Spring, Summer...WINTER??

After last weekend's high temperatures, I had high hopes for this weekend until I listened to the weather forecast on the radio on Thursday. Rain and chances of snow. But then really only in the Alps. Well, not according to my iPod. Sometimes you can't trust the iPod, sometimes you can't trust the weather man, sometimes you can't trust weather.com.

This time, you could. Last weekend's seventies are this week's snow. Not kidding. Snow in October. However, as I recall, when I was in Vienna it also snowed in October. Doesn't Frau Holle know it's a little early? We might need to have a chat about that, Frau Holle. (If you don't know Frau Holle- which unless you read my Master's thesis, or were around when that was being researched and written, look it up. It is one of the Grimm's fairy tales (number 23). I will give you a lecture on it, but that is not the point of this blog. Although, the first snow is when Frau Holle shakes her feather bed out. Hmmm....that usually doesn't happen until December...). Ok, I digress....

We had a more than 30 degree drop in temperature, and I awoke to this on Saturday and Sunday morning:

 Snow on our room in Kleiningersheim, from out my kitchen window

Saturday it rained/snowed all day but didn't stick that well unfortunately. On Sunday the sun came out, along with the time change, and I went for my chilly morning run with snow on the ground around me and the sun shining in my face. It was beautiful. Something about the snow is just so peaceful. However, it was already melting at 9am, and as I write this, it is long gone. Lets hope that fall isn't entirely gone, and that this was just a little taste of winter.

Legoland Deutschland!

Last weekend's weather forecast was upper sixties, low seventies, so we decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to go out and enjoy the weather somewhere.

Svenja and her friends had the idea to go to Legoland, Deutschland. So, off we went! Bright and early on Saturday morning, we headed off. Crossing "states" into Bavaria, we drove about an hour and a half to an area near the town of Ulm to Legoland. Svenja, her best friend Mareike and her other friend Jessie and Jessie's little sister (ok, we had to have some excuse to go there, so we used a 6 year old! Haha!) went.

Every little detail was amazing here at Legoland. Millions upon millions of Legos were used to create these amazing scenes. It was absolutely incredible! I was skeptical at first, but my skepticism was soon put to rest after stepping foot onto the grounds at Legoland. Everywhere you turn, everything, and I mean everything, was made out of Legos. Pretty cool!

My favorite part was the cityscapes part. There were major German cities and other countries represented out of Legos. Lets see...I was in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Füssen, Venice and Holland all in one day. Isn't that incredible! Have a look!

Berliner Dom

Reichstag, Berlin - complete with mini Angela Merkel!

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin

Venice- all out of Legos!

Frankfurt am Main

Neuschwanstein - remember this from a couple weeks ago, but the real thing? The real thing is still more impressive! At least in my opinion! 

Caveman!

Yes, we went on this! I spun round and round in circles upside down. FUN!

Spider-infested Halloween Castle

Lego elephant

Lego ape

Allianz arena, where Bayern Munich (soccer) plays. All those are Lego people. Millions. Crazy!

Holland

 I would definitely recommend Legoland to anyone. There were rides for adults as well as kids, and there were many fun things to do and see!

Long Time No See

Yes yes, it has been AGES since I posted anything. I can't claim that I have been too busy, and I can't claim that I haven't had anything exciting going on to share. Things have been a little crazy the last couple weeks in all kinds of ways, and I am finally finding the time and the energy to post some new stuff! I haven't forgotten you, and if you have written me emails and I haven't responded, it isn't because I have forgotten you! I think about you all at home all the time, with different things sparking memories of you all day long. This interesting part of my life, my current adventure, is taking its course. I will definitely get to writing to you, I promise!

So, here comes the update! Sorry it has taken two weeks, but enjoy the new stuff! I have been up to a few things, so enjoy the updates!

Hope you all are well!

Lots of love,
Kerby

Apple Harvest

Just a little snapshot I took while out in the wine fields after work one evening. I had to cook that night for the next day's lunch club, and just needed to get out without getting too sweaty on a run. Gave me the perfect opportunity to snap a couple pics with my iPod. Before the battery died. I guess I am using it to it's full capacity!

Fall, fall, fall! It is here! 

