Snow in Switzerland

Guess I have withdrawal symptoms – no snow in Germany. Don’t even mention green Christmas to me. Due to the lack of snow, everything seems greyer than usual. There is no snow to reflect the light.

Switzerland

The last time I was in Switzerland was in 1977. Time to head back.

The complaints themselves range from all kinds of nationalities and tourist destinations. Pick your favorite one. Mine was about parents shocked to find fish in the sea, which had startled their poor children (location not mentioned).

Wildlife in Germany

I’d suppose you don’t always have to leave the country to find your warm spot in the sun.

But one of those trips took me to Mr. Huang’s home in 2005.

Starting fall 2003, I started tutoring his daughter who, at that time, was attending a boarding school in Switzerland. As half of her education was conducted in German, along with English, she then spent most of her school breaks with me in Oberursel learning English and German, respectively.

Mr. Huang had enrolled his daughter with HB.Language, a Swiss language agency, which places students for language studies in various countries. I am one of those teacher/host families.

During her first visit, her dad would call everyday to check on her progress.  With each further Study and Homestay program she enrolled, the phone-calls became fewer.

C. (name withheld) eventually left the Swiss boarding school to attend Frankfurt International School (FIS) in her final years, while being hosted by an FIS family.

Because of C., our son became interested in learning Chinese. After six years of private lessons, he had to give it up being a senior in high school now.

In 2005, with a little pressure from C. and our son, I agreed to visit the Huang family in China. Of course, we were splendidly hosted, but frankly speaking, I only learned about C.’s dad’s business/entrepreneurship while we were there. Yes, I was a little surprised to learn of  his 40 patents he holds in inventions, being a member of congress, the factory tour, and many other things.

During this time, we stayed in an apartment in Beijing. Then we were carted off to Dezhou (hometown), where we stayed in one of those worker hotels. The remainder we spent in a big beach house in Qingdao.

We were given many guided tours, served the best food, and were treated like special guests. Well, the Asian way.

The last leg of our time in China, we spent in Shanghai on our own. I like Shanghai the best, even though I learned there how polluted these big cities really are. While we were guests of the Huang family, we were driven around by a private chauffeur on every occasion. So we hopped into the van and out.

But in Shanghai, we walked everywhere. Each time we returned to our hotel to take a shower, we had blackened feet. We actually had to scrub our feet to get the dirt off.

Anyway, we got to see Mr. Huang a couple of times after that. This was usually while he was passing through Frankfurt on his way back from meetings in other parts of Europe.

Article in German: Alternativer Nobelpreis für chinesischen Solar-Unternehmer

Another article from news.xinhuanet.com

Congratulations to the Huang family!

One of my facebook friends, Tollakur Hansen, is an awesome photographer and regularly publishes his photos on facebook.

Quoted from the Faroe Islands Tourist Guide 2011:

Take a deep breath ! Fill your lungs ! Let them open all their folds and leaves and cavities, and from all directions the clean air of the sea comes flowing towards you, into you and through you.
Suddenly the dusty continents of the earth are far away; right now it’s only the winds and the seas and you.

The Faroe Islands

I was surprised when the pharmaceutical assistant pointed out the issue date. It had been posted by error for 01 July when the current date was 02 September. She went on to explain she could not fill the prescription as is. Only if I paid in cash, I could take home the medication. I dished out € 469,90, picked up the prescription, and called the doctor’s office.

After I briefly explained the situation and asked for a correct prescription to be sent by mail, I heard the doctor’s assistant saying, “OK.”. I waited two more seconds to hear a simple “Tut mir leid”, but instead she responded with, “Yes, we will mail it to you”. And the receiver was slammed down.

I received the correct prescription in today’s mail and have to return to the pharmacy once more to reclaim the funds.

They must have had some office problems, obviously. But friendly customer service and the usage of a simple apology are not on their maintenance list.

Sorry to have bothered you, Frau Naumann.

I had promised my best Korean friend residing in Canada a copy of my recipe for three years. Well, taking photos of the process, organizing my thoughts and remembering to do it, was always in the back of my mind, slumbering on the back burner.

