Poland: The Greatest Country in the World

Hello again friends!  I'm sorry for such an obnoxious delay for this post.  I shouldn't promise things and wait a month to deliver. I'm shamed, you can be sure of that.  Before I begin, you might notice a new look to my blog, and that is because I've finally discovered how to personalize it a bit.  The new background is a photo that I took in Poznań. I think it adds the proper ambiance, don't you?

Life in Kassel has been alternately exciting and boring (as usual) and I will share some of the excitement but clearly the most important event in the past month was our trip to Poland.  The purpose of the trip was to attend Ania and Dominik's wedding, but we weren't going to go all the way to Poland and not see some of the exciting cities.

Ania and Dominik left us earlier in the week, and so at the end of July Eduardo, Natalia, Jehona and I rented a car and took off on a family trip.  We headed east, relying on the GPS, and got pretty far before we realized that the GPS was taking us to the Czech Republic.  We all like the Czech Republic, but we didn't know of anyone getting married there so we altered the route, heading a bit more north.   We arrived at the border in the later afternoon, exchanged some euros for złotys, and sped onto the Polish roads.  Though I guess "sped" isn't quite right, since there are no big highways and most of the border region is under construction.  Rather, we cautiously putted along through the traffic cones and took in the scenery.  I didn't expect there to be such a difference, and while it wasn't drastic there was a noticeable change.  My guess is that this part of Poland is timber country, because it had the clear look of trees being grown for cutting.  

Welcome to the border!

We made it to Poznań in the early evening, checked into our hostel and immediately fell in love with the city.  Poznań is one of the oldest cities in Poland, and some claim that it was the first capitol of the kingdom of Poland.  There are gorgeous old buildings, outdoor markets, and a central square that rivals any I've seen.  It reminded me simultaneously of Amsterdam, Brussels and Prague.  My words could not do justice, but fortunately I had my camera.  

Extra Impressive at night

Poznań Town Hall

 

Natalia's famous in Poznań  

I like this picture.  It's a statue in the Central Square.

We wandered around for a bit, taking in the sights and looking for a place to eat dinner.  The only Polish foods I was really aware of are kielbasa and goulash, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We found a restaurant just outside of the center with a warm and cozy atmosphere, extremely friendly staff, and delicious food.   And beer.  Super delicious Polish beer.  

We had to get used to the conversion from euros to złotys, and when we were figuring out the price of our meals I was convinced that I was estimating wrong.  But we realized pretty quickly that Poland is CHEAP.  With good food, beautiful cities, and friendly and good looking people, Poland didn't seem to have a downside.  Well, if you're getting paid in euros, I suppose. 

Speaking of getting paid in euros and living on złotys, after dinner and a visit to a dance club we headed back to our hostel and met some rowdy folks outside of a bar just downstairs.  They were very friendly guys, interested in talking and getting to know us.  (They were drunk, of course, but that's what made us so interesting to them.)  One of the fellows invited us inside to have a drink, on him.  I don't recall his name, but he was a German living in Poland and working for Mercedes.  I understood then why he offered to pay for the drinks.  Not only was he earning euros, but it was his company credit card that bought us the shots of whiskey.  This was good, because then I didn't feel so bad about dumping mine on the floor.  (I do NOT like whiskey.)  He wasn't so comfortable with English, so we spoke German, but it didn't matter much because he wasn't entirely in his right mind so we had the same conversation about four times.  We also talked to another friend of his, a Polish guy, who was from Toruń.  We were visiting Toruń the next day, so I asked him all about the city and what we should see.  His main recommendation was to visit a pizza restaurant called La Scala on Zamkowa.  He said it over and over so I wouldn't forget.  I thought it would be worth a try to look for it, but when we left the bar that evening to go to our hostel, I noticed that we were on a street called Zamkowa, and across the street was La Scala.  Well, we found it.  


It was a good time in the bar, because it seems to be a rowdy place.  A lot of people were dancing on the bar, and when I asked the guy from Toruń if this was normal in Poland, he said "ohhh, nooo."  I asked if he was going to dance on the bar, and he said "ohhh, nooo."  About five minutes later he was up on the bar dancing like his life depended on it.  Ohhh nooo.  

Thank you for fighting and warning us
about that burning deer.

We left Ponzań the next afternoon after another walk around to see the place in daylight.  We bought magnets and postcards and visited the famous goat statues in the town center.  Apparently, the kings cook was making a dinner of deer but he burned it, and these two goats escaped and then warned the town about a fire by getting into a big fight, so the king pardoned the cook and they immortalized the goats in the clocktower and in statues. I think. I'm a little fuzzy on the details.


We headed for Toruń next, the birthplace of Nikolaus Copernicus.  Ania had recommended Toruń very highly, so I was looking forward to it.  It was a neat little town, but not as cool as Poznań in my opinion.  Still we took our obligatory photos of Copernicus.

Local Hero.

We left Toruń after lunch, and punched in Ania's parents' address in the GPS.  We were so excited to be going to her hometown to meet her parents, celebrate the night before her wedding, and smash bottles in her driveway.  


I should explain.  Apparently it is a tradition in Poland for friends of the bride to come to her house the night before her wedding and smash empty bottles and other glassware outside of her house in exchange for vodka.   The more glass you bring, the more vodka you are entitled to.  Ania and Dominik told us a story of a guy who brought an old toilet to smash, asking for a lot of vodka.  Clever, eh?  


