Oh Tannenbaum

Winter Wonderlands

Dear All,

I am back home in Storkow now after my very long but totally worth it trip to Austria for Christmas. When I left here it was just rainy, but when I got back, it had snowed, so I went from one snowy landscape to another. It's great. Last week my last few lessons went alright, but once the project was over on monday, I was pretty much on vacation in my mind. As were my students, so that worked out about right. Except for the ones who had to take an english test on the last day before vacation. But that meant I didn't have any lessons on that day, which was nice for me! Thursday I spent cleaning up and packing for my trip, and that evening I visited with Familie Florschutz. We played Rummy and I didn't win a single round. Oops. But they are very impressed that I can shuffle cards the fancy way. This is not as widespread in Germany as I feel like it is in the states, because my students get pretty impressed by it too. Thanks for teaching me, mom! :)

Friday Lars took me to the train station at 4:30 in the morning so I could get my train. The train ride went as smoothly as it could, considering how long it was. I make friends everywhere, so on the first half of the ride I met an ethiopian freelance magician and actor, and on the second half a very shy professor of greek-catholic theology, which is a mix of orthodox and catholic that came about after one of the failed attempts to reunite the catholic and orthodox churches. I know a lot about it now, because that was sort of the only thing he knew how to talk about without being really nervous. Anyway, I didn't have to pay for my own cup of coffee the whole way, which I consider a success. Gerald was there to pick me up at the train station when my train made it in to St. Poelten surprisingly on time. In austria they like to show that they are not as fanatically detail oriented as the Germans are. We picked up Park a little later when his train got in, and then drove to Gerald's parents house. If you want to find where I was on a map, it'll take a little estimation. Once you see St. Poelten, look for Krems to the northwest a little. Then look for a big hill behind Krems, away from the Danube. Somewhere in there is where his parents live. The name of the town closest to it is Traunstein, not to be confused with the bigger Traunstein in Germany. Once we had stopped making hairpin turns in the snow driving up the hill to his parent's house, it was easier to enjoy just how beautiful the landscape was. I took pictures, but getting to see it all first hand was a real treat. It was great to be with friends from wooster again, especially when the whole point was to eat cookies, decorate the tree, drink gluehwein, and eat some more. And take a nap when you felt like it. I got to sing in the choir on Christmas eve, but I didn't make it to the other services when I was there because I was sort of fighting a cold. And singing in an unheated church isn't really the best for that. Gerald's parents were very nice hosts, and by the end of our stay there, I could usually understand half of what they said, most of the time. I have a hard time with Austrian dialects, but I managed ok. His parents helped by speaking more clearly for me. And repeating. a lot.

On the 26 (Stephanestag, St. Stevens day, which explained to me finally why "Good King Wenceslas" is a Christmas song) we went to Vienna to pick up Angelica at the airport, also a language assistant from Woo last year. I got a recomendation from the theology prof to see what the exhibit at the Albertina art museum was, and it turns out they were showing drawings by Egon Schiele, one of my favorite expressionist artists. I was really excited, but since lots of drawings of naked people colored blue and orange wasn't everyone's cup of tea, I went to the exhibit while the others walked around vienna some. It was so great I bought the catalog (some also because for a catalog it wasn't really expensive, even though it was really nice). Then we went on the giant ferris wheel in Vienna, which is about as kitschy as it gets, but still a tradition. Still, the highlight of the trip wasn't any activity we undertook, but definently getting to be with friends and catching up. Talking to people with so many of the same reference points was so refreshing, not having to explain life wooster or life here, just being able to say "you know?" and knowing the other person does. Ahh. I couldn't have had a better reminder at Christmas of just how important friends are. And thanks again Gerald, for inviting us to spend the holidays with you!

So on that note, I will wrap this up. If I can I will see about uploading a picture or two some time in the near future. I hope that you all had a very merry christmas, and I would love to hear more about what it was like when you find the time to write me an email! Until then, all the best.

3...2...1...Christmas!

Hello again! Well, it is snowing now, with the really big fluffy flakes, and it is really pretty to look at. Two major events are now past. Yesterday was the final Chorus performance for 2005. It went really well, and no one in the audience got up and left like they have done in years past when it went too long. It was almost 2 hours, and did I mention the church is so drafty it basically isn't heated? That's why in the waiting room for us there was coffee, tea, and glühwein. So we could be warm enough to perform! My duet went well, and I have already ordered the DVD they were making. So I won't tell you any more about it, for fear of ruining the anticipation when you ALL watch it when I get home. ..Just kidding!

Today was our christmas project. Finally over. Over 50 sixth graders descended on us. We baked a whole lotta cookies today. Mostly the kids were really sweet, if a little over excited. A few were really terrible. The whole idea was that it was an English project. We would do christmasy things from America and England, and speak english while doing it. Well this one kid yelled at me "Deutsch! DU musst Deutsch mit mir reden! Verstehst du? D-E-U-T-C-H Deutsch." First of all, he never should have used the informal "you" with me. Second of all, he misspelled "Deutsch" when he spelled it at me. A real charmer. I am really glad I am at a high school and not at an elementary school.

My train tickets are also all in order now for me to go to Austria on the 23rd. I will be coming back on the 27th, because I want to be here for new year's. I asked Gerald if I should bring nice clothes for church on Christmas eve. He said it wouldn't be a bad idea, and that we'll be going to church the 24th, 25th, and 26th. Um, a little different from "o come all ye faithful" being unspeakably churchy. And I should bring warm things, cause it is cold. And where I will be isn't really on a map, since it's made up of 15 houses. I can't wait. I have to go now, I'm a little late for Marlies's birthday party. In case I don't get back online for a while, Everyone have a Merry Christmas! I will be able to read email again after I get back from Austria. Maybe in Austria, too, but You never know.

Phew!

Well, like I had hoped, December is going by very quickly, because there is so much to do. I think I have gotten to at least one Christmas market every weekend so far, and been to Berlin twice (once to shop, once to dance.) We're working on a christmas project here at the school that will finally be done on Monday, and Sunday is our last choir performance. With that out of the way, at least the work load will slow down, but not the calendar. Marlies's birthday is Monday, as is the teacher's christmas party. The choir party is that tuesday (I think...) and Wednesday I am going to the bowling christmas party of Marlies's sports group. Thursday I head down to Austria for Christmas itself. Then when I get back if it is a little quiet, I think I will be ready for the break!

I need to scoot now, but I have some stories that I hope I have the time to send to you all. My conversation group is starting in just a minute! Hope to hear from you soon!

Nikolaustag!

