And now the rest of the story

Okay, I talk a lot; you know it, I know it. Therefore, I write a lot. If you haven’t come to terms with this, the time has come! I was writing a post to fill you all in on the week, and it got so long that I ended it and started a new one just for yesterday, so if you haven’t read the whole week’s post, and if you want to before reading about yesterday, you should scroll down. Otherwise, here we go:

I got home on Saturday morning and slept until, like, 2:00. It was awesome! Then I got up, still feeling kind of depressed and decided that I should straighten my hair. Straightening my hair always makes me feel better when I’m sad because it’s like giving myself a mini makeover. It doesn’t cost anything, or change very much, but I love it and it makes me feel good about me. So after making some lunch and bumming around (I do a lot of that) I took a shower and straightened my hair. Olivier has been very busy with these two presentations that he’s had to do and he promised to make me the perfect quiche as a peace offering. We have also had plans for, like, a month now, that I would bring my computer over there and we would burn some DVDs. It’s fun to have stuff on your computer, but when you start to run out of space, you need to get your hands on a DVD burner and put it on a disc to make room for more stuff.

So I headed over there with my computer and helped Olivier with dinner; he made the quiche and I made the salad. Then we ate as we played crib. It was the perfect quiche! Just watch, though, the next one will be even better. He keeps getting better and better at making that quiche! So I finally realized that it had gotten to be 11:00 somewhere along the line, and we still hadn’t even started transferring the files to be burned, and that can take some time, plus it takes a good 40 minutes or so to burn a DVD. We headed into his room and came up with a pretty good transferring assembly line between the 2 computers and 2 jump drives that we had. The in between times were full of more crib, watching funny stuff on the computers, and eating cake. That jerk Olivier sure is getting good at crib. I used to be able to wipe the floor with him and now he gives me a run for my money almost every time. *sniff* They grow up so fast *sniff* We’re gonna have to start playing with muggins, if I ever want a shot at skunking him again!

Well, at about 4:05 (we really, really like playing crib) we decided that it was time I left. I checked the internet to see when the tram runs and found that comes at 4:17, which worked out perfectly, so I packed up my stuff and headed out. The tram came on time and as I was riding it, I thought to myself how safe the trams are. They ride on rails, like I streetcar, I guess, and I thought about how few accidents they probably get in. Then I had one of those moments where I imagined a car T-boning the tram at the exact point where I was sitting – I was sitting on seat that is sideways, so my back was to a window, which made it even worse – but it was one of those passing moments and I laughed it off.

The tram continued on for a little bit and we stopped at the station Hauptbahnhof Nord (that’s for anyone who actually knows Munich). This is a main stop that lots of people get off at, so the tram usually sits there for a minute or so so that everyone can get on and off. Now, I always listen to my mp3 player while I ride the buses and trains, but it’s not so loud so that I can’t hear what’s going on around me, because being oblivious is scary. As we were sitting there I heard some scraping, which is common for when the trams get going again, but I realized that, while I was hearing scraping, we weren’t actually going anywhere yet. The trams are about 2 times the length of the long buses that have a joint in them, so that there are actually three joints on each tram. I was sitting in the very back quarter of the tram and, as I looked out the back of the tram towards where the scraping was coming from, I saw a car backing up. I realized that the scraping was coming from this car. As it backed farther away, I saw that one of its headlights was out. And then I noticed that the whole front driver’s side quarter was crumpled. And (slowly, very slowly) I realized that it had rear-ended the tram! It backed up faster, then swung its back end around and took off – riding only on its rim! It was hilarious! I just sat there stunned, as the tram drove away, the driver being totally unawares.

The next stop was mine and as I got off I ran to the back of the tram to see what kind of damage the car had caused: none at all! I guess the trams really are safe… well, provided the car doesn’t T-bone it, which would cause some sort of damage, I’m sure. So I head to my bus stop and check the schedule for when the bus comes. According to the schedule, I had to wait about 8 minutes until 3:35 and then a bus would come, so I stood there. After about 3 minutes, a bus came, but it said, “Don’t board, Bus is defective,” so I kept waiting. A group of two girls and a guy came and looked at the schedule and were like “Damn, we’ve missed the last bus!” and I’m thinking, “Silly people, they must be looking at the weekday schedule, because I know that there is still a bus on the way.” So the guy comes up to me and asks if I know when the U-Bahns start running, and I say, “About half to five,” (that’s how they say it here) and he’s like, “Well, there aren’t any more buses coming.”
“What do you mean? The schedule says that a bus should come in 5 minutes, and, while you did just see one go by, it was defective, so they should be sending another.”
“Are you English?”
“Yes.”
“Hey, Andrea, come translate!”
“Is my German really that bad that you can’t understand me?!”
“No, I just came from disco and I can’t hear very well.”
(Yeah, right. *roll eyes* So Andrea comes over and we start talking.)
“I think that a bus will be coming along in 3 minutes. The last one was defective, and the schedule says that one will come in 3 minutes.”
“No it doesn’t. The buses are done for the evening.”
“What?!”

So, for anyone who wasn’t carefully following along, I said that I caught the tram in front of Olivier’s at 4:17 and then I said that the bus was coming at 3:35. Yes, I lost an hour, just like I did after Noirin’s party on Tuesday. This is getting ridiculous. So, the bad news is that the last night bus came at 4:05. The good news is that the U-Bahns start running just before 4:30, so they were already underway.

The four of us headed down to the trains and kind of talked along the way. We needed to take an S-Bahn to Marienplatz and then catch the U6 (they needed that train, too) and I, fortunately, had a U6 schedule in my purse. It said that the first U6 to run through Marienplatz came at 4:34 or something, so it was too late. The next one doesn’t come till (get this) 5:23!! I decided that there was no way I was going to wait around for 40 minutes with my laptop in a train station! So I walked to Odeonsplatz and took a cab. That’s twice in a week that I had to take a cab, so shame on me! I need to stop flying by the seat of my pants and start forcing myself to go home at decent hours. One good thing in my defense, though: at least I’m not running around drunk on top of it all! While I usually do have a few beers or drinks, I cut myself off before I end up loaded.

Okay, so there’s the last of the week in brief. Erika and I were supposed to get together today for a Canadian evening, but she’s crazy busy right now with a PhD proposal and had to cancel, which is totally cool because it took me so long to write these postings! She, Olivier, Vanessa (a friend of Olivier’s) and I are supposed to go to a concert tomorrow, but she might have to cancel, too (again, crazy busy) and Olivier is concerned that he might not be feeling too well because he doesn’t feel tip top today, so he might cancel too, but only time will tell.

I leave you with another self-portrait I took. After I straightened my hair yesterday I was struck again with the impulse to take pictures of myself. Look how long my hair is!!

