31 Juli - Breaker

I couldn't stand it anymore... I had to take a shower! Skylar needed a shower! There was no way to go to Capoeira tonight without a shower. I went back to the breaker box and switched them all like three times and all of a sudden something clicked. Eureka! The power to the hot water heater was on again and the outlet to the refrigerator was working.

We both took showers and went to the bike place. I rode Skylar on my basket seat so that once we got his bike we could ride from the bike store to the train station. Seemed easier this time; must be getting the hang of it and he stopped whimpering for the most part. I thought for sure I was going to get a ticket or something for riding him like that, but we managed ok and didn't fall over at all. The bike store was about 5 miles away. The owner was there and I explained that we were only here for a couple more months, so he said even though they don't usually buy used bikes back, he would take a look at it and maybe buy it back for less. He likes this bike much better and it fits him much better.

We rode to the station and went on to Capoeira. Class was good and tough as usual. They told us at the end of class that they were going on holiday for three weeks and would have the classes covered by an instructor from Tübingen. After class we went to our favorite little Italian place for dinner and then headed home.

30 Juli - No hot water

Last night was super windy! It wasn't storming or anything, but the wind kept slamming all the windows and doors. Something must have tripped something with the gas heater though because we have no hot water. I called the landlady and she said the people that needed to come look at it were very busy, but would come by this evening. I took a quick cold shower, but I have too much hair that takes too long to wash out to withstand the cold for that long, so I just braided it.

I met with Wendelin about my project and he gave me some new directions to focus on. He knew of a book in the US that has drug prices and there is a similar list here in Germany, so I can at least compare manufacture's prices. Finding costs of complications might be more difficult and means going back to the literature.

Michele emailed me that the guys at the climbing gym are planning a camping/ climbing trip to Frankenjura (www.climb.frankenjura.com) at the end of August and wanted to know if we wanted to come. Heck yeah! I don't know all the details yet, but the place looks beautiful! He told me his car was broken, so he was unable to climb for a bit. I would offer to come pick him up on my bicycle, but since Skylar has the basket spot, he'd have to sit on the handlebars :)

Speaking of which, the buses were driving me crazy and I had to see about Skylar getting a new bike. So we went to a place in the industrial part of town that said they had a couple used kids bikes. The place was huge with an indoor track to try the bikes out on. They actually had quite a few choices and we found one that fit him quite well. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it would be worth it. Then we realized that it was too far to walk with the bike and we couldn't bring the bike on the bus. They don't have those bike carriers like they do in the states. I didn't think Skylar could ride me on his basket seat, so we decided to go back tomorrow and just put it on hold today.

We took the bus back to town and I stopped at the health food store still in search for flax and honey. The storeowner didn't seem to even know what I meant and said he didn't know of any place in Germany that carried it.

The landlady called and said they wouldn't be able to get over to the flat today. When we got home I realized the refrigerator was off too. Seems the outlet that it plugs into was not working. The light in the kitchen worked, but the outlet didn't. I looked at the breaker box and none were tripped, but I switched them all anyway. Nothing happened. I found an extension cord in Nora's room and plugged the refrigerator back in so that our food didn't all go bad. I couldn't leave the dishes so I boiled water on the stove... brought back memories of camping.

29 Juli - Skylar's last day of school

Skylar was thrilled! I have never seen him dislike school so much. I'm glad it's over too because I was not sure how to make it any more enjoyable for him. Maybe after some time, he would have adjusted to the language barrier and gotten to like it more, but it seems that would have taken more time than we have here. I am not sure if I am going to send him back in September. I'll just continue doing work from his school books that he brought with him to make sure he stays up to speed with his classmates.

I made my super healthy chewy bars today: I mixed 200g of bread mix grain flour, wheat germ, and whole oats, 75g of quinoa and ground hazelnuts, and added some cinnamon and nutmeg. Then mixed together 100g of unsweetened applesauce, marzipan, and soy oil with a few teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mixed the wet with dry and added some chocolate flakes. Pressed them into a pan lined with parchment paper and baked until brown around the edges. Yummy! They turned out perfect. The marzipan made them a little less sweet and sticky.

28 Juli - Healthy ingredients

I was supposed to go back to the police station with the form I got on Saturday, but after speaking with Diana, I didn't really have any more information to give the officer, so I didn't go. I had some other errands to run as well, but couldn't quite motivate myself.

I did get to the grocery store however. I want to make some healthy snack bars, so I went to the store with intentions of buying things like wheat germ, flax seed, Omega-3 oil, and other healthy ingredients. I wandered around in circles from the grains to the cereals to the spices to the cooking section and got things that seemed to be of a more healthy nature. I was unable to find flax seed or honey, so I got marzipan and quinoa instead. I am not sure marzipan is completely healthy, but I needed something with stickiness and that was all I could find. Don't they have honey bees in Germany? When I got home I babelfished the ingredients I bought and was quite proud of myself with my choices.

I know I talk about all the crazy crap we eat, but I still try to maintain somewhat of a healthy diet. Something about the food or the water here is just not agreeing with my skin, hair, or body. I miss Whole Foods.

When Skylar got home, we rode the bus to town to get him a new backpack and a hair cut. The girl didn't really speak English so well, but I managed to get a couple inches cut off Skylar's hair. Still not as short as I wanted, but it looks much better. I just don't see how he wants all that hair in this heat. At least with mine, I keep it pulled up and usually braided off my neck all the time. We finally found a decent backpack for a somewhat decent or at least more decent price. It has a laptop pocket and is a bit bigger than the other one.

It has been so hot and muggy here lately. I must say I really do miss my air conditioner. I miss my dishwasher too.

