It is a lot colder in Hannover than in St Paul. The temperature is around -8 right now, which sounds really cold until I realize that's in Celsius. (Just like I think for a minute I've lost tons of weight, until I realize it's in kilograms). In Farenheit it's something like 16 or 17 degrees. At least the sun is shining.
The high today back home is 41. This is not what I signed up for! I was planning on very mild winters here and very cold and snowy winters back home so I could gloat a little.
Winter is different when you don't have a car. We have to be out in it whether we want to or not, because anywhere we go is on foot or by bike or at least walking to a train or a bus. There's no mad dash to the garage and flipping on the heated seats in the car (Ok, I miss those a little. My bike seat is definitely not heated).
Even though I do miss snow, getting around on the bike is significantly easier when the sidewalks are dry. So I don't really resent this cold snap. There's sunshine in the living room, and I even enjoyed pulling out my warmest hat and my ski gloves. I just resent that it's not cold everywhere else, so we could all be in it together, right? Somehow I think everyone in the Twin Cities disagrees with me right now.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Sporthalle, the Metronom, and Bison Grass
We had a great weekend.
On Friday, Brian and I headed up to Hamburg to see The Black Keys in concert. We went with Sonja and stayed with her, since Tom was in Sweden and missed out on the fun. Is this a concert I would have gone to in the Twin Cities? Probably I would have heard about it and said to myself, "that sounds like a great show, I should look into getting tickets," but would not have actually done it. Since they are in touring in Germany, though, I was somehow more motivated. The concert was at the Sporthalle, which is a sports arena but not a huge one. (Minnesotans, picture the Roy Wilkins auditorium. It's about that size). The show was loud, there was dancing, and all of Hamburg's aspiring hipsters were in attendance. It was a lot of fun.
When I say we headed to Hamburg, I mean that we took the train. I love travelling by train. To get to Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, or anywhere else in the state of Niedersachsen, you can buy a Niedersachsen ticket. For two people, it's 25 euros and you can ride for the whole day on public transportation and the regional trains, which are called the Metronom. As it's name might suggest, the Metronom is not any sort of bullet train. It makes a lot of stops but gets you where you need to go. The other trains are the S bahn, which is the local commuter train, then there is the IC inter-city train, and the ICE inter-city express. I grew up taking commuter trains into Chicago from home, and in St Paul, we could hear the freight trains roll past and make our furniture vibrate a little every day. But the trains in Germany are a little different. There are tons of them, they go everywhere, and they are almost always on time. It's so civilized too - no taking your shoes off, no security lines, no arriving an hour early and getting bumped from your seat because Lufthansa says you didn't pay enough for your ticket (not that that has happened to me...). You just show up and hop on. You don't need to bring a map or worry about how to get there.
We came back from Hamburg on Saturday and got ready for Polish night at my friend Kaska's house. Kaska is actually from Poland and last week she actually spent 6 hours making something like120 pierogis. There was beet soup with dumplings, the pierogi, and of course the vodka. There were three flavors but the best one was called Bison Grass. It had a long blade of grass in it, sort of like the worm in tequila but not as gross. I didn't know that European buffalo existed, but Kaska and Wikipedia have taught me that they do. And apparently you can make vodka out of the grass they eat.
So it was a really fun weekend. Sometimes I am shocked that we have a social life here. I figured that would happen eventually but would take a lot longer. I was emotionally prepared for it to be just me and Brian hanging out on our own for a while. It's not that we know more people here than in St Paul, but the people we know are more available, they want to go out more, and they don't have as many other commitments. It's not that Germans are that way. The only actual Germans we are friends with are significant others of our expat friends. I think part of it is that no one we know here has their parents and cousins and siblings around, or their best friends from third grade, and they all want to put an effort into making it fun to live here.
Today it's Monday and I am back to general housewifery. I've already done as much substitute teaching as I'm allowed to for this month, and there is cleaning and studying German and grocery shopping to do. And I should probably follow up on that complaint letter I sent to Lufthansa.
On Friday, Brian and I headed up to Hamburg to see The Black Keys in concert. We went with Sonja and stayed with her, since Tom was in Sweden and missed out on the fun. Is this a concert I would have gone to in the Twin Cities? Probably I would have heard about it and said to myself, "that sounds like a great show, I should look into getting tickets," but would not have actually done it. Since they are in touring in Germany, though, I was somehow more motivated. The concert was at the Sporthalle, which is a sports arena but not a huge one. (Minnesotans, picture the Roy Wilkins auditorium. It's about that size). The show was loud, there was dancing, and all of Hamburg's aspiring hipsters were in attendance. It was a lot of fun.
When I say we headed to Hamburg, I mean that we took the train. I love travelling by train. To get to Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, or anywhere else in the state of Niedersachsen, you can buy a Niedersachsen ticket. For two people, it's 25 euros and you can ride for the whole day on public transportation and the regional trains, which are called the Metronom. As it's name might suggest, the Metronom is not any sort of bullet train. It makes a lot of stops but gets you where you need to go. The other trains are the S bahn, which is the local commuter train, then there is the IC inter-city train, and the ICE inter-city express. I grew up taking commuter trains into Chicago from home, and in St Paul, we could hear the freight trains roll past and make our furniture vibrate a little every day. But the trains in Germany are a little different. There are tons of them, they go everywhere, and they are almost always on time. It's so civilized too - no taking your shoes off, no security lines, no arriving an hour early and getting bumped from your seat because Lufthansa says you didn't pay enough for your ticket (not that that has happened to me...). You just show up and hop on. You don't need to bring a map or worry about how to get there.
We came back from Hamburg on Saturday and got ready for Polish night at my friend Kaska's house. Kaska is actually from Poland and last week she actually spent 6 hours making something like120 pierogis. There was beet soup with dumplings, the pierogi, and of course the vodka. There were three flavors but the best one was called Bison Grass. It had a long blade of grass in it, sort of like the worm in tequila but not as gross. I didn't know that European buffalo existed, but Kaska and Wikipedia have taught me that they do. And apparently you can make vodka out of the grass they eat.
