The Flavor of Love

Germans love flavors. They add butter to sandwiches in addition to some type of pimped up mustard or mayo and gravy in some form tp most other sources of meat or starch. It is normal to buy pre-marinated cuts of meat and seasoned ground beef. A meat connisour I am not so I haven't tried many of the flavored vaireties but I have sampled a few. There are others, such as raw, flavored ground beef and weiss wurst that I will never taste. Just last night I used preseasoned ground beef which I didn't realize until I smelled much stronger spices than any of the ones I had used. Generaly, I am used to flavoring my own meat so this was not so odd. However, I have noticed the general pallettes of Germans are different than the American tongue. As I type this, I am eating pepper (think the garden variety) flavored potato chips. Pretty much the most popular flavor option I've seen here. You would be hard pressed to find any of the American favorites; salt & vinegar, sour cream & onion, or BBQ. On that note, BBQ is the default flavor for tortilla chips beyond salted. You can also buy BBQ dip, cheese dip or salsa. Don't expect the salsa to be too spicy, I've tried 3 varieties now ans eaten at one Mexican restaurant, salsa in Germany is more sweet and processed tasting than anything. Want cheese flavored tortilla chips to dip in that salsa, too bad. Not an option. How about cheese puffs? You will find a snack food that looks the same, feels the same, is a bit smaller in size but is missing that bright orange cheese color that was sure to stain your fingers. Put one in your mouth and your taste buds are in for a serious shock. There is no overwhelming salt tast, no cheesy flavor, in fact there is an odd similarity to a peanutbutter sandwich because, in Germany, these are peanut flavored. Although, peanut butter will not be found in many German households. It is more of an American import looked down apon by those who have never been to America as a child. While we are on the topic of snack food, watch out for popcorn at the cinema. I expected that over salted over buttered taste that you can really only get at the movies and is part of the cinema experience. Big disapointment, pop corn is sweet and without salt. If you really miss the flavors American snack foods, you can always go to Subway where they stock a selection of Frito Lay products to go with their subs. Tastebuds be prepared for a shock!

A letter to Blog

Dear Blog, I am sorry for neglecting you. I have been teaching too many classes to get out and experience anything worth writing about. When I did experience notable things, I forgot them before I got home to write about them. I will work on this in the future. Maybe a I should carry a tape recorder at all times. Sincerely, ME On a life note, I bought dirt for my flowers. Currently the dirt is in its bag and the flowers have not met it. Introductions must happen tomorrow. If I can nurse these flowers back to health and keep them there Patrick will let me buy Hyacinths. I do love the smell of Hyacinths, it reminds me of Easter. They are also quite pretty but rather short lived. Essentialy, by the time I can prove my plant nurturing skills they will be out of season. I would think this is all part of Patrick's plan for me to not own anymore flowers, however, I'm pret. The ty sure he is unfamiliar with the blooming season of hyacinths. On the topic of Easter. I can't dye Easter eggs this year. Patrick only eats free range eggs or those that come from chickens in a pen. Eggs from caged chickens are not an option. The only white eggs at Real are from caged chickens. The problem arises when you remember that eggs must be hard boiled before coloring. I don't eat hard boiled eggs and Patrick will not eat them from caged chickens so the eggs will never get eaten. As such, we will have no Easter eggs. :( This will be the first year I've not colored eggs with my mom. (Mom, make some good ones for me) Maybe I can color the eggs and give them to homeless people. It would bring them happines and food. Now I'm onto something... Good Night

