An open letter to the Aachener Stadtbetrieb

Dear Aachener Stadtbetrieb,

Hello there. Since you are the office responsible for keeping the streets of this former imperial city clean, I thought I'd extend you a little thank you. Not only do you keep the streets of Aachen in true 'natural' conditions (just like the Middle Ages!) you also trim the bushes and trees in front of my tree-lined street.

In fact, so good at your job at the second task you are, that you have decided to begin cutting back trees and bushes at 6:45 IN THE MORNING. Excellent. Now in addition to waking up to the sounds of horns honking, traffic being blocked and garbage trucks, I can also be blessed with the sultry sounds of weed whackers and lawn mowers early in the morning. Whew! Thank you! I was afraid that I'd actually have to wake up 'in peace,' whatever that means.

I'm not actually sure what inspired you and your office of talented workers to pursue such a strategy of gardening at seven am (height of morning traffic!) but its a real nice touch. In a country where noise is strictly controlled (no moving, mowing grass or other loud noises on Sundays or between 1-3pm daily in some parts) you really stick out. Thank you for being a leader in the 'stick it to the man' industry.

I love how you are effectively using my 19% sales tax and 41% income tax to keep the streets clean. I like to think of the excessive amount of dog excrement as a challenge and practice for my future jogs in the landmine field that is the demilitarized zone between N. and S. Korea.

So, until you find another way to make life yet more pleasurable, I bid you adieu.

With best regards,
Christopher

T-minus Two years to QLC

Today I celebrate my 23rd birthday. Which means in two years I can celebrate my 'quarter life crisis.' I think the term QLC is actually misleading. What percentage of the population actually lives until 100. I think its rather possible for my generation (all things being equal, pollutants, nuclear fall out, etc) to average in the high 90's or early 100's as medical technology continues to progress and we learn of the best way to manage our human vessels. My Great-grandfather celebrated in April his 95th birthday. Man is quite fit and I'm hoping to celebrate his 100th with him. Still drives, paints his house, mows his grass and cooks his own food. When you stop living, you start dying. I admire him.

No big plans today. I have to work until nine o'clock tonight, so plans to celebrate where promptly executed. Thursday however will be dinner with some colleagues. The real festivities are this weekend when a friend of mine is coming to visit. A year ago I celebrated my 22nd in Ohio with my family. My Mother had a cake made with a German flag on it that said "I hope your dreams come true." At the time, it was a dream to live in Germany. A week after my birthday, I got the call for the job in Aachen. Hard to believe its been a year. When I think of the past year, I'm defintley a bit wiser I think. I'm more adept at life in general. Knowing how to do things. I realized that I can be independent and am proud of myself for functioning independently in a foreign country. No, its not Thailand or Rwanda or something but it is difficult sometimes. Sadly, I'm not a year richer. Maybe next year.

I think for my QLC I'll buy a BMW, date four women at once and vow to avoid marriage for another ten years (but probably only last five). Or maybe the opposite. Buy a house in the burbs, mail-order a bride and buy a mini-van. Time, my friends, can only tell.

WANTED: My Summer back (alive)

Its cold. This entire summer we had only about two days where it could be considered to be a real 'summer.' What about days at the lake or the coast? Running around in shorts and short-sleeves and not worrying about getting chilled once the sun sets? What about days of sunshine and not rain?

Now I've accepted Aachen weather for what it is, but I really do need a couple days of warm weather. I woke up to 52 degrees this morning, shivering. It looks beautiful outside right now but I've been promised by weather.com that this is surely temporary and the 60% chance of rain is still way too valid. I wish it would stay nice, the Aachen Weinfest (Wine Festival) is taking place this weekend and its hard to sample fine wines if you have to hold an umbrella in one hand and your glass in the other.

Außer Betrieb (just for the weekend)

After my three o'clock class today, I'm heading to visit my dear friend Holly who lives in Osnabrück which is near Münster. I can't wait to spend the weekend hanging out, catching up and exploring a new German city.

Plus, I have to vent. I saw in my bank account today, the German government happily took their €50 from my account to pay for the next three months of the TV and Radio tax. The greatest travesty, ever.

Dear Western Powers

Dear Western Powers,

Wow. I want to take this opportunity to really hand it to you. You've taken the last twenty years of development and in just under a year have managed to throw it down the drain.

Never before has Western society been in such a predicament like we are today. Georgia is being invaded by a Putin (read: KGB) led Russia, oil prices are still high and any response by Europe will result in Putin turning off the gas valves this winter.

Great.

