Movie: The Book Thief

So on Friday, I saw the movie for The Book Thief.

I read the book in 8th grade. It was part of the reading curriculum. Other than Animal Farm, it was the only book I loved.

The story is set in World War 2 Germany, narrated from the point of view of Death. It follows the story of Liesel, who is adopted by foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann and lives and grows up in a socialist world with many internal conflicts.

Hans is a tall gentle man that teaches Liesel to read and plays the accordion. Rosa is a sharp-tongued woman who has a soft heart inside. She swears and curses frequently and often, using the words saukerl and saumensch, meaning "filthy pig", and arschloch, meaning "asshole".

I was so afraid that the movie would underscore the book, because the book was beautiful on its own, and i was sure that the beautiful, witty language could not be transcribed onto screen.

I was wrong. I bawled. The entire time.

It makes me want to cry just thinking about it, because the movie was amazing all on its own.

There was Max Vandenburg, the German Jew that hid in the Hubermanns' basements for a time. Liesel made him want to survive and know what it was like to live, describing simple things such as the weather, or bringing a handful of snow. Max, on the other hand, encouraged her to read and to write and share the stories of her own. He says, (heavily paraphrased"...

"In our religion, we believe that every living thing, every leaf, every creature, every human, has a secret word that gives them life. it is what separates us from that lump of clay...Use it, Liesel. Words are the power we have." 

That is deep.

And then there was Rudy.

Rudy!!!!!

Rudy :'( :'( :( :(

He was the boy Liesel befriended, who played soccer and once painted himself black with charcoal to pretend to be Jesse Owens. He walked with her, he raced with her down the streets, and once, he tried to run away with her, with nothing but a three-piece suit on his back and a soccer ball in a rucksack. The first time he raced her down a snowy street, he bet her a kiss if he won. No spoilers, but I was laughing crying so, so hard in the scenes with Rudy, because he is adorable and impulsive, rebellious and funny.

So many feels.

The scenes that I imagined in my head while reading the book were shot so powerfully. Even in the scenes where there were no words spoken, there was a deep presence of the era, of a war-torn country and the people living in it. It wasn't a country full of brainwashed people--no, no, no. They were desperate, but they were still strong, still loving and stoic. It depicts that time period without judgement, and I was grateful for that.

In the end, there was this old couple in front of us that kissed, and hugged each other, which just...

The tears.

So watch it. Bring tissues.And read the book too, because it truly is one of the great contemporaries of this century.

And, *drumroll*....A Guest Interview!

So...

During my research about Germany, I stumbled upon quite a few travel blogs. One of them was Ali's Adventures, and she had amusing, quirky, informative posts about living in Germany and her experiences with traveling around the world. One of her posts greatly helped me with deciphering the German trash system, and many other things--Ali just seemed like a cool person all-around.

And...I asked her for an interview.

And she sad YES!

Ali Garland had made it a mission to get to all seven continents before she turned the age of 30, and she succeeded! Nowadays, she lives with her husband, Andy--also a travel addict--in Freiburg, Germany, and they run a travel blog, Ctrl-Alt-Travel, with thousands of views a month. (How COOL is that, seriously!) For anyone who wants to check it out, links are below the interview.

Without further ado...

...

Me: Your stories on your blog sound fantastic. What made you two decide that youwanted to travel, and blog for a living? (Sounds like an awesome job, by the way)

Ali:-- Thanks! We don't really blog for a living. Blogging is fun, and we love to share our stories and encourage others to travel, but for most people, it's really hard to make money from a blog. Andy is a web developer and spent his first 5 1/2 years in Germany working for a company in the city of Freiburg. Now he is a freelancer/contractor, which means he can work short term contracts for different companies and have a little more flexibility with things like time off. Andy decided to move to Germany because he needed a change, and since he studied German in high school and college, Germany was his first choice. I'm currently wading through German bureaucracy to see what my options are for working as a freelance writer. I met Andy (through Twitter!) the summer of 2010 while I was still living in Atlanta. I had always wanted to try living in Europe, so when Andy and I fell in love, we decided it just made sense for me to move. We got married June 2011 and I moved to Germany about a month later. We both love traveling because we enjoy experiencing other cultures and trying other foods. We love having a home, but often we need a change of scenery to get us out of our comfort zone. So now we try to travel for a few months of the year and enjoy being home the rest of the year. 

Questions about Germany:

Me: I heard you two have lived (and have just moved again) into Germany! What was your experience living there? Any culture shock?

