New Apts Take Time...The Sun Shines Not on Bavarians

...not that I don't have time right now...just saying...it's a dead-horse topic this week (month?).  Once again, I'm up early to supervise the work within the new apartment.  Today, we are putting up all the necessary curtain rods (yes, we have to put those up too...), the rest of the light fixtures, mirrors, and pictures.  I don't know if it's normal to have someone do all this for you on contract, but it seems to be consistent with every other installation I've witnessed thus far in Germany...let the professionals handle it.  From what I understand about the school system here, this guy has probably done this for 20 years, though he's only 32 (Germans have to decide about their profession extremely early in life, somewhere around 10-12 years of age...read about the school system here).  I stopped taking shop class in 8th grade, so this kind of stuff would take me at least four times as long to accomplish.  Either way, it's proven tough enough to communicate only in my limited German (we just had a 5 minute conversation about whether I have tape in the house.  I was unfamiliar with the vocab), since most skill-laborers also stop English lessons much earlier as a result of their school/career path.

Other than being the overseer for the day, I'll be once again running to the other apartment to start painting (I'll be there all week...see above for explanation...too bad I can't pretend I have some sort of Pollock obsession.  Coloring within the lines has always been tough).  I also have to defrost the freezer there and then run to the tailor once more (we were missing one curtain).

People here complain about the weather a lot.  I think everybody in Munich is grateful for pretty much everything life has to offer...except the weather.  It's really not all that bad, from what I've seen.  It rains a lot, but so did Boston.  Everybody is always asking me, "so how do you like Munich...oh, you must hate the weather here."  No, actually, I enjoy gray skies...I like storms...I like being out in them...I like the excitement involved...you never know what's going to happen.  Is something wrong with me?  Are we truly damned that it must rain in this world?  A majority of the German population seems to think that it's the most awful thing to happen since Soundgarden or Rage broke up...wait, who didn't get back together in the last year?  Since Johann "Seabass" Bach died.  (btw...why hasn't Sebastian Bach made an attempt at Bach Row?  Sebastian Bach, arguably the former best-looking female singer of the 80's/90's...fronting a metal-esque Bach cover band...with no keyboard players allowed...epic dude).  At least here it will probably be more like Wisconsin in the winter, sticking with snow and staying below freezing once it heads there.  Boston had a knack for snow, then 60's & rainy, then a 75 degree sunny day, then 40's & rainy, snow again, occasional ice storm, 75 degree day again, 5 feet of snow (and suddenly, you can't park anywhere because everybody has put out lawn chairs on the street to call their cleared spots)...all winter.  For a little more description of that famous Munich greyness, here are some exclusive pics from the square (der Platz, auf Deutsch) we live at:

...does that look so bad?  I don't think so, but I do see some Pessimismimbulus Clouds approaching...

Twas a Week b4 Halloween

...and all through the house...not a creature was stirring...because it's cold as hell outside.  Yeah, one of these days, I may have to invest in something other than T-shirts.  The initial thought was that I'd tough out the next month with the clothes I brought from L.A., since I'm on a boat for 6 months and won't have much use for a ski-jacket for at least another 10 months.  Anyways, it's officially cold in Munich...7 degrees Celsius.  Might have to change my plan.

Yeah...I haven't heard anyone talk about Halloween yet.  Not a peep.  I can't figure out if it's just not that big of a deal here, or if it's because we're not in 8th grade anymore, or if it's because none of our friends have kids here, or all of the above.  I think everyone is still recovering from Wies'n (Oktoberfest) and sick of partying all the time...

Speaking of partying...we had a great time last night, at yet another house/birthday party.  This time, it was our friend Alex's turn, and she treated us to some wonderful chili, and Cuba Libre's (image above) , which apparently are high-shelf versions of "rum and coke."  I told everyone I wasn't familiar with the drink due to the States having such a volatile history with Cuba.  It might not be the truth, but at least I don't look like an ass for saying I've never heard of "rum and coke" ('till now).  I have this theory that Germans planned all their pregnancies in the 70's and 80's, staggered in one week intervals, so that their children could grow closer as the years pass.  In Germany, you never say, "man...it's been forever since I've seen 'so-and-so,'" because the same group of friends is passing around the birthday candle on a weekly basis.  I'm not lying...we've been to a birthday party almost once a week!  And there's one next week...ha (sorry Judith...this just proves my point)!

And to keep the party going, Annette and I are considering having our own Thanksgiving here.  I noticed how Germany is HUGE on tradition, and family is a really big deal here (I think even more so than in the midwest)...so why not carry on some of my traditions here too, right?  Either way, it will be a good excuse to have people over to our new place and watch football all night (ok...I may be doing that last part alone).

More random thought of the day:

If you haven't seen Mad Men yet, check it out.  We're on season 4 and it's been the most entertaining series I've seen in awhile.  And, speaking of entertaining, Machete was also a riot!  I think I'm officially a Robert Rodriguez fan!

