Lithuanian hospitality - drinks

If I've learned only one thing on my yearly trips back to Lith, it's that Lithuanian family hospitality is unsurpassed. I had to explain to Aunt B. before we went to 'rules' I've figured out so far:

1. Don't turn down an offering of drinks, unless you've already had at least 10 total cups filled. Otherwise it's rude and your hosts are confused that what they are offering is not good enough.
2. Don't finish your drink too quickly, as it will always be re-filled, and depending on the alcohol content, a refill is not always a good thing.
3. At a family dinner, as an average adult, you are expected to partake in at least six different options.

On our arrival night, dinner was at 7 PM and lasted an hour. Then we sat there and picked at the food and drinks for another two hours. Here was what was on or near the table:

a. coke
b. sprite
c. orange fanta
d. fizzy water
e. green tea
f. black tea
g. red (strawberry) tea
h. vodka
i. beer
j. whiskey
k. Irish coffee
l. coffee
m. orange juice (Ukrainian)
n. orange juice (Russian)
o. pineapple juice
p. champagne (that I brought last year from Germany)

So dear readers, here is the challenge if you're still reading. At my most recent trip back, which of the above six options did I take during that first dinner? Your prize for the closest correct guess? A little something from the motherland, mailed to you from Germany.

The rules (we are in Germany, we must have rules!)

1. Only one guess per person, just put the above letters for your drink guesses into the comments, and remember there should be six in total. Whether or not I know you're a reader of my blog, feel free to guess.
2. The winner must be willing to provide a mailing address for the tiny prize. Inside or outside of Germany, it's all the same. It's a lightweight item, so I'll mail to anywhere in the world.

I'll leave this up for a few days, then I'll give you the correct answers and reasons behind them.
I sveikata! (the Lithuanian phrase for 'cheers')

Indian Week at Plus

Of all the cheapo shopping places in Germany, Plus is my least favorite, primarily because 1. they are not on my route home from work like Pennymarkt, Lidl and Aldi Sued are, and 2. I've been there only three times and each time the thing I went for was not there. Although my online shopping with Plus.de went just fine.

However, I will be investigating Indian week at Plus which started yesterday. From the sales paper, it does not look as exciting with as many offerings as Italian or Spanish week at Lidl or American week at Aldi Sued. In particular 'Bombay Billig' tag line doesn't improve them much in my mind. However, I do miss cheap and easily accessible naan bread, and I'm willing to give their spicy vegetarian curry a shot.

back in germany - what's cooking

But not much to say after such a lovely trip to Lithuania and talking about it will just make me sad that I am back in the land of the angry dour cranks. So instead, here is the vegan meal I made Monday for Aunt B, a detox from all of the cheese, vodka, whiskey and general lack of fresh green things of the old country.

Starting at the top left, 11 o'clock is Uncle Ben's boil in a bag Thai rice. Going clockwise, 2 o'clock is Nando's sweet chili sauce with eggplant, tofu, and chickpeas. 4 o'clock is young pan-seared brussel sprouts spritzed with Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

Bottom center at 6 o'clock is two stuffed mushrooms which were gently warmed on the bottom. Their raw stuffing was mushroom stems, spring onion, and two types of fresh basil--green and purple, with a dash of olive oil to hold it all together. Bottom left at 7 o'clock is zucchini with garlic and red onion.

Aunt B is not a vegetarian and in particular she's not a fan of tofu unless it's pretty well hidden in a sauce, but she gave it two thumbs up. Although as the meat-eater in our twosome she had to eat some pretty bad looking things in Lithuania like tongue (of what animal I am not sure), and raw something that she was not sure of, except that it was red/pink and for breakfast. So I imagine known vegetables must seem rather mild in comparison.

From Lithuania 2 - the South

I am again on a sad little slow computer with a Russian keyboard, blogger in Lithuanian, in a sunny hotel lobby. We are in Druskininkai which is a spa/relaxation/rejuvination town way in the South of Lithuania, spitting distance to the Belarus border (which we cannot go into as you need a visa in advance).

I've dropped Aunt B off at the nicest spa in town, she's getting a full two hour treatment for the equivalent of 55 USD. I love Lith prices. Personally I was not in the mood to be wrapped in honey, peeled, irrigated, and whatever else she is doing under foreign hands, so I settled on a 20 minute head and neck massage where I can remain as fully clothed as possible, for which I pop over for at the end of her thingy.

