31 Mai - Laundry day

We were still pretty sore today and the laundry has been piling up, so we stayed in and rested up while doing laundry.  So we didn't go out and do anything exciting, but I got to talk to my friends on Skype which always makes my day exciting.  I may be across an ocean, but at least today's technology keeps us in touch (even when the technology can be somewhat of a pain in the tail to operate).  

Tomorrow is another German holiday... Corpus Christi or something like that so we're headed out of this tiny town and back to Stuttgart for more fun. 

30 Mai - Capoeira

After the trail running through hills and the capoeira training last night, my legs were killing me! However, I said that we would be back today for training, so of course we had to go.  Today was open training, so we mostly practiced a few different moves and played the rest of the time.  By play, I mean we had Capoiera fights... it's like a game or a dance where we go back and forth between attack and defense with fancy acrobatic stuff thrown in.  I can't think of a better and more fun way to work out.  It's been a long time since I've done many walkovers and hand springs, but somehow a little of it has stuck with me, I just need to get my body used to it again.  

Skylar's taken martial arts for nearly five years and even though he has never much cared for the fight of it, I can definitely see the skill and technique he's gained in some of his moves, like his jumping spin kick.  It might not take someone's head off, but it sure looks cool.  He is really good at the macaquinho, which means, little monkey - go figure.   It's like a hand spring on the ground over one hand.  There is also a six month old baby that Skylar spends half the time we're there cooing over and taking pictures of. It's so cute!  

We were going to go climbing after training, but we could barely walk, so decided to save it for next time so that we weren't trying to only use our arms to get up the wall.  Next to the gym is a pizza/ pasta place that was delicious and the closest I've had to real pizza since living on Long Island.  

The Stuttgart train station has a little shopping area underneath it and we found a little health food super market.  I was too exhausted to look for much, but needed to pick up some conditioner.  This is the 2nd or 3rd time I've tried to buy hair and face products and find it even harder than usual because I can't read what it is good for (i.e volume, frizz, etc.).  I finally gave up and got one that smelled nice... hope it doesn't make my hair fall out.  I accidentally bought body wash instead of face wash, I think.

29 Mai - Arrrr!

Skylar had a party at Betreuung today and had to make his own costume and dress up.  Such a vicious little cow pirate :)

I decided to get a little brave on my run this morning and ran through the vineyards.  I took a turn here and went up a hill there (it is very hilly here) and found myself in some sort of forest with campgrounds and canoes and even singing children.  I kept on running and found trails going in ever direction of this amazing park.  I came to an overlook and was able to see the direction back towards town so that's the way I went and eventually came back on to the roads.  I'll have to make another run there to see where I was because google doesn't seem to have any idea there is a campground or a park there and neither did Diana.  

I was a little sidetracked at work again and Diana stopped by my office and told me the word for clubs: Verein, so I spent some more time searching.  There are clubs for lots of things... cigars, cars, and other random things.  Still couldn't find much of interest here in Heilbronn, but I did find a Capoeira studio in Fellbach, near Stuttgart.  I have always wanted to try it, so I emailed the people that run in and inquired about pricing and English speakers.  With a quick response in English, the woman who teaches the class emailed me back and so we decided to check it out.

Diana came back after her lectures and helped me search for some clubs or activities to get involved in.  We went to the ASTA office which I think is the student activity office and asked there a bit.  She wrote down some ideas for me to look up.  While we were in there and Diana was explaining my situation, there was a girl there who later asked me if I would like to get together sometime and hang out so she can practice her English with me.  It was both nice and a little awkward.  We exchanged emails and after the break maybe we'll get together and chat.

Right after work and school, we headed to Fellbach.  It takes about an hour by train to get there.  As usual, we got a little lost, but eventually found our way to the building where it was supposed to be.  We inquired in a movie rental store next door and he explained that the studio was around back in the alley.  OK, it was a little odd, but we went up and entered the tiny studio to find the Capoeira instructors and their new baby.  Turns out it is a brand new school barely open a month and they don't have that many students yet.  Skylar can take the adult class with me and the couple other students rather than be in the kids class, so that is good.  We chatted for a while and they showed us how to play the berimbaus and the tambourine.

Class began with some running, crab walks, grape vines, and other cardiovascular fun.  They taught us the basic moves such as the Ginga and a few other moves.  My yoga, gymnastics, dance, and previous martial art experience must have helped  a little.  The instructor, Ricky, said I was doing really well and looked like I had done it before.  Then we did some acrobatics and more moves.  It was such a great work out and so much fun all at the same time.  We played the instruments and sang and had capoeira 'fights'.  It was a blast!  I was singing and tapping the tune all the way home excited to go back tomorrow for more.

We stopped and had pizza and ice cream at this great little restaurant then headed back to the train station sore and exhausted.  We caught the midnight train again and got home around 1am, but we're getting used to it.

28 Mai - Epiphany

So, I realized over the past few days why I've been feeling more out of whack than I should be... never mind being in a foreign country and not speaking the language and all that... no... it's that my life and my days are usually jam packed with activities.  Monday: lacrosse, Tuesday: class, Wednesday: dancing, Thursday: climbing, etc.  I have never been one to sit around and watch stupid sitcoms like Dexter.  I mean, sure we bike all over, I've been running and all that, but it's my regularly scheduled activities that keep me from going out of my mind.  Did someone say OCD/ ADD?   Sure, whatever... but in addition to that, my brain craves stimuli and I have been sitting in this room with  my computer on my lap far too much lately.

So today, I put my computer to work and researched clubs, classes, and activities that would fit my interests and Skylar's.  Not only will it get us out and doing stuff, but also meeting more people.  Of course all the sites were in German and google can only translate straight text, not menus, javascripts, flash, or any other embedded languages, but I got the gist of things.  From what I can gather, Heilbronn doesn't have a whole heck of a lot, but at least the trains can take us to bigger more happening places.  

