Museums Ufer Fest 2009

This past weekend we attended Frankfurt’s famous “Museums Ufer Fest” which basically translates to “museums on the bank (of the Main River) festival”.  From Friday through Sunday we were able to pay a one-time fee of €4  each to get a button that allowed us to visit any of the 30+ museums in Frankfurt!  It was a great way to get to preview some of the great museums Frankfurt has to offer.

So at this point you’re probably thinking that we’re total nerds that spent an entire weekend in museums……………and you’re right, for the most part.  However, this museum fest turned out to be much more than we expected.  Observe…….

Friday night we crossed over the Main (pronounced “Mine”) river lit up like freakin’ Monte Carlo on both sides.  We randomly ran into our ex-pat American friends along the way, who joined us for a couple of brews while we listened to a band jam tons of American music – including hits such as “I will survive”, a Phil Collins medley, a cut from the Grease soundtrack, and “I’m so excited” (think Jessie Spano from Saved by the Bell).  Afterwards we enjoyed some freshly made crepes with Nutella (I guess it’s the equivalent of funnel cakes over here).

Ryan and Katie enjoying their crepes – our American ex-pat friends.

Us and our crepes 

Saturday we ventured down to the city to check out a couple of museums and Dragonboat Racing.  The Dragonboats were long, skinny boats with a dragon on the front and corporate crews rowing to the beat of a drumming cockswain while being steered by a person in a kilt. The pictures are worth a thousand words here…….

Click here to see the whole race bridge to bridge (only 2 minutes)

As far as museums go, we checked out the Staedel and the Schirn – a contemporary and modern art museum, respectively.  Between Saturday and Sunday we also visited the Bibel Haus museum, which aimed to allow you to experience life during Biblical times and print a page from a German Bible using the Guttenburg Press; the Archeology museum which had an excellent collection of Greek and Roman artifacts and a guy dressed up in Roman garb (pictured below); and the German History museum which mostly covered Frankfurt history and included an exhibit on Heinrich Hoffman (the creator of Struwwel Peter – a children’s book in Germany that taught kids how not to be naughty).  

Myself and a Roman soldier at the Archeology Museum

Marisa with the Staedel contemporary art museum in the background.

She is truly a work of art.

There were tons of vendors along the streets, intermingled with random stages with various musicians and DJ’s.  There was a variety of ethnic foods available and tons of hand crafts and artwork.  We landed some pretzels as big as our faces and some new artwork for our living room.  Here are a couple more pics to appreciate the festival.

See... not as nerdy as you thought!

What am I doing?

That is a great question and I find myself asking it a lot lately.  I thought I might take a break from all the event/picture sharing and share a little about what I am doing here in Frankfurt. We moved over here because Justin got a job teaching Physics at an international school here. This has been our dream to move overseas and see how schools are run in other countries and maybe, possibly get involved with people building schools later on.

So that is the dream, but this is my real life reality; Justin is in his second week of teaching and I am in my third week of looking for a job. With any job search it is a roller coaster of emotions. Some days I am so motivated and feel like I get a lot of leads and the next day I can't find anything and feel so deflated.  I do have a lot of time on my side which is very different from my life in the States. I would try and fill every free moment with a phone call, an email, or just anything. I have had so much free time that I have actually read three books since I have been here...I know crazy. 

Some of my daily tasks include running to the grocery store and other stores that sell household items because you can't get them all at one place. Laundry every other day. Cleaning the apartment, language learning, job hunting and of course reading. I also love to get out and about in the city because the weather has been amazing. I have found a great coffee shop called Coffee Fellows with free wifi and a great corner street set up to watch everyone in their busy days. But all this said I still find myself having a lot of emotions about my direction and purpose here in Frankfurt. I have crazy ideas for jobs and who knows maybe one will actually not be so crazy. It is just strange, but also quite nice.  My whole life I have rushed around and never really stopped and smelled the roses and I can actually do that here. I really feel like this is God's way of teaching me a few things about myself and some new found skills. I feel like he is teaching me how to be observant, patient, open-minded, and flexible. I also think He is giving me the time I need to listen to what He might have in store for me. I have tons of thoughts and ideas I never even would have dreamed of because I never gave myself the time to think of them. So in a way I am really enjoying this "down time", but I also have an internal battle to find a job and to find one I really will enjoy and not just one to make money while I am here. 

I have enjoyed meeting people and who knows maybe they will be new friends. My life here is in one word- different. Of course I knew this coming in that it was going to be different, but almost a month in I kind of like the different, but also don't know how to handle the different. Figuring this all out and will keep you updated.

So the job search continues and the quest for direction is on.

Marisa

Festivals and Friends

Since the moment we arrived in Frankfurt there seems to be a festival going on and this past weekend was no exception. I understand that it is summer and this is common for big cities, but all I am saying is it's a nice way to be introduced to a city. The festival this past weekend was none other than a beer festival. It had beers from all over the world to create the biggest beer garden in Frankfurt. They also had live music and it was funny watching all the Germans dance out in the open to some Motown hits. At a festival comes great food and here are a few pictures to illustrate.

All the meat you could dream of in one place. It was a sight to see and smell.

This is Justin's heaven on earth. A giant vendor of Hairbo gummies. Since we have been here he has eaten probably a bag of gummy bears every 2 or 3 days. He was like a kid in a candy store right here.

Another event going on right now is a free show of the Passion Play in the center of town. It is taking place on the Roman ruins. We just happen to walk by during dress rehearsal. They call it Lukas 14 and even though it was in German I got the idea.

Saturday afternoon we decided to take in some culture and we headed to the Goethe House and Museum. Many of you have probably heard of Goethe for his work Faust. He was born in Frankfurt and they have made his childhood home a local tourist attraction. It was pretty impressive for that period in time. He is very famous here in Frankfurt and they take a lot of pride in him. He also has a statue in town.

