Andrew in Deutschland

Cold weather makes for good pictures

2009-01-12T01:24:00.006+01:00

I feel a bit awkward about this picture. It was really a "turn and shoot," with my pocket cam. I cropped it and leveled it. But I like it, a lot. After a lot of long, grey cold days, crisp air makes everything look good. As does enjoying it with a girlfriend who is tugging your arm to move on because, "It's cold!"

The snowy expanse to the left is where the Palast der Republik, a key cultural and political center for the east, before reunification, once stood. It was an ugly, iconic, monolithic building that they began demolishing when I first arrived. Because it was filled with toxic materials (asbestos, etc.), they had to dismantle it piece by piece. The final elements were only recently removed, making this picture more meaningful, as this view hasn't existed for years. (The Palast was built on the site of the king's castle, a facsimile of which will now be built on the empty site.) More, and more accurate, info here: Palast der Republik

Quick Observation

2008-12-25T12:31:00.002+01:00

In the US, they sell Christmas cards that say Merry Christmas in many languages. Adds a cosmopolitan flair.

Yesterday I got an email card from a friend here. She wrote, "BUON NATALE, FROHE WEIHNACHTEN, JOYEUX NOEL, MERRY CHRISTMAS."

What makes it meaningful, to me, is that she wasn't showing off. She is Italian, lives in Germany, works in an English-speaking office, and converses with her husband primarily in French.

As Eddie Izzard says, "I think if we can make it work in Europe, it's almost a blueprint for the future of the world. If we can get all these countries, with all their languages, coming together to work in some shape or form, then the whole world can work. And if we can't get it working in Europe, the world has got no chance. Those are the stakes."

My friend is certainly trying her best!

Hey, we beat North Korea, at least!

2008-12-18T18:48:00.004+01:00

WorldPublicOpinion.org

"The average percentage saying that the US is having a positive influence has increased from 31 per cent a year ago to 35 per cent today while the view that it is having a negative influence has declined from 52 per cent to 47 per cent."

So....now slightly less than half the world thinks we are a negative influence. You take what you can get and call it progress, I suppose.

There's some great info on this site. Well worth spending some time poking around. Warning, though: If you're American, and have any self-awareness (or sense of shame) whatsoever, you will find it depressing. Hopefully not surprising, but definitely depressing.

My German compatriots, however, can celebrate (gut gemacht!), and I can take some solace in their ability to rebuild an international reputation that was, by most counts, pretty crappy not all that long ago.

Let it snow!

2008-11-23T01:00:00.003+01:00

I don't have pictures yet, but it's snowing!

I used to make fun of my east coast friends for saying that you need to have seasons, but after a gorgeous autumn, and now walking out and finding the street truly covered in snow (not Boston style, but still a good half-inch dusting), I am starting to agree.

And since my snow tires are still in my friend's basement, 20 miles away, I guess I won't be driving for awhile. German law says that if you have an accident without appropriate tires, you're automatically at fault. (Which makes sense.) Last year it barely snowed at all, though, so I didn't feel pressed to change them this year. My bad.

And Nicole is going to be mad that I didn't cover the BBQ in time.

But nevertheless, I can't ignore the child-like glee of, "It's snowing!" Maybe it's because I spent my first 18 years in a place where it decidedly does not snow, or maybe it's because snow covers up a lot of ugliness, and, in this case, comes just at the right time to make the leafless trees look pretty again.

Whatever the reason, Berlin looks pretty tonight. Now just give me a month to get tired of slipping on the sidewalk.

August Catch Up

2008-10-20T00:38:00.000+02:00

Two big events in August that I drafted a post for, but never posted, due to challenges getting the pictures aligned. As you can see, I've now just given up. Apologies!

Nicole knows a wonderful family, whose son, Ralf, is an accomplished musician and singer. As a result, I got to go to the "Night of 1000 Voices", a choral festival held in one of my favorite squares in Berlin, the Gendarmenmarkt. Berlin doesn't actually have very many "squares", in the traditional European sense (due, in part, to how the city was planned and, in part, the war). This is one of the gems. It was a wonderful show, in a beautiful setting, and I thank Ralf, his family, and Nicole, for the opportunity.

Ralf then outdid himself by inviting me to a Hertha BSC football game. Football being soccer, and Hertha BSC being Berlin's beloved team. They play at the Olympic Stadium, and it was my first time seeing them, and my first time seeing the stadium in person. We capped that off with a wonderful dinner at a great Italian restaurant.

Both events were monumentally great (although Hertha tied 1-1).

Thanks to everyone for continuing m y cultural education, even if I do look like a fool with a long football scarf around my neck.

