Happy Holiday Greetings! I write you now from Horba, as the snow continues to fall around me. It is extra freaking cold here so there are no holes for me to dig here, though I did spend a couple of hours today moving wood. Fun stuff. Anyway, Christmas was great here, and since there are three days of Christmas in Germany, extra great. The first day, the 24th, we had carp for dinner and then opened our presents. Daniela's family fooled me into believing that the package from my parents hadn't arrived yet from America, but it had that day, so I had wonderful presents to open from everyone. The next day the rest of the family came over and we had a big lunch of rabbit and duck, followed by talking and whatnot. That night, Daniela and I went to a concert with some of her friends in a neighborhing town, and there were hundreds if not a couple thousand people. It was huge. The band was really good and played new music, it was sweeet. The next day we went ice skating in Erfurt in a really huge rink. On Thursday I fly to Holland, and then I go to Paris. I do not know when I could write again, so check up!!!! Happy New Year!!!!

As I sit here reviewing my past posts, comments left and I have done for the past couple of weeks, the snow is gently falling around the greater Cottbus area. It started last night, and is slowly picking up speed and really coming down now. I do not look forward to my bike ride to Daniela's tonight.

Anyway, not this weekend, but the one previous to it, I went to the North of Germany, more specifically four towns on the Baltic Sea (I am afraid I didn't see any squids, but I am sure that they were busy sucking the bolts of many a seafaring vessel); Griefswald, Straslund, Wismar and Lübeck (which is evidently a word I pronounce in German with a French accent). The trip was fantastic, as I saw world heritage sites for the first time while knowing that I was visiting a world heritage site (I have been to many, but before starting my program didn't even know that this site system existed or was taken semi-seriously). When we went on a million tours, some more interesting than others, but one of the highlights of the cities was actually meeting a world hertitage site manager, evidently the job I am training for. She was about my age, no masters degree, and really had about no clue to things I had no clue about. Her answers showed that the doubts we have in the whole system are grounded in reality, but more than anything, her job actually sounded pretty interesting and semi-enjoyable. Outside the realm of tours, I had a blast with my fellow study mates, as we pasted the nights by playing charades and drinking copious amounts of wine. I also had fresh fish from the Baltic, and that was most excellent.

This past week was filled with a bunch of stuff to do, as time was winding down before the break, and the teachers wanted to get things in. But of greater concern for me were the group projects I had to work on for my weekend seminars, which is what I spent a majority of my time on. I had a seminar this weekend, and my group showed up only to discover that we had to give a presentation with powerpoint that day. We had prepared no such thing, but had a paper already written so Irina from Ukraine in my group threw one together in 15 minutes. This was an amazing feat of wonderfulness.

Let me back track, on Thursday night, we had our Christmas party for WHS, and it went down great. There were plenty of drinks and dancing including Arabic music from Jordan. The Jordanians showed us how to dance the traditional dance that was incredibly easy, but infintely not so after a few beers. I guess it is pretty obvious why there is no drinking there; no one would ever dance with anything bordering on style with it. It also says a lot about the western dancing style, mainly that there is none.

I am now waiting to head to Horba to Daniela's house on Wednesday, and then on the 29th I'll go to Sam's house in Holland. I will meet up with my buddy Mike Karson there, and then we will head to Paris for a few days, before heading back to Germany, then he'll be off to England alone. I can't wait to see him and travel for a bit!

Hey Everybody! I have a lot to write but I am afraid not much time, so consider this more of a raincheck that soon I will update....

Also, my comments have indeed been a bit lacking lately, so any effort made in that particular direction would not only be appreciated, but would certainly add to the whole effect that this particular work endeavors to convey. And whatnot....

Now I think that I am a pretty understanding individual. I am fairly liberal in my opinions about many topics, but today I believe my foundations had a bit of a shaking.

From time to time I find myself watching the TV station "Eurosport" which includes an eclectic arrangement of sports not quite popular enough for main stream dispersal. I have watched many a sport on here including but not limited to Golf, Sumo Wrestling, a form of billiards that appears that the only goal is to hit the balls as many times as you can in the same way and in the same position, Darts, Ski Jumping and many others. I always took these with a grain of salt (or rice as it were with the Sumo's), but I had to draw the line at Biathlon.

At first glance this sport kicks ass, and I can't say that I disagree. Look at the principle, you ski around for awhile, stop occasionally to lay down and shoot some targets, and then repeat the process a few times, maybe a beer or two, and then your done. In the world of sports it's the only one that prepares you for a practical get away scenario.

But taking a deeper look at the possible roots of this sport, one tends to get worried. I mean, what drove people to make this a competitive process? "Well Bob, I want to play a game too, but all I have are skis and a target rifle....wait a minute!!!" or "In a renewed effort to get ex-cons back into shape, the Norwegian government has produced an absurd new hobby." or "You know, killing a caribou on skis really gives the meat that faint taste that it really was hunted down."