A letter to Blog

Dear Blog, I am sorry for neglecting you. I have been teaching too many classes to get out and experience anything worth writing about. When I did experience notable things, I forgot them before I got home to write about them. I will work on this in the future. Maybe a I should carry a tape recorder at all times. Sincerely, ME On a life note, I bought dirt for my flowers. Currently the dirt is in its bag and the flowers have not met it. Introductions must happen tomorrow. If I can nurse these flowers back to health and keep them there Patrick will let me buy Hyacinths. I do love the smell of Hyacinths, it reminds me of Easter. They are also quite pretty but rather short lived. Essentialy, by the time I can prove my plant nurturing skills they will be out of season. I would think this is all part of Patrick's plan for me to not own anymore flowers, however, I'm pret. The ty sure he is unfamiliar with the blooming season of hyacinths. On the topic of Easter. I can't dye Easter eggs this year. Patrick only eats free range eggs or those that come from chickens in a pen. Eggs from caged chickens are not an option. The only white eggs at Real are from caged chickens. The problem arises when you remember that eggs must be hard boiled before coloring. I don't eat hard boiled eggs and Patrick will not eat them from caged chickens so the eggs will never get eaten. As such, we will have no Easter eggs. :( This will be the first year I've not colored eggs with my mom. (Mom, make some good ones for me) Maybe I can color the eggs and give them to homeless people. It would bring them happines and food. Now I'm onto something... Good Night

Goals

I decided I need to get serious on my language skills. Also, meine neue goal ist sprechen Deutsch mir.

Activia

Remember Activia, the yogurt with live cultures that promises to enhance your body's digestive health if you eat one a day for 14 days. Okay, it does seem like a scheme to sell yogurt and I did buy a large package this summer and give up after eating about 3 but I decided to try it out again. Today is the infamous day 3 but this time I am convinced I can make it to 14. Mostly because I have better flavors now. Maybe it was due to the extereme newness las t summer but it only existed in 3 or 4 flavors, all of them too normal for me. I was forced to buy the mainstreem strawberry and blueberry and I enjoy an alternative yogurt. I now own vanilla (not too exotic) and maracuja (this crazy fruit that looks a bit like an orange pomegranate and tastes slightly like an orange crossed with a mango). It is delicious and tropical and somehow avaliable in Germany and not hte US. On that note, I found the Spanish naval oranges again and they are still putting Cali's crop to shame. But if you want to feel good about New England you should know that cranberries are rare and exotic here and I'm pretty sure unavaliable in their sour fruit form. The juice was recently introduced, thanks to our very American Ocean Spray, in concetrated, sweetened form. I have heard complaints that you cannot find it in more than 20% fruit juice. And I have yet to locate any of the varieties (cran-apple, cran-mango, cran-lime, etc.) So I guess it's a trade off, maracuja or cranberry, I'd still pick cranberries....that would make a good yogurt, a bit tart but ever so complementary to the natural yogurt flavor.

Ranting a Bit

Due to the amazing unpredictability of my work schedule, I once again have nothing to do today. I am begining to realize this has nothing to do with me or my employer and everything to do with the industry. First of all, I am disposable. For the past week, I've been watching the director of my lanugage school interviewing new candidates. I asume they are all English teachers as the greatest demand for lessons is for English, followed by German. Another training is coming up and I no longer will be the newest teacher. With that I can assume I will get less hours. I still have yet to reach the 30 hours that were set out for me in my interview. I don't think it is possible to get that many in one week as a freelancer, nevermind as the newest teacher. I did just sign on for 12 in one day which should be interesting and exhausting but I need to do it to reach that visa quota as I will be audited April 11th. I also need to get my health insurance sorted. It seems there is so much I could be doing but I can't becasue everything is pending something else. I hope all works out and I can start my new job in April without any problems. I don't hate teaching English it is just boring for the most part. The people I meet are interesting but, other than that, there is no excitement or challenge in my day. Sometimes, the people are high ranking in their career and feel that I could not identify with them as I am only 23. More than once , a student has asked my age. I feel like not telling them because I am sure they form judgements based on this information. Sometimes, I am asked about my background. I once told a student (who is a Dr. by profession) that I finished my MBA before moving out here and she asked why I didn't have a real job. If she only could understand how difficult that is w/o an EU citizenship. I tried to oversimplify the matter for her and change the topic. But it is frustrating to think that I spent 5 years in college (4 undergrad and 1 grad) to get a job that I would have been qualified for years ago based solely on my native language. I understand why we are paid like crap but still feel that we are the liasions between the students/clients and the brand and thus should be paid better. Maybe if I were paid better I would consider going ot a company at 7:15 in the morning to teach 2 lessons. But for a total of about 20 Euros, it's just not worth me getting up and then dealing with public transportation at 6:30am. I am currently torn between keeping the teaching gig part time with my new job or quitting outright. My initial thought was to honor my year commitment and reduce my hours to one or 2 nights per week until it becomes too much. I guess the decision will be made when I find out about my visa. Tomorrow, odd job number 1, VW editing is in full swing so at least it is something different and it is 8 hours of pay so I won't complain. I'm going to go enjoy the sunshine for the rest of my day off.

