5 December 2010 - The Singing Christmas Tree

(O Tannenbaum)

My neighbors and I went to a rather fascinating event last night - The Singing Christmas Tree (see www.singing-christmas-tree.de). This is apparently a long-standing tradition of the German-American Community Choir, which was started back in the early 70s by the U.S. military. The Singing Christmas Tree has been performed on the second weekend of Advent for over 30 years. So it definitely seemed like it was worth a peek.

It was actually quite fascinating. The concert starts in entire darkness with the choir singing "Alleluia" and slowly the Christmas tree lights become visible and then as the lights come up you see that there are also humans in among the tree, as you can see from this picture. But the transformation from darkness to lit Christmas tree to lit tree with beaming faces of singers was really quite striking. It ended in much the same way, with the lights slowly going down as the choir sang "Stille Nacht/Silent Nacht." We were then allowed to take pictures during the encore items. Really an interesting experience.

For those interested, here's the program:

Alleluia

Machet die Tore weit (Psalm 24, 7-10)

A Christmas Celebration (Medley of Silver Bells, The Christmas Song, We Need a Little Christmas)

Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Als ich bei meinen Schafen wacht

Der englische Gruß

Sussex Carol

Carol to the King

Rejoice (from Handel's "Messiah")

God Rest Ye merry Gentlemen

Tochter Zion

Yuletide Americana

Sleigh Ride

Let There Be Peace On Earth

A Christmas Medley

Stille Nacht/Silent Night

4 December 2010 - School spirit

("On Wisconsin" as performed by the University of Wisconsin Marching Band)

While this may be a strange thing to post in December when you might expect more things related to the Christmas season here, the topic happened to come up again today, so it is what it is.

For those of us who grew up in the U.S., college football has been a factor in the lives of most of us or our friends and relatives. Whether you went to a school with a successful team or not, if you live in the Midwest, for example, you cannot escape the coverage of Big 10 football. For many, college football is even more exciting than professional football, though of course college football then gives you some of your favorite players to follow in the pros. And then there are the school rivalries, the tailgating, the mascots, the marching bands, the traditions -- all of it creates a great sense of belonging and community. And we show our school spirit through the sweatshirts, of course, as well as all the other trappings available.

So one of the things I noticed early on over here was that people don't wear college sweatshirts. I thought it was just a different preference in fashion. But then I also noticed almost an entire absence of communication about where one went to university. And then I finally realized that Europe, or at least Germany, doesn't really "do" college athletics like we do in the U.S. I suddenly felt very sad for all of the college students.

But every once in a while, the topic surfaces. For example, a few weeks ago I was speaking on the phone with a student who is attending a certain other Big 10 school and who is interested in doing an internship with us in Germany. While not something I would normally cover in a sort of phone interview, I said, "There's something I need to get out of the way before we take this any further. I'm a Badger." Without missing a beat (and thus confirming that she has become quite Americanized), she responded, "We all make our mistakes." But we then went on to talk about the Badgers beating her university at football, and the recent heroic feats of Bucky Badger during their 83-20 victory over Indiana. One of the traditions at Wisconsin is that when the Badgers score, Bucky does one pushup for each point on the Badger scoreboard at that time. So, 7 points after the first touchdown, 10 points if there is a touchdown followed by a field goal, 17 if another touchdown is scored, etc. Now, it's not often that the score is quite so lopsided as 83-20 (though the score against Northwestern last weekend was 70-23) so that was an awful lot of pushups for poor Bucky. And again, consider that this guy is inside a heavy fur suit with a gigantic head while doing this. Well, it turns out that there are actually three individuals who perform as Bucky, but they must share two Bucky suits between them. So for the 83-20 game, each of them had to take their turns in the heavy, sweaty suit doing the pushups. Anyway, our HR representative was there as I went on at length about this and was looking at me like I was speaking an entirely different language, and not just because this was in English. She clearly also must have thought I was a bit "off" mentally, if she had not already suspected that. So the experience made me realize that I sure probably keep my mouth shut over here about Badgers.

So fast forward to today. I was thinking about the Badgers and went online to see if they had published on iTunes an electronic version of the cassette I had years ago called, "The Fifth Quarter" which was various fight songs, et cetera, of the Badgers as performed by the marching band. I didn't find that, but did find an album with most of the classics. Perfect. Downloaded and started getting all pumped up. I was speaking later with a Canadian and mentioned my success in finding the songs, and there was a long, long pause. "Um, didn't you already graduate? What is this, once a Badger, always a Badger?" Um, YEAH!!!! I was shocked. I mean, Canadians are almost like us, right? Or not.... It was a sad realization. But I am still playing the album over and over again.

On Wisconsin!!

28 November 2011 - Adventskranz

Today marks the first week of Advent. I admit that the concept of the four weeks of Advent is a bit new to me. However, I clearly missed the boat on this here in Germany last year, so I decided to be ready this year.

As background, for both Catholics and Protestants, Advent begins the first Sunday after November 26. In German-speaking Europe, one of the key trappings of Advent celebration is the Adventskranz, which is a wreath you put on the table and to which you somehow associate four candles, one for each week of Advent. Starting the first day of Advent (today, in this case), you begin burning one candle, then you add another candle for each additional week. It is, admittedly, unclear to me if one must dispose of the unburned candles at the end of this festivity, or if somehow you burn them all out on Christmas day itself.

Anyway, I missed this entirely last year. So last week I convinced my neighbors to go Adventskranz and candle shopping with me and got a nice mixed bough kranz and the requisite four candles. Some people are really crafty and somehow situate the candles amongst the boughs, but I just see that as a fire hazard (plus I am not craft enough to figure out how to do that). So my four candles are in the center of the wreath and situated on a non-flammable bowl so that neither the flames nor melting wax will touch the boughs and create a fire hazard. We'll see how this works.

Anyway, happy Advent to the Adventists and all others celebrating the holiday season.

24 May 2010 - Locks

("Love Lockdown" by Kanye West)

Warning - this is generally going to be a very boring, albeit brief, posting for most people. I nevertheless felt compelled to share (even though it took my nearly six months to finish the draft of this posting!).

This weekend the weather was really beautiful and I took advantage of it and spent some time along the mighty Main River (note that the official name of Frankfurt is Frankfurt am Main, meaning Frankfurt located on the Main). Saturday I took a long walk towards Offenbach and discovered that there was a set of locks there alongside, of course, a dam. There was a pedestrian bridge that ran over all of it (with a grated walkway that might make the faint of heart a bit unnerved), so I headed up to take a look. I guess if you've seen one set of locks, perhaps you've seen them all, but I nevertheless enjoy watching the action. This set was quite long and capable of fitting two long barges at a time. There is a surprising amount of commercial traffic on the Main. One sees barges carrying coal, fluids of some sort, and who knows what else. I have heard that much of the traffic is controlled by Deutsche Bahn, which of course also owns the German railway system, which would seem to give them quite a nice control of transit of goods within the country.

There were three sets of locks. The first two appeared to be two separate lanes for commercial purposes. They were each long enough to contain two barges. In addition, there was a set of doors in the center, so if only one barge was present, the entire lane didn't have to be filled or drained (I am sure those are not the technical terms, but you catch my drift (no pun intended), right?).

