Greetings. I haven't posted in a few weeks because not much has been going on. Topping the list of exciting news for me is that I did a "system restore" on my computer and it is now running better than it ever has before. I'm connecting to the internet at lightning speeds as well as downloading TV shows and live music without any freezes. Truly exciting for me. After losing much of my music collection after sophomore year, I never really had the energy to get most of it back. Furthermore, the shittiness of my computer prevented me from downloading effectively. But now, I am back in the game. Disco Biscuits shows are flowing like wine here in Zwonitz, and the untz-waves can be felt radiating throughout Eastern Europe.
Another piece of news I enjoyed was the Michael Phelps saga I like to refer to as
"Water-pipe-gate." What I love even more than his getting down on a phat bowl, though, is the outrage of the American public. Getting pissed at him for the drunk driving arrest is one thing, but taking bong rips? Come on. People say he is a role model; that is fucking retarded. The only thing he should be a model of is how to effectively swim through a pool at high speeds. Anyone who thinks their kids should look up to him as a person is full of shit. I read an excellent article on ESPN.com that pointed out how the public "creates" celebrities like Phelps, and then on a whim destroys them. A valid assessment. Sports are great, and I think young people can learn a lot from playing them. But to assume that athletes should be the primary role models for young people is just ridiculous. I generally think Phelps is a douche, but he actually earned some points with me here. He should ditch his shitty sponsors and start repping bong manufacturers and the marijuana lobby instead. I'm sick of celebrities acting like their responsible just because they want to keep their endorsements. Be yourselves, you douchebags.
In other news, I am now on Winter Break for two weeks. Katy and I will travel to Berlin on Thursday to spend the weekend with my colleague Colin Adams. On the following Monday we fly to Budapest and then Bratislava for a few days. Should be good times, and it will certainly be nice to get out of Zwonitz for a bit. I'm not sure exactly what we have planned for those cities, but hopefully we can balance sightseeing with raging as much as possible.
My tennis season has also begun. We are now 2-0, though I will not be playing in this weekends match because I will be out of town. I crushed my opponents in the first two matches, playing #1 singles for our team. My teammates have also been playing well, and if we continue at this rate we have a good shot at bringing home a championship. Some spectators commented on my racket throwing and screaming of obscenities, but unlike in High School, I will not be penalized for on-court behavior. This is excellent, for those of you familiar with my tennis-related anger problems. I am serving very well, in my last match I did not even hit a second serve until halfway through the match. We need to get a radar gun out there to see if I'm back to my 100+mph skills these days, though of course any gun here would tell us only kmph, which is completely useless.
What else can I talk about? LOST has been thrilling so far this season. I will refrain from discussing it because I hate it when people rack their brains trying to anticipate what's going to happen. Keep your theories to yourself and enjoy the show. I'd also like to express tentative excitement about the Sixers. Losing Brand is good news, as far as I'm concerned. From what I can gather, they are playing pretty damn well. Of course I can't watch the games...so I'm just going based on box scores and highlight reels. We'll see what happens.
That's all for now. I feel that this post may have been somewhat of a ramble, but I'm bored and I have fuckloads of music to jam out to, so I needed an activity.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
An Odd Encounter
On Saturday I had to come in to school for an open house day for prospective students. Basically, the English department hoped to woo potential students by showing off their fancy native English speaker...who of course will not be here come next year, but never mind about that. Basically I sat around eating candy and playing board games with small children for 3 hours, hung over (yuh), and was eventually permitted to go home. However, one of my teachers approached me with some most unusual news. Evidently there is an elderly unmarried couple who lives together in a nearby town. The man is an avid model airplane builder who specializes in American fighter planes. At a craft show elsewhere in Germany, he met an American military officer stationed somewhere in Germany who shares his enthusiasm for model-building. They struck up a friendship, and the American (and his wife) have been to our region to visit on a few occasions. What does this have to do with me? I have no idea. So after seeing a feature article about me in the town's weekly paper (yeah, I'm like the Paris Hilton of Zwönitz), this old couple was greatly excited to learn that an American was living in the area. They came to the school with copies of old letters exchanged between them and the Americans (dated 2006), and wondered if I would be interested in calling the Americans on the phone. Why? Again, I have no idea. In the article about me, the author made a point of mentioning how much better Christmas in this region is than Christmas in America. Here we have the traditional Christmas markets and craft displays, while in America everything is commercialized and evil. (I obviously said nothing even remotely indicating that opinion, but whatever). Due to my alleged enthusiasm for the Christmas market here, the elderly German couple hoped that my calling these Americans and telling them about the wonders of Christmas in the Erzgebirge would somehow persuade them to come next year. Apparently the Germans have invited them before, but the Americans did not take them up on it. What I don't understand is, these letters are 2-3 years old, why haven't the couples corresponded more recently? Why am I expected to convince complete strangers that they ought to come to the Christmas market in Zwönitz next year, rather than returning home to celebrate the holidays with their families? I am still bewildered, but will be giving the letters and photos back tomorrow, and will most likely not be phoning the American couple. Needless to say, this is all very unsettling.
