Der Feuervogel aufersteht.

Let's see. I'm officially divorced (since the end of August). I got an upgrade in my office situation, but not because I'm special now that I'm real faculty lol, rather most likely because they had to fit 12 German TAs into 8 desks (plus me), and the extra desk in the instructor office was empty. Not that I'm going to complain; they even got me a name tag for the door.

My teaching load this semester is 10 hours, which I agreed to back in May, because a faculty member was going on medical leave for shoulder surgery this semester and all the classes needed to get shuffled around. The required number of work hours (teaching hours are 3.3 hours/credit hour or so) for a part-time USG employee to be eligible for all benefits (i.e. health insurance) is 30 per week (75%), and I'm currently at 83.something%. 9 credit hours is equivalent to 30 hours/week. My spring offer was 8 credit hours (70ish%), which is, of course, less than 75%, and would make me ineligible for insurance benefits that they pay for (partially, anyway). So I asked the department head if there was any way to get me to 9 hours, even inventing some sort of 1-hour class or others, and he said he'd look into it. (There was no way they would change me from 2 4-hr classes to 3 3-hr ones, because the Real Faculty refuse to teach 4 days a week, and whatever bullshit bullshit permanent employees can get away with.) Then an early Festivus miracle occurred: the faculty member who is currently on medical leave announced she's retiring at the end of this semester, and can I pick up 3 more hours? Which has me teaching 11 hours a week, THREE PREPS, on a schedule that will likely confuse the hell out of me.

1st semester meets MTWR at 9:05/9:30.
4th semester meets MWF at 11:15.
2nd semester meets MTWR at 12:20/12:30.

I'm not going to know if I'm coming or going half the time. But, hey, at least I can afford health insurance and continue to get my medications. And maybe save up enough to pay for COBRA in the months I'm not employed but before I go abroad.

My new roommate is a serious upgrade from the previous one. She is also queer; she studies fashion theory and feminist studies; she is completely social; she's going to roller derby bootcamp. Her cat likes sleeping on my yoga mat (of all the surfaces in the apartment...). She's fannish, and we've talked Stucky and Good Omens and Star Wars. In other words, a normal human being. I was talking about Bitch Planet and decided to get it out to read again (and recced it to her) and she liked it. So, yeah. Serious upgrade in the roommate department.

I did a 10k road skate on Saturday and only fell down (accidentally) once. And I decided, like a genius, not to wear my elbow pads, so of course I fell right on my elbow and scraped it. (My knees, which were padded, took the brunt of the fall.) But I can wear my Star Wars bandaids, so it balances out.

I'm probably going to have to get a part time summer job so I can cover expenses and still have enough for moving. (Fuck, y'all, moving. I am doomed.) I just bought plane tickets to Berlin in May for an apartment- and job-hunting mission. Not sure where I'm going to stay, but I'll worry about that in March. I suppose that if the freelancer visa and teaching a language thing doesn't work out, I could change my mind and get a PhD* (ugh) to get a student visa. Or cross my fingers that I can figure out some sort of writing gig (also covered under freelancing) that pays something useful. Or maybe steady translation work, idk. Something that'll keep a roof over my head and food in my belly.

I'd have more money in the bank if I hadn't had to replace my Mini in July. The harmonic balancer died, and fixing it would have cost as much as the car was worth - and with a 14-year-old car, lord knows what the next thing to break would be. So I sold it to the mechanics and bought a 2016 Fit. Which is infinitely more practical and gets way better gas mileage. And I should be able to sell it for close to what I paid for it (not counting taxes, of course) next year, which means I'll have most of the money back.

*There is some pretty cool research in the Modern German department at Uni Potsdam.

ETA: I might be able to apply for a qualification to work with migrants and refugees based on this. Though I'm not 100% sure where my DaF Grundlagen und Konzepte certificate is.

I've actually been here a while; I got into Frankfurt at 1:30, then I loitered in the train station until the next train at 2:53.

I got to my apartment, showered, ate dinner with my flatmates, and went out shopping. I have gouda, fruit quark, cream cheese with garlic, vollkornbrot with sunflower seeds, hanuta, and beer. I feel like I'm in Germany now.

I also bought the SIM card for my phone, so I'll post my German number in a separate locked post. Next I'm going to try to get this Surf-Card working.

Today, two of Ben's friends from his video game forum were in the area, so we went out to brunch. I suggested Guglhupf, because they have a nice brunch selection. (Downside: they're *really* popular and have limited parking.) His friend said, "fuck yeah," because apparently, during her time at UNC and shortly thereafter, she never managed to make it out there, for whatever reason.

