Game Over

Sadly we lost to Spain tonight. But in all fairness, Spain played really well, and has throughout the whole tournament. So congrats to Spain.

Kiel

Yesterday Emma, Chris, Ryan and I went to Kiel. We missed the first train, waited an hour, caught the next one, and halfway there Ryan tells us he has a car we could have taken. If looks could kill, Emma's would have struck him down right then and there! It was hilarious. He said he likes the train rides, though. So of course we gave him crap about it all day.

Kiel is up north and another port. I thought it might be pretty, but it really just made Hamburg look all that better! When one leaves Hamburg, one is reminded by just how much money is in the city.

Of course the weather was cool and rainy, but we decided the heck with it, we would just take our crappy weather with us out of good old Hamburg.




We found a nice place to eat lunch and chill, and Ryan and Chris got out their umbrellas during the bouts of rain.

Our view of the parade of ships. The funny thing was that a lot of them had come up from Hamburg, so we had already seen them!

This is me by the harbor and a nice little sailboat.

I made the three of them stop and pose by the big anchor. At first they just looked at me like I was crazy, but then they obliged. Thanks guys!

Emma and my hang out for the afternoon, the traditional northern German beach baskets where you can enjoy the weather while being out of the elements, like wind and rain. Oh those clever Germans! We were, however, at a restaurant, but Emma and I curled up and pretended to be at a nice beach. It almost worked.

It was a late night, with us coming back to Hamburg, eating some delicious fajitas at Dos Amigos, and then heading over to St. Pauli and a few bars there.

Today Larissa and I are checking out the jazz festival in Planten und Blomen (of which we walked through last night and I had no idea the park was so big and had so many beautiful areas!). Then tonight it's The Big Game, that's right, Germany vs. Spain! Go Deutschland!

I'm allergic to birch trees and sort of grass

I went back to get my allergy tests done today and it was an interesting experience. The lady drew 11 lines on my arm, 5 on one and 6 on the other. Then she placed drops in each section, then took 11 different little needles and stabbed each dot of liquid then told me to hold my arms steady for 10 minutes while the dots reacted with my skin. Nice. After a few minutes my left arm started to itch and one of the bumps swelled up and the skin around turned red. I took that to mean we had a match.

Finally they came back and cleaned me up and said I was definitely allergic to birch trees and that it appeared I was developing an allergy to grass and rye. Odd. They were quite pleased with themselves. I thought my arms looked rather odd. Luckily they wiped it all off before I went on my way. Would have been a bit strange to walk around like that.

I didn't watch the game today b/c I was over at Emma's. We finally got to catch up and I saw her picks from Connecticut and Rhode Island and it seems this Block Island on R.I. is an absolute paradise! It is now on my list of places to visit.

She also gave me some advice on teaching English and things to watch out for. Good to know. And she brought me back a girlie magazine from the U.S. b/c it had the girls from the Hills on it. Brilliant! Such love.

A good amount of my class was not there today, I am guessing because people partied into the night. Sunday will be the final against Spain. I know a lot of people are going to watch it at Heiligengeistfeld, but I think that will be too choatic for me. Hmmmm. And there is a jazz festival on Sunday and then Chris and Emma and I were thinking of biking across the river to the orchards and getting cherries. I have to remember to work on my papers somewhere in there. Riiiiiiight. Foreign policy of U.S. ....

WE WON!!!

WE'RE GOING TO THE FINALS IN VIENNA! GO GERMANY!!!

In a very exciting game tonight where we lost the signal a few times due to weather, Germany kicked Turkey's butt 3-2, scoring the last goal in the last thirty seconds!!!!!!!!! Then we all drove around town as everyone honked and hung out of their windows waving their large flags and yelling and cheering. It is amazing. I took tons of videos and will see if I can't load one on here tomorrow. Now it's time for bed. Wow, that was an awesome game!

Biofuel

If all you ever hear are good things about biofuel, I encourage you to check out this article and see what you think.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7472532.stm

Just some food for thought.

The past week

On the canal.



Pic for Dad. : ) In the Hamburg airport.

Joe and I found a great playground in Planten und Blomen!

Joe enjoying the Eppendorf park. He was also humming loudly while lying there. Very entertaining.

The best ice cream in Hamburg. Mmmmm.

There wasn't enough wind at the park today for Pocket Kite, so Joe used my fan instead. Couldn't let an entire visit go without using Pocket Kite!

While out rowing Joe decided to tie up the boat and climb a tree. Shortly afterwards a huge round of waves hit the boat and soaked me. He yelled down, "hold on!" oh so helpfully. Gee, thanks Joe.

The boat after the waves.

Joe emptying the water from the boat.

Ms. Sponge, me and Joe out on the canals.

We stopped for some sausages and beverages at the cool canal cafe near my place, and it started pouring. Being on a boat with metal oars in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm was a bit interesting. And wet.

Us taking refuge from the storm.

Ms. Sponge eyeing the yummy "cat shit" coffee. Mmmmmm.

Another pic for Dad. Mini Las Vegas. We went to the Miniature Wonderland, the best one of sorts in the world, or so they say. There is a mini Hamburg, Scandinavia, Las Vegas, Wild West, Switzerland, and more? The detail is absolutely amazing, there is day and night and lights come on, there are some lewd scenes just randomly scattered in, and overall it is honestly amazing.

A mini lighthouse for Dad.

Joe eating Mett, the raw hamburger and onions. Ew.

