Hi! I had a great day today. I caught up on a little email in the morning, then went to church at St. Familia. I liked it! I didn't understand much of it; I think next week I will need to read the reading ahead of time. I think the priest talked about women's rights and what Jesus thought of them. Probably. Anyways, afterward lots of people stood around outside talking and I sortof stood around wanting to talk to anyone but feeling awkward about just going up to some group and trying to be included. Finally I wandered over to the bulletin board with announcements and asked a nearby woman about the Nachtsing that was listed. Then I asked her about what else there was to do in Kassel. She was really nice and she and her two daughters ended up walking around Kassel with me for a while and showing me things, including a dance studio where I'm supposed to go tomorrow at 18.30 for a dance class! Exciting!

Then I went to the train station to meet Brad, a friend of Ann Call's (Ann Call is a high school friend) from Kettering. He and I are shown below:

He's studying in Germany this semester (school is still going for them). So we went back to my place and had some of the *excellent* hamburgers that I made yesterday. Then we took a series of busses to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe (Castle Wilhelm's Heights) It's a really amazing castle. It has an art gallery in it now.

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There are some pretty cool things, for instance the above Rubens. There were several Rubens there. My favorite was Jupiter and Callisto.

I also really liked this locust that a statue of Apollo was holding.

I took all of the art quite seriously...

This is me 'n Herc. Hercules is one of the most famous statues there. He's a copy of the Farnese Hercules, made in the early 3rd century. The Farnese Hercules in turn was a copy of a statue from the 4th century BC. At the top of the big hill beyond the castle is a larger version, 8.5 meters tall. It is apparently Kassel's mascot. It's going through some restoration at the moment though, so it's covered in scaffolding.

After seeing the art, we headed outside and climbed up theh big hill, past some cascades to the top. It was quite pretty and I took about a hundred pictures. Not kidding. Here are a couple that I semi-randomly pulled off of my camera to make this post:

Ok, I really like this picture. In the front left is a little golf cart ice cream truck. In the middle is a little sort of gazebo with paintings of Greek gods and godesses inside. And in the back right, if you look, are some really ancient ruins!

This one's just me in the middle of some nature :-)

Isn't this the best bridge you've ever seen?! This place is so schön!

The view from the top. We started walking down there at the castle! After this we looked around at the top for a while, then headed back down. We caught a bus to the train station and from there walked to a Döner place for dinner. I'd never had Döner before. It's a food invented by Turks in Berlin, and it's delicious. We also got carbonated water in cans to drink; I was surprised by how tasty that was. Then we explored a bit more, saw some of the Documenta, and finally got ice cream. The Documenta is really funny; you can see 'art' such as a map of shipping routes from Beirut, or a piece of flatsteel folded into fourths and painted white. There are also things like the "Fulda-phone," a souped up set of paper cups on wire going across the river Fulda, the process of carving a totem pole, and sculptures and structures. There is a schedule of music going on, and artistic films as well. The ice cream we had was delicious! I'll have to go back to that place. Anyways, it was a fun day! And now it's time to sleep so I don't yawn constantly tomorrow. One more thing though:

We found this on the side of a house. The left thing is a sundial -- can anyone tell me what the thing on the right is? Ok, goodnight!

Kim

Hi all...

I can resize images again! So here's what I meant to show you before:

This is a REALLY huge nut and bolt pair. You can sort of tell because that's a computer monitor next to them.

These are some stone animals that I pass on my way to the University, laundromat, and city center. They're really cool! They seem to be the work of the same person who makes headstones which are showcased across the street.

Here's a pretty view I came upon while biking to the big mall thing so that I could buy a pair of shoes. I needed shoes because I can't use my ratty old ones on the floor at the place I work out. And speaking of my bike...

