Last night we went to a bar here in town, but to be honest it really isn't a bar, its more of a cafe. Anyway, the owner has really taken to us and he provides board games for his cafe, so last night our entire group was there playing a different game. Most played Yuker, but Matt, Matt, and I played Triominos, and like 9 others played a German game Zug um Zug for like 2 hours. I was so much fun!
I had one rattler and so did Matty! They are the most tasty rattlers in Mayen in my opnion, since every bar I've been to so far I've ordered one in. So tasty. So with everyone of us there, I suppose we scared the Germans off, but I know the owner had a good night, because our group is huge and I think everyone but Matt and I had more than one drink!
However, there were two German girls who came in, sat down, and ordered drinks. We were playing triominos at the time, but I could tell that they were talking about us and looking at us. I wasn't sure what to make of it.
Side note: Everyone here really wants to improve their German as much as possible, so whenever we are with each other, even if it is just a few in our group, we speak German with one another instead of English.
So eventually one fo the girls asked us where we came from and what we were doing in Mayen. This eventually lead to a long conversation between Matt, myself, and these two lovely girls who were studying at the Universität here! We talked about Opera (apparently I hit a nerve there, because one of teh girls was a die hard opera fan, and when I told her Matt was recently Papageno, she flipped) Musik in gerneral, why we all speak German with one another instead of English, why we were in Mayen, how long we're staying etc. It was a really nice converstation and both of them complimented me on my German, I understood everything they said and was able to respond quite well. I am really happy with the kind of exposure I am getting here.
After they left Matt walked me home (to which I am sure he either read or went to sleep) and I read for a while in my book and fell to sleep.
Today we have class from 9-12 and then we leave a 1:30 for a tour of a castle I believe and then a tour of a Brewery in Mendig. Apparently it is supposed to be on top of an old Volcano. Cool! Tonight we were invited by my host student here Tobi to come to a party tonight so I am not sure who is all coming but I am pretty sure the whole group right now. I'll let you know how it goes.
Anyways, Tomorrow 6 of us leave for Salzburg on the 6:55 am train leaving out of East Mayen. It will be a trip thats for sure. I hope everything goes alright, we'll be in Salyburg tomorrow, and a bit of Friday, then Friday afternoon we plan to head to Munich where we will spend the rest of Friday and Sat. and take the night train home to Mayen on Sat. overnight to sunday.
So I am pretty sure that this will be the last update until we get back Sunday. I hope you are all doing well and many blessings!!!!
Bis Dann ;)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Classes, Germany, Computer????
Hello Everyone!
Well as you can tell from Matt's Post yesterday, classes have started! And he is absolutely right, the experience was a humbling one, not to mention boring and frustrating. We have two teachers: Feleica Lucht (she is a german professor at Michigan State University(We love her)), and a woman who is German and comes from this area; however, she is not a teacher and therefore..... I find her classes boring. I feel that her classes really have no point. We sit and listen to German examples (speaking, talking in the Trainstation, etc) for 1.5 hours. It is so boring (I am sorry to say so, but she is not a teacher in real life for a reason). However, Frau Lucht is wonderful and I enjoy her portion of the class much more. How it works is we have classes from 9-12. German 340 (oral german 3rd year), and German 420 (Advanced German). I am in 420, Matthew is in 340. The classes are basically the same thing, except the homework is different.
So in class we are taught from 9-10:30 by one teacher, at 10:30 we have a 5 min. break, and then from 10:35-12 we are taught by the other teacher. Matt's Class is taught first by Frau Lucht and then the German woman, and mine visa versa. So Matt has a lovely first half of the class and I the second half of the class. We both enjoy Frau Lucht a lot and she is very nice and fun to have classes with because her activites are fun and exciting and we usually play a game. Today we played pictionary with the New German volcabulary.
Yesterday, we had two sets of class from 9-12 and then 1:30-? because Thursday is a holiday in Germany and therefore we will not be having classes. So our lunch break was from 12-1:30 during which emotions ran high (crying involved), but it was quickly resolved and chocolate ice cream was purchased! I think ice cream makes everything better :). There is a huge chess board in Mayen, and after buying ice cream we went to it and played chess. The 1st game was against two girls in our program, and the 2nd game which lasted for the greater part of the lunch break was played between Matt and I, which eventually turned into half of our Mayen group, those who know how to play chess, an old German man, and I against Matt and a few others.