Unfortunately, I didn't get much done in the way of research for work today, but that's ok; I need time to process yesterday's information anyway.  Next week all the students and faculty are on break, so it will be pretty quiet in the office and I'll have Skylar in tow, but I'll get it done.

Went to the grocery store with Skylar for backup and stocked up on milk and stuff to get us through the weekend because I figured I wouldn't get a chance on Friday or Saturday.  Then I made a delicious asparagus and mushroom fritatta... mmm, mmm, mmm.

27 Mai - Fuzzy

What is up with the fizzy water here?  OK, fine, Germans don't drink tap water and they don't have drinking fountains, but why add CO2 to the water?  What purpose does that serve except not being able to drink as much at once?  Are they worried about hypertremia?   I shook the bottle and everything and it didn't make bubbles, but after I had already bought it and opened it, it most definitely did have bubbles.  I don't think it's terrible (although Skylar hates it) but I just want water without fuzz, is that too much to ask. 

It was kind of chilly today... the rain yesterday must have broken the heat.  The weather here is strange; it can go from 85 and beautiful to 65 and storming and then back to beautiful again.  I like the cooler weather though.  

This afternoon, I met with Diana, Daniel, and the other students that are going to the Masters class to discuss traveling details, what to expect, and presentation requirements.  They were speaking English, but I am completely confused.  I need to do a 20 minute presentation on a paper, but I am still not clear if I am to work with the students here or those that are going from MN.  They gave us the papers and then it is up to us to decide who presents which.  Then there is also a presentation of the program (that they prepare?) and one person from each program presents that... hopefully it is not me.  Then as far as I could tell, we each present on some sort of project that we have completed as part of our studies.   I'll have to dig for that one from my 'projects' that I did early on.  That's  a lot of presenting... I've only hyperventilated once and that was a while ago.  I won't be traveling with the group there since I am leaving a couple days earlier to attend the Systems Management classes, but I will return with them.  The accommodations are being set up for both classes by someone at the University (?) and they are going to let me know how to make it work with Skylar so that I don't have to get my own much-too-pricey accommodations.  Although, if I did, I would look up that place I stayed in when I was there because it wasn't that bad for the 5 days... but still way more than I want to or can spend.  The train tickets are already going to cost about 300 euro for the both of us.  It turns out Nora's boyfriend is also going to the Systems class which for some reason makes me feel better even though I only met him very briefly once.  Diana emailed and he is going to check how they plan to travel there and if there is a possibility of traveling with them.  This is all I know about the whole thing.

This afternoon I met with Wendelin about my book progress and things seem to be coming along.  There are so many aspects of the German system so unlike any other system and so different than anything I am used to.  It has also evolved a great deal in just the past few years, especially in the disease management area, so facts I find are often outdated.  I have a bit of restructuring to do and rechecking the dates on many of my findings.  Then we meet again after the holiday (next week there are no classes) with hopes of tying it all together and delivering the product by the end of the next week.  

It's funny walking around with Diana or even sitting in my office and being around people having German conversations.  For instance when someone stops by for a minute to talk to Michael and I am there or when Diana meets someone in the hall as we are walking, they look at me like they are including me in the conversations, while I stand there with this blank look on my face.  They'll make jokes and laugh and look at me, like, why didn't she get it? but there isn't really need to explain that I don't speak German, so all I can think is that they think I am some sort of moron.  Oh well.

26 Mai - Ricotta

Skylar decided he wanted to ride to school on his own today.  He seems to like this day care thing much better because there are kids closer to his age; not that 3rd graders are so young, but I guess it can make quite a difference at that age.

Michael showed me more of the wiki for cost analysis simulation modeling he's been working on.  It's actually written in Java which got me thinking... Java is in English... are there code languages in other languages... and Michael said he didn't think so.  He said, "How would an English speaker understand German code?" but how would a German speaker understand English code... just seems to me there would be a translator built within the compiler to understand other languages.  Maybe I can do some coding as part of this project.  Just looking at the code got me all excited, but I always hear my advisor's voice, "You know, you can't be a code monkey forever."

I asked Nora how you say Ricotta cheese in German and she said, "Ricotta"... go figure, but apparently it is not sold in the smaller grocery stores, but they have at the big one.  I went to this store once and thought it to be rather odd with a big produce section, a toiletry section, and then a bunch of dollar store crap.  Turns out at the back of the store there is a flat escalator that you can ride with your cart downstairs to the rest of the store.  Eureka! It's like a regular grocery store! So tonight we had delicious lasagna.

25 Mai - Stocking up

At least when there is no food in the house, I can count on the bakeries that are everywhere around here.  On the way to Skylar's school we stopped and got powder sugar covered, custard and chocolate filled horn pastries for a nice hearty breakfast.

Still working on my research in the office and I left a bit early to stop at the grocery store on the way home.  So, I may have over did it.  I waaay overfilled my bike basket that doesn't properly fit my bike and had quite the time staying balanced on the way home... only falling once.  Did I mention the itty bitty refrigerator at the flat?  Let's just say, poor Nora is not going to have anywhere to put anything.  Silly Americans and their bigger everythings... washing machines, milk containers, refrigerators... etc. 

I was going to make veggie lasagna for dinner, but as usual struggled with the huge selection of cheeses.  I ended up buying Spiecequark, which babelfish helpfully translated to food quark.  Turns out it was sour cream... sour cream would be pretty weird in lasagna.  Why are eggs not refridgerated here?  I finally caved and bought some, but I am a little apprehensive.  The grocery store continues to be my biggest struggle.

