Hi folks. So in keeping with my usual trends, here is a much belated post for your reading enjoyment..
Well, what a great time to be an American! This past Tuesday, as I'm sure you are fully aware of, was the inauguration of Barack Obama. I've already written about what the magnitude of Obama's accomplishments mean to me, but I don't think a person can talk or write about something like this enough. This type of thing only happens once in a person's life. I am sure that there is a lot of excitement back home in the States, as many people here in Germany are quite excited themselves. Many people, including colleagues and friends, have been asking me questions regarding Obama. And, from the sound of it, Obama hasn't been disappointing - he has been busy at work in the White House in his first week on the Job.
Now, with that said, I did note some pretty funny things during the inauguration ceremony (while I was using the internet to watch it live, thank you world wide web!).
- The first was the look on George Bush's face as he was making the long and ceremonial walk to the stage where the inauguration was taking place. I remember thinking that I wanted to make it a point to notice his face whenever they showed him, and I just could not quite place his look. It appeared to be a mix of confusion, pleasure, and fear. Confusion, maybe, because he just wasn't quite sure which way he was supposed to go during his approach to the stage. Pleasure because of the knowledge that he would no longer have to make so many difficult and hard decisions, and act like you know what you're doing. And, finally, fear - because of the realization of not knowing what the heck he is going to do now. I don't know. I just thought it was a really funny look. Plus I was just happy to see him making that walk :)
- The second funny thing happened during Obama's speech. Throughout the speech, the TV station, I believe I was watching FOX News, would switch between shots of Obama and people in the crowd. On one of these particular crowd shots, I happen to see a black man yawning and dozing off! At the inauguration of the first black president in the history of the United States. One of the most important moments of your life. You are there in person. And you fall asleep. Man, the the irony of seeing that got me laughing out loud by myself.
- Lastly, how about that poor lady that had to follow up Obama's speech with that poetry? I am not taking away from her poetic skills, but honestly - they want follow up entertainment for one of the best speech givers of recent history, and they pick the poem lady? Anybody is going to have trouble following Obama and the poem lady was no exception. I felt bad for her.
So, all-in-all, I was pretty excited about the whole inauguration scene. I'm happy and I'm hopeful for my country. It's a great time to be an American.
On a completely different subject, a couple of weekends ago I made a short trip up to Elmshorn to visit the Baumann Family. The Baumann's, if you remember, are the family I did the bike tour on the Mosel River with. It was both a fun and relaxing weekend. The Friday that I arrived, I ended up hanging out with Anne and Philip and watching movies. The highlight, I would say, was watching Terminator 3 on television. I got to show the two Baumann kids a little bit of American culture, hehe. Saturday was a cool day. The whole family and I drove into Hamburg to do some sightseeing around the harbor. We were still in the middle of a big cold chill in Northern Germany, so a good portion of the Elbe River (the main river that makes Hamburg such a big/busy port city) was prozen over. It was so cool! I had never in my entire life really seen a river as major as the Elbe with more ice than water at the surface. We checked out some other things, including climbing to the top of a ship-shaped building that had stairs on the outside of it. It was a good day spent in the harbor area. Funny enough, after dinner that evening, the family and I capped off the night watching Terminator 2, which they happened to have on DVD.
Lastly, I have a little something to grip about. This may not come completely as a surprise, but there are different driving rules over here in Germany. Now, this doesn't make driving a completely different experience over here (I don't drive, this is just from a passenger's perspective), but it is a big enough change to where you would have to do some studying should you want to drive on a vacation to Germany. So now to my grip. One of the rules here, apparently, is something called "right before left." What this means is that at unmarked intersections of streets, the car on the right always gets the right of way. Example: I am making the long, 40-minutes bike ride home from work this past Thursday. On the home stretch. I am on the main drag in a smaller residential area, so there are so traffic signals. A dude on a motor bike approaches my street, wanting to turn onto it, as I am crossing. He quickly does his best to communicate his frustration with having to wait 5 seconds for a dog-tired biker and drove off. This is one situation where I do not miss America's rules at all. I definitely prefer our rules of the first one to an intersection with stop signs gets to go first and when turning onto a road, you must yield to traffic already driving on your desired road. Small, but still, it bugs me.