We stayed for just a bit, meeting some family and friends, and then left to find our lodgings.  The wedding was in the small town of Górzno, about 30 minutes from Ania's home.  We made it there with only a a few wrong turns, and found the camping area where we would be staying.  The wedding itself was at a fantastic inn that had been a mill, but we didn't book in time to get rooms there.  We were staying in cabins less than a kilometer up the road, which suited us fine.  The only problem was that we arrived too late and no one was in the office.  We knocked on a few doors, asked Ania to call the number, and enlisted the help of some other cabin dwellers.  We got it straightened out eventually, and settled into our little hut.  The next day, Natalia and I went to the big inn for breakfast, and sat for at least an hour talking, drinking coffee and enjoying the scenery.  When we left, we found that we were not able to drive back to our huts, because there was a triathlon taking place in Górzno.  Instead of turning right to drive the 800 meters to our hut, we had to go left and go off-roading through the woods.  Because of the lack of roads, this took an extra 40 minutes, including the time we spent stuck in the mud.  To demonstrate the absurdity of our detour, I've included a map. 

You will see that the pink X is the inn where we had breakfast.  The green X is our hut.  The yellow line shows the route that we had to take, and the brown X is approximately where we were stuck in the mud.  Please note that this road (with the brown X) is not a road.  It is a mud path with tire grooves so deep you could bathe in them.  

We finally made it back to our huts where we met Eduardo and Jehona, and they looked at the car and asked if we had gone to a derby.  Har har.  

We went into Górzno to watch the rest of the triathlon.  It was so much fun to see all the athletes tearing around corners on their bikes, occasionally crashing, and jumping off to start their run.  It was a little bit odd though, that no one was really cheering.  All of the races that I have been to in the US have cheering crowds along the route, yelling for everyone.  In this triathlon, people only cheered for those that they knew.  We didn't know anyone, so we cheered for everyone.  I think it took them by surprise, and some looked genuinely shocked.  

After lunch we went back to our huts to start prepping for the wedding.  Eduardo wisely left the three girls alone for a while while we freaked out about hair and makeup.  Despite some of us (read: me) being totally inept with these things, we all came out looking pretty fantastic.  We made it to the inn and over to the little island in time for the wedding.  It was such a perfect setting, and Ania and Dominik looked so happy. 

Everyone wants a piece of
the bride and groom.

The queue to congratulate.

After the ceremony and the congratulations, we went into the inn for dinner.  There were three long tables, one for Ania's family, one for all the friends, and one for Dominik's family.  You could also call these tables the Polish-speaking table, the English-speaking table, and the German-speaking table.  Every speech, statement and toast was translated from Polish to English to German or vice-versa.  It was really wonderful.  The dinner started soon after, with delicious chicken soup.  Apparently it's a good idea to eat chicken soup before you drink vodka.  And boy, did we drink vodka.  Polish people don't mess around, I tell you, and when the bride's father gives you a shot of vodka, well, you drink it.  Nostrovia! 

After the soup we had some beef and potatoes and other goodies, and then we were all called to the dance floor for some getting to know you games.  We were divided up by how far we had traveled to come to the wedding, (one guy came from New Zealand!) and how many languages we spoke, and then we were given a bingo game to introduce us to each other.  We had to find, among other things, a Polish man with a mustache, a German with glasses, a person who was not German or Polish, and a German who realized that the German football team was only successful because of the Polish players.  It was a good time.  After this, we were directed to the desert and coffee table.  I was happy and satisfied, and ready to start dancing.  Then they brought in a plate of fish.  Followed by more beef, and cabbage and vegetables.  The food was family dining style, so the plates just piled up on all of the tables.  I had mistakenly thought that the food was in the beginning, and then you dance and drink.  Oh, not so with a Polish wedding.  The food continues all night.  And I mean ALL NIGHT.  Every 40 minutes or so the waitstaff would bring out another round of plates.  I think it was about 2 AM when they rolled through the dance floor with a ham.  A HAM.  And they never took the old plates away if they weren't empty, so the table got more and more crowded.


Oh, and there was Polish sausage available at all times, naturlich.

Naturlich. 

This may sound a little strange, but I think it's actually quite brilliant.  You aren't forced to gorge yourself in the beginning, and you can pace yourself.  Plus, as you are drinking through the evening, there is always food to pick at and new food to try.  This is probably a major reason why the group was able to drink so much vodka.

No comment. 

And of course, we danced.  It was a fun group of people, and the dance floor was jumping.  Even though the DJ wasn't very good, we made the best of it, and towards the end of the night Natalia just told him to move over and she picked all the songs.  It got a lot better at that point.  We were energized all night, (possibly sustained by the food) and danced until 5 AM.

We had been having so much fun that we didn't realize that it had begun pouring rain.  When it was time to go home, we were so thankful that we had designated a driver to bring us home.  We piled about 10 people into the car to drive the 500 to 7000 meters to our various hotels/huts.  When we got back to our huts, the rain had let up a bit, but the ground was a mud pit.  Our hut was on top of a hill, and while there were stairs that went up the side, they were a bit out of the way, so we normally just hiked up the side of the hill in the grass.  Normally this was fine, but that night it was a poor choice.  Eduardo and Jehona were smart and took the stairs but Natalia and I were, well, not smart.  As we eased up the hill, just a few feet from the porch of our hut, I said out loud, "I'm going to fall in the mud, aren't I?"  And then I did.  I heard Natalia start laughing behind me, and then a schquelp as she fell in the mud too.  She grabbed my leg and we slid back down the hill.  At this point, clever people would have taken the stairs, but I guess we had gotten a taste for mud after our drive in the morning so we repeatedly attempted to crawl up the hill, only to slip again and slide back down.  Eduardo had the choice of helping us up or getting the camera, and I don't think I will ever understand why he opted to help us.  Tsk.  Fortunately we were smart enough to pull out the camera after we were back on dry land.  I felt pretty good, but Natalia was really upset that she had gotten a hole in her stockings.

 

It was honestly one of the most fun nights of my life, and I'm so glad that I was able to celebrate with Ania and Domi as they started a new journey.  After the wedding, they left for their honeymoon- a year traveling through Asia.  I'm happy for them, a little jealous, and a lot sad that they aren't part of my daily life anymore, but that's how life goes, I guess.  I'll see them again someday, I know that, and until then I've made some incredible friends who were a major piece of my life in Germany.

