The past several days have been interesting.
Yesterday, while walking the dog, I saw my first German woodpecker. It was solid black except for a streak of red on its head, and shock white bill and eyes. It was BIG too. Then, at night, there were three fireflies flitting about in our backyard terrace. I was beginning to think that even though we live a little in the sticks, we might not see any. Yay!
I had my full endocrinologist checkup today which was quite different than what I have experienced in the states. The did an ultrasound to check my internal organs, and electrocardiogram (5 minutes to set up for a 3 second reading...I'm guessing something's not right here), blood work, pee-in-a-cup work, and some crazy sound-amplifier wand to check my circulation in my feet. I guess I review the result in a month, but I did learn something about myself. I apparently have a double or "duplex" kidney. In my case, it's inconsequential because I have only one ureter and will pose no adversity to my health.
I'm slowly learning that I am indeed a mutant: I have a much higher than normal metabolism, I have Carabelli cusps on two of my second molars and one of my third molars, and now have two and a half or three kidneys (depending upon how you look at it). Clearly, my mutant ability is having extra parts in advance for when I face off with Magneto.
On a different note, we got a new couch! It's BIG. So big in fact that we will have to reorganize the living room a little bit, but we can now both lay on the couch comfortably and simultaneously. A big plus for both of us. I will post pictures tomorrow.
Finally, I went to the Air Force library here and found a copy of a book I did not expect...The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archives. I will also post a picture of it tomorrow. If you are a spy book fan, and want to read about actual spies during the cold war from a Russian librarian defector, I highly highly recommend it. Be warned: it is very dense reading. I personally am excited because I started this book several years ago, but couldn't get past the first 100 pages. Now, I aim for a rematch.
Speaking of books, I'm almost done with Clash of Kings. The non-readers out there may be more familiar with it at Game of Thrones: Season 2. While the series sticks relatively close to the book, there are some significant differences for the purposes of brevity and added sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I'm a fan of both the books and the TV Series, although I would say I like the books just a tiny bit better in terms of plot and character development.
One last item. J's sister JJ recommended Brotherhood 2.0 from YouTube to us. Very addictive and inspiring. While I doubt I could be as entertaining as they are, I'm tempted to try the idea some time.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
First Volkmarch!
Ok. Yesterday was definitely full of surprises.
Yesterday, J and I went to our first Volksmarch. Just getting there was an adventure.
We left our house only to realize that there was a major detour right outside our village only for that day. During the detour, which took us through a lot of side roads and small towns, we called ahead and were given the address to the Volksmarch location, since we were unable to meet up with the caravan on time. While on detour, we kept having to double back because our Garmin kept redirecting us toward the only major road...which was under construction. Forced to improvise, we went to a town we knew would get us to the autobahn away from the construction. Enroute, we also got stalled by...among all things...a cattle crossing! We never see cows around here, so we don't know where they came from. Even the locals in the town were in the street watching.
We finally got there on time, amazingly. The Volksmarch seems to be assembled by the locals of the town with a few "representatives" of the "IVV." It stands for Internationaler Volksportverband. As part of the whole spiel, one can get a card that the hosts can then stamp as evidence that you walked around one of the routes. Interestingly, the man who gave us our cards was American, but insisted that Volksmarching is a sport and droned at us for 10 minutes about how it is a serious sport.
Personally, I was irked by that notion. One, there is no competition to Volksmarching as there is no possible winner and there is no judge or referee. Two, the only recognition you get is a badge after x amount of kilometers marched. I effectively consider Volkmarching equivalent to people camping. People do it because they like to. They don't compete against people so much as it's just to say that you did it. And beyond that, people ultimately do it because it's fun, not because they want to say that it's a sport. Others may disagree with me on this one, but until they do, I consider my generalization on the money :)
The Volkmarch itself was nice. It was effectively a hike around the hosting village and through the surrounding farmland. Very pretty. Gorgeous day too. At stops along the way, locals offered drinks for very low charge (1 euro for a bottle of beer, free iced tea, 1 euro for a sandwich, etc.) and free water for dogs. We did indeed bring Etsy along, but unlike our friends' dogs, we kept her on a leash. We also saw a couple of remote controlled airplanes take off and fly around along the way. The hosting town also had a house someone built with a lowering drawbridge and moat with large fish in it! It was pretty impressive.
Of the presented distance options of 5km, 10km, and 20km, we walked 11km (the 10km route), which was a breeze for all of us. We chatted with the friends of J's co-worker who invited us along. We also had beef in horseradish sauce and a HUGE brat with fries in curry sauce once we arrived back at the town house. J and I also shared a cake. Again, all of this was made by the locals and was inexpensive.
We are invited to the next Volksmarch J's co-worker is coordinating. We may go, depending upon what other craziness may pop up in our schedule. It was worth going to for certain.
Once we got back, through the detour again, we took a wrong turn and tried to go through our village's "downtown" area only to be blocked by a "Baumarkt." Likewise, this was only going on this day. We had to actually leave the village in order to get around it to get home. We decided to check out the Baumarkt anyway. They were selling cheeses, herbs, belts, hats, wallets, bread, jewelry, watches, baskets, and a few other knick-knacky things. There was also food and drink in the town hall. We saw a band leaving, of which we were sad to see that we had missed the music. We decided to buy some cheese, and ended up buying 1.5 kg on accident (3.5 pounds). We didn't realize we were going to be buying that much, but we had some samples so we know that we already like it. We then made dinner, ate dinner, and crashed for the night :)
Today, among other things, we made Sweet and Spicy Chicken and Mushrooms Florentine. Good stuff! We're presently figuring out where we will travel on our next four day weekend. Our new couch is coming in tomorrow, which is good because we have to return the bulk of the loaner furniture the Army provided. This loaner couch can leave you in aches after sitting in it for a while. No complaints though. Can't argue with free. We also have an invitation for a Fourth of July Fireworks display. This will truly be interesting considering we are in Germany.
