Saturday, April 29, 2006
A Trip
I took a trip to Berlin on Friday to see my ersatz daughter (my ex-girlfriend´s daughter) perform at her acting school that she has been attending for the last year. At any rate I took the train not wanting to drive 4 hours and try to park somewhere in Berlin. They do have alternate side of the street parking and fines,towing whatever if you are in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Train travel is my favorite mode of journeying allowing me to catch up on reading. This is pastime I seldom do other than peruse online news and there must be a psychological reason for this that I haven`t quite figured out. I can read a book for hours as long as I am in a line or some similar place such as the doctor's waiting room. I have to be forced to while away my time and then voila, the urge is there.
German trains are clean, efficient, and mostly pleasant to travel on when not overcrowded such as before a holiday. The express trains are called ICE`s (Acronym and pronounced in German "EEE TSAY AY" or I-C-E as in English. They can be more crowded than the regional trains as they travel the main busy corridors. I prefer the slower trains as they seem to have more room although not as "cutting edge space technology designed" to coin a description more in German than in English thinking. I am referring to my trying to say something in English sentence while thinking in German and not knowing what the hell I am saying. The Germans love to put words together making it fun to try and separate them to figure out what the meaning is. Mark Twain wrote an essay along those lines. I try to get onto the dining car in the ICE as it guarantees a comfortable spot along with a cup of coffee that I can nurse along for at least two hours with a refill and it is particularly useful if the train is jam-packed. The problem that I had on Friday was the design of this dining car that was similar to Burger King in that they don´t want you to stay and this car had almost no tables. It was standing room only at small tables minimizing comfort making you want to drink and go. I toughed it out for an hour and a half still having a half cup of coffee. The lucky few that found booths to sit at stayed there so there was no chance for me.
The regional train from Hof to Leipzig was fairly empty until about a half hour before arriving there and it filled up with students going home for the weekend. A group of deaf youths sat near me and began to have animated hand and gesture conversations. It can be surprisingly quite easy sometimes almost to understand.
I arrived at the East Railway Station in Berlin and using the S-Bahn proceeded to the Underground located at Warsaw square coming neatly into Görlitzer Rail Station, my final destination. There was a street or subway singer on board with a voice that seemed to be amplified singing an original song with guitar accompaniment. She was not amplified but had an unusually focused voice which I found out after talking with her and she made her living working the subways five hours a day. She got out at my stop and we continued our conversation along with a coffee at a nearby cafe. She was also a composer, lyricist, and poet who had done among other things original accompaniments with synthesizer for various performances of art, music and video. I just made it in time to the performance.
German trains are clean, efficient, and mostly pleasant to travel on when not overcrowded such as before a holiday. The express trains are called ICE`s (Acronym and pronounced in German "EEE TSAY AY" or I-C-E as in English. They can be more crowded than the regional trains as they travel the main busy corridors. I prefer the slower trains as they seem to have more room although not as "cutting edge space technology designed" to coin a description more in German than in English thinking. I am referring to my trying to say something in English sentence while thinking in German and not knowing what the hell I am saying. The Germans love to put words together making it fun to try and separate them to figure out what the meaning is. Mark Twain wrote an essay along those lines. I try to get onto the dining car in the ICE as it guarantees a comfortable spot along with a cup of coffee that I can nurse along for at least two hours with a refill and it is particularly useful if the train is jam-packed. The problem that I had on Friday was the design of this dining car that was similar to Burger King in that they don´t want you to stay and this car had almost no tables. It was standing room only at small tables minimizing comfort making you want to drink and go. I toughed it out for an hour and a half still having a half cup of coffee. The lucky few that found booths to sit at stayed there so there was no chance for me.
The regional train from Hof to Leipzig was fairly empty until about a half hour before arriving there and it filled up with students going home for the weekend. A group of deaf youths sat near me and began to have animated hand and gesture conversations. It can be surprisingly quite easy sometimes almost to understand.
I arrived at the East Railway Station in Berlin and using the S-Bahn proceeded to the Underground located at Warsaw square coming neatly into Görlitzer Rail Station, my final destination. There was a street or subway singer on board with a voice that seemed to be amplified singing an original song with guitar accompaniment. She was not amplified but had an unusually focused voice which I found out after talking with her and she made her living working the subways five hours a day. She got out at my stop and we continued our conversation along with a coffee at a nearby cafe. She was also a composer, lyricist, and poet who had done among other things original accompaniments with synthesizer for various performances of art, music and video. I just made it in time to the performance.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
the px needs an update april 19 2006
This is the time every year that one has to renew his or her tax card in order to be allowed to shop at the PX in Germany. To those of you who don`t know, retired military personnel living in Germany may use the facilities of AAFES or Armed Forces shopping provided there is a pink card on hand from the Customs inspectors of the Deutsche Regierung. We may shop but are taxed for are purchases after the fact of buying usually within the month. I rarely have a need to go to the PX but I am constantly besieged from Amees (Americans living in Germany, nickname by the Germans) or natives to please pick up various beloved items not found here in the Bundesrepublic. If there is something similar such as peanut butter which is sold in the super markets, the quality and taste and unhealthy aspect of said condiment is not as pleasing or as artery clogging as say "Skippy" or "Jif". I say unhealthy because the dutch make a pretty good peanut butter but with not as much added transfats or sugar like the American version. That being said peanut butter out of America has taste whether it is artificial or not. I could wax on and on about this product but have decided to make my own butter out of unsalted peanuts and spare myself the cholestrol tainted version. My mother at 91 says American peanut butter is good enough for her and she ought to know having eaten it for at least 85 of her 91 years with no artery clogging results. I usually volunteer to take some friends along to see what is there in the commissary or exchange store and it takes about 5 or 6 hours out of my day but their happiness at seeing real "Amurican" food is reward enough.
