Amrath Hotel Max Heerlen

... one for 50 Euro, so I was a little suspicious of this price. So I decided to go to the other mattress place...across town. Got on a couple different buses and eventually made it there. These mattresses were the same price, and big slabs of foam with a covering. I felt a little uncertain about spending 100 euro on a big foam slab, so when the lady was talking to some other customers I slipped out. Soooo back to the first store. The salesguy ...

... and got a few things checked off of the list: Met with the rental guy and looked at the apartment and took some pictures of the apartment, then went to the bank and finished my damage deposit account and set it up so my rent will automatically be paid on the last day of every month.

I decided that I won't be able to go to Oktoberfest, at least not in Munich this year, anyway. I will try to go to another festival somewhere ...

... account
4 THEN go to school and teach a class completely by myself about utopian society
5. then come back and look for a mattress
6. call Nil when I find a mattress so she can help me move it in
7. come back here and pack up my stuff and take some it to the new place.

sometime gotta find time to

1. get signed up for internet so I can write to you all at my new ...

After popping into and out of Germany, we were now back in Belgium. It was beginning to get a bit dark, and we still had at least 200 miles left to drive.

Gaz's motor was struggling, and threatening to overheat, so we stopped to let it cool down.

With the vehicles all decorated with stickers, we attracted a bit of attention, and a Belgian couple took our ...

Once in Elsloo, we stopped to find postcards (having completely missed the observations again), only to find that the only card shop was closed that afternoon.

Up the road a bit, and Kieran was dropping a card into the door of a Landy enthusiast they had met on the recce. The guy turned up at that moment, and so we were invited in for a refreshing cold drink. The Landyprikkers overtook us at that point, and went on their way. We then ...

... hope its free to get in! haha

Just fixed a pizza for dinner and watched Nil make a "birthday cake" for her friend. It was nothing like we would consider a birthday cake; it had mandaran oranges and crust and was all creamy. It looked delicious, nonetheless. I hope they bring a piece back for me!

Well gonna get ready for the church outing. Hope everything is going well for everyone back in the states!

Wednesday Sept 16 8:23 AM

So I am sitting in my first class at school now. It's a German class. The students are supposed to be reading a story and I am trying to type very quietly…

I was busy yesterday. Well the day before yesterday I went to an office in Aachen like city hall and registered myself and my address . It was the first part of a two part process that I have to complete in order to stay here ...

In Heerlan we check out the Best Western (Gary says it is the best bargain there) but it is full. At the clerk's suggestion, we try the Golden Tulip in town. Ha! It seems to say it is a Golden Tulip (a reasonable good chain) but it's not... it is affiliated with them, but this may be the worst room in the worst hotel of the trip. But everyone is tired and cranky, so we grab the rooms and head out to eat. We stop at ...

We 'trundled down past Maastricht towards Germany. The deviations were big ones but we still were able to make good time! The scenery was worth the deviations though. We past by some wonderful little towns and river gorges. Very nice bit of countryside. Will have to return there sometime, God willing!

... technology. Mind-blowing. Finally I gave in and we went to the viewing area for the Netherlands/Serbia and Montenegro game. The Netherlands flag is red, white and blue.... and their uniforms are completely orange!?! Don't ask me. The fans next to us kept singing, "Schade Deutschland, Holland ist dabei" to the tune of "Yellow Submarine" which means, "Too bad Germany, Holland is here".... stuck in my head for DAYS. The Germans around us responded by ...