Nie Zuspaet!

Hello....

So yes it is the beginning of my third week of work... and you have only heard of my first two days.
Well here we go on the catch ups!
Remaining of week 1.  I finally got an assignment.. or you can say an exercise to see my ability in AutoCAD and become familiar with the random DB standards for drawing and railways.  I received this on Friday, so Wednesday and Thursday, I kept filling out work contract forms and foreigner forms.  I got my Tax Card on Thursday = very important because I can't get paid without it!!!!  So I made sure I got that done.  Haha - motivation is good for me.  Friday, I went out to a Biergarten with my German friend that was an exchange student in Greenup.  Small world.  He, his girlfriend and their friends were really nice to me and talked to me slow. 
For the weekend, I explored Durmersheim.  It's not a huge city, more like a village, but by foot it seems big.  Here are some pictures from my adventure:

This is mainly for Nick.  He loves any type of renewable engery. :D

I am on a farm road.  I was trying to go to the forest, but the sign pointed me on a driveway :(

This is the Sun and start of the Planet Journey of Durmersheim.  This is so cool because the Solar System here is proportional to the actual distances.  I didn't find them all, but I will be back.

Here is Jupiter.  Saturn is 650m to the left and Mars is 550m to the right :D

I thought this was a cute little Playground.

A well in the middle of town.  Strange.  (And I didn't notice this until now, but in the left corner is a planet plaque!  I didn't even know.  Need to go back!)

Week 2:
So last week, we had a safety meeting on Tuesday and on Thursday a works council assembly (like a Union meeting).  The safety meeting was alright, although it lasted 3 hours.  I understood much of it, especially when the presenter would use hand motions.  Germans are very expressive!  Love it, makes understanding so much easier!  And they like to make lots of sounds.  Very animated.
On to the works assembly, it was quite boring to be polite.  I didn't understand a dang thing and it was long.  (5 ish hours)  We got free pretzels, but they thought that was enough for lunch!  Not for this girl.  I was disappointed to say the least!  I lived though, so I should stop complaining.

On to more important things, I have eaten and cooked some interesting things...

You can take a guess at what this could be.

I am extracting the specimen!

They were really good!  I had three of them. 

Yes I fixed this!  I was really proud, since I don't cook usually.  I fried potatoes, ham and dethawed veggies... haha.  I am such an expert!

A random tree in Durmersheim that was unique enough to have its picture taken!

Here is the branch of the weird looking tree! 

Spring has sprung in Karlsruhe (This is the city in which I work.  Has about 200,000 residents)

I was a creeper and took a picture of a random couple in the city.  They had no clue, but if you look closely you will see the guy holding her purse.  It doesn't matter where you are in the world.  Love makes you do strange things!

Last weekend (April 16-17), our house had a BBQ, but it was cold.  Not the best idea.  We don't have a grill, but over here there are one time use portable grills!  I didn't know those existed!  It didn't do the best job, but it was cool nonetheless.  I also went on a bike ride of the country side with my housemate Khalil.  Then we went to the grocery store.  That was an adventure carrying our bags with us on the bike and trying to balance.  Have I mentioned I haven't taken a bike ride in I don't know when?  Anyway, long story short, my butt was sore for two days.  It is now just feeling like normal.  I need ease my way back into it next time.

Well, this is all for now.  I hope this satisfied you and I will do my best to keep the posts more regular!
Ciao!