If these boots could talk, what a story they would tell

Well here they are. My old boots. They're worn and tattered-yet they are well educated world travelers. When they sat in the shop window 3 months ago, little did they know what kind of life they would lead. I know they are only a pair of cheap boots, but I've grown accustomed to the little darlings. They've been with me through exciting times, home sickness, great memories with friends and they've taken me everywhere I've wanted to go. I'm sad to say, Czech Republic was their last journey. There are holes in the bottom, the "pleather " is tearing away from the back and yes, I know the front does look like a mouth haha. They've walked the streets of the red light district, they've strolled along the cobblestone in Belgium, sprinted to the train in Cologne and Munich. The most dramatic of the memories were that of Prague. Us and all of our friends rented "boatcycles" or paddleboats as we Newfies call them. No life jacket, no problem. So we set sale! the big body of water was full of little yellow boatcycles, and us, paddling to our hearts content. Until we heard 2 ships coming sounding their horns. So, I started waving! How friendly these Czech people were. 2 seconds later it hit me. We're in their path, and boy were they clipping along. So Ronnie and I panicked (ok me more so) and got our legs moving to get out of the path of these oncoming ships. SCARY SCARY! So I know you know how it ends, we got away safe and sound, but it really was terrifying-yet exhilerating. I think my boots are to thank. A pair of flip flops would have flopped off the paddles, and a pair of heels would have cracked....not my boots, no siree, they saved us that day...and why not let them go out with a bang. So you still think, 8 euros/$12.67 CAD is too cheap to pay for a pair of boots? All I can say is the memories with them have been "priceless".

On The Streets Of Europe

In Newfoundland, a Porsche, Mercedes Benz or BMW is certainly worth a second glance. Some even a third or fourth. Here in Germany, if that were the case, you'd end up with a sore neck. Every other car here is a Mercedes or Beemer, and though they're still quite nice, I hardly ever notice them anymore. I still have a thing for Porsches, but even they seem a little more commonplace lately. The following list contains cars that I've seen (once) since being here, and they still certainly manage to get a second glance... along with a jaw drop and an awestruck gaze (alright, I'm not too sure if the models are the exact ones for some, but you'll get the picture):

• Maserati GranTurismo Coupe
  
  


• Ferrari F430 (count: 2)
  
  


• Porsche Carrera GT
  
  


• Audi R8
  
  


• Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
  
  

Ich bin der Polizei

At least that's what the guy told me. Now, in general, I tend to be a skeptical person. Or, at least I try to be. However, at this particular time, I was a little more vulnerable to being a little naive. You see, the night didn't start off with a guy telling me he was a police officer. It started off with a search for a small carton of chocolate milk.

To make a long story short, the search for chocolate milk was unsuccessful after looking into two stores. However, in the second store, I managed to set off the alarm on the way in and on the way out. Both times, I went to a store clerk and I think they told me that it was ok. As I beeped on the way out, they seemed a little sketched out and really just wanted me to leave. I think that may have had to do with my big laptop bag on my back. Anyway, I just walked out, and well, beeped again of course. This time I just kept going.

And this is where the fun began. I headed towards the tram stop and some guy stopped me. This isn't unusual since people stop me all the time asking for a light or the time of day. So, I stopped and told him I couldn't speak German very well. I think that may have been my first mistake. He the proceeded to ask if I had a "Handy" which is a cellphone over here. I didn't have one, and I honestly told him so. Mistake number two. Of course, I probably would have said I didn't have one, even if I did. It was at this point the guy said to me, or so I translated it, "I am the police, you have to come with me." I didn't mention this before, but the guy was no more than 18 and I definitely had 20 lbs on him, so normally I would have said no and walked away. But after the alarm incident at the store just minutes before, I thought it might actually be possible. I'm not dumb though and asked for some ID. He produced what appeared to me to be a travel visa of sorts. Maybe that's what German police badges look like, I don't know.

