I am only an egg.

On December 28, 2012May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life At Home, Life In Germany, The U.S.21 Comments

This post is tangentially related to the December 27th WordPress Daily Prompt.

“Your personal sculptor is carving a person, thing or event from the last year of your life. What’s the statue of and what makes it so significant?”

I was already thinking about the words that follow, even before I saw the prompt. While I didn’t write this post specifically to answer the personal sculptor question, I am going to talk a great deal about something that has shaped my world the most for the past year.

Back in 1993, there was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “Second Chances.” The basic plot is as follows- The Enterprise goes to retrieve some scientific data from a planet which has an impenetrable distortion field around it. Once every eight years, the field is weak enough to beam through it. Eight years previously, a younger Lieutenant Riker was the last man to beam out when his team was forced to abandon the post. When the modern-day Enterprise arrives, Commander Riker leads the away team, and meets- himself.

Although Riker made it up to the Potemkin and continued his career, a transporter phenomenon caused an identical Riker to rematerialize on the planet. This Riker believed that he’d been left behind, and he spent the next eight years living alone.

The reason I’m talking about Star Trek on a blog about life in Germany is because it’s kind of the same thing. Obviously I don’t mean that I was duplicated in a transporter accident, but there is some similarity between that ludicrous scenario and how I feel. What the other Riker went through was, at certain points, textbook culture shock and acculturation.

While I was in the United States a few weeks ago, I was struck by the notion that while I’ve been living my life in Germany, life in the US has been going on without me. This is the truest and deepest cost of being an expatriate. Friends and family kept going on- my youngest niece started walking and talking. Another friend is nearly done with law school. People have gotten engaged. Couples have split up. Some of my friends have had massive shifts in their health, some for the better and some for the worse. There are new pets, new jobs, and new hardships. And while I was in Germany and away from all of this, there was a tiny part of me that went on living in the US, along with my friends and family. There are two Stevens now. They are entirely alien to each other.

I spent most of my first year in Germany feeling like I was on an extended vacation, but one where I just happened to be going to the office a lot. It felt like my life in the US had just been paused- waiting for me to return to it. My apartment has never quite felt like my apartment, and I’ve always been just a little bit of a stranger in a strange land.

It’s been more than a year now, and in the intervening time, I’ve felt less like that US life is mine. The drift has begun- I don’t speak to people in the States as much as I did in the first year. There are some people who I once considered my closest friends and confidants who I speak to now only via electronic means, and only regarding superficial topics. If not for the horrible abomination that is Facebook, I would have lost touch with almost everyone except my closest ring of family members and a few dearly cherished friends.

There is even a physical component to this drift- while I was in the US, I moved my few belongings to a much smaller storage unit. In order to do that, I had to let go of a lot of possessions. Most of my kitchen goods from the US are now gone. Everything I own in this world is either in a 5×5 storage unit in Florida or a 45 square meter apartment here in Regensburg. Considering I used to have an entire condominium full of crap, this is kind of a sobering realization.

I don’t feel like this Bavarian life is mine either. I’ve made friends here, but making friends as an expatriate can be a little tricky- most of us are transient. You never know if someone you’ve met will still be there to talk to or hang out with in six months or a year. I’m even hesitant with the locals, the people who aren’t going anywhere, because I don’t know if I’ll be here in a year or two. My contract is written through the fall of 2014, but there’s nothing in it which says that Mr. Company can’t recall me to the United States sooner. (They probably won’t, but it’s something that I think about.) There’s also the chance that they’ll want to renew my presence here at the end of the contract on a yearly basis. I’m not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. I get asked a lot if I want to stay here at the end of my contract, and my answer is always a little timid: “Ask me again in another year and a half. A lot can happen in a year and a half.”

For night now, I’m stuck in the middle. Beholden to two countries, but not truly feeling at home in either one. I am the two identical Rikers, both fighting to claim the right to be the real one.

Christkindlmarkt Time

On December 24, 2012January 23, 2025 By StevenIn Life In Germany7 Comments

It’s that time of year again. For the month of December, right up until Christmas Eve, the Christkindlmarkt or Christmas Market is open in cities and towns all over Germany and Austria.

Also called Weihnachtsmarkt, the Chrstmas Market is typically held during the four weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas. Nearby Nuremberg has one of the most famous Christmas Markets in the world, although I haven’t been to that one. Perhaps next year. According to The Internets, the Nuremberg and Dresden markets draw about two million people each year; the Stuttgart market attracts more than three million visitors while the Dortmund market can claim to be one of the biggest Christmas markets in Germany with more than three and a half million visitors each year.

Yes, the Christkindlmarkt is a pretty big deal around these parts.

There are three types of stalls in a typical Christmas Market:

The first type is for buying things. There are carved wooden nutcrackers, jewelry, and clothing to be found. I didn’t take many pictures of the crafts themselves, but I thought this candle was pretty.

The second type is food- candied and toasted almonds are a staple item. So is Lebkuchen, a soft form of gingerbread. Chocolate is everywhere.

My favorites tend to be the savory, rather than the sweet. The first item here is a simple Regensburger Bratwurst – it contains pickles, sweet mustard, and a dash of horseradish, served on a semmel, or bread roll. Sehr lecker! The second photo is a half-meter bratwurst. The third is a kind of swirly potato thing that has the consistency of a giant french fry and the flavor of BBQ potato chips.

There are stalls for purchasing crafts, food stalls, and the ever-present Glühwein vendors. I’ve mentioned Glühwein on this blog before; it’s hot mulled wine that turns up during this time of year. There’s a regular red wine flavor, and there are often various fruit flavors mixed. I like Apfel (apple) and Blaubeere (blueberry) Glühwein.