I guess the world will never know.

Since it is now winter and I really should start moving my body a little more, I have signed up with a gym in town and am now officially working out again. It is going pretty well, and there are three other guys in World Heritage Studies working out with me, so it is a little bit easier than being alone.

In other health news, I managed to get sick on Sunday with a very similar horribleness that I experienced while in Luxembourg, namely my body deciding that it was high time to get rid of everything in it. I spent yesterday sleeping all day (literally) and was up this morning early, but have been weary all day. I felt like moving around a bit so I am at the library now, but it is the most I have done in two days.

I had the second half of my weekend seminar and it was slightly better this time around, but not overwhelmingly so. On the plus side, it is going to count for one of my main classes and all I have to do is write a group paper of 4-6 pages. Sweet.

This weekend I'm going to the north of Germany on a World Heritage Tour!!!

Maybe it is because I am hungry, but there is a lot going on in my Wining and Dining Section of my blog today.....

Thanksgiving went down in grand style last Thursday. The turkey was fantastic, there were sweet potatoes and even pumpkin pie! Really amazing. And in football news, I hear that the Bears are kicking some major ass, so that is super sweet.

I had the seminar on Friday and Saturday that was hosted by a manager of a world heritage site. There are about 900 sites around the world, which is actually very little, so to meet the head honcho is kinda a big deal. However, the seminar was boring, and we didn't talk about much. He did like breaks though, and ever hour we had one for about half an hour, and he ended an hour and a half early the second day. The site has a vineyard with it as well, so he brought us some excellent wine produced there, which gave him some major bonus points. It was June's birthday, a girl in my program from Mexico, and she gave us cake, so that was cool too.

Saturday, before going to Berlin, my roommate made some chinese dumplings with his friends, and it was fantastic. It can be truly handy from time to time to have a chinese roommate, and I highly recommend it for all you in the market for one.

Berlin was cool, we partied hardy Saturday night, till about 6am, and then were up and about by 1:00. I didn't get to see many sites, but we walked around Sarah's area, and it was really cool. We ate lunch at this restaurant, and it was absolutly terrific. I had a creamy mushroom soup, an egg breakfast with salat and bacon, and a big cup of tea and honey for 5 euros plus tip, a really great deal!

Daniela had great weekend at home, and saw her parents, grandparents, and friends. At her house they smoke meat every year, and they just did it, so her dad gave me a bunch of meat, it is so nice. I really love to eat.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and my God, it will be celebrated in Cottbus. This is quite exciting, since I was unable to participate in the most glorious holiday ever conceived last year due to a lack of an oven. In spite of past set backs, the Americans here have combined into a lean mean cooking force set out with one mission: To gorge ourselves. It will be hosted at Sebastian's house (he is a German in my program), and will include the Americans as well as other select guests. I'll update later how it went.

Surprisingly, I have another weekend seminar this weekend, but this time it is about Management of historic sites....I think. Anyway, it is supposed to be good, so I hope that I do not have to show up drunk just to make it interesting. Saturday night, I will go to Berlin for the first time to celebrate the birthday of a German girl in my program, Sarah. There is not much else going on here, just the usually running around, working, and trying to keep things as lighthearted as possible.....

What has my blog been missing? I am sure that you have been asking yourselfs this very question, and maybe you even came up with a few ideas. Perhaps logic, humor, structure, or a point were top on your lists. But what I believe is the number one thing that has been seriously lacking is me commenting on the impossibility of receiving a visa.

For all you that read the struggle for my carte de sejour in France, you know that this is no new feat that I have had to contend with, but this time it has been just as annoying. I went to the office a few weeks ago, and gave them all my forms but was told that I had to come back in two weeks. We made an appointment, and the waiting began. I realized about a week before my scheduled meeting, that I had classes all day long on Tuesday, and couldn't go that day. So I went the Thursday before (they are all only open two days a week) and explained the situation, only to receive a blank stare and an explanation that she had done nothing yet. So we rescheduled for the next Thursday (today), and finally she gave me the stupid thing.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I really want to get a cell phone, and to be allowed to get a contract for two years you need to show, surprise surprise, a visa. So after getting the craptacular piece of paper I headed to the cell phone shop and got a contract together. After asking for this and that, he told me to come back in 30 minutes to pick it up. I was anxiously waiting to hear when I could show him my bright new paper, and he never asked. So I asked him. All I got was a nod saying "Nein"...great.

In better news, I had an architecture two test today, and I think it went pretty well. Tonight is Sam from Holland's birthday, and there is a big party...sweet. Another weekend seminar tomorrow!!!

What excatly has happened recently? That is indeed a fine question, but I am not sure if I can fully answer that. For starters, I am still trying to forget the horrible weekend seminar I had on Friday and Saturday. It could have been interesting, but the woman just went on and on about stuff that we had already learned about.

