American Life Over Easy

I have been wondering for the past week or so why it is that I'm attracted to the German (and European) way of life, and I think I've had recently had a few breakthroughs.


Life in Germany is in many ways a lighter version of life in American.  And what do I  mean by lighter?  Life in Germany has the same modern conveniences found in America like iPods, cell phones, Starbucks, IKEA (their invention of course) and frozen pizzas.  The differences, however, are all related in that they are the things I originally was annoyed by but have now come to embrace and appreciate.  For example, almost every single business in Germany is closed on Sunday with the exception of the stores in the main train station (only true in larger cities like Hannover) and most cafés and restaurants.  This gives you three options for Sundays: do your grocery shopping on Saturday, eat out or starve.  What they have in common though is that they force you to slow down on Sunday and actually enjoy the day.  Even though every store is closed, you will see tons of people out on Sundays, even in the winter, strolling around the city center and parks.  As an American this is completely frustrating at first, but when you get in the mindset it's one of my favorite parts of being here.


Another thing I enjoy over here is their appreciation for locally-produced foods/products from produce to meat to cheese to flowers.  For years I've thought that the fierce regionalism in Germany was largely just a result of local pride and inferiority complexes.  I mean, who really cares which region of Germany really grows the best Spargel (white asparagus) or makes the best Klöße (potato dumplings)?  It wasn't until recently that I realized this is just a natural outgrowth of their way of life.  Call it what you will, but it's pretty obvious that the slow food movement (as new of a concept as it is in America) has been going strong in Europe for centuries.  You buy local goods, tend to stick with seasonality and celebrate traditional/regional cuisine.  This also makes you appreciate certain seasonal things more and really lets you celebrate them.  A great example is German Federweisser which is a unaged, "young" wine that is pretty similar to normal sparkling wine but sweeter and tarter almost like lemonade.  Every year in late September/October, depending on the grape harvest, Federweisser is available for two to three weeks.  It doesn't store well because of the residual yeast, so if you miss it during this time you are out of luck.  I didn't realize this while indulging in a few bottles during my stay in Berlin, but now I know why I can't find it anywhere anymore.  As an American it seems dumb that no one has just made an "almost as good" Ersatz Federweisser, but it would ruin everything great about Federweisser season.  You enjoy it at it's peak and then it's gone when you still want more, making you wait anxiously for next year's season.


On a related note, the number of farmers markets here is astronomical--even the smallest towns have them and the larger cities have more than you can count.  Every Saturday (and also Tuesday) there is a farmers market on Lindener Marktplatz exactly two blocks from my house, and it was, by far, better than any farmers market I've been to in Columbia (which have come a long way in recent years).  This is even more remarkable by the fact that it is only one of probably a dozen or so farmers markets in Hannover.  A dozen!  I tried to snag a picture, and I'll try to take a few more next week when I'm not so busy.  You can mostly only see this one stand selling tons and tons of apples and pears (for dirt cheap) because it's that time of the year.  In addition to apple and pears though there were a few stands that were general vegetable stands (with a bit of everything in season) but many of the stands specialized in just a few things like potatoes and onions, Greek/Turkish antipasta, herbs, honey and candles, fish (including the Hannover speciality of smoked fish and eel) and other staples like meats, breads and cheeses.  Trust me, it's a beautiful thing!

Saturday Market at Lindener Marktplatz

To Hold You Over...

This weekend was pretty busy for me (what with giant student parties at the university, shopping and dinner dates and all), and it's looking like this week will be pretty packed as well with a busy week at school, multiple appointments including getting my visa and two different visitors this week--I feel so popular!  I thought I would try to hold you all over with a few selected pics that I haven't posted here yet, and I promise there will be a post soon on my new apartment!

My new friend from Berlin--we have a bit of a "rocky" relationship

 

Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin--the former border between East and West Berlin

The Siegessäule (Victory Column) in Berlin

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin--Quite Amazing

Jackie in Front of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station)

 

Hamburg is a Giant Port City with Giant Port City Birds (they were mean!)

 

G. E. Lessing Memorial in Hamburg (famous German author)

Fun cultural fact: Today was the end of Daylight Saving Time for Germany, so for one week we are only five hours ahead of the Eastern U.S. (in contrast to the usual difference of six hours) until you guys catch up next Sunday.  In March, you guys in the U.S. will switch back over to DST a full two weeks before Europe so the time difference will be seven hours.  Crazy right?

