PICTURES!! as well as a written update.

I had every intention of writing more last week but I was having issues signing in. Maybe I wasn't but I thought I was. Anyways, I won't explain because it works now and that is all that matters...

So it takes forever and a day to upload pictures on this thing and I realized that I can just make a link to my facebook album. Perhaps I should be more private with so many pictures but I can't think of a good reason why. They aren't the type that would come back to haunt me if I ever ran for president or something. Anyways, I will shut-up and just give the links:



Change of plans (6-10-2007) I don't like the idea of having all pictures available to everyone...so if you want to see them DONT HESITATE to ask and i will email the link :)



The rest of the week was good. I spent Wednesday with Ruth and Benny and Timmy. The majority of my time there was spent baking cupcakes so it was an enjoyable time. It's a little difficult there only because it is new and I have to get to know Ruth, the house, the kids, and just how she wants things done, just as I had to do at the Schowalters. This just moves more slowly as I have only been there twice. But even this past week I notice a big difference from the week before.
I found myself in the most cheerful of moods on Friday--the weekend. And people were arriving that evening. I picked the first trainee up at 16:00 in Ingolstadt(25 min drive on the Autobahn). We waited for anther who came around 18 then had to drive home, take two vehicles and go back and get the rest who were all coming at different times. At around 19:30 we had 6 out of 8 so we drove to the Old city of Ingolstadt to grab some food and drink while we waited. We had some issues finding parking but I won't get into that. Anyways, some wanted to go home because they were tired. So mitch half home while I waited with jason for jessica and sarah jane to arrive. Sarah jane didn't get in till after midnight.
So for this weekend I hosted 8 trainees. 4 dutch, 1 swiss , and 3 german all drawn to Oktoberfest. They stayed at my place Friday and saturday night. Saturday morning we took the 9:30 train from Ingolstadt to Munich. We arrived in time to catch some of the opening day parade. We then walked to the Oktoberfest grounds.
First of all let me explain how it all works. Oktoberfest is only in Munich. It starts in September yes, and goes on till the second week in October. It like a big fair only the highlight are the tents. And beer is ONLY served in the tents. And you must be seated in one to be served. Once you are seated you have to buy at least 2 litres of beer(in those really sweet 1 litre mugs) and a meal. so around 25 EUROS. So that is the ultimate Oktoberfest goal. But...since it is the biggest volksfest/beerfest in the world its really difficult to get a place in the tent. Especially opening day...SO since we went on opening day that was a pretty unrealistic goal. But we were able to stand inside the one tent at exactly 12 and where we counted down to the mayor of Munich tapping the keg. The official start of Oktoberfest--the beer can now be served.
After we saw this special event. We decided to split our group of 9 into groups of 3 since small groups are always better for maneuvering about. Of course all 3 groups went to find beer elsewhere. I, Angie, and Jayne found ours in a nearby grocery store. We sat on the hill facing the festival ,along with many others, and watched the people go by. Then we thought it would be a good time to ride on the really high swing ride. After 4 euro, very short, but so worth it ride. We had enough of that and we decided to visit the nearby cathedral and climb it's tower.
Then we walked to the English Gardens. We didn't get very far into the park when we had to head off to the meeting point with the others. The planned event for the evening was a concert which was the main reason for having the trip to begin with. The band is called Architecture in Helsinki. I never heard of them before. But that didn't stopped me from dancing and thoroughly enjoying the concert.
The next day we took our time in the morning. I had to make to trip Ingolstadt which was a bit of a pain but whatever(I'm definatly mastering stick-shift and the no-speed-limit autobahn).
4 trainees had to leave on Sunday and the others were staying over night in Munich so I remained with them and didn't have to leave till 0:30 when the last trian for Ingolstadt left. The afternoon was spent visiting Dachau work/concentration camp, which is located between Ingolstadt and Munich. We stayed there till it closed then took the train to Munich where we searched for some food. Everyone was in the mood for a good old-fashioned american burger, so on the way Angie whipped out her handy-dandy Lonely Planet guide to Munich for an American Restaurant. There was only one-but it was a good one! We hung around there for the rest of the evening. Well acctually Jane and Angie went back to Oktoberfest to ride the ferris wheel. But we met them again at the train station where I would catch my train back.
On the way back there, in my car there were less half-passed liederhosen wearing people like the night before. But I was with a group of still very much alive drunk people drinking and singing drinking songs very loudly. It just makes me smile though...only in Germany. I sat next to a german man who I chatted a bit with in German! I don't think he was drunk but then again he did ask me 4 times how long I'd been in Germany. I like to think that it was only because he was really that impressed that my Germany was so good for only being here 6 weeks. But I made it home safe and sound around 2.
The next morning it was back to work. My host parents had a super busy weekend...selling eis at 3 different fests. That only meant one thing for me, over 100 boxes to clean. But, in all honesty, I don't mind it that much as far as jobs go.
Today I cleaned the downstairs, made lunch, cleaned the eis kitchen, and drove Hanna to her friends house. For supper there was a different sausage on the table and I thought I'd give it a try. It seemed like it should have been cooked, it was like I was eating raw ground beef. Thank God I only took a small piece. I didn't ask because I didn't want to know what it really was. Some sausage here is really good, some is like not. But theres no doubt, there is a lot of it here. After supper, Sonja and I spent a lot, or it seemed like, a lot of time studying German. It's really nice of her to spend the time with me. Sometimes I don't feel like doing it, but I am very thankful that I do.
Before I stop I will leave you with two inter-language jokes mitch pointed out this weekend--
-You can "du" someone once you are on a first name basis
-On a menu it said a "dose"(amount) of beer--so my prescribed dose of beer is....
well never mind it's kind of hard to explain written.
YA NA...Tchussssssss