We finally have our stuff

I really hope that this is the conclusion to the story of our shipment...

If you recall, we left  for Ireland in a hurry after the movers from the UK left our boxes at Brian's school. They couldn't bring them to our apartment because the people who were supposed to handle the parking permit never showed up and the truck was big enough to carry our whole house.

We got back to Germany Thursday evening and stayed in Hamburg with our friends Tom (Dizzy) and Sonja. Tom had already agreed to come back to Hannover to help us move the boxes, and we were planning to borrow the school's van to get them to our place.

On Friday morning we called Philippa, our lovely school secretary. She's the one who had arranged for the parking permit and had confirmed and double checked that it was all set. Apparently she was not so lovely with the company that was supposed to set up the permit. She made them admit that they messed up (she used a stronger word) and made them agree to move all of our belongings from the school up to our apartment for free. Tom decided to come along anyway, in case the movers needed supervision.

So on  Saturday morning we watched game 7 of the world series and waited for the movers, who were late, of course. When they did arrive, ironically they didn't have permit and double parked right in front of our building. The first guy walked upstairs carrying a globe and was already out of breath by the time he reached our door.  I am sure that the guys who had to move our stuff are really hating whoever dropped the ball on our parking permit. They did manage, with some sweat and heavy breathing, to get everything upstairs while we happily unpacked. Our stuff was all there, and undamaged aside from a few minor chips and cracks.

We spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday basically moving into our apartment again.It sounds silly, but pulling out my pie pans and jackets and shoes made me feel like this place is more like home. It was better than Christmas really, because we didn't get anything new - we got back the things we'd been missing. Our apartment is big enough for everything, but there are no closets in Germany so we need to find somewhere to put it all. Maybe we can figure out how to do that without going to Ikea...

So now, after I do some mopping and hang pictures, I need to call the shipping company in the UK and try to get a refund of the extra money that we paid them to bring the stuff up to the fourth floor. And then we get to write a nasty letter to Beltmann Relocation telling them what a disaster the whole experience has been. And then I can sit on our nice leather chair and enjoy my bowls and scarves and blankets.

Some photos from Ireland

Here are the highlights. As usual, all the photos are on my Facebook page. Enjoy!

Rocks and cliffs and bikes

Yesterday we arrived in Doolin, County Clare. Doolin is mostly here because it's close to some beautiful sights - so basically for tourism, or for the tourists that make it all the way out here. That's because the coast is too rough for fishing, and the land is too rocky for farming. There are some cattle and dairy cows and sheep, a lot of open land, and a lot of tourists driving around lost in their rental cars (sometimes on the wrong side of the road).

Unlike Dingle, which had a ton of restaurants and pubs and shops, there are four places to eat in Doolin. It looks like more places are open during the summer, but this is low season and choices are more limited. So we ate twice at two pubs, had drinks at another, and walked into the last one and decided to leave. The place we are staying here is a normal B and B outside of town, not as cushy as the guest house in Dingle. There are cows across the street and it's so dark that we decided driving to town is safer than walking there at night.

Today we rented bikes and tried riding out to the Burren. There's a route to follow but we took a couple of wrong turns and missed part of it. The roads go up and down past sheep and cow pastures, a few old churches, some little houses with clothes hanging out on the line, and some great views. We were definitely off the beaten path - so much so that when we got way out there and weren't sure where to go, it started to rain and turn colder, and suddenly the road only went uphill. There were some miserable moments. We found our way back though, the rain stopped, and we decided that 20 or 30 miles on a rented squeaky hybrid bike is a lot harder than the same distance on our road bikes with the right gear and flatter roads.

After lunch and a hot shower we drove out to the Cliffs of Moher. They are breathtaking and huge drop-offs to the sea, but also the most touristy place we have been on this trip. With a half full parking lot and a few busloads of tourists in October, I can't imagine how crowded it gets in the summer! I think I heard about five languages just walking around.

We then drove out to the Burren to find what we missed on the bike ride. When you get there, all vegetation ends and it's just rocks all the way down to the water. The rocks go down in stripes like they are made of some giant building blocks and the whole place feels like you've gone to another planet, or at least the moon. Since the road out there is called Corkscrew Road, and with good reason, we felt better about not getting there by bike and then having to climb back up again.

