I finally made it out of Europe and back to Asia. And since getting back to Singapore on Tuesday, I've realized that my life in this city seems to revolve around food. Which is totally fine with me, because this city is famous for its food and is not great in many other aspects.
After five months of German food, which I consider to be pretty bland, and very few other options, I had a long list of things I wanted to eat. And in the last 48 hours since arriving, I have eaten the following:
I did have a great last weekend in Europe, though. I spent the weekend up in Berlin, with my "cousin" who started her Eurotrip a few days early so we could hang out before I left. The highlight was probably going to visit this town called Halberstadt, about 2 hours outside of Berlin.
At the end of World War II, my grandparents were both in Buchenwald, and when they were liberated they made their way to Halberstadt. We're pretty sure that this is where they met, and they ended up getting married not long after, then moving on to Belgium where my dad was born. The story I remember from my grandpa is that he met my grandma and some of her friends in Halberstadt and they needed a place to stay, so he went into an apartment and commandeered it for them. I'm guessing it was probably empty, because we learned that Halberstadt was very badly damaged during the war, but it's still very indicative of my grandpa's nature. He had a very strong survival instinct, always making the best of a bad situation and finding solutions no matter the obstacles he was faced with.
They probably weren't there for very long, but I was hoping to find some sort of records of their stay. Everything was closed by the time we got there, but there is an organization dealing with Jewish history in Halberstadt, of which there is a lot. The community dates back to the 12th century, and at its peak one in every seven town residents was Jewish. There are still the remains of three synagogues as well. So my dad will probably try to email the organization that keeps these records and see what he can find.
But for now, it was great to see the place. I was expecting a small village like Schrobenhausen, but it's actually a large village. It's a dying place, everyone is leaving, which is unfortunate because it's really beautiful. It's probably one of the nicest and most unique places I've been in Germany. The town was designated as a model town by the government, so they now get money for refurbishment of old buildings, which they're doing a great job of. We expected to be there for like 20 minutes, but we ended up staying for about 4 hours, just wandering the town.
Something else I've realized since my last post is that I was wrong about Sharon Van Etten. When I wrote about her last month, I said that her last album, Tramp, must not have been great, because it left me with absolutely no impression whatsoever. But because I love the new album, Are We There, I went back and listened to the older stuff. And Tramp is a fantastic album. The album and EP that came before that are nothing special, but Tramp is great. Case in point: Serpents.
I don't know how I missed that when it first came out a couple years ago. I definitely listened to it, so I don't know how I didn't realize how good it was. In fact, since listening to Tramp a few times, I might even go so far as to say that I would rearrange my Top 10 albums of 2012 to include it.
And while we're on the topic of music from 2012, we might as well talk about The Cast of Cheers. I only found out about them a few weeks ago, but apparently they put out their first official album, Family, back in 2012, with one more self-released album before that.
I actually don't remember where I first heard the Dublin band, even though it was just a few weeks ago. But I loved them at first listen. I'm pretty sure it was actually Animals that I heard first, but I could be wrong about that.
The obvious comparison would be to Bloc Party. They do everything Bloc Party did on their first two albums that made me love them, then stopped doing on their last two albums. At times they sound exactly like Bloc Party to me, except maybe a bit more in tune vocally. Then there's a bit of a Foals in there, too, which I only noticed later.
Like I said, I loved the band as soon as I heard them, so of course I went and bought their album, which I also love. I've listened to it like half a dozen times since first buying it, and it is a great album, but that's not the reason I keep listening. I actually keep listening because as much as I love the album, there aren't very many stand-out tracks to me. I find that I listen to albums like that even more than albums I think are incredible because I expect there to be individual songs which match the quality of the album overall. Then when I can't identify those tracks, I keep listening thinking that I just missed something.
In this case, there is one stand-out track, Marso Sava. The rest are great, but Marso Sava is the only one good enough to get a 5 star rating on my iPod.
This one is less Bloc Party and more Foals. And it leads to hyper-localized dance parties in public, which normally just take place in my hands or fingers.