Filling in the week

Sorry about the weeklong hiatus, folks. In fairness, I tried to write a post yesterday but I was writing it online (instead of in Word) and my computer shut itself down for no good reason, losing everything. So, let’s see…

Monday, I went to my classes and then went to Marienplatz. I stopped in at Saturn (another A&B-type store) and bought a few CDs. They are: Death Cab for Cutie: Plans (which I should have bought in Canada, but didn’t, and I figured that if I was about to buy tickets to their concert, I’d better have the new CD); Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: self-titled (was also going to buy this concert ticket); and, on the advice of Nick, Spoon: Gimme Fiction. I am really pleased with all of these purchases, by the way.

Then I headed over to the ticket place to buy my two concert tickets. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was no problem, but Death Cab was sold out. I couldn’t believe it. I just kind of stood there, then stammered for a few seconds and was like, “O-okay, danke.” I was heart-broken. So I headed home and looked online to see where else they were playing. Turns out that they are playing Dresden on February 16, before heading to Munich for February 18. My plan for the week prior to the Munich concert was to visit Hannah in Dresden with Katie and Nicole. I was actually planning on coming home early to see the concert. So, I spoke to Hannah and she said that she and some friends were planning on going to the Dresden show anyways, so now she will just get us all tickets, and I can see Death Cab, and I don’t have to cut the trip short, and I’m just about as happy as a pig in shit!

Tuesday was also a pretty good day. I spent most of the day doing laundry and bumming around my room, then I had my first tandem with the boy down the hall. It was pretty good; we almost exclusively spoke English, but I learned a couple of German things and, besides, I had such an English-full day ahead of me that it would have been a waste to speak too much German; I wouldn’t have retained any of it. I finished up there and headed to the speech lab. It was also a really full day there. With the semester coming to an end, people are finishing up the lessons, and there is recently lots of correcting to be done. It was almost like really working… except that it’s really just correcting people’s English and it’s only for two hours. Ha! I love my job.

After “work” I headed out to a local Irish pub called Günther Murphey’s to have some drinks with Noirin for her birthday. Her birthday was technically on Friday but she and her boyfriend were headed out to sleep in an igloo in the mountains, so we had to celebrate early. When I got there, Noirin was there with her Irish friend Brona, and Katie and Nicole were there as well. I can’t remember exactly who came next, but Oliver showed up as well as 2 other Irish girls: Nicola and Louise. It was a good night, and I really like hanging out with Irish girls; wanna know why? Here’s why: Have you ever seen so many redheads at one table?! Three of the four Irish girls are redheads, and then add me to the mix! Wow! Oh, and, going from left to right: Brona, Nicola, Louise, Noirin, Olivier and yours truly. Okay, the other funny part of the night came pretty close to the end. These two ugly, creepy, greasy guys (yes, in that order) came up and started talking to Nicola and Louise shortly after they got there. Since the two girls didn’t tell them to leave, I figured they wanted the boys there, although I couldn’t figure out why! Well, after these boys had been around for a very long time, I heard the girls telling them that they wanted to leave soon, so the boys should probably leave, etc. It was the whole leaving “soon” thing that tipped me off to the fact that they really didn’t want the boys around any more, so I look at Noirin and Brona and I’m like, “They want the guys to leave?” “Yes!” “Well, why didn’t they just say so? Gentlemen! The time has come for you two to leave! These girls are trying to tell you to go away – so go away… now!” It was hilarious, because as soon as I laid it out like that, Nicola and Louise were like, “It’s true; we want you to leave now so that we can talk to our friends.” The boys tried to argue for a while, but we were all like, “No, really, leave.” Well, except for Olivier, who just sat there with his mouth hanging open. I think he couldn’t believe that I was so direct. It was funny. The boys tried to come back later, but Noirin stepped up to the plate and straight up told them to eff right off.

We stayed at the bar until they told us to leave, which was, surprisingly, at about 1:30. Noirin and Brona were able to catch the last train back to where they live, but Olivier and I needed different trains and it turns out that we had both missed our last trains. The U-Bahn police had to kick us out of the train station. The problem is that I thought it was only about 12:45, when it was really 1:45. I have real problems with this, as you’ll see later. Anyways, we hit the street and tried to find the bus stop for the night bus, when the bus drove right by us, and they only run every hour during the week. So, Olivier said he was going to walk to his connection stop (which was south of where we were) and I decided to take a cab back to Studentenstadt (north) because I knew it wouldn’t be too much from where we were and I had no desire to sit around for that long to wait for the bus.

Wednesday was a very normal day: class, Übung, work, language class. Then I headed home and sent some emails to the U of A. Yes, folks! I have officially informed the linguistics department that I’m here! Thank you, I’m proud of me, too. I decided to download my unofficial transcripts and list of required courses to find out how much more school I have to do. I won’t give exact numbers, but let’s just say that it made me so depressed that I just want lay in bed for several days, listening to Simon & Garfunkel or Hayden, getting up only to eat fattening foods or to use the facilities. It’s that bad.

Fortunately, I’m stronger than these urges and I got up on Thursday to go to my class. Thursday afternoon, however, was spent giving into said urges. There was a lot of TV watching, showering, and falling asleep. In fairness, though, I had nothing else to do, so it was acceptable, if you ask me. I ended up taking a nap from about 5:00pm till 9:30pm, so sleeping regular hours that night was out of the question. Katie came over and we worked on a project we are doing that we were having a meeting for at 1:30 Friday afternoon. She stayed over until like, 1:30 or 2:00, something like that, and when she left I, of course, wasn’t tired yet. So I chatted with Olivier online until, like 5:00am. (He was staying up all night because he had to give a presentation at 10:00 and, while it was finished, he says he feels more nervous when he sleeps the night before. I know… I’m confused, too.)

Friday I was still feeling depressed, but managed to get out of bed in time to make lunch and go to the meeting with Katie. It was actually a great meeting. We are reworking the school’s information brochure for foreign students (hey Mom, remember that 32 page document that you read?); they are going to base all other versions off of the English one, and it’s a pretty big deal. In all honesty, Katie and I were supposed to work on it over Christmas, but we both put it off until, like, a week ago; we still had lots of ideas for things that need to be added and changed, though. It’s not really the sort of thing that you need to read over and over to realize what parts are crap and what parts aren’t, besides, I’d read it before I came and knew what parts were confusing then, and we just went through all the steps that the book details, so it was good.

Then on Friday night my floor had a Brazilian evening. We have two Brazilians living on the floor, Octavio and Alex, and Octavio (for sure) is leaving in a week or two to go back to Brazil, so the two of them cooked us dinner. There were about 10 or 12 of us there all together; that number includes Katie and Nicole, who I invited as my guests. After eating and chit-chatting for a while, the three of us headed off to Olivier’s. The plan was that there was no plan, but one of his roommates was having a birthday party and they were all supposed to be heading out to a disco soon, leaving us with a ton of goodies! So we got there and everyone was still there. And they stayed for a really long time. Finally, about 1:00am, Nicole and Katie had decided that they’d had enough of all the noise and people, and decided to catch a train home before they stopped running. I, however, love noise and people, and knew that they would leave soon, leaving me and Olivier to munch on the goodies and play crib, which is my favourite pastime!

