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Teal
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| Der Herbst ist da! | Mon, Aug 14th 2006 10:46am |
| (Fall has arrived) After a winter that lasted into June (snow above 1000 meters) and a record hot July with temps in the upper 90s every day, fall arrived promptly on August 1st and the temps have been hovering around 50 F ever since. Gag. I prefer the 95 and humid. In other news... Füssen is a really nice, extremely touristy little town at the foothills of the Alps. Both castles (Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein) are worth the visit, and there are too many hiking oppurtunities to take advantage of in a weekend. I really felt like I was on vacation. Short, but needed. :) |
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| FYI: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue | Tue, Jun 27th 2006 10:27am |
| It is sad that throwing something away in Germany requires taking a class beforehand. :) Nonetheless.... Public trash cans are sectioned off into four color-coded containers... Yellow/Verpackung means Packaging (plastic, metal, styrofoam, plastic coated paper, etc.) Green/Glas means Glass (all glass) Blue/Papier means Paper (Paper and only paper. Plastic coated paper like milk cartons go in the Yellow section.) Red/Restemüll means Everything else (stuff that really cannot be recycled) In the home they are a little different. You've got the Gelbesack ("Yellow Bag") for the plastic and metal and packaging. There is the paper container. There is the biodegradable/compostable food container. And the Everything-Else container. Glass must be taken to a large community glass container located somewhere in the neighborhood. Here is must be sorted into white, green and brown glass. |
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| Food for thought | Tue, Jun 13th 2006 12:09pm |
| One of the differences between the US and Germany that pops up every day is the food. Now, most of it is similar if not the same, but there are other things that just cannot be found (easily) in the US. During my time here I have tried to try a bunch of the new stuff to find out what is good and what should be left to expire on the store shelves. So far, in no particular order: Apfel-Orangen-Saft = Apple-orange juice. One word, Addicting. This stuff is quite good Apfel-Zitronen-Saft = Apple-lemon juice. Good, but tastes like something you'd put into ice-tea for flavor. Now that it is finally starting to get warm, I'll try it. Dijon-senf (scharf) = spicy Dijon mustard. This one caught me off guard. In the US, many things that are marked "spicy" aren't really, so I bought this thinking that it probably wasn't too bad. Well, this stuff will clean out the sinuses and make your eyes water. They weren't kidding with the 'spicy' designation. The flavor is really good however. To tone it down a bit I've cut it with some mittelscharf mustard. Much better. Döner-Kebap = Gyro-like sandwich, but turkish. These things are great. Especially when traveling. There is guaranteed a Döner place in every train station, thus I've made it a goal to eat one at every city I visit. There are regional differences, but generally the same. Bergkäse = Mountain cheese. Avoid at all possible costs. The stuff must be the sister to Limburger cheese. Smells absolutely terrible, and doesn't taste any better. I took one bite and the block went straight into the Restemüll. I didn't even bother separating the wrapper for the Gelbesack. (More on trash rules in another entry) A 2.50 Euro lesson learned. Quark = A kind of cheese. Hard to describe, but to me tastes a lot like sour cream, but a little thicker. I like the kind with chives in it. Smeared on a piece of bread it is quite good. Schokolade = chocolate. My favorite brand so far is Hachez. One bar will last only two days, but that is because I force myself to stop on the first. It is much easier to by higher grades of chocalate. At the local grocery I go to, a 99% cacao bar is only 1.50 Euro. Spätzle = essentially a doughy noodle. I like them with plain ol' butter, though any other sauce would work too. French fries with mayo = Yah, it sounds really strange, but that is how they are eaten over here. It is actually pretty good. For some reason I get the feeling that I've had it before (maybe when I was 5 or 6 or so.) But I could just be making that up. |
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| "American" | Wed, May 3rd 2006 12:47pm |
