The Quest for the "Gift of the Gab": My Thanksgiving Weekend Trip to Ireland

Cork, Ireland is where one of my good friend Kait and her husband Markus are currently living. Kait and her boss (who owns a coffee shop and is also an American) were planning a large Thanksgiving extravaganza and so Kait invited me over to Ireland for a long weekend. I left early on Thursday morning from Duesseldorf and flew first into Dublin. In Dublin I was required to switch airlines (because Aer Lingus does not fly to Cork from Dublin and Ryan Air does not fly to Duesseldorf) and so I had to exit through pass control. The Non-EU passport control line was ridiculously long and they only had 2 windows open and for about 20 minutes the pass control people were dealing with the same foreigners. As I nervously waited, worrying that I wouldn't be through pass control in time to check in for my next flight, I watched as numerous EU citizens would come in waves and breeze through pass control. Finally after about 40 minutes of waiting I had a little Irish luck and they opened up so additional lines and I was able to make it in time to check in for my flight.
At the Cork airport I was picked up by my friend Kait and her boss Ella. We then spent the afternoon frantically running around in order to procure the final ingredients for the Thanksgiving feast which, I learned, would be for 30 people (a combination of Americans and Irishmen). Once the errands were finished, Ella took us back to her house where we met up with Julie (another friend whom I had studied abroad with in Salzburg). This is where the frantic cooking began. The turkeys were already cooked as they had been put in early that morning, but cooking for 30 people requires a great amount of work. Amazingly Kait, Julie, and I (Ella didn't do any of the cooking but instead spent the time "staging" and creating atmosphere) pulled it off and were ready to serve by eight o'clock. Of course Ella was still not finished with her staging as a guest had arrived who does professional lighting for parties and such. We ended up not eating until 11 p.m. (probably about the same time that most of you in the U.S. were sitting down for dinner). The atmosphere was quite impressive - complete with about 5 disco balls and numerous colored lights. It was not exactly what I would expect for Thanksgiving but it turned out to be quite enjoyable and we received many compliments on the food.
The next morning, after some peaceful sleep, Kait, Julie, and I began to clean up from the chaos of the night before. It actually didn't end up being too terrible. Then Ella drove us from her house (pictured in the top left corner and top center) in the country back to town to Kaits house.
On Saturday morning I ventured off on my own so that I could actually see some of Cork and not just the inside of people's houses. Kait had already seen all the tourist attractions and so she opted not to join in as they also cost a bit of money. Cork is not a particularly large town, however, it is incredibly easy to get lost as the streets are poorly marked. I was always heading in the right general direction but would often overshoot a turn that I was supposed to make. Downtown Cork is a cute little city. I explored the glorious Penneys which is an inexpensive department store. After some shopping at Penneys, I meandered throught the English Market (pictured at right) which is sort of a permanent farmers market that is all enclosed.
After wandering through the town I began to head towards the City Gaol (Jail), however, once again I became lost. This time I ended up on a lovely little nature walk along the river Lee. I enjoyed the serene nature setting for awhile and then headed back the direction I had come in order to climb the hill and end up at the jail. Finally I reached the jail, which turned out to be interesting and informative. The two ladies that worked there (that day anyway) were very friendly and they gave me a new bag to put my shopping purchases in, as mine had ripped on the journey. The old jail chronicled the history of both the general prisoners and those who were imprisoned due to political affiliation. One quote on the audio tour that I found to be especially representative was, "The only real crime many of these people committed was the crime of being born poor." The jail seems to have been a revolving door (as it is now in the U.S.) and often times people were continuously being relocked up. Once a person had served time in the jail it was almost impossible for them to find employment and so they were destined to lives of beggary and thievery. The jail is also supposedly haunted - one passageway in particular depicts an optical illusion that is "ghost-like". Kait informed me, however, that people in Cork really do believe the jail to be haunted, even though the "ghost-like" figure is clearly fraudulent.
Kait and Julie ended up having to work that night so I ended up hanging out with Markus and Pa (short for Patrick), who was a friend of Kait and Markus. Pa is a typical Irish character who liked to drink and have good crack (Irish for good conversation and fun). He nicknamed me "Blondie Bear" partially because of my hair color and partially because he has a horrible memory and could not remember my name. After having a couple beers with Markus and Pa we met up with their friend Nora, who was also incredibly nice and fun to hang out with. We first headed to Lennox's to have some famous chips and cheese and garlic. The Chips and Cheese and Garlic were deliciously greasy and satisfying - I have never had anything quite like it before in my life as normal fries and cheese really do not compare. Then we headed to Nancy Spains for a pint and to meet up with Kait and Julie.
Sunday morning, Markus cooked us scrumptious omelettes. After savoring every bite, I headed off to the bus station in order to head to the Blarney castle. The Blarney castle (pictured at left) once belonged to Cormack McCarthy and it is also the site of the Blarney stone which is supposed to bestow upon those who kiss it the "gift of the gab". Although I am not usually hurting for words, I decided to kiss the stone in order to ensure eloquence - I also hope that perhaps some of my eloquence would transfer over to my German language abilities.
The castle grounds were beautiful and serene. It provided for a relaxing afternoon filled with Irish lore. On the grounds there is a witches stone (pictured at right) in which a witch is believed to be trapped until nightfall. The witch has a kitchen and there are steps that lead down to a river that are said to be wishing steps. As repayment for using wood for her fire the witch must grant the wishes of anyone who walks up and down the steps with their eyes closed (of course I participated in the activity).
On Monday morning I ate a traditional breakfast roll (a baguette with scrambled eggs, a few types of sausage, cheese, butter, and brown sauce - basically a delicious heart attack waiting to happen), said my goodbyes, and headed to the airport. My first flight was just to Dublin and this time I had a 6 hour layover. Not wanting to spend the whole time in the airport, I caught the bus into town. In Dublin I walked along Henry Street (which is the main shopping district), Temple Bar (a funky pub ditrict), and strolled through Trinity College. Due to the short amount of time I was really only able to whet my appetite for returning to Dublin and not able to really explore properly. All in all Ireland was a wonderful trip and I will definitely be returning for more exploration.

