Birthday Wishes for My Dad...

I want to take the time today to wish my dad a very Happy Birthday, and to thank him for being such an amazing dad!

Ever since I was a little girl, my dad has always been the most important guy in my life. As a little girl I always looked to him as my big, strong protector... He would always be there to protect me from whatever "bad" was out there. :) And, the funny thing is, no matter how old I get, I still think of him the same... Except for now, I also consider him a friend and confidant.

My dad has always been there for me, providing support and encouragement along the way. He's been there to celebrate my successes and has helped me to accept my defeats. He's taught me the value of hard work and good judgement. He's given me the courage to try new things. He's shown me how to be a good person and remain true to myself. He's helped to shape me into the person I am today... And for that I am forever grateful!

So, even though I'm not there to celebrate your birthday with you, Dad... I'm thinking of you and sending some happy birthday wishes across the ocean! I hope you have a wonderful day! I love you!

Film Festivals, Hockey Games, and Night Grooves...

Hey all! Wow! It's been a pretty hectic week here! Between film festivals, hockey games, dinner with friends, and a music/pub crawl, we've managed to keep ourselves quite busy this week!

On Wednesday we headed to Ravensburg for the European Outdoor Film Festival. Basically, the "festival" consists of a 120-minute movie that showcases a variety of outdoor activities and adventures. The festival is geared towards outdoor enthusiasts.... There are movies on hiking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc... It's pretty cool! Brian really enjoys the mountain biking segments, and I love watching all of the rock climbing and skiing segments! If you're interested in seeing what the festival consists of, you can click here to see their website...

On Friday night, a group of us headed to a hockey game in Ravensburg. Our friend, Cornelius, invited us... He's originally from East Germany, and there was an East German hockey team playing against the hockey team from Ravensburg. Needless to say, we weren't quite sure what to expect from a German hockey game... However, we soon found out, that hockey games here are very similar to U.S. hockey games... Well, except for the fact that we didn't exactly understand what the announcer was saying or what the crowd was chanting! :)

The game was pretty good actually! We cheered on the team from East Germany (we were supporting Cornelius! :)), and we did our best to participate in some of their "cheers" (at some points, there were alot of nonsense words coming out of my mouth... but they kind of sounded like what everyone else was yelling! :)). Unfortunately, no matter how much we cheered, our team ended up losing... And, as you can tell, we were absolutely devastated. :)

After the game, we headed to a Mexican restaurant called Gypsies... It was Happy Hour there (yes, for some reason their Happy Hour here is usually between 9 p.m. and midnight... Unlike in the U.S., where Happy Hour usually runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.), so we decided to take advantage of the 4 euro cocktails... Yum! I ended up finding a margarita on the menu, and being that I haven't had one in forever, I decided to order that... Big mistake! Let's just say their margaritas are so not like those at home... I think they just put straight alcohol in them and then forget to add the margarita mix... Yuck! After that mishap, I opted to stick with with a familiar drink for the rest of the evening... :)

When translated, it says "Ice Sport Hall"...

The arena...

Ravensburg vs. The East German team (No, I don't know what they're team name is... However, I was cheering them on throughout the entire game! :))

The guys in yellow are the East German team, and the guys in blue are from Ravensburg...

Brian was able to get quite a few action shots throughout the game! :)

Ravensburg wins!

The crew...

My margarita minus the margarita mix... Can't say I've ever had a clear margarita before! :)

Brian and I at Gypsie's...

Saturday was spent at Groove Night in downtown Friedrichshafen... I think it's actually called Night Groove, but for some reason all of us English speakers call it Groove Night... Hey, it's got a better ring to it! :) Groove Night is a music festival that has a variety of bands set up in various locations around Friedrichshafen. The buses run all evening and they take you from place to place where you can check out each of the bands. It's quite a fun evening! The bands range from rock bands to 80's cover bands to salsa bands to German bands... It's definitely a variety of music! But the one thing that they all have in common.... They all LOVE to play the song "Country Roads, Take Me Home" by John Denver!! :)

