The Displaced New Mexican

Oh yeah! Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is enjoying the holiday season. Thanks to everyone who sent holiday wishes and even to those of you who would, but are too shy to write comments :)

Dave and Lucas' European adventure part two: Munich

The train ride from Zurich to Munich was quite pretty; snowy landscapes and mountain towns. We of course tried to photograph some of what we saw, but it�s quite hard to make a good picture out the window of a fast moving train, nevermind the reflections on the glass. I had to put on my poker face when talking to the ticket taker, whose accent bounced like a rubber ball and whose head resembled one. Honestly, the Swiss accent is wacky. I�m not sure how it developed naturally without some sort of joke being involved. We got to Munich, checked into our hostel and set out for some grub. We finally found a good spot and filled our bellies. After eating we did a little more wandering around the city, strolling through the Oktoberfest grounds and checking out yet another old church, which wasn�t the best of all that we�ve seen. We were pretty worn from the previous couple days, so we took about an hour to rest in the hostel. The room was set up for four and we thought we were going to have it to oursleves for a while, but then came a knock at the door. In came a young couple from Seattle, Justin and Kelly. We chatted with them a bit, it turned out that Kelly, 20, had just finished a semester in Spain as well, so she and Lucas had something in common. Nineteen-year-old Justin, her boyfriend, came over to do a little European traveling with her. Lucas and I have to be suspicious of any strangers sharing a room with us due to the valuable equipment we carry, but these kids were friendly, respectful and perhaps even mildly afraid of the two scruffy hooligans they got paired with so we felt quite safe having them in our room. The evening had come up on us and Lucas and I were in need of dinner. All of our tour books said that the beer halls were the cheapest way to go, so we came to grips with the fact that we were tourists and headed out for the world-famous Hofbr�uhaus.

You know those famous giant beer maids? Nope. All dudes.

The kids came along and we sat ourselves down at a long wooden table. Was it gimmicky? Yes. Was it full of Americans and Japanese people, slurring their way through an oom-pa rendition of Country Roads? Yes. Did we love it anyway, stuffing ourselves with sausage, sauerkraut, pretzels and one-liter glasses of beer? Yes.

The Seattlites. Is he taking a sip or getting ready to take a swim?

"This giant beer is electrifyingly good!"

After dinner the kids went back to the hostel and to bed and Lucas and I set out to check out the city at night, which we found to be quite closed. We came back to the hostel to find the lobby/bar to be full of Australians and Americans. We chatted with a few of them for a while and made plans with eachother to visit the Dachau concentration camp early the next morning before we had to leave at 1:30. We woke the next morning around 10:30, much later than the expected 7:00, but neither of us have any recollection of the watch going off. The kids had already left, leaving us a sheet of paper with their email addresses and a note telling us how much fun they had. Too late for Dachau, we walked the streets some more, this time they were full of people, both tourists and real Bavarians wearing real Bavarian clothes, which I find to be quite nice with good colors.

In Munich, you can wear this and still be cool. My kinda town.

At noon we joined the herd of expectant foreigners to watch the giant glockenspiel in the Rathaus tower come to life. At about 12:05 we were beginning to suspect that all the locals were giggling behind their great curly mustaches at these fools who actually believed that that thing moved, but then it started to turn. It turned, bells rang, we added it to our mental list of famous stuff we�ve seen and moved on. The time for us to board our train was near, so we made a slow loop through more of the downtown area and listened to a couple street performers on our way back to the train station.

This guy has a great job. He turns the crank on his music machine and when someone gives him some change he takes off his hat.

The train ride from Munich to Dortmund could have been more comfortable. It was pretty much totally booked up and we had a lot of stuff (I should have had more but if you don�t already know about that, read the next entry). We had no seats so we had to stay in the section between two cars the whole time. I stood up from Munich to Frankfurt, where enough people got off to allow me to sit on the floor. To make things worse, the ticket taker informed us that the (extremely rude) woman in Zurich who sold Lucas his ticket gave him the wrong one and he had to pay more to stay on the train. I guess nobody got away totally clean. Aside from any setbacks, I wish I had more time in both cities, particularly Munich, to take in more and see some things that were closed for the holidays. We are now camped out in my room in Dortmund until Tuesday, when we begin part three: The Netherlands.

