Jenks Über Alles

DFW

2008-09-23T19:42:00.000+02:00

I usually don't post links, but this is too good.

Oktoberfest, Berlin styles.

2008-09-21T19:45:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, celebrated Oktoberfest in Berlin. Today my brain hurts. Its an age-old tale.

Back to school.

2008-09-07T16:38:00.005+02:00

This past Monday, although Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer in the US, marked the first day of school for the state of Brandenburg and ostensibly, me.
After an entirely too short summer, I am back at school teaching and am interestingly quite happy about it. This school year, I am a full-time faculty member at the school, teaching English to every child an the school and French to a select few. My new position is far more demanding and challenging, but is also markedly more rewarding.
Germans, from my two years of researching culture, on a whole, don't practice the American 'apple on the desk of the teacher on the first day of school' routine. Instead, the tradition in Germany is that kids get from the parents a giant cone filled with candies (British English speakers read: sweets) and school essentials. I found many shots to exemplify this online but this one is the best:

In the continuing coverage of my current fashion trends, I would like to add that I have been wearing a keffiyeh, on a daily basis. Since summer decided to walk out on Berlin in the middle of August, the scarf has provided me with a thermodynamic reason to be fashionably cultural in my Turkish neighborhood. Last week, one of my bandmates saw me wearing the keffiyeh and asked if I had joined Hamas during the summer vacation. I responded that, in fact, yes, I was the only Zionist member of the organization. It was funny and cultural relevant, trust me.
I'll hit you with a photo. Chose this one for two reasons. One, it shows the scarf in action. Two, I owe my cousin Scott a payback photo of me and the new iPhone in the mirror. Done and done.

For me, fall is always a time for new beginings and plans for the year. Truth be told, as a student for so many years and now as an educator, I have always seen the school calendar as the real measure of a year. So, at the start of this school year or year I have made a few decision and goals.
I am going to continue my daily running routine with an aim towards running the Berlin half-marathon this April and the full Berlin Marathon in a years time, next September. I can do it. No doubts there. The fact that I am going to be training and running with a good friend is going to make it way easier too.
Also on this years list, I am going to take the Foreign Service Exam for the United States Department of State. There will be a lot of reading there. I am looking into testing centers and believe that I may be able to knock it off here at the embassy, saving the necessity of having to travel to the District of Columbia to do so.
So that should kick us off for the school year. Welcome back.

The true measure of a man...

2008-08-05T15:47:00.004+02:00

Returned home from first half of my language camp summer on Sunday. Back in Wedding with the pooch and enjoying a week of calm and quiet before heading back out, this time north to Meck-Pomm.
Getting back to the apartment, I was met with a cache of items that I had ordered for myself and friends while away on camp. As is normally the tradition in my life when I acquire new things, they come all at once. Usually to mark these events, I take a photograph of the bounty. The above photo is one such example.
Pictured are:
1. Guitar Hero Wii, game and controller. This is pretty much the greatest video game I have played since the oft recalled Tetris year of 1988. After two marathon gameplays, I am nearly finished the medium level. True GH fans may note that I pulled in a five-star rating for my inspired take on Weezer's "My Name is Jonas."
2. Two Mark Kurlansky books. A favorite author of mine since I read his works, Cod and Salt, his newest commodities history volume is entitled, The Big Oyster: New York in the World. I also picked up his older piece, A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry. Kurlansky offers a great perspective, as he is a features writer and although approaching his subjects from a historical stance, does not get overwhelmed by the need to fit his stories into the traditional academic historical cannon.
3. Jeopardy champ and trivia wiz, Ken Jennings' book, Brainiac, a look into the unique history of knowledge and trivia within popular society.
4. The Famished Road, a book by Ben Okri that my friend Elizabeth bought for me a few years ago and I never got around to reading (mainly because I am a jerk). Well the next few weeks will resolve that.
5. The 'nike+' running system. The little transponder clips to your shoe and transmits a signal to a receptor that is hooked into your iPod nano and tracks your run distance, pace and length. When you get back from your run you can sync your iPod and upload your data to your account on the nike page. The page is hooked up to a community of runners around the world. For those of us who need the occasional encouragement to get out there and run, this system is perfect. I love it and I love being rewarded for good things done. I guess I am not unlike the Jenks on that account.
6. Oh yeah, and my iPhone came. Endlich. I am in love.

