for the past few weeks i have come across one of the most trying and frustrating things since i started this spontaneous trip. it has nothing to do with customs, sleeping patterns, german red tape, people on the street or being called an american everywhere i go. it is one of the most simplest and mundane of all things. it is quite possibly the easiest thing to overlook as well. i am talking about using a washing machine.
before you laugh, consider this. nothing is in english (obviously) and nothing written on the machine is in my dictionary. not only is this frustrating, but it is a drain on my energy, my time and my fashion sense. it stops going for reasons unknown to me or my housemate. it clicks and flashes its little lights over several different wash cycles which i am sure mean nothing in the grand scheme of clothes washing. and aside from the fact that it likes to fill itself with water and then stop for reasons known only to itself, when asked to do a simple thing like spin dry (or what i assume is spin dry judging by the picture) it flashes it's mocking light, stops, makes a few grunts and groans, and then skips the spin dry in favour of moving onto a cycle it knows it cannot perform yet. frustration thy name is siemens. this of course means that i have to continually walk up and down the two flights of stairs and into the basement of the building to get to the washing machine, usually carrying a load of clothes in the vain hope that i might be able to wash them, all to no avail. alexis is even at a loss to make the damn thing work and it's his washing machine!
so i am (very) slowly getting used to the idea that i may not be able to wash as often or as much as i want to. i am not, however, becoming used to the idea of not being able to wear my clothes as i want to. instead of opting for (what i think is) a cool style of dress, i have to dress like laundry day is everyday. well it's either that or using all my money for clothes that i can only wear once, ala oprah or, for a more local flavour, rose porteous.
26 Nov 2007
18 Nov 2007
traditional sunday dinner
pizza sundays has been reinstated in heidelberg. before i came to germany myself and irish pete indulged in what we liked to call pizza sunday. it started as a hangover cure for the incredibly drunken nights we started having on saturdays. usually starting with us being bored on a saturday and going out for drinks that ended with us coming home in the daylight hours on sunday - very boozy and very incoherent. this lasted quite a while and was a part of the week that we used to look forward to. (well i know i did anyway) nothing beats sitting on the couch, giggling about the previous night's exploits and watching really crappy tv (hello idol and america's next top model) or a movie. so here i am in germany several months later and pizza sunday has made a return.
the thing you have to know about german pizza is that although it is very similar to australian pizza there are several differences. the main one being the fact that when the pizza comes it isn't cut. i know, how strange. you have to cut it yourself, which creates a problem if you don't have a pizza cutter and have to use a knife. ever try cutting huge bits of ham covered in cheese with a knife? rather than cut, it just kind of pushes everything off the base. the other main difference is the toppings. they have something here called the dutchman and it contains tomato, ham, cheese, broccoli and hollandaise. it sounds disgusting, but in reality it is one of the tastiest pizzas i have ever had. the euros like broccoli on alot of things baguette related and it tastes good no matter what it seems to be. i am completely perplexed by the taste, but i still rather enjoy it. although i am yet to try the pizza gourmet which includes asparagus. that just seems a little too wacky for me. we did branch out the other week and try the mediterrana, which includes ham, parmesan, tomato and some green leafy thing i have yet to translate. it looked good in the picture and sounded nice, but when it arrived the green leafy yet-to-be-translated thing covered the entire pizza! it looked as if we were eating astroturf and we seriously wondered if this was a joke by joey's pizza heidelberg and they thought of us as cows. it tasted okay, but i will not be ordering another one soon. i like my pizza to look and taste like pizza, not a meal fit for rabbits.
so it comes to this, what do i try this week? i'm curious as to what the italia (salami, tomato, mozzarella and basil leaves) or the pizza crazy dog (which some words defy translation but does include sausage and pickle - curiouser and curiouser). but it will a cold day in hell when i try the athena (feta and spinach - why kill a pizza like that?)
the thing you have to know about german pizza is that although it is very similar to australian pizza there are several differences. the main one being the fact that when the pizza comes it isn't cut. i know, how strange. you have to cut it yourself, which creates a problem if you don't have a pizza cutter and have to use a knife. ever try cutting huge bits of ham covered in cheese with a knife? rather than cut, it just kind of pushes everything off the base. the other main difference is the toppings. they have something here called the dutchman and it contains tomato, ham, cheese, broccoli and hollandaise. it sounds disgusting, but in reality it is one of the tastiest pizzas i have ever had. the euros like broccoli on alot of things baguette related and it tastes good no matter what it seems to be. i am completely perplexed by the taste, but i still rather enjoy it. although i am yet to try the pizza gourmet which includes asparagus. that just seems a little too wacky for me. we did branch out the other week and try the mediterrana, which includes ham, parmesan, tomato and some green leafy thing i have yet to translate. it looked good in the picture and sounded nice, but when it arrived the green leafy yet-to-be-translated thing covered the entire pizza! it looked as if we were eating astroturf and we seriously wondered if this was a joke by joey's pizza heidelberg and they thought of us as cows. it tasted okay, but i will not be ordering another one soon. i like my pizza to look and taste like pizza, not a meal fit for rabbits.
so it comes to this, what do i try this week? i'm curious as to what the italia (salami, tomato, mozzarella and basil leaves) or the pizza crazy dog (which some words defy translation but does include sausage and pickle - curiouser and curiouser). but it will a cold day in hell when i try the athena (feta and spinach - why kill a pizza like that?)
17 Nov 2007
party time, excellent...
i bought a bottle of jagermeister for 6.49 euros!!! also found out a bottle of johnnie walker scotch is only 12.49 euros. let the good times begin. teeheehee...
14 Nov 2007
the resident permit saga
i had a friend describe to me his bad experiences with german bureaucracy the other week. (i'm not going into his particular issues, as it's not for me to say) he's german and said that the german people like to make rules about rules and if there's a loophole found, instead of changing the rule, they just add another one onto it. i laughed and said it can't be that bad, but oh lordy how i was wrong. i found out that when you get here you have to 'apply' as a resident before you can do anything, ie live, work, get a house etc. this is whether you are a visitor, citizen or pure-bred card carrying member of the SS. i thought this was a little odd. never have i ever had to tell the australian government where i live, what i do or anythig of the sort, so i was a little put out by it and felt that it constituted somewhat of an invasion of privacy. not necassarily with me as a visitor to their country (i would want to keep tabs on visitors too), but to anyone who was born a german and will die a german. what kind of government wants to know all this kind of information? i thought it was dictatorships that enjoyed having this over their people's heads. 'we know where you are, so no speaking ill of us or your family gets it!' (hello china *waves politely*) but then i thought, maybe they don't have a census like we do. they do. but that's all besides the point and not what this post was about. i'll get into civil liberties and my ill-informed opinions of such another day.