24 Mai - Day of rest

Staying out half the night didn't phase Skylar much... he was up and ready to go at 7am this morning.  I, on the other hand, was sore and drifted in and out of sleep for another 4 hours.  Hard to sleep when you share a room/ bed with a 10 year old.  

Finally I got up and put together a random fruit salad for breakfast since we were out of just about everything.  We got ready and went to the grocery store, but they were closed.  We tried another and realized almost everything was closed.  All I can think of is that it is Sunday, so I guess this little town shuts down for holy days.  Last Sunday we were in Heidelberg and I didn't notice the town being so dead, but we were at the climbing gym on the outskirts, so I'm not sure.  At least now I know not to put off grocery shopping till Sunday.  We decided to just keep riding and exploring... going down streets we hadn't been down before and checking the place out.  As usual, we ended up in town.  It was slightly more lively, but the shops were still mostly closed.  We found a place to eat and got a late lunch.  We rode around and explored a few more hours, but didn't bring our cameras.  It's kind of nice just riding with no destination to get lost getting to.  Heilbronn may be small and somewhat boring compared to the bigger cities in Germany, but it is beautiful.

23 Mai - Biking in Stuttgart

We decided to take our bikes this time and ride from place to place rather than take the stuffy buses.  So first was getting our bikes on the train... how nice of them to have a bike compartment, but no ramps up or down the stairs to get the bike to the track... and doors barely wide enough to get through without a bike.

Before we left, I copied down directions from google on how to get to the climbing gym and how to get to the movie theater that shows films in English.  The first thing I did was buy a map.  Now I know google tries hard with its walking directions, but it took us forever walking circles trying to find how to take a left on a street that ended.  Finally I just skipped a few directions and headed in the direction that I was pretty sure we were supposed to go.

 

We came to a street fair of sorts and saw a big sign that said American Days and lots of cars for sale in the market square. We meandered a bit and looked around. We walked through some old parks and climbed on the sculptures.

Then back on our bikes and we rode and rode and rode... we were so tuckered out from riding in the hot sun, that we decided to skip climbing for the day and go on the movie theater. We hadn't really gone that much out of our way anyway, so we kept on riding through the old neighborhoods. I just love the architecture in these old towns and the smart cars everywhere.

We kept on riding through the town and parks until we reached the end of our map.  I thought for sure we must've have left Stuttgart and were traveling through some other town, but we stopped at a gas station and bought a bigger map and found where we were and where we were going.  Much to our dismay it was at the top of what seemed to be a mountain.  Luckily, the bike trail led us through a really nice park with waterfalls and air pockets that felt wonderful.  

What seemed like hours later we reached the top of the hill and went in search of the theater.  We rode back and forth and back and forth because I was sure it was right there.  On the fourth time past the place, we found it and  we were 30 minutes late to the movie.  So we decide to get dinner and ride around a bit more and go to the later show.  We found an Indian restaurant and it was delicious!  I love Indian food anywhere, but this was really good.  Again they gave us these little cordials after our meal.  He said it was mango liqueur and it was actually quite tasty.  With time to spare we went in search of ice cream.  There is only one place that I know that has ice cream/ gelato like they do here and that is Tartufo in NJ.  I always thought that was the best ice cream there was, but it turns out, that is how ice cream tastes in Europe!  Delicioso!  

Finally it was time for the movie and we went to see Night In the Museum 2.  I'm no movie critic, but I thought it was ok... it was cute and funny and Skylar liked it, so that was all that mattered.  Next time, we are going to see Terminator no matter what the reviews say :)

So now that it was 22:00 and nearly dark, we hurried back to the train station, which took all of 30 minutes down the mountain and back through town while ignoring all of googles silly turns. In town was like a street party! People were everywhere and having fun... dancing and playing music. We stopped to watch some of the music, but I had to get Skylar home. It was kind of neat the way people could walk around with their beers and drinks and didn't have to stay in one bar, but it was more like all the bars partied together inside and out.

My planning however did not include catching the train home at nearly 23:00 and the trains were infrequent, so we had to wait until the 00:05 train back to Heilbronn.  At 01:00 we dragged our bikes off the train, out of the station, and all the way back home.  We collapsed immediately and decided we would sleep in tomorrow rather than try to go back to find the climbing gym.

22 Mai - Asparagus

Today, Skylar began betreuung (child care) at his school for the next week while the kids are on holiday.  They went on a field trip to a glass blowing place.  Skylar said it was "ok."  

After dropping him off, I stopped by a fresh fruit and veggie stand and bought some white asparagus to make for dinner.  My insurance was approved, so I had to get one more piece of paperwork to the international office before I could register.  Of course I couldn't find it. It was the receipt of payment of my registration fees.  I tore apart my whole room and my backpack and couldn't find it.  So I went to the bank thinking they could give me some kind of copy of the transaction.  No.  They have no copy that they can give me.  What?!  I have to wait until the other bank conforms the transfer.  So whenever that happens, I can finally be registered.  

Then, I went on to my office, which was very quiet.  Actually the whole school seemed relatively empty.  I had a little trouble focusing and decided to look for things to do over the next few weeks.  It would be fun to go to a music show of some sort.  I found a really cool 5 day concert in Sweden and it would only cost 4 euro to fly there, but you have to be 13 to go, so maybe I'll look it up again in a few more years. Maybe we'll just take a trip to Sweden for the heck of it.  Sean showed me this google translate page where you just put in the website and it does it's best to translate it: http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#.  Pretty handy little tool; gotta love google.  So I spent much of the day searching for music and dance, much of which was in Munic and Berlin.  I'm a little disheartened at the cost to go there though, sometimes around 100+ euro... I just thought places were cheaper and easier to get to around here... a little pricier than expected.  Venice is about 60 euro, which makes no sense to me.  It's a 10 hour train ride so will take a bit of planning.

