Today is basically Super Bowl Sunday here in Germany – actually, in all of Europe. One of my friends told me 100 million more people will be tuned into this game than the number of people who watch the Super Bowl. You can bet every television in Germany will be on one station tonight. You can also bet that a lot of beer will be consumed during the game, and hopefully post game celebratory style.
and there’s only one team to worth rooting for
Bayern!!!
a friend posted this photo of Marienplatz in Munich 9 hrs before game time
For those of you in the USA who want to tune into the big game, put on your party pants and you can catch it on Fox at 2:45 pm ET time. You know who to cheer for…
I have lived in Germany 10 months now, so I’ve met a few Germans to say the least. I’ve learned a lot from the people here and have made some generalizations. Germans speak more than one language. Germans are much better (or at least more focused) at math and science than Americans. Germans are on time. Germans love beer. and football. But one thing sticks out above all the rest:
Germans are blunt.
It is important to note that both of these exchanges are with people I do not know in the least bit. These are not funny exchanges with friends. I mean, they’re funny exchanges, but not with friends.
Example 1 (FB Chat):
Me: have you had time to have some fun since youve been back?
C: yeah.. I have a narrow timetable but indeed I did. Mon-Friday I am stuying hard and doing lots of sports, the weekends I was visiting friends or being visited. And I am doing my Portuguese language partner (she is 34!).. so I simplify my life but am fulfilled
Me: Doing what with her? haha I went to Portugal last weekend!
C: yeah really? My exgirl was living there! I love portugal. oh, I am sleeping with her
Me: haah ya it was awesome and haha just had to clarify – not used to people being so blunt. i always hear that’s the best way to learn the language haha
C: I am sorry, I am always blunt. If you go to a different place, you should sleep with the locals to get the spirit. I am doing her a favor
Example 2 (at a bar):
Me: Oh nice to meet you, how do you guys know each other?
B: Oh, we slept together once.
Although I have many more examples, I think this ends the blog-appropriate conversations. Was Eurotrip correct when Cooper said, “You know America was founded by Prudes. Prudes who left Europe because they hated all the kinky, steamy European sex that was going on” ? After the initial shock of “is this normal?”, I actually like the Germans’ blunt style. There’s no beat-around-the-bush in this country. And it’s not just sex related. If there’s a problem, people say what they think and tell you how it is, but in a mature, everything-is-up-for-reasonable-discussion, manner. No one avoids confrontation and no one puts on a show based on these ridiculous awkward/not awkward social conversation standards we have laid out in the U.S.
What are your thoughts? Do you find yourself restrained by cultural conversation norms? What experiences have you had at home and abroad?
I have discovered something stereotype defying living here in Germany:
Germans don’t live off sausage, sauerkraut, and enormous pretzels.
Yes, all of that is widely available, but so are other dishes and my favorite food discovery here by far are Maultaschen.
Maultaschen are said to be first created by monks who were trying to hide the meat from God during Lent. Silly monks. The reasoning may have been a little ridiculous, but the product is fabulous. Maultaschen is a very German dish, but not even all of Germany. It is actually most popular in my region, the state of Baden-Württemburg I call it German ravioli, but Maultaschen are typically made larger than ravioli.
Maultaschen are noodle dough pockets generously stuffed with a combination of ground meats, onions, bread crumbs and herbs and spices, boiled to tender perfection and plopped on a plate adorned with a side of delicious German vinegar-based potato salad.
Back in December, our friend Ben gave us the amazing opportunity to accompany him to his hometown of Pforzheim for his band’s concert and a traditional and regional lunch with his father. His father had all the ingredients ready and put us all to work. It was an unbelievable meal with people I adore.
noodle dough
mixing up the maultaschen stuffing
noodle dough rolled up and ready for stuffing
pressing the pockets together using egg whites as noodle glue
My region of Germany is world-renowned for its Reislings ya know.
Maultaschen, Potato Salad, Field Greens Salad, German Riesling
Lauren, Ben, me, Caleb, Leila, our original crew here. I loved that Ben's dad owns this apron.
I’ve spent many an afternoon at the schlossgarten here in Karlsruhe and each of those afternoons, I eyeball a lively group playing a game that looks way up my alley. After some asking around, I found the name: Flunkyball. Flunkyball is a super popular German drinking game that I have been seriously had been wanting to play, and on Saturday afternoon I got my opportunity and it was all the fun I hoped it would be. I can’t lie, I love me a good fashion competition and what’s better than one that involves drinking German beer and enjoying the green grass and the shining sun?
How to Play Flunkyball
1. Divide into two teams. Each individual should have a full beer. The object of the game is to have your entire team finish their beers.
2. Line up according to the diagram below. We used a small potato as the projectile, but it can be anything. We used an empty beer bottle as the target, but once again, it could be anything that stands and will fall when hit.
the Flunkyball set up
3. A player from Team 1 will throw the projectile at the target. If the projectile misses the target, team 2 will throw. If the target falls, every player begins to drink their beers. The players from team 2 will run out, set the beer back up and grab the projectile and return to their line up. Once crossing back, Team 2 yells “STOP” informing Team 1 to stop drinking their beers and set them back down.
4. Alternate turns. Once an entire team has finished their beers, they are declared the winning team.
Penalty beers:
You must set your beer down carefully. If you’re beer overflows upon setting it on the ground, you will receive a penalty beer. You must finish all your beers for your team to be declared the winner.
If you drink past the word stop, you also receive a penalty beer.
If the projectile knocks down your beer, you also receive a penalty beer.
And this, my friends, i show it goes:
Have you ever played Flunkyball? What are your favorite games?
Living abroad comes with it’s sacrifices. I’ve learned to live without Diet Dr Pepper, my car, Tex-Mex and DVR, but I just can’t live without my TV shows. I tried, I really did, but once I finished The Hunger Games series, I was S.O.L. I did not have any friends yet and was seriously running out of ways to entertain myself. I’m outgoing and all, but never hit the point where I could enter a bar alone. Anyway, behold the Internet-God-like capabilities of a VPN Connection.
VPN stands for virtual private network. Don’t worry, that means nothing to me neither. All that matters is what it does. VPNs disguise your IP Address so the Internet thinks you are back in the U.S. Pretty cool right? So, when you go to Google.com, it does not switch to Google.de (or .fr or .au or… you get the picture). Same goes for when you are on YouTube. No more of these terrible screens:
This screen pops up for tons and tons of videos, particularly music related ones, on YouTube.
So, how do you get one? There are several options, but two basic ones.
1) Free: We all love free stuff, right? Well, if you want to go the free VPN route, I suggest Hotspot Shield. It works well and has apps for iOS. However, you will go absolutely insane with all the pop up ads that come along.
2) Paid: After using Hotspot Shield so often, I decided paying for a VPN and went with StrongVPN (there are tons of services, though). For $7/month, you get unlimited VPN service. I rarely turn mine off. The customer service is exceptional and they even tapped (with permission) into my computer to set the whole thing up for me.
Do you use a VPN? What ways do you have of getting around stupid international internet barriers?
P.S. – I know I promised this post on Friday, but I left my computer at a friend’s place. Sorry ’bout it.
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