where was i... that's right, confusion and unncessary bullshit... you need to register within a week of arriving at your new place of residence or you get a fine. i didn't ask or push the issue of fines, mainly because i was here three weeks before applying and i didn't want to seem suss. luckily though, because i was in frankfurt and mannheim and strasbourg and the like i got to say that as i was touring around i have only just settled into a residence. phew! but the first time i went up to the stadt heidelberg (it's the name it as you see it game again. in literal english - city heidelberg) to see about applying for a visa was a travesty of miscommunication, staff rudeness and plain old confusion. it wasn't just me either, a mexican woman, a french dude and an american were all there confused as hell and not sure what was going on. the mexican woman could speak german, but that didn't really help her. as she spoke to the woman at information she turned and looked at me as if to say, 'that didn't help, i'm more confused than i already was.' this all would have been very amusing had it not been for the fact we were dealing with people's passports and visas and more likely their ability to live, work and study in germany. when it finally got to my turn to ask someone something the woman i spoke to had no idea what i was talking about. it wasn't like she couldn't understand me or anything, her english was fantastic. she just had no idea what i was asking about. she just repeated herself over and over again about needing a passport-sized photo. i told her three times in a row i know what i need, i have it all at home. i just wanted information on how to apply for a visa and i wasn't lugging my precious documents around when i didn't need to. to which she responded with, 'you need a passport-sized photo...' i was getting nowhere. all i got out of it was a stack of information leaflets and many a form to fill out, all in german cause someone coming from overseas would obviously speak excellent german. i've yet to hear an american say guten tag (good day) or tchuss (informal goodbye - everyone says it here. pronounced tchuss by males and tchu-uss by feamles), let alone ask for a coffee in german. even the french just speak french to people here. sort of gives you an understanding to why people get pissed off when you don't speak their language. in any case, all i was after was something that is similar to the word auslander (which means foreigner or outsider, depending on your view of things) so at least i had a heads up on which direction might be the right one. anyway, i was then told that before i go for a visa i have to register downstairs as a resident of heidelberg. alexis tells me that he registered in berlin when he first arrived, but i haven't the heart to tell him that i think he needs to do it again here. i could be wrong though, and he does have a wacky visa that basically means he gets treated as a citizen of the EU doesn't need to do anything more than say, 'well, i'm here.' why can't i get one of those? mainly because you're a university drop out and even if you weren't, every man and his dog has an arts degree, so get back to washing those dishes and serving those coffees. as a side note, just to add to the confusion nothing in the stadt building was in any other language other than german, and there are no signs anywhere saying what anything is. is this normal of european visa centres? i know at home even the drug awareness and youth buildings have pamphlettes in other languages. it's called helping people be informed and not leaving them completely in the dark. the website for german visas is most amusing, as it states that what they're all about is helping people from other countries and backgrounds be involved with their city and help them to know what's going on. here's an idea, write it in several langauges. it doesn't even have to be english. what about spanish or mandarin and cantonese? i hear lots of people can speak those languages. but that's just the frustration talking.
so i go downstairs to register after a terrible introduction to the world of german bureaucracy and find myself in a circular room with eight different tables that form a figure eight formation. again, confusing and odd. that's just what you need to help people, a circular room, with circular tables, with nothing telling you what any of it means - not even in german. i felt like alice going down the rabbit hole. if anyone had offered me to drink this or eat that, i would have gladly accepted. anything to get me away from all of this. (i forgot to mention the fact i had to walk up and down the stairs of the six story building about ten times to find the information lady. i had to wait, uncertain if i was in the wrong place and not the pensioner building for about 30mins before i even got to talk to the useless woman who handed me the pamphlettes and forms and went on about about the bloody passport photo who wasn't even the information lady, but some strange mix of one of my lecturers from uni and an dirty fat emo. oddly enough, she didn't even say passport photo, but kept giving me measurements and the right angle of a head tilt. so you could say i wasn't in the best of moods by this stage.) after looking around this room i finally found another information lady, who was wonderful and put me straight back at ease again. she told me in english i had to take a number and wait. this i was relieved at. it felt like i was back at centrelink and waiting for someone who could re-activate my youth allowance after a paperwork error. aaah... the joy of familiarity. so i waited, not knowing what i was waiting for or what i had to do. i just knew i had to wait. when my number finally got called i circled the room trying to find the right table to go to. this was after watching many people, all with different complaints and looking very confused about the situation get up for their turn. one guy even had about ten licence plates for cars. another was going on about their dog. i'm not sure what this office isn't used for, as i think anything can get approved or denyed here.
so i walk up to the woman i'm suppose to get help from. this woman was all stereotyped german in attitude and in demeanor. i don't think it was a german thing, i think it's one of those, you work in a government office for so long you begin to hate everyone kind of deals. but i still think she would have been right at home standing next to goebbels, smiling as the bodies kept piling up knowing that the final solution was going to come to fruition. she had this pinched face and hair usually reserved for pensioners getting a budget-conscious hair style, clothes that a math teacher would ware and an expression that said i'm here to put through your paperwork not be your friend. this is one of those times where a funny accent wont help you and don't bother being nice, she isn't going to do you any favours. still i smiled and said, 'guten tag. sprechen sie englisch? entschuldigung, mein duestch ist nicht so gut. ich bin australien.' she looked at me as if i was death and was about to take her beloved dog to that far off farm, where he could play all day and chase cats for as long as he wanted. she replied, in english, 'yes. a little. what do you want?' not even a hello? a how are you? this was worse than the worst customer service i've experienced here. i explained what i wanted and a brief explanation that i didn't have documents with me cause i didn't know i even needed to do this. all i wanted was a little help and maybe some explanation as to what was required. and no i haven't filled in the form because it is in german and i don't want to put things in the wrong place and cause you more headaches. (to the camera, 'one more headache and this woman's brain would explode.') she sighed and turned to her friend, also a member of the we love goebbels society, and said in the most derogatory german, 'do we have an english form i can't be bothered looking for it and this guy is wating my time?' i don't know exactly what they said to each other, but the snide looks i received wasn't telling me it was good. anyway, once frau my-arse-is-so-tight-i-turn-coal-into-diamonds found the form and printed it out i got the hell out of there. i didn't have my passport so i couldn't register today, but i had to go back there another day. dear god! go back? you have got to be joking? if it wasn't for the fact i needed to do this in order to get a visa i would have just left and tried to forget the building existed, illegal immigrant or not.
as it stands, i went back two days later with a half-filled out form and my passport. i waited patiently (again for over 35mins) at the side of the rabbit hole. i sat there thinking please not that woman again. i know you have a sense of humour creator-type person, but this isn't humourous. it's like a bad sitcom that isn't funny and delagated the 1am timeslot. as i sat there i watchd what went down around me. it turns out that nearly every person behind a desk there is evil. i watched a guy get his euro ID from bitch at desk number three, someone register their dog with bitch at desk number five and... well you get the idea. none of them smiled, none of them asked how anyone was and none of them seemed to display any emotion that would class them as human and not tools of the devil. i was not looking forward to round two of let's treat the commoners like dirt. this'll be fun, this one doesn't speak our language. however, when my number came up i was at desk number two and as i couldn't see who was at that desk i was nervous. i could feel a cold sweat coming on and my hands felt clammy. 'is this what you feel like when you know you're going to die?' i remember thinking. it sounds a little dramatic, but i was surprised when i didn't see anyone get dragged off, kicking and screaming to the gas chamber. however, when i sat down i was pleasantly surprised to find a young frau who smiled, was genuinely nice and seemed actually interested in helping me. it was like i had won the jackpot. i got someone who had obviously not been there long enough to know that they should check their humanity at the door. i felt like giving this woman a hug. she even giggled when i said i didn't fill out my complete form as i was scared of putting things in the wrong spot. she smiled, assisted me and it all took about five minutes. she even spoke about as much english as i do german! but in the end, all that mattered was that i am in the system and because she stamped and entered in all my info i was now a resident of heidelberg. i just have to wait about 3-4 days before the paperwork gets completely processed and then i go for my visa. which means i start the process again with new people and on a different floor. luckily the girl i just saw explained to me which floor i have to go to and who i actually have to see, so i am not at a complete loss. i just fear what i will come up against now. i got past the devil's minions and what could be next? the devil himself? all i know is that i appreciate centrelink more now and long for the days of their (in hindsight) small inadequacies. at least they smile at you.
