Greetings and observations from Martin:Today is a bit of a lazy day for all but Andrew, who has a long day of school, ‘til 3:45 PM, eating lunch again at Phillip’s. Carl is working on some school work for Schoolcraft; Martin doing some reading for his sabbatical work, Lisa doing laundry, Christian doing dishes after breakfast.
So, with nothing else much to report, here are a couple of musings from Martin, experienced over the past two weeks, both excerpts from an email to immediate family last week:
First. With the boys in school this week, Lisa walks to the baker every morning to get fresh hard rolls and Bretzeln and I have resumed my spring/summer-time ‘run’ in the mornings, returning to a beautifully set breakfast table and fresh coffee (nice and strong), after walking/jogging/stumbling along the paths between fields of young wheat and canola flowers. The other day I read an article (titled ‘Hundeklos an Gassibahn’ – sorry, not translatable…) in the Reutlinger daily paper that highlighted how in a nearby village they have now installed eight Hundehäufchenbeutelziehstationen (dogpoopbagdisposalstations) to counter complaints about dog droppings along this certain trail that has developed into something like dog walking Autobahn. The project, endorsed by the mayor who is also a dog owner; cost 5000 Euro - about $6500. Along with dispensing the bags, there also is a place where you can deposit the filled bags, which will be emptied by the city’s road and trail department when they make the rounds sweeping the streets and trails every Friday. So, communities are addressing real issues with their proceeds from the pet taxes they collect. Anyway, I now have a set of walking/running acquaintances, both two-legged and four-legged, that I meet every morning on my outings; we exchange friendly Swabian greetings (Grüß Gott or Guata Morga) and keep going on our merry ways. One of them I swear is Yoko Ono, hat, sunglasses and all.
Second. Yesterday, I tried to exchange some cash I had brought along (just to be sure, not knowing 100% if our Visa cash card from First National Bank in Bemidji would work - it does!) only to find out that banks aren’t accepting $100 bills… I guess there a various counterfeit ones around and they can’t tell the difference between the real ones and the fake ones. We’ll keep trying to find a nice, reasonable and flexible teller – the ones I tried to deal with so far just pretty much told me it’s my problem, arguing with me how some things are just different in some countries… Epilog, written today, the 24th of April. Search and you will find. After getting a parking ticket last week, I went to the bank where the city has its account (as noted on the ticket). Hoping to both get rid of my $100 bills and pay the ticket in the same place, I went to bank’s headquarters. To exchange the money, signs directed me to the counter labeled ‘currency exchange, travelers checks and precious metals’ where I was told it would take at least 15 minutes to examine my $100 bills. In addition to the careful visual inspection of the character standing in front of him, the bank teller initiated a two-step process which involved a magnifying glass and a little glass covered box with a strong light under it. One by one the bills passed inspection and after less than two minutes I had my Euro, even at a better exchange rate than I would have gotten the day before. Such efficiency and service! Moving on to the next teller, I presented the clerk with my parking ticket info. She greeted me with a smile and offered to take my cash, asking for an extra Euro as a processing fee for taking the payment (what are banks for, if not take your money?). I then asked if I could also go directly to some city or police office to pay the ticket only to be told that none of those departments take cash anymore. So with no other options at my disposal, I paid my 6.5% processing fee to the bank and was once again free of traffic violation debt.
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