Der Fernsehturm Adventure

At the suggestion of our American neighbors, Andy and I decided to head to the TV tower (Fernsehturm) on Sunday to get a nice view of the city. Beth and Sean had told us that there's an older train that you can take for a more scenic view as you wind through the hills of Stuttgart to the tower, so we decided to take it. The train is called "The 15" and is sort of like riding in a cable car in San Francisco. It's very narrow, and very loud, but feels quaint and you catch some lovely views of the city as you go along.

A couple of stops from the TV tower stop, Andy looks at me and says, "Did he just announce that this is the last stop?". Of course the announcement was in German, and I thought: "maybe he just told us what that stop was called..." So, we stayed on the train. The train did continue for a little bit, but then turned hard left into a roundabout, and stopped behind another train....facing back down the hill towards downtown. Andy was right. Turns out there is new construction, and The 15 no longer goes all the way to the tower. So, we get off the train and walk over to a couple of conductors to ask them if they know how to get there. To which one of them replies, "Sure. Just climb aboard my train, go downtown, and then catch the U8 to get to the tower." Basically negating all of the progress we had made up the hill. Doh! So, we decided to go the rest of the way by foot. After all, the tower has lights and is 150 meters tall, so you can see it from almost anywhere.

After maybe 10 minutes of walking through the woods in the direction of the tower, night falls. We are now deep in the forest with no flashlight, and have just passed a sign that says "Caution: snakes" (or so we thought...turns out it said, "Caution: gate". Hey, we're learning!). Anyway, 20 minutes later we made it to the tower without any snake encounters.

Once there, we paid €3 each to ride the elevator to the top and walked out to a spectacular view of the city. It was open air up there, but since Sunday was pretty warm it wasn't too cold. We decided to put together a lovely series of pictures all the way around the top (go here to view them...if you speed up the slideshow it's kind of like a video). After we had our fill of the open air, we went into the Panorama Cafe, at the top of the tower, and had a piece of Pflaumenkuche (plum cake) and cappucino. All in all, a successful adventure.

We'll be happy to take any of you to the tower if you come and visit us, but most likely we'll take a different route. :)

Double the Turkey, Double the Fun

Two Thanksgivings in three days equals roughly seventeen single meals and four times that in dessert weight. I love American Holidays, and extending this one "hands-across-the Atlantic-Style" to G-Town gave much reason to be thankful.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our place on Saturday evening for a few neighborhood and lab friends. Our flat has comfortable living, but it's not ideal for hosting large events, so our invitation list was modest. We had a blast, but I always wish we could have invited more people. It's hard to be exclusive when we're surrounded by so many people who are very, very helpful and genuinely nice. Of course, seeing four people try to work in our kitchen preparing food confirms why we could only host 8 (total) last night. Wait until you see our kitchen in person. It has everything you need like cabinets full of random glasses and the standard utilities (oven, micro-fridge, etc), but I think our balcony has more space.

Here's a quick pic of Petra (Pay-truh) and Guillaume (Gee-ohm) preparing some foodstuff in the kitchen. Actually, Guillaume made fantastic mashed potatoes - using a ricer (presumably for potatoes?). Amazing!

Everyone's foods were great. Petra brought a dish of green beans (with magic spices yet to be determined; please be not MSG!) and another of a baked red and yellow bell peppers casserole. Beth, Sean and Tad brought corn casserole, stuffing (yum) and an Apple / Apricot dessert (as well as graciously supplying a unified set of dishes from which we ate), Shravanthi brought a muy tasty salad and pear crisp dessert, and in addition to Guillaume's potatoes he also brought a French Apple Tart (which he made) and a bottle wine from his family's vineyard.






Here's a pic of his fam's wine label; if all French wine even hints at this flavor then bless me a winesnob and know that I'm heading there right after Munich and Prague to tour the Alsacian region from where his family lives. Alsace is to wine what Illinois is to corn. The Alsacian region has a historic identity crisis. German and France have fought over ownership of this region for many years (click on Alsacian region to read more).


