Dear Germany,

Hiking in the Czech Republic just south of Germany

Me and some of "my kids" at school during the project week

Every morning I walk past a little parking shed where some middle schoolers like to light up their cigarettes, cementing themselves as the cool kids.  The middle school is directly next to my school.  It teaches kids from 5th grade to 10th grade.  I choose to assume that the smokers' remnants of baby fat are not an indication of their age.  The German school system splits students after the 4th grade into an academic track and a vocational/trade school track.  The middle school is part of the latter system.  Working only in the elementary level, I have been interested in seeing what the middle school is all about.  I finally took the principle at my school up on her offer to set up appointments for me to visit.  Next week I'll be able to meet many of the middle schoolers. . we'll see if I get any questions about smoking in America.

When I go into the classes the kids are going to ask me about cultural differences between the US and Germany. I thought that writing a blog about it would be a good way to prepare.  I'm stealing a format idea from a friend and am going to write in a "Dear Germany" format.  I find these examples amusing and not disparaging so please keep that in mind when you read them!

Dear Germany, please understand that ,25ml (8oz) is a normal sized cup of coffee, not a "pot."

Dear Germany,  tap water will not hurt you.

Dear Germany,  I do not think I'm fat, please stop asking me if I think all Americans are fat.  Or is that just a subtle hint?

Dear Germany,  it is not necessary to cook everything in 1/2in of oil.

Dear Germany,  please don't look at me weird when I spread butter, instead of slicing it.

Dear Germany,  its awesome that you can have a "Mitfahrgelagenheit" (travel system where people publish where they will be driving on a website and other people drive with them) system.

Dear Germany,  salt is not the end all be all of spices.

Dear Germany,  I really like not being bugged in stores when I'm just looking.

Dear Germany,  but a little costumer service wouldn't be bad.

Dear Germany,  peanut butter is not that weird.

Dear (East) Germany,  great Pils but could there be a little more variety?

Dear Germany,  espresso grind doesn't go in coffee machines.

Dear Germany,  thanks for having trains go to your national parks.

Dear Germany,  I find your adherence to your social contract sweet.

Dear Germany,  I appreciate how "philadelphia" is its own substance, not belonging to the "cream cheese" category.

Dear Germany,  I enjoyed walking around what some call "Germany's Ghetto" and feeling completely safe--this says good things about general safety in your country.

My friend Sarah and I in Berlin. . summer came to Germany in April!

 

Dear Germany,  thanks for being straight forward, it can be refreshing.

Dear Germany,  sometimes your straight forwardness is a little too refreshing.

Dear Germany, what's with shelf toilets?


Dear Germany,  you gotta make your language so difficult to learn??

Dear Germany,  75cent international stamps = win!

Dear Germany,  I miss cash back.

Dear Germany,  hiking in something other than hiking boots is not too weird.

Dear Germany,  village not willage.

Dear Germany,  I love seem people biking in suits, good work. 

Dear Germany,  you do love your cars and have nice ones. 





Dear Germany,  thanks for your patience with me.

Dear Germany,  thanks for having me.. you've been a great host.

I left my Blinddarm in Germany

I stopped by a Biergarten on the way home from work a few weeks ago.  There is a local brewery right where I change trams that has a 2 Euro special on their beer on Thursdays.  I stopped to enjoy the weather and try their April brew.  I noticed the phrase, "Eens geht noch!" at the bottom of the glass.  Its a great example of the Sächsisch dialekt.. in high German it would be "eins geht noch," but in Sächsisch the e's and o's are emphasized. 

Spring has come to Germany!!  With the new weather and extended days have come much more productivity (but not in my blogging life: fail much?) and a few new experiences as well. 

Signs of Spring in Dresden.  This is where I get on the tram
every morning.

My goal since the weather has warmed up has been to go take night photos down south in the Sächsische Schweiz.  Unfortunately, my body has undergone somewhat of a rebellion.  I'm going to start from the beginning of Spring to, hopefully, provide proper effect. 

As the weather started to warm up a friend brought up that there was a half marathon in Dresden in May.  "Perfect!" I thought.  I had been looking for a reason to get back in shape and ever since injuring my knee my Junior year of undergrad I've been hoping to get back into running and keep with it so I don't get hurt again.  I popped onto runnersworld.com and found a training plan.  I'd never used a specific plan before, discounting my time running cross country in high school. 

Toodling on the computer in my kitchen.