Ali: -- Andy has lived in Germany for about 6 years now, and I've been living here a little over 2 years. Our permanent home is in Freiburg, which is in the southwest corner of the country, but we are currently in Berlin for a few months until New Years for Andy's current contract. He certainly dealt with culture shock, but since he's been here awhile, some of those memories have faded a little. My culture shock is a little more fresh though. I didn't speak any German before moving here (I studied Spanish for my foreign language) so it was hard to do even the simplest things. Eventually I enrolled in an intensive integration course, which was about 4 hours of class per day, 5 days a week, for 8 months. It's a lot to learn in such a condensed way, but at least now I can do simple things like go to the grocery store or get my hair cut without needing help.

Me: Any advice for students learning the German language? Or any language in general?

Ali: -- Practice! Finding a native speaker to practice with is key to learning the language. Even better, immerse yourself in a country that speaks that language. My Spanish improved drastically after only a week in Ecuador a few years ago, and there's no way I'd understand even the little bits of German I do without living here. Try not to get hung up on the little details at first, just learn vocabulary and sentence structure. German grammar is difficult for English speakers because it doesn't follow the same patterns. It's more important to focus on learning that rather than getting frustrated trying to learn the gender of every single noun. People will still understand you if you use the feminine instead of the masculine, but structuring the sentence incorrectly could confuse someone.

Me: Every country, every place has this sort of “atmosphere”, this special “feel” that stays with you even when you leave. What do you think Germany’s “atmosphere” is?

Ali: -- Wow, that's a hard one. Germany is very organized and has a reputation for being very efficient. That doesn't mean everything runs as smoothly as you'd think. Rules and procedures that make sense to natives won't always make sense to us foreigners. And if your situation falls within the 5 or 10% that doesn't fit within the norm, it will take a long time to get things figured out. Germany loves rules and paperwork.

Me: Best part about living in Germany? 

Ali: -- I love that there is so much great public transportation. Our apartment in Freiburg is less than 5 minutes from the tram, and the trams get us just about everywhere we want to go, so we don't own a car. I also love that we can hop on a plane or train and be in another country and culture within just a few hours. We live an hour from France and an hour from Switzerland. 


Questions about traveling in general:

Me: How, personally, has traveling changed you? 

Ali: -- Travel has made me a more confident person. I didn't travel outside the US for years because I didn't have any friends who wanted to travel with me, and eventually I decided to stop waiting for someone to join me. I booked a trip to Greece and went by myself, and it was a turning point for me. I realized there wasn't any reason to sit around dreaming about traveling when I could just plan a trip and go instead. I also realized I was a stronger person than I thought. Navigating your way through a foreign country and making it through successfully can do that. 

Me: Even though I’m not an avid traveler, I know there is this moment in the midst of your trip when the sights and atmosphere of the place are surrounding you and you have this brief, disconcerting, enlightening moment and you think, This is what life’s worth living for. Would you like to describe any of those moments? 

Ali: -- Andy and I had a night like that in Lisbon last September. We flew to Portugal for a blogging conference, and we only had one night in Lisbon before we needed to catch a train to Porto the next day. After dinner, we just started walking around to check out the neighborhood. Something about the big open squares with ornate fountains, the smooth cobblestone streets, the smell of the ocean in the breeze, it all just grabbed us. We sat at an outdoor cafe with a drink, soaking up the atmosphere and talking. I can't even put my finger on it exactly, but it's moments like those that remind me of how much I love to travel, to be in different places, and that it's worth some sacrifices to make our life of travel work. 

Me: And lastly, what is your Number 1 advice for traveling? (Other than, “Don’t forget the plug adapter!”)

Ali: -- Number 1 is to just GO! It can be scary, but once you get there, the fear starts to disappear. Don't let your fear make up excuses to stay home. Bad things can happen anywhere, whether you're in your hometown or in a foreign country, so you might as well get out there and see more of the world. Travel slower than you think you need to. It takes more mental (and sometimes physical) energy to be somewhere that's different from what you're used to, so you have to give yourself time to rest and take it all in. Do research before you go but try not to plan too much. Leave yourself room to be flexible and spontaneous. But really, just GO!

....

Thank you so much, Ali! Here's some cool links:

Ali's blog: (http://www.aliadventures.com/)
Andy's blog: (http://www.groundedtraveler.com/)
Ctrl-Alt-Travel (their shared blog): (http://www.ctrl-alt-travel.com/)

I'll keep you guys posted!

Exploring Castles: Germany Edition!

So, a friend of mine once lived in Germany for about a year or two, and she blogged about it.

She said Germany was really beautiful, and although she didn't know much German, she still enjoyed the place, and...

She lived next door to a castle.

A castle, my friends. That's like saying you live next door to a celebrity or have goats as pets.

But she talked about it in pretty much the most nonchalant way ever, saying, "Oh, yeah, castles are pretty common around here in Germany."

Which led me to a round of Wikipedia-ing. And excessive Google Image-ing.

