Culture surprise!

At this point in our stay in Germany (a little over half-way), I'm finding it unexpected to be experiencing culture - not shock, exactly, more surprise. Yes, culture surprise. Situations that leave me thinking things ranging from "Hm, what an odd way to think/behave!" to "Now why would you do that?" and finally to "Oh no you di'n't!"

Zum beispiel (For example):

1. Butting in line
This keeps happening to me. If there's a line, I stand directly in front of the goal, behind the person who is actually paying or putting away their step (in step class at the gym). Inevitably, someone cuts in from the left or right, standing beside the person in front of me at the cash. I suppose they are physically closer to the cashier, but then they actually have to step in front of me, who has been there longer.
When it happened at McDonalds (and got between me and my child's food), I, a Canadian (here's how I know I've been here for a while), said something! And here's how we know we're not in Canada: it was all very pleasant. They smiled apologetically, and said, "Oh well, look, here's our
food - we didn't make you wait very long!" I smiled and wished them a good day. In Canada we would probably have settled for dirty looks and cold shoulders (after I apologized for standing in their way!). I think I might prefer this pleasant confrontation instead of unpleasant politeness. (I would have said something the other day to a lady who butted in line, but Kaia had just fallen into her change room and caused a bit of a ruckus, so I let it go. Sometimes, it's better that way.)

2. Birthdays
Birthdays may not be celebrated in any way before the actual date of birth. Very important. This is causing some difficulty for us since Lia's will happen in the first 4 days of holidays. I wanted her to be able to celebrate her birthday at Kindergarten. So, I talked it over with a friend, and said that maybe I could just send the cupcakes (NOT cookies - cookies are only for Christmas time. The crazy Canadians sent maple leaf cookies on July 1st, can you believe it?! What is this, Christmas in July?) during the last week of kindergarten, less than a week ahead of her birthday. However, it can't be done. I inquired as to why, and from what I gather, it's just considered bad luck. But I'm not superstitious and neither is my friend. Still, she said, "But really, you can't do it." Shade!

3. Pigeons - the rats of the air
Neighbours beside us (we can just see their roof), have a multitude of pigeons living on their roof. We felt so sorry for them. The noise. The smell. The pigeons!! Ick. I wondered what could be done for them. Then one night, we were sitting enjoying a steak grilled on our charcoal grill (apparently propane BBQs are for old people nearing death - but I much prefer them), when we heard a strange sound above the pigeon ruckus. It sounded almost like someone calling to the pigeons. Indeed, we stood up and saw an arm reaching out of one of the windows, and the pigeons all gather around the window. And then - horrors - the pigeons went IN THE HOUSE. I almost screamed.

The next day I told my German teacher about this awful scene, and she said, "Oh, pigeon racers!" She told me all about the poor man's horses. They raise pigeons to race. They have special clocks in which they place the fastest pigeon's ankle bracelet, and then bring the clocks to a special location where they drink a beer and figure out who wins and give each other tips on how to care for their rats - I mean - pigeons.

Wow. I just looked up pigeon racing, and there are so many links. Here's a few to enjoy:
www.speedpigeon.com
www.purebredpigeon.com
www.pigeonnetwork.com
http://forum.pigeonbasics.com/m-1225393326/

And of course, Wikipedia explains how it works: Competing birds are taken from their lofts and must race home. The time taken and distance are recorded and the fastest bird is declared the winner. Races are generally between 100 and 1000km in distance. To compete in a race, it must wear a permanent, unique numbered ring or band that is placed on its leg at about 5 days of age. For a race to be conducted, the competing pigeons must be entered into the race, usually at the organisation's clubhouse, and taken away from their home to be released at a predetermined time and location. The distance between the bird's home loft and the racepoint is carefully measured by GPS and the time taken by the bird to return is measured using one of the two acceptable timing methods. Here's a picture of an old-style timer.

So, I can imagine how the racing is interesting and fun, and that it's gratifying to be part of a worldwide community etc, etc. Sure. But at the end of the day, when you have rats living in your attic (and I spoke to witnesses who say it STINKS), you gotta ask yourself if maybe you should get another hobby. Or at least locate them in an outbuilding!

So the pigeon racing isn't actually a German culture surprise, exactly, since they do it all over the world, but I heard of it here first. And in Canada, they sure wouldn't be living in your attic.
Oh, Germany! What will you think of next?

Happy Canada Day!!

We just had a Canada Day party last night, with almost 20 German friends here, sporting red and white clothes and even a Vancouver Canucks T-shirt. Marc had made a Canadian music playlist, so we were grooving to Great Big Sea, Barenaked Ladies, Bryan Adams (well-known in Germany!), and even a little Shania. I had posted info around the room and then asked questions about Canada and we had prizes for correct answers. The buttons and tatoos were big hits. I had baked (cherry cheesecake like a Canadian flag, maple butter, maple syrup pie, red berry pie and a taco salad, along with other red and white food) and decorated up a storm. Lia thought it was as good as Christmas (and all the more exciting since it seemed to come completely out of the blue, though I had been planning for a while) since she even got gifts from people, and I sent maple leaf cookies for all the kids at kindergarten. We were even more patriotic than in Canada. Germans don't really get patriotic...culturally nationalism is a bad word here, given their history. But they really have a lot to be proud of. And so does Canada! Herzlichen Gluckwunsch, Kanada!

