The Eyes of a German

Well, as you probably all know, I am in ze Deutschland. Why and how I got here is truly a mystery for the ages, but in any case, it's a good time. I ended up in a little town, with very little excitement going on, but they are German, and I am Canadian, so they seem more interesting to me than they really are, and vice versa.

I am working for a company called Grässlin (I love that German kezboard ;) ), and everyone seems quite nice. I am working in the product management area, currently doing research for a new potential product in the renewable energy sector.

I spent the first five days or so jet-lagged to the point of brain-dead stupidity, but beside that it's been pretty nice. One of my colleagues took me on a tour of the area, and it's quite beautiful. A lot like New Brunswick, but with almost exclusively fir forest, and bigger mountains. Plus I am right in the heart of cuckoo-clock territory, and there are two house-sized cuckoo-clocks in the vicinity, which given my propensity toward wooden gears and the like, caused me no end of excitement.

The dialect in the Black Forest is a bit difficult, even for native speakers who are not from the area, and so it is that I thought I could speak German pretty well, until I came here. I realized I have very little idea what any of the locals are saying... at all...especially when they are drunk... Which brings me to my main point; it has been said in Germany that if you do not make eye contact when making a toast, you will have ten years of bad sex. From this, I have rigorously deduced that if you look into the eyes of a German when making a toast, you will be guaranteed good sex for ten years. Wow, that's a lot less funny than when I had originally conceived it.

Anyway, the beer is good, aside from the new German fad of mixing beer with pop (that was an unpleasant surprise, let me tell you...), and the Black Forest Ham at home is not even close to what you get here. Here it's actually smoked, not cooked, and is far more scrumtious. I had a bunch of other exciting stories, like the time I offered candy to the stranger on the train, or the strange linguistic experience I had with a Thai waitress, but they are kicking me out of this internet café (or the closest thing to it in St. Georgen), and it will have to wait for another day...

Good day my friends...

Greg