Abend / Evening

"Bye, 'Til Tomorrow!"

KIKA is like a German Nickelodeon. Only instead of showing old sitcoms at night, they go off the air completely at 9 p.m. The channel then switches to either ARD or ZDF, their two sponsor stations. What I was trying to take a picture of here was Bernd das Brot, who comes on the air between 8 and 9 p.m. I was just a little bit slow.

Meine Strasse / My Street

This is across the street from my apartment building.

Turnhalle / Gymnasium

Stadtteilrundgang / Neighborhood Tour

As a part of the Intercultural Weeks program, I took a little tour of the Turkish section of town.


Tea.


Instant Tea.


The garden at the Mosque. The Mosque itself was an ordinary, unmarked building.


BMX Babies. Maybe as adults they will discover the Pittsburgh of the West.

Doors, 1. Teil

Belantis

On Wednesday I was invited to go to "Ostdeutschlands grösster Freizeitpark," a.k.a. Belantis. You can visit the website here, although be warned that there's a theme song lurking in the background.


This cute little guy is an oversized floral version of Der Sandmann, who appeared in his own cartoon TV show. Wasn't the Sandman supposed to be scary? The other teachers assured me that this was not the case, and that their kids loved Der Sandmann.


The pyramid ride is one of the main attractions.


The Odysseus ride. It takes you through a cave where there's a big Cyclops eye that blinks at you.

Endlich hab' ich mein Fahrrad / Finally I have my bicycle

It is mine for the year. Note the two locks. No word yet as to whether a key for the old (yellow) one exists.


My bell has a leaf design on it. Today I rang it in excess.

Ein Besuch / A Visit

Rachael and Anne spent 24 lovely hours in Leipzig. No doubt my roommate was a bit surprise when I mentioned I had some American friends who would be passing through town on Sunday.


We saw this tree and it struck us as unusual. Any arborists out there?

Kein Witz / No Joke

13'' by 16'' in 4-bedroom apt, turn-of-the-century building, renovated, high ceilings, original moldings, 1.5 bathrooms, huge kitchen/living room. 10 minutes to main station, tram stop around the corner. $250/mo, heat, hot water, and electricity included.

Sorry, this room is actually already spoken for. And it's not my room, which is furnished, (a little bit) smaller, and of course even cheaper.

Das Klassenzimmer

Those are my teaching materials on the right.

Ein geliebter Film, auf Deutsch / A beloved film, in German

Let me tell you, the Germans are missing a lot with the dubbing of this film. For starters, Sissy Spacek's accent is gone. Also, when pronounced in German "badlands" sounds more like "bedlends." At least this scene remained untarnished. Thank you, Westdeutscher Rundfunk.

Was ich fuer Essen in Deutschland kaufen kann / The kinds of food I can buy in Germany

While I keep hoping for Goya products to fall from the sky, I've found chickpeas, white beans, and an "Asiatischer Markt" which always has fresh cilantro.

Der Zoologischer Garten

In every city there are plots of land given for small private gardens, so people who live in apartments can still have a lawn of their own. Most have small houses like this one, with no electricity and a wood-burning or oil stove. They don't seem to lock up. Presumably renegade tea parties are welcome.


The actual zoo takes up about half the space of the park. It costs money, but some animals can be seen from outside.

Posters, 1. Teil

The Green Chair

The best thing I found in my new room. Ignore the red sculpture in the corner. If you look at it too long it will weird you out.

Unterwegs nach Leipzig / On the way to Leipzig

The Dom in Koeln (Cologne) is probably one of the most photographed churches in Germany. I think they keep it dirty just to enhance the Gothiness of it.


Stand-alone letters are big here. This is the train station.


Leaving town.