Yesterday, J and I went to our first Volksmarch. Just getting there was an adventure.
We left our house only to realize that there was a major detour right outside our village only for that day. During the detour, which took us through a lot of side roads and small towns, we called ahead and were given the address to the Volksmarch location, since we were unable to meet up with the caravan on time. While on detour, we kept having to double back because our Garmin kept redirecting us toward the only major road...which was under construction. Forced to improvise, we went to a town we knew would get us to the autobahn away from the construction. Enroute, we also got stalled by...among all things...a cattle crossing! We never see cows around here, so we don't know where they came from. Even the locals in the town were in the street watching.
We finally got there on time, amazingly. The Volksmarch seems to be assembled by the locals of the town with a few "representatives" of the "IVV." It stands for Internationaler Volksportverband. As part of the whole spiel, one can get a card that the hosts can then stamp as evidence that you walked around one of the routes. Interestingly, the man who gave us our cards was American, but insisted that Volksmarching is a sport and droned at us for 10 minutes about how it is a serious sport.
Personally, I was irked by that notion. One, there is no competition to Volksmarching as there is no possible winner and there is no judge or referee. Two, the only recognition you get is a badge after x amount of kilometers marched. I effectively consider Volkmarching equivalent to people camping. People do it because they like to. They don't compete against people so much as it's just to say that you did it. And beyond that, people ultimately do it because it's fun, not because they want to say that it's a sport. Others may disagree with me on this one, but until they do, I consider my generalization on the money :)
The Volkmarch itself was nice. It was effectively a hike around the hosting village and through the surrounding farmland. Very pretty. Gorgeous day too. At stops along the way, locals offered drinks for very low charge (1 euro for a bottle of beer, free iced tea, 1 euro for a sandwich, etc.) and free water for dogs. We did indeed bring Etsy along, but unlike our friends' dogs, we kept her on a leash. We also saw a couple of remote controlled airplanes take off and fly around along the way. The hosting town also had a house someone built with a lowering drawbridge and moat with large fish in it! It was pretty impressive.
Of the presented distance options of 5km, 10km, and 20km, we walked 11km (the 10km route), which was a breeze for all of us. We chatted with the friends of J's co-worker who invited us along. We also had beef in horseradish sauce and a HUGE brat with fries in curry sauce once we arrived back at the town house. J and I also shared a cake. Again, all of this was made by the locals and was inexpensive.
We are invited to the next Volksmarch J's co-worker is coordinating. We may go, depending upon what other craziness may pop up in our schedule. It was worth going to for certain.
Once we got back, through the detour again, we took a wrong turn and tried to go through our village's "downtown" area only to be blocked by a "Baumarkt." Likewise, this was only going on this day. We had to actually leave the village in order to get around it to get home. We decided to check out the Baumarkt anyway. They were selling cheeses, herbs, belts, hats, wallets, bread, jewelry, watches, baskets, and a few other knick-knacky things. There was also food and drink in the town hall. We saw a band leaving, of which we were sad to see that we had missed the music. We decided to buy some cheese, and ended up buying 1.5 kg on accident (3.5 pounds). We didn't realize we were going to be buying that much, but we had some samples so we know that we already like it. We then made dinner, ate dinner, and crashed for the night :)
Today, among other things, we made Sweet and Spicy Chicken and Mushrooms Florentine. Good stuff! We're presently figuring out where we will travel on our next four day weekend. Our new couch is coming in tomorrow, which is good because we have to return the bulk of the loaner furniture the Army provided. This loaner couch can leave you in aches after sitting in it for a while. No complaints though. Can't argue with free. We also have an invitation for a Fourth of July Fireworks display. This will truly be interesting considering we are in Germany.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The day after the longest day of the year
I have chosen to attempt to wake up earlier in the day with the purpose of accomplishing more. It worked at least this time. The problem I always run into is the discipline to keep getting up early...early for me being 0500.
On my walk this morning with Etsy, we saw a HUGE fox, roughly 2/3's the size of Etsy! That means the fox would have been roughly 50 pounds! Even better, it was sauntering down one of the main trails from our right and didn't take off until Etsy started barking at it. Maybe next time I can give it a treat.
Yesterday, I felt a little more American because I bought a cheap grill and grilled some brats for dinner. I smelled like smoke for the rest of the night, the brats and potatoes tasted great, and I actually felt a little guilty because I was concerned that the Fire Department, one block from our house, would get mad at me because of a lack of a permit or something. I'm so used to needing papers or permission or taking into account something I normally wouldn't think about to do most things in Germany. That said, no one got mad at me, and the brats turned out well. The charcoal was a little interesting in that it smoked and steamed more than I'm used to experiencing.
