Pumpkin Party

Last week, I invited some girlfriends over for a little pumpkin party. Who doesn't love a Monday night girl's night?? I took the afternoon off of work to finish the final preparations. There was no pumpkin carving like last year, but instead: pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin roll, and pumpkin pie. Plus, mini apple pies, brownies, chocolate-covered pretzels, and candy corn. I basically went on a week-long sugar and pumpkin binge due to the yummy leftovers.

After much deliberation, I decided on some pumpkin cookies with brown sugar frosting. It was not an easy decision, but I have zero regrets.

But, first, I have a confession.

I used a can of pumpkin.

My sister brought it as a present when she visited earlier this year (oh, yeah, still haven't shared those trip details yet...). I was impressed by everyone's hard work with REAL pumpkins, I didn't have the courage to admit to using a highly-in-demand can of pumpkin puree. But I did. Sorry girls!

This is the recipe I used for Melt-in-your-mouth Pumpkin Cookies. Obviously my cookies look nothing like the picture, but boy did they taste good -- with and without frosting. Side note, the frosting also tastes good with or without the cookie. Strange fact, I froze some to stop me from eating them all...but they didn't really freeze! They tasted really good cold...

Discovering a mixer in my apartment was great for my poor hands.

Two American-expat-musthaves -- thank you to the best sister ever.

It's a frosting river basically.

A little cinnamon on top for fun.

The recipe actually yielded 60 cookies. I'm afraid how many I ate.

I decided to also offer a Halloween cocktail. After a lot of searching, I ended up with the Enchanted Cocktail because it sounded simple and good...and it had the least amount of ingredients. But first I had to infuse vodka with some of my precious candy corn (limited stash!). Actually, BUT FIRST, I had to buy vodka. Which I decided to do on a whim...post run...while stopping at the store for Rice Krispies. Basically, long story short, if you try to Rice Krispies and a small bottle of vodka while wearing workout clothes, a pony tail, and no makeup, you will carded...even in Germany. I did not have an ID on me, so I left with just the cereal that day.

Fast forward to buying vodka, realizing it wasn't enough, and buying more, infusing vodka with candy corn is probably one of the easiest things to do. You just have to let the candy corn soak in the vodka and shake it every now and then. It look about 30 minutes. Then you pour some in a glass and top it off with Prosecco. To be honest, it wasn't as good as I expected, but it wasn't bad. I am assuming everyone else tolerated it too because there were no empty glasses.

As far as decoration, I used things I already had on hand. My friend, Erica, gave me the most awesome-smelling candle while I was home: Pumpkin Cupcake. Since my mom's Halloween package arrived too late last year, I was able to use my "lab" sprinkles, paper plates, and napkins. Plus, she send me the most fabulous Halloween card, I saved it and put it out again this year! My grandma is a big sticker fan, so she sent me back with a load of Halloween stickers. I cut some of them up into batches of three to four stickers and used them a table deco with the added bonus that everyone could take some home. And, I finally, bought a bunch of my favorite flower, dahlias.

Finally, my guests arrived! I was a little worried because I invited more people than I've ever had in my apartment at one time, but sadly a few people couldn't come at the last minute, so it all worked out for the best in the end. And for those of you that have been to my apartment, I moved my desk into the open area as a big table. It worked really well, but even I don't recognize the space in pictures! We talked and ate and played Catchphrase and then ate some more. It was a wonderful celebration of the pumpkin season. Even if we did overdo it just a smidge ;)

All eight of us! Bottom right is a giant bucket of home-made "America" whipped cream.

Now I want to make pumpkin soup! I watched the master :)

My fave - pumpkin pie!

Should have taken a picture before we dug in ;)

Hafenbustour

Most visitors and inhabitants of Hamburg have taken a harbor tour. Most of them are by boat. You ride around the Elbe River and you see some boats, some ships, and whatever else might be going on in the harbor on that particular day. But I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to the Freihafen - the part where container ships are being loaded and unloaded.

A work colleague invited me to accompany her on a harbor bus tour organized by one of our forwarding companies. Last time we watched the Hamburg Freezers game in a box. I was really excited about the opportunity and had to wait about two months for the big day to come around. I've been more and more involved with shipping at work so this experience seemed very fitting.

It was more than fitting -- it was phenomenal. It was so fascinating and I was so into it. All the while I was thinking, I hope I can remember all the knowledge that is being thrown at me. Sadly, I can't. But I will try and share as much as I can remember.