Camp Dispatch

2008-07-25T21:39:00.006+02:00

Just finished the camp talent show for the first of my four weeks at summer language camps. One of my kids just burped the alphabet. Well done!

Also, need to give a quick update on my summer wear. After spending the better part of the school year dressed in smart, sensible, and marginally fashionable threads, I have slouched into what my friend calls "the Summer Uniform." This consists of, from the ground up, flip-flop sandals, camo shorts, football (soccer) jerseys (with the inevitable Eric Cantona popped collar), aviator sunglasses and a sunburn. There exists a certain level of freedom when you are so removed from society (as I am on these language camps) that you care not what you wear, as long as it keeps the heat away. I must say, however, that wearing football jerseys everyday is pretty much the coolest thing in the world to my 12 kids. Two points to me.

Back popular demand.

2008-07-22T13:18:00.003+02:00

So yes, I agree with you, a blog is meant to be updated, that's kind of the point isn't it? Well, again its been a while, but I will try to update you here.
I am currently away from home, spending the next two weeks working at an English language camp, on the campus of the Hertha BSC training grounds at Olympiastadion in Berlin. For all intents and purposes I am 'out of town,' as I am meant to be here on the camp for 24hr/day for the next 12 days. I am within mobile phone reception range, and was able to secure at WiFi network, so if you need me majors, hit me here.
So what's up lately?
Just got back from a big trip to the US. Originally planned to stay three days, but was swooned by New England and stayed on an extra week. It was lovely. Great wedding in Philly for my brother and Leslie, lots of time in NE with family, going to the Cape and beach with my good friend, can't ask for much more. Well, acutally you can. When in New Hampshire, I got a tattoo for the beagle.
Being in the US got me launched back on watching some crappy tv shows. Judge not, but I have been watching the Denise Richards show and Living Lohan among others. They are hilarious, and if have a sense of humor and a certain level of self-irony I would highly recommend them.

As far as current listening, I loaded up the new pod (thanks CJ and Les) with the new Frightened Rabbit, Coldplay, and Scarlett Johansson records. I have listened to FR so many times that I am fearful that I am wearing down the grooves in the digital files. The Coldplay is surpsingly bearable, thank you Mr Eno. And let me say, the Johansson is delightful and anyone who says otherwise has no idea about avantgarde and pop musical history (listen to Nico, David Bowie, Patti Smith and Jesus & Mary Chain, idiots!). I proudly say that I purchased the record, twice, as well as the follow-up live and rarities EP.

Like just about every other mac geek in the world I am bananas over the 3g iPhone. I ordered mine on the day after the announcement and am still waiting for its delivery. I don't blame apple for the delay (they can never do wrong in my eyes, it seems) but chalk it up to t-mobile being false promisers (my dad will back me up when it comes to t-mobile bashing). So still waiting. Maybe I will blog from it when it arrives and it will give that pretentious "sent from my iPhone" footer.

Was für ein Zeug?

2008-05-02T14:48:00.002+02:00

My boss has good timing, proving my soul/dignity can be purchased at a cost effective price.

It stays light out now until 9 pm. Berlin in the summer is to die for, much like ambrosia.

Nick has brought it to my attention that I live in filth. I am finally coming to terms with this.

Softball season has started again. I got "drafted" to a better team. The Prenzlauer Berg Piranhas (pronounced Piran-yas in German. weird, i know.), to be exact.

In the process of planning summer vacation(s). Nick and I are going to attempt to ride our bikes to Copenhagen. Images of eating salami and bread under trees near bodies of water come to mind and me likey- likey.

In German they call stew "Eintopf", which means "one pot". They are so precise sometimes.

I'm going through a Sporty Spice phase.

It's American food week at Lidl, the local supermarket. I bought 4 bags of Marshmallows and have already tried my hand at a batch of "Corn Flake Treats".

Is it wrong that I (a) just heard the Cold War Kids song "Hang Me Up to Dry" for the first time, and (b) I kind of like it? Oh, how embarrassed I am to say this to any Pure Poppers. What have I become?

Blerg.
Sue

All of my loves meeting together

2008-04-18T21:00:00.005+02:00

Yes, it has been like forever since this blog has been active, and yes, I do understand that we have lost some readership due to this pause in entries, but hey, we have lives to live. And we have been busy too. So back off. Just kidding, kind of..

Saturday is Record Store Day, so get yerselves out theres and spend some actual money on recorded music in physical form, will ya? These independent joints need your help. And for those of you in the greater northeast of the United States, may I suggest you head into Pure Pop Records, in Burlington. They have some great deals there and kick ass selection, even though the guy who runs it is a Chelsea supporter.

