asiatisch essen.

asian dinner fotos that i spoke of in the long blog. someone asked if i was german. haha, what would make me look like the german of this group?

fotos from karneval.

here are few photos from karneval:

natsuki (japan), me, tzuning (taiwan)

steveo, this is for you.

yes, even the polizei have face paint.

a band in some sort of strange costume.

ich will bei maerz fahren.

once again, this blog in insanely behind. i know that if i don't update today, it will never get done. my family comes tomorrow :), and then i know i will have much to write. so, to catch you up to speed: first let's begin with a few photos i've promised from catherine's trip (which she actually made me be in photos.

lunch at a christmas market. gluehwein to drink. on the left is fleischkaese . (there is nothing american to compare this to. sorry guys.) on the right is thuringer bratwurst. (personal favorite.)

at the castle.

it was so ridiculously cold.

schwetzingen. winter wonderland. we were skating on the frozen pond.

catherine skated a heart around me :).

hmm, what have i been up to? more of the usual. playing. thomas still plays a very important role in daily life. max and tom are funnier everyday. i can no longer give you the daily play-by-play because it has been far too long since i haven written here. i have a variety of stories for you though. max is making up all kinds of songs lately. they seem to have a general starting point of two or three of his favorite songs (twinkle twinkle little star and 2 german songs) and then progress from there. yesterday afternoon in the car, my mum made her way into the song. max and tom know my family is coming to visit, and as he was singing he said, "die mutter von die alison" (the mother from alison). then he continued singing about his mother is named sabine, a few other people, and a little about the hospital. he also sometimes sings about driving to visit omie (grandmother). apparently yesterday on the way to kindergarten, max is singing and tom is telling him, "ruhe max, ruhe. wir gehen zum kindergarten" (quiet max quiet, we are going to kindergarten). hahaha. i told max we had to change his diaper. he had a pizzle bombe (something nils made up - a pee bomb - when it is so full). tom climbs down sniffs and says, "das stinkt max, du reichst" (this smells max, you stink). something along those lines. ha. do you think he has listened to sabine and i one too many times? the weather has been a bit nicer lately (i think that disappears tomorrow or so), so we have made it to the playground a few times lately. they are also getting really fast on their bicycles. they are called like-a-bike, and i think they seem like a better idea than tricycles. they are little bikes with no pedals....you use your feet. however, i think this forces kids to learn the balance right away. one of the favorite games is still to pretend we are sleeping, then tom yells "wake up" (he is saying it in english now), and then we run to the hallway to catch the train. tom and max had two 5 year old girls over to play on monday. we are working on them cleaning up after themselves. this is always an uphill battle with max. they are still to busy playing to eat. potty-training hasn't happened yet, but tom seems like he is almost ready. max really could care less. while being fiercely independent will most likely be very good for him later in life, i think everyone else in this household would appreciate if he wants to copy tom and want to peepee on the potty. nils went to south africa for his father's 75th birthday this past weekend. tom knew that nils was driving to the airport for opa's birthday. well, he is a pretty smart little guy and decided he wanted to drive to his birthday in march. (not to mention, he has wished for a thomas the train for his birthday.) try explaining this to a 3-year old. you cannot drive to a place in time. it is nearly impossible. i think he cried for 10 minutes in the car one night and kept saying over and over, "ich will bei maerz fahren." (i want to drive to march.) then he did it again a day or two ago. i tried to make a little car for the calendar that he can drive one spot each day. yeah, didn't work. it is actually funny how determined and adament he is about driving to march, but i'm afraid i can't help him out there. this weekend max came down to visit my room on saturday evening and sunday evening. we just kind of hung out and he asked me questions. like, why do i have two tvs? (one is the microwave. haha.) we looked at photos. on sunday, we were sitting at my table and he was drinking some apple juice. he made this face like something was awful. i said, what, do you not like this music? he says no. i tell him i like this song. he says, "ich nicht das song." (i don't like this song.) you need to see the faces that went along with this conversation. they are classic. they also love driving their bobby cars into each either. ein umfall (accident). on friday night, some of my asian friends cooked dinner. let's not even talk about how i was confused about where i was going, and rode my bike for almost 1 hour to get there. i was too impatient to wait for the bus for 20 mins, so i road my bike to the strassenbahn (tram) stop. i was going to have to wait another 20 mins. so i thought, okay, i've been here once, and i'm decently good with directions, i will take my bike. the name of the strassenbahn stop to which i was supposed to ride was slightly similar with another stop to which i had been. okay, well i don't realize these are two different places until immake it to the incorrect stop. then i see it and think oh no, this is not it. okay, well i will just ride there anyway. i ride. ride. ride. pass one us military base. pass a second us military base (i considered stopping and demanding assistance). it begins to lightly rain. i stop and look at the map in one of the strassenbahn stops. okay, only 4 more stops to go. i see parts of heidelberg i have never really noticed. then as i am about to give up, i finally found it. it felt like it took 3 hours. i think it was more like 50 mins. but hey, the food was really really good. i also brought my bike home on the strassenbahn. on saturday morning, i rowed. saturday night we had a tapas night at one of the girl's apartments (i made it here successfully thank you). this was also really good. then sunday, i rowed three times.