We first met at the forwarding company for some snacks and a welcome drink. Not long after some speeches, we were the 10th tour in so many years, we were loading on to the bus. Next, the bus driver came around asking to see our IDs. This was a highly stressed point in the invitation -- a valid ID was needed because of security reasons in the Freihafen. I was embarassed, but I brought my passport. I didn't feel like flaunting my blue passport, but I wasn't sure which other types of ID might be accepted. Just as long as I got to go! You may have already guessed that, yes, one person did forget her ID. It was really a shame. She is actually a prominently known woman in Hamburg because she founded a wonderful charity and she was even one of the people who gave a small speech back at the warehouse. Rules are rules. She got off the bus and they didn't reach their goal of finally having a tour where someone didn't get to participate.

Despite some rain, we started the bus tour, with commentary. It was great having Linda with me because not only is she a shipping expert, but she has also been on the tour before. So she was able to really enrich the info from our guide. And she also made sure that I was understanding everything.

Seriously, I've never been so excited about containers before.

Our first stop was the Hafen Museum Hamburg (Harbor Museum). They just ended their season and I can confirm why. It's freezing in there! We split up in three groups and all received very random yet interesting tours and information. We saw a twist lock up close, four of which are manually fastened to each container locking it to the next container. Our guide also said that up to 8,000 containers can fit on a ship. Linda and I seemed hesitant to believe this, but after some math, and another guide's confirmation, we now know it's true. That's a lot of containers. We also learned that you're better off not having goods in the top row of containers because those are sometimes released in times of turbulent water or if there is any kind of issue. Like cutting off a finger to save a hand?

Our stop was much too short and soon we were running back to the bus and trying to stay dry. Now it was time to take the big bridge over the Freihafen. It's basically its own little city. And a beautiful one at that. At first, I thought it was a shame that it was dark because we couldn't see as much, but in actuality, the lights were breathtaking. I never really thought of the shipping industry as beautiful, but it is. It's smart and beautiful in fact.

Shipping is the cheapest stretch of any transport. In fact, more than half of the costs are often racked up after goods are off the water. Hamburg ranks 14th as world's busiest ports. Although, Hamburg was often in the top 10 and has shown steady and continuous growth. The top 10 spots all now held by Asia aside from Dubai coming in at #9.

Somewhere around 30,000 people work directly in the Hamburg harbor with 150,000 people involved over all. It's a lot of people. In Hamburg, they saw 8.86 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2012. And seeing how big it is, I can hardly imagine the size of the #1 harbor -- Shanghai saw 32.53 million TEUs.

It was also interesting to me that, Hamburg is where many goods come if they will travel the rest of the way by train -- to Prague for example. Rostock and Bremen/Bremerhafen aren't built for the rails the way Hamburg is.

I had a geek-out moment when I actually got to see 20-foot and 40-foot containers side by side and really understand what types of containers we are actually putting our books into.

Another fascination point for me, or maybe a realization, is how "English" the shipping language is. Despite hearing our tour in German, it felt like every third word was in English. We talked about Containers and Spreaders and Bridges (oh my!).

Our next stop was Duckdalben -- an international seamen's club. This opened my eyes to something I never really though about. The men (yes, it really is mostly men) manning the container ships! These guys spend weeks upon weeks on the water and away from their families. Duckdalben is a facility that acts as a home away from home. It's not a place for sleeping, but it's stocked with fun things that aren't available on a possibly turblent ships. Things like ping pong and billiards. Plus, rows and rows of computers and telephones where they can purchase cheap credit to contact loved ones at home. There is also a room of prayer and a fridge stocked with goodies. I even noticed a cat running around!

Now I understand what our guide meant when he said it's nice for the seamen to also see some new faces. Linda and I tried to say hi and share smiles with as many as we could :) I'm so glad something like this is available for the workers. While on the ship, with an average of 20 men, the workers work in four-hour shifts and sleep for eight. It's not work I would be interested but I'm glad some people are. We also took this time to snack on some sandwiches that were provided for us. I ate two.

Once we were back on the bus, it was time for the real highlight of the trip. As the tour is officially named, we came "eye to eye with the giants". The average person doesn't usually have the opportunity to see a container ship let alone catch a glimpse just feet away. Talk about gigantic. This is when I truly believed that 8,000+ containers can indeed fit on a ship.

We didn't get to leave the bus and we couldn't take pictures, but I couldn't stop taking it all in. It's one of those things that is nearly impossible to describe because there's an indescribable feeling that comes with watching these big machines at work.

