The best Mexican food in Europe

After years of searching and seeking and finally coming to the conclusion that finding good Mexican food in Europe would be the equivalent of finding the holy grail, I am happy to say that we've finally found fantastic Mexican food--and it only took four years to find.

"Good Mexican food" is a subjective term. For me, good Mexican food reminds me of living in California, of tiny taquerias where no English was spoken and the food was spicy hot, homemade, and good, served by a nice, older woman who always remembered your favorite thing each time. It was the type of food you would eat before going out for a night of drinking as it would set the base to keep you ok all night, or the type of food you'd eat the morning after a long night of drinking, to bring you back into the world. It was comfort food extraordinaire, heavy and filling.

I have suffered too many bad Mexican food experiences in Europe to even list. The worst ones were probably in Germany, where there was no spiciness to the food and the nacho chips had a powered salty spice on them. (shudder)

So where is this lovely hole in the wall I'm sending you to? It's The Taco Shop in Copenhagen, Denmark. Yes, Denmark of all places. It's not as cheap as the taqs in CA (especially if you were to factor in the round trip flight from DE just for lunch!), but it is less expensive food by Denmark standards. For example, that's the number 16 nachos in the back of the photo, that plate was just over 5 euros. Also it is extremely filling food. We went for lunch and it was literally the only food I ate for the entire day.

We went to the one on Nr. Farimagsgade 57. It is very close to Israel Square (Israels Plads), so perhaps a 20 min walk from the Central Station. They speak very good English, and there are menus taped to the counter in other languages, including English. I would compare it in style to an imbiss in Germany, just a tiny little place where you order at the counter and can eat sitting on stools while looking out the window at the neighborhood people passing by. They do not do margaritas, or anything else alcoholic, but that could be a calculated move, to keep the customers eating and then moving on rather than sitting with drinks for a longer time. Oh, and if you go? Bring me an order of take away please.

the evil eye

Growing up as a product of the Philadelphia Catholic school system from ages 5 to 22, I learned early about the power of the evil eye. It started with Sister Roberta Ann in the first grade. She was 4'11" perhaps which meant she still towered among us first graders, although she was of a hearty rather than petite nature, a true Philadelphia Italian. She could have backhanded unruly children to the moon if desired and she would occasionally whack the wooden pointer on the wooden desk when excitement overtook the room, such as during a sudden snowfall or during the handing out of Halloween candy.

However, that was rarely needed as she had the evil eye. Nuns who were teachers had this perfected. In those days, classrooms had 40-50 children, so it was a necessary skill. (My how things have changed as I have been reading about requirements for small classes of no more than 20 in public school teacher contracts.) However, at that time, Sr Roberta would have the roaming or roving eyes, all day long in the classroom, out at recess, and everywhere in between.

The roving eye was like a gentle ocean wave. If all was going well and you were behaving, the eye roamed over you and on to the next child. God help the one who was not honoring the holy family with his behavior, however. Sister's eyes would alight on him, and it was almost like she could read his naughty thoughts in a bubble over his head. The evil eye was strong enough to melt glass or even steel.

If Johnnie had his hand poised to pull Susie's braid, he would suddenly feel the evil eye from across the room resting upon him. If he was smart he would re-direct immediately his efforts and the raised hand would instead tap Susie on the should to ask if he could borrow her eraser. The evil eye, pleased that a sin was averted, would return to its watch.

The evil eye was always watchful and ever vigilant. That is the only way that a nun could keep control of so many energetic children. I never recall hearing a nun yell. Why should they, no reason to if the evil eye was functioning properly.

Why am I telling you all this? Fast forward 20 some years from first grade in Phillyland and I am now in Germany. Yesterday was 'put out big items or whatever you want and we'll take them away for free' day on my street. Since getting rid of anything bigger than a used tea bag requires so much effort here, you can imagine how much stuff is stacked immediately in front of the house for the garbagemen.

In Germany, many people live for such days, as this culture has no problem with trashpicking and it's almost like Christmas, free gifts on every street! In the US trashpicking tends to be done quickly and under the cover of darkness, whereas here there is no stigma attached. Take your time and dig through the pile of items. They very carefully and neatly stack things up again when finished, at least as nice if not nicer than before. They may even put something in front of the pile that is nice, but not needed by them. I personally have no problems with what they do, recycling something is better than having it end up in the landfill.

Yesterday two children, perhaps 5 and 8 were picking through the pile in front of my apartment. Standing on my balconey, I could see them, but they didn't notice me. Everything is fine and good, until they started to pick things out of the pile, breaking the things, and then throwing them onto the street. I live on a tiny street that ends in the apartment driveway, so it's little used, but still people must drive on it. Nor is there reason to break something that someone could perhaps find in the pile and use.

I watched two or three throws each, and I must have out of reflex turned on the evil eye, in particular on the 8 year old who is certainly old enough to know better. He feels it and turns to see me watching him. He immediately drops his hands to his sides and drops what he was about to throw onto the trash pile. The little girl, however, chose to throw something a split second later. He starts to shout at her in that typical German way, loud shouting. She looks at him surprised at the sudden change. He then must have said more quietly that I was up there, as she turns and looks, like a deer in the headlights.

I now had the evil eye trained on both of them. He shouts at her, quick, we need to clean up the mess and the two of them scurry around the road picking up what they had thrown and putting it into a nearby trash can. They then hightailed it to their bicycles to hurry away.
The evil eye, I haven't forgotten it, and apparently I have the international version of it.

Final note: while I was writing this, I wondered what Sister Roberta was up to and if she was still teaching, as I do have nothing but fond memories of the first grade with her. A few years after I completed first grade, the sisters were called to a different school that needed them more, and we instead had non-religious vocation (Lay) teachers and lost track of 'our' nuns. However, through the power of google, I see Sister is still alive and well and serving religion. Click here and scroll down to see her.

there's no such thing as a free lunch...

unless you are heather in europe and it's a Monday in July in Copenhagen. As you may recall, I left almost three weeks ago for Bergen, Norway. I traveled from Koeln Deutz and took the train to Duesseldorf airport. It's actually very quick when you get the fast regional bahn, only 33 min. I was to leave from DUS to Copenhagen with a one hour layover and then a flight to Bergen.


I usually like to bring along some snacks to the airport, in particular fresh veg and fruit, but leaving early Monday morning carrying the tent and all would have meant that I'd be carrying for a few hours a salad purchased on Saturday afternoon, so I had visions of wiltiness squared. Plan B, Copenhagen Airport has nice (albeit overpriced airport) snack bars, called something like 'To Go' with fresh food including little salads, sandwiches, cookies, water, juice, etc. With an hour that would be enough time to pick something up to take aboard and eat en route especially as it's one of those 'meals/snacks for sale' flights.


Until the plane left late that is. We're all just sitting there during the boarding time and then leaving time with no announcement given. Correction, I'm just sitting there reading the free Times Herald, my Germanic brethren are sighing loudly and looking at their watches. We finally leave 25 minutes late, so my one hour layover was whittled down to getting off the plane and looking at the board where it said 'go to gate' and then getting there and seeing everyone already lined up and ready to board.



I was a tad disappointed to not get lunch, although it was my own damn fault for not bringing something. As you may remember, I don't do breakfast, except for coffee. I don't like food in the morning, and I never have. At one point I was dating a German and my lack of breakfast sincerely offended his delicate sensibilities. Although I was as equally appalled by him eating Kinderschokolade in the morning and trying to pass that off as healthy. That was the moment the door loudly slammed shut on the German dating scene for me. I don't mind if you like to have breakfast, and I'm even willing to compromise with a Sunday brunch at 11 and call it lunch.


But I digress. As I'm walking up, they are apparently repeating again a call for volunteers to forgo this flight and take the same one, just an hour and 45 min later. I had already seen the weather for Bergen and it was a 90% chance of rain, and rain covered most of the Nordics. I was already pondering what to do with the afternoon as I was staying in a hostel rather than a fancy hotel with say, my own TV and American channels, where I could whittle the day away.

