Too Much Snow - The Easter Fire is Cancelled

It is Easter and it is still snowing. At least in some parts of the country. I am here in the area where I grew up. And the impossible has happened - the traditional Easter Fire was cancelled here. An Easter Fire is a big bonafire which is lighted during Easter (cannot remember which day) after sunset. It has some traditional Christian meaning, but all i remember of it are tons of people gathering around it to drink beer. Since it was cancelled this year, I cannot show pictures of it. Instead here are more pictures of the snowy scenery.

Frankfurt Looks Better Than I Thought

After three weeks in Germany I went on a short business trip to Taiwan. When I returned I took the time to walk around Frankfurt (I arrived at the Frankfurt Airport) before going back to Stuttgart. This was my first time to visit Frankfurt downtown, and I was quite surprised by the many beautiful places there. Here some impressions:

A walk along the Main River:

Walking through downtown

 When the German National Soccer Team wins a big international tournament, the team comes to this market square to be celebrated by the fans

A beautiful contrast between new and old

Still Snowing

End of March and it is still snowing. But rumors about a new ice age were rejected by climate experts. I have to admit it looks beautiful, but I'd rather have sunshine

Visa Made Easy - Not

After a couple of light hearted entries, it is time for a couple of entries about more serious issues. At least once in a while. Here is the first one.

As a German citizien I would assume that I had the normal and basic right to move back to Germany WITH my family, WHENEVER I want. That turned out to be wrong. I understand that my wife had to apply for a visa, but I would expect that it would go like "you have been married for many years, you have a kid together, and and and - OK here is the visa. Go back to Germany and be happy."

WRONG - when my wife applied for a visa I had to show that I already have a job, tell where we will live, how much money I make etc. So I as a German citizen have to find a job first before we can even think of applying for a visa for my wife. And does it mean that i have to make a certain amount of money before I can move my family to Germany? Furthermore - it seems like that the visa is also connected to a place to live. I was just informed that some governmental bureau in Germany has received the visa application and that I have to show them a rental agreement within six weeks. I haven't seen the actual notice yet, but that sounds like my wife cannot get a visa if I don't have rented a place.

Welcome to Germany.

A Sunny Saturday in Stuttgart

After a cold and cloudy start the last week has been quite nice. Sunny and at least not freezing anymore. So I and my brother (who came down from the northern City of Hamburg) took advantage of this nicer weather to stroll around downtown Stuttgart and to have lunch and cake.

Apparently we were not the only one with this idea

An indoor market with tons of international groceries

Our lunch - Thai food. Actually pretty good. Interesting fact - Italian, Greek, Thai and even Chinese restaurants are usually cheaper than German restaurants.

We finished the afternoon with cake on the rooftop of Karstadt, an old German department store.

Cigarettes out of Vending Machines

For Taiwanese (Americans too) it might look strange seeing vending machines for cigarettes on the sidewalk. But in Germany this has been reality for a long time, so in the old times basically everybody could buy cigarettes (though it always has been illegal for minors to buy and smoke cigarettes). But just a couple of days ago, I found out that there are new vending machines for cigarettes - these vending machines require that you proof that you are old enough to buy cigarettes. If you want to buy cigarettes you have to swipe your ID card or your drivers licence through a little sensor and in this way the vending machine can check if you are old enough.

The Vending Machine - with a note that smoking can be deadly right below the ad for Pall Mall

And here you swipe your ID or your drivers licence.

A true story about a friend - after a party she went to get some cigarettes. These new vending machines had just been installed, so she was not familiar with these machinese. So she gets to a machine and pushes the buttons to get her brand of cigarettes when the machine requests an age confirmation. She glances around then gets closer to the machine and whispers: "42"

Ice On the Windshield

A problem, drivers in Taiwan usually don't face - ice or snow on the car. Here my co-worker while he is removing the ice from the windshield.

One can imagine how annoying this is - you are in a hurry to get to work and on top of it you are freezing.

