GermanPunsAreZeWurst

The school year is coming to an end, and so is my stay here in Germany. Only a little over one more week, and I'll be back in the United States. I know I've done little to know blogging over the past 5 months, but I think over the next few days I'll do some reflection on my experiences, and recall the fun parts of my stay, and whatever else I wanna think about, cuz ya know: my blog, my rulez.   Let's discuss my travels, I guess:  I haven't really left Bremen as much as I'd hoped. However, the times I did get out, I really had a great time. 

Portugal. 

We got on a plane in Bremen, where it was chilly: coats and all our winter garb. It had been like this for months. Not a glimpse of the sun during my stay yet. The three hour flight goes by pretty slow when you are being poked and prodded by your friends, but we had a couple of laughs. We touched down in our wintery attire, and the first thing we noticed was SUN! Within minutes we were carrying our coats and taking off our hats. It was 50 degrees at best, but it was the best weather we'd seen yet.  Flash forward an hour or two and we make it to my friend's house where we are staying. She, of course, isn't with us, do to the whole kids situation, but she allowed us to stay in her house nonetheless. We expected her brother to be there, but we did not expect the house to be in such rough shape. Flies, grime, and dog hair was in surplus. We left for an hour to grab a few groceries, and when we got back the place was spotless. The state of the house deteriorated over the week though, as we found dog peeps and poops in our room.  Touring Porto was the best, though. Probably my favorite part of the trip was tossing out our maps and relying on our sense of direction to get us from place to place. We found ourselves climbing to the tallest parts of the city, snapping pictures, running from rain, and purchasing some alcohol, and when we got to the top, we would point to some destination and make our way there. My friend and her husband gave us a list of destinations that we had to see, and we managed to stumble upon them all. I got a lot of comments from the peanut gallery for taking longer than necessary routes, but I think the legs of the journey were greater than the final sum. 

We quickly learned that keeping a bottle of Port or wine in the backpack led to some pretty opportune moments.  We dedicated one day to walking along the beach, but first we had to get there. Finding the bus was an absolute mess. It definitely was not a "five minute walk from the house" but whatevs. After the half hour bus ride, we were dropped off at a castle. It was small, but whatevs. A hobo charged us a euro to get inside but whatevs. And when we reached the top of the castle, it started to drizzle but whatevs. Then it started to pour. We ducked under one of the castle turrets on the roof, and broke out our bottle of port, taking sips, passing it on, and sharing comments which turned into memories.  

The sky cleared up, and we continued walking, and our bellies started growling. So, we were in search of food. Along the way we climbed trees, challenged our fear of bridges and peed off of a "bano peligroso". Finally, we arrived at what seemed to be a restaurant. 

The building was built almost completely of windows, and we were colored impressed. From further inspection of the menu, we saw it was pretty cheap for such an extravagant facade. But we also learned it was a Pizza Hut. Fuck pizza hut. I wanted to eat somewhere local. I could eat pizza at home, dammit. But whatevs. I was outvoted. We ordered sangria and I made the best of it. Although, only one of us actually got pizza. Stupid pizza hut.  When we left, the sun was setting over the sea, and we had stumbled onto a rocky coastline. We sat down on the rocks and broke out the rest of our port. For me, this was a highlight. We sat on the rocks, watched the sun set, and passed around the bottle. We weren't too far from the path, and often got a couple glances from the locals, but whatevs. 

We had an inkling to stay in Lisbon for a night, but there was a problem: we had no way to book a room. So, we did what any savvy tourist would do: find an internet cafe. Well, we found one, but it was a poop-hole. The computers were still running windows xp, but I guess I can forgive that because it's Portugal. Anyway we managed to book a hotel two days later we are on our way.  Lisbon is a beautiful city, with delicious french bakeries, but their strip joints are loud. 

Finally it was time to go home. It was a rainy day, and I decided I wasn't gonna walk from the house to the tram stop, I was gonna run. I reached the underground platform before the other two, and I had noticed a guy came in right behind me. I waited on the stairs for them to catch up, luggage in tow. When we walked down to the transfer floor, I noticed the guy was just standing around. We went down another level, and he went down another level. We went down one last level to the train platform, and he had stopped. He was staring at us from the floor above in a not so subtle kinda way. Like legit staring. So twenty minutes go by and the train finally arrives. We hop on, and he is no where in sight, until we sit down. Looking behind us, I see that he is sitting right there. Right behind us. Finally we get off our train and into a mass of people. We get to the next platform and notice he is not so far behind us on the stairs. Thankfully he noticed tram security on the platform and turned around.

I've been working a lot in the elementary school, too. Second and third grades doing Peace through Play stuff. 

We get together, do a shake out and get a little silly. I ask them a few questions about the theme of the day (themes like friendship, expressing feelings, cooperation, and leadership), and then we play some games that have to do with the themes. At the end, we make collages around central questions that have to do with the themes cuz there are 25 of them, and I can't ask them to sit still while I ask questions. 

I actually really enjoy it, and the teachers say they have seen a positive change in behavior. 

On Saturday, Sarah, an intern from the UK, took me around the city. We covered pretty much all of it within an hour. I'll cut to the chase and upload the pictures now, I guess.