One of the things that amazed me about Europe was the friendliness towards and general acceptance of dogs. People take their dogs everywhere and rarely put them on a leash. Every morning walking to work in Germany, I walked along a lakeside path that was also the popular place for everyone to take their dogs for their morning romp. Not a single dog would be on a leash, but there were no problems with other dogs or people.

Only one time in my entire touring around Europe did I spot a sign urging people to put their dog on a leash, at that was in a vineyard. But after all, like the sign says, the vinyard is not a dog toilet. That was the one problem, people weren’t too keen on picking up after their dogs unless you were staring right at them when the business happened. An unfortunate occurrance that was worse in some cities than others.

There were also some fun things around Europe that catered specifically to dogs. One of my favorite sightings was at a gas station outside Berlin where they had a little area for people to feed and water their dogs, lovingly called the “Hunde-Bar”. Seriously, does it get any better than that?!

Then in Rome, outside of a little food market, I saw these “Cane Parking” clips where people could clip in their dogs while shopping. I saw these in other locations too. Sorry, I was having all kinds of trouble taking pictures at dusk, but you get the idea.

image via Lisa Town

Mexico City captured my heart with it’s wonderful chaos during a brief trip in 2006. I instantly knew that I had to go back, but for a longer period of time to get to know the city a little better. In 2007, I got an opportunity to live and work there for three months from August through October. While a personal vacation to another place can be insightful, you can’t really understand a place and the richness of the culture until you have lived there and experienced what a typical day is like. It is then that you begin to tune in to the music of the city.

The gigantic metropolis of Mexico City with its enormous population can seem at first chaotic and overwhelming with so many different sounds coming from every possible direction. But when you stop to listen, you realize there is a musical infrastructure that runs through the urban environment. Every noise has a purpose and every day is a different song.

image via Carl Campbell

A friend from Mexico City sent me a link to an article on NPR that instantly took me back there, remembering the many sounds I would hear every day. This “audio postcard” from an NPR correspondent in Mexico City hits on this point perfectly. Have a listen:

I laughed when I first heard the part of this track about the garbage truck. That truck was the source of much frustration and laughter for me, as well as anyone in Mexico City. There was always this huge window of time when the truck could come, inevitably the worst possible time causing a flurry of grabbing trash bags at the sound of the bell and running out to chase the truck. Sometimes the truck wouldn’t come and my roomate and I would walk to work, carrying trash bags hoping to see the truck on the way but usually going to chase it through the neighborhood. I learned quickly that wearing heels in Mexico City was not the best idea.

image via lpbaraldi

In addition to the sounds mentioned on the audio track, another one that I would here in my neighborhood were the guys that sold the gas. My friend called them the ‘Three Tenors’ because three guys would belt out the word “gas” in different tones. So on gas day they’d go singing through the neighborhood… “Gas…Gaaaas…GAAAAAAAAAAS”. The amazing thing to me was that the huge gas tanks were always on the tops of the buildings which were several stories high, usually with no elevator. So one guys would throw a full one his back and carry it all the way to the rooftop and exchange it for the empty one to put back on the truck.

During the work day we’d hear many things going by the office window. Like the tamale vendor with the famous warbly recording which can be heard all throughout the city…

video via Lisa Town

Throughout the city there is a buzz of little green bugs zooming along in the streets. It doesn’t matter the location, residential or the heart of the historic district…they are there. My very first experience flying down the street in one of these things was scary and I almost couldn’t watch and then every time afterwards was more and more fun. The best was when I rode with enough people to have two bugs and we were zooming down the freeway passing each other and swerving around in the lanes. I remember my driver had so much play in his wheel that he was constantly over-compensating. It all felt like a movie chase scene, except that we were on the same side.

I also enjoyed trying to see how many people could stuff into those things. Three adults is really the max (not including the driver), but it is possible to get five in there. Oh, the things you could never get away with in the US!

image via stevecadman

Aside from the cheap and fun taxis, another popular way to get around is by metro. The system has it’s own set of sounds, both from the cars themselves and the vendors that frequent the aisles. While they can be annoying with their horribly loud and poor quality speakers blasting your ears out, the unspoken system is impressively coordinated. As one vendor gets on, one gets off and there are never two in any one car at the same time. Typically they are selling music or dvd’s which they advertise by walking through the people, playing the music or showing off the dvd with a portable player.

image via joe holmes

Then if you ever feel like you need to just get away from the city, you don’t have to go too far. At the edge of the city there is a lovely place called Xochimilco (which I will write a more extended post on at a later date). You can escape with a trajinera and a bucket of iced beer into the canals and just kick back and enjoy the natural scenery sail by while listening to sounds of birds and local musicians. Who knew you could find total serenity here, in the largest metropolis in the world?

image via Lisa Town

video via Lisa Town

Or perhaps it’s just hot and  I don’t want to turn on the air conditioning yet.  It’s like I’m afraid if I do then it’s like the equivalent of saying that it’s summer too early and the sun will go away. 

