More photos from the Staubsauger Museum

A small group of us really enjoyed our visit to the Staubsauger Museum in Bruchmühlbach-Miesau and wrote about it here.

I took tons of pictures; here are some more. They are mostly of old advertisements for vacuum cleaners. I was incredibly fascinated by the mechanical vacuum cleaners that used no electricity.

When I first saw this ad, I thought, gee, the guy's just sitting there reading a newspaper while his wife is busy vacuuming. How rude! Herr Steffgan told us that this is a patent drawing for a vacuum cleaner that is provided suction by the person rocking back and forth in the chair. Apparently the husband pictured isn't as lazy as I had thought.

 

 

Another interesting contraption. The woman creates suction by walking on bellows.

 This vacuum is activated by turning the wheel. The photo above it is an ad for this model.

Close-up of the ad.

Where did this come from?

My coworker and I were returning from Stuttgart and saw a decorative license plate on a commercial truck that caused us great confusion:

I did a double take. What the heck is a rebel flag license plate doing on a truck from Ludwigsburg?

I then did a quadruple take. What the heck did it say?

At first I thought it said something in German about "the dead." Then I realized it said "Dern Tooten I'm a Rebel." I actually couldn't understand it at first (sorry, I'm all about the correct spelling and usage folks, and I don't "do" redneck). Uhhhh...the only stranger thing was that the Michelin Man was to the right of that. What is going on?! Why are there weird Michelin Man-loving redneck Germans? Does the driver even know what this means? It's English dialect at a really high level, especially with the non-standard spelling, cultural references, and the flag of a side that lost the battle two centuries ago.

The other part of the German-learning circle

I was sad and moaning about my German.

The other side of the circle is that I heard some positive comments about my German speaking. I try to avoid being too extrinsically motivated but the positivity is welcome after feeling that I'm screwing up everything. I met up with a group of friends and one noted that I've really come along since he last spoke with me.

I also started a new VHS class and spoke with some of the other students. They asked how long I've lived here and said that they were impressed at my level for being here two years. I speak about the same level that they do and they've been here 8-15 years but are not fluent.

I plan to take another class that starts in May. That class will overlap with my current class for a month and it will probably whoop my tush; I've done it in November and December and I was quite frazzled with three nights of classes per week plus one meeting with my tandem partner (in other words, I had an activity every work night). Oh well; I hope to be done with B1 and then go on to B2 this fall.

It's my goal to be complete C2 (which is the highest level for foreign speakers) within two years. I would be able to get it done faster if the classes were offered more often. Each level has two parts, so for example, there is B1.1 and B1.2. The levels run from A1 (absolute beginners) to C2 (fluent speakers; native speakers are D level). The cool thing about these levels is that they are recognized throughout the European Union; B1 level in Germany would be recognized the same that it would be in Spain, for example. I need to do some research and see how it is recognized in the US.

Even after I've completed C2, I can imagine that cashiers will still try to switch to English on me. I'll just have to make peace with that.

I thought I was hot stuff 'til I cooled down

I stopped by the bakery and spoke German with lady working there. I did the whole thing in German and she answered in German.

Whoa, I thought.

Maybe this is going really well. She hasn't switched to English. Rock on. Dang, I'm doing well today.

Then, as I was ready to pay, she told me that my German was good.  

Oh.

She said that she wasn't sure if I wanted to speak English or not but figured that I must have wanted to practice my German so she continued in German.

Oh.

Sigh.

Back to the drawing board class for me.



[Though I am thankful for her kindness and thoughtfulness, I am sad that my German is still so weak that people's first thought is to switch to English.]

The Creepy Cows of Weinheim

On our way to the Miramar saunas, my friends and I were greeted by a pungent odor at the tram stop. Cows! As we neared the large commercial dairy farm, the smell shifted. Our group broke into a spirited debate of whether it was silage or cow manure. I declared myself an "expert" after one animal science class at the agricultural university and broke the tie: the sickly sweet smell was silage (with a hint of manure).

My friend told me that she finds the cow statues at farm incredibly creepy; she doesn't like the giant veins on the cows. As soon as the statues came into view, I could see why!

Situations in Germany that make me frustrated

Living in a foreign country as an expat requires a certain level of adjustment. One must deal with different social norms and a new language. Sometimes it's not so difficult but at other times, one might experience frustrations.

I really enjoy living in Germany and constantly try to learn more about its language, customs, and daily life. However, there are certain things that have happened either to me or that I've seen that aren't so great. Let me be clear that these things don't happen all the time and that not everyone here acts like this but when they do, I admit: I get frustrated.

1. People waiting for a bus or train rush the doors as soon as they open and before the departing passengers can even disembark. They push and shove. It's ridiculous and would go so much more quickly if people weren't so impatient.