It's not the American nakedness phonia that's the problem but rather that I am not touchy/feely and the more clothed I am the less they will touch. The only massage I ever had made me cringe and I ended up more stressed than when I started. I've never had a manicure or a pedicure, it's just not my thing. I'd much rather sit on the sunny balcony here with a glass of wine or here in front of the slow computer next to a sunny window with their very stong Lith coffee. My female roommates in Atlanta used to go each Sunday an enourmous mall where they went for their beauty and shopping session. I was dropped off on the way to the mall to our male work colleagues for a Sunday session of football, beer and pizza. So be it.

However, Aunt B has been quite a trooper on our trip and she's more into that sort of thing so I hope she has a nice time. I dropped her off at the desk and there is someone who speaks basic English to bring out a robe and start her off. Aunt B is 18 years older than me, but basically up for whatever direction I'm taking her. Interestingly she didn't kill me after the third 3.5 hour cross-country bus ride on a 1960's volvo bus that had seen better days. Or when I made her get up three days in a row before 8 AM because of said buses. Or when she caught my cold/flu that was in full swing when she arrived. Our relatives fixed her right up when they heard her coughing and sniffling. Shot glasses of vodka starting at 10 AM. They tell us it cures all problems.

The relatives in this part whom we visited yesterday and will see tomorrow are very nice. Although the older female ones, perhaps 60+ years old come at you upon arriving and leaving with a full on kiss on the mouth. Good thing the vodka is freely running to lessen this experience. After the 7th kiss and yet another old lady forcibly wiping the lipstick off my face that she just planted there I was beginning to re-think the whole visit.


We arrived yesterday lunch time and we remain until tomorrow afternoon when our relatives pick us up to meet other relatives I have yet to meet (French/Lithuanian/Russian speaking), and then we go to Vilnius in the evening where we remain until we fly out on Sunday morning. And yes, we're on SAS who sorta lost a wheel upon landing in Vilnius the other day, but fortunately we're not on a Dash on either of our routes (Vilnius to Copenhagen and then Copenhagen to DUS), so we should be ok.

******after the massage

I arrive and a 30 something woman in a clinical jacket points me toward a room. She's going on in Lithuanian, but I have very little to go on in that department, except to answer no when she asks in Lithuanian if I speak Lithuaninan. I ask her for English? No. She then asks if I speak Russian. No. I ask if she speaks German? No. She asks if I speak Polish, and my crappy little Polish is about the best we're going to get here.

I am instructed to remove all top part clothing. She starts in on the back. Apparently neck and head massage means a different thing here in Lith. I thought perhaps that I pointed to the next one down which was the back one, but later when I paid, that was actually the neck and head one. She did work her way up to the neck and then head, so maybe there is a whole body connectedness thing. I didn't find it offensive, but I can't say that I really enjoyed it either.

Depending on how Aunt B enjoys her two hours, we'll either stay in town and she'll do something similar again tomorrow while I chill out, or we'll take a local bus to Grutas Park to see Stalin World. Grutas Park is the largest in Lithuania and they have put many of the old Soviet statues from around Lithuania there along with information about life in Lithuania under the Soviet ideology. It is near Druskininkai, about 8 km away, so the closest I'll probably ever be to it.

Our other option as the relatives won't arrive to pick us up until 16 would be to day trip into Poland by going North in Lith to Lazdijai and then West to Poland via the Lazdijai - Ogrodniki border crossing. The only purpose would really be to get Aunt B's passport stamped so that she could say that she's been to Poland. As we have been with bus aross the entire East-West and then North-South of Lithuania, I suspect we'll be able to skip the Poland option in favor of one of the other two.

Greetings from Southern Lithuania.

from Lithuania

I'm on a very old free computer in a tiny hotel lobby, so we'll see if this works...Every time I leave Germany I am reminded of why I can live there, but I won't long term.

On Wednesday when Aunt B arrived, I left her to her own devices for four hours to nap, etc. and then we spent the rest of the afternoon doing errands around the tiny town of B and getting ready for our trip. We went to the Turkish pizza place and split a Turkish pizza for lunch, then we went to the post office, the cash machine, Schlecker, and then the Kaufpark to pick up food provisions to take on the train/boat, and then to the Turkish market for some fresh fruit, and then over to the Apoteke for some Aspirin.

Aunt B is a dog person and she was enamored with the fact that dogs are taken into stores everywhere. Overall, the people in the tiny town of B are an anomoly to me as they are very un-German in their friendliness. We were waiting at the Apoteke, there was an Indian woman (many of the Indian contractors at company J live in town so they can easily get to work) speaking English to the pharmacist. There was a woman there before us, and she had her dog there, but his leash was sitting on the floor, as was he, as the woman was standing directly behind the Indian woman breathing down her neck.

