The day we choose to leave Serrig, after our two month stay with Nicole’s parents, was fantastic weather. I had been told all week that if it rains on Saturday it will be because the clouds are crying when we leave. I liked this image – so was upset to see that the clouds had not even bothered to turn up let alone cry.
I think I have mentioned before but one of the things most people associate with the British is bad weather – within 5 minutes of meeting someone new there is usually a joke about raining Cats and Dogs. I try to do my best to get rid of this stereotype – by pointing out that we have less rain in London than there is in Rome each year. Telling people that it is just a perception and that it is not true – this never works – they look like they believe me – but next time I see them – A British weather joke again. (Incidentally I have found this stereotype is so strong that even the British believe it – there is no way to get rid of it – yet if you actually write down and notice the weather over a month I think you will be surprised.)
It has been great for me that the weather in Germany has been awful the time that we have been there – I think that there were only 4 sunny days – the rest cloudy and rainy (there really has been a lot of rain!). So I have managed to convince people that perhaps the weather is the same in Germany and the UK – an achievement over two months!
In the future I will work on other silly stereotypes that still get taught at school:
The British have a cup of afternoon tea each day at 4pm
We are very traditional people with lots of heritage who don’t like change
Everyone has perfect stripes on their lawn
Finally a mention of a couple of things the British are referred to in Germany. We are called “The Island Monkeys”, Tommies and Beefeaters among others.
The basic manifesto this guy has is that there is a huge “Cognitive Surplus” out there that is not being used – it is mostly be wasted watching TV and spending time being passive. He likens TV watching to alcohol consumption and the Industrial Revolution – saying that people needed Gin then to cope with having too many people around them. TV watching has been the way to cope with having too much spare time in the post world war II lives we need.
Clay thinks that the internet is being to create ways to better use the time when we are not working – wikipedia being a very constructive example of the “cognitive surplus” being used and not wasted.
He also thinks the next generations are waking up to live in this world and are treating TV watching as a previous generation started treating alcohol and substance abuse during the industrial revolution.
I forgot to mention in my posting about May 1st about the night before – Mischief Night.
This is another great invention – once it is dark people lurk around and play mischief on others – simple things like throwing loo roll all over a garden – to planting trees and stealing door mats etc – but all great fun.
I didn’t get to find out about this until 1:30 int he morning on the way home from visiting people – how much fun could have been had with just a little preperation – still there is always a chance we might visit next year :-D
I have heard of this is in the UK – but I can’t remember the night. My mum has told me about similar things happening in York – but I don’t know if this is wider spread in Yorkshire or any other places “up north”.
Having previously seen how Germans celebrate on Shrove Tuesday (and the weeks before it) and compared that to our tradition of eating pancakes – I’ve been thinking about why we don’t put the same effort into celebrating events.
I still have no idea – but just before we left Germany I was lucky enough to get involved in another great holiday that is humdrum in the UK – but really made into something special in Germany (and most other European countries).
I should first explain how public holidays work in Germany. Unlike the UK, holidays are held on the day they are associated with no – the next Monday. So May the 1st in Germany is the public holiday – not the first Monday in May as it is for us. This is an interesting system and has plus points and negative points. A big negative is that when May 1st falls on a weekend – you don’t get a holiday. A even worse example is when for some reason two holidays clash on the same day. This year May 1st was on Ascension Day – which is another holiday in Germany – so rather than have two public holidays there was only 1!.
Now Ascension Day is the day that has been turned into a great celebration – this is ignored in the UK – but in Germany – the men have hijacked it – and it is Father’s day. When I say father’s day – it really is – no mucking around with cards and that sort of malarky – men get a cart – fill it with bottles of beer and go off into the woods for a day of walking and drinking (no need to tell you which one is done the most!).
We joined the Brass band of Serrig for a 2.5 hour walk from Serrig to Saarhoelzbach – where there was festival for the day – mostly oompah music but still enjoyable food, drink and company.
So why don’t we celebrate with such enthusiasm – I still have no idea – but next bank holiday – book a flight to Germany and no matter where you go there is likely to be a good simple party! :-D
We went out for a great walk on Sunday up to a rocks that sticks out from high above the other side of the river.
