Tracy3

Tracy3
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

and another one...

Tracy2

Tracy2
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

another picture of my friend Tracy

one of Tim's cousins

one of Tim's cousins
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

this was taken at a family reunion labor day 2005...

wedding pic#2

wedding pic#2
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

another wedding picture...(with some help from photoshop :)

wedding pic #1

wedding pic #1
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

a picture I took at a wedding last fall...

I love big citys....

well..i know i haven't posted anything for a long time...it was just one of those weeks. we left for chicago on thursday at 5 am for our Ad club meeting, so if course before we left I had to make up all the work for school... Anyway, I love big citys..I love the energy and love skyscrapers and looking at the architecture...i love all the people and all the things to do...i truly miss being in a city!! I had so much fun...I wish I could have stayed another week. And eventhough I never really, seriously considered working in advertising I think the creative aspect of it might be intersting...I just know right now that I need to go somewhere...I want to travel or move or something...I wish I could go to india tomorrow...I am sooo excited to see a culture that is so completely different...I wish I could just pack up my back tomrrow and go...

south dakota weather

Just a quick note....South Dakota winters suck!!!!!
it is currently -12 degrees FAHRENHEIT (~ -25 Celcius) ....That is -33 (~ -36 Celcius) degrees with the windchill factor...it is fr**** cold...
And on top of that I now also have this aweful cold that is goin around...Ah, gotta love South Dakota winters...
So bundle up everyone.......The high for today is -8 degrees....FAHRENHEIT!!!
[...]

family values

Today I want to talk about family values here and in Germany. It is a well-known fact that today the rate of childless families in Germany is increasing and the average is 1.37 children per woman. This is the lowest rate in Europe and not even enough to keep the German population stable.
Check out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1695850,00.html
and find out more about why Germany has the highest rate of childless women in the world.
I always thought this was kind of interesting, considering how many family benefits are available in Germany. Check out:
http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/707.0.html
you would think that many families would be more tempted to have children and not have ot worry about the financial aspect. This has to do with somethign else though. Women are more independent and seem to be less interested in being tight down and reliyng on a man for income. I feel that in the states so many women in their early 20s all they talk about is getting married and having children( like many of my friends and class mates)....and settling down and mainly..."oh, I wish I had a huge, fat diamond on my finger..."
I know I probably shouldn't be the one to speak, since I got married at age 19 (...yeah...I know that's young) but it is so odd to me. I don't know anybody from home (germany) who is married and/or has kids at my age not even people that are 5 or 10 years older than me. It seems that even if people settle down in Germany they wait until their late 20's or early 30's...and before they get married they would probably live together for at least 5 years or so to see if they can even get a long (and I think this is a VERY good idea...) And even people that decide to have kids that have lived together for maybe 10 years will not nessecatily get married...my mom didnt get married until I was about 16 and my brother was about 11...They had probably been dating for 15 years or so. My parents weren't married when I was born ( but then again my parents were kinda Hippies :) hehe) Also, so many girls here seem to think that the status of being "married" or being "engaged" and showing of that rock is the coolest thing...in germany I dont think people even really propose...you decide you get married and usually the man AND the woman will just wear a simple wedding band (sorry girls..no flashy bling bling) also instead of a ring, for which you could have bought your first house...(sorry....I just think it is kind of ridicoulus)..I mean yeah it was romantic when my husband proposed, and yeah my ring is pretty...
but: could i have done without it?! YES!
would I be any less happy!?? NO
I remember when I went back to germany after we got engaged people could simply not believe this and they all said" Oh, your ring is so typical american :)"
And for one I know that the religious aspect has a lot to do with the not moving in until your married and not having kids util your married, but also I think just the mentality is alot different here than it is in Germany....
Back to the low rate of families with children in Europe...I am really not sure why this number is so high, it could have to do with women waiting about 5-10 years longer to have children compared to the US, but I seriously think it has to do with the approach to sex ed here....When I came here I couldn't and still can't believe how many of my friends who are in serious relationships are not on the pill...and dont even use condoms...oh no,....we can use the "pull-out"method..."I'd rather do that than ask my mom if I can have the pill...or go to a pharmacy and get condoms"..."THAT WOULD BE SO EMBARASSING"...or: "I DONT WANT MY PARENTS TO KNOW THAT IM HAVING SEX"...well...dont you think that if you get pregnant from some drunk dude at some party that they will figure it out...I mean, isn't it sad that kids would rather do that than talk to their parents about getting the pill...and again there are many other aspects that play into this...I know a lot of parents like to live in denial...well, you can teach abstinence as much as you want...kids will still do what they want to do...and if they dont want to have sex...great, but if they do, wouldnt you rather have them be comfortable enough with talking to their own parents about it than getting pregnant at age 19.....another factor is the cost. I have been on the pill for nearly 8 or 9 years, the reason why I got on it when I was so young was simply that I was always really sick...the nice thing is that in Germany,since we have health insurance that covers E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G ( i know this is VERY VERY different here in the States, as I have come to find) it doesnt cost anything until you turn 18 and after that it cost me 5$ for a three months supply...here it costs me about 10 times that much...(and thats a reduced price for low-income families...) but when I wanted to get on it, I just went up to my mom and it is the most normal thing in the world...and thats how it is in europe...I mean come on people, be realistic...
Anyway...there is much more to this topic, and I know i sound really opinionated and a lot of people will probably send me hate mail after reading this, but I am simply giving my opinion, based on my own experiences and observations...and hey, if America stands for one thing it is "FREEDOM OF SPEECH", RIGHT...there is always the first Amendment...

