Post 7: Median

These are some pictures from the night Germany beat Turkey to advance to the Euro 2008 Championship. Yes, those are riot police!

For those of you keeping track at home, I have reached the half way point of my exile in Europe. This seems like it would be an appropriate time to sum up all the funny stories, cool experiences, and little tid bits about traveling abroad. Unfortunately for you, bored college student at work, I don't have as much time to write such an update. This will have to do...

Since living in Germany I have:

• consumed the best beer in the world - Hofbrauhaus Dunkel
• had the best mustard in the world - any mustard anywhere here
• ate a lot of gelato (it's a European obsession)
• enjoyed a lot of yogurt- or joghurt (Blutorange [blood orange] being my favorite)
• drank some disgusting amount of carbonated mineral water
• Ironed more clothes than I ever have in my entire life x 2
• Gotten use to pushing a button to flush a toilet
• made spaghetti approximately 16 times
• driven a car only once
• not touched anything remotely close to Mexican food
• etc. etc.

OTHER THINGS

I went to The Museum Ludwig in Cologne on Saturday. It was a really great modern art museum with a great collection. A couple Picassos, some Salvador Dalis, and a ton of German work. I've started to really appreciate all of the culture in Cologne. I mean, on a normal night running by the river this is what I pass: a chalk artist (every week night) in front of the Dom, a couple people protesting China, some people protesting conflict in Israel, a drum group, and on the weekends there are always street performers like this guy who juggles fire, or those really annoying people who pretend to be statues. There are only a little over one million people here, but it's worlds ahead of DFW as far as appreciating individual expression. I mean yeah the Main Street Arts Festival is cool and all, but c'mon...

Actually, the HR manager at igus who I sometimes have a difficult but always respectful relationship with told me that he stayed very close to The Modern in Fort Worth but figured a museum in Texas wasn't worth going to! Haha- I told him I understood, but thought The Modern was one of Fort Worth's redeeming things. He also said that since I've been to Europe and have already been to Washing D.C., "I can die now". The directness of the translation caught me off guard! Haha

THE FUTURE

Tomorrow will be my first 4th of July not in the United States. The CEO of igus, Herr Blase, which may or may not be reading this (depending on his Google Alerts, right?) has invited us to his house. He has promised hamburgers, and I can stay that although I don't necessarily miss American food, a hamburger sounds great right about now! Matthew Kiesel will hopefully be in attendance, and I am incredibly excited to see him while he is still employed (just kidding). There is a music festival on Friday where a whole bunch of German bands are playing. There's only one artist I know and that is... wait for it...Ben Folds! I've been trying to see him in one form or another since I was a junior in high school, so how crazy is it that I will see him in Germany?

Next weekend we will be taking an extended trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. I'm trying desperately not to get my hopes up, but here is my tentative schedule of events: Friday: canyoning -Saturday: white water rafting -Sunday:hang gliding - all in the Swiss alps.

If I survive, then you can be jealous.

I'm starting to realize I really should use my Americaness more to my advantage. It is a great excuse to be ignorant, naive, and rude! I usually use it only in defensive situations. For example if a big German thinks I cheat at volleyball or a girl's boyfriend at a  club is upset about me speaking Spanish to her, I say " Spreche Kein Deutsche!" and it's like everything okay. However, I'm starting to think I should use it on the offense now. What if I just demand free refills, or acted dumb to the exchange rate and paid .63 less for everything? "Uhhh...I'm American. No habla German! ...YEAH! AMERICA!"