Two things set Guglhupf apart from the other German restaurant in Durham. (Three, if you count their website designs, sweet baby jesus.) First, Guglhupf is run by people who came here from Germany, and it features much more pan-German food. (No one who actually speaks German would call a dish "Schwarzwälder Kirsch Heisser Eisbomben Becher" or label a section "Specialitäten." (I can't figure out how to properly render what they're getting at in the former, but it would be more like "Heisser Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte mit Eis," and the latter is "Spezialitäten.") Call me a snob if you will, but the least this person could have done was find someone who speaks German to give their menu a SAN check. Also "German" chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany. True.)

While I was standing in line, I heard multiple groups of people speaking German to each other. That's how you know it's authentic ;) (And there were women there wearing German eyeglasses, the skinny rectangular ones, speaking auf Deutsch.)

Second, I can actually eat at Guglhupf. I don't eat meat, and I can't tolerate fried food. The two options I have at the Brathaus are potato pancakes (fried) and eggplant schnitzel (double fried). Well, and desserts & beer. The Guglhupf menu kindly stated that the German potato salad was made with beef broth, so veg*ns wouldn't order it. I appreciated that! I make German potato salad myself, but I use water and facon. (It's superior to American, mayonnaise-based potato salad, trufax.)

I guess third (fourth, if you count web design), Guglhupf has a German-style bakery. THEY SELL LAUGENBRÖTCHEN. Those are, like, my favorite thing, especially if you tear them open and smear them with Nutella before scarfing them down. They also have Laugenstange, with or without cheese. Seriously, I go in there, and it's like I teleported to Germany. ... You know, I should really drop by there in December.

If you want MEAT!!!!, go to the Brathaus. If you want authentic, Guglhupf is a much better bet.

acari sent me a box of German Christmas goodies, and it came in the mail yesterday! I was beginning to wonder if customs had eaten it, then it arrived in my box! Yay! And I think it included some homemade cookies :D (I already ate two of them.) And little tree ornament chocolates and a Milka Santa, and Spekulatius, and marzipan! I love marzipan! (Ben hates it. More for me!)

Thank you so much!!

Today (14:45 EDT/20:45 CET) is the third match in the Euro Cup qualifying stage. Germany's in group A with Belgium, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Austria and Turkey.

They're playing Turkey in Berlin. Much ado has been made about whether it will really be a home match for the Germans -- a lot of Turkish people live in Berlin and are expected to turn out at the stadium to support the Turkish team. It's going to be an interesting match: the player who was key to our success in South Africa, Bastian Schweinsteiger, is out with a torn ligament in his foot. Still shaky is the left back position; Boateng and Westermann are both candidates for the spot, though it's neither of their best position. (And Badstuber may be better as center-back than left-back; we'll see how he does there. Arne's still recovering from his back surgery.)

A lot of the usual league-toppers are having problems so far this season. Bayern's off to their worst start ever, with many key players (like Miro Klose) off form. Schalke, GK Manuel Neuer's home club, is down in 17th place, right above Stuttgart in last. The media are talking up a crisis for Bayern. There could be a bit of World Cup factor involved: half of Jogi's starting XI play for Bayern, so they're tired from working while their teammates had a bit of a break.

One thing that's heartening, at least, is that no matter how crappy they're doing in the clubs, Klose and Poldi have always been able to shape up for national team matches. Basti's absence will be felt, though; he's very good at directing play and holding the team together. He's also the best defensive midfielder we've got; the others are likely to wander forward, as attacking midfielders (Özil, Müller, Khedira).

Football, culture, and politics

There's a lot of talk about Mesut Özil in this. He's a third-generation German-born Turk, and he chose to play for the German national team over the Turkish, while the other Bundesligisten of German heritage chose Turkey. Özil said that for him, there was never any question that he would choose the German team. He grew up in Germany, and he feels comfortable there.

Hamit Altintop criticized Özil for choosing Germany over Turkey, suggesting that he made the decision on which team would best advance his career and that Özil wouldn't be playing for Real Madrid now if he'd chosen Turkey instead.

On several occasions, Özil was asked whether he thought football was important for integration. He's been asked so many times, he has an answer memorized: we always had multi-culti teams, and we always got on well together.

Another player with a "migration-background" is Sami Khedira, whose mother is German and father is Tunisian. In a press conference yesterday, he was *also* asked about his decision to choose Germany over Tunisia and about football as integration-helper. He said he goes to Tunisia every year to visit family ("it's also a beautiful vacation area") and feels close to his Tunisian roots, but "I was born in Germany. I grew up in Germany. I consider myself German. I *am* German."

I'm getting tired of hearing the question be asked. I can't imagine how tired those two are.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I don't have anything profound to say, so I'll link you to the Scorpions.