On the move

So I moved from Cologne to B. to an unfurished apartment and then took off for Iceland for 14 days. I've been back in the 95F heat of Germany and have spent the past week catching up on work stuff and trying to unpack.

This weekend I head up to Sylt for some cooler weather and seaside.

I haven't unpacked the cord to transfer the Iceland photos yet, so more when I come back next week...

Holiday planning continued

Too many hours of research later and almost everything is sorted. The tent is packed and the itinerary is somewhat set. On July 1 I will be on a plane to Iceland, to relax and wander the coastline for 13 days. Yes, Iceland. Specifically, I will be camping at small towns and out of the way places near lava fields, geysers, and at one point on a small island that is accessable via ferry. (There is also a small airfield and a five minute flight, but potentially a person needs to run out and clear the field of sheep before the turbo prop lands, so instead the ferry of 2.25 hours will be just fine.)

For an American who does not get much vacation usually, to have to plan a two week vacation, and then to still have to figure out what to do with another 20 vacation days, it's been a learning experience.

At the same time, with the local contract I decided to move closer to the office as I'm tired of the drive in. I found a very bright place with a balcony close enough to the office to ride Mr. Dutch Bike in whenever I want. The move started tonight and will be completed gradually over the next week.

Photos and such after I come back from Iceland and unpack fully. In the meantime, here is where I will spend my first few days:
http://www.iww.is/landshlutare.asp?lysing=swt&hluti=swt&menu=sw
Or check out the main tourism site: http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/

holidays

Many of you like to point out the proliferation of holidays in Europe. It's not that there are so many of them, it's just that they are all squashed together on the calendar. For example, where I work in Germany, these are the holidays this year:

Jan 1 - New Year's
Apr 14 and 17 - Easter
May 1 - May day
May 25, June 5, June 15 - Ascension, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi
Oct 3 - Re-unification of Germany
Nov 1 - All Saint's day
Dec 25 and 26 - Christmas
Dec 31 - New Year's Eve

So as you can see, it's an absolute holiday drought after this week, Thursday.

However, World Cup is currently going on in Germany, so the entire country is in play mode from June 9 to July 9. There are people from all over the world visiting Germany wearing their country gear, in particular flags worn around the shoulders or the waist.

Wearing my US flag I was walking home on Sunday and over the bridge when an old man on a bicycle, at least 80 years old, slowed down, pointed at me and yelled something. In the office the next day my colleagues said that he is still angry about losing the war. I am not sure they were joking, actually.

61, 57, 64, 68, 55, 64, 57, 63, 61, 63

That was the high temps of the past 10 days. Want to know the lows?
52, 50, 54, 52, 45, 41, 48, 46, 57, 50. Yes, that's in F, not C.

It's a bit disappointing to consider that this is summer so far. In particular, Thursday was a Germany public holiday, but it rained cold all day long. Then, the past week was the Weindorf, when the little wineries from along the Mosel river to the South come to Cologne and set up little huts where they bring all of their wines and you can sample your choice of a variety from each one, for around 2 Euros/.1 Liter, so a small glass. The rain must have put a bit of a damper on their business this year, in particular for these small businesses.

However, next week Monday is another Germany holiday, so I'm off on a three day weekend on Sat to Berlin. Also, the apartment is strewn with travel books as I plan my 30 days of vacation. I am planning one heck of a trip in July--more details when it's solidified, but for those of you who want to ponder--the outbound is booked; I am traveling by plane around 3.5 hours to someplace that has a two hour time difference. Keep thinking and stay tuned...

A short walk around Koeln Deutz

Many of you have asked what it's like to live it Cologne and what makes it different from the US. On Thursdays I leave work early to make sure that I make it home in time to have dinner before going to German class in town, so I took a few photos on the way since the weather was perfect today.

This is the front of the apartment building where I live. The two right windows in the bottom row are mine. I have lived here for just over one year, but I have visions of moving back to the country and closer to the office as the commute is too tempermental. On a good day it takes me 35 minutes to the office. On the worst day it took me four hours. Generally it takes me 45 minutes each way.

Here is the Bioladen (health food store) next to my apartment. When I had only been living in Cologne around a week or two, a package came that required a signature. The Bioladen accepted it and I was able to pick it up during store hours, which is a whole lot easier than trying to be home for DHL. Their hours are 9-13 and 14-18.30 Monday to Friday and 9-14 on Saturdays. If you look closely in the center of the photo, you will see a little boy. It is a very common occurance for parents to leave their children outside the tiny store, partially perhaps due to all of the low shelves, and partially because it is a very safe area. They keep plently of chalk available for the little people for while they wait, so if you look closely you can see some of their artwork.

This it a rather lackluster photo of the local shopping street. It goes for 6 blocks and includes two small supermarkets, an opthamologist, a bicycle shop, a few bakeries, a bank, three bookstores (each with a specific niche), some restaruants, and a variety of other stores.

In the photo you'll notice a blue P sign, those signify the local parking restrictions. In this area, parking is free from 9 at night to 9 in the morning. The rest of time you are required to have a local parking sticker, or to go to one of the little ticket machines to purchase a ticket for a specified period of time, usually up to two hours.