And what does one get for one's inconvenience of sitting in grey CPN an extra almost two hours? A voucher for 150 EUR for a future SAS flight that can instead by cashed out for 75 EUR cash if I want, an upgrade to business class on the next flight (don't get excited, it's low budget business class), and a free lunch in the airport with a 150 DKK voucher (roughly 20 euros). Wine me and dine me.

I could have lived like a queen at the 'To Go' snack bar, but I went upscale for Italian at Gino's Pasta. It was like the Price is Right, I want to go 'as close as I can to the 150 without going over'. I had a nice little vegetarian pasta with artichokes, a side salad with pine nuts and a bottle of water for 142 DKK and it was a nice way to spend the extra hour.

am back

but with nothing to say. maybe later in the week.

Observations on my European vacation style

Since I transferred last year from being an expat to being a local, I picked up the German vacation allowance at our firm of 30 days, although last year was prorated down to 25.5 since I transferred in April. This year I came to the table with the full 30.

As as American who is used to between 13 and max 21 (and only because I vacation bought a week--the full given allowance was 14), to go away for anything more than 4 or 5 days was a serious adjustment. Last year, going to Iceland for almost 2 weeks cause me to get a bit stressed at the little details of the mail piling up and being out of the office for so long. Then I went to Lithuania for 10 days later and I still broke into a cold sweat, but not as bad.

This year I'm better into the proper mentality of things. I leave on Monday for Bergen, after enjoying CSD this weekend in Koeln. While I was on the American vacation mentality, to leave on a Monday would be wasteful--it was leaving the two weekend days on the table, when they could be spent somewhere.

I've also shifted gears a bit, and started the whole camping thing, something I didn't do in the US. When you're only going away for four nights, you can take a hotel, hostel, or Holiday Inn and it really won't dent your budget. Going away for 14 seriously tests that theory. My balance has been to spend my travel money on the transport so that I can go away to where I truly want to go, in this upcoming case it will be Bergen and the Faroe Islands. I bought a functional tent and sleeping bag that paid for itself during Iceland, and then upgraded for this trip as the conditions will be worse, although this one also pays for itself after two days of skipping a hotel.

For eating, I try to make a mix of things. Being vegetarian, I am perfectly happy to go to a local supermarket while on holiday and pick up a salad for lunch. In Holland recently, I found a bio/alternative outdoor market and bought bread, goat's cheese and a spicy salsa to balance things out and was delighted to eat it on a bench watching the Saturday shoppers on their way. So for lunch I tend to do something price wise equivalent to what I would do here in my daily Germany life.

I don't do breakfast, but I pick up a coffee somewhere. For dinner, I allow myself the freedom to go out if I see something that interests me. Alternately, if I find something local that the locals are doing, such as a Chinese place that they all go to for the lunch plate special, then I swap my dinner and lunch plans and do that.

Where I will not scrimp is my daily coffee and a drink at a bar if the mood so strikes me. I like to find a place to have my coffee, to ease into my day, and to do the map/tour planning so that I am set to go. I find I take a general decision in the previous night of what I want to do, but for the places I go where the weather is so unpredictable, I cannot make the final decision until morning, as well as I may wake up early or late and can then plan the final bus/train logistics and such.

As a solo traveller, I have had many interesting conversations when visiting a local bar; where I have learned much about the culture. Or while camping that often means going to the local supermarket and picking up a few beers and parking oneself at a communal picnic table where others of a like-minded nature will also meet to look at maps, write postcards, read, eat, and drink for a few hours after having been on foot for most of the day.

So the bag is now packed and ready to go, I'm off to Koeln to enjoy the parade and then perhaps a relaxing rest at the river since this is the first day in a long time that I have woken up and it's sunny. Today is supposed to be the only rain-free one for the next 10 days, so I plan to be outside to enjoy it to its fullest.

After today I hope to be enjoying the travels and not inside in front of a computer, unless the rain dumps down and chases me inside. Have a nice two weeks, I fly back late on Sunday Jul 22, and if all goes well, I won't be online before then, so try not to miss me too much. ;-)

the desk is packed

Since I came to Germany in 2003, this is the 4th time we've moved offices; I'm quite good at it. It's a lovely way to keep the clutter down, when you have to put all your office files and supplies in a company supplied box so that the movers will pick up your box at the appointed time and drop it at your new desk.

I've never moved in a US office, so not sure how it compares, but here it is actually very efficient (except for the part that it occurs during work hours so one loses a half or full work day--the movers are works council protected, you know, so they don't work weekends.)

Moves are arranged by the office so that multiple groups are going on the same day, I guess to fill the truck and keep the workers busy for a full day. In advance they deliver the cardboard boxes. Then, a packet of colored stickers. Each area moving has a different color and and the stickers have two boxes where you must write a letter/number combo that signifies the zone and desk area where the item should go. All things must go into a box, and the box gets a sticker.

Anything too big for a box--as long as you put a sticker on something, it goes with. Our plastic recycle bins get stickers. The coat rack, the potted plant, be sure to put on a sticker. Last time we were purple. For a few weeks, we were still peeling off purple stickers here and there.

Thankfully they move while I'm on holiday so it should be all re-assembled by the time I return, and sans stickers.

busy week - packing the desk

our office is moving to a different site, 10 min away by car. it's a satellite space, so no cafeteria there, so lunches will need to be packed or bought from the outside.

good incentive to pack something healthy, as to eat otherwise will require a trip outside the building where it's always raining each day, and that sounds like too much effort.

Cologne Pride 2007 is coming up this weekend

A reminder, Cologne Pride, or Christopher Street Day is upcoming in Cologne this weekend, with events having started last weekend, and the street fest over the weekend and the parade on Sunday July 8 at noon.

If you've only been to a US based Pride event, you must see a Europe one at some point. In particular I'd recommend the Germany ones if you live in Germany for a few reasons:

1. There is a dearth of those people who attempt to rain on the parade with their strict Baptist "you're all going to hell, sinners" sermons which sometimes turns into a police confrontation. The John 3:16 people are also light on the ground, but the clever few who are there put their signs into both German and English often. For some reason this makes me cackle aloud, seeing the dual-language signage. For some reasons the Germans cluck-cluck at crossing against a red light but have no problem with these folks being in town.

2. The dour-faced cranks who inhabit this country seem to lighten up for the weekend. I'm not sure if it's the presence of so much vinyl and leather or the rainbow leis, or simply that thousands of people come into Cologne for a party and bring their party mood. It reminds me of world cup, when Germany really put up a nice mood.

3. The parade is like Gay Pride in any other town, but it showcases a Germanized gay lifestyle. What do I mean? Anything that you are used to seeing Germans do--church, sports clubs, dance clubs--everything else they must do en masse and with their friends for life whom they have known since in utero, there is a gay German version. In particular, I was impressed last year with a male ballroom dancing club. It was hot as heck and they were dancing in full length formal outfits, putting on the full show. Superb.

4. In general it's a fun atmosphere. They give out trinkets to the crowd, and the drag queens will pose for photos. You can be as involved as you want. And the costumes and effort some people go to is spectacular to see.

It's worth a see if you're around Cologne. If you'd like to meet up let me know. I will be dragging D (who loathes parades in general) but will tolerate this one more than the others as no diving for candy is involved.

Language week 2 Mówisz po polsku?

Fascinating Polish to use in my part of Germany this week:

Dzisiaj pada deszcz. = It's raining today.

Myślałem, że nie będzie deszczu. = I thought it wouldn't rain.

Jutro będzie deszcz. = Tomorrow it'll be raining.

Jutro nie będzie słońca. = Tomorrow the sun won't be out.

Language Week 1

I have an evening alone as the boss found a hotel room for tonight. And since Mausi mentioned this, off we go. Skip to the bottom to read the English version.

