Tschüβ, Deutsch!

Our first nine months in Hamburg have flown by like the wind. The anxiety and excitement I had prior to stepping foot on Deutsch soil is so long gone that I barely remember it. I do, however, remember my unwaivering commitment to perfecting the oh-so-difficult Deutsch language. We'll be there two whole years, of COURSE I'll learn it! Why wouldn't I? HOW couldn't I? Oh, feels like years ago.

Reggie and I both soaked up as much Rosetta Stone as possible as soon as we arrived. Every night we wore those big black headphones and glued ourselves to the computer repeating back vocabulary and common phrases in our best German accents--and constanly being told by the computer that we had no German accents. Through practice and daily studies my vocabulary and understanding grew quickly. Distant memories of verb conjugations from college Spanish slowly came drifting back and were somewhat helpful. Regardless of my attempts to speak proper German to cashiers and servers, they always knew I wasn't German and answered promptly in English. Perhaps it is the incredibly difficult pronunciation that German should pride itself on that gave me away. Or, perhaps it is the fact that nearly everyone in the world speaks English and wants to use it every chance they get. Even those less than helpful folks that say they only speak a little English can rattle off details about the history of the US that I cannot even recall--all in English. This English phenomenom includes everyone from kids to the elderly, from bank tellers to doctors to cabbies--English is everywhere.

Nevertheless, Reggie and I  enrolled in language classes in September. I started several nights a week after work and Reggie took an intensive course during the day. I used flashcards, kept a German notebook, and downloaded German apps on my iPhone. I was determined. I didn't even get frustrated when I learned there are sixteen forms of 'the' in the German language and not only are nouns categorized as feminine and masculine, they can also be neutral. I stood strong and soaked it in. Then, we learned that the 'the' you use depends on the gender of the noun. Okay, I can take that. What else ya got? And then one day in December, the same day I had accepted four new private teaching clients raising my grand total to ten, our teacher hit us with the worst news yet--I remember it like yesterday: There are nearly 200 hundred irregular verbs in German. This means you cannot follow the rules I have taught you until now for conjugating. No, for these 200 verbs you must just memorize the seven conjugations.

What? No.

But yes. And then everything changed. Slowly I felt my motivation to learn this glorious (and by glorious I mean painful) language ooze out of me completely and spill all over the floor. That day I realized that Seedlings and my private work were so fulfilling that I didn't need to pretend I wanted to continue learning German. And so I stopped. Yep, just like that. I know, I know--where is my perserverance?! My passion?! I hear you--and for months I felt guilty for giving up on my 'dream' of learning German. Slowly, I came to terms with the fact that I chose my career over German. And, with how unpleasant-sounding of a language it can be (you should hear German yoga! Actually, no, stick with English) compared to the cuteness of Seedlings, I am satisfied with my choice to say, Tschüβ, Deutsch! (Bye, German!) It was great while it lasted and I'll always remember you fondly.

Needless to say I continue to use German on a daily basis when interacting in public. Though it's not necessary I feel it's the appropriate thing to do. In order to keep my skills sharp I started a German Practice Circle with some friends from the American Women's Club. We meet bi-weekly during our lunch hour with one or two native German speakers and speak German until we--actually no, just me--are red, yellow, and black in the face.

Hamburger Bilder aus der Woche

Every Monday night Hamburg's English theater, Streit's, offers a totally unique movie experience called Sneak. Sneak is a movie event with a catch--you don't find out what you're watching until it starts. Yep, that's right--Streit's Sneak is the ultimate risk-taking experience for the movie lover. For 5€ (purchased one week before the movie otherwise you'll never get a seat) you get your ticket with assigned seat. Once in the theater doors you're smack in the middle of a massive herd of anxious patrons drinking beer and coffees from the stocked bar, downing sweet (never salty) popcorn, selecting sweets, and lounging in chairs more comfy than anything I have ever seen in a theater lobby.

Once inside the theater a comedy show and welcome speech is presented-in English (phew). Snacks are then thrown out from every corner and more of the theater. Yum. When things settle, the fifteen minutes of previews begins. The previews act as clues to the feature presentation (we didn't know this at the time and couldn't figure out why 'Stuck on You' and 'Traffic' where just now coming to Germany). After the loooong display of previews subsides the presenters reappear to present an award to the audience member who guessed the feature presentation correctly after watching the previews online. Not even the winner was lucky enough to get buttered, salty popcorn.

Then, finally, the movie begins. Our feauture presentation was The Adjustment Bureau-not what I would have guessed had I had any idea the previews were there to help me, but we accepted it happily nevertheless. We enjoyed the movie amidst random spurts of inexplicable clapping from our fellow Sneak lovers. 
 The Adjustment Bureau is good. Couple it with the fantabulously fun experience Sneak offers and it gets bumped to a great.



