"How Do you 'Du'?"

And now, for a little discourse on one of the great challenges of returning to the German language...

For those non-German readers out there, German has both formal and informal versions of the word "you." For strangers, professional situations, and to show respect, the word "Sie" is used for "you." And for family, friends, *some* workplace colleagues, and apparently the gym (in Germany: "Sportstudio") and hair salon establishments, the word "Du" is used for "you." So theoretically, you simply apply the right word to the right situation and everything is easy-peasy after that.

Ha!

Of course, having lived in Germany before, I knew the challenges that awaited me.

Example #1. Squirm factor: very low. I know when you go into a gym - for instance to inquire about the monthly cost of joining said gym - you can freely use the word "Du." Relief. No challenge. Doesn't matter if they are strangers. "Du" is totally fine, especially if you throw in a few English words here and there to let them know you're a foreigner doing your best with their archaic language customs.

Example #2. Squirm factor: low. Yesterday, at the hair salon - one which I've never visited before, I had an appointment for a hair cut. Ok. The trick here is simply to wait and see. Rather than establishing the rules of engagement, you let the STYLIST do it. And this is (thankfully) almost always done right away unless the stylist is not sure what to do. She might say, "so, what have we here today?" (CHEATER!) But you can answer with "I want to cut off about 2 centimeters." Understood is that you want HER to cut off two centimeters. And on it goes. But generally...she just simply uses "Du" and there is no more tripping around.

Example #3. Squirm factor: low-medium. Landlords. The ones who live right underneath you who you see frequently on the stairs and in the nearby grocery store. Well, of course you start out with "Sie." (oh, and btw, they are older than you - they're the age of your parents. Showing respect is expected.) So when you introduce yourself and discuss contractual terms, etc., it is "Sie" all the way. But then there is this little problem. Because I refuse to be called "Frau Nathan" if I can avoid it at all. (People botch the name or stumble on it, and I simply hate being called by my last name, it makes me feel like I'm 90 years old.) So when the landlord/lady politely inquires, "What shall I call you?" I politely answered "Please call me Julie." Ooooh, major problems begin. Because what I'm doing is effectively offering "Du." (Du=use of first name and vice-versa.) And in Germany: 1) the "Du" form is offered by older people/people in "superior" positions TO younger people/people in inferior positions and not the other way around and 2) this is only done after you *really* *know* someone. But I don't care. I just bulldoze my way through. What's particularly amusing is that they still call Andreas by his last name. But we've ended up with a compromise which is fairly common: I am called "Julia" (almost everyone here Germanizes my name) and the Sie form is used.

Example #4. Squirm factor: medium. Let's say you're meeting with a former work colleague who you've known for years. You of course use "Du" when talking to him. You meet up with him at his place of work and then head off to get a cup of coffee. In the parking lot, on the way to the cafe, you run into one of his colleagues (this is at a new place of work, not where you used to work) who you don't know. Don't panic. Simply AVOID the word "you" as in the hairdresser example. One can get very very good at this. For instance, if in your little huddle, people start talking about weekend plans because it's Friday afternoon, you can ask the stranger what he's doing during the weekend by saying "So, what's up for this weekend?" while looking directly looking into his eyes rather than saying "So, what will you do this weekend?" The real challenge that I faced a few sentences later was "YOU" PLURAL. Yes. More language traps that can send you down the long dark hole. Because there is also a you plural FORMAL form. And what do you do when you want to say YOU PLURAL (like "what are your company's plans for expansion with these new business models?") and you generally refer to one guy as "Du" and with the other guy you don't know or you do know you should say "Sie?" Mind Boggling. I have no idea. Andreas says it depends on the situation. Which means you need to be a German equivalent of William Safire ("On Language," NYTIMES MAGAZINE) to know what to do.

Example #5. Squirm factor medium-high. You are making an appointment to meet with the former colleague in the example above. You are talking to his secretary. So, you don't know her (stranger factor="Sie"), but she's lower on the totem pole than the guy you call "Du" (call her "du?"), and she's probably younger than you (again, "du?") and it's a media company where everyone uses "Du" internally ("du?") but...it's about a job application (uh-oh: "SIE"). I went with "Sie." But then she called me "Du." (Totally incorrect.) What to do? Go with her bad manners or potentially embarrass her by sticking with "Sie?" I went with bad manners.

