Sorry my computer is broken, but now I am on Taylor's. Mom and Taylor are here and we are doing a lot of sightseeing! The Alps were so beautiful! Easily the most amazing place I've ever been. Today Dominic had a show and tomorrow we will go to Munich to do a city tour. I'm tired from all the organizing and the company, but it is nice to speak English and see my beautiful wonderful loving mother and cute behaved awake sister!!! We are going to Austria to do a Hut hike on Wed. if the weather isn't cold and rainy like it has been. I will be back to America on Aug 23rd.

Sunday

Valuting arena at the Bavarian Championships
Frank (the man I helped at the show) Winning the Grand Prix Championships on Don Dior!

Today we went to Olympia Reitanlage Muenchen-Riem (the horse park of the 1972 Olympics) to see the Bavarian Championships. It was a great location with really amazing facilities. Dominic spent 6 weeks there getting his training license last year. There was show jumping, vaulting and dressage. We ate lunch down the road at a really yummy and cute Greek restaurant. The Grand Prix was ok. Rode Rodrigo again, Dominic signed up for a show at the beginning of August so everyone is back to work! Finally not hot here! YAY! School tomorrow, need to study...

German Class

Here are a few people from my class!

It is too hot here!

Yorkie on our way to the concert.
Getting off the horse: Rodrigo from Ride Club Augsburg needs to be refreshed. Ali Potasky helps.

Well I made it into a German newspaper... so funny! I got a whole interview and everything but they didn't put it in! The "article" was about the hot weather and what the people and animals in the area did to keep cool, but all it was was a page of photos with captions. Too funny!

Went to a concert of the kids at Dom's school last night to help sell drinks to raise money. They didn't compare to Williston chamber orchestra! But fun to hear that kind of thing again, made me miss it.

Rode Rodrigo yesterday, he is good again and will go back to work. About to go ride him now. Dominic had an "accident" waterskiing with school yesterday and can't put riding pants on. I don't know how it happened (he doesn't either) but the whole fronts of his legs are red and rope/ ski/ water burned.

School is going well still, have another test on Monday! I am sweating just sitting here... no fans, AC, or even screens in the windows. Ew.

Lake

Part of the Lake
Duck in the Lake (edited photo)
Baby ducks (edited)
Swan (edited)

I've been swimming a lot, it is very hot here! When we were at the lake Police and a helicopter were there but we couldn't see anything wrong... everyone was swimming like normal. The next day Dom's Mom told us a 26 year old man drowned! So sad, and easy to forget how dangerous life can be. It is scary... I was swimming laps and I could have kicked a dead body. Needless to say I haven't been there since.

I had a bad morning, the bus was (according to the board) 15 min late but ended up being about 30 min late, so I was late to school. Got my first test back, and I did superbly! They grade tests 1-6 (1= very good, 6 = fail) and I got a 1+ (even better than a 1!) On the way back home from school I forgot to push the button that makes the bus stop so I had to walk "extra" to get to Dominic's house. I was distracted because this old man on the bus (no one be offended, he was probably 80 or 90) was telling me to check out www.amerika-in-augsburg.de. Will do, tomorrow.

Dom rode Rodrigo and he was not lame, so he will start back into work slowly. They ordered a sheepskin saddle pad for Ali so his back won't be irritated, and as soon as that comes he will go back to work. Off to bed, "hausaufgaben" finished!

Soccer is over

Disco!
Public viewing (compare with previous photos, or I can just tell you there was hardly anyone there!!)

Back to school today, finally we have moved on from resturant vocabulary! Not much news here, horses still out of commission, weather is hot as hell and no more World Cup soccer to watch. Need to study and go to the barn now.

Swimming

Swimming spot
Fountain and building in Augsburg
Public viewing (The loosing game...)

I've been swimming a lot lately. It's pretty hot here, (not as bad as in MA I've heard!). We go to this big lake by bike. It is pretty but some sections of it are nasty and smell like crap! School is going really well, need to study this weekend thou

The horses are both out of work now, bad timing! Ali has a sore on his back that the saddle irritates, and Rod came up lame on Wed. Dom was supposed to show him this weekend, but thats not happening anymore. He was better yesterday but still just getting handwalked. He has an old splint on his right front and Dom thinks that might be acting up a bit. Ali is completly bored as he has been off for 2 weeks.

I am falling asleep now, in bed. Stay cool.

Market

Today I had fun at school, again! We went to the market which was so pretty! I wanted to just walk around and take photos but I had to learn German. Short post today, I am in the process of making myself a vocabulary list on Microsoft word. School is really fun though!

School

Swan at the swimming lake

First day of German school yesterday! It was really good! Even though it started a week ago I had no trouble following... actually it was like listening to German for babies after hearing "normal" German so much. I did homework for about 2 hours last night and Dom helped me, so I am ready to go again today! The class has 11 people and they are very friendly. Mostly Italians, but 2 people from China and a few from the Middle East. There is a 15 year old boy from Brazil who is spending 9 months in Switzerland and for some reason in Germany for a month. He doesn't speak English either and I feel bad because he doesn't understand anything. The teacher made me sit next to him and help him, so I spoke Spanish (I guess the closest thing to Portuguese haha!) and we wrote the German numbers from 1- 100. I am the only American, but surprisingly the whole class (and the teacher) speaks some sort of English so that makes it even easier. Today in school we will take a "field trip" about 100 meters to the market to learn some food vocab. After school we went swimming to the lake in Augsburg and ended up playing catch with a tennis ball for about 1.5 hours... my shoulder is sore this morning! Off to eat breakfast... maybe I need a nap today after all this learning!