The third lock appears to be for leisure craft and is more or less a self-serve lock, which I found fascinating. I hung around to watch this in action. It requires at least two individuals to operate this lock. Essentially, the boat must pull into the lane and let out a passenger, who then operates the lock. The pilot of the boat then pulls forward into the lock area. The ousted passenger then goes to a terminal/interface that is about the size of an ATM machine, but doesn't seem to be quite so advanced. I'm not sure what the machine says, but the operator must essentially push a large button to start the filling/draining process. And continue to hold until it is done. So the guy I was watching got pretty tired of pressing the button with his hand and engaged in a variety of positions mostly involving leaning up against the machine. Who says booties aren't useful for things other than sitting? Then, once the proper level is achieved, the doors are opened, the operator goes down to the lower or higher area where the boat is now located and jumps back into the boat. Now, there doesn't appear to be a way to access the leisure locks, if you will, other than from the river itself. So if your buddy pulls out without waiting for you to jump back in, it's a long swim to shore....

The following day I got on my bike and rode the other direction along the Main. Much to my surprise, I encountered another set of locks. It was more or less the same as the other set of locks, but with a slightly more rural flavor. Just as fascinating to watch.

14 November 2010 - Hudson's 20,000 kilometer day!

("Drive" by Vanessa Hudgens)

I think those of you reading this blog realize by now that I have an unusual (I refuse to call it unnatural) bond with my car (codename, Hudson). Under my lease, I am allotted 20,000 kilometers per year, so at 1.5 years into the lease I should have about 30,000 kilometers on him. Alas, as of the beginning of this past week, I was only about to finally (FINALLY!) crack the 20,000 barrier. I had planned a long road trip this summer that would have helped in this regard, but it was scrapped for a variety of reasons. But I thought it would be wrong, just WRONG, for him to hit 20,000 kilometers on something as mundane as the commute to work. No, he needed the wind on his shield, the asphalt of the Autobahn under his summer shoes, the bugs sucked into his grill. We needed, in short, a roadtrip. So a roadtrip we had.

Borrowing from my aborted summer roadtrip playbook, we (yes, I refer to us collectively) headed south. We drove from Frankfurt to Stuttgart on Friday night and stayed at the Le Meridien Stuttgart that is easily one of my favorite SPG properties in Germany (though the ramps to their underground garage are wickedly narrow!). Then on Saturday morning, we went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart (see separate posting) so Hudson could recall the superiority of his own provenance (why have a three-spoke star when you can have four rings????). And then on we drove to Lenggries, which is in southern Bavaria about an hour out of Munich.

So, why Lenggries? Well, let's be honest, it was only on my not-so-familiar-with-Bavaria radar because it is home to a Starwood property, the Four Points Sheraton Brauneck. Brauneck refers to the nearest mountain, Lenggries being at the foot of an area known both for its skiing and hiking. A very good start. Did a bit more research and it seemed like it might be a nice, restful destination.

The hotel was in "downtown" Lenggries, rather than a bit further out in the wilderness or higher up in the mountains than I had hoped. But it was fine, albeit what I would refer to as a "humble" property - clean with friendly staff but no bells and whistles like an executive lounge or an upgrade to a suite. The proximity to greater metropolitan Lenggries was interesting, though, and I thought a nice wander and perhaps some retail therapy were in order. I arrived around 4 PM, which unfortunately was the time that all the stores in the quaint little town closed. Doh! It was also getting dark, so I only had a little bit of time to wander around. But the next morning I awoke at the crack of dawn as sunlight filtered in over the tops of the mountain peaks and decided to set out for a wander in the town and the woods at the base and leading into the mountains. Both were really, really quite pretty as you can see by the picture posted above.

But after the hike as I headed back from the mountains and was passing by what appeared to be the primary village church, it looked like something was about to happen. There were a few people standing around in Bavarian attire who seemed to be waiting for something. Hmmm... And then I saw a group of guys standing around in a sort of Bavarian uniform -- with drums!! Something certainly was going to happen. I mean, you don't just have a drummer gathering without expecting something to happen, right? So I decided to hang around, even though I didn't have my cool leather coat that I bought in Austria that might allow me to at least kind of blend. My thistle-colored (okay, lilac or light purple) Marmot shell wasn't quite so blending.... But in any event or color, I was not to be disappointed.

After standing quietly and trying not to look too American, the event started. The drummers picked up their drums, as did a Bavarian band with their instruments. And out of the old town church began a very large procession of men in Bavarian attire carrying a

variety of colorful flags and banners. Hmmmm.... The drummers led the band and the rest of the entourage around the small square, stopping in an angled formation around a podium that had been set up and was swathed in the German flag. Next to it was a sort of eternal flame that was burning - not Olympic size, but sufficiently sized for this venue. In the background, the German and Bavarian flags flapped in the crisp breeze. A Catholic priest made a short speech, which was followed by a considerably longer one from a protestant minister, and then the priest led the audience in reciting the Lord's Prayer.

It was all very fascinating and very somber. It clearly related to remembering those who had died. This was a few days after 11 November when Veterans Day and Remembrance Day take place in the US and the UK, respectively, so I assumed that this event was related somehow to that. My nascent German skills picked up quotes on not forgetting the dead, there were some references to World War II, and the names of the eight German soldiers who had perished in Afghanistan this year were also read. Even though I didn't understand everything, I still found the experience very moving, much as my eyes always fill with tears when the US flag is waving and we're singing the national anthem or even saying the pledge of allegiance (the latter of which I can't remember when I participated in that, but it has been far too long).

I did a bit more research when I got home on this celebration and it turns out that it is slightly different than the holidays in the US and UK. Germany does not celebrate the armistice itself, but has a national day of mourning which seems to be more similar to All Saints Day that I celebrated a few years ago in Guatemala. Germany's national day of mourning (Volkstrauertag) has been celebrated since 1952 and is held on the Sunday before the first Sunday of Advent. While it is a secular holiday, churches have their own special take on the holiday, with the Catholic church celebrating All Souls Day and the Lutheran church celebrating Eternity Sunday. So I'm guessing the protestant minister who spoke may have been Lutheran.

All in all, Hudson logged about 1,000 kilometers on this trip. He arrived home dirty with quite a few bugs on the windshield and in the grill (apparently we haven't had cold enough weather to kill them all yet?) but a lovely twinkle in his daytime running lamps.

13 November 2010 - Mercedes-Benz Museum

("Do you want to ride in my Mercedes, boy?" - Pebbles)

Now first, let me reiterate that I am an avid and undying Audi fan. That said, there are other fine German automotive vehicles produced over here, so it only made sense that I would visit at least one of the two such manufacturer museums when in Stuttgart. I chose Mercedes-Benz and will leave Porsche for another day.

The Benz museum has gotten high marks for its architecture, and with good reason. It is really a both beautiful and functional building that reminds me of a cross between the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Reichstag dome in Berlin. After purchasing your ticket (EUR 8) on the lower level, you pass through one of two areas where you collect your audio guide (included in the ticket price) and then get on what I can best describe as an elevator capsule that whisks you to the top floor of the museum. It is said to have a double-helix structure inside, which I understand from a DNA perspective but less from an architectural perspective. But anyway, you basically walk down a series of ramps interspersed with landings with exhibits until you reach the bottom. Lots of windows on the exterior as well, so plenty of natural light. Otherwise, very industrial looking with exposed concrete.

Also quite organized and high-tech. It is, after all, in Germany! There were numerous interactive displays regarding various technologies and development of the vehicles, for example. And even the audio guide was a bit different than what I am used to in museum. Instead of having to punch in a number for an exhibit, you point the device at a dark spot in the description of the exhibit, which must create some sort of WiFi or infrared connection. The display on the audio guide device then displays a menu of recordings from which you can choose, ranging from a general overview of the vehicle/exhibit, technology involved, design, and even a special menu option for kids. Each one indicates the length of the recording so you can figure out how much time to invest. Quite slick.

