pics

http://picasaweb.google.com/KoelnFreiburg

on fire

I just got back home and it was almost 24 hours ago when I got up to leave the hotel this morning. I flew out of my way to Vienna, and from there a 9.5 hr trip to Washington, and then to Chicago. It's what happens when you book the cheapest flight. The Economy cabin on the flight from Vienna was split into three columns of two seats, three seats in the middle and two seats. I was in the center seat of the middle three. In front of me was a three year old who was standing in his seat and looking behind him at me and the girl next to me , and "lighting us on fire" with one of his teddy bears, and then "putting us out" with another one of his teddy bears, making a hissing noise. I couldn't have been a very entertaining victim, because the only thing I was offering him was a monotone "Ouch.. that's hot." -- I was more concerned with the movie I was watching, Hancock.
So, needless to say, I didn't go much sleep. I was in a really relaxed mood, however, and met some cool people. The woman on my left teaches English in Austria to kids, and said she didn't think it was very hard for native english speakers to get a job in Germany/Austria. She and her family were on her way to the states to see her family for xmas. The girl on the right of me was returning home with about 30 of her classmates, on all the same plane, from studying abroad in Jeruselum for 3 months. They were all from BYU, so I'm assuming they were Morman, but they were also wearing shirts with Herbrew on them, so who knows. I didn't ask.
I think a year in Germany is due. The only obstacle I can see is selling / leasing my condo. Other than that, I think I can get a temporary visa, head over there jobless, stay with some Couch Surfers to save money, and find a job teaching. I do have one lead right now from Berlitz -- the language school. They sent me a written interview, and if I pass that, I get a phone interview, and then will probably want to meet me in person. I'll go through the motions and see what happens. : ) Happy holidays!!!

Laptop is safe at home...

I woke up early this morning to call the Frankfurt "Lost and Found", and the lady who picked up didn't speak English, so I had to take a little pride in being able to explain the situation and telling her I was coming to pick it up. It took a while to find the right office in Frankfort, but once I got there my laptop was there waiting for me. It was an expensive lesson, but it was a lot cheaper than buying a new one, and I got to see a new city -- albeit very briefly -- and we drove through some very awesome terrain.

The primary reason I came here was to speak German in Germans. I found I liked it better when I asked the question "Do you speak English?" and the answer was no. It gave me a the chance to practice. The reason I didn't come right forth with the German in the first place, is because, as evidenced by the story on the plane, I'd get a little anxious. Over this past week I've become a lot more comfortable though speaking German from the outset, and actually most Germans outside of the travel-tourist centers DONT speak English. I guess that observation should be obvious, but travelers get so used to dealing with the burocrats in the travel industry, you forget.


Tonight, I'm meeting with Anna, another Couch Surfer, but different from the Anna in Freiburg. Originally before the laptop incident, she wanted me to meet her this afternoon at a place called "Mensa" connected to the medical school. I'm pretty sure I look mentally impaired enough without being in a setting called "Mensa", so I'm glad the plans changed. We're going to meet in an hour at my train stop and head out for some dinner (and hopefully some Kölsch)..

tolls

There are a number of public bathrooms in Germany that have tolls. A man or woman will sit at a small round table about ten feet in front of the bathroom, obviously loathing their job, accepting change onto a small plate. At least at the bathroom in the train station I was at this morning, the toll booth operator neither enforced the toll, nor was there any toll amount posted, but people were dropping 50-cent Euro pieces onto the plate. It seemed to be an unwritten law they you give this guy some cash to pass into his domain. Most of the patrons were doing it on the way out, and received a half hearted "Danke" from the operator who was about two minutes from falling asleep. I cant really speculate while these Germans seemed to be donating their money to this guy without being prodded for it, but I know I could have walked right by without much of a fuss.

