Germans are known for their punctuality, but to me punctual means showing up on time, give or take a few minutes, not 15 minutes earlier.
Today, a plumber came to fix our toilet. German toilets are more complicated than toilets in the US, because the internal workings are inside the wall instead of a tank behind the bowl. This appeals to my sense of minimalism, but it makes it difficult to fix on one's own. Anyway, he was supposed to come between 9 and 9:30, but instead he showed up at 8:45. What if I hadn't returned from dropping off Alex at Kindergarten? Would he have just left?
This is not the first time this has happened. Our building has a new heating system, so for a while the installers kept calling to set up appointments to check the heating in each apartment. They always showed up 15 to 30 minutes early. The same with deliveries. Our washer and dryer arrived 30 minutes early too.
But our schranks (portable closets--German homes do not have closets) arrived a whole hour earlier. I was expecting the delivery guys at noon and they showed up at 11. When I said You're early, they responded Yes, we hope you don't mind (in Deutsche, of course). I did mind, but I didn't say it. What if I hadn't been home? Would they have returned or left me a note telling me to reschedule?
Nevertheless, I now know to be home at least a half-hour before the predetermined time.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Snow, Finally
It started snowing last night and it's still snowing! It's been so warm around here that I forgot it was winter. The snow is light, but it can be packed into snowballs. It's not like the wet, heavy snow that comes down in Chicago, and it hasn't been coming down fast like in Chicago. It's just slowly dropping from the sky, so although it's been snowing for over 12 hours, we have only about 15 cm (6 inches) on the ground. In Chicago, an overnight snowfall would have resulted in a foot, or more.
They don't use salt to melt the snow, so even though they have plowed the streets, the snow is beginning to accumulate again. This makes driving hard, but Germans aren't as dependent on their cars as we Americans are. People are taking the bus, walking, riding their bikes (it is so much fun to ride a bike in the snow!), or pulling their kids on sleds. Philip walked to school with his friend, Jan, and Alex and I went by bike and anhanger (Burley trailer). I actually enjoyed it!
They don't use salt to melt the snow, so even though they have plowed the streets, the snow is beginning to accumulate again. This makes driving hard, but Germans aren't as dependent on their cars as we Americans are. People are taking the bus, walking, riding their bikes (it is so much fun to ride a bike in the snow!), or pulling their kids on sleds. Philip walked to school with his friend, Jan, and Alex and I went by bike and anhanger (Burley trailer). I actually enjoyed it!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Orkan Kyrill
We survived Orkan Kyrill on Thursday, January 18. For a good description of what an orkan is, click on the title, but in general it's hurricane-force winds that on Thursday swept through Europe. At first, Bob and I didn't think much of the storm, because we get strong winds in Chicago. But that night, each gust of wind that hit our apartment sounded like a car, or some other large, heavy object, slamming into our walls and windows. By the next morning, the winds had died down and we were left with some heavy rain, but schools were canceled anyway. We've had some pretty good snowstorms in Chicago, and still had to get the kids to school. Not much happened in Erlangen, except for a few trees blew over. According to a CNN article our friend Orest from Seattle sent us (by early Friday morning!), 25 people had lost their lives in the storm, two of them toddlers, and Great Britain suffered the most damage.
Thankfully, we were all home during this orkan. In October 2002, Philip and I were a train from Munich when an orkan hit. What should have been a two-hour train ride turned into eight hours because of trees that had fallen on the tracks around Nuernberg. Philip and I spent most the night in the Ansbach train station waiting for the tracks to clear. Luckily, we met a teenager on the train who spoke perfect English, and he translated the messages being broadcast over the intercom system. He also lent me his handy (cell phone) when mine died. Around midnight, our train arrived in Nuernberg, but could not proceed to Erlangen because they were still trying to clear the tracks. So, Bob came (Nuernberg is only a 20 minute drive from Erlangen) to pick us up. The storm in 2002 was not as bad as Kyrill on Thursday. Kyrill shut down the entire German train system.
