Drink...and Don't Drive

All you North Americans (ie Canadians and Americans) are surely familiar with the Don't Drink and Drive campaigns...

Well, we did discover a similar sentiment here in Germany, however, at least they have their priorities straight - Drink! (and don't drive). Very clever...

This little discovery was all thanks to our first visitor since we moved to Germany - Hoff!

The nice thing about visitors is you actually plan all the sightseeing trips you should take but don't because you live here (we took him to Heidelberg, saw the castle and bought Cuban cigars - since he's from the USA it's a treat!). More importantly, however, visitors allow you to discover the little cultural differences between where you were and where you are.

This came about when Hoff asked what would be a quintessentially German gift he could bring back for friends, leading to a discussion of his observations of what's different. To sum up:

a) Drink and don't drive (as long as there's drinking!)
b) And if you're drinking anyway, drink in the streets (it's like Vegas without the incessant sounds of slot machines! - see picture)
c) And if you're going to drink in the streets - you should smoke since there are still free samples given out by cigarette companies, vending machines in the streets and a convenient slide in the grocery store where your pack drops right onto the conveyor belt for easy access - also see picture.

While it was decided that beer and smokes were what he should take back, I hope he bought a t-shirt at the airport.

For good measure, I also included some pictures from the gardens by our place in Darmstadt and us in Heidelberg - just to prove we aren't the worst hosts ever...

So these are the take homes from our first visitor. I hope you had a good time Hoff, or at least pretend - otherwise, we won't get any more visitors!! Hopefully we can get our act together before our next guest - Mark's mum!

"Feels Like Home"

For some reason the Chantal Kreviazuk song popped into my head today. Not sure if it's because our furniture is scheduled to arrive from California tomorrow or if it's because we just came back from Ireland and I may have slipped into that post fun festival funk...

Either way, last Tuesday, Mark and I hopped on a plane from Frankfurt to sunny Dublin (yes you read that right - it was actually sunny in Ireland in August!). We rented a car and drove north through Belfast to the Heart of the Glens Festival in Cushendall. The new motorway had just opened so for 2 1/2 hours I listened to Mark exclaim "I can't believe how quick this is! I remember when it used to take an hour just to get this far!" (I also believe he was walking barefoot in the snow up hill back then, but I digress...)

As per our usual, we arrived at his mum's place, ate a wonderful dinner and immediately took off into the village to find his old high school friends for a drink. (Although his mum did come with us, so we didn't feel too bad about eating and running...). Day one passed and we were reasonably unscathed (we got home around 2am? That's early!).

Day 2 was nice and relaxing - take away for the chinese in the village and in bed by midnight. I thought I had finally cracked the secrets of the lasting the week with Mark's friends!

Day 3, however, was a completely different story. It started innocently enough with tickets to the seafood barbecue at the boat club. Sounds like a classy event at the club right? Sure, Klassy - with a K. After the Kearney's and the O'Gradys got hold of bottles of wine, it was all down hill. We eventually were kicked out of the "supper" area and told to go upstairs where the fire was going, the bar was open and the band was playing. Sure enough, we were eventually kicked out of upstairs too and told just to go home. I think it was close to 4am? Not sure...

Day 4 was "Dallywood" night (ie everyone dresses up like movie actors and characters and drinks in the street...there were an inordinate number of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...are they making a comeback? Only in Belfast...) A much quieter night I must say - likely in response to the night before. Eventually when we all got together again, we were able to piece together what happened the night before (and what happened after everyone went home - needless to say, one person had to sleep in the car to avoid her snoring husband, locking everyone else inside the house, someone else passed out on the couch with a peanut butter sandwich, and more than one parent had to walk their kids to hat making class the next day (some in their night gowns I might add) because they really "shouldn't have been driving". I love the festival. The only potential downside is that the girls have agreed to get dressed up next year and since I'm technically unemployed, I'm in charge of costumes. I really need a job!

Saturday was the traditional Lurig run ( a 3.5 mile run from the Curfew Tower to the top of the Lurig and back - 1150 feet high) and given my new career as a fitness model, I must do the run next year - just to inspire the little people. Training starts tomorrow...

Sadly, we were headed back to the Fatherland on Sunday and I really think I hit a funk having to leave the fun behind.

So now, I'm sitting on the floor in our near empty apartment (the rental furniture was picked up today) waiting for our stuff to arrive tomorrow. Time to find something else to occupy my time...hopefully something that involves a bit less wine...people will start to think I have a problem!

And the Oscar goes to...

Excuse the title, it was the only move reference I could think of...

But, we've discovered what might be the best thing about movie theaters in Germany. They serve beer and wine! In lovely wine glasses and everything!!

Since we are leaving for Ireland tomorrow to visit Mark's family for a couple of days, we decided that this weekend was not meant for a fancy getaway to exotic parts of Europe.

Instead, we honoured the great American date tradition - dinner and a movie (or in our case, movie and dinner)...only in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt has a selection of original language movie theaters, so we decided to check out Inception and see what all the fuss was about. The movie was great, but frankly the whole trip was worth it just for the concession stand! The candy selection was dire (M&M's were the only thing that could technically qualify as candy...) however, they did have the requisite popcorn and nachos with plastic cheese (which of course we ordered, along with M&M's). But...the best part...they served beer. And wine. And for an extra 2 euros, you got a real wine glass with a poker chip so you could get your money back if you returned the glass. How great is that! I'm thinking you should just keep the glass and in 4 movies have a 4 piece serving set for only 8 euros! Cheaper than Ikea! I must say I was thoroughly impressed. Yes, I took a picture...