Example #6. Squirm factor: HIGH (squirming in seat just thinking about it). Someone contacts you online on a social/business networking website. They are a friend/contact of a friend/contact of yours. They are looking to hire. *They* write a message to you in German and use "Du." Ok, feels a bit odd, but the guy is German, so he must know what to do. So you APPLY for a position with this guy's team and then you wait to see what will happen. You figure, well, he was interested, so he'll definitely call to make an interview appointment. But then he doesn't call. So you decide, "what the hell, I'll call him." GULP. So 1) he used "Du" online ("Du?") 2) but...online is generally more informal than offline ("Sie?") 3) You don't know him ("Sie"?) 4) He's a friend of someone you call "Du" ("Du?") 5) It's about a job ("Sie?" 6) He's more senior than you in both age and potential position ("Sie?") 7) BUT HE USED "DU!" ("DU!!!) Vicious circle. I called and used "Du." Was totally totally weird and uncomfortable. Not sure what was correct. WHAT WAS CORRECT?????

Lesson learned - follow Golden Rule? "Du on to others as you would have others Du on to you."

Höllentalklamm

Emily, Jake and Gino might recognize where we went hiking today - they've all been there already. I sort have have a soft spot in my heart for this beautiful location which is in Garmisch-Partenkirchen - a little over an hour away from us if traffic is flowing normally (which it was not and we spent an extra 45 minutes on the way there and an extra hour on the way back sitting in traffic, but c'est la vie). And at some point during the outing I was wondering if Hans and Dorothee have ever been to the hike at some point in all their exploring, which is outrageously gorgeous, even when you've been there and hiked it a half dozen times. (Which we have - because we often take our visitors there, if you haven't figured it out. Mom, Dad - forget it - not possible in winter.)

I'm happy to simply arrive (it's usually a Sunday when we go - inevitably because in Germany, the stores are open on Saturday and you usually have some last minute grocery shopping or errand running to do, so therefore Saturday is the day to do it - yeah, Sunday...NOTHING EXCEPT GAS STATIONS ARE OPEN - and museums and restaurants - but forget about shopping and rather go hiking. It really takes some getting used to and after living in Singapore, the no-shopping-Sundays are a major source of culture shock. Along with the fact that I realize I have not eaten sushi now for TWO MONTHS) anyway, long aside over - because on Sunday, especially, you can see all the locals walking around after church in their tracht (the word for local German formal wear, which yes - please Google "Lederhosen" and "Dirndl" if you don't know what old fashioned - but still fashionable here in Bavaria - German formal wear looks like.) But in its old fashioned way, it is still quite beautiful and great for people watching and lots of fun during Oktoberfest (Walt, Chris - you coming?). It gets boring just to look at the tourie hikers in their hiking pants with their sticks. Tracht is much more interesting.

I'll keep it brief now. We spent two hours going up the mountain, at which point I gratefully dug into some pea soup with sausages at the local mountain hut. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it began to POUR and we froze to death for a good 15 minutes because the seats inside were all taken and the ones outside were only half-way under a huge umbrella. After a quick purchase of a plastic bag in the shape of a poncho, we headed back down the mountain and back to the car. Honestly, I was tired. I need to get used to this hiking stuff again. I must be a bit wimpy after only 1.5 hours (max) yoga classes for the last two years.

As usual, the Klamm did not disappoint. Totally gorgeous views and though on one hand I wanted to take pictures of everything (with my phone), on the other one really has to balance that with simply enjoying the view and not worrying about what photos will look best on the blog. :-) Enjoy and come visit - we'll take you to the Höllentalklamm (literally, "Hell valley gorge.")

"It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood..."

"...a beautiful day in the neighborhood, won't you be my, won't you by my, won't you be my neighbor?" Oh...remember those days....when Mr. Rogers would sing to you while he changed his sweater and shoes? Hmmm....you don't remember? Ok...so I'm dating myself maybe.

