Colors of Stuttgart

Stuttgart can be a really colorful city, delayed Spring or not. Here are a few pictures from in and around the neighborhood.

Looking down on a street from one of Stuttgart's many hills.

I will never get over Germany's terra cotta roofs.

I want to find out what mountains are in the background.

Across from the train station near my work. How do you not fall in love with this landscape?!

The new Stuttgart horse "coat of arms".
The city redesigned its logo in 2010, which is fitting,
since the entire city seems to be under (colorful) redevelopment.

Chocolate & Edamame

One Sunday in Stuttgart, I had the urge to walk down the street to Trader Joe's for some dark chocolate and edamame. Only problem: there are no Trader Joe's in Germany and all stores are closed on Sundays anyway. (I read later on Wikipedia that the German Aldi's bought Trader Joe's in 1979. I didn't know either store existed in 1979. This may be some Wikipedia mis-information.)

At first glance, this seems like a strange combination of food, but once you think about it, it actually makes sense. First, dark chocolate is strangely hard to find in Germany. There are 500 varieties of out-of-this-world delicious milk chocolate, slightly darker milk chocolate, and super dark baking chocolate, but you really have to hunt for basic (delicious) dark chocolate. Oddly, just as in the U.S., you can find some of the best dark chocolate at Aldi's. The Bioladen, or Biolädle in the local Swabian dialect, also stock Fair Trade dark chocolate. These stores are basically tiny versions of Whole Foods. "Bio" translates to "organic". There is also a "Bio" food label that is roughly equivalent to the USDA organic label in the U.S.

As I thought about edamame, I realized: I have yet to see edamame sold in the grocery stores here, even in the Bioläden. At first, I thought this might have something to do with strict EU import laws and not allowing genetically modified foods, as some soy tends to be (but which I wouldn't want to be eating). Then, I started to look online. It seems that you can only buy edamame at the Asian grocery stores, at least in Southern Germany. I know there is an Asian store in my new neighborhood. I'm not sure if it is a grocery store or just a "gift" store, but I now have a reason to go check it out.

Next time I have some strange food adventure, I'll be sure to write about it here. Perhaps Maultaschen (literally, "muzzle pockets") should be at the top of that list.

Adjusting to office culture

Let's just say I've had a tiring last few weeks, hence the lack of posts. Everyone at my post-doc keeps telling me it's always hard in the beginning, that it takes time to learn how the department functions, that sometimes you don't even know what questions to ask because you don't know where to start. Add to that: learning two new software packages in German, playing the game of "catch-up" after I returned from Brazil, coming into work in the early mornings to write reports in peace and quiet, staying until the late afternoons when the rest of my research group tends to assign new tasks, and eventually staying until late at night to finish projects for poorly planned publicized deadlines. Did I mention I'm also writing two scientific journal papers on the side?

Now, I've put in my fair share of odd hours as a grad student, perhaps even moreso as an undergrad. The difference here is that as a student I could work whenever I was most efficient and I could use my non-peak times for tasks that required little energy. I far prefer this mode of operation. In an office, however, there's not much of a choice when it comes to personal efficiency. People rely on you to be in the office during certain hours. If too many people start breaking away from the standard, the entire department starts falling apart. Intellectually, I understand the logic. Physically, my body and mind continue to rebel. I'm starting to become convinced that the 8-to-6 work day is really not for me. But somehow, at least for the next 20 months, I need to make it work (and not run myself into the ground in the meantime.) Of course working on interesting and challenging projects with some great colleagues is a good way to start.

Boston

Where to even begin? First of all, I am relieved that all my friends in Boston and the surrounding areas stayed safe during the mayhem. I am grateful for the police, emergency responders, hospital personnel, and other officials who risked their lives to prevent further violence. I mourn the three marathon victims, the fatally wounded MIT officer, and the transit official, as well as all of those who sustained injuries. It's hard not to mourn for America in general.

In addition to the overall terror, sadness, and general flood of emotions that most Americans experienced this week, it was disorienting and alienating to watch the events unfold from Germany -- primarily from U.S. sources. The German media barely reported the story for the first three days, and when they did, by the time the papers went to press, the details were already out of date. While I usually make a point of avoiding the media when major violent stories like this unfold, this time I was glued to Boston.com and Reddit, watching for updates. I half-expected a question from well-meaning colleagues, asking how far Philadelphia was from Boston or if I had any family in the area. Nothing. It simply was not a big story here until late Thursday into early Friday, when the chase intensified and they finally captured the second suspect.

