For me? A cinnamon roll and a bowl of hot cheap soup.

Now where was I? Ah, yes...Rob and I had just planned our trip across the Nile. We ran into a familiar face in a man who had pestered us a couple days earlier. We struck a deal with him that would see us across the river and with a driver for the day. I was a bit hesitant about the taxi at first, thinking we could hump it, but it was a good decision. Our first stop found us at the Valley of the Kings, where former pharoahs and their wives are buried. Because of some British or Canadian guy, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the valley itself––photography in the tombs had been forbidden, but he didn’t care. Having no desire to leave our expensive cameras in a hot cab with a driver we didn’t know, we stuffed them all in Georgio’s backpack, essentially sneaking them in. Our tickets allowed us entry into three different tombs, so we took a short ride––in what looked very much like a baggage cart they use on the tarmac––up to the entry. The tombs were very cool, but only in the visual sense. Despite the fact that they are underground, they are actually very warm. We were given pieces of cardboard by the guy who punched our tickets at the first tomb, who then expected baksheesh (tips) on our way out. Suffice it to say, we didn’t accept anymore cardboard fans!

The graves we visited were quite extensive. They went deep into the ground; some with three to four separate chambers. Along the walls are depictions of entrance into the afterlife, along with a plethora of hieroglyphics. It is truly amazing how the colors have maintained their richness and vibrancy. At one point, Rob opened the backpack ever so slightly, to sneak a couple of pictures. On our way out, one of the “workers” inside the temple claimed to have seen him. We all found this hard to believe, since he was so far away and there was a huge “coffin” in the way. I expect he was trying to blackmail Rob, who incessantly denied doing anything. The fine would have amounted to about $500. Rob’s adamant denial bought us enough time to get the heck out of Dodge. We visited our last two tombs and walked through the convenient exit (much like the exit from the rides at Six Flags) that led us through a slew of merchants trying to sell us little figurines made out of some rock, the name of which escapes me...though it was either obsidian or onyx. One man in particular, meowed at us to get our attention, since he had cat figurines. We meowed back playfully, but didn’t slow down from our b-line to the parking lot.

Our driver took us next to the Temple of Hatshepsut, built in honor of the only Egyptian pharaohess. The staff at the hostel told us that it's called "hot cheep soup" as a joke, because Chinese tourists always call it that. After a nice photo shoot, we sought out the Tombs of the Nobles. This was about as loosely organized as a game of football at recess. We had to buy our “tickets” at a stand that was not really near the graves, were dropped off simply in the area, and then had to find our way to the graves. As we confusedly ambled around the dunes, we were approached by a hip Egyptian youth––slicked back hair, thin, skinny jeans, and a t-shirt with lots of colors…and of course the cell phone from which he could listen to very loud Egyptian music––who offered us a tour of the tombs that we paid to see. When we told him we didn’t need a tour, he then offered to show us where they were…for an outlandish price. So we wandered until we found the entrance to a tomb. It wasn’t the one that we paid to see (which our guidebook said was the most worthwhile of the bunch) and he wouldn’t tell us where it actually was. We saw what there was to see (not much) and wanted to go back to the other side of the Nile.

The details of the rest of our time in Luxor sort of escape me, seeing as I waited so long to update my blog. But, here are some of the highlights from the rest of our time:

1) While walking along the Nile one night, we saw a congregation of people outside of what looked to be a store. It was essentially a wedding store, in which people actually get married. So we joined the crowd, and watched two couples marry. We followed the wedding party­––which means we, three pale Americans, who really stand out, are in the wedding video of one couple––and Paul and Georgio joined in the singing and dancing as a group encircled the couple. Rob and I joked about how funny it would have been if Paul had all his money stolen while he was dancing….no dice. J

2) We took a boat ride on the Nile, enjoying the beautiful weather. It was too early to see the sunset, but it was nice and relaxing to simply sit and enjoy drifting with the current.

3) My Cairo Craps went away.

4) We had our last meal at Snack Time­––it was a sad, but delicious experience. Two words: Cinnamon roll!

5) I was pressured into giving the workers at the hostel a good review. He called it a “favor”. Eh, at least I didn’t have to leave a tip.

6) We got to watch a bit of the New York Giants vs. Oakland Raiders game as we waited in the hostel to go to the airport. A nice taste of America.

We again took the red eye. This flight was quite entertaining. Georgio, in all his glory, kept trying to flirt with one of the flight attendants. I asked him if he could get her to give me an extra glass of water, because I was so thirsty. He did…but then spilled it on his lap. It looked like he wet his pants, so he asked Paul to change shirts with him (since Paul is taller, hence the shirt would cover his “accident”). So, once the plane landed, they both took off the shirts and traded. It was really sketchy, but also very funny.

Once we got back to the hostel, we explained the mix up with the plane tickets, expecting to get a refund, but instead had about a 45-minute argument, which ended in us not getting our money back, but instead we only received the night we spent at the hostel free (a 2oo pound value…still short of the 475 or so we had to pay) We were all very frustrated, seeing as they booked the wrong tickets. They kept telling us we should have called (though we didn't have their number), we should not have used the tickets (though, then we would have lost them), and that the worker who made us pay extra was just trying to cheat us...

After all that, we definitely wanted to get out of Cairo. We had a couple days left in Egypt, and decided to head north...to Alexandria!

What time is it? SNACK TIME!

           After a nice night of sleep in our air conditioned hostel room, we woke for breakfast provided by the hostel.  They told us it included a cup of tea, an omelette (really greasy eggs) with cheese (a small pack of warm cheese) and bread with jam (some obscure Egyptian fruit).  It sufficed, but really wasn't the best thing for my system...:(  But it was included in the price, so I ate it.  

            We left the hostel and headed to the Karnak Temple, but not until we visited our two-pound water guy.  We walked the three miles to the temple and almost snuck our way in with a tour group.  But, when we didn't have tickets, we were sent back to the ticket booth.  Georgio, speaking Arabic and pretending he was an Egyptian, got his ticket for 2 pounds, whereas we paid a nice 40 pounds...Georgio!  The temple was spectacular!  Almost everything was still intact, or at the very least, a recognizable portion of it.  It's truly amazing how the colors are still visible after thousands of years.  A group of French tourists was trying to take a picture of themselves by tilting the camera on the ground, so I asked them if they wanted me to take a picture for them.  They were very grateful, and I used almost all my knowledge of French when taking the picture.  "Trois, deux, un, fromage!" It was nice to interact with Europeans again.  The trip made me appreciate Germany a great deal more.

             After the couple of hours at the Temple we took a cab back to our new favorite restaurant, "Snack Time."  We thought we would continue patronizing this place, because the food was good/varied/well-priced/not Egyptian.  On of us would always ask, "What time is it"  To which he would get an enthusiastic, "SNACK TIME!"  Unfortunately, it also didn't really sit well with my system either.  I thought a milkshake would have done me some good!  (Well, at least I thought it would be a nice treat in the heat.  Unfortunately it tasted like warm ice cream.)  We returned to our hostel to meet up with the captain of the felucca.  And he had us backtrack to where we just were...but we made our way to the dock, risking our lives on the poorest/rustiest excuse of a walkway in the world.  It was made up of two separate sets of stairs that were connected with wire.  We did see a felucca named, "Alaska" which was cool for two reasons. 1) It is names after our 49th state.  2) Whenever we told Egyptians that we were from the U.S., half of the time, they would reply, "Welcome to Alaska!"–We didn't really get that, until someone explained it was a joke, because it is actually warm in Egypt. 

