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.
Friday, March 18, 2005
3 Articles
Here are three articles from the English version of the F.A.Z. . The first two deal with the serious and sad plight of many Muslim women living in Germany and other European countries. The last article is an American's light-hearted account of his experience of returning home after living in Germany for a few years.
Putting an end to the multicultural dream
Sometimes an issue hangs in the air for a long time. And then, from one moment to the next, it captures everyone's attention. When that moment comes, people wonder how the topic could have been ignored for so long.'Honor' killings shock Germans
Since the murder of Hatin Sürücü on Feb. 2, the German community has turned its attention to previously taboo subjects, such as forced marriage and violence against women in Turkish homes. Sürücü, a 23-year-old Turkish woman, was shot down at a bus stop near her home in Tempelhof, a suburb of Berlin.You're so German!
It was my first trip back home to the United States in almost two years. I hadn't started wearing strange color pants or Birkenstocks yet, so I figured I hadn't changed that much. But oh was I wrong!
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Éireann go Brách
Oh Look! Blogger is working today.
On Monday a coworker celebrated his 30th birthday. Because he is still unmarried he had to sweep at the Marktplatz. It works like this. Any man who is still unmarried by his 30th birthday has to go to the Rathouse in his hometown and sweep a huge pile of dirt/sawdust up. He is usually slightly drunk to begin with and dressed in some ridiculous outfit. He has to sweep until all the sawdust is all swept up or until he gets a kiss from a virgin. If he gets a kiss, the person who turns 30 next has to finish the job.
T. was dressed in a bright orange shaggy jacket about 10 sizes too small, a furry Elmer Fudd-like hunter's cap and huge round black sunglasses. So in other words, he looked like a member of Dee-lite. The sawdust was laid out in the shape of a big 30 and there were 30 small bottles of liquor (schnapps, jägermeister, etc.) buried in the debris which he had to drink as soon they were discovered. He was almost done with the sweeping up the 3 when a big dog belonging to someone in attendance ran up to the plastic trash bag and tore it up spreading sawdust everywhere. Heh.
Seeing as he is a native Lüneburger, lots of childhood friends and former classmates showed up to watch him make a fool of himself.
As the small bottles of alcohol began to take effect he started harassing any woman walking by, who by any slight chance might be a virgin:
"Hey, that kid adopted?"
"Please give me a kiss. No? Fine, I'll die from alcohol poisoning then, thanks alot."
"Ever kissed a boy before? Now's your chance."
Finally some cute girl around 19 gave him a kiss. Whether she was a virgin or not, we'll never know, but needless to say we all had our doubts.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
How Germany Can Drive You Crazy
Oh man oh man!
I know exactly the frustration this American guy went through to get his German driver's license.
"Germany recognizes only the licenses of 24 U.S. states that have taken the trouble to negotiate a reciprocity agreement. If you come from one of the states that hasn't -- in my case, New York -- you're out of luck. [Ironically, clueless U.S. tourists can drive all they want, but permanent residents, fluent in the language and immersed in the culture, need a license.]"
My last American license was issued in Connecticut and they have some sort of agreement with Germany so that I only had to take the written test. The thing that pisses me off though is that he didn't have to give up his American license. I did. 10 minutes of arguing with the life-sucking force of German bureaucracy didn't help. I no longer have an American driver's license. Every time I go back I forget to get it renewed. Bah!
Des einen Brot, des andern Tod
Bonkers over Bread | Culture & Lifestyle | Deutsche Welle | :
"Germany has more kinds of bread than any other country and every year new varieties are released to an enthusiastic public. They call bread the staff of life and indeed, Germans would have a very hard living without it."
This is true. Brot is everywhere. So good luck with that Atkins diet if you come to Germany. Maybe that is why that fad never seemed to have caught on here. Give up bread? Das kannst Du vergessen! However, the article does say that low-carb bread is gaining in popularity with the health conscience crowd. Low-carb bread? That is like having dehydrated water.
In America there are mainly three kinds of bread: white, whole wheat and rye. If you can find a real bakery you can probably find other varieties as well but the selection is never as diverse as it is in Germany.
Not saying it's better or worse, just different.
Random German vocabulary: The German word for supper is Abendbrot literally "evening-bread".
