Tuesday, 24 August 1999
Nuremberg, Germany

A quick update on life among the Germans. I think I mentioned in my last note that we were on our way to the Black Forest. This was a great trip we stayed in a town called Baden Baden. What a great name for a town. Baden Baden is famous for quite a few things including their river walk their Roman baths as well as the casino. I must regress for a moment back to our cultural training class. During this class we were told that all cultures have taboos. When asked what was the taboo in the states we could not figure it out, after all we are the home of the free. She then told us that in the states the body was the taboo. We were constantly bathing and running around naked was not socially acceptable. Well, due to the fact that our reaction to this was of course who wants to smell or walk around a beach naked I guess confirmed the fact that we considered this a taboo and I still think a good one.

Now back to Baden Baden. The roman baths are a co ed naked thing so being true Americans we were not about to let our red white and blue hang out for everyone to see so we skipped this attraction. We did go to the casino and it was very classy. You had to dress up to go in and there were no slots or other type of machines, just lots of people playing blackjack, poker, and roulette. This all being done in rooms with lush red carpeting crystal chandeliers and people dressed to kill. I could not help being amused by the fact that no matter how dressed up these people were they had still spent all day naked together in the baths showing every wrinkle and pimple they had on their bodies to each other. Oh well some taboos are just simply better than others.

Two things that we have just noticed after being here for three months and I am not sure either is important but it does seem strange. There are no pick up trucks here. How does a society function without the pickup truck? Also the majority of the toilettes do not have the water tanks on the back like ours do in the states. Where does the water come from when you flush? Like I said not earth shattering just subtle little things we noticed and took the time to wonder about.

Then there is another small thing but it is this type of thing that keeps reminding you that you are the new guy on someone else's turf. When you go to the grocery store you have to pay a mark to get your shopping cart. You do this by putting the mark inside a slot on the cart and this allows you to unlock it. We thought this was kind of a rip off especially because we had to bag your own groceries, but then again it is only about 50 cents and what can you do. This went on for about five trips to the store until I realized if you relock your cart you get your mark back. This also explains why the winos circled like vultures around me everytime I went shopping. They knew the crazy American was just going to leave his mark sitting in the cart and it was an easy score for them once I left. Oh well live and learn.

Now some real exciting stuff happened over the last two weeks. Sue and I both had our hair cut. You may think this is mundane but remember my notes about ordering one thing at a restaurant and getting something entirely different because of the language issue. So we were a little concerned about how we would look when we exited the hair establishment. I had visions of green hair with a mohawk style and maybe even a tattoo and that was how I pictured Sue, I had no idea of what they might do to me. I will keep you in suspense by not telling you how it turned out but will send pictures later. I hope you recognize us.

The language is always the most challenging thing we face. We are getting a little better but this actually makes us more dangerous because people hear us speak some German now they are off to the races in German and things get mixed up fast. Just try and imagine you are trying to buy Isopropyl alcohol in German. Where do you start? What happens is they end up selling you something and when you get home and open the box you find out it is not what you wanted at all. We now have a shelf that contains all sorts of weird items that we have bought in this manner and since we cannot read enough German we are not sure what to do with them.

The other amusing thing about language is what I call the white knight syndrome. This term is reminiscent of the white knight in Alice In Wonderland who was always talking backward. The reason I use this analogy is because I am now speaking more German but when the Germans hear my accent many change over to broken bad English. I want to stay with my broken bad German so I do. The conversation can go on like this forever with me babbling in German and they are in English with neither one of us giving in. Thinking about this really amuses me but it is what life is like here in the fatherland.

We continue to travel on weekends to see the sights. We visited the great little town of Bamberg and went on a tour of the palace and we also visited the modern city of Frankfurt and went to the modern museum of art there plus a great jazz club. During the week we enjoy city life complete with being able to walk everywhere we go and to enjoy the night life with only a short walk home.

Once again I need to quite typing and get over to my German class. Maybe someday we will master this language thing.