So it was a really fun weekend. Sometimes I am shocked that we have a social life here. I figured that would happen eventually but would take a lot longer. I was emotionally prepared for it to be just me and Brian hanging out on our own for a while. It's not that we know more people here than in St Paul, but the people we know are more available, they want to go out more, and they don't have as many other commitments. It's not that Germans are that way. The only actual Germans we are friends with are significant others of our expat friends. I think part of it is that no one we know here has their parents and cousins and siblings around, or their best friends from third grade, and they all want to put an effort into making it fun to live here.
Today it's Monday and I am back to general housewifery. I've already done as much substitute teaching as I'm allowed to for this month, and there is cleaning and studying German and grocery shopping to do. And I should probably follow up on that complaint letter I sent to Lufthansa.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The dentist
I decided it was time to see a dentist here. There wasn't anything wrong, really, but I'm a regular twice a year visitor and I was a little overdue.
The word for dentist in German is Zahnarzt, which literally translated means "tooth doctor." One of the things I like about the German language is that it can be so very logical. An electric tea kettle is a Wasserkocher, a "water cooker." A refrigerator is a Kuhlschrank, or "cold cabinet". These things make a lot of sense. Then there's my personal favorite, the word for glove is Handschuh - you guessed it, "hand shoe".
So I asked a couple of people at the International School for a referral to an English-speaking Zahnarzt and I got a couple of names. I decided that I would go with the first one that had a receptionist who could talk to me on the phone in English. This was Tuesday at about 3pm. I called and all of a sudden had an appointment for Wednesday at 9am. The next day? What sort of an operation was this? I am used to waiting weeks if not months to see a tooth doctor.
When I went to the dental clinic in the morning I learned an important lesson. If you try and speak German with a German, they will likely continue talking to you in German. I guess this makes sense, but in my mind I wanted to show them I knew a little and then have them all switch to English after a few minutes. It didn't quite happen that way. The dental assistant and the dentist talked to me mostly in German and, to my surprise, I mostly understood them. It's not like we were conversing fluently - they were really patient and repeated themselves a lot and I listened more than I spoke - but I did ok. The dentist did switch to English when he was going over my X rays and when I looked extra confused.
As for the dental work itself, that went fine. All they really did was look at my teeth and X ray them. Then they told me I needed two more appointments - one to touch up some fillings, which was covered by insurance, and one for a cleaning, which was not covered and would cost 110 euros. What? not covered? 110 euros? What if I went to another dentist?, I asked the dental assistant (not that eloquently). That wouldn't matter, she told me, it's not covered. I was so overwhelmed trying to process the language and the insurance coverage and the fact that my mouth had just been inspected so I just did as I was told and signed up for the appointments.
I was still puzzled by the whole issue. It made no sense to me that they would pay for the restorative work but not the preventive work. I know a thing or two about health insurance in the US, and how coverage sometimes makes no sense. So it didn't seem impossible that German insurance would be the same way. But I also wasn't sure that I'd heard correctly. I did a little research online and it appeared that yes, German insurance does not cover dental cleanings. It doesn't matter which dentist you go to or which insurance provider you have.
I told Brian who asked a few of his coworkers about it. It turns out that everyone has a tooth doctor, and everyone has to pay for cleanings, which range in price and there's some sort of a card that you get punched every time like at the coffee shop or the car wash. Brian decided it was all a racket and I should have no part of it. Of course, he is the one who gets a checkup once every three years and the dentist tells him to drink all the soda he wants and come back in another three. I am not so lucky. I always have some area that's being "watched," like they are spying on my teeth.
I recognize that Americans are a little extreme about their dental hygeine compared to people from other parts of the world. Is every six months a little too often for a cleaning? I mean, maybe it's not the insurance policy that has the wrong standards, maybe it's me. I'm a good flosser, and I brush my teeth more than most people. Plus, 110 euros is a lot of money. So I decided that I will wait for a cleaning until the fall or winter. I called and cancelled that part of the appointment, but I'll still do the filling touch-up. That seems more important anyway, and is free.
So my first experience with the German health care system actually went pretty well, now that I think about it. I got there, I mostly got what I came for, and I mostly communicated. And the place was alright. They were nice and saw me on time. The clinic was clean and new-looking. The tooth doctor even wore hand shoes.
The word for dentist in German is Zahnarzt, which literally translated means "tooth doctor." One of the things I like about the German language is that it can be so very logical. An electric tea kettle is a Wasserkocher, a "water cooker." A refrigerator is a Kuhlschrank, or "cold cabinet". These things make a lot of sense. Then there's my personal favorite, the word for glove is Handschuh - you guessed it, "hand shoe".
So I asked a couple of people at the International School for a referral to an English-speaking Zahnarzt and I got a couple of names. I decided that I would go with the first one that had a receptionist who could talk to me on the phone in English. This was Tuesday at about 3pm. I called and all of a sudden had an appointment for Wednesday at 9am. The next day? What sort of an operation was this? I am used to waiting weeks if not months to see a tooth doctor.
When I went to the dental clinic in the morning I learned an important lesson. If you try and speak German with a German, they will likely continue talking to you in German. I guess this makes sense, but in my mind I wanted to show them I knew a little and then have them all switch to English after a few minutes. It didn't quite happen that way. The dental assistant and the dentist talked to me mostly in German and, to my surprise, I mostly understood them. It's not like we were conversing fluently - they were really patient and repeated themselves a lot and I listened more than I spoke - but I did ok. The dentist did switch to English when he was going over my X rays and when I looked extra confused.
As for the dental work itself, that went fine. All they really did was look at my teeth and X ray them. Then they told me I needed two more appointments - one to touch up some fillings, which was covered by insurance, and one for a cleaning, which was not covered and would cost 110 euros. What? not covered? 110 euros? What if I went to another dentist?, I asked the dental assistant (not that eloquently). That wouldn't matter, she told me, it's not covered. I was so overwhelmed trying to process the language and the insurance coverage and the fact that my mouth had just been inspected so I just did as I was told and signed up for the appointments.
I was still puzzled by the whole issue. It made no sense to me that they would pay for the restorative work but not the preventive work. I know a thing or two about health insurance in the US, and how coverage sometimes makes no sense. So it didn't seem impossible that German insurance would be the same way. But I also wasn't sure that I'd heard correctly. I did a little research online and it appeared that yes, German insurance does not cover dental cleanings. It doesn't matter which dentist you go to or which insurance provider you have.
