Something in the water...

Is there anymore much more distasteful than, thirsting for water, you take a big swig and find it salty and carbonated? For whatever reason, the Europeans appear to love this stuff. Not only is tap water almost never served (though in countries like German it is quite safe), but the bottled water is by a large majority (and definitely by default) carbonated. Perhaps one can develop a taste for it... but I don't find it at all refreshing, and what's more, find myself burping far more that usual. :-) How ladylike, eh?

You've got to love a country where finding a glass of uncarbonated water is on level with acquiring a PhD, and yet you can buy a "glass" of Jägermeister in the university cafeteria!!

To review, Jägermeister is

• (German translation) anise- and herb-flavored digestive
• (English translation) a huge post-frat party hangover mechanism

Party on. :-) But don't drink the water.

Maybe I'll become a coin collector :-)

Cool only to me (probably), but feel free to read on. :-)

Seven years ago, the governments of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and some other ones gave up their national currency to form the euro, one unified currency set, which by the way continues to kick the US dollar's butt. Until today, I always thought that the bills and coins were identical throughout the region. Just now though, while avoiding work to productively examine the edge inscriptions on the two two-euro coins in my pocket (one said "2 EURO", and the other a much harsher "EINIGKEIT UND RECHT UND FREIHEIT"; surprisingly the translation is quite friendly), I noticed that there are actually notable differences. Avoiding work already, I decided to investigate more.



It's interesting to see which countries really put effort into it. (Hint: Not Ireland. And Pope Benedict XVI must be feeling a *teeny* bit inadaquate about now...) Obviously, all coin types are accepted throughout the euro-using region (there's an actual name for that -- the "Eurozone"), and they gave up national expression when it came to bills, where having a single standard is maybe a little more important.

One more way to draw in the coin collectors, I guess (and speaking of that, I've passed a few coin collector shops in Saarbrucken alone -- I guess there's a crowd still mourning the loss of the Deutsche Mark). Not that Americans can speak.

Currency check

Today, the US dollar hit a 20-month low against the euro. 1 euro now equals $1.37 US, 11% more than at the beginning of the year. As if things here weren't too expensive anyway, this tidbit definitely helps to explain the dull ache in my wallet these days.

But, could be worse... the pound has now risen to $1.94, a FOURTEEN-YEAR high!!! (In April it was $1.78) Good thing I'm not heading to London anytime soon. :-)

Native Americans making a comeback... in Germany?

As I wandered Saarbrucken this weekend, I was struck by what seems to be a (recent?) trend here: Native American performances and paraphenilia. Street performers, Lakota tribe dream catchers, little collectible teepees...

Anyway, seemed a little left field. The music and traditions are beautiful, I just never expected to see them pop up in Saarbrucken!

Not such a bad little city

This weekend, the weekend between my two weeks in Germany, I'd intended to duck out of Saarbrucken, a population 150,000 small city no one's heard of, and head to Paris again to see my friend Ben and/or former exchange student Audren, or to Munich to explore, or maybe day trips to Luxembourg or Strasbourg or Heidelberg...

Instead, I decided late last week that I would just stay here. Once I made the decision, it made sense. I had work to do. Weather forecasts weren't pretty. Et cetera. It seemed like a shame to lose the traveling opportunity while I'm out here, but then again I'm definitely not wanting for travel this year, and then there's the matter of traveling to Europe last weekend, traveling to Prague next weekend, returning to Baltimore the next weekend, flying to see my family in NC 12 days later, and flying to Dubai a week after that. Even typing all that tires me out, so the idea of sleeping in a bit, wandering the city, and getting some work done sounded nice.

And it turns out, for all the complaining about Saarbrucken from the locals about how little there is to do, I've had a really nice weekend. Nothing flashy, but some history, some lovely buildings, the annual Saarbrucken Christmas market celebration, and the free bicycle the fantastic hotel staff here let me borrow to wander the city have contributed to a great weekend.

