March Madness

March Madness takes on a whole new meaning in Germany. There aren't frequent news breaks filled with bracket-busting upsets and highlights of season-saving-buzzer-beaters by the yearlong benchwarmer turned most popular kid in school. There is no bracketology, no special edition Sportcenter to see which 12 over 5 first round upset the "pros" picked. And I surely don't miss Dicky V screaming about how Awesome some diaper-dandy was in the game last night. Nope, in Germany, March Madness means that when i wake up in the morning, there will be an inch of snow on the ground and by the time i'm done writing this, the snow will have changed to rain, then stopped, and then the sun will come out and it'll be nearly 50 degrees...but only for about an hour, then the wind will pick up to about 15-20mph and bring in a cold front that cuts through 5 layers of clothes like a hot knife through butter. it really makes getting dressed in the morning quite an ordeal.

The trip into the booming metropolis of Tostedt was altered a bit yesterday due to this March Madness. it was in fact raining, so instead of going it alone on my bike, Antje, my host-mom, took me around in the car. She had some shopping to do, so i tagged along, not far from her back pocket. Down a small side street near the middle of town, local farmers and gardeners set up their stands selling fruits and vegetables, flowers, meats, and cheeses in what Americans might call a farmers' market. they call it going to the grocery. Crossing the major street, we then went into a store called Bade. they sell everything from toys, to clothes, to alcohol, to bread and milk. Picture a very small version of Wal-Mart without the fishing section, yellow smiley faces rolling back prices, or the old man greeting you at the front door. One-stop-shops like Bade arent very popular in Germany, there are a lot of little privately owned specialty shops lining the streets as well. Because we bought fresh fish in the "grocery" we had to cut our tour short and get back to Dohren. But looking down the side streets, there are plenty of hidden gems I'll have to go back and check out when it gets warmer.

today we went to another, bigger town about 30 minutes away, I dont know the name but it started with Bux...something or other. here, in the middle of town, there are 5-6 square blocks of shops and stores lining the narrow brick streets. there are little pubs and big pubs, old stores and new stores, global logos like Adidas and T-mobile (the prefered carrier here in Germany, even the phone booths on the street corners are T-mobile) and locally owned wine shops and flower boutiques. all these shops are converted houses from 200-300 years ago. each storefront has a year carved into a beam above the store's name. I would have liked to spend some more time walking around and going into some of the stores, but we were right in the heart of the 2nd round of March Madness (rain).

I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I found a way to stream videos internationally so I can watch American tv shows. I cant take all the credit for discovering this...ok so i cant take ANY credit for it, Johst (the guy I orginally spoke with on the phone who invited me to come over here) told me about this great piece of software called Ultrasurf. I downloaded it (Don't tell Dad, he'll kick my ass if he knows i downloaded something on his computer...But the fate of President Taylor and Dunder-Mifflin depends on me watching the shows.) and now i can watch all the mindless American sitcoms I've come to know and love.

speaking of, there are a few episodes of Chuck that i need to catch up on...


A-Ron Hasselhoff