Happy St. Pat's Day!!!

Here I am in St. Pat's land on the day that is for adults a day off of work and for socializing and drinking and for the kids a day off of school to go march in the parade. For me, it was an interesting cultural experience because we Americans totally get into it more than here.

I see the holiday celebrated more by the kids than the adults. They had a really nice parade full of little kid bands with pennywhistles and pom poms and old cars and costumes. Then afterward everyone went to the pubs and resturants for a late lunch or a pint of Guinness. I unfortunantly was too tired and a bit queasy to stay long with the others in the pub so I left. I had very much wanted to stay, but standing nor sitting helped my incredible desire to sleep so I headed home and took a 45 minute nap. It probably would've been longer but both phones and the doorbell started ringing so I knew my nice afternoon in bed was over.

It's a bank holiday which means no post, no classes, and all non-tourist shops are closed. No green beer or green river (in fact, many Irish don't believe me when I say that they dye the river green in Chicago). No corned beef and cabbage either as the bishop doesn't allow meat on Fridays even for St. Pat's (unlike the U.S.). I did dress up but they don't do the not wearing green pinching tradition here so I didn't have to worry. I hope to either go to a traditional St. Pat's theater show or rent a movie. The Irish in our house don't want to see "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne because they think it's a terrible movie, doesn't really show the real Irish people. It is true that there are lots of stereotypes that aren't accurate but I do love the story and will probably watch it when they are asleep :)

This afternoon I watched silly e-greeting cards with Claire and then have been working on class schedules. I've also been working on Sarah's present a bit (I hope to finish it today, perhaps during the movie). Not much up for homework or busking (after dinner most people on the street will be drunk so going out at night isn't advisable...I would probably slug the next rude drunk guy who shouted at us). If I have to be down, at least I did it on a day that I didn't have to go to class or have something really important to do.

Well, I'm going to go figure out what I want to do in school next year. My first day back at work is May 30th (write that down please Moogie) and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also nervous because I don't know what to expect - lots of personnel (workers) and personal (individual) changes that I'll have to get used to. Perhaps I'll make banana bread to ease back in to the swing of things.

Lots of love, Christi

Here it is!!!!

Ok, I know I’ve promised Germany adventures and not delivered, so here they are.

Thursday – after shopping I came back to the house to dry off, put things away, and prepare to leave. I was very tired and ready to go at 3:15pm as we had said before. We didn’t leave until 3:30 though because Maire’s card to Mira wasn’t ready. Late—that’s how I’d describe all of Thursday from that point on. Because our bus, although leaving on time, made it to Shannon over 40 minutes late due to crazy traffic. It took us almost an hour to get to Oranmore, the next town over (usually 20 minutes or less)! The check-in gate should’ve closed when we got there because we were about 5 minutes after the time it closes. God must’ve been smiling down upon us because a family who had to repack their luggage we keeping the gate open. We (and everyone else on the bus) were thrilled. Still…not the end of lateness. The plane we were to fly on was late coming in and so we were late taking off. We arrived in Germany late, but we were so happy to find Mira and her mom waiting for us at the terminal that all of our frustration over being late dissipated like fog when the sun comes out. When LuLu had gotten off of the plane she pointed over to the dark runway and said “Look it’s Germany!” She of course got teased by this phrase throughout most of the trip but all was in good fun. While we were in the bathroom (very nice by the way), Laura and I were washing out hands when this guy came out from the stalls and walked out the door. The look on Laura’s face was priceless. She looked confused and disbelieving at the same time. “Yep, that was a man,” was all I could get out before doubling over with laughter. Our drive from Duesseldorf-Weeze (Vit-zer) airport to Mira’s house was long and dark. Our first views of Germany weren’t great, but the company was fantastic.

Friday – Off to Koln (English = Cologne). We rode a train (but not a “real” train I’m told) to the city, future home of the 2006 World Cup (that’s soccer for all those who aren’t into sporty-type things). The cathedral’s the biggest landmark in the city so if anyone got lost we were to go to the cathedral. It is truly an amazing building, lots of history. We of course took lots of pictures of it and I got one with a “human statue”. We climbed up about 160 meters to the top of one of the church towers. We saw the bells right at noon so we got to hear them first-hand. Thank goodness they didn’t ring the really really big one! The entire climb was up winding staircases that seemed to never end and were so narrow that meeting people going the opposite direction was sometimes a challenge. We got to the top at last just in time for it to start raining. We took our pictures quickly and hustled back down. The cathedral’s not heated…much too big for that, so gloves and scarves are highly recommended (not hats though because it is a church). We met Mira’s uncle Claus and her boyfriend Matthias (sorry if they are spelt wrong!) at the train station so they could give us a tour of the city. It was so much fun! We of course had to try a German bier (aka beer), Koln’s very own KOLSCH, which was actually rather good. The guys made fun of it because it was considered a “woman’s beer” – light, bubbly, and no aftertaste. They come in .2 liter glasses so you can have a couple without effects. I only had one though, because I just can’t drink much…and for a funny reason too…hehe. Anyway, Claus wasn’t well (too much partying during Carnival gave him a non-contagious bacterial infection) so we didn’t want to keep him from his bed and antibiotics for too long. We headed back to Mira’s house for dinner and long talks over her scrapbooks, including her Galway one.

