Kieler Woche

To continue from the last Germany post—apparently, when F’s parents applied to become Canadian citizens, they unknowingly gave up German citizenship. They could have filled out a petition to maintain double status, but even then it is rarely granted..

However, strangely enough, since becoming Canadian, F’s older brother has gotten a new German passport. This led to an interesting insight into German bureaucracy. Because F’s brother already had a German passport, he was able to get a new one. F had still been a minor when they left and so hadn’t needed a passport..and now can’t get one.

There’s a small story—that it feels like we are living—that tells of the Hauptman of Koebenig and how he can’t get a job until he can prove he lives somewhere, but he can’t get an apartment until he has a job…If you have the one, you can get the other. But if you don’t…

Luckily F is still Canadian, so he is not at a complete loss. It just means we will both need to get visas, but because he already has a job lined up, the letter from his future employer should make that no problem. Ah bureaucracy :P

In any event, there is also an enormous festival going on in Kiel right now, “Kieler Woche” (Kiel Week). Several million attend each year from all over the world—it’s the largest sailing festival in the world and also just an overall fun street festival. We went exploring, enjoyed the Argentinian steaks and Tango lessons at the Argentina booth at the International Market, saw some cool wakeboarding, and watched a man juggle 5!! tennis rackets.

In the city hall there are also these funky old-fashioned elevators. You can only ever fit 2 in a cabin, but they are on a continuous cycle up and down. We rode them briefly just for fun.

And then all along the Kiel Fjord, there are the sailing ships—new and old and just wow--so much rope!

oh, and p.s. cheese—specifically camembert…let’s just say I did not think about the possible implications of getting such an already ripe cheese from the discount/almost-expired bin at the grocery store…have you ever smelled rotting broccoli? Yeeeah…not good. I managed to get down two bites of this cheese and then I couldn’t stand it anymore! It was vile! I mean the cheese was creamy, but you can’t just turn off your nose! Smell is one of those senses that normally adds to the food-enjoying experience. Unfortunately here that backfired—it ruined it.

F still enjoyed the cheese and had the kind consideration to take the cheese out onto the porch whenever he opened it. We had already put it in an airtight container after we identified what was making the fridge smell like ripe garbage—I mean really! It was just…I’m glad we are now done with it. I am still willing to try another camembert at some point—but that expiration date better be miles away.

p.p.s. Blogger is driving me crazy. Why can't the world just stay saved??? (or formatted?)