FrogBlog | Translating Los Angeles – Page 34 – We like it here! One Germerican and one American translating Los Angeles for the World.

Can One Love Both The Same?

Languages, languages – sorry, nothing spicy or racy.

Last weekend someone asked me “do you think in German or English?” It took me not a second to answer “that depends on the subject and the mood I am in.”

Living with two languages is fun. I actually learned more than one foreign language, but English is the only other language I use besides German nowadays. English is also the language I love just as much as German.

What I realized through the years however is this: Mastering a foreign language is a life-long learning process. It needs more than having a large vocabulary at hand and (hopefully) perfect grammar. Understanding the society the language is used in is a big key. How can one truly understand a poem by Wordsworth to its fullest extend without knowing the times and mores he lived in and with? The works of Walt Whitman without the knowledge of what went on in his country (and his life) when he was writing? Or jump forward – modern writers in the UK and the US without a strong background of political and sociological changes in said countries?

Coming back to subject and mood – yes, these factors are important when quietly turning over thoughts in my mind. Generally it works like this: With everyday subjects or work-related ones, I think in English. With subjects of a more personal mode or slow contemplation of matters important on a deep and profound level – out comes the German.

And when I want to read German at its best and fullest and most innovative or when I am afraid of losing my grasp on my native language, I turn to an old favorite: “Unser ungelebtes Leben”, the letters of Kurt Tucholsky to his wife Mary. The mastery of the language, the insight into life cultural and politic (and those times were deeply troubled), the quest for personal happiness which ended in deep desperation, all this combines to make me think that maybe, just maybe I love the German language just a wee bit more than the English one. Which I will surely be forgiven for.

Should I ever be asked which book would be my choice to take to that uninhabited island – this would be the one.

Empty Streets & Crunchy Fish

Things seem to be changing – apparently Angelenos are taking off more and more days for a holiday around Thanksgiving. That’s the only explanation I have for the streets being (comparatively) empty already on the Sunday before the holiday weekend.

Which is fine. I like it. It is really pleasant. And makes for a swift short drive to the best fish market and restaurant in town: Fish King. Actually, FK is in the town next door, in Glendale, but who cares? The verdict is unanimous – FK is the best fish market in all of SoCal.

Going to FK is like a pilgrimage to worship at the shrine of fabulous fish and impeccable, friendly, swift service. Just looking at the displays makes one drool. Add to that the fact that there is no smell (fresh fish does not smell “fishy”), and you know that this is the real thing: A place where the owners know all about, and love everything, fish.

The Galley is the little restaurant attached to the market. It is a no-frills eatery, squeaky clean, the food comes in Styrofoam containers (that’s the only beef I have with the place, for environmental reasons) and is absolutely out of this world good. Go there, test the Halibut for starters and be reeled in – hook, line and sinker.

Romantic Encounter

I like swans, especially Mute Swans (Cygnus olor / Höckerschwan). They are majestic, beautiful birds, elegant and fascinating when gliding over the water. They are also quite aggressive when tending their young.

I remember my last encounter with swans: I used to run at a lake near my house; after my cool down I always sat on a little wooden deck and fed the ducks with stale bread. On that particular day four cygnets joined the flock of ducks to get their share of the feast. However, it did not take long for the parent birds to come gliding along to take a good look at what was happening there. Apparently they wanted to make sure that I clearly understood that no hanky-panky was allowed with their offspring – one of the swans started to hiss and get into attack mode. I got the message and retreated. An attacking swan is not something very high on my list of “Things One Really, Really has to Experience in Life.”

So I was very pleased that my next swan sighting was of this pretty bird – fast asleep.

The romantic surroundings were quite fitting.

A Peek Into Paradise Or A Menace To Mankind?

In Spring Casa Beach in La Jolla looks like this:

About 150 to 200 harbor seals use the beach as a resting place and rookery for their pups:

Once the pups are old enough to behave like proper teenagers (frolicking in the sea and having fun all day long), the older seals spend their afternoons, most likely, more like this:

Anything for a good rest before Spring comes around again and one has all flippers full raising the next generation.

All this can be watched from just a short distance away. Casa Beach is a small paradise for nature lovers big and small.

Unfortunately, this paradise is threatened. For years and years a battle has been going on between those who love this rare opportunity to catch a glimpse into the life of the harbor seals and those who consider them a menace, a pest, water polluters and squatters on a beach belonging to the humans. A short video clip can be watched here.