Many people have written that this kind of violence mixed with geographic apathy is what it's like in war-torn nations around the world every day. Yes, of course it is. I fully recognize this. What left an impression on me is how easy it was to get wrapped up in events on another [my] continent, entirely through online media, and how the effects thereof were still so physical. I barely slept the first two nights; I only slept the third night because I was so exhausted. I think of all the international students who I went to college with and whose home politics we rarely follow. When you're so far away and something happens in your home country, it's hard to pay attention to anything that's happening where you actually are. Your attention is pulled in the direction of the drama.

I could go on and on. Like everyone, I am relieved that this manhunt has come to an end and Boston can begin to pick up the pieces. In time we will see what this tragedy means for the entire nation as a whole.

Frühlingserwachen = Spring Awakening

Stuttgart's shopping district hosted a "Spring Awakening", or "Frühlingserwachen" yesterday, which meant that all of the shops extended their hours (and sales) until midnight instead of closing at the usual 8pm. The streets were full of people, full of small advertising stands (open your bank account here! buy your next car there!), several overpriced food trucks, and some interesting live music mixed in with some Truly Awful music. Pretty typical for a city-sponsored event.

Banner on Königsstrasse, the main shopping street.

One of the food trucks was representing the Cannstatter's Club, so I took what is quickly becoming the obligatory picture. Cannstatter's here has the same September [beer-drinking, bratwurst-eating] festival as the Philadelphia Cannstatter's. In Philadelphia, the festival usually happens on Labor Day. Here it is part of Oktoberfest. I've been told I need to get tickets in July, at the latest, if I want to go. I've marked my calendar!

Despite the city-declared "Frühlingserwachen", Spring still hasn't sprung. It was in the mid-40s yesterday and rained a cold rain overnight. The people below are trying to coax the Spring to finally arrive. The vine-letters spell "Garten", which you probably guessed means "garden".

"Garten" display in front of Schlossplatz/Königsbaupassagen.

Here's hoping Spring is actually on its way!

New apartment

I moved into a new apartment over the Easter holidays, and yes, those holidays are plural: Green Thursday, Good Friday, Nothing Saturday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday all count. Well, maybe not Nothing Saturday.

The point is that I have a great new apartment with fabulous roommates in an interesting part of the city. And to think I almost passed up this opportunity because the immediate area is rather gray and there's construction all around. (Note for next winter apartment search: sunshine helps!) I'm hoping the construction will conclude this summer, but even so, it doesn't directly affect me. What does directly affect me are the paper-thin walls and ceilings that allow sound to travel freely through the entire apartment building. Currently, the upstairs neighbor seems to have a fascination with rolling a chair across the floor, non-stop, and there are two babies that scream and scream and scream. Maybe I'll learn to tune out these noises in the same way I have tuned out the train station down the street back home in the States. I'm not holding my breath.

But onto more positive aspects of the apartment! For starters, I have great roommates. They both work in the social sector, are interested in all sorts of things, particularly cooking together, and are happy to teach me about the city. There's a significant amount of cultural exchange since they are both from Germany, one from former East Germany, and want to learn more about the United States. As you may imagine, stereotypes abound, and it's funny to learn what we think we know about each other's cultures. (What do you mean Pennsylvania is 1/3 the size of Germany?!) Things get particularly interesting when talking about East Germany since it was in many ways a closed society. I know a lot about the history of East Germany and about the major cultural topics, such as the Stasi (the secret police) and the stories of people who escaped through tunnels under the Berlin Wall. It's a different perspective completely to hear the stories of the people who grew up completely in the East and then moved to the West. Stuttgart seems to be a magnet for these people, maybe because of its central geographic location. More and more people are moving to Stuttgart in general, too.

Here are a few pictures from my new neighborhood:

My street.

The intersection outside my apartment. I am conveniently located right next to a subway stop.

Plattsalat, the neighborhood food co-op that I mentioned in my entry about the Vokü. More about Plattsalat to follow.