I was finally prompted to clean up my act when she called me a few days ago, again mentioning the recipe.

Since this was such a strenuous act (not, it took me twenty minutes to write it up), I reckoned I might as well put it on my blog for future reference.

German Rouladen

Ingredients:

thinly sliced beef (any cut is OK, because they steam for a long time)

chopped onions

thinly sliced smoked streaky bacon (called Dörrfleisch in Hesse, Bauchspeck in Bavaria)

ketchup, mustard (optional)

Directions:

1. Add some ketchup to the flat beef cut (see Roulade in the front).

2. Then cover beef with strips of smoked bacon and chopped onions (see Roulade in the back).

3. Roll the meat, starting from the narrower end.

4. Tie with a typical Rouladen Nadel (see pin). If none available, you can also use old-fashioned thread. Be sure to remove this before serving.

5. Brown Rouladen in the frying pan before adding them to the steam cooker (Mine is so old, I don’t know if there is much pressure left, so any cooking pot might do).

German Rouladen

6. Cover with water. Add two bay leaves, some peppercorns and cloves (two or three each).

7. Let steam at medium heat – I have it on 5 (scale 1-10) for about 90 – 120 minutes.

8. Meat should be really tender when you test it with a fork.

 Recipe for gravy

1.  Use the meat broth instead of water for your gravy making.

2.  Prepare your store-bought gravy based on the directions.  Then before serving, add some ketchup, sugar (1 tbsp for 1/2 l of gravy) and a bit of German Maggi (soy sauce will do, too).

Best served with potato dumplings and red cabbage.

Option: Curly noodles also do fine, but then serve salad on the side.

This statement was worth a challenge. Granted, parking in Frankfurt is not so cheap at an average rate of 8 euro a day, or 2,50 euro an hour. But charges in Manhattan had to be higher than in Mainhattan.

I found my answer on Colliers International website in the article Parking Rates Broadly Up – Worldwide.

Its annual survey of parking rates found, with the exception of the United States, that the cost of parking for a day or a month has generally increased over the past 12 months.

On a monthly basis and quoted in US Dollars, London city and London West End occupied the top two positions, followed by Zurich in third place. The top 10 list was completed by Hong Kong, Tokyo, Rome, Perth, Geneva, Sydney, and Oslo.

New York – Midtown ranked 17th, New York – Downtown ranked 18th, and

Frankfurt ranked 43rd in this chart.

The strawberries, purchased five years ago, were initially meant for my daughter to observe their growth and learn that edible things do not only come from the supermarket.

I expected the plants to die after the first winter. But low and behold, they survived a rather cold winter, unprotected in a flower box.

Now in their sixth year, they have decided to have off-spring.

Strawberry runners growing on the balcony

The newly-received runners are ready to be detached and planted now.

Strawberry runners with roots and crown

My brother, interested in organic fruit, already placed his first order for the young batch. Another reason which prompted me to write about this was the following article:

... six months ago, a dangerous ingredient got added to the production chain for this previously nutritious and delicious snack: Methyl iodide. Methyl iodide is a cancer-causing chemical that is linked to thyroid toxicity, and miscarriages. [1] This dangerous chemical was recently approved for use in California agriculture. That’s terrible news nationwide because California produces 80% of the nation’s strawberries.[2]

It’s time to take methyl iodide out of California’s farms and out of our strawberries before any more of this dangerous chemical is used.

*Tell the California Governor that we want safer strawberries for our families!  http://action.momsrising.org/go/1017?akid=2816.1916081.EAPbnH&t=4

You can raise your own strawberries even if you don’t have a garden. A sunny spot and a balcony planter are sufficient.

This is how they operate – they follow the car along the highway, then ask the driver to pull over.

They might beg for money or try to sell fake jewelry. If the driver is not willing to give money or buy, then in some cases, the wallet will be taken by force.

Alert: Do not stop and/or call  112 for help.

Enjoy this European Mapping Stereotypes -  a different approach to marking cultural borders, based on perceptions.