theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

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Archives for July 2014

July Favorites

July 31, 2014 filed under: monthly favorites

JulyFavorites

1.) Oakley Dispute Sunglasses. Here’s a confession. I am the kind of person who buys a gazillion cheap sunglasses (and then continues to break them) and never wanted to invest in some really nice sunglasses because of that, but after breaking the same kind of sunglasses two times in a row (within a few months), I finally caved, because these were just hard to resist.

2.) Cherries. Saw them at the Farmers Market a few weeks ago and they have been my go-to summer fruit for the last few weeks!

3.) Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray. I bought this a while back from my hairdresser and then basically put it in my cabinet and forgot about it. I just rediscovered it and it gives my fine hair some strength and texture. Love it.

4.) Apfelschorle (apple juice + sparkling water). The temperatures have been in the triple digits here and this is the ultimate thirst quencher. Well, I can’t get Gerolsteiner Apfelschorle here in the US, but I can get apple juice + Gerolsteiner sparkling water (at TJ’s). Voilà. You should give this a try.

5.)  Ulta Cheek Color Infatuation. I am usually not a person that uses blush (or ever really knew what was the point of it), but I discovered that it actually does give you a healthier glow when you leave the house all tired in the morning. Win! (This one apparently has been discontinued. Bummer.)

6.) Birkenstock Gizeh Sandals. I talked about Birkenstocks sandals with Mandy (on Twitter) a couple of weeks ago and then I went to Nordstrom Rack last week and they had those on sale! Just the ones I wanted! Well, if that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what is! They’re super-comfy and so pretty!

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Photo of the week: Pops of color

July 30, 2014 filed under: my so-called life

Foto der Woche

Hey photo friends, the  ‘Foto der Woche‘ almost got away from me this week. Does that happen to you sometimes? Anyway, I found my Glücklichmacher #30 last minute this morning:

Photo of the week: Pops of color

 Pops of color (taken July 30, 2014)

I saw these beauties on my way to work this morning and they totally reminded me that I hadn’t really been taking many photos this last week. Oops! But hey, it’s perfectly fine because these pops of color made me happy this morning, so it totally counts as a Glücklichmacher on a random Wednesday!

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Pet Peeves

July 28, 2014 filed under: about me, pet peeves

Untitled

1. Instagram Overload. Please do me — and everyone else — a favor and don’t use Instagram as a place to dumb all of the photos that you took in one day. Pick one, maybe two. Instagram is a sharing platform and I love to be part of your life by seeing your pictures every day, but Instagram is not a photo backup platform.

2. Bad tippers. Tipping is something I had to get used to here in the US (we do tip in Germany, but it’s not mandatory and the amounts are really small —  you basically round up to the next Euro, or two.) However, I know that tipping is part of the waiter’s wage here, so I make an effort to tip people generously, especially when they went out of the way to provide friendly service. It’s just part of the expense.

3. Head-in-the-clouds bicyclists. I can’t really tell you why, but it drives me bonkers when bicyclists — when they actually manage to ride on the streets as they’re supposed to (don’t get me started on the sidewalk bicyclists!) — don’t obey traffic signs/lights.

4. Bad parking. I see it every day. Every day. I don’t really know what is so hard about parking your vehicle between the lines that have been provided for your guidance.

5. Clueless baristas. If you work in a coffee shop, you should know the difference between a Café Latte and a Latte Macchiato.

6. Discontinued products. I get so annoyed when I find a product that I really, really like and then it gets discontinued. Argh. I mean, I don’t know if I should feel special for having such an exclusive taste or if I should feel just mad. Probably the latter.

7. People who interrupt other people constantly, because they clearly think what they have to say is more important or something. There are some of those individuals on TV who ask questions and then never wait for the other person to finish their response. Annoying.

8. Slow Internet. I know this seems a little first-worldish, but I have no patience for slow Internet.

What are some of your pet peeves?

11

2014 in pictures: week 30

July 27, 2014 filed under: a year in pictures

2014 in pictures: week 30

dinner • sunbeams • lemon water •
California • gelato • green smoothie •
yoga • Farmers Market • Cold brew •

0

Things you wouldn’t know: There is no jury duty in Germany.

July 24, 2014 filed under: Germany, Things you wouldn't know, USA

Untitled

The reason I bring this up? I was summoned for jury duty a couple of months ago.

