brrr!!

Everyone back home has been talking about the sunshine and warm weather. Well, it's 45 degrees here (4pm!) and I'm wearing a turtleneck, jacket and knitted handwarmers and a hat almost every day. I didn't know it was going to be so cold over here, isn't it May?

The Neustadt side of Dresden is like a bigger version of SE Portland. This is the first place I've seen that composts and recycles everything. Also there are a bunch of themed bars: one plays the Big Lebowski over and over again and is appropriately named, Lebowski, another is a big tiki bar, and there are gay bars, a cellar bar, and well, you name it... they probably have it here. In the middle of these 4 streets between the attached houses/apartments/bars there is a farm with chickens, goats, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and more. I biked through it today but it is closed from the 13th-16th so it looks like I'll miss going in.

There is a really tasty bagel shop where the owner made me veggie sandwich on a rosemary bagel with some amazing rosemary cheese. Last night I had a huge bowl of vegan soup at the indian place across the street for 3 euros. Food is cheap here and delicious. I have food from the market but I will save it for Prague as I am looking forward to another bowl of tasty indian soup for tonight.

I spent a good part of the day biking around on a free bike my hostel loans out. It was a weathered nice bike and I chose it because it looked like the local bikes. I rode around for a bit in the rain and decided to head over to the deutsche hygeine museum and had a good time there sending out vague ecards to people saying Greetings from the Deutsche Hygeine Museum. Haha. It does not really have much to do with hygeine although it is the study of man and reminds me a bit of OMSI but with a bit more outgoing and "risky" exhibits. Like the birthing video that everyone had to watch in 7th grade but a bit more graphic. And also life sized replica's of human bodies. I think it's silly how we (Americans) shield children from seeing these things when they are young. It is nice to see other countries so open and not ashamed or embarrassed to explain these things to their children. It reminds me of things I have explained to Anise and how upset Corban got when he found out I talked to her about those things. Children have questions and most of the time it's best to answer them rather than them learn through gossip or who knows what. Also, if you make something available and don't regard it as taboo the child won't see it that way. Children naturally are curious and if they think something is taboo to talk about they will do it. I find that it is the same way here with alcohol.

The more I am away the more I realize something my friend Dave pointed out a bit after I left is right. Americans are too cautious. We shield ourselves from so many things and we're scared of accidents, terrorists, falling ill, life! If it seems that a European is having a good time it's because they aren't freaking scared of life like we are.

Dresden's attitude is great. I am able to find and love a lot of little things about each city I am visiting. I take a few pictures here and there but I'm finding that my desire to post a ton of pictures of museums, historical buildings, bridges, churches and buildings is dwindling. I remember the architecture. I remember the bridges and the shops. But most of what I want to remember is the culture and the people. Those are things that cannot really be captured by photographs.