In another small act of resurrecting old habits, we have filled a large storage bin with 120 liters of pflanzerde (pflanz = vegetable, erde = earth or dirt) and planted some potatoes and an onion that decided to sprout in our pantry. Admittedly a bit late in season, but it's better than throwing them away. If nothing else, we can leave them there for next spring. I'm honestly curious if we could have a regular amount of fresh potatoes. For those of you who know my love for gardening and experimenting, this could be a bad thing...I might get carried away if this works.
I applied for more jobs today. I'm uplifted by the fact that a consistent number of technical jobs keep popping up that I qualify for. I'm bound to get one eventually. The wait is the killer...120 day wait from application to acceptance for government service jobs, that's even with overseas military spouse preference. I'm already looking into other ideas in the meantime. J and I have already come up with some options that I might be able to entertain. I'll update you if any of them materials. I don't want you stealing our ideas :)
We're slowly learning where some staple stores are. I shopped at Toom, the German equivalent of Menards yesterday. We've perused Mobel Martin, the German answer to IKEA (sorry, we like IKEA better in terms of style). We've also shopped at Globus and Real, both pretty similar to each other and roughly the equivalent to a Cub Foods that sells clothes or a Target that has over half of its wares dedicated to groceries. The key push for us to shop "on the economy" is that on-base wares are often imported, thus sometimes costing more. The major differences are that only half of the items sold are roughly the same, and each focuses on a different cultural and economic mindset. Example, if you recycle bottles and use a VAT (Value-Added Tax) form, buying soda and beer in large bulk at Globus or Real is less expensive than purchasing aluminum can 24 packs of soda. However, if you don't have a VAT form or recycle bottles, then it's cheaper on base. Produce also tends to be better on the economy because it's more fresh and more local, but the options are far more restricted than on base which has a lot of American and exotic fruits.
We are attending our first "Volksmarch" this weekend. I hope to take pictures and educate those interested:)
On my walk this morning with Etsy, we saw a HUGE fox, roughly 2/3's the size of Etsy! That means the fox would have been roughly 50 pounds! Even better, it was sauntering down one of the main trails from our right and didn't take off until Etsy started barking at it. Maybe next time I can give it a treat.
Yesterday, I felt a little more American because I bought a cheap grill and grilled some brats for dinner. I smelled like smoke for the rest of the night, the brats and potatoes tasted great, and I actually felt a little guilty because I was concerned that the Fire Department, one block from our house, would get mad at me because of a lack of a permit or something. I'm so used to needing papers or permission or taking into account something I normally wouldn't think about to do most things in Germany. That said, no one got mad at me, and the brats turned out well. The charcoal was a little interesting in that it smoked and steamed more than I'm used to experiencing.
In another small act of resurrecting old habits, we have filled a large storage bin with 120 liters of pflanzerde (pflanz = vegetable, erde = earth or dirt) and planted some potatoes and an onion that decided to sprout in our pantry. Admittedly a bit late in season, but it's better than throwing them away. If nothing else, we can leave them there for next spring. I'm honestly curious if we could have a regular amount of fresh potatoes. For those of you who know my love for gardening and experimenting, this could be a bad thing...I might get carried away if this works.
I applied for more jobs today. I'm uplifted by the fact that a consistent number of technical jobs keep popping up that I qualify for. I'm bound to get one eventually. The wait is the killer...120 day wait from application to acceptance for government service jobs, that's even with overseas military spouse preference. I'm already looking into other ideas in the meantime. J and I have already come up with some options that I might be able to entertain. I'll update you if any of them materials. I don't want you stealing our ideas :)
We're slowly learning where some staple stores are. I shopped at Toom, the German equivalent of Menards yesterday. We've perused Mobel Martin, the German answer to IKEA (sorry, we like IKEA better in terms of style). We've also shopped at Globus and Real, both pretty similar to each other and roughly the equivalent to a Cub Foods that sells clothes or a Target that has over half of its wares dedicated to groceries. The key push for us to shop "on the economy" is that on-base wares are often imported, thus sometimes costing more. The major differences are that only half of the items sold are roughly the same, and each focuses on a different cultural and economic mindset. Example, if you recycle bottles and use a VAT (Value-Added Tax) form, buying soda and beer in large bulk at Globus or Real is less expensive than purchasing aluminum can 24 packs of soda. However, if you don't have a VAT form or recycle bottles, then it's cheaper on base. Produce also tends to be better on the economy because it's more fresh and more local, but the options are far more restricted than on base which has a lot of American and exotic fruits.
We are attending our first "Volksmarch" this weekend. I hope to take pictures and educate those interested:)
Monday, June 18, 2012
Hail and Ulm
(More pictures coming soon!)
Oy! What a week!
Earlier this week, it hailed...again. Since my time here, it has hailed over five times where we live. I don't know if it's a Gulf Stream thing or what. Fortunately, it has always been only a millimeter or two in diameter, but back in Minnesota, it would be rare if it hailed twice in one year. In other nature news, the local hawks are not without sustenance. One out of every five hawks I see here have a mouse or other rodent in their claws. I'm very much looking forward to the Europe Bird Book that J and I got. I very much look forward to starting up my birdwatching again.
This past weekend was the four-day weekend for the month. We originally planned on visiting Munich, friends in Ulm, and a cheese festival in Bad Toelz, but too many house projects got in the way early on, so we trimmed it all down to visiting Ir and S in Ulm.
It was a great trip. I have known Ir since college, but we've only done long distance correspondence as she was only in the states for a year or two as part of a study abroad program. She married S soon after returning to Germany, and I visited them for a day or so as part of my trip to hike the highlands of Scotland. It was great to see both of them again, for them to meet J, and for J and I to finally meet Ir and S's children, So and Ph. Their children are absolutely darling!