Hay muchos meses qué no habla mucho Español, solamente un poco con mis colegas de España. Sin embargo, su español es diferente qué yo aprendí, es como la diferencia entre íngles de EEUU y Inglaterra. Cuando fue a la conferecia en Houston, yo hablé lo un poco, especialmente porque el Español de allí, de México, es como el español de California, y conozco sus palabras más que las de los Españoles.

En el hotel, fui un poco cansada después el viaje desde Europa, y la mujer vino por la tarde para limpair el cuarto. Ella no comprendió bien el Inglés, entonces cambié a Español. Ella contestó entonces, y me preguntó-quiere Ud. más jabón, etc. Al fin, ella me dijo, ´no soy de España.´ Uh, ok. Usualmente las mujeres son de México o America Central. Y entonces en Inglés, ´soy de Rusia.´ Oops.

Yo pienso, tal vez estoy muy cansada. Pero, no parece bien, y pienso y pienso. Es extraño, pq usualmente oigo bien los sonidos de este parte de Europa. Finalmente--en la próxima día, realicé, su Inglés y el acento, fue como el Inglés de una persona que habla Español. Aprende o escuche a eso Inglés, tal vez de los otros trabajadores o de la gente de Houston, donde hay mucha gente que hablan Español como su primera lengua. Es un poco loco, una rusa que no tiene el acento ´normal´ de su país, pero del otro país.

**********************

There are many months that I don't speak much Spanish, only a little with my colleagues from Spain. However, their Spanish is different than the Spanish that I learned, it's like the difference between the English of the US and the UK. When I went to the conference in Houston I spoke it a little, especially because the Spanish there, the Mexican Spanish, is like the Spanish of California, and I know their words better than the Spain Spanish.

In the hotel I was a little bit tired after the trip from Europe, and the woman came in the afternoon to clean the room. She didn't understand English well, so then I switched to Spanish. She answered then and asked me-do you want more soap, etc. At the end she said, "I am not from Spain." Uh, OK. Usually the women are from Mexico or Central America. And then in English "I am from Russia." Oops.

I think, perhaps I am very tired. But it doesn't seem right, and I think and think. It's strange, because usually I hear well the sounds of this part of Europe. Finally--on the next day, I realized, her English and accent, it was like the English of a Spanish speaker. She learns or listens to that English, perhaps from the other workers or the Houston people, where there are many people who speak Spanish as a first language. It's a little crazy, a Russian who does not have a 'normal' accent of her country, but of another country.

Get out the wooden shoes and tulips

I'm going to the Netherlands for a few days. I'm speaking at a conference and then taking the opportunity since I'm already there Friday, to stay into the weekend.

I'm hoping this stay will be pleasant. The latest into the summer I've ever been there has been Apr 1. Usually I'm there in the cold and gray winter months and I've come to associate the country with a pensive melancholy that isn't all bad since it's balanced with warm pubs and bright shops.

Back on Sunday.

class is back in session

While my German class and German teacher is great, I find that I learn the bulk of my German and my understanding of Germans outside of class. Some days it's not so useful words like 'Kartoffelkaefer', because I happened to find one of those in the kitchen at the office, other days it's a little more useful.

When D and I used to live in Deutz, a neighborhood of Cologne, we used to meet at a bar that was between our apartments, perhaps once a week. We had tried most of the bars in the immediate 10 block area, many with not so good results, including the one where they threw a man out because he heard us speaking English and became incensed and physically violent. Too bad he didn't ask us if we spoke German, then he would have really had something to complain about, the bad German that is multiplied in it's badness due to the fact that we speak it with two different accents and it's hard enough to understand mangled German when the accent is consistent.

However, at this in-between bar, something really clicked for us. It is a tiny hole in the wall, but we always have a lovely time when we go. It's almost like a German Cheers, we are recognized when we go, even though now that neither of us live in Deutz we only go once every few weeks. We are known as the foreigners there, but it's not said with that scrunched up frowny face, but instead with fascination and almost pride, as to the fact that their bar is so nice that foreigners would want to frequent it. And overall we're pretty non-invasive foreigners. We drink the local beer and speak German to the bar staff, although we chatter amongst ourselves in German.

Every time it's always an adventure and we always meet someone interesting there, and last night was no different. People often hear us speaking English and feel free to interrupt our conversation in English to test out their English skills and to ask us where we are from. We sat down near two gentlemen, who were perhaps 60-65 years old. Both spoke very fine English, and upon hearing where we were from, proceeded to tell us all of the places that they have been in our countries that we would perhaps know?

The one man was originally from East Germany and worked in a region there, Saxony Anhalt, known for producing chemicals. Because of his job he had the opportunity to travel to other countries, and he had to learn English, French, and Spanish. However, he mentioned that English is still difficult for him, because as a boy in East Germany he learned Russian as his first foreign language. Both men were very interesting, and as neighbors and friends they played off of each other, somewhat like those pseudo-cranky old men in the balcony of the Muppet show, always cracking jokes.

The most interesting part of the evening--beside the part where we got berated because we'll never learn proper German without dating a native German speaker--was when they were commenting about life in America, and route 66 and cowboys and Death Valley and all those great things that one can find in America. And the one man said, quite seriously, "you can have these things, we Germans, we don't, we cannot have dreams." Moments like this you can never find in a book on German culture.

follow-up on the goofy translation post

I had most recently mentioned here about this goofy-looking translation. To explain futher, when you see a sign in two languages, you expect it to say pretty much the same thing, to have the same meaning. Even better when you are somewhere foreign in Europe and there are multiple language translations, and you keep searching until you find one that you can understand.

The top right on the sign says 'Baggage claim' and 'Equipaje' with the little suitcase image. 'Equipaje' means luggage, so 'Baggage claim' makes sense.

On the bottom it says 'Información sobre Autobuses'. If you asked me to translate that to English, I would say 'Information about buses'. However, it says 'Ground Transportation' with the images of a bus and a taxi.

Where I would be tempted to take umbrage is that not only is the literal translation different, but it tends to slightly push the assumption that the Spanish speaker would be needing a bus rather than a taxi or some other form of ground transportation. A better choice to allign them would have been 'Autobuses/Taxis' on the Spanish portion, or to have 'Information about buses' as the English selection.

As a native American English speaker in an American company and the only one in my immediate area of 50 people (although there are other native English speakers who are British, Irish, etc. around), when someone needs a translations proofed they bring it on over. Because the largest English speaking population is American, they tend to want to gear it toward American English verbiage.

I proof all sorts of levels of English, from school English 20 years ago to "fluent just out of the university English'. Because it is often HR things that need to be signed by the higher-ups and the submitter wants it to be perfect, as well as because they usually put both the German and English together on any announcement so anyone would be free to recognize a bad translation, this sign's poor translation in such a public place rather irks me.

goofy spanish translation at EWR airport?

Newark Airport has always had English/Spanish signage everywhere.
You don't need heavy language skills to figure out the below. Does anything about the green part strike you as odd?

look closely

much time was spent on the balkon garden this weekend, and it has now officially shifted from setup mode to maintenance mode. in this photo, if you look closely you will see a spider. a bit of his web is visble at the top left leaf point. if you look slightly below the top of the left leaf and shift your gaze to the right, you'll see a brown blip that seems to be in the tree. that's my stellar photo taking, that's the spider.

i saw no reason to keep trying to take his photo, because this was actually the third go. in addition, this is his third choice of a web location, so i don't want to force him to move yet again due to me bothering him. his first choice was connected on top of my tomato plant that i like to spin, move and clip agressively. he then tried going between the two balkon chairs. finally he settled here, out of the main stream of activity. i'm hoping this location suits him, although i imagine the leaves may shift a bit, forcing him to re-do some activity (it's a cucumber plant, so it should grow and shift reasonably quickly).

my new cat

i'll explain later where she came from and how she became 'my new cat'. fortunately she's living with my grandmother and aunt as my apartment in germany doesn't allow pets and they have two cats so she'll have some company rather than hanging out in my empty apartment for 10 hours alone all day.

why June 7th is my favorite German holiday

--more often than not, it tends to rain on the May holidays. it never rains here on the June one, or so i think anyway. ;-)
--neither belgium nor the netherlands have this day as a holiday, so stores are open across the border. just think of the shopping possibilities. and even better, it's not just one or the other, so the crush of germans crossing the border will be a little more spread out.
--the germans don't go across the border so much on this holiday anyway, or for some reason there seems to be less traffic, perhaps not only for the above reason. i imagine if it's nice weather the rule is to stay home and work on the garden, because, well, it's the rule for June 7.
--my balkon garden actually has some green shoots and baby plants to look at where it didn't so much in May.
--i've started to regularly take my main holiday for the year in July. so now it's only a month away.

the rest of the mystery layover revealed

Since elaine and adam knew it was Newark, New Jersey, here are some more details in case you want to visit. The name for the neighborhood is Ironbound. You can read about it here or here.

