Trip to Berlin

So my friend from Alabama came over last week and we decided to take a weekend trip up to Berlin to check it out since it was on my list of places to see. Ironically, it was actually cheaper to fly to Barcelona, Spain (which is also on my list) and much much warmer... but I guess we just forgot about that. Anyways, after 5 hours on a train from Frankfurt to Berlin we got off and headed towards our hotel and assaulted the first McDonald's we could find... best meal ever. Then we took a little nap and headed out to go check out the nightlife with a group of about 150 Americans... very weird experience being in Germany and not a German in sight.

The next day we woke up and did all of the typical Berlin touristy junk. First we saw the Brandenburg gate and the US Embassy... which we the American people now own our own street in Berlin near the embassy where our tax dollars have paid for them to move it back a hundred meters or so. Then we headed over to the Reichstag with plans to climb to the top and check out the city... unfortunately everyone else in town had the same plan, so we had to wait in line outside for over an hour... luckily it wasn't terribly cold and not raining. By the time we got in and through the security checkpoint and made it to the top the sun was setting... made taking any pictures of the city kinda hard.

From there we headed down to Checkpoint Charlie... on the way we found this super famous chocolate shop with huge replicas of Berlin buildings al in chocolate where we did a little shopping. Then we finally made it to the checkpoint and took a bunch of pictures... wasn't very impressive, just a couple signs and a little wooden building in the middle of the road... but we did see a 'peace' of the wall. By this time we were both starving because we hadn't eaten all day and it was about 6pm, so we grabbed a bratwurst and walked through one of the many Berlin Weinachtmarkts (Christmas Markets)... probably second best meal ever. After that we went home and passed out.

Overall I think Barcelona would have been a better choice... at least for my well being, but Berlin was definitely a fun time... don't know if I'll go back, but I do recommend it for anyone planning a trip to Germany.

Smoke... everywhere... can't breathe...

So I know it is somewhat common knowledge that more Europeans smoke than in the US, but I never knew to what extent. Everywhere I go there is always someone lighting up or looking miserably while puffing away. I have found that whenever I go anywhere in public I am always breathing in someone else's secondhand smoke. There are these wonderful little cigarette dispensers all over, as seen in the picture to the left. You can find them at every train station, street corner and even near schoolyards... I guess so parents can get their fix while they watch their children play. The funny bit about these machines is that they only require a credit card , or in some case a few pieces of change to operate, so anyone can buy them... even kids... and they do.

The really ironic part though is that all cigarette packs and boxes are required to have large warnings on them (see image to right). My favortite warnings include "smoking will kill you" and "smokers die younger". Unfortunately though it seems as though these warnings are not heeded, in fact it seems more like they actually encourage the habit. I guess there is some reverse correlation to the size of the warning on the package to the number of people who will smoke it.

Interesting German food offerings...

We all know that Germans are not incredible chefs and often have an intriguing taste palatte that is rarely shared by most other people around the world, but this time they have gone too far...

I saw an add last night on TV for a new line of burgers from Burger King apparently aimed at stimulating those 'festive' taste buds. The new burgers are called the XXL burgers and come in 3 flavors... Regular, Crunchy Cajun and Spicy Cranberry... Cranberry, on a burger... you've got to be kidding. I know it's Thanksgiving and Christmas time and all, but seriously. Check it out for yourself, I found this short version of the ad on YouTube... here

The part I love best is that they spread the cranberry sauce on top of the 'flame broiled 100% angus beef' whatever patty like it was a piece of toast... so not appealing. McDonald's isn't doing so well either when it comes to the German menu. Much like their popular Chicken McNuggets they now have... well, see for yourself... here

Shrimp cocktail... at McDonald's... uh uh... no way... not happening. There is no way that eating shrimp at McDonald's could ever end well. I love shrimp more than the next guy, but I am not despreate enough to get it from a fast food joint... especially one that doesn't regularly serve seafood outside of their 'fillet-o-fish' sandwich. I wonder how many lawsuits will come out of this one.

Return to Germany

Well, I am finally back from the wedding in Alabama. It was a very fun time and also very beautiful (aww)... the only downside was the 14 hour round trip by car to New Orleans only to spend one day there. Anyways, the flight back here was awesome. It was on Delta out of Atlanta and they had these personal entertainment screens for every seat where you could watch all kinds of movies, tv shows and HBO specials. They also had tons of music and games to play too, but I never made it past the movies. There were a bunch of new releases on there that I hadn't seen yet since I've been in Germany and I got to watch them all (Tropic Thunder is hilarious). The best part was that it is all free for intercontinental flights. I didn't get this luxury flying to the US since my plane must've been older or something, but it's probably for the best because I would've watched everything I wanted to on the first flight and then had nothing to do on the return. For both flights though I got the entire row to myself since it wasn't very busy, which was very nice, except that some french lady tried to steal my seat while I wasn't paying attention by putting her pillow and book there... they ended up on the floor.

