Goodbye to and from Mannheim January 11, 2007
Posted by jlsd in Germany, Travel.add a comment
well can you believe it but M and I leave this little humble industrial heartland today and head home after 5 months in Germany. It is very strange to be honest. This morning when we were fixing up the last of the ‘finalities’ such as cancelling bank accounts and the like, I commented to M that I knew that we were going home but I kind of couldn’t really accept that we wouldn’t be back here next week and that I wouldn’t be back at uni with the MCL mob whinging about queue hopping Germans and the lack of customer service etc.
It has been interesting to see how quickly one can adapt to a new set of circumstances and changed environment. 4 storey buildings are normal for us now, as is apartment living, dogs on trams, cold weather, and i even don’t get quite so annoyed when no one smiles back or lets you go first in the queue at the supermarket when you have only 1 thing to buy and they have a whole trolley load… Australia will feel like home without a doubt, but the sprawling suburbs, single storey or 2 storey at the most buildings (outside the CBD), the heat and the dryness will be a bit weird at first. I will have to stop assuming that no one except M speaks English as a first language (or other MCL people) and start ordering food and doing the shopping without saying ‘Ja Ja’ and pointing at things behind the glass.
We were looking at our photos last night and i realised that we really have seen a great deal and learned a lot about the world, about ourselves as individuals and about us as a couple. we didn’t make it to Russia or Spain but there will be other trips I’m sure. And we managed to do all of this and only take one week off uni (the Aniversary trip to Latvia and Lithuania). Further more, no credit card is completely maxed out (although they have been given a fairly strenuous workout), but we are down the last $53.00 in the savings account! Thank God M is still getting paid, and I will be again soon. It was the best money I ever spent. Every last cent of it.
M is going to say something now;
I just wanted to add to J’s comments above that i will certainly miss the ‘European’ way of life, the food in general (although the lack of good Asian food was a downside it must be said), the flavours, the sensible work hours (not that i was working myself…) and tons of other things, much of which is intangible, and i won’t bore you with an endless laundry list of what i’ve liked etc.
The whole time has been an amazing experience with all that entails; it has not been just a holiday but really an experience with both good and bad. I feel that i have changed as a person even after this relatively short period as a result.
I will certainly miss this place, Mannheim itself has been a very easy place to live and base ourselves, and Europe in a broader sense as well.
Having said all that we are excitied to be coming home too, to see all the friends and family we have been missing and on whom we have relied for so much support over the last five months and the time leading up to us coming o/s.
We will try very hard not to bore or annoy you with endless stories that start with “It was like that time in…” etc
That’s it for now, signing off from Germany for the last time.
See you all soon,
Michael & Jerusha
comparison December 19, 2006
Posted by michael in Germany, Random Observations.add a comment
click to see bigger
a brief note on Gluhwein December 19, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Germany.2 comments
Lately it seems like every corner you turn around here there is a Weihnachtsmarkt (xmas market); well not quite, in Mannheim there are two (in Berlin i saw at least 5). And at the Weihnachtsmarkts you will find all manner of stalls with xmas related (and competely unrelated) trinkets, decorations etc and lots of foodstalls but the most ubiquitous feature of them all is the Gluhwein (that’s supposed to have an umlaut over the u but i can’t work out how to do it in here) stalls that are everywhere.
Gluhwein is a cheap, hot red wine with herbs (cinnamon, cloves etc – think mulled wine) served in a small mug. The quality varies from stall to stall ranging from the ‘harsh’ to the ‘a bit too sweet’ but after about the third one you stop really ‘tasting’ it anyway (after about the fifth one you will probably have a nasty headache the next morning) but it is a good way to keep warm on a cold evening or lunchtime or…
if you are really adventurous of course you could try the 80 proof “turbo” variety that i have seen signposted at some stalls, personally i have passed on that option.
on another xmas but otherwise unrelated note we went to the MCL xmas party at the uni last night and i won the “Schrottwichtel” game. The game is essentially a version of secret santa except the gift is supposed to be as junkish /crappish / “kitsch” / useless / cheesy / annoying as possible. And my winning entry, well it is hard to describe but was a circular lamp thing that you plug in and has swirling different coloured lights that spin around and a cheesy santa picture smack in the middle of the whole thing- kinda had to see it to understand, very tasteful indeed… (although not as good as some of the other options i considered while trawling through a cheapo store in Ludwigshafen but didn’t get in case they offended anyone’s religious sensibilities at the party – like the lime green plastic alarm clock in the shape of a mosque or the light up faux crystal crucifix with changing ambient colours or the mirror with a lopsided crucifix in the middle and flashing lights around the outside).
the other thing i have really been enjoying about the leadup to xmas here has been the overall lack of crass commercialism thatseems to pervade everything in Australia at thistime of year. sure, there are the xmasmarkts and xmaslights in the streets and decorations in the department stores but it is not nearly as over the top and you can walk into a shop without being blasted with endless loops of christmas carols being played everywhere you go (i hate those – i especially used to hate it when i worked in retail and spent many a xmasseason in a busy shopping centre behind a counter having to hear the same bloody carols over and over and over and over all day).
anyway, gotta go and pack my bag as tomorrow we are off on our last jaunt around before packing up and heading home – Krakow, Prague, Paris. So may not be much blogging action here over the next couple of weeks but check in anyway as we may update if we get the chance.
cheers and have a good festive season whichever way you want to celebrate it.