Well, everybody headed for the Tram within a half hour or so, but Olivier and I had gotten into a conversation with one of his other roommates, Max (there are 6 altogether), as well, two of the other roomies kind of came and went throughout the conversation. We chatted for quite some time before Max headed for bed and Olivier and I decided to break out the crib board. By this time it was about 2:30 or 3:00 and we were really tired. We normally bring a table from the main room into Olivier’s bedroom, but all the tables were full of food and crap and we were too lazy to clean them off, so we sat on his bed and played a game; it was hilarious, though, because we both kept nodding off into our cards. After only one game, I decided that I was really tired and that I wouldn’t be able to safely take a bus home, so I curled up into a ball at the foot of the bed, Olivier curled up into a ball at the head of the bed, and we fell asleep… well, I fell asleep, I have no idea if Olivier actually did or not! I slept there until 7:00am when Olivier’s roommate came back from the disco and he got up to say hello. I realized that I had dreamed the entire time and I was exhausted, it felt like I hadn’t slept at all! Anyways, the reason that’s an important point is because I got up and headed out to the tram and as I walked I thought about what I had dreamed, and I realized that it was all in German!! That’s the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve dreamed in German, and it’s a really major point in language learning. I’m very pleased with it!

Oh, yeah!! I'm back, baby!

I forgot to say that something wonderful happened yesterday that really made my day. On the way to meet Olivier (we wanted to play some pinball before I headed off to the party), I was walking through the Marienplatz train station when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there was this little woman behind me, probably about 45 or so, and she asked me if my curls were natural (I had my hair down and it looked awesome). I said they were natural and she said what beautiful hair I had.

That was the first time a stranger has stopped me about my hair since I lopped it all off. It felt so good. Look out world, here I come - I'm back!!!

Purification Rituals and Stupid Subways

Well, I have a small presentation to do in class on Monday morning on a chapter out of a dissertation from the University of Vienna. Needless to say, I've been getting lots of cleaning done. I need to sit my ass down and read it, so I will try and keep this short.

I went to a house party last night with a bunch of Geology/Geophysics students. The reason for the party was that there was a guy named Alfonso who just recently got his PhD and is moving to California. The official going away party is tonight, but last night was the official pre-going away party and purification ritual. Without going into every detail of it, Alfonso is from a region in Spain called Galicia (sp?) and this is one of their traditional things. More or less, you get a pot and some candles, some honey, lemons, apples, coffee beans, very strong clear alcohol (was it vodka?) and white sugar. Then, you put the honey and alcohol in the pot, add a big spoonful of sugar, and light the whole thing on fire. You keep adding sugar and all of the other ingredients in a particular order all the while stirring this concoction - which is still on fire - and say some verses along with it. The idea is that you purify all seven regions of Galicia and we added an extra coffee bean for Germany, since that's where we were. There is a lot of symbolism, like the pot is clay (earth), the candles (fire) and the alcohol (water), then, in the end, when you put out the fire (the one in the pot, not the candles) everyone has a drink of the concoction. You are supposed to have 3 drinks of it, each one symbolizes the 3 uses of fire: purification, light and heat. That was my favourite part because they say that you shouldn't have more than 3 because outside of it's three main uses, fire is destructive and having more than the 3 drinks, it will bring destruction as well. It was fun.

Erika and I also helped this Italian guy make pasta for everyone because we were all getting a little hungry. I found out something very interesting: you're not supposed to put oregano in pasta sauce. Now, maybe I'm the only one who didn't know this, but I figured that you put oregano in pretty much everything Italian. That's wrong, apparently; you put oregano in pizza sauce, but not in pasta sauce. What Fabio actually added to the sauce to give it flavour, was a fair amount of salt. Erika made the comment that she had learned so much because she would have put in very little salt but a lot of oregano, whereas Fabio put in a lot of salt and no oregano and it tasted great. I don't know, though. The sauce did taste quite good - pretty darn good considering that it was just spur of the moment, actually, but I don't know if I'm convinced that oregano would have spoiled it like Fabio insinuated. Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldn't have. I just like oregano. I also use pasta sauce as pizza sauce sometimes. Don't tell the Italians that I know, I get the feeling they'd get upset about it.

Anyways, I may have complained about this before and I may not have: While I love the trains in this city in terms of frequency and range, I don't think they run late enough, especially on the weekends. If you don't want to leave before about 1:00 or so, then you are out of luck until the trains start up again at about 4:30ish. Anyways, I checked online for those of us who needed to catch the first train, and it started running at 4:26. I didn't think that was that bad. I would just take the U1 or U2 (they run on the same track) to Sendlinger Tor and catch the U6 straight up to Studentenstadt. I didn't technically check when the U6 was running because it really didn't matter to me, anyways. Besides, it has to start running about the same time, right?

Well, it did start running at the same time; the first U6 hit Sendlinger Tor at 4:32, but I wasn't there yet; I was still on the U1. The second U6 didn't head through Sendlinger Tor until 5:21. That's right folks!! FORTY-NINE MINUTES LATER!! And I had to sit there waiting for it. It was brutal!! I had my mp3 player and that was it! I got home at, like, 6:00am. I was not impressed. So, as I was saying, I have to go read this stupid dissertation on verbal valence and case in Ful. Have a nice day, all!

Yes, definitely the queen!!

Today was a really good day. But I'll get to that later.

Monday was a boring, normal day, but Tuesday evening was a birthday party. It was our friend Antti's birthday. He's from Finland. Katie and I bought him a present that was awesome. We bought him a red sherriff's hat, an 8-shooter gun (the kind that uses those circles of bullets, you know?) and a holster to put the gun in. Then we made him open it and wear it as a special birthday costume. It was awesome. Sometimes you just find the perfect gift fot a birthday, you know? Anyways, I ended up staying at Antti's place until way too late and then walking back to my building (Antti lives in the same complex as I do, but not the same building) with this French guy named Hugo. He's the other boy in the full body picture. We had just met that night, and we only talked briefly at the party, but on the way home I found out that he really likes music, too. So I ended up at his place (same building as me) listening to music and drinking tea until about 6:00am. Fortunately, my class on Wednesday didn't start until 1:00!!

So, Wednesday was a pretty regular day, I went to my class, my Uebung, "worked" at the language lab and then went to my German class. Then I met up with Katie and we went to watch one of my favourite movies of all time: A Clockwork Orange. There is a makeshift movie theatre in the student residences at the Olympic Villiage called Olywood, and they were playing it. The thing is, I didn't know if it would be in German or English; on one hand, we're in Germany, so you'd think it would be German, but on the other hand, all the flyers I'd seen for it said "A Clockwork Orange" and not "Uhrwerk Orange." It turns out that it was in German, but it's okay because I know it well enough that they could have played it on mute and I still would have known what they were saying!! Here's the funny part that's worth mentioning: they had to change the reel after an hour and a bit and here is the sign that they put up during the intermission:

This translates to: 5 Minute pause (durr!) to smoke and grab a beer. You know you're in Germany when! Katie and I were laughing so hard!