where was i... that's right, confusion and unncessary bullshit... you need to register within a week of arriving at your new place of residence or you get a fine. i didn't ask or push the issue of fines, mainly because i was here three weeks before applying and i didn't want to seem suss. luckily though, because i was in frankfurt and mannheim and strasbourg and the like i got to say that as i was touring around i have only just settled into a residence. phew! but the first time i went up to the stadt heidelberg (it's the name it as you see it game again. in literal english - city heidelberg) to see about applying for a visa was a travesty of miscommunication, staff rudeness and plain old confusion. it wasn't just me either, a mexican woman, a french dude and an american were all there confused as hell and not sure what was going on. the mexican woman could speak german, but that didn't really help her. as she spoke to the woman at information she turned and looked at me as if to say, 'that didn't help, i'm more confused than i already was.' this all would have been very amusing had it not been for the fact we were dealing with people's passports and visas and more likely their ability to live, work and study in germany. when it finally got to my turn to ask someone something the woman i spoke to had no idea what i was talking about. it wasn't like she couldn't understand me or anything, her english was fantastic. she just had no idea what i was asking about. she just repeated herself over and over again about needing a passport-sized photo. i told her three times in a row i know what i need, i have it all at home. i just wanted information on how to apply for a visa and i wasn't lugging my precious documents around when i didn't need to. to which she responded with, 'you need a passport-sized photo...' i was getting nowhere. all i got out of it was a stack of information leaflets and many a form to fill out, all in german cause someone coming from overseas would obviously speak excellent german. i've yet to hear an american say guten tag (good day) or tchuss (informal goodbye - everyone says it here. pronounced tchuss by males and tchu-uss by feamles), let alone ask for a coffee in german. even the french just speak french to people here. sort of gives you an understanding to why people get pissed off when you don't speak their language. in any case, all i was after was something that is similar to the word auslander (which means foreigner or outsider, depending on your view of things) so at least i had a heads up on which direction might be the right one. anyway, i was then told that before i go for a visa i have to register downstairs as a resident of heidelberg. alexis tells me that he registered in berlin when he first arrived, but i haven't the heart to tell him that i think he needs to do it again here. i could be wrong though, and he does have a wacky visa that basically means he gets treated as a citizen of the EU doesn't need to do anything more than say, 'well, i'm here.' why can't i get one of those? mainly because you're a university drop out and even if you weren't, every man and his dog has an arts degree, so get back to washing those dishes and serving those coffees. as a side note, just to add to the confusion nothing in the stadt building was in any other language other than german, and there are no signs anywhere saying what anything is. is this normal of european visa centres? i know at home even the drug awareness and youth buildings have pamphlettes in other languages. it's called helping people be informed and not leaving them completely in the dark. the website for german visas is most amusing, as it states that what they're all about is helping people from other countries and backgrounds be involved with their city and help them to know what's going on. here's an idea, write it in several langauges. it doesn't even have to be english. what about spanish or mandarin and cantonese? i hear lots of people can speak those languages. but that's just the frustration talking.
so i go downstairs to register after a terrible introduction to the world of german bureaucracy and find myself in a circular room with eight different tables that form a figure eight formation. again, confusing and odd. that's just what you need to help people, a circular room, with circular tables, with nothing telling you what any of it means - not even in german. i felt like alice going down the rabbit hole. if anyone had offered me to drink this or eat that, i would have gladly accepted. anything to get me away from all of this. (i forgot to mention the fact i had to walk up and down the stairs of the six story building about ten times to find the information lady. i had to wait, uncertain if i was in the wrong place and not the pensioner building for about 30mins before i even got to talk to the useless woman who handed me the pamphlettes and forms and went on about about the bloody passport photo who wasn't even the information lady, but some strange mix of one of my lecturers from uni and an dirty fat emo. oddly enough, she didn't even say passport photo, but kept giving me measurements and the right angle of a head tilt. so you could say i wasn't in the best of moods by this stage.) after looking around this room i finally found another information lady, who was wonderful and put me straight back at ease again. she told me in english i had to take a number and wait. this i was relieved at. it felt like i was back at centrelink and waiting for someone who could re-activate my youth allowance after a paperwork error. aaah... the joy of familiarity. so i waited, not knowing what i was waiting for or what i had to do. i just knew i had to wait. when my number finally got called i circled the room trying to find the right table to go to. this was after watching many people, all with different complaints and looking very confused about the situation get up for their turn. one guy even had about ten licence plates for cars. another was going on about their dog. i'm not sure what this office isn't used for, as i think anything can get approved or denyed here.
so i walk up to the woman i'm suppose to get help from. this woman was all stereotyped german in attitude and in demeanor. i don't think it was a german thing, i think it's one of those, you work in a government office for so long you begin to hate everyone kind of deals. but i still think she would have been right at home standing next to goebbels, smiling as the bodies kept piling up knowing that the final solution was going to come to fruition. she had this pinched face and hair usually reserved for pensioners getting a budget-conscious hair style, clothes that a math teacher would ware and an expression that said i'm here to put through your paperwork not be your friend. this is one of those times where a funny accent wont help you and don't bother being nice, she isn't going to do you any favours. still i smiled and said, 'guten tag. sprechen sie englisch? entschuldigung, mein duestch ist nicht so gut. ich bin australien.' she looked at me as if i was death and was about to take her beloved dog to that far off farm, where he could play all day and chase cats for as long as he wanted. she replied, in english, 'yes. a little. what do you want?' not even a hello? a how are you? this was worse than the worst customer service i've experienced here. i explained what i wanted and a brief explanation that i didn't have documents with me cause i didn't know i even needed to do this. all i wanted was a little help and maybe some explanation as to what was required. and no i haven't filled in the form because it is in german and i don't want to put things in the wrong place and cause you more headaches. (to the camera, 'one more headache and this woman's brain would explode.') she sighed and turned to her friend, also a member of the we love goebbels society, and said in the most derogatory german, 'do we have an english form i can't be bothered looking for it and this guy is wating my time?' i don't know exactly what they said to each other, but the snide looks i received wasn't telling me it was good. anyway, once frau my-arse-is-so-tight-i-turn-coal-into-diamonds found the form and printed it out i got the hell out of there. i didn't have my passport so i couldn't register today, but i had to go back there another day. dear god! go back? you have got to be joking? if it wasn't for the fact i needed to do this in order to get a visa i would have just left and tried to forget the building existed, illegal immigrant or not.
as it stands, i went back two days later with a half-filled out form and my passport. i waited patiently (again for over 35mins) at the side of the rabbit hole. i sat there thinking please not that woman again. i know you have a sense of humour creator-type person, but this isn't humourous. it's like a bad sitcom that isn't funny and delagated the 1am timeslot. as i sat there i watchd what went down around me. it turns out that nearly every person behind a desk there is evil. i watched a guy get his euro ID from bitch at desk number three, someone register their dog with bitch at desk number five and... well you get the idea. none of them smiled, none of them asked how anyone was and none of them seemed to display any emotion that would class them as human and not tools of the devil. i was not looking forward to round two of let's treat the commoners like dirt. this'll be fun, this one doesn't speak our language. however, when my number came up i was at desk number two and as i couldn't see who was at that desk i was nervous. i could feel a cold sweat coming on and my hands felt clammy. 'is this what you feel like when you know you're going to die?' i remember thinking. it sounds a little dramatic, but i was surprised when i didn't see anyone get dragged off, kicking and screaming to the gas chamber. however, when i sat down i was pleasantly surprised to find a young frau who smiled, was genuinely nice and seemed actually interested in helping me. it was like i had won the jackpot. i got someone who had obviously not been there long enough to know that they should check their humanity at the door. i felt like giving this woman a hug. she even giggled when i said i didn't fill out my complete form as i was scared of putting things in the wrong spot. she smiled, assisted me and it all took about five minutes. she even spoke about as much english as i do german! but in the end, all that mattered was that i am in the system and because she stamped and entered in all my info i was now a resident of heidelberg. i just have to wait about 3-4 days before the paperwork gets completely processed and then i go for my visa. which means i start the process again with new people and on a different floor. luckily the girl i just saw explained to me which floor i have to go to and who i actually have to see, so i am not at a complete loss. i just fear what i will come up against now. i got past the devil's minions and what could be next? the devil himself? all i know is that i appreciate centrelink more now and long for the days of their (in hindsight) small inadequacies. at least they smile at you.
