Showers today and light rain scheduled throughout tomorrow.
Things aren't looking very ducky.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
don't excite me so
Being from Philly and working in the IT industry, I tend to be a tad more rude, cranky, and abrupt than all females and probably most males that I know. Perhaps it explains how I'm able to tough it over year after year in the land of the shouting, dour cranks without feeling even mildly insulted in daily life here.
In the one tiny, dark corner of my heart that is not wearing black every day however, I have a special love of yellow rubber duckies with their sunshiney personalities. I have wanted for years to have a yellow ducky bathroom but the bathroom fixtures where I've lived so far in my life have always been of a color not conducive to decorations of bright yellow (i.e. mauve). Finally in Germany I have an all-white bathroom, but then I was having difficulty finding the proper ducky shower curtain, so I ended up with a goldfish motif instead for the time being.
Why am I rambling on this point? Because for my entire life I have wanted to go to a 'rubber ducky regatta', or one of those things where a community with a creek will dump a bunch of numbered yellow ducks into the creek, and they will 'race' to the finish line with prizes for the first finishers. Usually you 'buy' a duck for the race and the money goes to a charity. Every single time I always miss the races and see the after photo in the newspaper with hundreds of yellow points in the creek and am slightly saddened at missing it live and in technicolor.
This time, however, this time, I will actually see it live, for the first time ever. The tiny town one town over from B is holding their annual townfest and it includes a ducky regatta with the proceeds going to the local school. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for Saturday morning.
In the one tiny, dark corner of my heart that is not wearing black every day however, I have a special love of yellow rubber duckies with their sunshiney personalities. I have wanted for years to have a yellow ducky bathroom but the bathroom fixtures where I've lived so far in my life have always been of a color not conducive to decorations of bright yellow (i.e. mauve). Finally in Germany I have an all-white bathroom, but then I was having difficulty finding the proper ducky shower curtain, so I ended up with a goldfish motif instead for the time being.
Why am I rambling on this point? Because for my entire life I have wanted to go to a 'rubber ducky regatta', or one of those things where a community with a creek will dump a bunch of numbered yellow ducks into the creek, and they will 'race' to the finish line with prizes for the first finishers. Usually you 'buy' a duck for the race and the money goes to a charity. Every single time I always miss the races and see the after photo in the newspaper with hundreds of yellow points in the creek and am slightly saddened at missing it live and in technicolor.
This time, however, this time, I will actually see it live, for the first time ever. The tiny town one town over from B is holding their annual townfest and it includes a ducky regatta with the proceeds going to the local school. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for Saturday morning.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Making hay while the sun is shining
Aunt B arrives in 7 days, and in 8 days we're off to Lithuania for two weeks. In addition, some other planets have aligned all together to light a fire under my ... to get things done. Namely:
- Cleaned out the car as I need to drive around American work colleagues this week. (OK, excluding the trunk so far.)
- Cancelled my Newsweek and Economist in advance of them rolling over in October.
- Charged up the handheld vacuum in anticipation of the "last weekend before Aunt B comes so I need to do major cleaning" weekend.
- Scheduled D to come over to put together the TV table I picked up a few months ago from Ikea.
- Started to clean-out some of the dead balkon plants.
- Am around 75% done with some logistical work paperwork that must be done every 6 or 12 months in relation to staffing. It's the kind of paperwork that there is no positive for doing it, but there is a negative if it does not get done.
- What's still on the list to do? A heck of a lot more and then some.
- Flight back to philly for the december holiday booked using USAir miles that were reaching their expiration date. They put me on Lufthansa going out and USAir on the return.
- Ordered new contact lenses which I can leave in all the time for up to 30 days. As an added bonus, they were ordered on Friday and arrived by DHL on Monday. If nothing else, I cannot fault the efficient Germany transport network. The very sweet 80 something year old granny in the building signed for and accepted the tiny package as it came during the workday. I live in a strange utopia of an entire apartment building of very nice Germans.
- Ordered a small countertop dishwashing machine from Plus. The chore I most despise in the world is washing dishes, it even ranks lower than toilet cleaning for me. I am finally biting the (cheap) bullet and buying an improvement.- Cleaned out the car as I need to drive around American work colleagues this week. (OK, excluding the trunk so far.)
- Cancelled my Newsweek and Economist in advance of them rolling over in October.
- Charged up the handheld vacuum in anticipation of the "last weekend before Aunt B comes so I need to do major cleaning" weekend.
- Scheduled D to come over to put together the TV table I picked up a few months ago from Ikea.
- Started to clean-out some of the dead balkon plants.
- Am around 75% done with some logistical work paperwork that must be done every 6 or 12 months in relation to staffing. It's the kind of paperwork that there is no positive for doing it, but there is a negative if it does not get done.
- What's still on the list to do? A heck of a lot more and then some.
Friday, August 24, 2007
More on Passport Control
Since Debbie asked and since my fellow US Americans always ask me similar questions when I am home:
Is that all you do when leaving/entering Germany: show them your residence permit sticker?
Yep, just show them the sticker in Germany and they will not stamp you in or out. One of my US colleagues here wouldn't bother to show the sticker and perhaps one-third of the time they didn't notice it either and would stamp her. To me that wastes valuable passport space, so I'm careful to show the sticker.
What if you're re-entering or leaving the EU/Schengen Zone through another country, like Denmark? Do we just shown THEIR passport control guys the German sticker, too?
Nah, I don't bother, as German sticker or not, you would still get stamped by Denmark in any event. On a related note, on a previous trip through Copenhagen, the female passport officer noticed my stickers and then proceeded to try out her university Germany on me. (Ugh.)
No passport stamping that says you're leaving the EU?
As long as you have the sticker, no stamping, although if you're going to a few EU destinations such as the UK, you'll get an outgoing scan which registers you as outgoing. But I've never had a problem in this respect. I often do three way flights, such as I went Cologne to Stockholm and then took a ferry to Finland and then flew back Helsinki to Duesseldorf. The only time I had some raised eyebrows was when I went to Turkey for a long weekend. I noticed they read the screen more carefully the next few times I flew.
Often if it's a closer EU country such as Brussels or Paris, you will not get passport checked either in/out of Germany .
The closest I normally come to anyone tracking my in and out has been my Eastern Europe trips. On multiple trips now to Vilnius and Warsaw and one-time trips to Riga and Tallinn, every single time they will find a blank area with space next to it and stamp my arrival there. Then when I am outgoing from one of those places, they will stamp it outgoing, immediately next to the incoming one, so they are together. One time I went into Warsaw from Germany and then travelled from Warsaw to Vilnius without getting checked, so that I was then leaving Vilnius to Germany, but without an incoming to Vilnius. The agent asked, but once I explained that bit he was satisfied to stamp next to the Warsaw incoming.
I'm a little nervous about what to do when I fly soon for the first time since moving here.
It's actually easier than if you're flying on an unstickered US passport, in my opinion. For example, in particular, I've always found the UK to be the biggest pain in the ** to Americans with the 20 questions. It was actually worse when I worked there, I began to carry my actual UK work permit paperwork to hasten me through. Since I accumulated this plethora of Germany stickers, I've found them to be less questioning of my American entry for a long weekend. Instead it's 'oh you work in Germany I see, how long do you stay here?' and that is it. Versus the other Americans on either side of me getting the, 'where do you stay, for how long, have you been here before, where were you before here, where do you go after, do you know anyone here, blah blah.'
Last time I was so speedy into the UK from their lack of questions that I was through faster than the Euros in the long EU line. And an American entering the UK faster than a UK citizen, THAT is priceless. :-)
Is that all you do when leaving/entering Germany: show them your residence permit sticker?
Yep, just show them the sticker in Germany and they will not stamp you in or out. One of my US colleagues here wouldn't bother to show the sticker and perhaps one-third of the time they didn't notice it either and would stamp her. To me that wastes valuable passport space, so I'm careful to show the sticker.
What if you're re-entering or leaving the EU/Schengen Zone through another country, like Denmark? Do we just shown THEIR passport control guys the German sticker, too?
Nah, I don't bother, as German sticker or not, you would still get stamped by Denmark in any event. On a related note, on a previous trip through Copenhagen, the female passport officer noticed my stickers and then proceeded to try out her university Germany on me. (Ugh.)
