Scrambling

After I finally got off my duff and registered for German, it was a tad disappointing for them to call on Friday, they were cancelling the business class due to lack of registrants. (Sigh)

Back to the drawing board. I was already emotionally committed, and short of time as most VHS courses in this region are starting this week. In addition my Thursday was now blocked with the pronunciation class.

Checking all the local VHS courses, was between a rock and a hard place, as the schedule wasn't fitting (leaving early this year for the US), or the distance, or the days, or the time to go take another placement test, etc.

In the end, I came back full circle and will take the general B1 test prep course being offered by the tiny town of B.

On the negative side:
-It's only the general B1 course, not the business specific one.
-It's 2 hrs, 15 minutes each time. Yes I'm sure there's a break tucked in there, but still.

The positive:
-It's only 8 meetings since each is so long.
-It ends in November, rather than during the December packing rush.
-It's only a 15-20 min walk from my flat to the classroom. :-)

Like a kid in a candy store

Everyone has something, be it shoe shopping, alcohol, cigarettes, cookies, chocolate, Harry Potter books, whatever, that represents the ultimate test of temptation.

My weakness is apparently language classes.

I don't have so much time during the work week and it's a little tough for me to find an interesting VHS (cheap courses subsidized by the government) German class in my immediate area due to demographics. Most of the learning German speakers around here are involved in government-mandated integration courses for new immigrants (highly structured, intensely organized courses to promote integration into German society) or have more daytime available and take 'foreign mother's courses' which occur during childrens' school hours.

Strike 1: As I have only evening hours available, and I don't want to drive more than 15 minutes from home/work for this little adventure. The drive to Polish class is 30 minute each way and I find it too much when the course is only 1.5 hours.
Strike 2: My arrival in Germany pre-dated the government mandated courses, so I'd need to prove a need and find one with free seats. As I won't be a lifer in Germany, I'm not so much their target audience. I can converse easily at the B1 level, which is their targeted end for people in the course, so that's a wash anyway.
Strike 3: I don't really have a need for advanced German, such as having a goal to study at a German university, the purpose of some of the higher courses in the area beyond the tiny town of B.

Since I was on such a roll after my recent German course, as I was glancing through the VHS book for the Tiny town of B, I gave it a second thought when I noticed they are offering a weekly class to prepare for the Goethe Institut's B1 general Zertificat Deutsch exam. (Tiny town of B's highest German course offering!)

Goethe offers this general exam as well as a business centric one, both at the B1 level. I don't really need the Goethe Business B1 certification since I'm already working here, as it's a certification some people get to show they can function at a basic level in an office environment. Also, Goethe has a good number of levels from barely above beginner to basically native, and they're a tad expensive (both in money and time) so I keep holding off until I reach the maximum level which I think I can pass before I leave Germany.

Anyway, I decided to check out the next town over's VHS, the one covering the region where the office sits. (Yes, my work commute is 7 minute and I'm already into another VHS' territory.) This one is a larger region, but still much smaller than neighboring K or D'dorf. I found a very interesting class, Phonetics. So for 45 minutes a week to focus on proper pronunciation and intonation. Since I didn't start learning German until the ancient age of 30, I feel this area could definitely be improved upon.

This VHS requires a German test (short coversation and written fill in the word endings) before registering for anything beyond absolute beginner. So I trundle over to their main office to chat with the 'German for foreigners course gatekeeper' (an easy-going lady, whom I hope learns a LOT of money for the amount of bad German spoken by foreigners, to whom she must listen closely to ensure proper placement). We chat about the Phonetics course (for which you do not actually need to take the test she explains, it's literally pronunciation/accent--even if you do not know the meaning of the words you are speaking, the course focuses on how you read/say things.)

She has a gleam in her eye--perhaps something more? Your pronunciation isn't so bad--it's a good course that you can improve, but with only 45 minutes a week, that's almost a holiday. I have my litany of excuses ready--not enough time to devote to their 'real' courses (twice per week at 3.5 hours a shot or 4x week at 3 hours), I don't think I'd survive that time investment let alone the homework/study time, no availability for anything but evenings, and on and on.

--So what's your end purpose with the German language? (she asks)
My basic purpose is to some day take either the B1 or C1 Goethe Business exam, whichever one matches my German level upon leaving the country someday. Since I 'lose' 40+ hours per week in the office, I'd prefer not to spend my few free hours studying for something that has no long term use for me. As I work in an office environment and have an interest in business reading, it's the logical lazy choice, this area.

--Maybe you could just take part of the test, you could skip the first beginner pages, just start here in the middle where I think you are, then see how far you can do it. Just 20 minutes. Then stop when you don't know the answers, it's ok.
Feeling like I'm making a pact with the devil I take it. I bumble through filling in the blanks, verb endings, adjective endings, conjunctions.

She goes through and marks it. Some days, I'm absolutely amazed at what I have learned here without really trying. Things that get programmed in through hearing them everyday, but not realizing why exactly it is why it is. It's such the opposite of my school-learned Spanish, where it was a logical progression of building the grammar.

--You know, you could take something in the Mittelstufe level.
Well, what do you have at location O? O is their small satellite site, only 7 minutes from my office.
--Hmm. So you have Pronunciation on Tuesdays....here! There is Business German at O. Twelve weeks at 2 hrs/15 minutes, with the end goal that you could take the B1 Business exam, if you so desire.

(Defeated) Sign me up. German twice per week, Pronunciation on one day, Business another day, from next week until the week I leave for the US for the December holidays (mid-December) Like a recovering alcoholic who doesn't go into a bar or take a sip of anything dangerous, I never should have gone into the VHS building or taken the test, as my self-control is non-existant when cheap language courses enter the picture. Thankfully I managed to leave without signing up for anything else. Danish, Japanese, Polish, all of them are severely tempting, perhaps most of all Friday night intense Russian...

From the weekly Muenster farmers' market last week

While I was in Muenster for the last three weeks, I enjoyed going to the Wednesday farmers' market. If you happen to be in the area, either on a Wed or Sat morning, I highly recommend a visit.

I generally don't enjoy shopping, but I do enjoy good food, and in particular being connected to the people who grow it. A balcony garden can only grow so much! ;-)

Some highlights:

1. The eggs in the back are from the egg man.

2. Front, the last of the local fresh peas. I had asked last week if there would again be peas next week, the selling girl shouts across to the older gentleman (the owner?) my question. Direct from the source came the answer, definitely Sat and maybe Wed.

3. Back, is a Thai Basil plant. In my corner of NRW it's easy to find (standard? Italian?) Basil, but Thai Basil in potted plan form is a little more difficult. It started dumping rain as I was buying this and the stand was sheltered from it, so I was chatting to the selling girl, and she asks where I'm from, what I'm doing in Muenster, etc. Turns out she spent a year of high school in Indiana and enjoyed it very much, even though it was more rural than she expected America to be.

4. A plethora of tomatoes. In this part of NRW tomatoes are at their peak right now of taste as well as good pricing, so I bought some extras so I could make some sauce.

