It's been snowing here for the past 24 hours or so and I can see the cold sitting in the sky like a heavy cloud of smoke. I've been riding my bike through this thickness for days now, trying to stay upright as I slide along the ice and snow. Last night was the precipice of punishment when it comes to bike riding in Germany: 20 degrees, dark, hoodlums left and right, ice instead of pavement, and to top it off a BROKEN LIGHT.
To give you a better visual, I thought it might be helpful to first illustrate the kinds of things I accomplish with the two-wheeled devil machine. Well, that list includes pretty much everything that you probably do with a car: grocery store trips, driving to the airport/train station for a trip, driving to school with books and computer...and I've had to take all of the goodies you need for those trips along with me. Some of the things I've carried on my bike (no basket, people!) include:
--a yoga mat with groceries and an overnight bag
--a rug, among other household supplies
--a week's worth of groceries (this may seem an impossible feat at first, but imagine...shopping bags hanging from handle bars, shoulders, neck...)
--two week's worth of clothes in a duffel bag
--and most recently a violin (this one was scary, if Mr. Fear, my orchestra teacher saw that, he would probably rip off his normal human costume and turn into the Batman villain that his name implies).
The rules of biking in Germany are strict, mainly I think because there are so many of us (that's right, Germany, you have to claim me as one of your bikers for the next few months!!) There are bike paths everywhere, as many as—if not more than—sidewalks. Now, seeing as I am a really cute and charming American girl, I figured that the rules don't apply to me. This is not true. Last week I was stopped by the police for having a light out and riding on the wrong side of the road. I was totally stunned. One, because I am pretty sure that I have already caused a few nearly-fatal crashes that have gone unnoticed, and two, because its the POLICE! The police officer was nice, but needless to say I walked that baby the rest of the way to school, and took the next day as a personal day to get the lights fixed. (In case you were wondering, the lights are broken again.)
By the way, a great way to learn the rules is to just ride your bike around. The citizens here would be just pleased as punch to tell you everything you might be doing wrong on your bike. I commonly get such comments as “HEY-NO headphones allowed!” or “The rules say no riding on this sidewalk!” Being the rebel rider that I am, I pay no heed.
I am pretty sure that all of Dinslaken has an alert out for me: the girl with the oversize black coat on, who can commonly be seen weaving around with broken lights and can be heard from a mile away, as her bike wizz-wooshes along the sidewalk. If they listen closely enough, the can also hear the sharp American tongue, putting all sorts of hexes and curses on the man/woman who failed to mention that living in Germany really just means a lot of freaking bike riding.
We do have our arguments, but that sorry excuse for transportation has never failed to get me to my destination. I want to be extremely clear that I hate that thing more than should be described in a public forum. It's awful...I can't wear cute clothes, I can't buy tons of crap and throw it in my trunk to take home, and I clearly have no real clue about what I should really be doing with it. Lets be honest, its a miracle that I haven't been taken to bike jail yet. But it is from this plastic and metal throne that I spend most of my time. With the needles of wind hitting my face and the squeaking of my seat and wheels, I can at least gain some comfort in the fact that I am on my way somewhere.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Onomatopoeia
The day to day in Germany has become a mostly familiar thing for me by now. You can see pictures of the beautiful vistas and read this blog in order to hear my side of the story. But, living here I have more senses that are constantly being battered with either the new or the newly familiar. I've always been sensitive to smell, I may get that from the Orlowski side of the family, all of whom are allergic to any substance that can enter through the nasal cavity. But I think it would be quite rude to go into detail about the smells I experience on a daily basis (EXCEPT for the bakery...mmm pretzels!)
So I will try my best to add a bang to this post and take you through my day with your blindfolds on and your ears ready for something new and different.
Early in the morning, the air turns metallic and the ears are battered with clinking and clanging. The people are pulling up their blinds: metal sheets on the outside of houses that guard the windows each night, protecting the families from nighttime terrors. There is a wizz wizz of the ropes that keep them in place, and then a bang-clank-bang-clank until they are ALL finally rolled up on top of the windows. If you didn't have the benefit of waking up to the usually beep beep of an alarm, this is the sound that greets you in the mornings. There have been many a times during peaceful morning runs that I have honestly thought some angry robot was running after me, but after a moment of contemplation, realized that it was those damned blinds.
So then its off to school, after a battle with a fridge that sounds like an airplane engine and a asthmatic coffee maker. For some reason, there is a rooster on my way to school. I am not the only one who has a rooster in her town, either. Picture a quite ride through the woods, past the refugee camp, with the proud morning soloist, the German rooster. My new route to school also involves a bumpy ride over the train tracks and sometimes waiting for a train. This is nothing but noise! Pure agitation fills my head as I try to at least reduce the amount of data entering my brain. Its a low boom boom, rumbling the ground from far away. But when a cargo train passes, watch out! It's like in those razor commercials, a sonic boom where there are ripples in the air and your hat blows off your head.
