Simon, Alix and Michi

No Images Available...

2007-01-22T23:58:00.000+01:00

...and Bogger is driving me crazy!!!!
First, they tell me to use my yahoo address.
Then, they tell me I have to create a Google address and use that.
Okay, done.
Now I have to use my yahoo address and the google password.
And I still can't post any pictures.

Blogger Germany has no contact address or possibility to ask questions. Plus, the translation isn't great. I'm not a professional translator, but I could do better!

New Try

2007-01-20T22:40:00.000+01:00

Well, Folks, Blogger International doesn't seem to want me to send any pictures. You'll have to look at them under www.flickr.com/photos/alixmichi/

We went to the Ten Years After Concert in Munich last Sunday. Wow!!!! A small hall (max 300 people) built up as a factory. The band has been around as long as I have lived (1970), and they were great!!! A few substitutions, a bit younger, but still!

Traudl was babysitter, but Simon decided he wanted to cry (due to teething), and she was so worried that she had done something wrong.

Michi is the newest victim of "Selective Hearing." I always thought it was the over-50-year-olds that had it. No, it seems to be a husband/parent thing. A neighbor had a baby 5 weeks ago. We have a bag of presents. So did Traudl. Traudl told us that she had visited them and braught her bag of goodies.
Michi looked at the bag that we had prepared for the new parents, and said, "I thought you said Mom brought our bag of presents?"
"Yes," I said, "HER bag, not ours..."

For the last 15 weeks, Simon has been getting 5 meals a day. 7am, 11am,3pm, 6pm and 10pm. Variations are possible, and because Michi likes to take Simon along everywhere: very variable. But always: 5 meals!!!
And then last week, at 9pm: "Oh, he gets another meal???!!!" (as if Simon had never eaten that late.....)

My cousin Gita

2005-10-19T01:17:00.000+02:00

On October 10, 2005, my cousin Gita died.

She was a "specially gifted" person. She died unexpectantly. She was 27 years old.

New Links . . .

2005-09-28T01:26:00.000+02:00

I hope I manged to post a few links . . . we'll see!

Subway Horror and Job Interviews

2005-09-27T23:37:00.000+02:00

So, I've told you about drunk Oktoberfest people in the Munich subway.

Well, today, there was a soccer game.

I don't know if you're familiar with the average German soccer fan. I'll tell you about it:

They want to see a good game, they root for their team, and about a third like to get drunk. A the lines are long, and the fans don't want to miss a minute of the game standing in line for the next beer, they get drunk ahead of time.

And what a coincidence: it's Oktoberfest! Take the day off, get drunk and go on some rides, then take the subway to the Stadium!

I picked my seat VERY carefully today. Is the person across from me drunk? Is he going to throw up on me? Or just be a general nuisance?

Thank God I rode with a colleague: Mark H. today. He's the "knight in shining armour" at the reception. "A Question?" Mark knows the answer. "A problem?" Mark can solve it. "You want to talk about life's mysteries?" Mark's there to talk. He's always in a good mood, and being around him makes everyone feel good! Too bad that he's taken (romantically). His partner's name is Georg, and I met him at the Oktoberfest last Thursday. Very nice!

You've all had job interviews. I've had about 9 - 10. Seven were successful.

Today, I was on the other side: I was the interviewer. It was a great candidate, as he had worked for Berlitz before, and was just relocating with a British Company to Munich. We'll hire him free-lance, I'm sure. It's just a strange feeling being on "the other side of the desk!!!!!!"

A note to all who read my last post: my sister's web-site is: www.suletzki.com
It's worth reading! Even though personal references are unknown . . .

Oktoberfest!

2005-09-21T01:27:00.001+02:00

By the way, take a look at my sister's blog. She's a great person, and she's got the same political views as I do.

Oktoberfest!

2005-09-21T01:27:00.000+02:00

It's Oktoberfest time again!

That means hundreds of drunk tourists in every subway train...

Americans, Australians, Japanese, Italians, etc. All drunk.

I'm sorry. It's fun, the Oktoberfest! It's a huge party! 6 to 7 MILLION people in 17 days. That's 312,000 people every day. 24,000 people in each beer tent.

