The End

Everyone,

Most of you who read this already know, but last week I found myself in the hospital again getting an emergency surgery on another infection that needed to be taken out. This occurence combined with the strange infection on my finger that has lasted for weeks and puzzled the doctors has lead me to the decision to come home a few weeks early from Germany. This means that I'll not be able to go on my scheduled trips to London, Rome, or Prague, which is really sad. But to be honest, now that I've had several days to think about things, talk to the doctors, my teacher, and my parents and family and friends, I know that coming home is the right thing to do, and I feel very at peace with the whole idea. That's not to say that I wouldn't have loved being able to see more of Berlin as well as the other cities I had planned to visit, but I'm excited to get home and get better for once. I've been sick for a while and think I just need some good old American health care to get me back to 100%.

So, I will look forward to seeing a lot of you soon.

London

I had a little bit a scare recently. But first let me back up a few weeks.

About two weeks ago, I started seriously considering ways I could get to London for a weekend while I’m here in Berlin. London is super expensive (thanks mostly to the fact that the Pound is worth nearly twice what the dollar is worth), so it was a little difficult finding ways that would make it affordable. But I found a cheap flight there and back (more on that later) and after some thought and planning regarding lodging, I had a realization: my sister has a friend who lives just outside of London. I contacted her, asking for any recommendations on where to stay or what to do while I’m there, and she responded with an invitation to stay with her and her husband at their house for free! This was unbelievable news to me, and immediately put the trip in my price range. I booked my flight, which turned out to be 50% off from the time I looked at the pricing before (now don’t think this is that good of a deal. The airline Ryanair lets you fly from Berlin to London and back for about $60.00 which is really good. But the way they do things is advertise the flight at $0.99 and then tax you the rest of the $60.00. So when they advertise that the flight is half off, it doesn’t mean the flight is now $30.00, it just means that the flight is now $0.49, with almost the exact same amount of tax. A brilliant business scheme), so I booked and felt great about going to London.

I had planned the trip for the time that Ben Kweller would be playing a show there, which I was really excited about. Tickets would have been kind of expensive—again, thanks to the terrible exchange rate—but still well worth it. I contacted my friend Sarah-Ashley, who has personal connections with Ben Kweller, to see if there was anything she could do about getting me on BK’s guest list, thus making the concert free. She immediately pulled through, sending me an email the next day telling me I was all set and on the guest list. I felt great. Things could not have worked out more smoothly, I thought.

But then just this last Wednesday, one of the students here was working on getting her visa because she arrived in Europe one month before everyone else did. As she was talking to the people at the Goethe Institut who were helping her with that, she mentioned that all 25 of us were going to need to get our visas taken care of soon too, which caused the Goethe Institut to panic. We all had an emergency meeting the next day, where we were told that we would need to give up our passports to the German government so they could get our visas in time, thus making it possible for us to get out of the country in December without getting arrested. This would have been no problem at all for me if I hadn’t already planned this London trip, booked my flight, arranged my lodging, and gotten on Ben Kweller’s guest list. As it stood, I wasn’t going to be able to go to London because I wasn’t going to have a passport on the day I was flying out and I was devastated.

All day I felt sick to my stomach. I went to the British embassy with my teacher and another student to see if there was any kind of temporary papers they could give me to get me into the UK when I had planned, but they said that without a passport, there is no way to get into the UK. I then went to the American embassy with another student to see what they could do. They were considerably nicer than the British embassy, but still didn’t seem too hopeful. The passport office was closed, but the man at the front desk told us that if we came back tomorrow, they might be able to get us a second passport, but they couldn’t guarantee it would come in time for our flights and we would have to pay for it. I was willing to pay a little bit for another passport, but I had no idea how much it was going to be. So we made plans to head back to the American embassy the next morning and see exactly what they could do for us.

I went back to school for the afternoon and had a pretty good class, but was still really bummed. Just before class was over, however, I got a phone call from my teacher, which I couldn’t answer. I went downstairs after class, though, and found him there with some of the other students surrounding him. When I approached him, he told me that I was going to be able to go to London on the days that I had planned because by some miracle the Goethe Institut was able to get the German government to release our passports (those of us going to London) just before we go, then we are to give them right back to the government when we get back to Berlin. Anyone who has ever had to deal with any government bureaucracy knows that this is a total miracle. I felt so good getting this news! So now the trip is back on, with only one minor flaw: I was planning to see Footloose the musical while in London because I grew up next door to the kid who stars in it now—Derek Hough. And I would have loved to see it, but it ends the weekend before I get there. That’s not a big deal at all though—especially considering the fact that for almost 24 hours, I was under the impression that I couldn’t go to London at all. But everything’s worked out now, and I’m so excited.

Institute

Everyone,

My class at the Goethe Institute is going just fine now. I was really worried at first that five hours per day in the same room was going to turn out to be too much, but it goes by really fast, and I love the way my teacher talks, so it feels like the time flies.

