Frankly-Said: Weekend with Nathanael and the Birrenbach Family in North Rhine-Westphalia

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Weekend with Nathanael and the Birrenbach Family in North Rhine-Westphalia

What a solid first weekend in Germany this was! On Friday one of the German officers gave me a ride to the main Hamburg train station from which I took a four hour train to Cologne. I had about three hours to myself to see the city again before meeting up with my dear bro Nathanael who was attending a German culture school before his yearlong student exchange program.

We then were picked up by his host family and spent a wonderful evening at their home.

We woke up early Saturday morning and went to the German mining museum in Bochum. All I can say is that I've been very fortunate to never have had to work in the deep dangerous black depths of the earth for coal and salt.

We then went to Cologne Stadium and picked up our race packets in preparation for "die Genearalprobe" half marathon. Being me, I ended up running the wrong way on the last lap and had to backtrack towards the finish line (no, I don't want to do another 7 kilometer loop!). It was an honor to run alongside my brother, who being six years younger than me, I still consider to be one of my best friends.

On Sunday Nathanael and I went to church (not really understanding anything at all) and then went to Mülheim to watch a dragon boat race and eat some bratwursts and ice cream.

A good day that closed an even greater weekend.

The host family prepared a slideshow of the museum and the race at http://adrian-birrenbach.fotoalbum-medion.de/

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Random Observations of Germans

At first I thought Germans hate the most upkept squatter villages for homeless people. Turns out these are rented garden spaces/huts for people who live in the city.
Don't order a pepperoni pizza...you'll get a pan with peppers. Make sure that you specify pepperoni salami.
Döner Kebabs are a complete meal and are available anywhere and at anytime. Word is that they taste better here than than do in Turkey.
Eat with both hands on the table. My Dad told me that it was probably the ever-ready gunslingers of the Wild West that made eating with one hand under the table proper etiquette.
Ever ordered steak in a fish restaurant, or just a salad at a steakhouse? Good. Well, as my brother Nathanael pointed out: Germans are territorial about their beer too. Don't order a Kölsch in Düsseldorf or an Alt in Köln. You might as well wear a safari hat, long socks with boots, and have a camera strap dangling from your neck.
Every drink (beer, wine, juice, and water) has its own custom-labeled glass, stein, mug, etc. I would hate to see the amount of cupboard space restaurants have. No wonder most small restaurants sell one or two beers.
Germans are big on conservation...perhaps psychic. I still haven't figured out which colored trashcan to throw my trash in (20% chance of being right i think), they charge 25 cents extra for cans and bottles, and they turn off their car while waiting at stop lights. They put America to shame.
Germans do not seem to be too spontaneous. It's rude to make last minute plans.
Germans do sausages. Germans do not do steak. Steak here constitutes Texan blasphemy. But the whole leather panted, jovial German with two big foamies should be forgotten. The North and East Seas sure provide some great fish!
Germans speak English too darn well. I'll ask a question in German, and be answered without pause or contemplation in English. Am I really that obviously a foreigner, or are they just showing off? Dad Gummit!
Grocery stores are self-service; there's nobody to bag your food, even for a tip. Pay with the left hand/bag with the right, and make sure you placed heavy items first on the carousel!
Grocery stores in Germany seem to be more numerous, but much smaller. There's one within walking distance for everybody; compare that to the suburbanites of America who need to drive to shop. They therefore buy smaller quantities more often.
I am going to miss German bakeries...everything from bread to pastries to those delicious baquette sandwiches. Why are there only 24 hours in a day, and three meals a day?
I hardly ever see the Polizei on the streets, but they come in group force to an incident
If you're a guest, don't even think that you'll be able to pay for a meal. If you put up a fight, you'll be defeated (only for the first time) with the..."excuse me, I'm going to the restroom..."
If you're toasting somebody, make sure you look them in the eye. Staring at your glass means you value your drink more than the person.
It is perfectly normal for the waitress to walk around the table and receive money personally from each individual eater, crossing off items as he/she goes from the table list.
Jaywalking is a big deal...
Ketchup is consumed differently: i was viewed as strange for eating it with eggs, and they eat it on toasted bread.
Not gonna lie: I saw a blue-overalled worker racking leaves in the middle of the forest. Gotta love socialized employment.
Not the day to do weekly shopping: stores are closed on Sundays (there was an entire article in a newspaper about how certain participating stores were ALLOWED to be open on Sunday because the marathon event was taking place nearby).
Public toilets are incredibly difficult to find, and they always charge a totally inconvenient amount of change. Also, both public and domestic toilets have either buttons or levels that control flush flow...larger button for...____ and smaller buttons for ____.
Staring doesn't seem to be taboo.
The Germans will eat blood and liver sausage, but some found beef jerky to be primitive dog food.
The main meal of the day is lunch..this is the heavy, hot food. Dinner usually consists of bread and cheese.
There are bicycle routes everwhere from here to there. They even have their own sidewalk lane (usually with red bricks). I don't think pedestrians have the right of way...it's a good thing that most bikes have bells and whistles. It's not look left and right before crossing the street, but also look right or left before stepping foot on the sidewalk (or sideride).
There is absolutely no rush to leave a restaurant or cafe. One could have a primtetime pavilion seat and sit there for 3 hours eating, chit chatting, smoking, reading, with smokes inbetween. There's the "how was your food" without the "eat it, pay for it, and beat it!"
When eating meat, do not use your knife to cut multiple slices in advance. Cut one bite size portion, then put your knife down and eat. When eating potatoes, don't use your fork to (s)mash the potatoes, or use your knife to cut the potatoes. Instead, use the fork's edge.
When it comes to paying for goods or services, they'll take paper. Credit cards are grudgingly, if at all, accepted. My friend had to pay with cash at a five-story electronics store; one would need a bodyguard walking in to purchase a plasma flat scrren!
Yoghurt, chocolate, and gummies take up entire aisles in the grocery store.
You have to pay here for plastic bags in the grocery store...FYI: they come in multiple sizes.
You know the ice cream is so good when my father and I had more ice cream in Germany than we had beer...I'm probably the most boring ice cream orderer: always plain vanille. However, I don't think I've had the same vanille ice cream yet!