Aunt B smiled at the dog, and he recogized that she is a dog fan. He got up and started to take a step over to her when his owner heard and turned around and sharply told him to sit. Then she glared at Aunt B and me. Then she loudly told him to lay down. Then she glared at me and Aunt B again. Aunt B was rather put off by such behavior, until I explained to her that Germany is the land of the dour faced cranks and this is their normal behavior.

Fast forward, we're on the train to Kiel. It was perhaps 75% full, including a lively group of perhaps 10 young men in their late 20's in matching pink shirts on their way to celebrate something. They were a boisterous group, and fortuantely not in our car, although they passed through periodically on their merry-making, being a little loud for just before noon, but whatever. At one point I was looking at Aunt B's camara with her and I vaguely heard a German 'haaaa-low' but I figured it was one of the pink men. Shortly after someone came up behind me and was then beside me perhaps two inches from my faces and started to shout at me in German, 'thank you for your help, that was very nice, blah, blah'.

I was a tad shocked, Aunt B sitting next to me at the window didn't know what was going on, the older lady across the aisle and at the window seat was just staring, as was the older woman in the seat two seats in front of me who stood up when all this started. Apparently, because I was in the last seat in the car, on the aisle, when he yelled hallo, what that really meant was, 'excuse me woman in the last seat, but I bought two beers and I am now unable to open the door, can you open it for me.' So basically he was yelling at me because I did not know that.

I just looked at him. The two women were looking at him like he was crazy. I had about a half dozen quips in both German and English going through my head, but having enough experience around drunks, I thought better of it and just looked at him and he then wandered away. The women both shrugged their shoulders and frowned like the guy was off his rocker, so whatever. In general, I find this country full of such angry people.

Now fast forward. We managed to get on the boat, enjoy our overnight trip, had some Lithuania beer on board, all is well. The boat was perhaps 85% Lithanian, 14% German, and 1% us. We come out of the boat and can't figure out where the bus is supposed to come, so we just go on foot to passport control. The passport guy takes our passports and says, where do you want to go? Um, to town? Wait here. He grabs a man who has come out of what looks like a tour bus. He talks briefly with him and the man comes over and says in perfect English, you come with us. Um, ok.

He says, we're a full bus, so just set your backpacks down in the aisle and sit on them. Um, this is getting more odd, but OK. He then gets on the microphone and yaps away in Lithuanian, and I caught the word for 'American'. And all the Lithuanians clapped. He then says in English, I welcome you Americans, to our bus. Uuuuuh?

They acutally cleared bags from seats and invited us to sit. It was a political delegation who was returning from Strassbourg via the overnight ferry. The beer was flowing and it was a jovial crowd. When they found out we were coming all the was to Lithuania to visit family, we were truly welcomed in. Aunt B and I were separated to where there were seats, so we were speaking with different people. The guy next to me was giving me a play-by-play of what the different speakers were saying at the front of the bus with the microphone. I'm not sure if he was giving me the truth or not. "That guy, he's saying that he would like a wife, and he is listing what he wants from a wife and what he can offer." "Now this woman, she says that she should be his wife, and she is giving the reasons why."

We were accepted right in, even with the communal wiskey bottle that was winding its way back through the seats. I have no idea how we couldn't find the public bus and how they put us on this one, but they were so helpful. They were asking where we were staying and telling us how to get there. Then, the bus arrived to where it was going and we got a nice set of goodbyes with people individually giving us tips, like to go into the shopping center here to change money, etc.

One day in Lithuania already begins to take away the taste of Germany.

The final countdown - Lithuania

I have an hour of cleaning and packing left and then everything is done. I have a bit of a cold, so I plan to take some American drugs and go to bed early. Aunt B should be leaving the house in a few hours for Newark for the overnight to CGN. I need to pick her up around 0900 tomorrow.

After than I drop her back at my apartment for a short nap and a coffee and I scurry back to work for a half day, to set my out of office to OUT for two weeks.

On Thursday morning the adventure officially begins, we are on a train to Kiel, and then the overnight ferry to Lithuania which arrives Friday in Klaipeda. We have a packed schedule of relatives and things to see, and lots of fun to have.

I will probably be mostly offline until I drop her back at the airport on Sept 18th.

The backup plan for if I ever get bored of D

D and I took care of a lot of things yesterday, little things that needed to get sorted before Aunt B arrives on Wednesday. A sample of the exciting things we did:

-D put together a TV table I bought a few months back in the Netherlands.

-I sent my plastic shower curtain through the washing machine to get it ultra clean. I also did three other loads of laundry.

-We attempted to get the new dishwasher up and running, and it's almost ready to go, once I get a connector thingy from Pratiker

-We went to Pratiker to get some mold cleaner, a light bulb to replace the one for over the oven, and one for the refrigerator.