Tschüss

I's All Domesticated and Crap

Today is going to be a long day.  Productive, but long...

The past two mornings I've had the luxury of not waking up early to go to class (I'm between levels at Goethe Institut, starting the next one on Tuesday).  Class has been much like the regular schedule of work.  You get up at 7, you're out the door at 8...and you're at school by 8:30.  Usually, by 9:30 I'm officially waking up, with everything said to me in German prior to that being reflected by my ear drums.  This doesn't mean I'm not listening (in fact...my brain is working at this time, usually at the equivalent pace of the song "Back to Basom" by Ween or perhaps "Strawberry Fields" by some other guys.  I'm in there, just a little lost in the beauty of a mellotron, or Pink Floyd-esque sweeping keyboard line).  I do nod a lot to the teacher and I'm careful to smile back.

This useful practice is a very technical skill known as "Pretend Active Listening" (PAL for short) and shows the speaker that you are really concerned about what they are trying to tell you.  However, this technique doesn't work for very long....soon enough, your teacher (wife, husband, child, boss, etc.) catches on and traps you with a question that requires an answer other than "yes" or "no."  The easiest way to deflect this question in German class is to say "hmm...das ist eine gute Frage....aber ich habe keine Ahnung...vielleicht....uhh...." and just keep saying "uuhhhh" and looking around the room (maybe even pointing out the window or at a random object can help you out here) until she realizes you have nothing to contribute at this time.  Essentially, you have just said, "yeah, that's a good question, but I have no idea....perhaps...ummm."  Yes, you LOOK like an idiot, but you at least spoke German in a German class...so it's a tiny victory.  As far as using this exact example in everyday life...I guess it's not recommended unless you're prepared to explain why that answer had nothing to do with what was being discussed...and more importantly, why you can suddenly speak German.

Which gets me to, you guessed it, more discussion of this amazingly complex language.  German is not for the timid.  It's not something you can take a lesson in once or twice a week for 2 hours, coming away with complete understanding.  In fact, it's impossible to master.  I had a long discussion with my landlord yesterday, who was born in New Jersey in the 60's, grew up in Houston, and moved to Germany in the late 70's.  He came over to work with Radio Free Europe, a formerly-CIA-backed radio/news program aimed at promoting democracy, but he found that learning German has been a lifelong process.  He now speaks with "96% fluency" and says his learning period is over.  He came to this realization after he distributed a memo to ten native speakers (all but one with university degrees) that work for him, asking for revisions.  He received ten very different answers.  He then called a meeting and said, "I don't want any of you to correct my German from here on out."  While this may sound extreme, it's true...nobody here has complete mastery.  There are many reasons for this...here are some of the more fun ones:

1) There was a national reform to the language about 10 years ago, where they said one no longer needs the character "ß" anymore.  Instead, replace it with "ss".  Also, within this reform, they changed the articles (der, die, das) of many words.  If you've studied German, you know this becomes a huge problem when you start speaking/writing with all the cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive).  These cases, and subsequently every sentence that comes out of your mouth, change dramatically when the article is changed.  Imagine the power struggles between kids and parents when the kids start telling their parents (that have German language degrees), "hey you don't say that right" or "you're misspelling that."  All of my teachers have complained that they have no idea what the "right" way of teaching certain words is, and so we just learn whatever they prefer at the moment.  Just think of the consequences this creates when providing a cover letter for a job...

2) English is so common in the German language that it can be seen on billboards, heard on TV, and in language classes they even refer to some words as "Denglish".  Many in Germany are calling this a travesty, and it can be attributed to both the influx of Western media into society (English terms are much more a youth culture thing) as well as technology.  When the computer came along, there wasn't a German word in place, and so:  der Computer.  When the MP3 player came along, there wasn't a German word, and so:  der MP3 Player.  When the MP3 player required something to be downloaded from the computer, there wasn't a German word, and so:  der Download.

3) Germany is losing population every year, and there are more and more foreigners being brought in by German companies.  With foreigners increasingly becoming the source of GNP, guess who's speaking the language...

4) For anyone learning a foreign language, you learn that language to about the 85% mark, and perhaps you try taking it to the next level, moving to that country to gain complete mastery.  The reality is, you will go there and speak well enough to get by...in ANY situation (unless you are attending a sporting event, such as American football or baseball, where a foreigner hears such terms as "football" and "bunt."  90% of American football has to do with everything other than the feet actually touching the ball.  "Bunt"....well, how often does that happen anyways...).  My point is, when you're speaking, NOBODY is going to say "excuse me, I understand what you mean, but when you told me 'I go to the store' what you probably meant to say was 'I am going to the store.'"  It's just not going to happen.  Add this to the fact that there's a specific case involved when saying anything in German, and yeah...I think we would spend half our lives awake, 1/3 asleep, and the other 17% saying "uhh...umm." (deep man...)