13 Nov 2007
stereotyped germans
i think i've been here long enough to be able to talk about the german personality and demeanor now, except the work life of course. (i'm still unemployed - and loving it!) before i left home i was told by a few people to watch out for the stereotyped german - cold, uncaring , business orientated blah blah blah... you know the stereotype. since i got here, yes there have been a couple of them that are like that, but as a whole i've found them to be quite pleasant people. they all have their own idiosyncrasies and what have you, which every race has, but i really don't see why people felt the need to warn me. the most obvious stereotyped germans i have come across are definitely in the minority and even then, i see them more as a euro stereotype, rather than a german one. for example the american hating euro. this is understandable. i've only experienced this once, mainly because their first thought was that i am american, but it was mainly because of a communication breakdown, not as a result of anyone's wrong doing. ie 'stupid american doesn't speak my language. hahaha!' to that i say, 'fuck off obnoxious bastard, and the jokes on you cause i'm australian, not american. so you're racist nonsense doesn't really affect me or my people, so hate away, retard!' this made me angry at first. how dare someone call me american, but then later i thought to myself why bother being angry? for one, i'm not american so they can think what they want about them because, as stated above, it doesn't affect my people. and two, doesn't their attitude reflect exactly what they're getting uppity about. the fact that i don't know their language, but at the same time they don't even know my race. it's that old tired adage, racism, homophobia, sexism etc really says more about the person committing the hate crime than it does about the intended victim.
however this is all one incident, everywhere else i go i seem to be either nothing (in a good way, like just another customer), or i seem to be liked cause i'm different. i don't know if this is because i at least try to use my very basic german, or because they can tell i'm different to them and to the usual traveller. a good example of this is yesterday when i went up to famila center (they spell centre like americans, as much as it pains me it is not a spelling mistake). waiting in line to buy my products at the supermarkt i let a guy go in front of me and instantly the woman behind the counter treated me with more kindness than i used to receiving. i know this is probably because of the whole pay it forward/good karma/kill with kindness deal, but had i listened to the german bewarers, it shouldn't have mattered. secondly, i went to the backerei (bakery, obviously) and bought some brotchen (rolls) and sweets (i am not even going to begin to remember how to say the name or spell it - let's just say it begins with quark, ends in en and has about 15 letters between), for the second time in three days. i was served by a different lady than previously and before i could try my german with her, she smiled and treated me very well. she even helped me to pronounce things properly (working in retail for years i have to knack of knowing instantly when someone is humouring me or doesn't want to be there, so i'm a fairly good judge of character), and seemed to take extra care with me. some of you may think that it is all because i 'tried' to speak her language and others may think that it's because she's just a nice person. but the lady i spoke to the time before was exactly the same and both of them were wonderfully nice before i could open my mouth and butcher their language. so again, naysayers of the german people, what are you talking about?
it's not just shopping either, there's a whole world of niceness in the southern part of the country. (i can't talk about the top part because i haven't gotten there yet - soon though. berlin for christmas? sounds great.) there's a custom here from bavaria that allows for complete strangers to sit next to each other at lunch or at a pub and either sit side by side or converse with each other. sounds nice to me. one the other hand though, there is some trepidation talking to me that i have noticed. i tend to think it's because they know i'm not german and may think i'm american, which is as i said above both fine and expected. if you had american bases everywhere in your country, wouldn't you feel a little animosity towards them? i know i would, especially if you were still technically occupied by them until around 1986. i don't know about you, but my hate wouldn't be veiled in a subtle euro way, more a get the fuck away from me american infidel kind a way. alexis seems to think that i might be a rare breed here and that people aren't quite sure where i come from. basically because of how i dress and my skin colour people treat me accordingly. granted i may seem to be american to some, or, as alot of germans have taken me for until i open my mouth, german (which i think is just a guess cause they're unsure). but as alexis pointed out, i'm too pale to be german. they seem to have a yellowish tinge to their skin tone, which i don't have. i'm pure pasty irish/scottish white. particularly now i don't see alot of sun. i'm starting to look like a goth/emo again with my paleness, mainly due to the season and the fact that at 4pm this afternoon it was already dark outside.
but i don't care how people treat me as long is it isn't with rudeness, because i don't know enough german to have a go back and they wouldn't understand me if i was to go off. who gets taught, 'you flaming galah!' or 'pull your head in, fucknut' in english classes? no one. either way, i'm just happy that the warners of the german people were wrong so far. that being said there is a slight coldness, but as i'm used to australians and their 'she'll be right, mate. how's it hangin'?' attitude, i think we might by the different ones here, as not alot of races are as open as ours. but here's looking forward to meeting some more friendly germans and hopefully learning enough duetsch to tell someone off one day for being obnoxious! (if that day ever comes again)
however this is all one incident, everywhere else i go i seem to be either nothing (in a good way, like just another customer), or i seem to be liked cause i'm different. i don't know if this is because i at least try to use my very basic german, or because they can tell i'm different to them and to the usual traveller. a good example of this is yesterday when i went up to famila center (they spell centre like americans, as much as it pains me it is not a spelling mistake). waiting in line to buy my products at the supermarkt i let a guy go in front of me and instantly the woman behind the counter treated me with more kindness than i used to receiving. i know this is probably because of the whole pay it forward/good karma/kill with kindness deal, but had i listened to the german bewarers, it shouldn't have mattered. secondly, i went to the backerei (bakery, obviously) and bought some brotchen (rolls) and sweets (i am not even going to begin to remember how to say the name or spell it - let's just say it begins with quark, ends in en and has about 15 letters between), for the second time in three days. i was served by a different lady than previously and before i could try my german with her, she smiled and treated me very well. she even helped me to pronounce things properly (working in retail for years i have to knack of knowing instantly when someone is humouring me or doesn't want to be there, so i'm a fairly good judge of character), and seemed to take extra care with me. some of you may think that it is all because i 'tried' to speak her language and others may think that it's because she's just a nice person. but the lady i spoke to the time before was exactly the same and both of them were wonderfully nice before i could open my mouth and butcher their language. so again, naysayers of the german people, what are you talking about?
it's not just shopping either, there's a whole world of niceness in the southern part of the country. (i can't talk about the top part because i haven't gotten there yet - soon though. berlin for christmas? sounds great.) there's a custom here from bavaria that allows for complete strangers to sit next to each other at lunch or at a pub and either sit side by side or converse with each other. sounds nice to me. one the other hand though, there is some trepidation talking to me that i have noticed. i tend to think it's because they know i'm not german and may think i'm american, which is as i said above both fine and expected. if you had american bases everywhere in your country, wouldn't you feel a little animosity towards them? i know i would, especially if you were still technically occupied by them until around 1986. i don't know about you, but my hate wouldn't be veiled in a subtle euro way, more a get the fuck away from me american infidel kind a way. alexis seems to think that i might be a rare breed here and that people aren't quite sure where i come from. basically because of how i dress and my skin colour people treat me accordingly. granted i may seem to be american to some, or, as alot of germans have taken me for until i open my mouth, german (which i think is just a guess cause they're unsure). but as alexis pointed out, i'm too pale to be german. they seem to have a yellowish tinge to their skin tone, which i don't have. i'm pure pasty irish/scottish white. particularly now i don't see alot of sun. i'm starting to look like a goth/emo again with my paleness, mainly due to the season and the fact that at 4pm this afternoon it was already dark outside.