Here are some photos of the great views:
I carried the rucksack with Lunch and some water in it – not realising that we didn’t have enough water and that we had way too much food – for four people we had 11 sausages, 80 meatballs and 2 loafs of bread – not suprisingly I carried a lot of it back down!
Hanne and Rudi decided not to climb to the top of the rock – I didn’t realise why until halfway up the very scary climb up on worn out steps!
On the way home we walked past the impressive lock that I mentioned we went through when my mum came to visit – 14m high – making it the second highest in Europe!
After eating bread and sausages for lunch – it wouldn’t hve been a typical German day if it didn’t involve a beer at the end of it – so we stopped in the pub on the way home!
My mum came to visit in Germany and a good time was had by all – it took quite a while to organise before hand as there were passport problems and other such things – but it was all worth it in the end.
Apart from seeing mum and for her to get a better understanding of Nicole’s background and Germany – it was also nice to be able to do more tourist type things – in the four days mum and Graham were in Germany I learnt more about the region that I had been able to manage in the past 4 years of knowing about Serrig.
We visited Trier, Sarrburg (which although only a 10 minute drive away – we rarely visit the centre of – only the shops!), Kastel on the cliffs opposite Serrig and took a boat trip up the Saar to Mettlach – through the second biggest lock in Europe (14m).
The whole visit was great and it was a shame to say goodbye again.
OK it is a Friday night at 10 past 11 and I am updating my blog – so not all can be good – but it is!
We now feel settled in our new flat in Valencia – it has been a hard few weeks since my last update.
Mostly spent socialising, packing and working – fun but exhausting I shall try to put up a few posts about more things that I learnt whilst in Germany before starting on the Spanish stories!
I’ve tried with other pictures and words to describe Serrig but I think this picture captures it all:
It is lucky that the photographer (my mum) got the boat on the river as this sets a scale for the river also.
Click on the picture to get a better look. You can see that Serrig is not that large on the bend of a river and all on the side of a valley. If you look carefully at the photo you can also see in the distance along the river Saarburg the nearest town.
It is amazing how those that live here seem to miss the beauty of the place – it is just every day to them – but for me wonderful.
Am very grateful for the 2 months that I have had here – shame it will soon end.
Tennis was great yesterday, we saw two full matches in the centre court and watched the city’s best tennis player Juan Carlos Ferrero practicing. He has been responsible for also creating the Valencia Open which is only 6 years old. This is the last year it will be held where it was held yesterday – next year it will move location and time of the year. The location is great as it will be only a short walk from our new flat, the time will be November. It will also become a Open 500 tournament which means that it is only behind the Grand Slam tournaments and the masters series for prize money and points, and therefore will attract the top tennis stars.
Today we are going to try and get tickets for the football this evening, but we are not sure how easy that will be. We know where the stadium is as we looked at a flat right next door to it. The strange thing here is that football matches start at 10pm – so we plan to watch the game and then go for a curry on our final night here in April.
We spent yesterday walking Valencia, not the old town and bits we had done before – but from the old town to our new neighbourhood. Along the park in the old river bed.
We saw the local places in our Barrio (I’ll explain that term another time) – the local fruit shops, butchers, bakers, bars and coffee shops.
Got a feel for the neighbourhood and walked down to the beach also.
After going to look at the flat in the evening, we decided to celebrate in true English style in a local curry house. Unfortunately we forgot that nothing serving food really opens here until at least after 8 if not later and we were a little too early.
So we caught a bus back to the old town and headed for another place we had been recommended – a taps bar near the one of the main squares. Wonderful – fairly cheap, nice maze-like interior and a the food was quite good. It was amusing to see that yet again Nicole managed to find a place next to some Germans (this is a curse that has haunted her ever since she came to the UK, she seems to never be more than 10 metres from another German – she hates it (-: ).
Today we are off to find out about the Valencia Tennis Open (see here) we are not sure what to expect but it must be better than the Milton Keynes Open or the Serrig Open (Nicole’s village).
