Number 4: Schloss burg Christmas Market

We're now in prime Christmas market (CM) season so no time to waste. If you want to see more Christmas markets captured by bloggers, hop on over here: http://www.jbittner.com/germany/2006/12/4-december-2006-is-christmas-market.html
This is published in response to J's post above making it Christmas Market Monday, so more photos than I would usually do. If you don't want to listen to my whiney rants, then scroll directly to the bottom of this post for the Christmas market photos.

4. Schloss burg
Or Sb as I shall now refer to it is a castle that is located perhaps 25 min away from me, by car. It is between Cologne and D'dorf. If you're interested in German castle history, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Burg
However, we're all about the markets today. I coerced D. into coming along for the adventure, because what is schlepping on various buses to a castle tucked away yet overrun by tourists, if not an adventure? Here is the main castle site: http://www.schlossburg.de/
It's referred to as an 'Adventsbasar' instead of a 'Weihnachtsmarkt' and supposed to be more of a medieval market so I left the reindeer antlers at home.

I had researched the bus options. It's a little difficult to get to the castle because it is in Solingen, not near anything else except hotels and restaurants that exist for castle visitors. So the buses that are going there will go there and turn around and come back. It's not en route to anywhere else, so buses are somewhat limited. Why all of this bus talk? Because I spent at least an hour on Saturday morning researching how to get there by public transport, on top of the ridiculous amount of data I already have stored in my head about the local public transport here.

Why is it so difficult you ask? Because you require either a degree in transportation logistics or law to figure out the bus rules and tariffs sometimes. I am in the VRS network which includes Cologne. Schloss burg is in Solingen which marks the beginning of the VRR network which includes D'dorf, Dortmund, etc. Because Solingen is a border town to VRS, if you are coming from nearby in VRS, you can get a ticket that will get you all of the way there without having to do multiple tickets for multiple buses. So bottom line, the best deal was to get a region 3 group day ticket which covers up to 5 people, even if we were only two.

Since I had done all of the bus ticket/schedule research, D. was in charge of getting the ticket from the driver. It was a little complex, he understood what we wanted, but it seems not to be a common request so he had to keep trying to work his ticket machine to get it to produce what we wanted. 'You go to Cologne?' 'no, Solingen--Schloss burg' 'Ah, ok. Have fun.'

We were on the first bus which took us out of the tiny town of B. where I live. We then hopped a second bus which put us in Wermelskirchen where we needed to wait for the third bus to the Castle. Because these are two different transport networks, the routes are not timed and the castle route is limited, so we had 40 minutes to kill in the middle of no where while we waited. I amused myself by taking a photo of the most decrepit bus stop in German, but that will be a different post. Anyway, we finally made it. Here is the photo of walking up to the castle:

















This market is only for one weekend, so there were plenty of visitors. However, the castle grounds are quite spacious, so it did not feel crowded at all.


We walked around a little to see the grounds while it was still light out. There was a huge line to get inside the castle, so we left the inside part for a different trip.






























Also on the castle grounds is the Seilbahn: http://www.seilbahn-burg.de/ which is basically like a ski chair lift that you can take from the castle hill down to the next town. I started referring to it as the 'seat bahn', but it was pretty cool:

So we hopped off at the bottom and took a brief look around, but it seemed to be just newer residential housing so we got back on the Seilbahn to go back up to the castle grounds. The castle grounds have an old-time merry-making feel:

Then, we walked some more among the stands before stopping for an Obstwein, which is a mixture of hot wine with a fruity flair.

As we were enjoying the evening we saw many people, especially people with their dogs. At one point there was a group with nine Westies between them, some sort of Westie owner club gathering perhaps.

Finally, since the castle is usually closed by 5 PM, the last bus out was 17.51 so we left in order to catch that one. Also waiting for the bus was one of the character actors who was wandering around the castle grounds, a silver clad knight. Since the knight was going to pay for his bus ticket, we invited him instead to travel on ours, since it was a group ticket for up to five. He asked us where we were from and then showed us the sword that he had been carrying all day. No Disney there, it was the real deal, solid metal and heavy as a cast iron skillet. When we got off at Wermelskirchen we walked through town to find a place to eat before we took the next bus back. However, in the meantime, we stumbled into another market. More about that one in the next blog.