So tomorrow we drive to Dublin in the morning and fly back to Hamburg. It's been a good trip. We met a lot of travelers who were doing one night in each town and driving every day, trying to see the whole country. We much prefer spending more time in fewer places and getting to know them a little better, even if it means having lunch in the same place two days in a row.

Sometimes Ireland just happens to you

It rained all day yesterday in Dingle. Sometimes hard, sometimes light, but always wet. Between the weather and our hangovers, Brian and I decided that it was not the best day for the bike riding adventure we had planned. In part we felt a little guilty for wanting to stay in and be cozy - there were things we should be out seeing, maybe. But we got over that and decided cozy would be ok.

After Mass in English and a little sitting around and staring at the bay through our hotel window, we wandered into town to look in some shops. We had seen a place that said "haberdashery" in the window and seemed to have all sorts of cool man things like pipes and ships in bottles and such, so we decided to check it out. We wandered in and realized that it was actually a pub, which was also a shoe store at one time. It was old and creaky and had rubber boots up on the shelves that might have been there for 50 years. Even though we weren't planning on having a pint, we couldn't exactly turn around and leave. So we stayed for a little while, talking to a bunch of New Zealand All Blacks fans celebrating the world cup rugby victory from that morning, to a Bolivian woman and her German boyfriend, and to an Irish guy who looked liked Christian Bale and talked like Dave Katz (you Como Park people should know what I mean). There were a few times we thought of leaving, but then we looked out at the rain and decided to wait. Then an American couple came in and asked, "is this where the band is starting at 5:30?" We knew nothing about it, but it was like 5:15 so we stuck around. Then the band started to play, more people came in, and one thing lead to another. There were locals, and tourists, a couple of families, and an old guy snoring in the corner. All of a sudden it was 9:00.

As Brian put it, sometimes Ireland just happens to you like that.  The day unfolds and it's better than you would have planned even if you could have.

Today we were feeling much more peppy and the rain stopped for about half the day, so we did rent the bikes. We got them at a place called Foxy John's, which is part hardware store, part pub, and part bikes for hire. It was a beautiful ride around the rugged coast line of Dingle peninsula. We intended to make a loop on Slea Head Drive, but had to turn around halfway around the route because the road was flooded and there was construction going on. Sometimes Ireland happens to you like that too.

Ireland trip - first two days

We are here in Ireland now, enjoying our trip to the southwest. We rented a car and drove about an hour outside of Dublin, spending Friday night in Port Laoise, in a hotel that was sort of like the Irish version of Comfort Inn. We were so tired it seemed wonderful to us.

 Luckily Brian is driving. But don't tell Enterprise rent-a-car because, in our flurry to get out the door as and deal with the movers on Friday, I didn't pack Brian's wallet. I had the cash and credit card, so the only useful thing in it was his drivers license. So the car is rented under my name, even though I can't drive stick shift and am terrified of driving on the left.

Yesterday we checked out the Rock of Dunamaise on our way toward County Kerry. We got lost a few times but made it there. It's an old ruined castle from the 1100s. The cool thing about being here in the off-season was that we were the only ones up there. You could see all the countryside below and the wind just about blew us down the hill. I will post some pictures next week for you to see.

Then we drove on to Dingle. It's a cool town on the coast - right on Dingle Bay. Yesterday was our 6th wedding anniversary, so we had a really nice dinner to celebrate and went out to a couple of pubs afterward. We are still recovering from the night out and it's pouring rain, so we are laying low in preparation for some live music tonight and a sightseeing bike ride tomorrow. We splurged a little on the hotel here, and it's really worth it.

Being in Ireland is a great English-speaking break for us. I am really excited to ask directions when we get lost driving (only twice so far) because they understand me, and we can watch so many channels on TV! It's a little like home too - people are friendly and you get free water at restaurants. And of course it's really pretty, they pour good Guinness, and people have cooler accents.

Our stuff finally comes, and we leave.