First, we strolled along the Fluss Donau (Danube River) which divides Ulm into Ulm and Neu Ulm (New Ulm). Here, the Donau literally is the border of Bavaria, starting with Neu Ulm. It was a beautiful day for a walk. Ir and S gave us a tour of Altstadt (old city) Ulm.
Here are some of the sights we saw...
.JPG)
The crookedest inn in Europe (note how the windows don't align and the significant bend in the second floor)
.JPG)
The leaning tower from the old fortifications for Ulm (S and J pictured)
.JPG)
The recently rebuilt Ulm Rathaus
They took us out to lunch for a sampling of Swabian cuisine (the area in Germany is known as Swabia, very good food by the way), and while the children and the ladies went for Eis (ice cream) afterward, S humored my desire to climb all the way to the top of the Muenster, the tallest steeple in the world.
.JPG)
.JPG)
It's literally too big to take into one picture!
The cathedral in and of itself was very impressive. Not surprisingly, it took 500 years to complete and the only significant damage it has sustained is the loss of its original stained-glass windows due to World War II and nearly all of the interior paintings and statues which were removed when the Lutherans first took control of the church. The steeple took three very long spiral staircases to get to the top...768 steps and 161 meters tall...roughly 400 feet high! The extremely gothic exterior climb up made me feel like I was on the set of a horror movie at times. Once at the top of the second set of stairs (Stueffen), S and I needed to take a breather, only to be laughed at by some American tourists by how sweaty we were. Don't worry about safety. All tourists are either completely encased in stone, iron bars, or a combination of both the entire way. S joked about how it was Alcatraz relocated. I've attached some pictures in an attempt to show just how impressive the view and the cathedral were.
After S and I got our Eis, we all then toured the interior very briefly. Very impressive. With only the few remaining wall paintings on display, it makes one easily imagine how colorful and impressive the church was in it's heyday!
Ulm reminded me of Colmar in some ways, in how the rivers ran through the Altstadt in Ulm similarly but far more prettily than Colmar's canal system. Ulm used to be a great fishing city with a very large fortified wall by the river...some elements of it still remain. The rivers running through the fishing village were used much like they are now in Venice.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Some of you may have noticed the sparrow statue. Just like the Twin Cities in Minnesota have the Peanuts characters scattered around, Ulm has the sparrow, Kaiserslautern has the fish, and (at least) several years ago Zurich had a teddy bear. All are tied to local legends, and all are usually purchased from the city by local establishments.
J and I also got a brief tour of Ir's university offices and labs. Ir is part of setting up the Psycotherapy department for the genetic analysis of trauma in people. Her research has shown very direct correlations between certain genetic alleles and high numbers of trauma experiences in people. It really is neat to be able to see how Ir's professional career has skyrocketed in a very short time. I also learned that S actually helped Ir with some of her publications. I don't know many spouses that have worked on academic publications together. All told, she is working in almost a dozen rooms spread over two floors at her university. So cool!
On our way back home, J and I encountered more wildlife than usual...6 foxes, 1 mouse, and 1 deer! It was Wild Germany out there. Next on our list is to take a cue from J's sister S and see if by more tightly organizing our meals at home we can afford to take even more extravagant trips around Europe. Oslo, Copenhagen, Vienna, Spain, and Greece are in our sights before the year is out. We are going to make it all happen if we can!
Oy! What a week!
Earlier this week, it hailed...again. Since my time here, it has hailed over five times where we live. I don't know if it's a Gulf Stream thing or what. Fortunately, it has always been only a millimeter or two in diameter, but back in Minnesota, it would be rare if it hailed twice in one year. In other nature news, the local hawks are not without sustenance. One out of every five hawks I see here have a mouse or other rodent in their claws. I'm very much looking forward to the Europe Bird Book that J and I got. I very much look forward to starting up my birdwatching again.
This past weekend was the four-day weekend for the month. We originally planned on visiting Munich, friends in Ulm, and a cheese festival in Bad Toelz, but too many house projects got in the way early on, so we trimmed it all down to visiting Ir and S in Ulm.
It was a great trip. I have known Ir since college, but we've only done long distance correspondence as she was only in the states for a year or two as part of a study abroad program. She married S soon after returning to Germany, and I visited them for a day or so as part of my trip to hike the highlands of Scotland. It was great to see both of them again, for them to meet J, and for J and I to finally meet Ir and S's children, So and Ph. Their children are absolutely darling!
First, we strolled along the Fluss Donau (Danube River) which divides Ulm into Ulm and Neu Ulm (New Ulm). Here, the Donau literally is the border of Bavaria, starting with Neu Ulm. It was a beautiful day for a walk. Ir and S gave us a tour of Altstadt (old city) Ulm.
Here are some of the sights we saw...
.JPG)
The crookedest inn in Europe (note how the windows don't align and the significant bend in the second floor)
.JPG)
The leaning tower from the old fortifications for Ulm (S and J pictured)
.JPG)
The recently rebuilt Ulm Rathaus
They took us out to lunch for a sampling of Swabian cuisine (the area in Germany is known as Swabia, very good food by the way), and while the children and the ladies went for Eis (ice cream) afterward, S humored my desire to climb all the way to the top of the Muenster, the tallest steeple in the world.