I told Brian who asked a few of his coworkers about it. It turns out that everyone has a tooth doctor, and everyone has to pay for cleanings, which range in price and there's some sort of a card that you get punched every time like at the coffee shop or the car wash. Brian decided it was all a racket and I should have no part of it. Of course, he is the one who gets a checkup once every three years and the dentist tells him to drink all the soda he wants and come back in another three. I am not so lucky. I always have some area that's being "watched," like they are spying on my teeth.
I recognize that Americans are a little extreme about their dental hygeine compared to people from other parts of the world. Is every six months a little too often for a cleaning? I mean, maybe it's not the insurance policy that has the wrong standards, maybe it's me. I'm a good flosser, and I brush my teeth more than most people. Plus, 110 euros is a lot of money. So I decided that I will wait for a cleaning until the fall or winter. I called and cancelled that part of the appointment, but I'll still do the filling touch-up. That seems more important anyway, and is free.
So my first experience with the German health care system actually went pretty well, now that I think about it. I got there, I mostly got what I came for, and I mostly communicated. And the place was alright. They were nice and saw me on time. The clinic was clean and new-looking. The tooth doctor even wore hand shoes.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The pool (das Schwimmbad)
There are only a few things that I feel pretty familiar with in Hannover, and one of them is the pool. (What are the others? I ask myself. I feel good about the grocery store, the ATM, and the tram. Everything else is still kind of iffy). I put my swimming stuff in the saddle bag on my bike and ride over to the pool, take out my 10 visit punch card, and make sure I have the 1 euro coin I need as a deposit for the locker. I know where the showers and the hair dryers are, and I have a pair of flip flops that I use only at the pool. It feels good to know what I'm doing.
I swim at the Stadionbad, which is the stadium pool, about two times a week. It's called that because it is right next to the stadium where Hannover 96, the professional soccer team, plays. The swimming pool is huge, Olympic size, has a lot of windows and two diving boards, and is the most chaotic place I've been in all of Germany.
Normally Germans have a lot of rules and go places in a very orderly way. They diligently wait for a green light when crossing the street. Their trains run on time. Bikes go on a designated part of the sidewalk. They have a lot of rules about a lot of things. But at the pool it's a free for all. I am used to nearly empty swimming pools with ropes between the lanes, and if more than one person swims in a lane, everyone stays to the right so they don't collide. At the Stadionbad there are tons of people and everyone swims where they feel like it. There are lanes painted on the floor of the pool, but they remind me a little of the lanes painted on the street in Cairo - purely decorative. Usually an old man is swimming a backstroke diagonally across the water and three women paddling along side by side and chatting. I have discovered that the late morning is the worst time to go. The average age of swimmers at that time is about 75 and if they see me coming toward them in the pool, they like to play chicken and keep coming straight (or diagonally) toward me. They have no fear, or are just oblivious. And because there are no lifeguards and Germans tend to just mind their own business, if someone wandering swimmer slammed into me and I started to drown, I'd be out of luck. It's a lot less crowded early in the morning, or early in the afternoon. That means less frustration for me and less risk of getting kicked in the head, or at least getting water up my nose.
The pool is also a good place to observe bathing suit fashion. You may think that German men wear speedos. Well, you're right. Not all German men wear them, but generally the older they are, the shorter and tighter the swimsuit becomes.
Is it odd that the least orderly place in all of Hannover is one of the places I feel most comfortable? Maybe not. Maybe the lack of rules makes it easier to for me to understand because there's less to learn. I may not know how to speak the language well, but I can dodge an old guy in a speedo.
I swim at the Stadionbad, which is the stadium pool, about two times a week. It's called that because it is right next to the stadium where Hannover 96, the professional soccer team, plays. The swimming pool is huge, Olympic size, has a lot of windows and two diving boards, and is the most chaotic place I've been in all of Germany.
Normally Germans have a lot of rules and go places in a very orderly way. They diligently wait for a green light when crossing the street. Their trains run on time. Bikes go on a designated part of the sidewalk. They have a lot of rules about a lot of things. But at the pool it's a free for all. I am used to nearly empty swimming pools with ropes between the lanes, and if more than one person swims in a lane, everyone stays to the right so they don't collide. At the Stadionbad there are tons of people and everyone swims where they feel like it. There are lanes painted on the floor of the pool, but they remind me a little of the lanes painted on the street in Cairo - purely decorative. Usually an old man is swimming a backstroke diagonally across the water and three women paddling along side by side and chatting. I have discovered that the late morning is the worst time to go. The average age of swimmers at that time is about 75 and if they see me coming toward them in the pool, they like to play chicken and keep coming straight (or diagonally) toward me. They have no fear, or are just oblivious. And because there are no lifeguards and Germans tend to just mind their own business, if someone wandering swimmer slammed into me and I started to drown, I'd be out of luck. It's a lot less crowded early in the morning, or early in the afternoon. That means less frustration for me and less risk of getting kicked in the head, or at least getting water up my nose.
The pool is also a good place to observe bathing suit fashion. You may think that German men wear speedos. Well, you're right. Not all German men wear them, but generally the older they are, the shorter and tighter the swimsuit becomes.
Is it odd that the least orderly place in all of Hannover is one of the places I feel most comfortable? Maybe not. Maybe the lack of rules makes it easier to for me to understand because there's less to learn. I may not know how to speak the language well, but I can dodge an old guy in a speedo.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Joey's Pizza
Last night we had Joey's Pizza. If you want a pizza delivered somewhere in Germany, you call Joey's. It's like the Papa John's of Germany. Well, actually it's not like Papa John's at all (read on to find out why) but they do deliver pizzas.
Joey's has a lot of unusual kinds of pizzas. Maybe they are normal for Germany but they seem unusual to us.
The Pizza Tigris is on special right now. It involves Asian style chicken, cucumbers, parsley, onions, tomatoes, and yogurt dressing.
You can also order the Pizza Crazy Dog, which features hot dog slices, pickles, ketchup, and onions.
Some ingredients that show up on a lot of Joey's pizzas are arugula, hollandaise sauce, and tuna.
If you are not in the mood for pickle pizza you can even choose your own toppings, but be careful.