For those of you who have not heard the agonizing details of our shipping saga, here is the condensed version:
We shipped our things through Beltmann (don't use them) movers on July 21st. They told us we would receive them in Germany in 35-45 days. Then they said it would take more like 60 days, we argued, tried to get refunds, and got nowhere. Our things ended up in England for like 3 weeks, went through customs there, we had to pay extra to get them delivered up to our 4th floor apartment since there is no elevator, and learned that we had to arrange for our own parking permit so that the truck could park outside our building. We couldn't do that until we had a delivery date, which took about 2 weeks to get.

What I left out is a lot of frustration, emails back and forth, phone calls, analyzing contracts, etc.

I have never daydreamed about having bathrobes and bowls and rain boots before, but for the past month or so, that's what I did in my spare time.

Anyway, yesterday, Oct 21, three months to the day since the movers packed up our things in St Paul, the shipment arrived. The company in England (Beltmann has stopped communicating with us) told us this date about a week and two days ago, so that we could arrange for a parking permit. That, of course, was not covered in the fee that we paid to Beltmann. Philippa, our lovely school secretary, did some research on how to get a permit. She found out the we could either do the paperwork, pick up the signs, and the weights for the signs, set them up, then return them ourselves the next day, or we could hire a company to do the same thing. She offered to arrange the permit with the company and confirmed with us on Monday that it was all set.

Meanwhile, Brian's school is on fall break for two weeks and we have planned a vacation to Ireland for six days, leaving (of course) on Oct 21st. Brian's friend Andy agreed to let the movers in if they came while we were gone, and we gave them Andy's phone number. The movers were supposed to call at least an hour before arriving.

We started to get nervous when there were still no signs up to block the street on Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday morning. Brian was convinced our things would not come. I was sure it would all work out somehow. So we went ahead and packed all the warm things we had to take to Ireland with us, even though we secretly hoped we might get our stuff before we had to catch the train to the Hamburg airport around noon.

At 10:30 the doorbell rang. "Pearson's removal" said a very English accent through the intercom and I sort of jumped. They hadn't called us, or Andy. I went downstairs to find the huge truck - about 60 feet long, sitting in the middle of our busy city street. Of course, there were cars parked in front of our building and nowhere for it to go, since the parking permit people had never shown up. Our pal from the truck and I looked for spots on side streets, then he told me he'd go talk to the driver and they would come back. So Brian came down and stood in the handicapped parking spots on the street, ready to fend off any disabled drivers who might try to park there, and we hoped that possibly the other cars would leave. Andy and his wife Anne showed up too, and the four of us stood around for an hour, waiting for the moving truck to come back. Finally I went upstairs and called the company in England to find out if they knew what was going on. They told us that the driver's copilot had called (the driver couldn't since he is mute and only communicated through some made-up sign language), and that they had tried to park in several places and been moved on by the police. This was fishy since we hadn't seen the truck anywhere and it was almost lunch time.  The guy from the shipping company said that if they couldn't park then we would have to find them an alternate location to leave our stuff.

Of course it would go this way - so close and we might never get our stuff!

So we decided to take them to the school where we could leave the boxes for a week and use the school van to bring them home after we get back to town. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and we have already missed the 11:40 train. So Brian got in the big truck with the movers, apparently checking out their empty beer bottles, nudie magazines, and the shipment they were hauling to Sweden next, and guided them to the school.

I frantically finished packing his things and got in the car with Anne and Andy (thank goodness for friends with cars) and our bags to go to the school. They unloaded our stuff and Brian and the mute driver moved them into the lobby, only after I fished out Brian's raincoat and hat, my hiking boots, and (hooray) my big yellow rain boots. Then we hopped in the car, Andy dropped us off at the train station, we paid an extra 60 euros to catch the express train, and we made it to Hamburg on time to catch the flight.

So our things are in Hannover, even though we are not. Of course the saga has not ended yet since they still have to get to our building and up the 5 flights to our apartment. Then we can wear bathrobes and rainboots and eat soup out of our bowls all day long.

Hannover Indians hockey

On Friday night we went to the Hannover Indians game with some of Brian's teacher pals. One of them is a former player and coach for the Indians (he's Canadian). Hannover has three professional hockey teams, the Scorpions, the Indians, and the Braves.