Frankfurt (sadly without pictures)

Disclaimer: As noted above, I do not have any Frankfurt pictures because my camera batteries died the moment that I arrived and I did not have time to procure replacements. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to return to Frankfurt and then I can share some photos.

This weekend I traveled by slow train (because I am not lacking for time and it is much cheaper than the fast trains) to Frankfurt in order to attend the German Fulbright Alumni Association's Welcome Meeting. This meeting was a good opportunity to meet Germans who had received a Fulbright to study in the U.S. and an opportunity to meet up with some of the people I had met during my first week in Goettingen. Surprisingly there were not many of us from the American delegation to Germany at this meeting, primarily those individuals who I have kept in contact with.
The weekend kicked off with a "meet and greet" which ended up not being the sort of mingling that you would expect from an American meet and greet but rather our group of Americans sitting together at a table and then the Germans all sitting at their own tables. Despite the lack of mixing it was quite fun. Those of us from the American delegation were able to reunite, share stories, and bond over shared experiences.
Saturday began with some welcome speeches. We heard a speech from a U.S. Consulate officer, the Frankfurt mayor's office, and a famous German journalist. The journalist (unfortunately I did not have his name written down anywhere) was the keynote speaker and he gave a talk on the transformation of Europe and specifically the changes within the EU. This particular journalist was a prominent German figurehead as he had been on the Tagesschau (I would compare it to the national nightly news) and had been a foreign correspondent in France. I would probably liken him to Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather. His talk was interesting and information and he was able to give first hand accounts for many things as he had met and interviewed important figureheads like Charles De Gaulle.
After the keynote address we had some lunch and mingled a little (more so than at the "meet and greet") before heading to workshops. We were allowed to choose which workshop we wanted to attend. I had originally chosen to go to the "How to Survive Germany" workshop - thinking that there would be some amazing new information from a German perspective. Sadly the workshop was run by an American Fulbright Teaching Assistant. In a way it was nice to commiserate and share stories, however, in retrospect I wish that I had attended the "Global Challenges" workshop.
On Saturday evening we attended a dinner party at the zoo - well the building was at the zoo but we did not actually get to see any animals from where we were. This was where the true mingling began. There was a delicious buffet and flowing beer, wine, and champagne. For the first part of the evening everybody sat at tables enjoying their dinner and then later the dancing began. The evening celebration can probably be equated with a wedding reception. Of course there was no bride and groom and all of the traditions that come with the pair but the dinner and dancing was much like what you would find at a wedding reception. We ended up dancing the night away and were out until the subway resumed operation at 4:15 a.m.
Sunday commenced with a lazy brunch. After the delicious brunch we had the option of attending a city-tour, which I was looking forward to as I had not had the opportunity to explore much of Frankfurt. The tour turned out to be a disappointment, however. Our tour guide was a little old man who walked extremely slow and so we were not able to see a lot of the city and it was surprisingly exhausting to have to walk that slowly.
Overall the weekend was excellent and I am looking forward to the next opportunity to gather with people from the organization.