This week, in reading the UEFA site, I caught a piece on a new book that is the embodiment of pretty much everything I love, excluding a beagle and a girl from New Jersey. Namely, in no particular order, football, French, German and English. Ok, so that was in a very particular order. Nonetheless, the German dictionary company, Langenscheidt, in cooperation with UEFA, released a tri-lingual volume, encompassing all one would need to know to speak about football in the three official languages of the Union of European Football Associations. Take that Italian!!!!

I just spent some time on the Langenscheidt website, applying for my teacher discount for the football dictionary. Although relatively ceremonial in quantity, the discount is personally significant, as it is my first fringe benefit as a newly certified teacher in the German state of Brandenburg. Oh yeah, that's news too. Two weeks ago, I passed my exam from the Brandenburg Ministry of Education and am now an official, full-time Montessori teacher in foreign languages. Its pretty excellent to do so, as many of my colleagues were nervous/later impressed by my success with the Schulamt. The school is great, it is about an hour east of here by train, and in the middle of the woods, just two stops from the Polish border.

Jenks is great. Cruising into her golden years. Sleeping longer, eating just as much and taking a bit longer to head up the stairs. She still has the occasional burst of energy/speed from nowhere. Last week, I was babysitting from some friends who have the all-too-rare-in-Berlin combo of a free-standing house with a fenced-in yard and a dog. I love babysitting for this family because my 'work' involves watching the Star Wars trilogy (O.G., naturally) and playing competitive games of Mario Kart on Nintendo DS with my 10 year old charge. Excluding the 10 y.o., this is something I would most likely do on my own, so its nice to have it be a moonlighting gig. But the real reason I do it, money and fun with a cool kid aside, is that Jenks gets to run herself exhausted off leash in their yard for hours on end.

Anyways, the other day I was in the house when the kid got home. As he opened the gate, apparently Jenks darted past him and shot down the most random street in North Berlin. I guess she ran like 40 meters (use yards as a measurement if you like the NFL and are too lazy to figure out the metric system) down the street before he whistled her back to him and inside the gate to the yard. This is pretty ridiculous considering that we have had Jenks for 4.5 years now, and she won't even listen to my commands inside the apartment, let alone on a unknown street.

But pretty much the most amazing part, other than not having to conduct a full-on Fugitive style manhunt for the Beages around the neighborhood of Pankow, is what the kid, Ludwig, said when he came in afterwards. He walked in the house, dropped his bag, said whats up and then asked me, by the way, what was my dog's name. She was running away from him at full speed, and he got her back even after having forgotten her name. This kid is bad-ass, I assure you.

Overall, things are good around here. We are moving at the end of next month and looking forward to getting out of this cold/rainy/in like a lion spring stuff.

More soon. Photos from Budapest, maybe even. We'll see.

The wonders of wiki

2008-02-24T12:31:00.002+01:00

Perusing through wikipedia this morning and I found something pretty wonderful in the Biz Markie entry:

"Oh, snap! is an expression popularized by Markie in the 1989 song "Just a Friend" that has since entered the mainstream as an expression of disbelief. The phrase is a polite substitution for "Oh, shit!". It has entered use as acknowledgment of a diss by third parties, to heighten the feeling of disrespect and insult. It can sometimes be used as an equivalent to "Oh, no, you didn't!" (shock that someone said an outrageous thing)."

Snap, that's pretty outstanding. Nice work Biz.

Pictures of stuff and things.

2008-02-16T15:38:00.008+01:00

In no particular order, here is a small gallery of new slash exciting slash usefully cool things recently introduced into my (Sue's) life.

Now that this whole German speaking thing is pretty much under control I have decided to open up a whole 'nother can of visual learner worms.

These are my "Hausschuhe" aka house shoes. It is quite a German phenomenon. At first I scoffed and thought "what a bunch of slippered ass weirdos!" Now I am a convert. Slippers courtesy of nick via Xmas.

I am going to see PJ Harvey! It was quite a week, as I bought both Radiohead and PJ Harvey tickets on consecutive days. I would wave the Radiohead ones around, but they are stuck somewhere between here and England, no doubt in the hands of the evil Deutsche Post. I anxiously await...
I have started a small, but growing urban vinyl empire. With my knack for wasting money and love of completion, it will no doubt soon spread past the top of the television and into the jenks' hair-filled wasteland that is our apartment.