And...my goodness. For being a country smaller than the state of Texas, Germany has a LOT of beautiful, swoon-worthy castles.

And not only are the castles pretty, the land surrounding them is always the lush blend of hazy mountain peaks on vivid green hilltops, against the expanse of an impossibly blue sky.

...I'm not actually obsessed. Once you see them, you'll understand me.

So, without further ado, here are my top FOUR stunners, not in any particular order (it was a hard choice.)

1. Schloss Drachenburg

Look. Just look. And faint a little.
Photo creds: www.deviantart.net

The Schloss Drachenburg (or the "Dragon Palace") is something one would expect to appear out of dreams...or folklore, that is. Legend says that Siegfried, a hero of both German and Norse mythology, slayed his dragon somewhere up in those very mountains of Rhine.Wealthy eccentrics had held parties, a Hitler school was founded there, and it has been everything from a museum to a mini war-zone.

2. Schloss Schwerin

I mean, this castle even has its own island!
Photo creds: Google Images

This little beauty rests in the area of Mecklenburg, in the reserve of parks and lakes. Built between 1845 and 1857, it (and the castle above) were built during the fervor of medieval/historic reverance. Today it serves as an art museum.

3. Burg Hohenzollern

The view. My goodness, the view.
Photo creds: Google Images

This castle has a royal history. It stands as a tribute to the House of Hohenzollern, whose existence dates back to as early as the 13th century. The Prussian king Frederick William IV was a Hohenzollern, and decided to have a castle constructed in their name. Today. it stands as a museum to the great dynasty.

And when it's foggy, this happens:

There is a castle on a cloud.....
Photo credits

4. Schloss Neuschwanstein

I have no words.
Source

There is a reason why they call this Germany's "Fairytale Castle", Surrounded by the soft, blue-ridged mountains of Bavaria, a pure, white beauty against the the lake and the green hillsides--no wonder this was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle!

This was built under the instruction of Ludwig II, Duke of Bavaria. It was built for his throne but after two years of power, he had to give in to the Prussians. He eventually receded further and further into his own world of fantasies and fairytales, The castle holds the beautiful remains of what some call a bitter, tragic tale.

And...another one, in the winter:

Look at that! It's like it came straight out of a Christmas book!
Source

Scientific conclusion, after extensive observation: I want my own castle.

...And I'll go sing some more Les Mis now.

And wow, this post was really long.

Which is your guys' favorite? Leave answers below in the comments!


Sources:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-rhineland-legend-reborn-fairy-tale-comes-true-for-germany-s-dragon-castle-a-725306.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/543238/Siegfried

http://www.museum-schwerin.com/schwerin-state-museum-art-collections-castles-and-gardens/schwerin-castle/

http://www.preussen.de/en/today/hohenzollern_castle/history.html

http://www.germany.travel/en/leisure-and-recreation/palaces-parks-gardens/neuschwanstein-castle.html

I couldn't resist.

This completely made my day. I learned 10 new German insults that do not have an English equivalent.

It is awesome and mind-blowing and may or may not be a tiny bit vulgar.

Enjoy, and forgive me.

The Art of Trash

So this summer, I was in Germany for two hours.

I was in this Frankfurt airport for a layover, and in my brief cultural immersion, if you will, I noticed one stellar thing:
very precise trash cans.

The thing about trash cans was really a stark contrast between say, America and Germany. In America, trash is sort of a neglected thing; we often see weary, graffitied, misshapen bins leaning against the wall, with everything from candy wrappers to discarded coffee cups to fragments of a mushed sandwich, or even broken mirrors. In Germany, however, trash cans are a piece of delectable detail in the smooth, minimalist aestheticism of Germany.

Ha--I'm not your average tourist, am I?

There are two basic trash systems in US: Paper and cans and bottles and things you can imagine being ground up in a machine and magically reverted into its original state again go to recycle. All the other rubbish* goes in the aforementioned sad, neglected trash bin.

But here's Germany.

Dilemmas. So many dilemmas.

And the above?

The two on the left are pretty straightforward: paper and glass. The yellow one, or the Gelbetonne, is for packaging. The one on the right is Restmuüll, "the rest."

And that's only a simplified version of the trash system in Germany. Sometimes, there's another bin, called Biomüll--for the biowaste such as food scraps. There also can be a Sperrmüll, for special cases such as furniture and things like broken mirrors.

So sometimes, the trash system looks like this:

See? Even the kids take classes on it.

So what do you guys think about the trash system? Efficient and stylish? Or plain too nitpicky?

*I realize I just said rubbish, which is a very UK word. I would imagine this would be the basic system in England too.

Sources:
http://www.noordinaryhomestead.com/the-world-of-trash-in-germany/ 
http://www.aliadventures.com/2013/02/how-to-throw-out-your-garbage-in-germany/

Hans Zimmer

Many of you have grown up listening to his music.

