Pictures from Ice-Soccer, aka Fuss-Wasser

Two girls from the Southwest uncertain of/excited about ice that is thick enough to stand on...




Andrei being silly as Hideki looks on...













I am enjoying the ice.










Discovering that the water bottle slides REALLY well...


DIRECT HIT!!!!












We set up a little goal (maybe too small) and played some 3-on-2 Fusswasser, which was loads of fun.








A sweet little old lady who walked by and said (in German, approximate translation by yours truly):
"Soccer? I'd join you, but I have to go home..."















"The Team"

Final Score: 1-1

Pictures from Comburg

This was a bird mansion we saw on the walk to Comburg. I wish we'd gotten a picture with someone beside it so you can tell how huge it is!











This is me trying to "hold" the distant Comburg like people do with the Taj Mahal or the Eiffel Tower, except that I'm kind of failing because of the hill, lol.







A really pretty doorway at Comburg. (If I forgot to explain in the last post, Comburg is an old cloister on a hill a couple miles away from Schwabisch Hall, which we hiked to last Saturday - the 7th - to see it)








This is Comburg. It's absolutely beautiful. We walked all the way around on the surrounding wall, but unfortunately didn't go in.








There were lots of random little doors in the walls. Courtney is about 5'4", and a good number of the doors were half this size or smaller, lol.













Courtney and I took this series of pictures mimicking the statues on the path down from Comburg.

A Fantastic Saturday

Wow, today was a really good day. I woke up around 9:15 (not to an alarm!) and just relaxed until about 11:30, when I went upstairs to see if my friends wanted to go to lunch. We went to this little Asian restaurant (Asia-Wok), which was pretty good (even though we accidentally ordered mineral water, which was disgusting). We just chatted and generally had a good time.

Then I looked at my phone (which I am using as a timepiece currently, since I don't own a watch yet) and saw that it was 1:45, and we were supposed to leave for our hike to Comburg (an old monastery) at 2:00. I didn't have my camera with me, which was a little disappointing, but Courtney (from Texas) decided to go, and she had hers, so it was okay: I'll just get the pictures from her, and it probably actually means we'll have more people pictures and ones with me actually in them, which I know some of you will appreciate.

The group that went to Comburg (probably a walk of a couple miles) consisted of Stephen (one of the Zivis -- short for Zivildienst, a service alternative to mandatory military time-- who are basically responsible for organizing the activities for the Institut), Courtney, me, Andrei (from Romania), Peiter (from somewhere in the Middle East, I'm not sure where), and Hideki (from Japan). We had a lot of fun taking pictures, especially me and Courtney and usually Andrei. Coming down from the monastery, there were some old statues, possibly of saints, along the edge of the path, and Courtney and I took turns posing in front of them mimicking (sp?) the statues (we were particularly excited about those pictures; they were fun)

On the way back, we passed by a tiny pond that was frozen solid, and we decided to go out on it and "skate" (us girls from the Southwest being particularly excited, as we would NEVER see that at home). Eventually (after some silly pictures), it evolved into kicking around Courtney's half-full waterbottle as we stood in a circle -- it slid marvelously on the ice. :) That eventually turned into a game of 3-on-2 (Stephen had gone on back at the pond) makeshift ice-soccer (or Fuss-wasser, as we called it, "foot-water", like "football"). We set up a little "goal" on the edge of the pond, marked with sticks, and whenever we kicked it out of bounds (off the ice), then it was the other team's ball. It was a long time before anyone scored (the goal being rather small and thus easily defended), but eventually my team (Peiter, Hideki, and I) scored (I kicked the goal!!) At that point, we decided to stop, since we were getting a little tired, and then Courtney and Andrei kicked the bottle through the goal while we were standing around, so we called it a tie. :P

We got back just in time to freshen up before Kate, Courtney, and I got on the 5:10 bus to go have dinner with Frau Dr. Ursula Utz, a really nice older lady who is part of a club that helps out the Goethe Institut, at here apartment. Se-Rin (from Korea) was also invited, but I guess she didn't get the memo, which was a little sad. I think she might have been with the group that went to Stuttgart this weekend.

Anyway, Mrs. Utz (as I will call her for simplicity's sake) was really sweet. She showed us all around the area where she lives, which is up the hill from the Old Town, which is in the valley spanning the river. It's full of really modern buildings that were put in in the early 70's, but there was also a nice little park, and an incredible view of all the fields south of Schwabisch Hall.
She cooked Käse-Spätzle, a German specialty that's basically macaroni and cheese but better. Spätzle are little round noodles made from flour, lots of eggs, a little salt, and a little water. Then you put the dough in this nifty little gadget that's like a deep square cookie cutter that slides over a bigger version of a flat cheese grater with round holes a little smaller than a dime, and slide it (in the square part) over the holes, into a pot of boiling water, and it comes out in little teardrop-shaped pieces. After they cook for a minute or two, you take them out with a slotted spoon or something like it to drain them, into a baking dish, and sprinkle lots of freshly-grated white cheese on top. Add a little butter, and stick it in the oven to melt. Repeat until you run out of dough. Yum. We also had a salad with homemade dressing (she thinks it's really sad that we have basically the same kinds of dressing all over the US), and for dessert we had yummy apple stuff that we later found out was apple sauce, cinnamon, and whipped cream mixed up and then frozen.

