30 days to Germany and counting down

The original version of this post, in portuguese, was published on 30 dias para a Alemanha e contando in December 04th, 2007

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“…se não sais de ti, não chegas a saber quem és … é necessário sair da ilha para ver a ilha…”
(José Saramago, O Conto da Ilha Desconhecida)

“…if you do not get out of yourself, you will never know who you are… is necessary to get out of the island to see the island…
(free and rough translation)

If you read my profile, will see that is written Germanophilie. By the way, is written in portuguese, english and… german.

I don’t know why and don’t know when this passion with Germany started.

Maybe it was in that classic Woody Woodpecker Cartoon episde, “Calling Dr. Woodpeckerrr”, maybe was in an old Kohlback Engines advertise (”coloca o língua no céu da boca e diz: kohhllllllllllback” – “put ze the tongue in ze mouth zky and say: Kohlllllllllllllback” in a rough translation), maybe was the german soccer/football national team in 1986 World Cup, the stylish flag with that unfriendly look eagle in the center (now is without the eagle, which is the Coat of Arms now), the Kraftwerk, Beethoven, Bauhaus (the school) and design history, all that buzz about Dr. Josef Mengele in mid 1980’s in Brazil or something like that.

The fact is that i always had a crush for german history and culture, for the idiom or german people psichology. And i wanted to know the country for a long time, and in 30 days, i will be there, making a dream come true.

And people ask: why Germany?

The most true answer is: Ich weiss nicht! (I don’t know!)

I gave a lot of different answers to that question, showing N reasons to like Germany and probably all of them are true. The most common one is that i think that brazilians and germans are so different people, and cross borders and fight differences between people are one of my prefered subjects. But this, by itself, it’s not a strong reason.

Anyway, i’m intended to find out the reasons of this crush from December 26th on, when i will be the Ulrike’s - my german fried from Friesenheim and Honeymood author – official guide in streets of São Paulo, of the idiossincrasies of the “São Paulo Being”, and feijoadas with caipirinhas and cold beer in the biggest brazilian city. And following that, she will be my guide in the Germany ways, german people, and also the german wines and beers. After all, besides the cultural richness, there is something that these two different folk share: the taste for good food and good drink.

And believe me when i say that i will cheer up every discover, wheter gastronomic, etilic, cultural or personal.

Prost! Cheers!