st how big these pizzas are:
Saturday, June 30, 2007
days 37-38: ulm
Yesterday, I fed the German belly and today I'm trying to get over the events of last night. Flo, Stefan, Basti and Sarah went out to a pizza restaurant outside of Ulm to eat the biggest pizza I have ever eaten by myself. The waiter had an Italian accent, but when he spoke German, I had no idea. It all sounds the same when you can't really speak the language. Actually, I didn't eat it by myself, because I had to take home about 3/4 of it and I hope Flo and Stefan help me finish it. I brought my camera, but forgot my memory card, so I could only take 4 photos stored on my internal memory on my camera. But maybe you can see ju
st how big these pizzas are:
st how big these pizzas are:
Friday, June 29, 2007
days 34-37: ulm
The countdown for leaving Ulm has begun :( but the countdown to China has started. I finished my second lecture this week about the Olympics. I think I'm going to split the class into 5 Greek states and we're going to hold our own classroom Olympic events like hum identifying, Pictionary, and random fun stuff. And I ironed out my activity of playing Mafia one day too. So now I just need to finish my last lecture, but I have about 3 weeks to finish that. The topic has to be a controversial issue, but not too controversial because it needs to be censored enough for a Chinese classroom. Flo had the idea of presenting something about the Great Firewall of China. I just found a pretty cool website to test if domains are accessible in China. So now the plan is leave Ulm on Monday night, arrive in Dubai for a few hours before hopping on another plane to Beijing and arrive in China very early Wednesday morning.
The other night, Flo, Jonas and I went to the Mexican restaurant for drinks next door to Flo's apartment. It was a change from drinking wine every night to drinking wine and cocktails.
The other night, Flo, Jonas and I went to the Mexican restaurant for drinks next door to Flo's apartment. It was a change from drinking wine every night to drinking wine and cocktails.
Flo and I just got back from mini-golfing in the park. The game looked pretty good for me at half time, I had a hole-in-one and Flo had a 7...but that all changed in the 2nd half. A few sneaky 7's and I lost the lead. Flo got a hole-in-one and I kept getting 7 after 7 after 7. But the last hole, was a hole-in-one again and I lost by 8 points. Now I owe Flo an ice cream and a beer.
this is how we mini-golf.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
days 30-34: ulm
FRIDAY...let's see. 10 years after not eating beef, I couldn't stand it any longer and went to McDonalds to reunite with cows. I had a cheeseburger Happy Meal and Stefan ate a Los Wochos Bacon Jalapeño Burger. It was kind of dissapointing that the cheeseburger happy meal didn't really taste like anything.
Saturday, Flo and I took an early train to Friedrichafen, home of Germany's largest lake, the Bodensee. Then we took a 2 hour ferry to the island where we hung out for the day. We had lunch around the Schloss, and I was stuffed from a bratwurst und pommes and 1/2 liter of Radler, so we counted nipples on art and explored the island. The ferry ride back was relaxing and looked like a nice evening. For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant in Friedrichafen, then got cocktails at the Beach Club! Too many later, we took the midnight train back to Ulm.
Sunday, we made salmon with spinach and linguine, except the linguine was black and black pasta doesn't look too good. I mean, it still tastes the same, but I think it looked like witch hair. But the salmon/pasta was still very tasty. We had the leftover black pasta again last night, and half of it came out of the pan and mixed well with the spaghetti sauce, but the other half stuck to the pan and Flo dug it out to make a nice black pasta cake. yum. actually, I couldn't eat it, but it looked unlike any pasta I've seen before. I'm just writing this now because I just cleaned the pan and it was really hard to scrape the pan and I had lots of time to reminisce about the black linguine.
Saturday, Flo and I took an early train to Friedrichafen, home of Germany's largest lake, the Bodensee. Then we took a 2 hour ferry to the island where we hung out for the day. We had lunch around the Schloss, and I was stuffed from a bratwurst und pommes and 1/2 liter of Radler, so we counted nipples on art and explored the island. The ferry ride back was relaxing and looked like a nice evening. For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant in Friedrichafen, then got cocktails at the Beach Club! Too many later, we took the midnight train back to Ulm.
