Going once, going twice...

Wow, two posts in one day, I'm on a roll! 

Now, I would like to submit to you, my faithful readers, as evidence that I am gaining boldness in this foreign place the following: I purchased a bicycle at an auction on Wednesday. Now, I would like to draw your attention to one very important word: auction. This was no easy, walk in, find a bicycle, buy said bicycle...this was go in, peruse the merchandise (some of which was very poor quality, I might add), make a mental list of which bicycles I would be willing to buy, and decide how much I was willing to pay for each of the bicycles. Then, I stood in a crowd of about 50-75 people and bid on said bicycles. Now, maybe I'm making a bigger deal of this than I should be, I mean maybe everyone is bold enough to go to auctions, I don't know. Plus, I've never been to an auction in which everything was conducted in English, either...however, I was pretty darn proud of myself for winning not one, but two bicycles (Amy got there late and we made a deal that I would get her one as well...) in an auction conducted entirely in German. The best part was that I got a pretty great bicycle out of it in the end as well! (I mean, my bike at home is much nicer, but I just need it for a year and I'm on a bit of a tight budget) The other good news is that I know the school will purchase my bike back from me at the end of the year, so I'll get all of my money back...huzzah! 

So I now own a bike that is in desperate need of a name (suggestions welcome...) It is a mountain bike painted a lovely shade of dark blue (if I remember, I'll post pictures, perhaps after it is christened with a fabulously fitting name...) and I am so glad to be able to hop on  and ride wheresoever my little heart desires. I need to get a light soon, so that I am not limited by the ever shortening daylight hours. 

I feel that the whole bike-auction scenario illustrates well my first hectic week of classes as well. I have attended several classes this week, (most of which I will keep, at least one of which I will not continue going to) and it was hard, and confusing at times, I had to use my brain not only to learn but also to understand the words being spoken, and I am utterly exhausted, but not without reward. I feel a certain sense of accomplishment in making it through this crazy week. My class schedule as it stands now includes: German as a foreign language (advanced), Literature and film of the Weimar Republic, a teaching internship class, German as an academic language (basically how to write German well), Germany Today, Paths to European Integration, Modern German Literature (since 1989), the European Union in international relations, and German phonetics. The teachers are great and I am confident that my German will improve through these classes (they're about half and half - classes specifically for foreign students and classes for German students) I feel supported and challenged and only marginally overwhelmed! So, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers through this crazy week. I am glad to finally be in classes and getting into a routine. 

I carry you all in my heart ~love~

End of the line...

Last weekend Amy, Jonathan, Sophie, Chad and I set forth in search of a relatively cheap adventure and thusly decided to ride to the end of the street-car line with our free student tickets to the town of Wiessemburg, France. After a morning at the flea-market, we set out for the sleepy town of Wissembourg in the early afternoon and found a charming old city. Wissembourg is a much older city than Karlsruhe and I was impressed by the old houses and narrow streets that gave this quaint town a more historic feel than Karlsruhe. This church is a beautiful centerpiece of the town:
We were lucky to have a native French speaker (Sophie) with us to teach us a few key words and phrases, read the signs and talk with the locals. Although most people there speak both German and French, they much prefer speaking French. I must say it was a strange feeling to be somewhere where I couldn't understand anything they were saying and couldn't really communicate. But being there definitely gave me a new appreication for just how much German I can understand and speak!

Here you can see Chad, Amy, Sophie and Jonathan sitting on part of the remains of the old city wall that surrounded Wissembourg back in the day. In the background is a nursing home dedicated to the Polish King Stanislow who was exiled there in the 1700s. 

The narrow streets on which old and new architecture comfortably rubbed shoulders lent a comfortable feel to our afternoon stroll through the city. The city integrates green parks and open spaces well with the crowded building structures. I glimpsed a few gardens through rusted gates that made me long to read The Secret Garden for the first time in years.

The afternoon was sunny and comfortably warm, seasoned with the company of friends. I thoroughly enjoyed the sleepy town, although I know I would have felt more comfortable if I knew the language!

After an afternoon of strolling around the narrow streets, we settled down to eat dinner. Unfortunately for us, the French eat on a much different time table, with most restraunts closed until 7 or 8 at night when the re-open for dinner! Luckily we found a place that took us at 6:30 and enjoyed some traditional French food: escargot! Sophie convinced us all that we needed to try snails at least once in our lives, so she ordered a plate and we took turns using the tongs to pick up the very hot, rather slippery snail shells and using a special fork to extract this delicacy from said shells...food and a show, what more can we ask for?

