i have OFFICIALLY written a 5, which is a practically passing grade.
Donnerstag, 23. April 2009
Sonntag, 12. April 2009
i'm not in love with the modern world
it is weird to look back at 7 months, to think that three more or so and i will be home. it is odd now, because now that uni is sort of settled, i feel sort of... finished. finished like i was with highschool when i learned that i got this scholarship, finished like i am with knitting when there is less than 1/4 less, finished like when i finally put the dough in the oven.
but there is still time, and it is a good and bad feeling together. i have seen so much, learned so much, experienced so much, (cornily enough) grown so much that sometimes i wonder how much of katie there is left. i just spent two weeks hanging out with fellow exchangees and meeting new families and must say that germany is a beautiful, beautiful land.
this post is just going to be pictures, i think.
first off:
these are some of the bigger places I've been. The blue is homebase, the green is potentially planned travel, depending on time and money and so forth.
ferien:
love
katie
but there is still time, and it is a good and bad feeling together. i have seen so much, learned so much, experienced so much, (cornily enough) grown so much that sometimes i wonder how much of katie there is left. i just spent two weeks hanging out with fellow exchangees and meeting new families and must say that germany is a beautiful, beautiful land.
this post is just going to be pictures, i think.
first off:
these are some of the bigger places I've been. The blue is homebase, the green is potentially planned travel, depending on time and money and so forth.
ferien:
love
katie
Donnerstag, 2. April 2009
and we go yo-ho over the sea....!
so, i am currently sitting somewhere in berlin and the screeen is slightly blurry.
there are several potential reasons for that.
the first is, that i think i might be going a little blind.
the second is, that i can also not type and it is clearly past 5 o' clock somewhere. irgendwo. kelly and i (who's internet connection i am currently stealing, and bedroom couch i am currently sleeping on), made baileys. lots of it. and cool labels. for the bottle.
but we did other stuff toooo.
i left bonn on monday morning and arrived in berlin almost half an hour late at some point in the afternoon. the berlin bahnhof is ginormous and their are multiple levels which apparently is what is meant by the words "tief" on the ticket that i bought.
so i changed traisn a few times and then i got on a train heading somewhere in poland.
i didn't go to poland. i got out in berlin. and molested by some small children, who thought i was pretty coools.
btw, i have pictures. somewhere. they're just refusing to load because of some sort of thing involving readers blah blah blah etc.
on tuesday, i went to schoools, with kelly. i bought a month ticket, which may or may not be valid, depending on one's view of the term "student". however, i plan not to speak any german if someone asks.
"es toooot mir liiiiiiiieeeeeeed,iccccccckkkkkkk kaaaaaannnn keeiiiiiiinnnn deutttsch."
aber ja. mal sehen.
then, on tuesday night, we went to the synagogue that was partially destroyed during world war two and had today been rebuilt. there is a museum inside, but we didn't see it. we all saw some of the white yuppy part of berlin, where all of the arty kids moved because it was cheap and remains sort of destroyed because arty kids tend to grow into lazy adults.
but i still loves them.
then, we walked to the fernsehturm (spelling questionable) and looked around for a while. amayingly, some sort of glorified beast has decided to grant us lovely weather (prolly has was zu tun with my trip to the mormon church). so we have been parading about without jackets enjoying the sunshines.
so, on wednesday, kelly and i hit the krankheits museum, which is the sort of place i would live at if they had beds. it was filled with dead things and the ways people get killed. like one eyed cyclop babies and dissected livers. there was also an interesting section about the evolution of certain ways diseases are treated (ranging from the early treatments of glaucoma to sepsis and a rather interesting example about difficult births in the 19th century, with an absolutely terrifying looking birthing chair. as a side note, there was a quite entertaining english translation whoopsie, which directly translated one of hte words for midwife to "diaper changer", which was sort of lols in context. over all, major thumbs up for the charité krankheits museum in berlin.
then, on wednesday night, after hitting ka de we, which is this ginormous shopping center with things like 17,000€ bottles of brandy and more clothes than we could shake a forest of sticks at, and writing some postcards bought from a lovely turkish lady, kelly and i went to visit the lovely looking pub that i had earlier remarked upon. there is this typical berlinisch beer, that is fruity, and i wanted to try it. strictly experimental, of course.
so, we went to an irish pub (where yes, kelly, the waitresses spoke ENGLISH, because they were NOT GERMAN) called the oscar wilde, which was playing beirut when we walked in, and had some red and green coloured beer. which is surprisingly nice and not terribly alcoholic.
or so i thought.
then we had apint of guinness (pictures coming later) and then i stood up and the floor was like woooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh hey there! and it was like, okay.
but the berliner beer is pretty very cools. there is raspberry and waldmeister, which is green and tastes yummy.
