Deutsche Bank

Just wanted to share a quick funny story. I opened a bank account last week with Deutsche Bank. I went into the Bank and opened it in person. Today I received my first statement. It is addressed to Herrn Courtney Lynn Phillips. For those of you who aren't fluent in German yet, Herrn means Mr. Either the man who opened my account thought I was a guy or there was a mistake in the computer.

Love,

Courtney

Grow your own Weihnactsbaum

So recently I decided to purchase a "grow your own christmas tree." It was $5 and I couldn't resist. The picture shows a busy pine tree with glitter, a star and garland. You add the "magic water" to the bowl at the base of the tree. In twelve hours you are left with a beautiful tree. I was pretty excited to try it out. The final result was more like a watery blob that looks like broccoli.

This is hour one. About three hours into the experiment.
Six hours.
The next morning. Broccoli mushy mess.

Weihnachtsmarkt

I finally went to the Christmas market. The first time I tried to go it was storming. That made it hard to enjoy the market. It has all sorts of crafty stuff. They also have amazing potato pancakes. I tried to take lots of pictures but they didn't turn out super awesome. Everyone drinks this hot wine, Glühwein. Its like hot spiced wine. Anyways, it comes in little boots. Mini das boot!

I tried to get a good picture of the booths.
This is the back of the Rathaus.
Glühwein!

New Plants

Hey everyone, I have lots to blog about. We got two new plants in the last couple of weeks. I have kept Francoise alive so we decided to get a Poinsettia and a Basil plant. Here are the lovely new family members!

This is Michael Caine, the Poinsettia.

This is Herman Göring, the Basil plant. We named him after the Nazi so we wouldn't feel bad eating the leaves.

Famous Buckeyes!!

In Berlin we took an O-H-I-O picture and I uploaded it to the OSU website. Here is the link!!

http://www.osu.edu/O-H-I-O/index.php?id=9&label=15

Iowa

Hi everyone,

Its been a busy week. My family left on Tuesday morning. It was sad to see them go. We had lots of fun in Berlin and Hannover. On Monday night there was a TV special about the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. They had huge painted dominos where the wall used to be. It was cool to see them in Berlin and then watch them fall on TV. I started my language school on Wednesday. Its all German. There is no English spoken so it will be pretty tough. I've made lots of friends there. All of the other kids are really nice. At lunch I made friends with some of the popular girls because they liked my Hannah Montana lunchbox. (Just kidding, the class ends at noon.) Anyways, there are people from all over the world in my class. We have people from Spain, France, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, China, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Italy, Hong, Kong and America!!! I also found out that if I squish my cheeks together I can pronounce german words perfectly. I just have to find a way to do it without looking like an idiot. Last night we watched the Ohio State game. It was so awesome to see them win against Iowa. We made chicken wings and had Kolsch. This is the closet beer to American beer I have found. Enno's friends Jens, Anne, and Martin came over to watch the game as well. I explained to everyone how next week is a holiday in Columbus, Beat Michigan Week. I just have to find a lake to jump in for Thursday night and all will be well. I'll take pictures.

Love,

Courtney

My Christmas decorations, I'm allowed to put out a few candles, still working on getting a little tree in here. :)

Ha ha, Lindsey and Gangie posing with the "German Sausages" sign.
Berliner Dom

Of course we couldn't resist. OHIO!!!

Family!

Hello devoted readers,

My parents and sissy got here yesterday! We spent the day visiting Aachen and all of the sites. Today we visited Cologne (where cologne originated.) We saw the beautiful cathedral, shopped and had a late lunch in the alt stadt. Everyone is having a great time. All the old roommates are back together. (It would be better with little ki ki and justy poo here though.) Lindsey cries every day because she misses Justin so much. Leslie cries everyday because she misses little ki ki. Tomorrow we will drive to Hannover to visit with Enno's dad. Saturday we are heading to the capital, Berlin!

Liebe grüße,

Courtney and family

Mom, Dad and Lindsey at a cafe in Cologne.

Lindsey, Me and Enno at the Paulaner for a bavarian style dinner.

Mom and Dad at the Paulaner.

Family picture without kyle and justin. :( in front of the horse in the market of Aachen.

Halloween

Hi everybody! Just wanted to post some pictures from Halloween. Enno was "Scarry Potter" or Harry Potter ten years later and I was a pumpkin.

Kurbis Kuchen

Hallo Everyone,

This past weekend I made a cake from a pumpkin. It was amazing. (Heather, I will email you the recipe) I cooked a real pumpkin in the microwave and scooped out the insides. Then I blended the stuff in the blender. I had to change all of the ingredients in the recipe to metric. I don't know if everyone knows this about me but I am a terrible cook, like the worst. After I baked the cake I let it cool for an hour. I then applied homemade frosting. I put the cake in the refrigerator to cool off a bit more and let the icing harden. I came back 30 minutes later only to discover that the frosting had melted completely off the cake and all over the refrigerator. Oh well, it was still delicious.

Love,

Courtney

Federweißer und Zweibelkuchen

Hallo Leute!

Last night Alex and Kathi had me and Enno over for dinner. They made Zweibelkuchen. It is like a pizza with carmelized onions, cheese and bacon. So delicious. You are supposed to eat it with Federweißer. This a young wine made from baby grapes. You can only drink it two weeks a year because after that the wine matures and it becomes a totally different wine. This is a German tradition. We enjoyed the food and wine very much! Here are some pictures!

