Dickmann, you ruined my floor!
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Originally Dated: Sept. 14, 2006. wow, okay. berlin. so people have been asking me about some stuff... so i'll write the answers down for everyone to see! food: the food here is actually really good. There are a lot of potatoes (kartoffeln), lots of vegetables (i don't know how to say vegetables in german but i can tell you some of them individually), too (but that might just be my family). LOTS of cheese. There's a lot of meat, too, but my family has been pretty accomodating and making stuff without meat for me. (though i have tried sausage since i've been here, it was okay i guess). my only problem with the food is breakfast. Everyday, we have bread (which is like... hardcore whole grain bread, it's soooo not processed like in the US), butter, cheese (usually swiss, brie, cheddar (since i once mentioned i liked it)), and jam. They sometimes make me a hard boiled egg or give me some yogurt. And tea. Lots and lots of tea. And like... it's good, but it's not breakfast to me, and it's like... the same thing day after day after day. And I guess that's what happens with the "typical german breakfast" but i prefer the typical american breakfast. host family: they're REALLY nice people. i live with an older couple, in their 60's. They have two daughters, 37 and 34. The 37 year old has a 12 year old son and lives in Berlin... the 34 year old lives like 5 hours away and has 3 younger daughters. They don't know THAT much english, but a hell of a lot more than I do german. So we've generally been communicating in english, using a dictionary when necessary. They let me come and go as I please, and I usually only see them for breakfast and dinner. internet: there is internet in the house. I have to go upstairs to use it though, and I have to share it with the family. So it's a little hard for me to get online, but I can usually get online either everyday, or every other day. so keep those emails coming! differences between the US and germany: honestly, a lot of times I don't feel like im outside of the US. Sitting in a bar, I often feel like there's just a party of germans near me, in a bar in NYC. It's pretty similar in styles of dress and such. Some differences though: there are no squirrels. at all. There are really few planes and fire hydrants are mounted to the sides of buildings. You have to push a button or turn a handle to get the u-bahn doors to open, and you can open them before the train stops completely. (it's not like moving fast, just a second before it stops, but still). people are generally really punctual and seemed stressed out... they cant handle change (even more than me!). energy and water are really expensive, so they're avoided at all costs. Restaurants dont give you water, and if you ask for it, it's like €2. People don't bathe as much as they do in the US, and dont wash dishes or anything either. People don't have dryers... they air dry all their clothes. And washing machines (at least the one in my house) are like half as big as washing machines in the US, and take about 2 hours to wash clothes. classes: Classes here generally suck. I really like my German class though, which is at an international language school. We've hung out with people (Ruben from spain, his girlfriend agnes from poland, and mariana from mexico) on the weekends, just because they're cool people. (leah- ruben is going to be near madrid in december, so we should hang out with them then!). Our academic director (Richard Mann, who insists on being called 'Dick Mann') really sucks and can't lecture or answer questions (tyler once asked him in the german language had the word 'fair', and he went off for about 25 minutes about what fair means and the american prison system. he never actually answered 'yes' or 'no' to tyler's question.), but we go on a lot of excursions to places in the city. Today, we went to a Turkish organization, to talk about the problems turks have in germany (The Turks are the largest minority group, and there have been many problems with integration)... which was really interesting. I guess it's good classes suck, because it makes me feel like I have a 4 month vacation, instead of school. It's also a good time to be in Berlin. Elections here, which are held once every 5 years, are this sunday. There are 23 parties represented in berlin, and everyone is campaigning for something. We've been talking about the political parties and the ramifications of what might happen in class. So cool things just happen here, all the time. Last week, we were looking for a cafe or something, and we wandered into a concert by the Cool Cats. So we got to hear them, and drink with a bunch of old people. And yesterday, a candidate for city-wide office from the SPD (social democratic party) held a round table in my backyard. Not like... near my house, it was pretty much my backyard... LITERALLY in the backyard. like in the plot of land owned by my host-parents. It was cool... we had tea, shook hands, and had discussions on what the neighborhood needed. I didnt really understand any of it, but I still want to vote for this guy. He seemed really nice. I once mentioned to Dickmann that I wanted to try to find a School for the Deaf here, and he thinks it's the greatest thing ever. He wants me to do it for my independent study project, and he's been giving me articles about deaf people and german sign language, links and addresses to schools, etc. And my host parents know someone who works in a deaf school, and she said I could visit it, and sit in on a class. So that's kinda awesome, even though German sign is way different than ASL... hopefully i'll still be able to communicate. My german is getting way better, so hopefully my GSL will get better, too. I was also looking forward to seeing a hockey game here... apparently, the berlin capitals play like 4 blocks from my house!!! or, at least, they used to. I looked them up, and I could find their logo... but their website was taken down. Then I looked them up, and they're not on the league website. Wikipedia says htey're not in the league. They have no 'upcoming games' on a hockey website. Their most recent roster is from 2003-2004. AND the other berlin team, who apparently is their rivals, started playing the season already and doesn't play the caps at all. Whoops. SO i guess I'm going to be an Eisbaren Berlin fan, and travel out to east berlin to watch them. AND just check up frequently on how my rangers are doing. It's been a good time... great weather, Krakow trip was just booked today (2 weeks!!), and just exploring berlin. I've been having fun. ALSO: It was a chinese artist's exhibition, and it was 99 life-sized wolves (that he didnt even make!), running in a pack... (it took up like a room and a half). the ones in the back are running, then the middle ones are jumping, and you can walk under them and stuff. then in the front, there's a glass wall, and the wolves in the front are crashing into the wall, breaking their necks and stuff. and there's a bunch of dead wolves at the base of the wall. WHAT?? Pictures are worth a thousand words: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008905.php WHAAAAAATTTT??? what would you do if that was your life's work? |
If we're talking about breakfast stories, when I was in China last summer, they brought out the waste water they used to cook the bread and served it as a soup. At least, that's what it was explained to me as. The weird thing was it was good. You just had to put some sugar in it and try not to think about how discusting the chunky texture was.
