Will I look like this soon?
Probably. Now that the weather has gotten quite summery, all the babies who live in my building are hanging out in the yard and screaming for no apparent reason. It scares me a bit, considering my own impending arrival.

The other day at work, a male colleague was asking another colleague of mine and me how exactly one knows when to go to the hospital when expecting a baby. His take on the situation was that it seemed like a good, safe idea to go a day or so early. My first thought was "hasn't this guy seen any films where people have babies?" My second thought was "how are you supposed to know which day is the day before you're going to have the kid?" Okay, so films aren't the most reliable source of information on this subject, for example, the water doesn't usually break right around the time you need to head off to the hospital to have the little guy. But in films they do show people timing contractions, and when they are a certain time apart, that's when you should start on the way to the hospital (or wherever you want to have the kid).

Enough on that subject. Here's a little something from Germany that cracks me up every time I see it. It is a real catalogue for baby stuff, and that is the real name.

All we can do now is remember you, White Rabbit















It was clear that it was just a matter of time. White Rabbit's demise had been impending for a time, but he held up for longer than expected. I was informed a couple weeks ago that the inspiration for this blog's name had been sandblasted away, and after having a look for myself, I must confirm that this is true. This building or renovating or whatever it is they are doing to those buildings up off Tannenstraße opposite the MDR buildings has been going on for at least a year, and the outer plaster has now been removed from the buildings, and in the process, so has White Rabbit.

But there are still other rabbits to see out on the streets!

















like Schoko...




















...or Drunk Bunny...














...or if you're really lucky, you might just find a Bunnee on the street!
(okay, so this one I ripped off from Found magazine...)

Goats don't like garlic.













"You're not allowed to feed the goats!" scolded an old lady who'd been hovering around, and then with incredible speed came over to me, swatted my arm 3 times, and then informed me of this half-truth. You see, at the Dresden Zoo, you are allowed to feed the goats, but only with feed from the feed machine, for which you have to pay. We just happened to have some garlic with us, and wanted to see if they would eat that, too. I mean, they are goats, and goats eat everything, right? Well, not these ones. They took the garlic all right, as they take everything from an open hand, chewed it approximately twice, then screwed up their faces and spit the garlic right out. Hm. You would think garlic tastes at least better than a tin can, but apparently not to a goat!

Wer zu Ostern mit den Eiern spielt, bekommt zu Weihnachten die Bescherung.

The somewhat less charming English translation of this bit of German wisdom would be:

She who plays with eggs (what's really meant is "balls") at Easter gets her present at Christmas.

My students told me this yesterday and said "You were playing with the eggs too early!! hahaha!!"

I HATE DOGS















Yesterday I was just out for a quick hop in the yard because the sun was shining. You will note my adherence to the leash law (which is really for dogs, they're the ones who make trouble). Then along came this guy,







no leash, sniffing in my face. My keen bunny instincts told me he was bad news, so I took off, slightly disadvantaged by my harness and leash. Fortunately, it was a cheaply-made leash which promptly broke and I took cover by the trash cans. I think my owner was more worried than I was, she said some expletives which she normally doesn't, and came looking for me, after risking her own safety by restraining the dog until the owner showed up with the leash. I let her catch me, because she seemed pretty wound up. After that, me and Wee retreated to the safety of the balcony for a bit more fresh air. The good thing that came out of all this was that I got a cool new 5-meter long retractable leash!

My Favorite Thing About Easter






Call me a heathen, and you wouldn't be too far off. You know I'm not religious (or if you didn't, you know now), so I can't make up any hokey stories about the meaning of life or anything here, my favorite thing about Easter is really the Cadbury Creme Egg. I love the font on the packaging, I love the little chicken on the foil, I love the Cadbury bunny. When I was little, the creme eggs were the most exciting thing in my Easter basket, because they were always a little bit hidden because they are so heavy that they sink into the Easter grass. They were something that I saved. I first savored the different colored jelly beans, always searching to the bottom of my basket for the best ones (definitely red, orange, purple or white), always leaving the weird tasting colors like green or yellow and the bitter black ones for last. Usually the marshmallowy things were next, and the chocolatey things, and the creme egg was always saved for a special moment, when I would carefully peel off the foil (the best creme eggs are the ones where the foil doesn't stick to any sticky creme egg juice seeping from the egg, this means the fondant filling will be runny and soft, not hardened). Mmmm. I remember holding the heavy creme egg in my little hand, and how heavy it was compared to the other candies. This was clearly a sign of its goodness.

