Loving Leipzig

I went to the former-east-German city of Leipzig this weekend to visit my sister Katja, who is enrolled in a master's program at the university there. It was so great to spend time with her, meet her friends, and get acquainted with the city she calls home (well, for now, at least). We walked around the downtown area, ate currywurst, rode the street cars, and for a mere two euros heard the Boys Choir sing in the famous Thomaskirche, where Martin Luther lectured, Mozart played the organ, Wagner was baptized, and Bach served as cantor in the 18th century. Again, amazing and impossible to grasp the history and influence of places such as the Thomaskirche.

On Sunday we went to an old cotton mill now converted to galleries, studio spaces, and offices for creative agencies (architects, designers, furniture makers, etc.). While the exhibited artwork was hit or miss, the architecture, neighborhood, and creative energy at the Spinnerei were fantastic.

How YOU doin'?

When people answer the phone in Germany, instead of saying "hello," they say their last name. Since there are two Neubauers in our household and there's been some confusion, I answer the ringing telly with my full name. Of course I say it using the German pronunciation, because, hey, this is Germany. So, it sounds roughly like: Yool-y-ah Noy-bow-ah.
When Nina calls she pretends like she didn't hear me and makes me say it again. When Quasim called he said I sounded "so German" (or something like that).
Anyway, so the other day I answered the phone as normal, but I guess I said "Julia" really fast, so it sounded like "You-ya." Nina was on the other end, waiting to ask me how I was, and she in turn said "How You-ya?" It was funny. It doesn't sound funny now as I type it, but you gotta trust me on this one. Nins, it was funny, right? :)

Yum....internship

I had my first interview in German, for an internship at a packaging design firm (yes, people, an internship. I'm back at square one on more things than you know!). They do really cool work for things I love, namely chocolate, cookies, and ice cream. Two examples below -- yes, Melissa, that's your beloved Shoko & Keks! Even though I stumbled through the interview in my subpar, heavily-accented German, I got the internship. I'm not sure if our scheduling/hours needs will match up or whether things will work out, but at least I have some German interviewing practice (and one that ended in a positive result).


It would be so cool to work at the firm, though, and be part of the brainstorming sessions, the design process, food styling, photo shoots, and of course the tastings! (Hey, the outside has got to match the inside :).) We'll see.

Most Likely To...

With spring blossoming across the city, it's easy to see why Hamburg is the greenest city in Germany. In almost every neighborhood I venture into, large trees are sprouting leaves and public parks with fresh grass appear at seemingly every corner. In fact, 22 percent of the city is landscaped or offered as recreational space, making it no surprise that the Japanese have nicknamed Hamburg "the city with the green roof." It really is especially beautiful this time of year, as all the "green" makes its debut.

Aside from being the greenest city in Germany, I've come across some other superlatives for the hanseatic city of Hamburg (HH).

R.I.P
This is kind of an odd one to brag about, but Hamburg has the largest park cemetery in the world. My maternal grandparents and extended family members are buried at this 988-acre resting place (as a reference, Central Park is 843 acres).

London Bridges Falling Down
Although it's not readily apparent, I've known that Hamburg has more canals than Venice. But I didn't know that Hamburg boasts more bridges than Amsterdam, London, and Venice combined.

International City of Mystery
Hamburg is the world's second-largest consular city behind New York, with more than 90 consulates. Who knew?

Hot off the Press
And, this is a good one for my personal career interests -- Hamburg is the media capital of Germany, producing over half of all the newspapers and magazines sold in the country.

Happy Monday

After a two week break, it's finally back to school. Things kick off with drawing, which I desperately need help with.

I hope you all have a good start to the work week. Happy Monday!

Lessons from the Anti-Tourist

During Quasim’s short two-day visit, I learned that our high school had offered video editing and production and AP art history (what? Are you sure we went to the same high school?), that I can up my cool quotient by name dropping things like Pavement or Harput’s or simply associating myself with people who name drop, that electrical engineers make the world run, and something about tv towers, signals, magnets, and three forms of light that I’m still fuzzy on.