As with most things that are cooked in butter with a lot of great spices, the snails were superb. (a conclusion that all came to, despite the skeptical look on Jonathan's face!) In the end, a good time was had by all, although we were all glad to come home to familiar Karlsruhe. I am glad that each day this city is more and more familiar and feels more like home. However: here's to exotic food, good friends, and new adventures! ~love~

The hills are alive

Luckily enough, we seemed to have found the "easy" button for the entire trip to Liechtenstein...Amy, Jonathan and I left early Friday morning with seemingly little knowledge about the adventure we were embarking on. We traveled south to the Boden-See area where Germany, Switzerland and Austria all meet. We crossed over into Switzerland perhaps a little too easily (we walked through an empty and quiet customs room...with surprisingly little fanfare) Amy thinks that when people cross international (or even state) borders, there should be at least trumpets or something! Anyway, we took the train through the German part of Switzerland to the border town of Buchs. From Buchs we took the Liechtenstein bus to the capital city and then farther on to our hotel in the small mountain town of Steg. Keep in mind that we had no idea what trains or busses we would be taking past the German border or how often such transportation ran...we were so fortunate to always make close connections and made surprisingly good time.Here you see the Steg hotel and almost the entire town of Steg. The fog that had shrowded our entire journey lifted just as we pulled into Steg, making the scenery that much more majestic! We immediately ran up a little hill to a bench to take in the scenery and breathe the fresh, cool mountain air. Jonathan had never seen mountains like this (he lives in the Appalachian Mountains...a different, more rolling kind of beautiful) and it was great fun to experience the Alps with his sense of wonder! I was beyond overjoyed to be in the majestic Alps - I truly believe that one understands the word majestic more fully when standing in the middle of such beauty and grandeur. The whole weekend I was struck by the fact that while archetecture and cities are impressive, nothing that man builds trumps the splendor of God's craftmanship! 

We took a little walk around Steg and the base of the mountain directly behind our hotel: Schönberg (literally "beautiful mountain"). The fall colors were perfect, the weather was relatively warm, the company was wonderful and the setting could not have been better! Upon returning to Steg, we ate at a local restraunt. It was wonderful, we walked in the door and I was worried that they were closed because the chef/owner was sitting with a bunch of people around a table talking - through observation I came to understand that such behavior is pretty much the norm in this sleepy little town! We enjoyed warm drinks and delicious food (the chef boasted that his saurkraut is the best in the region, and I cannot argue...it was most definitely the best saurkraut I have ever eaten!) Then went to bed at 8pm (we were exhausted!) to wake up for a morning hike....
We hiked Schönberg, taking in the amazing scenery every step of the way (ok, except when we were catching ourselves from falling on the loose gravel!) ate at the top and made our way back down to go check out the capital city of Vaduz. Once again, we caught the bus that comes once every 55 minutes by a 5 minute margin! 
Here you can see in the distance the town of Feldkirch in Austria! The Swiss Alps were also quite easy to see from the top of this 2104 meter high mountain!
Here you can see the picturesque town of Vaduz. We visited the art museum there on Sunday morning before traveling to Feldkirch and then through Austria to return Sunday night to Karlsruhe. I am increasingly thankful for the friends that I have found in Amy and Jonathan. The trip to Liechtenstein worked out perfectly and was exactly what I needed. I feel protected and provided for in this place...praise the Father! Missing you all...~love~

Spontaneity is the spice of life

Well, I keep thinking that I have exciting things and thoughts to post, but I honestly cannot think of any of them right now. I write merely to say that I decided with Amy and Jonathan on Tuesday that we will travel to Liechtenstein this weekend. (to save you the time that it will take you to get out your map of Europe and magnifying glass, I'll clarify...) Liechtenstein is the only remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, it is a landlocked tiny little German-speaking principality (about 160 sq. km) with a population of about 35,000 people, whose major exports are machinery, dental products and stamps. It is bordered by Switzerland and Austria and (we hope) about a 4-5 hour journey from here. We made a reservation at a hotel in the mountain town of Steg. We plan to visit the capital city of Vaduz tomorrow when we arrive, then spend time on Saturday hiking and exploring the wonders of the Alps. We are more than just a little excited!

In truth, this trip is coming at a perfect time. Our previous professor for the "intensive German course" fell ill and is unable to complete the last two weeks of the course. Enter our new teacher: a very very kind and friendly former student of the Pedägogische Hochschule who just finished her exams to be an elementary school teacher. While she is an extraordinarily nice person, I have to say that the last 4 days of class have dragged on at an incredibly slow pace. I can only do so many practice German exercises. I can only get excited about German grammar for very short periods of time. I am so ready for real classes to start! On top of the longest 4 days of class, we had a meeting this afternoon to finally discuss our course schedules for the upcoming term. Now, being an expert on making things as hard as possible, I have to say that the Germans have made this excersize an artform in the university system. Points, classes, seminars, labs, I still have yet to make sense of this system that I'm supposed to translate into classes that will transfer to UNC. Luckily the German department at UNC is composed of rockstar professors who will somehow make everything work when I get home, I continue to be stressed out about this highly complicated system. 