-A trip to Kaufpark to get a crate of water and return some empties

-I cleaned some of the finished plants off of the balkon

-And we even managed to squeeze in an hour to go see the Duck Regatta, which D attempted to film, so if it comes out ok I'll post a link to it.

That night, pondering the success of so many things completed during the day, we decided to nip out to the only bar open past 10 on a Saturday in the tiny town of B for a glass of wine. It's not our regular bar, but the people there were quite friendly. One older man, perhaps in his 70's, spoke no English but had no problem listening to our crap German, and in fact he was so enamoured with us that he bought us each a drink.

We had thought that he would have been retired, but no, he proudly told us that he has been driving a taxi for 39 years for six days a week, and Saturday is his day off. (Which could explain why he was on his ninth beer when we arrived.) Ladies and gentlemen, it's hard enough to understand some of the local German some days, but add in some slurring and you really need to remain on concentrate mode.

However, he was a pleasant enough fellow who did not bring up the usual Anti-American Bush topic, and I was fully amused when he said to me, 'if you ever want to leave this one (gesturing to D who is standing next to him) for an older man, I'm fully available for you.' And then he cackled at his own statement.

And they say Germans don't have a sense of humor.

not amused

Showers today and light rain scheduled throughout tomorrow.
Things aren't looking very ducky.

don't excite me so

Being from Philly and working in the IT industry, I tend to be a tad more rude, cranky, and abrupt than all females and probably most males that I know. Perhaps it explains how I'm able to tough it over year after year in the land of the shouting, dour cranks without feeling even mildly insulted in daily life here.

In the one tiny, dark corner of my heart that is not wearing black every day however, I have a special love of yellow rubber duckies with their sunshiney personalities. I have wanted for years to have a yellow ducky bathroom but the bathroom fixtures where I've lived so far in my life have always been of a color not conducive to decorations of bright yellow (i.e. mauve). Finally in Germany I have an all-white bathroom, but then I was having difficulty finding the proper ducky shower curtain, so I ended up with a goldfish motif instead for the time being.

Why am I rambling on this point? Because for my entire life I have wanted to go to a 'rubber ducky regatta', or one of those things where a community with a creek will dump a bunch of numbered yellow ducks into the creek, and they will 'race' to the finish line with prizes for the first finishers. Usually you 'buy' a duck for the race and the money goes to a charity. Every single time I always miss the races and see the after photo in the newspaper with hundreds of yellow points in the creek and am slightly saddened at missing it live and in technicolor.

This time, however, this time, I will actually see it live, for the first time ever. The tiny town one town over from B is holding their annual townfest and it includes a ducky regatta with the proceeds going to the local school. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for Saturday morning.

Making hay while the sun is shining

Aunt B arrives in 7 days, and in 8 days we're off to Lithuania for two weeks. In addition, some other planets have aligned all together to light a fire under my ... to get things done. Namely:

- Flight back to philly for the december holiday booked using USAir miles that were reaching their expiration date. They put me on Lufthansa going out and USAir on the return.

- Ordered new contact lenses which I can leave in all the time for up to 30 days. As an added bonus, they were ordered on Friday and arrived by DHL on Monday. If nothing else, I cannot fault the efficient Germany transport network. The very sweet 80 something year old granny in the building signed for and accepted the tiny package as it came during the workday. I live in a strange utopia of an entire apartment building of very nice Germans.

- Ordered a small countertop dishwashing machine from Plus. The chore I most despise in the world is washing dishes, it even ranks lower than toilet cleaning for me. I am finally biting the (cheap) bullet and buying an improvement.

- Cleaned out the car as I need to drive around American work colleagues this week. (OK, excluding the trunk so far.)

- Cancelled my Newsweek and Economist in advance of them rolling over in October.

- Charged up the handheld vacuum in anticipation of the "last weekend before Aunt B comes so I need to do major cleaning" weekend.

- Scheduled D to come over to put together the TV table I picked up a few months ago from Ikea.

- Started to clean-out some of the dead balkon plants.

- Am around 75% done with some logistical work paperwork that must be done every 6 or 12 months in relation to staffing. It's the kind of paperwork that there is no positive for doing it, but there is a negative if it does not get done.

- What's still on the list to do? A heck of a lot more and then some.

More on Passport Control

Since Debbie asked and since my fellow US Americans always ask me similar questions when I am home:

Is that all you do when leaving/entering Germany: show them your residence permit sticker?
Yep, just show them the sticker in Germany and they will not stamp you in or out. One of my US colleagues here wouldn't bother to show the sticker and perhaps one-third of the time they didn't notice it either and would stamp her. To me that wastes valuable passport space, so I'm careful to show the sticker.