Speaking of unsettling, what the fuck happened to the Eagles last night? In a truly Boston College-esque performance, they got torn apart on defense for the first half, made an outstanding comeback in the second half, and then decided to fuck it up again with 3 minutes remaining. Good thing that was the only football game I had a chance to watch all season. Very frustrating. Go Sixers?
Speaking of unsettling, what the fuck happened to the Eagles last night? In a truly Boston College-esque performance, they got torn apart on defense for the first half, made an outstanding comeback in the second half, and then decided to fuck it up again with 3 minutes remaining. Good thing that was the only football game I had a chance to watch all season. Very frustrating. Go Sixers?
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Christmas, Nazis
Sorry it has been so long since my last post...Mettenschicht seems like a distant, blurry, vomit-smelling memory. So, Christmas, pretty sweet. The holiday season made for some very easy lessons to teach at school. I focused on the commercialization of Christmas as well as America's multiculturalism. I also distributed an article about a Wal Mart employee who was trampled and badly wounded in a mad dash for a Tickle Me Elmo doll. Good thing he has health care. Yikes. I also told my students that in addition to Christmas and Hanukkah, we all celebrate Festivus in America, because Seinfeld was not only a popular TV show, but in fact, a critical American cultural artifact.
For Christmas, Katy and I traveled to the land of her forefathers, and the enemies of my forefathers; England. Her Great Aunt Eva lives on a cliff overlooking the English Channel in the town of Hastings. It was beautiful there, and I greatly enjoyed blasting cigs on the roof overlooking the sea. We spent the week eating various large meals and drinking with assorted segments of the family. I felt largely out of place, being that they were not, in fact, my family at all. But surprisingly, being around old people feels pretty much the same whether you're related to them or not. I was given a swiss army knife, a pair of hardcore winter gloves, and assorted travel sized axe-style body washes. All things considered, pretty useful, good smelling gifts.
On the 30th of December, we returned to Germany to ring in the New Year in Berlin. After spending the night at a nice hotel, we met my fellow German scholar Colin upon his arrival to the capital. We proceeded to kill many beers, perhaps too many, and the night was not the untz-fest I would have hoped for. Without the Disco Biscuits, New Years Eve just doesn't rage hard enough. We did stay for a few more days in Berlin and had a very fun night of untzing at an underground club with a couple of Colin's friends. Now that we have a friend living there, we will probably make frequent trips, as it is a fairly dominant city.
We've now been back in Zwönitz for a couple weeks, and things are back to normal. It snowed a great deal here, but the cold spell has broken and it is now melting and falling off of rooftops, causing me great trepidation. Last weekend at the town pub 'After Work' we met a Nazi. A real one, from Germany. He spoke remarkably good English, though with his 'Fuck America' t-shirt and rabid anti-everythingism, what he had to say wasn't all that pleasant to hear. At one point he threatened to hit me, but I was confident that he would not do so in such a public place...but he was extremely large and intimidating. He hailed Hitler repeatedly, much to the chagrin of the other bargoers. He was impressed with my knowledge of Punk Rock, though I wisely left out that I stopped listening to such music at about the age of 13. After posing drunk questions to me he would cut off my answer by shouting 'Its not your fucking problem!' He then proceeded to light a cigarette in the bar (no longer legal here) and announce, 'This is my town, I do whatever the fuck I want.' I have to hand it to him, no one tried to stop him. It also opened the door for us to begin smoking indoors. Eventually he left to return home to his young daughter (good one), and I was left fairly shocked. Germans dislike Turks and other immigrants, but to be an out and out Nazi in this country just seems absurd to me. Oh well, at least it made for an interesting evening.
Well, that's all for now. I'm back to teaching and beginning to make plans for a trip during my February break. Also, my tennis season begins in earnest in a couple weeks with matches every other weekend. I look forward to getting out there and fucking some shit up.
Oh, and...