Between cooking and hosting, I managed to snap a picture of Tad during a more complacent moment. He's a great kid, and I'm jealous that he's learning English and Deutsch simultaneously. His understanding of "mein" and "nein" are unprecedented. :) Plus, his parents are generous and very supportive. Psst, hey kid. Just remember the good times when your angst fully matures at 16. Besides, your parents were the ones who suggested taking a walk to a nearby lake (Bärensee) between dinner and dessert so we could (in my words) fit more goodness in our bellies. Smart & European (they're Americans). Good Times.

The night's many conversations evolved from holiday tradition to local music to Geocaching Riddles to Guillaume's secret ingredient (marzipan)to a second dessert - and somehow to this re-enactment of a rugby scrum:





















Did I say good times?

We hope you all had a great holiday, and that you had as packed of a dinner table as we did! Hello from Partyland Deutschland:

Nothing says Thanksgiving like sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top

So, our (first) Thanksgiving on Thursday was super. The meal was hosted by Bob and Laura (and their son 4-yr-old Jack) in Denkendorf. We had met Bob's parents, Glenda and Vic, at an event in downtown Stuttgart for a local English magazine....off-track story: the event was at a British pub that hosts team quiz events, and our team, "Hell's Angels", won. We got a big bottle of sparkling champagne, complete with a lit sparkler stuck in the cork. We rock......Aaaaaaaaand, we're back. Anyway, Bob and Laura's place is really nice. They rent a big, old German house that's just beautiful. Also attending the dinner were Simone, a German friend of Laura's from book club, and Manfred & Andrea, a German couple whose son, Danny (also in attendance), goes to Kindergarten with Jack.

The food was great. I brought some Linzer Plätzchen (pic) that I made using my fancy new cookie cutters that Andy bought me at Tchibo, quite possibly the coolest store ever. See how pretty? Jack and Danny certainly liked them. :)


The rest was made by Laura and Glenda. We had Butterball turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, fruit salad, yeast rolls, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, green bean casserole, stuffing, mincemeat pie, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. It was like being in a little American bubble, because Laura was able to get all the traditional goodies by shopping at the Base. She even had Juicy Juice for the young boys.

We had so much fun there, that we stayed for 6 hours, just chatting it up and having a grand time. Manfred and Andrea offered to have us all over to their place next time, for some real Swabian food (Swabia is the region in which Stuttgart resides). We're definitely looking forward to it.

Stay tuned for Andy's picture-filled update of our (second) Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday!

Happy Turkey Day!

You know, today is a good day to reflect on what you're thankful for...like, for example, my 1st place Hop-A-Thon trophy. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, in 1985 I succeeded in hopping on one foot----while dressed as a turkey (newspaper wings on my back and red yarn taped to my chin)--- longer than any of the other kindergartners in my class. What an achievement. That's hard to top. :)

Anyway, these days we're thankful for our family and friends, and for getting to have two Turkey Days this year. This never happened to us in the US, but somehow Germany wants us to feel extra thankful. Last week, we decided to organize a Thankgiving feast at our apartment on Saturday (joining us are an American family from down the street, and an American postdoc and two PhD students from MPI). Then, we got invited by a retired American couple that we met a couple of weeks ago to have Thanksgiving at their son's house in Denkeldorf this afternoon. So, now you can all rest assured that we will have plenty of turkey to eat, and enough friends to share our meals with. Good times.

I hope y'all have a wonderful holiday!

Eurostyle Livin'

UPDATED WITH PHOTOS!

