Blasewitz II

I went back to Blasewitz where the Elbhangfest was yesterday and took a few photos which I have posted on Picasa.  Its a really beautiful area.  Afterwards I went to Radebeul for dinner with my friends.
Today I went to an exhibit in Friedrichstadt of three short films about Russia.  Very interesting.  Saw a little gallery exhibit afterwards.

Elbhangfest

This weekend I went with the gang to the Elbhangfest in Blasewitz.  The Elbhangfest (Elbe Bank Fest) is a wine festival in its 20th year.  I forgot to take my camera with me, but the photo is of Blasewitz, which is one of the most prestigious suburbs of Dresden.  All around on the hillsides are Villas and Luxury Estates, even a couple of palaces.  Naturally we all drank some wine and just generally had a great time.
I am off school for the week, and practicing my grammer lessons.  There are still a lot of things that just don't make any sense to me.  I'll keep trying though.  :)

Bunten Republik Neustadt

The Colorful Republic of the New City. This weekend was one of the biggest street festivals in Germany, and it was right here in Dresden! The whole area of the city was closed to vehicular traffic.  I would say its about a square mile.  Every street has multiple music venues, from DJ's to Bands, all competing for your attention.  The crowd is so thick you can barely walk, and this goes on for two days, then on Sunday it becomes the children's festival, and all the booths and music become family oriented.  I went with my regular bunch on Friday and Saturday nights.  It was very difficult to stay together, but we all had a great time!

Trabis, Wartburgs, and other old cars

The cars of the former eastern block are now really popular collectors items.  Although I think they were hated back in the old days because they were notoriously unreliable, I see them everywhere I go.  I have decided to start a photo collection of the ones I run across.

Pirna

Today I took the Schenllbahn (fast train) from Dresden to the neighboring city of Pirna.  Pirna is considered to be the gateway to Sachsen Switzerland, an area of mountains very popular with rock climbers and backpackers.  I went there to see the officers casino at the old soviet military barracks, which was originally built for the Royal Sachsen Field Artillery Engineers from 1901-1906.  It was a really nice looking group of brick buildings on the edge of town, heading into the mountains.
The old city was almost completely under renovation, including the castle Sonnenstein which was basically being gut renovated.  Napolean stayed in a house on the market square in the old town while he was besieging Dresden.  Today was the Stadtfest in Pirna, so photographs in the old town were a bit hard to take because of all the stages and booths being set up there.  If it weren't for having plans to go to the Buntes Republik Neustadt festival in Dresden tonight I would have probably stayed in Pirna for their festival which is also beginning tonight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirna

My first post in German, English translation below

Hallo , ich kann nicht glauben, es ist fast zwei Wochen. Ich bin gut und eine tolle Zeit hier in Dresden. Ich habe viele neue Freunde aus der Klasse gemacht und auch in der City. Meine Klasse ist eine Menge Spaß, und ich habe große Klassenkameraden. Es gibt nur 5 in meiner Klasse jetzt. Zwei Mädchen aus Mexiko, einer aus Russland, und ein Mann aus Neuseeland, und mir. Unser Lehrer ist aus Jordanien. Nächste Woche hat sie jordanischen Für ein Abendessen für uns alle ist. Morgen abend werde ich Salsa tanzen bin mit den Mädchen aus Mexiko. Dieses Wochenende ist der Buntes Republik Neustadt Partei. sie schließen Sie den ganzen Neustadt, haben alle Autos zu gehen, keine Busse und keine Straßenbahn. die Leute bringen ihre Sofas und Stühle auf die Straße und es ist eine Band am evey Straßenecke. Es dauert von Freitag Abend bis Montag Morgen ohne zu stoppen. Ich glaube, ich am Montag wird müde sein. . Achten Sie darauf, mit Liebe, Walter
Hello, I can't belive it's almost two weeks. I am doing well and having a great time here in Dresden. I have made many new friends from class and also in the City. My class is a lot of fun, and I have great class mates. There are only 5 in my class now. Two girls from Mexico, one from Russia, and a guy from New Zealand, and me. Our teacher is from Jordan. Next week she is making an Jordanian dinner for us all. Tomorrow night I am going Salsa dancing with the girls from Mexico. This weekend is the Buntes Republik Neustadt party. they close off the whole Neustadt, all the cars have to go out, no busses, and no trams. the people bring their sofas and chairs into the street and there is a band on evey street corner. It lasts from Friday evening until Monday morning with no stop. I think I will be tired on monday. Take care, with love, Walter

First Day of Class

 I woke up at 5 this morning and took this picture from the top floor of the guest house.  I did a little better than I thought on my test and am in the second level group.  There are seven students in my class.  Two are from Mexico, one from New Zeland by way of Finnland, one from Russia, one from Hong Kong, and one from Taiwan, and of course me.  Our teacher is from Jordan.  The first day was fairly simple with an overview of the nominative and accusative cases.  All but one of the students are staying at the guest house.  I think I will do pretty well.

TUDIAS

I started school today with a placement exam this morning.  Not sure how I did, but I don't think it was too good.  It started with knowing the definite articles, proper adjectives, pronouns, etc.  Then I had to write a paragraph.  I think my broken spoken German translated into really bad written German.  We will see tomorrow.  I also got settled into the International Student Guesthouse today.  There was a last minute cancellation and I got the room.  Hurray!  I was getting a little nervous, and was tired of moving around.
I will also get my laptop tomorrow, and will be able to upload photos.  Bis später.
Walter

The Sun is Shining!

I guess its been a few days since my last post, and this is going to be a short one.  The sun is finally shining here, and I have made some new friends.  This evening I will go to a garden party at their garden in Radabeul.  Can't wait!  Hope all of you are having a great summer!

Tuesday in Leipzig

So I got up this morning and its raining again. But I spent the day walking in the rain and taking pics of Leipzig.  I saw two of the best Art Deco buildings, and one of the most beautiful churces I have ever seen.  I tried to figure out the computer situation yesterday, but its still an issue.  I did get a prepaid phone though.  My new number is 0160 99891176  You have to dial in the international code 011 and country code 49 first Drop the 0 from my number 160, then dial the rest of the digits.  So it should look something like this  011 49 160 99891176.  If it doesn't work look up the instructions in google.  It is free for me to recieve calls, but costs 2€ per minute to dial out international.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Walter