5. Potatoes in the plastic bag in the center. I went to a potato stall, with oodles of different varieties of potatos. Which is the best potato to make mashed potatos? Ah, you want this one. A potato expert at the ready, I was very pleased. I suck at trying to buy potatos for mashing, (or rather for D to make mashed for me), so when there is a knowledgable potato seller available, I am very happy to take any and all potato buying recommendations.

6. Fresh corn, center back. Considering the number of corn fields in my immediate area, I'm always surprised that 1. It's not sold fresh in the supermarkets here, but rather stuffed 2 to a little plastic vaccuum sealed in some liquid pack and 2. It's not sold at roadside stands. So fresh corn is a rarity I'm always happy to find here. (It was between 75 cents to 1 EUR per ear, ouch!)

Other items in the photo: raspberries, yellow squash, garlic, little onions, cheddar cheese, giant German beans with a handful of 'bean herbs', and a bus ticket. Not photographed: a to go coffee and small bread.

Perhaps it was the wine...

but it was only a glass...

or that my brain was a bit fried from the German study, after 3 hours in the morning and another 4 in the afternoon, and it was the fourth day straight of that schedule, overall day 14 of such a routine...

or that it was a little dim...or the angle...

or that i had my glasses off as i had been reading, and i don't see so well without them for distance...

whatever it was, it took me a slow-moving moment in the campsite restaurant to realize that the raised arm was actually belonging to a second swimmer sorta behind the red-striped suit wearing, brown mustached, hair parted straight down the center swimmer...

How to make a full English vegetarian breakfast (in Germany)

Pre-requisite task: Find a nice-looking British person to execute all of the below steps for added authenticity. ;-)

1. Pop over to the closest British store to buy UK Heinz baked beans, or remember to pack a few cans in your suitcase the next time you're in the UK. Scoff greatly if someone suggests that you use German baked beans, or the Heinz baked beans sold in the Netherlands. Heat those up in a saucepan for a few minutes.

2. Buy some regular mushrooms, slice into halves, and heat those up in a saucepan with a little olive oil. (Humor the colonial and 'undercook' them, so that she doesn't whine later about them being overcooked.)

3. Fry up an egg. In particular, some free-range eggs from Muensterland will do quite nicely.

4. Top right, someone was feeling artistic with the balcony tomatoes. Normally it would be a larger one or two, sliced in half and fried, but these were raw as they are quite small, and so good anyway in their freshness.

5. Center, the Pièce de résistance, fry up some vegetarian sausages in a little olive oil. This variety comes from the Netherlands, from Goodbite, they are mildly spicy and very juicy for a soy product. Two thumbs up.



Need more info?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_breakfast

egg man

Last week at the market, I had a short conversation with the egg seller. When I went back the second week, I wasn't sure that he would remember me, as I'm sure he sees hundreds of people each time he's at the market, and I was only one short conversation.

I bought six eggs, and as he hands them to me he asks, 'And, what about this Phelps?' Classy. Not only does he remember me, but he remembers I'm American and makes that jump to an American conversation topic. If I lived in the area (rather than only being a visitor for these three weeks) I would be an egg customer for life after that pleasant chat.

Back with you tomorrow...

Almost ready

It was a pleasant surprise to return on Friday and see the peppers had gone red. I'm giving them another week until I return again on Friday.

Back on the road

To be back at the campsite, ready for German class tomorrow. A few posts will appear later this week.

In the meantime a garden photo, apparently Jul is not the only one growing interesting tomatoes:

globalization - one never knows who is listening

The language school has a 30 min Coffee break stuck in the middle of the morning of classes, and all classes take this pause at the same time. It offers a chance to mingle together with all the students, in particular because it seems they purposely mixed the classes so as to not have overlap of students with the same nationality together, so it's a welcome break to return to the familiar.

Of course it's cacophony in the break area, a huge mix of languages heard because people often resort back to their local tongue after an intense morning, or just that the beginners don't have enough German yet to fully express what they want to say. Further, you'll have someone tap your shoulder on the way out, if they've heard you speak, and turns out they lived/studied/whatever in your region of the world and want to chat for a minute. Or there are big groups of English conversations among English and non-native English speakers, often it's quicker and sometimes the only possibility for arranging social events for later. ;-)

I had gone up to the Danish girl I know there, we often chat during the breaks, she's here for her gap year living in Germany as she has a German boyfriend. Next to her were a few members of her class, they were having a discussion in English about what they wanted to do for lunch. It was two South Americans, a Serbian, and another American. One of the South Americans then switched to Spanish to talk to the other South American across the table. I was chatting with the Dane, she was asking me about the girl across the table, I confirmed she definitely sounded like an American to me (it was the first time I heard her speak), although when I saw her on the first day she struck me as part of the Asian contingent which is here, both in clothing style and actions.

At one point the one of the South Americans turned to me and asked in English, 'so where are you from.' Of course I had to shoot back the answer in Spanish. She instantly froze, I imagine racking her brain to make sure nothing incorrect had been uttered during the previous few minutes. (It hadn't.) The other South American was delighted. She is an absolute beginner in German and her English is poor so she's been having a hard time to have more than the most basic of conversations. She went to the movies (which are dubbed into German in Germany), just to have something stress-free to do, but only understood about five minutes of the show.

The other interesting point--the rest of the table also understood Spanish. The Serbian knew it (I have no idea how), and the Dane had spent a few months work/study in Spain (which is where she met her German boyfriend). And that American sounding girl? She's actually not an American but is a student at an international school in Shanghai, she's very excited to be going to a San Francisco University in the fall. As her English is absolutely fluent she's here taking German as a foreign language. Huh, go figure.

Informal poll: which option and why?

I was a child of the 80's when Choose Your Own Adventure books were all the rage. All things being held equal (meaning there are no constraints of seeking a job, work permit, love life, personal life, etc.), which option should one choose and why?

A) Stay in Germany another x years
B) Try out life in a different Western EU (but primarily non-English speaking) country
C) Try out life in a different Western EU (but primarily English speaking) country
D) Stay in the EU but go east to one of the newer EU nations (on a short-term basis, with your Western EU salary)

I'll leave this one up until I come back on Friday for the weekend, so comment as you'd like...

Luna the cat

This is the view of my diagnonal downstairs neighbor's patio. On the table is the infamous 'balkon jumping' Luna the cat (who forunately hasn't repeated the feat). Luna likes to rule the kingdom down there, when they are not home. Although officially, she belongs to their daughter, my next door neighbor.

When they are home it seems she's stifled by their 'newly retired, puttering around the house' presence so she's out and about in the immediate area. She gives them plenty to do however, which seems to be a welcome interruption, because their other less adventurous cat just sits in the chair and sleeps and rarely ventures too far out of the yard.

I realized while being away that even a cat follows the German structure and order of things. Each night in the hour before the 7 PM church bells, like clockwork, Luna brings home something she's caught. She deposits it on the ground immediately in front on their patio door. She then proceeds to start yowling, to announce that someone should come look.

Normally the Hausfrau comes and aways congratulates her on her find. 'Oh Luna, you have done very well, good, good kitty' and then pets her. HF then summons her husband to come dispose of the dead snake, rodent, or frog. If the catch is still alive, she carries Luna inside and sends her man out to pick up whatever it is and take it to one of the nearby woody areas which surround us.

