Ich bin eine Leipzigerin: Seven Months in Germany

I've been living in Germany for seven months now and it surprises me to say that I am just now getting over my culture shock. For one thing, Cape Town is a hard act to follow and I often find myself fantasizing about heading back south. I was warned many times that once Africa was in my blood, it would stay there. And so it has. Even a few in between months in Canada didn't cure me; in fact they convinced me more than ever that I belong in Cape Town – Vancouver is nice but it's no longer home. I miss driving through deserts on the way to some new adventure. I miss the colours, the animals, the beaches. I even miss some, though not all, of the annoying aspects. It knocks Europe down a notch after having lived in such an amazing place. On the bright side I guess my ANC caused rages have subsided, which is probably better for my health.

I thought I knew what living in Germany was about having spent almost four years of my life here. But admittedly the experience is very different for an adult whose reality includes the administrational nightmares of life overseas as compared to the charmed experience of a child in a country where fables and fairy tales seemed real. What little girl wouldn't enjoy running around palace gardens and castle courtyards pretending she was a princess? For me, Germany always harboured a little magic, although perhaps that was due more to having amazing grandparents here than real life. But living in the former east as I now do has been a very different experience to growing up in the west. It just isn't the Germany I knew. I'm not totally complaining though. While some things here do frustrate me, it has afforded me an affordable life! Compare rents in Munich and Leipzig, and well...for a student the choice is clear. Plus, I live just three hours from Prague, five from Krakow...Berlin and Dresden both lie on my doorstep. In fact, living here certainly makes for a very international existence since everything is so close and borders are so open. You can pop off almost anywhere for a weekend. So while the continental life isn't quite as glamorous as North Americans often imagine, it certainly has its perks. On the flip side, German administration procedures make everything five times more complicated than it needs to be, and sometimes I really just miss friendly people. I had hoped to make more local friends, but especially in the former east there is often a distinct reluctance to embrace foreigners. I'm also surprised at how judgmental, and tactless the people here can be about mundane things such as clothing. I'm not sure if German directness or Canadian politeness is the best approach but perhaps something in between would be ideal.

 

Is it cliche to say that these are exciting times we live in? Because here they inarguably are. The European political climate is mercurial right now. For a while every day brought some new terror attack in neighboring France and here we have seen regular protests by the far left and right, both of which often result in destruction and some violence. Personally, I find extremists of any ilk frustrating beyond belief. Especially those who try to stop others from being heard. Winston Churchill said 'I might not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it', and I couldn't agree more. I believe in many things – I'm a little bit socialist (I can wax for hours on the importance of universalized medicare), I'm a little bit liberal, I'm a little bit conservative, but most of all I'm pro democracy. As a result of long, convoluted histories, people are much more politically engaged here, unlike the widespread apathy of home. I think this is really great, but sometimes it can be a little scary, especially when large crowds mix with alcohol.

My current hometown, Leipzig is a city rich with musical history. Many of the great composers either lived here or passed through, including Bach, Wagner, Schumann and Griegg. Actually, I recently joined a friend for Easter church service at the Thomaskirche, where Johann Sebastian Bach was once cantor  and I spent much of the service imagining him conducting his choir those many centuries ago. I find things like this so fascinating – everywhere here you are close to some important element of history. The cultural life here isn't bad at all, you just need to learn where to look for it. Leipzig is supposedly the new place 'to be' in Germany - it's nickname is Hypezig and it apparently attracts Berliners in search of something new (it's only an hour by train). Architecturally, the city makes for an interesting blend of beautifully restored old buildings, and gloomy, communist era concrete boxes covered in graffiti and smashed out windows. The process of gentrification is far from instantaneous and will be underway for a long time to come.

From Leipzig, I have made many great weekend trips to surrounding spots. When graded on its proximity to other places of interest, it fares very well. Dresden, for instance is very close and has been completely reconstructed since its destruction in the war. It is now a beautiful city. Weimar, home to the Bauhaus university, palaces and political history is one of my favourite spots in the vicinity. Munich, I love. I've also been up to Hanover a few times to visit family, and obviously Berlin with its alternative culture and great museums is a very regular destination. There's also a national park nearby called Saxon Switzerland, with rolling hills, flat topped mountains and tiny little cobblestone villages lining the river Elbe – it offers some spectacular hiking.

