Hamburg: Sara Wins the Award for World's Most Awkward Vegetarian and Goes Carnival Crazy

First, it has come to my attention that it appears I am not working-that I just traipse about eating blue things and looking at pretty landscapes. Although I do a whole lot of the latter, I promise I am working! I just changed a little boy's diaper. And yesterday we played with train tracks. I am also engaged in an ongoing war of "Got your nose!", and I am involved in the saga that is "Papa Hund und Baby Hund" (Papa dog and baby dog). So. I am working. And I'll write about that soon! But for now, Hamburg :)

Last Friday I took the train to Hamburg (about 8 1/2 hours), getting in the late afternoon. I was immediately overwhelmed by the humidity and number of people I was surrounded by. Seriously. The train station and streets were just packed. It was a very weird, slightly disconcerting feeling to feel overwhelmed by this aspect of a city. I had not realized until now how accustomed I had become to living in the countryside. I would not venture to say I have never been overwhelmed by a city, just that normally this overwhelmed feeling usually comes from "wow this place is so beautiful" , not "oh my god there are so many people."

Another thing-normally before this I would have looked up directions to where I was going from the train station. But the night before I was tired and said to myself "Sara, that is what a smartphone is for. Just look it up once you are there. Or if you must, on the train." So, I plugged in the address of where I was going (I couch surfed just outside the city) into the tranist app I had downloaded. The directions had me making all sorts of transfers. I remembered that my host said they were a short walk from a subway station, so I looked that up on the map instead, and made the executive decision to trust a human over an app.

I couch surfed with a family (which I realize is uncommon, normally it is hip/hippie/hipster youngins with an extra couch). They invited me to eat dinner with them, which was nice. I had never couch surfed before and hadn't expected they would feed me.

The problem is that I forget I am vegetarian. Or rather, I forget I must tell or remind people. Because at this point most of the people I interact with (at least over food) know.

So, we sat down to eat, and that is when I realized I should have asked what we were eating beforehand. The dad had made a very tasty-smelling casserole, and I couldn't quite tell what was in it. I told myself that since I wrote on my couch surfing profile I'm vegetarian, they must know. I told myself that ignorance is bliss and not to look to closely at the food or ask. I decided I could pick around any meat parts I noticed. I sat there feeling real awkward and not knowing when or even if to mention it. Before I had taken a bite, it came up that there was mince in the casserole.

Well, there went my blissful ignorance.

I was fine picking around the meat bits. But I knew this would look weird without explanation. I thought I could make it look like I just didn't finish all my food-although this would require taking substantially more food so that it wasn't just meat left on the plate. I realized there was now no non-awkward way to mention it. I couldn't decided if it was weirder to say it after I had picked around the meat, hoping they wouldn't notice or say anything, or to mention it before (Meat eaters, please weigh in! I will take note for further awkward situations). I decided to mention it. Lots of awkwardness and apologies ensued, and I insisted I could eat around it (it was quite easy, actually). Whew.

The family had another couch surfer that weekend, and we spent Saturday exploring the city together. It was so nice to spend time with someone my age. I have lately been wishing I had a friend or someone to explore the area with, but I also know that I like walking a lot. And biking a lot. And am not a fan of cabs or running from attraction A to attraction B "because I am in ______ so obviously I have to see ______". This is not to say I don't like touristy things (I like Boudin's, cable cars, and Chinatown as much as the next person). I just want to see them if they are inherently interesting to me, not because that is what I am ":supposed to" or "have to" see when I am in a city.

So when I have found myself wanting a friend, I have reminded myself of this-that even if I had a friend here, it would not be likely that they like to explore places similarly. Well as it turns out, the girl and I were on the same page about all of this, so we spent the day walking around, utilizing the transit system, and going to a few nice places.

First, there was a walking tour I had heard about which, rather than going to five churches and ten monuments and talking about King something and King something the second, walks around a few neighborhoods to talk about street art, gentrification, and political movements in the city.