If each person drinks two Mass (two liters) of beer at 7.35 Euros each, and eats something (between 4.25 and 8.50 Euros), which is the normal, average, then it's: 560,000 Euros per day per tent. That's 7,280,000 per day. That's 116,480,000 Euros for the entire Oktoberfest. Not to mention hotels, restaurants and public transportattion.

It's a family tradition in my husband's family goes to the Oktoberfest. We never go INTO a beer-tent. We sit in the beergarden. We get there on the first day at 09:00 o'clock, although they don't serve beer until 12:00 noon. We want to have at least 40 seats together, and that's the only way: get there early!

Well, this year, for the first time in 6 years, the weather was bad. We couldn't sit outside. So, Traudl, Andreas and I didn't go. Michael went with a friend.

He left the house at 07:34am. He got back at 02:28am. He said he had fun!

I'm going on Thursday with my work. About 100 people from Berlitz are going! Even the manager for Europe (an American who works out of New Jersey) is coming. Some new trainee teachers asked if it was okay to get drunk there, seeing as so many important people would be there, but we said, "100 Berlitz people? Everyone Has to buy two liters of beer? It's doubtful that anyone remembers your name afterwards!"

I won't write on Friday...but maybe Saturday or Sunday...

New Pictures of Italy

2005-09-11T14:15:00.001+02:00

New Pictures of Italy

2005-09-11T14:15:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

Here are some more pictures of Northern Italy...

Verona

2005-09-03T21:46:00.000+02:00

Here are the first pictures of Verona, Italy.

It's a beautiful city! Every tiny apartment has a balcony (about 6 sq. feet or 1.5 sq. meters), but they take pride in making it into an artwork.

My brother-in-law, Andreas, was sick and tired of balconies after a few hours, whereas I loved them! He also didn't really want to see gardens, but we dragged him to one. Here the pictures.

Hurricanes, Floods and Nature

2005-09-02T00:40:00.000+02:00

You know, when a politician in one of the Southern States of the USA compared the results of Hurricane Katrin to the tsunami, saying, "This is our own tsunami." I thought at first, stupid. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the tsunami of Dec. 2004.

At the time, it wasn't really clear what exactly had happened in New Orleans and Biloxi, etc. A storm had passed, people were in shelters, electricity was gone. But everyone expected that life would return to normal.

Now we hear in the news that New Orleans is being evacuated for the next two to three months! Everything is flooded. Nothing is working: water, gas, sewer, electricity. The people who decided to ride out the storm are still there, looting. Well, what do you expect?

How can you buy food? If all the supermarkets are closed?

What about toilet paper?

What about aspirin and other medications?

You've been wearing the same clothes in the water for two days. What do you do? Well, the shelves in K-Mart still have dry things. As there are no cashiers, you just take them, right?

The United States is a huge, rich country. We can send in National troops. We can evacuate the people per helicopter. We can set up shelters in stadiums, and send busses to take them there.

In Indonesia? India? They don't have the infrastrucure to do all that. So, it really isn't fair to compare Hurricane Katrina to the tsunami of Dec. 2004.

On the other hand, there have been many tsunamis in the last decades in Japan, and even in the U.S. They weren't too bad, so we really don't remember them. The countries were better prepared. Hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, volcano eruption...

Well, this time it was the poorest area in the U.S. I'm only speculating. Not discriminating. The houses aren't built the way they are in Vermont or Michigan or Idaho. They can't afford to.

How many storms and hurricanes have passed over the region in the last 100 years? Almost too many to count. This time, it was a catastrophe.

How many people were killed? 100 or 1,000?

I'm beginning to think: "our own tsunami," is okay to say. We can't compare it to Southeast Asia, but the tragedy is much the same.

The flooding in Europe has receeded, and we have great weather right now.

And my mother-in-law says, "Oh, how horrible, it's so hot..."

The Big Dig

2005-08-31T01:37:00.000+02:00

Those of you who have lived in Boston in the last . . . what? 15 years in Boston know what The Big Dig is.

Well, we've started our own Big Dig in Unterschleissheim.

It started two weeks ago, when we noticed that the gutters on one side of the house were leaking. The water wasn't going into the ground like it should. So, Michi climbed a ladder to clean the gutters. But: no problem!

