Life as an Expat in Germany and Abroad

How are you?

2012-01-28T15:21:00.004+01:00

"How are you?" - this is one of my favorite questions to hear a response to in various countries. In the US, it is almost always "good", no matter what. Even no reply is OK and it is used as a form of "hello". In Germany, you get details. In Vietnam, you get personal life stories, which some in the US would not even consider telling close friends.

Here's an example. Peter and I were out to dinner with a past employee of mine in Hanoi. She had brought a friend along who could not speak English. We asked how the friend is doing and what he does for work. We expected a 30 second answer with some general information. Instead we got: he lives with his sister who is abused by her husband because he is a drunk and has gambling problems, but she cannot leave him. Their life is very hard because they do not have enough money and they have children, and he beats her when he is drunk. But, in Vietnam, it is "normal" for men to beat women...

It went on and on.

Peter and I sat there, not knowing how to react. All we could say was that we were sorry he and his family have such a difficult life, and then prodded about the normalcy of domestic abuse, which my friend estimated occurs in most marraiges. I hope the women I know there are strong enough and independent enough to avoid such situations, but sadly they face barriers which I cannot even imagine.

Once again, I am thankful.

The last questionnaire completed

2011-12-11T08:16:00.003+01:00

The last questionnaire (of about 550) was completed yesterday. This was a great feeling and tonight the team (19 of us) will celebrate by having a final team dinner. I am looking forward to celebrating with the others, though a cloud hangs over the party - the pressure to drink.

The pressure to drink here is quite intense, as I have written about before. The only excuse (which is often true) that works after much persuasion is that I have stomach problems, I am on on medicine, and that if I drink the medicine causes problems including a gross rash. This is still very rude though.

Tonight, I have no excuse. The only hope I see is that they will allow me to take shots of beer rather than shots of rice wine. I hope this will work.

The pressure to drink unfortunately prevents myself and other foreigners here from socializing more with local people. One other foreigner here said that should would not have any more dinners or go to any more weddings because she found the drinking to be too much.

When I discuss this with Vietnamese, they just tell me to drink some oil beforehand. It should do the trick. I'd rather have a nice time without alcohol, smiling and laughing with the people with good food and good company. But, this just isn't possible.

Thanksgiving in Vietnam

2011-12-01T06:18:00.007+01:00

Though I had the most untypical Thanksgiving meal yet on Thanksgiving (goose, pork fat, beans mixed with goose insides/intestines, boiled cabbage, tofu), I felt like I had did the most traditional Thanksgiving activity yet on my favorite day - helping the "Natives" with their maize crop. OK,so there is not actually any evidence that the Pilgrimes helped the Native Americans with their harvest, but I had this romantic idea that this could have happened anyway, and that was enough for me.

Anyway, I was in a village far off from the main road. In this village, Hmong people live there and I happened to be there when the maize trader arrived to collect the maize. A lot of activity ensued and I decided to join in on it by helping the women carry 80kg bags of maize seed. It was a lot of fun and I was very happy to be among such strong, beautiful, and happy women. Even their clothes put a smile on my face. They wear beautiful skirts which take 1 year to make even when working! Everything was so colorful and active. The way the maize spurt out of the machine, the smiles on the women's faces as they mingled with me...

Unfortunately, I also experienced the most uncomfortable Thanksgiving ever in terms of health because I got very ill from food I ate on that day. But, this is a small price to pay when traveling and having wonderful experiences.

The many possibilities for messing up a withdraw form

2011-11-18T04:15:00.002+01:00

I thought I had been through all the possible mistakes one can make on a withdraw slip from the bank here in NW Vietnam, but no - I was wrong.

I have been to the bank about 6 times in the past month to withdraw money. The minimum time is 30 minutes, though it has taken as long as an hour. And, this is without anyone in front of me in line because I always arrive right when the bank opens.

The withdraw form must be absolutely perfect for the bank teller to accept it. Also, the bank teller is the same one every time and the mother of one of my employees, so she knows me. This, however, does not help in accepting the slightest imperfection in the form. Here are some errors made over the past month which led to the rejection of the slip (with about 15 questions/sections one must fill in):

-Blue and black pens used on the same form (signature was in blue, the rest was in black)

-My signature was not exactly as it was on the first day when I signed up for the account

-The hotel name had the word "hotel" at the end

-Words, letters, or numbers were crossed out or sloppy.

After the third visit to the bank, I gave my translator a copy of an accepted withdraw slip to copy exactly, but usually a small mistake was made anyway and then we'd have to do the whole form over again.

This waste of time is not seen as being problematic or annoying by the Vietnamese. It is part of the bureaucratic process here.

I wish there were an ATM here!

Electronic clarinet music - 30 hours and going

2011-11-14T02:52:00.003+01:00

And I thought the public radio for 3 hours a day was bad.

For 30 hours now, and counting, a loud speaker has been broadcasting electronic clarinet music and a man sings (occasionally) depressing notes in a whining voice. The same 10 seconds repeat over and over again. Why?

Somebody died.

A funeral in Vietnam lasts several days depending on when the family wants to bury the dead. Until the dead is buried, the music goes on and on. What is even more bizarre, is that people need to be crying all the time before the dead is buried. Because the relatives cannot cry for four days straight, a group of people are hired to cry. They don't even know the dead person, but someone has to cry! Can you imagine paid strangers crying at your funeral because your relatives do not have any more tears left. I think I'll pass.

Feeling a bit queasy

2011-11-13T04:13:00.002+01:00

Imagine you are at a party, you are hungry, it is hot, there is no fresh air, you are squeezed in a room, you have to sit uncomfortably on the floor, and all there is to eat and is horse meat/innards brewing in front of you (pictured to the right). This was my Friday.

My favorite interviewer, Mr. Khoa, invited me to his 35th birthday party. I really enjoy spending time with him and his wife, even though we cannot speak the same language. We know about 5 words in common - OK, tofu, bye, hello, and good. Anyway, for his birthday they cooked up a traditional specialty (eaten about once per year) for Mong people: horse.

At the end of the 3 hours of sitting over the brewing horse, I had eaten lots of horse-like-smelling greens which were cooked in the horse broth, as well as some tofu (dido, cooking method). I sprinkled soup broth powder over everything to placate the horse taste. A few times I thought I was going to add some of my own liquids to the stew, from becoming sick over the pot. Luckily, this did not occur.

Horse, sadly, is not the strangest thing I have eaten this week. My odd food tally for the week includes pig heart, horse meat/innards soup, goose innards, duck blood pudding, and probably some other odd stuff I was not even aware of.

At least they didn't eat my dark chocolate

2011-10-30T01:31:00.001+02:00

They ate my walnuts, multivitamins, vitamin B pills, white chocolate, and gummies late in the night. Commotion was all around. Action was occurring nearby to my bed. I was visited by rats. Luckily, I did not see them. Ignorance is bliss. Right?

I saw the evidence in the morning. Little droppings were everywhere. Up on a cabinet with a slippery wood surface, up on the other bed in the room, even next to my computer. I cleaned, I threw away all my precious nuts and vitamins, and I thanked the rats for not eating my dark chocolate (20 bars!).

Why not the dark chocolate? Not much sugar in them is my guess. The dark chocolate I eat is 85% cocoa and has very little sugar. I guess rats have a sweet tooth and opted for the Haribo gummies instead.

The next night, the rats came again. Searching, scouring, prancing about. But where was all the food? Gone....

The evidence was there though. I guess rats like to leave their mark.

I changed rooms.

No more rats (I think... again, ignorance is bliss).

Just more traffic noise, but I will take that over some hungry late night guests.

Welcome to Vietnam (again): Familiar faces and ego boosters

2011-10-26T07:53:00.004+02:00

It is nice to be back here with former colleagues. Hugs, smiles, and laughter are exchanged upon the first greeting when the language is not shared. As Vietnamese are very direct about body weight (most know all of their friends weights, for example, and comment constantly on how fat/thin people are), the first thing my Vietnamese colleagues say when they see me is, "You are thinner!" (I've lost 7 kg since May when I was last here).

What comes after is amusing. The best so far is, "Did you get married, is that why you are thinner?" I wanted to tell them that women in the west usually gain weight in the first year after they marry, instead of cooking and giving all the food to their husbands like in Vietnam, but I decided not to. The second best, "Wow, you are even more beautiful!"

Welcome to ego booster land.

The Vietnamese love light skin, so again, I get nice comments.

The Vietnamese work hard and age much faster than westerners (except for tiny little women that look like they are 12 years old, but are actually 30!), so people think I am between 15 and 18 here. I guess I can put away that anti-wrinkling cream!

It's back to the familiar here, though I live in a hotel now instead of a house next to a karaoke bar and newly installed restaurant. Now, I am above a restaurant and at the main intersection and closer to the loud speakers. Everything has its pros and cons, but so far I am happy with my decision because it avoids 2 gangs of dogs and walking along a dangerous road. The food is the same: tofu, pork fat, pork deep fried spring rolls (a nice variation though is with seaweed rather than rice paper wrapper for the outside), tasteless spinach/cabbage, and lots of fish sauce and salt.

More updates later on how it is going here. But for now, I will continue on Cloud 9.

Germans can be friendly too

2011-10-09T13:42:00.003+02:00

"What do you miss most about the US?" is a question I get asked a lot. After stating the obvious (friends, family), I get inquired about differences in German and American culture... What do I miss most about Americans? I usually say friendliness. In fact, the last two Europeans (2 French, 1 German) who recently took trips to the US were surprised at how friendly Americans were. I guess we don't have a great reputation abroad about our friendliness.

True: Germans won't say hi to you on the street if you walk by them - except for a very small village if you are with another villager. Most Germans won't say hi on an excluded bike path or walking path. The exception is if both people are equally decked out in hiking or biking gear and therefore share some common North Face bond or whatever.

This past week though, I was surprised at how friendly Germans were when I was lost hiking (in the Frankenschweiz near Bayreuth, pictured above) and wandering in Bonn looking for the right bus to get to the hostel 5km outside of the city. It was a relief to know, after 3 years, that Germans can be friendly to strangers too! I hope the trend continues.

Back to the land of bread and beer

2011-09-13T22:29:00.005+02:00

I am back from a week trip to the USA - Massachusetts to be specific (Boston and Amherst to be more specific). I had a great time with my close friends and family. I had no plans other than a brewer's guild festival before arriving which was great.

Highlights of the trip (not an exhaustive list!):
- Spending time with my best friends and parents, being relaxed, being offline (most of the time).
- Dressing up as a giant duck and looking like an idiot (photo to prove it is above).
- Getting quasi stranded on a rock bar in the ocean panicking when the tide came in, running through the water frantically, and reaching the shore. I have not felt that panicked and relieved within such a short period of time since my near death motorbike experience in Vietnam in April.
- Discovering some great American brews: Harpoon's pumpkin beer: think pumpkin pie in a beer. Wachuset's blueberry beer. Though the rest were disappointing out of a sample of about 15 beers at a brewer's guild annual beer tasting festival.
- Having a random guy on the street ask if he can smell a product I am consuming. Agreeing that smelling is probably better (as in healthier) than consuming it.
-Eating yummy international food (Mexican x3) and of course, green bean casserole - a Midwest staple.

OK, so what about some new trends?
-Well, cupcakes are still in, but lines were less long. Perhaps people are realizing they are overpriced, over sugared, and well, just dont taste very good.
-Iphones... it is ridiculous. Almost everyone has one! In fact, the flip phone is so out of style.

That's all for now folks.

Off to where streets are paved of gold

2011-09-01T22:04:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow I will fly to the US to visit friends and family. I wont be able to go to the US until June, 2012 - at the earliest - next year, so I thought I'd drop in for a visit. It is nice to take a vacation - my first week long vacation since Xmas! I look forward to exploring Boston, a city which I do not know well enough. My parents have stocked up on diet root beer in anticipation of my arrival. A week off from analyzing my data will be great. Discoveries can wait...

The only plan I have the whole week is to attend a beer tasting festival in Boston hosted by dozens of breweries. It is a bit ironic coming from Germany and going to the US to a beer festival, but at least I can say I gave American beer a chance.

Hasta la vista!

I am a German-sounding English speaker

2011-08-09T19:37:00.003+02:00

Often when I speak English to someone I have known for a while, or even strangers, I get the comment "You sound German (or foreign)". This happened again today when I spoke to a dear American friend I have not talked to since Christmas.

I know I have lost the "likes" disease, but this I am proud of ("like, did you like hear like about that new movie like?") and I must admit that I was never very infected to begin with.

I also realize I speak slower than I did when I lived in the US. Most (almost all) people I talk to now are not native English speakers and so I purposefully speak slower. At least I dropped the habit of implicitly asking questions with each sentence (I said all sentences as if they were questions to implicitly ask if the listener had understood my non-question sentence). As my best friend said, "This has to stop!"

Words I don't use very often are harder and harder to retrieve (such as the part of the ship that steers...) Oh well. I'm no captain of a boat. The only English vocabulary I have added here consist of statistical tests and data analysis tools. This will really come in handy in everyday conversation.

On the upside, it is interesting to hear of people's views on the US without them knowing I am American right away by an accent. On the downside, most views are not positive.

Michigan in my mouth

2011-07-22T17:43:00.002+02:00

I wish I were referring to Blue Moon ice cream (which is a very unique ice cream flavor which I love and which I have had only in Michigan as a young child). Instead, I am referring to the Michigan machine - a high tech, super duper, expensive mouth piece which I will wear at night in my continued efforts to heal my jaw after getting it annihilated by a dentist in College Park in 4 years ago (don't get knocked out at the dentist if you can avoid it. It is better to be awake so the dentist can't prop your jaw open wide beyond natural movements).

The Michigan machine looks like a regular mouthpiece and fits on the upper jaw only. The main point of it is to confuse the lower jaw into not being able to find a comfortable resting/fitting place with the upper jaw and this is supposed to relax the jaw and joints. Confusion leading to relaxation sounds like a bit of an oxymoron but I am willing to try it out after the physiotherapist made my jaw worse.

Hopefully, I will be able to bit into an apple someday without pain! Or maybe even celery... Carrots may be pushing it. Oh the joys of raw vegetables!