27 Juli - The job hunt begins

They were unable to hold my position at the University because it would put too much strain on my co-workers. As far as I know they still haven't filled the position and my boss would give it back to me if it is still open when I return, but I am taking this opportunity to move into something better. I liked my job, but there wasn't a lot of room for growth and and with the completion of my Masters, I would have wanted to move on anyway. So now I am looking for work so that when I return I won't be without a job and completely broke because I spent all my savings while I am here. All my serious jobs have been in the University setting, which I am very comfortable with. I like working for a purpose and not just trying to just find the cheapest and fastest way. So, I've been scoping jobs on the University sites. I might also look into work with a hospital if their research foundations are strong. I don't think I could see myself in the corporate world though.

This afternoon was back to Capoeira. It was GuGu's last day here and we did a lot of drills to put the acrobatics and defensive techniques together. My entire body was so sore from all the training and walking around yesterday that I felt like I could barely move.. the thick air did not help, but we made it through and said our goodbyes.

26 Juli - Das Fest

I set my alarm and called Ricky to tell her we weren't coming to the Roda. Diana sent me an email telling us about this festival in Karlsruhe that we might enjoy and then we could come by her place for dinner. So we got ready and hopped a train to Das Fest. Karlsruhe is about two hours away.

Das Fest was huge. They checked our bags and patted us down when we came through the gate. Apparently since there is no entry fee, they make their money by selling food and drink and don't allow people to bring in stuff. There was music at various stages on one side of the park and sports shows on the other. We watched some dirt bike racing, some skateboarding, and even some Parkour. It was way cool! We also tried some slack lining. There was an Indian food stand that had some really good Pakora and Navratan Korma; certainly not common festival food. We played at this park where there was a zip line set up. Unfortunately, to Skylar, there were no carnival games or rides, but it was pretty fun and decent way to spend the day.

There were these men's port-o-potty type things that were very strange. They covered just the business part and the rest was wide open, like if you took three of the walls (leaving the back wall) off the port-o-potty. There was a little picture of a penis in case you wondered what the heck the thing was for. I would have taken a picture, but at such a busy festival, they were always in use and well, I thought that might be weird.

Diana came and picked us up in her son's car from the festival and took us to her house. We met her daughter-in-law and her adorable grandson, Leonard. Then we met her other son and his wife and their daughter, Ellie (not her name, but is what Diana calls her). Diana plays this instrument that kind of looks like a square harp on it's side and sounds almost futuristic. I've never seen anything like it. We hung out in her yard for a while and admired her fruit trees; one of which was a peach tree until it became sick and she trimmed it so short that it became a plumb tree... wha?? Then we had a nice summer dinner outside and she took us to the train station. We pulled up just as the train did and jumped in just in time.

This is a different type of train than we normally take and I wasn't familiar with it. I was reading and Skylar was sleeping when a man suddenly told me that we arrived at the last stop and had to get off the train. I didn't know where we were or what to do and started to panic. Luckily we crossed the tracks in front of the other train that was headed in the opposite direction back to Heilbronn, so we got on that and paid close attention to the stops. I had enough of the public transportation so we walked home.

25 Juli - Afro-dance

We rolled out of bed with all our muscles screaming at us and got ready to go back to Fellbach for more Capoeira. I guess on the bright side, we didn't have to ride our bikes to the train station. We took the bus to Allee Post and then another bus to the train station took the train to Stuttgart and then another train to Fellbach and walked to the Capoeira studio.

GuGu taught a lot of reaction and defense techniques today. He, like his brother, has a tendency to go for the legs which is not a move I've seen in any Capoeira videos. One of the aspects of Capoeira that I like most is that it is not about actual fighting, but more like playing. Taking my legs out and head butting me takes some of the fun out of it for me, but of course it is all about learning different styles.

After about three hours of Capoeira training, we did some Afro-dancing. Many of the movements seemed very animalistic to me... particularly bird-like. The guys mostly played the instruments while the girls danced. We learned a number of moves and did them over and over to the beat of a drum and when he changed the beat of the drum, we changed the dance move. They were all eight count moves, so the beat count was the same, but the sounds were different. It was very cool and I love to dance no matter how much I suck at it. Skylar just read his book and laughed at us. At one point he took a video, but while it started on us, his attentions quickly moved to DannyLo (the 8mth old baby) and would every now and then swing back to us, but quickly return to DannyLo who just tried to grab the camera :)

Ricky invited us to go with them to a Roda tomorrow morning. I wish we knew the details of the workshop and I could have planned to stay in Fellbach rather than ride the train back and forth. It really is difficult to miss announcements and information because they are in German. Sometimes they translate, but sometimes, they just forget.

When we got into Heilbronn, we stopped at the police station to file a report about Skylar's bike. Then I realized I didn't even know what kind of bike it was. The officer asked if we had a 'bike pass' that came with the bike because it should list all the details. I explained that Diana bought the bike for us and that I would ask her. He tried filling in a form with the information we did have, but finally just handed it to me and said that he took English in school, 25 years ago and was not following anything I was saying, so if I could fill it out and bring it back, he would appreciate it. So we left and said we'd come back on Tuesday with the form if we got the information. Sometimes I forget that I need to say what I am trying to say in as few words as possible otherwise the person gets lost trying to not only keep up with the speed of what I'm saying, but trying to translate too many words. Makes having a normal conversation pretty difficult most of the time; I find myself sounding like a robot.

When we got home, I looked at the train and bus schedules. On Sundays, the connections are less frequent and start later. We would have had to walk about a mile to the Sbahn at about 5am in order to make it work. I was actually considering it, but at 2am when I couldn't fall asleep because the pain in my legs kept waking me up, I decided we better skip this one.

24 Juli - GuGu

I met with Diana this afternoon, mostly just to touch base and see where things were at. We had a decent lunch in the Mensa while we chatted. I told her that I felt bad about not having my project set up before I got here and seemingly wasting so much time. She of course said not to worry and that my research has been helpful to Wendelin and even if I am not able to find all the data I need, it is still useful to evaluate why. I feel a little better, but still pretty cynical about the whole endeavor. She also invited Skylar and I to stay at her house in Karlsruhe this weekend. We can't stay for the whole weekend because we have a Capoeira workshop, but I told her we would try to come by for a bit on Sunday

When Skylar got home, we went on to Fellbach for Capoeira. GuGu is Mesquita's brother and is visiting from Brazil. His name is actually Joseph, but that is not a common name in Brazil and somewhat difficult to pronounce, so they call him GuGu (pronounced JooJoo). He is giving a workshop all weekend. Tonight we had three hours of our regular class and then the group from Tübingen came and we went for three more hours. We did a lot of back bends and acrobatics. He even taught me how to do a kip up! It's not perfect, but it's a start. Again he made me do about twenty back bends to standing and back. We also did head stand walk overs and over the shoulder Absprungen. 

