Hallo Ihr Lieben. I hope you are having a wonderful start into the new week. I am a little tired because I stayed up late last night to watch Game of Thrones, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. It was definitely worth it. And next week, Season 5 of True Blood will start! I am really really excited for it! Yeah, I watch too much TV. Okay, here is a little recap of what I have done last week. |seen| Into the Abyss (a death row documentary), Breaking Bad (I need to catch up before the new season starts), Mad Men, Black Books (only one episode left! so sad!), Game of Thrones, The Innkeepers (so scary!). German shopping queen. |read| Die Tätowierung by Helene Tursten, university stuff |listened to| Lots of German music: Tocotronic, Die Sterne, Beatsteaks |done| went to my nephew's Big Brother party, translations...I just realized that my week was very uneventful...Hmm. |eaten| Veggie-Burger and fries, salad, lots of tofu, tofu sausages, Bretzeln, popsicles, broccoli, chick peas. |drunk| Dr. Pepper, coffee, ice tea and a beer. Yes, only one. |thought| I would love to have a dog someday. And a donkey. |annoyed| My stupid neighbor. |enjoyed| Having beautiful lilies in my garden. |bought| Tofu sausages, tofu burger, tofu. Lots of tofu. |astonished| I will never get sick of eating carrots. |clicked| blogs for sure, Goodreads, online dictionaries. How was your week? Did you know that my cats are not just supercute but also spies from another planet?
Lumpi came from his home planet to spy on us. I am the only one who is allowed to know about his secret mission. So psssst. He needs to find out all the secrets about us human beings.
Tiger has secret superpowers and wants to take over the world. I support him because I am sure that an animal controlled world would be much much better.
Lumpi operates from his hiding-place to support Tiger. They are the perfect team and I am sure that they will succeed together.
Their secret weapon is that they are disguised as normal cats. They look completely innocent. Nobody can ever stop them. Here is my song of the day...Pulp is an English alternative rock band and this is my favorite song. "Common people". The video is also pretty cool.
I am not very creative today, excuse me. I just feel like today is not my day. But I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!
It is Sunday which means it is time to link up with my fabulous Alyx from Every day is a new adventure! I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!
1. I hate it when people take pictures of me. I have the wonderful talent to have the most stupid look on my face as soon as somebody tells me that he/she will take a picture of me. I only like unintentional pictures of me, when I am on the picture accidentally. I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I am okay with my face when I look into the mirror....but pictures. NO! Terrible! I really hate 99,8% of all the pictures of me because I look like this:
Last week I have met one of David's friends who only knew me from pictures and he said that I look completely different in reality. I do hope so!
2. I was so scared last night. I watched "The Innkeepers" and I have to say it was one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. And I have seen a lot of scary movies. After we finished the movie David tried to scare me even more by making weird noises and hiding in dark rooms which wasn't very nice. I really hoped that David would not see another ghost standing next to the bed (you can read about it here) but I told him not to wake me and tell me in case he sees the ghost again.
3. I would love to play bass again but I think I have to realize that I am just not very talented. I have tried it but I will never be able to be good. I think I was a better saxophone player so maybe I should get a saxophone again. Both instruments are pretty cool. This is my bass by the way:
I wish I could play it the way it deserves it.
4.I wish I could wear hats without looking completely ridiculous. I envy people with a "hat face". I want one. I have tried all kinds of hats. It's just not very flattering.
I would like to be able to wear something like this:
5. When I was 8 I had very short hair and looked like a boy.
My song of the day is from the Beatsteaks, one of my most favorite German bands. I have been to many of their concerts and every single one was fabulous. Plus the guys are very nice and share their beer with you after the gig.
One guy is called Chucky because people say that he looks like Chucky the weird puppet from the horror movies. (By the way, the movie is called "Chucky die Mörderpuppe", Chucky the murderer puppet in German). I am not so sure about that but he was very friendly and did not try to kill me.
This is one of my favorite songs: I don't care as long as you sing.
I think you all know that I love my home country. We have the best soccer team in the world, we have really cool cities, sometimes not so friendly people, we have mountains, we have the sea, we have lakes, we have good cars....we also have some awesome food.
And yeah, America is a pretty cool place too. As you can imagine, there are lots of differences between the two countries. And there is definitely a huge difference between the restaurants....Two different worlds of dining experiences. And that's what I want to talk about today.
1. please wait to be seated.