Women's World Cup in Germany

2011-07-19T20:10:00.002+02:00

The Women's World Cup ended on Sunday night in Germany. I did not go to any games (they were sold out and I prefer to see sports on TV) even though some were quite close by. I did watch the final game though at a local Irish pub. The annoying thing was that there were two TVs on different satellites, one of which was about 4 seconds faster than the other. The TV I was watching was the slower one, so most misses on goal were known beforehand.

I brought along to the bar a little American flag. A British man at the bar mistook me for German after I told him auf Deutsch that it would be better to watch the penalty kicks on the other (faster) TV. He pointed at my flag, said "Nasty! Why?" I was too much in shock to say anything.

In other rudeness this week, I walked by a guy on the street. He turned around (the boots I was wearing make a loud clicking sound) and told his girlfriend, "I would sell those shoes!" If I had not been taken off guard, I would have told his girlfriend something like, "Luckily a loud pair of shoes is easier to get rid of than a rude boyfriend."

In other happenings, I took a dance course last weekend with Peter at the Abendakadmie (night academy). We learned various dances over the weekend and I was not nearly as bad as I thought I would be (in school, learned only the macarena and the electric slide, neither of which I can do now).

From a 3+ hour commute to a 10 minute one

2011-07-14T22:18:00.004+02:00

As many of you know, I spend a lot of the day on public transportation. Since September, I have been going back and forth between where I live and where I study/work. The train ride (about 140km) is about 45 minutes and then the metro ride is another 40 minutes (about 15 km) - and that is just one way. While I try to be productive during the commute, it is hard to concentrate despite earplugs and a determined focus.

I looked at a room today at an apartment with two other women my age near the university and will move there in 2 weeks. I will live there for 3 months until I go to Vietnam again. The apartment is two floors and is much bigger than I thought, though my room is quite small (about 10 square meters). I am looking forward to spending more time on my PhD and less time in the train, though I will miss my wonderful apartment during the week - and my wonderful companion, of course.

In other "me" news, I turned a quarter of a century old. For those who are bad at math, that's 25 years. Here's a picture of my dad and I on my birthday, at my favorite pizza place (though despite the advertisement for Sanwald, that is not my favorite Weissbier).

Oh, and go USA! For those of you who are out of the loop and think I am being oddly (well not so odd for me) patriotic, the women's USA soccer team is playing in the World Cup Finals on Sunday. I watched the semi-finals (USA vs. France) at a French restaurant/bar in Stuttgart. There were a few other Americans there, but they were oddly silent whenever the US scored. I was the sole clapper.... though I kept my American flag in my purse.

Up and over the Brenner pass. Help-o Me-o!

2011-07-12T21:22:00.003+02:00

It is hard to believe it has been two weeks since the bike trip from northern Italy to near Wurzburg, but it has! The bike trip was fantastic, but very challenging physically. The Italian bikers looked pro when they showed up and they sure biked like pros. I could just keep up with them on the last day, well barely. We biked about 5 hours a day, averaging about 25 km/hour. The first day was a bit slower as we had to go over the Brenner pass, including a 16% grade hill (photo to the right taken after this hill). If you don't know what that means, well it means it is really steep. In fact, bikes cannot go downhill on the road because there have been so many accidents. Uphill is much slower. Walking was faster and less painful than biking, so I opted for a nice little hike with my bike in hand.

The Italians were all so friendly and nice. The ages ranged from about 27 to 60. Just one could speak English and German, so I relied on basic Spanish and hand signals. I remembered my reaction to Spanish during the first week: just add an "o". Help-o me-o!

I wore clip on pedals throughout the ride and just had one actual fall over (I could not clip out) and one potential (I was rescued by an Italian who was unlucky to be standing next to me). I look forward to joining the trip again next year! Since the bike trip, I have been pushing myself to bike much faster than is "comfortable." It is challenging and I have begun to really enjoy biking for the fitness challenge now.

You call that vacation?

2011-06-25T08:08:00.006+02:00

When I told my colleagues of my upcoming vacation - biking about 650 km from northern Italy to near Wurzburg - they starred at me and wondered aloud if I were crazy. Call me crazy, but I like challenges. Especially challenges that involve biking, running, hiking, or other outdoor activities. Lying around on the beach in the sun is totally unappealing to me.

The bike trip is to raise money for the kindergarten in Peter's village and I am biking with a group of 7 Italians, 2 Germans, a Brit, and my dad. At the finish line there is a party with Peter's village and the sister village in Italy with hundreds of Italians and Germans. It should be interesting communicating and meshing the cultures and lifestyles from the different countries. Will the Italians expect a long lunch break? Will the Germans require punctuality at all costs? Will the Americans be lazy and eat a lot of junk food? Just kidding with that last one. Anyway, it should be a great trip if my knee cooperates and if the Alps aren't as high as everyone says they are.

Doctor's order: drink Coke

2011-06-10T19:31:00.002+02:00

As some of you may know, I used to be addicted to Diet Coke. In college, I drank about 4 cans of Diet Coke a day. When I moved to Germany in September, 2008, I vowed to myself never to have a Coke again. I have been Coke/Diet Coke free since and feel great! So, when I went to the doctors this week after I had been, most likely, struck for the third time in 2 months with giardia and he told me to drink a ton of Coke, I became frustrated. Coke? After avoiding it for 2 days, the thought of drinking a Coke is totally nasty to me. But, it increases one's blood pressure which is good (mine was very low) and also has salt and sugar which need to be replenished.

I told the doctor that I hate Coke and he replied, "Well, I can't prescribe you something you don't like." Which made me laugh aloud but he did not see the irony in what he was saying. Oh, German humor!

Anyway, I decided not to drink Coke, opting for broth and tea instead.

In other news, we are off to Venice on Saturday for 3 days!

E. Coli!! EEEkk

2011-06-07T06:57:00.002+02:00

E. Coli has struck Germany, northern Germany to be exact though fear of fresh vegetables is throughout the whole country. I have not eaten any salad, tomatoes, or cucumbers in the past 10 days - unless it came from the garden at Peter's farm. In the mean time, the source has not been discovered yet. It could be just one careless farm worker who did not wash his hands and handled a few shipments of food before he washed his hands again. The source could be many things, which is the problem. It is amazing, and terrifying, how complex the food chain is. Maybe eating local fruits and vegetables is a better idea for food safety. Of course, I wont stop buying bananas which clearly aren't grown in Germany, but I'll try to do what I can.

I am still suffering from a sickness from Vietnam. I thought I had combated it, but it struck hard last weekend. I am trying to stay hydrated, but it is difficult to keep up with the losses. I'm on my third liter of tea today and I am still thirsty. On the upside, I have little appetite so I don't miss salads at all!

The Giantness of the USA

2011-05-29T15:15:00.001+02:00

The USA is full of giant things: giant cookies, giant bagels, giant people (well, 60% anyway), giant land mass, giant variety of people and site... The list goes on and on.

I just got back from a week long trip to the USA - Oregon to be specific. I had never been to Oregon before and had never heard of tourists going to Oregon so I had a dearth of expectations. This proved to be good. While driving east of Portland to Hood River, Dalles, Fossil, and Welches, I was amazed at the variety of sites. From a sophisticated city (Portland) to small towns like Antelope (population 24), from skyscrapers to tower-like cave structures, and from sidewalks to fossil-full paths. The friendliness of the people also impressed me again and made me feel proud to be an American. On the first day of our arrival, we looked a bit confused with the light rail system and a Portlander came over and helped us without our asking for help. In Antelope at the town's social center, a diner, the owner and customers chatted with us Auslanders, telling of their rattlesnake catches and magical carpets from a cult that invaded the town decades ago.

With the giantness of the USA though, sadly some get lost and forgotten. In Welches outside of a grocery store we saw a poster board full of missing children and in Portland we saw just dozens of the 1,500 homeless young adults who live in the streets. It was very sad and frustrating to see the youth waste away on drugs in the streets. But, how does "the system" provide and accommodate such youths who tend to be "against the system"?

How can the USA with all its giantness provide a comfortable living environment for everyone? With the emphasis on individuality, perhaps it is impossible. But, we can try.

Off to the US

2011-05-18T18:27:00.003+02:00

I am off to the US tomorrow for 8 days. The 25 hour adventure from Mannheim to Portland, Oregon begins! I have no idea how I will handle the sleeping situation (we arrive in Portland at 5am German time or 10pm Portland time). I guess I will play it by ear. The weather is so beautiful here in Germany, that it feels odd to fly to Portland where it is colder and rainier.

I am curious what new trends I will discover - besides inflation as I have been forewarned. Last time it was cupcakes and text messages. Hopefully any new trends will beat those two. Who wants to stare at the cell display all the time and eat lots of frosting (and it's not even the good frosting they use on the cupcakes!)

Plans for Oregon? Hang out with family for a few days and then go to the beach for a day before heading out to mountain/forest areas for hiking, biking and rafting. I gotta burn those delicious American burgers off somehow!

Mourning in Vietnam

2011-05-11T21:12:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago, the father of one of our translators died. This was very sad news and the employee went home to mourn with her family. Ten days later, I visited her and her family in a village 43 km south of Hanoi (but 2.5 hours by public transportation). I was picked up at my hotel by her sister-in-law who spoke no English. It was interesting to travel with her all the way. She was my travel companion, yet communication relied on smiles and pats of the shoulder. When we reached the home, about 30 family members were waiting for our arrival. Children ran up to us, smiling and laughing and even the adult mourners looked quite cheerful.

I was quickly introduced to the deceased by visiting the altar in the middle of the room. The altar was a small table with a military photo of the father. Fruits were spread out on the table, as well as cookie packages. Music of Buddhist chants was also playing constantly. I lit in incense candle, clasped my hands in prayer, thought of the deceased and his family, bowed me head, and then went back to conversations with the relatives - well, mainly with an uncle who loved to joke and I was at the butt end of most of his silly jokes but I played along nicely.

I was curious why so many family members had gathered on the particular day of my visit - and no, I am not so vain to think that they had all gathered to see me! Well, 10 days after the death of a person, the relatives all gather together to mourn and celebrate the life of the deceased. This mainly consists of eating lots of food around the altar. Luckily, breakfast consisted of an Asian pear, so I was hungry for the feast at 10:30 a.m. Lots of chicken and pork was served. I kept my bowl full with tofu and cabbage. After talking more with relatives, playing with a very cute little cousin (pictured above), and napping for a few hours, we went on a walk around the village, stopping at a woman planting water spinach in the rice fields, a pagoda (pictured above), and the Buddhist temple. At the temple, I learned that 50 days after the death of a person, their soul travels to the temple. This is another day in which family members gather. It is also the day in which the chanting music at the altar stops (it plays 24 hours a day for 50 days. I wonder what kind of batteries it has.)

All in all, it was a nice day of mourning: uncles joked, children played, and good food and drinks were plentiful. At the end of the day, I learned that the adorable little girl who attached herself to me was nicknamed my favorite fruit, jack fruit. Her nick name could not have been any better. She reminded me that with the life and death of someone, new generations are able to live, smile, and enjoy life.

How to tell the time of the day by what's playing on the radio

2011-04-24T11:13:00.003+02:00

I hear a dial tone on the public radio - it must be 5:30am when the public radio begins. I hear Tchaikovsky - it must be 5:45am and I am probably listening to an advertisement for the Black Swan. I hear a lullaby song which is strangely harsh and usually wakes me up on the weekend at 6am sharp if I am still sleeping. The list goes on and on. The only enjoyable public radio is on Sundays when traditional Vietnamese music is played for a few hours. Other than that, it is a weird assortment of advertisements, music, and public announcements.

When I ask my Vietnamese colleagues what the public radio says, they never can say. They have become very good at ignoring the radio, I think, or they are very accustomed to loud noises in general and block it out.

The public radio is broadcast in Yen Chau from a big radio tower which is about 1 km away from the house where I live and yet it is still very loud.

Looking forward to no such methods of keeping track of the time in one week...

I'm tired... I think I will just sleep at this house!

2011-04-24T04:03:00.006+02:00

It happens often: It is in the middle of the day, I am in a village, I am tired, and I want to sleep. What to do? I just ask someone if I can sleep in their house. This is not an awkward question at all, and people are happy to offer me the bed to sleep on or the ground. Imagine a stranger walking through your door and asking you such a question. Would you offer them your bed?

A major difference between a house in Vietnam and a house in Germany/the USA is that in Vietnam the homes are often just one big room. Here is a picture of a home where I slept on the ground for an hour in the late morning. Also, in the home many generations live together and there are lots of mattresses and blankets in the households (these are wedding gifts), so it is not considered an intrusion on their privacy.

At least that is the impression I get!

The post office experiences

2011-04-17T04:28:00.003+02:00

I went to the post office yesterday. After going the last time, I told myself I would not go again, but a friend's birthday urged me to go through the hassle one more time. The last time I went to the post office in Yen Chau I waited for 20 minutes while the woman behind the counter recounted hundreds of bills several times. I thought it would never end. Then, when I finally was able to buy stamps for a postcard and letter there was a lot of confusion. She did not know what to do with the letter and postcard and looked at them as if I were giving her a scientific specimen to examine under a microscope. I explained - with miming - what a stamp is and where to put it. She then took out some stamps and attempted to put the stamps on the backside of the envelope and on the front of the postcard. I said "no no!" and then she tried to put the stamp over where I had written the addresses. After much ado, I showed her where to put the stamps on the postcard and letter.

Unfortunately, yesterday a very nice postcard was sacrificed. I went with a translator to the post office to speed things along and to reduce my daily miming activities. After calculating the cost to send a postcard to the US (18,000 VND or about $0.80), she took out 6 stamps worth 2,000 VND each, put glue on the back of the stamps, and - before I could realize what she was doing because it was so inconceivable - she proceeded to glue the stamps over the entire front of the postcard! I was upset but laughed because there was nothing to do about it. I asked the translator to tell her why she did that and the post office employee said that they only had stamps for 2,000 VND and therefore 9 stamps were needed which would not fit on the back. At least she did not put them over the writing part...

I just don't get how a post office employee can have not idea what a stamp is and where to put it!

Lost in Translation

2011-04-10T10:25:00.003+02:00

One of my favorite movies, but unfortunately the theme of the week. Why? Well, well, well... I won't mention the more tragic ones, but instead focus on the more amusing ones.