It was the most fun game ever, we had such a great time, people watched us, and one old German man stuck around till the end. I talked with him, asking him for advice, and inturn, I think I made a pretty good ally! I did however in the end lose. But it was completely worth it because it was the most fun I think our entire group has had together thus far!
After classes we went to the grocery stores as matt said and the evening was finished out with a very, very stressful booking of hostles for 2.5 hours and then Beer in a local Kniepe, the proprietor of which, was very nice to us.
Then home to do homework and sleep.
However, Matt did not update you on our trek through the woods and our lovely tour of "Schloss Burresheim." So we started off on our trek from the altes Rathaus in der alte Stadt Mayen (from the old court house in the old inner city of Mayen). It took us quite some time to reach the forest and once there we were there forever. The hike through the forest was indeed a hike!!! But it was so beautiful. An older German man led the way through the woods to Schloss Burresheim and Matthew and I chatted with him along the way. We talked about different trees and their names in English and German, about Musik (Opera Musik, and how Matthew would one day become a big star!!! ;) also about Mayen, etc). He had a good time chatting with us and
I believe we gain at least 10 or more new words per day.
An hour and a half later we finally reached Schloss Burresheim. It is a beautiful castle and reminded me a lot of the castle "Burg Eltz." Apparently the two are sister castles so they say, and I can see the resemblance in apperance and what not.
We reached the Schloss, took pictures of the outside castle, the castle gardens, surrounding landscape, and the the horses on the Castles property (hehe). When we reached the inner part of the castle, we all sat down to rest for a moment, because it was quite a hike from the inner city to the castle. I do believe there is a faster way to get there, however, I think we took the scenic route. (Matt and I definatley feel we will lose weight here with all the walking we will be doing, yay!!!). Anyways, we went on our tour, and it was quite long I will add, I believe it took around 45 mins. In which we had to stand that whole time (most of us, meaning at least me, our feet were throbbing (me, because I just bought new tennis shoes for this trip) :( poor feet.
The tour, again, was completely in German, however, I can not be sure that I understood even most of it. Yes I got the general idea of things, but our tour guide spoke so quickly and there were si nany words that he used that neither I nor Matt knew. It was however a lovely castle and Matthew's first, so a hip hip hoorahy for Schloss Burresheim!
There were so many interesting things in Schloss Burresheim. There was a bearskin rug, a painting of weaponry that looked so real, I honestly thought I could pluck it from the wall, a globe, probably the biggest I have ever seen at least as large as....probably my kitchen table back home. there was also a chapel and a room for the preist that lived there with the family. The family that once lived in Schloss Burresheim did not either want to go to town or had the time to go to town for church so they built their own chapel in their house essentially. Interesting for sure! There was also an indoor bathroom, meaning a little room attached to a reading room in which there was a sitting place with a hole cut in it that I believe just dumped bathroom waste on the outside of the castle. (messy).
There were also several kitchens, Two winter kitchens in the castle, huge, with absolutely enormous open stoves, I can't even explain what I mean here it is like the size of a walk in closet with a fire pit, and there they would cook. Insane!!! but really cool. they also had a summer kitchen outside on the inner part of the castle.
After our tour, we took a group photo in front of the Schloss with Frau Lucht's camera (I must get that picture from her) and went back on our way through the woods for another 1.5 hour hike.
I will for sure put that on this blog when I get it!
Upon arriving home, my roommates and I rushed home for dinner prepared for our host family and eaten with them. It was a lovely dinner consisting of baked chicken, noodles with a really tasty sauce that I am not familiar with and a cucumber-tomato salad! It was sooooo good! Afterwards, Tobias, who had spent the night at his girlfriends, needed a ride home. The host mom "Mariana" needed to go fetch him and invited the girls and I to tag along! We did and what a tag along was it! Mariana drives very fast and gave us a lovely view of the area. Tobi's (as we fonderly call him) girlfriend lives a small town 20 mins from Mayen, so we went to pick him up, drove around for awhile, and went home.
Tobi, immediately upon arriving home, went to eat (the whole ride he kept complaining how hungry he was, we laughed and made fun of him). Matt called and we invited him over to watch Indian Jones und der Heilige Gral (and the holy Grail). He arrived and the party began. Marianna(mother), Eckhard (father), Tobias (son), Laura, Paula, Matt, and I drank beer and wine and watched Indian Jones on T.V.