If you're not awake yet, let me take you through a collection of noises through out the school day. The school bell is actually quite nice: an electronic church bell...ding dong ding...like a fancy doorbell. But mix that in with children, little ones, running through the halls, throwing things, and LIGHTING FIREWORKS!! I seem to be the only person in the school who seems to think that this is not a noise appropriate for school, so all I can do is my best to avoid them. (At least we know its not guns going of, right?...Germans have GREAT gun control...)
Oh, and I must insert here the most important and abundant sound you may ever hear in Germany. The kling kilng of a bike bell is the only defense you may have against the dreaded biker. The bike in Germany is a force that can not be reckoned with. You must move out of the way, and you must never WALK in the BIKE lane. Luckily, I am usually the one doing the klinging on my way to school, and I must confess that I take full advantage of this power. Klinging left and right, making innocent people jump out of my way for the sake of their lives!
On my way home, I usually see another train (take cover!), hear that rooster, and then reach the safety of my apartment. It is here where things get predictable. Dinner, pots and pans, the low purr (or growl if its a bad day) of the fridge. At the fall of darkness comes the other parenthesis to conclude another day in Dinslaken. The bang-clash-bang-clash is the cue to settle in against a cold January night, turn down the lights, and appreciate the notes that you contribute to the score.
So I will try my best to add a bang to this post and take you through my day with your blindfolds on and your ears ready for something new and different.
Early in the morning, the air turns metallic and the ears are battered with clinking and clanging. The people are pulling up their blinds: metal sheets on the outside of houses that guard the windows each night, protecting the families from nighttime terrors. There is a wizz wizz of the ropes that keep them in place, and then a bang-clank-bang-clank until they are ALL finally rolled up on top of the windows. If you didn't have the benefit of waking up to the usually beep beep of an alarm, this is the sound that greets you in the mornings. There have been many a times during peaceful morning runs that I have honestly thought some angry robot was running after me, but after a moment of contemplation, realized that it was those damned blinds.
So then its off to school, after a battle with a fridge that sounds like an airplane engine and a asthmatic coffee maker. For some reason, there is a rooster on my way to school. I am not the only one who has a rooster in her town, either. Picture a quite ride through the woods, past the refugee camp, with the proud morning soloist, the German rooster. My new route to school also involves a bumpy ride over the train tracks and sometimes waiting for a train. This is nothing but noise! Pure agitation fills my head as I try to at least reduce the amount of data entering my brain. Its a low boom boom, rumbling the ground from far away. But when a cargo train passes, watch out! It's like in those razor commercials, a sonic boom where there are ripples in the air and your hat blows off your head.
If you're not awake yet, let me take you through a collection of noises through out the school day. The school bell is actually quite nice: an electronic church bell...ding dong ding...like a fancy doorbell. But mix that in with children, little ones, running through the halls, throwing things, and LIGHTING FIREWORKS!! I seem to be the only person in the school who seems to think that this is not a noise appropriate for school, so all I can do is my best to avoid them. (At least we know its not guns going of, right?...Germans have GREAT gun control...)
Oh, and I must insert here the most important and abundant sound you may ever hear in Germany. The kling kilng of a bike bell is the only defense you may have against the dreaded biker. The bike in Germany is a force that can not be reckoned with. You must move out of the way, and you must never WALK in the BIKE lane. Luckily, I am usually the one doing the klinging on my way to school, and I must confess that I take full advantage of this power. Klinging left and right, making innocent people jump out of my way for the sake of their lives!
On my way home, I usually see another train (take cover!), hear that rooster, and then reach the safety of my apartment. It is here where things get predictable. Dinner, pots and pans, the low purr (or growl if its a bad day) of the fridge. At the fall of darkness comes the other parenthesis to conclude another day in Dinslaken. The bang-clash-bang-clash is the cue to settle in against a cold January night, turn down the lights, and appreciate the notes that you contribute to the score.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
You Might be German If...
Some of you might be confused about why it is so special that I am over here living like a German. You might say, "Well Sadie, I am not sure you're justified in presenting your experience as exotic. You're in a first world country with educated people...bla bla bla!". Well first of all, if you're saying that, then you haven't been paying attention to a THING I've been saying so far (time travel, Stuhl der Einsamkeit, broken bikes...). Secondly, I can understand why you might still insist that humans are humans, and despite everything living in Germany shouldn't be so different. To really get my point across, I'll outline a few things that make Germans sooo...German. You may be well aware of most of these differences, but I would like you to take a minute and assess your own life. Are you German? Would you fit in over here? If so, as always, I say come on over! We can bike to school together in the freezing cold then come back and watch some bad German TV until we pass out on my couch/bed full of chocolate and beer.
