just bode life.

well the other day was the best day of my life. lets see...woke up late, went to brunch, it was teh first day i wasn't sick anymore, so i pigged out. then we went to the flea market where i found a nasty old sweater and a matching zip up vest. they are amazing and go right well with my newly discovered old man fashion. i also got a sweet dress vest for one euro and it fits perfectly. oh, and i forgot to mention, we did not hae to pay for bus or train fare to get to the flea market because my RA took a group of us in the school's bus/van. so anyway...after this we headed to the bodenseecenter (a big mall) for the best part of anything ever! we went to the grocery store and bought cheap snacks, cleverly hiding them in our overcoats as we entered the  theater for...HARRY POTTER SEVEN! oh...it was amazing. over half the school was in the theater. we were totally astounded at every point of the film. when the movie was over we stood in awe and none of us were quiet for forever as we discussed the movie and all its glory. then we were hungry so we all went to burger king for some much needed american fat food. the group i went with could not have been better. we hadso much fun. but if i told you what was so fun about it, you wouldnt understand because you dont know thema and you weren't there. just take my word for it. so as we clambored back to the bode, we ended the evening playing craphead and banimal. our collective favorite card games. (for those of you who know the game cats and dogs, we renamed it banimal here. there is a story that would not be funny to you as to why this happened)

okay...so taht was the best day of my life....what happened next?......hmm. darn. i had something to tell....ahh yes. as if my weekend was not already glorious enough, we had thanksgiving dinner early to accomidate german, canadian and american thanksgiving times. oh good gracious it was delicious. the stuffing was better than any i have ever had in my lfe. delicious delicious. this week mostly has been working on my bible study project. it iis a 4000 wor d mininmum  essay on a chapter of the bible. we had 50 to pick from and i chose Jonah 2. i finally got it done yesterday. now i have a proverbs essay and an essay on joshua-chronichles. should be...fun. i have to finish them soon though so i better get on those. christmas break starts the 18th...the night of hte 18th i will arrive in dublin for the first leg of our christmas travels. second leg will be paris on <christmas day. we booked a sweet hotel right outside notre dame cathedral. then the longest and final leg will be rome over new years. jealous? so am i! woohoo! post more later when i have time...

travel weekend woes and wonders

so i just returned from travel weekend. it was pretty cool. i was the co-head-chef alongside Robin Griffith. cooking for fifty people meant we had little free time so i got to see very little of the Austrian Alps. this was a shame but fortunately we were able to sleep in most of the time and watch plenty of movies and tv shows. we played games endlessly as well which was nice. i learned the best card game ever called craphead which was invented by a guy from the bode. cooking was however the majority of our time. we hit the kitchens ever night at three oclock and had supper on the table at six thirty. after a very quick supper, robin and i dashed back into the kitchen to make sure the cleanup wass not too disastrous and also to prepare 2 vats of hot chocolate and cookie plates for dessert at eight thirty. movies, jam sessions and card games typically lasted until about 230 when we hit the bed and woke up at about nine thirty. then we ate and played games all day until i had to cook again. it was good. i knew i couldnt go on any of the hikes due to my cooking schedule so i set off alone for a brief trip up the mountain. as i stepped up on a log in the path, my foothold slipped and i crashed my full weight on my shin which throbs now any time i move it or sit still. Zara, my frined from india helped in the kitchen most nights and has successfully taught me swearing in eight languages. it made cooking more fun when grease splashed me and i could scream JE-DAH! which is Bhutanese for crazy donkey. well, the hut drew to a close and robin and i had recieved our ride to the hut from Sten, a Norwegian guy at school. most other people had to take a train but sten was kind enough to give us a ride in his car. this was nice on the way ther becaus e we left last and got there first. however, he wished to go on a hike so robin and i had to wait in the nearby town while he hiked. being sunday, everything was closed. so we watched the office on my laptop unitl it died. then we waited for  2 1/2 hours. we became so bored that we literally calculated teh percentages of which cars were most common on austrian roads. the most common was by far volkswagen. if you were wondering.
upon our return, we heard stories of other people's travel weekends. a large group of girls randomly chose a paris hostel not really knowing it was in the absolute worst part of paris. one group heard someone knocking on the door and when the girl answered the door a very large black man started to force his way in. the girl threw her full ( and not very large) body weight into the door and locked him out. it was  a literal miracle. he then proceeded to do what he could to break in the door which he failed to do. two other girls were walking to their room and a man was following them. they walked faster and so did he. they ran and so did he. again, by a miracle, they managed to get in before he did. the same girl also lost her passport in a cab and miraculously had it returned to her. all i could say was wow. another group went to paris, stayed in a hotel and had an amazing and safe time. so....that is it.

well, now i need to leave. that was travel weekend though.

so long ago.

i have no idea how long it has been but it feels like two seconds ago since i last blogged. i just got back from english camp. it was amazing! we had so much fun...the kids were great. coming back to the bode though....i have literally never in my life been so excited. i was extatic and proceeded to very loudly hug anyone and anything in sight. it felt like i was coming home to old family and friends.

well if there is one thing german kids do know, it is english swear words. they learn english from the great american films such as american pie and proceed to use these words frequently. the sweetest little kid would mess sonething up and say oh $#!7. it was terribly comical. being one of five guys left to look after nearly fifty boys, i had my work cut out for me. every night we were told t crack bones to get the kids in bed. this proved to be an enormously satisfiyng power rush. bellowing at a cowering rule breaker as they quell before your might leaves one feeling quite authoritative. however, the smell of prepubescent boy was so powerful on the hall we had to breathe through our mouths as we waked down the hall. and unfortunately the germans do not stress deoderant but rather stress axe body spray which does nothing but choke all living things in a one meter radius.

the girls stayed in the conference center part and had down comforters and soft beds and walk in closets. since there were so few guys, we stayed on the top floor in a room where the roof slanted to about four feet. we slept on bunk beds made for kittens andi crakced my head on the nightstand every time i rolled over.  but the overall experience was great. we taught all the boys to say git´r done and shake n bake. they taught us swears.

never in my life have i made such a fool of my self deliberately so many times in a row. i invented a dance called the spaztik ragdoll which they got a video of.  i kind of miss the kids but being here is too amazing.

travel weekend is thursday and me and Robin are in charge of cooking for the hut so i have a busy week preparing that. so much more to report but frankly i am exhausted and want to go hug more people so goodbye.