You want to go to BERLIN? Back to the Lion's Den?!

POP QUIZ! The name of this blog post, who said it and from where? (Answer at the bottom..)

So again, I'm going to go ahead and warn you now. You might want to go get a lite snack, or a cold beverage, and get comfy. This could be a long post.

So, yesterday I returned from BERLIN! First off, that city is incredible! It has such a fun and cool vibe to it, and it is hands down, one of the most, all-around beautiful cities I have ever seen. And obviously, not to mention is BEYOND rich in history! I left Bonn for Köln Hbf (Hauptbahnhof, or "main station") on Thursday morning. After my 4 and 1/2 train ride or so on the ICE train, I finally arrived to Berlin Hbf. Berlin's hauptbahnhof in itself is something to see. It's a new structure that was built to be opened for the World Cup in 2006 (the year Germany hosted). It's said to be the most modern train station in all of Europe, and although I haven't seen all of them, I would definitely agree. The place was enormous and so nice. Bertus wasn't able to get off work to come with me, so when pressed to try and find a place to stay I opted to try to find someone to stay with so that I would have other people around etc. I had directions from Ben, the guy I was staying with, to get on a S-bahn ("S-Bahn" in Berlin = Schnell Bahn, or "fast tram"... not Straße Bahn like it does in most cities). After about 3 stops I arrived to one of the cities main stations, Alexanderplatz, which is famous for it's enormous media tower. At that station I then transfered to the U8, or 8th line of the subway system and took that for several stops. I finally got off at Hermannstraße and was picked up by my host for the weekend, Ben. We walked to his apartment that he shares with 4 other (2 other boys and 2 girls) where I was able to finally drop all of my bags. I probably got there and settled at around 6 or so. I sat around and talked to Ben for awhile (he is a German student living in Berlin, but originally from München). He told me how he had 2 other "CouchSurfers" there that weekend as well (that's how I found this guy/a place to stay while in Berlin = www.couchsurfing.org), a girl from Bristol, England, and another girl, 23, from Colombia. Caitlynn (the Brit) and Catalina (the Colombian) showed up a little later and we all ate something real quickly and then made some plans to go out that night. Next thing I knew, it was already about 10pm (it was still light out), so Ben told us girls, that if we wanted to go out as well, it might be a good idea to start getting ready and everything. We all took turns showering and getting ready and then the 4 of us, plus one of Ben's roommates, Sharee (btw, I have NO clue how to spell his name, so that could be wrong..) who is originally from Iran, all headed out of the ubahn. Berlin is a massive city, the largest in Germany (about 4 million people), and it's public transportation is above excellent. However, with it, getting from one side of the city would take you a good hour. So after changing trains once, and being on the ubahn for about 25 minutes or so, we finally came to the stop we wanted and got off and headed for a really cool bar that was on a channel running through east Berlin.
The bar was pretty cool, but I didn't really feel like drinking or anything, so I only had 2 beers. We weren't there for too long since Caitlynn, Catalina and I were pretty tired. While there, a group of SUPER annoying 19 year olds were sitting next to us. They were so loud and obnoxious, I was seriously embarrassed when I heard them speaking English. Next thing I know 2 of the guys are sitting with us asking where we were all from etc. He told me he too was an American and that he was on a "EuroTrip" (btw, I basically wanted to shoot this kid in the face). Well, turns out, the guy isn't from the US at all. He was born and raised in Hong Kong to his Taiwanese mother and his American father (he also told me he has never lived a day in the States). But here he was, being obnoxious as HELL and telling everyone he is from Staten Island, NY. I then proceeded to yell at him and ask him to A, stop acting like a raging asshole (the guy was making Third Reich jokes, and while that is all fine and fun and whatever when your friends, but to do it loudly at a bar... IN F'ING BERLIN is a completely different story), and also to B, stop telling people he was an American, when he definitely was not, and that he is basically just making us look worse that we already do. (For all you other Americans traveling abroad, you obviously know what most people think of us..) Seriously, this kid was like, the most obnoxious person I have ever met, and I just couldn't deal with his bullshit. Looking back, I feel a little guilty for being such a bitch, but hey, he needed to hear it from somebody.
The sun was starting to rise (it was about 3:30am... in Berlin in the summer, the sun is seriously completely up by 4/4:30 in the morning because of how north they are. It's weird), and we were all tired, so we headed back to the apartment to crash.