There was quite a large selection of Portuguese and Spanish restaurants from the small cafes to upscale places, so given the option again, I would definitely go back.

The closest train station? Newark Penn Station (not to be confused with New York Penn Station), and it is served by the fine folks at NJ Transit who run the local/regional NJ trains such as the one I took from the airport, Amtrak if you're coming from further away, or PATH if you're coming from the NYC side.

So you want to travel from Newark Liberty Airport to the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey? If you want to make a daytrip like me from the Newark Airport, it's very simple. Follow the AirTrain signs inside the airport and buy your ticket from the machine using paper money, coins, or a credit card from the NJ Transit ticket machines. It costs 7.50 each way, so buy 2 one way tickets to get there and back. Go upstairs and get on the AirTrain and get off at the RailLink which is the second (and last) stop. It comes after P4 parking. The AirTrain goes in two directions, so when you're getting on, make sure you get on in the right direction.

Use your ticket to get through the turnstile and go down the stairs to the platform. Wait there for one of the regional trains heading toward north toward NYC. (You cannot get on an Amtrak train, your NJ Transit ticket is only good for NJ Transit trains.) They are clearly marked on the schedule on the TV monitor in the waiting room, or look for a train that is silver with orange/brown rather than silver with red/blue (Amtrak). There are two NJ Transit lines coming through, the Northeast Corridor or the New Jersey coast line. Both stop at Newark Penn Station so hop on either one.

You are only going one stop to Newark Penn Station and it takes 5 minutes. The trains toward NYC are often crowded, but don't worry, people will stand in the aisles and such and you're only going one stop. Get off at Newark Penn Station. You want to walk toward Ironbound and away from the business district. The area outside Newark Penn Station has Ironbound clearly marked. If you happen to walk out an exit where you don't see an Ironbound directional sign, then continue to follow the perimeter of the train station building as there are clearly marked signs in existence.

Give yourself perhaps 5 to 10 min max depending on which exit you came through to reach the edge of the neighborhood, and then walk around and enjoy.

Overall timings from the airport:
--Leaving baggage claim you need from 5-20 min depending on where you are to go back up one escalator and find your way to the ticket machine.
--You need from 5-15 min to get a ticket, depending on if there are people in line in front of you.
--You need 10-12 min to wait for the AirTrain and then take the ride to the Rail station.
--Another 3 min and you'll be on the platform.
--Depending on the time of day, you may wait from 10-40 min for an NJ Transit train. These trains may often be 20 min late, so factor that into the equation.
--Then 5 min on the train and anther 5-10 min to be in the neighboorhood.
So depending on the timing of everything you may be door to door in an hour as I was, although I had budgeted 1.5 hours to get there. I had done the same for the return trip, so I'd say you'd want a four hour layover or more to make your travel worth the effort.

Assuming you have a painfully longer layover, rather than going to Newark Penn Station, you can instead go to New York Penn Station, just follow the above instructions and your ticket will instead cost 15 USD each way and you will be on the train longer, until New York Penn Station, the end of the line at around 40 min. Then you're on your own to find good Portuguese food!

The mystery layover - Bom dia!

My flight from the Midwest to the East coast was cancelled so they moved me to one that left around 8 AM, arriving around 11 AM. My East coast to Cologne flight did not leave until 18 ish. Stuck with 7 hours in the airport before an 8 hour flight, and the luggage already checked through, I left the airport for a little half day trip.

I've yet to make it to Portugal proper, so I went to 'Little Portugal':

I stopped at a local supermarket and perused the Goya products aisle.

I hadn't eaten yet today (I don't usually do breakfast, only lunch), I stopped at a little cafe which reminded me very much of the cafes in Puerto Rico. I heard only Portuguese upon entering and the menu was only in Portuguese. English wasn't working when I asked for a sandwich, so I switched to Spanish and it worked much better.

It was a busy shopping streets with all kinds of stores selling Portuguese items.

A local restaurant that looks like a fortress. The strings of flags across the street alternated between US and Portugal.

The local Catholic church, flying both the US and Portuguese flags:


So where was I? Here are the clues:

--I took airport transport to the airport train station which took about 12 min. The local train from there to my destination took 5 minutes and cost 7.50 usd each way. It was a 5 min walk from the train station to the beginning of the first street.

--This location had Portuguese speakers from Portugal, but also from other locales such as Brazil and Portuguese speaking African nations.

--They have a big Portugal day fest once per year. However, I missed it by a week. :-( It's this coming weekend.

--In addition to Portuguese, Spanish was also heavily spoken, and overall Spanish is quite common in this general area.

--This state is known for having one of the highest tax rates for sales tax, cigarette tax, and property tax.

jet lag plus-->better than traditional jet lag

So I'm sitting on the plane back to DE, at about two hours from CGN enjoying my exit row in cattle class, and I start sneezing. The guy behind me starts to sneeze also. I have no reason as to why this would be, and the first thought that comes into my head is that I am catching a cold from the cold air due to the exit door. I then banished that German thought immediately and pondered if it was the recycled air, and something had worked its way in, like perfume.

However, my nose starts to run watery, and it's excessive. Fortunately I insist on putting every napkin given to me during the trip in my pocket so I used them in lieu of tissues. On the flip side, I end of cursing the wadded up unused napkins in my bag every time I go somewhere thinking, why do I bring these things along? I sit there thinking--there is no way this is my June allergies invading-we're above the clouds using stale plane air.

Upon arriving at CGN and waiting for the bag, all was fine. I go out and find the car and head out with the window down and I'm beginning to get stuffed up. I try my tried and true test to see if something is a Germany flower allergy for me--I put on the AC with the windows up. Sure enough it stops.

I get up to the tiny town of B. and get out of the car and it gets worse again. After a brief three hour nap (yes, it's my secret weapon to get through the day, with the caveat being to make it no more than three hours), I wake up and it's worse.

You.have.got.to.be.f'ing.kidding.me.

I get wicked allergies in DE each year around June, but I think because I've been away this has just hit me like a ton of bricks. So my next move was to dump the stash of US drugs from the closet that are lovingly squirreled away for such the occasion. And then to mutter some choice expletives and I realized that a few of them 'may cause drowsiness'. I'm currently treading water in the sea of drowsiness, so I really don't need anymore help in that area.