It was fun having Joe visit, we did all sorts of crazy things.

Now it's back to work. I have some more surveys to do tomorrow, and in the evening Germany is playing Turkey in the semi-finals, which will be really, really exciting. And interesting to see the streets after the game, because it could get crazy.

Also, Koto is coming to visit on the 4th, and I'm quite excited!

Megan wrote me from the Galapagos today. Very cool. I can't wait to see her pics.

In the quarter finals!

German beat Austria last night, 1-0. It was an exciting game! Now we are in the quarter finals. Oh yeah! Go Deutschland! : )

Megan is off to Ecuador today, to be a happy tourist, compete in an open-water swim, and see the Galapagos. I can't wait to see pictures!

The weather here is still cold and rainy and there are absolutely no complaints here!

My Referat (big fat presentation) yesterday went splendidly! I couldn't believe how smoothly it went. I'm really glad it's over. Now I can edit the first final paper I wrote, and start on the next two.

I've also started looking for jobs once I get back home. Call me crazy, but I'd love to do some kind of physical job, like working with dogs or painting houses or something. I know I'll spend so much time at the computer working on my thesis, that the idea of spending the entire day on the computer is less than exciting. Hmmmmm.

Congrats to Mary, who ran her first 5k this weekend! That's awesome!

: )

Uni weekend

Mathias got stuck working, so it will be me chillin' with my studies this weekend. Not really so bad. And Steffi is having her birthday party tomorrow night, so now I can go! Anyway, Joe gets here Wednesday, so a weekend of hitting the books is in order.

The Netherlands kicked France's butt tonight, 4-1, and I am rather pleased. Oh yeah. : )

Oh, and it's cold here again. That is simply a factual statement, not a complaint. Sad that I already mailed my boots home, though. Lol. I am definitely waiting to send any more boxes home!

Croatia kicked our butt

Last night Kathi and I met up with a bunch of her friends to watch the Germany/Croatia match. Even though we scored three goals, only one counted. (I still don't get this whole off-sides concept and other things that make a goal invalid.) Therefore, Croatia kicked our butt 2-1. Although I do have to concede, they played quite well.

In the restaurant where we were, everyone was for Germany except for this small group of young people that were scream so high pitched everytime Croatia did well, and you could tell the Germans were getting annoyed. I just couldn't take the glass shattering screams. And when it was all said and done, they screamed so more, jumped around, and then raced out of the place. Outside, people were driving up and down the streets honking their horns and waving the Croatian flag from windows, sunroofs and had miscellaneous ones all over their vehicles. At the train station, there was a group of people jumping and running around in a circle waving big flags and singing/chanting. I had no idea what they were saying, but man were they enthusiastic!

It is not as crazy as the World Cup was, but people here are still pretty excited about their soccer.

And Germany is not shut out yet, we are still playing Austria on Monday. Now we just have to beat them!

Mathias

Mathias called me last night and we spontaneously decided he should come up for the weekend. I haven't seen him in years! And he's never been to Hamburg, so he'll come up Friday and leave early Monday morning before my Referat. That means he'll have to listen to me practice it this weekend. Poor guy.

Kathi and I seriously scrubbed the apartment last night. They are renewing their rent contract tomorrow and someone is coming by to look at the place. And I guess I am sort of not so legal again, because I don't "live" here, I am simply visiting Kathi. lol. Oh dear.

It has cooled down here again to the 50s and 60s. Now, normally that would make me sad during summer, but it has made our apartment livable, so I'm not too bothered.

Megan, watch out for those American bus drivers! I don't think they are as skilled as the German ones at avoiding bikers. I must admit, I love the feeling of weaving in and out of traffic on my bike! Ahh, freedom.

Referat

Ok, so I know I haven't blogged in awhile, but there really isn't much going on. I've been doing a lot of work on my big fat Referat (presentation) that I am giving on Monday, alone, for 1.5 hours. About educational theory. In German. I think I've already mentioned this, but just thought I would reiterate. So that is consuming most of my time.

Although, I did send a box home today, 18 kg! It was really heavy, but Jens came over, carried it down the stairs, and drove me to the Post. So that made it way easier.

It is the European Cup and there is soccer every night. Germany won their first round, and we are excited to watch them play again tomorrow night!

That's pretty much it. I'm excited Obama is the Democratic candidate. And it sounds like Iowa is about ready to float away! I can't believe things are as bad as back in '93. I was there at Auntie's and those were some crazy times!

Some pics from Lisbon

Me at a place with a nice view.



St. Anthony.



Nice church.




Modern art.




Rita and I by the water.




Rita and Theresa.




Me by another great view.




Rita and pretty view.







There are more I'm putting online, but the website is having trouble at the moment. They'll be up soon! : )

Hot

No Dad, none of the trips this month have cost you a cent, they have all come from my bank account. Poor bank account! lol.

It is really hot in my apartment, about 85 F. And we can't get it to cool down. So I didn't really sleep last night because silly me, I can't sleep when it's too hot. Now, it's not 85 F outside, just in our apartment because all the heat rises. Remember when I said we don't even heat the place in winter and leave the windows open? So summer is hot. Goodness gracious.

Megan, pics are coming soon. I took waaaaay too many and have to sort through them but will do that soon. And have fun in Ecuador! Take lots of pics.

Lisbon was great. And it was wonderful to finally see Rita again. We spent most days walking around the city and just seeing the sites. I ate more fish than I have in a long time. I definitely recommend Lisbon!