The Prussia Periodicals

Chateau de Petit Bois March 25- 28, 2009 After two straight days of planning for this English immersion camp, we still have a lot more work to do. It's Saturday morning and decorations are up, posters have been made, directions have been dictated, and in general, this camp sounds like it is going to be great. After my touristy time in Paris, I moved from hostel to paid-for hotel. Unlike Prague, the metro stops are not everywhere you look. So a quick taxi got my luggage and I safely to the small hotel with a pleasant old lady receptionist. She spoke enough English to tell me that there was water in my room and I was to go to another hotel just down the road. So my luggage - which I am immensely weary of dragging around – rolled around the corner and I came to the designated hotel. Another friendly receptionist welcomed me and showed me the lift (aka elevator) and gave me the key. I put my stuff down and immediately left. I had been emailing a fellow co-worked who I only knew as Nadi...

A sunset The bells are hanging in suspense to my left. A great spire standing by. Behind me is an obelisk surrounded by a roundabout filled with people going and coming. Ironically or figuratively they are going around in circles. Spiked towers are across the Siene; aged brown stone in beautiful contrast with the gray. A mystery to me is almost every building, ever word heard, everything. What holds the most captive audience - of at least those unused to it- is the sunset. Slowly falling, the sun lights up the sky, usually blue. And as I look up, it still is. Darker blue clouds are clumped around except to the west. There, they are purple, pink and orange. The Tower is proudly silhouetted but a large dome (another mystery) shines gold. The entire landscape is set off with a hushed blue hue- even my hands as I write this leaning on a street light pole. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people have walked by, most at least turning to the sun. A bridge lights up small bulbs underneath its raili...

Paris continued.... The trip up the Eiffel Tower was incredible. And then add on three fun-loving drunk Canadians and you got an adventure. I took pictures as they released their pastel open umbrellas from the top of the Tower. The green one floated the farthest to everyone on the tops delight. The wind was really strong on the north side of the walkway at 300 meters straight up. The Canadians continued their escapades by moving a VW from the line of parked cars onto the sidewalk. And I mean completely, not just sitting on the curb but actually moved it all the way. I again only took pictures, and thankfully because we thought we saw a police car parked at the corner so we headed back to the hostel.

March 22 Day 81 Riding a train to Paris from Frankfurt, I find the cloudy farmlands of Germany obtrusively flat. And yet behind them rise hills filled with trees, blocked momentarily by a community of houses or a mesh of commercialized buildings. The train ride is supposed to last four hours and the guy who checks tickets is coming my way. Excuse me for a moment. As I abstain for a time from my fictional work, I reckon this train ride is perfect to update my blog that was sorely missed by you dedicated readers. If there are any any more. Italy was great as I said before and I imagined as I opened my laptop that I would write all about the family I stayed with and the villages we visited and all of the stuff that went on those two weeks. I feel a hint of hesitancy in critiquing or even commentating on a lack of familiar family values in the family that I stayed with. Well, everyone is different as they say but I am disturbed when young children drop the F bomb. I suppose my blog is more...

Paris! Its been said before that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is true, then what is a camera worth? A million? A gagoogleplex? After exiting the train from Frankfurt, I stupidly left my camera, a water bottle, and my train ticket in what I thought was a convenient pouch in the back of the seat before me. It was only half way through my taxi ride to the hostel, just as the Eiffel Tower came in view, that I realized it instantaneously. Sorry Mom and Dad for misplacing a supremely great Christmas gift. It will be sorely missed by no one more than I. That said, after walking around the epic city of Paris for a day and a half, I have yet to find a camera store. In Manhattan, electronic stores are found one every corner, just across from the Starbuck's. But not so here. My five hostel roommates are young world travelers, similar to myself. The two girls are American students abroad in Florence and three Canadian guys are using up their two month Eurorail tickets. We visit...

March 21 Near Frankfurt After two extraordinary weeks in rural Italy, digging holes, chopping wood, and planting vines, I have arrived in Germany. I am with Chris who worked at Triple R last summer and he and I have anxiously wrote to each other back and forth trying to figure out a good time for me to visit. The time has come and so here I am. Today we visited Frankfurt and went up Mein Tower, walked across the river and did all of the touristy things that neither he nor Rita had done before. That's right, I almost forgot I met up Rita, Laura and Stella yesterday all who were at Triple R. How did I meet up with these folks? I went with Christian to their school! In Germany. Yeah, I'm that cool. But not that cool. All but the English class was in German and I did not understand much to say the least. But it was worth the visit to get to see them and paint in art class. To explain rural Italy on this blog would be very taxing. It was a great experience and I would gladly do som...

Hello faithful readers, Due to a lack of internet usage, I will be not updating my blog as much as you may expect or prefer. However, I am alive and well, living wonderfully in rural beautiful Italy, shoveling, raking, chopping, planting, painting, playing, sleeping, and eating. Pictures will come in time, dear friends. Patience is after all a virtue. For me now, it is not just a virtue but a way of life. It is very easy going here as I exchange five or so hours of work in the morning to great food and a warm hospitable family. I'll write more when I can

Goodbye Prague! I go for a warmer sunnier place!

Day 62, Monday, March 2, 2009 Whew, I'm in my third month in Europe! Yet the more I think about it, the more I'm sure I want to go home after my France job. I will have spent a good amount of time here and my bank will agree. The problem of course is (is that line in a musical? It sounds familiar...) what to do once I arrive in the States. I emailed the amazing Triple R summer camp and they will gladly open their door to me. So I got that but then what? Maybe there will be ESL jobs for the new school year! Do I want to come back to Europe? I dunno. Asia? South Korea? I could always get a job there, but I hear its not the best working environment. So I won't worry about 'tomorrow' but let God, who keeps His eye on the sparrow, take care of me, too. I scheduled an appointment at a hair place for a haircut tomorrow. I no longer have long hair thankfully but its more of a medium length I guess by today's standards. But even this is getting tiresome. So I'll get ...

A candle City