OOPS

I promise, I didn't forget about my blog, I've just been a bit busy.

Now, for starters, Happy Bastille Day, to those of my FrancoPHone-Friends! Or as I like to write, the FPHF (sounds like "Ffffff") I shall celebrate by eating some pommes. I know, they're Belgian, but we'll pretend for shits and giggles.

On a much more serious note, I've had some turrrrible headaches lately. GD migraines! I'm not sure why, and I'd definitely like them to cease. Maybe I should get a restraining order?

Even more seriously, I think I've nailed down a time for my return to Deutschland! Hurrah! @Miriam, I'll email you with some specifics. It is still a long way off :'^[

I want to be back now!

Ok, that's it for today. Until next time.

so!

i'm currently starting another batch of cold press. i made a finer ground coffee this time, and increased the amount of coffee from 85g to 100g. i also decreased the water from 330ml to 250ml. so, hopefully i'll get a better coffee. i'll find out tomorrow!

also, i'm working on my Deutsch! a co-worker is helping me learn. hopefully by the time i get back to Detuschland, i'll be able to communicate better (auf Deutsch).

On that thought; I'll be going back in late May. (master plan, May 26-June 15) If all goes according to plan, I'll be leaving in 334 days. Huzzah! (is it sad that i'm already starting a countdown?)

Last two thing, I promise.
1) In case you haven't had it, Stevia. Wonderful. And for me, it's Stevia season, 'cos I love it in my iced tea.
2) After two weeks of not walking (sorry body!) I'll be going back to walking every day again! yay!

put a bird on it!

things to do, things to do, THINGS TO DO!

i've got so much to do, and i feel like no time to do it.

i need to clean the house, i need to cut my hair, and i need to take the GRE!

also, i'm working a crap ton extra (or at least trying to!) so i can have enough ours to take longer than a week and 3 day in germany.

and it's cold AGAIN! it was 95°F sunday and monday, today it is 50°F!

ok, enough random synapse firing for now.

new post

new post new post new post new post.

it is raining (storming) at the moment. i have the front door open, and the breeze blowing in feels absolutely delicious on my skin. it's been so warm the past few days around 34°C (93°F) and it has been awful. so, the fresh cool air is just wonderful.

i'm still walking to and from work. which has been great for listening to music! i have an hour every day devoted just to me and my ipod. i'm rediscovering music i haven't heard in months (and sometimes years!) it has also been super for the less frequent fill ups of benzine! saving money is always a plus! AND, i'm not pumping nearly as much CO2 into the atmosphere. (even though my car is a certified LEV, but i digress)

i am currently planning a second trip to deutschland! it will be far shorter than my last excursion, only 8/9 days including travel. i will also be going in late november, so weather will not be nearly as fantastic as it was in march. and i will be going solo. so that will be interesting.

while i'm there, i want to take a day trip into Ghent (Melle) Belgium, so i can take a tour of my favorite brewery. the Huyghe brewery, which makes Delirium tremens, and delirium nocturnum. such wonderful beer (if you haven't tried it before, DO yourself a favor and pick up a bottle!)

okay, that's all he wrote. for now.

schloss burg. ikea. last days.

yesterday, we went to Schloss burg - a castle, fairly close to the city in which we stay. it was up in a mountainous area (Miriam and Elisabeth say it is NOT a mountain, but WE say it is) and it was oh so beautiful. it also helped that the weather was gorgeous, i'm sure. as i am an american, i had never seen a castle before. so this was quite an experience!

this one has been convered into a museum, and in parts, it showed how daily life was lived while the castle was actually housing the emporer/king/whomever was running the region at the time.

one of my favorite parts of the castle, was this painting that showed the family tree. very cool.

we also went up into the guard tower, and the view was spectacular. you could see for so far, and there was a light fog setting over the area. just magnificent!

after the castle, we went to see the tallest train bridge in all of Deutschland. the time of day that we went, had the sun aligned just perfectly, so it was again, quite spectacular. (fun fact, this bridge goes over the river Wupper, there is a city that sits on the Wupper called Wuppertal, and Wuppertal has an elevated train system called the Schwebebahn.)