Friday morning I pried myself off one of the couches at around 9:30 to get started on my first "real" day in Berlin! I left the apartment and headed again for the Hermannstraße ubahn stop. There was a lot I wanted to see, which was scattered all over the big city. My only plan that morning was to take the ubahn to Alexanderplatz, where I was sure there would be some sort of tours meeting. Well, my big brain was right, and I was able to get a ticket for a "hop-on, hop-off" roofless tour bus for only 10 Euro. It was such a gorgeous day that I quickly went to the second level to find a seat in the sun :) Leaving Alexanderplatz, which is home to the famous Berlin media tower (the tallest structure in Europe, 2nd only to the media tower in Moscow),the Rotes Rathaus, and Mary's Church, which was built in 1270AD back when Alexanderplatz was still the Medieval center of Berlin, we then headed for the famous street of Unter Den Linden. Everything seems to be on this street, it's not only where a big major area of shopping and restuarants are, but also where the Deutsches Historisches Museum is, the Berliner Dom (which is breathtaking!) and at the end of it, you have the well-known Brandenburger Tor. So we drove along this where I was able to take a bunch of quick pictures and then it was off to the next part of the city. The bus tour was nice though, because it helped me get my bearings of the city, so that I could go back and re-visit the places I really wanted to see later. After the Brandenburger Tor, we headed for the Reichstag, which is the German Parliament building. From there we headed towards the Victory Monument which is in the center of the Tiergarten, and directly parallel to the Brandenburger Gate in the opposite direction (it was down this strip, from the Brandenburger Tor to the Victory Monument that all the military parades etc. took place). Unfortunately, the Victory Monument is under construction until next summer, so I guess I'll just have to go back to Berlin in the summer of 2011 ;) After this we looped around to find ourselves in another really popular shopping area, but also home to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, or the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial. This is a church that was completely destroyed from the Allied bombings of Berlin, but after the war the people decided they wanted to leave it standing the way it was, instead of knocking it down/re-building it. It now stands as a reminder of some of the consequences of war. From this area I hopped back onto the bus and headed for Checkpoint Charlie, where I again got off to explore. Checkpoint Charlie is the famous former checkpoint between East and West Berlin. Right down the street from Checkpoint Charlie was an exhibition called the "Topography of Terror" which was a small museum located on the rubble of the former SS Headquarters, and the exhibition was all about the SS.. needless to say, it was extremely interesting and I definitely made a point to spend some time in there. After that I waited for the next bus to come around again and boarded. I stayed on the bus now until I was dropped off back at Alexanderplatz and decided to walk back to some places of interest. First I headed back for Unter Den Linden, to pass by some of the amazing buildings there again, and to head for the Brandenburger Tor. The Brandenburger Gate is definitely not as big as you wold imagine it to be. In pictures and whatnot, you would think it is this huge structure. But in reality, it's not too terribly big. But it's still impressive all the same. From there I walked through the Tiergarten towards the Reichstag. By this time it was probably almost 5:45 or so, and was exhausted. I made it to the Parliment building and decided to rest on the lawn in front for a bit. Well.. that rest turned into about a 30 minute "power nap". But honestly, it felt amazing, and was exactly what I needed. After my nap, I realized that I was pretty hungry from the day of not eating anything. I decided that, with no real plan in mind, I would just wonder until I found something that looked like it would hit the spot. After walking for a while, I hit the jackpot and found myself in a little nook of Berlin, sitting down to eat outside at "Tex-Mex Cantina". Now of course, Mexican food here doesn't quite compare to what we can get in the States, but this place is still the closest I have found so far in Germany. It was really delicious and I ordered a chicken burrito (finally!) and a Berliner Pils (their popular regional beer... which, btw, has NOTHING on Kölsch!) After finally eating, I headed back to the Berliner Dom to just sit and watch the sunset. Now it was beginning to get dark at close to 10 or so, so I thought it best to walk back to Alexanderplatz and catch the next ubahn back to the apartment. By the time I got back to the appartment it was a little after 11pm. I arrived there to see Caitlynn and Catalina sitting outside the door. Apparently, they had been there since a little before 10. Ben (and none of his roommates?) weren't home, which meant none of us could go inside. Luckily, Ben came home at around 11:30, so I didn't really have to wait much or anything. But I felt so bad for Caitlynn and Catalina, who had waited out on a dirty street for a good hour and 1/2. I was pretty tired at this point, and was planning for another big day out on Saturday, so all I really wanted to do was to do go to bed (especially from still not having a super good nights sleep the day before). Caitlynn left already to meet up with on of her British friends at a club in East Berlin, so now it was just Catalina, Ben, Ben's roommate Sharee (again, no clue how to spell his name) and I. I told them all that I was pretty exhausted but they all wanted to go out. Catalina begged me to go out with them (since she didn't want to be the only girl alone with them etc.) so I agreed and went and got ready. The four of us sat around drinking some beers playing a game until we decided it was finally a good time to leave. (Ben had said that most people don't leave to go out, and most places don't even get to be "fun" until well after midnight). So we headed for the Ubahn, and it was already 2 in the morning! Ridiculous. We ended up at the same place we were the night before and the sun was already coming up by the time we got there. While there, the 4 of us got into conversations about each of our home countries, with I think most of the focus on me, since they were all eager to hear about what it's REALLY like in the US, not just want they are told from the media etc. We only stayed for another hour or so, since (especially) Catalina and I were pretty tired. We left at around 4 in the morning to head back to the house. We decided to walk a little further to get on the S-Bahn instead of the Ubahn because Ben said it would be faster. Well, we didn't end up actually getting back to the apartment until after 5am and I wasn't in bed asleep until atleast 6. Which sucks, considering I wanted to originally be up and out of the house by 11 or so. (Which of course didn't happen). I got up on Saturday still exhausted from the day before at around 11:30. If you had read one of my previous posts, I said how I really wanted to visit the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz. However, that was before I found out that it would be relatively easy for me to travel about an hour outside the city to the former Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, which is now a memorial site and museum. I decided that with my last full day in Berlin, it was more important for me to go there than the Wannsee-Konferenz villa (although I really want to see it--I guess I just have another reason to go back to Berlin).