              We got on the felucca, bound for Banana Island.  Unfortunately, our destination was up river, so we had to whistle for a tugboat, already with three other feluccas trailing behind it, to come and pick us up.  Once we joined up behind them, we waited for a few more boats.  It was actually pretty cool.  Ropes being thrown from boat to boat, a full train of feluccas!  It was a nice relaxing ride on the Nile.  We took our shoes off and dragged our feet in the cool water.  Then Rob had his foot bitten by a crocodile!  Not really, we didn't see a crocodile until later.  The boat was large enough for us to lay out on the cushioned seats, and I was pretty close to taking a nice nap.  Then we reached the isle, where we finally saw our first Egyptian crocodiles...small and in a cage.  After walking through a banana field and checking out the new fertilizer they were using, we got a plate full of fresh bananas!  I was really exciting, knowing bananas to be a constipator, but they didn't really help that much, as I would later find out.   But that's neither here nor there.  We hurried off the island to catch the sunset.  It was absolutely incredible, watching the sunset on the Nile.  I took at least a hundred pictures.  One of the most worthwhile experiences on the trip.  That night we wandered around Luxor a bit, but then I returned home to write some post cards.  Paul and Georgio went out to a café where they sat and played backgammon all night.  Rob and I planned our trip for the next day.  We decided to cross the Nile!

My friend, special price!

            The airplane ride was on a dinky plane that shook for at least half of the hour long ride (according to Rob, who thought we were going to die).  I was asleep most of the trip, although I was awoken a couple of times by the very very rude man in front of me who did not pay any heed to the pilot's orders regarding the shutting off of cell phones.  This man's phone kept ringing!  He would pick it up, lost connection, and the person kept calling back.  In all seriousness, it happened eight to ten times.  Suffice it to say, he was not very popular on the plane.  

              Groggy and thirsty, we arrived in Luxor around 7 in the morning (after a nice little delay in Cairo).  We took a cab into the city, and immediately realized the difference in air quality.  Namely, Paul didn't have difficulty seeing through his contacts.  We walked along the Nile for a bit, the entire time getting accosted by Taxis and carriage drivers.  After exchanging some money, we found our way to our hostel, New Everest Hostel, which allowed us to check in at 9.  So we sat around in the lobby, again being offered by the staff plenty of guided ($€$€--it's all the same to them!) tours of the different sites in Luxor.  We declined, confident we could find our way with our handy travel guide.  Knowing we had plenty of time to see the city, we used our first day there to catch up on sleep.  After we woke from our naps, we decided to meander around the city, eventually making our way into the bazaar.  If you are ever feeling friendless, just make your way to Luxor and head down this narrow street.  "My friend, my friend, special price.  Only 5 Egyptian Pounds!  Where are you from my friend?" (Following look of bewilderment)  "¡Mi amigo!" (Continued confused look)  "Mein Freund! (which actually means "boyfriend" in German).   They have enough knowledge of the languages of the most frequently visiting tourists to invite you into their stores.  You may think I am exaggerating, but there must have been 70 shops, all with keepers eager for our patronage.  All claiming us to be their friends. :)  We found this terribly amusing.  As much as a gift from Egypt would be cool to give, I just never found anything with a good quality that I would ever want to purchase.  We did find another papyrus shop which Georgio wanted to check out.  The prices here were incredibly cheap compared to the other shop in Cairo.  We told the guy we would come back again before we left, while Georgio wanted to wait to see how much money he had left before we left Luxor...and boy, would we come back!---->continued foreshadowing!

             As we were approaching the end of the tunnel, so to speak, we heard a couple fighting off the vendors, auf Deutsch!  So, we struck up conversation with them as we looped back...but not through the bazaar.  I was impressed we were able to understand them.  They were a couple from Switzerland, and the Germans maintain, that Swiss German is not actual German.  Probably like someone in New York might say someone down in Dixie can't speak real English.  Either way, I was happy to be able to understand them.  On our walk, I

 serendipitously ran into the one and only (I think) Catholic church in Luxor.   I looked before we left to figure out where I could go to mass on Sunday, but had no idea where it actually was, so it was really nice a near the hostel.  There was a nice statue of the Blessed Virgin outside, along with a cool mosaic of Baby Jesus and Mary on a Donkey and Joseph leaving for Egypt.  :)

           That night we ate at an outdoor restaurant.  We all ordered pizzas, and midway through our meal, we were accosted by cats.  There were cats all over Luxor (and later, Alexandria)!  It was at this point that my bowels were starting to have a difficult time with the food in Egypt.  At last, the (pardon the crudeness, but this was the best name we could come up for it) Cairo Craps had struck... We made a pit stop at the McDonald's, where Paul got a shake, so I could use the facilities.  (Thanks again, Paul.)  After that, we went to go sit in the park-like area outside the Luxor Temple, which is a main fixture across the street from the Nile.   I think it is at the center of the city, at least from what I gathered by our location.  A mosque was built right alongside/partially on top of it.  We made our way toward the mosque, and were invited in by

a man who gave a neat little tour in German, giving us the opportunity to take a few cool snapshots of the temple from up close.  Some of the walls in the mosque were actually walls from the temple.  After the tour, he conveniently led us to a corner, seemingly to offer us another opportunity to photograph the temple.  Then he asked us to give him some money...for the mosque...claiming any amount would be helpful, noting we should give what we thought, from the bottoms of our hearts.  I told him I only had big bills (not really seeing this as something that deserved a tip, noting he graciously invited us in to give us a tour), Georgio gave him something and walked away, Paul offered in 20 pounds, and Rob offered him his four 50 cent bills, also because he had nothing else small.  The guy looked at us, puzzled and said what we were giving was too small...explaining to Rob his amount was too small.  Rob explained that was all he had, so the man asked if he had any Euros!  It was at that point, I left, and Paul and Rob soon followed.  That was a very awkward and weird experience.  We went back to the park-like plaza and sat on one of the grassy areas.  We sat and talked for a good hour, planning out our next couple of days.  We headed back to the hostel, and along the route, found a man selling big bottles of water for only two Egyptian Pounds (roughly ¢40), which was the best deal we had found (and we frequented his stand)   We made plans to visit the Karnak Temple the next day and arranged a felucca boat ride with the hostel for the evening.  We were all set with plans...we just needed some sleep.

Luxor ≠ Aswan

We talked to one of the staff members from the hostel about a flight to Luxor, which was quoted the day before at €60.  She told us it was now €80...so we told her we would have to discuss it further, because a nine hour train ride would be a fraction of the price, but Rob had no real desire to sit on a train for that long.  After visiting the small museum, in which we saw actual mummies, canopic jars (the ones with disemboweled mummy parts), and some other very old items, we walked around the pyramids at Saqqara (formerly Memphis), seeing the famous step pyramid that is the first known building made entirely of stone (circa 2650 B.C.).  We were also fortunate enough to see about 50 people selling souvenirs.  One man, who was offering a donkey ride, saw me put a piece of gum in my mouth.  He came up to me and kept saying something that sounded remotely like "chicle," the Spanish word for "gum."   So I started speaking to him en Español and he kept guessing where I am from.  He listed off about eight Spanish cities until he gave up.  I ended up telling him that I am from the Dominican Republic (Somos Amigos 2006!).  Then he asked me to take a picture of him.  Then he tried to take my camera off from around my neck, so he could take a picture of me...no gracias, señor!