As you walk down the ramp, there is a fascinating series of signs/displays starting with the invention of various inventions by Carl Benz and other founding fathers and including both world history, German history, automotive history, and Benz history. It was done in a really fascinating and integrated way that helped you understand the historical context of transportation, world events and the corresponding developments of the company. And the world history events really ran the gamut. A few examples: women's suffrage, development of branding and trademark law, social programs and workers rights, prohibition, the German Women's Automobile Association, forced laborers, Elvis, ET, break dancing, Boris Becker's Wimbledon victory, world wide web, Dolly the sheep, the return of Hong Kong to China, introduction of the Euro. Fascinating.

I learned a few interesting tidbits, though. First, the origin of the Mercedes brand. I had thought that this was the name of Benz's daughter. Not so. When cars were first introduced, they were something only the wealthy had and they hired a chauffeur to drive the vehicle, just as they might have someone to drive their horse-drawn carriage, and particularly since the vehicles often broke down and the driver needed to understand the mechanics involved. But as technology advanced, there emerged a class of "gentlemen drivers" - rich guys who decided to get behind the wheel and drive the cars themselves. Men wanting control? Really? And you can imagine what came next. Yes, men wanting to go faster. (While this may be true, I would also note that as I chick I also appreciate control and speed, so I don't mean to be sexist. And again, note above the inclusion in the history exhibits that of the German Women's Automobile Association, which was founded in 1926.) Anyway, one of Benz's customers asked him to create a car that he could race. Benz was happy to do this and the customer named the car (just as one might name a ship) after his daughter, Mercedes. He was very successful in races, and thus began the recognition of Mercedes as a brand.

The museum has a series of small exhibits throughout the museum titled "33 Extra," and they ranged from the development of the standard ordering of clutch, brake and gas pedals (influenced by the German military way back when) to CB radios to the boxes for drive-in theaters that were mounted on vehicles. I found two of particular interest, though.

The first related to steering wheelings. Early on, the steering wheel was located in the middle of vehicles, but this wasn't particularly practical, especially if anyone else wanted to sit in the front seat (and who doesn't want to be up front?!). So the wheel was moved to the right side so that the driver could keep an eye on the side of the road to make sure he (gentlemen drivers, remember) didn't land in the ditch. However, as more and more cars were on the road, the other drivers (perhaps those distracting pretty lady drivers?) became more of a nuisance, so the steering wheel was moved to the left so the driver could keep an eye on oncoming traffic. Alas, no mention of why traffic in the UK moves the other direction, but the UK would still have the driver closest to the traffic as in other countries where the wheel is located on the lefthand side.

The other interesting item was the development of windshield wipers. Of course, the first vehicles didn't even have windshields, so this wasn't too quick to develop. In Germany, Prince Heinrich of Prussia (go Preuschers!) came up with the idea in 1908 of a handheld device covered in linen that could be drawn across the windshield to clean it up, though of course this only really worked if you had an open vehicle. The Americans were a few years ahead of Germany, though. Apparently Mary Anderson submitted a patent application in 1903 for a more advanced device, having gotten the idea while riding a streetcar in New York in

the winter.

The company notes in the historical pieces along the ramp a few things about its workers through the years. Two items were particularly interesting to me. First, the company shared a bit about its use of forced laborers during World War II. I realized, of course, that like pretty much all German companies that Daimler-Benz had contributed its manufacturing capabilities to the war effort, whether willingly or not. But the used of forced laborers was a bit new to me. Essentially, the able-bodied men of the company had been forced to join the military, so there was no one to make anything. So they paid the German government/military for access to the individuals who were in the custody of the military. Within these forced laborers, there was a clear hierarchy that was visible even in the housing of the individuals. Those from western Europe stayed in inns. Those from eastern Europe stayed in a sort of barracks. And those who were already living in concentration or work camps continued to stay there and were bused back and forth and were under SS supervision at all times. The company says that at the end of the war they tried to contact these forced laborers and pay them some sort of compensation, but.... Anyway you look at it, yikes!

On a positive note, though, the company said that it was among the first to provide more benefits to workers, such as paid time off and, in the early 1900s, reducing the workweek to "only" 9.5 hours for 6 days a week. They also created Daimler soda that was distributed to workers. Out of the goodness of their hearts? Not so much. They were doing it to reduce workers' consumption of fruit wine. Nice....

And, of course, there were the cars themselves. Might seem like it would be hard to pick a favorite among all the nice cars they have made throughout time and especially when faced with some of their celebrity cars (e.g. one of the Popemobiles, Princess Diana's SL that caused such a stir in the UK, Hirohito's ride). But it's not. Hands down, my favorite is the 1936 500 K Spezial Roadster pictured here. Just a beautiful design, flowing and sensual as can be. And even back then, it had a top speed of 100 mph. Yes, miles. The display said that the price was 28,000 Reichsmark, or about €98,000. Not clear whether that is in today's EUR or what it would have been in the 30s. Either way, a nice chunk of change. And no doubt worth every scent of it.

But wait till I go back to the Audi museum and we see some real cars!!

27 October 2010 - Mixing Business with Non-Pleasure

A couple weeks ago I went to a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. It was only my second such event as most of the presentations are, somewhat surprisingly given "American" in the organization's name, in German. But the topics are generally interesting and this evening was no exception, featuring the chief economist of Bank of New York Mellon speaking about the economic condition and fiscal policy in the United States.

But while his presentation was very good, it wasn't quite so memorable as the conversation around my table. I was seated next to a guy (we'll call him Klaus) who had worked for Deutsche Bank for 20 some years and then for some time for Deutsche Telekom before what I assume must be retirement and starting a consulting company. In both corporate capacities, he had been posted in New York. He's married and his wife runs an art gallery near our offices. So we started talking about art, New York, the U.S., real estate, being expats and the talk turned to my experience in Germany and in which he asked whether I had come alone to Germany or.....? Awkward. After I answered that I had only brought my cats as company, he pulled in the guy (does "Karl" work for you?) seated next to him into the conversation. Karl was a nice enough but somewhat unkempt attorney who was quite pleased that he would be getting notary status soon (which is more meaningful here than in the U.S.).

When he heard about Karl's upcoming success, Klaus felt compelled to mention that would indicate Karl's income potential and then (Oh no he didn't! Oh yes he did!) asked whether Karl was married? Seeing someone? Turns out Karl is single and lives in Sachsenhausen and the neighborhood restaurant he mentioned as his favorite is, uh, also my favorite and is located less than a block from my house. So Klaus was thinking "love connection," but I'm pretty sure neither Karl nor I were feeling anything except really, really awkward. It gets a little more awkward because as we were getting ready to leave, Klaus made a big deal about ensuring we all exchange business cards -- yes, thus ensuring that Karl had at least my work number. He also made it convenient for Karl to (I am not lying) walk me to my car.

The next few days I lived in perpetual fear that I would see Karl in my neighborhood or that he would actually call me up. Fortunately, it seems I was correct that neither of us felt the love connection. But it did make for an interesting evening. Not sure whether I'm up for another AmCham event in the near future, though!