But, after a perfectly miserable weekend (in terms of weather), when I was chanting the nursery rhyme "Rain rain go away, come again some other day..." the SUN HAS COME OUT.

And I went to yoga this morning.
Went to the post office and mailed two packages.
Went bike-riding around the English garden a bit.
Went grocery shopping at the bio goods shop.
Talked to various people/sent various people emails about career.
Still have a good couple hours left to continue to get many things done.

Two photos (boring, sorry) from the weekend. Must have been Sunday morning.

Andreas working - and doesn't the light from the window make him look like a glowing alien from the back? And do you see what is sitting next to him in the funny little brown cave-like thing next to the desk?

Even Sammy didn't like the weather and was trying to keep cosy and warm. :-)


No big news here. Maybe some by early next week...

Amsterdam photos 2

Monday morning. Coffee and toast. Finally, a really good night's sleep.

I didn't mention - the first two nights in our hotel, we were attacked by mosquitoes. The hotel was right next to a canal (not a difficult placement in this Venice of the north), which means...breeding ground. Emily and I woke up looking like characters out of Star trek. Woke up is the wrong word. Got up. We compared our "Borgness" and because I was the one with the eye swollen shut, I decided I was in better costume.

Joking aside, the third night we finally had some bug spray, which helped a lot. Over the weekend, I must have murdered at least 9 mosquitoes in the bathroom hanging out on the shower curtain.

Anyway, some more images of the city here. Dorothee mentioned to me that she's never been to Amsterdam and wants to go and visit all the museums there (hey - birthday coming up! :-) ) but for me, I was just interested in wandering around and looking at the beautiful houses and not always so beautiful tourists. Also, except for Sunday morning, which I had to myself cause Em flew out in the early morning, we didn't really have time for museums. But, it's a city I'd go back and visit, and then I'd make it to a few more of the other attractions.

Meanwhile, Saturday was spent grabbing the last few photos Emily needed, going to yoga, as mentioned, watching a bit of the gay pride parade which filled the city with lots of revelers, having a nice dinner at a restaurant near our hotel, etc. Sunday morning I slept in, and then headed over to an antique market. I accidentally wandered through one block of the red light district on the way and scurried through, a little embarrassed. I went to a design cooperative (picture of the carved wooden frogs from that place - a statement about how 3rd world countries like Indonesia, are often used for low-cost labor. In the case of the carved table, only a country with skilled artisans are even able to make such a table - it was gorgeous) to look at some modern dutch design. At around 1, I slowly made my way to the airport and then flew home.

It was a lovely weekend and so nice to see and hang out with Em. She even let me touch her iphone. :-)

Amsterdam photos 1

We're heading to a yoga class in a few minutes, but here are some quick impressions of Amsterdam from our VERY FUN, but somewhat tiring day yesterday. The nice thing about running around a city with a professional photographer is that you REALLY SEE A LOT VERY FAST. The other side, is of course (and I'm told yesterday was a RELAXED AND EASY DAY), that you are running around with a lot of equipment for many hours.

On top of the planned running around, I totally screwed up. We were going to go to yoga yesterday morning, and I had looked up the address and had a map ready and route planned, etc. I told Em we had to leave an hour before class in order to walk all the way there and make it on time. Emily is like: "but Ayla said it's really close by." And I said, "it doesn't look close by on the map. It looks like a 40 minute walk...." And so of course, after 40 minutes of walking there, we get to the street to do yoga exactly on time...except for the fact that IT WAS THE WRONG STREET! :-( ARGH!

I had looked up the wrong street. So we walked all the way back - and then walked to the right street (an hour late), and looked at the schedule for today. So now we know. And we're going. And almost all the shooting is done, so today should be super relaxed.

Last words for the moment - Amsterdam - which I saw one other time when I was 8 years old - is BEAUTIFUL in a sort of quaint but grungy way, and I love all the canals and bikes. I'm getting used to the smell of marijuana everywhere....pretty funny to see it. Doesn't seem to be a real problem here. Anyway...more commentary later.

iwannaiphone

That's Emily...yup...holding up the....you...know...what.

