Dzisiaj pada deszcz. = It's raining today.
Myślałem, że nie będzie deszczu. = I thought it wouldn't rain.
Jutro będzie deszcz. = Tomorrow it'll be raining.
Jutro nie będzie słońca. = Tomorrow the sun won't be out.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Language Week 1
I have an evening alone as the boss found a hotel room for tonight. And since Mausi mentioned this, off we go. Skip to the bottom to read the English version.
Hay muchos meses qué no habla mucho Español, solamente un poco con mis colegas de España. Sin embargo, su español es diferente qué yo aprendí, es como la diferencia entre íngles de EEUU y Inglaterra. Cuando fue a la conferecia en Houston, yo hablé lo un poco, especialmente porque el Español de allí, de México, es como el español de California, y conozco sus palabras más que las de los Españoles.
En el hotel, fui un poco cansada después el viaje desde Europa, y la mujer vino por la tarde para limpair el cuarto. Ella no comprendió bien el Inglés, entonces cambié a Español. Ella contestó entonces, y me preguntó-quiere Ud. más jabón, etc. Al fin, ella me dijo, ´no soy de España.´ Uh, ok. Usualmente las mujeres son de México o America Central. Y entonces en Inglés, ´soy de Rusia.´ Oops.
Yo pienso, tal vez estoy muy cansada. Pero, no parece bien, y pienso y pienso. Es extraño, pq usualmente oigo bien los sonidos de este parte de Europa. Finalmente--en la próxima día, realicé, su Inglés y el acento, fue como el Inglés de una persona que habla Español. Aprende o escuche a eso Inglés, tal vez de los otros trabajadores o de la gente de Houston, donde hay mucha gente que hablan Español como su primera lengua. Es un poco loco, una rusa que no tiene el acento ´normal´ de su país, pero del otro país.
**********************
There are many months that I don't speak much Spanish, only a little with my colleagues from Spain. However, their Spanish is different than the Spanish that I learned, it's like the difference between the English of the US and the UK. When I went to the conference in Houston I spoke it a little, especially because the Spanish there, the Mexican Spanish, is like the Spanish of California, and I know their words better than the Spain Spanish.
In the hotel I was a little bit tired after the trip from Europe, and the woman came in the afternoon to clean the room. She didn't understand English well, so then I switched to Spanish. She answered then and asked me-do you want more soap, etc. At the end she said, "I am not from Spain." Uh, OK. Usually the women are from Mexico or Central America. And then in English "I am from Russia." Oops.
I think, perhaps I am very tired. But it doesn't seem right, and I think and think. It's strange, because usually I hear well the sounds of this part of Europe. Finally--on the next day, I realized, her English and accent, it was like the English of a Spanish speaker. She learns or listens to that English, perhaps from the other workers or the Houston people, where there are many people who speak Spanish as a first language. It's a little crazy, a Russian who does not have a 'normal' accent of her country, but of another country.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Get out the wooden shoes and tulips
I'm going to the Netherlands for a few days. I'm speaking at a conference and then taking the opportunity since I'm already there Friday, to stay into the weekend.
I'm hoping this stay will be pleasant. The latest into the summer I've ever been there has been Apr 1. Usually I'm there in the cold and gray winter months and I've come to associate the country with a pensive melancholy that isn't all bad since it's balanced with warm pubs and bright shops.
Back on Sunday.
I'm hoping this stay will be pleasant. The latest into the summer I've ever been there has been Apr 1. Usually I'm there in the cold and gray winter months and I've come to associate the country with a pensive melancholy that isn't all bad since it's balanced with warm pubs and bright shops.
Back on Sunday.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
class is back in session
While my German class and German teacher is great, I find that I learn the bulk of my German and my understanding of Germans outside of class. Some days it's not so useful words like 'Kartoffelkaefer', because I happened to find one of those in the kitchen at the office, other days it's a little more useful.
When D and I used to live in Deutz, a neighborhood of Cologne, we used to meet at a bar that was between our apartments, perhaps once a week. We had tried most of the bars in the immediate 10 block area, many with not so good results, including the one where they threw a man out because he heard us speaking English and became incensed and physically violent. Too bad he didn't ask us if we spoke German, then he would have really had something to complain about, the bad German that is multiplied in it's badness due to the fact that we speak it with two different accents and it's hard enough to understand mangled German when the accent is consistent.
However, at this in-between bar, something really clicked for us. It is a tiny hole in the wall, but we always have a lovely time when we go. It's almost like a German Cheers, we are recognized when we go, even though now that neither of us live in Deutz we only go once every few weeks. We are known as the foreigners there, but it's not said with that scrunched up frowny face, but instead with fascination and almost pride, as to the fact that their bar is so nice that foreigners would want to frequent it. And overall we're pretty non-invasive foreigners. We drink the local beer and speak German to the bar staff, although we chatter amongst ourselves in German.
Every time it's always an adventure and we always meet someone interesting there, and last night was no different. People often hear us speaking English and feel free to interrupt our conversation in English to test out their English skills and to ask us where we are from. We sat down near two gentlemen, who were perhaps 60-65 years old. Both spoke very fine English, and upon hearing where we were from, proceeded to tell us all of the places that they have been in our countries that we would perhaps know?
The one man was originally from East Germany and worked in a region there, Saxony Anhalt, known for producing chemicals. Because of his job he had the opportunity to travel to other countries, and he had to learn English, French, and Spanish. However, he mentioned that English is still difficult for him, because as a boy in East Germany he learned Russian as his first foreign language. Both men were very interesting, and as neighbors and friends they played off of each other, somewhat like those pseudo-cranky old men in the balcony of the Muppet show, always cracking jokes.
The most interesting part of the evening--beside the part where we got berated because we'll never learn proper German without dating a native German speaker--was when they were commenting about life in America, and route 66 and cowboys and Death Valley and all those great things that one can find in America. And the one man said, quite seriously, "you can have these things, we Germans, we don't, we cannot have dreams." Moments like this you can never find in a book on German culture.
When D and I used to live in Deutz, a neighborhood of Cologne, we used to meet at a bar that was between our apartments, perhaps once a week. We had tried most of the bars in the immediate 10 block area, many with not so good results, including the one where they threw a man out because he heard us speaking English and became incensed and physically violent. Too bad he didn't ask us if we spoke German, then he would have really had something to complain about, the bad German that is multiplied in it's badness due to the fact that we speak it with two different accents and it's hard enough to understand mangled German when the accent is consistent.
However, at this in-between bar, something really clicked for us. It is a tiny hole in the wall, but we always have a lovely time when we go. It's almost like a German Cheers, we are recognized when we go, even though now that neither of us live in Deutz we only go once every few weeks. We are known as the foreigners there, but it's not said with that scrunched up frowny face, but instead with fascination and almost pride, as to the fact that their bar is so nice that foreigners would want to frequent it. And overall we're pretty non-invasive foreigners. We drink the local beer and speak German to the bar staff, although we chatter amongst ourselves in German.
Every time it's always an adventure and we always meet someone interesting there, and last night was no different. People often hear us speaking English and feel free to interrupt our conversation in English to test out their English skills and to ask us where we are from. We sat down near two gentlemen, who were perhaps 60-65 years old. Both spoke very fine English, and upon hearing where we were from, proceeded to tell us all of the places that they have been in our countries that we would perhaps know?
The one man was originally from East Germany and worked in a region there, Saxony Anhalt, known for producing chemicals. Because of his job he had the opportunity to travel to other countries, and he had to learn English, French, and Spanish. However, he mentioned that English is still difficult for him, because as a boy in East Germany he learned Russian as his first foreign language. Both men were very interesting, and as neighbors and friends they played off of each other, somewhat like those pseudo-cranky old men in the balcony of the Muppet show, always cracking jokes.
The most interesting part of the evening--beside the part where we got berated because we'll never learn proper German without dating a native German speaker--was when they were commenting about life in America, and route 66 and cowboys and Death Valley and all those great things that one can find in America. And the one man said, quite seriously, "you can have these things, we Germans, we don't, we cannot have dreams." Moments like this you can never find in a book on German culture.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
follow-up on the goofy translation post
I had most recently mentioned here about this goofy-looking translation. To explain futher, when you see a sign in two languages, you expect it to say pretty much the same thing, to have the same meaning. Even better when you are somewhere foreign in Europe and there are multiple language translations, and you keep searching until you find one that you can understand.
