T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
In an effort to give their country more of an Italian feel, German train workers will most likely be striking again starting at midnight tonight (with no planned end scheduled, so this is actually less fun than an Italian strike). The train strike includes the S-Bahn in Munich, but the U-Bahn, trams, and buses should … Read more
You didn’t really think the city of Munich was going to make us wait until autumn for a beer festival, did you? The Starkbierfest, or Strong Beer Festival, take place every year for a few weeks during Lent. Drinking beer doesn’t count as breaking a fast, you see, so rumor has it that the monks … Read more
German raclette cheese is not the same as Swiss raclette cheese. The German version is much, much stinkier. We did a quick-and-dirty blind taste test of 3 locally-available Weissbiers the other day (why only 3? Because that’s how many Weissbier glasses we have at home. Yes, we need more): both Paulaner and Franziskaner were deemed … Read more
Germany’s Merkel suffers blow ahead of 2009 vote Elections in Germany confirm leftward shift Obviously mainstream conservatives in Germany are very different than those in the US, but still I tend to forget which party Merkel is from. Both the fact that she is a woman and that she grew up in the East make … Read more
So the other day I was reading this post by Brian in Munich about how he is having to extract elderly Germans from his reserved train seats all the time. And while I found the post amusing, a part of my brain was protesting: surely he doth exaggerate about the frequency of such occurrences. Oder?* … Read more
The city center inMunichgets a little crazy for the last three days of carnival (Fasching). The locals don costumes and down lots of booze in one big street party (and at lots of littler parties). It’s fun to see an entire city party together. The costumes people were wearing were much more… themed than the … Read more
Who the hell convinced the Germans that orange cheese-like-food in a spray can is an essential part of the American diet? This stuff makes an appearance in every single “American Foods” section of every single grocery store in all of Germany. This is not a new thing, either – I remember seeing spray cheese at … Read more
We live so close to a brewery that our neighborhood actually smells like brewing beer most days. It’s really a pleasant smell, but I’m still glad it doesn’t seem to reach all the way to our apartment. Right Said Fred is currently featured in a German commercial, performing I’m Too Sexy while shilling for Meister … Read more
So as I mentioned in the last post, we are keeping busy doing all those annoying little things one must do upon arrival in a new country: paperwork, set up utilities, paperwork, get insurance, paperwork, sign up for a cell phone plan, paperwork… We decided to get contracts with the cell phone provider O2, since … Read more
Still alive, still unpacking, still no internet at home. A trip to Ikea is long overdue (at least Ikea sells the same furniture all over the world, so our new German furniture will go perfectly with our Italian, Swiss, and American furniture). Another thing we need to take care of is choosing a German cell … Read more