12 October 2010 - Frankfurt taxis

{"Get Out of My Car" - Toby Keith}

The firm has a taxi/car service company that provides flat rates between the airport and the office and also operates as a taxi for other destinations. So when traveling on business, I often have them pick me up at home rather than hoping that there is a taxi waiting a few blocks away at the Südbahnhof. So when I flew back into Frankfurt tonight, they were waiting for me. But not apparently looking for me.

I knocked on the window of the driver and he looked up in surprise and slight embarrassment. He said he would explain once we were en route, which indeed he did, and much more. Fascinating. So here's what I learned about Frankfurt and surrounding area taxis. I should note that this is based entirely on his representations and has not been independently verified by me. (You knew there would be a caveat, didn't you?)

For starters, there are apparently too many taxis (something like 1,700) in Frankfurt for the fares available. So there has, at least in the past, been fierce competition for fares. The government (not clear whether it is the federal government, the state (Hessen) government, or the Frankfurt municipality) has passed laws in response to promote consistency, ensure access to taxis and protect consumers.

What he had seen was, a few cars ahead, a rather heated (okay, angry) discussion between two taxi drivers. Apparently, one must pay a specific fee to pick up individuals at the airport, perhaps not unlike how the taxis in some U.S. cities charge you an additional fee for the airport which is a pass-through of such costs. Anyway, this driver apparently had not bought this item yet nevertheless was soliciting passengers at the airport, which was turning the cranks of the other taxi drivers who had paid their fees. Now, if this guy is caught by the authorities, he could lose his medallion (or whatever the equivalent is in Germany) and would not be able to pick up anyone in Frankfurt or surrounding areas. That, of course, was of little consolation to the taxi drivers from whom he was stealing fares that very minute.

Another law/regulation that was passed requires taxi drivers to deliver passengers within a certain zone at agreed upon meter rates. The purpose of this seems two-fold. First, it protects consumers (particularly tourists) from a taxi driver who tries to bargain for a fee and requires just the meter. The issue of the taxi driver taking a longer route to rack up a higher fare remains, of course. Second, it protects developing neighborhoods (okay, those living in the ghetto) from being denied access to taxi services.

Another law says that I can choose any taxi in the queue that I want; I don't have to choose the first one. Apparently a lot of taxi drivers take a bit of offense at this, but the law was designed so that the passenger has meaningful choice and can select a cabbie s/he feels comfortable with.

There is cooperation but mutual respect for the different municipalities. So, essentially a cabbie is free to pick up and deliver anyone in his/her home area (it is unclear whether this relates directly to the license place location or something else). But if you are going into a zone that's not your own, you can drop off anyone, of course, but a pick-up is only possible if someone has scheduled the pick-up. So using the example of the firm's car/taxi service, they are based in the Taunus area, not Frankfurt. They can deliver me to the Frankfurt airport, which is in the Frankfurt area. However, they can't pick me up at the airport unless I schedule/request a pick-up. (So you can imagine the ruckus that would break out if a Taunus driver showed up at the Frankfurt airport without the right medallion and soliciting fares directly!)

Outside of the zone in which the cabbie must deliver passengers at the agreed upon meter, cabbies can negotiate a fare. So, if you think of the volcanic ash issues a few months ago, if you were stuck in Frankfurt and wanted a cabbie to drive you to, say, Amsterdam you'd need to bargain with him/her.

Interestingly enough, a recent survey performed by a motor club (think AAA) indicated that the taxi service in Frankfurt did not rate very highly. Cabbies were often trying to bargain with tourists to take them to their destination at a flat rate. They also tended to take the longer rate to drive up the meter and corresponding fare. They also ranked low for their ability to speak German as well as English. It's unclear to me from the conversation whether the current laws/regulations were passed in response to this survey, or if the survey is evidence that the regulations don't work.

So there you have it. When you come to Frankfurt to visit, I'll try to pick you up myself. ;-)

11 July 2011 - Eurovision meets Weldmeistershaft (aka World Cup)

["Schland o Schland" by Uwu Lena]

So, on the heels of Eurovision and its national pride comes World Cup 2010 or, in Germany, WM 2010 (WM standing for Weldmeistershcaft which is something close to world masters).


As background, Germans, given the country's unfortunate history, have been somewhat hesitant to display much national pride or flag waving. The 2006 World Cup was held in various venues in Germany and was really the first time when Germans started actually displaying the flag with some degree of pride. I was in Düsseldorf on business during part of that World Cup and got to see this first hand. It was also my first real exposure to World Cup soccer because, as a typical American, I didn't follow soccer. At all.


So fast forward to 2010. I am much more aware of soccer (or fußball/football) though I probably still couldn't tell you how a team from the Bundesliga gets elevated to the Champions League. What's clear, though, is how many great soccer players there are from all over the world who populate these teams throughout Europe. Which brings us to WM 2010.


Germany, as indicated in my Eurovision blog, was full of national pride with the win of Germany's 19-year-old, Lena, in the final competition. So I suppose it was only natural that with the WM 2010 starting only about a month later that someone would find a way to link the national pride involved in both events. The result, for better or worse, is the viral video, "Schland o Schland" by Uwu Lena, which should be easy to find with a quick search on YouTube. Essentially, a German guy dons a wig of long, black hair and dresses up in a black dress not unlike what Lena wore in the Eurovision performance. Surrounded by crazy German soccer fans, he proceeds to sing "Schland o Schland," a song set to the tune of Lena's "Satellite," complete with footage of vuvuzelas. "Schland" standing for Deutschland. It is patriotic kitsch at its best. I highly recommend viewing it.

While I am not sure whether Schland o Schland had anything to do with it, Germany did quite well in the World Cup this year. Alas, it came to an end for us last night. The first stage was a group stage or something of a round robin with eight groups of three teams each. (There were pre-qualifying games that I will not go into, but not every country gets to even this round. I was delighted that both the US and Germany made it to this round, particularly since some countries that have much more interest in soccer than the US were eliminated in prior rounds.) Both Germany and the US advanced to the Group of 16 with the following results.

UNITED STATES:
England 1:1 US
Slovenia 2:2 US
US 1:0 Algeria

GERMANY:
Germany 4:0 Australia
Germany 0:1 Serbia
Ghana 0:1 Germany

Unfortunately, the US lost in the Group of 16 in a 1:2 loss to Ghana. Germany, however, advanced with a decisive 4:1 win over England. Now, throughout, there were a lot of German flags flown on cars and such (another favorite is black, red and gold striped covers that go over the mirrors of your car). But these demonstrations got even more pronounced as Germany continued to win. My aunt and uncle were here in Germany and we were able to experience one of the public viewings during the Ghana game. By the time of the game with England, the public viewing area in Frankfurt was packed and closed around two hours before the game even started. There were also huge crowds in the Commerzbank Arena.

Germany also won in the quarterfinals with a 4:0 win over highly-hyped Argentina. There was another great song around this time that set the "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" lyrics to German with some humorous references to Miradona (coach of Argentina), though I have not been able to find this online for your/my listening pleasure.

And finally, there were the semi-finals this past Wednesday. Alas, we lost to Spain, 0:1. Very sad, very sad. Things were not quite over, though, as there was a match for the losers in the semi-finals to play for third place. I don't really like the idea of that. But nevertheless, Germany played that game last night and defeated Uruguay, 3:2.

