Signs you've been living in the Kaiserslautern Military Community too long

You know you've been living in the KMC too long when...

1. You know better than to talk about That Wing Place (which shall not be named).

2. You've made peace with the fact that sometimes almost always Mexican food is going to have curry powder in it.

3. You start to know what all the acronyms for everything means in the KMC. For example, the KMCC is part of the KMC and one can eat there if he doesn't want to choke down a MRE.

4. You don't choose TKS. You've heard the horror stories.

5. You know people who get inexplicably excited about Starbucks and/or Chipotle. You may or may not be one of those people and you may or may not have driven to Frankfurt for one or the other.

6. You know to call ahead first to an office where you must conduct business. You also know that the phone number, building number, hours of operation, and other important information on the organization's website and/or the Find-It guide will probably be hopelessly out of date. Once you finally have the correct number to call, the person who's supposed to answer it will either be on TDY or the office will be inexplicably closed. If you're a n00b, you drove to the office without calling first and were sent on a wild goose chase. Even if you're an experienced person, you might drive to the office only to find a sign taped up that the office isn't open or it moved for some odd reason.

Roadside candy machines: drama in Kindsbach!

It may seem so innocuous but apparently this poor candy machine in Kindsbach, a suburb of Kaiserslautern, had experienced some rough times.

The note says: "This automat was badly damaged. For the seizure of the brainless young hoodlums a reward will be paid up to 500 euros." Poor candy machine! People need to be nice to these hardworking machines that only wish to dispense candy and tchotchkes, despite the weather and the possibility of health hazards associated with eating things from a machine that is somewhat susceptible to the elements. (This brings a thought: do these things ever get infested by bugs?)

My week: March 29 ed.

As usual, it was a busy week, made even more "exciting" by the opening of K in Lautern, the new shopping mall in downtown Kaiserslautern. I have mixed feelings on it but I see it as mostly positive as it is a reuse of an existing space.

-I had German classes two times this week. We're reviewing Subjunctive II, which always gets me tied up in knots (for whatever reason, my mouth never wants to say "würde"). As the German About.com page notes, "Despite their nicknames, it is important to understand that the subjunctive (in English or German) is a verb mood, not a verb tense. Both the so-called "past" and "present" subjunctive forms can be used in various tenses in German." Knowing that it's a mood and not a tense makes things so much easier, but the whole verb mood thing is still a bit weird to me. We're reviewing Subjunctive II in order to form subordinate clauses, which flip around the verb order, to introduce another layer of mind-blowing German rules.

-Some colleagues and I tried out restaurants in the new mall. We weren't too excited about the food at any of them. I visited Primark and bought a rain coat and reflective coat for bicycling for 22 euros total. I've been looking for both a while a now, especially the rain coat, since it folds up neatly when not in use for travel. The mall was a complete madhouse, especially the day it opened. It's been a major deal around here. I always say that Kaiserslautern is a small big town so it's almost like local yokels getting all revved up for the county fair (I would be one of the yokels).

-I took my German tandem partner to Ancho's Eule in Erfenbach for dinner. It was quite good; I hadn't been expecting that at all since it's a small restaurant in an out of the way suburb of Kaiserslautern. I ordered an enchilada, which ended up being more similar to a burrito filled with super fresh and deliciously seasoned veggies. Even better yet? The enchilada sauce was homemade, delicious, and NOT sweet like so many other places make around here. The absolute best thing? There was NO curry powder in it, for the win! My friend had a chicken sandwich and liked it too. A more involved review will follow.

-I met up with the language cafe people and ran into a lady from another one of the German classes when I was on the way. It's such a small world!

-I met up with some friends for a Sunday brunch at Cafe Krummel in Kaiserslautern. Dang, does that place have some fantastic cakes and such. It's another place that needs a review.

-My blog post showed up in Young Germany. The funny thing was that I clicked on their blog roundup because there was a posting about learning German. I always enjoy reading about that so I clicked on the link and laughed when I saw that it was my own dang blog!

Making a game out of learning German: spielen und lernen in the classroom

Even though Volkshochschule classes are geared toward adults, teachers of the Deutsch als Fremsprache (German as a Foreign Language) courses often use games and other activities as an opportunity for students to practice speaking German. It's a fun and low-key way to improve vocabulary, work on the imperative case, and practice grammar.

Here are some of the activities from class that our teachers used to help us practice:

1. Children's games, in German: often the rules are more straightforward and the game is simpler, which allows the players to split their concentration between playing and speaking.

2. Word games for adults: we've had great fun in class while playing Tabu, which is the German version of the game that English speakers know as Taboo. During the timed event, the player draws cards with a set of words from a pile; she tries to get her team to guess the word without using any of the words printed on the card. It's a timed event and whichever team guesses the most cards wins. This is a great way to practice vocabulary and use synonyms.

3. Play acting: to encourage us to practice using the correct endings for adjectives and comparative words, our teacher set up a Flohmarkt (flea market) in the classroom, labeling various household items that she brought. Each person led another student through the "market" and described and compared the various items.

