Hah so much for blogging every 3 days. Now I've forgotten what happened.. But now it comes back:)
Wednesday:
I went into the forest again with Opa, but only for about 3 hours because Martin needed me to help when the chicken delivery truck arrived ostensibly at 2:30. So I stripped a few more logs and then walked back. Since there was still 25 minutes or so til the chicken guy was meant to come, I went for a 20 minute run (but got slightly lost, so it turned into a 28 minute run:P). I dashed upstairs to get changed, but he wasn't there, so I had a chance to eat a bit of lunch...which stretched on for about 90 minutes and involved me finishing off a loaf of bread and most of the margarine:P I cleaned up the table and vacuumed for a bit..still not there. We called his number to no avail, and Martin decided he wasn't coming and went for a drive to see if the engine was running smoothly...which was exactly the time the guy showed up, 2 hours late:P I explained that Martin had gone for a drive, and we waited a bit, and then when Martin came back, the guy had the nerve to say that Martin was late hahaha (and was then promptly told that it was in fact he who didn't show up at the right time). Confrontation over, we bundled the chickens into their new home, 4 at a time. These ones were a lot more docile, perhaps because they'd already spent a few hours confined to crates.
That night, I went with Martin to his tai chi class. I went allright in the first part, where you just had to copy what the instructor was doing and saying (and he constantly condescended to me by repeating it in english - it wasn't that I couldn't understand the german, I'm just unco grr:P!). But then in the second part, I was completely lost because they just went through the whole routine without stopping and explaining entirely from memory. In spite of that, I still found it a nice, very relaxing experience. It was interesting to watch the poses and see how obviously they were derived from martial arts. At one stage, the instructor showed us this move, which you could practically use in a fight, to demonstrate how the chi was moving down into the lower body or something like that.
As soon as the routine was finished, we dashed out of the room and into the car and headed for this farmer's conference a few towns away. An associate of Martin's was screening a film entitled 'Du arme Sau' (You poor pig) protesting the recent development in the US, where Monsanto patented the porcine genetic sequence (and is now attempting to extend that patent to all countries around the world). It painted a pretty bleak (and at times, one sided) view of GM, with which I didn't necessarily agree (although I do find Monsanto despicable). Afterwards a representative from the farmer's union in Tubingen talked for quite a long time (and very eloquently although quite a bit was lost to me because everyone present was speaking in strong swäbisch) about GM, urging the people present to do something about it. It's a very current debate in Germany, where the Chancellor is calling for the ban on GM food to be lifted, despite 80% of the consumers and producers being against such a move.
Personally, I see GM as a tool, albeit a very dangerous one. It could do a lot of good (case in point: golden rice to combat widespread Vit. A deficiency in Africa), but it could also put the entire food supply chain in the hands of one corporation (which is Monsanto's goal - they don't want market share, they want the market). I really don't think we can afford not to use it though. Martin is firmly against it, he believes that organic farming without GM plus a reduced meat intake is a complete solution to the problem of feeding a growing population. I really don't think organic farming as it currently stands will ever be able to feed the world. The fact is, the yields are generally quite a bit lower than conventional farming, and although this is achieved without damaging the environment to the same extent, we still need those large yields. GM could be a way to achieve the yields of conventional farming without using as much fertiliser and pesticides. The problem is, that GM can't be performed on a small scale. It needs the resources of a massive organisation like Monsanto just to develop new breeds of crops. What we need is a lot more government sponsored impartial research into GM to develop new crops and test whether the proteins contained within the new plants could be dangerous to organisms that ingest them (apparently there's a suspicion that GM corn can lead to infertility in swine). This is an area that really interests me, and I think I'll probably centre my studies around it.
Thursday:
Can't really remember what I did on Thursday, I think I was just out with the horses collecting apples and possibly cooking in between. Nothing especially exciting happened.
Friday:
I was out with the horses until 12ish, then went back to the house and cooked pizza (=yum, but only Friedreke and I were around to eat it straight out of the oven, and I rationed myself to 2 pieces because I was going for a run soon afterwards). After another two hours of picking apples, I went running with the horses:D Siegfried, Marie and one of their riding students showed me round some of the walking/horse tracks (turns out Alt Bulach isn't that bereft of running routes after all, you just have to know where to find them). I didn't bother trying to keep up with them even when the horses were only trotting (which is about tempo run pace for me lol) let alone galloping , but I still managed to beat them to the end of the trail hehehe. The horses had to walk on the relatively thin, grassy trails, so I built up a lead that they couldn't take back even though they were galloping for the last 5 minutes:P
Saturday:
I got up early and went for a (very slow) 2 hour run. It was absolutely freezing! It took all my willpower to get started, and I didn't feel properly warmed up for about half an hour lol. All the fields were covered in frost (which looked tantalisingly like snow from a distance), which made for a nice scenery:) I had to run on asphault for most of the time (which is all I've been running on for the last week actually to save my ankle) because it was still too dark to run on the trails (I tried for a few minutes and turned my ankle at least 3 times in that short period lol). I got home, feeling pretty good and looked at the thermometer: -5°! I'm hoping all the clouds were hanging over Baiersbronn that night!
Had a quick breakfast, then went out with the scraper and picked apples for the rest of the day. When I got back, Franz had arrived after hitch hiking for about 6 hours from Freiburg (probably like 2 hours by car/train lol). He was over because Martin's mother's birthday is today (Sunday). He seems like a nice guy. From the sounds of it, he's working a lot harder at uni (studying info tech) than I ever had to. I experimented with dinner and made kitchdiri with quinoa instead of rice (because they only had brown rice and quinoa had a shorter cooking time:P). It was pretty good, but needed a stronger stock. Went to bed bone tired at 10:30 after watching the second half of a german film, whose name I didn't catch.
Today, aka Sunday:
I woke up early of my own accord (purposely switched off the alarm so I'd get a decent sleep in lol) and went for a quick run. The wind was freezing, it was a huge relief to run along the forest path, where I was shielded from the worst it could do. Everyone else was going to a chinese restaurant to celebrate Martin's mother's birthday (I was invited but decided I'd rather not go, since I wouldn't be able to eat anything, and instead arranged to go cycling with Opa), so while they got ready, I relaxed:P Then Opa came in to tell me he wanted to leave at 11:30 instead of 1:30, so I had to get my skates on too lol.
I borrowed Marie's bike and after agreeing that we'd go pretty slowly (suited me, I was feeling pretty sore after the run), Opa shot downhill at about 30kph. We cycled along this lovely bike path along a river, stopping to look at a water purification plant. After a while, we got to Wildberg, and Opa showed me the 'Hexenturm' (Witches Tower). Apparently, during the german inquisition, alleged witches were imprisoned here before being hanged or burnt. And guess where it was located..right next to the local primary school hahaha. Next we walked our bikes up to the remains of the Wildberg castle. It was built in 1200, burnt down in 1453, was rebuilt and then destroyed by allied bombers in 1945. Apparently at the end of the war, french troops were meeting heavy resistance in the Wildberg valley and were being pushed back, so bombers were called in and most of the town was destroyed. Sad that cultural icons like this had to be lost.
Then we headed out of Wildberg and followed a scenic route home. Along the way, Opa stopped to show me this stone device, where in the old days, farmers carrying loads of fodder on their heads would stop for a breather and rest their burden on the stone table hehe. Then he showed me their three private forests (where you have pretty much free reign to fell trees and do whatever you want). The first one I found very interesting, but the next two were really just repetitions of a theme, and tired (can feel a cold coming on) and cold, I really just wanted to go home. The last 3km home were not very comfortable. The strong wind chilled me to the bone (really should've worn tracksuit pants over my skins lol) and threatened to push us off the road lol.
So now I'm home alone, waiting for the others to get back. Time to go feed the ducks and see if I can get them to go into their house for once (otherwise they could get eaten by foxes:S, but they just don't want to go in while I'm there).
Ciao
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
I'm thinking I'll blog every 3 days from now on, it seems to work well. Otherwise I have nothing to say lol.
Soo I guess I'm up to last Sunday. We pretty much did nothing but relax on Sunday because it's traditionally the day of rest and everyone's happy to deal with that:) Everyone got up late and had breakfast together. The table was a bit fuller than usual because the girls were babysitting their horse riding instructor's children. It was like being in Colac with all my cousins - they were so energetic! Apparently they woke Maree up at 4:30 because they wanted to play lol. For some reason I found it weird to see little kids speaking german probably as well as I can haha. I lounged around on the couch and started reading James Lovelock's 'The ages of Gaia' (in english, another WWOOFer had given it to the family), which is extremely interesting but also sometimes frustrating. Martin gave me a few options for what I might want to do if I got sick of the kids, including going for a bike ride, so wanting the exercise, I went for a quick ride around the countryside. He lent me a road bike, which was good at first, up to the point where I wound up on a highway because there were no other paved roads to ride on. I got shouted at a few times by overzealous german motorists:P When I got back, I quickly fed the ducks and then hopped into the car with Martin and Sigfried to go visit Martin's mother.
I was a bit sceptical about this. Martin had seemed really positive about inviting me to come, telling me that his mother was really interesting, and I said 'Why not?'. But then later, Sigfried seemed a bit surprised that I was coming, and I remembered that this was the woman who wasn't in the best of health as of late. And indeed after buying some milk from Sigfried's brother, when we rocked up to his mother's house, the first hour was spent discussing her ailments, whether she should move into a retirement home, how to write a will and these sort of things and again I had the feeling that I shouldn't be listening in (even though I couldn't understand much due to the dialect and the fact that they were talking about kind of complicated medical and legal issues:P), but no-one seemed to mind. Sigfried had brought her knitting gear and proceeded to finish off a pair of socks that she said had taken her 2 years to make (she only knits when she's at other people's houses so she has something to do with her hands), and then would occasionally drop something in to the conversation, which never ceased to surprise me:P After about an hour, Sigfried noticed my gaze wandering around the room and my non-listening expression and announced loudly 'This must be very boring for you, huh Jeremy?' (I think it was a bit for her too:P) and after that we had a more interesting conversation and Martin's mother brought out a photo album, which had everything from overseas trips to the construction of the pond in their backyard. So in the end I was glad that I had come:)
On Monday, my tasks were cleaning out one of the stalls, where the sheep were, so that the foals could be kept away from the wet weather that's forecasted (two of them have lung infections and cough incessantly, poor things); picking up horse apples; cooking (I made cowboy hotpot); vacuuming and then I was free. My foot was feeling a lot better, so I went for a run. I had to be careful about not running on slippery or unstable surfaces, but apart from that my ankle felt fine the whole time and I logged an easy 65 minutes.