David

I think I've spent too much time in Germany, last night I had a dream about the Hoff!! It was weird becasue he was trying to talk to me and I was not impressed. Wait that's not weird because he is not impressive. But in my dream I was laughing becasue I know he is really a joke to most people, Americans and Germans. I don't want to dissapoint but the Germans are not as obsessed with him as Americans think, in fact the obsession died in the early 90's, shortly after it began. Now it mostly lives on in American sterotypes.

This photo was form a museum in Berlin dedicated to the revolution of music on culture in Germany. Please note the Hoff to the right of MJ's hand and directly under the title "Sexy New Body" I can't believe he was an international sex symbol.

St. Patrick's Day

Despite the fact that Ireland is closer to Germany than it is to the US, most Germans have not heard of St. Patrick's day and finding any who know why St. Patrick is famous must be close to impossible. I enjoy celebrating my Irish heritage, though the corned beef and cabbage has never been my favorite, and I still don't think they eat that in Ireland. So, in spite of this local lack of Irish appriciation, I decided to bring St. Patrick's day to Germany. This worked quite well as we were already going to a dinner party. The focus of the dinner party was already on a foreign culture, China not Ireland. I put on my kelly green polo shirt disregarding the weather and donned a green necklace. I decided the best and most traditional way to introduce St. Patrick's day was through Guinness, obviously! So I purchased the ingredients for car bombs. On a side note, I was talking to Patrick's sister in the morning so I said Happy St. Patrick's day and she didn't say anything. I went on to tell her if she were here she could join us for Irish car bombs. At this point she began to pay attention, "WHAT - car bombs?!?!?!?!?!?! terrorism?!?!?!?!?!?". Anyway, I introduced the holiday and the drink to 4 Germans yesterday. Our Chinese cooking was preperation intensive so once we finished the chopping we took a break. No one thought the drinking at once was a good idea but they should have believed me when I told them the Baily's would curdle. One slow guy had an almost solid base surronding his shot glass, it was not pretty. Overall, I think the response was decent but nobody wanted seconds. Time to switch back into Chinese mode with Chinese beer and cooking to be done. So much for my induction of a new holiday, but at least I shared a bit of knowledge. Germans do not have enough minor fun holidays.

Shopping

It is official shopping is frustrating here. I'm fine with shirts and even shirts, knowing that they are just more expensive but pants are the real problem. Okay so I may have only tried on 3 or 4 pairs from 2 different stores but I have been unable to determine my size here. First of all, there is an EU size scale and then there is the Itl. scale (runs 2 sizes smaller), the Spanish scale (1 size below) which are the most popular. Then there are stores like H&M who only do UK, US and EU. This seemed easy as I know my US size but somehow, my US size dosen't work in German H&M's pants. I decided the best way to circumvent the problem was to ask my mom to go shopping for me in the US. The problem is, we don't have the same tate in pants and aparently me specification of professional pants, w/o a high waist or wide leggs, that will not need to be hemmed (I know this is the tricky part but can assume her legs are the same size as mine) was not clear enough. I suggested grey or navy, spring colors and not black. The result, one pair of brown, long pants with a low waist but a wide leg, one pair of casual looking kacki pants and 2 suits. One of the suits seemed nice but, hard to determine w/o trying on. I wish Banana republic would just deliver from the US site to Germany. Anyway, in the end she's going to go to Banana and get the pants I saw online to ship to me and I'm going to hope they fit. I feel so unprepared. At least I can buy my own shirts at Zara and H&M (the Madonna line comes out on the 22) and by the begining of April we will have a new "mall" where I'm hoping for a Mango. Anyway, I'm so glad my parents are sending me my clothes and buying me new pants so I can get out of my winter blacks and celebrate spring!

