Carat Erfurt

... wurde auch heute bekannt gegeben: laut Info ein Tausendjähriger Birmese mit Physik- und Deutschdiplom - das Foto lässt jedoch eher auf einen Tippfehler beim Geburtsdatum schließen...

Insgesamt ein recht ereignisreicher Tag und auch die erste Rundmail an Freunde und Bekannte über meine drohende Abreise habe ich versandt, übermorgen folgt dann noch eine an die Kollegen:
Ich bin dann mal fort...bilden.

... and umpteen showers upstairs. Then half way up the stairs a landing leads off into a room just for washing up. There are even trouser presses and an ironing room. It's all a bit different from last night's stop in a forest layby. The campsite is heavily wooded, so you don't really feel you are on the edge of a capital city. A really nice quiet place to return to after a busy day touristing in Berlin. Which is exactly what I am going to start tomorrow, if the rain stops, that is.

... bring my motorcycle to the front of the hotel so that I could load my stuff, I hadn't put my helmet on. This was a definite no-no. The Police weren't leaving until I had my helmet on. Sheesh! Oh well, at least I didn't get a ticket. As I'm putting my stuff on the motorcycle it starts raining. Looks like my first day of riding will be in the rain. All suited up and it's time to hit the road...that is...after a couple of detours. Oops! Dead end! Then I can't ...

... A month or so ago on a Saturday, Martin (my old flatmate) and I took our bikes on the train up to Ilmenau a city up in the Thuringer Wald and then biked back along the Ilm river bikeway. The trip was only about 80km and mostly downhill, but the scenery and weather were lovely, and we had a real fun time. The opportunities for outdoor stuff here are quite wonderful and give me a chance to get exercise besides the couple of kilometers to ...

... went wine tasting that night, but we thought this was an excursion we could save on - as plenty of excellent wine tasting trips that we can do to Barossa Valley back home anytime. So we made the room up and went to the bar for a 'night cap', seeing everyone else was off wine tasting and not much else to do in the village! Everyone else came back to the bar, and started to get noisy - must be very good business for a small ...

... as two of the office support staff announced that they were leaving for new opportunities. I had no clue that this was going to happen, and by looking around at the faces in the room could see the same look on all of the male faces in the room. Apparently the women had been gossiping for weeks about the impending change which I thought was hilariously stereotypical. But it is very interesting how an international school works ...

... the official announcement in the next email. Let the rumors begin!!

Saturday we go to visit the Anna Amalia Library. This is the place that burned in 2004 and houses some really important old books. It reopened in Dec. but I hadn’t made it in yet. It is expensive, in part because they are trying to raise money for the restoration efforts. However, I can say that it was absolutely worth it. It’s definitely the most beautiful library I’ ...

... and from work daily...that really makes you aware of the wind/rain/snow or cold. While sometimes a cozy automobile sounds like a nice way to commute to work, there’s something tangible about riding a bike…you can almost feel the saved CO2 emissions!

The week is a fairly regular one. My classes went pretty well, although I gave another test for my 8th grade math class, and they did not do very well. It’s so frustrating ...

... in the afternoon. I met Anne in Iguazu, Argentina back a couple of years ago at a hostel and we hit it off back then and kept in touch. When I moved to Germany I told her, and we have been trying to visit each other for a while, but we are both travelers and it hasn’t worked out until now!

She arrives mid-afternoon on the train from Halle, and I walk to the train station to meet her. It was really weird to see her get off the train, and I ...

... cement rendered chalet with flowered balconies and olde worlde foyer...and busy. There was a wedding reception on as we arrived and another dinner was being prepared for the evening. We were given the last room and it was a beauty. It was very big and overlooked the street. It must have been one of the better rooms but we were only charged for a regular at 76 Euros a night. We took a short walk around the village and were amazed at the ...