The first time I went to a restaurant in America I just wanted to walk right in and go to the best looking table and sit down. But no. It wasn't that easy. On my way in I saw a sign from the corner of my eye. "Please wait to be seated". Okay. That was strange for me. I have to wait for somebody to come and show me a table? I can see all the tables and I am able to pick the one I like. Thank you. But hey, I am in a strange country so I have to follow the rules. It just doesn't feel that comfortable, to be honest. I mean, in Germany, I have all the time in the world to search my table, take off my coat, sit down, get comfortable and THEN somebody comes, brings me the menu and asks me what I want to drink. I like it that way. Maybe I will get used to the other way someday. We will see. But I am not a little child who needs a leader to a free table. I want to choose. I don't want anybody else to make that decision for me. Sure, I can say that I prefer another table but that's all so complicated. It could be soooo easy! Why do you make it so hard for me? But maybe it is just polite? Maybe people don't want to make a decision and are happy that other people do it for them? I really don't know. All I know is that I have chosen my table for my whole life and I would like to stick to that. What's so bad about that? And yeah, even in Germany people come and help you take off your coat etc when you found your table. So we are not impolite. Just to make that clear.
2. selection.
I admit that I am not the easiest eater in the world. But there are other people in this world who prefer their meals without meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, onions etc. And I am always able to find something that I want to eat in a German restaurant. But I never had so many problems before than I have now in America. I mean, you would think that you are able to just pick a salad from the menu and you are fine. But NO! I went to so many restaurants, looked at the menu, saw that there are salads on the menu, looked a little closer and found out that there is meat in EVERY SINGLE stupid salad. Why is that? Can somebody explain that to me? I expect a salad to be meat-free. Or at least I expect that there is one salad on the menu that is meat-free. I don't think my expectations are that high but maybe I am a snob. I have heard that I am a beer snob (Hi Kari, my dear!) but I think this is a little different! And I really only want one meal on the menu that I like to eat! Please! So yeah, maybe I went to the wrong places, I am sure there are lots of great vegetarian restaurants in the country that would offer great stuff. But first of all, there are no vegetarian restaurants in this town. And second, it must be possible to find something that fits my needs in every restaurant. The third thing is that my husband and all my family here do eat meat etc. so they want to go to a restaurant that offers meat. But thank you, Chinese restaurant in town for having a wonderful tofu with mushrooms and peppers in pepper sauce! Thank you so much! You make it really easy for me!
Another thing is that I am usually not in a rush when I go to a restaurant so I don't have a problem to wait a little longer for fresh products. I prefer to eat things that don't come out of a can or aren't frozen. So you don't think you have to hurry to bring me my meal! I would LOVE to wait a little longer for a fresh prepared meal, don't worry!
3. refills.
Okay, okay, I realize that I am a little mean and that it sounds like I hate eating in America. That's not true! I am just making some improvement suggestions. Haha. No, seriously. I like America and I like eating here. So there is one really great thing here in America: free refills (except of all the stupid ice but we have talked about this before. here). I love being able to drink as much as I want. I mean, in Germany I order a drink and I pay 2,30 for a little 0.33l coke. That's not enough to drink for the whole meal but a whole lot of money. So yeah, I need at least 2 drinks. And maybe you want a coffee after your meal and then you end up paying more for the drinks than you pay for your food. That's just not right. So yeah, woohoo for America and free refills! You don't even have to ask for it which is really really nice! You can just drink drink drink and don't have to worry about the money. The only sad thing is that you don't get a free refill on beer but I guess you can't have everything. Plus I would not want a free refill on American beer, I am a beer snob, never forget about that.
4. plastic.
I have been to some restaurants that have plastic cups or even plates. Why is that? I am in a restaurant and not on a camping trip, okay? I can't help myself but that's a little disgusting. The restaurants with the plastic plates were those kind of places that offer a buffet. But that's not a reason to have plastic plates, right? (Saying "right" at the end of sentences is a very German thing too, I guess.) So I don't know why you do that. They just never look really clean, I don't know why. Porcelain plates are so much easier to clean and you don't see all the cuts from the knifes in them. So I can't explain why you use them, American restaurants. Get porcelain plates, please. And glasses. Not plastic cups. I mean, I always use a straw because the plastic things look so pfui (German for "icky"). But I would really prefer a nice glass. Thank you!
I have to be fair and say that I have only been to a couple of restaurants like that in America. So it's not that big deal. But I have never ever seen a restaurant with plastic cups or plates in Germany.
5. check.
