Royale with Cheese
Monday, June 30, 2003
A reason for existence.
People often come up to me on the street and ask: "Andrew, why is your weblog named Royale with Cheese?" For them I give this answer from Pulp Fiction:
Vincent: You know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules: What?
Vincent: It's the little differences. A lotta the same stuff we got here, they got there, but there they're a little different.
Jules: Example!
Vincent: Well, in Amsterdam, you can buy beer in a movie theatre. And I don't mean in a paper cup either. They give you a glass of beer, like in a bar. In Paris, you can buy beer at McDonald's. Also, you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: What'd they call it?
Vincent: Royale with Cheese.
Jules: Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.
Jules: Le Big Mac... What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King.
So in France a Quarter Pounder is a Royale with Cheese.
But I'm not in France.
So without further ado, I give you the name of the Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Germany:
Hamburger RoyalTS
(apparently the T stands for Tomaten, and I have no idea what the S stands for)
Now you know!
This one's big.
So...
Friday we left for Dresden, (which is in Sachsen, a former GDR state) where we spent the weekend. We arrived at noonish on friday, checked into our hostel (which was very nice) and set out for the city. (We were staying in the "neustadt" which means "new city" while almost everything we saw was in the "altstadt" which (you guessed it!) means "old city")
Anyways.
We hoofed it down over the Elba River to the Theaterplatz, where stands the Semperoper (the main opera house, well it's not really the Semperoper, but more on that later) we walked the city for awhile and then came back for a guided tour. (Great city, loads upon loads of history, and beatiful "old" Baroque architecture all around)
Friday night we saw a light-hearted classical concert in the "Zwinger" which is a large encircled courtyard/garden with statues, fountains and the like. Absolutely beautiful, and the perfect place for a concert. After that we were all exceptionally tired so we hoofed it back up the road to our hostel.
Saturday we woke up early and saw museum, after museum, after museum. I went to at least 4. There was an exhibit on Astronomical and Time-keeping devices, Augustus the Strong's Porcelain collection, an enormous collection of paintings by Italian and Dutch masters, and finally a museum of even more royal collections such as diamond encrusted swords, 1000-piece dollhouses of exquisite detail and hundreds upon hundreds of statues. My dogs were barking after walking the city all day.
Post our tour of the city's museums, we saw a performance of a Cello-Piano duet in the crypt of a 250+ year old church. (they'll be done building it by 2006 for Dresden's 800 year anniversary)
So by now you're wondering why the old buildings are "old", why the Semperoper is not really the Semperoper, and why a 250+ year old church isnt done yet.
Well, you see on the 13th of Feb. 1945 (near the end of WWII) the Allies reduced Dresden to Rubble. What wasnt destroyed in the bombing was eliminated in the ensuing firestorm it caused. (not every building was destroyed of course, but most were)
Nearly everything one sees in Dresden is a fake. A copy, a recreation, or sometimes just a replacement, this doesn't make it any less beautiful of a city, but it does pay a clear homage to the total destruction and loss of life we are capable of causing. (Lowest estimates (and most realistic ones) site the death toll between 25,000 and 30,000 civilians and refugees)
On our last day in dresden we toured the Semperoper and then went on a tour of the "transparent factory" where VW produces the Phaeton. Very cool. If I ever worked at a auto factory, that is where I would want to be.
Then we hoofed it back to the old Hostel, grabbed our things and took the street cars back to the Bahnhof where we departed again for weimar.
A full weekend, and we get to spend even more time in Berlin starting on Wednesday! (of course that also means that I won't be able to crank out any posts between wednesday and monday, which also means that you're going to get another big post on next monday... woo hoo.)
Time for that word of the day!
Strassenbahn - Strah-sen-bahn
Street cars. Not to be confused with the S-Bahn, which is the STADTbahn: another intercity rail system used by Germany.
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Every time I write in this box, all I want to say is "So..."
Anyways, glad to see you all here today, today marks the last post of the week since we leave for dresden tomorrow (a two hour ride on the train yay!)
