Fortuna Dusseldorf Football Riot!

So on Sunday I experienced my first football riot. Well I guess I didn't actually experience it. Luckily I just happened to not be on the street that Maclaughlin's is on at the time that the police attacked the football fans.

The reason for the riot was because Fortuna the Dusseldorf football (soccer) team won their game which means they get to move up to the division 2 Bundesliege (sp?). So fans were super excited and a little crazy.

This first video is from April when Dusseldorf played Berlin. It's not the riot from Sunday, but it's an interesting video. It shows you just how crazy the fans/police are. It is kind of a long video and it has alot of German in it, but if you are bored and have some time to kill it is kind of weird to watch. The video opens up and ends right where I used to live with the Meisels. Their house is fairly close to the arena. So here's the video:




There was a video that showed the police attacking the people on Sunday but someone removed it. I do have some pictures I can show you though!

Here are the streets early in the day while everyone was inside watching the game.

Mark and I were at a brewery outside of the Alt Stadt when the game was going. As soon as it ended and Fortuna had one this man came running out of the brewery waving this flag. He is in the middle of the street in this picture blocking traffic.

Here is the same overly happy man daring the taxi to come forward.

This is outside of another brewery. No crazyness, jsut happy fans enjoying their favorite beer.

As it started getting later more and more police started showing up. They are the ones on the right hand side with the white helmets on.

More Police

...and even more. At this point Mark and I were in a pub that had all of the windows open because of the nice weather. Lucky for us we got some of the backlash of the police's pepper spray. That was pleasant.

The streets filled with tons of people.

People started throwing and busting up tables and chairs from restaurants in the streets. Then of course they decided that these things must be burned.

Police on the way to stop the fire.

Munich pictures!

At dinner at the Hofbrauhaus with our litre beers.
The town of Neuschwangau where the palace was located.

A lake by the palace. That is Austria in the distance.

A castle by Neuschwanstein, I forgot it's name though... Hohengau I think.

The backside of Neuschwanstein. I think they were doing some renovation...

The view from below the bridge we went on.

Neuschwanstein again!

The English Beer Garden

Mmm giant pretzel with a giant beer! That's my alcohol free beer in the background!

The restaurant we had dinner at. I had Swedish style meatballs with Spaetzle. It was sooo good, even though Mark had to help me finish it!

The brewery tour group at the restaurant.

A couple of the Swiss boys and I at the Hofbrauhaus.

Brewery tour group again.

Munich take 2

So the week before last was Mark's birthday and we went to Munich. We had been planning on doing this for a while. We flew there which was alot nicer than taking a 6 hour train ride! We arrived in Munich around noon and went to a nice outdoor restaurant in a busy plaza. I had Spatzle which is a Bavarian/Black Forest specialty noodle. It was basically like macoroni and cheese but much more amazing. That night we went to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus and the food was just as good.
The next day we went on a tour to see Neuschwanstein. This is the castle or Kind Ludwig II that alot of fairytale castles have been based off of. The Disney castle for example was based on this palace. It was a really neat tour. It was about a 2 hour train ride total ( we had to switch a bunch) there an back. We had to go with another tour group inside the palace because they give their own tours. It lasted only about 30 minutes. You weren't allowed to take pictures inside which kind of sucked, but I have a bunch of pictures from the outside I will post in my next blog.

We got back into Munich at about 7:30 or so and of course were ready for more Bavarian style food. We went to a restaurant called the Augustiner which had been recommended to me by a few people. The food was ok. Most Bavarian food is pork so that's what I got. Pork with potato dumplings. The dumplings had a really weird texture to them, I think I prefer mashed or baked potatoes better.

The next day was Saturday. We decided to get an early start and explore Munich while the weather was nice. We walked around and around and went inside just about every tourist gift shop we could find. Neither of us bought anything. After that we went to the English Gardens and stopped at both of the beer gardens we found to sample what they had. The big beer garden (the one I have pictures of) was great! They had giant pretzels and tons of tables. I had an alcohol free beer here which was actually pretty good. I also had a Radler which is the same thing as a shandie I think, 1/2 lemonade 1/2 beer. I didn't want to drink too much beer too early because we were going on a Brewery tour later that night.

We started the brewery tour at the town square. It was the same tour that I had gone on with my mom and dad when they were here only we had a different tour guide this time around. Mark and I ended up having a great time. There were a few couples from the states, a family from the states, a bunch of Swiss, some guys on 2 week leave from Iraq ( American soldiers), and 2 men in their mid to late 70's. It turned out to be a super fun group. We closed down the Hofbrauhaus which was our last stop and our guide took us to a bar that was to stay open until 5 in the morning. I didn't stay out until 5 in the morning.