Anyways, it seems that in my week away from Germany the entire place fell apart without me. The internet at the hotel costs money again... I guess they finally found out that no one was paying for it and got suspicious... nothing like paying 120 euro (~$160) a month for crappy sub-dsl speed internet that breaks all the time... The laundry woes still continue... aparently the lady I called about 2 weeks ago about the washing machine being broken didn't take me seriously, so now they have a washing machine filled with almost 2 week old soapy water that smells like a sewer... not my problem, I am done struggling with them. I watched a 7 minute video made by a 22 year old british woman on how to properly hand wash clothes, so now I consider myself somewhat of an expert... did you know that a little white vinegar adds sheen to silks? I bet not. The water machine at work also broke and has been replaced with something that has a cold water button that puts out hot water and warm water button that puts out cold water... They also switched everyone's email over to Microsoft Outlook while I was gone... prepare for disaster.

Luckily I am only here for another 3 weeks so I think I can manage by laughing at everyone else's misfortune in the apartment and at work as they run around in panic not know what to do with no laundry, broken email and cold tea (God forbid their precious caffinated beverages be tainted).

PS - Thanks for pointing out all my spelling mistakes in my last post... I'm not perfect y'all :-(

Darmstadt tour... City Center

Well this is about it for Darmstadt. The first of the two pictures shows you the main drag through the city, called Rheinstrasse. Nothing really special about it other than this is how you get everywhere, especially if you're like me and have to walk/take public transport everywhere. In the ditance you can see the city center, or the Luisenplatz. This is the main shopping center of the city and this is where I get most of my stuff. There are tons of walkways you can take that have all kinds of stores lining them where you can buy just about anything. This is also the main connection place for all trams and busses running through the city.

Well I hope the tours were somewhat educational and gave you a little bit of a glimpse at the scenery that surrounds me. Right now I probably enjoying myself in Alabama and hopefully not even thinking about Germany at the moment... actually I should be at a wedding in New Orleans right now, so even better. I will be back and reported when I reutn next Tuesday. Until then...

Darmstadt tour... Die Waldspirale

This interesting piece of architecture was built by one of those hippy artists I mentioned that wanted to explore new ways of living. The entire building and everything in it, including the floors and walls, have no straight lines. The architect, named Friedensreich Hundertwasser, wanted the place to feel completely 'natural', and since there are no straight lines in nature, there would be no straight lines in the building. The building has 105 apartments in it for someone looking to live somewhere a little alternative, with little living space and lots of money. It is kind of weird walking around there when the floor is constantly changing beneath you. I can only imagine what it must be like for someone coming home from a night out partying with the floors being all curvy on you.

At the top of the building there is a nice little restuarant/bar that services mexican food and has a walk around balcony that you can get a fantastic view of the city off of. Unfortunately they close the balcony in November so I was not able to get up there and take pictures, but 'm sure I will try again sometime next spring.

Darmstadt tour continued... Mathildenhoehe

The Mathildenhoehe is a giant hippy colony of aspiring artists. Originally it was built in 1899 by the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. The artists that originally resided here presented their ideas of a new living and working world, and thus the colony was founded. The tower was built as a wedding present for the Duke. The church was built later as a request by the Duke's wife, a Romanov, who wanted a Russian Chapel that she could worship in privately... talk about being whipped.













The whole place is very nice and relaxing with its own Plane Tree Grove where people will come on the weekend to play lawn bowling, or whatever they call it here. It is situated in a very nice quiet part of town that I wouldn't mind living in, but unfortunately I can't afford it, nor am I even allowed to live there since I am not a German resident, bummer.

The only dependable way to do laundry in Germany...

Well I know I was going to continue the Darmstadt tour, but I had to share this experience with you all. I promise I will go ahead and finish writing up the next tour stops tonight or tomorrow and they will go up every other day through next week while I am in Alabama and, thus, will not be having these wonderful German experiences...