Marburg - Fairy Tale Land (Literally)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend a relaxing weekend visiting one of my oldest friend's, Maya. Coincidentally, Maya is studying abroad in Marburg, Germany this semester. Marburg is about 4 hours (by slow aka. cheap train).
The city of Marburg is a picturesque University City complete with a castle that sits atop a small mountain. One immediately gets the feeling that they are in the setting for a fairy tale as the styles of buildings and the castle itself create an atmosphere of make believe. The Brothers Grimm actually lived in Marburg and much of their inspiration for various tales is drawn from the surrounding area.
Aside from visiting the castle and just walking around and taking in the atmosphere, I did not partake in many other "tourist activities". Apparently there is a fairy tale road, the tower where Rapunzel let down her hair, and other sights, however, I mostly just enjoyed being in the city and spending time with my friend.
Every day Maya gets together with a group of American students and they make dinner together. This gathering proved to be a lot of fun and I was able to learn how to make sushi -which is something that I have wanted to learn how to do for quite some time.
Karaoke (which is one of my favorite activities in the States) was on the agenda for one of my nights in Marburg. Interestingly enough, Karaoke songs are mostly in English. I don't know why this surprised me since the majority of the popular music here is American, however, I guess I was expecting people to be more interested in singing German music even if they do not necessarily listen to it. The whole karaoke atmosphere was different than my experiences with Karaoke in the States. Everybody was sitting at tables just listening to the singers - in the U.S. it has been my experience that people are usually dancing and singing along. The DJ got a kick out of the fact that we were Americans who understood German and so he continuously decided to use us as a theme for the evening.
In addition to Karaoke, I attended a German University party, ate at a traditional German restaurant, and did some shopping. All in all it was a fun and relaxing weekend.

Rally for Human Rights in China

"Ohne Menschenrecht, kein Olympischen Spiel" (German for "Without Human Rights, No Olympics in China"). This was the rally/protest that I visited in Duesseldorf last weekend (October 27). The campaign is a worldwide campaign and I believe that it deserves some attention on my blog even though it is not strictly a German/European experience. You can read more at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/02/china16560.htm or http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-9-1/59285.html or http://chinaview.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/no-human-rights-no-olympic-games-in-china-speech-by-david-matas/ . The Chinese government has been using the Olympic games as an excuse to persecute protesters and those who defend Human Rights in China. They are using the games as an excuse to imprison practitioners of the Falun Gong religion. Prisoners are then required to work from 5 a.m. until midnight in sweat shop conditions. They are fed little and are only allowed 2-3 trips to the bathroom a day. A modern day work/concentration camp is a good way to describe the conditions. Doctors are also removing organs from the prisoners in order to sell them on the black market to people who need new organs....the stories of camp survivors are truly horrifying and the whole operation runs contrary to what the Olympic spirit is all about. The protest is not against the athletes, the games, or the Chinese people themselves, rather it is requesting that people stand up to the Chinese government and stop turning a blind eye to this atrocious human rights abuse.
As part of both my concern for Human Rights and my hope to be involved in International Human Rights law in the future this is a cause that I care deeply about.

Assorted photos from Duisburg - The Landschaftspark...where Old Industrial meets Nature

The Duisburg Landschaftspark is a creative use of an old industrial site. Nature has been allowed to regrow and portions of old buildings are used for rock climbing, children's play equipment, a skate park, etc. It is a recreational area and was an enjoyable place for my friends and I to spend an afternoon.