Until next time, stay dry.  

Bachelorettes, Hercules, and other studs

Hallo everyone!  It's been an incredibly packed couple of weeks, and there's much to share.  So much, in fact, that I may have to split this into two posts.  Overwhelming!

About three weeks ago, on July 18, we celebrated little Lena's second birthday.  She is getting smarter and more  adorable every day, and I really love watching her grow up.  As I've said before, she is the reason I'm not afraid of babies anymore, and that I could actually picture having one of my own someday.  She's like a gateway baby.   Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the party, but it was a lot of fun.  There were many delicious cakes, and Lena served us gummi bears and sand ice cream.  It's a specialty of hers, actually.  Every time we go to the playground, she sets up shop and "sells" cones full of sand.  What an entrepreneur.

A few days later, my good friend Aimee Cooper arrived for a visit.  She had been traveling in the Czech Republic and Austria with her husband and a few younger musical students.  They were on a study abroad trip to visit historic musical sights (I guess?) and to attend a musical camp.  Aimee enjoyed the trip, but after so many cathedrals and museums and renaissance blabbity blah, she was ready to just hang out.  Lucky, this is just about all I do.  She arrived from Prague after a long bus and train ride, and we spent the night in my apartment just talking and catching up.  We always have such a good time together, and it was great to have some time just to talk about nothing and everything.  The next morning we met Eduardo at the Markthalle in Kassel for breakfast.  The Markthalle is just what it sounds like: an indoor market with many stalls that sell fruits and vegetables and flowers and other wonderful things, but there are also little cafes with delicious breakfast and coffee.  We had a leisurely breakfast and then went for a walk around Kassel.  

That evening we went to Natalia's home to celebrate Ania's bachelorette party.  I'm glad that Aimee was able to come along; of all my friends, I can think of almost no one better to drag to a bachelorette party with a bunch of people she doesn't know.  We had a delicious dinner to start off, (Jehona made us some Thai food) and then the games began.  I can't share too much, because that would violate the first rule of Bachelorette Party (Don't talk about Bachelorette Party), but since Ania is Polish, there was much Vodka involved, much dancing, and some simple but hilarious games.  After we were suitably silly, we went out on the town and visited several Kassel bars.  We had given Ania a shirt to wear that said "bride", and we brought markers with us, so we asked just about everyone we met to sign her shirt.  Most people were friendly and congratulatory and one guy even bought us champagne.  I did get stuck talking to one old man who was so excited to hear that I was from the US, because he sells toothpaste!  And the US is a great market for toothpaste!  And here, take my card!  Ok, weirdo.  We had such a great evening, and we were out on the town until the wee hours.

The cropping makes it more mysterious.

The next morning Aimee and I woke up earlier than we would have liked, because we were meeting Christian and Christine, along with Christine's parents and some of their friends from Australia up at the top of the mountain in Kassel, near the Herkules statue.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Kassel is home to the largest mountainside park in Europe, atop which stands a humungous statue of Hercules.  Apparently, Wilhelm the elector (who basically built Kassel), was so taken by Hercules and his representation of strength, that he built a huge statue of him, and waterfalls to flow from the top down to his castle at the bottom.  It's pretty badass, I must say.

Whoa. 

We had lunch with the Svenson clan at a new restaurant at the top of the hill, and it was delicious.  Christian and Christine were really looking forward to meeting Aimee, as she is the inventor of the strange old man voice that I use sometimes.  This probably also requires an explanation, but it's hard to describe this voice in writing.  Just think of an old man from the midwest who has probably smoked too many Marlboros in his lifetime, and you'll get the idea.  Aimee has been using this voice for years, and when we met, I couldn't help but do the voice as well.  Whenever we get together we have to be careful because we fall into using the voice so easily and we can't stop.  Anyway, the Svensons thought it was hilarious.  They've only heard me doing it for the past year, and now they got to hear it from the source, and in stereo.

After lunch, we walked down from the top, and it was a perfect day for it.  Kassel hasn't given us much weather-wise lately, and so it was nice to have some mildly warm and not rainy weather for a day.  Although Aimee did comment that the weather in Kassel "pretty much sucks".  She's right, and since I didn't think to warn her of that, she hadn't packed properly and had to wear the same clothes every day.  Whoops.

After our "hike" from Herkules, we went back to Christian and Christine's apartment for some coffee and cake.  It was an awesome way to spend the afternoon, and we had great conversation and a lot of laughs.  We went home in the early evening and spent the night watching terrible reality TV shows and laughing til we peed our pants.  It was perfect.

Aimee left the next day, which was a bummer.  We don't get to see each other so often, and it's always a blast when we do.  But I'm lucky that whenever we do see each other, we can pick up where we left off and have a ton of fun.

The following week was our professor's birthday, and to celebrate he took a group of us out to dinner.  We estimated about 18 people, but around 30 showed up.  This is a testament to how well respected and loved Professor Teichler is among his current and former students.  We ate at a great Spanish restaurant, and we showered him with gifts.  It was so kind of him to invite us all, and I especially enjoyed it because I had the privilege of sitting next to him all night.  I'm a lucky girl.

Pictured: Some semi-lucky students, and me, the luckiest of all. 

A few days after Teichler-palooza, we left on our road trip to Poland for Ania's wedding.  This 5 day trip was absolutely incredible, and I will need another post to describe it.  It was... epic.  And muddy.  But that's a story for another post.

Until then!

A whirlwind trip through the past three months

Hi friends!  Sorry for my long delay in writing.  I was in the US for a month, followed by a week in Reykjavik, and then a busy few weeks getting back into the swing of things in Kassel.  Not great excuses, I know.