One room, one income, twice the price December 10, 2006
Posted by jlsd in Food, Germany.add a comment
A few people have asked us what its been like living here for an extended period as opposed to being on holidays. So we thought we’d provide a snapshot for you.
As the title to this post suggests – its rather expensive over here and we don’t have a lot of room. But one thing at a time…
How much do you get for your money?
Basically, at the supermarket things look about the same price as they are in Adelaide – just remember that its in Euros. It’s not quite double the cost – more like 2/3 again to 3/4 again after the exchange rate. At first I balked at paying the higher prices, but after a while I stopped doing conversions as it was a pointless exercise and served only to make me worry about money which I have always refused to do. Don’t misunderstand me – it’s not like I behave like a millionaire when we’re not, but rather I like to be practical and sensible with money and work with what I’ve got rather than stressing about what I might not have. It’s been an essential psyhological state while we’ve been here.
So how much money do we survive on each week?
We budget for 80E a week in groceries for the 2 of us – for all groceries, and any food that may be bought out at the uni cafeteria. That’s about $140.00. Noting the above exchange rate, it requires som juggling at the supermarket! Noteably, the Germans do somethings more cheaply and sensibly – like selling half loaves of bread, and a lot of food gets packaged in smaller serves so you waste less and have to buy less in the first place. Also, recycling is such a big thing here that bottles can be ‘cashed’ in at the store, and taken off the price of your groceries – which is great (and creates a bin lady style eye for random discarded bottles at uni – when you can charge the amount back to your photocopying cash on the student card!)
Other things that are expensive include the washing machines (by way of example) – its about $2 50 per wash, which is expensive when there are 2 of us, and more than one load needs to be done. So admittedly I have copied other residents, and rig the washing machine with dental floss (I’ll explain later if you want to know) so that my washing token can be reused for multiple washes.
NB. This of course can only happen if one can actually get a washing machine to use – as we have 3 when all are working for about 200 rooms – some of which are doubles – so about 250 people. Sunday afternoon is never a good time! It costs extra to dry clothes (when the driers work) so we decided to lash out and buy and 8E clothes airer which I have fallen in love with – and stagger our washing over the week. The end result is that our room looks and smells like a laundry.
So could you live for 6 months in one room?
and share it with another person, and share the shower, toilet and kitchen with 4 others that you don’t know?
We have – and frankly its been fine. See pictures for visual reference. Cosy but fine.
So what have we learned about ourselves as a result of all of this?
That we have had a great time with a lot less and have not ever felt deprived. Sure, every now and then I want a pretty top, or shoes or to go out for dinner and we can’t – but that is no different to when we were in Adelaide with 2 incomes and things were half the price. In other words we have been shown that
(a) without realising it we (and the rest of the western world) waste money on things that seem essential. We think we need big houses, backyards, a cupboard of food that could sustain you for a month, that certain essentials like more than one towel each, more than one frying pan or knife are too terrible to contemplate. It’s not. A berliner bun for a pat on the back after an exam is fine – I don’t need more than an 80c reward.
(b) We have really come to like no tv. And we don’t have a radio either (my world receiver is poo and gathering dust). It’s really lovely to live an uncluttered life (in a very cluttered room). I like coming ‘home’ and talking to Michael about what he did, and telling him about what I learnt at uni, or making plans together, or reading the same books and then talking about what we liked or didn’t. TV is a scourge, and distracts, and dumbs everything down -every thing is given to you and you just stare at it – hypnotically. TV wastes time – in the true sense of the word – as in treats a valuable resource as though it was rubbish.
So are we going to get an eco loo, throw out the tv and never switch on the radio?
No – but we’re certainly different for this trip – and certainly more likely to recycle, less likely to want and want and want, and think that if can’t have what we want then we are suffering or poor. We’re not – not even remotely. It’s not how much you have got – its what you do with it. And before any one says – that’s easy for a lawyer to say as you earn a million bucks a year – I don’t – how much exactly I earn is frankly no one’s business but – lets put it this way – Michael earns more than me. Now you didn’t expect that did you??
