Ich hab 'ne zwiebel auf mein Kopf, ich bin ein Döner...

So, this past weekend, Karen and I ventured out to Köln for Karneval. Its one of the big cities that people go to in Germany to celebrate, kinda like N.O. for mardi gras. It was ridiculous, and a lot of fun. We met up with Eileen, and also with Mathias, who was the only German exchange student at BC last year. Mathias is from around Köln, and so he knew his way around, and where to go for the best parties. We arrived Friday evening, put on our costumes, (I wore my lederhosen, of course! My costume was a German) and went out to a couple bars to sing/dance/drink/celebrate. It ended up being a fantastic night, that lasted until after 5am. Made it back to the hotel, passed out for a few hours, got some food, and then had some sauna/pool recovery time. It was at this point, that we might’ve had our most hilarious (for me) and embarrassing (for Karen and Eileen) experience. The three of us were downstairs in the pool room, getting ready to hop in, and saw that some other guys were there, swimming, etc… being that its Europe, and they have no qualms abt nudity, several of the guys were walking around with towels on… slung over their shoulders… Karen and Eileen decided at this point that it would be better to get into the sauna, rather than face the overabundance of wurst. So, we made our way to the sauna, got comfortable, and were talking, when two guys came in, set their towels on the benches, and sat down, ohne alle. I hadn’ really thought about European sauna etiquette, but I had kinda expected the nudity. Karen and Eileen had not. They spent the next 5 minutes in the sauna making direct eye contact with me. It was very difficult for me not to crack up, but I somehow did. Eventually, we left the sauna, and got in the pool and relaxed, no problem. Later that day, went back out, to a different part of Köln, after meeting Mathias for coffee. We headed down towards the Rhein river bank, where lots of restaurants and bars are, and wandered around, barhopping, and finding food. Met up later on with Nate and Paul, other BC fulbrighters, and continued on our quest to fulfill the Karneval fantasy.
I left fairly early on Sunday, because I was meeting Charlotte and Michael back in Göttingen. The first train was delayed, the second pulled over by the police, and by that time I’d been on a train for 4 hours, and had gone a grand total of possibly 100 kilometers. Not typical German train efficiency. I ended up running to catch an ICE, and made it back to Göttingen just in time to meet them. I showed them around the city, we went out for dinner, and then to a bar to catch up and hang out. They’ll be here till weds, and so I’m hoping I can show them a good time while they’re here… we’ll see…
Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, have a great mardi gras/ashweds/thing!

-seany

ooh ooh, euro!

if you can understand it, you get where I'm at. if not, enjoy some euro techno! and, learn some German, while you're at it!

bruised

So, this week, Sean had his first bicycle accident. Well, serious bike accident. The previous ones have mostly been me laughing at Karen, as she falls off her bike, or hits a stationary object. This week has been a bit snowy and wet and cold, so the roads have been an ice slick. I was on my way to school Tuesday, after it had snowed about an inch or 2. I was in a bit of a hurry, because I was running late, APU, and so as I was riding through the tunnel on my way to school, I sped up a bit, knowing that the ground was clear of ice and snow. What I didn’t think about was the intersection at the other end of the tunnel, and that there might be ice there. Whoops. So, just as I’m getting to the end of the tunnel, a car pulls out and stops right in the bike lane. (his car covered the entire sidewalk, I really had nowhere to go.) So I slam on my brakes, (does one slam on handbrakes?!?!) only to realize that my wheels are completely stopped, and I’m still moving forward, spraying ice and slush everywhere. I tried to turn, (“get in the lane” as my father would say…) but only ended up completely sideways, going in the same direction, at a SLIGHTLY decreased speed. I slammed into the passenger side of this guy’s car probably doing between 15 and 20 MPH. I stayed upright on my bike, so it was a full-on body slam. The guy got out of his car, and apologized to me for being in the bike lane, asked me if I was ok, and if I needed to go to the hospital, or if he could give me a lift anywhere. I told him I was fine, thanks anyways, and continued on my way (after he backed his car up out of the bike lane!) My right side was a little sore for the next couple days, mostly when I was riding my bike, but I didn’t think anything of it. Until this morning, when I woke up, after sleeping on my right side, and almost couldn’t move my hip. My muscles were tight, and really sore, and I didn’t know what to make of it, so I looked in the mirror, and noticed, for the first time, that I am bruised from my ribs down to my knee. Its starting to fade now, but it must’ve been a doozy yesterday and weds. Good thing I never look in the mirror except to shave…
So yes, that is what’s been going on in my life this week, oh, except that on weds, Julian had his very last law exam ever- his oral exam for his specialty. We met him afterwards, at 2pm, with beer, and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening/night/morning drinking and celebrating with him. I ended up passing out relatively early (1am) because I had work the next morning, but woke up to find our living/dining room and kitchen COVERED in beer bottles. We all had an awesome time though, and Julian certainly had a great last hurrah before entering the real world.

Happy almost valentines day, if you’re into that sorta thing….

-seany:o)

new german word!

So, last night at Stammtisch, karen and i were sitting in the pub, hanging out with the kids, talking about random things, and Karen brought up the fact that she's afraid to go to the barber's because she's not sure how to ask for what she wants. (I share a similar fear, we will get to this!) So she asked one of our kids how to ask for a little trim off the ends, and was told how to order it. They then started talking abt me and the mane i have going on at the moment, and i expressed similar fears to karen's. Being that Germans tend to have "interesting" hairstyles, i was worried that i'd end up with a multicolored haircut with different-length chunks all over my head, or a mullet. I got several quizzical brows after that comment, and they told me i had to clarify "mullet." So, i described it to them, and the entire table cracked up. They don't have one word for it, in typical german fashion, so, instead, it is called "vorne-kurz, hinten-lang," or VOKUHILA. <--new german word. literally translated, this means: short front, long back, or: business in the front, party in the back!

so yes, new german word for the day.

enjoy!

-s

hi everyone,
sorry it's taken SO LONG to post pictures, but I'm finally getting around the picasa bugs, and posting! if you head over to the picasa acct, (link on the right) you can see some of the thousands of pictures from christmas break that we all took. hope you enjoy!


-seany