It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding

The story so far: Our hero [that's me folks] has embarked on a 7-week trip to Germany in the summer of aught-seven to spend with his girlfriend of [now} 2-years, the OFOMOL. They have spent time in crappy Pforzheim and visited Strasbourg, France. They are back in Dresden.

We were invited to a wedding of a friend of the OFOMOL in Berlin. They were in the same undergraduate program and she was getting married to an American with the same name as me! Pretty crazy! So we took the train (have I mentioned how much I love travelling by train?) to Berlin. We had already done the tourist trip there last summer so we didn't need to see all the sights. While on the train, slightly before we arrived in Berlin, the OFOMOL asked if I needed to use the bathroom. The rational of this is that when we got to Berlin the bathrooms in the main station would charge to use the bathrooms. It has been documented here before how much I HATE this concept of paying for the bathroom. It ain't right! I didn't need to use the bathroom (at the time) and sat contently as we rolled into Berlin.

We arrive and we stop at the OFOMOL's favorite coffee shop, Starbucks. I am working (slowly but surely) on learning more German and I felt comfortable enough to order our drinks in German. I do this and feel proud of myself and then the barista says "seven eruos please." D'oh! I work hard to talk in German and she speaks English back to me! Not only that she asked for my name twice (for our order) and when it arrived they called out "Paul" (which certainly isn't my name). They were supposed to be two medium (no Starbucks sizes for me) vanilla lattes but I know my tasted like it was sans-vanilla. Oh well, we took the cups for Paul and were on our way.

Then (maybe it was the coffee, it is a diuretic) I realize that nature is calling and I will need to use said bathrooms in the main station. I mention this to my beautiful girlfriend and she says "oh no, I told you to go on the train!" and rightfully so, she raises her voice and tells me I am a little kid. Probably because she told me to go and I didn't and she knows how much I hate paying for the bathroom. OK Ok, she gets over it but tells me I have to pay for the bathroom. I get my money out and realize I don't have enough money and must borrow some from her to use the bathroom. Oh the irony!

So we make our way to one of the suburbs outside of Berlin to attend the Poltabend. I would say this is a bit analogous to the rehearsal dinner for American weddings, but it was so much more. Since the groom is American his family and some of his friends came over. After a couple of weeks in Germany it was nice to converse with Americans. The food was great! Fresh grilled wurst, steaks, all sorts of salads, and of course plenty of German beer! But that wasn't all! After dinner we gathered around near the door to the house. Everyone was supposed to bring some sort of ceramic plate/dishware. All the guests then throw the plates/etc on the ground near the door. The belief is that the noise of the glass breaking will scare away the ghosts (polt, ie poltergeist) the night (abend) before the wedding. The OFOMOL's mother gave us a stack of plates to take -- I thought it was excessive, that was until I broke a plate! It was pretty cool. I mean, really, how often do you get to break plates on purpose? Everyone had fun doing it. That is not all though as before the bride and groom get married, the have to clean up the glass into some container. Anyone, however, can go and dump the shards(sp?) of glass out at anytime. So as the bride and groom were shovelling the glass into a wheelbarrow a couple of times someone would go and flip it over and they had to start over again. There are stories of people dumping it out in the middle of the night and on the steps of the church so they have to clean it up before the ceremony! It was a really good time and it is something that can definitely be incorporated into an American Wedding.

The wedding itself was heald in a little vacation area. There was a lake, horseback riding and the place we were staying had unfinished wood. Gives it that cabin/rustic feel to it. The big difference between American and German weddings is that they have to be conducted by an offical person who does weddings. Church weddings are not recognized legally in Germany. While the ceremony was nice (it was outside), it had a bit of a regimented feel to it. The rest of the stuff was like any other wedding I've been to. Well there was a lot of crappy Euro/German-pop music -- even the natives complained about the song selection.