There are people from all over the world in my class--Brazil, Cambodia, Spain, Turkey, and NORTH Korea (!). Everyone's very nice, but sometimes it's hard to understand people. It's different than taking a German class at BYU becuase often times, German is the only way we can communicate with each other; we don't have another choice. But I must say that it's interesting that a lot of the students will default into English when they don't know the German word. English really is where it's at. We have to work in parters a ton and I kind of get tired of that, but that's ok. Things at the Goethe Institute have worked out just fine.

The other day in class, we read a story about a kid who was a punk, wore punk clothes, and had a mowhawk and because of all this, he couldn't get a job. Then we had to divide into two groups--one saying that he is responsible to change his look and do what it takes to get a job, and the other saying that he should be able to get a job despite his look. There was another lady from America named Judith in our group (the one saying he should just change his look if he really wants a job) and as the arguement was getting way more heated than it needed to, she started saying something like, "well in America, you can't get unemployment pay...". Right after she said "America", the teacher was very quick to point out that we were in Germany. It kind of made me cringe to hear that student say that. And then I thought it was interesting that anyone else from another country could have said something similar to what Judith said, and I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it. It's weird that that's how things work.

I'm a little bit nervous about getting everything I need to get done done. We've got this major assignmet where we're supposed to see 100 examples of different kinds of architecture or art or objects and write a one page paper on each one. I've only got about 15 or 20 finished. It's going to be a busy next couple of weeks.

I sat in on a discussion with the missionaries tonight with a guy who is really close to setting a baptismal date. Naturally, I was pretty quiet, but I said a few things (some in English becuase he understood English), but I tried my best at German. It's still terrible, but it's getting better. That was cool to see missionary work in another language. I've only seen it in Spanish a few times before, so it was cool to see it in German.

It's really cool to be feeling more at home here. The my hostlady is out of town for a few days, but no big deal. She told us when she gets back, she will have a little more time and can cook for us. I'm excited for that.

I'll write again soon. With pictures.

Colder Weather

(This was written a couple days ago, but it's just now getting posted. It's still pretty up-to-date though)

Everyone,

It has finally become cold in Germany. The weather today was what I expected it would be like all of last month: cold and grey and rainy. I had an umbrella which made it really kind of fun. I’m really glad it’s become cold because I have not been able to get cool in this country up until a few days ago. It’s not so much the fact that there’s no air conditioning, but no fans even—no way to even move the air. My bedroom window faces into a courtyard, so wind isn’t really an option. But now it’s getting colder and that’s really nice.

I write this blog as I am sitting WITHOUT my little donut cushion! I am healing from my operation each day and it’s getting to the point where I can get around pretty well now. I have been seeing the doctor everyday so he can check the wound and redo my bandaging for me, but today he told me he wants to see me in two days—a pattern that I think will continue, which is nice. He says my wound is getting smaller and smaller and that it looks like just what he wants to see. So things are going really well in that category.

I went to the Goethe Institute (the place where I’ll be taking my German language classes) today and took a placement test. I did about as well as I should have, I think. I start my classes there tomorrow. As far as I know, I’m there from about noon till 5:00pm each day. That’s kind of a long time, but I’m looking forward to having more of a set schedule and to feel like a student again.

I went to the KaDeWe today. The KaDeWe is a super upscale shopping center with stores for Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Mont Blanc, and every other super expensive brand you can think of. It’s kind of weird because on one of the top levels, there is a super market where you can buy lots of American things: a Fifth Avenue bar (almost $2.40 per candy bar) or root beer (almost $6.50 per liter!). I was excited about the Fifth Avenue bar, but clearly that was way too expensive. As far as the root beer goes, there is one KFC/A&W in Berlin and it offers free refills, which is something totally unheard of here. It’s one of our favorite places to go for a cheap, filling meal.

A few days ago, we, as a class, went to the Technik Museum where we got to learn about printing. It was really cool because we got into groups and set some type and printed a little poster of whatever we wanted. I’m into that kind of thing. We’ve visited a lot of museums and seen tons of historical things. The museums we’ve been to have all had so many different kinds of exhibits, it’s really hard to soak everything in.

I have a pre-paid cell phone so that I can keep in contact with my classmates when I have to and so people can call me. When I bought it, I put some money on it and I thought that money would last me for quite a while, but just the other day, my phone told me that it was only good for emergency use. I couldn’t send txts or make calls, and I wondered what could have possibly happened. I was worried that the phone company was charging me for the incoming calls I’d received, which were supposed to be free. But just today, a friend from school told me that I had left a 10 MINUTE message on her phone. Then another friend said I called her during Sacrament Meeting last week and another friend said I called her earlier this week too. This was all news to me. It turns out that, because I didn’t know how to lock my keys, I was wasting all my minutes by inadvertently calling people from my pocket. I was kind of embarrassed to find this out, but glad to know the reason for my quickly-used minutes. I learned how to lock my keys today.

