Words in the Workplace

A few things. Some of which actually pertain to work.

First,  about two weeks ago I spotted another word on the sidewalk.  Unfortunately,  I did not have my camera at the time, meaning no photo.  With all the rain and snow we have had, the word was quickly wiped from my view.  That means that it is going to be a while for more tales of what the sidewalk says.  Any guess as to what the new word is?  I will give you a hint... _ _ _ _ ?

Speaking of words, you know how some sites, such as Blogger, make you enter a confirmation word just to check that you are human?  Well, I recently encountered a new take on the word verification...simple addition.

I should preface that this was from a company website that I was submitting an enquiry to.  Apparently, they only want customers who can add. What nerds! :) Has anyone else ever seen this kind of verification?

Moving on.

I don't know about you, but I love to receive mail.  There is nothing better than opening a letter address to you. Unless it is a bill.  Then it's no fun.  However, in Germany all of our bills are addressed to David and all bills that I received at work are passed along to someone else to deal with. This means that most of my mail is "good" mail. 

Recently, I have noticed a trend of sorts with the letters I receive at word.  All of them have a nice little surprise inside...

You do not find this on the inside of every envelope here, but now I always look.  I have also seen a smiley face, but I don't think I took a picture. Just something that occasionally brightens up my workday.




Finally, moving on to McDonald's.  I had never been to a McDonald in Germany until recently.  David had a craving that only a cheap hamburger could fix.  It was only a 1€ per burger and he limited himself to 3, unlike a trip to Wendy's in the states where he ate something like 8 hamburgers in a  60 minute period...i am cringing as I type that....  Enough about that.  While we were there, I happened to see a picture of a special burger that they were offering.  I am assuming this is only available in Germany. I don't think it would be a big seller in the states.  I give you the sausage and sauerkraut burger.

Sorry for the bad photo, but I was not going take the tray outside just to take a picture.

Weihnachtsmarkt

One of the most celebrated Christmas traditions in Germany is the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). In every little town you can find some sort of Christmasmarket, be it big or small. Some markets are even themed, such as the midevil themed one in the area where my husband grew up. At all of the markets, one finds crafts (both traditional and modern)  as  well as delcious food such as Glühwein, Crepes, Baumkuchen, roasted chesnuts, to name a few.

In Karlsruhe,  our Weihnachtsmarkt begins every year on Thanksgiving day and lasts until Christmas Eve.  Despite it's lack of "Stimmung" (atmosphere), every year during the Christmas season I find myself visiting the Weihnachtsmarkt on multiple occasions, be it to have a cup of glühwein with a friend or to shop for gifts for friends and family in the states.


On Tuesday evening, I met up  i met up with a  German friend of mine at the Karlsruhe Christmas market. Although it rained (the preffered weather for a Weihnachtsmarkts is lightly falling snow), we still had a lovely time shopping, eating, and sipping Glühwein.  We wander throught the stalls of crafts looking at everything from Christmas decorations to silicon baking forms. She also introduced me to several new culinary delights that i would like to share with you.

The first is Laiberl.  Laiberl is an light dough that is back in the oven and covered in topping, it is sort of like a pizza, except that the crust is much lighter.  This is the vegetarian version with garlic, sliced veggies, and beets.  It was so yummy. My friend had the more traditional version with Speck und Käse (bacon and cheese).

The next thing  she introduced me to, was Wießglühwein or glühwein(hot wine with spices) made using white wine.  Traditionally, glühwein is made using red wine.  However, I highly recommend the white version if you are looking to try something new.  The only way I can describe the taste is to say that it is a touch lighter and sweeter than its red cousin.

*Sorry for the sideways picture, I cannot seem to rotate it.

I would love to show you all photos of some of the craft stands I looked at, but I fear that I might spoil your Christmas gifts for some of my readers back home.

Where has the time gone?

To my loyal blog readers:

Sorry to blog so little for the last 2 weeks.  I promise I will be back shortly.  I blame it on a busy lunchtime schedule (I normally blog on my lunch break). I'll be back tomorrow or Friday with a few fun updates.

Til then I leave you with a cup of gluhwein, which I enjoyed at Christmasmarket on day during lunch...instead of blogging.  :)   Forgive me?