kids with cameras

I watched a great movie this weekend. It's called "Born into Brothels" and it is a documentary about these kids who live in a brothel in India. Zana Briski lived with the
women an children in the brothel for many years and eventually started teaching these kids some basic things about hope through Photography. It is an amazing story and I think I was most amazed by the strength and creativity of these kids. It is unbelievable to think how these people have to live...and have lived for generations. It almost seems like an endless cycle, as the movie shows how hard it is to get these kids out of there, even with all the effort Zana and her team put into it....I also thought that Zana was very brave to take this project on...I think that her idea, to use these children's creativity and their curiosity to show them through photography who they could really become, is amazing. This is the kind of work that I would find fullfilling and rewarding.
For more information on the "kids with cameras" organization go to: http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/home/
and for more information on the movie go to:
http://www.thinkfilmcompany.com/brothels/
and for trailers and clips go to:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/born_into_brothels/trailers.php

sports

Well, I figured sports would be a good topic for my "comparison" between the US and germany, since it was the superbowl yesterday.
Obviously, sports are very imprtant in the States...especially in High School and College.
let me back up and start by explaining the situation in which I grew up. First of all, we don't have High School Sports, I mean no school colors, no mascotes, no cheerleading or basketball or football or anything else... If you wanted to play a sport you can, but you have to join sport clubs. This has nothing to do with the schools and it usually isn't at the same level of intensity as it is here in the states. It seems to me as though ones personal lifes and school life are much more intertwined here in the States....there are dress codes and curfews and academic "punishments" for things that don't have anything to do with school (like underages etc...) but this is a different story.
I believe that sports are definately a good thing. it is a good thing to have at least some sense of Competitiveness, you have to learn to play as a team and you will stay fit (which with the current obesity problem is probably a good thing..) However, I feel that it also brings with it some negative aspects...Competitiveness turns into rivalry and rivalry can turn into animosity. Another thing is that oh so often, parents basiacally force their kids to go out for sports for stupid reasons. When I was an exchange student, I had a girl in my class who was pretty athletic...let's just say her name was Susi...Anyway, she was the "typical" cheerleader type: tall, blonde, pretty and athletic...But she didn't want to be a cheerleader. So, her mom, who herself was once a cheerleader in High School, (and still dressed as though she was the same age as she was back when....) told Susi that if she didn't go out for cheerleading and volleyball, she would not get a car. So evey game, poor susi would stand on the side line in her skimpy little cheerleader outfit, and force a smile on her lips...Man...what has the world come to....mothers bribing their own daughtes....
Anyway, this has been my experience with High School sports...
Ich wuensche allen eine Gute Nacht und bis bald :)

sunday, sunday, sunday

well. it's sunday...but not ANY sunday...it's SUPERBOWL SUNDAY... so that makes this day the most televised event of the year...i find that kind of odd myself and I still, to this day, remember my first superbowl in the States...it was quite...different :)
It was when I was in the States as an exhange student, in the spring of 2001 and we went to a friends house to watch the game and attend his "super bowl party" I was amazed by how much people will get into ONE football game (and I know a lot of you hardcore sportsfans are probably offended by me saying this, but don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good game of football also, but all the media coverage, which starts like a week before the game, all the dressing up in your team's colors and all the chips and pop...all the excitement about one game...it just seems a little overexacurated to me.)
I guess you would think I would be used to this kind of thing, being I am from germany and everybody kows us germans like to watch soccer...but I don't know it just seemed to be so much more of a national event here in the States...
Anyway, I better get going to join some superbowl party, and watch the "Hot-wing-eating cotest" at Cubby's...gotta love Superbowl sunday :)

flower 2

IMG_1621
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

Tracy 1

IMG_1676 copy_filter
Originally uploaded by thompson83.

I took this picture of my friend Tracy in the fall of 2005.