The top right on the sign says 'Baggage claim' and 'Equipaje' with the little suitcase image. 'Equipaje' means luggage, so 'Baggage claim' makes sense.
On the bottom it says 'Información sobre Autobuses'. If you asked me to translate that to English, I would say 'Information about buses'. However, it says 'Ground Transportation' with the images of a bus and a taxi.
Where I would be tempted to take umbrage is that not only is the literal translation different, but it tends to slightly push the assumption that the Spanish speaker would be needing a bus rather than a taxi or some other form of ground transportation. A better choice to allign them would have been 'Autobuses/Taxis' on the Spanish portion, or to have 'Information about buses' as the English selection.
As a native American English speaker in an American company and the only one in my immediate area of 50 people (although there are other native English speakers who are British, Irish, etc. around), when someone needs a translations proofed they bring it on over. Because the largest English speaking population is American, they tend to want to gear it toward American English verbiage.
I proof all sorts of levels of English, from school English 20 years ago to "fluent just out of the university English'. Because it is often HR things that need to be signed by the higher-ups and the submitter wants it to be perfect, as well as because they usually put both the German and English together on any announcement so anyone would be free to recognize a bad translation, this sign's poor translation in such a public place rather irks me.
The top right on the sign says 'Baggage claim' and 'Equipaje' with the little suitcase image. 'Equipaje' means luggage, so 'Baggage claim' makes sense.
On the bottom it says 'Información sobre Autobuses'. If you asked me to translate that to English, I would say 'Information about buses'. However, it says 'Ground Transportation' with the images of a bus and a taxi.
Where I would be tempted to take umbrage is that not only is the literal translation different, but it tends to slightly push the assumption that the Spanish speaker would be needing a bus rather than a taxi or some other form of ground transportation. A better choice to allign them would have been 'Autobuses/Taxis' on the Spanish portion, or to have 'Information about buses' as the English selection.
As a native American English speaker in an American company and the only one in my immediate area of 50 people (although there are other native English speakers who are British, Irish, etc. around), when someone needs a translations proofed they bring it on over. Because the largest English speaking population is American, they tend to want to gear it toward American English verbiage.
I proof all sorts of levels of English, from school English 20 years ago to "fluent just out of the university English'. Because it is often HR things that need to be signed by the higher-ups and the submitter wants it to be perfect, as well as because they usually put both the German and English together on any announcement so anyone would be free to recognize a bad translation, this sign's poor translation in such a public place rather irks me.
Monday, June 11, 2007
goofy spanish translation at EWR airport?
Newark Airport has always had English/Spanish signage everywhere.
You don't need heavy language skills to figure out the below. Does anything about the green part strike you as odd?
You don't need heavy language skills to figure out the below. Does anything about the green part strike you as odd?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
look closely
much time was spent on the balkon garden this weekend, and it has now officially shifted from setup mode to maintenance mode. in this photo, if you look closely you will see a spider. a bit of his web is visble at the top left leaf point. if you look slightly below the top of the left leaf and shift your gaze to the right, you'll see a brown blip that seems to be in the tree. that's my stellar photo taking, that's the spider.
i saw no reason to keep trying to take his photo, because this was actually the third go. in addition, this is his third choice of a web location, so i don't want to force him to move yet again due to me bothering him. his first choice was connected on top of my tomato plant that i like to spin, move and clip agressively. he then tried going between the two balkon chairs. finally he settled here, out of the main stream of activity. i'm hoping this location suits him, although i imagine the leaves may shift a bit, forcing him to re-do some activity (it's a cucumber plant, so it should grow and shift reasonably quickly).
i saw no reason to keep trying to take his photo, because this was actually the third go. in addition, this is his third choice of a web location, so i don't want to force him to move yet again due to me bothering him. his first choice was connected on top of my tomato plant that i like to spin, move and clip agressively. he then tried going between the two balkon chairs. finally he settled here, out of the main stream of activity. i'm hoping this location suits him, although i imagine the leaves may shift a bit, forcing him to re-do some activity (it's a cucumber plant, so it should grow and shift reasonably quickly).
Friday, June 08, 2007
my new cat
i'll explain later where she came from and how she became 'my new cat'. fortunately she's living with my grandmother and aunt as my apartment in germany doesn't allow pets and they have two cats so she'll have some company rather than hanging out in my empty apartment for 10 hours alone all day.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
why June 7th is my favorite German holiday
--more often than not, it tends to rain on the May holidays. it never rains here on the June one, or so i think anyway. ;-)
--neither belgium nor the netherlands have this day as a holiday, so stores are open across the border. just think of the shopping possibilities. and even better, it's not just one or the other, so the crush of germans crossing the border will be a little more spread out.
--the germans don't go across the border so much on this holiday anyway, or for some reason there seems to be less traffic, perhaps not only for the above reason. i imagine if it's nice weather the rule is to stay home and work on the garden, because, well, it's the rule for June 7.
--my balkon garden actually has some green shoots and baby plants to look at where it didn't so much in May.
--i've started to regularly take my main holiday for the year in July. so now it's only a month away.
--neither belgium nor the netherlands have this day as a holiday, so stores are open across the border. just think of the shopping possibilities. and even better, it's not just one or the other, so the crush of germans crossing the border will be a little more spread out.
--the germans don't go across the border so much on this holiday anyway, or for some reason there seems to be less traffic, perhaps not only for the above reason. i imagine if it's nice weather the rule is to stay home and work on the garden, because, well, it's the rule for June 7.
--my balkon garden actually has some green shoots and baby plants to look at where it didn't so much in May.
--i've started to regularly take my main holiday for the year in July. so now it's only a month away.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
the rest of the mystery layover revealed
Since elaine and adam knew it was Newark, New Jersey, here are some more details in case you want to visit. The name for the neighborhood is Ironbound. You can read about it here or here.
There was quite a large selection of Portuguese and Spanish restaurants from the small cafes to upscale places, so given the option again, I would definitely go back.
The closest train station? Newark Penn Station (not to be confused with New York Penn Station), and it is served by the fine folks at NJ Transit who run the local/regional NJ trains such as the one I took from the airport, Amtrak if you're coming from further away, or PATH if you're coming from the NYC side.
So you want to travel from Newark Liberty Airport to the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey? If you want to make a daytrip like me from the Newark Airport, it's very simple. Follow the AirTrain signs inside the airport and buy your ticket from the machine using paper money, coins, or a credit card from the NJ Transit ticket machines. It costs 7.50 each way, so buy 2 one way tickets to get there and back. Go upstairs and get on the AirTrain and get off at the RailLink which is the second (and last) stop. It comes after P4 parking. The AirTrain goes in two directions, so when you're getting on, make sure you get on in the right direction.
Use your ticket to get through the turnstile and go down the stairs to the platform. Wait there for one of the regional trains heading toward north toward NYC. (You cannot get on an Amtrak train, your NJ Transit ticket is only good for NJ Transit trains.) They are clearly marked on the schedule on the TV monitor in the waiting room, or look for a train that is silver with orange/brown rather than silver with red/blue (Amtrak). There are two NJ Transit lines coming through, the Northeast Corridor or the New Jersey coast line. Both stop at Newark Penn Station so hop on either one.
You are only going one stop to Newark Penn Station and it takes 5 minutes. The trains toward NYC are often crowded, but don't worry, people will stand in the aisles and such and you're only going one stop. Get off at Newark Penn Station. You want to walk toward Ironbound and away from the business district. The area outside Newark Penn Station has Ironbound clearly marked. If you happen to walk out an exit where you don't see an Ironbound directional sign, then continue to follow the perimeter of the train station building as there are clearly marked signs in existence.
Give yourself perhaps 5 to 10 min max depending on which exit you came through to reach the edge of the neighborhood, and then walk around and enjoy.
Overall timings from the airport:
--Leaving baggage claim you need from 5-20 min depending on where you are to go back up one escalator and find your way to the ticket machine.
--You need from 5-15 min to get a ticket, depending on if there are people in line in front of you.
--You need 10-12 min to wait for the AirTrain and then take the ride to the Rail station.
--Another 3 min and you'll be on the platform.
--Depending on the time of day, you may wait from 10-40 min for an NJ Transit train. These trains may often be 20 min late, so factor that into the equation.
--Then 5 min on the train and anther 5-10 min to be in the neighboorhood.
So depending on the timing of everything you may be door to door in an hour as I was, although I had budgeted 1.5 hours to get there. I had done the same for the return trip, so I'd say you'd want a four hour layover or more to make your travel worth the effort.
