back leg is up!

Okay, these are the exit signs here. Again...makes PERFECT SENSE...but in America, our exits just say "EXIT." In a world filled with language barriers, the American sign is no doubt, inferior. But every time I see this near a doorway or point towards one, I chuckle. I mean, little dude is in a full out run. His back leg is up and he is angled forward to maximize aerodynamics! Just because a person needs to exit a building doesn't mean there's an emergency. I get a kick out of this.

So the longer I live, the more I learn about myself. One thing I consider to be the most defining is my list of things I don't like. It consists mostly of foods, weird smells, etc. I've discovered I HATE CARAWAY SEEDS. Oh my gosh these little suckers are popping up everywhere. These are the same seeds used in Rye bread, but apparently are just adored in German cooking. We've been visiting a little Getränkemarkt (drink market/store) to locate some hard-to-find beers. The little old man who runs it is a hoot. A hoot I tell you. In a double effort to make a little more money but also to broaden our horizons of the local food and drink, he always recommends one of his little snacks that pairs perfectly with a beer or wine. First we were offered Zwiebelkuchen, which literally means onion cake in the German language, and is a one-crust pie made of steamed onions, diced bacon, cream, and caraway seed on a yeast dough. If it weren't for the caraway seeds, Zwiebelkuchen would have rocked. Today, after getting some special beer made by monks, he insisted we eat it with blood sausage,

of which he sold us a slice of light and dark. He said we should eat it on little hunks of bread and butter. Well it looked repulsive as hell, but turned out to be delicious. It tasted much like pâté, which Sam and I both love, mixed with bologna! We went by the bakery across from our hotel and got a few very normal looking little rolls...but to my disappointment, they had caraway seeds inside! Ick.

Lastly, I'm proud to say American fashion is spectacular. American women wear so many colors and styles, and wear them well! The "thing" this fall in Germany? PURPLE. That's it, purple. Now let me remind you we're in a small town. I'd hardly consider it a city, although it is. Maybe in Frankfurt, or Munich or some other big city, the fashion is booming as hot as in Manhattan. But anyway, E.V.E.R.Y. store window here has manakins strewn in layers and layers of purple. It's reedonkulous. Purple jeans, purple shoes, tights, scarves, headbands, earrings. They seem to have fashion tunnel-vision! It's not just the store windows either. Women of all ages are sporting their grape-uh-licious fashions as if their lives depended on it. It's sort of annoying.

Last night, on our way to dinner, I bought a purple shirt. When in Rome...

What is up with the bells?!?!?!?

So our little, piddly temporary cell phones don't have the most reliable alarm clock function. Obviously, not waking up for the jobs we've always dreamed of is NOT an option. The search for a standard alarm clock has turned out to be surprisingly difficult. One finding was the crappiest little alarm clock you've ever seen for 15 euro. Sam and I are far too thrifty to pay approximately $22 US dollars for this Big Lots worthy item. During our search we stopped to ask a street vendor who was selling pizzas and hot dogs if he spoke english. He answered, "OF COURSE!" as if this were a most insulting inquiry. We asked if he knew where we might find one and he rubbed his chin in thought. After a moment's pause, he finally answered with frustration, "downtown has all dis bullsheet anduh you vant somezink specific!?!?!" We all instantly laughed, ultimately never getting an answer, but an offer for 2 pizza at only 3 euro. Our quest finally ended at the "PXtra" where we located an alarm clock for only 6.99 US dollars. Much better.

Can someone please explain what is up with all the bells? Goodness gracious. Buildings all over town are apparently strewn with bells, and the clangs come from all directions. They all chime on the quarter hour and it is almost impossible to gauge the time from the chimes, because there's little differentiation other than the top of the hour. Sunday, at 9:30 in the morning, the bells cranked up and kept going and going and going. Sam and I kept looking at one another in disbelief, wondering if something was wrong. They rang for F . I . V . E . M . I . N . U . T . E . S . S . T . R . A . I . G . H . T . Are you kidding me? They were loud and there was no rythm or melody. The same thing happened again at 7 that evening. Is this a church thing? Is the 9:30 chiming an alarm to wake up for church and be there by 11:00?