On the bad end, work has been worthless this weekend, due more to software problems and the issues of working remotely than lack of trying... hopefully I'll keep productive this next week in Germany.

my italian thanksgiving

Ah yes, staying abroad for the holidays... just like the pilgrims used to do!

It's kind of surreal being here over Thanksgiving, if for no reason than things are just... normal here. Normal work, normal schedule, normal portion sizes. :-) And did you ever consider how few national cuisines really focus on turkey? Guess it makes sense.

Anyway, for my Thanksgiving, I ended up at an Italian restaurant in Germany with my Czech host professor, a Dutch masters student, a prospective faculty member from Spain currently finishing her postdoc in the Netherlands, and a couple of native Germans. Of course, with that mix, I did have a few very American-feeling moments when the topic switched to politics!

Bring on the stuffing, boys.

Gastronomical Travelings

I haven't been a great German tourist so far, I admit. Not that there have been a lot of tourist options so far in Saarbrucken (but this weekend I may check out Munich or Cologne, stay tuned...), but more than that, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I haven't had a single beer, German or otherwise, and the three nights I've been here I went out for Thai buffet, followed by pizza in the "italian" place connected to my hotel, and last night I grabbed some kabab from a carry-out stand on the street. I have had "German" food for lunch in tha cafeteria each day, but I'm not sure that's really a shining example of German cuisine. Hey, at least I haven't stooped to McDonalds!

Well, we'll see how my Thanksgiving meal turns out. :-)

The coatless, wanna-be pentalinguist

More of the cold and wet today. Made better, of course, by the fact that this morning I realized I'd left my coat (the night before) in the restaurant connected to my hotel. Which of course doesn't open til 10:30. (doh!) Oh well -- I had time to buy some local stuff I needed, like a sim card for my phone, and all worked out. Note: avoid this in the future.

I've memorized a grand total of about five German phrases so far and carry my little phrase book everywhere, but hopefully that will progress over the next few weeks. It's funny - whenever I try to think of how to say something small in German, the answer comes to me in broken Czech, or Spanish, or Arabic (and more often of course, just English) instead. It's like I'm in a competition to see how many languages I can learn to not really speak. :-) As it turns out, it's been much more difficult to find English speakers here than in central Prague so far, likely because in Germany the skill is less necessary. And somehow, oddly, Saarbrücken doesn't rank as a top German tourist stop!

Sister cities?

According to the wikipedia entry on Saarbrucken, my current "home", its sister city in the US is none other than my much-more-real home Pittsburgh (where I was born, attended college, and most of my family lives). Good to know!

Wonder what, if anything, it means. Do they have club meetings? Share kielbasa recipes? :-) Alright, that's Polish... whatever...

The secret of exchanging money

A small deal to some, but after all of my months of travel, I finally did find a way to exchange US money without losing half of it in the process! The not-so-secret secret: exchange at a bank.

Of course, for a scenario like my four month stint in Prague, there's no way I would have been able to bring over that much US cash, so my high-fee approach might still be unavoidable. For shorter trips though, I'd heard suggestions ranging from

• Exchange US-> foreign while in the US: lower demand means the exchange rate will be better
  Absolutely not! Or, possibly for high demand currency like euros (but then that might go against the motivation anyway), but not for currency like Czech koronas. Low demand means even lower supply, and the rates were the absolute worst.
• Exchange US->foreign at a standard currency exchange booth at your destination.
  Sometimes this is okay, but watch for unflattering exchange rates and extra fees.
  
• Exchange US->foreign by simply using foreign ATMs.
  It is possible that the rate is better than standard exchange booths, but don't forget about bank fees, especially from your US bank. Note: Bank of America loves to f*** you on all foreign transactions -- atm withdrawals, check card usage, credit card usage, etc.
• Withdraw $$ in US and exchange at destination bank. Note: probability of teller speaking English is low; bring translations.
  

Instead, I withdrew $300 in the US (ha, like that will be enough), converted $100 to euros in the Frankfurt airport to start with, and just returned from the bank to convert another $100 as I'm, yes, already running low.

