26 October 2003 ---JOURNAL ENTRY TWENTY-SEVEN---
23 October 3:30pm Cafe Europa (where this was written)
"I woke up at 7am, read some stuff on the internet and tried to wake up in general. Then about 7:45, I made it downstairs and onto the bike, headlight and all, and rode approximately six minutes to Studentenwerk for my 8am-9:30 Beginners class. We learned some new words, put them into sentences when we could and then I played "Something" by the Beatles as a way of having them do a listening exercise. It went over faily well (especially when getting paid 30euro/hour!!!) and then I had to leave class a few minutes early, ride my bike up to Bertold's Brunnen about 3 minutes away where I waited for the number 5/6 tram which was to come at 9:37am. I took that for about 7-10 minutes to Hornustrasse and dislodged myself from the comfortable warm seat. I bought a pastry and waited for the SBG 7206 bus to take me to Mooswaldallee. It did. I walked from that buss top about 5-7 minutes to the front gate of Pfizer an American pharmaceutical manufacturer. I had a 10:15 lesson with 6 students in their early, early twenties. They are unmotivated and shy to speak. I brought my funny gray furry hat and threatened that whoever spoke German would have to wear it. By the end of the class they all had to wear it. That lesson went as well as could be expected. I left Pfizer and waited at a new bus stop across the street from the one I normally wait for and lo and behold, it was the same busdriver as before. It was now 12:03pm and I had made 94euro ($106US) for three hours of work. Not bad for an auslander!
I made it home by 12:40 or so and made some lunch with my girlfriend Assiyeah. We had pfannudeln (pan noodles) with onions, tuna, mushrooms and tomato sauce and I chilled out a bit, but nothing of note and at 2:20 I was back out of the house taking the number 1 tram and then the number 12 bus to Cronenstrasse where I had a 3pm class with three wonderful mothers who have children who learn English simultaneously in the next room.
Come 4pm, I had a small break and thus wandered off to a small cafe near Rolf's apartment. A capuccino cost only 1,20euro but the decorations were sparse but still, it had a comfortable couch for me to enjoy my readings so I was contented.
I had a little more time to kill and went into the train station, at first surprised that the two different trains I could take to my next lessons left at times other than I had thought. I deliberated over what newspaper to buy, not so much to read but for future English classes. I want to be become a better English teacher, ya see, and after parting with 5,10euro for a large Sunday Edition of the Times from London, I then remembered that I wanted to check out the new Spotlight magazine. This month's issue hada little booklet with grammar exercises. I bought it.
I ended up taking the 17:06 train instead of the 17:24 with the idea of finding food other than a doner kebap for dinner. I found a metzgerei (look it up!) and bought some leberwurst mit gewuerze and kaese, a brotchen and some kartoffelsalat. It was then I received a call from Andy from Munich about the Ben Harper show that is to take place in two weeks in Strasbourg, France. He got me all pumped up about it. All this while I ate my chill and tasty meal (2,52euro) at the Emmendingen bus stop. I saw a guy get transferred from one ambulance to another, and then Tamara came at 17:50 to pick me up for my two Business English classes (same lesson plans though!) and after them, got a ride form Waldemar from Khazakstan to the train station.
The 21:16 train came and arrived in Freiburg at 21:35 where a few minutes later I took the number 1 tram to Brauerei Ganther and and then was in my front door around 9:55pm. "
After that, I futzed around the apartment while my girlfriend, roommate and another girl (and I) watched Deutschland sucht den Superstar, an American Idols knock-off show and finally got into bed at midnight and had to wake up at 7am this morning for another course. Those are my only two early mornings and they make the days super long but anyway, how was your day?
Well, there ya go, that was my day Wednesday, a bit busier than normal but...
As far as other news, here it is in snippets: I bought three cds for the first time in months and months (The Thrills, Johnny Cash, and Snoop Doggy Dogg to give you an idea...), went to the soccer game yesterday (we lost to Bremen 4-2, but we got some good heckling in), I am going to Frankfurt practically for no reason but to see a band I haven't heard who are friends with a band I am friends with (Canyon), and then two days later off to Strasbourg to see Ben Harper. There is a lot in the works, as you can see. peace!