I bought a looper. Nick, myself and friend Mark have started a distortionally exciting 3 piece project. I used to have a DL4, but I wanted to give this boss one a try. I also sniped it at a pretty sweet price on ebay. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Other than that, it's business as usual. Nick and I are going to Budapest in March, so that something nice to look forward to during my 6 day work week. I hear it's Buda-ful there.
I will stop now.
bye,
sue

Now even Westminster believe it..

2008-02-13T19:21:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, at the 132nd Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in NYC, the best in show award went to......(drum roll)......

a Beagle!!!This is Uno, a three year old 15 inch beagle and he was the first beagle to selected best in show in the history of the competition. Well done. Finally Westminster realizes what I have known for the last five years, namely, beagles are the greatest animals on earth.

Kindergarten punchlines

2008-01-22T20:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, while I was teaching the bright minds of Berlin, one of my older kids (a 4 1/2 year old) was in a bad mood for pretty much the whole class. 'Why is he in such a bad mood?" another kid asked. Before I could respond, one of the sweetest girls (4 y.o.) in my class said, "Its because he's older, and he's closer to dying."
Even though she said it in German, I couldn't bring myself to correct her. It was just too hilarious.

Film Recommendation.

2008-01-10T19:01:00.000+01:00

I strongly suggest, if you haven't already, see the film, Juno. It is lovely.

-n.

Yes it has been a while, but.....

2008-01-01T17:40:00.000+01:00

... its a New Year, so forgive us!
We all know that the holidays are always a busy time of year, so we'll just bank on that as the reason that things have been a bit slow in the Jenks Über Alles world. Compounded by the apperance of the new Wii in our lives, and I think we are off the hook.

Well, anyways, happy new year to all. I am currently snowed in here at my mom's in Michigan, so figured this was a good chance to give a quick update of things. I am on a two week vacation in the States, the first week in Central Florida and the second in metro Detroit.

Florida was awesome and warm.Here is a shot of me playing Pickleball, an apparently uniquely Floridian racket sport that resembles a mixture of tennis, table tennis and squash. Oh, and you play with a ball that is pretty much the exact same as a wiffle ball.

Went to a state park on the Gulf Coast and visited some manatees. I can now easily imagine how these animals are called 'sea cows.' Also saw some 'gators and hippos. They had several foxes as well and they seemed to remind me of the beagle as they scurried around. Yes, I am so pathetic that after a week away from the pooch I am reminded of her by seeing foxes.

Last Friday, had the chance to go over to NASA Space Center, at Cape Canaveral. I, like many others, never got the opportunity to head to Space Camp as a kid, but seeing Space Center was pretty amazing.
Here is a shot of launch pad 39A from closest allowable distance of 1.5 miles. To the right of the launch structure is the Space Shuttle Atlantis, due to takeoff no sooner than Jan. 10th. It was kind of neat seeing this shuttle on the platform, because part of its mission includes the the deployment of a piece created by the EU Space program, to be attached to the International Space Station. Go European Union!

Reports dispatched from Berlin have informed me that the beagle is none-too-pleased with the German tradition of lighting and exploding fireworks in the four days surrounding New Years. Next New Year we will get her out of Berlin so she is not forced to hide the bathroom, shaking. Poor poochie.

Have a great day and a happy new year!

-nick

Guess what we got yesterday....

2007-11-25T17:55:00.001+01:00

Sue and I bought and opened our Christmas presents to each other yesterday evening.
It is as if we each found the key to a time machine to magically transport us back to when we were 10 years old.
Got to keep it short, Mario calls.

2007-11-13T16:11:00.000+01:00

Hello. it's sue. yes, i am still alive. i know a few of you probably thought nick had taken my corpse and hidden it under some soccer-related something-or-other, but alas I have just been working relatively non-stop and have had no time to blog.

