I'm moving!

This morning I received an e-mail saying that as of March 1st I'll be able to move into a single apartment on campus. The location is better and it's not too far from where I'm living now so the move shouldn't be too horrible. It's even within walking distance of the school I'm thinking about teaching at for my internship during the spring semester (which doesn't start until April).

Avery (Sunday and Departure Information)

Today was beautiful.

Despite the fact that it was Sunday we still had a rather eventful day. We went out to eat and on Avery's insistence arrived a little over an hour and a half BEFORE the restaurant opened. In other words... we walked around for a good while, but like I said, today was a beautiful.

On an even less exciting note, Avery leaves Dortmund tomorrow at 8:37 via ICE to Frankfurt where his flight will leave.

Avery (This Weekend)

Friday, February 15th:
Today we ran various errands for people at home - loved ones, co-workers, etcetera - in Dortmund.

Saturday, February 16th:
Originally we were going to venture out of the country today but since Avery's still sleeping and it's nearly eleven... I think we'll probably go somewhere a little closer... but we'll let you know.

Avery (Whereabouts and Actions Update)

Monday, February 11th:
Avery and I went to Bonn, the former capitol of West Germany, for the day. Bonn is also home to the birthplace of Beethoven and the Brauhaus Bönnsch (for details please refer to : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B6nnsch_%28beer%29 ) where we had dinner. Later in the evening we ventured to the Bad Godesberg portion of Bonn and went to the Godesberg Ruins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Godesburg_2_db.jpg). We also visited this church: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bonn_Muenster.jpg) and rode past this building: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Posttower_Bonn_001.jpg) which is the German postal center. On more time... we went to Bonn and saw things (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/General_view_over_bonn.jpg).

Tuesday, February 12th:
Dortmund City Center

Wednesday, February 13th:
We went out to lunch and it was a disaster. Avery was given an English menu (which is sometimes translated oddly) and ordered what he thought was a piece of fried fish on bread with a side order of onion rings. What came out was a very pungent whole fish (from a can) on a piece of black bread with raw onion "rings" on top.

Thursday, February 14th:
Avery and I went to Westfallenpark today in search of some stump that his boss has a picture of on her desk. We didn't find it... but we did take pictures with wooden hippos and enter into a brawl with some local geese. Avery also took a picture "meditating" which I can't wait photo shop and turn into a Christmas card.

Friday, February 15th:
TBA...

Avery

Avery's here from the 8th to the 18th.

Friday: Avery's train arrived SEVEN HOURS after it was supposed to due to A) Flight changes and B) the competence level of the Deutsche Bahn

Yesterday we went to Köln (Cologne) for the day.

Today is Sunday. Nothing happens on Sunday. Ave' may lose it... he said something about being used to forty decibels of sound and then started swearing about some sort of strawberry cereal dust... I think all the cereal's getting to him.

Tomorrow is currently TBA, but I'm guessing we'll go somewhere.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I've never seen that movie... but here's what's going on in Dortmund:

• Finals are next week (February 4th - 8th). I'm less than excited.
  
• I'm not particularly keen on the idea of doing my internship at the school I'm currently teaching for, so I may be making a switch to another school if at all possible.
  
• Avery will be here on the 8th.
• I think I want to learn to ski.
• I miss root beer.
  
• Basket's birthday is coming up, she'll be seven(teen) and apparently she looks older than I do the majority of the time. Right now I could care less, but when we're in our forties... (you can't see me right now but I'm making a thumbs up).
  
• I'm currently attempting to write a short story in German... it's about a platypus and his ugly duck friend... I'll let you know how it turns out.
  
• "My" German language skills continue to be a grammatical train wreck whenever I attempt to speak. The sound I believe is equivalent to nails on a chalk board. My vocabulary is slowly growing. Last week I learned the word for platypus (das Schnabeltier)... something I feel is essential... as well as der Kalkstein (Limestone), Wasser führende Schicht (Aquifer), and zwittrig (Androgynous).
• It's currently raining.
  

Toilet Paper Strike: Day 38

As a policy, I always try see the best in people... and in the case of my roommates, there's not a whole lot to see.

So far:

• Fish has been left on the counter multiple times for 2-3 days at a time
• Nearly every pan has at one point had something grow in it
• When they're not leaving random dinner rolls in the oven or on the counter (generally for a few days at a time) they're leaving meat in there. Apparently no one told them that oven's don't work the same way refrigerators do when it comes to keeping cooked meat safely edible.
  
• I've found tampon wrappers IN the shower...
• Next to two disposable razors full of pubic hair (the tampon wrapper was left in the soap dish for three days, the razors for over a week).
• One roommate insists upon cleaning her muddy shoes with the kitchen hand towel... only so she can hang the towel back on the rack.
• And the list goes on...

All in all... when they're not pissing me off by being utterly disgusting... they're just flat out pissing me off. To make a long, complicated, bilingual story short... we've been on a toilet paper strike for thirty-eight days (by my rough estimate). It started about a week before I went on vacation (which was two weeks) and since then... it's been a BYOTP affair. I know this because I often times forget a roll in there only to have it wipe the asses of the very people who are shitting on me.

I know what you're thinking though... "Well who's supposed to get the toilet paper?"
- Toilet paper, paper towels, baking paper, aluminum foil, trash bags, sponges, dish soap, and other cleaning supplies are supposed to be paid for from the "fund" (i.e. the blue plastic Tupperware thing that sits next to the spice rack). The idea is that every month each of us is supposed to put in 5 Euro ($7.36) to keep supplies at a satisfactory level. >>Fast Forward>> I quit putting money in there because no one else was, we were always out of things, and what's the point of putting money in a jar that I'll have to take out three minutes later to buy X house supply with?

Moving on... or rather back....

Last night, Julia - who thinks she's my mother (which is ridiculous because I like my mom) - physically kept me from leaving the apartment and taking out the trash. It was then that I decided I was though. Final straw. Game over. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. I'm either moving out... or I'm going to start listening to rock music.... really, really LOUD rock music... which I'm sure is against "Mother Julia's" rules.

"Mother Julia's" *KNOWN* Rules:

• No more than one friend over at a time on a school night, for no longer than one hour and no later than 7:30 p.m.
  
• I should also ask permission for the previous stated situation...
  
• On weekends I'm allowed to have two (count'um, TWO) friends over as long as:
• it's ok with the other roommates
• they aren't planning on having anyone else over
• and if my friends (all two of them) leave by 10 p.m.
  
• All doors will be closed according to the weekly demonstration given by "Mother Julia" (thus far she's shown every person in our apartment the proper way to shut a door... what she doesn't realize is that AFTER she gives said demonstration we all slam the doors on purpose).
• ALWAYS wear house shoes. Abide can cook in her underwear... but damn it I MUST wear shoes. (I didn't do this one time and they physically put shoes on me.)
  

There are a few other rules too but they're a little foggier... something like "thou shalt not shower more than once a week" and "thou shalt only refrigerate uncovered stinky foods that you intend to spill inside the fridge"... but I think they apply more to her.