WWII Bunker, now a climbing wall

Churchin' about

After this, we went to St. Micheal's church, which has a very nice view of the city. After sitting in the pews for a bit, admiring the architecture (and also cooling off), we climbed up the tower.

Wow.

Just wow.

It was so beautiful. You could see everything (including the Sommerdom, which although I had been excited for before, made me even more excited).

After this we went to the Planten un Blumen park and walked around for a while. It was quite beautiful, and a nice break from the city and concrete (which is not something I often want a break from #ihavebeeninthecountrysolong #whatevenisthisfeeling).

Japanese Tea Garden

Then we decided to go to the Hamburger Sommerdom, which for those of you who don't know is basically a HUGE CARNIVAL.

As in a 3 kilometer (1.86 miles) long carnival.

It was amazing.

There were so many things I wanted to consume. Most of them blue and sugary. My friend did a very good job at helping me pace myself so I did not just eat the first thing in sight. Instead we walked around the whole thing, scoping out the best places to eat. After a "dinner" of french fries (Insert my mom scolding me here "Sara"), I got something called a quarkbällen-it was made with quark cheese, but not in a quark-filling kind of way. It was a doughnut, basically, but very light and fluffy and covered in cinnamon sugar. The Dom had about a million doughnut stalls, but we found the one where you can see them making them on site. So tasty!

Quarkbällen

Typical American

After that we were so beat though, so we headed back to our hosts' home to get ready for an early morning at the Fischmarkt... Which I will continue about später!

Sara(h) and the Holy Grail

It was Friday, the 18th of July, 2014 at around 18:30 when I first saw it.

Immediately I knew I wanted it. No. I needed it. The little boy carrying it smirked at me. He knew.

Unfortunately, I had a prior engagement to attend to and little time to hunt down where it had come from. I had already lost the smug child in the crowd, and there would have been serious repercussions had I snatched it from him.

I sped walked through the carnival grounds, looking frantically for it. Past a Hawaiian hut. Past numerous booths advertising their wilted churros. Past biergarten after stage after pommes booth after biergarten.

I had to find it today. I couldn't waste time tomorrow when I returned looking for it.This was my holy grail. This was what I had wanted my whole life. I only now realized it.

I wanted it more than a fat baby emperor penguin. I wanted it more than a pre-pinappled baby. I wanted it more than I wanted naturally electric blue hair.

I searched.

I stopped everywhere.

I peered into booths selling everything from scarfs in July to hollowed out bread on a stick.

I gestured around frantically and spoke in broken German to anyone who paused to listen.

They didn't understand my panic.

They didn't understand how badly I needed this.

It was so hot. I was sweating. My eyes darted around furiously. I had checked every square inch of the promenade where the carnival was set up. I was ready to give up.

Finally. I approached one last booth. There was nothing remarkable about it. In fact, there were over a dozen other booths that looked exactly the same. I was even sure I had checked it already.

But then, I saw it. Glowing. Radiating. Screaming my name.

I had found it.

Saturday afternoon could not come fast enough. I biked as fast as I could, leaving a zig zag trail of dust and gravel behind me. I hastily locked up my bike and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

I made a beeline for the promenade.

I walked.

And walked.

And walked.

Surely, it had been closer yesterday.

Surely, I must have passed it already.

I stopped and backtracked. In my haste I must have overlooked it. It couldn't have disappeared, right? I had waited all my life for this. I couldn't come this close and not get it.

Finally I saw the cursive lettering. The pink candy stripes. I pushed people out of my path as I made my way towards it. Old people. Children. I didn't care. This was the holy grail, after all.

The woman asked if I wanted it now or later.

As though "later" was an option.

Ha.



I refrained from grabbing it from her as she reached over the counter to give it to me. I even walked to the beach, where I was able to sit down and fully enjoy the fruit of my hunt.

That is the edge of my phone case.
NOT a hipster vignette.

It also came with a smurf gummy.

Dora the Explorin: The Sequel

This past Sunday, I biked to Bregenz, Austria.

Still in Deutschland, almost there! Ish.

I really, really, really, like the sound of Bregenz. I think it's the bre sound, because I also really like how Bremen sounds.

