How German is Way Greener than the US

This entry is all about the little things that I have noticed in Germany that save energy and just make sense for a cleaner world.

1.) Toilets. Strange, right? Not only do they flush in the opposite direction, but there are also two different flush handles that use different quantities of water. One for little problems, one for big ones.

2.)Bikes. It is so easy to get around on a bike in Germany, and most people do here when it isn´t raining. There is a special lane on the road for bikers, and they must follow all driving rules just like automobil drivers or they will get a ticket. (I am not kidding. I almost got one for riding in a pedestrian only area.) I see business people in suits and nice shoes as well as little kindergarteners riding their bikes everymorning. During the day, the city sidewalks are a sea of bicycles. I have never seen so many before.

3.) Public transportation. Germany I think has one of the best public transportation systems anywhere in the world. There are so many ways to get around without a car. The bus, the street car, the subway, the ICE train, the regular train, shuttle buses, cheap airlines and the list goes on. My question is: What happened to all the trains in America? Why doesn´t the government invest more money into providing more ways to get around?

4.) Separating trash. A very simple thing do that saves an increible amount of trash from going to the wasteland. In all public areas, the trash cans look like the one in this picture. Even at home, most Germans separate everything. There is even a `Biomüll´truck that comes around to pick up all organic waste (ie. vegetable peels, yard clippings, branches, coffee grounds, old leftovers, etc) which is then made into rich soil to fertilize the farm fields.

5.) Frequent food shopping. The Germans are very concerned about their food being fresh. They go grocery shopping about every couple of days to buy fresh cheese, bread, meat, fruits and vegetables. Everyone always remembers to bring their reusable bags because plastic grocery bags cost extra! What a great idea...maybe we should try that.

6.) Unplugging unused electronics. Although you may not know it, but even though an electrical appliance may not be on, if it is plugged in, it is still using energy.

7.) Smaller cars, smaller everything. Does this need an explanation?

8.)Sparing water. Water is a very expensive resource for the Germans, so they are very careful to take short showers and save water whenever possible. A lot of people collect rain water (which there is plenty of here) to water plants, etc.

9.) Hanging laundry out to dry. No energy-hogging dryer. ´nuff said.

10.) Using natural light. In my old high school in Rhode Island, there was a large, beautiful, naturally-lit hallway, but the florecent lights were always on anyway. It really bothered me. Here, if a room is lit by the sun, you don´t turn the lights on. It just makes sense.

I am sure I am forgetting many things that I have noticed here, but I think I got the major ones. I know many Americans are now trying to live a greener lifestyle, but I am really hoping that you all take into consideration the things that I have posted here. America is only a small part of the world population, but we generate 1/4 of the world´s trash. All I ask is that everyone be a little more conscious of the things that they consume and try to reduce it. Every little bit will lighten the burden on the environment and as well as leave you with a little extra cash at the end of the month.

Finally settling in

Hallo everybody.
I have been in my new home for over a week now and it has been great. I get along really well with my new family and I have a fixed schedule of classes and activities. I meet with a group of "Ausländer" (foreigners) for a little while on Fridays to hang out and talk about our week (in german). I really enjoy my classes in school, although I understand very little. My head is so full of new words and phrases at the end of the day that I sometimes feel like they are all trying to escape by pushing on the inside of my skull. I keep them in there though by reading german text that I don´t fully understand and listening to the radio. I noticed that I am not as embarrassed to make grammatical errors when I speak here than I was in Argentina. It is easier to be a foreigner the second time around.
Another challenging thing is making sure that I do not lose my spanish while I am here. I have spanish class in school here which is pretty intensive, so I think I´ll be ok. My host family is also taking me to Spain for Christmas. I am so excited!
Bad news is that I think I need to get my wisdom teeth out while I am here. Good news is that my insurance pays for it. I am going to wait a bit longer and see how they are.
Ok, now for some cultural things I have noticed.
>Germans don´t understand the concept of one´s "bubble" and not popping it.
>Germans are very honest. They don´t intend to be mean, they just say what they think even if it comes out a little rude to Americans.
>Germans are more conscious about the environment. Everyone bikes, saves water, and separated garbage. I will write more about this in a later blog.
>Germans love American music, as does the rest of the world
>There are a lot of Turkish immigrants in Germany. Most native Germans resent the fact that a lot of Turks refuse to learn German, which I think is justified.
>Weird cloths are looked down upon.
>Most Germans do not wave the German flag for fear of appearing nationalistic.
>German universities cost next to nothing
>German schools are much harder than American schools
>Most Germans speak at least decent english.
>Germans love to travel

I think that is enough for today. I will try to get pictures up for the next entry--I cannot find a functioning USB port on this computer! Bis dann!

Last weeks in Bonn

Hallo alle!

