Foot and News

Here's me and a giant foot. I consider this a companion piece to this photo. Four such feet (all left feet, sadly) were scattered across Trier, recent statues erected to mark the city's Roman history and the role of Constantine the Great who, for a time, ruled from Trier. But really: giant foot! Fun!!

In non-Trier news: Yesterday B and I had a big day at IKEA, but we have no more furniture to show for it! Despite the fact that we budgeted close to seven hours there, we ran out of time! Rather than rush, we decided we'd go back later. (What is it about that place?? No matter what we do, we always have to go back!) We bought a lot of littler things, all hefted and dragged home via public transportation (two buses and a streetcar). Our apartment is much more pleasant for the little improvements.

In two separate incidents yesterday, old folks on public transportation started waxing poetic (in German) to us about love! One sweet old lady that we talked to for a while on the bus asked me if I was cold (I wasn't) and she said it must be love keeping me warm. And both she and an old man complimented Brian on, er, me! What the...? Why does no one ever compliment me on Brian? I guess that's gender stuff for you: complimenting a girl on her guy would be a left-handed compliment, alas.

Tomorrow is our second German class. The class is held at MPI, so the students are all mathematicians and their families, and boy did the first class remind me how much I hate mathematicians. Inevitably there's an asshat male (or two, or three) who shows off with jolly obliviousness to everyone else shooting eye-daggers at him. At least this asshat came nickname-ready: B and I have been referring to him as Schneeweiß (= Snow White), after his healthy crop of dandruff. (Our favorite moment was when young American Schneeweiß argued with the native French speaker in front of him about the way you say "hard-working" in French.) As for the class itself, time will tell if it ends up being worth the walk into the Altstadt one or two extra days per week.

There seem to be lots of medium-sized things to attend to all of a sudden. I am due for an endocrinology appointment. My Chicago endocrinologist had me ask a German colleague for advice on doctors here, and he pointed me to a center in Cologne that's supposed to be very good. Navigating a new health care system in a foreign language should be fun!!

Also, I need to talk to the immigration office about the three-month extension on my visa. (Time flies: my first three months are up at the end of October!) There seems to be some question as to whether I can get those three months if I'm not actively (and, presumably, verifiably) searching for a job.

Lastly, I have to look into enrolling as a student at the Universität Bonn! Why? Corinna had the brilliant suggestion that I enroll as a way to get my residence permit. I had dismissed the idea when the immigration officer suggested it, thinking that I can't possibly go to classes and it would be insane to pay student fees anyway. But it seems that in Germany, typical student fees are very low (about 800€ per semester for regular students, 200€ for doctoral students), and the registration office doesn't particularly care whether you go to classes! There are all sorts of ways in which this plan might not work out (fees for foreign students might be higher, the registration office or the immigration office might demand a full course load, they might not accept me as a student,...), but what a lead!! This is better by far than any other option I've considered, and Corinna is my hero for suggesting it. I'm not daring to fully imagine the possibility that this will work out - but you can! And you can keep your fingers crossed for me.