We've hit the mid-point of summer now, and in traditional German fashion, the weather is... total crap!  Remember a while back when I made fun of your snowpocalypse, and I gloated that the weather was finally nice?  Well, karma's a real jerk.  It's been cold and rainy for a while, and I don't see it getting much better.  Oh, there's beautiful weather in the states and you're all headed to the beach?  Of course.  Of. Course.

Anyway, onto the reminiscing!

In May, (which seems like years ago), before my flight home, Eduardo and I went to Italy for a few days to meet up with some of his friends from Chile who were touring Europe.  We visited Rome, Florence, Bologna and Venice, and even though I had been to most of those places before, it never gets old.  We had a wonderful week, and I really enjoyed spending time with some friendly Chileans.

Pictured: 5 friendly Chileans, and a gringa

 After an awesome week in Italy, Eduardo and I flew back to Germany, stayed up all night in the Frankfurt train station, and took an early morning train back to Kassel.  I unpacked from Italy, re-packed, and the next morning took a train back to Frankfurt for my flight to the US.  It was exhausting.  (I never said this was a good plan.)


Still, it was great to be going home for a spell.  Too short, naturlich, and there are many people I just didn't have time to see, but still great.  It was a whirlwind, from start to finish, but I'll try to share the highlights.

The first week started with some unpacking, a memorial service for a dear friend of my parents who had passed away, and a folk concert.  My Dad and I went to the Narrows, in Fall River, Massachusetts, which is an excellent venue, to see Chris Smither perform.  He's an acoustic guitarist/songwriter, and he's funny.  Oh, and talented.  SUPER talented. The venue was small and intimate, and I am looking forward to going back.  So for all my southern New England friends: check it out.

The first weekend, my parents and I went up to my sisters to attend her choral concert.  She's been singing with the Manchester Choral Society for years, and they consistently put on a good show.  The concert was great, and they sang in German!  I understood nothing, of course.  We spent the night in New Hampshire, and on Sunday morning I went with Chrystena to her masters swim practice.  As you may recall, I've been swimming a lot in Kassel, and I wanted to swim whenever possible while I was in the US.  Chrys told me I could come, but she warned me that this is a practice, and I would have to swim the whole thing.  I was afraid of collapsing, but I went anyway.  I was in the slow lane, which was actually a good pace for me, and I swam the whole thing!  I wanted to die afterwards, but whatever.  I was proud, and Chrys said that maybe they can make a swimmer out of me.

We came home from New Hampshire and went straight out to Martha's Vineyard.  I haven't been there since last October, but I haven't been there in the summertime since 2009.  I desperately needed a fix.  The weather was wonderful, the company was great, and I was completely happy.

Maisie, doing her typical "running in circles" routine. 

Maisie, exhausted after running in circles, in her chair on the porch.

The Ewens hard at work. 

The following week, Jess and Vinnie came up with baby Hannah 2.0, and "big" Hannah 1.0 came down from New Hampshire.  2.0 is a super sweet baby, and has impressive pipes for a 9 month old.  She wanted to show off her yelling skills for Aunt Amy and Mama Sue, and we were impressed.

In all seriousness, she's a wonderful and smart little girl, and I loved spending the weekend with her.  We just happened to catch her at this unhappy moment.  Hee hee.

We were truly impressed with her "standing up" skills.

I can stand, but I want to be near Mom.

Hannah made friends with Maisie

Pee-yew

Mama Sue showed her the porch

And the wind chimes

I'm good at baths

Hannah 1.0 and Hannah 2.0 learning Spanish.
Arriba!  Avajo...

I'm cool dad.  I'll just eat this maraca. 

We had a wonderful weekend talking, taking walks, eating burgers and drinking beer.  We visited a pub in Providence that I have been wanting to try for a while, called the Olde English Ale Cellar, near Thayer Sstreet, and it was awful.  Just awful.  It has so much potential- the beer list is extensive and impressive, the decor is authentic old timey England, but they managed to ruin it by playing house music and having $1 Bud Lights.  So the crowd is drunk Brown University students who are passed out in front of the bathroom and the music is so loud you can't hear yourself think.  Maybe I'm getting old, but that is NOT my idea of a good time.

Anyway, apart from the disappointing beer hall experience, we had some delicious cupcakes from the Duck & Bunny on Wickenden Street.  The occasion was Hannah 2.0's 9 month birthday, and even though we put her to bed before we ate them all, I think she appreciated it.  We also stumbled onto the Providence Art Festival downtown, which was an excellent surprise.  I haven't been to the Festival in years, and it's gotten better with time.  I genuinely enjoy Providence, and I wouldn't be opposed to living there in the future.  Just improve your beer halls, OK?

After Jess, Vinnie and the Hannah's left, I went up to Boston for a baby shower for my friends Tez and Adam.  I hadn't seen a lot of Boston friends in a long while, and it was great to catch up.  And to see the proud almost-parents of course.  Tez should be close to having her little girl, if she hasn't already, and I couldn't be happier for them.  They're going to be excellent parents, and their dog, LB, will be a very good babysitter (as long as he doesn't drool on the baby too much).

I had a few days of downtime and then I flew out to California to see my friends Jenna and Dave who had just had twins!  Jenna is one of the most capable people I know, so she already had a good system in place, but new babies are a challenge, and two of them is insane.  I tried to help as much as I could, which mostly involved cuddling with the newborns, Ingrid and Theodore.

Snuggle babies.

