I Love It Here Already

At 1am on Saturday, February 28th I arrived by train in the Tuebingen, along with Ian, Caroline, Todd and about 5 thousand pounds of luggage. It had been quite the trip from Bad Godesberg, what with train delays that totaled almost two hours and trying to run between platforms carrying everything but the kitchen sink. We were exhausted, but thankfully the fabulous Christiane and Thomas (our contact people in Tuebingen) were there to meet us, even though it was so late. They drove us to our respective dorms and helped us get our luggage inside. I immediately crashed without unpacking 1 thing (well, except for toothbrush, toothpase and contact solution).

Even though I was so tired I was awakened bright and early by the sun pouring in my window. It had been so long since I had seen that much sunlight that I actually didn't know what was going on at first. When I got up to look out the window I was excited to see such beautiful weather, but also irritated because I really just wanted to sleep. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to close the blinds. For the record, that's not because I'm mentally handicapped, but because german blinds are weird: they're outside the window and you open and close them by means of a rotating pole mechanism thingy (I asked Christiane later that day how to use them, and she was highlyamused by my ignorance). So, no going back to bed for me. But that was good, because I got a few things unpacked and then met Christiane, Thomas, Caroline and Ian for lunch.

After lunch we did a short tour of the city, because it was such a glorious day. It was about 55 degrees (which is warm when you're used to about 33 every day) and so sunny I actually needed sunglasses! The town looked so beautiful in the sunlight that after our tour I just had to go get my camera from my dorm so that I could take pictures (the results of which you will see below). I immediately fell in love with Tuebingen, with its tiny streets and crooked houses, plus the Neckar river and the hills and valleys all around. Or maybe I was just in love with having good weather for once, who knows.

One teensy negative consequence of this photo expedition was that I lost track of time and when I was done most of the stores were already closed (stores close really early on Saturdays, some at 4 or 5). I did manage to get to the grocery store so I wouldn't starve over the weekend, but I was not able to get the second most crucial thing I needed: a towel. See, I was very unintelligent and did not bring my own towel with me to Europe. Now, when I was staying at Pascal's house or in the Goethe-Institut this was not a problem, towels were provided. However, not in the dorms. I first realized my mistake Saturday morning as I was gathering up my shower stuff and all of a sudden thought "oh crap, i don't have a towel." Not the end of the world, I just used my T-shirt. However, I then missed my chance to buy towels on Saturday and the stores aren't open on Sundays. So no towels for the weekend. The result of this was that on Sunday and Monday mornings I used paper towels to dry myself off. For those of you who have never tried, this is a highly ineffective method of removing water from one's body, not to mention making one feel like a hobo. Thankfully, I made it to a store on Monday and all has been well since then.

I think I'll leave the story of my first few days in Tuebingen at that, and write more about the town and my dorm and my class later. Now that I have internet in my room hopefully these posts will come faster!



The streets in the old town are so tiny and confusing, but I love them because you always find cool cafes and shops around every corner


The Catholic Church. -------- Go ahead, try to read that old German script (it says Wurstkueche, aka Sausage Kitchen)





Well, that's one way to prevent your bike from getting stolen. And no quaint European town would be complete without a Spiderman statue.



It astounds me every day that not only have these buildings not collapsed yet, people still live and work in them!


Marktplatz, the main square in front of Town Hall.


The Rathaus (town hall) and Neptune Fountain



I can't get over how old the buildings are! The painted one on the right was built in 1584!!


The Stiftskirche, one of the central landmarks of Tuebingen.


The most famous view of Tuebingen. When it's warm I will sit on that wall and eat ice cream :)


Platanenallee, the place to see and be seen in Tuebingen when the weather is nice. The yellow building is the Hoelderlinturm, where the poet Hoelderlinturm locked himself in for 40 years (after he went crazy).

"Freedom dies with security" - can you tell this is a student town?

Kölle Alaaf!