To sum up my first seven months here, they have felt a bit bipolar. Sometimes I love it so much, other times I find it to be so gray and miserable. Being in a masters program has also been a challenging transition for me as it moves beyond the learning of fact and into developing critical thinking skills at a much higher, theoretical level. This caused some growing pains at first, though I am now getting the hang of it and am really enjoying many of my courses. I must admit I am starting to feel, dare I say wise? But while I recognize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to live and study in these different countries and cultures, it is easy to get bogged down in the mundane – especially when dealing with German bureaucracy. And for all of the adventures there are of course downsides. For instance making new friends every time I move is something I enjoy, but it can also be lonely when the people who really know you, who you have history with, live thousands of miles away. And being at that age where everyone is getting married and having babies, I feel like I am missing out on key moments of my friends' lives that I wish I could be there for. I guess that no matter what your choices may be, life is always about sacrifices. You take one path and that causes you to miss out on others. But I shouldn't be so gloomy! I am taking interesting courses this semester, have 3 great trips coming up in the next 2 months and am moving to Vienna at the end of the summer. So I will suck it up and celebrate this current phase in my life: to the European years!

Zurich, Switzerland: Pretty As A Picture

For all of the time I have spent in Germany – literally years of my life – it always bothered me that I hadn't been to Switzerland. But since we were already heading to Bavaria for Spring break it made sense to finally fix this. Zurich, only four hours from Munich, lies at the end of one of the prettiest drives and ferry rides imaginable. So, destination Zurich!

We were in Munich because first of all I LOVE that city. Bavaria has the nicest people – much friendlier than the dour faces of Leipzig. After seven months living here, how many local friends do you suppose have been made? If you guessed exactly one you would be correct. Also, it has great historic buildings and more of that 'fairy tale' aesthetic associated with Germany. But the main reason was for a concert by the band Germans love to hate more than anything. I swear total innocence as to how I inadvertently opened the biggest can of musical worms imaginable. You see, I was watching a New Years concert in Berlin and this band Tokio Hotel played two songs I really liked. Since I'm 99% sure no Canadian or South African has the vaguest clue who they are (I certainly didn't and have never heard them mentioned in my circles), I was surprised to learn that a.) it is a national pass time to hate them, and b.) just how much ridicule I was opening myself up for. Naturally the vitriol made me all the more curious and so I jumped down the internet rabbit hole and learned a couple of things about this German pop culture phenomenon. The first is that there are a lot of freaks on the internet and they seem to like this band a lot, and second the super androgynous lead singer (who, after the obvious suspect is Germany's most hated, or at least most polarizing man) fascinates me. He wears more make up than I do and has some truly ridiculous hairstyles, but then David Bowie at his most gender bending was my long term childhood crush. Some things are just different here in Germany. Anyway, we went to Munich and saw Tokio Hotel live. The music was good but the object of my fascination, Bill Kaulitz, reinforced the old adage that white men can't dance. Add the many pointless costume changes...from pirate, to raver, to so much in between and well, it was a bit disappointing. I will chalk it up to part of the quintessential German experience and I am now experientially indebted  big time to two friends for accompanying me. Anyway, immediately after the concert we were on the first bus bound for Switzerland.

 

Arriving in Zurich, I was at first underwhelmed. After passing through stunners like Fredrichshaven and Lake Constance en route it seemed a little anti climactic. But it grew on me like a slow burn and by the end I was completely smitten with the place. It's a fairly small city built on the rolling hills that surround Lake Zurich. It is just so...pleasant. For one thing, I'm not sure I have ever seen a better dressed populace (sorry Paris) where everyone oozes such serious elegance. I guess they can afford to seeing as the Swiss out earn just about everyone. It's also a very multicultural with many Swiss but also many expats, especially banking types. Everything here is of such high quality – the food, the wine, the style, the architecture, the scenery. It is also clean without being sterile and maintains personality, something I think Vancouver has failed miserably at during its transition to glass and steel encased modernity. But I must save my biggest accolades for the chocolate. It is incredible. Anyone who knows me well knows I have a serious chocolate problem – it's my kryptonite. I don't even want to admit to how much I ate on this trip, let's just say there were entire meals of chocolate and I was perfectly okay with that.