How did we manage to go travelling?
We saved like crazy before we came and have budgetted well since we got here – there is no pot of gold just a diminishing bank account and increasing credit card debt. And we don’t regret any of it.
The Xmas Gerkin – in lieu of a tree – much better for the environment!
Fun Facts I learnt @ the Fallout Shelter December 10, 2006
Posted by michael in Germany, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
as i mentioned in my previous entry while i was in Berlin i went on a brief tour of a functional atomic fallout shelter built in 1974. the building developers apparently got a huge grant from the government to include the shelter in the new building they were putting up – i’m not sure exactly what they spent it all on.
So, how good is this ‘fully functional’ fallout shelter anyway?
First you need to know it’s there; situated down a stairwell below a parking garage there is only one small sign outside the door. i don’t think there is a sign on the street outside.
Then you need to know a nuclear attack is coming so you go there. then you need to be strong or quick as it only has a capacity of 3600 people (along with the other, smaller, shelters dotted around Berlin the combined capacity of them all is about 5% of the city’s population – by contrast apparently there are enough fallout shelters in Switzerland for 90% of that countries population and ironically they are neutral).
Next you have to hope that the bomb was dropped more than a minimum of 5km away from the site or the structure will likely have been compromised.
So, assuming you know a nuclear attack is on the way and you get into the shelter and the bomb impacts more than 5km away you are set for the next 14 days but be prepared to be uncomfortable.
If the 3600 person capacity is full the average temperature will be around 35 degrees Celsius, all the time, with a relative humidity around 75% plus.
The air filters will only last for 14 days and cannot be cleaned or replaced.
And due to the filtration process the amount of oxygen available in the air will be so low that you will only have enough energy to sleep most of the time, with an effort you could go to the toilet (one of 64 – remember, 3600 people) or eat.
But mostly you will be sleeping. On a bed that consists of mesh netting in a steel frame (no under support) that is stacked 4 high and butts up against the next one. and they are only 1.7m long. cosy. 
(click for bigger view)
If you can muster up the energy to eat there are enough stored provisions to last 3600 people for 14 days. great, what is the food like? tinned bread. and? that’s it, just tinned bread. But if you want to heat it up there is a kitchen (about 2m square) which has 2 shelves and a stove top with 3 hotplates.
bread. and water. how much water? there is enough water stored for each person to have 2.5 litres a day. sounds like a reasonable amount at first, but that’s for everything including toilets (the toilets have no doors only a curtain – the idea is to discourage suicide as the idea is that people are less likely to commit suicide if they don’t have the privacy) and washing (there are no showers). For perspective apparently the average German normally uses 120 – 140 litres of water a day (Americans apparently use an average of closer to 300 litres a day). There are two manual pumps to a well also but no one is likely to have enough energy or strength to operate them (remember the low oxygen levels) and even if someone does get them working the ground water would probably be contaminated anyway.
And who will be in charge? 16 soldiers. And do any of these 16 soldiers have medical training to deal with emergencies? no. it is assumed that amongst the 3600 people who get in there will probably be some doctors. and you better hope they bring medicine and equipment with them because none is stored in the shelter.
So what happens after 14 days when the filtered air, water and tinned bread runs out? you call for help on the one telephone in the shelter. that is connected to the local city telephone network. so you better hope that the phone lines are still intact. and that there is someone there on the other end to answer.
back from Berlin December 10, 2006
Posted by michael in Art, Germany, Live Music, Random Observations, Travel.add a comment
Have i mentioned lately how much i love Berlin.
i’m not sure exactly what it is about the place but this trip (i’m just back from a week there), short as it was, has confirmed Berlin as my favourite city in the world (that i’ve set foot in so far).
So, a brief roundup of selected highlights of my trip in no particular order:
- looking at more contemporary art than you can poke a stick at. (and i’ll pre-empt any inevitable joke in the comments with ‘some of it may have indeed been made by poking sticks at things’, right, now that’s out of the way moving right along). seriously, so much interesting art my eyeballs were getting fatigued.
- going up into the dome at the top of the Reichstag building.
- looking around the Memorial To The Murdered Jews of Europe. the memorial itself is interesting to walk around and look at but abstract enough that you can forget what it represents if not careful. i guess it’s tricky finding a balance between presenting a memorial and going too over the top and ramming it down people’s throats. The underground interpretation centre is more formal, well presented and effective.
- buying a bucketload of CDs including (but not limited to) a couple of Iggy Pop bootlegs, Mingus, a 2CD Berlin punk anthology ’77-’89 and a 2nd hand find that may possibly feature the words Cyndi and Lauper and Christmas on the cover.
