Schon die dritte Woche vorbei?!?

<---- (Heidelberg from the Schloss)
I am finding it difficult to believe how quickly the time is passing. At this point I have settled into a daily routine. I wake up around 7am, have toast for breakfast, rush out the door late as usual, run down four flights of stairs to the bike room, bike to Neuenheim, take notes in class until noon (coffee), sit in a cafe (more coffee) or a library (usually the Slavistik library, the quietest one on campus) to study and read some Deutsch, bike home, go food shopping at one of the THREE supermarkets within walking distance, make dinner, chiiiiiiiiill, and eventually go to sleep. Busy and yet relaxed, exactly how summer should be.

Since that is the general plan most weekdays, I will mention only the highlights from this incredibly fun past week and weekend... And I would LOVE some highlights from home if you have a chance to write! No pressure though :-)

Oooooooh KANADA

Around 4:30 in the afternoon Robert and I walked through the rainy Hauptstrasse after classes. When we passed a tourist shop (there are maaaaaany), he asked me, “Canada feels like a sort of home, right?” I replied a bit baffled by his question, “of course!” I had no idea why Robert insisted that we buy a Canadian flag, but 5 Euros later I had a maple leaf flag tied around my shoulders, long enough to touch the floor. A couple of hours later, we got on a train from Rohrbach. My only hint was that we would see someone I knew on the way. This person turned out to be his younger brother Tommy, who saved seats for us. We were not going in the direction of Karlsruhe, rather the opposite, towards Mannheim. Tommy and his friends, dressed in various basketball jerseys, gave away the surprise. But the real surprise came when I asked Robert, “But why did we go through all that trouble to get a Canadian flag?” He himself was wearing a German flag tied on as a cape. The answer was simple: Canada was playing Germany in the Olympic trials in the SAP Stadium in Mannheim, 30 minutes from Heidelberg. Star player for the Germans – Dirk Nowitzki, a pretty damn huge person and a really fun player to watch. Star player for the Canadians – apparently the only NBA player on the team was sitting out for this game, and beyond that there were no French names (why would anyone in Quebec play pro-basketball?). I still happily routed for them, sang the parts of the anthem that I knew, and had some great beer and Bratwurst at half-time. Unfortunately I tripped over a row of seats at one point - I came away with a big bruise on my leg but managed to save my ketchup-filled Bratwurst. Very German, Robert remarked.

the perfect lunch

This is the market in Neuenheim that happens every Wednesday. The Paedagogium is just about the only building, let alone educational institution, that I know of where they openly encourage smoking. I desperately needed fresh air during the mid-morning pause. I walked a few blocks towards the Neckar and had time to walk around in this incredible fruit market. There were some fruits and vegetables I have never seen before. I bought a few things, including a little something for Miss Morgan which I’ll send asap, and this perfect lunch: sun-kissed tomatoes, fresh ham, mild cheese and Brotchen.

sushi and Sekt

Isilay is one of my classmates from Ismir in Turkey. We celebrated her 22^nd birthday on Tuesday with an afternoon picnic on the Neckarwiese with my entire class. We all brought a little something to contribute – I brought fruit but Mika and Miki (both from Japan, apparently that’s a popular name) brought homemade rice-cakes with tuna and a homemade chocolate cake! It was a really fun afternoon, lots of pictures and playing in an incredibly intricate water-playground with Miki’s young Japanese-German daughter. The Sekt - sparkling wine - in the sun made it even better.

Was fur ein Fass! -- Der Heidelberger Schloss

On Wednesday afternoon I went with five classmates to the large castle that has some of the best views of the city. We were toured around by a slow-speaking (very important) German man who told us stories of the history since it was built in 1147. The pictures just about say it all. Two particular highlights for me: seeing one large group of Chinese tourists taking photographs near our group, and seeing the largest keg in the world (I think… it must be!), which holds 127,000 liters of wine. HUGE! Unfortunately, it was so big that they could not keep oxygen from leaking in, so it was only filled three times since the wine would spoil by the time the keg (Fass) reached full capacity.

Heidees: frisbee in deutschland

No pictures, but I’ve been to a few practices and am really excited to have so welcoming a team to play with for the summer. They had just returned from the German-nationals tournament a couple of weekends ago, so the first practice was more informal than the later ones. Lots of running...we generally start each practice with sprints. The field is perfect and well-cared for in a Sport center in Eppelheim, about 15 minutes away by car; we meet at the train station and they drive me to the field from there. We play until dark and usually have amazing sunsets during our scrimmages. I love the exhaustion that comes from a couple hours of hard running, so twice a week I really appreciate the quiet, slow bike-ride home. And, not to worry, I’ve recently purchased a bike-light to make my rides in the dark a bit less dangerous.

Babysitting!

For an entire afternoon, I joined Robert at his babysitting job. There is nothing that I find more adorable than small children speaking German, and these three girls were no exception. Felina is six, Jule is 4, and then the smallest, Amelie, is 3. I was astonished at how quickly they warmed to me. Amelie and I played dolls for a couple of hours and then joined the others for a puzzle. Robert then read aloud to us from a children’s chapter book. I must admit, I did not quite understand what was happening in the plot… it was really great to have small friends to help me with my German grammar throughout the day.

More

- Saturday’s “Schloss Beleutung” and fireworks on the Neckar

- A long walk around Rohrbach last Sunday, realizing that I don’t have to go downtown to find a nice café or a decent Doner

- Robert and friends finally finishing their exams, which we celebrated with Sekt and chocolate in the courtyard outside of the history classrooms

- A really great concert tonight at the University – some Dvorak, some more modern pieces from a composer called Herrmann, and finally some Gershwin