just john

Today is Tuesady. Yes, tomorrow is yet another holiday. They are celebrating the reunification of Germany. Not the actual day the wall was breached because through some freak of the Gregorian calendar it coincided with Hitler's birthday but the day it officially happened on paper. Good enough.

I went to the Wichtel (pronounced Victel, which it occurs to me now is vaguely reminiscent of victual) with some work friends for pizza and beer. Conversation was punctuated by a mix of German and English. 25% of us were relatively fluent in both (not me) and we ended up swapping back and forth as necessary. I think what struck me most was that I actually laughed on cue to some of the German humor and my German counterparts were able to reciprocate in English. I think that speaks more for interculturalism than any inter-continental bank transaction ever will.

Completely of topic here; Pink has a song titled "Dear mr. President" that I hear all the time on the radio over here. Apparently it gets no airplay in America. Look for the version with the Indigo Girls.