In movie news, the Eastern European Movie Fest is over now in Cottbus. I saw two films, one was six short films in one, and the other was a fakumentary about the Russians going on the moon before the Americans. Overall I would grade the experience of both at a C, not entirely disapointing, but leaving me scratching my head afterwards.

In culinary news, Thanksgiving will be coming to Cottbus this year, as myself and a couple of Americans will be cooking up some turkey goodness.....

That's all for now!

It has been a techinical time recently. He are some examples:
You know the guy with the fro and beard that did the show on PBS where he painted the same nature scenes week after week? My God, if I did not see him in Germany. Evidently late night TV is just as incredibly boring here as it is back home, and last night I experienced it first hand. With somewhat of a morbid curiosity I was flipping through the stations (all 48 of them, yes!) until at about 1:00 am I stumbled upon this guy, Bob Ross. I had seen tidbits of him in the past, but since he looked strange and kept calling painted trees his "friends" I always moved on. But seeing him in Germany was rather a novelty I thought, so I watched the whole show. It was rather impressive how he could transform nothing to something in about half an hour, but at one point he kind of got lost and started to speak about a squirrel that evidently he keeps as a pet. It was a little frightening to say the least.

This past weekend I had a weekend seminar with a guy from Spain that is one of the leader of computer graphics these days. He really knew his stuff, and had some connections. He told us a story about the guys who did the Lord of the Rings animation and how the first battle between Orcs and Elves that had computer "brains" they made them a bit too smart and when confronted on the field of battle, literally ran away from each other. They had to make them more "stupid"; pretty cool, eh? Also, in one of the battle scenes, there are Orcs playing cards in the distance. Who said nerds couldn't be fun?

There is a Eastern European Film Festival here in Cottbus now, so this week I will be enjoying the cinema of my neighbors....stay tuned for that!

Good news to report in the world of Justin these days. Though I got too drunk off of wine and ouzo (I don't recommend the combination) on Friday night, I managed to stumble into Project Cycle Management, or PCM for you acryonimically inclined, and I am lucky that I did. It was from 10am-8pm, but it was really quite good. The professor was an extremely intelligent man that had no bones about telling us all that very fact and more about himself. He wasn't just boasting either. He started his teaching career at the tender age of 24 as a university professor at no less of an institution as Oxford. It kinda of makes my life accomplishments look like something one would wipe off one's shoe. Anyway, it was really interesting, and as part of the project we had to get into a group and come up with a project. It really makes the name worth while, don't you think? It could be about anything, but my group quickly struck upon the idea of an international group that supervises disaster relief situations. It was a bad ass concept, and we were all actually really excited about it. Plus there was free pizza.

Sunday was a gorgeous day in the greater Cottbus area. The leaves are fully changed in color now, and they are falling wonderfully. I took advantage of the landscape to make a leave-angel, which is not as easy to perceive as a snow angel, though still fully appreciable from any artistic benchmark. Daniela and I went for a long bike ride and then a walk to fully enjoy the fantastic weather, and then did homework like dorks.

Halloween was Monday, and this is a holiday that is slowly making its way into Germany, though only in the past five years or so. Daniela and I went to dinner at an Italian restaurant, though some kids came in, and instead of saying "Trick or treat" proceeded with what sounded like a quote from The Illiad, at least it was just as long. Anyway, all is going well, hope everyone is keeping it easy.....

What a crappy day yesterday. On Wednesday night I had dinner at my friend Sam's apartment, he is from Holland, with his roommate Marcus from Portugal and a friend of theirs who I can't remember her name from Japan. It was very good, and we enjoyed good conversation, good and bad wine, and watched Sideways. I got home around 1:00 am, and was greeted at 7:00 am with my alarm blaring and informing me that it was time for my German lesson. It went all right, but was pretty boring. I then went with Irina from Ukraine to go and finally get my Visa. Yet, I lacked a mini photo of myself, and the machine there only took coins, and it was six euros ($7.50) for four crappy photos. We both only had five euro bills so we went to the local shopping center and broke our respective bills, me getting dish soap and Irina Christmas lights. We were back, got our photos done, then waited forever. Usually you bring your forms, then come back in a week for the visa. For some reason though, I have to come back in two weeks. Fun Stuff.

Since I was up and semi motivated, I decided to try to get my cell phone again. I went to the place with Irina, and she got hers first, and then there was not enough time for me, since we had class at 11:30, so I resolved to go back in the afternoon. Our class was World Heritage and the Theory of Culture, and in the spirit of the name of set class, we had a discussion about what culture means. We had to write down on a piece of paper what we think culture means, which after some thinking, I came to the conclusion that it is impossible to define culture. My teacher has different ideas, and basically when someone made a point that did not go along with her ideas, she was quick to point out why we were wrong. Though she wasn't rude about it, she certainly didn't hold back either. So this was mildly frustrating.

