This non-American Life

Obamania sweeps through Germany

2008-07-24T17:39:00.006+02:00

Germany is all abuzz today as Obama prepares to speak in Berlin. He is on the cover of magazines such as Der Spiegel and Stern. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung is chronicling his every move throughout the day. The televised pre-game show began hours ago.

He will be speaking in front of the Siegessäule, a good 2 km away from the Brandenburger Gate, his first choice of venue. This move was supposedly to appease Merkel, who was not happy with Obama's first location choice. As much as I love Obama, I too found myself questioning the idea of this speech. Presidential performances in Berlin are the stuff of legends, but Obama isn't exactly president yet. Why is he trying to trick me into believing he is?

Regardless of my initial skepticism, today I find myself eagerly anticipating this evening's speech. I hope it will be gorgeous. Legendary, even.

Earlier this afternoon a reporter in Berlin asked his interviewee, "So, what's the German sentence going to be?" Good question, no? "Ich bin ein Berliner" has already been taken. "Ja, wir können" seems a little too obvious. So what do you think it should be?

ETA (18:45): Wow, look at that crowd! I do believe that it extends all the way to the Brandenburger Gate itself...

ETA (19:14): The crowd is estimated at 100,000 or more. The German commentators keep saying how surprised they are that this reception is for a politician (and an American one at that) and not a rock star.

ETA (20:02): Loved it. It's hard to decide which channel's commentary to watch (the speech was on at least 6). We watched the speech itself on CNN to avoid the simultaneous translation.

A little German leisure reading

2008-07-24T07:01:00.001+02:00

So, in my quest to improve my language skills, I have switched most of my leisure reading over to German. So far I have finished two novels in German, and I'm looking for more.

The first novel I read, at the suggestion of Heza and Alex, was Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink. It started out a bit slow, but the pace picked up before I lost interest. The level was great - I was able to read and understand almost everything without stopping to look words up, although there were definitely new words in the text (for when I was in the looking-up kind of mood). What I particularly liked about the story line was that it was uniquely German, drawing me into parts of German history I had not thought about before, at a level I could easily follow and understand. I see that Mr. Schlink is a prolific writer; perhaps I will give another book of his a go.

The second German novel I read was the infamous Feuchtgebiete by Charlotte Roche. Although I expected my knowledge of German slang to be challenged, I have to say that I ended up being almost disappointed at the lack of new and scandalous vocabulary it offered. I suppose all those issues of Bravo (link possibly NSFW) I read during my Halle days really paid off! The book was also a bit of a let-down in the content department; based on all the uproar it has caused, I expected it to shock and offend my prude American sensibilities much more than it did. Although the book did make me physically gag on a couple of occasions, my reaction was more to the hygiene elements than the sexual ones.

Despite these disappointments, overall I'll call Feuchtgebiete a decent read. The pace was quick, and for the most part the plot was interesting enough to keep me entertained on the plane to California. It might have been less interesting to read in my native language, since it would have lost its educational appeal (although, I suppose, it does have something in the way of education to offer on the topic of raising avocados, too), but as a German-learning tool I'll give it a thumbs up.

Any suggestions for what I should read next? I prefer to read in the original language (ie, I'm looking for books written in German). They don't have to be novels, but my other preferred genre is humorous nonfiction (ala David Sedaris and Bill Bryson), and I'm not sure my German sense of humor is sophisticated enough to tackle that. I like novels that are quick reads but with some substance - no romance novels or Sweet Valley High, but also no War and Peace. Think good airplane reading.

Travel writers born, not made?

2008-07-22T07:35:00.001+02:00

If ever you were in doubt that nepotism is alive and well, you'd need look no further than the travel writing industry to see that it is. Who knew guidebooks were the stuff of travel royalty?

Take Arthur Frommer's daughter, Pauline, for example. She has her own line of guidebooks. Incidentally, I learned about her writing through Arthur Frommer's delightfully insightful and curmudgeonly travel blog, of which I am an avid reader. With marketing like that, she's bound to succeed.

