Oh lord, won't ya send me....

Okay, essentially Send is just the state fair without the livestock. A good old fashioned carnival. Cheap rides, cotton candy.... Ryan and I went for a bit this evening and mostly just walked and observed. Not, of course, without a bag full of roasted almonds, delicious! There were many rides that were American themed that I had to giggle at. My favorite being "Highway 1" complete with illustrations of movie stars, palm trees, convertibles, and (ahem) Mount Rushmore. But hell, they sure tried. And I am sure that there is some replica or something of Mount Rushmore in California, somewhere. So that counts, right? A few of my other favorite things included all the pretzel and wurst booths. The fully portable beer gardens were impressive, a few even complete with astro turf rolled out beneath, white picket fence, and flower boxes for a full experience of drinking in Bavaria. Then of course were the housewares booths: vacuums, one for silver polisher, and the best of all.....the portable plant shop. It seemed strange to me to be selling giant houseplants at a carnival. Lately have been on the hunt for a large quantity of dried lavender and have gone into every store imaginable to find it to no avail. But tonight the carnival delivered. I fell upon a spice and herbs booth and lucked out. I can't wait to get baking some lovely lemon-lavender treats.....yum. I would say all in all Send was a success. Maybe I will return tomorrow to actually hop on a ride. We'll see. More photos here.

On another note.....Germany has made it to the finals in the Euro Cup this year and play tomorrow against Spain. I am so excited. My brother used to play football (soccer) and I always loved watching, but haven't really watched for a long time. Not only am I rediscovering my interest in the sport, I am in a place where it is a frenzy. This tournament has been insane. In fact I am, at the moment, getting ready to settle down to go to bed and a party is just beginning. People are already chanting and cheering, singing "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. It has nothing to do with football, it's just something catchy they can grab on to. I was given a gift of German flag makeup so I just may even go that route. The only thing I have ever gotten excited enough over to paint my face was Ute Gymnastics and, hello, they are the Red Rocks. Who wouldn't paint their face for them?!? Sorry, where was I? Football? Oh yeah. The madness will, for one more day, continue. Unless of course Germany wins, then the madness will continue until the World Cup....

My German Education

My thought on the matter....if I need to learn this language I am going to have a fun, creative, and delicious time doing so. My gift to myself this afternoon was a relaxing time spent in the bookstore walking away with two informative books sure to fill some time and will indeed feed the creative bug I can't get rid of. Now I just have to understand it...

after I drew a breath or two

I realize I have fallen off the blogosphere and am now back, I think. I have certainly settled into routine here and have had nothing I have deemed worthy to post. Day to day to day. I do start working with the summer camp on monday and I feel excited to have something to take up my time. While I have been working the hours are short, it will be nice to have my time taken up by something. The lounging around is starting to get boring.

I learned this week that I cannot get a visa unless I have health insurance. This is something I haven't had since 2004 so I think it is probably a good thing that I am forced to get it. It isn't cheap, but still less expensive than in the US....unless I do that silly thing in my head where I convert what I am spending in Euros to dollars. But that just gives me a headache and I get sick and that is just no fun. It's rather amusing seeing what is expensive and what is not. Some examples, approximated in US dollars for all ya'll:

*Bath towel (cheapest): $24.00
*Six pack beer (expensive): $ 6.30
*Peanut butter (6 oz.): $ 5.44
*One gallon regular: $10.80
*Loaf of best bread: $ 1.50

More examples to come soon.

shift

B: Wow. You made such a lovely bag.
M: But you make the best pictures, no? And you have so nice eyes. Green is my favorite color.

What a difference a month makes.

Who's Cup?

I found this plain cup and saucer at Nanu Nana and a porcelain paint pen at Idee. After drawing my flowers, allowing it to dry, and setting it in the oven I have my very own personalized and dishwasher safe coffee cup. I like it. So much I made another with a bird on a twig.

Holla!

Recently two things happened. One, Shannan wrote to me and asked what she was going to do about her birthday if I wasn't there to make her favorite Pumpkin-Orange Jewel Cake (see above). And, yes, it is so good it deserves to be spelled with caps. Then I got a message from Karen that I really should post that picture of the cake I made for Shannan because it looks oh so yummy and I thought, "Yes, it is yummy. But what reason could I possibly have for posting that picture right now?" But you want to know what happened next? Like the next day? Trust me, you want to know because it was magical. Really. Ryan was there, he can back it up. Maya happened.

Maya and her husband Dion have been living in Münster for five years and are now making a move to Philidelphia, meaning they are going through the same purge process I did just a few months ago. And Maya, do you know what she likes? To bake. And she understands what it is like to be an American in Germany who likes to bake but can't find things like measuring cups, spatulas, vanilla extract, cocoa powder....and pumpkin. And she actually brought all these things with her back from a visit to the US and oh so kindly passed them off to me. I don't know if I can adequately express the excitement I felt (and still feel) over the stash. I came home and carefully laid out my loot to admire it. To organize it. When it was over we swapped favorite pumpkin cake recipes (that's where the photo comes in). It's unfortunate she is leaving because I think she is someone who I could have really hung out with.