I'm currently partaking in 'Tylenol Severe Allergy' as its sunshiny yellow box does not contain anything about drowsy. It's a new one in my line-up, so we'll see if it will be a returning one.

like a bat out of hell

is how i made the transition between planes in newark from cologne/newark to newark/houston. as always the cologne/newark flight was a petri dish of german/american cultural behaviror. the environment would make a social scientist giddy.

i was in the first row of peon class, an exit row that is in front of the boarding door, next to two very nice germans. the cologne/newark is on a tiny, old 757 with a 3-3 formation. the tv is in front of the door on the forward wall and dollhouse sized, so no one can really see it. but since CO's movie selection is usually crappy, no one cares.

this area is across from the kitchen and in front of the wall is a bathroom, so people congregate there, especially people walking around babies, etc. the flight attendants kept asking people to move aside, so as to not block the lilleputian screen. i was reading as were my two seatmates, so really it didn't matter. however, the americans dutifully moved aside, as did the germans, as someone in authority gave the request.

this was until my german seatmate stood in front of it. the flight attendant asks her to move and she says, why, as she's reading and he's asleep, i'm not blocking anyone. he blinks and says, well, the next row, because of the glare, they will often watch it. she then counters, 'it's so small i can barely see it, so i doubt they can.'

i'm baffled as to why this is worth arguing about, except that she is german, when the flight attendant puts his hand on his hip, whips out the gay snap and tells this grandmotherly german, 'oh honey, don't you dare give me trouble, uh-uh.' the german woman catchs that she's on a flight to america and dealing with an american and laughs. her husband, waking up to this controversy says, 'well, she's been like this for 40 years, good luck if you can get her under control. (insert loud german guffaw here).

it's great to be back stateside.

A random Thursday holiday

It's a holiday here in Deutschland, Father's day as well as Ascension. As a product of Catholic schooling from age 5 until 22, I am a little miffed that I never had a day off for Ascension, until I came here.

Normally, when the public holiday occurs on a day mid-week, Tues-Thurs, I would usually take it easy the night before and maybe go to the bar and then sleep late into the holiday because the Lord and the rest of us here in the Fatherland know that the only thing open today is the churches and the bars/restaurants, although in B, the bars are actually shut also. Usually Germans will bridge the holiday and take the Monday or Friday off in addition, but I've found if you're in the mainstream travel group, that works 'usual' office hours, then you're in competition with most of Germany to get the long weekend and the prices end up sky high, so personally I won't take the bridge day. As well as the fact I like to conserve my holidays so that I can go longer distances and stay away longer, although more infrequently.

This holiday was a little different because I already came to the conclusion that I needed to spend the day packing for Saturday morning and catching up on housework/laundry. Also, I wanted to get my plants in order before I left since I need to take a few of them to the office to be personally watched over and others I can set up with saucers of water and they'll ride out the two weeks without me since Germany is not expecting a heatwave (fingers crossed).

So since the day was anticipated to be lazy, I had some time. D. was so kind to offer to cook me dinner on Friday so he also needed the day to himself to do his work since he would lose Friday night. So I took the opportunity earlier in the week to call the Post Frau to try to arrange a walking date for either Wednesday or Thursday, and fortunately she chose Thursday.

The Post Frau is the owner of the Post Dog, whom I absolutely adore. Here in B. there is some extreme road constuction going on in two parts of the main road through town, which is throwing off everyone's timings. I've been missing her since it started as I still leave my house at the same time, but I get to the office 10 minutes later so I end up passing her in the traffic. However, I did see her briefly before I went to the US the last time, and she mentioned seeing me walking in town, and would I like to go walking with her perhaps, and I could take her handy number and perhaps call her?

As anyone living here knows, to receive an invitation from a German that you are not somehow affliated with (through work, school, church, kids, whatever) is quite a feat, so I did not want to treat it lightly. I ended up staying longer in the US than anticipated and then going to the UK, but I didn't want to go back to the US again without making the time for her, lest I appear rude here.

I called her on Tuesday and she said, yes of course, as long as the weather is good, Thursday would be good. We agreed to meet at 11 and sure enough, she was there with the Post Dog at 5 til 11. It was slightly spitting rain, as it had yesterday also, so not the best day for a long walk, but still acceptable. We went to one of the trails off of B. The Post Dog sat at attention facing forward in the middle of the backseat the entire time, but reacting with excitement when she turned into the parking lot, as he knew where he was. In addition his 'Dog Friend' was there, but they were heading off on a different trail.

We went to one of the trails she likes, a shorter one because of the weather. The Post Dog was permitted to go off-leash, as he is rather well-behaved around other people, although she put him back on the leash whenever we were near another dog that he did not know. We conversed in German, although she has some English, but really it was easier for her to just explain in German with examples when I did not know a word. I now understand, her husband has allergies and is very overweight, therefore he does not accompany her much on walks, nor does he go out much with the Post Dog.

It was a lovely walk, especially as the river was full due to the recent rains, so everything was very fresh. We did cross over with the Post Dog's dog friend later and they took turns chasing each other, even into the river. There was some foam in the river where it collected in a corner near some tree roots, it seems that the Post Dog is absolutely facinated and somewhat afraid of foam.

In the end we walked for two hours. We saw one set of people who were walking with their beer wagon into the woods (the Father's day tradition), that seems to not be limited to fathers. Overall it was a lovely day and the Post Frau suggested that once I come back from America again to call her and perhaps bring D. also. Not bad for a random Thursday holiday.

why i am happy that thursday is a holiday here...

This week I fly to the US on Saturday for a work conference through Wednesday, then over to Philly for Thurs through Memorial day, and then back to the midwest for another week of work.

Before I go, I need to figure out a few vacation related things, mainly,
-to book passage back from the Faroe Islands for my July camping trip there. The outgoing ferry is taken care of already.

-to look forward with giddy anticipation the shipment of a new tent to Philly. My current tent is basic and general and nice for Austria in the spring, but I'm not sure how it held up in Iceland some days last year, and the Faroes is anticipated to be worse with more rain and wind. The new one is geared more for the extreme and can be used in snow and is wind tested to withstand 106 mph and is much cheaper to purchase in the US than here. Whee!

-I need to have a rough draft of the Sept Lithuania trip in hand for when I see Aunt R in Philly over the weekend, so she has an idea of what to pack for what we're doing, as the next time I see her after that will be in Sept when she arrives here.

-I need to do a few loads of laundry and all that other crap that must be done before a US trip.

recent visitors

I love the stat counter to see what people are looking for and how the find me. I'm going to the UK tomorrow so I'll be offline until Monday. So in the meantime, a few to ponder:

from google japan: entrance pfand supermarket machine
via google uk: campsite near cologne

from us google:
-upkeeping a monument
-"vegetarian chicken" vegan uk
-language acquisition
-mauthausen mcdonalds location
-getting Quorn products in germany
-you know you're german when

from google ireland: paper boxes to go into the oven from holland

from google canada: "sin park"

and the best, from google germany:
-"germany is great" blogspot -->this sounds like it should belong to the polar opposite of J!

Happy weekend.

On French politics, from my French colleague over dinner tonight

"We opened a bottle of champagne when we heard Sarkozy won. Sure there will be more burned out cars, but ultimately change is what is needed to move forward."

Working here in Europe, with colleagues from here, one picks up a different flavor of news than what is shown on CNN.

Queue the 'Sanford and Son' theme song

I have never been OCD as far as cleanliness and organization. I require a modicum of cleanliness in the bathroom and there are separate piles for dirty clothes although clean clothes may get folded but remain on the floor in piles waiting to make it to the wardrobe if I got distracted, like...
with the internet
or the phone
or travel planning
or flossing my teeth.

I make certain concessions here in the Fatherland for spaces that others can see--I keep the balkon design simplistic and orderly. I finally got patio furniture last weekend that was put out over the weekend, as well as my first tomato plants of the season. My landlady has never set foot in the apartment since she rented it to me, nor has anyone else except my close work colleagues who were visiting for a specific purpose, like to set something up in the apartment, or, of course D who whines and then does the dishes sitting in the sink.

In my almost four years in DE, I haven't ever entertained at home, and my visitors tend to be of the same nature, that their spare cash goes toward travels, and they would not think twice about sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag, or going into a cupboard to search for something, because if you are in my house obviously there is nothing to hide.

I am also an only child and have grown up with the mentality of 'well, if I kick my shoes off in the hallway, I am the only one who will move them. I have no shoe fairy to pick them up and it's my own damn fault if I trip over them anyway, so there they will stay until I put them on again.'

