What do you know about Germany?

by Siggy Buckley - checking in from her Intrepid Home Swapping trip to Europe

         
        Although I'm German and lived there for the most part of my life, I still find        out new facts every time I visit my home country.

       Did you know that in Germany shops are closed on Sundays? Except for gas        stations  and bakeries, but these are only open for business only until lunch time.You need to  plan ahead and stock up, especially if it's a long weekend or a holiday ahead like Christmas or Easter.

Most shops don’t take a credit card. Especially grocery stores want cash. The one that is least popular is American Express. I was in one city center store of one of the bigger chains that advertised a new service on their loudspeaker: Pay with your banking card and get cash back. A welcome novelty indeed.
I’m starting to hate shopping for groceries. While I still get my favorite foods which are not available in the US, I don’t like the shopping atmosphere. Everybody is in a hurry when they reach the check out and is pushing, impatient. If you don’t pack and pay fast enough, you get nasty looks from other customers and the cashier; even remarks. I have been kicked with their cart in my heels when I wasn’t fast enough. Forget about having your groceries packed or even helped out to your car. Publix, I miss you! And you either pay for plastic bags or bring your own.
Germany’s recycling system is starting to drive me mad. It was introduced in about 1990. People have several garbage cans outside, but the system varies from town to town. We learned the terms Rest Muell  (trash), but Round Muell is still a mystery to us. Round? 

If you study this list of what to do with paper, packaging, batteries, hazardous wast, plastic bottles, yoghurt containers, grass clippings etc., you will understand our confusion.
As an avid environmentalist and former organic farmer’s wife, I ‘m used to separating my trash but I’m getting fed up with it because it seems so complicated even to me. Having to learn the lay of trash in each different town is a nuisance. The locals who are used to one systems won’t feel it that much. But we Intrepid Homeswappers get around …and observe.

Ang you can't just ignore these rules becaue if youy mix your garbage, the friendly bin men (Muellmaenner) won't take your wheelie bin and you're stuck sitting on a trash can full of rotting...whatever.
If you’re used to a garbage disposal, the system seems to be outright annoying. What do you do with left-overs, especially when they contain some liquid? Flush them down the toilet.

In Germany you recycle plastic and beer bottles through a socalled Pfand or Pledge system and get a small sum of money back for every bottle returned- never wine bottles for some unknown reason.  In the Netherlands they don’t. Having dragged all the bottles back to the store, there was no way to dispose of them, they wouldn't take them. So we had to schlep them back home to the houseboat. In Amsterdam, they had 2 types of containers in the boardwalk right outside every other house for glass and paper.
We've been staying in the federal state of Baden Wuerttemberg, the land that produces all the lovey Mercedes and Porsches; and this state is run by the Green Party. How do German combine their heightened awareness of environmental issues with luxury cars, lower their carbon footprint? By making them more fuel efficient. Modern German cars switch off the engine automatically at a red light! The recycling industry here is growing at such a pace that it will soon equal the car industry's profitability.

Did you know that there is an upcoming election on 22 September? Although the election had entered its hot phase 3 weeks ago, there had been no commercials for parties on TV. Posters were only allowed to go up 6 weeks prior to election date. No big money wasted on divisive political commercials on TV from any party.
Last week was the first and only televised debate.If she wins, Angela Merkel will stay in power for another 4 years. She is considered to be the most powerful woman in the world at the moment and has a high likability rating of over 60%. If her opponent wins, a Social Democrat called Peer Steinbrueck, he will raise the current highest tax bracket from 42% to 49%.
Some more facts I just leaned:
Unemployment in Germany is low at 6.8%. (That doesn’t sound that low to me…).
133,000 immigrants became Germans last year and got a passport. A third of which were Turkish nationals, probably already born in this country.5% were other European Union citizens. No explanation as to the rest.

Another statistic FYI: Germans are becoming lazier. They have 4 hours leisure time on average. Their favorite hobby is couching in front of the TV.  Even the English word Extreme Couching is one of the mentioned pastimes. Among their other hobbies, the first sport takes position 17, (going to the gym). The first outdoor activity takes position 24.
My homeland has duly changed since I left it around the time of Reunification. Time marches on.
"Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis."

