I Need a Vacation from my Vacation

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Ah, vacation.  Recreation. Relaxation. Sightseeing.  It doesn’t matter whether you are going to explore someplace new or returning to a favorite place, it is one of the most wonderful events of the year (right after my birthday, of course!).  There is only one problem with vacation.  Preparation.  And the preparation is 100% stress!

stressed out cartoon

After years of extensive research and various experiments, I am of the (un)educated opinion that a person actually spends more time preparing for a vacation than they do on that vacation.  Think about it.  First, you have to figure out where you want to go.  Beach or mountain?  Relaxation or active?  New or familiar?  Second, you have to find a place to stay.  Hotel?  Condo?  House?  Resort? Third, you have to plan the activities. Museums? Shopping? Sightseeing? Fourth, make a packing list. Fifth, shop. And finally, pack. All that work, over the course of months and months, for a week or two of vacation.

What’s my point? Why am I going on and on about this? Because we just got back from vacation, and by the time we left I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation preparation. And what was my reward for all of the stress? Bad weather. Yaaayyyy!!! Now when we booked an April vacation in The Netherlands, we weren’t so naive as to expect sunbathing weather. All we wanted was to be able to hang out on the beach most days, even if we would need jackets. That’s not too much to ask in April, is it? The second coming of winter here in Europe had other ideas though, and rained on our little parade, literally. We did manage to get a couple of days on the beach, but mostly we braved the wind and rain to go shopping and roam around the local area. To our advantage, we were in Zeeland which is our favorite part of The Netherlands and our fourth trip to that area out of 5 “Dutch Vacations” in the last 4 years.

In the end we enjoyed our vacation very much, in spite of the less than perfect weather. And when you’re chillin’ on the beach or eating at one of the best Korean restaurants in the world outside of Korea, it is all worth it. But at 11 o’clock the night before you leave and you are still not done packing the car, sometimes a person thinks “Is this really all worth it?”

They really like me! (Part II, The Sunshine Award)

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So, it’s official. Apparently I am not the worst blogger on the planet after all.  How do I know this you ask? Well, because I have been nominated for another “blogger-to-blogger” award, called the Sunshine Award!

sunshine-award

Suze, the author of “Gesundheit, Suze”, has deemed my little blog worthy of this particular complimet. And compliments are a good thing, right? I say that because I am the worst person in the world at receiving compliments. For one, it is actually a little embarassing. On top of that, I always worry I won’t respond appropriately. Too little is ungrateful, too big is cocky. You know what I mean? So on that note, I humbly say to Suze: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Now on to the rules of the Sunshine Award (now that I know that rules are always attached to these things):

-Link back to the person who nominated you
-Post the award image to your page
-Tell seven facts about yourself
- Nominate 5-10 other blogs and let them know they are nominated

So, here are seven facts about me, guaranteed to amaze!

  1. I am trying to learn to play the guitar. I say trying because it is hard to find the time to practice.
  2. I think the Blues is the most underappreciated genre of music. Not to mention, the quality of small time Blues musicians is generally 5 times that of your average Pop star.
  3. I am NOT a grilling “Master”, despite my wife’s opinion that I should be because I am an American.
  4. I am the gadget freak in the family, yet my wife has more gadgets than me now.
  5. I love the peace and quiet of a small town, but hate the slow ass internet and bad cell phone signal that comes with it.
  6. I am unbelievably unromantic, but my wife miraculously puts up with it. For that I am eternally grateful.
  7. I think Contra was possibly the best video game ever created, after Super Mario Bros. (the original).

And now, in no particular order, the blogs I nominate are (drumroll please):

There’s a hamburger in Berlin!

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Did you know you can have hamburgers delivered in Berlin? I have never had hamburgers delivered.  Ever.  In my entire life.  And I come from the land of hamburgers!  Now, it is possible that somewhere in America they deliver hamburgers.  But I have never seen it.  Come to think of it, I haven’t lived in America for over seven years.  Hell, it’s been 5 years since I even visited.  So it is entirely possible that hamburger delivery is as common as Domino’s Pizza these days.  Still, having hamburgers delivered is something I find very unusual.