 Fortunately for everyone, Dave's mom, Kathy, was visiting as well, and she's an old pro at the baby thing.  She was clearly a huge help to Jenna, and I only hope that I was a bit of a help as well.  I didn't explore much of Oakland (apart from trips to the local swimming pool and a maternity store) but I have been there before and I will be there again.  The point of my visit was to see the new Musselman-Yotts and to help the older Musselman-Yotts as much as possible.  Oh, and to deliver a present that I am super proud of:

Baby dirndl and baby lederhosen

I got a cold towards the end of my stay, which limited my helpfulness with babies, but I could still vacuum.  Unfortunately, the 7 hour flight back to Providence was awful, and my cold got much, much worse.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but I had to pack up everything in the next day or two, wrap up all loose ends in Providence, and go out to Martha's Vineyard.  I know, I'm making it sound so awful, and going out to the Vineyard is a treat, not a chore, but I had a lot to think about because I wasn't coming back to Providence.  I left directly from the boat to the airport, to fly to Reykjavik and then finally to Germany.  I had to think strategically with my packing and make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, while being strung out on cold medicine.  It was a challenge.

Ending my US-month on the Vineyard was great.  It was my Dad's 70th birthday, and my Mom and I were bustling around like worker bees trying to prepare.  Well, she bustled, and I got myself stuck in a parking lot in the next town and had to be rescued.  It's an embarrassing story and I won't get into it, but let's just say that a key for a Honda CRV looks a lot like a key for a Honda Element, but that doesn't mean it will work in the ignition of said Element.  oops.

The party was a success, and it was wonderful to see so many people there.  It was a joint party for Dad and our good friend Bob who was turning 65, so it was quite the party.

Delicious.

The Birthday Boys

Of course, it was also bittersweet, because I left the next morning at 9:30 to fly back to Europe.  I was looking forward to it, and it's always nice to come back to my European home, but it's always hard to leave my US home.  The trouble is that I feel at home in both places, and there are people and places and things that tug at my heart in both places.  I struggle with this "split-soul" feeling, as my friend Amanda calls it, and every time I get on an airplane I'm simultaneously happy and sad.  This is the life I've chosen, and I wouldn't change it, so this will be something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life, no matter where I end up living.  I will always have family and friends and memories in other countries, and I'll always feel a tug of sadness when I leave.

Please don't go.

Well then, enough melancholy reflection.  I was lucky to be able to visit Reykjavik, Iceland for a week for a training workshop and the CHER conference.  I arrived at midnight, and met my colleagues who were coming from Europe.  I was afraid that we would be confused and lost at midnight, but a few things worked in our favor:  1) we were a large group, traveling together, 2) there were clear signs and buses to take to get to the city, and 3) it was still daylight.  In summer, the sun never fully sets way up there in Iceland, so you don't have to worry about wandering around in the dark.  On the other hand, you don't have to worry about getting tired either, because your internal sleepiness monitor gets whacked out by all the light.  It took a lot of adjustment, and I'm not sure I ever fully got into a rhythm.

The workshop was a huge success, and I was really energized about the topic.  It helped that we had such an excellent group and excellent presenters.  We also had some pretty good food, and a lot of conversation and Icelandic beer.  We talk a walk one evening right before midnight to watch the sun "set", (although it was never fully gone) and I took 400 pictures.  Here are just a few:

These flowers are arctic lupine.  They were everywhere.

A few minutes later, the sun was on its way back up. 

The CHER conference started on Wednesday and went through the weekend, and it was really interesting.  It was a smaller conference, and more intimate than others I've been to, but the topics were also more interesting.  Additionally, I think I'm starting to feel more like a researcher, because I asked a lot of questions and I thought more theoretically than I have in the past.  At least, that's what my boss says.

In addition to nerdy higher education stuff, I took advantage of some of Iceland's natural wonders.  Namely, the Blue Lagoon Thermal Spa and a whale watching trip.  Neither disappointed.  The Blue Lagoon was relaxing and fun and regenerative, and the whale watching was exciting.  If you ever find yourself in Iceland, I highly recommend giving these two things a try.  Plus, there are buses that go straight from the airport to the Blue Lagoon.  You can't lose!

Seagull feeding frenzy

Minke whales breaking up the feeding frenzy

As close up to a puffin as my camera could capture

Relaxing in the Blue Lagoon with a smoothie

 I left Reykjavik at the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM (although the constant daylight helped a lot!) and flew back to Frankfurt.  I was tired, exhausted actually, but looking forward to getting home.  As an added bonus, my good friend Missy was on her way.  She had been on vacation with her family in Portugal, and she flew to Germany to spend a few days with me.  It worked out that we could easily meet in the airport and take the train back to Kassel together.  We arrived around supper time, so naturally we took her right to a beer garden.  She wanted to try delicious German bratwurst, but unfortunately we didn't find any.  The beer garden at Fiasko is excellent, but the wurst is the worst.  (Get it?  Wurst?  Ahh, shut up.)


The next day we went to Hann-Münden, a small town near Kassel where I bring most of my visitors.  Hann-Münden is full of old houses from the second century, and hasn't changed much.  It's a nice place to visit from Kassel, because as I've said before, Kassel is not full of cute Fachwerk houses and Hansel and Gretel streets.  It was destroyed during the war, so in order to see cute German towns, you have to go elsewhere.  After a few hours in the tiny town, we got bored and came back to the big city.  Then we went to another beer garden.  (I think there are enough beer gardens in Kassel to go to a new one every night of the summer.)

Beer along the Fulda River

 On Wednesday we went sailing with Eduardo and our friend Dominik, which was incredibly fun.  We had some wind, although not too much, which allowed us to putt around the lake, and jump in for some swimming.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being out on the water.  Beautiful, until the thunder clouds rolled in.  We made it back to the dock just as the sky opened up and a downpour began.  We had to take down the sails and stow everything while the rain drenched everything.  Surprisingly, it was one of the most fun parts of the day.

We look GOOD. 

Always bring beer when sailing

Trying to get back in the boat

On Thursday Missy came to the university for lunch with my friends, and she got to experience the magic of the Mensa.  I've gotten used to the food there, and sometimes it's pretty good, but for a visitor, it can be, well, interesting.  I give Missy a lot of credit for keeping her thoughts to herself!