And then there was the big scandal a while back about Max Gogarty, son of The Guardian's travel writer Paul Gogarty. Guardian readers were none too happy to hear that 18-year-old Max had scored a travel blog on the Guardian site to document his privileged international partying. Comments were so harsh that they seem to have actually prevented the blog from going past the first entry.

The latest edition to the travel writing offspring pack is Rick Steve's daughter Jackie, who has a blog on her father's website to document her summer romp around Europe. The reception she has received has been vastly different to poor Max's, with most of her commenters sounding like concerned mothers, wringing their hands as they read about the 18-year-old's encounters with Italian boys and red-light districts. I wonder if the comments are heavily moderated, or if 'concerned mother' types are just the kind of folks who read Rick Steves's site. I suppose the latter is pretty plausible.

(As an aside, I am so insanely impressed with Rick Steve's recent trip to Iran. I have never been a particular fan of his, but this self-funded adventure in cultural understanding has earned him huge amounts of respect from me. I really hope I get a chance to see the show that comes out of it.)

So my question is, why oh why couldn't I have been born into travel-writing royalty?

The old city ring party

2008-07-20T22:07:00.000+02:00

As part of the summer-long celebration of Munich's 850th birthday, the middle of the city was taken over this weekend for the Altstadtringfest. Despite the crowds and weather which alternated between oppressively hot and torrential downpour, we had a pretty good time sampling the offerings. And we saw a lot. A robot parade. A glorified science fair. Singing lesbians. A guy in a chicken suit riding a mechanical ~~bull~~ soccer ball. Concerts. Singing mechanical puppets.

My favorite event was the midnight acrobat show at Odeonsplatz last night. It was kind of a cross between De La Guarda and Cirque du Soleil, with a bunch of Bavarian history tossed in. The woman running up and down one of the towers of the Theatinerkirche was absolutely breathtaking. None of the photos of her turned out, but Scott took a great video I'll try to post sooner or later.

Today we took the opportunity to take our new tracht out for a spin (and silly us, forgot to have someone take a picture of us - but we did take a photo when we got home). There were plenty of other dirndls and lederhosen to see out and about, too, which I noticed only because we were dressed the way we were. You know how when you get a new car and then suddenly notice people driving that kind of car everywhere? Tracht is the same way.

Munich parties

2008-07-19T16:47:00.000+02:00

We were this close to going away for the weekend, but in the end decided to stick around and check out the hundred million things going on in Munich. We just got back from a day at the Tollwood Festival out at the Olympiazentrum. Tollwood had been described to us as kind of a hippie festival gone commercial, and that was about what it felt like. The fairgrounds contained a mix of shopping, a variety foods, and eclectic beer gardens. There was also live music and other performances going on. I lunched on a fabulous vegan gyro. Long live the hippies!

Now we're resting up for a long night of partying at the Altstadtsringfest. The center of Munich has been closed off to traffic and a whole of of crazy things are going on in the various platzes. The acrobatics at Odeonsplatz sound promising, and I'm quite tempted to go check out a German rap group by the name of Blumentopf (flower pot). So many events to chose from!

And, as if today wasn't exciting enough already, we bought Scott some lederhosen this morning. Woo hoo!

Learning German at the Volkshochschule

2008-07-16T09:01:00.000+02:00

Although I haven't quite implemented everything on my learning German with overwhelming force list, for the past month and a half I've been taking a German class at the Münchner Volkshochschule. A Volkshochschule is kind of like a community college or an adult education center, and you can find one in pretty much every German city. Course offerings cover a wide array of subjects, from art to business to to swimming to foreign languages.