The day started off with a forecast of afternoon showers, but I decided I would bring a raincoat and umbrella and go anyway. I seriously think I have used my raincoat more here than I did in Scotland. 

I sort of knew the way there, or at least I knew I should follow the bike trail signs to Lindau and go from there. Somewhere though, I missed a turn or took a wrong turn or was teleported to an industrial part of Kressborn. However, it took me a bit to officially conclude I was lost.

You see, as beautiful as my bike rides have been, the trails all look alike. Fruit orchards, green fields, and houses that I must work hard to wrap my mind around the fact that people actually live there. So when I saw some fruit orchards I didn't know if they were the same ones I saw on my way to Lindau, or new ones. When I saw cows, I didn't know if they were new cows, or ones I had seen before. I didn't recognize the industrial buildings, but maybe I hadn't noticed them before. I had only done the ride once, afterall. Finally, I decided I was too far from the lake for this to be the right path.

Here is the thing. I have recently acquired a smartphone. I don't really use it for more than I would a normal phone. But I think it has already made me a less resourceful person than I would be had I not had it at that moment. Because I was able to just pull it out and check where I was in comparison to the lake, and go on my merry way. Where is the adventure in that?! If I didn't have it I probably would have followed the signs to tourist information and asked for directions, or looked at a map there, or just biked in the general direction of the lake, but still-I will never know!

So, the ride to Bregenz was long, involved some detours, but I got there and it still hadn't started raining.

Here is the other thing. I don't really travel with much of a plan. I kind of just show up and see what happens. I had no idea what was in Bregenz, other than a mountain I visited with my host family a couple of weeks ago.

The day was spent wandering around town, I saw an outdoor opera stage on the water. A new one is built every two years for a month long festival in the summer. I was also really, really, hungry. So I wandered towards the "Old town" to look at the buildings and find something to eat.

Part of Festspiele. This year they are performing The Magic Flute.

I mentioned it was Sunday, right? Thus many things were closed. There were a few ice cream places, bakeries, and a pizza place open. These are all my favorite things. But for whatever reason I wanted none of this at the moment and kept wandering. Finally, my hunger outweighed what my tastebuds wanted, and I found a cafe to have coffee and cake in.

There were so many types of cakes. SO MANY. And we all know how good I am with decision making. So I stared at the cakes for a long time. And I stared at the coffee drinks for a long time (there were Austrian coffee and Italian coffee beverages).

I must have a "A" pinned to my chest (either for American or Ausländer). The woman behind the counter asked if I spoke English. I realize that the assumption was that because I had stood there for so long just looking, I was foreign and didn't know what to do (this situation has maybe arisen more times than I would like to admit). Although this is obviously true, I have just as hard of a time making decisions in America. She was very helpful and told me to sit down and that someone would come take my order shortly.

Linzertorte and Austrian style coffee

I had a linzertorte, and a coffee. The coffee came on a little platter with a glass of water, and a little cup of cream. I put the normal amount of cream I usually use in (about half the little cup), and took a sip.

It was so so bitter. SO BITTER. I added the rest of the cream (please, someone roll me around when I get back? If I can fit in my plane seat), and it was much tastier.

Afterwards, I walked around some more and looked at more buildings.

Then, I said to myself. Why don't I climb to the top of the mountain? How long could it possibly take? Yes, it was already after 5. Yes, I really had to use the bathroom. And yes, I had to bike back. But I mean, why not? So, I started following the signs for the trail to the top. After a while, the signs disappeared. So, I kept walking in a general upwards direction, remembering what happened last time I said "Hmm, where does this go?" and wandered into the woods.

I was walking.

And walking.

I really had to use the bathroom but was pretty far into the woods by now. I considered copying my middle child and peeing outside (he enjoys this activity greatly).

Finally, I found this sign:

Pfänder: 2 Std

I knew I was going to Pfänder. But I had no idea what Std meant. All I could think was Standard Deviation. But that would make no sense and not be proper notation. So I kept walking.

