Dienstag, September 27, 2005
Ordinary Days...
Monday--watched the kids during the day and babysit at night. Built a HotWheelsBahn w/Henrik and read about 100 stories to Kathi. (Actually, I read the same 3 stories over and over and over.) I really really really love these kids though. Kathi & I baked a delicious Zucchini bread using the recipe that I loved from childhood. Next up is my roomie Amy's mom's pumpkin bread, I think. (Have to e-mail her.) Mmmm..... Mrs. Lutz's pumpkin bread.
Tuesday--Oh, more ordinary-ness. I guess things that are becoming ordinary to me might be exciting for someone else. I (being super savvy) biked to the UBahn station four stops down where three different trains stop (as opposed to Kurze-Kamp-Strasse which is served only by the 7). I went into town to plan my syllabus for the course, but also brought a novel I am reading. So, I sat at the upstairs table in Balzac Coffee--with this great view of the Hauptbahnhof and all the Germans passing below me--and pretended to plan my syllabus but really read a lot of John Irving's A Widow for One Year. Balzac is the most 'American' of the coffee shops here--the atmosphere reminds me of the Starbucks I studied in at WM. This Starbucks ended up being a mecca for Gamma Phi's for some reason. I found it using the logic that there was a Starbucks about 1 mile from WM (near Target); therefore, there must be another approximately one mile away in the opposite direction. I don't know how all the other GPhi's found it, but it ended up being this 'secret' study place for almost my entire sorority. There was this unwritten code though, that when people went there we actually did want to get something done. You could BS with a Gphi for awhile, but then everyone would turn back to their work. (Or, maybe that was just the unwritten code around me because I was working on a thesis... Interrupt the American Girls and feel my wrath.)
So, I can see myself frequenting this Balzac's but also the one near the auslanderämt and near the universität--see, it IS the German Starbucks!! 3 locations within walking distance of each other... I loved ordering coffee there. I guess my accent is sooooo bad (I am still pretty tentative) that they can pick me out as an English speaker immediately. (Plus, to console myself, we were right near the train station so they probably get more tourists...right?) My, 'Ein vanilla latte bitte' was answered with, 'One moment. Oohh... and the cream and sugar are over there.' ARG!!!
Met Steve (older British guy) again last night. We went down to the Brauhaus for a beer and chatted. He is currently reading Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and read me some passages that he liked. Swoon. This is how to romance Heather. :)
Grad school apps continue. Syllabus will be done by tomorrow night.
Tuesday--Oh, more ordinary-ness. I guess things that are becoming ordinary to me might be exciting for someone else. I (being super savvy) biked to the UBahn station four stops down where three different trains stop (as opposed to Kurze-Kamp-Strasse which is served only by the 7). I went into town to plan my syllabus for the course, but also brought a novel I am reading. So, I sat at the upstairs table in Balzac Coffee--with this great view of the Hauptbahnhof and all the Germans passing below me--and pretended to plan my syllabus but really read a lot of John Irving's A Widow for One Year. Balzac is the most 'American' of the coffee shops here--the atmosphere reminds me of the Starbucks I studied in at WM. This Starbucks ended up being a mecca for Gamma Phi's for some reason. I found it using the logic that there was a Starbucks about 1 mile from WM (near Target); therefore, there must be another approximately one mile away in the opposite direction. I don't know how all the other GPhi's found it, but it ended up being this 'secret' study place for almost my entire sorority. There was this unwritten code though, that when people went there we actually did want to get something done. You could BS with a Gphi for awhile, but then everyone would turn back to their work. (Or, maybe that was just the unwritten code around me because I was working on a thesis... Interrupt the American Girls and feel my wrath.)
So, I can see myself frequenting this Balzac's but also the one near the auslanderämt and near the universität--see, it IS the German Starbucks!! 3 locations within walking distance of each other... I loved ordering coffee there. I guess my accent is sooooo bad (I am still pretty tentative) that they can pick me out as an English speaker immediately. (Plus, to console myself, we were right near the train station so they probably get more tourists...right?) My, 'Ein vanilla latte bitte' was answered with, 'One moment. Oohh... and the cream and sugar are over there.' ARG!!!
Met Steve (older British guy) again last night. We went down to the Brauhaus for a beer and chatted. He is currently reading Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and read me some passages that he liked. Swoon. This is how to romance Heather. :)
Grad school apps continue. Syllabus will be done by tomorrow night.
# posted by Heather @ 10:57 PM 