You might be German if...
1. in order to park in your garage, you must first turn your car off, open your garage door, start the car and drive in, then climb out through the sunroof due to the maxium garage width of ~8 feet.
2. your house or place of work is either as cold as or colder than it is outside.
3. your windows open in a minimum of three ways (tipped, wide open, both wide open, open from the top...), and have a minimum open time of 5 hours per day.
4. your shower head points out towards the direction that the shower is the most shallow, so that your bathroom floor is a small wading pool by the end of the shower. or the other option...
5. your shower head is broken
6. you never learned the horrible implications of breaking in line in elementary school, therefore you commonly use your shopping cart as a weapon in the grocery store and your elbows as crowbars in department stores in order to be the first in line.
7. your concept of up and coming techonology is the Internet
8. you've never drawn a line without using a ruler
9. you have at least one trash can per type of disposable material, including: paper, plastic, paper with plastic on it, trash, biodegradable.
10. you think dating the boy/girl down the street is a long distance relationship
11. your grasp of the english language includes the words "f*ck", "Bush sucks", and "Barack Obama"
12. you have an incomprehensible love for Cowboys and Indians
13. you and your boyfriend/girlfriend wear the same cologne and/or have the same haircut
14. You think placing the item divider after your stuff on the belt at the grocery store is one of the most important things you could do for your well being and you will stop at NOTHING in order to put it there.
So read through these carefully, and decide for yourself if you're living in the right country. You may be happier in the land of beer and potatoes. It is different over here. I have come to embrace some things, while others I still have trouble with (breaking in line is NEVER ok!). To say the least, I am glad to get to know where I stand as an American, and I am glad the Germans are willing to share their way of life with me.
You might be German if...
1. in order to park in your garage, you must first turn your car off, open your garage door, start the car and drive in, then climb out through the sunroof due to the maxium garage width of ~8 feet.
2. your house or place of work is either as cold as or colder than it is outside.
3. your windows open in a minimum of three ways (tipped, wide open, both wide open, open from the top...), and have a minimum open time of 5 hours per day.
4. your shower head points out towards the direction that the shower is the most shallow, so that your bathroom floor is a small wading pool by the end of the shower. or the other option...
5. your shower head is broken
6. you never learned the horrible implications of breaking in line in elementary school, therefore you commonly use your shopping cart as a weapon in the grocery store and your elbows as crowbars in department stores in order to be the first in line.
7. your concept of up and coming techonology is the Internet
8. you've never drawn a line without using a ruler
9. you have at least one trash can per type of disposable material, including: paper, plastic, paper with plastic on it, trash, biodegradable.
10. you think dating the boy/girl down the street is a long distance relationship
11. your grasp of the english language includes the words "f*ck", "Bush sucks", and "Barack Obama"
12. you have an incomprehensible love for Cowboys and Indians
13. you and your boyfriend/girlfriend wear the same cologne and/or have the same haircut
14. You think placing the item divider after your stuff on the belt at the grocery store is one of the most important things you could do for your well being and you will stop at NOTHING in order to put it there.
So read through these carefully, and decide for yourself if you're living in the right country. You may be happier in the land of beer and potatoes. It is different over here. I have come to embrace some things, while others I still have trouble with (breaking in line is NEVER ok!). To say the least, I am glad to get to know where I stand as an American, and I am glad the Germans are willing to share their way of life with me.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Time Travel
OhhhhK. So, the past few weeks:
Last week in Germany before Christmas. Nothing much happened, so lets just move on already.
My time at home was short and sweet, but not without the initial awkwardness of returning home...like stepping into a canoe before you sit down. Time change always gets me. It is due to the jet lag that I have slept a total of 6 hours in the past two days. And it was due to jet lag that I spent the first half of my Christmas vacation waking up at 5 or 6, ready to go. I got some good runs in around Strawberry Hill before the birds got up. I also explored the world of yoga with my sister, which has become an essential ingredient in the recipe for Happiness in Germany. I would love to tell you all sorts of stories about the wonders of Charlotte, North Carolina, but I think we are all here for tales of adventures of a far away place, so lets go there now...
I am currently sitting in my new apartment, glued to the computer, as usual. I will put up pictures as soon as I figure out how to utilize the internet properly.