Our cab driver had mentioned to Georgio how great it is to take a dinner cruise on the Nile in Cairo, which the hostel would (of course) happily book for us.  We figured out a compromise.  Since the price for the flight went up (for sketchy reasons mind you...I still am not sure what she was trying to tell us), we thought to haggle a bit to get the flight and the dinner cruise for €80 collectively.  Paul deliberated with the woman over the phone for a while, saying we wanted to go from Luxor to Cairo, and return from Luxor to Cairo (a fact I had made clear when I spoke with her earlier), which differed from their itinerary for us going to Aswan.  After some heated discussion with the woman, we eventually got the price down to €80.  Gut gemacht, Paul.

We spent a little downtime at the hostel, recuperating before our dinner cruise.  The woman from the hostel had purchased the flight tickets for later that night, namely 4 in the morning.  Redeye=cheapest.  So we left our stuff at the hostel, went to this dinner cruise–which we were made to understand was all-inclusive–thinking we could stuff ourselves not only with food, but with beverage as well.  We were thirsty probably 60% of the trip.  Unfortunately, the drinks were not included in the fee, but the food was, and was a weird mix.  There was spaghetti, rice, beef, and plenty of Middle Eastern "salads" that looked more appetizing than the Egyptian desserts.  The food was nothing special, but the lounge singers who were stationed right behind me (one even had his hand on my chair during half of his song...while I was in it) were spectacular...ish.  The best part of the cruise was simply being out on the Nile.  It was a nice, cool night.  After dinner I made my way up to the bow of the boat, relaxing and breathing in the (seemingly) clean Cairo air (Oxymoron!).  Rob joined me, and after a nice conversation, Paul found us and revealed that we missed a dancing dwarf and a belly dancer.  Shucks!  

We found ourselves with plenty of time before our flight, so we went back to the hostel and took naps in the common room there.  I woke up a bit early and snuck onto the computer to quickly check if the Vikings had beaten the Packers, since we left on the Monday night with the big game.  Unsurprisingly, the destroyed the Packers. :)  We got to the airport, looked at our tickets, and thought, "Hmmm...why is our destination listed as 'Aswan?'"  Rob said he asked the woman about that earlier when we received our tickets, but she claimed it was the same airport, and one could simply go to either Luxor or Aswan.  Talking to the EgyptAir agent, we were informed that it is actually a three hour distance between cities (by train).  Thanks a bunch, hostel.  We had to pay a surcharge to change our flight, figuring we would explain what happened to the hostel when we returned to Cairo and get our money back...and then we waited---->next stop, Luxor!

Did you know falafel is just a ball of deep fried spices?

Wednesday, October 7th:  We awoke early to start our adventure.  The breakfast included with the hostel was not yet prepared, so the man at the front desk gave money to the cab driver to pay for breakfast for us.  So, we stopped for some authentic Egyptian breakfast (I don't think they actually eat it this early):  falafel and what was pretty much a pita pocket filled with beans.  The beans were delicious and the falafel initially tasted good.  I don't really like fried food, so when I realized that all falafel is simply a ball of deep fried spices, I regretted eating mine...and Rob's.  When Rob said he didn't want the rest of his, I asked him, "Rob, do you not like this?  Or do you just not want diarrhea?"  <----foreshadowing!  

We finally got out of the smoggy air in the city and onto the highway.  It was nice moving away from the heavily trafficked streets.  The housing along the highway consisted of red brick buildings, none of which seemed to be fully constructed.  After about five minutes on the highway, we got our first glimpse of the pyramids.  If our trip ended there, I would have been okay.  It was so cool seeing these monstrous structures from miles away, until they eventually got lost behind buildings or trees.  We drove along a small "river" after we got off the highway.  It was mostly a trash receptacle. (SIDE NOTE:  Garbage is everywhere in Egypt.  There are seldom garbage cans.  One simply throws garbage on the street.  It took a while getting used to, and once I got back to Germany, I had to catch myself a couple of times!)  The strangest thing we saw in the "river" was the pair of dead horses...

Speaking of horses, our driver took us to a "stable" where we were able to choose between a camel or a horse for our trek to the pyramids.  We all opted for camels, which were tied together, one behind the other, like a train.  Fortunately I was at the front, and got the opportunity to "steer" for a while.  Camels are tall animals.  So tall, that as we rode through the streets, we looked down on some of the cars that passed beneath us.  After we had to dismount for a security checkpoint, we all decided to put on some sunscreen...because it was hot.  Oh, that's right. We had absolutely beautiful weather during our trip.  75º during October?  Yeah, it happened.  Well that was the one time we used the sunscreen...we left it in the camel pack when we left.

Our tour guide and his small sidekick (a kid who met us in the street and stole the reigns from me) led us up the sandy path.  Along the way, our guide started telling us riddles and jokes, primarily to practice his English.  And anytime he made a disparaging comment about Asian tourists, he assured us everything was in order, because hey, he's got a Japanese wife!  As we continued up the mounds of sand, the tips of the pyramids slowly came into view.  It was during that surreal moment, that we all began to understand that we were really in Egypt.  

We again dismounted our camels, but this time for our photo shoot.  It definitely wasn't our guide's first rodeo.  That dog could hunt!  He took turns with all four of our cameras making (Germans say "making" photos, not "taking" :) ) the same set of pictures for each of us.  He had us jump "over" the pyramids, lean on them, and even sit on them!  Our guide then told us to stand on the back of my camel.  I had to laugh, thinking how many waivers I would have had to sign had we been in the U.S.  Following his example, I took my turn on its back.  The weirdest was when he had us jump off the camel's back.  The entire time I kept thinking, "Boy, I sure hope it doesn't stand up right now."

Our tour guide then led us down to get closer to the pyramids themselves.  He was bragging about all the music he had on his cell phone (very common in Egypt to have lots of songs on cellulars) and proudly played us some songs from his collection, namely Celine Dion.  That's correct.  When I went to go see the Pyramids at Giza, I was listening to Celine Dion.  We climbed a pyramid for a nice photo op (which is completely legal) and made our way down to the housing for the builders of the pyramids.  Our guide kept telling us it was illegal to go inside these structures, and that he had to go pay off the guards if we wanted to see them.  When we told him 50 pounds was way too expensive for this, and that we were okay missing out on the visit, he kept trying to talk us into doing it, saying, "How much are you willing to pay."  Translation:  The 20 pounds we each payed went directly into his wallet.  

He took us into a few different rooms.  The coolest room was one into which we had to climb down.  The air within the space smelled sweet.  It had formerly been a roomed used during the embalming of the mummy.  Since they used the fragrant aroma of flowers, the room still had the sweet smell, thousands of years later.  

We headed in the general direction of the Sphinx when our guide tried to take us back, but Rob and I wanted some real pictures of it.  So we ran down to get some snapshots, only to be accosted by little Egyptian boys trying to sell us rulers with hieroglyphics on them.  (Sorry, Peanut, I didn't get you one.)  Did you know that when Napoleon marched into Egypt in the early 19th century, he had his troops shoot of the nose of the Sphinx so he could have it shipped back to France? Cool eh?

We rode our camels back to where we started, and then were herded into a room by our tour guide, only to be strongly encouraged to give him tips.  That was a bit awkward, but not as much as when our driver took us to a papyrus painting shop.  (He had purchased us more falafel, and my hunger outweighed the taste.)  But as I mentioned, he took us to a shop.  Not really sure what was going on, we were encouraged to enter.  I think it was run by his friend.  Thankfully Georgio purchased something, because they gave us all free beverages and constantly tried to haggle with us.  It was all very expensive, and frankly, nothing I would ever want to buy.

We were finally en route to see the pyramids at Saqqara.  We still needed to figure out our flight for that night to Luxor, so we had to call our great friends at Let-Me-Inn...