I’m really liking it here, and time is going really fast. I’m so glad to be healing faster than the doctors had thought (did I mention they originally thought that by Christmas time, I should be about healed!). I saw that Morrissey is coming eight days after I leave, but that’s ok—it’s on a Sunday anyway. Plus there’s a concert coming on November 30 that I’m looking forward to: Regina Spektor. I’ve met some friends at the institute (as in the Church institute) who are going also, so it’ll be fun.

Thanks to all of you for reading this and for your support. It’s really fun to hear from you. I hope everything is going well for you.

Jordan

Surgery and Recovery

Everyone,

I had my surgery a week ago Monday and everything seemed to go just fine. Afterward, I stayed for three days at my teacher’s apartment where he and his wife took really good care of me. All I did—literally—was lie there and sleep all day and all night. I eventually started reading to try to make better use of my time. It was nice though because I didn’t hurt at all, so I thought I was in for a smooth recovery. I even went to a church dance activity on Friday night. I took it easy there, but I still really enjoyed it.

Then Saturday, I started to feel some pretty severe pain come on. It continued through Sunday, so I had to stand through all my meetings, which wasn’t too nice. I lost a little sleep Sunday night due to pain, then Monday it was even worse. A nurse was supposed to come to my apartment between 2 and 4pm that afternoon to look at it and make sure everything was ok. I had gone out for lunch and come back to my apartment about 2:10, when my teacher called me and let me know that the nurse had already come and gone, but would come the next day. This was terrible news, as I didn’t want to have to deal with increasing pain for another 24 hours—I didn’t know if I could do it. Well, I did make it through to the next day and, after going to a religion class and having to drop out of a walking tour of Berlin due to pain, I was home just before 2, when the nurse was supposed to come. He came at about 2:15 and was not at all what I was expecting. He was probably about 24 and brought NOTHING with him—no supplies of any kind, except a pair of surgical gloves that he was carrying in his bare hand. When he got here, he asked me where my gauze and tape were. Thankfully I had just bought some at the pharmacy a few days before. I was fully planning on asking him to leave me with more so I could have it just in case. I was shocked. He looked at my sore and kept saying things like “oh, this is very bad”. I asked him if it looks to be infected again and he said “yes”. Then I asked if I’ll have to go back to the hospital, to which he replied “yes” again. I was nearly in tears. The last thing I wanted was for this to get drawn out any longer than it needed to be. The son of the lady I live with then came home and translated his conversation with the nurse for me. Apparently the nurse told him that I didn’t have an infection and that I wouldn’t have to go to the doctor. This naturally confused me. So, I got a recommendation for a doctor and saw him that night. This doctor is a surgery specialist and he said that everything looks good—no sign of infection and the healing is going fine. I felt great about this. And this doctor was so nice. Now I go to his office, which isn’t very far from my house, every morning and he looks at my wound and makes sure it’s healing ok. Plus he changed my bandages out for me, which is nice not to have to do by myself anymore.

So I think things are looking good. I got a fantastic blessing last night from my teacher and a friend in the program here and that made me feel a lot better. Today when I saw the doctor, he said everything looks excellent and that the pain will get less and less everyday. This was fantastic news. I’m ready to be done with this whole thing and I think I’m finally getting to that point.

Other than my sore slowing me down, Berlin is a wonderful place. I’m really looking forward to being at 100% so I can see and do as much as I can.

I've made it

Hi Everyone,

I've finally made it to Berlin and I love it. I'm living in the same apartment with one of my friends from the program with a 55 year old woman and her son. Our apartment is right off of one of the main areas of town, but it's in a neighborhood that seems very nice, quiet, and safe. The area I live in is called Charlottenburg, named after the wife of an old king. My apartment is right by the subway station and everything is quite easy to get to. My roommate and I have our own rooms. The lady I live with is named Yvonne and is extremely nice...she does our laundry for us even—she refuses to let us do it ourselves. In fact, when I came home tonight, all my laundry had been washed and folded and put on my bed. Plus I have a wireless signal in my room, but it’s very weak—it goes in and out a lot. But if worse comes to worse, I just have to take my computer into my roommate’s room and get on to his signal. So things are working out great. I really like Berlin a lot.

We had stake conference today, and that was fun to see so many other church members. The place was so full that I ended up sitting on the stage, which was slightly uncomfortable, but better than not having a seat at all. When I was in Salzburg, I was surprised at how much of the testimony meeting I could understand. But here at stake conference, the talks were a little more complex than the testimonies, so I understood a lot less. But I’m sure it will get better. Then later tonight, I went to a broadcast of Henry B Eyring’s address given last week at BYU, which was really good. All in all, I spent about 10 hours at the church today, and it felt great.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this in a blog, but about a week and a half ago, I woke up with a very sore tail bone. I didn’t think too much of it until two days later when I woke up in some of the worst pain of my life. Bending down to put my socks on was as uncomfortable an exercise as I can imagine. Anyway, to make a long story short, I at first thought I had just bruised my tail bone somehow, then I thought I had a spider bite at the end of my tail bone, then I thought it was some kind of cyst. Last Friday I finally went to the doctor to see what it was…turns out it was an in-grown hair that got pretty deeply infected. So tomorrow I’ll go to the hospital in the morning, have the infection taken out of my sore, then stay in the hospital over night and come home Tuesday. Kind of weird. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hospital overnight before, but this will be pretty exciting. The doctor said that this is extremely common and that it’s a very simple procedure to fix—they just want me to stay overnight just to be sure that everything works out ok. So this will be good to finally have this fixed; it’s been pretty uncomfortable for the last little while.