She had to leave on Thursday night since her flight was so early on Saturday.  I was really bummed to say goodbye, because it was so nice to have some days with just the two of us.  I didn't see her that much while I was in the US, and I miss having time to talk and just hang out.  Odd that we had to come all the way to Germany to do that, but it was awesome anyway.

It's also a shame that she had to leave on Thursday because Friday was a beer garden tour to celebrate two of my classmates, Ania and Natalia, submitting their theses.  I'm incredibly happy for them, but also having a small crisis about my own thesis.  Still, Friday was about them.  We went to four beer gardens, all of them new to me, and we enjoyed ourselves every step of the way.  There are many pictures of the night, but they look like every other picture of morons in their fourth beer garden, so instead I'll just share my favorite.

With my accomplished friend Ania

After such an eventful couple of weeks, I was sort of relieved to settle back into a routine of working all day and reading all night.  I'm doing really well with thinking about my thesis, but there is so much information, and I'm reading so many different articles and journals and books and websites that I'm overwhelmed.  I need to try to narrow down my topic and figure out my research questions, but it's very difficult.  I'm still on track though, I'm just starting to panic.

I will try to update more as exciting things happen, but since I'm living in a cave of books and articles, this may not be often.  But I can promise at least one more exciting post because next week my good friend Aimee is coming to visit, and Ania's bachelorette party is coming up too.  Of course, after the bachelorette party comes the wedding in Poland, and that is sure to be an adventure.  After these events, I will probably fall off the digital face of the earth for a while, so you'll have to forgive me.  But until then, enjoy your weekend!

A Family outing, and Back to the Future part III

Hello friends!  It's been a while since I've posted, but I've actually been very busy so please forgive me.  I'd like to share some adventures from the past few weeks, as well as finish re-living the fall of 2010.

So then!  What have I been up to recently... well, work and reading and writing as usual, but a few weeks ago I took a seemingly last minute trip south to meet my cousin Daniel and go to Nürnberg.  Daniel is spending a year in Germany on a Rotary Club Scholarship, and even though he has been here since last September, this was the first chance we really had to do anything.  I say “seemingly last minute”, because we had discussed it for a few weeks, but it was only the night before out trip when he confirmed that he would like to go.  I had planned to take a train, but the ticket prices weren’t so inexpensive at that late time, so I hitched a ride with two friends who were driving to Munich.  The original plan is that the three of us would drive to Daniel’s town, pick him up, and then he and I would be dropped off in Nürnberg while the other continued to Munich.  Time wasn’t on our side however, and we didn’t leave Daniel’s town until 8:30 PM.  This was partially due to a late start from Kassel, some traffic, and the fact that Daniel had spelled the name of his street wrong and given me the wrong house number.  Our GPS figured out the correct spelling of the street, but incidentally, there was no house with the number he had given me.  Where number 42 should be, there was an empty lot with a port-o-potty.  I could make a ton of jokes about Daniel living in a “crappy place”, but I won’t. 

So what to do when there’s no house and no Daniel?  The only thing I could do: wander through the neighborhood knocking on doors.  You’re probably asking why I didn’t just call him.  Why, what a good idea!  Why didn’t I think of that?  Well, quiet, smarty pants.  Daniel refused to give me his phone number because he “doesn’t like people calling him”.  Right. 

Anyway, I met many nice people in his town, and some over zealous dogs.  The break in the case came when I rang the doorbell of an ancient old woman who was partially deaf.  I was trying in vain to explain that I was looking for my cousin, but he had given me the wrong house number.  The woman’s daughter came downstairs and asked what country my cousin was from.  I told her that he was an American exchange student with the Rotary Club, and he lived somewhere in this town, presumably on this street.  She said that her neighbors had an exchange student, and she didn’t know his name, but maybe we could get some information.  We walked across the street, rang the doorbell, and Daniel answered.  “Oh, hey,” he said.  Oh. Hey. 

We were finally underway, but as we got closer to Nürnberg it was clear that Eduardo and Natalia were not going to make it to Munich that night.  Our plan changed a bit, and as Daniel had never been to Munich, the four of us agreed to stay together for the whole weekend.  It was a lot of fun, and a really interesting weekend.  I hadn’t seen Daniel in at least 3 years, and it was nice to spend some time with him as an adult.  He’s 10 years younger than I am, and he never missed a chance to tell me that I’m old.  Apart from that, he’s an engaging and smart kid, and I was glad that we had the chance to talk without the usual family chaos going on. 

Our weekend turned out to be a bit “Nazi-themed”, which wasn’t so surprising considering the cities we were visiting.  Nürnberg was the centerpiece of the Nazi rallies, and we were able to visit the Rally grounds and the phenomenal museum devoted to the propaganda machine.  Furthermore, Munich was where Hitler really got his start, with speeches and meetings in the Hofbrauhaus.  It was sort of an intense topic for such a short period of time, but we enjoyed the cities themselves too.  Nürnberg is a very cool city with the old wall still standing around the Altstadt, and an incredible castle.  It was sunny and warm, and our guide book pointed us to some interesting spots around town.  Of course, wandering aimlessly is a favorite as well, and the city was bustling with Saturday markets and Nürnbergians out and about. 

Munich is of course incredible, and it was a shame that we didn’t have a lot of time.  We arrived in the evening, found a hostel, and set out into the night.  We had Mexican food for dinner (made by actual Mexicans, so it was delicious), and walked through the main part of the city toward the Hofbrauhaus.  If you aren’t familiar, the Hofbrauhaus is the biggest, loudest, most touristy Bier hall in Munich.  It’s über-Bavarian, with everyone dressed in traditional Lederhosen and Dirndls, 1 liter bier glasses, and pretzels the size of your head.  There’s a traditional Bavarian band, which is, as my guidebook put it, “condemned to play there every night”.  It’s also full of tourists with hardly a native in sight.  Still, it’s a ton of fun, and the beer is delicious. 