This was to be the first time I stuck to a plan for a long distance race only counting on myself to follow through with the plan.  At this point I'd been running a little all winter.  On the days that were above 23 degrees, my breaking point for it being too cold to run, and I got myself out the door quickly enough to use the light before it got dark at 4:30.  Once the snow showed no signs of coming back and the weather popped above freezing I had started to be a little more consistent.  My runs usually tracked sunset.  I'd hold off until there was just enough time to go before it got too dark.  When I started the training plan the ground was still frozen, the little creek in the forest was walled with ice, and the city had not yet cleared the gravel off the streets.  Before I realized it, flowers buds were getting ready to explode from the cherry tree outside my window and the weather started getting really warm (50 degrees!).

The days continued to get longer, as did my runs.  I realize when I'm active that I'm a much healthier person.  Inactivity brings cravings of chocolate, sweets, salts, and fats.  However delicious this is I usually don't lament the transition of those cravings to that of vitamins: fruits, veggies, trail mix (Studentenfutter:  student chow).  I had set a pretty ambitious but attainable goal for the half.  Experiencing Dresden and the Dresdener Heide, the forest just across the park from my place, was wonderful on foot.  Everything was going splendidly: my brother gave me a watch to track my runs, I was completing every run on the plan, and I hit my goal pace on a six mile tempo run.  Enter body revolt.

The first little sign that my body had decided it was to prefer cafés to the streets was an arch injury.  After traveling to Innsbruck and Vienna for Winter break my arches started their revolt. 

2 of 3 boofen buddies, Dan and Lauren.. excited to be hiking! Sidenote: little
bit of a hill, eh?

Through icing and taping I was finally able to get rid of the pain (I still need to buy insoles :-/ ) but not it has returned.  As that pain was going away I went "boofen" with a few friends.  "Boofen" is a wonderful tradition here where people go and sleep in a cave, or overhang, in the sandstone mountains to the South of Dresden.  Typical of European mountains, the Sächsische Schweiz is either perfectly flat, a brutal slope, or a stair-climb down.  While trekking out from our "Boofe" (see pictures), my knee was done.  My pervious IT-band injury returned with vengeance.  By the time we got home I couldn't walk a step without it hurting.  Frustrated, I started to ice, elevate, and rest it; still hoping that the half was in my future.  As if my body wanted me to know that it was not going to be possible it then delivered the knock-out blow. 

In the "England England" café enjoying some
tea and researching for Scotland. . well, the tea
was good!

The day after a little weekend trip to Poland I started to get a little stomachache.  Ironically, I went to the doctor for my knee that same Monday.  The next day I would be in the hospital for an "Appendektomie."  I decided on Tuesday morning that I needed to go to the hospital.  After calling every German I knew in Dresden to no avail I googled, "hospitals near Dresden, Germany" and set out.  On arriving at the hospital four of my German friends called back.  Yes, "it was ok to go to this hospital," "let me know if you need any help," "I went to this other hospital and it was very good but you can go to any."  I found where the Notaufnahme was and went in.  There was nobody at reception and only a couple people in the waiting room.  I finally tracked down a nurse and told her I wanted to see a doctor about an "akut Bauchschmerzen."  She asked if I'd gone to a general practitioner.  "No, they are all closed and it hurts enough where I needed to go to the hospital."  She sent me to another building to find a doctor.  Finding locked doors and no doctors I left. 

On my way to the other hospital, which my friend had recommended, the pain got to about a really really really hurts on a 1-10 scale.  The other hospital told me I could see the doctor and took some samples while I waited.  I had downloaded "Despicable Me" on my ipod to pass the time.  Once the film ended I was up. 

Having fun taking pictures in our "Boofe."  In attempt to make
this picture applicable to the paragraph it accompanies: this
is an expression of how my appendix made me feel.

The first doctor was very nice and the second was a typical surgeon (I hear).  Long story short, I learned several new German words and was in surgery 45minutes after entering the exam room.  The surgeon informed me that we needed to operate that day and suddenly movement towards going to the operation theatre began.  I asked if I could first make a phone call. 


I woke up the next day without a "Blinddarm" and with a tube poking out of my abdomen.  I missed my planned trip to Scotland (which I probably could have done.. quite disappointed) but am now close to better.  I can't do "Sport" for two weeks, putting the half marathon completely out of the picture.  Oh well, once again a new beginning.  Overall, I think I was pretty lucky.

This is from our boofen adventure.  This is on top of a rock formation that we slept in.  There is also a "Boofe" on top here for next time!  This is the little mountain that the old king had a little fort on to pretend he was a robber.  Quite the elaborate game of cops and robbers. .