No passport stamping that says you're leaving the EU?
As long as you have the sticker, no stamping, although if you're going to a few EU destinations such as the UK, you'll get an outgoing scan which registers you as outgoing. But I've never had a problem in this respect. I often do three way flights, such as I went Cologne to Stockholm and then took a ferry to Finland and then flew back Helsinki to Duesseldorf. The only time I had some raised eyebrows was when I went to Turkey for a long weekend. I noticed they read the screen more carefully the next few times I flew.
Often if it's a closer EU country such as Brussels or Paris, you will not get passport checked either in/out of Germany .
The closest I normally come to anyone tracking my in and out has been my Eastern Europe trips. On multiple trips now to Vilnius and Warsaw and one-time trips to Riga and Tallinn, every single time they will find a blank area with space next to it and stamp my arrival there. Then when I am outgoing from one of those places, they will stamp it outgoing, immediately next to the incoming one, so they are together. One time I went into Warsaw from Germany and then travelled from Warsaw to Vilnius without getting checked, so that I was then leaving Vilnius to Germany, but without an incoming to Vilnius. The agent asked, but once I explained that bit he was satisfied to stamp next to the Warsaw incoming.
I'm a little nervous about what to do when I fly soon for the first time since moving here.
It's actually easier than if you're flying on an unstickered US passport, in my opinion. For example, in particular, I've always found the UK to be the biggest pain in the ** to Americans with the 20 questions. It was actually worse when I worked there, I began to carry my actual UK work permit paperwork to hasten me through. Since I accumulated this plethora of Germany stickers, I've found them to be less questioning of my American entry for a long weekend. Instead it's 'oh you work in Germany I see, how long do you stay here?' and that is it. Versus the other Americans on either side of me getting the, 'where do you stay, for how long, have you been here before, where were you before here, where do you go after, do you know anyone here, blah blah.'
Last time I was so speedy into the UK from their lack of questions that I was through faster than the Euros in the long EU line. And an American entering the UK faster than a UK citizen, THAT is priceless. :-)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Passport Control
The recent weekend trip from Germany to the UK was the first in in some months for me that required passing through passport control but not involving a US destination.
I have four years worth of work permits in my passport, one from the UK and four from Germany. Normally, when I am coming in or out of Germany I hand the German passport officer my passport open to the two pages with the current Germany sticker. He/she usually holds the page, flips for a second to the front photo page, and then puts the Germany sticker under a special light to be sure it is not a forgery.
Maybe he/she will flip through the other pages looking at the other Germany stickers, then he/she goes back to the front page and scans it into the computer, squints for a second or two while looking at the computer monitor, then closes the passport and slides it face-down through the little window, and maybe says 'have a good evening' or something to that effect.
I will guess that I have gone through this little exercise perhaps 75 times in total into Germany, and almost that many times in all other countries combined, as I recall sometimes wandering into countries and not being checked. I have now come to the conclusion that all passport control experiences can be defined as: indifferent (90%), good (4%), bad (4%), and odd (2%). It's by no means scientific, nor is it specific to Germany, but it is specific to Europe and North America based on my experiences.
1. the Indifferent - they casually glance at the photo page, glance at me, their matching criteria is something like 'female with brown hair, check' and then they barely look at the sticker, except perhaps the expiration date. Americans working in Germany are a dime a dozen, so they give as much attention to the papers and I give to the tube of toothpaste I'm buying. It's labeled as toothpaste, it's in the toothpast section, good enough.
2. the Good - last year I flew into Chicago on my way to the midwest city at company J. where I work. For some reason the US/permanent residence lines were backed up, so a few of us were shuttled to the foreign visitors line. I hand over my passport to the US agent, photo side open, and he starts to flip though it. Something seems to catch his eye and he starts over again, going page by page, which in my expanded passport, is quite a few pages. A few pages past all of the Germany stickers he stops and turns it sideways reading a stamp I'm guessing, but I don't know which one.
Until now he has not said a word. He is still holding the passport open to a certain page I cannot see, but I know it's not the Germany stickers. He says, you work in Germany. Yes. When was the last time you were home? December. And what is your purpose? A week of work at company J. in a large midwest town. He then closes the passport and slides it back across the counter to me and says something that I miss, but I know it's not the usual 'welcome home' that they've started to do regularly.
I have four years worth of work permits in my passport, one from the UK and four from Germany. Normally, when I am coming in or out of Germany I hand the German passport officer my passport open to the two pages with the current Germany sticker. He/she usually holds the page, flips for a second to the front photo page, and then puts the Germany sticker under a special light to be sure it is not a forgery.
Maybe he/she will flip through the other pages looking at the other Germany stickers, then he/she goes back to the front page and scans it into the computer, squints for a second or two while looking at the computer monitor, then closes the passport and slides it face-down through the little window, and maybe says 'have a good evening' or something to that effect.
I will guess that I have gone through this little exercise perhaps 75 times in total into Germany, and almost that many times in all other countries combined, as I recall sometimes wandering into countries and not being checked. I have now come to the conclusion that all passport control experiences can be defined as: indifferent (90%), good (4%), bad (4%), and odd (2%). It's by no means scientific, nor is it specific to Germany, but it is specific to Europe and North America based on my experiences.
1. the Indifferent - they casually glance at the photo page, glance at me, their matching criteria is something like 'female with brown hair, check' and then they barely look at the sticker, except perhaps the expiration date. Americans working in Germany are a dime a dozen, so they give as much attention to the papers and I give to the tube of toothpaste I'm buying. It's labeled as toothpaste, it's in the toothpast section, good enough.
2. the Good - last year I flew into Chicago on my way to the midwest city at company J. where I work. For some reason the US/permanent residence lines were backed up, so a few of us were shuttled to the foreign visitors line. I hand over my passport to the US agent, photo side open, and he starts to flip though it. Something seems to catch his eye and he starts over again, going page by page, which in my expanded passport, is quite a few pages. A few pages past all of the Germany stickers he stops and turns it sideways reading a stamp I'm guessing, but I don't know which one.
Until now he has not said a word. He is still holding the passport open to a certain page I cannot see, but I know it's not the Germany stickers. He says, you work in Germany. Yes. When was the last time you were home? December. And what is your purpose? A week of work at company J. in a large midwest town. He then closes the passport and slides it back across the counter to me and says something that I miss, but I know it's not the usual 'welcome home' that they've started to do regularly.
I know I've missed something because he's waiting for an answer. I ask him to repeat and he says 'ah, I thought you spoke Polish based on where you visited in Poland as it is not a tourist destination, pardon me.' I then had to explain that I'm only still learning Polish, and could he repeat again more slowly? (It was welcome home in Polish, duh.) There was no one in line I would need to wait for my bag anyway, so I stood there chatting with him for 10 minutes in my very basic Polish about why I had visited such a remote destination in Poland and how he liked living in the US.
3. the Bad - It's not a specific German thing, but as I come so often into Germany my sample size is skewed. When I last came into DUS from the UK, they were doing two shared lines, so no distinction between EU and not. D and I were at the back of the line so it took some time. I'm not sure what power trip these people get from being in uniform in a little glass box, but I could see he had one.
He doesn't bother to put the sticker under the special light, because obviously he has laser eyes to spot a fake. He then barks at me in that special way that Germans have 'Do you live in Germany?'
My first thought appeared in a bubble above my head 'Well f-wit, why else would I be entering Germany late on a Sunday night with a valid Germany sticker?' Before uttering that one aloud, I thought again based on my four plus years experience here--what would be the appropriate response to a German so that I can get through here as quickly as possible?
So I shouted back to him in German in a slightly louder but more angry tone 'Yes, I work here in Germany!' like, I'm in a hurry and I'm prepared to argue even louder with you if needed. Of course, having passed that test, he immediately closed the passport and slipped it through the little window to me without a word. D. and I had been watching the other line, the other guard was questioning a UK person who was politely trying to answer in English. That will get you nowhere quickly here, my friend.
4. the Odd - I find some passport control conversations completely out of the blue. In the UK recently the guy makes a comment that whoever put my extra pages into my passport did not do a good job. Yes, that was the US government, and there are some other things they're not doing so well either. And I spilled coffee on one corner of a page. The advice from the same passport guy who saw it, "You're not supposed to feed them, no matter what they say." Uh, ok.