Fun times!

The past little while has been quite busy. We haven't been blogging because it's been nonstop, and because our blog is about our time in Germany, and well, we weren't here! Maybe we'll write about it, but that'll be later. For now, back to the German adventures...

So I have this friend. She's very fun, and is always thinking of interesting things to do. For my birthday, she gave me a girls night out- tickets to what she called an adult circus (for lack of a better description). I was thinking that it wasn't my thing, exactly, but we're kind of "when in Rome"-ing it these days, so I went. It turned out to be a pretty amazing variety show, even in German. Skills like that are translingual.

This variety show puts on a new show every two to three months, featuring acrobats, jugglers, dancers, singers, illusionists and comedy. It's in a tent (seating 300 and serving food and drinks). Totally fun!

EXTRASCHICHT! (http://www.extraschicht.de/)
A night of excitement. A night of discovery. A night of industry and technology?? Once again, I had to trust my friend, and just go along with her, even though it didn't sound very exciting. On the drive to our first location, I was able to read up on it, and it started to sound much better...
"Once a year the Metropolitan Ruhr District celebrates a colorful cultural festival: For one night only, former industrial plants are turned into unforgettable stages for performances by international artists. More than 160,000 visitors will embark on an exciting journey of discovery and be treated to an impressive taste of what the European Capital of Culture 2010 will offer. "

So we started out with some food - always a good start, although I have to say I was a little disappointed since that was definitely not the focus of the evening (like, there were pretzels, sausage and cake - that's it...), and I really like food.
But, we saw some cool jugglers, had great conversation, got caught in the rain, took a boat ride, ate some birthday cake, saw some art, a physics show, and odd exhibits (like these two guys on exercise bikes connected to record players and film strips. An interesting sound/light/motion experiement. Turns out it's very hard to pedal consistently, although I'm not sure they were trying to. Neat effect.). I was introduced to Brause - a candy(?) that all German kids love. (learn more: http://www.todocandy.com/fizzy-sour-candy-ahoj-brause.php) Myself, not a fan, though it was an experience. Kinda fizzy, but mostly foamy. And quite medicinal.

They had these cool light balloons all along the river which added to the festive spirit. And all the industrial buildings were lit up in various fun and interesting ways. The finale of our evening was a Waterworks show (like fireworks, though with water fountains), set to music by 4 avant-garde violinists. Very cool. It was inspiring to see this area (very industrial, blue collar) embracing its roots, and combining that with art in a way that was totally exciting and inspiring. Awesome!

Ja hoo!

The past few days have been personally satisfying and Germanly encouraging for me.
Today I took both girls swimming. The event started and ended with some tears (not mine, thankfully!), featured pee on the floor, and a dirty swim diaper, but on the whole it was a raging success. We swam outside, played in the kids' pool, sat in a warm tub and had a tonne of fun.
Yesterday I went to a flea market (ALWAYS exciting) with my friend, and despite the rain, found a few items for my new nephew who will be joining the world in August. Yay! Then Kaia and I headed to the dentist since she had a little fall that resulted in a pushed-in tooth. Everything seems fine for now. The visit was encouraging for me since the dentist didn't speak English. I filled out the form, booked new appointments for Lia and Kaia and spoke with the dentist and receptionist all in German. Let's just hope I understood as much as I think I did!
After picking up Lia at Kindergarten, the three girls went shopping with a few goals, one of which was to get haircuts. Despite some major fussiness BOTH Lia and I got our hair cut. (Wow!) The girls were angelic while they waited for me, and I spoke German to the hairdresser. I even explained "hockey hair" to her in order to illustrate why I wanted the back trimmed a little shorter.
So I feel that I've turned another corner on the language front. Although it's always difficult, and I get impatient, I'm pretty encouraged, too. And Lia is always willing to translate for me! :)

Those Were the Days

Fire day
As we drove back from spending Easter weekend in Maastricht, we passed hundreds (literally) of bonfires in fields and backyards. We thought this was a little odd, but it turns out that in Germany on the Saturday night before Easter, that's what you do - burn stuff. Happy Fire Day!













Pillow Fight Day
During a recent visit to Cologne (April 4th), we noticed the air was becoming increasingly filled with little fluffs (which we assumed came from trees or flowers). Walking back towards the Cathedral, we noticed more and more feathers on the ground and in the air (and in our lungs). And then, in the plaza in front of the cathedral, we saw hundreds of people engaged in a giant pillow-fight, ankle-deep in feathers and goose down from exploded pillows (and a few synthetic-filled pillows). City clean-up crews were standing at the sidelines, waiting for their turn to move in and start to clean up the mess.
Happy Pillow Fight Day! (www.pillowfightday.com)