Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

On Saturday, I headed downtown via train to explore the Staatsgalerie, an art museum. It was amazing! 42 rooms of masterpieces. The first room I walked into was Abstraction - Figuration by Neo Rauch, a German national who's work is haunting, but I just couldn't look at them long enough. Another artist that caught my eye was Max Beckmann, another German artist. He lived and worked during the expressionist movement, but his "expressions" are quite different from those of Monet, Manet, and that lot.

Beckmann's Girl with Banjo and Mask

Surrealism and the work of Salvador Dali, among others, was another of my favorite rooms. I think what I like about surrealism is the attention paid to intricate details and the "surreal" subject matters that are often very complex.

Salvador Dali

Then I got to the Picasso rooms. And Oh My Gosh! I love Picasso. I wish I could marry Picasso! (Actually, I've read he was quite the womanizer and plus he's dead...so maybe not) The Staatsgalerie has a wonderful Picasso collection. One website claimed that it was one of the largest in Europe. I'm not sure about that, but it was wonderful. 

The great thing about Saturday was that even though I had a great afternoon, I barely got through half of the museum! And since Saturdays are free admitance, I have a feeling I'll be spending many more lovely afternoons there.

Fall Market

Here in Echterdinger, we have a famer's market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Yesterday (Thursday), I woke up and looked out my window.
What do you think I saw?
A market.

At first I was confused.
"Did I get my days mixed up? Is today Wednesday?"
I knew I wasn't that mixed up!
So I asked Carolyn, out in house expert on Echterdinger.
(And boy are we lucky to have her!!)

"Its the fall market...like a craft market!"

So of course I went and walked around and checked it out!

There was a tea stand.

And a spice stand.

There were jewelry stands.

There were also stands with HUGE underwear hung up.

There were rolls and rolls of cloth.

Very pretty cloth.

There was this stand of fur merchandise.

Poor little fluffy fox tails.

And deliciously warm looking sheep's wool slippers!

There was also lots of candy stands. 

And sausage stands.

And beer stands.

Typical Germany.

Sami, if you are reading this, I got a part of your Christmas present! 

Longer Post Later

So this is what we did today!!

http://www.sensapolis.de/en/infos

Pretty dang fun!

Woooooo Pig Soooooie!

So today I wore a Razorback shirt to work.
What a great conversation starter!

First, I met a man who's wife went to the U of A.
"Are you from Fayetteville?" he asked me.
"I sure am!" I drawled (a little extra on purpose, of course!)
"Don't tell me ANYTHING about the game! We haven't watched it yet!"
"Oh, me either! I'm so far behind these days!"

Then some guy asked me if I was a razorback.
"Yupp," I replied, not looking up.
"Well, at least your in the SEC," he said.
Then I noticed he was wearing an Alabama sweatshirt.
"Everyone always gives the SEC crap, but we could beat all of 'em," he said, "And no matter how much we fight among ourselves, we'll stick together when it comes to anyone else!"
Bonding moment.

At the end of my shift I was stalking bread, minding my own business.
"Nice Shirt!" some dude said!
"Oh thanks, are you a fan?"
"HELL YEAH! I'm from Little Rock! I LOVE the Hogs!"

It was a great night of work!
I think I might wear a Razorback shirt at least once a week!

Halloween in Germany

So last night, we went to this place:

Frankenstein's Castle!

I will be totally honest.
I only went along because Bryn was absolutely dying to do this.
I didn't want to.
I'm a big scardy cat.

But Oh My Gosh!
I had so much fun!

The characters were scary, yes.

But they were funny, too!

They posed with us everytime we asked!

There were shows.

There were beer gardens.

There was an actual bar.

I got a Ghost Buster.

And a Dracula Nr. 1.

They were gross.

But it was fun!

We drove the 2 hours to Darmstadt with Crystal and Brandon, some good friends of Nate, and Crystal's friend Alix, who's from England.

We had an absolute blast!

And one thing that I really liked was that all the people who dressed up were in SCARY costumes!

Instead of

Ummmm...

Skanky ones.

I'm working today.

I bet we'll sell a lot of candy!

Then me and Bryn are planning on baking cookies

And watching scary movies, of course!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

On a Happier Note: Pictures!

Courtney, if you ever read this blog

Which you should...

This totally reminded me of you

And your Sr. Portfolio

You know...

Mixing nature and industry.

Carolyn's hospital bed.

Poor thing.

She was laid up for 4 days.

But she's home now.

Thank goodness!

The view from the hospital bed.

The windows were opened a lot.

Very German.

And very beautiful!

The view from Frog Road.

This is what I get to see when Bryn drives me to work.

I don't want you, 

The lovely readers of my blog,

To think of me as a big whiney baby.

Because I love Germany.

I love living here.

I like my job.

Not only because I get to interact with some very kind people,

but because it helps me realize all the places I want to go in life.

In the words of my

Favorite

Band 

Of. All. Time.

"I've never been so alone

and I've never been so alive"

Third Eye Blind, Motorcycle Drive By

HE'S BAAA-AAACK!

Yes that's right, ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere.
He's back.
The D man.
The security guy.
Whatever his name was.

Well he has a new name now.
Its not a very nice word.
So I won't say it.
But use your imagination.

He came through my checkout line tonight with 12 bottles of wine.
And he paid for his gas.

I did every thing wrong.

Well, according to him...
I did everything wrong.

(insert his name here)

After our transaction was complete,
He proceeded to tell me the
correct way
to do everything in the entire store.

He doesn't work directly in my store.
He doesn't deal with 48321-4732810478 customers a day.
(most of whom are incredibly nice)

However, he does deal with people who do everything wrong.
Apparently, people like me.

After our little lesson,
He informed me that he would be emailing my boss
To tell him how everything in our store
Is Done Wrong.

"Don't worry," he assured me with his icey blue eyes, "I won't use your name."

Almost in tears, I lifted my chin.
"Its Molly. Use my name."

"Oh, I don't want to get you in trouble...unless you do something really bad, like stealing."

"Have a good night, sir."

And he walked out the door.
Almost forgot his movie.
But as the nice, honest kind of girl I believe my self to be
I hollered after him
And he got the movie.

I tried to keep smiling.
I tried to do my job
The Right Way
(which I thought I'd be doing all day long)

A few more customers passed through the line,
Each one nicer than the next.

Then came the man who made my night.
Well, my week really.

"You are doing such a great job," he told me sincerely
"Anyone who tells you otherwise or is mean to you has a
Pathetic Existence."

My eyes filled up with tears.

"Thank you for saying that."

And he walked out.

Then my shift manager walked by.
He asked me if I was okay.
I nodded yes.
He told me to take 10 minutes anyway.

Some people are nice.
Some people are not.

(Insert his name here.)

But the world is a mix of good and bad.

And I'm here to tell you:

I know the heart of life is good.