Rauchen kann tödlich sein.

If I didn't know better I would say it was the fourth of July (in the US) and the celebration was happening in our hotel bathroom.  A festival of some sort has been going on in Frankfurt this weekend and it seems to be culminating in a firework extravaganza this evening.  The festival is taking place along both sides of the Main and we've walked by several times.  The real highlight has been the pretzels covered in cheese or perhaps cheese formed into a pretzel shape would be more accurate.  Either way they're tasty.

As one might imagine we've noticed some cultural differences between Germany and the US.  One difference that keeps jumping out at me has to do with cigarettes.  Smoking seems more prevalent here than it does in the US and so do cigarette ads.  You see them all over the place and there are even cigarette vending machines which I don't remember seeing since I was a kid.  Anyway, the real shocking thing isn't the ads themselves as much as the warning label that is printed in huge letters which reads "Rauchen kann tödlich sein" or "Smoking can be deadly".  That really cuts to the chase.  I haven't looked at pack of smokes in the US recently but last time I checked the warning was in small letters on the side of the pack and it said something about cancer.  Here you see a sign that says "Buy Cigarettes! By the way, they may kill you."

Another cultural difference we were warned about has to do with a certain bad word that Americans don't tend to use lightly.  A word you would save for occasions like spilling hot coffee all over your computer or throwing your Mom's golf club into a pond (accidentally).  Apparently some Germans use this, the most heinous of all English cuss words, like we might say 'darn it' or 'crap'.  I shall refer to this word as #$%^&.

There is a moment in every conversation we have with a German when they realize we are not native German speakers.  My goal is to make that moment come as long after we've engaged this person as possible.  I feel defeat as soon as they start talking in English.  On Friday we went to a greek restaurant near our hotel.  The waiter approached the table and was very friendly and asked us how we were.  We said "great!"  So far so good.  Then he said "How could you be bad with this festival going on?"  We smiled and nodded.  No problems yet.  Then he said something that caused Brenda and me to stare at one another in search of a clue as to what he had said.  Neither of us had one.  Brenda, being brave, turned to him and started to order a drink which prompted him to say in English "Wait, where are you guys from?"  We made it 14 seconds, not bad.

His English was really good.  He told us many stories covering a myriad of topics which included his trips to visit relatives in Chicago and Australia.  He said people in Chicago are crazy!  When he was there they always wanted to "make #$%^&ing drink party."  On the outside I kept smiling and nodding but on the inside I was recovering from hearing this waiter boldly exclaim the worst swear word possible in proximity of 15 or so restaurant goers, none of whom reacted at all.  On top of that, I was trying to figure out what "make #$%^&ing drink party" could possibly mean.  Well, whatever it did mean he must have done a lot of it because that was one of his favorite phrases.  It often accompanied an arm gesture similar to Rocky's after he reached the top of the steps during his training montage.

We hope you had a great weekend.  Auf wiedersehen!

A view from the other side

Hallo Freunden! Yes, you're now about to get some stories from the other half of Chenda. It is I, Brenda! It's been a week full of activity. So much so that it feels like we've been here more than just one week! 

Let's see... Today was my second day of rehearsals for "The Magic Flute". Rehearsals are going well, don't get me wrong, but you must know that I don't WANT the show to go up on Sunday, contrary to what Chad may have quoted me on. I'm very happy we still have a week before we open. :-) I think I'll feel quite comfortable by then. The Assistant Director has been so wonderfully patient and kind, and the rest of the cast that I've met are truly great in every way. After rehearsal last night we went out to a bar/restaurant right across from the opera house called Chicago Meat Packers. Pretty funny! I had a German specialty beer. I believe they call it "Samuel Adams". I also experienced how Germans do Mexican food. My nachos came covered in cheese, with sides of guacamole and sour cream, all very good - except they seem to be confused about what salsa is, as I was given a little dish of what appeared to be ketchup. Hmm...