That's a thing that annoys me a lot. I am still eating and the waiter brings me the check? Honestly? Don't disturb me! Leave me alone. I want to eat my meal. Maybe I will order a coffee then. And think about a dessert. But at least I want to sit there and talk to my husband, friends, family as long as I want. Without being disturbed. Sure, sometimes they say that there is no hurry to leave but what else do you think when they bring you the check? Do they want you to leave and make room for other people to spend their money? Going to a restaurant is an event for me. I want to enjoy it. I want to stay as long as I feel comfortable. Even if that means that I stay until the restaurants closes. You can do that in Germany. Nobody will kick you out or bring you the check. So yeah, I do understand that American restaurants want to make more money and they won't when you stay as long as you want because you get free refills. But the customer is king, so shouldn't you allow him to stay as long as she/he wants? I would say so. So please don't rush me. Give me the time to finish my meal and have a coffee. I would appreciate it a lot!
Thank you America! I love you a lot!
Did you ever eat in another country? What are your experiences?
If you want to read how an American feels about the German dining experience, go over here to lovely Amanda's blog: Overseas Adventures
My song of the day is "Write about love" by Belle & Sebastian.
I don't really have a story about it...it's just a very cute song.
Hallo Ihr Lieben, it is Friday again so I am linking up with Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde. Håkan Nesser is an award winning writer from Sweden, he mostly writes crime fiction and he is one of my most favorite authors. He has written a series of books about his first detective Van Veeteren and is currently writing on his second series about Inspector Barbarotti. There is just one drop of bitterness: he has written 23 books but you can't get all of them in English. That's a shame and I really don't understand why. They should translate all of them into English. And hopefully they will do it soon because nobody should miss these great books. So today I want to introduce you to this book:
"The Inspector and silence". It is from the Van Veeteren series and it will be released in America on June 12! Yay! The weird thing is that this book was first published in Sweden in 1997. Haha. So 15 years later you can finally buy it in America. Pretty fast. I am impressed. But anyway, you should not miss it. In German it is called "Der Kommissar und das Schweigen" which is a surprisingly good translation. :) So the book really has the same title in Swedish, German and English. Wow. You have to know one thing about me: when I really really love a book then I can't stop reading. Nothing can interrupt me, not dinner, not a doctor's appointment, lack of sleep, a phone call, a burning house. I think you get my point. And this is one of these books. When I see that there is a new book from one of my favorite writers I just have to buy it, go home and do nothing else in the next 24 hours. Van Veeteren is a middle aged detective, who loves classical music, has stomach troubles and solves his cases with a mixture of black humor and intuition. This case seems to be very confusing. A young girl disappeared from the summer camp of an obscure sect. Nobody knows what happened to her. Has the mysterious sect leader something to do with it? Van Veeteren has to interrupt his vacation to help finding the girls. What is wrong with the 3 young girls who seem to be the sex slaves of the sect leader? Do they have a secret? A little later the police finds a girl in the woods. Raped and killed. But it is not the girl they were searching for. Back to the camp they discover that the sect leader disappeared too. Nobody wants to know anything. Can Van Veeteren find out what happened to the girls? I really really recommend reading the whole series. The character of Van Veeteren is so complex and you have to love him....in spite of his grumpiness. I love the way he solves his cases and Nesser is such a fantastic writer that it's pure joy to read his books.
And I think I am in love with this fabulous blazer.
Zara Blazer I could combine it with so many things....it is the perfect blazer, isn't it? Zara is one of my most favorite stores, by the way. I really really miss Zara here in America because the next store is in Chicago which is 370 miles away. That's over 6 hours to drive. That's a shame. I have to get used to the fact that America is a little bigger than Germany. I had a Zara store in the town I worked in so I started every shopping trip at this great store. I think Zara has an online store in America now but that's just not the same. And here is my song of the day: "Universal Tellerwäscher" by Die Sterne. One of my most favorite German bands. They are not the prettiest German band, that's for sure. But they write very intelligent songs and produce really good videos. Plus Die Sterne was the first (good) band that I have seen playing live. First concert ever. I will never forget that. My parents had to drive me and my friend Julia to the concert and we felt so cool because we were allowed to go to a concert. All alone. Woohoo.
Hallo Ihr Lieben, it is already Thursday! Time if flying by. I love spending time in the movie theater (With a sweater, a scarf and warm socks if it is in America) or in front of the TV watching a great movie. I like all kinds of movies....mysteries, horror movies, comedies, romantic comedies, action movies, artsy little independent movies. So today I want to introduce you to my list of favorite movies. 1. The Boondock Saints. Best movie ever! Seriously. I can watch it over and over and over. By the way, the movie is called "Der blutige Pfad Gottes" in German which means "God's bloody path". Nice translation, Germany.
