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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