Dave and Lucas' European adventure part one: Zurich.

My train left for Zurich at 5:30 am on December 24th. That was fine, except for the fact that the last bus to the train station left around midnight. I didn�t really feel like springing for a taxi all by myself at 5 am or so, so I took the last bus and waited all night in the train station. It was interesting to me because I got to watch the station throughout different stages of the night, crazy folks, weary travelers, the morning newspaper and bakery deliveries. At 4 am in a train station, no one seems to be quite right in the head, and that includes you. Finally my time came and I boarded my ride to Switzerland. I crawled into a second-class car, got my ticket checked, pulled my hat over my eyes and went to sleep. I drifted in and out until I needed to change trains and at around noon I arrived in Zurich. I pulled some weird-looking Swiss money out of a cash machine and set out to find my hostel. I had the instructions written on a piece of paper, so I set my bag down on a bench to pull them out. The way was pretty simple so I set out on foot rather than worrying about breaking one of my bills for some change to buy a tram ticket. I was nearly to the hostel when I realized that I was no longer carrying my duffel bag. It was already gone by the time I got back to the bench. I searched in vain for a while, hoping that it was in a nearby alley or something, but no luck. I was carrying all the really important stuff, camera, computer and such, but I did lose a few of my favorite shirts, some good underwear, my glasses and an electric razor. The police sent me to the lost and found and the lost and found told me to come back Monday morning. Obviously I can�t do that, being that I am already in Munich as I write this. Of course it was not cool to lose that stuff and I am not happy about it, but it really hasn�t been getting me down. I am not going to let something like that ruin my experience here. It might, however be taking a toll on some other people�s experiences, as I have been wearing the same clothes since Tuesday and I have another full day before I can get to new ones. Anyway, after I finally arrived at the Zic Zac Rock Hotel, a thinly veiled Hard Rock knockoff, I made my way to my quarters (the KISS room), to find my fellow photographer, Las Cruces buddy and now traveling companion, Lucas Coshenet, napping on the bed. He awoke to find me standing in the room, thrusting forth the two-fingered sign of rock �n� roll and proclaiming �KISS, dude!� His answer: �Nope, but a hug will do!�

A Christmas present for all the ladies:the man, the myth, the legend:Lucas

I was initially disappointed with the Zic Zac�s claimed rock �n� roll theme. Our room was totally void of anything KISS, and void of everything else save one portrait of Sting on the wall. However, my approval was won back when, walking back through the photo-laden hallway I noted a concert photo of Leonard Cohen and a set of four Hasselblad contact prints of Tom Waits. I later found two more portraits of Mr. Waits so that place shall now be considered Forever Awesome. Lucas and I caught up for a bit, sharing our experiences in different European countries for the passed several months. Then we hit the streets of Zurich, getting a bit of lunch at a nearby d�nner shop, one of roughly 500 on our street alone, it seemed. We tried to chase down my lost bag at the train station, but no luck. Then we just cruised around the steep and narrow streets, peering in windows filled with Swatches and Victoranox knives and taking photographs. It was really nice to travel with another photographer. No real agenda, just wander around and stop whenever you like to shoot. Parts of town were nicely lit with strands of light bulbs hanging from overhead cables giving the sense of being not under, but in a starry sky.

The Swiss can turn an ordinary street into a mystical wonderland

Most places were closed for Christmas so there was not much option for popping in to stores and such. We did find one pub open and stepped in to get out of the cold for a while. Zurich is an expensive town, and the smaller currency makes it seem even worse. Paying 8.50 for a drink or a d�nner is not too fun, even if it is in francs. Christmas Day was more of the same. Not much open, aside from the d�nner shops. We explored the streets, walked along the river and took photos.