And now we come to Rosenmontag. Crazy, crazy Rosenmontag. Rosenmontag is the monday before Ash Wednesday, and in Germany is the main Karneval day (as opposed to Tuesday in France). As I've mentioned before, this is the day most towns hold their parades and major parties, and the celebration in Koeln is by far the largest. There are usually well over 1 million people lining the streets for the parade and probably at least 5 or 6 times that many broken beer bottles. I've never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but I imagine the two are probably comparable in terms of rowdiness and drunkenness, although with more costumes and less nudity in Koeln. The teachers at the Goethe-Institute all warned us that Koeln on Rosenmontag was not necessarily the safest place to be, but we figured that if we were only 20 kilometers away from the biggest Karneval festival in Germany, we really ought to go. So we took the train from Bad Godesberg crammed in among a variety of witches, medieval knights, hippies, cowboys, and animals. It was probably the most bizarre train ride I've ever been on. When we arrived at the Koeln train station and exited the platform we literally descended into a madhouse. The entire station was absolutely packed with revelers, slowly funneling themselves through the exits. We finally made it out of the station and began our search for a spot along the parade route.

The amount of people on the streets was absolutely unbelievable, made even more unbelievable by the fact that everyone was in costume. Unfortunately since we had gotten a late start out of Bad Godesberg we weren't able to find any good spots along the parade route due to the crowds. After lots of wandering we finally found a spot that wasn't right next to the route, but we could still see some of the floats and we weren't absolutely squished. We hung out, drank beer and ate sausage, and befriended a group of very drunken 20-something-year-old guys all wearing nun costumes. They were fun to sing and dance with, but when one of them started to pee on the street we decided it was time to find new friends.

After we tired of the parade (though it wasn't over yet---it lasted for 3-4 hours in total) we headed to the "Rhein Promenade", an area on the banks of the Rhein where there are lots of restaurants, bars and clubs. Everything was of course completely packed, but we did manage to get a table at a cafe and hang out for a little bit. Afterwards we contemplated going to a "disko" (dance club), but decided we weren't up to the task of dealing with the drunken Koelner, so we just went home.

I should probably explain a little more about some of the Rosenmontag traditions. The title of this post (Kölle Alaaf!) is the traditional Karneval greeting in Koeln, and in Koelsch (the dialect spoken in Koeln) it means approximately "up with Cologne!" or "long live Cologne!" So everywhere you went on Rosenmontag you would hear people shouting this to each other or at the people on the floats. This phrase is also the chorus to one of the most popular Karneval songs, which brings me to the topic of the ridiculous "Karnevalslieder." These are songs that are played every year at Karneval time (at least in Cologne), even though some of them aren't explicitly about Karneval, but just about partying in general. The probably with the songs are that they are very catchy (the Germans call a catchy song an "Ohrwurm", literally meaning "ear worm") and there are really only about 5 that are frequently played, which means you hear the same five songs over and over and over and over for the entire week. At one point we literally walked down the street for 10 minutes and heard nothing but 1 song, because every time we got out of range of one set of speakers we would reach another, which was playing the same song. To this day I cannot get these songs out of my head, so in order to share my pain, I'll share with y'all some links so you can hear what I had to go through. Of course they're in German (actually most of them are in Koelsch), so you won't understand the lyrics, but that's ok because they basically are all along the lines of "We live in Koeln and we're awesome! We like to party and drink all the time! Koeln is the best! Long live Koeln!" Oh, and most of songs are sung by old guys who used to be rockers back in the day. Enjoy!

Viva Colonia (definitely the most important in Cologne)

Superjeile Zick (a true classic)

Et wenn dat Troemmelche jeht (aka Koelle Alaaf)

Pizza Wunderbar

Cowboy und Indianer (there's a pretty sweet dance that goes with this one. Caroline and I learned it by heart of course)

I think that about covers it for Karneval, so check out the pictures and look forward to my next post about a new topic! Unfortunately you'll have to wait a bit for that, because tomorrow I'm leaving to go on a retreat thing in some village with the people from my "Deutsch-Kompakt" language course, so I'll be without internet until Friday. Bis dann!



Insane crowds in and out of the train station


literally EVERYBODY was in costume (though most were more excited than that kid there)


I can never get those two to be normal. Of course we're all a little special in these pictures.