I don’t start school at the Goethe Institute for another two weeks, so I’ll have to use this time wisely to get ahead of the game on all the other stuff I have going on. Our main, on-going assignment for the semester is a “research portfolio” where we have to write one-page papers on 100 different things to see in the city, i.e., six gothic churches, five paintings by Dürer, etc. It sounds like a lot—and it is—but if I can keep on it, writing a one-page paper every once in a while won’t be so bad.

I’ll post again soon. Lots of love,

Jordan

Again, here are some more pictures

Here I am with the Neuschwanstein Castle in the background


This is a picture of part of my group when we went to the top of the apls and hiked down. It was freezing cold! I liked this picture becuase it looks all misty and fairytail-like


This is the Doku-Zentrum in Nuremberg where lots of the Nazi trials took place. We went through the museum and it was really well-done. It's hard anytime you talk about learning about Nazi things, you can't say it was "good" because it's sad. But well-done works, I think. I thought it was kind of interesting that a fair was going on right next to it.


This is an original Luther Bible printed in 1524. I love seeing this kind of stuff. It's in a place called the Wartburg, a castle in Eisenach Germany. Luther was housed there for a while in order to keep safe from the Catholic Church.


This is a really pretty, typical southern Germany Alpine house.

Berlin

Here are some pictures for all of you to enjoy:




This is a picture of a hike we took in the Alps to a church in a cave. The Protestants met here early on to avoid the wrath of the Catholic church


This is a great picture of me with Salzburg in the background


I'm in Berlin now and I love it! It is a wonderful place and I have easier internet accdess, so i'll upload more pictures soon.

Love,
Jordan

Füssen and Nuremberg

Everyone,

It’s now September 7 and I just arrived in Nuremberg to a seriously nice hotel. There is a computer in the lobby with free internet access, so it looks like I’ll be able to post my blogs, plus a bunch of pictures which I’m excited about. I think some of them turned out pretty well.

After Munich, I went with seven others from our group to the town of Füssen, right close to the castle Neuschwanstein. This is seen as a sort of tourist trap, but it was seriously awesome—well worth the trip. I’ve got some pictures of that on my snapfish account.

Arriving in Füssen was kind of exciting. We arrived around 8:00pm and had nowhere to stay. Things close really early in Germany—hotels included, so we were very pressed for time. We walked to the hostel where we thought there might be some room (they had 130 beds, for crying out loud), but a huge group had just come in taken nearly all of them. Walking back toward the train station, we spotted Suzanne’s Bed and Breakfast. We rang the doorbell and were greeted by a woman—from Ohio of all places—who immediately started being rude to us. She told us she had room for all eight of us and would hold the room for ½ hour, not any longer because for her “to stay up so that we can find a cheaper place is totally ridiculous” to paraphrase her. She was seriously not a pleasant lady. We went to get the rest of our group (looking for cheaper hotels on the way, despite what Suzanne said) and didn’t find any that were open. Suzanne’s place was nice and clean, it’s just that she was so unpleasant it was uncomfortable. But luckily we didn’t have to deal with her too much. So if you ever go to Füssen, I would not recommend Suzanne’s Bed and Breakfast; find another place. Füssen itself was wonderful. We ate Turkish Dönner Kebaps and Italian ice cream. Plus I had an American hamburger and French fries at a Vietnamese restaurant on the main street in town. And it was seriously one of the best I’ve ever had.

We left Füssen this morning, caught the train back to Munich and made our connection to Nuremberg. I have a serious tail bone injury that I have no idea how I got. But sitting is miserable, so the entire way from Füssen to Munich was very uncomfortable. Thankfully I packed some Loritab, took two of those for the second leg of the trip, and have never slept so well on a moving thing: car, train, or plane. I feel great right now.

Nuremberg is extremely cool. The old part of town is still very medieval—the wall still surrounds the center—and our hotel is right in the center of it all. It’ll be fun to have some time tomorrow to go exploring. From here we go to many places fast: Frankfurt for one night, Mainz (where Gutenberg printed) for about a day, Bacharach (where we’ll stay in a castle on the Rhine, from what I understand), then to Bonn, Cologne, Hamburg (maybe), and finally to Berlin. All this traveling has been awesome, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not looking forward to settling in one place for a while.