As you may imagine, the man of the house isn't as impressed with the cat's activities. The other day the activity was repeated, but the HF wasn't home, so it was up to the man to go through the routine solo. He must not have made a sufficient fuss, because the cat started up again, until I hear an exacerbated 'Luna, I already told you I saw it.' I get the feeling he prefers sleeping cat a litte more these days.

5 down, 10 to go

Days that is. I'm currently 1/3 of the way through my Intensive German course so thus the posting hiatus. My work colleagues and friends have been asking the same things, so here are the answers in advance. ;-)

How's the campsite?
Absolutely super. These things are often hit or miss, but I've been pleasantly surpised. I'll try to bring along the camera and take some photos of it.

Is there a shower?
Yes. There is a female bathroom/shower area and a separate male one. It's located on the floor below the restaurant. It's heated and immaculately clean at all hours. Showers are .50 cents, for about 3-5 min of hot water. You press a button and the water comes out for about 20-30 seconds, then you can lather up then press the button again, and keep repeating until the water pressure suddenly drops and starts to go cold, signifying about 30 seconds of cold water left.

How's the weather?
It's been chilly, and this area 1hr 20 min from tiny town of B got hit by major storms last week Sunday (my first night there), with many basements in the area flooded. I woke up to a slightly damp tent floor. As the tent has stayed dry through torrential rains in the Faroes and Iceland, to wake up to dampness I thought I was done for if I had 3 weeks of this coming.

How's the course?
For a VHS class, I'm pleasantly surprised. There are 7 people in my class; overall there are 4 different classes of people grouped by ability, which they ascertained on the first day with a written and oral test. The school planned a ton of events into the 3 weeks, including Saturday bus excursions (at no cost) to Cologne and Duisburg (yes Dbunny-really D'burg!), as well as local events during the week such as a local town historical walking tour and visit to a local castle. Since I've been in Germany so long most of the excursions aren't so interesting to me, except for one--meeting the mayor in the town hall, including a tour of the town hall. They needed a headcount the other day, they mayor will be serving drinks and needed to know in advance the number of glasses to have available.
(My work colleague's reaction to the above: hrrmph! my taxes paying for that!)

Who else is taking the course?
There is a wide mixture of students. Overall, I am in the middle of the age range in my class. There are housewives who have just arrived whose husbands have a work assignment here, there are students from Asia and Brazil, there are university students from Eastern Europe, there are people like me who live/work here and want to improve their existing skills, there is an au pair who arrived 2 days before the course started, there is a woman from Uruguay who works in Spain and enjoys studying German on her own and comes each year for this course (she's in her third year of it), and on and on. It's an absolutely delightful mix of people. I think there are overall 3 US folks out of 30 or so people, but the others are in different classes from me so we've only chatted during the breaks.

So what does your day look like there?
Well, I catch the 0755 bus from the campsite which puts me in town at 0821. Then I have enough time to pick up a good to-go coffee and a brotchen (small bread roll) for later in the morning. On Thursday and Friday I brought goat's cheese and raspberries to spread on the bread, superb. Class goes from 0900-10.30, break from 10.30-11.00, and then class from 11.00-12.30.

At 12.30 I may wonder around town a bit or I head back to the campsite area to eat lunch. Then in the afternoon I do the 20 min homework and then spend an hour or two messing around with my personal German grammar book, based on any of the words/constructions I heard in class but did not already know. I find my German is heavily skewed toward the office environment, as that is where I spend 40+ hrs/week or in practical things from the tiny town of B, such as going to the post office. Therefore my vocab and grammar tends to have holes in some of the more practical areas such as going to a hospital or talking about family things, as I have done neither here.

After I bore of that, I wander around in the area surrounding the campsite. It's absolutely tranquil and splendid in its beauty. I've also planned to go to the outdoor pool because it's literally right next door to the campsite, but the weather has been too chilly to warrent a visit yet.

In the evening I have a small early bite to eat and then catch up on reading for pleasure. So far, as it's been chilly, I've spent a lot of time in the tent reading, because it's too cold to just sit outside if you're not moving. I've read Einstein's Dreams, and then The Young Wan by Brendan O'Carroll, in case you're wondering. Thursday I started to read The Life of Pi. All of the above are from www.bookswapper.de, ones that I received over the past few months but hadn't any time to yet read. If the weather this week is like last, I'll need to take up another one to follow The Life of Pi.

As it gets too dark to read (just before 10), I usually go to bed, although I have candles with in case I want to continue reading.

What do you eat there?
That's been one of the best parts. Usually I find that I eat better while camping--probably because it involves more planning in advance. Since the weather (except one day) has been unseasonably cool (think late Sept in Philly--53 F lows), I've brought along more fresh things than I would have been able to otherwise.

I checked the weather predictions in advance and then brought along enough items that I would have some choice as nothing would go bad due to the cooler temps. In addition, I came by car, so that gave me some leeway to bring heavier things than if I was carrying everything and coming by train/bus. So my meals looked something like this during the past week:

Monday
AM - coffee (purchased)
late AM - boiled egg (boiled 3 of them at home and brought along)
lunch - German strawberries, raw califlower, fresh tomatoes from the balconey garden, an orange, a fresh bread roll
PM - fresh peas (the last from the balcony garden) which I shelled and ate raw. I love fresh peas.
dinner - cereal. Alnatura makes a cruncy granola/musli-like cereal, which is perfect if you're doing a lot of walking. I find it at DM-->Hafer Crunchy.

Tues
(like Monday)

Wed-Fri
lots of goodies from the local farmers' market

Highlight of the week?
The local farmers market on Wed mornings. I actualy woke up an hour early so that I could go before class as I heard early morning is the best time to go. (Knowing my opinion of early mornings, you can imagine this must have been something special to merit the early wake-up.) They open at 7 AM, I arrived by 8AM. The selection was enormous, rows and rows of sellers with everything (granted now is the peak harvest time), from the local area.

I bought: raspberries, eggs, corn, round and regular zucchinni, yellow squash, goat's cheese, green and black zebra tomatoes, peas, a coffee, and a pumpkin seed bread roll, all of which made up my meals for the rest of the week. I'm really looking forward to going again this week.

Any interesting differences H? Or is an hour from home really the same?
1. One glaring difference here...people consistently give you your change in your hand. One of the big differences from me when I first moved from the US to the Cologne area is that people consisently smack your change down on the counter or the tray on their little counter. Up here people consistently want to put it into your hand. I'm oddly reversed as it's the 'US way'. ;-)

2. I'm finding people to be downright pleasant in personality even though it's a large city; I'm finding the feeling closer to the tiny town of B rather than Cologne, even though population-wise it's definitely closer to the latter. I'm wondering if that's because their economy is heavily dependent upon outsiders, they are not a self-contained universe like Cologne. For example, the egg seller asked me where I was from, and I explained I'm here in a course blah blah. He thought this was quite good and he thinks the US is ok but it's good to be here also, blah blah. For such a large city I was not expecting such a small-town warmth.