I left the apartment that morning pretty later than I wanted to, thanks mostly to the lack of good sleep from the night before. I left around 1pm and headed for the Ubahn. I took the Ubahn to, once again, Alexanderplatz and got off to grab something small to eat. Then I got back on the ubahn and rode it for 3 more stops to Friedrichstraße where I then changed to get on the S-Bahn towrds Oranienburg. The stop for the Sachsenhausen Camp was at the last stop on the S1; Oranienburg; a small town an hour outside of bustling Berlin. After my S-bahn ride, I stepped out into the sunshine and proceeded to follow the signs toward the "Gedenkstätte und Museum: KZ Sachsenhausen". It was about a 20 minute walk from where the train let me off, and it all seemed very surreal to me. I was on my way to a former Nazi concentration camp that is settled smack in the middle of an everyday town/neighborhood. I couldn't help but think what it must feel like for some of the people living there. Haunted to say the least. I bought a small ice cream cone for 1 Euro and continued on my journey until I finally spotted the high outer walls of what could only be what I was looking for, the camp at Sachsenhausen. After the train ride from Berlin center, and the short walk, I didn't arrive to the main entrance until a little before 3pm (and Sachsenhausen closes daily at 6, and I knew I would need at least 3 hours to really explore, so I was going to be cutting it close). I went to the front information desk and asked for a audio tour in English, based on the tips I had read on the internet. I paid the 3 Euro for the device and had to give them my drivers license as collateral. I then walked over to the donation box I saw and threw in 5 Euro (Sachsenhausen does not charge entrance, and as a lover of history, I always try to donate to sites/museums' upkeep when I can) I then was handed my headset and a site map and headed out once again into the gorgeous sunshine.

