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mein haus!
thought i could add a little bit about my apartment (mein appartement oder meine wohnung) which, currently, is in a state of utter disorder. i'm glad, on one hand, that i'm living alone because anyone who saw this would think i'm a total slob. on the other hand, i'm usually not a slob if i know people will be observing my slobbishness (slobbery?). in any case, these pictures are from the first day i arrived. it was a mess then, but the i-just-got-here-give-me-a-break kind of mess. not the i-am-lazy-and-wasn't-expecting-visitors kind.
sorry, i had some trouble arranging these...
the rot/blau theme was not my choice, sondern that of one frau gesa baum-beyer (complaints and mourning to come). she picked pretty much everything actually, including the sleeper sofa (it doesn't fold out or anything. you just sleep on it.) and the very class desk that broke on the first day.it's ok, she meant well, i'm sure. she was nice enough to feed me and take me a nice little grocery right when i got in so i wouldn't starve (i had to finish up the baby spinach and blue cheese i'd brought with me--didn't want to risk it with customs).
mein badzimmer: sehr klein. küchen: merke das brot auf dem spülbecken. wohnzimmer/schlafzimmer/usw.: computer immer.
more recently i've added some nice pflanzen: basilikum, thymian, rosemarin, and some mint i found while biking/hiking (lots more of that). yes. they are in milk cartons. i'm living on a budget!! (the soil may or may not have been 'gently removed without permission' from the farm that comes right up next to our lab campus. it looked good and rich! also: me=poor.)
thinking about germany as a foreign country is actually quite a challenge now. it's amazing how much you can adapt in just a month (the 6th passed by without my noticing). i know i used to think of germany like i imagine most americans think of europe: vast countryside, mountains in the distance, cows, horses pulling carts, ruins of castles, people walking around in lederhosen (maybe just germany and austria), straw thatch, und so fort und so weiter. for better or for worse, those days are past. for the most part anyway...
i maintain there is still a lot of old-time atmosphere here. part of it i think is that everything is so much closer together in the cities, but once you reach the edge, you are immediately thrown into farm land. every single valley seems to be filled with wheat, corn, and various other crops. just 10 km south of berlin's very center, you can find fields. and while some of them are operated by large companies instead of traditional farmers (actually not that many?--but then 124 acres is a lot of land by my thinking), crops are purposefully staggered to prevent land deterioration and land on the edges is mostly left wild. it's a stark contrast to california/florida mow-and-spray tactics and even more so to iowa maize maze monoculture.
despite the immediacy of agriculture, there isn't much else of the 1700s still around. this particular region of germany never had much lederhosen (i understand bavarians still put it on for sepecial occasions, however) and despite the 1.40 €/L ($8 something per gal) people are driving (very small--more on that later!) cars instead of livestock. don't know how long that will last though! electricity, as i discovered last time i was here, is--in fact--quite common, although there are no power lines anywhere in the city (presumably underground). at times in fact, i feel like germans are a little ahead of the technology curve: their trains are amazing, the buses are clean and quiet, aforementioned power lines, recycling, induction cooktops... ok, perhaps i'm just impressed by their attention to conservation. for the most part though, it's just a regular, modern country, with all (well, most...) of the comforts of home (minus ubiquitous internet).
herberhausen, landkreis göttingen
you have to admit though, there are certain places where you'd be hard pressed to prove were in the 21st century... 
First impressions of Germany--
ok, first of all, capitalizion is not relistically going to last here. i apologize. i do actually know how to capitalize. but as i current have terrible hand/wrist/arm pain, i'm going to ask for a pass.
anyway. first impressions! yes. i believe one of the very first things i encountered after a painfully long wait in customs with a quite interesting mix of peoples from various continents (notably, i was whisked through quite quickly once i finally reached the customs officer) was this vending machine. 'snacks and drinks' wasn't quite what i was in the mood for--although air canada food did leave a lot to be desired for. note the two over-weight-limit bags. NEVER travel with more than you absolutely need. in retrospect, i probably could have left one of these at home. but i knew that going in. i just didn't realize how much it would cost in terms of pain (ever lug 100+ lbs up a non-functional escalator?), time (ever miss a german intracity train?), money (ever miss a german intercity express train whose tix are non-refundable? that'll be 60 €. next?) , dignity (see escalator comment), and more time (see future post of the beautiful countryside near hannover).
ok, i feel good about myself now that i have a real post up. it is now 21:20 here and i need to get home before it gets too dark (summer solstice has, sadly, passed--not uncelebrated though!) or cold (usually 10-15 grad--i use the german because i have no idea which key is the stupid degree symbol--by 21-22:00--also, i like international time).
Hello! At the behest of my mother I'm going to be starting a blog. I'm hoping this will help me keep track of my adventures in Germany and also provide a more structured means of displaying whatever fun things I find here. In reality I will probably not have that much time here, and this will likely be forgotten several times during the year. But for now I'll try to keep it interesting.
Wolken über Europa/Clouds over Europe
Apparently Europe is cloudy. Who knew?