Fall Break part 2: "Goodbye to Berlin" and a Stopover in Hamburg

Jackie graciously let me crash at her place the last two nights of my Berlin trip, but perhaps more importantly humored me enough to go on a photo shoot and listen to me decide between which one of two Berlin coffee mugs I wanted to buy (I went for the one with the Fernsehturm).

Me and part of the Berlin Wall

We then walked down Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (the one Jackie lives on) which turns into Unter den Linden when it crosses the Spree River.  Unter den Linden is famous because of the number of famous landmarks that are on it like the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), the Reichstag (the seat of the German Parliament) and the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).

Brandenburger Tor

Reichstag

Berliner Dom (with Fernsehturm in background on right)

Because of a complicated chain of events I'll just have to explain later (maybe), I didn't really have a place to stay in Hannover on Wednesday or Thursday night.  Not wanting to wear out my welcome in Berlin, I decided to make a two-night stopover in Hamburg on my way to Hannover.  I found a cheap hostel, booked two nights and jumped on a train Wednesday evening.  Hamburg is one of those weird cities where you always hear good things about but doesn't get nearly as much attention from tourists as other cities in German like Berlin, Munich and Cologne.

There isn't much to say about my trip to Hamburg because I didn't get to see/do nearly as much as I would have liked because it wasn't a very well planned trip, but I still managed to see most of the highlights and also go out for a short night on the Reeperbahn (considered one of the largest red light district in Europe and infamous stretch of bars/clubs).

Rathaus (City Hall) in Hamburg

Binnenalster--Lake in the City Center

Hopefully I will be making it back to Hamburg sometime soon (it's only an hour away from Hannover)...

Fall Break Part 1: Hannover and Bumming around Berlin

These past two weeks were Herbstferien (Fall Break) in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), which meant that I had two weeks to do whatever I wanted.  Of course, my options would have been significantly less limited had I been paid before we went on break, but regardless I decided to spend some time in Hannover and then make a trip to Berlin to visit some other American Fulbrighters.


The first Saturday of Fall Break I wandered down to the Hannover Oktoberfest as we had planned, and I ended up having a really great time.  It was definitely a little more relaxed than my Munich Oktoberfest visit, and it included a much more balanced mixture of great fair food and great German beer as well as a ride on the Flipper with Sara!  The rest of my week in Hannover was also fairly relaxed and included a visit from Jennifer, a Fulbrighter who lives in Celle (pretty close to Hannover) and another language assistant and her friend.  Bill, Sara and I tried to be good Hannover tour guides, but I was in a pretty random mood (typical hyper Patrick) so I'm not sure what kind of impression I left!

Me and Bill at the Hannover Oktoberfest eatting half-meter bratwursts (that's like 18 inches)

 Thursday afternoon I left for Berlin, and as part of my new adventuresome side I decided to try this German website called mitfahrgelegenheit.de.  Mitfahr basically tries to connect drivers who are making trips across Europe with people who need to get somewhere but don't have a car themselves (a modern version of hitchhiking).  Don't worry, it's completely legit and Germans use it all the time.  It's cheaper than taking the train, and it's good for the environment since it is basically carpooling.  My mitfahr went just fine, and I arrived at Andrea's apartment in Berlin just fine.  The other reason I say that I was "bumming" around Berlin is because I basically couch/bed/floor surfed the entire time.  To this I owe many thanks to the Fulbrighters who put me up for the week (Andrea, Pat and Jackie!).


On Friday night a few other Fulbrighters came over to Andrea's for drinks which ended up with a late night Döner kebab run and going through quite a few bottles of Berliner Kindl beer.  Saturday night I had dinner with Pat and Jackie at this amazing Mexican restaurant near Alexanderplatz called Dolores which I will forever dream about.  We then ventured all the way out to Potsdam to go to a Erasmus party with Jordan (Fulbrighter) and her roommates and friends.  It got pretty crowded, but we just all staked out a small plot on the dance floor and let loose.  When we finally decided to leave, we were misinformed by Jordan's roommates on how to get back to the train station and Berlin and it ended up taking me, Pat and Jackie almost four hours to get back to Berlin (yes, that's right--thanks Berlin S-Bahn construction).  I then crashed at Pat's since his roommate was gone for the weekend and had said I could sleep in her bed.  Pat lives in a really cool old building in what used to be East Berlin--he lives in Friederichshain which has become a really kind of artsy district with tons of art galleries selling the work of local artists and bars and cafes.

