relaxing day

today was spent very relaxing. we slept in until after ten (which is unheard of from me because i normally wake myself up shortly after 06:00) and even on weekend i wake up around 07:30. while i've been here i've slept until around the latter. but, since it was weekend, Hutzi (Miriam's mom) didn't have work, and everyone was just kinda sleeping in and enjoying that.

BUT she spent so much of today working at the house, too, making food and cleaning. her and my mother are so similar, evne on their days off, they spend so much of it cleaning and cooking.

Miriam, scott and I went to Düsseldorf today and went to the IKEA. they kept making fun of me the past few days about how much i like it, and so today we took a trip there. obviously very similar to those in the states, except the one here doesn't smell of cinnamon rolls and unfinished pine. it was slightly depressing, 'cos that's what i thought they would all smell like. Caroline (Miriam's brother's gf) tells me that they don't sell the cinnamon rolls here. unlucky for them!

anyhow, after our little trip, i told miriam i wanted a diet pepsi. it's been so long since i'd had one (since last sunday, almost an entire week!) so we stopped by a grocery and picked some up, with miriam warning me "oh, james, it's SO expensive!" so, i picked up three litters of pepsi light (as it is known here) for 2,20€ which really, when you think about it, isnt more expensive in america, considering we are spending $1,69 on 20oz. (plus, the cost included the deposit for the bottles, which i can get back when i go back to the grocery) the pspsi light tastes SOOOO much different than the regular diet pepsi in the states. it's more of a real pepsi taste. so good. i'll try to bring some back.

for dinner, Hutzi made this casserole with noodles, eggs, cheese, salmon, and asparagus. it was SO delicious! i have GOT to get the recipe for this dish.

the evening, we spent playing fooseball with Samuel, and when he left for fasching events, miriam and i played for a while. they beat me every time. i got like 5 goals in total. then Miriam's sister Rachel came from Trier, and we talked all of us for several hours. ALSO! Rachel brought scott and i two GIANT kinder eggs! i cant wait to see the toy inside!

tomorrow, we leave for köln at like 10ish, and we will see a probably once in a lifetime spectacle!
n8i!

köln dom und deutsche-bahn.

today was spent partly in köln. this city was incredibly busy because of fasching right now. oh my gosh, there were people EVERYWHERE! it was kind of exciting to see so many people around! there were so many people in costumes and there were carts everywhere. miriam and her mother tell me this is not what the city normally looks like. they were like "please, don't think our city is this messy!" LOL

they also board up a lot of the shop windows because this weekend, there will be over 1 million people added to the city, and it gets so packed, that they worry the glass might break. we will be going back on sunday, so please pray for me LOL!

it was also our first day on the detusche-bahn. this was a lot of fun, and only slightly confusing. we bought the ticket, a 4 ticket. one for each of us, each ride back and forth. THEN, we had to stamp the ticket on this OTHER machine, twice. once for me, and once for scott. because the DE-bahn workers are on strike right now, miriam made me wait to stamp the ticket, in case the train didn't show up. (slightly confusing)

by the way, for any of you that are going to germany, please come to me when you have questions, because the info i'd been given, made everything more confusing. no offense to those that told me info, but it could have been explained so much easier.

anyhow, we also toured the köln dom. it was ABSOLUTELY amazing! we went up into one of the towers. OH MY GOSH! it was so tall! 98 meters (about 322 feet) that we went up! so many stairs, and such a skinny space. we looked out over the city, and that was terrifying, even with all of the safe guards.

yikes.

tonight, samuel (miriam's brother) made me a requested dish (that was SO not something i would normally eat) He made curry-wurst. this is a big deal, because it is made from pork, and im not eating pork regularly. big deal! had a glass of very nice bubbly white wine, and now i'm ready to fall asleep. UNFORTUNATELY, with the aid of my sleeping pill, because all of a sudden, i feel not tired (even though, after the 535 steps, i was incredibly tired.)

tomorrow, i think düsseldorf? or maybe back to köln? n8i meinen freunden.

so far.

we landed in DE about 9am local time. as i'd never traveled oversea, i wasn't entirely sure what to expect. it was far easier than i had imagined. the bundeswehr polizei looked at my passport, and sent me on my way. that's it.

when we got to the exit, after waiting for our bags, we were greeted by Miriam and her mother Elisabeth. ran out to their car, and made our way from düsseldorf to leverkusen. along the way, we stopped at a bakery with amazing smells, and beautiful sights! i'd never seen so much delicious bread!