by the way, "Dick Mann! You ruined my floor!" was one of the best moments of my time in Germany.
~Tyler
Hey!
Yeah, I know the German breakfast is good (though they put butter on EVERYTHING... butter and jam together? butter and cheese? it can't be THAT good for you), but I guess I just miss the variety.
I LOVE breakfast back in the states... eggs, pancakes, french toast, cereal, fruit, you name it. I love sweet things though... and there's such a wide variety of them in the US.
In Guatemala, the typical breakfast was just pieces of fresh fruit. I loved that, too, but I was only there for a few days... I could see myself getting tired of that lack of variety as well.
As much as I like the American breakfast, it's good to have non-processed (well not-as-processed) food again.
Never had to deal with fiery hot breakfast items. Although, I guess I make it a practice not to have any spicey, hot or otherwise overly robust ingredients in my breakfasts.. my ideal breakfast would have to be 2 poached eggs, bacon, english muffins and a massive OJ.
The typical breakfast in Chile was tea, a piece of stale bread, butter and old jam. They also provided Salami and Cheese, which in it's own right, isn't all that bad. However, the salami and cheese never left the dining room table, was never introduced to the refrigerator, and it would sit out until it was completely gone.. sometimes weeks at a time. I am not that picky, but something isn't all that appetizing about pork and dairy products sitting in room temperature for weeks on end. But, this also has to be quantified by the fact that I grew up in the states, and we are accustomed to refrigerating everything, especially cheese and cold cuts.
Also had coagulated cow-blood sausage for breakfast in Bolivia.. never doing that again..
One Breakfast tradition I love from both Bolivia and Argentina, is mashed up Avocados on toast..
I like the discussion forum you created. hope to do it again soon!!
Hi there namesake!
I was rather intrigued reading your experiences in a country I spent five years of my childhood living, where I also picked up German the natural way but have since forgotten most of it due to all the other languages I have tried picking up on my pathway through life.
Also ate plenty of your mentioned "typical German breakfast", which I still find rather healthy even in Brazil, but as you "prefer the typical American breakfast" I was wondering what that contains as I believe I've never had one? Does that change so much from day to day? I thought breakfast routines, no matter what culture one comes from, are pretty much the same, maybe with small variations of the theme from day to day.
Hey! Whilst we're on the subject, maybe other travellers would like to share their strange breakfast experiences when travelling in a foreign country. Here's one of mine for starters:
Trying to find anything to eat in India that doesn't require a fire extinguisher as optional extras can be quite a challenge at 5 in the morning, that is if you're not cooking yourself and can control the amount and assortment of hot curries and spices you wish to add to the dish. Although I'm not particularly choosy when it comes to getting a good starter for the day, as long as it looks and tastes good, I must admit my two travelling companions were in constant pain over all that hot stuff surrounding them! The best they could do was a plain fried egg from some of the stalls, with strict order not to put anything on it, at all!!!
Whilst they stuck to sealed, bottled water and plain, dry chapatis (Indian bread), seemingly getting thinner for each day that passed, I indulged in small portions from one gigantic cooking pan to the other; the more, the merrier! (and hotter!!) Most of the stuff had been on the go all night long and the array of strange dishes was unlimited, but all had one thing in common; they burnt your intestines out and probably all the bacteria with them.
OK! I wasn't complaining but I can assure you that my two travelling companions did! By the time we reached Varanasi, where we hoped to stay for a week before going on to Nepal, both ended up with amoebic dysentery and we had to break off the rest of our journey. Once back in Norway, they spent months trying to get their health in order again.
As a traveller to many strange places on this planet I have always lived healthily by eating and drinking as the locals do in any place I happen to be. You might have to put up with a simple case of the runs as your body gradually adjusts the first few days, but if you're thinking of spending time in any foreign place, do as the locals do and you'll usually survive for your next journey.
By the way, Greg, that German breakfast will do you the world of good!
Happy German lessons!
Gregory J. Smith
Social Entrepreneur and Founder
The Children At Risk Foundation - CARF
Fundação Criança em Risco - CARF Brasil