flip flop

I tried to relive the sledding joy again today with a friend. It worked to some extent...we sledded, laughed, raced, raced a two year old, my butt got completely wet, we drank two glasses of Gluhwein, and then I went off to Unterwasserhockey practice. It was actually quite hilarious, today I was carrying around my flippers and my two sleds. I get interesting looks with the flippers cause they stick out of my bag. And when I whip out the knitting on the train....I can't even imagine what they think.

So practice was good, if quite challenging today, and then we scampered off the the Bierstube in the Olympiadorf. I've mentioned the Olympiadorf before...it's a large collection of student housing, consisting of the old Olympic Village. It's quite charming, and as I discovered tonight, it has its own cafe and bier hall, as well as disco, pottery studio, comedy club...the list goes on. The student life in Germany is pretty great. At any rate I had a wonderful Pizza and beer with the UWH team, and headed home. I stopped in Hauptbahnhof to change trains and got a phone call from my friend Vincent, letting me know that he'd convinved one of the heads of MESA, the international student group who I went on the hut weekend with, to get us off the waiting list for the Dresden trip this weekend! Wahoo! I'm going to Dresden, hoorah. It's pretty crazy though, my other options for this weekend were a birthday party and a trip to salzburg, or skiing with a friend from the unterwasserhockey team. Hopefully salzburg and skiiing can happen another weekend.

Now off to sleep off the flipperfeet.

spontaneous greek love temple mulled wine sledding

I have had one constantly repeating revelation in my time here thus far: life is never what you expect, and even when you think you wish something would happen, usually what you never could have imagined or planned on is better than what you originally wished for. In short, life in unexpected and that's wonderful.

I've had a series of consecutive experiences that really have allowed me to throw my trust towards my own fate. Nothing drastic, I guess I'm just supremely happy right now and things keep happening that are adding to that.

Yesterday after class I set off to the Christkindlmarkt am Chinesischen Turm (Christmas Market at the Chinese Tower in the English Garten in Munich). There was the requisite music and I bought a glass of Glühwein to warm up (mulled wine.) I wandered around the various picturesque stands selling things ranging from cutting boards to nativity scenes to knitted socks to...and then suddenly I saw them. Small sleds, the kind you sit on and they are barely big enough for your butt and there's a little handle thing that you hold onto between your legs. I loooked at the price--1.99!! Two euros! So I bought one. And then I finished my Glühwein and walked around and realized...I can't buy just one! So I bought a second. Red and Yellow. They fit EXACTLY in my backpack, which means I can always carry them around. I had tried earlier in the week to go sledding with a friend and we brought cardboard...let's just say it did not work very well.

So I set off with a nice glow from the Glühwein and the victorious purchase, and realized...i can't carry a sled through a park without trying it! So I hiked up to the very top of the Monopteros (see photo here), removed my coat...and off I went. I should mention that the view of the towers of Munich which you can see here (just imagine it with snow) from this section of the Englischer Garten is spectacular. And the sun was just starting to set, and I was all alone, whizzing down a hill and laughing like crazy, because really, sledding makes you laugh like crazy. I got to the bottom and knew I couldn't stop there. After two or three exhilarating runs, I was walking back up the hill and I heard my phone ringing. I ran to my bag, and by the time I got there I was quite exhausted. I didn't recognize the number but I figured it was just a friend so I answered, quite out of breath....

"Guten Tag, Frau Flechtner? Ich bin die Frau Bohle"

Scheisse. These were the people for my internship! Why are they calling me? Here I am, all alone on the top of a hill with a sled in one hand, totally out of breath, jacketless, trying to speak professional german.

"Sind Sie beschäftigt?" (are you busy?)--Frau Bohle
"Naja...ich bin gerade unterwegs (heavy breathing)" (yeaahh...i'm on my way somewhere)

But then, after it all...they invited me to an interview. And INTERVIEW! wahoo!! Here's some info about my potential internship: http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/article1575.html

Needless to say, I took a victory sled or two. Yelling "wahoo" all the way. It's great to be a foreigner...

and some more explanation

Ok. I'm beating a dead horse, i think, but here's an article about underwaterhockey in Cincinnati, In english: http://www.wral.com/apstrangenews/5411464/detail.html

It's quite funny. Here are my favorite quotes:

"What's next, underwater basket weaving?'"

"You get the gagging feeling. But when you're close to the goal, you're like, 'Do I want to score a goal or breathe?' Most of the time I say, 'Score.'"

"From the surface, it looks like a feeding frenzy."