but i don't care how people treat me as long is it isn't with rudeness, because i don't know enough german to have a go back and they wouldn't understand me if i was to go off. who gets taught, 'you flaming galah!' or 'pull your head in, fucknut' in english classes? no one. either way, i'm just happy that the warners of the german people were wrong so far. that being said there is a slight coldness, but as i'm used to australians and their 'she'll be right, mate. how's it hangin'?' attitude, i think we might by the different ones here, as not alot of races are as open as ours. but here's looking forward to meeting some more friendly germans and hopefully learning enough duetsch to tell someone off one day for being obnoxious! (if that day ever comes again)
11 Nov 2007
damnit mason, that sonofabitch is getting away!!!
okay, i just finished watching 24 season one. i know, i know, you're in germany and you're watching tv! what's wrong with you? why aren't you out steinering it up, you boozehound? i'll tell you why, i've just spent the last few weeks going places and seeing shit and experiencing some of what travel has to offer. now i want to sit down, watch some tv and chill out. and since german tv is good for short stints, not extended viewing, i went and bought 24 season one. i love 24. it's like a visual mathew reilly and one of the few shows where everyone is expendable and every episode contains a climax that you don't usually see on tv. (with the noted exception of heroes. however this season of heroes is somewhat lacklustre compared to last. but i'm sure they're just building up to something huge. ep 7 sure made it seem that way. if it turns into lost with it's inane characters and pointlessness i will be one very angry and disgruntled little man.)
i'm not going to bother explaining 24 for you, the show's been going for six years and i'm sure everyone knows the premise. bad shit happens on a sort of 'global scale', people die, people are betrayed and jack bauer (keifer sutherland) is always there to save the day (sometimes). for the uninitiated, he's tv's answer to bruce willis in die hard, just without the wiseguy routine and lots of military and secret service training thrown in.
now that's out the way, for those of you who haven't watched 24 and want to i suggest you stop reading this post now. for everyone else who has seen it, doesn't care, or likes to scratch that curiosity itch keep reading.
what the hell is with dennis hopper's accent? he's meant to be serbian or some shit, but he comes of like a douchebag american doing a terrible german accent and acting like, well, dennis hopper. i mean come on guys, i know you need big names in the first season because you're trying to draw people in and movie 'stars' bring in the funding, but dennis hopper? he hasn't done anything good in years. plus would it hurt tell him that serbians don't pronounce vowels like americans and german's do not sound anything like serbians. i'm pretty sure they sound similar to russians, but i could be wrong. one thing i have noticed since coming overseas is that most people will say yes and no in their native language because everyone knows what that is. german is ya, russian is da and italian/spanish is ci. fairly easy concept, dennis you shouldn't say 'yeah' like you just got out of the surf in malibu. just a hint.
apart form that i really enjoyed this show immensely. i couldn't remember most of it, so alot of plot twists came as quite a shock. all i could remember was nina being the ultimate traitor, jamey dying and palmer's wife (i want to call her cherie, but i can't remember!) being a complete and utter undermining bitch. what i was pleasantly surprised at was my irritation for milo being minimal cause now i know he bites it later in the series (i hate that actor soooo much), tony almeda being kick arse (as per usual) and the introduction of aaron the secret service guy. i have a mild affection for aaron, as do most people who watch the show. there's something about that guy that gives comfort and ease even when hell's raining down on the cast. what i found most intriguing this time around is that i hate teri bauer. this character (not the actor cause i thought she was pretty good) i wanted to kill! i wanted to reach into the tv grab a gun of one of the drazen's and shoot her in the face myself. 'oh, i've lost my memory cause i can't handle the stress. oh, i must sleep with this horny goon to get his cell phone. oh, where's my daughter, what's happened to jack?' how about you toughen the fuck up, instead of grabbing the cell phone grab the goon's gun and kill him, and let the poor people of CTU do their job and stop harassing them with your inane bullshit about how you'd feel better if you could just talk to jack or kim. you just spoke to them 15 mins ago. i know this because the time flashed up and took over the screen obtrusively each time you did this!!!
ranting over. i hated that character so much i was almost cheering when nina shot her. the one thing i'm not amused over is the fact i have to wait until tomorrow to go to the shops and get season 2. season 1 ended with teri being shot by nina, her subsequent arrest, the palmers divorcing and no one knowing who the real mastermind of the assassination attempt was. DAMN YOU 24 PEOPLE!?! i want to know now. it would be fine if it wasn't sunday, cause all the shops in heidelberg are closed on sundays. i don't know why, they just are. and the dvd store is one stop away by tram. i can't wait for my next hit of 24. yes i am an addict, i can admit this, but i'll be damned if i'm going to seek help on this matter. now all that remains is to wait patiently for monday's trading. all i can say is bring on season 2, bring on chloe and morris and bring on the action driven exposition. we loves it, precious.
i'm not going to bother explaining 24 for you, the show's been going for six years and i'm sure everyone knows the premise. bad shit happens on a sort of 'global scale', people die, people are betrayed and jack bauer (keifer sutherland) is always there to save the day (sometimes). for the uninitiated, he's tv's answer to bruce willis in die hard, just without the wiseguy routine and lots of military and secret service training thrown in.
now that's out the way, for those of you who haven't watched 24 and want to i suggest you stop reading this post now. for everyone else who has seen it, doesn't care, or likes to scratch that curiosity itch keep reading.
what the hell is with dennis hopper's accent? he's meant to be serbian or some shit, but he comes of like a douchebag american doing a terrible german accent and acting like, well, dennis hopper. i mean come on guys, i know you need big names in the first season because you're trying to draw people in and movie 'stars' bring in the funding, but dennis hopper? he hasn't done anything good in years. plus would it hurt tell him that serbians don't pronounce vowels like americans and german's do not sound anything like serbians. i'm pretty sure they sound similar to russians, but i could be wrong. one thing i have noticed since coming overseas is that most people will say yes and no in their native language because everyone knows what that is. german is ya, russian is da and italian/spanish is ci. fairly easy concept, dennis you shouldn't say 'yeah' like you just got out of the surf in malibu. just a hint.
apart form that i really enjoyed this show immensely. i couldn't remember most of it, so alot of plot twists came as quite a shock. all i could remember was nina being the ultimate traitor, jamey dying and palmer's wife (i want to call her cherie, but i can't remember!) being a complete and utter undermining bitch. what i was pleasantly surprised at was my irritation for milo being minimal cause now i know he bites it later in the series (i hate that actor soooo much), tony almeda being kick arse (as per usual) and the introduction of aaron the secret service guy. i have a mild affection for aaron, as do most people who watch the show. there's something about that guy that gives comfort and ease even when hell's raining down on the cast. what i found most intriguing this time around is that i hate teri bauer. this character (not the actor cause i thought she was pretty good) i wanted to kill! i wanted to reach into the tv grab a gun of one of the drazen's and shoot her in the face myself. 'oh, i've lost my memory cause i can't handle the stress. oh, i must sleep with this horny goon to get his cell phone. oh, where's my daughter, what's happened to jack?' how about you toughen the fuck up, instead of grabbing the cell phone grab the goon's gun and kill him, and let the poor people of CTU do their job and stop harassing them with your inane bullshit about how you'd feel better if you could just talk to jack or kim. you just spoke to them 15 mins ago. i know this because the time flashed up and took over the screen obtrusively each time you did this!!!
