Absentee General election Ballot
There's been lots of press recently criticizing the absentee ballot system and seeing as I'm living abroad I'd like to share my experiences on the matter.
I am happy to report that Boulder County has things in order, as I received my ballot in the mail on Friday. Unfortunately, several other students out here have not yet received their's from their respective counties. I would hazard a guess that 80% of the Study Abroad students here are registered to vote, as the kind of individual who would be curious enough to live abroad for a year in a new culture is the same type who cares enough about the impact of their own elections (at home and abroad) to go thru the red tape to vote.
That said, many of the students have expressed frustration with all the paperwork necessary to receive the absentee ballot - which is clearly a barrier to increased voter participation. I do know of one other Boulder resident who has not received any ballot, and after comparing notes it appears he stumbled across an inaccurate/dated method of registration, and as a result of this paperwork disparity he will be unable to vote.
The ballot itself is clear in directions regarding its completion. The descriptions of Referendums, on the other hand, are way out of line. Many of the summaries explain a Ref. in relation to other Ref's by their numbers and titles - instead of describing a Ref by its intended function. While that's not such a large problem for citizens living amidst coverage of the issues, for those of us abroad its hard to decipher online exactly what's going on, especially as we need to send in our votes in the next couple days in order for them to be counted on time. Most newspaper analysis have not yet been published (and won't be for some weeks) on the issues we have to vote on today.
Do you Ever feel like Rubbish?
I feel like Rubbish.
Yesterday was the first really sunny day here in a couple weeks (so its a big deal, for those of you in Boulder). Of course I had to go running for an hour to make the best of the weather - so I did. I had also already set up a time that day to work out with a friend, and I'm not about to bail - so I worked out for an hour too. Yesterday saw the onset of my first cold in Germany, which is never good.
So today I'm sore from all that. But that's not even the best of it.
Today the other Jason and I had an Umfall (accident). I have reconfirmed my prior beliefs that BMWs are well made.
So the 2 of us are doing another standard downhill morning bike-ride to our intensive course. We are on a specific bike path, in the right spot, all nice and legal like. There are occasional side streets and intersections, from which cars are known to pull out and go about their way. At one such light-less intersection a BMW taxi pulled out very quickly from an area behind huge hedges (=no visibility) into the path of the bike lane, in order to watch for cars and get out on the main road.
This wouldn't have been a problem except that he did this about 15 feet in front of me (and Jason behind me) going 25 MPH down the hill. He didn't know we were there until I went flying over his hood. Now that I think about it, it must have been quite a shock to be focusing on going somewhere in a hurry only to hear
*THUD* (Latimer flies backwards in front of the hood)
-
2 seconds later-
*THUD* (Other Jason flies forwards over hood).
In spite of my scratches and bruises, I still scored Major style points! Upon seeing the car whip out in front of me I naturally slammed on my breaks and tried to swerve around. I
almost made it. I ended up hitting his slightly moving front bumper with my left leg - which launched me several feet in the air wherein I somehow ended up spinning around (I remember looking back between my legs midair only to see my bike knocked into the main street by the taxi). Next thing I know I'm sliding along the pavement with my backpack (a very durable laptop-backpack with lots of cushioning and a waist & chest strap set which I had thankfully buckled at the time) still strapped to me, so that I'm essentially lying on my back. My beloved Nalgene bottle was launched a good 25 feet into traffic from its pocket on the back of the pack. I was really lucky that I slid and let the backpack absorb all the hit (but it still looks great!).
The other Jason was not so lucky. He was behind me before the collision, but even with that extra couple seconds was not able to avert a hit. Where I had gotten around to the front of the car, he hit the side. His bike stopped short and he actually flew over the hood, only to catch his weight on his wrist and knee on the other side. He managed to leave a dent in the car and take off its front right hubcap. Though we didn't know it at the time, his front bike fork was bent in by the impact and was rendered unrideable.
The Aftermath: My bike as a couple small scratches, but is no worse off than when I unlocked it this morning. Jason's bike is a sorry mess. Jason'll have some bad roadrash on his knee and hand, but will be fine aside from that. I'll have some bruising on my left leg and have some other random scratches, but am also in decent shape - all things considered.
But crikey, I'm really going to be feeling sorry in the morning :-).
Another Decision
I have decided that meeting new German women is much easier than men. The stereotype that Germans have a cold exterior can be true, but is much more often the case for Men than Women. Women here tend to be more outwardly warm and willing to talk to new people (particularly foreigners), whereas the men take a little while...
Its been a fun past couple days though, as I have been lucky to spend plenty of time with several great girls - learning about the culture and working on my German-skills.
Was ist Los, America?
Whenever my American group does or says anything wrong, or so much as suggests something un-German (and this is at least hourly) he asks in an amused but somewhat serious tone: "Was ist Los, America?" (What's wrong, America?).