Alright, so, the movie didn't end until just before midnight, so it was late when I got home. But I can never go to bed right when I get home, anyways, so I stayed up for a bit. I think I got to bed at about 2:00am, but that's no big deal. I had a class at 9:00am; I could have gotten up at 8:00 and been just fine. Six hours of sleep is not bad at all. I came to at 8:48. I usually leave the house at 8:45 to make it on time for *9:15. I, knowing that I am going to be late regardless of what I do, calmly get up and get dressed - hurredly, but calmly. I ended up getting off the U-Bahn at 9:15 exactly. So I'm not going to be really late. It's a couple minutes' walk to the actual classroom because I have to get to street level, then cross a street and get through the building and I decide that I am just going to walk quickly as opposed to running because, well, I'm going to be a little late anyways. I get to the classroom and everyone is sitting there, waiting. The prof isn't there yet. I think to myself, "What's going on here?" Then I look up at the blackboard and see a note that says the class is starting about 10 minutes late today. Right on!!

The rest of the day went really well, too. Katie and I had a meeting with our supervisor about doing a conversation course next semester, then I did a bit of shopping and came home. After a couple of hours there was a knock on my door. I put a note in the mailbox of this boy down the hall, asking him if he'd want to do a language tandem with me (he studies Anglistik, so I figured that I could help him as much as he could help me) and he was getting back to me, letting me know that he would be thrilled! I am really excited about it. I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to do a tandem and now I have a partner!

Then I went to a concert with Erika. I actually don't think I've really mentioned Erika at all. Erika is me; and I'm her. It's almost creepy, but I have found someone who is so much like me even we can't believe it. I haven't mentioned her, even though the connection is so creepy, because we were introduced one night and hit it off, then we hung out the next night, and the following day she headed back to Halifax for a month. She just got back last weekend (well, the weekend before, but she was really sick on the weekend) and tonight we went to this concert. It was a Spanish musician who plays celtic music, named Carlos Nunez. I realize tonight, after hearing all of his explanations about the songs, that celtic music is very similar from every country that sits on the Atlantic Ocean! There are, of course, differences, but whether it was Spanish, Breton, Irish, etc, it was very similar. It was an incredible concert; he played an assortment of different flute-ish instruments and the bagpipes, and there was a violinist/fiddler, drummer/piano player and a guitarist, but the guitar was one of those ones that are very round with a real, sort of, teardrop shape to the body. Does anybody know what I'm trying to say? Anyways, the concert was great!

I'm going to end this here, but I have one thing to say first: The icing on the cake that was today, is that I found out about a very special concert that is happening in February. Death Cab for Cutie is coming here and I am so excited! I am going to bed with a smile on my face tonight!!

*I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Germans are crazy. I often say in Canada that I have a class from 9:00 till 10:00. That actually means that it starts at 9:00, but ends at 9:50. Same difference. When Germans say that a class goes from 9:00 till 11:00, they mean that it starts at 9:15 and ends at 10:45. I can't explain it. It just seems silly to me. Why have it this way? I get leaving a half hour between classes, but why say it this way? It makes no sense...

I'm the queen!

Yesterday I went to a concert. It was a concert that I was very excited about. It was Lagwagon. It's been a long time since I was really into skate punk, but Lagwagon was one of the bands that really got me into skate punk in the first place, and when I found out they were coming to town I bought tickets right away!

Olivier and I met at our usual place so that we could play pinball before we headed off to the concert (we play a lot of pinball these days!) and ended up staying there for a little longer than expected, so when we got to the hall the first band was already playing. We grabbed some beers and made our way to the front of the crowd. I never did figure out what the name of the band was, but they weren't terrible. They weren't great, but they weren't terrible. They were German, but I'm not sure if they were from Munich or not. Either way, a pit started, which I thought was pretty weird for the first opener, but I guess if they're local... We got jostled a few times, but it was pretty innocent. That set ended and I headed off to the bathroom while Olivier grabbed a couple more beers. I kind of couldn't believe how many people there were in this little hall, but, again, Lagwagon is a fairly popular skate punk band, so maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised.

We were standing around, again near the front, waiting for the second band to start and drinking our beers when Olivier looks down at my beer and starts laughing. Know what was so funny? There was someone drinking it. He had a straw and he was stealing my beer! We talked to him for a couple of minutes before sending him on his way and then the second band started. They were called A Wilhelm Scream and I had only heard a couple of their songs before. I got the songs off of their website, and really liked what I'd heard. After hearing more than two songs, though, I really didn't like them. Neither did Olivier. They had a few songs that were pretty good, but they had the same problem that the band from the Riff Raff concert had: they changed tempos too many times! It's just really hard to enjoy a song when, as soon as you get into the rhythm, it changes and then again, and then again. They did have a few songs that I liked though, I'll give them that. It wasn't terrible, but the best part was when it ended. I should also mention that the crowd was really starting to get crazy. Right from the start, there was a fairly large pit that was pretty violent; as soon as the band hit the stage, I got hit from behind and all but poured my beer on the guy in front of me. I felt bad, but it's how it goes; he wasn't too mad.

A Wilhelm Scream finished and I toddled off to the toilet again; grabbed a couple more beers, too (I finally understand why people like to drink beers at concerts). As we were standing around the Beer-burgler came by again. I was trying to joke with him, but he seemed out of it. I figured he'd probably stolen enough beer by this point that he was pretty drunk. He was trying to explain to us that he normally drinks really cheap beer, so he didn't want to pay 3 EUR for a beer and that's why he brings a straw and steals beer... or something like that. Anyways we were trying to talk to him but I kept feeling like something was up, then he finally reached up and pulled the earplugs out of his ears. Olivier and I just started laughing and laughing - no wonder he couldn't understand us!! Fortunately, his friend came and took him away, so we didn't have to try and talk to him anymore.

Anyways, right about this time Lagwagon was doing their sound check, so Olivier and I knew that we had very little time to finish our beers before we would be wearing them. So we cheersed and slammed what was left. Lagwagon's pit was crazy. Everyone was everywhere. At first it was kind of fun, but it was seriously too intense for me; so I told Olivier that I needed out. He said, "Head for the back," so I did. When I hit the back of the pit I turned around and he wasn't there. I waited and watched for a bit, but still couldn't see him. I went back in to find him, but to no avail. I finally figured that he either must have left the pit and was looking for me or that he was still in there having a good time, so I headed all the way to the back of the hall. He wasn't there, so I grabbed a beer while I was back there. I headed around the perimeter. I hit the very far right and felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Olivier! He hopped back over to a table that was right there. Yes, I said hopped. He'd lost a shoe in the pit.

Apparently, he hit the ground at one point, people pulled him back up and he realized he didn't have one of his shoes and at pretty much that exact moment someone thrust a shoe in the air. Olivier, assuming it was his, grabbed it and headed off to the side to put it back on. It wasn't his. It wasn't even the proper foot. So he sat down. Here's where I'm not clear on what happened: I don't know if he lost said shoe as he was trying to escape the pit with me, or if he did it on a subsequent trip back in to find me, but I know he went back in to try and find me, and I'm concerned he might have made the trip with only one shoe. What a guy. Anyways, after we found each other again we sipped at my beer and he said, "I guess it's just not my night." "Don't worry, Olivier, I'll find your shoe." "You don't have to worry about it," he said, "we'll find it afterwards." Well, nuts to that! So I took a big drink, handed him my purse and headed back into the pit; crazy as it was, it was pretty fun for a short amount of time!

