A New "Day" in the US of A

I cannot write an entry without acknowledging that we are indeed in a new United States of America! We have fresh hope and a renewed patriotism with our President Barack Obama. Just makes one want to sniff in fresh clean air and smile, see --> :) With our new Dems in office, I would actually be somewhat excited to have a job in the Federal office. Even if it weren't my dream job. At least I'd feel that I'm contributing to the democracy of my country in some small way. I have a federal exam Wednesday! {However, my most important exam comes up in about 3 weeks.}

Alas, I will refrain from elaborating on my political thoughts here because all that could and would be said about the new President and the old Administration has been already heard.

~Mira

My last post was 13 years ago!

 I have to catch up! :) Be back soon.

Beads & Braids: A German Hero

This is what a German hero looks like. Photo from Spiegel via Goodyear.

I am sure you've heard that saying, "Judge not for ye be not judged". Here, my friends is a German hero. Now, look away from the hairstyle for just a moment. (Hard? Yes.) But I have something far more important to tell you about this fellow here.

Hero next to his big 18 wheeler. Photo from Spiegel via Goodyear.

He risked his own life for that of many others one cold winter night on a German highway recently. You can read the story in the German news here (in German) or you can just read my nifty, short English summary.

You see, this guy, Jürgen Thesing, is a trucker. One night, a message came over his radio to alert him to a dangerous driver on the road.  It was reported that the driver was going the wrong way. Scary! (Get this; the article states that 20 people die each year in Germany in cases of wrong-way drivers. I can only imagine how much it is in the USA.) Fearing that this ruthless driver could cause a major accident on the road, Jürgen devised a plan via walkie talkie radio with another trucker who was driving just in front of him. The plan they came up with was to ride side by side in their 18-wheelers, not letting any other cars or trucks past them. They figured that two 18-wheelers with flashing lights could serve as a moving steel alert to get the reckless driver to stop.

For this courageous move, my friends, Mr. Thesing won the Goodyear (as in tires) Hero of the Road award for 2013.  The article reported that Goodyear has been having difficulty finding courageous civilians worthy of the prestigious award. They’ve been looking for years. In fact, they conducted a survey where the findings show that many Germans lack the spirit of goodwill on the road. Only 38 percent of the respondents said that they would help immediately in an emergency situation. Most common reason: the fear of falling into danger themselves.

The beautiful end of this story is that Jürgen and his trucker colleague successfully prevented any accidents on the road that night. Once the reckless driver arrived at the double 18-wheeler blockade, he put on the brakes and actually tried to turn around and get away. He was apprehended.  

Hero with family. Photo from Spiegel via Goodyear.

Now, about Jürgen’s hair. You don’t think I was going to forget did you? All I have to say is that I would like to interview him to ask how he was inspired to get such a ‘do and who did it. I mean, did you ever think that you’d see a German man with hair like that? Well, I say, “power to you, Jürgen”. As I see it, a hero should be able to wear his hair anyway he wants. 

Berlin, My Favorite City Ever

Welcome to my favorite city ever, Berlin, Germany. Just arrived here today for an extended weekend. I remember the first time I came here back in 2006. At that time in my life, I could have never expected a German city to captivate me the way Berlin did. For me, the city oozes with style, class, and culture. It's hard not to love it. I've been here for about 5 hrs already and here are some of the pix from the day. I left the train station, had lunch with friends, had coffee and cake (a German afternoon past time that I love), and then had a stroll. Isn't it a beautiful train station?

In the bathroom at a cool restaurant. Yes, this is a disco strobe light bathroom stall. Music was playing! Cool lounge, house music at that.

Love the way the restaurant presents its wines.

Cake and coffee time! One if my fave German pastimes.

How long is now? Live it up!

German Beat of the Week: die fantastischen vier

Remember the 80s?
When videos used to be good and entertaining to watch?
Still so in Germany.
That's why I love this German beat of the week!
Enjoy!

Why Oktoberfest Wasn't What I Thought It'd Be

Oktoberfest! Yeah, I know right? The ultimate German event for tourists (6 million attendants each year) and I finally went! I was really stoked about it. Particularly since I got to borrow a dirndl (traditional dress) to wear to the festivities (Thanks to Dani!). I looked like a Bavarian girl :)

Oktoberfest is known around the world as the big German party that goes down every year in the region of Bavaria, city of Munich. Images of beer and lots of food are associated with it.  But the truth is smaller versions of Oktoberfest happen all around Germany in different towns/cities throughout the year. They are called Volksfest (means people's fair). It turns out that the Volkfest in Munich became known around the world whilst there are tons of these lesser known events that happen even in the smallest towns.

