I am sitting on the curb of a corner restaurant, under an umbrella that boldly proclaims its allegiance to Paulaner, one of the six great beer-houses of Munich. In front of me sits a .5 liter glass of Hefeweizen from the same brewery. Its my first day in München (Munich), the capital of Bayern (Bavaria), and the third largest city in Germany.
The waiter arrives with my food, an extra plate „for the bones“, and a third, smaller plate piled high with mustard and grated parmesan cheese. I look down at the food, I have ordered a Surhaxerl, which a rather difficult internet search informs me piece of pork that has been cured. It is clearly some sort of joint, and to my surprise, it still has the skin. There are even a few of the poor piggy‘s hairs still stuck to the hide……Welcome to Bavaria.
I do manage to skin the thing and flake off a piece of the juicy flesh. I dip it in the mustard and take a bite. I have to immediately reach for the Paulaner as the mustard nearly blows me off my chair. After four months in Germany I am totally unprepared for anything spicy, as Germans for the most part do not eat hot food. Bavarians however, are not like other Germans.
I sprinkle some of the Parmesan cheese over the small mountain of sauerkraut sharing space with the haxerl on my plate, and as an afterthought I pop some of that into my mouth as well. It is nearly as hot as the mustard! My waiter is standing nearby talking to some buddies at the table across from me, and when he asks me how I‘m doing I ask him what the not-cheese is. He tells me its Meerrettich or horseradish in english. Upon further testing I realize he is right; I have never had raw horseradish before, only in sauces.
I begin a very tasty routine, flake off a bit of the meat (it is perfectly cooked to the ideal tenderness), dip it (carefully) in the mustard, add horseradish and the sweet sauerkraut, and take a bite. When the heat becomes too much, I add boiled potatoes, or a schluck (mouthful) of beer. My introduction to Munich is complete.
You may be wondering at this point why I am talking about starting my summer with only a few days left in June, and the answer is simple, I have been studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany for the past semester. The „summer“ for me and my fellow students at IES Freiburg only started a few days ago, and after turning in my last papers, crammed 4 months of my life in to two small suitcases, left my german friends behind, and traveled across the south of the country to start an internship with the Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute of Contemporary History). Many of the other Americans I know in Freiburg (including many other camels) are staying because the German semester does not actually end until the beginning of August.
I somehow manage to wrestle my bags out of the ICE (InterCity Express) high speed train, find my way to the Ubahn (Subway) and get onto the correct train. After a 20 minute ride out of the city I reach Ubahn stop „Am Hart“, which will be my home for the next eight weeks. Walter, my landlord, meets me at the station, grabs one of my bags, and leads me up to his car for the 2 minute ride to his house. I am living on the top floor of a mehrfamilenhaus a multi-family house. Walter and Simone, his wife, rent out a good part of their house to various people, usually foreigners, who are living and working in Munich. My roommate is Serge, a young French banker who is here on a long term assignment. Two americans live in the basement for at least a few weeks more, they are finishing a six month internship with the BMW design headquarters which is literally less than a kilometer away. A short two kilometer jog away is Olympiapark, the site of the infamous 1972 Munich Olympics and one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen.
I arrive just in time to set down my bags and join my hosts for Kaffee und Küchen (Coffee and Cake), the german equivalent of afternoon tea. The occasion is in honor of Serge‘s girlfriend, who is visiting from Paris for the weekend, but they graciously allow me to join in. After a bit of conversation and a very tasty slice of clementine cheese cake (the Europeans are generally better at anything involving pastries or cakes) I set out to do a bit of exploring.
I get underway in the Ubahn back in the direction of the center of Munich, and after just a few stops I have to umsteig (transfer) to a Straßenbahn (pronounsed straw-sen-bahn) or street car to take me the rest of the way. I get out, and after a bit of confusion manage to find the institute. Its smaller than I pictured, but still impressive in seventies style German architecture (think lots of concrete and glass). That done, I hop back on the Straßenbahn and head down to the center of the city. After quickly Skyping my family from a coffee shop called San Francisco Coffee Company (which actually only exists in Munich), I end up in the restaurant for dinner. Tomorrow is my first day of work.
I will be back soon with more on Germany, Bavaria, culture, and general life as an expatriate camel in Munich.
