Nürnberg: Day 2

On Day 2 we wandered around the city, visited the cemetery where the print-makers are buried, and ate one of my favorite German dishes: Dampnudel! (Photos courtesy of my brother!)

Me buying tea. I am a bit of a loose-leaf tea collector, even though there's no chance I'll ever finish all the tea I own...

 I made my brother take a picture of this because it is EXACTLY like the bike I use in Frankfurt. My bike is brown, but otherwise identical. So there you go. I ride a miniature retro bike and so does some stranger in Nuremberg.

Dampnudel! One of the best desserts available in Germany, but I have to say, it's hard to find a good one. We went to a place that was actually called Dampnudel Cafe and even their final product was not up to par. Oh well, something is still better than nothing. Yum, yum!

I feel like this girl and I could be great friends...

Weihnachtsmarkt: Nürnberg

It has slowly become tradition for family members to meet wherever one of us is temporarily stationed, both to see each other and also as an excuse to see a new city or take a short vacation. Past locations have included Rügen, Germany, Washington, D.C., and Bologna, Italy. This year I was the central point and whoever could make it met up in Frankfurt, Germany, traveling from Istanbul, Hamburg, and California.

A few days before Christmas my brother, mother, and I took a two-day trip to Nuremberg. My brother wanted to see the graves of some print-makers who were buried there, and I was drawn to the reputation of the city's Christmas Market. As I have mentioned time and again, I love Christmas Markets, and that was enough of a reason for me to take a family jaunt out to there.

The Christmas Market is as huge as promised, and there was a separate "international market" with products from various other countries and a "children's market" with creepy animatronix Christmas figures. The pictures below are me going crazy on my brother's camera, which is the newer version of my Canon and a gajillion times better. I'm appalled that my own camera is so outdated after only a few years...

The UK Stand in the International Market, that's right, Hot Toddy translates to "Glüh Whisky"

The saddest seller of sweets to ever roam the stands of a Christmas Market. 

I spy...the creepiest stand in the whole market. Can you spot the stand owner among the creepy dolls?

"Ferris Wheel" translate to "Riesenrad", which literally means "Giant Wheel". The sense of irony here is overwhelming...

No really, he's alive and having loads of fun. He just keeps his feelings bottled up inside.

In case anyone had been hoping to forget their colonial past anytime soon...

And last but not least, the cutest Christmas elf replacement I've ever seen.

USA! USA! USA!

My Asian bubble tea in Germany (it's like they know):

Kigali: Or Tijuana??

May 4, 2012 11:59pm

Nothing says Viva la Mexico! like three Americans trying to explain Cinco de Mayo to a German and a Rwandan at a nightclub in Kigali.

Check that one off my bucket list.

Kigali: RwandaWalk

May 4, 2012

On Friday I met up with Timo, an intern I had met during his orientation in Eschborn the day before he left for Rwanda. The connection came full circle as we met up again in Rwanda for dinner at his house. As we were sitting around the dinner table, two temporary flatmates, Steph Fellows and Morris Weintraub, arrived in a flurry. They were accompined with a local Kigali named Ronald, who was to become their new translator.

Steph works for an art-focused non-profit and Mo is a photgrapher and they had arrived in Kigali to start the first leg of their new project, "Rwanda Walk". Their goal is to "walk 200 miles across Rwanda, delivering personal letters to the people we meet along the way – many of whom have never received a piece of mail in their lives."

I am curious to see how two white people - one of whom will be photographing everything - will be received in communities that are so apart from the worlds experienced and reflected in the letters they are bringing. I would be totally suspicious if someone came into my neighborhood and asked to talk and reflect with me about a random letter from a stranger, and I can only imagine what it would be like in a community where electricity is a rarity (much less internet or telephones) and in a country that experienced genocide less than 20 years ago. It also raises questions of what exactly the developed world could or should do to connect with those in developing countries, and what outcome exactly we are searching for when we undertake such project.

Both Steph and Mo are aware of these questions and have themselves reflected on them and much more quite a bit, so if anyone is well placed to try this experiment, it's them. They are not blindly coming in and expecting to be welcomed with open arms, but they have hope that some will be open to this exchange that will create a unique work of crowd-sourced art and inspiration.

I've been following their three-week trip and if you're also interested, you can follow them at: http://rwandawalk.com/. Click on the photographs at the bottom of their webpage to see their stories. A sample of Mo's work:

London: Breakfast Club and Flower Market

May 11, 2011

I went to meet up with Becky, an awesome friend of a friend, on Sunday. We found ourselves at the Breakfast Club for....breakfast! I got a vegetarian English breakfast, which I have to say was quite delicious. The veggie sausage was quite tasty and as always, I love me some baked beans.