E
A
G
L
E
S
EAGLES
For Christmas, Katy and I traveled to the land of her forefathers, and the enemies of my forefathers; England. Her Great Aunt Eva lives on a cliff overlooking the English Channel in the town of Hastings. It was beautiful there, and I greatly enjoyed blasting cigs on the roof overlooking the sea. We spent the week eating various large meals and drinking with assorted segments of the family. I felt largely out of place, being that they were not, in fact, my family at all. But surprisingly, being around old people feels pretty much the same whether you're related to them or not. I was given a swiss army knife, a pair of hardcore winter gloves, and assorted travel sized axe-style body washes. All things considered, pretty useful, good smelling gifts.
On the 30th of December, we returned to Germany to ring in the New Year in Berlin. After spending the night at a nice hotel, we met my fellow German scholar Colin upon his arrival to the capital. We proceeded to kill many beers, perhaps too many, and the night was not the untz-fest I would have hoped for. Without the Disco Biscuits, New Years Eve just doesn't rage hard enough. We did stay for a few more days in Berlin and had a very fun night of untzing at an underground club with a couple of Colin's friends. Now that we have a friend living there, we will probably make frequent trips, as it is a fairly dominant city.
We've now been back in Zwönitz for a couple weeks, and things are back to normal. It snowed a great deal here, but the cold spell has broken and it is now melting and falling off of rooftops, causing me great trepidation. Last weekend at the town pub 'After Work' we met a Nazi. A real one, from Germany. He spoke remarkably good English, though with his 'Fuck America' t-shirt and rabid anti-everythingism, what he had to say wasn't all that pleasant to hear. At one point he threatened to hit me, but I was confident that he would not do so in such a public place...but he was extremely large and intimidating. He hailed Hitler repeatedly, much to the chagrin of the other bargoers. He was impressed with my knowledge of Punk Rock, though I wisely left out that I stopped listening to such music at about the age of 13. After posing drunk questions to me he would cut off my answer by shouting 'Its not your fucking problem!' He then proceeded to light a cigarette in the bar (no longer legal here) and announce, 'This is my town, I do whatever the fuck I want.' I have to hand it to him, no one tried to stop him. It also opened the door for us to begin smoking indoors. Eventually he left to return home to his young daughter (good one), and I was left fairly shocked. Germans dislike Turks and other immigrants, but to be an out and out Nazi in this country just seems absurd to me. Oh well, at least it made for an interesting evening.
Well, that's all for now. I'm back to teaching and beginning to make plans for a trip during my February break. Also, my tennis season begins in earnest in a couple weeks with matches every other weekend. I look forward to getting out there and fucking some shit up.
Oh, and...
E
A
G
L
E
S
EAGLES
Monday, December 22, 2008
Happy Mettenschicht!
Well, unfortunately, it was not really feasible for me to make the trip back to America for Christmas, but luckily this allowed me to celebrate a new and wonderful holiday. Mettenschicht is a tradition particular to this region of Germany- Die Erzgebirge, or Ore Mountains. When this was still a mining area, the last shift in the mines before Christmas was celebrated with a big party, something like an office Christmas party, only more hardcore. As you can imagine, those miners knew how to get down. So today the last Friday before Christmas is Mettenschicht and everyone rages...traditionally. Katy and I were invited to a party at someone's house, and were picked up with our friend Nico, who I know from the tennis team.
Upon arriving, I was impressed by the wide variety of people in attendance. There were middle aged alcoholics who looked, as Katy put it, like cartoon depictions of alcoholics. There were hardcore punx with leather jackets and crazy hair, and there were some normal people. There was some accordion playing and singing-along going on, but the younger party-goers seemed just as ready to mock this outdated tomfoolery as we were. In the garage, people stood around chain smoking and crushing beers, so we set up shop there. As usual, we were a huge source of interest for these small-town folk, and we were questioned vigorously about all sorts of topics from Rage Against the Machine to feminine hair waxing issues. The young people we hang out with at these avents are very friendly and enormously entertaining. One young man boasted that his English was very good, which it was. Marcel, another fellow tennis player, conceded but added that "his penis is very small."
After a couple hours, I found some heady bros who were going to spark a "doobie." Foolishly we joined them, and this sent our level of intoxication through the roof. Nico pointed out that I might be stoned, and suggested that we leave, which we did. After vomitting for a while at home, we passed out, and spent a very hung over Saturday reliving the wonderful memories of Mettenschicht. I propose that we begin celebrating this in America, as I think the spirit accurately captures how we feel after work ends before Christmas.
Tomorrow Katy and I fly to England, where we will spend a week with her Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins there for Christmas. We will be in Brighton and Hastings, south of London on the English channel. It should be lovely. On the 30th we fly back to Germany to celebrate New Years in Berlin. An associate and fellow German scholar of mine, Colin Adams, will be joining us on the 31st to ring in the New Year in typical German fashion--tight pants, trance, and hair gel. It should be a rousing time. I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Festivus. (By the way, I taught my 8th grade class that Festivus is a real holiday that people celebrate in America). And I will write again in the New Year, or perhaps before if I get nostalgic and want to do a "2008 in Retrospect" entry. We'll see.