It was really neat that she takes so much interest in the Goethe students. She's recently retired, and this is now what she chooses to do with her time. We talked for a long time, and she was really helpful and nice and really interested in what we were doing. She had us write our names, addresses, and e-mails in the little "Guestbook" that she's starting for the students who come, and invited us to come back again next Sunday, when she's having another group there as well (if everyone comes, it will be 8 total)

All in all, it was just a fantastic day. It's really cool to think that I can have this much fun with people that I've known not even a week, and some of whom I can barely speak with, depending on how good their German/English is. I can't wait until I have the pictures from today to put up!

Schwäbisch Hall

The last two days, I have had the opportunity to walk around the city in the afternoon, eating lunch, shopping, learning my way around, and generally sightseeing. Schwäbisch Hall is an unbelievably beautiful city. It is literally like someone took a classic medieval German city and set it down in the present day, then added a few shop signs. It is absolutely incredible, and exactly what anyone pictures when thinking of Old Germany.
The streets are almost all cobblestone (hardly anyone drives besides buses), and they twist and wind around in a very medieval way (this being the old town center). There are two very old churches, one Catholic and one Protestant, both very beautiful, but I'm not sure if they hold services anymore.























This is the Goethe Institut, where I have classes. There is another building right next to it that looks just like it, which I'm not sure, but I think is another school.











This is an albino pigeon that I came across while wandering around the city. :)






The first lunch that I bought in the city consisted of a large coissant and a "Weltmeisterbrötchen" (a roll about the size of a softball covered in poppy seeds and sunflower seeds) that I bought at a bakery, and then "Fleischkäse" (a processed hot meat sort of like super-bologna but with a tang like salami, which I assume by the name has both meat and cheese in it) on a roll, which I bought at a butcher shop (they have little windows that serve food). All of it was really good.
Today, I tried a classic Turkish meal called a Döner Kebap (there are at least 3 Kebap houses, as they're called, in town), which is some sort of meat (I'm not sure what, but they shave it off of a giant rotating vertical spit) in pita bread with lettuce, onions, some sort of slaw, and a mayonnaise-like sauce (also with tomatoes, but I opted out). It was very good, though next time I will ask for no onions as well (I would have this time, but I couldn't tell them apart from the lettuce and slaw looking through the window). Those of you who know me, though, will be very proud: I ate the whole thing and only picked off maybe 5 onion slivers.
I also bought a Bible today! It's Martin Luther's translation, and it is all German (not a side-by-side). I had enough trouble trying to find a Bible, much less a side-by-side version! I found in in the bookstore across from the Institut for only 8 Euros!
More pictures of Schwäbisch Hall to come later; I have a historical tour today, so I'll be able to tell you all sorts of interesting things about the beautiful places we visit!

Meine Wohnung

My room is on the ground floor of the Wohnheim, which is really nice because I don't have to go up and down a bunch of stairs (just about 5; the ground floor is split-level). It's pretty big, mostly because it's supposed to be a double-room, but the other slot was never filled, so I basically have a single room. :)

This is a really cool window in my room facing out to a terraced garden sort of thing in between this Wohnheim and the house next to it. It looks like a porch door, but it's not. The first time I turned that handle in the middle to open it, I thought it was, and it really scared me when it dropped open a couple inches at the top, hinged at the bottom; I thought I'd broken it. Then I realized it's supposed to do that, lol.
Here you can also see my little living chair and the desk lamp.





This is my bed and my desk. Yes, I know the bed looks kind of like a couch. Oh well. The mattress is this weird, stiff foam sort of material that could take a little getting used to, and the pillow is enormous, like, twice the size of a pillow at home (it's a big square), which is pretty cool. I also have a nifty little reading light over the headboard, which you can't see here.






When you come in the door, there's a little bathroom on the right. It's kind of small, but that's okay. The shower sprays a really direct stream, so you have to be careful not to turn it all the way on or it could be seriously painful. :)
(Maybe it's a little weird that I took a picture of my toilet... If so, please forgive me...)




















In the foyer-type area, there are two huge wardrobes (I'm only using one...for now...), and also a little refrigerator, which will come in handy for juice and stuff. By the way, the left-hand door on that wardrobe is about twice that wide, but it's being covered up by the doorway.

The Trip

Now that I've settled in and gotten to know the town a little bit, I think it's time to kick off this blog, beginning with the trip here.