Nevertheless, I decided to get my phone again, and after the class headed back into town. The guy there took all my information, scanned a bunch of stuff and told me that he had to fax it to the center office, and it would take half an hour. So I went and got a couple of bratwursts, walked around the outdoor market, and returned only to find that it hadn't worked. So he told me to come back later. Nice. So I returned to my place exhausted, and took a nap. I was back to the stupid office at 5:30 and he told me that I need to show my visa. I explained that a woman who worked there the week before told me that was not necessary, just that I registered with the city. Well, wouldn't you know, it depends on the company you use, and the one I picked needs a visa. So in the end, I have to wait for two more weeks before I can get a cell phone.

Things got better later as there was a party for WHS students and we got to know our classmates a little better in a purely social setting, it went all right, but I was so exhausted, I left early. Tomorrow I have a weekend seminar on Project Cycle Management, which I hope is more exciting than the name.

I am on the hunt for a new cell phone, and Daniela and I decided to meet up in the center for me to purchase one yesterday at 3:oo. I got there at the presicribed time, and waited and waited. Finally I decided to check my French cell phone that can still receive messages from Germany, and sure enough there was a message from Daniela. She quite matter of factly informed me that she had an accident with a car while riding her bike and that she was in an ambulance at her apartment. Well, it is usually about a twenty minute bike ride to her place, but I made it in a about twelve, only to discover no ambulance. In fact, after calming down and thinking about it, it seemed rather odd that the thing would still be there, but nevertheless I rang her apartment. Her roommates answered the door, and I attempted to find out what the hell was happening. Now normally my German is as comprehensible as nuclear physics, but when upset, it is basically impossible to understand. After calming down and explaining what happened (I didn't know the German word for "accident" so I kept banging my hands together) they said that they knew nothing. Great. So after pleading, I finally convinced one to let me use her cell phone, and she was pretty reluctant. It was amazing, I asked if anyone had a cell phone, and I just got stares at first, not even a yes or no, just blank looks like I had asked to see them jelly wrestle in their bikinis for me or something. After the one brave soul handed me hers, I called Daniela and she told me she was at the "Apotheke", or the pharmacy. I thought this was a pretty odd place to be after being hit by a car, but it's Germany, and I still haven't figured out how everything works yet.

After getting a vague discription where this was, I was off again on my bike. I did occur to me at this point that she meant the hospital, so I stopped by there, but she told me that her bike was there, and I couldn't find it, but I entered anyway. There was no reception desk, or anyone of any official capacity there, so I just wandered a bit and left. I knew there was a pharmacy down the road, so I went there, but nothing once more. I then knew I had to speak with her again, and I found a phone booth across the street. I had no change in my pockets, but luckily I had 20 cents in my backpack, and I called her again, and she informed me that indeed it was the hospital.

I headed back in, but did not know where to go, and again found no one to ask, so I followed one woman into the emergency section. I found a woman there and told her that I think my girlfriend is here, but I am not sure. She responded like I was talking about an old friend of hers, "Oh yeah! The girl with hair down to here? She is with Doctor What's His Name in surgery." Hold on. Surgery? Up to this point I had not thought of what had actually happened, indeed I had not wanted to, but this was certainly really shitty news. She told me that it was next to an apotheke in the hospital, and the surgery center was next to it, so I ran over there as fast as I could.

I finally found Daniela, and luckily everything looked to be in the right place. But she was grabbing the back of her head. I came to her and I felt her head which had a large bump on it and she said her back hurt. They had taken scans and we were waiting for the results, but there was a woman there with her. I asked Daniela if she knows who hit her, and it turned out to be the woman standing. She had gone with Daniela to the hospital, and was keeping care of sorts. I guess the woman was turning and Daniela was going across a crosswalk, and she hit her, and her head hit the car, and her back the road. Luckily the results came shorty later and they were negative for a concussion and all that. The woman drove her back to her apartment and I took the bikes back then went to another pharmacy to buy some cold packs and then to a grocery store to buy water for Daniela and booze for me, the later being very helpful. So after a long and tiring day, I had some red wine and pizza, was asleep by nine, and it looks like everything will be all right.

Fear not, for I am back. I hope that you are sitting in a comfortable seat, for I should have quite a bit to write here, but it really is just up to my motivation. Right now I just really want to eat, so I will try my best not to summarize too much.

Last weekend in Horba was quite nice, and I spent time working on the parking place again, and moving around huge rocks. Not quite as much fun as it seems, but Jörg, Daniela's dad, actually started to ask my advice about things, and for once I was able to start using words instead of using wildly insane hand gestures.

