Thu, Mar 20th 2008, 12:06
This blog entry will have no structure or theme.
So, what's new, you ask? Just a few photos I snapped the last couple of days.
Besides, I have been working all day on the tiny details of my layout, and I am all tuckered out and have no creativity left to spare
Mike and I are still working out a few little problems and making some more changes this week, so you may experience some difficulties for a while.
These are some flowers that Mike's Oma gave us. She is a very sweet woman, and she never lets the fact that I don't understand much get in the way of her talking to me. But I am getting better at understanding her dialect and she tries very hard to make the conversation work. I appreciate that. Penny also appreciates the flowers, because she likes to tear off the petals and eat them.
This is a case of me feeling a little too artistic. I discovered a new feature on my camera which makes taking close-up pictures a lot easier. This is a bow from one of Mike's birthday gifts, because he has recently gotten older (March 6th).
In 2006 when I went to Florida with my family, I talked my mom into buying me this at Epcot. I just love it because it is two monkeys and they are hugging. What could be better?
This is where Penny sits to have the best view of the comings-and-goings in our apartment. This is also where she sits and pouts in the hallway as we are going out the front door and abandoning her.
Here is the lovely 7 Straßenbahn, which I take to class. The transit system in Dresden is really, pretty great. There are trams and buses everywhere, and always on time (give or take a minute). One thing I like about Germany is that even the elderly people can get around here. In the U.S. I think once they are too old to drive, they lose all of their independence and have to stay in their homes.
In case you haven't seen enough cat pictures, here is another one. She has pretty gold eyes. And since I have no kids, and nothing exciting happening, this is probably not the last you will see of Penny Mouse.
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Mon, Mar 17th 2008, 12:59
I have been reading lots of blogs and getting all kinds of neato ideas for mine. I am hoping to have lots more time now to devote to writing.
The first series I would like to do is called "The Little Things" in which I will show pictures and/or discuss the many little things that make Germany so different for me. People often ask me what the main differences are, and it is so hard to sum them all up briefly, so I thought this would be a more interesting way to show you.
Since I just came up with this idea this evening, the first things are from my apartment.
For me, these were some of the first differences I noticed when I arrived and stayed at Mike's parents the first night.
The doorknobs and light switches are different! None of the doors fit into the frame, like they do in the U.S. Instead they kind of rest in front of it. I have seen no round doorknobs like in the U.S., and just about every door in the house has a key so you can lock someone in or out of it.
I suppose because most of the buildings in Germany are older and have to be retro-fitted for heaters and such, they are quite an eye-sore. The heaters use water to heat, and there are several of them in every room. They take up a lot of space and they are quite noisy. The heaters in our bedroom have a leak, so we often have to let the air out so they start working again!
I must admit that our washing machine is quite confusing. There are so many selections, and you can also choose the temperature, the length of time, and the speed. I have to say that I usually just pick the shortest cycle and use that one everytime, since I have no clue what they all mean anyways. People wash their clothes for, on average, two hours and at much higher temperatures than in the U.S. And I really do miss having a dryer....
Since coming to Germany I have enjoyed collecting the toys inside Überraschungseier (surprise eggs) made by Kinder. This is a picture of the Strand Nase series (beach nose) which I collected last fall. Most of the eggs have cheap Asian toys inside of them, and Mike always seems to open the ones with the good ones inside. Dani swears he can pick them out by the sound they make when he shakes them next to his ear, but I have yet to see him find one by doing that. Apparently the toys are worth something, but I don't really know about that.
Here is our number from one of the many visits we made to the Ausländersamt (foreigner office). There is a lot of paperwork to be done in order to stay in Germany legally, and you must register with the city you live in. We thought that this number adequately represented the unpleasantness of the office.
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Fri, Mar 14th 2008, 09:22
In April I will finally have my wisdom teeth removed (they have been hurting me off and on for about two years now).
On Monday I am going in to have a consult with my oral surgeon because I am concerned about his suggestions. He wants to do one side one week, and the next the following week. He also wants to use local anesthetic.
I don't know about you, but I feel that if the first time is miserable, I will be dreading going back for the second. Wouldn't it be better to get it all over with at once? I am not sure.
And I have heard such horror stories about wisdom teeth, that the prospect of being awake for this really frightens me. Do I want to hear all the cracking and drilling?
My oral surgeon seems to think local anesthetic is better, but we'll see about that. He recommended that I bring some music to listen to during the surgery to calm me down, so I have started to compile a Wisdom Tooth Extraction Playlist.