I have to say, the floats were better in the Koeln parade than in Bad Godesberg. Though some were actually kind of weird and creepy (see exhibit A on the right).



Anybody want a balloon?

De simmer dabei, dat ist prima! VIVA COLONIA!!!



Many of the floats are quite political, such as this one about a guy killing himself because (according to the side of the float) "the prices are shooting into the sky." In the picture on the right the people in the red wigs and wetsuits were part of some promotion for a restaurant. There were tons of them all over, giving out free samples. Unfortunately the free samples were bits of cold herring (still with scales) wrapped around pickles. I refused to eat them.


Finally off our feet at the cafe. ---A pretty typical sight on Rosenmontag.

Kamelle!!!

So after Weiberfastnacht the parties basically continued all through the weekend. Every day I saw people dressed up in costumes, and you were also likely to hear the sounds of random music or drumming as you walked around. On Sunday Bad Godesberg held its parade, even though Rosenmontag (the Monday before Ash Wednesday) is traditionally the big parade day (I think Bad Godesberg didn't want to try to compete with the parades in Bonn and Koeln). The weather wasn't great (cold, foggy and drizzly like usual) but since the parade was literally occurring two streets away from our dorm we decided to check out, and I am so glad we did! It was far better than any american parade I've ever experienced (not that I really have a long history of experiences with american parades).

Before the parade started we just milled around Bad Godesberg; people were everywhere, the major was giving a speech, and Karnevalslieder (Karneval songs) were blasting from every speaker in sight. There were tons of food vendors, but even more beer vendors, despite the fact that it was noon on a Sunday. We were able to get good spots right on the parade route, and then the fun began. The parade consisted of large floats pulled by tractors, plus marching and drumming bads, horseback riders, and sometimes just random groups of people all dressed up in the same costume (so basically everybody involved with the Karneval clubs). As the people pass you you're supposed to yell "Kamelle!" which is literally a shortened version of "Karamelbonbon" but really just means "throw me some goodies!" You hold out your bag and try to catch some (a little like trick-or-treating I guess). And here is where the German parade is superior to the American: they don't just throw little crappy hard candies or maybe some trinkets. Oh no, they have a much different definition of what is appropriate to toss into a crowd from a float. After the parade Caroline and I compiled a list of items that we or people in our immediate vicinity received. These items include, but are not limited to:

-gummi bears, marshmallows, full-sized chocolate bars, small waffles (packaged), popcorn balls, whole boxes of cherry cordials, silly string, bouncy balls, condoms, juice boxes, chips
-flowers, plastic toys, stuffed animals (i got a crocodile!), rolls (of bread, that is), a mini toothbrush kit, a protractor, fruit, puzzles, sponges, a car kit that included blank accident reports, and I even got a full-sized volleyball (in the colors of the german flag too!)
-tissues, cough drops, matches, and small bottles of vodka. Yes they threw alcohol into the crowd, why not?

Possibly my favorite moment of the parade though was when this older lady (approximately 60) in one of the marching groups passed by. She had a bottle of schnapps in one hand and a bag of Kamellen in the other. As she passed we yelled "Kamelle!" really loudly; she turned and looked at us for a second, then pulled out a couple little plastic shot glasses, handed them to two of my friends and poured them a shot of schnapps. And then continued on her merry way. My american friends and I all looked at each other asking "did that really just happen???" while the germans continued on as if nothing unusual had occurred. Oh, cultural differences.



Checking out the floats before the parade


Beer and sausage naturally. ------------- Told you people were into Karneval


Confetti attack!


The kid in the picture on the left sure looks excited to be part of the parade


I definitely got hit in the face with some of that candy. At least I didn't try to take this picture as the float throwing volleyballs went past.


Kamelle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've still got one more Karneval post to come, and then I'll move on to other topics, I promise!

Weiberfastnacht

Finally, the first of the Karneval posts! Sorry that it took so long to post this, but I hope you enjoy!

