The Amish!

Well, let me get this news out of the way first.

It's regarding my all-time favorite driver, the one, the only, Michael Schumacher, and I just read it on an article titled 'Schumacher turns taxi driver' on a F1 site. Well, it seems the Schumacher family was on holiday in southern Germany, got delayed and were in danger of missing their flight back home. So what does our man do? He hails down a taxi and then takes the wheel himself, since he really wanted to make it to the airport in time. Talk about confidence in your own abilities man! Awesome. "It was crazy having Schumi driving, with me in the passenger seat'" were the words of the stunned but lucky taxi driver. End result - they did make it on time, and what's more, Schumi paid the driver a 100 Euro tip on top of the 60Euro fare. Talk about someone doing your job and then paying you for it also! Haha, wonderful I say...

Alright, getting back to current affairs..ahem, I mean, my own current affairs. Well, it's been pretty much the same routine for the past three weeks, so I've nothing much to say actually. It's been 'The Office' marathon this time. I finished two seasons last week, and I'm on course to finish season-3 this weekend. Not bad at all. Steve Carell, take a bow!

This weekend is Grand Slam Sunday, and I can't wait for the big two matches - Arse vs. Chelski, and the dippers vs. my beloved team. I found a link last week that does free online streaming of every football match played in every league. It's crazy! And I can't believe I never tried it out the past 3 times I've been here. Shame on me!

Today me and Charles went to the Amish market. Was quite the trip alright, the official name of the place was the Lancaster County Dutch Market. Well, thanks to Charles, who's been my source for almost every new info I get these days, I learned that the Amish are a denomination of Swiss-Germans based mainly around Pennsylvania, who immigrated to this land in the 1640s. They live a very simple life, are avert to technology, meaning they don't even use cars or phones...and dress up in very traditional attire. It was like walking into the village set of a late 19th century based movie! Their main sources of income are based on farming, cultivation and in this case, a restaurant of sorts. The food is unique too, but very simple and we were there for the breakfast platter, which is basically a combination of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fries - the works. Oh, these people are also called the Pennsylvania Dutch, but have no connection to the real Dutch. You see, they're actually from Germany, or 'Deutsch', and hence Dutch :) Voila! These Americans like to keep things simple you see! :)

So after that we went to the Univ of Maryland, College Park. Just to play some tennis! In the freezing cold, it was crazy. I bet people were looking at us that way. It was so cold I had to play with gloves, and couldn't feel my face after a few minutes. Anyway, I had a better day at the game, with Charles giving me some useful pointers. I spent some time watching a girls' soccer game, appreciating them...umm, I mean...the way the cold didn't seem to affect them! :P We went to the Recreation Center after that, which is a huge indoors facility having a huge swimming pool, gyms, racquetball, squash and TT courts...just amazing I tell ya. I envy the kids studying at this place. We played a bit of racquetball and headed back to Rockville after that.

There's a huge storm headed this way, so I'm just sitting indoors with the heater on, watching TV and blogging away. Will be heating up some food later after a shower. The life of a single man in a single-bed hotel room. :)