In other news, I am now only waiting for my new PIN number to arrive in the mail so that I can load money onto the chip on my new bank card so that I can do wash. Luckily kind, generous, wonderful Amy allowed me to throw in some necessities with her load of wash today or else I would be slaving over the sink right now instead of writing about my woes!

Moral of the story - a spontaneous trip to Liechtenstein is just what the doctor ordered! I can't wait to see more of this beautiful continent! Stay tuned for pictures and stories! ~love~

Stories in my pockets

On Friday, Amy, Sophie, Justina and I took the train to the Rhine River port in Karlsruhe. We checked out one of the industrial "fingers" of the port and decided to go in search of a scenic view of the Rhine. After walking through a very industrial (read: ugly) area, we came at last to a beautiful wooded nature park that runs along the river. As strong and confident women, we entered the woods in good spirits....

...and we had a great hiking adventure. We found little ponds, observed the beautiful changing leaves, sang, laughed and enjoyed one another's company on an overcast fall day. When we set out, we looked at a map and saw that we could walk from where we were (the industrial area) through the nature park to another Strassenbahn stop on a different line. Perfect. To our credit, we followed the map in our heads perfectly - turned left when we needed to turn left, found a beautiful scenic overlook, and had a little adventure. Unfortunately, the map in our heads was flawed...
...when we got to this point, we discovered we had hit a dead end. We walked a very long way down a peninsula that left us with no other option but to walk back the way we came (keep in mind...this was a very long way - much further than any of us had anticipated when we chose our clothing and footwear for the day). One milisecond after we reached the end of the peninsula, the heavens opened up with a generous portion of rain. Just the present we were hoping for. In hind-sight...the rain may have been a gift in disguise in that it ensured that we didn't pause too long to bemoan our fate at the end of tragedy point, but (not so gently) encouraged us to head for what cover we could find in the woods... 
...of course I burst into uncontrollable peals of laughter. We were fortunate to find a faster way out of the woods, however the water damage was already done. We found this very helpful map of course after we made our little miscalculation, but it provides a fabulous illustration of our walk of folly...
Please observed the orange "you are here arrow in the bottom center of the picture, Sophie's finger point to tragedy point, and the ever-important fact that the scenic overlook we found (besides being on a peninsula) does not, in fact, overlook the Rhine River (that would be the blue strip on the far left side of the map, in case you were wondering). Mission failed. So much for being strong, independent and directionally saavy women. We then journeyed along the purple line to the nearby town and (after stopping for directions in a restraunt full of men who may or may not have sniggered generously when we explained our situation) found a Strassenbahn stop. Hungry, tired, cold and wet (with surprisingly high spirits) we were excited to find that a train was scheduled to arrive in about 10 minutes. 10 minutes later, no train. 20 minutes later, no train. 30 minutes later, no train. 45 minutes later we were finally able to board an overcrowded train and stand the rest of the way home! 

Now, lest your bleeding hearts pity me too much, here are the highlights of the adventure(in no particular order):

-Amy, Justina and Sophie - I could not have hoped for more patient and upbeat, optimistic companions for such a trip

-beautiful scenery

-a great hike (who knew I'd get to hike so close to my home!)

-the chocolate bar in my bag

-finding pear and apple trees on the side of the road while we walked

-a hot cup of tea and a döner (turkish version of gyros - there are döner places everywhere here!) when we got back

-shouting "Abenteuer" (the German word for adventure) whenever we felt particularly down

-lots of great pictures

-ever-deepening friendships

-a great new story

~love~

may my heart always be open to little birds...

I found this poem by ee cummings and this opening line struck my eye...I think this beautiful sentiment is my wish for my time here - to walk with my heart open to people, places, and lessons big and small here. To that end, however, I am pleased to share with you all some of my new favorite places that aid me in this open-hearted journey.

First, I got a coupon book from the city office when I registered with the city a few weeks ago. In that book was a two for one coupon for coffee at a coffee shop not too far from here. So, last week Amy and I went in search of coffee deals. After walking all over the city, we finally stumbled upon C'Asia, the coffee shop where this coupon is good. The instant we walked in the door, I knew I had found a safe place for my heart to roam...comfortable chairs, stools, candle-lit tables, delicious coffee, good music and free wi-fi - what more can a girl ask? I have since been back to pass a few hours sipping coffee and reading and I just feel so glad to have a place to relax and process!