New Apartment, Independent Living, and the Beginning of the University Classes

Admittedly it has been a while since my last blog posting and that is due in part to the fact that I have not had internet access in my new apartment and in part because I have not had a lot to report. I finished my home stay last Wednesday. The rest of the stay was enjoyable and relaxing although not filled with any adventured. I am looking forward to having continued contact with my host mom Wilma and her friends, however.
I moved into my own Studenten Wohnheim (literal translation is "Student Hostel" pictured at left) and it is definitely an interesting experience. It is an upgrade from an American style dormitory but not quite as nice as having a full fledged apartment. I lucked out though in that I only share my kitchen and bathroom with one other person and not an entire floor like some Wohnheim's require. My roommate (whom I share just the bathroom and kitchen with) is Chinese. She is incredibly nice, incredibly quiet, and she speaks only broken English and no German at all.Everyday (even when I have no scheduled activities or events) I make it a point to leave my Wohnheim for a few hours in order to avoid going crazy from boredom.
The first few days on my own were slightly boring. I had anticipated having a large amount of time occupied by running errands and getting things set up, however, everything took surprisingly less time than I had anticipated. I attended the orientation that the university offered for international students. The orientation was helpful and I met a few people, however, it can sometimes be a challenge to meet international students as they tend to travel together in groups from their home country and tend to speak together primarily in their native language.
On last Friday evening I met up with two of my American friends Lena (who went to UP and is a teaching assistant with Fulbright) and Karin (who is also a Fulbright teaching assistant) and we attended a modern version of Swan Lake in Essen. This rendition was.....interesting. The dancing was phenomenal and the music was wonderful (of course) but the costumes, backdrop, choreography, and the concept in general was bizarre. The ballet took place on the modern party scene and so the dancers all wore dark purples, blacks, and greys (many of the men in leather pants). As swans the costumes were tutus alone with no leotards underneath. The dancers (both male and female swans) were forced to hold up a portion of the tutu in the front in order to avoid exposing their chests. This costuming only allowed them the use of 1 arm at a time while dancing, however, most of the dancing was done with only elbow/arm movements (ie. a similar fashion to the way somebody would imitate a chicken). I suppose this positioning made their movements much more swan like, however, it was unusual for a rendition of Swan Lake.
After viewing the ballet we headed to the Mexican restaurant that we had found on our previous excursion in Essen. It was delicious. We all had a homemade beer which is part beer from the tap, part ginger ale, part tequila, and part lime. Then we all headed to the train station in order to go our separate ways. At the train station we ended up having to wait an hour because the German train conductors were again striking this Friday (as well as other days during the week).
On Saturday and Sunday I was alone. I was able to do some shopping and wander around in the sunshine on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous and I have determined that I do like Duisburg. It is definitely the most amazing European (or even German city) but it is pretty and it has its quirks. It is much different than what I had expected based on people's reactions when they heard I would be going to Duisburg. The pictures on this post are from Duisburg.
On Sunday the weather was again beautiful. I had planned on going to a museum but the weather changed my mind (best to save a museum for a rainy day when I have nothing else to do). I decided to wander around the Innenhafen (Inner harbor - biggest inland port in all of Europe) in order to take some pictures and enjoy the weather. I ended up stumbling upon a festival that was being hosted by a German TV station that had just opened a new studio on the harbor. As part of the festival there were Soap stars from the show "Verbotene Liebe" (Forbidden Love) as well as cartoon characters and live music. The musicians were singing American songs (with some minor pronunciation problems) and at one point the lead singer tried to get the crowd to wave their arms to the music. Of course this is Germany and so only a few audience members caught on to the idea while the rest just stood there with their beer in one hand and either a wurst or a cigarette in the other (it seems stereotypical but it is indeed a true observation from this particular event).
Class began on Monday (a building at the University is pictured at right) and I had my first lecture in a lecture hall of 200 people. The German students were all in cliques making it virtually impossible to approach any of them and make new friends. It also made it a little difficult to hear as they would talk with their neighbors throughout the majority of the 1st lecture despite the Professors request that people not talk. This is much different than any experience I have ever had in the U.S. In the U.S. it seems a few whispered words or comments at certain moments are permissible but no Professor would tolerate this amount of noise and students would likely be called out. I have learned that I will be needing to sit front and center in order to be able to pay attention to what is going on.
The class I will take on Tuesday did not begin this week so I did not have class again until Wednesday. My classes on Wednesday (and Tuesday) are part of the Masters level program so they are much smaller and in fact my first class on Wednesday was a seminar and not a lecture. When waiting in the hall for class to begin it seemed as if all the students already knew each other - again making it difficult for me to approach anybody. The class had 21 students and at the beginning the Professor made us all go around and say our names and where we had completed our B.A. Normally this would not make me the least bit nervous, however, knowing that I now had to speak in German (which I know well enough to complete the task) in front of native German speakers, I was terrified. My heart was pounding, hands sweating and shaking. Of course my introduction of myself went fine but it was terrifying nonetheless. The Professor then began to go over the syllabus and I learned that we were going to be required to give a 20 minute presentation with a partner and a 10 minute commentary on somebody else's presentation during the course of the semester. Once again I was an internal nervous wreck - not only about the presentation but also about finding a partner. Luckily the girl next to me (Nadine) quickly asked me to be her partner and we picked a topic in which more than half of the reading assignments were in English. It is lucky that many of the reading assignments are in English (the nature of Political Science literature) but it also can make it difficult for me in terms of explaining my ideas in German since the German vocabulary is not readily available in the article.
After class Nadine asked me and some of the other class members if they would like to go get coffee. It seems that they did not all know each other they had just all had one class together the previous day. This made me extremely happy because I now have the same opportunity of making new friends in the Masters program that all of the other students do. At coffee we all learned each others names and chatted about our lives (where we were from, hobbies, where we studied, internships, politics, etc.) Everyone was extremely nice and friendly and I feel much more comfortable with the idea of presenting in front of them now. A group of us also went to lunch together later that day and it was nice to finally be eating with a group and not by myself in the MENSA (cafeteria). I have a few other classes with these students and I am looking forward to getting to know them better and to finally have some German friends.
Last night I attended an International Cafe with Lena, Jason (another Fulbright TA who lives in my Wohnheim), and Steve (another American poli sci student that I had met at the international student orientation). The theme of the cafe was Tunisia meets China and there were presentations on both of the countries as well as food to try. It was interesting to interact with such a diverse group of people.
This weekend I am attending a big University party for the Social Science students with Nadine, Lena, and a few others. Then on Saturday I am going to Duesseldorf with Lena and Karin in order to view a Museum exhibit titled "Bonjour Russia". It contains French and Russian masterpieces that are available for viewing in the West for the first time ever. It will be fun to check out the city of Duesseldorf as well. It is only about 15-30 minutes away and I am able to travel there for free with my Student ID.

