American (Pop) Culture Shock

Living in a foreign country has its everyday challenges.  The obvious language barrier can make normal errands challenging and sometimes you want some Wendy’s and other foods we miss the most.  One of the most underrated challenges that I’ve noticed recently is the pop culture disconnect between Germans and Americans.  This becomes a problem when I use these pop culture references speaking with colleagues or at a party and they almost always fall flat.  By the time I am done explaining the reference, both I and the other people are exhausted and the reference is rendered as another one of my many stupid comments. 

So, in order to save some future awkward conversations, I have listed some recently used American pop culture references.

#1. Friday - Rebecca Black

For those of you know who know me personally, you would not find it surprising if you asked me what day it is and I responded in a synthesizer voice, “Yes-ter-day was Thursday. To-day it is Friday, Friday.  To-mor-row is Sat-ur-day and Sunday comes afterwards.” 

And if they were still looking for the answer after that, I would answer more directly, “It’s Friday, Friday.  Gotta get down on Friday.” 

If you don’t know the reference it could be a little strange.  Though I believe it’s just a matter of time before Rebecca Black becomes really popular in Germany.  If David Hasselhoff can stay popular here, anybody can.  133 million views so far on youtube.  I personally think the Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert rendition was even better. 

#2 The Office- Juggling Dance by Will Ferrell

At a recent birthday party, I was tearing up the dance floor with my dance moves.  That was until I tried the juggling dance.  With the scene of Will Ferrell on the most recent The Office fresh in my mind, I started to juggle 5 balls.   I even used one stunned onlooker as a prop (ala Phyllis in the scene.)  I thought it was hilarious.  The blank looks from the people at the party told me I was the only one. 

I really want to do the juggle dance again (like I will ever get invited to another party after the first juggle dance) so here is the juggling scene from the Office.  Maybe now I can get at least a pity laugh.

If you have't seen it yet, I really encourage you to watch this.   It's hilarious. 

#3 Seinfeld – David Puddy 

With the NHL Hockey playoffs in full swing (actually it is winding down for my beloved Detroit Redwings) I have used a lot of David Puddy references from Seinfeld.  When asked about my ever growing, but still patchy playoff beard, I normally squint my eyes and say, “I’ve gotta support my team. It’s the playoffs, you gotta let know you’re out there.” 

This is just one of many Seinfeld references I use every day.  42% of everything I say has to do with a Seinfeld reference, so not being able to Seinfeld quotes and references really decreases my ability to effectively communicate. 

I still don’t understand why Seinfeld never became popular in Germany.  I can scan the TV channels in Germany at any time in the morning and have a 100% chance of seeing something with Fran Drescher in it, but Seinfeld re-runs can’t make the cut. 

What are some other pop culture trends that we may have missed in America while living in Germany the last 8 months?

NHL Playoffs - Let's Go Redwings

You can take me out of Michigan, but you can't take the Michigan out of me.  That means, when hockey playoffs start and you are from Michigan, you stop what you are doing and watch the Detroit Red Wings playoff hockey games.  I normally don't even watch the regular season games, but once the playoffs come, I alter my schedule around games and it's all I can talk about.  When the Red Wings get eliminated, you can go back to normal life. 

This playoff season has been really difficult to watch games as we are 6 hours ahead of Detroit, making a 8 pm start time, a 2 am start time in Germany.  We missed games 1-3 of the first round while we were in Berlin, so in order to still support the team, I started to grow a 'playoff beard' starting at the beginning of the playoffs (starting on April 13th.) 

Playoff beards have become quite common in the NHL, you can see the 10 most fascinating NHL playoff beards of 2011, where the players are not allowed to shave their beards until they are eliminated from the playoffs.   I learned on Wikipedia that you can trim your beard if you need a change of luck.  I trimmed my beard when we lost 2 in a row to the San Jose Sharks.  It was just in time for a presentation I needed to make at the University. 

In previous years, I have only grown a partial beard for the playoffs.  Translation: my beard was so pathetic and patchy that I would shave it after a week just to save the embarrassment.  This years version is still not a very good looking beard, but I have pressed on with it.  I was really excited that someone at the playground asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was Turkish.  That was all I needed to go on with the beard (that, and Dana being gone.)

Currently, Detroit is tied with San Jose 3 games to 3 and play the deciding Game 7 tonight (or tomorrow morning at 3am, depending on where you live.)  They are looking to become the 4th team in NHL history to come back from being down 3 games to 0.  I am setting my alarm to watch it.

Oh yeah, and this is my uneventful week 1 update from Germany while Dana and Dylan are gone.  I haven't done anything else noteworthy.  Hopefully, my Week 2 update will be more eventful.

We are Hockey Town,  No Limits!  Taken before Dana and Dylan left.

Dylan was born during the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, we watched Game 6 together in the hospital.

Playoffs 2010.  We have gotten good mileage out of this jersey, though it will need to be retired after this season.  Thanks for the awesome baby gift, Amy and Rob.