All in all Munich was a great trip. I think so far it is definitely my favorite place in Germany. It was nice going there this time of year and seeing it much more lively. When I had gone with my parents it had been in February so it was still pretty cold. This time of year there were beer gardens and people all over the place. There were so many people there this time when I went. I can not imagine how crazy it must be during Oktoberfest when they have millions of visitors.

Luxembourg, Belgium, and the end to my employment.

Mark and I decided to take a weekend trip to see Luxembourg. We both ended up having a free weekend so we thought it would be nice to get away to somewhere neither of us had seen. We decided to rent a car and drive the 2 hours to the city. On the way we had planned on stopping in Spa Belgium, a city known for it's spa water.

The reason that I had been given a free weekend was because Susanne needed to make sure I didn't go over my hours. She went on a spa retreat (because her life is so stressful with an au pair and a cleaning lady) Thursday morning and wasn't coming back until late late Sunday night. According to German law au pairs are not suppossed to work more than 30 hours a week and 6 hours a day. Earlier Dirk and Susanne had left for a whole 3 days to go on a vacation to Spain. Luckily though this time Dirk was still around. So I only had to work from 6 in the morning until about 11 at night. They had let me have the weekend off because they decided Dirk could handle the kids on his own for a couple days.

Before I left for Luxembourg I had wanted to tell my host parents about some mold that was growing in my room. Near the window and around the furnace in my bedroom there was black mold growing. I hadn't gotten a chance to say anything to them earlier because I hadn't noticed it until recently. I was also really sick the beginning of the week and didn't leave my room for 3 days. I have been really sick this year and think that it may have been due to the mold in my room. When I looked around other parts of the cellar where my room was I noticed other cases of mold growing along the walls and lots of sings of water damage.

I decided to leave the Meisel's a note. Looking back I realize this was not the best idea but at the time it seemed like the best option. I packed my bag for my weekend trip and left the note on the counter. Just to let you know the note was written in good taste. It just said that I would like to let them know that there is mold in the basement and I was wondering if something could be done about. I also let them know that I appreciated them and I wasn't trying to be ungrateful.

This is a picture of Spa. It was a cute town. We stopped here on the way to Luxembourg and grabbed a bottle of Spa water. I also got to have a Belgian style raspberry beer. It was really good, it reminded me alot of the McMenamin's Ruby beerWe stayed here for about an hour or so, after having a couple pastries, then got back on the road to find Luxembourg. I must say, having a GPS navigator is a wonderful thing when you are driving around foreign countries.
It took us about another hour to get into Luxembourg. The drive was really great though. We went through the Mosel Valley region and it was really really pretty.
It took us a little bit of time to find our hotel. The GPS kept sending us down a dead end. Luckily we found it though. The hotel didn't look like much on the outside. In the inside though it was great. The lobby was super modern. Our room wasn't in a modern style though. It was in old English country house style. It was by far the nicest hotel I have ever been in. The room had it's own hallway! On one side of the hall was a door that led to a giant room with a bed, a sofa, chiars, a giant ottoman, and a giant writing desk. On the other side of the hall way was a giant bathroom.

Luxembourg was a really pretty little town. It is half surounded by a fort. I have a picture of Mark and I on one of the for walls. The next picture is of an actual part of the old fort. The last two pictures I took standing at the fort wall looking down into what is below.

This really was a neat little city. It wasn't big but there was alot of restaurants and shops.
On the way home we decided to stop at Spa again. it was a nice little half way mark on the way to Dusseldorf. The whole drive home I was really nervous. I was worried that the Meisel's wouldn't have gotten my note. I was also worried that for some reason they would have been upset that I had left a note

I ended up getting back to the Meisel's house and everyone was already in bed. I was relieved, but still worried about what was going to come in the morning. When I started work at noon the next day there was no mention of my note from Susanne at all. She didn't ask me how my weekend had been and she really didn't say much to me in general besides letting me know what my duties for the day would be. It wasn't until about 7:30 at night that she told me that I was to have a meeting with her and Dirk at 8:30 and I should go down stairs and come back up then. Needless to say, this didn't help to calm my nerves.

I don't know if the meeting could have gone much worse. They started out by telling me that the mold was entirely my fault. That the only reason it was growing in my room ( and the rest of the basement) was because during the winter when I had my heat turned on I did not open the window. I guess at the time I felt like it would be a waste of energy, heating a room with a window open when there is snow outside, but apparently I was wrong? They let me know that before I came when no one was living in the room they did not have an issue with the mold. I think that would have been because no one was living there so the heat wouldn't need to be on. But what do I know?