In front of the main train station

Inside the train station. They really love those hangy-downy lights in that town

We kept this up well into the night, until we made our way back to the hotel and sat for a while in the bar at the basement, which was remarkably full, considering it was Christmas. Our train for Munich left early the next morning so we returned to our private palace to pack up and get some sleep.

Zurich is pretty

Merry Christmas from Z�rich

Hi everyone. I am in Z�rich, Switzerland on this Christmas Day and just wanted to say Merry Christmas. I am on a paid internet connectiona and have 40 seconds left so I will talk to you later. Hope you are having fun.

And, he's off!

The time has come for me to shut this thing down and head out, so I'll catch you all later. Merry Christmas!!

Long nights goodbye

Things are pretty quiet here right now. Most of the people I know have already left for home for the holidays. The past two nights have been quite long and there didn't seem to be a day at all today. Perhaps that is because I woke up at 5:00 p.m. Friday night was for Ana, who had a two-day bus ride to Romania starting at 5:00 a.m. Saturday. She didn't want to go to sleep Friday night in hopes of tiring herself out so she could sleep through as much of the ride as possible. She, myself, Maja and Mikko joined up to pass the night. A bowling outing had been suggested by Fran�ois and Jean-Philippe, but they called and found out that the bowling alley was already booked for the night and decided to leave early for France, leaving us to find something on our own. We decided that pool might be a good option, so Mikko consulted the Internet to find some billiard halls. As a result, we were able to see two of Dortmund's finest billiard supply shops, unfortunatly closed at the time of our visit. After a bit of laughter, we started walking and by chance passed a small, quiet bar with one pool table. The bar was nice, the music was great and the pool was cheap (2 games for 1�). A little later a German couple came in with their dog and wanted to play for the table. We spent the rest of the evening chatting with them and switching off playing doubles. Ana and I were a team, and although she'll tell you she was just lucky, she managed to defeat zee Germans with two cross-table shots. We played until we had to leave to catch the next night bus back to our dorm building at 2:00. Back Am Gardenkamp we pooled our resources and cooked some food. The only bus option to get Ana downtown was the 3:30 Nacht Express. When the time came we ran up the street to the stop in time to watch it drive away. She was a little distressed, but we had already discussed this possibilty when she wasn't around. As a final Christmas gift we bought her a taxi ride downtown where her bus was waiting.
Maja left this morning for Poland, so last night was her night. We decided to repeat the bowling option and this time it worked, eventually. We arived at the alley and found it full. The place was thumping with dance music and flashing with disco lights. We managed to procure a time slot at 1:00. It was about 11:30, so we had some time to kill. The Christmas market was already closed, sending all of it's patrons into every pub and caf� in the area. We walked around for a great while searching for a place to sit and relax while we waited for our lane to open up at the bowling alley. We bounced from place to place, finding nothing to our liking, until we finally could not ignore our bellies and popped into a d�nner shop for some food. The time was getting late, so we went to the bowling alley after that. We bowled four games and everyone's game improved as time went on. Bowling was new for Maja and she had a great time, as did the rest of us. They kicked us out at 3:00 and we caught the next night bus home, where we waited for awhile before hiking through the rain and hail to the university bus stop where she was meeting a friend who was traveling to the same town at about 6:00. Then we went home and I slept until 5:00 this evening, as I said.
Mikko is leaving for Finland tomorrow afternoon, but I already told him I'm not going to travel to D�sseldorf with him to give him a goodbye hug. Then I leave Wednesday morning for Switzerland, as I said in the previous entry. The last two nights have been really nice, but I must say I am glad nobody is leaving early tomorrow morning; I'm not sure how well I could hold up for three in a row. :-)