The third time is a charm

Christmas Market (CM) number three was last night in Cologne, specificially the market at Rudopfplatz. Why not on Sunday you ask? Because it was yet another holiday here, Totensonntag, or 'Sunday of the Dead,' translated literally. As my work colleagues explained, it is a day you are supposed to consider everything that you have done wrong. Not sure what that has to do with the dead. If anything it should be called 'Sorry Sunday' or 'Think about your sins Sunday'. Don't do anything about the wrongs, just think about them.

But anyway, in my apartment building, apparently thinking was a quick thing and the rest of the day was devoted to laundry. I ran into at least half of the apartment building in the laundry room in the cellar.

Sundays are prime CM visiting time since almost everything else is closed. However, one cannot be in a merry CM mood and simultaneously penitent, therefore the bulk of the Xmas markets are closed. However, a limited few recognize that you can get your thinking out of the way early with proper planning, so they open at 18.00 on that Sunday. If you are optimizing your CM experience and visiting as many as possible, you may be tempted to visit one of these open markets on that day. However, dear reader, it is not recommended for the faint of heart.

Last year I made the trek out to Aachen on this day. At the time it made perfect sense. Aachen is an hour away by train near the Belgian border, so it's a haul. Further, all the other markets are closed, so what a great opportunity to visit this one that is by itself and not near others that I also need to visit. Unfortunately, the rest of Nordrhein-Westfalen felt the same and made the same trip. Without a doubt, this was the most crowded CM I visited last year and it wore down some of my Xmas spirit. Therefore, I skipped Sunday this year and put the energy into Tuesday instead.

Planning your own holiday visit? As this is my fourth year experiencing the magic, here is the wisdom I pass unto you.

--Plan where you want to go. My favorite site to easily see all at a glance in English: http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/cities&dates1.htm

--Plan for off-peak times, in particular if you go with children, older people or those averse to German crowds (such as yours truly who still struggles to understand why Germans have no spacial reasoning, or in other words, why must every German bump into me en route between point A and B?)

--The best off-peak time for larger markets tend to be non-weekends, or near opening/closing hours on the weekends.

--Consider the tiny markets as those are often full of Xmas spirit. If you know some locals, they can often direct you to small unadvertised neighborhood markets that you would otherwise miss. One of my favorites remains the undiscovered Koeln Deutz market with around 9 stalls. It's a 15 minute walk over the bridge from the Alt Stadt, but since it is not advertised it's more of a local thing. They have fine Glühwein, a special hut for the Xmas storyteller with announced story time, and the market is decorated to the nines with children's artwork.

So back to Cologne Rudolphplatz on Tuesday night. It's a small market with around 60 stands, including two for Glühwein. The market is next to an old castle-like wall which gives it an easy, non-city feel even though you are directly in the city. There is a giant Santa statue that is two or three stories tall and in his hand is a live pine tree, the size that you would decorate in your home.

All over the market is a lot of yellow lighting, so it contributes to the soft, quiet mood. Around the perimeter, where there are fences, they've lined them with live pine trees to give it even more of a non-city, tucked away feel. Finally, on top of many of the huts are plastic in figures in motion, a little kitschy, like a plastic Kmart who is lovingly packed up in bubble wrap and brought out each Xmas for tradition's sake. They seem to relate to fairy tales and it appeared that people were walking around just to look at them rather than what the stalls were selling. I was enjoying a Glühwein standing near one that was three elves that were carpenters. One elf was sawing a piece of wood, one waving a latern. At the elves' feet was an old sleeping elf. Repeatedly, as people walked by I would hear in both German and English 'what is what one?' 'I'm not sure.' I was sans camera, but I may make a special trip back to capture this one for your guesses.

Please keep the recommendations coming of any special CMs I should visit...

the magical season begins

now that T'giving has passed, it's time for my favorite time of year in Germany--queue the dancing elves--Weihnachtsmarkt--or the Christmas markets. Christmas in Germany is great. Well, unless you are a member of another religion and get no representation here, in which case, try Philly at Christmas as per my previous post. However, religion aside, I've never been a big fan of Christmas in the US, because of the intense commercialization and stress of the holiday. I came to Germany with no expectations for the season and was pleasantly and completely surprised.

The Christmas markets, (or CM) as I shall now use for the sake of typing, can be found in German cities large and small. They first ones start four weekends before Christmas, so the first ones near me were on Thanksgiving. Now that's a Thanksgiving treat.