Click here to see and hear Oktoberfest.

How I Got There
We took the train from Nuremberg to Munich. It was kind of funny waiting at the Nuremberg train stop and seeing a few other people dressed up. They'd look at me; I'd look at them. You know, how you do on Halloween. Sizing each other's costumes up to see who was wearing what. I gotta say I felt proud of my little outfit  We were advised to attend early in the morning to avoid the crazy crowds. So here I was dressed in my dirndl alongside people dressed in suits and dresses ready to go to their office jobs. Hahaha! Of course once I got off the train in Munich, I felt normal again as I walked into the masses of others dressed Bavarian-ly in their dirndls, lederhosen (leather suspender pants), and checkered shirts (you'll spot them in my pictures). And did I mention the braids? Yes, braided hair for women is definitely a must at Oktoberfest. Lucky for me!

What I Expected vs What I Got
Here's what I expected of Oktoberfest. I thought it was a parade of sorts, an open party on the streets, much like Mardi Gras. I was wrong. It's a fair! Really. Rides and all. Nostalgia took me back to the 10 year old me once I saw those bumper cars with the flashy lights and the cool rollercoasters with the awesome music blaring. The main attraction at Oktoberfest though are the many "tents" that are set up. The tents are more like buildings where hundreds of people can sit and enjoy the festivities of Oktoberfest, namely eating, drinking, and dancing.  Each tent has a different name, theme, and menu for the event. I went to at least four. Tent hopping I'd call it and it was super fun. I ate, drank, danced, and laughed. Fun times!

At the entrance ready to go in!

This particular tent is popular amongst celebrities. It's called Hippodrom.

Smoked fish anyone?

That's a roasting whole pig back there!

I sat at this table and most of these folks were tourists. Tons of tourists!

Vikings at Oktoberfest? I never figured this one out.

Bavaria statue.

Girls wearing dirndls and braids.

Guys wearing lederhosen.

The Paulaner tent.

Pretzels anyone. 4 people can share one!

Note: The culture of Bavaria (a region in Germany) is very popular. When one imagines what Germany is like without having been there before, one may immediately think of Bavarian culture (e.g. pretzels, leather pants, Oktoberfest). I just want to clear the record to say that this is just one type of culture in Germany. There is much more diversity, traditions and customs that is less commercialized. Bavaria's, cultural distinction, in my opinion, is similar to that of the Southeast of the United States. Not only is Bavaria in the South of Germany but generally speaking it shares some of those soulful and rustic characteristics found in some of our southern states. And they've definitely got their own version of soul food! Ham hocks (schweinshoxen), potato salad, and fried pork chops (schnitzel)!

How German Zumba Showed Me I Am Not Living My Best Life

“Don’t just live life, show it who is boss!”

That’s what I read on the t-shirt of the German Zumba dancer tonight.

I like that quote particularly because as I was sitting there watching the Zumba class shake, shake, shake to the Latin fusion beats, I began to realize that I have become complacent in my daily life. I can sit in front of a computer and read articles, write blog posts, strategize, research, and do a whole host of other things all day long without hardly walking away from the screen.

Is this living life?

Well, let me tell you a little story before you answer that question. A few days ago, one of our friends from the US came to visit. We went out to a Tex-Mex restaurant (yes, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Germany!). Our waiter was a very nice girl and I started chatting with her (like I sometimes do when waiters are nice!). It turns out that her father is American and she was born in Texas but has spent most of her life here in Germany. We struck up a great, little convo. Towards the end of our meal, our visiting friend asked where can we go to dance salsa in Kassel (the Tex-Mex restaurant was playing some salsa songs…umm, yeah, I know). Anyway, she told us about a place that has a salsa night every Thursday. She also told us that she’s on an award-winning hip-hop dance team in Germany and invited me to her practice.

Tonight, I watched my new-found-waitress-friend Angela do her thing in her dance class. After her class was over, I stayed around to watch the Zumba class start. It was high-powered Zumba fun….dictated in German. I thought to myself, “Wow, this is the first time that I feel am participating in German society without the comfort of my family/friends nearby and it feels great! Why haven’t I been getting out and doing more things like this already?”

I realized that I had not really been living life to its full potential.

