rest of day 12

rest of day 12 laast nights dinner and kitchen photos

i went to the meet and greet cake and coffee thing and i ended up sitting alone at a table with a girl/ lady whom had been in my class on the first day. on the first day she started crying because she had to learn german and she expected to master it in under a year. but that won't happen and her hussband doesn't think she needs german and blah blah blah. and uring the dinner she told me her life story and i could see the entire time her eyes were about to water. and i keep thinking i have to get out of here but how i have to get out of here but how if i leave she will feel abandoned and cry and if i stay i will be uncomfortable and if she starts crying i will have no course of action. im trapped. why arn't i empathetic i don't have emotions im a guy and on top of that i'm a vanderwoude. what should i do. i lack the empathetic skills to sympasize with her i was a victim in the wrong place at the wrong time.

ohh yeah i forgot to write yesterday that before class this kid (and i use the word kid on purpose he is 19 but he acts 15) Danik from kazacstan walks up to me and asks me if i like my (something) i assumed he said first name so i said yes (apparently he said president) then he said "do you know your president planned the 11 september thing, and he planned it, and he new that he would start a war with iraq and destroy them?" i was temped to say "yes i did know that i also know that he eats new born babies and makes deals with satan to quench his thirst for human blood" but in reality i said "no, im not here to discuss international politics im here to learn german."

today was actually andreas birthday (not yesterday) so danik came to class with flowers and a present for her. it is obvious that danik is attracted to her. i'm not sure andrea relizes it. andrea seems to be incredibuly book smart but ignorant in the feild of reality. i am affraid she may do somthing that he interprets to be a welcoming signal which would be bad for all parties. unfortunatly all i can do is watch i cannot interfer. its not my concern.

in my experience with you people from the middle east they like to pretend that they are incharge of people older than them i don't think they they were ever taught that they are not incharge. i will site three examples. one mahamad from 5th grade his favorite joke was to walk up to the board when mr creighton was out of the room and make a broad direction to the class (ie. ok class we are going outside, miss student teacher go order us some pizzas, ect...) in class danik seems to have the same aditude h e never listens to the teacher and she lacks the will power to dominate him also while in class 4 days ago some one who looked like he saw to many micheal jackson videos walked into class and wrote his name on the board and introduced himself as a teacher in all of these casses no body has ever found them to be funny. also, i think there is an undertone of disrespect of women mahamad stayed inline when mr creighton was around but when only the student teacher lady was around he would go crazy. our current teacher is female and danik is out of control.

any way this is the end of my hate blog

any way tomarrow i plan to go to bretten to see the second stage (team time trial) of the deutschland tour. i plan to first go to the farmers market in the morning and buy a bunch of bannanas (what are those groupings of bannannas called) i took five rolls out of breakfast this morning and i plan to have one for dinner tonight and the rest tommarrow after eatting breakfast (pancakes) and a light lunch spagehitti i will leave for the train station with my bike at about 9:45 is then i will leave for bretten at 10:30 ish. when i get there it should be lightly raining and then stop toward the end of my stay so i'm not bringing an umbrella. then i will ride to the start watch the amatuer racers go and wait for the profesionals to start. i will then eat my lunch of bannannas and bread then go to the train station at 5 :00 to go back to schwabisch hall.
if i see any camras i will try to get in the picture i'll be wearing blue jeans black sweater thing over a brown t shirt carrying dads brown messenger bag.

day 11 and part of 12

actually today is day 12 but i didn't have time to type yesterday

first i woke up early to finish homework then went to class in class we did birthday stuff because it was Andreas birthday. after class we had lunch then i went online to talk to mom and dad and to post my blog and research stuff then i made dinner (spaghetti tomato sauce and a brezel roll) while i was making dinner two of the people who eat together all the time were making there dinner (stew) so when i was done i did my dishes and theirs (because I'm a nice person) and one of them invited me to eat with them.(because i did the dishes) i figured yeah there gonna eat to early to get drunk and i have to leave to watch the movie before then any way so its a good chance to meet my fellow Americans. so i said yes so i did home work while the stew stewed and then ate with about 8-10 of them. thomas (a music major from Austin Texas) said we need dinning music and i said I have vavaldi. thomas liked the idea james on the othere hand did not (he is a music major from central) it is his opinion that all baroque music sounds the same both thomas and i were ready to slap him but we restrained our selves. during the violin solo in spring i said this is my favorite violin solo and almost every one agreeded its amazing. and the conversations stopped as soon as the first phrase of winter was played what is my favorite movment. after that we discusssed the energy problem i think i was one of the few who understood that the problem is not finding alternative energy we know about it already the problem is implementing it. any way the disscusion wound down and i went to the movie "good bybe lenin" the movie was in german with german subtitles which helped alot.