This weekend has been a lazy weekend for me. This past week I felt like I had a cold the whole time. Particularly on Friday and Saturday. So I stayed home this weekend, saved money, and got healthy. Luckily, I came to Germany with a small doctor's office-worth of stuff to help stave off disease. Thanks Mom!
I am a little behind on updating my computer with pictures, so when I get the Baumann weekend pictures uploaded, I'll update this post with some pictures of our day at the harbor. That's all for now!
russ.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Frohes Neues Jahr!
Hello family, friends, and whoever else might be reading this! A few days ago I returned to Bremen after a great time in Luebeck. The past couple of days have been spent getting my life back into order (I sort of lose touch with reality while I am vacationing from my already vacation-like life) by doing massive amounts of laundry, getting out and jogging, and general cleaning-up around the room.
My first order of business is to wish you all a very happy new year! (Which is exactly what the title of this post is doing. Just a little FYI for all you NON-German speakers out there..shame on you). I hope that you all had a great time ringing the new year in. I, too, had a very fun time on New Years Eve (called Silvester over here). I tagged along with my uncle Stefan (Mom's Bro) and my aunt Thesi to a small town on the Baltic Sea called Travemunde. This town is essentially at the spot where the Baltic and the river (can't remember the name of the particular river right now) that runs through Luebeck meet. A very pretty place, with a long beach and a big boardwalk-type area along it. We got there right on time, as people were beginning to really start their firework shows. And, damn, these Germans sure take their fireworks seriously. The place looked and sounded like we were in middle of a war-zone, or what I would imagine a war-zone to kind of be like. The sky was aglow nonstop. The air was full of smoke. So full, in fact, that many of my photos ended up looking like I had taken a picture a greyish wall. The lights and explosions lasted long after the strike of midnight; and were still going as we were driving off after we had had our fill of watching people blow their money up. It was a nice, quiet (well, not really. But I hope you get what I mean), and enjoyable new years.
I've never been particularly huge on new years, except during the whole Y2K deal, that was a hoot. To me it always just feels like any other day. I never get that "little kid" feeling I get on Christmas, or that feeling of great anticipation during Thanksgiving when I smell the bird cooking. However, despite this, I like to view the turning of the year as a good time to set some good, long-term goals and to reflect. So with no further ado, behold my goals/reflections list!!
1. If you came to me a year ago and told me that, a year from then, I would be sitting in Germany writing this blog post, I would have laughed it and you off. Goes to show what a little hard work, persistence, and a year's worth of time can do. Cliche, I know, but true.
2. I want to return to the States in better shape than when I arrived back in August. Two reason for this: to prove my mom wrong, hehe, and just because I enjoy getting out and being active.
(a little history about that: back in the Summer as I was preparing for my trip over here, mom told me that I would undoubtedly return with a beer belly, or some form of one. afterall, I was going to the land of beer, Germany. so this is a little stubbornness on my part. but it also helps me with staying motivated. hell, for all I know, that was a little bit of reverse psychology on mom's part. or maybe I'm thinking too hard..)
3. By the time they make me leave here, I hope to have improved all of my students' English speaking abilities. But, more importantly, I hope to have instilled in them a little desire to learn about "stuff" in general - different cultures, languages, whatever.
4. I want to become as proficient in the German language as I can.
5. I want to find a real job, so I can start the multiple-decade-long process o paying off the dreaded student loans. Hopefully I can do this (find a job, that is) before I return.
6. I want to run and complete a half-marathon. And possibly get into triathalons.
7. When back in the States: Ride my bike more, and drive my car less.
8. Get good at waking up early. And do it regularly.
9. Write a short story or get a sports related article published somewhere.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I know for sure that I am forgetting some major things, but I just can't pull them out of my brain at the moment.
Lastly, for your viewing pleasure, here are some photos: (Decorating the tree w/ Lutz being a goofball, the dudes of the house and me, an artsy-fartsy picture I like, preparing food in Oma's kitchen while Oma refuses to sit idly and let us do the work, eating a very nice lunch with Oma - Anna-Maria, my aunt, is on the right, Stefan and cousin Jan - Lutz's younger brother.)
