Cursed Be The One Who...

Cursed be the one who doesn't weight their grapes before getting to the checkout!

A little culture lesson today about German grocery stores is in order. First, free plastic bags don't exist. Plastic bags are available, but you have to pay for them. Really, you learn rather quickly to bring bags with you all the time (something my family already does in the States anyway...). It just makes sense to bring you own bags with you; you can fit way more in a re-usable bag than in those awful plastic bags, and you are living greener at the same time. Save the planet, people! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

There were a few things I needed at the grocery store today, so after work I got my iPod and took the walk to the store. Downhill isn't so bad, you just have remember not to buy too much so that you struggle carrying it back up the hills!

The things that I needed were bananas, raspberries (they didn't have any, so I got grapes instead), philadelphia cream cheese with Milka chocolate and toothpicks. Why these random things? I found a great recipe for "Raspberry Banana Bites" and wanted to make them for tomorrow's farewell party for the other two interns who have finished their time here at CEPA. "International Finger Foods" is on the menu, and as others were bringing savory dishes, I wanted to bring something sweet but not so calorie-laden. For this recipe you need to slice the banana, dollop a little of the chocolate spread on the banana and top with fruit. Toothpics only help it to stay together, and help with the whole finger food theme. We'll see how it goes. I think it sounds good, but we'll see.

I picked up a couple other things (you'll see below!) and headed to the checkout. I handed over my bottle return slip, all of 25 cents (though for one bottle, mind you!) and started packing all my groceries into my bag. At the end came the grapes that I bought instead of the raspberries. Now, in Germany, you pay for fruit and vegetables either by weight or by piece. Some are by weight (ie: the bananas I bought) or by piece (ie: the cucumber I bought). The grapes were in a nice little bag, and I checked to see if I had to weight them but it didn't appear so.

Fail. The cashier said, "Oh, you didn't weight these?" I said, "No, I didn't think I needed to." She said, no problem I'll go do it for you. So she went and then all of a sudden I hear this lady behind me say, "What is going on? What is taking so long???" The guy behind me said, "Yeah, she forgot to weigh something...." "Ugh, I hate it when people forget to weight things!" Cursed be those who forget to weight their grapes!!! Hello, I'm standing right here, lady. Thank you very much, and sorry that I forgot. Sheesh! But that's the way it is around here...so friendly and kind and forgiving people are sometimes. Please sense the sarcasm...

And for those of you who read my Wienna blog, you will appreciate this next part. When I arrived to Ingersheim I didn't have to go and buy toilette paper, thank goodness. Though I'm serious, it almost happened again!

It is amazing how fast an apartment of three girls can go through the stuff! I'm so sure you want to know all this. Sorry.

Anyway, here is the hilarious toilette paper I couldn't pass up at the store today:

Euro Cup soccer themed "good and cheap" brand toilette paper. And it even says "with the scent of grass", which I didn't see until I got home. I really REALLY hope it doesn't smell like grass.....!! And I really really hope it's not that cheap...!

Yesterday's Milestone

Yesterday, the 20th of August, marked a 'milestone' for me: I have been in Germany for one month!

It seems like I've been gone for longer than a month, I have to say. When your world gets turned upside down (not in a negative way...), your lifestyle and daily routine uprooted and changed, it can feel like time shifts from going at the speed of light to crawling along like a slug.

The past month has been full of highs and lows; the highs being reunited with some of my dearest friends, starting a job in the field I want to work in and traveling. The lows being the Sunday anti-fun day (when everything is closed, including grocery stores, bakeries, etc) and getting used to it, and the usual being away from home adjustments (homesickness). Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be here. I am able to finally begin my career in the field in International Education, and I am enjoying learning everything the job has to offer. It always takes a little adjustment at the beginning to find your way, and navigate new surroundings. This transition has been one of the smoother ones, as every time I make a big move like this I get a little better at figuring out how to find my way.

I'll leave you with a thought of gratitude. I am thankful each and every day for my family, my friends, and the positive experiences that I have had on my journey thus far.

Prayer of gratitude:
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily.  The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.  ~Terri Guillemets

The Big City

Finally, after being in Klein Ingersheim for almost three weeks, I made it to the big city!

