Friday, July 17, 2009

Want to hear something kinda sad?

Buck fell asleep in the bathroom last night (he's not supposed to be in there). When I came in later and told him to go get in his basket, he tried to get up, only his front leg had fallen asleep. There's not a lot more pitiful than then watching a dog that big slip on the tiles because he's too sleepy to figure out how to hop on three legs. He ended up turning in a circle and lying right back down where he had been before. I decided that maybe it was ok... this time. (He's fine now, and is happy to be reunited with his squeaky purple dinosaur - he lost his last one on the train. A while ago he was sleeping with the dino and the mouse beside him, one on each side right next to his head.)

What else is kinda sad - I'm leaving Göttingen two weeks from today! It's only kind of sad because I'll be glad to get back to things that are more familiar - my own kitchen, my own bed, Family and Friends... But it's also sad because I've gotten so familiar with things here! All of my classes are over - I have one Exam on Thursday morning. I'm planning a farewell get together for next Friday, which should be pretty nice.

The weather was really very summery the last week, which was great! All the way up into the 80's. People were asking if this is what it was like for me at home in the summer - I said "well, sort of..."

Aside from that, not a lot to report. I'm spending most of my time reading or writing for a term paper - right now for my seminar on the history of the essay. I'm writing about a woman essayist (because there were none on our syllabus!)from the early nineteenth century. She had 10 kids, a complicated love triangle with her first and second husbands (set against the backdrop of the french revolution - freedom, equality, and brotherhood indeed...) and was the first woman editor of a daily news paper in Germany. Her first husband sailed around the world with Captain Cook. Good stuff.

I'm off to Storkow for the weekend, making one last trip out to see the family. Gotta finish packing! Bye for now.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Buck

Today's post is dedicated to my third roomate, Britta's bearded Collie Buck:

(pictured here with his favorite rope bones.)

Buck is sweet, even if he has his stressful moments. He likes to play tug with those rope bones and to look for sticks when we go on walks. He likes to make all the ducks in a pond fly up into the air by running at them full speed. He doesn't like church bells or ambulance sirens, and has to howl along with them. Did I mention we live beside a church and a hospital? Anyway, it's really nice to have a pet here. One of his favorite activities now that it's warm (well was warm, theoretically will be warm again soon) is to spend all morning on the balcony and squeak his squeaky-mouse at any flying thing that goes by (leaf, bird, insect, doesn't matter). He doesn't like things that fly, and to get him to look at the camera I made a "zzzz" noise like a bug - which is why his glance is so worried. Anyway. In the form of a short narrative, here is Buck.


"Buck?"


"Where is your squeaky mouse?" (Quietschemäuschen - pronounced KVEEtscheh Moischyen)




"There it is!" (He can stare at the mouse on the floor like that for hours. I've seen it happen.)



"Good Dog, Buck."



That's all for now, more later!