WoooooHOO! Got me a li'l bitta mon-ay! HOO-rah!
I checked my bank account today and had €600 in there. I was expecting more - something more like €1600 - but I'll take this little bit for now and wait a bit to see if the rest comes in within the next day or two. At least this allows me to catch up on my rent (from September, at any rate), pay my U.S. bills, and send some care packages. I am most definitely stoked!
Oh, and real quick -- I got this link from a friend of mine (thanks, Eric!) to what may be the bext German pop music I've heard since coming here: It's Peter Fox - "Alles Neu" (read the article and then check out the video at the bottom of the page). The song is heavy and catchy at the same time -- heavy because I don't know what else to call the awesome drum line and string combo and catchy because, well, it is.
Also, I had no school today. Well, I mean, the school had school today - there were students there. But my mentor and co-teacher for today was not. Hence, no work for me. I, however, woke up all early, got myself all dolled up, and walked to school without knowing this, so I was a little disappointed. I went into town anyway, went to the library, had lunch, and then hit the cafe. I'm thinking about going to the theater (the Theater Proper, not the movie theater) later this week. There's a funny musical-spoof playing called "The Phantom of the Oker" (the Oker is the river that runs through this area). It's about the rivalry between Braunschweig and Hannover and it looks like it'll be pretty funny. I'll let you guys know how it turns out, if I can manage to get tickets.
In the mean time, I'm going everywhere on foot. My bicycle -- my noble, noble steed -- is total kaputt. You see, I'm riding this bike on loan from a very nice colleague of mine. It's all I've got to ride, and it came to me as is. It's a men's mountain bike, though, which makes it not the most optimal of rides for a girl in the city. Also, the gears will slip now and then when I try to push the pedals too hard. So, say I'm riding up a hill and I try to put all my weight on one pedal, standing up and using the pedals kind of like a stair climbing machine. My noble steed decides that this is too much stress for one pedal to bear, the chain slips and my foot goes slamming down on the pedal -- crunch! -- as I go careening off into the bushes. Haha, bicycle, haha.
Okay, so it's more like a stubborn donkey than a noble steed, but it's my ride. It's got a bell that goes ching-ching! and a thing on the back for me to stick my tote bag in. I'm pretty happy with it. But I took it around town the other night and left it out by a club (my friends and I had all stayed out until late and taken a taxi home). I think to myself, "No problem. I'll just retrieve it in the morning..." (This is not a strange thing to do here). But when I come back the next morning, some drunken dork had let all the air out of my back tire and stolen the cap that keeps the air in. Faaaaaaantastic. So I drag my rattling bike back home. But later that day, when my roommate and I try to reinflate the tire, the inner tube keeps popping out to the side in one part and we can't make any progress with it. I'm like, "stupid noble steed ..." but my roommate says, "No worries - just take your bike on the bus to Radeklint. There's a good bike repair shop that I know there. I'll ride my bike and meet you there." Right on. Off we go.
... except that the only bus I could find to Radeklint went aaaaall the way around the city first. And this grumpy old bus driver-woman said I had to pay twice the usual fee to take the bike on the bus with me. And I didn't get to sit down. And, as I was in the bus buying my ticket, someone knocked over my bike and messed up the handle bars so that they don't point straight anymore. Ugh. Okay, fine. On the bus. So, I'm riding along .... and I'm riding along ... and the bus number for the bus that I'm on changes and now I'm on the 439 to some place called Donnaustraße ... and I keep riding because I haven't found the Radeklint stop yet ... and I'm in the country. Great. I get off the bus. I look around. There is NOTHING around me. I call my roommate and tell her where I am and she gives the pause like, "how on earth did you get there?" She tells me to just get back on the next bus coming the other way and to get off at Radeklint then. I say, "But I've only got €2 left" and she says, "Well, I'm sure if you explain to the bus driver that you're lost he or she will help you out."
... kay. So I'm sitting in the cold, in the country, at dusk, waiting for a bus that will not be arriving for another half hour. I am SO NOT having a good time. And when the bus pulls up, who's driving it? Grumpy old bus driver-woman! I think, oh this has to be good because she knows I was just on the bus and she'll understand that I'm lost. No. Not only is this woman not at all understanding of my situation, she tries to tell me that I'll have to pay double AGAIN for my bicycle, which was more money than I had on me. I end up pointing out that my bike pass is technically good for 150 minutes (as opposed to just one or two bus rides) and get away with only buying a new ticket for me. Still. I am not a happy camper at this point. And as I'm taking my second 45-minute bus ride of the day, my roommate calls to let me know that the bike place is now closed and we'll just have to go tomorrow or the next day. And then? Then the bus driver yells back to me that there is no Radeklint stop (something I had asked her about earlier, to no response); there are only three street stops that happen to be in the area known as Radeklint.
...
Why did no one tell me this? This would have made my life much easier, I think as I drag my bike - whose back tire now refuses to move at all, making a hideous squealy noise whenever I try to roll it - away from the main station. But no. Even the bus plan was ambiguous and unhelpful. It said "Radeklint" on it in such a way that made me think there was a Radeklint stop, I think. Then, as I am pulling my broken, squealing bike down the sidestreets towards my house, it starts to rain. Ah, my noble steed.