If you want something with pepperoni, make sure to order pepperoni-salami, and if you want green peppers look for pepperoni. Asparagus and corn are available, but if you are feeling like Italian sausage, you're out of luck. The Germans have probably hundreds of kinds of wurst but you can't find a spicy Italian sausage anywhere. What you can do is order all sorts of different pork products like ham, bacon, salami, another kind of ham, etc. Germans are good at pork.
Lucky for me, you can order Joey's online and don't need to call. I figure in the next couple of months I will get up the nerve to call for a pizza or a taxi or something like that, but for now I prefer communicating online or in person. When you're on the phone there is no opportunity to point, gesture, or smile so that they don't get too annoyed with you. Plus, ordering online gives me a chance to translate words like Rindersteak-Streifen (beef strips).
When the pizza arrives - Joey's delivers on bikes and mopeds only - we put it in the oven for another 10 minutes. The crust will never be self-supporting, but at least we can make it a little crispier. And I need to get the pizza cutter out too because they don't cut the pizza for you.
There is actually a Pizza Hut in Hannover. We had their buffet once for dinner and neither of us could sleep all night. Our bodies are no longer used to that amount of grease and cheese and Pepsi and decided to protest with major belly aches. I guess if we stick with Joey's we'll feel healthier, especially if we order extra arugula and cucumber on the pizza.
If you want to check out Joey's yourself, here's the website: www.joeys.de
Joey's has a lot of unusual kinds of pizzas. Maybe they are normal for Germany but they seem unusual to us.
The Pizza Tigris is on special right now. It involves Asian style chicken, cucumbers, parsley, onions, tomatoes, and yogurt dressing.
You can also order the Pizza Crazy Dog, which features hot dog slices, pickles, ketchup, and onions.
Some ingredients that show up on a lot of Joey's pizzas are arugula, hollandaise sauce, and tuna.
If you are not in the mood for pickle pizza you can even choose your own toppings, but be careful.
If you want something with pepperoni, make sure to order pepperoni-salami, and if you want green peppers look for pepperoni. Asparagus and corn are available, but if you are feeling like Italian sausage, you're out of luck. The Germans have probably hundreds of kinds of wurst but you can't find a spicy Italian sausage anywhere. What you can do is order all sorts of different pork products like ham, bacon, salami, another kind of ham, etc. Germans are good at pork.
Lucky for me, you can order Joey's online and don't need to call. I figure in the next couple of months I will get up the nerve to call for a pizza or a taxi or something like that, but for now I prefer communicating online or in person. When you're on the phone there is no opportunity to point, gesture, or smile so that they don't get too annoyed with you. Plus, ordering online gives me a chance to translate words like Rindersteak-Streifen (beef strips).
When the pizza arrives - Joey's delivers on bikes and mopeds only - we put it in the oven for another 10 minutes. The crust will never be self-supporting, but at least we can make it a little crispier. And I need to get the pizza cutter out too because they don't cut the pizza for you.
There is actually a Pizza Hut in Hannover. We had their buffet once for dinner and neither of us could sleep all night. Our bodies are no longer used to that amount of grease and cheese and Pepsi and decided to protest with major belly aches. I guess if we stick with Joey's we'll feel healthier, especially if we order extra arugula and cucumber on the pizza.
If you want to check out Joey's yourself, here's the website: www.joeys.de
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Self-improvement
It has occured to me that being an expat in a small German city requires some new and improved skills. For a while I thought moving here would eventually make me smarter. Now I'm not so sure. But at least it might make me more well-rounded.
There are things I have gotten better at since we moved here, such as:
There are things I have gotten better at since we moved here, such as:
- Being humble. It takes you down a few notches when you realize you don't speak the language and don't really understand how things work. Like the time I wanted to order a beer and ended up with tonic water. Or the time Brian and I got on a train that was headed to Frankfurt instead of Hannover. Or when we speak with Germans who apologize that their English, one of the three or four languages they speak, is not impeccable. When you understand about 20% of what's going on, it's hard to have a big ego.
- Sense of direction. Since the streets change names every few blocks, and I can't pronounce them all anyway, I have stopped relying on street names and gotten better at knowing where I am. I just couldn't tell you how to get there.
- Cooking. I now have time to try more new recipes and to make dinners that take two hours to cook. I've also made more things from scratch just because the German stores don't sell them. I now make my own lemonade, salsa, and coffee cake. Since there's no cream of mushroom soup to cheat with, I've learned to make a roux. (I never knew what a roux was before. If you don't either, you don't need to admit it. Just Google it). My next endeavor will be making my own tortillas - I'll keep you posted on that one.
- Stair climbing. We live on the 5th floor. No elevator.
- Pack mule-ing. For example, yesterday I went to the grocery store and carried two full bags of groceries up the stairs. Then I went to the liquor store and carried home 18 beers and 2 bottles of wine in my backpack. I am not sure that pack mule-ing is a real word but I've gotten better at hauling around things I used to throw in the trunk of my car.
- Speaking German. It's coming slowly, but it's coming.
- Blogging? I'll leave that up to you.
And there are other skills that have gotten a little rusty for lack of use, like:
- Friendliness to strangers. It's true. In an effort to blend in with the Germans who don't make eye contact or speak to people they don't know, I've started to behave that way too. Today an elderly woman asked me to reach something on a high shelf in the grocery store and I wanted to hug her. I could go on a friendliness spree and smile and say 'guten tag' to everyone I see, but they would think I was crazy. It's possible that some of them might appreciate it and start speaking back to me. Then I'd really be in trouble.
- Driving. I haven't done it in five months. I'm sure I haven't totally forgotten but it'll be a little scary next time I'm behind the wheel.
- Being a boss. I used to be responsible for a lot of people. Now I'm just responsible for me and Brian, and a couple days a week I am also in charge of a room full of sixth graders. Since I am usually trying to be inconspicuous or really polite in public so that people forgive me for being foreign and clueless, I am very out of practice at telling adults what to do.
- Barbecuing. I've always used a gas grill, and used it pretty well. So when we bought our charcoal grill here I was a little over confident and I rushed it. In one of my first attempts I was responsible for some lighter fluid flavored chicken.
- Speaking Spanish. I am keeping up a little but not speaking as much as I used to. It's still there in my brain. It's just a little dusty and buried under the German somewhere.
