An American Frau Interviews Me

February 16, 2009 by charlotteotter 24 Comments

Remember the Interview Meme? It’s coming around again, just like the old Random Things About Me meme that’s turned up on Facebook recently and caused the Times Online to write a whole article about it. Really, do these journalists have nothing better to do than nose about on people’s Facebook pages and write about phenomena that are decades old in blogging terms? Anyway, this old blogging dinosaur decided to get herself interviewed again, and the lovely American Frau has offered up her questions. If you would like to be interviewed by me, say so in the comments below. If you would like some rules, they are up at the end of the post.

The Interview

1. What brought you to where you live now? Where do you see yourself living ten years from now?

I live in the Burg, Germany, and we were brought here by my husband’s burning desire to return to Germany after a stint in London, and a great offer back at his former employer. The Burg is a small town of 10,000 people where everybody knows everybody else’s business and what they have in their bins. Lace curtains are de rigeur, and since we are without, we are regarded as the strange foreigners who are never going to fit in. Believe me, we will NOT be fitting in nor living here in 10 years’ time. We dream of Berlin, Barcelona, Melbourne – but it’s all fantasy and we truly have no idea where we will be.

2. Why did you start blogging? How many other blogs do you read a day?

I started blogging because I like attention! I also like writing. My husband started a blog and I thought, “If he can do it, then so can I.” So I did, and now I’m heading for my third year of blogging. I have 143 blogs in my feedreader, which I check daily and sometimes – embarrassingly – two or three times a day. I am not always a committed commenter, but I am a committed reader.

3. Describe your ideal weekend.

On Friday afternoon, I go for a walk on Robberg Beach, Plettenberg Bay, and see the whales. That night, I have dinner in Cape Town with all my lovely friends, including the ones from Durban and Johannesburg who have flown down to be with me. On Saturday morning, I go shopping in Paris with my mother and that night I go to a concert in London with my husband and our friends G and B who have flown in from Dubai. Sunday morning finds my love and me brunching in Berlin – probably in the Tiergarten – with our mates and then we go strolling in Prenzlauer Berg and doing some idle window-shopping. By Sunday night I am cuddled up at home with my darlings, eating a delicious meal cooked by someone else and watching a DVD together, before I kiss them all and put them to bed.

4. Name another culture besides your own that you find fascinating and tell us why.

I can’t name a particular culture, but I love the way Italians are so loyal to their regional food traditions. I’d love to live in a culture that combined that with French style, British humour, American enthusiasm, South African hospitality, Irish wit, Polish warmth, Argentinian banter, Indian humility and lascivious South American dancing. Seeing I’m making up a culture here, I’d like one without misogyny, and no dominant groups with privileges over other groups. Basically Utopia with good food and sexy dancing.

5. What flavour of ice-cream are you?

Lime and coconut: sharp and tangy, nutty and sweet.

Whoops! Forgot the rules. Here they are:

1. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment, and I will send you some questions.
2. Update your blog with the answers to the questions and link back to the original post.
3. Include the rules in your post.