Playoff Beard in Full Effect! Photo taken today.

Oscar rode the bus with me to Munster.  He thought he was pretty cool.

Oscar chilled in my office during the day.  He came with me to work on Monday and Wednesday.

America: Week 1

Week one of our three week trip to America is almost over, so I figured now is a good time to give an update on what we've been doing.

We thankfully had an uneventful day of travel to get here.  Dylan was a superstar and I am so thankful that he was such a happy little traveler for our big day.  He was super calm and didn't even fuss when the stupid TSA agents in the Dusseldorf airport decided that he and I were a threat and needed a pat down.  Yes, they seriously made me hold Dylan's arms out so they could pat him down and run their fingers around the elastic waistband of his monkey-sweatpants to see if my boy had a diaper-bomb.  I truly wish he had had a majorly poopy diaper at that moment (a different type of diaper-bomb, I guess) so they would learn their lesson about the real dangers of sticking your hands in a 23-month-old's pants.

After 14 hours of travel, we made it to Baltimore.  Since we arrived in the evening and were exhausted, it was easy to get Dylan to go to bed at a normal time and sleep for a full 12 hours.  So, almost immediately Dylan was put on the right timezone - a miracle!

This week seems to be the week where I sate all my food cravings.  I've had Cheerios, Everything bagels with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, cookie-dough ice cream, Cherry Coke and much more. Still on the list is Rootbeer, Smartfood Popcorn, Mac and Cheese and a few others.

We've spent a lot of time just at home, playing in the yard and going to the playgrounds.  Dylan loves his Oma and Opa - he takes their hands and drags them all over the house.  It's so nice for me - because I get a break!  He's way more interested in playing with Oma and Opa than with me. So I actually get to read the newspaper in the morning and drink my coffee in peace while my Mom chases Dylan around.  Dylan also loves to dance with his Oma and every morning the first thing he does is run over to the iPod doc and say "Dance! Dance!" and request some tunes.

Coming up this next week are more trips to local parks and playgrounds, and hopefully a trip to the D.C. zoo on Friday.  Dylan does a pretty hilarious elephant impression, so I'm excited to see his response to a real elephant.

Stay tuned...

Enjoying some animal crackers with Oma

Snuggling with Opa

Story time

Birthday presents! 

Birthday cake!

Yummy ice cream cake!  Boy, was he wired after all this sugar!

Fun twisty slide at the park

Walking along the wall looking for lizards with Opa

Taking the Bus to Work

Although I thought my bus riding days were done at the end of 8^th grade, I am back to riding the bus every day to work.   (Readers, insert your ‘short bus’ comments here. I will give you a few seconds.)

So far, I have had mixed reactions to using public transportation (SprinterBus) for my daily commute from Borken to Munster for the last two weeks.  Here is a breakdown on the pros and cons of using public transportation in a foreign country.

Pros

Money

Each day, I estimated I was spending €15.00 in gas to drive to Munster.   Although I am not required to do so, I signed up with the University as a student for a semester fee of €206.00.  (American readers, you are reading this correctly.  That’s how much it costs per semester.) 

This semester pass gives students free bus and train tickets anywhere, anytime in the region of Western Germany for the next six months.  After two weeks of bus rides and our train tickets to Berlin, the semester pass has already paid for itself.  As a finance student, I am really excited about the return on this investment.* 

*And yes, I’ve started a spreadsheet to compute the overall savings of having a student pass over the next 6 months to keep track of the results. 

Work

I’m determined to use the time on the bus to get work done.  It’s essentially two hours each day that can be wasted or used to be productive.  I can get a lot of uninterrupted reading and work time in if I come prepared for the ride.   Unfortunately, this component is in intense competition with ‘Con Number 1,’ Motion Sickness. 

Freak Other People Out. 

If you get bored, you can really freak other people out on the bus.  You can stare at them from across the aisle or even better if they are sitting directly next to you.  That’s even better because they are sitting directly next to you, it means the bus is packed and they can’t get up and move seats. 

Also fun is sitting directly next to someone on an empty bus.  I haven’t actually sat down and stayed, but have asked someone to move their bag over as a joke.  How do you say ‘just kidding’ in German?

You must be careful with how much fun you have with other people because there is a good chance you will see these same people a lot if you are making the daily commute.  I am already starting to see this trend after only 2 weeks.

Don’t Have to Drive

It’s nice knowing that I don’t have to fight rush hour traffic each day.  Also, because of the bus lanes in Munster, the time it takes to drive from Borken to Munster is the same.  

The nice part about riding the bus is that if you want to close your eyes and rest, you can do so. 

Cons

Motion Sickness

This is a really tough one for me.  I get motion sickness very easily.  Can you build up a motion sickness tolerance over time?  I hope this is possible, because right now I get off the bus very motion sick.  I don’t want to take and become dependent on any pills/drugs to get over it, I just want to condition my body to not get motion sick so I can work on the bus.

