and the next day

yesterday wasn't so hot, i'm fighting the flu, today it seemed worse so i took off at lunchtime. as i'm walking out the door, colleague 1 says to me in german, 'hope you feel better'. colleague 2 repeats the same. i answer in english. we tend to have a mishmash of languages floating around all day, so that wasn't out of the ordinary.

C1: wait, H, how do you say that in English?
H: hope you feel better. or feel better soon, i guess.
C1: H! you guess?!? maybe you need to take an English class, not a German class.
H: (thinking: bless his cotton socks as he tries to rescue yesterday with some humor.)
H: no worries C1--as C2 would fix my English as well!
C2: (speechless and confused by the whole conversation.)

I'm sure Colleague 1 spent some minutes after I left to instruct young Colleague 2 (not so long out of university, never lived anywhere but DE), in some of the finer points of dealing with Americans. As well as to explain the joke of Heather needing an English class. And that my final comment was not literal, but a bit of sarcasm. Thankfully I was on the way home.

the more things change...

the more they stay the same. After all the German learning run around, I finally felt moved by the spirit last week to register for the B1 test in November. Upon reviewing in the VHS course schedule I checked my understanding with my work colleagues:

H: Colleague K, read this--does this say I must call this person in order to register to take this test?
K: Yes, Heather. Hmm. They probably want to speak with you, to make sure that you speak enough German to take the test.

(hmm)

So I call the woman...
H: I'd like to register for this test in November.
VHS Frau Doktor: Yes, you need to come in and take a test.
H: I need to take a test in order to be able to take the test?
VHS FD: Yes. You may come tomorrow between 3 and 4, or Wednesday mornings, from 9-10 are my open door office hours.
H: Okey dokie. (eyes rolling)

So I appear during open office hours. She questions me--is this a requirement of my staying in Germany? (no). Is this a requirement for my residency permit, to show proof of German skills (no). Then why do you want to take this test? So that I can go home to America next year, having passed this test in Germany. (Oh, of course). Not exactly true as I have no plans to return home to America, but I was tired of having this conversation.

VHS FD: OK, so then you only need to take this short written section then, it's the last section of the test. Here's a chair, 30 minutes, go ahead.
H: (freaking A). So I plod along, writing a letter which is a response to a letter, focusing my paragraphs on four key points as required in the instructions.

Upon handing it in:
VHS FD: Yes, you will pass the test with this level of German. If you want to get a high pass though, you need to write at least two more paragraphs. Length is a requirement for a high pass. But, you may keep the entire practice test, and fill out this card, and you're registered.

Upon returning to the office, because I had to miss work hours to go on this adventure:
Colleague 1: So H, are you allowed to take the test?
H: Freaking A. Yes. (grumble, grumble) Things are so difficult in your country. (This is to my German colleague, whom I sit across from and I've known for 5+ years, otherwise I tend to park the outright negativity to the country.)
C1: Why?
H: Because I just had to take part of the test, to register for the test.
C1: (Quizzical look.)
C2: (starts flipping through the practice test, and takes a pen to my writing, to correct it.)
H: That's the purpose of the test, to show that I can pass it. So I shouldn't have to take a pre-test to be allowed to take the test, else what is the purpose here.
C1: They want to help you. They don't want you to fail.
H: But colleague C1, it's my own fault if I fail, then I shouldn't be registering for a test I cannot pass.
C1: H, they want to protect you!
H: (thinking) from myself?
C2: H, your writing is really poor....
C1: How do they do this in the US? Anyone can register for any test?
C2: ...Well, but your speaking is better. No, not really, because really you don't speak enough; your speaking is also poor. But your primary problem there is just not using German enough. You should speak it more.
H to C2: It's B1 level, not fluency or entry to university.
H to C1: Yes, anyone can register for any test. It's your own fault if you are under-prepared.
C2: Really H, your written German is not very good. You should not have used 'haben' here. Well you could, but 'werden' sounds better.
H to C2: It's B1, readjust your grading level.
C2: What's B1?
H to C2: The level of the test and the expected writing level. What two German teachers have now said I have that enough of in order to pass.
C2: But it's wrong!!!

And that really is the crux of the matter, bless his little perfectionist heart, as he does mean well. Some days I do wonder...if I was in a German language environment (say in a different German-speaking country) where the native population didn't feel the need to pick apart every single written or spoken sentence, would I be more interested in acquiring the language? Or, had I had proper training before coming to Germany, so that I had some basis to start with upon arrival, would I be a little less sensitive to the constant correction, as there wouldn't be so much to correct.