My First Handball Game

When I was a sophomore in high school, my good friend Ashley and I were in the same PE class. We've been friends since we played AAU basketball together, and we also took early bird weight training and conditioning class together with the football team in addition to our regular PE class our freshman and sophomore years in high school. At one point we had a student-teacher who was a fan of the more unconventional sports. He wasn't always in to us playing hoop, dodge ball, etc and decided to introduce us to a game we had never heard of: handball. He told us that all the Europeans play it (at 16, who cared about what the Europeans were doing!?), and that he was going to teach us. Alright, so we balked a little bit, because after all, we were on the girl's basketball team, and why is anything besides basketball important??? Oh my 16 year old self...

We began learning handball, much to our dismay. However, it turned out to be not that bad. It was kind of interesting, and came to be something that we had fun with. Don't get me wrong; we weren't that good at it, because we always thought we were travelling (taking too many steps in basketball vs. the allowed 3 in handlball). At any rate, I learned how to play handball.

Fast forward twelve! years, and here I was, back in the gym, watching a European handball game! My room mate Svenja is friends with Benni who plays for one of the local teams (about half an hour away). He had invited her to come, and she invited me to join her. I was all for this, and have wanted to watch a handball game for a long time. I have to say, it was really fun! I had a great time watching the game, and it was fun too because when I didn't understand some of the rules, Svenja was able to help me understand what was going on. She has also played handball for many years. I also learned new words, like the German word for referee: der Schiedsrichter. Benni invited us to come to his game again next Sunday, so I am looking forward to seeing another game. Another one of Svenja's friends also takes tickets for one of the Bundesliga teams (like the NBA of handball), and hopefully we will be able to see a first-class handball game as well. I'm looking forward to it!

Here are some stills and a video of last Sunday's game. Enjoy!

My To Do List

Every day when I am done with work, I write down in my agenda what I have done that day. I write down what I did in the morning at work, and what I did in the afternoon. I also write what time I got to work and what time I leave. This way, I can look back and see what I've done, if I've missed anything, and have a checks and balances of how I am spending my time. No one asked me to do this, I am only doing this so I can remember what I have learned, because I am learning new things every day and want to keep track of how I am spending my time at work. I feel it is important for me to do so at this point, that way I can also share with my boss what I have been working on when I have my mid-internship review at the end of the month. Yes! It has almost been 3 months, and that means I am half-way through the internship phase.

Each day, depending on how busy I am, I make a "To Do" list. There are of course days where I get maybe one thing done off the list, depending on how big of a project it is, and some days I take care of everything on my list. Somtimes they are only small things, and sometimes they are more time consuming. Sometimes things are time-sensitive and need to get done asap, sometimes colleagues come to me and say, "Kerby, we need this done by tomorrow! -or- Kerby! We need this done this afternoon so the professors can check it over. Can you please make a flyer, poster, powerpoint, insert requested item here?"

So, here is an example of what my "To Do" list looks like...multi-lingual!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Germany isn't really big on Halloween. Nobody is going to come and "trick or treat" at my door, and I don't have to go out and buy a bunch of candy in fear of my house being egged. Nope, Halloween reprieve for me this year.

Last year, I think our first trick-or-treater showed up at about 4:30? If I can remember correctly. We were out of candy by 5:30 or 6. At one point, I just sat outside on the front porch instead of people ringing the doorbell and having to open the door 5,000 times. Plus, people drive their kids into our neighborhood in mini-vans. I'm sorry, but the principle behind it is you go in your own neighborhood, where you know your neighbors. Not to some other neighborhood where you think because the houses are new that you will get good candy. Uhm, not in this economy! Anyway, when I know the kids live in our neighborhood, I might give them an extra piece (that is unless they play in the middle of the street and don't get out of my way when I am driving in my car...in that case, they get what I determine to be the icky candy that is left. Haha!).

The next major holiday that will be celebrated here is Christmas. There are already (and even for at least a month now) Christmas Stollen cakes out, gingerbread cookies and even chocolate Advent calendars. Yes, I have perused the isles, and have been scouting which Advent calendar I will treat myself to this year. I'm thinking Lindt...if you're going to do it, you might as well go for the good stuff, right? I think so.

With this time of year in Germany comes my favorite cookies, the Spekulatius. They are by far the most tasty cookies there are. They smell and taste like Christmas, and they are so so good. That, and they ring in at under a euro, and you can eat two for less than 100 calories. Score!

And who doesn't love Christmas Haribo...don't worry Mom, I will send you some of these :)

These are a few of my favorite things...

P.S. Two times this week, once by my room mate and once by a colleague, on different days, told me I smell like Christmas. I think it's funny! I don't use any special lotion or anything...maybe it's the scent of Spekulatius coming out of my pores...!