The pipe leading into the ground was clogged. Great.

Question: do we have a cess pool? No idea. The house plans didn't show anything at all. Traudl (my mother-in-law) seemed to remember a cess pool, but not where. Of course, it was 41 years ago...

So, Michi and I started to dig. We dug down to 120cm (4 feet), and arrived at a pipe turn (vertical to horizontal). We managed to free the vertical pipe, and I freed it of all obstructions.

Michi sprayed water into the horizontal pipe, but: it came back in his face!

Needless to say, we were both very muddy at this phase.

A neighbor came the next day, to try to see where a cell pool could be. He thought the cess pool was 6 feet left, two feet out.

So; Michi dug the next hole. No luck.

Maybe the house has no cess pool! And Michi has been "digging for Elvis."

Photos from Italy in Sunday...

Opera, Southern Tirol and Flooding

2005-08-26T23:11:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

On Monday, Michi and I drove to Verona, Italy. My mother-in-law, and brother-in-law, Traudl and Andreas, flew.

We left at the same time, and Michi and I arrived two hours after they did.

We did a lot of sightseeing in Verona, and rode the bus without paying. It's funny in Italy: you can't buy bus tickets in the bus. You have to go to a Tobacco shop. Our hotel was in an industrial area, where there weren't any Tobacco stores. So we were forced to ride without tickets.

Verona is great! Lots of history . . . but most of it is being renovated. Pay €5 to go into a church that's under construction?

Then "Nabucco" in the Arena di Verona. We're the cheap tickets, so we have to arrive early. The seats are great, and the Italians behind us are nicer than we've experienced anywhere else.

No loudspeakers, but you can hear everything. Wow. 20,000 spectators.

Then, the next day, drive to Kaltern, Southern Tirol. On the radio, we hear about flooding in Austria and Bavaria. We buy a newspaper from Munich. Well, according to the paper, almost all roads from Italy to Munich are flooded.

No problem! We'll be here for a few more days.

Eating, drinking . . . , Italians really know how to live!!!! All four of us had Spaghetti aglio olio (with garlic and olive oil), so the inside of our car was poisonous!

Some pictures next week!

On the way back, we were worried that we would have to go way out of the way to get home. We went to an internet cafe to check e-mails and to write an e-mail to Mom and Dad to let them know that we're okay.

I got an e-mail from Eduardo!!! He's the proud father of a little girl: Elena. August 15, everything's fine. Eduardo writes as if he's the first father on earth. I'm really happy for him and Karine.

We got home without problems; we saw (from the Autobahn) flooded areas, but it didn't effect us, thank God!

Back at home . . . laundry, ironing, etc. Michi has to dig a huge hole. Why? More next time . . .

new pix

2005-08-17T02:06:00.000+02:00

You can see: Gert, and Ille and Klaus...

Tourists

2005-08-10T00:13:00.000+02:00

I work a few yards away from the most famous tourist site in Munich. The subway is full of Americans, Japanese, Italian, Arabic, French and Chinese tourists. As I don't usually ride during rush hour (before or after), I see them, consulting their maps, referring to guide books, looking everywhere except where they're going.

I used to try to help tourists with maps. They don't want my help, though! They look at me suspiciously, thinking I want something in return. Only when I'm smoking a cigarette outside the Berlitz school, minding my own business, I get a barrage of questions. Mostly "Where's the Marienplatz?" When I tell them they're standing on it, they tend not to believe me.

They're funny, the tourists. The main attraction on city hall is a playing of the bells in the tower which goes along with some figures that turn. The figures are supposed to represent a meeting of some knights, a beautiful woman, etc. In the summer, this happens at 11:00am, and 12:00 and 05:00pm. Thousands of tourists assemble on the square to watch.

I don't know how many tourists have filmed me or taken pictures of me in the last three years. Either in my way to work, on the way to Subway, McDonald's, or a cafe, or to and from work.
And two weeks ago:
She: "Quick, Hans, take a picture!"
He: "Why? What?"
She: "The figures are turning! Quick! Take a picture!"
Which the husband did.

Tourists!

Great weekend!

