Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 16:20:44 +0200
Subject: "The Periodic Adventures and the Adventurous Periodical of Marleigh," Issue 13

Hello again, it is I, your humble servant in Germany, bringing joy into
your life with my little pearls of wisdom.  

Or something.

Last weekend I went to Nuernberg with Mum.  It was kind of neat.  We got
there Saturday afternoon and wandered about for a bit.  The weather
turned sort of nasty and I had a cold, so we went back to the hotel and
hung out there.  It had a TV.  I had forgotten about TV.  We watched
"Asterix and Obelix" cartoons and a bad Kevin Costner movie, both in
German.  We could understand them both about equally well.  

Sunday morning we took a bus tour of Nuernberg.  Got to see the old Nazi
stomping grounds, called the Zeplin Field, or something like that.  It's
where the biggest rallies were held.  If you've seen "Triumph of the
Will" (one of the more famous Nazi propaganda movies,) I think that's
where it takes place.  They took down all the Nazi references and
disassembled various part of it after the war, but now it's a historical
monument, so it's protected.  If you go there now, you just see some
large stone bleachers and a field.  I guess I was expecting something
dark and ominous, but it's really just a rather sunny field.  It would
be a nice place to play football or have a picnic there, if it weren't
for all the police and fences and stuff.  I guess the Germans are
worried about Neonazis gathering there.

We saw other cool Nuernbergy things, like the castle, a few statues,
fountains, and the market.  The market was closed Sunday and it was
raining Saturdday, so we didn't manage any actual shopping.  We met some
other Americans at a restaurant, they were three WWII vetrans in Germany
to meet some of the Germans they had fought in the war.  Sort of a
closure thing.

The things I like the best, ironically, were two modern works of art we
saw, one statue and one fountain.  I found out later that they were both
done by the same guy.  The fountain was called "The Marriage
Merry-Go-Round Fountain" and was based on a poem written by one of the
Meistersingers of Nuernberg.  It showed three good things and three bad
things about marriage, fairly gruesomely.  It was very compelling.  I
guess you just have to see it.  You'll have to see it in person too,
because I stupidly forgot my camera.  O well.

Mom and I parted in Nuernberg, she went to Frankfurt to catch her plane
the next day, and I headed back to Ulm.  Both trips were fairly
uneventful, so Mom is now safely back in Syracuse.

I have a new laptop on loan.  Richard's going to the States for a week
or so, and needed his back (the one I usually have at home).  He's got
it until the 25th.  This weekend is a long weekend (Himmelfahrt, the day
40 days after Easter, is a national German holiday), no work Thursday or
Friday, so I was looking forward to being bored out of my mind for the
weekend.  I'd finished all my books and with no outside communication
and nasty weather and all the other roommates deserting to hang out with
family, things were looking grim.  Happily, Stefi took pity on me and
offered me her laptop until Tuesday, which is the day That Mike Person
arrives, so then I can use his.  Thus, there should be no interuption in
my sending of weekly periodicals.  I'm sure you're all quite relieved. 
:)

German Word of the Week
die Steckdose = electrical outlet

So I finally caved this morning and went to the Blauthal-Zentrum, the
big mall here in Ulm.  I had two objectives:  Buy a dress to wear to
commencement and my friend Ingrid's wedding, and to buy an adapter for
my adapter.  See, I bought this adapter thing in the US, so I could use
my tape player with German outlets.  Wierdly, all German outlets are
recessed in the wall, so the adapter thing I have is too large to fit. 
I need a little thing to fit on the end of the plug to make it work.  

So I went to the mall, and failed in both objectives.  All the dresses
and skirts were tubelike and had no shape at all.  I swear, designers
must be fitting these clothes to prepubescent girls or men, because no
women I know are shaped like that.  The things I liked best were the
traditional German clothes.  Nice full skirts and ruffled blouses.  I
don't think I really want to wear a dirndl to commencement, though, so
I'll probably be hitting Filene's Basement when I get back to Boston.  
The adapter, which I thought would be easy, was quite difficult.  I hit
several stores, and each time had to physically drag the store person to
an outlet so I could show them how it didn't fit.  I finally went to
this one place with a guy who spoke English, and he suggested getting an
extension cord and cutting the plastic off the end so it would fit. 
That seemed clever so that's the current plan.  Now I just need some
industrial strength scissors...

Honor and Glory
	to Kate and Nana for letters (sorry Nana, it arrived after Mom left)
	to Tom, who took 5th in his most recent bike race
Dishonor and Notoriety
	to drunken louts who forget which hotel room is there's and try to get
	   into mine
	to all day training sessions in German, where I can't follow
	   (ironically, I'm told the guy had a really strong accent,
	   Italian I think, and I could understand him better than many
	   of my coworkers)

Tschuess!

Marleigh