I'm off to enjoy some lentil soup at the mensa. It is the only thing worth eating at the mensa. :)

Unpublished Memoirs, Part II: Procrastination works every time....or not

January/February 2010
 
Firstly,  I would like to note that before I moved to Germany, I used to think that the lines of laundry hanging over the streets was such a charming touch. I still find it charming, albeit also a bit disgusting, but still charming.  I cannot imagine that laundry really get clean hanging above a dirty street in a city.  However, I am certain that the laundry is only hung above the street because it has a no other place to go.  Apartments here are tiny, why fill the already limited space with racks of laundry.  On almost every balcony/terrace and in almost every garden here, one is bound to find hanging laundry at some point during the week.  It is just how life here is.

So today is laundry day.  Or rather, our laundry is out of control so I must start washing clothes now.  Why the wait? Why the procrastination?  Well,  I hate hanging and folding laundry.  Particularly the hanging, unhanging (is that a word, or did I just make it up), and folding  part.



November 2011


I know, I didn't write much back in 2010, but I still find this topic to be relevant. Plus, I left you all with a bit of a cliff hanger. Why is it exactly that I find laundry to be such a pain here? 

One reason: We do not own a dryer.  Here are my(our) reasons why:

1) A dryer is super expensive to own.  Energy is expensive here, plus David and I aim to live a greener lifestyle and excess energy use via a dryer just doesn't jive with our livestyle.

2) We don't have space. Even in our spaceous (80 m2 or 860 ft2) apartment, I have no idea where to put a dryer.

Now for the most important reason:

3) No matter how much I whine or cry,  David isn't going to let me buy one while we live in Germany. I have to get over it.  I have. I have moved on to bigger battles. :)

None of this changes the fact that I HATE doing laundry.  It is my least favorite chore, unfortunately it is the most necessary.  Even in the states, I found laundry to be a never ending task, but without a dryer it takes planning to have clean clothes to wear everyday. I am 150% sure that this the reason why my husband has enough clothes to go 2 months without doing laundry. The first time I went to his apartment, he had a chair COVERED in clean laundry.  I don't think he went through the laundry and put it away until his parents came to visit. 

There are 3 time related challenges that laundry presents:

1)  Everything must airdry.  This required somewhere between 1 day (above 80 degrees F) and 1 week ( below 40 degrees F).  Thus, if i want to wear something on a specific day I can't just procrastiate and wash it at 9 pm the night before.  Not happening unless I want to wear wet clothes or spend 30 minutes with a hairdryer try to get the waistband of my jeans dry. True story. I don't recommend doing this.  It is NOT worth the effort unless you have nothing else to wear.  By nothing else to wear, I mean that 100% of your clothes must be hanging wet on the laundry racks.  100%. Basically, it is never worth the effort. 

2) We don't like to run the washer past a certain time.  We live above other people who prefer that we not run our washer at all hours of the night. Technically, we do not have a written statement in our apartment forbidding us from running the washer after a certain time, but I try to be a good neighbor, even if one of our neighbors disagrees (another topic for another day). My goal is to finish running the washer by 9 pm.  10 pm in cases of absolute emergencies. Yes, laundry emergencies exist. :)

3)  I am not home much on weeknights. I get home before 6 pm maybe one day a week, maybe, if I am lucky.  I am a busy bee and I like it that way.  As you know from reason #2,  that mean that I am only home at most for 3 of the self-allowed washing hours.  A tough challenge when a load of laundry takes somewhere between 40 and 95 minutes to run it's course. Enter the best invention ever (Okay, maybe not ever, but a great one, nevertheless) :  the timer function.  Just load, add soap, set, forget, and come home to a freshly washed load of laundry waiting to be hung.  I did this just this morning.  I love the feature.  The only challenge that it presents, is that you have to remember to take the laundry out of the laundry upon arriving home.  Otherwise, you get moldy laundry, and that is NOT good.  Fortunally, our washing machine has a light blinks when a load finishes. We usually notice the light in reasonable time.  It also has an annoying buzzer, but that stops after about 20 minutes. 

It really isn't that bad. Laundry is a pain whether one has a dryer or not.  Laundry is a fact of life.  Just like death and taxes.

 I could be worse. I could have to wash everything by hand, hang it dry, and then iron it.