Back from Vacation-town

This is a ice cream shop about half a block from my place.  Its a kids favorite and on warm (40 degree plus) days they sell soft ice from the window.  Everyone deserves a little ice cream every once in a while.

This is a picture after Dan (creepin in the back)
and I climbed up a steep and quite slippery hill.
This picture was made at the moment of victory.

There are many wonderful things about living in a foreign country.  I find that most center around learning many new things:  words, foods, and, most importantly, culture (hmm, thats really the catch-all isn't it?).  Today I witnessed two Germans arguing or discussing which of two bakeries were better.  It provided an amusing caveat of German culture.  As Americans may have extreme particularities in coffee shops, Germans have strong prejudices in bakeries (The two Ste(f)phans and I have three different bakers between us).  They know what they like and when they find it they are loyal to it.  In a place where the bread is so good and there are so many options it makes sense.  Small differences become very important.  Of course people have an acceptance of the fact that there is a general sense of quality to their backers, which actually increases the ability to differentiate between them, because one is forced to search out differences. When the differences are small they are many. 

My favorite East German or Sachsche type of bread, that conveys these preferences are Doppelbrötchen (double-rolls). 

Disclaimer: those are not my normal sunglasses.. being winter
I didn't think to bring sunglasses from low-uv Dresden.
My mistake cost me 30 Euro but awarded me with Austrian style.

They are two rolls that are placed close enough in the oven to meld together.  Some Dresdeners I have talked to hail it as the perfect roll--the perfect amount, more dough inside and less crust, and so easy to break and eat.  It would be something I would totally hold on to and defend if I had grown up with it.  It has just the right amount of silliness mixed with a little practicality to make it plausible but also a little amusing.  Once you've decided what type of bread or Brötchen to buy then you just have to find your favorite baker. .

So I am now back from Austria and settling back in to a Dresden routine.  I was able to meet up with a friend, Dan, another Fulbrighter in Sachsen, and experience real mountains once again.  Pretty much our whole plan got "Innsbrucked" (Innsbrucked is a term we began using to refer to the city or establishments in Innsbruck giving us much but not complete information leading to the eventual demise or tweaking of our plans).  The snow level being around 2000m was the first problem.. see, normally Innsbruck has a plethora of winter sport activities open to the public.  However, when its experiencing a freak or perhaps false spring this is not the case.  This ensured that we were two of about five people in the whole of Innsbruck who wanted to cross country ski.  What we thought would be a simple step out the door, throw some skis down operation turned into a little bit more.  We decided to take the ski buses to see if we could find a ski place.  Unfortunately, much of the xc skiing in the area is around 900m--a smidge below 2000m.  After talking with some of the bus drivers (Dan took care of most all of the talking for the trip.. he is fluent in German and thus an extremely effective crutch. Hopefully he doesn't read this blog and I can continue to refer to him with the understanding as such. .), who did not give us many details but told us to get on this bus or that.  Eventually, after two busses and effectively being labeled either the village idiots or helpless children we were shown a van that would take us to cross country skiing.  Innsbruck had told us that we would be able to use the ski buses to get around and to get to skiing but failed to mention how exactly to procure correct or efficient results form the bus drivers.  To add to our difficulties some of the bus drivers decided that they had trouble understanding Dan's German.  Innsbruck.  The first day turned out quite well.. We were able to ski and found some fun slopes.  However, the maps of the courses were confusing and incomplete.  All in all it was a victory for the team and was celebrated with a Stiegl at a restaurant on the back end of the ski course.  Delicious. 



(yes, I am quite nerdly but monkdy skiing is fun.. i promise to work on my video skills)

Innsbruck then started to really Innsbruck us.  I wont launch into a Dickens-esque description of the events but, instead, list off a few of the most notable innsbruckings. 

-The van driver taking us to a sweet cross country ski area. . that didn't rent skis.

-The hotel not differentiating between a "Innsbruck Card" and an
"Innsbruck Club Card,"  then having the receptionist tell us that because she filled out the card we had to pay for them and that it was not a funny matter. We weren't laughing but didn't buy the cards.

-The tourism pamphlets having information about sweet events or possibilities (ex. guest bobsledding) but not listing the correct phone number or time and omitting the location.

-The van drivers got progressively worse: from a cool, very knowledgable, and helpful driver on the first day to a guy on the last day who made us take the city bus home. 