 

Bahnhoff Strasse is the main shopping street that runs through town. Every second store here seems to sell either Swiss watches or fabulous high end chocolate. Since Easter was coming we were privy to many themed window displays...in which we noticed a predilection for seriously psychotic looking bunnies. The type that would scare children. Hell, some of them gave me nightmares, although these were maybe partly due to eating too much chocolate before bed. Anyway, Easter is almost as big as Christmas in these parts and so the decorations were in full effect. The old city is really cute too – it lines both sides of the river that feeds the lake, traversed by many little bridges and lined with perfectly maintained old buildings. It's also full of adorable little cafes which of course sell...fondue! Which reminds me, the Swiss cheeses were also spectacular! Little boats are moored everywhere, and gondolas appear to be a main mode of down rive transport – though not the romantic Venitian kind. I would say that our most worthy expenditure was renting a peddle boat on Lake Zurich one afternoon. It was a great way to enjoy the 20 degree sunshine, chase swans, and ride the wakes of passing speed boats.

This is also a city of good shopping, filled with small boutiques and lacking in much of the tourist kitsch you find elsewhere - except maybe for all the cuckoo clocks. Things felt quality and authentic...not that I could afford any of them on my student budget. I was warned Zurich was expensive, but I'd managed Oslo, which is the world's most expensive city, a few years back. Zurich only ranks fourth on this dubious list. But the difference is that when I traveled Scandinavia I had well paying job. Now, as a student, I felt like a bum. Put it this way – a Starbucks coffee can set you back 9 Euros, which is around CAD$13. Crazy right? But locals explained that when you live in Zurich, you are well paid and can easily afford your own apartment even on the minimum salary – again not something feasible in Vancouver. Not to mention, when you travel anywhere outside of Switzerland, any destination becomes an affordable budget holiday. No wonder we met so many Swiss when we traveled to the Seychelles.

Zurich has tons of museums too, although I must admit none that interested me much. I've visited too many boring ones in my travels and have now learned to be selective. What that did stand out, though not in a good way, was the Museum of Wax Moulages. It is dedicated to three dimensional, life like wax models of disfiguring diseases. Sounds fun right? I saw some online photos of the collection and feared it would put me off eating for weeks, even the Swiss chocolate. Also worth an unrelated mention is the language. Zurich falls into the German speaking region of Switzerland, but they have the funniest dialect. Very sing song, with lots of rolling r's, and as a German speaker one must listen very carefully to understand. I'm not sure what this says about my German, but the Swiss seemed to understand me a great deal more than Germans do.

 

All in all, Zurich seems like the perfect place. The lifestyle is truly gourmet in every sense...it's just so sophisticated. Dammit, I want to be Swiss! And I think once I graduate next year that is exactly what I might set about doing, by looking for work in Zurich. I'll probably grow huge from gorging on cheese and chocolate, but I must say that Kate Moss clearly hadn't visited here before her famous declaration that 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'.

The Principality of Liechtenstein: Tiny But So Worth It!

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a tiny country surrounded by huge mountains. How tiny? Thirty by twelve kilometers tiny; the world's fourth smallest country tiny. When you stand at the lookout in Planken, the oldest village high in the Alps, to the left you see Austria, to the right, Switzerland tiny. It's also one of the few nations still under royal rule – and thanks to bank ownership, the Crown prince and his family are THE wealthiest royals in Europe. It sounded intriguing enough to justify a spring break visit.