Anything else to say H?
Yeah, I'll put up some advance posts which will appear in my absence for those few who check in regularly to read my drivel as I'm chock full of things to say apparently. ;-)

How to make sun-dried tomatoes

1. Grow a variety of tomatoes on your balcony. Be amazed and impressed (and afraid) when they all turn red at the same time.

2. Choose a few very red ones. Cut cherry or roma tomatoes in half, cut larger ones into quarters.

3. Take advantage of the limited sunny days in NRW, Germany and put them into your personal solar dehydrator (the car) first thing in the morning when you arrive at work. Place them on the dashboard on foil or a tray, sprinkle with dried herbs (optional). Park so that the tomatoes will get full afternoon sun. Make sure all windows are up.

4. Take a peek at the end of the day. These are the yellow and red cherry tomatoes. Looks like they'll need to be flipped over, and to enjoy a second full day of sun, to reach the desired dryness. They should be like a fresh raisen upon completion, with a little flexability, but dry.

5. Watch carefully and remember to bring the tomatoes in at night so that you don't attact unwelcome creatures into your car. Then bring them out the next morning to repeat the above. I'm not sure whose cat this is, as I'm not usually seeing it under my car. Could be a coincidence, or it was the drying tomato smell? We'll see if he comes back again the next time I do this...

Once tomato drying is complete, store them in ziploc bags in the freezer (if you have space in your tiny Germany freezer), or in glass jars in the cupboard. Then use tomatoes as a boost of flavor to pasta and sauces in the winter months.

How my Saturday was made

This morning, while I was picking tomatoes (will explain that project tomorrow), the postman arrived. Normally I miss seeing him because I'm in the office during the week when he delivers mail, and on Saturdays service is either early in the morning before I wake up, or late in the afternoon when I'm out shopping (thereby avoiding the Sat morning crowds).

Mail in the tiny town of B is mainly delivered by a small fleet of postal workers using these:

(Expect for the Post Frau who has the 1 postal vehicle in the tiny town of B, as she goes to the companies who have big mail deliveries.)

The postman noticed me puttering around and we were chatting about tomatoes. And he mentions 'Always it looks nice up there.' Oh, you flatter me so, and it's not even 10 AM, pre-coffee, my ego is not yet awake. ;-)

In particular, I feel my balcony looks 'functional' and 'utilitarian'; 'like a healthy garden allotment' was the backhanded compliment I once received. The one next to me with it's perfectly placed and tended flowers looks 'nice' in my book, like it could easily grace the cover of Better homes and balconys. So I especially appreciated his comment as it was completely unexpected and most certainly undeserved.

In case you're wondering, here's what it looks like these days from that angle. Be sure to notice the mightly gherkin hanging down over the ledge between the middle two silver posts. ;-)

And how will Heather be celebrating 5 years in DE?

If the weather cooperates (rain showers predicted for Sat afternoon, but we all know that forecast can change 10 more times before then), D and I will be grilling next to the Rhine in Deutz.

If the weather doesn't cooperate/after the grilling? We'll be going to my favorite local bar in Koeln Deutz, a ten minute walk away. They are having a DJ that night, something special--schlager music. No cover charge, the people are always quite friendly, and the Koelsch is 1.20 EUR. It's a real hole in the wall with an older crowd, absolute genuine and divine.

Want to join us at either or both of the above? Send me an email: phillygirl06 AT notcoldmail.com or leave me a comment here and I'll send you the exact coordinates. Both places are a 12 min walk from Koeln Deutz train station. And I'll even bring along an extra tofu dog for you.

happy 5 year anniversary,

of living in germany, to me.

Dinner from the balcony - tomatoes

I enjoyed the chilly, rainy weather by sleeping in late and then eating a large lunch. So by dinner time I was more in the need for a little snack than a meal and had not so much energy to cook. Good thing my downstairs neighbor pointed out to me that my tomatoes are 'ganz rot' today. ;-) I responded that I would definitely be eating them tonight, which was an acceptable response. (I love my flat and my neighbors. I could never have a stalker, because there are eagle eyes around the building, and they miss not a single thing.)

Here are the before photos. The green clump in the bottom right corner of the pot is basil. The yellow in the right of the photo are the yellow tomatos.

And here is the after photo. The basil went into olive oil with a sprinkle of garlic herb Mrs. Dash (which I brought from America for such culinary laziness) and fresh black pepper. The red at 12 o'clock is Nasturtium.

Tuesday's balcony lunch and Nasturtium

Right now it's tomato season on the balcony in the tiny town of B. We have our usual culprits:
-lettuce
-the never-failing cucumber
-cherry tomatos in excess (there's one yellow, and a tiny undersized red one hidden there)
-nasturtium (the red flower petals mixed in)
-olive oil (not from the balcony)

So what's with the Nasturtium, h? My Polish teacher knows I'm into gardening and gave me a few seeds two months back. For kicks I threw each in an empty spot. And boy did the suckers sprout up:

I researched online, the whole thing is edible. (OK, not that buggy leaf in the bottom right). The leaves and/or the flowers may be used raw in salads, or in a myriad of recipes. I was reading online that it's close to watercress in taste when raw, and when dried the leaves can be used as a substitute for black pepper.

Wowie does it have a sharp taste. I researched further, the younger leaves are less sharp, so I gave them a spin, no dice. I've resigned myself to only eating the red blossoms, as it's the only thing I can reasonably tolerate; as well as they look so lively in the salad with the bright red color. But in the meantime, because I'm not chopping off leaves, it's gaining steam. This was three days ago, and and since then I have 3 more blossoms.

One day I may wake up to a giant red flowered plant knocking on my closed balconey door (demanding I don't know what?) if I don't find an alternate use soon...

Weekend plans - Speyer

Scroll down a bit on this page, we're going to a 'Pretzel Party'. I think I would have translated it as 'Pretzel Festival', but ok.

Or you can go to this page in German to see photos or read all about it.

I think they're missing a market here, by not going after the non-German speakers. Granted, we're going to Speyer primarily to see Philly's greatest rock band, but I would have been tempted to go only for the Pretzel Party alone.

But then again, I'm from Philly, land of the soft preztel. I may just spend the entire weekend eating pretzels down there in Speyer. ;-)

Summer in Europe - August

As summer is currently grinding most offices to a halt here, I'm making the jump this year from a 2 week summer holiday to a 3 week summer holiday in August. I was busy with a large work project earlier in the year, so I have not taken any holiday yet this year.

Last summer was camping in the Faroes, the summer before was Iceland. This year, I'm going a bit domestic--I'm taking an intensive summer German course at a VHS in Germany, with a goal to perhaps take one of the Goethe tests in the fall. To make it a 'real' holiday, though, I chose a VHS over an hour away, and I'll be camping near it. However, I'll still be able to pop home once or twice a week to water the garden and pick the tomatoes, and do laundry.

So class 3.5 hours each morning, then the afternoon to relax at the outdoor lake, or to be a tourist in the larger cities nearby.

And after 3 weeks away from the office? I'll be taking one more week off, but not losing vacation time. The state of NRW graciously grants five days of Bildungsurlaub per year. I'll be taking a 5 full day course (in German, at B1 level) at my local VHS, 'German for the workplace'. It includes topics such as writing business letters, health and safety, and the rights of workers. I expect it to be quite interesting in subject matter, as company J is an American company, I suspect much of work life here is filtered through an American view, so I'm interested to hear how it is presented from a German perspective.