What if you're re-entering or leaving the EU/Schengen Zone through another country, like Denmark? Do we just shown THEIR passport control guys the German sticker, too?
Nah, I don't bother, as German sticker or not, you would still get stamped by Denmark in any event. On a related note, on a previous trip through Copenhagen, the female passport officer noticed my stickers and then proceeded to try out her university Germany on me. (Ugh.)

No passport stamping that says you're leaving the EU?
As long as you have the sticker, no stamping, although if you're going to a few EU destinations such as the UK, you'll get an outgoing scan which registers you as outgoing. But I've never had a problem in this respect. I often do three way flights, such as I went Cologne to Stockholm and then took a ferry to Finland and then flew back Helsinki to Duesseldorf. The only time I had some raised eyebrows was when I went to Turkey for a long weekend. I noticed they read the screen more carefully the next few times I flew.

Often if it's a closer EU country such as Brussels or Paris, you will not get passport checked either in/out of Germany .

The closest I normally come to anyone tracking my in and out has been my Eastern Europe trips. On multiple trips now to Vilnius and Warsaw and one-time trips to Riga and Tallinn, every single time they will find a blank area with space next to it and stamp my arrival there. Then when I am outgoing from one of those places, they will stamp it outgoing, immediately next to the incoming one, so they are together. One time I went into Warsaw from Germany and then travelled from Warsaw to Vilnius without getting checked, so that I was then leaving Vilnius to Germany, but without an incoming to Vilnius. The agent asked, but once I explained that bit he was satisfied to stamp next to the Warsaw incoming.

I'm a little nervous about what to do when I fly soon for the first time since moving here.
It's actually easier than if you're flying on an unstickered US passport, in my opinion. For example, in particular, I've always found the UK to be the biggest pain in the ** to Americans with the 20 questions. It was actually worse when I worked there, I began to carry my actual UK work permit paperwork to hasten me through. Since I accumulated this plethora of Germany stickers, I've found them to be less questioning of my American entry for a long weekend. Instead it's 'oh you work in Germany I see, how long do you stay here?' and that is it. Versus the other Americans on either side of me getting the, 'where do you stay, for how long, have you been here before, where were you before here, where do you go after, do you know anyone here, blah blah.'

Last time I was so speedy into the UK from their lack of questions that I was through faster than the Euros in the long EU line. And an American entering the UK faster than a UK citizen, THAT is priceless. :-)

Passport Control

The recent weekend trip from Germany to the UK was the first in in some months for me that required passing through passport control but not involving a US destination.

I have four years worth of work permits in my passport, one from the UK and four from Germany. Normally, when I am coming in or out of Germany I hand the German passport officer my passport open to the two pages with the current Germany sticker. He/she usually holds the page, flips for a second to the front photo page, and then puts the Germany sticker under a special light to be sure it is not a forgery.

Maybe he/she will flip through the other pages looking at the other Germany stickers, then he/she goes back to the front page and scans it into the computer, squints for a second or two while looking at the computer monitor, then closes the passport and slides it face-down through the little window, and maybe says 'have a good evening' or something to that effect.

I will guess that I have gone through this little exercise perhaps 75 times in total into Germany, and almost that many times in all other countries combined, as I recall sometimes wandering into countries and not being checked. I have now come to the conclusion that all passport control experiences can be defined as: indifferent (90%), good (4%), bad (4%), and odd (2%). It's by no means scientific, nor is it specific to Germany, but it is specific to Europe and North America based on my experiences.

1. the Indifferent - they casually glance at the photo page, glance at me, their matching criteria is something like 'female with brown hair, check' and then they barely look at the sticker, except perhaps the expiration date. Americans working in Germany are a dime a dozen, so they give as much attention to the papers and I give to the tube of toothpaste I'm buying. It's labeled as toothpaste, it's in the toothpast section, good enough.

2. the Good - last year I flew into Chicago on my way to the midwest city at company J. where I work. For some reason the US/permanent residence lines were backed up, so a few of us were shuttled to the foreign visitors line. I hand over my passport to the US agent, photo side open, and he starts to flip though it. Something seems to catch his eye and he starts over again, going page by page, which in my expanded passport, is quite a few pages. A few pages past all of the Germany stickers he stops and turns it sideways reading a stamp I'm guessing, but I don't know which one.

Until now he has not said a word. He is still holding the passport open to a certain page I cannot see, but I know it's not the Germany stickers. He says, you work in Germany. Yes. When was the last time you were home? December. And what is your purpose? A week of work at company J. in a large midwest town. He then closes the passport and slides it back across the counter to me and says something that I miss, but I know it's not the usual 'welcome home' that they've started to do regularly.

