Why I Go to the Gym (or, Why Buns of Steel Are More Important Than You Think)

Why is it that when you decide to do something slightly off from your normal routine, it comes back to bite you in your more prominently displayed than usual rear end almost instantaneously?

Today, I decided to go ahead and get dressed in my workout clothes before heading to the gym. That way, I reasoned with myself, I wouldn’t have any reason to back out of going. Sounded like a good plan in my mind. Of course, I use public transportation here in Germany, so I needed to ride four stops before exiting the tram literally at my gym’s door. Not taking the time to switch clothes or look for the perfect outfit, I just rummaged through my pre-packed workout bag and threw on the outfit I found inside.

Of course, it included a sports top and long-legged, very fitted running pants. Pretty much yoga pants with lycra. I thought that with a short loose shirt on top, it would be presentable enough to sit in a seat for 10 minutes. While I am quite happy with my body and aim to maintain, shape and tone it, I am not the kind of person who goes around in public wearing skin-tight clothes. So, of course I was feeling a tad bit self-conscious.

The first three stops to my destination were uneventful. As I stood up to approach the door shortly before the last stop, an older woman asked an older man to help her down the steps leading from the high tram to the ground while holding a push-cart. She said that she had fallen yesterday and she was scared to try it alone again. He looked at her with a slightly incredulous expression and replied that he wasn’t capable of doing so. (He really wasn’t; they both appeared to be over 80.) Naturally, there was else no one around, so I didn’t hesitate to help.

Imagine my delight when she asks me to leave the tram BACKWARDS so that I can bend down and hold her cart steady while she toddles down the steps excruciatingly slowly. So, yeah, I gave the downtown area of my city a lycra-clad booty salute helping the elderly today. Gotta love those random moments of gratuitous embarrassment.

And moments like that, my friends, are exactly why I go to the gym.

Happy Hump Day and have a great week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

"I Can't Wait... for the Weekend to Begin!"

Obama in Berlin

It's nice that President Obama decided to pay Germany a visit with his family and deliver a speech at the Brandenburger Tor. He'd been holding a grudge about not having been able to speak there preceding the 2008 Presidential Election - a five year long grudge. Finally, at long last, he showed up and everyone had big grins and I suppose all was forgiven.

The speech itself was alright - there weren't any stellar catch phrases like "Ich bin ein Berliner" or "…Tear down this wall" - although he, the German chancellor and the mayor of Berlin ALL made those important moments in German/American history a theme in their speeches. Other than that, he primarily said what he's been saying since reelection. That was especially impressive to me because I often can’t remember what I did five minutes after having done it. (Seriously. Yesterday I went to the bank to have my statements delivered to me only via online banking. One minute later, I went to the ATM and tried to print out my bank statement. Two minutes later, I went back to the same teller and asked what was wrong. Gently, she smiled and reminded me of my previous transaction with her. I wish I could say it was the first time something like that has happened, but sadly – no.)

I suppose the highlight was when he decided to take off his jacket due to the excessive heat.

Wait - no, it's not what you think. It was a highlight because of what he said, not what he did. In Merkel's welcoming speech, she said that she greeted the president as a friend of Germany and stressed that was he truly among friends on both a personal and political level. In response to that, he said something to the effect of, "Since we're among friends, there's no need for me to be so formal. If I may, I'll just remove my jacket." Then he proceeded to speak for 40 minutes in the sweltering heat.

Smart man. It's literally 97 degrees here in the sun as I write; I shudder to think that he could have passed out. I'm sure when he and Merkel left the stage, he whispered, "So… Angie. Since we're friends and all, think you could find a nice, cold AC for me somewhere?"

Just sayin'.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

Always Keep Your Dancing Shoes

It's hard to believe that I've been blogging for a year now! Thanks so much for joining me in this experience and making the effort so worthwhile; thanks to you, it's been fun. So much has changed since my first entry. As you may or may not remember, I'm CountryEuroCityMouse because I'm originally from an awesome small southern town in America, I fell in love with a German and became a permanent resident of Europe, and we've been wanting to find the right city for us live in back in the good ole US of A.