i managed to purchase a present the other day speaking only german. i was pretty proud of myself. however, the next day i bought something speaking english. i think when there are a line of poeple waiting, it is faster for everyone if i just speak english. however, when i bought the present, the store was fairly empty, and i was able to practice. success feels good. i also took something to the neighbor's house this week. their 14 year old son answered the door, jan (sounds like yan...more or less the equivalent of john, i think), and i spoke with him in german. :) he was surprised. normally i speak with him in english. i picked him as my favorite on the street a long time ago. he is just a nice kid. it is kind of fun to surprise people with german every once and a while. however, that tends to lead to more german, which tends to lead to a skill level that is too high for me.

i still don't yet know about grad school plans. i'll fill you in when i know. however, i have decided 6 august will likely be the most exciting and saddening day of 2008. i like hearing german all around me and meine alison, but i also miss all of you at home.

tomorrow morning, my family comes! i'm so excited. they will meet the herzbergs for a bit, and then nils, sabine, and the boys are off for a family vacation. this means i also have time to travel a bit. with the family i will go to salzburg, austria (sound of music tour here we come), and munich. once they leave, i will go to amsterdam to watch a regatta (i'm not actually rowing though). then after that, i am going to hamburg and luebeck in the north of germany. i'm excited. it is time to see some things.

okay. this was excessively long. that is my life.

sechs Monaten.

six months. that is what the title says. (just in case you couldn't guess.) in some ways, it is difficult to believe that i have already lived here so long. but today is the day. 15 february. here are the latest things in life: for all of you americans...i will be back in the states on 6th of august. and then? yeah, good question. i believe i will once again be a student. so far, vcu (richmond, va) and university of minnesota (minneapolis) have said they are willing to let me attend their schools. i'm waiting on portland and chicago. and waiting to hear from all of them about how many millions they are willing to give me in order to perseude me their school is the best. the weather here was really nice for 5 or so days in a row. i was pretty sure it was a mean tease...and today proved me right. it was total foggy the entire day. in the meantime though, we managed to make it to the playground a few times. it was so nice to play outside for a bit. on wednesday we were on our way to the playground but instead looked around a construction site (baustelle). i was also pretty excited about that. the father of max and tom's best friend, moritz, does real estate something and they are remodeling three buildings in town. they had an absolutely enormous crane and we just missed it lifting a small building over the house. however, max and tom and moritz all got to drive the digger/excavator machine. i'm afraid i don't know its technical team. also, my german terminology for these things is getting better than my english. today i met with ana for our german/english tandem. we ate sushi. and i luckily haven't forgotten everything i know. however, i haven't done a good job learning alone. also, i am still the same nerd as always...i got a library card yesterday from the Deutsch -Amerikanisches Institut. i decided this is a better option than shopping on amazon for a bunch of books i already know i don't have room to take back. in the afternoon we went swimming with the boys. now i'm off to go swim some laps this morning and get a bit of exercise. i'm rowing on both saturday and sunday morning, but otherwise. i haven't made a lot of weekend plans. i'm trying to plan some trips for the near future. oh. and two weeks from today...my family arrives in germany. i'm excited to see them.