The last time I went to Lithuania, the passport agent asked if I have health insurance. Um, yes. (Heather wondering, since when did Lithuania become a medical tourist destination.) So you will not use the health insurance of Lithuania? Hell no, I'm not sure I would even use it if injured and in need of a doctor; I'd probably hold out for the sanctuary of German soil for medical needs, thank you.
And those are my thoughts on trips through passport control as of summer 2007.
Monday, August 20, 2007
if you're ever in Koeln...
and looking for a bar with no cover that is open until after 5 AM and plays karaoke with songbooks in English, German and Thai, just let me know and i'll hook you up. the karaoke stops at 5 AM, however, and it converts to regular music.
in particular, you may also find there Germans with a sense of humor who recognize that your tough looking, shaved-head, vegan friend has one hell of a voice. they will then invite him to sing with one of them a tune they chose, 'barbie girl', where said friend is told to sing the barbie part.
after you then return the favor and challenge the germans to sing along with something as equally appalling, they will then decide to up the ante and challenge your group to a German speaking song, as they have heard your group speaking English. having at least one person who can reasonably plow through the words even if the tune is not known will win you major points.
even better one of your group will be asked to dance by a serious German, while another can strike up a conversation with the Thai/German married couple who comes there every week while half English/half German conversations generally abound on this side of the room while the other half is half Thai/half German. Then your English group can be stymied by the 12 Thai people who come in at 4 AM to join the 10 already there, and looking around the bar you're thinking you must be looking at the entire Thai population of Koeln.
if you're ever in such a mood, I know just the place.
in particular, you may also find there Germans with a sense of humor who recognize that your tough looking, shaved-head, vegan friend has one hell of a voice. they will then invite him to sing with one of them a tune they chose, 'barbie girl', where said friend is told to sing the barbie part.
after you then return the favor and challenge the germans to sing along with something as equally appalling, they will then decide to up the ante and challenge your group to a German speaking song, as they have heard your group speaking English. having at least one person who can reasonably plow through the words even if the tune is not known will win you major points.
even better one of your group will be asked to dance by a serious German, while another can strike up a conversation with the Thai/German married couple who comes there every week while half English/half German conversations generally abound on this side of the room while the other half is half Thai/half German. Then your English group can be stymied by the 12 Thai people who come in at 4 AM to join the 10 already there, and looking around the bar you're thinking you must be looking at the entire Thai population of Koeln.
if you're ever in such a mood, I know just the place.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Saturday vegan cooking
As you know, Saturday is my best cooking day. I buy my "major" food on either Friday or Saturday, so everything I cook on Saturday is extremely fresh. Also I have the most time on Saturday afternoons, and there is always the fallback that the stores are open until the evening in case I'm suddenly missing something, which is not an option on Sundays.
Today's cooking is special because Vegan Pete is in town visiting. So Vegan Pete eats only vegetarian food, minus egg and dairy products. Having been vegan for a few years, often my meals are still vegan, mainly because I'm not talented at egg cooking and dairy makes my tummy hurt. In addition, Vegan Pete is lavish in praise, not only is he verbally pleased about what I make, but he eats a lot of it, so I know he's not just being polite. ;-)
Today's menu is looking like this:
Starters: Buffalo Tempeh Wings - which will be made with my Jim Beam hot wing sauce
Stuffed Zucchini flowers (courtesy of my balkon garden) stuffed with chopped mushrooms and fresh balkon garden herbs
roasted garlic cloves
Mains: Tasty Eggplant Bake - mainly because it uses quinoa which I love for its nutritional value and I do rarely use quinoa in cooking as it's a little too adventurous for most non-vegetarians
Soba noodles with green beans and ginger and garlic (mainly for D because he is an part-time vegetarian, so quinoa does wonders for his digestive system)
Stuffed zucchini, because zucchini looked so good this morning and I liked that the stuffing in this recipe was bean based as a change for the usual breadcrumb based stuffing.
As you can guess from the above, there will be enough food that no one will need dessert, which is part of my master plan. I don't eat so much sweet stuff myself beyond fruit or berries as I don't like the taste, so I when I attempt to create something sweet myself, it is absolutely inedible. I can't figure out how it's supposed to taste in the making or at the end so it always goes terribly, terribly wrong so I've given up on this point. Fortunately so many desserts contain egg or dairy so I'm mainly off the hook on that account.
Today's cooking is special because Vegan Pete is in town visiting. So Vegan Pete eats only vegetarian food, minus egg and dairy products. Having been vegan for a few years, often my meals are still vegan, mainly because I'm not talented at egg cooking and dairy makes my tummy hurt. In addition, Vegan Pete is lavish in praise, not only is he verbally pleased about what I make, but he eats a lot of it, so I know he's not just being polite. ;-)
Today's menu is looking like this:
Starters: Buffalo Tempeh Wings - which will be made with my Jim Beam hot wing sauce
Stuffed Zucchini flowers (courtesy of my balkon garden) stuffed with chopped mushrooms and fresh balkon garden herbs
roasted garlic cloves
Mains: Tasty Eggplant Bake - mainly because it uses quinoa which I love for its nutritional value and I do rarely use quinoa in cooking as it's a little too adventurous for most non-vegetarians
Soba noodles with green beans and ginger and garlic (mainly for D because he is an part-time vegetarian, so quinoa does wonders for his digestive system)
Stuffed zucchini, because zucchini looked so good this morning and I liked that the stuffing in this recipe was bean based as a change for the usual breadcrumb based stuffing.
As you can guess from the above, there will be enough food that no one will need dessert, which is part of my master plan. I don't eat so much sweet stuff myself beyond fruit or berries as I don't like the taste, so I when I attempt to create something sweet myself, it is absolutely inedible. I can't figure out how it's supposed to taste in the making or at the end so it always goes terribly, terribly wrong so I've given up on this point. Fortunately so many desserts contain egg or dairy so I'm mainly off the hook on that account.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Thursday, August 09, 2007
when the going gets tough...
the tough take a cheap weekend flight somewhere else.
my friends at lufthansa publish cheap flights from Germany every other Wednesday, which are good for the next two weeks. i dilligently watch for them; there are usually four or five options: one far away (US, Japan, or Middle East), and three or four Europe ones. these flights are usually very good for me, because at least one and often two include the good flight times for us "9 to 5 monday to friday" working folk: out friday night and back sunday evening.
the Europe ones usually level out around 100 eur for the roundtrip, including taxes and all that. sometimes the destinations aren't so sexy (i.e. Lyon, France). Sometimes they are more than interesting: Riga, Prague, Paris, etc.
So far I've take the cheap flights to Goteborg City and Bratislava in this manner.
This weekend's flight, booked on Tuesday of this week-->London. Total cost-->101 eur. I've going from DUS, but it was also available around the same price from CGN.
London calling!
my friends at lufthansa publish cheap flights from Germany every other Wednesday, which are good for the next two weeks. i dilligently watch for them; there are usually four or five options: one far away (US, Japan, or Middle East), and three or four Europe ones. these flights are usually very good for me, because at least one and often two include the good flight times for us "9 to 5 monday to friday" working folk: out friday night and back sunday evening.
the Europe ones usually level out around 100 eur for the roundtrip, including taxes and all that. sometimes the destinations aren't so sexy (i.e. Lyon, France). Sometimes they are more than interesting: Riga, Prague, Paris, etc.
So far I've take the cheap flights to Goteborg City and Bratislava in this manner.
This weekend's flight, booked on Tuesday of this week-->London. Total cost-->101 eur. I've going from DUS, but it was also available around the same price from CGN.
London calling!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Forced frugality (aka life in Germany)
Growing up in the Phillyland area, I realized later, it was a bit of a lean life. It's a blue collar town with blue collar people, where life can sometimes be hard. However, we never seemed poor, as everyone else lived the same life, basically. I consider it an advantage today.
I keep up with US life mainly through the internet, and recently I stumbled into the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge where members of Congress tried in May/June to live on what the average food stamp person receives (yeah, I'm a little behind on the surfing). This then led to related 'money saving' and 'being frugal' tips. I wasn't surprised to see many of these reflected in how I grew up. What surprised me was how many of them I do in Germany, but not out of conscious choice, but more through living "normal Germany" life here, or living as a US expat here.