Ironing. Please, do make me go there. Ever. *Shutters in horror*

Unpublish Memoirs, Part I: The Eye of the Beholder

From November 2009:

After living in Germany for six weeks, there is one thing that stands out to me:  How the definition of beauty changes depending on where you are.

In the USA, beauty is thrown at us from every angle. We see it on TV, on the covers of magazines in the checkout line in the grocery store: it is everywhere. If you wear the right clothes or have you hair styled the right way, society will accept you and everything will magically be better and your life will be perfect. In my opinion, the US needs to relax and let life happen.

As I walk around the streets of Germany, on thing strikes me in particular about everyone I see: No one looks perfect! I find that refreshing. You can walk around with your hair a little messed up and you clothes slightly dis coordinated. Not a single person is perfectly coiffed. I love it! Yes, the trendy stuff is still present, but personally shines through here.


November 2011:

I still find Germany to be a place where I am more judged on my inner self than on my outward appearance.  However,  I do feel the pressure to get dressed every day.  I don't mean simply putting on clothes, but actually getting dressing in something other than yoga pants and tshirts.  I love yoga pants.  I live in them on the weekends, but here in Germany I feel extremely uncomfortable doing anything other than lying around the house or going for a walk with my dogs wearing them.  Sometimes I even feel under dressed walking the dogs.   Even going to the grocery store I throw on jeans. Otherwise I get really strange looks.

Two weeks ago David and I had to run into town on a Sunday to drop something off.  We walked through the Schlossgarten which was filled with people, of course.  What did I wear?  My yoga pants.  I felt so uncomfortable.  Everyone around me was wearing jeans and many others were dressed in their "Sunday best".  Okay, the 2011 version of their "Sunday best", but still.  I can only think of maybe 5 times in 2 years when I have seen other people out and about in sweats.  Even my husband, a self-described bum who lives in sweats in the US, wears jeans to go outside and walk the dogs.  I think he has worn athletic pants once( besides for playing soccer) outside of the house and he was doing dirty yard work for his parents. 

I think this discomfort stems from the fact that when I speak, be it English or German,  I  stand out.  Thus, I don't want to stand out too much by dressing like a bum.  I want to blend in.  Be one of the people.  Does anyone else feel this way here? I feel like this is all in my head, but who knows.

Unpublished Memoirs: An Introduction

When I started this blog back in 2009 I wrote alot of posts...then never published them.

That being said, I would like to introduce a new series on this blog.  That's right, I said series...as in multiple posts.  Ambitious, yes, but we all need goals in our lives. Am I right?  I started this blog as a way of documenting my life and thoughts here in Germany. I started strong and then slacked off about 5 months in.  I have been trying to get back to blogging ever since. Maybe it is where I am in my life at the moment, but I really want to start documenting things that happen to me.  My life at the moment is full and I want to remember it.  Both in words and pictures.  (Quick note on photos. Pictures at the moment are lacking due to a broken camera and phone that is in dire need of replacement.  Thus, you all will have to make due with really old photos, really bad blackberry photos, or no photos for the time being.) I have never been one for journaling, but have always admired those who do.  I do really well when I have accountablily, so maybe keeping a journal where others look forward to hearing what I have to say is a good way of doing that. 

Sorry to ramble so much, I am in my head tonight. Back to the point.

I want to publish this posts from back in the day when I first moved here. I also want to update them with my thoughts 2 years later. A persons' perspective can change significantly in two years.  I am no different.  I have grown and changed so much since moving here. I want to record that for myself.

Stay tuned.  Part 1 to come tommorrow.  Really. I mean it. It is written and scheduled.

Maybe soon I will get around to those much promised Turkey trip recaps. :)

Badisch

This past week, I have made a suprising, somewhat startling discovery about myself.  Something that I feel must be made known on my blog. 

I have an accent....a BADISCH accent. 

For those of you who don't live in Germany,  a badisch accent is the local dialect here in Baden-Wuerttemberg. 

This is rather frightening to me and rather unexpected.  I have always prided myself in not having an accent.  I come from the south and most people would never know it from speaking to me.  So this whole having an accent this is a whole new experience

I found this out from some of my work colleagues,  who were having a good laugh at my expense.  I admit, it is pretty funny.  Some might find it embarrassing, but I am going to go with funny.  Yes, funny.

