The 7:18 Strikes Again

This morning was rough for a few reasons:

1. I had to wake up early to write a test. Not so horrible, but not exactly fun.

2. After washing my hair cut styled hair, Jan told me it was back to looking straw like. I guess that means frizzy - but I am on a quest to get rid of the straw hair.

3. The 7:18 train was crowded to the point of some guy leaning against me even though school is on vacation. But that extra hour in the morning is soooooo nice.

Strange Encounters with the Germans

Yesterday I had a fitness evaluation at my new gym and a hair cut. Here are some highlights of the two experiences.

1. The guy in the gym and I spoke in a mixture of German and English. He continuously referred to the lower body as downstairs and the upper body as upstairs.

2. When I wasn't sitting far enough back he said something like, make sure your booty has contact with the seat.

3. The poor man was clearly flustered by my high percentage of body fat and low VO2 capacity so he continously reassured me that nothing was accurate, especially for women.

On to haircutting
4. She had me stand up for the entire hair cut. Soooo bizarre.

5. She asked if I wanted to blow dry my hair or have her do it. Unwittingly, I said she should do it. She proceeded to hang about 8 brushes from my head and took 30 minutes to dry the hair.

6. For said treatment I think she charged me an extra 20 euros. Great.

I promise a picture post soon. I've been taking a lot. I just need to get them uploaded.

Weinacht Already

Those in the Clark family will be happy to know that Marzipan Kartoffels are already in the stores. Unfortunately, Jan decided to give away the last two packets to the guys who delivered our new table. (sure, they did it for free, but he should have given them a tip or something!) Jan is generally much more generous with anything marzipan than I am. All of the stores have Christmas displays and last night, the Munster - the Cathedral - in the center of the city was illuminated by lights. We decided that they must be testing them, but who knows, maybe it is already that time of year.

I am excited about the Christmas markets and Gluh wine and all of the fun of Christmas time, but it's not even Halloween yet. Or Thanksgiving... It all seems a little bit premature.

Pumpkin Soup

In honor of fall, last week I decided to make pumpkin soup. Pumpkin soup is very popular in Germany and somehow I kept hearing about it. So I sent Jan off to the store to find some canned pumpkin or at least some form of pumpkin that is ready for cooking. Jan came home with two very nice looking class jars of cubed pumpkin. So one chilly night I picked up a can of coconut milk and set of to make Thai inspired pumpkin soup. This went well as I sauteed the onions, put in some spices and then poured in the pumpkin chunks. At this point I decided to taste the pumpkin and it tasted sort of funny. I looked at the jar and realized that it was PICKLED PUMPKIN. Gross. So not sure what to do, I kept on cooking the soup, hoping that you can cook out pickle flavor. I learned that no matter what you add, the pickle flavor goes nowhere. Soon there will be pumpkin soup take two.

A Wedding and A Class Reunion all in Two Days

Last weekend was wonderful. Jan and I headed out for his former roommate's wedding and his 10th class reunion.

First we rented a car. For reasons that I still do not understand, Jan opted out of the exciting convertible mini cooper and instead went with some French car.

With our new car we spent a day doing as much shopping/stockpiling as possible.

Usually, Jan and I are carless, and any shopping is a production involving a bike, a backpack, and very strategic packing. We now have enough canned tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, olives, and condiments to last us through (I hope) much of the winter. Now instead of riding bikes up the steep hill, in the snow, with about 50 pounds on our backs, we can eat endless pots of chili.

The Wedding

We almost didn't make it to the wedding - we were late due to a detour and then could not find the town hall. After much searching and asking for directions, we found it, but it seemed to be abandoned. Just as we were about to give up hope, the wedding party came walking down the hill and we promptly jumped in our car to follow them to the reception.

The reception was at a resort/hotel/spa in the Black Forest. It was beautiful, if a little chili. We started with champagne on the deck, but quickly went inside to a long sit down dinner.

Jan's former roommate met his now wife when she studied abroad in Freiburg and lived next door. She is Australian, so Jan and I sat at the Australian table (so I could actually communicate). The Australians were pretty funny and good company.

Germans have a thing called Program at weddings - events that are planned. We were entertained by a very good a capella group who wore costumes and were very funny. The brides brothers sang some songs, and we saw a slide show of the groom growing up. All in all very sweet.

Jan and I stayed up until 2 and then hit the bed at our hotel.

The next day we had a delicious breakfast and checked out. We visited Jan's father and brother for lunch and then passed out for several hours.

Jan's class reunion was also fun and I found out some juicy info on Jan such as the story of Wilde Hilde. Many of Jan's classmates are still students, still live at home, etc. Germans don't seem to hurry to get to the financially independent, good job stage of life.

Now I have a week left of no teaching, and I am devoting myself to sleeping, reading, and trying to learn German. :)