Why are CM so great? First, because they are outside, so no crowded stuffy mall with cheap jewelry, perfume and sweaters brought out for the holidays. Instead, you browse among little sheds that have a window/counter and are decked out with decorations, lights, etc. like a little house. While a small town may have only one market, so perhaps 30 little houses selling food, ornaments, basically anything Xmas, a larger town such as Cologne or Duesseldorf will have multiple markets scattered throughout the city, some of them tiny intimate gatherings of eight huts.

So on Thursday I visited the old standby of Duesseldorf. D'dorf is nice because the markets are spread throughout the city so the crowds are dispersed also. D'dorf has a skating rink in the park which is also interesting to see.

My favorite part of the CM is the chance to drink Glühwein while watching the passersby. I'm not a big fan of the warm wine, so I often switch to hot cocoa. Instead of running around in a spending frenzy, many people are just hanging out with friends and family enjoying the atmosphere and a warm drink. To make this even better, many of the stands serve the drinks in a decorative mug, which you make choose to keep if you would like, they usually cost around 3 euros. They change in design each year and include the name of the neighborhood as well as the date. Scrooge that I am, for some reason they appeal to me so each year I drag my office colleagues out on the quest to find the best one. They are sooooo pleased.

Here is this year's from D'dorf's Altstadt or old town and the first office night at the CM. He is shaped like a snowman, as opposed to others that are shaped like normal mugs, or others like a boot. The writing is tough to read in the photo as he is perched festively among the Xmas lights on my window sill, but it references '2006' on his scarf and 'Die Altstadt' is across the front.

On Saturday I went to the small town of Opladen for their festive get-together. They are pretty tiny so they do not have their own special mugs, only generic ones. However, they still have the atmosphere, even if it was so warm that I needed only a sweatshirt and then it started to rain.

Still on the list--the usual standbys of Cologne, Dortmund, Essen and Aachen. New this year: Schlossburg is this coming weekend since it is only one weekend and I used to live near it. Also I've head great things about the Medieval one at Siegburg so am trying to get to that one.

Any to recommend that are within one hour by train of Cologne or D'dorf? Am open to any and all recommendations.

the magic of december (or november moving on)

One of the things I love about Germany...(I bet you never thought I would start a sentence like that)...is the lack of Thanksgiving. Each year, I generally forget about T'giving while I am here. No ridiculous commericals with turkeys holding 'sale!' signs, no massive crowds at the supermarket with T'giving dinner items on sale, no displays filled with candlestick holders in the shape of pilgrims, none of it! My only indication that the holiday was upon us is that my work email is quiet with our US office getting two days off and my German colleagues proudly wished me a happy T'giving.

No, it has nothing to do with being a vegetarian that I loathe the holiday. Back in my younger days when I was a meat eater I could not stand turkey, hated it. Ate it once per year on this blessed holiday, and under duress. Eventually my mother switched to the 'T'giving ham' since she always overcooked the turkey anyway so it tasted awful to my parents during the five days of turkey leftovers extravaganza. Further, I am not so fond of shopping, so now I had to sit through a day where food was the highlight (Thurs) to a day when shopping is the highlight (Fri). Black Friday in the US is like a three day holiday weekend in Germany in the final hour before the Aldi closes. Then multiply that feeling by one hundred.

I consider this holiday to be a speed bump on the way to the 'real' December holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. You are thinking, 'Heather, you cannot celebrate all three!' Of course you can, dear friend, if you are in the Philadelphia area. It was not until I left Philly that I realized 1. other cities don't have such holiday openness or equality, except maybe NYC and 2. those other cities are severely missing out on this one.

If you ever come to the Philly area in December and you are downtown near the Liberty Bell, you'll see a large life-sized Nativity scene, often with people and live animals instead of the usual plastic Kmart figures. Towering next to it on the same grassy patch is the giant Menorah with candles that light up the night with the number lit up depending on which night it is. All around the city you will see the same thing, Nativity scenes beside Menorahs. Top it all off with references around the city to Kwanzaa. Then, serve it up with periodic public displays by agnostics that eschew all religious holiday references. This same rich and multi-faceted conglomeration and mixture of cultures and beliefs is repeated and played out throughout the city in small neighborhoods.

Other cities may have bits and pieces of the above, but they never have it all brought together on the same ground with an equal right and expectation to be there so it always seems one-sided and lacking. When I lived in DC, Atlanta or San Francisco I had parts of the above, but not all of it so something always seemed missing and Deutschland is no different in this regard.

And this is one of the very few things that I truly miss about Philly.

