Hello,
I'm in Bonn, waiting for a ride to Koblenz. The Filipina fencer is being hosted here by a Phillipine family who lives in Bonn, and they've offered to drive me to Koblenz so I don't have to buy a train ticket, which is very nice of them.
Yesterday, I went to the Cologne center and saw an AMAZING cathedral, and some old roman ruins. Jana (filipina) wants to take a look around koblenz as well as do I so we might do some sight-seeing as long as I get my laundry done in time. I'll post pictures if the internet actually works out in Koblenz.
In a couple other pieces of news, I just received another round of corrections on my paper. I'll try to get them done on the plane on the way back. In other other news, like the 6th confirmed case of swine flu has been (ahem) confirmed in the dorms in OSU, so its spreading. Kind of figures that it's all happening at the school lol. I'm gonna keep stocking up on my airborne. Susie Scanland (us womens epee) got detained on her flight to China just because she had a fever and was held in a hospital in Beijing before they confirmed she didn't have swine flu and discharged her. Stupid if you ask me, just like how the Puerto Rico world cup had to be canceled by the organizers because of all the federations who canceled because they were scared of swine flu. To me it all seems silly, especially since so far its just normal flu-like symptoms and responds well to treatment. Its good to be careful, but do the federations know that PR is like miles and miles and miles away from the places most affected by the virus? I got a pamphlet handed out to me on the way into Belgium. They call it Mexican Flu... Jesus. Poor Mexicans always get a bad rap... I heard anothe rnews story about how the Israeli government thought it was offensive to Jews and Muslims to name it Swine Flu, so it should be renamed Mexican Flu. LOL!!!! Not offensive at all...
Signing out,
Eileen
PS. Speaking of Puerto Rico... Ruben Blades is playing a huge gig there with Seis de Solar, and I'm thinking since PR invited me to train with them this summer, I should do it, and make the trip coincide with the concert!!!!!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Hey all
I'm sending this from Magi's computer at her apartment. Everything is going fine in Bonn. Been training at night, but hanging out in the afternoons. Yesterday I went to the Bonn center and today we're going to Cologne... Hopefully when I go to Koblenz tomorrow the internet will be good enough to upload the photos! Unfortunatly the internet at the sportschule in Bonn has been pretty iffy, so I can hardly get on webpages, much less upload pictures or get on skype!
I'll try and show you all the pictures I've been taking in Bruges and in Bonn/Cologne/Koblenz as soon as I'm out of the sportschule.
Magi's parents have been taking good care of me, they've been making me pretty elaborate homemade lunches every day. Yesterday was soup, a chicken dish, salad, and eclairs. Today they made me baked whole fish with pasta and salad. I'll have to send tehm a thank-you gift.
I love you all! Hope things are going well in the new world!
I'll try and show you all the pictures I've been taking in Bruges and in Bonn/Cologne/Koblenz as soon as I'm out of the sportschule.
Magi's parents have been taking good care of me, they've been making me pretty elaborate homemade lunches every day. Yesterday was soup, a chicken dish, salad, and eclairs. Today they made me baked whole fish with pasta and salad. I'll have to send tehm a thank-you gift.
I love you all! Hope things are going well in the new world!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Ghent -> Bruges -> Bonn
OK, these flemmish cities need to get the name spellings worked out. Here you can spell the name Bruges, Brugge, or Brug, or Bruge. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. And they all sound like a very happy swedish chef. (Sergey thinks AMERICANS are fakey-happy all the time.... try the Flemmish.) This is my text impression of a flemmish shopkeeper. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! (FAKEY SMILE!!!) Its not bad its just that their joy takes you off guard at first.
I'm on the train right now from Brussels-Midi to Cologne, and then will hop onto the 30 minute train to Bonn. Magi's father was going to pick me up but it was during practice so I told him I would not mind taking a taxi and meeting him there.
Yesterday's Bruges adventure was quite fun but tiring. Its all walking and after an exaughsting three hours of stomping the cobblestone streets in my thin-soled pumas, my feet were aching and I stopped for a break and a shower.
Like a silly person, I planned my trip up the belfry made infamous by the movie In Bruges by the time they said the tower closd in the movie (according to Ray, 8 pm, except for that one day in the movie it closed at 6 because an american had had a heart attack in the tower.) So, I wandered over to the tower at about 6:30 to find that it stops accepting ascents after 2:30 hahaha.