A couple of hours ago, I got off the train at Mannheim sore from lugging around my luggage and xmas presents for most of the afternoon. I had set my alarm to wake me up just before the train arrived at the station, groggily grabbed my now very heavy suitcase and backpack, and didnt realize at the time I was leaving my $1000 laptop behind. I had a few minutes to get a coffee, and then boarded the next train to Köln. As I was settling in my seat and putting my things away, I realized it. It was a punch in the gut. That lap top is my baby, and outside of work, I carry it with me as much as I carry my wallet. I explained the situation to the lady who was checking my ticket, and she directed me to her boss at the front of the train. He seemed a bit sympathetic, but told me the only thing I can do is go to the DB (Deutsche Bahn) office when I get to Köln, and plead my case there. The situation obviously sucked, but what could you do, so I slumped back into my chair..
In the interem, I got to know the woman sitting next to me. She was coming from an interview with a renown language school here that I want to get a job at. I recently heard about this school. Its a high end language school that only hires native speakers to teach their languages, and they have a big demand for English teachers. She was a German teacher and just came from a successful interview. She asked me where I was from and when I told her Chicago, she said "oh thats obama country!! and said how Germans are so happy he was elected...
She got off a little bit before Köln and I started worrying about the laptop again. As the train slowed to a halt, I positioned myself right in front of the door and b lined to the DB office once the doors opened. By this time and after clumination of other events, I was beginning to think Germans, buerocrats( sp? ) especially , are much more sympathetic to a plight you may have when you attempt to speak their language. (think about it -- they deal with arrongant Americans all the time who demand they speak in our language because "everyone speaks it". Think if that was reversed... ) Disregarding that premonition , I charged to the DB window, asked Sprechen Sie Englisch, and explained my situation in English. After a max of two seconds , her response was "sorry there is nothing I can do... you can try the lost and found, and he may be able to call the lost in found at the station where the train was destined. " Somewhat crestfellen, but ready to try a new tactic, I went to the lost and found. (It has its own office -- not simply a pile of gloves and hats..) There was one guy there at his computer who looked like he hadn't been bothered all day and was content to leave it like that. I began to tell my tale in german, and although I struggled, I got the point across. I'm pretty sure I have a strong American accent, but he never threw me a life-line and crossed to English. Maybe it's arrogant of me to think he would? Anyway, he looked up where the train I took finaled at, and called that stations lost in found. He gave the guy my description and where it should be located on the train, and in the middle of his conversation with the other end, I heard him ask how the weather was and laughing and joking with the guz... At first I thought, what a dic* -- why is he just small talking with the guy .??Then I realized he was just buying time while another employee searched the train. After about five minutes, he gave me a thumbs up and said they have my computer. It's currently at the lost n found in Frankfort. After thanking the guy four or five different ways, he gave me the phone number to the frankfort lost n found. they open up at 630 tomorrow. So I may take a day trip there to pick up the computer if they cant get it here by tomorrow...