| Besides the obvious cultural differences between Europeans and Americans, one thing that has fascinated me is how products are marketed and what is considered "American". For example, the humble jar of peanut butter. Let´s face it, PB is a staple of the American child´s diet, consumed at least once a day. Here peanut butter is a novelty. The largest jar you can find is 300 grams heavy and is placed on the self more as an afterthought than a normal accompaniment to a piece of bread. (You can´t buy five-pounders like you can at Meijer). If that wasn´t enough, the jars sport the stars and stripes and the labeling is in English. The companies even boast that they use "genuine American peanuts and recipe" (?). Peanut butter´s sidekick, sliced bread, is also a novelty. Nearly all of the packages are marked "Toast" and also are labeled as "American". (I also saw Californian" style Toast, but it looked the same to me as the regular ol´ American Toast. There are other cases too... American Salad Dressing is what we call Thousand Island. (I would´ve thought Ranch would be a better candidate, but hey, noboidy asked me.) and of course...American Pizza = Pepperoni There is more, but I´m blanking at the moment. I´ll add to this entry as I see more products. |
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| Marburg | Wed, May 3rd 2006 12:26pm |
| The origianl plan for last weekend was Mainz, but I tried to book a bed at the hostel too late and it was full. So instead, I headed to Marburg for one purpose and one purpose only - to see the St. Elisabeth Cathedral, the first gothic curch built in Germany. I also rolled around the idea of coming back via Fulda (which has the first Romanesque Cathedral built in Germany) but the weather was cold and wet, and I just didn´t feel like going anymore when the time came to buy a ticket on Sunday morning. Fulda will have to wait until the weather turns a bit nicer. Anyway, back to Marburg...It was an interesting city because it felt like it was trapped between two time periods and hasen´t quite decided which one to be in. There were old, bowing, timber frame houses next to modern stucco houses. Pics:  There are a bunch of timber frame houses in Marburg.  Of course there is a Schloss.  I was just randomly wandering the streets when I came upon this in a tucked away plaza. Looks like a cellar, but how old it is or for what it may have been used, I have no idea.  This picture is a bit blurry, but if you look at it from a distance it looks fine. The inside of die Elisabethkirche. 
There really wasn´t a good spot to get the front of the church without having a wide lens, so the sideview will have to do. |
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| Trier | Wed, Apr 26th 2006 1:51pm |
This will be quick. Only some pics and I´m outta here.
 Trier at 8 am on a Sunday morning is deserted.  The Roman Bridge. The piles are original.  The symbol of Trier is of course the Porta Nigra. You can climb up to the lookout area. Didn´t do it, but I saw some people peaking out at one point.  The Mosel is a very senic river. This shot was taken roughly across from where the Jugendherberge was. (Which was also quite nice. Better than many hotels I´ve been in.)  Constantin´s Basilica. It is the second largest one room structure left over from ancient times. The largest is the Pantheon in Greece. I really wanted to go inside, but their was a service going on then.  The house that Karl Marx was born in. His family was fairly well off. Too bad he died in poverty.  The Kaiser Thermen. There are two other bath ruins in Trier, but this is the most famous because it has the most left. You can go into the basement and walk around. I´ll leave that as a surprise. (You´ll just have to go and check it out for yourself. :)  This is one of the entry points into the Jewish quarter of the city during the Middle Ages.  I have no idea what this is, but it looks cool. In the middle of the Altstadt there is a gaping hole where a bunch of apartment buildings were torn down. This is what was lying underneath them. Roman?  If I remember correctly this is the oldest intact building in Germany, built in 1230. Back then Trier was not yet a city and thus did not have a wall. This building was left to protect itself. One way to do that was put the entrance on the second floor. See the door on the right hand side? That was it.  This is a part of a larger sculpture that I found in a random plaza in the city. The sculpture contained panels in which various trades were depicted. Here is a butcher cutting up a hog carcass.  And of course the amphitheater. |
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| Osterferien (Easter Break) ! | Wed, Apr 19th 2006 12:56pm |
| (OK, so this entry turned out longer than I expected. Bear with me.)