After the movie we hopped on the subway to "Goldman Restaurant" on Hanauer Landstrasse in Frankfurt. For 80 euros each, they have a "surprise" 5 course tasting menu and wine pairing which was excellent and worth every penny. (although I wonder if they'd drop 2 euros off the price if I brought my movie wine glass? Must try that next time!)

All in all a great date night and a nice weekend home before the Glens of Antrim festival in the Dall.

If nothing else, the next 5 days promise to be full of blog worthy events...like 2 years ago when a man walked into the bar with a donkey...really...gotta love small towns!

Move to Germany - become a fitness model!

Of course anyone who knows me would understand that I am far from the picture of fitness commonly associated with the crazy trainer from Biggest Loser (although I have been working out now that I'm unemployed...sort of...)

But, apparently I was not far off when I said I was skinny in Germany (compared to California standards of course!)

I went out for a run in the Herrengarten (which for those who don't speak German apparently translates loosely to the "man's garden". If I were a feminist I might be annoyed). It's a park across the street from our apartment with a nice pond in the middle, lots of ducks, occasional Herons and a few nice running paths. Usually I can do 3.5 runs around in about half an hour so if I don't feel like walking out to the gym (ie if I get out of bed after 10am and feel lazy) I can at least do some exercise and feel good about myself.

I was just at the beginning of lap number 3 when I turned a corner and saw a man with a very fancy looking camera and another in work out clothes staring at me smiling as I ran up. I was convinced that either the Mormons or Jehovah's witnesses were changing their approach in order to relate to the young people, however, after the usual "blah blah blah" in German and my "Sprechen sie englisch?" we established that a local newspaper was doing an article on a fitness group and were wondering if I minded posing for pictures with the trainer. Who am I to say no to what will undoubtedly be the beginning of my modeling career!

We did a couple of tricep dips and a few photos of us jogging together, exchanged e-mails and I was on my way. If I get copies of the photos I will surely post them (unless I'm not sucking in my gut, in which case forget it!).

The trainers website is www.bartel-personal-trainer.de

Check it out

I'll be sitting at home waiting for my call from Vogue.

I just want 5 minutes alone with whoever stole the GPS out of our car

Mark has tried to claim responsibility for this one since he claims he may have left the car door unlocked, however, I believe, I also have a part to play...

It all started when we moved in. For 60 Euros/month our apartment comes with one parking space. The space just happens to be rented in a garage around the corner. To open the garage, you drive up to a little lock outside the door, insert an odd looking key that looks like it should be for a safety deposit box in Zurich which contains millions of dollars in foreign currency and Jason Bourne's passports, and when the door opens, you head down the drive to the safety of covered parking. (Someone please bring the garage door opener to Germany...it will make my life easier).

Of course we were only given one such mystery key, so it needed to be shared depending on who had the car. In order to make the hand off as easy as possible, the key was placed on its own easy to use (IE loose) key ring. Mark, having more experience with said key ring than I did, had come home on occasion to exclaim "we have to do something about the garage key. The ring keeps sliding off my key ring and I keep dropping it. We might lose it one day." I think you know where this is going...

So last week, when I had to take Stormy to the vet for his ultrasound, I was trusted with the car and the sacred key. Somewhere between lugging a crying cat into the car, out of the car, into the vet, out of the vet, to the first pharmacy, to the second pharmacy (apparently Prednisone is not readily available), to the pet store and finally home - the key took a dive off my key ring and is no more. Despite frantic phone calls to the vet, a trip to the pet store and a phone call to Mark containing strong language only found in R rated movies, it's gone forever.

The landlord has said he can order another key, however, the building manager is on vacation so it will be a while. With our landlord, this likely means we will have a key about a month before we move out (which should be 2 years, but with the rate things are going may be a lot sooner!)

Needless to say, the car now has to be parked on the street. So, last week, while Mark was in Scotland and the car was resting comfortably on the street, the brand new Garmin GPS which was purchased upon arrival in Germany, decided to also go AWOL. Mark assumes the door was accidentally left unlocked, however, none of this would have happened had we not had the stupid garage key. Regardless, I am very annoyed that someone decided to help themselves to something that didn't belong to them, locked car or not. All I'm saying is I want 5 minutes alone with them. I can be very scrappy when I want to be...

The absence of said GPS was realized on Friday evening as we headed out on this weekend's road trip - Luxembourg to see the Pogues play before Shane McGowan bites it. After a quick detour to MediaMarkt for another GPS, we were off. We needed to stop for a quick bite, and were running late, so we hit McDonald's. I've gotta say, it was surprisingly nice. There was wicker.

Luxembourg is a beautiful city and our hotel (the new Sofitel) had a beautiful view from the bar upstairs. Apparently, the band was staying at the same hotel, because a bloke we met at the concert said that Shane was sitting at the bar on the Thursday night drinking pints of gin and signing autographs for fans. Apparently, he wasn't saying much (probably because at this point, I don't think he can!) but he was very nice to fans. Wish we had seen that!

Regardless, the concert was great fun and we sat at the bar at the hotel afterwards for a quick drink. I was even able to speak what I think was superb French to the locals (although apparently, after a few vodka tonics, my French isn't as good as I think it is).

Saturday was a day of shopping at Ikea - an adventure for another post - but I will say that after a month, I'm sadly disappointed that we are still having to make a lot of purchases for this apartment of ours in order to make it livable. It also means many more Sundays spent putting together furniture, putting up shower heads and installing towel racks.

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me for 2 years but what do I know...

One good thing about having to run errands around Germany however, is you get to see a lot of characters. We actually saw someone (with a mullet I might add) drive up to the pet store in the General Lee (which has a for sale sign on it if anyone is interested).

It takes all kinds...