Try http://www.flickr.com/photos/72096197@N00/?deleted=237062705 to enjoy the pictures. There's only one there now due to time contraints, but check back periodically. I'll try to figure it all out and post more. Let me know what you’re all up to.

Love to you all,

Jordan

Munich

The internet is much harder to come by even in the big cities than I had thought. I have a hard time paying for an internet café, so this blog is being written with Word and going to be transferred to Blogspot as soon as I can get some kind of internet connection. I’m here in Munich—finally in Germany—in the oddest hotel I’m aware of. It’s seriously as if a two-year-old built a tower out of Legos and somehow the world’s worst architect got a hold of the tower, copied its designs exactly, and actually had it built. Some of the rooms have doors that don’t open even to a 45 degree angle because the wall is in the way. And if you weigh any bit over your recommended BMI, good luck getting through the coalmine-thin hallway. My room (my own room) is really big, but the weird thing about it is that the bathroom is across the hall. It’s a private bathroom—I have the key to it—but it’s across the hall. There are stairs in it. I’ve never seen anything like it. I heard one of our group say earlier today, “I am miserable in that hotel”. But I don’t mind it. Anywhere that will give me functioning bathroom equipment and a clean bed will be fine for two nights. Our other hotels have been quite a bit nicer. Though my room in Salzburg didn’t afford enough room for me and my roommate to stand side-by-side in it. It too was coalmine-thin. Really fun though.

I left Dorfgastein about four nights ago now and went to Salzburg. I really liked Salzburg. It’s a town with a lot of charm. Our hotel was a little outside of town, so we had to take the bus everywhere we went, and I’ll tell you all, I felt great on those busses. I honestly thought I was really good at figuring out where I was how to get to other places. Sure I only had to ever take two busses, but that didn’t matter to me—I still felt great.

We went to church in Salzburg which is always a fun thing to do. I love going to church in places outside of Utah. It’s so nice to see who the church members living in that area are. Plus it’s a confidence boost for my German to understand a lot more of what is said. Context is a great thing.

Any of you who have been to Europe may already know that everything is out-of-control expensive here. Drinks on a menu at most restaurants are the worst—about €2.35 for ¼ liter of Coke and €4.00 for ½ liter. With the exchange rate at about $1.28 to €1, a ½ liter of Coke costs over $5.00! And that’s with no refills and no ice. Plus apparently it’s “tacky” to ask for tap water. But honestly, that’s what I have to do. No wonder Germans spend so much of their income on food. One thing that I have loved about the German restaurant experience has been the amount of time you spend at a restaurant—usually several hours. It’s been nice to have time to sit and relax and talk.

Tomorrow I’m supposed to get on a train and head to Füssen—the town close to the castle Neuschwanstein. You’ve all seen pictures of it. I’ve heard rumors that it is the castle that Walt Disney designed to Magic Kingdom Palace after. I have nowhere to stay in Füssen as of right now, but I’m banking on the idea that I can get a room as soon as I get there. I’m not traveling alone, however, so I’ll be fine. I’m excited to get down there. Then it’s off to Nuremberg to see the Nazi rally sites and whatever else there is to see.

My time in Europe has been fantastic so far. The people in my group have been really great—we all get along really well and have a surprising amount of things to talk about and say to each other.

I’m glad to have the internet so that I can communicate with all of you. Thanks for all the emails. It’s a great feeling to open my inbox and see a bunch there. Write to me if you want. I’m pretty good about getting a very short, personalized response back.

Love to you all,

Jordan

Vienna

Everyone,

I made it safely to all of my destinations and am now in my pension in Vienna, waiting to go out to eat. Let me give you all a little heads up on what's been going on:

Despite all the concern over the amount of time it would take to get though airport security, I made it all the way through and to my gate in just about 45 minutes. I was happy about that. I got on my flight to Boston where I enjoyed visiting Brittany and Emily getting inroduced to all their friends there. Then I was on the Fung Wah bus which took me straight into New York's China Town (which Bridger correctly called a "steaming dump") and met up with some friends there. New York to be honest was quite culturally shocking to me, much more so than here in Vienna. Maybe that was partly because I was alone for some of my time there and I knew I had to go to Vienna all by myself (or so I thought). But I did get to see a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. He had Chris Elliot, Nancy Pulousi (sp?) (a politician from California), and the band Razorlite. So if you see that show, know that I was the one applauding in the audience. That was really fun to see.

The next day I went to JFK about seven hours before my flight was supposed to leave because I didn't have anything better to do and I didn't want to be hauling all my luggage around NYC (again!). The airport was totally empty (including workers) when I got there, so that was a really weird thing. I ate the best strawberries of my life there too.

Right before my flight boarded, my friend from the Berlin classes called me and asked which gate I was at. (I'm purposefully "breaking" the preposition placement "rule".) Anyway, it turned out we were on the same flight to Austria, which turned out to be a huge blessing because I had no idea how to get to the pension where we're staying. I don't know what I was thinking.