As for the rest... I guess things are going ok... nothing really exciting going on tonight just working on the ol' projekt tonight. Have I told you about it yet? I'm writing a little paper on a man named Goethe... Poet, Scientist, general renaissance man... looks like it's going to be an interesting paper, I just dont really get any time to work on it unfortunately... we've got tonight, then we're in dresend, then monday and tuesday we have trips to Carl Ziess Glassworks and Buchenwald, wednesday we leave for Berlin and don't come back until sunday. Then the project is due that friday... oh well I'm not too worried, I'm here for the experience of it all!
In other news, I'm getting better at the basics of commerce here. Bought an apple today from a little market stand on the way over from the Sprachenzentrum (Language Center) to the computer pools. I just wish I had more opportunities to interact with the natives! (you can only go out to eat so many times a day) well I know I'll get that opportunity while we're on our trips, so I guess I should be careful what I wish for... until then, I leave you with the word of the day!
die Fanfrage - dee fahn'-frag-uh
Trick Question
(had one of these on our homework last night, nice huh?)
Next post monday!
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
[Insert Witty Title Here]
Hi folks, it's good to know that people are still reading this after more than a week of posts.
Anyways... today we leave for Erfurt. Erfurt is the capital of Thüringen (which you will recall is the state we're in right now) Other than that, I don't know why we're even going there other than for a city tour. Not that I dislike city tours, but they can get a little tiresome after a while. Oh well, at least the train ride is kostenlos (that means free)
As for anything exciting... hmm, not really, been doing a lot of class and homework... and then some more homework, and then I've got this project, but you see I haven't touched it yet, and this weekend we're going to dresden (not working on it there) and then next Wednesday (Mittwoch) we leave for Berlin until Sunday (Sonntag) and then it's due the end of that week! sheesh... oh well, at least the Frau lowered the reqs for it...
Oh yeah, went and visited the ol' Zahnartz today and had the source of my agony looked at. His response? "here, use this mouthwash" needless to say I was a little disappointed. Not that I ENJOY having my mouth drilled upon and then filled with molten metal mind you. It's just that I know that that would end the fear I have of hot and cold beverages... oh well, maybe it'll work.
Well, so like I said, gone in Dresden this weekend, so tomorrow will be my last post for the week, after which I'll be back on Monday (Montag)
Now here's that oh so fresh word of the day:
Authentizität - Aw-ten-tee'-tzee-tayt
Say this word 10x fast and you will be a master of german pronunciation. (It was today's big stumbling block in class)
bis morgen!
-Andrew
Oh yeah, why are we going to Dresden did you ask? This is why!
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Ich farhe nach Wien.
So we're going to Wien (Vienna)
No not anytime soon. We've got Erfurt, Dresden and Berlin still to go with lots of great things to do there as well (such as seeing concerts in Dresden and an Opera in Berlin!) But Wien is where we're going on our long weekend between our studies here in Weimar and when we go to Munich. So inbetween that time, we'll be spending time doing the tourist thing in Wien, Osterreich (That's Vienna, Austria) so that should be fun.
What's not fun are these projects, we're supposed to be working on them after class during the week, but unfortunately we have something scheduled for the evenings EVERY NIGHT except for maybe 2, so my project will probably not be anything earth shattering, but at least it will be interesting hopefully.
hmm what else...
oh yeah, excruciating pain.
Hopefully I can find a dentist that speaks english =)
Now your word of the day, brought to you by the letter Z:
Zahnarzt - tsahn-arzst
A tooth-doctor. (aka a dentist)
bis morgen!
-Andrew
(PS, the new G5's are on the loose!)
Monday, June 23, 2003
Whoops!
I almost forgot the word of the day!
lets see... hmmm...
hmm...
heilen - hai'-len
To Heal. what the doctor does to patients.
(ok, so it's not funny, sometimes they won't be)
-bis morgen!
Revisionist History
Let's talk about revisionist history.
An example of such in the context that I'm referring to, would be for CNN to put on their webpage a big headline which proclaims that the stock market has crashed at that all of the money (yes, all of it) is gone. Havoc and chaos reign supreme, then CNN removes the headline without ever making mention of it again. No "whoops, we goofed" nor a "corrections and additions" section. Just good old fashioned "we don't know what you're talking about"
I have been tempted to do such with this little blog of mine. Since I have managed to get egg on mine face now 2x since starting this thing since I have posted incorrect information. (I fear if people I don't know will read this and say "this guy is full of crap") But in the face journalistic integrity I offer my "corrections section."