- watching live jazz at A TRANE. a very small but very cool jazz joint. there were maybe 40 people in the whole place including the band and the staff and it was almost full. i reckon just walking through the door automatically raised my coolness quota by several points. as an added bonus it was only a 10 minute walk from my hotel (30 – 40 minutes if you are a bit tipsy and take a wrong turn on the way back to the hotel a few hours later). the band were pretty good too and the bass players name was Pepe.
- ROCK! Jugend und Musik in Deutschland. an exhibition of music and youth in Germany with everything from a lock of Elvis‘ hair to the current clubbing/techno scene and tons in between – the mixing desk and ephemera from CAN‘s studio, metal ‘drum kit’ used by Einsturzende Neubeauten (i always spell that wrong but can’t be bothered checking it right now), a dress worn by Nina Hagen, guitars signed by Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Ray Davies, Chrissie Hyndes etc etc etc and heaps more. the info was all in German of course but with all the videos, posters, photos, music equipment and assorted other gear it didn’t matter and i had a great time checking it all out along with a few barely suppressed oooohs and ‘f*ck me that’s the[insert whatever piece of rock memorabilia i happen to be gawking at at the time]…‘slipping out occasionaly.
- generaly gawping at architecture in a way that suggests i have half a clue. i don’t. i just like looking at cool/interesting buildings and stuff.
- Matthew Barney and Joseph Beuys at the Deutsche Guggenheim. a small space and some strange installation pieces featuring lots of molded plastic, marble, and huge volumes of petroleum jelly. Barney is the guy who did the Cremaster Cycle or you may know him better as ‘the guy who is currently boinking Bjork’.
- 3 exhibitions at the Museum fur Fotografie.
Private Property – a collection of Helmut Newton miscellanea; photos, letters, cameras, car, mock up of his study etc etc.
Window – Reiner Leist. – hundreds of photos of the same scene taken over years out of his New York apartment window, more interesting than it sounds.
Men, War & Peace – Helmut Newton, James Nachtwey and David LaChapelle. The Newton component was a collection of his portraits of famous men and was of the calibre you’d expect. LaChapelle’s work is amusing in his own special hyper-reality way. Easily the standout though was the amazing, albeit disturbing and graphic, photos by Nachtwey, especially his Balkan war series.
- Hamburger Bahnhof. a HUGE old train station that has been converted into a museum for contemporary art. If names like Robert Raushenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Damien Hirst etc ring any bells you get the idea of the kind of work that is on display here. In addition to works by the aforementioned and many others this museum also had a few special exhibitions (they have different special exhibitions every few months in addition to the permanent display). Two of the special exhibitions were a collection of work by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and a large exhibition under the banner of ‘The Art of Projection’ exploring film, video and installations involving projection of varying types and media from the Christian Flick Collection. i spent a good chunk of a day wandering around the giant halls and highly recommend this place to anyone passing through Berlin that has an interest in modern art.
as an aside i did raise a chuckle earlier in the day passing the antiquities museum on museum insel which had a large neon sign out the front that states ‘All Art Has Been Contemporary’.
- Sowjetisches Ehrenmal(Soviet Memorial, 1949). for sheer over the top-ness. the memorial has two large marble walls with statues of kneeling soldiers in front which open on to a big plaza. the plaza is lined with great big blocks covered in relief designs depicting war scenes and gilt quotations by the likes of Stalin. all of this leading to a big mound, topped by a big plinth, topped by a 13m high statue of a soldier with a child in one hand and a dirty great big sword in the other, standing on top of a broken swastika. subtle.
- Berlin Story. a multimedia (and i don’t just mean a few dodgy videos) exhibition over several levels detailing the history of the city of Berlin from the 13th Century to the present. Extremely well presented and informative. and the entrance price also included a brief tour of a functional atomic fallout shelter. cool. (i will blog about the fallout shelter separatley).
Food Highlights
- one word. currywurst.
- that dark stuff i was drinking at A TRANE. i hesitate to simply call it beer. i started calling it “i’ll have another one of those please.”
Not-Quite-So-High-lights:
- Berlin Zoo. was good but not great. i think i had set my expectations too high before going. they claim to have more different species of animals than any other zoo in the world. i did see some interesting stuff there. amongst other things the several varieties of Madagaskan mongoose were kind of cool. overall the zoo was ok but most of the enclosures looked a bit dated (they are currently renovating some).
- getting soaked to the skin while perambulating up Ku’damm on my first night in town.
- having a muscle spasm and as a result destroying half a tray of glassware at the hotel breakfast buffet with my spastic flailing arm.
- discovering that the hotel was indeed named after the song by the Eagles (shoulda seen that one coming – it was way too obvious) but it was a fine place to stay, especially seeing the cheap deal i got.