First Impressions of Our Future Hometown

 While I have been staying with a coworker in the city of Stuttgart, my company is actually located in a small town called Winnenden, about 25 minutes from Stuttgart by train, and I will probably move to this town.
Today I had the chance to see a little bit more of this town than the adjacent area of the office. I had to go "downtown" to apply for my health insurance. Here a couple of pictures

Sushi in Germany

Asian things, especially food, has gotten increasingly popular in Germany. I even found Sushi while stroling through the Stuttgart trainstation. It was offered  by an old German fast food chain (founded 1896) focusing on fish and sea food.

Exploring Stuttgart

Finally the sun is back. So yesterday I took advantage of the sunny (but still freezing) weather to explore parts of Stuttgart on foot. In the future we want to live near my office, which is about 25 minutes by subway from downtown Stuttgart. But for now I live with a coworker close to downtown Stuttgart.

Yesterday (Saturday) I wanted to visit an old family friend who happens to live in Stuttgart, but basically on the other side of Stuttgart. I decided to walk the roughly 10 KM accross the city.

First thing I noticed - at 9:30 the streets were basically still empty.  Only closer to the big streets there were cars driving around, but even when I passed through downtown Stuttgart there were almost less people than infront of my breakfast store back in Taipei at any given Saturday morning.

Second - this city is very similar to Taipei in regard to the surrounding hills/mountains, so from the place where i am living at the moment, i had to walk up a mountain before descending back into the valley where downtown is located. Then on the other side I had to ascend another hill up to about 480 m above sea level. I was rewarded with a great view of Stuttgart, especially after we went up the "Fernsehturm Stuttgart (TV Tower Stuttgart)" which is another 216 m high.

Here some impressions:

Basically empty streets on a Saturday morning around 11 AM

This area in the south of  Stuttgart (Degerloch) is so steep that in 1884 the "Stuttgart Rack Railway (German: Zahnradbahn Stuttgart)" was opened. It is the only urban rack railway in Germany. Unfortunately each time the tram came i didn't have my camera (phone) ready.

 A view from (almost) above:

 The view from the before mentioned "TV Tower Stuttgart"

This is a big sports complex with soccer stadium, tennis courts, ice ring, etc.

And here the TV Tower Stuttgart, which is the world's first TV tower built from concrete (and prototype for many towers of that kind all over the world).

First Impressions at Work

I have been at work for a couple of days now. The first thing that I noticed are the smaller office rooms. The whole office is seperated in little offices, so different from many Taiwanese (or US offices) we are only a couple of people in each room. So you don't feel like chicken in a coop. Of course, you better get along with the one or two coworkers in your office. If not, i believe the effect is worse than in a big office with 50 people.

The second thing - no one is listening to stuff on his/her computer. In Taiwan (the last two companies) I was used to seeing many coworkers with earphones on and listening to music, news or baseball games. I am not sure yet, if this is illegal here (or forbidden in this company)

As I mentioned it is still very cold. Fortunately inside we have heaters, so most of the office is very comfortable. But the office building includes a big warehouse (by the way, it is a bike company) which is not heated, and you have to cross this warehouse to get to the restroom, the kitchen etc. So at the moment I always sprint through the warehouse to get to the bathroom. Unfortunately sometimes I have work to do in the warehouse, like talking to the guys working there or check out a bike.

Arriving in Germany

I am in Germany - I am alone - for now. I have a job, but not much more. So my wife and and my son sent me ahead to check out the area and find a place to live. By the way, we will move to the area of Stuttgart - the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

Fortunately I have family and some friends here, so that is a big help. For now I am staying with a coworker.

First shock at my arrival - the weather. I thought spring had already somewhat arrived in Germany, but when we landed in Frankfurt almost a week ago the pilot announced: "the weather is not great. Cloudy sky, SNOW and around 0° (32° Fahrenheit)." 

So I really was freezing when I got off the plane. Especially since it was around 25° (77°) when I left Taipei.

Leaving Taipei (Video will be added later):

Arriving in Germany (Video will be added later)

One reason to move to this area was the - supposedly - good weather. I hope I will not be proven wrong.

By the way - nicer pictures will follow later when I get my camera which is still with wife and son.  For now i have to rely on my Blackberry.