Now that I've gotten older, I think I've experienced some Easters with no creme eggs whatsoever, but I've blocked these from my memory. My mom knows what's important in life, and she sent me a box with a four-pack of creme eggs this week. My youthful savoring of the creme eggs has changed to a ravenous devouring of them, but I still enjoy them in the same way. But before I got my hands on my delicious creme eggs from over the ocean, I encountered a person with no reverence for creme eggs whatsoever: the postal delivery man. I'm sure he threw my creme eggs on the floor. The corner of the box was clearly dented, and I witnessed him throwing down an armload of packages for other people in my house when he came to my door. Actually, he didn't just come to my door, he ran to my door, as I've since seen him do in other parts of the neighborhood. Plus, I've heard the telltale crash of boxes when he enters a house. So this is normal practice for him. Is this guy crazy? Does he not know what precious cargo these boxes could hold? You can't buy creme eggs in this country, so obviously he has no idea what kind of blasphemy he is committing, but still, it isn't right to mistreat any package that way. Anyway, as soon as I saw him throw down the boxes, I thought "This can't be good". And then I saw on the customs slip on my box that it contained creme eggs. And the first thing I thought was "They're cracked." In my mind's eye, I could see their cracked chocolate shells and fondant running out, others with the foil sticking to the egg, a telltale sign of horrible disappointment. And sure enough, the top of one was broken, so broken in fact, that there was a hole, allowing air to reach the normally pleasantly highly viscous fondant, making it slightly hard. You see, the best way to eat a creme egg is to bite off the top, and suck the fondant out. But this isn't possible with a creme egg in which the fondant has experienced this kind of air exposure. You might as well just throw it away. But I forced myself to eat even that creme egg, because, let's be honest, I can't just go out to the store and buy some new ones, peeling them one by one until I find the best. And I'm certainly not in England, where they have vending machines in the train station selling creme eggs!












And now you can even knit clothes for the creme egg. OK, this person didn't put a creme egg in the picture, but if you go to the pattern for these, you will see that the name is "Cadbury Bunny Pattern". Obviously, this is a person with a passion for creme eggs. A passion so great it has driven this individual to dress the creme eggs. I think that's fantastic.

High Water!

In many parts of Saxony and Bavaria, there is springtime high water and flooding at the moment. This year there's more than there normally is, because there was a great deal of snow this winter, plus it got warm quickly and rained at the same time in the Czech Republic, sending an awful lot of water our way. This has caused a lot of headaches and concern for many people who live near the river. Hopefully this weekend was as bad as it will get, there are plenty of people with water in their basements and who've even hadto leave their homes . Here's a look at things here in Dresden on the Elbe...
































































This view of the city may look normal, but usually there is a lot less water.

This is about all I'm capable of at the moment.

We're practicing...

Imagine being a guy and going to England to take an English course. Years after the English course, your married host father sends you this card. What would you think?

The Story of Waboose




















Waboose's early days with us, before Wee had fully accepted him

The question came up of whether Waboose is a lionhead rabbit, and the answer is, I don't know. I imagine he's a mutt rabbit of some sort. He and Wee both came from Panama, the children's playground and petting zoo here in the Neustadt. Wee was free, they had baby bunnies to give away in the summer of 2003, Waboose cost €8, and was sort of a pity purchase back in September 2004 because there was a sign hanging on the cage that said if the little guys weren't sold by the end of September, they'd become food for the crocodile at the Dresden Zoo. That made me shudder, as I do every time I go past the crocodile pit and read how he eats a live chicken or rabbit once a week, and as you probably know, I'm a sucker for such things. So Waboose joined us back then, with me not knowing what he is, and not really caring because he was cute. Wee, on the other hand, had a different opinion. She must have found him adorable, but still felt the need to establish her dominance. The relationship between the two got off to a rather rocky start, as you can see below.



