Connor and Murphy McManus set out to rid Boston of crime and evil. It is bloody, it is cool, it is funny. When I first saw that movie in a video store I did not want to see it because the title sounded so stupid to me. Luckily, my friends convinced me to watch it and it became my all time favorite movie 2. Earthlings A documentary everybody should watch. Must watch. Honestly. I mean it. You will cry, you will be desperate...but it will change your life.
Earthlings is a documentary about humanity's use of animals as pet, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research. It is narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, one of my favorite actors and covers topics like puppy mills, animal shelters, slaughterhouses, pet stores, fur trades, entertainment industries and so on. I cry a lot but I have never cried that much before or after. It is painful to watch it and I know that most people just turn a blind eye on things like this but I really think that every person has to watch this documentary. 3. Dodgeball: A true underdog story One of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Some might think it is ridiculous but I love it.
Peter LaFleur and his team must win a Dodgeball tournament to save their gym from evil White Goodman. The characters are hilarious including David Hasselhoff as the coach of the German Dodgeball team and Chuck Norris as referee. 4. Before Sunset. Ethan Hawke meets Julie Delpy in a train in Europe.
American Jesse meets French student Celine in a train and they decide to spend one night together in Vienna. They both know that this will be their only night together.... Well, I don't like many romantic movies (I do love romantic comedies) but this one is just adorable. And there might be a second movie called "Before Sunset"...so maybe it is not their only night together? Who knows..... 5. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. I am a big fan of movies with lots of (fake) blood in it. And you will see lots of it in this fabulous movie.
Two lovable West Virginian hillbillies, are headed to their vacation cabin to drink some beer, do some fishin', and have a good time. But when they run into a group of preppy college kids who assume from their looks that they must be in-bred, chainsaw wielding killers, Tucker & Dale's vacation takes a bloody & hilarious turn for the worse. I promise that you will laugh out loud. All the time. In spite of all the blood. Okay, there are many many more movies that I love....famous ones like Dirty Dancing, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings...that I don't have to introduce....and I will also save some more for another post. :) What is your favorite movie genre? Do you have an all time favorite movie? My song of the day is "Wir sind hier nicht in Seattle, Dirk" by Tocotronic. Great song, great video. Tocotronic is my most favorite band ever. For eternity and even longer. They are more than just awesome, I can't describe what they are but I grew up with them, one of my first concerts was one by Tocotronic. Plus the guys were my fashion role models as teenager. Honestly. I think I wore a vintage Adidas jacket, cord pants, converse shoes and t-shirt every single day. Plus I had a very Tocotronic-like hair cut. It was awesome.
Hallo Ihr Lieben, I know that I talk a lot about books and beer and random things so I thought it might be nice to tell you a little bit more about me today. I have seen this idea on Chrissy's blog Whimsical Poppysmic and I had to steal the idea. :) I hope that's fine. 1. animal obsessed I just love animals so much. Not just my pets (they are the best for sure) but ALL animals. That means, cats, dogs, bunnies but also rainworms, spiders, birds. If an animal needs help, I am there. I would do everything for animals.
2. book worm I have hundreds of books. I can spend hours in a book store, I love to discover new books and I spend hours and hours reading.
3. wife I married my best friend David in November 2011. He rocks! 4. pet mom I would do everything for my cats Lumpi and Tiger and my bunnies Findus and Tiffie. There is also my Dad's cat Jerry who I love so much. I talk to them, I care for them, I cry when they are sick, I need them so much. They make me smile every day. 5. music lover I love listening to music and going to concerts. I can play saxophone and a little bit of bass. I have hundreds of CD's and some of the bands I liked as a teenager are still my favorite bands. David is a great musician and I love to listen to the songs he writes.
6. movie fanatic Going to the movie theater is always a huge thing for me (except of the cold in American movie theaters.). My all time favorite movie is The Boondock Saints but there are lots of other movies I love. 7. tv show addict I guess I spend too much time in front of the TV. But there are so many good shows and I don't want to miss them. 8. loves to talk I admit that I talk too much sometimes. When I have an interesting thought then I want to tell it somebody. I am sure that's annoying from time to time. Ask David. 9. loves to shop Oh yeah. I love to go to shops, I love to look at online stores, I love to browse for new beauty products, discover new shoes that I need, find the latest fashion. 10. coffee drinker First thing in the morning. Black with sugar. Then one a couple of hours later, one for lunch and one in the afternoon. 11. flea market shopper Sunday is flea market time. I found so many great things at the flea market. Books, jewelry, decoration....
