Greenservations 3: Biomüll

Sure composting exists in the US, but it is not practiced as widely or strictly as it is here in Germany.  Biomüll is all organic waste; fruits, veggies, and some napkins for example.  It’s essentially compost.  Wikipedia say that “From 1990 to 2004, the collection of organic waste in Germany has increased tenfold to 10 million tons / year”.  Man I love Wikipedia, and the Germans.  People in Germany have such a heightened sense of environmental responsibility.  It is just inherently a part of how they live their lives; I wish we had this widespread collective mentality in the states. 

I’m amazed by how seriously the Germans take their waste separations (a post dedicated to that will come later).  In my apartment, we have separate “garbage” cans for plastics, paper, regular waste, and Biomüll.  Those receptacles were listed by order of size, largest to smallest.  That’s right, our largest receptacle is for plastic recyclables, then paper recyclables, and then regular waste and Biomüll are about the same size.  Can you believe that?! Nearly EVERYTHING is recycled or composted here.  And the “garbage men” pick up all of the separated items on a building to building basis. It’s a fantastic system. 

Biomüll separation isn’t just something that you do at your household, waste bins in public places have places for Biomüll disposal also.  At work, we have waste separation bins too!  I was truly astounded by how commonplace and accepted composting is here in Germany.  I mean, I got scolded for tossing my apple core in the regular waste bin (in my defense, it was before I knew where our work Biomüll container was located).  I wonder when composting is going to become this widely practiced in the states?  Is curbside compost pick-up in our near future?  I sure hope so, because it’s a truly brilliant and sustainable concept.  What do you guys think?

Stuttgart!

“Tiki-taki, tiki-taki! Oi! Oi! Oi!”

That was the war cry of this past weekend at the Stuttgart Frühlingsfest.  This past Friday, I hopped on a train and headed down to Stuttgart to visit my Frauen-counterpart Josi.  I had bought the ticket nearly three weeks ago, during my super homesick phase.  I probably over paid, but I was a little distraught, and needed something to look forward to, so I booked a trip to see Josi in Stuttgart.  Homesickness is always eased by having something fun to look forward to. 

I left work after lunch on Friday, headed back to my apartment, threw some necessities in my backpack (I’m terrible at packing), and headed to the Wuppertal Hbf.  From there I took a swanky ICE train to Köln, and from Köln I took a not as swanky intra-city train to Stuttgart.  This was my first experience with a “long” train ride.  The ride from Köln to Stuttgart was about 3.5 hours, with stops about every 45 minutes or so.  Being the champion sleeper that I am, I obviously was able to fall asleep on the train.  It was a slightly paranoid sleep though since Stuttgart was not the final stop of the train.  I had to make sure I was awake in order to get off at my stop.  The train stops at each station for no longer than 5 minutes, so one could easily sleep through where they are supposed to get off the train.  I simply set an alarm on my phone to ensure I would not miss my stop, I'll do anything to get a nap.  

A side note about my train ride.  For this trip, I reserved myself an assigned seat on the train for 4€ each way.  I’m really glad that I did this, because it guaranteed that I had a place to sit (sleep) for my 3.5 hour journey.  Other people who don’t reserve themselves a seat might not be so lucky, and might have to stand for the entire journey.  Of course if a seat is empty you can sit there, but the Germans take the seat reservations very seriously and they will kick you out of their seat. 

I arrived to the Stuttgart Hbf around 7:00 and was greeted by Josi.  Die Frauen were reunited!  We rode the elevator to the top of the Hbf where we were treated to a great view of Stuttgart.  Stuttgart is the 6^th largest city in Germany, and is the home to the European headquarters of Porsche, Bosch, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.  Also, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Maybach are all produced in Stuttgart and nearby towns.  So basically, this city has A BIT more going for them than little old Wuppertal.  I don’t want to admit that I have city envy, but I do… of every city that I visit. 

The Frauen are reunited!

