oh my oh my

Just wanted to excuse my absence... my Masters Program combined with vacation in the US and a full time job just isn't leaving me any blogging moments. I promise to be back online soon!! (After all the final papers are written)

finally, I can show my true self

'nuff said (thanks to bizarro blog)

what to read on the train?!

I really like to read "Tina, die Frau von Heute". It's one of those cheap-o German women's magazines with the tissue thin newsprint and the articles that repeat every month. I find, however, that I can't put it down. And I learn lots of German words, ones that aren't found in the SZ or bild: Hausfrau words. Mostly, I read the recipes.

I am actually currently following the "5 day US Miracle Diat" from a similar publication, "Bild der Frau". which is a strange collections of recipes including "Egg Burger" and Herring in Jelly Salad". Not really US American, but interesting nonetheless. I really just needed a break after the Easter gorge fest at Artur's family's house, and I am now on day 4 of 5. I've already lost some weight and I'm feeling better. And, I am taking a liking to vegetable juice with rolled oats. Every morning, I start the day with a spoonful of olive oil mixed with lemon juice. It's supposed to "encourage my de-poisoning". That's a euphemism if I've ever heard one… At any rate, I've almost survived (and I've learned some new recipes to boot) and I hope that at least my stomach has shrunk so that I'm not hungry all the time.

I highly recommend cheap cheesy women's magazines to all of you Expats who would like to deepen your knowledge of cooking, cleaning and ironing vocabulary as well as read some tear jerking sappy stories of life changing experiences…

Guilt Trip

You know that saying "when you fall off the horse, get right back on it?" yeah. I missed that one.

Sorry that I haven't written ANYTHING in a few weeks. I was in Vienna visiting my dad (he was there for business) and then.. I dunno… the spring weather just snuck up on me like crazy. I was outside the last few weeks, soaking up the sun, enjoying the biergärten, entertaining visitors.

Is it just the cold gloomy weather that makes me want to blog about life instead of getting out to live it?

I'd like to take a look at what Amiexpat's offering for the Real German Cuisine Challenge this week.. maybe I can get off my butt and onto the blog horse!

Until then, ta ta!
PS: I just saw that the next challenge with be a Spargel dish, one of my FAVORITE veggies (and times of year in Germany, Hooray for Spargelzeit!) but not until next week. Maybe that will give me time to do all the 100,000 other things I have to do…

Pharisäer Coffee Cocktail- Real German Cuisine Challenge

So, back on the horse. After skipping out on last week's challenge, I managed to raff my self together this week to conjure up the delicious north German coffee-cream-rum treat.

The story of this drink(recipe here) is cute, legend being that the North Sea Germans, fond of coffee but especially fond of rum, thought to mix the two and used whipped cream to hide the sin from the town priest. I, myself, think that whipped cream is sin enough, but apparently it pacified the preacher until he discovered what was hiding underneath all that froth. The townspeople were then denounced as debaucherers with the exclamation "you Pharisees". This is actually a very interesting if not a bitsy bit un-pc remark. See wiki's article: here

My drink was a non political version, and it was easy enough, except that whipping cream is quite a feat for me without a mixer. I managed to splatter it everywhere although I like to think that I burned off at least some of the calories.

I brewed up some delicious espresso in my lovely Italian Caffeteria bought from the market in Padova during my study abroad time there, mixed it up with sugar and then topped it with my hard earned whipped cream.

As an added beautifier, I used a small sieve to dust cocoa over the top. Deeeeelliiiccious. Artur thought so too!!

Kung fu fighting the Märzwinter

I recently read the following advertisement for the "Ninja Umbrella" (pictured below)


Everybody Was Kung Fu Lightning
NINJA UMBRELLA

Rain: Ninja. You are but a mere mortal and no match for my powerful torrent. Do you surrender?

Ninja: Ah, Rain. You are a most worthy opponent and teacher. But I will never surrender.

This is what I need for Munich's March weather. There is apparently a weather phenomenon called Märzwinter bringing the ridiculously cold temperatures and miserable cloudy melty slushy snow blizzardness that has been the last two weeks.