Christmas plans

Okay, in honor of Basile�s request, I shall share my plans for the holiday break. I will be here in Dormund until the eve of the Christmas holiday, next Wednesday. On that day at some pre-sensible hour I will board a train bound for Zurich, Switzerland. In Zurich, I will be meeting with one Lucas Coshenet, New Mexico native famous the world over for his witty comments and bulbous hair. Lucas and I will spend the 24th and 25th of December in this city, enjoying Christmas Day in Swiss style, whatever that may entail. On the 26th we will travel to the Bavarian capital of Munich, in Germany, where we will no doubt be shameless tourists, eating Bavarian food, drinking Bavarian beer, and quietly making fun of Bavarians. After just one day south of the Wei�wurst Equator, we will travel onward to my homebase of Dortmund. We will spend two days here, doing things in, and better yet, out of Dortmund. After that, we will once again leave Germany to spend two nights on The Clipper, a youth hostel in the form of a boat docked in the harbor at Rotterdam, The Netherlands. By my understanding, Rotterdam is a beautiful city and there are a lotterdam things to do and see, so it should be nice. The last stop on this mad journey will be in Amsterdam for the first day and night of 2004. So, there you have it. The biggest adventure to date, if my calculations are correct. Of course I will report back after all is said and done with a first-hand account and some form of photographic record. You will hear from me again before I take off, but happy holidays none the less. I hope those of you lucky enough to get a holiday break are enjoying it, and those of you who aren�t, I hope you are having fun anyway.

Santa Claus is a soccer fan

Well, I am officially done with school for the year 2003 now; I attended my last class this afternoon. I celebrated on Wednesday morning by getting sick but the body is pretty much back in order now. Wednesday evening I attended a soccer (football) match with Anne (my Double), her boyfriend and Mikko. I wasn�t feeling totally up to snuff, but Anne had procured the tickets about a month in advance so I didn�t feel like I could back out at the last minute. The game was a Bundesliga match against Kaiserslautern. We stood in the S�dtribune this time, the wild side of the stadium, which we found out is more impressive from a distance. Over all the game was rather dull, ended up in a 1:1 tie and really, really cold.
After the game ended Mikko and I parted ways with the others to go to a Christmas/Goodbye party at Maja�s. It had started at eight o�clock, the same time as the game, so it was well underway by the time we arrived. There was quite the gathering, spanning many nations. Nice and quiet, proper Christmas party. Gl�wein on the stove, cookies and cakes on the table and Christmas music in the air. Gem�tlich, as zee Germans say. Santa Claus, or der Weihnachtsmann as he is locally known, made a special appearance shortly after I got there, distributing the gifts brought by everyone. I had to leave relatively early so that I could rest up and get well, so I said my goodbyes to those whom I will not see until next year, and also to those I will see tomorrow, for that matter, and went home to sleep.

Der Weihnachtsmann opens up his bag of cheer for all the good boys and girls at the Christmas party. (photo courtesy of Jean-Philippe Mougeot)

Hey! It's snowing!

...wait. It quit.

The Swiss eating machine and what follows

Yesterday evening I was invited by Anne, my Dortmund Double, to an evening meal at the home of a friend of hers. I forgot to write down the name of the thing, but we ate a sort of Swiss self-prepared meal, involving individual metal pans which were filled with ingredients of one's own choosing, such as mushrooms, peppers, sausage, etc., overlaid with a slice of cheese and placed in an electric baking device. the cooked mixture is then eaten with potatoes. Maybe I'll learn more about Swiss cuisine when I go there next week, but right now it seems they really like having some sort of centrally located cooking device for everyone to share. I was the only non-German there, so most of the time I just listened to the conversation and tried to follow. Of course I also had to be interviewed regarding my perceptions and oppinions of German culture. Through this conversation I realized that I really haven't learned too much about German music since I've been here. I know the names of some popular bands, and maybe I've heard them but I can't say for sure. I have, however, started to develop quite a collection of Finnish music, much of it quite good, although I have not yet fully conquered the lyrics of songs like Voi Hyv� Luoja Mit� Nyt? and Vihkikaava ja k�yt�nt�, but I'm just a beginner. Anyway, the dinner was good, the people were friendly and the evening was excellent German-immersion practice. One of the Germans gave me a ride home and on the way I learned that he is friends with a student who is now stuying at New Mexico State Universty, my home university. I even met him briefly before I left New Mexico. Small world after all, eh?