So will living abroad make me a better, smarter, more cultured person? I am not sure. But if I need to figure out where I'm going, carry a bunch of stuff upstairs, and cook dinner when I get there I'll be set. Just as long as dinner is not on a charcoal grill.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Giulia comes to visit
I had a visitor this weekend!
For those of you who haven't met Giulia, she is a good friend I've known since our family lived in Belgium in 1996-1997. She lives in L.A. now but was home to Belgium for the holidays to see her family, and came over for a few days.
Brian was in Oslo all weekend for a baseball clinic. Oslo sounds like a magical city where everyone skis, people are beautiful, and you get free ice water at restaurants. Even though Hannover may be, as Brian said last night, "the most boring place in Europe," we managed to have a really good time. I used Giulia as an excuse to do the touristy things I hadn't yet done in Hannover, and to practice being a tour guide for future visitors. The sun was shining all weekend, which hasn't happened since probably October. We did the 'red thread' walking tour of the city. If you follow the red line painted on the sidewalk around town, it leads you to all the historical/cultural/notable places. I figured out that part of the wall in the school where my German classes are held is a tower from the 1400s that was part of the old city wall. We checked out the Opera House and the Rathaus and the oldest house in Hannover. We saw a lot of bad post-war architecture. Giulia almost got hit by a bus but learned that when the light says 'don't walk' here, they really mean it.
On Sunday we hosted a birthday brunch for my friend Kaska, and Giulia got to meet the Hausfrauen Klub. As you may recall, this is the group of friends that I hang out with here who are are recent arrivals. True to German tradition, we had a Sekt Frustuck, which is a brunch with a lot of prosecco. We concocted plans for the TV series about our lives in Germany, which Giulia has volunteered to produce. I told her there's plenty of material in this blog, as long as we make the plot a little more dramatic and make the actors a little more glamorous, it will be a hit! (I don't think the molasses episode will make the cut).
Then Giulia and I went to the Sprengel Museum to see some modern art.. I have not been a good museum-goer since we got here so at least I can check that one off my list.
There is something validating about an old friend visiting me here. It seems less like I am living in a parallel universe and more like this is a real place and a real lifestyle that someone from my previous world has witnessed. We also did enough chatting to get me through at least a week. So now she will return to Belgium and a few days later to California where it is much warmer and the people look more like the actors in our TV series should. Thankfully, Giulia did not get hit by a bus and will be leaving Germany in one piece.
For those of you who haven't met Giulia, she is a good friend I've known since our family lived in Belgium in 1996-1997. She lives in L.A. now but was home to Belgium for the holidays to see her family, and came over for a few days.
Brian was in Oslo all weekend for a baseball clinic. Oslo sounds like a magical city where everyone skis, people are beautiful, and you get free ice water at restaurants. Even though Hannover may be, as Brian said last night, "the most boring place in Europe," we managed to have a really good time. I used Giulia as an excuse to do the touristy things I hadn't yet done in Hannover, and to practice being a tour guide for future visitors. The sun was shining all weekend, which hasn't happened since probably October. We did the 'red thread' walking tour of the city. If you follow the red line painted on the sidewalk around town, it leads you to all the historical/cultural/notable places. I figured out that part of the wall in the school where my German classes are held is a tower from the 1400s that was part of the old city wall. We checked out the Opera House and the Rathaus and the oldest house in Hannover. We saw a lot of bad post-war architecture. Giulia almost got hit by a bus but learned that when the light says 'don't walk' here, they really mean it.
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| At the Opera House |
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| Aegidienkirch |
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| The river Leine |
On Sunday we hosted a birthday brunch for my friend Kaska, and Giulia got to meet the Hausfrauen Klub. As you may recall, this is the group of friends that I hang out with here who are are recent arrivals. True to German tradition, we had a Sekt Frustuck, which is a brunch with a lot of prosecco. We concocted plans for the TV series about our lives in Germany, which Giulia has volunteered to produce. I told her there's plenty of material in this blog, as long as we make the plot a little more dramatic and make the actors a little more glamorous, it will be a hit! (I don't think the molasses episode will make the cut).
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| Kaska, me, Renee, and Serena |
There is something validating about an old friend visiting me here. It seems less like I am living in a parallel universe and more like this is a real place and a real lifestyle that someone from my previous world has witnessed. We also did enough chatting to get me through at least a week. So now she will return to Belgium and a few days later to California where it is much warmer and the people look more like the actors in our TV series should. Thankfully, Giulia did not get hit by a bus and will be leaving Germany in one piece.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
das Kino - the movie theater
Brian and I went to see Sherlock Holmes on Tuesday night. It was a big deal for us because, even though there are 2 movie theaters in the middle of Hannover, almost all the movies they show are dubbed into German. Every couple of weeks they show an "original version" movie (i.e. in English) on a Tuesday night. I guess Germans are used to seeing dubbed movies but I think they are silly. It's like you have two actors on screen, you can't see one and you can't hear the other, and what they are supposed to be saying doesn't match up with how their mouths move.
This was only the second movie we'd seen and the first time we'd been t to the big multiplex theater. When I went to buy the tickets, the cashier asked me "pakett or loge". I must have stared at her blankly because she asked again. My thought process at that point was 'I need to choose one. I don't know what they are. It has something to do with seating. Pakett sounds like a package so I won't choose that one.' "Loge," I told her with great confidence. It turns out that we had assigned seats, and I had guessed well. Loge are all of the seats in the rear half of the theater. Pakett are the seats in the rows closest to the screen. Pakett might be cheaper, I am not sure.
Assigned seats at a movie theater are a good idea. Then you don't need ushers to help people find a place, no one leaves one empty seat in the middle of a row, and couples don't stand on the stairs arguing about where to sit. The Germans are very organized that way.
The other challenge: popcorn. It smelled like a movie theater in there. You could hear it popping. We hadn't eaten good salty popcorn for months (thank you to the family members who sent us kernels for Christmas. We will be doing a lot of popping at home). Germans have popcorn, but it's sweet. It's like kettle corn but not as good, and paired with a Coke it will make your teeth hurt. So Brian and I had the following conversation:
"We should get soda and popcorn"
"But what if it's sweet? They eat the sweet kind here"
"It smells salty"
"Ok maybe it is salty. But what if it's sweet, do you still want some?"