Siggy Buckley
Member of www.NLAPW.org

A quick hop over the border: Strasbourg

... Except there is no real border anymore when you cross over from Germany into France, only a sign saying: “ You now entered France and that the speed limit is 120 km/h on motorways and 90 on national roads. Strasbourg is merely 50 minutes away from where we were staying in Baden- Baden and well worth a visit. In fact, Alsace is one of my favorite destinations for quick day visits. The best time to avoid huge crowds that are almost always present, is when summer school holidays are over in September. Truth be told that the month of October is indeed the best for gourmet travelers because the first fresh wines are available, all types of venison and mushrooms.

 

The whole region is well renowned and loved for its quaint, picturesque and medieval towns, dotted with timber framed houses which all seem to have an abundance of window boxes with flowers spilling out. Whether you drive to Riquewihr, Kaysersberg (birthplace of Albert Schweitzer), Obernai or Colmar ─ you are always in for a treat. The year before, our choice was Colmar, my all-time favorite, smaller than Strasbourg but with equally big crowds of tourists vying for sightseeing spots and restaurant tables.

Since my hubby had not seen the capital of the Alsace region and the seat of the European Parliament as well as the European Court of Human Rights. The city’s population has almost doubled in the last decade, with the greater urban area now comprising just under 1 million inhabitants.

The adjacent area to the northwest covers the magnificent natural park and mountain region of the “Vosges”, an ideal location for hikers, bikers and nature lovers. You will find fewer tourists there. I spent a whole week during my college years on a very isolated but romantic “gite”, i.e. a cottage.

We had tried to find home swapping partners on the French site, in vain. We almost made a deal, i.e. signed the exchange contract, when the French found out that it’s likely to be very hot in Florida in the month of August. Indeed. Though there are many picturesque towns of a similar nature on the German side of the border, the French has a more exotic feel to me, being German. And the food in the restaurants is different, even the baguettes are better…although a bit more expensive. Strasbourg, by the way, is very expensive territory with a normal iceream sundae I enjoy in Germany on a regular basis costing here almost twice as much.

With this being our last excursion of this year’s European stay, we enjoyed every minute in spite of the crowds and took plenty of photos. The weather was only glorious. We wished we could have stayed along the banks of the river Rhine which runs almost all the length of the border between the two countries. We brought home some regional delicacies like “foie gras” and wine. We skipped the pottery that is typical for this region, colorful stoneware, but just too heavy  to bring back on a plane. Hubby and I, both agreed that Colmar had a more intimate feel to it. But now we had “done” the entire Alsace.
All there was left to do after this excursion was pack up or numerous gigantic bags and clean the house we had spent 3 happy weeks in for our departure back to the US.

Siggy Buckley 
FB: Intrepid Home Swappers

Money or your life

The wonderful house we swapped with a German family in the East near the Baltic Sea  came with a boat house and a small craft that didn’t need a license. Engines over 5 hp on Germany lakes etc. do.

 My son and his friend, strapping young lads that they are, had taken the rowing boat out to begin with but hubby felt lazy and privileged to have a “motor boat’ at his disposal .

On our last night, a beautiful warm evening, he got it started and cleaned it from cobwebs. Normally, I’m not particularly seaworthy but this I could do, I thought hopping into the vessel.

We went along the little canal that connected to the adjacent lake where we had done a lot of constitutional walks, passing all these cute little vacation or weekend houses;  datschas - I presume they were called in the ‘olden days’. Owners were out on their porches  barbecuing, having a beer or just sitting out enjoying the balmy evening. My friendly greetings and “Guten Appetit!” mostly went unanswered; instead we got stares.

My family had commented on the fact before that the locals seemed to be rather reserved, looking away or looking at us outright suspiciously. Hubby had his theories about them being former communists who had lived in a supervised state where neighbors spied on each other and were naturally suspicious. Could that be the case almost a generation after the fall of the Iron Curtain? I wonder. The difference in behavior to other parts of Germany that I am familiar with was striking, however.

So here we were put-putting along.  At a tight spot in the canal we had to slow down from our snail space to make rooms for 2 canoeists. The engine died.”Not to worry, there is a second battery. I just have to switch over to that one.” To be on the safe side we decided not to continue our journey to the lake with only one battery and turn around instead. But the second battery never started. The canoeists enquired if we had paddles. I hadn’t yet spotted them, but gracefully there was a pair on the floor of our boat.