Upon their first meeting, Wee promptly urinated on Waboose. Upon following meetings, she beat him up and sometimes even tore out a little hair, as you can see above. No blood was ever shed, and they always had seperate living quarters until, one day, they just started sharing the bigger cage, and never looked back at the small cage. Until now. Wee has developed a terrible eye infection, and her course of antibiotics has lead to a seperation once again. This is because Waboose should not clean the infected eye, as he was doing. He still can come visit Wee for a couple hours a day, so he doesn't think she died or something. And it seems that he's enjoying his new bachelor bunny life. He's built a nest in the corner, and often reclines on his bunny rug. I think the new peace and quiet is good for Wee, as well, and I hope it helps her to achieve a speedy recovery! If not, the vet said one eye may need to be removed, due to the infected lid and a detached lens in this eye, with which she has always had problems, but which took a sudden turn for the worse last weekend. Her name will then be changed to Weeclops.

But if you'd like to see a friend of Wee and Waboose's, go here: http://merlinlein.blogspot.com/
Merlin seems to be a lionhead rabbit, plus, he's just darn cool. Wee and Boose visit him and his bunny friends sometimes, and I think Wee has a crush on him, which, of course, does not please Waboose. But Wee is such a tease, she had a baby with Najimo, a flatmate of Merlin's, a couple years ago...I'm glad Waboose can't make babies!

Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!
Working men of all countries, unite!




















Today we paid a visit to Karl-Marx-Stadt, better known as Chemnitz these days. The goal of the trip was to see the Cranach exhibition in the art museum there, and an added bonus of the outing was seeing this huge sculpture. I hate to be so critical, but it's an incredibly ugly city, with the exception of this giant Karl Marx head, which some might say is also kind of horrible. For me, it was a treat, because I find these remnants of the GDR and socialism sort of special amidst places like McDonald's and shopping centers and the stuff you find all over the world nowadays. It's really big, unfortunately you don't really get the magnitude of this sculpture in photographs.




















Karl and I in front of a shining example of socialist architecture.

Art Class

Teaching kids again is something I hadn't really completely thought about before applying for my latest job as an art teacher, and while I am working hard to become good at handling classroom management (last week I decided it's necessary to have the kids sign out X-acto knives and things of this nature which often turn up missing or in the wrong place, like in the sink, not to mention problems with talking and the like), which is frustrating, the things the kids produce are pretty neat. Have a look at a few examples.






































The 7th graders made some nice masks in what I think was their first 3D project of the year (I'm the second teacher they've had this year, and the third in the past 2 years...). These are just a few examples of some of the fine work they did after we talked about the uses of masks in different countries and cultures, and looking at many examples of African masks used in dance ceremonies.




















In the 6th grade classes we just finished a unit on design and linoleum printing. This project was pretty complicated for them, but they also did quite a nice job with it, and stayed pretty engaged though it went on for a long time and was frustrating because printing can be an unpredictable process. The historical background for this project was the use of quilts on the Underground Railroad in the United States. We learned about different quilt patterns and their meanings, then the students created their own designs to print. On the left you can see our sampler quilt, and on the right the quilt prints from the students of one class.

The Frauenkirche again!?!

As if you haven't heard enough about her in the past year, I'm about to write some more. And I surely won't be the last either, as Dresden's big birthday party is coming up this summer, which is also sure to bring about more on this very topic.

In my quest for information about Baroque Dresden (I have to teach something about Baroque art and was looking for ways to incorporate Dresden in order to also schedule a field trip), I came across an interesting picture. Here it is:








My Dresdner readers (if I have any) are probably saying "yeah, I got to look at that pile of rocks for about 50 years, what's the big deal?" The big deal is, this is the first time I have ever seen this particular state of the Frauenkirche. I've heard lots about it, how it stood in this form as a sort of ruin as war memorial, but the only Frauenkirche I know is scaffolding and a basement from 2001 and now the completed version, so this view is pretty impressive to me. It's just hard to imagine that that mammoth construction that's now standing once (and for a long time) was just this pile of rocks. Some people say that the above state of the church is a more effective reminder of the horrors of war, and therefore is a more effective memorial, and even think it was incorrect to rebuild the church. Though I do see validity in this argument, and am quite fascinated by ruins like the St. Pauli Kirche and the Trinitatiskirche here in Dresden, I also think the finished Frauenkirche is just magnificent, and that it's the perfect completion to the Dresden skyline.

Here she is finished, from a similar angle (you can see old Martin Luther there in the lower part of the picture, as you can see him in the foreground above):





















It's a Lutheran church, in case you were wondering what the deal with Martin Luther was.

More bunny adventures




















What's this, nature friends? That's right, bunny tracks in the snow. And these weren't made by any old wild hare, they were made by the one and only Waboose.




















Doesn't he look strapping in his matching coat and harness?

