Those Crazy Germans

Sorry for the window glare in the photo. You really don't have to speak German to understand what this advertisement is about. This is the full-size poster/window display at my local Apotheke (drug store), shilling for a feminine, er, extinguisher product. The running (and not terribly funny) joke about German drug stores is that there are no actual drugs in them-- they are all filled with herbal and natural remedies. If you want drugs, then show up with your doctor's prescription and they'll fill it, usually by the next day.

Reflections on Year 2

With very little fanfare, we marked 2 years in Germany the other week-- actually, I think we were in Austria with B's Mom on the actual date and sort of forgot about it, but we enjoyed a belated bottle of champagne this past weekend so all is well.

I wish I could impart some sort of bigger picture, some sort of "lessons learned," but... um, not much here. We've both become a lot more patient, that's for sure-- dealing with a comically stifling bureaucracy and an impenetrable language (come on, do we really need 16 different ways to say the word "the"?) does that. We count as friends people from all walks and professions that, to be honest, we normally wouldn't come into contact with back home-- everybody from IT whiz kids to high-flying execs to musicians and artists, and we're pretty proud to be in their circle. We've been to places I've only read about in travel magazines and dreamt about visiting "someday." On the whole, life is good. Oh sure, I'd love to be busier-- I'm one of those weirdies who finds happiness in a full workload, and I'm getting there in a fashion. But in the end--and as was completely expected-- living in Europe has changed us more than the other way around. And we really wouldn't have it any other way.

Expat Summit!

Spent some time this afternoon with the good folks behind Regensblog Cliff and Sarah (note: photo not actually of Cliff on the right, and camera-shy Yours Truly on left; this is just a rough approximation), here in the big city with Sarah's brother for some culture and R+R. It was good to catch up and realize that the expat experience is pretty universal for all people. More on this (and our conversational threads) in the days and weeks to come.

In case you are wondering exactly who is in this photo, why it's none other than Kieran Hebden (better known as Four Tet) and the artist known only as Burial. Their recent collaborations were some of the most name-checked beats on the alternative scene last year. If you're curious, follow this link to the brilliant, dizzying song Wolf Cub.

TSIMH: Echo & The Bunnymen, "Crocodiles"

The Song In My Head Today is 80's alt-rock heroes Echo & The Bunnymen doing an incendiary live version of their song "Crocodiles." In their prime, these guys could blow anybody off the stage, and it's pretty obvious that a certain well-known performer stole most of his cooler on-stage affectations (like weaving other disparate lyrics into the song you're currently performing) from Echo's Ian McCulloch. Long live the Bunnies!

Travel Options

Normally I defer to regular reader/commenter Cliff's blog to get the latest travel scoops, but this tidbit just came onto my radar last night. If you are like me and dislike massive connecting airports like Amsterdam's inefficient Schiphol (which one wag re-christened "sh@*hole") or rabbit warren/marathon endurance test that is the Frankfurt airport (seriously, Moses walked less than what a standard coach class traveler covers there to get a connecting flight), and don't get me started on the nine circles of hell known as Paris-Charles de Gaulle... there is now another option to get to little ol' Nuremberg. Thanks to 2 different airlines' upcoming schedules, travelers can now transfer at the acclaimed Copenhagen airport. SAS Scandanavia (Star Alliance member) flies nonstop from several US cities to Copenhagen. From there, folks can take either SAS partner Cimber-Sterling or one of Germany's oldest airlines, the overachieving OLT (also an SAS codeshare partner). Thanks to these new direct flights, I do believe we will take advantage and check out Copenhagen ourselves soon and see what all the rave reviews are about-- er, but not in the wintertime.

Visitor Coming, Time To Clean

Hey, it's not like we're slobs, but sometimes you let things slide when you don't have people over on a regular basis. Starting tomorrow we'll be hosting B's Mom for a couple weeks, with a number of daytrips (plus one big excursion) on tap. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some dust bunnies to wrangle.

The Song In My Head Today

Ever get struck in the shower with some random song, and it just plays in your head all day? OK, I guess I'm the only one. But just to pad this blog out share my random and eclectic tastes, I figured I'd toss these in once in a while.

Today's SIMH happens to be from German rockers Surrogat and is called "Gib Mir Alles" (Give me everything). For whatever reason, no full video or audio of this song can be easily located, so here is the short (about 1:50) version. Surrogat were a Berlin power trio that cranked out 5 albums in 9 years before heading their separate ways in 2003. This is rawk music as it should be: in-your-face and thick as paste. These guys fall roughly into the "math rock" classification and make quite the glorious racket. Yes, he sings in German, but really folks-- do you have to know the lyrics? More Surrogat info and music can be found easily enough on the interwebs, including their MySpace page with streaming audio. Enjoy.