One aspect that is unique to German Weddings is the kidnapping of the bride. Since we were on a lake, a group of people took the bride out on a boat in the middle of the lake. The DJ started playing the music from Pirates of the Caribbean and the groom was like "hey! What's going on?" He promptly grabbed his best man (yet another American married to a German) and they rowed out to save his bride. Upon rescuing her and returning to shore he said "I saved the flag" as they had an American flag and then stated "and I found this girl." Hehe.

I know I've written a lot for tonight, but it was a fun time. As I mentioned before, I like experiencing these different cultural things. Since dating her, I've come to appreciate the differences we all have.

Far Away From West Virginia

I am back in the states. I've been back for about two weeks but I've just found time to put up a new post. Hopefully all my readers are not totally kaput. I had a great summer spending 7 weeks in Germany/Europe. I can tell you that it was an amazing time. It isn't always easy being in an intercontinental long-distance relationship but we know that when we are together, we have a wonderful time and life is pretty much perfect. I can say without reservations that it was the best 7 weeks and the best summer I have ever had. We made lots of memories we will take with us for the rest of our lives. We did so much to include in one post, so I'll take the next couple of days to describe some of the experiences we had.

We spent the first 10 days or so in Pforzheim where she is in school. The OFOMOL doesn't think too highly of this city, but considering where I live, I had no problem with it. I flew into Frankfurt and had to take the train there. She met me in Karlsruhe and I had no idea where to find her. I got off the train and saw, out of the corner of my eye, someone running directly to me. What a great reunion it was.

I had a chance to meet most of her classmates. She is in an international business program so there are students from all over -- Germany (of course), Romania, USA, Belarus, Sudan, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Columbia, Turkey, and Lithuania. I think I got most of the countries. They are a nice group of people and I do appreciate being exposed to other cultures.

The first friday there I did do a 10K Race, the Citylauf Pforzheim. It has been quite awhile since I have run competitively and I thought I would be able to handle it but it kicked my ass. It was a 2K loop that we ran five times. I got passed by the top-guys during my 2nd loop (ie they were on their 3rd) and on my 3rd loop my legs were really starting to feel it. It became a battle of wanting to finish and keep my legs moving rather then try to do well. I finished with a stellar time of 52 minutes. Back in the day (18 months ago) I ran sub-36. But it was nice to get back into the running thing and I was treated to a very-tasty doner afterwards.

We also took a trip to the Daimler Benz Museum. That was pretty cool and I had a good time there. It is one of those interactive museums where you could spend hours in. There was a lot of history to the company. Some of the highlights include a Mercedes garbage truck in which I got to sit in and the Popemobile. As the Daimler Museum is in Stuttgart which is special in the fact that it has one of the American food places that the OFOMOL loves; that's right, Starbucks. Upon her insistence we stopped there for a coffee.

As Pforzheim is close to France, we did take a day trip to Strssbourg. The details of that trip will be addressed in the next post.

He's Going The Distance

Well on tomorrow I deapart on my latest journey to Germany. I head to DC tomorrow where I'll stay the night with a friend and hopefully catch the Indians/Nationals game. Then monday I fly from DC to Charlotte and then I'll enjoy an 8-hour trip over the Atlantic to Frankfurt. After Frankfurt it is a 1.5 hour train ride to the OFOMOL. It is a lot of travelling but it is worth it. I'll be spending 7 weeks over there. We're both glad I have a job in which I can take the time to go see her.

We've been doing this long-distance thing for a year now. Long distance in the fact that it is an inter-continental relationship that involves a 6-hour time difference and trying to coordinate & afford various visits here and there. I get a certain reaction when I tell people that my girlfriend is German and she lives there. Even though they don't say it I know they are thinking "Are you serious? That will never last." And so on.

Well it isn't always easy. I think we would both agree to that. It takes a lot of hard work and prioritizing from both ends. Solving problems when you're thousands of miles away and only have the internet to communicate can be challenging at times. The thing is, however, we are both committed to making this relationship work. We have both learned and have grown during this year apart. A year ago at this time neither of us knew how we would deal with the distance and being apart. We've made it this far and I know we are both very happy that we have made it work and we are still together. We also realize that when we are together (as in being in the same physical place) we have a wonderful time together.