-Having TV in our room but the only show on TV being "The King of Queens." Yes, dubbed into German.  Stefan was explaining to me this week how in one episode of the show they translate "a piece of cake" directly into German.  It doesn't really work at all. It would be akin to saying, "thats a bowl of diced zucchini!" (thats not a German phrase..)

There were a couple other examples but I will refrain from belaboring you with them! 

This is me with two wonderful friends, travel buddies, and people in general:
Katie (blog: kweltnerd.blogspot.com) and Jenni. (photo: Jenni Keating)

After Innsbruck Dan and I headed to Wien to catch up with a couple of the other Sachsen area Fulbrighters and see my friends Katie and Jenni.  It was quite the grand time exploring Vienna.  I enjoyed the accent in Vienna as well as Innsbruck.  I have this habit of repeating stop names on trams or the metro and in Vienna it became a past-time for us Sachseners (most likely to the dismay of our more enlightened Vienna friends).  The accent there is clear, articulate, and sounds like they trained to speak while bouncing on a trampoline as a child.  Although the accent was fairly articulate, in contrast to the Sachsische accent, because they spoke slowly enough.  However, I felt the normal generational gap as I had the hardest time understanding older folk.

-- "Four Men go to a Ballet" --
Fulbrighters from Sachsen: Chuck, Evan, Dan, and me
(photo: Jenni Keating)

I hope to post again this week, and we'll see if I get around to it.. I haven't gotten into another book yet so my excuses for writing are even more rare than normally.  'till then!

On our ski/hike

Winter wandering

On Vacation

Hi all!  I just thought I would give my excuses beforehand instead of waiting until later.. staying prepared. 

I'm off to Innsbruck and Wien for a week as of tomorrow morning.  I'll post again upon returning home.  In the meantime have a great week!

This is Klaus die Ortnungsmaus (Klaus the orderly mouse).  He checks to make sure all the classrooms are in order. Every month he "lives" in one classroom.  The classroom that has done the best job gets the honor of having him live in their classroom and also a new playground toy! 

I've been experimenting a little with night city shooting lately.  I really need to do more and have some good ideas but this is one of my light metering test shots.  My place is on the bottom left by the upper of the two dark windows (although I live on the other side of the building).

Running Around Dresden

My by the Basti bridge.. it is a very well know bridge down south of Dresden that used to lead to a castle situated on top of the rock outcropping.

So Ive been taking up running again because Ive just gotten tired of not being active.  A friend here mentioned the Oberelbe Marathon in May, which I think I might run in, or the half that goes with it.  I think it would be a good goal and help my activity level too!  Part of my not being active definitely was coupled with just eating a fair bit because I get to be home most of the afternoon.  Christmas time is another time where eating was a fun and great activity.  Well, and I just like eating… But the German diet, I think, takes a little different approach for me, because Im not used to it.  I think it may be that way when someone switches to another cuisine.  The typical german diet has a lot of salt, fat, pork, potatoes, etc.  Which is all well and good but when one eats as much as I do its a little more unfortunate.  I was making granola the other day (http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=390  Great bread book btdubs. . Really easy and great results-- makes Pizza dough really easy too!) and one of my housemates told me that it was "too healthy."  I laughed and realized that I wouldn't have to make such healthy things if I didn't enjoy my food in quantity.

My other accomplishment has been Teriyaki chicken.. which really is about the simplest thing to make but quite delicious.  I've been trying to keep under 50 Euro a week on spending so its nice to have meals that are both good and last for a couple dinners.  I plan to try to do Pita bread soon (capitalized? I must be excited about it or something) but Im afraid my oven might not get hot enough to make it work.  We'll see though.  I was tipped off by Stephan that a local shop sells hummus so I figured that I would have to try to make pita bread work.  I definitely have the time on my hands too. 

I am finding that using my time to cook over here is both fun and rewarding.  Additionally, I have been able to find a lot more ingredients than the grocery store has to offer.  German grocery stores are typically smaller, with some exceptions, and stock about the same items.  Although there is variety the selection mirrors what Germans like, naturally. 

One of the castle(ettes) along the Elbe. It's also a winery :)

I finally was able to find black beans and several other types of oil.  The beans were hidden in an awesome underground asian market by the main train station.  After a helpful hint on where to look I found the little wonderland of Asian food.. including black beans, corn starch, pop corn, and different kinds of rice!  It was quite the excitement, let me tell you.  I also finally explored the "von Fass" (from tap) store where you can by assorted oils, wines, and even scotch by the milliliter!   I held myself back to just getting some s. . sesame oil (might have to try the scotch sometime though!). 