Sunday, we made salmon with spinach and linguine, except the linguine was black and black pasta doesn't look too good. I mean, it still tastes the same, but I think it looked like witch hair. But the salmon/pasta was still very tasty. We had the leftover black pasta again last night, and half of it came out of the pan and mixed well with the spaghetti sauce, but the other half stuck to the pan and Flo dug it out to make a nice black pasta cake. yum. actually, I couldn't eat it, but it looked unlike any pasta I've seen before. I'm just writing this now because I just cleaned the pan and it was really hard to scrape the pan and I had lots of time to reminisce about the black linguine.
Friday, June 22, 2007
days 21-30: ulm
I keep starting to update, but something else is always going on, so I stop in the middle. Seriously, I started this post on Wednesday and now it's Friday. But last time I stopped blogging it was to finish the last 2 episodes of Heroes, and that was definitely worth it. So it's week 4 in Germany... Here's an update from the past week: Stefan got his Thinkpad finally on Tuesday. Here's a picture commemorating the event.
Last Thursday was a uni party with cheap drinks and it was all good until it started to rain and there was no way I could return my cup and get the 2 euro refund, so now Flo and Stefan have a new glass for the kitchen. The next morning, we started the 4 hour drive to Edertal. On the way there, we stopped by McDonalds. German McDonalds crack me up just because the promotion for Tex-Mex is called "Los Wochos". We arrived in the village of Bringhausen around 3, met the fam, dropped off our stuff and headed back out to the dentist and meet Stefan for coffee because we haven't seen him in a few hours. Saturday was a packed day. First, we drove up to the man-made lake at the top of a hill that overlooked the villages. It looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to skip the dam for now and go visit the castle. The Schloss Waldeck was not only a castle, but also a crime and punishment museum! All for the kinder/student price!
After
the tour, we got coffee at the castle. Actually, Flo got coffee and I got hot chocolate. [this is new] Flo just reminded me about the weird German hot chocolates here. They always ask you if you want cream or milk in the chocolate. I always say "milch, bitte" but they bring me a bowl of cream beside the hot chocolate anyway. I have no idea what's going wrong because even native German speakers are befuddled also...i'm giggling about writing the word "befuddled"...anyway, the hot chocolate at Schloss Waldeck was probably the best hot chocolate I've had in a really long time. If you see in the picture, they make a little pot of hot chocolate and bring you your own cup, so instead of the standard one cup of chocolate, you get about one and a half. And who doesn't like 1.5 cups of hot chocolate?
After coffee/hot chocolate, Flo started talking about sledding in the summer and I was just confused, so we took a spontaneous 5km drive to the sledding place. It wasn't until I was being pulled up the hill I got what was going on. And there were all these signs in German that looked important...like warning signs or how to operate the sled written in big red German words but it was all good and I didn't die. Sledding in summer was one of my favorite things we did that day. You were pulled up this hill on an automated thing and once you were at the top you could pull
the lever forward to go faster or pull it back to slow down and it was kind of like sledding down a slide on a sled with wheels. It reminded me kind of bobsledding. By the time we finished that adventure, we went to the dam that was bombed by the British in World War II and had a waffle lunch at a restaurant there. The waffles came with ice cream and heaps of cherries. I couldn't eat all the cherries. By then, it was in the middle of the afternoon, so we went back to the house and hung out until we went out to dinner at the restaurant where Flo's brother works as a chef. I have no idea how I finished my plate, but there was so much fish, bruchetta and salad. After dinner, we went to Dorfest 2007! There, I met some German readers of this blog, so shout out to them! There, you can buy 10 beers on a handy carrier and you get the 11th for free. I think this was as close as I'll get to a German beerfest, but I kind of get the point. Even better, there was a guy dressed in lederhosen drinking beer from one of those 11-beer carriers. Sunday, we had a huge brunch late morning and I ate 2 croissants just so I could eat more homemade strawberry jam. Then we drove through the woods to attend Flo's 3-year-old nephew's birthday party. I still can't speak German, but I think I improved a bit last weekend. This week was pretty good...we went to Ikea yesterday, and it's always a good time at Ikea. The unlimited drinks is what makes half the fun. Then we spent a while at an electronic store, but we didn't find a radio, so we walked home and bought some wine and polished them off last night. Good times in Germany.