basicaly the movie is about a mother and her children (eastern berlin) who were separated about 2 months before the wall fell in berlin. the mother went into a coma and woke up eight months later so the son had to buy back the old appartment and decorate it the way it was to make her feel at home. the he had to find all the old food stuffs that they use to eat which didn't exist any more because of capitalism so he transfered the new food brands contents into old jars. then the mother realy wanted to watch tv so he and his coworker had to find old videos from a year before. then crazy stuff started to happen like the building outside her window had a coca cola flag hung on the side of it so they had to make fake news programs to convince her that berlin was still separated and one day she got out of the house and saw all the new capitalist stuff and they eventually had to make a fake news program that said that the wall had just fallen. it was a funny film if you can find it in english i highly recomend it.

in my opinion the pinical of musicis the baroque style, the concept of many things happening at once is very exciting.


and now it is thursday to day i hae to go to the office to sign up for the mercedes museum and maybe the rothenburg trip.
any way class will start soo so i'm gonna stop now.

now im gonna write about today.
today in class we had to do research for a trip to munich my group has a brazilian uy in it who claims to have the information so all we had to do was look up pictures to print up. he better have the information or i'll have his head. in othere news i did find out that there is a website for the train station system here in germany i plan to use it to plan my trip to stuttgart when the library opens. i think culture shock is starting to set in but im not sure if its culture shock or home sickness. either way i havent felt this way since i went to flordia on a mission trip in 5th grade. i don't think its jet lag i should be over that by now.

i signed up to go to the mercedes mueseum on wendsday and i plan to sign up for the trip to rothenburg either tomarrow or saterday.
last night we discussed our week long break plans the group wants to go to denmark (to get drunk i suspect) then stop in different towns on the way back here. i think i would like to go to munchin then go to nurnberg then come back here. but i haven't made my mind up yet
i have two weks to decide.

tonight there is a get to know people thing with food so i think i'll sign up for that.

i have been thinking about what i want to do after graduation and i think i would like to work at central and contiue taking classes probably one class per semester or year. but then again my plans have shanged so much i' not sure what i would like to do.
any way i think this blog is done for now
have a good day

please forgive any gramatic or spelling errors as microsoft word will no longer help me in this regard.

day 10 august 8

ok so i was sitting in bed taking a nap when i had a half awake dream thing. i was making a violin on the island at central. so i woke up i thought why not make a violin at central. if i stop watching cartoons and looking up usless stuff on the internet i could easily make a violin during the course of a semester. also i could arrange to have access to the equipment in the basment of the art building. i would also have access to orchestra people. so if i take what i have here with me to central along with some othere stuff (no tv, and no big computer, no mountain bike) i should have plenty of room in the car to bring the tools i need. also i will be in the basement so i can make alot more noise than i used to in my room before disturbing any one. so that is the plan.

I hardly used the mountain bike last semester because the trail was always so wet and the tv was only a destraction and i don't need the big computer now that i am used to using th laptop. furthure more since i will be use to living with no more than what will fit in a suitcase i will need even less stuff than previous years. i may be able to live with out a fridge or a microwave but i liked having those things last year so i'll take them next semester.

it dawned on last weekend that i'm a senior and i have to get a job lined up sometime in the next 10 months. i'm still not sure what i want to do. i would like to work for facilities maintence but the pay is probably not enough to pay off my college loans any time soon. also i think i would need to get more training. i'm not sure how likly i am to get hired in that feild with out expirience. i think i would like to work at central but then again im not sure about any of the specifics and being the INTP i am i'm afraid of making decisions with out being totaly informed. i also considered going to school and becoming a boiler technition because that feild is always in high demand and i could work standard preventative maintence and have good job security. i also considered buying a house and renting out half of it. or renovating houses. or cabnet making. or even going to dakota county tech and becoming a work site manager. any way i doubt that the central staff will be to use to helping college graduates get blue colar jobs most college graduates are "to good" to do physical labor. i guess i enjoy it becuase i like the satisfaction of seeing the results of my work. were as white colar jobs you work all day and still have no idea how much you got done.

