7th and 8th journal entries

May 24

It is now Tuesday and on Sunday evening, I came back from Munich. The ride there was fine. We actually passed through Switzerland, Austria and then came back into Germany. In Switzerland, there were a lot of roundabouts and Marinus, the driver, drove around them pretty fast - I was feeling a little bit sick, but it was okay in the end. There were 4 of us in the car, including Brakash from Nepal. We talked a lot about Nepali culture and it sounds quite interesting. I think Nepal and Canada are somewhat alike in that we both live close to a huge country and it can be easy for us to be ignored. Anyway, we got to Munich and I took the U Bahn (subway) to my host’s station. Unfortunately, I paid too much for a ticket. The Munich subway system is divided into zones and I had the impression that I would be going through 3 zones, which costs 7.50. I later found out that I should have paid 2.50. Well, I did my part for the city of Munich. Anyway, I arrived at Goetheplatz station and met my couchsurfing host, Torsten. He’s a really nice guy and his room was pretty cool. He’s done a lot of mountain hikes in France, Nepal, etc and the pictures he put up were pretty amazing. We hung out for a bit and then he had to go to work. I went with him to the hostel where he works and got a map of Munich. I walked around for a bit and went to St. Paul’s church and then I discovered a very large, open, empty space. I would later discover that this space was for Oktoberfest. It lays empty for much of the year, except for a couple of spring and summer festivals. At one end of the space, there’s a big statue and a structure with columns. Inside the structure, there are lots of sculptures of heads. It was pretty nice. Unfortunately, at that point, the clouds started coming in overhead and I started walking back to Torsten’s hostel. I saw him there and he lent me a really good rain jacket. In the area near the hostel, there are lots of Turkish shops and I bought some food to make dinner. I came back to his place and ate. Later on, Torsten’s friend Johanna came over and the 2 of us went to a Viennese style cafe. That day was Torsten’s friend Sandra’s birthday and a bunch of her friends showed up. We stayed there for awhile and it was fun. Johanna is really nice and she lives close to Berlin. She said that I could stay with her when I come.

The next day, I made pancakes for Torsten, Johanna, and I. I decided to throw a bunch of random stuff including peanuts, shredded coconut and muesli into the batter. It actually turned out pretty good, albeit a bit heavy because Torsten didn’t have any baking powder and I used wholeweat flour. We hung out for a bit and then went to the Hirschgarten, which is the largest beer garden in Munich. It was a beautiful afternoon and there were tons of people. Hirsch means male deer and apparently, there are some deer in the park, but I didn’t see them. We came there to celebrate Johanna’s brother’s friend’s birthday. Again, lots of people in our party and lots of food and beer, of course. We were there for many hours and had some really good food. I ate Obatsta, which is a kind of Bavarian style cream cheese - it’s quite good. The beers they serve there are huge - 1 litre. I shared one with Johanna and that was quite enough beer for me. Johanna and I took a walk and had an interesting conversation about WWII. She said that her family was a bit affected by the war because they had to move, but they’re not Jewish. Johanna said that the Holocaust is discussed quite a bit in Germany and it’s hard not to be confronted by it as a German citizen. It’s very strange for me because now in Germany, there are lots of towns where you would never see a Jewish person. A lot of people don‘t know that I’m Jewish whereas in Canada, some people have told me that I look Jewish. Actually, near Munich, Dachau concentration camp was established. There used to be a Jewish population in Munich, but not anymore. It’s pretty sad.

After we came back to the table, Johanna’s brother and his girlfriend were talking about being social workers in Munich. They both come from smaller towns and their parents sometimes don’t approve of their job. Much of their job includes helping the foreign population integrate. Munich has quite a few Turks and people from other countries as well.

Later on, Torsten, Johanna, and I went to another party for people living in their trucks. Torsten’s friend Frank has been living in his truck for awhile and he was able to negotiate with the city to get a large area for people living in their trucks. There are now 16 people living in this area. The atmosphere was pretty interesting. There were some alternative people with interesting clothes and hair. We stayed there pretty late and then cycled back home. In the morning, we went for the traditional Bavarian brunch, which is normally white beer and white sausage. I could not really stomach beer at 11am and of course, I wouldn’t eat the sausage. I had some orange juice and kase spatzle, another Bavarian specialty. It’s kind of like macaroni and cheese with fried onions on top. Not the best food I’ve had, but not the worst. We also had some blueberry cake with ice cream and later on, I ordered fresh strawberries with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. The strawberries were quite good. Apparently, Bavarian waiters are supposed to be a little bit rude according to Bavarian customs and our waiter forgot some people’s orders. Anyway, we stayed there for several hours and then walked back to Torsten’s house. At that point, it was time for me to go back to Konstanz. We took the same route back through Switzerland and Austria. The Alps were gorgeous.