Last Thursday was a uni party with cheap drinks and it was all good until it started to rain and there was no way I could return my cup and get the 2 euro refund, so now Flo and Stefan have a new glass for the kitchen. The next morning, we started the 4 hour drive to Edertal. On the way there, we stopped by McDonalds. German McDonalds crack me up just because the promotion for Tex-Mex is called "Los Wochos". We arrived in the village of Bringhausen around 3, met the fam, dropped off our stuff and headed back out to the dentist and meet Stefan for coffee because we haven't seen him in a few hours. Saturday was a packed day. First, we drove up to the man-made lake at the top of a hill that overlooked the villages. It looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to skip the dam for now and go visit the castle. The Schloss Waldeck was not only a castle, but also a crime and punishment museum! All for the kinder/student price!
After
the tour, we got coffee at the castle. Actually, Flo got coffee and I got hot chocolate. [this is new] Flo just reminded me about the weird German hot chocolates here. They always ask you if you want cream or milk in the chocolate. I always say "milch, bitte" but they bring me a bowl of cream beside the hot chocolate anyway. I have no idea what's going wrong because even native German speakers are befuddled also...i'm giggling about writing the word "befuddled"...anyway, the hot chocolate at Schloss Waldeck was probably the best hot chocolate I've had in a really long time. If you see in the picture, they make a little pot of hot chocolate and bring you your own cup, so instead of the standard one cup of chocolate, you get about one and a half. And who doesn't like 1.5 cups of hot chocolate?After coffee/hot chocolate, Flo started talking about sledding in the summer and I was just confused, so we took a spontaneous 5km drive to the sledding place. It wasn't until I was being pulled up the hill I got what was going on. And there were all these signs in German that looked important...like warning signs or how to operate the sled written in big red German words but it was all good and I didn't die. Sledding in summer was one of my favorite things we did that day. You were pulled up this hill on an automated thing and once you were at the top you could pull
the lever forward to go faster or pull it back to slow down and it was kind of like sledding down a slide on a sled with wheels. It reminded me kind of bobsledding. By the time we finished that adventure, we went to the dam that was bombed by the British in World War II and had a waffle lunch at a restaurant there. The waffles came with ice cream and heaps of cherries. I couldn't eat all the cherries. By then, it was in the middle of the afternoon, so we went back to the house and hung out until we went out to dinner at the restaurant where Flo's brother works as a chef. I have no idea how I finished my plate, but there was so much fish, bruchetta and salad. After dinner, we went to Dorfest 2007! There, I met some German readers of this blog, so shout out to them! There, you can buy 10 beers on a handy carrier and you get the 11th for free. I think this was as close as I'll get to a German beerfest, but I kind of get the point. Even better, there was a guy dressed in lederhosen drinking beer from one of those 11-beer carriers. Sunday, we had a huge brunch late morning and I ate 2 croissants just so I could eat more homemade strawberry jam. Then we drove through the woods to attend Flo's 3-year-old nephew's birthday party. I still can't speak German, but I think I improved a bit last weekend. This week was pretty good...we went to Ikea yesterday, and it's always a good time at Ikea. The unlimited drinks is what makes half the fun. Then we spent a while at an electronic store, but we didn't find a radio, so we walked home and bought some wine and polished them off last night. Good times in Germany.Wednesday, June 13, 2007
days 17-21: ulm
** I just made 15 cents returning a bottle! recycling is fun and profitable! It's been exactly 3 weeks since my arrival in Ulm. I missed the market this morning because I'm at uni with Flo...But it's not that bad, we got to walk past and see all the old ladies with their baskets walking around the square, so at least the market wasn't forgotten completely. Not much has happened since the last update, except that I've been working on the midi and Tsinghua projects. During Flo's lecture today, I came up with my first lecture for China. The week is themed Music & Culture and my lecture is about how airplanes are bad for rock & roll.