Europe's getting kind of boring. Let's go to Africa!

Our itinerary: October 5th-14th--be in Egypt.

       In order to get the cheaper flight, we had to take the red eye.  We arrived in Cairo around 3 in the morning.  I wasn't really able to sleep much on the flight so I was pretty tired when we arrived.  Paul, on the other hand, was awake and lively, having spent the entire flight chatting with a German-Iraqi.  Paul got the best of both worlds–he got to practice his German while practicing his Arabic.  He introduced himself to Rob and me as "Georgio."  Fine by me!  After passing through some very weak health checkpoint–nothing like the bio-thermal detectors the State Department had promised but rather some old ladies wearing masks who wouldn't let us through until we filled out some paperwork– we exchanged some money and purchased our visas for $15. (Bryna, if you read this, maybe think about going to Egypt next time.  You can just get your visa when you arrive!)  Egypt uses the Egyptian Pound, a reminder of their former occupation by the British no doubt.  It was about 5.45 Egyptian Pounds to the Dollar when we arrived, or about 8 Euro per Pound.  Neat currency, though they have no denomination small than a 50 cent piece...which means you can literally get short-changed.

Once we got our baggage, we made our way to the doors.  20 feet or so before, we could feel the warmth and could smell a dusty dry air that I won't soon forget.  Georgio was able to get a taxi–odd how he wanted to be payed in Euros– which he shared with us.  As we made our way from the airport to the city center (about 20 minutes away by car) we got to talking to Georgio a bit more.  Before we knew it, Paul invited him along to our hostel, humorously named "Let-Me-Inn" Hostel.  We changed our room to a four bed-room to accommodate our new friend.  "Hey, Mom.  I just got to Egypt, met a 37 year-old Iraqi man who goes by "Georgio," and am sharing a hostel room with him.  Bye"  That was pretty much the conversation Rob had with his mom before we went to bed.  :)

        Our first day there (October 6th) we decided to make our way around the city to get a taste of Egypt.  Well, let me tell you.  Cairo has 12 million people.  It is absolutely huge.  Trying to cross the street involves playing a real-life version of "Frogger."  I would almost say cars speed up once you enter their paths.  The air quality within the city is also very poor.  Later on in the trip, Paul had a hard time seeing our of his contacts because of all the pollutants in the air.  

       We took a subway a ways out of the center of the city where we made our way through busy street markets to the Nile, the lifeblood of Egypt.  It is pretty fantastic.  As much as a river can be, I guess.  Very wide.  Very large.  After getting our first round of pictures with the river, we followed to current of the river back toward the way from which we came.  Along the bank, there are plenty of green areas.  They charge an entrance fee, but the you can sit there and admire the rather sparse greenery.  We opted to keep walking.  After a couple hours of that, hunger finally set back in, and we made our way to a Pizza Hut.  Let me tell you, Pizza Hut in Egypt is a classy establishment.  Cleaner, cheaper, but not as tasty as in the U.S.  Paul had this fantasy of drinking tea in an Egyptian tee shop.  I on the other hand, wanted to get a haircut.  Let's face it, haircuts in Europe, like clothing, are too expensive.  Plus, now when people ask me what I did in Egypt, I can respond proudly, "I got a haircut!"  Georgio had to explain what I wanted.  It was sort of a weird experience, especially because the barber didn't know English,  though he somehow knew how to smoke while cutting hair.  After he was done, he squirted about a third of a bottle of gel into my hair and "styled" it.  Of the phrases I learned while in Egypt, I still wish I would have learned how to say, "Please sir, do not put all of that gel in my hair!"

Rob came back to get me in time to see the gelling incident and led me to the café where Paul and Georgio were enjoying some nice Egyptian tea.  Georgio was on vacation and, like us, happened to find a cheap flight to Egypt.  But, he was hoping to return in January during a longer break.  So he asked around about renting apartments for a couple of weeks, and pretty soon brought up the crazy idea of renting an apartment for our return leg in Cairo.  Having already put some down-payments on different hostels, I didn't really feel like losing out on those.  Plus, we're poor students.  We're supposed to rough it when we go backpacking.  Nonetheless, Georgio and now Paul and Rob, wanted to check out the apartment.  This man on the street took us up to this 8th or 9th floor flat which provided a beautiful view of the city over the Nile.  We snapped some pictures and told them we would call them after we returned to Cairo if we were interested.  Haha...thanks for giving us a place to take some cool photographs!  We never called them back.  We had neither the funds nor the desire to stay in the apartment/Cairo during our last days in Egypt, but that comes later.

           We took a taxi back to our hostel.  It was a very exhilarating ride.  Namely because there is very little traffic controlling in Egypt.  One simply changes lanes and there are clusters of cars everywhere!  Headlights/directionals are completely optional.  Most of the switches for the horns are where the windshield wiper switch would be.  That's how often they are used.  Once back at the hostel, we took turns showering.  There was no tub, just a shower head in the bathroom with a squeegee to push the water down a drain once finished.  Afterwards, we talked with the staff at the hostel about possible plans.  It seems like everybody in Egypt knows somebody.  Meaning if you need something, whoever you are talking to, knows somebody who can procure the good or service.  Our plan was to spend another day in Cairo, then take a 9-hour night train to Luxor.  They tried to fix us up with this different itinerary that would have sent us to Abu-Simbel, an ancient temple not too far from the border with Sudan.  We laughed at the quote the gave us and explained our poor-studentness.  They recommended a flight from Cairo to Luxor, which would be more expensive than the train, but would go 9 times faster.  That was something we had to think over, but we did make plans with them to go to the Pyramids the next day.  We went to dinner at an Egyptian restaurant.  I ended up getting some sort of meat (which tasted curiously like meatloaf) on a stick along with "macaroni," which consisted of mostacolli  noodles with some beef and cheese.  Not too bad!  Then we tried our luck with a confectioner, who made some very very delicious baklava.  Afterward, we walked around the streets for about an hour and a half.  The night life there is huge.  We saw full families walking about at 10:30-11 o'clock at night.   After trying on a couple pairs of knock-off shoes (including a pair of sandals I swear were women's), we called it quits for the night.  After all, we were going to go see the Pyramids at Giza in the morning.

Egypt? I don't know. I am a bit krank(y)!

(Krank in German means sick...it's a play on words, because I was both sick and because of that, cranky.)

With four days left in the intensive language course, it was time to start planning out what I was going to do with the nice 15 day break before the semester started.  I had a few options:  1)  Visit Max Loos in Tunisia.  2)  Visit Paul and Mandie Wilburn in Rome (since they wouldn't visit me in Germany).  3)  Go to Egypt, where a friend of mine (Guthrie) is actually studying.  My friend, Paul, and I had discussed earlier the possibility of going to Egypt, and having looked at prices/tickets, we figured going to Egypt would never again be as inexpensive as it was.  Tunisia was too expensive, and I am planning on going to Rome for Easter.  So we made up our minds, talked to another AYFer, Rob, and bought our tickets on Monday. 