- thinking i was about to be mugged by the two very dodgy looking characters on the U-Bahn. one had a shaved head, the other had a mohawk, both had multiple piercings, heavy boots, grotty looking clothes, none of which i took any notice of or gave a second thought until i noticed they were furtively looking about the carriage before making subtle signals to each other and moving to either end of the carriage and blocking off the exits. at this point i started to wonder what was about to happen… turns out they were undercover ticket inspectors.
Berlin. i love it. i saw a bunch of other stuff too but that will suffice as a wrapup for now.
oh, before i sign off a quick aside on workplace health and safety standards in Germany – ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
example – sitting in a cafe in Berlin (drinking mighty fine coffee i might add) i was watching through the window two guys dismantling some scaffolding out the front of the building next door. one guy was standing on the scaffolding, two stories up, pulling it apart and half dropping/half throwing the parts (planks of wood, steel tubing, brackets etc etc) over the footpath onto the back of a flatbed truck. the other guy, who was standing on the truck, would then step over stack that piece then step back out of the way before the next piece was chucked down. this sort of thing is not an isolated incident, during our time here in Europe i have seen quite a number of dodgy work practices of varying types and degrees of scariness. for one thing i certainly will no longer walk under ladders without looking up anymore.
Conclusion: yes. I. am. a. nerd. (but a nerd who has been to Berlin. twice.)
fondue and other stuff November 15, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Germany, Live Music, Random Observations, Travel.add a comment
well this entry is something of a grab bag report on a few recent activities ’round these parts… here’s my take on stuff (i occasionally waffle on so apologies for the length of this post – i am trying to catch up while i still remember stuff) and i think J will also have a few words to say about some of this as well.
Heidelberg revisited x 2
we’ve been back to Heidelberg twice in recent weeks and both times the trip home which should have taken 45 mins or so blew out to 2+ hours each time (late night trams with unusual routes or missed connections etc). the first visit was one sunday arvo when we went across the river from the schloss/old town and hiked up the side of the hill along a path called the Philosophenweg (Philosopher’s Way) – apparently the views from here were inspirational for Hegel, personally i found them nice but lacking any prompting of profound philosophical inspiration (between wheezing and trying to catch my breath). The initial path up to the philosophenweg is called the schlangeweg(snake way) and is a steep narrow walled in windy path which should be named neck-breaker way, lots of cobblestones and very steep steps, especially dangerous at night – and that’s just the physical danger – on the way back down in the fast receding light later in the day J was grabbed by a dirty old perv as he walked past.
Beyond the main walkway we headed further up the hill looking for an ampitheatre i’d read about and discovered the area (around the top of the hill) was the site of a celtic tribal fortified/walled settlement, then later a Roman temple and still later a monastery (named Michael Kloster no less!) We also found the ampitheatre or ‘Thingstatte‘ built by the Nazis in 1934/35 which was impressive looking for an outdoor ampitheatre on the side/top of a hill. After nearly killing J (asthma) climbing up the side of the hill to the ampitheatre and kloster ruins we headed back across the river to the old town and had a great dinner in a pub which brews it’s own beers including one which holds the Guinness Book World Record for strongest alcohol content at 33% – i didn’t actually try this one opting instead for a seasonal dark winter beer which still had a pretty strong kick – dinner for me (i know i keep banging on about food but seriously it has been too good to not mention) was wild goulash with cranberry followed by an insanely good apple in vanilla sauce concoction. The second visit was to a different pub with a bunch from the uni for dinner which was also good, again more on site brewed seasonal beers (i again opting for the dark winter house beers – yummy), along with ‘grandmother’s’ roast pork with a side serve of red cabbage (and by side serve i mean a whole plate which i demolished in quick fashion and groaned about several hours later).
Jazz
we also went along to another gig as part of the Enjoy Jazzfestival (slightly kicking myself for not getting to more shows but limited time, funds and organisational ability/laziness all played a part). This show was also at the Old Firestation in Mannheim which is actually a really cool venue. we saw Nouvelle Vaguewho after the first few songs warmed up and were better than i expected them to be. their schtick is breathy French accented vocals, poppy, jazzy covers of new wave standards such as ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ etc (The support duo were appaling however).