Spending my entire life in one State (.. state of mind?), I always settled on habits and just stuck with them. These weren't always the best habits but once internalized they unfolded into a daily routine. For one, I have a penchant for sitting on my arse. It continues because my career of choice (technology, unspecified) includes a heavy amount of reading and "testing" (ie, Geek Olympics; long, harsh hours of building, breaking, rebuilding, rebreaking all-things-computer) - but let's just refer to it as Golympics (shame on you, Bucky, with your famous marriage of two words into an awesomer, single word [and blast you, John Dorian, for making me explain things in your peculiar and wonderful way..]). That, and like all other kids enjoy the easy answer to our problems of "what now?" - and the Nintendo DS Lite isn't helping anything! Blah, blah, blah

Anyway the point is that my habits are evolving, and it's unquestionably due to our recent lifestyle changes. Jumping right into it:

(a) my new-found ability to actually spend money. Previously I lived under the credit card umbrella (now-now, you know that I generally keep to my frugal (as little as possible!) budget), but now I roll with the EU version of play money. Who'd have thought a country like Germany hardly accepts credit cards? Well, ain't no stoppin me. In fact, why not carry real money as opposed to credit cards? Not only is it a great way to reduce unnecessary spending (can't spend what you don't have), but it's safe, too. Think about it. If someone steals your wallet full of play money, they sure as heck aren't going to snake the 85.62 of EU coins in your pocket! :) Oh, the joy of heavy pockets.. and having to re-learn simple math. Thanks to Brain Age for the DS, I'm once again capable of such complexities as 9 * 7. ;)

But what do I spend my money on? So far, food (but i feel a strong pull to the dark-side of boutique-ish clothing..).

Each day I head to the local grocer and pick up new selections of bread (if I'm out), meat, cheese, and sometimes new drink. I cannot ignore the obligatory chocolate item for me and the Missus, either.

Eating fresh bread is just tops (and kinda expensive at 2+ euros a "loaf"). Making sandwiches with this stuff takes my workin' man food to a whole new level. Pick up some good (ie, everyday) German mustard, a few slices of meat (salami, bierschank, bierwurst, fleischkase, turkey, whatever), and slice tomoato and wash the greens. It's so good (and looks so good) I feel like renaming it my uppa' management food. And don't forget the cheese. I see so many people here just eating cheese and bread, I thought "can't be so bad" and jumped on the wagon. Whether I pick up slices of "the daily" cheese or a slice of the wheel, it's in my lunch almost every day. One day I picked up Havarti, which was very different from the havarti I ate in the States (it was much stinkier, but very nice tasting). The next, brie, followed by a hard(er) cheese that that the butcher sliced for me because he liked it, followed by a wedge of Cambozola which rocked! PS: I still keep "normal" bread on hand for PB&J attacks, etc - otherwise I'd be broke.



(b) Consistently visiting the local Farmer's Market. This goes along with spending money, but I'm set on going each week. Luckily for me (cause SAtuday is Lazyday), there's a mid-week / Wednesday (Mittwoch) market. Just this morning I hopped on the bus with my bad German and bought a monster bag of fresh spinach, as well as other things like fresh walnuts, vine tomatoes, herbed olives and some marinated Feta (I think..). The grocers actually don't offer all of this stuff, so off to the Farmer's Market(s) we go (we also went once to the larger Stuttgart market which was also very nice).

(c) More photos! I know, all this talk of food, markets, stinky cheeses and breads without pictures is like Van Halen without David Lee Roth. I'm within reach of a camera much more regularly these days, and I will continue to pop photos for your eyes more than ever! I'll take it to the grocer tomorrow and drop in some savory pics.

(d) My Own Friends ©. I've lived in a world of Material Scientists over the past five years, and it's been fun - but it's hard sharing *everything* with your wife. Friends are no exception. My friends were always a mix of my wife's friends: MatSci's, their wifes, their hubbies, and of course my local tech buddies and friends from around the globe. Ultimately this meant my wife and I hardly had time apart. Shortly after arrival, we clarified that we needed different groups of friends at the lab (which we could combine for bombtastic parties.. muahhahaha). Now we have our own separat-ish social groups, where we chat about all sorts of goodness.. In German. I'm such a dork. Yeah, we don't always understand each other, but I win because I have great bread every day. ;) Then again, she has that infamous coffee club and the peeps that go with it - who are all pretty nice and Euro themselves. Darn you, coffee club with your million dollar cappuchino machine.