I did do quite a bit of research on my actual book project and am increasingly interested in seeing how this system works.  It's got flaws, but it also has a really good foundation.  Diana stopped by and we talked about my trip to Amsterdam.  Lael (my adviser back home) would like me attend and additional class (Strategic Information Management) directly before the Masters class, so I would be there for about a week and a half.  Both classes sound cool and I can't wait for the trip.  I love Amsterdam.

Then I went and picked up Skylar from school and we played frisbee out in the yard for awhile and rode our bikes around the neighborhood.  Came back to make dinner and was very impressed with the white asparagus.  I had it in Amsterdam, but it didn't taste like anything special; this was delicious.   We watched Happily Never After and went to bed early so we could get up early for our Saturday adventure.

21 Mai - Lots of nothing

Today is Ascension day and therefore everything is closed.  We thought about going for a bike ride or just exploring, but it rained all day.  So, we did a whole lot of nothing.  We slept in.  I did more laundry and cleaned up a bit.  

In my boredom, I watched Dexter.  When I was searching for online TV in German, I ran across this site, but it is in English.  People have suggested that I would like Dexter given my taste of morbid and scientific things and I have ignored them because I just don't really watch TV, but I must admit, I do kind of like it.

I also just about finished a knitting project that I have been working on for a couple months now... starting and restarting.

By the end of the day, we were both going stir crazy, so we braced the rain and went for a bike ride.  I have been craving pizza and it turns out that the cute little Italian place that is just a few blocks from us was open and had pizza, so we ate a pricey but delicious dinner.  We even got after dinner cordials that the waiter brought.  I can't drink straight liqueur like that and thought it would be a little odd to do a shot of Amaretto, so we left them, but it was nice.

Yes this was one of the more exciting days in Germany so far :)

20 Mai - First day in the office

First to the international office to finalize my paperwork... but I couldn't find my receipt of my bank transfer for registration, so it was put off until Friday.

Then to my office where I couldn't get online because I don't have a student ID because I am not registered yet.  So back to the international office who sent me to someone to get a temporary ID, but she was out of the office this week, so I spoke to another woman who seemed to be in a frenzy.  She pulled me down the hall to talk to this man who apparently spoke a little bit of English and was able to translate for us. She continued to talk in a harried kind of tone to me, while I stared at her blankly and the man didn't bother to translate.  I've noticed people doing that a lot.  Once they realize I don't speak German, they continue to talk in German with a look on their face that looks like they are willing me to understand.  Even if they speak English, they make jokes in German and laugh either forgetting that they are speaking German and therefore I won't get it or are talking to themselves.  I just smile.

I went back to my office to get a little work done and realized I forgot the cord to plug my computer in so i was only able to work until my battery wore out.  It was enough for one day anyway.  Researching the German Health Care System is more challenging than I thought because different sources describe it differently.  It is more unique than other national health care systems because it is a multi-payer system with options for private health care for certain people.  

Diana stopped by and gave me more things: a bunch of outlet adapters, a basket for my bike, and a helmet.  She is so kind.  

My roommate/ flatmate (is that what they call it?) is going to NYC for five days, so we have the place to ourselves.  This doesn't really mean anything since we are not there much anyway... just that I can't bother her with all my silly American questions :)

People have suggested watching TV to help us learn German, but I have been unable to find much in the way of online TV.  Nora offered her movies to watch, so I checked them out and decided on Save the Last Dance.  I think it is a very cute movie.  We started watching it just in German, then switched on the English subtitles.  A little later I watched it again in English with German subtitles.  I learned the word Scheiße.   

19 Mai - Conversations

My day was off to a great start when I got to talk to mein Liebling on Skype.  It's hard to coordinate when to make that thing work with the time differences, but we'll figure it out.

Then I spent the day straightening up and doing more laundry.  No, it's still not done.  It was kind of nice to have practically the whole day without having to run from this place to that to get paperwork done.  I haven't heard anything back from the International office, so I can't complete my registration.  Once she finds out about my insurance, I can continue with the paperwork process and get registered at the school.  Then back to the town hall to get registered with the town.

This afternoon, I met with my adviser who I will mostly be working with on my project and it went very well.  My first project is to write an overview of the German Health Care System to be part of a chapter in a book.  It's great because it will give me focus to learn as much about the system as I can and thoroughly understand it, so that I can write about it.  This should take me one to two weeks and then I can move on to my bigger project.  I have a few options and all of them look really interesting.  There are project management, analysis, and quality improvement directions on a very impressive wiki for disease management cost analysis that he has been working on.  I could also construct my own design of research and create a model of infrastructure comparison to the US.  Yay!  His research is very in line with my interests.  It was a very promising meeting.  So tomorrow, I will set up in my new office and begin.  It makes me feel so much better to get started on something.

After my meeting, I went to the grocery store and I have a few more questions... why is some milk not refrigerated and why aren't the eggs refrigerated at all?  It's nice that they sell beer in the grocery store, but don't they have regular liqueur stores with possibly a bigger and better selection than pilsner?

Then on to pick up Skylar who had another "ok" day at school.  He said the kids in his class are "annoying and impossible to understand."  I am just hoping he will adjust to this opportunity and it doesn't turn out to be just a bad a experience for him.  I just want him to have fun and be happy.  It is summer after all.

