christoph grubitz

The price listed on the Internet was $259, and that was round trip from Phoenix to New York and back! Ria had found three such entries, but each was linked, unfortunately, to a page that stated, “No longer available.” That was where she had asked me to intervene.

As it turns out, we had to pay $350 each – well, really, my daughter’s dad paid -- with the provision that he would be paid back half the total amount by the surrogate grandparents with whom we were staying, and half by me. Surrogate Grandpa didn’t believe in credit cards, so he hadn’t had one to buy the tickets for us himself, although he had wanted to pay for at least one of them.

The way she said the line was so funny; I wasn't sure, at the moment, whether she sounded more like an innocent child just making an observation or a wise old man talking with his tongue in his cheek.

After I recovered from the gut-wrenching laughter she threw me into, at any rate, and from the buckling-under of my knees that landed me swiftly on a stair for a moment, I said, "You know, Ria, you're right! It does smell JUST LIKE a cat-litter box in here. Maybe Melanie, that ridiculous excuse for a cat or pet at all, pooped in the pile of papers near the door. I'll clean it up tomorrow. Deal?"

My experiences in Germany were many. The main aspects of my life there, that would interest you and that might relate to the position we discussed in your office, are of three sorts. First and second, I am sure that the cultural knowledge gained from my studies and travels would interest you; also, I know that my anecdotal stories, written while in Germany, would tell you something about the way I think, and about the way I constantly compared and contrasted ours- and the German-, or even European cultures, in my mind as I lived abroad.

Ever wonder how we ever got along without all the gadgets we have at our disposal today? How did we organize our time? How is it possible that we ever got anything done? How did we ever remember what we already had done or what we still needed to do, especially without all those new-fangled electronic sounds we hear all around us these days?

... shakespeare's taste for the falstaff prince-idiot...

Well, I've always said I had some trouble judging distance and size, but this is ridiculous. I went to the Christmas Market last Wednesday (we live in Heidelberg, Germany), and bought a tree I had not yet seen. The man was very nice, especially when he found out that I wanted a REALLY BIG tree; but, when I said that's what I wanted, well, in retrospect, I think he took that a bit too seriously. He showed me trees that supposedly were one-and-a-half meters high, two meters high, and two-and-a-half meters high, respectively.