Neumünster
My first two weeks of English classes were actually in Neumünster, a small city about a half an hour south of Kiel. Ben came to visit me over the weekend and promptly hurt his back!

So we went to Rossmann (like a drugstore, but without any real medicine) and bought some back massage cream and two pain-relieving patches. Unfortunately, we did not read that the patches contained chili pepper until after the application. Hence the slight redness.







We then decided to have a relaxing weekend and stay in Neumünster. Ben took me shopping on Friday and Saturday and even helped me pick out new clothes. For lunch on Saturday, we chose a nice seafood restaurant called Der Butt.

We just couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!

On Sunday, we spent a romantic afternoon at the park with a couple rolls. We fed the ducks, pigeons, doves, seagulls and one strange bird we couldn't identify.

And we saw more butts- duck butts!

Ben's favorite duck in Neumünster.

The hen was not shy and she waddled right up to him and quacked for food.

Ben then gave her a not-so-endearing nick-name that I will not repeat here!

Picnic with Idee

Who drank all of the wine?

My friend, Idee, from my German course invited Ben and me to her house on Friday for a picnic after my last day of class before I left for Kiel. We took the bus to her house in Waake and packed blankets, food and drinks before going for a walk. After about 15 minutes of walking through the woods, we found an open field and spread out our blankets and un-corked the wine.

As we discussed adjusting to life in Germany and Idee told us stories from her time in Russia, her tiny dog happily began to dig up roots and fill her mouth with dirt. Ben had to pick Chillda up so she would stop digging.

After the picnic, we went back to Idee's house and we helped her cook a Bolivian dish of rice and chicken. Deliciosa!

I caught Ben in the act!

Our lovely bedroom

I won't be seeing our Stift rooms much over the next two months, as I will be working in Kiel. On Sunday, I will take the 3 hour trip with the express train to Kiel and find the hotel in Neumünster where I will be living most of the time.

Thankfully, I will probably go home on some of the weekends and Ben will come and visit me a couple times. If he uses his student i.d. to ride the slow train for free to Hamburg, the trip will be about 5 hours.

So apart from the fact that I will have to spend so much time away from my Benjamin, I am glad to have the opportunity to work more. I will be teaching English from 8:45 am to 6:30 pm everyday, with an hour and a half for breaks. I know the only thing that will get me through the first week without him, is knowing we will be able to go for a walk on the beach together when he arrives on Friday.

PS: We are heading back to Minnesota! I fly home July 12th and Ben will return on August 1st.

All dressed up for Easter

I told Ben I had to get a picture of him whenever he dresses up. He calls this his 'Steve Zissou' pose. Even though he wore jeans to the Easter service at the Jacobikirche, he felt overdressed with his tie. While we didn't receive communion today, we can go back for it tomorrow at the Easter Monday Service. Good Friday, Easter and Easter Monday are all national holidays.

Easter Trip to Kassel

The day before Easter, Ben and I took the train to Kassel with our friend Osman. We toured two small museums and enjoyed the spring flowers in the morning before having lunch and checking out the Kassel Easter Market. At the Ostermarkt we were lucky enough to meet

THE EASTER BUNNY!


The Easter Bunny seemed friendly enough, talking with the children, but then we looked a bit closer...

and saw his costume was a little too realistic. It is made out of real rabbit fur. I would think a cannibal Easter Bunny would scare the children away. But the children still loved this pagan symbol of spring and fertility. Go figure.

The Brothers Grimm Museum

We chose to visit Das Brüder Grimm-Museum first. We were disappointed to find that half of the museum was off-limits due to new fire regulations and the other half was entirely devoted to only one story-Mother Hulda. Frau Holle is somewhere in between Mother Nature and a fairy godmother and has roots in Germanic and Norse mythology. While it was interesting, it lost the novelty after about 99 different versions of the story.

Next, we went to the Museum für Sepulkralkultur- basically a museum about death and cultural traditions.

Before we left, I made sure to show Ben and Osman my favorite place in Kassel- Berlitz!

Benjamin with the Easter Bunny.

Notice the well-placed cigarette vending machine.

A Göttingen Spring Break

Ben and I both have this week off, so I sharpened my photography skills with the extra time. Showing his manliness, Ben is attempting to repair two bicycles that were left for us here at the Stift. After fixing one of the bikes, we checked out four bicycles shops around town to compare prices for just buying another used one. Unfortunately, at €150 for the cheapest used bikes, Ben will probably have to fix both of the tires on the other bicycle himself!

Above, is a University building near the center of town. It is the highlight of campus architecture. The rest of campus appears to be a collage of various clashing styles from the second half of the 20th century. To the right, is the oddest sculpture/statue I have ever seen. It juts out of the ground about 5° off of vertical. To me, it resembles the green stick of clay out of which Gumby was molded.

On our way home from grocery shopping, we stopped to look at the memorial to the people of Göttingen who died in the Holocaust. When looking toward the sky from under the sculpture, you can see the star of David that is echoed on the ground below.