Welcome new visitors

I know that this site has been getting a lot of new visitors lately from a lot of new places. Thanks for coming, I hope you enjoy it. Don't be shy, write something down in the comment section so we know you've been here. I would like to see the site develop a community spirit. Thanks again for coming and I'll try to have something new and interesting soon!

The sun was out today...

It's been awhile since we've seen it.

Strasbourg (Spelled right this time)

Yesterday evening I got back from the trip to Strasbourg. I must extend my compliments to Fran�ois and Jean-Philippe for putting together a great trip. Immediately following our arrival we went to the headquarters of the European Council for a tour. The European Council is made up of pretty much all the European nations and has nothing to do with the European Union, which has its headquarters in Strasbourg as well. We watched a short film explaining the function of the council and its history and then moved to the observation area surrounding the main floor, where we listened to a recording explaining the structure and procedures of the council.

The floor of the European Council

After leaving the Council building we moved on to the Christmas market, which was very nice and comfortable. We broke into small groups and made our way around the city, checking out the vendors, sipping Gl�wein and listening to street musicians. Inside the cathedral we caught the tail end of a choir performance.

The city by night.

Just a sample of the atmosphere in downtown Strasbourg.

Me and Carine (France), one of my future wives (see St. Andreas Day for clarification on that one) at the gates of Hell, oh wait, that's a cathedral.

After everyone worked up an appetite walking around the city we meet in front of the church and made our way to le 3 Brassieres, a well-known Strasbourg watering hole. There is no menu at this place. For 15� (included in the 50� pre-paid price of the trip) you get two hours of in-house beer and Flammenk�che, which closely resembles a very thin, small, oven-fired pizza. We sat in the cellar at long tables with benches and the wait staff would show up at the end of the table with pitchers of beer and Flammenk�che on wooden plates, which were passed down and immediately demolished. There was a band playing in the corner, covering everything from Pink Floyd to Radiohead, along with some French numbers in between, and we stayed long after the food and drink quit coming, sitting on the tables and singing along until we went hoarse.

At the restaraunt. From left: Julio (Italy), David (France), Alexia (France), Krister (Sweden), myself and Maja (Poland). Mikko took this one. It reminds me of a Renaissance painting. I really wasn't angry, I think maybe my face was taking a break from smiling.

Also by Mikko at the restaraunt. Just a group shot of Lenka (Czech Republik), Anna (England) and Micheal (originally from Poland but he lives in Germany), but it's David (England) back there who makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope it makes you laugh too.

After finally leaving different groups went different places. My group ended up in a disco that was boat docked on the river. I�ve seen better. I�ve also seen worse. We had fun.
Most of us slept in Fran�ois�s parents� new apartment, which they have not yet moved in to. The place is very nice and totally empty, save the cots that Fran�ois and his father organized for us to sleep on. The only problem was the fact that there was no heat in the apartment. That and there was a certain group of people up all night drinking wine, tea and having water fights in the bathroom, but most people managed to live through that. In the morning we had a breakfast of baguettes, coffee and tea. Richtig gut. We packed up all our stuff and prepared it for a quick retrieval later in the day and headed out to the university. We ate in the cafeteria, which was quite good, I suppose, but most of us were not too hungry considering we had just eaten breakfast. We left the university and met our bus in a nearby area. From there we left directly for a small village about an hour away. This place was pretty much just like you would expect a little French wine village to be. Grapevines all over the hillsides, narrow cobblestone streets and cozy little houses and buildings. We broke into two groups because our group was too large for one winery to handle. Our group visited the home and winery of Andr� Kleinknecht, who showed us around his cellar and production facility and then took us into his kitchen/tasting room for some samples of his product. Most of us got back on the bus with one or two bottles of wine from the source. I selected a Pinot Gris from Andr�s line.