In my wandering yesterday, I found a health food store that had a variety of fake meats, but not just any fake meats, German fake meats!  So I got Vegetarich Leberkäse, which I think is probably some kind of lamb liver or something.  So tonight, I sauteed some veggies, added them to the Leberkäse and covered it in cheese - yum!  German chocolate for dessert and we are all set :)

18 Mai - New school and Laundry Machines

Today we met with the headmaster of Silcherschule for Skylar.  We decided it was best to put him in third grade and have him go on to fourth in September and not have to worry about a new school for fifth grade.  The school is only about a 1/4 mile away.  School goes until 1pm with an option for after school until 4:30pm.  Unfortunately, school goes on vacation starting on Wednesday for 2 weeks.  There is care during one of the weeks at the after school.  Then in 6 weeks, the children go on summer vacation.  It will still be neat for Skylar to attend school here even if it is for only one month now and one month in September.  His teacher seemed kind and spoke English fairly well.  His after school teacher also seemed very nice.  So with a hug, I left Skylar there and was to return at 4:30pm to pick him up.  I felt nauseous, much like the feeling when I had to leave him for his first day of school in the US.  

I then had my appointment at the bank.  On the way there, my back tire went flat (remember a few days ago when the front tire went flat?)  Luckily I was right by a bike shop and was able to drop it off and walk the rest of the way to the bank. I opened an account and took the information back to the University so they could use it to pay my stipend. Turns out I have to pay registration fees before they can register me and I have to be registered before they can pay me.  So back to the bank to deposit enough money to cover the fees and transfer the fees for registration.  Then back to the University with my paperwork.  They are still awaiting an answer about my insurance, so there was nothing further that could be done for now.

Now that I had a bank account, I could get a phone, so I took the bus into town to do that.  I don't understand why some people pay and some people just get on the bus and sit down.  Technically I could have used my semester ticket, but since I didn't have it, I didn't think I could use it.  Are the people that just get on without paying assumed to have some sort of card?

After collecting my bike, I headed back to the flat since I was unable to locate my advisers and still don't have a schedule or plan for my project.  Then I went back out to get laundry detergent and pick up Skylar from school.  As much as Skylar loves to talk, all I could get from him was that school was ok and all the kids kept gathering around him.  He said he was introduced to everyone in the whole school.  I tried to explain that they think it's neat to have an American at their school.  His teachers said the girls just loved him and wouldn't leave him alone.  She translated some things for them, but left them to figure many things out.  I think he'll work hard at learning German just so he can understand what the other kids are saying.  He's still not so sure about school here and wondered why he couldn't just go to work with me.  I know it's hard, but I think it is such a great opportunity, I hope he starts to enjoy it.

Back at the flat, I began my laundry endeavor.  Nora told me to use the water on the left and to remember to turn it on.  I did that.  Not only could I barely tell which was the washer and which was the dryer, the washer had about 20 different wash options.   It is also incredibly tiny and fit only about 3 shirts and 3 pants... this is going to mean laundry nearly every day and I have a week to catch up on.  I tried a setting called pfleifergeit or something like that and it kept starting and stopping.  I left it, thinking it would continue, but when I went back down 45 minutes later it was making an awful noise and continuing to stop and start, so I went to get Nora for washing machine directions.  I said it was dark clothes, so I tried to wash it in what I thought was a cold setting (kalt means cold), but she said Germans don't wash in cold because that is not really clean.  She showed me the setting that she uses and also said I was supposed to plug it in the opposite side, which like the water spout was particular for our apartment.  She also showed me how to use the dryer, which was broken so had a timer attached to it.

We had our first shower in the kitchen fun when I was cooking dinner and Nora's boyfriend came over after a bike ride and desperately needed a shower.  I gladly paused dinner, for him to take a shower.

About an hour later I returned to the laundry room that now had water all over the floor.  I had to plug the machines in across the room, so I clipped the cords to a wire so that they didn't touch the wet floor.  The whole thing seems very haphazard and I hope I don't burn the place down by washing clothes.  Germans don't use dryer sheets either.  This laundry predicament is very distressing.

At a quarter after 9pm, it is still bright outside.  As much as I love to here Skylar read to me, I have to get him to sleep for his big day 2 of school tomorrow.

17 Mai - Climb on!

Today we were determined to go climbing.  We still slept in and took our time, but this time made no sight seeing stops along the way... or we didn't mean to anyway.  I had the train ride and the bus connection all figured out... except we were standing in the wrong spot and so we missed the bus.  We must have been emanating the look of confusion because this kindly older man who didn't speak a lick of English helped us find the right place to stand by gesturing and pointing and looking helpful.  He then pointed to the timetable which showed it being a 20 minute wait for the next bus and directed us to the tram instead.  He walked us to the tram stop and told us to get on bus number sechundswanzig (26 - I knew knowing the numbers would come in handy).  So we did and we rode it to Kirchheim like he said... then we rode it back a few stops... then foward a few stops and kept consulting the map that didn't seem to contain any of the streets we went by... so we took it back and forth a few more times with some walking to stops in between.  Finally we found Harbigweg and started down a narrow road lined with fields.

Eureka!  We found the climbing gym!  OK, so it was not as fancy as the one back home, but it was something.  There was no test to see if you were safe to climb, you simply signed a paper saying that you were.  The man at the desk spoke enough English to get the paper signed and pay the entrance fee and we were good to go.  There was even a bucket filled with cement for Skylar to clip himself to in order to belay me.  There were no rubber pieces or mats to fall on.  There were maybe a dozen or so people there, half of which were kids in some kind of group that left shortly after we got there, leaving a max of 6 people.