Monday night and reflections on the weekend

Monday night is Polish class and doing homework for Wednesday morning German class. Often I do homework over the weekend as well as the requisite Saturday shopping, but this weekend I instead met some very interesting people at the 'Second Whiney Expat Bloggers in Germany Meet-up' for all of Saturday.

To explain for those of you in the US, it was a chance for non-German bloggers to meet up in person while visiting a city in Germany.

I was expecting a lot of whining as well as good humor based on the writings of those in attendance (as well as the title of the event), but somehow the whining seemed to be underrepresented. However the wicked sharp wit and overall niceness was definitely there as I was impressed by all in attendence. Eventually I'll pretty up the blog and add their links as my endorsement cannot even begin to describe or do justice to their many eloquent, relevant and sometimes absurd, yet truthful writings about life as an expat in Germany.

writing...

have been putting together all of my notes from my Lithuania trip for the family. am up to 11 pages single spaced. if you want a copy, tell me.

St. Martin's Day - Nov 11

Tonight was the celebration of St. Martin here in the tiny German town I'm in. It's similar to the American Halloween. Children carry self-decorated lanterns on a stick and go from door to door singing about St. Martin. In exchange they receive candy or treats.

I've heard various stories in connection to it having seen a bit last year and then researching it. I've heard it's the 11th at 11 AM (tomorrow) and it is the kick-off of carnival. Although it seems similar to American Halloween, in that each community can celebrate closest to the date as they best see fit. Also, it's a celebration of the end of the collection of the harvest. It's connected to St. Martin who gave his coat to a beggar and it reminds the children of humility--that's the version the six children and two adults gave me tonight when I asked.

I had heard them singing in the building, but it seemed that only one or two people were home to open doors for them. Fortunately I had a box of candy on standby so I opened the door and they came to my door to sing and then to explain the tradition after I asked. It was probably the only time they received such a question tonight, but they were very kind and easer to try to explain in simple terms.

It's probably better than last year when I was baffled as to why Kristallnacht (Nov 9-10) would receive such a commemoration when I first saw one of the children groups wandering the streets and I was too afraid to ask the question lest I offend my German colleagues and I spent the days after looking online for "November 9 + lantern + Germany + children + singing."

Iceland (again!)

Since Iceland prices and tourist volume drop greatly in the colder weather, I decided to go back. I was there from Thurs until today. It was very rainy. A fish could have survived for days on the sidewalk it was so wet.

However, it was a nice visit. I went back to the Blue Lagoon. http://www.bluelagoon.com/ It's lovely to step outside in the air temp that was just below freezing to go the 15 steps into the very warm water.

I also went to the Reykjavik Museum of Photography which was showing an interesting exhibit of photos of Poland under communist times: http://www.ljosmyndasafnreykjavikur.is/english/index.htm

Finally, I went to the Reykjavik Art Museum. I went primarily because they were opening a show of young American artists as a part of an Iceland/American program. There was an interesting talk, in English, by the Icelandic and American artists involved. Here is the main museum link:
http://www.listasafnreykjavikur.is/index.en.shtml

The weather was very bad on Sunday so many trips were either cancelled or diverted through Glasgow, so unfortunately, some people arrived in many hours late. Since I was not leaving until Monday, I was ok. On Sunday I went to Keflavik, to stay at a guesthouse near the airport since my plane left early on Monday. I wandered downtown to eat at Pizza 67, the best pizza chain in Iceland. They are the home of the 'Sgt Pepper', which is mushrooms, onions, pepperoni (i skip that), fresh chili peppers, and black pepper (of the salt and pepper variety).

I also went to the local cinema to see a movie. Movies in Iceland are usually kept in the original English, but subtitled in Icelandic. It is a small cinema with two screens and very few movie watchers on a Sunday. I went to see that new Borat movie. Along with me in the theater were around 10 gentlemen from the New York area. They were on a flight back to the US that was delayed six hours so they came to the movies. Around halfway through there is an intermission when they turn off the film for five minutes. At that time they called the airport and found out they were delayed until the next day. It was a great movie to see with other people from the US as I'm sure if I would have seen it here in Germany the Germans would have given it a different spin, although overall it was not a great movie. Then after it was over I left the theater and stepped into a hail storm. Magnificent Iceland!

happy halloween

If you were a trick-or-treating on my street (which you wouldn't be doing, as that is not done in Germany), this would be what you see. Look closely and you will see the happy pumpkin lights in the window. Not the best of photos, but realistic as it is rather dark here in the country.

the great pumpkin!