I can’t help but think back to listening to people in Europe tell me how ridiculous they think Americans are with all our cold buildings and ice water.  I remember one time in particular when Herbert Dreiseitl had come back from a trip to the states and was telling me that he had a cold because of all the shock his body had gone through with going in between the hot outdoors and the cold buildings, cars and anything else Americans could control the temperature in and how we even had to make our water cold with ice.  I remember also really wanting to point out how weird it was for me being going the other way and having to work in heat and having the only water supplied by the office being warm mineral water.  I mean come on, seriously…warm bubbly water?  That’s just not right.

I’ll admit, I have to agree with him to some extent in how we tend not to just cool things off a little but go to extremes and make buildings actually chilly to where even in the summer we have to dress warmly in order to stay comfortable during the work day.  I recall a particular office where I had a vent right above me that blew down on my neck and which made me crazy until I finally remedied the situation with some foam core and artist tape.  While it was hard at first, I actually got used to working in the warm Germany office, just chillin’ in my capris, t-shirt and flip flops with a fan blowing and the sun beaming in through the open windows. There was something nice about feeling the same both indoors and out.  I didn’t need to add or peel off layers in order to go in or out, it was all the same.  I’m not saying I want to give up my air conditioning just yet but perhaps try strive for a better balance and only use it to cool things off such that the inside and the outside are even rather than the  85 outside, 65 inside scenario.

Today was my last day at Atelier Dreiseitl.  It is hard to believe that I won’t be returning to work on Monday.  My bags are almost packed up and I feel like I’m going on vacation, instead of moving back across the world.

It is a custom in Germany that on eventful days, like first or last days, birthdays, births, whatever…the person having the event brings treats for everyone else.  I learned this on my first day when I was asked why I didn’t bring anything!  (Germans are quite direct)  So I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

So last night I was busy preparing my chocolate chip cookie dough (with the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips sent to me by my dear Mom since they are not available in Germany!) that I would take to the office to bake in the oven during coffee break.  I wanted everyone to enjoy authentic out-of-the-oven homemade American-style chocolate chip cookies. Made by a real American!  An unfortunate thing happened though.  I didn’t have a baking sheet in my vacation flat so I hoped the office would have something, but they didn’t!  I missed having them available for morning coffee break and had to endure, once again, the questions of where the food was for everyone after they presented me with an signed copy of their New Waterscapes book following a little goodbye speech by the principals.

I had to call dear Wolfgang who drove down and brought me a baking sheet so that I could bake them up for afternoon coffee break.  Whew!  So I started baking and I was nervous with the whole celsius oven thing but each batch turned out perfect and just as planned, the whole office smelled like fresh cookies!  I enjoyed handing people fresh out-of-the-oven warm cookies and watching their faces light up. 

Before going home and after wishing everyone in the office a fond farewell, I had to stop over at the Überlingen Christmas market with some others from the office.  We exchanged stories over Gluhwein (a German holiday hot drink) of our various stages in our foreign experiences.  I was joined by an American who is just beginning her German adventure, a Singaporian who works at Atelier Dreiseitl Asia and is in Germany for an office exchange and will be going back at the end of the month, and also a Colombiana who has just begun working in Germany in conjunction with attending a university in Frankfurt.

When I first moved here, I definitely realized the immediate challenges before me but now, at this moment, I feel comfortable and like I’ve reached that point where things almost feel normal.  I have to say, I’ve come a long way from who I was just one year ago and I’m so proud of myself for having taken this huge leap and living outside of my comfort zone.  Now, it’s time to say “Tschüss!” to my new friends and wish them luck on their own journeys as I prepare to go back home and begin my next chapter.

This morning we met up with an American co-worker of mine, Laura, and grabbed a train at about 10:30 for a little over an hour south to Lindau, the last German city on the lake before entering Austria. From there we met Jessica, a British landscape architect, before driving another 30 minutes to her house in Lindenberg for a Thanksgiving day of sledding and turkey eating. We grabbed some light food at the train station cafe and since the city’s Christmas market was opening up for its first day, we decided to browse the market for a bit before we left. Since Christmas is a pretty big deal here in Germany and all cities have Christmas markets, it is cool to be able to see them and begin immersing myself into the holidays. I love holidays.

After enjoying some fire roasted sugar covered almonds and doing a little bit of shopping, we headed to Jessica’s place. But on the way, we had to make a much needed stop at her boyfriend Achim’s Mom’s house to pick up the sleds. And we also had a look at the brown cows in the barn all tied up for milking with barely enough room to even lay down. They seemed very excited to have visitors and really wanted to lick us. We had a look at the babies too. They were pretty funny because they were looking for anything to suck on. If you stuck your hand out they would suck on it immediately.

With the sleds in the car, we were on our way. We got to Jessica’s and set about preparing the food while her boyfriend Achim was leaving his work to head to the store. Jessica began preparing the pumpkin pie (made from real pumpkin) while I prepared the orange and raspberry Jello mixture. The Jello was especially cool because Germany doesn’t have it anywhere, so luckily it came in my “thanksgiving in a box” package sent by my Mom from back home.