I feel much more calm in general, having taken care of the residence permit and whatnot. Yesterday was the first time I came close to tears. But the day ended marvelously so all is good! I love hearing German around me all the time, and now all I need is to understand it. Rehearsals happen in English and German for now. The English part is for me. Everyone else is brilliantly fluent, and I hope to join them someday. Sometimes I actually do understand conversations quite well, but my vocabulary is just too small. I hope my new colleagues don't mind my 3 year old vocab! I really need to find some small children to practice with... "Do you like cars?" "Yes, I like cars!" ... "Do you like green cars, or red cars?" That might be as much I can say... But I could substitute cars with bikes, or flowers perhaps... Very stimulating conversations indeed. 

Well I think I shall end it there. Chad just came back from his run, so now I have him to entertain me! We sign our apartment contract tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited about that. It will be so nice to have a home! I hope you're all doing well, and I wish you all were here to enjoy a beer or coffee with us. Viele Liebe!

Mainhattan

I dare-say we can call our first week in Frankfurt a success.  "Only a week?" you say.  Yes, I'm afraid we've only been gone a week and I know dear friends and loved ones it has seemed so much longer.  But alas, it has only been 7 Chenda-less days.  723 days to go so keep counting.

Truth be told, yesterday was a bit touch and go.  Long story short, we needed to get Brenda's resident permit so Brenda could begin working.  There was about an hour when I didn't think it was going to happen. That would have been bad.  Super bad.  Really really really bad.  But then BAM there was a deus ex machina and all was well.  (The longer version of that story makes more sense.  I'll tell it to you when Brenda and I take you out for a beer when you come visit.)  By the end of the day yesterday Brenda had gone to rehearsal and learned the staging for all of act I.  After another rehearsal today she said "I think we could go up on Sunday."  Last night the assistant stage director asked Brenda if she had a PC for a brain since she wasn't making any mistakes.  That's Brenda.

On a side note, at one of our stopping points yesterday we received a 'Welcome to Frankfurt' packet.  Inside were various coupons, brochures, etc.  One had the word Mainhattan on it.  I asked Brenda what Mainhattan was and she said it is a nickname that people use to refer to Frankfurt.  Let me explain.  Frankfurt is also known as Frankfurt am Main which means Frankfurt on the Main.  The Main is the river that runs through the city.  Mainhattan is a nickname that refers to the similarities in the skyline between Frankfurt and Manhattan (you know, the NYC one).

According to my sources (google), Frankfurt has around 670,000 people.  According to the 2000 US Census Bureau, Manhattan (just that one borough) has 1,537,195 people.  Frankfurt does indeed have skyscrapers, albeit they have 4 1/2 skyscrapers, but they have them all the same.  Now I'm not writing this to belittle Frankfurt.  In fact, I love it here so far.  The city is clean, the people here are very nice, and there is a beautiful river running through it that may not issue a toxic death sentence if you fall in (I'm not planning on testing that).  My point is I don't think the name Mainhattan represents Frankfurt very accurately.  I understand, however, why some would want to liken it to Manhattan since Frankfurt is a major financial capital.

Manhattan Skyline

The Frankfurt Skyline 

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That's it.  Another day in the life of Chad and Brenda.  We're signing a lease tomorrow for an apartment on the north side of the city.  We will move in on the 7th.  Until then we'll be shuffled around but that should make for more blog fodder.  We hope that wherever you are you are happy and healthy and we look forward to seeing you soon.  Ciao!

Things Germany has taught me

I learned a lot this weekend.  I learned that come early afternoon on Saturdays Frankfurt shuts down entirely until Monday morning.  I learned that Brenda can fall asleep at 11:59pm on a Friday night and, without interruption, sleep until 4:30pm the next day.  I learned that the two power adapters the guy at Best Buy sold me (who assured me they would work with our computers in Germany) can't handle this mysterious European electricity and both blew their fuses.  Lastly, I learned that without internet I fall into a deep depression and become intolerable to be around.

We survived though, oh yes.  We weathered the weekend with a loaf of Frankenbrot and a box of Schoko Müsli which as far as I can tell is a cross between Cocoa Puffs, Quaker Oats and some mini dark chocolate squares.