Halloween is my favorite holiday and it always has been. In Europe, Halloween does not have the same following as in the US. In the German supermarket ads this year they detailed Halloween and how to celebrate it, and each year it has an increased influence. This year, I decided to bring Halloween back into my life. I coerced the dear boyfriend into attending a 'Herbsfest' with me that I saw advertised in the local paper, because I saw the beloved 'Kuerbis' in the background of the photo.

This is a general celebration of fall/autumn and includes lots of booths that sell crafts with a fall theme, food booths, sometimes a flea market type of atmosphere, and often there are one or two booths that sell pumpkins, gourds, and anything fall.

I had scoped out the first booth at the beginning, looking at all of the 'jack-be-littles' and other assorted gourds hoping that there would be a second booth but mentally steeling myself for the possibility that there would not be. I had mentally picked out a runt pumpkin, because those of your who are lucky enough to go to the pumpkin patch with me know that I will pick the saddest pumpkin available because no one loves it.

When we came back the sad runt pumpkin was gone and I was in confusion. There was not another pumpkin that jumped out to say 'take me home'. I circled and circled. Dear boyfriend set down the backpack and patiently waited. Finally I realized. Germans do not like big pumpkins since they do not do Halloween and the whole carving and the candle in the jack-o-lantern thing. Instead they choose little pumpkins and gourds and nicely arrange them in a basket next to their front door.

And that was why this pumpkin--the biggest by far of the group, maybe 15 pounds--was left alone, at a price barely more than those half his size. (OK, adjusting for the euro to dollar conversion, he cost me 10 dollars, a bit pricey for a similar item in the US.) However, the joy he has brought has been immense.

The teenaged clerk who put up with my incessant circling and and put up with bad German when I explained I wanted an 'American' Halloween pumpkin was amused when we bought him. Then, as dear boyfriend carried him through the market and back to the bus station the Germans stared with mouths agape. Ok that is nothing new.

Then, as we were walking past some tables where people were singing those happy German songs, a nice man spotted us and shouted 'Geil Kuerbis!' (Cool pumpkin!) Dear boyfriend very nicely accompanied me on the bus to carry Mr. Pumpkin back to my car, instead of us parting there so that he could take the train home from there as originally planned. Once on the bus Mr. Pumpkin garnered much admiration, especially from a man sitting across from us, a real working class gent. Boyfriend proceeded to explain how we had just bought him and that he was a good pumpkin. Germans tend not to be overly friendly in starting conversations, so this was a real surprise. Boyfriend then knocked on the pumpkin and said it was a good pumpkin. This fellow then asked if could do the same. Mr. Pumpkin-making friends around the world. Then we caused some admiring comments from some older ladies as we left the bus.

Upon bringing Mr. Pumpkin home, I put him on my balcony, on the ledge so that all could see him in his Halloween glory.

Lithuanian food photos

I have returned from Lithuania and Estonia. I still need to write up all of the notes of the family visit, but in the meantime, some photos. A while back Natalie requested food photos. Here you will see some typical Lithuania food--fried garlic bread (the photo with the brown squares that look a little like American brownies). They always use dark bread and the little white bits that you see on it are pieces of minced garlic. Once they make a batch of it, any that is not eaten will be served at room temperature the next day.

The other place is a Lithuanian vegetarian plate for me. At 6 o'clock on the plate is 'salad' which is a mixture of fresh minced cabbage, red bell pepper, some onions and perhaps some other veg which is marinated in a oil/vinegar like liquid. At 12 o'clock on the plate is roasted potatoes with cripsy fried onion bits. In the exact center of the plate is the highlight, mushrooms cooked with onions. These are special mushrooms, in Germany they are called 'pfefferlingen'. They are only available for perhaps 6 weeks in Germany before the season is over. They are a little more available in Lithuania, and in fact, I often see them here for about 6 weeks more, exported from Lithuania to Germany.

They are nothing like your 'regular' American button mushrooms. Instead they have almost a 'meaty' texture that requires some chewing. They range in color from yellow to deep orange or beige depending on the the exact variety and local differences. Here is a great photo from the German side of Wikipedia of this mushroom in full glory:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Cantharellus_cibarius_01.jpg

Hello from Lithuania

Having a great time despite the overcast and cold weather.

A dog with a job!