10 Nov 2007
german tv
let's talk about german tv. so far i've noticed a couple of things. german's love married with children, or so i gather from the amount of times i have seen it on the television. it's almost as if it's their simpsons. (speaking of which, i am so missing the simpsons. it's one of the things i miss the most. i know it sounds stupid, but after seeing it almost everyday for the last 17 years, i miss it so.) married with children (different youtube clip) is a cackle and a half on german tv. i have no idea what they are saying, as it's dubbed in not too bad german, but given the show is one of the lowest common denominator kind of things, you can easily guess what's going on. the laugh track i am assuming is left as is, but i'm not too sure. although i haven't heard many germans laugh unless drunk, so i can't tell if it's different or not.
what's interesting about german tv is that on satellite you have about 1000 channels. i'm not kidding. 1000 channels!!! although it suffers the same fate as australian tv, the more channels tends to mean the less there is to watch. half those channels are taken up by news (cnn, bbc, cnbc, spanish news, cuba vision, italian news and even the english version of al jezeera (which unfortunately doesn't have beheadings or that anti-western mickey mouse damnnit!!!)) and the rest is either quizmania-esque shows, tv shopping or porn. though that's one thing i knew about before coming here. after a certain timeslot it seems you can put anything on tv. the other night i was flicking through channels 247-389 and saw a woman looking like a russian car crash victim licking her lips at the camera in a bikini sitting on a not so sanitary couch, two women going at it in a park, a young guy with a hand down his y-fronts looking like he needs a hit (either physical or drug-related, i don't think he'd care), and about 5 women on different channels fingering themselves. seriously, who needs that on tv. it's what the internet is for, and as the broadband here is unbelievably fast, so why bother?
but that all brings me to my next point, why are there so many channels devoted to calling up and spending money? besides the quizmania channels, tv shopping and porn (which understandably has numbers underneath), there are so many ads for ringtones, phone games and god knows what else cause i can't understand what they're spruking. here, it's like at home, everyone has a moblie, but i'm yet to see or hear people going on about it or showing their new crazy-frog inspired phone crap. at home you'd always get a group of teenagers who are more than happy to show off their new ringtone or make everyone on the train/tram/bus hear their way cool new mp3, here no one has done it yet. maybe i'm just not getting on the right transport for it. or maybe germans just have a better understanding of public etiquette. MTV is the worst for it. i thought australian MTV was bad with programming that was all reality shows and no actual music, but here it's abysmal. between every song there's at least 3 ads for phone nonsense. although i was a little comforted by the fact that there seems to be just as much reality programming on that station as at home. i'd hate to see american MTV though, imagine the awful programming on that channel! but i will say that one show has made me laugh, it's a german version of so you think you can dance (wikipedia entry of the US show as i couldn't find and actual official website). i've only caught it once, but my god was it funny. imagine kraftwerk and the nazis got together to show off their new moves they learnt on an exchange to america, but put a euro spin on it that isn't quite right and you've got it. i don't know what the show is called and i can't remember what time i caught it, as i saw it during severe jet lag in frankfurt, but trust me, it was better than almost anything else i've seen here so far. i laughed and laughed and laughed til i cried tears of pure joy.
the other night i was lucky (or unlucky) enough to catch a really old show that had some guy in the seventies or sixties teach his audience how to paint. it was brilliant and i couldn't stop watching until he'd finished his landscape. to give you an idea of what i was watching, imagine a blank studio stage with an late 40s/early 50s guy sporting an afro standing in front of a blank canvas telling you in hushed whispers how to get certain effects while he painted a generic landscape of sunset over a shack in the woods. this alone was comedy gold, but when you consider he was talking like the gay guy tobi from family guy. it was pure genius and very creepy. he was saying things like, 'that's it... a little more. look at that happy shrub, he don't care. oooh, that's it. i think a little more, ahhh...' as if he was talking to his lover. i was waiting for him to start saying, 'a little faster now, i'm going in deeper. you like that, don't cha.'
there is one channel that is brilliant though, it's called arte. it's french and refuses to dub hardly anything from its original language. i love this channel for the pure fact that late on a thursday night i have seen day of the dead twice now, in its original language, uncut and with no ads! tre bien!
well that's my introduction to german tv. i'd love to show some clips from it, but as i don't have any of the names of shows it's kinda hard. just rest assured that if i did, you probably wouldn't understand them anyway. hell i don't!
tchuss
what's interesting about german tv is that on satellite you have about 1000 channels. i'm not kidding. 1000 channels!!! although it suffers the same fate as australian tv, the more channels tends to mean the less there is to watch. half those channels are taken up by news (cnn, bbc, cnbc, spanish news, cuba vision, italian news and even the english version of al jezeera (which unfortunately doesn't have beheadings or that anti-western mickey mouse damnnit!!!)) and the rest is either quizmania-esque shows
but that all brings me to my next point, why are there so many channels devoted to calling up and spending money? besides the quizmania channels, tv shopping and porn (which understandably has numbers underneath), there are so many ads for ringtones, phone games and god knows what else cause i can't understand what they're spruking. here, it's like at home, everyone has a moblie, but i'm yet to see or hear people going on about it or showing their new crazy-frog inspired phone crap. at home you'd always get a group of teenagers who are more than happy to show off their new ringtone or make everyone on the train/tram/bus hear their way cool new mp3, here no one has done it yet. maybe i'm just not getting on the right transport for it. or maybe germans just have a better understanding of public etiquette. MTV is the worst for it. i thought australian MTV was bad with programming that was all reality shows and no actual music, but here it's abysmal. between every song there's at least 3 ads for phone nonsense. although i was a little comforted by the fact that there seems to be just as much reality programming on that station as at home. i'd hate to see american MTV though, imagine the awful programming on that channel! but i will say that one show has made me laugh, it's a german version of so you think you can dance (wikipedia entry of the US show as i couldn't find and actual official website). i've only caught it once, but my god was it funny. imagine kraftwerk and the nazis got together to show off their new moves they learnt on an exchange to america, but put a euro spin on it that isn't quite right and you've got it. i don't know what the show is called and i can't remember what time i caught it, as i saw it during severe jet lag in frankfurt, but trust me, it was better than almost anything else i've seen here so far. i laughed and laughed and laughed til i cried tears of pure joy.
the other night i was lucky (or unlucky) enough to catch a really old show that had some guy in the seventies or sixties teach his audience how to paint. it was brilliant and i couldn't stop watching until he'd finished his landscape. to give you an idea of what i was watching, imagine a blank studio stage with an late 40s/early 50s guy sporting an afro standing in front of a blank canvas telling you in hushed whispers how to get certain effects while he painted a generic landscape of sunset over a shack in the woods. this alone was comedy gold, but when you consider he was talking like the gay guy tobi from family guy. it was pure genius and very creepy. he was saying things like, 'that's it... a little more. look at that happy shrub, he don't care. oooh, that's it. i think a little more, ahhh...' as if he was talking to his lover. i was waiting for him to start saying, 'a little faster now, i'm going in deeper. you like that, don't cha.'