The best thing about Volkshochschule courses is that they are extremely affordable. I had heard mixed reviews about the quality of the German classes, but I decided to give it a try. I've taken language courses at much pricier schools, such as the Goethe Institut and Berlitz, and I'd give them mixed reviews, too. It really depends on the teacher most of the time, and at the Volkshochschule I totally lucked out. Our teacher was engaging and interesting. She made sure we were challenged, while also giving us plenty of praise.

The class consisted of about 10 students, each from a different country, ranging from Italy to Iran. I really enjoyed getting to know people from so many different places and life situations. I'm sad to see the course come to an end tomorrow.

Volkshochschule German courses are usually in high demand, especially at the beginning levels, and can be hard to get into (so if you're interested, be sure to sign up well in advance!). It seems to get a little easier to get a place at the more advanced levels. To start somewhere other than at the beginning, you take a quick placement test (which costs 5 euros) and then you speak with the advisors about finding a course which is right for you.

Ready for Oktoberfest

2008-07-15T11:04:00.000+02:00

Here it is, the new dirndl in all its glory. I love it, even though wearing it seems to reduce me to nothing but silly poses and twirling. Who knew girlie clothes could be so much fun?

Turning Bavarian

2008-07-13T10:01:00.001+02:00

I am happy to announce that I am now the proud owner of my very own dirndl. I love it more than I ever thought I could love traditional clothing, Bavarian or otherwise. It fits surprisingly well, and I adore the colors. (Even before I bought it I was told that I have a very good Dirndl-Figur... I'll give you one guess as to what that really means.)

A dirndl is a traditional Bavarian dress, worn with an apron, and is basically the female counterpart to lederhosen. Dirndls and lederhosen aren't exactly everyday wear here in Bavaria anymore, unless you happen to be waiting tables at the Hofbräuhaus. But they're still quite popular, especially at beer festivals and other occasions. Like this thing they call the Oktoberfest... perhaps you've heard of it?

Dirndls come in all colors and fabrics, and can range in price from around 100 euros to several thousand, depending on your dedication to the cause. On the low end, stores such as C&A sell cheap versions of dirndl, or I hear there are some great deals to be found on Ebay. I wanted something a bit nicer, but didn't want to invest too much, so we headed out to the Loden Frey outlet near the Olympia Einkaufzentrum to do a little Tracht shopping. I ended up spending less than I expected to, so I'm doubly happy with the outcome.

Now, if only I could find a reason to wear my dirndl before Oktoberfest...

Munich beach

2008-07-12T19:18:00.000+02:00

Not only does Munich have surfing, but there's also a beach here. Well, not so much a beach as an outdoor bar with some dirty sand and a couple beach chairs, but hey, what do you expect? The nearest sea is a couple countries away.

We went to check out the Strand Bar last night. Located in the middle of the Corneliusbrücke spanning the Isar River (near the Deutsches Museum), the bar serves up a very limited selection of drinks, including mojitos (very good) and Weissweinschorle in a bottle (absolutely undrinkable). The atmosphere and location were enjoyable, and we would have loved to stay longer if it wasn't for these menacing clouds in the distance (see photo below). We grabbed our mojitos and made a run for it, getting to the next bar just as the deluge started. Good times.

Take these quizzes to prove you know stuff!

2008-07-10T08:01:00.002+02:00

Several online quizzes have caught my eye recently:

The BBC English Quiz (found via chrisdellavedova.com) I kicked ass on this one - surprisingly, even on the spelling section.

The German Citizenship Test (in German). Could you become a German? (found via AmiExpat)... really? You want me to know the flag colors of Nordrhein-Westfalen to become a German citizen? I don't even know what colors are on New York's state flag... at any rate, with 24 out of 33, I passed! Woo hoo! Where's my passport?

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung's US Presidential Candidate Quiz (in German). Example question:

What is Barack Obama's middle name?
a) Saddam
b) Hussein
c) Mahmud

Someone must have been thinking about the Hezbollah fist bump while writing that one (at the end of the video, but well worth the entertaining wait)...