Bremen II

Well I was going to write about my recent Bremen experience which was better than the first. I found old buildings and walked on the high way less, etc. But i am on a tight time schedule so details will come later. Highlight of today: I got a new job!

My Life as a Romantic Comedy

I spent this weekend in the town my boyfriend grew up in, meeting so many new people. When we visit his parents, more often than not, we stay in their guest house. This trip was no different except this time his brother was celebrating a birthday and the entire family would be in attendance. This is where the air of Meet The Fockers comes in. In addition, most of his friends from high school times were in town the same weekend and I would be meeting them all for the first time too. Before the family party I was briefed on the attendees. In total, 26 relatives would attend. The event was catered and one large table was created out of 4 smaller ones. It truly looked like something out of a movie. Patrick is a Grandma's boy and had planned to sit next to his Grandma (Oma) but she made him move and asked, rather told, me to sit next to her. She only speaks German and would not consider English so I mostly needed a translater. She asked if I had any grandmothers (I don't) and told me that I do now. She also told me that salad was for rabbits. One thing I took away from meeting Oma is that grandmas transcend cultures and continents, she reminded me so much of my mother's mother. She wore a shirt with a vest over it together with a skirt and those grandma sneakers. She gave Patrick an plain envelope with cash in it. Most distinctivly, she had perfectly set hair. It was ovious she had used rollers prior to her outing. She is 82 (so is her husband) which puts her in the same generation as my grandma who would be 90 in 2007. Anyway, I am in the process of stalking my neighbor as he accepted my package which was delivered on Saturday, despite a direct phone call to the delivery company in which they stated it would be delivered today. I must go and ring his doorbell for the fourth time this eveing. In summary, the entire weekend went well, the family and friends were all really nice. Note to Net98, welcome to my blog!

So Much is Happening

So Berlin deserves its own post but I haven't the time. We got back from Berlin Tuesday evening, Wed. was for getting things in BS done and early Thursday morning we left BS en route to Hamburg airport so I could fly to my job interview in London, Thursday evening, Patrick picked me up in HAM and we drove onto Keil where we will be until Sunday evening. I am begining to miss Braunschweig. The breakdown of recent events: Berlin - amazing, prob my second favorite sity in Europe besides London, then again no one in London or Berlin would say that London is part of Europe. There is so much to do and see that in 3 days, we really only hit the tip of the iceberg. There are over 70 museums alone in Berlin, including an island appropriately named museum island and holding nothing but museums. I have close to 200 photos and am trying to think of the best place to post them, snapfish, shutterfly or yahoo. I highly reccomend Berlin, we saw the parliment, Sony center, reminents of the wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brendenburger Gate, DDR Museum, toured a bunker, toured the new Jewish holocost memorial, Guggenheim, the Berlin zoo and generaly took and the sights and history of the city. I ate a Berliner (see photo) and got a french vanilla iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts because they have so many DDs in Berlin! Ironicaly enough Berliner refers to both the donut-like pastry and a person from Berlin. Our hotel was quite nice, especialy for what we paid online and breakfast was included and there was a subway stop directly across the street, only it was closed for construction. Berlin as it is today is only a teenager. Its subway system leaves a lot to be desired but they do have double decker buses which are quite enjoyable. The Interview: The flight was amazing, first class on BA complete with hot towels and mini bottles of wine, leather seats and plenty of room. The interviewer was equaly as amazing, easygoing and friendly but with an air of effeciency and sofistication, she seems like she would make a gread boss. She also put me in touch with my African counterpart for a phone call. I really want this job and have pretty much told that to all. I will find out in 2 weeks. In the mean time, I'm working on the paperwork to be able to work and live in Germany. I am anticipating high levels of stress and anticipation by the end of week two if I don't hear anything by then. Keep your fingers crossed for me. There appears to be an excellent support system in the company and a good amount of autonomty in the job which make it ever so appealing. I would even be encouraged to move to London which I would enjoy. Keil: Nothing too exciting. Keil has the best pizza in gErmany I have decided and it is not even from an italian restaurant but more of a turkish grill. Tonight I will meet Patrick's friends from high school. I also got so excitecd for the interview my packing for the weekend was put on the back burner which leaves me with a random assortment of clothing and the black boots I wore with my suit, a back up pair of black sling back kitten heels, my Nikes, and flip flops both still in my bag from berlin so I've been wearing flip flops all day and will have to wear either black pants and heels or grey cargos with sneakers...neither choice is too goos as the only shirt I have to match the black pants is a brown sweater. I really need to work on my packing skills.