So the answer to the statement in the title of this post is: by hand

I had it all planned out today... I was going to take off work early, go do my full workout routine to make me feel better and then head home and get a head start on the 4 hour adventure that is doing 2 loads of laundry. The amount of time it takes to do one load in Germany totally confuses me. This is a culture that is so focused on eco-friendly everything that they have taken the fun out of driving and will even fine you if you mix up your garbage (everything must be separated and tied up in individual bags provided by the garbage company). But none of this matters when it comes to laundry because why not let our washers and dryers run for an hour and 20 minutes? Sounds completely 'eco-friendly'!

Anyways, enough on that rant... I filled up the washer as I have done dozens of times in the past and let it go. I came back after the hour and 20 minutes was up only to find that it was stuck halfway through its routine with my clothes soaking in soapy water behind a tightly locked door. So what'd I do first... hit it of course... that didn't work. I started trying to manually cycle through its routine, but it kept doing the same 5 minute pattern and then shutting off... still locked. After about 15 minutes I got frustrated, hit it once more for good measure and then went upstairs for the wondeful journey of calling the recpton staff to explain the problem...

I knew what to expect, but I had to try. Just like all the other times I have called for the internet, hot water, cleaning service, or any of the number of things that have gone wrong throughout my two and a half month stay here, I was going to get the whole "I don't know, it should work, I'm sorry, thank you bye" bit. No difference this time. She said I would have to wait until Monday afternoon when someone could come and try and figure out how to get my clothes out of the washer and suggested that I should go out tomorrow and buy some new ones... in my pajamas, because that's all I have left, but she didn't know that... I hung up.

Well I went back downstairs and hit it some more and let the time expire, turned it off and on and unplugged it and then sat there staring at the machine... willing it to release its demon-ish grasp it had on my poor clothes. After about 10 minutes I heard a click, and the door could be opened... only to spill all the soapy water all over ther floor... at this point I didn't care, that is now their problem. Hopefully the dryer still works properly...

Anyways, now I'm doing the rest of my laundry in the shower with my feet with the toothbrush cup covering the drain... glorious, I know, but after all, it is the only dependable way to get your laundry done.

Darmstadt Tour... Wasserturm

Next to the hauptbahnhof is the old Darmstadt wasserturm, or 'water tower'. It was originally built in 1910 and then was meant to be demolished in the 1980's, but the public outcry was too great and the city preserved it. It is now used as an art and music studio. Looks pretty cool, kind of hidden back behind the hauptbahnhof where most people can't see it. I don't know what else to say about it other than who other than Germans to make a water tower look so elegant... it gives our American water towers an insecure feeling I think.

Darmstadt Tour, Part One... Hauptbahnhof

Well, as promised, I am posting some of the pictures I took of the wonderful city that I live in called Darmstadt. Where else better to start than at the hauptbahnhof or 'central station'... usually the first thing people see when entering a city for the first time. From here you can basically go anywhere in Europe by train... very convenient. This is also the place where I got my first German fine as I was apparently sitting in the first class section of a crappy little subway train running from Darmstadt to Frankfurt. I couldn't tell the difference, it all looked the same to me... and the only reason I sat the was because the pressure valve on the door was broken and making an obnoxious noise, and therefore I figured that no one would bother me. The only way one knows if they are in the first class 'section' is by a little 3 inch by 3 inch sticker with a number on it. Normally they let you go with a warning, but since I was American they gave me the maximum fine, which all my co-workers found crazy. Luckily the transit authority guy was stupid and didn't give me my ticket back, so when I went in to pay my fine I didn't have my ticket to prove that I actually did not have a first class ticket and the fine was thrown out... so ha, take that authority!

Anyways, most Germans commute to work by either train or bus, but if they live too far away from a bus stop they will ride their bike. A lot of them ride to the hauptbahnhof and then take a train to Frankfurt everyday, so there is a huge sea of bikes in front of the building. It is quite a sight since there is not a hole lot of bike riding in the US and I don't think I have ever seen so many bikes. What you can't see in the picture is that all the trees lining the walkway also have 3 or 4 bikes around each of them, so this is maybe only half of the total bikes in the area. I've thought about getting a bike, but then I remembered how bad I was at riding one and I would probably get run over by traffic or run over a nice old lady walking home from the grocery store, so I figured I'll just stick to walking.

Well, check back for the next tour stop...

He's compensating for something...

Traveling to work everyday on the K-bus I pass this sign and everyday I chuckle a little bit to myself. I'm sure all the other passengers think I'm a little weird. Well, I finally took a picture of it. It's an ad for a car shopping website and it says, "Anew from the USA: Penis lengthening without OP (operation)!" There's another one that was taken down already that had a picture of a Porsche that said, "Viagra fur Frauen" or "Viagra for women." I wish we had the stones to put up ads like this in the USA... I would definitely make my commute a whole lot more entertaining.

