua offers, take an eye exam at a local optician and go wait in line. Nice.
And now i have to teach.
Toto, we're not in Florida anymore.
It's November 15 and the low for tonight is expected to be 26 degrees. My apartment is freezing. My room thermometer says 68F but it feels much colder. I took a nap and woke up shivering from the chill. I'm now wearing long sleeves, a sweater vest and a sweater on top. I'll be wearing it to work tonight too. Its just really cold and windy. The Taxi driver that picks me up every Tues and Wednesday tells me though while it is colder in December, the weather is dryer. That is something to look forward to.
Germany is famous for their Christmas Markets and Aachen is no exception. Monday workers began assembling wooden houses in the middle of the square. Its rather quite odd. Next Saturday thousands of people will descend on Aachen from all over to visit the Markt. Glühwein (mulled wine) will be served hot with ginger cookies. This part of German culture I'm looking forward to celebrating. Having thousands of people daily in front of my office being loud no doubt something I'm not looking forward to.
I've been drinking coffee as if it was the essence of life. At least two cups in the morning before I leave the house followed by coffee at lunch often. In the evening, Starbucks might get a little visit. I've discovered this amazing chocolatier in Aachen (from The Netherlands) who makes their own hot chocolate. They bring you a cup of steamed milk, then you go to the counter, pick a flavor of chocolate (its chunked onto a spoon) and then you dip the spoon into the milk and stir. Bam! Amazing hot chocolate. I'm going to take back the states lots of these little amazing chocolate spoons. Then you get a slice of cake or brownie or amazing apple strudel for €5.00! So cheap! Its so tasty too. :) Their website can be seen here. While it has no information, you can look at cool pictures of it, chocolate company.
Speaking of Dutch companies, its amazing really how much Dutch I am able to read and understand. I've watched a Dutch movie before and was able to understand about 65% of the script. Dutch is a mix of German, English and I believe a dash of French. For example, the word for chocolate milk in Dutch is chocomelk. Especially when I see something in context its really amazing my level of understanding.
Thanksgiving is next week and its so hard to believe that I'm doing nothing for one of my favorite holidays this year. :( It is certainly something that I will miss. In other news, to get my German drivers license, it turns out I don't have to take any exams at all. Only get a translation of my current license, which inlingua offers, take an eye exam at a local optician and go wait in line. Nice.
And now i have to teach.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Three Countries, One Day
I often think fondly of my blog and the desire and need to update it on a more regular basis. I've let this slip recently and I personally feel as though that is not acceptable. I'm going to make a more conscious effort to update it more regularly.
The past week was fine. The Russian woman who is the bane of my existence at inlingua has finished her lessons this past week. Thank the Lord. I mean, honestly, there is only so much I can take. But now its over. I lied, this week has been really great actually, I've grown much closer to a few of my colleagues and I've been able to go out and do things.
The weather has turned to sheisse. Rains everyday, most of the day this slight, mist type of constant sprinkle. Windy yesterday and this morning.Still hunting for a trench coat. Monday morning I'll be teaching a class at a firm which requires giving me one of the school's vehicles. Do you know what that means when you get it on a Saturday through Monday?
Joy riding. And by Joy Riding, I mean going to Holland.
After class this morning (Saturday) Faye, and my colleague Ace and I packed ourselves up and headed to The Netherlands. That's right. Just like that I got in the car and drove off to the Dutch city of Maastricht. Only about 35 minutes away by car it was a very nice visit. Would have been better if you could see the city without the gray and rain but we had a great time none the less. On our way back we HAPPENED upon Belgium.
We decided that we should eventually turn the car around and go back home.
Whoops.The good news is, I can now mark off my list of things to do "accidentally drive into a foreign country." It was a great day and I had an excellent time.
Tomorrow I've got a lot of lesson planning to do but not before I go to the local "Thermen" or Sauna/Spa water for a couple hours of relaxing, etc. Its much deserved. I'm going to miss Thanksgiving this year, which makes me sad too.