Cinema
On saturday the new English language movie started in Mannheim (they seem to show about one a month) so we went and saw ‘Children of Men’which was surprisingly good if a little slow to start and a bit heavy handed on ‘making a point’, nice gritty look about it with some quite graphic violence all done with an artsy bent. Set in near future London after the whole world’s population has become sterile i won’t say anymore in case you want to go see it. Also it has Julianne Moore who is usually good (this being no exception) and Clive Owen (J was disappointed at not getting to see him nekkid) with Michael Caine (using the same voice he uses for every character he has ever played). still quite a good flick mostly – i’d give it 3.5 out of 5.
xmas
the xmas decorations and advent calendars are out in full force in all the shops so to prove i am not a total bah-humbug scrooge i bought J an advent calendar and agreed to the purchase of a xmas decoration for our room. (just quietly the advent calendar was purchased with a small ulterier motive – it is full of lindt chocolates and i have gallantly offered my assistance in eating them – purely to save J from lactose belly if she eats too many herself…) and also it looks kind of cool, a giant Babushka (click pic below to see bigger version). given the cosiness of our room a xmas tree is completely out of the question but we have settled on a decoration of a local made handcrafted blown glass christmas gherkin, now we just need to find somewhere to hang it…
Switzerland
and to bring us up to date we have just returned from 3 days in Geneva. Geneva itself is pretty but kind of bland and lacking in personality i felt. very much a transitory sort of town with a high turnover of population. and it’s expensive(for example a 500ml bottle of coke in a local convenience store was 3.80 Swiss Francs which equates to roughly about 4 Australian dollars, a McDonalds Big Mac meal (small) was about 14 or 15 Swiss Francs – not that i ate Macca’s but gives you an idea).
this trip was organised by the Mannheim Uni MCL course and i’m sure J will talk more about the UN visit she went on and the quiz night at the pub (i had a migraine so spent monday night curled up in the hostel – and i think the resulting next morning dopiness was partially to blame for the honest mistake of standing around for 5 minutes in the girls shower room – i didn’t see the sign and for some reason thought there was only one unisex shower block).
In Geneva on the monday we went to the Red Cross and Red Cresent Museum which was very good but i failed to fully appreciate as the aforementioned migraine was already starting to kick in at that point.
On the tuesday while J and the other uni types were off at the UN observing Human Rights committee meetings i spent the day ambling aimlessly about the city. As i said, a nice but not hugely exciting city. Lake Geneva is visually pretty appealing to look at.
i did however get told off by some old nana in rapid fire French, until she realised i didn’t understand a word she was saying and switched to rapid fire English. i was taking a photo of some graffiti and she came running over (well hobbling but quickly); “these are terrible things written here, the young people they write them at night, it is awful, you should not take pictures of such things, you go now, take pictures of beautifull things in Geneva” followed by some walking – stick pointing/waving in the direction of the old part of town and a look that showed she was serious.
Tuesday night we went and had a traditional fondue dinner (well i had fondue, J opted out completely for health reasons) with the whole group and a guest judge or some high-falutin official from the UN, i’m sure J will fill you in on the details of why he was important. The cafe was small and cramped and when we first walked in the smell hit you like a wall, closest i can describe was like hot, sweaty old socks, but once i started dipping my bread chunks into that molten cheese, woo-hoo it was good (or at least what i could still taste after the first mouthful burnt off the top layer of my tongue).
On Wednesday morning before getting back on the train i went on the guided tour of the UN European HQ in the Palais d’Nations which was really good, very interesting and informative and definitley worthwhile. it was an hour tour but was full of info and saw quite a bit. a lot of serious world-affecting stuff goes on in that place and was cool to have a look around.
oh and yes we did buy some swiss chocolate, unfortuantley the use by date is some time in the next week or so i am sure, guess we’ll just have to eat it ourselves…
that’s it from me for now. on Saturday we head off for our anniversary trip (a year already, where the hell has that time gone???) and will be gone for 8 days so no updates probably till we get back with stories to tell of Baltic adventures… (Unless J wants to expand on her Geneva excursion and the like before then).
Frankfurt round-up November 6, 2006
Posted by michael in Art, Food, Germany, Random Observations, Travel.add a comment
so we have just spent two days ambling about Frankfurt am Main. in no particular order here are some haphazard notes and observations:
Frankfurt is known for 3 things; banking – didn’t do any, international trade fairs – weren’t any on, museums – managed to check out 4 (well 3 and one small exhibition space).
the first thing you notice is all the glass skyscrapers (Frankfurt was pretty much flattened in Allied bombing raids in WW II so post-war boom allowed for massive expansion – skywards…) and they seem to be quite proud of them judging by the number of postcards and posters i saw showing the city skyline with the heights of about 15 or 20 different buildings noted for comparison
the second thing you notice are the drug dealers. lots of very obvious deals being done very openly around the place. on Sunday night about 7pm on a very busy street i overheard one guy offering a menu “you want some Ecstasy, you want some speed, you want some…”
noticed quite a lot of beggers and a few homeless people too, including one couple in a makeshift lean-to complete with matteress under some bushes next to a major road. several of the homeless people were shouting very loudly to themselves, quite animated.