i tried to use my credit card today to get a bottle of water in a gas sattion and the lady looked at me seriously and said "du mochtest ein trink kaufen mit ein karte? bist du veruckt?" ("you want to buy a drink with a credit card? are you crazy?") i said "nien" then she explained how a purchace had to be over 10 euros for me to use a credit card so i said ok and handed her 2 euro coins. now i have a bottle that i can use to hold water which is what i was after in the first pplace but i don't know if the card works or not yet.

tomarrow i plan on going to a movie in the evening in german with subtitles in german and thats the extent of my plan. i took some rolls out of breakfast this morning and i had a snack and a bigger dinner than ussual i think i will continue doing it especially this week end so i will have lunch in bretten.

any way im tired and i have to do homework tomarrow morning so i'm going to bed

day 9

day 9

today while sitting in my room i figured out how to improve my eating situation for the rest of the two months. i was thinking about lunch for my trip on saterday and i thought i could make a lunch outof the coldcuts and cresants and hardrolls and fruit they give us for breakfast every morning then i realized that i couldn't do that on saterday because they don't provide lunch but i could do it for the mercedes benz museum on wendsday next week. then i realized if i take rolls every day like i have been taking butter every day i could improve my caloric intake by two fold at dinner. and if i stock pile them (they are likly to last 2 days or so) i could make a fairly good lunch for my week end trips.

on saterday i plan to go to the farmers markt buy some bannannas then make something with my pancake mix and have breakfast then i will eat lunch incredubly early (about 9:30) then leave swchabisch hall with my bike on a train at about 10:00 then arrive in bretten at 12:00 then i will find a good spot to watch the bike race (it is a time trial so i will likly move around alot at the start then switch to the finish) during the gap between departure and arrival of the teams i will eat second lunch/ dinner (this will consist of goethe hard rolls and bannannas) then i will watch the finishes and maybe stick around to get autographs or somthing then fight my way onto a train to schwabisch hall i should get back at about 7-8 o'clock then i can make spagehitti for second dinner and then go to sleep. i expect the train tickets to cost 35 euros for round trip and dinner to cost about 2-4 euros (for bannannas only).

they have a special kind of roll here that i need to learn how to make its called a bretzel roll (pretzel roll) it is delicious. it is like a soft pretzel but with more soft inside parts.

since im on the topic of food I will go more into detail about the food at the goethe institute
breakfast consists of (starting from the beginning of the line) coffee, hot water, tea, milk, rolls; (pretzel,poppie seed, hard, othere) cresants, sliced breads, orange juice, cereals, butter, various jams, coldcutts (i don't know their specific names), and various fruits. it doesn't seem like breakfast because there is nothing cooked. but it fills you up. the germans have a view that breakfast is a smaller meal and that lunch and dinner are the most important meals.

for lunch we have a choice between two menus ussually the first is with meat the second is vegitarian. the lunches here are always german (mostly because they are made in germany) they consist of water, ussually some sort of grain (rice, spatzel, noodles) and some meat so far there has been only one dish i didn't like and thats because i made the mistake of going with the vegitarian menu. then either salad od dessert. salad is salad and desert is ussually some kind of pudding. then silverware, then we show the lady our card then when she is not looking we take a roll from the basket. and that is lunch

dinner is not served but it is ussually spegetthi with butter. however this week i got sauce to go with it so i'll have tomatoe flavored spagehitti.
on week ends we arn't supplied any food so i went out and found pancake mix. i'm not sure if its the electric stove (i hate electric stoves they take for ever to heat up and they take forever to cool down i hate them and will devote my life to destroying them) or if its the mix but the pancakes don't cook properly instead of coming out light brown and fluffy the come out partially burned and partially uncooked and dense and goey. either way i eat them. it may taste terrible but it keeps me going. when i run out of this mx i'm going to try waffle mix.

during the week break im going to try to make double baked potatoes (phill style. aka mashed potatoes with stuff in it) i may buy some french bread as well and make that last aslong as possible. i think the main problem i will hve over the break is not having butter or hard rolls.

there is an italien ice cream shop next door some day i will try to have real "italian ice" its a delicious ice cream drink thing i can't describe. i had it at a professors house freshman year it was good.

day 8

I did some research last night and this morning and I figured that there are only two ways I might not graduate on time. I only researched this slim possibility because its scary and I have to understand it. chances I might not graduate are 1 in 9 chance at best. I'm almost certain I will graduate or at least walk across the stage.