The next day we headed for the Dachau concentration camp with a tour guide.  I had visited with Jess in 2007, and I was hoping to find the same Irish tour guide, Jamie, that I had gone with then.  Instead I found Gordon, another Irish tour guide, who said that Jamie was in Belfast writing his master thesis, but he’d be happy to have us on his tour.  Done.  Daniel had visited Dachau previously as well, with a group from his school, but this tour was a little different.  As he said, Gordon talked more ideologically than about facts.  I don’t totally agree, as I think Gordon gave us lots of facts too, but I see his point. 

After leaving the camp, we walked up into the town of Dachau, as Gordon had told us that it was an old medieval city with lots to offer.  He was right.  There was a huge street festival going on that day and we were surrounded by more food that we could shake a stick at.  We sat and ate and enjoyed the sunshine, and I was a bit bummed when we had to leave.

We drove north again, and dropped Daniel at home, and then started our drive back to Kassel.  It was a bust and packed weekend, but totally worth it.

Apart from that I have just been enjoying the slowly improving weather.  I have a new bike, (as my last bike was stolen) although it needs some new tires.  It's a real beauty though, I tell ya.  I can't wait to ride it all over the town and have picnics and adventures.  (I have a lot of expectations riding on this bike.)

Now then, let's hop in the Delorean one last time, and go back to December 2010!

"Boom" is probably the most accurate sound so far.

December started with another visit to the New York/ New Jersey area, where I had a nice visit with Jess and Vinnie and Hannah 2.0, plus a visit with my friend Fish in NYC.  Fish and I hadn't seen each other in a while, and it was nice to catch up.  We ate good food, drank good beer, and some some good bands.  New York City is full of interesting sights and places, and it has always felt a little bit overwhelming to me.  I read once that you need two people to really see New York, because one person can't handle it all themselves.  And even when you think that you have a good sense of it, it changes so quickly that you can become an outsider in a matter of weeks.  I think this is what some people adore about New York, and what makes me feel slightly stressed.  I like to know my home town and my neighborhood, and have a sense of consistency.  I don't like places that never change, not at all, but I don't want things to change so quickly that I can't keep up.  For this reason I like Washington DC, and other smaller, less intense cities.  However, you can't beat New York for a fun weekend.  Those same things that would give me a panic attack if I lived there are perfect for a visit.  There's no pressure to "know" the city, and so I can enjoy it with someone who does know it (at least that week). 

Later in the month I spent the night in Boston with my good friends Tez and Adam.  Tez and I worked together when I lived in Boston, and she and Adam became very good friends.  Sometimes when you move away from a city you lose touch with people, which is normal, but I've managed to stay close with them even so.  (Facebook helps, as does Tez' relentless habit of threatening me if I don't visit.)  We had a low key night, and since I'm old and lame now, this is right up my alley.  We had dinner at a really good restaurant in Quincy, although I forget the name.  Regardless, the food was delicious and the beer was too.  The next morning, Tez made us blueberry pancakes, and even though Adam thought they were a little blah, I thought they were delicious.  I couldn't stay too long, unfortunately, because I was headed to the Van Twisk Christmas party at my cousin's house.  We had a big group, and it was really wonderful to see everyone.  I'm really glad that my family manages to get together around the holidays, because we all get busy and time gets away from us the rest of the year.  We see each other, of course, but it's like a guarantee at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.  It's things like this that I really miss while I'm away.  

After the party I drove up to my sister's house in New Hampshire, because on Monday I was visiting her high school.  Chrystena teaches chemistry, but she is good friends with the school's German teacher, Frau Trammel, whose room is across the hall.  Chrys had been keeping Frau Trammel informed of my goings-on in Germany since my first visit in 2007, and we came up with the idea that I could come to her classes and tell her students about Germany.  I was a little nervous, because we all know that my German is far from perfect, but I didn't need to be.  For starters, Frau Trammel is one of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have ever met, and her students were all very polite.  I made a slideshow of some pictures of Kassel, as well as other places in Germany that I had visited, and I tried to share what a year in Germany had been like for me.  After the pictures, I answered some of the questions that the students had prepared.  There were the usual questions about food, weather, beer, etc, but also about how much my language classes had helped, were people friendly, and did I like living there.  The students also asked a lot about the differences, and I tried to explain how things could be simultaneously so similar, yet so different.  One student asked me if I had the choice to grow up in Germany or in the US, which would I chose.  That was a really difficult question for me, and I still think about it.  The students were all bright and they seemed really engaged.  It's clear that Frau Trammel is an excellent teacher and that her students like her.  I'd like to visit again if time allows.  In the meantime I'm just sending postcards.  

The next week was the week before Christmas, which is usually a stressful time.  I've never found it to be super stressful, but I only get stressed out by strange things like New York City's changing restaurants.  Anyway, that week Eduardo arrived from Chile for a visit.  He stayed through Christmas and flew back to Germany with me in January.  During that time we went back down to New York/New Jersey to visit with Jess, Vinnie and 2.0, our friend Neo in the city, and his friends up in Peekskill, NY.  It was a great trip, and it was really nice to meet some of his friends from Chile.  It was also really nice to have him visit for Christmas.  My family is mildly insane, but I think he enjoyed himself, and I know my family did.  We also had a big lunch with my friends from high school a few days before we flew back, and it was a really nice way to wrap up my time at home.  It went by really quickly, and I'm amazed that I packed so much in.  I was exhausted at times, (actually, most of the time) but it was worth it.  

So, there you have it.  My three months in the US, re-capped in four large nutshells.  Just in time too, because I'm just about to fly back to the US for a month. I'll try not to wait five months to tell you how that goes.  

Before I sign off, I want to say Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the caring women in my life.  There are a lot of women who make my life better, and who make me a better person, and I love you. 

Bis bald! 

Blogwurst Beilage

Hello loyal readers- greetings from sort-of cloudy Kassel! 

