The Haircut Yet-To-Come

Hello!

After school today I went into Luebeck to get my phone fixed (I crushed it under my hip while ice skating Saturday).  That wasn't very exciting, though.  What was exciting was afterward: as I was walking to the bus station, I began to wonder if I should just go ahead and get my haircut- I had been planning on getting it cut for a while, I had some money in my pocket and some time to kill, and I was already in the city... I just didn't really want to spend the money.  I had hoped that Alena would cut my hair by the midstay camp two weeks ago, but we ran out of time, and I had to go home hairy-headed.  Anyway, as I pondered over whether or not to go zum Friseur, a girl came up to me.  She explained that she was a hair-styling student and had her final test on Friday, and wanted to get some practice in before then.  She proceeded to ask if I wanted a free haircut- I said yes- and then she gave me her name and the address of her studio, and told me to come in tomorrow.

How cool is that?  Sometimes life just works.  Hoorah!

Vermissen

Things I Miss:

-Salsa
-Toaster Oven
-Triggor
-Driving around in Sean's car doing absolutely nothing
-Tortilla chips
-My Mezz
-That velvet jacket I had
-The Salvation Army
-The Fantastic Four
-Jazz Combo/Concert Band/Band Trips
-Working
-The Mobil
-The workroom
-Driving
-The fan over our stove
-Ties
-My family & friends

Things I'll Miss Once I'm Back in the US
-Bread
-Broetchen
-The piano
-Busses
-Beer
-Karlchen (sometimes.  Sometimes he's just a pain.)
-Decken (super-blankets!)
-Gouda
-German cake
-Bigband
-My family & friends
-German windows & frische Luft!
-Bio-
-Woodburning-ovens
-German
-1- and 2- euro pieces
-Diskos

A Haiku Garden...

Caused in part by the snowflakes drifting past the window, vectors in Math dissolved into a lovely haiku dialog.  Anna Rosa accompanied me in my drifting thoughts.  Here's what our crumpled notes said:

Ein neue Eiszeit
Eisbaeren in den Strassen
Luebeck's Wetter sucks.

Luebeck is ugly
and I can't do maths
wanna go away

Ich will Gras, Voegel, 
Sonne, Meer, und weissen Strand.
Wo ist der Fruehling?

Ich weiss es auch nicht.
Es ist Maerz und es schneit noch!
Das ist so haesslich!

Suchen wir mal, ja?
Vielleicht hat er sich versteckt.
Fliegen wir suedlich!

I wish everyone sunny skies and a warm day!
Tim

Money in the Deutschland

Anonymous left a comment on my blog a bit ago- he asked:

I am interested in becoming an exchange student in Germany myself, and I've got a question you might be able to answer.

How are you handling your money? As in, are you using traveler checks, an ATM card, a debit card...?

For anyone who's interested in becoming an exchange student, this is a good question- that's why I'm answering this in a post, and not just the comments.  I'd like to apologize for waiting so long to answer this, though.  Sorry Mr. Anonymous!

In any case, I opened up an ATM account in the US, and put my mother's name on it as well.  This way, I can access my money from (pretty much) any ATM in Germany, and my mother can transfer money from my savings account into that account as necessary.  ATM's give you good enough exchange rates, and if you have a nice bank they have low or no fees.  I would recommend this option.

American credit cards won't get you far in Germany- all Germans have an EZ card.  I'm not sure what it stands for, but in any case it's a little different.  Expect to have to withdraw cash from ATMs and then pay with it- even for big purchases.

Nobody uses checks in Germany.  Don't bring them.  You'll get laughed at.

Also: Germany is really expensive.  In addition to the exchange rate, food is expensive, transportation can be expensive, traveling is definitely expensive, and clothing is very very expensive.  Plus, you begin to pick up costs that you may not have covered in the US- a good exercise is to keep track of everything you pay for in the US for a month (and everything your parents pay for you) and then multiply that by 1.5 or so.  That's probably about right.

I think.

Anyway, save up enough money beforehand that you have more than you need, not less!

le Skiurlaub

Good morning, America!  Good evening, Deutschland!

Yesterday I got back from my Midstay Camp, but that's not what I'm talking about in this post.  I'm going to ask you all to backtrack deep into the Ides of February.  

One more of the dozens of cool things about the Waldorfschule is that it has a February vacation.  Nobody in Schleswig-Holstein (my state) has a February vacation.  Waldorf just kicks ass.

Anyway, after school on Friday we drove down to Munich.  That's a loooong drive.  We started around 5:00 pm, got to Wurzeburg and picked up Sinja around 2:00, and finally ended up in Munich around 5:00 am.  I think.  At that point I was pretty out of it.

In Muenchen we hooked up with Christian, Ina, and their kids, Oskar and Olivia, and then eventually finished our drive together to Lenggries.  

We lived in this cute little cottage for the week.  It was out of the way of everything; it was literally in the middle of the woods on the base of the mountain.  You did need to drive from there to the slopes, but it wasn't more than a ten minute drive.  It was a very nice location.

The skiing was good!  There were two sides of the mountain, 34 km of pistes, and 18 lifts, including a gondola.  Plus it was a mountain in the Alps- regardless of whether it was good or bad, it is, being able to say  "I've been skiing in the Alps" is instant cred.