Outside of the main entrance building lay a huge metal map of what the camp looked like from between in 1944/45. I listened to the audio tour point out some key places on the map that allowed me to better get a sense of direction while I was there. I then left and headed down "Camp Street" which is the same way former prisoners were brought to the gates of the camp. Along this walk were signs posted with pictures and quotes from former prisoners of life in the camp. All were incredibly moving, with the one that touched me the most being: "Das kann Man gar nicht begreifen, dass Man plötzlich frie ist." -Zvi Steinitz (which means: It is impossible to grasp that you are suddenly free". Walking down Camp Street, I passed a row of large buildings. Listening to my audio tour, I was informed that they were the former work factories that many of the prisoners at Sachsenhausen were forced to work at to produce a wide variety of things to help with the war effort. As approached the entrance to the command headquaters and the prisoners camp I saw behind me what was left of a large green building. Again, listening to my audio tour, I found out that the prisoners referred to this structure as "The Green Monster" and it was the SS Troop Camp, just on the outside of the camp. I was now through the first entrance to the camp and found myself in a large atrium. There is now a new museum in this area, along with signs posted of where the former command house and headquarters used to be located. I now walked across the cobble stone flooring toward the main prisoner entrance at "Tower A". It was a very eerie experience walking toward the large intimidating structure with its clock tower at the top and the large iron gates that were marked with the infamous camp motto of "Arbeit Macht Frei" ('work makes you free'). After slowly entering and trying to even remotely take in what it means to pass through these kinds of gates, I was standing in a semi-circle of what was once the "roll call area". It was here where the prisoners were called to line up 2-3 times a day. From this spot I could see almost the entire camp, because almost all of the buildings have since been removed except for a few. The camp itself was originally designed in a triangle formation, until that proved to not be able to contain the growing number of prisoners, and then extra "small camps" were added on. Looking out from the Roll Call Area, like a fan, were 4 rows of where the barracks--where the prisons were housed--were land out. These 4 rows, plus the addition of the "small camp" later, gave Sachsenhausen a grand total of 68 barracks in all. Walking away from the main prisoners gate and further into the camp, I came to the back of the roll call area where the site of the former gallows is located. It was here that prisoners were hanged/executed in front of the other prisoners to act as a deterrent for other offenses/escape attempts. The SS would put up a Christmas Tree in the same spot during December. Running along the back of the roll call area is also remnants of what was the "shoe-testing track". The track was laid with a number of different surfaces in 1940, and prisoners that were being punished were sent to "test-out" the materials that would be used to make army boots, often for hours on end. From here I walked toward the middle of the camp where 2 buildings were still standing. One was the old prisoners' laundry room (which was used in extremely rare occasions to wash the clothes of the prisoners) and the other, directly adjacent from it was the prisoners' kitchen. It was here where prisoners would peel the rotten potatoes that would later become their small ration of "soup" (basically a part of potato in boiled water). This was a special building, and it had been turned into a small museum of sorts where I was able to browse through the countless items that were found or given to the Camp, and also gave an outline of the happenings of Sachsenhausen. After spending about 45 minutes in the old kitchen, I walked back into the beautiful June sun and headed toward the very back point of the camp where a large obelisk was a erected as a memorial. On it at the top were the same triangle patterns that the prisoners had to wear. However, they are not all accounted for, because the Soviets, who are the ones that created the memorial, didn't believe in homosexuals, and therefore, did not honor them. Also, at the base of the memorial is a sculpture of a Soviet soldier helping two prisoners in a depiction of the Soviet liberation of the camp on April 22nd, 1945. (Let it be noted though, that in this sculpture, the two prisoners that are being helped by the Soviet, look to be normal, healthy human beings because the Soviets felt that to make the sculpture look like they really had when they arrived was "unappealing"... which of course, is ridiculous.)
**more update soon!

ANSWER to the Pop Quiz: Indiana Jones to his father, Dr. Jones, in Indiana Jone and the Last Crusade! DUH!

