Inauguration thoughts

Its really difficult to derive complete thoughts or sentences about watching the inauguration of the 44th president. But I can begin with a bit of background.

Germans, for the most part, love Obama. In fact, most people outside the US adore Obama. But there is something to note about their love of Obama....they know who Obama is and much about the country that elected him. How many US citizens can say they know the Chancellor of Germany (hint, infamous backrub moment with #43)? How many people know the prime minister of England, which is supposedly our biggest trade partner and ally in the war on terror? Even more so, how many people can name people in Chinese leadership? (Especially important considering that China holds the loans for over 500 billion dollars in US debt) On the other hand, there are few pople in the world that can not name the 43rd and 44th presidents of the US. What is even more telling is that German citizens can often provide more information on US politics (including VP Joe Biden's home state) than German politics. In fact, most countries all over the world could debate the strength and weaknesses of the two main (and some minor) parties. The cititens knew enough to actually prefer one candidate over another. There are not many people outside of Germany that can give an opinion of the Social Democratic Party versus the Christian Democratic Union. One thing the 2008 election confirmed is that the United States of America is incredibly relevant for global politics.

But the global impact of Obama's election and inauguration have been discussed in many articles and many blogs by people much more qualified than me. (just google global reaction to Obama to find a few). I want to focus on thoughts that are unique to my situation.

Just like many expats, and quite a few Americans, I watched the inauguration proceedings online. I logged on to the cnn/facebook partnership around 1pm German time which was 6am EST so I beat the internet traffic jam that others experienced later. My initial reaction was one of annoyance. The commentators at CNN (and I believe all US stations) kept talking about the peaceful change of power that can only take place in the US. So the election of new parties in nearly every Western European nation doesn't count? Great Britain recently elected the first Scottish Prime Minister, switching the center of British power from London to the Scotts (remember Braveheart?). Nobody died in the transition. The inauguration coverage reminded me about all the reasons why Western Europeans consider Americans to be so self-centered. However, I realized that inauguration day was special so I pushed my annoyance to the side to focus on the exciting day.

I logged into the cnn/facebook interface in hopes of connecting with friends and colleagues back in the states who would share comments as the action took place. Sadly, very few of my friends could log in, so I basically had to watch the proceedings alone. Since I was at work, I had to keep up appearances, so I wrote job scripts while listening to Obama's speech. Thus I did not cry or even tear up during the speech. Keeping with the annoyance theme, I actually grew angry at Obama for making such grandiose claims about the specialness of the US. However, after the speech concluded, it hit me, Obama is really my president. I no longer have to listen to 30 minute diatribes about how President Bush's policies have ruined the world. Although I was never afraid to say, 'Ich bin Amerikanerin', I no longer have to wait for the inevietable statement, 'Your president is an idiot.' (heard many times in my travels). I finally have a president that not only understands global culture, he experiences it through his own family (See Obama's family tree). Someone who realizes that our decisions impact not only Joe the Plumber in Ohio, but Soli the seamstress in Indonesia and Chie the Car parts factory worker in China. America's role is no longer just to provide prudent leadership to American citizens, but to global citizens, because the globe impacts America as well.

Because I was unable to celebrate with friends in the US, I decided to throw a spontaneous celebration with my housemates. After a quick run to the supermarket, I returned with 4 bottles of wine and several types of cheeses and set up a spread in the shared kitchen. I grabbed the arms of every person who entered and said 'Ich habe einen neuen Präsident!' Most people smiled and moved on, but about 7 people sat down and partook of my meager feast. Between these 7 people, 7 nationalities were represented. Every one wanted to talk about the new president (see, the US is relevant!) and provided several interesting comments. The conversation lasted for 3 hours and took place in German, English, and French while we watched parade coverage in German.