That's about it for this week. In other news, I've started the online apartment hunt for my move to Shanghai next week. So next blog will be from China, and if I'm lucky from a new apartment. Though chances are it'll be a couple more posts before that one happens.
After five months of German food, which I consider to be pretty bland, and very few other options, I had a long list of things I wanted to eat. And in the last 48 hours since arriving, I have eaten the following:
- Laksa
- Dumplings
- Char siew bao
- Chicken rice
- Stingray
- Satay
- Malay food
I did have a great last weekend in Europe, though. I spent the weekend up in Berlin, with my "cousin" who started her Eurotrip a few days early so we could hang out before I left. The highlight was probably going to visit this town called Halberstadt, about 2 hours outside of Berlin.
 | ||
| The houses have been refurbished and decorated really beautifully |
 |
| Remains of one of the synagogues |
They probably weren't there for very long, but I was hoping to find some sort of records of their stay. Everything was closed by the time we got there, but there is an organization dealing with Jewish history in Halberstadt, of which there is a lot. The community dates back to the 12th century, and at its peak one in every seven town residents was Jewish. There are still the remains of three synagogues as well. So my dad will probably try to email the organization that keeps these records and see what he can find.
 |
| Memorial to deported Jews in front of the cathedral |
But for now, it was great to see the place. I was expecting a small village like Schrobenhausen, but it's actually a large village. It's a dying place, everyone is leaving, which is unfortunate because it's really beautiful. It's probably one of the nicest and most unique places I've been in Germany. The town was designated as a model town by the government, so they now get money for refurbishment of old buildings, which they're doing a great job of. We expected to be there for like 20 minutes, but we ended up staying for about 4 hours, just wandering the town.
Something else I've realized since my last post is that I was wrong about Sharon Van Etten. When I wrote about her last month, I said that her last album, Tramp, must not have been great, because it left me with absolutely no impression whatsoever. But because I love the new album, Are We There, I went back and listened to the older stuff. And Tramp is a fantastic album. The album and EP that came before that are nothing special, but Tramp is great. Case in point: Serpents.
I don't know how I missed that when it first came out a couple years ago. I definitely listened to it, so I don't know how I didn't realize how good it was. In fact, since listening to Tramp a few times, I might even go so far as to say that I would rearrange my Top 10 albums of 2012 to include it.
And while we're on the topic of music from 2012, we might as well talk about The Cast of Cheers. I only found out about them a few weeks ago, but apparently they put out their first official album, Family, back in 2012, with one more self-released album before that.
I actually don't remember where I first heard the Dublin band, even though it was just a few weeks ago. But I loved them at first listen. I'm pretty sure it was actually Animals that I heard first, but I could be wrong about that.
The obvious comparison would be to Bloc Party. They do everything Bloc Party did on their first two albums that made me love them, then stopped doing on their last two albums. At times they sound exactly like Bloc Party to me, except maybe a bit more in tune vocally. Then there's a bit of a Foals in there, too, which I only noticed later.
Like I said, I loved the band as soon as I heard them, so of course I went and bought their album, which I also love. I've listened to it like half a dozen times since first buying it, and it is a great album, but that's not the reason I keep listening. I actually keep listening because as much as I love the album, there aren't very many stand-out tracks to me. I find that I listen to albums like that even more than albums I think are incredible because I expect there to be individual songs which match the quality of the album overall. Then when I can't identify those tracks, I keep listening thinking that I just missed something.
In this case, there is one stand-out track, Marso Sava. The rest are great, but Marso Sava is the only one good enough to get a 5 star rating on my iPod.
This one is less Bloc Party and more Foals. And it leads to hyper-localized dance parties in public, which normally just take place in my hands or fingers.
That's about it for this week. In other news, I've started the online apartment hunt for my move to Shanghai next week. So next blog will be from China, and if I'm lucky from a new apartment. Though chances are it'll be a couple more posts before that one happens.