See, here's the thing: I'm no dummy. I know that there is no way that shoe is in the middle of the pit. Pits are always shaped like a capital D, with the straight line at the stage and the curvy part going out from there. The shoe would have to be somewhere on this D. So I headed into the pit and tried to look around, but the song was too crazy and there was no light making it to the floor at all, so it was pretty much hopeless. It was funny, though, because I kept my arms out in front of me and my head down so that I could try and make some room and see, I think I was also holding onto my hair, too, because it was down and falling in my face. Anyways, this guy stops me at one point and puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me right in the face and says, "Are you okay?! Are you okay?!" And I realize now that it probably looked like I had either taken a strong shot to the head, or that I was going to yak, but I was like, "I'm fine! I'm fine!" I'm actually really glad I went into the pit to look for the shoe at that point, because they played my favourite song from back in the day, so I stopped searching and just jumped around for a bit. I headed back to Olivier after that, empty handed.

After another song and another bit of beer, I told Olivier I was going in again. He tried to discourage me, but I knew I could find that shoe, so I went. I did the loop of the D first, because that was the easy part; it's not as crowded and some light can actually hit the floor. Nothing. I realized that I had to pee again (I think I'm 4 beers in at this point, well, three and a half if you don't count the stuff I spilled all over that guy) and I was pretty much at the bathrooms anyways, so I figured I'd make a pit stop and tackle the straight line at the front afterwards. When I came out of the facilities I took a deep breath and plunged in. I made it all the way to the front and started working my way along. A very short ways in, something caught my attention. I reached down and picked it up. It was a shoe! A left shoe! I flipped it over: Airwalk. Hallelujah, I've found it!! I took off through the pit and came out on the other side with a triumphant smile, waving the shoe in the air! I was so proud. I AM so proud, even today! Anyways, Olivier was thrilled and we started laughing and hugging and I started dancing around; there was a guy sitting next to Olivier, too, who I think put together pretty quickly what had happened and he started laughing, too. I did a victory dance along to the music and Olivier bought me a beer in gratitude. I danced around for a couple more songs, feeling very, very pleased with myself and then Olivier and I headed to the back of the pit to enjoy the last part of the concert.

The problem is that, if I'm at the back of the pit, I just want to get into it. So I did, and Olivier did, too. The pit wasn't any less crazy this time, but we held onto each other at all costs - just like at the Franz Ferdinand concert. We hit the floor once, maybe twice, but - as crazy as the crowd was - people would always stop and pull us up. That's one good thing about shows, people really are there to have a good time, and they will always help you up if you fall. Anyways, we hit the ground yet again, but this time there were about 4 or 5 people on top of me and my ankle was fully extended. This wouldn't have been so bad except that I rolled my ankle really bad the other day (again with the motor skills complaint) and was still having problems with it. I was actually afraid it was going to snap. We got pulled up and I told Olivier that we had to leave the pit; so we did, and very shortly thereafter the show was over.

We wandered around the hall for a bit, I bought another beer and we headed over to the merch table where I bought a shirt and Olivier bought a bunch of pins (some of which were for me!), then we left. I realized that I had lost one of the balls (yes, okay, laugh now, and then get over it because I'm about to use the word "balls" a bunch) for the earrings that I just bought at Tollwood. I don't really care because the earrings were only, like 2 EUR, or something, but the fact of the matter is that now I kind of like having balls in my earrings and will have to find a piercing studio so that I can get a replacement, and that's a hassle. I'm also afraid that if I walk into a piercing studio, I'll walk out with a new hole in my body because I have been thinking for a while that I want something new done. Anyways, Olivier and I made it back to Stachus and stopped in at McDonald's to chit chat while we waited for our buses to come. Then, when I made it home, I found out that I had lost the ball for my conch piercing, too! What a burn! I've had the thing pierced for 3 years and have never lost the ball!! Grrr... well, I was going to head to a studio to get a ball for my one earring, anyways, so now I'll just have to buy two while I'm there.

Yeah, that's the story of the Lagwagon concert; I'd say I'm sorry that it's so long, but... I'm not! Happy Sunday!!

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*SIGH* I posted what is written above and then reread it, and it occurred to me how long it's been since I posted any pictures. Admittedly, there haven't been many to post. I took some at Christmas, but forgot the camera at New Year's and then I don't bring it with me when I go play pinball or crib, and that's pretty much all I've done. However! Every now and again I am struck with how great my view is and I take a picture or two (there has been a ridiculous amount of hoarfrost on the trees these last few days, and from the ninth floor it looks pretty neat). Or, even less often, while I'm dancing around in my room, I think that I would like to take pictures to capture the moment. I have figured out how to use the timer function on the camera and I dance and dance. Last night, as I was getting ready for the concert, this compulsion hit me and I took out the camera. Several timer settings and self-portraits later, I grabbed my purse and headed out. Today I looked through them and now I feel that I should post one of myself, (taken yesterday!) so that you can all see how I'm doing, what my hair looks like, and the big bump on my forehead (I can see it in this one, at least)!

Being clumsy sucks

I hit my head today. Now, I'm really clumsy; everyone knows this. I don't think there has been a day in my life that I haven't had a bruise somewhere on my body. They're usually on my legs, so I hide them by wearing pants 98% of the time. Sometimes they're on my arms, but I ignore them unless they're really bad, then I wear long sleeved shirts. But today I did something so stupid that now I will have to wear this bruise like a badge of honour.

I dropped something in my very small kitchen. Seems harmless enough, right? Well, when I went to bend down to get it I thought to myself, "Don't hit your head on the open cupboard door; you could take an eye out on that." So as I was concentrating on avoiding the door (which, in retrospect, really wasn't even a threat) I bent down and *BANG* hit my head on the countertop. My forehead to be exact. I hit my forehead very, very hard right on the top of the counter. Ten minutes or so later - you know, after I'd recovered - I checked the mirror and decided that I would probably be okay, at least no one would ever know that I could be such a retard.

Yeah, several hours later, I have a goose egg. It's probably going to bruise, too, because I always bruise. I should have known that I wouldn't get off so easily! I guess that only time will tell how bad this will be. I can, of course, see the lump, and Katie can, too, but I also told her the story. Noirin was over here tonight and she didn't say anything, but I don't know if that's because it's not noticeable or because we haven't seen each other in several weeks and she forgot what my forehead normally looks like. (You know that feeling you get when you're like, "Wow, was Jimmy's head always shaped like that? Yikes!")

I can't believe I'm 23 and haven't gotten the whole "basic motor skills" thing down yet. Well, stupid is as stupid does, I guess.

