Edinburgh!!

Fri, March 27- Edinburgh
Today has been crazy and amazing at the same time. I woke up at 4:25 this morning, in order to get on a train at 5, to head to Bremen, to catch a flight to Edinburgh. Needless to say, Sean did not get enough sleep. At all. Karen and I made the train, and attempted to sleep all the way to Bremen, with little success, at least, on my part. We got to Bremen, got on our ryanair flight, and took off. When we got to Edinburgh airport, there wasn’t much around. The airport is kinda in the middle of nowhere, so we took a bus into downtown. On the way, we passed out Hostel, which is right downtown, perfect! We got into the central area of Edinburgh, found the tourist office, and got some maps of the city, as well as some info packets on what’s going on. We went to the hostel, checked in, and put our rather heavy bags into our lockers, before heading back out to explore. We had a nice lunch at a place called “Standing Order,” which is a giant bar, and has great, cheap food. We then decided to climb “Arthur’s Seat” which is one of the hills right near downtown. We hiked along the ridgeline, took some amazing pictures of the scenery and ourselves, and then decided we might as well go for the summit. As we approached it, it started raining sideways. The wind had been blowing pretty hard most of the way up, but towards the very top, it was really intense, basically, I could lean into the wind, and it would keep me upright. (pictures as proof will be posted soon). We got to the top, took pics, and then headed back down. On the way down, it started to rain a bit more heavily, but nothing serious. We walked back into the city, through the Prince Gardens, which were gorgeous and green. I’m planning on going back there tomorrow after our official tour to take pictures of the flowers for Meagan. I also found her the perfect house, and took pics of that as well… At the hostel, we met a few other kids, got talking to them, and ended up going to the bar downstairs with them for happy hour. Two of them are from Dublin, one is from New Zealand somewhere. They were all pretty fun, and I had a fun time hanging out with them. Karen and I then headed out to grab some dinner: authentic fish & chips, of course… No deep-fried mars bar this time, but I will get there. The grease overload was too much as it was. Had a fun reaction to said dinner, and the roof of my mouth then peeled off. Yummy! Edinburgh is beautiful and fun, so far, and I can’t wait to explore more of it officially tomorrow!

sunny!

YAY! today it's sunny and warm outside! 50 degrees!! has spring decided to show up? nope... snow in the forecast on friday.
Yesterday was a really fun/interesting day. I couldn’t go down to Frankfurt with Julian and Martin and Rac to drop Rac off at the airport, because I had to teach two classes yesterday morning by myself. (gulp) I had to teach one of my 6th grade classes, who tend to be screaming monsters, but they actually behaved themselves! At least, comparatively… They apologized to me for being screaming demons last week, and even brought me chocolate, which was a surprise… I then went on to teach one of my favorite 11th grade classes. All the kids write and understand English perfectly, but refuse to talk out loud, in English, in class. I like them because they all have fun senses of humor, and some character, but they don’t talk, at all!! Its very difficult to teach at them when there’s no reaction. I had them working in small groups, on “the Giver,” and when they had to talk, two of the groups actually did rock/paper/scissors to see who had to stand up and say anything. Any attempt on my part to involved them in a discussion was futile, so I spent most of the 45 minutes talking at them, and watching them stare at their own desks. Not great for someone who’s losing his voice… oh well! After that, I had a 6th grade class that was a little rowdy, and a 5th that’s awesome and fun, and then I went home. Hung out at home for a bit, then went grocery shopping (it was sunny and 45ish yesterday!!) and then came home, cooked dinner REALLY fast, and then ran off to stammtisch with Karen. Stamm was fun, a new kid came for the first time. He had spent a year in Maine, and his English was really good. After that, came home, ate some more, and Karen and I watched a soccer game with Julian. When it was over, we decided it was time to FINALLY watch the end of 28 days later. I told Karen to tell me if it got too scary, and we could turn it off. An hour later, movie was over, and Karen was curled up into a ball on my couch, her entire body covered by one of my blankets muttering “we need to watch something else” and “oh my god” over and over again. So, I entertained her with some mindless spoof comedy flick, and then sent her safely home. I’m quite proud of her for getting through it, I must say..
Today, my first class, an 8, had an exam, so I don’t have to go in for it, so I got to sleep in, and my next class is at 12:20. Then, I’m free again.
OOH, question for any film geeks: I’m reading “the giver” with my 11th grade class. Do you know of any movies that I could show to them that have anything to do with it, just so I can get them maybe a little bit more interested or involved?? Karen suggested “Pleasantville” to show the color thingy… any others?? Thx!

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