Didn't Think of That...

Something I was thinking about is how this exchange has allowed me to encounter so many other things and ideas. So I thought I’d share some. It’s not like we don’t have or do these things in America (perhaps), I just haven’t seen it or thought about it before. (And I suppose there should be a disclaimer here that it’s only stuff I’ve observed where I am at). And I know there are many, many more, but these are just the ones I thought of at the moment.

Worcester Sauce: Um. Normally this goes with BBQ sauce, ja? Because my host mom had NEVER heard of it going with BBQ. And I had never seen it going into a vegetable and potato soup. Go figure.

Stirring on the Counter: People probably do this in America, but I just personally haven’t seen it. I was baking some cookies with some people the other day, and they put all the dry ingredients on the (clean) counter, made a hole in the middle and poured in all the wet ingredients and kneaded it right there. I was just a little surprised.

Bread Toppings: Breakfast here is almost always bread, with various toppings. It is usually normal things like jam, butter, cream cheese, and cheese, but also cottage cheese, yogurt, quark (which we don’t even have in America, I think) or sour cream. It’s surprisingly good when you mix it with some jam. Just hadn’t thought of that before.

Holes in Jeans: I’m REALLY (emphasis on really) not sure if this one is correct, but from some impressions I got, it’s not normal to keep wearing jeans if they have holes? Because people always point it out and ask if you fell down earlier that day. Um. No. I just have a hole in my jeans!

Thick Pieces of Meat: We definitely have this in America, but usually it is steak or chicken… I suppose it’s just typical German to have huge chunks of pig meat. Maybe. And always with mustard.  This probably doesn’t sound very surprising, but you should have seen the thing! It looked like a piece of pink bread!

Sharing Deodorant: That would be REALLY gross if it wasn’t usually a spray. Spray deodorants are more popular here, and I’ve seen people ask during breaks in class if they could borrow someone else’s and spray it RIGHT there. Maybe I’m just a weird American, but… I wouldn’t do that. 

Oats: Breakfast + oats = oatmeal, in my head. So I was just mildly surprised once when they mixed it in with some musli (healthy cereal, basically) and milk and ate it cold. Totally makes sense, but I had never done it.

Applesauce: This gets mixed into the weirdest things. Like rice. Or cereal. Or on top of bread.

Opening Windows: Windows get opened all the time, it doesn’t matter how cold it is outside. During the day, a lot of the time the back door is wide open. And several times a week my host mom will open all the windows for a few minutes to totally aerate the house. In breaks during class, people always open the window. I sit there and usually think “Are you CRAZY!? It’s COLD!” while most of the others enjoy it (though a few do seem to share my views :P)

Fresh Food and where it comes from: This is something we really don’t think about much in America, I think. For example, when we buy fruit, we don’t really care where it came from (California or Ohio or China or wherever), so long as they look and taste good. And who knows how fresh it is??? For some people in America, natural and bio food is important, but here it is REALLY important. A LOT of people buy organic or natural because it’s healthier and the animals are better treated, etc. That’s just something I’ve never considered (and I think I’m not alone), whereas in Germany almost everyone takes into account how good the quality and freshness is when buying food.

Living with another Family: Then there’s this general difference of living with another family, which functions in a different way than what I grew up with (duh, that’s true for every family). The biggest difference is probably religion, because I’m LDS and they are Catholic; there isn’t as big of a difference between the two as I thought, but there are some definite differences. Just encountering these other viewpoints have made me more thoughtful of what I think, and more aware/understanding/accepting of what others think.

 

I realize some of these are weird and totally random, but the idea behind it is that I have encountered a lot of different things that I normally wouldn’t have if I hadn’t come here. We get into these ruts and ways of thinking, and don’t always consider there are other ways of doing things or thinking about things.

Thanksgiving!

So we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. It was a LOT of work; I can now really appreciate what my parents went through every year to put it together. So on Friday, we picked up our 11 pound turkey from a Metzgerei (meat shop). Often my host family just buys fresh meat from the market, so going to this little shop in the next town over was really cool to visit. They have all these sorts of meats that look really good, and they know their business. The guy who gave us our turkey also gave us a tip to keep the meat juicy, by putting a pan of water underneath the cooking turkey to keep the air moist. We also went to a Hofladen, because Birgit thought that would be cool for me to visit. It’s basically a local farmer’s shop, so there were fresh apples, eggs, cheeses, and baked goods from local farms or shops. Once we bought everything we needed on my long list of supplies, I began the preparations by making my family’s 7 Layer Salad and JellO Salad. And the substitutes for the things you can’t buy in Germany, like canned cream of mushroom soup, or creamed corn. Basically all the things that normally come in a can.