Secondly, my class took a field trip to the nearby city of Baden Baden and spent three hours swimming in the mineral waters of the Caracalla baths...I think I found a part of heaven! Everyone knows that I am always happier in water, and there the water is the absolute perfect temperature to swim and relax for hours...outside one of the hot-spring pools is a giant whirlpool - great to just swim around and around and around quite quickly (any poor swimmer will feel accomplished with the help of the powerful wall jets that propell you along!) The have aromatic steam rooms, cold and hot water baths and the big baths that all stay right around 85-95 degrees...perfect. There are chairs under heat lamps where you can take a little nap and also massages available (for a fee, of course). Anyway, for the fairly reasonable entrance fee of 13 Euro, I feel confident that when I get stressed out every three months or so, I can go spend a few relaxing hours at Caracalla (a short 30 minute train ride from here!) and watch my stress melt away!

So, all of that to say, I feel reasonably supported to walk through my time here with a heart open to the little birds. I am learning so much every day, and glad to be here in spite of missing you all. The leaves continue turning spectacular shades of red and yellow - a show I get to watch every day from the windows in my room. 

Now I am just sitting in my room waiting for my ride to take me to Cindy's birthday party...it should be a fun night (although I am unsure how my German will hold up with a room full of native speakers with different dialects...I spend most of my time with exchange students who speak relatively slowly and use vocabulary that is easy for me to understand!) However, I will hopefully post soon pictures from the grand adventure I had yesterday in search of a scenic view of the Rhine River, and also post about the birthday party. Until then... ~love~

more from Munich

As promised (and maybe a little later than I anticipated) here is a little summary of my time in Munich while I wasn't at Oktoberfest. Munich is an incredibly beautiful and historic city and I really hope to return there soon to better appreciate all of the museums and outlying historic sites. However, I was quite content to see whatever was pretty centrally located and within walking-distance. My motto is generally walking is better than getting somewhere quickly (I can't even tell you how many cool things I have seen by walking from place to place and occasionally getting lost along the way!) So, here are a few pictures that exemplify my Munich experience...

These two pictures are of the city hall (Rathaus) on Marianplatz, one of the main squares in Munich city center. This ancient building is home of one of the most famous Glockenspiels in the world - during the summer it runs 4 times a day and in the winter, only 3 times per day. So of course when Amy and I went to see the elaborate movements of this clock, the square was crowded with hundreds of tourists. The crowds and the wait were well worth it, though - the figures move for a good 15 minutes and the bells continue chiming different tunes long after that (we were too hungry to wait around for too long!) The highlight I think was the joust that the figures execute. First, they just go around and Amy turned to me and said "wouldn't it be great if they like really jousted and one of them won?" then, what do you know? The next time around the blue knight dealt the red one a powerful blow, knocking him onto his back! (to thunderous applause...well, kinda)

Also, just off of this central square is the Frauenkirche or "Church of our Lady" of Munich - a beautiful church. Unfortunately we couldn't go up to the top of the towers because it was closed every time we were there. 

After a lovely morning walking around town, we stopped in to see the historic Hofbräuhaus to see one of the most famous beer halls in Munich (a city known for Beer Halls, and birthplace of Biergartens...a fabulous German tradition) It was so lovely and we were so hungry, we decided to eat there - a decision that cost us further sightseeing opportunties but was well worth the time spent experiencing the Bierhall culture. The band was fabulous and everyone was so friendly - I love this communal style of eating. People just sit down and strike up a conversation with complete strangers, talk about life over a beer and good food, then continue on their way.
Here you can see our accidental find of Gartenplatz - a beautiful square with cute shops all around. Just on the other side of this square was a fabulous cafe that served 32 different kinds of hot chocolate. Walking through this part of town, I felt like I was in the Munich that real Müncheners experience...it was a little off the beaten tourist path. 

In all, Munich was beautiful and a truly wonderful experience. I was struck by the beauty of the city no matter where we went. Most windows had flowerboxes overflowing with geraniums and the integration of green space and beautiful architecture. I appreciate the use of trees and greenery throughout many of the cities I have visited in Germany - it adds an air of cleanliness and romance to cities I think. Anyway, the train ride back was a bit of a disaster, about an hour standing in a crowded car, 45 minutes sitting on hard steps, and an unexplained 1/2 hour delay that turned our trip into a 6 hour ordeal...oh well. In all, it was worth every minute! For now, I'll wrap up this post. Love to you, my faithful readers...more to come!