Last year, we spent seven and a half weeks living in New York to see if that was 'our' city. While we loved it, we also decided that we loved eating and having some free time. Back in Germany, we found our dream apartment in our dream neighborhood and pretty much readied ourselves to chill there a bit. Apparently, bigger plans were in store for us. Instead of us finding the right city in America, it's found us. My husband received an unanticipated non-mafia related offer he couldn't refuse. As of August this year, it's going to be CountryEuroCityMouse in San Francisco, California! I'm so proud of him, and I'm excited about the pending changes in our lives.

Over the past few months since we've received the news, I've been doing a lot of Spring Cleaning – over 10 years' worth. Just the other day, I came across my dancing shoes from when I studied Musical Theater. After I earned that degree, I moved on to study Classical Performance, so I never needed my tap, jazz or modern dance shoes again. But somehow, I could never let them go. As I looked at them, I saw a part of me that still exists – and no matter where I am or what I do, it always will.

Far too often, I hear people say they've given up on their dreams, because “life” happened. But just like everything else in life, dreams can merely change – they can be modified to accommodate other circumstances beyond our control. My desire to connect with the world through words, music and movement still rages within me; I accept with joy and gratitude the fact that it always will. Aside from the movement part, my husband is the same way, and together, we've been able to have so much inspiration and make so many adventures out of everyday life. Now, we're ready to embark on yet another one.

Always keep your dancing shoes, whatever they may be. Let them remind you of who you are, where you've been and how you want to be.

Have a great week.   

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

German Beer Garden Slogan: "We Make the Best Out of Water."

Germany is especially famous for beer, and almost every city or even town has at least a few microbreweries on hand. One of our local microbreweries offers pretty popular beer, great food and has an awesome beer garden overlooking a stream. My husband and I went for a walk and stopped there today. While we were sitting in the beer garden enjoying the beautiful summer-like weather (finally!), I noticed the slogan for their beer: "Wir machen das beste aus Wasser." I'm sure every beer lover in the world would agree.

Happy Sunday, and have a great week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

Menschen helfen Menschen (People Helping People)

Normally, I tend to focus on the more humorous aspects of the goings-on in my life and choose to share some of those moments with you in this blog. Just as I find writing these entries to be a nice escape from the inevitable stresses adult life brings, I hope that with each entry you read, you have something to smile about; without a doubt, you’ll always have something to think about.

However, at the moment, a slow but steady natural disaster is occurring in my second homeland of Germany, and because I’ve committed myself to write about life in Germany and my blended culture experience in life and love, it’s ridiculous for me not to acknowledge a tragedy is occurring in the country. For me not to write about it is, in my mind, equivalent to pretending it isn’t happening at all. That is so not my style.

Due to excessive rains and the riverbeds are unable to contain the water, massive flooding has literally wiped out complete towns and villages. Thanks to honest-to-goodness German efficiency, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country have either been forced to evacuate their homes or have done so voluntarily, thereby minimizing the risk for losing human life within the country. Unlike the terror of, for example, tornadoes where the damage is quick, severe and can take you completely by surprise (in Florida, we have to contend with hurricanes, tornadoes and in certain areas flash-flooding), the floods here are torturous, often creeping an hourly inch by inch to levels as high as 6 to 8 meters. Yeah, that’s hard for me to fathom as well; that makes the water levels in towns and small cities between 20 and 25 feet HIGH. In some places, various parts of the Autobahn have been completely submerged. Unbelievable.

There are all kinds of horrible things happening in the world, and I do try to make a point to remember that there is still so much goodness despite this fact. One thing that has warmed my heart is seeing the solidarity of people – working together to help each other during their times of need by providing such simple things as food and new undergarments. Of course, there are ways we can all help: As usual, the German Red Cross is accepting donations (feel free to contact me for more information), as are many other charitable institutions. Also, people of faith and positivity can share their prayers and well wishes. One thing that people forget is that no matter what “first-world” country you may be fortunate to live in, Mother Nature has the ability to strip you bare, making you grateful for one thing above all others – life.