When I got back, Martin was home, but everyone else was elsewhere. This was a problem because I was extremely hungry, but we couldn't have dinner until everyone was there! So I ate a banana and read for a while. Sigfried showed up after a while, but Maree had phoned to say that her train had been delayed. Poor thing had to wait 2 hours at the train station because of a fault with the tracks in the cold with a cold. In the end we started without her and I finally got to sate my appetite:)
Today I was to work with Opa. I woke up late because I'd stayed up late (which for me is now 11pm:P) surfing the net, so I rushed outside, locking myself out in the process to find out when he wanted to leave for the forest. He helped me back inside and told me to chill out for a while because he had woken up late too and in any case it was raining a bit and it's not much fun working in the forest when it's wet. So I had a relaxed breakfast and got everything ready and then because it was still raining, we went to his workshop and set about filing and planing a piece of wood so it would serve as a handle for a shovel blade. We were about halfway through when it stopped raining, so we set down the tools, grabbed our things and hopped on the tractor and headed out to the Black Forest. When we got to the road he normally takes, we discovered a red and white caution tape stretched across the road, so we hopped out with the tools to find out what was up. First we had to stop to divert a stream fed by the recent rains that was eroding away the path. Building dams is such fun:) A forester came walking along and chatted with us while helping us with our diverting manoueveres. After we'd taken care of that, we walked down and decided the big log blocking the road was probably the reason for the caution tape.
The purpose for our visit was to salvage bits of wood from the trees that had been felled by the professional foresters (they're the only people who are allowed to actually chop down trees on public land), which were surplus to their needs, for use in the wood fired heating oven back home. There was plenty of wood we could use, but first Opa wanted to give me a bit of a history lesson. First he showed me this stone lean-to, where a wandering violinist was rumoured to have lived during summer a long time ago. Then there was a rock, where a gallows was once erected to execute crims. And finally the piece de resistance, an almost fully intact castle! It was really cool:) You walk through the forest into a clearing and suddenly there's this castle in front of you. It was built in the 1100s for this Robber Baron, who extorted the local people by threatening to kidnap their daughters unless they paid him a ransome in advance. Then when the holy roman empire arose in Germany, the Kaiser had the castle dismantled and the Robber Baron executed (maybe even on the rock I saw).
So history lesson finished, we set to work. I had a small axe, with which I stripped logs of their branches and threw them onto a pile. We did that for 5 hours solid, stopping every now and then to talk. Opa's amazingly fit for his age. When we were walking to the castle, I had to struggle to keep up with him, and when we were working, he'd heft these massive logs on his own over to the side of the road. At about 5, we stopped for the day, which pleased me greatly. Not because I was tired, the work wasn't that tough, but my hands and feet were freezing! Mental note: don't wear business socks in gumboots:P After the tractor ride home, I quickly fed the ducks and then pulled on my running gear and went for a run. Again, no problems, though it wasn't that pleasant a run because it was dark by 10 minutes in and I had to run on asphalt next to the road. AltBulach is nowhere near as good as Baiersbronn for running even during the day. Oh well, I'm really enjoying being here:) It's so good having people to talk to. My german's getting more fluent every day, and I'm even picking up a bit of schwäbisch:P (which Opa told me today contains quite a few french words - no wonder I find it hard to understand!).
This evening Opa came around after dinner with a few photo albums. He'd been telling me about his travels and I said I'd love to see some pictures, so for about 3 hours, we relived his adventures in Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Mallorca, Madeira, Germany and many other countries I've neglected to remember. It was good, but after a while I developed album fatigue and was willing the pages to turn faster:P
Only 9 more days as a WWOOFer now:( I'd like to spend more time here, but I also really want to get back to Baiersbronn and go skiing. Wish I could do both at the same time!
Soo I guess I'm up to last Sunday. We pretty much did nothing but relax on Sunday because it's traditionally the day of rest and everyone's happy to deal with that:) Everyone got up late and had breakfast together. The table was a bit fuller than usual because the girls were babysitting their horse riding instructor's children. It was like being in Colac with all my cousins - they were so energetic! Apparently they woke Maree up at 4:30 because they wanted to play lol. For some reason I found it weird to see little kids speaking german probably as well as I can haha. I lounged around on the couch and started reading James Lovelock's 'The ages of Gaia' (in english, another WWOOFer had given it to the family), which is extremely interesting but also sometimes frustrating. Martin gave me a few options for what I might want to do if I got sick of the kids, including going for a bike ride, so wanting the exercise, I went for a quick ride around the countryside. He lent me a road bike, which was good at first, up to the point where I wound up on a highway because there were no other paved roads to ride on. I got shouted at a few times by overzealous german motorists:P When I got back, I quickly fed the ducks and then hopped into the car with Martin and Sigfried to go visit Martin's mother.
I was a bit sceptical about this. Martin had seemed really positive about inviting me to come, telling me that his mother was really interesting, and I said 'Why not?'. But then later, Sigfried seemed a bit surprised that I was coming, and I remembered that this was the woman who wasn't in the best of health as of late. And indeed after buying some milk from Sigfried's brother, when we rocked up to his mother's house, the first hour was spent discussing her ailments, whether she should move into a retirement home, how to write a will and these sort of things and again I had the feeling that I shouldn't be listening in (even though I couldn't understand much due to the dialect and the fact that they were talking about kind of complicated medical and legal issues:P), but no-one seemed to mind. Sigfried had brought her knitting gear and proceeded to finish off a pair of socks that she said had taken her 2 years to make (she only knits when she's at other people's houses so she has something to do with her hands), and then would occasionally drop something in to the conversation, which never ceased to surprise me:P After about an hour, Sigfried noticed my gaze wandering around the room and my non-listening expression and announced loudly 'This must be very boring for you, huh Jeremy?' (I think it was a bit for her too:P) and after that we had a more interesting conversation and Martin's mother brought out a photo album, which had everything from overseas trips to the construction of the pond in their backyard. So in the end I was glad that I had come:)
On Monday, my tasks were cleaning out one of the stalls, where the sheep were, so that the foals could be kept away from the wet weather that's forecasted (two of them have lung infections and cough incessantly, poor things); picking up horse apples; cooking (I made cowboy hotpot); vacuuming and then I was free. My foot was feeling a lot better, so I went for a run. I had to be careful about not running on slippery or unstable surfaces, but apart from that my ankle felt fine the whole time and I logged an easy 65 minutes.
When I got back, Martin was home, but everyone else was elsewhere. This was a problem because I was extremely hungry, but we couldn't have dinner until everyone was there! So I ate a banana and read for a while. Sigfried showed up after a while, but Maree had phoned to say that her train had been delayed. Poor thing had to wait 2 hours at the train station because of a fault with the tracks in the cold with a cold. In the end we started without her and I finally got to sate my appetite:)
Today I was to work with Opa. I woke up late because I'd stayed up late (which for me is now 11pm:P) surfing the net, so I rushed outside, locking myself out in the process to find out when he wanted to leave for the forest. He helped me back inside and told me to chill out for a while because he had woken up late too and in any case it was raining a bit and it's not much fun working in the forest when it's wet. So I had a relaxed breakfast and got everything ready and then because it was still raining, we went to his workshop and set about filing and planing a piece of wood so it would serve as a handle for a shovel blade. We were about halfway through when it stopped raining, so we set down the tools, grabbed our things and hopped on the tractor and headed out to the Black Forest. When we got to the road he normally takes, we discovered a red and white caution tape stretched across the road, so we hopped out with the tools to find out what was up. First we had to stop to divert a stream fed by the recent rains that was eroding away the path. Building dams is such fun:) A forester came walking along and chatted with us while helping us with our diverting manoueveres. After we'd taken care of that, we walked down and decided the big log blocking the road was probably the reason for the caution tape.
The purpose for our visit was to salvage bits of wood from the trees that had been felled by the professional foresters (they're the only people who are allowed to actually chop down trees on public land), which were surplus to their needs, for use in the wood fired heating oven back home. There was plenty of wood we could use, but first Opa wanted to give me a bit of a history lesson. First he showed me this stone lean-to, where a wandering violinist was rumoured to have lived during summer a long time ago. Then there was a rock, where a gallows was once erected to execute crims. And finally the piece de resistance, an almost fully intact castle! It was really cool:) You walk through the forest into a clearing and suddenly there's this castle in front of you. It was built in the 1100s for this Robber Baron, who extorted the local people by threatening to kidnap their daughters unless they paid him a ransome in advance. Then when the holy roman empire arose in Germany, the Kaiser had the castle dismantled and the Robber Baron executed (maybe even on the rock I saw).
So history lesson finished, we set to work. I had a small axe, with which I stripped logs of their branches and threw them onto a pile. We did that for 5 hours solid, stopping every now and then to talk. Opa's amazingly fit for his age. When we were walking to the castle, I had to struggle to keep up with him, and when we were working, he'd heft these massive logs on his own over to the side of the road. At about 5, we stopped for the day, which pleased me greatly. Not because I was tired, the work wasn't that tough, but my hands and feet were freezing! Mental note: don't wear business socks in gumboots:P After the tractor ride home, I quickly fed the ducks and then pulled on my running gear and went for a run. Again, no problems, though it wasn't that pleasant a run because it was dark by 10 minutes in and I had to run on asphalt next to the road. AltBulach is nowhere near as good as Baiersbronn for running even during the day. Oh well, I'm really enjoying being here:) It's so good having people to talk to. My german's getting more fluent every day, and I'm even picking up a bit of schwäbisch:P (which Opa told me today contains quite a few french words - no wonder I find it hard to understand!).
This evening Opa came around after dinner with a few photo albums. He'd been telling me about his travels and I said I'd love to see some pictures, so for about 3 hours, we relived his adventures in Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Mallorca, Madeira, Germany and many other countries I've neglected to remember. It was good, but after a while I developed album fatigue and was willing the pages to turn faster:P
Only 9 more days as a WWOOFer now:( I'd like to spend more time here, but I also really want to get back to Baiersbronn and go skiing. Wish I could do both at the same time!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Soo quick entry tonight. Since I last checked in, I went skiing again. It was really good. I did 20km without stocks (skaters), another 10km with stocks and then walked back to Freudenstadt (10km) with skis because I couldn't be bothered waiting for the bus heh. The next morning I got up early to go for a run because I was leaving that afternoon. It was good up to 3 minutes before it was scheduled to finish. And then, on a tricky descent, I twisted my ankle badly, heard a loud crack and yelled an expletive. My first thought was obviously that I'd broken a bone. But I was able to walk back (400m) even if it hurt quite badly, so that was a good sign. At worst it was sprained, probably not even that.