Josi and I left the Hbf and went on a mission to get me a Dirndl, a type of traditional dress worn in Germany (think Sound of Music, or Beerfest).  We found a store, and I fell in love with the first Dirndl that I tried on.  It was destiny.  I will not admit how much I paid, but it is the one big souvenir that I had been planning on getting, so I’m telling myself it’s justified.  I plan on getting a lot of wear out of it, and since it’s UC colored I will most definitely wear it to a football game or two.  After the Dirndl shopping, we headed back to Josi’s place.  She essentially lives in a dorm and has met a lot of international students through living there.  We had dinner with her Mexican friends; it wasn’t Chipotle, but it was still pretty darn delicious.  After dinner we were both extremely tired, so we went back to Josi’s room and chatted and got some good sleep for Frühlingsfest the next day.

On Saturday we woke up, had some Frühstück, and headed to the Hbf to pick up our other Bearcat counterpart Ian.  For those of you that know a little something about my personal life, you know that I was extremely excited to see this man.  The three of us headed back to where Josi and I bought Dirndls so Ian could get some Lederhosen.  We’re such tourists.  After Ian got a pair of Lederhosen that coordinate quite nicely with my Dirndl, we went to a little market to get our haggle on.  Then we had lunch at a traditional German restaurant.  I had Käsespätzel and Bier. Typisch Deutsch.  After lunch, we headed back to Josi’s to get dressed for Frühlingsfest. 

Me with a lion statue. These things are everywhere in Germany, and I love it.

Let me take a moment to explain Frühlingsfest.  Its basically a carnival and a beerfest mixed together to celebrate the coming of spring.  There are carnival rides, food stands, and of course, beer tents.  We were lucky enough to get tickets through an Expats group that Josi has been going to.  Our tickets got us entry into one of the tents, 3 liters of beer, and half a chicken.  Here’s the website to Stuttgart Frühlingsfest if anyone is interested http://www.stuttgarter-fruehlingsfest.de/

I could write forever about how awesome Frühlingsfest was.  It was such an amazing experience.  Everything from the atmosphere, the food, the music, the beer, and the people we met were all spectacular.  We ate, we drank, we danced on tables, we yelled, we laughed, we sang, and most importantly we shared this experience with people we love.  There was an awesome band that played everything from traditional German songs, to popular hits of today.  My favourite was when the band played a mash-up of American 80’s hits such as “Come on Eileen” and “Angel in the Centerfold”.  They even played “Hang on Sloopy”, which we couldn’t believe, and of course we filled in the ever-important “O-H-I-O”.  And of course I took embarrassing pictures and videos.  German festivals are so fantastic.  I hope to attend many more before my time here in Germany is up.

Our tent!

Our group!

My Dirndl!

On Sunday, we lounged around, found a Hamburger stand, and schemed up some more European adventures.  I haven’t really planned that far ahead… but here is what I have so far:

April 27^th – May 1^st : Amsterdam with Josi! Hosted by the lovely Barynia

May 4^th – May 6^th : Munich/Freising to visit Ian and perhaps attend another festival

May 11^th – May 13^th : Chillin’ in Wuppertal

May 16^th – May 20^th : I’m trying to get to London this weekend… but we shall see…

That’s about as far ahead as I can plan.  I really should be more diligent about planning adventures as good as this past weekend in Stuttgart.  Until next time, I leave you with this ever important song:

" Ein Prosit"

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit 
Der Gemütlichkeit 
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit 
Der Gemütlichkeit.

Wuppertal: Meine eigenen Platz!

Two MIA updates in one day?! I bet you all feel precious. 

You are all being treated to another blog post because I’m just absolutely bursting to tell you all about my apartment!  Yes, it’s true, after many weeks of fruitless searching, I have finally found my own place!  I’m already all moved in, and I’m pleased to report that so far, it is perfect.  My apartment is in the Nordstadt of Wuppertal, which is filled with historic buildings and is only a short walk from the Hauptbahnhof, main shopping area, and many bars and restaurants.  My building itself is very old, but it has been newly renovated and has a brand spanking new kitchen and bathroom.  My room was unfurnished, but again, thanks to the kindness of others, I have procured enough to suit my needs.  Inka tracked down a bed, and Franzi (one of my new roomies) had a bedside table and Kleiderschrank (wardrobe) for me to use.  Again, I just want to take a moment to thank Inka for her hospitality for the past 2 weeks, and for helping me find everything I need to get settled in to Wuppertal.  I don’t know what I would have done without her!

