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Published: July 19th 2008
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...That I haven't had any updates for a while. This is a combination of not much going on, boring things going on, things going on where I couldn't take pictures, etc. So here's what's been happening lately.
Monday (the 14th) we spent almost all day in Heidelberg. We walked a "Philosopher's Path" that was a very long and steep trek through the mountains on one side of the Heidelberg valley. It was pretty sweet and I got some good pictures from high up. I believe this was the first time someone made fun of Brian for apologizing too much and he said "sorry" before he got a chance to think. After that, we went into the city and looked at a church and a jail, the latter of which looked more inviting. After seeing the amazing Dom in Nuremberg, it was hard to be impressed by a normal, albeit ugly, church. One of the coolest things was the huge wine keg. It was a couple of stories high and incredibly over the top. The town actually used it for a long time to store their wine. Now it looks a bit leaky.
On Tuesday the 15, we took a
tour of John Deere. It was relatively interesting, but not spectacular. I've found that most of the genuinely fun and interesting parts of German culture are not present on tours and lectures. Yes, the John Deere factory was impressive. Yes, I could see the exact same thing in America. I just like talking to people and having fun. I've learned a lot more about the German (and Turkish!) people that way. The Turks are a really cool group of people, too, and it's funny how much their situation parallels the position of Mexicans in America. Anyway, enough rambling. We went to a couple of parties and had some fun. We weren't allowed to take pictures, though.
Wednesday we went to the Weldebraue for ANOTHER tour of ANOTHER factory. Actually, I shouldn't sound so negative; it was pretty cool. Our tour guide didn't really speak English or understand that we were all just learning german, so it was very hard for me to follow sometimes. He was considerate and nice, though, so it was a pleasant trip. We drank "beer" at the end, which actually ended up being sissy grapefruit stuff with like 2.2% alcohol content. I did get to
climb into a huge keg, though, which was bitchin'. Then we got to tour the Schwetzingen gardens, which puts Hopeland Gardens to shame. I managed to take some cool pictures, although it's hard to understand the magnitude of how awesome it was from the pictures. Our tour guide was the wife of the Rotary Club president and was super nice.
Thursday we visited a Mosque and then went to eat Doener. I have eaten literally more than 15 of them since I've been here and I'm not getting tired of them. I'd like to open up a Mc Doners in Aiken; I think it'd do well. If you don't know what it is, you're missing out. It's a Turkish food that is chopped up lamb meat in a pita bread with salad and sauce. It sounds not so special, but they are amazingly good. Think a Gyro that was cooked by Emril. Oh yeah, the mosque was cool, too. Haha.
Friday started out terribly. I don't want to talk badly about people on the internet, but our tour of the EvoBus plant was "not ideal." Our tour guide didn't speak English, so he spoke in German, which wouldn't
be a problem, except that he was rambling on and on about very technical stuff that no one could understand. After about five minutes of the Americans having stupid looks on their faces, he stopped really giving the tour. We walked from place to place and he spoke in german to Herr Schwarz. We got dragged around a factory for 2 hours, not knowing was anything was, and just got gawked at by creepy old men. It seemed like no one there actually worked. It was almost funny, just being sheparded around and being ignored, but after 30 minutes, we all wanted to jump in front of an EvoBus. Lame as crap. That night, though, the tables were turned. We went to a Disco with a bunch of Americans and danced the night away. Everyone had fun and no one was too shy to dance. There are some pictures out there (I don't know where) of me, Connor, and Kristof dancing on a stripper pole. Haha, someone could have fun with that plus Photoshop. I got home at like 3 and went to sleep immediately.
Today (Saturday the 19th) has been cool so far. We woke up around 12:30
and went the second game of a baseball double header. The teams weren't very good (but Mannheim still owned), but it was nice to be at a game and I think most people had fun. It was laughably American; they played classic rock when the batters came up and the game was called in English. Now we're chilling out, waiting for tonight when we are going to a big poker game at Robin's house.
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