We ended up going with a group of about 9 people and we basically bounced around from place to place... We saw some decent bands, but our favorite band, by far, was actually the first one we saw. They were called Rhythm Kings and they were awesome!! They primarily played music from the 50's, and they had kind of a "Jump Jive" (is that even a word??) kind of style. I have to admit, you'd be pretty hard pressed to even find a band this good in the U.S.! If you're interested in hearing them, click here to see their website. Once you get to their website, click on the "Music & Video" link and it'll take you to a list of some of their songs. Just click on a song and it'll play a clip of it. It's definitely worth checking out! :)

I have to say, that the funniest part of Groove Night occurred towards the end of the night. We stopped at one club to see a band... They played alot of 80's cover music, and they were actually pretty good. While we were standing there watching, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye... I turned to see what it was, and I witnessed some of the funniest dancing I've seen in a while! This woman must have had a few too many to drink, as she was definitely "feeling" the music, and she was dancing her little heart out... She, obviously, got our attention (as well as the attention of everyone else in the club!), and she provided some great entertainment for a short time! :) And, of course, I couldn't resist it... I had to record it! So, here it is... When you click play, you'll notice a man kind of bouncing in the center of the scene... Well, look off to his left, and you'll see the woman I'm talking about... Enjoy! :)

On that note, I'd better get going... I've got some errands to run and then it's off to the gym. I don't have German class this week due to the Autumn holidays, so I'm taking advantage of having my mornings to sleep in and get caught up on blogging and emailing... :) Hope you had a great weekend!

Birthday Recap...

Last Tuesday was my birthday, and it turned out to be such a wonderful day! To start the day off, my German class found out that it was my birthday (thanks to my friends, Becky and Val...) so they sang "Happy Birthday" to me in German... That was definitely something I'd never experienced before! After they sang, my teacher began asking me birthday related questions (i.e. my age, my b-day plans, what time I was born....). I was quite proud of the fact that I carried on the entire conversation with her in German... I guess those German classes are working after all! :) After my German course, I had a couple of friends take me out to lunch. While we were there, my friend, Theresa, came in and surprised me with a cake that she had baked for me! She knew that I had wanted some American style cake (German cake is definitely not up to par! :)) for my birthday, and being that she's from the U.S., she baked one up for me... And I have to say that it was quite delicious! :) And, of course, they wanted to do things the traditional way, so they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me in English before we cut the cake. Needless to say, we received quite a few stares from our fellow German diners! :)

After our lunch, I headed over to Brian's company to meet with my new boss about the English classes I'll be teaching. We went over all of the logistics and we decided that I will be working on Mondays from 1:00 - 4:30, and I start the first week of November... Yay! I also found out that I will be teaching business English to all of the participants, so that means that I'll be talking with the participants about, get this... Engines! Yikes! I was given quite a few magazines, that are published by their company, to read and familiarize myself with the technical terminology... This will definitely be interesting considering that my brain is just not hardwired for this kind of information... Whenever I hear things that are related to technology, math, and science, the information goes in one ear and right out the other! :) (But, if you talk to me about Reading, Literature, History, Social Studies, etc... I'll probably talk your ear off! :)) Needless to say, this will definitely be a learning experience for all involved! :) The end of the meeting proved to be interesting as well. At the end of the discussion, my new boss said that we should pop open a bottle of champagne to celebrate this new joint venture... So, sure enough his secretary came in with a bottle of champagne, which we popped open and toasted to this new adventure! You know you're in Europe when they pop open a bottle of bubbly at the end of a business meeting! :)

After my meeting, I headed over to Cafe Aran where I met up with my good friend, Eva, for coffee and a chat. And then I headed on home to meet up with Brian, who took me out to the Spicy Grill Tavern for dinner... It's one of our favorite restaurants here because of the fact that they serve the most delicious American style burgers! We seriously think they must have studied in the U.S.! :) Oh, and my very cute and thoughtful husband knew how much I had wanted an American style cake with Buttercream frosting... So, he had asked one of his coworkers from Detroit to see if he could bring one over to Germany... (His coworker was scheduled to arrive in Germany for work on my birthday...). Well, considering that it's extremely difficult to smuggle a cake onto an international flight, his coworker instead brought over 4 containers of Duncan Hines Buttercream frosting! :) So, now we can make our own cake anytime we want! :) And to cap off a perfect day, I got to talk to my family and then I had my adorable nephew wish me a "Happy Birthday!"... Too sweet! :)

Overall, my birthday turned out to be such a great day! I'm so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends who went above and beyond just to make sure my birthday was special... And, even though I would have loved to celebrate with family and friends back home and it was hard to be apart from everyone, I also realized how many wonderful friends I've made over here. I feel truly blessed. :)

Celebrating with friends... Becky, Theresa, Val, and Liena... :)

My Birthday Cake... Delicious!! :)

Sunday Shopping...