The past week was fine. The Russian woman who is the bane of my existence at inlingua has finished her lessons this past week. Thank the Lord. I mean, honestly, there is only so much I can take. But now its over. I lied, this week has been really great actually, I've grown much closer to a few of my colleagues and I've been able to go out and do things.
The weather has turned to sheisse. Rains everyday, most of the day this slight, mist type of constant sprinkle. Windy yesterday and this morning.Still hunting for a trench coat. Monday morning I'll be teaching a class at a firm which requires giving me one of the school's vehicles. Do you know what that means when you get it on a Saturday through Monday?
Joy riding. And by Joy Riding, I mean going to Holland.
After class this morning (Saturday) Faye, and my colleague Ace and I packed ourselves up and headed to The Netherlands. That's right. Just like that I got in the car and drove off to the Dutch city of Maastricht. Only about 35 minutes away by car it was a very nice visit. Would have been better if you could see the city without the gray and rain but we had a great time none the less. On our way back we HAPPENED upon Belgium.
We decided that we should eventually turn the car around and go back home.
Whoops.The good news is, I can now mark off my list of things to do "accidentally drive into a foreign country." It was a great day and I had an excellent time.
Tomorrow I've got a lot of lesson planning to do but not before I go to the local "Thermen" or Sauna/Spa water for a couple hours of relaxing, etc. Its much deserved. I'm going to miss Thanksgiving this year, which makes me sad too.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Nation Building : Like it Or Not
Back in January, I posted some points of a lecture I attended at Florida State. I had lunch with Peter Romero, former Ambassador and Depurty Head of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department. It was a fantastic lecture and a fantastic lunch. Romero is an extremely intelligent diplomat, in my opinion. Like I do, I realized recently that Florida State posted the video of the lecture. i recommend you taking a quick look at it for some insight into what the US should be doing in Iraq.
The video can be found here.
The video can be found here.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Think It Over
I realized last night that its been a week since my last update. In blogging terms, thats like ten years. I was too tired last night (as I passed out while taking my bath, safe) to update then.
Today in Deutschland, well at least in the state of Nord-Rhein Westphalen, where I call home, it is a holiday. NRW being both a Catholic and Protestant state, we usually celebrate both holidays. :) Today is All Saints Day. So nobody is working really.I beg and pleaded to have tomorrow and Saturday off. Well, its not that hard seeing as my Saturday morning class was canceled for this week anyway and I normally on Fridays only teach one to two classes. However, I got the day off. I originally going to take the day off and go to the Consulate in Frankfurt to take care of some personal matters, however upon calling them learned that any German notary will do. Already having the days off, I booked a last minute flight to Dresden to visit my friends. Its a much needed release. This is my first weekend off since I've been here. Its going to be fantastic. I'm flying from Düsseldorf to Dresden and come back Sunday evening.
Besides that, the weather has gotten a bit worse. Now we are lucky if the daily hi's kiss around 48 or so. Some days are absolutely gorgeous and other days are absolutely miserable (ie Monday). My skin is so dry over here. I don't understand why because there is no lack of moisture in the air. I wake up and I have scratches all over my legs from where in my sleep I've been scratching my legs. Nichts kosher.
Work is fine. Sometimes I have some students who I'm convinced will never grasp the basic concepts of the English language. I have two in particular. An older Vietnamese woman who allegedly had four years English schooling 20 years ago (no, I do not believe this ever happened). She slaughters the entire language in a way I wasn't sure was possible. In this basic English class, I have students from Belarus, Turkey, Khazakistan and Germany and all of them seem to be doing just fine. This woman though kills me. Every time she opens her mouth to speak, I cringe. I left my class last night with a headache. Now, I'm a patient person and I appreciate the difficulty of learning a foreign language, but this, this takes it to a new low. I correct her and she can't seem to fix it. I have a Russian woman who is also a bit older. While she knows the basic grammar structure, etc she can't speak. She taught herself basic English so there are many mistakes that I have to correct. She's nice enough (and creepy too). She keeps paying me compliments in a way as to make me slightly uncomfortable. "You're voice is so beautiful Christopher." "Umm....thanks." Nobody has ever accused me of having a beautiful voice before, ever.
