Die Dame

Playing chess along the River Main on a Sunday:


There is language in life, the everyday words we think in and try to express our ideas to one another with. Then there are things which reveal aspects of our personality beyond language. Things like music, art, style, and taste. Chess is also one of these things.

Chess tells you a person’s world view and intelligence in a matter of moves, things like:
1. What is the best first move?
2. Do you value your pawns?
3. What is a worthy sacrifice?
4. Fight for position or for some scheme?
5. Play with reckless flair or conservative defense?
6. Have an overall plan and strategy?
7. Take as much time and care in the beginning as in the end?
8. Have a mission and philosophy to guide you from start to finish?
9. Are you just making a move because it feels right? Or because it looks right to your peers?

There are people you could ask these questions to in language and not get anything close to the answers you would expect. Yet the varying levels and consequences of these points and thoughts become conspicuously apparent in chess. It is interesting to see how people react to the game, and to know that you yourself are somewhere on a line with it, and to know that sophistication is limitless.

Saturday Flohmarkt

Today marks a Saturday in Frankfurt and so I thought I would do a post about a typical day. I have made a trip to the zoo and to the botanical/greenhouse garden with some friends from the school, but those both seem too typical to blog about. You know?

So anyway, here is my room in Frankfurt:




The building I live in is over 100 years old, with tremendously high ceilings, and is located on Underlindau in the glamorous, Mercedes filled, West-End.






This Saturday morning was cloudy and set in with fog. In my 14 days here thus far, there have only been two mornings this foggy.






On Saturdays there is a large Flea Market (Flohmarkt) by the River Main where you can get a fresh made waffle with cherries, and a coffee for 3 Euro:






It is nice to know it was made by an outsized German lady into the pastries, but in all honestly, hardly anyone here in the city is outsized.






The fluhmarkt then has your typical kitschy imports like NYPD exercise wear, or Dolce and Gabana Underwear.






Then there are the more classic antiques like an old record player or brass embossed frame/cupid etc...






Other finds of note was an awesome ABBA book replete with some of the tackiest costumes and photos you can imagine. It was seriously difficult not to buy it. Someone also had some rather large photos on North Carolina beaches! Crazy. "How did you get these?" I asked. "Ve vent to North Carolina last yih-air, vould you like to bi-eee dem? 20 cents?"

No thanks.

The more I travel, the less differences I see. After all, this was a Saturday flea market not unlike the one I consistently don't go to in Raleigh. It still had old crap for sale on the cheap, or not-so-cheap-as-it-should-be. And it also had the fatty confections and concessions. The only differences were the prominence of German, Arabic, and Spanish languages, and the fact that beer was being sold at 9a.m. and most people were buying and drinking it. (Just like in Belize!)

I guess the other difference is that it was nearby, and in a more romantic atmosphere, but that could just be because I am new here. Really, the amount and kind of people one is with shapes a place more than anything in my opinion. Going around Frankfurt on my own is very different then going around with Japanese, Finnish, or Mexican people. Each one tends to impart their own reactions that actually changes the perception of the city. Even in my home town of Cary, there is a difference between shopping alone, and going shopping with someone. If you are with someone who has an empty mind and bad taste, every aspect of the place you are in will be annoying. At the same time, if you are with someone artistic, you might be led to see things you otherwise have overlooked again and again. The same is true with yourself. How much you know about the history, the geology, the future, etc...of a place, all the more you will appreciate it.

There is no end to how much you can appreciate a certain place, or the combinations of people you can be with in a particular place, and I get into debates as to the worth of spending time in appreciating the physical world against spending time studying and discovering the world of information and logic. Unraveling the mysteries as it were. The answer is to invest some time in both, but it will take some time to get the ratios right, I think I am just going to study as much as I can till I need a break, and then go out and try to see something new in the world.

Back to School

I am enrolled in a language school here in Frankfurt, and it is different being back in a formal class setting after a break of 5 years. Now I see the class only in terms of what I want to learn, and the teacher as more of a partner than an authority.

There are plenty of times where the teacher will be talking and boredom sets in. There is also the general fatigue of sitting in the same place for an hour and half and being obliged to pay attention to a static subject. It is kind of unnatural.