Neither here nor there really as I'm not a lifer here. But something to consider, those of you reading me outside of Germany and planning to move here. ;-)

More cartoon signs from B - the pig series

In the Tiny town of B, all is in order, always. We have shops in the tiny downtown which are open at appropriate hours, companies like 'big American company J' employ people and sponser events in town, we have buses ferrying people around town and to the nearby train station, and every bus stop is complete with one bench and a trash can which is regularly emptied, on schedule, by whoever is in charge of that in B.

And all over the tiny town of B, every government sponsered trash bin has a pig cartoon:

I'm not sure if it changes the behavior (either positively or negatively) of the average German, putting pig cartoons on trash cans, but it enabled me to learn 'das Ferkel' (piggy, piglet) a whole lot faster than I would have otherwise, as I'll see it on average 3-5 times for every 10 minutes walked through town.

My favorite sign in the tiny town of B

The tiny town of B has a small downtown area, including 2 pocket sized parks. The larger one (the one I refer to as 'ugly as sin' park) has this at the entrance.



As we know, Germany loves cartoon signs to make their points about 'what not to do', but I'm not sure what amuses me most here...is it

1. That the fault is not with the owner to pick up after the dog, but rather that the dog not pull down his pants in the park and do his business there?
2. That Mr. Sunshine is so clearly displeased.
3. That the wagging finger dog has such a scowl to go with the finger wagging.
4. That the wagging finger dog himself has no pants, but does have a bowtie.

I'm feeling a new series coming on here...the cartoon signs of Germany in the tiny town of B. Stay tuned.

busy - decluttering in Germany

To change your life, change your perspective. To change your perspective, change your environment. I'm bringing my 'garden philosophy' inside and applying it to inside things. (Heather's garden balcony mantra: If you aren't producing anything of value, space is limited, and you are dismissed). Unproductive plants, unproductive books, it's all the same in the end.

Some things I've been up to recently:

1. books - a review of the entire bookshelf. Do I want to read this again? Would I pay 50 cents to ship it elsewhere, plus having to box it up with other and schlep it to the post office? I've received some hand-me-down books from expats leaving Germany as they know I like to read, but some of them are absolutely not in my interest area. I'd been saving them for a rainy, bookless day, but ever since I've discovered bookswapper, I'd had more than enough to read and then some. However, I'm sure someone will enjoy some of them much more than me.

Therefore--gone, ye books which are gathing dust--www.bookswapper.de, and I'm a happier soul that some other English reader in Germany is getting some enjoyment from you.

2. gifts/clothes/things - often I've received something, but it's not in my interests. Or I've brought things from the US years ago, and it's not something I need now. In the US I'd drop it with nearby family (my aunts/cousins wear the same shoe/clothing size), and if no one was interested it would go to goodwill. Here, I've been following a different route:

A. recycle - by giving to work colleagues - some things can be used by my office mates.

B. ebay - I'm working on my German skills by selling things on ebay.de.

For example, I had purchased a pair of Dr Martins shoes from a goodwill back in the US, in the last five minutes before they closed. It was a rush affair, and I never had such a pair of shoes previously, but they were only 1.50 USD and new, and I knew of people here who swore by them. After wearing only a handful of times, I came to the conclusion that I don't like such heavy shoes. Onto ebay they went, and 17.50 euros later, I'm a happier person, as is some Goth gal near Berlin who got a great pair of shoes, practically new.

C. freecycle - just like the US equivalent, freecycle is here also in the major cities like Cologne. As I work pretty close to a Deutsche Bahn station, I just make arrangements to meet the person there after work.

D. Humana - Germany makes it very convenient to donate clothes/shoes, with large drop boxes belonging to various charities/groups in convenient places where you drop bagged items into the box, and a truck comes through periodically to empty the boxes. My closest donation box (seven minutes away on foot) belongs to Humana.

E. big trash pickup day - if all else fails, I can always just put something at the curb the night before big trash pickup day, once I figure out when our next one is scheduled. As we know, everything still in working order will find a new owner easily and quickly here in DE. :-)

This weekend in Cologne

a demonstration.

And no large gathering of people in Germany would be complete without a warning from the US consulate.

