Garten Schwergen (Garden dwarfs or Gnomes)

In Germany, many people really enjoy their gardens and they often have little gnomes to decorate them with. These little ones can be seen in many western European home gardens and are thought to bring good things. Many parts of germany are excellent for gardening and this is an important part of the culture. Flowers and gardens are essential to german life. In fact, Germany is one of the most beautiful places to be in the spring since its climate makes the countryside landscape incredibly dream-like filled with vibrant colorful flowers, singing birds, green hills and intoxicating fragrances of blooming trees.

World Cup and Bayern vs Allemania

Germany is now in the Semi Finals! Celebrations and chaos abound in the streets of Germany today. With yesterday's celebration over the Germany's win against Argentina in World Cup 2010, I thought it appropriate to write a few lines about the local soccer/football German teams. The two regional teams faced it out in football matches every few weeks while I overheard cheers from the stadium here in Aachen earlier last month. So who are these teams? and how do Germans enjoy football matches?

Well first the teams: Alemannia is the ever (not so good) important team for the Aachen region and is represented by the NRW (North Rhein Westfalia) flag and Bayern is the ever popular Bavarian team that seems to win every game and is represent by its respective regional flag.

As for how many Germans enjoy football: Gathering with friends and family, Wearing lots of supportive paraphernalia, waving regional team flags, Bitte ein Bit! (local favorite beer) and of course, enjoying ice cream.

Current Affairs in Germany

Over the course of my time in Germany I have seen political parties such as the SPD (Sozial-demokratische Partei Deutschlands), CDP (Christlich Demokratische Partei), and the NDP (Nationaldemokratische Partei) set up booths around cities and distribute information, and other things (like roses!) or just try to get attention at the main squares. I have also had the chance to bring up discussions with some of my colleagues about German culture, history and current affairs. Not everyone was open to talking with me about some of the deep-seated issues I was interested in learning about German society, but a few did share their somewhat less held back opinions. It is fascinating that when the issues of immigration and cultural diversity are brought up here, as in many other places, not many folks are open to discussing their thoughts either in general and in particular, not with a foreigner. But I wanted to create an unbiased open dialogue to really understand how people feel on issues such as immigration, welfare, crime, education, right or left wing issues. In general, I have not gathered enough information, as in a survey, to convey the trends/opinions among age groups, regions, or socio-economic groups, so will gather some numbers and simply present facts from some reputable sources.

I have often referred to different media to learn about issues in Germany and Europe. Here are my favorite sources so far on current affairs and cultural issues in German news: (1) of course there is Deutsche Welle which broadcasts the daily news and has cultural spotlight shows. (2) New Europe is more economically and politically focused and comes out of Brussels (the EU capital), (3) I recently found a great cultural journal called perlentauschen and its satellite website at www.signandsight.com which really deals with cultural and society perspectives on major events in Germany and Europe.

For a list of the major political parties in Germany see:

http://www.kibou.de/gozer/wahlen/parteien.html

Belgian Hiking, Castles, and Waffles

One of the places I have really enjoyed visiting while living here is Belgium and not just for the amazing waffles or gaufres. The city of Liége (or Luttich as it is called in German) is just a few minutes by train but the language and culture are in complete contrast with Aachen. The famous waffles of Liége will make you forget about all others as you experience an incredibly tasty waffle baked with belgian sugar.

For hiking, biking, camping and other outdoor sports, there are so many options in the eastern and Wallonia regions of Belgium which are studded with gorgeous, untouched and peaceful forests and lakes that will make you feel re-energized for days after visiting. One town in eastern Belgium, Raeren, is a small German speaking town near Eupen and is a mere 20 minute bus ride from the center of Aachen. It is a small village and has a forest that surrounds it much like most of the towns nearby. I am meeting a friend at Elisenbrunnen bus haltstelle early tomorrow morning for a hike in the Raerener Wald. Hopefully we can enjoy some frites afterwards, guilt free....

For such a small country, Belgium's cities and town are filled with incredible history and land disputes! There are also hundreds of castles worth visiting, each with its own fascinating story. For links on many of the castles by province see www.belgiancastles.be

Here are a couple links I found for nice stays while vacationing in Belgium:
http://www.belgiumvacationsonline.com/
http://www.campingspa.be/EN/surroundings.html

Swimming in German lakes

This weekend my colleagues invited me to go by car to a nearby lake for swimming and sun bathing, so I had to go look up which lakes around Aachen are good for swimming and here are some sites I came across (check out the Eifel a bit south of Aachen which is just a Natural Paradise with Rursee swimming, sailing and Monschau Alt Stadt bordering one of the lakes!):

Aachen sites
http://www.aachen-emotion.com/en-students/snapshots/treasure-hunters-in-natures-paradise
http://www.aachen.de/EN/kf/freizeit_en/index.html

Eifel NaturPark area
http://www.jaegersruh-eifel.de/Umgebung.htm
http://www.naturpark-hohesvenn-eifel.de/
http://ferienhaus-eifeltor.de/ausfluege/wandern.html
http://www.rursee.de/touristik/rursee.php

Monschau
http://www.fewo-renate.de/index.php?op=umgebung

Interestingly, the secretary of the institute here also asked me how i like the new facilities and we discussed that even though I am going back to the US in a few weeks, the next time (:-)) I will know where to start my time in Germany.
I am convinced I will be coming back here again soon:) Perhaps I will have to decide after visiting AUSTRIA!

Little Towns Around Aachen

Biking on my weekends has taken me to some of the cutest little towns in the outskirts of Aachen. For the most part these towns are really unknown outside of the local area as they are just too small with less than several hundred inhabitants. But as I learned this doesn't mean they are any less rich in history!

One nearby town is called Seffent (a very Old German word for seven!) and refers to the towns seven springs. The town dates back to at least the Carolingian Period (7th century) of the region.

There are two nice restaurant cafes in the town, one is named Siebenquellen (Seven Springs) appropriately enough and the other is a Mexican restaurant within an old fort-castle complex. The charming little town can easily be missed since it only has about 200 inhabitants and is surrounded by farms. The cutest part is the small cobble stoned street which the town is centered around.

Ice Cream is Serious Business in Germany

It's just after lunch which I enjoyed with colleagues at the private mensa near Pontstrasse. I am now back in my office and have been invited twice for ice cream. Here in Germany, and in my opinion, more so than in Italy or France, ice cream is really serious business.

Most ice cream shops are called Eis Cafes in German and are typically owned and operated by Italians who are the second largest immigrant population here after Turks.

The varieties of ice cream you can get beyond the typical one or two scoops on a cone are generally meal-sized and decadent with supplemental fruits, warmed, sauces, cream and fudges to choose from.

The classical spaghetti Eis, first introduced to me by an old friend, is now one of my favorites and looks like a heaping dish of pasta (vanilla ice cream) with tomato sauce (strawberry sauce) and parmesan (shredded white chocolate and nuts)!