My final triumph of the last couple weeks was finding a Coffee Roster here in Dresden.  There is one not too far away, perhaps a ten minute walk from my front door.  They roast some pretty good coffee and I was able to have my first Oregon-quality cappuccino there.  The lady even did coffee art! 

Schloss Morlitzburg--on one of my several walks recently-No snow!

Its a little place tucked between a photo studio and a old (1820ish) Dresdener Café/milkery.. I walked past it at first and could smell the roasting coffee a block away (which mostly smells like burnt chaff but oddly good at the same time.  When I entered the café and saw that they offered French press coffee I felt a twitter of excitement: they must be legit.  I ordered the French press only to have the lady ask me if I was sure because it was a lot of coffee (280ml).  I "realized" my error and got a cappuccino instead.  As I was taking off my jacket and pulling myself up on the bar stool I thought about it.  My cup at home is .25l which equals 250ml, so 280ml is just a little bit more (about 1.25cups).  Which means they probably use the same size press I use at home… yet another reminder of how different cultures view things differently, but next time Im getting the French press.

The happy group at Morlitzburg. .

10 Reasons Why Hang-drying in Winter Stinks

1.  It stinks.  Clothes often don't dry quickly enough so they, well, stink.

2.  It takes a l  o  n  g time to dry anything. 

3.  When clothing finally does dry it's crinkly instead of soft.

4.  It takes up space--in small apartments hanging racks are half (or more of) your room.

5.  Jeans take forever to dry and don't shrink at all.

6.  You must alternate airing and heating your room--just cumbersome.

7.  You have to do small loads of laundry.

8.  It allows you only to do laundry a certain period after anyone in the house has done laundry in order to secure a place to dry your laundry.  Or, consequently, ignoring this forces you to hang laundry throughout your room.

9.  Can't put on warm clothes fresh out of the dryer.

10.  And I finish with a question: Why is it called drying when it isn't actually drying?

Not Spring Yet

I was in the newspaper.. funny story--the kid in the red in the back was the ONLY kid in class not allowed to be in the photo.

Made in the DDR.

Hi again!  The winter came in a huge way to Germany this year.  From November till shortly after Christmas it has been cold, snowy, and icy.  It was cold on the playground at school, it was cold on the Straßenbahn, it was cold on runs, it was cold in the stairwell, and it was so cold even the laundry wouldn't dry well (hang dry here). I can tell that I've gotten used to it because what used to feel like an arctic blast is now a pleasant breeze. 

Salzburg at Christmas time.

For the first few warm days (30's to low 40's) I would bundle up and brace myself to jump out onto the street in the morning.  I would then pause as if something had caught me as I would say (out loud), "oh, why its quite warm out." (I promise I usually don't talk like I live in the 30s).  My time waiting for the Straßenbahn would then consist of loosening my scarf and jackets and removing one of my two pairs of gloves.  Needless to say, though, this heat wave, if I dare call it that, has been wonderful.  Not bundling up to run or just live is great.  I realized today that, perhaps, why I like it so much is it feels like winter at home in Oregon.  It also makes me feel a little weak for thinking it was cold in winter.  Oh, well!

Runnin' in the forest by my place.

A little thing I have noticed (and therefore retains the possibility of being completely incorrect) about Germany is that as it gets colder clothing becomes more earth toned.  Dresden in the spring was quite colorful (mostly a brand called Jack Wolfskin--more on that later) but as it gets colder the jackets get darker and the scarves cover up any kind of colorful collar. Walking around recently and seeing the Jack Wolfskin appearing again has also been a welcome surprise.  Im sure the heavy wool coats will come back in a week or so but Im going to enjoy this while it lasts.


My last few days have been spent looking at plane tickets and trying to figure out my plans for Winter break (yes, I get a winter break too.. this really is the best after graduation job ever).  The hard thing about having two weeks off in February is that it is in February.  Not exactly prime travel season.  I am hoping to escape the winter a little, so we'll see what turns up but Im not crossing my fingers. 

Ive included some pictures from my classes.  Note the backpacks--or are the jet-packs?--The pictures are all from one of the third grade classes.

Another side-note:  I went to Mass at the Cathedral last Sunday because I missed it in the morning.. Im accustomed to not catching every nuance (meaning word.. I don't catch every word) but this was particularly bad.  So bad I couldn't even place the language until I looked at the board outside: Polish. Touché, Germany, touché.