Some of the other few people turned out to be stationed at the local army base and were from the US.   One of the guys actually seemed to know what he was doing and was trying to get the other two to figure it out so they would belay him. They even did lead climbing with a quick instruction of, "just do the opposite; feed me rope, instead of taking it in."  Skylar grew tired quickly, so I climbed with them for a bit, but only allowed the one who seemed to know what he was doing belay me.   We talked about doing some outdoor climbing and so he gave me his email address to contact him because he's been looking to find an actual climber to climb with.  Yeah, that's me, an actual climber :)

Next onto the bouldering cave which was completely matted with very cushiony, almost gymnastic style mats that I could have practiced flips on.  Instead, I sadly tried to boulder which was so pathetic, it quickly caught the attention of another guy who happens to by doing his Masters at the University of Heidelberg in computer science and knows my adviser, Frau Schmidt.  He gave me some pointers in bouldering and I still couldn't complete what he said was the easiest route.  He and Skylar did some competitions of climbing across the ceiling that was quite impressive.  He asked if I do outdoor climbing and took my email address to contact me the next time they plan something, but he'll be in Spain for the next couple weeks.  Looks like I need some quick draws because most of the outdoor climbing is sport routes or trad.  He knows of a couple places on the castle that we can climb too!  How cool is that?!

It was getting late and we were getting hungry, so we left in search for dinner, which I swear is going to be the last time we eat out.  I have spent waaaaay too much money on food this past week.  The grocery stores are fairly cheap, but eating out is ridiculous.  I spend nearly 30 euro every time, so we're packing pb&j whether Skylar likes it or not.  The place we ate at was interesting though... it was kind of like a bar atmosphere, but had various kinds of tofu dishes on the menu.  We ended up getting what appeared to be spaghetti with tofu in place of meatballs.  

Back on the train from another long day and arriving back in Heilbronn in the middle of the night for a bike home in the dark.  I really like Heidelberg and have a feeling we'll be spending much of our free days there when we are not exploring other parts of Europe.

16 Mai - Das Castle

Since Skylar and I stayed up late last night reading and watching goofy movies, we slept in this morning.  We had a plan to go to the climbing gym in Heidelberg, but weren't in any hurray about it.  I finally found a site through the Heidelberg train station that is in English and was able to plan our route.  I figured we wouldn't be climbing all day, so thought it might be nice to stop at the castle first.  So at about the 13th hour, we were on our way. I wasn't sure how to use my semester ticket to purchase my train ticket, so I tried asking the people that worked there... by the third person, we finally got someone that spoke English and helped us buy our tickets.  Turns out Skylar rides for free with me if I buy a ticket, but not on the semester ticket... lot of help that will do me then. When we arrived in Heidelberg, a nice woman helped us figure out which bus to take us to the castle.  She said that there are many more people that speak English in Heidelberg and it is much more city like.  She was right; we had no problem communicating with anyone for the rest of the day.  I can see why all the other students thus far on this scholarship have gone to Heidelberg.  Heilbronn is like a suburb compared to Hedelberg and not even a close one like Edina, but one way far away like Cottage Grove. If Heidelberg were in Georgia, it would be Atlanta and Heilbronn would be Statesboro. If it were in NY, it would be like Bellport compared to Manhatten. I'll make the best of it though.
Once we arrived in University Square, we happened upon an international festival of some sort and decided to check it out.  There was food and music and dancing (3 of my favorite things).  Then we continued up the hill and up the hundreds of stairs to the castle. It was beautiful.
	The ruins and architecture was beautiful.
The view was beautiful.
	Skylar was thrilled!  He was so enthralled with the place; he took pictures of everything and kept saying thank you to me for taking him there.
We walked through the courtyard and checked out the old pharmacy.  We got delicious ice cream and wandered into the park over looking the city.
	We walked along and viewed more of the castle. Then we laid in the sun for awhile while Skylar read his book and I knitted.
We had spent hours wandering the castle, so we decided to head back to town and stopped in Market Square for some food.  We ate at what I think was a French cafe and had something like pizza and tortellini. It was tasty, whatever it was. Being nearly 9pm, we headed back to the train station.
We caught the train back to Heilbronn and biked home in the dark. Skylar was good and kept close. Completely tuckered out, we promptly fell asleep with plans to back tomorrow to actually go climbing.

15 Mai - More rain

It has rained every day since we've been here.  Nothing too bad... a slight drizzle during the day and some harder rain with thunder in the evenings.  It does make for a wet bicycle seat though. 

So today, we shut off Skylar's watch alarm and fell asleep again.  This time we managed to get out by 9:30am though.  First we went to Diana's office to call the headmaster at the nearby state school for Skylar.  Turns out we are actually just outside the border for that school and he suggested the state school for our area.  We called that headmistress and are meeting her at 8am on Monday morning at which time, she will make a decision about Skylar and he can start right away.  It will be good because all of the children will live close to us.  The only thing is that they suggest he starts in 3rd grade so he can continue at the same school in September.  In Germany between 4th and 5th grade, the children are sent to different schools based on their academics.  So if Skylar went to 4th grade for the end of this year, I would have to change his school in September and that would be more difficult to arrange.  I'll talk more about it to the headmistress on Monday.

Then we went back to the international office to prepare more paperwork.   She needs my insurance information before she can go forward with much of anything and my insurance is being slow at processing the request to send me my coverage information.  So, we went to the local Alliance office and got our welcome packet which included gifts from the town of Heilbronn, such as a semester ticket for the bus and train, a bunch of 25 euro gift certificates for local stores and I think some other stuff, but the man kept switching back to German and of course I couldn't understand.  Once my insurance is figured out and I get my student card from the University, I have to return and bring him a copy.

We had to get german passport pictures for our immigration forms and apparently you are not supposed to smile.  Anyone that knows me, knows this is somewhat difficult for me, so even though the photographer took a half dozen of them, my lips were pursed together forcing myself not to smile... it made for a silly looking picture.  The photographer was not pleased and insisted that the picture did me no justice, but I said it didn't matter as long as they worked.  A friend tried to convince me to model one time and I had the same problem.  The model photographer said models look silly when they smile, and I said I look silly when I don't, so that was that.

Is there such a thing as cheddar cheese in Germany?  A hundred different kinds of cheese at the supermarket, but none of them looked like cheddar.  We just got Graten Kase, which I think just means grated cheese and doesn't even specify the type.  Nora said it is the kind that melts on stuff.