so then we rode the u-bahn homes and talked to kelly's host parents for a little bit. and then beds.
today, we went to the holocaust memorial museum. i've posted pictures of this memorial before (it's the one with the many cement blocks), but it turns out there's quite an involved museum underneath. it's quite lovely, quite detailed, with lots of information-- including a lot of personal stories. one of the rasons why i think that the holocaust is so well sort of... forgotten, as it were, is that too frequently, thousands of deaths are simply a statistic. this museum was chilling, because it sort of reversed the process, the ocncept-- it focused on the individual victims, the names forgotten and the lives destroyed, all while not completely obliviating the overwhelmingness of the holocaust.
on a lighter note, then we went to karstadt. i got ided for like the first time ever in germany. then, we came home and made noodles. and baileys. and ate poptarts.
which i also bought at karstadt.
that's all for nows
lots of love
katie
there are several potential reasons for that.
the first is, that i think i might be going a little blind.
the second is, that i can also not type and it is clearly past 5 o' clock somewhere. irgendwo. kelly and i (who's internet connection i am currently stealing, and bedroom couch i am currently sleeping on), made baileys. lots of it. and cool labels. for the bottle.
but we did other stuff toooo.
i left bonn on monday morning and arrived in berlin almost half an hour late at some point in the afternoon. the berlin bahnhof is ginormous and their are multiple levels which apparently is what is meant by the words "tief" on the ticket that i bought.
so i changed traisn a few times and then i got on a train heading somewhere in poland.
i didn't go to poland. i got out in berlin. and molested by some small children, who thought i was pretty coools.
btw, i have pictures. somewhere. they're just refusing to load because of some sort of thing involving readers blah blah blah etc.
on tuesday, i went to schoools, with kelly. i bought a month ticket, which may or may not be valid, depending on one's view of the term "student". however, i plan not to speak any german if someone asks.
"es toooot mir liiiiiiiieeeeeeed,iccccccckkkkkkk kaaaaaannnn keeiiiiiiinnnn deutttsch."
aber ja. mal sehen.
then, on tuesday night, we went to the synagogue that was partially destroyed during world war two and had today been rebuilt. there is a museum inside, but we didn't see it. we all saw some of the white yuppy part of berlin, where all of the arty kids moved because it was cheap and remains sort of destroyed because arty kids tend to grow into lazy adults.
but i still loves them.
then, we walked to the fernsehturm (spelling questionable) and looked around for a while. amayingly, some sort of glorified beast has decided to grant us lovely weather (prolly has was zu tun with my trip to the mormon church). so we have been parading about without jackets enjoying the sunshines.
so, on wednesday, kelly and i hit the krankheits museum, which is the sort of place i would live at if they had beds. it was filled with dead things and the ways people get killed. like one eyed cyclop babies and dissected livers. there was also an interesting section about the evolution of certain ways diseases are treated (ranging from the early treatments of glaucoma to sepsis and a rather interesting example about difficult births in the 19th century, with an absolutely terrifying looking birthing chair. as a side note, there was a quite entertaining english translation whoopsie, which directly translated one of hte words for midwife to "diaper changer", which was sort of lols in context. over all, major thumbs up for the charité krankheits museum in berlin.
then, on wednesday night, after hitting ka de we, which is this ginormous shopping center with things like 17,000€ bottles of brandy and more clothes than we could shake a forest of sticks at, and writing some postcards bought from a lovely turkish lady, kelly and i went to visit the lovely looking pub that i had earlier remarked upon. there is this typical berlinisch beer, that is fruity, and i wanted to try it. strictly experimental, of course.
so, we went to an irish pub (where yes, kelly, the waitresses spoke ENGLISH, because they were NOT GERMAN) called the oscar wilde, which was playing beirut when we walked in, and had some red and green coloured beer. which is surprisingly nice and not terribly alcoholic.
or so i thought.
then we had apint of guinness (pictures coming later) and then i stood up and the floor was like woooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh hey there! and it was like, okay.
but the berliner beer is pretty very cools. there is raspberry and waldmeister, which is green and tastes yummy.
so then we rode the u-bahn homes and talked to kelly's host parents for a little bit. and then beds.
today, we went to the holocaust memorial museum. i've posted pictures of this memorial before (it's the one with the many cement blocks), but it turns out there's quite an involved museum underneath. it's quite lovely, quite detailed, with lots of information-- including a lot of personal stories. one of the rasons why i think that the holocaust is so well sort of... forgotten, as it were, is that too frequently, thousands of deaths are simply a statistic. this museum was chilling, because it sort of reversed the process, the ocncept-- it focused on the individual victims, the names forgotten and the lives destroyed, all while not completely obliviating the overwhelmingness of the holocaust.
on a lighter note, then we went to karstadt. i got ided for like the first time ever in germany. then, we came home and made noodles. and baileys. and ate poptarts.
which i also bought at karstadt.
that's all for nows
lots of love
katie
Sonntag, 29. März 2009
battle of the blogs
On Friday the 27th, Katie Came to Town.