Happy Nikolaustag everyone!

I am having a lovely day, since St. Nick found me at home and at school. So I have three boots full of chocolate, a little toy reindeer, and a music box full of lebkuchen. I must have been a very good girl this year. My reindeer is coming with me to my classes today (he or she is sort of beanie baby sized) and I feel very festive.

So this has been a pretty busy week. Last week we had two very long choir rehearsals since our first performance was Friday afternoon. At Thursday's rehearsal I got a real treat. I get to sing with music! I don't have to memorize the words! Life got a lot better after that. Friday's performance, however, was a little disappointing. But I sang my duet for the first time in front of an audience, and everyone said that it went well. Saturday was christmas baking day. First we made pumpkin pie, for the first time with Familie Florschütz. We rolled the pie crust very thin and it turned out lots better. Everyone was stunned that it actually tasted good, because it doesn't taste like pumpkin, and we all had two pieces. Then we also made christmas cookies, which no one here thinks is very american. alright. Nice sugar cookies cut out with cookie cutters and then baked with almonds on top and then with a chocolate rum glaze. Oh, yes. I still have a bowl waiting for me at home. Saturday night I went out to the dance club/disco in town, Capitol, which used to be a movie theater. I was there with friends I met through Rayk, who can't believe I'm only 22. Surely I am in my thirties like them. I just take it as a sign of how young at heart they are, and as a compliment that they want to include me in their social group. I couldn't stay out so very late though, because Sunday morning we had another concert in Frankfurt, which went a lot better. But I had been invited to lunch with the family of the woman I am singing a duet with, so we had to leave a lot earlier.

Frankfurt (Oder) is about an hour away and one of the main border crossings with Poland. The church we were singing technically still belongs to the Swedish crown, that's right, from the 30 years war. When Sweden took over this part of Europe. It had lovely stained glass windows that were stolen by the russian troops in world war II, and have only recently been recovered and are being slowly bought back by the oragnization that is restoring the church. It is only in the last few years that the church has gotten a roof back. It was hit by a bomb in WWII during a church service and 500 people were killed. It was left as a memorial for a long time, but now they are trying to rebuild it. They were able to recognize the stained glass windows because they are very famous. They have the only depiction of the anti-christ that was displayed inside a church (at least as it was explained to me). They have one window restored and placed in its frame, others are being restored now, and some still have yet to be bought back.

The christmas market was inside the church, since it is so big and empty, and was very nice. Lots of lovely things to see. I'm getting lots of christmas present ideas!

I need to run off to a lesson now, but I hope you all are well, and that if you have the chance you'll write to me.

Zu meine andere Chormitglieder(innen) die auch ab und zu mal hier lesen: ich bedanke mich für Eure besuch! Ich hoffe, dass es euch gefällt!

1. Advent

Happy First Advent everyone!

As the holidays approach everyone here is getting stressed. There are lots of tests to be taken before the Holidays, all the teachers are being evaluated on Dec. 1 and 2 by strangers from a board of eduaction or something like that, for 15 minutes a piece. Because the evaluators only have about 4 hours of time, or something. You can imagine how thrilled the teachers are about that. Then there is also stress because one of the schools in Storkow has to be shut down, there isn't enough money for all three. And it will be one of the elementary schools, and everyone wants to protect their elementary school, which makes sense, because they are all really lovely. So the teachers' lounge is always full about the latest crazy thing that was said at a meeting to discuss all this. It is also really cold in the school buildings, because there is not enough money to heat them at the level we normally would.

Our first chorus performance is on Friday, and there are a lot of words I still need to memorize. Some because we havn't really practiced the songs everybody knows, like all the verses of silent night, because well everyone knows them already! Except for me. And I can't read them since they are hand written and not very well copied, since no one else really needs them written down. Also, apparently, Silent Night is ok to sing because it is not really a church song anymore, but O Come All Ye Faithful is too churchy. A guy has it as a solo, and another lady in the choir only wants it sung in a church, and no where else. because it is too churchy. OK. And one of my students thought that Martin Luther King was British. Right.

Still, it is neat seeing everything get ready for Christmas. The big fir tree close to the market is all lit up, (just like it was when it was East Germany, too, I was told) and just about every room at school has a little table top display, something with candles and pine branches and bells. Yes, the land where every room in a public school gets christmas decorations, and where Baby Jesus brings the christmas presents, can't handle singing O Come All Ye Faithful in a retirement home, because it has to do with church. OK. Friday is also the christmas pageant at the elementary school, and I am going. This weekend there will be a Christmas market in Storkow, and that is the official opening of it. Sunday we went to the Christmas market in Beeskow, where there was the kitchy market on the square, with a ferris wheel and loud music, and then the nicer one inside the church, with ceramic and hand woven hats and candles and soaps. Sunday we're singing in Frankfurt (Oder) at their Christmas market, which should be a little bigger.

That's all for now, I should scoot, but thanks for all the Thanksgiving reports, and I hope this finds you all well (and warm! Only don't bother telling me how warm it is in Atlanta, I don't want to think about it.)

It's snowing!

Yay for the first snow! And it's so perfect that it happened today, since after Thanksgiving yesterday I have been feeling all christmas-y.

The dinner went off without a hitch. And whatever was left over from the dinner was eaten up by my students at conversation hour right afterwards. Except for maybe one third of one of the pumpkin pies, and the teachers are polishing that off in the teacher's lounge now. I managed to make a pumpkin pie, and am proud about that. The crust was from a German crust mix, that tasted like sugar cookies. and I could not convince the teacher who was cooking with me that you make it thin on the bottom, not like a German pie, so it was a little like a layer cake. Top layer pumpkin pie filling, bottom layer, sugar cookie. But it still tasted yummy. And I also couldn't convince her that you cut the pieces out of the pie pan. so she took it out of the springform pan, and miraculously, it held together. (this was about ... 20 minutes after it came out of the oven. the recipes reccomended cooling it at least like, an hour.) then she tried to take the bottom of the springform off. and it all fell apart. naturally. she decided to let the other one stay in the pan. Everyone wants the recipes I used, so they can have a "real American turkey dinner". Ooo-kay.

Conversation hour was not as well attended as I expected, but it worked out anyway, and everything got cleaned up. Then I had chorus practice, and that went well, too. And at the end I told them that on Thanksgiving everyone is supposed to say what they're thankful for, and that I wanted to tell them how thankful I am that I can be a part of the chorus for this year. Well, you can imagine how much everyone loved hearing that, and I got a round of applause. This is sort of a regular thing though in the chorus, every so often someone has an announcement to make about someone's birthday, anniversary with the chorus, or praise for how well we've done about something, and then everyone applauds. And shakes hands afterwards.