So if you're keeping track at home--I will be working one day during the entire month of August (Friday the first). And I'll still have 3 weeks of vacation to use yet this year. :-)

Language week Friday - German 2

das Letzte von der Sprachwoche/el último de la semana de la lengua/the last of language week from me :-)

Ok, ist ein bisschen teuer, aber, sehr toll--ein 'Blumenkasten' Grill. Vielleicht naechstes Jahr oder? Aber schwer zu aendern, von Blumen zu Grillen und zurueck?

Ok, it's a little expensive, but very cool--A flower box grill. Perhaps next year. But would it be difficult to change, from flowers to grill and back again?

(The text in the above link is German, but the photos are worth a look to see this nifty item. I'm sure the top right photo is tofu dogs. ;-))

Language week Thursday - Spanish 2

Ayer no tuve mucho tiempo para blog, entonces, yo pruebo español una vez más.

Yesterday I didn´t have much time to blog, so I try Spanish again.

Pero no tengo mucho tiempo esta noche tampoco. Fue a la piscina con mi colega de trabajo (de la oficina de Francia) después la oficina, y entonces fuimos a cenar. Siempre es interesante, con esta persona de Francia, pq hablamos de las noticias y culturas. Por ejemplo, ahora en las noticias en Francia, ella ha oido algo que Hilary dijo a Obama, que las periodistas de Francia piensan es importante...pero ella quiere saber...es algo importante en America o una cuenta de las periodistas franceses?

But I don´t have much time today either. I went to the pool with my work colleague (from the French office) after work, and then we went to dinner. Always it is interesting, with this person from France, because we talk about the news and cultures. For example, now in the French news, she had heard that Hilary said something to Obama, that the French journalists think is important...but she wanted to know...is it something important in America or a story from the French journalists?

Y le pregunté, ¿es las noticias sobre Angelina en Nice importante a la gente en Francia? Sí, es muy interesante a la Fraceses que una persona famosa como Angelina con mucho dinero, ella puede escoger cualquier lugar en el mundo para el nacimiento, y ella escoja Francia.

And I asked, is the news about Angelina in Nice important to the people in France? Yes, it´s interesting to the French, that a famous person with a lot of money, she can choose anywhere in the world to give birth, and she chooses France.

Tal vez necesito vivir en Francia después Alemania. O sea, apprender la lengua Francés sería un principio interestante...entonces no necisito para repetir en language week. :-)

Perhaps I need to live in France after Germany. Or maybe to learn French would be an interesting start...then I don´t need to "repeat" in language week. :-)

Language week Wednesday - Spanish

Estoy cansada y mi duele la cabeza.

Language week Tuesday - German

Letztes Wochenende haben wir Buchenwald besucht. 'Jedem das Seine' und nicht 'Arbeit macht frei' ist hier.
Last weekend we visited Buchenwald. 'To each his own' and not 'work makes one free' is here.



So so gross.
So so big.

Hier ist das Denkmal für die jüdischen Steinbrucharbeitskräfte.
Here is the memorial for Jewish quarry workers.

Von 1954-1958 wurde das Manmahl gebaut
From 1954-1958 the memorial was built.

Dieses Denkmal ist sehr Ostdeutsch
This memorial is very East German.

Language week Monday - Polish

(English below photo)

Co to jest?
To jest 'kalafior z bułką tartą'.
Jest tylko kalafior, bułka tarta, i masło.

To jest polskie przepis?
Oczywiście. ;-)

What is that?
It's 'cauliflower with bread crumbs'.
It's only cauliflower, bread crumbs, and butter.

Is it a Polish recipe?
Of course. ;-)

My photo skills don't do this one justice, but if you get a young, fresh cauliflower, this is superb. Better photo and recipe here.

the return of language week

Mausi mentioned, Langauge week has come around again:

time to get crackin.

Lunch from the balcony - Tuesday

OK, excluding the goat's cheese, from the balcony. Assembly required. We have today:

-baby lettuce (growing too closely together, so a plethora of little leaves)
-a tiny strawberry hidden under the lettuce
-a turkish or hungarian pepper at the top (more pepper flavor than hot)
-tomatos
-basil
-sage (a little spicyness to balance out the mild favors)
-and taking center stage - cucumbers (will they ever stop??)

Lunch from the balcony

Fresh from the balcony this morning, everything in this salad was grown on my balcony. We have:

-lettuce (2 different types)
-tomatos (the yellow guy on the right is from my dwarf yellow Dutch cherry tomato plant, the red ones are from a balcony tomato plant, not exactly cherry tomatos, they get slightly larger and are more like 'regular' tomatos in taste and texture)
-half of a cucumber (from the never-ending supply)
-peas (2 pods, 1 bottom left)

now if only i could figure out how to cultivate olive oil and goat's cheese on the balcony.

word cloud

How amusing, which words I use.

In case you want to wear your blog words on a t-shirt, check it out. Wouldn't this make for a fun 'guess the writer' game at the next whiny expat meetup. ;-)

The garden upon return

While I was in the US for 14 days (while Germany observed high temps from 13-30 C), a special someone was 'drafted' to come and water the garden every few days.

I was pleasantly surprised at his results. He never saw fresh lettuce growing in dirt before and has a self-proclaimed lack of talent with green things, but I think it's just a front... ;-)

I'll be using the peas with tofu tonight in a stir-fry:

The berries will be going to the office tomorrow. These are my German plants, which are slightly later and sweeter than my Dutch strawberry plants.

This is my dwarf yellow tomato from Holland. He's in a planter box, currently overshadowing the lavender. The tomatos are there, but still green. I've thinned out a few of the branches today (at 6 AM because I was jet-lagged awake with nothing to do), and because the tomatos are heavily shaded by the greenery so they could use a little more sun.

While in the US, I was not impressed with the Salmonella outbreak and the lack of tomatos everywhere. Even more reason to plant your own food these days, I guess.

And finally, the flowering vine corner. Here are the cucumbers and squashes. Cucumbers have been my bumper crop so far this year. I've eaten 10 of them and had eaten all the baby ones before I left leaving only flowers and minute ones on the vine. I came home to 5 more, 3 of which were hanging off the balcony due to weight on the vine, intruding upon my very nice neigbor below (who pointed them out as healthy looking and impressive), as well as viewable by the general population.

I'm pretty sure I'm now known in the building this month as 'that crazy American, with the cucumbers'. I've brought them back up, and situated them so that they're resting on the 4 inch ledge and wrapped the vines back through the railings. They are mini-gurkens (so the recommended grow size is 10 cm), which I whole-heartedly recommend if you have a container garden. If the keep up at this pace, I'm tempted to look into making pickles or putting them in the hallway with a 'free' sign.

packed and ready to go...

back from the US June 14th.

as i'm packing, how is the weather where i'm going? (current high temps in C this week)
Philly - 27
Orlando - 33
Tampa - 33
small midwestern city - 21 (boooo!)

back with you in a few weeks...

nothing like a trip back to the US

to get one moving on the 'to do' list, including something that's been on my to do list since 2003.