My only complaint is that people's IQs seem to drop when they see a bunny on a leash. Some people are shocked and horrified to see a bunny on a leash, many make comments that are Easter related, and one incredibly charming dog owner mentioned how it's not very safe to take a bunny out for a walk with all the dogs around. I know it's unusual, but I think it's nicer to take these guys out for some fresh air once in a while instead of keeping them cooped up in an apartment all the time. As for the dogs, it is a law that they should be on a leash, too. And just because my bunny is smarter than your dog doesn't mean you have to threaten his life.



















Support bunny freedom! Which would you rather see, a bunny outside safely frolicking and having fun on a comfortable leash, or sitting around an apartment like a living knick-knack?

The truth comes out.
















I'm sick and tired of somebody else taking all the credit. I'm the real writer around here. These people I live with can't even spell, let alone skillfully handle not one but two mice. I founded this blog to show what kinds of things we have to go through with these illiterate imbeciles, being put on a leash, in the oven, bathed, etc. This may be the last time I write, they'll probably make me into rabbit stew when they read this. But wait, they can't read!

old news
















































Here are a couple of pictures from my last trip to the Czech Republic. They had quite a lot of snow there, more than we had in Dresden. This was at the end of January. Now we have no snow left, the last days have actually even felt like spring! This is a much needed change from the ugly gray winter weather we'd been having.

The Life Pursuit

Has everyone heard this new Belle and Sebastian album? I just picked it up about an hour ago from my friendly neighborhood record man who used to have his shop in the same house where I used to live and where I used to pick up all of my packages that were delivered when I wasn't home, and it had me dancing in the kitchen while I was making my nachos for lunch. This is a rare occurence, especially on a dark snowy day like today. This music is like the sun! It will make you feel good. Apparently, it's sort of a follow-up to their last regular album, which was all about breakups, and is instructions on how to live your life further. I haven't quite gotten that out of it yet, but we'll see.

Speaking of the life pursuit, mine is going well, I guess. In between eating bon bons and playing around with my weblog on the internet, I go to work, which is pretty much like sitting around and eating bon bons and playing around, which isn't so bad. My new job, while frustrating during the first few weeks, was super this week! My different groups are working on linoleum printing, surrealistic collages, and nature collages with pen and ink details. Even the students I was told were difficult were really engaged when we were doing some practice exercises with pen and ink yesterday. And today I even learned something new as part of this whole thing: the English name for these particular types of pen: nib and holder. (Feder und Federhalter) All right!

In other news, I rewarded myself after dragging myself down to the inhabitant registration place this morning (here in Germany you have to register your address with the gov'ment so the man knows where to find you when you make trouble, as I often do). I went shopping! In addition to my new CD, which also came with a bonus DVD, I got 2 new hip shirts to suit my expanding form (you know what all those bon bons will do to a girl!), and went and wandered around the big art store, only to kick myself for buying some nibs and a fancy holder at the expensive art store yesterday. They are way cheaper at the big art store (49 cents compared to 1.60!!), and the big art store is much more entertaining. You can stumble around aisles of giant sketchbooks and every kind paint, ink and whatever else your heart could desire and drool without getting stared at by the hipster expensive art store workers. I behaved myself, though, and only got some holders for my art classes, just as I had planned. Somehow, we have an overabundance of nibs at school, but only 4 intact holders, and one that's missing its insides, so it doesn't work. So this should alleviate the complaints of my students that "God, this place gets so much money every year and you can't even have enough holders for all of us!" I wasn't aware of our lack of holders...I had found the supply of nibs and mistakenly thought "Where there are nibs, there are holders!" But there weren't. Another lesson learned.

Meet my new bunny, Tigs.

Finally I'm posting some new pictures of my new house...




















This is that big hallway when you come in the door...




















At the end of which you find the...um...bunny jungle.




















Second to the bunny jungle, I think these mirrors are my favorite part of the hallway.




















The sleeping chamber.




















Check out our cool doorframes!




















Here's a look in the kitchen.




















And the living room. The other bedroom is not depicted, because at the moment it's stacked from floor to ceiling with boxes, and the bathroom is not yet finished...okay, the shower curtain is hung, there are some plants, but no fish or octopus yet!




















Waboose's mischievous bunny ways haven't changed in his new home. He got into some blueberries and needed a bath a couple weeks ago.













Needless to say, he didn't enjoy the experience.