All in all, it was just an interesting experience. I gained a greater appreciation for soccer, but for me this was less about the game itself than the national pride and the bigger ideas the game brings. The World Cup only comes around every four years, like the Olympics, but is in many ways bigger than the Olympics. It is just one game, so easier to follow (though I will not try to explain here how a tie in the group round counts), and it is really accessible to all countries with good players. I loved the number of African and Latin American countries that have very few resources, commerce or other things going for them but that excel at soccer. I mean, there's something fascinating about Ghana being able to eliminate the US, right? Now, in the end, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will go to European countries (the final between Spain and the Netherlands is tonight), but still, it was a great world competition. And I can't wait until 2014!

30 May 2010 - Eurovision 2010

["Satellite" by Lena, obviously. Alas, it doesn't seem to be available on iTunes in the US as it is here in Germany, but you can see a replay on Eurovision's site]

A year or so ago, I heard through a US podcast (Rachel Maddow Show) about some crazy European singing contest. I had not head about it over here, so I figured it was some one-off thing. Au contraire. The Eurovision Song Contest is a big deal and has been going on for over 50 years! It has featured (spawned?) such acts as ABBA, Celine Dion (one must assume for France?) and Julio Iglesias. And this year I was invited to a viewing party at my neighbor's place last night. Awesome.

This year's contest was held in Oslo. It apparently started with 39 countries, but there were only 25 artists/acts remaining in the finals that were shown last night. One of which was, naturally, Germany. "Our" contestant from Germany is a girl named Lena. She just turned 19 and is in the midst of completing her finals in high school. Apparently she had limited experience with music and no formal vocal lessons, though she had taken dance lessons. And even before the finals, her song was one of the top downloads in Germany. I had heard it several times on the radio, but didn't realize the history behind it all.

The way the show progresses is each of the final acts performs in a pre-determined order and with no commercial breaks. There was slight variation last night because while Spain was performing, a spectator apparently got up on stage during their song, so they got to do a do-over at the end (without the spectator). Anyway, as each act performs, their number is flashed on the screen and viewers can then send text messages to vote for their favorite candidate. At the same time, there are professional judges in each o the 39 participating countries who also vote.

After all acts are done, there is a live report-in from each of the 39 countries in which they give 12, 10 and 8 points for, respectively, their first, second and third place picks. This is apparently a combination of both the popular vote and the votes of the professional judges. The countries cannot, however, give any points to their own country's act, if applicable. It was interesting to see some of te political dimension, though, with neighboring countries tending to vote for each other, the countries from the former Soviet Union tending to stick together, et cetera.

Some of the acts were pretty good, but some were seriously awful. It was fun watching them with a group of about 15 Germans to see how/whether my perceptions aligned with theirs. (For example, we all agreed that the dresses of the act from Iceland were wretched and, in particular, the red hue clashed quite horridly with the hair color of their singer.) As the countries started reporting in, I got this big sense of national pride each time a country assigned points to Germany. And what was particularly charming was someone at the party had brought a kind of grease pencil with the three colors of the German flag combined and she applied the German flag my face just like everyone else. I was honored.

In the end, Germany won!! We had 246 points, followed by Turkey with 170 and Romania with 162. I thought Spain might get higher ratings since they played twice, but they came in 15th with 68 points. See www.eurovision.tv for full results and more coverage. I thought Lena did a really great job of representing Germany and was very humble and normal in her comments both before and after winning. Though I admit I was a bit horrified that she let the German flag touch the ground, but apparently there are different flag-handling rules here than in the U.S.!

Great and fun experience. And a great warm-up to World Cup Soccer!!

22 May 2010 - Visiting the Doctor

One of the things that I have successfully avoided in my time here so far was being sick enough to actually have to find a doctor here. As discussed in the posting on the pharmacy, the idea of trying to explain symptoms is not exactly something that is covered in a basic German language course. So I continue to seek online counsel from my doc in the US.



But about six weeks ago, I was feeling really dizzy for a couple of days, one day it was bad enough and getting worse that I left work while it still seemed safe to drive. The next morning was bad, but I figured I must have some kind of inner ear issue and should get in to see a doctor. I recalled that my assistant had found a walk-in clinic for a Polish colleague, so I figured wherever that was must speak English. Alas, she could not recall where she had sent him, but she did note that it was Friday and the doctor came to our office a few hours that day.



Now, if you're like me, you did a double-take at that. A doctor? In OUR offices? Recall that I work for a professional services firm, not someplace with dangerous machinery (though sometimes our paper jam prone copier becomes a danger when I want to kick it), so the idea of a doctor around is, well, odd. But then I realize I am in Germany and somethings things are a bit different here. So she got an appointment and I went down to see him. Nutshell, no inner ear issue, but I had high blood pressure at the time, which was news to me. He asked if I had experienced much stress lately. Ha!! Anyway, he suggested that I go to his regular office the following Monday morning. At that time, they would outfit me with a blood pressure monitor that I would wear for 24 hours, it would record my information and they could then download that at their office and determine if there was a persistent issue or if they had just caught me at a particularly stressful time that Friday. And his office was conveniently located in Sachsenhausen, my neighborhood. Perfect!



So Monday morning came and I set Hudson's GPS to the task of finding the office. As I approached it, I was a bit confused, because it looked like an apartment building. Yep, pretty much. But there was a listing for him and another doctor, so up the stairs I walked, passing apartments listing the family names of the occupants. Not exactly what I am used to.



When I arrived at the right floor, the door to the office was slightly ajar. Okay.... I walked in and found a guy sitting at a desk wearing a sweater, not exactly what I expected of a receptionist or nurse or whatever. But he showed me to the waiting room, which, this being an apartment and all, had a balcony outside of a sliding glass door. I have not encountered that in a doctor's office before. All of the magazines were in neat little matchings covers. Interesting.



The doctor finally came out himself and took me to an office. He was wearing a blood-red cashmere v-neck sweater and some corduroy pants. No lab coat. No stethoscope. No trappings of doctor power. Interesting. He took me to what seemed like a regular office and we sat across the desk from each other and he asked if I was ready for the blood work. Um, blood work? I thought perhaps something had been lost in our conversation the previous Friday and reminded him that I thought I was just there to get the blood pressure monitor. Oh, ja, ja!



So he took me to a different room that also featured a desk and seem more like an exam room, except not really. The other sweater-wearing guy came in and tried to outfit me with the device. Couldn't get it to work. It's like a really ugly black sportswatch and it has to be calibrated twice in order for it to work. For whatever reason, it refused. We tried various combinations and permutations. We tried the other arm. The doctor attempted to assist. 90 minutes later still no deal. I swear, all jokes about accountants and lawyers being heartless aside, I DO have a pulse! But as I was watching all of this and having my wrists yanked this way and that, I continued to examine the examining room. What strikes me the most is that the entire office is carpeted. I don't think I have ever been in a carpeted exam room for, I assume, the obvious risk that some messy things can happen in exam rooms that might be difficult to clean up on carpet.



They never did get the blood pressure monitor to work. I ended up buying an automated blood pressure cuff and took some hourly readings for a few days. Not surprisingly, I experience pre-hypertensive readings primarily when I am in the office, particularly when I am talking about budgeting and capital expenditures. Go figure. I keep the cuff in my office and every once in a while take my blood pressure just to see where I am. I do, of course, track all of this on an Excel spreadsheet and have made some graphs that I find both fascinating and horrifying. But it has become something of a joke, now. When my guys see I am getting worked up about something, they ask if I'd like to take some time out to check my blood pressure. All in good fun, of course. Makes me laugh. Which I suppose probably brings my blood pressure down. Love my peeps!

7 March 2010 - Leipzig Roadtrip

[Take your pick of Bach's Brandenburg concertos.]