In my view, the most productive thing that can happen in such moments is to try create subsequent unexpected lessons. There is a Japanese girl in my class who is meticulous, tidy, and driven. She never leans back in her chair. NEVER! All the other students take moments, often whole minutes, to sit back and lean in their chair. Try to keep a straight posture for 90 minutes and see how you do, don't mind the light burning pain in your spine. I found sitting up straight helps reduce daydreaming, and keeps you focused on the class. Amazing! Just amazing! What other lessons are in the periphery?

Ich bin ein Frankfurter

It was difficult not to compare flying in to Frankfurt with flying in to Belize. The landscape below revealed misty mountains in contrast to the aqua blue waters of the Caribbean.






It was nice to see the Frankfurt Airport again though, replete with a bounty of Lufthansa jet planes:






When arriving at the airport there is a notable presence of U.S. military. Most of them look like civilians, but it is their chatter about where they are going to get deployed "Afghanistan or Iraq?" and the occasional camouflage bag which tips you off. It is difficult to ignore the military force here in general. Flying in to Germany it is hard not to think of WWII movies. On the plane I imagined what it would be like to be on a plane and have to parachute down into Germany to fight a war. I don't know how all those soldiers found the courage. It is amazing!


The people in the military that I met were kind, cheerful, and friendly. They had a business as usual attitude about arriving, and helped me get on the right train into Frankfurt:






After getting slightly lost in the subway, and having two Germans ask me in German which was the right subway line for them I finally found my feet and my stop, and exited at Alte Oper, home to a restored opera house which is at the heart of my neighborhood here in Frankfurt:






Once settled I turned back around to explore the city on a Sunday. Most shops are closed on Sundays in Frankfurt, but there is still plenty of life on the streets. People out with family for a walk, or meeting friends to take some drinks...
I found the Frankfurt Stock Exchange:






Then listened to a marching band at the central square:






Then checked out the fire department fundraiser which they need in order to pay for their Mercedes Fire Trucks.






Then went along the walkway by the river main:






Then got a beer along the river and gave a toast to this great and social city, a big city with a little city charm, it felt to me.







Ich bin ein Frankfurter!

International Transit

Post for Saturday, September 27, 2008



International transit areas are designed to drown out noise, and lessen the effect of large crowds, you feel small and insignificant being in one. Filled with commissions from local artists, over-priced eateries, and viewing windows, one can only do so much before all options are exhausted.

Sit around and try to guess everyone’s culture by their clothing, hairstyle, facial features, accent, or make up. Try to cling to some kind of purpose and you find that life has put you in a situation were you have an absence of purpose, all you have is patience and expectation.

I saw some airport employees out in the airplane parking lot and envied them. I envied their camaraderie, their carefree manner, the way that waiting and expectation seemed not to bother them, part because of being in company, but mainly because they had sold away a portion of time in their life to someone or something else. Whatever they were doing, whether it be active, or a matter of killing time, it was on someone else’s time, it was someone else’s responsibility. They didn't really have to worry what was coming next, it had been planned and it didn't cost them anything. Sitting around and waiting was just a matter of course, a matter of obligation, and there was no need to question it.

I took a walk, I strolled the large halls and looked at the city commissioned art. I basked in the freedom of being able to do so, and then I remembered why I was where I was, and I was happy.

Next Trip: Frankfurt, Germany

In about a week I will be heading off to Frankfurt for 4 weeks to learn some German and get to know the city. I will be staying with a family there, a single Mom of two college kids.

Next trip: Maine

I will be flying off to Maine tomorrow to spend some time in Portland and then on to Bar Harbor. While I am there I will probably spend a lot of time blogging here on a website I have been working very hard to create. The website is a catalog of fruits and vegetables, nutrition facts, and health information. You can check it out if you want:

http://www.healthaliciousness.com

There is also a nutrition facts comparison tool, have a look if you like:

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/nutritionfacts/

Go the the "drinks" category, and compare beer, wine, and whiskey. I think you will be surprised....if you drink such stuff of course. :p

I find I have a real passion for produce, fruits, and vegetables. Usually when I travel I go in search of these things, to me, they are what define a place. I have been batting an idea in the back of my mind to drive down the east coast and work at different farms along the way till I get to Florida. After that my Mom mentioned that she might go to Lebanon at the end of September and I would love to start in at England and travel down to meet her there, and maybe push on to the Emirates, sail down to India, and push on to East Asia until December...