Hey all! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was very low key... Dinner with friends on Friday, went to the gym and hung around the apartment on Saturday, and Sunday was spent cleaning, studying German, and shopping... Overall, a very relaxing weekend. :)

Our Sunday shopping experience was quite a treat though. Traditionally, stores are not open on Sundays in this area of Germany. Sunday is typically a day meant for rest, quiet time, and spending time with family. (And, when I say a day of rest, I mean it's literally a day where you're not supposed to do any type of work... You're not supposed to do laundry, clean, wash the car, or do pretty much anything that can be thought of as "work"... Interesting. However, being that Brian and I are Americans, we are not of the same mindset as the Germans... Therefore, we still tend to work on Sundays. :)) So, needless to say, having stores open on a Sunday was a big treat! ")

Apparently, they have an event (yes, having stores open on a Sunday here is considered an "event"! :)) such as this, about 3 - 4 times a year. This was the first time Brian and I had ever attended a "Sunday Shopping" day, so we weren't quite sure what to expect... And, upon our arrival downtown, we were definitely surprised by what we found! :)

The downtown area of Friedrichshafen was PACKED!! There were people everywhere! They had food booths set up around the downtown area, dance groups dancing in the street, a stage set up for bands, carnival rides, fire trucks set up for the children to go through, and all of the downtown stores were open for business... I've never seen so much excitement about shopping on a Sunday! :)

Brian and I stayed for a bit and did a little shopping (well, actually I shopped while Brian waited outside! :))... However, it was actually more fun to wander about and soak up the atmosphere... There was so much excitement in the air! Unfortunately, it began to rain later in the afternoon, so Brian and I headed back home... The walk home was quite interesting... The rain was coming down pretty hard, so we both managed to get pretty wet! :) It kind of reminded me of when my sister was visiting this summer, and we had to walk home in a torrential downpour! :)

And on that note, I have to head out to run some errands and head to the gym... Happy Monday! Miss you much!

The sign advertising "Sunday Shopping"...

One of the rides set up downtown...

The stage where all of the bands were playing...

And, of course, Brian brought his camera along so we got some good shots from our walk home in the rain! :) Love the vibrant fall colors!

A statue in downtown Friedrichshafen...

The leaves are starting to change... So pretty!

At this point in time we knew we were going to get drenched during our walk home... So, instead of getting upset about it, we had fun with it. :) This is the point where I started to feel like Mary Poppins with my umbrella, so I started running down the sidewalk and was trying to kick my heels together! I know, I'm a dork! :) Also, you can tell I was getting wet by that point... Check out the bottom of my pant legs. My jeans were wet up to my knees by the time we got home!! Oh the joys of being short! :)

But, at least I managed to do it without falling! :)

That's us in the traffic mirror...

Lost in Translation...

Can you believe that it's already Thursday?! I'm amazed at how quickly the week has flown by! Between classes, visitors from the U.S., theatre performances, and the regular day-to-day stuff, I've managed to keep myself quite busy this week.

My German classes are continuing to go well... Only one more week left of the first session... yay! :) I'm actually feeling pretty good about the courses. I really like the fact that I go everyday for a few hours in the morning, as it helps with retaining the information we're learning... Having to apply all of the information learned on an everyday basis is definitely helpful! We covered quite a bit this week... We discussed our favorite hobbies, irregular verbs, we learned how to tell time (the German way), we learned numbers... (You know, I felt so good about myself this week in regards to how much I'm retaining from these German courses, but then I look at what I just typed and I'm suddenly questioning myself as to how I can be so excited about learning numbers and how to tell time?! Wow... I feel like I'm having flashbacks from 3rd Grade! :))

I also have to fill you in on our "entertaining" events from this past Monday. If you recall, I ended my post on Monday by telling you that we were going to head to the Birnau Church for a concert. Now, we were all quite excited about this concert. Kinga and I especially... Not only were we able to dress up (that's not a common occurance here in Germany!), but we were very proud of the fact that we were the ones that found out about the concert and translated the informational poster. Well, the original plan was for the four of us (Brian, Maciej, Kinga, and I) to go to the concert together... However, Brian and Maciej ended up informing some other friends from work about the concert, and they wanted to join us as well.