On the other side of the yellow building is the Teeladen or tea store. They sell a variety of loose leaf teas in an old shop with wooden floors. I had gone in and noticed a photo of a cat next to the cash register and a tip jar, so I had to ask. The woman went to fetch a second photo and explained patiently in slow German that they 'employ' a cat to keep the shop mouse free. As the customers appreciate the cat, they sometimes leave change in the jar to contribute to his well-being. The best part of the story-he does not work Saturdays, he gets the full weekend off each week!

One final one, a view of the river and one of the bridges:

The river is the Rhein and it cuts through the center of Cologne. I have to walk to the other side of the river to get to the Berlitz office for class. In the background of this photo is one of my favorite bridges in Cologne. At night they light it up so it is quite beautiful. Then very late at night, sometime after 2 they turn off the lights. In small towns around here they turn off stoplights late at night, and I mean actually turn off, not turn to blinking red, in order to save electricity.

On the right you'll see some large pod-like containers, those are recycle bins. The are plentiful and located around where people live or work. Then you take your paper, glass, plastics, and packing material (such as plastic wrap, styrofoam, aluminum cans, aluminum foil), and you separate the different items into the different pods. I've been told by some cynical Germans that they don't actually recycle what you sort, or that they dump it all together to process and that the purpose of the separating pods is to make you feel good about contributing to saving the environment.

So that's all for today's quick stops on the way to class. I hope you enjoyed it!

Koopzondag

Koopzondag is the Dutch word for Sunday shopping. Here you see the Tref supermarket, it is in Venlo, a Dutch city just over the German border. Shops in continental Western Europe tend not to be open on Sundays, so a shopping Sunday is a big thing, all five hours of it.

Into the car we hopped for the hour long drive there. Further, this is a gigantic supermarket by EU standards, so lots of choices. I tend to find many vegetarian items in Holland that I cannot find in Germany, so I'll go about once every six weeks after work or on a Saturday.

Shopping Sunday does not happend too often, the next one in Venlo is Sept 17, so mark your calendars now!

The May day tree in front of my house

May day is a holiday through most of Europe. This tree is across the street from my apartment, taken from the direction of my apartment, towards the other side of the street.

My work colleague explained that one does not usually see such things in the city, they are more of a country thing in Germany. She explained something about how if a boy likes a girl, he puts th colored streamers on the tree so she will know. She is then supposed to do something so that he knows that she knows.

Notice the bicycles in the photo, this is very common in Cologne.

Katowice, Poland

May 1 is a holiday in Germany, so thus a three day weekend this year. We took a cheap flight on Central Wings (an affiliate of German Wings based out of Poland) and off we went from Cologne to Katowice. It is the closest major airport to Oswiecim, otherwise known by its WW2 German name of Auschwitz. We went to both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. That whole part of the trip remains surreal.

While there, we stayed in the town of Tychy. It is a small-ish industrial town in an industrial region of Poland. Located smack dab in the center is the Tyskie brewery. It is one of the most popular beers in Poland. They also produce Pilsner Urquell there, with a special brewmaster arriving once per week from the Czech Republic to oversee production.

I ate a lot of Polish food while there. Contrary to popular understanding, there is quite a lot of Polish vegetarian food, it's just a matter of knowing what to look for. My absolute favorite is mushroom pierogis, followed closely by Polish pickles.

Poland still remains an inexpensive country to visit although prices seem to have risen from when I first visited. Katowice has a grand mall, large by US standards, and open on Sundays until 21.00, something that Germany does not have. It has higher end brands like Hugo Boss and a gigantic Tesco selling everything imaginable with 20+ checkout lines.

Overall Katowice is a winner for a long weekend.

Right time, right place

I've been in Europe since April 1, 2003 but have resisted setting up a blog since it was only supposed to be a temporary thing. Then two years was extended into another year and this month I signed a local contract which means that I am here indefinitely. What does that mean exactly?

• I am a now a "localized expat" with the same company. I am treated and counted like a German employee of the company, under a German legal entity. I get a German paycheck in Euros to a German bank account, German health benefits, German vacation (30 days!), etc. but I lose my American benefits like health and 401k.
• No, I am not a German citizen. I continue to get the exact same work permit paperwork which gets renewed once per year. Each year they put new stickers on two passport pages so when I enter or leave Germany I just show them those pages; then they do not stamp my passport.
• Germany and the US have a reciprocity agreement regarding social security. I pay into the German system, but as long as I stay here at least 18 months, I can claim that time as if I was in the US. Further, as long as I am here 18 months, I will qualify for German payments when I retire. Germany is in the same situation as the US regarding social security, so who knows if they will be there. Further, the amount I would receive on a check from Germany would lower my US payments by the same amount, so it's not a gain.
• Is there anything else you'd like to know?

Germany's unemployment is classified as a 'chronic problem'. Currently it is around 12%, so I am very fortunate to be able to work here as a foreigner.

I will add some more posts of my previous group emails and try this out to see if I am any good at regularly posting.