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!