Saturday – We went off to Aachen on Saturday morning, which is smaller than Koln, near the Belgium border, and requires a “real” train ride (my first!). LuLu has friends studying in Aachen so she got to meet up with one and spend the day with him while we wandered around. It was SNOWING! It reminded me so much of home…everyone was all like “Oh, I’m sorry it’s snowing” but I was excited. It’s like a novelty now. We went to the Aachen cathedral (smaller in size but lovely in its own way). We aren’t allowed to take pictures without a 2euro “donation” but the sign was in German so no one would understand it if they weren’t able to speak it. Like LuLu who came later with her friend and took pictures to her heart’s content because she didn’t see the sign and didn’t knowwhat it said anyway. We didn’t risk being caught w/o donating though and bought postcards at the shop across the road. We tried to find the town hall but ended up wandering around instead. We went to a bookstore (all in German) for a book for Jessica’s nieces that she’d have Mira translate into English. She didn’t find one she loved so she borrowed Mira’s copy at home instead. We went to McD’s for lunch as we wanted a corner to eat the lunches we had packed but couldn’t eat outside because of the snow (and McD’s was huge). We did buy fries and drinks in order to make up for our not buying real food and giggled the whole time.

We can’t seem to find LuLu in the house, but we could find her on a German city street! We ran into her randomly and shouted hello. By this time it had stopped snowing and they were going to see the cathedral while we were going to find a nice shirt for Jessica. We did find one for her – it fits her like a glove and was cheap too! We hurried to get back to the train station where we were going to meet LuLu a few minutes before the train departed. We didn’t have to really worry about being on time because the train was not only late, it was on a different track than previously posted, so we had to head all the way to the opposite side of the station. When we got back to Duren (where we had left the car) we had to go to the grocery store for some candy that had been requested but we couldn’t find in Aachen. It was funny because all we bought were sweets, a few armful-loads full.

That night was the party night. We got to meet Mira’s Nana (the oldest person in Blatzheim at 97, and sharp, always observing), maternal Grandma (who makes delicious jam and gave us each a jar to take home) and Grandpa, Matthias’ parents and sister and nieces and nephew, some of Mira’s friends, Mira’s brother Michi (we were starting to think he didn’t exist because we had been in the same house for a couple of days and not seen him…someone was always sleeping) and lots of other people that I am sorry I forgot to mention. It was fun and funny, especially since Mira’s grandparents don’t speak much English and so her Grandma she’d tell the story very slowly so Jessica and Laura would understand it…..she said it in German though! They got the gist of it through her actions and Mira’s mom translating. We were all asking Matthias’ 4 ½ year old niece how to say things in German…I think she thought we were stupid because we couldn’t speak German like everyone else she’d ever met. We made her and her younger sister Fee (that’s her nickname, it means“fairy” in German) birds, hearts, and boats out of paper so even though we couldn’t say much to her they still liked us and became less shy as the night wore on. I don’t know how three kids under the age of 5 weren’t tired at 9PM because I was exhausted. I slept very well that night.

Sunday – We (Mira’s mom, and us) went to church in Kerpen. It was lots of fun despite not being able to understand a word. I could sing along to the Latin and Greek songs fine, but once there was German songs I had a rough time. They even sang a song in Italian…I really do like that one. The little kids in the first few rows were clapping along to that one and everyone was singing. After that we went to Marienfield where World Youth Day had been last year. It used to be a convent and a coal pit before World Youth Day. There is still the man-made hill where the pope said mass out in the middle and people walk the same pilgrimage out there…looks like a nice walk.