There were men driving spreaders around -- the drivers seated in a glass box at least two stories off the ground. There were 8 million Euro bridges in the process of unloading a ship. They were fast and efficient. It takes 12 hours to unload an entire ship. We also were able to witness some very advanced technology in unmanned carts that were driven using a grid system. By the way, when you see how many containers are at the harbor, you really understand why efficiency and planning is important. All of the containers are tracked and placed according to when they are next needed. As the containers are stacked on top of one another, it would be a waste of time to have to pull up a container to get to one below. It's a legitimate game of Tetris. You would think with "robots" controlling the grid that there might be fewer jobs for human, but, as in other industries, it actually increases the amount of job available for thinking-humans. Like I said, amazing.

We made our way back to our starting point and were offered another drink. Linda and I were pretty exhausted after such a long day, we also had a day-long meeting at the office, so we said our thank yous and made our way home.

I am nearly positive I have left out a fabulous part of the tour, but hopefully you will get the idea. The shipping industry is truly fascinating! Who knew? Also, I really hope my facts and figures are mostly correct. Please feel free to correct me or conduct your own further research :)

Apologies that the photos are mostly taken through a rainy bus window.

Don't close | Men inside

Spreaders

Colorful containers

So close.

REALLY CLOSE.

Haribo

Hopefully you are familiar with the brand Haribo. Yes, the gummies! They have been making children and adults happy since 1920.

But do you know where Haribo got its name? Since Herr Katzenmayer may not have taught you in 7th grade German class, I'll help you out. It comes from the first letters of the name of the founder and the city it was founded in: Hans Riegel Bonn.

{Not unlike Adolph "Adi" Dassler and Adidas. Bonus info: his brother, Rudolph, founded Puma!}

Hans and his father founded the company together and he spent over 70 years running the company. Sadly, he has just passed away at 90 from heart failure.

My favorite Haribo candies are Troppifrutti and Berries.

Here is an article with more info:

http://www.today.com/money/king-gummy-bears-dead-8C11396070

October in Hamburg

image source

October has always been one of my favorite months. Fall is in full swing. My family celebrate many anniversaries and birthdays. It became even more special to me when it marked the start of my German Life.

October 3 is a national holiday, Reunification Day, which fell on a Thursday this year. It prompted me, and many others, to take a "bridge day" on the 4th to make it a long weekend. It was lovely. October is full of vibrant colors falling leaves and pumpkin-flavored treats. Everyone is out sailing on the Alster taking advantage of the lovely weather. It's glorious.

Until mid-October hits.

Suddenly that crisp cool air has an undertone of frost and you consider if you need a heavier coat or, even worse, gloves. Rain turns those gorgeous leaves into slippery piles of mush. The sunlight starts to disappear making your day much shorter.

I'm starting to feel the effects. Just like in the spring when I took advantage of the earlier rising sun as a natural alarm clock, I had a few days, when the sun actually came out, that I could naturally wake up. But I'm now over that hump and I am supposed to leave the comfort of my warm bed before the sun makes an appearance.

All I want to do it eat and sleep and read. My body is engaging for full winter/hibernation mode. I have just under two weeks until we "fall back" an hour (one week earlier than the US), but I fear it will only help a little.

For now, I am just thankful that I sit by a window at work, so I can experience the sun when she decides to come out and play.

Frankfurter Buchmesse | 2013

The Frankfurt Book Fair was last week and I attended for the third time. To be honest, this fair was very straightforward and uneventful. I didn't have my doe-eyed-everything-is-new perspective and I didn't see Arnold Schwarzenegger. But I did have two years of experience under my belt -- still quite a newbie compared to the veterans out there.

This year, I also just came down for one day instead of spending two days and two nights. This called for a very long day. On the positive side, I only had to create one killer outfit (thanks, statement necklace!). I set my alarm for 4:30. After sending a SnapChat, I always find it funny when I'm up before my people back home have even gone to bed, I was out the door at 5:15 to catch my U-bahn to the train station.

I'm currently, reading a Hercule Poirot mystery, "Murder on the Links" by Agatha Christie, and I came across a line that described my travel style. When Poirot declares that he must start for his train, but his companion says he has "oceans of time", the detective responds:

"Perhaps--perhaps. But I like plenty of leisure at the station. I do not wish to rush, to hurry, to excite myself."