.JPG)
.JPG)
The cathedral in and of itself was very impressive. Not surprisingly, it took 500 years to complete and the only significant damage it has sustained is the loss of its original stained-glass windows due to World War II and nearly all of the interior paintings and statues which were removed when the Lutherans first took control of the church. The steeple took three very long spiral staircases to get to the top...768 steps and 161 meters tall...roughly 400 feet high! The extremely gothic exterior climb up made me feel like I was on the set of a horror movie at times. Once at the top of the second set of stairs (Stueffen), S and I needed to take a breather, only to be laughed at by some American tourists by how sweaty we were. Don't worry about safety. All tourists are either completely encased in stone, iron bars, or a combination of both the entire way. S joked about how it was Alcatraz relocated. I've attached some pictures in an attempt to show just how impressive the view and the cathedral were.
After S and I got our Eis, we all then toured the interior very briefly. Very impressive. With only the few remaining wall paintings on display, it makes one easily imagine how colorful and impressive the church was in it's heyday!
Ulm reminded me of Colmar in some ways, in how the rivers ran through the Altstadt in Ulm similarly but far more prettily than Colmar's canal system. Ulm used to be a great fishing city with a very large fortified wall by the river...some elements of it still remain. The rivers running through the fishing village were used much like they are now in Venice.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Some of you may have noticed the sparrow statue. Just like the Twin Cities in Minnesota have the Peanuts characters scattered around, Ulm has the sparrow, Kaiserslautern has the fish, and (at least) several years ago Zurich had a teddy bear. All are tied to local legends, and all are usually purchased from the city by local establishments.
J and I also got a brief tour of Ir's university offices and labs. Ir is part of setting up the Psycotherapy department for the genetic analysis of trauma in people. Her research has shown very direct correlations between certain genetic alleles and high numbers of trauma experiences in people. It really is neat to be able to see how Ir's professional career has skyrocketed in a very short time. I also learned that S actually helped Ir with some of her publications. I don't know many spouses that have worked on academic publications together. All told, she is working in almost a dozen rooms spread over two floors at her university. So cool!
On our way back home, J and I encountered more wildlife than usual...6 foxes, 1 mouse, and 1 deer! It was Wild Germany out there. Next on our list is to take a cue from J's sister S and see if by more tightly organizing our meals at home we can afford to take even more extravagant trips around Europe. Oslo, Copenhagen, Vienna, Spain, and Greece are in our sights before the year is out. We are going to make it all happen if we can!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Burger in k-town
Wow! We found a diner in Kaiserslautern that really does a good job at the look of a 50's American diner. The menu is mostly in German, but the names of most of the plates are in English and some of the ingredients are in Spanish i.e. Chili con carne.
The food was crazy too! I got a 332g burger, which I figured to be 1/2 to 2/3 lb (I was really hungry and J was too after a morning lost to searching for flea markets). Yeah, it was much closer to a full pound burger, and was crazy good. We had their cheese fries which were also insanely good too. I had a shake for dessert which was lighter than I expected and J had a chocolate cake which was way more frosting than cake. Needless to say, we didn't finish the cake nor the fries that came with my burger, nor the wrap J ordered. She didn't like the sauce they put in it. In her defense, the tomatoes I had with my burger were so sweet it was almost like they were candied.
I know K-Borg would have loved the advertisement on all of the tables and the front door. I took a picture of it here.
In short, I was pleasantly surprised and would totally go again. It's amazing how you sometimes don't really know what the American culture is until you leave it for a while.
We later got home and watched at least 4 hours of NASA's Race to Space documentaries. Did you know that there is presently a conspiracy theory that while the astronauts launched into earth orbit they didn't land on the moon? While I personally don't believe it, one of the biggest pieces of evidence that I can't refute is that the landscape for multiple missions, when overlaid, are identical. Each mission was supposed to be in a completely different locations. Someday, I'm going to get a HUGE telescope and try to find the LEM landing gear on the face of the moon. Truly, the only way to prove it, yet no one seems to have tried it yet. I think I'll help R complete his observatory and that will be our first little viewing project.
That was all yesterday. Today, I played rec soccer with about 16 other service members and civilians with the army...for 3 hours. Any thoughts of my being out of shape are gone now. I kept up with all of them, was a bit quicker than most of them, but I loved how everyone consistently hustled, always had positive attitudes, were competitive but friendly...not out for blood or terribly aggressive, and played more zone positions rather than strict positions because it led to more dynamic play and more opportunities for everyone. Wow, I am way tired though. I think I'll rest for an hour or so. It is nice to be playing rec soccer again.
The food was crazy too! I got a 332g burger, which I figured to be 1/2 to 2/3 lb (I was really hungry and J was too after a morning lost to searching for flea markets). Yeah, it was much closer to a full pound burger, and was crazy good. We had their cheese fries which were also insanely good too. I had a shake for dessert which was lighter than I expected and J had a chocolate cake which was way more frosting than cake. Needless to say, we didn't finish the cake nor the fries that came with my burger, nor the wrap J ordered. She didn't like the sauce they put in it. In her defense, the tomatoes I had with my burger were so sweet it was almost like they were candied.
I know K-Borg would have loved the advertisement on all of the tables and the front door. I took a picture of it here.
In short, I was pleasantly surprised and would totally go again. It's amazing how you sometimes don't really know what the American culture is until you leave it for a while.