Often in Germany foreigners get stuck seeing only the bad parts of Germany since sometimes there are so many of them and they are so in your face. I purposely do not write about many of the negatives here, because I am a guest in this country and if I do not like the Germans I can always go home. However, ever so occasionally, I see something in Germany that absolutely causes delight for the rest of my day, so here was today's...

Often in Germany the mail is delivered on by a postal worker on foot or in my case, by a postal worker with a yellow bicycle and a flat box on the front that holds all of the deliveries. At the company where I work there is a minivan that comes since it is in an industrial complex and other companies also get loads of mail. Around the time I arrive each day at 0830-ish the lady is there, unloading around three of those cartons onto a small handtruck and carting them into the building.

One day I noticed Mr. Dog. His job is to sit up straight in the backseat of the postal minivan on a blanket and to watch the front door of the office until Postal Lady comes back. People are walking in and out and past the minivan, but Mr. Dog is undeterred and strict in his task. He barely blinks.

Today I did not leave my house until 0840 and walked to work. (Yes, I live a charmed life, I have given up early mornings and driving commutes.) I was quite close to the office and I see a lady and a dog not on a leash. He's rambling along and the lady is walking on ahead. I tend to be a little cautious about stepping between a dog and an owner, so I stepped into the street to walk along the recycle bins in order to pass the lady streetside. At that point I see the postal sign in the window of the minivan and realize, it's the Postal Lady and Mr. Dog. Of course I cannot contain my pre-coffee excitement and I stop dead in my tracks and actually say aloud 'it's the post dog!' loud enough for the lady to hear.

She is almost next to me and I feel a little silly so I then translate 'it's the post dog!' into German which probably sounds just as silly. However, I think she caught the bad accent and excused the silliness because she answered me 'yes it is.' I proceeded to tell her (in bad German) how I see Mr. Dog at the office each day, and in the meantime Mr. Dog came over so that I could pet him.

To her credit she put up with the bad German and we chatted for a few minutes. She explained that Mr. Dog is allowed to come with in Germany when she delivers mail and it's very nice, because it means that she is not alone when she's delivering mail and also, he can be protective if needed. Each morning they do their deliveries in the industrial complex and then they stop where I met him so that he can have a potty break in the trees. He was a gift dog from her friends who were leaving Germany to go to Greece and could not take him with for a variety of reasons, such as his large size.

She told me that he does the straight ahead staring thing everywhere when he is waiting. Her husband had brought him to the airport one time to pick her up and the plane was late. He was not interested in the planes circling in the sky or anyone in the airport. Instead he stared for two hours at the door watching for her to come through, not making the connection that she was still in the air and not immediately behind the door.

I told her that is was very nice that she could bring him as that is not so common in America. She said yes, and that she had seen a show once about a fire brigade in America that had a 'fire dog' but he was more of a mascot than a working dog. I compare this scenario to the US where one would never see a non-service dog in connection with the US postal service, and if one did, there would probably be some fear that his dog hair would get on a letter and cause an allergic reaction and someone to sue or something.

Sometimes, Germany in its ways can be quaint.

Oct 3 - Another German holiday

Oct 3 is German Unification Day. It's the day that Germans celebrate the recombining of East and West Germany. What do you do on that day? It's like a Sunday, all of the shops are closed, and it's not a religious holiday, so there is no church service. So what does the average German in the Cologne/Duesseldorf area do? Judging by the traffic today, we all went shopping in Holland. I took yesterday off also, so I had a four day weekend.

In other news I have scheduled the rest of my holiday for the year. Next week I go back to Lithuania and visit my cousins. From there I fly to Tallinn, Estonia, an elusive one on my travel list. All told I have a week off to the Baltics.

Then, next month Nov 1 is a holiday and then I spend a few days in Iceland once more. I am very excited to see how cold Iceland is in November and the general atmosphere there and if it is very touristed.

Off to Ikea

It's Saturday morning and am still in need of a few things for the new flat. Am crossing the border into Belgium to go to Ikea. Why drive 1.5 hours when there is one in Germany 50 min away? Because Germans seems genetically programs to have no spacial reasoning. Which, in effect, means if there is snough space for two people to pass by you, the German will bump into you. When you are in lines--assuming there is some strict structure that forces a line, because Germans tend not to do lines and will just step in front of you--if you are actually in a line you will usually feel hot breath on your neck--it's a German waiting. Then you will feel an elbow in your back or a foot against your heel. Most of the time it is unintentional, they just lack the ability to not touch you when you are in between them and where they are going.