So, I walked with him for a minute asking him in broken German where his police car was and if there were any other officers around that actually looked like officers. He just kept babbling on about something I didn't understand. Then he stopped and said "Come down here." It was a frigging dark alley. Like hell I was walking down a dark alley with a young punk claiming he was the police. So, I said "Nein!" and then told him that if he was really a police officer, we would go to a store and speak to a bilingual person and get them to translate. He didn't like that idea and started to accuse me of having cocaine and marijuana. Then he even said if I didn't come he would have to shoot me, as he made his fingers into a gun and even made the Pow Pow! sound. I had enough at this point, so I told him either he come with me to talk to someone or I was leaving. So, he gave up and said "Haha, I'm only joking man," patted me on the shoulder and walked away as if we were buddies now or something.

And that was that. I probably should have called the police, but I didn't have a handy, and to be honest, I didn't even know their number. I guess I could have gone somewhere and asked, but I had had enough of listening to broken English and speaking broken German. So, I just went home, bought a chocolate milk and also a beer at the store a few minutes from my house, and made it to the last football game (where I played in goal and got a shutout).

**I later heard over the news that it is becoming common for people over here to impersonate police officers in attempts to rob people, particularly tourists. Go figure.

England, Switzerland, Prague...Where oh where do we spend easter/my big 22 b-day?!

I know I know, it's not a hard decision to make. Any of these places would be amazing to see during spring break. If someone had to tell me last year I'd be spending my birthday in England, Switzerland or Prague, I would have handed them another drink lol When Ronnie first mentioned that he had 10 days off, and asked me where I would like to go, my imagination ran away with me. Where? Everywhere! At first, visions of tea tables set under a leafy canopy of chestnut trees, of hammocks, of dinner al fresco under the stars and girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes flooded my mind...england. Then I pictured us walking through buildings thousands of years old, taking in the history is Prague. Belgium, I imagined myself eating belgium chocolates...lol equally as enticing. Should be go to switzerland, and go snowboarding one day in the alps and the next day go to a beach. So many choices, but we'll make it to the other places eventually. We have been here for 2 months, only 12 weeks to go! So we better get moving. anyways, wherever we go , it'll be amazing, but I'm brushing up on my british..JUST IN CASE. Well I'm gone to get a spot of tea! Cheerio!

München or Munich

Last weekend, a few of our friends decided to take a trip to Munich, so MB and I figured we'd tag along. There are a number of ways for us to get to Munich, but we decided to go the most cost efficient route (aka: the longest). That meant we had to get up really early to catch the really early train so we'd still have a good part of the day left once we finally got to Munich 5 hours later. Of course that didn't even work out as planned. We missed one of our connecting trains, ended up spending a couple of hours in a random small town called Osterburken (I think), and didn't get to Munich until about 3 pm.

Once we made it, however, it was great. The hostel was much more than I expected. We even had a room to ourselves. Then we hit up a pizza joint, which was alright. Certainly no Pronto though. After having a bite to eat, we went to the BMW (pronounced bay-em-vay in Deutschland) museum. I couldn't wait for this and it didn't disappoint. The place was designed to be very futuristic with an interesting design that was organized by different design concepts of the vehicles. It was certainly really neat, however I found that I was much more interested in the engines than the cars themselves. But, that may be because it's only a matter of looking out the window to see a beemer here in Germany.

After that, we went to have a look out the TV tower. That was neat but the guys weren't allowed outside to get any really good pictures, so I didn't even bother going up. On the way, however, we ran across a Munich version of the Walk of Fame. There were quite a few famous molded hands that I recognized such as Metallica, Shania Twain, David Copperfield and Bryan Adams. Then, there were even more than I had never heard of, but it was still cool. MB was pretty excited that she put her hands in Shania's mold... she wasn't so excited though when her hands came out wet.

Once we had finished with all that, we headed on back to the hostel. I was ok with that because it had been a long day. Not that it was over though. Once we got back, there was a band playing in the bar downstairs. So, we went down there, had some beer and chilled out for a few hours before calling it a night.

The next day was another early rise. The guys were heading to the Dachau concentration camp. The girls weren't so interested, so they just stayed back and did their own thing (which included visiting some crazy royal residence or something). Dachau was fairly interesting. It didn't evoke any crazy emotions or anything that I thought it might since it was really just a lot of open space with some old buildings here and there. But reading some of the articles was a bit of a learning experience. I wouldn't consider it the highlight of my trip, but it was worth doing once.