We had been to the Scorpions game about a month ago because Brian got some free tickets from a coworker (she got them because she opened a new checking account). The Scorpions play at Tui Arena, which is a big stadium near the expo center. It's large and clean and has plush seats and bright lights, and the concourse feels a little like an airport. The arena was a little over half full.We had a good time there and didn't really know any better.

Then we went to the Indians game. They play in an arena that has a roof and two walls but is open on either side. It's all standing room except for about a hundred seats. The place was smaller, packed, loud, a little dirty and the beer was cheap. Way more fun.

A lot of the players on both the Scorpions and Indians are either ex-NHL players or former college hockey players that didn't quite get into the NHL. Others, of course, are from various places in Europe. I am sure that once I learn more about hockey I can tell you how the quality of play is. It's on my list of things to learn about, in addition to the German language, the Hannover bus system, more European history, how to make my own tortillas, and what are good substitutes for crisco and chocolate chips. Here are some photos from the game:

I'm almost a C- list celebrity!

Yesterday I met up at the Maschsee (the big lake in Hannover) with new-found friends Kaska, Renee, and Renee's little dog Finnegan. It was a sunny fall day and we took a stroll down one side of the lake, then stopped at a little snack bar to have something warm to drink. Then this attractive guy with a camera approached us and started talking to us in German (to Kaska really, she is the only one that understood). I caught something about it being a beautiful Sunday but didn't really know what he was talking about. When Kaska started telling us in English that he was from the paper and wanted to take our photo by the water, he chimed in with perfect English and proceeded to tell us that he had lived for five years in Sioux City. Sioux City,  I asked? I am used to people saying they had visited New York or Miami but this was a new one. "That's real America," I told him.

So we walked over to this pier where he had us sit and pose like we were having a picnic. Of course this was the one day (ok maybe not the only day) that I hadn't showered or done my hair and until recently was wearing a baseball cap. Oh well. As the photographer was crouching down at the other side of the pier to take the photo, PLOP - his car keys fell into the lake. He proceeded to swear up a storm in both English and German, and send his reporter sidekick into the rowing club to find a net. The Maschsee is not very deep, but I wasn't sure the net would work. Anyway, he took the photo and told us we could go. Maybe he didn't want to have spectators as he attempted to fish the keys out of the water.

The good-looking photographer emailed Kaska the photo and told her that he had to jump in the water (brrr) to get the keys out!

The photo is on page 3 of Bild, which is sort of like the daily tabloid paper. It's in a little blurb about how yesterday was a frosty morning followed by a warm afternoon.

So far no one has stopped me on the street to say that they recognized me...

Insurance

I know, it sounds really dull, talking about insurance. If you want to skip this one, go ahead. It won't hurt my feelings. Some of you are interested in this sort of thing, though, so read on:

Since we moved here, at least three people we trust have told us we need to get insurance for our property and liability. So I asked our trusted school secretary, Philippa (you might remember her from the story about the neighbors), who recommended I go to the bank to sign up for insurance. It seemed funny to get it through the bank, but they speak English there and have all of our info already, so I went ahead and made an appointment.

Before I went there, I looked up the word for appointment in my dictionary and was able to successfully say, "I have an appointment with Ms. Thaden" to the lady at the info desk.  Hooray! Then I spent an hour with the banker (Ms. Thaden) and her coworker who is licensed to sell insurance. They were very patient and we even had to look up some insurance terms on Google translate. The insurance happens to be through Zurich (makes me think of Aunt Sue and Mike), and not Deutsche Bank.

Anyway, things you are supposed to get insurance for in Germany are:
Personal property - this is like renter's insurance, so it made sense to me. If you get the basic policy it doesn't cover anything that is lost or damaged because it was your own fault. Needless to say, I went for the top level policy that will cover it if I lose or damage things. So now we are covered if our bikes are stolen or if some really determined thief decides to climb the five flights of stairs, break into our apartment, and steal some Ikea furniture.

Personal liability - this covers you in case you hurt someone else, or damage someone else's property and they want you to pay for it. Germans consider this very important, so I guess these things must happen. They asked what we have in the U.S. for this situation, and didn't believe me when we I told them we don't. "What would you do then if you damaged someone else's things?" Well, I said, they could ask you to pay for them, and if you don't they could take you to court, but if you don't have the money, they just don't get paid.