Yesterday, I was extremely tired after talking to Nick and Yasuaki. I haven’t spoke to Yasuaki for awhile and we talked for nearly 2 hours. At that point, it was just after 2am! Anyway, it was nice to catch up. Yasuaki is thinking about coming to Canada for his PhD. He’s now doing his Master’s in England in sociology. Living in England hasn’t been that easy and I can sympathize. I think living in Canada is much easier.

Yesterday afternoon, we had a German vocabulary test and I think I did decently considering how tired I was. After class, I didn’t practice Japanese with Andreas because he had lots of work to do. I ended up eating a late lunch with Mitra from German class. She’s from Tehran and we were talking about the political situation in Iran. She’s doing her PhD in Konstanz and she said that she doesn’t intend to return. Some of her friends are in Canada and also don’t want to go back to Iran. It’s quite a difficult situation and lots of people are scared. Yesterday evening, I had dinner with Kelsa, from the US. She lives in the same residence as me. We were hoping to have Japanese food, but the restaurant was closed. We ended up going to the Irish pub and having a veggie burger (she’s also vegetarian). It was pretty good, but huge - there were 2 patties on the bun. Also, I had Spezi, which is a combination of Coke and Fanta. It was actually pretty good.

Coming up this week, I have lots of work to do and then on Friday, I’m going to Stuttgart and Freiburg to do interviews. It should be interesting...

May 31

I just came back from Stuttgart and Freiburg. On Friday, I went downtown after finding out that I had almost no credit left on my phone. It turns out that I had been making calls and sending messages on a Swiss network, thus paying more money than I should have. Also, Tchibo was supposed to put a 5 euro credit on my phone and they didn’t - sheesh! It’s been one thing after another with them. Anyway, after going to Tchibo, I met up with my ride. I used mitfahrgelegenheit again and went to Stuttgart. The drive was fine, but there was tons of traffic. We left Konstanz just after 3 and arrived around 5:30. I was dropped off in one of the suburbs of Stuttgart where the university is and then I took the subway to the main station (Hauptbahnhof). The main station has been the site of many protests because the government wanted to completely redo the station. It’s quite a disputed topic. I read that if the station is renovated, the number of platforms would be cut in half. I think the main reason why protests are taking place is because the government didn’t really consult anyone about the project. Anyway, now Baden-Wurttemberg has a new Green/SPD government and they may not go through with the project.

At the main station, my host Marcus picked me up and we went to his place. He’s able to live there for free because it’s going to be torn down at the end of the year. He’s doing his PhD in human-computer interaction. We were only able to stay at his place for a bit and then I had to go back to the suburbs to do interviews with Greenpeace volunteers. I was picked up by one of the volunteers and I attended the meeting. Then I interviewed 2 members, including the leader of the group. It was very interesting and I think the interviews went well. Jens, the leader, is finishing up his Master’s in environmental science and he’s been studying peak oil. Both he and Stephan, the other man I interviewed, had been to Japan, although it was just for business. After I interviewed them, I interviewed Jurgen at a pub. Jurgen had also been to Japan for business, but he also travelled around afterward and he visited Hiroshima. He’s quite fascinated with nuclear power and we had a good talk. I ended up staying at the pub until just past midnight. The interview we had was just over an hour. All of these volunteers are really nice and it was great to hear that they had been to Japan.

The next day, Marcus and I met up with another couchsurfer, Karina. Karina actually had dinner with my and Nick’s place in London in 2007. It was nice to see her again and she took us to a great Asian restaurant. I had some really nice deep fried sesame tofu skewers with an amazing sauce. Marcus ordered a great carrot and ginger soup. We walked around a bit after that and went to a flea market. Unfortunately, Marcus had to go to work and after being in the flea market for a bit, Karina left to spend time with her parents. I stayed in the flea market by myself and then I had to go meet another interviewee, Helena. Helena is actually a member of couchsurfing as well, so it was interesting to hear about her travels. Unfortunately, my MP3 player, which I’ve been using to record the interviews, stopped 45 minutes into the interview. I checked it and then I made some notes on paper about what she had said in the remaining 15 minutes or so. It turns out that I had only a small amount of space on the MP3 player, so I went to Media Mart and bought an SD card. After the interview was over, I went to Marcus’s place and made some dinner. He said that I could help myself to anything in his kitchen, which is quite generous I think. The system in Germany is different for PhDs - they work for a professor and get paid, but this means that it is often difficult for them to do their own work. They have to do with the professor says. Marcus is quite keen to finish the PhD and get out of Stuttgart. He doesn’t really enjoy living there and I can understand why. The city was destroyed during the war and when it was rebuilt, most of the buildings were built in the 1950s or 1960s style, which wasn’t a great time for architecture. There are a few old looking buildings, but most of the city isn’t that special. Anyway, I was supposed to meet Helena and her husband around 8pm for a concert, but they decided to stay at home. I walked around the city a bit and felt lonely - lots of couples out and I realized that it was my and Nick’s 7.5 year anniversary. Well, such is life. I met up with Marcus around 10 and we ended up at a flamenco bar, which was quite nice. I haven’t seen live flamenco since going to Spain and I really enjoy it. We stayed fairly late and then went home.