1.) the religion class I took last semester that is counted as a history credit doesn't transfer to being a religion credit. then I will have to take a religion class the next year. a minor inconvinience

2.) I don't get eight 300 level crdits completed this semester. it seems that I am at a 200 lvl at the goethe institut right now. if I get the equivelent to 300 lvl next semester I will get six 300 lvl credits. and if all the classes at the central program in vienna are 300 lvl then I will have 18 300 lvl credits. but, if they aren't then I will have only six 300 lvl credits and will have to complete one 300 lvl course the next year but if I don't get any 300 lvl courses this semester I will have to complete 8 300 lvl credits (3 courses)

so if I don't graduate I should have only 1-3 classes to take to graduate.

luckily I should have all the information I need on this subject by the end of the week. and I can plan accordingly.

I realized today that since I'm not a sociable person I am not geting the most out of my german learning experince. so, I have made plans to increase my german skills by checking out movies from the media center on campus everyday and watching them every night. and checking out casset tapes from the media center and listening to them when I ride my bike. also, I plan to find a place were I can find a newspaper and read that every day.

my financial situation is as follows. Of the 400 euro I had at the beginning of the trip I have only 88 euros left. not bad considering that I bought a 200 euro bike. during the next two months I plan on:
eating 50 euros
going to bretten 35 euros I think
going to merceds museum 6 euros
going to rothenburg 8 euros
another excursion about 10 euros
and misc. 20 euros
total about 130 euros
also I should with draw 300 euros before I go to austria.

I should get some money back when I sell my bike about 100 euros
I should also get about 25 euros back from central for the excursions when I get to austria.

week ends are boring here ther is no internet and no entertainment.
so I have been here writing blog posts and letters to people in america
I wrote on letter to joe askking how he is doing
another to prof. patzia to tell him about my plans for next semester and ask about independent study, german minor, and transfering my religion credit.
and I think I should write a letter to prof. Weber about how my placement in goethe will effect my graduation plans.
also I made an outline of my life for the next 100 years.

now my battery is dieing so im going to eat lunch

I'm back and I'm bored. this morning I rode my bike to the train station to find out how much and how long my train ride next week will be the machine said about 1:30 hours and about 30 euros for round trip tickets. I'm not sure it is going to the right bretten though I'll go check again when the station is not so crowded.

yesterday morning was the "MARKT" infront of the church. there were about 30 stands filled with fruit bread stuff spirits and meat. I walked through twice but couldn't find any potatos of sufficient size to make backed potatos. we'll see what I can find on wendsday.

tomarrow morning I have to go directly to the office when I wake up to look for the sign up lists for the mercedes museum and the rothenburg trip and if they aren't there I have to go ask at exactly 8:00 when the office opens becuase I really want to go on those trips.

there are nats and fly's in germany but for some reason they aren't quite as annoying as the bugs in america.

I found two bike trails around here so far one that goes south for a ways (about 5 km) and one that goes north for atleast 17 km I took the castle picture on yesterdays post on the south path and the bridge picture on this post on the north trail.

i just rode east up the big hill towards the city i took the taxi from. it was hard to get up this hill but coming down i was doing about 40 kph the whole way down now i can understand how people in the tour de france can go 60 down these hills they are steap and if you have a fast bike which i don't you could do some insane speeds down these hills asumming there is no traffic either infront or behind you. it took me 30 minutes to get to the city and 10 minutes to get back.

my room mate whom i know has been here for atleast a month sleeps at weird hours. he goes to sleep at 3 pm and wakes up at 6 ish then goes to sleep again at 3 am i'm amazed the guy isn't completly crazy but since i still don't know his name i guess he might be and i don't know it. hopfully he leaves after this month and i can get a new room mate its weird not talking to him. he is about 5 years older than me to so its just weird.

so i did half my home work yesterday (the half i understood) and now i have to do the other half and i can't do the text on a famous person thing because i have no information i might log on early tomarrow to get info.

any way thats all for today bye

day 7 aug 4

hello every body


as i said in my last blog post i bought a bike. for not being a road bike it is fairly fast and for not being a mountain bike it handles fairly well. it is allitllte small but for the price it is good enough. besides it doesn't have to be perfect it only needs to last me two months. right now the plan is to sell the bike back to the bike shop before i leave for vienna. then buy a new onein vienna. hhow even i talked to some of the people in my dorm this morning and they thhought i should ask if i could cancel the plane trip to vienna take a train then bring the bike with me. i'm kind of hesitant about this plan because i think it would be more of a hassle than the thing is worth. i may be better off buying a bike in vienna.