Go Pato, Go Pato

2008-09-23T00:36:00.003+02:00

Most people know I'm a strongly committed atheist. But when I see something like this, I have to share it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7VII-u7hqY&feature=related

For context, Pato is a huge reggae star, and has been around forever. I was a fan in the 80's if that helps provide perspective, and have seen him live twice.

The joy he shows here transcends the debate, and is just plain fun. And let's face it...that's worth a lot these days.

Spain

2008-09-21T16:56:00.005+02:00

I spent the last 10 days in Spain with my mom. My legs hurt. She may be a bit older than me, but boy can she walk. We did Barcelona, one of my favorite cities, Bilboa -- for the Guggenheim -- and San Sebastian, an incredibly charming beach town with a reputation for tapas that is well deserved, especially if you're armed with recommendations from a local. Overall, I believe the count was 9 out of the 10 must sees in every spot covered, with fun, random adventure thrown in for good measure. A wonderful trip.

Pics are here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/567243150EkZUCN

Silliness

2008-09-03T01:16:00.002+02:00

I actually didn't mean for this blog to get so political. But even 3000 miles away, I can't seem to avoid the silliness. Part of me feels completely vindicated...I have said all along that McCain does weird things just at the right time. This one is weirder than I could have predicted. But dragging a pregnant 17 year old girl into it. Not cricket. There's a reason I don't watch soap operas, and this is it. Have some respect for personal lives, people, or did we lose that with the Patriot Act?

Biden his time

2008-08-24T13:07:00.003+02:00

I saw Biden speak after his 1988 presidential run and remember being impressed by his intelligence and sense of humor. Pleased to see him back on the ticket.

I found this video, from his short-lived run this time around, which encapsulates both qualities quite nicely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XberX_t-WvI

Follow-up

2008-07-30T23:22:00.002+02:00

I got a real kick out of this Obama quote, cited in a recent New Yorker article:

Marty Nesbitt remembers Obama’s utter calm the day he gave his celebrated speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, in Boston, which made him an international celebrity and a potential 2008 Presidential candidate. “We were walking down the street late in the afternoon,” Nesbitt told me. “And this crowd was building behind us, like it was Tiger Woods at the Masters.”
“Barack, man, you’re like a rock star,” Nesbitt said.
“Yeah, if you think it’s bad today, wait until tomorrow,” Obama replied.
“What do you mean?”
“My speech,” Obama said, “is pretty good.” ♦

Talk about confidence. I don't actually have much to say about the speech itself, but what a great quote.

If there's anyone reading this who still hasn't seen the "pretty good" speech, it's here.

The Next US President

2008-07-25T01:54:00.005+02:00

I didn't go.

Having now watched multiple videos and checked out the press coverage, I don't regret my decision. I'm not a fan of big crowds in confined spaces. And this one was BIG. I decided I didn't need the headaches just to confirm what I already know: he's one charismatic man.

But I was very happy watching it after the fact. The man is an incredible speaker.

And, my god. The photo ops!

I may follow up with some thoughts about why his presence here was greeted so enthusiastically, but for now, the short version is: "not Bush." I say presence, by the way, because I was a little disappointed by the content. 80% of his speech could have been given by any candidate. However, one part made me sit up and take notice:

"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."

I will never forget a German friend explaining to me that there was a time when the European image of Americans was a positive one. We rode in on tanks after the fall of Berlin, and we turned out to be decent people. The world saw us as the good guys. And then we lost it.

My stomach sank, because I know he's right. It takes decades to build that kind of reputation and just a few to lose it. Restoring it will require humility, and Obama is the first major politician who has the balls to admit we've gone off track. He won my heart with those lines alone. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

But for now, I want to publicly continue an email conversation I've been having with an old friend. One of the reasons I am here (i.e., Berlin) and not there (i.e., somewhere in the US), is this kind of asinine journalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZEZonhH9h8&feature=related

"Totally gaffe-tastic" says the Barbie who somehow gets into a million homes. How about totally irresponsible reporting?

I agree that a war monument of any sort might not have been the best choice. There are beautiful settings in and around Berlin that would have been large enough for the crowd and conveyed a more neutral iconography. However, the Siegesaule is not a Hitler monument. Full stop. The fact that three "journalists" wet their pants in excitement while implying that it is (all the while carefully couching their language by using words like "linked to") makes it that much more repellent.

That after getting the facts completely wrong, they moved to a comparison of photoshopped T-shirts just...well, I'm not going to share more of my feelings on an open blog. I know journalism isn't necessarily better here, or anywhere, but it terrifies me that a large portion of Americans are getting their facts from Fox.

