On strikes, mini Americas and doing/being European...

I woke up this morning with one intention - to finally get my German Visa.

I ran to the bus stop and discovered that for today and today only, the local buses are on strike. Oh, Germany! How much you remind me of the many endless strikes in Toronto! How could you do this to me!

*On the one hand, Germany, you annoy me when you do things like this without telling me. But on the other...how can I stay angry with you when you look at me like that! You know I love groups of people fighting for each other and supporting one other. Gets me every time.*

So, back to bed and here I am writing. What a crazy month. It's one month til Christmas, and the Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets) are all set up and ready to open (today or tomorrow I believe). I am so ready for this year's Glühwein drinking to begin.

These past few weeks have been more than interesting. Certainly the most memorable event was going to the the Kaiserslautern Military Community at Ramstein and Vogelweh base last weekend. My friend Kayla's aunt and uncle work on the Vogelweh base (her uncle teaches at the school there). They actually live off base, but are still very much within an insulated American army community. We arrived late Friday night - they picked us up from the train station, and we went back to their place. Their three daughters went to bed and the four of us sat around drinking Hefeweizen and watching TV on the Armed Forces Network. The next day, Colleen (her aunt) took us to Ramstein to see the BX (which is like a mall). Lo and behold....a giant food court! Taco Bell, Manchu Wok, Subway, Johnny Rockets, etc. etc. etc. I realized a few things while staring at this food court in wonderment: 1) they only take USD 2) you don't have to pay to pee 3) there are free refills and 4) everyone is speaking English and is between the age of 18-45.

WEIRD.

Thus began the contant "where are we????" glances back and forth. After eating 3 soft tacos each, we walked towards the stores, including the huge BX. Other stores were all kitschy touristy stuff that many of these people must think represents Germany (SO lame)...a nice big bookstore with many English books (with Glenn Beck sadly on display) and a CINNABON! Surely that was the best store there, though we were too full of tacos to enjoy one.

We continued into the BX in complete wonder, as it felt like we had stepped into Walmart, or a department store of some kind back home. Beef Jerky! Malibu Rum! Victoria's Secret! Vera Bradley! Peeps! Reese's peanut butter cups! Funny how I'd hardly care about half of this stuff at home, but as soon as I'm here I'm like - I MUST EAT 10 SOFT TACOS NOW!

Anyway. we bought some stuff, and laughed at other stuff (and people). Overall an interesting experience...

We headed to the Vogelweh base next to go grocery shopping...getting specifically excited about peanut butter, granola bars, rice krispies, doritos, ramen noodles, chef boyardee, little debbies, etc. It really just looked like any other Weis grocery store - again...where are we?? Kayla's aunt and uncle are very Catholic, so afterwards, we accompanied the family to Saturday evening mass. Another interesting experience - if you know me, you know I'm not a huge fan of churches or religion (Catholic or otherwise) but I find it interesting to observe what they practice and do in their services. For me, a lot of that ceremonial church stuff (especially in the Catholic church) is really awkward, stilted and strange as opposed to comforting. If I hear certain predictable borrowed churchy lingo too often I start to get a bad taste in my mouth since I no longer feel like I'm listening to that person...instead it feels like a "big elephant" has somehow entered the room (as they speak shared words of unwavering and unquestioned religious history - come on people, think!) Repent! Grace! Praise! Pray!

That night, the Armed Forces Network was airing PSU vs. MSU and I got more than a little excited! Lucky for me, we played really well and won. Great game to have caught on TV, that's for sure.

Next day: turkey!! It was a nice feeling to help out in the kitchen, preparing stuff, made me feel like I was at home. I had laundry in the dryer (yes!) and was peeling potatoes. How much homier can it get. It was a delicious meal, although  some of the dinner conversation amongst some of their other invited guests was less than appetizing. But I made it my goal to refrain from any political discussion, lest I offend some of the crazies and their (racially charged) politics!