I'm really getting to know some of my colleagues and they're all pretty fantastic on a level I've not seen before. Of course, Faye and I have really taken off. We mesh real well together and I appreciate her because she's really showed me some of the inside loops here in Aachen (like where to find the best grocery store that closest to American) and what I have to do to get a German drivers license. However, I'm waiting with baited breathe for Holly to arrive. It'll be a glorious day when she arrives and we can enjoy the DE together! The FSU Colony has really taken off at full-force and for that, I'm thankful. I'm going home at Christmas and I"m looking forward to it. Only a week though. I thought about staying loner, but I needed to get back here. I have a life here and I'm going to be using this time to get ready for Holly to arrive and I'll be looking at some apartments if anybody will let me.
Gotta run. I need to get ready to leave for Dresden!
Today in Deutschland, well at least in the state of Nord-Rhein Westphalen, where I call home, it is a holiday. NRW being both a Catholic and Protestant state, we usually celebrate both holidays. :) Today is All Saints Day. So nobody is working really.I beg and pleaded to have tomorrow and Saturday off. Well, its not that hard seeing as my Saturday morning class was canceled for this week anyway and I normally on Fridays only teach one to two classes. However, I got the day off. I originally going to take the day off and go to the Consulate in Frankfurt to take care of some personal matters, however upon calling them learned that any German notary will do. Already having the days off, I booked a last minute flight to Dresden to visit my friends. Its a much needed release. This is my first weekend off since I've been here. Its going to be fantastic. I'm flying from Düsseldorf to Dresden and come back Sunday evening.
Besides that, the weather has gotten a bit worse. Now we are lucky if the daily hi's kiss around 48 or so. Some days are absolutely gorgeous and other days are absolutely miserable (ie Monday). My skin is so dry over here. I don't understand why because there is no lack of moisture in the air. I wake up and I have scratches all over my legs from where in my sleep I've been scratching my legs. Nichts kosher.
Work is fine. Sometimes I have some students who I'm convinced will never grasp the basic concepts of the English language. I have two in particular. An older Vietnamese woman who allegedly had four years English schooling 20 years ago (no, I do not believe this ever happened). She slaughters the entire language in a way I wasn't sure was possible. In this basic English class, I have students from Belarus, Turkey, Khazakistan and Germany and all of them seem to be doing just fine. This woman though kills me. Every time she opens her mouth to speak, I cringe. I left my class last night with a headache. Now, I'm a patient person and I appreciate the difficulty of learning a foreign language, but this, this takes it to a new low. I correct her and she can't seem to fix it. I have a Russian woman who is also a bit older. While she knows the basic grammar structure, etc she can't speak. She taught herself basic English so there are many mistakes that I have to correct. She's nice enough (and creepy too). She keeps paying me compliments in a way as to make me slightly uncomfortable. "You're voice is so beautiful Christopher." "Umm....thanks." Nobody has ever accused me of having a beautiful voice before, ever.
I'm really getting to know some of my colleagues and they're all pretty fantastic on a level I've not seen before. Of course, Faye and I have really taken off. We mesh real well together and I appreciate her because she's really showed me some of the inside loops here in Aachen (like where to find the best grocery store that closest to American) and what I have to do to get a German drivers license. However, I'm waiting with baited breathe for Holly to arrive. It'll be a glorious day when she arrives and we can enjoy the DE together! The FSU Colony has really taken off at full-force and for that, I'm thankful. I'm going home at Christmas and I"m looking forward to it. Only a week though. I thought about staying loner, but I needed to get back here. I have a life here and I'm going to be using this time to get ready for Holly to arrive and I'll be looking at some apartments if anybody will let me.
Gotta run. I need to get ready to leave for Dresden!
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