If you don’t have money to spare (and there truly are other ways to be helpful besides opening your wallet), or you can’t be bogged down with more problems of others because you’ve got too many of your own, then do the world a small favor and just take the time to appreciate the good that’s going on in your own life. Gratitude is a powerful emotion – and believe me, it’s also contagious.

Have a great week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

Five Ways to be Hella Happy in Hamburg

It's been three whole weeks since I've last posted, but I'm sure you can understand that while I enjoy writing about life, I most especially love concentrating on living it. This week, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my experience in the city of Hamburg. I absolutely LOVED it there. The city is nice, the people are friendly and open; the food was great, and the shopping was a dream for me but a nightmare for my budget. These are the five things that I’m going to share with you today. Oh, and the Reeperbahn.

The City

The cultural history of Hamburg is as rich as many of the residents themselves. We took the time to visit the absolutely beautiful city hall and take a guided tour. It was worthwhile, and based on these pictures I snapped with my phone, I think you can see what I mean.

We encountered many friendly people, who were cordial,open and conversational; greeting strangers and passersby was a completely normal and natural occurrence (The whole “Moin” – “Moin, moin” greeting is so cute). In many parts of the southwest region of Germany, it’s almost considered a weakness to even acknowledge the presence of another person. It was so refreshing to see (once again) that this is not typically the norm in the country, but unfortunately more of a regional thing.

The Food

Anyone who had something to say about Hamburg (and of course, that was everyone) recommended two things: Taking an hour-long cruise along the harbor – which was very interesting and informative – and eat some of their delicious seafood. People were raving about the seafood and how fresh it is and so tasty…  Sorry, I ate enough seafood there at various price ranges and while it was good, well most of it, in my case, it was nothing worth writing home about. Meaning home to my fellow Floridians, of course.

Our understanding of “fresh” seafood is that we actually see the one fishing it out for us, cleaning it, plopping it into hot water and serving it up about a half hour later. Hamburg was excited about having had the seafood shipped to them earlier that morning. Okay.

A word of advice – the picture below may look like a shrimp roll (I love the shrimp and lobster rolls in New York), but unfortunately, it was just nasty. I ended up throwing those icky seaworms away along the pier. The meals I had later were well prepared and tasty (and not just seafood!).

The Shopping

My budget was very unhappy with me by the time we ended our trip, but my husband and I were hella-happy.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist. This is a new beverage line released in Germany and it makes me laugh every time. I noticed it for the first time in Hamburg.)

If you have the cash, they have the goods. If you don’t have the cash, then you can look at the goods and have a good time with that. We certainly did. Some things were almost impossible to pass up, and my husband wasn’t immune to the great shopping opportunities either, bwah ha ha.

The fashion palate there is a bit more expansive than what I have typically associated with Germany over the years – meaning that it can generally be described as “European” as opposed to specifically “German”. I suppose that could be considered a backhanded compliment, but facts are facts.

Beyond shopping, the architectural structures throughout the city are AMAZING. The city is a successful combination of historical and modern, hip and traditional.

The Reeperbahn

I don’t have much to say about this area, except that the street is certainly an eye-opener. To be as euphemistic as possible, I can assure you that there was not one Disney or Nickelodeon product in the area; nevertheless, every single store boasted of selling a vast selection of toys.

Having been to Amsterdam twice, it wasn’t as shocking for me as some areas we stumbled upon there the first time; also, we were in St. Pauli during the week and avoided the weekend crowd. There was also a very strong police presence, and we did discover a really cool Turkish restaurant in the area.

Visiting the Beatles' monument (Beatles Platz) is a must for any music lover. The Reeperbahn, located in St. Pauli, is where the Beatles first performed and gained their fame throughout Europe. Initialy, there were actually FIVE Beatles, but one guy fell in love with a German and stayed there. Hmmm. Familiar story somehow.

By the way – most Germans don’t know about the beer St. Pauli Girl, which is one of the most popular beer exports from Germany. The irony of it all is that the brewery has nothing to do with Hamburg, the Reeperbahn or any “girl” – the smaller brewery is within the Beck’s huge brewery in BREMEN!

Have a great week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.