All I can say is that I if Obama can carry over 20% of his conviction about the importance of forming a world citizenship when he becomes president, I will be happy that I voted for him. (There's actually some math in my mind that led to 20%. It starts with the percent of Americans who believe that the US is the only country that matters and that our supremacy must be maintained at all costs, acknowledges the reality of the voting populace, and works down from there. Sadly.)

I promise my next post will either be funny or include pretty pictures. :)

A.

P.S.: For a take on the local reaction, check here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,567926,00.html

Cross-Cultural Understanding

2008-07-04T01:05:00.006+02:00

I admit, I spent most of the day composing a bit of a rant, after realizing how tough it is to find a dry cleaner here who doesn't look as if you've asked for their next-born child when you want a shirt cleaned by the end of the following day. I may still write it, since I pretty much finished it in my head. I was planning, in my defense, to balance it with great things about life here, as well.

But I stumbled upon this while surfing and got sidetracked. Rather heroically surfing, I must say, since it was linked to in an article about Stradavarius violins, which I got to through a sidebar ("Other interesting articles") on a page about whether men could lactate, which I got to after watching an episode of QI (a British panel quiz show) in which the host claimed they could. (They can, but it's highly unlikely.)

Anyyywayy.....

Stare at the chart for a while, then go here to decide whether you agree with the methodology and findings. I will remain neutral, like Switzerland, which happens to be a pretty happy place, it seems, if you surf around the site a bit. As is most of northern Europe, excluding Germany. Spain, France and Italy (sorry, Portugal) are also on a steady upward path (at least, through 2007).

By the way, I am not at ALL convinced by the methodology behind the "happiness" surveys, which basically ask "So, how are things going these days?" The findings make for wonderful human-interest segments in the press when the results come out each year, but I hope we all agree that happiness is a bit broader and ephemeral than that.

Oh yeah, here's where the long ride down the wave that is the internet began: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2vadSwzAijs&feature=related

Happy Birthday

2008-06-27T21:48:00.007+02:00

We interrupt this blog to wish my mother a happy birthday.

I will not be there to celebrate. However, as that is almost entirely her fault, hold the violins and/or the admonishing clucks.

You see, if not for her insistence on moving to Italy for a year when I was a teenager, I might very well still be living in Somewhere, USA and available to present the cake. (A lot of people really like Somewhere, USA, by the way. I'm not knocking it. I hear they have an excellent orchestra and plans for the bike path expansion are progressing. Plus there's that new Starbuck's opening, a block and a half closer.)

In any case, I find myself, today, in Berlin, not Somewhere, USA. Thus, my inability to celebrate in person. And it's her doing. Thanks to her seemingly limitless spirit of adventure (and perhaps not knowing any better), 1985 and 1986 found my mom, my sister and me living in a small apartment in a large villa overlooking Florence.

Fast forward to 2007, when I called to tell her I was leaving a pretty darn good job in Berlin to take a year off and do nothing but float around Europe. About a week later I got a card from her in the mail reiterating how excited she was about my decision and how sure she was that it was the right thing to do. You can't ask for a lot more than that, folks, admit it.

I always have a hard time finding the right birthday present for her, because she gave me the best ones I can think of: the understanding that our experience of humanity need not be defined by where we happen to have been born, and the confidence to test that understanding.

Happy birthday, mom. Vielen dank, grazie et merci.

Love,

Andrew

P.S. For the record, it is unlikely that I will ever become the traveler that she is. I enjoy Europe for reasons best explained over a glass of red wine in a sunny sidewalk cafe. She, on the other hand, has in recent years been to India, Japan, Africa, Costa Rica, Honduras, Alaska, Turkey etc. etc.

Berlin/Germany Expat Resources

2008-06-27T21:26:00.002+02:00

I've recently added a few links over in the sidebar to the left...yeah, over there. Bet you've never even looked. For the three readers I might have in Berlin, I thought I'd make it a bit more obvious by including them in a post. If English is your language, or one of them, they really are the best of what I've found over several years:

http://www.toytowngermany.com/ Especially the discussion forums, and of those, especially http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/index.php/f85.html
http://www.thelocal.de/
http://www.young-germany.de/index.html/
http://www.signandsight.com/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,411291,00.html/

Some are useful for their community elements, others for a more local perspective on German and Berlin news, in English.

Hope it's useful for someone!

Cheers

Second Spreewald Follow-up

2008-06-25T00:22:00.004+02:00

After all that, I felt you deserved some closure.