Thankfully, we were all home during this orkan. In October 2002, Philip and I were a train from Munich when an orkan hit. What should have been a two-hour train ride turned into eight hours because of trees that had fallen on the tracks around Nuernberg. Philip and I spent most the night in the Ansbach train station waiting for the tracks to clear. Luckily, we met a teenager on the train who spoke perfect English, and he translated the messages being broadcast over the intercom system. He also lent me his handy (cell phone) when mine died. Around midnight, our train arrived in Nuernberg, but could not proceed to Erlangen because they were still trying to clear the tracks. So, Bob came (Nuernberg is only a 20 minute drive from Erlangen) to pick us up. The storm in 2002 was not as bad as Kyrill on Thursday. Kyrill shut down the entire German train system.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Levi Strauss Museum
Sorry, I could find only the German version. For more on Mr. Strauss, see wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss.
St. Georgen and Levi Strauss
Last weekend, we made our fourth annual trip to St. Georgen Braeu in Buttenheim. Actually, it should have been our sixth, but since we couldn't make the trip in 2005 or 2006 because we were back in Chicago, it will be known as our fourth.
While we were living in Erlangen before, on the second Saturday of the new year, we would drive to Buttenheim to have dinner at St. Georgen Brewery. The first time we made the trip, was in 2002, about three weeks after we arrived in Erlangen. Bob had been to Erlangen several times before on business, so he wanted to take me to the places he thought were memorable. We had already been to Nuernberg and Bamberg, and now it was Buttenheim's turn. Buttenheim is a small village about 25 kilometers north of Erlangen. It is home to St. Georgen and Lowenbrau (not the same Lowenbrau as in the US) breweries--both owned by brothers as are Puma and Adidas, also headquartered near Erlangen. Bob had been to St. Georgen before, so that was where we went, and I loved it. I loved the beer. All of them--Pils, Dunkels (dark), and Keller. And I loved the atmosphere. It looks just like a Bavarian restaurant from the movies. It has lots of wood--paneling on the walls, beams on the ceilings, long tables and benches--and the beer is served in large ceramic mugs. It's also kid friendly, although compared to the US, most places in Europe are. And, it's cheap. Our current trip only cost us 40 Euros for two kids' schnitzels with pommes (French fries), Schauferla (pork shoulder--a local delicacy) for Bob, Hirschbraten (roasted venison--another local delicacy) for me, two sodas, and four beers. Our last dinner outing in Chicago cost us over $100. We went to Frontera Grill, which, outside of McD's and the corner diner, is kid-friendly. The kids split a taco plate, and Bob and I each had only one Margarita.
Let me digress here, and say that I miss Frontera Grill, Tecalitlan on Chicago Ave., and La Pasadita Tacos on Ashland. We have yet to find a decent Mexican restaurant, but you can buy tortillas, salsa and taco seasonings in the supermarkets, so we make our own tacos. Unfortunately, we can't find fresh cilantro, and what's a taco without cilantro?
Buttenheim is also the birthplace and childhood home of Levi Strauss, the inventor of jeans. His blue Fachwerk (half-timbered) home now houses a museum that does a very good job of telling his story. Briefly, Levi left Europe for NY when he was 18, and eventually made his way to SF during the gold rush. There he made pants out of a tough French fabric, serge de Nimes (the word denim is derived from de Nimes). He later started using copper rivets to hold his jeans together. This was not his idea, but since he put the money up for the patent, I guess that's why only his name appears on the label.
Before coming to Buttenheim, I never stopped to think that someone had to invent jeans, and I always thought Levi Strauss was the combined names of the company's founders--Mr. Levi and Mr. Strauss. It never occurred to me that Levi was a first name, although he changed it from Loeb.
Now, if only I could figure out how to add links within my text instead of just the title, you, my dear readers, would be able to check out the Levi Strauss Museum site.