We all (Mira’s mom and dad, Michi, Matthias, Mira, LuLu, Laura, Jessica, and I) piled into the van borrowed from Matthias’ sister with the three (soon to be 4) kids. There were 4 in the back seat…it was funny to see them all squish in like that! I never joined them…..I don’t like being squished. We went all over including to a huge coal pit (which with all of it’s shades of browns, greys, tans, and blacks was rather lovely) and saw these 90 meter tall machines that dig and pick out the coal (Mira’s Grandpa used to drive one). Absolutely HUGE! Mira’s dad works for the company in the Koln offices so he knows all about it. Apparently once they start to dig all of the towns have about 20 years to move, getting relocation money for where ever they want to be. It’s sad to have to move like that, but I suppose you have to have coal for power. Some towns like Buir (where we had gotten on the train on Saturday) may have coal underneath them but have important town structures (such as a train station) and are therefore protected. The holes take 50+ years to be fully excavated so it is indeed a very long process. They make small mountains out of the dirt from the hole which will eventually be filled back in like Marienfield.

We had lunch in a real German restaurant…not a word of English spoken. We all had wienerschnitzal with various toppings like hollandaise sauce and fruit or mushrooms and a beefy-like broth. Mine was “Cordon Bleu”…..the smallest size-wise with the most calories I’m sure. Ahhh…it was sooo good though. Like chicken-fried steak only pork instead. They had 4 buy-one get-one frees so it wasn’t too expensive…still enough to make me feel guilty for not asking for the check before Mira’s dad did. Although, come to think of it, it would’ve been hard to ask for the check when I don’t speak German.

After lunch we went to a red castle….that was lots of fun to see the valley and the snow. Going down hill in the van was tons of fun for me because somehow the removable seat had come off the tracks so it was loose. At turns it would seriously lean and I locked the door quickly for my own safety. No matter how much time they spent trying to get the thing fixed didn’t matter because it was only after the entire day that Matthias’ dad get it popped back in (and even then it needed oil to stay well). I made certain not to get in last for I was sure to get that seat again if I did. We went to a monk’s abbey in the middle of a national park and then to a dammed lake for some pictures.

At dinner we were discussing the Chinese calendar when Mira’s dad asked what year it is this year. When LuLu said the Year of the Dog, Mira said it was a sign. She wants a dog and hey, it’s the perfect year for one! Her dad regretted asking..hahaha. I think if she got a dog she should name it Galway…..”here, Galway!” has a nice ring to it.

Monday – We left at 6AM on Monday morning for Brussels where our plane would fly from. Mira’s aunt had given us each a flower made of metal with that straw-like ribbony stuff and painted bright colors. Problem was that they were metal and we didn’t have a check-in luggage so we were afraid we wouldn’t be allowed on with them. They had a fork-shaped bottom for putting them into the ground, but Mira’s parents cut those off for us so we’d have a better shot of getting through security. They packed us brunches for whenever we got hungry (which wasn’t at 5:30AM). I had packed the night before so I got to sleep in a bit longer than the others but a disturbing dream had bothered me most of the morning. We picked up Matthias who would drive the van from Duren to Brussels. I missed the sunrise (when you are up before the church bells sometimes you are too tired to care) but got to see some of the Belgium landscape. I wish we could’ve explored Brussels – as one of the cities of the EU I find it fascinating. Matthias and Mira were going to see some of those buildings after we flew and they slept a bit in the van. We had coffee and hot chocolate out of an airport vending machine (Mira: “Ooh, it’s like real coffee!”) and then headed through security (after LuLu’s passport got copied…. “It’s because you are just so darn beautiful! Or maybe it’s because they want to make a wanted poster for the unpaid Aachen cathedral pictures!”). Mira was going to wait around a few minutes to see if we would make it through with our flowers. We had no problems with the flowers or the bags although I did set off the detector with my hiking boots, pants button, and ring. Go figure. I had brought an extra bag with all of my souvenirs because the backpack was about to burst but I wasn’t sure if they’d let my third bag on. I went into the duty-free store (no postcards, bummers) and got one of their bags free which I put my stuff into so no one could say anything…hehehehe….I wrote in my little journal the whole flight back because I had gotten so far behind (and believe it or not, it is longer than this post!). Ireland was just as we left it: grey, windy, and wet (although a bit warmer). Instead of being late, we were early the whole day leaving (almost) on time from Mira’s house, checking in on time, through security on time, the plane leaving on time, arriving in Shannon 10 minutes early, the bus leaving the airport on time and getting back to Galway early. We were early for lunch (although everyone thought we weren’t back until Tuesday…..why they thought that I have no idea). The first thing I did (after setting down my bags) was pull out my computer (I put it away while I was gone) and turn it on. The next thing I did was go to lunch. Then unpack and then….a few hours later, I did some internet-y stuff. Internet’s still a question mark on working capacity but now that I’m set for campus I’ve just got to lug the heavy thing over there in order to do what I want.