At the end he started giving a speech and going on and on and Ricky was translating from his Portuguese to German, but not English. I kept watching the clock tick closer and closer to midnight and was worried about catching the last train back to Stuttgart to make the last train back to Heilbronn. I finally caught Ricki's eye and motioned that we had to leave. I felt terribly rude, but I didn't know what else to do. She kindly offered her place if we did in fact miss the train, which was really nice. We booked it out of there and rode like the wind to the station with three minutes to spare. Phew.

On the midnight train back to Heilbronn there were dozens of drunken teenagers and barely anywhere to sit. We put the bikes in the bike car and went into the next car over to sit down because there was some guys scarfing down Burger King like they hadn't eaten in days. Just before 2am when the train was mostly cleared out, we arrived in Heilbronn and went to get our bikes... only Skylar's bike was no where to be found. Someone took his bike right off the train! We got off and found someone who looked like they worked at the station and they luckily spoke English. He explained it to another guy and they pointed us in the direction of the police station. The officer was just leaving and said to come back tomorrow.

I stood there for a while contemplating how to get home... and decided to take off the basket and sit Skylar on the back of the bike. Everyone does it in Amsterdam; how hard could it be? Well, once we got the balance under control it wasn't too bad. After a while, Skylar stopped hitting things with the metal basket because he decided to place it on his head. Skylar kept whimpering that the bumps and curbs hurt his bottom and then seemed to grow fearful of me spilling him on the sidewalk. When we got to the steeper of the hills in combination with six hours of Capoeira training, I nearly died. I don't even know what time it was when we collapsed into bed. Why are people so mean and stupid?

23 Juli - Blank

I sat here with journal articles spread around me, cross referencing, number crunching, recalculating, comparing, and then coming back around to where I started... which is pretty much no where. Can anyone tell me how much a dialysis session costs in the US? How about a shot of insulin? Might cost 1$ here and $500 there, but I can't even find representative averages let alone a single price. Studies show these broad ranges of yearly spending that don't tell me diddly.

Poor Nora is not having a good day today. Her boyfriend, Bjorn, is doing his thesis research in Sweden next semester and has been trying to find a place to stay. Unfortunately the place they found seems to have been a scam. They guy was slick though and even sent paperwork for him to sign with his name, a number, and a passport ID. So Bjorn signed the document and sent the guy the money for the deposit. Nora suddenly thought of checking over the internet for information on the guy and when she googled his email it sent her to a page about him being a scammer. I feel so bad for her and Bjorn. It's like you think you check in every corner, but there is always something lurking in the shadows. They are trying to stop the check via Western Union before he cashes it, but won't find out if that is possible for a few days. Again, I say I am so lucky to have found Nora who is not only honest, but super helpful and sweet. I just don't know why people do stuff like that. I hope it works out somehow.

Surprisingly though my frustrations, the day seemed to fly by. Just when I was about to toss my laptop out the window, Skylar came home from school and it was time to make dinner.

22 Juli - German home cooking

I was kind of slacking on my daily blog entries, so I took a break from reading journal articles about diabetes and updated through the week. Wasn't a very exciting week, but I am trying to make at least some kind of entry for each day. Maybe Skylar and I will read it over someday or use it for some sort of scrap booking thing... not that I'm into that, but just this once :)

Tonight Nora and I made some traditional German food for dinner. Well, actually she made it... I just watched. She made knödle and rotkohl, which is basically mashed potato balls and red cabbage with a butter and onion sauce. It was good, but again there is that problem that German food is typically flavored with meat, so without it, it is kind of bland. Those knödle things are super filling though. Skylar didn't really like it, but I think he was just in a bit of a cranky mood because I know what he likes and there wasn't really anything not to like about this.

We went to the store to get the ingredients and I brought our plastic water bottles to return to the recycling place. I can't get the stigma out of my head of feeling like a homeless person riding my bike with a basket full of empty bottles to return, but I would feel guiltier if I just threw them away because of pride. The place just confuses me anyway... I never know if I am supposed to give them the bottles to count or if I am supposed to sort them.

Also found out that Skylar has camp from August 17th through the 29th, which is throwing a wrench into our Venice plans because Ryanair only has the special for the week of the 18th. I emailed the camp to see if I can switch his session, otherwise we'll have to figure out a new plan. 

21 Juli - Climbing heat

It is another hot day in Heilbronn today. It rains to break the heat pretty often, but seems to heat back up just as fast along with a thickness in the air.

I haven't been climbing as much lately and it shows. When I was climbing twice or at least once a week, I thought I could see improvement, but now that I only climb once every few weeks, my skill is rapidly declining. I was going to meet Michele at the climbing gym tonight.. it was after all his birthday, so how could I say no. Skylar was pretty beat after school today and didn't want to go to the gym because it was so hot, so he stayed home with Nora, who kindly offered to keep an eye on him. The gym is about a 45 minute bike ride away and it takes about 30 minutes on the bus, so after all my whining about the bus, I decided it might be nice not to be exhausted at the start of climbing, so I would take the bus. However, I mixed up the times and it was 20 minutes until the next bus and I would've been late in meeting Michele, so I rode my bike.