The conversation that stuck most in my mind focused on the party atmosphere for the US election. One person said, 'The US is the only country where the inauguratioin of a democratic transfer of power resembles that of a dictatorship.' I stopped cold in my tracks. 'Is this guy comparing the US to North Korea?' I thought. It turns out he was not. Part of his comment meant that he was a little jealous that German people and the world would never express that much excitement of the election of a new Chancellor. I responded that I was grateful to be a citizen of a country that captivates the rest of the world. In makes it harder to become homesick and means that I will always be able to converse with people about I feel passionate about (my home country). The rest of his comment dealt with the faith that Americans put into their democratically elected leaders, which provided a very interesting criticism. In his perspective, Americans spend more time electing leaders than actually following what the leaders do. Thus, we place all the responsibility on our elected leaders and none of the responsibility on ourselves.

The US is a democracy, meaning that we have the right to elect our leaders, but we also have the responsibility to lead ourselves. By placing a large amount of trust and all the responsibilty into our leaders, we become people under a democratic dictatorship. Thus, when I went back to watch Obama's inauguration speech two days later, I started to cry. Obama's speech discussed how our leaders have sometimes failed us, but emphasized that its time for individuals to take responsibilty for their actions. We need to 'Pick OURSELVES up, dust OURSELVES up, and begin again the work of renewing America'.

Obama's speech inspired me to go from a self-absorbed student trying desperately to experience an American inaugurationto celebrating a party with people from all over the world. Although I may not agree with everything Obama does, I am overjoyed to have a president who speeches inspire me to become a better American, even a continent away.

North American Tour

I will begin my tour of the North American continent today. I start with 6 days in KY, then 6 days in Seattle, followed by 6 hours in cincinnatti, then Frankfurt on January 6th. Perhaps the many plane rides will give me a chance to catch up on blog posts.

In other news, I just returned from a brief (28 hours) trip to Berlin and I can now report that I can not wait to go back and visit the city again, its a pretty cool town. See you on the other side of the pond.

Weihnachtsmarkt!

The Germans looooooove Christmas and celebrate it well. Every Saturday before Advent, nearly every city turns a (or many) pedestrian square(s) into a city of wooden stands for an event called the Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market. Unlike christmas markets in the states that stay open for a few hours on a weekend, German Christmas markets are open every day, even on Sundays when traditional shops are closed.

The Christmas market is more than just a place to shop, its a place to connect with other people in the city. You meet up with friends from across town over a steaming glass of Glühwein (mulled wine) and a freshly cooked bratwurst on a warm Kaiser roll. Instead of sitting by a warm fire, you stomp your feet in freshly fallen snow and warm your hands with the stone Glühwein mug. I have never experienced anything like it in the US and I doubt that I ever will again.
The Germans tell me that every Weihnachtsmarkt is different. At first I didn't believe them because Andy and I visited 7 Weihnachtsmarkts in Germany and all we saw were the same ornaments, the same offers of Glühwein mit suss (hot wine with rum) and the same crowds. Now, after taking the time to visit the Marburg Weihnachtsmarkt twice a week, I realize that the markets really do differ greatly, even markets within the same city! Each market designs different stalls (Nuremberg has cloth and wood stands while Bonn has singing animals) and features a special food or treat that distinguishes it from the rest. (Berlin features currywurst) Some markets, like the Kölner Weihnachtsmarkt in front of the Cologne Cathedral, are placed in absolutely stunning locations.

Marburg has two Weihnachtsmarkts, one next to the 600 year old Elisabethkirche and another next to the 500 year old Rathaus (city hall). The market next to city hall draws college students to the only Glühwein stand open after 8pm while the Elisabethkirche market draws families and the over 30 crowd. The stands in the lower part of the city are mostly made of logs while the stands in the other market are mostly planks. Both markets are charming and beckon me to visit often. Even though the Marburg Weihnachtsmarkt is small and somewhat pathetic when compared to the great tourist attractions of Nuremberg and Cologne, I find that it has a charm unequaled by any other. I love visiting the Weihtnachtspyramid (shown to the right with Maria) and I love visiting the Rathaus at night. I will be really sad to see these markets leave in one week. :-(

I am a horrible blogger

Hi readers,

I am soooo sorry for taking so long to post another entry. Many ideas for a blog post have come to mind, but I never developed the post to fruition. I promise to do better. Since its been a while since I last posted, let me give a few updates.

