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