2005-07-28T01:32:00.000+02:00

Here a great picture of the "meeting of the waters" where the Rio Solimoes and the Rio Negro meet. The first is the water from the Andes, yellow and full of mud. The second is from the rainforests, clear and black and full of alkalines. The two rivers flow alongside each other near Manaus, Brazil, and it takes almost twenty km for them to really mix.

On another note, one of the friends that we made during the trip came to Munich last weekend!

Gert, a librarian from Berlin, hadn't been to Munich in decades. We visited all of the usual touristic sites, and after visiting the Schwabinger-fest, we also went to the Unterschleissheimer Party (five years:city after being a town for 1,200 years!). We also had a great Brunch in Freising...three days were full and gone before we knew it!

Some Amazone Animals

2005-07-22T00:29:00.000+02:00

While I was sick on board (lumbago and a bad cold from the air conditioning on board), Michi took a swim in the Amazon River.

We were told that Piranhas and any other dangerous fish don't live in flowing water. But here is a püicture of such a fish. Then a girl with a parrot, and then a picture of our arrival in Parentins, Brazil.

Sorry, folks!

2005-07-20T01:12:00.000+02:00

Okay, okay, I haven't gotten the hang of adding pictures yet. But Blogger isn't being very cooperative, either...

If you've just tuned in, don't be scared away by my last entry: five huge moths!

This is my third entry in the last hour, so be sure to read what I wrote earlier!

If everything works, I'll show you the pictures of the wood factory, the skyline of Belem, Brazil, and a poster of the new Pope.

Benedict XVI from Germany. We had heard about his electiona day earlier, and all the people we met on the streets were happy to point out that we and the new pope were from he same country!!!

Pix?

2005-07-20T01:01:00.000+02:00

Wood and Insects

2005-07-20T00:45:00.000+02:00

The first picture is of what they do with the wood that they don't burn down in the rain forest. Contrary to beliefs, they don't actually burn down all of the forest to turn it into fields, etc. They use the wood to build houses, and this is one of the factories that makes building planks out of the wood.

Before we went on the trip, we were warned about malaria. But taking the preventory medicine is almost worse for your health than getting the sickness! We were told that it's good to have the medication along, but to consult the ship's doctor if we have a fever, and then to take it. Not before.

I, personally, didn't see a single mosquito until we arrived in Bremerhaven. Michi claims he saw one near the Canary Islands. Needless to say, we didn't woory about malaria!

But, there were huge moths on the ship. They were the size of the hand of a 10-year-old child. We thought they were cute, until we saw the face of the deck hand. He was opening an umbrella when one of these moths flew onto his face. They apparently have some kind of acid which they can spray. He had burn marks on his cheek for three weeks!

A few new picures...

2005-07-20T00:31:00.000+02:00

A comment to "The truth about BBQ'ing"

Of course most of you men out there aren't lazy as in the aforementioned "thoughts." The text isn't from me, but I was able to see many parallels with many men that I have known. Two notable exceptions are my father and my sister's significant other, Ben. Both men not only know how to cook, but they enjoy it. While Ben would rather have the kitchen to himself (he even does the dishes!), my father does the "mise-en-place," meaning he prepares everything, and spends a lot of his time reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows to develope new ideas.

New pix in an hour...

BBQ

2005-07-15T01:31:00.000+02:00

The Truth about Barbequing

Barbequing is the only type of cooking a real man will do. When a man declares that he will BBQ, the following chain of events is put into motion:

1) The woman goes to the store and buys everything.

2) The woman makes the salad, the vegetables, and the dessert.

3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man, who is lounging by the grill, a beer in hand.

4) The man places the meat on the grill.

5) The woman goes inside to organize plates and cutlery.

6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.

7) The man takes the meat off the grill and hands it to the woman.

8) The woman prepares the plates and brings them to the table.

9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

10) Everyone praises the man and thanks him for his cooking efforts.

11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed her night off, and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing a woman.

2005-07-11T03:48:00.000+02:00

About the two new pix:

In Parintins, Brazil, there's a huge dance-contest which dominates the city. One half of the city is blue, the other half is red. The festival or dance contest that they have is the second largest after the carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
On the "blue" side of the city, the street signs are blue, the houses, the people. And even the coca-cola ads! On the other side, of course, everything is red!

The second picture is of Gert, Martina and Michael. (L to R) They're obviously having fun!