Some funny highlights:
-Answer questions from a cook (a woman) at a restaurant about my age, marriage status and other important facts without speaking any Vietnamese.
-After an employee looking shocked after finding out my age, I asked her how old she thought I was. She said 50. Then, I looked shocked. I asked "really"? And, she said 15! 15! I thought you were 15! I then found out most people think I am 15 or 18 here. Is this a compliment?

I have become quite a good mime I must say. The trickiest thing I cannot figure out how to mime though, is to find out whether an egg is hard boiled or not cooked. I attempted this in Thailand 2 years ago for a few minutes without any success and have not come up with a better way in the mean time. To mime needing to go to the bathroom without embarrassing oneself or others is also quite difficult.

My Vietnamese is still limited to: hello/goodbye, thank you, mushrooms, tofu (it is the same as in English), and beautiful.

Noise pollution and a photo of a street scene

2011-04-03T05:16:00.005+02:00

Right now I am sitting at the office. What do I hear? Car horns, loud club/dance music blasting from next door, hammers, dogs, and memories of the public radio announcements which stopped an hour ago. Luckily the Vietnamese employees at the office are not listening to music on their cell phones now (which is typical). Even when I walked to a distant village on a muddy road, one of the interviewers brought a portable speaker to listen to music at 5am along the way! I had to laugh and be thankful that it was not Vietnamese disco/dance music.

I remember when I arrived at my apartment after living in Thailand for two months the shock I felt when I closed the door and heard nothing. Absolutely nothing! I literally started jumping around to hear some sound because I was not used to silence. I look forward to this experience again in a month when I return to Germany.

I wanted to share this silly photo with you all. I passed this when driving down from a village on a mountainous road. The young men lost a tire or two in just a few minutes while I was taking photos - they rolled off the side of the road. Labor is cheap here!

Motorbiking in Vietnam - proceed at your own risk

2011-04-01T14:41:00.003+02:00

Being on a motorbike happens more often than I would like... I am scared of driving a car in Germany, so riding on the back of a motorbike in Vietnam is not the funnest activity for me. Nevertheless, it is necessary for my work and leisure!

Last week I went on a 5-day trip to Sapa so that I could hike up Fansipan (the tallest mountain in Vietnam). I traveled on the back of a motorbike (my colleague drove) for about 670 km. We averaged just 30 km per hour, which seems ridiculously slow compared to speeds reached on the Autobahn, but the roads here are curvy, next to cliffs, and can have herds of goats or water buffalo. We had two near death experiences in which we were forced to drive off of the road because of oncoming trucks. Trucks take up most of the road and even pass each other when there is oncoming traffic! Driving at night is particularly dangerous because about half of all vehicles do not use any lights and bicyclists do not have reflectors.

The loads carried on the back of motorbikes is also entertaining - aren't I entertaining folks? ;-) . So far I have seen a 20 foot metal pipe, 3 live goats at once, a slaughtered pig, a huge water tank which was about 5 feet across in diameter and 6 feet long, as well as small cattle carried on the back of a motorbike (entire families fitting on one motorbike are too common for me to make a big deal about here). Farmers also pile on sugar cane on the back and sometimes their wives sit on top of the 2 foot pile. These sugar cane loaded motorbikes are also fun to pass because they take up most of the road.

My goal of learning to drive a motorbike was achieved, but I have driven just 20 minutes so far. I trust others' abilities more than my own, even non-sober others...

Vietnamese wedding - food, drink disguises, a 2-hour dress and doggie bags

2011-03-19T08:06:00.005+01:00

Last weekend I attended a Vietnamese wedding. The groom was the son of the guard of the lab house. The guard invited all of the PhD students, master students and their Vietnamese employees - about 20 people - to the 2-day wedding. On Saturday night we attended a dinner, which we thought would be the wedding, but the bride and groom weren't even there. We learned that the dinner was for close family and friends of the bride and groom. You can see how "close friends" means something else here.

The dinner was nice: we ate prawns, boiled eggs with a tasty sweet chili sauce, pork, some vegetables, flower soup, fried potatoes and, of course, rice (pictured above). Eating was not the focus though, drinking was. For the first hour, my table successfully pretended we were taking shots of rice wine (hard liquor), but we were really drinking water. We even had a contest of who could drink the least. I won with no alcohol consumed (the teetotaler was excluded from the contest). I managed to take water shots after the Vietnamese discovered our trickery, but my successful ugly after-shot alcohol face was so convincing that they were fooled. After dinner was karaoke, which I skipped (it is too loud and the chemicals they use to the clean the rooms are very intense).

The next day was the wedding (pictured to the left). We arrived at 10am, expecting some sort of ceremony. But what was waiting for us instead? More food and alcohol! We did get to see the bridge and groom though. They majestically stood at the door for 1.5 hours to shake everyone's hand. They came into the room near the end of the party, but the bride had taken off her wedding dress and was wearing jeans and a sweater! This was quite a surprise, but I later learned that the norm is to rent the wedding dress so the bride couldn't risk getting it dirty. Another odd occurrence was that many people came for just 15 minutes and even brought plastic bags to fill with food to take home! Imagine if this happened at a wedding in the West!

After the food, we had tea in an adjacent room. Luckily no alcohol was around, except on people's breath. We left at about noon. We stayed much longer than others and brought no doggie bags. Instead, we left with the question: "when was the ceremony?"

"I'm pregnant" and other methods to curb alcohol consumption

2011-03-10T09:50:00.003+01:00

No, I'm not really pregnant: today I made the decision to tell people I am pregnant so I don't have to drink as much in the villages. I visit about 8 households a day and at about half, alcohol is offered. When offered, one HAS to accept. A welcome drink and a farewell drink are taken - at a minimum. Sometimes a short household visit turns into 4 or more drinks though. The drink is wine, but don't get pictures of Bordeaux vineyards in your head too soon. By "wine", the Vietnamese mean distilled rice alcohol, with interesting and sometimes poisonous additives (a whole snake or honey bees are common non-poisonous additives).

Today, for example, I visited a household at 9:30 am. It was a more remote household in the village, which according to my experience thus far increases the likelihood of having to drink rice wine. After accepting some cups of tea, the rice wine was poured even though my translator told the farmer I do not drink alcohol. The men had honey bee rice wine while I was stuck with some peach-flavored rice wine. It tasted like the stuff that comes in small bottles at 7/11 which teenagers drink because it reminds them of their childhood cough syrup days. Anyway, I took a half of the shot that was poured, which sometimes is a successful method to leave the house with less than one full shot consumed. Not today! The farmer looked at my bright pink, half shot and said that I had to finish it.

I did not.

Then, he filled the glass to the top and said it is time for another shot while he poured himself, the interviewer and the translator another full shot of honey bee rice wine. I said (all through my translator) that I was very grateful for his hospitality, but that I will become ill if I drink more.

This was not a good excuse for him. He would not let me leave until I finished it. "This is Vietnamese culture! You cannot leave a shot glass with liquor still in it!" I kept my ground... my translator (and motorbike driver, mind you) ended up having to take the shot for me. "Just tell them I am pregnant next time" I said as I slipped on my boots outside of the house (one cannot wear shoes inside of homes here).

We went to the next household 10 minutes later and were offered again rice wine. I tried the "I'm pregnant" line but to no avail, a half a shot was poured for me. "A baby shot" I joked to myself. I didn't even put it to my lips, though I did lift the glass. I was so annoyed with the drinking pressure here. I smiled and left after the others had finished their rice wine.

Other tactics besides "I'm pregnant" including acting like I am in a big rush (though this is stressful because acting can become being), not asking personal questions to the household such as how many kids they have, and acting drunk already (I have not tried this one yet, but who knows, I am getting desperate!)

I really have to learn how to drive a motorbike... the bananas in my pack now are not only snacks for me on the road, but also rice wine absorbers for my translator. But can bananas counteract more than 4 shots of rice wine? I think not.

Goal for the weekend: learn how to drive a motorbike.

Currency confusion

2011-03-05T14:51:00.006+01:00

The value of a euro here is about 30,000 Vietnamese dong. This means that I spend a lot of dong here (about 100,000 for food each day). The confusing thing is, is that the 10,000 and 100,000 dong bills look VERY similar (see photos). This has led to some confusing times. For example, when I bought a bag of instant coffee mixes there was no price tag so I gave the lady 10,000 dong at a time. She accepted 4 of these bills and gave me some small change. Afterwards, I thought, “how could coffee have cost so much?” I had really thought I had given her 100,000 dong bills instead and thought I had been cheated for about a week until I realized my mistake. More recently, I counted the money I had from the project an had counted 35 bills. I told my colleague I had 3.5 million dong when in reality it was just 350,000 dong. The next day I told my colleague that I must have lost over 3 million dong because I had just had 20,000 dong left. “How could that have happened?” We thought about different possibilities and I spent the next half hour calculated exactly how much I had spent the day before. Then I realized that I had counted just 35 bills (and we don’t carry bills larger than 20,000 dong). To my relief, I did not lose over 3 million dong (the equivalent to about 90 euro here or about a month’s wage).

Tactics to prevent this from happening again? Folding the 100,000 bills in half… and believing less in my eyesight and more in the good of others.

Get me out of here!

2011-03-01T12:31:00.002+01:00

After suffering for two days of Giardia (most likely), I decided to go to the hospital in Yen Chau to get tested for what was the cause of my problems. I arrived with one of the translators, paid 1 euro and then met with a doctor. She asked me about my symptoms (I won't describe there here....) and she insisted that I needed to stay in the hospital for at least a day to put IV fluids in my body to recover all of the liquid lost. I told her I could drink solution on my own and that I did not want to stay in the hospital. She said that my digestive system could be ruined if I don't get hooked up to an IV. I am no doctor, but I did not believe this.

To test her knowledge, I asked her what a person with diarrhea should eat (I know the answer: rice, potatoes, NO FAT, noodles, bread, crackers). She said, "meat". I laughed. I then asked her what kind of meat and she said, "pork meat. Lots of pork meat and maybe some rice." I could not contain myself with laughter. This response, of course, discredited her other statements, but I went through with checking in so I could get an IV with liquid to rehydrate myself.

I then gave a blood and urine sample, which I later learned was just regular procedure for patients who stay in the hospital - no matter what they check in for - and not linked to my condition at all. When I asked the lab technicians to take a stool sample to test for bacteria/parasites they said they could not and that the blood and urine sample would say what the problem was (also false!) In the mean time, nature called... I won't describe the bathroom conditions of the hospital in detail, but let's just say a portable toilet at the town fair is cleaner and smells nicer.

Anyway, after sitting on the bed in a patient room (shared with one patient and 3 relatives who also sat on my bed with me), waiting for the IV I got a call from Dr. Dave (dad) in the US after I frantically tried to reach him for his advice. To stay or not to stay? He confirmed my beliefs: the doctors here do not know much, I should avoid the hospital at all costs, I can rehydrate myself and don't need an IV, and I should get out of there as soon as possible. After I hung up the phone, the nurse came with a dirty try, with the IV lying on it. I laughed and told the translator "let's get out of here". In the mean time, my urine and blood test results were back! Guess what?! Normal! After inquiring again about the stool sample, the lab technicians finally admitted that they do not have the capability to check stool samples there. We motorbiked away...

I spent the rest of the day re-hydrating myself and lying on the porch of the office. I hope I don't need to go to the hospital again! I am much better now after taking some anti-Giardia medicine, but am still a bit dehydrated.

Really. Really?

2011-02-27T01:44:00.002+01:00

The Vietnamese language is complex... My last blog entry was about how my name is spoon. Well, I have found out that "Thea" when the "ea" goes down in pitch means "spoon" and "Thea" when the "ea" goes up in pitch means "really". So, I am "really" or "spoon" depending on the pitches used.

Hi. My name is Spoon!

2011-02-22T23:36:00.006+01:00

My name means spoon in Vietnam. This was tested last weekend at a soup stand when they ran out of spoons. My housemate yelled my name and what do you know, but we got a spoon! Too bad spoons are not so useful in Vietnam. But, I guess it would be awkward if my name meant "toilet" or something more useful. I guess I can accept "spoon".

The Vietnamese language is very difficult to learn. I must admit that I have just spent an hour trying to learn consonants and also how one addresses others, and it is confusing. There are different ways to address people based on your age and their age. The most common question people ask here is "how old are you?" This way people know which form to address to you. If someone is younger, they always get a different form of being addressed. Usually it is based on the age of your parents. If a man is older than your parents then he gets one title. If younger another. But, people usually have kids here quite early... do I use the age of my parents or the age of a more typical set of Vietnamese parents (20 years older, rather than 40 years older)?

If you are on the end closer to your 30s and not married, the reply is something like "why aren't you married" or "you are like something old sitting on the shelf". As I am on the lower end of my 20s (just nearly!) I have avoided such comments (well, based on what the translator tells me. Who knows if he translates these comments to me!)

OK, spoon will now do her morning routine of exercises before going to the villages for a pretest of the questionnaire.

I wish dog meat were more popular in Vietnam

2011-02-22T15:24:00.005+01:00

The dogs can tell here I am different. Maybe it's my walk. Maybe it's my talk. Or maybe, they just like to stalk.

If you have not been to a developing country you may not be familiar with this phenomena, but dogs are everywhere! They are not owned by anyone and live off of trash. I have never had problems before when traveling (though I have been attacked several times in the US) by dogs, but last week I was bitten by a dog. Luckily it did not go through my jeans so I did not have to get rabies shots. A pack of 6 dogs that roam around the area near my house all came after me and a big one bite me. My strategy to get rid of them? Run into motorbike traffic to confuse them! It worked...

People do eat dogs here, but unfortunately it is not very popular. Otherwise, there would be much less dogs on the streets. As a mainly vegetarian, this would be no problem for me!

So, what are my current methods to avoid such a situation:
1. crossing the street to the other side if I see a dog.
2. wear a motorbike helmet to make myself look bigger and to fit in more.
3. don't walk so quickly.
4. try to forget that dogs exist by staring at the sky.
... you get the idea.

Other here say that when you face the dog they will go away. This has worked this week, but it is hard to face your fears. I will try... one dog at a time.

Karaoke - a part of my everyday life

2011-02-13T16:15:00.005+01:00

Karaoke is part of my everyday life for at least 2 hours.