Then I remembered the German word for hours. Stunden. It would be two hours until I reached the top.

I kept going.

I did the math in my head. Two hours up. Two hours down. Two hours to bike back. It was 6pm. Which would put me in at midnight.

I kept going.

I could, afterall, take any number of shortcuts-either taking the trolley down from the mountain or taking the train back. But.... I am really not one for shortcuts.

I kept going.

It started to drizzle.

But....I kept going.

Finally, I stopped to reason with myself. The mountain was not going anywhere. It was raining. I did not want to get home at midnight and miss the game (as it turns out I could have done this and not missed the whole game). My legs would hurt so much. Also. I really, really, needed a bathroom. So, I turned around and marched back down. I passed some more pretty things and found a bathroom. Whew. I then waited around a bit under my umbrella (with some ice cream) for the rain to stop so I could bike back.



I only got a bit lost on the way back! And made it home in time to see the last million hours of the game :)

Explorations of the Area: Ravensburg, Lindau, and Meersburg

[As a quick warning this post may be forever long.]

You know what keeps me up at night? Worrying that one day, I will wake up and take for granted how beautiful the Lake Constance area is.

Okay, maybe I don't stay up worrying about this. But I do wonder if I will get used to it. If at some point I will look around and say, "I mean, it's pretty dec". I hope this doesn't happen, but who knows. Maybe I will look at one too many lakeviews, or castles, or cottages and start shrugging my shoulders instead of staring.

This is to say I have visited some sickeningly beautiful towns recently. The first town I visited was Ravensburg, just a short train ride away. My journey there was an adventure in itself. When I got on the train there was no sign or announcement letting me know I was on the right one. I just had to assume this was the one. At the next stop they announced something about the train going to Stuttgart-a far way from where I was going, and certainly not what I had bought a ticket for! I started panicking and tried to get off.  I decided to just sit down and see what happens. Maybe I could try to explain myself to the ticket collectors. Maybe they would by sympathetic. Or maybe I would wind up in Stuttgart with a large fine to pay. The train went on for a bit, and then an announcement was made regarding all the stops on the way to Stuttgart, including Ravensburg. Whew! But really, they couldn't haven mentioned that sooner?

The day was a bit overcast. I wandered around a lot in the older part of town. I bought a backpack, as my current drawstring bag had a large pickpocket-friendly tear in the side. As much as I like this new backpack, I have since realized that a black leather backpack is not the best for bike rides in the sun, but more on that later.

This past weekend I biked to both the Island of Lindau (there is a bridge, I didn't bike through the bottom of the lake), and Meersburg. When I went to Lindau it was also overcast, but I was just glad it was dry! Again, I did a lot of walking around. I wandered down to the port and looked at the lake. I climbed up to the lion, but did not go to the top of the tower, I think I'll say that for a clearer day.

Look at my lack of crazy eyes! Kind of.

 Then, of course I ended my day with ice cream before biking back. I picked a blue ice cream called Engelblau (which I think translates as Angel Blue). It tasted like bubblegum but I ate it anyway. At this point was my only blip in the trip, in which a man decided that it was appropriate to follow me on his bike to say, among other things that I didn't understand, that my shirt matched my ice cream. I was a bit insulted really, I mean did he really think I hadn't known that and planned it accordingly? (who doesn't match their ice cream to their shirt, after all? #ellewoodsingitup).

Okay, but actually it wasn't cool. After enough dirty looks where I made eye contact then deliberately looked away (Atlas Shurgged-style), he got the picture and biked away. Whew. I like making friends, but I am not that desperate.

In real life the colors matched more
and the ice cream was not
fluorescent, I promise!

On Sunday, I apparently had not had enough of biking, so I biked in the other direction to Meersburg. I had the brilliant plan to leave at midday and be on a path with little shade. Also, let's go back to that black backpack. Yeah, I have not been so sweaty for so long ever. Although I dried off (really, I was gross after the 2 hours), I never really cooled off once I got to Meersburg, as it was still pretty hot out.