New Pix!

2005-07-11T03:35:00.000+02:00

I've written this headline about 5 to 6 times. It takes a while to upload, and then blogger tells me: "what? You wanted to show pictures? Well, I don't know anything about it." No matter that I spent about 20 minutes waiting (and about 5 Euros): hey, no problem!
Anothe try...

...and more new pix from the Amazon...!

2005-07-11T02:45:00.000+02:00

New pictures!

2005-07-11T01:58:00.000+02:00

Hey, it works!!!!!!!!!!

I can finally post pictures!

Okay, the last was of Alexandra Malinka taking polaroids of the native villagers of Vendaval. The next two are of
1: the largest sea-born leaf: the Victoria Regia Amazonica (The largest leaves are able to support a child!)
2: the meeting of the waters near Manaus, Brazil.
The two rivers; the Rio Negro and the Solimoes come together here, and because of the difference in temperature and velocity, the rivers mix after about twenty kilometers.

Photos

2005-07-11T01:43:00.000+02:00

Okay, one more try. Then I'll go to bed!

2005-07-11T01:15:00.000+02:00

Well, mabe a first photo of the Amazon...

If it works, then you'll get lots of good shots in the next few days!

2005-07-11T01:10:00.000+02:00

Well, mabe a first photo of the Amazon...

If it works, then you'll get lots of good shots in the next few days!

Picture?

2005-07-11T01:03:00.000+02:00

Well, mabe a first photo of the Amazon...

If it works, then you'll get lots of good shots in the next few days!

Hello Bellies!

2005-07-01T19:36:00.000+02:00

Yes, I have something new to rave about!

First of all, thanks to Kat and Ben for their comments to my "Smoking" ranting. And yes, there are about 7,000 Americans in town right now! I work at the Marienplatz, the main attraction for tourists (but don't ask me why... the Rathouse is ugly and the famous "Glockenspiel" is way out of tune. And the Americans that go to Berlitz to learn German complain about the smoking...

My new problem is the bellies. Stomachs. Hips. Butt-cracks.

The young, and not so young women in Munich have a new fashion. Well, it's not too new, but as it's been over 30 degrees Celcius for the last few weeks, the new fashion is to be seen everywhere.

A slim young woman wearing jeans, pants or a skirt low on her hips is nice. I'm envious, because I don't have the figure.

But...5'4", 155 lbs, tight jeans and a top that barely covers the bra. 5'7", 180lbs, pants that show not only the butt-crack, but the string and tattoo.

Do we need to see this? Do we want to see it?

The women that have the "acceptable" figure wear normal clothes. And if they wear the aforementioned, okay!

The problem is, everyone who is too fat for the fashion wears it! And the rest of us have to look at it!

Any opinions?

Ranting and Raving: This Time Smoking!

2005-06-21T01:03:00.000+02:00

Okay, I'm a smoker.

I'm not proud of it, but it's a fact. I want to quit, and soon, but I don't know when. Okay?

Way back when I lived and worked in Maine, it was okay to smoke in all bars and in the smoking section of all restaurants. Later, it was illegal to smoke in all restaurants. Well, okay, after eating, people went to the bar to smoke. For about two years, it's been against the law to smoke in bars in Maine. Guests and profits went back (according to an article in the Bangor Daily News) about 30%.

In Germany, it's legal to smoke in all restaurants and bars. Up until a few months ago, there wasn't even one restaurant in Munich that even had a smoking and non-smoking section!

This has changed, as non-smokers (mostly American tourists) wanted to have a smoke-free environment to enjoy their meals.

Which I understand! Most restaurants here have more than one room, and it would be easy to designate one room to the smokers.

But no, the politicians are thinking about banning smoking from all restaurants and bars. Just like that! One minute, you can smoke everywhere, the next minute, nowhere!!!!! No: "Smoking section," no: "just for bars." Cold Turkey!

The German government takes Euro 2.20 from every pack sold. Restaurants and bars in Munich supply almost 30% of employment here. Isn't this step just a bit too drastic for the economy?

As I've said, I want to stop smoking. And I plan to stop soon. But: a drastic stop, a ban, would be fatal for the economy.

Just my thoughts...