"No, I don't want any sweet popcorn"
"Then do you want anything else?"
"No. I eat popcorn and drink soda at the movies. I don't want anything else."
This went on for a while. I will let you guess who said what.
Finally we decided that I would ask. So I waited in line and formulated the question in my head to ask the boy at the concession stand whether the popcorn was sweet or salty. I did ok asking the question, but could not understand his answer, which he repeated about 3 times. So, feeling defeated, I just ordered a Coke. Then I noticed that there were two bins of popcorn and realized he was telling me that I could choose which kind I wanted. So I ordered a salty popcorn also. He did not make fun of me, for which I am grateful.
We enjoyed the movie. It wasn't as good as the first one but it was still a lot of fun to watch. Since our Coke had no ice in it, it was warm by the time we'd eaten half the popcorn, but our salt cravings were satisfied. And Sherlock Holmes was speaking, with his own mouth, in English. It was a successful outing.
This was only the second movie we'd seen and the first time we'd been t to the big multiplex theater. When I went to buy the tickets, the cashier asked me "pakett or loge". I must have stared at her blankly because she asked again. My thought process at that point was 'I need to choose one. I don't know what they are. It has something to do with seating. Pakett sounds like a package so I won't choose that one.' "Loge," I told her with great confidence. It turns out that we had assigned seats, and I had guessed well. Loge are all of the seats in the rear half of the theater. Pakett are the seats in the rows closest to the screen. Pakett might be cheaper, I am not sure.
Assigned seats at a movie theater are a good idea. Then you don't need ushers to help people find a place, no one leaves one empty seat in the middle of a row, and couples don't stand on the stairs arguing about where to sit. The Germans are very organized that way.
The other challenge: popcorn. It smelled like a movie theater in there. You could hear it popping. We hadn't eaten good salty popcorn for months (thank you to the family members who sent us kernels for Christmas. We will be doing a lot of popping at home). Germans have popcorn, but it's sweet. It's like kettle corn but not as good, and paired with a Coke it will make your teeth hurt. So Brian and I had the following conversation:
"We should get soda and popcorn"
"But what if it's sweet? They eat the sweet kind here"
"It smells salty"
"Ok maybe it is salty. But what if it's sweet, do you still want some?"
"No, I don't want any sweet popcorn"
"Then do you want anything else?"
"No. I eat popcorn and drink soda at the movies. I don't want anything else."
This went on for a while. I will let you guess who said what.
Finally we decided that I would ask. So I waited in line and formulated the question in my head to ask the boy at the concession stand whether the popcorn was sweet or salty. I did ok asking the question, but could not understand his answer, which he repeated about 3 times. So, feeling defeated, I just ordered a Coke. Then I noticed that there were two bins of popcorn and realized he was telling me that I could choose which kind I wanted. So I ordered a salty popcorn also. He did not make fun of me, for which I am grateful.
We enjoyed the movie. It wasn't as good as the first one but it was still a lot of fun to watch. Since our Coke had no ice in it, it was warm by the time we'd eaten half the popcorn, but our salt cravings were satisfied. And Sherlock Holmes was speaking, with his own mouth, in English. It was a successful outing.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Luxor
Just outside of Luxor, our cruise ship got stuck in the river.
During our last night on the ship we started moving really slowly, making turns and letting other ships pass by (I am sure there are nautical terms for all of those things, but I don't know them). Apparently the water level was low and there was only room for one ship at a time to go through the deepest channels. They knew where the deep parts were not because of some sophisticated radar equipment but because there were 2 guys in a boat with a long stick who were riding around and measuring. Their efforts did not pay off though, because we ran aground (that sounds sort of nautical) and churned up mud all night trying to get out. We got to abandon ship in the morning when a motor boat came to pick us up, while the ship waited for a tug boat rescue.
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| View from our ship shortly before we got stuck in the mud |
The day in Luxor was our most intense sight-seeing day. We started at the Valley of the Kings, and visited the tombs of three pharaohs. The setting was fantastic - huge white rocky hillsides overlooking the Nile and a clear blue sky overhead. The tombs have small plain doorways that lead to tunnels going downward into the hillside. All along the walls are carvings, still brightly painted, telling the story of the king's life and his plans for the afterlife. I guess they were pretty confident about those plans.
There are symbols for everything - the scarab beetle represents the morning, baboons represent the hours of the day, most of the gods are represented with the heads of different animals, and all over the walls is hieroglyphic writing to explain the story of what's going on in the pictures. Little side rooms open up along the passageway - they held the treasures that the pharaoh would take into the afterlife.
The Valley of the Kings is where King Tut's tomb is located. Because he was young, hadn't ruled for long, and his tomb was built in a hurry, it was forgotten by robbers and found intact by Howard Carter in the 1920s. We had already seen the contents of his tomb at the Egyptian Museum, and our guide said the tomb itself wasn't so impressive, so we decided not to go in. I guess we had already because Egypt snobs.
Then we saw the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It's a little more weathered than the other temples but set into a hillside with fantastic views. Here are some photos:
The last place we visited was Karnak Temple in Luxor. Karnak is really a complex of several temples and it is huge. It has a row of ram-headed sphinxes, a couple of obelisks, a room of massive pillars, a great hall and a lake. Take a look:
My thoughts on Egypt? It is an amazing place; the history is mind-blowing and the archaeology is beautiful. It makes you feel kind of small. The more I learn about religions, ancient and modern, the more I find they have in common with each other. The sunshine is wonderful and the ground is sandy. It's not a comfortable vacation because there's not a lot of middle ground between hiding in the tourist bubble and feeling completely foreign and wary of what's happening outside of it. The food's not great but they do a nice fresh mango juice and make some solid pita bread. I am happy that we got to experience it, and to share that experience with good friends.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
The revolution, tourism, and politics
There were not many tourists in Egypt, especially in Cairo. It didn't seem strange to us but when we walked right into the Egyptian Museum without waiting, and strolled through the six empty turnstiles at the entrance to the Citadel, we knew it wasn't normal. Our Nile cruise ship was out on the water for the first time in a month, and our tour guide Wael had not worked since October.
This is, of course, due to the revolution in January 2011. Tourists don't feel safe coming to Egypt and the country's economy is suffering because of it.