I was already sweating when I got there and completely worn out from the ride. We did a top rope to warm up and then did some lead climbs. The first couple went really well, but my arms got pumped really fast. After just a couple hours, I could barely do a 5+ (which is about a 5.9 on the US scale). Top roping when you're tired is hard enough, but leading when tired is just way too anxiety provoking for fun. So we called it a night and decided to have a birthday beer. Michele got a Raddler which is what Juliane ordered the other day, so I inquired to what it was. It is beer mixed with lemonade... not lemon flavored beer or something like Mike's Hard Lemonade, but actually half lemonade and half beer. Since I'm not real fond of beer anyway, I didn't like it much and thought it was pretty strange. Seems to be pretty common drink of choice in the heat and after activity. Apparently it is named after a motor bike guy who made it as a way to drink and be able to still ride his bike because of the lower alcohol content when mixing it with lemonade. Interesting.

The ride home was actually quite refreshing and I collapsed on my bed missing a few pieces of skin from rope burn and grabbing at hot slimy holds. I think I'll be feeling nice and achey tomorrow.

20 Juli - Muggggggggy

I spent most of the day trying to write up a summary of the US health care system, so I can begin my paper with an outline of the two systems before I get into how and why they differ when it comes to diabetes costs and care (assuming I figure out how to get that info) and all I can say is the US health care system is a convoluted mess! My summary is like 3 pages long as I sit here and try to get all the 'special case' mumbo jumbo in. Uhg!

We had Capoeira again tonight. Skylar talked me into riding the bus again and again I said we would not be doing it anymore. It's hot and stuffy and takes just as long as the bike ride. Today seemed especially hot an muggy, which made training a bit difficult. Skylar and I paired with each other which is never good. He has a tendency to act out a bit more when he is with me and be all dramatic and I have a tendency to get all frustrated with him, so training turns into a battle of wills. I can see why most places don't allow kids and parents to train together. 

I couldn't wait to get home, so we left class quickly and grabbed some food at the falafel/ donor kebab stand at the train station. Have I mentioned how nauseating donor kebab's are? These giant twirling slabs of meat... but they do have falafel, so I try not to look.  When we got to the train station in Heilbronn, it was 30 more minutes before the bus came, so we went to get an ice cream cone and I made Skylar walk to the stop where we would have taken the bus to catch the connection. I would have walked all the way home, but Skylar wanted to take the bus, so we did. He has such convenient bursts of energy sometimes or rather convenient lack of energy sometimes.

It felt good to be home.

19 Juli - Rainy Sunday with nothing to do

It rained off and on all day today. Everything is mostly closed on Sundays anyway, so we just hung around the flat. Skylar played his video games and I chatted with friends. Nothing too exciting.

18 Juli - More Capoeira and travel

We don't usually go to Capoeira on Saturdays because the back to back train travel can be too much. We ride our bikes to the train station about 3 miles away and then carry our bikes down and up the flights of stairs at the station to get to the train. The d-bahn train ride to Stuttgart is about 45 minutes. Then we catch the local train, the s-bahn to Fellbach, which takes about 15 minutes. Then we ride our bikes, about 1 mile, to the Capoeira studio. Train for 2 hours and do the reverse back home. We both really like Capoeira though, so it's worth it.

Today, I thought we would try the bus to the station instead which would mean walking the mile to class. The biggest problem I have with buses is I hate waiting. I hate waiting for the bus and the train and all the connections... it gets me very agitated. 

Class was good as always though. Working out always makes my tension melt away. After class we decided to try another new place to eat. It was a Bistro. Nothing too exciting, but at least it was inexpensive. It was raining when we left and we walked through a street festival with music and food. We thought about staying, but decided we didn't really want to stand in the rain and longer than we had to. We went to a little cafe for dessert to get out of the rain for a few minutes and then walked the rest of the way to the station to catch the train back to Stuttgart and then home. 

The bus ride from the station to home didn't go as smoothly and took us about 3 connections with waits between each. I said we were not going to take the bus anymore.

17 Juli - Good hard training

Capoeira was back to normal tonight and I didn't realize how much I missed it. When Mesquita (the guy from Brazil) was here, training seemed a little lighter. I got put in the girl box which means I trained with the other women and the kids. Honestly though, I like training with the guys because they train hard. Nothing against the women, of course, I just like pushing myself till it hurts and making sure that I will be good and sore tomorrow. Maybe a little masochistic, but so be it. Ricky and Predo, the usual teachers, don't typically pair me up with the other women and the kids. They don't make me do 20 backbends in a row either, so it's all relative. Just a different style of teaching, I guess.

Turns out my travel plans worked out for the best because JooJo, Mesquita's brother is coming next weekend and giving a workshop in Tubingen where the sister school is. JooJo's name is Joseph, but since that is not a typical Brazilian name, it is hard to pronounce, so they call him JooJo - funny. Ricki said he is really amazing at Capoeira. I missed the last workshop because I was in Amsterdam, but I like it when the schools get together and have a big Roda session and we all get to play. And, I've been wanting to check out Tubingen anyway. Should be fun.

It was pouring when class was over, so we stayed awhile chatting and hanging out while we hoped for the rain to settle down. We finally decided we should just go... we've gotten pretty used to getting soaked all the time anyway. Besides we were pretty hungry as we always are after class. I wanted something other than pizza tonight, so we checked out a few places on the way to the station. I have really been craving Mexican food, but haven't seen any such place. We settled on a Greek place just across from the station and by this time were dripping wet. The waiter didn't know any English at all, but we did ok with pointing. He brought me a shot of some horrible tasting liqueur that tasted like black licorice. I made such a face that the man at a nearby table burst out laughing and started talking to me in German. Said he wanted to buy me a different shot to warm me up and help dry me off. I just wanted to sink under the table. He ordered me what I think was some kind of vodka and I tried to explain that I just don't drink much and don't like shots. There were no non-meat main dishes on the menu so we ordered an assortment of appetizers. A plate of garlic feta, feta stuffed peppers, rice and feta, eggplant mush, and pita bread. We quickly turned from starving to feeling sick and ended up leaving most of it. Not sure if it was the amount of oil and cheese that everything seemed to smothered in or what.  The waiter brought me a cordial of some kind, but I didn't really like that either so he and the man gave up. Don't think we'll be going back there.

