A Year Later

On August 11, 2011, I posted some things I had learned thus far in my 10-day-old German experience. Now that a year has passed, what observations can I add?



1.   Here you pay waitstaff differently.  For example: at the end of your meal, the waiter brings you the check, and it is 18 Euros; you want to give him two Euros for a tip (because tips are smaller here--waitstaff get an actual wage), which brings what you owe to 20 Euros.  So, you hand him a 50 Euro bill and ask for 30 Euros, right? WRONG.  You tell the waiter how much you want to pay him for the bill plus tip (20 Euros), NOT how much change you want.  If you are in an area that is accustomed to having Americans, it may not be a problem...or you may just end up with an extremely happy, overtipped waiter. Of course, you may be able to avoid the problem altogether if you pay with a credit card, but really it is better if you...

2. Carry cash. Yes, you can pay with a card in a lot of places, but there are still plenty of places where you can't. 


3. Keep an umbrella handy.  There is a saying in Texas, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute--it'll change." That saying really shouldn't be about Texas--weather doesn't really change, unless you count from "hot" to "really hot" as a change--but it fits Germany.  When I had visitors in May, they went on the Rhine River tour...in one afternoon, they were at different times hot, cold, wet, or wind-blown; for a short while they even endured hail.  Rain, though, is the most likely scenario. Hang on to the umbrella.

4.  Recycling looks complicated, but it is doable.  I recently read Steven Glassman's explanation of it, and it's very similar to what we do in the Frankfurt area. The thing that surprised me the most when the recycling system was explained to me is that it is actually VOLUNTARY, yet everyone seems to do it. 


5.  I eat like a German.  So does that mean I eat of "German food"?

I do eat my share of Schnitzel and Bratkartoffeln, but I eat a lot more of what the Germans around here seem to eat a lot of: Italian food...pizza, all kinds of pasta, and even some salads. :)  Of the three restaurants that were near my old apartment, two of them were Italian; now I have one right outside my building's front door...and that's fine with me!

Merry Christmas! Fröliche Weihnachten!

I have been in Texas for a week now, and it's been a whirlwind of friends, family, and Mexican food. 

My dog Allie on a trip to the farmhouse over the holidays

I drove for the first time since July. I went shopping (on a Sunday!), and this time, converted from dollars to Euro...and decided I could buy a little more.  I've made Christmas cookies and sweet potatoes with real brown sugar, too. Not everything about this Christmas is American, though;  I brought a little taste of Germany home with me for Christmas: an Adventskalendar, chocolate, Lebkuchen, Spekulatius (cookies), honey, and marzipan. I didn't bring home any Glühwein, but I did manage to bring some Glühwein gummi candies. 

The day after I arrived home, Mom and I went to church at St. Martin's in Austin; it's becoming a new Christmas tradition for us.  Each December St. Martin's has a church service entirely in German.  It's my kind of church service:  heavy on the singing, light on the sermonizing. :-) 

I was excited when I realized I was able to follow the sermon (all in German!) much more than last year. Hopefully next December I'll understand even more...I guess I already have my New Year's Resolution for 2012.  Fröhliche Weihnachten und alles Gute zum neuen Jahr!

I probably shouldn't have...

...but it's already October 1, and who knows how many more days with temperatures over 70°F we'll have? So, I celebrated the sun the same way so many Germans do: with ice cream. Not just a scoop or two, either. I had Spaghetti Eis: vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce, and coconut shavings on top.



I didn't eat the whole thing. Honest. :)



In Search of Tostitos

Before going to a football game-watching party Saturday (games shown via Slingbox--no American college football here!), I thought I would buy some tortilla chips to take along. I had seen a bag of Tostitos Hint of Lime chips with the word IMPORT on it in the teacher's lounge, so I figured they would just have to be available somewhere nearby. After checking out local grocery stores Edeka and Lidl (they do have chips, but not from Mexico or the U.S. Southwest), I went to Kleinmarkthalle, an international market that I was told had a little of everything.

the Latin American section

one of the Mediterreanean sections

The place was truly international:  you could get fruits, vegetables, candy, and canned goods from all over the world...well, all over the world, except maybe from the U.S.  There was no good ol' processed American food. No Tex-Mex. I did find some tortillas in the Latin American food section, and even some thick homemade tortilla chips and taco shells, but that's about it.


So, if you are coming to visit, please bring some Tostitos Hint of Lime.  And some salsa. :-)