We are currently suffering under the reign of the low pressure system named "Herbert". That's right, they name them here. Maybe it's just Germany's way of dealing with the bad weather. At any rate, it turns out that they've been naming their high and low pressure systems since 1954. At first, all the high pressure systems got male names and the low pressure systems got female names. But then the feminist groups got (rightly) riled up because the bad weather systems were all female, and now the naming procedure alternates yearly.

Also, you can adopt weather systems for your special someone here complete with name and information packet. Too bad valentines day is over.

At any rate, bad weather like this is an excuse for EVERYTHING. Especially not blogging. Or tweeting. Or not making Sauerbraten (guilt!!). I will, however, be venturing to Südbad today to try our their aquafitness course. I have developed a liking for water aerobics.. I'll let you know if that amps up my life motivation, but until then, I will still grumble about the weather.

The B-word

There's been so much going on lately in German current events that I've been sticking with my cooking activities and shying away from any real commentary. But perhaps It's time to delve in a bit.

The most shocking of all the events lately was, of course, the school shooting at Winnendon. As an American living in Germany, this kind of horrible occurrence brings to mind the analysis (and Michael Moore films) that followed the Columbine disaster, all of which seemed to believe that such an event was a purely American creation, coming not only from such relaxed gun control laws but also from some kind of intrinsic cultural violence. Since then, this has been proven wrong and the western world has had its share of similar sad and horrifying incidents. Of course it's only natural to ask such questions as "why us" or "why here" and then "how can we prevent this" and "who is to blame". This discussion has been circulating in Germany for the week or so since the shootings and there is, of course, discussion of stronger gun laws or punishing the father for not locking up his gun. I, too, found myself blaming and questioning, wondering how this could happen in a place like Germany, where I often consider myself to be so insulated from the "dangers" of the outside world.

I also wonder, as an American, if these events aren't probably instigated by globalized media and violence, by a certain illusion of a community and a retreat into a virtual, far away world where such actions seem accepted. The concept of alienation from one's own culture due to rapid changes in that culture, anomia, is a term used in the study of socio-ethnic conflicts. In such a globalized, interconnected world, this phenomena is becoming ever more wide spread. Rapid societal changes instigates instability and insecurity and the ever changing world around causes a sense of isolation from one's surroundings. This term may not be directly applicable to the various psychological analyses of the shooter, but I think it describes the state of many societies right now. Those who are estranged by their rapidly individualistic and quickly changing culture do have an outlet, the internet, where they can try to find acceptance and a group which understands them. But what happens when that very group is one that encourages such acts, and takes participants further away from any sort of value sets or societal moral standards?

Another recent bit of news is that German youths are more right-leaning than ever, and are showing especially pronounced rates of xenophobia and hostility towards foreigners. It's no wonder, in tough economic times, in times where societal problems are nearly always blamed on the "others".

Blame. Finding someone to Blame. The Bush years were about Blame. Blaming the terrorists, the Muslims, the axis of evil. For the shootings, we blame the school, the parents, the gun laws. In this economy, some people blame foreigners for taking their jobs away, for working for lower pay, for ruining the economy. I'm starting to think that, in hard times, the best thing to do is to stay away from the B-word, and think about our own contribution to the solution.

In one of my classes, we are learning about the ZOP method of project planning (Zielorientierte Projektplanung), where, in order to solve a problem, a list of smaller problems that make up the bigger problem is made and put into a "cause-effect" tree. Then, the biggest "original problem" is chosen, the one that is the cause of most of the other problems. And here comes the important step: you turn the problem around into a formulation of what the situation will look like when the problem is solved. This is your goal. Example problem: the education system in Germany divides up the "classes" too early. Example goal situation: a flexible system where students are fostered in their strengths and helped with their weaknesses without a distinct "separation" at any point.

I think this method is a very good way to turn around blame and take real action. Find the root of the problem, and make it into a goal. Then, strive towards that goal.

If anything, I am hopeful for the triumph my American optimism…