This weekend is the first Advent weekend, of course, and Christmas decorations are well underweigh. At least half of the houses on our street have had lights up since Monday (The custom is that Christmas decorations can go up immediately after Totensonntag (dead sunday) here, which was last sunday). Tomorrow afternoon I am baking Christmas cookies with a lady from Choir and her Ukrainian friend, and Sunday hopefully I will go visit a Weihnachtsmarkt with Familie Florschütz. I want to see about getting some decorations for my windows, too, but I have to either get something goofy I won't want to take home, or something that will fit well in a suitcase... sort of a tricky match. we'll see.

I am almost completely over my cold now, and in part thanks to another crazy German medecine: Klosterfrau Melissengeist. It is a distilled form of a lot of different herbs... and 79% alcohol. It cures everything, according to the package. Nerve trouble, headaches, muscle aches, and colds. Pretty much any problem, either rub it on, or dilute it and drink it, and it will go away. It's what little old lady alcoholics use to calm their nerves. The bottle has a picture of the award it got... from Queen Victoria. It was a present from a teacher who also sings with me in choir. She said "Don't go to the doctor, all they can do is give you more crap antibiotics. This is what My grandmother used, my mom used, it helped me, and it will help you." For a cold you're supposed to drink a cup of tea with a couple of spoons of this in it before bed, and it will help you sleep. Noo kidding. I don't think I could have gotten up if I wanted to. But since I hadn't been sleeping for all the coughing the couple of nights before, it was exaclty what I needed. The packaging it too good to be true, and it is definently coming home with me.

Alright, I want to get home and get my weekend started, after a busy week with a cold, there's plenty I still have to take care of. Hope you are all well, and that you had a nice Thanksgiving.

PS - I have only gotten one Thanksgiving report. I know that it's still early Friday morning for you all, and that not everyone obessively checks here for news from me, but I mean it! I want to hear some Thanksgiving stories, from you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!

I am pretty much over my cold, so it shouldn't be a problem when I cook a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone here. I asked for some things from home (cranberry sauce and french fried onions) and they all got here on time! So now I just have to cook it. I am even going to try making pumpkin pie.

This morning I only had one class, the little guys in seventh grade, who are my favorite for this sort of thing. We all sang "Over the River and Through the Woods", and made hand turkeys. Everyone has to take their Turkeys home and give them to someone they're thankful for.

At four is the Thanksgiving Project (what I am cooking for), then at six I have my English conversation hour, and then at seven I have Chorus practice. So it'll be a long day. But I'm glad I get to be with so many people.

I have a request though. I want everyone to write me about their Thanksgiving. Where you all went, how it was, if there are any funny stories. Did Bailey White have a new Thanksgiving story for NPR?

Hope this finds you well, and that everyone's turkeys turn out well. Everyone hope for mine, too! (well ok, it's four turkey legs. Close enough.)

German tv

So I managed to catch one of the many colds that are floating around the school. I just hope I get over it quickly so that I can cook thanksgiving dinner for the kids at school without worrying about infecting them all. The teacher that was going to help me cook has pneumonia. So I really have to be there. And then there are all the choir rehearsals and concerts coming up. So I am taking it as easy as possible this weekend, so I can get better ASAP.

Which means I have been watching quite a bit of German TV, and it struck me that really, a fair amount of this might be interesting to someone back home.

I get about 30 channels on my TV here, but the CNN doesn't work. So if I want to hear some english, I have to wait for a show on MTV that they have subtitled, or watch Bob Ross paint happy little trees on bavarian PBS. Both of which are strangely comforting here, even if I never watch them at home. But I watch plenty of the German stuff, too. Today's highlights were...

A documentary about all the families that still live in their castles. And really more in the tone of how it's not that easy being "the other half" of society, that there are lots of problems really with living in a castle. Like you can't dance in the ballroom anymore, since the whole building shakes. well, it is sitting on 80 oak pillars in the middle of a pond, after all. And the boys help out with maintaining the park around the castle, but they have trouble sometimes, too. For example, when they're small, and the family goes on vacation, the kids can't tell the difference between the hotel and a house, and live in the hotel like they live at home. But yeah. People here get a lot more excited about royalty here than in the states. Btw, Monaco now officially has a new Prince. Albert has taken over for his father who died last april.

Yesterday was "Domino Day 2005", which was officially the world's biggest Domino chain reaction event ever. over 4 million stones were tipped over live on tv, for 3 hours. there were pendulums that were set off at various points to allow for commercial breaks. All the dominos made pictures telling various fairy tales. Yep, a new world record was set this year. There are some people in China who are just as fanatic about all this, and for seven years the world title keeps being sent back and forth, as each continent, Europe vs Asia, keeps one upping each other. The dominos were set up by teenagers from all over europe over a time span of about 2 months, if i remember right. During the event they had some parts where some of these staffers had to build the missing domino links before the chain reaction got there. The final one had never worked in any trial. it was a two person attempt, one had to hold a beam of wood steady in a gap between the dominos, at about shoulder height. The second person had to line up dominos on the beam in time so that the chain reaction would keep going. And they managed to do it on TV. you really had to get caught up in it all. I wish Christopher Guest would choose it as his next mockumentary. that would be amazing.

Gerhard Schröder officially stepped down as Kanzler today, and was honored with a military musical salute called a "Zapfstreich". Started in the 16th century, when officers in the army would go through the pubs and bang on the beer taps to let the soldiers know it was time to go back on duty, this one included the german national anthem (naturally) and " I did it my way". The army band was surrounded by soldiers with torches. it was a little odd.

Finally I caught the end of a program that I really can't explain. At the point I started watching, the focus of the documentary was showing the host all the reflective spinning steel balls he had installed all over his bavarian hillside. they apparently represent the wholeness of the whole. This man is 88 years old and looks mostly like albert einstein. no moustache, but with the big white hair. He then invited everyone from the show for drinks, which was wine from a golden goblet, and he insisted that the camera person partake too, which made the camera sort of tilt. In his garden he has busts of plato, his father, and himself. the bust of plato had a quote, that he read, and it was in german, and I didn't understand any of it. It was after watching this program for about 10 minutes I decided a little tribute to German tv might be blog worthy. Hope this has entertained, and that you are all doing well.