there is one channel that is brilliant though, it's called arte. it's french and refuses to dub hardly anything from its original language. i love this channel for the pure fact that late on a thursday night i have seen day of the dead twice now, in its original language, uncut and with no ads! tre bien!
well that's my introduction to german tv. i'd love to show some clips from it, but as i don't have any of the names of shows it's kinda hard. just rest assured that if i did, you probably wouldn't understand them anyway. hell i don't!
tchuss
9 Nov 2007
random musings 2
as a couple of people have said that my last post was a little negative, or that i simply had a bad day, i'm going to take this opportunity to say some of the things i like about germany just so you know that i like it here. (i've also included the pronunciation of numbers so that i can help remember how to say them and to show people back home the difference between the numbers and how to say them)
number eins (i-nz) - the beer is fantastic and cheap. i picked up a six-pack of half litre beers for 1.99euro. that's right, 3 litres of beer for something like $3.50! and even the crap beer tastes good. it's nothing like at home where you pay way too much for beer that tastes like crap. unless of course you're willing to pay for something that's either imported or classed as a luxury fancy beer. and of course you can't go wrong with 3 litres of beer. 3 LITRES!?!
number swei (zvy) - the architecture is amazing. it's like walking around fairy tale village. (see my previous posts for examples of this)
number drei (dry) - the baked goods and fruit are something to really get excited over. i haven't had fruit this good since i lived in queensland. the bakery food is exquisite. they have these things called berliners which are basically a jam donut, but instead of having sugar or cinnamon over them they have this really fine version of icing sugar, that coupled with the great fruit, which lends itself to delicious jam, cannot be beat. unless of course you go to france and eat a proper eclair. i had a chocolate one in strasbourg and it was unbelievably tasty. i went halves with alexis, but i really didn't want to give him any, i just wanted to inhale the damn thing! (all this being said is wonderful, but as an australian, some of the food does scare me slightly - be wary of the dark wursts. i nearly ate something that was made of pig's blood. ech!?!)
number fur (fear) - the staring thing. even though i mention this in my last post, i think it's funny therefore good. i've learnt to stare back and it makes for great amusement on public transport. the only problem is i start smiling and laughing, which means i have to look away first and makes me lose the staring contest half the time.
number funf - the shopping. as most of you who know me in real life know, i love shopping when it's good shopping. i'm talking about clothes here, not grocery shopping (which i'll get to next). some of the clothes here are fantastic, some not so much, but most of it is wonderful. cecilia (one of my dearest friends) would die to buy some of these fashions. unfortunately mannheim has better shops than heidelberg, but there are still some shops here that are fantastic. as you can guess, strasbourg france has better clothes, but they are slightly more expensive, so i put forward that the shopping is better in germany. by the way, who knew that espirit had a fully-stocked male's section? at home it's all girly clothes, here they have wonderful guy's clothes. i even bought the jacket i love so dearly there. and it's fairly inexpensive. espirit also just clothed the european MTV awards, so you know they have cool funky stuff. i'll fully go into clothes shopping in another post. i have some pet peeves and some wonderful things to say about it. but again, anyone who knows me, knows that i have opinions about everything so this wont come as a shock.
number sechts (zex) - grocery shopping. i love grocery shopping here for the pure fact that i have no idea what i'm buying half the time. the other half, i've either taken my dictionary with me, or i've guessed by the picture on the box. the main reason i love it, is because it always feels like an adventure and things are very cheap to buy here, which means i can get a giggle and some food at a very low cost to my wallet and my self-esteem.
number sieben (zee-bin) - i know i've mentioned architecture, but this is different. THE CASTLE!!! i freakin' love the castle. i could look at it all day long and never tire of it. i know i still haven't posted about it, or strasbourg for that matter, but i have the weekend to myself (alexis went to nice to visit a friend) and i plan on blogging up a storm, so be patient damn you!
number acht (oct) - the language and language education. as far as i can remember i have liked three languages more than the others, russian, japanese and german. granted german isn't a hot language, but the sounds made while talking it intrigue me. you should hear little kids speak, they sound so cute. here people know several languages, as is the case throughout western europe i assume, it makes you think that we should be taught more in school in australia. i know of some little kids about 5-6 who can speak german, a little french, a little spanish and a little english, which is way more than i can. so pull your finger out australia and don't follow the path of america and england, where you think that english is the only thing worth learning because you're too bloody arrogant to look outside your own country and it's immediate neighbours.
that's all for now, there's heaps more, but i'll leave that for another post.
tschuss
number eins (i-nz) - the beer is fantastic and cheap. i picked up a six-pack of half litre beers for 1.99euro. that's right, 3 litres of beer for something like $3.50! and even the crap beer tastes good. it's nothing like at home where you pay way too much for beer that tastes like crap. unless of course you're willing to pay for something that's either imported or classed as a luxury fancy beer. and of course you can't go wrong with 3 litres of beer. 3 LITRES!?!
number swei (zvy) - the architecture is amazing. it's like walking around fairy tale village. (see my previous posts for examples of this)
number drei (dry) - the baked goods and fruit are something to really get excited over. i haven't had fruit this good since i lived in queensland. the bakery food is exquisite. they have these things called berliners which are basically a jam donut, but instead of having sugar or cinnamon over them they have this really fine version of icing sugar, that coupled with the great fruit, which lends itself to delicious jam, cannot be beat. unless of course you go to france and eat a proper eclair. i had a chocolate one in strasbourg and it was unbelievably tasty. i went halves with alexis, but i really didn't want to give him any, i just wanted to inhale the damn thing! (all this being said is wonderful, but as an australian, some of the food does scare me slightly - be wary of the dark wursts. i nearly ate something that was made of pig's blood. ech!?!)
number fur (fear) - the staring thing. even though i mention this in my last post, i think it's funny therefore good. i've learnt to stare back and it makes for great amusement on public transport. the only problem is i start smiling and laughing, which means i have to look away first and makes me lose the staring contest half the time.
number funf - the shopping. as most of you who know me in real life know, i love shopping when it's good shopping. i'm talking about clothes here, not grocery shopping (which i'll get to next). some of the clothes here are fantastic, some not so much, but most of it is wonderful. cecilia (one of my dearest friends) would die to buy some of these fashions. unfortunately mannheim has better shops than heidelberg, but there are still some shops here that are fantastic. as you can guess, strasbourg france has better clothes, but they are slightly more expensive, so i put forward that the shopping is better in germany. by the way, who knew that espirit had a fully-stocked male's section? at home it's all girly clothes, here they have wonderful guy's clothes. i even bought the jacket i love so dearly there. and it's fairly inexpensive. espirit also just clothed the european MTV awards, so you know they have cool funky stuff. i'll fully go into clothes shopping in another post. i have some pet peeves and some wonderful things to say about it. but again, anyone who knows me, knows that i have opinions about everything so this wont come as a shock.
number sechts (zex) - grocery shopping. i love grocery shopping here for the pure fact that i have no idea what i'm buying half the time. the other half, i've either taken my dictionary with me, or i've guessed by the picture on the box. the main reason i love it, is because it always feels like an adventure and things are very cheap to buy here, which means i can get a giggle and some food at a very low cost to my wallet and my self-esteem.
number sieben (zee-bin) - i know i've mentioned architecture, but this is different. THE CASTLE!!! i freakin' love the castle. i could look at it all day long and never tire of it. i know i still haven't posted about it, or strasbourg for that matter, but i have the weekend to myself (alexis went to nice to visit a friend) and i plan on blogging up a storm, so be patient damn you!