Of what such things are you speaking, heather in europe? Glad you asked:
1. Bringing my own re-usable shopping bags to the supermarket. My current trend is to use one from Trader Joe's to see if anyone here will ever recognize it. Four months and counting and no one has.
-The bag reuse is now taking hold in the US: http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php?id=6
2. Yes, the vegetarian thing.
-However, something new I have learned since being here, however. Vegetarianism as a food cost saving methodology: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/GoVegetarianToSaveMoney.aspx
3. Eat seasonally and locally. This was a large change for me personally, as given the choice I would have broccoli every single week for 52 weeks. Right now is a vegetable explosion in Germany with lovely salads to be made. February forces me to be creative with cabbage, carrots and potatos from the root cellar, along with fabulous soups. I eat seasonally here, as often that is the only option. (you try finding a strawberry in the winter months!)
-Apparently, this seasonal eating is now a 'cost saving' tip in the US:
http://fitfare.net/2007/03/02/10-fairly-easy-ways-to-eat-healthfully-save-money-and-save-the-world/
4. Re-use of ziploc bags - This one relates to being an expat and not having the whole ziploc line here. I use them not only for food storage, but more often for storing other things like toiletries.
I make a bag of 20 last an entire year until I go back to the US by re-using them liberally. Apparently so do some other people, minus the 'going back to the US' part: http://lifehacker.com/xml/comments/278476
5. Taking public transport/walking - public transport options are much better here than in the US, in particular for suburb to suburb/small town trips like I took this weekend. Not only are the options better, more people take it, so it's less of a danger than in the US where the late night buses were not so safe for a single female. Generally I find myself walking more because things are more walkable and less parkable, so often it's easier to walk.
-I thought this was an interesting spin on the topic from the US, in actually measuring your savings:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/28/save-money-with-your-feet/
6. Shop at Aldi - a German once told me that I am very fortunate as I live near the 'Aldi border'. 'My' Aldi Sued is five minutes by car or 20 minutes by foot. There is also an Aldi Nord 15 minutes away by car. Not every German can be so lucky to be able to go to both. Although I never do as I have a plethora of other low cost stores less than 15 minutes away.
In particular I go to Aldi Sued for their Bio Tofu and veg hotdogs and burgers, and because they are on the way home from work. Also, I find at the Pennymarkt more tempting things, so I try not to go so often to the Pennymarkt. (Damn them and their low, low prices. My last Penny purchase was a picnic blanket that has a plastic foil like coating on the back and folds up nicely for 3.99. I didn't go shopping for such a thing, but with the soggy grass here, I've used it twice so far with fantastic results.)
-It seems there are some true Aldi US fans out there, and they've even gone so far as to plan meals and give you a shopping list to help you save money:
http://momadvice.com/food/aldi_meal_plan.aspx
7. Bring your lunch to work - Since moving to the new office where there is no canteen, and not even a vending machine, my eating has improved from having to always bring my own. True, I could wait for the shuttle, take it over to the main building for a total of 15 minutes lost each way, but the deep fried, cheese laden, unhealthy plates weren't worth walking down the stairs when we were there, let alone actually making a special trip for it.
There is an imbiss about a five minute walk away, and the people are very nice, but their food is just so-so. There is, however, an Edeka four km away so I can do my main weekly shopping and pick up some salad things to last me the week in the office with salads, or I bring something from home as we do have a microwave. There's also the advantage that I can do my weekly shop at lunchtime and save myself the Saturday morning chaos trip.
- I don't do such calculations as they do here, but it is interesting the possibilities:
http://www.cleverdude.com/articles/finances/frugal-lunch-by-clever-dudette/
Apparently I'm not being frugal with words, however, based on the length of the above.
I keep up with US life mainly through the internet, and recently I stumbled into the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge where members of Congress tried in May/June to live on what the average food stamp person receives (yeah, I'm a little behind on the surfing). This then led to related 'money saving' and 'being frugal' tips. I wasn't surprised to see many of these reflected in how I grew up. What surprised me was how many of them I do in Germany, but not out of conscious choice, but more through living "normal Germany" life here, or living as a US expat here.
Of what such things are you speaking, heather in europe? Glad you asked:
1. Bringing my own re-usable shopping bags to the supermarket. My current trend is to use one from Trader Joe's to see if anyone here will ever recognize it. Four months and counting and no one has.
-The bag reuse is now taking hold in the US: http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php?id=6
2. Yes, the vegetarian thing.
-However, something new I have learned since being here, however. Vegetarianism as a food cost saving methodology: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/GoVegetarianToSaveMoney.aspx
3. Eat seasonally and locally. This was a large change for me personally, as given the choice I would have broccoli every single week for 52 weeks. Right now is a vegetable explosion in Germany with lovely salads to be made. February forces me to be creative with cabbage, carrots and potatos from the root cellar, along with fabulous soups. I eat seasonally here, as often that is the only option. (you try finding a strawberry in the winter months!)
-Apparently, this seasonal eating is now a 'cost saving' tip in the US:
http://fitfare.net/2007/03/02/10-fairly-easy-ways-to-eat-healthfully-save-money-and-save-the-world/
4. Re-use of ziploc bags - This one relates to being an expat and not having the whole ziploc line here. I use them not only for food storage, but more often for storing other things like toiletries.
I make a bag of 20 last an entire year until I go back to the US by re-using them liberally. Apparently so do some other people, minus the 'going back to the US' part: http://lifehacker.com/xml/comments/278476
5. Taking public transport/walking - public transport options are much better here than in the US, in particular for suburb to suburb/small town trips like I took this weekend. Not only are the options better, more people take it, so it's less of a danger than in the US where the late night buses were not so safe for a single female. Generally I find myself walking more because things are more walkable and less parkable, so often it's easier to walk.
-I thought this was an interesting spin on the topic from the US, in actually measuring your savings:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/28/save-money-with-your-feet/
6. Shop at Aldi - a German once told me that I am very fortunate as I live near the 'Aldi border'. 'My' Aldi Sued is five minutes by car or 20 minutes by foot. There is also an Aldi Nord 15 minutes away by car. Not every German can be so lucky to be able to go to both. Although I never do as I have a plethora of other low cost stores less than 15 minutes away.
In particular I go to Aldi Sued for their Bio Tofu and veg hotdogs and burgers, and because they are on the way home from work. Also, I find at the Pennymarkt more tempting things, so I try not to go so often to the Pennymarkt. (Damn them and their low, low prices. My last Penny purchase was a picnic blanket that has a plastic foil like coating on the back and folds up nicely for 3.99. I didn't go shopping for such a thing, but with the soggy grass here, I've used it twice so far with fantastic results.)
-It seems there are some true Aldi US fans out there, and they've even gone so far as to plan meals and give you a shopping list to help you save money:
http://momadvice.com/food/aldi_meal_plan.aspx
7. Bring your lunch to work - Since moving to the new office where there is no canteen, and not even a vending machine, my eating has improved from having to always bring my own. True, I could wait for the shuttle, take it over to the main building for a total of 15 minutes lost each way, but the deep fried, cheese laden, unhealthy plates weren't worth walking down the stairs when we were there, let alone actually making a special trip for it.
There is an imbiss about a five minute walk away, and the people are very nice, but their food is just so-so. There is, however, an Edeka four km away so I can do my main weekly shopping and pick up some salad things to last me the week in the office with salads, or I bring something from home as we do have a microwave. There's also the advantage that I can do my weekly shop at lunchtime and save myself the Saturday morning chaos trip.
- I don't do such calculations as they do here, but it is interesting the possibilities:
http://www.cleverdude.com/articles/finances/frugal-lunch-by-clever-dudette/
Apparently I'm not being frugal with words, however, based on the length of the above.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
The return of Luna the cat
It's been so long since I've seen the giant warming ball of light in the sky, I think my tolerance for warm weather has gone down. This weekend was hot as heck here, and it has been wreacking havoc on my sad little balkon garden plants who are as equally confused by its presence.
I started a few projects in the past few weeks. I have no storage/shelving at all in my bathroom, except for the surface area on top of the dryer, so all medicine cabinet items not in daily use are stored on a shelf in my hallway closet. With Aunt R staying with me before and after our Lithuania trip, now that it's only a month away, I'm trying to tidy up in advance.