More balcony garden talk

2008-07-09T12:30:00.001+02:00

This growing-food-on-the-balcony thing is cool! Plus, I get to feel all smug and self-satisfied for reducing my food miles to, well, a couple meters. We are rolling in zucchini and zucchini flowers, and have feasted on strawberries and lettuce and peas and a couple bell peppers thus far. There are about a gazillion tomatoes on the plants, but none of them have started to turn red yet. Let's hope they don't all decide to ripen on exactly the same day.

Our balcony looks like a waist-high jungle these days, with hardly any room for a person to go through and water and pick. I keep wanting to buy more plants, but obviously that's not going to work, so I'm just adding to my mental list of what I want to grow next year (cucumbers, definitely, and more peas!).

As much as I love our balcony garden, it's not all fun and games... it's also a lot of responsibility! These plants need water every single day. Which means someone has to be here every single day. It's ridiculous. Even a cat can survive a few days on its own. Plants are so demanding.

Related reading: Having a Gardner is a Wonderful Hobby

Scott falls in love on the streets of Regensburg

2008-07-08T16:38:00.001+02:00

Should I be jealous?

Big pfun at the Pfarrfest

2008-07-06T19:33:00.000+02:00

Last week we went to a Pfarrfest at a small parish church in Munich. A multi-generational crowd was gathered for food, drink, socializing and music. The preist worked the crowd, greeting everyone and making them feel welcome (upon learning I was from the US, he even broke out with a couple words of English). Dessert consisted of various baked goods prepared by the parishioners. This annual party had all the feel of a church celebration in a small American town, with two significant differences:

1) Lots of oompah music, and

2) Nuns drinking beer by the liter.

I'm really, really sorry for not snagging a photo of #2.

Much love for San Diego

2008-07-03T22:45:00.000+02:00

This trip to San Diego was for a family wedding. I really didn't want to go. Having spent six weeks in the US at the end of 2007, I felt no desire to return to the States again so soon. Especially to somewhere as far away as California - 15 hours of flying each way. I hate long flights. But in the end, I couldn't justify missing out on this celebration and the opportunity to see so many family members in one place at one time (some of whom I hadn't seen for many years).

And I'm very glad we went. Not only was it great to hang out with folks, but we also ended up liking San Diego itself, much to our surprise. It's a very cute city, and the beautiful beaches are plentiful. The weather managed to be warm enough for swimming in the sea yet cool enough for me sit on the beach in the sun (and we all know how much I hate the sun). And Tower23, the hotel with the cool fire pit, made a great backdrop for the first half of our stay. I even started imagining how fun it would be to live so close to the ocean for a year or so, eating Mexican food and shopping at Trader Joe's to our hearts' content. Wouldn't that be awesome?

"All joking aside, don't move back." The sternly-delivered unsolicited advice came from our friends we met for dinner on the second night, American friends who moved from Zurich to San Diego around the same time that we moved from Zurich to Munich. It seems that the temptations of southern California aren't quite enough to make up for the downsides of living in Bush's America.

We had a secondary goal of abusing the exchange rate and using the American banana currency to stock up on clothes and electronics on this trip. We were only partially successful at this, since we ended up spending more time at the beach and less time at the mall. The mild food poisoning we were suffering on our last free day there didn't exactly put us in the mood to shop, either. Sign of a bad wedding caterer: guests all have mysterious stomach problems the next day.

At least the wedding itself was a blast. Especially the photo booth! Note to Italian wedding vendors: start offering more photo booths, fewer balloon bouquets.

The fire pit

2008-07-01T12:18:00.004+02:00

To answer the questions about the last photo in my San Diego post, I give you... a video:

This was the fire pit at the fancy beach-front hotel where we stayed for the first part of our trip. The sand was configured differently each night, but this one was definitely my favorite. I could have watched it for hours.

