sich verabschieden

You know that feeling of being really calm? Not normal calmness. Extra calm, like at piece with things. As if at that moment everything crystallizes and the small things you see every day look new and perfect and endearing. As if tranquility were something tangible and you could wrap yourself up in it like a blanket. You can feel this calmness throughout your body when you stand still. Your legs feel strong but relieved, like you were ready to run really fast, and then found out the race was tomorrow. Your back is relaxed, like you are getting a massage from someone you love. Your mind is taking everything in and thoroughly enjoying it. You have no internal monologue, because if you talk, the feeling of serenity would burst like a soap bubble.

Walking to school today, I got this feeling. It's my last day in Radolfzell, and I feel great. I'm sad to be leaving all of the friends I've made here, and I'm sad to be leaving the beautiful area that I'm living it. But this could not be a more perfect feeling to have on one's last day. 

I got on the bus this morning and my bus card stopped working. I looked at the driver for a second and I figured that he'd make me pay for the ride. Then he turned to me and said (in German) "Do you need more time?" I explained that my card (very obviously) didn't work. He said "Do you have a question?" I explained again that my card didn't work and asked what I should do. He said again "Do you have a question?" but this time he gestured that I should just take my seat. He let me ride for free.

I got to town early, and all of the stores were just opening up, and it was kind of chilly and so beautiful. I walked into the store to buy some bread, and on the way, I stopped by a magazine stand and saw the owner's dog playing with a toy and it was so cute. I've seen this dog running around the stand every day and he looks so happy and content all the time. After that I walked through the town garden, and I realized how beautiful my every day life is and it almost made me cry.

On Sunday, we had a substitute Thanksgiving and everyone cooked something. I made jambalaya and we all got stuffed that day. After the meal, we all lazed around for a while. In the background however, Christian, a German roommate of Andy's, DJ-ed a little bit. Here's a taste of our after-dinner time.

So, in conclusion, I am leaving R'zell on the best of terms and I am excited to see Neubrandenburg and experience something new. Hopefully, also, in Neubrandenburg I will have more permanent internet access and I'll be able to Skype you all. Today's word is a verb and it means to say goodbye. And right now, I have to say goodbye to Radolfzell.

das Bier

This post has come far too late for my taste.

After castles, or probably before castles, most people associate Germany with beer. Honestly though, for a people as world-renown for their beer as the Germans there are fewer drunks here than you would expect. Of course, when we walk through the park we see the Park Drunks, but they are more like a street musician. Radolfzell also has that one pudgy guy who walks around wearing nothing but a red skirt drinking cocktails on market day, but he is actually quite nice, and I think he might have a job in addition to being utterly ridiculous.

In any case, we took a trip to a German brewery in the town of Donaueschingen. The brewery is called Fürstenberg, and it is pink.

The brewery tour was very interesting. I was actually very curious about the deutsche Reinheitsgebot and how it affects beer today.  Basically the law is old as dirt and says that the only thing you're allowed to make beer with is water, barley, and hops. The law is from Bavaria and is also from the 1500s. If you were paying attention, you will notice that this beer recipe actually doesn't include yeast. This is largely because microorganisms really hadn't been discovered yet. So later they got added. I don't think the law is actually part of Germany's legal system anymore, but beers will still (proudly) advertise that they are brewed according to the law.

During the tour we got to taste most of these ingredients before they were used to make beer. They all pretty much taste like oatmeal, cornflakes, or other breakfast cereals. 

Here are all the ingredients in their different forms. The hops are at the bottom, in their original form on the left and then in their current pelleted form on the right. Above the hops is the barley. The darker barley on the left is used to make dunkel bier, and it's really the same thing except the barley is roasted a little. This way they can give the beer color and a slightly different taste without using any artificial flavors or colors.

The rest of the tour explained the beer making process. During this time, I learned a fun fact about foreign language: if you stop listening for more than a few sentences, you're pretty much screwed for understanding anything after that. This can be useful when, for instance, you want to ignore salesepeople. You can literally allow yourself to not understand a word they say. It's wild! You don't even feel guilty because you don't even realize they're saying words. Anyways, here is a part of brewery that, I think, has something to do with imparting the hop and barley tastes to the beer. Don't quote me on that.

So after this we were led into a cellar that looked like the opening scene of a zombie movie. After that they must have felt bad for us, since they took us directly to the testing area and we were allowed to 'try' as many beers as we wanted. My friend Geoff, whose ability to talk to people astounds me constantly, got our tour guide to sit down and drink little with us. We talked about 9/11, beer, and politics. Basically typical German small talk. If you ever try Fürstenberg, I recommend the Edelbräu or the Dunkelweizen.

We left the brewery, a bit tipsy, and we were astonished to discover it was still light outside. That was jarring, but not entirely unwelcome.

füttern

After taking two classes focusing on apes, monkeys and other primates, I was a liite bit excited to find out that there was an interactive zoo with monkeys here in the area. I heard about the so called “Affenberg” on our trip to Neuschwanstein. Affenberg literally means Monkey Mountain, which is what we called it for the rest of the trip. The Affenberg is in the town of Salem about an hour from Radolfzell.

The sanctuary has about 200 barbary macaques. Macaques are the same monkeys that chill out in hot springs in winter, by the way. Today's word means “to feed,” and the cool thing about this sanctuary is that you can feed the macaques yourself. Like the macaques come up to you and will grab popcorn out of your hand. It's wild!

Also you can get really close to them.

No, I mean like really close.

The macaques are sort of funny to watch. They act like an infant with really good coordination. But they also have moments where they strike you as surprisingly human and relatable. It will be in something like they way they sit or they way they look at you. I tried to offer one of the macaques two very small pieces of popcorn and she looked at my popcorn, looked me in the eye, blinked very sassily, and walked away. My first thought was “that bitch” and then I realized that if I had tourists feeding me all day, I could afford to be picky too.

We were warned that the macaques can get handsy and that we should remove jewelry and just be careful in general. Despite that, one of the macaques did steal Geoff's water bottle and climb a tree with it. I don't think we'll get it back.

But, I have to admit that German sort of disappoints me sometimes. And now is one of those times. In German there doesn't seem to be disctinct words for ape and monkey; they are both just “Affen.” Now this might not seem like a big deal, but the biologist in me is sort of irked by this. German has a separate verb form you use when you rephrase what someone else has said, but it can't muster distinct words for ape and monkey?!

What, you may ask, is the difference between an ape and a monkey? Well there are lots, but in the case of, say, humans and macaques, I can list some interesting points. First of all macaques, which are monkeys, have cheek pouches. Macaques also don't have the same range of hand motion humans do. You can touch your thumb to all of your other fingers; macaques can't. On the downside, you don't (shouldn't) have fangs like a macaque. But macaques can't spin their arms around like we can.

Despite the linguistic shortcomings, I was really excited to see the monkeys and to get to touch them. If you're ever near the Bodensee, check out the Affenberg.