Juli 16 - German cuisine

Looks like I missed the boat on the Pisa deal. We can still go from Friday, the 24th to Wednesday, the 29th, but it is now 5 euro... still a good deal. My adviser is back on the 27th, but I thought we still might as well just go for it. Of course after talking to Skylar, he had a pretty good point: the airport that flies to Venice is in Frankfurt-Hahn which is about 4 hours from here by train, so I was thinking Pisa would be easier, and then take the train from Pisa to Venice. But if the train from Pisa to Venice is about 5 hours and the train from here to Frankfurt-Hahn is 4 hours, how is that easier? He's so smart. So back online I went and found that in mid August there is a deal from Frankfurt-Hahn to Venice for 2 euro. Now there is always something and this time the only problem might be is when Skylar is signed up for camp. I emailed the camp director to confirm the dates because the paper he gave me has two sessions and I think I only signed him up for one. As soon as I find out when he has camp, I'll book the trip to Venice around it. 

This afternoon, we went to meet Juliane for dinner. Juliane is the girl that I met in the student ASTA office who said she would like to practice her English with me and meet up some time. We've gone back and forth with our schedules for a while now and finally were able to make it work tonight. We met at a German restaurant which I thought was a great idea because the only German food I've had is from the Mensa and I am not sure that counts. I tried a beer, but it is becoming more and more apparent that I am just not a beer drinker or any kind of drinker because it all tastes bad to me. Typical beer around here seems to be wheat pilsner and if I am going to drink beer, it has to be nearly black for me to tolerate it. Now, the food was of course mostly meat selections, but they did have a few vegetarian options. Skylar got this mushroom dish with these potato fritter things and I got sauteed vegetables. It wasn't bad, but extremely bland. I am thinking German cuisine is usually flavored with meat... without the meat... well, kind of boring. The portions were also quite small and we were both still hungry. At least we can say we tried it. 

Juliane and I talked about random things for nearly three hours. She worked as an au pair in Chicago for 18 months so her English was perfect. We talked about differences and similarities between the countries. She said people in NY seemed friendlier than people in Germany. I was kind of shocked, but all I can think is that she meant other tourists in NY and not really the natives. There is a certain coldness to strangers in Germany in that no one really nods or greets strangers as they pass like they do in some parts of the US. Nora has mentioned that as well. Maybe people in Germany just mind their own business more than Americans.

When Skylar was finished with his book and was sick of being patient, we paid the bill. I don't think I can get used to asking for the bill and paying the waiter directly; it just makes me uncomfortable. We were still hungry though, so we suggested going to the yummy nearby ice cream place for dessert. We do love the ice cream so :)

15 Juli - Pisa maybe

My research seems to have hit a brick wall so my mind is wandering to other things...

We've been here for over two months now and haven't done nearly as much traveling as I would have liked. Unfortunately, we are a bit of a distance from the bigger airports, so getting to them can be trickier and more expensive than the flights. I really want to see Prague and if I have time and money, I would love to see any part of Spain. Skylar really wants to see Venice. Ryanair and a couple others offer really great deals if you catch them at the right time, so I've been trying to check regularly. There is an offer to Pisa for just 2 euro each way per person from Karlsruhe for Wednesday, the 22nd to Monday, the 27th. Karlsruhe is a little closer than the main airport (1.5 hours by train), but has limited flights and doesn't go to Venice. So we would fly to Pisa and stay a couple days, then take a train to Venice, which is about 5 hours away. Then of course I have to book a hostel and figure out travel connections and logistics. It's all a bit overwhelming especially when I have to worry that Skylar will be with me. By myself or with friends, it wouldn't matter as much, but I don't want to book a seedy place and worry about putting Skylar in any kind of danger. Maybe I worry to much, but I have to think about this more before I book it all.

14 Juli - What's cookin'

Since my advisers are on holiday, I don't see much reason to go into the office. I can research and read from home just as well.  Sometimes staying focused is a problem though.

Today I was in the mood for cooking. I made a deep dish veggie lasagna for dinner. Then strawberry cream muffins for dessert. Recipes can be a real pain with metric conversions. For instance the muffins called for 400 g of flour, so when I look up the conversion, I find that flour converts differently than sugar or even if it is all purpose or wheat. Basically I just guestimate most of the time. So far, so good. The muffins were a little denser than I would have liked, but that may be because the flour is not normal baking flour. Skylar loves to help me cook and is mastering the art of cracking and beating an egg without painting the walls and counter in it.

The lasagna and the muffins were yummy. Now we just need to restrain ourselves from eating them all at once.

13 Juli - Adios Mesquita

Today was Mesquita's last day at the Capoeira studio. We had a long closing in the Roda where we all got to play with him. Then all the kids piled on top of him and wrestled for a while. He said a few words as he was saying his good byes. He said in Brazil everyone trains very hard because it is all they do, but here it seems we just do it for fun or a way to lose weight and don't put in the time and dedication that he is used to. I don't think he meant it in a bad way, but it seemed to me like he was saying we don't take it seriously enough.

Class has been difficult because poor Ricki has been trying to translate from Mesquita's Portuguese to German and then English for Skylar and I, but sometimes gets too confused to do it. It's hard enough to teach in one language, let alone three. I've been trying to follow along as best I could without instruction to save her from the English at least, but sometimes I really got lost. Mesquita understood a little English if I spoke really slow, but it is almost painful to do that. I understood a little Portuguese from the Spanish I know, but it was difficult for him to speak that slowly as well. It tended to make our conversations pretty awkward.

Now class will go back to normal.