What is most peculiar about this, is that my husband doesn't really have a badisch accent.  Maybe a sight one, but mine is stronger. I would love to know where i picked this up.  I am sure I picked it up from someone I talk to.  I tend to pick up ways of speaking from people I talk with frequently.  My voice is rather impressionable...it's a little strange.

I am not the first foreigner to pick up an accent.  When my husband moved back to Germany from the USA, he was told that he spoke German with an American accent.  Something that I find quite funny.  Sadly (probably not so to him)  his German accent is back full force.  I can hardly understand him sometimes.  I that is more of a mumbling problem than an accent problem.  :)   I also know several people here who speak English with some kind of accent.  This is usually the result of living for an extended time abroad.  The funniest sounding accents are probably German/Australian accents  and German/Scottish. 

Do any other fellow expats out there find themselves picking up accents? 

What do I miss? Part I

I recently received an email from a friend of mine, a fellow American navigating German life.  This particular friend happens to have a connection worth it's weight in gold.  She knows someone who gives her access to the commissary at a nearby military base.  Can you see where I am going with this?  Anyway,  in her email she asked if I needed any American grocery products (i.e.  food, beauty products, toiletries, etc.).   After days of deliberating, racking my brain, and trying to predict future cravings of food from home sometimes brought on by the rare bought of homesickness that hits me for about 10 minutes every couple months  I finally made a list.

- Kashi GoLean Cereal:  my favorite cereal that I love to reach to mix in yogurt or eat plain as a snack. Plus it is loaded with protien which is perfect for veggie freaks such as myself.

- Life Cereal: Childhood favorite.  I usually can satisfy my desire for this on my trips home, but my parents are watching what they eat so there was no Life when I was last home.  Sadness for me.

- Cinnamon Life:  See above. With the added bonus of Cinammon.

-Advil:  We ran out and it is SUPER expenisve here. I am not even sure if you can buy it here in Germany, but I hear conflicting stories.

-Craisins:  Did someone say cranberry white chocolate cookies? Craisins in oatmeal is calling my name. The actually have dried cranberries here, but they are NOT the same. Not even close. David thinks they are nasty whenever I cook with them. The man also hates raisins, so his opinion is a mut point, but still...

- A1 Steak Sauce: Request from a friend of hubby's who just recently returned from living in the states.


That is it.  I miss cereal, craisins, and headache relief that doesn't involve sleeping the day away. What does that say about me? Or perhaps the better questions is what does that say about how I have adapted to life here?

I should clarify that there are other things that I miss from the USA, but I just restocked my supply in September when I was home.

-Trader Joe's Raw Crunchy Almond Butter:  Delicious, nutritious, and only like $5.  Gotta get my  ABandJ fix occasionally.

-Baking Soda:  Important if you want to bake almost anything using an american recipe.


Finally, there are the things that I always crave, but would be a fool to think that I could get here:

- a good southern biscuit
- a sweet Vidalia onion
- a Houston's veggie burger ( my first meal when I returned to the states from a summer in France back in college)
- mexican food
- bread from Great Harvest
- yellow squash
- kale
- a decently priced sweet potato that tastes like the ones from home
- Trader Joe's

For Christmas dinner in 2009,  after living here for just shy of 4 months, I requested what my family considered to be the stragest dinner ever: grilled, marinated salmon (fresh not frozen), baked sweet potatoes, and sauteed yellow squash with onions.   It was amazing...but probably only for me. :)

Thoughts

I am blessed to have the opportunity to spend my days with many people who give me a new perspective on life.

My Classmates:

These people have shown me that I live a VERY blessed life.  I was not raised amist warfare.  I have no memories in my childhood of fleeing from bombing. I have not come to Germany to make a better, more peaceful life for myself.  I recieved a good education. I am not a single mother.  I have always had good access to healthcare.  I am in Germany to enrich my life instead of trying to find a better job so I can support my family.


The Family I work for:

I am  fortuante to have family near me. I am blessed to have healthy parents.  For showing me that German and American cultures are different, but it could be much worse.


My dogs:

These two creatures have so much unconditional love for me and my husband.  It cease to amaze me.



My husband:

He always shows me that there is more than one way to do things and that BOTH can be right.