One of Philly's greatest bands has been coming to Germany the past few summers, and the fates were always out of alignment and I could never go to see them.

Tickets now purchased.

Pleasantly surprised: London calling

I had the pleasure to take a shot day trip to the UK on the Thursday holiday, Cologne to London. This time with passport controls was similar to last time. Since it was an intra EU flight about 98% went into the EU line leaving the rest of us in the non-EU line. There were already 3 people ahead of me, with 2 passport officers.

Another line opened which took the third (in the meantime at least 200 people had gone through the 'EU quickie' line and and it was empty, so one of the officers came to this side. I was next in line, meaning 2 persons were still with the passport officers since the 5 min I'd been there, and the 3rd got the new one.

A space finally opened, two desks side by side with the other occupied by an American visitor. Out of all of Europe, I still hold that the UK is the most difficult for an American to visit. The lady is flipping through my passport (remember that I have a UK work permit in there from before as well as various UK stamps since 2003), so I am inadvertently listening to the conversation 3 feet away from me because the hall is now silent except for this guy.

The fellow looked like a typical middle-aged American tourist, and he had left his American wife in the UK for three days while he went to Germany and she visited a friend. The officer was leading him through a detailed itinerary of what he had visited in Germany, where he stayed, how he travelled, then for the continuation on in the UK, more questions, what was the name of the hotel he was staying at that night, what was the address, etc. Ugh.

As she's reaching the end of my passport (I have the extra pages) she asks, "and how long will you be in the UK....no wait, you're a permanent resident?"
-Um, no, I work in Germany, and only today, I leave tonight.
"So you're here for business meetings then?"
-Yes.

I see her scribbling something on my card, KA-THUMP! goes the stamp and that was that.

I am absolutely amazed what 5 years of Germany permits seems to buy me in the eyes of the UK passport officer. Having been through some of those serious UK question marathons--recalling even when I had my 6 month work permit there--
'and what was your purpose to visit Belfast?'
um, it was a cheap weekend flight and sounded interesting
'and why did it sound interesting?'
(thinking...let's not dig this hole any deeper and involve politics) because Dublin is so expensive it's my only chance to say I went to visit Ireland.

I didn't think it would be possible to ever visit the UK as an American without the 20 questions, so I can thank the Germany work stickers for that. Although, I'm starting to get increased questions on the US side in the past 2 years I've noticed, including being sent to Agriculture for a bag scan in Philly last time, so the universe seems to balance out. :-/

How life in Germany treats me well

A few years back, those of you who know me way back when, remember when I moved to sunny California. It represented a sea change in life for various points. At one time, I wasn't feeling so well, and my new, California, new-age, 'just-out-of-med-school doc' with plenty of time on her hands and my phenomenally good health insurance had run some blood tests and gently suggested that I cut out red meat for a month, just to appease her as my genetically awful cholesterol clocked in above 240.

Keep in mind that at the time I was an average to below-average sized female with decent physical activity, under 30 years old, non-smoking, with very limited alcohol consumption, so 240 was simply obnoxious. Not sure of what I'm talking about? Study up.

I felt phenomenally better four weeks later and the cholesterol had dropped to 222, so at that point in 2001 I decided to go cold-turkey and become a vegetarian. Six months later when I went back to her as a vegan (no meat or dairy products) for three months already, I was certain it was going to be much lower as I felt so much better and was at the peak physical point in my life. Uh-uh, not even close, barely lower and still over 200 (when the goal was 180) and vegans clock in around 140.

Crestfallen, I gradually came to the conclusion that there was nothing that I could do, genetics was in action here. I bumbled along, remaining a vegetarian or vegan, because it made me feel physically better, but disheartened. When I first came to Europe, I was in the UK for five months and the transistion was smooth. UK life is similar to US life as a vegetarian. Many of the same brands/products are available, or close equivalents are nearby. For fun, when I went home to the US, I went to the doctor where they ran their usual barrage of tests. The only one that came back flagged was the cholesterol, in the low 200's, but I wasn't surprised.

Fast forward a bit. I moved to Germany and officially transferred to be a German paid employee. I decided to put the whole cholesterol thing on ice, as the last thing I wanted what a lecture from a Germany doctor. So we carried along merrily for a few more years.

Fast forward a bit more, 4 years. Company J was doing a 'health day' including free cholesterol check, body fat check, infos provided, that sort of thing. With extensive trepidation I showed up, ready for the worst, having held off for four years, but drawn by the idea of the cost-free checks and no associated bad notes on file.

The woman was very impressed with my ability to produce blood upon her pinprick. (Yeah, I'm good like that.) She smears my finger on a little strip that is in a little box, then we sit there as it counts down from 200. It finally gets to the end of its analysis and it blinks 171.

My initial thought--like everything else, this must be in a different scale...Miles/Kilometers, cups/millileters, gallons/liters, ft and inches/cm, pounds/kilograms--everything is different. No, this is one of the few things that is the same...it's 171 on my scale. You.have.got.to.be f'ing.kidding.me.

More funnier. I am smashed in line among lots of too highly numbered people. My first though was--her machine is broken. I checked with a colleague later, he confirms that it came in as he knows his to be, so it's not broken. So assuming she didn't take a bad read on me personally, to what can we attribute such good news? I'd go with the following:

1. The lack of processed and convenience food.
I get none of my favorite brands of frozen, snack, and prepared foods here. In general, the only 'processed food' in my diet would be frozen pizza and an occasional can of pringles. I find a lot of the prepared sauces (which I so loved as a quick fix meal in the US or the UK), to be much more salty or sweet, as well as limited in options. And overall, there just isn't the same culture of prepared, frozen food here.

I make about 95% of my meals here, (mainly out of necessity). There's just not the same processed convenience options here, and one can only eat so much frozen pizza.

2. The lack of fast food
No, I'm not expecting fast food in the tiny town of B (the population of B and the surrounding countryside is 17k). However, my closest fast food is Burger King/McDonalds in Leverkusen--25 min drive from home, or McDonalds in the other direction for 25 min. When I put 25x2 travel to and from), plus waiting time, I may as well just make my food, for that time effort.

3. The walkable culture
I walk a lot in general in the US. However, here it's more incorporated in my lifestyle every single day. Usually on the weekend, I don't use the car, unless I'm going to see D or to the supermarket to pick up a crate of water. In general, it's easier to walk than drive into the tiny town of B as parking is limited and everything is centrally located.

Why I didn't expect such a result:
A. I go for 30-45 min walks at lunchtime, and walking for errands and shopping, but I get no formal sport beyond that and an occasional trip to the pool.

B. My alcohol consumption is much higher here than in the US.

C. I eat a lot more cheese here than I ever ate in America. Cheese/any dairy product in the US makes my not feel well, so I avoid it. Cheese here doesn't have the same result (not sure why) and sometimes it's the only veg option on a menu.

Sunday happenings in the tiny town of B

Recommended musical selection while reading this to set the mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eDkAG3R0h8

Normally Sunday in the tiny town of B is quiet, except for the church bells. However, the past Sunday had big happenings, it was 'Shopping Sunday/Spring Festival/Family Fesival' all in one. Many (but not all) of the stores were open, there was a stage with entertainment, and lots of street stalls selling various wares, some for local charities, others commercial, and plenty of food, beer, etc.