And the world was changed.
Before this happened, a few other things worth noting occured.
First of all, Creepy Sunglasses Guy was on the bus. As usual. AND, he asked to borrow my pen. Which I allowed, because I don't know what he would have done otherwise. Scary scary man.
Then, Katie did not come. But her phone call came, and I answered it. And in Denglish, she told me that because of snow, her train was coming late. She says that isn't what she said, but that's what I understood. I love it.
Much waiting occured, and I bought a crazy looking bread thing for Andelyn. And some other stuff of goodness.
After much more waiting, Katie arrived! And the world was, as before stated, geändert.
after a 50€ train ticket, 2 ices, a 30 minute verspatung, a bottle of fanta, and a rogue encounter of the english variety (there was an english speaking man on the train), i finally made it to the bonn hbf.
thankfullz, meg was waiting for me.
A good chunk of my waitingness had been spent with a Ticketautomat, attempting to save katie as much money as possible. I ended up failing, but that wasn't my fault. So, prepared with infos, Katie and I boarded an U-Bahn to Anya's house.
this is sort of actually a lols story. i couldn't exactly figure out, why meg had switched host families TO LIVE WITH TWO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS. anywsays, it turns out we didn't go to her house, we went to anya's.
the general plan was to dye my hair.
the general plan sort of... dissolved. into teeny, tiny, bitsy pieces. the first thing the "professional" did was dump the conditioner into the dye, making it unusable. didn't like the color anyways, and we hop back on the u-bahn and make a flying trip to rewes.
The funny thing about that story is that Katie was not under the impression that, despite my assurances, Anya really is a professional. She is, like, trained and stuffs. In Cosmetology. Yup.
I take full blame because I was distracting Anya the whole time with my incessant chatter. I lost my voice eventually.
Anywhos, we went to ReWe. Turns out they don't carry hairdye. Not in the the hair section, or the fruit section, or the cleaning products section. We checked.
So we returned to the House of Anya, and Katie and I both got our self-done haircuts smoothed out by Anya the Amazing.
i was going to make a totes brilliant meg equals pithy squirrel reference. it's forthcoming, promises.
I have yet to understand from where this forthcoming reference is supposed to come, but it will most Definitely be brilliant.
well, have to have some incentive to keep the readers at it
Oh right. It's part of the evil plan of all bloggers. *had forgotten*
At this point it became run-to-the-bus time.
so i bought another bus ticket. hence the meg failing at saving katie money thing, that you'd remember if you just didn't skim to the dirty parts.
anywhooos, so we rode the u-bahn back to the bahnhof. when we were walking out of the hallway, i got confronted by two germans of the teenage variety. they did not seem to be drunk.
they approach me. i whip out the "es toooot meeer leeeiiid..." and look to meg for reassurance. i thought SHE SAID THAT THE BONN FOLKS WERE FRIENDLY.
LIES!
and then the guy starts speaking english.
he points at his wrist and says, i saw you on the tv yesterday, can i have your sign?"
and then they rambled some more and then meg pulled me away, so i could be harrassed by the next one in line.
which was the bus driver.
i get on the bus. i must buy another ticket (this is a reaccuring theme; i hope you're not bored by it yet.)
me: can i buy a ticket to... meg?
meg: blah this is my stop blah
me: what she said
bus driver: now you say it!
me: ??????
me: meg?
and then meg fed me the words and the guy asked me from where i'm from. no one knows where braunschweig is down here, so it's a bit odd.
i think he meant my nationality. but i whipped out the german, srs bsnss style, so all was in ordnung.
I personally found the busdriver rather friendly.
sure, meg. sure. i thought bonn was family-friendly; now i'm thinking again.
It is, except when you are here. The trade-off is that when you are here, the trains come on time. So I win.
By the way, the name of my stop is Bßhövn Abzg. Ganz simple.
that's for privacy protection
Then Samstag occured, bright and early the next day - we were awoken by the brightness of the sun at apprx. 7:40. How deceiving of it.
We made ourselves ready (as the Germans say) and went downstairs for shoes and stuffs, when we ran into Regina the hostmother.
Mama: Ack! If I knew you were leaving early we would have breakfasted earlier!! Here, smear yourself a Brötchen.
Me:...Bus in 5 minutes?
Whatever. We made it with only minimal light jogging.
