Say Cheese!

Posing for the camera.

Okay, let's be serious.

Back to Miniatur Wunderland (they wanted to go!!!).

Feeding the elephants.

Go HSV! (Final score: Hamburg 4, Budapest 0).

Wilkommen

JoJo and Keith arrive.

And I get crapped on.


It's my lucky day!

German Observations, vol. I

A few observations on German culture collected over the past six months:

1. So you may have heard that Germans obey crosswalk signals like there's no tomorrow. There could be no car in sight or earshot, no other pedestrians around, and a German will still wait for the "walk" signal before crossing the street. It's true.

2. In general, Germans obey the law. Like the above-stated traffic signals. And the speed limit. And parking restrictions. They also obey the rules. If you aren't officially registered as part of the team, they won't put you in as a sub under a different name even if they are a player short and will have to default the match (not that this happened to me or anything!).

3. Speaking of traffic, driving etiquette is pretty much the opposite as that in DC. If a driver puts on his blinker to change lanes....wait, wait for it: the other drivers let him/her in!!!! And, like, immediately!!! Seriously. I've never known the blinker to have such power. And did you know that, if another driver cuts you off or gives you the finger or some other evil gesture, you can report him to the police? And the offender actually gets fined. Can you imagine the volume of calls DC's police department would be getting? Or the fines I would have paid! :)

4. A street festival in Hamburg basically relies on one formula: tents with beer + tents with sausages + tents with crepes + tents with sweet roasted almonds + fireworks = Street Festival! I don't even want to know the line item in the city's budget for fireworks. Okay, they are some of the best fireworks I've ever seen, but money is literally going up in smoke.

5. Talking on the phone is mega expensive so people keep phone conversations to a minimum or SMS (text). You can get a cell phone plan with 100 free minutes (yes, 100!) and free nights and weekends for around 40 euros/month, with additional minutes costing 39 cents/min.. Would Verizon even offer a plan with such ridiculously low minutes?

6. The word soul (Seele, could also mean spirit or core) is used quite often and in a secular context -- in newspapers, magazine articles, conversations, as a topic of discussion. I appreciate that there is concern and interest for this part of being, and that this depth exists in the media and among friends/acquaintances outside of a church/synagogue/mosque/etc.. In the States I feel like the idea of soul/spirit is primarily reserved for a religious setting.

Okay, so that's my spur-of-the-moment "German Observations, Vol. I". Any other German observations are welcome. Anyone else who has been to Deutschland want to share?

PS

Not sure if I mentioned this, but my sister Kat is studying in South Africa this semester. It's all part of her global studies curriculum. Pretty cool, huh? This Hamburg thing is pretty tame in comparison.

So Much to Say

So much not to say. Not really anything new going on here. School is starting again end of next week. I still have a few projects to get done beforehand (they assigned stuff during the break). And naturally I hardly got to any of the other things I wanted to do during our four-week semester break. Oh well. C'est la vie. Can you believe it's almost September? Crazy.

All in the Family

This weekend was a full family weekend, with my cousin's 47th birthday celebration in Luebeck, a Sunday afternoon with my grandmother, and an evening barbecue (they call it "grilling" here) with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and her family of four. Perfect was when my cousin asked his five-year-old son (who I've only seen as an infant) if he remembered me and, peering through his round glasses, he confidently replied with a yes. Too cute.

It's a Girl Thing

My new summer 'do. Okay, it's August, but better late than never.

Notice the Hamburg t-shirt.

I haven't had hair this short since the third grade. When I was once mistaken for a boy. Nice.

Count 'em

Only 12 more days until Johanna and Keith start their European adventure, beginning with a few days here in Hamburg. Can't wait!

Off to Market

While the U3 subway carries passengers between the stations Hoheluftbrücke and Eppendorfer Baum, Tuesday and Friday mornings finds the dry real estate below the train tracks bustling with people shopping at Hamburg's Isemarkt.

Here you can find fresh fish to meet any recipe's demands...

organic sausages, ham, and cheeses...

Fresh eggs for 12 to 33 cents each...

Sweet peaches, succulent pineapple, mangoes, oranges, and in-season fruits....

not to mention flowers, vegetables, breads, olives, jams, and anything else you might need and want for your kitchen.

Despite the rain, it was a sweet Friday morning exploring the market for the first time, sampling some greek spreads, and enjoying a latte machiatto in the festive and colorful atmosphere. While there, I couldn't help but think of the Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown, and the great space it offers below the buzzing traffic for something like this.

Mini Me

Hamburg is home to more than 40 museums, including the Hamburg dungeon, a coffee and spice museum, an Afghani culture museum, an erotic art museum, a `blind`museum, a customs museum, and......Miniatur Wunderland, which we visited on Wednesday. This museum is a mini wonder; it showcases the world's largest model train and is -- shockingly enough -- the most-visited tourist attraction in Hamburg (at least according to claims on their website).

It's freaking weird.

They have created a mini world, including Las Vegas (shown both by day and by night).

And a lot of Hamburg's famous areas. Here is Hamburg's Michel, a baroque church built in the late 1600s and the beloved landmark of our city. The picture below gives you a sense of scale.

In addition to Hamburg and Las Vegas, the museum features other German areas like Harz and Knuffingen, additional American landscapes (Mount Rushmore, Miami, Grand Canyon), plus Scandanavia.

And detailed scense like a couple sunbathing in a field of sunflowers.

And a dead person found by police in a river.


Like I said, weird.

Z is for Zoo

Summer finally arrived and with beautifully warm weather we headed to Hamburg's Hagenbeck Tierpark (zoo) for their Romantic Night. The zoo was open until 11 pm (seriously confusing the poor animals who had to stay up past their bed times), more than 15 groups of musicians played classical music throughout the park, people picnicked around the grounds, and fireworks capped the evening.

Our first stop was at the gerbels. Okay, to be honest, I'm not sure if they were gerbels...I was too impressed by their little community, complete with a chapel (not shown), to pay that much attention.

The rabbits didn't have it bad, either. Their campus included a windmill.

Note the grey rabbit all the way on the left. One ear is sticking straight up at a 90 degree angle!

This elephant is yawning... he must be bored of all the strange people staring at him.

But he's not going to turn down a snack. No, this is not just a picture of the back of my head. It's a picture of the back of my head after just having fed a carrot to an elephant.


The zoo also had an aquarium, where we saw these friendly animals.

See you later, alligator. On the Nile, crocodile. These rhymes aren't just nonsense. This Nile crocodile is sleeping..and it turns out we will see him later. On the Nile. In November Mona is getting married in Cairo, with the wedding activities including a cruise on the famous river.


Hope to see you later, too!

More Random Pics

Some more random pics in an effort to keep things a bit fresh so you guys will keep visiting my blog (it's all for you, people. All for my readers. :)).

Me and Nins at the Block House.


Friends from school during a coffee break.


My cool friend Jessie, who even looks super cute with her eyes closed.

Me and Jessie at a Goth party. Oh yes, I am so square.