In which we are trains, afternoons, and nights.

One of the things I did in the past couple months was read the complete works of Wolfgang Borchert, the author I've been researching. As his incredibly unreal life ended before his complete works became too long to fit inside a book in my bag [inhale!], I ended up reading great chunks of it on trains of various sorts. This turned out to be creepily relevant, as so many of his short stories involve trains. Some take place in them, some aim to get to them, some are them. I think he loved trains as much as I do today, or rather, I love trains as much as he did then, and reading his words about trains in Hamburg in my mind while zooming along in a train... in Hamburg... made me feel very connected to him. Our similar love for Hamburg itself also plays into that.

In one of my favorite stories, called Eisenbahnen, nachmittags und nachts (translation: trains, afternoons and nights), he plays with some major personification, or more specifically-- compares how trains live with how a lost generation lives, a lost generation of soldiers, a Generation ohne Abschied, so to speak. It goes from a far-out concept to a very direct, personal address in no time. A more personal aspect on the personal aspect is that I find that my writing style is very similar to his, making it a lot easier to understand some of the linguistic tricks he comes up with. I have also really, really, enjoyed translating his work so far, so there'll probably be more of that in the future.

Here's a blurb from the aforementioned text for you German-speakers:

Die Bahnen. Über Dämme hinhämmernd, über Brücken gebrüllt, aus Diesigkeiten herandonnernd, in Dunkelheiten verdämmernd: Summende brummende Bahnen. Güterzüge, murmelnd, eilig, irgendwie träge und ruhlos, sind sie wie wir.    

Sie sind wie wir. Sie kündigen sich an, pompös, großartig und schon aus enorm ferner Ferne, mit einem Schrei. Dann sind sie da wie Gewitter und als ob sie wunder was für Welten umwälzten. Dabei ähneln sie sich alle und sind immer wieder überraschend und erregend. Aber im Nu, kaum daß man begreift, was sie eigentlich wollen, sind sie vorbei. Und alles ist, als ob sie nicht waren. Höchstens Ruß und verbranntes Gras nebenher beweisen ihren Weg. Dann verabschieden sie sich, etwas melancholisch und schon aus enorm ferner Ferne, mit einem Schrei, wie wir.   

And now for some train-related photos!



And now back to non-train-related photos! These clouds and hidden flying things are fun full-screen.

Night falls as all the colors in Planten un Blomen peace out and peace up.

Observe full-screen for a celestial playdate.

Sometimes a lack of wind makes things topsy-turvy. See below.

Ominous skies o'er the Speicherstadt.

Pre-leaf season across the street.

This was not taken in Hamburg, but rather on the Baltic coast. Early spring. Cold mist. Disappearing horizon. Made me miss New England.

Okay, okay, explanation time. One of the local grocery store chains carries a line of "American goods" under a brand name fabricated by slapping together two of the most American-loaded names in the book. Anders gesagt, what do you get when you cross McDonald's with JFK? McKennedy chicken nuggets with curry dip, that's what. Other fine items from their redwhite&blue, Statue of Liberty-starred, AMERICAN WAY specialties include things like ready-to-eat hamburgers, 4-packs of giant and chocolatey muffins, and imitation wonder bread. Coming across their products always makes me laugh, particularly when the product has no resemblance to American cuisine, but then I realize the implications they have on my culture and stereotypes thereof and I cringe and cringe and cringe and go squeeze mangoes or something instead.

Surely there must be better ways of combining German and American cuisine than the frozen apocalypse pictured above. For example, why not make American sugar cookies with a German cookie cutter picturing Hamburg's coat of arms?

(Inside scoop-- I saw this at an outdoor market and when the nice man told me I could use it to stamp the coat of arms on slices of cheese, I just couldn't say no.)

Finally, finally, here are the last of the mistranslations I've been hoarding for months.

Aboard the [ship name] the comfortable cabins establish a relaxing atmosphere, which one knows otherwise only from at home.

Avail yourself of the healthy Spa [name] menus.

Enjoy the variety and decide spontaneously with which delicacies you are going to appease your appetite.

Recreation and relaxation is reached by healing treatments like acupuncture and cosmetics as well as the fountain of youth which is only accessible by adults.

Cruise through the Western Caribbean and let the sun touch your belly on the beautiful teakwood-deck.

With that one all I can do is imagine the sun poking the Pillsbury Dough Boy in the belly with a long ray of finger, which in then turns him a nice golden brown. Hoohoooo!