So now queue the tune. The place is a mess even for me for a few reasons:
1. I spent two weeks in the US so some new things are sitting around.
2. I go back to the US for another two week the next weekend.
3. There have been some organizational work changes last week that have changed my whole outlook on things. I've been in a good mood so I've been tackling paperwork.
4. Due to 4, I've also been moved by the Holy Spirit to plan the rest of my holidays for the year. So the place is strewn with guidebooks, maps, and sheets of paper with ferry schedules as I try to bang some things out.

So why is this a problem?

As I come home from Polish class tonight at 21.30 I spot a black thing on my balkon. We've had a lot of rain and wind today, so I figure it's a black plastic bag. Upon arriving home I peek outside the sliding door as there is a tiny bit of light outside. But it's not a plastic bag, it's a black cat.

I live on the floor above the ground floor, let's say at least 10 feet above the ground. I have never come home to a cat on the balkon and have no idea how it got there, and worse, how it will get back to where it came from, which is the ground level where it can walk on its little ramp up to the other balkon where it lives.

As I open the sliding door it starts meowing holy hell. Then I am briefly confused, as I think perhaps it is not the one downstairs but one of the random ones outside and perhaps lacking in some important shot. It comes to the doorway and continues to shout at me, like I had anything to do with the situation. I walk away, but it won't come into the apartment. I'm now worried as it's after 21, and I am not sure if I should ring someone's bell as it is late. Fortunately my neighbor appears on her Balkon, perhaps hearing the meowing, and starts to call for 'Luna.' Well, this is a good sign as that is the one she is usually calling for. Luna answers her, and she keeps calling, but doesn't figure out where she is. "um, hallo?"

So she suggests if she can come get her. So she walks through the squalid and out of order apartment to get to my balcon. I don't even want to know what she thought of this, as this whole area is overwhelmingly orderly. A blade of grass who does not follow the rules has no chance here.

I manage to stumble out with 'Sorry, I just got home, I'm not sure how long she was there--or how she got there." At least she looked dry. She picks her up and the cat shouting instantly ceases. She answers that she thinks she came up from the roof. Being that her apartment is on an equal level as mine, I have no idea how she got to the roof, but I'm sure this woman's delicate sensibilities were already offended enough having to invite herself over to my disorderly apartment to fetch her cat, and then to listen to rambling bad German on top of it all without me inquiring to the roof question. I am *the* non-German in the building and I imagine one of the few Americans she has ever had to deal with and boy am I doing my country proud tonight.

Supermarket shopping in Germany

Since my Holland supermarket shopping post, you may wonder what I do the 7 out of 8 weeks when I am not across the border in either Holland or Belgium. Then I do my weekly shopping in Germany, mainly in the tiny town of B. where I live. In my neck of the woods (tiny town between Cologne and D'dorf), these are the usual options from most to least expensive:

1. Get in the car or take the bus/train to either Cologne, D'dorf or Bonn to the Kaufhof Galeria. I rarely do that because it requires too much effort and the food part is in the basement where there's no natural light. When I would go: when I require a nice bottle of wine, champagne, or something very specific that is difficult to find elsewhere, such as pasta shaped and colored like little sombreros.

2. Get in the car or go on foot to the Kaufpark in B. They have all of the basics that you could do your shopping there every single week, from vegetables to washing powder as well as some other stuff like a rack of greeting cars, some school supplies, sewing needs, plastic kitchen implements, etc. When I would go: when I need a crate of beer or water, or maybe when it's snowing outside and I just want to go to one place and be done with all shopping. Would not so heavily recommend the one in B. in the summer as the meat counter has a strong smell and it's next to the frozen area which is next to the checkout, so you're stuck with the scent whether you like it or not.

3. The heavy hitters of discount: the Penny Markt, Aldi Sued, Lidl, and Plus. They are smaller than the above stores, but inventory is ever-changing so if you go away for two or three months, perhaps 15% of the store has moved on to something new--like it was Chinese week when you left and now it's Mexican week, or computer week changed to exercise week. I know people who do all of their shopping at these places, in particular if they watch a budget. You can get all of your basic foodstuffs and vegetables there, as well as other things like toilet paper, chocolate, washing powder, or a bunch of cut flowers. They all go through 'themes'. Most of them are doing 'garden things' right now, so they'll sell garden gloves, plant dirt, watering cans, whatever.

Their advantage is that their prices tend to be very good. Their disadvantage is that once they've sold something, it's basically gone. Also, it's sometimes a 'take it or leave it' place. For example, they advertised a nice little 2 gig usb stick at Penny. Since my colleague goes every week, I sent her with the cash for the following week when they would sell them, and the instructions, 'it says various colors, you know what that means?' 'Yes Heather, no orange for you.' So what color does she come back with? Orange. Why? Because this particular Penny only got a shipment of Orange.

4. My personal favorite-the Turkish vegetable stores. The other side of B. is heavily Turkish. I stumbled into one of these stores the one day and was pleasantly surprised by the selection of vegetables, although they also sell some other Turkish things, like pepper, bread, dried lentils, and yogurt. I was unpleasantly surprised when the woman shouts across the room in a booming Turkish/German voice, something in German about 'return'. My brain moved in slow motion...i didn't have any bottles...they close at 19, it's only 18....oh--she's noticing that I have returned, I was here last week. Her friendly shouting and asking if I needed help in my early days of German comprehension actually scared me into going into the other Turkish store about 2 min away on foot where they are much more soft spoken.

At this 'other' one they also sell Portuguese and Polish foods, in addition to the usual German and Turkish stuff. It's the type of mom and pop place that you may remember as a kid in the US, or at least on TV. The friendly shop owner often gives the kids a piece of candy and things mysteriously appear from under the counter for certain customers and are put into their bags as a special gift. When I've gone in and it's not busy either the owner or her son have put up with a lot of my bad German because they insist on asking me questions, like what I am doing here. Very friendly people, she showed me a photo from under the counter of her daughter in a wedding dress. The daughter now lives in Portugal, which explains the Portuguese wares.

On Saturday I stopped by, with my TJ bag filled with some empty bottles and handed her the bag. She takes care of them while I shop. Then, I usually buy a bagful to get me through the week:

Here was this week's fine bounty, for a grand total of 8 euros. That's a head of lettuce, some cilantro, an eggplant, a small broccoli, a zucchini, 2 bunches of green onions, some green beans in the front in the plastic bag, some mushrooms in another plastic bag, a hunk of ginger, two cans of kidney beans, and on top of them, a Polish candy bar to share with my Polish teacher as I go back to class on Monday.

You'll also note 3 garlics. Garlic isn't looking that great anywhere, but it is essential for the recipe I was making. I picked one up and as the owner was ringing me up, she frowned. 'Go and pick another one.' Ok, so I pick another one, and she frowns again. Obviously the American cannot be trusted on this task, so she gets up herself to go feel up all the garlics and to frown at them. Finally she picks the biggest one, comes back and says, 'I'm not sure, so I only charge you for one' and throws the three in the bag.


So what was the end result of the above? My favorite Chinese dish, recipe comes from here. (Yes, it includes tofu on the top left. That came from Aldi Sued.)

5. Since it is the tiny town of B., there is also the option to buy direct from the local farms. Apples, potatoes, jam, honey, uncultured yogurt, whatever is in season that they produce, they sell. It's a good option, but it does involve the car and a 7 min drive minimum which is why I don't go to them every single week. However, if you ever need a certain variety of potato, I know just the place, a farm that does only potatoes, on the edge of B. You go in and tell them what you're looking to cook, and they will tell you the proper potato variety that you want to buy to make your recipe turn out its best.

More on Holland supermarket shopping

Since my recent post on shopping at the Tref in Holland and since people are interested, today I give you more details about escaping to where the grass in greener.

Why do I like to shop at the supermarkets in Holland?
1. It's a more 'American' shopping experience, which I'm in the mood for about once every 8 weeks. Meaning specifically--the supermarkets there are bigger, similar to what you would find at home. Wide aisles, tall ceilings, and 15-20 cash registers. Further, because it's usually crowded with the Dutch as opposed to Germans, no one is bumping into you, pushing you aside, or breathing down your neck in line.

