More Bavaria

So I’ve been in Germany for a year…I think the last two weeks are probably the best two weeks I’ve had.

So went to somewhere in “the free state of” Bavaria – south of München (Munich) At one point I may have crossed into Austria as I got a welcome message from T-mobile about roaming in Austria…No clue if the message was in German or Austrian…..in fact I don’t even know if Austrian is it’s own language…apparently Bavarian is it’s own language because I was told that in school if Bavarians have to learn a second language it will be German.
we walked about 3 hours each way (uphill) to eat at a mountain top imbiss and to get to talk to cows…

I still have no austrian stamp on my passport though…g’day mate…

So I will now test out my horrible memory…uhhh….ok pictures are worth a thousand words….

So one night in München and a crazy old lady who liked my smile apparently…Great trip…

favourite quote:
Sanne: “it’s so ugly” (referring to München)

München is Munich (thanks Matt for clarifying this for me)…

Free state of Bavaria

am off to somewhere in Bavaria today…Kind of Nervous…

Old Photos from Mephisto…thanks Matt for taking 5 months…

Squires 2,0

so from now on I want to be called Squires 1.0…Squires 2.0 might not be better, but he’s at least younger and speaks more Deutsch…that’s 2 bug fixes if I ever saw them…
So I have two twins now…one evil and one american…that makes me the middle twin or something…
Though Squires 2.0 did say I was his soulmate…Dude you’re from Denver…take it back!!!

I know I know…websites like this suck…

I guess I have a lot to write about this week and weekend, but it will just sound pathetic….like my original unedited Thursday entry 😉

I am definitely a fan of lyrics and sometimes songs put you in a mood for no apparently reason (but usually there’s a reason)…Today was one of those days… Songs about war and love (not in the same song) did this today…

Wil Smith is the white Ice Cube….

and for Sanne…please watch this and note how I buggered up the story once again 😉

Polski

I’m not sure if I said this and I can’t be bothered to read back, but the Polish people were fabulous and so hospitable…Cheers to them!!!
other memories…
Shots for the Scorpios!!!!
me trying to convince the room (anyone within earshot) that a kung fu/horror movie would be the greatest genre ever.
to a German the Polish equivalant of “thank you for calling the 5 star Grand Hotel in Sopot. How may I help you?”
Sounds something like:
“krzchssy grolck %$&””!???”

Sitting at the airport waiting for the plane…
Fred K: Joe…Do you know what time it is..:
me – Looking around frantically for a clock:….uhhh…no sorry….It’s probably about 7:45
Fred K: No Joe…It’s time to burn this mother down!!!

Geez Fred…I thought you were a suit ;)…apparently “let’s burn this mother down” was the most memorable phrase from the week…I get credit…

after a Team building exercise where everyone “cheated’ we were asked to write down our thoughts….as the pieces of papers were read this is basically how it went
…cheaters
…cheaters
…cheaters
…cheaters
…cheaters
…liars
…cheaters
…cheaters
ITALIANS!!!!
…cheaters
…cheaters
…cheaters

etc….I was the one who wrote italians….So proud….One of the Italians said “who wrote that” I said me and he came over and shook my hand…I like every Italian I’ve met so far…

Gdansk is a lovely city…I would certainly go back again…

So here’s some pics…Many more coming in the coming days…This is just a short placeholder.
and yeah I know I have the same expression in every shot that I took myself…It’s just slighlty emberassing to use a cell phone to take pics of yourself…

Floater

I saw them 15 or 20 times :>)~~~~~~~~

it’s too hot today..

So…they were working til 5:45???

Another late one after “the workshop”…Got another 4 hour night sleep last night and had an early morning flight… Nice to see that some people were still up at 5:45 when I had to go get a taxi…Yeah…I guess they know how to party in Polski/Polen/Polska or whatever they call it these days…

Thought I was going to go to bed early tonight, but as it’s almost 2 I guess I’ve failed in that objective as well…Tired but don’t want to sleep…

Pictures will follow I guess. They are to be collected from the americans, germans, polish, italians and Norwegians who were at the workshop.

