Closing thoughts on Brazil and Germany

So it's been a little over a week since I've been home, and I thought I should make some closing comments of my journey, and what I've learned in the past couple of weeks being abroad. I'm hoping I'll be able to go to Argentina in a few weeks, but that remains to be seen.

As a whole, I recommend traveling as much as you can, while you can. There's a great big world out there with wonderful things to see and EAT. Yes, sometimes it's a pain. Getting vaccines, waiting nine hours in an airport, or sitting next to "large" people on an 11 hour flight isn't fun, but it's so worth it to meet people from other cultures. The rather large man I sat next to on my flight from Sao Paulo to Frankfurt was from Kuwait and Muslim, he prayed every few hours while in his seat. He was very kind and reserved.

People are really the same no matter where they're from. They all have the same desires and fears as the rest of us. I guess that's what I really love about what I'm doing now, because I get to interact with the true people of the earth and not just ones interested in your tourist dollars.

Despite staying at a "hotel" with bugs crawling all over in one of the most remote places I've ever been to, I got to see the most incredible farmland there is to see on this planet, eat at churrascarias (and being inundated with cow meat), learn some Portuguese, and find that people don't hate Americans (just their foreign policy). One farmer we visited was so incredibly gracious with his time and was so honored that we cared to even talk to him. We loved how much thoughtfulness he gave to making his home comfortable for himself and his family.

I got several recommendations of places to visit within Brazil from our translator, and I'm a little disappointed that I cut my trip to Sao Paulo short so I could spend an extra day in Germany. I missed out on some great samba places (I didn't realize how much Brazilian music I actually listened to prior to going) and seeing one of the biggest cities in the world. It just gives me a reason to go back one day soon.

Germany, despite it's modern mentality, was surprisingly down-to-earth. I really loved Leipzig, and the Christmas Markt really helped with the general mood of the city center. The amount of history is overwhelming for all the European cities, it really puts things into perspective compared to our country.

On our three day trip into the countryside, I realized that's where I want to visit in my future travels to any country. Cities are structured the same - metro, food, art, music,churches, etc. The countryside seems a little more unpredictable, and is more authentic. One of my favorite parts was eating in these tiny restaurants with only 2 items to order from - luckily kartoffeln (potatoes) are a staple food! You can only learn the customs by actually being with the people from that place.

I think to escape the mundaneness of everyday life, experiencing something so utterly different and foreign is amazing. It also gives you a chance to reflect on what has shaped you into who you are, and gives you ideas on how you can become a better, more compassionate and understanding person. It also gives you fresh ideas and a new perspective. I hope to travel more in the coming new year and hopefully with some of you all!

I've added all my photos from my trip, here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yummymuffins/sets/72157610594904999/

Thanks for reading and keeping up, traveling is one thing I am super-incredibly passionate about!

Happy holidays!

Germany - Rheinsburg

This morning we had an early start at 7am. We had breakfast at our pensione, which consisted of cornflakes with yogurt and bread with butter. The meateaters had a lot more to choose from - as they have during this whole trip. Boiled eggs, bockwurst, and fish are all popular breakfast items. The owner of the pensione was incredibly friendly, and I wish I had a photo of him, he was so jolly.

We drove with our German friends from Wittenberg to the village town of Vehlow to conduct our studies with farmers. The day was very dreary, but the landscape was incredibly beautiful due to the mist and the subdued colors of the countryside. We had lunch at the village restaurant. I had traditional sauerkraut and kartoffelpuffer (mashed potatoes). One of our hosts had a pilsen beer mixed with water, which is a common practice for Germans. They like to mix their beers (usually pilsens I believe) with lemonade, apple juice, or water. Hmmm.



Every restaurant we have been in has been decorated for Christmas. They all have Christmas trees and Christmas napkins. This village as well as many others in East Germany are suffering a huge population decline (some more than 50%) since the Revolution in 1991. Most people are moving to the cities for jobs, so the villages feel desolate. The Christmas decorations help lift the mood quite a bit.