2. The variety and pricing of ethnic foods. If you like Mexican food, you're stuck with the basement of the Kaufhof Galeria for overpriced taco shells and fajita wraps, like they were airlifted in from Mexico instead of produced somewhere here on the continent. The soft faco wraps I would pay 3.99 for at Rewe in Germany, I can get for 2.39 at Tref. Additionally, there are a lot more Indian and Asian options available.

3. Options! Choices! Here is Germany it's very simple. There is one variety of soft taco wraps, and one of two brands of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, a handful of dish soap options, etc. Which is all fine and good when you're sending your boyfriend to the store for your dish soap, because when you say 'the lemon one' there IS only one lemon one so it makes his life easy. However, I like choice. I like to have to choose what type of toilet paper graces my bottom. Do I want the recycled non-bleach one, or the soft enough for a baby's bottom blue one, or the white one with pink clouds? Further, there are multiple sizes of various products, so I can choose whether I want the pink clouds in a four pack, or a 9 pack or 24.

4. Language - If you don't speak German, you can sometimes luck out and find a better product assortment that will include certain brands that have instructions in English, which is ever so helpful if you're using something that requires proper usage, like say, oven cleaner, and you don't want to look up all the words in your dictionary, you just want to use it already. There's also a pretty good chance that depending on where you are in Holland, you will find supermarket staff that speak English if you had a question.

5. Vegetarian options - Yeah, I already mentioned this before, but the assortment is better than in Germany. Specific brands you can usually find are Valess, if you're in a Jumbo supermarket (more on them below) they have their own branded veg products, as well as sometimes some Quorn products which are more expensive and a lesser assortment than in Belguim.

6. Packaged options - Yes, the natural in-season products that you buy direct from the farmer in Germany and then wash, cut, and assemble in a meal are the best. But remember those nice little convenient packages already chopped up and ready to go into the skillet from the US? Yep, they have them in Holland. Pick up your meat/tofu plus a veg packet plus a sauce and you're good to go. And you can find little bags of washed baby carrots. How lovely.

7. Vegetable options - Here in Germany it's tough to find a butternut squash where I live. For some reason they're plentiful in Holland supermarkets. Same thing on a scotch bonnet pepper.

8. American imports - For some reason, in the large Holland supermarkets you will find a selection of American products, at ridiculously expensive prices, similar to the British shop in Cologne. Sure you don't want to spend 4.99 euros on a Betty Crocker cakemix. However, if I do want to do so, I'd rather be overwhelmed with shelves of American products than have to visually sift through the British products to find the American ones (Sorry D!). Expensive products I've seen available in Holland: pam spray, rootbeer, jim beam hot wing sauce, kraft bbq sauce, and a small offering of Betty Crocker mixes and frosting, among others.

9. "American" products - Similar to how the Germans offer 'American' things, like a version of 'big American frozen pizza' that is some disgusting mix that you would never buy in America, the Dutch offer 'American' things also, which are produced in Holland, so priced similar to other local goods, not imports. However, the Dutch version of 'American' things are not so, uh, German influenced. In particular I recommend Dutch American bbq sauce and ketchup as they are less salty and less sugary in taste than their German cousins.

10. "American similar" products. I like German naturalness, with the organic and the bio and all that. I also like anti-bacterial soap and toilet cleaner that will kill the germs to kingdom come, and I think I can have a world with both sides. I live with German herbal teas to cure general ills 95% of the time, but when my work colleagues start hacking with their flus and colds, my world feels a little nicer with chemicals at work to protect me. Holland carries all the nice American chemical laden products that you may be missing, or something similar to them.

The negatives? You knew there must be some:
1. There are more preservatives in Holland products than in German products. There are ingredients that start with E and then a three digit number.

2. With the exception of ethnic foods, I usually find the pricing to be slightly higher in Holland than in Germany if you are going to buy the exact same product. I'm talking a difference of 2.39 to 2.49, but still.

3. In Holland they round up your bill one or two cents. I've yet to figure it out exactly, but if it comes to say 19.99, and you give them 20 euros, you will not get change. The store computers automatically always do it so the cashier is giving you back what he/she is supposed to, but still it's a little odd.

4. The Dutch tomatoes. They suck there just like they do in Germany.

Interested in crossing the border? At the top of this post I point back to my earlier post with instructions to get to Tref. My other favorite in Holland is Jumbo supermarkets, which is similar to Tref. Sometimes they have smaller versions of a Jumbo if you look for a nearby one, so I recommend my personal Jumbo favorite--Jumbo in Roermond. You do need to pay for parking in the structure or nearby on the street, but it's minimal. They will also validate your parking structure ticket with your Jumbo receipt so it takes off a euro or something, just be sure to give your parking structure ticket to the checkout person.

The nice thing about a day trip to Jumbo Roermond is that it is situated within Roermond, so you can go and see the nice little cobblestone town, including the old town square which has a market on Saturdays. If you time it right there is a clock tower with figures which spins around and plays a little tune, so nifty to see. In addition, there is a walkway under the highway which many use to travel between the town center and the Roermond Outlet Center. It's not an outlet center the way we think of outlets in the US with discounted prices, it's more of a big outdoor shopping center, but if you make the trip to Roermond you might as well go over to see it.

Holland calling

So it's a public holiday with everything shut tight and everyone dead silent. So what's a girl to do? Travel tends to get booked up early because the Germans like to get out of town. When you live within an hour of either Belgium or Holland, and Holland does not take off for May 1, you know your mission.

It's important that you get up early, because most the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), which includes Cologne, D'dorf, Duisburg, Essen, Bonn, etc. will be on the road, mainly in the same direction that you are going (towards the Dutch border). We left the flat at 09.30, toward destination Venlo.

Why Venlo? It's spitting distance to the German border and easy to get to, take the A3 to A40/A67, and then spend 5 minutes on a little road. Get directions to the Tref Supermarket which is one of the best supermarkets in the world. They are very large, with a huge selection of many things, including cheap Senseo coffee. They also have a map on their site to help you. In addition they have some shopping Sundays. Go here to find them.

In addition to the lovely Treff we had plans to go to Leurs Tuincentrum which is a large gardening shop. If you need a plant or a pot for a plant, or anything in connection with your garden, they seem to have it all.

We did well on the time, with no traffic encountered, and only one slowdown due to road works. D. was hungry so we stopped at McDonald's in Venlo. I don't get McDonald's much in Germany since there is none near where I live, the closest is 30 min away in a direction I seldom am. At McDonald's D. tried his luck with English, and the man in his mid-20's answered him with perfect English. I asked in English 'Do you have a GemueseMac?' (which is the name of the vegetarian burger that McDonald's sells in Germany. I know there is a Dutch equivalent, but I didn't know the name. It's a deep fried veggie patty that is not exactly healthy, but when you have one once every six months, it won't kill you. But hold the sauce, it's a very thick white mayo-like substance.

They guy says yes and punches in a Groenteburger and I ask for no sauce and the conversation continues, do you want the McMenu, etc. At some point he switches to German so I answer him in German. I have no idea if he was switching to German for me since I asked for the GemueseMac by its German name or if he was more comfortable in German than English. He flawlessly switched between me and D. with German and English.

Then we went to Tref, but the damage was minimal because I had been there a month ago, just picking up a few things that I cannot find so easily here, like anti-bacterial hand soap and some hot peppers from Asia that so liven up my cooking. In the line the woman was speaking German to the people in front of us, but she switched to Dutch when dealing with us. Not sure if she figured out we were going through the motions since we weren't required to come up with anything more than yes/no answers.