So I have all the bathroom items on the living room/kitchen floor where they're getting separated into little piles so that they can go into a ziploc baggy with their related brethren, with expiring stuff going in the bin, checking if there is anything Aunt R should bring from the US, etc.. The apartment was not as messy as when Luna the cat last came for a visit, but it was not as spic and span as when the boss came to visit two months ago and I kept up the twice weekly swiffering for a few weeks.
So Saturday afternoon, I'm enjoying some ice water and who should reappear on the balkon, but Luna the cat. It wouldn't be a problem except that she carries on with incessant meowing demanding to be removed from there, this very instant. The owner's mother went to fetch the owner to come and pick her up. So again I feel bad that this woman needs to come through a messy apartment again to fetch her cat. She must think Americans live like the biggest slobs around. I have no problems with the fact that her cat is on the balkon, although I have no idea what is driving the cat to do so. It's not like my vegtarian cooking wooes cats in from miles around.
My only consolation is that she seemed equally, if not more embarassed than me about the whole situation, that she was again intruding into my apartment. The first time she seemed sorry to inconvenience me (which really wasn't any inconvenience). The second time she seemed genuinely embarassed that her cat could be so stupid now for a second time, or maybe that her mother demanded that she drop everything to go get the cat--so she's walking through my apartment in a bikini. It was rather funny to me actually, as soon as she picked up the cat it stopped meowing. She then asks it as she's walking out, "So you can figure out how to get up here but not back down. Then you really shouldn't come up here now, should you?" Like the cat was going to listen to her line of reasoning going forward.
I started a few projects in the past few weeks. I have no storage/shelving at all in my bathroom, except for the surface area on top of the dryer, so all medicine cabinet items not in daily use are stored on a shelf in my hallway closet. With Aunt R staying with me before and after our Lithuania trip, now that it's only a month away, I'm trying to tidy up in advance.
So I have all the bathroom items on the living room/kitchen floor where they're getting separated into little piles so that they can go into a ziploc baggy with their related brethren, with expiring stuff going in the bin, checking if there is anything Aunt R should bring from the US, etc.. The apartment was not as messy as when Luna the cat last came for a visit, but it was not as spic and span as when the boss came to visit two months ago and I kept up the twice weekly swiffering for a few weeks.
So Saturday afternoon, I'm enjoying some ice water and who should reappear on the balkon, but Luna the cat. It wouldn't be a problem except that she carries on with incessant meowing demanding to be removed from there, this very instant. The owner's mother went to fetch the owner to come and pick her up. So again I feel bad that this woman needs to come through a messy apartment again to fetch her cat. She must think Americans live like the biggest slobs around. I have no problems with the fact that her cat is on the balkon, although I have no idea what is driving the cat to do so. It's not like my vegtarian cooking wooes cats in from miles around.
My only consolation is that she seemed equally, if not more embarassed than me about the whole situation, that she was again intruding into my apartment. The first time she seemed sorry to inconvenience me (which really wasn't any inconvenience). The second time she seemed genuinely embarassed that her cat could be so stupid now for a second time, or maybe that her mother demanded that she drop everything to go get the cat--so she's walking through my apartment in a bikini. It was rather funny to me actually, as soon as she picked up the cat it stopped meowing. She then asks it as she's walking out, "So you can figure out how to get up here but not back down. Then you really shouldn't come up here now, should you?" Like the cat was going to listen to her line of reasoning going forward.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Shades of blue and gray - the Faroe Islands
I never knew the full range of the world's color palette of blue to gray until I went to the Faroes. Due to the dearth of tourist info, I may put my notes together at some point and put them out there for other travellers to use, but in the meantime, some photos.
Unfortunately, it's often more gray than blue there. None of my photos are touched up, as I have neither the talent nor the interest. While Germany can be gray, this was a truly intense, strong gray.
This one was taken one night at 23.30. The weather was 7 C inside the tent, and I took a quick run to the bathroom and quickly pulled out the camera on my return for such a nice sky. I was surrounded on both sides by Danish tourists who were courteous and quiet.
It's so far to the north that the sun goes down by 23.00 but it doesn't really get dark. Then by 04.00 it's as light as 23.00 again. One night I woke up to vicious winds around 4, and opened the tent to peek out and review both sides to make sure that all stakes were securely held down. Other campers were not so fortunate, so by 07.00 some people had to pack up as the winds were too much.
Unfortunately, it's often more gray than blue there. None of my photos are touched up, as I have neither the talent nor the interest. While Germany can be gray, this was a truly intense, strong gray.
This one was taken one night at 23.30. The weather was 7 C inside the tent, and I took a quick run to the bathroom and quickly pulled out the camera on my return for such a nice sky. I was surrounded on both sides by Danish tourists who were courteous and quiet.
It's so far to the north that the sun goes down by 23.00 but it doesn't really get dark. Then by 04.00 it's as light as 23.00 again. One night I woke up to vicious winds around 4, and opened the tent to peek out and review both sides to make sure that all stakes were securely held down. Other campers were not so fortunate, so by 07.00 some people had to pack up as the winds were too much.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
The best Mexican food in Europe
After years of searching and seeking and finally coming to the conclusion that finding good Mexican food in Europe would be the equivalent of finding the holy grail, I am happy to say that we've finally found fantastic Mexican food--and it only took four years to find.
"Good Mexican food" is a subjective term. For me, good Mexican food reminds me of living in California, of tiny taquerias where no English was spoken and the food was spicy hot, homemade, and good, served by a nice, older woman who always remembered your favorite thing each time. It was the type of food you would eat before going out for a night of drinking as it would set the base to keep you ok all night, or the type of food you'd eat the morning after a long night of drinking, to bring you back into the world. It was comfort food extraordinaire, heavy and filling.
I have suffered too many bad Mexican food experiences in Europe to even list. The worst ones were probably in Germany, where there was no spiciness to the food and the nacho chips had a powered salty spice on them. (shudder)
So where is this lovely hole in the wall I'm sending you to? It's The Taco Shop in Copenhagen, Denmark. Yes, Denmark of all places. It's not as cheap as the taqs in CA (especially if you were to factor in the round trip flight from DE just for lunch!), but it is less expensive food by Denmark standards. For example, that's the number 16 nachos in the back of the photo, that plate was just over 5 euros. Also it is extremely filling food. We went for lunch and it was literally the only food I ate for the entire day.
We went to the one on Nr. Farimagsgade 57. It is very close to Israel Square (Israels Plads), so perhaps a 20 min walk from the Central Station. They speak very good English, and there are menus taped to the counter in other languages, including English. I would compare it in style to an imbiss in Germany, just a tiny little place where you order at the counter and can eat sitting on stools while looking out the window at the neighborhood people passing by. They do not do margaritas, or anything else alcoholic, but that could be a calculated move, to keep the customers eating and then moving on rather than sitting with drinks for a longer time. Oh, and if you go? Bring me an order of take away please.
"Good Mexican food" is a subjective term. For me, good Mexican food reminds me of living in California, of tiny taquerias where no English was spoken and the food was spicy hot, homemade, and good, served by a nice, older woman who always remembered your favorite thing each time. It was the type of food you would eat before going out for a night of drinking as it would set the base to keep you ok all night, or the type of food you'd eat the morning after a long night of drinking, to bring you back into the world. It was comfort food extraordinaire, heavy and filling.
I have suffered too many bad Mexican food experiences in Europe to even list. The worst ones were probably in Germany, where there was no spiciness to the food and the nacho chips had a powered salty spice on them. (shudder)
So where is this lovely hole in the wall I'm sending you to? It's The Taco Shop in Copenhagen, Denmark. Yes, Denmark of all places. It's not as cheap as the taqs in CA (especially if you were to factor in the round trip flight from DE just for lunch!), but it is less expensive food by Denmark standards. For example, that's the number 16 nachos in the back of the photo, that plate was just over 5 euros. Also it is extremely filling food. We went for lunch and it was literally the only food I ate for the entire day.
We went to the one on Nr. Farimagsgade 57. It is very close to Israel Square (Israels Plads), so perhaps a 20 min walk from the Central Station. They speak very good English, and there are menus taped to the counter in other languages, including English. I would compare it in style to an imbiss in Germany, just a tiny little place where you order at the counter and can eat sitting on stools while looking out the window at the neighborhood people passing by. They do not do margaritas, or anything else alcoholic, but that could be a calculated move, to keep the customers eating and then moving on rather than sitting with drinks for a longer time. Oh, and if you go? Bring me an order of take away please.