I checked my bank account today and had €600 in there. I was expecting more - something more like €1600 - but I'll take this little bit for now and wait a bit to see if the rest comes in within the next day or two. At least this allows me to catch up on my rent (from September, at any rate), pay my U.S. bills, and send some care packages. I am most definitely stoked!
Oh, and real quick -- I got this link from a friend of mine (thanks, Eric!) to what may be the bext German pop music I've heard since coming here: It's Peter Fox - "Alles Neu" (read the article and then check out the video at the bottom of the page). The song is heavy and catchy at the same time -- heavy because I don't know what else to call the awesome drum line and string combo and catchy because, well, it is.
Also, I had no school today. Well, I mean, the school had school today - there were students there. But my mentor and co-teacher for today was not. Hence, no work for me. I, however, woke up all early, got myself all dolled up, and walked to school without knowing this, so I was a little disappointed. I went into town anyway, went to the library, had lunch, and then hit the cafe. I'm thinking about going to the theater (the Theater Proper, not the movie theater) later this week. There's a funny musical-spoof playing called "The Phantom of the Oker" (the Oker is the river that runs through this area). It's about the rivalry between Braunschweig and Hannover and it looks like it'll be pretty funny. I'll let you guys know how it turns out, if I can manage to get tickets.
In the mean time, I'm going everywhere on foot. My bicycle -- my noble, noble steed -- is total kaputt. You see, I'm riding this bike on loan from a very nice colleague of mine. It's all I've got to ride, and it came to me as is. It's a men's mountain bike, though, which makes it not the most optimal of rides for a girl in the city. Also, the gears will slip now and then when I try to push the pedals too hard. So, say I'm riding up a hill and I try to put all my weight on one pedal, standing up and using the pedals kind of like a stair climbing machine. My noble steed decides that this is too much stress for one pedal to bear, the chain slips and my foot goes slamming down on the pedal -- crunch! -- as I go careening off into the bushes. Haha, bicycle, haha.
Okay, so it's more like a stubborn donkey than a noble steed, but it's my ride. It's got a bell that goes ching-ching! and a thing on the back for me to stick my tote bag in. I'm pretty happy with it. But I took it around town the other night and left it out by a club (my friends and I had all stayed out until late and taken a taxi home). I think to myself, "No problem. I'll just retrieve it in the morning..." (This is not a strange thing to do here). But when I come back the next morning, some drunken dork had let all the air out of my back tire and stolen the cap that keeps the air in. Faaaaaaantastic. So I drag my rattling bike back home. But later that day, when my roommate and I try to reinflate the tire, the inner tube keeps popping out to the side in one part and we can't make any progress with it. I'm like, "stupid noble steed ..." but my roommate says, "No worries - just take your bike on the bus to Radeklint. There's a good bike repair shop that I know there. I'll ride my bike and meet you there." Right on. Off we go.
... except that the only bus I could find to Radeklint went aaaaall the way around the city first. And this grumpy old bus driver-woman said I had to pay twice the usual fee to take the bike on the bus with me. And I didn't get to sit down. And, as I was in the bus buying my ticket, someone knocked over my bike and messed up the handle bars so that they don't point straight anymore. Ugh. Okay, fine. On the bus. So, I'm riding along .... and I'm riding along ... and the bus number for the bus that I'm on changes and now I'm on the 439 to some place called Donnaustraße ... and I keep riding because I haven't found the Radeklint stop yet ... and I'm in the country. Great. I get off the bus. I look around. There is NOTHING around me. I call my roommate and tell her where I am and she gives the pause like, "how on earth did you get there?" She tells me to just get back on the next bus coming the other way and to get off at Radeklint then. I say, "But I've only got €2 left" and she says, "Well, I'm sure if you explain to the bus driver that you're lost he or she will help you out."
... kay. So I'm sitting in the cold, in the country, at dusk, waiting for a bus that will not be arriving for another half hour. I am SO NOT having a good time. And when the bus pulls up, who's driving it? Grumpy old bus driver-woman! I think, oh this has to be good because she knows I was just on the bus and she'll understand that I'm lost. No. Not only is this woman not at all understanding of my situation, she tries to tell me that I'll have to pay double AGAIN for my bicycle, which was more money than I had on me. I end up pointing out that my bike pass is technically good for 150 minutes (as opposed to just one or two bus rides) and get away with only buying a new ticket for me. Still. I am not a happy camper at this point. And as I'm taking my second 45-minute bus ride of the day, my roommate calls to let me know that the bike place is now closed and we'll just have to go tomorrow or the next day. And then? Then the bus driver yells back to me that there is no Radeklint stop (something I had asked her about earlier, to no response); there are only three street stops that happen to be in the area known as Radeklint.
...
Why did no one tell me this? This would have made my life much easier, I think as I drag my bike - whose back tire now refuses to move at all, making a hideous squealy noise whenever I try to roll it - away from the main station. But no. Even the bus plan was ambiguous and unhelpful. It said "Radeklint" on it in such a way that made me think there was a Radeklint stop, I think. Then, as I am pulling my broken, squealing bike down the sidestreets towards my house, it starts to rain. Ah, my noble steed.
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1 comments:
LOL ... that is to funny!!
Thinking of you and miss you!
Ma
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