Every Christmas Market has different mugs for their Glühwein. When you get your drink, you pay a Pfand for deposit. Some people collect the mugs instead of returning them to get their Pfand back. The mugs are generally very colorful, and they say a bit about where you got them, so they make excellent souvenirs.

This year, I had the chance to see the Christkindlmarkt in nearby Munich with fellow blogger Hanley. Truth be told, I like the Regensburg market better- the Munich Christkindlmarkt is spread out so that you have to walk for several blocks in each direction to see the entire thing. It’s also significantly more crowded, as cities tend to be.

There’s one more thing- even if you’re just passing through a town and don’t plan on leaving the Bahnhof, you can usually get a taste of that town’s Christkindlmarkt tradition. In Regensburg, they set up a Glühwein stand right in front of the Hauptbahnhof each year. The Glühwein is a little bit rougher there, but it’s still Glühwein. Served in plastic cups. Yeah.

I’m On My Way

On December 10, 2012June 6, 2014 By StevenIn The U.S.4 Comments

This post is being written at 37,000 feet. In-flight Wi-Fi is a nifty, nifty technology. I’ll write up a proper trip report after I’ve gotten back home to Regensburg, though- I haven’t yet sorted my pictures or my thoughts from the last two and a half weeks.

In another five hours, I’ll be back in Munich. Another two hours after that and I’ll have collected my luggage, taken the 635 bus from MUC to Freising, and hopped a train from Freising back to Regensburg.

After that, I just have to try to stay awake until around bed time to stave off jet lag. Maybe I’ll finally get around to doing the homework from my German class that I’ve been putting off all vacation long.

Longer posts coming up, now that I’ll be back in town, and it’s snow and Glühwein season!

The Five Restaurants You Meet In Regensburg

On November 5, 2012May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany7 Comments

Some of the other expat bloggers I read are part of a Blogger Stammtisch that I’m not involved with, and they have really neat ideas for posts sometimes. In September, they had a ‘favorite restaurants in your town’ topic, and Grounded Traveler did a post about their top five favorites in Freiburg. I love to eat, so this really got me thinking.

Regensburg has truly embraced cafe culture, so much so that some people refer to Regensburg as Italy’s northernmost city. There are so many bars and restaurants here that it’s probably not possible to eat at every single one. The sheer logistical impossibility has not stopped me from trying, though. For the relatively short time that I’ve been here, I’ve actually eaten in a very large number of restaurants. I really like so many of them that it was difficult to narrow a list down to just five. For example, do I include the better of the two local Irish Pubs? (Murphy’s Law.) How about the best of the bajillion traditional Bavarian places in town? (I’ve eaten at many, and I found the Regensburger Weissbräuhaus to be the tastiest.) Do I include the tastiest of the four (that I know about) Indian restaurants? (Maharadscha, with Taj Mahal a close contender for the Flavor Throne.) What about steak houses? (Just kidding, there are no good steakhouses in Germany. I’ll have to eat steak when I visit the United ~~Steaks~~.. er, States again in a few weeks.)

Here are my selections, in no particular order:

Continue reading “The Five Restaurants You Meet In Regensburg” →

Halloween In Germany

On November 1, 2012November 1, 2012 By StevenIn Life In Germany6 Comments

Halloween isn’t really a traditional German celebration, but it has become more popular in recent years, especially with children. Most people seem to think this is partially from seeing it depicted in American television and movies, and I suspect that’s a big factor. Here, costumes are more commonly seen around Fasching.

German youngsters only go trick-or-treating (“Süßes oder Saures!”) in certain areas. Yesterday, I saw only three children running around with pillowcases, and that might not have been for candy- they might have just been running around with pillowcases.

I did find that there are a few traditions that are similar to Halloween’s origins in Europe, without being exactly Halloween.

In the regions of Bavaria and Austria in Southern Germany, Catholics celebrate the entire period between October 30 and November 8 as Seleenwoche or All Souls’ Week.
November 1st is Allerheiligen, or All Saints’ Day. Catholics attend church services in honor of the saints, the martyrs and those who have died for the Catholic faith. People may also visit their family’s graves to beautify them with wreaths and small lanterns. Sometimes a mass is said at the gravesite and the grave sprinkled with holy water.
In some areas, November 2 is observed as All Souls’ Day. Catholics attend a special Requiem masses, where they remember those who may be close to them that have died. Prayers for the dead are said and votive candles are lit to honor their memory.
In Austria, there’s an entire pumpkin (Kürbis) festival in late October, Kürbisfest.
Jack O’Lantern decorations have become more common in Austria and Germany in late October.

Meanwhile, those of us who grew up with Halloween look for places to observe the holiday, and most of those places turn out to be bars and pubs.

Last night, I visited two in particular. Murphy’s Law, the better of Regensburg’s two Irish pubs, was having a Halloween event. The Piratenhöhle (Pirate’s Cave) was having a Zombie Halloween party.

In both locations, I saw lots of vampires, zombies, and pirates. There were a few people dressed as Warcraft characters, one amazing Peter Jackson styled Orc, and more people with random fake bloodstains than I can shake a stick at.

My costume was not as well known as I expected- roughly 90% of the Germans I ran into had no idea what I was dressed as. Amusingly enough, only Americans and Canadians call him Waldo. In the rest of the world, he’s Walter or Wally. I also learned last night that I can walk around the Altstadt in powder blue pants, and nobody will bat an eye. Oh, Germany, you make me laugh.