"But wait," you may think, "I thought she was supposed to be doing PhD research in Vietnam." You are right. I live next to a karaoke bar and thus hear karaoke for a few hours every night. The karaoke noise begins at about 9pm and ends at around 11 to 12am each night. I cannot make out the words because it is in Vietnamese, but I can definitely make out the not so artistic singing voices. It is not mistake - this is karaoke I hear!

Last night I went out with 3 Germans and 4 Vietnamese to the place next door for a little off-key singing of our own. About half of the 30 songs were in Vietnamese and sung by our Vietnamese colleagues and the other half were English and sung by the westerners in the room. We had a private room - typical for Asia - even with our own bathroom. We all became a little more deaf after the experience - the cell-like construction of the room which was windowless was a perfect cocoon for noise. The karaoke machine even gave out points - which were quite random I think, although when I sang the score was between 80 and 92 at most which was on the lower end of the scale, so I cannot say it was completely random.

Behind the words of the songs, a video showed either fish, Rome, Switzerland, Vietnamese school children, Vietnamese people singing karaoke, or a TV shop in Vietnam. I tried to make some sense of the choice of video background: love songs brought Rome (such as "My girl" or "Love Hurts"), songs with quite random lyrics brought fish (such as "Roxanne"), songs in Vietnamese had the Vietnamese scenes, and there were some other interesting relationships between lyrics and videos which I cannot recall now (maybe it was the rice wine that was forced upon me before dinner). Nevertheless, perhaps I was trying to make a very unscientific activity too scientific. I am here to research after all!

For more photos of my adventures in Vietnam, check out (which I will update as I take photos):
https://picasaweb.google.com/Thea.Nielsen/Vietnam?authkey=Gv1sRgCMC2t_afkMPqyQE&feat=directlink

First report from Vietnam

2011-02-09T05:25:00.003+01:00

I made it to Vietnam. The flight over was shorter than I thought - just 10.5 hours - so that was nice. I arrived in Hanoi in the morning, slept a few hours and then ventured around the city. It is a nice city to walk around, as long as you don't cross the street! I attempted one intersection 5 times within 10 minutes before finally finding a small gap. I went to a water puppet show which is a traditional entertainment used by rice farmers a thousand years ago. I felt bad for the puppeteers who had to wade in the water behind a curtain while they controlled the wooden puppets with along wooden poles under the water and strings to move the arms.

After the puppet show, I attempted to find a motorbike helmet to buy but did not succeed. Then I found a small soup shop outside where I sat on a mini plastic chair and slurped Bo (noodle soup) with about a tablespoon of beef. The great thing about food in Vietnam is they serve it with a big bowl of herbs (mint, cilantro) and lettuce. They also put fish sauce on the table and often hot sauce or hot peppers. This way I can make my food spicier and more nutritious!

The day after, I drove 6 hours to Yen Chau with a translator and interviewer. It was just about 300km, but one cannot drive very fast. We stopped for lunch along the way and shared tofu, cuddle fish (not so great), cabbage and rice. Afterward, a man came over and showed us a bottle of wine (vodka!) and we all took a shot. By the way, wine means hard liquor here. Luckily, most tableware in Vietnam looks like it is from a kid's tea set so a shot of vodka was really about a quarter of an American shot or an eighth of a Russian shot. Before each drink, a toast is made to the people who are invited to the toast (one does not have to invite everyone to a drink even if in a small circle), the shot is taken and then hands are shaken between the person who invited others and the invitees.

I settled into my living arrangements for the next four weeks in a house for PhD student in the project. Afterward, others who reserved the house will come so I will move to a hotel. Now there are 4 other PhD students living in the house.

Tomorrow we will begin the training for the large household survey.

Off to Vietnam - with a kid's toy?

2011-02-04T20:43:00.002+01:00

On Sunday I will fly to Hanoi in northern Vietnam. I have been preparing for the research stay over the last few months. I will be conducting research there for my PhD. The survey is part of a large project which the University of Hohenheim has had there for many years. I will be stationed in Yen Chau, which is near Laos/China in NE Vietnam. It is a 6 hour car drive from Hanoi.

I will arrive in Hanoi on the 7th, which is the biggest holiday in Vietnam: Tet. Tet is described as being a combination of New Year's Eve and Christmas, so I am curious what the day is like. There is a flower festival supposedly on Tet in Hanoi which I will try to visit if I can find it!

Perahps you are wondering about my title. Well, it is quite cold in northeast Vietnam now, so in preparation for the cold weather (and lack of heating) I bought a mini hot water maker. Or, so I thought! It arrived today and as I unpacked it, I realized it was a kid's toy! There was no electricity part - just a Phillips kid's toy for a play kitchen. That's life in a country where one does not understand the language fully. Just think of what ridiculous things I may buy in Vietnam? Will I buy rotten eggs or gizzards without wanting to like I did in Thailand? I think dog meat is more likely in Vietnam...

Schlafzimmer!

2011-01-31T18:58:00.007+01:00

I have never seen so many coordinated bed, closet and nightstands set (called "Schalfzimmer" or sleeping room in English, pictured above from a furniture store) in my life. We went shopping on Saturday with the goal of buying a Schlafzimmer. We looked at about 70, but none caught our attention enough to warrant a purchase. The Schalfzimmer we intended to buy, is for a beautiful room at Peter's farmhouse which for the past 50 years has been pretty much empty. After leaving the consumer world and listening to our more inner thoughts back in the countryside, we decided to wait to buy such a Schlafzimmer and to utilize stuff already in the house. Who needs LED lights under the nightstand, bed post and closet frame anyway?

The New America - Cupcakes and Texting Galore!

2011-01-09T11:52:00.005+01:00

I was in the US the past three weeks and had a wonderful time visiting family, friends and great cities (Amherst, Boston, Philadelphia, DC and NYC). There were two major trends in the US which standout and weren't such a big part of the culture the last time I visited.

Trend number 1: Cupcakes! What is it with this trend? Cupcake shops were everywhere. We gave in and bought a cupcake in DC and were highly disappointed. Dunkin' donuts was a much better "unhealthy" snack - and 1/3 the price.

Trend number 2: Sending text messages rather than calling. Unfortunately, my phone was a very unreliable text message sender so I could not partake in this trend with full confidence. Nevertheless, I did my part by sending about 40 text messages in 3 weeks (a new record for me, but I am sure there are people who send that many in a day). The most surprising text message I got was one by a friend telling me she was outside of my door. I also overheard a conversation between fellow patriots saying that calling is now considered rude and that people should text instead! I guess I have a lot to learn...

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T18:53:00.003+01:00

I hope you all have a great Christmas today, wherever you are and whomever you are with! I am with my parent's now. There is no snow on the ground but it is still quite cold - about 26 degrees F. It is nice to be home after 10 months away. The routine sets in again. All is missing is my cello, which I brought to Germany. It's great to drive around on the streets I know so well and with the feeling that I am visiting the people I have known for most of my life.

Best wishes today!

I made it!

2010-12-21T13:22:00.002+01:00

Wow! What an ordeal to get over to the US. I was supposed to fly on Saturday home from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Boston, but my first flight was canceled the night before. I called up the airline and the earliest they could schedule me for a new set of flights was 2 days later, on Monday, this time over Paris. Obsessing over the weather and canceled flights, I noticed that most intra-European flights were canceled so I decided on Sunday night I would not take a chance and get my first flight and instead take a train to Paris and catch my second flight to Boston. I had to actually go to the Frankfurt airport to tell the airlines to lower the chance of them canceling all of my subsequent flights. The train was also an hour late and so far no delay was posted for my plane (Peter kept me informed throughout the train ride), so I ran like crazy in Paris through the snow and slush (and up 60 stairs with my 56 pound suitcase!) between train stations and took a very slow train out to Charles de Gaule from the Paris train station. Luckily, my first flight from Frankfurt hadn't even taken off by the time I reached the check in counter so my ticket was not canceled. The flight to Boston ended up being 6 hours delayed, but I didn't mind! At least I made it! Boston was all snowy when we wanted to land so we had to circle for 1/2 hour in the air. Finally, I reached Cori, 54 hours after I thought I would.

Best holiday wishes to you all!

2010-12-06T20:07:00.002+01:00

I spent 42 hours in Amsterdam over the weekend. We took a train from Mannheim which was supposed to be directly to Amsterdam, but before Duisberg the conductor announced in Dutch (!) that the train would not go all the way to Amsterdam and that if we wanted to go there we had to get off at the next stop and wait 1.5 hours for another train. Luckily a Dutch speaking person helped us and the other passengers
out. The train staff must have been hiding in the bathrooms because they were no where to be found. We arrived in Amsterdam at around
midnight and took a taxi to the hotel, which was located south of the Van Gogh museum (outside of the main city center, shopping area). The next day we went to the Van Gogh museum. It was a nice refuge from the snow storm which was brewing outside. After 2 hours there, we headed
outside and walked around the city.

The clothes to buy in Amsterdam were much more "my style" than in Germany. Very modern, good quality, lots of leather jackets! Not very colorful clothes, but I guess that is the style now. I ended up just buying a pair of winter boots because my feet were soaked and cold.

To spare ourselves a 3km walk to the hotel, we took a tram to the hotel in the evening. Boy was it inefficient and slow! It was truly amazing! There are no ticket machines to buy tickets in advance. Instead, anyone (tourists) who want to buy a ticket have to buy from the driver directly OR from a man in a booth at the back of the tram. When the driver is selling the tickets, he/she does not drive until all the tickets are bought. We waited a few minutes at each stop just for tickets to be bought. I could not believe how inefficient it was. It was like riding a bus!

The next day, we walked around Amsterdam some more. It had rained over the night so it was easier to walk around and the sun even came out which was nice. We walked past the Anne Frank house (I had visited it in 2005 and did not have a desire to go again) and along many canals before having lunch in a cafe. Then we went to the concert hall to hear the orchestra play two symphonies and a violin concerto. It was a nice concert and a man gave up his better seats for Peter and I - it increased our viewing area by 80%! We sat behind the orchestra so we could watch the Latvian conductor and sync the odd singing sounds to his opening mouth! I was shocked that his voice was audible in the concert.

For the complete photos album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/picturesfromthea/AmsterdamInDecember2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLLEofeIkre-Mg&feat=directlink

A Pieless Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T22:23:00.003+01:00

Today is my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. Why is this the best American holiday? Well, just about everybody can celebrate it, it celebrates the fall harvest, it is a day for close family and friends, and it is a day to be thankful (though we should be thankful everyday). Also, it is not a religious holiday so it includes more people than Christmas, which is way too over commercialized in my opinion and Easter, which is a bit odd. Anyway, I LOVE Thanksgiving. Too bad I am in Germany!... No cranberries, no pies (I have yet to find a pie tin here), etc, but I still managed to have a pretty good Thanksgiving despite the setbacks. Also, last Sunday an American couple whom I have known for a long time invited Peter and I over for a full Thanksgiving meal with a big turkey and all. It was very nice, but I still had to do "something" on the actual day.

So, today I had a couple over and cooked a nice dinner. I did not cook turkey though (it was simply too much meat) and settled on a chicken instead. We had to do without cranberry sauce, but luckily Peter found some marshmallows for the sweet potato dish. Everyone enjoyed the food a lot, but there was no space left for dessert. So, I guess it did not matter in the end that we did not have pie.

I wish you all a very nice Thanksgiving with your family, friends, strangers or with just yourself if that is the case.

The verdict: soft foods again

2010-11-23T19:43:00.003+01:00

As some of you may know, after getting my bottom wisdom teeth out three years ago I have not been able to eat hard food or sandwiches/foods that cannot easily pop in. I complained to the dentist who did my surgery and she said to take 8 aspirin a day for a month to see if it got any better. I didn't follow her advice, thinking eating soft foods would be better than internal stomach bleeding! And no, I did not sue her which many of my American friends had recommended. Since then, I eat hard foods rarely and accept the consequences afterward: sore jaw, headache, pain in mouth, etc.

Anyway, I saw a jaw specialist last week. He took an x-ray and pushed on various pressure points in my mouth and on my head, and concluded that I have TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder). This was not news because I had assumed I had that anyway, but what was news was that there may be a solution, though I am quite doubtful. Eating soft foods only is a critical part of this solution. This means, no fresh vegetables other than finely grated carrots and some lettuce. Let's just say I am thankful that I like yogurt so much! It will be interesting while being in the US over the holidays to try to eat soft food only. I also have to go to a physiotherapist 10x. I never heard of such a practice until I came to Germany. Again, I am quite skeptical but am willing to try it all in hopes of being able to eat raw carrots and apples again without pain!

What is that doing in my room?!?!

2010-11-19T16:42:00.004+01:00

After finishing up a postcard in bed, I hopped off the bed onto a mat and my foot landed right next to a used condom. I almost puked on the spot. Thinking I was dreaming, I ran to the bathroom, turned on the light and looked into the mirror. No, unfortunately I was not dreaming. A used condom had somehow found itself into my hotel room while I was out for two hours in the evening. Very mysterious!

Needless to say, I went to the reception and told them of this odd discovery. They did not seem very surprised. In fact, they were more surprised that I wanted to change rooms! “Why would you want to do that? It is a nice room,” she said. I was flabbergasted.

As it was 9:30 pm when I made this unfortunate discovery, I did not want to schlep my stuff to another hotel at that time of day. Instead, I asked for another room, which the receptionist and doorman could not understand but finally agreed to (surprisinlgy they did not offer to change my sheets in the old room before I asked for another room). Sleeping was more than difficult that night and as soon as the manager of the hotel was in the next morning, I went to see him. He said that his hotel does not rent rooms for a few hours in rooms that are already occupied (I didn’t ask about the other rooms).

So, that was my Sunday night. So much for a sin free Sunday. Other than that, I did have a good day. In the morning I went to the newly opened Red Terror Museum about the Derg regime in Ethiopia from about 1974 to 1987 in which approx. 500,000 Ethiopians were killed. Then, I went to a church and observed the white-clad churchgoers (dressed to look like angels). I did not realize the separation of men and women until looking at my photos (I was among the men...) Then, in the evening, while my room was being used by unknown individuals, I met a friend of a friend who lives in Addis and went to a trendy yet homey café called Sishu which just opened. I enjoyed hearing about the lives of Ethiopian young women in Addis: complaints of power outages and slow internet, immense knowledge of government projects and departments, style and beauty.