Squishy cheddar is cheddar nonetheless

Good day. Definitely a good day. I think it's because the sun was shining again. It's funny what a difference that can make.

I got up at about 10:00 and puttered. I kept eyeing the forty of Crown Royal that Katie brought back for me and thinking that it might be a nice day to get completely wasted and dance around in my underwear, but decided that that is better saved for a day where I don't have to skip classes. Besides, it's Wednesday. Wednesday's are hot TA day. I shower and get ready, then make lunch. Then I head off to my class for 1:00. We have the class and I realize that the test is coming up in this class quite soon: second week of February to be exact, and get a bit nervous. Then again, what do I care. The Linguistics department still doesn't know I'm here, so writing a test in German really shouldn't be on the top of the list of things I have to worry about. Uhhh... mom, I realise that's probably the first you're hearing of this, but I promise that I am working on thinking about writing an email to let someone know, so don't stress!

After the class was the Uebung. The TA came into the room and I was like, "Yikes! Why did I think this guy was hot again?!" Then he started talking and I remembered. Everything he says is interesting. And brilliant. Interesting and brilliant. *sigh* Anyways, that class ended all too quick and then it was time to go to "work." I have decided that I will have to start putting it in quotes because it's too easy to be work without quotation marks. I marked a couple of people's work right at the beginning, then sat around and chatted with Oksana for a really long time. Katie came after her class at 7:00 and I decided to skip my German class because I wasn't prepared and I really wanted my loot from Katie (I got an SMS in the afternoon from her, so I knew it had arrived)! The funny thing is that we sat around in the lab for a little longer; chit-chatted with Christian and Oksana for a while, I think I marked one other person's work and by the time we headed home, we actually ran into some of the people from my class in the U-Bahn because they had finished. Oh well! Oh! And on the way out of the lab Oksana was like, "Hey! The lecture we have tomorrow is cancelled. I had a seminar with the same professor today and he said that he wasn't feeling well, but thought it was important to go to the seminar, but that the lecture tomorrow would be cancelled." "Are you sure, Oksana? Could it really be true?!" "Go downstairs to the classroom right now and look; there might be a sign on the door already." And, you know what? There was. And the lecture is cancelled and that means I have a four-day weekend. Oh, yeah!! Oh, and the conversation didn't go exactly like that, I don't talk like a retard - not even in German! I added relevant information so you could all keep up; just thought I'd clarify that.

We got back to Katie's and she gave me the rest of the awesome haul! There were new clothes and curling irons and Stoned Wheat Thins, oh my! It was great! I am so excited. Now that I have cheddar, we are having tacos tomorrow. I was waiting for the right cheese. And I can eat the Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder soup that I got on Monday night, because now I have crackers to put in it. I was really worried about those Stoned Wheat Thins because there were crumbs falling out of the box, and they sounded really broken. And I was afraid that I would have Stoned Wheat Thin Powder and nothing else, but I opened up the bags and put the crackers into Zip-loc bags to keep them fresh and I am very pleased with the ratio of broken to unbroken crackers. Very pleased! In the same way that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the broken Stoned Wheat Thin makes the crumbs. That's my new saying, let's see if it catches on.

Okay, I'm ready now

Today was a really great day. Nicole came back on Sunday and Katie on Monday (complete with a crapload of loot!), so I have all this great new stuff and the sun was shining to boot! So, considering what a good day it was, let me tell you about all that has happened: Katie left on Tuesday the 20th, if I remember correctly, but Nicole and I still had classes to attend. Thursday afternoon Nicole and I headed to Sendlinger Tor where there was the Christkindl Tram. It was really sweet. Basically, for the month before Christmas the MVG (equivalent to ETS) takes one of the trams out of their fleet and decorates the inside with garlands and stars and stuff, then they take you on a special ride through the city centre that costs a dollar. They also have, inside the tram, cookies and muffins and Gluehwein that you can buy. It was very nice. One funny thing, I think, is that it cost a dollar, but was free for "kids under 120cm" or something like that. Not "free for kids under 12, regardless of height," but instead they put on a height restriction. Now, if I'm 15, but really short, do I still count as a kid? And what about those freakishly tall kids? Silly Germans.

That night we went with Olivier and his friend Lucie (who had just arrived that day) to the Gogol Bordello concert. It was really great. There were 2 openers; they were called "The Scotch Greens" and "Throwrag." Gogol Bordello was the best band with a finale like I have never seen before and an encore that was, like, 8 songs! I honestly lost count. And it wasn't just like it was a second set, because we were in the front and could see the set list. The finale was that they took this huge drum which this chick had just been beating the tar out of, and then tossed it on top of the crowd; then the lead singer climbed on top of the drum and stood there as the crowed surfed it around for a bit. Well, it didn't really go very far at any point, but it was crazy because he was standing on this drum which was being held up by the crowd. Awesome. Afterwards I made it to the merch table on time (yeah, me!) and bought a shirt as well as a Throwrag belt buckle. I couldn't help it, it's huge!

We ended up leaving quite late and by the time we made it back to the train station and took the train to Marienplatz to catch our connection, the U-Bahn had stopped running. So we considered our options and decided to walk to Odeonsplatz to catch the night bus. The problem with the night bus is that it only runs once every hour and we missed it by about 10 minutes. So we decided to wait for a cab. Normally there is an absolute line up of cabs at Odeonsplatz just waiting to take you where you want to go. Not on Thursday, December 22. Long story short: we waited for over 20 minutes and I almost got into a fist fight (it's true that I don't ever know when to shut my mouth), then we finally got a cab and came home. It was late and we had to leave here at something like 5:30 at the latest to catch our train to the Bodensee. I did everything I needed and then took a nap and Nicole decided to stay up the whole night. Olivier calls that a "white night" and I like that because it makes me think of Whyte Knight, which makes me think of Whyte Ave, which makes me think of Mars and Venus and Gravity Pope and Divine and Sanctuary, which, in turn, makes me happy.

We made it to the town where Nicole's cousin was supposed to pick us up, but I can't remember what it's called right now, in about 4 hours or so; and then we started waiting. After close to an hour, I was starting to wish we had stayed in Munich, but Nicole got a hold of them on her cell and they said they were on their way. That was the last time the whole weekend I wished we had stayed in Munich! They were incredible! Their names are Horst and Bettina. Bettina is the relative; it’s a relation on Nicole’s mother’s father’s side. They both work for the Kripo (Kriminalpolizei = Criminal Police (durr)), which, just to clarify, means that they do the cool stuff on CSI, but not so Hollywoodized and with more paperwork - according to them. I believe Horst said he specializes in homicides. Their children’s names are Martina (17), Nico (14) and Michael (or Michi, 8). Bettina’s parents were also in town; they are named Klaus and Hildegard (might be Hildegaard). And, since they live in a town just outside of a really major tourist attraction, they have two little apartments in the basement that are for the purpose of renting out to people during the on-season. The major benefit of this is that when relatives come visit in the off-season, they have a very comfortable place to stay. This family was so great to both of us even though I was a complete stranger and Nicole had never met them before either (I think that she might have met Klaus and Hildegard once before, but I’m not sure); they made us food and treated us just like one of the family. They even gave each of us a gift on Christmas Eve (which is the main day in Germany, and not Christmas morning). I was so touched by their kindness.