My elbow is back in full working order, i have joined a new softball team that is so hardcore it practices in the winter, and have been making enough significant income that i am scared to deposit it in the bank. Instead i hide it in a safety deposit box in our apartment. i feel like an immigrant, and well...actually i am one, so it's ok. (as of this blog post i'm depositing it, so none of you wackjobs get any strange ideas.) I'm also going through one of those periods where i hate all my clothes....ya know whaddi mean? I have also been meeting an exorbitant amount of people from new jersey in my travels which leads me to believe we are slowly, but surely going to take over the world. mwahaha. it's reassuring to know that ALL new jersey teenagers spend their adolescence driving aimlessly, only stopping to drink coffee and chain smoke at diners, in between trying to scare the shit out of themselves and each other by visiting abandoned/haunted/creepy houses, insane asylums and rundown thingies.

as i'm sure you all know, nick is sick. i mean, really. this whole soccer...WHOOPS!....i mean football thing. it's OOC. out of contrizole. i'm trying to find some help. a natural remedy, herbal perhaps? maybe some hard pharmaceuticals? in the mean time he's got a new blog as an outlet. let's all support him in his time of need.

So the other day nick is flipping through some soccer catalog shows me this wonderful gadget.

A Hertha toaster. nothing says " i love team x" more than devouring its team logo with butter and sunnyside egg goo every morning.

This lead me to further investigation.

Too lazy to write an actual note on actual paper? just write it on the top of this doosie and leave it for your honey to read in the mornin'. i guess it does make a case for recycling.

i find this one kind of gross.

ok. i'm off to...you guessed it!...work. smell ya später.
-sue

Its in play!

2007-11-11T20:34:00.000+01:00

Just launched my new football blog, 1. FC Jenks
There is also a link in the sidebar links column.
Enjoy.

Jay-Z as Alan Greenspan

2007-11-11T10:07:00.000+01:00

Here is a great article on Jay-Z and the shifting currency climate of hip-hop. Thanks to Josh for the heads up on that one.

Happy Armistice Day to all.

Launching a football/soccer blog soon. More details later.

Nick v. German government. vol 7

2007-11-10T09:24:00.000+01:00

Thursday was a successful day as I finally had my first screaming match in German. I was being played by a Zollamt (German postal/import customs) for an excise on eBay order shipped from the US. The short of it is that he was trying to fleece me for an additional tax for the German government based on a manufacturers retail price, rather than based on the purchase price. I was having none of it. When it comes to what I perceive as bullying people into unnecessary taxation solely for the purpose of keeping this branch of the German bureaucratic system open, I draw the line.
Although I may have lacked the linguistic subtlety necessary for crafting a cogent and masterful argument, I did raise my voice and make a scene enough to the point that he conceded to my interpretation of the value of the item. Its a strange world when one feels a sense of accomplishment for arguing the right to pay only 20€, rather than 30, in order to receive in the mail something they already own, but that's the place I live in.
I tried to snap some photos on my phonecamera but was shut down by the less-than-intimidating guard at the door of the building.

Instead, here is a shot Panda Bear from the Animal Collective show Sue and I went to two weeks ago in Kreuzberg.

wochenende wrap-up

2007-10-08T11:10:00.001+02:00

A great weekend by all measures. Saw two live games, one on Friday up the street from the apartment (Tennis Borussia Berlin - a football club, I swear) and the other being Saturday's Hertha BSC match.
On Saturday night went to see Broken Social Scene performing Kevin Drew's "Spirit If..." at Lido in Berlin. Pretty amazing live show. Plenty of tracks from "Spirit If..." but also a handful from "You Forgot it in People" and the self titled BSS album. Great to finally see these guys after years of just missing them here or there.

Sunday morning went to good friend Tracey's house for Pumpkin Pancakes. The brunch was inspired by a recent set of flapjacks she ate while in Portland as part of her previously mentioned tour of biological institutions of the US. A great taste of fall served at the breakfast table.

This week may feature some shoe shopping, rent paying and possible new bicycle purchasing. Time and the availability of funds will tell.

Dog bites dog, fan nearly bites official

2007-10-01T09:13:00.000+02:00

Has been a while since the last post. No apologies, just a new a blog post here.
Two weeks ago Jenks got into a scrape with a pitbull while waiting at a crosswalk. The pitbull sunk a deep bite just under her front right shoulder before I could pull him off. The dog's handler was very sorry and apologetic - from his demeanor this most likely has happened before.
The wound was pretty big, about an inch long and through the skin to the muscle. We immediately headed over to the emergency, after-hours vet and they sewed her up. Now two weeks later, the only lasting effect is a sweet scar that adds to her street cred. Not quite as cred worthy as getting shot in the mouth like 50 cent, but she still is pretty gansta.
In true German style, most dog owners (us included) have 'dog-liability insurance' to cover any damage perpetrated by their four legged ones. I exchanged info with the guy and luckily his insurance is going to cover the costs of the treatments.