Maybe not so cheap afterall

That last two days I've been subsisting off of mostly Christmas Market food. There are so many things I've obviously never tried, that I haven't really been able to pull myself away from it. None of it is terribly healthy, but they are all small portions and I've been walking so much, that I'm hungry every three or four hours. Things eaten include : Rote Freiburger Wurst (Red "Freiburg" sausage) that resembled a hot dog in taste, Gemüse Spätzle (vegetable dish with the German spatzle noodles) that was extremely good, crepe with Nutella, Dampfnudeln (steamed noddle) which is a giant balll of dough steamed and then topped with cinnamon and sugar and melted butter -- didn't like because the pure melted butter reminded me of eating lobster, steamed Kartofelpuffer which are potato pancakes serves with apple sauce which were very good, and others. Germans LOVE their bakeries -- at least two or three for every block that do very good business. Tonight I'm going for the Schweinebauch mit Brötchen which is translated to pig stomach with roll - my most "German" endeavor yet..
Yesterday was a lot of fun. At 4.30pm, I met a couch surfer, Eva, who was born in New Zealand but has lived in Germany most of her life. She goes to the "Uni" here -- tougher to get in then most of our universities -- and is studying several languages. Anyway, she whisked me away to a local cafe I would have never found and we waited a while but were eventually served a spiked apple cider that was very good. During our conversation, we were talking the prices of food, and I mentioned how everything is cheaper, you don't have to tip, and she corrected me in a very friendly tone that you DO have to tip. She works in a pub, and it's customary to tip 10%, and she was bitching about a very large and loud party of American girls she had Saturday night, racked up a 330 Euro bill and didn't leave a tip. I told her how I felt bad because I didn't leave a tip for my Italian server at the restaurant and I would have to make an addendum to my previous post...
Anyway, another girl, Anna was meeting me at 5pm, and she called me at the cafe when I wasn't at the designated spot. Luckily, it was two minutes away, I gave Eva the phone and she directed Anna to the cafe where we all shared another drink. (I hadn't heard from Anna for a couple of days, so I wasn't sure we were still on and the meeting spot was right outside the window.) So we were all sitting down -- two German girls who never met each other and me -- and it could have been awkward, but we are all fairly open minded people meeting total strangers from around the world, so it was fine. It was mostly in English , but they would occasionally speak German to one another and I'd stare at them with a smile on my face pretending I knew everything they said. I think it kind of eased some of the tension that each of them had a fellow German to talk to when the stunted conversation involving me got boring. FIVE HOURS LATER WE"RE ALL JUST TOTALLY MAKING OUT. Kidding. That didn't even come close to the truth. About 5.30 Eva had to leave to get ready to go work at the pub, insisted on paying depite my attempts to pay because I would have never found this cool cafe without her. Anna suggested that she show me around the city for an hour or two, and then go to Eva's pub and we can make it up to her with a big tip. Done. After Eva, left Anna reiterated that Eva is a very generous person because she also a student, and they barely have any money, which made me as determined as ever to leave her a great tip at night.
I got to know Anna some. She's studying biology and doing an Internship in Freiburg. She showed me two of the main gates in the city -- each built in the 13th century. (pic) She told me there are actually only two towns in Germany known for their Lebkuchen, and showed me a store that has Lebkuchen (gingerbread) from this town. She showed me where the laundramat I desperately needed was. She gave me about an hour tour of the town and the campus. After we stopped by the Chirstmas Market again, which being a local, she found cheesy, and got a Nasenwärmer (Nose warmer) -- a hot wine I was completely sold on by the name-- we went to Eva's pub. Eva was there, but working, of course. Anna told me she was born in former East Germany, Dresden, and her mother was spied on my the East German police before the wall came down. They had tapped her phones fearing that she was a supporter of the West German government. Anyway, good conversation... (Eva also introduced me to another American sitting at a table next to me, who is also from Chicago, but came here 10 years ago because of a girl. It didn't work out, but he chose to stay...)
We were getting to leave and Eva came to us with our bill. Anna insisted on paying for her part, and Eva turned to me and informed me my tab was 8 Euros, which again was very generous. I gave her a 10 , got my change, and she expectantly stared at me for a moment or so longer. I was waiting for her to leave so I could put the tip on the table, so the only thing I was thinking that she was waiting for was a good-bye?! I told her it was great meeting her, hit me up if she's in Chicago, and thank you for everything. We shook hands and she left ... As I fishing through my wallet for a 10 to place on the table, I felt Anna staring at me. I looked up at her and she was staring at me sympathetically and kindly informed me I can't leave a tip on the table because someone would probably take it. WHAT?! I was beet red as Anna told me that I am supposed to settle the tip with the server when I pay the bill. That's obviously why she was staring at me for longer than was comfortable. I figured she wanted a good bye hug. We were laughing about that for a while, she suggested I try to give the tip to Eva personally which makes everything 10X more awkward that it should be, but of course Eva wouldn't take it. I pleaded to her fellow server that I need to give her a tip, but I don't think he spoke English , and I had been speaking in English for too long to switch my mind back into German mode.
Long story short, I met two very generous people. I texted Eva on the way out thanks again, and then Anna and I capped the night at a salsa club. (For those of you wondering, Anna has a boyfriend and is a healthy relationship. ) I was joking that I learned to salsa in Miami and could probably dance her under the table. Unfortunately, she took me up on the offer. We walked into this club attached to the train station, it I didn't see a single soul there that looked slightly amateurish, let alone who had one hour tops of life time salsa experience. Anna let me cower in the corner with a beer while she found some dance partners she had known, and I just thankfully sat on the sidelines. Her boyfriend eventually came to pick her up , and we called it a night.

Cost of Food..

Before I start this entry, I want to give a shout out to my friend Big Tal... What up Big Tal!! BK in da house!!!

Anyway ... I'm finding that the price of food here is very reasonable. In downtown Cologne, much to the chagrin of my German friend, I went to an Italian restaurant a couple of nights ago. (I was extremely hungry, really just wanted to try a Kölsch, and the restaurant was right in front of me. ) I ordered a dish of gnocchi, had two Kölsch, and a premium Italian bottled water. ( As anyone who's been to Europe knows, non-carbonated water is scarce compared to in the States. I've been filling up on tap water before I leave the hotel room. ) My bill came out to 14.70 Euro. 2.50 for each of the Kölsch, and 1.90 for the glass bottled water. In Chicago, the premium beers are $4-5 -- as is the water. In Europe, a tip is not expected as well. The waiters here do not live off of their tips; they are paid a generous wage. I was still going to pay a little tip, but I paid with credit card, and there was no line on the invoice for a tip. So I left a downtown restaurant paying only 14.70 -- not bad at all.. (the 14.70 also included 2.35 in tax which, as an American, I can get back if I really wanted to go through the paperwork. The reason is obviously that I shouldn't have to pay for the roads and other governmental amenities here...)
At the Christmas Markets, the prices are cheap as well. All of the food items are 1-3 Euros, as well as the beers and other alcoholic drinks. The price for a beer at block parties and other fairs is generally $5. You also don't have to purchase annoying tickets as you do for Chicago block parties, and there is no tax added. The price you see is the price you pay.