So mean.

But I can hold it in my hot little hands on Thursday evening when I get to Amsterdam. Maybe I won't even like it.

And theoretically...I have signed up with the mobile company that everyone THINKS is gonna win the iphone business here in Germany. I'm hoping that EVERYONE IS RIGHT.

Yet more bikes

There was at least the intention to have some relaxing time this weekend. We were thinking that on Saturday we'd try to take care of some more apartment-related purchases and arrangements and that on Sunday we'd take it easy in the afternoon and go laze around the river or go jogging or biking or...something else.

But it was somehow not meant to be. Friday was nice - we had dinner with a colleague of Andreas' and his wife. Saturday started with an exciting trip to Radlebauer. Take a look.


Andreas has a bike, but not a "city" bike - not a nice neat streamlined thing that can easily be ridden through the city. He has a mountain bike, which is a bit awkward to ride as a city bike. And Radlebauer is the place to go in Munich to outfit yourself properly (Volker and Alex told us). Sort of like heaven for Tracie, no? :-)

We held off on buying me a bike because *my* blue 12-year old Trek works well enough as a city bike, at least for the moment. It just got a tune-up and is holding, but we shall see.

After bike buying, it was off to kitchen stores again, which takes HOURS if you have a consultant willing to build your kitchen of the future on his computer, which we did. So now we have two price quotes and need to decide which one to go for.

But then suddenly, Saturday was gone and Sunday morning was spent introducing ourselves to our neighbors and then napping and then yoga and then dinner out - and the weekend was gone.

Well, more weekends to look forward to in the future. Like this coming weekend in Amsterdam with EMILY!

Technofied!

Finally.
Internet is in.
Phone is in.
Mobile contracts done.

And...here's the place - with our stuff in it. :-)

It's pretty hard to take photos, though. All the angles and high ceilings pose a major challenge. But you get the idea now - better than the photos with just empty rooms.

Off to buy bath mats now. Very exciting.

Deja (Harry Potter) Vu

July 18, 2005.
This is Andreas, reading Harry Potter Volume number 6 on July 18, 2005 in Singapore, as we were shopping for a fountain for our balcony garden.

July 21
This is Andreas, reading Harry Potter Volume number 7 on July 21, 2007 as we were shopping for a mobile phone contract for me.
Needless to say, he finished it before work began on Monday morning. (ok, ok, I finished it yesterday as well...). :-)

Good to know...

We will be without internet for awhile. And running around getting stuff together for the apartment is taking some time....a lot of it. :-) Which means that for the next week or two I will not be posting blogs very often/writing email very often, etc.

But just to know that I am encountering crazy things around every corner....here is a "Sprueche" (saying) from a friend's father's foyer room.
In German:
"Wer ein Heim hat, das traut
Und ein Weib, das nicht haut,
Verkuende dies Glueck immer laut."

and the translation:
"He who has a home that protects him
and a wife that does not beat him,
always tells people about his luck."

The squirrel there seems to think it's an interesting saying...

CORRECTION!!!!!
The last line of that saying is supposed to be (Christian!!! how could you let me get this wrong?):
"Verkuende dies Glueck NIMMER laut"

WHICH MEANS:
"NEVER tells people about his luck." (As in...modestly keeps this info to himself.)

Thank you for the correction/notification from a friend...

Surf Munich

Before I left Singapore, whenever I told (especially) my Indian friends that I was moving to Munich, almost the first comment from many/most of these friends was: "Oh, but Munich is COOOOOLD." As if they could think of the below zero weather during the frigid winters here just by shutting their eyes and cringing and shivering.

In fact, Munich is not only cold in the winter, but it is also often cold during the summer. And rainy. Like now.

Nevertheless, the Germans are hearty folks, certainly not deterred by a little dip in the temperature. Like to 11 degrees. In the summer. They like to surf the Isar (river running through Munich) rain or shine.

