At the Rostock Zoo: Part II

The monkey house was my favorite part of the zoo, due to one monkey in particular. Not this one, although it is also quite impressive.

The monkey house also had some other animals, like this lizard.

But more importantly, pygmy marmosets.  Oh my god, you guys, pygmy marmosets.  Zwergäffchen ("dwarf monkeylets"), as they're called in German, are so adorable I can hardly stand it.

Look at it!!!

I want to steal it and take it home with me.  I will alter all of my clothes so they have a monkey pocket, and my new monkey friend can go everywhere with me.

"Hey, you there! Do you want to come with me?"

From the look on his face, you can tell that he's thinking it over.

At the Rostock Zoo: Part I

It was a quiet Sunday morning-this Sunday morning, in fact.  I had just sent out a text to a few people asking about simple plans for the day. Suddenly, I got a call from Thomas, my host dad.  Andrea, who works at my school, was leaving for a conference in Göttingen.  To make the children feel better, he was going to take them to the zoo.  Also, the kids missed me and were sad that I didn't live with them anymore.  (Awwww.) Would I like to go?

Well, obviously.

Our visit to the zoo started with something highly exotic...a raccoon. On the bright side, it does make sense that they'd be exciting on a continent where they don't hang out in your back yard and get into your trash cans. And the German word for raccoon is "Waschbär" (Wash-bear), which is pretty adorable.

This camel was one of the first big animals we saw.  The zoo did a great job of making the animals feel incredibly close.

Ronja, my nine-year-old host sister, was very into photographing things today.  We stood next to each other and photographed things for quite a bit of the day.  

This is the beginning of a building called the Darwineum, which showcases the theory of evolution.  It confused me for quite a while, because people were using the name without explaining what it was, and "Darwineum" in German is pronounced "Dar-vin-neh-um".  I finally caught the evolution part and suddenly everything made sense.

These pictures are especially for Geoff-live horseshoe crabs! I wanted to get video, because the movement of their legs was fascinating, but it didn't quite work out.

Note for Geoff: By the way, love, these crabs were about two thirds the size of Walter! 

A leaf insect.  Sadly, I think they only had one kind.  I say, "I think", because running after the kids didn't really allow for careful inspection.

A mudskipper.  They seem like something a few million years out of their time.

Lazy lizards.

In German, this is a "desert mouse". In English, it was a something-squirrel.  Either way, adorable.

Pumpkin Soup

My host mom made pumpkin soup for dinner tonight, and it was AMAZING.  This is the recipe:

Cut up a Hokkaido pumpkin very small.  Peel and cut up an equal amount of potato. Put in a large soup pot and cover with water.  Add vegetable broth cubes.  Cook until soft, then blend in a blender/with an emersion blender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  At the table, add cream and Mezzi sauce (in America, Bragg seasoning can replace it) to taste.  Serve with a hearty bread.

Delicious!

First Days in Rostock

I've never been as glad to see strangers as I was to see my host family when I arrived at the train station in Rostock.  I was completely exhausted and hadn't really eaten to speak of, but they immediately made me feel welcomed and took care of me.  This is their front door. Their whole house is wonderful-tucked into a cobbled alleyway in the historic center, watched over by the church where they were married and had their children baptized. It's also a very short walk from Neue Markt, where a lot of the action in Rostock is centered.  Last Sunday, the SDP gave an event there.  I didn't ultimately listen to the speeches though-I had other plans, which I will write about soon.

This is for Geoff: look, a kiteboarding store, right in the city center!

This was their mascot.  I thought it looked pretty cool.

And I loved the idea of a street being named Buchbinderstaße, "Book-binder street".  I can only imagine that many books were made here.

This is a sign on the Kröpeliner Tor, which is a legally protected historic monument.  It says, "Don't lean bicycles on the Kröpeliner Tor (unless they're legally protected monuments...)" Someone clearly has a good sense of humor.

It just so happened that Deutschland bewegt sich, a state-sponsored festival that seeks to promote a healthy lifestyle, happened in Rostock on my first weekend there.  It was fun, but the pole dancers performing in broad daylight to a fascinated audience of children was undoubtedly the most amusing.They're in amazingly good shape!

Grafitti, apparently many by two tiny, adorable, and elderly elves. I found this as I was taking an alternative route to Neue Markt.

I could hardly believe this: there is a huge fabric store in the city center.  It's closed at the moment for remodeling, but re-opens soon.

The Neue Markt, one of the most picturesque parts of Rostock.  The real story is much more complicated, as shown by the situation at my school.  But that's a story for another time.

Adventures in Köln: The Chocolate Museum

I had heard of the Cologne chocolate museum quite a while before I arrived here, and I was very excited to visit it.  I hoped it would be like the time I visited the Zotter chocolate factory, when everyone on the tour left absolutely stuffed with chocolate. On Saturday, our Station hostel group of Fulbrighters headed on over. We were given a piece of milk chocolate as we went in.

The first part of the museum dealt with the growth, economics, and history of chocolate.  At least for my limited abilities, it didn't lend itself to being photographed. There was a greenhouse that I liked, but the rest of it wasn't very interesting to me.  I was already familiar with most of the information, and it was so busy that I couldn't stand in front of the displays comfortably. I did get to try a roasted coffee bean. It was an intense experience, more like coffee grounds than sweetened chocolate, but pleasant at the same time.

And then...we went into my favorite room of the museum. It began with some beautiful chocolate molds. This was my favorite. 

The whole process of preparing and packaging chocolate was shown in this room...in reality, making the chocolate we had been given as we went in! I took some video of the different steps of the process, which I may post later.

And at the end of the room, there was this beautiful chocolate fountain, from which we were given samples.

Upstairs, there was finished chocolate in fantastic shapes.

There were also more molds.  This goat reminds me of an animal from a coat of arms.

Another interesting part of this room was the opportunity to make your own chocolate bar. There were cards with lists of things that could be added to dark, milk, or white chocolate.  I was tempted to do it, but at 5 Euros for a bar, I didn't think it was worth it.

This one's for my mom, whose collection of chocolate whips is more impressive than the museum's!

I love Lindt truffles, so I was a big fan of this giant model.

In the store at the end, there was an absolutely incredible array of chocolates.  I thought the cherry brandy truffles with the image of the Dom were the more visually impressive.

And that was my tour! It was less gluttonous than I had hoped, but still a lot of fun.

Hamburg Part II

This photos are from the second part of my walk yesterday, ein angenehm Stadtbummel durch Hamburg.

My hostel was located in Sankt Pauli.  (As you might expect, what with its name being 100% Backpackers Sankt Pauli). It was an interesting neighborhood. You could almost feel the youth culture pulsing through it.  South Park Sankt Pauli seemed pretty appropriate.

Yet another thing that reminded me of Brooklyn: the chance to play oversized chess in a public park.

The park was a small one, but it had plenty of ceramic murals.

And palm tree sculptures, for that matter.

In Soviet Russia, the Simpsons watch you.

I could not resist photographing this fancy octopus.

The neighborhood park featured a plump and contented local cat.

A picture for Basho and Musashi.

Am Fischmarkt.

I thought the shape of this pedestrian bridge was really beautiful.

The name of this street is "Broad Street". There was also a "Long Street".  

I am an extremely mature individual and do not find the name of this street amusing at all.

Beatlesplatz!

And nearby, where they got their start.

And then I went back to the hostel, where I talked with some nice people from the Netherlands, France, and the USA.