(e) A more relaxed attitude. Currently I have no serious deadlines, no true plans, and the work environment around us is: it can wait until tomorrow. I've never felt better. Ultimately I get my work done, albeit I do feel like I'm not focusing on my real job interests, but I think that will change over the next few weeks as people understand what I'm able to do (and interested in doing; there's a significant benefit with actually having interest). Life here is all-around positive. We walk, we eat, we laugh, we watch half-price movies at the Gloria on Tuesdays. I *just* received our first shipment of books, so I now have stuff to read, but I have time to pick up projects and hobbies. Unfortunately with my career choice comes that heavy reading / Golympics requirement, so I still have a slight internal pressure to continue investigating the newest features and products (Windows Vista, Windows PowerShell, the many books and articles regarding those two, the internal workings of those two, blah blah blah). But in the end I just pick up the DS or head to the closest town or Stuttgart for some relaxation.

Can't wait to see the Goritos in December, and looking forward to communicating with some of you over Skype, IM, etc.

You've been T-Punkt!

Hahahaha. After a month and 7 visits to the T Mobile store (T-Punkt), we finally have our cell phone. We had to wait until my resident permit cleared last Thursday before they would believe me that I live here. They gave us a €5 credit on our bill for the hassle, and generally were very friendly throughout, so we're happy. Plus they have a super-cool coffee machine, so we get free cappuccinos each time we go, which is a bonus. ;)

In other news, we found out today that Germany has a tax for the TV and radio. €20 a month! Dang! That tax is how they support public broadcasting. Still, it sucks, because even if you only use your TV to watch DVDs you have to pay the tax. And if you try to avoid it, they'll hunt you down and make you pay a big fine (so say our German buddies). So, since Andy and I don't even use the TV provided to us by our landlord, we're gonna ask him to store it in the basement. That way when the TV inspectors come we'll be in the clear. Of course, we may still have to pay €7 a month for the radio tax, since my mp3 player came with one. Doh!

Mmm.. Bier: Bier #3

Will owns a bottle opener that features Homer (from the Simpsons) saying "Mmm.. Beer. [pouring beer into a glass] Woohoo!" or something like that. I really like this bottle opener and will purchase it if I can find it - despite my aversion to battery powered items these days.*

And off we go. There are so many more breweries to sample. Be patient, my children. DSL is still on the way.

The Paulaner Hefe-weissen DUNKEL is a *great* beer. It's a Hefe, which I enjoy a lot, and it's a darker beer (but not dark like Guinness). Screaming from the wheaty goodness is a lot of smoothness. Smooth runnings, man. Can you get this in the states? This beer surely won't threaten the likes of Guinness or Delirium Tremens, but I'd pick it as my everyday beer.. if I had a constant selection.. hehe... if..

YMMV (your mileage may vary)

* Old news for some, but I LOVE these toys sans batteries. Check out how cool windup toys can be at Kikkerland.com.

From the "When It Counts" Department

I wrote a friend of mine and said in jest: Living in Germany (as a non-native speaker) is a comedy of errors, and I wish the Germans found it as funny as I do. Now it's your turn!

This isn't mine. In fact, I shouldn't even post this but instead allow my counterpart her moment of fame. But the fact that another American couple we just met also pointed this out and that B's currently not available at the moment persuades me to go ahead and post this.

FUNNY FUNNY

It should yield a video (which you should NOT watch at work.. ahem, you know to whom I'm speaking) with incredible replayability while rarely losing it's humor. Maybe it's funny to me because I live in that sinking world. :)

Enjoy!

Here's to Arbitrary Customs Regulations. Cheers!