Assuming you have a painfully longer layover, rather than going to Newark Penn Station, you can instead go to New York Penn Station, just follow the above instructions and your ticket will instead cost 15 USD each way and you will be on the train longer, until New York Penn Station, the end of the line at around 40 min. Then you're on your own to find good Portuguese food!
There was quite a large selection of Portuguese and Spanish restaurants from the small cafes to upscale places, so given the option again, I would definitely go back.
The closest train station? Newark Penn Station (not to be confused with New York Penn Station), and it is served by the fine folks at NJ Transit who run the local/regional NJ trains such as the one I took from the airport, Amtrak if you're coming from further away, or PATH if you're coming from the NYC side.
So you want to travel from Newark Liberty Airport to the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey? If you want to make a daytrip like me from the Newark Airport, it's very simple. Follow the AirTrain signs inside the airport and buy your ticket from the machine using paper money, coins, or a credit card from the NJ Transit ticket machines. It costs 7.50 each way, so buy 2 one way tickets to get there and back. Go upstairs and get on the AirTrain and get off at the RailLink which is the second (and last) stop. It comes after P4 parking. The AirTrain goes in two directions, so when you're getting on, make sure you get on in the right direction.
Use your ticket to get through the turnstile and go down the stairs to the platform. Wait there for one of the regional trains heading toward north toward NYC. (You cannot get on an Amtrak train, your NJ Transit ticket is only good for NJ Transit trains.) They are clearly marked on the schedule on the TV monitor in the waiting room, or look for a train that is silver with orange/brown rather than silver with red/blue (Amtrak). There are two NJ Transit lines coming through, the Northeast Corridor or the New Jersey coast line. Both stop at Newark Penn Station so hop on either one.
You are only going one stop to Newark Penn Station and it takes 5 minutes. The trains toward NYC are often crowded, but don't worry, people will stand in the aisles and such and you're only going one stop. Get off at Newark Penn Station. You want to walk toward Ironbound and away from the business district. The area outside Newark Penn Station has Ironbound clearly marked. If you happen to walk out an exit where you don't see an Ironbound directional sign, then continue to follow the perimeter of the train station building as there are clearly marked signs in existence.
Give yourself perhaps 5 to 10 min max depending on which exit you came through to reach the edge of the neighborhood, and then walk around and enjoy.
Overall timings from the airport:
--Leaving baggage claim you need from 5-20 min depending on where you are to go back up one escalator and find your way to the ticket machine.
--You need from 5-15 min to get a ticket, depending on if there are people in line in front of you.
--You need 10-12 min to wait for the AirTrain and then take the ride to the Rail station.
--Another 3 min and you'll be on the platform.
--Depending on the time of day, you may wait from 10-40 min for an NJ Transit train. These trains may often be 20 min late, so factor that into the equation.
--Then 5 min on the train and anther 5-10 min to be in the neighboorhood.
So depending on the timing of everything you may be door to door in an hour as I was, although I had budgeted 1.5 hours to get there. I had done the same for the return trip, so I'd say you'd want a four hour layover or more to make your travel worth the effort.
Assuming you have a painfully longer layover, rather than going to Newark Penn Station, you can instead go to New York Penn Station, just follow the above instructions and your ticket will instead cost 15 USD each way and you will be on the train longer, until New York Penn Station, the end of the line at around 40 min. Then you're on your own to find good Portuguese food!
Monday, June 04, 2007
The mystery layover - Bom dia!
My flight from the Midwest to the East coast was cancelled so they moved me to one that left around 8 AM, arriving around 11 AM. My East coast to Cologne flight did not leave until 18 ish. Stuck with 7 hours in the airport before an 8 hour flight, and the luggage already checked through, I left the airport for a little half day trip.
I've yet to make it to Portugal proper, so I went to 'Little Portugal':
I stopped at a local supermarket and perused the Goya products aisle.
I hadn't eaten yet today (I don't usually do breakfast, only lunch), I stopped at a little cafe which reminded me very much of the cafes in Puerto Rico. I heard only Portuguese upon entering and the menu was only in Portuguese. English wasn't working when I asked for a sandwich, so I switched to Spanish and it worked much better.
It was a busy shopping streets with all kinds of stores selling Portuguese items.
A local restaurant that looks like a fortress. The strings of flags across the street alternated between US and Portugal.
The local Catholic church, flying both the US and Portuguese flags:
So where was I? Here are the clues:
I've yet to make it to Portugal proper, so I went to 'Little Portugal':
I stopped at a local supermarket and perused the Goya products aisle.
I hadn't eaten yet today (I don't usually do breakfast, only lunch), I stopped at a little cafe which reminded me very much of the cafes in Puerto Rico. I heard only Portuguese upon entering and the menu was only in Portuguese. English wasn't working when I asked for a sandwich, so I switched to Spanish and it worked much better.
It was a busy shopping streets with all kinds of stores selling Portuguese items.
A local restaurant that looks like a fortress. The strings of flags across the street alternated between US and Portugal.
The local Catholic church, flying both the US and Portuguese flags:
So where was I? Here are the clues:
--I took airport transport to the airport train station which took about 12 min. The local train from there to my destination took 5 minutes and cost 7.50 usd each way. It was a 5 min walk from the train station to the beginning of the first street.
--This location had Portuguese speakers from Portugal, but also from other locales such as Brazil and Portuguese speaking African nations.
--They have a big Portugal day fest once per year. However, I missed it by a week. :-( It's this coming weekend.
--In addition to Portuguese, Spanish was also heavily spoken, and overall Spanish is quite common in this general area.
--This state is known for having one of the highest tax rates for sales tax, cigarette tax, and property tax.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
jet lag plus-->better than traditional jet lag
So I'm sitting on the plane back to DE, at about two hours from CGN enjoying my exit row in cattle class, and I start sneezing. The guy behind me starts to sneeze also. I have no reason as to why this would be, and the first thought that comes into my head is that I am catching a cold from the cold air due to the exit door. I then banished that German thought immediately and pondered if it was the recycled air, and something had worked its way in, like perfume.
However, my nose starts to run watery, and it's excessive. Fortunately I insist on putting every napkin given to me during the trip in my pocket so I used them in lieu of tissues. On the flip side, I end of cursing the wadded up unused napkins in my bag every time I go somewhere thinking, why do I bring these things along? I sit there thinking--there is no way this is my June allergies invading-we're above the clouds using stale plane air.
Upon arriving at CGN and waiting for the bag, all was fine. I go out and find the car and head out with the window down and I'm beginning to get stuffed up. I try my tried and true test to see if something is a Germany flower allergy for me--I put on the AC with the windows up. Sure enough it stops.
I get up to the tiny town of B. and get out of the car and it gets worse again. After a brief three hour nap (yes, it's my secret weapon to get through the day, with the caveat being to make it no more than three hours), I wake up and it's worse.
You.have.got.to.be.f'ing.kidding.me.
I get wicked allergies in DE each year around June, but I think because I've been away this has just hit me like a ton of bricks. So my next move was to dump the stash of US drugs from the closet that are lovingly squirreled away for such the occasion. And then to mutter some choice expletives and I realized that a few of them 'may cause drowsiness'. I'm currently treading water in the sea of drowsiness, so I really don't need anymore help in that area.
I'm currently partaking in 'Tylenol Severe Allergy' as its sunshiny yellow box does not contain anything about drowsy. It's a new one in my line-up, so we'll see if it will be a returning one.
However, my nose starts to run watery, and it's excessive. Fortunately I insist on putting every napkin given to me during the trip in my pocket so I used them in lieu of tissues. On the flip side, I end of cursing the wadded up unused napkins in my bag every time I go somewhere thinking, why do I bring these things along? I sit there thinking--there is no way this is my June allergies invading-we're above the clouds using stale plane air.
Upon arriving at CGN and waiting for the bag, all was fine. I go out and find the car and head out with the window down and I'm beginning to get stuffed up. I try my tried and true test to see if something is a Germany flower allergy for me--I put on the AC with the windows up. Sure enough it stops.
I get up to the tiny town of B. and get out of the car and it gets worse again. After a brief three hour nap (yes, it's my secret weapon to get through the day, with the caveat being to make it no more than three hours), I wake up and it's worse.
You.have.got.to.be.f'ing.kidding.me.