(Photo Source: Wikipedia Commons) Customization: Germerican Denglish

(Photo Source: Wikipedia Commons) Customization: Germerican Denglish

So you can imagine my surprise when, while on a weekend trip to Berlin, I saw that you can have hamburgers delivered. Here! In Germany. This is the land of beer and bratwurst for god’s sake! A large, blonde man named Hans in his black Mercedes should have shown up at my hotel in Lederhosen to bring me Bratwurst covered in mustard and French Fries drenched in mayonnaise. That’s what delivery in Germany should look like, right? Wait a minute. That’s it. That’s perfect. I am going to start a bratwurst delivery business in America and do it just like that. All I need is a guy named Hans (or maybe Jürgen, eh Bob?) and a Mercedes I can call the Schitzelmobile and I will be rich in no time!

But anyway, back to reality. And the reality is, there is an absolute insane amount of delivery choices in the city of Berlin. I couldn’t come close to remembering half of them, so won’t begin to try. But rest well in the knowledge that if you visit Berlin, you will be able to have a hamburger delivered to your hotel room. Or eventually bratwurst in America!

I am a slacker!

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So, I just realized I haven’t posted to my blog in over a month.  I am such an incredible slacker.  If this blog was a house plant, it would be dead by now!  If it was a pet, the Humane Society would have confiscated it!!  If it was my wife…..wait…..luckily I didn’t ignore her for a month.  That would have probably been ugly!  You get the point.  I have an excuse though, I honestly do.  And it is a good one.  So here it is.

(Phot Credit: zazzle.com.au)

(Photo Credit: zazzle.com.au)

I was busy.

That’s it.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Just life being life, I had a ton of stuff to do.  Throw a vacation and the first good mountain biking weather of the year on top of it and, there you go.  Over a month without blogging.  In my defense though, I do have a bunch of half-finished posts!  That’s got to count for something, right?  If you feel neglected as a reader, however, then I guess I won’t blame you if you move on to someone less negligent.  I would humbly request that you stay though.  I can’t really afford to lose any of the 23 of you!  Well, 24 if you count my mom, but she still hasn’t found the “Follow” button.

For those who stay, you will be rewarded!  You will be shortly bombarded with a barrage of posts that will both astound and amaze!  The “Shock and Awe” of blogging if you will.  You will be so utterly impressed that you will immediately feel the urgent need to go out and get me 10 more followers each!  Or, to be a little more realistic, I will finish a bunch of posts (theoretically in chronological order) and you will hopefully get a few chuckles out of my randomness.

They are tearing down history in Berlin!

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The Berlin Wall is being torn down.  That sounds like something straight out of 1989, right?  Well guess what, it is being torn down again.  Now.  In the year 2013.  But this time NOBODY should be happy about it!  Do I have your attention yet?

East Side Gallery (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

East Side Gallery (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

The East Side Gallery.  At 1.3 kilometers, it is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall.  It is also where, in 1990, artists from all over the world came together to create 105 paintings to document and memorialize the reunification of Germany.  Thousands upon thousands of people visit the gallery every year.  It is, by some reports, the 2nd most popular tourist attraction in Berlin.  We actually just visited the gallery in February while in Berlin (that post is coming soon).  So all in all, a pretty important part of history, right?  Get this.