We later got home and watched at least 4 hours of NASA's Race to Space documentaries. Did you know that there is presently a conspiracy theory that while the astronauts launched into earth orbit they didn't land on the moon? While I personally don't believe it, one of the biggest pieces of evidence that I can't refute is that the landscape for multiple missions, when overlaid, are identical. Each mission was supposed to be in a completely different locations. Someday, I'm going to get a HUGE telescope and try to find the LEM landing gear on the face of the moon. Truly, the only way to prove it, yet no one seems to have tried it yet. I think I'll help R complete his observatory and that will be our first little viewing project.
That was all yesterday. Today, I played rec soccer with about 16 other service members and civilians with the army...for 3 hours. Any thoughts of my being out of shape are gone now. I kept up with all of them, was a bit quicker than most of them, but I loved how everyone consistently hustled, always had positive attitudes, were competitive but friendly...not out for blood or terribly aggressive, and played more zone positions rather than strict positions because it led to more dynamic play and more opportunities for everyone. Wow, I am way tired though. I think I'll rest for an hour or so. It is nice to be playing rec soccer again.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
D-Rock's Wedding
It has been a while since my last post because quite a bit has happened.
Upon returning from our Alsace Region four day weekend, I immediately started getting set for D-Rock's wedding which was the very next weekend (last weekend). His wife, K's, mother is German so they decided to have their town of Oldendorf host the wedding. One of the perks of this is that because weddings are so rare there, the entire town gets involved in celebrating the wedding.
It was a six hour drive to get there, as it was pretty much on the opposite side of Germany. Because of a lot of variables, J was unable to come along. I also couldn't make her take the drive after work where she would have to drive in the dark. I missed her the entire time.
The car I rented, a 2012 Hyundai i10, had by far the worst engine performance of any new car I have ever driven. The three items to support my case are as follows: the car literally could only go 0 to 60mph in 10 seconds, if it was even that short; with the pedal to the absolute floor, it would actually slow down going uphill; and the automatic transmission would only stay between 1500 and 4500 rpm (going 80mph required 4500rpms). This all said, it did appear to get amazing gas mileage. I am curious to know if the manual transmission drives better, but J said that her rental automatic VW Golf drove in a similar fashion. In Germany, these car designs should be considered road hazards. Everyone drives fast with fast reaction times. That Hyundai did not cut it.
Interestingly enough, the only two differences in environment between Kaiserslautern and Oldendorf were the completely flat terrain and the constant wind (as it is very near the North Sea). There were lots of windmills and cattle all around. The town itself was nicely set up and appeared to have a lot of new building constructed in the traditional German styling. In fact, one of the houses across from the hotel I stayed at, the Landhaus Lastrup, had an architecture firm sign on it.
The wedding was actually celebrated over 4 days. I could not attend the first two days, but was able to attend the ceremony, reception, and a bit of the gift opening. The ceremony started at K's uncle's farm, the rally point for the bulk of the four days. It was a sizeable farm in terms of buildings there. His house, he told me, was build in 1972. His backyard garden was very pretty. And on his barn, as on many large buildings in Oldendorf, had a very long inscription written on it. I took note of that as I thought of something like that last year, for when I have a plot of land that I would tend the rest of my life that I would consider very special. I took a picture of it as I have yet to take the time to translate it.
The entrance was decorated by the local townsfolk, as were most of the decorations for the entire wedding.
I met up with D-Rock and a good portion of the wedding party in the farmhouse. They took pictures in the backyard garden which was meticulously cared for. D-Rock and K had all of the wedding jitters and were both very excited for the day. When all had arrived about 45 minutes later, they let on horsedrawn carriage to the church.
The church, while seemingly newly constructed to my eye, was just as immense as the churches J and I saw in Alsace. This picture doesn't do the proportions much justice. The ceiling had to have been the equivalent of four stories high.
The ceremony was Catholic in basic form and in prayer and spoken or sung in German, but several elements were spoken or sung in English. It was a different experience for me in that I basically knew where we were in the Catholic service based upon previous experience, and I could pick up little things here and there being said, but as for the Americans sitting with me and for myself, we really didn't know much of what was being said. We did know, based upon body language and tone of voice, that D-Rock was being very well received and the entire town was thankful for D-Rock and K choosing to have the celebration done in Oldendorf. They openly and repeatedly recognized and appreciated that people were coming from America, England, Germany, and I'm quite sure other countries as well.
The reception was very nice with a large host of German traditions. We were greeted by accordion players:
The guestbook was a picture panel of the attendees making hearts with their thumbs and signing them.
The food was absolutely delicious. The best German food I have ever had in my life. We started with a soup that was K's personal request, a recipe of her grandmother's. Everyone at the table had at least two servings. I think I had three or four. Next, was the salad. Then was the main course: a large vegetable platter of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, spargel (white asparagus), brussel sprouts, carrots, potatoes, green beans, and a few more items; and a large meat platter of duck, pork, rolled up beef, and lamb. Dessert consisted of large scoops of vanilla ice cream with strawberries, raspberry syrup, cookie cream mousse, and a kind of cherry cream that tasted very much like yogurt (I had a few servings of that too).
The dancing went on all night until what I heard was 4am. About every hour on the hour was a traditional German dance of some variety. Everyone seemed to know the polka, and I spied at least a half dozen dancers doing the hustle and quickstep. There was one older guy in particular who was making up a blend of ballroom dances that his partner was able to follow. They definitely were having a lot of fun. Only the grandmother left early. Absolutely everyone else stayed until at least 2am. Here are a couple of the traditional dances they did...
