Bloody Sunday

What's that? What goes on in Germany on a Sunday you ask? Well, allow me to enlighten you:

not much of anything besides an awesome breakfast.

One thing the Germans know how to do is provide an awesome array of food. For breakfast today I had Broetchen (delicious hard rolls) along with some other fine wheat and whole grain breads. Their 'american sandwich bread', as the package names it, is like our whole 12 multi grain extra fiber wheat bread. They call it white bread. Marginally slanted opinion of american sandwich bread. I wonder how a German would react upon encountering Wonder Bread...
I also had a soft boiled egg, which came from a free range local chicken. The chicken's owner brought the eggs to the door two days ago. That local.
Fresh squeezed orange juice, always delicious though I'm developing heartburn in my old age.
On the Broetchen I had nutella (wikipedia it, then buy it), turkey, and salami. Not on the same one obviously, but they are all incredible. For some reason, the meat here tastes much cleaner to me. I'm also trying to eat less of it in general so maybe it just tastes better having it so seldomly.

Lunch with my grandparents today was also an interesting experience. This was literally the first time that I can remember going to visit them without my mother there. I'm not afraid of them, the problem is though that they speak a very regionalized dialect of German which is nearly impossible to understand when you're used to classroom German. It's called Platt deutsch, low German, and more specified it's Koelsch Platt, or the Cologne regional speech. Considering the stereotypically harsh consonants and immaculate ennunciation of German, it shouldn't be too difficult to adjust to a dialect, or so one would think. Platt decides to throw most of what sounds German out the window. Like hard g sounds? Too bad, deal with a j. Like spread vowels? Too bad, it decides to round and front most of the vowels. It's become easier to listen to, especially thanks to German 650 (History of the German Language) last semester, but it's still a headache after 4 hours.

Hopefully today's rain lets up by tomorrow and I can go running again. I dont feel jetlagged but am still awake thanks to feeling entirely restless due to lack of exercise. The Germans are a low intensity but constant work out kind of people, I am not... I like my cardio quick and dirty, for a couple hours at a time. I dont mind the low intensity walking everywhere way of life, but I dont think its enough for my hectic american circadian rhythm.

Sorry about the hockey game btw, USA; sucks that Canada's men and women beat us on ice. At least we have sunshine sometimes... though our social healthcare is in shambles and the country is deeply divided on almost every main issue... is this the best time for a USA chant?