So after the mold was blamed on me (the house was built in the 1800's btw, most basements made back then were not meant for people to live in, also there was mold peeling the paint in other parts of the cellar when I had first arrived) Susanne started to ask me why I spent so much time in my room if the mold was so bad. Of course, thinking that we were all mature adults I believed that I could be honest with them. I told them that I didn't feel comfortable coming upstairs. I said that I couldn't exactly put my finger on what it was I just didn't feel welcomed. Well that statement right there opened up a huge can of worms.

Susanne started her Ali-bashing tirade by telling me how unfriendly I am. That I am one of the most unfriendly people she has ever met. Her reason you may ask, is because I don't go over and spend time with the neighbors... If I had known that not going door to door and selling my kindness was a requirement to be seen as friendly in this host family I may have looked else where from the beginning.

The next thing on Susanne's list of Ali-flaws was that I am horrible with children. She said she did not understand why I would ever want to work with children because I am so terrible with them. No she did not have specific instances or anything. She also contradicted herself in the very next sentence by telling me how much fun the children have with me and how much they love me... Also just for people reading this that may not know I am not in fact horrible with children. I have gotten really high reviews from people who I have worked with around children. Susanne was just trying to get to me. If you would really like to hear more about some of the other things she said to me I can tell you when I get back, I don't feel like going into too much more detail on a public blog. The bottom line was that after she was finished attacking my person character I told her and Dirk that I did not think I could continue working for them.

After telling them this they asked me to pack up a weeks worth of stuff and come back the next Monday to tell them if I still wanted to discontinue my employment with them. I don't know about you, but getting kicked out by someone doesn't really make you any more fond of them. So I went downstairs and packed a bag and left. I wasn't absolutely positive where I was going to go, but thank God Mark said it was no problem if I stayed with him for the week.

The week went by pretty quickly, I had a meeting with the Au Pair agency which wasn't all that productive. On Monday I text Susanne and asked her when would be a good time to come over. I was planning on bring Mark with me so he could help me get all of my stuff, I have too much stuff. Susanne said that wasn't a good idea and I needed to come by myself so that they could have another talk with me. I had to wait all day until 9 at night to go back over there.

When I got there it was just Dirk that there to have a talk with me. Susanne didn't come downstairs at all. I told him that my feelings hadn't changed at that it would be best if i moved on. He said that was fine but he had a few things he wanted to talk to me about. He said that in order for me to get my money from April ( I had worked the entire month minus 2 days) I would have to go to the government office and change legally change my address. After this I would have to bring the reciept back to them as proof and they would give me my money. More hassle when all I wanted was to be done.

It took me about 1/2 an hour to throw all of my stuff in my suitcases( plus a couple extra bags). Luckily Mark was waiting down the street to help me get my stuff because he was allowed in the house. So I sent him a text and he came over and waited outside when I lugged my suitcases up the narrow steep stairs. My host family were too polite at this point to offer to help me carry anything up.

After I finally got my stuff out and we were on our way I started to feel a little bit more relieved. I went the next day and changed my address. I wasn't able to make it to the Meisel'd house at a time that fit their schedule so I went to the neighbors to pick up my money. And that is where I am now. Now my blogs can start being more fun because now my life is more fun.

The Emerald Isle

So in the beginning of April, as some of you may know, I went to Ireland with my friends Katie and Eugenia. So far this trip has been one of the best that I have been on. Ireland was amazing. I'm not sure if I thought it was such a great place because I have gotten so used to unfriendly Germans or if it is in fact a wonderful place. Either way I had a ton of fun in Ireland.

Katie and I decided to fly out of Dusseldorf's "auxillary" airport. This is an airport that used to service only WWII aircrafts and is now used mainly for Ryanair airlines. We didn't realize how far away it was from actual Dusseldorf. This is an airport that is advertised at a Dusseldorf airport. I thought I would put up a map to show you just how close this airport actually is.
The circle on the lower right hand side is Dusseldorf, while the one to the upper left hand side is the airport. I made dots on some neighboring towns. The line I drew is to show you the country line. The airport is in the Netherlands, not even in the same country. Katie and I couldn't believe how far away this airport that said it was in Dusseldorf was. It took us about 3 hours on a bus to get to the aiport. Longer than it took us to get to Ireland.

Lucky for us the bus ride wasn't so bad. We were able to sleep on the bus which was nice because we got on the bus at 2:30 in the morning to make out 6:30 flight.

We arrived in Dublin at about 7:30. Eugenia wasn't going to get there until about 2:00 because she was flying out of Milan. We also couldn't get into our hostel until about that time anyway. We had alot of time to kill. Lucky for Katie and I though our good friend Trevor from Maclaughlin's was in Dublin at the time visiting his parents. He had told us that he would show us around Dublin when we got there. After letting him know that we had arrived he told us that he would be out to meet us as soon as he finished breakfast. He met up with us at about 1:30. Apparently the Irish prefer to enjoy and extend their breakfasts...
Trevor finally met up with us at the Temple Bar which is one of the most famous bars in Dublin and is conveniently located right next to our hostel!

