Downtown

Here are some pictures of the city...I only have a couple right now. I'll add some more soon. The street signs are written in both German and Sorbian, which is a language that has almost died, but the government here has laws that require them to do things to preserve the language and the culture of the Sorbian people.


This is a picture of the city's south tower, which is also
marks the end of the old city wall.










And finally this car has a snorkel and is also probably the biggest car I've seen since I got here... obviously a foreigner's car or something.

Some exploring

Yesterday I rode my bike around to do some sight-seeing. First I rode to Branitzer Park where pyramid tombs are (another picture in first blog.) The tomb shown in both pictures is where Prince Pückler is buried, and the picture from farther away was taken from the pyramid where Princess Pückler was buried on the other side of the lake. Prince Pückler is known here for having invented Neopolitan (spelled wrong??) ice cream. So they call it Prince Pückler ice cream. Do we call it Neopolitan cos we consider Napoleon the creator??















Then I rode down a bike path in the woods from the tombs to the city zoo. There was an entrance to the zoo from the bike trail, and I thought it was so cool that it was free and you could ride right in and ride your bike through the zoo. Then when I tried to exit that way, the gate was locked. Apparently that was an employee only entrance, and my roommates told me later that night that there is a fee to get in. Ha ha!...suckers!
And they even had meercats!
The peacocks were allowed to wander around wherever they wanted. This one kept getting closer...






and closer while I was eating









until...










It ganked one of my fries! (that happened about a half a second after this picture was taken.)

180 degree view from my balcony

The night picture is from last Sunday when we had fish and potatoes and Italian vegetables on the grill and ate outside with the neighbors. That's my roommate Kristin and her boyfriend Adrian.

Moving in

These were taken on my first night in Cottbus. My roommates were nice enough to fix dinner for me. From Left to right: Molly (the dog), Eva, Matthias and Kristin. That's my room on the right. It looks slightly more lived in now...I have a table, and more pictures up and a couple of posters (The Muppet Show and Pulp Fiction :) )

Orientation in Altenberg

After Cologne, we went to Altenberg which was a little less than an hour away by bus. I wrote about it below too. You can see the 4 cows in the picture on the right.

Cologne

This is Cologne. On my last day there I had to check out of the youth hostel at 9:30 a.m. and our bus didn't come until 4, so I walked around with my 100lb luggage and took some pictures. The one on the left is taken from the top of this high rise building across the street from the youth hostel. You can take an elevator up to the roof. The one on the right was just funny. It was part of one of the museum's current exhibitions. If you look close, you can actually see that statue in the picture on the right too.

I'm in Cottbus!

Okay, well I'm having trouble uploading my pictures right now...too bad. I am here and I like my apartment and my roommates and the city. The apartment has a cute little balcony and back yard with a small garden. Two of my roommates are dating and have a dog, so until they move out in a couple of months, I have a cute dog to help take care of. One of the teachers from the school where I work gave me a tour of the city on Saturday. The same guy happens to be in the local soccer team's fan club and is getting me a ticket to a home game in two weeks. It will be a ticket to stand in the crazy fan section. He was glad I used to play soccer, because it's a rule that any girl in the fan section must be able to explain what offsides is if she wants to stay in the section. My roommates and I have cooked out a couple of nights, and on Saturday they took me to a concert. I went to the school for the first time today, but I didn't teach, instead, I sat in on a German class for practice...I really need it, cos I have trouble understanding and talking to my roommates. Doing well, and I hope to get the pictures posted soon. Til then!

Just a quick update

Until today about 200 of us had to share one phone and one computer...They've now set up a wireless connection here so I borrowed someone's computer to get online, and OU's e-mail is down I guess-- so I'll update everyone on here quick. I'm at orientation right now, and it's a lot like being at camp because a bunch of us are all quarantined here together. We're in a beautiful tiny little town in the hills that consists of an old monestery (that might be spelled wrong??) attached to a cathedral where we stay, two little hotels, four cows, and that's it. We've been doing a lot of teaching practice, and then filling in paperwork and finding out how to set up bank accounts, then we have the evenings to get to know people here. We had to lock our luggage in the basement of the place and only take a small bag of stuff with us to our rooms, and I did a horrible job of packing. Luckily today is the last day, because I'm out of clean clothes. I forgot to bring shampoo and soap up with me (yes, I borrowed some), and I didn't bring my computer up. But it's been okay...met two girls who would be in Cottbus close to where I am, and then a couple of people will be in Potsdam which isn't too far, so we can all visit each other. And tonight there's a cabaret/talent show. When I get into Cottbus, I post a more exciting update with pictures I took and what not. Til then!