2. One time, I was in a super thick crowd of people at a festival. We were in a bottle neck and some dude with a huge belly behind me kept coming closer until he was shoving his gut into my back. Nope, dude, it won't make me walk any faster since there is nowhere to go.

What had me seeing red, though, was when people in the crowd were also pushing into a disabled person. They could have severely hurt that person had he fallen. I have also seen people shove past elderly citizens. To say I was ticked off would be an understatement. What the heck is wrong with people?!


3. People don't "do" lines so well here. It's often a big crowd of people in bunches and people rush up without waiting their turn. I've learned to stand with my hands casually placed on my hips. This sets up a bit of a barrier that says, why yes, I am indeed next in line and it is not nice of you to try to shove past me. I've also been pushed in the heels (purposefully) with a shopping cart from another customer while in line. There was nowhere for me to move farther ahead. Another time, apparently an elderly lady wanted to get past me. Instead of saying "excuse me" or tapping me on the shoulder, she grabbed me by the hips and threw me aside!

4. When I am concentrating on something, whether it's at the store, the art museum, or in front of a sign, I stand out of the way so I don't impede traffic or other patrons. The next thing I know, I have someone standing practically on top of me, trying to look at the same exact gosh darned thing. The person couldn't have waited a few seconds until I was done? Was the person even interested in the thing before I was looking at it? I won't lie: on a particularly frustrated day, I've put the thing down, sighed, and walked away.

I can understand that it's busy in grocery stores and there isn't always a lot of room to look at things. However, I was once in the middle of examining a painting in a gallery that housed twenty other paintings. The gallery was otherwise empty. Someone walked in and instead of looking at any of the twenty other paintings, stood on my heels and breathed over my shoulder. It completely blew my mind.

5. When it takes forever to pay at a restaurant. Yes, I know that restaurant food takes longer to prepare because it's not fast food, yada yada. I'm talking about the actual act of paying. It generally takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes to receive and pay the bill after asking for it. I kid you not; this has happened at many different restaurants, with different price points, and different levels of being busy (from us being the only customers to the restaurant being full). Does anyone know why on earth this is? I'm to the point now, if I have limited time, that I ask the waiter for the bill when he brings the food.

6. Customer service in general. I hope for mediocre to average service. However, I've had some really bad service, too. For example, I was asking for help at the Deutsche Bahn counter. The guy shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn't help with the situation. Not his problem. He didn't offer any alternatives. Grrreat.

Another time, I called Kabel Deutschland and needed help. I didn't know enough German at the time and asked if it was possible to speak with someone in English. Nope, they didn't have anyone there who could speak English to help a customer. I raised my eyebrows at that one (no one? really?). Okay, fair enough, whatever, it's a German company.

Imagine my surprise when I received a telemarketing call from KD and I told the lady I didn't speak German. She flawlessly switched to English to try to sell me tv service. I asked her to take me off the list and never call again. Why would I want tv service from a company that's willing to sell me the service using English, but if I had problems, they wouldn't help me in English? Fair is fair, after all.

7. People not cleaning up after their dogs, or...people who bag up the droppings and then chuck it under  a tree. At least it's not as bad as it is in Paris, but still! Clean up after your darn dogs. I'd love to follow these people to their homes with a pooper scooper and deposit the "deposits" on their lawn/sidewalk and say, "oh, you forgot this, so I brought it for you." Okay, I wouldn't actually do that, but it's tempting!

My Week: February 22 ed.

Not much happened this week because I was as sick as a dog, as they say. Well, I wasn't eating grass outside and then being sick like dogs do, but I was indeed miserable. I even got to the point where I had the irrational feeling that I'd never get better. This was after four days of running a fever, even while taking antibiotics.

I missed work, which makes me sad since I actually like my job. It makes me even sadder because I think that I just blew through all of my sick time. I had to cancel all of my social engagements, which was especially unfortunate because I was supposed to lead a hike. My friends D and R came to the rescue and took over for me. What good guys!

I did recover enough that I was able to make a trip downtown to Tam Asia. I was feeling adventurous so I bought some yellow curry seasoning and coconut milk. Following the recipe, I made a curry of cauliflower, onions, bean sprouts, and Thai kale over glass noodles. It was easy and good; even better yet, it was vegan! I want to give credit to my tandem speaking partner because she inspired me to get a bit adventurous in what I cook; I've ventured forth on my own into uncharted depths (well, okay, whatever the curry packages tell me what to do). Plus, Tam Asia is an awesome supermarket because they have such an excellent assortment of Asian cooking supplies to try.

I ate dinner with a friend (and tried not to expel my lungs from coughing so much). He mentioned that our mutual friend calls him "her German friend in K-Town." That is really funny that he's like the exotic one here since there are so many Americans in town.