Blackberry picking

Here in tiny town of B, there are plenty of blackberry bushes on their final rounds for the season. There are so many of them here, that they rot and fall off the bushes, there's just not enough people picking them. (Keep in mind they're all over the place, free, lining parklands, taking over the abandoned rail line, etc). In the Phillyland area, we had plenty of strawberries, but other berries weren't as common as they are elsewhere in the US, such as the Pacific Northwest, so this is quite interesting and new for me, so I've been picking my little heart out. As well as my fingertips as the damn things are quite prickly.

I spent a few days snacking on them raw in the office, by themselves and mixed with strawberries. I sent them through the magic bullet to puree them into a fruit spread. Then I realized I needed to do something with the remained 1 pint plus, as their shelf life is limited and there are still more to pick. So onto preservation methods and more harvesting. What to do when you have a tiny little German freezer and no possibility of canning this year?

I tried drying them, to make homemade fruit leather. That came out pretty well, I spread the pureed mixture into a pan in the oven, drying it, cutting it into strips which I stored in glass bottles.

Then I tried drying individual berries, so that I could fling a few onto my musli in the winter. That worked pretty well also, so into glass jars went the individual dried berries.

The leaves were dried for tea.

I tried to freeze the pureed version into ice cube trays, which I dumped into a freezer bag once frozen. As I don't have much freezer space so I couldn't go too heavily into this option. However, I plan to use the little concentrated cubes in yogurt on on top of ice cream perhaps.

The very nice retired couple stopped on their way back on Sunday to chat. They brought up the topic, and gut reaction, I was expecting some sort of German negativity, about how one shouldn't pick the wild berries (as I'm sure they spied me coming or going on these adventures, they miss nothing). Although then again, they seem to think I'm a frugal American who is always picking cardboard boxes out of the big paper recycle bin (for ebay packaging), as well as eating off my balcony grown efforts, so foraging for berries probably wouldn't surprise them.

Herr K. leans in to make sure no one else is listening to this conversation...you know, these blackberries...(here we go)...they're ok...but up the street, I go to a secret place, they are bigger...you know what we do with blackberries....(dude, I'm out of ideas, so I'll take any at this point)...we put them in bottles! Homemade Liqueurs. 'Schnapps!' says Frau K. '25% blackberry schnapps'. We've done 13 bottles so far this year. Six months in the cellar, turn them once per month, and we'll be ready to go before summer comes back.

I am such a blackberry amateur, that option never crossed my mind. Hmm...

More thoughts on learning German

Apparently this has been my theme this week. ;-) A few of you had some interesting comments on this theme. To summarize my general thoughts:

Why now after five years?

In that class the other day, I was reading aloud and the very nice teacher was gauging my spoken skills. 'Halt!' Then she says, 'you said German word, which is ok, that's how they say it in Hamburg, but a better way to say it in our corner of NRW is ...' I love 'teacher speak' and how they don't want to be discouraging.

However, I saw the point, my random pronunciation of that one threw off the overall effect of the entire sentence. I imagine it must be something I picked up from TV. Or that I heard it somewhere else and picked up the softer pronunciation of said word (my favorite and regular Berlitz teacher was from Hamburg), rather than the stronger NRW guttural version. I feel that I have a lot of tiny things of this type, and that a small amount of effort would give good returns. (As opposed to when I first got here and couldn't string together a sentence with any word with appropriate pronunciation, and all effort produced slow results.)

I don't imagine I'll be here another five years to allow for the general passive acquisition that has served me well thus far, so it's move it or lose it time. For some reason, hitting the five year point seems to have been a milestone after the fact. When I speak Spanish, I can go months and pick up immediately where I left off. My German isn't strong enough yet to do that, and if I don't get a stronger foundation in place, if I were to leave Germany tomorrow, I'd lose it completely, in a matter of a few years. I feel that would be an absolute waste of my time/effort here personally that I did already put into learning it, as well as a professional waste, as it is a marketable skill.

Had I known I was going to be here this long, I probably would have sucked it up long ago and got on the bandwagen. This was originally supposed to be a three month stint, then it became just one year, then onto two, and so it goes and here we are on an unlimited German contract. However, not having a German significant other to turn me into a lifer, I do have some sort of shelf life here, or so I suspect. Thus no lofty goals to read Goethe in the original or needing the language to be promoted or anything of that nature. More that from a common sense, practical perspective, the time seems right.