They had a special exhibit of artists that have created artwork based on the work Faust.  Justin really liked this part. I  don't totally know the story of Faust but I know there are some strange characters and they were definitely depicted in this artwork. 

Here was a really cool astronomical clock from the 1740's in Goethe's house. It still worked and had the correct day and time. 

Ok there is a story to this picture that I just had to share because it had me laughing out loud. While we were walking around Saturday we stopped to listen to a two man band sing and of course they are singing American songs. Out of nowhere this old man in the green jacket, the other man in the black tank top that we called "the Hoff "and the Asian man in the yellow shirt on the right just start busting out dancing. The dancing was not all the same but all different probably their best moves. The Asian man was jumping around, the Hoff was grabbing his crotch and the old man was moving faster than I thought he was possible of doing. It might be one of those things where you had to be there, but just maybe I thought I could paint the picture for you.

Lastly we got to see my former Georgia Tech teammate, Ulli. We hung out with her, her sister and her sister's boyfriend all Saturday night. It was so great hanging out with them and taking in all the festivals Frankfurt was offering that night. Her sister took us to a really cool little hideaway in a park and we just sat and caught up on life. It is always great talking with Germans and just getting to know more about their country and culture.

I did want to mention that we have noticed if you don't try a little you can end up eating a lot of meat and carbs here. Thank God for the fresh market every Wednesday and Saturday!

This weekend is going to be awesome. It is the Museum Fest and I can't wait. For four euros you get a button and can go to over 20 museums for 3 days. There is also over 500 vendors and over 3 million people coming to this event. So look out for pictures from that next week.

Along the Main River

Last weekend we took a stroll down the Main River and I wanted to share of few photos of the awesome skyline which I might add is the only one in Germany. It has been amazing weather and all you want to do it is get outside. There are trails along both sides of the river and people are walking, jogging and biking along them at all times of the day.

Trying to look all European with my scarf. 

 One of many bridges to cross the River.

Justin got a little camera happy with all the wild life so here are a few shots of the ducks and swans.

"Stop looking at me swan!"

Look at the skyline its it something! We have so much to explore in Frankfurt and this was just one Saturday afternoon. More to come soon! 

German Porcelain

...no, we're not talking about fine china here - we're talking about industrial porcelain!  One would expect to come across ordinary things that seem a bit odd when moving to a different country.  I must say that I was completely surprised when I came across these urinals in the school that I teach at.  While American urinals are usually decorated with pink "urinal cakes" with a scent strong enough to burn your eyes or rubbery pads to keep large solid objects out, the Germans seem to have come up with a more entertaining option.

 I'm not exactly sure of the rules just yet, but if you can come up with some I'd love to hear your suggestions.  There is a small plastic ball that dangles by a thin wire so that your stream can push it in the goal numerous times.  

This also seems a bit tidier than the game that elementary kids at my step mom's old school made up called "High Score".  In that game American kids stood back from the urinal a few feet, got a stream going, and tried to see how many of their friends could run under the stream before the bladder expired.  "High Score" was the answer to why students were returning to class smelling like urine.

 

Another pinnacle of German engineering lies in the design of their common toilet.  At a quick glance it may seem like an ordinary toilet, but once you drop your first turd in that bad boy you quickly realize that this is no ordinary toilet.  You see, directly under the bunghole they have strategically placed a shelf that is nearly completely out of the water.  That means it instantly reaks as if you just dropped a turd on the ground next to you.  Thinking about a courtesy flush then?  Think again!  For when the toilet is flushed a rush of water comes straight onto the platform, pushing the turd down into the water and out into the plumbing.  The rush of water is close enough and powerful enough to give you an enema.  I have never been more aware of the smell of my crap then I have in the last two weeks - except for the last time I was in Germany that is.  Lastly, while the plumbing is strong enough to handle the toilet paper, the paper has the consistency of paper towels.  I'm gonna have a calloused rear that will be ready for any pansy camping trip in the States.  Til next time.... Justin.

 

Firsts of many...

We are total goobers and take pictures of us doing ordinary things, but in Germany it is all extraordinary. As you can imagine there is a lot of things that we just don't do in the States or when we do them in Germany it somehow becomes more cool. So enjoy some of our firsts and they won't be our lasts.

Beer- It is so good it is hard not to join in on the German tradition. Look how happy we look!

Flea Market- being like a local and buying a coffee table and bargaining the seller down from 30 euros to 20...YEAH!

Revival- Seeing our first Jesus revival in the center of town... Hallelujah!

Crate of beer- Justin buying his first crate of beer. Let me put this into perspective... he bought 20 half liters of beer for 20 euros which is like a euro a beer but the beauty is you get money back when you take the bottles back so less than a euro for a nice size beer. It was Paulaner.....think of you every time we take a sip Schloegel!

 

Brats- Making our first at home and they are good no matter how you serve them. 

Brat count (number of links) = 17

 

Apfelwein or Apple wine- is a local favorite in Frankfurt and we took part in some at the neighborhood festival. You can have it sour (topped off with tonic water) or sweet (topped off with sprite/orange soda). We went sweet and it is definitely something to try.

 

Doner Kebab- We both have a love for this Turkish food and the love came rushing back once we had one here. For 3 or 4 euros you can't go wrong with one of these - filling and satisfying. And nothing goes bad with a beer, look at that pour-PERFECT!

A first I couldn't imagine in the States-We have gone without cell phones or TV for almost 2 weeks, I know it is crazy. But honestly with internet (finally, that is a whole post on its own), books, going for walks, and each other we have been doing pretty well. I could never imagine it in America, but the slower life is treating us well at least for right now.

Cribs Deutschland

A little tour of our place MTV style.