Overall, we were so pleased to be back in REAL Germany. Kayla and I talked after and it only made us realize how much we love being in Marburg and being away from the US right now. Such a refreshing change to be in Europe - and to have the chance to realize how lucky we are to be in real Germany is something I truly appreciate. I'd throw away all my peanut butter and beef jerky if I had to pick one right now. Oh yeah, that's how serious I am! hahaha...

Doing/being me in a mini fake America in Europe just doesn't fit for me. I couldn't live on that base, or live as they live. I couldn't be so insulated and resist assimilating. Army goals wouldn't mesh well with my goals. I am too interested in other versions of me that I am exploring here, like my somewhat-stable-but-still-being-explored German me or the newly discovered continued-work-in-progress Spanish or French me. And then there's the more general being a Canadian/American/mixed me but in a German/European vein.

There is no one "me" and to be able to say that gives me the deepest comfort and joy. Smiling from the inside out.

sunny days*

the wet leaves dried today
no longer slippery
for i walked through days of rain and felt unsturdy on my own feet
but how is it a body can fall
down, down
the sun brings solitude and dries up the rain, the rain
it brings tears
the wet leaves are slick and dangerous
in the rain i see your beauty
but in the sun i see mine.

Remember, remember...

the 5th of November.

Right, so it's no longer Guy Fawkes day, but it was this week. Attempts to blow up Parliament? Perhaps my brain needs a charge instead.

OK so it's not quite that bad :)

But it's been one of those weekends. Today, I'm sure my body is telling me that it's been involved a huge train crash (perhaps an ICE train...they're quite fast). I picked up speed last weekend and hit a wall last night/today. Today, the wall is still thick, and dang it hurts. But I suppose I'll manage to climb over that wall soon enough.You know, since it's the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, I suppose I can rip down my own small walls as well. :)

Also, I am sick again, boo. Silly sore throats. God forbid I ever get any real work done!

A few good things happened this week. My class went really well this week as I got them talking about the drinking age in the USA. We actually had a debate about it...it was pretty awesome! I gave them the two sides (one, college presidents for lowering the age to 18, and two, MADD for keeping it at 21). As Germans, they were naturally all FOR the idea of a change to 18, but in a debate, sides must be taken.

Well, a few of them played the part VERY well. Convincing. My one student on the "no change" side started out passionately (hand motion and all) "statistics show that the law is on our side. And, we have a moral obligation to protect our children from the perils of drinking and  driving." HAHA! This coming from someone who can't understand the law to begin with...aren't debates fun! There was much laughter during it. I think they enjoyed it.

As a side note, I'm sure I am speaking foreigner talk when I'm teaching. I am SO bad with that...I always "dumb down" my English, that I sometimes find myself doing it for Americans and they're like "uh, hello, unnecessary". But I am trying really hard to avoid that in class - they need to hear the real deal! Half the time I speak the English I know that Germans will understand....*sank yoo for trafelling vis za deutsche bahn, good bye*, which I definitely should also not do. Old habits die hard, I guess. I blame my good friend Peter. We created our own mixed language - Denglisch (Deutsch/English). It is this language that contributes to my speaking English "like a German"... oops :)

As for trips, Saturday was a little day trip to Eisenach with 3 other people. We went to die Wartburg, a UNESCO world heritage site. Beautiful. Also got to see where Bach was born, and go through the house which is now a museum. I also ate another Thüringer Bratwurst, which is clearly a highlight in and of itself. Perhaps one of the highlights was that we were almost on German TV. Yes, a well known German TV host was at the castle for some broadcast and decided we should be interviewed - no thanks!!! We kindly explained to him that we were not German and thus our language capabilities might be a hindrance. And, furthermore, we had NOTHING to say about the topic. Pretty sure that interview would have consisted of one hell of a lot of "ich weiß nicht".

Well that's it, my stuffy nose and sore throat are telling me it's bedtime.
mach's gut, meine lieben...
kopf hoch (more for me than you :)
zzz