Then recently European investors have invested billions of Euros in Russia. I want to know who thought this was a good idea. How many Bulga Caviar farms do we need? You can trust the Russians about as much as you can trust the Big Bad Wolf. We've done it to ourselves. We've outsourced our economies, we've allowed Russia to take stock in our natural gas reserves and now our economies are under threat of recession and inflation.

So EU, NATO and US...what are you going to do? Tell Russia no?

Waiting for your reply,
Every concerned citizen, everywhere.

Silly Russians

The Russians are going to roll their tanks right into Europe.

I can see it now. Putin is what we refer to as a 'strongman" His considerable deft in International Relations is no mistake. Not to mention, he's just ballsy.Vlad is using the timing perfectly, with a US engaged in military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan and needing support from Russian on the Iran Nuclear issue, there is no global police ready to spring board to the Georgian's safety. Unfortunately for the Georgian's they are going to have to figure this one out for themselves.

I'm not surprised that Putin rolled his troops into Georgia. Georgia is one of the few former Soviet Bloc countries that had the wherewithal to be a leader in economics and democratic change after the fall of the Wall. Not to mention its pro-Western (read: American) government has been a huge supporter of the US in its Middle East efforts. As an reward, Georgia received military training and arms from the US. Let's hope they put some of them to use now.

Putin is a crazy sob.

The Viennese Diaries

I've got to get better about updating. I've been lazy lately and not had much interest in updating. Although I've got so many things I'd like to write about, I just need to sit down and put them into coherent sentences.

Vienna was nice. The short 90 minute flight to Vienna was a good sign of things to come as the lovely Lufthansa stewardess served me a chilled wine on my flight. Thats the way to start a flight in my opinion. Arriving slightly delayed in Vienna I started my stay there with a view of Vienna at night from a hilltop wine cafe. Seriously, this place was ridiculously hard to find but once we found it in the hills and bushes of Austria, the view was fantastic. The clear night skies afforded a view of the entire city below. The St. Jakob's Church and various other Vienna monuments stuck out into the night air. It was really great.
<--(Kunst Haus Wien)
The next morning Ines had to visit her Oma in her hometown from three hours away. I was given the house key and told to have fun. That I did. I spent hours pursuing the artistic genius of The Albertina and Hundertwasser's Kunst Haus Wien. I learned some interesting facts about class European painters like Monet and was further educated on the Russian impressionist movement. The Albertina had several Monet's on display, I wasn't aware of that until I accidentally stumbled into their impressionist wing. I was also exposed to much of Klee's work, something I had never studied before. Kunst Haus Wien was an alternative to keep me from feeling stuffy in Vienna. Alternative modern art and design was really quite interesting. The floor of KHW is not flat. Several pitches in the floor offer a cascading effect of about six inches. Walking the floor is an experience in and of itself.

However, Vienna is a city of lush green parks and plenty of monuments to their imperial past. It is said that if aliens landed in Vienna, they would think that it is the capital of the world. I can imagine that. My favorite part of Vienna is the Museum Quartier. This hip, alternative section of Vienna is located in the middle of all of the Museums in Vienna. Many cafe's and plenty of sitting area offers a great view of modern architecture and fountains offer the sound of rushing water to slow you down. My trip to Vienna wouldn't have been complete without a visit to The Leopold and the Vienna Museum of Modern Arts. Sadly, I wasn't as impressed with MOMUK (Modern Arts) as I was hoping to be. They did have a nice exhibit on 1970's US university culture (demonstrations, etc).
<---part of Museum Quartier

The Leopold is the home of the largest collection of Scheile paintings. His turn of the century paintings were some of the first examples of modernist art. Much of his early work was denounced as being too provocative and sexual in nature. I can understand why. He was also quite narcissistic. I counted at least five self-portraits, many of them nude. I didn't know that he died at the age of 28 from the Spanish Influenza outbreak.
I enjoyed traditional Wiener Schnitzel and Sacher Torte as well. The cake really is quite good as well as the schnitzel. I had the chance to experience some of Vienna's night life too. I was pleasantly surprised to see Austrian's dancing in a disco. Something the Germans tend to shy away from. Not happy about the insane price of a drink though. Vienna is a pleasant city, one in which I could reside in if necessary. To be quite honest though, Vienna reminds me of so many other major German cities. I think they tend to take after one another. Vienna has its own special flavor to it, but I definitely spotted the similarities between the two countries. I could write so much more about the efficient underground system or their abundance of parks and good weather, however, I don't have the energy to pen it out. So, I leave you with a few pictures of Vienna in its glory.
I was sad though not to see a young Julie Andrews singing in the streets. Hmm, next time.

^Volksgarten Vienna