I had lunch with the owners of the Gästehaus where I was staying in Baiersbronn and then caught a few trains to Alt Tublach, where my WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms = you work on a farm in exchange for a bed and food) hosts live. They have a nice big house with stalls to the side where they keep chickens, sheep, ducks and geese. They also own a field about 1km from the house, which holds about 10 horses (and another field next to it, which I think they cultivate vegetables in, but nothing's happening there at the moment). They gave me a quick tour of the house, then after dinner I went straight to bed (I'm sleeping in their son's room while he's at uni) and slept for 12 hours lol.
The next day, Sigfried..at this point I need to describe the household. There're 2 girls (Maree and Friedreke) slightly younger than me, their mother (Sigfried), their Father (Martin), and next door live Oma and Opa (I think they're Sigfried's parents, but am not entirely sure)...strapped my ankle (she's a nurse) and I went with her out to the horse field. For a few hours, I picked up (with a scooper!) what are euphemistically called 'Horse apples'. That wasn't too bad, I was just very careful to avoid standing behind the horses after seeing one of the bigger ones buck and kick at another horse!
We went home after that, had a quick lunch, and then Sigfried went out to take Friedreke to the dentist. I stayed home and made dinner (Green lentil soup with random vegies), which was fun:) Everyone got back at 4:30ish to eat dinner (seemed a bit weird to me, but everyone was hungry, me included, so why not), and then I went out with Sigfried and the girls again for more apple picking. That night there was a bit of an intense supper conversation, which I didn't really follow too well because they reverted into Schwabisch (a strong german dialect), but which seemed to revolve around whether they were going to have to look after another Oma, who suffered from a mental illness and had had some kind of accident that day. I felt a bit like an intruder, so I went to bed asap, and read for a few hours.
This morning Sigfried asked me why I'd gone to bed so early, and when I haltingly explained, she said it was fine and they liked having me there, so I felt a lot more at home after that:) Today I helped Martin clean out the mobile chicken hutch. First we had to manhandle the 90 chickens into another stall. I was worried I was going to break their legs or injure them in some way, so thanks to my sympathy, two chickens managed to escape from my grasp and had to be recaptured by Opa:P Before that, the door to the chicken wagen blew open and about 10 chickens escaped! After trying in vain (we got a few, but the rest were too hard to catch) to recapture them by blocking them into a corner and then trying to grab their legs with this long hook contraption (man I didn't know chickens could run that fast!), we left them to chill out for a while and moved the others. Opa and I set up a chain (obviously because he realised if he let me carry them all the way on my own, more would escape:P), while Martin hunted the chickens inside the hutch, and it went fairly smoothly after that. We eventually managed to trap the renegade chickens and it was on to the next part of the operation. I was in charge of scraping the befouled straw from the bottom of the van into a wheelbarrow waiting below, at least I was until the girls called us in for a quick lunch, while Opa finished off the scraping for me. We collected the eggs from the roosts and then I got to use a high pressure hose to scour off the inground gunk. That was pretty fun apart from the few times when I accidentally sprayed into a corner and all the chicken shit flew up into my face, eurgh:P Then I put on a facemask and sprayed the whole wagon with this chalk mixture (using an air compressor, wheee:D), which supposedly 'kind of' acts as a disinfectant.
I was in serious need of a shower after all that, but at least I was done for the day:) I made samosas for dinner tonight, which went down well:). Almost the whole left side of my foot is covered in a massive bruise, but in spite of that, my ankle is almost completely pain free, I can walk around normally now:) I'll probably be able to start running again on Monday:)
I had lunch with the owners of the Gästehaus where I was staying in Baiersbronn and then caught a few trains to Alt Tublach, where my WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms = you work on a farm in exchange for a bed and food) hosts live. They have a nice big house with stalls to the side where they keep chickens, sheep, ducks and geese. They also own a field about 1km from the house, which holds about 10 horses (and another field next to it, which I think they cultivate vegetables in, but nothing's happening there at the moment). They gave me a quick tour of the house, then after dinner I went straight to bed (I'm sleeping in their son's room while he's at uni) and slept for 12 hours lol.
The next day, Sigfried..at this point I need to describe the household. There're 2 girls (Maree and Friedreke) slightly younger than me, their mother (Sigfried), their Father (Martin), and next door live Oma and Opa (I think they're Sigfried's parents, but am not entirely sure)...strapped my ankle (she's a nurse) and I went with her out to the horse field. For a few hours, I picked up (with a scooper!) what are euphemistically called 'Horse apples'. That wasn't too bad, I was just very careful to avoid standing behind the horses after seeing one of the bigger ones buck and kick at another horse!
We went home after that, had a quick lunch, and then Sigfried went out to take Friedreke to the dentist. I stayed home and made dinner (Green lentil soup with random vegies), which was fun:) Everyone got back at 4:30ish to eat dinner (seemed a bit weird to me, but everyone was hungry, me included, so why not), and then I went out with Sigfried and the girls again for more apple picking. That night there was a bit of an intense supper conversation, which I didn't really follow too well because they reverted into Schwabisch (a strong german dialect), but which seemed to revolve around whether they were going to have to look after another Oma, who suffered from a mental illness and had had some kind of accident that day. I felt a bit like an intruder, so I went to bed asap, and read for a few hours.
This morning Sigfried asked me why I'd gone to bed so early, and when I haltingly explained, she said it was fine and they liked having me there, so I felt a lot more at home after that:) Today I helped Martin clean out the mobile chicken hutch. First we had to manhandle the 90 chickens into another stall. I was worried I was going to break their legs or injure them in some way, so thanks to my sympathy, two chickens managed to escape from my grasp and had to be recaptured by Opa:P Before that, the door to the chicken wagen blew open and about 10 chickens escaped! After trying in vain (we got a few, but the rest were too hard to catch) to recapture them by blocking them into a corner and then trying to grab their legs with this long hook contraption (man I didn't know chickens could run that fast!), we left them to chill out for a while and moved the others. Opa and I set up a chain (obviously because he realised if he let me carry them all the way on my own, more would escape:P), while Martin hunted the chickens inside the hutch, and it went fairly smoothly after that. We eventually managed to trap the renegade chickens and it was on to the next part of the operation. I was in charge of scraping the befouled straw from the bottom of the van into a wheelbarrow waiting below, at least I was until the girls called us in for a quick lunch, while Opa finished off the scraping for me. We collected the eggs from the roosts and then I got to use a high pressure hose to scour off the inground gunk. That was pretty fun apart from the few times when I accidentally sprayed into a corner and all the chicken shit flew up into my face, eurgh:P Then I put on a facemask and sprayed the whole wagon with this chalk mixture (using an air compressor, wheee:D), which supposedly 'kind of' acts as a disinfectant.
I was in serious need of a shower after all that, but at least I was done for the day:) I made samosas for dinner tonight, which went down well:). Almost the whole left side of my foot is covered in a massive bruise, but in spite of that, my ankle is almost completely pain free, I can walk around normally now:) I'll probably be able to start running again on Monday:)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
I went skiing today:=)
Hallo liebe Zuhörer und Zuhörerin,
I haven't written in a while, because..nothing much exciting has happened hah! Here are some of the highlights of the last 5 days:
- Going to the local pub, playing pool against a few young german guys, beating them soundly (4-2) and getting happy drunk off 2 amazingly good pints of local beer (I mean I know I'm a lightweight, but 2 pints!)
- Going to the coin launderette in Baiersbronn, paying 9 euros ($15!!!!) for the privilege of washing my laundry. Deciding never to do this again.
- Going iceskating, being intrigued by a german girl with a jumper with the slogan 'It feels so good to be an outlaw in your perfect world' (where were the concerned members of public with pitchforks and rifles to drive this outlaw back into the deep dark forest where she apparently takes pleasure in living???)
- Going to the local pub again, meeting an old guy who called himself 'Cowboy', losing to him in pool 2-1 (with a premature black ending for each game:s), arranging for a rematch when I come back in February.
- Finding a cheaper place to stay in February (3 euros cheaper would've been 60 euros over the course of the stay!), ringing up, being met with utter confusion (
'Could I make a reservation?', 'huh?',
'I would like to rent the room you are advertising on the baiersbronn website',
'No.',
'What?',
'Thankyou, goodbye.'
*hangs up*
*calls back*
'Hello, I am calling again to say that if you don't want to rent the room, maybe you should remove the advertisement from the website',
'I am renting the room, but it is not available at the moment.',
'I don't want it now, I want it in 3 weeks.',
'No.' *hangs up*
....fine then?), resorting to booking another 3 weeks at the place I'm staying.
So yeah, not much has happened. It's been good though, very relaxing. A typical day for me has been:
- Waking up whenever I feel like, feeling happily rested.
- Walking down to the shops to pick up a loaf of delicious german bread (a different one each day:D) and a litre of multivitamin juice (heh)
- Eating breakfast, while watching cartoons
And then, depending on how energetic I'm feeling and whether there's anything good on TV, I'd either go for a walk or do some other activity for a few hours, or watch TV for a few hours.
German TV is awesome! There're like 25 free to air channels (every house has a satellite dish), and in the last few days EuroSport Live has been broadcasting the Wintersport World Championships. So I've been watching the Biathlon (best spectator sport ever. XC skiing plus shooting) and ski jumping (there was one guy whose skis came off 100m in midair...owwwch!). The world Snooker Masters were on last night too. It was fun trying to work out the rules lol.
And then at about 3pm, I'd go for a run. This week has been really great. Baiersbronn is such a great training location. I've run on a different trail each time and I've never had to backtrack or run in a loop, which makes it a lot easier psychologically. In all, I managed to meet my goal, which was to run for 10 hours in total for at least 100km. By my reckoning, I did 110km (+/- 5km), all of it on steep trails, which I'm very pleased with. My long run yesterday was really great (and hard). I did 2.5 hours up to Kniebis Dorf (500m altitude gain) rain and snow (both on the ground and falling from the sky). I was a bit sore from the mileage I'd done in the 6 days before, but I did allright until about 2:00 in. After that it was tough (as it should be). Now the test is whether I can do it again for another two weeks.
After seeing for myself that there was actually some decent snow up on Kniebes (950m above sea level), and because I was a bit sore, I decided to go for a ski for the first time today. I'd held off until today because it didn't really seem worth it since there were only 2.5km of trails available and the reported snow quality was always 'mediocre'. But I went up today and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. It was a bit icy, but the whole trail was covered with no nasty rocks sticking out to scratch my new skis on:) I took my classics because I didn't think there'd be enough snow for skating (there was, I'll take my skaters out for a spin tomorrow). The first time around I was a bit rusty, so I wasted quite a bit of energy trying to remember how to diagonal stride (haven't done it for 2 years lol). But the second lap was good, I got some decent speed going. The course is very nice. The first 500m is flattish and then there's about 1km of straight downhill, which is a lot of fun:) Then of course you have to do 800m of uphill to round it out. I did 15km before taking a break, which I needed because by the end my form was absolutely terrible. Turns out you need strong quads to diagonal stride and after running a sizeable portion of my 110km downhill, mine were fairly trashed lol. By the end of the 6th lap I was barely managing walking pace up the uphill section lol. I took a chocolate break after that, and then thrashed out another 2 laps with pure brute force to round out the workout at 20km in 2:02ish. I'm definitely looking forward to skating, classic just didn't feel natural to me. It was a good upper body workout, but didn't do much for me Cardiovascularly.
