German class

It's been interesting going to German class four days a week. Every morning I get up, shoo my youngest off to school, and then dash out the door for Heidelberg. We have two teachers, an English woman who's lived here for many years, and a young German woman. Makes for a nice contrast, hearing about the culture from someone who moved here and had to adapt, and then from a local.

I do have to say one thing: German verb conjugations are a pain! But I've been assured that it will come more easily as I learn and memorize the many irregular verbs. This experience gives me great admiration for the Europeans who grow up speaking four or five languages (or should I say envy...). In our class we have sixteen women and a man. His name is Angel, and it doesn't seem to faze him to be so outnumbered. Also, one of the women is due to give birth any day; when I was pregnant and as big as her, no way would I have agreed to sit for two and a half hours at a cramped little desk! She's made of strong stuff, obviously.

Anyway, that's how I spent much of the last two weeks, along with homework every night. Woke up with Deutsche words going through my head...maybe they'll stick!

A poem

REMEMBERING HUTU AND TUTSI FRIENDS, NOW DEAD

In my dreams, you’re still
long grass-limbed,
cricket-throated,
fiery star-faced
as the feverish Burundi night.

In my thoughts, you’re still
cool wind-wrapped,
red dust-powdered,
eucalyptus-scented
as Burundi’s uncertain dawn.

The best cat in the world

This is our cat, SeaShell (we changed his name when we adopted him from the animal shelter--he'd been named Cecil). I miss him immensely. We had to leave him with a family in Oregon when we moved overseas. As I browsed through photos today on the computer, I found this shot. It captures SeaShell's personality--reserved, a bit skeptical, but sweet.

Random German words

After exactly one week in German class, here are some random German words of which I've grown fond:

kaputt--broken
der Luftpirat—hijacker (of aircraft)
der Spargel—asparagus
die Brombeere--blackberry
der Schnabel—beak
die Dunkelkammer—dark room
der Stau—traffic jam

& last but not least,
zusammenklappen—to fold up (a chair, etc.)
How’s that for a mouthful?!

Some good quotes

Quotes of the day:

"To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes..." --Akira Kurosawa

"All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them." --
Isak Dinesen

"Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons." --Al Hirschfeld

David's turn

One thing my son David enjoyed about living in Europe this past year--all the public sculptures and gorgeous architecture. You see David in this photo, but can you find another person (besides the obvious bearded stone man)?

Poetry Northwest is reborn!

Found out recently that my poetry teacher from Oregon has been asked to be the new editor of Poetry Northwest. The journal will start up again in 2006. Go to http://www.atticwritersworkshop.com/ for more information!

Sisters forever

A pic of Anna and Danielle, spending time together on a hot summer's day in Rome

Changing Blogs

I'm trying out this new blog site--I want to show more pictures and Xanga seems too complicated for me to upload photos from the computer without lots of fuss and bother. So here goes.

It worked!

This is our Welsh corgi, Murphy. The dog we adopted at age one after he attended doggy therapy to the tune of $450 and failed to resolve his issues (true story!) So now we have a great dog who is loyal and mostly well-behaved, as long as he doesn't have to compete for attention with any other canines.