My first flight was from Tulsa to Dallas. It left at 10:05 am, so we got to the airport around 8:30 (we = me, Mom, Dad, and Erick). Since the line at security wasn't that long, we decided to wait and chat a little while before parting ways. It wasn't as tearful as I had feared, probably because a lot of the emotional stuff happened the day or two before.

Anyway, the flight to Dallas was relatively uneventful, and I had no trouble finding my way to my new gate for the flight from Dallas to Frankfurt (it was in a different terminal and I had to take the SkyLink and everything. I was proud of myself). Anyway, I got to the gate and realized I had nearly 3 hours before my flight started boarding, so I decided to walk around and explore the myriad shops located conveniently close-by. I browsed a little, but not much, being somewhat hampered by the necessity of dragging my carry-ons around with me everywhere (even the restroom, lol). After about half an hour of touring, I decided that, for lunch, there was no reason not to go to a sit-down restaurant rather than the food court type area (it would feel much nicer for only a little more). So I went to TGI Friday's, where I had my last truly American meal for 6 months (airplane food doesn't count) -- that is, a Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger with french fries and a Mountain Dew (it had both cheddar and fried provolone, yum). That left me with a little over an hour, in which I bought a box of Mike & Ikes for the plane, read the last chapter in Wheel of Time Book 10, and changed over some currency ($150 to 100 euros).

The flight to Frankfurt was rather long, but there were movies, pre-recorded TV shows, and games (including Tetris), so it wasn't too boring. The plane was only about half full, and there was no one in the seat next to me (I had a window seat in a 2-seat section--the plane was arranged 2-5-2 per row), so I was able to move up the armrest and half-lay down to sleep rather than having to just lean.

The airport was not hard to navigate (at first), and I had no trouble getting to baggage claim (though the line at the passport check was REALLY long), finding my bags, and getting through customs. Then it got hard. I'm pretty sure I had to wind through half the airport with my cart of luggage, following signs to try and find the train station. On a side note, you actually take the carts ON the escalators, with the front wheels on one step and the back wheels, like, 2 steps down, which really threw me off at first. Anyway, one I found it, I couldn't find Stuttgart on the list of destinations. Turns out, there are TWO train stations, one for "Regional Trips" and one for "Long-Distance Trips", though heaven only knows how I'm supposed to know what's "regional". I proceeded to follow the signs to the long-distance train station and purchace a ticket to Stuttgart for 56 Euros (a bit more than I had expected). I had an hour before my train left. I decided to go ahead and find my platform, not knowing how long it would take. It didn't take long, but I couldn't really go do anything else, because I couldn't leave my massive cart o' luggage. So I sat in the non-heated train station for over 45 minutes waiting for my train, starting to feel a little cold and lonely (having not talked to hardly anyone for over 10 hours, almost 12). Then I had to get my luggage on the train. Fortunately, some other people helped me. However, there wasn't any designated place for luggage, so I had to just awkwardly leave it in the little car-connector area.

At this point I was starting to feel rather tired, but didn't want to fall asleep for fear of missing my stop. In any case, I made it to Stuttgart (the main city in Baden-Wurttenburg, the German state I'm staying in). Some other people helped me get my luggage off, and this time I had to figure out how to drag it without a cart (which I managed by stacking the carry-on suitcase on top of one of the others, though it got heavy really quickly). I was able to get my ticket to Schwabisch Hall with an automatic ticket machine, which I was kind of proud of. This train station was the point where things stopped being posted in English as well as German. Anyway, I had hardly any wait between buying the ticket and the train's arrival, so there was no more waiting in the cold. A nice lady who even spoke a little English helped my on with my luggage and showed me a seat the flipped up to allow for luggage, strollers, etc. This train had a lot more stops (the ticket was much cheaper, though, at 13 Euros), and I really did start drifting off a little, despite my best efforts, and waking up just in time to see the name of the train station. This, however gave me so little time that I almost missed my stop--that is, that the door on the train almost closed before I could get off. The same lady helped me get my luggage off.
Getting off the same train, I met another student going to the Goethe Institut. Her name is Kate, and she's from Minnesota. We were both rather relieved to find someone who could speak English (i.e. - someone that we could talk to with ease), and we decided to split a taxi to the Goethe. I was excited about this because I wouldn't have to figure out how to load my luggage onto a bus.

Finally, we made it to the Goethe-Institut, took placement exams, and then a van took us to the Wohnheim (a dormitory/apartment type thing). We live in the same Wohnheim, but in different rooms, and are in the same class, so it was nice to have someone that we at least kind-of-knew at the beginning.

So, all-in-all, my travelling went technically rather smoothly, but got stressful, exhausting, and lonely toward the end, which I suppose is only normal. Believe me, things have gotten much better with some rest. More to come.