ritter st. martin.

i'm doing a good job this week with the blog. i just thought about how much i will regret it if i don't have this to look back at. on thursday there was no kindergarten. so, we took a trip to the castle (schloss). we rode the bus (the boys love it) to the old bridge and then we walked a bit. they did a very good job. granted, when i refused to carry them (they are weighing 30+ lbs now, i think), they didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. i will tell you, this is not the best way to win over 3 year olds. sabine had the idea to take the bergbahn, this is a sort of tram up the side of the mountain (funicular in spain...i have no idea how it is called in the states), to the castle. it was roughly a minute and thirty second ride, but a bit easier than hiking up the hill with max and tom. and much more exciting to drive through a tunnel. we looked around the castle, saw the giant wine barrel (not impressive for 3 year olds), saw the tower, but we could not find the ritter st. martin anywhere. ritter means knight, and st. martin is a historical character they talked about in kindergarten. he is related to another holiday where children carry lanterns (i believe it was in october). max and tom love him and continue to talk about him. they thought it was quite unfortunate that he wasn't home. they even decided next time we should call first and set up an appointment. :) i estimate that he lived in the 15 or 16 hundreds. but hey, you don't have a good concept of time when you are three years old. we were able to see a few knights made from stone though. in the afternoon we went to see a giant digger/excavator thing. i know the german names for these practically better than the english names. it is tearing down an old apartment building near our house. it is on the side of a hill. and i will say, it is pretty awesome to watch. yesterday, i had the entire day free...and was sick. go figure. luckily, today i seem to be better. i rowed this morning and the weather was gorgeous. and surprisingly warm. one pair of pants and two long sleeve shirts were shockingly too warm. there were so many people out this afternoon enjoying the sunny weather. i'm excited for summer time. i rowed today in a 4. one of the girls from the national team sat behind me. my first thought was something along the lines of: this is going to be a terrible two hours. yes, i know. positive thinking. but she was absolutely terrifying the first 30 times i met her. however, as it turns out, she is actually really nice, and the row this morning was one of the better i've had lately. but i guess rowing with national team rowers will do that. it was also nice that she could help correct the mistakes i was making. the first half of the row she said a lot in english (i was shocked considering she had told the other american girl and i before that since we were in germany, we should speak german) but then it transitioned back to german. i imagine the english was for my benefit, but i can happily say that i am understanding most of the basic german rowing terms. i probably couldn't repeat them all back to you, but i understand usually when they are telling me. my family comes in less than 3 weeks. next week will be my six month germany mark. and unfortunately, one of my favorite friends has to go back to spain in a few weeks. but such is life. ok, i have to go, one of my other spanish friends is apparently in town. :)

karneval. kinda.