Then Katie attempted to buy a Tagesticket (bus and train ticket for a whole day).
me: hallo, ich hätte gern eine tagesticket. region four. köln.
him: bonn?
me: köln.
him: bonn.
me: köln.
him: oh! köln (he says it the exact same)
and then he prints me a four card.
so we went and talked to him again, and he complained and gave me a day ticket.
then, on the bus, i was introduced to sunglasses man, meg's secret loooove.
the sparks were flying as he dozed romantically in the back of the bus.
clearly, it is forever.
Only because he refuses to take a different bus. Or a bath, I should say. There is nothing sexy about greasy hair and cut-up knuckles. Or bleeding eye sockets, but I suppose that was just once. Sorry, Katie.
sure, meg.
she's just in denial. THE SPARKS WERE FLYING; I TELLS YOU!
That was because the bus is reallllllly old. Honestly, the middle turny section is going to fall out some day.
We decided that, since we had put so much effort into getting a ticket that lets Katie go to Köln, we may as well go there. So we did. And, guess what?
It was raining.
Hard.
The wonderful thing about the Köln Dom is that it is like a massive wind maschine. It is like Chicago in the middle of the Köln Innercity. Ergo, umbrella = useless = we are wet.
and we blowdryed our hair and everything.
Luckily the rain was all, 'just kidding!' and we did not become soaked through. We eventually arrived at my personal favorite haven, The English Shop, which I find much amazing. Unfortunately the counter was not being manned this time by a hot British boy with one of those accents that melts the bones in your knees. Or maybe that was a fortunate thing - I was planning on doing a lot of walking this weekend.
well, i saw a llama. and that made me all melty-kneed, even though i was planning to do a lot of walking this weekend.
We then wandered a bit more until we came upon a S-Bahn. As we approached, the rain picked up. As we attempted to decide a direction, it picked up more. As it started down-ouring so hard that the rain - yes, rain, not hail - started bouncing off the ground, we ran for the side that we were closest to: and hid under the covering until the Bahn came.
We ended up on the other side of the river at a Bahnhof that I didn't know existed and took a train back to Bonn that I had never taken before and that went through stops that I had never heard of and I was very confused, but eventually we ended up on Track 3 in the Bonn Hbf so all was well again.
so then we were in bonn.
and we went a-walkin'.
we found a seriously cuties little store with odd things and went upstairs.
at the foot of another very intriguing set of stairs, there was a sign that said "private, but please come in. everything is for sale."
it turned out that it was a little overpriced thriftstore. i bought an amazing yolked blue fuzzy skirt and meg almost bought a magenta-themed pioneer dress and then bought like a 70's style shirt dress.
then i was hungry, so we went and nommed some noodles.
i learned to use chopsticks.
apparently, i am right handed.
Anya and I, through the invention of the Telephone, planned ourselves a ron-day-voo. And then it started hailing.
We found ourselves an S-Bahn and were magically (after a good 15 minutes) in Bad Godesberg. We went to the Haribo Fabrik!! (read - factory.)
me: So, where is this factory thing?
Anya: this will soon become apparent.
me: ... ?
After like 3 minutes: Large Red Arrow!
This is no cool thing like a factory tour or such. No no, it is a very large store fulllll of candy. The gummi bear kind, and other assorted varieties of amazingness. Also, a bear that talks. And gummi candy in the shape of Arnold Schwarzene... yeah. Him.
We wandered in a very interesting fashion, when suddenly I spotted a cooler! I like cool treats, so I peeked through the glass and spyed myself some FREEZE POPS!! Amazings. I bought one, and also a packet of them to take home. Calm yourself, it was only €o,65. Mmmm. Sadly, I had some difficulties with my package due to a lack of scissors. Photos forthcoming.
german precision engineering my oversized black eye-podular. i am experimenting with parental guidance non-required blogging.
Then - Kinopolis! Yays! Costing of money, of which Katie did not have im Moment. So,
me (what i heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldautomat?
me (what everyone else heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldmaschine?
I am officially going insane.
After ths getting of moneys, we returned to the theater, bought tickets, were confused about how to get in, and then were told that Katie's large camera of coolness was not allowed in the theater.
so i stuck it in a locker. it was not a positive experience. i experience seperation anxiety when parted from my camera.
We watched The Shopaholic. But before this occurence, we discussed glasses and their uses. And Katie's glasses, which she left at home, were described as "They're like a Bright Eye for Cutie glasses."
I died of laughter.
Scary talking mannequins. Otherwise good.
