Grab bag

Prepare yourself: this post is going to be very long. To make it easier to follow (and so you can skip the parts you don't care about) I'll number it.

1. I am an idiot
2. Interesting facts
3. Work vs. non-work
4. America's excess

Here we go.

1. I am an idiot.

Pretty self explanatory, honestly. It's amazing how many times I am able to embarrass myself in one day.. I should win a medal or something. There are many reasons why I am an idiot, none of which are appropriate to explain here. If you really want to know, ask me, and I'll tell you. Maybe.

2. Interesting facts

- I saw someone on a bike get hit by a car yesterday. Not bumped, hit. The bike was crossing an intersection, and a car came out from another street and ran into it going approx 15 mph. I went for a late run at around 10:00pm near Prinzregentenplatz and all of the sudden I heard a huge crunch, followed by a biker limping towards the sidewalk. I had two very inappropriate reactions: the first thought I had was the Dane Cook joke about how he wants to see someone get hit by a car before he dies, and my second thought was "I KNEW these fucking bike lanes were a problem!" I didn't know enough German to be much help to a biker in shock, but there was another pedestrian there who helped out.

- Puff is dying and I won't get to say goodbye. I am very sad.

- Someone remind me to buy sunglasses, a watch, and a German SIM card for my phone. Thanks :)

- Also remind me to download some German music, because it's fucking awesome.

- It rains a lot in Munich, and I always leave my umbrella at work. I get soaked on the way in, and on the way out. I'm really smart. Also, I have these adorable green shoes... that kill my feet. Every morning I look at them and go, "cute! I should wear these today." Two hours later, I want to burn them. Someday I will figure this out.

- My mom keeps telling me to find a cute German boy to spend the summer with, "It shouldn't be that hard, you're in Germany for christs sake!" Alright, alright, I'm working on it... we'll see.

3. Work vs. non-work

I am a completely different person at work and at home. When I was younger, this used to happen with school. I'm not doing a very good job explaining this, so I'll give you some examples.
Music: at work, I listen to Norah Jones and John Mayer; at home, I listen to 'Lil Rob "Bring out the Freak in you" and Wisin & Yandel "Sexy Movimiento." Very different.
Clothing: at work, cardigans and dresses; at home, naked time.
Humor: at work, I am very quiet and have no real sense of humor; at home, I am full of sarcasm and goofiness.
Speech: at work, I use please, thank you, and sorry excessively; at home, I swear like a sailor.

I can't figure this out, but oh well. Worktime = serious time, but I'm not a serious person usually.

4. America's Excess

I realize that when the settlers landed, the New World was supposed to be bigger and better than the Old. 200 years later, our concept of grandeur includes a lot of waste. Aside from being teased endlessly about having Bush as our president, I have been told to separate green glass from clear glass or brown glass for recycling purposes. I am not complaining - I think it's wonderful that people here have the foresight to take initiative for the environment, and I'm not normally a tree-hugging kind of person. Here, people have one car per family- and even if they have more than one, cars here are much more efficient. At home, three gas-guzzling SUV's per family was not uncommon. In Europe, people don't bitch about their government spending money to make public transportation a reliable way to get around. In Minnesota, people are grumbling about expanding the light rail system, even as the average commute climbs upwards of two hours per day.

Prepare yourself, this statement is not appropriate for small childeren or people from the South: America is not the greatest country in the world.

Yes, there are good things about America. Great things. But that does not mean we know everything, or that our way of doing things is best.

Just some food for thought.


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