In addition to all my kitchen stuff I also scored a desk and chairs, so no more bending over typing on a bookshelf, and something to hang my clothes in! I feel like I am actually moved in now. It is lovely. On our last visit yesterday to pick up the furniture Maya bestowed upon me the greatest gift of all. As she opened up the freezer and pulled it out there were no words necessary, I knew what it was and my whole body was buzzing. My eyes lit up and I giddily glanced at Ryan asking, "Do you know what that is?" After a nervous looking glance returned to me I whispered, "Chicken broth!"

Wonder

Occasionally I wonder if I was really ready for this adventure.

Other times I think that it was me actually coming that made me ready.

Gang Wars

This little town decided to have a little more excitement the last few days. Monday night I went asleep to the sound of helicopters buzzing above my head. Being tired I didn't think much of it and it in fact felt a little soothing, reminding me my days in the avenues with Lifeflight constantly going back and forth. In the morning it clicked how unusual this was, especially for Münster. After a picnic in the park I started to really wonder because the choppers were still there. Just sitting there. Two of them hovering, occasionally making rounds, over the city center. So, today, I finally did some research.


In December or so there was a bloody gang war in Ibbenbüren (very small town outside Münster). And we are not talking about some punk ass teenage kids who think it's cool to stir up trouble, we are talking about full grown, facial hair, leather clad men riding around on their Harley's thinking it's cool to stir up trouble. As far as I can gather the trial was held here in Münster on Tuesday meaning we were flooded with members of both Hell's Angels and the Bandidos in addition to 1000 or so police. Funny, aside from the helicopters I didn't even notice. Ryan lives just around the corner from the hearings and he noticed nothing. Still, a fun story. Right?



(all photos from Westfälische Nachrichten)

First Match

Saturday evening kicked off the Euro Cup 2008 being hosted by Austria and Switzerland. I remember two years ago, while Germany was hosting the World Cup, reading about and seeing the absolute craziness of football fans here. I am totally excited that this year I get to witness such hysteria in person. This is the worlds third largest sporting event behind the Olympics and World Cup. So, last night was Germany's first match and they were pitted against Poland. Going into this they are ranked #5 in the world currently. Ryan and I were invited over to a viewing party. On our ride over the we passed restraunts and bars at over full capacity to watch the game on patios, and at times it seemed that the stadium was in the near distance as I heard commentary spilling out of windows all over the city.

Unfortunately we missed the excitement of the first goal made by Germany, apparently answering the door isn't as important as the game. So we headed over to the, surprisingly empty, bar next door until the half. Watching the game was fun enough, but in the presence of excited fans it was so much better. In the end Germany won the game 2-0, both goals being made by the Polish born Lukas Podolski.


The ride home was as entertaining as the game itself. Bikes ringing their bells, songs blaring from stereos. When I came to the "Death Circle" (a roundabout and main traffic artery in and out of the city) it was completely blocked by celebrating pedestrians with the police nearby supporting the spectacle. These will be some very fun weeks....

A few things worth mentioning

These may or may not be related, but you should know anyhow.

1. See the photo above? This is my new city. Wow.

And they just happen to offer this service to women (from the website):

Ladies’ night taxi:
Bus drivers can order the ladies' night taxi for female passengers aged 14 years and above, who wish to travel home in the evenings by taxi after completing their bus journeys. The "Stadtwerke“ cover the costs of the taxi’s outward journey. This service is available from April to September from 8 pm and from October to March from 6 pm.

2. Euro 2008 kicks off tonight for all you football fans. Read about it also here.

3. For those of you that miss me and just want to hear my voice *smirks and giggles to self* then you should, if you don't already, get Skype. It is a way to make calls FREE over the internet. That's right, I said free. Even internationally. Even if you don't want to talk with me you surely have someone faraway you would like to keep in touch with. Check out their site for more.

4. I got a bank to put money in so it would be a little less accessible than my wallet. Today I went to retrieve a bit of that money and it isn't accessible at all. I can't get the damn thing open. Hmph.

I hope your weekend is so Gay

This is the first year I have missed pride weekend since I was 19. I feel sad. Last year I got to perform on the big stage with the Dance-o-Lettes for the dance and had a blast. In fact, I think my feet finally healed from it a month ago. DJ Nick James is gonna make you wanna shake your thang tonight at the dance and I have some great friends, Mary and Leraine, who are both tearin' it up on the main stage at the festival tomorrow. So go out this weekend and have a gay time for me....

A Song for You: !!!

I recently used this to make a video collage then shared it with my friend Karen and then realized that, oh yeah, I love this song. This song, and the entire album, it so danceable and, if I had a car, I would be jammin' out with the windows down. And what do you call them? The most common is "chk chk chk" but really any sound three times will do. For example: boom, boom, boom; caw, caw, caw; or floop, floop, floop would do. The possibilities are endless. As always, find it in the sidebar until you no longer can.

Dancing and movies...

I have just discovered the fun that is iMovie. I have looked at the program once or twice but never really tried anything, until now. You will notice the music and text overlay on the thunderstorm video in the previous post. That, my friends, is just the beginning. Ryan and I are talking now (as in this very moment I am toggling between blogger and skype) about creatively collaborating in the movie making realm. I feel very excited. Below is a mish-mash of an improvisation I did at my ALC Graduation last October.

***Last years ALCers***
I made another short video that is totally fun of our talent show. If you were there then you know all about the sorts of things that went down and why I can't post them here. ;) If you are interested in seeing it then contact me and I can see about getting it to you.