The full set, as always, is available here: http://community.webshots.com/album/563900637HEoZXH

I had been to the Spreewald once before, but couldn't bring myself to ride the boats alone. Not out of fear, mind you, but embarrassment. Fortunately, Monica was there this time and we could laugh off the fact that we were about 50% below the average age of the others, and just enjoy a unique setting. For those considering going (and I do recommend it), I suggest either a longer boat ride (the two hour one we took is focused on the tourist traps near the harbor, while the longer ones appear to penetrate deeper into the non-touristy spots) or, better, renting a kayak or canoe and exploring on your own. The water is knee-deep at best, so while you might get lost, you won't drown. I'll bow to Wikipedia both in the interests of accuracy and time for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreewald.

In more news, my friend and ex-colleague Michael turned 50 recently, and celebrated it with amazing style. Pictures and details to follow. For now, let's just say that anyone who hires a full-blown German beer wagon, plays guitar to a packed crowd, and flies his brother in from the States to sing lead vocals in a truly good cover set, deserves a big Happy Birthday.

In even more (and the best) news, Nicole is back from holiday, and if she lets me, I hope to post some of her Greece pics here in the near future :) Seems she spent the whole time doing exactly what one is supposed to do on vacation. It's nice to have her back, to say the least.

Cheers,

A.

Follow-up

2008-06-20T01:42:00.003+02:00

Actually, the whole damn thing is amusing. Not as good as counterfeit bills, but still a salient reminder of the need to double-check machine translations.

Some of my other favorites include:

"SPREEWALD ballooning kidnaps you at a quiet weather situation in the endless liberty of the sky."

"How would it be cycle tracks with a cycle tour on the possible one for many by the lovely nature of the Spreewald?"

"According to an old legend the Spreewald is an unsuccessful work of the devil. When he ploughed the river bed of the Spree with his yoke of oxen long time ago, he had already got on a good piece, but the two draught animals showed themselves tired and wanted no longer so properly. This did not fit in the bogy. He furiously threw his cap after the cattle creatures and yelled at it: "Damned lazy cattle fetches you might be caught by my grandmother"!

http://www.spreewald-info.com/en/index.php

In San Francisco, I knew a store that sold an impressive variety of imported Japanese candy. As stocking stuffers one year, I bought a selection of chewy candies of dubious flavors because the packaging was so incredible. I can't remember the exact wording, but the basic gist was that eating this candy was akin to watching snowy white maidens float above a river of pink smelling ice snow in the summer while butterflies sang. All recipients were amused, though the candy itself was judged "odd".

Extra points to anyone who knows why "bogy" slipped into the translation.

Google has its strengths, but...

2008-06-20T01:31:00.002+02:00

I'm due for a longer update, I realize. It's summer, and I have pics from BBQs, nights out, long walks, the European UEFA championship (which seems to excite folks here even more than the World Cup did), and more.

But for now, I just had to share this translation I found on a website touting the virtues of the Spreewald, a densely forested area 100 km south of Berlin criss-crossed with canals, and an important wildlife reserve. Tourism is the main trade there these days, but the PR element is still maturing:

"The boat tour with canoe by the Spreewald is one of the most popular ways to discover this unique landscape. The waterways are marked very well. Numerous animal and species of plant wait to be discovered by you. Dragon-flies will accompany your paddle tour and canoe tour. High trees and rare counterfeit bills line the channels and make seem fantastic to the landscape of the Spreewald. Perhaps you are lucky and will see an otter, heron or even the rare kingfisher."

It was all going so well until the "counterfeit bills" part.

If anybody has an idea of what the German word(s) that got mangled might be, let me know. I assume it's "fake..." something, but really can't reverse engineer it!

Map, Take 2

2008-05-27T20:10:00.000+02:00

Let's try this one, instead:

Amsterdam

2008-03-27T14:37:00.003+01:00

For Easter Weekend, I went back to Amsterdam, this time with Nicole. I was there last summer for more than a week, and loved it. I am happy to report that I still do. Even with the weird, bad weather (snow/rain/sleet), it stood tall as a charming, cosmopolitan place. It has the feel of a small town, but with subtle reminders that it's actually quite plugged in. Having a three-story brownstone on a canal now vies with my dream of a Tuscan villa. Both in appeal and improbability, unfortunately.

On a related note, here's another reason why I don't think I'll pursue a career in travel writing. (Those who know me know how I feel about Peter Mayle et al.) This from a pretty well-respected US newspaper: "We ate like the locals, slowly savoring the simple fare."

Guess where they were? The south of France. Not exactly uncharted territory, and the "local fare" was steak and shrimp. Sorry, but I could write the same about a burger joint in Anaheim. It would just sound a lot less romantic.