The next day, Sunday, I had made a BIG mistake. I was fiddling around with my MP3 player and I ended up erasing EVERYTHING, including the interviews and all of my music. I may be able to recover the data, but I think the chances may be slim. Marcus looked at it and found out that I can’t record onto the SD card, but it seems like I have enough room to do the rest of the interviews. If not, I guess I’ll have to buy a recorder, though the MP3 player works quite well. We’ll see what happens. In the afternoon, I ended up meeting some fellow Canadians who are studying in Stuttgart. One of them, Sara, took me up to the top of the train station to have a view of the city. Stuttgart has a TV tower you can go up, but you have to pay. Sara also took me to a park where some protesters are camping out. It was pretty interesting - some of the trees have teddy bears wrapped around them. There was also some music. We went back to the downtown area and sat in another park. Later on, Hussein and Colin, the other Canadians, showed up. We got some falafel and sat outside the restaurant. It was a really warm day and it was really nice to eat falafel again. After that, I had to go back to Marcus’s, get my things, and go to Freiburg. On the mitfahrgelegenheit website, some people travel by train and you can share a group ticket with them. There’s a special ticket for Baden-Wurttemberg that allows 5 people to travel for 30 euros, which we used. The woman who organized it, Melanie, had lived in Tanzania and it was really interesting to hear her story. We arrived in Freiburg and I met my friend Eva’s friend Hannah. Hannah and Eva’s friend Sara came to Konstanz a few weeks ago and I met them. They’re both very lovely girls. Hannah had told me that I could stay with her if I ever went to Freiburg. When I arrived in Freiburg, I realized that I had lost my grey shoulder bag, but thankfully, only my change purse was inside, so I didn’t lose my wallet. I reported it to Deutsche Bahn and hopefully I’ll be able to get it back. Anyway, Hannah, her roommate Miriam (!) and I took the tram to their house. They have a really nice place on the grounds of a church. We made some dinner and went to bed early because Hannah had class on Monday at 8. I woke up at 8:30 and then met Hannah at the university. She is a very good tour guide - she took me to the Munster, which is the main cathedral and we also visited the synagogue. The synagogue used to be next to the university, but it is now elsewhere. It’s strange because near where the old synagogue used to be, there’s a sign pointing to where the Jews were deported. The Jews in Freiburg were actually deported to a concentration camp in Gurs in the south of France. It was quite sad to see. We walked around for a bit and then went to the university. Hannah had a meeting with some of her classmates and then we had lunch at the Mensa (cafeteria). We had a pretty good specialty from the region and at the moment, I forget the name. It was a kind of pasta that was a bit mushy, but I liked it. After that, Hannah went to class and I went to an area of Freiburg called Vauban, which is actually pronounced vobon, as if it were a French word. This area is pretty alternative - lots of people share flats there and most of the area is renewably powered. Everything’s on a very small scale and I really liked it. I could imagine myself living there. After walking around there, I went back to the university and met Hannah for ice cream. It was a hot day - about 30 degrees! At 5, I had to meet Andreas from Greenpeace. We had a very good interview. He went to New Zealand a few years ago and when he came back, he completely changed his behaviour and joined Greenpeace. He had always been interested in the environment and I was so happy to see that travelling really influenced him. He had thought that New Zealand would be a really green country, but he saw what the cattle, sheep, and forestry industries are doing to the landscape and he changed his mind. Since he came back, he’s been buying organic food, fair trade clothing, and he gave up his car. I interviewed another volunteer Wolfgang who also changed his behaviour after travelling. He was in Africa for about 6 months to teach physics and he was also in South America. He said that he realized how structured life is in Germany and after being there, he really wanted to shake things up. He started going to his friends’ homes unannounced and he’s thought about moving to Africa and starting his own school. It’s hard to say if the experiences changed his environmental beliefs, but it definitely affected his life. I also interviewed Nicole and Albrecht, a married couple with a baby who joined Greenpeace together, and Eckhardt, an older man. It was very hard for Eckhardt to go into lots of detail and our interview was only 12 minutes long. Wolfgang said that my first question is too general and perhaps I should make it more specific. When I start the interview, I say, tell me a story about how you got interested in the environment and how you joined Greenpeace. Wolfgang said I should start with easy questions, but I think that these kinds of interviews are supposed to be general with lots of detail. Anyway, I’ll think about it before I go to Frankfurt next weekend for more interviews. So far, it’s really fascinating to hear people’s stories and I think this research is definitely needed.