number acht (oct) - the language and language education. as far as i can remember i have liked three languages more than the others, russian, japanese and german. granted german isn't a hot language, but the sounds made while talking it intrigue me. you should hear little kids speak, they sound so cute. here people know several languages, as is the case throughout western europe i assume, it makes you think that we should be taught more in school in australia. i know of some little kids about 5-6 who can speak german, a little french, a little spanish and a little english, which is way more than i can. so pull your finger out australia and don't follow the path of america and england, where you think that english is the only thing worth learning because you're too bloody arrogant to look outside your own country and it's immediate neighbours.
that's all for now, there's heaps more, but i'll leave that for another post.
tschuss
5 Nov 2007
random musings
before i post about the heidelberg schloss i thought i'd write about some of my experiences here. these are completely random are not about a particular place. just me either having trouble doing something or just noticing the difference between australia and europe, whether it be the way people behave or me being a stupid traveller. the first thing i want to talk about is customer service. it doesn't exist here. i'm so used to going into a place and the person behind the counter being friendly and wanting to help, here not so much. before anybody starts, it's not about me being taken for american or a language barrier thing, it simply does not exist. example, i walked into a shop the other day and was made to wait as the girl behind the counter could finish her conversation. at the castle we had to wait as the guy behind the counter continued his conversation on his mobile phone. people sigh when you try to interrupt them and don't seem too concerned that you are becoming completely put off buying whatever it was you came in for. this doesn't happen everywhere, but 9 out of 10 times it happens. the other night i had to ring up for my credit card (to australia) and it felt so wonderful to have a chat to the girl as she worked on her computer. alexis was in the room and when i finished he said, 'why were you talking to her so much? did she have to give an interview? why was she asking so many questions?' my response was, 'because that's customer service!' the idea is that you make people feel welcome and want to continue business with you, not like you're putting them out by asking them to do their job. i will say though, that france seemed to get the customer service angle. it may be just a german thing. who knows. although in true stereotyped french fashion, waiters treat you like crap. i nearly giggled at one when he sighed and then asked for our order. i have also noticed that when you try to talk german to a person behind a counter they seem amused and generally interested in what's going on. this was only in heidelberg though. this could be down to all the american bases here and the fact that most americans don't care to try german.
the transport here is brilliant, always on time and very clean. they do like to change the track trains run on without telling people, and they don't list all the stops on a train line, so watch out! although trying to figure out which ticket to buy is also very amusing. i have no idea what i'm pressing for the trams in heidelberg. i usually just press buttons until i get something that is the right price. although the other day i think i bought a ticket for the stadium. i didn't even know heidelberg had a stadium, let alone a ticket for it!
people like to stare here. when i say stare, i mean eye to eye, like they're sizing you up. as an australian i found this a little unnerving at first. i remember walking down the street and after the 4th person did it i started feeling around my face thinking something was wrong. haha. now i'm used to it though i just stare back and see how long it takes for them to look away. i'll be damned if i'm losing a staring contest to a stranger. this social occurrence is usually done by old people. it's like they think we can't have an army to beat you, so we'll just glare and make you uncomfortable. doesn't work anymore fools! i've learnt to stare back and not blink. now who's uncomfortable, hey?
while i'm on the subject of the general public, people like to push past you here. they don't go around you as you walk, they come straight at you. i'm sure this is fine for them, but having heard many tales of pick-pockets and muggings, every time it happens i instinctively go for my wallet to make sure. in strasbourg i felt really awkward and uncertain. i kept double checking my passport was still in my pocket an sizing people up, as if ready to pounce and beat the crap out of the person who dared to start me.
people here drink on the street down the hauptstrasse. i find this odd and completely startling. alexis thinks i'm weird because of it, but i'm used to thinking that people milling around drinking are usually up to something or waiting to cause trouble. i suppose this is my own problem as what i'm used to, but at the same time, if i can't understand what they're talking about, then i'm going to get nervous around drunks in a group on the streets.
that's about it for now, i'm sure there's plenty more to talk about, but i don't feel the need to show all my insecurities in just one post. next time i swear i'll write about the castle or at least something constructive with pictures.
tchuss
the transport here is brilliant, always on time and very clean. they do like to change the track trains run on without telling people, and they don't list all the stops on a train line, so watch out! although trying to figure out which ticket to buy is also very amusing. i have no idea what i'm pressing for the trams in heidelberg. i usually just press buttons until i get something that is the right price. although the other day i think i bought a ticket for the stadium. i didn't even know heidelberg had a stadium, let alone a ticket for it!
people like to stare here. when i say stare, i mean eye to eye, like they're sizing you up. as an australian i found this a little unnerving at first. i remember walking down the street and after the 4th person did it i started feeling around my face thinking something was wrong. haha. now i'm used to it though i just stare back and see how long it takes for them to look away. i'll be damned if i'm losing a staring contest to a stranger. this social occurrence is usually done by old people. it's like they think we can't have an army to beat you, so we'll just glare and make you uncomfortable. doesn't work anymore fools! i've learnt to stare back and not blink. now who's uncomfortable, hey?
while i'm on the subject of the general public, people like to push past you here. they don't go around you as you walk, they come straight at you. i'm sure this is fine for them, but having heard many tales of pick-pockets and muggings, every time it happens i instinctively go for my wallet to make sure. in strasbourg i felt really awkward and uncertain. i kept double checking my passport was still in my pocket an sizing people up, as if ready to pounce and beat the crap out of the person who dared to start me.
people here drink on the street down the hauptstrasse. i find this odd and completely startling. alexis thinks i'm weird because of it, but i'm used to thinking that people milling around drinking are usually up to something or waiting to cause trouble. i suppose this is my own problem as what i'm used to, but at the same time, if i can't understand what they're talking about, then i'm going to get nervous around drunks in a group on the streets.
that's about it for now, i'm sure there's plenty more to talk about, but i don't feel the need to show all my insecurities in just one post. next time i swear i'll write about the castle or at least something constructive with pictures.
tchuss
photos of mannheim
cause blogger has issues, once again i have decided to publish the pics on a separate entry. and once again i'm not giving huge explanations, read the previous post to find out more.
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this made me giggle so much. it's an angry whopper! hahaha... .JPG)
this is the christuskirche (church of christ). it looks really pretty and i thought cool, but now i've seen the cathedral is strasbourg, this looks so insignificant. you'll see what i mean in a later post and when you do, you know exactly what i'm talking about.
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me and the much-loved hoodie. i've been to heaps of places now and i still think it's the best one i've seen. how i love it so!
this first one is of the town hall in the marktplatz.
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this is a main street in mannheim. you can see the 'water tower' in the distance. and yes they have trams here, as they do in frankfurt, heidelberg and even in strasbourg. melbourne and san fran ain't so fancy now.
the 'water tower' from closer up. i wont bother putting a closer picture on here as with most of the big things here, you can't get them in one shot!
this is the view from the 'water tower'. can you see any water? apparently where all the white concrete is is a big pond-thing and there is meant to be water shooting up from the middle. again i ask, can you see any water?
this made me giggle so much. it's an angry whopper! hahaha...
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this is the christuskirche (church of christ). it looks really pretty and i thought cool, but now i've seen the cathedral is strasbourg, this looks so insignificant. you'll see what i mean in a later post and when you do, you know exactly what i'm talking about.
me and the much-loved hoodie. i've been to heaps of places now and i still think it's the best one i've seen. how i love it so!
alright, so that was mannheim, briefly as it was, the next blog will be about the heidelberg schloss (castle). now this i was really excited about. i took something like 114 photos. you wont see them all as i don't want to kill blogger, but i can talk for hours about it. yes, i was that excited about it. i even bought a 5euro book about it!
till then
tchuss
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