 I felt like I was getting sick on Monday, and sure enough, I woke up Tuesday feeling like garbage.  I was either too warm or too cold.  During class, I had a hard time concentrating and wanted nothing more than to go to bed.  It was at this point that I began to worry something terrible.  With the H1N1  virus going around, and with my flu-like symptoms, I was a bit worried my trip to Egypt wouldn't happen.  Because of the outbreak, the U.S. State Department warned all travelers going to Egypt that if they were detected (via a biothermal radar) as being sick, they would be quarantined in an Egyptian hospital for 48 hours, and released if they were not deemed a threat to the public.  :-D  Wouldn't that be a great welcome!  Fortunately that night, my friends Ambika and Paul came over and made me dinner, and Eva and Kirsten pampered me in all sorts of ways.  They made me tea, brought me a large blanket with a tiger on it, gave me heat packs, and plenty of facial tissues (Kleenex).  My 11 hours of sleep coupled with missing my last actual day of class did me well.  I was on the road to recovery.  Eva made me some great soup for lunch and things seemed to be going well...until I realized how much I needed to study for our finals.  But, everything went well.  I made it through both exams, went home, ate, and went to bed.  

The next day, Paul and I met my roommates for lunch at an Italian restaurant.  Apparently "Margherita Pizza" here, simply means cheese pizza.  Paul got some Spaghetti made with vodka.  It was actually pretty good.  After lunch, we (now including Rob) met with our advisor in Freiburg to go over tentative class schedules.  The sign up process in Germany is light-years behind that in the U.S.  Depending on the department, one has to 1) Sign up online 2) Email the teacher and request a spot 3) Fill out a form within the department as to which classes you would like to take, after which, lists will be posted as to whether you got into the desired class(es)  or 4) Just show up.  These are the only methods I had to deal with, but I expect there to be more.  I thought Germans were supposed to be über-efficient.

After our meetings, the three of us went to this "US Store" where they sell old military uniforms and gear.  There are hats from the Franco-Prussian War, helmets from both world wars, and some really spectacular military uniforms in good condition.  Rob was looking for a backpack for Egypt, but the ones there were either too big/expensive or too small.  So he just bought one at a backpacking store.

Eva, my roommate who studies law, knowing how dearly I miss Mexican food, invited me out that Friday.  She and her fellow law students were to have a get together with either a judge or district attorney.  They sit around a table, drinking different types of alcohol, seeing the different ways they affect the body.  So, suffice it to say, when I finally met up with them around 9, some of them were three sheets in the wind.  I did meet a guy whose Mother is from Barcelona and whose father is from Germany.  So I had a really cool trilingual conversation with him.  The Mexican food was pricey and not as good as that in the States, but really hit the spot.  On the whole, Mexican food utilizes so many more flavors.  ¡Te extraño, comida mexícana!

The next day: Anna's birthday/German national holiday (Day of German Unity) commemorating the reunification of Germany.  Oh, and I was no longer sick.  Thanks sleep/roommates!

Two days later (Monday, October 5) Paul, Rob, and I made our way to the train station.  I spent the train ride looking through the German guide book for Egypt that we purchased.  At least we would have something with which we could practice out German.  Our flight was from Frankfurt, leaving around 10:30.  Next stop: Cairo!

Hmmm...it's Saturday. Let's go to France!

Awww, shucks.  If I would have waited two more days, it would have been one full month in between my posts...oh, that's bad...to my blog readers:  Sorry I have taken so long to update this.  I get so intimidated, thinking I need to give you every little detail.  Because I waited so long, I don't remember every detail...so here's what I do remember:

Saturday, September 26th

Well, I made it to France before Anna.  I have a slight advantage, being only 20 minutes away.  As part of the AYF "orientation," we took a day trip to Alsace.  It was a brisk morning with an hour long bus ride, during which we played a game called, "I'm packing my suitcase," or something like that.  Then, taking turns, each person would add an additional item repeating the items mentioned before, going alphabetically.  On the way to France we used food as our theme.  Sounds easy...but we played in German.  Our director Ulli's two sons were on the bus with us (along with his American wife).  They played along and were funny because their German is a lot better than ours.  

Our first stop in France was the Hoh-Königsburg, an imposing medieval castle, fancifully rebuilt in the early 20th century to honor Emperor Wilhelm II.  Today it is a French national monument and as such, encapsulates a significant bit of German-French history.  Over the years it has switched hands between the two countries.  It is built into the rock on top of the highest point in the area, providing fantastic views of the countryside. I just posted pictures on Facebook.  I spent the time wandering around the castle with my friend, Derek.  He and I kind of like to stay away from the loudness and English-speaking that our group tends to bring with them no matter where we go.  We didn't realize how big the complex was, consequently we ran out of time.  Derek spent time writing a postcard to his girlfriend while I booked it to the bus...Ulli said if I had been a couple minutes later, they would have been gone! :)

Our next stop was the border city of Colmar.  This was a beautiful city.  Not too big and definitely French.  We were free to wander until a museum visit later in the afternoon.  After little success trying to find one or two other Americans who wanted to break off from the larger groups, I fortunately ran into Derek again.  After listening to a street performer with an accordion (so French!) we decided to make the most of our venture in France.  Namely, we went to a French grocery store, bought some grapes, a baguette (which I asked for in French, hau hau hau), cheese, and wine.  We sat in a grassy square in the middle of the city and had ourselves a nice French picnic.  It was quite fantastic.  

We visited the Musée d'Unterlinden which was full of beautiful religious artwork from a more pious time in French history.  Again, we ran out of time here.  So much to see, so little time.  And all the religious depictions got some of the non-religious AYFers to ask me questions, which evolved into a full-fledged theological discussion.  This was a really great day.  I hope God continues to use me to reach out to them.

The day was far from over when I got home.  At a local club, The Jazzhouse, there is a night called "Summer of Love," during which they play American music from the '50s, '60s, and '70s.  So pretty much what I have wanted to hear at every dance I have ever been to.  There was a hefty €6 entrance fee, but the four hours we spent there made it incredibly worthwhile.  The best part, they do this every couple of weeks!  It was a great day.  More posts coming soon!

-Nate 

And Then There Were Vier!

(the week of) September 14th:  Either that Monday or Tuesday I met my other roommate, Eva.  When she first introduced herself, I wasn't sure what her name was, because in Germany a "v" sounds like an "f".  Fortunately I eventually figured it out.  When I told her my name, she already recognized it.  I had apparently stolen her shelf in the refrigerator.  I think she just wanted the bottom shelf (it's the biggest). :)  I relinquished my hold on the bottom shelf, and gave my cheese and salami a new home on the top shelf.  We talked in the kitchen for a good 2-2:30 hours with Kirsten.  We talked a lot about movies.  My roommates have seen more American movies than some Americans I know (cough, Laura Hokanson, cough).  It's sort of funny how widespread American media is.  They even think that Samuel L. Jackson is in everything too!  We spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights talking about all sorts of things and watching American t.v. in German--"House" & "Monk".  I had homework, and eventually got it done.  But I was able to justify putting it off because I was practicing my aural and oral German.  I learned a lot that week, which was helpful, when I had two midterms at week's end.  The exams both went well.  It was a bit questionable for a while.  Locational prepositions don't make much sense, until you have a nice chart in front of you.  

I was so burned out from all the studying that week that I looked forward to relaxing on Friday.  We started watching Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in German.  It was better than the week before.  Apparently my American roommate Jared and I watched the German equivalent of "Little House on the Prairie" (just in Bavaria) the Friday before.  Let's just say he and I were probably the youngest people throughout  Germany watching that.  But Star Wars was pretty awesome.  "Jedi" in German, is pronounced like "yeti" in English.  :)  It changes things.  During the film I mentioned to my roommates that I had a paper to write for Monday about American stereotypes.  I asked what some of these stereotypes were.  Apparently we are too proud of our country.  I proved them right by busting out my American outfit.  Namely, a spandex American flag long sleeve  v-neck that is probably too small for my little sister, a white polo with blue stripes and a red eagle, blue and red striped socks, a hat from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics that clearly reads, "USA," and of course, American Flag stunner shades.  I have met my Italian roommate while wearing this outfit, as well as a very pretty German girl.  First impressions...