I had to go to the US Army customs office and present identification, receive a letter of certification for the next year and then back to Hof where I live to the Germany customs for the pink card which allows me to buy at the Military base. They stamped the first date in on the card and so the process begins. The Germans are in love with stamps of all sizes and shapes since the time of Napoleon who introduced the concept of Civil Service to Germany when he invaded the teutonic land. When I first arrived here some 15 years ago, a receipt from a store or rent payment, whatever, was stamped by the person handing it out. All Germans at that time seemed to have their own private stamp kit to make everything official. The computer and its corresponding point of sale cash register has begun to make this aspect obsolete but the civil service better known as "Beamters" have fiercely held on to this rather ancient custom. When applying for retirement pay from this country`s social security system I had to prove with official transcripts that I attended High School. I had never even seen my High School Transcript or remembered my college ones but there they were, officially stamped by the various board of education secretarys or respective college registrars. I never had to do that for American social security..It was also painful to see what President Bush described as his Gentleman "C" average all over these transcripts with a sprinkling of d´s and a couple of e`s. How did I ever get through school? I did not even get a decent grade in chorus. It reminds me of my french teacher Mrs. Denzer calling me a "mechant garcon" which means something to the effect of "bad boy"..It can be dangerous delving into your past and now I am planning a visit to the PX in the next few days. My peanut butter supply is getting low.
I had to go to the US Army customs office and present identification, receive a letter of certification for the next year and then back to Hof where I live to the Germany customs for the pink card which allows me to buy at the Military base. They stamped the first date in on the card and so the process begins. The Germans are in love with stamps of all sizes and shapes since the time of Napoleon who introduced the concept of Civil Service to Germany when he invaded the teutonic land. When I first arrived here some 15 years ago, a receipt from a store or rent payment, whatever, was stamped by the person handing it out. All Germans at that time seemed to have their own private stamp kit to make everything official. The computer and its corresponding point of sale cash register has begun to make this aspect obsolete but the civil service better known as "Beamters" have fiercely held on to this rather ancient custom. When applying for retirement pay from this country`s social security system I had to prove with official transcripts that I attended High School. I had never even seen my High School Transcript or remembered my college ones but there they were, officially stamped by the various board of education secretarys or respective college registrars. I never had to do that for American social security..It was also painful to see what President Bush described as his Gentleman "C" average all over these transcripts with a sprinkling of d´s and a couple of e`s. How did I ever get through school? I did not even get a decent grade in chorus. It reminds me of my french teacher Mrs. Denzer calling me a "mechant garcon" which means something to the effect of "bad boy"..It can be dangerous delving into your past and now I am planning a visit to the PX in the next few days. My peanut butter supply is getting low.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
the second blog
I see that my first blog had the wrong date but no matter it is started. One of the first things I was able to enjoy after being back in good old Deutschland was some German bread and that says something. I have the feeling in the States that I when I eat bread, I am satisfying my hunger pure and simple, but here I have the feeling when I have a slice of dark chewy bread, I am having a meal..The weather is nothing like it was in the States, Florida, including New Jersey which was sunny and mild. I have only seen the sun yesterday in the morning up in Bielefeld and then it began to rain. Today has been overcast with a few light showers otherwise not too cold. I came, I thought a bit late to church, but there was a breakfast before the service and starting time had been moved up from 9:30 to Ten. The elderly lady who takes care of my flowers and picks up my mail told me about a radiator in my bathroom that goes on mysteriously without being turned on... That means my landlord will demand more rent to cover the heating costs..getting him to fix it will be a major project as he is almost impossible to get a hold of.
Talking with my mother, I learned that her friend Adele passed away who was also 91. She was a lively person and even still drove car. She had had an active day last week and came home and went to bed never waking up. A wonderful end for a great person..that reminds me of advice on not smoking and that is if you don´t smoke and live healthily, you will probably live longer and die faster.
Talking with my mother, I learned that her friend Adele passed away who was also 91. She was a lively person and even still drove car. She had had an active day last week and came home and went to bed never waking up. A wonderful end for a great person..that reminds me of advice on not smoking and that is if you don´t smoke and live healthily, you will probably live longer and die faster.
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