We've got at least (hopefully that is it) another year apart. Looking that far ahead and one can get lost. Taking it step-by-step has helped us stay close and committed to our relationship. The next 7 weeks will only help to strengthen our relationship as we head into our next year. We love each other and we want a future together. She's a very special woman and I'm continually finding new things about her to love. She is mein liebster schatz.

I'll try to update this every week or so to keep my faithful readers up to date on my travels in Europe.

It Doesn't Matter Much to Me

Well this weekend was THE event. The one weekend of the year that the whole town drops what it is doing, joins in the festivities, and celebrates. That's right folks, it was the 66th Annual West Virginia Strawberry Festival.

This was my first Strawberry fest so I was intrigued. Everyone was telling me how great the festival was kept asking "are you going to the Strawberry Fest?" The hype factor was definitely high. With expectations that high, I was just hoping it would deliver.

Events were going on the whole week, I decided to check things out on Saturday as there was the "Grand Feature Parade." Saturday morning was a warning as to what I was about to get myself into as I was running errands and a typical 5-7 drive to Wal*Mart took a good 20+ minutes. There were cars everywhere and along Main Street [note: you know you live in a small down when the main street is called Main Street] at 10:30 am people had their chairs staked out to watch the parades. I finished my chores and headed out for a 20-min walk to "downtown."

As with all small-town festivals, there was a carnival and food vendors. I have no interest in carnies and getting ripped off so I skipped that. As it was lunch hour I did get a doner kebab to eat. Now these are all over Germany (due to a large Turkish immigrant population) and the OFOMOL has all but forbade me to have one, so here was my chance. The guy at the booth commented "ehh, you've been to europe?" I guess I ordered with a German accent...and we made small talk about all the doner places there. So I have five one-dollar bills in my hand and he says "that'll be $7." What? I'm already holding the doner in my hand and now I have to get more money? And $7 for this thing? I guess that's why there were no prices listed, if we knew how much they were charging we wouldn't buy them!

So I ate my doner while checking out the "Classic Car Parade." Now I'm no grease monkey but to me it seemed like they had quite a liberal definition of "Classic." to me, "Classic Car" implies lots of cars from the 30s-60s in good condition. Well there were some of those...but there were also plenty of cars in not good condition, plenty of cars from recent history, and plenty of custom jobbed modern cars. I mean when you see a mid-90s Mitsubishi Eclipse, you begin to question the cars. There were also plenty of trucks that had 3-4' of ground clearance including one that said "size matters" on the back. Ho hum! There's a saying that guys that put a lot into their cars have to make up for other inadequcies...I'm just saying. There was a couple behind me, who, upon seeing one of said trucks said, "it's great that you [the drivers] spend $3 to pull your car out of your driveway." Oh snap! No she didn't?!

I walked around more before the Grand Feature Parade started. A few observations:
Plenty of Confederate Flag, Git R Done, and NASCAR paraphanalia abound
All the people sitting in chairs for the parades would probably benefit from the extra metabolism it takes to stand.

So I stake my place on the sidewalk to watch the parade and soon see my friend Jason and his lady friend. They ask me if I am ready for a 3-hour parade. I do a double take and I'm like "what? you're kidding!" But no, they are not. This parade is really 3 hours long. Boy I wish they served alcohol here. Since none of us are native to the state we precede to rip on all the people in the parade and the whole festival itself. At one point there is a cowboy group (really, they were from Texas) on horses. Shortly behind them was a wagon with a guy who's job it was to SCOOP UP THE SHIT FROM THE HORSES!!! I kid you not. Now I don't know how he got assigned that job, but he must've done something really bad to draw that straw.

During the parade the conversation of Strawberries inevitably came up. One would think that they would sell Strawberries at the Strawberry Festival, but no, the only Strawberries to be found were in Strawberry Shortcake being sold. That was it. I thought that maybe Strawberries are a popular thing to farm in these parts, but I guess not. They just needed something to celebrate in this town.