In return, I took him on the “un-touristy” tour of Hamburg (minus Speicherstadt, which he insisted we go to), tried to teach him some German vocab and pronunciation (it’s döner not doner), and only laughed a little when he referred to Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” as “The Tick Tock Heart.” (To his credit, the impetus for his Poe reference was a loud ticking clock and he did correct himself almost immediately.)

Together we learned that St. Pauli’s beer is from Bremen; dined in Sternschanze, Hamburg’s version of DC’s Adams Morgan/14^th St.; discovered the hipster Karolinenviertel (this is where Quasim totally upped my cool quotient by name dropping the adidas store in San Francisco, Harput’s, to the owner of a retro adidas/sportswear clothing store that offered, among other things, a terry cloth one piece tank-top/shorts tennis jumper); walked along the Elbe (walking is a favorite pastime here); went out for coffee; and generally talked about life, music, architecture, cities, blogging (he insists his blogging days are over), traveling, etc. It was a good time.

Quasim, safe travels and best of luck in the States.

Itinerary Confirmed

After many non-committal emails (just giving you a hard time, Q :)), Quasim is including Hamburg on his European itinerary and is on his way as I type. I'll meet him at Hauptbahnhof at 15:55. Another visitor to my new hometown -- yeah! Let's see what we'll pack in in the next few days. We'll keep you posted.

New Do: Euro Edge or Safety Scissors Disaster?

So, I got my hair cut. Verdict is still out: does it have any euro edge or does it look like a 12 year old lost a fight to her safety scissors? (Any male readers, I'm sure you can't tell the difference between "before" and "after" so just ignore. :))

Cute Knut

You've probably heard of Berlin's famous Knut, who is indeed becoming Germany's favorite furry celebrity. Hamburg's zoo just delivered an elephant, but she needs a better publicist (or at least a name) because she is getting upstaged! On the other hand, who can compete with this:

This Slate article about Knut is a good read, suggesting that baby elephant simply can't compete with baby bears. Drawing parallels between the public reception to Washington's panda, Tai Shan, the article looks beyond the cuddly faces and talks about why we can get so fascinated by these creatures (and why some people are calling for Knut's death). It's not exactly warm and fuzzy, but it will make you think.

Banner Weekend

Thanks to Melissa and Bettina, I received this photo of banners surrounding the NBM. Yep, that's me and Melissa. For all visitors to see. Representing "member events" at the museum. Melissa, looking good! Thanks for sending it along, guys. Hope you had a great time celebrating B's birthday. Ciao bellas!

Finding Answers to the Important Questions in Life

I've been thinking about the origins of....the hamburger. Did it really originate here in Hamburg, Germany (thus, adopting the name of this beautiful city)? I didn't want to believe it somehow, but preliminary research shows that indeed Hamburg did have something to do with this beloved sandwich. I'll keep you posted as I discover more answers to the all-important questions surrounding:

Frohe Ostern

It's Easter weekend and the Germans honor/celebrate the holiday with several days of traditions. On Thursday, it's Gruendonnerstag (green Thursday), meant as a day of cleansing to prepare for the upcoming days. On Friday we have Karfreitag (Good Friday, but with this identifier known as Sorrowful Friday), then Ostersonntag (Easter Sunday), and finally Ostermontag (Easter Monday). All these days are official holidays.

As in America, we have the Easter bunny, easter egg scavenger hunts, and loads of chocolate. In Germany they also have the Osterfeuer (Easter fire) the Saturday eve before Easter. I've never celebrated Easter in Germany, so I was especially intrigued by this tradition. Some of my classmates and I went to the Elbe River, where the Osterfeuer celebration took place.

As we reached the waterfront and beach area, people were already setting up their individual fires. Many were properly prepared with blankets, grill items, drinks, and other delicacies.

But this was the main Osterfeuer, complete with a scarecrow perched on top. People had rallied their scrap wood, Christmas trees, old branches, and other twigs to create this massive pile. The fire literally and symbolically burns away the old and therefore makes way for the new (a nice symmetry to the meaning of Easter). I've also read that it's meant to symbolize Christ's resurrection and the triumph over the darkness of death and sin. Before it was adopted as a Christian tradition, it had other seasonal meanings (i.e. done for the fertility of the fields) and ties to the sun god(ess).
So we perched ourselves close to the pile. Please don't make fun of my hat. Sometimes you don't realize you're driving head on into a fashion disaster until you are hit with a photo like this:

Anyway, moving on. In the background you can see the fate that awaits the main Osterfeuer.