First, a little background story. Before leaving the US, Andy and I sent ourselves a package of books. Not anything special, just some random, used textbooks that we thought would be useful to have over here. Well, last Tuesday, we got a letter from Deutsch Post saying that our package had arrived, but was being held by customs. Okee dokee.

So, this morning, we went to the DP customs office (about a 20 minute drive) and picked up our package. This process consisted of us opening the package, the man glancing at it, and us leaving with it. While we were there, we asked him why it was held. To which he replied that he didn't know what was in the package, and it could have been commercial goods (which would be taxable). The funny thing is, we did write that the package was full of books, but Deutsch Post put their sticker over our writing, so that's why the contents were a "mystery".

Anyway, since our package took three weeks to arrive instead of one, and we had to hassle with getting a ride to the post office, we have started doing some research on the best way for family and friends to send us packages from the US. As it turns out, you are allowed to receive gifts from one individual to another, as long as the value is less than 45 Euros. Random. Over that amount, we have to pay taxes on the package when we pick it up from DP. I actually managed to find the German customs website, which lists exactly what the tariff rate is for goods valued at more than that. Here is a selected sampling:

GPS Equipment: 3.7%
Golf Clubs: 2.7%
Tennis Rackets: 4.7%
Leather shoes: 8%
Non-leather shoes: 17%
Ornaments made of
- wood: free
- metal: free
- plastic: 6.5%

Seriously, what's with the excess tariff on the plastic ornaments? I mean, when are plastic ornaments gonna get a break??

It's a hard-knock life...

Just wanted to show you all how tough it is being a cat. You can see here that all of the eating and playing lately has worn out Zulu completely. Pooooooor kitty. :)

Small and Wonderful: The Porsche Museum

Living in Stuttgart had one immediate benefit from my perspective: Porsche. Porsche was started in Stuttgart by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. While they do have several test facilities througout the world, Stuttgart is still their home (and a proud one, too!). We visited the Porsche Museum yesterday (Sunday - some things *ARE* open on Sundays!!), and I had an absolute blast. I love Porsche because they are beautiful cars that are within the reach of everyone, whether new or used. I'm not saying I can afford to buy another FA Porsche vehicle, but maybe someday.. Actually, I'm lucky enough to own one of FA Porsche's originals. My Father and I (well, mostly Dad) restored it to almost 100% over 10 years ago, and it's still stored and driven regularly. The museum gives a nice shout out to these "everyday" Porsche's:









You can't see the split window in the back very well. It's a 1950's Beetle "Split-Window" that is incredibly preserved (or restored). I'll snag a better picture later when I have my tripod.







Here are a few photos of the various cars (in and out) to whet your appetite.

NB: I will not post all photos. If you want to see more, get your butts over here and I'll take you - it's my treat! :)

959 - pearl white. This was the quintessential Porsche SuperCar until the Carrera GT was released in '04:
















Some lucky Porsche Intern got this crazy fun job. This is the new Porsche Cayman, a model designed to sit between the lower-end Boxter (still a great car) and the essential Porsche 911. I bet Thorr would love this job: Here, take this dremel and run! (I know the cutaway was probably performed with a saw or laser, but Thorr does love his Dremel):
















This is the first thing I saw as I entered the museum: Death on Wheels. Not sure why they don't have an actual Porsche 356 in front of the Der Porsche 356 display....
















SECRET PHOTO OP!!



We think this is a Porsche engineering (test) car. Note the different body panels (front and rear quarter) and masking. There were TONS of these... maybe the panels are about to be removed and replaced to sell the car?







Enjoy these until the time you and I go together! :)

Ah, the splendors of downtown Stuttgart

On a recent walk through the downtown area, Andy and I decided to take some pictures of the sights. I've posted them here for you to see. In these pics you'll see the quaint little winterfest set up downtown, the Schlossplatz (large courtyard), the Könnigstrasse (main shopping district), and many nice buildings. We hope you enjoy!