So paddling it was, back past the houses and people we had just passed. Their behavior and demeanor had miraculously changed. Some got up form their seats to throw a funny remark, “Machine kaputt?” or “Need a push?” Others interrupted their meal to get a good view of the spectacle.  All of a sudden we encountered a lot of smiles and laughter. We are not practiced paddlers…

One older guy, alone on his deck, pointed what looked like an antique pistol at us, “Money or your life”. He was probably just lonely or thought he was funny. I started to get peeved. Why had nobody bothered to engage with us before? There is something about Schadenfreude that we Germans are verifiably good at. The self-proclaimed pirate invited us to join him. “I’ll throw a couple of bratwurst on the Barbie for when you return” not realizing that we were on our way back already and wouldn’t paddle by again. Maybe he’s still standing there, waiting.

It was either that the batteries had not fully charged or the connections had come loose. We made it back through the sweat of our own hands. The behavior of our neighbors there remains a mystery, however. To do the people form Meck Pomm justice, our exchange partners, some of their friends and neighbor who we met were totally friendly; some even stepped out of their way to give us a helping hand. It remains a mystery until I get some enlightening comments from people in the know. 

Siggy Buckley Swapping homes Anybody ? Season 2

Check out: Siggys Omnibus

We are the Forerunners

My favorite weekly German news magazine "Der Spiegel" surprised me last week with an article about eBooks and becoming your own publisher;a newsworthy topic that filled two pages. Germany seems to have cultivated its own answer to "Fifty Shades of Grey" with somebody called Jana Falkenberg and this lady is  quoted as the paradigm for e publishing. Writing under a pseudonym about her bedroom conquests in the style of a popular women's magazine, this "Jana Falkenberg" is most elusive; is not available for face time and her cell phone number is changed regularly to keep her identity a secret. Allegedly, she is in marketing otherwise.
Jana explains how she converted her book into an e data format on one afternoon after creating a cover page on the cheap with a designer friend. All she has to pay now is for the domain name (19.95 EUR a year). "Traditional publishing houses want to rip you off by paying only up to 20% royalties max," she said. "Now I can stick out my tongue at them!" The going rate for her eBooks is EUR 3.49 a piece.

Well, we all know how it works, we Indie authors and others.
One traditional publisher commented that the industry feels ripped off after investing a lot of money into e publishing. In all fairness, his main investment was inot an online dating site if affiliated with another reputable newspaper.
Other traditionals like the owner of dotbooks who only went online last week predicts that paperbacks will be extinct in two or three years. "The times of begging traditional publication houses to take your book are over!"
The way to becoming a publisher is also described in that article.
The magazine claims that there is a movement by authors away from traditional publishing and going your own.
If I had the choice between self-publishing and a reputable publishing house, I know who would win hands down.
Germans are still very tentative when it comes to reading eBooks. Most people I talked to had never held a Kindle in their hands and proclaimed they still preferred a paper book.
Why was I surprised? Germany is leading in many areas of technology be that alternative, renewable power, cars, or high speed trains. Yet a little thing like a Kindle (and its brothers and sisters) hasn't been embraced yet. Hence our fellow scribblers or after hours writers as they were called by the Spiegel, are lagging behind us the experienced, e - plus self -published authors, Twitter and Facebook savvy and all!
Siggy Buckley
www.Nexttimelucky.com
Siggys Omnibus: www.SiggyBuckley.blogspot.com  