I have 20,000 kilometers per year available under my lease for Hudson. His "birthday" is coming up at the beginning of May, yet I realized that I hadn't even tipped 10,000 kilometers. Miles are a terrible thing to waste.... So I decided it was time to begin taking longer roadtrips. Looking at my map (a colleague gave me a huge one that I have now hung in my hallway, which I love, but is probably not very aesthetically pleasing, as evidenced by said colleague's wife refusing to let him hang the map in their home -- but since I don't have a wife....), I randomly decided that it was time to visit Leipzig. This selection was based primarily on two considerations -- the up-and-back drive seemed doable in an overnight trip and Leipzig happens to have a Luxury Collection property from Starwood that seemed a steal at €125/night. All that, plus a colleague was also up for the adventure and not dissuaded by my disclosure that I have a navigation system and driving tour book, but I might divert course at anytime if something of interest arose.

We left Saturday afternoon and, despite predictions of rain, it was a beautiful, sunny day and perfect driving weather. Our first stop along the way was Wartburg Castle. If you put on your Christian history cap, you may recall this as the place where Martin Luther hung out after being excommunicated by the pope. I didn't realize that he translated the New Testament into German here as well. It is on the top of a ridge and a nice drive up there, followed by a walk to the to that is both breathtaking and leaves one breathless with the steep climb. Really beautiful views all around. Nice grounds, though part of the castle was under construction and neither the tower nor the baths areas were open. There are also some cannons along the wall, which one of the Sarah Palin action figures could not resist (who DOESN'T want to ride the war machine?)

It was a bit chilly, so we ducked into the little restaurant/coffee shop for some kirschkuchen (cherry coffeecake) and some coffee. It was a quaint place, but quite packed. Anyway, the waiter asked if we were Americans. We confirmed that we were and a short while later he came out and planted a red, white and blue flag/pennant on our table. We were unclear whether it was to mark us clearly as the non-German in the room or as a gesture of welcoming, but chose to believe the latter. Nevertheless, the other patrons looked at us a bit strangely. We decided to milk it for all it was worth and had our picture taken there for the true tourist experience.

Wartburg is located in/next to the town of Eisenach, so we took a quick stroll through the town since we were there. Unbeknownst to us, this is said to be Bach's birthplace. There is both Bach Haus where he was allegedly born (and which is now a museum), next to which has been constructed a new and quite modern-looking Bach museum designed by a student of Frank Gehry. Who knew? Alas, it was getting late in the day and both venues seemed to be closed. But the musical features didn't end there. No-sirree-bob. The big church in town was hosting that night a World Gospel Tour concert and another place was hosting an All-80s party that began at the same time. Such options were just too diffcult for us to choose between, so we choose to continue the still-long roadtrip to Leipzig.

Now, I love Hudson and his/her navigation system. But they are in no way infallible. For example, we were to take the A4 autobahn (not to be confused with the excellent Audi vehicle of the same name) for part of the journey to Leipzig. Except there was construction. And a brand new section of road. For whatever reason, the A4 just seemed to end in construction at one point with no way to proceed and no detour noted. Hmmm.... Fortunately, my driving tour book had some paper maps in the back and I was able to point Hudson in a different direction that linked up with the A4 later. But part of that new section of the A4 was not apparently in Hudson's navigation system. He noted that we were "offroad" and started kind of freaking out, something like Robot on "Lost in Space" when he starts just flailing his arms about saying, "Danger, Will Robinson, danger!" Except Hudson just kept saying in German something in the way of, "Seriously, it is ill-advised for you to be cruising at 180 kph offroad. You should turn aroud and get back on the highway. NOW!" I guess I need to contact the dealer and see what the process is for getting his maps updated.

Leipzig was nice and I really enjoyed the hotel, the Hotel Fürstenhof, which upgraded me to a nice junior suite. I did not have the chance to see their indoor pool, but it really looked nice online and my colleague confirmed that it was also quite nice in person. Instead, I took an exploratory run around the city in the rain the next morning, which was not quite so pleasant as a swim in the pool, I suspect.

You may recall how much I love Mexican food and the difficulty I have had in finding some over here. So imagine my delight when I saw a reputable-looking place called "La Enchilada" across the street. Oddly enough, though, the menu in the window did not include any, um, enchiladas. Such a tease....

There were quite a few interesting sites to see, but the most memorable was nowhere to be found on the city map. I was roaming around and thought I heard seeing some people singing. Hmmm... I went to investigate. It was a Cossack Choir. Not joking. Guys dressed up in some interesting uniforms of a sort and singing with much gusto. So much so that I actually bought their CD, which unfortunately contained more Russian Orthodox hymns than the things they were singing live, which were more akin to a soundtrack you might expect for a Russian submarine saga or something.

21 February 2010 - Michelstadt

A couple weeks ago I got cabin fever and decided I needed to head out on the highway for a Sunday afternoon drive. With the assistance of, "Daytrips in Germany's Rhineland," a gift from a colleague in the U.S., I selected Michelstadt as my destination.

According to the book and some online research, Michelstadt is located in Odenwald, a forest area that straddles several German states, including Hessen, Baden and Bavaria. It seems unclear whether the name means Odin Forest (Odin being a Nordic god) or Forest of Odes (I know, you're wanting to write another ode right now, aren't you?). Anyway, Michelstadt itself is a medieval town dating back to at least 741 AD. There is a castle complex that is part of the town wall, including a tower that was apparently used to house thieves.

One of its Michelstadt's better known features is its town hall which is just beyond the town wall. When I visited it, the town had erected a rather small ice rink in front of it where kids and parents were having a nice winter afternoon. While I didn't try out the ice rink itself, they also had some coffee, bratwurst, and crepe/waffle stands nearby. I highly recommend the fresh waffle with powdered sugar. Yum!

I wandered quite a way out of the city to see the Fürstenau Castle. It is apparently a private residence so it's not open for viewing, but it was still interesting to see from the outside. It was unclear to me whether the building that is directly across from it (which was quite old looking and huge) was part of the castle or if it is just "the neighbors." It is also not far from a little river with a dam and what apparently used to be a mill of some sort.

Anyway, a nice little trip even on a cold winter day. And it finally answered the question for me of what the special Odenwald trains are that pass through the Südbahnhof near my house that are different from the Deutsche Bahn trains. Now I know....

18 February 2010 - Drugs

["I Want a New Drug" - Huey Lewis and the News ]

Germany doesn't have over-the-counter pharmaceutical products as we know them in the U.S. There is literally no such things as Tylenol or NyQuil, for example. And even if there were, you couldn't just pick some up at the grocery store or even the pharmacy based on what you think your needs are. No, for any sort of relief, you must go to the apotheke (pharmacy) and speak to the pharmacist about all your dirty symptoms. Delightful.

When I returned from the U.S. after the holidays, I came down with a truly wretched cold. I stayed at home on Monday and thought I was ready to head in on Tuesday. I lasted half a day. Tried again on Wednesday and made the entire day. When I walked in on Thursday, though, within a half hour, both a Swiss professional and an Austrian professional told me that I looked bad and I should leave. Immediately. Hmmm....

So I went home and decided it was time to get some pharmaceutical assistance for my symptoms (a severe sinus headache with congestion and a rapidly constricting throat). So I walked into the brand new apotheke in my neighborhood, walked up to the counter and asked the pharmacist if he spoke English. Not much. Ruh roh....