We then searched us a drug store to try this hair thing again.
except we got out of the kino at 6:02.
and we're in germany, so apparently people don't need hairdye or toothpaste or nailpolish after 6 o'clock.
so we went to karstadt. and bought like THE MOST obnoxiously coloured red hair dye ever. ever. ever. ever. it was like orange. i was like, okay!
so then we went back to anya's house and we had dinner with someone from the un and i got climbed over by a toddler for a while.
and then we dyed my hair.
it was suspiciously not-burny. but as we washed it out, we were sort of like... katie, your hair isn't really red.
but we almost missed our bus, so we went running with the soaking hair and then we did not miss our bus, but it turns out that on saturday evenings, the bus only runs every other hour.
so we went to meccas. and met some german gangstas, with mullets and overly tan skin and sweatpants and fanny packs. they were quite infatuated with one miss meg.
We were speaking English.
Dude #4: lol hehe Ich kann English! lol
me: Ich kann Deutsch! (said to myself/Katie)
#4: Oh, du kannst Deutsch?
Kontact had been made. So I sold them a dollar.
We discussed many topics: famous people (I'm from Iowa), drinking (he didn't until 18, when his gramma died), hamburger prices, Monster Energy Drinks, spring break, exchange year, spring break, $/€ exchange rate, so on. And then,
#4: Hey, can I buy your dollar? For a euro.
#3: Yeah! That's a 20 cent profit!
me: sure you can.
#4: Oh, I don't have a euro.
me: ....
#3: I'll buy it!
Sweetness.
Except now I don't have a dollar, and those things are great conversation starters. Obviously.
Then they randomly left. And the bus came. And Mr. Sunglasses was somehow not on board.
but meg was missing him, i could tell.
she was practically pining away.
No, that was just my throat from talking all day. *croak* *croak*
because she was talking about SUNGLASSES MAN.
i win.
anyways, so we came home and went to bed and the time sprung ahead and then it was this morning and i went to church.
meg is the first real mormon that i have ever met. but now i know a lot of them.
they are semingly very nice, but no one knows with these types and their "people jackets".
it was sillies, because they kep saying "zeugnis", which i know as report card.
which actually also means report card. and testimony. everyone also thought we were sisters, because apparently our hair and our eyes are like the same.
The retro-ness of our clothings may have also played a part in that.
sure, meg. i TOTES believe you. secretly, i am from iowa. you heard it here first.
and then one of the missionaries asked me if i wanted a book of mormon.
i was like, sure?
so they came and visited my house. well, meg's house. but whatever.
spreading the gospel and all the jazz.
with his "people jacket".
well, that's all from this end of the spectrum.
all the love (tooth and nail)
katie
I'm not much of a sign-offerin, but I am feeling the peer-pressure.
warm-fuzzy-feelings from buschhoven!
-lauren margaret
And the world was changed.
Before this happened, a few other things worth noting occured.
First of all, Creepy Sunglasses Guy was on the bus. As usual. AND, he asked to borrow my pen. Which I allowed, because I don't know what he would have done otherwise. Scary scary man.
Then, Katie did not come. But her phone call came, and I answered it. And in Denglish, she told me that because of snow, her train was coming late. She says that isn't what she said, but that's what I understood. I love it.
Much waiting occured, and I bought a crazy looking bread thing for Andelyn. And some other stuff of goodness.
After much more waiting, Katie arrived! And the world was, as before stated, geändert.
after a 50€ train ticket, 2 ices, a 30 minute verspatung, a bottle of fanta, and a rogue encounter of the english variety (there was an english speaking man on the train), i finally made it to the bonn hbf.
thankfullz, meg was waiting for me.
A good chunk of my waitingness had been spent with a Ticketautomat, attempting to save katie as much money as possible. I ended up failing, but that wasn't my fault. So, prepared with infos, Katie and I boarded an U-Bahn to Anya's house.
this is sort of actually a lols story. i couldn't exactly figure out, why meg had switched host families TO LIVE WITH TWO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS. anywsays, it turns out we didn't go to her house, we went to anya's.
the general plan was to dye my hair.
the general plan sort of... dissolved. into teeny, tiny, bitsy pieces. the first thing the "professional" did was dump the conditioner into the dye, making it unusable. didn't like the color anyways, and we hop back on the u-bahn and make a flying trip to rewes.
The funny thing about that story is that Katie was not under the impression that, despite my assurances, Anya really is a professional. She is, like, trained and stuffs. In Cosmetology. Yup.
I take full blame because I was distracting Anya the whole time with my incessant chatter. I lost my voice eventually.
Anywhos, we went to ReWe. Turns out they don't carry hairdye. Not in the the hair section, or the fruit section, or the cleaning products section. We checked.
So we returned to the House of Anya, and Katie and I both got our self-done haircuts smoothed out by Anya the Amazing.
i was going to make a totes brilliant meg equals pithy squirrel reference. it's forthcoming, promises.