THE apartment tour

As requested, here is the guided tour of my fancy $2000/month apartment/hotel/whatever. Prepare to be.......... disappointed...

We start in the entrance way... To your immediate right you can see my kitchen, where culinary masterpieces such as the 'ham sandwich' are prepared. Straight ahead is the living room area and ahead and to the right (can't see) is the entrance to the bedroom and bathroom... we continue to the bedroom...

Here we notice the lack of door... that's right, it is open to the hallway. There are however nice olive green curtains the can be pulled over the entrance. Make note of the stylish gold plated light fixture and mirror... They give the place a sort of 'palace' feel. To the right is the bathroom, but you don't need to see that... On we go, turn around and continue down the hallway to my living room...

Here we are... This is where I spend most of my time. As you can see I have a nice little TV that gets 9 channels... 6 in German, 1 in French, 1 in Italian and 1 in English, which happens to be CNBC Europe... all economy, all the time. Luckily late at night they do show the Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, so I get some of the comforts of home, but only if I want to stay up until 2am on weekdays. Note, more use of olive green curtains. What you can't see is another coupling of the gold plated fixtures, as well as the use of wallpaper to cover the ceiling... chic! Onward, to my view...

A tree!

Well I hope that was educational. I spent most of today wandering because it was nice out (and I have no money to travel), so I took some pictures of the city. I will be posting those sometime in the coming week, so check back.

Soccer with the natives...

Well yesterday was my first soccer game with the EUMETSAT soccer club, or EUMFOOT as we call ourselves. I came into the entire thing with low expectations of my ability, even though there were a few elder-ish gentlemen in very short shorts in the group that I should have been able to run around... afterall, this is their sport. The courts themselves are indoors and about half the length of a normal football pitch, with nets all around and above so the ball doesn't go flying into other courts... so basically there were no out of bounds which meant I slammed myself into the walls a few times, which hurt quite a bit since the actual walls only went up to about your waist. There were 10 of us so it was an even 5 on 5 with players rotating in and out of the keeper spot. When it was my turn I missed almost every ball shot at me, which gave to other team 3 or 4 goals... very sad. I myself scored 3 times, which I was very proud of since I was the second leading scorer on our team, but I only managed to basically negate all the goals scored against me. I also took out a kid... that was fun.

So overall it was a fun time, I'm excited about going again next week. I did manage to discover some muscles in my legs I never knew I had, so hopefully they'll recover in time.

Coming up next... Tour of my apartment

ELECTION DAY!

So, in case you didn't know, yesterday was election day in the US. Everyone here is very interested in my opinion on everything since I seem to be the only American in town. I have found it interesting how all, literally all, of the Europeans I have met (either at work or randomly in public) wanted Obama to win very badly. They simply don't understand how anyone could possibly ever vote republican and I try to explain it to them, but it doesn't work. I myself am slightly left of the middle so I'm not a hardcore raging socialist or anything, so I would think of supporting someone like McCain if he had chosen a different VP. Therfore, it turns out I am probably one of the most republican-esque people in the area. Unfortunately I was not able to vote this year because my absentee ballot did not get here in time and am very dissapointed about that, but everyone here congradulated me when I came into work this morning... very awkward. It was a little weird to have to go to bed not knowing who the next president would be and then wake up to the news of a landslide victory... but the coverage of the election didn't even start until 1am my time so I was not staying up for that. So far I have noticed that everyone here likes us a little more now that we elected someone they like... so I guess that's good news... http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/05/germany.obama.reaction.pleitgen/index.html

RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY:
It is illegal to have an office without a window in Germany.

Everybody has private parts, but not everybody can punch someone in the face...

One thing that has been bothering me is what German's find acceptable for public television. This Sunday I basically spent the whole day on my butt watching F1 racing and major hollywood movies dubbed into German. I have noticed that violence on tv is much more restricted than in the US. For instance, when Spiderman punches the criminal who killed his uncle, which in turn makes him stumble backwards and fall out of a window... not ok. However, the shower scene in Starship Troopers... that's ok. What's even worse is during Sunday morning cartoons they will feature adverts for these "Sex Report" shows with full nudity... I don't get it. Punching someone in the face... not ok, but sex education for 3 year olds... fine. I suppose it speaks to the difference in morality between our two cultures in that the human body is no longer viewed as 'dirty'.