As expected

I received a letter from the tiny town of B's VHS, apologizing that they must cancel the course due to lack of participants. In a slightly interesting twist, they offered that I could register for a B2 conversation course at another VHS in the triumvirate. It was nice of them to offer an alternative, but I'm not really interested as 1) The course is a 15 week one at 1.5 hrs, and I already missed the first 4 classes and 2) It is described as a slow course, no stress type of thing, and anyone who has ever taken a weekly VHS course knows that intrinsically they are the epitome of a non-stressful course to begin with, so I cannot imagine how slow a proclaimed slow course would be.

Your comments over the past few postings on this topic have been interesting. As have been the reactions of my work colleagues, to hear that I was finally sucking it up and taking another course, after my self-imposed German learning break (from Dec 2007-Aug 2008). One dear colleague is ademantly convinced that there is a German speaking man in the picture somewhere, secretly, so thus the German learning Zeitgeist. (Don't worry dear readers, not so.)

Maybe some more thoughts on this over the weekend...

From scrambling to scrambled

So I trotted up the road to German class yesterday, impressed that they haven't cancelled the course, to a lovely littly building which I had never been inside. Not sure what else it holds besides the local VHS, but it has large poster-size prints of the tiny town of B in its heydey (approx 1910?).

A few minutes before 18.30 I wander into the room where there was only a teacher. She says, are you Ms. xxx? um, yes. Oh, good. We can wait a few minutes for the others, so then I don't need to repeat myself. Oki doki.

At 18.31 she says, well, there are supposed to be three students in total, but perhaps we chat for a few minutes since I do not know you yet, so that I hear your German. Okay.

At 18.45 she starts to sweat. Oh dear. Usually if a student does not arrive on time on the first day, then the student will not come. And I'm not sure if they will keep the class then. (insert crinkled brow and hand wringing.)

So we carry on since we're already here. She had brought along five copies of practice tests. Now I started to feel a little bad. She teaches at the VHS for enjoyment and they called her in at the last minute to teach this one, she belongs to another VHS affiliated in the triumvirate with b. Her children are older, she teaches disabled children in the morning. And here she's stuck with only me, and really I was only taking this course for fun, it's not like I must take/pass the test. And here she is all prepared with copies and planned exercises and her cd player for the verbal listening section and hoping for five students.

To her credit she mustered on. I follow along, filling in blanks, matching things, doing true/falses, reading aloud, etc. It was actually a pleasant experience, and she confirmed my suspicion. I could take the test tomorrow and pass it. With the course I'd probably make it a higher pass, or she suggested that I instead aim instead for the B2 test. We ended 20 minutes early, which considering it was basically a two hour private lesson was just fine. Toward the end she brought in bonbons from her car, (she had stopped at Aldi Sued on the way in to pick them up.) She explained that she would speak to the coordinator, that maybe they would call the two missing students, but that the VHS would probably call me to cancel.

So today my phone rings. It's the VHS and they want to cancel. But it wasn't that course, but the Thursday pronunciation one I had signed up for with the other VHS. So assuming this course also cancels, I will be without a German course for the fall. At this point I give up. I don't want to go all the way to K or D'dorf, and only one in between offers only long Oct-Mar courses.

Thus ends the Great German Experiment 2008.

Welcoming fall and my organized cabinet

A little pre-written reading to amuse you while I'm bumbling along in class...

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. These past few days have been a flurry of activity, greatly pushed along by the super summer weekend followed by the cold snap which gave the signal to 'get moving.' A few activities:

-I disassembled most of the Balkon garden. It was a very sad and dark day as the small table and chairs went into the basement storage room, and the dead and done plants were placed in the compost area.


-A few brave souls are still outside though, mainly what's left of the spindly tomatoes (including one not so bright one who just spurted some blossoms), the Hungarian and Turkish peppers, and the herbs.


-I cleared out the bean/grain/dried storage area to review what is there and added some new recently dried leaves and chilis. A certain special someone likes to make cracks about 'hunting for nuts and berries'. Here's a peek inside the freshly reviewed and organized 'nut and berry central':




As you can see, I'm a big fan of recycled glass jars. It's a very complex three-tier organization system. ;-) The oldest items go on the bottom (level 1) where they actively need to be used in receipes, and I will seek out recipes to use them. The next two tiers are available for use as needed, and eventually the will be bumped down a level as new things come in. Hidden behind the first row are either duplicates of the front or empty bottles.


So from the left, level 1 has: elephant beans, empty glass jars, quinoa in the baggy, black beans, and red and yellow lentils.