This evening, Edwin and I sent Crystal off to Berlin on the train in Neustadt. Prior to that we ate at a restaurant where I had a klein salat (various little cole slaw/pickled cabbage) and kurcremesuppe (pumpkin cream soup)? I also ordered their beer vom fass (on draft) - a BitBurger - not palatable to me, but I drank most of it. I liked the Köstrißer better.



Despite Edwin being a Dutch National, I'm learning so much about German customs, their way of thinking, and their view of Americans from him. I keep commenting on the countryside since that's what I've seen most, but it's truly the small details that make it so utterly amazing here. The roads are lined with trees, which I really love and defines the countryside so much. The trees also have reflectors to deter deer from running across the road. My photos don't do them justice.

We're at the Schloss Hotel in Rheinsberg tonight, apparently this is a large lake district and a Schloss (castle) here. This will be my last night in the countryside unfortunately, but I'll have the day back in Vehlow, and then off to Berlin!

Currently, I'm having a Märkischer Landmann, a dark bier that tastes almost like it has soy sauce in it, which I didn't quite like until about the 10th sip! I think I'm in the mood to buy a German country haus now! They're really quite affordable - ones I've seen range between EU 95-120,000.

Germany - Leipzig to Wittenberg

Today we left Leipzig around 8 am after meeting up with Edwin, our translator, and Martin, our German client contact. We drove north on the Autobahn to a small village called Nodelohn (?) to conduct interviews for work. Along the Autobahn, you can see wind turbines scattered along the countryside as well as quaint small villages.



At the interview, we ate lunch in the village "community center", where villagers came to have cheap lunches and congregate. I had something like a potato latke with apple sauce. I think the name is Kuppelofpuffer.

We had the opportunity to wind along smaller roads on our way out of Nodelohn to Wittenberg and saw much of the Germany countryside. It looks a lot like the U.S. on two-lane roads with an occasional eatery and outlet warehouses every few kilometers.

The villages look so incredibly cute and quaint here. The houses are straight out of a fairy-tale. We stopped along the way at a coffeehouse - Deutsches Haus, where Edwin and Martin had cappucinos and apfel strudel. I met a boar mounted on the wall (as pictured). We made our way into Wittenberg after dark, but the town is so beautiful. We checked into our "pensione", which is consisted of renovated storefronts scattered across a few different blocks. It's so hard to describe; however, the Germans we are traveling with say this is strange even to them. Despite the appearance of the town, the shops are quite modern looking. I wish we had more time to spend here to absorb the culture.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Germaine, where traditional German food was served. Luckily Edwin helped order me a special plate of vegetables consisting of peas, broccoli, white asparagus, mushrooms, and croquettes (little fried mashed potato balls). I washed it all down with a glass of Köstrißer Schwartzbier. The dark beer was deliciously light and fresh - I asked to keep the glass it was served in, and they happily obliged!

We're headed to Rheinsberg tomorrow night - northwest of Berlin. Hopefully I'll have internet then!

Tchüss!

Germany - Leipzig Update 2

We did some more walking around in Leipzig this evening. Most interesting is that Goethe, Wagner, Bach, and Schiller are from Leipzig. Goethe actually wrote Faust based on several landmarks around the city, so that's pretty exciting. I wish I had more time to actually take in more of the culture!

Crystal and I finally tried some Glubwein - mulled wine with rum. You can see some photos of us with our commemorative mugs. People get really happy drinking this stuff. All around us we just saw people stuffing their faces with bratwurst and glubwein. I also took some photos of some of the vendors of the Christmas market. Most of the Christmas decorations are carved wood figurines, which are really cute and affordable. I'm going to wait until I go to Berlin to buy anything though.

We met up with our German client and went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Luckily I'm familiar with italian dishes, so I had a vegetarian risotto.



There are definitely places for vegetarians to eat, such as Indian restaurants.

We have an early morning tomorrow - so time to sign off. We're heading toward Wittenberge, where we're staying tomorrow night.

Germany - Leipzig

Guten Tag!