There are some secrets that I have been keeping from you, readers, and one of them is about to be revealed. -->Living in Germany is like living in another time!<-- I have a wonderful new apartment with a beautiful natural wood ceiling, furniture that IS NOT from Ikea, and a TV with a satellite that gets all sorts of interesting English channels (including Al Jazera). But there is no internet. In fact, there is no internet in this whole area of town (in the prospective pictures of my area that you may possibly see, you will notice satellite dishes on everyone's houses.) I have a nifty little 3g stick (cell phone internet that can plug into your computer) that occassionally allows me access to Gmail's simple version of email and that sometimes, albeit reluctantly, relents to give me access to AIM or Skype. But otherwise during my first four days back, I have been adjusting to living in the equivalent of the stone ages.
As testiment to my time spent in the olden days, I can honestly say that I had to go to school, two miles, in the snow, up hill. Except instead of walking barefoot, I rode my bike. Virgin snow is pretty; road snow is gross, dirty, and not something you want all over you when you arrive jet lagged at school. But luckily, I had it all over me this morning, and I am able to brag about it here now. I do realize that most Germans have cars that they drive in the snow, but my personal experience here is one that is especially ancient.
I took a beautiful run along the ice cold river near my new home. All bundled up, it was quite a treat to see vistas of fields covered in snow, to breathe in crisp air, and most importantly to have a warm aparment to look forward to. But time did seem to reverse for a few moments as I saw such sights as a little old lady walking alone through a field of snow on her way to her little house in the middle of the country. And also, Germans don't seem to have to modern concept of snow plowing in thier full graps, either. (This aspect is supported by another's experience, way up in Muenster, where the roads are pretty much dense sheets of snow/ice at this point).
Living here really does feel like living in a different time. There are a lot of technological conveniences that I take for granted in the United States. Germans don't really do credit cards for reasons of tradition more than anything. Classrooms are without computers or projectors, and most of the tv's I've seen around here are the same size of most of the cars I've seen around here...(big old tube TV's...) So, if you squint your eyes and use your imagination, its like being in a magical land. Where the time passes a little more slowly, and the people are very suspicious of new things.
Last week in Germany before Christmas. Nothing much happened, so lets just move on already.
My time at home was short and sweet, but not without the initial awkwardness of returning home...like stepping into a canoe before you sit down. Time change always gets me. It is due to the jet lag that I have slept a total of 6 hours in the past two days. And it was due to jet lag that I spent the first half of my Christmas vacation waking up at 5 or 6, ready to go. I got some good runs in around Strawberry Hill before the birds got up. I also explored the world of yoga with my sister, which has become an essential ingredient in the recipe for Happiness in Germany. I would love to tell you all sorts of stories about the wonders of Charlotte, North Carolina, but I think we are all here for tales of adventures of a far away place, so lets go there now...
I am currently sitting in my new apartment, glued to the computer, as usual. I will put up pictures as soon as I figure out how to utilize the internet properly.
There are some secrets that I have been keeping from you, readers, and one of them is about to be revealed. -->Living in Germany is like living in another time!<-- I have a wonderful new apartment with a beautiful natural wood ceiling, furniture that IS NOT from Ikea, and a TV with a satellite that gets all sorts of interesting English channels (including Al Jazera). But there is no internet. In fact, there is no internet in this whole area of town (in the prospective pictures of my area that you may possibly see, you will notice satellite dishes on everyone's houses.) I have a nifty little 3g stick (cell phone internet that can plug into your computer) that occassionally allows me access to Gmail's simple version of email and that sometimes, albeit reluctantly, relents to give me access to AIM or Skype. But otherwise during my first four days back, I have been adjusting to living in the equivalent of the stone ages.
As testiment to my time spent in the olden days, I can honestly say that I had to go to school, two miles, in the snow, up hill. Except instead of walking barefoot, I rode my bike. Virgin snow is pretty; road snow is gross, dirty, and not something you want all over you when you arrive jet lagged at school. But luckily, I had it all over me this morning, and I am able to brag about it here now. I do realize that most Germans have cars that they drive in the snow, but my personal experience here is one that is especially ancient.
I took a beautiful run along the ice cold river near my new home. All bundled up, it was quite a treat to see vistas of fields covered in snow, to breathe in crisp air, and most importantly to have a warm aparment to look forward to. But time did seem to reverse for a few moments as I saw such sights as a little old lady walking alone through a field of snow on her way to her little house in the middle of the country. And also, Germans don't seem to have to modern concept of snow plowing in thier full graps, either. (This aspect is supported by another's experience, way up in Muenster, where the roads are pretty much dense sheets of snow/ice at this point).
Living here really does feel like living in a different time. There are a lot of technological conveniences that I take for granted in the United States. Germans don't really do credit cards for reasons of tradition more than anything. Classrooms are without computers or projectors, and most of the tv's I've seen around here are the same size of most of the cars I've seen around here...(big old tube TV's...) So, if you squint your eyes and use your imagination, its like being in a magical land. Where the time passes a little more slowly, and the people are very suspicious of new things.
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