We eventually stopped watching Star Wars (4 girls vs 2 guys) and began playing a German card game.  I was on the verge of winning (and did, because we ran out of time) but then Eva and her friend Rebecca had to leave to catch the last Straßenbahn into the city.  They were going out clubbing.  It was about midnight, and they invited Jared and me along.  I was planning on the quiet night in, but was eventually goaded into going.  First place we went: techno music.  No good.  So we made our way to another disco.  I had to pretend I was 21 to get in...they didn't even ask to see my i.d. :).  Unfortunately we had to pay another cover, and the place was packed (probably 70%-30% male to female), and because we were near the bathroom we were constantly moving for people.  The music wasn't horrible, but it wasn't much better than the other club.  All in all, it was an experience.  My first German Discothek!  On the way home, Eva offered to make lunch the next day.  It was a delicious chicken and rice dish.  I think that was the first time I had chicken in Germany. 

That night my fellow StuSiens and I met up with our "tutor" for dinner.  We took the Straßenbahn to the end of the line toward the Black Forest and had to hike through the forest for about 25-30 minutes to reach this old restaurant.  It felt like an old inn and had some very good food.  We had to use torches to find our way down in the dark.  A very cool experience.  Then Derek came over to try to watch the Michigan game, but he couldn't find it, so we just sat around talking with Eva and Jared.  

I had suggested that we make pancakes for breakfast on Sunday.  After Mass, Jared, Eva, Kirsten, and I met in the kitchen and made pancakes from scratch.  They were a bit different, but still very good.  I took a nice nap and woke up in time to help make dinner: Burgers and Schnitzel!  It was really delicious, and thus far, has been the best weekend for food.  It was definitely an eventful and fruitful week.

Into the Black Forest!

So I think I had this very unrealistic expectation that I would update my blog in a timely manner...like I said, "unrealistic expectation."  I boxed myself in by being very specific and by taking my experiences day by day.  Whether or not you find that boring or exciting, it's going to change a bit.  I have three weeks undocumented, and as much as I would love to go through each one of those days (sarcasm), I need to plan a trip to Egypt today.

Friday, September 11th:  I think I was going to start talking about how I met my roommate Kirsten and was really tongue-tied because I finally had a good opportunity to speak German in the dorm.  After embarrassing myself considerably, I retreated to my room and Skyped with the one and only Brian Preisler.  The next day I was updating my blog in the kitchen, and in came Kirsten again.  I was writing about Dieter's exploits in Basel and laughed out loud, and being polite entailed explaining why I kept laughing.  So I did my best to explain in German how Dieter sold the plums, which again was embarrassing, but that's all part of learning a language.  We ended up talking for about four hours that afternoon about all sorts of things.  Stereotypical Germans--  socks with sandals, mullets, Augustus Gloop, etc.-- (Disney) films--she hasn't seen The Sound of Music--, music, and about her year as an Au-pair in England.  (That explains her British accent when she speaks English.)  That also means that she is incredibly patient with me, since she understands what it is like trying to learn another language in a foreign country.  

After I got home from Mass that night, she was still around.  So we decided to watch Aladdin on YouTube.  Auf Deutsch, natürlich!  It's very funny to hear Abu, Iago, and Jafar speak German.  I had to make sure I didn't stay up too late, though.  I had a busy day planned for...

Sunday, September 13th:  What an awesome day.  Freiburg sits right on the edge of the Black Forest.  AYF led an excursion into the Schauinsland, a mountain within the Forest.  We took the train to a small town, took a bus through beautiful German countryside--which included some very quaint towns-- making our way up a winding mountain road.  We were dropped off in this small town which, in winter, is so blanketed with snow, that people cannot leave their houses.  What do they do during those long months?  They build Black Forest clocks.  Very expensive.  Very high quality.  We continued our ascent by foot, making our way to a 436 (or so) year-old farmhouse for a very great tour led by an old German man.  I took plenty of pictures.  After that, a group of us continued the ascent, and after 2 hours of dodging cow-pies, we made our way to the top for some breathtaking views.  In one direction we could see Freiburg, in another, France, and had it been a bit clearer out, we would have been able to see the Alps.  Oh well,  I guess being able to look into both France and Germany is good ennough...for now. :)  Instead of spending an additional 3 hours walking down, we took a funicular down.  That ride lasted about 15 minutes, to give you an idea of how high up we were.  Upon returning to Freiburg, a group of us hit up a Currywurst stand...spicy deliciousness.  Did you know Europeans eat French Fries with mayonnaise?  Just when fries couldn't get any unhealthier...  

Then I went home and wrote a 2 page German paper.  Homework! :-D

  

Viva das Leben!

So I need to start this entry out by letting everyone know that the (kid's) bike Dieter brought back from Basel was stolen from him three days later.  He thought it so shoddy a bike that nobody would bother stealing it.  Well, he was wrong, and now it is sitting in a bike shop in Freiburg with a price tag of €60 on it.

Monday, September 7th:  We had a mandatory session about financial matters in Germany.  Namely, we were told how to properly make deposits/check our bank statements.  Nothing terribly exciting.  After this session, a group of us went to an international dining market.  Everything was really pricy, and I just wanted some Döner (Turkish equivalent to the gyro...though not as tasty).  I did happen to find an empty plastic bottle at the market though, which I was able to claim the Pfand (refund) for later.  I got my Döner kebab and afterwards was left feeling very parched...again with a strong desire for milk.  So a couple of us went to the Pennymarkt in the city, where I was able to claim that Pfand (¢25 baby!) which I was able to put toward my milk purchase.  I got a liter of milk for ¢17.  Take that MUHS cafeteria!  I drank the whole thing...and believe, milk was a bad choice.  Immediately after lunch we had a reception at the International House–the language institute where we would take our intensive classes before the school year begins.  Little did I know they were going to be having a little reception...with food and beverages.  Orange juice after a liter of milk=bad idea.  We were introduced to the staff and then took a placement test to divide the 45 person group into three smaller groups based on proficiency.  I made it into the middle group, which is exactly where I would have placed myself.  Finally we were going to start classes, but not until...

Tuesday, September 8:  The first day back in the classroom is always the hardest...but when it is all in German, it's a bit more difficult.  We have class from 2 to 5:15.  From 2-3:30 we have a grammar course.  Following a 15 minute break, we have a conversation course from 3:45-5:15.  These classes will go until October 1st.  This is what I have been doing for the last two weeks.  Nothing terribly exciting happened during this week (excluding the purchase of olive oil on the 8th...man did I miss me some olive oil), until...

Wann in Der Schweiz!

Naturally after Thursday, came...