The rest of the day was fun. I basically continuously got lost winding around the streets in the city of a really midievil town. Lots of cool churches (including the church of the holy blood-- they have a vial of jesus's blood, only shown during one hour a day! ha) in which I also saw one of the few Michelangelo marble sculptures outside of Italy. The canals are pretty cool as well, and the whole thing was very very beautiful. There's a certain part of the canal near a convent where a lot of swans live in grass with white daisies, made for some cool pictures. Mom, I'm sure you would have been in paradise picture-wise. I also got pictures of swans doing some sort of crazy mating dance and I hope they turn out well. I decided to take a boat tour (for 4.50 Eur) and decided in the future I wouldn't do the silly litle tours. While I was hoping to get some more background info on the city, I got a tiny bit, but it was too whirwind and it was me and a group of chinese tourists (aka-- computer-generated mandarine blasting out of the speakers after the tour guide said something short to allow for time for the mandarine.)
The only thing I didn't like about Bruges was that it was inundated with tourists during midday hours. I almost couldnt breath but I definitely wasn't the only one carrying a map around looking lost. I found that I'm improving on my french on my trip to bruges even though no one actually native to teh city will speak it, because I've been teaming up with other (normally french) tourists to find places a lot. I did find that I liked bruge a LOT when I ventured out again in teh evening as it was very tranquil and nice in the city.
While I generally find people who work in the center of tourist shopsto be extremely rude ( when prompted, they explain their behavior as a result of thinking tourists are exxtremely rude,) I find myself feeling a (barely tiny itsy bit) bad for them because they are right half the time. I almost revolked my purchase of a sandwich in a shop in Ghent because she was being crabby about how she WONT translate any fo the menu into english because" she didn't have time to do that for everyone." (yes, the shop was empty at the time) and then launched into a longer complaint (after I flippantly said "should I learn flemmish?" and then followed up that well in a lot of coutrnies it is not the culture to learn many languages) about tourists not learning the languae fof the country they're going to and how she hates americans for other various reason related to her shop. Anyways, I tried to talk her down about it and actually I think it kind of worked, because by the end she gave me a friendly goodbye. I was thinking the whole time though that maybe if she wasn't so grumpy or perhaps ONCE translated her menu (a whole 6 sandwiches) into english and taped it next to the other one her life may be a little easier in terms of income.
After I took my break in Gand, I had found a restaurant on travel advisor I wanted to go find and on my way ended up talking to this french shopkeeper in his embroidery shop right next to the brasserie bar I was going to. He ended up inviting me for a drink and so we ended up eating dinner and talking together. It was fun to have the company but I think the poor guy thought I was single until halfway through the meal. Oh well, we ended up talking for a long time and had fun anyways, before exchanging facebooks and parting ways.
I'm hoping that I can post this soon, and add the pictures to the post. I think you guys will think some of the Bruges pictures are really nice. I'm glad you all got home safe from Nevis and/or are doing well at home. Miss you all.
Love,
Eileen
I'm on the train right now from Brussels-Midi to Cologne, and then will hop onto the 30 minute train to Bonn. Magi's father was going to pick me up but it was during practice so I told him I would not mind taking a taxi and meeting him there.
Yesterday's Bruges adventure was quite fun but tiring. Its all walking and after an exaughsting three hours of stomping the cobblestone streets in my thin-soled pumas, my feet were aching and I stopped for a break and a shower.
Like a silly person, I planned my trip up the belfry made infamous by the movie In Bruges by the time they said the tower closd in the movie (according to Ray, 8 pm, except for that one day in the movie it closed at 6 because an american had had a heart attack in the tower.) So, I wandered over to the tower at about 6:30 to find that it stops accepting ascents after 2:30 hahaha.
The rest of the day was fun. I basically continuously got lost winding around the streets in the city of a really midievil town. Lots of cool churches (including the church of the holy blood-- they have a vial of jesus's blood, only shown during one hour a day! ha) in which I also saw one of the few Michelangelo marble sculptures outside of Italy. The canals are pretty cool as well, and the whole thing was very very beautiful. There's a certain part of the canal near a convent where a lot of swans live in grass with white daisies, made for some cool pictures. Mom, I'm sure you would have been in paradise picture-wise. I also got pictures of swans doing some sort of crazy mating dance and I hope they turn out well. I decided to take a boat tour (for 4.50 Eur) and decided in the future I wouldn't do the silly litle tours. While I was hoping to get some more background info on the city, I got a tiny bit, but it was too whirwind and it was me and a group of chinese tourists (aka-- computer-generated mandarine blasting out of the speakers after the tour guide said something short to allow for time for the mandarine.)