I know I've missed something because he's waiting for an answer. I ask him to repeat and he says 'ah, I thought you spoke Polish based on where you visited in Poland as it is not a tourist destination, pardon me.' I then had to explain that I'm only still learning Polish, and could he repeat again more slowly? (It was welcome home in Polish, duh.) There was no one in line I would need to wait for my bag anyway, so I stood there chatting with him for 10 minutes in my very basic Polish about why I had visited such a remote destination in Poland and how he liked living in the US.

3. the Bad - It's not a specific German thing, but as I come so often into Germany my sample size is skewed. When I last came into DUS from the UK, they were doing two shared lines, so no distinction between EU and not. D and I were at the back of the line so it took some time. I'm not sure what power trip these people get from being in uniform in a little glass box, but I could see he had one.

He doesn't bother to put the sticker under the special light, because obviously he has laser eyes to spot a fake. He then barks at me in that special way that Germans have 'Do you live in Germany?'

My first thought appeared in a bubble above my head 'Well f-wit, why else would I be entering Germany late on a Sunday night with a valid Germany sticker?' Before uttering that one aloud, I thought again based on my four plus years experience here--what would be the appropriate response to a German so that I can get through here as quickly as possible?

So I shouted back to him in German in a slightly louder but more angry tone 'Yes, I work here in Germany!' like, I'm in a hurry and I'm prepared to argue even louder with you if needed. Of course, having passed that test, he immediately closed the passport and slipped it through the little window to me without a word. D. and I had been watching the other line, the other guard was questioning a UK person who was politely trying to answer in English. That will get you nowhere quickly here, my friend.

4. the Odd - I find some passport control conversations completely out of the blue. In the UK recently the guy makes a comment that whoever put my extra pages into my passport did not do a good job. Yes, that was the US government, and there are some other things they're not doing so well either. And I spilled coffee on one corner of a page. The advice from the same passport guy who saw it, "You're not supposed to feed them, no matter what they say." Uh, ok.

The last time I went to Lithuania, the passport agent asked if I have health insurance. Um, yes. (Heather wondering, since when did Lithuania become a medical tourist destination.) So you will not use the health insurance of Lithuania? Hell no, I'm not sure I would even use it if injured and in need of a doctor; I'd probably hold out for the sanctuary of German soil for medical needs, thank you.
And those are my thoughts on trips through passport control as of summer 2007.

if you're ever in Koeln...

and looking for a bar with no cover that is open until after 5 AM and plays karaoke with songbooks in English, German and Thai, just let me know and i'll hook you up. the karaoke stops at 5 AM, however, and it converts to regular music.

in particular, you may also find there Germans with a sense of humor who recognize that your tough looking, shaved-head, vegan friend has one hell of a voice. they will then invite him to sing with one of them a tune they chose, 'barbie girl', where said friend is told to sing the barbie part.

after you then return the favor and challenge the germans to sing along with something as equally appalling, they will then decide to up the ante and challenge your group to a German speaking song, as they have heard your group speaking English. having at least one person who can reasonably plow through the words even if the tune is not known will win you major points.

even better one of your group will be asked to dance by a serious German, while another can strike up a conversation with the Thai/German married couple who comes there every week while half English/half German conversations generally abound on this side of the room while the other half is half Thai/half German. Then your English group can be stymied by the 12 Thai people who come in at 4 AM to join the 10 already there, and looking around the bar you're thinking you must be looking at the entire Thai population of Koeln.

if you're ever in such a mood, I know just the place.

Saturday vegan cooking

As you know, Saturday is my best cooking day. I buy my "major" food on either Friday or Saturday, so everything I cook on Saturday is extremely fresh. Also I have the most time on Saturday afternoons, and there is always the fallback that the stores are open until the evening in case I'm suddenly missing something, which is not an option on Sundays.

Today's cooking is special because Vegan Pete is in town visiting. So Vegan Pete eats only vegetarian food, minus egg and dairy products. Having been vegan for a few years, often my meals are still vegan, mainly because I'm not talented at egg cooking and dairy makes my tummy hurt. In addition, Vegan Pete is lavish in praise, not only is he verbally pleased about what I make, but he eats a lot of it, so I know he's not just being polite. ;-)

Today's menu is looking like this:
Starters: Buffalo Tempeh Wings - which will be made with my Jim Beam hot wing sauce
Stuffed Zucchini flowers (courtesy of my balkon garden) stuffed with chopped mushrooms and fresh balkon garden herbs
roasted garlic cloves

Mains: Tasty Eggplant Bake - mainly because it uses quinoa which I love for its nutritional value and I do rarely use quinoa in cooking as it's a little too adventurous for most non-vegetarians
Soba noodles with green beans and ginger and garlic (mainly for D because he is an part-time vegetarian, so quinoa does wonders for his digestive system)
Stuffed zucchini, because zucchini looked so good this morning and I liked that the stuffing in this recipe was bean based as a change for the usual breadcrumb based stuffing.