we took a quick stop at IKEA Düsseldorf so Elisabeth could pick up a few storage boxes.
if you know me, at all, you know that IKEA = toy store for james.
the fact that a) we were able to "drop by" for a few minutes and
b) be in a place with so many IKEA in such close proximity
makes me jealous. LOL

we had a dinner of reibekuchen, which are very much like latkhe (except they're slightly more like a pancake, then the latkhe) eaten with marmalades, quark (which i have fallen in love with), and cream cheese. very good!

after dinner, we talked, and had some of the homemade chocolate liquor. and kinda just relaxed.

since Elisabeth had to leave early this morning for a conference, this was our last evening with her, so we toasted our liquor, and thanked her profusely for her warm and wonderful hospitality. (seriously, this has been the best vacation of my life. and now i want SO badly to keep coming back!)

happily, it turned out that it didn't take as long to get to her destination as thought, so we were able to all have a nice breakfast together today, as well! hooray!

now, today, our last day, we spend packing. i'm really bummed, but also happy, because it has been such a fantastic time here! it's hard to believe that we've been here so long, it feels like just yesterday we landed in Düsseldorf, and now we're getting ready to head back to kansas. so, as tomorrow is spent 15 hours of travel (not including the time TO the airport or home) this will be my last blog for a few days, and more sadly, my last blog from Deutschland (for now!)

I finish by saying, thank you, to everyone here who made it such a fantastic, and welcoming stay! i WILL be back, and i cannot wait to see you all again!

more köln

yesterday, we went to köln once more, this time to "take in" the city. see, we've been there several times, but once was just to see the dom, once was for the carnival parade, and once was on our train station before amsterdam. SO, we finally got to explore the city!

for part of the day, we went to the dom-treasure exhibit. quite magnificent! so much gold! we saw relicarys containing bones, busts of cardinals, chalices, rings, and vestments made of gold. one weighing 60kg! it was so impressive.

OH, and on the way TO to the treasury, we got to experience part of a mass (one being done specifically for japan) and i FINALLY got to hear the organ played! in one of the most famous cathedrals in the world! this, for me, would be like someone hearing their favorite musician play in the coolest arenas possible. (so, a pretty big deal) Dear Xian, if you still read my blog, i'll have to send you the photos of all the organs in so many cathedrals. you'd have enjoyed it, so much!

then we went to a part of town that had walls from over 2000 years ago. can you possibly imagine?! (ok, i'm sure some of you can, but let indulge me in my childlike wonder)

shortly after that, we met up with miriam at elisabeth's office, and went to the bridge over the Rhine. there is a tradition, in which two people lock a, well, lock, on the fence of this bridge, sealing their love. then, the key is tossed into the rhine, and it's fun times. (i'm sure to some, this is cheesy, but, it was also pretty nifty seeing all of these locks. thousands and thousands of them.)

we made our way through part of the inner circle of the city, and saw where when a few years ago they tried to build a judaica museum, they unearthed centuries old houses. some of which where from prominent jewish leaders, themselves! so, we got to see an excavation of sorts. hard to believe all of these houses were under the street we were walking upon!

after that, a bit more walking through the inner city, stopped in a department store, then again in an apotheke for scott, and took the train back to leverkusen. it was a bit sad on the train, though, when i realized this would be the last time on the DE-Bahn, aside from our train ride to DUS on thursday when we leave. i've grown very fond of having such easy access to public transit, in particular, public transit that makes sense.

i also got bummed out when i realized i had only a short time left here in deutschland, itself! it took SO long for this trip to get here. months and months of waiting.. and then, it just FLEW by! while i am happy to go home and see my friends/family, dogs, and bike... i really love this country. i can't really find the correct words to explain how it feels, but it feels right. unlike anywhere else i've ever visited. which, of course you realize, means that i must eventually make DE my home, right? ^_^ it just must be! (even if it's only for a year or ten.)

Sorry folks

No blog for last night, and not much today. Have a very sore throat, am tired, and sore.

Yesterday we went to Aachen to visit a cathedral from 813. Very impressive! Gorgeous, and so many stories associated with it. It is unlike most of the cathedrals in that it is octagonal, and not in the form of a cross. Beautiful.

I saw the throne of Charlemagne, which is a pretty big deal. It's interesting hearing about the history in school, and now finally seeing some of it for myself.