You see, I said last time that Wartburg castle (near Eisenach, Germany) was the birthplace of J.S. Bach. Unfortunately, from what I gathered during the tour, we don't really know exactly where he was born. What I meant to say was that we'll be visiting the Bach-house in Eisenach (which we did) and is where the Bach museum is (which is true.) The experience was all very lovely, however, I managed to take some 90 snapshots during the tours of the day, all of which were at the lowest-quality setting on my camera rather than the highest, I was quite mad when I realized that my pictures were the photographic equivalents of postage stamps. Sigh...
As for what REALLY happened at Wartburg castle:
Wartburg was the home to many important cultural, historical and religious moments in history. The first that comes to mind is that it was the home to St. Elizabeth (well before she was a saint of course) There are many beautiful paintings in the castle, honoring her. I won't bore you with the story of St. Elizabeth (since I'd probably get it horribly wrong) but it is a tale of a woman who made the best of a bad situation for herself and throughout that, continued to help the sick and poor all her life. Also as I mentioned before, it is where Martin Luther found respite during his translation of the Bible to German. However, this is a little misleading. It is more accurate to say that the castle was his base of operations for a time, during which he translated the bible, created what is essentially a new germanic dialect to translate the bible into so that it would be understandable among the different germanic dialects and finally wrote a number of religious papers on the subject of the reformation of the catholic church. Finally in the concert hall of the castle hangs a copy of the flag which dates back to the 1817 meeting where 500 german students from across the land came together to form the first bourgeois opposition to the aristocracy. (Unfortunately the rebellion was crushed 2 years later, something they curiously left out during the tour) However as I mentioned, the flag is still there, and while the current pattern is different, the colors of the German national flag remain the same to this day: Black-Red-Gold.
Anyways, sorry for the lack of a post over the weekend, the stupid computer lab isn't open on Sundays here. Well, I guess, I'll be back tomorrow to write another thrilling episode of ROYALE WITH CHEESE (cue pigs in space music)
-bis spaeter!
Friday, June 20, 2003
When I get that feeling...
Can it be that I feel like i have nothing to write about? Well... maybe, let's see what happens:
I guess my brain has just been dead today, maybe from the party last night, maybe just because it's friday, but I haven't been able to think nor speak german all day. (listening to Dr. Cothran in class was ok, but the part of my brain that turns words into coherent thoughts was on early vacation)
Well, tomorrow we're going to Eisenach to visit historic Wartburg castle. Wartburg is where J.S. Bach was born and was also where Martin Luther hid from the Catholics so he could translate the bible. Looks like it will be a fun trip. Beyond that.. hmmm, I guess my brain really is dead, it's almost 5pm here so my stomach is rumbling... guess it's time for that oh so funky word of the day.
WAIT A MINUTE! That reminds me of something funny to say!
So we're in the local Supermarkt the other day, and what do we hear on the in-store radio? Oh yeah baby, none other than Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. Apparently the Germans like to set the perfect mood for when you're buying your Schnitzel, or your Braetel. Oh yeah...
Word of the day!
Aufpassen - owf-pass'-en
To pay attention to. In command form: Pass auf! (which means "pay attention!", not "drink 6 bowls (yes bowls) of tequila then fall down screaming 'ich bin betrunken!'") [Not that it was me, but we have photos...]
bis später!
-Andrew
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Grautagen
So, today's post will be short since I've got homework to do. (yay)
Right before I left, all my friends and family were asking "So what are you taking over there?" and I could never answer them because I'd never really been given a detailed answer. Well now i have that detailed answer:
Landeskunde - Basically Culture, Geography and History of Germany. Right now we're focusing on the ex-GDR states and more specifically Thüringen, since that's where we are located.
Berufs Dialog - Essentially Business German, how our two societies behave differently in terms of business and how those differences can be overcome.