Construction crews removing a section of the Berlin Wall (Photo credit: The Guardian)

Construction crews removing a section of the Berlin Wall (Photo credit: The Guardian)

Protesters at the East Side Gallery (Photo Credit: The Guardian)

Protesters at the East Side Gallery (Photo Credit: The Guardian)

As reported by The Guardian, property developers want to remove a section of the wall.  Bad, right?  It gets worse.  The reason want to remove a section is so that the inhabitants of a luxury apartment building will have direct access to the Spree river.  Direct access!  Are you f’ing kidding me?  Your convenience is more important than a living piece of world history?  It’s not enough that you have a luxury apartment AND you live across the street from one of the most important land marks to freedom in the entire world?What kind of self-important assh**e thinks their convenience is more important than world history?  You can’t walk around?  There’s already a hole there!  I saw it.  Hell, I walked through it.  Do people in Paris complain about that pesky tower blocking their view of the sunset?  Do people in New York complain about that statue disrupting their ocean view?  The truly sad part is that they already tore a piece out of the gallery.  Luckily, protestors (that even included The Hoff!) have halted the work for now. Let’ hope it’s forever.

David Hasselhoff joins protestors at the East Side Gallery (Photo Credit: Daily Mail)

David Hasselhoff joins protestors at the East Side Gallery (Photo Credit: Daily Mail)

I don’t understand how some people can have absolutely no regard or respect for history. Do Europeans take it for granted because they have houses older than my country? Do I worry about it too much because of my huge interest in history? I don’t know. I just can’t fathom what on earth would posses someone to voluntarily destroy something so important. If you don’t get it either, there is an online petition here that you can sign. If you disagree with me and/or don’t like this post, well, I just don’t care!

They like me! They really like me!

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Check it out, I have been nominated for the “Liebster Award”!

liebsteraward

You know what that is?  Neither did I until today.  It means that another blogger thinks my up-and-coming blog is good enough that it deserves some recognition.  Who was this wise blogger you ask?  Why it was Southeast Schnitzel who is, funny enough, similar to me while being practically a total opposite since he is a German who blogs about living in America.  So, I hereby and with much humility thank Southeast Schitzel for thinking me deserving.  But, apparently there are rules to this deal, so here they are:

  • Each person must post 11 things about themselves
  • Answer the questions that the nominator set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve nominated to answer
  • Choose 11 people and link them in your post
  • Go to their page and tell them

Let’s get on with it!  11 things about me:

  1. I am the luckiest man in the world, because I am married to the most beautiful, wonderful woman in the world (who just so happens to be German)
  2. I have the cutest little Germerican on the planet for a son, who never ceases to amaze me
  3. I have turned into a soccer fan (Bayern München!), but refuse to call it football in English
  4. I am still a huge Football fan
  5. I love riding my Mountain Bike (my wife hates that thing)
  6. I drive the German car in the family
  7. I learned most of my German in the first two years I lived here
  8. I am from Oregon (pronounced O-ree-gun!)
  9. I love World War II history
  10. My wife calls me Monk (like the TV show), because I am VERY particular about some things (ok, she says a lot of things)
  11. I love Rammstein.  I liked them before, but after learning German I have become a big time fan

Now for the 11 questions posed to me:

  1. What is your home (native) culture?  USA
  2. Name five of your favorite stereotypes about your home culture.  5, wow, uhhhhh…. We are all prude, have an unhealthy diet, drive big cars, make too much small talk, and get divorced all the time
  3. In your home culture, what do you believe is the most difficult thing/aspect/feature to get used to?  The speed limit!  Ha!
  4. Think of other cultures you have lived and/or worked in: Which one was the hardest to get acclimated with and why?  Germany; I can’t get used to the emphasis on punctuality (in non-work life)
  5. Please describe the most embarrassing cultural faux pas you or somebody you know ever committed.  I introduced a male friend of mine as a Krankenschwester, which is German for nurse.  The problem is, in German many job titles are gender dependent and I introduced him as a “Female Nurse”!
  6. What do you consider the most critical skill(s) to have as an expatriate?  Patience
  7. What is your favorite advice for expats?  Never stop learning the language
  8. What do you recommend to people who are leading across cultures?  Hard to say, as my personal life is multi-cultural but my work life is still mainly American.
  9. What is the best advice you ever got?  Keep an open mind
  10. What are your favorite travel destinations?  French Rivera and The Netherlands
  11. Why do you blog?  Originally, to share the adventures of our bilingual family.  Now, that plus to create a record for my son to read when he gets older and for the joy of writing.