The camp was a little outside the main part of the city, so once we got back we got some more food (I had my first döner) and then had a look at the old part of the city. There were some cool buildings and stuff, but I'm learning that all the 'cool' buildings kind of end up looking the same after a while... unless they're really something special. The best part about the old part of Munich for me was the guy who was rocking out Bon Jovi's Runaway on the accordian. He was definitely one of the best street performers I've ever seen.

And that was pretty much our trip. I'd love to go spend a few more days in Munich if I get a chance. Of course, I'd probably find a better way to get there because we ended up spending another hour in Osterburken on the way back. But, I guess there probably aren't too many people who can say they've spent three hours in Osterburken.

Here's a slideshow of some of our trip. I'll probably put some better pics in there later or at least on facebook when I'm not too lazy to look through all six or seven hundred of them.

To Pee or not to Pee...That is the Question

Hello Folks
I've rummaged in my purse for $0.50 change for a coffee, a parking meter and the vending machine. So here we are, roaming through Mannheim Central station buying tickets for our trip to Munich this weekend, when I have to go. I'm not talking "Oh, that's fine, I'll just wait until I get home" kind of go, I needed to go, bad. So we went in search of the bathroom facilities. Up ahead, we spotted this machine. How can I explain it. It's at the entrance of some shops, it's a metal rung and as each person pays, it lets one in at a time. Not knowing what kind of show/movie this could be I ran up to see. It was the bathroom. You had to pay to pee. I'm normally a very happy person, positive, and I rarely ever get angry (unless Ronnie is rushing me at the grocery store) hehe but this infuriated me. Imagine, you have to pee like a race horse, BUT you have to rummage in your big, hobo bag to find $0.50 change first. So there I was, doing a little "don't pee yet" dance while I got my change, I was rotted lol Bitterly I put my money in, and went through the gates to what I figured would be a paradise. Well a paradise $0.50 could buy lol No sir. Port-a-Potties. I kid you not, bright blue port-a-potties. Forcing a smile and still pee holding I braved it. what seemed like eternity later lol I went to wash my hands. I was taking my time, to get my money's worth, reading posters, waiting for the girl in front of me to let me at the sink. One would think, with $0.50/per person, we'd have a golden sink each, and chalices filled with wine to enjoy after you were finished. I turned on the water, and waited for it to warm up. Do you see where this is going?? You're right! It was only cold water! No lukewarm, no almost there, freezing cold. Thank Goodness I didn't need a service like..I don't know, an emergancy shower what the cost would be. So next time you have to pee, appreciate your fee free pee, AND be thankful that you stil have enough change afterwards to get a coffee/tea.

Rough, Tough & Dough

Since I'm going to be in Germany for five months and doing courses in German, it's obviously quite necessary for me to improve my German comprehension. Learning a new language is certainly not an easy thing, but, fortunately for German learners, once you learn how to pronounce a particular letter or group of letters, it will pretty much sound the same for every single word. For example 'ch' found in 'ich', 'mich', 'nicht' and any other word that 'ch' is found in, will always sound the same (it's a sound not found in English, but I'd put it somewhere between a 'k' sound and a 'sh' sound). A 'v' always kind of sounds kind of like an 'f' and a 'z' always sounds more like a 'tz'. Anyway, that's kind of weird to explain, but I hope you get my point.

English on the other hand, isn't so easy. I've always known this, but since it's my mother toungue, I've never really realized how difficult this can be for non-English speakers. That is until last Saturday. A bunch of us were sitting in the kitchen. Two native English speakers and a bunch of non-English speakers. At the time some of the non-English speakers were baking pies. So they were talking about what they were doing and from what I gathered, there was a load of 'duff' going into the pies. Now, I don't know much about baking pies, especially pies in foreign countries, so I didn't question what this 'duff' was going into their pies. Quite frankly, as long as it tasted good, I didn't care. So, this went on for a few minutes, until one of them asked MB what they should do with the leftover 'duff'. That's when it became evident that we had no idea what in the hell 'duff' was. I'm sure by now you've figured it out. It's funny how languages work.