Names

Alright, this will be a quick one, because I want to write this down and get rid of the paper I have been carrying around. Last week we discussed families. I had already brought my big picture of my family, and introduced you all to them (surprise!) and now they introduced their family to me. I had to write down my favorite names. For me, and for you. Here we go, in no particular order:(all selected either for their popularity or because of their rarity in America. Sometimes, both.)
Jörg
Conny
Edelgardd
Siegfried
Gerd (Jörg and Gerd being by far the most popular names for grandfathers)
Ulf
Änne
Roswitha
Til
Bernd
Helmut
Ronald (pronounced ROH-nahld)
Patryk
And finally:
Bogwina, her children Kuba and Dominika, and niece Asia.

Right.

Pics of Storkow

Alright, since I won't have this connection all the time, I am going to try and add some more pics while it is not a painfully slow process. This time, of Storkow itself!

Here is my house:



I love all the colorful roof tiles you can see everywhere here:

And now for some of the pretty streets and nature between me and the Altstadt:

Pictures of the Apt.

Alright boys and girls, Jessica is going to learn a little bit right now about how to put pictures in her blog, because she finally got her laptop on the internet at a cafe in berlin that is actually... high speed internet. oooooh...

First, here is a picture of me at the train station in Cologne, with all my stuff. What you might not be able to tell is how heavy all those bags are. Did I mention that when the helpful hotel staff tried to lift that biggest bag, all i heard was a loud "oof!" and the sound of the bag hitting the floor again?



Here are some pics of my life in Storkow:

First my kitchen, which opens onto ...... my stairs and door to the apartment

Then my living room.... and finally, my bedroom.



















SO, there we go. My apartment.

A toast to Klaus, Marlies, and Jessica (and Lars)

Well, yesterday evening I got to experience quite the German custom that strikes me as a little odd, because we hae no formal and informal form of address in English. Up until now, my landlords and I have always used the formal form of address with each other, although I have at least one meal with them every weekend, and we take trips together, which apparently has not taken place to the same degree with the other language assistants that have lived here before (why? because, obviously, I really am that much better than all the rest of them). Yesterday evening though, when I came over to ask them to turn on the pump so that I could do laundry (apparently we need some kind of pump in the basement for the washing machine to work. I don't know why, and it bugs me that I can't turn it on and off myself. But it means I have to go over and talk to them every so often, even if for no other reason) They invited me in for dinner, although I told them I had already eaten, and then we toasted to the informal you, and the official start of us calling each other Klaus, Marlies, Lars, and Jessica.(as opposed to Herr and Frau Florschütz, Lars, and Jessica). Apparently I jumped the gun a little since I was using the informal with Lars like, a few weeks ago, but he didn't say anything to stop me, and I thought that I could go ahead with it since we sort of vaguely fall in the same category of "younger than your parents but older than your children", or since neither of us have kids, Lars's nephew. This custom of toasting to the informal you is quite the tradition, but is dying out, because the informal is becoming more and more common place. I was told it was fine to go ahead and "du" all of my fellow teachers, even though I find it awkward, because I don't even know their names, and somehow to use the informal when you can't address them by first name seems very rude to me. I don't know their names because I forgot them as soon as they introduced themselves, so mostly it's still my fault, but still. Anyway, even though the formal made things a little awkward for a while there, I am glad I got to experience this tradition with people to whom it still means a lot.

Yesterday I was also at the 160th birthday party of the elementary school in the old part of the city. The kids gave little sketches showing the history of the school, and I was pleasantly surprised by how open they were about showing a lot of the more difficult parts of the school's history. One kid was hit in class for not knowing his times tables, at another point the school was really unsafe and dirty, and in another scene a boy tried to come to terms with seeing his father destroy a Jewish family's home. The part that was still pretty cheery was of course, the DDR time. There were lots of kids and everyone was happy when it was still East Germany. I wish I could see the 200th anniversary of the school, and see how its represented then. The one unspoken part of the whole program was, no matter how much people love this school (and they really seem to) they may close it next year, because there are not enough children in the region to keep the school going. It is the same way all over Germany, and is making things tough for teachers.

Alright, I am going to move on now, but hope all is well, and that you all write me when you get a chance!

Love, Jess

Long Weekend

Well, it's been a little bit since I have written, we'll see how much I can remember to put in here.

Last Thursday my Halloween party with the seventh graders went great. I was worried that they would be too cool to play along, but they were all scared by my monster story, and all bobbed for apples like champs. Then Friday I went into Berlin, which is always great, and had way more success shopping that I thought I could. Usually if I have a specific goal in mind, and a short deadline, I never find what I need. But I found dressy heels and a sweater to wear with my dress to the Sängerball with no trouble. Amazing. Saturday was of course the Sängerball. It mostly went well, except for the basses not starting the first song off, and for the choir director playing right through the important bit of dialogue in the other song. But the costumes were amazing, and everyone seemed to have a good time. We were in the newspaper, and I am getting copies of the pictures taken by the newspaper people. I got a round of applause from the choir on tuesday for having learned the words so quickly, which was a little embarassing, but sweet. They seem excited to have me here.

Sunday Frau Florschütz came over to invite me to lunch at 12:30 in half an hour, when it was only 11:00. But she hadn't set her clocks back, and that was quite the topic of discusssion at lunch. That and the opening of the Frauenkirche in Dreseden. I don't know if anyone heard about it at home, but the Frauenkirche has been rebuilt after being left as a ruin for 40 years as a war memorial. They have done some really amazing things with the reconstruction, and it was quite the news story here. The whole service was broadcast live sunday morning. But lunch was great. Frau Florschütz has been trying to serve a different kind of traditional German dish every time I come over, and has agreed to let me learn how to cook some of it from her. This time it was Rindkouladen (ground pork wrapped in beef) and Klöße(potato balls). We took our time with lunch and kept chatting, and then I spent the afternoon hanging out with Lars after his parents went to a birthday party. I always do better when I spend time with people, not alone at home. Then Monday was Reformation Sunday. We (Frau and Herr Florschütz, Lars, Ina Winter (Fr. Florschütz's best friend and my co-teacher) and I) went to Wittenberg, to see the church where Martin Luther nailed the Theses on the day it was done. They made a film about Luther in the last couple of years, only they couldn't film in Wittenberg, because the town is like one giant memorial to Luther, with his face and words everywhere. But it was definently cool singing "A mighty fortress is our God" in German in Wittenberg. I got a whole bunch of pamphlets from everywhere, including the local bulletin from the church. What also made it great was the company. Frau Florschütz and Ina together are too funny, and it's a good thing that Herr Florschütz is used to ignoring his wife's backseat driving. She never wanted to take any detours, and was often offering to get out and tell the trucks in front of us to pull over so we could pass them.