So, Monday evening rolled around and everyone met at our apartment around 6:30 (we wanted to make sure that we left early enough so that we could be sure to get good seats at the church!)... There were 9 of us so we had to take two cars... We drove the 25 minutes to the church, and throughout the entire ride, I was feeling somewhat nervous about things... I started "second-guessing" my German translation skills... Never a good sign! :) So, as we approached the top of the hill that overlooks the church, we all noticed how dark the church looked... Hmmmm... We decided that it just "looked dark", but it was probably lit up and we'd see that when we arrived... Well, it was a good thought at least... :)

We arrived about five minutes later, and when we pulled into the parking lot, we realized that the church was completely dark and there wasn't anyone in the parking lot... That's definitely not a good sign! :) We got out of the car and tried to open the doors to the church... They were locked! So, let's get this straight... The church was dark, there was noone around, and the doors were locked... That was the point at which we realized that we wouldn't be seeing a concert that evening!

Somehow, unbeknownst to us, Kinga and I managed to misinterpret the informational poster... Lovely! (Guess my classes aren't going so well after all! :)) Can I just tell you what a complete jackass I felt like at that point in time?! We had gotten everyone all dressed up and brought them out on a Monday evening to go to a concert that never existed... Nice! :) And, let's just say that the Germans we brought along with us, found the whole situation quite entertaining... Needless to say, I won't be living this one down for a while! But, even after all of that, Kinga and I are still determined that we read the sign correctly and the concert was just "cancelled"... :) Hey, that's our story and we're sticking to it! :)

Outside of that slight "misunderstanding", the rest of the week has gone by rather smoothly... :) I actually just returned from the theatre, where I watched a dance performance this evening with Alex and Eva... It was a great performance! We're now planning our next trip to the theatre to go see the Hubbard Street Dance Company of Chicago when they come here in November... Definitely looking forward to that!

And, with that said, I think it's time for me to head to bed. Gotta get up early in the morning for class... Fun, fun! Have a great Thursday! Miss you much!

An Effortless Trip to the Rathaus... Whew!!!

When I left off last Wednesday, I informed you that I was headed to the Rathaus (City Hall) on Thursday so see if they would change my "no-work" visa into a "working" visa... And, I'm sure you all remember how nervous I was about heading back in there... Well, it must have been my lucky day, or it was all of the positive thoughts that everyone was thinking for me, or it was the charming personality of my translator (Eva)... Whatever the case was, the trip to the Rathaus went flawlessly! Yay! It was actually the shortest, easiest trip that I've ever experienced there... Quite impressive!

I do have to admit that it was quite humorous going back in there again... To begin with, Eva and I were waited on by the woman who I had to talk to a few times about my previous visa woes... Let's just say she remembered me! After Eva explained why we were there, the woman went to the filing cabinet and took out my file... Upon seeing the size of the file (it's quite thick to say the least! :)), Eva explained that she couldn't believe how big it was... Nice! She then informed me that she doesn't even have a file in Germany... Great! :) When Eva commented on the size of the file, the woman helping us started to chuckle... She was probably remembering dealing with me and all of my emotional outbursts that I've had in there. :)

Thankfully, the process of changing my visa wasn't too difficult... The woman typed something into the computer and then printed out another sticker, which she placed in my passport... She then handed it to Eva and I and then began explaining it. At that point, Eva noticed that a word was spelled incorrectly, so she pointed it out to the woman. The woman, in turn, looked a little confused. And, based on all of my prior experiences there, I began to get a little concerned... My only thought was, "Oh brother... Not again!" :)

The woman quickly got up and began asking her coworkers what she should do... They informed her that she couldn't print off a new sticker to place in my passport... Doing so would apparently have "invalidated" my visa and passport... Lovely! Upon hearing that, I started laughing, which caused both Eva and the woman to look at me like I was some type of nutcase! I tried to explain that the situation was fitting for me and all that I've been through with my visa... I mean, seriously... The whole visa situation has been chaos... I couldn't make a story like that up even if I tried! :)