From the left, level 2: soy mince, mung beans, 7 grain mixture which is super with pumpkin, popcorn, cous cous, and dried chillis.


From the left, level 3: chickpeas, some unknown bean from the farmers' market, dried blackberry leaves, red cow peas, and more soya mince.


What's not here? The dried tomatoes and dried berries. They're hanging out downstairs in the cooler basement temps for a few weeks, resting up.

Scrambling

After I finally got off my duff and registered for German, it was a tad disappointing for them to call on Friday, they were cancelling the business class due to lack of registrants. (Sigh)

Back to the drawing board. I was already emotionally committed, and short of time as most VHS courses in this region are starting this week. In addition my Thursday was now blocked with the pronunciation class.

Checking all the local VHS courses, was between a rock and a hard place, as the schedule wasn't fitting (leaving early this year for the US), or the distance, or the days, or the time to go take another placement test, etc.

In the end, I came back full circle and will take the general B1 test prep course being offered by the tiny town of B.

On the negative side:
-It's only the general B1 course, not the business specific one.
-It's 2 hrs, 15 minutes each time. Yes I'm sure there's a break tucked in there, but still.

The positive:
-It's only 8 meetings since each is so long.
-It ends in November, rather than during the December packing rush.
-It's only a 15-20 min walk from my flat to the classroom. :-)

Like a kid in a candy store

Everyone has something, be it shoe shopping, alcohol, cigarettes, cookies, chocolate, Harry Potter books, whatever, that represents the ultimate test of temptation.

My weakness is apparently language classes.

I don't have so much time during the work week and it's a little tough for me to find an interesting VHS (cheap courses subsidized by the government) German class in my immediate area due to demographics. Most of the learning German speakers around here are involved in government-mandated integration courses for new immigrants (highly structured, intensely organized courses to promote integration into German society) or have more daytime available and take 'foreign mother's courses' which occur during childrens' school hours.

Strike 1: As I have only evening hours available, and I don't want to drive more than 15 minutes from home/work for this little adventure. The drive to Polish class is 30 minute each way and I find it too much when the course is only 1.5 hours.
Strike 2: My arrival in Germany pre-dated the government mandated courses, so I'd need to prove a need and find one with free seats. As I won't be a lifer in Germany, I'm not so much their target audience. I can converse easily at the B1 level, which is their targeted end for people in the course, so that's a wash anyway.
Strike 3: I don't really have a need for advanced German, such as having a goal to study at a German university, the purpose of some of the higher courses in the area beyond the tiny town of B.

Since I was on such a roll after my recent German course, as I was glancing through the VHS book for the Tiny town of B, I gave it a second thought when I noticed they are offering a weekly class to prepare for the Goethe Institut's B1 general Zertificat Deutsch exam. (Tiny town of B's highest German course offering!)

Goethe offers this general exam as well as a business centric one, both at the B1 level. I don't really need the Goethe Business B1 certification since I'm already working here, as it's a certification some people get to show they can function at a basic level in an office environment. Also, Goethe has a good number of levels from barely above beginner to basically native, and they're a tad expensive (both in money and time) so I keep holding off until I reach the maximum level which I think I can pass before I leave Germany.

Anyway, I decided to check out the next town over's VHS, the one covering the region where the office sits. (Yes, my work commute is 7 minute and I'm already into another VHS' territory.) This one is a larger region, but still much smaller than neighboring K or D'dorf. I found a very interesting class, Phonetics. So for 45 minutes a week to focus on proper pronunciation and intonation. Since I didn't start learning German until the ancient age of 30, I feel this area could definitely be improved upon.

This VHS requires a German test (short coversation and written fill in the word endings) before registering for anything beyond absolute beginner. So I trundle over to their main office to chat with the 'German for foreigners course gatekeeper' (an easy-going lady, whom I hope learns a LOT of money for the amount of bad German spoken by foreigners, to whom she must listen closely to ensure proper placement). We chat about the Phonetics course (for which you do not actually need to take the test she explains, it's literally pronunciation/accent--even if you do not know the meaning of the words you are speaking, the course focuses on how you read/say things.)

She has a gleam in her eye--perhaps something more? Your pronunciation isn't so bad--it's a good course that you can improve, but with only 45 minutes a week, that's almost a holiday. I have my litany of excuses ready--not enough time to devote to their 'real' courses (twice per week at 3.5 hours a shot or 4x week at 3 hours), I don't think I'd survive that time investment let alone the homework/study time, no availability for anything but evenings, and on and on.

