Kilometers and Miles

So this week’s lesson is about length and distance. Height, width, and length. Perhaps this will be of more interest to the geography buffs out there. This week at work, we found ourselves in a discussion surrounding the size of Germany. It stemmed from me commenting on how difficult it is to incorporate country-wide initiatives when a country is so large. I guess when one thinks of a country, they immediately thing BIG. I don’t want to speak for everyone in the States, but I think particularly as Americans we tend to imagine most countries as large land-masses that operate in a manner somewhat similar to us. It really can be difficult to understand the difference between political borders (size and nature) until you travel abroad.

Borders:

The first and easiest comparison is a US state to a European country. In Europe, most people travel between countries on vacation as we travel between states in the United States. In most cases, border control is the same as well. I have traveled through multiple countries in Europe so far and have not once had my passport checked. This has made me realize how uptight we are about our US borders. Of course there are reasons for this and I really do appreciate that safety, but one must realize that walls and bureaucracy do not surround every land in this world. When I traveled home last weekend, I must have passed through at least eight check-points where I was questioned and counted. At home, someone commented to me that it is easier to get into heaven than in the United States! I had to laugh, because I understand it can even be hard for an American to get back into the US at times. I know many people from our neighboring countries to the south who would literally do about anything to obtain a green card or visa to be in the US.

Size:

The next analogy is between country sizes. Someone asked how big Germany was compared to one of our states. Well, since Texas and Germany share some similar characteristics in terms of pride in tradition, I saw fit to compare these. Thanks to google, I found this map which clearly makes a good comparison.

Considering Germany is one of the largest European countries, you can see that most states in the US compare nicely in size. If you are not a visual person, perhaps some stats will do well here.

Width of US: about 4800 km or 3000 miles (2 day drive)
Width of Germany: about 650 km or 400 miles (6 hour drive)
Height of US: about 2700 km or 1700 miles (28 hour drive)
Height of Germany: about 870 km or 540 miles (8 hour drive)
Population of US: 309 million
Population of Germany: 82 million
Density of US: 33.7 per sq km
Density of Germany: 229 per sq km

Topography:

Now let’s talk mountains. In the US, we have numerous mountain ranges, but perhaps the two most familiar are the Rocky Mountains in the west and the Appalachian Mountains in the East. In Germany, the only true mountain range is in the south and these are the northern most part of the Alpine Mountains. Naturally, in the US, we have many other landscapes (plains, rolling hills, deserts, and swamps), but in Germany, most of the country-side is fairly uniform in terms of looks. There are some flatter regions for farming, but most is green and hilly. Here are some stats:

Highest Point in Contiguous US: 4421 meters about sea level (Mt. Whitney)
Highest Point in Germany: 2962 meters above sea level (Zugspitze)
Lowest Elevation in US: 86 meters below sea level (Badwater in Death Valley)
Lowest Elevation in Germany: 3.5 meters below sea level (Wilstermarsch)

Weather:
In general, Germany’s weather is VERY similar to Ohio’s weather. I would say that the extremes here are a little less widespread however. Munich rests at about 48 deg North latitude, while Cincinnati rests at 39 deg North latitude. Because of this, mountain ranges, and jet-stream patters, Germany sees slightly cooler weather in the summer and slightly warmer weather in the winter.

Cranberry Prairie, Mercer County, Ohio, USA, World – A Family Reunion and Marriage Celebration!

Technically this week’s blog update has no relevance to my “German Trip”, but I am posting anyway. There are actually some extremely informative cultural components of the post, so it works well.

I have been excited for this past weekend for just about a year now. Two of my best friends from St. Henry were married this weekend, and I was able to take a small “time-out” from Germany to travel home and partake in the celebration. This also gave me the great blessing of seeing my family again after a long draught of being apart from them physically for the past three months. It was awesome.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I flew out of Munich at 10:00 AM on Wednesday this past week. The flight was around 8.5 hours, but I landed in New York at around 12:30 PM. Longest 2.5 hours ever! The time change did little to faze me… I was just happy to be back in the States! After multiple checkpoints through customs and a three hour layover, I boarded to fly to Dayton. At 7:00 PM, I was walking out where I started the journey back in March… and again, my family was there… only this time for a warm greeting and BIG hugs. We celebrated with some Skyline before driving an hour north back to St. Henry.