So, there you have it - my first blog of 2009. Hope you liked it. And, like I've been continually saying, I am going to give it my all with becoming a more frequent blogger - hey, that's another thing for my list above :).
This week I plan on getting my first haircut/trim in Germany, how exciting! It'll be the first time since I was in the States, woah.
Start planning your trip over here, Tony!!! Ciao!
Much love,
Russ.
My first order of business is to wish you all a very happy new year! (Which is exactly what the title of this post is doing. Just a little FYI for all you NON-German speakers out there..shame on you). I hope that you all had a great time ringing the new year in. I, too, had a very fun time on New Years Eve (called Silvester over here). I tagged along with my uncle Stefan (Mom's Bro) and my aunt Thesi to a small town on the Baltic Sea called Travemunde. This town is essentially at the spot where the Baltic and the river (can't remember the name of the particular river right now) that runs through Luebeck meet. A very pretty place, with a long beach and a big boardwalk-type area along it. We got there right on time, as people were beginning to really start their firework shows. And, damn, these Germans sure take their fireworks seriously. The place looked and sounded like we were in middle of a war-zone, or what I would imagine a war-zone to kind of be like. The sky was aglow nonstop. The air was full of smoke. So full, in fact, that many of my photos ended up looking like I had taken a picture a greyish wall. The lights and explosions lasted long after the strike of midnight; and were still going as we were driving off after we had had our fill of watching people blow their money up. It was a nice, quiet (well, not really. But I hope you get what I mean), and enjoyable new years.
I've never been particularly huge on new years, except during the whole Y2K deal, that was a hoot. To me it always just feels like any other day. I never get that "little kid" feeling I get on Christmas, or that feeling of great anticipation during Thanksgiving when I smell the bird cooking. However, despite this, I like to view the turning of the year as a good time to set some good, long-term goals and to reflect. So with no further ado, behold my goals/reflections list!!
1. If you came to me a year ago and told me that, a year from then, I would be sitting in Germany writing this blog post, I would have laughed it and you off. Goes to show what a little hard work, persistence, and a year's worth of time can do. Cliche, I know, but true.
2. I want to return to the States in better shape than when I arrived back in August. Two reason for this: to prove my mom wrong, hehe, and just because I enjoy getting out and being active.
(a little history about that: back in the Summer as I was preparing for my trip over here, mom told me that I would undoubtedly return with a beer belly, or some form of one. afterall, I was going to the land of beer, Germany. so this is a little stubbornness on my part. but it also helps me with staying motivated. hell, for all I know, that was a little bit of reverse psychology on mom's part. or maybe I'm thinking too hard..)
3. By the time they make me leave here, I hope to have improved all of my students' English speaking abilities. But, more importantly, I hope to have instilled in them a little desire to learn about "stuff" in general - different cultures, languages, whatever.
4. I want to become as proficient in the German language as I can.
5. I want to find a real job, so I can start the multiple-decade-long process o paying off the dreaded student loans. Hopefully I can do this (find a job, that is) before I return.
6. I want to run and complete a half-marathon. And possibly get into triathalons.
7. When back in the States: Ride my bike more, and drive my car less.
8. Get good at waking up early. And do it regularly.
9. Write a short story or get a sports related article published somewhere.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I know for sure that I am forgetting some major things, but I just can't pull them out of my brain at the moment.
Lastly, for your viewing pleasure, here are some photos: (Decorating the tree w/ Lutz being a goofball, the dudes of the house and me, an artsy-fartsy picture I like, preparing food in Oma's kitchen while Oma refuses to sit idly and let us do the work, eating a very nice lunch with Oma - Anna-Maria, my aunt, is on the right, Stefan and cousin Jan - Lutz's younger brother.)
So, there you have it - my first blog of 2009. Hope you liked it. And, like I've been continually saying, I am going to give it my all with becoming a more frequent blogger - hey, that's another thing for my list above :).
This week I plan on getting my first haircut/trim in Germany, how exciting! It'll be the first time since I was in the States, woah.
Start planning your trip over here, Tony!!! Ciao!
Much love,
Russ.
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