Back to the '50s

OMG... the gym has two of those "shake the fat off" machines and people actually use them... I'd totally take pictures but I'm afraid they would kick me out.

Just thought I'd share :-)

Germans like it hot!

Well, I joined a gym. It's right by work so I can go every day after work to get my run on. I figured this was a good idea since I also recently joined the EUMETSAT soccer club (yes they call it 'soccer' and not 'football' for some reason... probably a good sign for me). The team is actually named EUMFOOT... how cute. But I figured, if I'm going to be running around with a bunch of Europeans playing their native sport, I should get back in shape. I tried running outside a few times, but since it has now reached below freezing in Germany, my lungs have been screaming for mercy. Lucky for me this gym came into my life...

It's a small place, but one can be very easily persuaded otherwise if looking in from the street... The walls are literally covered in mirrors. It makes the place feel 4 times bigger... clever advertisement ploy perhaps, or are Germans that claustrophobic? One thing is for sure, it makes for checking other people out all that much easier... not like I would ever do such a thing. Anyways, there are some key differences between the German exercise experience and ours. Firstly, they are much more obsessed with routine. I have never seen a bigger workout plan wall in my life, and for such a small place. Everyone has their little packet, which is about 10 pages of what to do, and they follow it to the letter. When you join the place, and every 6 weeks after, you get a personal session with one of their trainers and they make a routine for you and check your 'health level' and what not... I think this is pretty cool, but I didn't really care that much for a plan, I just wanted to have a warm place to run. This confused the guy who signed me up greatly, but I managed to convince him to skip it all and get me a 50 euro discount.

The whole process is built around making you feel better, not just punishing yourself for drinking a coke at lunch like we do in the US. Included in the monthly fee is free use of a full service sauna (with a waitress), free flavoring for your water and a solarium. The part that really weirds me out is that you will see these muscle bound guys come up and fill their water bottle and then ask the attendant to give them two squirts of peach flavoring... strange. I haven't experimented with this, and I'm not sure I ever will... nothing makes me feel more manly than drinking my water without the peach flavoring.

The part that is hardest for me to adjust to is the temperature in ths place. It's like 95 degrees in there. I swear part of plan is to just make you sweat all your weight off instead of actually working it off. I thought that was what the sauna was for, so now I'm afriad to try that out... I might pass out and die. Here comes the perfect example of the lack of German common sense... no towels. They do not provide towels because everyone thinks it is gross to share towels after they are cleaned. Funny, because it's perfectly fine to get your water from glasses that someone may have used 3 minutes prior and was just dipped in hot water and put back on the table... oh well, I bought my own towel... and water bottle for that matter. I guess for a while I should avoid wearing a white shirt in fear of being arrested for indecent exposure.

I did not want rice for lunch...

So I realized today that I really need to learn a lot more German...

Lunch... the most important meal in Germany. It is where you eat the most and basically get all your energy for the day... despite the hour long 'breakfasts' everyone takes before they actually get to work. So when choosing you lunch meal, choose wisely. Sometimes this choice is made a little more difficult when the cooks decide to make certain weeks have a common 'theme'... like last week's 'vegetarian week' or the upcoming 'sushi/sashimi week'... can't wait for that one.

Anyways, today I went with the safe choice (which I often do) and got beef and broccoli. I really wanted french fries for my side dish... something comforting. Harking back to my adventures at McDonald's the first few weeks I was here, I figured the word for 'french fries' in German (pommes frites) could be shortened to just 'pommes'... you know, like when we just say 'fries' instead of 'french fries'... well I was very wrong. The serving lady immediately thrust her ladle with much exuberance in the heap of rice and just plopped it on my plate. 'Gute appetit,' she says to me with a grin, and moves on to the next customer... meanwhile I am staring at my plate, still sitting on the shelf, with a very dejected look... I knew what I was in for. Germans are widely known for their lack of culinary skills, but when it comes to rice there is absolutely no hope for you. It is either very overdone, like eating mush, or not done at all, in which case you risk breaking a tooth.

Well I ate it all... mostly because the beef and broccoli sucked... ironic... so much for my safe choice. If I have taught you anything from my harrowing experience, I hope it is thus...

Don't eat rice in Germany.

Wilkommen!

Hey everyone, welcome to my blog!

I plan on updating it at least twice a week with random observations, fun facts and stories about my life over here, so come back and visit regularly because I won't tell you when it changes...

Of course this all depends on my hotel's ability to keep the internet working...

Oh and don't forget to vote on my poll...

CHES!