Since I had been away for so long, we had to make up for some lost time. My family had baked a cake so we could celebrate a few missed birthdays (and one to come!). Between my brother, sister, and I we are 63 years old!

Thursday, June 23, 2011 (Corpus Christi)

Today was chill with the family day. Despite a little cloudy weather, it was perfect. Between driving again and doing our typical Taco-Bell weekend dinner run, I couldn’t be happier to be home. Later in the evening, we sampled a few German goods I had brought home. I had to share some of that German beer and chocolate I had been talking about for the past few months! …we even had toast and Nutella before night’s end.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Today, wedding prep was underway. I spent the afternoon with the groom at his new house. He grilled up some good old fashion American beef patties (HAMBERGERS!), and we caught up after I got a quick tour of the couple’s new abode. We had the wedding rehearsal that night and I was able to see a lot of good friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Shock sort of hit when I realized I am now one of the only guys still in school! It was basically just awesome catching up though. Naturally spirits were high, and we were ready to get the show on the road!

Saturday, June 25, 2011 (Wedding Day)

Of all the days I was home, this one was the only perfectly gorgeous days in terms of weather. God spared us the clouds and rain and brought on sun with a cool breeze. I’ll summarize here by saying that the wedding was simply beautiful. A beautiful couple, a beautiful day, and God’s beautiful love. I mentioned that this blog had some cultural significance, so here it goes… The Mercer County Wedding.

In any country, you have culture in general… and then you have subcultures. The fun thing about Mercer County is that it has certain characteristics that do stand out, and some actually stem straight from our strong German heritage. For those of you reading this from home, this description may be old hat, but to those from out of the region or country, it could be interesting. Our wedding day typically rolls something like this…

The first order of business is the wedding mass. This is your typically wedding service in a church, but the mass is actually the most important component. Our region has a couple of other nicknames that give testament to the importance of faith in Midwest Ohio. One is simply, “God’s Country”. The other is “Land of the Cross Tipped Churches.” After many Germans immigrated to the Cincinnati area in the mid 1800s, many traveled north to develop farmland in Midwest Ohio. To support the faithful and the communities, churches with tall steeples were built in rather close proximity to each other. Mercer County is as flat as a pancake, so you can literally stand in certain areas of the countryside and see five or six steeples from surrounding towns. To tangent back, this wedding was in Cranberry, Ohio where the tiny church of St. Francis was built. In this small church, we had the wedding and witnessed our friends exchange vows before God.

Typically following the mass are pictures. Nothing unique here…

**Shameless Sales Pitch: My cousin Julie Link did the wedding pics. You can see her work at http://www.photobyjulie.blogspot.com/. Obviously the pics for this wedding are not up yet, but if you are looking for a good place to get some pictures taken, she does an EXCELLENT job!**

From this point, most wedding parties from our area will jump on a rented bus and do some bar-hopping before finding the reception hall. We had a bus, but basically we took some more offsite pictures with the time we had.

Following our wedding ceremonies, there is always a reception at a local K of C (Knights of Columbus) or American Legion Hall (could be anywhere, but these two are most popular). The wedding party arrives at the hall AFTER everyone else (family, friends, etc.) are already there. Total, we’re talking anywhere between 250 and 500 people on average. Anyway, the wedding party is announced, enters the hall, etc., etc. There is always a big banquet to start the night off. The newlyweds start things by cutting the cake which is usually followed by smashing it in each others’ faces. Adorable, right? Next, there is a prayer for the meal and toasts. These toasts are small “speeches” given by the best man and the maid of honor. …and then FINALLY dinner follows. Mercer County wedding dinners contain the staples served in a buffet style… fried chicken, mashed potatoes n’ gravy, noodles, stuffing, corn, and cake. Served at the bar is always Bud Light, Miller Light, and some sort of cheap mixed drink. All I can say is that the meals are always amazing. This wedding was especially incredible, because we had homemade ice cream and pie to supplement the cake. My dream come true…

Throughout dinner, it is also traditional to make the couple kiss by “klinking” your knife against your wine glasses. Also fun and sometimes amusing…

Once everyone is sufficiently full (i.e. all the gents have loosened their belt buckles one or two notches), it’s time to dance. We have the traditional first couple dance, bride-father dance, groom-mother dance, and bride-mother dances. After these, anything is fair game. In our region, we typically have at least two or three square dances. We learn these as student in middle school, and from what I hear, these are not so typical in the city. One of my friends brought an Indian student to the wedding as a date and it was his first American wedding. He thought it was awesome! I had to laugh when I heard my mom had even taught him how to square dance!