I'm hoping that while I'm away, there'll be a massive blizzard for three weeks straight and the whole of Baiersbronn will be carpetted in snow:D I like running, but skiing is so much more fun and convenient workout wise. It was nice not having to worry about getting stitch even though I started skiing about an hour after eating breakfast:)
Tomorrow is my last day in Baiersbronn. I'm actually not sure about that. I want to leave on Thursday (and indeed have arranged my WWOOFing plans for that) but I'm not sure whether I'm booked in to stay in Baiersbronn Wednesday night or whether I have to leave Wednesday morning:S So I need to call Herr Keck to check up on that. Actually I think I do have to leave Wednesday because I only paid for 9 nights. Ah well, it's not a problem, I'll just start the WWOOFing part of the trip one day earlier.
The WWOOFing is taking place at a farm quite close to Baiersbronn, it should be good. I'll have a lot more human contact than I've had in Baiersbronn at least:)
Time for me to go, I'm feeling pretty tired (at 6:20pm hah!).
Tschuss from Freudenstadt!
I haven't written in a while, because..nothing much exciting has happened hah! Here are some of the highlights of the last 5 days:
- Going to the local pub, playing pool against a few young german guys, beating them soundly (4-2) and getting happy drunk off 2 amazingly good pints of local beer (I mean I know I'm a lightweight, but 2 pints!)
- Going to the coin launderette in Baiersbronn, paying 9 euros ($15!!!!) for the privilege of washing my laundry. Deciding never to do this again.
- Going iceskating, being intrigued by a german girl with a jumper with the slogan 'It feels so good to be an outlaw in your perfect world' (where were the concerned members of public with pitchforks and rifles to drive this outlaw back into the deep dark forest where she apparently takes pleasure in living???)
- Going to the local pub again, meeting an old guy who called himself 'Cowboy', losing to him in pool 2-1 (with a premature black ending for each game:s), arranging for a rematch when I come back in February.
- Finding a cheaper place to stay in February (3 euros cheaper would've been 60 euros over the course of the stay!), ringing up, being met with utter confusion (
'Could I make a reservation?', 'huh?',
'I would like to rent the room you are advertising on the baiersbronn website',
'No.',
'What?',
'Thankyou, goodbye.'
*hangs up*
*calls back*
'Hello, I am calling again to say that if you don't want to rent the room, maybe you should remove the advertisement from the website',
'I am renting the room, but it is not available at the moment.',
'I don't want it now, I want it in 3 weeks.',
'No.' *hangs up*
....fine then?), resorting to booking another 3 weeks at the place I'm staying.
So yeah, not much has happened. It's been good though, very relaxing. A typical day for me has been:
- Waking up whenever I feel like, feeling happily rested.
- Walking down to the shops to pick up a loaf of delicious german bread (a different one each day:D) and a litre of multivitamin juice (heh)
- Eating breakfast, while watching cartoons
And then, depending on how energetic I'm feeling and whether there's anything good on TV, I'd either go for a walk or do some other activity for a few hours, or watch TV for a few hours.
German TV is awesome! There're like 25 free to air channels (every house has a satellite dish), and in the last few days EuroSport Live has been broadcasting the Wintersport World Championships. So I've been watching the Biathlon (best spectator sport ever. XC skiing plus shooting) and ski jumping (there was one guy whose skis came off 100m in midair...owwwch!). The world Snooker Masters were on last night too. It was fun trying to work out the rules lol.
And then at about 3pm, I'd go for a run. This week has been really great. Baiersbronn is such a great training location. I've run on a different trail each time and I've never had to backtrack or run in a loop, which makes it a lot easier psychologically. In all, I managed to meet my goal, which was to run for 10 hours in total for at least 100km. By my reckoning, I did 110km (+/- 5km), all of it on steep trails, which I'm very pleased with. My long run yesterday was really great (and hard). I did 2.5 hours up to Kniebis Dorf (500m altitude gain) rain and snow (both on the ground and falling from the sky). I was a bit sore from the mileage I'd done in the 6 days before, but I did allright until about 2:00 in. After that it was tough (as it should be). Now the test is whether I can do it again for another two weeks.
After seeing for myself that there was actually some decent snow up on Kniebes (950m above sea level), and because I was a bit sore, I decided to go for a ski for the first time today. I'd held off until today because it didn't really seem worth it since there were only 2.5km of trails available and the reported snow quality was always 'mediocre'. But I went up today and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. It was a bit icy, but the whole trail was covered with no nasty rocks sticking out to scratch my new skis on:) I took my classics because I didn't think there'd be enough snow for skating (there was, I'll take my skaters out for a spin tomorrow). The first time around I was a bit rusty, so I wasted quite a bit of energy trying to remember how to diagonal stride (haven't done it for 2 years lol). But the second lap was good, I got some decent speed going. The course is very nice. The first 500m is flattish and then there's about 1km of straight downhill, which is a lot of fun:) Then of course you have to do 800m of uphill to round it out. I did 15km before taking a break, which I needed because by the end my form was absolutely terrible. Turns out you need strong quads to diagonal stride and after running a sizeable portion of my 110km downhill, mine were fairly trashed lol. By the end of the 6th lap I was barely managing walking pace up the uphill section lol. I took a chocolate break after that, and then thrashed out another 2 laps with pure brute force to round out the workout at 20km in 2:02ish. I'm definitely looking forward to skating, classic just didn't feel natural to me. It was a good upper body workout, but didn't do much for me Cardiovascularly.
I'm hoping that while I'm away, there'll be a massive blizzard for three weeks straight and the whole of Baiersbronn will be carpetted in snow:D I like running, but skiing is so much more fun and convenient workout wise. It was nice not having to worry about getting stitch even though I started skiing about an hour after eating breakfast:)
Tomorrow is my last day in Baiersbronn. I'm actually not sure about that. I want to leave on Thursday (and indeed have arranged my WWOOFing plans for that) but I'm not sure whether I'm booked in to stay in Baiersbronn Wednesday night or whether I have to leave Wednesday morning:S So I need to call Herr Keck to check up on that. Actually I think I do have to leave Wednesday because I only paid for 9 nights. Ah well, it's not a problem, I'll just start the WWOOFing part of the trip one day earlier.
The WWOOFing is taking place at a farm quite close to Baiersbronn, it should be good. I'll have a lot more human contact than I've had in Baiersbronn at least:)
Time for me to go, I'm feeling pretty tired (at 6:20pm hah!).
Tschuss from Freudenstadt!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Last few days
So once again I'm behind a few days. But this time it wasn't out of laziness, rather parsimoniousity! Internet cafes in Baiersbronn are soooo expensive! The cheapest one is 4 euros (~$7) per hour! But I made a trip to Freudenstadt to buy a knife and fork (which are also incredibly expensive in Baiersbronn) and noticed that this internet cafe was only 2 euros/hour (which is still fairly expensive compared to Frankfurt).
So anyway, to summarise: I made it to Baiersbronn without any major problems (apart from a bit of confusion at Karlsruhe trainstation. My travel guide indicated that I should be getting on another train, but I couldn't see any trains at the place it directed me to go. Turns out what looked like trams were actually what we'd call 'light rail'), was picked up by my hosts, shown round the house, then paid my 'Guest tax' and collapsed into bed. The house where I'm staying is quite nice. It's a three storey traditional style house and I've got quite a sizeable room to myself. It's got a bed, wardrobe, TV, and a free standing shower, (which is a bit of a weird concept, but it works).
My first day, I woke up lateish and feeling quite hungry, I went for an explore through Baiersbronn in search of food. I raided a few bakeries, 'drug stores' and supermarkets (they have one named after Marilyn Monroe heh) and amply supplied with pretzels, donuts and biscuits, I went for a 3 hour walk along the country side. It was rather a nice day, probably 5° or so, with blinding sunshine. I followed the Murg (a big river fed by snow melt) and was fascinated by the numerous hydro-electric plants along its length and the small remaining outcrops of ice. Eventually got back to the house (and finally worked out how to open the front door lol. I'd tried to get in before and couldn't, which is why I went on the walk) allowed myself a 30 minute rest and then went for a run. I found this great trail through the forest with great views out onto the countryside. I think you can ski along it when there's snow. After a bit over an hour, I was back in my room and had a tinned dinner of kidney beans and mexican mix vegies, which I drank out of a cup, lacking suitable utensils. Went to bed at 10ish after reading for a little while.
The next day, I woke up earlier and walked down to the town in search of bread and juice. I bought them and then asked around at a few camera places to see if they could help me. At some point in my travels, I'd lost the cord for my camera's battery charger and it was now warning me that I didn't have much time left before it expired. I didn't have much hope of finding it in a small town like Baiersbronn, but lo and behold, the local elektro-Laden had a multitude of such cords and I bought a replacement for 2 euros:)
I walked home and tucked myself in bed, in search of warmth. Next thing I knew, it was boiling hot and 2 hours had passed. I was feeling quite weak, my cold had worsened, but I forced myself to go for a run. I felt better almost immediately as I knew I would. The fresh air is really invigorating, completely free of pollution. I followed the trail I'd found the day before, but as I had a longer run scheduled, I kept going, climbing higher and higher into the mountains. After a while I was no longer running on a trail proper, instead I ran on an old disused logging track that had long been overgrown with ferns. I was delighted to find proper snow here and there, ever more frequent as I climbed higher and higher. On quite a few occasions, I had to run on the snow to avoid the slippery ice on the trail, and it felt wonderful underfoot. Soon I was completely alone, away from all signs of civilisation. The forest was completely silent, the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own footsteps. It was really a beautiful place. When my watch told me to turn around, I wanted to keep going. I felt like I could run forever and never tire or grow bored. I did turn around though because I knew I had a longer run scheduled in 5 days. On the return journey I sped down the trail. I had climbed at least 500m on the way up and now it was time to reap the rewards. Halfway down, I thought I heard a car behind me skidding slightly on the damp road. I moved to the side of the road and looked over my shoulder, but saw nothing. This happened a few times before I realised it was the wind whistling through the trees (or was it one of the fighter jets that periodically tear through Baiersbronn's airspace at supersonic speeds?). I ran back along a different trail, which transected a few of the fields, which are used for downhill skiing when mother nature permits. Without the snow cover, you could see the devestating effect downhill skiing has on the environment. Deep scars had been torn in the earth by the skiiers and the grooming machinery. I ran past the guest house and made one final circuit to bring the total up to two hours and then went inside. Truly an epic run:)
I read for a while and ate a little for dinner and then went to bed. By 8:30, I was fast alseep. I woke up at 7:30 this morning, feeling a bit better than I had the previous two mornings, but still quite sick. Like I said before, I'm in Freudenstadt at the moment. I was very pleased to find a 'Reform' shop, which sold some vegan food. I've been finding it very hard to find things to eat here. There are lots of fresh ingredients available, but lacking a kitchen, I have to resort to eating out or eating out of tins. There's basically nothing I can have at most of the restaurants, whose menus I've perused. I could pay 4 euros for fried potatoes, but it doesn't really seem worth it with no-one to eat with. At the supermarkets, all the ready to eat tinned meals have meat in them, so for the last two nights I've just been eating bread with kidney beans and vegies. But at this shop, there were heaps of different vego tinned meals as well as some rice milk, so I bought enough to keep me fed for the next week:) Now I just need to find a knife, fork, spoon and I'll be set:)
Until next time,
seeya
So anyway, to summarise: I made it to Baiersbronn without any major problems (apart from a bit of confusion at Karlsruhe trainstation. My travel guide indicated that I should be getting on another train, but I couldn't see any trains at the place it directed me to go. Turns out what looked like trams were actually what we'd call 'light rail'), was picked up by my hosts, shown round the house, then paid my 'Guest tax' and collapsed into bed. The house where I'm staying is quite nice. It's a three storey traditional style house and I've got quite a sizeable room to myself. It's got a bed, wardrobe, TV, and a free standing shower, (which is a bit of a weird concept, but it works).