We got Wael talking about politics a couple of times during the trip. His opinion is that the ideals of the revolution were good but that nothing has been achieved since. The Muslim Brotherhood will take a majority after the elections are final, and some people are afraid of what that means. Wael said that the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't have a platform on any issues, but they prey on poor and uneducated people, promising them favors and money in exchange for votes. This isn't unique to Egypt at all, I think it happens in most democracies, at least for a while. Wael is also a Coptic Christian and has some pretty strong opinions on the Brotherhood and how they discriminate against the Coptic minority. Wael is frustrated with the government and the economy - he's thinking of emigrating to Canada.
We had our own brush with Egyptian politics as we were leaving the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Luxor. An entourage of about 10 guys in suits was walking into the temple area, and they stopped to talk with Wael. The entourage was with a Muslim Brotherhood politician from the Luxor area, and he wanted a photo op with some tourists to show that he supports tourism. We told them it was ok, and when they found out we were midwestern Americans (except for Sonja, but that was too complicated to explain), it was even better. The politician had just returned from a trip to Minneapolis and Chicago to speak with Muslims there. He was a smooth talker who explained how he supports not only tourism but a good relationship between Egypt and the U.S., and he wants Americans to know that it is safe to visit Egypt. He also told us that we can contact him if we have any concerns or if anyone hassled us during our trip. I thought about telling him that we'd been hassled by hundreds of guys selling camel rides and postcards and papyrus bookmarks, and could he please ask them all to back off, but decided not to.
No one really knows what will happen when the Muslim Brotherhood takes control of the Egyptian government, and whether things will be better or worse than under Mubarak. Maybe Westerners will start returning to Egypt soon. The people who make a living in the tourism industry can't do much but wait to find out.
This is, of course, due to the revolution in January 2011. Tourists don't feel safe coming to Egypt and the country's economy is suffering because of it.
We got Wael talking about politics a couple of times during the trip. His opinion is that the ideals of the revolution were good but that nothing has been achieved since. The Muslim Brotherhood will take a majority after the elections are final, and some people are afraid of what that means. Wael said that the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't have a platform on any issues, but they prey on poor and uneducated people, promising them favors and money in exchange for votes. This isn't unique to Egypt at all, I think it happens in most democracies, at least for a while. Wael is also a Coptic Christian and has some pretty strong opinions on the Brotherhood and how they discriminate against the Coptic minority. Wael is frustrated with the government and the economy - he's thinking of emigrating to Canada.
We had our own brush with Egyptian politics as we were leaving the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Luxor. An entourage of about 10 guys in suits was walking into the temple area, and they stopped to talk with Wael. The entourage was with a Muslim Brotherhood politician from the Luxor area, and he wanted a photo op with some tourists to show that he supports tourism. We told them it was ok, and when they found out we were midwestern Americans (except for Sonja, but that was too complicated to explain), it was even better. The politician had just returned from a trip to Minneapolis and Chicago to speak with Muslims there. He was a smooth talker who explained how he supports not only tourism but a good relationship between Egypt and the U.S., and he wants Americans to know that it is safe to visit Egypt. He also told us that we can contact him if we have any concerns or if anyone hassled us during our trip. I thought about telling him that we'd been hassled by hundreds of guys selling camel rides and postcards and papyrus bookmarks, and could he please ask them all to back off, but decided not to.
No one really knows what will happen when the Muslim Brotherhood takes control of the Egyptian government, and whether things will be better or worse than under Mubarak. Maybe Westerners will start returning to Egypt soon. The people who make a living in the tourism industry can't do much but wait to find out.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The cruise
The next part of our vacation was a 3 night, 4 day cruise down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor. This also marked the beginning of what I deemed the "shabby chic" portion of the trip. We stayed in a pretty fancy hotel in Cairo, and went with mid-priced accommodations the rest of the way. Our ship was somewhere between a luxury cruiser and a fishing boat. What we learned is that mid-priced in Egypt means that it was really fancy in the early 80s and hasn't really been updated since. It means a lot of wood paneling and mauve upholstery.
The best part of our cruise was that we had our own tour guide for our group of four. His name was Wael, though Dizzy and Brian decided to call him Bobby Abreu. I am pretty sure Wael didn't know that he looked just like an Angels player, but the nickname stuck. Wael taught us more than we could possibly remember about the ancient Egyptians, their beliefs, and their lifestyle. We also got him talking about Egyptian politics, religion, tourism, and he told us some jokes that lower Egyptians (from Cairo and the North) tell to make fun of upper Egyptians (from Luxor on South).
In Aswan we made a quick stop to look at the unfinished obelisk, the Aswan High Dam, and the Temple of Philae. Philae was really cool - it had been moved 300m from its original site because when the Aswan Dam went up, the temple was submerged under the Nile. It had graffiti in English, French, and Arabic from sailors who had passed by two and three hundred years ago. It's better for me to show you photos than try to describe any more.
Then we headed to the ship and checked out Aswan town in the evening. I almost paid $90 for a couple of necklaces because I thought they cost $9. Those decimal points are tricky, so I'm glad Brian had the money that day. The ship stayed docked in Aswan the first night as the other travellers arrived. There were a few big family groups of Spaniards, a bunch of Romanians, a couple of Germans, two Americans, and some Egyptians also. We spent much of the cruise on the rooftop sundeck, watching the other passengers and the riverbanks go by.
The middle two days were spent mostly cruising down the river, with a stop at the Temple of Kom Ombo and the Temple of Edfu. Here are some photos:
On New Years Eve, the ship put on a fancier dinner for everyone, followed by a dance party in the bar area. Just picture this - chain smoking Romanians in sequin mini dresses and fake hair, hippie-looking Spaniards in family groups, a crackling PA system playing Arabic music, and some awkward attempts at belly dancing. Then a few dance songs is Spanish come on (and off, because the PA keeps cutting out) and a conga line breaks out and snakes its way around the room. It was memorable.
On the last evening, when we were almost to Luxor, we got stuck. Apparently the water was low and all of the ships were trying to navigate around sandbars. We didn't do so well. All night the ship's motors were growling, trying to get us back into deeper water, but with no success. Luckily, our guide arranged for us to get on a motorboat in the morning that would take us into Luxor. Just as we pulled away in the motorboat, a tug was coming in to rescue the ship. The Spaniards were on the motorboat too, but the Romanians were still chain smoking, indoors, and we were happy to leave them.
