Koln, Germany

For Valentines Day this year, we went to Koln, Germany. In English, it is said "Cologne". It is 2 hours south of Munster. We took a train ride to get there and it was beautiful.
This is the famous Rhine River:

Koln is like a fairy tale. All the streets look like this. The Romans settled the town and it is most known for the annual "carnival".

People were dressed up all over the place for the carnival. I snuck a picture of some of them. There was also an artist drawing on the sidewalk outside. It was so amazing, I had to take a picture:

This is a view of the whole city of Koln. It's enchanting. More so than Munster. The picture of all 4 of us girls jumping is outside of the Koln "dome". The soccer fans were cheering at us because they are so hard core about the games here. It was so fun.

This is the Koln Dome. The architecture of this place is amazing. I also took a picture of the archway which had figures hand crafted. Most of this catholic cathedral is original. Some windows, etc have been restored since WWII, but most is original. It took 600 years to complete.

This is my favorite stain glass window. It is made of the brightest colors all in little squares. And I got a picture of the gorgeous reflection of the colors on the walls and pillars. That was my favorite part of the dome.

McCord and I thought is was funny that this statue is holding a "holy hand granade" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And also shown is one of the many stain glass windows with people:

After 500 steps to the very tippy top of the dome, you could look over Koln:

This is the gold box where they believe that this contains the holy scriptures of the 3 apostles:

The floor of the dome looks like carpet in the picture, but it had little stones about 2 cm long and it created a beautiful pattern. It must have taken the creaters forever to do the floor.

A picture of us and most of the inside of the dome:

Random: Brautwurst anyone? That's a lot of sausages!

New Callings

Germany has given us SO many opportunities here in Germany. All four of us have received callings. Sarah and I are the councelors in the Relief Society. McCord is the branch mission president, and Tristan is the sunday school president.

We are so excited to serve our little branch. There is so much that we can do and each of us are so excited to do our best. Little trivia to give you a perspective: The branch has about 15 members that attend church, and that's on a good day. We only go to 2 hrs of church services. On a good attendance day we have: 5 children, 6 women, and about 6-7 men.

Wii would like to play

We finally got the Wii up and running. Fun video of Tristan and McCord boxing:

Sofa excursion

After going for a run, Sarah and Marijke come dashing into the house screaming "Lisa! Lisa! You have to come help us get this couch!" We ended up speeding down the street to a pile of trash where a black leather couch was just chillin' waiting for us. We were thrilled to death be able to get the couch before the other guys who were eyeing it the same time we were.

We shoved the couch in the back of Marijke's car, but had nothing to hold it down with. So I layed on the couch and held the hatch with my hand. I had to be very careful because if the police find you in the back of a car, they will fine you and you'll get in trouble. So these are pictures of me hiding on the couch in the trunk.

We were so proud of ourselves that we moved the couch without any men. We had so much fun.

After getting it in the house, we found out that it looks absolutely hideous in the living room. We'll have to see what will become of it in the future.

We had so much fun! GIRL POWER BABY!

Munster - fun sites we see every day

Thought it would be great for family to see some things that we pass every day going to work. Hope you enjoy!

This is the Haptbaunhof of Munster. The transportation system here is circulated very well. Yes, you have to pay to use the public bathroom, as you also see here.

This is the Munster train station we walk to every sunday for church and every day to get to work. It takes us to the Haptbaunhof (main station). The sidewalks here in Germany are split. The red brick walks are for the bikes. If the police catch you walking on the bike path, you pay 20 euros. All the sidewalks are like this.

This is the biggest and best hotel in Munster. It's called the Hotel Kyserhof (sp?):

All around town we see these gold bricks in the ground. The students explained to us that they are little memorials for each of the jews from WWII. They put them in front of where that person lived. I think that is the coolest thing.

Inlingua classrooms (customs students)

Thought I'd put on some simple pictures of what our classrooms look like. They are not very big. You can see that my material is on the first desk by the pink ipod (my clock is on it). None of us have more than 10 chairs. Teaching is going so well, and all 4 of us love it.

GROUNDHOG DAY - Tribute to Craig

GROUNDHOG DAY (A tribute to Craig)

Many people have seen the famous movie GROUNDHOG DAY:

Hi dad, I know you love Groundhog Day, and it's been a tradition to watch the movie on groundhog day. I'm sorry that I couldn't make it this year. As pay back, I've decided to make this tribute to you and the fam with some pictures from the show, and our favorite quotes.

"Who could go for some flap-jacks right now."

"Don't drive angry."

"Mom always said....Oh ya, don't drive on the railroad tracks." "Uh, I happen to agree with that one."