Last night we wandered around and came across the Christmas market. It was full of vendors selling all things Christmas and bratwurst. They really love their sausage here! There were tons of people walking around, and we were packed like sardines. There were some interesting Christmas tchotskes, but most things look too delicate to transport - so I'll probably wait til Berlin to get anything fragile.



I got up this morning after a full night's sleep. Crystal and I met up and went to the Hauptbahnof, which is a train station and mall. There seems to be a trend that malls are also train stations in Europe (i.e. Roma Termini).

It may be where we are (East Germany), but not a lot of English is spoken here. We've managed to get by on Crystal's German translation book - which I need to get a copy of for Berlin. However, we'll be with 2 German speakers starting tomorrow.

We got breakfast at a place called Pic-nic in the Hauptbahnof. I drank some tea and ate some granola with joghurt. Crystal has all the photos, so I'll try to get them from her. We wandered around the mall looking for a grocery store. We found an apothecary, and a "health food" store, where I bought Powerbars and soy milk. Soy milk has been surprisingly easy to come by.



I have a lot of work to do, but we'll be heading out to explore some more after I've finished some things, and I'll report back.

Auf Wiedershehen!

Brazil to Germany

I'm a little confused with the time and date today. We flew from Cuiaba (at 12:45pm Brazil time) into Sao Paulo where we met up with Crystal - a coworker of mine. She had decided instead of staying in Sao Paulo that she would go to Leipzig one day early, so I changed my flight as well. I'll have to come back to Sao Paulo another time to check out the Samba clubs - which Pedro (our translator) gave a few recommendations.

We had an 8 hour layover in the Sao Paulo airport and left at 8:30pm on Lufthansa. Lufthansa was a big letdown, I was hoping for KLM-quality or better, but it's comparable to Delta. The flight was very full, and there was a large group of Kuwaitis on-board. I sat next to a very nice, yet very large Kuwaiti man. The flight was 11 hours, and we flew to Frankfurt - and had another 2 hour layover on our way to Leipzig. We finally arrived in Leipzig at around 2pm (11am Brazil time). So a total of approximately 24 hours of traveling today!! So I'm a little tired, but I need to stay awake so I can beat jetlag.

Luckily today and tomorrow we're staying at the Westin - and it's very nice and modern. Plus we have all day tomorrow off. Upon entering Leipzig, it has a very East Germany feel to it: industrial and grim, but the center of town looks pretty nice. We're going to explore after I finish uploading my photos to Flickr.

Brazil - Sorriso Day 2

I had a long day interviewing farmers and how they use their harvesters - or rather, listening to them talk to the translator. I'm not sure if I'm learning any Portuguese, but at least I know how to say "Sorry" and "Thank You" now. The language is really beautiful, and I wish it was spoken in more places to justify learning it.



We ate at a churrascaria today for lunch - apparently a direct translation is "Running meat sticks". Luckily the restaurant had a buffet, so I had some sweet potatoes, some sort of white yam, white rice and black beans. You can see some photos on my Flickr account.

Tomorrow we head to a farm, and then back to Cuiaba (yes!).

Brazil - Sorriso

We had a long day traveling from Cuiaba to Sorriso - a six hour drive. The two lane road was bumpy and needed repair, but the vistas were amazing. This is truly the flattest place on Earth. The dirt is red like Georgia red clay, and buildings all have terracota roof tiles. I saw emus in the soybean fields. I ate at a churascaria, and there are absolutely no vegetarian dishes except for salad, which we can't eat for fear of contamination. So I ate some rice and beans (most likely non-vegetarian).

We just checked into Opuka Hotel. It's on the edge of a farming town called Sorriso. I can't say it's the nicest place or the cleanest. It's hostel-like, and I don't think any of the other hotels will be any better. I'm staying here 2 nights instead of 3 (thank goodness), and I'll be back in Cuiaba on Friday evening to catch our flight in Sao Paulo to Leipzig on Saturday.

Brazilians are very friendly and understanding. People aren't joking about the women, they're simply gorgeous.

I'm uploading the photos I took today - they're mostly photos taken from the car.


Hope everyone is good!