I have been writing for about 2 hours and have almost 4 pages of 12-point font written on Word. Geez…I wish I could write papers like this. I’d be done with two classes by now! Speaking of which, now that you know a lot of my Germany trip (not all, I don’t have all day to type L) I should go do something productive, like studying. Tomorrow’s St. Pat’s Day, but they really don’t do anything for it. They won’t even lift the Friday-fasting/no red meat….no corned beef and cabbage for me I guess L They have a parade which we’ll all probably go to and then we hope to go busking (aka singing on the street corner) with a few of the Irish songs we know. Perhaps the tourists will take pity on us and give us lots of money for our Rome trip. Fingers are crossed.

Lots of love, Christi

My Bad

You were expecting news about Germany yesterday and I only told you of the similarities of the Vietnam and Iraq wars..I am sorry about that but I had to go check my banana bread. The bread insides are fine but the bottom got burnt. Nuria left before she turned on the oven for me so I didn't know that the trick to it is to turn it 10-20 degrees lower than the recipie says. Oh well....I'll just keep cutting off the crusts. I also wrote the recipie wrong and had to make two batches instead of one because I'd put in 2x the butter that was necessary. Now we have three loaves instead of 1 1/2. Hope everyone likes banana bread!

Last night Claire and I went shoe-shopping and guitar repairing. I found a few pairs I liked but nothing I loved so I didn't get any boots. We did get the other nice guitar fixed....apparently someone had put on the wrong-sized strings and that's why the pegs on one side had broken. That side of pegs had to be replaced, plus a peg/button for a shoulder strap. We looked really cool walking around since because we don't have cases we used garbage bags to cover the guitars in case it rained. People gave us some odd looks but the music guy was impressed.

After dinner Claire and I were going to practice what few songs we do know when Maire, Pilar, Pilar's friend, and Niamh (aka "Neif" as spelled by Christi) came in and wanted a show. I don't know about most people, but I get stage fright not in front of strangers, but in front of people I know so I wasn't about to perform for them. I don't like to do it for people I know because if I mess up they'll remember it where as strangers really don't care (unless they are like the rude drunk guy from RAG week). Maire pulled out some song books that just had the words and not the tunes/notes and was trying to teach us "West Coast of Clare." I went to be at 11PM after cleaning up my room a bit.

Claire and I think we need some Irish tunes for St. Pat's day on Friday so I went to the library after b-fast. I found lots of tunes but since I don't know who knows what, I copied a whole bunch....like well over 20. They all are set to music so they'll be fairly easy to learn and Claire will be able to add guitar chords to them. Copying was a pain since the queue/line was often a few people deep. I think people were copying entire books. I settled down with my computer and chatted with Mira from Germany for a bit while looking up more songs with chords for us to learn (Sweet Child of Mine, You Raise Me Up, etc.). I hope to play well enough to take some music back to the States with me....of course, I won't be able to play for anyone I know though... I ran into Peter the choir director who laughed when I said I was so far behind thanks to those papers last week. He said most Irish learn info then dump it as soon as it isn't needed. And that most everyone's behind, including himself because he's got a thesis due last week.

Did I mention that I have a job back home at UW Catering this summer??!! Hehehe...

Oops, lunchtime...must go eat. Hopefully I'll write more about Germany soon!....well, actually anything about Germany soon.

Lots of love, Christi

Hello

There's so much to write that I don't know where to begin.

Today I left my American history class to an interesting coincidence. We were learning about Vietnam and the war protest. Right outside of the door to the lecture hall was a booth calling for U.S. troop withdrawl from Iraq and from Shannon, where they had been using the airport as an entry point into Europe. I wonder if these protesters understand that withdrawl of the troops has to be gradual. See Vietnam as an example...pulling all out right away became a big problem because the South Vietnamese didn't have any chance without American aid and communism easily took over all of Vietnam - exactly why the U.S. went to war to prevent. Of course it is stupid for the U.S. to constantly get involved in other countries' affairs......why do our leaders feel the need to exert U.S. influence over others?? Anyway, I'm all for getting American troops out of there, but not as quickly as "right now" nor even at the end of this year.....it doesn't take long to collapse a country but it takes a long time to rebuild. See Europe after WWI or WWII, Vietnam and SE Asia after the turn of the century, and even the U.S. after the Revoluntionary War.....the Articles of Confederation didn't work and the first type of government had to be scrapped within 10 years.

GERMANY!

Greetings from Kerpen-Blatzheim, Germany! Not much time to type, so much to do! I came with LuLu, Laura, and Jessica to visit our friend Mira who is from here. Her family have been extremely kind to put up with 5 giggly girls for 3.5 days! Well, I must go but Moogie wanted to see me post at least once, so here it is!

Ich Liebe Dich!
I Love You!

Christi