Special Project - There's a better name for this but I can't remember it right now. In this class we're working in groups of 6 with a native speaker on a project about the town of Weimar and the changes it's undergone in the last 10/100 years. This seems like this will be the most interesting since it involves interviewing native speakers. (also the most difficult)
Oh yeah, had the best meal ever last night, ate at a little restaurant off the beaten path (the best kind) called "Zum Zwiebel" which directly translates to "For Onions." I had Thueringen Rost Braetel with onions and fried potatoes, it was good in ways that can't be done justice by human speech. (remind me to tell you about the potato dumplings I had the night before that sometime in the future!)
Well that's it for me today, we had class until 3pm (that's 15:00 Uhr to any Germans who might be reading this) and I have meetings to attend later tonight, but as always I leave you with the word of the day!
Fronleichnam - Frohn-like'-nahm
'Fron' is an old German word for lord.
'Leichnam' means "Corpse"
So, as the catholics in the audience might have guessed... Today is Corpus Christi! (not that I have any idea what that means, since I'm not Catholic)
Which is great news for all those Bavarians down south of here in Munich. But unfortunately for us, Thueringen is a protestant state, so no holiday for us =(
Bis bald!
-Andrew
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Fight or Flight
Yesterday was a day of great successes here in Weimar! My friend and I, continuing our quest for Pencils and Paper found our way into a Mueller store on SchillerStrasse. Mueller is like a 3-floor Wal-Mart but not as ghetto. So after searching the entire store, we find our prize, the office supplies dept. Paper is a bit different here since they have A4 instead of 8.5x11 but we grabbed some paper, pencils and binders and made a dash for the cashier's counter. And that's when all the trouble started.
You see, when you're learning a new language, you unconsciously prep your brain for the situations you're going to be in, like quickly remembering what the term for 'scoop' is when you're in the ice cream shop or how to order a piece of apple strudel in the bakery (yes we eat a lot here.) My experiences up til now have included the fact that you don't often get a bag to carry home your purchases in, this is ok since I usually have my backpack on me and what better place to put pencils and paper than a backpack? But after I paid and was about to grab my things, I get an ultra-fast string of german spat at me, to which my only reply was "............" I stood there speechless until she went for the bag and my brain snapped back to reality.
Learning Curve 2 : Andrew 0
So, beyond that, classes are still going well, I'm more than able to provide food for myself (as has been attested to by the fact that I've only eaten in the cafeteria once since I've been here) and after only 4 days my german is getting better already, can't wait to see where I am in 4 weeks when we leave Weimar and travel to Munich.
Hmm, time for that German word of the day methinks:
Locher Loch'-heyr
Hole Puncher (as in 3-hole punch)
Remember how I said that A4 paper is different? Luckily my Landeskunde professor is kind enough to let us borrow hers. (Even though she had no idea what a hole punch was, here's to cross-cultural communication!)
Bis bald!
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
How to buy a banana in Germany
Sigh, because of these foul computers (a mac this time I'll admit) this is the second time I'm writing this. (who knew there was a key that deleted EVERYTHING w/o recourse)
Anyways, on to the banana story:
So I'm in the supermarkt yesterday buying some things, and I grab a bunch of bananas (0.99€ a better price than at the Marktplatz) I take it to the counter to pay after grabbing some other items, and when I set it down the lady behind the counter FREAKS OUT COMPLETELY! She then grabs the bananas and runs back to produce. I was scared for my life.
Turns out that when you buy bananas, tomatoes or any other german produce you're supposed to weigh it in the produce dept and get a UPC code so it can be scanned. Chalk one up for the learning curve.
Hmm what else, classes started today, they seem like they're going to be a lot of work and a lot of fun, I have yet to buy school supplies because it seems like no one sells them, the hunt continues later today.
Well I'm sorry to make this so short (the other version was so much better I promise!) but now my time is running out and I have other things to do before too late. This also means that my GREAT GERMAN BEER REVIEW is going to have to wait a little more. Maybe by next week I'll have some down time to give it a solid write up (not to mention do some more field research by then!)
Oh yeah, here's the German Word of the Day
Ausgang owz'-gehng
That means exit. A useful thing when you're trying not to get lost in old Weimar.
Bis Bald! (that means see you soon!)