Andr�, left, gives us the rundown of his buisness in his cellar.

All and all my first experience in France was a positive one, except there was an exceptional amount of dog crap on the street. I�m not sure why that was, but there was a lot. But that was a problem easily avoided with open eyes. I�m very glad I got to take part in this experience.

Recent and Future Stuff

Wednesday night we went to a party for the music department that was an informal concert. There were several nice performances ranging from classical piano pieces to a Dave Matthews song to a spoken word piece that put the front row in danger of getting wet. Our friend Ana (Romania) gave a great flute performance. There were complementary cookies and the obligatory Gl�wein.
Thursday night we were invited to Kyoung-Yong's house for some great Korean food. It was wonderful, of course.
I'm taking off Friday morning with a bunch of the other exchange students for Strassburg, in France. The trip was organized by Fran�ois, who is from Strassburg and one of the exchange students. It's a quick trip, Friday and Saturday. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Have a nice weekend.

St. Andreas Day- A little Hocus Pocus for the Lonely Hearts Club

Sunday was St. Andreas Day, a Polish holiday honoring, well, St. Andreas, I guess. In old times the young maidens would perform rituals on this day, asking the A-man to reveal to them what the future holds, particularly in matters of love and marriage and the cranking out of babies. These days dudes are welcome as well. We were invited to a St. Andreas Day party held by a large group of Polish people so that we could witness and participate in these traditions. Probably the most important ritual is the pouring melted wax through a key into cold water. The shape of the shadow cast onto a wall by the resulting blob is then analyzed to determine what the next year holds. I am pleased to report that next year I shall become a mouse flying on a magic carpet. Another game, in which needles are stuck through pieces of paper with names on them to reveal future spouses, indicated that I shall be wed to four women, two French, one Polish and I�m really not sure who that last girl was. Whether they are to be simultaneous or in succession remains unclear. Mikko was manning the camera for most of the night and these two photos were made by him.

Am�lie (France) pours the wax. Next year she will be wed to a piranha, by the look of it.

The group prepares to play another fortune-telling game in which objects representing future events are hidden under cups and each person chooses a cup and I'm sure you understand. Stay away from that rosery or you'll be gettin' thee to a nunnery!

Back to D�sseldorf

On Saturday Mikko, Roderic and I took a day trip to D�sseldorf, just to get out of Dortmund for a while when the weather was nice. Our student ID allows us to ride the trains throughout the whole region, and D�sseldorf is the outermost limit, so the trip is free. We started out by walking around the shopping district. You know you are in a rich area when you can stand on a street corner and within the span of five minutes or so be passed by two Ferraris and seven or eight Porsches. The poor people were driving BMWs. We cruised through the Christmas market and stopped for a few minutes to watch people ice skating at an outdoor rink sponsored by Nokia. Mikko was hoping to encounter some Finnish people but no dice. Just Germans on skates. We went over to the Rhein for the last part of the day to watch the barges and people go by and watch the light fade (one of life�s great pleasures, eh Ben?). We spotted a film museum and decided to check it out. We asked the lady at the desk how much it cost and she said 3�, but if we waited a minute, as in sixty seconds, it would become Happy Hour, the last hour of the day and it would be free. So we waited the minute and took our free tickets. Inside were several artifacts from the history of filmmaking. It was pretty interesting and definitely worth the price of admission. After the sun was down we went to the top of the Rheinturm, the television tower overlooking the river, and spent a good hour or so just looking out over the cityscape.

A little taste of Europe for those of you who have never been here. That one in the middle is a Smart, a two-seater diesel superefficiency vehicle. Very popular here, look for them to come Stateside in '06.

The riverwalk area after the light done faded. Really nice place to just sit and hang out.