I have yet to come across a single person in Mainz who appears to have an east Aisian origin, and yet there are multiple advertisements for the train which are in Chinese. This does not mean that there are no Chinese-descendant Mainzers; I just wanted to add some more fodder to my former observation that the Chinese economy is a powerhouse, soon to be power-mansion.

Yesterday on the train I sat next to a school girl who had not yet discovered how hairbrushes work and whose nose was buried in a novel entitled "Warrior Cats". Of course I had to undertake further investigations at the book store. The results yielded a series large enough to rival the babysitters Club, each cover featuring a cat more colorful and fierce than the former. I plan to begin with book one as soon as possible. ASAP in this case, means as soon as I can read another promising German sci-fi series, "Die Rache der Zwergen" (aka The Rage of the Dwarfs). Both of these fantastic displays of heretofore undiscovered German creativity are a much needed balm for my morning commute, which has been quite a trial. Every day I take the tram from my house to the train to Ingelheim, the town where I teach. It's rather pleasant and involves lots of people watching (hence the discovery of Warrior Cats). But this week the Deusche Bahn workers on the regional trains went on strike. According to the newspaper, the miraculous and punctual DB has still kept 70-80% of the local trains running. The difficulty comes in the 20-30% of trains which are not running because you never know that the said trains are not running until you're already at the train station. As a result you yourself, instead of the train, beginning running, to try a catch the train that leaves in 30 seconds from the other side of the train station, because yours has been canceled and the next one to Ingelheim doesn't leave for 45 minutes. Three cheers for democracy!
On the matter of Ingelheim, it is the richest town in Deutschland. Who knew? Not me and I've been there every day this week. You certainly can't tell. The main street is under construction and there are teenager boys with rat tails and over-sized sweatshirts traipsing around the piles of construction debris which gives the village more of the ambiance of the Big Dig minus the graffiti and plus a few bakeries.

Final subject for today: I have discovered the logic that led Forbes Magazine to select Angela Merckel over Hillary Clinton for the world's most powerful woman. Let us look at the following photos:


Except for the fact that they're wearing the same outfit (take notes girls: if you want power, wear white jackets) these two share approximately zero characteristics. Think about it; if you fell and scraped your knee who would you want to help you bandage it? Look at the pictures. Look into their eyes and think "who do I trust?".
Answer: Angela. Duh. Hillary looks more like an evil stepmother who would force you to rinse off you knee with peroxide.
Ok next question. If you're unemployment rate was climbing to new heights and your stock market was an intractable and unpredictable (from what I can tell) monster, upon whom would you call for assistance?
I think we already know the answer. Forbes certainly does. Angela all the way! Just look at her sparkling smile.
My only question is this: Did Forbes take and Asian female economists into account? Because they would truly be the women to watch out for.

So in conclusion, these are the reasons why Germany is the place to be:
Culture- Warrior cats, the great European literary masterpiece
Politik- Home of the world's most powerful female, who is very likely single-handedly holding the EU together through pure maternal instinct
Health and Wellness- Sprinting, train strikes help you stay in shape