I have been full-on fanatical about football (soccer) since the summer and have been fully using/abusing my season ticket to Hertha BSC. I have been to all 4 home matches at Olympia Stadion and plan on keeping the streak going all year.

On Saturday I went to go see 1.FC Union Berlin, the division three east-Berlin team, play at their home in Köpernick. Seeing Union play is the perfect compliment to seeing Hertha. The two teams so wonderfully represent the two sides of Berlin. One team is city, the other is country. One team has money, the other needs it. One plays in a stadium, the other plays in a park. One plays a more polished style of play, while the other seems to simply will goals through their heart and tenacity. And I simply love both teams.

Conveniently enough, they seem usually schedule their home matches on opposite Saturdays, so a true schizophrenic/die hard Berlin football fan can pretty much be guaranteed no more than 6 days between live games. The above photos were taken with my mobile-phone camera so are not of the best quality. But they do give a bit of the difference in feel between Olympia Stadion and Stadion an Der Alten Försterei.

Saturday's Union match was one of the coldest and rainiest outdoor events I have ever been to. They beat Werder Bremen II by the score of 2-0, but the real highlight of the match was seeing security have to escort the referee to the locker room at the end of the game as a result of numerous blown calls against the Berlin side. You gotta love a home field advantage that doesn't just intimidate opponents, but strikes fear into the officials as well.

Writer's Bloc

2007-09-03T12:12:00.000+02:00

I figured a 1993 photo of former US national star Alexi Lalas was a great way to start this post. Gotta love professional athletes.

Went to my second Hertha match of the season on Saturday. SPOILER ALERT (really just a warning to Crandall not to read this unless he has caught up on this weekend's Bundesliga action on his TiVo):

Hertha pulled out the game winner with a goal from Solomon Okoronkwo in the 87th minute, defeating Wolfsburg 2-1. Hertha's record is now even at 2-2-0, and I have seen both of the victories in person. Either the club is notably stronger at home, or I have some sort of beginner's luck in match attendance. I might have to start going to some Yankee home games!

Starting this past weekend, through the end of the month, Sue and I are dog sitting for our friend Tracey, who is on a month-long interview tour of biological labs throughout the US. She may in fact be headed to a major urban center near you. Check her nation-wide tour at her new website, traceytakesonmajorlabsoftheus.com Just kidding, that's a dead link that I made up. Anyways, here is a great photo of old friends Jasper and Jenks sharing the living room dog bed.

This week marks my first full week back at work after the summer holidays. I am teaching five days a week and spending the other two planning lessons for the next five. Suzanne is in a similar situation, except she is working six days a week- teaching one and holding down the Bird five.

I'm on my way out the door to my first class of the year. I'll leave you with a cool link. Check out my friend Josh's photolog called onehundredcups.

Latest Obsessions

2007-08-18T11:03:00.000+02:00

Here's a quick rundown of my late summer obsessions in classic middle school outline form:

A. Listening

1. Early 90's hip hop

a. Ice Cube
b. Public Enemy
c. Wu Tang Clan (and all members thereof)
d. Notirious B.I.G.
e. Geto Boys
f. NWA

2. 80's punk

a. Black Flag
b. Fugazi
c. Minor Threat
d. the Misfits (and Glenn Danzig solo works)

B. Buying football (soccer) jerseys on eBay

1. Currently have

a. Arsenal FC
b. FC Barcelona (Eidur Gudjohnsen on back)
c. Hertha BSC
d. Borussia Dortmund
e. SV Darmstadt
f. MSV Duisburg
g. Nigeria national team
h. France national team
i. Ukraine national team

2. Seeking

a. Iceland national team
b. Canada national team
c. Colombia national team (see topic C)

3. Avoiding

a. Italy national team (did you see the 2006 World Cup?)
b. Holland national team (see B.3.a)
c. England national team
d. Manchester United
e. Chelsea FC

C. Current topic of interest for vaguely academic reasons

Pablo Escobar

Dauerkarte

2007-08-13T13:24:00.000+02:00

It's been a while, so here goes. I am back. I could attribute my lack of blog writing to writer's block or lack of time, but to be more fair, it was just your standard, garden-variety laziness. Well forget that, I am back, at least for now.
Suzanne is gone to the land of the gardens (NJ) for two weeks and I am left home to attempt to fight off boredom on a daily basis. Some of my techniques to stave off the big B include the following:
1. Clean the apartment, completely (done twice already since I got back three days ago)
2. Mess up the apartment
3. Do the dishes
4. Cook
5. Take the Beagle for a walk
6. Kidnap friend's dog and take another walk
7. Watch Knight Rider in dubbed German on TV
8. Wiki everything possible thing I can imagine
9. Reorganize and backup the internal and external harddrives of the mac
10. Blog

So this week and next is my vacation, as I just returned from working three weeks on camp. The work wasn't bad, just long days from 7 am until 11pm. I did, however, get to play 2 hours of soccer a day with the kids. This leads me to my newest obsession: soccer.