(I'll try loading these later. I almost crashed my poor laptop uploading them.)
The next day was at the farm house with German bratwurst cooked by Germans in Germany. I had at least 6. They were damn good! :) The guys cooking wore leather aprons. Hard core! There was also a trailer-bar in the driveway. Yes, there were Germans having a pint at 1pm after partying until 4am the previous night.
Sadly, I had to leave early to avoid driving in the dark on the 6 hour drive back home. I got to meet some really good friends of D-Rock. One of them was also a food challenge guru who was impressed with my meterwurst success at the Gasthaus in Minneapolis. I did remind him that it took me over 45 minutes and if it weren't for the accordion player, I don't know if I would have finished. K-borg, this new guy C-Fan, and I may have a food challenge event in our future, depending upon when I get back to the Twin Cities.
Because the luncheon didn't start until 12:30pm or so, and I had to check out of my hotel, I had some time to kill. I came across this somewhat hidden rock formation.
Again, I have not gotten around to translating, but it made for good conversation with K's uncle who spoke enough English to carry a conversation. It turns out that these are rock formations that are thousands of years old and scattered all throughout the area. They are believed to be connected to the rock formations in Great Britain and possibly tombstones. There were so many in fact that Germany destroyed a few of them to build the nearby autobahn.
The whole experience makes me want to learn German as quickly and as fluently as possible. There was a lot I missed out on because of being lost in translation, and I want to close that gap as quickly as I can. Everyone there was very nice and it was quite a party!
Of course, so sooner do I get back home then J and I develop a full fledged cold which apparently has been lingering around most of Germany. I actually spent the whole day today sleeping. I hate being a slug, but because of my diabetes, my immune system is not as powerful as it used to be, so I have to baby myself with antibiotics when I used to simply shrug things off.
One last couple of observations that I think many people stateside don't know about commonplace Germany. The top three average car models you see on the road: Audi, Mercedes, and BMW. The next three: Renault, Opel, and Citroen. The next three: Ford, Mazda, and Porsche. If you see a Chevy, Hyundai, or Honda, there is a very high chance it's an American vehicle brought over from the states.
Windows do not have screens here. Most windows open two ways: swing open like a door or prop open from the top where the bottom of the window is a hinge.
Germany is further north in latitude than the state of Minnesota. This means that it is already still daylight past 10pm and as early as 4am and there will be an equally darker winter. The weather this year has been colder than usual, and we have only had about 3 days in the 80 F range.
Germany does not plow their roads. This means one of two things: the snow does not stay long or deep here (my suspicion), or the windy thin cobblestone roads make plowing impossible. Either way, we have shovelling in our future.
The wildlife here is very much like in Minnesota, only with a random difference here and there. Examples: Robins are here but are solid black in color, clover and geraniums are here but their leaves are pointier, bridal wreath bushes are here but with purple leaves, grass grows more wild and readily here whereas it has a habit of dying midsummer in Minnesota, slugs here are solid black and at least 5 times larger, and we have a large toad in our backyard just like in Minnesota but it stays in the open at night on our terrace.
Germans uber-recycle here with 4 types of recycling and then "residual" trash. Most towns have a "sportplatz" that typically has at least one soccer field with several other sport fields...but I often don't see people play on them. During German Holidays about 75% of local Germans completely disappear and then reappear on the next work day (we still don't know where they disappear to).
Upon returning from our Alsace Region four day weekend, I immediately started getting set for D-Rock's wedding which was the very next weekend (last weekend). His wife, K's, mother is German so they decided to have their town of Oldendorf host the wedding. One of the perks of this is that because weddings are so rare there, the entire town gets involved in celebrating the wedding.
It was a six hour drive to get there, as it was pretty much on the opposite side of Germany. Because of a lot of variables, J was unable to come along. I also couldn't make her take the drive after work where she would have to drive in the dark. I missed her the entire time.
The car I rented, a 2012 Hyundai i10, had by far the worst engine performance of any new car I have ever driven. The three items to support my case are as follows: the car literally could only go 0 to 60mph in 10 seconds, if it was even that short; with the pedal to the absolute floor, it would actually slow down going uphill; and the automatic transmission would only stay between 1500 and 4500 rpm (going 80mph required 4500rpms). This all said, it did appear to get amazing gas mileage. I am curious to know if the manual transmission drives better, but J said that her rental automatic VW Golf drove in a similar fashion. In Germany, these car designs should be considered road hazards. Everyone drives fast with fast reaction times. That Hyundai did not cut it.
Interestingly enough, the only two differences in environment between Kaiserslautern and Oldendorf were the completely flat terrain and the constant wind (as it is very near the North Sea). There were lots of windmills and cattle all around. The town itself was nicely set up and appeared to have a lot of new building constructed in the traditional German styling. In fact, one of the houses across from the hotel I stayed at, the Landhaus Lastrup, had an architecture firm sign on it.
The wedding was actually celebrated over 4 days. I could not attend the first two days, but was able to attend the ceremony, reception, and a bit of the gift opening. The ceremony started at K's uncle's farm, the rally point for the bulk of the four days. It was a sizeable farm in terms of buildings there. His house, he told me, was build in 1972. His backyard garden was very pretty. And on his barn, as on many large buildings in Oldendorf, had a very long inscription written on it. I took note of that as I thought of something like that last year, for when I have a plot of land that I would tend the rest of my life that I would consider very special. I took a picture of it as I have yet to take the time to translate it.