I have yet to understand from where this forthcoming reference is supposed to come, but it will most Definitely be brilliant.
well, have to have some incentive to keep the readers at it
Oh right. It's part of the evil plan of all bloggers. *had forgotten*
At this point it became run-to-the-bus time.
so i bought another bus ticket. hence the meg failing at saving katie money thing, that you'd remember if you just didn't skim to the dirty parts.
anywhooos, so we rode the u-bahn back to the bahnhof. when we were walking out of the hallway, i got confronted by two germans of the teenage variety. they did not seem to be drunk.
they approach me. i whip out the "es toooot meeer leeeiiid..." and look to meg for reassurance. i thought SHE SAID THAT THE BONN FOLKS WERE FRIENDLY.
LIES!
and then the guy starts speaking english.
he points at his wrist and says, i saw you on the tv yesterday, can i have your sign?"
and then they rambled some more and then meg pulled me away, so i could be harrassed by the next one in line.
which was the bus driver.
i get on the bus. i must buy another ticket (this is a reaccuring theme; i hope you're not bored by it yet.)
me: can i buy a ticket to... meg?
meg: blah this is my stop blah
me: what she said
bus driver: now you say it!
me: ??????
me: meg?
and then meg fed me the words and the guy asked me from where i'm from. no one knows where braunschweig is down here, so it's a bit odd.
i think he meant my nationality. but i whipped out the german, srs bsnss style, so all was in ordnung.
I personally found the busdriver rather friendly.
sure, meg. sure. i thought bonn was family-friendly; now i'm thinking again.
It is, except when you are here. The trade-off is that when you are here, the trains come on time. So I win.
By the way, the name of my stop is Bßhövn Abzg. Ganz simple.
that's for privacy protection
Then Samstag occured, bright and early the next day - we were awoken by the brightness of the sun at apprx. 7:40. How deceiving of it.
We made ourselves ready (as the Germans say) and went downstairs for shoes and stuffs, when we ran into Regina the hostmother.
Mama: Ack! If I knew you were leaving early we would have breakfasted earlier!! Here, smear yourself a Brötchen.
Me:...Bus in 5 minutes?
Whatever. We made it with only minimal light jogging.
Then Katie attempted to buy a Tagesticket (bus and train ticket for a whole day).
me: hallo, ich hätte gern eine tagesticket. region four. köln.
him: bonn?
me: köln.
him: bonn.
me: köln.
him: oh! köln (he says it the exact same)
and then he prints me a four card.
so we went and talked to him again, and he complained and gave me a day ticket.
then, on the bus, i was introduced to sunglasses man, meg's secret loooove.
the sparks were flying as he dozed romantically in the back of the bus.
clearly, it is forever.
Only because he refuses to take a different bus. Or a bath, I should say. There is nothing sexy about greasy hair and cut-up knuckles. Or bleeding eye sockets, but I suppose that was just once. Sorry, Katie.
sure, meg.
she's just in denial. THE SPARKS WERE FLYING; I TELLS YOU!
That was because the bus is reallllllly old. Honestly, the middle turny section is going to fall out some day.
We decided that, since we had put so much effort into getting a ticket that lets Katie go to Köln, we may as well go there. So we did. And, guess what?
It was raining.
Hard.
The wonderful thing about the Köln Dom is that it is like a massive wind maschine. It is like Chicago in the middle of the Köln Innercity. Ergo, umbrella = useless = we are wet.
and we blowdryed our hair and everything.
Luckily the rain was all, 'just kidding!' and we did not become soaked through. We eventually arrived at my personal favorite haven, The English Shop, which I find much amazing. Unfortunately the counter was not being manned this time by a hot British boy with one of those accents that melts the bones in your knees. Or maybe that was a fortunate thing - I was planning on doing a lot of walking this weekend.
well, i saw a llama. and that made me all melty-kneed, even though i was planning to do a lot of walking this weekend.
We then wandered a bit more until we came upon a S-Bahn. As we approached, the rain picked up. As we attempted to decide a direction, it picked up more. As it started down-ouring so hard that the rain - yes, rain, not hail - started bouncing off the ground, we ran for the side that we were closest to: and hid under the covering until the Bahn came.
We ended up on the other side of the river at a Bahnhof that I didn't know existed and took a train back to Bonn that I had never taken before and that went through stops that I had never heard of and I was very confused, but eventually we ended up on Track 3 in the Bonn Hbf so all was well again.
so then we were in bonn.
and we went a-walkin'.
we found a seriously cuties little store with odd things and went upstairs.
at the foot of another very intriguing set of stairs, there was a sign that said "private, but please come in. everything is for sale."
it turned out that it was a little overpriced thriftstore. i bought an amazing yolked blue fuzzy skirt and meg almost bought a magenta-themed pioneer dress and then bought like a 70's style shirt dress.
then i was hungry, so we went and nommed some noodles.
i learned to use chopsticks.
apparently, i am right handed.