On Monday was my first day of classes, but I only had one class, archaeology. It seems like it will be interesting, but it is hard to tell from just the lecture. One cool thing is we will go to Berlin for the class and go on a nice tour of something. The next day I had my new German language course that is actually going to teach me grammar. The gigantic drawback with the program is that it starts at 7:30 a.m. On a scale of coolness, this is certainly horrible. In fact, Tuesdays in general really suck a lot. I am essentially busy from 7:30am-9:00pm. Not cool. Anyway, after German I have geology with a professor that seems interesting (he is a hydrogeologist so I guess levels of excitments are quite low in his world. Seriously he gets his kicks from water, which though essential to life, is not what I would call something to write home about). He did manage to bad mouth America for about five minutes saying that we couldn't pay for disaster relieve. He even spoke with me after class about how Chicago is polluting Lake Michigan, and I quite sagely corrected him with the information that it is the bastards in Milwaukee. I am having trouble remembering my schedule after this, but I believe I had Stratigies for the Conservation and Preservation of Natural and Cultural Landscapes. Or in short, my Iraq class. Indeed the entire class is about a people known as the "Marsh Arabs" which were a culturally secluded group from the marshy area around Basra, Iraq where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come together, that had been untouched from the outside world for 2,000 years. This all changed during the Iraq-Iran war in the '80's, and now the people are dispersed all over Iraq, and their culture, language, and way of life is supposed to vanish within the next twenty years. Our job in the class is to talk about how we could save it, and preserve part of these peoples heritage, and the coolest part of all is our teacher wants us to go to Iraq and visit the area. But, as he mildly put it, "I believe that it might be a problem, since I guess there is still some conflict their, and apparently everything is blown up." This class was followed by Intercultural Communication, which is a funny class to take since everyday I have to interculturally communicate with the people in my program that are from all over the world. I think I will just have to have some beers with people in my class instead. At the end of the day, I have a "coaching" class and from what I understand of it, I will basically just suck up to the program director by showing up.

On Wednesday, I was really bored. I had just two classes, Introduction to Culture, because evidently I have none already, and World Heritage and the Theory of Culture, which they claim are different classes. The first was held in a lecture hall that is normally designed for about 50 people, but around 200 showed up. One even brought a dog. Not like a seeing eye dog, or anything like that, just you know, your average Fido. The class is open to people other than WHS students, so all these Germans were there, but they may divide the class, so that we can actually see the front of the room. The other class was more of the same, but more detailed, and sounds a lot more interesting, and is more about what culture means to preserving world heritage. It was a very non-eventful day, and I felt so exhausted, even though the previous day was longer, yet I still got my party on that night, and as it was the official partay evening for my university, Daniela went out to see what was going down. We ended up in town at a place called Stuk, along with Ona from Colombia and Eche from Turkey, and a German guy. There was some live jazz music, and it was fun.

The next morning sucked, since I had only gotten about four hours of sleep and I stumbled into my language class five minutes late. Luckily, I was not the only one, and there was a steady trickle after me. The teacher also thinks my German is really good because I can kind of speak it, but she decided that it would be a good idea to tell the class that I speak perfect German, which is about as far from the truth as one can get. I took a very badly needed nap after this, then went to some other class that I cannot remember now. After this I had an inane tour of the library, then I was off to Archetecture II, not to be confused with the first one, which we haven't taken. That night was the official international student welcome, with champagne, African singers, Sorbish dancers (the Sorbians are an ethnic minority from the Cottbus, or as they say Chosebuz region, and speak a dialect of Polish) followed by free food and drinks.

It has been an exciting week and I have been extremely busy, and I will probably update again on Monday..............

The Mormons invited Daniela and I to their church last night for some pizza and ping pong. We didn't get to the ping pong, the two Elders (as they are called) Daniela and myself, plus two German girls polished off three pizzas, no problem. After this homemade pizza, we had homemade chocolate chip cookies that were as the Germans say "lecker", delicious. The two girls are both studying Social Work along with Daniela, so they spoke about the program for awhile, which was good for Daniela. I love free food.

This weekend, I am going back to Horba. Daniela's grandpa is celebrating his birthday this weekend, so we are going to make sure that all the cake is eatten. Just kidding, we are going to (how you say happy birthday in German) "We wish you all goodness on the birthday." Of course in German, this is all just one long unpronouncible mess.

First day of classes Monday....till then!!!!!!!!

Just when I thought I was running out of ideas, yesterday blessed me with too much to write about. After writing my update yesterday and leaving the library, I returned only to discover that my long awaited roommate had finally come back to Cottbus. His name is Xing and he is from Eastern China. He was really nice, and very open to speak with me (in German though), and I did my best to talk with him. I did not talk with him for very long, but it seems as if things should be all right with him.