We hum them when we're bored in class.

We cry, and sometimes laugh, at the sheer power his powerful harmonies add to the films of the greats.

From The Lion King to Pirates of the Caribbean to Inception to The Dark Knight Rises, this musical genius has left his touch on many of the movies that we hold dear. Awards and accolades have piled up at his feet, including numerous Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe awards, and he has achieved world renown for his powerful, moving movie soundtracks.

The music of Hans Zimmer always stirs up something special in me, whether I'm watching movies that he has composed for or listening to his music alone on YouTube, and I when I finally realized that he was a German composer (his last name means "room" in German), I was thrilled to blog about him.

He was born September 12th, 1957, in Frankfurt. His musical career first started in London, where he worked for a time with fellow composer and mentor Stanley Myers. His first music breakthrough came in 1988 when his soundtrack for Rain Man, an Oscar-winning film that gave Zimmer his first Academy Award. Another turning point came in 1994, when he was asked to compose the score for the Disney film, The Lion King, which won a slew of awards and secured Zimmer's reputation as a household name.

Since then, Zimmer has gone on to compose hundreds of soundtracks for dozens of award-winning movies. He is known for his innovative style of combining classical orchestral music with electronic instrumentals. He lives in Los Angeles, with his wife and four children.

I will leave you with one of my favorite Zimmer sountracks, from the movie The DaVinci Code. 

What is your favorite Zimmer sountrack? Answer in the comments below!

Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/

Making Spitzbuben

My first forays into the German culture were in the form of flower-shaped, jam-filled cookies.

Yes, the Spitzbuben.

Traditionally, they are a Swiss cookie, made of sticky raspberry jam sauce sandwiched between two shortbread cookies.

Like Oreos.

But not really. They're way better. And name auspiciously translates to "bad boys", or "little rascals".

This was a hectic two-day baking project, as I made cookies for the 30 kids in my German class. It was incredibly worth it, because a) the cookies were fun to make and I perfected my shortbread recipe and b) my classmates said they enjoyed it very much.

And they were so good. I haven't had that much baking experience, so this isn't saying much, but I think it's one of the best cookies I've had. Like, buttery, sweet shortbread that crumbled in your mouth, mixed with the tangy, sticky raspberry jam--I think I see more Spitzbuben in my future--maybe for the holidays, or on a rainy weekend?

Now to the recipe. I borrowed the recipe from Saveur (link here) and it makes about three dozen. (It is slightly revised.)

INGREDIENTS

3/4 lb. (3 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 egg yolks
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

 
So first I creamed the butter and sugar together briefly with a beater, and then I added the three yolks and then the flour. Set the jam aside--that's for the sauce.

I then chilled the dough overnight.

Fast forward to day two: I took the dough and thawed it, then rolled it out. With a cookie cutter, I cut 60 flower shaped-cookies. Then, using a smaller cookie cutter, I cut holes in 30 of the flowers, to form the tops. The others formed the bottoms.

(Important side note: Make sure you roll the dough thin enough--I nearly ran out of dough towards the end and had to resize half the cookies.)

Then, in batches, I baked them at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-12 minutes.

Now for the jam. The recipe linked about said to let it simmer in a saucepan for a while, but let's face it: it was pretty much 9 PM at night and I didn't want to go the trouble. So I took half a cup of the seedless raspberry jam and microwaved it for about 1 minute 15 secs--the consistency was thicker and it achieved the same purpose. I also put a spoonful of confectioner's sugar into the jam. So I would suggest simmering the jam at medium heat for 5 minutes if you have time, but if you don't/you're lazy (wink), just know that the microwave achieves the same purpose.

So hooray! Semi-authentic Swiss cookies!

And they were really good, guys. Trust me--you won't be disappointed.

So Auf Wiedersehen, and I will have another post sometime in the coming week. 

What this will all be about

Hallo, my name is Christina.

Welcome to Three Schnitzels and a Lederhosen.  And yes, that really is the name of this blog.

Basic stats: I'm a high school freshman. I go to a school with a fabelhaft (fabulous) German teacher. This blog will follow my little explorations into Germany, its people, its language, and most importantly, its culture.

So the aformentioned German teacher wanted our class to write up half-page reports each quarter, on our cultural ventures. I wanted to do a blog about it, since this will be going on for about 4 years (hopefully) and by then I can look back and see the sheer amount of fun knowledge I accumulated.

So this is not just cluttered folders of dry reports of Facts About Germany or any of what they made us do in first grade. There will be rants. Kitchen times. The intricate complexities of a German trash system. Songs and music, modern and old. My goal is to embody as much of Germany as I could, as a student living in America. 

Care to join me?