-Andrew
Monday, June 16, 2003
Ich bin zurück gekommt!
Ok, so I'm back (and finally have the keyboards here tuned back to the US settings instead of the german defaults) Abendessen (dinner) was good, although at this point I can't remember the name of it precisely. It was a Thuringer (Thuringen is the State we're in) flank steak with creamed mashed potatoes and a small salad. Es schmekt sehr gut!
So that's enough about that, I only have a little while before I have to go home to do my homework, so I will give the short version about the flight here and then tell you all about my day.
The flight over here wasnt too bad (and was made even better by the fact that I had read our flight plan incorrectly and we actually flew through Frankfurt rather than Paris) We spent 9 hours on the plane and landed uneventfully at Frankfurt International Airport, then we waited for about 2 hours for our next flight. Those first few hours in germany were a little rough while we got our jet-lagged brains into german mode, but by 8pm that night (local time) we were dead to the world. I was just glad I'd stayed up that long in hopes that I wouldn't wake up at 2am.
So I woke up at 4am instead.
I didnt sleep for over 36 hours and I still my body only needed 8 hours to be fully rested... so since my room-mates (three other tech students) were also up due to the same curse, we took the early-morning walking tour of the town.
Our apartment is right outside of the old city and it is beautiful. There are no words to describe how great this quiet little town is. There are cars of course,but the city center is marked by a "Fussgangerzone" pedestrian only zone. So we can walk around all the shops and such in complete peace. When we were up at 6am the town wasnt really awake yet, so we got to see the empty streets turn from barren wasteland to bustling market in the 2 hours we were out. (Good exercise too!) Then we went to school and had a test (the first day!) oh well there's always tomorrow.
Later we went on a historical tour of the city, "Weimar hat zwei Gesischte" that means "Weimar has two faces." the first is of liturature and culture: 10% of Weimar populace are students and 1000 of the 6000 students here are students at the Franz Liszt music academy (I have seen the school and it's seems somewhat prestigious.) This is all without mentioning the place Weimar has in world history as the seat of the Bauhaus architecture movement (the university we are working with is officially "Bauhaus Universitaet Weimar"; mostly architecture students) and it's role in German democracy both in 1919 and 1989. However it's only 8km away fromthe Buchenwald concentration camp where 56,000 people were murdered in WWII, afterwards during the era of the GDR, another 8,000 were murdered by the Soviets under the name Special Camp #2. Apparently it was a matter of silent consent during those time periods, an unhappy mar on the history of a beautiful town.
Well it's getting late here, and I still have homework to do. Catch you next time!
-Andrew
(PS be sure to tune in next time for my special BEERS OF GERMANY report)
Dumm Computer!
Well I had this really great post put together about the trip here and what what I've been up to, but lovely IE ate my work, so I'll have to do it later when I have the chance, I have 20 mins to get to a welcoming dinner tonight (remember it's 6 hours later here than in atlanta) But to tide you over, here is your German word of the day.
"Eisen"
which means: Iron
But not the same kind my clothes need after being crammed into my single piece of luggage.
Aufwiedersehen!
Friday, June 13, 2003
Packed and ready to go!
Well folks, I am personally amazed at the sheer amount of clothing that can be crammed into a modern piece of luggage... Let me outline our trip for you because I know you're all just dying to know whats up:
Our flight leaves ATL at 4:00pm EDT (Lufthansa flight 445) we arrive at 6:55am at FRA, then depart again at 9:15am local time for Leipzig where we will be bussing it to our home for the next month in Weimar.
so lets see, ATL is GMT-4 right now, and Paris/Germany are GMT+2 so that means that of a 15 hour difference between taking off and landing in Paris, only 6 hours are from the time shift, so that adds up to a... oh god... 9 hour flight... here's to in-flight entertainment and free alcohol on international flights!
Well the next time I check in will probably be Sunday the 16th. Aufwiedersehen!
Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Germany? Neither do I.
This is a test (don't all blogs start this way?)
Well we're about 24 hours from H-hour, when myself and 19 other American university students will begin our trek from Atlanta to Weimar. I'll do my best to keep this thing updated with the latest from my adventures in Deutschland!