I guess I had lulled myself into a false sense of security that I wouldn’t be summoned any time soon, after I had to decline my last jury summon on the grounds that I wasn’t a US citizen at the time. I falsely assumed that that had taken me off their radar for a while, but I heard that they select people through the DMV system and I guess drivers license renewals puts you right back on the top of the list. Well, guess who just a couple of months ago  got her license renewed? Moi.

Coincidence?

Maybe. Either way, I had to report at the courthouse a few weeks ago.

In Germany, there is no such thing as jury duty. It was abolished in the 1920’s as the verdicts were perceived as unjust and inconsistent.  So, imagine my complete lack of pre-knowledge or understanding of what was going to await me at jury duty.

Mostly, I just thought I am going to show up, sit around for most of the day and then be dismissed without actually having to do anything. But, that was absolutely not what happened.

I showed up for jury duty on the day of my summon (actually I had to call the day before to find out if my group actually had to report or not, and alas, my group was called in for the next day, Tuesday morning).

I showed up at 8 a.m., had to sign in, fill out a questionaire and then took a seat to wait for “orientation”, which is basically the lady at the registration counter yelling instructions over a speaker system.
We were told that we were possibly going to be sent to one (or multiple) court rooms during the day until we were either dismissed by a judge or chosen for a jury.

I still really had no idea what to expect. I was anticipating a long day of waiting and sitting around. But, at 9 a.m. my name – along with about 30 others – was called to court room 17. In the courtroom, we were presented with some details of the case:

Criminal case — two defendants charged with
Count 1: murder (discharging a weapon out of a moving vehicle against a human being with the intent to inflict death)
Count 2: discharging a weapon out of a moving vehicle

My heart dropped into my boots.

When I was summoned for jury duty, I had joked that with my luck, I’d be assigned to a murder case, but I never thought that this was actually a possibility! Well, until it became one.

I also didn’t expect to be confronted with the two defendants right there in the court room. I thought that we might get some details of the case, but I didn’t expect to learn about the charges and suspects before becoming part of the jury. But oh no, all that information is presented during the selection process.

The judge explained some organizational stuff, explained the schedule for the trial and then asked anyone with a “hardship” (e.g. self-employed people, people who are caretakers and don’t have any other help, etc.) to fill out the provided forms. Everybody else was dismissed and asked to come back a few hours later.

After lunch, we were called in the courtroom again and this time, 18 of us – including me! – had to come forward and take a seat in (or in front of) the jury box.The rest of potential jurors were seated in the back of the room.

The judge explained some more details of the trial and then he interviewed us. He asked some general questions (for which we had to raise our hands, if applicable) and then he interviewed everyone in the jury box individually.
We were asked about our backgrounds, if we had previous experiences with law enforcement, crimes (as a victim or perpetrator) and if we knew people who worked in law enforcement.
We were also asked if we were biased towards certain people and about our abilities to assess someone’s credibility in the witness stand.

To be quite honest, I was kind of stunned how many of those people who were sitting in the jury box with me claimed that they completely unbiased and that they were definitely able to tell if someone was lying or telling the truth! Witnesses that are complete strangers to them, nonetheless! Isn’t that a little presumptuous?

While I do think that I am not a very biased person and that I aim to treat all people equally, I don’t think that I could claim to be completely unbiased. Aren’t we all a little biased against other people? Don’t we all judge people – even if only a little bit – by our first impressions of them? I couldn’t help but steal a glance at the defendants and think “do I think they could have committed such a crime?”.

Maybe I am too honest. Maybe I take this responsibility a little more seriously than others, but it would be stretching a point to claim that not some of my judgement of the situation (beyond the hard facts) would be influenced by some sort of bias.
Isn’t claiming to know if someone lies or tells the truth a bias in itself?
When it comes down to it, jurors will, in the end, use some biased judgement in deciding a case, especially if the hard facts don’t solve the case and they have to rely on witnesses mostly.

Of course, if I had been chosen for the jury, which I – spoiler alert! – did not, I would have tried my best to be objective, unbiased and judge the situation by the facts, but since I knew nothing more about the case and the people that were involved in it, it was a pretty bold statement to claim that those details didn’t matter.

The judge dismissed us in the afternoon and we had to come back the next morning, when the prosecutor and the two defense attorneys got the chance to ask us questions before they started dismissing people.