Fortunately, after asking around for a few more minutes, the woman returned to her desk and explained that she was simply going to cross the word out and reprint it underneath... After doing that, she stamped it with the official Friedrichshafen stamp and said that it was official... She then informed Eva and I that she didn't want to do anything that would invalidate my passport, as she realized how much trouble I've already had with it, and she didn't want to cause me anymore... How nice! :) So, after all of that, I finally walked out of the Rathaus with my new visa (which allows me to work) in hand, and a smile on my face (which has never happened before...normally I'm in tears! :) Overall, it was a good trip to the Rathaus... yippee! :)

After that, Brian and I informed his boss that my visa was taken care of and we scheduled a meeting with him for this Tuesday... I have to meet with him and we'll discuss my plans for teaching "Conversational English" to his department... How exciting! I'll keep you posted on how everything goes...

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key... We went to dinner on Friday night with Kinga and Maciej, we spent Saturday at the gym and running errands, and on Sunday we strolled around Ravensburg, ran into some friends there and had some coffee, and then went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner (where we were able to get some guacamole, which we've been craving!!)... Yum!! All in all, it was quite a relaxing weekend...

Well, I'd better get going... Time to head to the gym and then get ready for a concert tonight. The church of Birnau is having a concert tonight, and a group of us is heading there to check it out... (Mom, I promise to try to get some pictures/video for you... This is like the concert we wanted to see while you and Dad were here visiting... I'll be thinking of you while we're there! :))... I guess this is the week of culture for me... I'm going to the concert tonight and then I was invited to a dance performance on Thursday... How exciting! :)

Hope you're having a great Monday! Miss you much!

Another Trip to My "Favorite" Place...

Hey all! Well, I received some good news the other day... I was offered a part-time (and by part time, I mean very part-time at 3 hours a week) position at Brian's company, teaching "Conversational English" to people in his department... Yay! :) I mean, what a perfect job for me... I literally get paid to talk! :)

However, before we get too excited, I have to tell you the other news... Before I can accept this position, I have to make a trip down to my very "favorite" place in all of Friedrichshafen (there's ALOT of sarcasm in that statement! :))... Yep, you guessed it... The FN Rathaus... Yikes! Yes folks, I have to visit the Rathaus tomorrow afternoon so that they can change my visa from a "no work" visa to one that will allow me to work on a part-time basis... Now, based on my previous experiences at my "favorite" place, I'm a little leery about my upcoming trip there... That's why I'm bringing along my dear friend, Eva, to help me translate and to (hopefully!) make the process go much smoother... I have high hopes for tomorrow! :)

So, let's all keep our fingers crossed that everything goes well tomorrow. (In all honesty, my biggest wish for the day is that I'll be able to walk out of the Rathaus without having to shed a tear... Unlike so many of the previous trips I've made there! :))... So, now's the time to start thinking happy thoughts for tomorrow's appointment... I'll keep you posted! :)

Oktoberfest and Political Rallies... Just Your Average Weekend! :)

Hey all! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours turned into quite an eye-opening weekend to say the least...

On Friday evening, we headed over to Konstanz to celebrate the last weekend of Oktoberfest. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, they were no longer letting people into the Oktoberfest tent... :( So, instead of celebrating in the tent, we headed over to the restaurant/biergarten located across the way from the tent, and we proceeded to celebrate Oktoberfest there! :) Although it was a far cry from the craziness of Oktoberfest in Munich last weekend, it was actually quite nice sitting outside next to the lake on a chilly, fall evening, while drinking a beer and being able to spend time with friends... Overall, it was a great way to end the Oktoberfest celebration this year. :)

Let's just say that Saturday was not so quiet and relaxing... On Friday, Brian was informed by his boss that there was going to be a NPD (Neonazi) rally/protest in Friedrichshafen on Saturday afternoon. Apparently this political group (Neonazis as they are now called... They are the extreme right-wing party here in Germany. The scariest part is that they actually hold a few seats in their Parliament!) had requested to hold a rally in Friedrichshafen, but the mayor of the city said no... So, it actually went to court, and since Germany is a democratic society and the people have the right to free speech, the NPD actually won the lawsuit, which allowed them to come to Friedrichshafen for a rally and march. However, even though they were allowed to come to Friedrichshafen, they were not allowed to go anywhere near the city center... They were only allowed to march around the city. And, as another preventative measure, the city brought in thousands of other police officers, etc. to prevent any chaos from erupting between the NPD party and the anti-NPD groups (which number quite a few from what we found out!).