As you can guess from the above, there will be enough food that no one will need dessert, which is part of my master plan. I don't eat so much sweet stuff myself beyond fruit or berries as I don't like the taste, so I when I attempt to create something sweet myself, it is absolutely inedible. I can't figure out how it's supposed to taste in the making or at the end so it always goes terribly, terribly wrong so I've given up on this point. Fortunately so many desserts contain egg or dairy so I'm mainly off the hook on that account.

i am back from the UK

but too tired to write.

when the going gets tough...

the tough take a cheap weekend flight somewhere else.

my friends at lufthansa publish cheap flights from Germany every other Wednesday, which are good for the next two weeks. i dilligently watch for them; there are usually four or five options: one far away (US, Japan, or Middle East), and three or four Europe ones. these flights are usually very good for me, because at least one and often two include the good flight times for us "9 to 5 monday to friday" working folk: out friday night and back sunday evening.

the Europe ones usually level out around 100 eur for the roundtrip, including taxes and all that. sometimes the destinations aren't so sexy (i.e. Lyon, France). Sometimes they are more than interesting: Riga, Prague, Paris, etc.

So far I've take the cheap flights to Goteborg City and Bratislava in this manner.

This weekend's flight, booked on Tuesday of this week-->London. Total cost-->101 eur. I've going from DUS, but it was also available around the same price from CGN.

London calling!

Forced frugality (aka life in Germany)

Growing up in the Phillyland area, I realized later, it was a bit of a lean life. It's a blue collar town with blue collar people, where life can sometimes be hard. However, we never seemed poor, as everyone else lived the same life, basically. I consider it an advantage today.

I keep up with US life mainly through the internet, and recently I stumbled into the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge where members of Congress tried in May/June to live on what the average food stamp person receives (yeah, I'm a little behind on the surfing). This then led to related 'money saving' and 'being frugal' tips. I wasn't surprised to see many of these reflected in how I grew up. What surprised me was how many of them I do in Germany, but not out of conscious choice, but more through living "normal Germany" life here, or living as a US expat here.

Of what such things are you speaking, heather in europe? Glad you asked:

1. Bringing my own re-usable shopping bags to the supermarket. My current trend is to use one from Trader Joe's to see if anyone here will ever recognize it. Four months and counting and no one has.

-The bag reuse is now taking hold in the US: http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php?id=6


2. Yes, the vegetarian thing.

-However, something new I have learned since being here, however. Vegetarianism as a food cost saving methodology: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/GoVegetarianToSaveMoney.aspx

3. Eat seasonally and locally. This was a large change for me personally, as given the choice I would have broccoli every single week for 52 weeks. Right now is a vegetable explosion in Germany with lovely salads to be made. February forces me to be creative with cabbage, carrots and potatos from the root cellar, along with fabulous soups. I eat seasonally here, as often that is the only option. (you try finding a strawberry in the winter months!)

-Apparently, this seasonal eating is now a 'cost saving' tip in the US:
http://fitfare.net/2007/03/02/10-fairly-easy-ways-to-eat-healthfully-save-money-and-save-the-world/

4. Re-use of ziploc bags - This one relates to being an expat and not having the whole ziploc line here. I use them not only for food storage, but more often for storing other things like toiletries.

I make a bag of 20 last an entire year until I go back to the US by re-using them liberally. Apparently so do some other people, minus the 'going back to the US' part: http://lifehacker.com/xml/comments/278476

5. Taking public transport/walking - public transport options are much better here than in the US, in particular for suburb to suburb/small town trips like I took this weekend. Not only are the options better, more people take it, so it's less of a danger than in the US where the late night buses were not so safe for a single female. Generally I find myself walking more because things are more walkable and less parkable, so often it's easier to walk.

-I thought this was an interesting spin on the topic from the US, in actually measuring your savings:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/28/save-money-with-your-feet/

6. Shop at Aldi - a German once told me that I am very fortunate as I live near the 'Aldi border'. 'My' Aldi Sued is five minutes by car or 20 minutes by foot. There is also an Aldi Nord 15 minutes away by car. Not every German can be so lucky to be able to go to both. Although I never do as I have a plethora of other low cost stores less than 15 minutes away.


