So we all know Germany is a quite organized place and is also well known as being an environmentally conscious society. Well let me tell you how these two things combine. There are laws enforcing the separation of trash. An average building has 4 trashcans. The green one is for paper, ok normal and straight forward. The yellow is plastic and metal. Ok, well I was told that the butcher paper with paper on one side and a plastic film to help protect the meat must itself be separated to be thrown away. There is a brown one for bio trash, old food and such. And a black for ‘everything else’. Oh and I’m not talking separate trashcans inside the house, but city approved colored bins to get picked up.
There is apparently a whole set of rules of what goes where and what needs to be separated from what, but I’m not up on them so I just try. However yesterday was trash pickup in town. So after work walking to meet friends there are trashcans on the streets. I saw a guy looking in the cans, opening the lids and staring inside. Oh, not such an unusual thing right? Homeless? Well maybe, except he seemed well dressed and groomed and was carrying a bag from a local department store. So while possible he was looking for something, it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he was just checking up on his fellow citizens.
That he would through a similar tantrum as if he found a dead body in the trash as if noticed someone had carelessly tossed an aluminum plate in with the bio trash. That he felt compelled by the rules of society to make sure the law is being followed.
I was in a small town a few weeks ago looking for a medieval beer festival. In walking around I came across a nice little green lawn and park. In this park stood a sign, typical of most parks asking people not to litter. Except in firmly printed german the sign begged people to take their trash home and separate it according to environmental protection laws. So there was not even provided trash bins in the park, but patrons are encouraged not to litter and to take their half eaten sandwiches home to separate properly. The funny thing is that here if there is a sign, people will probably do just that.
I still have the feeling sometimes in the end they toss it all together in one bin anyway.
Ok. Beer is central to the german culture. This is quite widely known, and for very good reason. However due to some issues with latenight violence, Freiburg put an alcohol ban into effect. Before you go all prohibition on me, hear what this ban is. After 10 on weekends you are not allow to have open alcohol on a few streets near the university with a bunch of bars. Bars inside are not affected. Sound like any country we know? And of course this, what I see as tiny, thing has gotten people up in arms here. The only sticking point I can see if that we do have an indoor smoking ban, so you wouldnt be able to smoke outside with a beer.
The thing I think is neat/odd is that apparently someone hired a law firm in Karlsruhe to fight against it. They are claiming the ability to drink alcohol is part of unlimitable rights to the public use of streets and squares.(loosely translated anyway) Isn’t that strange?
I bought a bike last weekend. It’s taken me over 6 months, but I’m finally join the mass of bike riders in town. Apparently Freiburg is the premier bike riding city in Germany. I haven’t really ridden a bike since I was a kid, so over 10 years, if you discount the one Saturday while I was in Cary. So it is a bit of a challenge to remember, along with all the rules and cars and things. Guess I’m lucky this is such a bike friendly place.
So I know it was been hot lately in NC, but we’ve had a cold streak here. They call it a Sheep’s Cold, sort of how we would call something an Indian Summer. When the cold comes back after having seen some of summer. However it is supposed to be over now, I can see sun again this morning. Even ‘cold’ here at this point has meant 70s, so not intolerable just a little brisk for mid June.
Otherwise life is fine. Enjoying myself. As some of you know I have started Salsa classes. It’s weird thinking of me dancing, but it is a lot of fun. Start my next round this Sunday, the middle class from my beginners one. So it is again a bit scary as I really don’t think I’m ready, but I’ll try anyway.
So I don’t really post often, but I should. Good stuff in my life lately. I’m enjoying my job and just got a new project this week which is always exciting. A freind of mine suggested I take a dance class. So I month or so ago I signed up for Salsa class. I’ve gone to two classes so far and I understand the appeal. With a good partner it is quite fun. I still only know like 4 steps and get confused and lost often, but whenit works its great. So maybe there will be pictures of me dancing at some point in the future. Maybe far future, as I still don’t really like having my picture taken.
Its finally SPRING here. Its all warm and stuff even in the evenings which is really cool. And we are so far north that there is light on the horizon until 10:30pm. And it isn’t even mid May, so it will get better. It makes going to bed harder, but more enjoyable in the evening to be out. The “beachpool”(Strandbad in german) is open around the corner from me. So I will have to go look at that at some point. It is a field with trees and a pool and waterslide, atleast that is what I can see on google maps.
They have a lotof nice holidays here. I had last Thursday as a holiday, and I get next Monday, and May 22. They are all Catholic holidays I don’t really understand, but still free time off. Oh, and May 1 was actually Labor Day as well. There was some grumbling here because it fell on the same day as a Catholic day, so we got ‘cheated’ out of a day. Haha. On the down side, there aren’t any holidays in June it seems, and only one in July. Maybe I’ll have to take a week of vacation and go to Italy. I end my tryout period in June, so I should be able to take normal vacation without too much worry.
Odd things, I just killed 28 Spam comments from my blog. Good thing I had approve comments on. Strange people in the world trying to spam my tiny little corner.
Oh and I turned 30 a few weeks ago. It was a great night. I had 10 people come to my ‘forget Im getting older party’ and it was a blast. I didn’t even have a hangover the next day. There was cake and brownies and yeast-dough-people all brought from people. I have wonderful friends here. I am still thinking I want to get a tattoo. My friend knows a guy in Basel that is supposed to be really good, so this summer maybe.
Ok, enough for now. PS I found a neat online game… http://skyrates.net Its Pirates in the Sky. You queue up a bunch of flight legs and it plays out in real time. So my guy is trading and flying around while I sleep and work.
My friend Karen had her baby this last week. So congrats to Karen, Paul, and their daughter Olivia.