4. Throwing things at one another: yes, we actually did this! We would form a circle and would ask one another questions, related to that chapter's theme, at random. Using a koosh ball, the first person chose the second person by tossing the ball and asking the question. This really kept everyone on their feet!

Even though they sound somewhat basic, these activities were well-received by the students and resulted in a lot of laughter. From a perspective of learning theory, they are excellent, incorporating many different learning styles, including bodily-kinesthetic. Traditional classroom methods, especially those geared toward adults, often neglect this style of learning. The traditional idea of classroom lectures doesn't work well for people who need to move or touch things to help learn. By playing games and incorporating movement into learning German, every learner can benefit.

Initial restaurant reviews of K in Lautern mall, Kaiserslautern

Today, some colleagues and I joined the insanity that was the grand opening of the K in Lautern mall in Kaiserslautern. It was jam-packed with people, to the point that it was difficult to use the escalators since people would disembark and then just stand there, letting the people behind tumble into them.

As we jostled our way to the food court, we split up and made different culinary decisions. I'll give a basic review of the four places where we purchased food. Spoiler alert: none of them were good.

Mexican Cabana
I opted to eat here. I should have known better. I ordered a plate of what turned out to be lethargic enchiladas, beans, and rice, served with a side of tortilla chips and salsa for 10 euros. I added a virgin strawberry frozen daiquiri for an additional 3,25 euros.

The presentation of the food was unappetizing, slopped onto the plate, and I found that the food itself was unappetizing too. The beans and rice had hardly any taste at all, other than tasting vaguely salty. The enchiladas were covered in what tasted like pizza sauce, not enchilada sauce or even salsa; it was somewhat sweet and I swear that I detected a hint of oregano. The enchiladas were barely warmed and were not appealing.

The daiquiri was drinkable but reminded me of a more expensive version of a 7-11 Slurpee. With the addition of the drink, my meal was more than 13 euros and not worth it, especially considering that it's a food court take-away place. I would much rather spend the same amount of money (if not less) and visit one of the sit-down Mexican restaurants around Kaiserslautern for unauthentic Mexican food that at least tastes decent enough and is presented in a more appealing way.

Manju Indian Express
J ordered daal and rice and only ate a small amount of it; he didn't find it to be good. I tried a bite of it and proclaimed that it tasted like "salty nothingness."

El Chico Taqueria
E ordered three tacos, two of which were in hard shells and one which was in a soft shell. He received what looked like a salad thrown on top of some tacos. He said that there was hardly any meat in the tacos and even after eating all of them, he was left unsatisfied and hungry.

Ciao Bella Italian Food
Since E was still hungry after the disappointing tacos, he bought two slices of pizza and was astounded at how expensive they were; he paid 4,80 for them. He admitted that he wasn't sure if he was overcharged or not. When I asked him what he thought of the pizza, he said "it's better than Anthony's Pizza" on base. I wouldn't take that as a vote of confidence, though, as I've eaten Anthony's pizza once and will not do so again.

--
None of us were impressed by what we ordered. We went to the food court without high expectations; after all, it's a food court with offerings that are not indigenous to the area. However, we didn't expect that some of the things that we ordered would be unappetizing enough that we wouldn't even finish them. I'm not writing off the food court overall, until I've tried some of the other offerings, but I can say that I will not be in a hurry to return to any of the restaurants that we sampled today.

Warning! Do not anger the Kaiserslautern parking meter deities

My friend just learned of the wrath that the Kaiserslautern parking meter readers will bring upon anyone who parks improperly. Her parking permit was an hour expired and she was assessed a 45 euro parking fine as a result. Yikes!

The really crummy thing is that this happened in November and she only just learned about it on Monday. I think it's lousy that it takes so long to get notified.

Take this as a word of warning, visitors and residents of Kaiserslautern: pay close attention to parking meters! It's also important to observe whether it's a shopping district parking meter where one can only park for 2 hours and 55 minutes vs. a parking meter that allows 24-hour parking.

K in Lautern: one more day until the mall's opening

Website for K in Lautern shopping mall
Hours: Monday - Saturdy 0930 - 2000
Downtown Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern's citizens are all abuzz about the grand opening of K in Lautern, the new mall in the center of town. It's set to open on Wednesday and there has been a big to-do made of it with lots of advertising. I even saw signs for it in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse this weekend.

The big to-do within my group of friends has been more related to us being smart alecks. It's hard for us to believe that the mall will be ready in time; the area around it is still very much a construction zone. On Saturday, I took the following photos of the progress, knowing that there were only two more work days before the grand opening (they couldn't work on it on Sunday, per German law). The stores looked as if they were under construction too. Even the mannequins in the windows were missing clothing!

As someone who's worked in fast food and who has trained employees, I also wondered how on earth the stores were going to have personnel trained in time for the grand opening when the stores weren't even fitted out yet. I speculated that experienced staff from other stores would come in for the opening or that new staff members were trained at existing stores. I'm a bit nosy about this; I imagine that I'll find out the answer to this eventually.

I walked by the mall tonight and saw through the windows that the stores seem to have really come along; the mannequins are naked no longer and many of the stores have goods in them. The outside, however, is still under construction. My curiosity will be satisfied on Wednesday when the mall opens to the public!