After a few more errands, we rode back to the flat and just relaxed a while.   Then it started pouring, so it is a good thing we were not still out and about.  By the time it stopped, I was going stir crazy, so at about 19:30, Skylar and I got on our wet bikes and rode to town.  We thought about going to a movie, so I asked if American movies were dubbed in German and of course they were, so we scratched that idea.  We found an ice cream shop and got yummy sundaes instead.  I think I am just going to eat the entire time I am here... the chocolate, the pastries, the ice cream... everything is all so good.  It was raining again when we left and became increasingly harder as we rode.  By the time we got home we were good and soaked.

Skylar brought some movies from home, so we watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua.  Yes, it is as cheesy as it looks.  Unfortunately there are sites like Pandora and Fox that only work inside the United States, so I can't listen to my usual music or watch anything from there.

All in all a very low key day and evening.

14 Mai - Immigration

OK, still not sleeping very well, but managed to get up and get going so I could talk to a few schools about Skylar.  He doesn't necessarily need to go to school here, but I think it would be good for him to be around other kids and not just sit in an office with me all day.  It will be tough at first, but I think he'll pick up the language quickly and tag is played the same in the US as it is in Germany, I hope.  

Off on our bikes we went.  We tried a couple schools and both were full, but there is one more that we can try tomorrow that sounds promising.  Diana already spoke to the headmaster and he said we can just show up, but not today because there was some sort of complicated issue going on.

We met Diana after her class at about 11:30am and we went for lunch.  She took us to the main cafeteria and shockingly there were 4 vegetarian meal choices... not a side a fries, but actual main dishes.  I can't remember what they were called, but the thing I got was pretty good... some sort of potato and cheese with veggies and baked.  I bet I could even make it.   Then we rode back home to get a document from Nora for immigration then back to the University.  In our haste we rode past an older man who yelled at us.

Then back to the international office to sign more papers and pick up some documents to bring to the immigration office.  Diana accompanied us to translate and help out.  We rode along the river to get there and it was beautiful.  There is a huge green park with walking and biking trails that leads right into the center of Heilbronn.  The town center looks kind of like a marina, but without the boats.  There is the beautiful town hall building and a bunch of shops and places to eat.

We went to the immigration office and I gave them the paperwork I had and our passports and we need to return in 2 weeks with a few more things like my insurance documentation and Skylar's school.

On the way home, we passed this older lady who seemed to be holding herself up.  I felt so bad, but I couldn't offer to help and when I tried to gesture, she started going on and on.  I explained that I don't speak German, but she kept going and seemed to be pleading with me to understand.  I tried to offer help again, but she seemed to just get upset with me, so we said bye and rode off.   The worst thing so far is not knowing German... I just feel bad for making them communicate with me when I am in their country and should speak their language.

Hopefully I will get some rest tonight.

13 Mai - Paperwork

Maybe chatting until 1am and not getting to sleep until about 3am wasn't the best way to cure my jetlag.  We were supposed to go to the International office and fill out some paperwork between 9am and 12 so we set the alarm for 8am.  We shut off the alarm and slept until 11am.   We hurried and got ready to go, but they were off to lunch so we were to return at 1pm.

We decided to go back to town and exchange the outlet adapters we bought yesterday.  Right as we left the University, my bike tire went flat, so we walked/ rode it to a bike store I remember passing and bought an air pump.  Turns out the tube had a hole so they had to repair it for me.  Then we went on to the store and found no reverse adapters and were told that we should have bought them back home.  In the hopes of hurrying back to the University to be back by 1pm, we got lost and of course I forgot my map. Skylar is always sure it is one way and I am always sure it is the other way... we are both right about 50% of the time.  By backtracking we finally found our way back and luckily, they were still able to see us.

I filled out a ton of paperwork in German and possibly sold my soul to the devil.  The woman had to read everything to me and tell me what to put where and such.  I also got a to-do list of things to get me settled in like going to the immigration office, the town hall, schools to check for skylar, this office for that, and that office for this.  There is a slight issue about my insurance that I need to get figured out in order to get a visa though... my work insurance only lasts 90 more days and then I can get graduate school insurance for something like $1800 per semester and has to be proven good enough by the immigration office, but German insurance only costs 63 euro per month, so I would much rather do that.  Still figuring out the details though.

We also went to the bank to open an account and were told to make an appointment, so back we go on Monday.

Then back to the flat with another stop to the grocery store to get food for dinner.  It didn't seem like I got much accomplished today and nothing seemed to go very smoothly.  Skylar and I cleaned and organized our room; putting all our clothes in the boxes and shoes on the rack and finding places for all our stuff.  It actually isn't half bad... it looks like a room now and there is floor space and I can find stuff.  In such a tiny space though, the trick is to keep it that way... a place for everything and everything in it's place is our new mantra.  

After another exciting dinner cooked with German ingredients, I relaxed with a bottle of random German beer that I decided to try... and Skylar promptly spilled it all over the floor.  It was too light for my taste anyway.  I got back on the computer for more chatting and blogging and figuring out Skype (which is way cool).  Another late night and more tossing and turning throughout.

12 Mai - Pizza ohne Fleisch

Well after fussing with the internet for a few hours and not understanding what the ^ symbol was in the password, I finally went to sleep and slept hard.  We woke up at about noon.  I tried the internet password a few more times with no luck and decided to just get out and explore. 

We hopped on our bikes and rode them through the wine vineyard and around to the university, which we found fairly easily with our handy maps.  I didn't have any contact information for Diana or Wendelin (my advisers) because of course I brightly left them in my email.  So Skylar and I just wandered in and tried the information desk at which the woman promptly told me she does not speak English.  So we wandered some more and by chance ran right into Diana coming out of Wendelin's office!  She showed me my office (good to know I have one) and introduced me to Wendelin who was giving a presentation that afternoon with another student and asked if I would attend.  