My favorite part of the weekend?
Here are the people waiting at the 'Bahnhof' (train station):



The 'train' has arrived:

OK, ok so it's a tractor on the the front. There's plenty of them around here as we're in farm country. Curiously it wasn't raining, although it was rather chilly.

It goes for a circle around B, and then winds back up through the shopping street. The photos don't really give it justice, but it's actually packed to the gills with adults and children, with flags from around the world adorning each car, including a US one.

V is for Victory

In keeping up with news online from the US, catching up on news stories which are promoting 'new' Victory gardens in light of rising food costs and the environmental trend of eating locally.

If I had to quantify my reasons for my balcony garden they would probably be:
1. I'm lazy. I like to wake up and step outside for fresh tomatos.

2. Freshly picked tastes better.

3. I'm a vegetarian. I eat a lot of vegetables. My corner of Germany is very seasonally oriented, and it's difficult to find out of season or non-locally grown produce. This way, I can prolong my ability to have strawberries.

4. Building on #3, if one does find, say strawberries from Spain perhaps, they are hella expensive. (Which I guess makes sense when you figure in transport costs from Spain to Germany.) So I'm cheap.

5. It's an expectation in this building that something belongs on the balcony. Flowers are a money pit and hardly pull their own weight, expect for a few petals in a salad. If I'm going to provide water, dirt, a pot, and loving attention, I expect you to pay your own way here. The only flower that gets real estate here, are sun flowers.

6. Eating organic. Perhaps I've been here too long, but I'm always slightly nervous when I see green beans from Egypt or Morocco and am curious as to what kind of chemicals they may use. Since they're outside of the EU I have an inherent distrust.

7. Food miles/kilometers, an interesting concept, although I see it more as a taste issue. An apple picked not far away which spent limited time boucing along in the back of a truck tastes better than one all the way from Japan or New Zealand.

Current roll call:
Lettuce (from seed):

Tomato corner. So far I've had approx 14 cherry tomatos, with lots of flowers and tiny green ones in progress due to the great weather. I'm keeping a rough tally of tomatos eaten as I'm generally curious as to how many I can grow.

The overall view. The left corner is the tomatos above, and is what my neighbors like to ask me about as it overlooks the front walkway into the building and one can see the bright red tomatos easily from below.


More about victory gardens:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html
http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/

It's that time again...

American week at Lidl starts on Wednesday.

Although--since when do Americans eat hot dogs from a jar and sweet popcorn?

heather, where've you been?

"Making hay while the sun shines" - as my country family would say.
"Hustlin" - my city family would say.

Here's what I've been up to for fun:


I am very blessed to have a balcony with no overhead shade, so I get a full day of sun, from sunrise until about 18.30 these days, when the sun gets low enough to be blocked behind the building.

This photo was right before I repotted three of these fellows into larger pots.

If you're wondering about the fellow in the back. He's Dutch, from here. I bought two last year at my local Praktiker and had good success with them. This year, Praktiker didn't have them, so I had to go to two other local garden places before I found him.

They retail for around 5.99, so a little pricy, but it was the most (only?) productive item in my balkon garden last year, even with all the rain, so completely worth the cost.

A few secrets if you happen to buy one for yourself:
1. Replant it in the biggest pot you can find. It will be happier and thus give you more tomatos.
2. Trim often, as in every week. They say it will produce 40 cherry tomatos, I would say mine did double that last year. As long as you keep clipping, it will keep producing flowers, and then fruit. Due to its 'Dutch engineering', if it stops with either flowers or fruit, it dies off.
3. Water each evening, if it does not rain during the day.

grounded

My passport is 'in the shop' for my new Germany work permit (the fifth yearly sticker for those of you keeping track at home.) Normally this process takes a few days, and company J graciously takes care of the administrative aspects of it.

Prior to handing in my passport on Apr 1, I mentioned that I must travel to France on Apr 14, and I'm not taking the chance of leaving Germany without it. Yes, the chances are minimal that I would be checked. But have I been checked traveling between company J's Germany and France offices? Yes--so I refuse to chance it for work travel. Do I want to be stopped coming into Germany without appropriate ID? No way. I imagine vegetarian food in the Germany slammer isn't so great.

In the meantime, it appears 2 weeks is not possible. So the admin people who take care of this will retrieve my passport based on the company J letter I created which states why I need it back with a temporary extension so that I can go to a meeting in France next week.

And why Heather couldn't they get it back within two weeks as originally estimated?

My little corner of NRW is under a massive backup of paperwork processing. It was estimated to be completed 4-5 weeks (that's in addition to the 2 weeks it was already is sitting there.)

So I get a little extension paper to tuck in (no problems, I've previously traveled on one in the past), and then it goes back into the shop--for a month at least. Meaning--no shopping trips in Holland or Belgium, no last minute Lufthansa weekend flights, and no long holiday weekends outside Germany in May.

So much for German efficiency.

Sperrmüll it is!

Mausi is one smart cookie to figure that out the answer to this little quiz. Or maybe she just had a leg up on the topic since Mr. M is a flea market fan. A small prize is due to the lady, perhaps at the next Whiney Expat meetup.

(The answer would be 'trash-picking' for English readers. ;-))

I've tried to point out to D, it's not so bad, even the Wall Street Journal talks about this trend in Germany.

I happen to enjoy the selection in Wuppertal. I came out of Polish class just after 9 PM and it was 8 degrees and dark out. However, the streets were crawling like it was a warm summer day. People were hauling things out of the cellars and apartments, and people were going up and down the streets seeking the best prize from the curb offerings. Some had flashlights, some pull along carts, and some drove up in cars for precious big items.

I had some things to do and I don't plan to stay in Germany forever, so I really didn't need to acquire anything, except noticing the plant holders while walking past, I thought they'd be useful for my herbs, so I joined the mix sifting through the garganuan curbside mountains. If you're in the need of furniture, dishes, appliances, clothing, toys, absolutely anything in the world, find a good neighborhood in Germany and keep an eye open for the bulk trash day when everyone puts out anything and everything.

And more about the planters? I spent the week learning about the intricacies of West German pottery to figure out what I picked up. Seems my herbs will be in finer digs than I'd ever buy for them.

Mystery photo

I still owe a posting to answer the quiz I posted way back, as well as some answers to where I've been.
In the meantime, the plant pot fairy didn't bring these, so today's quiz:

Where/how did these lovely items sitting on Heather's floor come from?
(Hint: It involved Heather in some way, they didn't just magically appear. But what could be the source of such loveliness?)



For info on future use: they will be put to work shortly housing two plants in the office and the rest at home. The terra cotta ones in the back will hold tomato plants once spring really comes.

The two matching flower ones on the left are stamped 'West Germany' on the bottom and the one front and center is from Italy.

Put your answer in the comments if you think you know of the source/activity...

If you were in my English class...

Your homework for next Tuesday would be to take the 60 school/classroom related vocab words that I gave to you and we reviewed, and to write each one that you own on your choice of supplied, colorful post-its and stick it on the item.