We had such a great time because Mariana kept saying how the blod nazi girl was "zu blond" (too blond) and then we also started saying it. We also called her a schlampe (not a nice word in english) and had a good time jsut listening to the film in German! By the end I feel we were all pretty relaxed and were just happy to be in eachothers company. Matt eventually went home after the film had finished and everyone was so exhausted from the days events that we all slept like rocks! It was a good time overall!
Now to Today! So far: and its now 6:31pm, we had class from 9-12. Then everyone who is going to Salzburg and Munich this weekend went to activate their Eurail passes and reserve our trainseats. After everything was completed it was time for lunch, which turned out to be Currywurst mit Brötchen! (currywurst (like a sausage type white meat) with a hard roll). It was so tasty and at the Imbiss (where on ebuys currywurst), there was a lady with her three Shih tzus. They were so cute, we (meaning Matt, then the other Matt in our group, and I) talked with her about her dogs, how sweet they were, their temperaments, how old they were, their names, how I have 2 Shih tzus, etc. She was so sweet and.... exactly like my mother, feed them basically everything from what she ate. She only fed them brötchen (because she said the wurst was so tasty and then they would always want some). However, she also said, how can I ever get fat, when I am always having to share my food with them! lol, it was fantastic and she was very sweet with us.
Matt and I then verntured into Mayen meaning all around the old city to find a PCI card for my computer because it was built before the time of ethernet chords etc. My old laptop on has space for a phone line, no ethernet chord, so I am out of luck. I cannot hook up my computer to anything and we don't need to write any papers on the computer, only by hand, so I basically brought my computer to Germany for nothing!!! Schade (sadness)
In all the places we went, no one had what we needed, so right now, I am contemplating mailing my computer home. What do you guys think? too expensive maybe?
Anyways. After that Matt and I came to my house and did homework which took quite some time and my roommates are currently cooking dinner. After which we will go back into town to a local bar and play Yuker. I think thats how its spelt, its a card game.
Well, now that I have told you all, I will resign myself to seeing how dinner is coming! I hope you are all doing well and know that we miss you.
Bis Dann!
Emily
Well as you can tell from Matt's Post yesterday, classes have started! And he is absolutely right, the experience was a humbling one, not to mention boring and frustrating. We have two teachers: Feleica Lucht (she is a german professor at Michigan State University(We love her)), and a woman who is German and comes from this area; however, she is not a teacher and therefore..... I find her classes boring. I feel that her classes really have no point. We sit and listen to German examples (speaking, talking in the Trainstation, etc) for 1.5 hours. It is so boring (I am sorry to say so, but she is not a teacher in real life for a reason). However, Frau Lucht is wonderful and I enjoy her portion of the class much more. How it works is we have classes from 9-12. German 340 (oral german 3rd year), and German 420 (Advanced German). I am in 420, Matthew is in 340. The classes are basically the same thing, except the homework is different.
So in class we are taught from 9-10:30 by one teacher, at 10:30 we have a 5 min. break, and then from 10:35-12 we are taught by the other teacher. Matt's Class is taught first by Frau Lucht and then the German woman, and mine visa versa. So Matt has a lovely first half of the class and I the second half of the class. We both enjoy Frau Lucht a lot and she is very nice and fun to have classes with because her activites are fun and exciting and we usually play a game. Today we played pictionary with the New German volcabulary.
Yesterday, we had two sets of class from 9-12 and then 1:30-? because Thursday is a holiday in Germany and therefore we will not be having classes. So our lunch break was from 12-1:30 during which emotions ran high (crying involved), but it was quickly resolved and chocolate ice cream was purchased! I think ice cream makes everything better :). There is a huge chess board in Mayen, and after buying ice cream we went to it and played chess. The 1st game was against two girls in our program, and the 2nd game which lasted for the greater part of the lunch break was played between Matt and I, which eventually turned into half of our Mayen group, those who know how to play chess, an old German man, and I against Matt and a few others.
It was the most fun game ever, we had such a great time, people watched us, and one old German man stuck around till the end. I talked with him, asking him for advice, and inturn, I think I made a pretty good ally! I did however in the end lose. But it was completely worth it because it was the most fun I think our entire group has had together thus far!
