Cats and Dogs

Though it would be an appropriate description for last night's weather, this time the topic is literal.

I’ve been cat-sitting a sweet baby Russian Blue and Herr J and I walked dogs this weekend at the animal shelter, so it's been a couple of weeks of cats and dogs.

It's been wonderful having animals in our lives again, even though it's temporary. They really do make life better....albeit more complicated.

When I moved to Munich, I had to face the difficult decision of leaving my cats behind. I fear the flight would have greatly traumatized one of the inseparable pair. They're much happier anyway, living with my parents in a house with many birds and creatures outside the big windows and with two people to give them treats and loving.

my sweet kitties, Gus and Loki

It took some adjustment for me to get used to not having to consider the cats in every action...african violets typically got beheaded, other plants eaten; leaving laundry out or the closet open was inviting destruction; and having anything breakable out in the open was a recipe for disaster.

Now I find myself adjusting again...remembering that the cat will drink out of any open container and attack anything hanging down invitingly. And I'm afraid to open the windows to let in air, lest he test the theory that cats always land on their feet.

But it has prompted lots of interesting conversations. Herr J is a dog person (not that he dislikes cats, just never spent much time around them); whereas I grew up with cats and fish mostly.

We've been comparing notes and observing similiarities and differences. Trying to explain to Herr J what is normal cat behaviour is surprisingly difficult. Perhaps impossible, actually. Are there typical cat behaviors? Perhaps some…running amok early in the morning, sleeping most of the day, then coming out at night to loudly knock things off any high surface…that seems very common among all the cats I've known.

life is rough!We have realized that while dogs seem to want human company without exception, cats want it on their own terms. At a distance, and usually at inopportune times or from the person in the room who least likes cats. But they often do want to be around people, contrary to popular thought.

Of course, as soon as you think you have cats figured out, they’ll change things up and keep you on your toes.

It’s been fun having little Smokey around. He’s definitely livened things up and has a really good disposition.  He’s exactly the right mix of loving and aloof. As he's gotten used to his new surroundings, he's been incredibly sweet and wants to be in the same room as me. Whether it's napping or running around, he wants to be with people. He'll follow us from room to room.

Initially we were worried that my speakers would frighten him, as my parents’ new speakers are NOT beloved by the cats. However, he’s done quite well. I actually think he enjoyed District 9, as the prawns made a subtle clicking sound that probably is attractive to a cat (or sounds like food). 

I'm definitely going to miss him when he goes home in a couple of days. However, it's getting really warm and I'm ready to open the windows!  

Look at those gorgeous eyes!

Herr J will post more about the Munich Tierheim (animal shelter), but we did meet one of the sweetest dogs there. Here are Lilly (black) and Romeo (brown), who we walked for a couple of hours Sunday morning. Despite an unhappy start in life (he was part of a major dog rescue led by the police), Romeo's just a bundle of love and extremely well-behaved.  It was really hard not to take him home, or the gorgeous black and white Great Dane we saw on the way out. So far, I'm resisting the call of the animals, but my strength is being greatly tested!

Munich Zoo - Elephant Baby

One thing that always drives traffic to a blog... baby animals!

On May 6, the Munich Zoo welcomed a new Asian elephant boy -- 117 kilograms and almost a meter tall at birth!  (No name has been given on the zoo web site yet.) Frau A and I went to see if we could "meet" him.  Even though the Elephant House is closed for renovation, we got lucky:  the weather was nice enough so they let mom "Temi" and son outside for a little while.

Here he is:

 

The time outside was a mixture of fun and training (training for Temi only, of course).  At the start, Temi marched out carrying a tire (with ease), and the new baby at her side.  She stopped for a pose and we grabbed a photo.

 

The keepers had a watermelon on the ground for them.  Temi stepped on it right away to open it, but baby was more interested in playing with a pink towel.  They eat the watermelon rind too, by the way.

 

Sometimes his trunk did not have the full dexterity needed to pick up the towel, so he used his foot to help.  So cute.  He'd thrash the towel around a bit with his trunk, then get bored and turn back to mom.

 

Temi really liked in the watermelon and chowed down.  (BTW:  notice the towel in the keeper's pocket for playtime, and the stick for training.  Also, he would tell onlookers what is happening with the wireless microphone, but only while interacting with other adult elephants, NOT mom and baby.)

Since Temi did the work to open the melon, baby could grab a snack too.
From a nice safe place underneath mom, of course.