Today, in a quest to reunite ourselves with the internet, we embarked on a perilous journey that most definitely took us through the dodgy part of Frankfurt.  We arrived triumphantly at Gravis, and authorized Apple dealer.  As a side note, there is only one official Apple store in Germany and that is in Munich.  Gravis is the make-shift Apple dealer over here.  Anyway, for the price of only 16 Euros (each) Brenda and I received two 2-inch magic plastic devices (or Zauberdingen as the tech savvy Germans call them) that convert the fancy European electricity into the plain old boring electricity that runs our computers.

Since then Brenda and I have been on cloud 9.  We heard back about an apartment we're interested in and things look good.  She will be starting rehearsals this week and we're very excited about that.  Also, I went for my first German run and let me tell you there are worse things than running along the Main river.

That is our weekend in a nutshell.  We hope you are happy and healthy wherever you may be.  Oh and by the way, if you ever happen to be in West Des Moines at a Best Buy and you hear some tall worker telling some poor ignorant schlub that their power adapter will work on his computer in Europe, go ahead and kick said worker right in the shins.  Auf Wiedersehen!

Strangers in a strange land

Deutschland: Day 2 - After securing lodging for another week (phew!) we ventured forth into the wild of Frankfurt.  We really lucked out with our current lodging.  Our hotel is about 20 meters from a Bäckerei (Bakery) and 100 meters from a grocery store.  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the bakery where we learned that all recyclable bottles have a 25 cent deposit.  So if you buy a 6 pack of carbonated apple juice (there is a lot of that around here) for 1.60 Euros you will then have to add 1.50 euros (6 x .25 - math is a passion of mine) to your cost.  I'm glad to see that Germany takes recycling so seriously.  If I can't find work as an opera singer I think I may scour the city for bottles.

After breakfast Brenda took me to Oper Frankfurt (which is where she will be working) and then on to the Alte Opera which is very beautiful.  The Alte Oper is near a lot of shops and restaurants.  We ended up at Starbucks.  Look, we are not intentionally avoiding German restaurants we just happened to notice that Starbucks was a T-Mobile Hotspot and we purchased a month long past for the cost of my left arm so it seemed like the prudent place for kaffee.

The exciting news of this afternoon was that we found an apartment that we really liked and Brenda worked up the courage to call this foreign number and attempt to speak German to whomever answered.  The call was a success and we will find out more details tomorrow.  We scoped out the neighborhood the apartment was in and ended up getting stuck in the rain.  We decided to try and wait it out so we entered an Irish Pub to grab a Guiness.  I know, I know, we're striking out on German establishments.  We will be here for two years, however, and I assure you we will eat some authentic German food.  And, Dear Reader, you will be the first to hear about it.

Crossing the pond

Welcome!  You have found your way to the blog inspired by our move to Germany.  We hope this will be one of many ways to keep in close contact with our friends and family wherever we all may be.

It has been a whirlwind few days for me and a crazy week for Brenda.  After driving back from Santa Barbara with Laura, Brenda stopped in Iowa, packed a few bags, put me in the car and we headed off to Chicago.  My parents were kind enough to drive us to O'hare where we met up with Jim, Joanne and Lacey to say some goodbyes.  Our first stop took us to Manchester, England where we ran into some issues with our connecting flight.  A very kind security guard came to our rescue and we were off to Frankfurt.  Things were smooth sailing after that.  Our 4 pieces of checked luggage (nearing 200lbs) were the first bags off the carousel.  We hopped on a bus which took us almost to the front door of our hotel and we went straight to sleep.  

We've been enjoying trying to communicate in German.  Everyone we've met with so far has been very kind and patient.  We had a nice dinner at the NYC Restaurant and Bar (don't judge us for going to an American themed restaurant, it was the only one open!) but it ended with me making a mathematical error in the server's favor.  Ah well, Euros look like Monopoly money anyway.

Tomorrow (Friday, August 22), we're going to knock on the door of the opera house.  Brenda starts rehearsal on Monday so we don't have much time to get settled before she's off and running again.  We will also be doing an apartment hunt.  Wish us luck!