Skylar and I went off to find some lunch and since it was raining, we stumbled into the first place we saw because it had a picture of pizza on the door.  I think it was a Turkish place and everyone was smoking hookah (or whatever those pipe things are called) and when I tried to order a pizza, it didn't go very well.  He understood "no meat", by demonstrating pinching his arm and saying "no fliesh?" and I said correct.  I guess that is the most important thing anyway.  So, we got a bunch of lettuce wrapped in a piece of pita bread and sort of grilled.  Turns out the pizza place we were directed to was a few doors down... oh well.

We went back to the university to go to the presentation and met a bunch more of the Medical Informatics faculty, which was nice.  The presentation was actually very interesting because it was based around studies for various neuropathy drugs to help diabetic patients and a view of the costs for each drug (this type of cost analysis would be a piece of my studies here).  

Then Michael brought me to my office that I would share with him and another woman named Connie.  Connie said I spoke too fast to understand, but Michael spoke English very well.  So it is good to know that I have a space and a desk to eventually work at whenever a formal plan comes into play.  Right now it seems things are still up in the air about the specifics of my project and what exactly I need to be physically in Germany to accomplish.  Wendelin spoke of an interest in having me write a chapter in a book his colleague is putting together about the German Health Care System and assured me that I would be listed as a co-author.

After that, Skylar and I rode our bikes into town and wandered around a bit more.  We needed to get outlet adapters for our US plugs to the German plugs.  We accidentally got them in reverse and will need to exchange them tomorrow.  We also went to the grocery store, which reminded me of the Aldi style grocery stores... just not the fancy smancy Kowalski's that I'm used to, I guess.  They only sell milk in 1 liter containers and there is a a huge section just for cheese.  There were large bins labeld "Fleish" that we stayed away from.  Not surprisingly, there were no fake meat products.  For some reason though, everything looked like it would taste better... the cheese, the bread, the butter, the veggies, etc. So we stocked up to make our first meal back at the flat.  However, the store does not accept Visa and we had a slightly embarrassing moment trying to count the cash I had and having to put a couple items back :(

With map in hand and checking it at nearly every intersection, we made it back home.  We learned that the ^ symbols are how Germans write ones, so we were able to configure the internet and get online.  I immediately checked in and chatted all night with a break only to make dinner and before I knew it, it was about 1am.  

11 Mai - Layover in Paris and arrival in Germany

What better way to get adjusted to the time difference than to spend our first day after very little sleep on the plane, wandering around in Paris all day?  Paris has never been on the top of my must-see list, but I figured since our layover was there, then why not.  If it turned out to be an amazing place that I couldn't stand not to see more of, then we could return for a day or weekend trip some other time.
	We hopped a bus headed for the center of Paris and walked to the Eiffel Tower.  I must admit, the architecture in Paris is amazing... such attention to detail and beautiful artwork.
The streets were crowded with hustling and bustling people that seemed to smell excessively perfumed.  The Eiffel Tower was nice, but we skipped the walk up to see the view.
	We walked through some parks and along the canal.
Then we zig zagged our way to Le Louvre stopping for crepes along the way.  I told Skylar we would hit the first crepe stand we saw when we got there, not realizing that there are crepe stands everywhere.
	Le Louvre is a phenomenal museum. There was a surrounding park area with sculptures.
The museum buildings are amazing and expansive.
	We didn't have time to see everything...
but made a point to see the Mona Lisa.
By the time we headed back to the airport, we were sore and exhausted.  It took us a while to figure out how to get back to where we started to catch the bus and unfortunately for us, we had to walk it.  We quickly found that almost no one speaks English.  It wasn't too much of a problem though because very much like New York or any other big city, people kept to their own and weren't interested in idle chit chat, but asking the bus drivers for help was impossible.
We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany at 10 pm.  Diana (my adviser) picked us up and we hauled all our belongings to her van (which she got from being part of a car share).  At about midnight, we arrived in Heilbronn.  The place we are staying at is in an adorable little area surrounded by wine vineyards and is only about 3 km from the university.  Nora (my roommate) kindly provided us with a futon bed to sleep on and the use of all of her kitchen stuff.  Diana bought me so much stuff, it took us over an hour to get it all inside.  She got me a table, a bunch of cloth storage type boxes for our clothes, towels, sheets, pillows, more kitchen stuff, a shoe rack, a duvet, a bookcase, and other stuff that I can't even think of right now.  I don't even know how all this stuff will fit in this 400 sq ft room.
After getting everything in the room and saying goodnight to Diana at about 2am, the first thing I did was try the internet... Nora gave me the password, but German numbers are one of the first things I apparently need to figure out.

10 Mai - Leaving and flying

Thanks to Sean and his semi-A personality, packing and getting ready went surprisingly smoothly.  He kept me on task and helped in every way he could.  Kept Skylar on task too, which as everyone knows is no easy feat.  So far, it doesn't seem that I have forgotten anything and there was no rushing around in a frenzy at all.

So with three 50lb suitcases and my camping backpack, we were ready for Germany.  After a nice brunch and a short game of frisbee, we headed to the airport and said our sad goodbyes... 5 months really isn't that long, right?  With time to spare, Skylar and I arrived at our gate.

The flight was long (8 hours), but it went fairly well.  Skylar had his video game to play and I had my knitting to keep occupied.  We slept maybe 4 of those hours, but our limbs may have slept more.

A place to stay

It may be small and our shower may be in the kitchen, but all we need is a place to lay our heads. 

The girl we will be staying with seems very sweet and the area sounds lovely.

T-4 days.