Live from Germany. . .

I'm in Munich today at the end of my trip to Germany. Apologies if I switch "y" and "z" in this post by accident but they are reversed on German keyboards from the usual American setup. I haven't had time to organize my thoughts but here are a few random musings:

1. Michael Moore is over. Last time I was in Germany two years ago, the country was simply enraptured with the lefty that Republicans love to hate. Many of the questions directed towards me about politics referred to him or his movies. This time, he was only mentioned in passing by English teachers who were frustrated with the occasional student who thought they understood America if they had seen his films. However, American foreign policy is no more popular now than it was two years ago.

2. The absolute omnipresence and power of English. America may not be popular but our language is. Almost everyone speaks at least some English and many speak it very well. Since my German is limited to say the least ("ein Bier bitte" and "Haben Sie ein toilette" are very useful), I often end up asking if "sprechen Sie Englisch?" The response if often "of course" even from people doing jobs that don't appear to require much education like selling donuts near the train station.

3. Does George Bush look like as much of a cartoon at home as he does on international CNN and BBC World? I don't think it is a case of the evil left-wing media as they are just excerpting his appearances before Republican audiences where he says things like "The Democrats plan is to leave Iraq and give into terrorists. The Republican plan is to win in Iraq." Is part of the plan to put Moqtada al-Sadr in charge? According to BBC World today, the raving anti-American cleric is effectively in charge of slums containing about half of the capital's population. Oh, and he controls several Iraqi ministries and has a great deal of influence over the Prime Minister--the same guy who dissed the Prez last week.

4. Berlin is not the wealthiest part of the country but is easily its coolest, most metropolitan city. The unified city has lots of exciting new architecture from the redone Reichstag (or Bundestag, parliament) to the recently opened new Hauptbanhof. It is also clearly the most creative and exciting place to be in Germany and in all of Europe for that matter. Munich and Bavaria seem the most relaxed to me with Bavaria being the stereotype most Americans have of all of Germany. However, the regional variations are actually quite strong in this country with no Hamburger wanting to be mistaken for a Münchener or vice-versa.