Unglaublich Spiel! & BERLIN: Heir kommt MegLett!

Hallo aus der Deutsche Bahn! I am currently sitting on the Inner-City Express train headed for the capital of Germany; Berlin! I'm so excited, you all have no idea. My inner history nerd is already out in full force (well, then again, when is it not?) But.. before I get to more of my plans for Berlin, I need to talk about the games of the World Cup played yesterday.

So, yesterday beginning at around 4pm German time, the final games for Group C were scheduled. At the time being, the group standings were as follows; Slovenia was first with 4 points, then England and the US tied for 2nd, both with 2 points each, and Algeria bringin' up the caboose with a big fat 0. Well, as you know (or for the many Americans reading this, maybe you don't..) only the first 2 teams make it out of each group to advance to the next round. After doing the math (uuhh 2+2=3? I haven't had a math class since Lincoln was president...), I knew that if England won their game against Slovenia, the US would HAVE to win against Algeria. And if Slovenia beat the Brits, then my Yankees would only need a tie. Kai came home early from work with Johanna, and Lisa stopped working so that all of us (and Cutie Bear changed into his special WM shirt) could sit around and watch the games. Unfortunately for me, the channel here decided that no one would want to watch the US vs. Algeria game, so the one televised was the English/Slovenian game. BTW, let it be said that the English seem to be completely undeserving of their hype. Seriously, the only kinda good part about watching the Brits play in this world cup, is that you occasionally get a quick glance at the ridiculously good-looking David Beckham on the bench. England in the 2010 World Cup = Snoozefest. But anyway.. where were we? So by half time, the scores for both games (England/Slovenia and US/Algeria) were 0-0. They did at one point jump to the US game to show a goal that was scored by the Americans, but taken away because the ref called “off-sides”. But when watched again through replay, it was clearly not, and a perfectly good goal. But oh yeah, that’s right. FIFA doesn’t allow instant replay etc. so the call stood and the score was still 0-0 (the same thing happened to a goal made by the US in their previous Slovenia game that would have ended in a 3-2 win for the Yanks if they would have f’ing instant replay/review of calls in soccer! Grrrr…) The second half started and again, I was stuck watching the England game with no updates of my beloved Patriots. England finally scored to give them what would be the final win of 1-0 over the Slovenians, also known as the Charlie Browns (have you seen their uniforms?). As the time was winding down the score in the USA/Algeria game was still 0-0 with only about a minute left. As I sat there on the couch, I honestly started to lose all hope. With a British win, the US would have to win their game as well, or they would be on the next flight back to the States. I sat there in despair and I could tell Lisa was really starting to feel bad for me. The 90 minutes of regular play ended and the additional 2-3 minutes of extra time had begun. This was it. The Americans were going home. And then. It happened. The announcer on the TV (since again, we were still stuck watching the English game with no details about the US game other than the score) yelled out in German “We have a goal in the other game!” Lisa then grabbed my leg and we both said “no!” Of course, to help build the suspense, the announcer didn’t say which team had scored. The station switched its feed to the US/Algeria game and all we could see was a dog-pile of human bodies. It took us all watching a quick second to realize that the men celebrating were wearing white, which meant the US had pulled it off! Like a thief in the night, Landon Donovan came up from behind to easily kick a rebound into the practically open net! I can’t even tell you how unbelievable it was! I instantly began jumping around the living room yelling while Kai and Lisa just stared in utter disbelief. The Americans made the goal in the 2nd minute of ADDITIONAL time to win the game, and thus win FIRST PLACE in Group C! Incredible.. or as Emma would say: UNREAL!!!! So, the men of Stars and Stripes are movin’ on and are now scheduled to play the second place team from Group D (Ghana) this Saturday night. WHICH MEANS! I get to watch this, wrapped in my American Flag at the largest public viewing place in Germany: the city center of Berlin! Seriously, incredible! Later that night, the Germans took on Ghana, and they too HAD to win to make it out of their group. With Australia beating Slovakia (the two other teams in Group D), Germany had a little more room for error, but still needed to at least tie, or flat out win. Luckily, on the foot of my favorite player, Mesut Özil (aged 21 btw… uuhhh wtf?) the Germans were able to hold on to the win, 1-0 over my new enemies of Ghana. Unfortunately, the Germans also won first place in their group to make it to the next round. I say unfortunately, because if they would have won second, they would have been scheduled to play the US. But alas, the stars had aligned one too many times for one day. Anyone who knows me, knows I have never been that much of a soccer person. But I have gone crazy over it since living here and experiencing the World Cup as I think that it really should be experienced. I know all the players now, from numerous teams, what team they normally play for, who is winning what group, couches, etc… its almost embarrassing, really. Emily and her dad would be so proud  (Well, maybe her dad wouldn’t be too proud—I think he could still be upset over all the clients I let ‘fall through’…)