I think that I am a fish.

scuba steve

And this is it, the long awaited photo that proves the whole thing is true. I'm exhausted from the weekend, but it was great and i'll write more later. As an appetizer, here's me fully equipped.

and this is the international underwaterhockey alpine league logo. hmm...

and so it goes...

hi! that's me and my host dog.

right. so i'm quite busy, and i think i am also quite adapted. These are all good things, except that i've almost stopped writing here. Basically I've made a bunch of new friends, been playing lots of unterwasserhockey and just enjoying life. my parents were here last week and that went really well. I love my life here right now, including the lack of sleep it involves... This weekend i'm going to an unterwasserhockey tournament in Slovenia. That's right. Should be pretty fun, as well absurd. Come to think of it, that pretty much defines my life right now. Fun and absurd.

a special day

today is 11.11...the one day I won't mess up writing the dates the european way

various amounts of progress on various things

Dear Diary,

It's the hardest to write in you when there's a lot going on--precisely when I should write in you the most! At any rate, the last few days have been full of nothing particularly new but progress on a lot of fronts. What fronts? Well, there's the Unterwasserhockey front, for starters. I have been promoted to the advanced practice group, wahoo! And I actually played, and did good things that helped the team instead of hurt them. I actually think I've never liked a sport more! There's something particularly satisfying about out breath holding people while wearing perhaps the most ridiculous outfit in the world. I find it exceedinly satisfying that in my life I have played not just one but two sports which make use of the most ridiculous looking head gear in the athletic world: the water polo cap. And I'm still young...

Additionally on the UWH front, I am finally starting to be able to recognize people behind their waterpolo caps, diving masks, and snorkels, and making some friends! And due to the unusually communal nature of the locker rooms, I find myself oft involved in what I would normally term girly locker room chat with the whole team! Also on the "friends" front, I've been meeting some other people. I have been a very active fake participant in most Erasmus student activities, which is the governing body of the European exchange program and has offices and actual staff in every city whose sole job seems to be to plan parties and events for exchange students. Yesterday we went on a brewery tour of the Paulaner Brauerei, which was interesting but hard to follow because our tour guide kept flirting with the spanish language translator that another group had brought along. The best parts were: tasting the barley malt, going in the giant refridgerator room where the beer is aged, and seeing the giant assembly line where the bottles are filled and labled. Ah, the beauty of mass production. And of course, there was free beer for all, which was rewarding as always. And this weekend I am going with a group of Erasmus students to the Alps to stay in a hut for two nights. It's going to be...interesting. I have a feeling there won't be all that much sleeping. Hey, you only live once...

Yes, so my life has been off-and-on sleepless, and of course there's been fun with my host family and I'm starting to think about internship options. And last but not least my family is coming to visit next sunday! I can't really believe it's already the middle of November...when I left it seemed like such a long time away that they were coming to visit me, but here we are and I will be thrilled to see them.

So that's all for now, although I'm sure I'll add more later as, well, there's more to say...friends, boys, school, the usual aspects of life (at least mine). Until then...tschuss!

Emily

when it rains, it pours

catch-up

Referat? Man, that was so long ago. It went well. So well that I decided to celebrate Halloween in true halloween style, dressed up like a Ninja Turtle (raphael), but not until after wearing my purple wig to language class. Old women on the train actually avoided sitting next to me--halloween here is just not the same. First time i've been truly homesick. Went back to the ridiculous mall-of-clubs and fought my way through crowds of uncostumed 17 year olds for a chance to dance. Danced a bit but then fell asleep at the club around 3. I'm too old for this. When I finally got home I walked into my bedroom and my alarm went off, signifying that I had been awake exactly 24 hours (6:45-6:45) and decided that was my cue: to bed. Slept till 5pm the next day.

Lately? ...not too much. Eric is here, though! We're checking out Munich...I always learn something new about Munich when I have visitors. Yesterday we climbed the "Olympiaberg" in the olympic park. We saw a beautiful sunset and the mountains...it was unrealistically warm yesterday. Sometimes the weather here baffles me..it's been beautiful! I went to Unterwasserhockey yesterday. It was great...I'm getting much better. I think I might pick up snorkeling for real after this...if I can get over my fear of fish. The plan for today is multi-faceted: eric is coming to see my house, then we're going to a "Tram party" with the international student group. The plan? Party in a street car while it drives around munich. Kind of like prom on a river boat, only there will be alcohol. We'll see how three hours on a tram with people goes...

That's all, sorry for the rough language and the sloppy writing style. Bis dann...

ninja raphael kicks defeats evil referat

Strangest Halloween of my life...

I got up at 6:45 to make sure I was NICE and early for my oral presenation in "Development and Social Change." Stopped on the way to send a few packages...some of you will be getting some exciting mail soon!

I was so early to the Poli Sci building and so nervous that I got some Chamomile tea in the cafeteria downstairs. It was horrible, and then I noticed it was made by Kraft. Damn kraft...

At any rate, the presenation went well! By well I mean..well..I survived. I think I did alright...gosh knows I certainly made a huge number of grammatical errors..but I think I was understood and I'd worked really hard. I guess that's the important part. Needless to say I was thrilled to be done, and I rewarded myself with a beer in the Viktualianmarkt beer Garden..mmm.