I have to admit that my first impression of Hamburg was not very good. I arrived by bus and then hopped onto the subway so the first area that I saw was the Reeperbahn, or, the sex strip. Although it was early in the morning, and all the red lights that it’s so well known for were turned off, I could still feel the trashiness of the street and it’s sordid appearance with signs posted for “sex kino” (which I have to say, I’m still quite curious about…I mean, how do you combine the two?) and photos illustrating what is inside. I was more than a little unsure about my choice to live in this neighborhood.

I had made arrangements with a few Hamburgers (yes, take a minute and laugh if you must. I also quite enjoyed learning that the name for inhabitants of Hamburg was “Hamburgers”. I don’t think I’ll ever think of the word in the same way again.) to show me around town with the globalfreeloaders.com website and my first “host” was Hanz. I decided to choose a varied demographic for my hosts so they could give me different perspectives about the city and I’m glad I did. Hanz was 65 and retired (okay, you may be thinking “what the heck is some 65 year old guy doing using a travel hosting web site” but we had e-mailed each other a few times and I was quite sure he was harmless) so he said he’d have a lot of time to show me around. We met up and he showed me Hamburg by car and I soon understood why the traffic situation here is described as a constant traffic jam. What took us about 45 minutes by car required only 15 minutes on my return journey by subway. Hanz told me much about the history of Hamburg and the great fire that was sometime in the 30’s that consumed 1/3 of the city. He explained that people were jumping into the canals to escape the fire, but the fire had consumed all the oxygen and they suffocated anyway.

I was also very surprised to learn that Hamburg has more bridges than Venice Italy. This is due to the close proximity to the Elbe river and the many smaller canals that join into the river. It’s true that there are many bridges, but it is not quite as picturesque as Venice. Difference: Venice is surrounded by the Adriatic sea. Hamburg is an industrial port town. It’s actually quite similar to Halifax here, the weather is the same (it has rained every day and is often overcast all afternoon) and the main feature is the shipping port. Hanz also offered an interesting viewpoint of WWII. He was about seven years old when the war ended and he told very interesting stories about his childhood and the destruction of his home caused by the bombing.

My next host was Thomas. He invited me to go out to a pub and watch the soccer match with him and some friends. I explained that I knew little about soccer, but I wouldn’t mind learning about the game. Soon we were at the pub and Thomas was asking the server where the screen would be so he could select an appropriate seat. It was about 20 minutes before the game started, so Thomas took the opportunity to use coasters to explain the rules of the game. It turns out I knew more than I thought, and soccer is a very simple game (unlike say, the north American football or basketball with many rules and often complex scoring systems). By the time Thomas had finished explaining the rules, the game was about to begin and I was surprised to look around and see that the bar had completely filled up. I learned that this game was an important qualification round for Germany and they had to win in order to proceed to later games. In an almost surreal manor, a huge screen descended from the ceiling and everyone re-organized themselves to have an un-obstructed view. The only way I can describe the game and atmosphere was intense. In-tense. Everyone was glued to the screen shouting comments, squeaking sighs of excitement, and exploding into applause at any sudden action in the game. Thomas explained that the coach for the team was quoted saying something like “Germany has a population of 81 million and 80 million of them believe they are better coaches then me”. The game was great, we won, and I now feel like have common ground with every German as long as I am a fan of the national team. (side note: I was also informed that Canada has a national soccer team?…who knew?)

We continued on to another small bar that is something like the albion in Guelph. Very small, intimate group of people with 70’s funk playing and the main attraction being the rickety table-soccer game in the back corner with a single light bulb over top. Naturally, Thomas and his friends wanted to play a few matches and I was forced to play against some other people in the bar. Basically I was glad to have consumed a few drinks so the shame factor was pretty low when I accidentally scored on our own net and Thomas felt he should clarify which hole we were attempting to but the ball into. He then offered an explanation to our opponents “er kommt aus Kanada” which means “he comes from Canada”. They seemed to understand and we had a good laugh at my lack of the fine motor skills required for table-soccer.

On a related note, I decided to challenge the cashier at the grocery store to a re-match. I felt better prepared and I would say it was a tie this round. I feel confident will win the next round.

Interesting observations: 1. The postmen ride bikes. They have these huge yellow saddle bags that go on the front and sides of the bike to hold the mail and they wear little matching yellow uniforms. It’s great. 2. My house is heated by coal. Yes, I said coal. I have a small stove in the corner of my room for which my friend Jens left illustrated instructions explaining how to light a fire and where to buy coal in the neighborhood. He also wrote “You are from Canada, you should have no trouble lighting a fire!”. I now fear the cold weather. 3. I found a walmart in my nighbourhood. It is so ghetto (which corresponds to the surrounding area). Picture a bi-way that is going out of business and all the piles and aisles have been ransacked by customers, plus a 15 minute wait in line at the cashier. What disappointed me most was that they didn’t have the friendly door greeter. However, as a trade off they do sell liquor in the walmart here. About 0.35€ for a beer ($0.50 Canadian). 4. Vanilla Ice is playing on the radio as I type this, and yes, it’s Ice-Ice baby. Word to your mother.

Update: I have discovered there are varied opinions on the milk situation. My flat mate Nic lived in the U.S. for ten years and he has quite the milk manifesto. According to Nic it is a phenomenon that is controlled by the milk industry in North America. The North American market makes the consumers feel they need to buy milk all the time and that it is going to go bad if they don’t drink it quickly. As a result people feel pressured to buy milk more often and to drink it before it expires. Nic also explained that he doesn’t need to go to the grocery store twice a week to get milk, he can buy the pasturized milk and store it until needed. Clever.

Alright, that's all for now, I'll be away for two weeks volunteering. You'll hear about it when I return.