We went next to Leurs Tuincentrum because I needed some supplies for the balcony garden. Looking around the parking lot, it was about 95% Germany license plates. In like the woman was speaking German to the couple in front of us. She started immediately with us in German. In thinking about it later, she probably did this because A. we don't really look Dutch and B. any able-body, working-age adults who are in the garden store dillydallying among plant supplies are probably having a day off, and therefore German today as well as C. statistically there are many more Germans in the store than Dutch today. However, I was fishing for exact change and D. asks me in English, do you need something in particular because I have lots. I answered, no, I have it. The woman hears this and then switches to English for the rest of the transaction.

So the balkon garden has been started. I now have tomato seeds in a pot as well as some herbs, although I brought them in for the evening, because it does still get a little chilly overnight. However, I'll put them back out in the warm sun tomorrow while I'm at work.

how do you know you're in germany? (part 1)

When you call at 11.59 to cancel your Wednesday German class (well, this should be the first clue that one is in Germany--as opposed to say, Portugal), and you reach Berlitz at 11.59:30.

As you start to state your need, the clock turns 12. The 'loud enough to wake the dead' church bells from the church that is 5 min on foot from your house start clanging. Then, you hear the church bells in the background in Koeln near Berlitz.

So both parties struggle to hear each other over the incessant pealing of bells which seem to be playing the same tune, but one at a four second lag of the other.

I was working from home today. Usually I sleep through the 07.00 ringing and am too far away for the 12.00, so usually I only catch the 19.00 weekday ones, or the 11.00 Sunday ones.

welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out

I left the rainy, cold Midwest on Friday at 10 to make it to the airport by 11 for a 13 flight to Newark where I would have 2.5 hours to switch to the overnight to Cologne with Continental. Scratch that plan.

I arrived at the airport, there is massive raining on the East coast, so my flight to Newark was delayed by 2 hours. By the time I found the check-in area it had gone to over 3 hours, so there was no way to make the international leg. At check-in they were pretty empty and the helpful agents got to work with how to re-route me.

There was an overnight from Continental to Manchester, England that left a little later that they could route me on, and then connect me over to Cologne. I would arrive in at 17.30. Instead of 08:30? Um...do you have anything a little closer to lunchtime? Well, Frankfurt perhaps, would be 14.30 instead. Um...how about D'dorf? Agent two then joins the game and has some ideas.

How do you feel about a bus to O'Hare? We'll give you a voucher and you're early enough. Well I'm not so fond of the behemoth that is Chicago because of all the lines and the big planes due to the volume of people moving through, but I can suck it up if it will get me back before lunch, so Chi-town it is.

So to Chicago I go and confuse the heck out of things because they had to issue me a paper ticket as the ticket I was traveling on was purchased in Euros and they are converting me to a different airline (United). And, I didn't need the second half of the roundtrip, because my work travel agency purchased it to drive down the cost because I only needed the first part, so Continental voided that as a part of this process. Are we surprised I triggered the 'special security test' from United's computers and was put in a special security line that included a pat-down that would rival those cheap feels in Germany's airports?

All goes well and I enjoy my middle seat at the back of the plane. I arrived at Heathrow, pass through to terminal 2, get my second paper ticket from Lufthansa and kill time wandering through the shops at 7 AM on Saturday trying to stay awake. My checked in bag, however, had other ideas and was not quite ready to return to Germany. Here's his tag. I'm not sure what exactly constitutes a 'Mini-rush', but maybe it has something to do with my TSA lock showing that it was opened and the form inside saying that the bag was checked.

Not to be outdone, the Germans also got into the act and left me a sticker. Because I arrived without my bag, it was delivered to me today at home.

As you would probably expect, I had some very important things in my bag, and all survived intact. For those not in the know, these are girl scout cookies. I eat one box a year, partly because I'm not really fond of sweets and partly because the recommended serving of these Samosa cookies is two cookies. These two cookies provide 25% of your saturated fat needs for the day.

One of my favorites of US television:

All Soft to deal with the harsh water here.

I introduced one of my German work colleagues to Oreos and since then he requests a package of the originals each time I go to the US. I took special consideration with Milk's Favorite Cookie and wrapped them in a sweater toward the center to protect them from getting squashed with my books. Either they didn't check so much or they also took care because the Oreos came back carefully positioned and protected in the center of the suitcase.

plus six

is the additional number of days i'll be staying in the US for work stuff. instead of leaving tomorrow i leave next week friday.

try not to miss me too much Germany as i am certainly not missing you, although i've heard the weather has been quite nice.

so far after hours i've gone to:
-kohl's -picked up some basics
-target -bought a pollen/allergen reducing machines, to take care of those yellow flowers in june which seriously impacted me last year. we'll see how i bring it back to DE, although it is pretty small.
-a huge used bookstore - where i spent 80 dollars--don't ask, but it will probably require a trip to the post office to ship a media rate box.
-a cheesecake factory - not my favorite, but it was a free work dinner so who's complaining.
-a pick n' save - supermarkets fascinate me, especially now since i've been gone so long.
-a hole in the wall thai place that i come to every time i'm here. bring on the thai native spicy please.
-a chinese place that is so-so, but ok on the first night of arrival

i have immense amounts of time here, because i'm coming into the office between 7 and 8 to get some cross-over time with the US. and also, because the office here starts early and ends early, so by 5 pm everyone (including me) is gone, so leave as early as 3 pm.

i've also watched this season's American idol on tv and bought 'House' on dvd, one of the few things on US tv i absolutely adore.

tomorrow is supposed to be nice, and my work colleague gave me her member card to the art museum here, so i may visit there and can go for free, although if the weather is nice this area is known for its lake, so i may visit there instead or in addition. i could easily do both if i stick with my weekday schedule and leave the hotel by 7 AM. :-)

i plan to be offline for another week so that i can enjoy as much of the us as i can while i'm here.

getting the scarf and gloves back out

Today I am going down to the river to do a lovely bbq of tofu dogs and whatever else D. picks up this morning. The temp is currently 16 with an expected high of 27 today. However, before I go into the city I must first pack for an equally lovely business trip to a midwest US city as I leave tomorrow morning. Here is the forecast for the coming week where I'll be, so that you can think of me while I'm not posting. Back next week Sunday.

SunApr 15
Mostly Sunny
high 9°/low 1°

MonApr 16
Sunny
11°/1°

TueApr 17
Partly Cloudy
11°/4°

WedApr 18
Partly Cloudy
7°/3°

ThuApr 19
Partly Cloudy
8°/3°

FriApr 20
Few Showers
9°/6°

SatApr 21
Showers
11°/7°

Inside Mauthausen Concentration Camp (near Linz)

The view from inside the front gate:

From the far end, looking back toward the front gate:

A wall inside one of the buildings, lined with memorials and remembrances:

The creamatorium from the outside:

The camp jail from the outside:

Mauthausen Concentration Camp (near Linz)

On Easter Sunday I took a trip to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. Last year in May, I went to Katowice to see Auschwitz in Poland, but this one is quite different. Mauthausen is on the top of a hill overlooking beautiful hills, valleys and farms. Here is the view of outside of the compound as one approaches. Much of the complex access is currently restricted due to some maintenance and building works that are being done.

Mauthausen is famous as one of the worst of the Nazi camps, it was a category 3, which was designed for people not to be later released but instead worked to death. Often in Holocaust films you see footage of many men carrying stones up a set of steps, these are those steps. Mauthausen was chosen for its location next to a quarry rich in granite that would be needed to supply Linz and other cities with new Nazi buildings.

The Mauthausen Camp had a long history in the Holocaust. The building of the camp started soon after Austria's annexation in Mar 1938 and it remained open and receiving prisoners from other camps that were cleared in advance of the Allies. It was liberated on 5 May 1945. All told, almost 200,000 came through its gates and 100,000 survived.

Because of its purpose and history, many nationalities were there. They have turned the grounds outside the camp into an area for memorials, and everywhere you look there is another memorial, sometimes with countries erecting another memorial for another occasion. The former Soviet Bloc countries later contributed their own monuments in the 1990's once they were free. Here are some of the monuments I saw.
Israel:

Next to Israel is Germany:

Slovenia:

More photos tomorrow.