Well, at first Easter was a bit strange in that virtually everybody around me had plans for the weekend and here I was with nothing really planned at all. But, I ended up hitting the rails. Initially (read Thursday night), I had mulled around the idea to go to Plochingen on Friday and Tübingen on Saturday. (Plochingen? Yep, that is the name of the place. It has its very own Departure board at the Reutlingen Hbf, so I thought, hey, it might be interesting to find out why.) Turns out Plochingen is a trainyard and little else. Well, the trip I did take was entirely spontaneous. Friday morning I got up and scrapped the idea of Plochingen, got out my gigantic map of Germany (really, it is about 6 ft. by 4 ft., the thing is huge), (Let´s see, I am here, in Reutlingen. What is relatively nearby and has something worth seeing; preferably outside because since it is Good Friday, everything will be closed. Hmm. ) Cross-referencing with my Germany travel book, I picked Karlsruhe. It has a Schloss (mansion), with gartens. Enough for a day-trip. I packed my backpack with the essentials: camera, food and guide book and was out the door at 9:30, bought a ticket for the next train out of Reutlingen and was gone. Unfortunately, I didn´t have a map of the city, I couldn´t find the tourist office, so I wandered the streets for a few hours until stumbling on an Info board on one of the streets in the city. (Apparently, I wsn´t the only one ohne map). Turns out I was only a few blocks away, I just didn´t look in the right direction... Ahh, well, ya live, ya learn. Pics:   Chuck´s humble abode. The main streets of the city radiate outward from the Schloss.  Here is where he is buried. Note that he is comparing himself to the pharaohs of Egypt. This is located in the market square.  The winter has been unusually long and cold this year and many of the plants are still dormant. This bugger has had enough of winter and decided to make an appearance. From afar, the leaves look like little green flowers, don´t they?  Interesting modern art statement. The road that the piece surrounds is the main drag to the Schloss. Maybe a claim that monarchy is dead?  The police got the cool building.  And now for something a little artsy. I really like this shot.   Really cool old cars. On the way home from Karlsruhe, thinking about where to go on Saturday, Nürnberg just sort of came out of nowhere. When I was back in Reutlingen, I checked the price of a ticket to Nürnberg, 42€ round trip, not bad. Deal.  The Schöner Brunnen is indeed schön.   And of course the Burg.  A view of the city from the Burg. Not bad, isn´t it?     The highlight of my time here in Germany so far is this. The courtroom wherein the Nürnberg Trials took place. I made it just in time for a tour. Part of the tour included a showing of a film documenting the trials, so ignore the AV equipment. The room is not the same as it was in 1945 as it was remodeled in the 70s. Nürnberg was chosen for the trials for several reseaons. 1. The Justiz Palais (the building) suffered relatively little damage during the war and had room enough to hold the processes. 2. There is a prison directly behind the building. 3. There is an underground tunnel that leads from the prison to the courtroom (connected via elevator), so escape of the defendants was minimal. If you ever find yourself in Nürnberg on the weekend, you´ve got to check this place out. It is really neat. (Weekends, because during the week the courtroom is used to hold trials - for murder and manslaughter.) Sunday I took the day off. Monday I headed out to Heidelberg. Mindy and Brent have already posted a bunch of photos of the place, so I won´t be redundant. Just a couple to prove I was there. :)  The infamous ruins, no explanation necessary.  Up close.  I like this one. Funny that Mindy and Brent took almost the same shot. (And I thought I was being creative, argh) :) The steeple in the center is from the Heiliggeistkirche.  This is only a scale model of Das Große Fass. The real one needs about four photos to get the whole thing in. It (the real one that is) holds about 220,000 liters (give or take a few) of your alcoholic beverage of choice.  Achtung! Watch your step. May end abruptly.  And lastly (I promise), I discovered a new species of tree while strolling along the Philosopher´s Way. Overall it was a nice, if busy, weekend. The weather was somewhat cooperative. It was a bit chilly and it sprinkled a bit, but nothing that an umbrella couldn´t handle. Nürnberg was my favorite of the bunch. The Altstadt is beautiful. The reconstruction was very well done. Kudos. (The Altstadt was 93% destroyed after the war.) I also didn´t make to the Toy Museum or the Transportation Museum, both of which I wanted to see. If I have a free Saturday later in the year, I am going to come back. Karlsruhe was nice. But it would probably have been better in the early summer when things are green and the flowers are in bloom. The city´s main draw is the gardens, so without them, there really isn´t much to see. Heidelberg was very touristy, as can be expected. Lots of Americans. Also a nice Altstadt, but I´m not so sure I will try to make a trip back. Next week....Trier! |
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| Random Pictures | Wed, Apr 12th 2006 11:37am |
Since I do not have internet in my apartment I will not be able to use the fancy photo option available in this blog. Instead I´ll have to do this the old-fashioned way and put the pictures directly into the blog.
