Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Apparently, there is a saying here in Münster that goes, "Entweder es regnet oder es läuten die Glocken. Und wenn biedes zusammen fällt, dann ist Sonntag"  which translates to "Either it rains or the church bells ring. And if both occur at the same time, it's Sunday".

The sun teased us last week. It was shining every day and was almost warm. Now it is just rainy and chilly. On Sunday it was only drizzling, so Russell and I took a bike ride after lunch to scope out the church where we would attend. It was not especially close, but straight forward getting there. The church is located inside an office building near the train station. To get there we hopped on something called the Promenade and biked several kilometers. The Promenade used to be the city wall and is now a tree lined Avenue that is restricted from cars. It is a lovely greenbelt that just happens to be a fantastic way to get around the city. Only pedestrian, bicyclists, inline skaters and the such are allowed to use it.

You can see the Promenade, which looks like a green ring around the older part of the city. The green star to the left is the Schloss.


After leaving the Promenade we passed through what is considered the "shady" part of town.

Leave it to the Germans to make even the sketchy parts of town beautiful.

With the weather turning more and more Fall like we have kept the idea of looking at a sports club in the backs of our minds.  We were thrilled to pass a Sports Club while we were searching out the church building. I had no idea what contracts might cost, so I was happy to go inside to see for myself what it was like. We only went to the information desk, but there was a brochure  - only 16 Euros a month per person. The more I can exercise, the happier I am! With all of  the great food here, it is really important that I get my normal exercise!

Since the weather has not cooperated, I have been stuck inside more than than I would like. Coincidentally, I just realized we have cable TV (!). This realization came just in time as I have developed "Text Neck". I didn't know I had it till I read an article about it in the New York Times. I have spent so much time studying German, listening to German Language Pod Casts and doing German language games that I developed an annoying  kink in my neck. I decided to give my neck a break. I still peer outside the windows every hour or so to see if there is still rain (there is), and then return to see what I can find on TV. So far, my research has shown that you can watch an impressive variety of old US TV show that have been dubbed into Deutsch. The list includes: Little House on the Prairie (Unsere kleine Farm), Quincy, M.E., Gossip Girl, Ghost Busters, Finias and Ferb and loads of others.  I have noticed that I can understand kids shows much better than anything else, so I try to watch those. I figure the more I can practice listening and understanding, the sooner I will be able to understand more and speak better.

Today we made a run to the grocery store. I love going grocery shopping here. The main store we go to is called Lidl. It is a discount grocery store that is very convenient to get to. There are other full service grocery stores, but they are much farther away (7 kilometers or so, so 14 round trip). Lidl is so fun because you never know what you are going to find. Tonight, for example, I found a silicon Spring Form pan for 6,99 Euro! Now I can make a cheese cake without a care in the world!

I know it seems like a silly thing to be happy about, but there it is. We are still finding little things like this that make us giddy! As I see more grocery stores, I am excited to see what they have to offer and how they are different.

Next week I will profile a few of the grocery stores (Lebensmitel Markts) we go to!