Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Well, my german classes have begun. Of the three other students in my class , two are Turkish and one is from Chili. All of us attempting to communicate in German is a sight to behold.

To continue with the German genders: a tree is male, its buds
are female, its leaves are neuter; horses are sexless,
dogs are male, cats are female--tomcats included, of course;
a person's mouth, neck, bosom, elbows, fingers, nails, feet,
and body are of the male sex, and his head is male
or neuter according to the word selected to signify it,
and NOT according to the sex of the individual who wears
it--for in Germany all the women either male heads or
sexless ones; a person's nose, lips, shoulders, breast,
hands, and toes are of the female sex; and his hair,
ears, eyes, chin, legs, knees, heart, and conscience
haven't any sex at all. The inventor of the language
probably got what he knew about a conscience from hearsay.

Mark Twain, "The Awful German Language"

'S' is for Schnell!

So I finally made my way into the city of Munich yesterday, in the pouring rain. I bought an umbrella and learned that the huge EU tax is included in the price of items and things seem to cost about the same (maybe slightly less given the US dollar's unfortunate position). My umbrella was 9,95 Euros, tax included. I wandered around Marienplatz, got wet, listened to some brass bands playing in the rain and then headed home.

To get home, I need to ride the Munich S-bahn. I think Munich is the only city I have ever been to where figuring out how much to pay is more difficult than figuring out which train to get on. The Germans have a beautiful, modern train system with whisper quiet super fast trains, and the most evil (dare I say the F-word, no not that one) ticket system ever devised. See, to ride the German trains, one must figure out exactly how many units of fare it costs. There is no one taking tickets, no information counters, you fold over the correct number of stripes and stamp it in the ticket machine. Every now and then however, someone will be on the train checking tickets. The fine for an invalid ticket is 60 Euros. Joerg says he thinks the Munich trains are funded by hapless tourists. I think he may be right.

Logic and a library card.

I have a lovely tinkerbell wallet, from Disneyland. Imagine my dismay, when I first filled it, to find that the cash section was about a quarter inch too short to hold bills. Well today, the mystery was solved. My wallet is the perfect size to hold Euros. Now tell me, what is more American than Disneyland?! I think this must be part of some sort of apocalyptic, one world government, anti-christ conspiracy. Or perhaps it was just poor wallet design. Either way, my wallet is happily holding my Euros and my new library card. I no longer own any American cash. I am finally starting to feel like I live here.

What the !@# is Quark??

Quark is a fresh creamery cheese commonly used in Germany, Finland and other parts of Europe, somewhat similar to cream cheese. It is made by letting certain bacteria ferment milk, with the resulting curd. Some of the whey is removed to standardise quark into wished thickness. It is an acid-set cheese like "fresh" or "farmer's" cheeses, not a rennet set cheese.

Now you know. Blech...

OkCupid probed me. I, dragonbait, am: more mathematical, less kinky, more scientific, sloppier, more compassionate, more pessimistic and less organized than most.

"The nights were long and cold and scary..."

It's going to be a long winter. I realized something today while pondering the myriad of ways in which Germans (and probably many Europeans) live differently than Americans. It's a big one: temperature regulation. I have yet to see any air conditioners in Munich or it's surroundings. This is not terribley surprising as summers are not nearly as hot here. However, Germans also seem to have a preference for open windows and doors (even in the earth shaking wind we had this morning). I predict I (with my low tolerence for cold feet) may be very uncomfortable this winter. In some sense it all makes sense, the way in which Germans don't heat or cool their houses excessively. They seem (whether through legislation, temperment, or economic neccesity) to be very conscious of the environment, with a huge and successful recycling effort (it far outshines New Jersey's mandated recycling) wherein even bio-waste (ie- compostables) are separated out from the general non-recyclable waste. In a country with 90 million people, that is about the size of NY state, waste could quickly become a huge problem otherwise.

At any rate, I may wish I had packed more sweaters in a couple of months.

God hates Bush

With the election rapidly approaching (and I might have to seek German asylum if the evil one is re-elected), I thought some might appreciate this link. It made me smile in a guilty, revenge seeking manner. (Thanks go to Tom for sending it to me)

God vs. Bush

Ich bin heir!

Well, despite some difficulties adjusting (stomach horribleness and jetlag), I have arrived in beautiful Bavaria relatively unscathed. The home I am living in is lovely and the family is very very nice, and rather generous (mom has paid for most things that have come up thus far, in addition to giving me my "spending money"). I have opened a German bank acount (the fabled EC card shall be forthcoming) and registered with the local authorities (a very..."Your papers please" feeling).

We live in a town called Neufahrn, which as far as I can tell seems to be a suburb of Munich. As far as suburbs go, however, the Germans seem to have us beat. It's beautiful and very pedestrian friendly. There is a "downtown" of sorts with all the typical German shops (a vegetable market, bakery, cheese shop, etc), and many many people seem to travel by bike. The houses are relatively close together and though I am told much of the development in the town is fairly new, they seem to have managed to retain a "small town" sort of atmosphere.

At any rate, tomorrow we will be going to attempt to get my working papers. I am very nervous as one requirement is a "basic" level of German. I am not sure what I have qualifies, or how they measure this. If I fail, I will have to leave after three months, I think. Gah!

Currently it is very early in the morning, and I need to attempt a couple more hours of sleep befor ethe children wake. I hope everyone is well and happy, I hope to hear from you all soon. I still await a plug adapter so it may be a few days before the next update.

Guten Nacht, alle!

Leaving, on a Jet Plane

Well, the day has arrived, I've said my goodbyes (damn, that rhymed), momentarily I will hit the road. By this time tomorrow, I should be enjoying a German evening. Anyone who would like a postcard, please email me your address and I will oblige. Pictures should be forthcoming.

Goodbye All!

... And Icarus. 

And for those of you who asked previously (and have never met my children) here are my lovely Cats, Cricket... 

Much Carousing to celebrate my going away. I brought my cat to Utica wednesday, and met some of Derek's friends. As you can see, we did some damage. 

Confusion and craziness

I tried to post this recently but it seems my computer hates me and I have been seriously busy since then. At any rate, there was some confusion about my departure date, as my presence here rather than on a plane to Germany might indicate. As of now, averting major disaster, such as being arrested by customs for unpaid parking tickets (that's right, I am fleeing the country to avoid parking fines, just try to stop me!), I should be leaving on Tuesday, September 14. That also happens to be the same day that The Sims 2 ships from Amazon. Oh how I wish I had 50 dollars. Soon, my pretties.

Much Needed Update

Dear god, how everything flies upon me with great speed. I officially have a departure date for my long anticipated year abroad. September Tenth, 8:20 pm, I leave for Germany. I found out this evening and was suddenly struck with just how much work I have to do in the next week. Between moving furniture, our trip to Boston, and packing, I should be pretty well occupied. Forget any concerns I might have had about ways to fill my time after my job ends (tomorrow, if anyone has forgotten).

As far as work goes, it will be all I can do to leave the kids without tears. They are mostly too young for any concepts of saying goodbye to have much meaning, and there is one in particular who I fear may feel abandoned when I stop showing up. I do have a tendency to let children who really need someone to attach to, get far too close, when I know I cannot be a long term figure in their lives. sigh...Kids are tough, I am sure he will be all right.