Liebe grüße,

Courtney

PS. The construction still going on. It starts every morning at 7:00 am. Yesterday they uncovered a parking garage. They brought in a crane because they had to lift something heavy from the underground parking garage. I assume it was a grand piano. Enno thinks an elephant was trapped down there.

Zweibelkuchen.

The pairing...

Hannover

Hi Everybody!

This past weekend Enno and I went to Hannover to see his friends and his dad. Friday night we went out in Hannover. It is a very pretty city. There are tons of parks and the trees are just changing colors. Saturday we went to an aquarium and got some awesome hats. We also found time to take pictures pretending to be Harry Potter. On Sunday we drove to Bergen Belsen. This is the concentration camp where Anne Frank died. There is not much left. All of the buildings burned down after WWII. There are several mass graves which were were quite horrific. Other than the obvious fact that it was a concentration camp, it was a good experience and I'm glad I went. To end on a happy note, enjoy my pictures!

Love,

Courtney

Awesome hats from the aquarium!

I'm a gangsterrrr
Girl version of Harry Potter
Enno doing his "Scarry Potter."
Christmas card picture.

Françoise

Dear Devoted Readers,

This is my new lovely plant, Françoise. She is french, by the way. Enno bought her as a gift to me and my only instructions were to not water her too often. Does anyone else know something about this beautiful plant? Sunlight, etc? Also, I'm putting up some pictures of our trip to "Louisiana." This is an American restaurant in Aachen. We ordered a burger platter. It comes with two burgers, chicken wings, nachos and french fries. Felt like home. :)

Love,

Courtney

Enno and Jens out for a Mojito
Corona Street in Aachen. Ha.
Construction that wakes me up at 7:00 am. There used to be a pool/fountain here. Now its rubble and noisy.

Koblenz Party

Hi everyone,

Last weekend Enno and I went to a birthday party for his friend, Stephan. Stephan's parents own a quarry so we got to drive construction equipment. It was a lot more fun than I expected. Afterwards we went to the party. Stephan's dad shot a boar in the forest and they roasted it at the party. Also, thought it would be strange. Apparently this is a normal thing. The pork tasted pretty good. We also had awesome potato salad! See pictures below! The party was awesome. We had a lot of fun. I was also able to see a big yellow castle in Koblenz.

Love,

Courtney

Me and Enno with the pig

Me driving... Scary!
Oh no!
Enno, Jens and Philip
Enno and Stephan

Oktoberfest

Hi everyone,

This past weekend Enno and I, along with a few other Germans, journeyed to Munich for Oktoberfest. It was the last weekend it was being held. We arrived in Munich Friday evening. Its a really lovely city. It is more cozy than Berlin. The buildings were rebuilt after WWII to look older, instead of modern like Berlin/Hamburg. (According to Samantha Brown) Friday evening we went out to dinner for schnitzel, which I always thought was a hot dog. Schnitzel is actually like a great big chicken nugget. Its a fried patty of pork meat. The place we went to is famous because their schnitzel is bigger than your face. I, of course, finished mine and whatever Enno couldn't finish... (Or the other way around.) After that we walked over to Oktoberfest to take a good look at what we would be getting ourselves into the next day. Going to Oktoberfest at night is like finding out that Santa isn't real. There is garbage everywhere and different bodily fluids are scattered about. I also got to see several people being taken away in ambulances. Anyways, Enno and I decided to go to Hofbrahaus for a beer. It was very fun. We met up with some British people who let us sit at their table. They also has a free buffet. (See pictures below)

The next morning we had to get up very early to line up for a tent at the festival. We lined up around 7:45 and got into the tent at 9:00. The tent we went to is one of the smallest tents and it seats about 5,000 people. Pretty wild stuff. We stayed in the tent and danced until around 4. Then we went to have dinner and headed back to Hofbrahaus. It was a pretty cool time.

Sunday we went to the English gardens where clothing is optional. I thought, "hmm, this sounds interesting." Sure enough, I saw 5-10 naked old men. Not so interesting, actually. In the English garden there is also a bridge that creates a wave-like effect in the river. There were about 20 people surfing in the river. It was pretty cool to see. Anyhow, its nice to be back in Aachen. Oktoberfest was an interesting experience.

Liebe grüße,

Courtney

Line to get in the tent. It opened at 9:00. We got there at 7:45. I wonder how early the people at the front got there.
Here is the free buffet at Hofbrahaus....
Enno helped himself...
Schnitzel as big as your face.

Belgium

Bonjour! Over the weekend Enno and I went to Brussels. They speak french there so I got to practice my french skills. I was able to order coffee and french fries like the natives. The city is a little over an hour west of Aachen. It was a quick drive and I enjoyed the scenery of Belgium. In Brussels we saw the Grand Palace, Mannekin Pis, the big market, and some other important things. Mannekin Pis is of course my favorite thing. If you don't know, its a little boy peeing into a fountain. Its basically the national symbol of Belgium.... Other than that, there wasn't much else to see there. The city is lovely. I'll put some pictures at the bottom. In other crazy news, I bought some mousse for my hair. It turns out that Heidi Klum uses the same mousse! It also works really well.

Yesterday, Germany had an election for their new chancellor. Enno took me with him to the polls. It was pretty interesting. Afterwards we went to a party for the FDP party. They have formed a coalition with the CDU, that is Angela Merkel's party. Everyone was very happy for the election results. We got to meet a local politician from Aachen who won a seat in their congress. She was heading to Berlin today because they change power in 3o days. All in all it was a pretty exciting weekend.

Miss you all,

Courtney