Nicole and I had to leave on Monday for a couple of reasons:

1. We didn’t want to out-stay our welcome. They kept telling us that we were welcome to stay, and I believe that they genuinely meant it, but it is such a fine line and, who knows, maybe we’ll be able to go back again now that we didn’t overstay our welcome!


2. Nicole was leaving for Sweden on the Wednesday and had a bunch of stuff to do to get ready for the trip.


3. I had only brought enough underwear to last to Monday. I suppose I could have worn them inside out and we could have stayed another 3 days, but I figured that it was probably a pretty good indication that it was time to go home.

So we were discussing how we should take the train when Bettina told us about http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/. That breaks down to “drive-with opportunity” and it is basically a site where drivers look for passengers and passengers look for drivers. I would normally be very skeptical of this sort of thing, except that Nicole and I were 2 riding together and Bettina, who works for the Kripo, recommended it. She said that usually it’s university students going back and forth from home to school and are looking for a way to split the cost of gas. Judging by the looks of this guy, she was right! We paid 10 EUR each to ride from Meersburg to Munich. That’s awesome! I will definitely attempt to use Mitfahrgelegenheit again!

We got back and Nicole stayed home to get some of her stuff done. I changed and headed out to meet Olivier and Lucie as we had planned via SMS to go find some karaoke in this fair city. We wandered around for close to forever without any luck. We had even phoned Nicole to get her to look in the internet for karaoke places, but, with it being the Monday after Christmas, everything was closed (again, Silly Germans). So after some discussion, I headed home to get my crib board and some booze while Olivier and Lucie headed back to Olivier’s. I met them there about an hour and a half later (the longer I live, the more I realize that I suck at judging how long it will take to do something) and we got down to playing crib. By the way, I am slowly introducing crib to Europe, so far the reception has been good, and I am excited for the future possibilities. Lucie’s train was leaving at 6:42 in the morning and so, considering that I didn’t even arrive at Olivier’s until close to 1:00, we decided pull a white night. (I wonder, do you say "pull" a white night or "make;" "have," maybe. Hmmm, what verb would you use?)

Just before 6:00 Lucie started gathering up her stuff. We headed out about 6:10 or 6:15. This was plenty early enough as the train station is only an 8 minute tram ride from Olivier’s, so we weren’t rushing at all. We waited for the tram and, as we were on the way to the first stop after Olivier’s, Lucie was like, “Where’s my bag?” This is one of those sentences that holds so much importance, that I truthfully can’t remember if it was spoken in English or French. “Did you leave it at bus stop? Wait, did you ever have it, or did you leave it in Olivier’s room?!” Yeah, she left it at Olivier’s place. Can you imagine?!! It was still okay, though, because we would just get off, take the tram back and catch the next one back, really it would be okay. Well, turns out that the trams are less than reliable in Munich. At the next stop, even though there is an LED sign that says when the next train is supposed to come – it didn’t. We made it back to Olivier’s and made him run up the 5 flights (hey, there’s no use in all of us running up the stairs, and he’s used to it) then back to the tram stop, where that tram was also running late. We ended up running through Munich Central Station at full tilt; it was like something out of a movie, with all of us bobbing and weaving between people and signs and kiosks. I should also mention that I was half cut and after we stopped I really thought that I was gonna yak. Fortunately, I had a half-full bottle of orange juice in my backpack (yeah for mix!), and it was frothy like a smoothie after the shaking it got while I was running! I should let you know that we made it to the train with a couple of minutes to spare. It was one of the funniest things that has happened since I got here, though! Possibly second only to forgetting to get off the train that time.

The next few days were full of not very interesting things. Olivier and I played a fair amount of crib and he made me quiche on the Thursday. It was wonderful. I think that if I can’t go camping or to the lake and play crib, my second favorite way to play crib is while eating quiche. Yum! I told him that he better watch out or I’ll make him my Hausfrau, and he said he doesn’t do windows or bathrooms. I love this guy! I wish you could all meet him. We went to Karaoke on Friday (I mentioned this on my Dec. 31 post) and we joined Geli and her friends on New Year’s Eve.

The New Year’s Eve Karaoke Party was pretty awesome. We didn’t really meet any new people at all, just mostly kept to ourselves. Sang along to every song and laughed our asses off when they would karaoke in German. Man it sounds funny! It was cool because there was free food and dollar beers. The coolest part of the night, though, was midnight. I had seen people in the grocery stores buying fireworks and seen people on the train carrying them, but I had no idea. At midnight we looked out the windows of the bar (which is on the second floor and is surrounded by really short buildings, and all we could see were fireworks. Everyone in the whole city was setting off fireworks. It was so cool and I apologize to everyone (myself the most) that I forgot my camera; Olivier also forgot his. It’s a crying shame because this was so cool! Literally, folks, 180 degrees of fireworks, there were even some going off in the short buildings in front of us. I just kept saying over and over how I don’t even want to know how many people will lose a hand because of this. I found out from someone later that fireworks are illegal in Germany every day of the year except this one. Wow. Wow.

The next week was really quite calm. My favourite donair place was closed every day of the week. I know this because I walked there, like, 5 of the 7 days to see if it was open. What a burn. I wouldn’t even mind if there were a sign that said “Reopening on such and such a day,” but there isn’t. I hung out with Olivier a lot; we played crib and he found an arcade, so now we play pinball and the naked ladies game, too. He made me quiche again the night that we went to the Riff-Raff concert. I’m so glad he was here these last couple of weeks. He kept me somewhere right in between sane and nicely crazy. I’m thinking about starting a “Move Olivier to Edmonton” fund. Anyone who wants to contribute, let me know, and if anyone has major university connections to see if we can get him a full scholarship, see what you can do. Then he’d have to say yes! Peter, if you read this, what’s the Japanese program like at the U of A? That’s what you’re studying, right? And Preshani’s poli-sci: how does Edmonton rank? C’mon folks, together we can do this!! Olivier: come live in the land of Ashley and Bari!! The grass is so green you won’t believe it!!

German elevators are horrible

This building is driving me crazy. Not, like, I have cabin fever and need to get out, but rather, the actual building is driving me crazy.

First of all, dust collects in this room like crazy. I don't know how. It doesn't makes sense! There is one vent in the room; it's in the bathroom, but it doesn't blow air into the room - it sucks it out - so I don't think that's the source. I have a radiator, so there's nothing coming in from there because, well, it radiates. I rarely open the windows so it's not from there. The only thing I can think is that the dust is coming in from the hallway. It's the only possibility. Nicole made the comment that, after we were gone for 3 days to the Bodensee, that she couldn't believe how much dust had collected even while no one was there and while there was no one opening or closing the door. So does that really mean that all this dust is coming from the half inch opening between the bottom of the door and the floor? That's crazy if it's true.