Just arrived at Freiburg

I just got to Freiburg, but barely. At Mannheim, where I switched planes, I almost missed my connection because I had to use the bathroom. I finally found it, paid the attendant to use it, and got back to the platform just in time. In the process, though, I found out that a German urinal is at "Pissoir" which made me laugh because it's just like the American word "pisser", so it'll be easy to remember.

Last night , I met with the girl, Gudula, I've been IM'ing for almost a year. She was a gracious host of the city, put up with my terrible German, and did me the favor of completely ignoring me if what I said didn't even begin to make sense. I took the cue that she remained staring off in one direction to change courses and either repeat what I said in English or just drop the subject completely. Nevertheless, she was completely helpful, new her was around the city perfectly, and we hit three of the Christmas Markets. Crazy fact -- she parked under the cathedral. They have this massive structure and they decided to build a parking garage underneath it! Apparently , as Gudula let me know, it was then the Kölners found many of the relics which are now in the church. I'm very grateful I am currently reading Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth which is giving me a much larger appreciation for cathedral building than I ever would have.

Big Cathedral

I've run into several problems updating this blog from deutschland. One - the keyboard is wrong. : ) I'm at a Internet cafe and I had to call the owner guy over to show me how to type the "@" so I can log onto this , my email, etc. They also have a a bunch of keys switched around. Just typing these few sentences is take a lot longer than it should. Two - I still haven't found any free Internet, but this is the cheapest place by far. Rather than cafes, the country tends to tie Internet in with casinos. You'll see a lot of "GAMES BILLARDS INTERNET" signs, and cafe salespeople look at you if as if you have a wurst protruding from your forhead if you ask if they have wireless. Maybe I do - I haven't checked the mirror this morning.

I'll be able to post pictures later, but the immensity of the cathedral here is awesome.

There are seven Christmas markets here, and they serve a tasty alcoholic drink called Glühwein. The hot wine is served in a ceramic mug that you pay a deposit for and each market has their own mug. I have neither returned the mugs for the deposit nor not left them somewhere by the time I got back to the hotel, so I'm an idiot. Tasty though. The markets are packed in the evenings (or as Rory says, "JUST JAMMED") with people gathering with the hot mugs in their hands getting tipsy. It seems to be the place to go this time of year as opposed to the Kneipe, or bars.

I'm having trouble reaching my Coach Surfer friends because my email with their phone numbers has been "temporarily disabled", but for the past three days. There is enough things to do, however, to keep me occupied.


As part of my goal today to only eat local cuisine, I'll order only things I can't translate and see what appears in front of me or in my hands..

Arrived

Well, I'm finally here, and I gotta say the Verizon reception is absolutely terrible..... Sometimes the bad jokes are the good ones, right??

I just got to Cologne, and I don't want to stay in this hotel very long, so I'll give a short list of observations / short stories..

In Washington DC , in the international terminal, typed on the ATM screen was "Dip your card for service." Yep, no clue..

I flew from Munich from there, didn't sleep at all as it was only 4pm Chicago time when the plane took off, and read the whole way. Two words to describe the airport in Munich -- modern and pristine. Very nice airport. Even the tables in their much cleaner food courts have some pine cone decoration in the center. (The uploaded pic is from there.)

The Munich Airport has lines of coffee machines against the wall across from their food courts where you can get free coffee. I didn't know how to use them, however. I was just kind of half heartedly watching the "coffee area" from my gate to know people were getting it for free. So I approached the scene, took a cup from the stack of cups that was on the shelf and placed it under a dispenser of one of the machines and pressed the button. (There was only one button.) Nothing. I looked around a bit, no one appeared to be paying attention, and this time I pressed and held the button for a few seconds. Still nothing. One more quick push. Nothing. At this time, I started to fidget awkwardly knowing people were watching me trying to work the machine and it was becoming painfully obvious I didn't know what I was doing. I picked up my cup took a step back and stared hard at the machine. I then made eye contact with a guy watching me from a few feet behind, and he gave me this bewildered look like I just place a hot dog under the dispenser and looked at him to see what to do next. It was then I realized there is a five second or so delay, and then the coffee dispenses.. I quickly recovered, put my cup back under the spout, and got a half cup full.