Accident insurance - this covers you in case you are injured in an accident and can't work. It kicks in after your employer has paid you for 6 weeks and your health insurance has paid you for a while. I didn't buy this one.

Long-term disability - so if you had some medical condition that kept you from working, "you won't have anything", said the banker. I asked her to explain because I wasn't sure that was true.  She drew me a graph. First, you get 6 weeks of full pay from your employer. Then your health insurance would pay two-thirds of your salary for a maximum of 72 weeks. But really, she said, it's usually less than one year. Then the state would pay you 342 euros a month. Not bad. They really wanted me to buy this one, but I decided that if either of us was permanently disabled we would move back home and apply for Social Security Disability, because I actually understand how that works.

Legal defense insurance - If we need to hire a lawyer for any reason, we just have a deductible of 150 euros and then it's covered. Since two of the few people we know in Hannover are involved in legal disputes now, and because of the mess with our shipping situation, I decided to buy this one.

So now we are covered, like good German residents. And if anyone hikes up to our place to steal our things, we can just go to Ikea and buy new ones.

Hausfrauenklub

Guess what? I have friends!
I'm not sure if it's coincidence or fate or good timing, but I have started hanging out with three women who have all recently moved to Hannover, and we have a great time.

I met Renee and Serena at the International Women's Association of Hannover newcomers meeting. IWAH is a social organization that has a variety of clubs and outings and conversation groups. A big part of my motivation for joining was that they have a Spanish conversation group that I can use to keep practicing Spanish. Anyway, Renee is from New York City, and moved here with her fiance and their little dog around the same time we moved. She is a veterinary technician. Serena is from Texas but has lived all over the U.S., working as an art historian. Her husband is an opera singer and works at the opera house here. One of Serena's college friends had interned with Kaska in Kiel, which is in far northern Germany, close to Denmark. Kaska moved here from Kiel in April. She is Polish but married to a German and speaks all sorts of languages. In Kiel she ran a program for international students at several universities.

So we have decided to call ourselves the "hausfrauen" which means housewives. Something like Desperate Housewives, Hannover edition. It's a bit of a joke because we are all experiencing the feeling of not having a full-time job for the first time ever, and moving here because of our significant others' work situations. It's often a good feeling (we can go to a 2 hour lunch on a Tuesday), but we are also figuring our what our roles here will be. Kaska works part time for the city of Hannover and Renee is taking intensive German classes. Serena is actually going back to the U.S. for a couple of months because her husband is doing a show in Chicago, but hopes to work in the museum field here at some point. And I of course have my hodge-podge of online class, German class, consulting and eventually cover teaching at the school.

So I consider myself very lucky to have found some friends so quickly. I need to be good and do my homework this morning because we are hanging out in the afternoon...

Herbst in Hannover

Wow - 16 people viewed my blog on Sunday and on Monday. I guess you are actually interested in what I am writing. I had better keep it up!

Fall has come to Hannover. The word for Fall/Autumn is Herbst in German. It's no too different from Fall at home - more acorns and chestnuts on the ground than we are used to, but leaves are starting to change colors and that cool leafy smell is in the air. It was over the weekend anyway. Since then it's been rainy and Brian and I are REALLY missing our stuff. Yes, the movers came on July 21st. No, we don't have our shipment yet. It's now in Felixstowe, England. Or at least that's what they tell us. Maybe there is a black market for international moving shipments and my dishes and rain boots and holiday decorations have been sold off. Watch out for someone in bright yellow slush boots, please. We have already paid the movers extra because our apartment is on the 4th floor, and now we also have to pay for a street parking permit for the moving truck. That requires a week's notice but we can't get it yet because they have not given us a delivery date. Arrggh.

Let's not dwell on the shipment issue since it only makes me frustrated. Instead, let's talk about shopping and Fall break. Brian's school has Fall break for the last two weeks of October. They also have two weeks at Christmas, a week in February, two weeks in April and about six weeks in the summer. This is a great travel schedule for us! So we have planned a trip for 6 days during the second half of break to Ireland. It's likely that our shipment will come either while we are gone or a few days later. Our jackets and hiking boots and sweaters will be held hostage by the movers while we need them in Ireland. So Brian and I decided to take the money that we would have spent if we were travelling for the full two weeks (our original plan) and spend some of it on stuff that we need. We ordered some things online and yesterday I went shopping.