(Does the word 'English' need to be capitalized all the time?)

I'm a "Yes Man"

As I was standing in line at the Thalia bookstore here in Mannheim, there was a lady a few people ahead of me who decided she wanted her book wrapped up. Now, I wasn't in a rush or anything, but I did think to myself as I was waiting there that there must be a more efficient way to get a book wrapped instead of holding up an entire line at the bookstore. I just thought that maybe it was somewhat of an inconvenience to others in the line. Of course it only took a minute or two, so it really wasn't that big of a deal, but I'm not much of a fan of waiting anymore than I have to.

Anyway, the line eventually started moving again and before too long it was my turn at the checkout. So, went up to the checkout lady and said, "Hallo", to which she respond "Hallo" along with some other words that I really could not catch. However, being the 'intelligent' person that I am (aka: not wanting to sound dumb for not speaking German) I simply assumed (and reasonably so in my opinion) that she asked if I found everything I wanted or something along those lines. Either way, I assumed it was a question to which "Ja" was an appropriate answer. Well, it turns out "Ja" wasn't the appropriate answer... unless of course I was planning on giving someone a paperback copy of The Bourne Supremacy as a birthday gift.

I lost my heart in Heidelberg...

Since the last time I wrote, lots has gone down in Germany. Castles have been seen, stairs have been climbed, wine has been drank, drunk, whatever lol If you have not seen my facebook albums, or read the Journal e-mail updates, let me fill you in. We took a trip to Heidelberg and it was more quaint and more lovely than I could have ever imagined. Old cobblestone streets, old destroyed castles and stairs, many stairs. It was like I jumped into a postcard -it was that picturesque.

So March 1 is considered the beginning of spring in these parts, and it sure felt like spring,14 degrees! One of our friends here is Russian. She told us of a tradition that is held on March 1st. Its a day to symbolize the beginning of spring and the end of winter, what a wonderful reason to celebrate! It is called Maslenitsa, "Maslo" meaning "butter". It is a holiday in Russia, and the whole day they eat..Pancakes! They can be topped with sour cream, jam, ground beef or butter. So we decided to celebrate this day as well!! Also, they make a doll, and burn it. I know, I know a little violent, but the doll symbolizes winter, and I know you'd burn it too lol So Ronnie and I set out on our journey to find, only the best ingredients for our pancake extravaganza. So we got our friends and together we made the best pancakes this side of Germany! We ate them with Strawberry jam and ice cream. mmmm so, those of you who want to take part in a different tradition, why not fry up a few flapajacks and burn an old cabbage patch kid and bring on the tulips!!

The Not-So-Newfy Kitchen Party

So, apparently kitchen parties aren't just for Newfoundlanders. Everyone loves them. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's a kitchen party in at least one of the residence's kitchens every weekend night. And, sometimes on weeknights too. Last Friday was a good one. We were planning on going out early, but then Jakko busted out the guitar and played a few tunes. He's actually quite the singer too. I strummed a little tune too... or at least I made an effort, and that's what counts. I was thinking next weekend I'd bust out a little Masterless Men or something.

the day the newfies came to town...