Now, with that in mind, most people would want to be as far away from the city of Friedrichshafen as possible on Saturday! Oh no... My "wanna be photojournalist" of a husband, decided that it would be great to attend in that it would make for some really great pictures... Oh brother! So, on Saturday afternoon the two of us, with our two cameras in tow, headed downtown in search of the rally/protest. Admittedly, it was not that difficult to find... All you had to do was follow the thousands of polizei (police) and police vehicles which were brought into Friedrichshafen specifically for this event!

The first protest group we came across were actually the people protesting against the NPD (Neonazis). There were about 200 people in this group and they were surrounded by hundreds of police in riot gear, about 15 - 20 police vans, and an extended paddywagon... And this was just for the people who were protesting against the NPD!! At that point, I was a little concerned... If there was this much manpower needed for the anti-NPD protesters, then what did the NPD require?!

Now, I have to admit, when we first arrived at the scene, I originally thought that the group was the NPD, and after standing there for a few minutes, I was ready to head back home... It simply looked like a bunch of young kids looking to cause some trouble... However, Brian noticed that another crowd was gathering on the next street over... So, we headed over there to see what was going on. After waiting for what seemed like forever, we noticed that more and more police were heading in our direction... Police in riot gear, police on horses, police in vans... It was crazy and quite nerve wracking to be honest!

Shortly after that, we noticed a huge crowd of people in the distance, carrying flags and walking down the street towards us... So, we strolled up closer to the action and that's when we saw the actual NPD group marching down the street. I have to say, it was pretty creepy! They were carrying signs and their party's flags and yelling and chanting. Meanwhile, the people standing in the crowd were yelling back at them! It was at this point that Brian informed me that we probably shouldn't talk while they were in the vicinity, considering that that particular group of people doesn't like foreigners, and if we started talking then there's no doubt that we don't belong there! So, I stood off to the side, with my mouth tightly closed, and watched them march by. And then, to make me even more uneasy, they walked by with a huge sign that showed a picture of the Statue of Liberty with a gun and the American flag, with the statement "U.S. Imperialism Stoppen!" (U.S. Imperialism must be stopped!) Apparently, they don't want anything to do with the U.S. and they don't think that foreigners belong in Germany... Hmmmm... Definitely not a good sign! Let's just say, I stood quietly off to the side while they continued to march past... Once they passed us, the crowd followed them for a short distance, until the police finally stopped everyone.

Overall, it was a very eye-opening experience. In one aspect, it was good to see all of the people protesting against this political group... It definitely restores your faith in humanity when you see that many people that are so passionate about even the existence of this group of people. However, it was quite eerie to think that these people actually exist and still have similar belief systems as that of the original Nazis... I mean, after the horrors that took place over here during World War II, it breaks my heart to think that people like that still exist in today's society. And the thing that bothered me most after seeing them here, was the fact that there are still people living here that lived through the War. Friedrichshafen was a city that was largely affected by the war... After the war, the people living here had to pick up the pieces and rebuild the majority of the city. And I'm sure that they have probably spent the last 60 years trying to move past that part of their history... And then for them to be exposed to these young kids coming into their city (never having to live through the devastation and loss that came with that war), and marching through the streets of Friedrichshafen, cheering on this political party. They shouldn't have to be exposed to that type of nonsense (again!).... I'd have to say, that that was the thing that frustrated and saddened me the most while watching that rally.

And, on that note, I'd better head to the gym... I could probably rant and rave about this topic for hours, but those things are probably better left unsaid... :) Have a great Monday! Miss you much!

Lots of police vehicles were in Friedrichshafen on Saturday!!

We followed some officers in order to find out where the march was taking place...

The first group we came across... These were actually the Anti-NPD protestors...

Some of the police in their riot gear...

More of the Anti-NPD protestors...

The police heading to the march...

Look at the size of that paddywagon!

And here are the NPD people as they marched past us...

Notice the sign that says "U.S. Imperialism Stoppen!"...

The police prevented the crowd from following them further down the street...

Oktoberfest in Konstanz...

The guys... Maciej, Cornelius, and Brian...

The girls... Kinga and I...

Our Oktoberfest (Konstanz) crew towards the end of the evening... :)