Since I've been here in Austria, I've seen some cool churches, an art museum, and spent some time in the cafes. The place is very nice and super super clean. Everything costs money (this isn't surprising to people who have been to Europe). Our time in Vienna is very short though--we're leaving tomorrow to go to Dorfgastein, a time Alpine town. I can't imagine I'll have the internet there, but it's nice to be able to get one blog up now. I imagine when I get to Berlin, a stable internet connection will be more accessible.

That's it for now. I've gotta go get something to eat, then repack my bags for the big trips ahead. I tried to put pictures on this, but they took way too long to load with my weak weak internet reception. Sorry. They'll come later.

Love goes out to everyone,

Jordan

Vienna

Everyone,

I made it safely to all of my destinations and am now in my pension in Vienna, waiting to go out to eat. Let me give you all a little heads up on what's been going on:

Despite all the concern over the amount of time it would take to get though airport security, I made it all the way through and to my gate in just about 45 minutes. I was happy about that. I got on my flight to Boston where I enjoyed visiting Brittany and Emily getting inroduced to all their friends there. Then I was on the Fung Wah bus which took me straight into New York's China Town (which Bridger correctly called a "steaming dump") and met up with some friends there. New York to be honest was quite culturally shocking to me, much more so than here in Vienna. Maybe that was partly because I was alone for some of my time there and I knew I had to go to Vienna all by myself (or so I thought). But I did get to see a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. He had Chris Elliot, Nancy Pulousi (sp?) (a politician from California), and the band Razorlite. So if you see that show, know that I was the one applauding in the audience. That was really fun to see.

The next day I went to JFK about seven hours before my flight was supposed to leave because I didn't have anything better to do and I didn't want to be hauling all my luggage around NYC (again!). The airport was totally empty (including workers) when I got there, so that was a really weird thing. I ate the best strawberries of my life there too.

Right before my flight boarded, my friend from the Berlin classes called me and asked which gate I was at. (I'm purposefully "breaking" the preposition placement "rule".) Anyway, it turned out we were on the same flight to Austria, which turned out to be a huge blessing because I had no idea how to get to the pension where we're staying. I don't know what I was thinking.

Since I've been here in Austria, I've seen some cool churches, an art museum, and spent some time in the cafes. The place is very nice and super super clean. Everything costs money (this isn't surprising to people who have been to Europe). Our time in Vienna is very short though--we're leaving tomorrow to go to Dorfgastein, a time Alpine town. I can't imagine I'll have the internet there, but it's nice to be able to get one blog up now. I imagine when I get to Berlin, a stable internet connection will be more accessible.

That's it for now. I've gotta go get something to eat, then repack my bags for the big trips ahead. I tried to put pictures on this, but they took way too long to load with my weak weak internet reception. Sorry. They'll come later.

Love goes out to everyone,

Jordan

Z Morning Zoo

I had a little bit of a scare recently--something that was potentially totally emarrassing.

But first I have to admit that I do listen to Chunga and Mister's local radio program on 101.9 weekday mornings on my way to work. A lot of things that are said are totally ridiculous (ie, Chunga saying that Los Lonely Boys' song, "Heaven", is "one of the greatest songs ever written, a timeless classic"; or that if you make any mistakes while driving in LA, "you will die"), but some of it I do enjoy--plus every once in a while, I like the idea that I'm listening to something that lots of other people in my same situation (commuting to work) are listening to.

Anyway,

While the Chunga and Mister morning show was commercialing (would that word fly in a game of Scrabble?), I turned to the local top 40 station, 97.1ZHT, to see what kind of fast-talking know-nothing was dj-ing during the horribly-named Z Morning Zoo. I was planning to listen just until I got to work--which was a combined total of maybe three minutes--then as soon as I got in the car again, I was going to change the station. My plan was (in the words of Dell Schanze) flawless up to this point.

At work, the buzz in my office was that the Real Madrid team was going to be practicing at Rice-Eccles Stadium that afternoon and that the practice would be free and open to the public. When the people in my office decided to go, I offered to drive--no big deal.

We got in the car, I assembled my cd player and I-POD, expecting to capitalize on this opportunity to introduce these people to some great music. But as soon as the radio was assembled, to my horror, 97.1ZHT was blasting throughout the sedan! I had clearly forgotten that I had turned the car off while that was playing on the radio. "No big deal", I thought in a split-second, "I'll quickly change the station and no one will be the wiser." Unfortunately, this was not an option, as my cd player refused to allow me to change any setting on it! For all I knew, I would be stuck with a cd player that would only play every high school stomp's hottest beats.

Things ended up working out just fine--I blew gently on the sensitive workings of the player, which convinced it to work again, and we drove to the pracitce listening to what I consider to be one of the greatest songs ever written: "Wake Up" by the Arcade Fire. (Eat that Jimmy Chunga!)

