Easter Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

What a fantastic weekend this turned out to be! It got off to an early start because I skipped my class on Thursday (oops!) and my roommate Elli and I had people over Thursday night, then went out to the club around the corner, Ilses Erika. I ended up dancing all night (LITERALLY) and finally leaving with lovely Miriam and Sophie- around 7 am. This ended up being only slightly disastrous, as for one thing there was a surprise Melinda sleeping in my bed (always slightly unsettling to walk in to see a person in your bed who you weren't expecting to be there!) and for another, my Magdeburger schwesterlein Annika called me around 11:00 to say she was heading over as planned to spend the weekend with me.

Somehow I mustered up the energy to head to Clara Zetkin Park after those precious few hours of sleep  for a day of "slack-lining" (which is basically tightrope walking) with Melinda and Anni. It's so incredibly fun and addictive! Not to mention a pretty amazing core and leg workout. 

We repeated more of the same at Clara Zetkin Park on Saturday, but mixed in a lot more chilling and a little out-door rave action, where we ran into loads of great ERASMUS kids and hung out making daisy
chains and dancing.

 






Saturday night saw Anni and I preparing an Easter feast for the next day (thank-you-Martha-Stewart!) which ended up being a very smart move, because it left us free to enjoy the gorgeous weather on Sunday and go slack-lining again! This time in my own backyard.



Later on in the day Melinda and Rosie came over to enjoy a lovely dinner with us, take a little walk, imbibe loads of wine & Sekt & cake and watch ridiculous videos on youtube.






Today is Easter Monday, which means yet another day off, which I celebrated by listening to David Sedaris on audiobook, making mimosas with the leftover Sekt, cleaning my apartment and having a lovely surprise visit from yet another gorgeous red-head friend, Henriette. Tomorrow is yet another free day, as the school where I teach and observe on Tuesday's is still on Easter holidays. Hopefully my roommates will be home soon, they're both in their hometowns with family but I miss them loads!

Happy Hearts Day

Yesterday was Valentines Day, and what a great day it was! As per usual, the minute my eyes opened I started checking my various social networking sites, and it turned out I got lots of lovely internet Valentines, so my mood was bright from the time I woke up. Next was lunch with Elli (breakfast for me... I wake up late,) which is always a nice way to spend some time. I decided after lunch that I wanted to walk around the city center for a bit, and I thought there was a market in the square so I walked over. There was no market. Barring that, I then decided I would visit the DDR history museum. Then realized, it was Monday. Closed.

I headed home to Stötteritz, picked up some fruit and veg from Rewe, checked Facebook (shocking I know!) and was reminded that Maps and Atlases were playing at UT Connewitz. The realization hit me that I could NOT afford to pay 13€ for a show (or any amount, for that matter) and so I woefully tweeted my sadness at having to miss the show. To my surprise, I got a tweet back from @mapsnatlases saying they'd put me on the guest list! How baller! And so my love for twitter grows.

I hadn't even heard those guys before yesterday but I listened extensively on grooveshark.com before the show, and I was really stoked about their sound. Those guys have made a loyal fan of me, that's for sure.




I brought my deutschebestie Elli along to the show with me, which was incredible. The band was totally awesome. They played their hearts out and were super-duper sweet and thankful throughout. Near the end of the set, the whole band climbed into the audience, ending with a little solo song by the singer, Dave.

 


I got a chance to talk with Dave after the show, and as soon as I mentioned I was from Buffalo he started chatting to me about Amy's Place. For those unfamiliar with Amy's Place, it's a vegan/vegetarian INSTITUTION in Buffalo, and a mecca for Sunday (or Saturday) brunch.

Dave then directed me over to Shiraz when I told him I'd been the one to be twitter-invited, and I thanked Shiraz for noticing my tweet and so kindly putting me on the list. The guys were all incredibly lovely to talk to, and I even geeked out and asked for a photo with the band (well, half of the band, anyway.)

Stoked much? Erin, me and Dave. Epic BEARDS.

Lots of other awesome things happened yesterday, too, including news of a new Radiohead release. An excellent day for music to be sure! 

As for keeping you updated on my life, I'm still (impatiently) waiting to move into Erin's old room in Connewitz and live with Elli and Nora, and also (impatiently) waiting for the trip to England to commence on February 28.


I'm starting to get a bit nervous again about going through immigrations as I still haven't gotten a visa. Actually there's no way I'm going to get a visa, but I think I can get a temporary for 20€ which will at least save me some hassle at the borders. Although I haven't had any hassle at the borders yet to speak of, and that is a good thing for sure. 


The other important news is that I'm "interviewing" for a babysitting job on Thursday. I really, really, really need this, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works out. 

Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone had as happy a Valentines Day as I did! 

Today in Leipzig.

Yet another sunny, 40º+ February day in Leipzig. Elli and I must have walked around for about five hours, from Connewitz almost to Plagwitz, to the Zentrum and back to Connewitz. We even ascended to the 30th floor of MDR building. Here's a little of what we saw today.

Oh hey.

German playgrounds blow American ones out of the water, every time.

Raveland? Yeah I lived there for about six months during my junior year of high school.

From 30 stories up...

Turkey times two...

Lucky me, I'm not even in the United States and I got to celebrate two Thanksgiving Days!

Erin's spread...

Thanksgiving round one was held at Erin's apartment. She really went all out, kudos to her! I believe her quote when I remarked on how it would be a very traditional Thanksgiving was "Go big or go home!" I love that girl.

There must have been about 15 of us crammed into her hallway, and there was delicious food and lots (and lots, and lots) of wine to share. We even streamed the Macy's parade, which, because of the time difference, was on while we prepared dinner.

OH YEAAAAAAH

The food was amazing; Jose lovingly prepared the turkey, Kyle made delicious stuffing, Tracy supplied the pumpkin pie... it really was as if we weren't 5,000 miles from home. I think all of us Americans felt really comforted by acting out the tradition, and the Germans and Brits who attended got to experience a real American Thanksgiving; alcohol-fueled disfunction included.

Later that night Elli and I went to Ilses Erika, an indie dance club in Connewitz, and spent half the time outside playing in the freshly falling snow. It reminded me a lot of a night I spent in Toronto many moons ago with my friend Gretchen.

I hosted Thanksgiving round two for my German "sister" Annika on Saturday, and invited some friends from school as well. I spent all day cooking and listening to Christmas music. I was in my element, and it felt absolutely divine. I made everything from scratch, even the pie dough and the vegetable stock for the turkey. It was a well-recieved effort, too.

festive, right?

yum.

your humble narrator, and a crispy brown bird.

I think the girls all really enjoyed the food, and the Americans among us had a good time stumbling over our German. We even played a drinking game, "Never have I ever..." auf Deutsch. 


After the guests left, Annika and I watched Friendship as we cleared up the kitchen. It was such an adorable movie, a new favorite of mine, auf jeden Fall. In it, two young guys from East Germany travel to the US immediately after the fall of the Berlin wall, and heartwarming high jinx ensue. Annika also showed me another really cool movie this weekend called Berlin Calling. That one was about an electronic artist struggling with drug addiction, which sounds really heavy but there were some pretty funny moments as well.


I spent most of today tidying up around the flat after sending Annika off to Madgeburg on the train. I'm almost completely caught up on Mad Men, which feels like an accomplishment. I should really be doing homework though. Time to say Auf Wiedersehen! for now.