And then it's lit:
And it's beautiful. Everyone is just enjoying the warmth and the view as sparks fly and the wind carries the flames every which way. With the lights of the harbor in the background, it was quite a sight.

The next morning was much less dramatic, but still a pleasure. For breakfast we had challah bread shaped as bunnies, plus "easter nests" filled with lots of goodies.

Mom made me put a little easter bunny on my head and pose for this picture.


It was only fair that she do the same, and she happily obliged.

And that, folks, is Easter in Germany. Well, at least my Easter in Germany.

Goodbye, Farewell, Aufwiedersehen

And as quickly as she arrived (shown below), she left. Welcome back home, Krystal.

Don't forget to love the hot dog.

And now two more photos from Prague (others available on Flickr, if you're interested). Below is a shot of the Old Town Square, with a beautiful, leafless tree hung with "easter eggs" and the Gothic Church of our Lady Before Tyn in the background (unfortunately the Baroque interior was inaccessible during our visit).

This is the interior of the St. Nicholas Church, the most significant building from the Prague Baroque period (built between 1704-1755). Also significant, Mozart -- who visited Prague three times during his lifetime, was beloved by Czech audiences, and composed several works there -- played on this organ. Amazing to imagine!

Have a good weekend and happy Easter!

Babes in Bohemia

If our heads weren't so large, you'd see the beautiful view across the Vltava River that welcomed us in Prague, city of 370 spires and historically home to 11 centuries of Bohemian kings and princes.

Speaking of Bohemain royalty, here is a look at the Prague Castle (Prazsky hrad), by day and by night.

The castle complex inclues several churches, the royal palace, exquisite gardens, a "golden lane" of merchants, and, oh yeah, a torture chamber. It's heavily guarded by stern, armed, and dangerous men:
Can you see the fear and trembling in our faces? (or his?) Our futile efforts to distract him were nobly resisted. We even considered extreme measures (i.e. a kiss on the cheek), but in the end decided it un-ladylike to interfer with his royal palace duties (aside from taking this picture, of course).

The impressive Gothic cathedral, picutured above from the south-eastern side is the spiritual symbol of the Czech state.

Because of the upcoming Easter holiday, the castle grounds (and much of Prague for that matter) were filled with seasonal festivities, including traditional singing and dancing. We were delighted by the youngsters' enthusiasm and skills and ended up staying longer than expected to enjoy the sight. It got us thinking -- why don't we see males in the US in these outfits and displaying such dancing prowess?

After a full day at the Castle, we wandered across the famous Charles Bridge to the melodic tunes of string quartets and other musicians, including a three-man band from Mississippi.

The astonomical clock in the Old Town Square is just as famous and people flock to the site, especially on the hour when the 12 apostles (aka by Krystal as "the little men") peek out the windows and the skeleton does a little dance. (Just go see it yourself.)

The rich hisotry of Prague also has injections of modernism, including the "dancing buildings" by Frank Gehry. If you use your imagination, you can see Fred and Ginger waltzing along the water's edge.

To sign off, we'd like to say "deqhui" for reading. That's "thank you" in Czech, which we were only able to remember because it sounds like "dickweed." Glad us Americans have a phoenetic frame of reference that's so apropos.

KB Hits the Scene

Welcome to Hamburg, Krystal!! Krystal arrived on Wednesday morning and was a true survivor of jet lag, hitting the night life scene pronto.

From the looks on our faces, you'd consider us avid beer drinkers. But the truth is, we are just happy to see each other. And, naturally, Krystal had to sample the German beer in Hamburg's famous Reeperbahn neighborhood. (Note, the puffy coat is finding new fans.)

For a true authentic German experience, we brought along two German men who are indeed avid beer drinkers (hey, they are German, right?). They were happy to accept Krystal's donation of three-quarters of a beer. Julia was not as generous.