I've been to 4% of the world

create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Stupid Americans

Two days ago I realized what it is like to be a foreigner in a foreign land and quickly judged for your origin and/or location. I want to a friend's birthday party and met a bunch of new people. Shortly after I arrived I found myself in the kitchen with a group of about 10 people and the only one I knew was the birthday boy. I was still observing the situation and had not said much. Aparently they were making fun of birthday boy when he turned to me and asked for an English term to describe their making fun of him. First one to my mind teasing, eh not really a term more of a word and I knew it was slang he was interested in so I threw out "Busting your Balls" There was my first mistake. Once it was out I realized I would now have to explain this slang term and speak slowly while doing so. It's just not the same once you break it down. Most of the room was able to pick up what I was puting down but one guy, whose name I never learned but will refer to as Pink Shirt Boy, had trouble with the expresion. Eventualy he got it. Soon we were sitting across the table from one another and he suddenly seemed interested to talk to me...the conversation quickly spiraled downward. PSB: Where are you from? J: US, RI (the usual explanation) PSB: I could tell you were not from England by your accent J: Yup, not British PSB: I'm going to the Carribean for my birthday J: Oh, on a cruise? a boat? PSB: No J: Are you going to St. Thomas? PSB: No, the Domica J: Oh the Dominican Republic PSB: Yeah J: yeah, that's not part of America PSB: I know but they speak English J: I'm pretty sure they speak Spanish, do you speak Spanish? gf of PSB: Luckily his girlfriend does. At this point they engage in a conversation about the trip and I am cut out. Later that evening, PSB places a wine glass in front of me and the girl sitting next to me and pours wine into them. I asked, "Ist das meine?" (Is this mine?) he responded by yelling back "It's wine, vino, vino" He also found it necessary too inform others that I spoke English and must be spoken to in English, which is only partialy true as peopleoften speak to me in German and I can understand them. I just felt like he treated me like I was stupid because of a communication barrier and this was also my first encounter of this kind. Usually people like to practice their English on me or know why I'm here or talk about US geography and culture. I now realize why I often hold my toung or start speaking German and wait for someone to call me on my Auslander status before flashing it out there. I hope I never treat non-English speakers like that. Please speak slowly but do not yell or otherwise mock people who don't speak your language, they are most likely much more capable of conversation in their native tongue and prob. not stupid. I'm off to Berlin where I will engage in a super touristy American indulgence, Dunkin Donuts or even Starbucks if I find that but DD is more rare internationaly, who knows what other bits of America are lying in the capital city.