And, just as I planned, I did not have to rush or hurry and I did not excite myself. However, I did have time to grab some breakfast and help a woman carry her suitcase down the stairs. I saw her struggling as I was walking down, so I asked if I could help. I grabbed the heavy bag and started up until I heard, "Wait, wait, you're going the wrong way!" Oops! I turned around and retreated down. And, yes, at least three able-bodied men with a free hand passed by us and did not offer to help or even glance our way. I had it under control anyway.

The train left on time at 6:07 and pulled in at 9:28. I spent the whole time engrossed in my book ("A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini) while ignoring the snoring woman across from me. The highlight was seeing a man complain to the conductor that the garbage had not been cleaned out or collected. I mean, just get up and throw away your trash in the big can. Too hard?

From the train station, I hopped on the S-bahn which was jam-packed with other fair attendees for a four-minute ride. The S-bahn station dropped me off right near our Hall and I was at our stand within minutes.

Easy-peasy.

I reconnected in person with colleagues I mostly only "see" via email including my favorite "cyber boss". I saw our product displayed as lovely as ever. I lead a meeting and we actually followed our agenda, although we did start a bit later than intended.

Another unique opportunity was that I had the chance to meet up with a former colleague who was at the fair representing her new company. She had taken over my position when I headed to Germany before leaving for her current job. As I continue to mention, it's amazing how much can change in a year. We couldn't have planned it better because our stands were just around the corner from one another! What a small world for that to happen in one of the largest gatherings of humanity.

After a few other quick meetings, I finally had an hour to power walk to the German hall. Our stand is located in the international hall which feels miles (kilometers?) away from the rest of the world. I was so relieved when my colleagues reminded me that there are people movers. But you know what? They didn't move fast enough for me.

I am a fast walker. I attribute it to growing up with a father with long legs. Plus, if I'm walking, I'm walking with purpose. I think about 5% of the population does this. The rest of the pedestrians out there are walking like they are on a solitary cloud without a clue in the world yet with iPhone in hand. Text and walk at an unbearably slow pace? Sure why not. Just stop in the middle of a gangway? Yep. Gather a large group of people and block the path for others? Ugh.

After I finally made it to Hall 3, in record time might I add, I had broken a sweat. I just kept passing people and you can't slow down when you're passing!

I cruised around the German hall to look at competitor product and to see which licenses and themes are hot. I later found out I missed some cool things (that weren't entirely work-related) in that hall, but I guess that's what happens when you're riding in the fast lane.

A little rest was in order after making it back to the safety of our stand. Plus, some energy in the form of chocolate.

I packed up my things and said my goodbyes around 17:00. Seven hours on the stand really felt like three. Or ten. It's almost like Vegas in there -- you forget what time it is, you don't know if it's sunny or raining, you forget to eat, you say you're going to the bathroom and don't actually make it there for at least on hour because you keep getting distracted...

Jumping back on the S-bahn was a cinch and I had more than enough time at the station to grab some dinner to go. The train pulled out at 17:58 and I was glad I had a seat reservation. I did not enjoy the man across from me pulling out a ginormous bag of McDonald's. It smelled terrible and was not pleasant to watch someone eat gross food. Fast food shouldn't be allowed in confined spaces. Thankfully, I was still distracted with my book which I kept reading all the way until 21:46 when I exited the train. I forgot that I could travel to the train station that is closer to my apartment, so I did that instead of getting off at the main station. Instead of waiting for the bus, I decided to just start walking to the next stop. As I expected, the bus passed me as I was nearly to the station. It wasn't worth running to catch, so I just kept walking home.

You know what comes next...those five flights of stairs. Only then could I finally take off my boots and rest my feet. I was so consumed in my book that I didn't even think to unzip or remove my boots on the train. After 15 hours of confinement, my feet and legs actually hurt and I was concerned the grooves in my skin would still be there when I woke the next morning. (They were not.)

I finished the final pages of my book in bed and did not set an alarm for the following day. Despite trying to sleep in, I was still at work at the normal time for a day of follow-up.

In the words of one of my wise colleagues, a trip to the fair was "invaluable". It was worth the early alarm clock and the long distance traveled. But next year I'm bringing a pedometer.

Sylt

A few weeks ago, I finally made it to Sylt for a day trip with some girlfriends. We took advantage of the weekend and the Schleswig-Holstein ticket and rode the regional train almost 3.5 hours each way with one change. These tickets for various German states are such a great deal. They start at 27 EUR and you add 3 EUR extra per person with a max of 5 people traveling together on one ticket.