The entrance was decorated by the local townsfolk, as were most of the decorations for the entire wedding.
The church, while seemingly newly constructed to my eye, was just as immense as the churches J and I saw in Alsace. This picture doesn't do the proportions much justice. The ceiling had to have been the equivalent of four stories high.
The ceremony was Catholic in basic form and in prayer and spoken or sung in German, but several elements were spoken or sung in English. It was a different experience for me in that I basically knew where we were in the Catholic service based upon previous experience, and I could pick up little things here and there being said, but as for the Americans sitting with me and for myself, we really didn't know much of what was being said. We did know, based upon body language and tone of voice, that D-Rock was being very well received and the entire town was thankful for D-Rock and K choosing to have the celebration done in Oldendorf. They openly and repeatedly recognized and appreciated that people were coming from America, England, Germany, and I'm quite sure other countries as well.
The reception was very nice with a large host of German traditions. We were greeted by accordion players:
The guestbook was a picture panel of the attendees making hearts with their thumbs and signing them.
The food was absolutely delicious. The best German food I have ever had in my life. We started with a soup that was K's personal request, a recipe of her grandmother's. Everyone at the table had at least two servings. I think I had three or four. Next, was the salad. Then was the main course: a large vegetable platter of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, spargel (white asparagus), brussel sprouts, carrots, potatoes, green beans, and a few more items; and a large meat platter of duck, pork, rolled up beef, and lamb. Dessert consisted of large scoops of vanilla ice cream with strawberries, raspberry syrup, cookie cream mousse, and a kind of cherry cream that tasted very much like yogurt (I had a few servings of that too).
The dancing went on all night until what I heard was 4am. About every hour on the hour was a traditional German dance of some variety. Everyone seemed to know the polka, and I spied at least a half dozen dancers doing the hustle and quickstep. There was one older guy in particular who was making up a blend of ballroom dances that his partner was able to follow. They definitely were having a lot of fun. Only the grandmother left early. Absolutely everyone else stayed until at least 2am. Here are a couple of the traditional dances they did...
(I'll try loading these later. I almost crashed my poor laptop uploading them.)
The next day was at the farm house with German bratwurst cooked by Germans in Germany. I had at least 6. They were damn good! :) The guys cooking wore leather aprons. Hard core! There was also a trailer-bar in the driveway. Yes, there were Germans having a pint at 1pm after partying until 4am the previous night.
Sadly, I had to leave early to avoid driving in the dark on the 6 hour drive back home. I got to meet some really good friends of D-Rock. One of them was also a food challenge guru who was impressed with my meterwurst success at the Gasthaus in Minneapolis. I did remind him that it took me over 45 minutes and if it weren't for the accordion player, I don't know if I would have finished. K-borg, this new guy C-Fan, and I may have a food challenge event in our future, depending upon when I get back to the Twin Cities.
Because the luncheon didn't start until 12:30pm or so, and I had to check out of my hotel, I had some time to kill. I came across this somewhat hidden rock formation.
Again, I have not gotten around to translating, but it made for good conversation with K's uncle who spoke enough English to carry a conversation. It turns out that these are rock formations that are thousands of years old and scattered all throughout the area. They are believed to be connected to the rock formations in Great Britain and possibly tombstones. There were so many in fact that Germany destroyed a few of them to build the nearby autobahn.
The whole experience makes me want to learn German as quickly and as fluently as possible. There was a lot I missed out on because of being lost in translation, and I want to close that gap as quickly as I can. Everyone there was very nice and it was quite a party!
Of course, so sooner do I get back home then J and I develop a full fledged cold which apparently has been lingering around most of Germany. I actually spent the whole day today sleeping. I hate being a slug, but because of my diabetes, my immune system is not as powerful as it used to be, so I have to baby myself with antibiotics when I used to simply shrug things off.
One last couple of observations that I think many people stateside don't know about commonplace Germany. The top three average car models you see on the road: Audi, Mercedes, and BMW. The next three: Renault, Opel, and Citroen. The next three: Ford, Mazda, and Porsche. If you see a Chevy, Hyundai, or Honda, there is a very high chance it's an American vehicle brought over from the states.
Windows do not have screens here. Most windows open two ways: swing open like a door or prop open from the top where the bottom of the window is a hinge.
Germany is further north in latitude than the state of Minnesota. This means that it is already still daylight past 10pm and as early as 4am and there will be an equally darker winter. The weather this year has been colder than usual, and we have only had about 3 days in the 80 F range.
Germany does not plow their roads. This means one of two things: the snow does not stay long or deep here (my suspicion), or the windy thin cobblestone roads make plowing impossible. Either way, we have shovelling in our future.
The wildlife here is very much like in Minnesota, only with a random difference here and there. Examples: Robins are here but are solid black in color, clover and geraniums are here but their leaves are pointier, bridal wreath bushes are here but with purple leaves, grass grows more wild and readily here whereas it has a habit of dying midsummer in Minnesota, slugs here are solid black and at least 5 times larger, and we have a large toad in our backyard just like in Minnesota but it stays in the open at night on our terrace.
Germans uber-recycle here with 4 types of recycling and then "residual" trash. Most towns have a "sportplatz" that typically has at least one soccer field with several other sport fields...but I often don't see people play on them. During German Holidays about 75% of local Germans completely disappear and then reappear on the next work day (we still don't know where they disappear to).
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