I said I had a kopfschmerzen mit sinus drucken, by which I was trying to say I had a headache with sinus pressure. He didn't seem to be following me. I wasn't sure exactly how to say that I needed something to get the nasty mung in my head outta my head. There was some gesturing and he finally pulled out something for a headache and something else that had a picture of head with redness and arrows going from the sinuses to the nose and down into the throat. Close enough, right?

So I took them as directed and settled in for the afternoon. I still had a splitting sinus headache, so was just sitting around with the lights off and all noise sounds off (alas, could not get the Lads to stop their racket at the food station where they keep robbing from their next meal). About an hour later, I was totally zoned out. Not sleepy, exactly, just not exactly all there. I was sitting in my chaise lounge and literally staring out the windows at the snowflakes falling. This is normally not something you could get me to do for more than, say, 30 seconds max. I am, after all, a Preuscher. I was not much better a few hours later when I was scheduled to be on a conference call. It was like being on a 7-second delay or something with my brain taking AGES to register anything coming in, let alone to try and formulate a response of any sort. And with coughing fits in between. Classy.

I had big dreams of being back at the office the following day. Um, no. Worse. Much worse. So the question was whether or not the drugs were actually helping or hurting. I stuck with them, though, despite the drug-induced stupor they elicited. After all, the only other alternative was to actually (gasp!) go and see a doctor. Who may or may not speak English. It's these little things you never think about.

In the end, I was down the entire weekend and barely functional to return to the office on Monday. Longest cold I have had in a long time. Not surprisingly, when a friend visited me in late January, I had a special request -- NyQuil and Tylenold Cold & Flu, please. Oh, and maybe some TheraFlu just in case. And when a colleague from the US came back with a box of Puffs Plus (yes, with lotion), I had to hug her (in a respectful-at-work and non-germ-sharing way).

5 February 2010 - J-E-L-L-O

[Surely you must remember the J-E-L-L-O jingle and can fill in the tune that accompanies it]

For whatever reason yesterday, I had a "hankerin'" for some flavored gelatin (let's call it what it is - jello). So I thought I could just pick up a package of it at the grocery store. Now, I think most of us would agree that a typical grocery store in the U.S. would have a floor-to-top-of-shelf display on jello and pudding products that would be at least 2-3 feet wide. So it should be pretty easy to stumble on the jello aisle here in Germany, right? Not so much.

I finally found flavored gelatin products near the baking supplies area. And not, as you can see from the picture, because the packaging screamed "gelatin" or "jello" or anything like that. Fortunately, I am relatively fluent in reading pictures. ;-) There were only three colors/flavors - red, yellow and green. No fancy kiwi strawberry flavors, nothing with fizz, no sugar-free options, no fat-free options, none of that kind of consumer choice. And no sign of pudding mixes. I took the red (raspberry) package.

Now, I will confess that it has been probably a decade since I have made jello, but I don't recall ever having had to heat water and then dissolve the sugar and jello mix into that water. In fact, I think most of the time the package already included the sugar. But it seemed to work. And then I read the final step on the package that invited me to wait 5 HOURS until the jello would be set and ready to eat. Um, okay, I have clearly been spoiled by the "instant" culture of the U.S.

I woke up in the middle of the night, as I often do. One of my first thoughts (perhaps due to noticing the red light of my BlackBerry that bore a striking resemblance to the jello color) was, "I wonder whether the jello is ready?!" It was. Perhaps the only thing better than cold pizza at 2 AM is fresh, wobbly red jello. Well worth the wait.

31 January 2010 - My Staubsauger Sucks

["What Do You Do With a B.A. in English? [It Sucks to be You]" from the Avenue Q soundtrack.]

As I may have mentioned before, I have hardwood and tile floors throughout my apartment, similar to what I had in Chicago. For day-to-day dust control, I set the Roombas loose when I leave the apartment and they take care of most of the dust bunnies of cat fur and the like. They do a fair job with the floors, though for some reason they seem to have difficulty getting up on the rugs in the living room and foyer. And, unlike in Chicago, my cleaning lady here does not bring her own vacuum cleaner with her.

So, it became clear that I needed to buy a vacuum cleaner (staubsauger). So I purchased the Dirt Devil Centrino pictured here. It looked like it had a lot of features and additional attachments, it was made by a brand I recognized, it was in a beautiful clearcoat metallic red, has a cool built-in retractable cord/storage and was reasonably priced. My cleaning lady seems to be able to work with it, as demonstrated by the dust and fur-free rugs after she visits. So all is good, right? Or not.

There was a casualty this past week. In a butterfingers moment this past week, I dropped a bottle of perfume in the bathroom one morning. It shattered on the tile floor, sending shards of glass and fragrance everywhere. Ruh roh. I sopped up the liquid as much as possible (for future reference, yes, this does create an instant home air freshener, so consider when buying a fragrance whether you would mind your home smelling like that for several week....) and shuffled around in shoes until things were dry, closing the door to the bathroom so the Lads didn't pick up glass in their little padded feet. It wasn't until this morning that I finally decided to address the potential small glass shards that might be lurking out of sight.

So I hauled out the Centrino and went to work. Or tried. There was pretty much no suction from the floor attachment, no matter how I fritzed around with the settings. I was able to figure out how to just get the hose itself free and suck up glass shards piece by piece, that that assumes that I am, with the naked eye, able to spot all such glass shards. I am not pleased. But I am in awe of how the cleaning lady is able to do anything with this machine that approximates cleanliness on the rugs. In the meantime, I have both Roombas caged in the bathroom circling around trying to address the glass issues. Go Roombas!

Update: There are sometimes when timing is really interesting. The day after I posted this was the day the cleaning lady came to visit. When I returned that evening, there was a handwritten note that read as follows: "Liebe SanDee, Staubsauger ist kaput - kein arbeit." Meaning, the Staubsauger is flat out busted. Nice.

27 January 2010 - Parkplatz

I feel like I more or less have my domestic routines down here in Germany. But every once in a while something happens and I feel totally helpless about some of the most basic things. Take parking, for example.

There is underground parking in my building so Hudson has a place to call his own. This parking garage is connected to the underground parking for the Rewe supermarket that is adjacent to my building. So, to get to my parking space, I must first use a plastic security card to raise the arm of the gate to the Rewe parking lot. (This lot is also accessible for the general public, of course, so drivers can take a paper ticket from the machine and then pay at a pay station machine before leaving. There is no live attendant.) I then drive down into the garage, hang a right, and have to use a separate garage door opener for a metal gate that rolls up to allow access to the parking beneath my building. The reverse process is followed to leave the building.

Yesterday, I was attempting to leave the main/Rewe parking garage on my way to work. I put the card on the reader and it returned a message of something "falsche" which clearly suggested there was an authentication issue of some sort. Hmmm. Tried it again. Same result. Again? No change. Hmmmm.... Not so good. There was a button with a phone icon printed on it that was part of the machine. Pushed it. No response. Hmmm...

Now, before you tell me to do the obvious (run up and get a paper ticket from the incoming gate, pay, and use that to exit), allow me to remind you that I am an auditor by training. So I had long ago tested that process to see if there was a sort of control. There is, not the least of which is that you have to have the weight or mass of a vehicle in order to trigger the ability to get a paper ticket. I may be overweight, but I'm not quite car weight yet...