The judge cautioned us right away that there was no point in speculating why we were dismissed or not, because there are many different factors that play into the decisions of prosecutors and defense attorneys.
However, when the prosecutor dismissed me, I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t because I had been quite honest about the fact that I don’t believe that people can be completely unbiased (even if that would be desired, obviously!).

I found the selection of the jurors quite random, I have to admit. I am not sure what I expected during the process, but I didn’t expect to be asked “do you think you’re unbiased? Ok then!”

Ok, this is obviously an exaggeration, but how can someone, within a couple of hours and with the help of some questions that will be answered very subjectively, make a decision if someone is fit to be a juror or not? I  mean, most individuals are simply not free from holding social and cognitive biases, although it’s believed that those biases are controlled when people work together as part of a group.

Since I was dismissed that day and had to leave the court room right away, I have no idea how many people of the original 18 were picked, how many people in the audience were interviewed and who eventually made it on the jury. I would have loved to know that.

I have thought a lot about the experience since then and about the jury system and the reasons why we don’t have it in Germany. There is a tremendous amount of bureaucracy and time involved to summon and select jurors before you even get to the actual trial. It seems like a hell of a lot of effort, since jurors are selected on a case-by-base basis and prosecutors and defense attorney decide if you’re a “fit”. I still don’t know how I feel about it.

Well, anyway, I am glad I didn’t get picked for the case, mostly because I just found out about the outcome of the trial a couple of weeks ago. The two defendants were convicted of murder and are expected to be sentenced to life without parole. They’re both just over 20 years old. Though I do feel that they need to be punished for killing another human being — obviously! — it always makes me sad when young people “throw away their lives” like that.

Here’s a quick summery of how trials work in Germany, in case you’re interested.

Today, most misdemeanors are tried by a Strafrichter (criminal judge), meaning a single judge at an Amtsgericht (district court); felonies and more severe misdemeanors are tried by a Schöffengericht (court of lay assessors), also located at the Amtsgericht, composed of 1 judge and 2 lay judges; some felonies are heard by Erweitertes Schöffengericht, or extended Schöffengericht, composed of 2 judges and 2 lay judges; severe felonies and other “special” crimes are tried by the große Strafkammer (criminal chamber), composed of 3 judges and 2 lay judges at the Landgericht (regional court), with specially assigned courts for some crimes called Sonderstrafkammer; felonies resulting in the death of a human being are tried by the Schwurgericht (jury court), composed of 3 judges and 2 lay judges, located at the Landgericht; and serious crimes against the state are tried by the Strafsenat (criminal division), composed of 5 judges, at an Oberlandesgericht (regional appeal court).(Source: Wikipedia).

Complicated, phew.

How do you feel about the juror system? Have you been summoned — or actually been on a jury — before? How did you feel about the experience?

7

Photo of the week: Sunbeams

July 23, 2014 filed under: my so-called life

Foto der Woche

Does the  ‘Foto der Woche‘ keep coming around faster and faster each week, or is this just me? Anyway, here is my Glücklichmacher #29:

Photo of the week: sunbeams

Sunbeams (taken July 20, 2014)

I saw this beautiful sky on the way back home from our evening walk around the park last weekend. The summer skies are quite beautiful around here. It looked like the sun was refusing to go down.

2

July Link Love

July 21, 2014 filed under: link love

JulyLinkLove

… because it was so wonderful (oops, I did mention it one more time). Highlights from the World Cup (German edition)!

I know I have a lot of readers that like to travel as much as I do… here are 24 travel tips what will change your life forever.

Are you a procrastinator? This is for you: The science behind our urge to procrastinate

The 10 most passive-aggressive things you’re doing on social media

Brittney wrote a post about Creating the perfect record keeper and I want to get on that!

Macaroon coin purses? Yes, please!

This is soooo fascinating. Multilinguals have multiple personalities.

Free reversible box tote sewing pattern.

3-minute Blueberry Mug Muffin anyone?

For my fellow crocheters. Those owls are the cutest!

Saw this link on another blog and think it’s great all-around life advice: Do the best you can, dummy!

If you’re as much of an organizer as I am, you’ll get some great inspiration with those 52 meticulous organizing tips for the OCD person in you.

A genius menu planner.