"I make the weather."

"Don't you worry about cholesterol?" Phil: "Why?"

"It's me. Ned. RYERSON!"

"BING!"

Video trailer URL is attached below: Everyone should see the trailer.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1709376281/

Love you dad! Sorry to the Day family for missing the party. I know mom always makes it BIG!

Lisa's New Hair cut - Jan 09

Das Haus

The house we are staying in is very nice and we are so grateful that the Bartels have let us watch it for them. I thought I'd post some pictures of das haus and some things that are different.
Here she is:

I think that the germans have to keep their yards spick and span, so I took a picture of how perfect all the bushes are in the neighboring houses. This is an example:

As you come into the front door, there is a nest of ostrich eggs sitting on the table for decor. Pretty cool, huh?

This is our bedroom in the picture below. There is no carpet anywhere in the house. Yes, we each are on a twin bed. Makes it hard to snuggle and sometimes we squish onto one twin bed at night. The mattresses are egg shell foam and they only use bottom sheets here. We have a down comforter on to cover and that's it. The boards sometimes fall out from under McCord's bed, as you can see in the picture, but we just put them back on the frame and no big deal. =)

The house has 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. This is a picture of the sauna that's in the basement:

This is the living room. We all spend a great deal of time in here preparing lessons and watching Heroes and American Idol.

The electrical plugs are different here. What do you think? I don't think our plugs are going to fit in these:

(Don't worry, parents, we have sufficient converters for our needs)

The light switches are different too. You push them in and out to go on and off, and you twist them to dim or brighten the lights. It took some getting used to for this.

We take care of the cat here. Shadow is much like a dog, she is trained well. I think it is funny that she drinks from the bathroom fauset:

Garbage! It's so complicated. You have to separate the garbage into 4 different categories: paper, plastic, bio stuff, and the rest. This drawer holds the garbage and the garbage cans. You put the different garbage out on the street every two weeks. If you do not separate it, they will fine you and not pick up your trash for 2 weeks.

I had to take a picture of the "leechy berry". You crack the shell and inside the berry is very delicious and sweet. The texture is like and eye ball.

Can anyone tell me how to work the dryer/washer? It's all in german.

I really know how to work it. It's just cool that it's all in German.

New American Idol Judges

Due to recent drops in ratings, the producers of American Idol have decided to replace the exhisting judges with new faces:

Dinner with Uncle Brik

Brik came to visit us in Germany while doing business in Europe. He took all 4 of us out to dinner at a restaurant downtown. It was so fun and so delicious. We all got to practise our german in ordering and our waitress spoke a little english, which was nice. The food was amazing. They do fried potatoes really well here. We all loved the food and hope to have more great experiences of tasting fantastic food. Thanks Uncle Brik, we all had a blast!

Inlingua teachers!

WE GOT JOBS! We will be teaching English at the Inlingua school here in Munster. It is right across the street from the haptbaunhof (the "grand central" of Munster). We start training this Wednesday and will start teaching whenever they think we are ready. Probably will start in February with classes about 8-10 students.

Job interviews in Germany

We both got job interviews last friday at a school right next to the train station. The school is called Inlingua. Our interviews on friday went well and the interviewer, Patrick, seeemed to like us both. He asked to come back today, Monday, for a second interview. We are to prepare a lesson for someone who doesn't speak ANY english at all. Lisa has prepared her lesson on shopping and McCord's lesson will be introductions and some other basics. Wish us both luck. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Out for a REAL italian dinner

We had the chance to go to a REAL italian restaurant but the menus were in German and everything. I got water to drink, but here the water they bring you is sparkling water. It's not as good as Sprite though. =) It was nice that they had numbers by the dishes so we could tell them our order in numbers, because that's the bulk of german that we know. In the picture with us is Henk and Marijke. The food was amazing. They italian food in the states (AKA Olive Garden) will never taste the same to us. It just doesn't compare! The pastas were fantastic!

TV shows

We have many tv shows that we have enjoyed over the past years. There are some great writers and producers that can come up with some great entertainment.

HEROES:
This is our favoirte tv show and we have never missed an episode. McCord loves the superheroes and Lisa loves the suspense and mystery mixed with science. Season 4 will start soon and we cannot wait.

Most of America is following American Idol and most of you know that season 8 has started. We plan to follow this season and are excited about the new judge.

Chuck:

This is a comedy that we have just started this month and love it. We are now all caught up on the episodes and would recommend it to family and friends to watch.

Momma's Boys:

Reality TV shows are all over the place. We have enjoyed watching this one because A: it is a Ryan Seacrest show, and B: because it is a short season and entertaining.