Update 1: Doctor's visits
Over the course of 8 weeks I had 6 doctor's appointments, 4 ultrasounds, two rounds of blood tests, and an endoscopy and still no idea what is going on. All tests came back showing that I was in perfect health. The first doctor I visited said that the stomach pains and nausea were most likely physcosomatic and told me to take a vacation. The second doctor thinks that I have stones in my ears that cause naseau and the stomach pains were completely unrelated. He told me to come back when the nasuea returns, except not on Wednesdays because his office isn't open on Wednesdays. The nausea has only returned twice in the last month but of course it only comes on Wednesdays (or weekends). For the time being, I am feeling 100% better. In fact, I started feeling better the day before my last appointment. Hopefully whatever affected me is gone for good but if it comes back I now know that I have two (english speaking) doctors I can talk to. In addition, one of the doctor's offices is right across the street from the best bakery in town, so if I HAVE to visit the doctor again, I can always treat myself to a yummy cake.

Update 2: Watching the election in Germany
Like most Americans (and many Europeans) I stayed up all night to watch the election. I started a blog entry (with pictures) but never finished it. I will finish the post later tonight and post it to this blog, just one month late.

Update 3: Andy and Clair visited
My fiance and another very dear friend visited me in Germany during the last half of November. I hope to post a blog entry about the highlights of their visit. It was really nice to have a taste of home.

Update 4: Christmas is here!
The German Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkts) are now open. So far I have been lucky enough to visit 7 of them! I hope to visit at least 3 more before Christmas. I will post pictures and thoughts about this fantastic German tradition.

Update 5: I am going home for Christmas
My family had hoped to come to Germany for Christmas but due to the fact that both of my sisters and myself plan on getting married next year, my family can't come. Instead, I will be traveling back to US for two weeks over the Christmas break. Perhaps the break will give me time to catch up on my blog. :-) It also means that I only have 15 more days to soak up all the German Christmas spirit I can.

I should get back to work now as I have a very important paper due in 2 days and 12 hours. I promise to post more often now.

Fall comes to marburg

Fall is my favorite time of year in Kentucky. The weather cools down and the trees begin to change color, changing boring drives into spectacular view after spectacular view. I never thought anything could compare to a Kentucky fall. I was wrong.

Marburg is a city of tree covered hills. The hills are extremely steep so when you look from the city center, you see nothing but a rainbow of trees around you. In addition, many city paths lead you on golden trails, covered with freshly fallen leaves. The effect can literally force your mouth from a smile to a frown. I posted some of these pictures on facebook. You can see the photos from the public link below.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2477929&l=f5b2e&id=1920556

As I told one friend earlier this week. "Don't hate me because Marburg is beautiful!" ;-)

First doctor's visit

I had my first experience at a German doctor this week. For the last few weeks I've felt a bit (or more) out of sorts. I've had nausea, but I never threw up. I've had stomachaches, but nothing that kept me awake at night. But after changing my diet, sleeping more, and avoiding spicy foods, the symptoms continued. So I said to myself, "if the symptoms persist for one more week, I will go to the doctor".

I said that 4 weeks ago.

After one week, I still didn't feel better, so I said, I'll go to the doctor tomorrow, after I look up the German word for nausea (der Brechreiz). The next day, I woke up and felt bad, but I said, I don't know remember the word for stomach (der Magen) so I can't go yet. The next day I woke up and said, I have an essay due next week, so I don't have time to go to the doctor. On the fourth day, I realized that I forgot the word for nausea (hasn't changed, still der Brechreiz), so I didn't go. You get the idea. I kept finding reasons that I couldn't go to the doctor.