Meersburg has by far been my favorite place so far. It was so beautiful I wanted to pinch the cheeks of a fat baby penguin and scream. I left my bike at the ferry stop, along with a million other bikes, and spent the day walking around.

To get out of the sun, I visited the Neues Schloss (New Castle). It was nice, but I think I might be mostly castled out. I mean, I want to look at the outsides of castles, and maybe the insides of a select few, but the insides are mostly just "and here is were King somethingblablablerg and Queen blergblablasomething slept" and some paintings of dead royalty. I think it really might be the outsides that I am just interested in, but we'll see.

This castle was pink.The 5 year old girl in me who had plans to move to England and wait until she was old enough to marry a prince died a little. There was a wedding going on, which was cool. I mean, how many people get to say they got married in a castle? It was very sweet, until they started playing Bruno Mars' I Think I Wanna Marry You at the end. Nothing says romance like "Oh hey, I'm bored. Want to get married? And if it doesn't last that's fine by me." 

Maybe I was being a bit judgemental. I really don't like Bruno Mars. But still. Of all the songs about love, why that one?

I walked around more, and finally I found a spot on top of a hill, where I just sat in the shade and stared at the lake and the old castle and everything for approximately a forever and a half.

The ride back was long, and I was exhausted. I stopped to get ice cream at what turned out to be an alcoholic ice cream place of sorts- there were different wine flavored ice creams, and lots of sundaes with liquors. Although I was really curious, I had to bike back and did not fancy getting a BUI :P

The best part though, was when I got home I saw this:

A note with directions to make pizza, with dough and other ingredients all ready to go in the fridge from my Host Mom :) Twas the best! I was so beat.

More biking adventures to come soon! As long as the rain clears up by the weekend.

Hallo from Deutschland!

Hallo everyone!

I have been enjoying Germany for about 2 weeks now, so I guess it is about time I get to blogging. Clearly the procrastinating doesn't stop when school stops.

My host family leaves on the coast of Lake Constance, in a small German town. We're right across from Switzerland and just north of Austria. Least to say, it is incredibly beautiful here.

This is what I look at while running :P

The family is really fantastic, I have three little German boys to look after- ages 9, 6, and 2 1/2 (insert obligatory Von Trapp reference here). They are all very sweet and fun to play with. Especially on the giant trampoline (seriously, I think this has been my favorite thing so far). We live near all of their family (we all get together for lunch every day), so there are always extra kids running around to hang out with us.

The biggest challenge so far (or one of them at least) has been making myself at home in someone else's home. I realize acting like I feel weird makes other people feel weird about me feeling weird, so I've been doing my best to make myself at home, even when I do feel weird about it. I'm not saying I'm just acting ridiculous and putting my feet on the table and jumping on beds. I mean more that even if I initially feel weird about leaving my toothbrush in the bathroom I make myself do it because that is what normal people who feel at home do. Also I don't share the bathroom so no one would know if I left it there or not. (So calmate, Sara). It's a work in progress, and I still ask if I can have a glass of water or have yogurt for breakfast or whatnot, but I am definitely settling in quicker than I had expected or thought possible.

Whew. I will try not to use the word "weird" so much.

The next biggest challenge is unsurprisingly the language. Although my German is coming along and I have definitely picked up more since being here, it is also a work in progress. I'm also getting better at expressing myself in less exact terms, and making do with the limited vocabulary I have. My pantomime skills have also gotten better. I would make a joke about a back up career, but I hear that that is how it all starts....

Ice cream from Ravensburg, more on that soon!

So far, I have visited several little towns and eaten lots of ice cream. And pretzels. I have made the ice cream my obligatory snack in each town I go to. Partially because it's hot and I just wander around for hours outside, and partially it's delicious and there are so many places to try! I am not sure if it's ice cream or gelato-usually the places display it like a gelataria, but (depending on the place) it tends to have more of the consistency of ice cream. Either way it's delicious, and I know how to order it in German. Usually just one scoop, the picture on the left features an exceptionally delicious exception

Anyway. I will post more soon, but there was some pressure to get going. So here you go for now!.