At a nearby restaurant we frequent, there is a little old lady who has two arm-gripping crutches she uses to steady herself and a little old man with a walker. Three times now, I've seen the two of them dining together, drinking a beer and laughing wildly as they chat. They smile so tenderly while listening to the other and seem to share a most precious admiration for one another. However, once they've finished eating and having their last sip, they always get up, and go their separate ways without a touch or kiss or any acknowledgement that they even know each other. It's really blowing my mind how they just walk in separate directions like that. I want so badly for them to brush hands or hug or even just walk away side by side. Very interesting...

Why would a boy be standing under an airplane anyway?

All the waitresses have what I've been calling the "waitress wallet" that they bring to the table when bringing the check. We pay the euros and they make the change right there at the table from this small, expanding accordion pouch. It looks like an american coupon organizer. I don't know why I'm so amused by this, except that it is so different and consistent among all the restaurants here.

This village is cozy and quaint and after only one week here we are already recognizing and BEING recognized by Germans in the community...primarily waitresses since we have to grab dinner out every night. These waitresses have been extremely helpful in helping us learn new words and phrases. A few of the teachers we work with, when asked "can you speak German?" reply, "sure...'restaurant German.' " We are quickly falling in their footsteps. We can translate menus better and better each evening after only being here a week. HA!

We've been attempting to soak up the language, using Rosetta Stone borrowed from our sponsor, Ed. It teaches by diving right in with German phrases and we then match the phrase to a pool of pictures. So far, we've learned really simple (and sometimes strange) phrases like "the boy is under the airplane" or "the dog is running." Why would a boy be standing under a big plane? Anyone? We want to learn to say more meaningful phrases so we can ask how much an item costs or how a food is cooked and what's in it. But alas, we are only in the beginning stages of the level one box, so I guess we should be patient and keep pushing through the program.

Our sponsor Ed has worn many, many hats. The most important is answering our thousands of questions and helping us complete all the "in-processing" procedures. There was no cute little black cap, but he did more than his share of chauffeuring us around town and on base. Most fun of all, he's played tour guide. He's even had to play dad to Sam...coaching him on driving our little manual car. Best of all, he's a terrific and funny friend. Thanks Ed, for all the "Edventures" and all the great tunes...tra la la man. Germany rocks and so do you.

Hey! It's Sam. Well today was quite an adventure. We felt bad for making our sponsor, Ed, drive us around all the time, so we got a rental car. Plus, we wanted the independance of going out on the weekends anyway. We rented this cool little bubble of a car called the Citroen Picasso. It looked cool enough in the lot, so I said, "Why not"?

I know. I know. The picture kinda makes it look like a mini-van. It's not. It's more like a slightly bigger, slightly funnier looking Prius.

Well, I kinda new it was going to happen, but the thought never really came to mind until I was about to sit in the car for the first time. "It's a stick shift." I can handle my motorcycle very well and shift just fine, but a car is different. Last time I had to drive one was when I was here 9 years ago. The last tim I tried, about three years ago, I stalled 6 times in a row. So I had to ask Ed to remind me how it works. He quickly slipped into his temporary Dad role and reminded me of how to do it. I actually got rolling fairly quickly. I didn't even stall untill about the 10th start from a stoplight. I made myself and the guy behind me miss our left turn light. He gave a nice long horn honk and I could see his hands doing the, "What te F*%#?" gesture. Oh well! I told Carrie that I needed the bright yellow "student driver" sticker to put on the back of the car.

We drove around town for a small bit to try and get our bearings, and finally settled on a nice restaurant that we went to last week with another couple, "The Korkenzieher". It translates into "The Corkscrew".

I parked in a lot that seemed like one of the ones that you only have to pay for during the daytime prime hours. Not wanting a ticket, I attemped to ask a local about whether to pay or not. He walked me over to the machine and pointed at the timespans. The daytime one, about 0900-1800, he pointed at and said "Money". Then he put his two index fingers before and after the time frame and said "no money". What better conversation could you want betwen two men. It was short, to the point, and successful.

We had a great dinner and learned a tiny bit more German from the waitress. She recognized us from before, and we had actually all seen eachother at another restaraunt last night. What luck?It sure is great getting to eat out $45-50 meals just about every night and have the govt. reimburse you. She asked if we were tourists since we were eating out so much and we told here we just moved her to be teachers. She was so amazed by that and thought it was funny we wanted to stay here a long time and do that. After our pork (Schwein=swine=pork all over the menus) dinner, we took another another leisurely drive-read as "got lost"- and made it back to the hotel.