Timberlake

I just need everyone to know that I think Justin Timberlake's song "I'm Lovin' It" is absolutely horrible--one of the worst pop songs of the last few years. Come on now, Justin. I'm ashamed that we share a birthday.

Trek

This past weekend I visited the sage-brushy landscape of south-central Wyoming to pull a handcart down a dirt road for fifteen miles while wearing pioneer clothing. Several months ago, the bishop of my ward at BYU told us of a miraculous story in which his home ward was given several hundred passes by the US Bureau of Land Management to trek across the wasteland wilderness. I didn’t know this, and it’s a little surprising to think about, but the BLM has severely restricted the number of people they will allow to cross the plains in Wyoming as a reenactment of the pioneer migration of the 1850s. Anyone who has seen the land there would wonder why anyone besides the Mormons would even care about it. Without trying hard to think of its unique beauty, it appears very undesirable. Despite all this, my bishop was able to secure enough passes for anyone in my ward who wanted to go.

Due to a recent back injury (or I should say a recent re-injury of an old back injury), plus an attitude of simple not wanting, I was less than excited that I had signed up to go on this trip several months prior to our leaving. I had semi-backed out just about a week before departure, but after visiting my ward the Sunday before we were to leave, I became excited about going. We were to leave on Wednesday afternoon and meet the rest of the group in Atlantic City, WY

(named because it is one of the first cities on the Atlantic side of the Continental Divide) an abandoned ghost town in which, somehow, people still live. There, we met Bishop and some others, then were driven down several unmarked, dirt roads at high speeds until we reached our camp site. We were to then sleep, then hike, then sleep, then hike again.

Our first hike was to Martin’s Cove, where the starving, fatigued pioneers sought shelter from the wind and cold. It’s about a two mile walk into the cove, but with all the little children in our group, and the frequent water breaks, it took nearly half the day for us to make it. It’s very reverent there and a good place for reflection on what our lives are like compared to the way the pioneers’ lives were.

The next day took us on a fifteen mile walk over the rocky ridge the pioneers crossed before camping for the night at Rock Creek Hollow. This, I soon found out, was also part of the Oregon Trail. When I was little, I used the think I could walk and walk and walk and walk and not get tired. It turns out this isn’t the truth. We kept a surprising pace—near mall walking—which caused great strain to my knees and ankles. My back was ok though (whew!). Exhausted by the walk, we rested next to the sewage suction port of a nearby outhouse (“If I drove by and saw a group of people in this situation, I would honestly rather die”, I commented to the others), then set up camp again and relaxed.

Please no one get the idea that this was an authentic trek. We ate very well—largely thanks to the refrigerated trailer the ward rented. It’s about the size of a U-Haul trailer, but the whole thing is refrigerated. When you walk in, it’s like walking into a huge fridge.

I think these trek reenactments are a good idea. I know they don’t give anyone a completely authentic experience of what the pioneers suffered (and thank goodness), but they do help us to appreciate what we have and what we need to do. I remember hearing a comment from the bishop, in response to all the comments that the pioneers’ lives were so difficult and that none of us could possibly endure everything that they did. He said, paraphrasing an apostle I think, that their lives were set by just a few major decisions. Once they had decided to go west and they were on the trail, what else were they going to do? They couldn’t turn around, they couldn’t rebel without dying; their course for much of the rest of their life was set from that one decision. In contrast, our lives are filled with hundreds of decisions everyday—ones where we could easily get off track if we are not careful. For me in my current situation, this learning-to-make-choices-and-stick-to-them is the most important lesson to be learned from the pioneer experience.

Mtn2Mtn2

This past Saturday was our second annual Mountain to Mountain bike ride.

The original idea was to leave form the mouth of Bingham Canyon at 8:00 am, as to beat some of the July heat. Alex Winder had told us that we could borrow his truck, which was way nice of him, but then left for Provo the morning of the ride without arranging for anyone to have the keys to his truck. (This was mostly my fault.)

Thankfully, John mentioned that he had a spare set of Alex’s keys, but needed to go all the way back to his house to get them. By the time John was back with the keys and we had made it to Copperton, it was already 10:00am and blazing hot. Undaunted, each of us started to ride to the other side of the Salt Lake Valley.

Our trip took us along the Old Bingham Highway where it meets with 90^th South, then turns into 94^th South and heads up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Going from the starting line till the river is a fantastic, easy ride—and it only takes just about 45 minutes to do. After the river, the hills start to become obstacles, but I guess that’s the point of the whole thing.

We lost Ryan Forbes due to back injury around 27^th West, then we lost Melissa Weidner just before the freeway on 90^th South due to extreme stomach pains. Both put out a valiant effort effort and should sincerely be commended for their work.

After making it up the hill at 94^th South to Alta View Hospital, I honestly thought I needed to be admitted to the emergency room. Everything inside me burned and I was totally hot and exhausted—I’m sure everyone else was—but we would not give up. Even Lindsey Forbes, who came so close to calling it quits, made it all the way to the finish line.