We arrived on the early train from Zurich with no real idea what to expect. I had heard only three things about Liechtenstein: it was clean, boring and expensive. Clean it was, and expensive was also correct (although no worse than Switzerland which in my experience comes second only to Norway as far as prices that make your jaw hit the floor). At first it seemed incredibly boring too, but as we soon learned, this was not necessarily the case. When we alighted, the sun was shining, the train ride through snowy mountains to Sargans had been spectacular, and the hills were dotted with shuttered cottages and little churches. Everything looked beautiful – the only thing missing from this Alpen dream was Heidi. The region feels so wildly beautiful yet ordered, populated yet pristine. It's a far cry from the chaos of Africa, that's for sure.

Liechtenstein has two main cities, Vaduz and Schaan, which lie just three km apart, and a few smaller towns and villages throughout. It's so small that we managed to see all but two in one very long, exhausting day. Things didn't get off to such a promising start. We walked through Vaduz along the main road (bearing in mind the 'cities' are only a few streets wide)...a castle sat high on a hill and looked pretty enough but it was a private residence inaccessible to the public. Along the route we also passed the prince's royal winery which I made a mental note to visit later. I have never tasted, or for that matter seen a wine from Liechtenstein and I was curious. But there didn't appear to be much else and it soon transpired that we were already in Schaan, the second city. It seemed even more boring than Vaduz. We began to stress because our return train tickets were for 8:30 pm and it was currently 9 am. What on earth were we going to do all day? We decided to discuss plan b at a coffee shop, which turned out to be the wisest decision of the day (followed closely by winetasting). Turns out this was no ordinary kaffeehaus, but one that belonged to the congenial coffee king of Liechtenstein. It was immediately clear that this man had a serious passion for both coffee and his home country. He gave us fantastic insider's advice on where to go and how to get there. In fact, all the locals were so, so friendly – I don't think I have ever been anywhere with such nice people. His first recommendation was a visit to his home village of Planken, Liechtenstein's oldest settlement with some of the best views. As a side note, should you ever find yourself in Liechtenstein, you MUST go visit Demmel Kaffee on Schaan's Landestrasse.

 

Armed with Mr. Coffee's advice and a caffeine buzz, we hopped on the Planken bus. Having no trains, Liechtenstein is lined with bus routes and for 12 euros you can see most of the country on a day pass. Planken itself didn't disappoint, but the road there included some of the steepest hills I have ever seen and was thus a little scary. I can't imagine driving here in winter snow - it makes the Whistler highway look like pathetic child's play. The village was lined with adorable wooden Swiss shuttered cottages built into very steep slopes and perfect little manicured gardens. It also offered an amazing viewpoint from which you could see not only the entire country spread below but also the Swiss and Austrian Alps. Following an equally hairy ride down the mountain, our next stop was the winery back in Vaduz. It was important to gather energy for what looked like a very steep hike to the castle, and what better way to refuel than with wine? The winery and vineyards have been here since 1712 and were really pretty to look at, but sadly the wine wasn't quite up to par except for one decent pinot noir. However, the fact that a tasting included five full glasses of wine and no spit bucket meant that we had a great time and left feeling pretty high on life...and alcohol. So high that we barely even noticed how steep the ensuing hike to the castle was. We also checked out the University of Liechtenstein campus en route....now that looks like a boring place to study. Anyway, the castle lies up many winding roads and steep pathways, and of course has an amazing view just like every other corner of this little country. As I said, the prince and his fam actually live here so there's no going inside. We hung around out front for a while taking photos...you know, just in case he drove by and felt like asking us in for more wine. We also debated what could be done in front of the security cameras to generate an invitation...but ultimately decided not to risk arrest.