After classes we went to the grocery stores as matt said and the evening was finished out with a very, very stressful booking of hostles for 2.5 hours and then Beer in a local Kniepe, the proprietor of which, was very nice to us.
Then home to do homework and sleep.
However, Matt did not update you on our trek through the woods and our lovely tour of "Schloss Burresheim." So we started off on our trek from the altes Rathaus in der alte Stadt Mayen (from the old court house in the old inner city of Mayen). It took us quite some time to reach the forest and once there we were there forever. The hike through the forest was indeed a hike!!! But it was so beautiful. An older German man led the way through the woods to Schloss Burresheim and Matthew and I chatted with him along the way. We talked about different trees and their names in English and German, about Musik (Opera Musik, and how Matthew would one day become a big star!!! ;) also about Mayen, etc). He had a good time chatting with us and
I believe we gain at least 10 or more new words per day.
An hour and a half later we finally reached Schloss Burresheim. It is a beautiful castle and reminded me a lot of the castle "Burg Eltz." Apparently the two are sister castles so they say, and I can see the resemblance in apperance and what not.
We reached the Schloss, took pictures of the outside castle, the castle gardens, surrounding landscape, and the the horses on the Castles property (hehe). When we reached the inner part of the castle, we all sat down to rest for a moment, because it was quite a hike from the inner city to the castle. I do believe there is a faster way to get there, however, I think we took the scenic route. (Matt and I definatley feel we will lose weight here with all the walking we will be doing, yay!!!). Anyways, we went on our tour, and it was quite long I will add, I believe it took around 45 mins. In which we had to stand that whole time (most of us, meaning at least me, our feet were throbbing (me, because I just bought new tennis shoes for this trip) :( poor feet.
The tour, again, was completely in German, however, I can not be sure that I understood even most of it. Yes I got the general idea of things, but our tour guide spoke so quickly and there were si nany words that he used that neither I nor Matt knew. It was however a lovely castle and Matthew's first, so a hip hip hoorahy for Schloss Burresheim!
There were so many interesting things in Schloss Burresheim. There was a bearskin rug, a painting of weaponry that looked so real, I honestly thought I could pluck it from the wall, a globe, probably the biggest I have ever seen at least as large as....probably my kitchen table back home. there was also a chapel and a room for the preist that lived there with the family. The family that once lived in Schloss Burresheim did not either want to go to town or had the time to go to town for church so they built their own chapel in their house essentially. Interesting for sure! There was also an indoor bathroom, meaning a little room attached to a reading room in which there was a sitting place with a hole cut in it that I believe just dumped bathroom waste on the outside of the castle. (messy).
There were also several kitchens, Two winter kitchens in the castle, huge, with absolutely enormous open stoves, I can't even explain what I mean here it is like the size of a walk in closet with a fire pit, and there they would cook. Insane!!! but really cool. they also had a summer kitchen outside on the inner part of the castle.
After our tour, we took a group photo in front of the Schloss with Frau Lucht's camera (I must get that picture from her) and went back on our way through the woods for another 1.5 hour hike.
I will for sure put that on this blog when I get it!
Upon arriving home, my roommates and I rushed home for dinner prepared for our host family and eaten with them. It was a lovely dinner consisting of baked chicken, noodles with a really tasty sauce that I am not familiar with and a cucumber-tomato salad! It was sooooo good! Afterwards, Tobias, who had spent the night at his girlfriends, needed a ride home. The host mom "Mariana" needed to go fetch him and invited the girls and I to tag along! We did and what a tag along was it! Mariana drives very fast and gave us a lovely view of the area. Tobi's (as we fonderly call him) girlfriend lives a small town 20 mins from Mayen, so we went to pick him up, drove around for awhile, and went home.
Tobi, immediately upon arriving home, went to eat (the whole ride he kept complaining how hungry he was, we laughed and made fun of him). Matt called and we invited him over to watch Indian Jones und der Heilige Gral (and the holy Grail). He arrived and the party began. Marianna(mother), Eckhard (father), Tobias (son), Laura, Paula, Matt, and I drank beer and wine and watched Indian Jones on T.V.
We had such a great time because Mariana kept saying how the blod nazi girl was "zu blond" (too blond) and then we also started saying it. We also called her a schlampe (not a nice word in english) and had a good time jsut listening to the film in German! By the end I feel we were all pretty relaxed and were just happy to be in eachothers company. Matt eventually went home after the film had finished and everyone was so exhausted from the days events that we all slept like rocks! It was a good time overall!