--So what's your end purpose with the German language? (she asks)
My basic purpose is to some day take either the B1 or C1 Goethe Business exam, whichever one matches my German level upon leaving the country someday. Since I 'lose' 40+ hours per week in the office, I'd prefer not to spend my few free hours studying for something that has no long term use for me. As I work in an office environment and have an interest in business reading, it's the logical lazy choice, this area.

--Maybe you could just take part of the test, you could skip the first beginner pages, just start here in the middle where I think you are, then see how far you can do it. Just 20 minutes. Then stop when you don't know the answers, it's ok.
Feeling like I'm making a pact with the devil I take it. I bumble through filling in the blanks, verb endings, adjective endings, conjunctions.

She goes through and marks it. Some days, I'm absolutely amazed at what I have learned here without really trying. Things that get programmed in through hearing them everyday, but not realizing why exactly it is why it is. It's such the opposite of my school-learned Spanish, where it was a logical progression of building the grammar.

--You know, you could take something in the Mittelstufe level.
Well, what do you have at location O? O is their small satellite site, only 7 minutes from my office.
--Hmm. So you have Pronunciation on Tuesdays....here! There is Business German at O. Twelve weeks at 2 hrs/15 minutes, with the end goal that you could take the B1 Business exam, if you so desire.

(Defeated) Sign me up. German twice per week, Pronunciation on one day, Business another day, from next week until the week I leave for the US for the December holidays (mid-December) Like a recovering alcoholic who doesn't go into a bar or take a sip of anything dangerous, I never should have gone into the VHS building or taken the test, as my self-control is non-existant when cheap language courses enter the picture. Thankfully I managed to leave without signing up for anything else. Danish, Japanese, Polish, all of them are severely tempting, perhaps most of all Friday night intense Russian...

From the weekly Muenster farmers' market last week

While I was in Muenster for the last three weeks, I enjoyed going to the Wednesday farmers' market. If you happen to be in the area, either on a Wed or Sat morning, I highly recommend a visit.

I generally don't enjoy shopping, but I do enjoy good food, and in particular being connected to the people who grow it. A balcony garden can only grow so much! ;-)

Some highlights:

1. The eggs in the back are from the egg man.

2. Front, the last of the local fresh peas. I had asked last week if there would again be peas next week, the selling girl shouts across to the older gentleman (the owner?) my question. Direct from the source came the answer, definitely Sat and maybe Wed.

3. Back, is a Thai Basil plant. In my corner of NRW it's easy to find (standard? Italian?) Basil, but Thai Basil in potted plan form is a little more difficult. It started dumping rain as I was buying this and the stand was sheltered from it, so I was chatting to the selling girl, and she asks where I'm from, what I'm doing in Muenster, etc. Turns out she spent a year of high school in Indiana and enjoyed it very much, even though it was more rural than she expected America to be.

4. A plethora of tomatoes. In this part of NRW tomatoes are at their peak right now of taste as well as good pricing, so I bought some extras so I could make some sauce.

5. Potatoes in the plastic bag in the center. I went to a potato stall, with oodles of different varieties of potatos. Which is the best potato to make mashed potatos? Ah, you want this one. A potato expert at the ready, I was very pleased. I suck at trying to buy potatos for mashing, (or rather for D to make mashed for me), so when there is a knowledgable potato seller available, I am very happy to take any and all potato buying recommendations.

6. Fresh corn, center back. Considering the number of corn fields in my immediate area, I'm always surprised that 1. It's not sold fresh in the supermarkets here, but rather stuffed 2 to a little plastic vaccuum sealed in some liquid pack and 2. It's not sold at roadside stands. So fresh corn is a rarity I'm always happy to find here. (It was between 75 cents to 1 EUR per ear, ouch!)

Other items in the photo: raspberries, yellow squash, garlic, little onions, cheddar cheese, giant German beans with a handful of 'bean herbs', and a bus ticket. Not photographed: a to go coffee and small bread.

Perhaps it was the wine...

but it was only a glass...

or that my brain was a bit fried from the German study, after 3 hours in the morning and another 4 in the afternoon, and it was the fourth day straight of that schedule, overall day 14 of such a routine...

or that it was a little dim...or the angle...

or that i had my glasses off as i had been reading, and i don't see so well without them for distance...

whatever it was, it took me a slow-moving moment in the campsite restaurant to realize that the raised arm was actually belonging to a second swimmer sorta behind the red-striped suit wearing, brown mustached, hair parted straight down the center swimmer...