Sorry

Sorry I have been slacking off on my blog... excuses: lost memory card for camera, Dominic's return home, etc. I bought a new memory card and so here are a few pictures from dinner tonight. I ate a bite of the mini golden fish with "eatable" bones and ate about 5 bites of the Mackerel. I will be up to date on this more now, tomorrow I will go to observe in a school to see if I want to take German class there!

Days

In my quest to find things to do all day, I found the 1972 Olympic Kayak/ Canoe course on the bike! The 2010 World Cup is happening this weekend so I have been watching them practice on the course. It is quite something. It is manmade in a canal but there is a strong current and boulders, turns, rapids, etc. I rode Rod today, took him for a walk in the woods. It is hot now! Probably 80 degrees. Tonight Dom's parents will go to an Opera so I am holding down the fort...

Fussball Public Viewing

Dominic towering over the crowd.
The TV! I think around 12 feet high. "Only" 5,000 tickets were available and they were sold out 3 hours after becoming available on Thursday.

Today I slept until about 10am and then was incredibly lazy! Dominic rode Rod and I free lunged Ali. Tomorrow morning he leaves for Italy for a week so I will be looking after the horses (today I taught Dom's mom the difference between looking at, looking for and looking after!). Germany played England at 4pm and we went to a public viewing in Augsburg. It was crazy and unlike anything I've seen in America! Almost everyone had some sort of Red, Black or Yellow "decoration" and they were handing out body paint at the entrance. I was glad Germany won, mainly because I can't imagine what all these people would have done if they lost! There was very loud singing and cheering, and just when I thought that was the end of the festivities I realized that every car leaving honked their horn (and not just a little). There were cars decorated with the German colors and people hanging out with flags and screaming and causing a ruckus. Police were everywhere, and one had elongated his sideburns with black, red and yellow face paint. To say the least these people love their Fussball. My assignment tomorrow is to be in the city at 7 to get tickets for the public viewing of next Saturday's game...

Fun Day!

Dinner... Schweinshaxn (pig hip/ thigh) and beer. I ate the pretzel and went thirsty.
Alpine Slide! Even the dog went.
Me making muscles in front of scenery on the drive home.
Chris and Cabana Boy... plus a beautiful show grounds!
I hiked up to get this photo of the show.

I'm tired and I'm watching USA play fussball, but here are some pics from today! It was super. We went to the show in Austria, (STUNNING), Chris was 7th with Cabana and Ulla won the Grand Prix. We drove home through the mountains and stopped several times to do an alpine slide, eat, etc. The only bad part was I felt very carsick on the way home :)

I'll write more tomorrow... good night/ Go USA!

MAXed

Dominic getting into "party mode"... wrestling his mom and painting her with German flag face paint. This led to fighting with broken whips and boot pulls.



Here are a few pictures from the party last night... The whole street is closed down and there are people everywhere. I had to pay 30 cents to use the toilet... that was a first! We wandered around until about 1 and then went to a disco. The music was completely horrible at the beginning... they were playing "Hit the Road Jack (don't you get back, no more no more...) as a dance song! It wasn't even a remix! Then some Beach Boys and "The Twist"! I was surprised and music like that doesn't help my already amazing dance skills. After a while it got better and I was dancing a lot. We got home at 3am and the funny part was Dominic waking up to go to school this morning! It is 10:40am now and I just woke up, on my way to the barn. I think tomorrow we are driving to Austria to watch a huge horse show. I'm so excited!

Dinner

Dinner last night... meat and veggies in jello and some horrifying alcohol. :(

Rode both horses today, they were good! Dom is being evaluated for the military. I am home alone now. There is a big party in Augsburg Thursday- Sunday which sounds really fun!

Show update

Awards ceremony
Ulla and her dog, Powela, with Cabana's winnings.
Love this shot, German colors
Frank and Amalon
The Carnival!

A bit more rested now, although I didn't have to work too hard at the show! We drove 7 hours in a huge horse van the size of a bus. We got to the show around 7pm and unpacked and I went to sleep. I am tired of horse show food because I ate it the whole 3 days. After the rides were done everyone left so I had to entertain myself. I went for a walk and found a carnival and had some food there too... it was great for my German because now I can get pretty much anything I need (ok mind you I am super at charades). My major miscommunication was getting cotton candy when I wanted a caramel apple! The horses were all well behaved and things went smoothly. Frank's 2 horses Don Dior and Amalon, both finished with decent scores. Cabana Boy was awesome and won both days (a PSG and I1) so that was exciting, the only Americans at the show! At lunch there were crazy demonstrations in the main arena, like a Native American reenactment complete with guns and fire. 3 Hand gliders also landed there and they hired a trick airplane. It was a pretty big show but the facility was... not pristine. The riders were not happy with the footing and the stabling was set up so the horses could put their heads out their windows and into the jumping warm-up. They ran out of hay Saturday night... hmm what else? Oh an antique car show blocked the path to the warm-up arena on Sunday. Well I'm going back bed for a little while and then riding Dom's horses. He has 2 really huge tests this week so he needs to study a lot!

Home from Show

Home from show, very tired! It was really great. Will write about it tomorrow, off to bed. Here is the first batch of photos.

Work or Play

Packing for the show! Today I went to work and came back for lunch, (hot dogs and pretzels, although they call them by more sophisticated names!) then rode Ali. He is very different to ride than what I am used to! I went shoe shopping with Dom's mom because I only have one pair of sneakers for the barn. I bought some other barn shoes but saw a lot of cool everyday shoes! Now I am getting ready and feeling hungry. I work tomorrow and then leave around 11 to go to Ulla's. I will be sleeping in the horse trailer! I am probably bringing my computer but I doubt there will be wireless on the show grounds!!... so no blog until Monday night. I am very excited! I have been messing around with the photos on my computer so here are 2 experiments and a photo of Dom's dog Bubbles. Have a good weekend!!! I am bringing my camera so don't worry...