I get wicked allergies in DE each year around June, but I think because I've been away this has just hit me like a ton of bricks. So my next move was to dump the stash of US drugs from the closet that are lovingly squirreled away for such the occasion. And then to mutter some choice expletives and I realized that a few of them 'may cause drowsiness'. I'm currently treading water in the sea of drowsiness, so I really don't need anymore help in that area.
I'm currently partaking in 'Tylenol Severe Allergy' as its sunshiny yellow box does not contain anything about drowsy. It's a new one in my line-up, so we'll see if it will be a returning one.
Monday, May 21, 2007
like a bat out of hell
is how i made the transition between planes in newark from cologne/newark to newark/houston. as always the cologne/newark flight was a petri dish of german/american cultural behaviror. the environment would make a social scientist giddy.
i was in the first row of peon class, an exit row that is in front of the boarding door, next to two very nice germans. the cologne/newark is on a tiny, old 757 with a 3-3 formation. the tv is in front of the door on the forward wall and dollhouse sized, so no one can really see it. but since CO's movie selection is usually crappy, no one cares.
this area is across from the kitchen and in front of the wall is a bathroom, so people congregate there, especially people walking around babies, etc. the flight attendants kept asking people to move aside, so as to not block the lilleputian screen. i was reading as were my two seatmates, so really it didn't matter. however, the americans dutifully moved aside, as did the germans, as someone in authority gave the request.
this was until my german seatmate stood in front of it. the flight attendant asks her to move and she says, why, as she's reading and he's asleep, i'm not blocking anyone. he blinks and says, well, the next row, because of the glare, they will often watch it. she then counters, 'it's so small i can barely see it, so i doubt they can.'
i'm baffled as to why this is worth arguing about, except that she is german, when the flight attendant puts his hand on his hip, whips out the gay snap and tells this grandmotherly german, 'oh honey, don't you dare give me trouble, uh-uh.' the german woman catchs that she's on a flight to america and dealing with an american and laughs. her husband, waking up to this controversy says, 'well, she's been like this for 40 years, good luck if you can get her under control. (insert loud german guffaw here).
it's great to be back stateside.
i was in the first row of peon class, an exit row that is in front of the boarding door, next to two very nice germans. the cologne/newark is on a tiny, old 757 with a 3-3 formation. the tv is in front of the door on the forward wall and dollhouse sized, so no one can really see it. but since CO's movie selection is usually crappy, no one cares.
this area is across from the kitchen and in front of the wall is a bathroom, so people congregate there, especially people walking around babies, etc. the flight attendants kept asking people to move aside, so as to not block the lilleputian screen. i was reading as were my two seatmates, so really it didn't matter. however, the americans dutifully moved aside, as did the germans, as someone in authority gave the request.
this was until my german seatmate stood in front of it. the flight attendant asks her to move and she says, why, as she's reading and he's asleep, i'm not blocking anyone. he blinks and says, well, the next row, because of the glare, they will often watch it. she then counters, 'it's so small i can barely see it, so i doubt they can.'
i'm baffled as to why this is worth arguing about, except that she is german, when the flight attendant puts his hand on his hip, whips out the gay snap and tells this grandmotherly german, 'oh honey, don't you dare give me trouble, uh-uh.' the german woman catchs that she's on a flight to america and dealing with an american and laughs. her husband, waking up to this controversy says, 'well, she's been like this for 40 years, good luck if you can get her under control. (insert loud german guffaw here).
it's great to be back stateside.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
A random Thursday holiday
It's a holiday here in Deutschland, Father's day as well as Ascension. As a product of Catholic schooling from age 5 until 22, I am a little miffed that I never had a day off for Ascension, until I came here.
Normally, when the public holiday occurs on a day mid-week, Tues-Thurs, I would usually take it easy the night before and maybe go to the bar and then sleep late into the holiday because the Lord and the rest of us here in the Fatherland know that the only thing open today is the churches and the bars/restaurants, although in B, the bars are actually shut also. Usually Germans will bridge the holiday and take the Monday or Friday off in addition, but I've found if you're in the mainstream travel group, that works 'usual' office hours, then you're in competition with most of Germany to get the long weekend and the prices end up sky high, so personally I won't take the bridge day. As well as the fact I like to conserve my holidays so that I can go longer distances and stay away longer, although more infrequently.
This holiday was a little different because I already came to the conclusion that I needed to spend the day packing for Saturday morning and catching up on housework/laundry. Also, I wanted to get my plants in order before I left since I need to take a few of them to the office to be personally watched over and others I can set up with saucers of water and they'll ride out the two weeks without me since Germany is not expecting a heatwave (fingers crossed).
So since the day was anticipated to be lazy, I had some time. D. was so kind to offer to cook me dinner on Friday so he also needed the day to himself to do his work since he would lose Friday night. So I took the opportunity earlier in the week to call the Post Frau to try to arrange a walking date for either Wednesday or Thursday, and fortunately she chose Thursday.
The Post Frau is the owner of the Post Dog, whom I absolutely adore. Here in B. there is some extreme road constuction going on in two parts of the main road through town, which is throwing off everyone's timings. I've been missing her since it started as I still leave my house at the same time, but I get to the office 10 minutes later so I end up passing her in the traffic. However, I did see her briefly before I went to the US the last time, and she mentioned seeing me walking in town, and would I like to go walking with her perhaps, and I could take her handy number and perhaps call her?
As anyone living here knows, to receive an invitation from a German that you are not somehow affliated with (through work, school, church, kids, whatever) is quite a feat, so I did not want to treat it lightly. I ended up staying longer in the US than anticipated and then going to the UK, but I didn't want to go back to the US again without making the time for her, lest I appear rude here.
I called her on Tuesday and she said, yes of course, as long as the weather is good, Thursday would be good. We agreed to meet at 11 and sure enough, she was there with the Post Dog at 5 til 11. It was slightly spitting rain, as it had yesterday also, so not the best day for a long walk, but still acceptable. We went to one of the trails off of B. The Post Dog sat at attention facing forward in the middle of the backseat the entire time, but reacting with excitement when she turned into the parking lot, as he knew where he was. In addition his 'Dog Friend' was there, but they were heading off on a different trail.
We went to one of the trails she likes, a shorter one because of the weather. The Post Dog was permitted to go off-leash, as he is rather well-behaved around other people, although she put him back on the leash whenever we were near another dog that he did not know. We conversed in German, although she has some English, but really it was easier for her to just explain in German with examples when I did not know a word. I now understand, her husband has allergies and is very overweight, therefore he does not accompany her much on walks, nor does he go out much with the Post Dog.
It was a lovely walk, especially as the river was full due to the recent rains, so everything was very fresh. We did cross over with the Post Dog's dog friend later and they took turns chasing each other, even into the river. There was some foam in the river where it collected in a corner near some tree roots, it seems that the Post Dog is absolutely facinated and somewhat afraid of foam.
In the end we walked for two hours. We saw one set of people who were walking with their beer wagon into the woods (the Father's day tradition), that seems to not be limited to fathers. Overall it was a lovely day and the Post Frau suggested that once I come back from America again to call her and perhaps bring D. also. Not bad for a random Thursday holiday.
Normally, when the public holiday occurs on a day mid-week, Tues-Thurs, I would usually take it easy the night before and maybe go to the bar and then sleep late into the holiday because the Lord and the rest of us here in the Fatherland know that the only thing open today is the churches and the bars/restaurants, although in B, the bars are actually shut also. Usually Germans will bridge the holiday and take the Monday or Friday off in addition, but I've found if you're in the mainstream travel group, that works 'usual' office hours, then you're in competition with most of Germany to get the long weekend and the prices end up sky high, so personally I won't take the bridge day. As well as the fact I like to conserve my holidays so that I can go longer distances and stay away longer, although more infrequently.
This holiday was a little different because I already came to the conclusion that I needed to spend the day packing for Saturday morning and catching up on housework/laundry. Also, I wanted to get my plants in order before I left since I need to take a few of them to the office to be personally watched over and others I can set up with saucers of water and they'll ride out the two weeks without me since Germany is not expecting a heatwave (fingers crossed).
So since the day was anticipated to be lazy, I had some time. D. was so kind to offer to cook me dinner on Friday so he also needed the day to himself to do his work since he would lose Friday night. So I took the opportunity earlier in the week to call the Post Frau to try to arrange a walking date for either Wednesday or Thursday, and fortunately she chose Thursday.