With that all being said, I am almost out of battery on my laptop, so I am going to enjoy the view of the German countryside, and read my new book. But! I have my computer with me (obviously) so I will be able to add updates of my entire stay while in Berlin! So, stay tuned! xoxox MegLett

Guten Tag Berlin and Bonjour Paris!

So, first, I am sad to report I STILL don't have internet at the house, however, I am PRAYING that we get it soon. But, I'm not here to complain about the lack of access to the World Wide Web. Instead, I wanted to fill everyone in quickly on my plans.. So today is Sunday, which means I am just FOUR days away from my trip to Berlin! I'm so excited, and if you read my post from last week you know that I already have a brief outline of some things I want to do/see while I am there. Very, very exciting! Berlin!!!!! Eeek! In other news, the other night I booked a round-trip flight to.... wait for it.... PARIS! A girl I went to high school with, Jessica, is currently living in the French captial as an Au Pair as well. Although I wouldn't say we were ever really good friends, we are both Ohio girls living in foreign countries, which automatically bonds us. We have been keeping in touch on FaceBook every now and again to see how the other is doing in their respective country, and she was nice enough to extend an invitaion for me to come visit Paris somtime. So, I decided to take her up on the amazing offer! She is actually going back to the US at the beginning of September, and for the month of August I will mostly be gone, so end of July was the only time that worked for both of us. So the plans have been made for me to fly out of Köln headed for Paris on Wednesday evening, July 21st, and I'll stay until the evening of Sunday (the 25th). So yeah, kind of incredible life right now, sometimes I really can't believe it. I felt kind of bad/guilty that I have been living here in Europe for some time now, and haven't really used the opportunity to travel to some of the cities on my long list of places I want to visit. But, hopefully this trend of me traveling keeps up. Berlin this coming long weekend, and Paris in about a month. Very excited!! ..as if that's a surprise ;)

But sadly, I don't have more time at the moment and have to go. But hopefully I'll be able to come back and update soon! Miss and love everyone back home! xoxox MegLett

So Stoked for Friday

If you didn't catch it in the title, I'm pretty excited for Friday. Both the US and Deutschland play games in the World Cup. Germany plays first against Serbia at around 1:30, followed by the US vs. Slovenia at 4 (both are German times.. Germany plays at I am guessing around 7:30 in the morning in Ohio?) But anyway, I am really excited about watching both games. Lisa said that she is planning to stop work early that day so that her, Emilian and I can go into Bonn and find a cafe or outside biergarten or something to watch them both. I'm really excited. I already have the German flag and necklace thing for it.. but I am on the hunt in the next 48 hours to find the American equivalent. I have a feeling that finding a US flag here in mainland Europe might be somewhat hard to do.. but I'm a woman on a mission!

I'm also looking forward to this weekend because on Saturday all of Lisa's family will be getting together at her mother's house to celebrate her birthday (it was yesterday). I always enjoy the times when her whole family gets together. It really reminds me of my family and neighbors when we would all get together. The Everling Clan truly is an extremely kind and fantastic family, and I feel very lucky that they continue to embrace me as one of them :) Also, speaking of Everling's and birthdays, Bertus has his 23rd birthday on Monday. Unfortunately, we weren't able to celebrate at all together, but I look forward to when I can finally give him his presents :) I love giving presents to people! I'm pretty sure I get WAY more excited about giving them than the person does about receiving them. But then again, I get excited about a lot of things. Which, if you ask me, is a much better and happier way to live life.

