Some observations

when i was browsing the internet this morning - reading some news, getting sports updates, etc - i noticed a couple of things:

1) what is the deal with the bias against the seahawks? they have been to the playoffs 5 consecutive seasons, have a 51-29 record over that span (including a super bowl appearance); showing the kind of consistency that lies out of the grasp for most teams in the nfl. despite all of this, they don't have a monday night game this season while 12 teams who didn't make the playoffs last season do, including lame ducks like the 49ers, cardinals, jets (the schedules were made BEFORE they got favre), raiders, and bills. that's simply a joke. they also have to make the long-haul trip to the east coast 4 times for games this season. i'm starting to think that the nfl simply doesn't want the hawks to be successful, which makes me like holmgren and company even more for continually defying them.

2) while i am getting used to germany, something really important is going on in the states - the democratic national convention in denver, co. i try to stay up to date on our national political scene as much as possible. after reading many different articles over the past few days, i can't help but notice how much mccain's side bashes obama/biden's. why do they have to spend so much time saying what their opponents are or are not doing? for example, hillary clinton yesterday endorsed obama at the convention. mccain's people jumped right out after her speach and said all these negative comments about what she neglected to say. is this what it has come down to? instead of telling americans how you will make their lives better, you tell them how bad your opponent is? it just doesn't make any sense to me. it seems to me that they have gotten away from what is really important.

anyways, yesterday i went to the market in bad salzuflen with kirsten, it's very much like a farmer's market in the u.s. i feel like i'm eventually going to sound like a broken record, but everyone was really nice there. the town of bad salzuflen itself is really cool. most of the buildings are very old, and simply walking through the downtowm portion of the city with kirsten is like a history lesson. very fun. later in the day i was able to get a nice long run in yet another beautiful forest. so many more people, it seems to me, get out and exercise here in germany compared to the states. the trails were just infested with people walking and jogging.

anyways, it's time for me to have some breakfast (which is incredibly delicious here, i'll get to that another time).

russ

Jetlag is no fun...

hello again!

so far i have spent 2 full days in germany and am still no where close to acclimating myself to the new time zone here. my body still craves sleep during the day here (which is normally my nighttime in the States) and it is very hard to stay active and not succumb to the natural urge to sleep.

since i last made a post i have done a couple of very fun/interesting things. on sunday, i went for a walk with my aunt and uncle through some woods right behind their house. they do it twice a week and actually hoof it quite fast; they call it nordic walking (just like nordic skiing, but minus the skis). my uncle even had two poles that he used as walking sticks. they take their exercise very seriously, which is perfectly okay with me. the woods were flat out beautiful. i wish i had taken my camera so i could share some pictures with you all. as we were walking and talk i kept being reminded of the woods early on in the movie, The Patriot, starring good old mel gibson. if you remember the movie, you'll know what i'm talking about. the woods were thich with trees, but at the same time it was as if i could see for over a mile. my words simply don't do it any justice. next time i will have my camera handy.

today (monday) i had my first unofficial taste of teaching English. my aunt, kirsten, teaches English and business English two days a week at a volkshochschule in bad salzuflen and she brought me along today to be her special "mystery" guest. there were six nice ladies in her class today, all adults. it was a great experience for both me and them i think. they seemed enthralled with everything i had to say, which wasn't much. at the beginning of the class kirsten had them ask me "yes and no" questions until they figured out who i was and where i came from. they really enjoyed the game and got very excited when they asked a question correctly and i responded with a "yes." they were all incredibly friendly and seemed to really want to learn English. we did some exercises out of a book that dealt with airports and flying (very ironic, given my rencent 24 hr adventure). after we got home from this, i jumped right into bed and took about a 2 hr nap because i was no exhausted from just a short bit of activity.

time for me to go now. kirsten and i are going to watch either babel or syriana in german so that i can get more practice. on that note, in just 2 and a half days here my germany has improved greatly. it is so gratifying and fun to see results so quickly. so far, i am really enjoying my time in germany, and will only get better from here!

bis bald!

russ

I made it!

So after almost a full 24 hours of being in transit from Seattle to Hannover, Germany (by way of Chicago and London) I have finally arrived. My trip sucked (to put it lightly), but i'll leave out the details for now simply because i do not want to relive the nightmare that is traveling internationally. the only way i can characterize traveling is that is freaking sucks bad. man i hate it.

i am staying with my mom's brother, Wode, for the next week. he is the man, and his wife, Kirsten, is also very cool. they have made my first few hours in germany relatively easy. they have been accomodating in every sense of the word.

woke up at 6 am (german time) and have just been trying to get myself settled in and adjusted to the time difference. my body just feels very groggy. when i woke up this morning i felt as though i could sleep for 10 more hours, but at the same time i was wide awake. just a very weird feeling.

so for today i plan on just relaxing and settling in here in Bad Salzuflen, Germany. i need to get my eating and sleeping patterns back on track.

i wanted to use this post mainly as a test to see how things would work/look on my blog. hopefully it turns out, please feel free to comment! i would love to hear from anyone who might be reading this.

until next time! love you all!

russ