Mysteries and Miracles 25. August, 2009

This morning, I was confronted with a mystery. What so far I had only heard about the Stanford libraries, happened to me right here. I received an e-mail from the library stating that I was expected to return a book that I had checked out. That is not unusual. Though it is unusual if they ask you to return a book you never checked out. As I am sometimes confused, I verified my desk and shelves both at home and in the office, but no such book. I couldn’t even remember having seen the requested book, but you never know. So I searched for it online in order to find a picture of it, so that I knew at least how it looked. When I found a picture, I was sure: I never got that book. So I called the library and in the typically „nice“ way of talking to people that is so common around here, they went „So if you insist on not having the book, you have to prove it. Otherwise, you must replace it.“ We exchanged arguments for a while and finally the lady agreed to verify if the missing book was possibly on the shelf in the library and accidentally booked on my account. An hour later, a miracle happened: it disappeared from my account. Still waiting for the apology, though.

Another miracle happened to a co-worker: this morning, she was walking to the office, thinking that she needed some herbs, but before buying some, she needed to withdraw some money. While thinking about needing money, she looked down on the floor and found: a 5€ bill! No kidding, she was in need and the money appeared. No I am working on making a 100€ bill appear.

Ein kleines Amüsement 19. August, 2009

…für zwischendurch, mal auf Deutsch (muss einfach sein). Es gibt kaum eine bessere WC-Lektüre als die Titanic. Unter der Rubrik „Vom Fachmann für Kenner“ gibt es allerlei kurze Beiträge, die gekonnt und gut beobachtet witzige Beobachtungen oder Erkenntnisse formulieren. So auch dieser (sinngemäß):

Zwei Schüler stehen auf dem Schulhof. Schüler A zu Schüler B:
„Ey, gehst du Päckchen?“
„Fick disch!“
„Apfel.“

Kurze Zeit später kommt B mit einem Trinkpäckchen zurück (Sorte Apfel) und gibt es A.

Soviel zum Thema, warum ich Erziehungswissenschaftlerin bin. Ich geh dann mal Päckchen. Und dann Jugendzentrum.

Save the children 18. August, 2009

One of Tuebingen’s curiosities is the Monday demonstrations. Every Monday night, people gather in front of the central church and claim things. Sometimes it’s pretty cool, like some weeks ago, when doctors and nurses were demonstrating for better conditions at work. They had written little songs and performed them with funny choreographies, which was a nice little amusement. But usually, it’s more on the weird side. People who shout that they will stay in front of that church until the German State ends his social support program („Hartz IV“, named after the guy who came up with it). „Wir bleiben hier, bis nach Hartz IV“ — We stay here ’til after Hartz IV. What can I say, often it’s just weirdos on a ladder telling stories about Jesus. And yesterday, it was a crew in red shirts basically promoting a child care program. As it was very hot and as my „penthouse“ office right under the roof is boiling hot, my brain was already pretty fried and I was in no mood to be asked to sign anything. So when the red shirts took direction towards me, I started making a large detour to avoid them. But one of the guys was fast like an arrow and pointed right at me. I was so tired that I just said „I save children the whole day in my job, so no thank you“. I was pretty much surprised to hear me say this and was a little proud of me (I say „yes“ very easily — sometimes too easy). But the guy was not impressed, he tried to sell his idea anyway. I didn’t buy it.

But, I really like the punks here. They are cool and they are the only ones that sometimes get some money from me

We have pants 12. August, 2009

Good morning T., you sleepy old town. When I walk to my office in the morning, this is what I often think to myself. Especially now, during summer, when most of the students are somewhere else. There is this cloud of sleepiness hanging above the city, everybody seems to be tired or not even out of bed yet.

This morning, something happened. I was passing by one of these alternative clothes stores, you know, where everything is made out of stuff that keeps you a good conscience. The shop window was rather boring, a lot of grey and brown, but there was a little hand-written piece of paper lying on a shelf. It said:

„We have pants that cheat 5 kilos away. You will look super sexy and feel super thin.“

Is it a miracle? They didn’t have these pants on display, though. I wonder if you have to go inside, say the secret code and then get the pants below the counter. Maybe the pants squeeze your fat downwards instead of upwards like the usual ones. Then the kilos would hide in your boots. It is weird to find such a promise in a town where most of the people are wearing comfi colthes, the ones that let your body feel freeeeee because it is not restricted by a specific cut or style of clothing. It’s just a lot of multicolored fabric that matches barefoot walking and long hair. There is this type of women with long greyish hair, wearing bright glasses (preferrably red or green) or at least glasses that say „creative person“ with a lightning symbol above the nose or at each side of the face. Would they want to wear pants that cheat kilos away? I wonder.

Until now, a shop called „Fashion worth living“ was my „favorite“ in terms of weirdness, but I think these pants kind of struck me.

Extreme Brunching 1. August, 2009

Today, on August 1st, the Swiss celebrate their national holiday. We are so lucky to spend this weekend at Neuchatel, Switzerland, and had brunch this morning. Brunch on a farm (i.e., in the barn) is a crucial element of celebrating this holiday, alongside with barbecueing and fireworks. The brunch is always very nice, as the farmers offer home-made Röschti (a potato dish, fried pieces of potato in a pan), eggs, meat and sausages, bread, juice and many other delicious things. It’s awesome! Hundreds of people sit together in the barn and eat as much as they can. Hey, that’s like in America But more rural and you don’t get supersized portions, it’s all within reason. And healthy.