Jordan and me on Friday night at Andrea's

Jackie, me and Jordan at the Erasmus party in Potsdam on Saturday

Even though I started off Sunday without my cell phone (left it at Jordan's by accident) and severely sleep deprived it turned into a great day.  I met Jackie and Marion (a friend of Jordan's) at the Flohmarkt (flea market) in Mauerpark.  Unlike most flea markets in America, German flea markets are usually only held once a week and this one in particular had the normal piles of junk as well as tons of local artists hawking anything from paintings, photographs or screen printed goods.  It was amazing, and I'm definitely going back sometime to buy the things I couldn't then since I hadn't been paid (note to self: great place to buy Christmas gifts).  The three of us then had a great time walking around Hackescher Markt where I had amazing lasagna for lunch/dinner.  Sunday night ended with Andrea, her roommate Lauren, Pat and me visiting the infamous Weinerei near Andrea's apartment.  At the Weinerei you pay one euro to get a wine glass which you just fill as you need with the various bottles of wine they have at this one table.  When you leave, you just leave as much money as you think you should based on how much wine you had.  It's basically an old house turned into a pretty hipster wine bar that runs on the honor system--how cool is that?  Also, there was free birthday cake.

I'm on a boat! And in Berlin!

I spent Monday and Tuesday nights with Jackie in her amazing apartment across the freakin' street from Alexanderplatz.  Her apartment is actually on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (the street that turns into Unter den Linden when it crosses the Spree) and faces the Fernsehturm and the Marienkirche...it's pretty much amazing.  We had a great time doing some of the more fun touristy stuff including a boat tour on the Spree River during which we got hailed on.  We also met up with Pat on Tuesday and had amazing burgers and fries at the Bürgeramt in Friederichshain.  I still crack up at the name of the restaurant--it's a pun on the greasy American food and the German word Bürger (citizen).  We then ventured down to Simon-Dach-Straße and had a drink at Dachkammer.


(to be continued)

Home to Hannover

I'm back in Hannover after my weeklong trip to Berlin (and short layover in Hamburg).  I'm sleep deprived, a little stressed though in a very good mood, moving into my new apartment and finishing a book for class next week.


Expect an update over the weekend detailing my adventures.

For no particular reason and in no particular order...

I've been in Germany for just shy of a month, and it's been quite a "bipolar" month.  This first month has most definitely been characterized by wavering periods of ups and downs, highs and lows.  For example, I had a great time in Munich this month (having the chance to speak English most of the weekend was a very welcome break), but on my Sunday night train back to Hannover I just started feeling down.  I had lessons to prepare (including one for my rowdy Monday  morning class), and I still didn't have a permanent place to live.  The first part of this week dragged on fairly slowly until yesterday when things started to turn around.  So, for no particular reason and in no particular order, here is a list of things that have led me into the weekend on a high note.




1) I had an appointment to see an apartment on Lichtenbergplatz, and not only was it really nice and completely furnished, but the owner told me it was pretty much a sure thing (I just can't move in until Oct. 15).


2) I had a beer with one of the other two Americans in Hannover, and after talking with him for a while I felt reassured not to be alone in my frustration with some of these "settling in" issues.


3) My two lessons this morning went over really well, and I'm slowly starting to really feel like part of the faculty here.


4) Fall break started for me today when I left school at around 4:00 this afternoon because Fridays are my day off.  Two weeks of vacation sounds pretty nice right now, and I think I'm going to visit some friends in Berlin for a week.


5) To celebrate the end of the week/start of the break I made a giant pizza for an early dinner.  In the end it had about ten different toppings (see picture below).


6) I talked to the owner of the apartment, and the room is mine.  I can't wait until 10/15 when I'm actually in my apartment (well I guess technically our apartment since I'll have two roommates).


7) Saturday I'm going to Oktoberfest Hannover with some of the other TAs--I was bored the other night, so I went ahead and scoped it out, and it's basically like the South Carolina State Fair but cleaner, bigger and with tons of beer.  Oh yeah, and there aren't any Italians or petting zoos to stink up the place.


I had been debating through most of tonight whether I wanted to go out and have a drink, besides the Lindener Spezial I just finished, and I think it's a yes (but I definitely won't be gone long).


Also, after originally being informed by my mom that the last post was most likely unfit to be sent to Grandpa, apparently she has come around and decided that he might like to hear of my exploits.  It sounds like I have her approval, now I just have to wait and see if I have his!


I leave you with my glorious pizza from today!