12 Juli - Teaching to Lead

I took Skylar to the gym today and taught him how to lead. I was so nervous , but he was totally relaxed... maybe even a little annoyed with my anxiety about the whole thing. At first I made him just go up 2 clips and come back down on the easiest climb we could find... one that he could practically climb without a rope at all. Once he seemed to get the hang of it, I let him climb higher. He talked about taking a fall to see what it was like and I just don't know if I can do that. It's one thing to watch him to do all this dangerous stuff, but to teach him how is just a heck of lot more nerve wracking than I thought. I told him we'd do the belay part when I had someone else to belay while I explained how to do it and then to be backup while he belayed me. I can't very well be climbing and instructing, so next time we climb with Michele, I'll teach him how while I belay Michele and then Michele can back up while he belays me.

I was really impressed though. He didn't back clip or z clip at all and got the hang of maneuvering the clips fairly quickly. Even if he did miss or fumble, he never panicked. Got to admit, I am pretty proud of him :)

We did a little bouldering, which I find somewhat boring compared to the amount of difficulty and then we headed back home before it got dark.

11 Juli - Random festival

Woke up this morning still feeling fine, so whatever was wrong with my back must have worked itself out. Capoeira last night didn't re-pull or re-strain anything. Today I am just feeling the good 'ol soreness of good training. Which means a day well spent relaxing.

Skylar is thrilled to stay home for a change and build his xp or whatever in his game.

When I couldn't take it anymore, we decided to wander into to town get some dinner. We happened upon some random festival along the river. There were lots of food stands.. mostly meat, but we managed to find some yummy and greasy veggie items. We got some sort of pizza type thing to call dinner and then went after the more exciting stuff. Skylar got a crepe and I got a puffy fried dough thing.. similar to a funnel cake in GA or a doughboy in NY... not sure what it was called here... but of course it was topped with Nutella, so it was delicious. We also got some chocolate covered fruit that was a bit weird like it was frozen and then got warm, so it was mushy.

There were also a few bands playing along the water. There was an orchestra on a floating stage that was pretty neat. We watched this more poppy type band sing what seemed to be German drinking songs and a few American party songs. This question came up while we were in Amsterdam too and it reminded me... Does the US have any drinking songs? 

By 11pm, the streets were flooded with people just eating and drinking and having a grand time. I didn't even know there were that many people in this seemingly small town. After a while when we ate as much as we could handle and I couldn't drag Skylar onto the dance floor, we headed for home.

10 Juli - Better

I was worried the cayenne pepper was only a temporary fix and I'd be in pain again this morning, but I wasn't. I could still feel some tightness and it hurt when I did some stretching, but I felt mostly better. There is still plenty of reading I needed to do for my research, so I put my feet up and stayed home again. Of course I kept getting sidetracked, so I need to make sure I get to the office on Monday and really bang out some work. 

I got a letter in the mail that says I owe someone 138 euros. I have no idea what it is for and we were on our way out when I saw it. Nora kindly offered to call the number and see what she could figure out for me.  I keep worrying that I clicked something or agreed to something without realizing it because I didn't know what it said. That would be really stupid.

When Skylar got home, we went to town and used a couple of these 25 euro gift vouchers that the town gave me when we arrived to get Skylar a new sweater since he lost his in Amsterdam. I also needed to get him a new backpack, but they were ridiculously expensive, so I am going to shop around a bit more. I wonder if they have a Target around here :)

Then we went to Capoeira. Yes, I know, maybe another day of healing would have been best, but I just couldn't help myself. By back didn't bother me at all during class even with the back walkovers and handstands. It was a little tight afterward, but for me, exercise always seems to be my cure. After class we went out for pizza and ice cream and then headed home. The problem with getting food after class is we miss the train that gets us home at a semi-decent hour, so we had to wait for the later one and we didn't get home until 1. Skylar passed out seconds after we got home.

9 Juli - Autsch!

When I woke up this morning, I felt this searing pain in my back every time I tried to move. Let's just say the bike ride to the University was not fun. I had to go into the office today because I am meeting with Wendelin about my project plan. I keep taking ibuprofen, but it doesn't seem to do anything. I had to take the box Nora gave me to the pharmacist and point at it and say give me this. Maybe I'll go again today and just point to my back and say autsch! I wanted to go climbing tonight and teach Skylar how to lead. This has to go away soon. I don't get hurt or sick very often or maybe I just ignore the minor things so that when they turn into major things, I won't stop whining.

I was getting ansty about my meeting, so I went to get a cappuccino at the coffee vending machine thing by my office and the choices for a cappuccino are: Hell or Hell mit Sucker... I just started giggling at the machine... I'm such a dork. I chose Hell and it gave me hot chocolate. Whatever... caffeine may not have helped my state of mind at this point anyway.

I met with Wendelin and he seemed very stressed out. Not sure if it was directed at me or if he was just doing too many things at once. Anyway, we discussed the project and went over the outline I drafted. I have a bad feeling about the project now and kind of wish I kept my big mouth shut. I just keep repeating it will all be a learning experience no matter what... that is my current mantra these days.

After my meeting I went to the Apotheke (which are pharmacy stores separate from the grocery or walgreens type stores - they just sell medical stuff). I found these things that stick to the skin in the hurt area and get warm. I thought it was like an icy hot thing. Turns out cayenne pepper is the active ingredient and it reacts with the skin to make it warm. It felt more like a burning sensation, but not so bad that I had to remove it. The pharmacist said to leave it on for 8 hours, so I did. My back really did start feeling much better after a few hours. By the time I took it off, the burning sensation was hurting worse than the back pain. I have a pretty sensitive skin, so when I pulled the patch off it hurt like heck and I instantly broke out in hives. I rinsed it off and put some aloe lotion on and it was ok.

I did not go climbing, but I can't stand much more of this staying home and resting stuff.

8 Juli - Reading

My back felt a tad bit better this morning, but threatened to become worse. So I did something I rarely do and just stayed home and rested today. I did a lot of reading, but that's about it. I laid down with a bag of frozen spinach on my back for a while and did some more stretching. Hopefully, by tomorrow whatever this is will go away.

Since it had been storming on and off the whole day, at least I felt a tad less guilty about doing nothing all day. I hate being hurt or sick.