While we were living in Erlangen before, on the second Saturday of the new year, we would drive to Buttenheim to have dinner at St. Georgen Brewery. The first time we made the trip, was in 2002, about three weeks after we arrived in Erlangen. Bob had been to Erlangen several times before on business, so he wanted to take me to the places he thought were memorable. We had already been to Nuernberg and Bamberg, and now it was Buttenheim's turn. Buttenheim is a small village about 25 kilometers north of Erlangen. It is home to St. Georgen and Lowenbrau (not the same Lowenbrau as in the US) breweries--both owned by brothers as are Puma and Adidas, also headquartered near Erlangen. Bob had been to St. Georgen before, so that was where we went, and I loved it. I loved the beer. All of them--Pils, Dunkels (dark), and Keller. And I loved the atmosphere. It looks just like a Bavarian restaurant from the movies. It has lots of wood--paneling on the walls, beams on the ceilings, long tables and benches--and the beer is served in large ceramic mugs. It's also kid friendly, although compared to the US, most places in Europe are. And, it's cheap. Our current trip only cost us 40 Euros for two kids' schnitzels with pommes (French fries), Schauferla (pork shoulder--a local delicacy) for Bob, Hirschbraten (roasted venison--another local delicacy) for me, two sodas, and four beers. Our last dinner outing in Chicago cost us over $100. We went to Frontera Grill, which, outside of McD's and the corner diner, is kid-friendly. The kids split a taco plate, and Bob and I each had only one Margarita.
Let me digress here, and say that I miss Frontera Grill, Tecalitlan on Chicago Ave., and La Pasadita Tacos on Ashland. We have yet to find a decent Mexican restaurant, but you can buy tortillas, salsa and taco seasonings in the supermarkets, so we make our own tacos. Unfortunately, we can't find fresh cilantro, and what's a taco without cilantro?
Buttenheim is also the birthplace and childhood home of Levi Strauss, the inventor of jeans. His blue Fachwerk (half-timbered) home now houses a museum that does a very good job of telling his story. Briefly, Levi left Europe for NY when he was 18, and eventually made his way to SF during the gold rush. There he made pants out of a tough French fabric, serge de Nimes (the word denim is derived from de Nimes). He later started using copper rivets to hold his jeans together. This was not his idea, but since he put the money up for the patent, I guess that's why only his name appears on the label.
Before coming to Buttenheim, I never stopped to think that someone had to invent jeans, and I always thought Levi Strauss was the combined names of the company's founders--Mr. Levi and Mr. Strauss. It never occurred to me that Levi was a first name, although he changed it from Loeb.
Now, if only I could figure out how to add links within my text instead of just the title, you, my dear readers, would be able to check out the Levi Strauss Museum site.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Bergfeuer
Yesterday, was an official German holiday, Heiligen Drei Konige, the Three Holy Kings or the Epiphany, and the end of the Christmas season. We celebrated by going to a town in the Frankisches Schweiz called Pottenstein to see the Bergfeuer--a thousand bonfires on the hills surrounding the town. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. There was a procession shortly after dark, and during this parade, the bonfires were lit. Crackling fires then overlooked all sides of the town. There was even a burning cross, which resulted in us having to explain to the boys why we both said, "the KKK is here."
Thankfully, Christmas was very quiet this year. In the two years we were back in Chicago, I dreaded Christmas, because it meant we had to drive to Bob's sister's house in Michigan. We compromised by spending Christmas Eve at home and then driving for three hours the next morning after the kids opened their presents. This did not sit well with the boys, since they couldn't take all of their new toys with them. This year we stayed home on all three days (December 26, the second day of Christmas, is also a holiday), baked cookies, ate turkey and sweet potato pie, opened presents, watched Christmas videos, and on the 25th, we stayed in our pajamas all day.
New Year's Eve, on the other hand, was like a war zone. Instead of having one big fireworks display, the city allows people to shoot off their own fireworks, and these are nothing like the bottle rockets back home. These rockets are about a foot long and as thick as soup cans. In my opinion, one should be trained and licensed before putting a match to the wick. Alex and I watched through our kitchen window as the sky lit up over Erlangen, whereas Bob and Philip added their own rockets to the display from our 4th floor terrace. Poor Oscar sat in the corner of his cage, shaking, until about 1:30 AM, when the noise finally subsided.
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