Now to Today! So far: and its now 6:31pm, we had class from 9-12. Then everyone who is going to Salzburg and Munich this weekend went to activate their Eurail passes and reserve our trainseats. After everything was completed it was time for lunch, which turned out to be Currywurst mit Brötchen! (currywurst (like a sausage type white meat) with a hard roll). It was so tasty and at the Imbiss (where on ebuys currywurst), there was a lady with her three Shih tzus. They were so cute, we (meaning Matt, then the other Matt in our group, and I) talked with her about her dogs, how sweet they were, their temperaments, how old they were, their names, how I have 2 Shih tzus, etc. She was so sweet and.... exactly like my mother, feed them basically everything from what she ate. She only fed them brötchen (because she said the wurst was so tasty and then they would always want some). However, she also said, how can I ever get fat, when I am always having to share my food with them! lol, it was fantastic and she was very sweet with us.
Matt and I then verntured into Mayen meaning all around the old city to find a PCI card for my computer because it was built before the time of ethernet chords etc. My old laptop on has space for a phone line, no ethernet chord, so I am out of luck. I cannot hook up my computer to anything and we don't need to write any papers on the computer, only by hand, so I basically brought my computer to Germany for nothing!!! Schade (sadness)
In all the places we went, no one had what we needed, so right now, I am contemplating mailing my computer home. What do you guys think? too expensive maybe?
Anyways. After that Matt and I came to my house and did homework which took quite some time and my roommates are currently cooking dinner. After which we will go back into town to a local bar and play Yuker. I think thats how its spelt, its a card game.
Well, now that I have told you all, I will resign myself to seeing how dinner is coming! I hope you are all doing well and know that we miss you.
Bis Dann!
Emily
Monday, May 19, 2008
My Turn
Well, the first day of classes has come and gone, and to be quite honest, I think we were all humbled a little bit by how much we now know that we don't know. We were a little overwhelmed, but I think that happens when you come to a new country. So far my experience here has been quite an interesting, eyeopening, and enlightening experience. I now feel that the only way that anyone can truly learn a language (other than the basic elements) is by living and experiencing it. It is a little scary, and one realizes how naked and scared they feel when they do not have an easily known and imbedded language to fall back on. It is even more scary when all of the people around you stare at you for what they can just tell you to be, "American".
Here is my summary of what has happened so far, in short hand so as not to bore anyone. The plane ride was extremely long and my legs are now permanently frozen in sitting position, and my butt has permanent seat lines on it. Everything is overwhelming, the sights, the language, the customs, everything. I look back and see that I've only been here four days and I have had to learn, absorb, and process so much information that I feel like I might explode. Meeting all of the MSU people was and will continue to remain a challenege. Everyone was really happy to meet each other right away, but as is the truth with people, their true personalities come out eventually. This phenomenon came to a head today and was rather upsetting, but in lieu of it all, it will make things easier in the long run, especially when making plans and knowing who in the group to avoid, etc.
There are some really good aspects to being here, the foremost of which is the amazing and fantastic view. The scenery, both town and ciy, are absolutely beautiful, and even the air seems to be breathtaking here. Also, the food is amaying, especially the bread. Hard rolls, different types of breads and meats, all different, but all very, very tasty. Of course there are always downsides. Like I said, people staring at you, members of your group being rude and typical americans, the fear of being and travelling in a foreign country where you don't really know anything, the fear that something terrible will happen to you, and so on. It is inevitable and will be something that I will have to deal with as the weeks move on.
