Meat the Parents

I've been getting along famously with my guest family (Gitta und Phillip).  Not Brad Pitt famous, but a solid Ben Stiller, maybe even a Daniel Radcliffe.  That's about as good as I could hope for, as I only understand about 70% of what they say, and can only say about 15% of what I want to.  However there is a language that usurps all nationalities: food.  I have long believed in the power of food to make life beautiful, and thusfar, my stay in Germany has more than lived up to my beliefs. I honestly don't know how they make everything so delicious.  There's this one salad that Gitta has made three times now--it's just freshly sliced tomatoes, really good mozzarella, about 2 cups of basil from their garden, and olive oil.  Despite my roller coaster relationship with tomatoes and tomato products, this is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.  And their soft cheeses, my god.  I don't know if it's because they're raw, or just that they're made really well, but unf.

What surprised me the most was my lack of trouble with eating German meat.  Going in, I promised myself that I would try everything that was offered to me, even if it looked disgusting (which some of it has). We eat pretty extensive amounts of meat at least once a day here, and I've yet to have a problem.  Pictured above is a Döner kebab, aka a Turkish gyro that I always want inside me.

The weather here is either very beautiful or rainy and gloomy. I actually don't mind it either way; the rain is a bit of a reprieve, and doesn't make me feel guilty for not constantly going out and seeing everything that's ever been built or written in Germany.  When I do go into the city, I've been pretty good about bringing my camera and capturing the pretties.

This is a sculpture that's in Breisach, a small city on the German/French border. It's Europe's namesake, Europa, riding on the back of a bull (Zeus).  Pretty much the same story with any of Zeus's paramours; he wanted her, Hera didn't want him to have her, he got her, this time by posing as a bull in one of her father's flocks. Anyway, the triangle represents Germany, France, and Switzerland.

This is a picture of the Münster, at the center of Freiburg's inner city.  It was built about 1200, but as you can see is getting a bit of a facelift at the moment.  Phillip loves to remind me of America's relative infancy. I've yet to play the Nazi card.

And finally, I saw this when I was walking around a place I could probably never find again.  I have no idea what it is, but I rather like it.



Blahging finished.

WTF England

So I flew directly from Raleigh to Heathrow airport in London. I've always considered England to be a country of allies, based on the fact that we share a language and love for Pride and Prejudice.  Sure, there was a bit of ugliness back in the 1700s, but forgive and forget, yes?

NO.  Apparently England still has a huge stick up its ass. That is the only reason I can fathom for the prices they charged for food in this airport.  Twenty dollars for one half of a glorified egg McMuffin?  Bullshit. And they try to disguise it with their tricky dollars to pounds conversion.  Well I won't fall for it (again)!

Complaints aside (Egg McFuckingMuffin) my trip went relatively well.  Objectively, it was funny to lug about 200 pounds of crap up and down train station staircases. But I arrived safely and on time, so all's well.  Yesterday was my first day in Freiburg, and we went into the inner city. They have a pretty extensive farmer's market there every day, and the Muenster is a cool, 700 year old church at the center. I had a few pictures of aforementioned coolness but managed to delete them from my camera somehow, so you'll have to take my word for it.

I'm staying with a host family for the next two weeks, Gitta and Phillip.  I can understand almost everything they say, but I think they might be simplifying and enunciating for me, which I appreciate.  But when people speak in the southern German dialect I just have to nod and smile, and have probably agreed to multiple offensive things at this point. 

Let's see if I can upload some pictures here...


That's the view out of my bedroom window. And the internet here is super slow, so I'ma stop there.