Home again

2008-07-01T10:02:00.003+02:00

We arrived back in Germany early this morning. My main priority for the day is to stay awake. I am particularly bad at traveling east, but I know my best chance to beat jet lag quick is to suffer through today without a nap. I'll be entertaining myself by tending to the garden, doing a week's worth of German homework, and catching up on the blog (including answering all the questions in the comments of my last post!). More soon....

Not much to do in California at 6 am...

2008-06-26T16:00:00.005+02:00

...except walk on the beach, or sit on the sofa on the balcony drinking coffee and staring at the ocean. Which really aren't such bad options, once you get out of the must-make-the-most-of-time-in-US mode.

Although it's been a mere six months since our last trip to the US, we're still having waves of bewilderment about this strange country and its strip malls full of cheap nail salons and Trader Joe's. The jetlag is adding to that, I'm sure. Some of my brilliant observations over the past 24 hours:

Everybody here is speaking English!
You're refilling my coffee?
I can't drink a beer on the beach? Why the hell not?
What is this? We didn't ask for the check...
Turn off that air conditioner! Do you want me to get sick????

Alright, I'm TOTALLY kidding on that last one. I'm still an American, you know.

After 23 hours of traveling, my weary brain was confused to end up speaking German with the guy checking us into the hotel (who happened to be from Munich). Fortunately he was the perfect person to tell us where we could watch the German-Turkey game* the next morning (see photo above). And I thought I'd never have a use for a big American sports bar. I'm sure the 10-person crowd of mostly German expats at the bar was a far cry from the scene in Munich, and I'm quite sad to be missing out on all the excitement at home. It's going to take a lot of Mexican food, dirty martinis, and free coffee refills to console me. And perhaps another walk on the beach before breakfast.

* WTF was up with those feed outages during the second half of the game? And what's worse, we were forced to watch inane American commentator banter in the gaps. Switzerland, I am deeply disappointed with you. Hang your head in shame.

Hailstorm in the veggie garden

2008-06-24T06:08:00.000+02:00

Yesterday afternoon I looked on helplessly as euro-sized hail pelted my delicate vegetable garden for a good 10 minutes. Deciding against running outside and using my body to shield the plants, instead I stayed in and photographed the action.

I'm happy to report everyone seems to have survived intact, although there are a few tattered leaves here and there.

Speaking of the vegetable garden, it is still coming along beautifully. We have been dining on zucchini blossoms prepared every which way (stuffed, fried, on pasta, in risotto...) for weeks now, and they just keep coming. We've even let a few of them grow into delicate, tender 6-inch long zucchini, which have also been lovely. The leaf lettuce is delicious, as is the arugula. And strawberries! At least a few each day. This garden thing is seriously fun.

The pea plants are blossoming, as are the rest of the bell pepper plants. The tomato plants are covered with tiny little green tomatoes and clusters of yellow flowers. Judging from their numbers, we should be rolling in tomatoes in about a month. I can't wait.

And Felice? He was delicious.

Expats and bloggers invade Regensburg

2008-06-23T15:01:00.001+02:00

Saturday we headed to Regensburg to spend the day at the expat meet-up organized by Christina. Regensburg is a cheap (on a Bayernpass) and easy 1.5-hour train ride from Munich, so it makes for a good day trip.

After wandering around on our own for a while, we joined the group for a guided tour of the city in the afternoon. It's been a while since I've taken a guided tour of any city, and it was quite fun, even though the overarching theme (Regensburg might not look like much today, but in the past we were super important! really! Oh, and we're very, very Italian, too!) was a little depressing.

Then it was off to a lovely biergarten for drinks in the shade before our herd of expats headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was fabulous to meet Cliff and Sarah of Regensblog, Tammy and Matthias of Coffee from a Cardboard Cup, and Tim and Heather from the Sprocket Spot, and several other non-blogging expats, too (it only seems like all of us blog...).