$100 US at airport yesterday --> 67 euro and change
$100 US at bank today --> 75 euro and change.

Where did my first $100/67 euro go? 6 euro taxi, 15e dinner, 20e dine card deposit, 10e on university dine card (4,80 gone on first lunch), 10,5e on week-long bus pass, and just a few left (plus my new 75e :-))

Much of that is ~one-time expenses -- hopefully sailing will be smoother here on out!

On the train: lovin' the leaves

Though when I passed through Pittsburgh and Ohio recently to attend my cousin Heather's bridal shower, I found that autumn had long passed, Baltimore has been going through a late and extended beautiful fall these past few weeks. I'm thrilled to report that this area of Germany looks to be about the same. The views from my train from Frankfurt to Saarbrucken (3hr, not nearly as eventful as my last pass through this area) have been quiet lovely.

I'm afraid to pull out my camera though for fear of looking like the ultimate tourist -- not that reading Rick Steves' classic "German Phrase Book and Dictionary" hasn't given me away! -- but I've got a good hour left on the train so I may change my mind yet, especially if my car empties out.

Even the rows of crops seem to change a variety of colors. I wasn't expecting that! I don't typically think of crops as deciduous, but I guess it depends on what types of crops they are.

Speaking of the Rick Steves' book (and yes, he does apostrophize that way), thanks much to Simil for letting me borrow it! It's concise and well-organized; definitely I'll be going into this Germany trip slightly more prepared than last March's trip, when I was too overwhelmed with trying to absorb Czech (alas, to no avail) to worry about the correct way to say "good morning" in German. I don't expect to need German much this trip either, but I'll at least give it a go.

Just as I admired the German scenary here in.... [glancing out the train window -- where am I? Fahrkarten? Whoops, no, that's the ticket counter I think. ;-) I don't see the sign...] anyway, small little German town en route to Saarbrucken. [Sobernheim.] But between all of the traditional little houses, etc, I just saw the "Chicago Sports Bar", which if I'm not mistaken also offers kareoke. Funny the things that pop up where you don't expect them. :-)

My train is running a good 20 minutes late.... I'm thrilled that I caught the one route from Frankfurt to Saarbrucken which didn't require transfers. :-) I definitely trust myself more than in my early travels, but this is just easier.

It's raining now, as weather.com warned me to expect for at least the next 10 days. So much for my nice out-the-window-colorful-crops photos. Oh well, hopefully there'll be nice scenary to record in Saarbrucken.

Beginning a new journey, and recalling the last

Today's flights were my third trip across the Atlantic this year, and those who know me probably know that a fourth trip awaits in December. My trip to Prague from January to May was pretty well documented in this blog (as were the subsequent intra-Europe trips to London, Saarbrucken, and Paris). I don't believe I mentioned my trip to Spain in August at all, so now is as good a time as any...

This August I spent 10 days with my boyfriend's family in the village he's from but never officially lived, and where his mother grew up. (details: Liendo is a small village on the northern Spanish coast west of Bilbao -- see related link). I'll include a few quick shots below -- why not? -- but too much to write up. Basically, the area was gorgeous,


I enjoyed meeting his father and Spanish side of the family, and had a lot of time going out (til at least 5am most nights, and often later) with his friends!

The biggest surprise: after 3 years in high school and a few semesters in college, it turns out that I really do know how to speak a little bit of Spanish! I had some serious doubts going into it, and was a little worried about feeling out of place and left out of conversations when I didn't understand. Once I relaxed and stopped worry about the inevitable mistakes though, I did pretty well! His friends were all impressed with me. And good thing too, because I definitely overestimated the English proficiency of everyone we'd meet there.

Let's get this party started...

This Saturday I head back to Europe, spending two weeks in Saarbrucken, Germany and one week in Prague. The trip is completely work-focused, as was my initial Prague trip, but I'm hoping once again to get a little exploring done in the meantime.

Stay tuned! :-)