Village life and the state of agriculture in Ethiopia

2010-11-07T14:13:00.003+01:00

During my time in Ethiopia I spent about 40 hours in villages which are accessible only by a 4x4 car or by a 2 to 4 hour walk. Luckily, I rented a 4x4 car! The village life is much different from the city life. People are more relaxed, children are friendlier, it is quieter, some villages are cleaner and there are no bottomless holes because there are no sidewalks. One village I went to was located at the base of Mt. Ziqualla which was really a fantastic view. The people in this village were very friendly and even agreed to meet me after they buried a village member in the morning. The people in this village thanked the “educated white woman” for coming and for talking with them about their problems. The children in this village were also very friendly. There was a shack housing about four girls and a mother located near the tree where I sat for discussions with farmers. These four girls were very curious, friendly and shy. In another village, a group of mainly small boys gathered around me but after 10 minutes became bored with me and played soccer, using rocks as goal posts.

People stay near their huts and make sure that cattle and goats don’t eat their crops. Once a cow began munching on some gomen, a cabbage-spinach-like vegetable which is very yummy, and several farmers in the focus group discussion jumped up and ran over to shove the cow away. Donkeys are the main form of transportation in villages, other than walking.

The state of agriculture in Ethiopia is very underdeveloped. Most people use oxen to plow their land and harvest wheat, teff and other grains by hand. This means that people have a small knife, cut a bunch of wheat, gather it and throw it in a pile. Then, the grains are separated from the stalk by hand as well, by tossing the wheat in the air and having the stalk fly away while the grains drop. It is extremely labor intensive. It takes 4 men one week to harvest an acre of wheat. I did not want to tell them that it takes my boyfriend a day to harvest two dozen acres. Nevertheless, it is an exciting country agriculturally because there is so much room for improvement. Most farmers do not use improved seeds and farmers are beginning to see their benefits. Also, weather indexed crop insurance, the topic of my PhD, has begun a few years ago in Ethiopia and has a great potential to help farmers cope with risks from weather related problems. I look forward to returning to Ethiopia over the years to see how the country develops more.

Safety in Ethiopia

2010-10-31T10:22:00.001+01:00

When I told my family I was going to Ethiopia, their first thought was about my safety. Well, I feel quite safe in Ethiopia. Ethiopians have also told me that it is part of their culture, which is highly religious (Christian Orthodox), to not be violent towards others. In fact, while there have been lots of beggars to stick out their hand to me, only three so far have touched me (two grabbed my arm and a small girl jumped on my back). I have also been told my Ethiopians that if somebody does bother someone (“the rebellious young men”), then others will try to get him and return the stolen item to the person. Also, police here are quite present. Most buildings have security guards who are visibly armed and they check your bags and body for any weapons. Of course I take precautions. I do not stay out very late (7pm) unless I am with others, and I do not carry anything in my hand or pockets.

I felt unsafe just a few times. Once after the unfortunate discovery in my room (see another blog entry for this), and another time when I was in a small town past Butajira in the car waiting for the interpreter to find someone. A group of 15 kids came up to the car and were not smiling like the village kids. Instead, they looked mean and some even had machetes and other tools in their hands. They were quite agitated and wanted money. They inched closer and closer over 5 minutes and were soon pressed up against the window. The driver threatened to spray them with a can of spray he had in the car, but finally decided to back up 30 meters and then to drive ahead 60 meters. Luckily, the interpreter came back in time.

Perhaps the highest danger in Ethiopia is twisting an ankle. The roads and sidewalks here are very poor. The bricks are not laid accurately next to each other, some sidewalks consist of dirt with an uneven surface and the paved sidewalks have holes or large bumps. I’ve seen holes with no end in the middle of the sidewalk as well as 20 foot drops into slums on the edge of the sidewalk without a fence. The bottomless holes next to sidewalks or on sidewalks though are the most disturbing.

So, I mostly look down when I walk, and of course glance up now and then for cars, donkeys, blue donkeys, buses and beggars.

Ethiopian food and juices

2010-10-20T07:50:00.000+02:00

The food in Ethiopia is very distinct from other African countries (well, besides Eritrea which shares a lot of culture in common with Ethiopia). The basis of the diet here is injeera, which is a large (about 1 foot diameter or bigger) pancake-like bread, which is made from teff (a grain), water and yeast. To make injeera (most households do not buy it even though it is a long process to make it and it is sold in supermarkets), women mix the ingredients 3 days before they want to make injeera and let the dough sit. They pour off the top part, which is mostly water, and then either heat up a clay oven which is done in the rural areas, or turn on a special electronic urban kitchen item to make injeera. The dough is not like bread dough westerners may be used to, instead it is more like a thin pancake batter which can be ladled across the hot injeera pan. It cooks for just three minutes, creating small bubbles across the injeera. It has a sour taste and is very filling. It is also quite nutritious with high contents of iron and protein compared to other breads.

Anyway, injeera forms the basis of Ethiopian food. For breakfast, people eat firfir which is torn up injeera soaked in sauces and can have meat too. For lunch they eat injeera which is put on the base of a plate and then on top are different assortments of sauces (on fast days, which means people cannot eat meat, the sauces are mostly lentil based). Also, injeera is usually offered on the side as well and used as a utensil to pick up the sauces and injeera which is too wet to pick up. Desserts are not typical here, although there are many pastry shops here in Addis. Instead, coffee is served after the meal, even after dinner. And not just one cup, but several cups. The beans are freshly roasted and then the coffee is made. Coffee is often eaten with roasted barely.

I’ve had most lunches at a Christian Evangelical church which serves fasting food only. They offer an injeera lunch or a rice and vegetable lunch, both for 12 birr (or about $0.80). I also tried kitfo which is traditionally a raw meat dish, though I asked for it cooked, served with a very good spinach-like cabbage called gomen, Ethiopian cheese (it looks like cottage cheese) and a bread made from enset, the false banana. It was tasty and was the first spicy thing I ate in Ethiopia on the last week of my trip.

Of course in Addis western foods are available, such as pastas, hamburgers and sandwiches. I have just had two western meals, a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. I definitely knew I was not in Italy or a western country eating the pasta! The pasta was overcooked and the tomato sauce and lentil sauce it came with were quite tart and spicy.

The juice here is very good and I have juice here most nights for dinner. There are fancy juice bars which take a long time to make juice and even give you a shot glass of a sample beforehand to make sure that you approve of the freshness, and then there are very small shops that have juice which is made beforehand and stored in a fridge. I prefer the small shops as it is much quicker and much cheaper ($0.40 a glass). The small shop I’ve been to every night serves pineapple, papaya, avocado, guava, apple, banana and orange juice. All of the juices are so thick that you have to eat them with a spoon. A healthy alternative to a milkshake!

Sorry if I made you hungry or made you have a craving for Ethiopia food which will cost you at least $12 for a meal when I ate it for less than $1. You’ll just have to come to Ethiopia to taste the real thing!

A grey donkey almost collides with a blue donkey

2010-10-20T07:46:00.000+02:00

As I was sitting on a blue donkey (a blue mini bus) on one of the major roads in Addis which is four lanes across, I looked to my left and a group of 15 donkeys was running across the road. I looked in awe at these donkeys in this city of 3 million people. Where did they come from? What were they doing in the city? How did they manage to cross this busy road? While I looked around at the passengers in the blue donkey, trying to share a moment together, none of the other passengers seemed to notice the donkeys. I chuckled to myself at the apparent ridiculousness – donkeys running across a busy road in the capital city – from my “western” eyes. A few minutes later, the blue donkey passed Meskel Square which is a major plaza in Addis where famous political addresses are made and where occasional concerts are held. I saw scattered donkeys on the plaza, with no owners in sight.

Later in the day I asked some Ethiopians about the donkeys in Addis. They said that the donkeys are used to transport goods and are the cheapest way for goods to be transported within the city – about 10 birr (or $0.65) per donkey load. A group of donkeys can make a good amount of money for its owner. I just hope the donkeys know to look both ways before crossing the street!

Other events to remember:

-a woman telling me, “hey sister, I love you so much.” This was a first for a woman stranger to say to me. I had just finished “The Color Purple” that day so the timing could not have been better.

- a poor young man on the street in Addis Ababa trying to sell me a book about poverty.

Off to Ethiopia

2010-09-28T20:00:00.004+02:00

I'm off to Ethiopia on Sunday. I'll be there for three weeks doing research for my PhD. I'll be in Addis Ababa and Adama (also known as Nazret or Nazareth). I am very excited to experience a new country - the 23rd country I have visited (I don't count airports).

Planning for the trip has been a bit tough because there are multiple names for each town (case in point above, with Adama/Nazret/Nazareth which all are the same place) and even multiple spellings for the same pronunciation! Also, the phone numbers got a remodeling a few years ago (another digit or two was added) and so it is hard to know how to dial a phone number. I called up a hotel this morning after trying seven different phone numbers and then the woman didn't speak English. Oh well!

Oktoberfest for 6 hours

2010-09-21T21:24:00.004+02:00

Peter and I took a three hour train early on Sunday morning to Munich. Why would we get up early on Sunday after Peter flew in from the US the day before? Oktoberfest of course! We arrived at the first tent at noon. I was surprised that we could walk right in and sit down at a table. We ordered our first Mass (a one-liter mug of beer) and schweinhaxe (pig leg). After drinking down the beer with the fatty and salty lunch we headed outside to observe the other side of Oktoberfest - rides.

I hate to admit this, but I really had no idea that Oktoberfest consisted of roller coasters, scramblers and the like. Oh, did I mention candied applies? I thought that Oktoberfest was a celebration of beer, brass bands, singing and dancing on tables. I had no idea of the state fair-esque side of it. Anyway, it was a nice break from the tents, though we did go into three more. One tent was hosted by a hunting club and some nice jungsters let us sit at their table - they were on their sixth Mass so they did not seem to mind!

All in all we had a nice time there, but we were glad to take the train home after six hours of festivities.

For more photos go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/Thea.Nielsen/Oktoberfest?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjb-tKjxoODPw&feat=directlink

September 11th

2010-09-11T15:26:00.002+02:00

Today is always a hard day to go through - September 11th. Although no one that I knew directly was killed in the attacks, I still feel terrible for the death of the 2,996 people who died as a result of the attacks.

Today is also the Ethiopian new year day. Last night, I celebrated the Ethiopian new year with friends in Hohenheim. I helped an Ethiopian friend cook dinner for about 10 people. He had bought injera and we made a variety of lentil, meat, potato wats (stews) which one eats with their hands using the injera (it looks like a pancake but is made from tef). It was a nice evening. I also spoke with his brother who lives in Addis Ababa. I will travel to Ethiopia for three weeks in October for research and my Ethiopian friend's brother has nicely agreed to show me around Addis Ababa and to even partake in a religious pilgrimage with me up a mountain. I am very excited to experience a new country and to begin my PhD research there.

Life as a PhD Student - week 1

2010-09-03T21:19:00.002+02:00

I started my PhD on Wednesday at the University of Hohenheim. That same day I found out that the article I wrote based on my master thesis research was accepted at a peer-reviewed journal. Anyway, I still live in Mannheim, so I travel 3 hours, door-to door from my apartment to the institute and back, each day. I read the Great Gatsby, half of a book on Ethopian culture and articles for my PhD research on the train in the past three days. I am looking forward to reading lots more in the train rides to come. The people at the institute are very nice and take a coffee break and lunch break together (well, the ones who aren't too picky about the cafeteria food!) There are PhD students from about 12 different countries out of a total of about 16 students. I'm the only North American...

The next weeks are quite intense in terms of travel. I'm going to Switzerland in the middle of September and then Ethiopia in the beginning of October, and Peter is going to the US twice in September. This weekend I am off to Leipzig to visit my dad. I just found out that you can't bring trains on the ICE trains which is a bummer. And I thought Germany was bike friendly! Life is full of surprises.

Berlin - I'm in love

2010-08-29T11:44:00.004+02:00

I fell in love last week - with Berlin. It is a great city - modern (see photo below of the DV bank on Under den Linden) and historic (see photo to the left of the Gedenknis Kirche), fun, interesting, eclectic (in terms of people and neighborhoods) and bike-friendly. I spent the week there with my parents, who flew in from Boston. We rented a small apartment in a Turkish area of Berlin. Baklava shops and Donner kebabs (schwarma sandwiches) were numerous and internet was cheap (50 cents/hour). I wish we could have stayed longer - there was so much to see and it was all so enjoyable!

I also was able to reconnect with family and friends. I met two fourth-cousins whom were very nice. One is 32 years old and the other is 29. My dad met their father, his third-cousin, the last time in 1968 and they reconnected thanks to the Internet and Peter's help. I also was able to see a friend whom I haven't seen since 2002. He is the nephew of a German couple who used to live near my parents and I in Amherst. He showed us around Berlin and I went out with him a few days later with some of his friends. I even ran into David Hasselhof (Baywatch star) near Checkpoint Charlie.

The art museums were also fantastic. If you look at my photos (link below) you can see some great modern art, sculptures, ancient artifacts (Islam, Egypt, Babylon, Roman) and paintings.

Here are photos I took during the week in Berlin:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Thea.Nielsen/BerlinAsWeekOfSightseeingAndReuniting?authkey=Gv1sRgCLHnyIqJuqS4qwE&feat=directlink

The Silent Half of Morocco

2010-08-18T17:47:00.001+02:00

Earlier I had promised to write more about my experience in Morocco. Here goes:

Near the end of our trip I noticed that I had interacted with mainly men on the trip. In fact, I spoke to just three women the whole week. The first woman I spoke to was cleaning up our hotel and I asked her where the bathroom was. Not such a glorious conversation. The second woman gave us a tour of an argan oil cooperative. Everything was well prepared and she sounded bored with herself. She spoke for about five minutes to us about how argan oil is made (long story short: a goat eats a nut, women gather the nut from the goat's dung, the nut is pressed and an oil comes out). The oil is "schweineteur" (very expensive). One liter will set you back 100 euro. Anyway, the last woman I spoke to did not talk back to me. She made me a crepe on the side of the road for 2 cents and I tried to speak to her while she prepared it. I got no response - instead, Peter and I awkwardly stood next to her for about five minutes while she cooked the crepe. Language was probably a barrier, but still. Instead of interacting with people, women were more in the background. The women I observed prepared food, cleaned hotels, shopped for food, took care of the kids, etc. I never saw a woman selling anything that requires bargaining or requires yelling to get customers.