 

Here's another gratuitous close-up of the baby.  Really adorable, afro & all.

 

After the snack, the trainer worked with Temi for a few minutes on training and tricks.   Here she is practicing with the keeper's hat, taking it off and putting it back on again.  The trunk is amazing - strong enough to throw a tire around but nimble enough to manage this.

In this shot, the keeper used his training stick to ask Temi to sit.  She then rolled onto her side close to baby and startled him - he shrieked for a second.  Then everything was back to normal.

 

Yup, this guy is really cute, but Temi is beautiful too.  There are some of the animals that you wish you could get in there and interact with... Frau A would take 'em both home if she could.

 

We'll head back later this summer to see how baby and Temi are doing...

Bauernregeln

As I investigated the Schafskälter, I stumbled upon other Bavarian weather folklore, which collectively are known as the Bauernregeln ("Farmers' rules").  They typically are little rhyming sayings dealing with weather prediction - similar to our "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning..." and "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb."  Different from the Anglo-American ones, many of these use the name of a saint to denote the timing (based on the date of the Saints' feast days). Not a surprise, really, as the Catholic church played a much greater role in daily life in old Bavaria than it did in the early days of the US.

With the Schafskälter, the Eisheilige, and the Siebenschläfer, the past 6 weeks have been quite full of activity and proverbs!

The Ice Saints (Eisheilige) are a cold snap in May, which farmers and gardeners expect to be the last frost of the season.  Gardeners are admonished to "Die Eisheiligen abwarten" ("Wait for the Ice Saints") before doing serious planting.

In the Julian calendar, this cold snap coincided with the feast days of St. Mamertus (11 May), St. Pancras (12 May), St. Servatius (13 May), St. Boniface (14 May) and St Sophie (15 May), hence the view that the saints brought the cold weather that ends with the day of "Kalten Sophie" ("Cold Sophie"). However, with the timing changes caused by adopting the Gregorian calendar, today this cold weather usually falls a week later in May.

The Siebenschläfer ("Seven Sleepers") is a pivotal day in weather forecasting, along the lines of American Groundhog Day.  Legend has it that the weather we have on the Siebenschläfer day is representative of the weather for the next few weeks.  "Wenn die Siebenschläfer Regen kochen, so regnets vier ganze Wochen,"says the rule ("When the Seven Sleepers cook up rain, it will rain for 4 whole weeks"). 

The name refers to the old Christian and Muslim legend of the Seven Sleepers (though it also is the name for the dormouse), who were martyrs who went into a cave to pray before their executions, fell asleep, and awoke a century or two later to find the world completely changed.  The meteorological explanation is that the jet stream settles into position around the end of June, thus often bringing stable (good or bad) weather in Central Europe for the next weeks. While the memorial day for the Seven Sleepers is celebrated on 27 June, for weather purposes it likely is around 7 July today (again due to changing from Julian to Gregorian calendars).

Since the weather yesterday (27 June) was wonderfully warm and perfect, I'm hoping this Bauernregel holds true! Just to be safe, I'll check in again on the 7th next week. We could use some warm days after the rainy cool of the Schafskälter days!

A few Bauernregeln: (sadly they lose the rhyme in translation)

Pflanze nie vor der Kalten Sophie - Never plant before Cold Sophie"

Corpus Christi schön und klar, guter Wein in diesem Jahr - "When Corpus Christi is lovely and clear, we'll have good wine this year"
Je nasser ist der Februar, desto nasser wird das ganze Jahr - "The wetter February is, the wetter will be the whole year
Peter und Paul hell und klar bringt ein gutes Jahr - A light and clear Peter and Paul brings a good year" (tomorrow, the 29th)

It's in German, but there's a whole long chronological list of Bauernregeln and feast days of meteorological significance on Wikipedia.

Update on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 12:56 by Frau A

While I definitely buy into the Schafskälter as an annual phenomenon, I'm afraid that the Siebenschäfer might also work this year too.

27 June was a lovely warm sunny summer day, but supposedly the modern date (accounting for changing from Julian to Gregorian calendars) is around 7 July.

July 7 was a very strange day, mixed with hot sunny spells and cold rain and thunderstorms all in the same day. Kind of like Texas weather, except that the drop in temperature here is much more severe and it gets much colder.