After this encounter, I was off to a semester greeting thing from the BTU (my university...check out the link www.tu-cottbus.de), but it was all in German, and I did not understand anything. Then at 6, I had a meeting with my program, WHS (www.tu-cottbus.de/whs, for those that didn't check it out the last time), and it was pretty routine. Afterwards though a bunch of us went out for a drink and had a blast. I talk with a couple of guys from Germany, one guy from the Netherlands (who speaks five languages fluenty "but only enough Chinese to get by" as he says), and a girl from Colombia. These are all people that have not begun the program yet, but I did speak to a guy from Colombia who is in his fourth semester, and he is working on endangered languages. He is going to Scotland to learn Gaelic. That is so cool. There is one American in the program, and she is from Texas, but other than her and I, of the 18 newcomers, everyone else are not native English speakers, but they all speak well.

It was so great to finally meet everyone, to discover that they are really cool, and that we are interested in similar things. What a great evening!

As I sit here, I am really struggling to figure out what I have done since Wednesday. When there is nothing to talk about with someone, or you have about as much interest in their hobbies as the desire to surgically remove your own lips, I usally talk about the weather. So, what I can tell you is that the weather in Cottbus has been quite lovely. After being raining and cloudy most of the time till recently, it has finally become fall, and the leaves are changing their hues, the days are getting shorter, and a cool breeze is making this the perfect weather.

On Friday, Daniela and I celebrated our one year anniversary together. For all those romantics out there, we had a fine day, with a picnic in the park, flowers, the whole nine yards. It was all warm and fuzzy, etc. She started school last week, and is having some trouble in getting into her classes. You see, in Germany, you don't register for classes, you just show up the first day and hope for the best. Sure they have six different bins for sorting your recycling, but it is chaos when organizing your time. Personally, if it is between saving the earth and perfecting my timetable, I say "Does it matter what bin I put my uranium deposits?"

My German class is still going all right, though my grasp on grammar is still shaky at best. I am learning a lot of random words though, and am slowly proving to my classmates that I'm not a complete moron (hold your remarks).

This week is an orientation period with the school, with meetings from various people, and beer drinking. There is probably important information in there somewhere too.

In this weeks kitchen corner, I would like to explain why I chose to buy a bread maker. Sure you can buy bread anywhere, it is a lot cheaper to make ones bread, and it can be anything I want it to be. It is also incrediably simple and delicious.

Monday was Germany Reunification day, but if you asked your average German what was going on that day, the answer would probably be: Three day weekend. You see, the Germans aren't particulary patriotic. I cannot say that they are ashamed to be German, it is just that they are not going around with flags and shouting about national pride. So instead, on the day that brought East to West once more (not Kung Fu styles), they spent the day shopping and drinking. Alas, so did I.

On Tuesday I started the long promised German language program, which, in a word, is impossible. The only teacher that would accept me is the middle level one, and basically the highest one in the program now. Indeed, I am with students that have a firm grasp of the language, and actually understand what the text book says. Surprisingly, I am not completely lost, and I can basically get what the teacher is saying most of the time, and I can even talk a bit. But when it comes down to grammar, I am about as lost those people from that one show (a shout out to Mike K, if he is checking up). Right now we are learning about the Konjuctiv...2. Not that I even know what the first one is about.

Yesterday I played pool with the Mormons, and that went pretty well. They still haven't given me their pitch yet, but I am smelling it around the corner. Next week there are some orientation events before the semester starts up, which is evidently also coming up soon. Oh Yes! I nearly forgot, I bought a bread maker from Walmart. It is breadarific.

All right. I went to the test on Wednesday, took it, no problems. I came back at 9am the next day, only to discover that they have no room for me. I immediantly went to the international office and later to my director to find out what I could do, but the results were not promising. After the head of my program talked with the language program, they were insistant that I couldn't join it. Well, I talked back with the international office and they were a little more successful, and I am now officially in! Good times.....

I also finally have my student ID. I only had to go to the office five times, but it finally worked out.....

In religious news, I had met some Mormons here at the internet cafe before going back to Daniela's, and wouldn't you know, they were knocking door to door in my building, and the first door they chose happened to be mine. We chatted for awhile, and they came back the next day. We have had some very interesting conversations about alcohol, marriage, and speeding. So they will be coming back one of these days to give me their little speech about how some wandering guy found some gold tablets and found the true church. If nothing else, maybe it is a good story.

Gotta go.....take care.....

There is a lot going on here, and I will have to update you all fully soon, but I am afraid that the library is closing here and I have to go. I would instead like to devote my limited time here to the website that has been created in my honor. If you have not yet been to http://justinsadoringfans.blogspot.com, I highly recommend taking a gander on over. All right, I will get back here as soon as I can.....