7 Juli - Project Ideas

When I woke up this morning my back was really sore. Maybe I slept wrong or did something odd at Capoeira without realizing it. Skylar went to the theater with his school today to see a play about a witch. We had both completely forgotten about it until this morning, so we had to stop at the bakery to get something he could bring for lunch on the way to school.

Then I went to the University to meet with my advisers about my project.  First I met with Lael and Diana and explained a few of the things they were unsure about related to the project. Lael brought me a bike kit from Sweden... a really nice one too. She seems to have taken kind of a grandmotherly liking to me. It's incredibly sweet, but I am not used to getting gifts from my teachers. Still just blows my mind how incredibly nice and helpful she was in getting this trip to happen for me and continues to show her kindness. I was afraid she would be upset with me for making a fuss about the project.

Then we went to Wendelin's office to meet. He went through each of my ideas that I sent them and rested on the last one: a cost analysis of diabetes therapies. I am not even sure what I meant when I threw that one in there, but they seemed to think it was a great idea. My back had started to hurt so bad by this point I could barely pay attention, but I agreed that it was a great idea and would love to get started right away. Wendelin said he would send me the literature he had on the topic and I would begin looking for sources from the US. We would meet again on Thursday to set up a project plan.

Then we all we went to lunch in the Mensa and talked about Skylar and traveling and whatnot. Wendelin had a meeting, so Lael, Diana, and I went over to the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee and chit chat some more. Diana invited me to come to Karlsruhe where she lives to meet the son of a friend of hers who is also interested in country comparisons of health systems. He is a nurse who spent some time in Portland, Oregon. 

I went back to my office to check if Wendelin had sent the literature and then decided I could read it from back at the flat. He sent me eight journal articles, seven of which are in German. Either he was more upset with me than he let on or he wasn't paying attention. Hopefully, the latter. 

I really wanted to climbing tonight, but my back was now in excruciating pain, so we stayed home. I felt like a little old lady hobbling around with my hand on my back barely able to get up off the bed. I forced myself to do some yoga and stretches and finally was able to fall asleep.

6 Juli - Soaked Again

It was quite the struggle to get Skylar out the door for school this morning. It wasn't really that much earlier than we had been getting up, but getting up to play video games is easier than getting up for school. Getting up wasn't especially easy for me either. I didn't really have any reason to go the office since my project is on hold, so I just stayed home and cleaned up a bit and did some reading. I meet with my advisers tomorrow to discuss new ideas. 

When Skylar got home, we headed off to Stuttgart for Capoeira. Even though I found a place closer, I really have grown attached to the studio in Stuttgart. We missed the train by a fraction of a minute and had to wait until the next one, so we were late to class. Amazingly, this was the first time we were late. Class was pretty mellow, which was nice because I was out of shape for this too. Two weeks can really set you back when it comes to physical activities. Usually it doesn't take that long to get back in the swing of things though. 

On the way home we got caught in a thunderstorm and were completely soaked within seconds. We got home, dryed off, changed clothes, and went to bed.

5 Juli - Lead

Today we went climbing with Michele at what has become the usual spot in Hesigheim. Michele picked us up at about 11 and off we went. I forget how easily I can get out of shape for climbing. My head gets me the most and I panic, making it that much harder to climb. My arms get pumped pretty easily too and my fingers start to burn. Michele is a very good climber and I try to climb what he climbs which may be part of the problem. I always forget to take it down a notch when I am climbing with someone better than me... maybe it's pride or something.  There is this one climb that is his favorite because the rock is still rigid and not polished from so many people climbing it that I find really challenging. I did it last time we were there, but it was a struggle. Problem number one is the first clip is about 15 feet off the ground and is not an easy ascent to get there. I tried, but just when I was in reach of the clip, I had no way to let go with one arm to clip in. I hung on too long willing myself to do it until I nearly fell. Luckily Michele is at least 6 feet tall and with arms outstretched was able to let me sit in his hands to bring me down. I was so embarrassed and therefore kind of shot after that. We did climb a little longer though. Michele led this one route and secured the top anchor so Skylar could climb it. Then Skylar belayed me on the climb to the right of it because the rope angle changed when the clips were taken out. This route was so polished my hands and feet kept slipping off of everything and I was cursing the rock while Skylar and Michele laughed at me and said I wasn't going to get any ice cream if I didn't climb it. Well, put my ice cream at risk and I scampered up the wall about as clumsily as possible, but I made it. Then luckily (for me because I was wrecked at this point) it started to rain a little, so we decided to go. Definitely not my best climbing day.

They teased me a bit more that all I could get at the ice cream place was a glass of water and they were probably right, but I promised to get to the gym more often and make it up :)

Michele dropped us off at home and we made dinner and went to bed. I was so sore.

4 Juli - Independence Day

Obviously the 4th of July is not celebrated here in Germany, and I was glad. Today we needed to stock up on groceries and put our things back in place.

I decided to do a little cooking and made a really scrumptious potato and corn chowder followed by an even more scrumptious Nutella cheesecake. I love to cook, but am usually running from work to school to Skylar's activities and throwing something together as quickly as possible. It's nice to have the time to make new things and get creative.

Other than that, this was a very low key day, which I thought was a perfect way to celebrate Independence Day.

3 Juli - Homeward bound

Some time during the night our roommates came in, but they tried to be quiet. We woke up at about 7am and also tried to be quiet so we didn't disturb them. I had laid our clothes out that we needed and had everything pretty much ready to go, so it wasn't too bad.  We checked out and took the tram to the station to catch our train.

I was able to find a train back home that only had one change, so that was nice. We were able to settle in and just relax. It was a six hour trip, but we've learned how to occupy ourselves pretty well on these train trips. Skylar with his books and drawing and me with my books and knitting. Skylar was able to take a nap for a little bit, but I just couldn't find a way to get comfortable. I had this strange feeling of excitement that I was going home... but I wasn't really going home... made me kind of look forward to the feeling when I go home for real. Not that I don't love it here, but just thinking about my friends and my usual routine made me a little homesick. 