 

Disappointed by the lack of royal encounters but happy with some good pictures, we set back for Vaduz to check out its centre. It transpired that there was a farmer's market in the old square where we met even more nice locals who fed us excellent chocolates. Otherwise, it wasn't terribly exciting and so we followed the coffee man's next recommendation and caught a bus to the ski resort of Malbun. This ride took us up even steeper roads, and at pretty high speeds thanks to a crazy driver. I was not enjoying myself - though the starting hangover might also have been to blame. We passed through the little town of Triesenberg and climbed ever higher until finally reaching Malbun, still buried under metres of snow at the very top of an Alp. No cheesy shopping malls at this ski resort, just super Swiss style chalets and cozy little bars and restaurants. I wandered onto a ski run and felt an immediate pang for my old snowboard. The slopes looked great...this was the first time I have missed snow in many years. But without a snowboard, there wasn't much to do and since the next bus wasn't for two hours, decided to start walking down the mountain. We had passed some really breathtaking views along the way up and wanted to catch them again as the sun was setting. The walk was so cold that my hands turned purple, and I lost all feeling in my feet. But at the same time it felt so exhilarating to be miles from anywhere, up a mountain surrounded by nature, fresh air and the just occasional alpine hut. As we walked we saw deer and what looked like giant paw prints in the snow beside a crystal clear little creek. Unfortunately because the Alps are full of them, we also needed to pass through a km long tunnel on foot – that wasn't so fantastic. But we managed to make it 3/4 down the very long mountain before the bus finally came and caught the tail end of a spectacular though chilly sunset while the Lichtenstein lights twinkled far below. All that remained was to catch the bus back to Sargans and to admire the castle glowing brightly in the dark above the city.
 

 

What started out as a seriously boring day ended up being amazing, and we owed this to the Demmel coffee man. Sometimes in life you encounter people whose enthusiasm and joy are infectious. He was one of those. I am so glad to have met him, not only for his fun advice but because he reminded me about the human aspect of why I love to travel - something I have forgotten a little living in Germany. I saw some of the most spectacular views of my life in this funny little country filled with the warmest, nicest people imaginable. It's not a hotbed of activity (well, except for dubious banking and financial practices – though you would never guess such things went on here), but it was well worth the trip.

A Very Polish Birthday

Even though February is the absolute craziest month for my Masters program, I couldn't resist a birthday weekend road trip invitation to Krakow, Wiekiczka, Auschwitz and somewhere deep in the Polish countryside to pick up my friend's new puppy. With my raging travel addiction it's difficult to imagine a better present then exploring somewhere new - plus an adventure distracts from becoming another year older. I will say this for Poland: it must be the most affordable place to visit on the continent. It's a rare thing to travel anywhere in Europe and think 'oh wow, everything is so cheap'. As a student this was a welcome surprise.

The drive from Leipzig to Krakow takes around five hours and doesn't exactly traverse idyllic scenery. Once you cross the border the landscape grows increasingly industrial; some of the projects we passed looked like communist era space camps. What they were we had no idea, but architecturally they resembled Bond villain housing. What first struck me, besides mines, factories and Goldfinger's industrial layers, is that you don't need to pay $4 (*ahem* Switzerland) to use a public bathroom - something that drives me absolutely crazy in the west. I immediately decided Poland was downright civilized. Another thing that struck me? Forget about trying to pronounce Polish words. The language isn't big on vowels and features lots 20-plus letter combinations that include x, z, j, k and w. It also features seven different genders. I find German with its three genders difficult enough. Also beyond masculine, feminine and neutral (in between?), I'm not quite sure what other genders there can be?

Anyway, Krakow is a small but picturesque city on the banks of the river Vistula, complete with the requisite fairy tale castle – one that has its very own fire breathing dragon. It reminded me of a smaller, quieter Prague - it lacks something of its larger cousin's dynamism but makes up for this with better prices and is gorgeous nonetheless. The old city has the usual cathedral, churches, synagogues, narrow winding cobblestone streets and colourful rows of buildings. The main square is dominated by a centuries old cloth hall, which is now a market place brimming with tourist kitsch and amber from the region.