What to expect during Home Swaps

When I tell people that we're doing home swaps as a way to have a wonderful and cheap vacation time, they ask me about the main differences between the countries: in this case Germany and the USA. The biggest and probably the most hard to comprehend for Americans from the South like us is the lack of Air Conditioning. I don't know any private homes in Germany that has an AC. Public places and hotels are different. In Germany, we open all the windows to create a breeze and love living outdoors -weather permitting. Mind you, we hardly ever have the temperatures nor the humidity that prevail in Florida for almost half of the year. AC even has a bad reputation in Germany: it causes colds, spreads germs and is a waste of electricity. Well, here it's a different kettle of fish and we encourage our house guest to keep the AC on even they may think doing us a great job in saving money for us when they switch it off. They learn soon enough.
With open windows come flies and midges.There aren't really any mosquitoes in Germany. But they annoying midges will find their way into the house and bedroom. You just have to switch off the lights when the windows are open.
Another difference are the fridges.People tend to have smaller fridge-freezers that have no ice-makers.That's what my poor hubby really misses. We even take an extra old fashioned cube tray with us so that we have enough ice cubes. For some reason, Germans don't need ice cubes in their drinks as we do here. Once their drink is chilled in the fridge- that's cold enough.
Germany has its famous Autbahn. Many foreigners dream of driving there at top speeds. In reality, in many areas speed is restricted due to heavy traffic in densely populated areas. But I have done my 240 km/h legally. The rest of the country has Bundesstrassen which often are only 2 lane roads. In fact, traveling in the countryside that is the type of road you're likely to encounter. There is only one or 2 of this type of narrow roads left where we live. As my neighbor called it:"The dangerous road..."Ooh, and also windy...scary, scary.

Other differences are the ones that I miss dearly: foods! My favorite foods like white asparagus, Italian Gelaterias (ice cream parlors), a gazillion different breads and Broetchen, (bread rolls), most of them not sweet -thank goodness- exquisite cakes and tortes (tartes) as well as beer gardens.I wrote about some of these before in last years blog, Season 1 as an eBook.(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005N0N3CO). With less than 4 weeks to go, my excitement is growing. I'll keep you posted! For more information see www.Intrepidhomeswappers.blogspot.com
Siggy Buckley

Valentine's and other Hurdles

It was the last week in January.  Back in my own home, tuned in to my favorite Irish radio station and presenter, I was listening to him talk about the Winter Blues.  January 27th had been proclaimed the worst day of the year.  A Welsh academic had worked out a formula based on bad weather, being broke, fading Christmas memories and failed New Year's resolutions.  The result was that you'd be better off staying under the covers on that day, the most miserable day of the year.  Never mind my broken heart.  The researcher had not even needed to take that into consideration.  Welcome back to Ireland, real life and it’s back to business, Cherie.

The following days found me somewhat lethargic, lack luster and depressed.  My business and the presence of Patrick in the house kept me from falling into a catatonic state.  The weather didn’t help, nor did the upcoming Valentine’s frenzy that takes hold of the country every year leading up to the 14^th of February.  Wherever I went something would remind me that this was an important day to celebrate love.  Shop displays with everything in red  − from cards to flowers, teddy bears to underwear, chocolates to jewelry, and not to mention red balloons labeled, “For the one I love this Valentine’s.” But what about those of us that don’t have one?

Cards the size of paintings stared at me from shop windows “To the love of my life.” What about those who never even had a love of any kind? Or about those who had lost one?

Book your seat in a restaurant for that night because couples will be out in force, and only show your face at the hostess stand if you have someone on your arm; otherwise, your restaurant experience will run into a depression avalanche.  Secure advertising space in your local or even national paper! So that the world can see that you have a sweetheart who loves you and that you are not alone on this heavenly day.

Surely, I wasn’t the only one in the world who felt this way? And to be hoping that some unknown stranger had secretly been pining for my attention sounded like a child’s fairy tale or a thought some pubescent teenagers would occupy themselves with. Growing up in Germany, Valentine’s Day hadn’t played a big role.  I can’t say when it reached the German shores, probably in the 90s once we had already moved to Ireland.  To tell the truth, it was not until I was married and living in Ireland that I had realized this holiday existed.  But my then husband was not much of a romantic, so I didn’t receive a card then either.  The first occasion I ever received a card is almost too embarrassing to mention.

It happened while Bernard and I were married and lived on the farm.  My children attended a Catholic prep school in Limerick, and I took them there by car every day in the morning and picked them up in the afternoon.  Sometimes while I was waiting for them to come out of the building, I talked to an old gentleman who was there to collect his grandson.  We chatted about the school, the weather, and gardening mostly.  But one fine Valentine’s Day this man gave me my first Valentine’s Day card, which read “To the one I am dreaming about.”

It was perfectly lovely to be admired and desired, but for him to express such sentiments that could never be said aloud made for one awkward situation.  Apparently, he thought that my children and marriage, and the 30 years between us might just be overcome by an admission of boyish longing.

Mortified, yet tickled pink, I took it home to Bernard who was working on the farmyard.  He was aghast.  I think that’s when he first learned about the existence of Valentine’s Day.