With the pumpkin pie done, the jello in the fridge with the Country Company Potatoes I had put together the night before (family recipe) and Laura’s southern style greens, it was time to get the turkey in the oven. Jessica had ordered a super good turkey in advance and before we arrived, she had stuffed it and gotten it all prepared for the oven. So in the oven it went and off we were to go sledding! That is, after much discussion of whether it was ok or not to leave the turkey in the oven by itself and wondering if we could see the window from the sledding hill should smoke start billowing out from the kitchen.

They have a great sledding hill just a few minutes walk from their apartment. It had been well-sledded and therefore was compacted to perfection. We had a great time sledding and the hill also had a bunch of kids with plastic sleds that were pretty entertaining to watch. The hill was pretty high, with a good slope and our sleds were fast.

After a good hour or so of sledding and then a nice walk around a beautiful frozen pond that we actually walked a portion ON the pond, we made it back to the apartment to finish up the cooking. The turkey turned out absolutely perfect and tasted great and my family-recipe potatoes were a huge hit. The massive amount that I thought for sure would be too much, disappeared in no time. It was a great day followed by a fabulous meal. Even though we weren’t surrounded by the traditional food and family we were used to, it all turned out perfectly and was really nice to be able to enjoy the holiday with our local friends and share food from our family recipes.

This morning we woke up to a thin blanket of white covering everything outside. Then it snowed throughout the day and looked very wintery outside. Winter is definitely here and it is a great reminder that we only have two weeks left until we will be back home in the states, enjoying the holiday with our families.

We later went walking and the Alps were out and we had one of the most clear afternoons I think we’ve had all year. Standing at this one point in our walk we could see the huge string of Alps from Austria and all through Switzerland over the snow covered farmlands and Lake Constance.

It’s been incredibly hectic lately because I have had some major work to get done at the office and then today we have spent the whole day packing up for our vacation as well as the entire apartment so that we can move to Wolfgang’s place, the same vacation flat that we spent our first couple months in Germany back when first arrived nearly a year ago now.

I ended up staying at work last night until fairly late because I was trying to get all the last details coordinated before leaving. Last night also essentially marked the official hand over of the project to someone else for management after my departure. In some ways it is sad to have that chapter come to and end but on the other hand it’s always a good feeling to be moving forward. When we get back from vacationing in London and then southern Spain, my last couple weeks at work should be pretty slow and then we also have our office trip to Venice, which we will be joined by the office staff in Singapore. We are all looking forward to that and it will be great to meet the people that I’ve only worked with over the phone or email so far. I’m also looking forward to checking out the Venice Biennale and getting to know the city itself more intimately.

But back to today, we have put the German apartment back to what it was before we moved the furniture all around to fit our needs and everything has been pulled out of cupboards and shelves and we now have a massive mountain of bags taking up a good portion of the living room. It’s weird to see a year’s life stuffed into a small mountain of bags. Also scary to think of getting all that back through the airport. Well, some of that will be left behind but still, it’s a lot!

Soon Wolfgang will come to pick us up and take our stuff up to the vacation flat where our bags will live in the corner of some room while we are away on vacation. We will essentially be homeless for a week and a half.

So off we go, Wolfgang should be here any minute, to move our stuff and go enjoy our last vacation before heading back home to the states. Crazy, I can hardly believe the year is nearing the end.

image via Lisa Town

While walking with my husband through Belvoir Park in Zurich, we noticed 4 people carrying large bags that looked like instruments.  We thought about it for a second and then realized that they had to be alpinhorns!  So we followed them to a large grass clearing and then sat under a nearby tree as they started pulling pieces out of the bags and assembling them.  They got into formation and began their practice session with their audience of two.

How cool is it to witness real alpinhorns while lounging in a lush green park in Switzerland?!

Did you know that Europe has hedgehogs and that there isn’t a single place in North America that they live? We didn’t until just recently! And Überlingen has tons of them! It’s possible even that I may have crossed the path of one or two since I have been here but just never thought about taking a closer look at something brown and moving, thinking it might have been a squirrel or something. Although the squirrels here are quite different than the ones back home. But once I realized they were here, I knew that I HAD to see one!

We went out on a walk tonight and took a new route that went up a little cobble path that winds straight up the hill behind the apartment and around a small community garden. There was a bench at the top and since the sunset over the lake was a gorgeous deep red, we decided to sit down and watch it for awhile. I kept an eye out because we were surround by forest on one side and a garden on the other, a perfect place to see a hog. And sure enough, after not too long one walked out of the garden and across the path!

We ran down to look at it wander clumsily through the forest and sit for awhile. It was pretty cute. We watched him lumber along in the brush for awhile before he disappeared into the forest. After that we walked a bit further up the path and discovered a break in the wall that opened up onto an overlook with a good view of the lake and sunset. I think sunsets and hog watching will become a nightly event now!

The picture at the top is of my Steiff hog (made in Germany) that was given me for my birthday from the toy store here in town. Hedgehogs are totally the coolest.