Go, Go Gadget Bicycle!

I just love that the post office here delivers mail by bicycle. I'm sure they use vehicles for some of the mail, but in the commercial areas that are near to a post office location, Deutsche Post workers in yellow and black uniforms hop on bright yellow bicycles with a basket of mail and zip on over to make their deliveries. It's such a fun phenomenon, that I've included pictures here for show and tell. Maybe it's because the bikes are so bright and sunny, but looking at these photos just makes me smile. :)

Dirka Dirka

As we mentioned before, our apartment came furnished. What we didn't elaborate on, is that this includes not only the standard fare (bed, sofa, dining table), but also a slew of hodge podge items. This "hodge podge" includes things like children's towels, mismatched pillow cases, and, my favorite, a flowery coffee mug that lovingly reads "Dirk". Of course, this has now become Andy's mug; clearly he was destined to have Dirk as a German nickname. Who knows, we may even have to sneak that mug back with us in a couple of years.

In other news, we have now completed four working days here at MPI. While our first few days consisted of paperwork and introductions, we are now faced with some very serious decisions....including which lunch group to join, and whether it's better to bring a lunch or to eat at the Canteen. Actually, the subject of food quality at the Canteen can become a heated debate amongst co-workers (although most agree that it could be better----"The cook is English after all"). We thought it was more or less okay, although heavily focused on meat and potatoes.. but what meal in Germany isn't??

Speaking of food, it's funny the random stuff you miss from the US. I thought it might be enlightening to list some of the things that are hard or impossible to come by in Germany:
- peanut butter (I already mentioned it, but given it's importance it's worth mentioning again!)
- chocolate chips
- anything spicy.. Germans can't tolerate much more than black pepper (shout out to Cindy here)
- corn on the cob (after 5 years of oversaturation of this product, it remains to be seen if we'll actually miss it...)
- fresh cilantro
- mexican food (there is an abundance of Italian, Turkish, and Chinese though)
- sushi (just hasn't really caught on yet)
- raw sausage (the country is obsessed with pork sausage, but usually you only find it already cooked... no more biscuits and gravy here..)

I'm sure there are other random things, but I just can't think of them now. The things on this list by no means really affect our daily lives, but I just feel like these are some of the things we might appreciate a little more on return trips to the US. We, of course, can't complain about the abundance of excellent, cheap beer, fresh pastries, fresh breads, sweet mustard, and potato salad. The US has nothing on Germany in those arenas. Mmmmmmmmmmm, beeeeeer.

Guten Abend - Bier #2

WeihnachtsBier. It's a Schwabien (Southern) thing. Even better, it's a Christmas Bier! How cool is that! But what I couldn't get over was the heavy amount of hops in this brew. It was hoppy hoppy hoppy, and that's not my OC kickin in tonight either. While I haven't found the German Guiness equivalent, I'll keep movin on. So far, Germany is tops when it comes to lighter brews.. but when I find a good dark version I'll yell about it from the rooftops. Of which I have no idea how to reach our house's rooftop.. hmm.....

German Healthy vs. German Bad - Starring OATMEAL!

You know, we headed out to a super-happenin' German restaurant last night in search of some good German eats. We attempted the same during Wednesday's All Saints Holiday, but this dive only served drinks - go figure. I mean, if *I* were a saint, I'd only want a nip of whiskey instead of some heavy potatoes on my holiday. Anyway, I'm going to dub one restaurant "Murphy's" - named after Murphy's Pub in Champaign which means the food is greasy and bad, bad, bad for you. The second I'll name Tiny Goodness, because the food was relentlessly German yet NOT greasey, the presentation was awesome - plus they did all of this from an incredibly small bar. I think there were three tables aside from the bar (think small).

