Friday, January 20, 2012

What's in a year?

As people tend to do when a new year dawns, I can't help but look back at the previous year and reflect on things. I have to admit that 2011 was definitely a big year for me, and rather fun at times. We've accomplished a lot over the course of 2011. We spent time with old friends and met new ones, celebrated time with our families, played some truly awesome video games, visited some amazing location... but here are some of the highlights of the year:

Friday, January 13, 2012

A story of Hair and water

So just in case all the guys out there are not familiar with a certain unpleasantness that comes from living with a woman I'm going to fill you in, ladies should be mostly aware of this already. Woman apparently have this uncontrollable, and at times gross, ability to shed. Now I'm not talking "oh look a few hairs are stuck in my brush", no I'm talking "dear god! Where did this miniature Cousin It come from and why is it trying to attack me?!"

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Schlittschuhfahren!

Our little outdoor rink
The holiday season has ended here in Germany (and still no snow in BS), which means no more Weihnachtsmarkts. Though before the end of Mariko's vacation from work we wanted to go ice-skating, as the outdoor rink here was almost ready to close down. So we check the times and price and headed into Downtown BS!

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

The Bielefeld Conspiracy

Bielefeld, Germany has a population of 323,000 and it located in the most populated German state, Nordrhein-Westfallen.....and a large number of Germans believe the town does not actually exist. The leading questions to this cause are:
  1. Do you know anybody from Bielefeld?
  2. Have you ever been to Bielefeld?
  3. Do you know anybody who has ever been to Bielefeld?

3 Cities- 1 Day

Dec 31st is more commonly referred to as New Years Eve, the last day of the old year where friends and family celebrate and bring in the new. For Mariko and I its usually more of a night of relaxing and one of the few times that we go to bed before midnight.... not sure why, we just usually do. This year was different for us. We had just finished our Christmas trip to Sweden plus the extension to Baden-Baden and we we now on our way to bring in the new year with some of our Fulbright friends.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

New poll!!


There is a new poll over on the right hand side!  I am curious to see how many readers I have in each country that I have page hits from. It'll take about five secs and you can pat yourself on the back for being nice!

Bathing-Bathing

Baden-Baden, a small German town located in the western foothills of the Black forest just 13 mins from the French border. It is renowned for its spas and thermal springs.... and it was the next stop on Mariko and my Christmas (now more of a Holiday) Vacation.

Headed home..... maybe?

After a wonderful Christmas weekend, Mariko and I were headed back to Germany. We were dropped off in Kittilä, Finland (where we flew into) by the lodge from Sweden. We were staying overnight and flying out the next day, mainly due to price.... flights didn't go out often from Kittilä and were cheaper near the middle of the week.

Sadly there was not much to do in Kittilä, it actually reminded me of those towns out in the Midwest that mainly exist for gas stations and food for people traveling through.... one blink and its gone. We had a leisurely meal in one of the only restaurants we saw. Luckily it was pizza, which is generally easy to understand what is what. Though the Finnish must love pineapple, because out of there 25 flavors of pizza at least 5 of them had pineapple on it.