Eislaufen

Wow, das Wetter ist kalt. Last week I got up early on Thursday to get to the Stadhaus to apply for a residents permit.

Walking to the U-Bahn station near my apartment, it was very foggy around seven.

I don't remember if this was once I was finished with registration around eleven or before I got in line.

Good news is I have submitted all the paperwork and I should be able to pick up my resident registration card in mid-January. Because I have a scholarship, I did not even have to pay for the application or visa extension. YYYAAAAA!!!!

And then last Friday the eleventh, Will Reiser came to visit. He had entered into a competition in Holland for a greenhouse run-off water storage system, and, of course, being the creative and precise engineer that he is, he won first prize, for which they gave him a travel stipend to come to their conference. He used extra money from the stipend to travel around Europe some, visiting Natasha and me.

The date being elf elf elf (11.11.11) it was both Christmassy and nerdy; a perfect day to have Will visit. We went to the Mitte and saw the preperations for the Weihnachsmarkt. It is now open, so I will have to visit soon.

Then we rented some bikes and rode to the Universität.

Stopping on a bridge, we were able to take some pictures.

I do not remember the name for these little gardens, maybe Heydon would know.

Here you can see the stadion, Westfallenparkturm, und die Autobahn.

Will posing with his oscillo-scarf, because no trip to campus would be complete without a ride on the H-Bahn (TU Dortmund's hanging monorail system, designed and built by doctoral students in 1984).

The most important part of Will's trip was back at my apartment were he gave me a care package of used-to-be-frozen green chile, Frontier tortillas, and some red chile powder.

THANK YOU MOLLY, ALYSSA, AND HEYDON!!! Breakfast burritos and quesadillas have been delicious.

Sunday I went eislaufen in the afternoon, instead of working on the control theory assignment, which I did not yet know about having missed Friday's class for Will's visit, but which many used as an excuse not to come.

The ice rink we went to had two circle areas joined with paths tangentially. The larger circle was a meter or so lower in elevation, so you could pick up some speed coming into it, if there was not a traffic jam. In the empty area between the circles was a small snack stand, with the usual sort of overpriced food (Bretzel, pommes, currywurst,...) and drink (kakao, tee, bier,...).

I don't remember all of the names, but Pavel is in the middle (he is in the same language course as I), Gabriela (another student in the A&R program) is to the right of him, and Hector(a friend of Miguel) is to the left of him.

Taking pictures while skating backwards did not work, too blurry, but taking slightly turned worked. It was Miguel's first time ice skating, so he was shaky and fell a lot, but by the end he was doing much better. It did not help to have so many people crowding the rink, and lots of little kids weaving in and out. I am not sure how they turn like that. Lots of practice.

And this week has been less eventful, except for the cold.

Nic

Alles in Butter

So, one might not at first think that writing once a week would be such a daunting task, but here I am again, finally getting myself sat down and I am wondering "what should I write about?" Nachtflohmarkt? Salsa? Iserlohn? Medieval Markt?

Well, I can start out with Halloween. It being such a major holiday in my life{,} I was reminded of it at the end of the previous week. So, Alex and I decided we would dress up as Batman and Robin if we could find the costumes. Well, we didn't find a costume store on Friday or Saturday, but we did find somethings at the Nachtflohmarkt (midnight flea market).

Alex claimed Batman, and they had no Robin, so I went as Spiderman! It drew a few laughs, and then, as I kept on my costume during class, Dr. Furlan commented "So, you have brought a friend to class today?" Having left it on, what could I say but "Yes"? And since I was sitting in the back of class, what would happen but fifty or sixty faces should turn and look. That seemed to give me two choices: shrink down and be embarrassed or sit and smile. Guess what I did? :-p

Fun times for Halloween. I finished the day not with a party, but with going to Salsa lessons for the first time. I am so glad that I did go. I did not realize how much I have missed dancing this past month, but hearing some music and learning some basics set me in the mood. Different from swing dance, yet some of the turns and hand motions I see are exactly the same. I can't wait to learn more.

Most girls who have danced with me will attest that I constantly make sound effects as I dance. What is better a spin or a spin with a "sshhhuuuoooo" or "zoooofff"? The world is better with sound effects. Anyways, I rarely notice that make sound effects any more, until it happens, like last night, that a girl comments on it. So, I just had to laugh at myself, and explain how much better the world is with sound effect and how any boy uses sound effects when he plays.

What be these glowing lights on a Halloween night? The same lights that give light to campus on any other night.


That brings me to November 1st, or All Saints' Day, a regional holiday, so in Nord-Rhine Westphalia we had no school and the shops were closed, but the DAAD scholars from Berlin still had school. Alex and I ventured down to Iserlohn were Anna had done her Bachelors and she showed us around.

Off we went into the forest in search of wild pigs.

(Oooooooo!!! Look! Look! FACES!)
Unfortunately we found no wild pigs, but we did see some small deer.

And we found a lookout tower. Quite the view of town. It is good to know there is a forest I can get away.

This was a neat looking house we walked by. I love the curvy stone drive.

Leaves.

They had a Medieval Market in Dortmund Mitte (City center) most of last week, and I finally went on Sunday. It was fun to see a real steam engine, my first Flea-circus, and a mock sword fight.

This is probably the best picture I took. "Man of God distracted by Little Red Riding Hood"

And here they are! They wild pigs we searched for in Iserlohn were at the Medieval Markt in Dortmund all along.

Oh, and I am learning some German phrases. My favorite so far is "Alles in Butter" which literally means "all in butter" but idiomatically means "all is good". If all is in butter then of course all is good. :-)

Yesterday my bed from Ikea (visiting that store is a whole 'nother story) was delivered. I have a meeting with a professor on Thursday.

Alles in Butter.

Nic