“If you ask me, it’s all one big commercial hype over nothing,” he called down from his tractor, scratching his head.  And ever the lyrical poet, he added, “Just another day for selling things, what with Christmas being over and Easter far away.  Just like the fad of Mother’s Day.”

With that clarified, he put his woolly cap back on and returned to his task at hand,  cleaning up the manure on the yard.  Needless to say, I never got a Valentine’s card from him after that, but I have received quite a few since I left him.

So, do you leave a man who doesn’t give you cards or flowers on Valentine’s Day? In the long run, a man who sees no purpose in romance or affectionate gestures is undoubtedly worse than an old codger who hits on you in a schoolyard.

As Valentine’s Day approached, I started to notice couples everywhere. Why does everybody else around you seem to be falling in love when you are on your own? Suddenly everyone seems to have an invitation to a love fest except you.  And there I was with no admirer; nobody loved me.

The weeks running up to Valentine’s had without fail always been the most hectic period of time in the dating business, more so than Christmas.  With  Christmas,  most people still have a family to spend the holidays with, but on Valentine’s, even being around family can make you lonely.  Emotions are already running high, and the commercialism surrounding V-Day rubs into singledom like salt into a paper cut.

Everybody wanted a date for that special day, or better still, be fixed up successfully the month before so that they could enjoy some closeness during their night out together.

This year, I only had to deal with myself as a client in need.

Siggy Buckley (Excerpt from Next Time Lucky)

Ever Swapped Homes?

With more dash than cash it's hard to fulfill your traveling needs...Thinking of the top '100 places you should see before you die' always makes my tummy churn and my face green with envy.

After a wonderful but expensive vacation in the Fatherland I had a brainwave. Somewhere and somehow I had heard about swapping homes. Well, on TV families are known to even swap spouses. With a little bit of investigation (thank you Mr. Google!), I found an app for that or rather several websites. Looking at all the beautiful homes worldwide nurtured my travel bug that bit me years ago. He started to grow and make himself heard: If you swap houses with some of these people, you can stay longer. Hey, there is a way to swap cars too. That takes a big load of your pocket book. The bug could no longer be ignored.

Cheap package tours are an option, at least occasionally, but not in our circumstances. Especially if you live in "Paradise" anyway. We want to travel to Europe as much as possible because of family reasons. And hubby loves France and Italy. And his employer is too stubborn to let us relocate and pay for regular trips.

I was all for it immediately.

But: I hear you ask a) Do you want strangers in your house? b) even sleep in your bed? Guess, how many different people share a hotel bed over time? c) What about valuables and personal stuff? Well, lock it away! And if a glass or a vase breaks, or a book gets mislaid...so be it. In any case, people have insurance.

Well, we women can be very persuasive with the right arguments and the right open-minded partner who wants to please his wife who is a long way from home...

That's how it all started. Hey, Europe here we come: The Intrepid Home Swappers! The world is your oyster- if you like oysters. Who knows where we'll go next if this works out?

Being an old hand on dating sites, my experience with a home swapping site took me right back.

As new hopefuls on a home exchange website, my hubby and I enthusiastically put up photos of our house, plus a catchy description together with details about us. We felt like kids in the candy-store: all these great places and houses all around the world up for grabs at the click of a mouse.

We approached desirable potential partners, sometimes we got replies, and sometimes not: “sorry but...or you're too late”. Then we thought we had found the right fit and we started to communicate by email with the prospective swappers.  At the same time we asked a couple of questions about what they were offering on their part. After a bit of research, at last we were ready to commit: “Let’s do it” only to get blown off: We've found somebody else.

It reminds me of Internet dating. After crafting a compelling personal profile, you click though gazillions of pictures and prospects; you wait for responses or actively approach potential partners. You communicate, sometimes slowly; sometimes unexpectedly excited, making quick progress in getting to know the other side. Then boom—you’re blown off and don’t know what hits you. They disappear from the radar or have the courtesy of informing you that they have met somebody else while you were getting your hopes up. Happens all the time. It’s called double timing.

We lost out while trying to cover our backs and avoid being disappointed if things turned out to be different to what they were portrayed to be. 
We are still "virgins" on the home swapping front so to speak, but we learned our lesson: Apparently one has to jump "into bed" here even more quickly than on dating sites.

