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Video Wednesday: English in German ads
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Dinners, birds, spargel and Landshut
Our busy weekend started with a walk through the forest and countryside near Laaber. On our walk, we met our landlord at his MIL’s place and they invited us in for coffee. As the men talked about the sale of the regional train routes to a private company, she told me she had something to show me that she knew I would appreciate. I followed her up a steep path to the edge of the forest, where she pointed out some wild orchids to me. She says that you can find single ones every once in a while, but it is rare to find a grouping of them like this.
After getting home, we jumped in the car and headed off to our anniversary dinner at Hagens Auberge in Regensburg. Oliver seriously dug the amuse gueule, but did not find the goose liver pate as appetizing. The restaurant (French, if you hadn’t figured that out yet) is seriously good. Probably the best restaurant we’ve been to in the Regensburg area. Although, if you’re craving Bavarian, you should head to Landgasthof Friesenmühle or Hotel Hirschen in Parsberg.
The next day, we went to check out the Vogelpark Abensburg (bird park). It’s pretty small, but nice. For a bird park, there were a surprising number of mammals and twice a day they have a short bird of prey show (Oliver got to pet an owl). See more of my photos from Vogelpark Abensburg on FlickR.
Locals may recognize the name Abensburg from all the spargel (white asparagus) stands dotting the area. I was curious, and I figured some of you might also be, so here is what a spargel field looks like:
They plant the spargel, bury it in manure, then cover that with black plastic to absorb the heat. Sounds yucky, but it’s pretty delicious. (It is white because of this protection from sunlight).
Finally, we headed over to Landshut for coffee and cake, sightseeing, and dinner at the worst Mexican restaurant in Germany. Aside from our culinary disappointment, Landshut is pretty awesome. I definitely want to go back, since we didn’t have time to see the castle. See more of my photos from Landshut on FlickR.
Blog stuff and anniversaries
I just noticed that this blog now has a Google page rank of 4 (it had a PR4 over at Blogger, but slipped to a PR3 when I moved it to its own domain). *happy dance*
I also found that if one googles “American expat,” I’m the 8th result on Google.com and 11th on Google.de. That rocks! Strangely though, I used to be the fourth result when googling “Iberia airlines,” and now I’m not listed anymore. Hmmm…
You might have also noticed I’m experimenting with Google Adsense. After one week, I’ve earned $1.75, and I don’t think I’m using the ads optimally yet, so maybe I can raise that. I get a lot of traffic on my post listing websites for used cars in Germany, so I figure it would be an ideal candidate for embedding ads in a post.
You might have noticed the new theme. I like it but don’t love it, so I’ve been working on another theme. When it’s done, I’ll put them both up and you can chose how you want to view the blog. If you want to take a look, you can preview the front page or preview a post. There are still some issues, The photos don’t fit well, and the right column is at the bottom of the page in IE, I’m working, slowly but surely, on that. Let me know what you think though (about this one and the new one)!
Finally, I’m taking the day off cause it’s our 5th anniversary. We’re going to have a nice hike, then go to a fancy schmancy restaurant for dinner. Later!
It’s good to be the mommy
Oliver turned 10 months old today, and since I didn’t really write anything for Mother’s Day, I’ll just blab about it here.
It’s funny how life often doesn’t turn out the way we plan. I never really saw myself being a mom. I’d always imagined myself as an academic at a top research university, doing my part to change the world. Well, life threw a lot of wrenches in that plan! I rolled with the punches and ended up a stay at home mom, living in Germany. I wonder how I would feel if I had achieved my earlier goal. Would I be happy? I would be different, that’s for sure. Life would be very different.
I still sometimes stay up and just watch Oliver sleeping. I also wonder if we’ll ever get him out of our bed. I love giving him new food to try and seeing his eyes open wide in delight, or cracking up as he shows his disgust (note: Oliver loves spicy Thai food, garlic, spargel, and the bread at L’Osteria - he does not like pork roast). I love that he’s a cuddle bug, and I love seeing his personality develop further every day.
Sometimes he’s a wild man on the rampage…
sometimes he’s a clown…
sometimes he thinks he’s king of the house…
sometimes he’s a ham…
and he’s always my little sweetie.
It’s good to be the mommy.
Video Wednesday: Thomas Godoj
Germany has a new superstar! On Saturday, Thomas Godoj was chosen winner of this year’s Deutschland sucht ein Superstar (Germany’s version of American Idol). There wasn’t a lovefest between Thomas and Dieter Bohlen like there was between Dieter and last year’s winner, Mark Medlock, but personally, I think Thomas Godoj is better. Take a look and tell me what you think!
Dealing with ticks
If it’s summer, it’s tick season. I’ve already found three ticks on Charlie this week.
In Germany, when it comes to tick-borne diseases, you mostly need to worry about Frühsommer-Meningoenzephalitis (FSME) known in English as tick-borne meningoencephalitis (for folks who can read German, the Frühsommer-Meningoenzephalitis Wikipedia article is much more informative) and Borreliose (Lyme disease).
There is a vaccination against FSME available in Europe. You should check with your family doctor about whether it is recommended for you. It cannot be taken by pregnant women and some doctors do not recommend it for children under 6, although our pediatrician recommends it for children over 2.
FSME risk areas in Germany
In the above map, red denotes a risk area, where people are encouraged to get the FSME-Impfung, and yellow, where isolated cases of FSME have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute. Want a closer look or don’t live in Germany? Here is an interactive map of the spread of FSME in Europe. The page is in German, but you can zoom in on your location to see if it’s affected.