Friday, July 27, 2007
the evil eye
Growing up as a product of the Philadelphia Catholic school system from ages 5 to 22, I learned early about the power of the evil eye. It started with Sister Roberta Ann in the first grade. She was 4'11" perhaps which meant she still towered among us first graders, although she was of a hearty rather than petite nature, a true Philadelphia Italian. She could have backhanded unruly children to the moon if desired and she would occasionally whack the wooden pointer on the wooden desk when excitement overtook the room, such as during a sudden snowfall or during the handing out of Halloween candy.
However, that was rarely needed as she had the evil eye. Nuns who were teachers had this perfected. In those days, classrooms had 40-50 children, so it was a necessary skill. (My how things have changed as I have been reading about requirements for small classes of no more than 20 in public school teacher contracts.) However, at that time, Sr Roberta would have the roaming or roving eyes, all day long in the classroom, out at recess, and everywhere in between.
The roving eye was like a gentle ocean wave. If all was going well and you were behaving, the eye roamed over you and on to the next child. God help the one who was not honoring the holy family with his behavior, however. Sister's eyes would alight on him, and it was almost like she could read his naughty thoughts in a bubble over his head. The evil eye was strong enough to melt glass or even steel.
If Johnnie had his hand poised to pull Susie's braid, he would suddenly feel the evil eye from across the room resting upon him. If he was smart he would re-direct immediately his efforts and the raised hand would instead tap Susie on the should to ask if he could borrow her eraser. The evil eye, pleased that a sin was averted, would return to its watch.
The evil eye was always watchful and ever vigilant. That is the only way that a nun could keep control of so many energetic children. I never recall hearing a nun yell. Why should they, no reason to if the evil eye was functioning properly.
Why am I telling you all this? Fast forward 20 some years from first grade in Phillyland and I am now in Germany. Yesterday was 'put out big items or whatever you want and we'll take them away for free' day on my street. Since getting rid of anything bigger than a used tea bag requires so much effort here, you can imagine how much stuff is stacked immediately in front of the house for the garbagemen.
In Germany, many people live for such days, as this culture has no problem with trashpicking and it's almost like Christmas, free gifts on every street! In the US trashpicking tends to be done quickly and under the cover of darkness, whereas here there is no stigma attached. Take your time and dig through the pile of items. They very carefully and neatly stack things up again when finished, at least as nice if not nicer than before. They may even put something in front of the pile that is nice, but not needed by them. I personally have no problems with what they do, recycling something is better than having it end up in the landfill.
Yesterday two children, perhaps 5 and 8 were picking through the pile in front of my apartment. Standing on my balconey, I could see them, but they didn't notice me. Everything is fine and good, until they started to pick things out of the pile, breaking the things, and then throwing them onto the street. I live on a tiny street that ends in the apartment driveway, so it's little used, but still people must drive on it. Nor is there reason to break something that someone could perhaps find in the pile and use.
I watched two or three throws each, and I must have out of reflex turned on the evil eye, in particular on the 8 year old who is certainly old enough to know better. He feels it and turns to see me watching him. He immediately drops his hands to his sides and drops what he was about to throw onto the trash pile. The little girl, however, chose to throw something a split second later. He starts to shout at her in that typical German way, loud shouting. She looks at him surprised at the sudden change. He then must have said more quietly that I was up there, as she turns and looks, like a deer in the headlights.
I now had the evil eye trained on both of them. He shouts at her, quick, we need to clean up the mess and the two of them scurry around the road picking up what they had thrown and putting it into a nearby trash can. They then hightailed it to their bicycles to hurry away.
The evil eye, I haven't forgotten it, and apparently I have the international version of it.
Final note: while I was writing this, I wondered what Sister Roberta was up to and if she was still teaching, as I do have nothing but fond memories of the first grade with her. A few years after I completed first grade, the sisters were called to a different school that needed them more, and we instead had non-religious vocation (Lay) teachers and lost track of 'our' nuns. However, through the power of google, I see Sister is still alive and well and serving religion. Click here and scroll down to see her.
However, that was rarely needed as she had the evil eye. Nuns who were teachers had this perfected. In those days, classrooms had 40-50 children, so it was a necessary skill. (My how things have changed as I have been reading about requirements for small classes of no more than 20 in public school teacher contracts.) However, at that time, Sr Roberta would have the roaming or roving eyes, all day long in the classroom, out at recess, and everywhere in between.
The roving eye was like a gentle ocean wave. If all was going well and you were behaving, the eye roamed over you and on to the next child. God help the one who was not honoring the holy family with his behavior, however. Sister's eyes would alight on him, and it was almost like she could read his naughty thoughts in a bubble over his head. The evil eye was strong enough to melt glass or even steel.
If Johnnie had his hand poised to pull Susie's braid, he would suddenly feel the evil eye from across the room resting upon him. If he was smart he would re-direct immediately his efforts and the raised hand would instead tap Susie on the should to ask if he could borrow her eraser. The evil eye, pleased that a sin was averted, would return to its watch.
The evil eye was always watchful and ever vigilant. That is the only way that a nun could keep control of so many energetic children. I never recall hearing a nun yell. Why should they, no reason to if the evil eye was functioning properly.
Why am I telling you all this? Fast forward 20 some years from first grade in Phillyland and I am now in Germany. Yesterday was 'put out big items or whatever you want and we'll take them away for free' day on my street. Since getting rid of anything bigger than a used tea bag requires so much effort here, you can imagine how much stuff is stacked immediately in front of the house for the garbagemen.
In Germany, many people live for such days, as this culture has no problem with trashpicking and it's almost like Christmas, free gifts on every street! In the US trashpicking tends to be done quickly and under the cover of darkness, whereas here there is no stigma attached. Take your time and dig through the pile of items. They very carefully and neatly stack things up again when finished, at least as nice if not nicer than before. They may even put something in front of the pile that is nice, but not needed by them. I personally have no problems with what they do, recycling something is better than having it end up in the landfill.
Yesterday two children, perhaps 5 and 8 were picking through the pile in front of my apartment. Standing on my balconey, I could see them, but they didn't notice me. Everything is fine and good, until they started to pick things out of the pile, breaking the things, and then throwing them onto the street. I live on a tiny street that ends in the apartment driveway, so it's little used, but still people must drive on it. Nor is there reason to break something that someone could perhaps find in the pile and use.
I watched two or three throws each, and I must have out of reflex turned on the evil eye, in particular on the 8 year old who is certainly old enough to know better. He feels it and turns to see me watching him. He immediately drops his hands to his sides and drops what he was about to throw onto the trash pile. The little girl, however, chose to throw something a split second later. He starts to shout at her in that typical German way, loud shouting. She looks at him surprised at the sudden change. He then must have said more quietly that I was up there, as she turns and looks, like a deer in the headlights.
I now had the evil eye trained on both of them. He shouts at her, quick, we need to clean up the mess and the two of them scurry around the road picking up what they had thrown and putting it into a nearby trash can. They then hightailed it to their bicycles to hurry away.
The evil eye, I haven't forgotten it, and apparently I have the international version of it.
Final note: while I was writing this, I wondered what Sister Roberta was up to and if she was still teaching, as I do have nothing but fond memories of the first grade with her. A few years after I completed first grade, the sisters were called to a different school that needed them more, and we instead had non-religious vocation (Lay) teachers and lost track of 'our' nuns. However, through the power of google, I see Sister is still alive and well and serving religion. Click here and scroll down to see her.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
there's no such thing as a free lunch...
unless you are heather in europe and it's a Monday in July in Copenhagen. As you may recall, I left almost three weeks ago for Bergen, Norway. I traveled from Koeln Deutz and took the train to Duesseldorf airport. It's actually very quick when you get the fast regional bahn, only 33 min. I was to leave from DUS to Copenhagen with a one hour layover and then a flight to Bergen.
I usually like to bring along some snacks to the airport, in particular fresh veg and fruit, but leaving early Monday morning carrying the tent and all would have meant that I'd be carrying for a few hours a salad purchased on Saturday afternoon, so I had visions of wiltiness squared. Plan B, Copenhagen Airport has nice (albeit overpriced airport) snack bars, called something like 'To Go' with fresh food including little salads, sandwiches, cookies, water, juice, etc. With an hour that would be enough time to pick something up to take aboard and eat en route especially as it's one of those 'meals/snacks for sale' flights.