Today was the first day of class. It was very long, and much of it was boring. Some of it was very insightful, but I could tell that many of the people in class were very tired, crabby, and most likely hung-over, and so were very snappy and difficult when it came to the tasks at hand, and even when we went out to lunch. I can see now that even among americans, as with the germans, there are some that like us, and some that don't. At least I know now which ones I don't care for and some that I do. I do feel I learned a good deal from the class today, especially as far as new words are concerned. After class we trekked out to the Aldi and Hit grocery stores to pick up some supplies and whatnot. It was an adventure, and we managed to get everything we were looking for at a decent price. Cheap is good, especially in Europe where everything is soooooooooo expensive. At 7 p.m. we met up at an internet cafe to plan out our extended weekend. We will be travelling to Austria, to Salzburg, and to Munich. Unfortunately, as I said, with hostel stays and everything, the total is already about 90 euros. I feel so poor already and it will only have been one week! AGGHHHHHH!!!! Money aside, I feel that I must not have reservations about this trip because I need the experience to grow as a german speaker, and as a person who wants to be culturally aware and able to be involved in. Also unfortunately, we have a considerable amount of homework tonight, so, for now, I shall end my first blog.#
-Matt
Here is my summary of what has happened so far, in short hand so as not to bore anyone. The plane ride was extremely long and my legs are now permanently frozen in sitting position, and my butt has permanent seat lines on it. Everything is overwhelming, the sights, the language, the customs, everything. I look back and see that I've only been here four days and I have had to learn, absorb, and process so much information that I feel like I might explode. Meeting all of the MSU people was and will continue to remain a challenege. Everyone was really happy to meet each other right away, but as is the truth with people, their true personalities come out eventually. This phenomenon came to a head today and was rather upsetting, but in lieu of it all, it will make things easier in the long run, especially when making plans and knowing who in the group to avoid, etc.
There are some really good aspects to being here, the foremost of which is the amazing and fantastic view. The scenery, both town and ciy, are absolutely beautiful, and even the air seems to be breathtaking here. Also, the food is amaying, especially the bread. Hard rolls, different types of breads and meats, all different, but all very, very tasty. Of course there are always downsides. Like I said, people staring at you, members of your group being rude and typical americans, the fear of being and travelling in a foreign country where you don't really know anything, the fear that something terrible will happen to you, and so on. It is inevitable and will be something that I will have to deal with as the weeks move on.
Today was the first day of class. It was very long, and much of it was boring. Some of it was very insightful, but I could tell that many of the people in class were very tired, crabby, and most likely hung-over, and so were very snappy and difficult when it came to the tasks at hand, and even when we went out to lunch. I can see now that even among americans, as with the germans, there are some that like us, and some that don't. At least I know now which ones I don't care for and some that I do. I do feel I learned a good deal from the class today, especially as far as new words are concerned. After class we trekked out to the Aldi and Hit grocery stores to pick up some supplies and whatnot. It was an adventure, and we managed to get everything we were looking for at a decent price. Cheap is good, especially in Europe where everything is soooooooooo expensive. At 7 p.m. we met up at an internet cafe to plan out our extended weekend. We will be travelling to Austria, to Salzburg, and to Munich. Unfortunately, as I said, with hostel stays and everything, the total is already about 90 euros. I feel so poor already and it will only have been one week! AGGHHHHHH!!!! Money aside, I feel that I must not have reservations about this trip because I need the experience to grow as a german speaker, and as a person who wants to be culturally aware and able to be involved in. Also unfortunately, we have a considerable amount of homework tonight, so, for now, I shall end my first blog.#
-Matt
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Mayen City Tour
Yesterday was a lovely day in the city of Mayen!!!!
As I previously told, I said that we would be going on a Stadtour, (a city tour) of Mayen the city in which we are studying.
We all met in the alte Stadt (the old inner city) of Mayen at der Altes Rathaus (basically the old.... court house? I think this is what it translates to) at 4 pm. There was a lovely bakery right next to it, so I went and bought myself a piece of strawberry cake, which is more like strawberrys with a glaze, with a type of almost hard poundcake under it. It's really tasty.
So because we are here to study German, the entire tour was in German! (At first, I think most of us were shocked, lol, but then we accomodated). The tour was given by a man and a woman who lived in Mayen and were in a relationship. It was cute. We walked all around Mayen and learned so much. Apparently there is a volcano, maybe two even if I am right, and it supplied the lava for most of the stones in the city. The cobblestone walkways are made from black lava that cooled quickly and had only tiny airpockets. They are cool looking. There are larger black cobblestones from which the lava cooled slowly therefore leaving larger airpockets. There is also a third form of lava stone that is tan in color and has bits of all kinds of other rocks in it. These stones are used in buildings, walksways, benches, etc. Its really cool. The woman told us that with the last type of lava, parents will teach their children about it in Germany and then whenever the child sees a house that is built with it, the children will say, "that is a -----lava house." If they are right, then they usually get a bonbon. hehe. So in Mayen, since there are SO MANY houses that are built this way, we were left with the impression that children here recieve a lot of bonbons. hehe
We learned a lot, but one more thing that I feel is worth noting, is the fact that there are open drains. Meaning, like when it rains the gutters are full of water, well here there are gutters that are not like ours, they are concereted into the side walk and then closed up on all sides except the top. Well, back in the day, they used these gutters, if you will, as the toilet. And instead of the gutter only being full when it rained, it is full all the time, because a little stream to the river runs through it, so people would go to the bathroom out there and "wosh" there it would go. Kinda gross, huh?