Of course Monday was also Halloween, and when we got back the trick-or-treaters were already out in full force. In Germany they take the trick part pretty seriously, and one of my teachers got a driveway full of toothpaste. We only had kids with shaving cream on our street. And although the older Florschütz son, Rayk, had said he wasn't going to have a big Halloween party, he decided to have a spontaneous one anyway, complete with Glühwein over the campfire (naturally). Tuesday I had to myself, to get my apartment back in shape after not spending much time there for a while. Today it was back in the routine of classes, and my four lessons went really well, I think. Tomorrow is the celebration of the 160th anniversary of the elementary school in the old part of the city. The kids are all presenting skits about the school over the years, and I have been invited to attend (this is the school where Frau Florschütz works). So that means that I may only have tutoring tomorrow, with one class cancelled since the teacher will be at this thing, too, and my other teacher saying that if the show runs long, I should see it to the end, rather than leave to get back for her class. We'll see.

Going to go now, time to cook dinner. It's 6:00 and has been dark for over an hour. Whee Fall! But really, the weather has been staying surprisingly nice here. A lot of the trees have leaves, although by this time normally they have been rained off. Hope this finds you all well, be in touch, I love to hear from you!

Things I have yet to get used to (2)

1. My neighbor who still heats his house with wood because he likes it better, and therefore spends a good part of the afternoon chopping wood

2. How great any sun is after days of rain

3. Did I mention my chorus director accompanies us on the accordion?

Also, minor tragedy: My breadslicer has died. I don't know what happened. It's probably only 20 years old.

And not to forget:

Happy Hellowien! (How one of my students spells it)

Yep, I am working with my 7th graders on Halloween projects. We have a party in just a little bit. I have copied my favorite sentences from their art projects, for your amusement and my memory:

I'd didn't going to play trick or sweat. I'd stay at home. I'd look TV and eat sweat.

Hellowien - I'll frighten startle people.

Children collekt candys.

Children are going from House to House with a costüm.

We make many disgusting eat.

In Halloweentime I have got in my room very much Pumpkings.

Halloween is a ghost fete.

We make our celebrate with our friends.

(A picture of a broomstick was labeled Whichstix).

By Halloween I go from House to House with my friends. We bekame much sweets.



I love working here.

Storkower Singverein

So, I gave you a teaser yesterday about the Chorus I am in. I am really liking it, and it's a pretty laid back group of people. It's just tricky getting used to having to shake everyone's hand at the beginning (all 30 or 40 odd people). The Director has been leading the chorus here for a good 35 years, starting back when it was still East Germany, kept right going through Unification, and still going strong now. Music Director is a universal language. I have already seen every impatient gesture and heard every phrase she's said at any rehearsal, only in English, from every Director I've had. That isn't the hard part. (Especially since everyone is so thrilled that someone is singing with them who has had actual experience. I can't imagine what would happen if someone who had studied music came in the door. They'd never let them leave.)Like any community choir like this there are 2 women for every man, and they do the best they can at trying to be heard over the womens voices. I am probably the youngest there by abou 15 years, and the average age i am guessing is at least 20 or 25 years older than me. maybe more. On trips we take where you have to pay, the make provisions for those who don't have as high incomes: me, as a student, and half the choir, who is in retirement. :) But they're all excited to see me there, and get very worried when they hear things like I'm not going home for christmas. Right now we're preparing for the Sängerball, which is a dinner, a singing concert, and a dance party afterwards. At least, from what I gather. I asked what we should wear, and was told "something chic!" I have no idea what that means, considering where I am living. I mean, i love it here, but chic may just mean something nicer than jeans, a sweater and a vest. And then later someone told me about the fact we have to wear costumes, too. And since our theme is forest and hunting songs, I need to have a forest peasant girl costume...? But all the grandmas are helping out, and I now have a blue velevet head scarf, a shoulder scarf, i said i had a white blouse, and everyone went home to see if they can find me a big colorful flower print skirt. Everyone says that the head scarf really makes me look right... which I am taking as a compliment. But yes, it is an evening full of folk songs and hunting songs. There is one where the audiencec sings along, about how the woodcutter Michel is not doing well, because we can't hear him. So we all sing " Ich old wood michel still singing?" and when the refrain is over, one chorus member from off stage has to start wailing out a song, at which point the choir and audience all start the second refrain "Yes! he's still singing!". Only it's a lot more repetitive than that as you might imagine. A few of the songs are being acted out in front of the audience, and one has been turned into a doo-wop boogie. Or, as much of one as is possible. During that song we all do the twist. It's really something I sort of want a video of, just because of how amazing it all is. THe only problem for me really is that everyone knows these songs. So we sing them once, put them in an order, and call it a rehearsal. I have never heard these songs before, and they use old fashioned dialect german, and i only understand half of what I'm saying anyway! I hope that I can take some time with one of the ladies here who have been the most helpful, and get them to sing through it again with me.

I should go, but be thinking about me around 7 tonight, when I'll be at choir practice, singing about the joys of wood chopping.

Aufenthaltsgenehmigung

OK. So I have been in Storkow now well over a month. And one of the first things I did upon my arrival was plow through the 20 pages of burocratic forms i had to fill out to stay here. One of them being my Aufenthaltsgenehmigung, which allows me to stay here longer than my 3 month tourist allowance. This has to be glued into my passport, and so I had to give up my passport, too. I got a card saying they had recieved my application and everything was normal almost a month to the day ago. And had not heard from them since. I was getting worried about not having my passport and not really knowing where it was, so I asked the school secretary to help me call them, because I'm still not so good on the phone with big words. Anyway, we tracked down the Ausländerbehörde for Landkreis Oder-Spree, and talked with the lady there. First she wanted to know why I had chosen "such an expensive apartment", not that it's any of her business, and then told me that my passport has been there, for me to come pick up, for two weeks. apparently, when it came back, she called one of the three Herr Florschützes, and told him that it was there, which she souldn't have done, she should have called the school, where i mailed it from. anyway, he, whichever one it was, never passed the message on to me. so. So today, now that I am done with classes, I am taking a second fieldtrip to Beeskow. to the Ausländerbehörde. To retrieve my passport. I will try and write soon about the songs we're singing in chorus. One really is the german lumberjack song, like you would hear in Monty Python. Only its the real thing. "The very most fun folk are lumberjack-folk, hi holdrio holdrio... With arms full of strength and hearts full of laughter, hi holdrio holdrio... they pick up their axe and tell themselves they're cutting the legs of the devil in two, the very most fun folk are lumberjack-folk, hi holdrio holdrio." Oh yes. The chorus thinks its so cute that i enjoy the music so much, but i can't stop smiling mostly because of how unreal it all seems. That being said, I am off to get back my most important form of ID here. that has been sitting on someone's desk for two weeks. bye!