I've been thinking a lot about "home" recently, and in doing so I realized that in my attempt to re-cap the three months that I spent in the US last fall, I've left out an extremely important aspect.  Because I have trouble remembering what I did or when things occurred, I have been relying on my calendar to remind me of what I did.  But the problem is that I only made notes in the calendar of the out of town moments or appointments, not unscheduled get-togethers.  Therefore, this doesn't include the time I spent with my friends in Rhode Island.  My Google calendar didn't remind me of the times I called Missy to go get a drink, or when I had dinner with Courtney or met my book club for Cuban food.  I call this post Blogwurst Beilage, which means "side dishes", but in fact spending time with my friends and family in Rhode Island was more of an entrée.  Perhaps I am taking this whole "blog as meal" metaphor too far...

Anyway, as I said, being home with my friends was just what I needed after being away for a year.  It's nice to schedule a weekend to visit others or to have visitors come from out of town, but I love being able to call a friend and say "want to meet up in an hour?"  That hasn't been a part of my daily life for so long, it was strange to not have to schedule a skype date to talk with a good friend.

The first night that I was back in Rhode Island I went to a bar with Missy that has approximately 7,000 different types of beer.  I've been there before, but I don't remember it being quite so magical. (Perhaps it was the jet lag)  We met a friend of Missy's at the bar, and I tried some new beers that I'd never even heard of.  I had to leave early due to being too tired to function, but it was a great way to be welcomed home.  

A few days later, Missy and our friend Beth and I spent an evening babysitting for our friend Yvonne's two sons.  Jack is 2 and Liam was about 4 months, and both are cute as can be.  

We played outside...

Played in the closet...

And read books. 

They are super neat kids, and since Lena has made me unafraid of babies, it was really fun for me.  

Later in October Jack had his 2nd birthday party, and Missy was in charge of cake. She is quite talented with the fondant, and she decided to make a dump truck cake.  I offered to help, which basically consisted of building a base for the dump truck.  I'm not so good with the fondant.  Everyone was impressed with the result, and rightfully so.  It was a delicious dump truck. 

The night before the birthday party I met up with my old friend Neil, who I haven't seen in ages.  Neil and his fiancée Lauren live in Providence, in one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever seen.  I met their dog Morgan, who is humongous but also tries to be a lap dog.  I love dogs of course, so we enjoyed cuddling.  Neil gave me a t-shirt that he made through his t-shirt company, Thirteen Star.  It's an awesome shirt with Poseidon, God of the sea, rising out of the state of Rhode Island.  (Rhode Island is the Ocean State, get it?)  I've gotten lots of complements on the shirt, and some confused looks from Germans.  Neil and I went to a few really cool bars in his neighborhood and met some of his friends.  I also ran into a classmate from high school who was bar tending, and by that point in the evening I was a little "loosened up", shall we say, so I spent most of her time telling her how nice she and her husband are.  (I met her husband at our high school reunion, I'm not totally insane.)  After making a general fool of myself, we walked back to Neil's apartment and I fell asleep on the couch.  It was a good night.  

As mentioned, the girls got together for a book club meeting too.  My friends from high school, Alice, Beth, Kathleen, Yvonne, Missy, Courtney and I decided to better ourselves by reading books and discussing them like educated adults.  The rest of the group had read and discussed a book before I came home, which I was bummed to miss, but I hear that only one person actually read the book, so maybe I didn't miss out so much.  The book that we read next was A Widow for One Year, by John Irving.  I loved the book, and Courtney and I both finished it early and talked a lot about it.  I think we were the only two to read this book, although others thought they might have once seen part of the movie.  We're a dedicated book club, I promise. 

I missed Oktoberfest in Newport this year, but I made it down there to have dinner with Courtney one night, and it was such a nice evening.  I also had dinner in Massachusetts with Kathleen in her new home.  I enjoy cooking with friends; it's a nice way to spend some time.  You cook, you have some wine, you talk, you eat, you have more wine, and you talk.  Of course, it's nice to go out for dinner too.  Beth and I had a fantastic dinner at Red Stripe, which had become "our" restaurant in a way.  (Two dates at Red Stripe makes it our place, ok?)  Sadly, Red Stripe is closed.  Maybe Beth and I should have eaten there more than twice.  It was so nice to have time with my friends individually, because usually we get together in a group of 6 or 7 people.  This tends to be the case with my friends from high school, since I'm a jerk and don't live in New England.  I want to see everyone, so I make them all get together for a big gathering, which is awesome of course, but conversation with each person is limited.  I was happy to have chances to catch up with just one at a time.

I also had dinner with two friends who I haven't seen in years, Whitney and her sister Devon.  Through the magic of facebook, we reconnected and made plans to have dinner.  I spent so much time with these two when I was young, they and their family are a defining part of my childhood.  Our parents were friends, we went to camp together, they came to Martha's Vineyard, we went to Nantucket, Devon was close friends with my sister, Whitney and I went to pre-school together, we made board games and wrote stories and made music videos  ... I could go on and on.  I was lucky to meet Whitney's young son, who is handsome and alarmingly smart.  He seems like a really clever kid, and I think she's in trouble.  I brought one of the aforementioned board games, and Whitney had found one of the stories we had written.  It was another night of making dinner, drinking wine, and catching up, and it was perfect.  Somehow the time got away from us and I didn't get a chance to see them before I left, but when I come home next, I'm showing up at one of their houses.  

I spent a lot more time with my friends in Rhode Island than just these few occasions, and often it wasn't even particularly noteworthy, it was just nice.  Nice to be home, nice to see my oldest friends, and nice to not be scheduled.  

I didn't intend for this blog entry to be separate from the others; these events aren't any less important or special.  I suppose it's hard to put everything together in my mind, when my life sometimes feels very compartmentalized. 

So, thanks again for reading, and when something exciting happens in Kassel, I'll let you know.