I am wholly obsessed with playing and watching and following soccer. I quit playing soccer at the age of 10 for a number of reasons, both real and fabricated. Conflicts with baseball season worked as a good excuse for the spring but the fall season needed a whole different set of justifications. Accepting that I was not athletic enough was not an option. I think the reason decided upon was simply, "Who even plays this sport, anyways?" Well, I now understand what the 1989 Nick couldn't- that soccer is pretty much awesome.

Playing at camp was fun because most of the kids were 10-12. This worked well, because although I am taller than I was at the age of 10, my speed and ball-handling skills seem to be at exactly the same level as they were when I quit. Teams at camp were a counselor and a bunch of kids. My team, it must be said, always performed the best. This was a good confidence builder for my soccer comeback. Another boost came from my friend, Stephen, a fellow counselor from Galway. He said, "you have a really great first touch," which I later found-out was the equivalent of saying somebody has a "really great personality." Oh well, I'll gladly take soccer compliments, even back-handed ones.
In addition to my increased athleticism on the pitch, I might add a bit about my burgeoning fandom. As a reward for my three weeks of working on camp this summer, I decided to gift myself a dauerkarte (season ticket) to Hertha BSC, Berlin's Bundesliga team. The season ticket is good for a seat (read: the right to stand) in the Ostkurve fan section of Olympia Stadion for all 17 home matches this season. I am going to be chaperoned into next Saturday's home opener against reigning champs Stuttgart, by my friend from Galway. He has promised to stir me away from the violent-hooligan element (the middle of the rows) and towards the regular, old Bruins-game-type rowdies (the aisles). Also, I have found a group of fellow fans to watch away matches with on Saturday afternoons. The group includes Stephen, his Omaha-born punk musician girlfriend, an ex-Australian Army officer and a guy from Stowe, VT.
I have also joined an online fantasy league (something I swore never to do, Chris Farrell!) for the English Premier League. My team is stacked and I am psyched.

No more news from Gesundbrunnen. Time to decide what to do next. Sleep or walk the dog. Hmm.

2007-07-18T19:31:00.002+02:00

many thanks to everyone for the kind words regarding my elbow. it's very much appreciated. i figured y'all wanted to be a part of the recovery process (and i just wanted to gross everyone out), so here are some snapshots of the damage:

this little number was taken right after i got out of the hospital. hot!

and this little piggy was taken today.

nick has gone off to Rostock, Germany for 14 days to teach english at summer camp. i wonder how he's doing without internet...

so since it's just the girls (me and jenkins, who doesn't really even have her "lady parts" anymore) i've been thinking about how to spend the next two weeks while slightly crippled.

thus far I have made a giant pot of spaghetti bolognese and have been rationing accordingly. if i continue to eat it for both brunch and dinner, it looks like i'll make it until at least next wednesday. the toilet paper supply does seem to be dwindling, so i fear a trip to the market may be essential. we'll see, though.

i have also been looking through our subletee's dvd collection, which he so nicely left behind for us. a lot of the dvds seem to be asian bootlegs. the translations often provide a nice, pre viewing chuckle. take this "kill bill" tag line for instance:

and the synopsis on the back is equally entertaining:

so it appears i may be returning to the greater new york/new jersey metropolitan area for a few weeks in august. if anyone wants to meet lemme know. i have been mentally compiling a lists of things i will most certainly be doing.
- eating lots of mexican food, because it sucks here.
- buying goya products
- drinking beverages out of cans
- getting a new jersey drivers license (back to the roots, bay-bay!)
- going to a yankees game
- watching yankees games on television at a time other than 2 am.
- shopping on a sunday
- getting a haircut.

the last one is iffy. due to my injury, i can't put my hair in a ponytail. this is downright frustrating, as i almost exclusively wear PTs. i was thinking about inventing some sort of one handed ponytail maker contraption, but more than one person told me they already exist.
drats.