Back in School

Well, the two week vacation is over, and I am back at the high school here. I wasn't really looking forward to having the next 9 weeks follow essentially the same schedule all the time, it seemed sort of dull compared to the previous 9 weeks. But it turns out that it won't be a problem, because they have redone all the teachers' schedules, and now I have a whole new weekly plan. I think I have it worked out so that I am still seeing the same kids though, which makes me happy. But this week I am still meeting classes for the first time. So if I keep this schedule through Christmas, that will be a break from routine in and of itself.

It was wonderful to visit Berlin with Jason. Rather than make a lot of touristy stops, we mostly just visited the spots of town that I knew, where I had spent a lot of time, and got caught up. It was a great break, because I could talk as much as I wanted to, as fast as I wanted to, for almost an entire week, in English, and not ever have to ask if he had the vocabulary to understand me. We got him to his very early flight, and he should be there by now, getting to see his school and family in Arusha, Tanzania.

The weather must have know it was vacation, because for the last 2 weeks it was amazing. Rarely cloudy, it might have drizzled once, if that much, and some afternoons it was warm enough to go out without a jacket or sweater. Starting Sunday though, the grey rolled in and hasn't left. In a couple of weeks I think we hit daylight savings time, but then it just keeps getting darker and darker until the sun rises around 8 or 8:30 and its dark again at 4. I am looking forward to the fact that even though it will get colder in January, technically the days are already getting longer, and that can only be a good thing.

The kids seem to be holding up pretty well considering they just got back from vacation. Today I heard a presentation on "Billy Jo-el" (like Noel) which was full of some great sentences. "In 1980 he was made the singing disc on his band." Which was aiming for he made an album in 1980 with his band. I can't get enough of constructions like that.

Well, I have the 8th graders now, which should be fun, so I have to go, but I hope you are all well, and that you can drop me a line when you get the chance.

A Note from Berlin

Well, the project week is over. It was exaughsting, but I'm glad I did it. I volunteered as translator during any tours we took, since the groups from Poland and the Czech Republic couldn't actually speak German as well as they said they could. In some cases, they couldn't speak German at all. And there was some confusion about whether or not we were all working together, or if we were the hosts and they the guests, in which case we should do all the cooking and cleaning. It wasn't very satisfying in the meeting people from other countries part, all the countries were pretty clique-y. But I got to know the Germans a lot better, and it will help to have some more familiar and friendly faces in the classrooms. And now I know just how difficult it is to paddle a canoe (my partner and I had to separated part way through because we couldn't stop turning in circles) and how nice it is to come home after a 25km bike ride. I have seen a lot more of this part of Brandenburg, and it kept me busy during the first week of fall vacation. Saturday evening I was at a 50th wedding anniversary party. I sing in a choir here, and one of the members just had her 50th anniversary, and it is quite standard here to throw a big party. If the choir isn't invited, they show up anyway, sing a few songs, have a glass (or two) of sekt, and then leave. But this time we were really invited for the dinner and everything, and it was a really nice time. I swayed along with the whole table as they all sang drinking songs along with the music, and came home with a purse full of the small bottles of liquor that the waiters kept bringing around (sleeping drops, as one helpful lady at the table said). It was a fun time, and I'm glad I had the chance to see a party like that, another chance isn't likely to come my way soon.

This is the first day of the second week of vacation. Jason, my friend from Wooster, is coming to visit. I thought at first he was coming for a day, but it turns out his ticket was from today until sunday. Only, he flight got messed up, and now he is coming tomorrow. Still I am looking forward to showing him a little of Germany while he is here. I don't know when my next update will be, hopefully no later than next tuesday.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Friday before vacation

Well, I am officially done with school work for the next two weeks, although next week I will still be busy. Today I gave two lessons in two different classes, and it was so fun! The teachers all say that the students are excited to have me in their class, because it is one less hour they have to look at the teacher. There is usually one guy in the back of the class who won't answer my questions and will only mutter rude things like the equivalent of "this sucks", but that is the other cool part of my job. I'm not the disciplinarian. I can't write people up. That's why the teacher has to stay in the class with me. So it's not really my problem. So, in one class I talked about elementary school, and in the other class about sports. I learned things like in the winter you can ice surf on the lake in storkow. who knew.

I hadn't seen Frau Florschütz to tell her that I would be going to Berlin yesterday to go see a play, and apparently she was telling a fellow teacher here last night when they were at the sauna together that she was worried that I had never come home from school yesterday. So I can't write much longer, because I need to go home and tell her that I am in fact here, and fine.

It was good to get out a little bit in Berlin. We saw a play at what is apparently the largest children's theater in Germany. This was the premiere of a dutch play that was translated into german about girl and her mother, and the fights they have after the father moves out. It was all very edgy and modern, with card board boxes as the props and the stage spinning around and a big video screen in the back. it was interesting, and not badly performed, but it was sort of intense for a 6 year old, which is who the program said it was aimed at. well, 6 and up. It was too confusing for a child who hadn't lived through something similar to understand what was going on, and too intense for one who had. I'm still glad I went though.

It was in a part of Berlin that I wasn't as familiar with, but now I know how to get from Storkow to the city with the train. It takes about an hour, to get there, another 45 to get into the heart of the city, but is still pretty navigable. I'm hoping to get up there for some of the second week of vacation.

Fall has really set in here, with grey skies, cold temperatures, and enough rain just to keep everything wet. But the heat has finally come on in my apartment, and so I'm not really that bad off. But when the sun actually manages to break through the clouds every so often, I try to get outside for it. just take whatever I'm doing and put on a third layer and sit on the porch until it's not sunny anymore.

I'm going to go now, visit Frau Florschütz and tell her my schedule for next week, which involves visiting about three different lakes, a water purifying facility, the labyrinth in the corn field, the local bike man who makes functioning bikes bigger than a house and smaller than a skateboard, a canoe trip down the canal, this huge contraption that lifts boats from one level of the lake to the other, because the difference between them is too big for a lock, and a trip through the spreewald. At some point during which we will roast bread on sticks in a german tipi. At least, that's what I got from the explanation the leader gave me. Anyway, I'll be busy and far from a computer, so I don't know when I'll write next. But certainly some time during the week after that I can get to the library and write again. I hope that everyone is well, and knows that I am thinking of them.