Saturday morning I had a painting class from the Volkshochschule, so I woke up a bit earlier to prepare a few things. I finished the JellO stuff, and put the turkey in the brine. The bowl was too small to totally dunk the turkey, but we just flipped it after a few hours once I got back, and I don’t think it made a difference. I was very fortunate to have help throughout the day from 2 girls in my school, and a little from my host family. I would have gone nuts without them. We made pumpkin pie, mini-apple pies in a muffin tin (cute!), cornbread casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, a pastry thingy called Red Plum Tasty, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, dinner rolls, and turkey (naturally). It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. I was standing the entire day, and the oven ran non-stop. But it was soooooo worth it. Between the brine, intensive-butter-rub-down, the water tip, and a meat thermometer, the turkey came out PERFECT. I’m so pleased.

They said it tasted really good, better than they expected; even the dog couldn’t resist and stole a bone from the carcass while we weren’t looking. Oops! Everything was interesting and new to them. They found the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows especially weird, and not much was eaten, which I can understand. I don’t like it either. I just thought I should make it for tradition’s sake. And I didn’t particularly like the way the pumpkin pie tasted, because I used a pre-spiced pumpkin can. But otherwise, everything was great, I’m so so so pleased, and it was a good experience for everyone. My host family said I’ll have to come back every year to make a turkey for them, haha. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Fall!

Things here are going good, and getting better and better. I’m learning lots of German and, as it is getting into the Christmas season, I’ve started to experience the loveliness that is German Christmas desserts and pastries. Like Lebkuchen. And Vanillekipferl. Yummm. And we baked our Christstollen, which I’m excited to try out in 4 weeks.

Halloween was a lot of fun. It’s relatively new in Germany, so there aren’t too many kids out and about, but there are enough, and it was so cute. I think they are far more inventive with their little “Trick or Treat” begging. Here they say “Süßes oder Saueres” which means sweet or sour, and oft they make up a little rhyme to go with it. Really cute. To celebrate, my host siblings went out for candy, I baked some banana bread and roasted some pumpkin seeds (which they found yummy) and went to a family friend’s house to eat dinner and chill.

Since then, I’ve just been going to school and all that jazz. We’ve taken some tests, which are different than American ones. They’re always written, no multiple choice or fill in the blanks. The questions themselves aren’t really that hard, it being in German is hard. It takes me so long to read through a text and be certain that I understand it, and then formulate what I want to say and make sure it’s grammatically correct. I have only gotten back my math, German, religion, and art tests back. On a scale of 0-15, with 0 being worst and 15 being best, I got a 5 in math and religion, a 7 in art, and in German the teacher didn’t give me a grade. I had hoped to do better in math, but that wasn’t too bad (and it was actually better than some others). I’m quite proud of my art grade. I’ve taken physics, history, and English tests, but haven’t gotten them back yet. I expect to get maybe a 1 in physics; that test was so bad. I just made stuff up. Good thing I don’t care that much. And in English, I had better get a good grade! Otherwise I’ll feel really stupid. But everything is getting better, and I don’t constantly feel lost in class. Huzzah! And I’ve even participated a bit in class.

It’s getting colder here, but I got a new jacket that keeps me warm, even when I’m riding my bike to school. Winter is definitely on its way (or here already). And because Germany is further north, the sun is setting by 4 and it is dark by 5 or 6 o’clock. Which is weird for me. Things are going good with my host family, we get along really well. My host mom had her birthday recently, which was fun. I gave her some Yankee Candles I brought from America, which she seems to like and think are really cool. We went to a restaurant in Wiesloch called Schmidts, which used to be a slaughterhouse. It was really cool, and even had some American foods (hamburger, fries, milkshakes, banana splits) but I went for something I hadn’t tried before. I forget what it was called, but it was really yummy. I’m finding that instead of comfortably sticking to things I know (as I did before I came here), I often choose the thing I know the least. My taste buds have gotten really quite adventurous. My host siblings are as cute and süß as ever. We all go on walks quite often. That’s a typical pastime in Germany, which I like, even if it’s really cold. Preparations for Thanksgiving have begun already. My host family is excited, I think. Haha, they’ll probably think Americans are crazy when they see the “weird” stuff we have for Thanksgiving, like those sweet potato casseroles with marshmallows, and stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We are going to get a fresh turkey (because Birgit was totally repulsed by the idea of a frozen one), which I think is about 11 pounds. For what I’m used to, that’s small, but it should be enough for the people we’ll have there. On one hand, I’m super excited to share with them American Thanksgiving, but on the other, I’m totally scared that I’m going to mess it up or they’ll think it’s disgusting. Either way, it’ll make a fun story or something one day.

Anyways, things are going great here!