I love dancing. I love meeting people.  Why did it take someone else asking about dancing in the city I live in for me to realize I could be dancing my little Mississippi toes off right here in Kassel, Germany every Tuesday night?

Complacency is the answer, I believe.

Sometimes, we get comfortable and we forget why we love living and what we are living for. For me, I like exploring the world, other cultures, and languages but I also enjoy dancing, hiking, dining, and more. My friend who is visiting is only in Germany for a little while but he’s got that tourist energy. He is getting out there and seeing the most of the city that he can in his 7 days here. That’s fantastic! Before he arrived, I more or less felt as if I’d already seen everything there is in Kassel during my first few weeks here but of course, there’s so much more to do, even if it’s Zumba!

Tonight’s message is clear to me, “Get up, get out, and really live life!”

What about you? How does the life you’re living compare to the life you want to live? Sometimes, we just need a little reminder to get out and do it!

Get your tourist energy going wherever you are. GO! GET IT! NOW!…LIFE ISN’T WAITING!

ACTION:

Here’s how you can put this into action. We all have things that we have been meaning to do. But sometimes, we get caught up with life (or what we think is life).

1. Think about something you like love doing that you are not doing. Whatever it is: hiking, reading, knitting, yoga, talking to your mom, movie night, dancing, working out, etc.  Tip: It doesn’t have to cost anything.

2. Put it on your calendar. Find a way to make it happen.

3. Make the commitment to yourself to just do it. You deserve it! It’s your life.

5 Health Foods You Shouldn't Eat!

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I stumbled upon a nifty little blog by someone called Marie Forleo. She has an interview with a health conscious blogger, Vani, who gives us the skinny on " 5 Surprising Health Foods You Shouldn't Eat".  I found the interview quite interesting and thought I'd share it here on my blog. It's particulary interesting for those of us that try to maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating organically and naturally. 

If you'd like to skip the part where Vani describes why she's justified to give advice on food, just skip to about 11:25 minutes into the video. Enjoy!

PS: Here's a little surprise article from Vani's site, Food Babe, for all of you beer drinkers. Reading this might make you nauceous. 

My Amazing Runs

I've done four this month. I’m going to do one today and I’m just excited thinking about it. 4 miles.

It’s kinda funny coming from someone who used to not like running for exercise.  I started running more regularly about five months ago when I found myself more stressed out than usual.  I would have these anxiety attacks where I’d hold my breath unconsciously because I had a to-do list 9 miles long and I just wasn’t getting any of it done quickly enough.  I said to myself, “Self, you deserve more calm and maybe a flatter stomach.” Those who know me know I'm a foodie aka gourmande (French for one who loves food and often eats too much) Have you ever heard of the skinny fat phenomenon? Yeah, not cute.  I found out soon enough that running alone doesn’t drastically (or quickly) flatten a belly but boy, does it do wonders for the soul, spirit, and body! Talk about endorphins dancing and an adrenaline rush. I loved the sensation. However, exercise plus a good diet is the key to being more fit.

Fast forward to now…lovely vacation days in Europe & Africa with food food galore. I need to run now more than ever. I’m also starting (or rather contemplating starting) a business and that’s been more hectic than I’ve dreamed. Hectic business-related thoughts + vacation food madness = needs to work out!!

 The good news is that I live in a lovely city with one of the most calming and amazing parks I’ve ever seen and I can just walk + run to one nearby whenever I want. There are little white bridges and white swans and it really looks and feels like a scene from a movie. Maybe it was.

No Quick Fix to Fat or How Traveling Kills the Waistline

In the past month, I’ve been fortunate to visit 3 continents, 4 countries, 20 cities. With all of that travel comes fun, thought provoking moments,working out “vacation”, oodles of pictures, and LOTS of eating. Bavarian sausages, Moroccan tagines and couscous, Spanish bocadillos, black forest ham, and smoked prosciutto, café con leche, well-aged red wine, and the list continues. I mean, I’ve said before that if I could just eat myself through the world, I’d be happy. Now, in typing that publicly, I’m not so sure if I should still be proud of that fact or ashamed but the point that I’m trying to make is that I like love food.

Groceries this week with my new BRAMP diet.

As a youngster, in high school, I was the one who never gained a pound and I was even picked on for being so skinny. Later on, in college, I started to understand what it was like to have curves. Now, ten years after undergrad, I know what it’s like to eat and gain weight, easily! (And just to think that I used buy chocolate-flavored Ensure, a high-calorie weight-gain drink for seniors, by the case load to gain weight in college!)