Until the plane left late that is. We're all just sitting there during the boarding time and then leaving time with no announcement given. Correction, I'm just sitting there reading the free Times Herald, my Germanic brethren are sighing loudly and looking at their watches. We finally leave 25 minutes late, so my one hour layover was whittled down to getting off the plane and looking at the board where it said 'go to gate' and then getting there and seeing everyone already lined up and ready to board.
I was a tad disappointed to not get lunch, although it was my own damn fault for not bringing something. As you may remember, I don't do breakfast, except for coffee. I don't like food in the morning, and I never have. At one point I was dating a German and my lack of breakfast sincerely offended his delicate sensibilities. Although I was as equally appalled by him eating Kinderschokolade in the morning and trying to pass that off as healthy. That was the moment the door loudly slammed shut on the German dating scene for me. I don't mind if you like to have breakfast, and I'm even willing to compromise with a Sunday brunch at 11 and call it lunch.
But I digress. As I'm walking up, they are apparently repeating again a call for volunteers to forgo this flight and take the same one, just an hour and 45 min later. I had already seen the weather for Bergen and it was a 90% chance of rain, and rain covered most of the Nordics. I was already pondering what to do with the afternoon as I was staying in a hostel rather than a fancy hotel with say, my own TV and American channels, where I could whittle the day away.
And what does one get for one's inconvenience of sitting in grey CPN an extra almost two hours? A voucher for 150 EUR for a future SAS flight that can instead by cashed out for 75 EUR cash if I want, an upgrade to business class on the next flight (don't get excited, it's low budget business class), and a free lunch in the airport with a 150 DKK voucher (roughly 20 euros). Wine me and dine me.
I usually like to bring along some snacks to the airport, in particular fresh veg and fruit, but leaving early Monday morning carrying the tent and all would have meant that I'd be carrying for a few hours a salad purchased on Saturday afternoon, so I had visions of wiltiness squared. Plan B, Copenhagen Airport has nice (albeit overpriced airport) snack bars, called something like 'To Go' with fresh food including little salads, sandwiches, cookies, water, juice, etc. With an hour that would be enough time to pick something up to take aboard and eat en route especially as it's one of those 'meals/snacks for sale' flights.
Until the plane left late that is. We're all just sitting there during the boarding time and then leaving time with no announcement given. Correction, I'm just sitting there reading the free Times Herald, my Germanic brethren are sighing loudly and looking at their watches. We finally leave 25 minutes late, so my one hour layover was whittled down to getting off the plane and looking at the board where it said 'go to gate' and then getting there and seeing everyone already lined up and ready to board.
I was a tad disappointed to not get lunch, although it was my own damn fault for not bringing something. As you may remember, I don't do breakfast, except for coffee. I don't like food in the morning, and I never have. At one point I was dating a German and my lack of breakfast sincerely offended his delicate sensibilities. Although I was as equally appalled by him eating Kinderschokolade in the morning and trying to pass that off as healthy. That was the moment the door loudly slammed shut on the German dating scene for me. I don't mind if you like to have breakfast, and I'm even willing to compromise with a Sunday brunch at 11 and call it lunch.
But I digress. As I'm walking up, they are apparently repeating again a call for volunteers to forgo this flight and take the same one, just an hour and 45 min later. I had already seen the weather for Bergen and it was a 90% chance of rain, and rain covered most of the Nordics. I was already pondering what to do with the afternoon as I was staying in a hostel rather than a fancy hotel with say, my own TV and American channels, where I could whittle the day away.
And what does one get for one's inconvenience of sitting in grey CPN an extra almost two hours? A voucher for 150 EUR for a future SAS flight that can instead by cashed out for 75 EUR cash if I want, an upgrade to business class on the next flight (don't get excited, it's low budget business class), and a free lunch in the airport with a 150 DKK voucher (roughly 20 euros). Wine me and dine me.
I could have lived like a queen at the 'To Go' snack bar, but I went upscale for Italian at Gino's Pasta. It was like the Price is Right, I want to go 'as close as I can to the 150 without going over'. I had a nice little vegetarian pasta with artichokes, a side salad with pine nuts and a bottle of water for 142 DKK and it was a nice way to spend the extra hour.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Observations on my European vacation style
Since I transferred last year from being an expat to being a local, I picked up the German vacation allowance at our firm of 30 days, although last year was prorated down to 25.5 since I transferred in April. This year I came to the table with the full 30.
As as American who is used to between 13 and max 21 (and only because I vacation bought a week--the full given allowance was 14), to go away for anything more than 4 or 5 days was a serious adjustment. Last year, going to Iceland for almost 2 weeks cause me to get a bit stressed at the little details of the mail piling up and being out of the office for so long. Then I went to Lithuania for 10 days later and I still broke into a cold sweat, but not as bad.
This year I'm better into the proper mentality of things. I leave on Monday for Bergen, after enjoying CSD this weekend in Koeln. While I was on the American vacation mentality, to leave on a Monday would be wasteful--it was leaving the two weekend days on the table, when they could be spent somewhere.
I've also shifted gears a bit, and started the whole camping thing, something I didn't do in the US. When you're only going away for four nights, you can take a hotel, hostel, or Holiday Inn and it really won't dent your budget. Going away for 14 seriously tests that theory. My balance has been to spend my travel money on the transport so that I can go away to where I truly want to go, in this upcoming case it will be Bergen and the Faroe Islands. I bought a functional tent and sleeping bag that paid for itself during Iceland, and then upgraded for this trip as the conditions will be worse, although this one also pays for itself after two days of skipping a hotel.
For eating, I try to make a mix of things. Being vegetarian, I am perfectly happy to go to a local supermarket while on holiday and pick up a salad for lunch. In Holland recently, I found a bio/alternative outdoor market and bought bread, goat's cheese and a spicy salsa to balance things out and was delighted to eat it on a bench watching the Saturday shoppers on their way. So for lunch I tend to do something price wise equivalent to what I would do here in my daily Germany life.
I don't do breakfast, but I pick up a coffee somewhere. For dinner, I allow myself the freedom to go out if I see something that interests me. Alternately, if I find something local that the locals are doing, such as a Chinese place that they all go to for the lunch plate special, then I swap my dinner and lunch plans and do that.
Where I will not scrimp is my daily coffee and a drink at a bar if the mood so strikes me. I like to find a place to have my coffee, to ease into my day, and to do the map/tour planning so that I am set to go. I find I take a general decision in the previous night of what I want to do, but for the places I go where the weather is so unpredictable, I cannot make the final decision until morning, as well as I may wake up early or late and can then plan the final bus/train logistics and such.
As a solo traveller, I have had many interesting conversations when visiting a local bar; where I have learned much about the culture. Or while camping that often means going to the local supermarket and picking up a few beers and parking oneself at a communal picnic table where others of a like-minded nature will also meet to look at maps, write postcards, read, eat, and drink for a few hours after having been on foot for most of the day.
So the bag is now packed and ready to go, I'm off to Koeln to enjoy the parade and then perhaps a relaxing rest at the river since this is the first day in a long time that I have woken up and it's sunny. Today is supposed to be the only rain-free one for the next 10 days, so I plan to be outside to enjoy it to its fullest.
After today I hope to be enjoying the travels and not inside in front of a computer, unless the rain dumps down and chases me inside. Have a nice two weeks, I fly back late on Sunday Jul 22, and if all goes well, I won't be online before then, so try not to miss me too much. ;-)
As as American who is used to between 13 and max 21 (and only because I vacation bought a week--the full given allowance was 14), to go away for anything more than 4 or 5 days was a serious adjustment. Last year, going to Iceland for almost 2 weeks cause me to get a bit stressed at the little details of the mail piling up and being out of the office for so long. Then I went to Lithuania for 10 days later and I still broke into a cold sweat, but not as bad.
This year I'm better into the proper mentality of things. I leave on Monday for Bergen, after enjoying CSD this weekend in Koeln. While I was on the American vacation mentality, to leave on a Monday would be wasteful--it was leaving the two weekend days on the table, when they could be spent somewhere.