You can follow our steps for about months on our travels to Germany and France. The first home swap near Frankfurt turned out to be an all-round positive experience. We absolutely loved it and felt totally at home away from home. Our second exchange made me want to scream when we arrived and then take the prefix ‘in’ out of Intrepid Homeswappers. The location, however, was hard to beat and even the lack of good weather wasn’t that important once you see the sights of Paris.

The topic solicited even more interest with the local media than my book on dating, i.e. the interview with NPR will concentrate on this adventure, yet still plug my book I was promised.

For us it was a great, invaluable experience. We were drawn out our comfort zone, left the rut of daily routine in the US, and managed to enjoy ourselves even though my husband was working for five out of the seven weeks. While we’re still unpacking our six enormous suitcases -68lb.each-, plans for next year are being hatched and little safeguards discussed in order to guarantee an even better exchange next time.

Siggy Buckley

Standard & Poors: Tiny Private Company threatens World's 4th largest Economy

Here are the News: Standard & Poors (allegedly) is downgrading Germany!
Fear!
Panic!
Here is a different reading: tiny little private corporation, a subsidy of American Media Company McGraw Hills, threatens fourth largest economy of the world.
Who gave he Media Company McGraw Hill the right to influence the life of people in countries across the globe? By which legitimate democratic process were they empowered to dictate government decisions in EU countries? I did not see Standard and Poors as a party on a ballot list.
Here is my judgement: Standard & Poors have no legitimacy to influence policy, and their past failures render them incompetent as well. On top the rating agencies are, in comparison, tiny little companies, private organizations, that have no more -   and no less - right to express their opinion than you or me. The total profit of McGraw Hills in 2010 was something in the range of 800 Million US$. That's a flea sh*t compared to the economies those megalomaniacs regularly dare to rate. Rating agencies are the latest symptom of a cancerous system gone havoc. And then there is "the market" listening to "the rating agencies". When did we hand over world government to the monkey house?

Stefan Thiesen is a Germany, UK and USA educated earth and space scientist and science writer. He is an expert in marine science, climatology and planetary sciences, author of several popular science books in German and English as well as a novel and numerous short pieces. he is a regular contributor to www.Opednews.com.

The Charm of Christmas Markets

Let me take you on a little pre-Christmas trip today from your PC or EZ-chair to the lands of Christmas markets, Germany and Austria.

Also called advent or christkindl markets, they originally gave towns and their burghers an opportunity to stock up on provisions at the onset of the cold season. Historical records name Dresden, Germany as the first in 1434.

Now they are a staple celebration of Christmas traditions drawing millions of visitors in the four weeks of  Advent, leading up to the fest in many towns all over Europe; some immigrants even brought  the concept over to Chicago. Often situated in the old market place, within historic city walls or other pedestrianized town areas, they invite to stroll around, socialize, shop, and eat.

Christmas markets have become popular seasonal tourist destinations. You can book trips to several cities in one weekend to see the famous markets in Vienna, Nuremberg and Munich in one weekend and do your Christmas shopping at the same time.

On opening night and, in some towns, every night, onlookers welcome the Christkind or Christ child, in the form of a golden-haired angel played by a local youth.

Winter reigns in this land of bustling shoppers and onlookers (if global warming is not interfering in a freaky way). What a disappointment if it is mild!

Anticipation of festive things to come fills not only the minds and seasonal spirits of the young. A particular joy on your senses after dark, the cold air is redolent with a myriad of smells associated with Christmas like toasted almonds and chestnuts, chocolate-covered or candied red apples (called paradise apples here) and mulled wine.

Wooden stalls with straw-covered roofs display a vast array of handmade crafts and art: old fashioned dolls, fragrant soaps, bees wax candles, silver jewelry, or environmentally correct wooden toys, (no lead, paint  please). Nativity scenes add to the festive nature of the markets, which otherwise have become very commercialized.

Vendors, clad in woolly caps and fur lined boots grab hot chocolates and lattes like the intrepid strollers and determined shoppers, and fortify themselves with bratwurst or increasingly doner kebab (introduced to the scene by Turkish immigrants years ago). When the fairylights illuminate the scene after dark, even the Yuletide- challenged find it hard to escape the allure of Christmas markets. It’s bliss if it actually snows!

Siggy Buckley