12. beauty addict I am a girl. I love beauty products. Vegan and without animal testing. 13. traveler I love to discover new places. There are so many places I want to travel to. Ireland is on top of my list at the moment. 14. friend I know most of my friends since childhood and they can always count on me. I also found so many new friends since I started this little blog. I love you, guys! 15. reliable If you need me, I'll be there. 16. aww-person Show me a kitten and I say "aww". Show me a bird and I say "aww". Show me a snail and I say "aww". I say it pretty much all the time, especially when I see animals. 17. impatient It freaks me out when things don't work the way I want them to. They have to. Immediately. 18. caring When I see somebody who suffers, I want to help. It makes me feel miserable. 19. crying I cry a whole lot. I cry when I see a dog with a cold. And I cry even more when I see animals cruelty.
20. tea lover I am not sure what's better. Tea or coffee. I need both. You get a better selection in Germany. My all time favorite is peppermint, especially Nana mint.
21. Fußball fanatic I am German. What can I say. We love Fußball and we are always very loud and passionate when we watch a game.
22. loves to cook I love cookbooks but most time I don't even use them because I just mix things together and see how it tastes. I am a big fan of pasta and Indian curries. 23. shoe addict I admit that I probably have to many shoes. But on the other hand....you can't really have too many shoes. I need all of them. Period. 24. nature lover I love flowers, trees and plants, I love the creatures who lives in the nature. Nature makes me feel good.
25. painter I love painting and drawing. Not sure if I am talented but it's lots of fun. 26. clumsy Oh ja. Things I grab always fall on the ground. I stumble a lot. I break things. 27. in the car singer Very loud and passionate. It does not sound good. 28. compassionate As I said, I always cry, I always feel miserable. And I want to change all the bad things in the world. 29. chaotic I try to have a system. The system looks chaotic for others but it is a system and I understand it. 30. beer. Again, I am German. So I need a cold beer. Hey Kari! :) So, that's pretty much me. I am sure there is a lot more to say but I want to keep it short. And yeah, I needed more than 30 words. My song of the day is "The bartender and the thief" by Stereophonics, a band from Wales. I think the voice of the singer Kelly Jones is really great. I discovered the band as a teenager and I love them since then.
1. I am pretty tired today because I had a visitor last night. David woke me up around 1 am because he saw a man standing next to the bed. I mean, it was a dream and he immediately went back to bed after he turned on the light to see if somebody is there. Maybe it was a ghost. I don't know. I mean, I would not say that I believe in ghosts but you never know. It is possible. The guy next to the bed (my side of the bed for sure) was between 40 and 50 and wore glasses. I asked David if he looked friendly or angry but he couldn't see that. Maybe the guy will come and visit me again. I hope he is friendly. David said things like that happened to him before so I want to do some research and find out more about the topic. But yeah, I wasn't really able to fall back asleep after that because I looked for guys next to my bed every ten minutes. So I guess I will need some more coffee today.
2. I think it would be kind of cool to have a ghost. As long as he or she is friendly. I am sure the ghost could tell some fascinating stories. David doesn't think it was a ghost. Just a dream. But I am not sure. I think I would prefer a female ghost though. I don't know why. 3. My friend Kari at Life on Madison dedicated a post to me and German beer. She is such a sweetheart and absolutely made my day! Thank you, Kari!
4. I watched Game of Thrones yesterday and Joffrey made me so angry. He is such a pussy. I haven't read the books yet but I really hope he will die a very painful death soon. I am not sure what the most cruel way to die is...but I wish he will die like that.
Pfui, Joffrey! Pfui!
5. I watched the movie "Tschernobyl Diaries" on Sunday. I hoped it would surprise me but all the things I expected happened. Plus the characters were really really annoying. On our way home David and I made a list of the characters we hated most because it wasn't possible to make a list of people we like. 6. I sang Happy Birthday to Findus yesterday. I share my ice-cream with the cats. I talk to them. I tell my pets how great they are. I tell them how much I love them. I always say "awwww" when I see an animal, no matter if it is a cat, a pig, a cow or a giraffe. I am a crazy animal person and I like it. 7. I always buy pink toothbrushes. 8. I have a shark tooth that I found at the beach when I was 8 as a necklace. My godfather made it for me. I don't know how old that tooth is but it must be really really old. 9. I wish I could sing. My singing voice is terrible. And my handwriting. 10. I would like to be a ghost after my death. That would be really interesting, you could do so many things. I could stand at other people's beds at night. I would always try to look friendly. I promise. I don't want to scare people. (I guess.) My song of the day is "Coffee & TV" by Blur. I love Blur and I love this song. And this is one of the best music videos EVER! I can't get enough of it. Isn't it lovely? (But yeah, the end is so sad!)