Most Moroccan women I saw wore long robes that looked like half sleeping robes and half bath robes. All had a hood and side pockets and some had "fashionable prints" like leopard print. Some women covered their faces with scarves but most did not. High heels were another fashion object in Morocco.

One of the most incredible things though was the women who were totally covered (except for an eye slit) and managed to walk through the streets of Marrakesh! It was overwhelming enough without having most of my vision obscured. I was truly amazed by these women. Mopeds sped by, boys ran around with fake snakes and held them in your face or pointed a toy gun at you, tourists walked sporadically - it was a mess - and they still managed not to trip.

Helicopters flying over wheat fields

2010-08-06T08:34:00.004+02:00

If you didn't think there was enough to worry about when driving a huge combine (a machine which harvests crops, pictured to the right), another item on the list may be keeping your eyes out for remote-controlled helicopters and planes! On Saturday, Peter and I went on a bike ride around his village and as always, I scoffed at people gathered at a particular intersection (in farm field roads mind you). At this intersection on a nice day, there are often 3 to 10 people gathered to fly remote-controlled planes and airplanes over the fields. But this time I said, "What if one gets lost?" The wheat was about a yard high and it would be hard to find should one dive down. "They'd have to look for a while," Peter said.

The next day, Peter began harvesting wheat when a man pulled up in a car with his two kids. He told Peter's father and I that he had lost a remote controlled helicopter in the wheat field and that if we found it could we return it to him. And, that it was "no problem if it were broken." No problem for him, but this little machine could damage the blades on the combine which would delay the wheat harvest! We tried explaining this to him, but he did not care and kept saying that it was no problem for him, so why should he care? I insisted that he look for the helicopter in the fields again and finally he did two hours later - and by looking I mean he stood in the same place, expecting it to appear suddenly to him.

I then explained to him that if the combine machine were damaged from his helicopter that he could be held responsible. Then he said, "You can't trick me. Don't think you're smarter than me! Ha! Did you see the helicopter flying over the fields? How do you know it ever happened? I was never here with a helicopter! Ha Did you see it? Ha ha!"

The helicopter never appeared to either him nor Peter.

Dear Mayor: Can I work today?

2010-07-25T09:34:00.002+02:00

Peter is gearing up for the wheat harvest. Depending on the weather, he may begin the harvest in the middle of next week. What always amazes me is that on weekdays and on Saturday farmers are busy working on the fields, but on Sunday it is very quiet on the fields and in the village. I just got back from a walk (on Sunday morning) and I did not see anybody on the fields - besides three giant rabbits (the rabbits here are unbelievably large and sometimes I mistake them for a deer!)

In fact, if you want to work on a Sunday, you have to call up the mayor the Friday before and verbally ask for his permission to work. If not, the police can show up and make you stop working and give you a fine. Of course, during the intense harvest time of wheat and sugar beets, you don't have to ask for the mayor's permission to work on a Sunday.

While Peter is busy harvesting the wheat (he'll have to work from about 6am to 10pm daily for a week), I'll be relaxing in the pool, playing cello and cooking. Lucky me!

Not as grand as expected - the Tower of Pisa

2010-07-17T08:36:00.008+02:00

Cori and I spent last week in Italy together. We had a wonderful time exploring small villages, swimming in the Mediterranean and, of course, eating gelato and pasta. Our first stop was in Pisa (our plane landed there). We decided to explore the city for a few hours before taking a train to Cinque Terre (an area with 5 small villages connected by a hiking path - very picturesque and I recommend going there).

We walked through the city towards the tower and at the first glimpse of the tower (see the photo below) Cori said, "Is that it? It's in the middle of the city! " And I said, "But it's so small!" (By the way, it is about 186 feet high).

While we approached I was feeling quite disappointed at its lower-than-expected height and at the high cost to climb it (17 euro). We walked around it and I concentrated on the other buildings around which were more spectacular, in my opinion. Most tourists were taking the same photo (pretending to push the tower over) which looked quite silly.

Afterward, we found a place with for lunch and then wanted to cool off. A lot of shops were selling an iced mint drink - I thought it would taste like a mojito without the alcohol. Another disappointment - it tasted like a mouthwash smoothie. Cori drank about 1/4 of it, but I drank the whole thing quickly to cool off. Luckily, these were the only disappointments we had for the rest of our time in Italy.

World Cup Fever in Germany

2010-07-04T08:41:00.005+02:00

Germans are really crazy for the World Cup. Yesterday, Germany beat Argentina 4 to 0 in an exciting game. We watched it at a friend's apartment and then wandered the streets of Würzburg afterward to see some tourist sites and to watch the Germans celebrate the victory. In fact, German fans call themselves the 12th man on the team, so they had a realize to celebrate "their" victory.

First we walked along the Mainz river which runs down the middle of Würzburg. Most of the cars were honking constantly and waving flags. The younger people half hung out of the car windows, shouting "Deutschland" and yelling. A jolly older man walked by us, almost skipping, while waving a small German flag. It was a nice scene.

Then, we walked to a fountain near the old bridge in Würzburg. This was where the fun was! Teenagers and 20-year old were jumping in the fountain and even climbing it. Some girls were dressed with mini-shorts and a small flag around their breasts. Men just wore shorts. It was a great spectacle to see. There was a drummer who contributed a nice lively rhythm to the fun.

The past few weeks flags have been popping up more and more. Peter and I even gave in and bought a German flag and an American flag (it's still up even though they lost to Ghana). Rear view mirrors are covered with speedo like German flags. We even saw a girl yesterday wearing a German flag as a skirt. We were in the vast minority yesterday walking around because we did not have any German colors on (Peter even wore Argentinian colors by mistake!)

OK... I'm off to Italy! Cori and I will watch the semi finals and finals there. Too bad Italy got knocked out so early and that I won't be in Germany to watch them play, but I am very excited to be in Italy with Cori (We'll go to Pisa, Cinque Terre and Florence).

Reverse Stalking in Marrakesh

2010-06-24T20:25:00.004+02:00

It works like this - you want to go somewhere. Maybe your hotel or a tourist destination. Someones asks you where you are going. You say "I am going to my hotel and I know where it is just down the street" or something like that. The man offers to show you there and you say "No, it's really OK. I know how to get there on my own. I don't need your help." The man then begins walking in the direction of your hotel. You also walk toward the same way because that was where you were headed anyway. Before you know it, you are in a trap of being forced to follow this man to your destination. The man you are following will look back a few times to make sure you are still behind - 3 to 5 meters is an OK distance by him. If you fall too far behind or stop, he will stop. If you turn around he will run back to you and ask where you are going and say, "But your destination is the other way? Where are you going?" You insist you don't need help and try to walk in front of him, but you cannot get ahead of him. He will run in front of you until he comes to your destination and will demand a payment. You are forced to pay him a fee because he "showed you" to your destination.

Thankfully, we fell for this trick just once and were forced to pay a man who "showed us to our hotel". It was quite a scene when I tried to speed walk in front of the man and then we began speed racing through the medina. I gave up laughing at the scene when I imagined it from a third party perspective. He smiled as he knew he had won the game.

Of course there were plenty of other times when we were close to falling for this trick. But we learned ways to not be forced to follow someone. If you are lost (which you will be in Marrakesh because there is a dearth of signs, information and maps), just ask old men who are alone inside of shops they own/work in where something is. They will point the way without demanding a tip. Another trick we learned after we realized we were "following somebody" was to just turn around. This will really tick the person you are "following" off, but at least you don't have to pay him. He will run up to you and say "you are going the wrong way! follow me! what are you doing?!" And just keep walking. Then, wait about 15 minutes to return to the same place and walk very quickly with your head down as you walk past the same guy.

There were men who appeared to make a living off of this reverse stalking trick. The man who first "showed" us to our hotel on the first day hung out around the place where taxis drop tourists off all day, waiting for people to follow him to their destination.

One problem is that a lot of these men hang out near sites you want to see and will simply make you follow them the last 5 meters or so to the destination and then claim that they showed you there and demand money. To avoid this, just walk past them very quickly with your head down. Don't appear lost even if you are!

Kasbahs In Morocco

2010-06-21T21:20:00.006+02:00

Last week peter and I went to Morocco. We spent two days in Marrakesh and then went on a three day tour through the Atlas mountains to the Sahara desert. We rode camels and hiked on sand dunes and saw the Milky Way at night before sleeping in a nomad tent. It was a wonderful trip. I will write about our experiences in the next few blogs. I thought I would take the opportunity today to write about a place we visited called a kasbah.

A kasbah is a structure made of straw and mud (the ones we visited were at least) and can consist of several building connected and surrounded by a wall or can be one large building. All the kasbahs we saw looked very well protected from outsiders. There were no windows in any part of the kasbah, although there were a few cutouts for doors leading to each family's area or animal pin. There were a few places where we could enter or exit the kasbah, although these could be blocked if need be.

We visited two kasbahs. The first kasbah (pictured above) was extremely dark inside and a bit creepy (I was scared I would be pulled into the darkness into a room and be lost forever... though I was being a bit paranoid). There were no windows anywhere and it felt like a tunnel. This kasbah was one large building and had no central area with light. There were a few people just sitting on the ground and it was very quiet. Though there was beauty, such as the image (above) of a woman standing by the edge of a hallway inside the kasbah, looking out. She did not notice me at all and was deep in her own thoughts. It was a very peaceful moment when I took this photo (and several others... I wanted to be sure I got a good shot!)

The second kasbah we visited was much brighter inside (pictured to the right), although there were a few hallways that were quite dark. There were sheep inside living in rooms next to people and there was electricity inside. We saw mostly children playing inside, chasing each other around and teaching one another how to walk. I asked our guide what the women do during the day and he told us that they cannot leave the kasbah - their entire lives must be spent inside of the kasbah. They are, however, allowed to walk 10 meters to a well where some merchants come to sell clothes.

Learning this made me feel very fortunate to be able to travel. I am so thankful that I do not have to spend my life in a small area without being able to experience new sites, smells, people, tastes and cultures. I felt very badly for these women, but I tried to look on the bright side - they probably have a very good social network inside of the kasbahs with other women and with their family members. And, it was quite cool inside despite being in the Sahara desert.

Up next: reverse stalking in Marrakesh- yes it is possible to be forced to follow someone!

What about me?

2010-06-09T20:34:00.003+02:00

I have realized that I have written mainly about topics other than myself. So, I will be a "selfish" blogger for this post (and maybe for other posts too in the future, but not all or even most!) Anyway, I am just wrapping up my master thesis time, which I have spent at a company as an intern. I handed in my thesis two weeks ago to the university and I will hold my defense in a few weeks. In the mean time, Peter and I are going to Morocco for a week! I am very excited about this trip. We'll be based mainly in Marrakesh, but we'll take a two-day trip down to the desert for a short tour (camel back, sleep in the desert overnight and 4x4 jeep tour of sand dunes). My friend of 18 years, Cori, will visit for 2 weeks (we'll spend time in Germany and Italy - Cinque Terre, Pisa and Florence) in July. So that will be great too!

The past few weeks (even months, I hate to admit) I have been on a roller coaster of what to do after my master thesis... Work or PhD? I went back and forth many times, but after being offered a fantastic PhD opportunity at Hohenheim last week I decided to indeed go for the PhD. I will write my PhD about weather indexed crop insurance in Ethiopia. I studied the topic last year and was very drawn to the topic, so I am looking forward to devoting 3+ years to learning more about it. I'll begin in the fall, after taking 2 months off to do a little traveling (with Cori), study German and read.

OK. That's enough "I"'s.

Cultural Festivals

2010-06-03T21:24:00.011+02:00

Last weekend I visited a German friend whom I met in Thailand last summer. She lives in Düsseldorf now so I decided to visit her. She told me that there would be a Japanese festival in the city and then the largest Hindu festival in the world in a city nearby. I was excited to get a taste of Asia again after living there for 2 months last summer.

The Japanese festival was not what I expected at all. I saw about 20 Japanese people... Instead of masses of Japanese (Düsseldorf has a very large Japanese community) there were about a thousand German teenagers dressed in strange "Japanese" anime customs. This was quite bizarre I must say. These anime people came from all over Germany. The funniest ones wore customs of stuffed animals, though many wore more "gothic" outfits. After about 20 minutes of weaving in and out of these strange customs we had had enough and settled at a cafe on an older street in the city for a Radler (a combination of lemon soda and beer).

The next day, we drove to Hamm. Another shock - it really felt like I was in India again. There was garbage on the ground, overflowing trash cans, food stands selling oily treats, chaos, loud noises (loud speakers to be exact, with a man yelling about saris for sale). On the bright side, I was able to purchase my favorite fruit (jack fruit) which I ate in Thailand for breakfast each morning. I happily ate it for dinner on the train ride home (luckily I brought this along, because a huge stone crashed into the restaurant car's window on the way to Mannheim, delaying the train an hour). Other than the stands selling a range of products (lentils, saris, curry powder, sweets, fruit...) there was a parade.

No, not a parade like on the 4th of July. Instead, this parade featured a handful of men with about 20 metal hooks in their backs (attached to their skin). These hooks had a long rope which connected all of them to one central rope... on the other end of the rope was a man who pulled hard at the hooks, causing the backs of the men to bleed (and to stretch quite far). I chose not to see this and was happy a large crowd blocked my view, but my friend went to the front row to get a better look. Let's just say it was not pretty. What was pretty though, was the float about 2 dozen men pulled. It began to heavily rain just as the men had to make a sharp right turn into a temple. I had an umbrella which several Indians shared with me. After an hour and half, which was all we could handle, we headed back to Germany after a quick stop in India.

Switzerland: The land of high food prices and... huge wooden babies?

2010-05-26T20:05:00.005+02:00

Peter and I went to Switzerland last weekend. We had a wonderful time hiking and exploring Lucerne and the area around. We had a car so it was easy to drive around the lake and admire the mountains, clouds and wonderful weather. We did a spectacular hike up to Rigi (we climbed about 1300 meters).