Back in Heilbronn, we took a taxi back to the flat. I didn't even haul the suitcase upstairs, I brought it straight to the basement to do laundry. Everything seemed to have taken on the smell of smoke even though I tried to wrap the offending clothes in plastic. Once all the clothes were out, I took the rest of the stuff up and unpacked. Then we both flopped on the bed and got our internet fix.

One of the guys, Benjamin, that lives downstairs from us was at the Masters class. He invited us to a BBQ, so we went to that for a little while. Benjamin offered German lessons to Skylar once a week. Some of the other students that I met at the Masters class were there as well. I said something to the other guy that lives downstairs from me about being there six weeks and never seeing them and he commented that he sees me all the time on my bicycle with my Pippie Longstrumph hair. Haven't had it called that since I was 6 :) I had some nice conversations with some of the other students, but then of course they all started speaking German. It is quite an interesting language to listen to and I actually kind of like trying to figure out what people are saying. So many sch sounds. I was pretty train lagged or something though and all I wanted to do was lay down for a while, so I went upstairs to bed.

2 Juli - Beached

We slept in a little bit this morning, happy not to be rushed to get down to the classes. After getting ready and putting our luggage in the luggage room downstairs, we got on our way to the beach. There is a cute little pancake place on the way to the tram station, so we stopped for more pancakes. Still not as good as the Pancake Bakery, but good.

One of the students at the Masters class that was from Amsterdam suggested we go to Zandvoort Beach because it was most easily accessible. She was right. We took the tram to Centraal Station and hopped the metro to Zandvoort aan Zee. The train was jammed with people that mostly looked like they were going to the beach as well. Skylar found a spot on the stairs to sit and I was pushed up against the door. It was about a 20 minute ride and once we got through the crowd, just a 10 minute walk to the beach.

It was like a parking lot of people. There were these plastic things with beach chairs in front of them that you parked at. We found an empty one near the front and laid out our stuff. Many of the women were topless, which Skylar remarked as being strange, but I told him not to worry and that it was quite normal here. It was so nice to just lay in the sun and relax. The water was cold, but not too bad. Skylar kept running in and out of the water and playing in the sand. It's been a couple years since we'd gone to the beach. The waves were pretty low and we were able to go way out and still touch the ground.

We went to this cute little Italian place for some pizza for lunch and then went back to the waves. We stayed a while longer until we were pretty exhausted and it started getting a little chilly. The train was just as packed on the way home, but we were able to find seats. 

Back at the Hostel, we checked into our room and settled in for bed since we had to leave pretty early in the morning to catch the train back home.

1 Juli - 5th (Last Day) of Masters Class and the Zoo

I had barely shut my eyes when the alarm went off this morning. I rolled out of bed and was hit with the rank smell of my hair and clothes from the night before. Smoking is still allowed in bars and clubs and my hair soaks it all up like a sponge. I tied my clothes in a bag and hopped in the shower. At least I was clean, but I felt so completely out of it and was so not ready to present anything. However, maybe because I was tired, my nerves couldn't take me over and I presented my slides somewhat coherently. I think everyone was so tired at this point, it didn't really matter anyway. People started leaving around 11 and we left at about 12 to go to the zoo. I decided to stay at least one more day and take Skylar somewhere because he really had been so patient this week and I hadn't gotten to take him anywhere outside of the set academic and social activities since we got there. He told me over breakfast that he had a really fun week already though.

The zoo was big, but not enormous. I think we got to see everything and take as many pictures as we could. Skylar is developing quite an eye for his pictures and he really took some great shots. It seemed many of the animals were in small, but open areas, not just cages, which was nice. When we walked in we saw monkeys swinging all over this play area. Then we walked along past some animals I had never heard of and can't seem to find the names for on the internet. We were able to pet a giant turtle and some adorable lemurs. The lemurs were apparently trained to stay in the area by use of electric fences and now the fences were turned off, so the only slightly timid creatures wander around and swing from trees. There were some very interactive gorillas in a cage that was way too small for my liking. They came right up to the glass and put their faces against it or tapped it. They were stunning. In the bird section we saw a great variety like macaws, parakeets, quail, owls, flamingos, pelicans, and a bunch that I can't remember. There was dozen different kinds of monkeys, baboons, pygmy marmosets, something like a sloth, squirrels, foxes, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my. There were wolves, bison, emus, elephants, giraffe, and zebras. In the aquarium there were a bunch of incredible fish I don't think I've seen before. There were frogs, turtles, lizards, and snakes too. All in all, a typical zoo, but there were a least a few that might not be seen in US zoos, so it was pretty neat. Skylar played on the playgrounds and we wandered around the entire thing until it closed. Unfortunately he lost his hat somewhere.

We got back to the Hostel and ran into a few of the group from the Masters class that were also staying for another day or two. They were just on their way to dinner and invited us along. We had very sore feet, but thought the idea of dinner was a great idea. Much better than my idea of sitting in the cafe with free internet. So we walked to this quaint little Indonesian and Tibetan place. They didn't have much variety for vegetarians, but we got the couple choices they did have and they were wonderful. Some of the guys shared a bunch of food they could hardly finish and some others seemed to be having trouble communicating what they wanted to the waitress who they decided was in a bad mood. A few of us got dessert that was also amazingly yummy. When the 260 euro check came around and people left only 7 euro, I got a little upset. I know they tip less in Europe, but that was barely 5% and 5 euro of it was mine. They said the waitress wasn't friendly and whatnot. It just made me so upset... being a waitress and bartender for so many years has ingrained some standards in me. The people from the US each threw in another euro or two to appease me and we left.

Most of the group went off to some more wandering, but it was late (nearly 11) and I wanted to get back so we could get up early tomorrow either to go home or to the beach. I finally decided I wanted to stay another day to go to the beach so I checked for a room and lied about Skylar's age (he had to be 12) so that we could stay in a mixed room. We checked into our tiny room and settled in for bed.