The Post Frau is the owner of the Post Dog, whom I absolutely adore. Here in B. there is some extreme road constuction going on in two parts of the main road through town, which is throwing off everyone's timings. I've been missing her since it started as I still leave my house at the same time, but I get to the office 10 minutes later so I end up passing her in the traffic. However, I did see her briefly before I went to the US the last time, and she mentioned seeing me walking in town, and would I like to go walking with her perhaps, and I could take her handy number and perhaps call her?
As anyone living here knows, to receive an invitation from a German that you are not somehow affliated with (through work, school, church, kids, whatever) is quite a feat, so I did not want to treat it lightly. I ended up staying longer in the US than anticipated and then going to the UK, but I didn't want to go back to the US again without making the time for her, lest I appear rude here.
I called her on Tuesday and she said, yes of course, as long as the weather is good, Thursday would be good. We agreed to meet at 11 and sure enough, she was there with the Post Dog at 5 til 11. It was slightly spitting rain, as it had yesterday also, so not the best day for a long walk, but still acceptable. We went to one of the trails off of B. The Post Dog sat at attention facing forward in the middle of the backseat the entire time, but reacting with excitement when she turned into the parking lot, as he knew where he was. In addition his 'Dog Friend' was there, but they were heading off on a different trail.
We went to one of the trails she likes, a shorter one because of the weather. The Post Dog was permitted to go off-leash, as he is rather well-behaved around other people, although she put him back on the leash whenever we were near another dog that he did not know. We conversed in German, although she has some English, but really it was easier for her to just explain in German with examples when I did not know a word. I now understand, her husband has allergies and is very overweight, therefore he does not accompany her much on walks, nor does he go out much with the Post Dog.
It was a lovely walk, especially as the river was full due to the recent rains, so everything was very fresh. We did cross over with the Post Dog's dog friend later and they took turns chasing each other, even into the river. There was some foam in the river where it collected in a corner near some tree roots, it seems that the Post Dog is absolutely facinated and somewhat afraid of foam.
In the end we walked for two hours. We saw one set of people who were walking with their beer wagon into the woods (the Father's day tradition), that seems to not be limited to fathers. Overall it was a lovely day and the Post Frau suggested that once I come back from America again to call her and perhaps bring D. also. Not bad for a random Thursday holiday.
Monday, May 14, 2007
why i am happy that thursday is a holiday here...
This week I fly to the US on Saturday for a work conference through Wednesday, then over to Philly for Thurs through Memorial day, and then back to the midwest for another week of work.
Before I go, I need to figure out a few vacation related things, mainly,
-to book passage back from the Faroe Islands for my July camping trip there. The outgoing ferry is taken care of already.
-to look forward with giddy anticipation the shipment of a new tent to Philly. My current tent is basic and general and nice for Austria in the spring, but I'm not sure how it held up in Iceland some days last year, and the Faroes is anticipated to be worse with more rain and wind. The new one is geared more for the extreme and can be used in snow and is wind tested to withstand 106 mph and is much cheaper to purchase in the US than here. Whee!
-I need to have a rough draft of the Sept Lithuania trip in hand for when I see Aunt R in Philly over the weekend, so she has an idea of what to pack for what we're doing, as the next time I see her after that will be in Sept when she arrives here.
-I need to do a few loads of laundry and all that other crap that must be done before a US trip.
Before I go, I need to figure out a few vacation related things, mainly,
-to book passage back from the Faroe Islands for my July camping trip there. The outgoing ferry is taken care of already.
-to look forward with giddy anticipation the shipment of a new tent to Philly. My current tent is basic and general and nice for Austria in the spring, but I'm not sure how it held up in Iceland some days last year, and the Faroes is anticipated to be worse with more rain and wind. The new one is geared more for the extreme and can be used in snow and is wind tested to withstand 106 mph and is much cheaper to purchase in the US than here. Whee!
-I need to have a rough draft of the Sept Lithuania trip in hand for when I see Aunt R in Philly over the weekend, so she has an idea of what to pack for what we're doing, as the next time I see her after that will be in Sept when she arrives here.
-I need to do a few loads of laundry and all that other crap that must be done before a US trip.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
recent visitors
I love the stat counter to see what people are looking for and how the find me. I'm going to the UK tomorrow so I'll be offline until Monday. So in the meantime, a few to ponder:
from google japan: entrance pfand supermarket machine
via google uk: campsite near cologne
from us google:
-upkeeping a monument
-"vegetarian chicken" vegan uk
-language acquisition
-mauthausen mcdonalds location
-getting Quorn products in germany
-you know you're german when
from google ireland: paper boxes to go into the oven from holland
from google canada: "sin park"
and the best, from google germany:
-"germany is great" blogspot -->this sounds like it should belong to the polar opposite of J!
Happy weekend.
from google japan: entrance pfand supermarket machine
via google uk: campsite near cologne
from us google:
-upkeeping a monument
-"vegetarian chicken" vegan uk
-language acquisition
-mauthausen mcdonalds location
-getting Quorn products in germany
-you know you're german when
from google ireland: paper boxes to go into the oven from holland
from google canada: "sin park"
and the best, from google germany:
-"germany is great" blogspot -->this sounds like it should belong to the polar opposite of J!
Happy weekend.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
On French politics, from my French colleague over dinner tonight
"We opened a bottle of champagne when we heard Sarkozy won. Sure there will be more burned out cars, but ultimately change is what is needed to move forward."
Working here in Europe, with colleagues from here, one picks up a different flavor of news than what is shown on CNN.
Working here in Europe, with colleagues from here, one picks up a different flavor of news than what is shown on CNN.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Queue the 'Sanford and Son' theme song
I have never been OCD as far as cleanliness and organization. I require a modicum of cleanliness in the bathroom and there are separate piles for dirty clothes although clean clothes may get folded but remain on the floor in piles waiting to make it to the wardrobe if I got distracted, like...
with the internet
or the phone
or travel planning
or flossing my teeth.
I make certain concessions here in the Fatherland for spaces that others can see--I keep the balkon design simplistic and orderly. I finally got patio furniture last weekend that was put out over the weekend, as well as my first tomato plants of the season. My landlady has never set foot in the apartment since she rented it to me, nor has anyone else except my close work colleagues who were visiting for a specific purpose, like to set something up in the apartment, or, of course D who whines and then does the dishes sitting in the sink.
In my almost four years in DE, I haven't ever entertained at home, and my visitors tend to be of the same nature, that their spare cash goes toward travels, and they would not think twice about sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag, or going into a cupboard to search for something, because if you are in my house obviously there is nothing to hide.
I am also an only child and have grown up with the mentality of 'well, if I kick my shoes off in the hallway, I am the only one who will move them. I have no shoe fairy to pick them up and it's my own damn fault if I trip over them anyway, so there they will stay until I put them on again.'
So now queue the tune. The place is a mess even for me for a few reasons:
1. I spent two weeks in the US so some new things are sitting around.
2. I go back to the US for another two week the next weekend.
3. There have been some organizational work changes last week that have changed my whole outlook on things. I've been in a good mood so I've been tackling paperwork.
4. Due to 4, I've also been moved by the Holy Spirit to plan the rest of my holidays for the year. So the place is strewn with guidebooks, maps, and sheets of paper with ferry schedules as I try to bang some things out.
So why is this a problem?
As I come home from Polish class tonight at 21.30 I spot a black thing on my balkon. We've had a lot of rain and wind today, so I figure it's a black plastic bag. Upon arriving home I peek outside the sliding door as there is a tiny bit of light outside. But it's not a plastic bag, it's a black cat.
I live on the floor above the ground floor, let's say at least 10 feet above the ground. I have never come home to a cat on the balkon and have no idea how it got there, and worse, how it will get back to where it came from, which is the ground level where it can walk on its little ramp up to the other balkon where it lives.
As I open the sliding door it starts meowing holy hell. Then I am briefly confused, as I think perhaps it is not the one downstairs but one of the random ones outside and perhaps lacking in some important shot. It comes to the doorway and continues to shout at me, like I had anything to do with the situation. I walk away, but it won't come into the apartment. I'm now worried as it's after 21, and I am not sure if I should ring someone's bell as it is late. Fortunately my neighbor appears on her Balkon, perhaps hearing the meowing, and starts to call for 'Luna.' Well, this is a good sign as that is the one she is usually calling for. Luna answers her, and she keeps calling, but doesn't figure out where she is. "um, hallo?"
So she suggests if she can come get her. So she walks through the squalid and out of order apartment to get to my balcon. I don't even want to know what she thought of this, as this whole area is overwhelmingly orderly. A blade of grass who does not follow the rules has no chance here.