I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but the weather since then has also been a strange mix, with a lot of rain. And many days that have swift changes from sun to storms and back to sun. Luckily we had almost a week of beautiful weather the week our friends from Dallas visited (the storms all were at night so didn't interfere with plans).

I'm now looking forward to the Hundestage!

Google Doodles Quiz - Part 9...Scientists, Inventors, & Explorers

In this prior post we briefly described Google Doodles and had a quiz.

Now it's time to guess the Scientists, Inventors, and Explorers whose birthdays were recognized with a Doodle:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

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Answers below:

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#1    Alexander Graham Bell (invented the telephone)
#2    Robert Bunsen (discovered the element cesium, developed the Bunsen Burner -- remember chemistry class?)
#3    Albert Einstein (invented the Theory of Relativity)
#4    Louis Braille
#5    Gaston Julia (mathematician who devised the Julia set, which is the foundation for the Mandelbrot set and fractals)
#6    Nikola Tesla (invented the induction motor, Tesla coil, alternating current electrical transmission, wireless communication before radio... and much more)
#7    Jacques Cousteau (co-developed the aqua-lung, oceanic explorer)
#8    Thomas Edison (invented the light bulb, phonograph, motion-picture camera, and more)

Hamburgers

One of the best parts of living abroad is that I find myself doing things I never would do at home...most notably meeting people (including other Americans) with whom my path never would have crossed at home.

On the more mundane side of things, are food and entertainment. In most US towns (excluding NYC and Miami), I would probably never go out for dinner or drinks at a hotel bar. Or spend the afternoon at the mall. Yet, in Germany, there are many great restaurants located in hotels that don't rely on hotel guests. In SE Asia, you can easily escape the heat or monsoon by spending a very pleasant day in a megamall - seeing a movie, having a pedicure, eating a great lunch, and having coffee and not necessarily ever shopping at all.

But there's one thing I've realized I do abroad that I would NEVER do at home: Go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Sure, when we were kids, it was cool to collect HRC t-shirts or pins from locations far away. But as an adult I never would choose to go to one in my hometown or while on holiday in another US city.

That, my friends, has changed.

 

Because, some days, you just need a good burger.

Hard Rock is one of the few places worldwide where you can reliably get a good, American-style burger, ice-tea, and even American-style salads or decent pulled-pork sandwiches. There's something valuable about that!

It started in Bangkok, where we Americans in the office would go every few weeks for lunch (usually pulled pork sandwiches). We even found it was a fun place to go out at night, always with good coverbands playing crowd favorites.

In Munich, Herr J and I have found it to have the best burgers so far. We've found that the best cure to a bad week often is a burger and some ice cream (Hagen Dazs is on the walk home).

It's also one of the few places we've found yet in Munich that will cook your burger medium. Though Germans happily eat tartar (on an open-faced sandwich in many delis), many restaurants refuse to let the burger be pink in the middle.  Many burgers here also are a mixture of beef and pork, so they just aren't the same.

We've had a few other decent burgers (MC Mueller, Killian's Irish pub, Feuerberg, and the kangaroo burger at Outland) here, but haven't made an official survey. If you anyone has recommendations for good burgers in Munich, let us know. We're ready to branch out and find the best burger in Munich

(As for other Bangkok burgers, I highly recommend the Elvis Burger at any Greyhound Cafe. They're in a few shopping centers, including Emporium and Central Chitlom)

Dog Days and Sheep's Cold

Perhaps it's the long agricultural tradition or maybe the environmental awareness, but the southern Bavarians are still very in touch with nature and weather patterns.  I think our parents all remember this type of knowledge, but it's beginning to be lost by our generation and the next ones as our daily lives become more and more removed from the land.  Living in Bavaria and Thailand has reminded me of many of the traditions I'd forgotten or never known, as well as taught me new ones.  And if there's one thing I've learned here is that if they've bothered to make a German word for something, it means it will happen with regularity!

Despite a couple of glorious hours of warm sun yesterday morning, it's been chilly and rainy here for the past week or two.

Every year, it's pretty similar...Warm weather comes just before Easter, in time to open the beer gardens.  It's normal that the temperature varies widely throughout the day - it's often a little chilly in mornings and evenings, even in August.  But around the 2nd week of June, it gets downright chilly and nasty. Invariably, it's just a few days after I finally give in and pack away the winter clothes and bring out summer. Luckily this year I planned ahead and left a few things out for the cold times.