There appeared to be another communication option in the form of a button/call box of some sort underneath a Notruf sign that was not at all accessible from the lane. So I backed the car up so others could get out and walked up to the call box, pressed the button and waited. As I waited, it occurred to me that I had no idea how to explain this in German, which language would most certainly be necessary for such an exchange. Uh oh.... About this time, a voice started talking to me from the box. Following is my recollection of the conversation that followed.

SIP: Hallo.... Ich bin in der Tiefgarage von Rewe. Meine Tiefgaragekarte fur Bruchstrasse 18 ist kaput. [My attempt to say that I was the underground parking at the Rewe and that my parking card for Bruchstrasse 18 was broken.]
Operator: La la la la problem la la la.....?
SIP: Um, ja, die Tiefgaragemaschine sagt etwas "falsche." [The machine is saying something about false.]
Operator: La la la la la la ihren Kartenummer?
SIP: Meine Kartenummer is null, vier, sieben. [My card number is 047]
Operator: La la la la komme la la la.
SIP: Wie bitte? [Huh?]
[No answer]

Hmmmm..... I hoped that the reference to komme meant that he was coming to meet me. But I wasn't at all sure. Now, since I was still underground, I had only one bar on my BlackBerry that kept fading out, so a call to my assistant was not possible. I sent her an email confessing that I was trapped in my own parking garage and, um, yeah, if the dude didn't come, I might need her to call someone to help me get out. Went back to my car parked oddly in the garage, crossing my fingers that I would soon be released.

Well, sure enough, about 5 minutes later a guy showed up. I drove back up to the gate. He asked when the last time was that I had used the car. I paused and then said, "Last night." At which point he started speaking English. Doh! Apparently, the gate had been up the night before and I must have not waited for my card to clear, so the system had no record that I had arrived and, as a result, would not allow me to exit. A good control, if you think about it, otherwise, I could let a bunch of people in to park. I still felt like an idiot. But an idiot who almost spoke enough German to get herself out of her own parking garage. It's these little things....

19 January 2010 - Gettin' my German on

This is so remarkable that I am breaking my "too busy to blog" excuse line.

Last night I was to meet some American colleagues at the Zum Scharzen Stern restaurant. Okay.... Finally found it. When I walked in, a server met me at the door. I started to say, in German, "I have three American colleauges" at which point said server cut me off and took me directly to my table. Okay, apparently not a lot of Americans at the restaurant.

But with this brief exchange, the server seemed to have the impression that I spoke German. Um, not so much. Though I do know my food terms.... (Priorities, priorities....)

The first issue was the (other) American partner was a vegetarian. Now, let's be clear, the server could understand English just fine. Maybe speaking English was a bit more difficult for her, not unlike how speaking German is just a BIT more difficult for me. But she was great, as are most young Europeans. Anyway, the partner asked in English if there were any vegetarian dishes available other than the salads. The server said she'd check. Cool.

She came back with a vegetarian option that she explained in German. My US partner looked a bit befuddled. She looked at me and repeated the what they had.

Oh! So I explained to my colleague that there was an option for an eggplant with steamed vegetables and a light cream sauce. And then I wondered how I knew that.... And then I realized I might, a year after moving, actually be capable of understanding food preparation. Maybe. But the colleague ordered the item and it looked quite tasty.....

Throughout the evening, the server continued to look to me for terms in German that she had difficulty translating. Most of them I got, but a few might've slipped by me. But in any event, I felt for one of the first times in the last year that I actually kinda knew what was going on and was the link between English and German. And it was good. And I felt like I belonged and was being accepted into the German collective. All good!!!!

But I will admit that when the server asked if I had been there before for an event on the second floor, I just smiled, nodded and said "ja" to fit in. I would do it again. In a heartbeat. Wonderful people. I LOVE GERMANY!!!!

15 August 2009 -

["Jump Around" by House of Pain]

This is, like many other postings, a long overdue one. When back in the US and more recently in December, people were asking how the Lads were. As I answered, I realized that I had neglected to post one of their escapades here that is somewhat relevant to the general purpose of this blog.

Way back in May or June on one of the many random banking holidays here, I had a Thursday off. Most normal people (and who have the full complement of German vacation days, which exceeds my American alottment by quite a few days) took the opportunity to turn the holiday into a four-day weekend. I had to work the following day and merely took the holiday as an excuse to watch movies late into the night the night before and then sleep in (as much as any Preuscher really ever sleeps in).

So Thursday morning I was conscious around 9 AM, got up, opened the balcony door to let in some fresh air, turned on the Nespresso machine and went into the study to check email and the download status of the Rachel Maddow podcast from the night before. I wasn't quite awake. I thought I heard someone call my name, but realized I was not only sleepy, but also hearing things. But then I really did hear something -- my doorbell ringing. Hmmm....


It was my neighbors in a high state of excitement, so much so that they were actually speaking German to me (not unusual since they are German, but unusual in that they kindly usually speak English to me). But I heard the key words -- schwarze Katze, Balkon, springen. Black cat, balcony, to jump. Accompanied by a lot of gestures. Ruh roh.


So I headed out to the balcony, where I saw Banes looking curiously over the edge. Following his gaze I saw Oxley. Yes, the neighbors had witnessed Oxley jumping from the balcony down to the roof of the building next to ours. The building next to ours (the Rewe supermarket) has a rounded roof like an aircraft hangar and is parallel to our building. So if Oxley had jumped off the lond edge of the balcony, he would have landed on a higher portion of the curved roof, hence a shorter jump. Obviously, a longer jump of a full story if he had gone off one of the ends of the balcony. Nevertheless, he was walking around on the roof and having a fine time, it seemed.

The next question, of course, is how would I be able to rescue him (which assumes, of course, that he wanted to be rescued). The direct option would be to go to the Rewe and ask for access to their roof. Alas, they were closed since it was a holiday. Hmmm....

Next idea was to ask the tenants of my building on the lower floor to see if I could try to get Oxley through their windows, which opened roughly onto the roof level of the Rewe. My neighbor and I went downstairs and tried knocking on the doors of both neighbors, but didn't get an answer. It appeared that they had taken advantage of the long weekend to get out of town. Hmmm....

My neighbor thought of another idea, though. The only remaining option (before I started trying to figure out how to craft some sort of ladder for getting down onto the roof, rescuing the feline, and then climbing back up) was the other building that is part of our building and shares a garage with our building and also happens to be adjacent to the Rewe. So outside we went. Assuming that the mailboxes at the other unit were arranged the same as ours, we hit two numbers that we calculated would be on the second floor. After a while, there was finally an answer by a rather sleepy-sounding guy. My neighbor fortunately speaks German and quickly explained the situation to him and asked if we could try the rescue attempt through his window. He invited us up.

Poor guy was still in his PJs and had apparently had a long night and I felt like a heel for having had to wake him up, but he was a good sport about it. Oxley was less of a good sport and was having a great time exploring the roof. He had no intention whatsoever of answering my call and coming to the window. So I had to launch myself up onto the window ledge and crawl out of the window and onto the roof and chase down the darn animal. My neighbor and the young guy were watching all of this with a great deal of amusement. I finally got Oxley and passed him through the window and made a rather clumsy re-entrance through the building. After thanking the guy, we headed back outside, where of course Oxley started clawing at me trying to get away. Imagine how that might have turned out. I finally made it back inside, though, and the day's drama was over.

Suffice it to say, the Lads are now only allowed on the balcony with direct supervision. It seems rather unfair to Banes since he didn't do anything wrong (and seriously, who knew these porkers could even fit through the railing to make their great escape?), but it is what it is. I consider hin at least guilty of aiding and abetting.