Hannover has, for a smaller city, a great shopping district. I guess I don't have another European city to compare it to but I am impressed. I really like the concept of all the shopping being located in the center of the city rather than in the suburbs or even the outskirts, like it is back home. Sure, you have some fancy shops and gift shops downtown in the Twin Cities and Chicago but when people want to buy a lot they go out to the mall. The downtown shopping probably has a lot to do with the fact that so many people here use public transportation and there's not a lot of parking in town. It's great for me getting around on my own two feet. In Hannover there's a ton of shopping near the central train station and a pedestrian street lined with shops also. There are at least 3 H&M stores, all within walking distance of each other. There are 2 or 3 big department stores and a lot of smaller shops. There is even a TK Maxx, which is the same concept as TJ Maxx but not as inexpensive as at home. I didn't buy anything major, just some tops and a hat and a jacket, but it's enough to make me feel like I don't need to decide between the same two longsleeve shirts every day.

Now that we have stuff to wear, I am really excited for our travels. We've been to Ireland before, but it's been five years and we are headed to a different spot this time. We fly into Dublin, get out of town as soon as possible, and drive out to Dingle for a few days. There is a dolphin named Fungi who lives in the bay there. We plan to meet him. Also there's a lot of stuff to see that Brian has planned out for us - the Cliffs of Moher and such. Then we go to Doolin, farther north, spend a couple of days seeing the sights there and head back. I am excited to travel and also really excited to speak English in public. We can read the newspapers and buy books...we might even watch some TV!

In St. Paul we would be raking a lot of leaves instead. Of course I love the backyard at our house and all the trees (not the cottonwoods as much as the others) but think of all the new-found free time we will have! It's supposed to get sunny and dry over the next few days and, in our new jackets, we will get a chance to enjoy some good October weather.

a few more photos

kitchen

All of the photos are on my Facebook page, but here are a few highlights for you blog readers:

Our bedroom

view out the living room window

Flea market and one of the statues around Hannover

Flea market by the River Leine

Yes, they grow corn in Germany too!

We are the loud neighbors, apparently

An annoying thing happened last Friday. I got a call from the Philippa, the school secretary at the international school who has been helping with a lot of the relocation issues for us. She also helped us find our apartment. Apparently the neighbor below us called the landlady, who called Philippa, who then called the neighbor to get more detail and then Philippa called me. (For this story to make sense, remember that the washing machine is in our kitchen and there are no communal machines for the apartment building.)

As she phrased it, the neighbors wanted us to know that their bedroom is actually underneath our kitchen. We might think that their kitchen is underneath our kitchen but that's actually not the case. So we should just be conscious that if we make noise they can hear it in the bedroom. Philippa said that she explained we have to wake up early and the neighbors understood that so they asked, if it would be ok and not too much trouble, that we not do laundry in the morning on the weekends because it's too noisy. And the neighbors don't want us to be upset but just conscious about the noise. And if we ever want to come downstairs and introduce ourselves to them that would be okay too.

In case you didn't catch on, it was all very non-confrontational and round-about. Philippa said it was "very German", meaning not direct, I guess?

At first I felt a little embarrassed by the whole thing. Are we the loud rude Americans in the building? We've been very aware of making noise but maybe not as aware as I thought... Then I got really annoyed. I think there was one day when I threw in a load of laundry at around 8:30 on a Sunday before we left for a bike ride. These are not old people. They are maybe slightly older than us and have no kids. There were also a couple of nights we heard loud techno music coming from their floor, and we didn't care. And if they can't come upstairs to ask us to not do laundry in the morning, but choose to call the landlady on us instead, I certainly don't want to go downstairs to meet them.

