Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Going my Way?

New in town? Don't know how to make new friends? Just do as we did, buy a group train ticket to go to town and share it with total strangers. It's true - we went to Frankfurt on Saturday to buy books and instead of buying two single tickets for a total of 7,20 Euros each, we bought a group ticket for the day for 13,80 Euros, saving us 60 cents.

We saw a woman and her son approach the ticket machine, asked her if she was traveling to Frankfurt and invited her to share our ticket, since it is valid for 5 people. We enjoyed a nice chat on the train . It felt nice to do something good for her because she is a single mom of two kids.

Frankfurt had turned into a party town for the weekend as it celebrated Christopher Street Day and the Opernplatz, or square in front of the old opera building, was celebrating Opernspiele ( in German). For the Opernspiele, they had all kinds of games and entertainment for families and we had fun watching the kids sitting in plastic bins and rolling down a long conveyer belt-type ramp.

Just before returning to Oberursel, we enjoyed a couple of beers in a cafe on the Opernplatz- B ate a real Frankfurter sausage with potato salad and drank a Czech dark beer (Krusovice) and I had the new grapefruit-flavored Schöffehofer Hefeweizen. We had just finished drinking our beers when it started to rain.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Strawberry Fields

Yesterday, I hosted a book club meeting and in preparation went to the local REWE to buy snacks and munchies for the evening.

I have noted several times now that the strawberries, which come in open, cardboard containers, get picked over by customers. With apples or other large fruit I am ok with it, but strawberries and smaller fruit get bruised easily. Not to mention the yuck factor of people looking at each strawberry. But unless you catch them as they come off the truck, you end up buying strawberries that have been picked over by who knows how many people. I suppose, if you covered the cardboard containers up with cellophane as they do in the US, people here would complain how environmentally unfriendly that is.

I had a difficult time finding small crackers that could hold cheese slices finding only larger toast-like looking things or tiny flavored ones that are not suited for hors d'oeuvres. I also had to ask someone in the store what qualifies as a dip for fresh vegetables and found a suprisingly tasty one - hot pepper variation that went well with fresh veggies.

We digressed from talking about our book to discussing Walmart greeters and how that concept failed in Germany. I found it amusing that Germans think of it as an annoyance whereas I see it as a benefit to employ otherwise lonely, sedentary seniors. Well, not important, since Walmart couldn't make a go of it in Germany anyways.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Strasbourg, France

Of all the places I have seen so far, my favorite one is in France. It must be the canals and bridges decorated with purple petunias. Or the fact that the facades of the houses look so bright and clean.

We drove for a little over 2 hours one way to see Strasbourg. After arriving, we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in "Little France", a quaint part of town with cobble stone alleys and lots of cafes by the canals. Then, we took a boat tour - the choice was covered or uncovered. We chanced it and went on the uncovered boat and luckily we didn't get any rain except for a few small drops.

Afterwards, we walked over to the cathedral - wow, that was one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. It's enormous, intricately decorated with statues, gargoyles and spires. Inside is a fabulous astronomical clock and beautiful stained glass windows. For about 9 Euros total, we climbed the 66 meter, 332-step tower - a fast-growing fitness trend on all our trips. Just to one side of the cathedral was a small food festival with music and tents showing food stuff of the region.

We treated ourselves to hot apple strudel with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and vanilla sauce on the side before heading home. That balanced out all the healthy stuff we were doing.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Design Nirvana

How lucky was I to score a day-pass to Tendence , the coolest international design fair on Earth? Very, very, very lucky... I've decided, next time I'll ask the show organizers if I can just live there. My senses are still overwhelmed. The funniest booth I saw was from a company called pups.it . They deserve a medal for bravery in the field of international marketing gone wrong... or maybe right?

Because I had so much fun this week, I am having to do chores today and waiting for my Miele to get done with the wash. To pass the time, I am playing Star-Fighter. This game - Germanizer -will test your knowledge of Germany. It's a little cheesy...

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Oberursel

We finally took the time to tour Oberursel with a guide yesterday. We meant to do it since we moved here but since we were busy getting settled in on weekends and the guided tour is offered only on the first Saturday each month, we kept missing it.

The name Oberursel is celtic in origin meaning something like "running waters". It is known as the gateway to the Taunus and was established 791 A.D. These days it's better known for the Frankfurt International School but back in the old days it was a milling and weaver's town. There are several old mills still standing today. The old part of town used to be surrounded by a protective wall.

Currently, Oberursel is celebrating the "Orscheler Sommer" (Oberursel Sommerfest) running from June through August. Annually, Oberursel also celebrates the "Brunnenfest" (Fountain Festival), a tribute to many of the fountains found in Oberursel. You can see pictures of some of the fountains by clicking on the picture above and going through the tour of the city.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy 4th of July!

To all expats out there, a very happy 4th! I will be celebrating with other expats (mostly Americans) and enjoying hamburgers, hot dogs, brownies and pie. This holiday is also a good reminder to register to vote from overseas. I found a site here.

Those who are living in Berlin can celebrate the opening of the American embassy today.

If you want to train your vocal cords and belt out the anthem from your balcony, but forgot some of the lyrics, here is a little help. And to appease your German neighbors, follow it with this one. Then, to give everyone a good laugh, sing Borat's version of the Kazakhstan anthem (note: content definitely NSFW (not suited for work)!)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Too Close for Comfort

B's company (a major software company in the US) has taken cost-cutting measures to a new level....

He checked into a hotel for a company "team building" meeting. In the US, this meant that on a couple of occasions, he would have to share a room with double beds with another male colleague. The German equivalent of sharing a room, is that he has to share a queen size bed with someone other than myself. The German version of a queen bed is like two twin beds within one frame, and I am not feeling very comfortable with this. B says, he is taking it with a sense of humor.

I just feel like it's a total invasion of personal space and oversteps certain boundaries... This is so different from boy scouts.