Tchuu tchuu (choo choo, like a train, or slang for goodbye in Germany).
Upon arriving, I was impressed by the wide variety of people in attendance. There were middle aged alcoholics who looked, as Katy put it, like cartoon depictions of alcoholics. There were hardcore punx with leather jackets and crazy hair, and there were some normal people. There was some accordion playing and singing-along going on, but the younger party-goers seemed just as ready to mock this outdated tomfoolery as we were. In the garage, people stood around chain smoking and crushing beers, so we set up shop there. As usual, we were a huge source of interest for these small-town folk, and we were questioned vigorously about all sorts of topics from Rage Against the Machine to feminine hair waxing issues. The young people we hang out with at these avents are very friendly and enormously entertaining. One young man boasted that his English was very good, which it was. Marcel, another fellow tennis player, conceded but added that "his penis is very small."
After a couple hours, I found some heady bros who were going to spark a "doobie." Foolishly we joined them, and this sent our level of intoxication through the roof. Nico pointed out that I might be stoned, and suggested that we leave, which we did. After vomitting for a while at home, we passed out, and spent a very hung over Saturday reliving the wonderful memories of Mettenschicht. I propose that we begin celebrating this in America, as I think the spirit accurately captures how we feel after work ends before Christmas.
Tomorrow Katy and I fly to England, where we will spend a week with her Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins there for Christmas. We will be in Brighton and Hastings, south of London on the English channel. It should be lovely. On the 30th we fly back to Germany to celebrate New Years in Berlin. An associate and fellow German scholar of mine, Colin Adams, will be joining us on the 31st to ring in the New Year in typical German fashion--tight pants, trance, and hair gel. It should be a rousing time. I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Festivus. (By the way, I taught my 8th grade class that Festivus is a real holiday that people celebrate in America). And I will write again in the New Year, or perhaps before if I get nostalgic and want to do a "2008 in Retrospect" entry. We'll see.
Tchuu tchuu (choo choo, like a train, or slang for goodbye in Germany).
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A Trip to Amsterdam...***heady***
Hello readers. Last weekend, Katy and I made a pilgrimage to the headiest city on the globe: Amsterdam. We got a ride from a very hip German couple for relatively little money. After an 8 hour ride through some pretty shitty weather, we had arrived. Our first stop was a coffee shop known as Abraxas. The Disco Biscuits have a song named after this place, so I felt it my duty to stop in and try out their store brand (Abraxas Delight), and delightful it was. On my last trip to Amsterdam (more like trip IN Amsterdam), we had failed to locate said coffee shop, but I won't get into the messy details of that fiasco, lest Tom Leane be reminded of the weekend he lost his wallet, and the rest of us lost our minds.
We stayed at the Flying Pig hostel, located right next to the famous Vondel Park. It was nice, but did not live up to the heady reviews it received on the Disco Biscuits messageboard, where of course I got all of my information in preparation for the trip. These reviews boasted of a smoking lounge open all night. In reality, this "lounge" was a filthy, cramped kitchen, full of weed and tobacco smoke, to the extent that even I felt nauseous. The first night we were there, Katy and I went to a club where amateur psy-trance DJs were spinning some pretty heady shit. But we were tired from our travels, and did not make too late a night of it. The next day we wandered around, taking shelter from the hail in various coffee shops and eating a delicious goat-cheese based meal at a cafe. Minimal funds and the shitty weather put a damper on any bold sightseeing activities, but it was still a pleasant day. Amsterdam is incredibly beautiful, aside from all the vice that it contains, it really is an amazing city, and I would love to live there one day.
After a nap and dinner, we took an evening stroll through the Red Light District. On my last trip to Amsterdam, we hung out here at night, which was probably a mistake. It is a sight to behold, but not really the optimal place for a fun night on the town. I decided Katy should at least see it, because it really is mind boggling to see a part of one of the world's major cities completely steeped in debauchery. Mediocre looking prostitutes beckon from shop windows, drug dealers walk freely selling their wares, and hordes of drunken European men stumble about, trying to get up enough courage to actually have sex with one of these women. After about twenty minutes in this place, we had had enough, and were ready to dance. We found a really sick club elsewhere in the city, and after a short wait were admitted. The music was really good and the vibe was awesome. Everyone was untzing out hardcore, and we were happy to join them. After a couple hours, we stumbled back home and went to bed. The next morning we had only a couple of hours before we had to meet up with the German couple for the return trip. We stocked up on some of that sticky-icky and braced ourselves for the long journey back to eastern Germany.