The other amazing thing was the number of people in town! I don't know where everyone came from (out of the hills) but the place was crowded with overweight people wearing confederate flags who came to waste money on carnival games & overpriced food while watching a 3-hour long parade of people scooping up shit.

Cooking MCs Like a Pound of Bacon

Oh yes, nothing like a little Vanilla Ice for this friday evening. A couple of random thoughts for the evening.

Lost
I've all but given up on this show. I was hooked in season 1. Last year I began to get a little frustrated in that the show was not giving us any answers, just opening more doors. I would say the first half of the 3rd season was less then par. I've really only been watching becaue I feel like I've invested a lot in this show, I'm going to hang on until the end, no matter how bad it gets. But then they gave us this gem of an episode on Wednesday and renewed my faith in the show. I really like the characters of The Others, particularly Ben and Juliet. They're both psychological mysteries and know how to manipulate people to gain what they want. Secondly, as fans of the show, we've been very sympathetic to the Losties. The Others have their own agenda and claim to be the good guys themselves. I think both Elizabeth Mitchell and Michael Emerson deserve Emmys for their portrayals of these characters. Hopefully this episode keeps the momentum going through the last part of the season.

Mmmmm...Bacon Popcorn

I was at the store tonight and the guy in front of me had three items: Old Spice Deodorant, a Lint Roller, and *drumroll please* a box of Tampax. Oh yes, he took the one step men in committed relationships have the hardest time with. Once you are able to do this, you've reached a new phase in your relationship. For the record, I have yet to purchase said items on my own, but I would not have a problem buying them for the OFOMOL.

R.I.P Kurt Vonnegut
I read Slaughterhouse Five back at the end of high school. I should probably re-read it as 10-years later I probably understand it a little better. It did bring into my psyche the Bombing of Dresden. Little did I know at the time that Dresden would now be an important part of my life and I've had the opportunity to visit it twice in the past year. Aside from 9/11, which is still minor in comparison, us as American's have little perspective on the destructions of war. Being in a city that was destroyed is very humbling. Even 60 years later, there are buildings that are still damaged. It is, however, a very beautiful city and if you have a chance to visit, I encourage you to.

Last note: I am soliciting requests to do a guest post. If you are interested send me an email: metaoflife at gmail dot com

The Drop Dead Dream, The Chosen One

I've been listening to this song a lot recently. I've had Sam's Town for awhile and I can tell you that I've enjoyed it. For whatever reason though (well, I saw the video) the song stuck with me.

A couple of new links I've added. Confessions of a Fanboy is a music blog I found earlier today. He recently wrote about the producer for R.E.M.'s new album and pretty much echos my feelings on what they've done in the post-Bill Berry era. It looks like he's got some good commentary over there. Second, I've added German Joys to the list because for some reason I have an inkling to all things German. Speaking of which, here is a list of 20 things to keep in mind while visiting Germany. These are pretty much dead-on.

Well for those swimming folks out there, the 12th Fina World Championships are happening right now. Since the US is so smitten with swimming, chances are you probably haven't missed the races since they're constantly being broadcast. (note: extreme sarcasm). Anyway the legend that is Michael Phelps continues to make his case as the Greatest of All Time. I've got two races below, the first his is 200 Free in which he beats the "unbeatable" record of one Ian "the Thorpedo" Thopre. Notice his fly kick off his walls -- he gains so much distance by just doing that. The second one is his 200 Butterfly in which he breaks his own world record by over a second and a half. Be sure to watch the "world record red line" on that one. Side note: I kinda like the non-English announcers





The last race I'm including is the Men's 400 Free final. Watch first and then I'll comment:


Park had an amazing last 50. I've never seen someone make up so much distance at that part in a race. It was crazy ridiculous.

Alright, time for Lost. Are they ever goign to get off this island/figure it all out? Seriously.