No news!

2005-06-04T22:12:00.000+02:00

Yes, ladies and Gentlemen,
there is absolutely nothing new here. Same old, same old, but I thought I'd write something to keep you all occupied!
I'll try again to do the Photo-thing on this blog soon, and Amazon excerpt from my diary will be on-line Tuesday at the latest!
See ya then!

Shoes

2005-06-03T01:45:00.000+02:00

I know that many women love to own 1,000,000 pairs of shoes.

I don't belong to that category.

But . . . 8 to 10 pairs is okay, right? Two pairs of boots, two pairs of sneakers (the old ones to mow the lawn, the new pair to walk or jog), black sandals, white sandals, black high heels, dark blue high heels, flat black shoes and flip flops. That's enough?!!!

But imagine you're in Munich, Germany. And you want to replace your black high heels. Because they're old and you can't really walk in them anymore. No problem, you think. There are only about 3,000 shoe stores in this huge city.

Problem: the fashion is shoes that are pointy. Shoes that are four inches longer than your foot! Shoes where you trip and fall at every step.

Pointy sneakers! Sneakers with high heels! HELLO!!!!

Unless you want to buy "Grandma's" shoes, you're stuck with the above. No normal shoes in sight.

I guess the old (four years) shoes will have to do until my next visit to the States. Or I'll have to wait for the next - rational - fashion trend!

South Tirol, Italy

2005-05-30T00:34:00.000+02:00

Sorry Folks, no pictures!
The software that I had to download was okay, and I can use it to work on all personal photos off-line, but it doesn't seem to work with this web-site...

I just got back from Italy! Four days in South Tirol. For all of you who don't know anything about Middle-European history, South Tirol was an independant state until the first world war; they were taken over by the Germans then (well, the customs and language are German!), and now they belong to Italy. Although 85% of the population are German, and speak German. The customs are very German or Austrian as well.

We had a great time! We hiked and hiked and hiked. Hey, we're on the southern side of the Alps. Lots of cool canyons and mountains. Of course, I'm way afraid of heights, so a few of the tours were scarey for me, but I endured.

And the HTCR ( Holz Trocknungs Club Rosenheim ); a kind of private fraternity, is a great bunch of people. We've been taking trips for the last five years together. All over Europe, and very diverse trips. We, ourselves, were very diverse this time. From all over Germany and Austria. Married and single. And one toddler and one baby. And one pregnant woman.

Well, we're "growing up!"

I'll try to put some pictures and some impressions of our Amazone trip in soon.

2005-05-23T22:55:00.000+02:00

I think I've figured it out...
I hope you'll be able to see some picures.
If not today, then in the next few days!

I'm back!

2005-05-09T02:11:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

Some of you know already (per telephone) that I've arrived safe and sound from the Amazone River and over the Atlantic, via the Cap Verde Islands and the Canary Islands, back in Germany. For the rest of you, I can only say that it was the most incredible trip I've ever taken! In the next few days, or maybe weeks, I'll be posting pictures of the trip, and copying exerpts from my journal.

Growing up in a "Flyer-Family," I've travelled often. This cruise showed me the best and the worst sides of human nature (I'll get into that in the next few days), brought me to places and to people that I never thought I'd see, and awakened me to other ways of thinking.

The next posts will show what I mean...

Address...

2005-04-08T12:57:00.000+02:00

Of course, the address I mentioned is only valid from April 12th to May 6th!

Before and after, you can continue using the old address: alexandra_eberl@yahoo.de

Vacation!

2005-04-06T09:57:00.000+02:00

As you all know, Michael and I are going on Vacation on Sunday!

A huge, long trip through the Amazon River and then over the Atlantic to Germany. We'll be gone for four weeks, and after we get back, I'll start using this site for real.

You can take a look at where we are every day on www.phoenixReisen.com. There's a daily webcam shot of where we are.

And you can reach me under Alexandra-Eberl.A27.ALX004@ALX.PhoenixReisen.com

Don't be disappointed if I don't reply to any e-mails right away! Or at all. It costs $5 per outgoing e-mail . . . so I won't be writing much!

I'll talk to you all in May!

First day! Sat., April 2, 2005

2005-04-03T06:47:00.000+02:00

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