My first day, I woke up lateish and feeling quite hungry, I went for an explore through Baiersbronn in search of food. I raided a few bakeries, 'drug stores' and supermarkets (they have one named after Marilyn Monroe heh) and amply supplied with pretzels, donuts and biscuits, I went for a 3 hour walk along the country side. It was rather a nice day, probably 5° or so, with blinding sunshine. I followed the Murg (a big river fed by snow melt) and was fascinated by the numerous hydro-electric plants along its length and the small remaining outcrops of ice. Eventually got back to the house (and finally worked out how to open the front door lol. I'd tried to get in before and couldn't, which is why I went on the walk) allowed myself a 30 minute rest and then went for a run. I found this great trail through the forest with great views out onto the countryside. I think you can ski along it when there's snow. After a bit over an hour, I was back in my room and had a tinned dinner of kidney beans and mexican mix vegies, which I drank out of a cup, lacking suitable utensils. Went to bed at 10ish after reading for a little while.
The next day, I woke up earlier and walked down to the town in search of bread and juice. I bought them and then asked around at a few camera places to see if they could help me. At some point in my travels, I'd lost the cord for my camera's battery charger and it was now warning me that I didn't have much time left before it expired. I didn't have much hope of finding it in a small town like Baiersbronn, but lo and behold, the local elektro-Laden had a multitude of such cords and I bought a replacement for 2 euros:)
I walked home and tucked myself in bed, in search of warmth. Next thing I knew, it was boiling hot and 2 hours had passed. I was feeling quite weak, my cold had worsened, but I forced myself to go for a run. I felt better almost immediately as I knew I would. The fresh air is really invigorating, completely free of pollution. I followed the trail I'd found the day before, but as I had a longer run scheduled, I kept going, climbing higher and higher into the mountains. After a while I was no longer running on a trail proper, instead I ran on an old disused logging track that had long been overgrown with ferns. I was delighted to find proper snow here and there, ever more frequent as I climbed higher and higher. On quite a few occasions, I had to run on the snow to avoid the slippery ice on the trail, and it felt wonderful underfoot. Soon I was completely alone, away from all signs of civilisation. The forest was completely silent, the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own footsteps. It was really a beautiful place. When my watch told me to turn around, I wanted to keep going. I felt like I could run forever and never tire or grow bored. I did turn around though because I knew I had a longer run scheduled in 5 days. On the return journey I sped down the trail. I had climbed at least 500m on the way up and now it was time to reap the rewards. Halfway down, I thought I heard a car behind me skidding slightly on the damp road. I moved to the side of the road and looked over my shoulder, but saw nothing. This happened a few times before I realised it was the wind whistling through the trees (or was it one of the fighter jets that periodically tear through Baiersbronn's airspace at supersonic speeds?). I ran back along a different trail, which transected a few of the fields, which are used for downhill skiing when mother nature permits. Without the snow cover, you could see the devestating effect downhill skiing has on the environment. Deep scars had been torn in the earth by the skiiers and the grooming machinery. I ran past the guest house and made one final circuit to bring the total up to two hours and then went inside. Truly an epic run:)
I read for a while and ate a little for dinner and then went to bed. By 8:30, I was fast alseep. I woke up at 7:30 this morning, feeling a bit better than I had the previous two mornings, but still quite sick. Like I said before, I'm in Freudenstadt at the moment. I was very pleased to find a 'Reform' shop, which sold some vegan food. I've been finding it very hard to find things to eat here. There are lots of fresh ingredients available, but lacking a kitchen, I have to resort to eating out or eating out of tins. There's basically nothing I can have at most of the restaurants, whose menus I've perused. I could pay 4 euros for fried potatoes, but it doesn't really seem worth it with no-one to eat with. At the supermarkets, all the ready to eat tinned meals have meat in them, so for the last two nights I've just been eating bread with kidney beans and vegies. But at this shop, there were heaps of different vego tinned meals as well as some rice milk, so I bought enough to keep me fed for the next week:) Now I just need to find a knife, fork, spoon and I'll be set:)
Until next time,
seeya
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Sunday
Today I made my first big mistake of the trip.
I woke up at 6am to the sound of at least 4 snorers (and apparently I was doing it that night too lol). In my room, there are two really chronic snorers: Mark and this other guy, who never showers and had revenge taken upon him. If you're not asleep by the time they are, then you've got no chance at all. I looked over at Vaki and he was sleeping with his pillow wrapped around his head lol. I stayed in bed til 7 and then went down and had breakfast. When I got back and opened the door, Vaki woke up.
"Du gehst heute Morgen?" (Are you leaving this morning?)
"Ja, ich muss nur meine Skie abholen und dann gehe ich zum Hauptbahnhof" (Yeah, I just need to pick up my skis, and then I'll go to the station)
(Did you leave your skis at the station?)
(No, I mean I have to pick them up from the shop.)
(But today is Sunday, the shop is not open)
($%&!**************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (hence the facebook message)
(I told you this already, why didn't you pick them up yesterday man!)
(Because I'm a ****ing idiot)
On top of this, I could feel that I was developing a cold, and a headache started straight away. I sulked in the corner for a little while and then went downstairs to find out the shop's phone number in the tiny hope that someone might be there anyway. I sulkily ate breakfast with Vaki and then called the shop..No luck, answering machine. I felt better after that, I accepted my fate, rang up the place where I was meant to be staying tonight and the next 9 days, and told them I wouldn't arrive til tomorrow. The woman on the line was really nice and told me they'd pick me up from the station if I told them what time my train would arrive, so I was feeling positive again by the time I hung up the phone. We went for a walk along the Main, talking about the training he did for soccer (they did 3 hour long runs, nuts!) and dodgem cars and other random stuff, then went down to the train station to change my ticket. It turned out, I didn't even need to do that because my ticket is valid for tomorrow as well lol.
We went back to the Hostel and played chess for a while, then grabbed lunch and took it upstairs in my tupperware containers (I wanted to go for a run, so I wanted to keep it for later). The path was really crowded! It seemed like everyone was spending his day outside! I had to duck and weave a little to get around. I raced a few people (I don't think they realised though:P) but there wasn't really any competition besides the cargo ship. It seems like only really old people run in Frankfurt. Vaki told me that's because the good runners don't like running on the asphalt path (I've been running on the grass next to it), so they go to dirt trails in the outskirts of the city. I'd really like to go to his home city, Kassel. It's the second biggest city in the state (behind Frankfurt), but it has a lot more in the way of nature reserves. Apparently there are 80km of running trails:O
Afterwards I showered for the second time this trip (I know gross, but you don't sweat in this weather, and when you wear at least 4 layers at all times, you don't smell either:P) and managed to get all my clothes wet because the showers at the hostel are really stupid. They turn off after 10 seconds, so you have to keep pressing the button and the shower head has a crap nozzle that sprays everwhere! At least I was warm though:)
Vaki and this other guy in our room had been smok(iff)ing, and hence were too chilled out to talk about anything interesting, so I went internet caffing (ICing) and managed to remember what I did the last 3 days and wrote about it in my blog. And then I wrote about writing it in my blog. And then I wrote about writing about writing about it in my blog. And then I wrote about writing about writing about writing about it in my blog. Lame:P
When everything goes well, I'll be in Baiersbronn tomorrow afternoon with my skis and maybe have time for a quick ski before it gets dark (5pm):)
-ciao
I woke up at 6am to the sound of at least 4 snorers (and apparently I was doing it that night too lol). In my room, there are two really chronic snorers: Mark and this other guy, who never showers and had revenge taken upon him. If you're not asleep by the time they are, then you've got no chance at all. I looked over at Vaki and he was sleeping with his pillow wrapped around his head lol. I stayed in bed til 7 and then went down and had breakfast. When I got back and opened the door, Vaki woke up.
"Du gehst heute Morgen?" (Are you leaving this morning?)
"Ja, ich muss nur meine Skie abholen und dann gehe ich zum Hauptbahnhof" (Yeah, I just need to pick up my skis, and then I'll go to the station)
(Did you leave your skis at the station?)
(No, I mean I have to pick them up from the shop.)
(But today is Sunday, the shop is not open)
($%&!**************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (hence the facebook message)
(I told you this already, why didn't you pick them up yesterday man!)
(Because I'm a ****ing idiot)
On top of this, I could feel that I was developing a cold, and a headache started straight away. I sulked in the corner for a little while and then went downstairs to find out the shop's phone number in the tiny hope that someone might be there anyway. I sulkily ate breakfast with Vaki and then called the shop..No luck, answering machine. I felt better after that, I accepted my fate, rang up the place where I was meant to be staying tonight and the next 9 days, and told them I wouldn't arrive til tomorrow. The woman on the line was really nice and told me they'd pick me up from the station if I told them what time my train would arrive, so I was feeling positive again by the time I hung up the phone. We went for a walk along the Main, talking about the training he did for soccer (they did 3 hour long runs, nuts!) and dodgem cars and other random stuff, then went down to the train station to change my ticket. It turned out, I didn't even need to do that because my ticket is valid for tomorrow as well lol.