Anya and I, through the invention of the Telephone, planned ourselves a ron-day-voo. And then it started hailing.
We found ourselves an S-Bahn and were magically (after a good 15 minutes) in Bad Godesberg. We went to the Haribo Fabrik!! (read - factory.)
me: So, where is this factory thing?
Anya: this will soon become apparent.
me: ... ?
After like 3 minutes: Large Red Arrow!
This is no cool thing like a factory tour or such. No no, it is a very large store fulllll of candy. The gummi bear kind, and other assorted varieties of amazingness. Also, a bear that talks. And gummi candy in the shape of Arnold Schwarzene... yeah. Him.
We wandered in a very interesting fashion, when suddenly I spotted a cooler! I like cool treats, so I peeked through the glass and spyed myself some FREEZE POPS!! Amazings. I bought one, and also a packet of them to take home. Calm yourself, it was only €o,65. Mmmm. Sadly, I had some difficulties with my package due to a lack of scissors. Photos forthcoming.
german precision engineering my oversized black eye-podular. i am experimenting with parental guidance non-required blogging.
Then - Kinopolis! Yays! Costing of money, of which Katie did not have im Moment. So,
me (what i heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldautomat?
me (what everyone else heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldmaschine?
I am officially going insane.
After ths getting of moneys, we returned to the theater, bought tickets, were confused about how to get in, and then were told that Katie's large camera of coolness was not allowed in the theater.
so i stuck it in a locker. it was not a positive experience. i experience seperation anxiety when parted from my camera.
We watched The Shopaholic. But before this occurence, we discussed glasses and their uses. And Katie's glasses, which she left at home, were described as "They're like a Bright Eye for Cutie glasses."
I died of laughter.
Scary talking mannequins. Otherwise good.
We then searched us a drug store to try this hair thing again.
except we got out of the kino at 6:02.
and we're in germany, so apparently people don't need hairdye or toothpaste or nailpolish after 6 o'clock.
so we went to karstadt. and bought like THE MOST obnoxiously coloured red hair dye ever. ever. ever. ever. it was like orange. i was like, okay!
so then we went back to anya's house and we had dinner with someone from the un and i got climbed over by a toddler for a while.
and then we dyed my hair.
it was suspiciously not-burny. but as we washed it out, we were sort of like... katie, your hair isn't really red.
but we almost missed our bus, so we went running with the soaking hair and then we did not miss our bus, but it turns out that on saturday evenings, the bus only runs every other hour.
so we went to meccas. and met some german gangstas, with mullets and overly tan skin and sweatpants and fanny packs. they were quite infatuated with one miss meg.
We were speaking English.
Dude #4: lol hehe Ich kann English! lol
me: Ich kann Deutsch! (said to myself/Katie)
#4: Oh, du kannst Deutsch?
Kontact had been made. So I sold them a dollar.
We discussed many topics: famous people (I'm from Iowa), drinking (he didn't until 18, when his gramma died), hamburger prices, Monster Energy Drinks, spring break, exchange year, spring break, $/€ exchange rate, so on. And then,
#4: Hey, can I buy your dollar? For a euro.
#3: Yeah! That's a 20 cent profit!
me: sure you can.
#4: Oh, I don't have a euro.
me: ....
#3: I'll buy it!
Sweetness.
Except now I don't have a dollar, and those things are great conversation starters. Obviously.
Then they randomly left. And the bus came. And Mr. Sunglasses was somehow not on board.
but meg was missing him, i could tell.
she was practically pining away.
No, that was just my throat from talking all day. *croak* *croak*
because she was talking about SUNGLASSES MAN.
i win.
anyways, so we came home and went to bed and the time sprung ahead and then it was this morning and i went to church.
meg is the first real mormon that i have ever met. but now i know a lot of them.
they are semingly very nice, but no one knows with these types and their "people jackets".
it was sillies, because they kep saying "zeugnis", which i know as report card.
which actually also means report card. and testimony. everyone also thought we were sisters, because apparently our hair and our eyes are like the same.
The retro-ness of our clothings may have also played a part in that.
sure, meg. i TOTES believe you. secretly, i am from iowa. you heard it here first.
and then one of the missionaries asked me if i wanted a book of mormon.
i was like, sure?
so they came and visited my house. well, meg's house. but whatever.
spreading the gospel and all the jazz.
with his "people jacket".
well, that's all from this end of the spectrum.
all the love (tooth and nail)
katie
I'm not much of a sign-offerin, but I am feeling the peer-pressure.
warm-fuzzy-feelings from buschhoven!