I get asked regularly how often I go back to the states or why I don’t go visit the states…I guess as the song says “I’m lonely but I ain’t that lonely yet”…Was never close to my family I guess…but I don’t think my parents are close to their families either…
I accepted when I left that there were certainly people that would probably die before I got back for a visit…

since I’ve only been up because of the music I’ve been listening to for the last 3+ hours and I just heard this song I’m posting lyrics now…
this is from Floater (a Eugene band)…(btw Matt have you listened to the floater album I gave you?). The live album sound mix is horrible, but the live version is 11 minutes long and the album version is only 9 and half minutes, so i can’t post all lyrics of this song, but the part that always struck me is this:

The young men came down, down to the river,
to wash their hands of the mud.
The young men came down, after the stoning,
to wash their hands of the blood.
See all the young men come down, down to the water,
to wash off the mud. To wash off the blood.
You just repeat what you said.
You mean what you say.
Young women came down, down to the river,
to wash their legs of the blood.
Young women came down, after the birthing,
to wash their legs of the blood.
I saw the women go down, down to the water,
to wash their legs of the blood.
The blood…the blood.
Repeat what you said.
You never mean what you say.
I just repeat what you said.
Keep still child.
I’m washing your insides away.
That’s a good boy.
You know we love you

I always though it was interesting that (to me) the point of the song is that men take life (or destroy physically, emotionally etc) (the young men go down to wash their hands of the blood) and that women give life (the women go down after the birthing to wash their legs of the blood). Simplistic I know, but that’s what I do…
Also note to Matt….listen to the drums on “The Knowing Dirge”

which leads me to another thought…
Religion and war are really the only thing that every isolated culture has in common…there seem to be some common evolutionary need for people to have those two things…think europe, Africa, Asia, Oceana the americas, etc…Are there other things that every culture has in common besides those two things (and the basic will to survive?)

and another thing….
I’m really tired of (americans) people citing a movie as something “historical”…yeah it’s great that you saw a movie based on historical events (thirteen days – anything really) -, but “movies” aren’t real…even if they claim to be “based on actual events” or even a “documentary”…really if you’re interested in an event give yourself some credibility by actually reading books of people who were at those “actual events” even if those people’s opinion of events don’t jive with whatever you’ve been told….also if you’re actually interested in said “historical event” please read more than one book or person opinion of what happened. They won’t agree…

and….
“the fog of war” was an excellent “documentary” which is largely based on an interview(s) with Robert McNamara (bloody irish-americans).

and other songs that affected me tonight
Raconteurs – Blue Veins
White Stripes – Dead Leaves and dirty Ground

a million others, but I’m just tired now….

eating eel in Poland

Last night went to a castle/resort thing…It was about an hour bus ride and out in the country…beautiful location. Beautiful building…We were serenaded by some traditional polish musicians. The group drank a LOT of wine, followed by Polish Vodka (which I’m beginning to think is the real purpose of a “workshop”). So much wine in fact that people were singing on the bus on the trip back…and there was also some climbing into the luggage rack inside the bus (not involved).

anyways got to sit outside by myself and just listen to the birds singing…was kind of strange to be in such a peaceful place…I don’t think I’ve been so far from a city since I moved to Deutschland.
I said to one of the Polish guys that our hotel here is not really Poland, but the place last night felt like Poland, but in reality that was probably stupid because I don’t think too many people live in castles and wear traditional Polish clothes and sing…

Had eel for I think the first time ever…all the americans seemed disgusted by the thought of eating eel. I decided to try it (anything once…) and it actually wasn’t bad…I don’t think I’d ever order it cuz it was a bit strange, but I’ve had much worse food and I’m glad that’s another food I can take off my list…

I look english?!?

Uhhhh…so dinner at the Italian restuarant….We had a preprepared menu of either Cucumber soup or fish soup (appetizer)…I had the cucumber soup, but to me it was basically salad dressing with a bit of feta in the middle…it was actually OK…

Main course was either Beef Shoulder with some sort of noodle, or fish with some sort of noodle….Honestly it wasn’t very italian to me….I asked one of the polish guys if this was italian and he said no….So OK….it was Polish food at an italian restaurant……what a country!!!!!

Uhhhh…the coolest american I’ve  met so far is a guy who’s lived in Italia for the last 12 years or so…Good guy….

The Polish have invited me for a visit on holiday…..If they were american I wouldn’t think they meant it, but I find that Europeans actually mean stuff like this when they say it….

A norwegian said to me that I looked English after I told him my grandparents were english…To me there is no “english” look, but OK. I’ll accept it as a compliment….

I did get to sit next to important people at dinner…Tor from Norway is one cool dude even if he’s the bossman of Norway C-Map. we were going to have some Irish whiskey, but the polish/Italian restaurant did not have any irish whiskey so we had to settle for wine…Tor Rocks!!!!

My foot has gigantic bruise on it, but a colleague will bring a screwdriver tomorrow so I shall try to fix my mess…

I know some of my german friends aren’t fond of Italians, but I’ve met 4 italians and I think they are all cool, so I am dismissing the Germans opinions on this topic until I meet 5 italians that I find to be annoying…

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