Always Watching

For the first time since arriving in Germany I have a sense of time passing as my internal clock told me that today was Sunday . . . and thus my short legs practically sleepwalked me to the St. Paulus (powell-oose) Kirche, about 2 minutes walk from my apartment, at the (ironically) god-forsaken hour of 9:15am. I had read on the church's website that Hochmesse would be celebrated at 9:30 and, in an effort to reform my late-ways, I left early. It turned out that the internet was (of all things!) incorrect, and mass did not start until 10am. So God and I became reaquainted in the German language as I feverishly tried to relearn the "Unser Vater" auf deutsch. Then I learned that this mass was not just any mass, but a celebration of Father Norbert's retirment. 2.5 hours later, the celebration was finally over. It was an amazing mass though, despite the length, with some really great songs and everyone was so nice! I actually ran into two people who I know -- Frau Kramer who is a teacher at Sean's school and Frau Astrid Gerlach who is the Fremdsprachenleiterin at GSG. They both found me and said hello! It was amazing 1) to be recognized and 2) to have people care enough to say hi and give me hugs. Definitely made my day. *I was definitely dressed to impress in a pilsy, off-white (originally white) fleece, brown capris and (matching - hah) black shoes.*
It is actually sunny here today, which is incredible! I had such a nice walk back from mass and now am sitting at the internet cafe admiring the blue sky. Sean and I are going to walk around today and be tourists. We plan to take lots of pictures and generally be nerdy! So be prepared for more pics soon. Our wine/cheese/movie day went splendidly yesterday and we ate 75% of a Weizenbrot loaf, 2 wheels of herbed brie cheese and drank a bottle of Riesling out of aperatif glasses because we couldn't find any wine glasses? A gorgeous wooden thing on which to display our sliced bread, sure, but wine glasses are apparently just too much to ask.
Yesterday I also visited two apartments. One was absoltulely perfect! Two girls (i would be the third), a giagantic room with nice windows facing Theaterstr. right in the Innenstadt. Wireless internet, a nice kitchen, bathroom, washing machine, one of the girls even dances ballet (a little).It is a little on the expensive side, and they had two other girls coming to look at it last night. But I should hear back today, so keep your fingers crossed for me! The other one Sean and I went to together and it was also really nice and in der nahe von Sausalitos -- a mexican restaurant that occassionally has .49Euro drink parties (ALL drinks are 49 cents) -- which would make the walk home somewhat less harrowing. After apartments, we went shopping for more cheese and, oddly enough, chocolate. Then finished our movie night with the rest of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Boondock Saints --> I had never seen, SO GOOD! Made me miss Boston, as Sean anticipated. Hearing the words "Comm Ave." made me feel at home. haha!
I can feel my german getting better (even if it would still earn an "F" in a school) and I am very comfortable communicating at this point, even if what I am saying is completely grammatically incorrect. At least I'm talking! Sean and I help each other along, so it's good. Well, usually he helps me, but I have the occasional good fortune of clarifying something for him. As in, it's happened twice. Tomorrow we are off to Altenberg (near Koeln) for a 4 day orientation conference. There I will have the "First Encounter" . . . ugh. Will dress my best!