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.