Essen, Germany

On Friday I was in Essen, Germany in order to spend some time with a few of my friends from the University of Portland who are working with Fulbright as English teaching assistants in German schools. Essen is about 40 minutes from Moers by train, but will only be about 10 minutes away once I am living in Duisburg. It was exciting to spend some time with familiar faces and to meet one of their teaching assistant friends.
We spent the first part of the day walking around the downtown area and perusing the selection at numerous bookstores. Trevor, Lena, and Karin had all learned that Essen had a few Mexican restaurants and so we decided to venture there for lunch. Upon venturing to the restaurants we learned that they did not open until 3 or 4 p.m. We decided, however, to wait for our lunch because we were all craving Mexican food and there is no German substitute.
While waiting, we wandered around a bit longer and Lena, Karin, and I bought tickets for Swan Lake next Friday. Little did we know that this is a modern version of the ballet that takes place in the modern "party scene". Needless to say it should be interesting. I will post a blurb about the ballet after I attend.
Finally it was 3 p.m. so we headed to the Mexican restaurant which was surprisingly delicious (You never know what you can expect from Mexican food in Germany)!
After lunch, Karin had to head back to the town where she is living, Kamen, so we walked her back to the train station. Trevor, Lena, and I then headed to Gruva Park. This park is possibly one of the most beautiful and interesting city parks that I have ever been to. In addition to numerous flowers, trees, green grass, and ponds, there is a Hundertwasser Haus (a famous architect who did not believe in straight lines - pictured above) that is used as a Ronald McDonald Foundation Children's Hospital, a bath house, a swimming pool, numerous children's play areas, and lots of birdlife (thanks in part to a large aviary that houses Owls, Hawks, Eagles, Parrots, Herons, Storks, etc.). It was a peaceful place where I would love to spend more time. I have posted pictures of the park for your viewing pleasure.
After our adventure in the park, we walked through an area that everybody had told Lena is a wonderful part of the city. It was pretty, but not anything incredibly special. We stopped off at a grocery store in order to purchase some water (it is so easy to become dehydrated in Germany because you constantly drink coffee and water is not as readily available since the Europeans do not believe in drinking water out of the tap). I mention this stop at the grocery store only because the cashier stopped the woman in front of us for a "backpack" check as she suspected the woman of stealing. There were indeed items of food in the woman's backpack and a manager was called to the front. We, however, did not stick around long enough to find out if she was indeed stealing or if the items were from a different store.
Finally we walked past the Aalto Theater (where we will see the ballet next week) and the Philharmonie and headed back to the train station. I had just missed one train back to Moers, so we ended up waiting for an hour at the train station. I then hopped on my train back to Moers, however, due to the train strikes in Germany on Friday I ended up having to wait an additional hour in Duisburg for the next train to Moers. It is interesting how the train strike worked and it is likely one of the most organized and least inconvenient strikes I have ever witnessed. The train engineers who were striking were only allowed to stop certain regional trains in areas where passengers would be able to catch a faster train (which would normally be more expensive, but during the strike was allowed in order to accomodate passengers). There were frequent announcements of which particular train passengers could catch if the train they were originally scheduled for was cancelled due to the strike. I guess one could say it was more a strike in principal than an actual strike that caused severe disruptions to the lives of Germans.