The following week has been pretty normal- it snowed here all weekend and the town is very pretty as a result. I can't ride my bike though, and its a pain in the ass to walk everywhere now; people don't like shoveling their sidewalks. This weekend was the beginning of the Weinachtsmarkt or Christmas Market. On Friday night we went to the bar downtown to meet a friend of mine from the tennis team. Things got a little out of hand since every time we go random Germans decide to buy us drinks. Katy threw up in the bathroom, and apparently I was pretty sloppy myself. We of course left the bar without paying our tab, and stumbled home, though I have no memory of this. While I didn't quite black out, I would say that it was a definite brown-out, only my second or third in the past three months; as compared with my well-documented habit of blacking out two or three times per week at BC (air guitar). On Saturday we stayed in bed until about three, then went downtown to see the Christmas Market. It was very nice, with dealers of sausage, beer, and crafts at every turn. This region, the Erzgebirge (ore mountains), is known for its handmade wooden crafts. Christmas is a huge deal here, and apparently tour buses full of Germans flock to this region for the Christmas season. We ate some sausage and drank some Gluhwein (a hot, spiced wine drink that is quite delicious), and then headed back home for a quiet evening in, eating cheese and watching TV on Internet.
So that about sums up the last couple of weeks. I am currently reading Richard Wright's Native Son, which is excellent so far. It is a third-person narrative about a young black man in post-depression Chicago. The tension and suspense are akin to Crime and Punishment, and the protagonist is every bit as introspective and intense as Raskolnikov. I am having trouble putting it down, and I would highly recommend it. That about does it for now, I would ask my readers to follow in the footsteps of Alex Noble by posting humorous comments on this page. We are very bored here, and miss everyone dearly.
Later, Bros.
We stayed at the Flying Pig hostel, located right next to the famous Vondel Park. It was nice, but did not live up to the heady reviews it received on the Disco Biscuits messageboard, where of course I got all of my information in preparation for the trip. These reviews boasted of a smoking lounge open all night. In reality, this "lounge" was a filthy, cramped kitchen, full of weed and tobacco smoke, to the extent that even I felt nauseous. The first night we were there, Katy and I went to a club where amateur psy-trance DJs were spinning some pretty heady shit. But we were tired from our travels, and did not make too late a night of it. The next day we wandered around, taking shelter from the hail in various coffee shops and eating a delicious goat-cheese based meal at a cafe. Minimal funds and the shitty weather put a damper on any bold sightseeing activities, but it was still a pleasant day. Amsterdam is incredibly beautiful, aside from all the vice that it contains, it really is an amazing city, and I would love to live there one day.
After a nap and dinner, we took an evening stroll through the Red Light District. On my last trip to Amsterdam, we hung out here at night, which was probably a mistake. It is a sight to behold, but not really the optimal place for a fun night on the town. I decided Katy should at least see it, because it really is mind boggling to see a part of one of the world's major cities completely steeped in debauchery. Mediocre looking prostitutes beckon from shop windows, drug dealers walk freely selling their wares, and hordes of drunken European men stumble about, trying to get up enough courage to actually have sex with one of these women. After about twenty minutes in this place, we had had enough, and were ready to dance. We found a really sick club elsewhere in the city, and after a short wait were admitted. The music was really good and the vibe was awesome. Everyone was untzing out hardcore, and we were happy to join them. After a couple hours, we stumbled back home and went to bed. The next morning we had only a couple of hours before we had to meet up with the German couple for the return trip. We stocked up on some of that sticky-icky and braced ourselves for the long journey back to eastern Germany.
The following week has been pretty normal- it snowed here all weekend and the town is very pretty as a result. I can't ride my bike though, and its a pain in the ass to walk everywhere now; people don't like shoveling their sidewalks. This weekend was the beginning of the Weinachtsmarkt or Christmas Market. On Friday night we went to the bar downtown to meet a friend of mine from the tennis team. Things got a little out of hand since every time we go random Germans decide to buy us drinks. Katy threw up in the bathroom, and apparently I was pretty sloppy myself. We of course left the bar without paying our tab, and stumbled home, though I have no memory of this. While I didn't quite black out, I would say that it was a definite brown-out, only my second or third in the past three months; as compared with my well-documented habit of blacking out two or three times per week at BC (air guitar). On Saturday we stayed in bed until about three, then went downtown to see the Christmas Market. It was very nice, with dealers of sausage, beer, and crafts at every turn. This region, the Erzgebirge (ore mountains), is known for its handmade wooden crafts. Christmas is a huge deal here, and apparently tour buses full of Germans flock to this region for the Christmas season. We ate some sausage and drank some Gluhwein (a hot, spiced wine drink that is quite delicious), and then headed back home for a quiet evening in, eating cheese and watching TV on Internet.