There are two things I have found quite surprising about Switzerland, luckily I was prepared for one of them - high restaurant prices. I first experienced the shock of high restaurant prices when I was in Switzerland for the first time in 2008 with my parents. We were hungry after hiking and walked through Lauterbrunnen looking for a place to eat and no where had a main course for less than $25 (and for $25 you got pasta without sauce or a very small pizza for one not-so-hungry person). Anyway, determined not to get ripped of this time around, we brought enough food for the 3-day weekend with us in the car. We lived on bread, tuna, sausages, tomatoes, fruit and cookies.

The second surprise (which I was not prepared for, but it was not so relevant for me personally), was that when a Swiss couple has a baby they put a huge (or several) wooden colored cut-outs of a baby or some animal figure on top of a tall tree, with the baby's name and date of birth! (Here is a picture of one). If you thought baby-pink/blue balloons tied to the mailbox looked cheesy, just imagine looking at such a huge, hideous - in my opinion - wooden cutout. One house we walked by had four different cut-outs for one boy (who is now four years-old and the parents STILL had these four cutouts prominently displayed) and three cutouts for a younger (though not a new-born) daughter.

Maybe I found this so shocking because such a thing would not fly in the US. First, the fact that anybody who glances at the house can immediately know the age and name of the kids in the house is just creepy. OK, Switzerland is known as being safe and all but is it really a good idea to display to everyone such information? Second, these cut-outs are up way too long. A week or two, or maybe a month, would be "OK", but a half a year? Four years? When do the parents finally decide to take these cut-outs down? There are many other reasons, but I won't bother to write them here - I am feeling antsy just thinking about these cut-outs again.

Hold your breath

2010-05-14T09:18:00.007+02:00

I have become pretty good at holding my breath since I moved to Germany. Why? There are so many smokers here! It is really incredible. Before I moved to Germany, I had thought that Germans are quite healthy. I had read articles that the mentality from Hitler's health campaigns had in part been passed down through the generations. I had thought that German exercise a lot and take care of their health. Beside exercise campaigns, the Nazi's banned smoking in most public buildings, restricted tobacco ads and had a anti-smoking campaign. Hitler himself was a smoker in his youth but gave up smoking in his adult years. (Hitler was also a teetotaler, but by no means did I think that Germans had adopted this! Another blog on that later.) I found this neat poster (above) from a Hitler anti-smoking campaign. It reads, "Not he, they (they cigarettes) eat him. Signed - The Chain Smoker."

I hate to admit, but when I was a kid ads from cigarette companies were very effective. I remember men and women flirting with cigarettes in their hands. I really thought it was cool to smoke. I even had a "Joe Camel" rubber toy with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth (it was about 8" tall and 4" in diameter) which I carried around until my mom discovered it under the car seat (I knew she wouldn't approve so I hid it there) and threw it away. Nevertheless, these ads were not as effective as the surgeon general's and my parent's message that cigarettes are deathly. Anyway...

I looked up some statistics about smoking rates in Germany (for some comparison, the US average smoking rate is about 21%):
Everyday, 305 million cigarettes in Germany are smoked (--> average of 1350 cigarettes per adult annually)
A pack of cigarettes costs about 4.50 euros (3.75 euros of that is tax)
For the average woman: 22% are daily smokers, 6% are occasional smokers, 22% are x-smokers and 50% were never smokers.
For the average man: 29% are daily smokers, 8% are occasional smokers, 32% are x smokers, 31% were never smokers.

In most bars and restaurants in Germany, smoking is not allowed - although smoking laws depend on each state within Germany (there are 16 states by the way, or 17 as some say as they jokingly count Majorca as a state).

2010-05-04T20:38:00.005+02:00

May 1st is a day of gathering of left-extremists at European capitals. On May 1st, I attended a completely different gathering - that of Bavarian hunters in a small village. My friend - and blog critic (;-)) is a hunter and I went to his annual May 1st celebration of the start of the hunting season. I tried to fit in by wearing a sweater my Grandma bought in Austria many decades ago (no dirndl yet... but next year I will wear one!)

We gathered at the top of a hill near a community center in the village and walked through the village. I was at the back of the line which consisted of a brass band, hunters, as well as wives and daughters in dirndls. Many people from the village came out to wave at us all. We walked in a large loop, passing by the village restaurant, brewery and village homes twice. Then, we gathered at the home of a hunter who won a target competition. Lucky him - he had to buy everyone beer, schnapps and pretzels. Afterward, we all gathered at the village community center for beer and grilled fish.

I had a wonderful time at the celebration - minus the minute or so after I took a sip of schnapps.

Misspronounciatiosn can Change Everything

2010-05-01T09:19:00.004+02:00

So, I just tried to ask Peter's mom where I could buy a traditional German dress (called "dirndl") in the area. (This is the dress women wear at Oktoberfest in Munich. I want to buy one to wear at traditional festivals.) Anyway, I thought I pronounced the word in an OK manner (it is a VERY tough word to say and I assumed she would sort of understand). She then asked me, "For a baby?" And I said, "No for me." (Why would I want to buy a dirndl for a baby? And for what baby?) And she said, "Oh ok. Then there is a sport shop which sells them for women." And I said, "But a sports shop?..." Then she looked confused and so I further explained that I wanted to buy "a traditional dress like the women wear at festivals here in the village. Munich has a lot of them for sale." And then she laughed and looked relieved. "I thought you said Windel!" (Windel means diapers by the way)." I quickly checked on the internet what Windel means and laughed. Luckily this was clarified! I think I will never forget what "Windel" means.

Of course, I am sure there are other stories like this of misunderstandings which are even more odd, but I did not have a German dictionary at the time to look up the word which caused the misunderstanding. This sort of situation is very typical for me here! But, it is entertaining and this is one of the reasons why I love being in Germany. I can make a fool out of myself and it is not a big deal because I am speaking German... More on dirndl's in a later blog...

Lake Constance Hike: Konstanz to Unteruhldingen

2010-05-01T08:23:00.010+02:00

Last weekend I walked from Konstanz to Unteruhldigen along Lake Constance ("Bodensee") with a friend. The weather was beautiful and it was not very crowded at all which was great. (In the summer it is much more crowded.) The water was so blue and I felt like it was summer and I was in Greece (minus the feeling of being unbearably hot!)

The bad thing was that there was no water or bathroom facilities! With 30km of hiking each day and having to carry everything on my back, I was quite stingy with my water supply. (No back pains at the end of the weekend but I had a lot of pain on the soles of my feet and some knee pains). I thought that I could refill my 2 half liter bottles up at bathroom sinks or something... Nope! And if you are thinking I should have found a water fountain, think again. I have yet to see a water fountain in Germany. Next time I won't forget my camelback water pack.

Anyway, I highly recommend going to Lake Constance. The city of Konstanz is very nice. Überlingen (along the northern shore) is also very nice, although a bit crowded. If you don't want to walk, they have a good bus system between the cities and also many ferries that go across the lake. My friend and I have a tentative plan of hiking around the hike lake in sections over the comings years. It will take about 6 years to complete if we take weekend trips.

Giant Ash Cloud

2010-04-17T19:29:00.003+02:00

Just kidding... This is no ash cloud. Instead, it is "normal clouds" in Mannheim. Anyway, the ash cloud is NOT visible at all. The skies were clear blue today and it looks like a beautiful day. It is strange that no airplanes are flying. It reminds me a little bit of after September 11th when no airplanes could fly in the sky. Anyway, people are stranded and it is quite chaotic. The mobile phones also don't work very well today because too many people are calling others about their travel troubles. Peter is supposed to fly on Monday from Frankfurt, but who knows if this will work out.

In other news from this side of pond, a bishop from Britain was convicted yesterday in a German court for denying the Holocaust. In 2008 he said on a Swedish TV that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during WWII. Well, too bad for him but denying the Holocaust is actually a criminal offense in Germany. While the law is a "nice" idea, I completely disagree with it because it goes against freedom of speech. I believe people should say anything they want to (without causing mass panic, such as by yelling "fire" in a movie theater) and that they should not be convicted from this. Perhaps this is the American in me shinning through and the concept of "freedom of speech" is so ingrained in me that I actually feel badly for this bishop. He had to pay a fine of 10,000 Euro ($13,544 with the going rates.) Who's next? Ahmadinejad?

As a follow-up, there are surprisingly many countries in Europe which ban the denial of the Holocaust. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_against_Holocaust_denial if you are interested.

Otto Normalverbraucher

2010-04-03T18:08:00.003+02:00

Otto Normalverbraucher is definitely not as easy to say as "Average Joe", but it has the same meaning according to German-English dictionaries. Nevertheless, on closer examination there are some key differences between the German and American version. "Normalverbraucher" means "average consumer", so "Otto Normalverbraucher" is used just for consumption questions. Such as, "What would the Otto Normalverbraucher buy?" There is no word for an average German, such as the term "Average Joe" in the US. You would never ask a question related to politics about "Otto Normalverbraucher".

It is also interesting that there is no female equivalent of "Otto Normalverbraucher" (or Average Joe) in German. There is in the US though - average Jane. Furthermore, there are no other phrases beside "Otto Normalverbraucher", while in the US there are several versions of "Average Joe", such as "Joe Sixpack", "John Doe", "Ordinary Joe", or "Ordinary/Average Jane". Perhaps there are so many different versions of "Average Joe" because there is no average American.

Wildlife in Prague

2010-04-03T07:02:00.004+02:00

This photo was taken in Prague a few weekends ago when Peter and I were there. Of course it is not wildlife - instead it is a very silly looking dog. I like the photo though because the leash is invisible. Unlike in Germany, most dogs were on a leash there. More on dogs in Germany later...

Shopping on a Sunday in Germany

2010-03-30T18:52:00.004+02:00

Most shops are closed on Sundays in Germany - all clothing shops, gift shops and supermarkets. Just a few bakeries are open in the morning. Shops that are open are gas stations and shops at train stations and airports. Peter and I live close to the train station so we are lucky that we can buy bread conveniently on Sunday night at 8pm!

Anyway, three Sundays a year an American-style outdoor outlet mall near Würzburg is open. Last Sunday was one of these days. Peter and I decided to stop by on our way back to Mannheim to see if we could find him some sunglasses. We thought, "Oh, it's a Sunday and I bet not many people know about this and Germans are not used to shopping on Sundays so it won't be very crowded." Boy were we wrong! Open the shops on a Sunday and the Germans will flock there like they are giving stuff away for free (which they were not... and the sales were not that good.) The parking lots was more than packed. People were parked on the field, over 1km away! We made our way through the crowds to the sunglasses shop and actually found a good pair for Peter. We quickly went back to the car, fed up with the crowded scene.

It has seemed silly to me as an American that the shops are closed on Sundays. It is entertaining for me to watch people longingly look into shop windows on Sundays without having the opportunity to buy something. If just one postcard shop were open on Sunday in Heidelberg or another touristy city it would make big bucks - I am "euros". I think in 20 years the shops will be open on Sunday. It used to be that shops were open only until about noon on Saturdays but this recently changed in 2003. Now you can shop until 10pm on Saturdays at supermarkets! I guess change can come in a more traditional society. Who knows, maybe I will be able to buy some eggs on Sunday someday.

If you are interested in different countries' policies on shopping hours, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hours#Germany

Reflections on "Why America is Great" According to a German

2010-03-27T06:27:00.009+01:00

The past week I have had over 100 conversations with Germans as part of my master thesis. During some of the conversations, the people talk to me about America. There have been some interesting insights about why some Germans think America is great. Here I will explore one of them.

One man, whose sister lives in Minneapolis, told me that America is better because people don't talk behind each other's back so much as in Germany about obese people. His main argument was that if an obese lady and a thin man are walking side-by-side in the US, no one will whisper about them or talk about them after they walk by. He thought this was the greatest thing and couldn't stop talking about it! What a funny thing to observe or to find great about the US! (He was not at all obese by the way.)

I told him that perhaps the reason why people don't stare so much at overweight people in the US is because more than 1/2 of the population is overweight so it is not uncommon to see overweight people. I further told him that obesity is a huge problem in the US and perhaps more people should talk about it to help the health of the US. He said, "No no! In Germany people always talk about others who are overweight and this is very bad. The US is so great because they don't do this. People are nice and nice to you even when you are not around - when you walk away. It is not like this in Germany. Go back to the US!"

I have not noticed this difference at all between Germany and the US. Of course I have noticed there are much less morbidly obese people here - I have only seen a few. One difference I have noticed about people talking behind other peoples' backs is about their clothes. If someone wears sweatpants of workout clothes out and about (not IN the gym) this is a big no-no and people will talk about it. In the US, I can wear sweatpants to go grocery shopping and to even go to class, but this is a big social taboo in Germany. It took me a while to figure this out... The first few weeks I was here I wore sweatpants a few times when I went grocery shopping. It seemed silly to me to change to walk 1 km to the grocery store. I ran into some German classmates and they asked me "are you on your way to the gym or did you just go there"? This happened a few times during those first few weeks. I then asked some Germans about wearing sweatpants outside of the home and they looked shocked. "But those are house clothes!" they said.

The one time I did go to the gym here I figured it would be OK to wear sweatpants to walk the 1km to the gym and then do a fitness class in the same clothes and walk back to my apartment. Nope... I arrived at the gym in sweatpants while all of my classmates were wearing jeans and carrying a bag of gym clothes (they too lived very close to the gym). Lesson learned: Never wear sweatpants outside of the house.

As a side note, I asked a man where he had been in the US and he said "Toronto and New York." I found this quite funny. Also, a few Germans I have spoken to were wearing Yankees baseball hats so I asked them if they like the Yankees and they looked at me with a puzzled face. Then I asked them if they like New York and they said "yeah." It seems that the Yankees represent New York more than the Empire State building or Statue of Liberty.

It has been fun talking to Germans about the US. A few are quite puzzled as to why I am in Germany when the US is so great. "Go back!" they tell me. Maybe people like what they don't have or people have a false impression about the US from a short vacation there or from Hollywood. Who knows!

Germans don't eat potato skins, but why?

2010-03-18T19:49:00.004+01:00

There is a stereotype that Germans like potatoes - well it is true. A less known detail about these potatoes is that they are almost always peeled. In fact, I have yet to come across a German who eats potato skin. It is true that you can order whole potatoes on some German restaurant menus, and I have seen Germans order it but they never eat the skin. How do Germans eat potatoes then? Of course there are many options, all beginning with peeling the skin. Then they are either boiled and mashed, sliced and baked with cream, boiled and eaten whole, boiled and cut and then pan fried, or just boiled and eaten.