The last couple of weeks have been absolutely wonderful. I am now in my new house with my new host family in a small village near Göttingen and I cannot believe how lucky I am to be here. I will write about them and my new home in the next blog though.
So, last entry I ended with the trip to Berlin. That feels like ages ago. The AIB (Akademie für Internationle Bildung) students and I visited the mountain of Drachenfels. There are many legends about this place and there was a castle that was used for teaching socialism pre-WWII, but it was completely bombed. Luckily it was rebuilt and we were able to take a tour inside. There are ruins of an older castle at the top which we climbed up to. We had to do a mini scavenger hunt while we were there. It was a lot of fun.
The next big excursion was a boat ride on the Rhine river. We started in this old medieval town called Bacharach then rode two hours down to Marksburg, which is now a historical museum. There are so many old castles and so many legends about the Rhine. The tour was awesome. We got to see the old armor, the bed chambers, the torture chamber, the herb gardens, and so many other cool things. There was a wedding going on while we were there, so of course we took a picture with the couple and their sweet car.
Next was the visit to the United Nations Campus in Bonn. We listened to a long lecture about it, but I found it really interesting so it wasn´t that boring for me. I am now seriously considering working for the UN. It seems like they would have a perfect job for me with my interest in the environment and foreign languages.
SILENT FILM FEST in Bonn! A few others and I went to a free outdoor showing of some American silent films. There was a live pianist and so many interesting people there. The films were so simple, but they were so funny and it made me so happy to see and hear the emotions from the audience.
I am going to skip a lot of important things only because there is no room and no time to write about them! Friday was our last day in Bonn. We ate breakfast together as a class, then worked on our performance pieces for the farewell party that evening. A group of 5 other students and I sang the song 'In the Jungle' acapella and it got rave reviews from the audience that night, so I guess we did pretty well. I had to sing a verse by myself! I was so nervous, but once we started singing I was completely relaxed. Another group did a rap in German that they wrote themselves, and another group did a dance while someone played the bagpipes. The other students and I were like a big family at the end of the 2 months. It was a very sad but very nice evening. I will be seeing them all again in Berlin for an orientation in November.
My german continues to improve everyday. I can have daily conversations without a problem. Deep discussions are still difficult. I'll get there though. I'm not worried. I think my german is way better now than my spanish was at the two month point. Tomorrow I start in the real school. I am really excited and I will let you all know about in my next post. My new address is:
Elena Krajeski
Südekumweg 6c.
37120 Bovenden
Germany

Please write me! I love snail-mail.
ps. Sorry there are no pictures right now---I will add some later!
pps. There are so many english words used in German. The funniest one I have heard has to be ´dissen`which means ´to diss` or insult someone or something. For example: Ich habe dich gedisst = I just dissed you on that one.

Berlin

Last weekend my hostmom and I went to the capital city of Berlin. It is a lot more modern than I had expected but it was still fun. We met up with some of Helga´s old colleagues the first night and we went out to eat. The next day we took a 2 and 1/2 hour boat tour on the river that runs through the city. Next was Checkpoint Charlie and the downtown area. That night I went to a club with one of the collegue´s daughters and her friends. I had a great time and got to know them really quickly (they all spoke english extremely well). On Sunday we visited "Gardens of the World" which was fun but hard to enjoy because I was hot and starving. I particularly liked the Arabic section of the park. There were many fountains and exotic flowers. In the afternoon we hung out with another one of Helga´s old colleges on the more residential side of Berlin. We took our flight home at around 6 that evening. I was so tired from all the activity. So overall I would say I liked Dresden better but I´ve heard there are a lot more fun things for young people do to in Berlin. We´ll see when I visit again for a CBYX reunion in December!

Monday--ugh back to school. I am starting to get annoyed with some of the immature male students in my class that distract the teacher from teaching us. I really want to learn german but we spend most of the class time listening to their pointlessly drawn-out stories. I just study on my own to make up for the lack of schooling I am getting during class. In the afternoon we went to have dinner and hang out with some german students. It was refreshing to talk to some new people.
Tuesday we had classes in the morning like always then had a 2 hour lecture on the German and American political systems. I tried hard to pay attention because I know it is an important topic but there is only so long you can hold the attention of a group of 18 years olds. Luckily we had the afternoon free the next day. Three other girls and I went to a lake about 45 minutes away and had a great time. I think I actually got a little color. I was trying to avoid tanning because of the red hair, but it´s been fading so I think it could work.

Thurday was our last tour of Cologne. We visited the Gastapo headquarters and saw the tiny rooms where people were held prisoner and tortured. People had scratched messages into and drew on the walls-it was really depressing. You could just sense how much suffering their was in that place. It was not like Buchenwald at all. After that we saw the orignial 4711 cologne shop. It smelled so good! but it was a bit expensive so I didn´t get any. Then came the best part, bakery testing! My favorite was this strawberry rubbarb cake. It was delicious.