So that about sums up the last couple of weeks. I am currently reading Richard Wright's Native Son, which is excellent so far. It is a third-person narrative about a young black man in post-depression Chicago. The tension and suspense are akin to Crime and Punishment, and the protagonist is every bit as introspective and intense as Raskolnikov. I am having trouble putting it down, and I would highly recommend it. That about does it for now, I would ask my readers to follow in the footsteps of Alex Noble by posting humorous comments on this page. We are very bored here, and miss everyone dearly.
Later, Bros.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Apparently People Read My Blog
Yesterday several people told me that I had been slacking on my blogging. Obviously I already knew this, but I wasn't aware that people had been following my blog closely enough to realize that I was slacking. And really, a lot has been happening, so its all the more stupid that I haven't been writing.
A couple weeks ago, I had a two week fall break. The first few days I stayed home studying for the GRE subject test and waiting to get paid. This was a huge pain in the ass and so I won't go into it, but, I have been paid now, and let me tell you...I have...a minimal amount of money. After this initial few days, I went to Prague with two of my colleagues for a long weekend. I had been to Prague before, so I had already done most of the requisite sightseeing, but it is a sick city nonetheless. We partied and met some semi-cool people in an expat-heavy bar near the hostel. I met a BC grad who, after being a dick initially, was quite helpful in directing me to a bar that provided something I had been looking very hard for (yuh/air guitar).
After a pleasant few days in Prague I headed south to Austria. Czech trains kind of suck in comparison with their German counterparts, so after an unpleasant ride, I arrived in Linz. My phone decided to stop working pretty early on in the trip, so I was unable to inform my host, another colleague, one Robert DePersia. Due to his resourcefullness, he was able to anticipate my arrival and meet me at the Hauptbahnhof. Linz is a nice city, small, but still large and commercial enough to find things to do with one's time. Also, Hitler was born there, so...there's that. I went to Rob's school for a day, and am now very jealous. His students are intelligent, hard working, and willing to participate in class. My students are essentially the opposite. I suppose ultimately I'll be a better teacher for it, though I have no intention of continuing to teach English as a foreign language after this year.
We then went to Vienna for the weekend. I would have enjoyed it a lot more, had I not gotten blackout drunk at a lame Halloween party on Friday night. We went to a fin-de-sicle art museum on Saturday, which was cool, but again, my impaired state detracted from my appreciation of it. After nearly losing my phone, I managed to get myself together, and arrive at the train station in time for my arduous journey back to Zwonitz. I met some American hipsters on the train between Vienna and Prague. It was interesting because I could tell they wanted to be cooler than me, but they had never been to Europe before, whereas I have been here many times, and live here now. Indie points; me=100, those tools=1.
Back in Zwonitz, I had only 6 days to prepare for the GRE subject test. Not nearly enough time to make up for a mediocre high school education in which I gave no effort, or a college curriculum focused on insignificant authors like, say, Joyce, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov. Also, Katy's flight into town arrived the same day as my test, so I needed to transfer my hovel into a semi-legitimate place for a semi-legitimate person to live. These things done, I set out for Berlin with a hardcore German punk-rocker found via the internet. He was a chill dude, and I got to Berlin in 3 hours for a mere 15 euro. My hostel was kind of shitty, but only 11 euro. I walked in on my Chilean roommate looking at pornography. This was going to be a weird night. I rose at 6 the following morning in order to do some last minute studying and get to the testing center on time. The test itself sucked, hard. It seemed to focus on translating Old English way more than the practice tests I had taken. And, the only Old English translating I'm familiar with involves turning malt liquor into urine (air guitar). But, after the test, I headed back to Sachsen and met Katy in Leipzig. After a shitty couple hours in the Chemnitz train station (though it involved Burger King), we got back to Zwonitz. So this week we've been unpacking and reorganizing, and now we're pretty settled and bored.
Well, that about sums up the last couple weeks. Perhaps I could have sensationalized things, or shared more outrageous stories, but there actually weren't too many. I apologize for my tardiness in posting, I promise to do better in the future. My blog will also feature guest appearances from Katy from now on. So look forward to an introductory post, very soon. A one Nick Bradley has expressed concern that this will drastically reduce the broishness of this blog, but I could never hope to compete with the bro-levels radiating from a competing blog, "Brodeos and T Parties," authored by the epic one-two punch of Bleh and Stew. So turn here when you feel the urge to expand your intellectual horizons.