Bound to the Bus Schedule

The SprinterBus only leaves Borken every 27 minutes past the hour and only leaves Munster 34 minutes past the hour.  If I get caught in the office past 7:34 pm, then I would have to take 2 hours of trains to get to Borken.   At least it’s a good excuse to get out of any really late meetings.

This set schedule is slightly inconvenient, but it does make you get out of bed and out the door more promptly in the morning.

Can’t Sing in the Car

I really value some good Bryan time in the car on my long commute.  Part of that time is belting out of good songs at an extremely high decibel level.   This is probably not a good idea on the eerily quiet bus.  For some reason, Germans are really quiet (and considerate) travelers.  This would never happen in America.  In fact, a couple of kids were yelled at yesterday by the bus driver over the loud speaker for talking too loud.  Even I could understand his finishing remark, ‘this isn’t a School Bus, kids.’ 

I really like singing praise and worship songs in the car by myself.  Usually this is accompanied by tears and crying.  I can’t help it.  That’s just the way I am.  Try singing Hillsong’s ‘Tear Down the Walls’ and ‘Arms Open Wide’ back to back without crying.  I can’t do it.

Other People Freaking Me Out

This is a reversal of the previously mentioned ‘pro’ bullet point of being able to mess with other people.  Other people can also mess with me.  Nothing makes me feel more uncomfortable than closing my eyes for a few minutes and opening them to someone staring right at me. 

I should also mention in this section the potential for someone to have body odor to sit next to me.  It hasn’t happened yet, but I am not looking forward to that inevitable day.  

Overall, taking the bus is going to become mostly positive once I get past the constant motion sickness.  In the meantime, I will take the advice of my good friend Amy and, “Just suck it up and ride.”

Easter Fire, Dancing into May and May Day Celebrations

Wow, the Germans really love celebrating spring time!  With Easter happening so late this year, we have three big springtime events all happening within a week of each other! Here's the rundown of how they all went:

Easter Fire


It's a German tradition each spring at Easter to make a huge bonfire and we heard from our neighbors that the biggest fires were going to be in Gemen, which is a suburb of Borken.  We packed up Dylan on the back of the bike and headed off to Gemen, about 2 miles away from our house.  The first fire we came to was probably the biggest bonfire I've ever seen.  It was behind the local convent and there were a bunch of nuns around handing out flyers with hymns on them.  There were about 60 people there and it was crazy hot (obviously) because those nuns really know how to build a good fire.

After a few minutes we decided to go further into Gemen to see if there other fires since we didn't know anyone at this fire, and we had secretly stashed two beers in Dylan's diaper bag and didn't want to crack them open in front of the nuns. 

Another 1/5 mile down the road we could see the smoke from another huge fire and there was singing and a lot of people heading that way.  Just as we turned down the path, Bryan's front bike tire popped and we were forced to stop.  It was already past Dylan's bedtime, so instead of venturing on, we hoofed it the 2 miles home pushing a sleepy Dylan on the bike.  One our way home Dylan was pooped on by a bird.  We figure the popped tire and bird poop was the Pope's Revenge for us ditching the nun's fire and smuggling beer.

Tanzen in den Mai (Dancing into May)


April 30 / May 1 is a really big deal around this part of the world.  If May 1 falls on a week day, then it's even a national holiday for everyone. On Saturday afternoon, we went over to our friends house for our first German-style BBQ.  The main difference between American BBQ and German BBQ is that in America, we prepare everything to be served at the same time, whereas here only a few pieces of meat are put on the grill at one time so as your munching on salads and bread and other dishes, the meat comes gradually.  It makes it possible to sit and eat and talk for a really long time, as opposed to scarfing the entire meal down in 15 minutes ala American-style.  Dylan enjoyed his time playing in the garden with his little buddy, also.  These two are double trouble.

Double Trouble

The Kid's Table

Teaming up to break out of the garden

After we left our friends house, we took a detour through Borken's town center on our way home to check out the town's official Tanzen in den Mai" celebration.  There were some food and drink tents out as well as DJ and about 100 people or so milling about.  The sun had only just gone down, so not a lot of people were out yet.  The scene had the potential to get really fun, but we were stuffed from all German BBQ and it was nearly 2 hours past Dylan's bedtime, so we didn't stay long.

Tanzen in den Mai with daddy

May Day


Some friends of ours invited us to join them at a house in Raesfeld, a nearby town, for a May Day Party.  After Dylan's nap, we packed up our bikes once again and headed out for a windy bike ride to Raesfeld.  We arrived around 5:30 p.m., just in time to see the band playing some classic rock, from Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stones and more. There were about 75 people there, lots of kids, toys, animals and Dylan's girlfriend, Amy. My son is completely smitten with this little girl and follows her around like a puppy-dog calling her name and chasing after her (much in the same way Bryan chased after me in college).
The weather, food, atmosphere, people and music were all excellent!

Bryan and Kristin, enjoying the party

Dylan and his girlfriend

Dylan, enjoying the music

Windy bike ride home

Our reflections on the fields