Patience and Frühling

So upon recent reflections of my blog, I realized I don't write about my actual Marburg life very often.  This is kind of a shame, since I do have a ton going on in my life here and it's just such a cute little town...

Spring is in full bloom here.  It has been actually, for about the last month.  But I am definitely not complaining.  The only minor complaint is the allergies it is producing with my lungs, thus hindering my morning runs.  But whatever.  I'd rather be coughing a little and feeling sun on my shoulders than shaking in my boots and bummed due to winter solstace.   When I had left for Amsterdam about oh, two weeks ago, I knew spring was here but hadn't really seen any response from nature other than the warming of the climate.  Well, on the train back to Marburg, I remember sitting in my train seat thinking "why the heck is everything so beautiful?  It's just so.. green!!!!"  Yep.  Basically over the course of one weekend, the trees came alive, flowers sprung from the ground and Spring officially began!  My backyard here at my new house is thriving with the new season.  Here.. check it out.

 

 

That last photo is of the 100 kajillion steps I have to take to reach my apartment... sad thing, that is the photo from only the 1/2 way point (or possibly even a little less..) but hey.  At least my bum will be nicely toned by the time I pack up and head home. 

Lately I've been choosing to walk everywhere in town due to the awesome weather, such as the grocery store, class, post office, restaurants etc.  Clearly the Europeans are a walking culture, so there are sidewalks and paths galore for one to choose from, making it highly convenient to stay active.  Looooving it.

I'm starting to get back into the running swing-of-things, now that the weather is warmer and my lungs can handle it (minus spring allergies.. dang them).  The new challange is overcoming the mountainous hills in which I reside.. seriously they're buggars.  The air is also thinner here than at home, adding to the list of challenges.  But oh well, it's at least still moderately fun.  A part of me is yearning for my running route around the block at home and the local YMCA, but then I come to realize that I'm running past a castle on my daily route here, bringing the yearning to a miraculous stop.  Imagine that.  huh.  Also, I seem to be burning/tanning way faster here than at home.  I was wondering why I have been getting scortched from merely walking out the back door, and then my German friend filled me in on the fact that apparently a hole in the ozone layer has conveniently shifted itself to over central Europe.  How handy.  And to think I thought I would be way behind on the tanning scale when I got back to Wisconsin.  ha.

While out on my morning run today, I began to ponder life, like usual (dangerous, I know...) and came to a random conclusion about European life.  Europe is all about patience.  Seriously.  Ok so here goes my budding theory.

Patience is a virtue in which apparently Europeans have grasped hold of.  Everything here requires patience, whether it's waiting for a bus, ordering internet, waiting for your food in a restaurant, drying your clothes out on laundry lines (I had a much longer list while I was running, which is naturally fleeing my memory when I need it..) but still.  So much patience!! It definitely isn't a bad thing; it's no secret that patient people usually do well in life, but holy man.  Sure, patience is practiced daily all over the world, even when we are not conscious of taking part in the act.  But Europeans are an entirely new breed of patience-holders.  For example, Europeans can wait up to an hour sometimes at a restaurant without getting their food before they complain.  In America, we'd complain after 20 minutes, sometimes less.  Dryers are a hot comodity in the US and used sometimes when we only need one item of clothing dryed.  Here in Germany, while many may have dryers, laundry lines are the most common practice (environment friendly) and here in my WG we don't even have one.  I guess I just didn't realize how much daily patience I have been learning/practicing since I got here, but I felt the need to share this phenomena with all of you, even though it probably bored you all to tears.   Eh, my bad.

Well, I am off to go finish reading a feminism article for my literature class, and then off to class at 2.  Nothing against feminism or feminists, but gosh darnet.  Their articles would be so much easier to read if they weren't so aggressive and whiny.  I feel like I'm just reading some woman's rant about how her life didn't turn out perfectly, and therefore it must be men's fault.  Ick.  We'll just assume it's only this one book, to avoid upsetting any feminists who may be reading this :)

Oh and I must remind myself to get my laundry out of the washing machine.  Our machine kind of.. gets stuck.. at some point during the cycle and just keeps washing itself over and over if you don't switch it to the next cycle.  Kind of like a small tempremental child in our basement, only I feel the child reference isn't necessarily good since it's concerning labor.  Hmm.  Kind of like a crotchety-old-woman-washing-machine-with-an-attitude who no matter how many times you make sure not to put too many items in and sweet talk, always ends up resulting in the loss of a sock.  Stupid thing.  I'm starting to look like pippy long stalkings or whatever her name is with all these different color sock combinations.  Hmpf.

Alright, so that's Marburg for today.  Tschauuuu