This is a picture of us there. Katie and I were both exhausted from our early bus ride, followed by a plane ride, followed by wandering around Dublin for hours before finally meeting up here. Lucky for us Eugenia arrived as soon as we could get into our hostel. We decided to go there, drop off our stuff, and freshen up before meeting up with Trevor again.

After we had gotten our stuff settled and were ready to start out again we found a nice black Mercedes taxi and a personal chauffeur who happened to be a good friend of Trevors and a man we had met a few times back at MacLaughlins. This was a great surprise that none of us girls had expected.
The first place we went was like a sports bar. There were a lot of families there enjoying the football games that were on tv. We also got to meet up with Trevor's family. We had met his parents right before Christmas so it was nice to see them again. Trevor's mom had also just had heart surgery so it was really nice to see her and to see that she was doing well. This was one of the nicest families that I have met. They were very welcoming and warm. After we left this pub we went to Trevor's parents' house where the gave us shots of Bailey's and cupcakes made by his little niece.

At the end of the night Trevor took us to one last pub called the Autobahn. Yes that's right a German pub in Ireland. Which is really funny because we know Trevor from Maclaughlin's, an Irish pub in Germany. The night had been really fun. We got to go to some places that were not touristy at all. It was nice because there is no way we would have gotten to see those other places if it hadn't been for Trevor. Katie and I were also so grateful for his families hospitality. It was good to see that families in Europe aren't all like the German families we have been living with.

The next morning, after some much needed sleeping in we decided to go on a "hop on hop off" tour bus. This was great because we didn't have to walk much or use our brains much in order to see some of the great sights that Dublin has to offer. We got to see St. Patrick's Church (which costs 5 EUros to go inside, ridiculous), "the oldest pub in Dublin" called the Brazen Head, and where Embassy is. We also got to see the Guinness Brewery and storehouse which I personally thought was great. The one downside to the tour bus was that it seemed to play the song "Molly Malone" on repeat. In case you are unaware of this quaint little Irish ditty I have included a video of the Dubliners preforming it live. Hope you enjoy:

After we were finished with the tour bus we decided to call it an early night. We were going to be catching a bus to Galway the next day which was about a 3-4 hour bus ride. We left Dublin Tuesday morning. It seemed like such a shame to be leaving Dublin because the weather was so nice when we left. It only seemed to be getting worse and worse the closer we got the Galway. Luckily it was raining too hard once we got to our hostel in Galway. The hostel we were staying in was really nice. I mean it was a hostel so we were sharing rooms amd bathrooms with other girls, but everything was much cleaner. There was also multiple showers which was fabulous. Our hostel in Dublin had one shower for our 6 person room. Not fabulous.
After dropping our stuff off in our rooms we got directions to a restuarant that would be having live Irish music and dancing later on in the night. Once we started on our way it seemed like a hurricane had hit Galway. It was just our luck that as soon as we were out the door the weather decided to be awful. We had about 3/4 of a mile walk to the restaurant and man was this an awful walk. The wind was blowing harder then I have ever experienced it before. It was also pouring, monsoon style rain. I had bought a new (nice, supposed to hold up to most storms) umbrella right before leaving. This new wonderful umbrella last all of 10 minutes in the torrential downpour that was Galway.
This is a picture of us at the restuarant. We all had straight pretty hair before the picture. This was taken after we all had gone to the bathroom to dry our soaking wet hair off with the hand air dryers.
This was a nice restaurant. I think it was called Monroes. We stayed here for what seemed like hours. None of us wanted to go back out in the rain. We stayed until about 10pm. We were exhausted and were planning on getting up early to take a tour bus to a local town called Conemarra. Just as we were leaving though the Irish music and dancing started up. It was a little late for us.
The first town that we stopped in was named Cong. You may remember this town from seeing it in a little film entitled "The Quiet Man". This was a John Wayne film made in the early 1950's. There is a famous bridge from this movie which we also got a chance to see.

This town was interesting because you could tell that the majority of their tourists were people who came because of the movie. They had a cafe called "The Quiet Man Cafe". There were also many other various "Quiet Man" entitled things around the town.




Here are a few pictures of the trip to Connemarra. The top left picture os of me outside of the Kylemore Abby. The top middle one is of the three of us in front of a burial mound on the burren. Tope right is the Kylemore Abby which used to be an old palace and got passed down from person to person and is now an Abby. The bottom left is in an old Friary and the one right next to it is Katie and I at the Friary.