This is good advice, y’all. 5 practical, slightly-snarky-sounding, non-sparkly ways I practice self-love.

Ahm, I want a pet hedgehog, like Kyla.

Do you have problems drinking enough water? Try these suggestions to stay hydrated.

This is right up my alley: Stamping envelope decor!

Top 10 Copyright-Free Free Image Sources for Bloggers.

7

2014 in pictures: week 29

July 20, 2014 filed under: a year in pictures

2014 in pictures: week 29

Poolside • Brunch • Stratosphere •
Lunch view • Real Simple • Poppyseed bagel •
friends • Farmers Market • breakfast •

1

SCHLAAAAAND! Wir sind Weltmeister!

July 18, 2014 filed under: Germany, sports

photo (1)I wrote about it more than once, but I have to bring up the topic one more time (and then I promise, I will shut up about the World Cup again until 2018).

On Sunday, Germany finally won the World Cup again after 24 years. As I mentioned before, I am usually not a huge football fan, but the World Cup (and European Cup) brings out some patriotism for my country that I hardly ever experience. Yes, I love my home country, yes, I am happy that I was born there. But this feeling of real patriotism is still something very foreign for (most) Germans.

It’s been a crazy World Cup. So many games went to overtime and shoot outs, so many teams that were considered contenders for the title didn’t even make it to the knockout rounds.  I am not saying that Germany had a completely worry-free run, but I think after they beat a strong France and completely swept away Brazil with a 7-1 win, it was pretty obvious that they were on the path to winning the Cup this year!

I am sure you’ve seen the picture (on the left) that was going around on the Internet. There definitely is something to be said for team spirit and playing a selfless game. Even though every team has their star strikers, Germany’s strikers are never selfish or want to be the ones that actually score the goal. Have you seen the amount of passes before they finally scored?

I think our team deserved to win. Really deserved it.

There was this lovely article in The New York Times yesterday that I’d like to recommend to you, because it’s a great reflection on my home country from the perspective of a foreigner, Roger Cohen. Even though he touches on  topics of Germany’s history – which more often than not has been done in a very shameful, down-putting way during this World Cup and I keep wondering when the world (and Germany, too!) will finally get over it! – he was able to spin it into something positive and was able to identify that winning the title this year was not a matter of luck or simple sports tactics, but  that the success lies much deeper in the German subconscious and  that it was the fruit of intense labor not over the past couple of years, but the last decade or two. I shared the article on Facebook and my friend Kat commented:

Snip20140717_3.jpg

I generally feel the same way. Why is everything in Germany, even a sports event, seen in historical context? Why can’t it be just that, a sports event? But Roger Cohen was able to establish this context and see something beautiful in it. If you want to read more on this topic,  “And the winner is… Schland”  is another great piece that was able to use historical context in a positive way and explains how the four Germany World Cup wins (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014) coincide with different turning points in German history (I apologize that the website asks to create a free account when you open it on a computer. It doesn’t do that on my iPhone, but it’s well worth it, IMHO.)

It is, in fact, a nice tribute to a great country.

All this to say: I am proud of my country and what our national team has achieved. And I think we deserve to be able to celebrate those achievements.  Nobody should – or will – ever forget our history, but I think it is time to move on and look forward and not pull the “Nazi”-card every time Germany gets a little bit too excited about themselves. Germany has learned a lot from its past, Germany in many ways has moved on, when will the rest of the world follow suit? Like Roger Cohen said in his article, ” Perhaps [today’s] German success is the result of the immensity of past German failure.”

Maybe he’s on to something.

GOSCHLAAAND!

3

Photo of the week: World Champions!

July 16, 2014 filed under: my so-called life

Foto der Woche

Hi friends, it’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another ‘Foto der Woche‘. What was the highlight of your week?  Here is my Glücklichmacher #28:

Photo of the week: World champions!

World Champions (taken July 13, 2014)

I won’t apologize for this really blurry, bad TV photo, because this was the greatest thing that happened this week: Germany won the World Cup title after 24 years! I’m so thrilled!

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Hi, I am San – German native, dual-citizen living in beautiful Northern California. Runner. Knitter. Crafter. Reader. Writer. Proud aunt, sister, and friend.

I’ve been blogging since 2004 and don’t intend to stop any time soon. If you are looking for personal content and making a  genuine connection, you’ve come to the right place.

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