Manifest Europe 2008

I am sorry, gentle readers, that nearly a month of 2008 has gone by without an update. It may be for the best; had I written about my trip to Europe fresh from my return, I might have gone on for many pages about all the delights I discovered there. But at this point, I'm content to recap the highlights:

Food
I truly did not expect German food to be so good. Maybe it was just the fact of not eating pork for the previous 3 months that made all the sausages so much more delicious. I relished every bite of sauerkraut, rotkohl, potato salad, maultaschen, leberkase, spatzle, and apple strudel. It is pretty much the norm to have not just a glass but a vat of beer with every meal. The fine dining did not stop in Spain, where the beer was in tiny glasses but served with complementary sausage slices or cheese, and a 3-course lunch comes with a bottle of wine and still only costs about 10 Euros (15 dollars).

Art
This trip made me realize how much I miss being surrounded by the arts. In Berlin, you can see a concert every day if you wanted. We got to see Carmina Burana performed by an orchestra from Prague (even though we were 10 seconds late and had to stand for the first half). I enjoyed a number of museums: The Pergamon in Berlin, the Ulmer Museum in Ulm, the Prado in Madrid. Sadly, I did not make it to any Flamenco concerts (though that is something that does occasionally come to Rabat) or do any salsa dancing (also possible in Rabat, though I cringe to think of the clientele it may attract).

Environment
There are recycling bins everywhere. Water saving flushers on toilets. Low-energy light bulbs. They eat vegetables grown in their own country. These people actually get it.

Hospitality
I have to end with a big shout out to my gracious hosts:

• Luisa and Ming in Berlin, who soldiered through terrible jetlag to ensure that I had a good sample of Berlin's culinary delights, including gluwein.
  
• Sally Schreiber in Isny, my 9th grade English teacher and one of the smartest ladies I know! We had some nice discussions about Indo-European languages.
  
• Sole and Lara in Madrid, both of whom I found on www.couchsurfing.com. Sole took me to some wonderful eateries (we had a vegetarian lunch with the Hare Krishnas) and to a party with some crazy Irish girls. Lara has a very cute apartment and likes to do house exchanges with other travelers - I can put you in touch with her if you're interested.
  

In every case, they made my experience much more "real", because I wasn't limited to the tourist traps. I could do/see/eat things that locals would actually do/see/eat. Danke and gracias to all of them.


I finally managed to get all my photos online, which more or less detail my itinerary:
http://picasaweb.google.com/aschwender/EuropeanVacation

Returning to the dirty, dim, disorganized train station in Casablanca was a harsh transition. Old ladies literally crawled their way on to the train with no regard for the universal rule of transportation: that passengers should be allowed to get off before anyone else gets on. Luckily things improved rapidly. It was a beautiful spring-like day when I got back to Rabat, and though I spent most of it cleaning our apartment (a big storm had wreaked havoc on the courtyard), I had time for a nice walk along the river where I regretted not having my camera to capture all the colorful fishing boats. I had a full day to relax before we started classes again. This session is already much easier than the first, since I am repeating 2 levels I already taught, and am able to throw lessons together a lot quicker. It's been great to see my old students, who often make a point to drop by and say hi during breaks. My new batch of students all seem just as nice, though that first session will probably stick in my memory most.

My Collegiate gal pals started a tradition last year of making New Year's resolutions in the format of "Manifest ____ 2008". So this year I chose "Europe", because I have decided that sometime soon, I need to live there. I have not ruled out staying in Rabat another year, but I plan to start some research on how to make the European dream come true.

Gutes Neues Jahr!

From the fifth floor of an old old German building, I am watching tiny flakes of snow fall into the courtyard, where there is an array of about 12 different recycling bins. Last night, I was treated to a rooftop view of Berlin's version of fireworks, which put our 4th of July to shame. It really felt like World War II. There might have been one official fireworks show over by the cathedral spires, but otherwise it was just every drunk German (including some on the same roof as us) setting off their own, which can be purchased at all the corner stores. We were totally surrounded by "bombs bursting in air" both near and far, the church bells ringing the whole time. The sky steadily filled with smoke until the nearby cathedral was barely visible. This lasted for at least half an hour, but the individual hijinks on the streets (cherry bombs and whatnot) went on all night, I'm sure. We decided to stay in and avoid the mayhem, but fear not, I will be hitting up some German pubs in the nights to come.

The bells rang again at 10am this morning so I decided to get up and blog. Welcome to 2008. On Saturday, I gave my last exam, only after asking my students to line up for a photo. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph my other classes, because I really miss them! It was sad to see the students unceremoniously walk out the door after the exam. One of the Moroccan teachers had organized a pre-New Year's soiree at a hotel restaurant, so Molly and I joined her, a bunch of her friends, and some other teachers for dinner and, of course, dancing. You cannot do anything to stop these Moroccan ladies from dancing, or from dragging you onto the dance floor. One of our American teachers, Lori, has been studying belly dancing and it was amazing to watch her hips wiggle!

My European odyssey began on Sunday when I took a train to Casablanca airport and flew to Madrid. Since I was only staying one night, I treated myself to an airport hotel and was thoroughly delighted with it, and with Spain in general. It was great to see Christmas trees, finally, but mainly, the people just seemed so happy! And of course I love hearing them talk (I put on some sit-coms in my room just to hear the language). There was a nice little pub in the hotel where I seized my first opportunity to have a beer in public (which I can't do in Rabat). I enjoyed it with an empanada, stuffed peppers, and some delicious Manchego cheese. Maybe it is just in contrast to Morocco, but I was immediately enchanted with Europe, especially the attitude, the environmentally-conscious lifestyle, and the freedom of movement. Living in Morocco has definitely taught me to appreciate all the freedoms I have in the western world.

The next day, I flew to Frankfurt on another discount airline, which like the first one, had amazing inflight magazines that gave lots of good info on travel in Europe. I then took a 2 hour bus to the Frankfurt train station, a trip I was not counting on but luckily left enough time in my schedule. I sat next to a nice Australian mom, who is a musician living in Frankfurt. I arrived just in time to grab a sandwich and hop on a fast train to Berlin. The 4 hours passed very quickly since the train was so nice and I had a whole compartment to myself. The Berlin train station was absolutely mobbed with New Year's revelers checking out the giant Swarofsky crystal Christmas tree in the lobby. Somehow, I managed to meet up with my friend Luisa and her husband, who said they had barely survived all the cherry bombs being thrown at their feet.

So here I am in Luisa's apartment. I met her at my TEFL program in San Diego. She and her husband are artists who are in Berlin to connect with other artists, as this really seems to be a cultural mecca. I've only seen one street so far but it feels a lot like New York. I'll spend about 4 days here, then travel down to the southern border to meet up with my 9th grade English teacher, Ms. Schreiber, who moved back to Germany a while ago. Hopefully I'll get to explore some of the pretty areas around Lake Constance.

Wow, the snow is coming down harder now. Maybe we will have a white New Year!