 Here is a lovely view from the top of the Dom in Köln out into the city. It was a bit hazy that day, as you can well see. Jamin counted about 473 steps to the top.  In the stairwell to our first weeks´s classroom, we found the secret entrance of the Geists that must haunt the place. (For the slower ones, the stairs go into the ceiling.)  A chocolate picker-upper machine in operation at the Schocoladen Museum in Köln. Note the manufacturer ;)   A view of the Rhein and the walking path next to it in Köln.  This is the ballroom in what is now the Rathaus (town hall) in Aachen. From what I understand, it was of some importance to Charlemagne.  A terrible picture, but this is a part of Königsallee in Düsseldorf, one of the more expensive streets in Europe. On the other side of the street you have a nice selection of banks from which to choose.  Beethoven´s childhood home in Bonn. Not much more to say here. |
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| Koeln+Reutlingen | Thu, Apr 6th 2006 1:29pm |
| =3 weeks so far. I ended up going from Frankfurt to Koeln by myself after some confusion with train tickets (several people got Interreggio tickets to Koeln, but when I asked the guy at the counter for the IR ticket, he said the IR wasn't running to Koeln, (um, OK?)) So I took the slower of the trains offered thinking maybe by chance it might be the same train and I just had the name wrong. Weellll, the train turned out to be quite different as I ended up with a ticket for the RE (THE slowest) with transfers in Wiesbaden and Koblenz. So I had a nice looonnnggg train ride and a crash course on the train system all rolled into one. I arrived in Koeln an hour after the IR people (who arrived 1 hour after the ICE people.) I ran into Mindy, Brent, Jamin and Kyle in the U-bahn station and together we fumbled our way to the Jugendherberge. We all survived the two week "intensve" course in Koeln. I would have to say that it was quite a waste of my time. I would have used the language more if they'd just let us out on our own to explore the city. With the class in the morning and activites every afternoon/evening there was hardly any time to do anything. There needs to be some sort of quality control done on that course because it was in no way 'intensive'. First week of work. Yeah. Here is where it hits you smack in the face with how much you don't know. Monday was a long day, Tuesday got a little better. So did Wed and Thurs. But to tell you the truth, I am quite looking forward to the weekend. They say the first month is the hardest. So far I believe it. Then again, I've been complimented twice so far this week on my German, so I must not be doing too badly. |
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| Verschwende deine... | Tue, Mar 7th 2006 5:52pm |
| ...Zeit (and some updates on the last post) Revisions: We had our pre-departure meeting last Thursday and a few things have changed. Scrap the opening a bank account in Köln; apparently Bosch does not like that. And the Bescheinigung über Pflichtpraktikum is indeed something UC gives me. I also finally got the ISIC card. I'm glad we had that meeting, as I was able to get a lot of things cleared up - including everything mentioned in the previous post. We’re entering the last week of regular classes, finally. Since I am fully looking forward to the end of the quarter, Verschwende deine Zeit by Silbermond has become my theme song as of late. The refrain sums it up nicely. The lyrics are (with a rough translation): Denn wir wissen / For we know Dass die Uhr tickt / That the clock is ticking Vieles ist so nichtig / A lot ist so trivial Nicht so wirklich wichtig / Not really that important Absolut unwichtig / Absolutely unimprtant Mach was dir gefällt / Do whatever you want Komm verschwende deine Zeit / Come, waste your time Mach mal nichts und nimm dich frei / Do nothing and take some time off Davon geht die Welt nicht unter / The world will not end because of it Lass dir nicht erzähl’n / Don’t let that be told to you Mach dich frei von dem was stresst / Free yourself from that which is stressful Lass mal los und lebe jetzt / Let go and live in the moment Verschwende deine Zeit / Waste your time Und mach was dir gefällt / And do whatever you want Sounds good to me. |
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