How to make a full English vegetarian breakfast (in Germany)

Pre-requisite task: Find a nice-looking British person to execute all of the below steps for added authenticity. ;-)

1. Pop over to the closest British store to buy UK Heinz baked beans, or remember to pack a few cans in your suitcase the next time you're in the UK. Scoff greatly if someone suggests that you use German baked beans, or the Heinz baked beans sold in the Netherlands. Heat those up in a saucepan for a few minutes.

2. Buy some regular mushrooms, slice into halves, and heat those up in a saucepan with a little olive oil. (Humor the colonial and 'undercook' them, so that she doesn't whine later about them being overcooked.)

3. Fry up an egg. In particular, some free-range eggs from Muensterland will do quite nicely.

4. Top right, someone was feeling artistic with the balcony tomatoes. Normally it would be a larger one or two, sliced in half and fried, but these were raw as they are quite small, and so good anyway in their freshness.

5. Center, the Pièce de résistance, fry up some vegetarian sausages in a little olive oil. This variety comes from the Netherlands, from Goodbite, they are mildly spicy and very juicy for a soy product. Two thumbs up.



Need more info?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_breakfast

egg man

Last week at the market, I had a short conversation with the egg seller. When I went back the second week, I wasn't sure that he would remember me, as I'm sure he sees hundreds of people each time he's at the market, and I was only one short conversation.

I bought six eggs, and as he hands them to me he asks, 'And, what about this Phelps?' Classy. Not only does he remember me, but he remembers I'm American and makes that jump to an American conversation topic. If I lived in the area (rather than only being a visitor for these three weeks) I would be an egg customer for life after that pleasant chat.

Back with you tomorrow...

Almost ready

It was a pleasant surprise to return on Friday and see the peppers had gone red. I'm giving them another week until I return again on Friday.

Back on the road

To be back at the campsite, ready for German class tomorrow. A few posts will appear later this week.

In the meantime a garden photo, apparently Jul is not the only one growing interesting tomatoes:

globalization - one never knows who is listening

The language school has a 30 min Coffee break stuck in the middle of the morning of classes, and all classes take this pause at the same time. It offers a chance to mingle together with all the students, in particular because it seems they purposely mixed the classes so as to not have overlap of students with the same nationality together, so it's a welcome break to return to the familiar.

Of course it's cacophony in the break area, a huge mix of languages heard because people often resort back to their local tongue after an intense morning, or just that the beginners don't have enough German yet to fully express what they want to say. Further, you'll have someone tap your shoulder on the way out, if they've heard you speak, and turns out they lived/studied/whatever in your region of the world and want to chat for a minute. Or there are big groups of English conversations among English and non-native English speakers, often it's quicker and sometimes the only possibility for arranging social events for later. ;-)

I had gone up to the Danish girl I know there, we often chat during the breaks, she's here for her gap year living in Germany as she has a German boyfriend. Next to her were a few members of her class, they were having a discussion in English about what they wanted to do for lunch. It was two South Americans, a Serbian, and another American. One of the South Americans then switched to Spanish to talk to the other South American across the table. I was chatting with the Dane, she was asking me about the girl across the table, I confirmed she definitely sounded like an American to me (it was the first time I heard her speak), although when I saw her on the first day she struck me as part of the Asian contingent which is here, both in clothing style and actions.

At one point the one of the South Americans turned to me and asked in English, 'so where are you from.' Of course I had to shoot back the answer in Spanish. She instantly froze, I imagine racking her brain to make sure nothing incorrect had been uttered during the previous few minutes. (It hadn't.) The other South American was delighted. She is an absolute beginner in German and her English is poor so she's been having a hard time to have more than the most basic of conversations. She went to the movies (which are dubbed into German in Germany), just to have something stress-free to do, but only understood about five minutes of the show.

The other interesting point--the rest of the table also understood Spanish. The Serbian knew it (I have no idea how), and the Dane had spent a few months work/study in Spain (which is where she met her German boyfriend). And that American sounding girl? She's actually not an American but is a student at an international school in Shanghai, she's very excited to be going to a San Francisco University in the fall. As her English is absolutely fluent she's here taking German as a foreign language. Huh, go figure.