Busy, busy

Sorry there hasn't been an update for a while! We've been busy eating chocolate:


A literal translation: Black Men Chocolate, For Gentlemen.

We were a little confused and intrigued, but last night Max Barkhausen told us that it shouldn't be parsed as 'Chocolate, of Black Men,' but as 'Gentlemen's-Chocolate, of the Black variety' (something the grammar should have cued us onto). Apparently, 'Herren Schokolade' is just a way of saying that the chocolate is all fancy. Or classy. Or something.

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We also had our first joint conversation partner meeting with one of Colin's German conversation partners. She took us to a book store that is a government-subsidized 'political education' center. Apparently, after WWII, the government never wanted an uninformed population again, so they provide a lot of material on various issues. There were loads of books about German history (especially about Jewish-German history and the DDR), a number about environmental issues, a lot about world cultures, and a lot of translated stuff (including Paul Krugman and Amartya Sen). Until five years ago, all the books were just free, but now cost between 2 and 6 Euros. We couldn't think of anything similar in the US, or even the possibility of something like this working.

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Colin: My uncle Jim came and visited us for a day. It was great - a quick walk by the main tourist sights, followed by hours of cafe-hopping and eating. Here's an especially good picture of me:



Naomi: We also took a quick look at the longest stretch of the Wall that was kept up and decorated by various artists right after the fall. It's fairly close to where we live. It has turned into a big tourist destination, but it was still interesting to see that they have turned old East German cars into a fun tourist trip (the "Trabi" safari):


An interestingly decorated part of the wall:

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We had our first dinner party! Colin baked a beautiful loaf of bread:


Then we went out to a hip party and watched Germans dance and play foosball ('fuβball'?).

Colin: Next week will be similarly busy. We're going out to Frankfurt on Friday, where I'll present something. I'm also presenting something in the colloquium here tomorrow. Both about Kant. Which I think means I'm practicing for the job market.