Politics as Usual

This post has nothing to do with Germany or my experiences but my opinion may have been influenced as I am not on the outside looking in. This is the photo that greeted me on my Yahoo home page today. Astheticaly, there is a lot to talk about here. First of all, should the President be hugging two high school aged girls like that. The one on the right looks like she is enjoying the presidential embrace while the girl on the left looks a bit creeped out. She realizes how this will look to others. Now notice the white-haired man in the top left corner. Doesn't he look like he could play Bush on TV? Given a suit and a slightly different hairstyle, he would make an excellent Presidential impersonator. Now that wwe have covered the photo, I must address the article or at least one of Bush's quotes. This is what he said to the people of Alabama who were recently devestated by a hurricane which killed 8 high school students in school "You can never heal a heart, but you can provide comfort knowing that the federal government will provide help for those whose houses were destroyed or automobiles were destroyed," Have you seen footage of New Orleans recently? Did the federal government provide adequate help there? I saw a TV show from the UK that filmed a road trip from Miami to New Orleans and when they arrived they were shocked at the current state of devestation and rightfuly so. Good luck Alabama, if there is one thing New Orleans should have taught us is that you cannot rely on the federal government in a case of major devistation on US soil. On a personal note, I will be in Berlin for the next 3 days and then possibly here for one, with any luck I will have a job interview on Thursday and then I am spending the weekend in Kiel. As such I will most likely not be on here unless I have internet access and free time or something really exciting happens. I will also not have access to my US phone number so call me today or leave a message.

Germans are Crazy....

In an effort to avoid jail time, this man built himself a box on a pole and intended to live in it. His plan was foiled when his wife sent up a topless photo of herself. It seems he was really committed to his cause. In a related story, children protested his demonstration as the authorities closed down a nearby playground as they declared the pole unstable and viewed the possibility of its falling as a hazard to the playground. A photo can be viewed in this link. I will be in Berlin this week, too bad he came out of the box already. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070302/od_nm/germany_protest_topless_dc;_ylt=AvrjUK1fvyeekvWosyKAspIuQE4F

Germanities

Germanities, my new word for German oddities. I confirmed the widespread odd habits of Germans recently via spiegelonline.de. It appears they did a bit of a german survival foreum in preperation for last summer's world cup. I came in the other day to find patrick wearing a scarf in the house. When I inquired I was told that was the normal way of curing a sore throat. I laughed and he showed me this website. The next day I went to work to find my boss wearing a scarf. I shook his hand (proper greeting/normal) and then asked if he had a sore throat and explained I just learned about the very German remedy. He claims the French and the English also wear scarves to cure sore throats, I think I need to see that to believe it. He also informed me that it was a sign to not shake his hand (like he couldn't have told me that before). Another Germanity thatI obsedrved and Speigel confirmed involves crossing streets. In American, we have the walk/don't walk light. In Germany, they have a green/red man and bicycle. I am actualy not sure why they also need the bicycle as they are always the same color and anyone with a bit of logic would know that if it is safe for a man to cross the street it is also safe for a cyclist. Anyway, when this man is red, Germans do not cross the street. Even on a one way where you can clearly see traffic approaching well in advance, Germans wait. I don't. I noticed that people will often walk if someone else walks so I may be a bit of a bad influencew on the whole culture but often times, one person walking on red does not compel others to follow. It is a rediculous system of obedience. I'll let you learn more in the German survival bible. So far, I agree with everyhting I've read in there for accuracy. http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,k-6896,00.html

Laundry

We have had a washing machine since the end of January thanks to our upstairs neighbor who bought a new one and gave us his gratis. That reminds me, I still want to get him a thanks for the wasahing machine present, any suggestions? So laundry has been much more convient and the fact that German washing machines are much smaller than American machines and take FOREVER, literaly almost 2 hours per load, has been less of a problem now that we do not rely on laundry mats. For the most part, we wash our own clothes with an occasional mixed load. When I do laundry it is seperated by colors, darks, lights and reds each have their own wash. Patrick, I recently learned, washes on themes. Yesterday I came home to find him in the middle of a wash. This wash was called "underwear and friends," I giggled and asked what is a friend of underwear...socks. This morning he asked me to hang the wash as he rushed out the door. In doing so I learned a few things; t-shirts are aparently also friends of underwear, he washed my underwear, underwear are clearly not racist as all colors made it in much to the chargrin of my formerly cream colored pair. I still giggle when I think about this impractical way of washing. I didn't pay much attentiion the time he told me he did a pants wash but now I am seeing a pattern. I think I will continue my color coded washes in spite of this new, alternative method.