We went back to the Hostel and played chess for a while, then grabbed lunch and took it upstairs in my tupperware containers (I wanted to go for a run, so I wanted to keep it for later). The path was really crowded! It seemed like everyone was spending his day outside! I had to duck and weave a little to get around. I raced a few people (I don't think they realised though:P) but there wasn't really any competition besides the cargo ship. It seems like only really old people run in Frankfurt. Vaki told me that's because the good runners don't like running on the asphalt path (I've been running on the grass next to it), so they go to dirt trails in the outskirts of the city. I'd really like to go to his home city, Kassel. It's the second biggest city in the state (behind Frankfurt), but it has a lot more in the way of nature reserves. Apparently there are 80km of running trails:O
Afterwards I showered for the second time this trip (I know gross, but you don't sweat in this weather, and when you wear at least 4 layers at all times, you don't smell either:P) and managed to get all my clothes wet because the showers at the hostel are really stupid. They turn off after 10 seconds, so you have to keep pressing the button and the shower head has a crap nozzle that sprays everwhere! At least I was warm though:)
Vaki and this other guy in our room had been smok(iff)ing, and hence were too chilled out to talk about anything interesting, so I went internet caffing (ICing) and managed to remember what I did the last 3 days and wrote about it in my blog. And then I wrote about writing it in my blog. And then I wrote about writing about writing about it in my blog. And then I wrote about writing about writing about writing about it in my blog. Lame:P
When everything goes well, I'll be in Baiersbronn tomorrow afternoon with my skis and maybe have time for a quick ski before it gets dark (5pm):)
-ciao
Saturday
Arrgh, it was not fun getting up this morning. We promised the japanese guys, we'd escort them to the train station, so we got up at 7:00, ate a quick breakfast and found them in the lobby. They needed to catch a train to Heidelberg at 8:34, so they were in a bit of a rush, but when I went to leave with them, I couldn't find Vaki! I looked everywhere for him and in the end, decided we'd have to leave without them, even though I didn't really know the way to the train station. But a few metres from the Hostel, he came bursting through the doors and told me he'd been looking for ME everywhere hahaha. We caught a train with them to the Hauptbahnhof and found their platform. It was a bit dejavuish finding them seats and saying goodbye to them lol.
The South Koreans were leaving that morning as well, but not til 10am we thought, so we went back to the Hostel quickly so that Vaki could pay for another night in the hostel, and then went to Woolworth to buy a few things. When we got back at 9.30, they were already gone:( We felt a bit bad about that, they must've meant they were catching a train at 10am. Oh well. They left a nice note, saying they had a good time with us, so we felt a bit better:)
Mark had just woken up, and he announced that he wanted some more games for his computer because the chess version he had, had run out of evaluations. So we went sniffing for an unsecured wireless network and ended up resting the laptop against the window of a pub to escape the rain. We downloaded a few games and then scattered because the owner of the pub kept looking through the window at us and gesturing for us to piss off, and obviously our smiles weren't enough to reassure her, because she picked up the phone and dialled a number lol. When we got back, we discovered that the games hadn't downloaded properly, so it was all in vain!
We had lunch at the hostel, which we hadn't realised existed. It's amazing value - all you can eat buffet for 5 euros. There wasn't much for me from the bainne marie, but I had a few roast potatoes and loaded my plate up with salad and beans:) Healthiest and tastiest meal I've had so far:)
Mark's girlfriend came after that, and they went away to try and download the games again, so Vaki and I went to an internet cafe. I wanted to blog, because I'd fallen behind, but I was feeling so tired that I just gave up, and gave the computer over completely to Vaki. He was chatting to his friends on Skype. All the internet cafes in Germany have webcams and headsets you can use with Skype. It's a really cheap way to stay in touch with people when you're far away, when you consider that you can find quite a few internet cafes for 1 euro ($1.70 AUD) per hour.
I was so tired by that stage, that I just went straight to bed, even though it was only 7pm. Mark woke me up at 12:30 to tell me that he'd beaten Vaki in Kicker (aka Foosball) 4-3 and would I like to play chess with him now. I didn't even bother replying apart from turning to the other side of the bed and immediately went back to sleep and didn't wake up til 6am.
The South Koreans were leaving that morning as well, but not til 10am we thought, so we went back to the Hostel quickly so that Vaki could pay for another night in the hostel, and then went to Woolworth to buy a few things. When we got back at 9.30, they were already gone:( We felt a bit bad about that, they must've meant they were catching a train at 10am. Oh well. They left a nice note, saying they had a good time with us, so we felt a bit better:)
Mark had just woken up, and he announced that he wanted some more games for his computer because the chess version he had, had run out of evaluations. So we went sniffing for an unsecured wireless network and ended up resting the laptop against the window of a pub to escape the rain. We downloaded a few games and then scattered because the owner of the pub kept looking through the window at us and gesturing for us to piss off, and obviously our smiles weren't enough to reassure her, because she picked up the phone and dialled a number lol. When we got back, we discovered that the games hadn't downloaded properly, so it was all in vain!
We had lunch at the hostel, which we hadn't realised existed. It's amazing value - all you can eat buffet for 5 euros. There wasn't much for me from the bainne marie, but I had a few roast potatoes and loaded my plate up with salad and beans:) Healthiest and tastiest meal I've had so far:)
Mark's girlfriend came after that, and they went away to try and download the games again, so Vaki and I went to an internet cafe. I wanted to blog, because I'd fallen behind, but I was feeling so tired that I just gave up, and gave the computer over completely to Vaki. He was chatting to his friends on Skype. All the internet cafes in Germany have webcams and headsets you can use with Skype. It's a really cheap way to stay in touch with people when you're far away, when you consider that you can find quite a few internet cafes for 1 euro ($1.70 AUD) per hour.
I was so tired by that stage, that I just went straight to bed, even though it was only 7pm. Mark woke me up at 12:30 to tell me that he'd beaten Vaki in Kicker (aka Foosball) 4-3 and would I like to play chess with him now. I didn't even bother replying apart from turning to the other side of the bed and immediately went back to sleep and didn't wake up til 6am.
Friday
That morning, we all got up early, because Theo decided he'd leave a day earlier than expected so as to maximise his use of his EuroRail Pass. Vaki kept trying to convince him to forget the idea and go back to sleep (I think his advice lacked partiality, considering he'd stayed up til 4am drinking with some Spaniards and Braziallians and was suffering from a rather bad case of 'Tomcat'), but he wouldn't be swayed, so we ate breakfast and took him to the train station. The '20 minute walk' ending up lasting quite a bit longer because we took a scenic tour of Frankfurt, including the Town Hall and the more disreputable quarters (I waited outside in disgust, while they captured their mocking antics on camera:S).
At the train station, I bought a ticket to Baiersbronn for Sunday, while Theo tried to work out whether he wanted to go to Berlin or Köln first. He eventually decided on Berlin, and we escorted him to his train and sat with him for a little while before bidding him goodbye. He was great to be around, full of energy and curiousity. I'm glad I met him, and I'm sure he'll have fun in Paris, Barcelona, Prague and all the other cities he's visiting.
We went back to the Hostel and played chess on Mark's laptop for a while and then I went for a run, which was once again very nice. I raced a cargo ship back to the start and won hehe.
There were two new guys in our room from South Korea, so we talked with them for a little while (it was a bit hard though because apart from Korean, they only spoke very limited english). We showed them round Frankfurt a little and helped them work out how to call home. I felt a bit protective of them because they seemed to be really quite helpless. It's allright in Germany, where you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't speak at least some english, but in Paris, Spain and Prague, I suspect they'll have quite a hard time of it. Mark doesn't agree though, he thinks they are a lot more capable than they let on.
He told me about this theory he has about why Asian tourists travel to Europe, but don't really go to the cultural attractions, but instead spend their time taking millions of photographs of shop windows, etc. According to him, travelling to Europe is a massive adventure for them, a test of courage. The photographs and the passport stamps are evidence to show back home and when it passes muster, they are revered as heros among their peers. It is a massive generalisation, but it probably has some merit.
I think the same is true for westerners travelling to Asian countries. It's very hard to appreciate the intricacies of a culture vastly different from your own that you know little about. You look for similarities and when you don't find enough, you resort to this 'Blitzfahrt' style of travel. It is also probably a reflection of time constraints. The South Koreans were college students, so they had 2.5 months of holidays or something like that, but they said full time jobs are very limiting in the amount of time you can take off. With a maximum of two weeks at your disposal, you'd want to cram in as much as you could. You can't get anywhere near to understanding a city like Frankfurt or Paris in two weeks, but you can gain a glimpse into what they're like and later, when you have more time, you can go back to the places you like the most.
We took the South Koreans out for pizza (oops we should've taken them somewhere more german:P) and beer (they preferred apple wine heh). Vaki and I talked for a long time about his past. He has a bit of a sad history. His family moved to Germany when he was one to escape the war and his father didn't cope well with the change. He ended up running away from home to escape the beatings he received and spent most of his childhood and adolescence in a children's home. He's turned out allright in spite of that. He has millions of friends and they're his family now. What's really sad is that he had a dream and the talent to achieve it, but has let it slip out of his grasp. He was an amazing soccer player as a child, and when I say amazing, I mean easily the best on every team he ever played on. He had an ambition to play for Germany one day, or at least play at a high enough level that he could live off it. For a while, it looked like he'd achieve it. He was playing at a very high level (I didn't really understand the league systems, but it would probably be analogous to the reserves for the A-league in Australia - they got paid for big matches, but normally nothing), training hard, really enjoying it...and then he just fell off the rails. He started drinking, started smoking, stopped going to training and showed up to matches late. Eventually his coach had had enough and they had an altercation and Vaki stormed off never to return. He kept playing but not seriously, and now he doesn't play at all. He decided he needed to prioritise work. I suggested he should play night football once a week, but he told me, for him it was everything. If he plays, it has to be with his whole heart and playing once a week would be worse than not playing at all. And now, apparently it's too late for him to get back into training because the top class players have a lifespan from about 18-31 and he's too old now. It made me really sad, because I could tell he loved it so much, and was angry at himself for letting it go.
Back at the hostel, we had quite a few drinks with this Japanese guy and girl, who were very different from the other Japanese people I've met abroad. Normally, they're very shy, but these guys were quite the opposite and could speak very good english courtesy of having studied in Portmouth in England for a year. A french guy called Pierre also came along and he was a lot of fun.
I went to bed very drunk that night and fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, so I didn't bear witness to the revenge attack that was going on in the bunk next to mine (hilarious story, but I'll save it for parties).
