Janingalina

I.... haven't been posting regularly. I've been to cool places, done cool things, but just don't feel like writing great reports about them. partly i'm lazy about uploading pictures, partly it's snowballed and it'd take me too long to catch up. so here's the summary, and then let's move forward.

1. I went to Oktoberfest with the American interns who were here for the summer months. it was sort of a last hurray before they left, and we had a blast. Ok, there were some almost fights and some slapping, but still, public urination included, it was a heck of an experience.

2. Said interns and I took the night train to Venice. We looked for hotels in Munich, but they were way too expensive, so we took the sleeper to Venice and spent Sunday and Monday in town there (riding gondolas, eating delicious things, drinking cocktails and listening to classical music in St. Mark's square). It was brilliant. Then Monday night we caught the sleeper back to Munich, and the Intercity Express back to Bamberg, i caught a taxi home showered and was at work by 10am. not bad considering i went to sleep in another country the night before.

3. I was really sick. It started out as a cold. Then I went with Mark, and Stephan and Partícia to watch a soccer game, and on Monday it moved into my lungs. The doctor wrote me a note to be out of work for the week.

4. After a few days lying in and recuperating I figured I was strong enough to head to the DMV and get my germ driver's license. What a catastrophe. I should really know by now that I can only deal with German bureaucracy when I'm personally full strength.

if i were staying for just 1 year, my Michigan Driver's License would be valid for a year. But because I'm staying for longer my MI DL is only valid for 6 mos, so i've been driving illegally since July. they needed to take the MIDL from me to check authenticity, so then i had NO driver's license. the nice lady at the office told me she couldn't possibly give me a temporary license, and that the new germlicense would take 3-4 weeks to arrive, so she welcomed me to ride my bike or use the bus system. i love the helpful civil servants here. LOVE THEM!!

So after a few visits to this office, and the police, and more visits to the DMV office, it took only a week and I was once again a legal driver. I didn't really miss it too much because in the middle of my license-less time:

3. Rome! Hannes and I spent 4 days in old Roma. It was really fascinating. That is a city that's going ON, and has been for thousands of years. I was most impressed at the Etruscan museum, examining grave goods from 700bc. That was cool. Then we rented a tandem bike that was a deathtrap, ate more good stuff, visited the Colosseum and rode the touristy double decker bus around while some unions or somebody demonstrated near the train station.

4. Then I got home again, on the 29th, worked the 30th, did a cool city-tour of Bamberg ending at a great restaurant, worked on the 31st and threw a Hallowe'en party! It was small, but I think everyone had a good time. Mark, Flo, Hannes and Alex came by. Mark brought a pumpkin carved by the lovely Katja, and Alex brought chili. I supplied the candy and zombie movie - Shaun of the dead.

5. I had November 1 off to celebrate All Saints' day. Woo, a nice way to sleep off the Hallowe'en hangover.

6. I've gotten hooked on Podcasts. I love that they're like little radio shows in my native language. In fact, I can hear some of the NPR shows I liked in MI right here over my computer. Ooh the magic of the Internets. so I'm listening to a bunch of back issues of Cast On, This American Life, checking out Lonely Planet podcasts for places i've been or want to go, and have been checkin out some Buddhist podcasts to see if I like any of them.

Now, dear readers, I think we're caught up. That is the news with me. Well, that, and I fly home soon. I'm practically coming out of my skin about that. It'll be my first trip back to the States since I moved here last December. woo!