Saturday, March 28, 2015

Say What

There are some many differences here in this great country!



1: Wires

In the US, I bet it is no big deal to see wires strapped all around the streets. But, here in Germany everything is buried underground. I did not even notice this until recently. I was having a conversation about Amish people (they don't have them here). I told them you cant even see the wires out on country roads...and then it occurred to me you can see any here!




2: Caller ID
Caller ID? Nope that one does not exists here. So then you may assume there is a lot of prank calling..but surprisingly not. There are actually a lot more phone stalkers.People who breath, dont talk, or just call and hang up. There are many campaigns here that encourage you to blow a whistle into the phone.Apparently this completely distorts on the other end. ...Am I too young to know something like this or is it just German? (I heard this also works for telemarketers...eeek)



3: Homeschooling

ILLEGAL. Thats right, that is not allowed here. The government requires that you must bring your child to public school/private school. It is a bit opposite because here public schools are considered better, and more prestigious.
. Green

People here are very green oriented. You MUST shut off the lights if you are not in the room. You must also absolutely separate all of your trash. I had a hard time adjusting to that one...but it makes total sense to me now. It would be great if the rest of the world did it too.  They separate, paper-plastic-Bio-Cans-Glass.



5. Dinner Time? Nooo

Typical families eat one hot meal a day, and that is at about 2pm. It is not necessarily considered Lunch, but rather "mittag essen" afternoon food. People eat breakfast, and then bread at about 11, Mittag Essen at 2, and then what they call evening bread at about 8 or 9.

6. Movies

Do you remember when all of the movie stores went out of business? That never happened here, and redbox does not exist. Netflix just arrived to Germany in October, movie stores are still thriving. It is definitely like hopping in another time zone.

7.  Sacred Sunday
On Sunday, you had better not have plans to mow your lawn, or have a party..because Sunday here is sacred. Stores are closed, and you are expected to keep quiet. (Random fact 24 hour places do not exist...and there is no fast food in my city) It is the relax day.


8. News

With the recent plane crash, Germans have access to information faster than the US news gets it. When the US breaking news comes in,it is about 5 hours behind mine. I think it is the fact checking and translating. I am sure its just the other way around when it happens in the US. What I found very interesting,is that German news is very modest. They did not show the faces of the family members on TV. They kept there a distance. I realized US news is a bit more aggressive, in capturing everything. Which is not a bad thing, but very different and interesting to see the differences.


9. English?

Everyone here can speak it..everyone. It is totally crazy, great at some points when you may be totally lost in a train station, but bad when people want to practice.

10. Cars

I take driving for granted!! Here the age to get a drivers license is 18. I have to ride my bike to school 2 miles everyday..through country roads. It is actually a great experience, and nice to be outside everyday.  But totally different to what I was used to.


11.FEET OF A COW.
That just tasted like deer. But still a horrifying, gratifying, once in a life time experience.

12. BLOOD WURST
Lets just all take a moment and cry, because that is what I almost did. It actually tastes like blood. I don't know what I was expecting.

Germany is treating me well! I am having a great time. :)))

Monday, March 2, 2015

Bayern!


Servus!! Yesterday I left the North, for a week of good old southern Bavaria. It is my Hosties holiday break, (he is a school teacher in Hamburg and has a different break than I do) So I am fortunate to spend an extra week exploring Germany. 

The city I am in is called Gemünden. It is a small city outside of Würzburg. It is a really cute town, with a big river flowing through it called "Mein". We are in this part pf Bavaria because my Hostys brother lives here.  Yesterday we had dinner with them. It was a picture perfect german meal. For all of you who do not know, Bavaria is what Americans think the whole of germany is like. Here they actually wear Dirndls, eat wurst, and drink LOTS of Beer. Because I am living in the north we actually do not have Dirndls, or eat as much wurst. The north is more fishermen. 

It is really funny to me, because Northern Germans think Bavarians are really strange, and Bavarians think the same right back. Also, the bavarian accent is much different. It sounds like german mixed with a thick irish accent to me. I love it.

So I am so excited to be trying all of this! It feels like a whole different country.

So let me get back to dinner, it was picture perfect. We ate this meat thing, called "leberkase" which translates to living cheese. But the funny thing is that it was not living, or cheese. When I asked the wife of the brother (her name is Grenada, and he is Heins-Otto, very german) she said "ohh das ist fleisch" meaning "well thats meat". "Yes, but what exactly?" (I was speaking all in german) She told me it was a mixture of cow and pig. Thoughts in my head (RUN. RUN FAST, fast and far and get out of here) but on the outside, at least I think, I looked pretty calm. But I cant control my face, so perhaps a problem. It tasted like. hotdog. 
Then we had pretzels, sweet mustard, potato salad, and beer. Like a true german. It was all suprisingly really delicious! After dinner I tried on there daughters Drindl. I was really feeling german then. 

A very famous wurst in Bavaria is called "Weiß Wurst" like white wurst. I will eat that soon. But Otto was saying how Bavaria is "bordered by a white wurst equator" figuratively speaking of course...and that the worlds greatest humans live under this equator, and all the weirdos live above it. This is the humor they use to separate the two parts of the country. I love it. 

Today, I went to the city of Gemünden. We walked the 3km to the center. There is this castle at the top of the city, so we checked that out, and then went to have coffee and cake afterwards.

It was wonderful!! Tommorow we will go to another castle, and to a year round christmas food store. Also......pray for me...because I will be eating COWS FEET. feet. feet. (it just echoes in my brain), then....blood wurst...yes, blood. GULP.  I was going to eat Cow Brain as well, but we are not so sure we can find it. So, gulp. You will get another post soon, if I survive. :)


Leftovers from Yesterday, with a fried egg on top.

The lovely Apple Cake and Coffee

Gemünden (Amira, the lovely host dog)


This lovely Dirndl.

This is the castle, they do outdoor concerts here, and vecause it is the top of a mountain/hill/thing the music föows down to the city!


Whered Repunzel? This was built in 1342!!


Me sporting the "I just climbed up a mountain, tired Tourist look". It was crazy!  Suddenly after climbing up this steep mountain thing was a huge add for Beer.

These hilly things, what  are they called in English. This has become a struggle, they are called Bourgs in german.

Here in the Butchers Shop


Foot. :0

Interesting door handle. 

This morning at breakfast, my hosty put jelly on cheese and it looked really weird.

Ok Thank You for reading this forever long post!! I am loving Germany, every second of it! (Even if I am eating parts of animals that shouldnt be eaten ;) )

*As usual I cant check the spelling on this, so deal with it you grammar freaks! ;)*