Now in the US, everyone gives reasons on why they should not to go to the doctor, but trying to go to the doctor in a foreign country is a completely different issue. For one, you have no idea where to find a doctor, and if you do find a doctor, how do you know that the doctor is good? Does your host country have high standards for doctors? Second, you find a doctor, but you end up misdiagnosed because either you don't explain your symptoms well enough in the local language or your doctor doesn't understand English as well as he/she thinks. Third, and probably the most intimidating is, how am I supposed to pay?

For me, the answer to the doctor and language questions were easily answered, I just contacted another Fulbright fellow who had already visited an English speaking doctor in town. The third question was also easy, the German Fulbright Kommission bought private health insurance for all Fulbright fellows. Since private insurance covers all none pre-existing conditions all I had to do was show my letter of insurance.

But the process was intimidating. It was hard enough for me to find the courage to visit the doctor, even though most of my questions were answered. I can not imagine the fear in a new immigrant when faced with illness. How do they know who to trust? How will they pay? How will they explain their symptoms when they can barely order bread at the supermarket without making grammatical mistakes? What if they say the pain is in their toe when they meant to say their hip hurts? At the very least, the Fulbright experience thus far has given me the opportunity to understand some of the struggles facing people new to a country, which I know will affect my decisions in the future.

As for the doctor's appointment. I finally visited the doctor this past Monday. After some tests, the doctor (fluent in English), gave me some medicine and scheduled another appointment for the following Monday. The medicines have not helped yet but I'm holding out hope that they will. I will update with more information as I have it.

paperwork and blah

I feel like I've been in a fog ever since I returned from Austria. For one, I was completely exhausted after the trip so it took a few days to recover. Second, all the Fulbrights left last week so I've been at a loss as to what I should do for fun. Third, Marburg has been under fog or rain for most of the last week. Because of the fog, I have a very very very difficult time waking up in the morning, which means when I do wake up (typically 2-3 hours later than I intended), I ended running around like crazy to get to place I wanted to be at 2 hours earlier. It stinks. (and my room stank for a little while after I spilled some machiato flavored soy milk on a pair of slippers, it took me 3 days to figure out the cause of the smell, phletcht)

In addition, my days have been rather boring. The highlight of the last 4 days was going to the registration office in the middle of town (20 min bus ride each way) to try to find Frau H., the Foreign student person (secretary, adminstrator, your guess is as good as mine). The first two times I visited the office with Frau H's name on the door, I was told (in german of course) that Frau H. was in orientation. When Frau H. returned, she would be in the office next door, the office with someone else's name on it. I tried to ask what day Frau H would return only to receive no response. The third time, I visited the office that did not have Frau H's name on the door. I start shoving paperwork in her hands and she looks at me like...what are you doing here? I show her my acceptance letter and said, I am new. She looks at me and says (in german of course), you need to visit Frau H, who is in the office with her name on it. My german skills were not too the point that I could explain that I went to her office because the person in Frau H's office told me that Frau H would be in the office without Frau H's name on it. Thus, she looked at me like I couldn't read (I can read a little German) or I was a rude American (I try hard not to live up to the stereotype).

So, I left the 'wrong' office to stand outside the office for Frau H. The door opens and out walks the lady who told me that I needed to go to the office next door. Guess who this lady is, its none other than Frau H! Frau H was in her office the whole time! The lady should be glad that my German was not good enough to start explaining my grieviences. Plus, I'd spent over 2 hours in the last week trying to finish this paperwork, so at this point I just wanted to finish the paperwork and get back to my room to shower (I woke up late, again, so I had to rush out of my room before showering) and then return to lab. After 10 minutes, my accounts were arranged and I finally received my semester ticket, which enables me to travel all over Hesse (including Kassel and Frankfurt) for free. :-)

So, that's how boring my life is right now. The highlight is succesfully filing my German university paperwork. Now that I have my semester ticket (and money in my German bank account), I can travel. Anyone want me to come visit? (preferably on the European continent)