Murphys: For kicks we ordered food that neither of us really understood. I picked out the word "berger" (koenigberger) and she picked out .. actually I have no idea how she chose her dinner. I usually give her a hard time about what she picks either way, so her choice being another unknown German option essentially put us on an even playing field. When we received our plates, we were both surprised. There was nothing resembling my idea of a "berger," only three meatballs, rice, and a gravy. She ended up with two fried eggs and potatoes. Our friend Shravi reminds us that potatoes are an intentional "butter delivery mechanism." Hats off to her, as these were fried potatoes with butter (but they were goooooood!). We went home in search of oatmeal to purge our bodies of the dangerous fats and cholesterols, only there's no stinkin oatmeal anywhere around here. For those of you that are new around here, I love oatmeal. Just ask Russ M. and Michael from CCH.. I probably told them my favorite oatmeal recipie three times over the past year and a half of working there.

...And now I'll tell you:

Mix together:
1 cup of Quakers Oats normal oatmeal (not the quick stuff)
1 cup of water
2 raw eggs

Cook in the microwave for 1.5 minutes, stirr, then another 30 seconds

Add ground flaxseed, walnuts, a little bit of clover honey, stir.

EAT.

It will keep you satisfied until lunch.. guaranteed. Maybe toss in some yogurt around 10:30AM if you finish your breakfast at 8:30AM. But YMMV.

Okay, now about Tiny Goodness: The food was really good - definitely my first choice for you many visitors who come our way over the next few years. About 6 euros bought me two bratwurst with a whoppin salad (it was served on a normal sized plate). German salads are usually layered. The bottom is composed of German potatoes (what else?), then lettuce, then thinly sliced sweet onion and tomato wedges. Toss in some special oils and spices, and it's really tasty. The two bratwurst were red (rotbratwurst) and sat alongside a small helping of German yellow mustard and horseradish, but I don't believe it because I've never had sweet horseradish. Good Good Good. She ended up with a soup with dumpling-like (or maybe ravioli-like?) things called Maltasche. Basically they are pasta with meat + spices on the inside. Very nice! All in all a bit salty, but for her 5 euros they gave her three or four huge ones. We shared our dinners as usual, and complimented our plates with some large Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Dunkels. Ahh, Guten Apetite!

Until next time, when I continue giving strange monikers to our visited restaurants to protect the innocent.

Germany: What You Didn't Know... (muahahah)

Change is an important catalyst. It not only forces you to continue learning, but it instills a healthy level of respect. After all, things change for good reason, right? Well, let's test that theory. Here is a growing list of non-obvious differences with which I'm learning to live:

(1) Window Blinds.

Strangely enough, window blinds are on the OUTSIDE of windows. The ones on our house appear to be part of the window frame, running along a track (that may be built into the actual window frame?). It's a charming difference, IMHO. Oh, and they aren't flimsy like the plastic or metal alternatives in the States. These babies are hefty. I bet they'd protect against turret gunfire or ICMBs. (OK, Maybe not..) I bet they're a pain to clean though!

(2) Leaning Buses.

I regularly ride the bus (because my ongoing Sherlock-Style bike hunting has not yet produced satisfactory results. Es dauert Zeit, damnit! :) ). What is most interesting, is that when the buses pull up to the curb, they actually lean to the curb. Why don't they just install steps that come out to the oncoming bus citizens? Well, they have those, too. Every time I feel the bus tipping, two things happen: I start to remember bizarre scenes from the Titanic (how can you forget that fabulous "I'm Flying" scene with Kate and Leo so lovey-duvey at the front of the Titanic?) - and the hook to the "When you dip I dip we dip" song. Thank you, Everybody, my Ping-Pong mind will be here all week.

(3) Lights On, Lights Off.

This is somewhat inconsistent - especially inside our first apartment which we've already vacated, but if you're from the States, then you turn the lights ON by turning them OFF. Yep, inverted light switches. It rocks! If coming to another country where you can't speak their language, why not have some more fun by giving the light switches the ol' 180 degree swicheroo? Since we left our board game Cranium somewhere in the storage locker, this has kept the creative juices flowing...