Then we meandered over to the Columbia Road Flower Market, where sellers were hawking their flowers over the sounds of sweet sweet street music. I love markets of all shapes and sizes. They are very possibly one of my favorite activities wherever I may be, and I will in all probability pick a market over a museum any day. This one was no exception. Despite being relatively empty on account of rain, it was crowded, difficult to navigate, and an assault on the senses as sellers yelled over each, people jostled into each other, and the scent of flowers mingled with fresh rain.

Breakfast Club

Columbia Road Flower Market

Want to get your hair and make-up done in vintage style? They got that!

Want a dry place to chill away from the rain? They got that, too!

Change in Location!

As you may remember, my time in Germany as a Bosch Fellow is *sadly* limited to one year, meaning I needed a new location starting in June. That has now just been established and confirmed:
NEW YORK CITY!!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, I'll be moving back to the good ole' U.S. and to a brand new city in July, marking a huge shift from the life I enjoyed in Germany. I am looking forward to what this will bring and sharing my photos with everyone.

And yes, my goal for June is to bring my blog up to date. It'll happen. Seriously, it will. No, seriously.

London in December

From: December 10, 2011
I got to take a business trip to London, so naturally I took the opportunity to go earlier and spend the weekend. I was hosted by the fantastic Mr. Kershaw, who made it his mission to keep me entertained. Hats up to you sir!

On my first day we went to a breakfast place by his house, where we ended up sitting next to what appeared to be band members enjoying breakfast together, only they were having the sort of conversation you would imagine at a 13-year-old-girl's sleepover. *Apparently* one guy was having girl issues, and you see, he really really loves her, but he's tired of her b.s. And his friends think she's just messing with him because she can and he should just leave her and they're tired of always having this conversation. Ohhhh, he knows that, but when it's good, they're just so good together. The conversation was amazing and when I ignored their shaggy hipster look and late-twenties age, it took me right back to middle school. I definitely understand now how alternative/pop bands manage to write so many whiny romance songs.

TOURIST!

Most of these pictures are obviously edited for coloring and light (I got Paint.net recently and I've been having a field day with graphic editing), but I took them all during our touristy foray into London.

It's London people! Spiry buildings and double decker busses!

Protest against the elections in Russia, particularly regarding Putin. Ironic, really, that I post these pictures the day after Putin is sworn in as president again. I wonder if Medvedev will disappear into anonymity or develop a sudden case of radioactive poisoning...

London closed off a few major roads for the holiday shopping season, and they thought it would be fun if they had old-timey vehicles on display. One of K's friends' Dad owns the lovely steam-operated firetruck below, so we went to check it out!

 Old-timey picture! (Yes, I've reverted to elementary school editing. It's fun, ok?!)

Weihnachtsmarkt

Yay! I'm now almost only five months behind on posting. I know, fail. It's strange posting about Christmasmarkets in Berlin while I am in the rainy season in Rwanda. I WILL catch up, eventually. I promise. I hope. *sigh*.

I happened to catch the opening of the Christmas Market in Gendarmemarkt in Berlin, one of the few markets that actually charges. I'm not sure why they charge, it's not that awesome of a market. But I got to see a choir performance and the opening ceremonies, so I'm not complaining! I also met one of the Berlin hockey team players, some guy from Canada (Yes, Germany imports Canadian hockey players and American basketball and football players for their city teams. Don't ask.).

 I wish I could say I know who these people are, but I really really don't.

The Berlin Mascot!

Deutsche Guggenheim

The Deutsche Bank and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation opened the exhibition hall Deutsche Guggenheim at Unter den Linden in November 1997.  With my Deutsche Bank employee card I could get in free and I was excited to go see the exhibit from Yto Barrada, Deutsche Bank's 2011 Artist of the Year.

The excitement about getting for free because I was a DB employee was destroyed when I arrived on Monday and found out admission is free on Mondays for any schmo off the street. I had been so careful to make sure I brought my employee ID along but they didn't even bother looking at me as I walked in, giving me a silly but deep sense of disappointment. There is definitely something to idea of exclusiveness that makes everything a little shinier and I am embarrassed to admit that I am not "above all that stuff" like I thought I was...

Despite this, the exhibit was fantastic and I really liked the sculptures. The exhibit has now changed to the 2012 Artist Roman Ondak, and although I haven't seen it, I definitely recommend stopping by the one-room exhibit hall if you're in Berlin (preferably on a Monday!). It's in a central location and you wouldn't need more than 20 minutes to see everything - easy to fit into any schedule.

A funny side story, DB did a competition where two employees would be picked to have their faces cast for this exhibit. I have no idea who won, nor which sculptures they ultimately became a part of, so I spent a significant amount of time walking around the room (and later my building) looking at the faces to see if any of them seemed familiar.