I am partially afraid that I will get a post-it with the word 'teacher' smacked on my forehead next week as 'teacher' was one of the words, and I explained that the object is to use as many words as possible.


*I'm not an English teacher, nor do I play one on TV. Every Tuesday evening as a favor for a colleague I spend some time with his 10 year old to give her a bit of a basis for when she starts English class for real in school in a few months.

A quick trip to Luxembourg

I had a whirlwind trip to picturesque Luxembourg. It's a small place, so a short trip is ok. I found the people to be lovely and very helpful, although the weather was grey.

On the drive back to Germany I was listening to Luxembourgish radio. Read about the Luxembourgish language if you'd like. Or listen to this Luxembougish lesson to hear it.

I listen a lot to Dutch radio since I pick up Dutch station 3fm here in Germany, along with other Dutch stations, and I can follow along so-so. So I was curious to see how much Luxembourgish I could understand. I was following along with the weather, the traffic, and then they started an interview...

The interviewer was talking about the upcoming Easter weekend, and asking, "why do you always see rabbits bringing the Easter eggs, instead of the hens, who logically should be bringing the eggs?"

I thought hmm...that's very true, especially in Germany, I always see the rabbits transporting Easter eggs--they're like the DHL or Deutsche Post of Easter, hauling those decorated eggs everywhere with carts, trucks, wheelbarrows etc. You never seen a hen doing that.

At which point the interviewee started on an extensive answer...with lots of words in Luxembourgish that I could not understand in the slightest.

(Sigh.)

travels - Oh Canada!

March - This week a short trip down to Luxembourg, then to Austria for the long Easter weekend (Fri-Mon).

April - A work trip to Strasbourg.

late May - A work trip with a nested in trip home to Philly which looks a little like this:

Duesseldorf - Toronto - Philly
I was given a choice on the work flight of getting to Philly via Paris (too hectic), Frankfurt (schlepping myself on the ICE train down there, and then on a US carrier), London (way to hectic), or Toronto on Lufthansa.

Philly - Orlando
4 days for a conference there, then a weekend in Tampa with friends.

Tampa - midwest city of company J
a week at HQ

midwest city - Chicago - Duesseldorf
(return in early June)

Interesting exhibit in Germany

If you happen to be near one of these cities, D caught this exhibit when it was in our neck of the woods and recommends it. He mentioned that all explanatory text was pretty much in German, although there were some photos, so it could perhaps still be interesting even if your German is minimal.
http://www.zug-der-erinnerung.de/fahrplan.html

still here....

but working on some things on the side.
back again soon...

Why I love where I live in the tiny town of B

I've heard so many stories from so many people in Germany about their awful neighbors or the over the top rules. However, I must live in the Bermuda triangle of Germany apartment life. My neighbors are so very nice. Granted, life in Tiny town of B is in general nice, but it's like Disney World Germany here in my building.

I spent all day Saturday saying hello and good day as I run down to the laundry room or to take out the trash, as everyone else is also out and about. Perhaps because I am the one foreigner in the building I get a little extra leeway. In particular, when one of my expat friends was with me on the balcony and the downstairs neighbors are always chatty, I had internally cringed when expat friend used the informal 'you' in the conversation, as that is usually what he is using and it slipped out. (The more formal 'you' would have been preferred as they are older and we don't really know them, and it's also what I have heard other neighbors use this this couple.) However, they never blinked twice, and never corrected his usage or seemed in any way offended.

I've been pleasantly pleased in the past, at least four different neighbors in my apartment building have accepted packages on my behalf. It probably helps that three of them are retired so home all day when packages are delivered, but still.

Then tonight, I was out late, I had to zip down to Cologne for something. 10 minutes after I'm home the doorbell rings. My neighbor had accepted a flower delivery for me. She overlooks the parking lot, so she was peering out periodically until she finally spotted my car. She said had been worried that she would perhaps miss me tonight. How very kind.

Saturday lunch - Lemon and Ginger Tofu with Beautiful Sauce

I had stopped by my local Aldi Sued on Friday on the way into the office, I decided in the morning that I was in a salad mood. While there, I bought some of their bio Tofu. Big props to Aldi Sued--they are the only 'mainstream' store in my area to carry fresh tofu. Their tofu is firm and holds up well in cooking. It is highly recommended, in particular when compared to its closest competitors: the 'non-refrigerated Kaufpark tofu in a glass jar and some kind of oil designed to last years', or the 'slightly pricy Bioladen which has limited hours' tofu.

On Saturday I was in the mood for something coconut. On a whim I tried this recipe and wow was it spectacular, even if my photo was not so hot. I'd say it rivals my old standby, General Tao's Tofu.

I followed the recipe exactly as it is written (except for putting it over noodles instead of rice), and the next time I make it, I'd make it exactly the same. Beware, however, you may have the desire to scarf down the whole batch, which sorta sucks when you were hoping to get two lunch meals during the week out of it. ;-)

Allergy sufferers unite!

The trade-off for the nice spring-like weather is that I'm sniffly with a low grade headache all day. Fellow bloggers, I see your lovely photos of your early sprouting flowers, but I could deal with a little less of that and a little more of the cold, white, heavy, white stuff instead. ;-)

However, during my recent travel for planning for Innsbruck, I came across Kuetai, which is in the Innsbruck region. It is selling itself as a summer destination for allergy sufferers, due to its high altitude, thereby offering an escape from pollen in these months. Here is their English page on the topic, where they beckon me to come for 'an allergy vacation.'

Let the summer holiday planning commence...

Easter 2008

It's getting around that time again, and this year Easter is early. In case you're keeping score, here are my previous Easter holiday destinations. This year's pick-->lovely Innsbruck. Why?

- I enjoyed visiting Linz, Austria last year, so I'd like to see more of Austria.
- I've heard only good things about the skiing there from my work colleagues
- Availability of open campsites. Yes, I will camp outside in March. Crisp, fresh air promises me a good night of sleep every time.
- Cheap flights on TUIfly.
- I feel like we didn't really get a winter here, so somewhere cold is in order.
- As any expat in Europe will tell you, it's a four day weekend and Europe is shut down. So one may as well take the opportunity to take a 'nature focused' holiday rather than something involving museums or shopping.

Another sign I've been in Germany too long

I was talking to my German colleague (GC) who now lives in the UK.

GC: Hold on, I need to grab my Coke.
H: Skip the Coke, too much sugar. (Knowing GC is trying to be more healthy.)
GC: It's ok, it's diet.
H: That's even worse. Chemicals. Aspartame.
GC: It's the new Diet Coke with Vitamins. And you're sounding like a German.
H: (ahem) The chemicals, they're obviously going to your brain already.

Saturday in the tiny town of B

Yes, Karneval weekend is in full swing, even in tiny town of B, nestled between Koeln and D'dorf. However, something much more exciting to me today--I woke up to 3-4 inches of snow, something I haven't see in at least 3 years here.

Such a perfect day for it. I didn't need to drive into the office, so I didn't need to shovel out the car. Instead, I could go play:

(my snowshoes, from America, who were feeling very unloved up until now)