I'm back in Cottbus. Today was a major bust, and the incompetance of the administration here is reaching all sorts of interestingly stupid levels. I was told a couple of weeks ago that the German language program would be from 9am till 1pm, but since no one had any idea where this would be held, I should come back the 26th (today) and ask where to go. So, at 8:50 was at the office, only to find a note on the door saying that World Heritage Studies students meet at this room at 10. Great. I went to the bank, paid my semester tuition fee of 115€, and had some breakfast. I returned at 10 only to find another note posted on the previous one saying that all international students were to report to another building for matriculation. OK. On my way to the other building I found a random sign saying that the language program had indeed started at 9am in another building. Whatever, I'll just go to this matricuwhateverthing and figure it out. When there I talked to a woman from the international office saying that I didn't have to be here cause I already enrolled. No problem. Another girl told me that the language program was doing a test right now to assess peoples level of German, and that they would start again at 1pm. Wonderful. So after a nap and lunch I went to this other building and after speaking with two people about where I should go, I finally was told that I have to take the test that the others took this morning (though my level of German could be assessed as basically none), but I would have to wait till Wednesday. Incredible.

Well, not to let a day be wasted, I decided to check out when I could get my student ID. I went to the office at the excate time a woman was posting the hours for tomorrow. It was at this point brought to my attention that something was missing from my file (hard to believe since I have given them all my history, mini-photo, blood and urine samples, my soul, a brass monkey, five orange pips and some funky looking bird in a fruit tree). Well, not only was something possibly missing from my file, but so was the file. She searched and searched, only to find nothing. Great.

I did not quite realize the popularity/desire to hear about my life, but since there seem to be some curious people who have sunk so low as to crave news from yours truly, maybe I should indulge them. (You are welcome mom). Well would you believe, I really have had little time to write since this time at Daniela's it has been slightly more eventful than the cake walk I have previously experienced here. I was luckily able to come back to Horba after discovering the little mishap with the language program (I blame this on the possibly new German woman chancellor). Anyway, the parking place that I had previously helped with in July is now a lot more closer to actually accomodating an actually automobile. I was busy with that until yesterday when I was put to a familiar task: digging holes. You know, I am surprised that there is any more solid ground around the place, I have dug more holes than I can count and I have only been here for a month. I am not sure if this is a German characteristic, but digging holes seems to be quite the popular hobby. And if one is not digging one themselves, the men in the neighborhood start to flock around someone that is like chimps to an ant hill. In fact, scientists have determined that men and chimps make excatly the same grunting sounds when engaged in these respective situations. Don't act surprised.

Right. Where was I? Indeed, my time back in "The Lake City" (the motto of Horba, pop. 200, which, among little else, has a small man made pond...pond is a strong word, lets call it a water rentention dip). Last night we went out with a couple Daniela's friends to a chinese restaurant in the area which was most excellent. I barely almost couldn't finish my meal, but in the end my eyes won the battle against my stomach, though I am not sure if my brain was happy with the results. The day before another of Daniela's friends came over for breakfast. She is a volunteer firefighter, so she took us over to the fire house for a behind the scenes tour. She showed us pretty much everthing and I even got into the front seat of this huge truck. It was sweeeet. (Stay tuned for photos on the old blog here!)

Tomorrow is some celebration in another town, and then it looks like on Sunday back to Cottbus.

So I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Cottbus is great, and I will undoubtably have a great time. The bad news is I arrived 17 days too early.
I came last Thursday with Daniela and her parents and did the whole moving in thing. I was a little worried at first when they had never heard of me, but it all was worked out, and I was paired with a Chinese guy (whom I have yet to meet). The room is nice, and I share a kitchen and bathroom with my roommate. During the weekend, I explored the town and it is very beautiful, with stately architecture, clean streets, tramways, lots of young people, and bikes everywhere. It is really a charming place.
Now for the reverse side of this pleasant landscape. I really had thought the French were the most inept public servants on earth, but the Germans are looking for an equal finish in the race. After a long search for international student office on Friday, including asking a woman in French where it is, I located the closed office. Yet, I heard some shuffling around, so I knocked and a woman answered. I asked her where I need to go for the language program that starts Monday the 12th. She didn't know, but called someone else up and said that it started the 26th. So, in frustration I went down and saw this woman she had spoken with, and reconginized her name from e-mails I had sent. She was responsible for sending all mailings out, including the one that said that the language program started the 12th. When I asked her about this her reply was, "It was changed. It's the 26th now." What she should have said and what I was eagerly waiting for was, "OH!!! Mr. Sikora, I am deeply sorry for this terrible wrong that has been bestowed upon you. Please accept my deepest apologies from the bottom of my heart. (Phone rings) Excuse me, yes, Chancellor Schröder, yes sir, Mr. Sikora is here, you CAN apologize to him now....". I guess I didn't expect that much, just a simple "Sorry" would have done the job.