I manage to stumble out with 'Sorry, I just got home, I'm not sure how long she was there--or how she got there." At least she looked dry. She picks her up and the cat shouting instantly ceases. She answers that she thinks she came up from the roof. Being that her apartment is on an equal level as mine, I have no idea how she got to the roof, but I'm sure this woman's delicate sensibilities were already offended enough having to invite herself over to my disorderly apartment to fetch her cat, and then to listen to rambling bad German on top of it all without me inquiring to the roof question. I am *the* non-German in the building and I imagine one of the few Americans she has ever had to deal with and boy am I doing my country proud tonight.
with the internet
or the phone
or travel planning
or flossing my teeth.
I make certain concessions here in the Fatherland for spaces that others can see--I keep the balkon design simplistic and orderly. I finally got patio furniture last weekend that was put out over the weekend, as well as my first tomato plants of the season. My landlady has never set foot in the apartment since she rented it to me, nor has anyone else except my close work colleagues who were visiting for a specific purpose, like to set something up in the apartment, or, of course D who whines and then does the dishes sitting in the sink.
In my almost four years in DE, I haven't ever entertained at home, and my visitors tend to be of the same nature, that their spare cash goes toward travels, and they would not think twice about sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag, or going into a cupboard to search for something, because if you are in my house obviously there is nothing to hide.
I am also an only child and have grown up with the mentality of 'well, if I kick my shoes off in the hallway, I am the only one who will move them. I have no shoe fairy to pick them up and it's my own damn fault if I trip over them anyway, so there they will stay until I put them on again.'
So now queue the tune. The place is a mess even for me for a few reasons:
1. I spent two weeks in the US so some new things are sitting around.
2. I go back to the US for another two week the next weekend.
3. There have been some organizational work changes last week that have changed my whole outlook on things. I've been in a good mood so I've been tackling paperwork.
4. Due to 4, I've also been moved by the Holy Spirit to plan the rest of my holidays for the year. So the place is strewn with guidebooks, maps, and sheets of paper with ferry schedules as I try to bang some things out.
So why is this a problem?
As I come home from Polish class tonight at 21.30 I spot a black thing on my balkon. We've had a lot of rain and wind today, so I figure it's a black plastic bag. Upon arriving home I peek outside the sliding door as there is a tiny bit of light outside. But it's not a plastic bag, it's a black cat.
I live on the floor above the ground floor, let's say at least 10 feet above the ground. I have never come home to a cat on the balkon and have no idea how it got there, and worse, how it will get back to where it came from, which is the ground level where it can walk on its little ramp up to the other balkon where it lives.
As I open the sliding door it starts meowing holy hell. Then I am briefly confused, as I think perhaps it is not the one downstairs but one of the random ones outside and perhaps lacking in some important shot. It comes to the doorway and continues to shout at me, like I had anything to do with the situation. I walk away, but it won't come into the apartment. I'm now worried as it's after 21, and I am not sure if I should ring someone's bell as it is late. Fortunately my neighbor appears on her Balkon, perhaps hearing the meowing, and starts to call for 'Luna.' Well, this is a good sign as that is the one she is usually calling for. Luna answers her, and she keeps calling, but doesn't figure out where she is. "um, hallo?"
So she suggests if she can come get her. So she walks through the squalid and out of order apartment to get to my balcon. I don't even want to know what she thought of this, as this whole area is overwhelmingly orderly. A blade of grass who does not follow the rules has no chance here.
I manage to stumble out with 'Sorry, I just got home, I'm not sure how long she was there--or how she got there." At least she looked dry. She picks her up and the cat shouting instantly ceases. She answers that she thinks she came up from the roof. Being that her apartment is on an equal level as mine, I have no idea how she got to the roof, but I'm sure this woman's delicate sensibilities were already offended enough having to invite herself over to my disorderly apartment to fetch her cat, and then to listen to rambling bad German on top of it all without me inquiring to the roof question. I am *the* non-German in the building and I imagine one of the few Americans she has ever had to deal with and boy am I doing my country proud tonight.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Supermarket shopping in Germany
Since my Holland supermarket shopping post, you may wonder what I do the 7 out of 8 weeks when I am not across the border in either Holland or Belgium. Then I do my weekly shopping in Germany, mainly in the tiny town of B. where I live. In my neck of the woods (tiny town between Cologne and D'dorf), these are the usual options from most to least expensive:
1. Get in the car or take the bus/train to either Cologne, D'dorf or Bonn to the Kaufhof Galeria. I rarely do that because it requires too much effort and the food part is in the basement where there's no natural light. When I would go: when I require a nice bottle of wine, champagne, or something very specific that is difficult to find elsewhere, such as pasta shaped and colored like little sombreros.
2. Get in the car or go on foot to the Kaufpark in B. They have all of the basics that you could do your shopping there every single week, from vegetables to washing powder as well as some other stuff like a rack of greeting cars, some school supplies, sewing needs, plastic kitchen implements, etc. When I would go: when I need a crate of beer or water, or maybe when it's snowing outside and I just want to go to one place and be done with all shopping. Would not so heavily recommend the one in B. in the summer as the meat counter has a strong smell and it's next to the frozen area which is next to the checkout, so you're stuck with the scent whether you like it or not.
3. The heavy hitters of discount: the Penny Markt, Aldi Sued, Lidl, and Plus. They are smaller than the above stores, but inventory is ever-changing so if you go away for two or three months, perhaps 15% of the store has moved on to something new--like it was Chinese week when you left and now it's Mexican week, or computer week changed to exercise week. I know people who do all of their shopping at these places, in particular if they watch a budget. You can get all of your basic foodstuffs and vegetables there, as well as other things like toilet paper, chocolate, washing powder, or a bunch of cut flowers. They all go through 'themes'. Most of them are doing 'garden things' right now, so they'll sell garden gloves, plant dirt, watering cans, whatever.
Their advantage is that their prices tend to be very good. Their disadvantage is that once they've sold something, it's basically gone. Also, it's sometimes a 'take it or leave it' place. For example, they advertised a nice little 2 gig usb stick at Penny. Since my colleague goes every week, I sent her with the cash for the following week when they would sell them, and the instructions, 'it says various colors, you know what that means?' 'Yes Heather, no orange for you.' So what color does she come back with? Orange. Why? Because this particular Penny only got a shipment of Orange.
4. My personal favorite-the Turkish vegetable stores. The other side of B. is heavily Turkish. I stumbled into one of these stores the one day and was pleasantly surprised by the selection of vegetables, although they also sell some other Turkish things, like pepper, bread, dried lentils, and yogurt. I was unpleasantly surprised when the woman shouts across the room in a booming Turkish/German voice, something in German about 'return'. My brain moved in slow motion...i didn't have any bottles...they close at 19, it's only 18....oh--she's noticing that I have returned, I was here last week. Her friendly shouting and asking if I needed help in my early days of German comprehension actually scared me into going into the other Turkish store about 2 min away on foot where they are much more soft spoken.
At this 'other' one they also sell Portuguese and Polish foods, in addition to the usual German and Turkish stuff. It's the type of mom and pop place that you may remember as a kid in the US, or at least on TV. The friendly shop owner often gives the kids a piece of candy and things mysteriously appear from under the counter for certain customers and are put into their bags as a special gift. When I've gone in and it's not busy either the owner or her son have put up with a lot of my bad German because they insist on asking me questions, like what I am doing here. Very friendly people, she showed me a photo from under the counter of her daughter in a wedding dress. The daughter now lives in Portugal, which explains the Portuguese wares.
On Saturday I stopped by, with my TJ bag filled with some empty bottles and handed her the bag. She takes care of them while I shop. Then, I usually buy a bagful to get me through the week:
Here was this week's fine bounty, for a grand total of 8 euros. That's a head of lettuce, some cilantro, an eggplant, a small broccoli, a zucchini, 2 bunches of green onions, some green beans in the front in the plastic bag, some mushrooms in another plastic bag, a hunk of ginger, two cans of kidney beans, and on top of them, a Polish candy bar to share with my Polish teacher as I go back to class on Monday.
You'll also note 3 garlics. Garlic isn't looking that great anywhere, but it is essential for the recipe I was making. I picked one up and as the owner was ringing me up, she frowned. 'Go and pick another one.' Ok, so I pick another one, and she frowns again. Obviously the American cannot be trusted on this task, so she gets up herself to go feel up all the garlics and to frown at them. Finally she picks the biggest one, comes back and says, 'I'm not sure, so I only charge you for one' and throws the three in the bag.