In Bavaria, they call this the Schafskälter, which means Sheep's Cold. The cold snap usually ocurrs soon after the sheep are shorn, leaving them very cold and vulnerable. (apparently the lambs and ewes normally aren't shorn until after the schafskälter, as the cold can be dangerous to them). In the Austrian Alps, this can even bring snow at higher altitudes, and here in Munich hail showers are not uncommon.

There is a scientific explanation for this - in Germany and Austria, the land has warmed up, but the northern seas still are quite cold, creating a massive low pressure zone over the area. This brings cold polar air down from the northwest, and reverses the prevailing winds so that it stays here. According to the Bauernregeln.com (roughly similar to a Farmers' Almanac), this early June drop in temperature happens with 89% regularity! 

We do have the Dog Days (Die Hundestage) to look forward to in late July and August. The hottest, driest days of summer, they have been called Dog Days by the Romans, Greeks, and ancient Egyptians. Not because the dogs pant and seek shade, but because they coincided with Sirius (the Dog Star, in the Canis Major constellation) rising at the same time as the sun over the Nile and Tiber rivers.  We know today that it's a regular high pressure area that settles in, but the ancients thought that Sirius brought the weather.

So, while the Hundestage aren't uniquely German, as a good resident of Bavaria, I look forward to spending the hot days under the shade of a beer garden tree, or wading in the Isar!

Parisian Shoes

Herr J alluded to another one of my surgical shopping strikes. I think I surprised even him with the swiftness and efficiency, but really I just wanted the exact same pair of black ballet flats I've had for 3 years. Minus the 3 years of wear and tear.

So our walking tour of Paris included a quick stop in the Repetto flagship store near the Opera.

It may not be the most well-known attraction or the most glamorous of Parisian shoes (we would have spent HOURS had we visited Christian Louboutin!).  However, it's worth a visit for two reasons:

• to buy the most comfy ballet flats in the world
• if you ever loved ballet

New Bolchoi Flats :)For me, it's more the former.  Trying to walk for hours in heels, especially on European cobblestone walks, is painful and it hurts my poor beautiful shoes.  City life has driven me to need flats. And every pair I've tried just give horrible blisters and tear up my heels. It doesn't matter if they're cheap or really well made; they're just all too rigid, and often have flimsy soles. Sadly I've probably wasted a lot of money on inexpensive "comfortable" shoes that in the end are unwearable.  Thankfully a good friend in Singapore introduced me to Repetto, and I'm hooked on the Bolchoi flats with their super-soft leather and square toes.  Light like ballet shoes (feels like wearing nothing on your feet) but with soles that can deal with walking outside.

For those who have a love of ballet, it's a wonderful little store full of history and tutus and pointe shoes and other beautiful ballet attire.  The reason the shoes are so wonderfully comfortable is in their history.  I know nothing about ballet shoes, but these are supposed to be among the best. Founder Rose Repetto was the mother of famous French choreographer Roland Petit.  After she made shoes for Roland’s use, she eventually opened the store in 1947 at this location near the Opera.  They initially made only real ballet shoes, but the legend is that Brigitte Bardot commissioned the boutique to make her a pair of red ballet flats to wear in And God Made Woman, kicking off the chic Parisian trend. 

Though they remain a premier shoe supplier to ballet companies, Repetto now is part of Reebok.  After major troubles after Rose's death, Reebok purchased the failing business in 1999 and has turned it around (through a bankruptcy and reorganization) into a trendy fashion brand.  Today they’ve expanded beyond flats into other dance-inspired shoes (heels that look like they could tango all night) and even boots and loafers. I doubt I would buy Repetto boots, but I’m curious if the heels are as comfortable as their flats given their dance background. I would LOVE to find heels I could walk in on European streets for hours!

If you're interested, you can watch a video here of the shoes being made.

Repetto
22 Rue de la Paix
Paris
Metro Stop: L'Opera
Open Mon-Sat 9:30-19:30

I'll still keep wearing the old pair until they completely fall apart (especially for long walks), but now can wear flats to work functions without feeling ashamed of my really beat up dingy shoes.

In the interest of full disclosure, I recieve nothing for writing a post about fabulous shoes. Other than that joy that new shoes always bring. Of course, if Repetto (or other Parisian shoemakers... Yes, M. Louboutin, I'm talking to you!) wanted to send me free shoes in exchange for press on our tiny little blog, I could be bought.  Easily!