For a big topic shift, we finally have our new kitchen as of yesterday...hooray!  It's amazing what you can't do without a kitchen these days.  I'm not going to get into it, but just think about it for a second.  It's pretty common in Germany for absolutely nothing to come with the new apartment.  You provide the lights, you provide the cupboards, you provide all appliances....big culture shock.  So, my duties for the day are to go grocery shopping (oh my god, a freezer...), run to the tailor to pick up our altered curtains from the last apartment, spackle the holes in the old apartment (painting comes next week!), and clean the apartment since I have the day off.  I'm starting to think half the reason people have kids is because of the hope that someday they can help with stuff like this.  Gustav is certainly no help...

And, the most random thought of the day...

I played a game called "Kicker" the other day.  Still love that game!  You all know it as "Fussball" (or as the pre-reform Germans say..."Fußball").   Here's a helpful key for you:

Kicker:  German word for the game called Fußball in the U.S.
Fußball:  German word for the game called Soccer in the U.S.
Babyfoot:  French word for the game called Fußball in the U.S.
Soccer:  Most popular game in the world.  In the U.S., it's popularity just edges out Lacrosse.

September & October in Germany

I'm still studying German on a daily basis...about 5-7 hours per day, between classes and homework....so, it's pretty much my full time job right now.  I am currently in German B11 (pronounced "bay-einz-einz") at the Goethe Institut and will be enrolled in B12 (pronounced "Bay-einz-tzvai") by next Tuesday (that is, unless I totally flunked the test today).  I plan to take the Deutsch Zertifikat exam at the end of November, upon completion of level B1 (B11+B12).  This exam basically certifies that I can speak German with enough fluency to work for a native German employer.  However, I've found that most Germans speak more-than-fluent English and even better within a business setting.  This is how most of my conversations go with the German people:

Me:  Hallo, wie gehts?
German:  Hey, how are you? (they immediately switch to English after I mistakenly addressed them in the informal "du" form)
Me:  Oh, you speak English?
German:  Oh...not really.  Just a little bit.  I used to study English 12 years ago and I have not really been able to practice very well.
Me:  OK, well...you sound great to me.
German:  No...really...my English is just awful.  It's a shame that I used to speak it so well.  But without practice, it all falls away...
Me:  Right
German:  I guess I could try.  I feel so ashamed that sometimes I cannot think of the right vocabulary.  Let's try it out, and if I have problems...maybe, you could just fill in any missing words for me and we can move on from there. 
Me:  ......

Anyways, you get the point.  I will be sure to fix my German faults over the next month...that way I can avoid any "extremely embarrassing" English conversation hereafter.  In December, it looks like I'm taking a bit of a detour...

In September, Blue Man Group had offered me a spot on their national (U.S.) theater tour as a drum tech, starting Oct. 1 and lasting 8 months.  At the time, I was having issues with the German Consulate getting me a straight answer on what happens to my Student Visa upon leaving for such a long period of time.  The Student Visa covers a year and would allow me to take German classes without leaving to "refresh" my Visa status.  Americans are initially covered under the Schengen Visa, which allows up to 3 months of continuous stay in Germany, so the newly acquired Student Visa was a much better deal for me and I did not want to lose that privilege. Eventually, the Consulate told us that the Student Visa could be suspended upon my leaving for a job outside of the country (although this is usually never done), and then reactivated upon my return.  In the meantime, Annette and I had decided it was just too early to get up and leave Germany...and so I declined the offer.  About a half-week later, however, Annette received an offer and she HAD to take the job...it was a reputable company and it would eventually lead to bigger and better things for her.  But.....they told her right away that there was a very strong possibility she would be based in Frankfurt for up to 6 months, starting this January.  The timing was comical!  So, we had a good laugh about my possibly being in Munich alone for half a year, and then we decided to give Bman a call again.  The spot had been filled...but, there was an opening on the Norwegian Cruise Line Blue Man production...doing the exact same job!  So...I'll keep you updated...

In cat news...Gustav is doing much better!  Not only does he love the new apartment for all it's running room, but he also no longer has worms nor the runs (seriously...he had mud poop for about 2 months straight...apparently this is normal due to the stress involved, according to the Vet).  We bought him some toys finally, a scratching post, and a brush that he still doesn't quite get (he let's us do it, but mostly runs around with us chasing him to do so).  I would like to tell you that cat toys and scratching posts are so worth it, but he seems to rather enjoy the basic things in life...bottlecaps, cardboard boxes that are still in use, new furniture for sharpening his nails, and sleeping on anything made out of woven polyester, such as luggage or drum cases (the Tuxedo kind).  He also seems to think that every time I walk out of the living room, it means I'm on my way to his food bowl.  He usually sprints out the door before me and hangs a right, only to see that I take a left towards the kitchen or something...and then he just gets pissed and attacks my ankles for the dirty trick I just played on him.  Despite my trickery, I think he's still getting a good workout cuz he snores every time he sleeps...