Alright, so the tour went well and it went from couldy, to sunny and hot, to down pouring. lol. We walked a piece of the Stadtmauer (city wall) which was under a roof during the hardest part of the rain. It was a lovely Stadtmauer and you had a beautiful view of the city and churches. We also went up to the castle in Mayen and walked around the outside of it!
After the tour, I ate my now soggy strawberry cake. I had had the store lady wrap it up for me, and carried it with me on the tour since I had no fork to eat it with, but the rain got it. It was still delicious though. Then the whole group went to a Doner Kebab eatery. The doner Kebab is a Turkish dish, however, it is so well loved and eaten by the German peoples that it is their national dish. It was very tasty and we all had a good time eating and being merry.
The group separated, and while my two roommates went to find a phone, I went with Matthew and his roommate to his house. The house is old, but had been modernized. It is quite lovely with two huge gardens, a flower garden and a vegatable\fruit garden. Matt lives with an older couple. I would say a couple in their late 60's-early 70's. The only room in the house that I saw was the kitchen. We sat in there and talked for a very long time with the wife while she made toast for herself, her husband, and I (I felt too bad to refuse her, even though I was extremely full from the Kebab).
So we ate and talked, I again seemed to dominate the conversation. But we had a good time, eventually the mother-in-law of their daughter came to visit them, they all appear to be good friends with one another, and while the wife speaks no english, the mother-in-law is a teacher and I believe spoke english. Everytime I made a mistake I apologized and they got to the point where they told me to stop apologizing and instead to say thank you. lol.
So we went on this way for while till 9 pm, where we walked back into Die alte stadt, (old city) and we went to the Kneipe (bar) Mambo, it was a small place with lots of people and we had fun with a few drinks, from there everyone, but Matt and myself, went to the sleezy diskotech "twilight." Matt and I walked back to my house, so I could show him where it was and we sat and chatted there for a long time and ate chocolate that I had purchased the night before.
We then headed back into town to the bar Ewigelampe where we were greeted by our entire group who had danced and drunk themsevles into a loud, noisy mob. They were very rambunctious at the next bar we went to and well, we left because the bar did not appreciate everyone being so loud. A lot of people, because they didn't know what to do, went home, some went back to Mambo, and Matt and I went back to Ewigelampe and had a couple drinks and apologized to the bar for the drunk mob that had just swarmed their doors.
We did not want to associate ourselves with " typical, stupid, uncaring, americans." which is why we did not go with them to mambo, we stayed at Ewigelampe till about 1:30 am and then Matthew walked me home.
Overall..... the night was.... a wash, there was fighting amongst the group, aminly because we couldn't figure out what to do, and drunk people. Hopefully the next time the group goes out, they will be better behaved, because they were the "typical, drunk , Americans" that germans see us as.
And to end it on that note would be sad, so I will tell you, today we a doing a hike through the forest to Burg burrgeheim, or something to that effect, I will give the real name in the next blog. Sorry no pics still, I forgot my camera on the walk through yesterday so I will have to get the pics from my roommates.
Please all take care and I will update as soon as I can! Bis Dann! ;) and no worries, everything is peachy and fine, however, the weather today seems quite cool.
As I previously told, I said that we would be going on a Stadtour, (a city tour) of Mayen the city in which we are studying.
We all met in the alte Stadt (the old inner city) of Mayen at der Altes Rathaus (basically the old.... court house? I think this is what it translates to) at 4 pm. There was a lovely bakery right next to it, so I went and bought myself a piece of strawberry cake, which is more like strawberrys with a glaze, with a type of almost hard poundcake under it. It's really tasty.