I was a little annoyed with the fact that every announcement in German was repeated in English -- both in the German airports and on the planes. Even on my intra-German flight Munich - Cologne, the German announcements were followed by the English. I was also working myself up to use the German I've been practicing religiously for the past few years. My first opportunity was on the Munich to Cologne flight when the attendants were walking down the aisle offering refreshments. As I saw her approach, I was getting excited/nervous like a 5 year old about to sit on Santa's lap for the first time.. This is a language I've studied so hard as of late , and now I can finally use it. She finally got to my row and I almost bursted out with my order before it was even my turn. After she took the order of the passenger next to me , I was sufficiently worked up and yelled "COFFEE AND WATER, PLEASE!!", in German. It was borderline abusive. She responded in English which took some of the pressure off. My next attempts should be better. : )

Double Booking and Re-ticketing

So I got through security and was sitting down at an empty gate this morning about four hours before my flight. I don't often get to the airport so early, but United could never quite make me feel comfortable that my trip to Germany would go off without a hitch, and I decided to take the bull by the horns , get to the airport early, and quell any problems that might be lingering.
The first problem was that my travel agent provided me a couple of months ago with an itinerary that was missing a leg of my return trip. If gone unfixed, I would have spent an indefinite amount of time in Vienna until I figured how I was going to get back to Chicago -- not exactly an unappealing idea, but something that would quickly get very expensive. Two weeks later, upon trying to upgrade me to business class, my dad discovered I was then booked on two flights simultaneously out of Chicago. (So this time I had a healthy round trip, but a dangling dead third arm if you will.) My dad assured them I would not be enticed by the trip to sunny Roanoke, and we cleared the second hurdle. They also him informed him, however, that none of the upgrades could be confirmed until I was "re-ticketed" and that I was booked on the right flights, but under the wrong flight numbers-- all things that would leave someone outside the airline industry with a furrowed brow. And naturally none of these problems could be fixed over the phone. Essentially what they were telling me was I couldn't be assured I was going to Germany today until I had the boarding pass in hand and was sitting at the gate. They might have well have said, "All I can say , Mr. Scharfer, is you are going to have one hell of an exciting day on the 10th cause God only knows!!! You like exciting things, right?!?"
So I'm sitting here at the airport with another 2.5 hrs to kill. Ironically, I didn't have any problems checking in and getting my boarding pass. Nothing like "re-ticketing" or "double-booked" was ever mentioned. I didn't have to wait at the United counter, and I didn't have to wait for one person at security. : )

Surfing Couches

It's the Sunday before my trip, and I'm beginning to solidify my itinerary. I recently rediscovered a website called Couch Surfers.com where cheap travelers from around the world come together to offer their "couches" and hospitality to one another. Almost everyone in the network seems to be very outgoing and extremely generous and and strike me as very "hippyish". When you create a profile, you select whether you have an "open couch" on which someone can stay or if you are merely willing to share a coffee and/or drink with a fellow Surfer. So I signed up looking to meet some locals from the area, and in return I've offered to get a coffee/ drink with the people in the network who pass through Chicago, and help out where I can. Everyone gets feedback and builds a list of "friends" whom they have met, and right now I'm the creepy guy in the network with no friends, and no one to vouche for me to say I'm not a Peeping Tom. In any case, I've created a profile on the site, and a have tentatively set up two "dates" with some local peeps. The first is with Mathias, a 25 year old student who studies music, and the second is Anna who is a 24 year old medical student in Cologne. They both seem very eager to meet up for a coffee, so I'm all for it! I wasn't 100% sold on the idea at first, but now I'm thinking it is the coolest way to meet people. How can you be willing to share your abode with a total stranger and not be completely welcoming and amiable? My kind of people. I can't think of a better way to visit a foreign city. -- Although I can probably stack my schedule with rendezvous with Couch Surfers, I also want to leave some things to chance. The unknown and unpredictable is just as exciting. So two Couch Surfers in Cologne is good.. (I'm also going to try to meet Gudula -- a girl I've been talking to on Yahoo/Skype for almost a year and whom I met through Language Exchange. com. That makes three.)