Any movie ticket other than one for Sneak gets you a free coffee or adult beverage from the fully-stocked Streit's bar.



Though not much cheaper than in the US, the snacks collection at Streit's is much more orginal and cute than anything I'm used to.

Love seats.

On a recent walk home from the gym Reggie and I came across a teensy diner boasting a 'Best burgers' sign. Because advertisements never lie, we made a beeline for the prospect of comfort food. I am happy to report that Hollywood Canteen did not disappoint.



The burgers, wraps, and sandwiches are named after American oldies music artists. The milkshakes are huge and delicious, and if I closed my eyes while eating the twister fries I would have thought for sure I was at Arby's. Even the salads are tasty. While enjoying our meal we were entertained by La Bamba on VHS, oldies on the radio, and the comforting feeling of home, sweet home.

The differences between hockey in Hamburg and hockey at home are minimal--and most importantly, going to games in both places is a ton of fun. When Holger and Claudia asked us to join them at the Hamburg Freezers game we jumped at the chance. Lights, music, and, of course, fire made for one spectacular hockey spectacle.

Nichts for sussies = not for sissies

Blurry, I know, but if you look reeeeeally hard you'll see a Detroit Red Wings jersey.

Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten

In her magical book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die Patricia Schultz introduces Hamburg's Hotel Jahreszeiten with, "This is the stuff grand hotels are made of." This intriquing tidbit, coupled with the fact that the hotel is well over one hundred years old and has won every conceivable award, left me wanting to explore it. Immediately.

The responsibility of planning events that appeal to any or all of our 130 club members is a big pill to swallow for a newbie. Keeping a wide range of venues and activities has served us well so far. I knew that a tour of this Hamburg mention was a must, so I set out with a take-no-prisoners 'tude to get us a behind-the-scenes tour of this enchanting establishment--in English. Two no's led to a yes, which later led to a cancellation on their part, drama, panic, drama...and then finally a confirmation--with two whole days to spare. Finally, on a crisp Hamburg Saturday morning 23 excited women gathered in a lovely meeting room decorated with fresh flower arrangements the size of the Black Forest anxiously awaiting our tour of this perfect place.


Enter: Herr Freyler: best tour guide in Germany. Manager of Guest Relations and an employee of 36 years, Herr Freyler taught us everything we needed to know about his beloved Vier Jahreszeiten, starting the year it opened, 1897. After the history lesson/comedy show was complete, we were whisked upstairs to see a room with a balcony view, a collection of breath-taking antiques, and a suite fit for a Queen (and by a queen I mean the American Women's Club Activities Chairwoman, of course).

The first room we toured offered a view of the Binnenalster. The room was small in size but huge in cuteness and outdoor scenery.

In the Maria Callas suite we saw two rooms decorated perfectly to match the feel of the hotel: antique-y and pretty--all for a modest 1200 euro per night.

The hotel's elaborate antique collection is displayed as art throughout the hotel. Most pieces are displayed at the top of the stairs so as not to be missed.

That's right--that's a giant ashtray right smack in the middle in the table. The fact that this striking antique is striking justifies me adoring it even though it's made for folks to sit and smoke like chimnies all day.



Now that's one pretty bar.




The hotel's 1-Michelin star Restaurant Haerlin is formal, exquisite, excellently regarded, and expensive. It was by the Haerlin family that the hotel was first opened. It is also here that 3,000 euro bottles of wine from the hotel's awesome wine cellar are consumed, at times multiple times per week. This is where I'll celebrate when my winning numbers are called. Because Restaurant Haerlin is settled in a city which boasts the highest per capita income in all of Europe, no tables remain empty in this luxurious eatery.

Visiting the wine cellar was a highlight of our entertaining tour. Here over 500 bottles of wine are waiting for important businessmen and members of German high-society to enjoy them. One bottle hiding deep in the shadows was bottled the year Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten opened and is now a modest 113 years old.  Herr Freyer told us of the escape routes from the cellar into the underground train to protect guests from the 1940-44 bombing raids. (Miraculously the hotel escaped unharmed.)

I didn't know which bottle was from 1897, but I looked hard behind the gate so techinically I can say I did see it.

Our fun-filled morning ended at the hotel's Cafe Condi, a popular lunch institution decorated splendidly in perfect Biedermeier fashion, where we had a chance to eat, drink, and discuss the unforgettable Saturday morning we had just enjoyed.

Sadly, I didn't eat ALL of these myself. But there's always next time.




The tour of the Vier Jahreszeiten was a lovely outing and another tick for Hamburg and the AWC: two new members in my circle who never disappoint.