The heat was at about 100°F, and intensified by the heat waves radiating off the road, the concrete to the side, and the exhaust from passing cars. Still the ride was enjoyable and the end was nice.

Special thanks to those who support this venture each year. We hope it continues to grow.

Swear to ME!!

Everyone,

I need all of you to pledge to me that you will not shop at Best Buy anymore.

I've now been without an iPod for nearly two weeks (and have in all honsety been surprised at how well I've done without it) because Best Buy refuses to give me the customer service I need in order to be a returning customer.

Let me take you back to November 2004. My generous mom had just walked out of Best Buy with a brand new 4th generation iPod with the intent to give it to me for Christmas. (It turned out to be the best gift I've ever received--used more than almost anything else I own.) In foresight, maybe expecting an unseen tragedy, my mom purchased Best Buy's product replacement warranty--the one where after you buy something kind of expensive, the employee tells you that you can just break the product before the two-year warranty is up, then bring it and "walk out of here with a brand new iPod, no questions asked." This isn't true. This isn't true. It doesn't work that way, or at least it didn't work that way for me.

My iPod broke almost without warning two weeks ago immediately after resetting it because it froze. Every bit of data was wiped clean off of it and the poor thing just became sick. I thought, "no big deal, I'll just take it home, reformat it, then load all the music back on", but my computer couldn't read it anymore to reformat it. So I had no choice but to see what Best Buy could do to get me a new one. As soon as I mentioned to the employee that I had a product replacement plan for a broken iPod, I was given a pamphlet with a phone number on it to call. The idea was that I would call this number, have a mailing label emailed to me, pack up my iPod (with all the accessories), and within 10 days of their receipt of the item, I would have a gift card with the purchase price of the amount of the original purchase. I thought this was a lot more hassle than walking out of there with a "brand new iPod, no questions asked", but I was willing to do whatever it took, like I always am.

Fewer than 10 days later, to my surprise I had received the gift card in the mail, and felt pretty good about it. Sure I had complained a ton in the previous several days, but now that I had the card in my hand, I wasn't so upset anymore. I took lunch the next day to travel to the nearest Best Buy to redeem my prize, and was a little surprised to find myself so overcome with dislike for the store immediately as I walked in, that I actually became a little emotional. I approached the counter to pay for my new iPod only to be told that my card had been sent out without any money on it and that the money would be put on it "no later than Monday." I couldn't say hardly anything for fear that the shake in my voice would be really noticeable and someone would ask me, "why are you crying", to which my only response could be, "because I didn't get my iPod", which sounds a little lame. All I could do was think to myself that I wanted to tell the really nice employee helping me, "you know, I really appreciate your help and you've been really nice...I just feel terrible that a person like you has to work for a company like this." Of course I didn't say that; I just walked out of the store muttering the word "hate" under my breath and shaking my head.

Contrast that with an experience I recently had at Costco where I returned a camera I had purchase SIX months ago, which worked perfectly, and got CASH back for it--shipping and all. I told them there was nothing wrong with it, but that I had just seen a camera online that I thought would work better for me. And it has been wonderful. There, there really were NO questions asked, and I walked out of the store with exactly what I wanted. And I didn't even have to buy any kind of plan to allow me to do that--it was included in the (below) retail price of the camera. I will sing Costco's praises from now on and I pledge to you that whenever I need to buy some kind of expensive electronic item, Costco is the first (and in some cases only) place I will even consider buying it.

And I hope you'll do the same.


Please visit these sites for more information:

http://ihatebestbuy.com/

http://www.bestbuy.com/

http://www.costco.com/Home.aspx

From "The Science of Grammar" by Orson Hyde

I read this recently and it made me feel great about my major:

"As [the English] Language has been more highly honoured in our day, by the Supreme Ruler above, than any other, in that he hath chosen it as the most beautifully grand and impressive medium through which his mandates could be conveyed to mortal beings here on earth, can we be justified if we remain in a state of indifference with regard to its beauty, its richness, and its strangth?"

Orson Hyde, The Science of Grammar, Journal of Discourses, Vol 6, pg 371

This is a picture of a place that has a way appropriate name in Stratton, CO.

Good to be blogging

Everyone,

I hope this is going to be an acceptible forum for all of you to read my blogs. As many of you know I have been off of myspace for some months now and have done ok, but now that I have more and more friends who live far away and the fact that I'll be leaving soon for a couple of months has been enough encouargement to find a new blog site and to start blogging again. And it feels pretty good.

There are a lot of improvements in my new blog, maybe you can tell, but the best of which, in my opinion, is the elimination of double spacing between my sentences. It gives my writing a way more stream-lined, toned look.

I'm still going to be testing this new site out, so any feedback would be helpful. I hope there is some way that some of you can subscribe to the blogs I write so you don't have to continually check this site (assuming you're interested in what I'm doing), but maybe bookmarking the website is a good idea?

So I'm back on the Web.