I've also shifted gears a bit, and started the whole camping thing, something I didn't do in the US. When you're only going away for four nights, you can take a hotel, hostel, or Holiday Inn and it really won't dent your budget. Going away for 14 seriously tests that theory. My balance has been to spend my travel money on the transport so that I can go away to where I truly want to go, in this upcoming case it will be Bergen and the Faroe Islands. I bought a functional tent and sleeping bag that paid for itself during Iceland, and then upgraded for this trip as the conditions will be worse, although this one also pays for itself after two days of skipping a hotel.
For eating, I try to make a mix of things. Being vegetarian, I am perfectly happy to go to a local supermarket while on holiday and pick up a salad for lunch. In Holland recently, I found a bio/alternative outdoor market and bought bread, goat's cheese and a spicy salsa to balance things out and was delighted to eat it on a bench watching the Saturday shoppers on their way. So for lunch I tend to do something price wise equivalent to what I would do here in my daily Germany life.
I don't do breakfast, but I pick up a coffee somewhere. For dinner, I allow myself the freedom to go out if I see something that interests me. Alternately, if I find something local that the locals are doing, such as a Chinese place that they all go to for the lunch plate special, then I swap my dinner and lunch plans and do that.
Where I will not scrimp is my daily coffee and a drink at a bar if the mood so strikes me. I like to find a place to have my coffee, to ease into my day, and to do the map/tour planning so that I am set to go. I find I take a general decision in the previous night of what I want to do, but for the places I go where the weather is so unpredictable, I cannot make the final decision until morning, as well as I may wake up early or late and can then plan the final bus/train logistics and such.
As a solo traveller, I have had many interesting conversations when visiting a local bar; where I have learned much about the culture. Or while camping that often means going to the local supermarket and picking up a few beers and parking oneself at a communal picnic table where others of a like-minded nature will also meet to look at maps, write postcards, read, eat, and drink for a few hours after having been on foot for most of the day.
So the bag is now packed and ready to go, I'm off to Koeln to enjoy the parade and then perhaps a relaxing rest at the river since this is the first day in a long time that I have woken up and it's sunny. Today is supposed to be the only rain-free one for the next 10 days, so I plan to be outside to enjoy it to its fullest.
After today I hope to be enjoying the travels and not inside in front of a computer, unless the rain dumps down and chases me inside. Have a nice two weeks, I fly back late on Sunday Jul 22, and if all goes well, I won't be online before then, so try not to miss me too much. ;-)
Thursday, July 05, 2007
the desk is packed
Since I came to Germany in 2003, this is the 4th time we've moved offices; I'm quite good at it. It's a lovely way to keep the clutter down, when you have to put all your office files and supplies in a company supplied box so that the movers will pick up your box at the appointed time and drop it at your new desk.
I've never moved in a US office, so not sure how it compares, but here it is actually very efficient (except for the part that it occurs during work hours so one loses a half or full work day--the movers are works council protected, you know, so they don't work weekends.)
Moves are arranged by the office so that multiple groups are going on the same day, I guess to fill the truck and keep the workers busy for a full day. In advance they deliver the cardboard boxes. Then, a packet of colored stickers. Each area moving has a different color and and the stickers have two boxes where you must write a letter/number combo that signifies the zone and desk area where the item should go. All things must go into a box, and the box gets a sticker.
Anything too big for a box--as long as you put a sticker on something, it goes with. Our plastic recycle bins get stickers. The coat rack, the potted plant, be sure to put on a sticker. Last time we were purple. For a few weeks, we were still peeling off purple stickers here and there.
Thankfully they move while I'm on holiday so it should be all re-assembled by the time I return, and sans stickers.
I've never moved in a US office, so not sure how it compares, but here it is actually very efficient (except for the part that it occurs during work hours so one loses a half or full work day--the movers are works council protected, you know, so they don't work weekends.)
Moves are arranged by the office so that multiple groups are going on the same day, I guess to fill the truck and keep the workers busy for a full day. In advance they deliver the cardboard boxes. Then, a packet of colored stickers. Each area moving has a different color and and the stickers have two boxes where you must write a letter/number combo that signifies the zone and desk area where the item should go. All things must go into a box, and the box gets a sticker.
Anything too big for a box--as long as you put a sticker on something, it goes with. Our plastic recycle bins get stickers. The coat rack, the potted plant, be sure to put on a sticker. Last time we were purple. For a few weeks, we were still peeling off purple stickers here and there.
Thankfully they move while I'm on holiday so it should be all re-assembled by the time I return, and sans stickers.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
busy week - packing the desk
our office is moving to a different site, 10 min away by car. it's a satellite space, so no cafeteria there, so lunches will need to be packed or bought from the outside.
good incentive to pack something healthy, as to eat otherwise will require a trip outside the building where it's always raining each day, and that sounds like too much effort.
good incentive to pack something healthy, as to eat otherwise will require a trip outside the building where it's always raining each day, and that sounds like too much effort.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Cologne Pride 2007 is coming up this weekend
A reminder, Cologne Pride, or Christopher Street Day is upcoming in Cologne this weekend, with events having started last weekend, and the street fest over the weekend and the parade on Sunday July 8 at noon.
If you've only been to a US based Pride event, you must see a Europe one at some point. In particular I'd recommend the Germany ones if you live in Germany for a few reasons:
1. There is a dearth of those people who attempt to rain on the parade with their strict Baptist "you're all going to hell, sinners" sermons which sometimes turns into a police confrontation. The John 3:16 people are also light on the ground, but the clever few who are there put their signs into both German and English often. For some reason this makes me cackle aloud, seeing the dual-language signage. For some reasons the Germans cluck-cluck at crossing against a red light but have no problem with these folks being in town.
2. The dour-faced cranks who inhabit this country seem to lighten up for the weekend. I'm not sure if it's the presence of so much vinyl and leather or the rainbow leis, or simply that thousands of people come into Cologne for a party and bring their party mood. It reminds me of world cup, when Germany really put up a nice mood.
3. The parade is like Gay Pride in any other town, but it showcases a Germanized gay lifestyle. What do I mean? Anything that you are used to seeing Germans do--church, sports clubs, dance clubs--everything else they must do en masse and with their friends for life whom they have known since in utero, there is a gay German version. In particular, I was impressed last year with a male ballroom dancing club. It was hot as heck and they were dancing in full length formal outfits, putting on the full show. Superb.
4. In general it's a fun atmosphere. They give out trinkets to the crowd, and the drag queens will pose for photos. You can be as involved as you want. And the costumes and effort some people go to is spectacular to see.
It's worth a see if you're around Cologne. If you'd like to meet up let me know. I will be dragging D (who loathes parades in general) but will tolerate this one more than the others as no diving for candy is involved.
If you've only been to a US based Pride event, you must see a Europe one at some point. In particular I'd recommend the Germany ones if you live in Germany for a few reasons:
1. There is a dearth of those people who attempt to rain on the parade with their strict Baptist "you're all going to hell, sinners" sermons which sometimes turns into a police confrontation. The John 3:16 people are also light on the ground, but the clever few who are there put their signs into both German and English often. For some reason this makes me cackle aloud, seeing the dual-language signage. For some reasons the Germans cluck-cluck at crossing against a red light but have no problem with these folks being in town.
2. The dour-faced cranks who inhabit this country seem to lighten up for the weekend. I'm not sure if it's the presence of so much vinyl and leather or the rainbow leis, or simply that thousands of people come into Cologne for a party and bring their party mood. It reminds me of world cup, when Germany really put up a nice mood.
3. The parade is like Gay Pride in any other town, but it showcases a Germanized gay lifestyle. What do I mean? Anything that you are used to seeing Germans do--church, sports clubs, dance clubs--everything else they must do en masse and with their friends for life whom they have known since in utero, there is a gay German version. In particular, I was impressed last year with a male ballroom dancing club. It was hot as heck and they were dancing in full length formal outfits, putting on the full show. Superb.
4. In general it's a fun atmosphere. They give out trinkets to the crowd, and the drag queens will pose for photos. You can be as involved as you want. And the costumes and effort some people go to is spectacular to see.
It's worth a see if you're around Cologne. If you'd like to meet up let me know. I will be dragging D (who loathes parades in general) but will tolerate this one more than the others as no diving for candy is involved.
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