Soccer Saturday + A Bonfire + Schloss Sonntag

Guys, I'm getting better at soccer! (I am shocked by this development.) I actually was a significant player in the game and I assisted on a goal. I also learned that in soccer, when you hit the ball with any part of your arm it's a hand ball. I argued with an old German man for about a minute before one of the sisters explained that rule to me. There was a different sister at soccer - one of the pair I originally met had been transferred somewhere else. They invited me to come with them to a bonfire at their church that evening, so I made plans to meet them at the train station at 5:30 since I had no idea where their church was.

There was something terribly wrong with the trams yesterday evening. I waited for 10 minutes until a tram came by, but it wasn't the 3, which was confusing because no trains besides the 3 come to my stop. After realizing that my tram should've been there 8 minutes ago, I decided to walk down to the next stop, which gets service from 2 trams, to try my luck. I caught the tram there immediately, but I still ended up being 10 minutes late to the station! German efficiency may be a bit over exaggerated...

The bonfire was fun. There were Americans from Gotha there as well, and we made smores and toasted bread dough over the fire. Now my coat smells like smoke...
I also got to see the church, which looked just like a normal church, and I got to watch the boys mop the floor before we left.

Today I went to Schloss Moldorf with my Fremde werden Freunde family. (It's a project that the University and Fachhochschule put on that matches foreign students with a couple or a family to make their lives in Erfurt easier!) My family is a couple with a three year old. Last week we met for the first time and had coffee, and today we went walking around the castle grounds as well as touring the castle.

The tour guide kept on going on about how horribly the Americans had treated the castle (I think they just removed the original furniture...), and Mathias and I kept on laughing because the guide didn't know I was American. At the end of the tour there was an exhibition of Otto Knoepfer's art, which I really liked. It was kind of a Rockwell meets Van Gogh vibe.

Jetzt kommt die Fotos! (This is a pun because on German tv, they say "Jetzt kommt die Werbung" before commercial breaks, which I find insulting. I'm mature enough to know when I'm being exposed to advertising.)

I finished my craft project! You can't see it very well, but I embroidered arrows onto my reusable shopping bag.

I filled my Gelbe Sack! This is the sack that all your non-paper recyclables go in.

On Reformation Day, the tours of the Augustinerkloster were being given for donations instead of a set tour price. It was pretty interesting.

This part of the church sustained the only major damage that Erfurt had during World War II.

I made fried chicken! It was unbelievably delicious. This gravy probably knocked Germany several places down on many world health rankings.

Today the new season of Tatort begins. It's kinda like a German CSI, except it's been on tv forever here. They still use the same opening from the first season for every episode. The new season takes place in Erfurt, so I'm excited to watch it! Here's a clip from a news magazine about it - they just speak German but they're in Erfurt for the whole thing so you can see a bit of my beautiful city in the background!

Link: Tatort Erfurt

Tomorrow I have to go back to work. Hopefully I still remember how to do my job - it's been a long two weeks away!