So what was the end result of the above? My favorite Chinese dish, recipe comes from here. (Yes, it includes tofu on the top left. That came from Aldi Sued.)
5. Since it is the tiny town of B., there is also the option to buy direct from the local farms. Apples, potatoes, jam, honey, uncultured yogurt, whatever is in season that they produce, they sell. It's a good option, but it does involve the car and a 7 min drive minimum which is why I don't go to them every single week. However, if you ever need a certain variety of potato, I know just the place, a farm that does only potatoes, on the edge of B. You go in and tell them what you're looking to cook, and they will tell you the proper potato variety that you want to buy to make your recipe turn out its best.
1. Get in the car or take the bus/train to either Cologne, D'dorf or Bonn to the Kaufhof Galeria. I rarely do that because it requires too much effort and the food part is in the basement where there's no natural light. When I would go: when I require a nice bottle of wine, champagne, or something very specific that is difficult to find elsewhere, such as pasta shaped and colored like little sombreros.
2. Get in the car or go on foot to the Kaufpark in B. They have all of the basics that you could do your shopping there every single week, from vegetables to washing powder as well as some other stuff like a rack of greeting cars, some school supplies, sewing needs, plastic kitchen implements, etc. When I would go: when I need a crate of beer or water, or maybe when it's snowing outside and I just want to go to one place and be done with all shopping. Would not so heavily recommend the one in B. in the summer as the meat counter has a strong smell and it's next to the frozen area which is next to the checkout, so you're stuck with the scent whether you like it or not.
3. The heavy hitters of discount: the Penny Markt, Aldi Sued, Lidl, and Plus. They are smaller than the above stores, but inventory is ever-changing so if you go away for two or three months, perhaps 15% of the store has moved on to something new--like it was Chinese week when you left and now it's Mexican week, or computer week changed to exercise week. I know people who do all of their shopping at these places, in particular if they watch a budget. You can get all of your basic foodstuffs and vegetables there, as well as other things like toilet paper, chocolate, washing powder, or a bunch of cut flowers. They all go through 'themes'. Most of them are doing 'garden things' right now, so they'll sell garden gloves, plant dirt, watering cans, whatever.
Their advantage is that their prices tend to be very good. Their disadvantage is that once they've sold something, it's basically gone. Also, it's sometimes a 'take it or leave it' place. For example, they advertised a nice little 2 gig usb stick at Penny. Since my colleague goes every week, I sent her with the cash for the following week when they would sell them, and the instructions, 'it says various colors, you know what that means?' 'Yes Heather, no orange for you.' So what color does she come back with? Orange. Why? Because this particular Penny only got a shipment of Orange.
4. My personal favorite-the Turkish vegetable stores. The other side of B. is heavily Turkish. I stumbled into one of these stores the one day and was pleasantly surprised by the selection of vegetables, although they also sell some other Turkish things, like pepper, bread, dried lentils, and yogurt. I was unpleasantly surprised when the woman shouts across the room in a booming Turkish/German voice, something in German about 'return'. My brain moved in slow motion...i didn't have any bottles...they close at 19, it's only 18....oh--she's noticing that I have returned, I was here last week. Her friendly shouting and asking if I needed help in my early days of German comprehension actually scared me into going into the other Turkish store about 2 min away on foot where they are much more soft spoken.
At this 'other' one they also sell Portuguese and Polish foods, in addition to the usual German and Turkish stuff. It's the type of mom and pop place that you may remember as a kid in the US, or at least on TV. The friendly shop owner often gives the kids a piece of candy and things mysteriously appear from under the counter for certain customers and are put into their bags as a special gift. When I've gone in and it's not busy either the owner or her son have put up with a lot of my bad German because they insist on asking me questions, like what I am doing here. Very friendly people, she showed me a photo from under the counter of her daughter in a wedding dress. The daughter now lives in Portugal, which explains the Portuguese wares.
On Saturday I stopped by, with my TJ bag filled with some empty bottles and handed her the bag. She takes care of them while I shop. Then, I usually buy a bagful to get me through the week:
Here was this week's fine bounty, for a grand total of 8 euros. That's a head of lettuce, some cilantro, an eggplant, a small broccoli, a zucchini, 2 bunches of green onions, some green beans in the front in the plastic bag, some mushrooms in another plastic bag, a hunk of ginger, two cans of kidney beans, and on top of them, a Polish candy bar to share with my Polish teacher as I go back to class on Monday.
You'll also note 3 garlics. Garlic isn't looking that great anywhere, but it is essential for the recipe I was making. I picked one up and as the owner was ringing me up, she frowned. 'Go and pick another one.' Ok, so I pick another one, and she frowns again. Obviously the American cannot be trusted on this task, so she gets up herself to go feel up all the garlics and to frown at them. Finally she picks the biggest one, comes back and says, 'I'm not sure, so I only charge you for one' and throws the three in the bag.
So what was the end result of the above? My favorite Chinese dish, recipe comes from here. (Yes, it includes tofu on the top left. That came from Aldi Sued.)
5. Since it is the tiny town of B., there is also the option to buy direct from the local farms. Apples, potatoes, jam, honey, uncultured yogurt, whatever is in season that they produce, they sell. It's a good option, but it does involve the car and a 7 min drive minimum which is why I don't go to them every single week. However, if you ever need a certain variety of potato, I know just the place, a farm that does only potatoes, on the edge of B. You go in and tell them what you're looking to cook, and they will tell you the proper potato variety that you want to buy to make your recipe turn out its best.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
More on Holland supermarket shopping
Since my recent post on shopping at the Tref in Holland and since people are interested, today I give you more details about escaping to where the grass in greener.
Why do I like to shop at the supermarkets in Holland?
1. It's a more 'American' shopping experience, which I'm in the mood for about once every 8 weeks. Meaning specifically--the supermarkets there are bigger, similar to what you would find at home. Wide aisles, tall ceilings, and 15-20 cash registers. Further, because it's usually crowded with the Dutch as opposed to Germans, no one is bumping into you, pushing you aside, or breathing down your neck in line.
2. The variety and pricing of ethnic foods. If you like Mexican food, you're stuck with the basement of the Kaufhof Galeria for overpriced taco shells and fajita wraps, like they were airlifted in from Mexico instead of produced somewhere here on the continent. The soft faco wraps I would pay 3.99 for at Rewe in Germany, I can get for 2.39 at Tref. Additionally, there are a lot more Indian and Asian options available.
3. Options! Choices! Here is Germany it's very simple. There is one variety of soft taco wraps, and one of two brands of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, a handful of dish soap options, etc. Which is all fine and good when you're sending your boyfriend to the store for your dish soap, because when you say 'the lemon one' there IS only one lemon one so it makes his life easy. However, I like choice. I like to have to choose what type of toilet paper graces my bottom. Do I want the recycled non-bleach one, or the soft enough for a baby's bottom blue one, or the white one with pink clouds? Further, there are multiple sizes of various products, so I can choose whether I want the pink clouds in a four pack, or a 9 pack or 24.
4. Language - If you don't speak German, you can sometimes luck out and find a better product assortment that will include certain brands that have instructions in English, which is ever so helpful if you're using something that requires proper usage, like say, oven cleaner, and you don't want to look up all the words in your dictionary, you just want to use it already. There's also a pretty good chance that depending on where you are in Holland, you will find supermarket staff that speak English if you had a question.
5. Vegetarian options - Yeah, I already mentioned this before, but the assortment is better than in Germany. Specific brands you can usually find are Valess, if you're in a Jumbo supermarket (more on them below) they have their own branded veg products, as well as sometimes some Quorn products which are more expensive and a lesser assortment than in Belguim.
6. Packaged options - Yes, the natural in-season products that you buy direct from the farmer in Germany and then wash, cut, and assemble in a meal are the best. But remember those nice little convenient packages already chopped up and ready to go into the skillet from the US? Yep, they have them in Holland. Pick up your meat/tofu plus a veg packet plus a sauce and you're good to go. And you can find little bags of washed baby carrots. How lovely.
7. Vegetable options - Here in Germany it's tough to find a butternut squash where I live. For some reason they're plentiful in Holland supermarkets. Same thing on a scotch bonnet pepper.