This is my roommate and travelling companion for the summer. His name is Kettler. (Full name is Kettler alu-rad) And yes it's a name, not just a make of bike! Kettler has a dynamo light, which is something I've been interested in trying for a while. He's also got the braking-by-backpedaling feature, something I don't think I've had since I was about 10! It takes some getting used to. (That's the back brake, the front is a hand lever) Speaking of brakes, that seems to the thing I most often forget to check before getting on a bike. On last summer's bike trip I would almost invariable forget to engage the brakes after changing a flat tire. And on bikes which are not my own I generally figure out braking as I go... I suppose it's more interesting that way. (That's right, I never do stupid things, only interesting things!) Let's see... I guess other relevant details are 3 gears, fenders, reflectors, a fairly comfy seat, and a guard so I don't catch my pants on the gears! Ok, I'll bet you're tired of hearing about my bike. Hmm... well, if you're reading this you obviously have at least some interest in me, so here's me:

Look, I'm alive!! And safety-conscious!! Ok, well I don't have much more to say. Work is going well. I don't know much more German now than when I came, although my accent might have changed? I've gone from being known as American, to mistaken for British and even Polish! I think I prefer being mistaken for British to being mistaken for American, since American here comes with a sort of loud and obnoxious connotation. And of course Polish is better because it implies that I'm not englishifying all my words and have maybe a little more familiarity with German.

The weather here is funny. It's been raining on and off for days. It's a funny sort of rainy though, because it goes from very rainy to very sunny and back again with almost no transition time. Anyways, I think when I'm down to only the weather to talk about it's time to quit blogging for the day! I warn you that the posts may become more intermittant for a while as I settle into a bit of a routine. Please do send me updates about your own lives/post to your own blogs. I feel quite disconnected from everyone, what with having a single apartment in a foreign country and all. Not that having a relaxing break from ordinary life is so bad. Right now I'm lounging on my couch-bed, peacefully listening to Enya and enjoying the sunshine and bird calls coming from a wide open window while writing this. Take care,

Kim

Hmmm... so I've been fighting with my image resizer for an hour now, and I need to get some sleep. So no pictures today :( Anyways, yesterday I read my microwave's manuel, and WOW! It is an amazing device. It can do all sort of things, like grilling and warm-air circulation and microwaving. We are going to be good friends! Last night I used it to simulate a real oven to make myself a Brötchen with cheese. Mmmmm. I also did some laundry at a laundromat. It was a little bit epic, at least relative to living at Random where I just walk downstairs and throw in my laundry. Here I have to pack it up and carry it a ways and then figure out the system for buying detergent, in German, and so on and so forth. I got some more reading done at the laundromat. And today I biked all the way to the BIG shopping center to buy new shoes. And I worked out at the gym. I am currently in terrible shape! I also spent a lot of time looking at old pictures and movies. I saw pictures of Showband, my family, and a funny video. In the video younger versions of Lanthe, Preeya, Valerie, and myself were trying to teach a younger Xiao how to walk like a girl. Also, Aviv walked past, and he looks so different! I get so nostalgic lately. Oh, and I realized for the zillionth time today that I am the luckiest person ever. I left my apartment window open as I was leaving for work today. And, as it has rained the last 4 days and I heard a forecast of rain for tomorrow, I was not so optimistic about having a dry house. But, I was pleasently surprised by no rain all day. Still not convinced that I'm abnormally lucky? I lost the key to my bike lock. In a huge warehouse full of trains. And went to look for it several hours later. And *found* it. I rest my case. Anywho, it's past my bedtime. So goodnight!

Kim(!)

Hi,

Wow! My second page of journals! Today went pretty well. I have a bike again!! Mr. Danuschewske is letting me borrow an old bike of his for the summer. Every time I get on a bike after a moderately long break I am amazed at how quickly I can move! I ate more of those chocolate covered marshmallow treats today ... I was told what they're called and I wrote it down, but the paper's still at work. But... I did finally start working out at the gym. It's full of ridiculously buff people, mostly men. For my first time I got to be let through my exercise plan by a trainer. I suppose the most amusing part would be when I stumbled upon the men's locker room by mistake -- in my defense there was no door to open, only a wrong turn to take. Later I biked the route I walked yesterday. It was pretty again, and it was nice to be able to bike. Besides that I spent a little time on German grammar, a little on cooking food, and a fair amount reading. And that's all for today, folks.

Kim