We have asked various Germans and expats about this. They all think it's silly. There are conflicting theories on what the rules are for when you can make noise and when you can't. I guess we didn't realize there were unofficial rules about it. For instance, in Switzerland you can't make noise before 9am and not on Sundays (what constitutes noise is debatable). Apparently it was once an unofficial rule that you couldn't make noise before 7am or between 12 and 3pm (for napping?). Some say that you can do what you want at any time as long as you are considerate. Maybe we are the loud Americans, but it's hard to follow unwritten rules that no one really seems to agree on.

German class

In early September, I started taking German classes at the Volkshochschule (pronounced folks-hock-shoo-la). It's run by the city - so it's basically like adult ed or community ed. I had a hard time deciding between the intensive class, which was 4 hours a day for 3 or 4 days a week, and the evening class.  This was the day when Brian said to me, and I was paralyzed with indecision, "let me get this straight - you are stressed out because you're worried you won't learn German fast enough?" I went with the evening class since I wasn't sure how substitute teaching would go and how available I would need to be.

So Tuesday and Thursday evenings I go to level A1 German class. The levels are A, B, and C and each has two steps. A1 means "no, I really don't know any German." There are anywhere from 8 to 12 people in my class. Every week we seem to get someone new, and we have lost a few along the way too. Inge, our teacher, just keeps on teaching and expects them to catch up. Inge is perhaps the most cheerful German I have met so far. She talks to us entirely in German, draws a lot of pictures, and repeats herself a lot. Some of the things we do in class are like what you would do in 2nd grade. We have to start class by tossing a bean bag toy to our classmates while saying their names. Last night we did some pretend shopping at a pretend bakery and pretend grocery store. There is a lot of giggling, but it works.

I am the only American in our class and one of about 4 people who speak English.  I know the stories of some of my classmates, so I will tell you about them.

Yashar is from Iran, and is studying German so that he can go to flight school in Germany and become a pilot. He told me (slowly, in German) that this would take 7 or 8 years. He applied in England also, but the visa for Germany came through first so here he is. He's probably about 20 and has long shaggy hair. He is also taking German classes in the daytime at 2 other schools. I am not sure why this is a good idea, since all the classes are level A1, but he is certainly dedicated.

Antonio is from Spain. He's here for work but I'm not sure what he does. He always sits in the corner with Yashar, and I have never seen him wear anything other than Addidas jogging suits. He has a lot of them. We've talked a little in Spanish but not too much.

Ibrahim is Lebanese. He is a big guy with tattoos, and seemed kind of tough until one day when he brought his German - Lebanese wife to class with him and she kept correcting him and telling him what to do. He has started to also sit in the corner with the other two.

Ellie is an Australian au pair living with a German family here. She talks a lot, loudly, in English and laughs a lot too. I like her. She already had her mittens on last night when it was 55 degrees. She's going to have a hard time dealing with winter, so I offered to help her shop for a coat.

Laure is Scottish and has crazy curly red hair. She is an intern at Tui, which is a big travel company based in Hannover.

Boyang is Chinese but attending a university in Australia. He is an intern with Continental tires, also based in Hannover.

Rossana is Italian. So is Rafaele. Rafele is kind of short with these shifty eyes that somehow look in another direction even when he looks at you. He fits the stereotype - he interrupts the teacher a lot and likes to be right. In class he speaks some combination of German and Italian (I call it Deutaliano) and tries to make jokes. The jokes don't work so well because none of us really understand them.

Last night, Rossana and Rafaele had a conversation at the end of class about certifications or degrees or something. I could understand about half of what they said, just because it was so similar to Spanish. When they picked up on the fact that I was listening, Rafaele started talking to me in Deutaliano, and explained that his dialect was closer to Spanish because the Catalunians took over Sardinia for 300 years. Then the AV guy came in to pick up the CD player, and started talking to us in Spanish too, because his parents are from Spain. Antonio joined in as well. It was a cool mix of languages.

So this is my group for the rest of the semester. I don't know what I will do for classes come January - I might stay at the Volkshochschule or check out a different school. For now, though, I am enjoying acting like a second grader a couple of nights a week.

Today's score: Germany 2, Julia 1

Germany is winning today. I like to think of it as a friendly game, but I can get a little competitive sometimes.