Another reason this weekend is exciting: I am days closer to leaving for BERLIN! I leave on Thursday morning and will be staying until Sunday. I'm (again) really excited! ^^ So far on my list of things that I FOR SURE have to do/see is:
-Das Brandenburger Tor (duh!)
-The Berlin Wall (duh!)
-Die Reichstag (Parliment Building)

..if I am able to get just outside of the city/have time, I would LOVE to go to:
-Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz (the place where the Nazi party, headed by Reinhard Heydrich, presented their plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".. we're talkin' some SERIOUS history at this place!!!!!!!)


...ahhhh okay... I'm out of time at the moment, but I will be back tomorrow to continue/finish this post! Tschuß for now! :)
-

noch kein Internet...

Ich habe noch kein Internet. Es ist so Scheiße. Es macht mir traurig dass ich nicht mit meinen Freunde und Familie reden durch Skype kann. Und, ich weiß nicht, wann ich es zurück haben werde. :( Es tut mir so leid. Aber, ich liebe euch und vermisse euch alle. Tschuß für jetzt. Ich werde zu schreiben wieder bald probiere.

die Weltmeisterschaft!!!!

So it's Saturday night, which means yesterday was the start of die 2010 Weltmeisterschaft!!!! (Which of course means the 2010 World Cup!!) ;) Yesterday, (Friday), Lisa, Kai, Johanna, Emilian and dog Quito and I all went to one of the friends of Kai and Lisa to have a cook-out and watch the first games of the World Cup (or WM as it is called here). The weather was amazing out, and I had made a special "WM" shirt for Emilian. It turned out so cute, it's a bear's face on the front that has been colored in with the colors of the German flag and under it it says "Los Gehts Deutschland" and then on the back it reads 'KRÜMEL', although I haven't added the number yet--so he wore it to the BBQ. The first game was between the host nation, Südafrika, vs. my previous neighbors to the south, Mexiko. They ended in a tie with 1:1. Next came the second and last game of the opening day; Frankreich (France) vs. Uruguay. If those of you reading didn't catch this particular game, go ahead and yawn and then hold that yawn for about 92 minutes. That would be the equivilent to watching this horribliy boring game. Nothing happened. The whole time. It--mercifully--ended at a 0 to 0 draw. After the snooze-fest that was the French and Uruguay game (I quickly remembered why perhaps Americans don't care for this game very much.. it can be painfully boring), we headed home. As soon as I came home I was hoping to read a little or do something, but I was exhausted and fell fast asleep as soon as I laid down. Which brings us to this morning. And I had told Kai and Lisa that in preperation for the BIG game of the night (USA vs. England) I had planned an 'Amerikaner Tag' (American Day)! I made cheeseburgers and pasta salad and french fries and we drank coke (until it was time to get serious, and then the always delicious Kölsch was brought out). Although I had hoped that we could win, I knew the probability of it happening were slim to none. England was the heavy favorite, not to mention a team that many say are contenders to win the whole thing, so most were saying that my beloved men in the Red, White and Blue would be slaughtered. Well, those people forgot that Captain Butterfingers plays goalie for the English. At the end of a very intense game, we were able to hold on to a 1:1 tie. Incredible. USA! USA! USA!

Tomorrow, Germany plays against Austrailia, and I am of course looking forward to it. Especially after I received a very special surprise box in the mail from Lisa. She surprised me with ordering, what I have called, my very own "Deutschland box". It has all these ridiculous things, like Germany necklaces, and a Germany hat, a huge flag to wear as a cape, black, red and gold noise makers, and my favorite; Germany glasses. It's so great. I'm pretty excited about it all. Even though I have never been much of a soccer (oops, I mean fußball) fan, the World Cup in countries outside of the US is really important, and its really exciting and fun to be caught up in it all along with everyone else. Not too mention people here are finally proudly hanging and waving the German flag! So, I look forward to tomorrow night to watch the men in Black, Red and Gold take on the tea from down under. Hopefully I'll be back to update soon, and to report back a winning score for meine Deutsche manschaft ;) Bis dann, xoxox MegLett

Grrr... and Just Say No.

