Eating, Food shopping, Drinking with undergrads, etc

I now understand survival as a vegetarian in Germany: really really good bread.  The bread here eats like a meal, a really satisfying one.  I picked up some loaf on my way home last night with ‘baguette’ in the name, although it was a good 5 inches in diameter and only about a foot long.  Both the doughy inside and crusty rind were loaded with seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, and they added just the right amount of chewy texture and toasty taste.  I was deliciously surprised, considering I picked up one of the remnants of the day at 7:30pm, close to closing time, 8pm. 

I pass two supermarkets, nearly side-by-side on my way to and from campus every day.  That allows by to stop at Aldi, the cheap one (think K-mart, but with decent groceries) one day, and Edeka, the slightly classier one (think Kroger for Houston, Wegman’s if you’ve been in the northeast), the next, and pick up whatever I fancy when I’m there: tea, wine, chocolates, sometimes things to make a meal.  Each one also has its own neighboring bakery, opening 8am-8pm.  Shops close early here.  24 hr grocery stores are not a thing here, neither are grocery stores and mainstream shops open on Sundays.  Sundays are for eating, exercising, enjoying life.  About half of the restaurants, most museums, and most recreational facilities, especially public pools, stay open on Sundays.  A limited number of buses run then too, compared to the weekdays.  The Australian postdoc in my lab calls it ‘rubbish’.  As my brother would quote the army, it’s ‘mandatory fun day’.

My next door neighbor knocked on my door in the early evening one day last week.  After realizing I didn’t understand what he was saying to me, he said ‘Ok, I’ll try in English.  Hi, I am your neighbor.  I want to do some sport in my room.  It might make some noise, like on the bike.  I want to see if you mind.’  I assured him I didn’t mind as long as it wasn’t late at night or early in the morning.  We exchanged names and said Tschüss.  On Wednesday night he knocked on my door 9pm, asked me if I had plans.  I said I would probably go to the bar night in our basement bar, as advertised to start at 9pm, but maybe in half an hour.  I said ‘ciao’, then thought ‘wow, they are really on time about the parties here’.  When I arrived, I realized he was the DJ and one of two bartenders, he had to start the party. 

I got to know my neighbor, some other building mates, their friends, and some really fruity beers.  I saw ‘Radler’ on the drink list and thought, hey, that’s the name of the computer that runs our microscope (in the Link lab), then I thought, duh, we named those after beers, and the first ones were all German or Russian.  Radler is like a beer and lemonade mix.  It’s like lemon candy, in beer form (distinct from Mike’s Hard Lemonade, if you’re wondering that), on the sweet side for me, but tolerable.  Two weeks ago I tried a brew from Bit, that was infused with the same plant that cachaca (the booze in caipirinhas) comes from.  It was quite nice, I tried it following the recommendation from a lady friend, who then said her guy friends say it’s not really beer.  Other beer options that don’t taste like beer include Schoefferhoffer weizen with grapefruit juice, and Mixery, a beer and cola mix. 

Youth culture in Germany is not different from the states.  A 20 year old guy gets too drunk and pisses off his girlfriend to the extent of inducing crying, then a slightly less tipsy buddy has to calm down the girlfriend and keep the drunk guy in line without pressing the belligerent button.  16 year old girls wear too much eye-liner and not enough clothes and look 10 years older.  This was the crowd at the free open air music festival hosted by RPR (Rheinland-Pfalz Radio).  Many bands popular in Germany were there, including Die Atzen (literally, 'The Dudes'), Alphaville (yes, ALPHAVILLE), Juli, Milow, and Ich und Ich (literally, 'I and I').  My friend who fetched me from the airport invited me to tag along with her and her friends.  Of course, beer was expensive and it was not BYOB, they check your bags at the entrance, so pregaming commenced beforehand.  The oldest guy in the group was 24 and had just started his Ph.D..... 

Some dudes

The rain began shortly after we arrived, as Alphaville was setting up.  During the Juli's perfomance, it poured, and my Birkenstock clad feet sank into the mud as it got softer.  We stayed 6 hours, the rain continued on and off like this.  At the heaviest times, I would contribute to the collective umbrella cover in the crowd.  We were within 40 meters of the stage, rocking out and dancing with soaking wet feet, trying hard not to fall over by slipping in the mud or getting run over by bigger people (ok, I speak for myself).  I am now a fan of Juli, Milow, and Ich und Ich.  Milow writes humorous songs, in English too.  I don't have the necessary language skills to discern whether or not the others are humorous as well.  

Alphaville!

Alphaville!

See how close we were to the stage!  

Note: Alphaville was not the only band I photographed, the other ones were taken either in pouring rain or in the dark/bad lighting, and don't have much to see.

Coming soon: food from my tiny kitchen as promised, things you can win at the amusement park called Ikea, etc etc