A couple weeks ago, I had a two week fall break. The first few days I stayed home studying for the GRE subject test and waiting to get paid. This was a huge pain in the ass and so I won't go into it, but, I have been paid now, and let me tell you...I have...a minimal amount of money. After this initial few days, I went to Prague with two of my colleagues for a long weekend. I had been to Prague before, so I had already done most of the requisite sightseeing, but it is a sick city nonetheless. We partied and met some semi-cool people in an expat-heavy bar near the hostel. I met a BC grad who, after being a dick initially, was quite helpful in directing me to a bar that provided something I had been looking very hard for (yuh/air guitar).
After a pleasant few days in Prague I headed south to Austria. Czech trains kind of suck in comparison with their German counterparts, so after an unpleasant ride, I arrived in Linz. My phone decided to stop working pretty early on in the trip, so I was unable to inform my host, another colleague, one Robert DePersia. Due to his resourcefullness, he was able to anticipate my arrival and meet me at the Hauptbahnhof. Linz is a nice city, small, but still large and commercial enough to find things to do with one's time. Also, Hitler was born there, so...there's that. I went to Rob's school for a day, and am now very jealous. His students are intelligent, hard working, and willing to participate in class. My students are essentially the opposite. I suppose ultimately I'll be a better teacher for it, though I have no intention of continuing to teach English as a foreign language after this year.
We then went to Vienna for the weekend. I would have enjoyed it a lot more, had I not gotten blackout drunk at a lame Halloween party on Friday night. We went to a fin-de-sicle art museum on Saturday, which was cool, but again, my impaired state detracted from my appreciation of it. After nearly losing my phone, I managed to get myself together, and arrive at the train station in time for my arduous journey back to Zwonitz. I met some American hipsters on the train between Vienna and Prague. It was interesting because I could tell they wanted to be cooler than me, but they had never been to Europe before, whereas I have been here many times, and live here now. Indie points; me=100, those tools=1.
Back in Zwonitz, I had only 6 days to prepare for the GRE subject test. Not nearly enough time to make up for a mediocre high school education in which I gave no effort, or a college curriculum focused on insignificant authors like, say, Joyce, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov. Also, Katy's flight into town arrived the same day as my test, so I needed to transfer my hovel into a semi-legitimate place for a semi-legitimate person to live. These things done, I set out for Berlin with a hardcore German punk-rocker found via the internet. He was a chill dude, and I got to Berlin in 3 hours for a mere 15 euro. My hostel was kind of shitty, but only 11 euro. I walked in on my Chilean roommate looking at pornography. This was going to be a weird night. I rose at 6 the following morning in order to do some last minute studying and get to the testing center on time. The test itself sucked, hard. It seemed to focus on translating Old English way more than the practice tests I had taken. And, the only Old English translating I'm familiar with involves turning malt liquor into urine (air guitar). But, after the test, I headed back to Sachsen and met Katy in Leipzig. After a shitty couple hours in the Chemnitz train station (though it involved Burger King), we got back to Zwonitz. So this week we've been unpacking and reorganizing, and now we're pretty settled and bored.
Well, that about sums up the last couple weeks. Perhaps I could have sensationalized things, or shared more outrageous stories, but there actually weren't too many. I apologize for my tardiness in posting, I promise to do better in the future. My blog will also feature guest appearances from Katy from now on. So look forward to an introductory post, very soon. A one Nick Bradley has expressed concern that this will drastically reduce the broishness of this blog, but I could never hope to compete with the bro-levels radiating from a competing blog, "Brodeos and T Parties," authored by the epic one-two punch of Bleh and Stew. So turn here when you feel the urge to expand your intellectual horizons.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
More Stuff That's in My Apartment, Why I Spend Most of My Time in a Closet
So, the teachers at my school have turned out to be quite a musical bunch. They have a band, but sadly, already have a bass player who seems to have taken a liking to me. We bonded over the 4, yes 4, trips I had to take to the Auslaenderbehoerde (foreign persons office...?), which is where I needed to get my visa. Good one German civil servants. In any event, I mentioned to him that I was thinking of buying a cheap, used guitar just to mess around with while I'm here. Don't do that, he told me, we have extra guitars at the school. Tonight I met him there, and he has outfitted me with not only an acoustic guitar, but also a bass and an amp. None are exceptionally nice instruments, but more than adequate for my purposes. The bass is a Squire Jazz Bass, essentially a cheap rip off of my own bass...which is a more expensive, but still cheaper version of the Fender Jazz Bass. So, though its not quite as nice, it plays similarly, and I haven't played in a while, so it doesn't matter a whole lot. My apartment includes a walk in closet, but its next to the kitchen, on the opposite end of the apartment from my bedroom. I find this odd, and frankly a bit inconvenient. But its fairly big, and my internet signal is strongest there, so I've decided to put my instruments here with my computer. Its small, but cozy, all I need is a more comfortable chair. I've spent the last several hours rocking out, and now my hands hurt.