The question is why don’t Germans eat the potato skin? My first thought was that maybe Germans are more closely associated with farms and their produce and they are aware of how many times potatoes are sprayed with fungicide and thus think the skin to be inedible. Yet, recent experience with customers of potatoes through my master thesis has proved this wrong – people often don’t care about the origin of their food or how many times it was sprayed with fungicides.

When I told some German friends that in the US you can order “potato skins” at a restaurant and get potato skins filled with cheese and other stuff, they were shocked. “The skin? But why would you eat that?” I decided to get to the bottom of this mystery by asking Peter why he doesn’t eat potato skin. He said, “well why should I?” I replied, “It tastes good and has extra nutritional value.” He thought otherwise. We whipped out our computers and tried to prove one another wrong…

A quick Google search using the English and German language turned up interesting results. I googled “eating potato skin” in English and Peter googled it in German. In the English Google search the first few pages said potato skin is very nutritious with extra fiber and one should not throw it away and instead eat it. The German pages, on the other hand, said that potato skin is very bitter and offers no new nutritional value so it should be discarded. Perhaps we should try a neutral language and see what happens?

So, the question remains open. Why don’t Germans eat potato skins? I have concluded it is “a cultural thing” for now and will continue to explore why in the coming years.

Eating Out in Germany

2010-03-07T08:24:00.009+01:00

Eating out in Germany is a much different experience than it is in the US - and I am not talking about the food or the language! Here are some differences between the US and Germany.

SEAT YOURSELF:
If you see someone waiting by the door to be seated, most likely this person is a foreigner. In Germany at most restaurants you seat yourself at a free table. If there is a "Reserviert" sign then don't sit there, unless you can be in and out by the time written on the placard. I have never seen a hostess at a restaurant in Germany (I have not been to very fancy restaurants though, so maybe the case is different there.)

MEET NEW TABLEMATES!
If you are in a restaurants and no place is free you also have the option of sitting at the same table with complete strangers. You should ask if they don't mind sharing the table with you before sitting down; however, if the table has just four seats and there are two people sitting there, it would be awkward to sit at that table. If it is a long table it is OK to sit there if there is a seat between the people already sitting there and the seat you would like to occupy.

DRINKS:
First off, don't expect free unlimited water with ice. Germans do not put ice in their water or soda - just in cocktail drinks at a bar. It is strange, but Germans generally do not like ice in their drinks - they think it is just too cold! Also, the ml of soda is often written on the side of the class and if ice were added it would take away from the soda and fill it with cheap frozen water. Drinks are also much more expensive in Germany than in the US if you go out to eat. A soda or water costs between 2 and 3 euro usually, and there are no unlimited refills! You could ask for tap water (Leitungswasser), but this is looked down upon socially. I did this once when I was just with Peter because I did not want to pay 3 euro for water, but I had to explain very clearly to the woman that I wanted water from the tap and not from a bottle so I would not get charged the 3 euro. I sometimes drink a lot of water before I go out to eat so I don't arrive thirsty. Why are drinks so much more expensive in restaurants in Germany than in the US? Last night we had a discussion about this and the conclusion was that restaurants make a lot of money off of drinks rather than food, whereas in the US restaurants make more money off of food rather than drinks.

SERVICE:
Servers don't make most of their money from tips, so service is not as good as in the US. Servers make, for example, 10 euro an hour and then maybe make 5 euro on top of that from tips each hour. Servers don't come and check on you often to see if everything is OK and I have never had a server come a few minutes after serving the meal to ask, "Is everything OK? Can I bring something else?" Last night as a bit of an extreme example because our waiter was so unfriendly but he did not come once to our table to ask if we wanted more drinks. Our glasses were all empty 1/2 way through the meal but he did not care to ask if we wanted something else to drink.

FLEXIBILITY IN THE MENU:
Often in the US the menu will say "no substitutions possible!" This is not the case in Germany. I dislike potato salad, for example, and I have never had a problem substituting potato salad for a side salad or a baked potato. Servers are very accommodating and often will make something no on the menu if you ask.

GUTEN APPETIT!
Germans almost always wait for one another to begin eating. Even at the cafeteria at my work we all wait for everyone to be seated before we begin eating and then we say "Guten Appetit". I have never been in a situation were grace was said before a meal. Even during a religious holiday grace was not said! Saying "Guten Appetit" is just fine instead.

WAITING FOR THE BILL:
The bill will not be brought to you unless you ask for it! The custom in the US of giving the bill soon after the plates are cleared is a "no no" in Germany. Eating out takes time (2 hours at least with friends) and it is not to be rushed!

SPLITTING THE BILL:
Cheaper restaurants (a meal is under 15 euro) usually don't mind if each person pays individually. The waiter will go around the table and you tell him what you ordered and then you can pay him individually. Bars also don't mind doing this.

TIPPING:
Tips in Germany are called "Trinkgeld", which literally means "drink money." It took me a year to figure out that Trinkgeld means tips. I thought it was sort of a joke that people were saying the waiters would buy alcohol with the tips. (Some words take me much longer to figure out than others because I try to translate it too literally to English.) Anyway, if the bill is 13,20 euro and you give them a 20 bill, then you usually say "5 zuruck" (15 back), so you end up tipping 1,80. This is an OK tip. Or, you can get all the change and then hand the waiter back how much you want to tip (2 euro is fine).

BRING CASH:
Some restaurants do not accept credit cards, so it is best to bring cash.

EXPECT TO SPEND MORE MONEY THAN IN THE US:
Germans don't eat out as much as Americans do, so they don't mind as much if it costs a little more. If you spend under 15 euro for a meal, this is quite cheap! Typically if you go out to eat to a German restaurants you will spend at least 15 to 20 euro each.

OK, that's all the advice I can give. Guten Appetit!

Got Dirty Clothes? Take it to your mama!

2010-02-27T06:58:00.007+01:00

Believe it or not, a lot of mothers in Germany - no matter how old their children are - still wash their childrens' clothes! I have discussed this issue with a few Germans and they discuss the issue as if they were talking about how many potatoes they eat - it is a given so why even discuss it?

Case in point:
Last night Peter and I drove to his farm (a 1.5 hour drive from Mannheim, where we live, when all goes well) after work on Friday. We usually leave on Saturday morning instead because there is less traffic, people are not in as big of a rush to get wherever they are going and we can do something on Friday night. Yet, we drove home on a Friday this weekend because Peter's mother will be gone on Saturday and Sunday and she needs to wash our* clothes. This seems ridiculous to an American, but to a German it is not thought of twice. I told a colleague at work yesterday that we were driving home on Friday just so my boyfriend's mom can wash our clothes, and he didn't even blink. I prodded: "But isn't that a bit silly?..." Nope. Not in Germany. His explanation was that washing clothes is how mothers show their love after their children leave the house. He says he doesn't know how to use a washing machine. Once the men marry, the wives do the washing. Of course, there are German men who do wash their clothes.

Is there an explanation for this phenomenon (besides mothers wanting to show their love by doing laundry)? My take on it is that children in Germany live at home longer than they do in the US and they go home more frequently. (We go to Peter's home almost every weekend.) Also, young adults go to universities closer to their homes (the fact that Germany is geographically smaller than the US also helps this point.)

So, next time you need to do laundry, go see your mama. Or just lean how to wash your clothes!

*: You may have noticed that I said "our" instead of "his" here. Well, Peter's mom also washes my clothes since I moved in with Peter. Using another woman's washing machine is also a no-no in Germany and washing my clothes in my apartment building is also thought of as strange when a German mother can wash my clothes. Lucky me!

Sunglasses - not cool

2010-02-24T20:11:00.006+01:00

I love sunglasses. The problem is, Germans tend to be not so fond of them. While walking across campus at the University of Maryland, almost every student wore sunglasses - me too. When the sun came out last spring I happily wore my sunglasses across campus in the University of Hohenheim in Germany - for 5 minutes before I felt too awkward being the only one wearing them. They just aren't worn here! Instead, I have resorted to squinting in public, though I do wear them in the privacy of the car.

The Power of a Stamp in Germany

2010-02-23T19:56:00.008+01:00

As an American, I was unaware of the power of a stamp before I came to German. No, I am not talking about a postage stamp. Instead, I am talking about a stamp rolled on an ink before being pounded upon a piece of paper. In the US, stamps are not utilized as well as in Germany. Instead, professional looking letterheads are preferred. If you go to a town hall in Germany, for example, each secretary working there has at least a dozen stamps. Stamps usually have an official seal on it, the date, the city and the office name.

Here is a case in point of how much Germans prefer stamps: I found out a month ago that I legally cannot drive in Germany anymore with an international driver's permit and US license because I have been in the country for more than 6 months. Instead, I need a German license to legally drive. Anyway, to more easily convert my US license to a German one (which never expires! how nice!), I need to prove I received my first license in Massachusetts. (My current license is from Maryland because I was living there at the time my MA license expired, but each state in the US has a specific agreement with Germany in terms of reciprocity of licenses and Maryland has no such agreement but MA does!)

Anyway, the woman at the driver's license office in Germany said all I needed was a paper with a stamp on it which stated I got my first license in MA. I laughed and told her stamps are not so important in the US. She looked at me as if I said, "the sky is not blue in the US." When she realized I was not kidding, she conceded that a letterhead would be OK. So, I ordered my MA driving record which arrived with a nice letterhead. Yet, I was afraid this would not do. So, when I went to MA to visit my family and friends and to bring my cello back to Germany (all went well by the way in bringing the cello to Germany, except that my cello's special ordered Hindu meal never arrived on the flight), I went to the registry of motor vehicles and got a print out of my payments there, showing I paid for my permit, driving test and license in MA. I then asked the manager if she could stamp this receipt. She thought for a bit and then went back to get a stamp. As I am quite used to stamps made and used in Germany, when she stamped it and I looked at the mark it left I was quite shocked. All the stamp had was her name and title on it! No date, no official seal of the RMV, just her name and title.

The next week, Peter and I went back to the driver's license office in Mannheim on Carnival Tuesday (Fasching Dienstag, auf Deutsch) and all of the employees were dressed in Halloween-like costumes. I showed the same woman my fancy letterhead paper with my driving record and then the receipt with the lame stamp. We asked her which papers we should pay to officially translate into German and she quickly pointed to the stamped receipt! I had to laugh.

Put the lime in the coconut, you called the doctor woke him up...

2010-02-11T13:29:00.005+01:00

I have visited the doctor/dentist quite a bit in the past few weeks. Findings? I have anemia (but the doctor gave up on the cause), I had a suspicious mole on my stomach (a sample was sent to a lab for analysis), my TMJ Michigan machine had to be improved, and I need electroshock therapy on my hips because of running "too much" (but really, 20 minutes twice is not too much.) Luckily, health insurance covers most of these problems (all but the Michigan machine). In Germany, co-pays are made just once every quarter of the year. So, one can visit as many doctors as one needs to (as long as a general doctor gives a referral) without extra costs. This is a nice contrast to the US system where co-pays are made with each visit.

Differences to the US system?
- Some more hocus pocus. This electroshock therapy for my hip is almost laughable. Luckily I can bike there so at least I get some exercise on the way and can be outdoors.
- Doctors discuss nothing about medicines with patients or therapy. They assume the pharmacist will tell you everything you need to know.
- When new patients enter the waiting room, they always say "good day!" which is a bit annoying. This is a sharp contrast to most situations in Germany where people avoid saying anything to one another. I cannot figure out why people say hello at the doctor's office and not at other communal places.
- Better organized, less hassle, better coverage, but about 7 percent of my paycheck!
... at least I am getting my money's worth this quarter (always look on the bright side of life...)

Back Due to Popular Request

2010-02-11T12:58:00.007+01:00

I deleted my old blog, assuming nobody read it but in fact friends and family did read it so.. back to popular request I have created a blog again. Although I don't plan on traveling outside of Germany again for a few months now, perhaps my life in Germany will prove interesting enough.

I am writing from the US now, Cambridge, MA to be exact. I flew a ridiculous amount last year (28 flights) and thus managed to get two roundtrip tickets from Germany to the US for just $200. I flew here with an extra seat next to me, and on the way back I will bring my cello to Germany. I have not played it for more than a few hours over the past five years. Considering that I played almost everyday from the age of 3 to the age of 18, this is quite a long time for me to go without playing the cello! I miss playing it and after injuring my knee and not being about to run, which is how I occupied much of my free time in the last five years, I decided it would be a good idea to do something more productive in my free time than read article after article on NYTimes and the Wall Street Journal. It was quite some hassle to purchase an extra ticket for a cello and I hope returning with it from Boston to Frankfurt won't prove too difficult for TSA and others. I purchased an extra seat on the plan with a code obese people use who need two seats. When I showed up, the airport officials were expecting somebody twice my size.

I, of course, chose to fly during the blizzard of the century in the east coast. My original flight through JFK was cancelled but I was rebooked to fly over Paris instead. With just 30 minutes between the touchdown of my first flight to the take-off of my second flight in another terminal, I had some running to do between flights, but managed to make it with 2 minutes to spare.

I met Cori, a friend I have had for 17 years now, in Central Square in Cambridge. It was interesting to observe Americans on the street for an hour, walking and biking by. I even saw a man on a small motorcycle which he needed to run next to for 10 paces before it could work. I also chuckled at the lack of lights on the bikes here. In Germany, if you bike without headlights you will get a ticket. I have never seen a bike in Germany biking at night without headlights.

I still find it funny to listen to American English, as I am not used to it at all anymore. How many times does a woman between the age of 15 and 35 say "like" per minute or even per sentence? Way too much I assure you! I wish I could write down what they say and show it to them. I think if these people saw how many times they say "like" they would stop talking altogether.

At a co-op vegetable store in Cambridge, the woman in front of me overheard me telling Cori about Milka (a chocolate bar made by Krafts but which is from Switzerland) and she began talking with me about how she longed to live in Europe again. We had an interesting conversation about how after living abroad for a while, one never feels at home anywhere. The Economist had an article on this in a December issue which was quite interesting. What makes something one's home? Is it the people? The place? Your birthplace? The culture? Or, is it just where you seem to fit in the best?