This list is a work in progress, and I am open to suggestions. Also important to note is that the playlist is mostly an attempt to make light of the situation, as I will probably just be blasting "DU HAST" during the surgery and thinking that my oral surgeon really does hate me.
- "Give Me Novacaine" Green Day
- "Numb" Linkin Park
- "I Want to Hold Your Hand" The Beatles
- "Hurt" Johnny Cash
- "Hole in My Head" Dixie Chicks
- "Don't Be Cruel" Elvis Presley
-
"I Wanna Be Sedated" The Ramones
- "Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me" Keith Urban
- "Scream" Michael & Janet Jackson
- "Try A Little Tenderness" Otis Redding
- "Comfortably Numb" Pink Floyd
- "Don't Cry" Seal
-
"La Tortura" Shakira
- "First Cut is the Deepest" Cat Stevens
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Fri, Mar 14th 2008, 06:55
So, we all know that Americans have adopted many words from other languages. But many of us are probably not even aware of where these words come from.
Are you aware of all the "Germanisms" we Americans use? Here are some I found interesting:
angst anxiety, worry, fear
iceberg from Eisberg, eis- ice, berg-mountain
poltergeist poltern- to make a lot of noise, geist-ghost
schlepp to drag, tow, carry
delikatessen/deli shop of delicacies
flak antiaircraft gun, or FLugAbwehrKanone
kaputt broken
kitsch gaudy, trashy, low class
Pez short for Pfefferminz (peppermint), brand from Austria
yammer from jammern - to whine, complain
sources: http://germanenglishwords.com
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Thu, Mar 13th 2008, 15:08
I'll apologize ahead of time, I'm in the mood to write a blog, but don't have anything very exciting to write about.
Since we got back from our trip to Switzerland things have been pretty low-key. I have been spending my days reading, surfing the net, and being terrorized by the Penny Monster.
On Monday school started again, but I am only taking German, which is twice a week. They were not offering any business classes in English this semester, so I am not going to stress myself out by trying to go to any of them. That is not why I am here, anyways, and if there's something I don't need anymore of, it's stress.
I feel a bit like I'm in limbo right now, mostly waiting for things that are coming up this year, and feeling like I am very lazy, presently. I am looking forward to getting a "stepper" delivered, perhaps tomorrow, so that I can exercise. I am also dreading getting my wisdom teeth pulled next month, and looking forward to my trip to Arizona in May.
Further away, there are our plans to get our own apartment this fall, which I am thrilled about, and more vacations to plan! I am wanting to go somewhere warm with beaches, so we thought about going to the French Riviera in August, since I discovered the Greek Islands and the Maldeves were a little out of our budget.
I wanted to share a website I found, which I am hoping will prove to be a lot of fun. It's called Post Crossing. It is a website where you exchange post cards with people all over the world. So far I have sent some postcards to Finland, Portugal, Malaysia, and Tempe (funny, no?). I expect to receive postcards soon, and maybe I will post them here if I can.
I was thinking that I could even exchange postcards with people I know! I don't mind where you live, even if it is in Cottonwood. I would like a postcard from you. If you would like to exchange, send me a message and I will send you a postcard!
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These are some flowers that Mike's Oma gave us. She is a very sweet woman, and she never lets the fact that I don't understand much get in the way of her talking to me. But I am getting better at understanding her dialect and she tries very hard to make the conversation work. I appreciate that. Penny also appreciates the flowers, because she likes to tear off the petals and eat them.
This is a case of me feeling a little too artistic. I discovered a new feature on my camera which makes taking close-up pictures a lot easier. This is a bow from one of Mike's birthday gifts, because he has recently gotten older (March 6th). 
In 2006 when I went to Florida with my family, I talked my mom into buying me this at Epcot. I just love it because it is two monkeys and they are hugging. What could be better?
This is where Penny sits to have the best view of the comings-and-goings in our apartment. This is also where she sits and pouts in the hallway as we are going out the front door and abandoning her.
Here is the lovely 7 Straßenbahn, which I take to class. The transit system in Dresden is really, pretty great. There are trams and buses everywhere, and always on time (give or take a minute). One thing I like about Germany is that even the elderly people can get around here. In the U.S. I think once they are too old to drive, they lose all of their independence and have to stay in their homes.
In case you haven't seen enough cat pictures, here is another one. She has pretty gold eyes. And since I have no kids, and nothing exciting happening, this is probably not the last you will see of Penny Mouse.