With that said, travelling is taking a toll on my waistline. I'm not even really sure how it happened. I'm quite a conscious eater. I mean I'm one of those let's-buy-organic-and-eat-well people. Seriously! Maybe one too many bratwursts or plum cakes? Well, I’d show you a picture of the cruel results except that umm, I’m sure you don’t want to really see what that looks like. But the great news is that I decided last Friday to do something about it. I went on a diet for the first time in my life. I call it the BRAMP diet. No bread, no white rice,  alcohol, no meat, no pasta, and potatoes are kept to a minimum. I chose these specific items because I consume more of them in Germany than I normally would I think (with the exception of rice). As far as beer, it's like the Germans' version of the Americans' coke. You can find tweens and senior citizens alike partaking in regular beer drinking without the taboo that's sometimes associated with it in the States. Today is the fifth day of my travel detox and I feel good. Lighter, I’d say. It’s interesting to think about how addicted to meat I must have been because these two weeks feel like something of a sacrifice when it shouldn’t. I love vegetables, always have. My ideal meal is meat + veggies. Now I eat mostly grains+ veggies + soups.  I also eat yogurt, nuts and fruit to stay satiated. I like the BRAMP challenge. I shouldn’t be a slave to food. It’s absolutely absurd in my opinion but that’s what I’ve been, I think. A slave to food.

Here’s my interpretation on food's purpose: it is meant to energize our bodies so that we have the fuel to live life. Period.  But oftentimes, in our crazy capitalist-led, privileged lives we bring something else into it called indulgence which has such side effects as overeating and greediness.  I’ll raise my hand high because I’m guilty of both.

I’m on a two week schedule for the detox but extending it is essential to seeing flattened belly results.

Summary: I’ll still travel and eat my way through the many countries of the world including the U.S. where I can’t get enough of good chicken wings. But for now, I feel that my BRAMP detox is necessary and deserved.

Try it? (aren't these pomegranates beautiful?? they were as good as they look!)

Visiting Spain, Again

Just returned from Barcelona yesterday. It wasn't the first time in Spain but my first in Barcelona. Everyone I talked to before going told me how wonderful of a city it was and how captivating it is.  Indeed Barcelona was special but somehow I'd imagined something different. I didn't expect it to be as big nor as dense with people. The city is quite alive with movement particularly at night. Somehow, I thought a little of Manhattan what with all of the people and tourists, but it certainly has a different character than the Big Apple.

In the Moroccan Desert

"It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom." - Aristotle

Morocco: Merzouga
This was one of the most incredible parts of my two week trip in Morocco. We arrived in Merzouga around 5pm one evening. We got to our hotel, had dinner, and went quickly to bed. The next day we were to be up and ready at 5:45am to see the sunrise in the desert. I know. It sounded like a stretch to me too when first given the proposition, but the experience was so worth it and much more.

We walked in darkness guided by a camel herder to the shoreline. I say shoreline because the barrier between the hotel and the desert dunes seemed so much like a shoreline only there was no water in site. Just stars, camels, and us. We mounted our camels which was a little scary at first. I was the 3rd of 4 to mount. I devised a strategy to avoid any potential conflict with my camel: I mounted quickly. As quickly as I could. Long legs, it turns out, are good for something.

Off we went into the night towards the dunes and the desert. The air was calm, cool and there was nothing but peace around. In times like these, honestly, I ask myself why don't I get up at dawn more often. I mean, sure, I am not usually near a Moroccan desert but even when I have those rare moments of waking around dawn in Tampa, FL, I feel it is such a special time of the day.

Peace.

From darkness to sunrise.

Yes, peace it what I felt as we rode quietly into the desert on our camels. We made a 30 minute trek away from the shoreline and towards the dunes. Once we arrived at our stopping area, we got off of the camels and started dune climbing. I would have never imagined that it would be as difficult and tiring to walk on those fine orange sand mounds! But what a challenge....what spectacular beauty.  We walked on the mounds for 30-45 minutes. Talking, sitting, walking, challenging ourselves as we reached higher and higher dunes. In retrospect, it was such a beautiful way to wake up and embrace the day and God's creation. When I looked out over the dunes, it was impossible to see where they would stop. We looked toward the direction of Algeria where the two countries meet.

Let these pictures be my testimony.