ACHTUNG! ERSCHRECKENDE BILDER!

So if you don't want to see some really ugly pictures, close the window now.

I'll begin with my face: one stitch on my chin that is pretty much gone now and a spot on my head, also now gone. I heal really quickly, I've decided.

The scariest of them all:

Annnd now for the really fun ones...






My poor foot. This is post-op of course so most of the fun things are actually from people cutting on me. I don't have a pre-op, but it prob wasn't much nicer.


And the kicker.. Literally, I guess. Nasty bruises, stitches, other fun things. It's shiny because of some anti-septic spray, but it kind of makes it look more like a corpse.

And my view. Besides still being swollen like a balloon, my toe looks really stupid. The pin in it apparently keeps it to one side like that. I'm not about to move it either. The pin comes out in 6 weeks, and perhaps it'll go back to normal. Otherwise I'm going to need some special shoes.

Thats all. Scary pictures done.

Warning to anyone coming to Germany (or Europe): this weed is DEATH:

I dub thee, Razorweed! This thing will sting like a bee. It doesn't cut your skin, but you will wish it had instead of the hours-long, numb pain that ensues. Also, it's everywhere.

laugenbrezeltragödie

the tragedy is this: i was so obsessed with devouring my pumpkin seed and cheese pretzel that i forgot to take a picture of it. no fear though. there will be more!

regen+fahrrad=unglück

excuse my word math. while i'm on the subject of weather:

this weekend was very wet. and cold. but when you are wet the cold just seems to come. especially when you are on a bicycle trying to get home as fast as possible so your camera won't be flooded.

at first it promised to be a nice day with not too much in the way of weather. but then, right as i left the city proper, a lovely storm front blew in and swept across the valley. this one didn't get me, but i saw it coming and biked a little faster to get out of its way.


i think i missed it by just a few hundred meters


a nice, if barely visibile rainbow ensued, reminding me of my eminent visit to regenbogensburg which i am very excited about (elaine, hurry up and leave!!).


in my over confidence that the rain was over for the moment, i went ahead and did some hiking and discovered this very interesing teepee-like thing. inside were some candles and the remnants of what looks like a pagan ritual. i was acually a little scared when i came upon it because i thought it might actually be someone's home. it has kind of a my side of the mountain feel. it was quite deserted though, and i decided my adventures here were over (although if i had thought about getting down, i wouldn't have been so hasty).

coming down. the beautiful fields, the shining sun. the looming clouds...

during a 5 minute rain shower, i took refuge under a tree near some cows. they didn't really seem amused by my attempts to get their attention ("mooooo").

and then the real storm arrived. i think this is actually the only picture i have, because i very quickly put my camera away. the rain came in two waves and i tried at first to stop and let it pass by hiding under trees and awnings, but eventually i just gave up and tucked my camera in a plastic bag and biked for it. needless to say, i arrived at home very wet and cold and hungry and more than a little grumpy.

but i discovered some more raspberries and some plums! so alle's gut!

wetter

isn't it ironic that 'weather' in germany is 'das wetter'? i find this hilarious.

in case you were wondering. it's raining.


not actually from today, but definitely captures the look of the past few days.

sonntags

gar nichts ist sonntags geöffnet!! dummer deutschland.

und deshalb habe ich heute gar nichts getan. teppich saugen, (veil) essen gekocht (und gefrisst), dracula geliest, regen geschaut, usw. glaubt mir, es war sehr langweilig.

i really cannot express here how boring (langweilig) today actually has been. but rain (regen) and generally unfavorable weather (zerfürchtbares wetter!) has kept me inside for much of the day. i occupied myself for a while watching scrubs (done with season 6! where am i going to get 7?!) and then by reading (lesen) dracula (dracula)--which has, incidentally, become much better in the past few chapters; still horrifyingly 19th-century. and eating (essen). i've gone through 1/2 a head of red cabbage, 200 g or so of wild rice, some bread, most of my cheese purchases from the other day, yogurt (joghurt--initially translated to 'jog-hurt' by some germans--as if asking if had muscle pains), and other random bit and pieces.

ok, i'm being uninteresting. ending this.

meine schlechte nacht

sooo, schlechte nacht: currently sitting zu hause pondering how to get mein fahrrad back.


quite a little issue actually. i think it might involve a spät nacht heist (ooh, nice. loanword!) at the supermarkt.

so here's the löffel. i might have bought a really crappy 3€ lock at the supermarkt. i might have forced it ein bißchen this nachmittag and broken the key. it's ok though, because there was plenty of room for me to get the broken bit out and i had another schlüssel right upstairs. now i was about to go out and get some milch. it looked a bit rainy and it was already pretty spät and i considered just calling it quits and waiting until tomorrow to go get it. but no. i wanted cereal in the morning and for that i needed my milch. so i ran upstairs and got my other key, opened the lock with some difficulty and headed out to the store. i was only a little concerned about the lock because i thought to myself, i've been using that key for a month now, there's no way the other one, brand new, will break too! mmm. aber naturlich. so to the grocery, lock the fahrrad, kauf the milch, unlock the fahrrad.













it's funny too, i even thought to myself, 'that key broke for a reason! i should just wait to go get milch. this is god's way of telling me to wait it out. i don't need milch right now. jesus says so.' but then i convinced myself i was going crazy. god has better things to think about than me. i'm sure she doesn't care that much about milch either. i'm just insane.

perhaps.

the fahrrad is now sitting in the grocery parking lot. the remnants of the second key firmly ensconced in the sad, frozen lock. and i'm sitting here trying desperately to think of a way to get mein fahrrad back.




22:56 11 Juli 2008
i'm formulating a plan in stages.

1st stage: retrieve fahrrad from grocery store. fortunately, it was only locked through the wheel. thank goodness. i'd hate to have to lug the entire fahrrad stand home.

ahh, haven't really gedacht über teil 2 nach... going to head out to get mein fahrrad.


23:28 11 juli 2008
awesome. i am amazing. that went perfectly, despite the fact that the grocery is supposed to lock their parking lot at 23:00. someone left the gate open and i slipped in unseen. also, deutsche straßen im nacht are quite dunkel. it's a little scary actually. it might have just been that i was about to commit what would have been a crime--had the fahrrad not been mein. i was a little paranoid and went around the long weg on mein weg zurück so as to not meet any random college kinder hanging out neben meinem appartement.


at this point, i'm going to make a plug for mein leiblinger lowe: dict.leo.de. if ein paar wörter don't make sense, then he's your lowe. but i'm guessing context can be dein freund heir. that and cognates :D.


23:45 11 juli 2008
so now my fahrrad is in my room and i don't really know what to do with it. i have my knife... i could probably at least get through the plastic casing around the lock and then see how schwer the steel is.

00:20 12 juli 2008
i decided to wait until morning. sort of. or maybe i just didn't want to ruin my knife and so i worked on other things until i got tired. in any case. i shall be victorious!! but tomorrow.

10:52 12 juli 2008
now it's raining and i'm questioning whether i really want to go out today at all. i've decided i'll walk to town later and explore some more on foot for fun

15:46
update! i have successfully defeated das Biest! mein fahrrad is free and the offending schloss (incidentally, also means castle) has been not so kindly removed. i ended up going to karstadt and buying a kabelschneider and a new schloss. looks like this one is going to be better. it's a combination schloss for one, so i won't have to worry about a schlüssel. which is nice. i hate schlüsseln. it was ein bißchen teurer auch.


i'm going to see if i can go take back the kabelschneider. i don't need it any more and i didn't take it out of it's package. i might wait till monday though. i'm kind of exhausted and sick of worrying about this. although, in general it went pretty well. yay.