I only have 2 weeks left here then I go to my permanent house in a small town near Göttingin. Bis netsche wohen!

Dresden

Hi everyone! I had another lovely trip this weekend. This time I went with my host mother to Dresden! We stayed in her friend's apartment and toured around a lot. Dresden was destroyed on February 2, 1945 by American and British bombers so everything had to be completely reconstructed, but it looks absolutely amazing now. We visited the FrauenKirche, an enormous church that was completed in 2005, and we climbed to the top. The view is really incredible. You can see the Zwinger, the castles, the Rathaus, the Semperoper (which we toured) and the Grünes Gewölbe Art Museum(which we also toured). Helga and I also did a bit of hiking to see the castles on the other side of the Elbe River. From the top there was a nice view of the Blau Wunder Bridge. On the way back we toured the Buchenwald concentration camp outside the town of Weimar. It was strangly peaceful. It was on a mountain with a nice view of the landscape and it felt like the souls that suffered there were at peace. Most of the buildings were destroyed after the liberation, but there were many disturbing pictures of the camp in the museum.
Monday the other American students and I went to a WWII museum with some German students. The museum was small, but I think that the point of the excursion was to give us a chance to meet some German kids. Afterwards we had dinner with them and played ultimate frisbee and football with them. It was really fun. Tomorrow I have to give a presentation--in German! so I have to go practice a bit. Tschussi!

A Trip to Bavaria

My weekend started with my hostmother's friend's birthday party at a Spanish restaurant in downtown Bonn. She is from Equador, so I got to practice my spanish a bit with her. We had paella and olives for dinner and gelato for dessert. SO good.I also had a bit of sangria. <.< The atmosphere reminded me a lot of Argentina. There was live music playing and a lot of jolly fat men with mustaches. We made it back to our apartment around one in the morning.

Just a few hours after I went to bed I had to get up again to go to Bavaria! It was about a 5 hour drive. ( Germany is about the size of the state of Montana. Nothing is too far) We went with my hostmom's friend, Lutz, in his BMW. When we got there we had to rush to put our stuff in the inn and drive to the castle to catch our tour. The weather was a little wet, but the castle was still absolutely breath-taking. It really looks like Cinderella's castle (it was the inspiration for the Disney castle). The inside was covered in hand painted murals and all kinds of antique furniture and trinkets. On the way back to the inn we stopped at a medieval festival. It reminded me of Society for Creative Anachronism events. Almost everyone was dressed up and really into their character. Even little children. I had the most delicious waffle and watched performers and listen to medieval music. It was definitely my kind of fun.

The next day we had big breakfast then headed to the mountains for a little hiking. The Bavarian Alps are amazing--some of the mountains were so big that they had snow on the top still. We saw waterfalls, lots of cows, quiant villages, beautiful flowers and even wild strawberries. Yum! After that excursion we drove a bit to the medieval town of Rothenburg and did a bit of exploring. The best part came at dinner time--Käse Spetzel for me and Bratwurst for Lutz. I sometimes feel like I'm eating my way through Germany. It's so good! It was quite a weekend trip. I'm so lucky that the program put me with someone who likes to travel!

There is really too much to write about, but I will try to fit the important things from last week in my next entry. Bis Später!

Week Two

It has been another crazy, crazy week. I continue to have my German classes from 8:45 to 1:00 and then have afternoon activities. On Monday we visited Beethoven`s birthplace. His birth house has been turned into a museum that holds most of his original possessions. In the basement there was an amazing digital interactive Beethoven opera and outside there was a garden with statues of him sent in by artists all over the world. It was really neat.

On Tuesday we went to the Waste Management Facilities of Bonn. I found it really interesting. The Germans are so much more environmentally friendly, but I will write a blog about that later. We also toured the incineration plant. Not the most glamourous thing, but it is important.

Later that night I went to the movies to see Ice Age 3 with my host mother and her friends. It was in German, but I was surprised how much I understood.

Wednesday we watched a movie about the Remagen Bridge of the Rhine River. I tried to pay attention, but war films really are not my thing. The actor who plays Mr. Slugworth in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory made a short appearance as a general in the film, so I had to laugh when someone said,"I need you to bring me the secret formula for an Everlasting Gobstopper." It was hilarious. One of the many side-splittingly funny moments I`ve had with this group. In the evening we dressed up nicely and went to a concert performed by the Bonn University Orchestra. It was a really nice show. It makes me wish I could play an instrument.

Today we took a 20 kilometer bikeride to this Remagen Bridge that we had watched the movie about and took a tour of the museum there. We ate lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant and has gelato afterwards. Yum! Then we had to bike the 20 kilometers back, but it wasn`t that bad. The ride was right along the Rhine River and it was absolutely beautiful.

Tomorrow we actually have the afternoon off. I know what I'll be doing-sleeping! I leave early Saturday morning to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. I will write about that next week!