The are valid Monday to Friday from 9am to 3am the following day or weekends or holidays for the whole day. This means the three of us traveled for 11 EUR each round trip. You have to take the regional (read: slower) trains, but depending on your destination the savings far outweigh the extra travel time, which isn't always that much longer.

Sylt is an island (4th largest in Germany) located in northern Germany on the North Sea. It is a part of the North Frisian islands. The shape of the island itself is constantly changing and eroding over time. It's a well-known location for celebrities and wealthy people in general.

8:00

We met at the Burger King at the Hauptbahnhof. We headed right over to the machine to purchase our tickets.

8:20

We boarded our train early and staked out a set of four seats with a table.

8:49

Our train pulled in to Eimshorn with screeching brakes. Seriously, the loudest brakes I have ever heard. We had to cover our ears.

8:55

We boarded out next train and found a compartment with six seats. We were full of chitter chatter, so we thought that would keep away others (particularly older Germans). It worked for a while, but then two women and a man joined us. They had to have known what they were getting into, but the man seemed a little annoyed as he couldn't focus on his reading or his sleeping.

The fun thing about Sylt is that the only way to get there is by train. If you take a car, you still have to put your car on a train. I felt like I was going to Hogwarts. This is almost what it looked like -- tide was out when we came in so, it looked like an empty field.

I didn't take this and don't know who did!

our view

 11:35

We arrived into the Westerland (Sylt) train station, tooka look around, secured a map, and we headed to the pedestrian zone toward the beach. I gravely underestimated the size of the island as we reached the water in ten minutes.

12:00ish

Ice cream stop at Leysieffer (chocolate in a cup!).

12:05

We made it to the beach and I discovered a whole row of settings I never knew existed on my camera.

12:15

Attempt to go to beach but are asked if we have a guest pass. We do not. We turned around.

12:30

After walking parallel to the beach we decide we should probably just buy a day pass. It only cost 3 EUR.

Brrrrr!

Alisa took off her shoes and dipped her feet in the cold water. I had boots on, so I just put a finger in. Cecilie captured it on film. It was chilly! Yet there were surfers out there.

Then we did a lot of people watching and observing. We watched people sitting in the Strandkörbchen (beach baskets) which you can also rent. Alisa took a lovely series of photos we call, "People sitting in Strandkörbchen".

 We also took brief control of an unattended Korb (scandalous!).

North See

We did not rent this!

13:00

You know I'm just making up times now, right? Soon we made our way down (up?) the beach as far as we could go.

Volleyball net made me think of my brother

13:45


After a rest on a bench and a bathroom break, we made it as far as we could go. As far as the boardwalk went at least. With me in boot and Cecilie in mesh Nikes, Alisa was the only one prepared for sand trekking. Instead, we sat down and watched the water.

Alisa's art creation

self timer

A nice man took a picture of us -- we all closed our eyes

14:15

We turned around and made our way back to the Fußgängerzone. We looked in a few shops and started our hunt for some food.

15:30

Instead of having a traditional fish sandwich (scandal #2!) we opted for just plain traditional German foot. I feasted on Wienerschnitzel mit Preiselbeern while my friends went for the Currywurst and Prosecco 5 EUR special. I totally could have gone for the Prosecco as it seemed the thing to do.

We didn't think we'd catch the 16:22 train, so we took our time and meandered a bit.

windy statues

cars loading on to the train - people stay in the car

 17:22

The train coming in to Sylt was late, so it was a mass exodus (remember how much Germans like to wait in lines?) to grab seats. We couldn't sit together in a group, so we sat near each other. This was very much ok because we were all pooped from the fresh air. As soon as a group of four seats opened up we moved over so we could resume the chit-chatting.

20:35

We pulled into Altona, one of the train stations in Hamburg, so Cecilie and I departed to catch the S-bahn. Alisa continued on to catch her train back to Lüneburg. We had planned to attend a friend's birthday party, but we just could not make. Personally speaking, I was sleeping within minutes of hitting the sack.

Overall, it was a really great day trip! I wish I had been able to take any of my visitors there, but it's tricky because you have to have good weather. It's also a lot of walking.

As expected, one of my colleagues was disappointed we only stayed in the area right by the train station as it's not the most beautiful or exclusive part of the island. This just means I'll have to make a return trip. We also didn't make it to either lighthouse which would have been fun. However, we all agreed this was a trip to test the waters and it definitely peeked all of our interest.