Outside of throwing the wedding bouquet and the bride’s garter, we have another tradition I believe is officially called the “Hog Trough Dance”. It has been morphed over time, but supposedly it goes like this… When a younger sibling gets married before the older one, it is bad luck for the new couple. To break the bad luck, the older sibling needs to dance in the trough until it breaks. Typically this involves more forceful action than simply “dancing”. It is hysterical to watch… especially when the trough is made particularly strong. It can also be dangerous if you are not careful!

So that is most everything… fried chicken, Bud Light, square dancing, and hog troughs… I love weddings!

Sunday, June 26, 2011 / Monday, June 27, 2011

I didn’t take too much time to recover after the wedding. I went to mass on Sunday morning with the family, and we had an American style brunch afterwards. Yes… real breakfast with eggs, bacon, and hash browns! I took off towards Dayton that afternoon for my 6:00 PM flight to Chicago. Goodbyes the second time around were no more cool than the first time. Isn’t there anyway to skip that part?? The good news is that it will be only two months until I see everyone again, so the more difficult half of being away is already over.

Jet lag on the way back to Germany was a little worse than going home. I lost six hours in transit, so I got back in Germany around lunch time. The good news is that I actually slept on the plane! Lufthansa is the BEST airline I have ever flown on! I flew economy class, and we still saw first class service! Complimentary wine before dinner… hot towels… grilled chicken and greens… after dinner coffee… …and then a night cap. Not too shabby, right?

Now I’m back at it. Hard to believe that weekend actually happened. It went WAY too fast, but I’m glad I was given the time I had at home. Now it is time for bed here. I am wiped.

Gute Nacht!

Bavaria, BMWs, Brothers, and Bergs

This weekend couldn’t come quite soon enough for me. For the first time in three months, I was going to see a brother (fraternal) from the states! My friend Zach also goes to the University of Cincinnati and is in both the band and fraternity with me there. He’s currently studying chemical engineering and will also be doing the ICP program later in his studies. This trip was actually part of an immersion program sponsored by UC for German language students. He will be in Munich with me for the next four weeks, so we made it a point to hang out this weekend and we will be doing the same in a couple weeks after I return to Germany from the states!

Friday, June 17, 2011

After work Zach and I met up where he is staying for the month. Seeing the physical presence of a brother and friends was AWESOME. We decided to celebrate and catch up that night in Munich. We made our way to the Paulaner Brewery for dinner and enjoyed the weather in the beer garden. Lots to talk about!

Even after being in Munich for three months, I had not yet been to the Englischer Garten (sorry… I know I should probably have my wrist slapped for that). This is one of the world’s largest urban parks. We decided to walk up the Isar in that direction and it was a wonderful walk. Great weather and great conversation. After a drink in one of the beer gardens, we split up for the night just as the rain came. The next day was supposed to be all rain, but we planned to make due regardless of what the weather brought.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Woke up to rain today. Rain Rain Rain… Guess it was about due considering how little we’ve had in the past two months, but on a Saturday? No worries though… there is plenty to do even in such wet conditions. At around 10 AM I met up with Zach and we headed to Olympia Park where the Flohmarkt takes place on the weekends. I was hoping to show Zach some of the local culture and where he could buy some cheap souvenirs, but the rain was discouraging. Despite the wet morning, I was surprised to see that there were actually some die-hards out selling things! We browsed the small gathering of peddlers, but didn’t find anything too wonderful. We did find an odd set of wooden sticks though. I asked the stand owner, “Was sind sie?” This translates to “What are they?” He heard me say, “Was sind Sie?” Notice the capital “S”? This is the formal form of “you” in German. Basically, without trying, I asked him what HE was. It was confusing and a little embarrassing, but we did get him to explain what the sticks were. We didn’t understand a word of the Bayerisch, so we nodded our heads enthusiastically, pretended that we understood perfectly, and moved on. Wow… even after three months, I realize how little I know. Ha!