We also walked around the city, which was, not surprisingly, beautiful as well. It is a very old city, with lots of roman influence. The Rathaus (town hall) was fascinating. It also happens to be a very big, and important, university town. Very young population

Got to meet Miriam's eldest sibling, Jeremiahs. Like the rest of the family, very genial guy, and like the rest, very smart indeed. He showed us a lot of the university buildings, and the hospital, looks like a space ship. Amazing!

This morning, woke up super early to catch the train to köln, and then the train to amsterdam. Will update more on the Amsterdam trip Sunday, most likely. I dont have the keyboard for the iPad, and ive gotten too used to typing with it.

For now, hot tea, and maybe read a little before falling asleep. And maybe I'll feel better for my tour of Amsterdam tomorrow!

düsseldorf!

i apologize for the lack of post yesterday. we didn't get back from düsseldorf until a bit late in the evening.

onto the post!

as i mentioned, we went to düsseldorf yesterday, with Samuel. he is a MUCH different style of tour guide than Miriam and Elisabeth! (but, this is not a bad thing, because it's interesting to see the cities in different points of view!)

we took the bus to Leverkusen Mitte, and our bus unloaded AS the train to DUS was pulling away from the station! curses! considering we still needed to purchase a ticket, that's ok. when we attempted to purchase the ticket from the kiosk, we were met with errors three times. SO, we went into the depot to purchase one. (this was lucky we weren't at the Opladen station, where there isn't a ticket counter, which i have learned can be very troublesome)

the DE-Bahn guy was SO incredibly slow! there was a fellow in front of us, that we waited behind for a good 5 or 6 minutes. THEN, when it came our time, it took another 3 minutes! the guy was typing on his keyboard with TWO fingers. *sigh*

(i tell you these inane details to explain WHY it is so incredibly irritating when they go on strike. which by the way, they have decided to do today)

anyhow, about 20mins later, we were in Düsseldorf! i've had two previous experiences with the city so far this trip, but there were incredibly brief. so, getting to delve into the city was quite fantastic! it was an awful lot like chicago, if chicago were clean. and friendly.

we spent a good amount of time in the Kö district, which is ridiculously posh. so many boutiques and shops that even walking in to the store you have to earn 7 figures per year LOL! to be serious, these were places that a sweater costs more than my monthly rent. (and in some cases, more than twice the monthly rent) BUT, it was very cool seeing something very out of the ordinary for me.

after a while, we walked into Alt Stadt (the old city) with the most fantastic architecture! so many interesting sights, and then so many little bakeries and cafes! (i think my favorite part of germany is being able to smell all of these foods! i'm such a food-a-holic!)

we mad our way down to the Rhine. we watched several boats (HUGE boats) going up and down the river. and then walked along for a while, making our way towards the "tower." i'm not entirely sure of the name of said tower, i'll have to look that up.

went inside the tower, took the elevator to ~168meters up, and entered the observatory. even though it was pretty cloudy yesterday, you could see SO far. apparently, on a clear day, you can see Leverkusen from up there! after a bit, we walked up to the TOP of the tower, which is a revolving restaurant. very cool, but very pricey. we considered getting a beer, but Samuel decided much better to grab one elsewhere. took a trip down to the level just below the observatory, which is actually "outside" the building. it was very, very windy! we did not spend much time out there.

made our way back into Alt Stadt, and stopped at the "golden kessel" for an alt bier (the Düsseldorf drink of choice, and reason for animosity between Düsseldorf and Köln) which was very good. (we had "schumacher alt")

and then started towards the Hbf (train station). our train was PACKED! we were crammed in, and barely had room to breath! LOL! there is a stop between DUS and LEV mitte, so it did empty out a bit. and then we got to LEV-mitte, said goodbye to Samuel who was headed home to Aachen, and ran to catch our bus which was getting ready to depart as we showed up.

once back to the house, we had some very good rose hip tea, and then some homemade chocolate liquor. quite fantastic!

now, we are going to eat brunch, perhaps take the bus to LEV, and in the evening a trip to aachen! tschuss!

yes! industrie!

well, to start off, last night i stepped on the scale in the bathroom, it said 69kg. doing the math today, i came to find out that i've lost ~2.3kg (or, about 5lbs)! this is good news for me, because i've put on quite a bit of weight, and i was hoping i'd do enough walking in DE to lose some of it. i also noticed that my pants are fitting better than ever!