A young girl with pigtails once said "There's no place like home", but I bet that girl had never tasted a Bratwurst. Boy, are they tasty! Ronnie and I are into the second week living it up in Mannheim, Germany. It's such a different life here. Different traditions, different daily routines and different values. It's refreshing to see the way people live. They eat carbs like there's no tomorrow and they cheers with a glass of red wine at the beginning of each meal. It's the way life should be. To me, it is just how the movies depict it. Everyday you're surrounded by the hustle and bustle of people who have that certain "joie de vivre". One aspect I really appreciate about this place is how everyone gets around...two legs. It's amazing where your legs will take you, you konw. For the past two weeks, I've clocked more on these babies than I have in the past 6 months (and I walk everyday).
Life is lived day to day. People buy groceries as they use them, few stock up on foods unless it's on sale. Us canadians could learn a few things from these Europeans. For the most part they look younger, slimmer, and live more carefree lives. By the way, this carefree attitude is VERY contagious. lol One of the first days I was here, I woke up and opened my curtains (a bed sheet, because I don't want any peeking Toms on the 6th floor, you can never be too careful) and sat at my desk and opened my journal. It was so funny to me, as I looked out the window for inspiration, I saw a man walking with a fresh loaf of bread, and a lady with a parapluie to block the sunshine from her face. This stuff really does happen, I could't make it up lol. I have a feeling I'm going to gain more from this experience than a few european pairs of shoes!
This wasn't always my attitude. When we first got here, it was the most stressful day of my life. here's part of my journal entry :
"It's been quite the week! we just got a letter in the mail saying me must pay our rent by this friday. We have 80euros to our name. We've made a bank appointment to open a german account so we can transfer over our canadian moola, but apparantly that transaction takes two weeks....so it gets one thinking, will I be out on my suitcase again? ahah nah, I'm sure it won't be a problem, but if we get kicked out, Ronnie said we're coming home lol So I was just settling in and getting used to the place. I ran over to the house master (building 14, next door to us in building 12) to see if he could hok me up with that garbage can for my room that he promised me. When I got back to the res, I asked Ronnie if he wwanted to go for a little walk! so we got all dressed up and left. As we passed building 14, we heard these crazy loud really angry screams....in what we think was russian, or german. so we glanced over to see where it was coming from. As soon as we did, a guy looked out the window (still screaming his head off) and gave us the finger.....so we kept walking. so if that wasn't enough to freak me out, I asked our friend Paolo here what the deal was. He told me that he was probably Russian and apparantly, excuse the language the Russians on this street are "F-ed up and they're into crime and violence." I just wish I understood what the guy was yelling...or did I? Did he know me?? Didn't he know that telling that to a person like ME can send me over the edge??? lol anyways, lets just say, it was QUITE the evening, every noise I heard, I jumped, thought for sure some one was going to climb up to my 6th story window lol If you haven't discovered yet, I suffer from WPSS. It's known to be hereditary...right Mom?? It's "Worst Case Scenerio Syndrome". No matter the situation, the worst case scenerio runs through my head. lol I've been getting better though! lol and Lord knows I've been tested. "

BUT after that little episode the clouds parted and Germany started to smell a whole lot sweeter. February 14th, we had a lovely day celebrating valentines day. We both made supper and had pasta, salad and wine. We even had dessert. We spurged on $0.19 parfaits! Delish! An overall Romantic valentines day =)

So we have our european bank accounts, have made amazing friends and I've been shopping, so all is well! we're eating every bit of the culture up with a spoon. We've already had a few adventures but thats for another day's entry. We have now become part of that "joie de vivre" we were in awe of when we first arrived. We're young, and making memories. Germany's fabulous...and there's so much more to come. Stay tuned...

MB and Ron in Deutschland - The Preface

Before we get into any stories and pictures and videos about our life in Mannheim, I figure its just as well I gave some general info about how we got here and how things started off over here. It all started off with an email offering a scholarship opportunity to study and travel in Germany. It was actually specifically for Mannheim, Germany, but since I had no idea where Mannheim was I just figured Germany was cool enough and went for it. As you've probably guessed, I received the scholarship and one thing led to another, and here I am in Mannheim Germany.

Of course things really didn't start off so smoothly for us. Getting to Mannheim was no problem. We made our way through Frankfurt airport, hopped on a Frankfurt - Mannheim shuttle bus, and actually ended up here a couple hours early. It was once we got to Mannheim that we started hitting the bumps in the road. One thing that became apparent quite quickly was that all Germans don't necessarily speak English. Sure, many do, but the people who mattered most to us initially (cab drivers and the people running our residence) didn't. So, to make a long story short, it took us 45 minutes to find a cab to our residence and it took us another couple of hours to actually get in the residence. Lets just say we were cold and MB was convinced we were going to end up on the streets by the time we got inside.

Luckily, things started smoothing out again from there. We made some friends, got acquainted with German beer and wine, and bought some sheets for our bed. We'll get into all that at another point however, but for now, I'll leave you with a little Google map of our city in Germany. I've got some things labeled, so you can kind of see where some useful places are in Mannheim. I'm sure we'll be adding more to it as time passes. (You might need to zoom out or move it around a little to see everything, or even click to see the larger map.)


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