(4) Your Mama Wears Cool Shoes.

No joke. We visited "H and M" the other day (a trendy clothing store that I was always told was inexpensive.. Since when did "normal" jeans cost 60 bucks?) and ran into bazillions of women older than us wearing super cool shoes! Who are these rock stars! Or, more correctly, why don't our older women wear cool shoes? This sweet old couple (say, in their 70's) were out for a walk.. and the lady was wearing these track-style shoes, bright yellow. Really slick! At first I thought she was a safety monitor helping people cross the street, but in reality she is just a hep Kat. Raaaar.

(5) DIE NANNY.

It's bad to pun all over the words of this awesome culture, but I can't help and laugh when I run across DIE NANNY on the TV (when we had a TV with cable, that is). Yes, the article "The" in German is DIE (at least it is in this example). What's most fitting is that most people who watched The Nanny with Fran Drescher were usually thinking to themselves, "DIE NANNY," because of her supremely gravely voice that just seemed to bring the best out in people. Well, now y'all can realize how much you have in common with your German neighbors. Bring on the Wurst! (that's sausage, you noodle).

(6) Administration Is A National Pasttime.

I hear about "red tape" all the time in relation to the States, but Germany has us beat - hands down! Granted, this is my first trip to live abroad, but I found the level of paperwork (and signaures needed) incredibly cumbersome. But what it DID have, was ORDER. God Save the Germans! They LOVE clear, concise order so much that I bet you'd get fined for skipping GO and collecting your 200 bucks in Monopoly. Here's what we experienced (extremely summarized) to be allowed to live here.

Step A, receive job contract
Step B, sign up for health insurance by proving you have a job contract
Step C, receive a work visa by proving you have health insurance
Step D, receive a residence permit by proving you have a work visa.

In theory this is all smooth-runnings, eh? What I left out were the many, many hours spent tracking down people for signatures, translators, recommendations, secretaries for A through D, more signatures, clarifying details, etc. And this was all with HELP! I can't imagine coming here without the friendly help of our MPI co-workers.

Change is usually a good thing, but in this case it is why I now hide in my closet and refuse to come out. Rumor has it the storm has passed. But now we're off to go pick up our mobile phone, which was delayed because we needed 26 legal forms proving our apartment's lease contract, our work vista, or residence permits, our passports, bank account numbers.. holy cow!

I intended to write my list of 10, but this last one pooped me out. Auf weidersehen, y'all.

Our All Saints Day Outing

Since we had the day off yesterday, Andy and I decided to cash in our newly purchased monthly bus passes and head downtown. We had been told that all of the shops would be closed for the holiday, but still thought, "surely there must be at least one store open." But, there weren't. When we got to the Stadtmitte around 10am, the streets were deserted. We were among an elite group of strollers that came downtown to window shop. This actually turned out to be quite fun. Whereas on a normal day, window shopping is only for the brave (since stopping to gaze will likely get you mowed down by a hurried shopper), with the streets empty we had all of the time in the world to peer into each and every store. What was really cool, was that each and every item on display had its price posted right next to it. So we knew right away which stores would be worth coming back to (i.e. which stores were cheap), and which ones are over our heads (like the one with the $3300 chef's knife in the window).

Although none of the retail shops were open, there were a few cafes open and there was also a little winter festival set up (Wintertraum). There were several small food stands there, with Glühwein, Bratwurst, cookies, confections, strudels, you name it. There was also an ice rink, which had the coolest thing: 3-ft tall plastic animals with handles that children can latch onto for balance when they're skating. We ended up eating bratwurst and currywurst for lunch there and sharing some spiked, hot wine....very tasty. Being there definitely got me excited for the huge Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) that starts November 30th. It's gonna be awesome. Cookies and crafts and carolers and Christmas trees everywhere! I can't wait. :)

For now, it's back to werek! (insert Scottish accent here)