So because we are here to study German, the entire tour was in German! (At first, I think most of us were shocked, lol, but then we accomodated). The tour was given by a man and a woman who lived in Mayen and were in a relationship. It was cute. We walked all around Mayen and learned so much. Apparently there is a volcano, maybe two even if I am right, and it supplied the lava for most of the stones in the city. The cobblestone walkways are made from black lava that cooled quickly and had only tiny airpockets. They are cool looking. There are larger black cobblestones from which the lava cooled slowly therefore leaving larger airpockets. There is also a third form of lava stone that is tan in color and has bits of all kinds of other rocks in it. These stones are used in buildings, walksways, benches, etc. Its really cool. The woman told us that with the last type of lava, parents will teach their children about it in Germany and then whenever the child sees a house that is built with it, the children will say, "that is a -----lava house." If they are right, then they usually get a bonbon. hehe. So in Mayen, since there are SO MANY houses that are built this way, we were left with the impression that children here recieve a lot of bonbons. hehe
We learned a lot, but one more thing that I feel is worth noting, is the fact that there are open drains. Meaning, like when it rains the gutters are full of water, well here there are gutters that are not like ours, they are concereted into the side walk and then closed up on all sides except the top. Well, back in the day, they used these gutters, if you will, as the toilet. And instead of the gutter only being full when it rained, it is full all the time, because a little stream to the river runs through it, so people would go to the bathroom out there and "wosh" there it would go. Kinda gross, huh?
Alright, so the tour went well and it went from couldy, to sunny and hot, to down pouring. lol. We walked a piece of the Stadtmauer (city wall) which was under a roof during the hardest part of the rain. It was a lovely Stadtmauer and you had a beautiful view of the city and churches. We also went up to the castle in Mayen and walked around the outside of it!
After the tour, I ate my now soggy strawberry cake. I had had the store lady wrap it up for me, and carried it with me on the tour since I had no fork to eat it with, but the rain got it. It was still delicious though. Then the whole group went to a Doner Kebab eatery. The doner Kebab is a Turkish dish, however, it is so well loved and eaten by the German peoples that it is their national dish. It was very tasty and we all had a good time eating and being merry.
The group separated, and while my two roommates went to find a phone, I went with Matthew and his roommate to his house. The house is old, but had been modernized. It is quite lovely with two huge gardens, a flower garden and a vegatable\fruit garden. Matt lives with an older couple. I would say a couple in their late 60's-early 70's. The only room in the house that I saw was the kitchen. We sat in there and talked for a very long time with the wife while she made toast for herself, her husband, and I (I felt too bad to refuse her, even though I was extremely full from the Kebab).
So we ate and talked, I again seemed to dominate the conversation. But we had a good time, eventually the mother-in-law of their daughter came to visit them, they all appear to be good friends with one another, and while the wife speaks no english, the mother-in-law is a teacher and I believe spoke english. Everytime I made a mistake I apologized and they got to the point where they told me to stop apologizing and instead to say thank you. lol.
So we went on this way for while till 9 pm, where we walked back into Die alte stadt, (old city) and we went to the Kneipe (bar) Mambo, it was a small place with lots of people and we had fun with a few drinks, from there everyone, but Matt and myself, went to the sleezy diskotech "twilight." Matt and I walked back to my house, so I could show him where it was and we sat and chatted there for a long time and ate chocolate that I had purchased the night before.
We then headed back into town to the bar Ewigelampe where we were greeted by our entire group who had danced and drunk themsevles into a loud, noisy mob. They were very rambunctious at the next bar we went to and well, we left because the bar did not appreciate everyone being so loud. A lot of people, because they didn't know what to do, went home, some went back to Mambo, and Matt and I went back to Ewigelampe and had a couple drinks and apologized to the bar for the drunk mob that had just swarmed their doors.
We did not want to associate ourselves with " typical, stupid, uncaring, americans." which is why we did not go with them to mambo, we stayed at Ewigelampe till about 1:30 am and then Matthew walked me home.
Overall..... the night was.... a wash, there was fighting amongst the group, aminly because we couldn't figure out what to do, and drunk people. Hopefully the next time the group goes out, they will be better behaved, because they were the "typical, drunk , Americans" that germans see us as.
And to end it on that note would be sad, so I will tell you, today we a doing a hike through the forest to Burg burrgeheim, or something to that effect, I will give the real name in the next blog. Sorry no pics still, I forgot my camera on the walk through yesterday so I will have to get the pics from my roommates.
Please all take care and I will update as soon as I can! Bis Dann! ;) and no worries, everything is peachy and fine, however, the weather today seems quite cool.
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