The best part of our cruise was that we had our own tour guide for our group of four. His name was Wael, though Dizzy and Brian decided to call him Bobby Abreu. I am pretty sure Wael didn't know that he looked just like an Angels player, but the nickname stuck. Wael taught us more than we could possibly remember about the ancient Egyptians, their beliefs, and their lifestyle. We also got him talking about Egyptian politics, religion, tourism, and he told us some jokes that lower Egyptians (from Cairo and the North) tell to make fun of upper Egyptians (from Luxor on South).
In Aswan we made a quick stop to look at the unfinished obelisk, the Aswan High Dam, and the Temple of Philae. Philae was really cool - it had been moved 300m from its original site because when the Aswan Dam went up, the temple was submerged under the Nile. It had graffiti in English, French, and Arabic from sailors who had passed by two and three hundred years ago. It's better for me to show you photos than try to describe any more.
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| Aswan |
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| At Lake Nasser, by the Aswan High Dam |
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| Philae Temple |
Then we headed to the ship and checked out Aswan town in the evening. I almost paid $90 for a couple of necklaces because I thought they cost $9. Those decimal points are tricky, so I'm glad Brian had the money that day. The ship stayed docked in Aswan the first night as the other travellers arrived. There were a few big family groups of Spaniards, a bunch of Romanians, a couple of Germans, two Americans, and some Egyptians also. We spent much of the cruise on the rooftop sundeck, watching the other passengers and the riverbanks go by.
The middle two days were spent mostly cruising down the river, with a stop at the Temple of Kom Ombo and the Temple of Edfu. Here are some photos:
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| Kom Ombo Temple |
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| Edfu Temple |
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| On the ship at the Esna locks |
Cairo
The four of us (Brian, me, Tom/Dizzy, and Sonja) are pretty well-travelled and we have seen plenty of traffic and some driving. We had never seen anything like Cairo. There are something like 16 or 18 million people in Cairo and about 3 stoplights. The cars make their own lanes - 4 or 5 cars across - because there aren't any painted on the street. We drove in some places where you could see there had been lines at one time that were actually painted over in black when the authorities just gave up. We saw some crosswalks too, but they might have just been for decoration. It was the most impressive traffic I've ever seen. The drivers have an elaborate system of honking and flashing their headlights to signal to other cars - what they are signalling I have no idea. It all felt like a video game to me, except at least in video games the drivers have seat belts. I am just glad we didn't rent a car.
We visited Giza to see the famous pyramids and the Sphinx on our first day in Cairo. They were exciting to see because we'd looked at pictures of them our whole lives, but they were actually not nearly as interesting as the other places - temples, tombs, etc - that we visited later on. They were massive, and right in the middle of the city. Each marks a royal tomb, though the tombs of the thousands of pyramid builders are buried on the site too.
The big mistake we made on day one was getting roped into a tour at Giza by a guy who said he was an official tour guide. The guidebooks all warn you about people trying to hassle you and sell you things, but it's easy to ignore that until you are there and the difference between who is official and who is not, and what's a good deal and what's not, isn't so clear. Being there in a group of four requires everyone to be thinking the same way or the people selling tours and souvenir junk will sense your indecision and talk you into something. So this guy led us around and did show us some things but didn't have any information you couldn't easily read somewhere. Even as we walked around with him, we were turning down camel rides and horse rides and papyrus bookmarks at every turn. After paying too much for the fake guide we wandered around Sphinx and took in the hugeness of the pyramids. The Sphinx watches over the pyramids and looks kind of small in comparison.
On our second day we walked to the Egyptian museum. Walking was a very intentional group decision, not because the museum was far from our hotel, but because we knew we'd have to cross the street in crazy traffic, that Sonja and I would attract all kinds of male attention, and that various taxi drivers and souvenir hawkers would try to sell us something. In Cairo we didn't want to stay in a tourist bubble but felt a little vulnerable outside of the hotel and the main sights. This wasn't just because we looked different and didn't speak the language, but because there's a system at work that we didn't understand. We weren't sure when it was ok to walk into the street in front of a car and expect it to stop. We didn't know whether the people who talked to on the street were being friendly or trying to get us to buy something. A cab driver told us that he's also a teacher - is he really or did he know that this would make us give him a bigger tip? Even though Cairo appeared chaotic at first, I knew it really wasn't. How else could so many millions of people live so close together?
Walking, despite our fears of crossing the street, was actually a great idea. We saw all kinds of things that you couldn't spot from a taxi window. There were tea shops where men sat and chatted while they smoked a water pipe, there were guys repairing broken down cars in the middle of the street, there were people selling fruit off of donkey carts and fancy cars with tinted windows trying to drive around them. There were women in Cairo whose head scarves had sequins and ruffles, and men who linked arms as they walked.
The Egyptian museum has the contents of King Tut's tomb, thousands of statues and carvings, mummies, and incredible amounts of ancient artifacts. Its enough to be completely overwhelming and fascinating at once. It also makes you think that our perception of time is off somehow. There were three thousand year old pieces of art close enough for me to breathe on, and it seemed somehow normal. The colors painted on the coffins were still vibrant and the jewelry on display was just like something you'd wear now.
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| Tahrir Square with the Egyptian Museum in the background |
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| Muhammed Ali Mosque |
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| View from the Citadel |
We were ready to leave the smog and traffic of Cairo for Aswan, and the start of our Nile Cruise.
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About Me
- Julia
- Thanks for coming to my blog. It started as a way to keep in touch with family and friends, and now has become an ongoing project. I'm an American living in Germany and trying to travel whenever I can. I write about my experiences as an expatriate (the interesting ones and the embarrassing ones), and about my travels. There are some recurring characters in this blog, particularly my husband Brian and several of our friends. The title comes from the idea that living in a foreign country means making a lot of mistakes. So the things you used to do easily you now have to try over and over again. Hopefully, like me, you can laugh at how idiotic it feels. If you have happened upon my blog, then welcome. Knowing that people are reading what I write makes me keep going. Feel free to write comments or suggestions for future posts.