8. American imports - For some reason, in the large Holland supermarkets you will find a selection of American products, at ridiculously expensive prices, similar to the British shop in Cologne. Sure you don't want to spend 4.99 euros on a Betty Crocker cakemix. However, if I do want to do so, I'd rather be overwhelmed with shelves of American products than have to visually sift through the British products to find the American ones (Sorry D!). Expensive products I've seen available in Holland: pam spray, rootbeer, jim beam hot wing sauce, kraft bbq sauce, and a small offering of Betty Crocker mixes and frosting, among others.
9. "American" products - Similar to how the Germans offer 'American' things, like a version of 'big American frozen pizza' that is some disgusting mix that you would never buy in America, the Dutch offer 'American' things also, which are produced in Holland, so priced similar to other local goods, not imports. However, the Dutch version of 'American' things are not so, uh, German influenced. In particular I recommend Dutch American bbq sauce and ketchup as they are less salty and less sugary in taste than their German cousins.
10. "American similar" products. I like German naturalness, with the organic and the bio and all that. I also like anti-bacterial soap and toilet cleaner that will kill the germs to kingdom come, and I think I can have a world with both sides. I live with German herbal teas to cure general ills 95% of the time, but when my work colleagues start hacking with their flus and colds, my world feels a little nicer with chemicals at work to protect me. Holland carries all the nice American chemical laden products that you may be missing, or something similar to them.
The negatives? You knew there must be some:
1. There are more preservatives in Holland products than in German products. There are ingredients that start with E and then a three digit number.
2. With the exception of ethnic foods, I usually find the pricing to be slightly higher in Holland than in Germany if you are going to buy the exact same product. I'm talking a difference of 2.39 to 2.49, but still.
3. In Holland they round up your bill one or two cents. I've yet to figure it out exactly, but if it comes to say 19.99, and you give them 20 euros, you will not get change. The store computers automatically always do it so the cashier is giving you back what he/she is supposed to, but still it's a little odd.
4. The Dutch tomatoes. They suck there just like they do in Germany.
Interested in crossing the border? At the top of this post I point back to my earlier post with instructions to get to Tref. My other favorite in Holland is Jumbo supermarkets, which is similar to Tref. Sometimes they have smaller versions of a Jumbo if you look for a nearby one, so I recommend my personal Jumbo favorite--Jumbo in Roermond. You do need to pay for parking in the structure or nearby on the street, but it's minimal. They will also validate your parking structure ticket with your Jumbo receipt so it takes off a euro or something, just be sure to give your parking structure ticket to the checkout person.
The nice thing about a day trip to Jumbo Roermond is that it is situated within Roermond, so you can go and see the nice little cobblestone town, including the old town square which has a market on Saturdays. If you time it right there is a clock tower with figures which spins around and plays a little tune, so nifty to see. In addition, there is a walkway under the highway which many use to travel between the town center and the Roermond Outlet Center. It's not an outlet center the way we think of outlets in the US with discounted prices, it's more of a big outdoor shopping center, but if you make the trip to Roermond you might as well go over to see it.
Why do I like to shop at the supermarkets in Holland?
1. It's a more 'American' shopping experience, which I'm in the mood for about once every 8 weeks. Meaning specifically--the supermarkets there are bigger, similar to what you would find at home. Wide aisles, tall ceilings, and 15-20 cash registers. Further, because it's usually crowded with the Dutch as opposed to Germans, no one is bumping into you, pushing you aside, or breathing down your neck in line.
2. The variety and pricing of ethnic foods. If you like Mexican food, you're stuck with the basement of the Kaufhof Galeria for overpriced taco shells and fajita wraps, like they were airlifted in from Mexico instead of produced somewhere here on the continent. The soft faco wraps I would pay 3.99 for at Rewe in Germany, I can get for 2.39 at Tref. Additionally, there are a lot more Indian and Asian options available.
3. Options! Choices! Here is Germany it's very simple. There is one variety of soft taco wraps, and one of two brands of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, a handful of dish soap options, etc. Which is all fine and good when you're sending your boyfriend to the store for your dish soap, because when you say 'the lemon one' there IS only one lemon one so it makes his life easy. However, I like choice. I like to have to choose what type of toilet paper graces my bottom. Do I want the recycled non-bleach one, or the soft enough for a baby's bottom blue one, or the white one with pink clouds? Further, there are multiple sizes of various products, so I can choose whether I want the pink clouds in a four pack, or a 9 pack or 24.
4. Language - If you don't speak German, you can sometimes luck out and find a better product assortment that will include certain brands that have instructions in English, which is ever so helpful if you're using something that requires proper usage, like say, oven cleaner, and you don't want to look up all the words in your dictionary, you just want to use it already. There's also a pretty good chance that depending on where you are in Holland, you will find supermarket staff that speak English if you had a question.
5. Vegetarian options - Yeah, I already mentioned this before, but the assortment is better than in Germany. Specific brands you can usually find are Valess, if you're in a Jumbo supermarket (more on them below) they have their own branded veg products, as well as sometimes some Quorn products which are more expensive and a lesser assortment than in Belguim.
6. Packaged options - Yes, the natural in-season products that you buy direct from the farmer in Germany and then wash, cut, and assemble in a meal are the best. But remember those nice little convenient packages already chopped up and ready to go into the skillet from the US? Yep, they have them in Holland. Pick up your meat/tofu plus a veg packet plus a sauce and you're good to go. And you can find little bags of washed baby carrots. How lovely.
7. Vegetable options - Here in Germany it's tough to find a butternut squash where I live. For some reason they're plentiful in Holland supermarkets. Same thing on a scotch bonnet pepper.
8. American imports - For some reason, in the large Holland supermarkets you will find a selection of American products, at ridiculously expensive prices, similar to the British shop in Cologne. Sure you don't want to spend 4.99 euros on a Betty Crocker cakemix. However, if I do want to do so, I'd rather be overwhelmed with shelves of American products than have to visually sift through the British products to find the American ones (Sorry D!). Expensive products I've seen available in Holland: pam spray, rootbeer, jim beam hot wing sauce, kraft bbq sauce, and a small offering of Betty Crocker mixes and frosting, among others.
9. "American" products - Similar to how the Germans offer 'American' things, like a version of 'big American frozen pizza' that is some disgusting mix that you would never buy in America, the Dutch offer 'American' things also, which are produced in Holland, so priced similar to other local goods, not imports. However, the Dutch version of 'American' things are not so, uh, German influenced. In particular I recommend Dutch American bbq sauce and ketchup as they are less salty and less sugary in taste than their German cousins.
10. "American similar" products. I like German naturalness, with the organic and the bio and all that. I also like anti-bacterial soap and toilet cleaner that will kill the germs to kingdom come, and I think I can have a world with both sides. I live with German herbal teas to cure general ills 95% of the time, but when my work colleagues start hacking with their flus and colds, my world feels a little nicer with chemicals at work to protect me. Holland carries all the nice American chemical laden products that you may be missing, or something similar to them.
The negatives? You knew there must be some:
1. There are more preservatives in Holland products than in German products. There are ingredients that start with E and then a three digit number.
2. With the exception of ethnic foods, I usually find the pricing to be slightly higher in Holland than in Germany if you are going to buy the exact same product. I'm talking a difference of 2.39 to 2.49, but still.
3. In Holland they round up your bill one or two cents. I've yet to figure it out exactly, but if it comes to say 19.99, and you give them 20 euros, you will not get change. The store computers automatically always do it so the cashier is giving you back what he/she is supposed to, but still it's a little odd.
4. The Dutch tomatoes. They suck there just like they do in Germany.
Interested in crossing the border? At the top of this post I point back to my earlier post with instructions to get to Tref. My other favorite in Holland is Jumbo supermarkets, which is similar to Tref. Sometimes they have smaller versions of a Jumbo if you look for a nearby one, so I recommend my personal Jumbo favorite--Jumbo in Roermond. You do need to pay for parking in the structure or nearby on the street, but it's minimal. They will also validate your parking structure ticket with your Jumbo receipt so it takes off a euro or something, just be sure to give your parking structure ticket to the checkout person.
The nice thing about a day trip to Jumbo Roermond is that it is situated within Roermond, so you can go and see the nice little cobblestone town, including the old town square which has a market on Saturdays. If you time it right there is a clock tower with figures which spins around and plays a little tune, so nifty to see. In addition, there is a walkway under the highway which many use to travel between the town center and the Roermond Outlet Center. It's not an outlet center the way we think of outlets in the US with discounted prices, it's more of a big outdoor shopping center, but if you make the trip to Roermond you might as well go over to see it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)