the whole city has a very transient feel about it and a distinct lack of personality which i guess makes sense given that it is a major travel hub with biggest or second biggest (i’m not sure) railway station and airport in Europe
there is also a pretty big red light district too. the city guide that we got for free at the hotel (a big chain hotel that was supposedly 4 star – we got cheap last minute rates – but i presume whoever did the rating didn’t stay in the same room we did – not that it was dreadful or anything but decidedly not 4 star) had pages of ads for escort services, maybe to cater for the guys on trade fair junkets…
we went and had a look through Alt Sachsenhausen which is one of the night-life spots apparently but after seeing a few dodgy looking characters and several pools of dried blood (seriously i mean pools – looked like enough to have come from a broken nose or a serious cut) that were still on the ground late sunday afternoon we decided to go walking elsewhere
saw the very effective Jewish memorial which consists of walls with metal cubes each showing the name of a Frankfurt born Jew that was murdered during the Holocaust. not nearly as interesting or moving were the two junkies shooting up on the park bench nearby.
and of course being a couple of nerds we went to art museums. there is a bunch of seriously good museums in Frankfurt but given limited time we managed the following:
Ikon Museum – collection of Russian religious paintings – v. interesting
Portikus – this small exhibition space is housed in a building stuck off the side of one of the many bridges across the river Main about 1/3 of the way across the river. on the day we went there was an installation piece by Paul Chan which walks that fine line of post-modern art between interesting and too-clever-for-its-own-good wank – sometimes of course the wankiness is of a just plaim dumb nature. J’s initial reaction – “is this some kind of joke?”. the piece made more sense after i read the explanation of what it supposedly represented but i’m still not sure which side of the line it fell on for me.
Museum fur Moderne Kunst (Kunst is the German word for Art) – this is a really interesting building (apparently nicknamed ‘slice of cake’ by the locals because of its wedge shape) and a really interesting display space as well.there was a feature exhibition of pieces by an artist i can’t recall the name of which was rather underwhelming (falling on the wank side of the aforementioned equation largely in my opinion) and a selection of other works which were of variable appeal- some bad, some good, some really good. i have to admit for me the space itself was generally more interesting than most of the art. also we had lunch in the museum’s cafe and at the risk of banging on about food again i have to say mine was mighty, mighty fine (i may have been ranting about how good it was and making stupid food appreciation noises at the time) – for the record i had Creme of Water Chestnut with Pomegranate Soup (lip-smackingly good) and Ostrich Steaks with Lemon-Caramel sauce (the sauce was brilliant – the best way i can (badly) describe the (small) steaks was that they tasted like being lighter but with a similar texture to lamb minus the red meat taste).
Schirn – we saw two exhibitions here. ‘I Like America’ which documented 1820′s Germany’s obsession with the American Wild West which was only mildly interesting. And, ‘Anoynm’ which was a bit of a hit-and-miss affair with echoes of ‘the author is dead’ concept where the entire exhibition (artists and curator) is made up of pieces where the artists name is not disclosed. some of the pieces where interesting but nothing really stood out as exceptional to me.
maybe i’m a philistine/ignoramus or maybe i just had expectations that were too high but i found most of the art we managed to see in Frankfurt was pretty average. Just the luck of the draw for what exhibitions were showing while we happened to be there i guess or maybe, as i said, it’s just me…
the Schirn museum bookshop… well i may have gone a bit silly and spent up on few things but they did have a sale on and stuff was going cheap – the only thing that stopped me from walking out with armloads of gear was the cost of sending it all back home
on the sunday evening while we were out ambling about we came across a protest (we seem to make a habit of finding them accidentally while in Germany – it happened in 2004 in Berlin too) admittedly this was a very very small protest but still… Around one of the main Platz there was a group of hunters heralding in the new hunting season with their hunting horns (as in musical instruments you blow in not things that grow out of your head) and they were calling back and forth with another group of hunters in the next square over. And trying their damndest to drown them out (unsuccessfully) was a motley group of 5 or 6 protesters yelling, chanting and whistling holding up a few banners which said something along the lines of ‘hunting is murder’ (my German is not good enough to translate exactly – considering i know about 3 words total but that was the general gist). the protesters were giving it a good go but the large crowd that had gathered to watch were all applauding the hunters after each round of horn blowing. when we asked a nearby shopkeeper about it he said, “it happens every year”.
at least the horn blowers were mostly in tune which is more than can be said for the Asian guy who was in the main pedestrian shopping strip on sunday night with electric guitar (way out of tune – even to my cloth ears) and amplifier and mic who made up for his lack of ability with sheer enthusiasm, where he didn’t know the words he just screeched and his guitar playing i suppose came somewhere in the vicinity of chords occasionally. it was pretty funny, he even had the rock god stage moves down with lots of strutting and jumping etc. he had a small crowd developing when we went past. a bit further down the way was a hippy looking dude playing acoustic guitar and singing (both in tune) and he had no audience whatsoever. i preferred the dodgy screeching Asian guy by far as well.
and to wrap up just in case this all comes across the wrong way i want to point out that i did enjoy my time spent in Frankfurt (aside from worrying about sick relatives back home) and it probably has some very lovely areas but these were my general impressions of what i saw. J may wish to say more or different things later.