The latest news is that the City of San Diego and environmentalists have been overruled in their desire to keep Casa Beach for the seals. Now the case is supposed to go to Sacramento for a final decision.

I sincerely hope the seals will be allowed to stay. A 100 yard long stretch of beach is such a small price to pay for a year-round insight into the lives of these unique animals.

Which Is Your Favorite Library?

I like libraries. University libraries even more. My new favorite is the Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego.

Designed by William L. Pereira and finished in 1970, it sits on top of its hill as if this hill had been waiting forever and ever just for this particular building to be erected there.

To me the Geisel Library is an ultramodern take on the design of places like Himeji Castle in Japan.

Or maybe it just grew out of the ground, because in spite of all those expanses of glass and the rigid angles the structure looks organic, belonging there. It is quite easy to imagine how it slowly emerged from the ground, growing, growing to its full height, looking faintly otherworldly and yet fully of the here and now.

And then somebody came along and cleaned all those glass panes.

Totally Un-Cuddly. Totally Cool.

This weekend I went hunting. As I was going for the largest bear on Earth and some amazing architecture, my “weapon” was the camera.

Starting with the bear, that was easy to find (once you know where to look for it). No wonder, with a height of 23 ft (7 m) and weighting in at 370,000 lbs. (167,8 t) it can not easily be overlooked. This sculpture, made from massive granite boulders, sits in the engineering courtyard at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering in La Jolla. The artist is Tim Hawkinson. The piece was commissioned by the university’s Stuart Collection and erected in 2005.

Most interesting about this sculpture is the fact that seen from a slight distance the bear looks like a cuddly teddy bear. Just cute, sweet, like a toy left by a child on a lawn. Well, a rather largish child. But with every step closer this perception changes. The sheer mass of the piece becomes quite impressive. When one then walks away again and turns around, it is once again a sweet teddy bear. Any moment that child who left it there will come and pick it up.

Cool.

Waiting For Snow

No, not around here in the Flatland, up on Snow Summit (8,200ft / 2.499 m) above Big Bear Lake.

It is pretty up there and really, really cold. Temperatures at night are already below freezing. By mid November the skiing season should begin.

Which means, of course, that I will stay away from there for the next 4 months or so. Maybe even a bit longer. Any place with 193 days below 32˚F / 0˚C per year tends to see me rather less often.

An Evening With The Terminator (No Politics Involved)

One of the occasions when the rugby community in SoCal defies all preconception of what a rugby players looks like is the Griffin Awards Ceremony and Rugby Ball. The players (female and male) attend in elegant evening attire, raucous rugger songs are replaced by gentle background music, wine and cocktails are being sipped instead of beer.

An outsider might perhaps notice that most of the attending guests do look rather fit and athletic, more so than one would usually expect to see in a ballroom; but apart from that they do not look one iota different from any nicely turned out crowd one expects when attending a ball.

A very enjoyable occasion it was, this 2007 ceremony. One of the highlights was the guest speaker, Mr. Jerry Collins, aka “The Terminator” of the New Zealand All Blacks.

To meet such an outstanding world-class rugby player is really something to write home about. Especially when the meeting happens in a ballroom and not on the pitch. After all, “The Terminator” carries his nickname for a reason.

I Know

But thanks for telling me anyway.

The Trouble With Bambi And Thumper

Many years ago a friend from the US came to visit me in Germany. As a very special treat I took her one evening to a restaurant famous for its delicious and excellent game dishes. However, when I suggested the roasted hare (very yummy), my friend turned slightly green in the face and whispered: “I can’t eat that – it reminds me of Thumper.” A cartoon animal??? I did not even dare to suggest some of the other dishes which involved deer; that might have ended with my friend calling home in tears, sobbing: “They want me to eat Bambi!”

In the end my friend settled for a chicken dish. Apparently there had been no animated movies around with a cute motherless chicken braving the big wild world with the help of some friends.

I remembered this little story while having dinner the other night at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Pasadena. Yes, they do serve venison; actually, it is the only place I know around here that does. They also know how to handle it, my double cut venison chops were superb and perfectly cooked, a real culinary delight of the first order.

Call me callous and heartless, but I do like Bambi’s mother, especially with blackberry sauce.