On Tuesdays, Brian has a pretty light class schedule - just 2 classes to teach. So I usually come and meet him for lunch. Yesterday we had the idea that I could go get food from Subway and we could have a picnic by the Maschsee (the big lake).  They have Subway all over here, and it's one of Brian's favorites.  We hadn't been there yet, mostly because there is a lot of conversation involved in ordering at Subway.  Think about it - what kind of bread, what kind of cheese, which vegetables, mustard, mayo, salt and pepper... oh, and do you want it toasted?
So I got up the courage to go and handled all those questions pretty well.
[note on German Subway - they have a lot of the same sandwiches, but the cheeses are feta, cream cheese, shredded cheddar, or some sort of white sliced cheese. There is no pepper jack and no banana peppers. The bread flavors are the same.]

I got to the end of the line and noticed that the cashier was using a calculator and the cash register was not working. I ordered 2 cookies [ sorry, I had to say, two chocolate chip, not two chocolate], she told me the total and, feeling pretty good that I remembered the word for pickles, I handed her the money. Only after I walked out of the store did I realize I had paid 18 euros for one sandwich and 2 cookies! After I did the math I realized that I must have paid for the sandwich twice. But since I had no receipt since there was no cash register, and since I didn't really know how to say that I had overpaid, I just let it go.

Our friend Dizzy told me that there is a sort of foreigner tax you end up paying when you live in another country  - you end up paying extra for things that you get by mistake or because you just don't know how much they are supposed to cost or where is the best place to buy them. So chalk up the extra 8 euros to the foreigner tax. The Subway corporation can thank us later.

Do you remember the story about the yellow and blue recycling bags? Well, my one victory of the day was that I figured out how to get them if there is not a box of bags lying around in the checkout area. You just have to ask the cashier! So I practiced in my head how to ask for yellow bags, asked the cashier, and she gave them to me. That will take care of the 2 weeks's worth of plastic and aluminum piling up in the kitchen.

We'll see who wins tomorrow.

Oktoberfest Hannover

It's been a good weekend. Today is a national holiday to celebrate reunification day - when East and West Germany were reunited after the Berlin Wall came down.

After the cross country meet in Berlin Saturday, Brian and I have gone on two great long bike rides. The weather has been fantastic, and we went to Hannover's Oktoberfest yesterday to check it out. So you have probably heard about Munich's Oktoberfest - a world famous party, lederhosen, sausage, beer by the liter, etc. Hannover's Oktoberfest is more like the county fair. There are a bunch of rides for kids, a ferris wheel, carnival games, etc. But they definitely do the beer and sausage there. We decided to try them, as a cultural experience of course. Then all of a sudden it was two liters later and most of the afternoon had gone by!
Here is some of the photo evidence:

Cross Country

I have been coaching the cross country team at Brian's school - the International School Hannover Region (ISHR) since the end of August.

When I say team and coaching, it means something a little different than in the U.S. We practice two days per week and the season lasts just five weeks. At the end there is one meet against other international schools from around Germany.  It's not just that way for cross country - even though soccer is a popular sport at the school, soccer teams only have one practice a week and go to about 4 tournaments, though their season lasts longer.
German schools don't have sports teams at all. Any kids who are into athletics join a club and play there. That makes it hard for sports at ISHR to grow much - they would need to have more parents who believe that kids should play sports at school.

The cross country team is technically for 5th - 12th grade but all of the kids that we took to the meet are 5th - 8th graders. We met up at 7am and got on a train to Berlin Spandau station (yes, like the 80s band Spandau Ballet). The Berlin British School hosted on their fantastic woodsy campus that looks more like a fancy summer camp than a school. We competed against the 3 Berlin area schools, plus international schools from Dresden, Frankfurt, Bavaria, Stuttgart and a couple of others. All the other teams besides Hannover and the local schools came in the night before. The kids stay overnight with families of athletes of the host team. They usually go in pairs or groups, and the coaches stay in hotels. There are a ton of logistics about transportation and lodging and food... a lot of work to plan.

Anyway, our kids did pretty well. The under 14 girls (6th-8th grade) took 2nd place even though we were 1 runner short of having a full team. We had 2 5th place 5th graders as well. We got back home around 6pm, and the kids were really excited because Spandau station has a Dunkin Donuts. They stocked up and came home tired, sweaty, and full of sugar.