Okay.. as of today it has been 3 weeks since we have had internet in the house. And we still. Don't. Have. It. As you can imagine, it is beyond annoying now, especially considering the internet is the only way I have contact to my family and friends back in the States. Of course, I am on-line for a couple hours a day sometimes by stealing the WiFi from Starbucks, but when I am on, it's usually around 1:30 in the afternoon US EST.. so of course, no one is rarely on to chat with. So yeah, that is a major dilemma I have been dealing with for the past 3 weeks, and just so you all know, I DESPERATELY look forward to the time when I'll be able to Skype with you all again! Alright, with that major frustration voiced, it's time to move on.

With no easy 'on-ramp' to the information super highway, I obviously have not been posting much lately. I apologize for that. All though I will be honest, not too much has been going on with me lately to tell about. But, alas, we're both here, so might as well fill you on the small little things that have been happening with me here in der Vaterland.

Last week Bertus had a full week off from work, so he (luckily) came up to Bonn :) I went over to hang out with him last Tuesday night and took a few things over for the two of us to eat (aka Caprese, considering I practically force Bertus to eat it with me all the time and am pretty much constantly craving it). While there I told him that I wanted to pick up a new hobby, and while I was at it, I would try to become more 'European', the whole kill two birds with one stone idea. What was this "European" hobby you ask? Smoking. Now before you start to jump to conclusions (mother!) please continue reading. So I told Bertus that I had been thinking about becoming a smoker since it seems like sooo many people still smoke here (Europeans are too cool to think of dumb little things like lung cancer so smoking is still popular and found in almost all bars/clubs. Also, skin cancer seems to not be a concern either, because once again, Europeans are too cool for sunscreen.. but I digress). Anyway, where was I? So I told Bertus that I wanted to start smoking as my new hobby. He immediately looked at me with a face like I was an idiot and said "first of all, smoking is not a "hobby" and second of all, are you fucking kidding me?" When I told him I was serious, and after giving me a look like I was being ridiculous for about 10 minutes (Bertus is--thank God--a non-smoker also), he dug around in a small drawer of his and pulled out a lone cigarette that has probably been in there for god knows how long. He then found a lighter and handed them both to me with this expression that he was thoroughly disgusted with me, but wasn't going to fight me over it. Since he had handed it to me in his room, I just lit it up without a second though. Bertus' eyes then got big and he yelled "what the fuck are you doing?!" and I replied "uh.. I'm smoking?" and he then yelled at me to go outside. So I my lone cigarette and I went to his small office room, opened the window, and I began to smoke. After just the very first puff I felt dizzy and by the third one I put it out and decided that smoking, after-all, was not for me. This wasn't the first time I have ever smoked a cigarette of course (sorry, mom), but it has been a really, really long time... not too mention, sober? So yeah. I quickly returned to Bertus' room where he was there to greet me with a look of absolute disapproval and "I told you so". So thus began and ended my short smoking career. Honestly, I don't understand why people ever start smoking. It's disgusting, your fingers smell like it, your hair, everything. Not too mention it kills you. So for all you young ones out there reading this, don't ever start smoking. It's seriously disgusting and you look like an idiot considering it's not the 80s anymore. I'm so glad I'm not a smoker, and even happier that Bertus isn't :) And even though I was thinking about smoking because it was "European", I quickly remembered some other things that are "European" that I would never be caught dead doing/wearing no matter what: mullets, fanny-packs and men wearing capri pants. (Seriously, they apparently didn't get the memo that those things make you look like a f'ing douche-tard). With that said, I'm going to face the rain and head back to the internetless house. Hope all is well with everyone back home and I will try to post again soon with something more interesting than my failed (thankfully) attempt at picking up a gross and pointless habit. :P Miss and Love you all! xoxox Megs