That was our adventure for the day. Thanks for taking the time to share in our excitement.

15 or 30 cm?

Well here's a funny difference between the US and Germany: I went to Subway for lunch and when it was my turn to place my order the girl asked, "15 or 30 centimeters?" It caught me off guard at first, but then I realized she was asking me 6 inch or footlong? Ha. Loving that...

Wednesday, we both took our German driving exam and passed. There are a LOT of signs and things to know. Right of way, right before left (not to be confused with right of way), and priority road signs are neverending. Plus, when a stoplight is red here, you get a brief yellow light before the green light. I found out it's a "get ready" signal. 95% of all cars here are manual transmissions and that's their cue to shift into gear and be ready to go. Very different, but again, makes perfect sense.

Sam began teaching Thursday. I was offered (and accepted) a kindergarten position Thursday. I filled out all my paperwork Friday and begin teaching Monday! WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

In the meantime, Sam's and my sponsor, Ed, who has turned into a tourguide, took me to Rothenburg Thursday.

All the streets looked like this. It's an extremely old walled city, dating back to approximately the 1100's. It has been well preserved and is quite a sight. Soooooooooooo gorgeous.

We are finally adjusting to the new time zone. We've stopped napping in the afternoon and can now stay awake till around 8:30 or 9 when we absolutely go into a coma till 6 am.

The food is soooo delicious. Pork is a big deal here. Hello...we do live in Schweinfurt. (Schwein = Swine = pig) I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. Our hotel gives us scrambled eggs at breakfast each morning and there's always some cheese melted in along with little bits of juicy cut up bacon and ham. YUM.

I've had a sudden and rather harsh interuption in my sugar intake. I've been using splenda for years now, but my tastebuds are really having to adjust to a less sweet diet. I eat yogurt each morning and both strawberry and plain is offered but neither are sweet...or at least not compared to American yogurt. I add granola, raisins, coconut, flax seed, applesauce and berries to it, which gives it a much more satisfying sweetness, but even real sodas here don't seem as sweet. Sam thought it odd that there were brownies out for breakfast, but once he tasted it, there certainly couldn't have been much caloric damage going on. It was as if there were no sweetener in them. Plus, they weren't all buttery ooey-gooey fudgy like we think of them...much more cake-like.

On the way home from dinner tonight at Brahaus am Markt (Brewhouse on the Market) we noticed a McDonald's down the block. We didn't go in there, but wondered...do they offer a Euro Value menu? I guess we'll check it out if we get to feeling homesick for some junky, American fast food.

tschüs ("choos") = see you!

observations of German life...

So Germans are serious about the bathroom process and respecting the WC. First off, the flushing handle is completely different. Sometimes its just a small button. Other times, it's a large rectangular panel on the wall where the entire things is pressed in. I've observed that there is a toilet brush mounted inside every stall or resting in a caddy on the floor. Several bathrooms I've visited have very explicit rules posted about using the restroom:

1. wipe toilet seat dry of any drips
2. wipe dry any "spitting" from the flush
3. use brush to remove any "markings" left in the bowl
4. rinse the brush by flushing again
5. leave floor completely free of debris
6. replace toilet paper roll if you use up the last one and recycle the empty roll
   
   

This brings me to my next observation. They are S.E.R.I.O.U.S. about recycling over here. It is MANDATORY. There are sorting bins evvvvvvvvvvvverywhere. Some places have as little as 2-3 bins while I've seen as many as 6. There's even two different types of garbage: that which is biodegradable and can be burned and "everything else." They sort different types of paper, different colors of glass, different colors of plastic and then there's aluminum and metals.

On a totally different note, Sam and I both took and passed our German driving test today and have received our licenses. Right of way and "right before left" (not to be confused with right of way) is a BIG DEAL HERE. At unmarked intersections where there are absolutely no signs, they recommend the right before left "clock rule." All stop and the first car clockwise from the empty road goes first, then next around the clock and so on. In America, the first to approach an intersection should proceed, as the rule goes. But in reality it's usually the most aggressive driver or the one with the biggest vehicle that typically wins out.

Everything's so different, but makes perfect sense. Huh.