Oktoberfest was a blast!  I got to go a couple times, and I think it was enough until next year.  Before going, I thought that these people going 3-8 times were just abnormal...but that turned out to be about the average for everyone in Munich.  I can see why...the beer was great (beer served at Oktoberfest is exclusive to the oldest breweries in Munich....most of them starting in the 1300's....so you are not going to find Pabst, Old Style, Sam, Bud, Grainbelt, City Brew, Natty Ice, Hamm's, or Genessee Light here), the food was amazing, the beer tents were enormous and VERY different from one another musically (they each had a band in them).  Being my first one, I wanted to make sure I did everything in proper German tradition, so I bought all the traditional clothes...only came out to just over $200 total...which is a steal for Lederhosen, leather shoes, traditional shirt, traditional socks, etc.  A buddy of mine out here bought his Lederhosen for 1400 Euro....not kidding.  They were custom made and ridiculously nice, but you can't tell the difference between mine (cowhide) and his from 10 yards away....or 5 liters deep.  If you ever come to Oktoberfest, here are some tips:

1) Go during the week...and during work hours.  The weekend (starting with Friday night after work-hours) is unbelievably crowded...my friend Tom and I waited for 40 minutes at the tent we went in, around 5:00 on a Friday...and we only got in because we were hand-picked from the crowd to replace some people at a table that was bothering the waitress.  It was crazier than the Minnesota State Fair, I tell ya.

2) Go to the Augustinerbräuhaus.  They are all cool tents, but this tent played a little more traditional music (besides John Denver's "Country Roads" and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline") than others I've seen.  Some of the other tents play to the younger crowds, so you get to hear such favorites as "Angel" by Robbie Williams mixed with a complete Maynard Ferguson version of "Hey Jude"....I guess it depends on what you want.  Also, the Augustiner tent has the world's tiniest guys bathroom, which must be experienced.  There's nothing like the camaraderie of walking into a hallway about 4 feet wide, with troughs on both sides...so that your butts touch while peeing and guys are constantly pushing you into the trough to get by.

3) Don't be "oh shit" guy.  If you start at 8 a.m., you'll most likely be done by noon, or perhaps even 9:30 because you'll be getting such exclusive service.  I don't know how many dudes/girls we saw around 5 p.m. stumbling along just fine, but then their eyes got big and they frantically looked around for an open plot of asphalt...uh oh....uhh...oh shit....

4) Buy the most inclusive train ticket you can for the time that you are here.  Yeah, it may look expensive at first glance, but you'll probably use the train 4 times/day, at minimum.  Also, buy the train ticket at a kiosk where a person is there to help you.  The free-standing automated machines are great and all, but the language on them is extensive and you'll only end up confusing yourself even if you know German.

5) Bring a map of the city with you.  We walked part of the way home after the tents closed down at 11-ish.  When we found that the entrance to the only train station to the Oktoberfest looked more like a crowd rushing the stage at a Milli Vanilla Ice-T concert, we made other plans.

5) Know how to get home.  That being said, we were drunk.  Maybe it's a good idea to do a dry run the day before.

More tips next year...

Other stuff we've been up to...

1) Blue Nile is an Ethiopian restaurant nearby our house.  So good...features Honigwein (honey wine) and Banana Bier (don't do it)...and of course, great Ethiopian food.  As I may have told you, this is where one can "ass mit den Fingern."

2) If you love art, this is a pretty cool place to be.  The Alte-Pinakothek (old), Neue-Pinakothek (new), and Modern-Pinakothek (duh) are all on the same block (You can see them all in one day for 12 Euro, but if you're like me, you'll easily spend 2-3 hours in each...so that's a long day).  The "Old" art museum features the biggest collection of Peter Paul Reubens in the world, as well as works by Dürer and Altdorfer.  The facade of the building itself was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt with different colored bricks "as a reminder of what happened."  The "New" art museum features Monet, Manet, Degas, Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, Gaugin, and van Gogh.  First time I saw "Sunflowers" was here.  The "Modern" hosts many works by Picasso and a couple Dali's.  The building itself is worth the admission.  Also, the Lenbach Haus is nearby the other museums, and is basically an old rich person's house that was converted into a public collection, much like the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston.  It boasts quite a few works from Kandinsky. http://www.lenbachhaus.de

3) We took a trip to Essen and had a great time there.  Villa Hügel, a castle in Essen, was mightily impressive.  Definitely check it out if you get a chance.

4) I officially like Liverwurst.  Never thought it would happen, but after it has been served at every meal I kind of grew to love it.

Bis bald,

Damion