Things I have yet to get used to

1. How having a dirt road to my apartment is really messy

2. Hearing roosters from my front porch

3. Just how big snails can get

Long Weekend

This was my first three day weekend since I got here, even though that is how it is going to be the rest of the time. Marlies and Klaus's grandson was visiting this weekend, Marvin. Marvin is 5 and quite a handful. It's tricky to talk to him, first because he's five, and the art of conversation isn't really there yet. And he makes mistakes sometimes, and I don't know if I misheard him, or if he's really wrong, or if it's just another construction that I don't know. Usually he's wrong. Still, he's a sweetheart, and came with on all of our fieldtrips. Saturday there was a Harvest Festival in Friedersdorf, just down the road. Marvin came with Marlies and Klaus and I. There was a parade with everyone's horses either decorated or pulling decorated wagons, and then came the tractors, also decked out in the best this harvest had to offer. A lot of people wore traditional costumes or just clothes typical for a farm a hundred years ago. It was really neat, and it's fun taking a little kid to a parade. He alternated between standing on the trashcan so he could see over everyone's heads and running up to the edge of the street to collect candy that was being thrown to the kids in the crowd.

Sunday we planned to take a bicycle ride after lunch, but Sunday morning Lars collapsed while working in the garden, and when he went to the doctor, the doctor sent him right to the hospital. We were all pretty worried, but it looks like it's nothing worse than too much stress at work overwhelming him. He has to take a week off of work, and get some more tests, but they let him go from the hospital the same afternoon. Then Monday we were going to go to Ikea after Marlies went to the doctor early. Well, that appointment took hours longer than she expected, and it turns out she's going to have to have surgery. She's hoping to be able to put it off until after Christmas, if at all possible.

After she got back though we did make it to Ikea, which was really fun. I now have a new bookcase, laundry basket, and dishwashing brush.

Today is the first day of my real schedule, although it's already been changed once, and other parts of it aren't happening today for what must be like field day here. All the seventh and eight graders are having sport competitions. I have gotten most of the books I am going to need for all the classes I'll be working with.

So far, we have had a lovely mild start to fall. Mostly still very sunny and warm. And the local folklore says that if it starts like this, it will stay that way, and we will have a mild winter. No way to know for sure, but I can hope. :)

Another bit of good news - I've already gotten paid! I thought it was going to take much longer, another couple of weeks at least. But once I told Fulbright my bank account information, it only took a week for the money to get to me. Which is awesome.

This is the last week before our two week fall break. The first week (next week) I will be working with the Schülerclub from this school and two other clubs from schools in Poland and the Czech Republic. This is the third time that these three schools have met, and this time they're meeting here in Storkow and taking lots of field trips to various important sites regarding water. I think it will be fun, we'll see a lot of great stuff. We have to sleep on the floor in one of the buildings here... I may see about sneaking home one or two nights, but otherwise it will be great. And I will be completely provided for with meals and everything, and all for free. The Student club program is apparently very well funded, and can take another student along no problem. Anyway, most of next week I expect not to be able to get online. And that is why.

On thursday this week I've been invited to go see a play premier in Berlin with the drama class. I am really looking forward to it. Drama kids are always fun, the teacher seems really nice, and I havn't been back to Berlin yet since I got here. And all I saw before that was what i could see from the train as it drove through town.

I think that is all I have to say for now. Hope all of you are well, and know that I think about you often.

Two weeks down

Well, I got my schedule all worked out. And I don't have to come in every day at 7:30! So great to hear. I also got a cell phone, and am at least partway back in touch with modern communication systems. If I were to have internet at home, all would be peachy.

I think I have to finish reading Catcher in the Rye this weekend, so that I can be ready to discuss it on Tuesday. (Oh yeah, I always get Monday off). Otherwise I don't really know how to prepare for next week. But I will have one week following my schedule, and then comes a two week Fall Break. The social worker here has a project planned for the first week that I will be helping with. But the second week I will have to myself. I may see about calling up friends in Berlin and visit there for a bit. I havn't seen anything since I rode the train through it to get to Storkow.

Frau Florschütz got the cold I had all last week, so the trip to Ikea was shot. And the local author reading is actually next Thursday, not this Thursday. So this week was a little quieter than I expected. But Saturday the Familie and I will be going to.. a nearby town whose name I've forgotten, to see the Harvest festival. And since I have Monday off, we're taking the trip to Ikea then. Apparently, it's in quite the shopping center. There's even a movie theater there, and if there's anything good showing we just may go see it.

The Familie is also letting me read their newspaper every day. The first section (there are only two) is international and national news, all in the equivalent of AP soundbites. But the second section is the real treat - local news. There was a story about the favorites in the local table tennis league this year. Of course about all the high school sports teams. There's usually an advice column from one of the local administrative offices, with telephone numbers. This last one was from one office that for a few hours you could call with any questions concerning how to write a will. My favorite story so far though was a short blurb. "Unknown horse found dead in field." Apparently two people were taking a stroll through the meadow (as many do here) and happend upon a horse that had been killed with a blunt object. That was the whole story.

Well I need to go into town, go to the market for some fresh veggies. I don't need much fresh fruit, because Lars Florschütz brought me apples, pears, and grapes from his garden yesterday. All very lovely, and naturally never treated with anything, so I have to be sure to cut the apples open before I eat them, since there really may be a worm in there. The apples look like the ones from story books of snow white. Bright red with paler whitish spots, round, and inside as bright white as anything. Just lovely.

Hope all is well, and I'll write more when I get back to school next week.

German household appliances

Well, really only one, but my new favorite German household appliance that I hadn't seen, let alone used, until last week: The BREADSLICER! Yes. Germans eat a lot of heavy dark bread. the only way to eat it is in thin slices that are difficult to make evenly. and you have to make a lot of them to feed your german family. so what do you do? Invent the bread slicer, that always makes them as thin and even as you like. Every german kitchen has one. Here at least. It's just really cool. If I ever get to putting up pictures, I may take a picture and put it up here. Just to show you all how cool it really is.

I think that's all for now, just wanted to pass along that tidbit I forgot. bye!

Getting back to School

Hi Everyone! Last week the school had its "Projektwoche", during which half the school went on various trips, and everyone else stayed here to complete some kind of project. Getting me acquainted with the school and with the town was the project of three of the students. The teacher responsible for them was also in charge of getting my paperwork at the various bureaucratic offices in town taken care of, and so we all went around together. I have now registered my address, applied for a visa, opened a bank account, applied for "Wohngeld" (extra money from the government to pay my rent)and had a tour of Storkow, Beeskow, and the school grounds. It was a mostly relaxing way to meet a couple of students, and get to know Storkow better. Now the real school work is beginning. I am visiting all kinds of classes this week to see what they are like and where I will be able to help the most, and by next week I will hopefully have a set schedule. For the most part, the teachers here are nice, and excited to have me in their classes.

