A Scotland teaser!

Here are just a few shots! The one of me is on a train in Germany, actually, not Scotland - but you'll see a bit more of that train trip in a video soon. The other pictures are 1) Claudia exhibiting her talent as an up-and-coming-photographer and catching the Edinburgh skyline, 2) a lovely and picturesque cemetery that we visited the first day (and found an exciting grave - more on that later!), 3) The entrance to that cemetery, and 4) A statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the dog who is said to have sat on his master's grave in the Greyfriars cemetery until the dog himself died. (We actually learned the story was not true - sorry to disappoint anyone! -- the dog statue still seemed quite charming to me.)

Alright - that's the first small sample of pictures. Now it's really bedtime!

Return from Scotland!

Hello!

Oh, it's been ages. I'm writing to you now while printing out all the materials I will need for my first meeting with the Middlebury folks tomorrow (exciting!) and I am happy to say that today is the first day we've needed to turn on the heat in our flat, and it WORKS! The radiators are radiating heat... how lovely!

We got back this evening from our trip to Scotland, and it was honestly fantastic. Yes, I tried black pudding (curious what that is? Look it up! :D), though I did not get around to eating haggis, and I walked down the streets of Edinburgh and learned what wind really was.

I saw a castle and climbed an almost mountain and walked down cobblestone streets where you could almost swear you heard bagpipes playing, and then you realize that you ARE hearing bagpipes since every tourist-dedicated shop that sells tartan has the bagpipes blaring from their speakers. But it still added to the ambiance. I had fish and chips in a pub where I could barely understand the bartender when he asked me if I wanted ice in my Pepsi, and spent several minutes throughout the week thinking I was hearing a foreign language and then realizing it was just English! I fumbled with the many pence coins at registers and found the prices in cafés totally reasonable until I remembered it was pounds, not dollars. And I sat in a pub and had a pint with Erin and Claudia late one night and thought I didn't want to be anywhere else.

Sorry for the rambling. It was just a damn fantastic trip.

There are pictures that I am very excited about, and clips to be put together into a video that I am even MORE excited about, and you will be seeing those soon!

I'm off to prepare the last things for tomorrow and get some sleep. Look forward to hearing from any of you readers soon!

Showcasing our new couch, washing machine, dresser...

New Pictures!

Hey!

Above you'll see a few pictures that I took while out walking with Claudia yesterday around Mainz. A video of that walk will be coming soon! That first picture is just of our screwdriver which took a bit of shavings from one of the IKEA screws with it, and I thought it looked awesome!

Video's up!

Go check it out, folks!

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThaiAmL?feature=mhsn

Care Package!

Video Soon - I promise!

Hey! So, I just wanted to share a few things this morning.

1) Yesterday, we managed to get our washing machine -- yahoo! So, we got the washing machine from a nice American girl who lives on the second floor of this building, and she had her boyfriend (German) and another friend (English) helping her move, and Claudia and I were there, so ----> Basically, we had the perfect setup for a joke. Two Germans, two Americans, and an Englishman are moving a washing machine up four flights of stairs....

It went swimmingly, though. The English guy was fantastic at maintaining morale, Claudia had good ideas about how to go about the tricky corners, and the other German guy and I just held on for dear life and tried not to let anybody drop the damn thing. Fun!

2) I got almost the entire IKEA wardrobe set up by myself! Now all that's left is to attach the doors, and it's already up against the wall, on the most even bit of floor I could find in our bedroom. Also, after a lovely breakfast (Courtesy of one fantastic Josi Laqua!! -- see picture! :D ) , we got our final shipment of IKEA stuff -- OUR COUCH! Hooray!

3) I made tacos last night, including guacamole and it was delicious!

4) A lovely guy from the nearby appliance store is coming over in an hour or two to help us connect the washing machine, so we won't flood the kitchen when we use it. Yes, the washing machine is in the kitchen. Yes, along with the oven. And the fridge. And the shower. :P Luckily, we got a new breaker and have a bit more power running to our appliances now, so we hopefully won't blow a fuse if we try to wash clothes and shower in the same day.

5) I really am trying to get that video finished! I will try try TRY to get it done today. I hope you like it!

6) My new favorite song is 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica. I'm putting a link in the playlist box. Go listen to it, people!

And see the next post for a picture of the lovely LOVELY care package that Ms. Laqua sent us! Danke, Josi!!!!!