when we got to their house, we made sure to stay awake, so we had a huge breakfast of breads, jams, cheeses, and spreads. i had the most delicious gouda, and a "butter cheese" as well. we spent much more time socializing with one another, and then met Miriam's older brother Samuel. he built a foosball table with a friend of his. it's brilliant! he's even made it record the speed of the ball!

then we took a tour of altenberg dom. this place is magnificent! it was a cistercian order of monks that built it, so it is considered quite "plain" - i assure you, this is only in comparison to the churches we went to today! we walked around altenberg, and had a nice time.

after that, we had dinner, made by samuel and Elisabeth. but, we were exhausted from not sleeping ~30 hours so we went to bed early.

today (thursday) we took a trip up to Münster, a gorgeous city! right now is the fasching, so it is full of people in costume and just plain joyous occasion. (btw, we went on autobahn, obviously, it was so fast!)

we spent much of the time looking at churches, the most impressive being the st. paulus dom. it has this gigantic astronomical clock inside, absolutely gorgeous! it is so loud, and it plays at noon with a glockenspiel and bells and a horn. then the three kings come out of these doors and bow before madonna and child. it also marks all of the easters from ~1350 to 2071, and includes all the days, too!

we got to experience a german deprtment store, very nifty, and i got my first euros. i was incredibly embarrassed because we had coffee at a place in münster. which did not take credit card.. now i have my euro and that will not happen again!

we went to a german pharmacist, because scott is still feeling bad. Elisabeth spoke with the pharmacist, and they got some medicine to help him feel better. now, my friends, i think i am going to sleep. it's around 11pm, and i'm awfully tired still (especially with so much walking!)

ps, since i am being inundated by it, i am starting to pick up on some deutsch! sehr gut!

guten abed mienen freunden

hey, it's 14:04 here, and 07:04 there!

i'm here! and by here, i mean Leverkusen! it is quite beautiful, but i did not expect anything otherwise!

scott and i are being treated incredibly well, i feel i'm being absolutely spoiled! i am not sure i will want to come back home!

unfortunately, scott is not feeling so well. he has a bit of a sore throat, and spending roughly 12 hours in flight was not great for him. particularly just sitting there.

having a bit of trouble adjusting to the time change, but honestly, it hasn't gotten to me *too* bad. it comes and goes.

anyhow. i shall cut it short for now, i'm being rude!

i'm back, just in time to leave.

well, i felt like today would be the perfect day to restart my blog. i'm leaving for germany and the netherlands for the next three weeks, and i felt like i needed a way to keep the trip documented. (particularly a way that those without facebook could read)

anyhow. i'm pretty much ready. except for packing. i have to pack all of my clothes, and the stuff that i got for miriam and her family. and my camera. and my chargers for everything under the sun. BUT, i really am pretty much ready to go.

i ended up waking up in a panic last night, and it took several hours to get back to sleep. i probably should have taken one of the ativan pills to help me get back to sleep, but i figured i should save them for the trip.

there is definitely some anxiety going through me right now. but i always get this way before a trip. as i've never left the country, this has been particularly intensified. what if i forget something? what if i do something "wrong"? what if what if what if!?

ah well, can't let it get to me! for now, i have GOT to get some packing done!

oh, and ps. don't try removing all of the keys from a macbook in order to clean them/it. it is quite difficult to get them back on, and breaking the housing for some of them is inevitable.

hiatus?

where the fuck have i been?!

i've been up to mucho lately. sorta. mostly getting ready for the GRE/grad school.

work is going well, and i will have been at KUPK for 6 months come tuesday. that's kinda hard to believe for me. i've almost been out of school for a year, too. which is equally hard to believe.

oy, there is so much more to update, but my brain is kinda buzzing right now. i'll probably do more tomorrow.

a lot has been happening the last few weeks. for instance, our property managers have been screwing us over.

so, we're looking at trying to buy a house. in topeka.

in fact, we're going to look at a few places today. i think we've decided upon one in particular, and are going to look at it a second time, but going to give 3 more a chance. (there was one we were really gung-ho about, but it keeps alluding us. first, the realtor was "busy". then the key was missing. now, the key is STILL missing, so i'm taking that as a sign. lol

anyhow, i'll fill in more tomorrow. i'm all distracted now!