Greetings and salutations from the land of chocolate. I arrived here safely on Monday morning, after a very long trip. After a brief one hour night of sleep, I was off to O'Hare and on my plane at 8:00 am Sunday. I got to Philadelphia at about 10:30 am only to find that I was evidently the only customer at the time in the entire airport, or so it seemed. I was able to get some well earned sleep there, and then got on the plane to Frankfurt. The ride went quickly and I got a solid three hours of sleep in, but the only downside was the video system, which decided to crap out on me, yet everyone around was enjoying their choice in movies and TV shows. I got to Germany at 6:45 am on Monday and while waiting to talk with Daniela at the airport, I had to evacuate the area because of a suspicious package. Fun stuff. I caught the train to Erfurt, and met up with Daniela and her Dad, and then I was off to Horba once more.

My first day back, yesterday, was indeed a surprising one. I woke up at 8:00 am only to discover that I was going to be involved in a potato harvest. This was a first for me, but it went all right, as myself and eightish others were bent over in a field for two and half hours seperating good potatoes from rotten/too small ones. I was then back at the house unloading our share, and other random veggies, and then went for a bike ride. All in all, I was busy for about twelve hours.

Last night Daniela and I went to her friend Ronnie's house with her friend Maria and Ronnie's boyfriend. We had pasta and sausages and chatted about all kinds of stuff. Good times.

Off to Cottbus tomorrow morning!

For those needy individuals that have been weary for news, constantly hoping for an update of some kind, then your prayers have been answered. (Quite frankly, I have been hoping for a good Bears quarterback, but hey, to each his own.) Since there has been some information misconstrued by certain readers, allow me to take the time to clarify some key points.
1. I am not in Germany yet.
2. If you have a questions about my program, and HAVE NOT read the website that I provided, then may I suggest doing that.
3. Who said I was gonna write a book? I can barely keep this thing afloat.
Anyway, what news to report? In the time I have been back, I have been quite busy with a variety of tasks, and really don't feel like I have had that much free time. I am starting to get nervous though, and all the things I should have done are starting to become things I have to do now. I am in kind of a rush at the moment, but I am coping as best as I can.

I will be leaving Sunday morning, really early, and taking the plane to Philadelphia. I will be there for several hours before boarding another plane to Frankfurt. Usually when I have gone to Europe, I take a direct flight from Chicago, but it was significantly cheaper to connect for this flight, so I opted for it instead.

In visa news, can you believe that the French are more efficient in handing out the bastards than the Germans are? So much for stereotypes.....
The two times I got a French visa, I just went to the consulate in Chicago, gave them the forms, and 10 minutes later, I had a visa in hand. While the German consulate requires that I go down there, give them my crap, then THEY mail it to German, and send it back after processing...a process that takes 2-4 weeks. However, I can get it in Germany, in fact, I can even get it in Cottbus, and it should take a lot less time since they don't have to mail it anywhere. So in this one, for all you scoring at home, Justin 1 - German Gov't 0

Go team Justin!

Welcome to Justin's newly remodeled blog. You may remember me from such blogs as La Vie Rennaise de Justin and La Vie Hirsonnaise de Justin. You should be asking yourself, if you had checked up on my other two installments in the wanders of yourstruly, that there has been a change in the language at the head of said blog. Das Leben in Cottbus von Justin. Well it is German for those too lazy to read the next line of the blog, and indeed it is a change from the Frenchified titles of years passed. It means Justin's Life in Cottbus. So, I have moved one country to the East in my ever changing and haphazard life choices.

Yet what exactly will I be doing there? Do I have any real plans? Is life a game that I enjoy playing with, not aware that there can be "consequences"? Do the Bears have any chance this year? The answer to all these questions is, of course, not really.

Right, so first I will do an update, for those less than informed readers, about what is happening with myself. I graduated from school in May 2004 with a degree in French, and with no other prospects other than the possibility of going insane, I decided to go to France for 7 months as a language assistant. I was assigned to a town in the northeast of France called Hirson, and spent 7 months in the high school there, and a further 2 months in the primary schools. During this 9 month period I thought about what I would do next. I had no real plan, nor any idea what the hell I should do. I wanted to stay in Europe, but who the hell knew where or what I could do.

I looked around for masters programs, and discovered that some programs actually looked interesting. I had no desire for masters school out of college, but a year of only working 12 hours a week took its toll, and I was bored stiff. This lack of stimuli caused unknown and previously unfelt urges in me to learn via an established institution.

It was in Germany that my destiny awaited itself. I found a program called World Heritage Studies, which is basically a potpourri of knowledge about how to preserve and maintain historic sites of world cultural importance. I don't really know what that means either. So, in effort to shift the blame, I will give you the link to check out the program for yeself, arr. www.tu-cottbus.de/whs

OK, if you have made it this far through the ramblings and ill-explained commentary, then I ask you to come back for basically more of the same. I will update as much as I can about what is going on in this new step in my life.