How to protect yourself:
- Avoid high grass and underbrush
- Wear light-colored clothing, it’s easier to identify a tick if one is on you
- Limit skin exposure through long sleeves and long pants
- Wear long pant legs tucked into socks
- Stay near the center of hiking trails to avoid brushing against low vegetation as much as possible
- Use tick repellent: Stiftung Warentest recommends Anti Brumm Naturel as satisfactory, followed by Autan Family Care Zeckenschutz and Quartet Anti Zecke Hautspray.
- Check yourself and your children daily and remove ticks promptly. Ticks should be removed within the first 12 hours. Ticks prefer warm, moist areas, so be sure to carefully check armpits and genital areas along with the head. To remove ticks from humans, Zeckenkarte, or tick cards, are recommended. Don’t try to burn or drown the tick in alcohol or oil while it is attached, this can cause it to regurgitate into the wound, raising the risk of infection.
How to protect your pets:
- Talk to your veterinarian
- Check your pet’s coat daily for ticks and remove them promptly. Ticks should be removed within the first 12 hours. To remove ticks from animals, I highly recommend the O’Tom Tick Twister (you can buy the O’Tom Zeckenhaken online at Zooplus.de or at your local pet shop, and here’s a video demonstrating how to remove a tick with it). After you remove the tick, you should make sure it is dead and not just release it back in to the wild. You can burn it, drown it in oil or alcohol, or squish it in a paper towel.
- Use tick-prevention medication like Exspot or Frontline.
For more info:
- Zecken.de - In German
- NASD: Protect Yourself from Ticks and Lyme Disease - from the CDC website in the US
- DogsandTicks.com - Info for folks in the US
Do you have any advice for dealing with ticks?
Regensburg Expat Weekend Meetup (June 21-22, 2008): The Details
Please spread the word! Mention the meetup on your blog!
I really hope you’ll join us in lovely Regensburg next month for the Regensburg Expat Weekend (you don’t have to be an expat to participate either). Regensburg lies at the confluence of the Regen and the Danube rivers, and was largely unbombed during WWII, leaving the medieval city center intact. The city includes outstanding examples of Roman, Romanesque and Gothic architecture. For this reason, the entire Altstadt (old city center) was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006.
Where is Regensburg?
- In Bavaria, about an hour northeast of Munich
What’s the schedule? (if more people come, more events may be planned):
- Friday - there are baseball games from 10:30am till about 9:30pm. We’ll likely go to the 3:30pm game.
- Friday 8pm-whenever, Sarah and Cliff are organizing an evening get-together, for more information, see their post on Regensblog
- Saturday 10am-12pm, morning baseball game, exploring the city, whatever you want to do.
- Saturday 2:30pm, 1.5-2 hour guided city tour - the cost is 80 Euro for the entire group, with a limit of 30 participants (so with 20 people, the cost would work out to 4 Euro a head). We will be leaving from the west facade of the cathedral (between the cathedral and Haus Heuport) at 2:30pm.
- Saturday 4:30-6:30pm, hanging at Gaststätte Spitalgarten, a beer garden along the river, just across the Stone Bridge
- Saturday 6:30pm-whenever, join us for the monthly Regensburg Expat Dinner at Osteria Siciliana on Unterer Wöhrd. I also imagine some folks might want to watch the Eurocup Football Quarterfinal at 8:45pm.
- Sunday, attend a baseball at the Armin-Wolf-Arena - for the diehard fans,* the games start at 9am, for the rest of us, we’ll attend the final game of the Baseball Eurocup 2008 at 3:30pm. Cost for the games is 10 Euro for a single day ticket, or 15 Euro for a family day ticket. There is limited seating, so bring lawn chairs or a blanket to sit on.
Where do I stay?
- I’m recommending the Ibis Hotel Regensburg City as the official meetup hotel. Single rooms are 64 Euro/night (without breakfast). It’s located across the street from the train station, at the edge of the Altstadt.
- Other possibilities are: Brook Lane Hostel (starting at 15 Euro/night), Hotel Karmeliten (starting at 52 Euro/night, including breakfast), and if you want to splurge a bit, there is the really beautiful, nice Hotel Orphee (starting around 137 Euro/night).
- If your budget is really tight, let me know and we’ll see if a local can put you up for a night (much more likely if you’ve previously met said local)
How do I get there?
- By train or by car are your best options. The closest airports are at Munich and Nuremberg.
Who’s coming for the tour on Saturday?
- We are
- J?
- Tammy and Matthias
- Jul and Scott
- Heather and Tim
- Andrea and family (+2)
- Anita
- Sam and family (+2)?
Who’s coming for the dinner Saturday night?
- We are
- J?
- Tammy and Matthias
- Jul and Scott
- Heather and Tim
- Cliff and Sarah
- Joan and Hannah
- Andrea and family (+2)
- Anita
- Sam and family (+2)
Who’s coming to the final game on Sunday?
- We are
- J?
- Tammy and Matthias
- Cliff and Sarah
- Andrea and family (+2)
- Hezamarie and Alex
Go to our TripHub site to sign up. You can leave a comment here too if you’re coming!
For more information see:
- Wikipedia article on Regensburg
- My FlickR photos of Regensburg
- Official site of the city of Regensburg
* for the really die hard baseball fans, the Baseball Eurocup starts on June 18th!
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