The barns are usually equipped with posters stating „It’s good to have Swiss farmers“ or „Swiss meat. Everything else is just a side dish“. What a nice form of patriotism. Although most Swiss I spoke to cannot sing the national anthem, and we did not sing it this morning, I like their way of being patriotic. It’s simple and straight forward, but still modest and likeable. Were I to choose where to live in Switzerland, I would pick the French-speaking part, because it’s a bit like living in France, but still in Switzerland. What a beautiful country.

Health Insurance…aaah. 30. Juli, 2009

Hello again! It’s unbelievable, but returning to one’s home country can bear a lot of surprises. Despite knowing how things work and how people usually think, there are always things you could not imagine to happen, but they will anyway. So, I was trying to get an appointment at a doctor’s practice in order to get a prescription. The most common thing to do, so I thought. When I signed up at the municipal administration, I was given a phone directory with all the doctors in the area. Calling one after the other, they told me I could come and see the doctor in March 2010. What the f***?! Number 5 or so then said I could come in October and sneak in some time earlier in order to fetch the prescription I wanted. So this is how I „chose“ my doctor. When I then rode my bike to the little quarter where the practice is situated, I felt like heading into the middle of nowhere. It’s very rural! At the counter, they made me pay €10, as you always have to pay €10 for the first time in a three-months period when you see a doctor. That was new to me and I hated it although I had heard of that principle. Then I had to fill in several forms, indicating any previous illnesses and family history related to health. One of the questions was had I been vaccinated against rubella. I had — yes! (check).

Then somebody measured my blood pressure. Aw, how I hate my arm being squeezed! She talked to me and said: „I see you are vaccinated against rubella. But I would still like to take some of your blood and see for myself.“ — [shell shock] What are you, a vampire? You are not getting any of my blood. I could talk her out of it and now she wants do to it in October. But I will show her proof of my being vaccinated. She is NOT getting my blood.

Have you ever had a chat with a Bank of A*erica expert? 19. Juli, 2009

If not, go for it. It’s really weird and sociologically interesting.
When we left the United States, we didn’t take all our money with us because we were hoping for the dollar getting stronger some day. Well, changes have been small so far and therefore we decided to initiate a wire transfer now. And here’s the fun: If you are using Bank of A*erica Online Banking, you can add transfer accounts. A transfer account is an account you can make a transfer to (Eureka!) and for your own safety, they verify it before you can start making transfers. After having my credit card blocked because „somebody“ used it in Switzerland, I am quite sensitive to the BofA and their „security“ issues. What can I say — the transfer could not be executed. My transfer account was added, but still not available for transfer. Being in Europe now, I could not reach customer service, as they only work from within the U.S. Congratulations, find your own support. I then found out that you can chat with people there. Although, I am not sure if it is really „people“. They address you with the same text you first hear when calling customer service. Then you describe your problem and you get weird text blocks, randomly put together and saying something general like „I understand your concern regarding wire transfer.“ My CONCERN? I have a serious problem, man! While I type my problem, I am assured several times what a valued customer I am. My question is not really addressed, but I get some more text blocks saying that I could easily initiate a wire transfer by going to my next banking center. Hello? First thing I wrote was that I am in Europe. But, surprise me — do you have BofA banking centers in Europe? No answer. Instead, they are advising me to use a commercial transfer institution, as at BofA, there is NO possibility other than visiting a banking center IN PERSON. Why, again, did I sign up for online banking? Sometimes I am still in shell shock regarding how the U.S. is „behind“ with online banking things. Security is a good and valuable thing to maintain, but if it’s working against customers, it’s gone over the edge, isn’t it?
Now I am figuring out how I get my money over the sea. Maybe I will send some pirates.

Contact Lenses 16. Juli, 2009

This morning, my contact lens folded itself after I had put it into my eye. That was weird! At first, I didn’t realize it was the lens that felt like an eyelash, but when I started wondering where the lens was I had just put into my eye, it occurred to me that probably it had folded itself. Voilà! It took quite some effort to get it out, but I am happy to inform everyone that even if you only have half the surface to touch and take your contacts out, it still works And I can still see.

Hah hah! 11. Juli, 2009

This week, when we came back to the office builing after lunch, I saw Toby standing in front of the door. What a lovely surprise, my husband comes to visit me at work! We said hi and then he showed me that he had fetched my keys from the office. I asked him if he had locked himself out — he had. I found that funny, as I had been extremely worried about this happening to me without one of our new neighbors having a key. Once he was there, I asked him whether he would like to meet my new boss. But he pointed to his feet and said: Not only did I lock myself out, I locked myself out barefoot. So I had to go into the storage room and use my ski poles to angle my rubber surfing shoes. This is why I look really silly right now OK, he didn’t say it like that, but it explains pretty well how he looked. I couldn’t stop laughing. Thank God it didn’t happen to me (well, not yet).

New Neighbors 9. Juli, 2009

This Monday, I started my new job. Until fall, we are in a lovely old building in the heart of the city and my office is right under the roof. From the windows, I can see the river and the Hoelderlin Tower, so I daresay I am in a penthouse situation. What I really like about this new office is that right across the window sill, there is an elementary school building. Every morning, the kids are taught by a rather strict elderly teacher who uses her powerful voice to yell commands. At the beginning, it was scary. But then I started looking out of my window and into their classroom. I waved over to them, but they didn’t notice me. Until one of them saw me and waved back. Now we are waving at each other from time to time and I need to pay attention that the teacher doesn’t see me. I hope the kid won’t have to do extra homework