Which leads me to the pic of the month, from a shop in Amsterdam that sells American and British food. The first person, other than Nicole :), to guess the price of a box of authentic American cereal gets that amount.

The rest of the pics can be found here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562911720cMCUtY

Cheers!

Bookmarking

2008-03-26T00:58:00.002+01:00

This certainly doesn't count as the mega-update I owe (give me one more week), but every few months I find myself searching for this little ditty. It's time to give it a home.

Recipe For Happiness Khaborovsk Or Anyplace

One grand boulevard with trees
with one grand cafe in sun
with strong black coffee in very small cups.

One not necessarily very beautiful
man or woman who loves you.

One fine day.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The Flat Earth, Pippi Style

2008-01-17T18:11:00.000+01:00

I can't tell you how happy finding this link again has made me. I have been searching for it on and off for a year and finally found it again today.

http://www.efraimstochter.de/songs/songgesamt.shtml

Dig the SUPER-groovy intro in the Finnish version.

Some of you may think it childish, but anyone headed to a hostel in Europe will find it extremely useful in fostering cross-cultural understanding. At least with others born before 1976.

Incisive, well-researched political entertainment...I mean, coverage

2008-01-16T13:26:00.000+01:00

I know I still owe a real update, but I came across this and thought I'd share it. (Thanks, Harry Shearer).

It's not a startling, dramatic, or shocking clip. It's just the camera running off-air in between on-air segments of Katie Couric covering the presidential campaign.

But watch it a couple of times and it becomes, at the very least, unsettling.

Katie is no Dan Rather, but as far as I understand it, she's a "respected, seasoned journalist" and I'm sure some people rely on her for news and analysis. Having watched this, I'm not sure I would rely on her to order a pizza without her staff to help.

And I don't mean to single her out. I'm sure this is actually pretty tame, compared to what other "journalists" are like.

Sigh. Oh well, back to WSJ Online.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=30054

Early Christmas Present

2007-12-18T15:52:00.000+01:00

I got an early Christmas present today from, of all places, the German bureaucracy. Seems that they had (quite efficiently, as one grows to expect) figured out that am I no longer working, and invited me in to "chat." A good friend here in Potsdam (whose help was hugely valuable) and I met today with the "Foreigner's Office" official. Although she began with the fairly standard facial expression of a bureaucrat confronting anything slightly out of the ordinary, our combined apparent trustworthiness and sincerity won out, and I am free to hang out doing nothing for at least another six months, at which time she'd like to chat again. Works for me, and it's a great feeling to know that I am still legally blessed. (Although, I have to admit that I was kind of hoping for some sort of stamp. No visit to a German official is complete without at least one seal or stamp hitting paper. Oh well.)

So, back to enjoying Weinacht in Germany. I have to say, Deutschland really does Christmas wonderfully. The picture above is from Dresden, but Christmas Markts, decidedly tasteful decorations, and fun traditions abound everywhere. For example: the aforementioned friend hosted a feuerzangenbowle party last weekend. I will try to explain more when I post a few pictures, but basically a feuerzangenbowle (which translates into English, according to another friend who would know, as "Fire Tongs Bowl") is red wine with fruit, into which one adds 108 proof rum (in increasing quantities as the night progresses, it seems) by soaking a large sugar cone which rests horizontally above the wine pot on a special metal holder, and then lighting the sugar so that the rum and sugar melt down into the wine. Yes, it's as cool and potentially dangerous as it sounds.

Unfortunately, my official stampless stamp of reapproval comes a bit too late to realistically make plans to head to the States for Christmas, so I will float around here a bit. Quite happily. If I go to Barcelona, for example, it will officially be a potential tradition.

Just in case I don't get around to it in the next seven days, Merry Christmas to those to whom it applies. I will do a longer note for New Year's Day, my preferred holiday anyway.

Cheers, all.

Nouveau

2007-11-07T12:30:00.000+01:00

I don't even LIKE art nouveau. It's cluttered and swirly and flowery. But I keep getting drawn back to it. There's symmetry, at least. And when you see something like this, you have to appreciate the energy and passion...

Follow-up

2007-11-06T22:11:00.000+01:00

Thinking more about "catching" rather than taking photographs, here's one where I obviously missed the boat. A pro would have stuck around (and would have had their SLR with them, but I draw the line sometimes). Even with my little pocket camera, I should have known better and spent a few more minutes snapping. The light, the leaves, the men. But the best I could do was a poorly composed snapshot with the trees cutting their heads off and barely a baci ball in sight.