Friday, September 4th:   We met up with our tour guide/tutor Johanna in the morning, and she took us into town for the "paperwork marathon."  That meant spending an hour and a half in a warm room filling out forms with 20 other students, step-by-step to insure nobody screwed anything up.  We had to register with the city, the university, and some other unmemorable places.  Once we finished that, we split into two groups for lunch.  One group went to this international market but I decided to go with the other group for the traditional Flammkuchen.  Imagine a very thin pizza with a thin layer of (sour, I think) cream instead of sauce, topped with some cheese, onions, and thin strips of ham.  Very tasty (or sehr lecker!).  After that we had to go fill out our paperwork with the housing company, even though we had already been living in our dorms for four days.  After this, we were free to go, so Paul (MUHS guy) and I went looking for a bookstore.  Paul wants to learn French (as do I, but I have Rosetta Stone on my computer), and he wanted to find a German book that would teach it to him...a pretty brave way to learn two languages at once.  Before making it to the store, we took a detour so I could check out the Johanneskirche, which, like most churches here, turned out to be Catholic. :)  Unfortunately it was closed, so we explored the neighborhood and, due to the rain that intensified since we left the housing company building, we decided to stop in to an ice cream shop to get a little treat.  Because, hey, isn't it funny to eat ice cream in the rain?N.B.-Hazelnut ice cream is not as good as every other thing that Germans have similarly flavored.  We found a bookstore, browsed for a while, found the (very expensive) books Paul was looking for.  I stumbled across a German-English phrase book, and for the English pronunciations, they had phonetically sounded out the syllables.  Not as they would sound when a native speaker would talk, but rather a German trying to speak English.  So now I know why Germans speak English with such a distinctive accent.  Nico Fassino can replicate it for you if anyone is wondering how it sounds. :)  These authors have a sense of humor.  

That night we went out.  I was of course wearing my stretchy black and gray striped pants that I got for a Euro-pop dance in Madison.  At about 10 we made our way to a bar, where I had my second beer...still nothing special to me...and after about an hour there we went to another bar, where I didn't get anything but instead patiently awaited our next stop: a Diskothek.  We made our way there around 12:30, but I was warned that the music wasn't very good and at the door, was made aware of the €3.50 entrance fee.  That, coupled with the extra €2 fee I was going to have to pay to take the late S-bahn home, as well as the fact that I didn't plan on staying very long anyway, made me decide to catch the last S-bahn home.  Fortunately, I had company because one of the other AYFers shared my sentiments.  To make a long and complicated story short, Rob and I walked a ways to meet up with a female AYFer who took the S-bahn too far and was lost in a sketchy area not really close to our dorms.  So we ended up not getting back until about 2-2:30 anyhow.  Getting to bed so late forced me to sleep in on...

Saturday, September 5th (my Mom's birthday!):  I woke up around 9:30 and went for a run with some guys around 10:30.  Later we met at the train station for the group shopping trip to the huge IKEA store on the outskirts of town.  I have never been to an IKEA before, or a store that had a shopping flow of traffic dictated by arrows on the ground.  I didn't need too much for my room, just a carpet, some extension cords, and a small mat for in front of my sink...so I purchased those three things! (Howabout that!)  And if I had a real job, I would totally go back to IKEA and get furnishings there.  So chic!   After we got back home I did some grocery shopping, since most are closed on Sundays, and then quickly made my way down to the Münster, the Catherdral, for a vigil mass (since we were leaving for Basel, Switzerland early in the morning).  It was interesting, you know, being in German and all.  I look forward to when I will be able to understand the readings and the homily.  It was really cool being in such an old cathedral, though.  There are a lot of Catholic churches that I can make my way to around here, so I plan to check them all out.  After mass I went to ALDI to get some (more) delicious hazelnut wafer cookies that are only €.99 for a 400g bag.  Haha, they are just too good.  I wandered around the city for a while after that, eventually making my way to O'Kelly's Irish Pub, where some of my friends from Michigan were planning on meeting later in hopes to watch their Wolverines.  I scoped out the place to see if that would be possible, but, due to the four world cup qualifiers going on, the four televisions were, and were going to be for most of the night, occupied.  I ran into a couple of other AYFers there, so I joined them and had my first Guinness.  I figured I had to try one before I really claim not to like beer, but again, nothing too special for me.  After watching the matches for a while, I went back to my dorm to meet up with Carl and Derek, the Michigan guys, who decided to purchase an online package allowing them to watch college games (football and basketball) for the year...a pretty nice pick up.  So I joined them for a while, but only after I made myself a double-decker sandwich.  I also broke out this box of "cereal" I purchased earlier that day.  There were essentially crispy chocolate squares with Nutella in them.  Not very good in milk, but pretty darn tasty otherwise.  After calling my momdre to wish her a happy birthday, I went to bed, because I was going to Basel on...

Sunday, September 6th:  I arrived at the train station in the morning and was greeted by our pretzel-toting program director.  Pretzels for breakfast.  :)  The train ride to Basel lasted about 50 minutes and we were free to wander once we arrived.  I was trying to find a partner with whom to wander the city.  I don't like being that big group of loud Americans.  I also like to walk with a purpose, so I can see as much as possible.  (Ideally, I would have had my brother to explore the city, but I need to find a travel-buddy like him.)  Dieter, an eccentric MUHS guy who was my year but I didn't know very well, had separated himself from the bunch, so I made my way to join him.  He became my exploring buddy. 

Basel sits on the Rhine, and isn't (in my opinion) very special otherwise.  We wandered through the city and walked along the Rhine, which was pretty cool.  Dieter read somewhere about Basel having a paper mill where one can make there own paper.  We made an effort to find the mill, but unfortunately it didn't open until later in the afternoon.  It also charged a hefty admission price.  I did take some pictures of the sign though.  It reminded me of my friends from Kimberly, Wisconsin.  Their high school mascot was called a "Paper-Maker."  Fierce!  Although Bagels tries to tell me it's some sort of wasp.  Speaking of WASPs, the cathedral along the Rhine, which we visited later that day was pretty on the outside, but once we entered, it seemed to be missing a good deal.  We went and clarified.  It was no longer a Catholic Cathedral (since 1520).  (Sorry, I couldn't pass up on that següe.)

We kept along the Rhine until we made our way to a park.  There were so many bicyclists and runners, that I mentioned to Dieter, "Wouldn't it be funny to see somebody chasing after somebody who's going for a run?"  So, I have about 4-5 videos of Dieter chasing after runners, bikers, and roller bladers.  Nobody ever turned around to look at him.  It was pretty darn funny.  We also found a see-saw in the park and had a go with that.  We really made the best of Basel.  We approached a dam and decided to cross back over the Rhine and start making our way back.  But, we were both a little hungry, so we decided to get some ice cream from this lady selling in at the dam.  Unfortunately for us, Switzerland is not on the Euro, but rather the Swiss Frank.  We knew the conversion rate, and she charged us fairly, even though she was very difficult to understand.  We were in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but Schweizerdeutsch is pretty far from standard German.  Anyhow, the ice cream tasted like liquid Laffy-Taffy that had been frozen.  No joke.  I don't even know what flavor I got.  It was some Swiss bastardization of a German word, but I thought I would try something new.

Shortly after crossing the bridge, we came across a fruit "stand."  It consisted of about 6 crates stacked atop one another with a couple of bags of apples and plums with a folder with the price written on it.  There were some Franks in the folder from past purchases.  Dieter and I decided to see what the coins looked like, so we were standing on either side of the "stand."  A women on the bike path saw us, stopped, and asked in her Swiss German if we had plums.  Instead of clarifying that it was not our stand, Dieter told her that we most definitely did.  She asked from where they came.  Dieter told her they were from the Bodensee in Southern Germany.  I was trying so hard not to laugh.  She purchased a bag and we got the heck out of there before more people could stop by.  