hallo hallo. since i have been skimping on giving you any real details about my life (and also don't feel like emailing lately), here are the last two days. they have been quite good ones. yesterday in the morning...i'm not so sure. but i met my friend marije (you pronounce that mariah) for lunch. she is from the netherlands and must return there wednesday. here study abroad is finished. hopefully hopefully in march i will be able to go to amsterdam and watch the girls team row and also see her. that is how i know her. from rowing. we just ate lunch in the MENSA, which is the student cafeteria. it was a little strange for me though. the place is so so big with so many students, but that is just not the life i live in heidelberg. there are so many people here in my age range, but i have very little everyday life interaction with them. after this i came home, most likely killed 30 mins or so of my life on the internet. then max and tom awoke, and we went to the pool. our friend moritz also came with us and his mum isabel. moritz is a pretty good little athlete and was kicking his feet and lying on his back. one problem: he only moved one arm and therefore swam in circles. haha. then they came back to our house to play. his dad joined us, and we all ate dinner. this morning i exercised. about time. then i grabbed some lunch and met my friends from german class: ricardo, his wife julie, tzuning, natsuki, and a few other girls i sort of know. we went to a parade for karneval. i hear it is a bit like mardi gras. however, as i've never been to mardi gras and heidelberg karneval is rumored to be a sad version of the real thing, i can't really tell you if this statement is true. people get all dressed up in strange costumes, and it seems to be more or less a good excuse to have a few drinks. some people have more than a few. it isn't such a big deal in heidelberg...but i hear that in cologne and dusseldorf, it is more or less a giant 5 day party. i wasn't able to make it there. the parade has a lot of bands. marching bands. it really just made me think of american football. and naturally there were people throwing out candy and such. which, by the way, i am eating right now, and it is terrible. i didn't take my camera because it was raining, but i can happily say that all of my wonderful asian friends lived up to their stereotype and showed up with their cameras. so i will get you photos as soon as possible. (and hmm hmm catherine and c2...i'm still waiting for ones from you.) this afternoon we went to moritz's house to play. somehow, shockingly, everything went smoothly. no screaming, fighting, hitting, biting (we did have one biting incident yesterday). then we decided to stay there for dinner. they ordered thai food. good call on that, i thought it was delicious. everything was great until we got into the car to drive home...and then two very cute overly tired little guys screamed for the 10 minutes on the way home. where we shortly discovered we are missing one thomas the train, and the drama thus carried on. oh the hardships of being two, almost three, years old. happy super tuesday. go vote. love, me.

it's been a while.

it's been a while since i've written anything here. i've taken the lazy route of just throwing up a few nice photos. so here is my life (most likely in a scatterbrained order): today i am being useless. and i fully mean that. the plan was to go to Cologne to see Karneval with a few friends from my german class. however, considering the weather was predicated to be around freezing with rain all day, we decided that the trip would probably be more miserable than anything. as i had already told the rowing girl that i couldn't make it today, i decided to be even more useless than usual. and no, at least here, it doesn't appear to be raining. well, at least i will accomplish the blog today. i also plan to study german for a bit...i've not being doing so well with that. i delivered a package to the neighbors house a few days ago...i attempted in german. their son, he is 18 or so, said, "you can also speak in english." i certainly said okay, good that is better. a few minutes later his father begin to speak to me in german, and the son promptly told him in german, you have to speak english. give me a little credit. i'm not a total moron. i know some things. i just wasn't raised in a country that places such a strong emphasis on being proficient in a second language. i'm doing the best i can. on teh upside, i got new boots the other day for 30euro. which was pretty amazing. i'm still waiting for info from grad schools. i don't think i really get responses until march or so. for a large variety of reasons though, i think i'm leaning towards vcu in virginia. but who knows, that could change. max and tom are still super cute and super stubborn. you can tell they are learning more and more everyday. sometimes they speak to me with english words in the middle of the sentence, but they mostly still speak to me in german. they, without a doubt, understand everything i say to them though. life still revolves around thomas the train. and any other train for that matter. thomas is regularly crying when it is time to eat or sleep and saying, "ich habe keine zeit." i have no time. i think i've told you about this, but i can't remember. yesterday he slept for about 5 mins in kindergarten, so he wouldn't take his nap in the afternoon. by 7pm though, it was getting a bit rough. so naturally, we turned on polar express. what the heck? the sun is out. we could have gone on our trip today. maybe i'll go running later, but i just ate lunch. i'm pretty good at thinking of excuses not to exercise, i haven't changed. my family comes in less than 4 weeks, and i'm getting pretty excited about that. when they are here, we are going to salzburg, austria and munich. you know, get some culture, eat some bratwurst and sauerkraut, take the sound of music tour. haha. another friend of mine, she was my roommate in spain, is also coming at the end of march. not necessarily to see me, but i will see her while she is here. and probably play tour guide for at least the heidelberg portion of her visit. yesterday, i met some people from my class for lunch. that was nice. one of the girls is beginning university in mannheim...maybe i should have taken a few more months of class. maybe i would be good now. okay, i'm off to exercise (maybe) and study some german (maybe).