I spent most of the time skiing with the Sinja.  That was really fun- even after she realized I have zero ski technique, we still skiied all the little wooded trails and mogul trails and tight little passages we could find.  We found some pretty cool shortcuts between different parts of the mountain, and I think I've become a better skiier.  I still have zero technique, but that's okay.  

Sinja left on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I rented a snowboard for the day.  I didn't have enough money to take a real lesson, but I asked a few people to help me out, and (for the most part) everyone lent me ten or twenty minutes to teach me something new.  By the end of the day I could get down the bunny hill, but not too much more.  I'm glad I tried, though- I've always wondered about that.

Evening were spent in our Cottage- we were something like 20 people; Lotta brought Ruth along, Mia brought Greta, Sinja war dabei, Hannes's friend Konstantin and his whole family was there (including an Amerikanerin au pair), Christian and Ina's family was there, the Baake horde, and some friends of Ina's... it was a real party.  We played Maxchen (without drinking), doppelkopf, and did a lot of reading.  Very relaxing!

Here are some photos of stuff!

I always feel silly when I apologize for not posting more, but at the same time I feel compelled to apologize.

I got back Saturday from our Skiurlaub in Langries.  I'm not sure how much I said before, but I went skiing with my family, Sinja, Christian & Ina's Family (Ina is Anke's sister), and another family from Hitzacker.  We all stayed in this cozy little cottage in the mountains.  Langries is about an hour south of Munich; the mountains are the Alps.

I do have pictures, and I will write but not right now.  I'm trying to finish up packing- the rest of this week I'm spending in Bad Honnef, not so far from Koelln.  There's a CBYX meeting there, until Sunday.

I guess I've been particularly bad in February- only two posts, and one of them is this lame half-assed excuse for a post.  Then again, February is short, and I was/will be away for half of it.  People keep telling me that they enjoy the updates, though, so I will keep updating- don't worry! I promise that by a week from today I'll have a real post.  There- it's in text, now I can't make excuses.

Today's Anke's birthday- Happy Birthday Anke!

Have a nice week, everyone!

Schulfrei? Boah!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen!

Tomorrow we don't have school!  That's apparently a big deal here.  Actually, the whole state doesn't have school.  Schleswig-Holstein is school-free tomorrow!  And in Niedersachsen, people aren't even supposed to leave their houses.  A little snow is a big deal!

It's not really the snow, though- it's the streets.  For the last week or two, it's snowed a little every day.  I believe I said something earlier, but I'm really not impressed with snow removal in Luebeck (I can't speak for other cities).  It's just the way it is, though- people accept it with minimal grumbling.  Still, though- the streets in front of the Waldorfschool are completely unplowed- yesterday I helped push three stuck cars out of their parking places in the space of fifteen minutes.

I guess it is excusable, though- I've heard that last winter had almost no snow.  In Lynnfield, we're all set up for snow removal, so it happens relatively fast.  I guess the snowy streets doesn't really reflect anything in Luebeck- it just means that the city is undermanned for a job too big.

Last post I said I'd put up a picture of the Regal I finished in carpentry- here it is!

It's not much, but it's still cool that it's a subject in school.  I'm working on a new one now.

Here's a picture from a box I made in Kartonage, way back when.  That was also cool- we made the paper, the stalk, actually just about everything, and then assembled it all together in a good looking box.  I had a second one, a suesses kleines shaechtelchen, but I sent it away for Christmas.

Last post I talked about the Waldorfschule being built all askew- here's a few photos of that, too.  I don't have many, because I really don't think a camera is allowed in school... I'll get more one day.  In the meantime, check these out:

 

Here's a pretty typical chalkboard.  They're not all like this, but some are.  Notice also the advent wreath (this photo is a little old)- every classroom had one.  We would never put advent wreaths in school in the US.

 

A doorframe, skimping on right angles.  Notice too the doorframe in the background- it's just as abstract.

My classroom.  None of the rooms are totally square- the whole classroom is bowed outward, and the interior walls are also uneven.  Check out the windows, too- no screens!  They swing into the classroom, and when the windows are open it feels like we're learning outside- the whole wall opens up directly to outdoors.  Right now, this means that in the breaks there's always snowball fights between people in the classroom and people two stories lower, outside.  That's pretty funny to watch.

A hallway.  Also not straight.  Also note the polyhedral lights and the sponged Waldorf-colored walls.

A table in a common area.  This photo makes it look like a pretty regular hexagon, but any other angle it's pretty warped, giving the feel of a long, stretched out hexagon.

Notice that in all the photos, everything is wood.  Absolutely no plastic, minimal metal, no laminate- all natural!

Anyway, that's Waldorf.  Neat stuff, huh?

I'd like to say thanks to whoever it was that entered me into Lexiophiles' Top International Exchange and Experience Blogs contest.  Thanks!  For everyone else, if you like this blog, here's a link- just click it and vote for &etc- it's about halfway down the list.  Or, if you like, you can use your computer's search function (ctrl + f,  then type &etc) and you won't need to scroll through all the other entries..  Thanks for your support!