May 09, 2004

Bavaria - Bay Area - not only two letters are different

Mig was so nice to invite me to contribute to this weblog. I am, no, not lost but somehow in between or in transit.

I immigrated from Sonthofen, the most southern town of Germany to the apple shaped heart of Plastic Card Valley, Northern California.

I did not come here to start a .com like so many others of my Silicon brothers and sisters; I came here to marry my long-term distance relationship. Well, the ship is gone since two years but I am still around together with my teenage daughter.

It has happened to us - we feel home - too less to be 100% American, not German enough anymore to wanting to go back. In between is our home. Hey In Between is a great place with lots of freedom, no plastic surgery, and really cool neighbors.

My name is Silvia or, as the INS calls me, Alien number XYZ. In my first months here I indeed felt like an alien from outer space. Below are some examples of extreme hardships for a German gal transplanted to California:

Root Beer
Root beer is not known in Germany as beverage. However its scent is very well known. It's the scent of our most popular toilet cleaner, "Null-Null." A German who drinks Root Beer for the very first time thinks he drinks his toilet cleaner.

Turn right on red light:
It still gives me the creeps and takes lots of angry drivers honking their horns behind me to make me turn right when the traffic light is red.

How are you doing?
When Americans say "How are you doing" they mean "Hello". You are not supposed to tell them "how you are really doing". You are supposed to respond "pretty good" even if you plan to kill yourself in the next three minutes. I went through a reality check at Safeways and when the cashier asked me how I was doing, I responded that I would do extremely bad and that I was happy he asked and that it was nice having found someone to talk to. To date this cashier is running away when I am lining up at his counter.

That's enough Silvia poured on your head for one entry. Visit my weblog if you want to know more.

Talk to you later.

Posted by Silvia at May 9, 2004 05:09 AM
Comments

As the other NKOTB, let me be the first to say welcome. I hope that you managed to negotiate a decent salary from the notoriously tight-fisted Mig. (He initially asked me to contribute for free -- can you believe it?!)

After weeks of arguing, I managed to squeeze out a $200/post contract. I'm told this is a bit on the low-end. (Stavros gets four figures plus a dozen bottles of Eiswein every Christmas) However, I've been told that the terms usually improve over time.

At any rate: All the best and great introductory post!

Posted by: Michael M at May 10, 2004 07:53 AM

You'll get a Bug button, and that's my final offer.

Posted by: mig at May 10, 2004 08:17 AM

Hi Michael:
Modest as he is, Mig did not want me to thank him in public for the great deal he offered me, but I think I simply have to:
Thank you Mig for taking Arnold back to Austria if I keep posting on this site! California owes you.

Silvia

Posted by: Silvia at May 11, 2004 02:26 AM