Last night I went to the indoor tennis facility with a bunch of dudes from the team here. It was a good time, and there was some solid tennis played. The surface there is carpet...which is very odd. On the one hand, it plays to my advantage because the ball doesn't bounce much, and since you're indoors you can absolutely smoke the ball (more like, bowl). But, its very difficult to run quickly on and change direction suddenly. I found myself stumbling and feeling even slower than I usually do. Oh well, it was fun, and I still beat up on a couple of the guys. Afterwards they all got naked and went for a steam/shower...I had "forgotten" a towel and flip flops, so didn't participate. I suppose next time they will expect me to join them. I'm not being homophobic...I actually don't particularly like saunas...or showering with 6 dudes. So we'll see.
I am now on my fall break for the next two weeks. This is nice...except that I don't really work enough to warrant having such a long vacation...oh wait...this is Europe, what am I thinking? Don't work a lot? Who cares? You deserve a vacation. I can't argue with that. I don't have any money...which could be a problem. Fulbright is taking their sweet old time kicking down that heady stipend, so I will have to wait a few days before I begin traveling. But now I have instruments to occupy me, so I feel substantially less bored. Between the tennis and the bass playing and the not getting laid, I'm feeling like I'm back in high school. It's almost refreshing. Almost.
Katy comes in a few weeks, so I am practicing good hygiene and house-keeping skills. This is very difficult for me, and frankly I don't see it keeping up. I am becoming quite the avid chef, however. Tonight, I made burgers. And fuck, were they delicious. Tomorrow, I am thinking about doing laundry. Something is happening, and I don't know if I like it. I do find myself listening to Wilco's "When You Wake Up Feeling Old" several times a day, and I don't think its just because its an awesome song. I want to go back to BC...and I want the Sox to come back and beat Tampa Bay so that they can lose to the Phillies and I can, for once, tell everyone to suck it (in a sports related situation).
That's all for now, I suppose I've rambled a bit. But, given that I'm not working next week and probably won't be embarking on any adventures for a few days, I'd bet my bottom dollar on another blog entry reeeeaaaall soon.
Last night I went to the indoor tennis facility with a bunch of dudes from the team here. It was a good time, and there was some solid tennis played. The surface there is carpet...which is very odd. On the one hand, it plays to my advantage because the ball doesn't bounce much, and since you're indoors you can absolutely smoke the ball (more like, bowl). But, its very difficult to run quickly on and change direction suddenly. I found myself stumbling and feeling even slower than I usually do. Oh well, it was fun, and I still beat up on a couple of the guys. Afterwards they all got naked and went for a steam/shower...I had "forgotten" a towel and flip flops, so didn't participate. I suppose next time they will expect me to join them. I'm not being homophobic...I actually don't particularly like saunas...or showering with 6 dudes. So we'll see.
I am now on my fall break for the next two weeks. This is nice...except that I don't really work enough to warrant having such a long vacation...oh wait...this is Europe, what am I thinking? Don't work a lot? Who cares? You deserve a vacation. I can't argue with that. I don't have any money...which could be a problem. Fulbright is taking their sweet old time kicking down that heady stipend, so I will have to wait a few days before I begin traveling. But now I have instruments to occupy me, so I feel substantially less bored. Between the tennis and the bass playing and the not getting laid, I'm feeling like I'm back in high school. It's almost refreshing. Almost.
Katy comes in a few weeks, so I am practicing good hygiene and house-keeping skills. This is very difficult for me, and frankly I don't see it keeping up. I am becoming quite the avid chef, however. Tonight, I made burgers. And fuck, were they delicious. Tomorrow, I am thinking about doing laundry. Something is happening, and I don't know if I like it. I do find myself listening to Wilco's "When You Wake Up Feeling Old" several times a day, and I don't think its just because its an awesome song. I want to go back to BC...and I want the Sox to come back and beat Tampa Bay so that they can lose to the Phillies and I can, for once, tell everyone to suck it (in a sports related situation).
That's all for now, I suppose I've rambled a bit. But, given that I'm not working next week and probably won't be embarking on any adventures for a few days, I'd bet my bottom dollar on another blog entry reeeeaaaall soon.
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