But I digress. When my colleague and I went to the Cologne Ikea a few weeks ago it was a very painful event for me, getting bumped into at least 50 times, you'd think I was in a New York or Tokyo subway, except that in New York they would be more polite and apologize or at least acknowledge that they just clipped you in their big hurry. Here in Germany it is your fault for existing in the aisle.

Two months ago on a whim I went to the closest Belgium Ikea, which is about 20 minute past the border. As it is Ikea, it is basically the same stuff in the same store with the same layout and the equivalent huge number of shoppers. I spent three hours there and no one bumped into me. Ate in the fine Ikea cafeteria and no one stepped on me. A woman even thanked me (in French) for moving my chair in when she was trying to get past. Was pleasantly surprised and it made for a nice shopping experience. Therefore I'm going back for more.

Iceland: Part 1

Iceland is so beautiful that even someone who does not take good photos will get good photos. Let's start. I left from Frankfurt Hahn airport, which is around 2 hours from Cologne. I left from Hahn because Iceland Express leaves from there with a cheap, direct flight. Hahn was formerly a US miliary base that is up in the hills well outside of Frankfurt. Currently it caters to the cheap airline and those willing to trek up there to get the dirt cheap tickets.







This is from the coast of Vestmannaeyjar island. It is a little island that is close of the big island of Iceland. To get there, you can take a bus from Reykjavik which takes 55 minutes, and then you get on the ferry which takes around 2 hours 15 min. Many people were on the ferry. A traveler from Norway and I chatted the whole time. He told me that the Islandic language is similar to and ancient form of Norwegian, so when they spoke a certain way, he could understand bits and pieces.




The island itself has many mountains. In general Icelanders are very friendly and open. You are welcome to traipse all over their island. Everywhere that I went, people were very curious where I came from, and why I came to visit. It's a bit of a strange phenomenon, they speak American English due to the TV, movies and music, but they don't get to use it much with an American necessarily so whenever they answer you it is often two seconds later than you would expect, sort of like you are on a long distance phone call to the other side of the world.

Germany differences, part 1: healthcare

Many of you ask about the differences in Germany. One of the biggest ones is probably the healthcare here. Contrary to popular American belief, Germany does not have that ubiquitous universal, national insurance that we're always hearing about in the US (but the UK does).

As a US expat I had my US paycheck and insurance. I only went once to the doctor in Germany because it involved submitting expense forms for reimbursement and having gone once to the dentist in the UK, the insurance company would not convert the pounds to dollars. As pounds are worth more than dollars, by paying me only in dollars instead of the charged pounds converted to dollars, they saved some money. Since it was only 10 dollars in the end I could not be bothered to spend that amount in postage writing them letters to fight it, but let it be known that a certain dental insurance company that uses Snoopy in its advertisements does not treat expat dental reimbursements properly.

Fast forward to Germany. Upon becoming a German J employee, I had to take a German insurance. In Gemany there are two types of insurance: public or private. Around 90% of Germans have public insurance and the remaining 10% have private.

Public insurance is an option for all Germans. There are a variety of companies that offer it, many were formed to offer insurance to a certain company or employee union, so they exist with that background but now they are open to everyone. It depends on the company or the plan year, but they charge around 11-14% of your pay to insure you, depending on how last year went. These percentages are adjusted each year, and employees can switch each year as they wish.

Private insurance is only offered to employees who make a certain amount of money. Private insurance offers a higher level of coverage and more enhanced options to choose from. Private also gives you some leeway to create your own plan. You may choose a deductible from 200 to 1200 euro; the higher the deductible, the lower your monthly cost.

Each German must choose an insurance carrier, and then they tell the payroll department. If you choose not to pick a carrier, a standard public one will be chosen for you. Then, whether you are public or private, the company pays 50% of your health insurance premium, the only difference being that the company pays the public insurance directly, vs. for private insurance the company requires proof/cost of coverage and then pays you the 50% so that you pay 100% of the premium each month.

Why would someone choose one or the other?
If you have public insurance and you have a non-working spouse or dependent children, they are automatically covered for free under your premiums. If you have private insurance they are an additional cost.
It is easy to go from public to private--public plans must take everyone regardless of health status or pre-existing conditions. Private plans require a questionnaire before taking you and can require a physical exam if there are any doubts.
It is sometimes difficult to get in to see a doctor. However, doctors get more money from private insurance and often faster payments. Therefore, you will get an appointment faster with private insurance.
Public insurance works similarly to the US health networks that a doctor's office submits an expense to the insurance company and then bill you later for the part not covered. Private insurance requires you to submit the doctor's bill to insurance and receive payment and then to pay the doctor.
With private insurance you can request an appointment with any doctor that you like, whenever you want; public insurance requires following some procedures of who you see exactly.
Private insurance caters to the young and healthy who do not use it much. If you go an entire year without submitting any expenses, you have the ability to claim back some of the premium costs, including that which the company paid for you.

