Notes from Germany
I am an American expat living in Germany. It's a far away land on the other side of the ocean. It's interesting and often weird here. If you read this and want to comment then email me at nate(the at symbol)chillmost.com. If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, you can keep them.
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Went to a flea market and got two English books; Bonfire of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe and Hawaii by James A. Michener. I like Tom Wolfe's stuff although A Man In Full was a little weak. He is one of my favorite American contemporary authors. I took the Michener book because I've always seen my dad reading a few of his books and I'm down with the historical fiction. So I figured I would check it out.
A few weeks ago in Lüneburg the castors came through on trains and there were all kinds of demonstrations and hot cop on protester action. Here are a few links about event and about the overall nuclear power phase out in Germany.
Pictures taken down the street from my apartment: Here
An article about Nuclear power being phased out in Germany: Here
Article from the German Federal Government about the nuclear phase out: Here
Friday, November 21, 2003
Wie Uncool!
Sometimes when you are living in a foreign country you forget about holidays and other events that aren't celebrated in the country in which you are living. Sometimes you forget the dates but other times you get the dates all wrong. Today, for instance, I called home to wish my family a Happy Thanksgiving. Dummeweise, it is next week. Ha. I always thought Thanksgiving was on the 3rd Thursday of November. Now I'm confused. Is it the 4th? It must be. Damn. You turkeys still got a week left. Thursday, November 20, 2003
I networked my apartment a few days ago. I built the cables all by myself and set up the router and printer sharing. I wish I could say it was a lot of work but I use Macs so it was really easy because you just plug them in and they go. Soon I will be rocking the DSL and will be droppin science and knowledge at 1,5mbs.
Word.
ps family, Email me and let me know where y'all will be for thanksgiving so I can call.
A teacher stands in front of the class and asks, "Children, who can tell me what a tragedy is?" Billy raises his hand and says, "When my cat got hit by a car, it was a tragedy." The teacher thought about how, to a small impressionable child, this was a terrible thing to happen and said, "Yes, it was bad thing but it was more of a terrible accident." Joey raises his hand and says, "If Michael Jordan got old and died, that would be a tragedy." The Teacher thought about how a small child would react to the death of their hero but at the same time the teacher realized that death was a natural part of life from which none of us would escape. "That would be bad Joey," said the teacher, "but that would be more of a great loss. Anybody else?" Suzy raises her hand and says, "Oh, Oh! If George W. Bush is riding in his Air Force 1 and it gets shot down and he gets killed, that would be a tragedy, right?" The teacher thinks it over and is impressed with Suzy's example. "Yes, thats correct", said the teacher, "why did use that example?" "That's easy", says Suzy, "It wouldn't be an accident and certainly wouldn't be a great loss."
Bada-boom! Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
ps secret service: That's a double L in the last name.