i took the bike out last night and this morning to take a pictur of a castle city thing i heard about the clear picture i took last night the foggy picture i took this morning.

for every one who came with the central program from austin college in texas the purpose of this trip is to get drunk every night. for james i think the main point was music and getting wasted is just a bonus for some of us drinking beer is not a bad thing, beer just tastes nasty and they feel awkward not drinking in a bar with friends who are so they just don't go. for me i don't like the concept of losing control of any part of myself be it my body or my mind. and i don't like being in the facinity of any one who is, they are two much of a threat.

now i plan on going up to the train station to figure out how much tickets will cost for my trip to bretten next week.

as you read in the last blog i have to write a small text on some one famous i had a biography of the write brothers on mozilla so i could read it without an internet connection however my computer crashed last night so i don't have it any more and the library is closed until moonday afternoon so i have to find an internet cafe or somthing. the internet cafe closed at six so i guess i can't do it.

day 5 august 3

today I bought a used bike for 200 euros it is a little small but it will work for two months (I would post a picture but I forgot to bring the camera/computer cable.) I also got pancake mix which should last a while and keep me fed on the week ends tomarrow I plan on going to the "farmers market" they have in the mornings to see if I can get any thing for dirt cheap that will help keep me fed. I also plan to ride up to the train station to find out how much and how long my trip will be to bretten next week to see the tour of germany.

today I want to talk to mom again but all of the internet ports are already taken. it looks like rain out side. I have to look up sombody famous today so I'll just stay until a spot opens up.

I saw a picture of a city not to far from here that still has its medivel wall around it so I'm going to check that out tomarrow aswell.

by the time this is posted I will be totaly comitted to the german intensive program. the only fear I have is that it will not fullfill my 300 level requirement but if it doesn't I will find a way to complete my degree.

mom told me about the I-35 bridge colapsing on wensday I watched the video and I am amazed I rode my bike under that bridge not 3 weeks ago its kinda scary.

looks like a spot is about to open up which is good I'll just slide right in after she leaves. maybe not

any way now seems like as good a time as any to describe the school
the goethe institut consists two thirds of the top two levels of a three story horse shoe shaped building
the second floor is all class rooms and at the corner is the office the top floor is the media center here there are books and videos in german a couple of computers and 3 eithernet jack work stations. currently two of the three stations have a person using a laptop the othere is being "used" but a person who is charging a Ipod.
all of the classrooms on the second floor have eithernet jacks but each room is either locked or is being used for either music practice or somthing else
the goethe institut works with 2 privatly owned living facilities the "wohnhiem" this consists of about 8 buildings
that all seem to be pretty nice and the "jonesturm" or "jones tower" which is locatd nect to a clock tower on each floor of the jonesturm there are 4-5 rooms they all share a common kitchen and
for some reason there are 2-3 bathrooms 1 is a full bath the other is a tiolet and sink and the other is a shower and sink. its a weird lay out.

so far the are three possible excurions this month the first is to wurtenburg I won't be going to this one because I will be in bretten watching the tour de germany the second is to a mercedes museum which I will attend and the final one is to rothenburg which I will also attend. then central will pay me back for both of those and one more after I get to vienna.

currently I have about 80 euros left I should start to research how to get more when I tried to buy spagetti at the supper market with my visa card they would not accept it because it was visa. so I need to start concisering how to get money out of my acount I hope that germany is not a anti- visa area
because both of my cards are visas.

I still haven't met my roomate we have gotten into the habbit of just ignoring eachothere so it will be to awkward to ask his name preet soon. I know he has been here at goethe for atleast a month and he speaks arabic.


when I get online im going to ask marie what credit levels each course is because it is not listed on the course listings online and some of the classes she already menshined are not on the list at all.

today we had to draw a map of our home contry and label certen things then talk to othere people about our country using the map I talked to one guy from kazacsstan and 3 people from japan. I know 4 of us in the class are from america and that is half the class I think every one else is from different countries. one of the places we had to mark was the best food so I marked giordanos pizza and I had to explain why this pizza was better than any othere pizza in the world people really wanted to eat there afterwards


well thats all for now a spot still hasn't oened up and I have 2 hours before this place closes if I don't get on I'll either have to wait till monday or find an internet cafe.