Look at this brave soul. He and about 10 other guys were outfitted in wetsuits and doing rounds on this funky wave that exists because of some giant pipe or something at the bottom of the river bed which creates a constant wave right there. There's a few places in Munich where you can find people doing just this during the summer - diving into a point in the river where there's a wave, doing their best to stand up and surf for about 20 seconds, then letting the wave carry them backwards down the river while the next guy dives in. Then the guy that's gone backwards scrambles out of the river and runs back to wait in line to get back into the wave. Good training, I imagine, for the real thing.

Emily - you bringing your surfboard if you come here? :-)

Taxi Anyone?

Saw these freaky taxis at Marienplatz yesterday. I wonder if I could pay one of the taxi...peddlers....to let me peddle it. At least they look like more fun than the normal bike taxis/rickshaws.

Dial-A-Bike

This concept, I have to admit, is not new to me. I saw it before we left Munich. Nonetheless, at that time I was also very impressed with it - and the feeling has certainly not diminished over time. So I snapped a photo for you all to take a look - check out "Dial A Bike," offered to you by the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail). Very easy concept - if you run across one of these bikes, you can simply dial the number on the bike, get some kind of password code, which you then enter on the bike, then it's yours for a rental fee. I guess you can leave them almost anywhere and there must be some sort of GPS tracker on them so DB can figure out where they are after you sign out...

Pretty cool. Also really nice are the foldable bikes I see everywhere. They're super light and you can carry them by a handle with you fairly easily. No photo available, but if I see one soon, i'll show you.

Herzlich Wilkommen!

Ok...here we go. New Blog Number 1 (ignore the one before this, I'm trying to change my profile pic and it's not working....annoying.) It's 8 pm and there's a nice little rain shower outside that reminds me a bit of Singapore. But not much. Because the rain shower here is a polite little sprinkle. A few dew drops gracefully falling from the sky that are gently blanketing the road and the trees with a glistening shimmer. Nothing really like the roaring slam and slap of the air-borne waves of rain we have come to know in the last two years.

But...there is something to be said for polite rain as well, as well as nice warm (not sweltering) summer nights in Europe, where a stroll down the street to the corner grocery store does not require a cold shower when you get back and a change of clothes. :-)

Today was a success, at least a small one. And right now, this week, I'm grateful for successes in what I think will be a challenging adjustment period, despite our worldly experiences. Specifically, we had planned the entire morning for battle with the KVR (Kreisverwaltungsreferat -check out the photo of the waiting room...nice and sterile), where we assumed we would maybe need to lose face, in the fight for my 1) permit to live in Germany, and 2) (more important), work permit. We had to wait for about 35 minutes to get into the first office, but everything went smoothly. There were no issues with registering ourselves as residents of Munich. Office number 2 was the scary one, though. But the man in there said right away: "Ah, ja, ich kenne den Fall. Kein Problem." Which made my jaw drop - "Oh, yes, of course, I know your case. No Problem." I quickly asked him, "so what kind of visa will I get now?" The answer: "A permanent one." "And the work permit?" "Also permanent." Which means...no fight necessary. No more beuracracy. All done with the paperwork. Nice Big Relief.

So now the focus is on the apartment and we have two appointments set up already for really lovely places. And more to be made. Our service is apartment is the best we've ever had (of the three we've experienced thus far), and is in a great location.

But we do notice subtle differences. Things that remind us that the two years in Singapore were not just a dream.
1) People are TALL here. Really tall. I'm used to being one of the tall people. No more.
2) The light outside is different. Maybe it's because of the darker green leaves, no more brilliant emeralds. The reflections are different.
3) What the Germans think is "Tropenfeuchtigkeit" - literally - tropical humidity - is a joke. (Radio announcer said this.)
4) People around here really LOOK at you when you walk by. No surreptitious glances and then a quick staring at the ground. They STARE here. They watch you walk by. And trust me, we weren't wearing anything funny.

Munich will take some getting used to. But I made it to the farmer's market today. Got some lovely tasty tomatos and some handfuls of bitter forest salad herbs. And fresh chantarelle mushrooms.