Some photos from Frankfurt: http://monashedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81217&l=d0e2a&id=639895031
At the train station, I bought a ticket to Baiersbronn for Sunday, while Theo tried to work out whether he wanted to go to Berlin or Köln first. He eventually decided on Berlin, and we escorted him to his train and sat with him for a little while before bidding him goodbye. He was great to be around, full of energy and curiousity. I'm glad I met him, and I'm sure he'll have fun in Paris, Barcelona, Prague and all the other cities he's visiting.
We went back to the Hostel and played chess on Mark's laptop for a while and then I went for a run, which was once again very nice. I raced a cargo ship back to the start and won hehe.
There were two new guys in our room from South Korea, so we talked with them for a little while (it was a bit hard though because apart from Korean, they only spoke very limited english). We showed them round Frankfurt a little and helped them work out how to call home. I felt a bit protective of them because they seemed to be really quite helpless. It's allright in Germany, where you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't speak at least some english, but in Paris, Spain and Prague, I suspect they'll have quite a hard time of it. Mark doesn't agree though, he thinks they are a lot more capable than they let on.
He told me about this theory he has about why Asian tourists travel to Europe, but don't really go to the cultural attractions, but instead spend their time taking millions of photographs of shop windows, etc. According to him, travelling to Europe is a massive adventure for them, a test of courage. The photographs and the passport stamps are evidence to show back home and when it passes muster, they are revered as heros among their peers. It is a massive generalisation, but it probably has some merit.
I think the same is true for westerners travelling to Asian countries. It's very hard to appreciate the intricacies of a culture vastly different from your own that you know little about. You look for similarities and when you don't find enough, you resort to this 'Blitzfahrt' style of travel. It is also probably a reflection of time constraints. The South Koreans were college students, so they had 2.5 months of holidays or something like that, but they said full time jobs are very limiting in the amount of time you can take off. With a maximum of two weeks at your disposal, you'd want to cram in as much as you could. You can't get anywhere near to understanding a city like Frankfurt or Paris in two weeks, but you can gain a glimpse into what they're like and later, when you have more time, you can go back to the places you like the most.
We took the South Koreans out for pizza (oops we should've taken them somewhere more german:P) and beer (they preferred apple wine heh). Vaki and I talked for a long time about his past. He has a bit of a sad history. His family moved to Germany when he was one to escape the war and his father didn't cope well with the change. He ended up running away from home to escape the beatings he received and spent most of his childhood and adolescence in a children's home. He's turned out allright in spite of that. He has millions of friends and they're his family now. What's really sad is that he had a dream and the talent to achieve it, but has let it slip out of his grasp. He was an amazing soccer player as a child, and when I say amazing, I mean easily the best on every team he ever played on. He had an ambition to play for Germany one day, or at least play at a high enough level that he could live off it. For a while, it looked like he'd achieve it. He was playing at a very high level (I didn't really understand the league systems, but it would probably be analogous to the reserves for the A-league in Australia - they got paid for big matches, but normally nothing), training hard, really enjoying it...and then he just fell off the rails. He started drinking, started smoking, stopped going to training and showed up to matches late. Eventually his coach had had enough and they had an altercation and Vaki stormed off never to return. He kept playing but not seriously, and now he doesn't play at all. He decided he needed to prioritise work. I suggested he should play night football once a week, but he told me, for him it was everything. If he plays, it has to be with his whole heart and playing once a week would be worse than not playing at all. And now, apparently it's too late for him to get back into training because the top class players have a lifespan from about 18-31 and he's too old now. It made me really sad, because I could tell he loved it so much, and was angry at himself for letting it go.
Back at the hostel, we had quite a few drinks with this Japanese guy and girl, who were very different from the other Japanese people I've met abroad. Normally, they're very shy, but these guys were quite the opposite and could speak very good english courtesy of having studied in Portmouth in England for a year. A french guy called Pierre also came along and he was a lot of fun.
I went to bed very drunk that night and fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, so I didn't bear witness to the revenge attack that was going on in the bunk next to mine (hilarious story, but I'll save it for parties).
Some photos from Frankfurt: http://monashedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81217&l=d0e2a&id=639895031
Saturday, January 5, 2008
thursday
Oh dear, I've already started falling behind. I didn't blog yesterday or the day before and now I can hardly remember what I did.
Aha, it comes back to me. Theo and I got back to the hostel to discover a new guy in our room. He went by the name of Mark (or Marc?) and came from Tel Aviv. A futures trader by trade (hah), he was spending a few months in Frankfurt in the youth hostel because he likes the place so much. We were talking about business and he was saying that the most important thing about making money was being a spendthrift. "I will do anything for money" he said.
"Oh yeah? Would you go walk outside in your underwear?" (He was walking around in his underwear in spite of the cold)
"For 50 euros, I will do that yes"
I laughed and remarked that I couldn't waste 50 euros on such a frivolous exercise, and then Theo walked in.
Straight away, Mark announced "Hey friend, I have a proposition for you: if you can swim from one bridge on the Main to the next, I will give you 1000 euros. In return, you will give me the exclusive rights to film the episode and I will put it on youtube and make my money back."
"Bullshit, as if you´d do that"
"No, I am not lying. I will go and get 1000 euros from the ATM immediately if you agree to do it. I am rich man, see look, I have 7 credit cards." (and threw the credit cards at Theo)
Theo was seriously considering it "I mean it's not that far, only like 500m right? I'm a strong swimmer, I could do that in 5 minutes max easy!"
At that point I interjected "Dude, you realise the water is about 1 degree celsius - that's as cold as the arctic and people die in 5 minutes in there!"
"I don't believe you, it can't be that cold! I'll go and dip my finger in."
While Theo was gone, Mark expanded on his plan. In addition to the exclusive rights to the video, he would also be able to harvest Theo's organs if he died in the attempt. In this manner, he decided he'd make his money back 100 times.
Unfortunately Mark's grand plan fell through when Theo got back a lot less confident about his chances to withstand either the temperature or the swim (there's quite a strong current this time of year) hahahaha.
Aha, it comes back to me. Theo and I got back to the hostel to discover a new guy in our room. He went by the name of Mark (or Marc?) and came from Tel Aviv. A futures trader by trade (hah), he was spending a few months in Frankfurt in the youth hostel because he likes the place so much. We were talking about business and he was saying that the most important thing about making money was being a spendthrift. "I will do anything for money" he said.
"Oh yeah? Would you go walk outside in your underwear?" (He was walking around in his underwear in spite of the cold)
"For 50 euros, I will do that yes"
I laughed and remarked that I couldn't waste 50 euros on such a frivolous exercise, and then Theo walked in.
Straight away, Mark announced "Hey friend, I have a proposition for you: if you can swim from one bridge on the Main to the next, I will give you 1000 euros. In return, you will give me the exclusive rights to film the episode and I will put it on youtube and make my money back."
"Bullshit, as if you´d do that"
"No, I am not lying. I will go and get 1000 euros from the ATM immediately if you agree to do it. I am rich man, see look, I have 7 credit cards." (and threw the credit cards at Theo)
Theo was seriously considering it "I mean it's not that far, only like 500m right? I'm a strong swimmer, I could do that in 5 minutes max easy!"
At that point I interjected "Dude, you realise the water is about 1 degree celsius - that's as cold as the arctic and people die in 5 minutes in there!"
"I don't believe you, it can't be that cold! I'll go and dip my finger in."
While Theo was gone, Mark expanded on his plan. In addition to the exclusive rights to the video, he would also be able to harvest Theo's organs if he died in the attempt. In this manner, he decided he'd make his money back 100 times.
Unfortunately Mark's grand plan fell through when Theo got back a lot less confident about his chances to withstand either the temperature or the swim (there's quite a strong current this time of year) hahahaha.
After that, Mark bet me 5 euros that he could do 60 pushups. I was very surprised and impressed when he managed 58, especially when Vaki and I only managed 35 hahaha. Theo talked himself down so much that Mark and I both put 5 euros on the table for the same bet and he cleaned us out haha. Some of his pushups were a bit suspect though:P Mark gave the money back afterwards because he decided I was a nice guy and Theo followed suit, so that made things very amiable:)
And because having my whole upper body torn to shreds wasn't enough for me, I went for a run that evening. Frankfurt is a fantastic place to run. There's a path by the Main that stretches for at least 30km, which is very popular with joggers, walkers and cyclists alike. I really enjoyed it. There's something about running in cold air, which is very refreshing. It was also my first pain-free run in a week:) My back hurt a bit at the start, but I noticed the pain wasn't getting any worse, so I kept running and it went away completely:D I managed a good 12-13km (1:00).
That night, we went back to this old style bar that we saw in our guided tour the night before. I had fried potatoes, which were quite good and the others had some traditional german dishes. We were all in a good mood thanks to the beers we had back at the hostel (which are amazingly cheap - $2.50 for a pint - and very nice by Australian standards), so it was a very enjoyable evening. Theo kept trying to talk to these two German girls who were sitting at the table next to us (under the pretense that he wanted their advice for the menu) but managed only to anger the waiter (and it must be said, me too). Before the meal, we were all saying we'd go out on the town with Vaki and get back right on the curfew (2am, which is ok I guess), but after the meal and the beers, we were all quite sleepy.. Theo and I promised we'd get up in two hours, but..it didn't end up happening hahaha.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The youth hostel was pretty easy to find - I hopped on a bus and was there in 15 minutes. It turned out that you couldn´t check in until 1pm, so I dumped my stuff in the baggage room and went for an explore. This largely consisted of going into shops to escape the cold and buying lots of books. I got a few of Kafka´s books, which I´ve been wanting to read for ages and a few other random german books that looked good at the time:P
After making my way through every department store and bookshop in Frankfurt, I decided I might as well go and get my skis. I didn´t have a map, so I vaguely walked in a direction that seemed to correlate with the google maps image I had in my head...which was way off:P I eventually found a map and made my way to the Globetrotter Ausrüstung shop. After a short wait, the ski salesperson came out, listened to what I wanted and in very fast german, recommended a few pairs of skis and told me everything about them. I politely smiled and nodded and pretended to understand. Didn´t fool him though, he reverted to halting english and I kept replying in halting german:P There was a bit of confusion about whether I needed to buy new ski boots for the classic skis. I told him I´d used my boots with classic skis before and he told me that would destroy the bindings lol. He eventually went and got the bindings to prove his point to me and in the process of doing so, realised I was right after all:P I picked out two sets of no wax skis and bindings and a pair of classic stocks that looked pretty good and arranged for the bindings to be installed. I´m picking it all up and paying for it on 6th when I leave Frankfurt because I don´t really want to leave it in the hostel.
I went back to the hostel after that and unpacked. I was lying on my bed eating a bag of cornchips and setting up my new sim card (number is 01624 666 388) and generally relaxing when I heard this dramatic snoring suddenly start up. I rapidly turned round and discovered this dude sleeping in the bunk next to me, completely and invisibly covered by the blanket hahaha.