The only thing I didn't like about Bruges was that it was inundated with tourists during midday hours. I almost couldnt breath but I definitely wasn't the only one carrying a map around looking lost. I found that I'm improving on my french on my trip to bruges even though no one actually native to teh city will speak it, because I've been teaming up with other (normally french) tourists to find places a lot. I did find that I liked bruge a LOT when I ventured out again in teh evening as it was very tranquil and nice in the city.
While I generally find people who work in the center of tourist shopsto be extremely rude ( when prompted, they explain their behavior as a result of thinking tourists are exxtremely rude,) I find myself feeling a (barely tiny itsy bit) bad for them because they are right half the time. I almost revolked my purchase of a sandwich in a shop in Ghent because she was being crabby about how she WONT translate any fo the menu into english because" she didn't have time to do that for everyone." (yes, the shop was empty at the time) and then launched into a longer complaint (after I flippantly said "should I learn flemmish?" and then followed up that well in a lot of coutrnies it is not the culture to learn many languages) about tourists not learning the languae fof the country they're going to and how she hates americans for other various reason related to her shop. Anyways, I tried to talk her down about it and actually I think it kind of worked, because by the end she gave me a friendly goodbye. I was thinking the whole time though that maybe if she wasn't so grumpy or perhaps ONCE translated her menu (a whole 6 sandwiches) into english and taped it next to the other one her life may be a little easier in terms of income.
After I took my break in Gand, I had found a restaurant on travel advisor I wanted to go find and on my way ended up talking to this french shopkeeper in his embroidery shop right next to the brasserie bar I was going to. He ended up inviting me for a drink and so we ended up eating dinner and talking together. It was fun to have the company but I think the poor guy thought I was single until halfway through the meal. Oh well, we ended up talking for a long time and had fun anyways, before exchanging facebooks and parting ways.
I'm hoping that I can post this soon, and add the pictures to the post. I think you guys will think some of the Bruges pictures are really nice. I'm glad you all got home safe from Nevis and/or are doing well at home. Miss you all.
Love,
Eileen
Monday, May 11, 2009
@#$()*$ BRUGES!
Hey~
Greetings from Bruges. I just got setted in and am going to embark on my walking tour :) I was planning on taking a bus tour around the countryside that was encouraged by lonely planet but I slept too long for that! Therefore, I am going to walk around, take as many pictures, and see as much of bruges as I can! (pictures to be uploaded soon)
Love,
Eileen
Greetings from Bruges. I just got setted in and am going to embark on my walking tour :) I was planning on taking a bus tour around the countryside that was encouraged by lonely planet but I slept too long for that! Therefore, I am going to walk around, take as many pictures, and see as much of bruges as I can! (pictures to be uploaded soon)
Love,
Eileen
Sunday, May 10, 2009
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM! <3 <3!!
Hey all,
On my last night
in Ghent/Gent/Gand, and feeling pretty
pooped!Lost in the round of 16 again today, and to the same girl as last time!! Its frustrating but I think I will beat her soon. While he didn't coach me on the strip, the romanian coach helped me think through the bout afterward and I'll work on it for next time. As a joke the german team tried to ban me from sitting with them after I beat Kubissa :) and the italians officially hate me. More on that later.
Tonight I'm planning on being a lazy bum. Probably eating downstairs, then watching a movie up here in the room before bed. Its' a beautiful day in Ghent but I think everthing will close early on a sunday, I don't want to eat by myself at a restaurant again with my book, and I'm feeling like laying in bed!
These pictures were up on the website of the competition, along with a couple others.
**Mother,
As an aside, I'd like to say I got your mothers day gifts today on the way back from the venue :) And as proof, I shall take a picture of the box and put it on my blog. I hope you're having a really nice night in Miami, I've been trying to call you guys on skype but for some reason or another its not going through.**
Sending my love from Belgium,
Eileen
No time, have to leave for venue
but... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Here's the view from where I ate lunch. As usual, Ghent is very nice! I'm in the busy touristy part of town, and I think I'm sitting underneath the church where the oldest fencing club in the world is located in the belltower. The only place for wireless internet here is at McDonalds, so I don't know if I'll be able to access it from the hotel.
There are lots of spanish tourists here! Its strange.
On the train ride from Brussells I sat with a Romanian girl and what seemed to be her coach (possibly boyfriend? sometimes the lines are shady there anyways haha), we had some fun talking and hanging out before i jumped on the tram to my hotel.
I took a quick one hour nap, and went and got lunch. I guess after an internet check, next on my list is veg out at MTV in the hotel room and go to the grocery store to get some water. I might check out some shopping but I dunno. Tomorrow I'm planning on getting to the venue about two hours ahead to check my stuff and wrm up... we'll see how long its supposed to take to get there!!
Write Again Soon,
Eileen
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