And then we pose 11 questions to those I nominate:

  1. Where were you raised?
  2. What do you miss about it?
  3. What do you NOT miss about it?
  4. Where do you think of as home now?
  5. What do you like the most about it?
  6. What do you like the least about it?
  7. What traits have you acquired in your adopted culture?
  8. How many languages do you speak?
  9. What is your favorite hobby?
  10. What is your favorite blog?
  11. Why do you blog?

And finally, here are my “Liebster Award Nominees:

  • expatsincebirth: An expat-since-birth multilingual mum in her forties living in the Netherlands with her Swissgerman husband, son and twin-daughters
  • Gesundheit, suze!: The everyday life in a German-American relationship
  • hadafewbeers: Very funny American in German, but not for the faint of heart!
  • Brit in Bavaria: Travels, Adventures and Misdemeanours in Germany
  • Thomas & Christina Goodwin: We are married, from Oregon and here to blog about our life, marriage and travels as expats

(I must apologize to the Academy, but I don’t know that many other blogs and can therefore only nominate 5 at this time.  Plus, 2 of my favorites were already nominated.  But rest assured, I will add more once I discover some that are deserving)

So there it is, the Liebster Award.  I still think it is cool that somebody thought me worthy.  I am humbled.  Thanks man.

I hope you enjoy the blogs that I like to read

 

UPDATE:  Two Blogs that I would have nominated, had they not already been by the very blog that nominated me, are Grounded Traveler and Oh God, My Wife is German.  I enjoy these blogs very much and did not want to totally exclude them.

Snow Day, the Sequal!

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For about 5 minutes I actually thought spring was here.  More than a week it was warm and sunny.  The birds were chirping, I got two different bike rides in, and was planning our first family hike.  I had told my wife not to trust it.  Winter is like the dying villain in a predictable movie.  Just when you are supposed to think he is dead, HE JUMPS UP for one last scare.  But nonetheless, I actually started to believe that winter was dead.  It was just way too nice outside for winter to take one last gasp.  Then, just when it had lulled me into a false sense of security, I wake up Tuesday morning and BAM!  Snow, snow, everywhere snow!  The villain had in fact taken one last gasp after all.

(Phot credit: oytotheworld.net)

(Phot credit: oytotheworld.net)

Alas, all is not lost. The villain did bring a gift. Snow day, the Sequel! Years without a snow day, and now I get two this year. Those that read Snow Day (the original) know that the last time I was given a whole day off, I got incredibly ambitious and decided it would be a good idea to shovel the whole damn street. So naturally, it would only make sense to shovel the whole street again this time right? Well, to quote Inglorious Bastards:

NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!

Not this time my friend! This time I was lazy. This time I said “To hell with it!” and I sat around and did nothing. All day. Well, almost all day. There was the small matter of the German law and how it relates to all that snow in my driveway. For those that don’t know, you see, the law in Germany says that you must clear any area of your property that strangers may need to walk on. Even worse, it says you’re supposed to do it by something like 7 o’clock in the morning. So yeah, I was already breaking the law. Technically. But nobody came to our house all day, not even the mailman. Therefore, in my rationalization anyway, I had not actually broken the law yet. Either way, at about 5 o’clock I put on my 20 layers of clothes and drug my incredibly unmotivated butt outside to shovel. And what did I see when I got outside? What did I think I would never see?

Tadaaaaaa……..

My neighbor shoveled the street. The whole damn street! He actually paid me back for my insane idea to shovel the whole damn street. I hadn’t thought bad of him or anything, but I definitely didn’t think (or expect) that he would ever repay me. And that is exactly what made it such a relief to see, especially after I got my driveway done. The day I shoveled the street was nice and sunny, and the snow was light. But that day was windy, snowing, and miserable, and the snow was heavy. I am not sorry that I got the better end of that deal.

So here I sit, almost a week later, watching and waiting. Watching the villain die a slow, painful death. And waiting patiently to see if he will stay dead this time.