that was until around 7pm today, when i ate a huge dinner. and now feel that i am going to waddle all day tomorrow.

now, on to the meat and potatoes of the post.

today we went to oberhausen. it is a city about 60km north of leverkusen (again, where we are staying) oberhausen was, for a very long time, a HEAVY industrial city. it revolved mostly around the production of iron ore into steel. while there, we toured the museum that explained all about the industrial revolution, and about the production of steel. it was incredibly fascinating!

for example, i learned that the men working in the steel factory would end up with black gums because of all the soot, smoke, and shavings that went into the air. i also got to see a hammer for making train wheels that was as big as a house.

after the museum, we went to an industrial park. which was ACTUALLY a park! you got to go inside of the machinery that was, until around 15 years ago, a functioning steel factory. we climbed several flights of stairs, and went on a LOT of really scary pathways. unfortunately, i started chickening out around 55m up, and had to stand on the middle level because i simply could not go any further. it was one thing in the Kölner Dom going up 98 meters, with a wall around me. but going up past 55meters was just impossible for me, because i hate being able to see the ground below me when i'm that high up.

interestingly, while we were on that middle level around 55m up, we could see very far past the city. on the horizon, i spotted two nuclear energy plants. this is INCREDIBLY fascinating to me, because i am a HUGE proponet of nuclear energy. it's very cool being in a country that actually USES this type of energy! as well, they use a lot of solar, and wind energy.

finally, the weather today. it was 15C, and it felt absolutely fantastic! when Miriam and I went to the post office, we didn't even need jackets! unfortunately, we are not going to be having such weather tomorrow. my weather site says ~8C, cloudy, and then possible rain in the evening.

for tomorrow, we are going to Düsseldorf with Samuel, on the DE-bahn. that is, if the strike hasn't made the trip impossible. (i honestly can't remember if i mentioned this, but the DE-Bahn workers voted to strike, again (they did last week) starting tomorrow. So much for a certain co-worker's rich praises, and chastising of riding in a car. (that didn't make much sense, i apologize)

now, i am going to drink some tea, and read a bit from david sedaris. Tschuss!

i am not (such) a tourist.

today we were put out in the world by ourselves. dropped off in the main city of Leverkusen, and given a bus schedule! it's not as bad as it sounds, we were pretty much told exactly which bus station, and exactly which busses would lead us back to miriam's house. (which interestingly i learned is in Opladen, not in Leverkusen, but the address is listed as Leverkusen.)

we wandered around their mall (which is apparently VERY new, and a very new concept to germany) for about 45min but it was warm, and very crowded, because today is Rosenmontag. (a holiday. google it.)

so, we decided to wander around in the city itself. we went up and down several streets, admiring the architecture, and the ultra-pedestrian friendliness of it all. it was also nice to be out in the air, as today was one of the nicest days so far. it was warm, and the wind wasn't so
strong, either. it was perfect.

after a while, though, my back started hurting (again). the same place that hurt when i threw it out shoveling my neighbor's sidewalk. i've decided that once we get back to the states, i need to have the doctor look at it.

but i digress. we went back to the mall with the intention of sitting down for a while. we, however, found a watch shop and decided to look around for a bit. i found a watch for ~75€ but costs ~120€ back in the states (even on amazon!) and that doesn't include shipping for the states! so, i splurged. and i REALLY shouldn't have, but my watch back in the states is in need of repair, and i've already taken it to the fossil store TWICE to be repaired.

after being extravagant, we decided to head back home. waited for the bus, and had a lovely bus ride back to miriam's house. (the public transit here is SO impressively clean, quick, and dependable*)

*aside- the DE-Bahn is apparently striking ALL the time. and we learnt that tomorrow, when Rachel has to go back to Trier, she might have problems, because the workers voted by 97% to strike tomorrow. this is apparently very common, and a VERY much a headache to the folks here in DE.

we had a very nice dinner of antepasta and foccacia bread that Rachel baked herself. -- it's amazing, there is so much good food, so very readily available, and i eat much less, because i feel full so much faster. ALSO, i have had so very little soda (maybe 1/4 litre) since i've been here, and i really haven't had (much) of a problem without it!

for now, it's about 22.25, and i'm getting sleepy, so i'll leave it off here. tomorrow, we go to Oberhausen to see the steam/train museum.
tschuss!

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.