We kept along the Rhine until we ran into another playground.  We had been walking for a long time so it made even more sense to try out another see saw.  After we made sure it was safe for all the little Swiss kids, we found a(n abandoned...we think) kid's bike.  I took a video of Dieter riding it around the tunnel we found it in, but then he decided to keep riding it along the Rhine.  So here was this 20-year old American riding a Swiss kid's bike along the Rhine, shouting Grüezi (Swiss greeting) to everyone else on bikes that he passed.  We took a little break, and Dieter paid €10 for some Chinese noodles...they totally ripped him off because he payed in Euros.  He knew it, but was so hungry he did it anyway.  He also kept the plastic bowl and fork he was supposed to return...so he kind of only paid €9.  I packed a lunch.  Much better (billiger=cheaper) idea.  After we ate, Dieter decided to go swimming in the Rhein.  It was a very warm day and there were also other people swimming in the river, so that was not too strange.  Our day in Basel was coming to an end and Dieter decided to take home his new bike, depriving some little kid in Basel (maybe...unless it was abandoned!) of his or her bike.  So he rode it all the way back to the train station and brought it onto the train.  On the way back, a family with some children sat across from us.  Adorable children speaking German...yes please.  They were talking about where their Oma and Opa lived, oddly enough near the Bodensee.  Heck, I bet Dieter's plums came from their farm.  Well, as Dieter was getting off the train, he picked up his bike, only to have the little girl say to him, "Ein Kleines Fahrrad." (A Little Bike)  It was pretty darn funny.  Then I returned home after a long day of a lot of walking, and slept.  Still no more German roommates!  

I am hoping to post the pictures from Basel on a slideshow on my blog, but am working out the kinks.  Hopefully that will work.  I will also post them on Facebook with some descriptions so you can follow along with our eventful day visually.

Die Ersten Vier Tage (The First Four Days)

Alright, so here is the breakdown:  I am studying abroad for a year in Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland.  I am going through Academic Year in Freiburg, a program that takes students from UW-Madison, Michigan State, the University of Iowa, and the University of Michigan...and yes, those were mentioned in order of importance.

Monday August 31st:  I flew from Chicago to Detroit, Detroit to Frankfurt.  Before getting on my flight to Detroit, I ran into my German teacher from this past semester, Charlie (who did the AYF program in 2004).  He is also in Freiburg as part of some research he is doing for his doctorate.  Somewhere during the flight to Frankfurt (during which I got a mere 2 hours of sleep), it became...

Tuesday September 1st:  Once we arrived and got through customs, I met up with Charlie at the baggage claim, and we made our way to the Bahnhof (train station) which is adjacent to the Frankfurt airport and there we purchased train tickets.  Finally we were on our way to Freiburg im Breisgau!  We arrived at the Bahnhof around 11 in the morning and checked in, purchased a cell phone, and then were off to the Studentensiedlung, or Stusie for short. (The "we" is Charlie and me.  I was glad to have someone who had done everything before.)  I got to my dorm-style apartment, had no idea which room was mine because it was not on my keychain, but then ran into a familiar face.  Of the two other Americans living in my building, Jared from my German class is also on my floor, and helped me finally figure out not only which room was mine, but also the German key system.  So I was finally able to drop my 4 bags after hauling them through an airport, two train stations, and one Straßenbahn (street train...tram).  I wanted to take a nap, but realized I needed an alarm clock to wake me up...which I had buried somewhere in one of my four bags.  So I took the last amount of energy I had, made my bed, put all my clothes away...and then slept for four hours.  I set my alarm for A.M. instead of P.M. and almost missed the welcome pizza party...but free pizza...my body knew to wake itself up.  So yes, my first night in Freiburg I had pizza...small, and not as tasty.  But they were free, so I even took a left over one for breakfast on...

Wednesday September 2nd:  Most Academic Year in Freiburg-ers (AYFers) went out Tuesday night...but I was ready to become acquainted with my bed.  After having pizza for my second consecutive meal, Jared and I decided to go take a look at Freiburg before our tour that afternoon.  We took the Straßenbahn into town (I am about two miles outside of it...but about 5-8 minutes on the S-bahn) and began exploring.  We eventually ran into my friend Alex from Madison and went with him to check out the AYF office.  From there, we went back to his place...Hippieville, or more formally, Vauban.  The buildings in this area used to be French barracks following WWII.  Cool, but like the most intense Madisonians...Alex wanted to live there so he could access the Black Forest more easily on his bike.  We got some döner kebabs for lunch (essentially a Turkish gyro), hit up eine Bäckerei for some dessert, and took a tour of the city.  It is surprisingly large, but there are some really pretty and quaint areas within the city.  I didn't take many pictures of the city yet...I bought a new camera and am getting past my fear it will be stolen by some Gypsies on a moped as soon as I pull it out...so I will eventually get some visuals for anyone with enough time to read this.  After activating out cell-phones...on a pay-as-you-go plan...from ALDI!, my small group and I spent the afternoon in a Biergarten, where, yes, I had my first beer.  It wasn't anything special...but then again, I don't know what special beer tastes like.  What was more memorable was my Brezel und Weißwürste.  I like German food.  After our enjoyable afternoon, Joe, Christina (MSU),  Derek, Carl (Michigan), Kristin (UW) and I went and did some shopping... I got some thumbtacks, so I can put things up in my room.  Unfortunately I need a hammer to hit them in because the wall is so thick...so my room is still very white. I also got some Müesli (generic term for German granola cereal...really good) so I would have something for breakfast on...

Thursday August 3rd:  An eventful day.  We went into the city to open bank accounts, had spaghetti for lunch–I have had more Italian food that German so far–and then attended a colloquium held by our program director George Peters, a German teacher from Michigan State.  It was titled "Life in a German Dorm, Culture Shock, Health and Liability Insurance."  It was informative, but also eye-opening.  Umm...they talked on sexual "health," promoting contraceptives and morning-after pills, and very sadly noting that abortion is legal in Germany in a "worst-case scenario."  It was a "Toto...it looks like we're not in Kansas anymore" moment.   This was the day that I first got internet.  We put down deposits for modems, and my friend Carl–who lives right above me– and I split a router so we will pay half the price.  He came over and hooked it up in my room, but we had made plans with others, so we didn't get to spend much time online.  We went to another Stusie house where my friend Paul (who actually went MUHS, but was a year below me) lives.  He and I played Sheepshead and practiced our German with his German roommate, Mischi.  He is one of my favorite Germans so far, namely because he speaks standard German pretty slowly.  Unfortunately I don't have any German roommates yet.  My floor is pretty empty, and will be until the school year starts.  The current breakdown:  10 rooms.  4 (known)occupied.  2 Americans.  1 Armenian sublettor. 1 German who is always with her boyfriend.  When she is not busy making a mess in our kitchen, she is off avoiding cleaning it up.  So I look forward to speaking with some (clean) natives. 

 I am going by Nathan here, to the Germans, because, as I learned on the plane ride when I sat next to a German, "Nate" is not common in German.  One girl asked me if my parents were very religious, because Nathan is only common for very religious families in Germany.  Probably like Ezekial in the U.S..  Speaking and (correctly) hearing German has been much more difficult than I initially anticipated, but it has only been about a week.  We AYFers have varied levels of German–some have studied in Germany before, while others, like me, have taken 4 semesters in college.  But, we start intensive classes soon, which will be very helpful to remember everything that I forgot over the summer.  Those classes begin tomorrow, which means I need some sleep.  I will tell you about the weekend on my next post.

Tschüß!

Ich bin hier!

I am finally in Freiburg, slowly getting accustomed to the city. I don't have much more time on this computer, so I will have to wait until I get internet connection tomorrow or Friday to start blogging more. Tschüss!

Six Days!

I leave for the Fatherland in only six days. Tomorrow is my last day of work...or rather my last days of getting up at 4:24 this summer. I am just taking care of some things before I ship off, and will likely have a couple more posts before my departure. Stay tuned!

-Nate