-lauren margaret
Donnerstag, 19. März 2009
several things have happened since the last time i wrote.
katie
- i was waitlisted at macaulays
- i was actually allowed to read something in english class
- i answered a question correctly in religion class
- i think that i've bruised my tailbone
- i had yoga
- the new franz cd is brilliant
- and i am learning for a biology test tomorrow. promising to be a-- you guessed it-- epic fail. we'll seas, we'll seas.
katie
Montag, 16. März 2009
Sonntag, 15. März 2009
lick your cigarette and then kiss me
on friday, i went to see the Seltsame Fall des Benjamin Button. with my host mum. it was her birthday present. I still don't know how I feel about it, but it was certainly interesting. I think I like films better in German.
every once in a while, i'm struck again by how much i understand. this was a really texty movie, and i found myself explaining it to my host mum. (i don't know if she was just humoring me, but it was still really nice.
yesterday was so, amazingly beautiful and warm and sunny. i went to the city and met up with my au pair friend and we ate ice cream and mumbled about my failure of a love life and then i bought, in no particular order: a formelsammlung, pastel kreide, hair dye (apparently, i am going strawberry blond), ANOTHER new journal (starting number 3, kiddos, my fault for using the pocket sized, i imagine) and a new notepad for school. which blows this week budget already.
yesterday was a really big soccer game between the braunschweig team and the berlin team and braunschweig lost tragically. the riot police were out en masse (i'm not kidding-- they have knee pads and riot helmets and riot sticks), masses of them walking around, paramedics at the standby and so on and so forth. when i went to the train station, there were approximately 10 of them blocking the entrance to my gleis.
there were some people allowed to go through, some people that were id'd and some people that were turned away. i couldn't figure out WHAT was going on, and I didn't have my passport/residency permit with me (okay, i am scared of the police here, i don't know particularly why-- perhaps because they are not as friendly seeming as the one's in the US?) and so I was pretty nervous. Eventually, I went up and asked in my best German "am I allowed to go through?" one of the police officer's looks me up and down (i don't know if he's serious, or just making fun of me because I am so obviously nervous) and eventually says "sure."
so i go up and there are about 8o million drunk germans trying to get on one regional bahn. there are police officers standing by as people run around with plastic cups of beer and smoke cigarettes, yelling chants and argueing with old women with headscarves. i would NOT want to be on that train.
Eventually, my train came and i got on and went home and made pasta.
like, i really made pasta. it was pretty good. more about that later.
here are some pictures of the pasta making process. my host family was quite entertained.
today i checked my mail compulsively waiting for a decision from macaulay and made focaccia and creme brulee. with salt. omg, fail. but my host family (other than my host sister) ated it and said it was good.
then i drewed a picture for art and studied a bit for physik.
that's all for now
love
katie
every once in a while, i'm struck again by how much i understand. this was a really texty movie, and i found myself explaining it to my host mum. (i don't know if she was just humoring me, but it was still really nice.
yesterday was so, amazingly beautiful and warm and sunny. i went to the city and met up with my au pair friend and we ate ice cream and mumbled about my failure of a love life and then i bought, in no particular order: a formelsammlung, pastel kreide, hair dye (apparently, i am going strawberry blond), ANOTHER new journal (starting number 3, kiddos, my fault for using the pocket sized, i imagine) and a new notepad for school. which blows this week budget already.
yesterday was a really big soccer game between the braunschweig team and the berlin team and braunschweig lost tragically. the riot police were out en masse (i'm not kidding-- they have knee pads and riot helmets and riot sticks), masses of them walking around, paramedics at the standby and so on and so forth. when i went to the train station, there were approximately 10 of them blocking the entrance to my gleis.
there were some people allowed to go through, some people that were id'd and some people that were turned away. i couldn't figure out WHAT was going on, and I didn't have my passport/residency permit with me (okay, i am scared of the police here, i don't know particularly why-- perhaps because they are not as friendly seeming as the one's in the US?) and so I was pretty nervous. Eventually, I went up and asked in my best German "am I allowed to go through?" one of the police officer's looks me up and down (i don't know if he's serious, or just making fun of me because I am so obviously nervous) and eventually says "sure."
so i go up and there are about 8o million drunk germans trying to get on one regional bahn. there are police officers standing by as people run around with plastic cups of beer and smoke cigarettes, yelling chants and argueing with old women with headscarves. i would NOT want to be on that train.
Eventually, my train came and i got on and went home and made pasta.
like, i really made pasta. it was pretty good. more about that later.
here are some pictures of the pasta making process. my host family was quite entertained.
today i checked my mail compulsively waiting for a decision from macaulay and made focaccia and creme brulee. with salt. omg, fail. but my host family (other than my host sister) ated it and said it was good.
then i drewed a picture for art and studied a bit for physik.
that's all for now
love
katie
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