The month of February is COLD in Poland and there was no shortage of snow. But Krakow is one of those places that suits this weather. I know I already used the word 'fairy tale' but that's exactly how the city looks dusted in white. Besides how pretty everything was, what also struck me was the number of afternoon drunks on the streets. It seemed a little early, but they like their drink strong in these parts. They seem to be happy drunks for the most part - lots of singing and harmless cross eyed men attempting to street flirt.  I will say that the beer selection is fantastic. I am by no means a beer drinker – South Africa left me with an insatiable thirst for wine and not much else (sorry Vodka but it's over between us). However I now make exceptions for fruit beer, especially the Belgian cherry kriek. I know that sounds vile but I promise cherry beer tastes amazing. For me the most fun part of Krakow was searching the cobble stone alleyways for pubs and restaurants. Every time you think you've found a great spot, you realize there's somewhere even more enticing just down the street. Krakow, like Prague is full of tourist traps, being one of the few places in the world (I hope) where you can still find a Hard Rock Cafe. We wanted to try local fare and following a great recommendation from our hotel ended up being the only tourists in a really old, underground chamber with stone walls serving all things Polish. I LOVED the food, although forget about green vegetables - that is not on the menu in these parts. Instead of kale there is lots and lots...and lots of cabbage and potato. The pierogies, I must say, are to die for.

 

Auschwitz also lies in the Krakow region, some 70 kilometers outside the city. Despite partly  growing up in Germany, I have never been to any Nazi concentration camps and even though it doesn't exactly qualify as an upbeat birthday activity, it's an important memorial to see. I'm glad the sun was shining because had it been gray it might have been unbearable. It was so disturbing that I wavered between wanting to be sick and crying for most of our visit. Reading about the horrendous medical experiments on women and children, seeing the clothes of the exterminated prisoners, visiting the gas chambers and the crematorium where bodies were incinerated...it's impossible, and utterly sickening, to imagine the cruelty inflicted. Worse still it continues in modern times – the genocide in Rwanda was equally vile. I am not the most emotional of people; it takes a lot to make me teary eyed, but Auschwitz moved me beyond words. Even more twisted were the strange details the Nazis added to make this soul destroying place look more like a camp or resort. They were cherubs and kittens painted on the walls of one of the communal bathrooms, then of course the famous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign that hangs over the entrance. It was all too disturbing and I must say that for the time being I am avoiding second world war historic sites as I feel too overwhelmed.

 

We also visited the UNESCO Wiekiczka salt mine in the neighboring city of Wiekiczka. I was really excited to see the mine, both as a palate cleanser after Auschwitz and because I have known of it for years and heard about its chambers with wall frescoes carved from salt. Entrance fees were stupidly expensive but I somehow managed to pass myself off as a 26 year old...I know, it's a mystery – and so managed to get the student admission. My friends weren't so lucky and thus got nailed. The mine has operated since the 13^th century, so it was interesting to see the old caverns and demonstrations of antiquated salt mining practices. I can't imagine that kind of work taking place so deep underground with only candles for light. Along the way we passed many salt statues that were on the kitschy side, as well as underground chapels where the miners used to hold services for those who died in the line of work. The grand cavern was tremendous with its salt chandeliers, enormous back light wall carvings and statues. But all the salt in the air makes you very thirsty! I'm glad I saw the mine, though I would by no means say it was worth the ridiculous cost of admission. Thanks to the many subterranean souvenir shops I am now also the proud owner of a salt crystal lamp. I'm not sure I believe they infuse positive energy but I really like the colour they glow so why not?

At the end of the trip we headed into the Polish countryside to pick up my friend's puppy from a breeder....in the middle of a major snow storm the likes of which I have not seen in years. We had to cover some 200 kilometers along country roads so this was by no means ideal - especially without snow tires. Once we left the city the conditions were near white out and we joked that the only thing worse would be if the breeder was in the mountains. As we passed farms and little villages it soon became clear that this was actually the case. It was a struggle driving up the hills and with well over a foot of fresh snow we soon got stuck. This is one of the first times I can remember ever having to get out and push a car. The puppy was absolutely adorable, although following promises of car sturdiness she promptly threw up in the back seat. The weather made for one of the more anxious drives in recent memory even more so when it grew so windy that cars were being blown in between lanes. However we eventually made it home in one piece and I saw the now double sized puppy in Berlin a few weeks ago...ah how fast they grow up.