Some explanation re the observations October 27, 2006
Posted by jlsd in Germany, Random Observations.1 comment so far
I had a very interesting chat with one of the fellow MCL students – a German student who is coming to study in Adleiade next semester – who explained to me some of the particular features of the German culture and psyche. She told me about how, in her opinion, Germans are secretive and hoard information that will benefit themselves but not share (which is reasonably common in AngloAustralian and other Australian cultures too). She thought that this accounts for the behaviour that we see as brashness and rudeness – why help anyone when in fact you are helping the competition? In the case of bureuacrats – knowledge is power, and any information that they have about something that is of importance to you, is a way to weild power over you. In a hierarchical society such as this – wielding power is important.
But the really interesting thing that Nicole told me was about the German obsession with rules. There has always been a bit of a joke about this in non German contemporary culture – about over zealous German army officials and the like – but here is a more off the beaten track exmple.
The Bin Incident
Our bin in the communal kitchen was overflowing and gross. After M had taken it out for what seemed to be the 100th time that week, I decided to put a sign on it that said ‘please remember to empty the bin and do not overfill it so that it stinks’ or something very similar to this. I wacked it on the bin with a bit of sticky tape. A couple of days later, the putzfrau (cleaner) and I had a very animated half English half German and half sign language conversation in which I had to reassure her that she was not doing an inadequate job and that the Hausmeister would have no reason to shout at her for not doing her job properly. A couple of days after this, one of the flat mates asked Michael if he had put the sign up – he told them it was me. Then a few days later I was asked by anther flatmate if I had put the sign up. I said yes. Then followed a long and painful conversation about who felt the greatest responsibility regarding the emptying the bin, the fact that I used it ‘too much’ (?? there are 8 of us up here – its hard to figure who is using the bin), that as others didn’t as much then they didn’t feel obligated to do anything about it, the history of the bin in the kitchen – I’m not joking – about how there was another one and that it had broken and the Hausmeister had provided a smaller one and that it wasn’t good enough – although the benefits of this bin where that it had a pedal – demonstrations of the pedal (I had used itonce or twice myself so was reasonably familiar with the concept) – and so on. After about 10 minutes I got out of the kitchen and was rather puzzled. Why was a major debate similar to that of UN negotiations needed as a result of a friendly reminder notice stuck to the side of the bin?
Nicole enlightened me – because according to German culture a rule is something that is written down and stuck up – and most importantly – MUST be obeyed. And who was I to put a new rule regarding the bin without first conducting detailed research? Thus so was the whole painful series of questions and demonstrations and difficult debates about the bin – because if you’re going to have a new rule then you have to be sure about it – as you will be locked in and will be held accountable. Ahhh… nevermind the fact that to me it wasn’t a rule – according to the Germans – unless it was obviously an advert or poster art the fact that it was stuck up there was indicative of being a rule.
This is called culture clash. My new ‘rule’ was additionally confusing to them as it wasn’t directed at anyone, didn’t really have enough detail for a proper rule. What was I trying to achieve? What were they supposed do as a result? Why was it there? That is why Benny had to explain to me that he wasn’t at fault – it wasn’t him that had created a need for a new rule – in fact – it was actually me! By increasing the usage of the bin, I had created a need to take it out more etc etc etc.
It is for the same reasons as explained above that it seems that Germans are rude, that customer service is non exisitant beyond throwing your money and purchases at you accross a counter, that they argue, that they shout and tell you off if you break a rule – irrespective of whether you know it exists or not.
And incidentely, it is the reason that Nicole wants to migrate permanently to Australia.
Picture of the offending bin is below.
Cheers, JD
chomp chomp October 15, 2006
Posted by michael in Germany, Random Observations.1 comment so far
Saw two real live Piranhas today!
click pics to see bigger version
nothing else to report really, just thought that was cool.
oh and also big fat geckos, an albino boa constrictor (looked like milk colour with yellow custard markings), other assorted snakes, lizards, giant tortises, groovy fish, huge owls, giant African crane type birds, giant butterflys, flamingos sitting on an egg, and a bunch of other stuff down at the Luisien Park.
but the piranhas were the coolest… (i may have temporarily reverted to being a 7 year old boy in my excitement on spotting them but did manage to refrain from squealing like a girl).
