There’s one thing my coach never tired of saying to me: “Hau den Ball ins Tor hinein!” – best translated with: “Just slam it into the back of the net!” What did yours used to say to you? What about this one: “The country’s going to the dogs! Everything was better back then!”

1958: In the old communist GDR, food rationing was finally ended, although East Germany had to wait for Helmut Kohl and the fall of communism to get their promised land. This was also the year in which Elvis Presley arrived in Germany to do his national service in the army; seemingly by chance, another music legend Michael Jackson was born. A 17-year old Brasilian named Pélé wrote World Championship history in Sweden and Schalke 04 won the German league for the seventh and last time.

"White Trash Fast Food"

Which one deserves the title for the most popular district? As a happy Kreuzberger I have already made my choice, but I must admit that there are occasions when I get curious to see how green the grass is on the other side. So, last night I ate out at the infamous White Trash, a deluxe fast food venue in Prenzlauer Berg.

When I first heard the name I had to chuckle. Oh my, what was I to expect?! On my way there, I made the fatal mistake of asking people for directions to “White Trash.“ They all either gave me a funny look or mumbled something like “Is she serious?“

I'll bet that caught your attention… (Flickr: Markusram)

If you say the words “German” and “fetish” to people in English-speaking countries, they tend to think immediately of lederhosen. The more dirty-minded amongst them might then make some kind of joke involving sausages, and those who watched pornography or “South Park” as teenagers will probably start talking about stuff that really isn’t fit to be published at this web-address. Anyone who has lived in Germany long enough, though, will tell you immediately what the biggest and most widespread German fetish is.

Its primary materials are not leather, not even PVC, but bricks, stone and mortar. Its practitioners don’t wear red lipstick and high-heels, but have a penchant for wrought iron and decorative stucco. Oh, and did I mention that this fetish is carried on in broad daylight on residential streets across Germany?

Our resident Bavarian with his first glass of the morning. Photo Nicolette Stewart.

Beer.  Pretzels.  Sausages dipped in sweet mustard and horseradish.  Sound like fun?  Probably.  Sound like breakfast?  Probably not.  But in Bavaria weissbier or weizenbier (both names for wheat beer), weisswurst (white sausages), and bretzeln (pretzels) are a long-standing brunch tradition.  And the name of the game is Frühschoppen.

Perhaps you remember the great cheap beer taste test of 2009.  Well it turns out one night, six people, and 15 of the cheapest beers that we could find wasn’t going far enough.  It was time to go advance to the next level in German beer connoisseur-ship and tackle wheat beer, with a side of sausage and pretzels.

Villa with reading inside and outside

After four successful days of the latest in literature, comics, and audio productions, the Leipzig Book Fair opened its doors one last time on Sunday. With the most visitors to date, the organizers of the book fair can look back on a delightful event. Europe’s largest literary festival “Leipzig Liest” (“Leipzig reads”) took place parallel to the book fair. One of my fist stops in this festival was at the Moritzbastei, an old bastion that was built in the 16^th century.

In the cellar of Moritzbastei

In the nostalgic cellar of the Moritzbastei the “Lange Leipziger Lesenacht” (“long night of reading”) gave young and upcoming authors the opportunity to read to a small audience. It was so special because you could enjoy this rare event until late into the night.

There’s one thing my coach never tired of saying to me: “Hau den Ball ins Tor hinein!” – best translated with: “Just slam it into the back of the net!” What did yours used to say to you? What about this one: “If we want to win the championship, we need to win away games!”? If you’ve ever played at the top of a league, then you’ve probably heard that one before.

Teams in the Bundesliga don’t appear see things that way, though. Neither record-holders Bayern München, nor the gutsy Schalke 04, nor even title contenders Bayer Leverkusen were able to win their away games on match day 27.

At the stand of the "Japanfreaxx"

The first day of the Leipzig Book Fair came to an end with an anticipated award ceremony, honoring authors in three categories with a prize endowed in total with € 45,000. Amongst the nominees was 18 year-old Helene Hegemann with her highly debatted debut novel, that first caused an outcry of astonishment, which later turned to loud groans of dissapproval because parts of it were found to be plagiarised.

Girl showing the boys how to play Pokemon

The question of originality arised, leading to a nation-wide discussion of her book “Axolotl Roadkill”. To the delight of many, (and to the disappointment of some) Helene Hegemann did not win the prize, instead it was Georg Klein for his “Novel of Childhood”.