Thank God for Starbucks

So first off I have to say how much I appreciate corporate American chains at the moment. It is really nice to be able to go to a familiar place where speaking English, or at least understanding a little is a requirement. I know that going to Starbucks and ordering coffee in English is definitely not the best way to practice my German but it is comfortable. Today I got off work at about 3 o' clock so I went to go kill time in the Alt Stadt. I didn't really have anything in particular to do except buy my monthly rail pass but I wanted to be out of the house. So once again after I wandered around for a bit I went into one of the Starbucks in the Altstadt, ordered a coffee and a sandwich and went upstairs to enjoy my meal by myself.
So to go back a little bit, yesterday my host family decided would be a good day to carve pumpkins. Susanne bought two, which I must say is never a good idea when there are three children, either one for each of them or just one. Anyway, I laid out newspaper and got out all of the necessary things; a big bowl, a knife, and a couple spoons. First I cut the tops off of the pumpkins. I figured that the kids could help me clean out the insides, of course they didn't really want to do that. They also got upset when they couldn't draw on the pumpkins or cut out the faces. Instead I had each kid draw what they wanted the pumpkin to look like, I figured we could sort of combine them and come up with two faces. Of course this resulted in a screaming, crying, war that I had no idea how to stop because I had no idea what they were fighting over. Apparently Carlotta drew a dot on Cecilia's paper. Cecilia was bawling, Maximilian was yelling at Carlotta and then Carlotta started crying....I am never having children.
After the children would not stop crying Susanne came back into the dinning room and I was scolded for not keeping the children occupied. I guess I don't remember perfectly, but I'm pretty sure when I was little and it was time to carve pumpkins I didn't really have a big part in it either. I remember my dad always doing all of the cutting. Well Susanne decided that it would be a good idea for the children to be able to cut the pumpkins themselves until she tried it herself and realized that it is harder than it looks. So she gave each of the children a knife of their own and they began cutting up pieces of pumpkin. I guess it hadn't occurred to me to give a 6 year old let alone a 3 year old a sharp knife to use on their own.
All and all the great pumpkin fiasco was not that bad, but was definitely something I am glad I will not be here to do again. After the pumpkins were finished the children took them outside and lit the candles. It also had not occured to me that 9, 6, and 3 year olds would be allowed to light matches.
Today was a pretty uneventful day. I started work at 7:30. I got Cecilia ready for school then took her on the 15 minute walk to Kindergarten. On the way there you have to cross this walking bridge that goes over the freeway. It was so cold this morning that the bridge was a little icy, I don't want to think what the bridge will be like in January or February. I think I will be driving her to school at that point most likely.
After coming back from taking Cecilia to school I didn't have to work until 11:30. Susanne was having a few friends over for breakfast so I thought it would be a good chance to listen to some of my "learn German" Podcasts. (*A Podcast is something that you can subscribe to on the internet for free. In my case I have subscribed to a Podcast that is supossed to help me learn German by Audio tracks. You get Podcasts through iTunes and they can go onto an Mp3 player so you can listen to them anywhere*). I listened to about 20 minutes before I fell asleep...I think I will have to go to bed early tonight!
At 11:30 I went and picked up Carlotta from school. I had to take the dog, I still hate that dog. Then I cleaned up the kitched from Susanne's breakfast while she went and got Cecilia.
For lunch Susanne made a traditional German meal. We had Bratwurst and potatoes and apples. It was really good and seemed really easy to make. I'm hoping to remember how to cook some of this stuff for when I come back home. We used a mustard for lunch that was really good. Susanne said it was really really hot, but I didn't think it was that hot. The mustard apparently is made in Dusseldorf. She told me I would need to bring some of if with me when I went home.
As for the rest of my day I pretty much covered it up above. I went to Starbucks and killed sometime. It was nice to be out of the house for a little bit. I also went and ventured into some of the clothing stores. I really like the clothes here, and I found a pair of boots that I think I might get. I also remembered to take some pictures. I was just walking along the Rhein, they don't have me in them because I was by myself. Next time I'll try and post some with me in them, I know how you all must be missing seeing my face!




This is just in the Altstadt, the building on the right is O'Reilly's. It's a really old Irish pub here, not the one that I have been frequenting though.


This is a statue in front of O'Reilly's. I'm not sure what it signifies, everything is in German.

This is a picture of a church and another building. That is the Rhein off to the left of the picture. It was getting close to sunset at this point.

This is a walkway along the Rhein. You can also walk below next to where the umbrellas are to the right. The walk way is tree lined it is really pretty.

This is classic Dusseldorf at sunset. The media tower is on the left and the post for one of the bridges is on the right.