It was wet, so we sought dry grounds. I had not yet been to BMW Museum or BMW Welt so we made our way there. The museum was awesome and shared a lot of history and tradition associated with BMW. For those who are not familiar, BMW started by making plane motors. After success in that field they took to motorcycles, which they still produce today. Cars did not come until the late 1920’s. The company about went under after the war (as did many German companies), but they survived and are today one of the leading car producers in the world. Zach and I enjoyed many of the exhibits… even though the English translations were all printed in a very hard to read sliver print.

After browsing the museum, we went across the street to BMW Welt where all of BMW’s most current car models are on display. There, people can look at all the new models, order cars, and even drive home a brand new BMW. We came at a good time, because they had a crazy dirt bike rider give a demonstration right in the plaza. He was running his bike up and down the steps of the building as the BMW fans cheered him on. Pretty cool!

After learning all about BMW, we went downtown and found a good pasta place to get lunch. Zach spent a little time going through some of his homework to see what was on the docket for the upcoming week.

The rain was still coming down, so we decided another museum would suffice. We found the Bier and Oktoberfest Museum. Although a small museum, it was pretty cool. It highlighted the history of some of Munich’s most famous brews and gave a short history of the Oktoberfest held in the city. This celebration began in October of 1810 with the marriage celebration of Prince Ludwig and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Since then it has grown into one of the world’s largest and most popular fairs. At the celebration, Munich’s top brewing companies serve over 7 million liters of beer in “masses” to the masses. These brewers are Augustinerbräu, Hacker-Pschorr Bräu, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulanerbräu, and Spatenbräu. At the end of the museum we found a cool mirror. I suppose this is what drinking all day will do to how you see the world! Cheap thrills are always the best…

We wrapped up our day ogling at the cool hiking and camping equipment at the local Jack Wolfskin store. Since we are both camping fanatics, this suited us well. Afterwards, we called it a night. The rain had brought the temp down to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit by evening, so spring had come again. So much for it being the middle of June!

**Begin Background Information**

I thought it might be appropriate here to give a brief bit of background info on a particular hat I wear. In the 2^nd grade I bought a batman hat at a garage sale, and it became my favorite hat (batman was my childhood hero, by the way). I wore this hat just about every time I went to a friend’s house or did something cool on the weekend (camping, trips, etc.). In the fifth grade, my dad and I went to Chicago and I found a new batman hat at a Warner Brothers store. It replaced my other batman hat and continued the tradition. Despite being frequently razzed for wearing the cap, I still sport it when I feel an adventure coming on. This was good weekend to break it out, so it makes its German début here. The funny thing is that I was talking with my mom earlier today and she guessed (almost out of the blue) that I had worn it after I told her I was in the Alps! Moms always seem to know everything.

**End Background Information**

Sunday, June 19, 2011

With weather due to clear by Sunday evening, we decided to risk a day trip south. At 7:30 AM we hopped a train from Munich to Mittenwald. Mittenwald is a small German town right on the southern border across from Austria. This is just east of the famous Garmisch-Partenkirchen where the Zugspitze is located (that is the highest mountain in Germany). Mittenwald lies in directly in the Upper Alps in Southern Bavaria and has been one of the most used commerce centers between southern countries and Germany for a couple thousand years. The town is rather small, but is straight from a German fairy tale. Buildings were painted in brilliant colors and all had ornately carved wooden shutters and rails. Cafés, shops, and inns lined the streets at the foot of giant Alpine mountains. It was quite the scene and hard to take in all at once. It was simply beautiful.

We began the day with a hike. Since we were not qualified or experienced mountain climbers, we decided not to take on the Wetterspitze at around 2750 meters (approx. 9000 feet). From Mittenwald at 923 meters (3028 feet), we climbed up to the Hoher Kranzberg at 1390 meters (4560 feet). It was a wonderful hike and the view was indeed breathtaking. It was still a bit rainy and cloudy, but we had a perfect view of Mittenwald below.

After enjoying the view (and the break!), we made our way through the valley below back into town. Waterfalls, lakes, and river ways lined the paths and the view was amazing at every turn. It was a good three and half hour hike through the Alps. Mission accomplished.

After our hike, we ate and enjoyed some time in the town. We walked through the town market, checked out the church, and enjoyed all the decorated buildings. Again… all was straight from a fairy tale. I had no idea that so many German villages looked like this! Very cool to see.

By late afternoon, we were spent. We found our two hour train ride home and called it a night. Altogether, the weekend was an amazing and wonderful time. Now it is time to sleep. Guten Nacht!