In particular I go to Aldi Sued for their Bio Tofu and veg hotdogs and burgers, and because they are on the way home from work. Also, I find at the Pennymarkt more tempting things, so I try not to go so often to the Pennymarkt. (Damn them and their low, low prices. My last Penny purchase was a picnic blanket that has a plastic foil like coating on the back and folds up nicely for 3.99. I didn't go shopping for such a thing, but with the soggy grass here, I've used it twice so far with fantastic results.)
-It seems there are some true Aldi US fans out there, and they've even gone so far as to plan meals and give you a shopping list to help you save money:
http://momadvice.com/food/aldi_meal_plan.aspx

7. Bring your lunch to work - Since moving to the new office where there is no canteen, and not even a vending machine, my eating has improved from having to always bring my own. True, I could wait for the shuttle, take it over to the main building for a total of 15 minutes lost each way, but the deep fried, cheese laden, unhealthy plates weren't worth walking down the stairs when we were there, let alone actually making a special trip for it.

There is an imbiss about a five minute walk away, and the people are very nice, but their food is just so-so. There is, however, an Edeka four km away so I can do my main weekly shopping and pick up some salad things to last me the week in the office with salads, or I bring something from home as we do have a microwave. There's also the advantage that I can do my weekly shop at lunchtime and save myself the Saturday morning chaos trip.

- I don't do such calculations as they do here, but it is interesting the possibilities:
http://www.cleverdude.com/articles/finances/frugal-lunch-by-clever-dudette/

Apparently I'm not being frugal with words, however, based on the length of the above.

The return of Luna the cat

It's been so long since I've seen the giant warming ball of light in the sky, I think my tolerance for warm weather has gone down. This weekend was hot as heck here, and it has been wreacking havoc on my sad little balkon garden plants who are as equally confused by its presence.

I started a few projects in the past few weeks. I have no storage/shelving at all in my bathroom, except for the surface area on top of the dryer, so all medicine cabinet items not in daily use are stored on a shelf in my hallway closet. With Aunt R staying with me before and after our Lithuania trip, now that it's only a month away, I'm trying to tidy up in advance.

So I have all the bathroom items on the living room/kitchen floor where they're getting separated into little piles so that they can go into a ziploc baggy with their related brethren, with expiring stuff going in the bin, checking if there is anything Aunt R should bring from the US, etc.. The apartment was not as messy as when Luna the cat last came for a visit, but it was not as spic and span as when the boss came to visit two months ago and I kept up the twice weekly swiffering for a few weeks.

So Saturday afternoon, I'm enjoying some ice water and who should reappear on the balkon, but Luna the cat. It wouldn't be a problem except that she carries on with incessant meowing demanding to be removed from there, this very instant. The owner's mother went to fetch the owner to come and pick her up. So again I feel bad that this woman needs to come through a messy apartment again to fetch her cat. She must think Americans live like the biggest slobs around. I have no problems with the fact that her cat is on the balkon, although I have no idea what is driving the cat to do so. It's not like my vegtarian cooking wooes cats in from miles around.

My only consolation is that she seemed equally, if not more embarassed than me about the whole situation, that she was again intruding into my apartment. The first time she seemed sorry to inconvenience me (which really wasn't any inconvenience). The second time she seemed genuinely embarassed that her cat could be so stupid now for a second time, or maybe that her mother demanded that she drop everything to go get the cat--so she's walking through my apartment in a bikini. It was rather funny to me actually, as soon as she picked up the cat it stopped meowing. She then asks it as she's walking out, "So you can figure out how to get up here but not back down. Then you really shouldn't come up here now, should you?" Like the cat was going to listen to her line of reasoning going forward.

Shades of blue and gray - the Faroe Islands

I never knew the full range of the world's color palette of blue to gray until I went to the Faroes. Due to the dearth of tourist info, I may put my notes together at some point and put them out there for other travellers to use, but in the meantime, some photos.

Unfortunately, it's often more gray than blue there. None of my photos are touched up, as I have neither the talent nor the interest. While Germany can be gray, this was a truly intense, strong gray.

This one was taken one night at 23.30. The weather was 7 C inside the tent, and I took a quick run to the bathroom and quickly pulled out the camera on my return for such a nice sky. I was surrounded on both sides by Danish tourists who were courteous and quiet.

It's so far to the north that the sun goes down by 23.00 but it doesn't really get dark. Then by 04.00 it's as light as 23.00 again. One night I woke up to vicious winds around 4, and opened the tent to peek out and review both sides to make sure that all stakes were securely held down. Other campers were not so fortunate, so by 07.00 some people had to pack up as the winds were too much.

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.