Then there is the problem with the elevators. I have never seen anything like the elevators here - and by here I mean all over Munich and not just in Orange House. Honestly, it is really common for a building to have a really small elevator with a door that opens like a regular door and then, once the door has shut, there is a sliding door inside. It was weird at first, but I got used to it.

There are 2 entrances to my building, the south and the north, and I usually go in the north because I live right near the north stairwell on the ninth floor. This elevator is always acting up. I am constantly coming home and there is a sign that says the elevator is out of order. Sometimes I walk up the nine flights and sometimes I walk down the hall to the south stairwell, depending on how I'm feeling.

So today I was walking down the stairs (I think it's lazy to take the elevator when you're decending) and when I hit the ground floor I went to open the door like I always do - with a lot of force because it's a big heavy door! BAM! I bounced! I think I bruised my hip in the process, too! I check again to make sure I was on the ground floor and tried the door again. It was locked. I have no idea how or why, but it was locked. So I had to walk up to the first floor, head down the hallway to the other stairwell and then go back down to the ground floor. I walked towards the north stairwell to see if there was something that could be done from the other side of the door. There was nothing, but I confirmed that it was locked from this side as well. Oh well, when I headed back home I knew to use the other stairs.

So when I was done my errands, I entered through the south entrance instead of the north and hit that elevator. A couple of weeks ago (I think it was on Dec. 26 or 27) there were several notes left in the stairwells from the housing department that said they had to fix something in the south stairwell on the 8th or 9th floor and, therefore, the elevator would be set not to stop at the 8th floor for a period of, like, 24 hours. That's fine, no big deal, right? Well, two weeks later and they haven't reactivated the 8th floor. Everytime I use that elevator (and, again, recently I use it a lot because the one in the north stairwell hasn't been working well) I have to go to the 10th floor and walk down. I'm not so lazy as to get really upset about the fact that I have to walk down a hall and a flight of stairs, but I'm just really getting annoyed that nothing works!

It might just be bad timing because maybe the Hausmeister is on vacation, so nothing is getting fixed, I don't know; but it's still really, really annoying! Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I have to go ice my hip.

I love music. I love live music. I love local music.

Last night a friend of Olivier’s, Vanessa, brought us to a show at a bar that was just local bands. I had never been there before, but the bar is called Orange House, which I love because I, technically, live in Orange House. See, the main buildings in Studentenstadt are each different colours and you usually just refer to them by what colour they are; Nicole and I live in Orange House and Katie lives in Green House. I thought it was pretty funny. At any rate, the crowd was an interesting one. It was kind of like a show at Eastwood Hall, actually. Plus beer. Well, there was always beer at Eastwood Hall shows, but last night there was less vomiting; which, I should say, is the benefit to having a culture so open when it comes to alcohol – it’s not a novelty and isn’t as abused as it is in North America. And, as much as I complain about indie rock crowds and their lack of dancing, I was reminded last night why I prefer them to punk rock crowds – punks are rude. Now, I know how bad it is to stereotype groups, but, honestly, in indie rock crowds, if you want to get through to, say, go to the bathroom, you can just put a hand on someone’s back and they will move forward or sideways or whatever; in punk crowds, you just have to push your way through, and people will just push their way through and it’s all very… pushy.

Anyways, the headliner was a band called Riff-Raff and the connection to Vanessa is that a good friend of hers is dating the lead singer. It was an interesting night right from the start. There was a midget at the door. Two actually. Well, one might have just been a really short guy, and I would actually call the girl a dwarf because she didn’t have the normal midget qualities. Either way, it was a good way to start things off. I also thought I noticed on the sign at the front door (and later I saw another sign that confirmed it) that said the production company (I don’t know what else to call it, basically the guys who set the show up) is called Soylent Gelb (Gelb = yellow). I thought this was absolutely hilarious! We girls dropped our stuff off backstage (the best part about knowing people who know people) and then Olivier and I went to listen to the first band while the other girls (I should mention that Vanessa’s friends are named Nina and Carina) went to hang out near the bar. I really gotta say, I didn’t like the first band at all. The best part was when it ended. They had some pretty decent sounds, the problem was they changed styles and tempos too many times in each song and then back again… and then back again. It was wretched.

After the horror was over, Olivier and I went to talk to Vanessa and her friends, and we all took a wander through the bar, though I can’t remember why. Anyways, we ran into a couple other friends of Vanessa who turned out to be the members of Riff-Raff. Not to brag (but also to brag, hee hee), I apparently have the German accent down pretty well. We were chit-chatting with Daniel, the lead singer and boyfriend, for a little bit, and then Flo the drummer and Toby the bassist came up. And it was a whole lot of, “This is Olivier from France and Bari from Canada, blah, blah, blah…” And Flo was very surprised that I am from Canada and speak German (I don’t know if the surprise was that I am from Canada and speak German, or if it was that I’m from North America and speak German, but either way…) and wanted to know how that came to pass. So I started telling him the story and a sentence or two in he, all of a sudden, started yelling something that made absolutely no sense at all. He wasn’t angry, but really… excited – or something and I finally look at Vanessa and I’m like, “what the hell is he yelling about?” And she says, “You said something with an accent and now he knows that you’re a foreigner.” So I started laughing and was like, “I just finished saying that I’m from Canada and only now are you realizing that I’m a foreigner?! Do people often lie and say that they’re from Canada…blah, blah, blah!” It was great because I did it all in German (of course) and actually had them laughing. It felt really good because I’m not normally funny in German. It felt like me again. My point is that it took him a few minutes to really believe that I wasn’t German, and that says something.

The second band wasn’t bad, but was a little harder core. They started to get the crowd riled up, which is good for the headliner, and I started to get into it as well, which was necessary after the wretchedness of the first band. There isn’t much to say about it. A small pit started up, which basically means that there was lots of pushing (again, it’s how it is) but I stayed on the outskirts and just danced to myself, and when they were done I grabbed another beer.

Riff-Raff actually made it onto the stage in record time, which is impressive because the show was running a little behind and they almost put it back on track – not that it mattered because they were the headliners, but still. It was about the third song in and I wasn’t in the pit yet because I still had two thirds of a beer, but I was, again, right on the edge dancing to myself when a stray “dancer” fell backwards and elbowed me right in the mouth. Don’t worry; I’m not injured. I thought I’d have a huge lip today, but it’s really not bad; it’s that sort of bloody that’s not bloody but also not swollen, so I’m cool with my battle scar. Anyways, I realized that I had to quickly finish my beer and get into the action, or I was just a sitting duck. So I did. It was great; a small but lively pit; and I really enjoyed Riff-Raff.

That was pretty much it. We left shortly after and headed back to the train station. It was pretty late at that point and they were running at stupid times, but we made it to the station where we have to catch the tram back to Olivier’s in fairly decent time. Then we had to wait for the tram for 15 or 20 min, so we went into an arcade and played the naked ladies game. Then we had to run for the tram. I actually think that we probably would have made it without running, but we ran anyways. Then we played crib at Olivier’s for a few hours and I came home. All in all, a fantastic night!