Speaking of awesome people, my two new roomies are just that.  I have the pleasure of living with two lovely ladies; Franzi and Anna, both in their mid-twenties, and both studying… get this… ENGLISH!  Even though it is a relief to be able to easily communicate with people in English again, I am trying to stay adamant about speaking as much German as possible.  They both understand the process of living and learning a new language abroad because they have both spent time in the US.  They have already been so helpful and patient with my German.  It’s such an awesome situation because they both know all about grammar, gender, cases, and tenses, and they really know how to teach a language.  It’s better than I could have dreamed of!  And I didn’t even mention the best part about my new place yet… I live with a cat again!  For those of you that know me well, you know what a big deal this is.  Sookie (dangerously close to Snooki…) is Franzi’s little princess, and she is also fantastic.  She and I cuddled last night.  I’m already in love. 

I’m so happy with the way everything has worked out.  I already know that this apartment and these roomies are INFINATELY better than my first option.  Franzi, Anna, Sookie, and I are already getting along fabulously.  Last night we took a trip to Köln and had dinner at a super trendy Italian place Vapiano (it’s also in the States but hasn’t made its way to Ohio yet http://www.vapianointernational.com/vapiano/about/concept/list.html).  We stuffed ourselves full of deliciousness and then retreated back to our apartment where we spent the rest of the evening watching trashy German reality TV.  Yes, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship. 

Pics coming soon!

p.s. My address is Heinrichstraße 9, 42105 Wuppertal, Deutschland if you want to send me goodies or Google Earth stalk me.

Greenservations 2: Pfand Zurück

I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting another Greenservations post… and I’m sorry it has taken me this long to deliver!  This Greenservations post focuses on the policy of ‘Pfand Zurück’ which literally translates to ‘deposit back’.  Here in Germany, the Government has put in place container-deposit legislation which requires collection of a monetary deposit on soft-drink, juice, milk, water, alcoholic-beverage, and other containers at the point of sale. When the bottle or container is returned to an authorized redemption center, the deposit is refunded to the redeemer.  Deposits can range anywhere from € 0.08 for small plastic bottles to € 0.25 for large, reusable glass bottles.  Remember when I told you all about ‘Kastens’ of beer?  Well a Kasten is a plastic crate of twenty 0.50 liter glass bottles of beer.  An average Kasten of beer costs about 18 euros, and that’s INCLUDING a Pfand of anywhere from 4 to 6 euros! Yes, beer really IS that cheap here.  Unglaublich.

We have a similar policy in the United States, but it is not as widely used and accepted as the Pfand here in Germany.  In the US, we have what are called ‘Bottle Bills’ where in certain states where a bill has been passed, people can get back a deposit for their containers.  There are currently 11 states in the U.S. with container deposit legislation; California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont.  The deposit amount for bottles and containers in the States is no where near as high as in Germany, which might be why not as many people take advantage of it.  The only people you ever see returning cans are the kind, shopping cart pushing bums who clean up the streets of Clifton after a raucous weekend of partying.  The deposits in the states are only 5¢ to 15¢, far less than in Germany when you take the exchange rate into account.  People always see it on their cans, “this can has a 5¢ cash value” or something like that, but they don’t care, or don’t know how to take advantage of the deposit legislation. 

I see many great benefits to Pfand or container deposit legislation.  For one, it truly encourages recycling and serves as a good complement to curbside recycling programs.  Most noticeably in Germany, Pfand reduces beverage container litter along streets, in lakes and rivers, and on other public or private properties.  That is one thing I have noticed about Germany, no where NEAR as much litter as in the US.  Along with that point, places with container deposit legislation in place are less likely to have broken glass on the roads and sidewalks.  It is unarguable that people are going to be less likely to litter when there is monetary incentive to return bottles and containers to appropriate places.  I wonder if deposit legislation will ever become as widely accepted in the US as it is here in Germany…  What do you guys think?