So far, this is my list of rock artists killed in plane crashes:
So far, this is my list of rock artists killed in plane crashes:
- Buddy Holly
- Richie Valens
- The Big Bopper
- Otis Redding
- The Bar Kays
- Jim Croce
- Lynyrd Skynard
- Randy Rhodes
- Ricky Nelson
- John Denver
- Aaliyah
Saturday, June 9, 2007
days 8-17: ulm
So it's been a while since the last update. Not too much is new. We watched season 1 of Man vs. 
Wild. Now I question all of my survival techniques and ask myself, "would Bear do this?". So anyway, last week, Jonas, Stefan, Flo and I went out for cocktails first at the movie theatre, but that was too crowded, but the bar across the street looked ok, so we settled there. I really liked it and two cocktails and I was good for the night. But just so you know, Jonas had the same amount as me, and so pound for pound (or kilo for kilo, whatever), I can hold my alcohol pretty well compared to a full-grown German boy. The picture to the left proves my point. There, Jonas is drinking a candle, not his drink.
The next morning, I didn't feel too good and unfortunately that feeling lasted the rest of the week. The next night, it was Lasagna Cook-Off 2007! The question if homemade lasagna or box lasagna is better was tested. Team Us (Jonas and me) vs. Team Them (Flo and Stefan). Team Us made box lasagna and Team Them spent an extra few hours in the kitchen making lasagna from scratch. Ours was just as good. But I think everyone was starving and the box lasagna was the first one we ate. I think we should have a rematch, but this time with a different dish...maybe ravioli or something...
Flo and I had a nice trip [changed from "outing"... Flo says this is means gay in German]. We borrowed Stefan's car and drove about 30-45 minutes to
Blautopf, a spring that's...blue. It was a public holiday in Baden-Württemberg so it was filled with lots of visitors. It was nice and warm so Flo got some strawberry cake and I got chocolate ice cream. Now I'm just trying to fill in enough to get to this line. YES! finally! Now I can start to write about the castle!
Burg Helfenstein is the ruin of a castle built around 1100. To get
to the castle, we had to walk through the woods and across a small bridge to get to the ruin. Definitely not a Neuschwanstein type castle, but kind of better because it was actually a working castle and walking there wasn't an hour long strenuous hike up a mountain. After walking up the tower and around the fort, Flo got a Radler and bratwurst and I had a Sprite-type of drink to settle the stomach from too much castle exitement.
This is the most German I've ever seen Flo:
Wild. Now I question all of my survival techniques and ask myself, "would Bear do this?". So anyway, last week, Jonas, Stefan, Flo and I went out for cocktails first at the movie theatre, but that was too crowded, but the bar across the street looked ok, so we settled there. I really liked it and two cocktails and I was good for the night. But just so you know, Jonas had the same amount as me, and so pound for pound (or kilo for kilo, whatever), I can hold my alcohol pretty well compared to a full-grown German boy. The picture to the left proves my point. There, Jonas is drinking a candle, not his drink.The next morning, I didn't feel too good and unfortunately that feeling lasted the rest of the week. The next night, it was Lasagna Cook-Off 2007! The question if homemade lasagna or box lasagna is better was tested. Team Us (Jonas and me) vs. Team Them (Flo and Stefan). Team Us made box lasagna and Team Them spent an extra few hours in the kitchen making lasagna from scratch. Ours was just as good. But I think everyone was starving and the box lasagna was the first one we ate. I think we should have a rematch, but this time with a different dish...maybe ravioli or something...
Flo and I had a nice trip [changed from "outing"... Flo says this is means gay in German]. We borrowed Stefan's car and drove about 30-45 minutes to
Blautopf, a spring that's...blue. It was a public holiday in Baden-Württemberg so it was filled with lots of visitors. It was nice and warm so Flo got some strawberry cake and I got chocolate ice cream. Now I'm just trying to fill in enough to get to this line. YES! finally! Now I can start to write about the castle!
Burg Helfenstein is the ruin of a castle built around 1100. To get
to the castle, we had to walk through the woods and across a small bridge to get to the ruin. Definitely not a Neuschwanstein type castle, but kind of better because it was actually a working castle and walking there wasn't an hour long strenuous hike up a mountain. After walking up the tower and around the fort, Flo got a Radler and bratwurst and I had a Sprite-type of drink to settle the stomach from too much castle exitement.This is the most German I've ever seen Flo:
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