Us big city folk (ie., the four in attendance from Munich) left dinner on the early side hoping to catch a certain train, failed, and ended up watching most of the second half of the Russia-Netherlands game in a sports bar near the station. We were the only ones there over the age of 18, but at least we recognized the 80s music that was playing too loud for our delicate old ears.

Learning German by overwhelming force

2008-06-23T08:19:00.004+02:00

Even though I claim to speak two foreign languages, I'm not really a language person. I’m just not a natural at it, although I really wish I was. My typical American education didn't exactly help, either, involving practically no foreign language training until high school, and even then it was barely given any attention. What application could non-English languages possibly have in the real world, after all? Surely being able to recite all 50 state capitals will have more of an impact on our ability to be productive members of society.

But, even non-naturals like me can learn to communicate well in a foreign language. Many years ago I passed the DSH-Prüfung, one of the highest level exams available for German as a foreign language, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement in my speaking and writing abilities. Plenty. And given that I live in Germany now, what better time to work on my German?

A while ago I read a Steve Pavlina article about using overwhelming force to accomplish a goal. It’s an interesting exercise, to think through all the things you could do to achieve a goal, even if you don’t actually end up implementing all of them. A few weeks ago I made a big long list of things I could do to improve my German with overwhelming force. Here were some of my ideas:

Formal training: find an appropriate-level German class and sign up!

Listening comprehension: watch only German television; listen only to music with German lyrics (current favorites include Xavier Naidoo and Wir Sind Helden); go see German movies; eavesdrop on German conversations on the train; subscribe to a bunch of German podcasts

Reading comprehension: read news only in German; switch to German-language leisure reading material (such as magazines and novels)

Speaking: speak only German as much of the day as possible. Speak only German with husband and friends; Speak German to myself when I’m alone; go out of my way to make phone calls in German; strike up conversations in German with strangers

Writing: send emails in German whenever possible; enter into more written correspondence in German; write blog in German only; keep a journal in German

Other: Do grammar exercises; memorize new vocabulary; work German crossword puzzles

Basically, replace all English thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and listening with German thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Easy enough, right?

The part I would find the hardest is the socializing part. I feel just as guilty going out of my way to make friends with German-speakers as I do cutting off those who don’t speak German. So, yeah, I’m probably not going to do that part. Noch nicht…

(And don't worry, I don't plan to start blogging auf Deutsch anytime soon, either...)

How do you improve your foreign language skills?

He who mounts pigs

2008-06-19T22:44:00.004+02:00

Well played, Schweinsteiger.

And yes, more honking in Germany this evening. On to the semifinal!

Learning German the fun and easy way - tip #1

2008-06-19T10:22:00.000+02:00

The New York Times has convinced me it's time for me to start reading novels in German. I expect this will be a bit of a challenge to my vocabulary...

Tired of cycling while fully clothed?

2008-06-16T17:37:00.001+02:00

Alas, our butts are planning to be out of town (at the Regensburg expat weekend, if you must know), and thus unable to participate in the Naked Bike Ride through Munich 2008 (NSFW) this weekend.

Which reminds me of a useful bit of German vocabulary: FKK (short for Freikörperkultur). It's basically a fancy abbreviation referring to nudity or nudism. You'd be surprised how often these three letters come up in everyday conversation around here.

translation of the sign: open fires, BBQing, and nudity forbidden!

Important tip for tourists coming to Germany

2008-06-12T08:10:00.000+02:00

Before your arrive, figure out whether you are an asparagus or a potato.

You're welcome.

More honking*...

2008-06-11T18:23:00.003+02:00

That would be for Turkey's victory over Switzerland this evening. Sadly, host Switzerland has made a quick exit from the Euro Cup after losing its first two games. But I am happy that Turkey has a chance to continue on. Germany has such a large Turkish population that Turkey feels like a second home team.

* In Europe the traditional way to celebrate your team's big soccer victory is to drive around in your car and honk. See previous discussion here and here.