All those cornchips made me hungry, so I went for a walk. I was originally intending to go into the city centre to find a supermarket or something, but I started walking along the Main (which is right next to the youth hostel!) and it was so nice that I ended up forgetting the drink and going for a 3 hour walk along the Main. After an hour I got away from the freeway and the rest of civillisation and was walking past these garden allotment thingies. They´re really cool, people just go there in their free time and grow vegetables as far as I can tell. We should do that kind of thing in Australia. I like growing food, but it doesn´t really seem worth it when you´ve only got a tiny garden bed at your disposal. I turned round at 4pm, conscious of the dwindling light and strolled back to the hostel, where I discovered a few new arrivals in the room. Viki, a Srilankan born Frankfurt native and Theo, an American were making themselves at home, and after a while, this guy called Ben popped his head in. Ben is so hilarious. I met him when I first arrived at the hostel. He accosted me at the doorway and asked me why I was carrying a long bag with military stripes on it:P We stood there talking for about 15 minutes and every time someone walked out of the hostel, he´d insult them in German:P He taught me a few :D
Viki and I played Kicker (what they call Fussball over there) for a while (I got absolutely slaughtered haha), while Theo chatted up a few Spanish girls. Then Viki gave us a guided tour of the nightspots in Frankfurt´s Altstadt. It was freeezing cold - I was wearing about 4 layers and shivering, but he was just wearing a hoodie and said he wasn´t cold at all! I wish I´d grown up in Germany! Frankfurt actually reminds me a lot of Melbourne. It´s about the same size and the Main is just like the Yarra except wider. I wouldn´t mind living here...
This morning we had breakfast at the hostel and then Theo and I went out into the city for another explore. Kind of a weird experience being the tour guide and translator when I don´t know the city or the language that well lol. Viki promised to take us out to a few places tonight, should be good;D
After making my way through every department store and bookshop in Frankfurt, I decided I might as well go and get my skis. I didn´t have a map, so I vaguely walked in a direction that seemed to correlate with the google maps image I had in my head...which was way off:P I eventually found a map and made my way to the Globetrotter Ausrüstung shop. After a short wait, the ski salesperson came out, listened to what I wanted and in very fast german, recommended a few pairs of skis and told me everything about them. I politely smiled and nodded and pretended to understand. Didn´t fool him though, he reverted to halting english and I kept replying in halting german:P There was a bit of confusion about whether I needed to buy new ski boots for the classic skis. I told him I´d used my boots with classic skis before and he told me that would destroy the bindings lol. He eventually went and got the bindings to prove his point to me and in the process of doing so, realised I was right after all:P I picked out two sets of no wax skis and bindings and a pair of classic stocks that looked pretty good and arranged for the bindings to be installed. I´m picking it all up and paying for it on 6th when I leave Frankfurt because I don´t really want to leave it in the hostel.
I went back to the hostel after that and unpacked. I was lying on my bed eating a bag of cornchips and setting up my new sim card (number is 01624 666 388) and generally relaxing when I heard this dramatic snoring suddenly start up. I rapidly turned round and discovered this dude sleeping in the bunk next to me, completely and invisibly covered by the blanket hahaha.
All those cornchips made me hungry, so I went for a walk. I was originally intending to go into the city centre to find a supermarket or something, but I started walking along the Main (which is right next to the youth hostel!) and it was so nice that I ended up forgetting the drink and going for a 3 hour walk along the Main. After an hour I got away from the freeway and the rest of civillisation and was walking past these garden allotment thingies. They´re really cool, people just go there in their free time and grow vegetables as far as I can tell. We should do that kind of thing in Australia. I like growing food, but it doesn´t really seem worth it when you´ve only got a tiny garden bed at your disposal. I turned round at 4pm, conscious of the dwindling light and strolled back to the hostel, where I discovered a few new arrivals in the room. Viki, a Srilankan born Frankfurt native and Theo, an American were making themselves at home, and after a while, this guy called Ben popped his head in. Ben is so hilarious. I met him when I first arrived at the hostel. He accosted me at the doorway and asked me why I was carrying a long bag with military stripes on it:P We stood there talking for about 15 minutes and every time someone walked out of the hostel, he´d insult them in German:P He taught me a few :D
Viki and I played Kicker (what they call Fussball over there) for a while (I got absolutely slaughtered haha), while Theo chatted up a few Spanish girls. Then Viki gave us a guided tour of the nightspots in Frankfurt´s Altstadt. It was freeezing cold - I was wearing about 4 layers and shivering, but he was just wearing a hoodie and said he wasn´t cold at all! I wish I´d grown up in Germany! Frankfurt actually reminds me a lot of Melbourne. It´s about the same size and the Main is just like the Yarra except wider. I wouldn´t mind living here...
This morning we had breakfast at the hostel and then Theo and I went out into the city for another explore. Kind of a weird experience being the tour guide and translator when I don´t know the city or the language that well lol. Viki promised to take us out to a few places tonight, should be good;D
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Just arrived
I just arrived in Frankfurt:) I got to Melb Airport super early (would´ve been even earlier if I hadn´t checked my ticket - for some reason I thought it was at 1pm not 3:40) to give myself time to get through the scary airport security. I kept having an irrational fear that I´d be taken aside by the border patrol and be interrogated for so long that I´d miss my flight. When I handed my passport and green ´leaving Australia´card (which claimed that my occupation was ´Merchant banker´), I was inventing ranty dialogs that I´d spew at the bumbling officers. They obviously don´t hire clairvoyants though, because I went through without a hitch.
The plane trip was kind of fun for the first 8 hours. I got through Transformers (not a fan), Moving McCalister (new fave film) and part of Stardust (weird), which was a good warmup for my neglected german skills. After that I was dying for a chance to stretch my legs, so I was glad we had a 3:00 stopover in Malaysia.
I exchanged 5 euros for some RMs and was amazed at how much it got me. I bought some Malaysian Pringles (they don´t fill the packet up properly:s), some wasabi seaweed (awesome) and some strange kind of tea in can, which was so disgustingly sweet that I through it out after 2 sips. They have some veryy strange flavours of drinks there lol.
My flight left at 2am AEST and after 5 hours sleep the night before, I was feeling pretty tired. Didn´t really get much sleep though, probably about 4 hours. We had a bit of turbulence on the way over, but it was a pretty smooth flight overall. I was surprised to see that the plane flew over Afghanistan and very close to Turkmenistan on the way over - seems kind of risky to me.
As we landed in Frankfurt at 5:40 frankfurt time, all the german passengers clapped, which I found quite amusing. I like it though, I´m gonna do it on the way back;P As we landed, I started feeling properly excited for the first time. The whole time I´ve been organising this trip, I´ve kind of had a feeling lurking in the back of my mind that maybe it won´t happen. Maybe I won´t raise enough money in time, maybe there will be no free flights and a million other nagging concerns. Touching down, I felt all of those worries dissipate - I´m actually in Germany now!
There was no-one else in the terminal, so I got my luggage fairly quickly with everything intact. I went and put my thermals on before leaving the comfort of the airport (which was warmer than Kuala Lumpar even though it was 30 degrees cooler outside=s). It was -2 degrees outside but it didn´t feel cold at first. I stayed in my t-shirt for about 30 minutes. That might´ve explained some of the funny looks I was getting:P
I didn´t really know what to do once I landed in Frankfurt. I knew I wanted to get to the actual city, so I could dump my stuff at the youth hostel and go shopping, etc. but hadn´t actually figured out how to achieve that. So I did a bit of zen navigation and followed a few people from my flight onto a bus that led to the train station and bought a one way ticket to Frankfurt. I hopped on a train, which turned out to be the wrong one. I had thought this a very probable outcome, because I really do not know this city at all lol. Luckily a ticket inspector stopped me from ending up in Wurzburg and after misinterpreting the instructions he flung over his shoulder the first time, I got on the right train and arrived at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Needing directions, I scouted out an internet cafe and that´s where I am now, watching the sun rise and remaining clueless about how to type the át´ symbol with german keyboards.
Time to go and find my youth hostel!
The plane trip was kind of fun for the first 8 hours. I got through Transformers (not a fan), Moving McCalister (new fave film) and part of Stardust (weird), which was a good warmup for my neglected german skills. After that I was dying for a chance to stretch my legs, so I was glad we had a 3:00 stopover in Malaysia.
I exchanged 5 euros for some RMs and was amazed at how much it got me. I bought some Malaysian Pringles (they don´t fill the packet up properly:s), some wasabi seaweed (awesome) and some strange kind of tea in can, which was so disgustingly sweet that I through it out after 2 sips. They have some veryy strange flavours of drinks there lol.
My flight left at 2am AEST and after 5 hours sleep the night before, I was feeling pretty tired. Didn´t really get much sleep though, probably about 4 hours. We had a bit of turbulence on the way over, but it was a pretty smooth flight overall. I was surprised to see that the plane flew over Afghanistan and very close to Turkmenistan on the way over - seems kind of risky to me.
As we landed in Frankfurt at 5:40 frankfurt time, all the german passengers clapped, which I found quite amusing. I like it though, I´m gonna do it on the way back;P As we landed, I started feeling properly excited for the first time. The whole time I´ve been organising this trip, I´ve kind of had a feeling lurking in the back of my mind that maybe it won´t happen. Maybe I won´t raise enough money in time, maybe there will be no free flights and a million other nagging concerns. Touching down, I felt all of those worries dissipate - I´m actually in Germany now!
There was no-one else in the terminal, so I got my luggage fairly quickly with everything intact. I went and put my thermals on before leaving the comfort of the airport (which was warmer than Kuala Lumpar even though it was 30 degrees cooler outside=s). It was -2 degrees outside but it didn´t feel cold at first. I stayed in my t-shirt for about 30 minutes. That might´ve explained some of the funny looks I was getting:P
I didn´t really know what to do once I landed in Frankfurt. I knew I wanted to get to the actual city, so I could dump my stuff at the youth hostel and go shopping, etc. but hadn´t actually figured out how to achieve that. So I did a bit of zen navigation and followed a few people from my flight onto a bus that led to the train station and bought a one way ticket to Frankfurt. I hopped on a train, which turned out to be the wrong one. I had thought this a very probable outcome, because I really do not know this city at all lol. Luckily a ticket inspector stopped me from ending up in Wurzburg and after misinterpreting the instructions he flung over his shoulder the first time, I got on the right train and arrived at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Needing directions, I scouted out an internet cafe and that´s where I am now, watching the sun rise and remaining clueless about how to type the át´ symbol with german keyboards.
Time to go and find my youth hostel!
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