So, particularly in light of that last point, I chose the private option. Then a month ago I was playing volleyball and did something to my finger similar to what I had done previously to a different one. My colleagues did not like the black and blue color so insisted that I go to a doctor.

They were able to find me an Orthopedic/Sports Medicine specialist in this tiny town who could see me in one week. I get the feeling that they are not used to non-Germans, but they were nice enough. The office was actually an old converted house that used every square inch. There were two chairs next to a stairway that was the 'waiting area' for the x-ray room upstairs.

So for being there an hour and seeing the assistant and then the doctor, having my finger x-rayed in two positions, the doctor to look at it once more with the digital x-rays online, and then the assistant to bandage it--do you want to guess how much that cost? Having had something similar in the US the last time this happened to a different finger, I can tell you it ran a few hundred dollars, of which insurance would have covered a good chunk, if not for the deductible.

Oops, left out the final part. I was expecting to have to pay upon leaving, like in the US. They looked at me like I was crazy when I asked in bad German about the bill. You'll get the bill by mail when we write the bills. Are you kidding me? I was seen by a doctor with x-rays and all, and because I told you I have private insurance and I gave you a name, street address and birthdate, you trust that I will receive and pay the bill. Quite a change from the US doctor offices that have a big sign saying something like 'payment expected on day of office visit'.

So when I finally got the bill this week, I had slight trepidation. However, that was all for naught, as this is Germany and seeing the doctor is relatively cheap. The whole thing came up to 60 euros. A mere pittance to what I would have been chared for the same exact thing in the US. So now I need to pay and hold it to see if I go any more to the doctor. I have the ability to save bills for up to one year before submitting. Then I can see if I go again, or if it is better to pay out of pocket if I only go once and go for the 'non-use' refund instead.

Long weekend

Summer is over in Germany, so I'm going to where summer is still in full swing--Bilbao, Spain. The plane leaves Duesseldorf at 0750 Friday morning so only a quick note before I go. Back late Sunday night.

found

since the camera cord has been found and while 181 pics download, here is today's cultural adventure. over the weekend my work colleague brought her super IT boyfriend to set up my wireless because i was having some difficulties with it and choosing the right setup options in german.

the topic always comes up--heather's less than stellar german skills. because i did not study german in a university setting like i studied spanish, my german is completely off the cuff and random. i pick up a good chunk of it from the sarcastic 45 year old work colleague in front on me, so i have german words to describe 'trash talk' or a word for 'he who talks too much' but i lack some basics like toothpaste since that one doesn't come up in the office.

as super IT boyfriend was fixing my pc it gave him a bit of a challenge and he was less than amused with the four firewalls i have installed. i explained that i install and uninstall with reckless abandon.

this morning he told her to pass along a new german word to me. she says the word 'basteln' in german but i do not know it. she says, moment, i ask leo. leo is a famous online dictionary that many of the germans use; it is quite extensive in its definitions, and there is even a speaking option to hear the word.
http://dict.leo.org/pages.ende/about_en.html?lang=en

in the meantime i ask my other colleague the meaning without telling her the scenario. she explains...it's like when small children spend an entire afternoon making christmas ornaments, or doing craft things, that is the verb you would use. hmm. colleague number one is back now.

"leo says it is 'to tinker'. "
"a-ha, now i get it, i tinkered with the computer."
" yes, he says you tinkered."
"well, yes perhaps."
"tinkered to death."

searching

i have not been home much since i moved into the new place and not everything is yet unpacked, including the camera cord to move the digital pics from the camera to the pc. further, the internet box does not work in the new place, it seems to have been damaged during the move so i had to order a new one and it is currently en route so i have no internet access at home.

therefore, the posts have been rather lean recently.

last weekend i took a cheap last minute flight with lufthansa to bratislava. bratislavia is in slovakia, and has been separated from the czech republic since 1993. It has been in the EU since 2004 but it still not on the Euro.

Once the photos are transferred, I'll post some pics and some further details.