Lonely Enchilada

This week has been nearly post unworthy, but I'll do my best to sift out the cool stuff and elaborate more than necessary. Although last week mostly consisted of routine and cold and rain, it was pleasant in the house, class went well, and I got to see a basketball game in Oldenburg.  A friend of mine invited me to see the Oldenburg Baskets play; terrible team name, don't ya think? Sadly, they lived up to the lameness of their name.  They lost against Madrid, Spain 61 to 104.  Last year they were the European Champions, this year they would have been beaten by Bagley Middle School. I had a lot of fun watching the game, but noted some differences between a game here and one at UGA.  First, the band isn't nearly as big and they don't play an empowering video with sentimental music in the beginning. That's one of my favorite parts, gets me everytime. Also, the cheerleaders aren't so cute and can't dance to save their lives. They don't stand alongside the court during the game so they really can't do too much to rile up the crowd either.  I thought the dance team was decent until they came out in daisy-duke shorts, plaid shirts, cowboy hats and boots only to dance to "Cotten Eyed Joe."  It's interesting how tid bits of the South spread across the world.  Although I didn't know how to feel about this stereotype, the dance was pretty cute and I had fun singing along.  In every country I've been to, I've heard many more American songs than songs original to that country.  The very first song I heard in Argentina was "Achy Breaky Heart" and "American Boy" was a huge hit in Italy. The basketball game was cool but I think I prefer handball over here.  You can tell that the crowd gets more into those games and the Edewecht team seems much better than our laundry Baskets in Oldenburg. 

The weekend was not as exciting as weekend in the recent past have been, but it was nice. No plans materialized for Friday night, but I had a nice time talking online to tons of friends.  It's cool how insanely connected the internet keeps all of us.  Saturday morning I went with Piet and Jorn to Jorn's parents house.  We first visited the bigger port city near the house where I saw the North Sea for the first time.  We also saw a big toy store that held Piet's interest far better than the sea.  We walked around for a bit and then had lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  I love Mexican food, so I was very excited.  After we ordered, I was shocked that I was the only person to actually order Mexican food.  They had all mentioned loving the restaurant, but they ordered pizza, spaghetti, a burger and a big order of fries for Piet.  Silly Germans.  I was happy with my shrimp enchilada, even though it wasn't nearly as good as El Pueblito or Agua Linda....oh the strange places I miss.  So, after the food silliness we went back to Oma and Opa's house.  Piet and his grandma have a nice tradition of bringing all the toys from upstairs to downstairs, and then he goes to town with them.  I didn't know a human could love tractors and trucks to such a large degree; he can play with them for hours.  We like to pretend that I'm the police officer and I'm in dire need of the tractor's help.  Piet daringly drives the tractor to move logs from the road, move rock piles for fence builders, or take sick horses to the animal hospitial.  At home we play a cute game with the remote control tractor in which Piet hides behind a chair and drives the tractor to me.  I talk to the tractor and ask him yes or no questions and then Piet moves his tires one way or the other to answer me.  It's pretty cute.  Piet is trying earnestly to make everything in his life remote controlled.  He even talked in his sleep last night, saying he wanted his favorite stuffed animals to be remote controlled. I think we've got a legitimate addiction on our hands.  He'll be asking us to put his food on a remote controlled tray soon enough.  : )  That was a long tractor tangent, pardon me.  Oma and Opa's house was lovely and in perfect order just like Catrin's parents' home is.  We had the usual and delicious apple and plum cake that Oma always makes and some additional sugar cookies. I tried to just have one of each, but Oma insisted I have at least three cookies.  You really can't say no to Oma, she's too cute and wonderful. As you can imagine, I won't be leaving Germany any thinner than I was when I arrived, despite all the running.  Not long after we returned home and I returned to chat with friends. Perfectly lovely day.

Sunday proved to be a good ending to the weekend.  We had our usual weekend breakfast of croissants and boiled eggs, which I really enjoyed, and after a bit I went for a run.  I didn't expect it to be a great run, but when I think it won't go well at all, it usually ends up being one of the best.  Such was the case Sunday.  I found a new road that passed some nice pastures and neat, thick forrests.  I even saw a wooden barn that looked like a barn from home.  The barns here are cool but they're always made of brick, just like every single other building in this part of Germany.  Apparantely the North Sea blows salty wind this way and it's bad for wood...or something like that, they have a reason.  Anywho, after the run I played with Piet a little and read a good bit.  I didn't think I'd do much that evening either, but I chatted with the fella I had hung out with last week and we decided to see a movie.  First I beat him in a good game of pool, then we saw the tremendously cheesy movie 2012.  All the movies are dubbed in German here, so I had no clue what they were saying, but I doubt the dialogue was anything to write home about (funny expression in this blog).  Dirk and I had a good time making fun of the movie's bad acting and predictable plot.  Oh, and to my delight, I learned that you can chooose what kind of popcorn you'd like in the theater.  We still paid way too much for a gross amount of it, but it tasted like carmel kettle corn rather than butter and salt.  I was trying to look like a lady, otherwise I could have eaten the whole bag.  Best popcorn I've had in a while.  The coke here tastes a little different too, but part of that is simply because it's not watered down with ice.  No ice in drinks ever.  So strange. After the movie we just drove home.  Nice night.

Today has been sloooow.  I didn't mention before that Piet didn't feel great yesterday and today he had a fever.  Catrin was quite sick last week and has still been feeling rough this week.  We figure that Piet just brings home every little virus that passes through the kindergarten.  He never gets very sick, just runs a fever and gets cranky.  He's really good at going from laughing to bawling to laughing in a matter of minutes.  Hopefully he'll feel better soon because his first au pair, Hannah, will be here on Wednesday.  He's been bragging for a week that he'll have two au pairs for a while.  I'm very excited for her to be here, we all need some excitement around here and she's super cool.  I've got several things planned this week that have potential to be fun, but I'll wait and write about them after they've come to fruition.  I'm getting crazy excited for the holidays and beginning to decide what I'll be doing after my time with this sweet family is up.  I'm reminding myself to enjoy being in the moment, but it's my nature to keep moving towards new challenges.  If I'm going to take on the challenge of grad school in the fall, it's going to take planning anyhow.  The tenative plans I've made thus far don't seem like they'll work, but I like the Sound of Music quote, "If God closes a door, he opens a window."  Not sure where I'll be for school, but I'm hoping to discover the best place for me.  Still pursuing random avenues to get more involved around here and meet more people. The past year has taught me that no person has any time to waste,so I'm going to keep trying to live to the fullest while I'm here.  Running, friend making, reading, and helping with Piet is a start, but I have a feeling there's more to come.  Things are good, really good. Keeping my chin up and my eyes and heart open to more opportunities.