First, let me explain the timeline of Karneval a little bit. You see, Karneval is not just one day, or even one week. Au contraire, the Karneval season officially begins on November 11th at 11:11am. For those of you keeping count, since Ash Wednesday usually falls sometime in late February, that makes Karneval season about two and a half months long. Sounds like a lot, but trust me, to celebrate Karneval the way the Germans do, you need a long time to prepare (or at least a long time to get your liver in shape for the "festivities.") I mean, lets be honest here, Karneval (like many holidays and festivals) is really just an excuse to drink. Not that the Germans need one. Anyways, there's some hoopla on November 11th, and then for the average person not a whole lot happens for the next couple months. But for the members of the Karneval clubs that I mentioned before, this is crunchtime for preparing their floats, costumes, and banners (and practicing their marching, drumming, fife-ing, etc.) The parade planners also kick into high gear, and the "Prince" and "Princess" of Karneval (each town usually has one) hold lots of events to raise money for the parade. So that basically sums up the preparation season.

As an aside, I should also quickly explain that Karneval is not a Germany-wide event. It only takes place in the heavily Catholic regions, namely the West (Rheinland) and South (parts of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria). Of the places that celebrate Karneval, Koeln is the New Orleans of Germany. Towns in the surrounding area (like Bonn) also have big celebrations, but in the South (where Karneval is actually called Fasching or Fastnacht) it's not quite such a to-do, though there are plenty of parties and parades. But the Koelner take their Karneval very seriously, as you will see in one of the next posts.

So, now to actual Weiberfastnacht. Weiberfastnacht is the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, and is actually one of the oldest Karneval traditions. "Weiber" is an older German word that means "women", and this day is based around the idea of women taking the power from the men. For example, in some towns (Koeln for example) the women "storm" city hall and kidnap the mayor (I guess they assume that the mayor is usually a guy). They literally hold him "hostage" for the day and that night there's a big party. Another tradition on this day is that the women are allowed to cut the tie of any man they see. They literally just take scissors and cut off part of his tie (I think they're allowed to cut shoelaces too, but those are a little harder to get to). When I first heard about this tradition I didn't quite believe that people actually still did that, but they really do. Pascal's dad works in Koeln, and he has an entire collection of old ties that he saves for Weiberfastnacht. I've never actually seen anyone do this so I still have a hard time picturing it (and I laugh every time I think about some poor random tourist or foreign business guy getting his tie cut off because he didn't know any better). So besides the tie-cutting, Weiberfastnacht is the first major day of Karneval celebrating. Everyone dresses up in costumes all day, and I mean everyone. I went grocery shopping in Bad Godesberg in the late morning on Weiberfastnacht and I felt out of place because I wasn't wearing a costume. At 11 in the morning! Older people especially get into the costume thing, which is absolutely hilarious. Nothing like seeing a 70-yr-old dressed up like a tarty witch. That's the quick and dirty explanation of Weiberfastnacht, so on to the pictures!




Free donuts at the Goethe-Institute! ------ The Americans. We're so holy.


Just getting in the costume spirit.


Watch out Daniel! Possibly my very favorite picture of all time (that's me in the mask, btw)


Can't you tell they're twins?


I did the make-up, thank you very much. Walid was an excellent Joker, possibly because he's seen the movie about 14 times.


At the restaurant. This (rather drunk) old guy insisted on drawing portraits of us and making us pay 5 euros for them, even though they were terrible.


Haha, I don't even know. -- Mohammed, the best cowboy ever

I Actually Can't Live Without Internet

So you may have been wondering, "where has Katherine gone? where are all these fabulous Karneval pictures she promised us?" The answer is: I don't have internet in my dorm room. Ok, correction: I don't have internet YET. I need a log-in from the university in order to use it, which i will (hopefully) get later this week. But for now my only option is to use the computers in the library (where I am now), which means I can't upload any of my pictures, talk on skype, etc. And I'm ashamed to say it, but I've been going through serious internet withdrawal. I suspected it before, but now I know for sure: I am addicted to my laptop. Hopefully for the sake of my sanity the internet problem will be solved soon or i might just move back to america...

The Karneval blog will come soon, maybe, hopefully!