Don't Call it a Comeback

*Tap Tap* Is this thing on?
Its been awhile but I'm still here. I thought it might be a good idea to do some catching up. I'll try to keep it short, but my most die-hard readers know this won't be the case. First things first, I'm starting something new. As the title for all my posts come from a song lyric, I thought I'd put up a video for that song. This may not always work as sometimes I use obscure songs, but I'll do my best. Today you are treated to LL Cool J. That's Ladies Love Cool James for my readers not in the know (ie Mom and Dad).

I survived my first training trip as a coach. This went as smoothly as I could have hoped. The weather, the pools, the hotel...all got thumbs-up from the athletes. Oh yeah, the kids also trained their butts off. I was more then pleased with everything. We all had a great time and I know we're looking forward to next year.

Sadly I had to return from Florida but then I spent 10 days in Germany with the OFOMOL for Christmas and New Years. We had a wonderful time together. The weather was a little colder then I expected so I had to pick up a new winter coat while I was there. Yeah, I'm the dumbass who didn't pack one. As my old winter coat was 5 years old, I was in the market for one. I was able to pick up a nice European jacket -- one with the removable fleece liner. Its also in orange and black, very apropos for my job. Of course the saleswoman immediately tried to get me to buy the one for 300 Euros. Nope, sorry. Anyway, we're in a nice department store in downtown Dresden and go to check out. Since I'm travelling I'm carrying limited cash and use my debit card for other expenses. Well, this store does not take credit cards. How does this happen? I mean, McDonald's takes plastic thesedays. But over in Europe, its a little different. How are you supposed to cater to travelers like myself? Fortunately the OFOMOL covered it and I owe her. Hopefully the dollar doesn't lose any more value to the euro.

We took a side trip to Prague between Christmas and New Year's. What a beautiful city! We had a nice hotel right off the metro. The great thing about Prague is that it wasn't destroyed during WWII so the buildings are still preserved in their original state. It's also pretty cheap. We had a couple of really nice meals. For example, for $30 (thats in US Dollars, not Czech Koruna) I had a shrimp cocktail, main course, cup of tea, and a sprite while she had two glasses of wine, and a main course. Quite a deal. I also enjoyed that they spoke english there, so I was able to order things and talk with the merchants. Speaking of merchants, there are all sorts of shops for tourists to spend money. A lot of these places are pretty small. But you know what you can do? You can use a debit/credit card to pay for stuff. Now there is a concept that other places could adopt! I got to try some Grog -- rum, hot water, and sugar. The Czechs like to put a lot of rum in there. As it is a hot drink, you want to keep it warm, but the level of alcohol can limit this. I took it like a man and drank it up. I doubt I'll be having one of those again.

The visit to Europe was great. This was my first Christmas away from my family and even though her family doesn't speak English, I had a great time with the OFOMOL and her family. They made it feel like home.

Monday was a both a good and bad day. tOSU played what is, IMHO, their worst game in the Jim Tressel era. It was the first time that he was out-coached. The team look flat, they fell behind and didn't know how to respond. Whatever game plan (offensively and defensively) they had didn't work and the team wasn't able to adjust to what Florida had schemed. Anyone who followed them realizes this game isn't indicative of their season. 12-1 with a 2nd trip the BCS Championship game in 5 years is quite an accomplishment. Tressel will be back and will be hosting a crystal ball yet again.

As for the good news, well guess which band will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum? Yes, R.E.M.!!!!! Like it was ever a question. One of the cool things is that Patti Smith (who heavily influenced all members of the band) is being inducted too. The other inductees are Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash, and the Ronettes. I'm looking forward to the traditional all-star jam. That should be fun. Its also curious as to who will induct the band. I mean their influence is profound and there is a laundry list of artists who could induct them. As good of music as they put out, their influence is equally parallel. They were leaders of the 80s college-rock/indie circuit. They put out an album a year from 83-88 and supported this with constant touring. This lead to their superstar status of the early-mid 90s. Bands these days look at them both musically and what they stand for. Yes I am a biased opinion, but this is truly worthy of everything they've done over the past 27 years.

Alright, hopefully I can get back on the horse and be a little more regular in this new year.