Yesterday was a little more difficult, because I sat in on 8th and 9th grade classes. They didn't want to have to start regular class again after their trip to London, and were generally pretty restless and disinterested. I havn't been helping teach yet, I just sit in the background and watch. Today was a lot more engaging. The most advanced class is reading Catcher in the Rye, and seemed to mostly understand it. Rereading it with them though, I wonder if they aren't a little more confused than they're letting on. At least, the discussion we had today always went better after I explained what that paragraph really meant. But this might have just been a particularly difficult passage. The next class down was analyzing the rhetorical style of Bush's first inaugural speech, and then started watching Bowling for Columbine. So right off the bat getting into pretty heft material. But I think it keeps the kids more engaged, when it's something a little more real.

Finally I got to sit in on a seventh grade class, and the difference is huge! Of course they only started the language last year or the year before that, so they're not very advanced. But they have so much energy, and so many interesting things to say. I just hope that if I#m ever in charge of the class, I can get some of that energy focused on the lesson, and not on making faces and throwing balls of paper, which is a lot of what happened in this one. Watching the back and forth between the teacher and the students, though, reminded me of seventh grade in the states, too, and just how much and how often the teachers had to stop class to yell at us. It's sort of remarkable how much of what I remember from elementary school being when the teacher finally lost it. All pretty funny.

Still, despite the progress in school here and all the paperwork pretty much being done, no phone, and no internet. I found the quiet teacher lounge where there is rarely a wait for the computer, and so I can get on here about every day, which is great. I'm still going to try and get the Florschützes to get an ISDN for the apartment. Lars says it shouldn't be hard (Lars being the son, btw), but Klaus and Marlies (the parents) still belong to the generation where, when i said i was going to see about getting a cell phone, they said "oh, young people and their cell phones! I remember in the DDR (east Germany) when we didn't even have phones! If you wanted to know if someone was at home, you rode your bike there and asked. It was much simpler. Of course, once we did get phones, you never knew who else was listening..."

I am getting along very well with Familie Florschütz, even though we're still all using the formal You, which is tricky for me. They're the people I have spent the most time with, but are pretty much the only ones I still Sietz. Oh well. Marlies has a friend who grows pumpkins. And she keeps getting these huge pumpkins, and having to cook them. So she invites me to dinner so there will be more people eating the pumpkin soup. This weekend I had Saturday and Sunday dinner over there. After Sunday dinner we took a road trip down to Eisenhüttenstadt and then Neuzelle. Eisenhüttenstadt wasn't a town until the DDR put a steelworks there, and then it exploded to like, 60,000 people. And now that the steelworks has closed, it's emptying out. But it was for a long time the model east german city. Then Neuzelle has a lovely baroque church that we didn't get to see. It is part of a monastary, and Klaus wanted to go see the brewery first, and by the time we got done there, the church was closed. At this brewery, I have to mention, you can buy "bath beer". Yes, beer that you buy to bathe in. You can even buy a set that comes with a towel and everything. They also have their own distillery, where Marlies and I went to sample the various local specialties. She ended up buying their herbal mix, which is pretty tasty, and a bright pink color. Tomorrow the Familie and I are going to IKEA to get a laundry basket, and then Thursday Marlies and I are going to try and get down to hear this local author read at the House of Art. Oh, and I am glad, because it has been shown to me that Storkow actually is a big town for around here. Well, a Städtchen, rather than a dorf. A little city, not a village. Because it has 4 supermarkets and a bank. And there are towns just down the road that don't have anything like that. Just houses clumped up together. So there you go.

I'm going to head on out now, but one last thing. I started explaining pumpkin pie to the Familie as Marlies was talking about how she could cook all these pumpkins. And somehow ended up volunteering to make one. Does anyone have a recipe for pumpkin pie that doesn't involve the pumpkin out of a can? Or know how to get a pumpkin to look like the stuff from the can? Please help! Also doubt they have pumpkin pie spice here, so need to get estimates on that, too.

Hope you are all well, and look forward to hearing from you!

I'm here! (and in the library)

I am writing to you from the library in storkow. I got here no problem, the only problem is that there is no phone line, and naturally no internet, in my apartment, and i have no cell phone still. I am hoping I can get some of that changed in the next few days, but there's really no telling. Apparently my landlords figure that if I have my own phone line I will call home too much. Mostly though, I want a line so I can call at like midnight, when it is a good time to reach my folks at home.
It is really pretty here. I have borrowed and ridden (?) a bike already... that sounds funny. and it is so great to ride a bike where it is flat. it was really cold yesterday, but it is warm and sunny again today. We went to the foreigner registration office today, and they basically could do nothing besides give me a form to fill out and tell me to come back in a week. whoopee.
the apartment aside from the phone thing is really nice. small, but nice, I don't think I'll feel too alone there ever, which is a good thing.

but yeah, this is a tiny tiny town. everyone really does know everyone else. My hosts, the florschüzt family is great though. the parents are like... late fifties? early sixties? and their son that lives with them is like 30. but some of my dishes say "made in the GDR" and that made me really happy. But the place is beautiful, lots of windows and natural wood. The ceilings are wood paneled, which is a little funny, but makes it very cozy. the kitchen is tiny. the stove is two electric burners, and there is no oven. there is a small sink, and a fridge that fits under the counter. that's about it. a lot of the dishes are kept in the living room, because there isn't enough cabinet space in the kitchen. the bathroom is tiny, too, but that means there is less to clean, which im ok with. The living room has a two person table that mosly fills the room. there is a sofa, and a cd player, and a tv that is apparently sort of confusing to use. There is a wall with shallow shelves, and that is great overflow storage space. The bedroom is separated from the living room by a door with glass window that has curtains on both sides. there is a big double bed, but one set of pillows and sheets. there is a desk and a wardrobe, too, and the entire far wall is a bank of windows. it's realy pretty.

Anyway, I should go and get shopping. I need something to cook for dinner tonight! I will try and post more later, and eventually will get to like, pictures and stuff. Bis später!

First entry

Well, as I've been telling peple, I have now officially created a blog for updates from my time in Storkow (SHTOHR-koh). It'll still be a little bit before I get there, leaving Tuesday, then a week of orientation outside of Cologne, then getting settled in. For the most part though, this title will work, and so I'm keeping it. I'll write more later!