the germanness of portland and beyond

so they are true. at least the two of the three hypotheses i heard about the west coast and its northwestern emerald city, portland, oregon. maybe you remember, they included earthy colored garments, a laid-back attitude, and a europeanness to the place.

• as goes for the garments, people don't strut along in business suits, ties, costumes and high heels as much. but earthy tones, i don't know. i was surprised to see some dark-clad punks with the appropriately spiky hairdos. as for the dress i was happy to take...the weather just doesn't care for showing my own west coast adjusted piece of clothing.

• coming to point two, the cooler approach to life, that's a definite yes. i am still getting used to cars which don't try to chase me down like a rabbit when i cross at the white striped part of the road meant for pedestrians. they even slow down if i don't have a green signal or if there is a lack of signal at all. i am still suspicious that they just want to lull me in safety before one nastily rushes by narrowly to scare me back into dc street thinking. there, drivers are colorblind squeezing by whenever they can. twice i had to show facial disdain to machos on wheels to reign in their trespassing into my green lighted zone. at grocery stores cashiers recognize regular customers and chat about upcoming trips. one even came out of her booth to hug an old lady she knew. another information booth person called a bookstore for me to find out the address that lonely planet had screwed up. yes, west coasters are coasting rather than rushing.

• point three, the european feel. i had to smile when i saw the rails on the road in portland. green streetcars fighting for space with smaller metal boxes on wheels. yes, that is a reminder of the nice local public infrastructures in germany (just as the amtrak train system connecting the smaller and bigger cities in the northwest between at least portland and seattle). my smile extended when i finally had the chance to size up the german section of the city of books i was promised.

one of the different entrances to powell's city of books in the pearl district in northeast portland, oregon.

after entering the giant labyrinthine store maps and information boards helped to guide me to the desired book heaven.

















color-coded rooms divide the city into neighborhoods. my destination was in the red section which includes travel and foreign language literature. up the stairs...











besides a whole german aisle, there were extensive collections of spanish and french literature in the respective languages, you could also find mayan, hindi, arabic, norwegian, africaans, you name it.


















the german aisle offered the greatest selection of german dictionaries i have seen in a u.s. books store, rows of grammar books and a selection of german and other classics and 20th century german literature. thomas mann, günter grass, bernhard schlink, but also the 2010 nobel prize winner for literature herta müller with her current book called Atemschaukel. müller's book was the most recent i could spot.

fortunately the man restocking the german aisle struck up a conversation with me when he saw me searching up and down the aisle with a list of books in my hand. alas, most of the books i was looking for were too current. he explained, partially in german which he learnt via studying in germany and in german studies in the region, most books find their way to the aisle via donors. that makes the used books, which were in very good shape, cheap. the five copies of a couple of classics and two interesting finds cost an average price of $3 to $4 [€2.40 to €3.20 as of today]. in contrast, he said, new imported hardcover books used to cost $29 [€23.25] a couple of years ago. now they go for $45 or more [€36]. indeed, herta müller's Atmenschaukel sold for $47 [€36.60].












apart from the extensive selection of german literature in the region (in seattle i found a well-stocked newsstand called bulldog news & espresso selling current Spiegel, Focus, and Neon magazines), a couple of other features reminded me of my homeland. without searching i came across german food twice in the past couple of weeks without even looking for it -- guess what i found?

even more obvious where bike lanes and recycling bins. but the first item that made me smile when i landed in emerald city were the green colored handles on the airport toilets to save water by flushing only a little [Sparspülung]!

for a split second i thought i was in germany.