The best thing about studying in Sactown was that I got to meet so many great people, including some pretty awesome foreigners! (Shout out to YOU! Woop Woop!) One of those, is Katja! We got to hang out quite often in Sacramento, when she and Eva and the rest of the gang were studying there. It was really fun to hang out with those girls, and we made lasting friendships. Those are the best!

Katja lives in Stuttgart, and works in the Human Resources Department at Daimler. She has been living there for a couple of years. It worked out that I could take the train to go visit her in Stuttgart on Saturday. The weather was super warm, and we had a great day exploring the city. I even tried on a Dirndl! My goal this time around is I WILL get one. Every good German girl has one, and that means I should, too! :)

After Katja met me at the train station (a 50 minute jaunt from KI), we saw the main parliament building, the shopping street (yay!!) and the old town. We had a nice lunch at a German restaurant in the old town that served flavored ice tea (peach and orange for me!) and was really neat and walked around a flea market. Needless to say there will be many more adventures in Stuttgart! In one of the department stores there were all kids of British and American things to buy. Including Oreo cookie pie mix and Chips Ahoy cookie pie mix. I was tempted, but thought better of it. My spin instructor Bill will be proud of me. Shout out, Bill!

We went in to a few stores, walked around quite a lot up and down and up and down the shopping street, enjoyed some ice cream on the lawn at the central park, and had an overall great day! Here are some shots of Stuttgart (not quite the romantic city, as it is very industrialized)...

Part of the park

Former stock exchange building that they turned in to a mall

Old Town

People enjoying the park, including the two girls on the left, who brought a mattress to lay on...

Katja and I in Stuttgart!

A Little of the Klein Ingersheim Life

The area in and around Klein Ingersheim is famous for its wine. There are vineyards as far as the eye can see, and so many people tending to their fields in great detail.

 

In this panorama you see Gross Ingersheim in the distance there (if you can see it, the thing with the steeple is the city hall)

I had gone for a run on Friday morning, and Christine, one of my room mates, came with me. It was supposed to be hot, so I wanted to get it done before going home from work. I knew that if it was hot, there was no way I was going to get out there and pound the pavement after work. So, we went in the morning. Bright and early at 6am! Go us! After our 3 miles, we had a nice day at work. The weather turned out to be not as hot as anticipated, so after work I donned my second pair of workout clothes for the day, and went for a brisk walk through the wine fields. Another 2.5 miles, not bad!

Besides the many wine fields, there are also corn pastures (Christine isn't convinced that the corn is actually edible, she thinks it is just to feed the animals. I want to try it, but we'll see...) as well as many fruit trees. Mostly apple trees, but there is one lovely little plum tree as well. The fruit looks lovely! Tempting, very tempting!

YUM!

I Don't Like Bugs

I hope you can see this little guy/girl, because I really want to share with you who is outside my window at work (with no screen, mind you). As long as he/she stays put, I have no problem. Once I find that he/she is gone, I'll be on spider watch!

Saturday, One Week and a Day Ago

So I just haven't connected my camera to my computer to get some of the photos off of it that I took last week, but this weekend I actually have more than one picture to load, so I get to back-track on my posts just a little.

Last Saturday, my room mate Christine and I went to a lake that is about 25 kilometers away (about 15 miles), near Horrheim. Everything around here ends with 'heim'. Klein Ingersheim, Bietigheim, Besigheim, everything heim. :)

This lake was beautiful. The weather was pretty hot, so we enjoyed most of the afternoon there at the lake. I took my lovely Hawaiian Tropics sun screen, which of course attracted all the bugs...but it was still enjoyable. The lake was really clean, and there were HUGE fish swimming all over in there. Wouldn't be too hard to get a fish on your pole in that lake! Though I'm pretty sure it is not legal to fish there. And thus, I did not go "swimming with the fishies". I like my MHAC 50m pool, thank you very much, where I can see the bottom, and if there are other things swimming around in there. Sometimes. :)

It was nice to sit and relax a little, which during the week I don't get much time to do. I even completed 4 sudoku puzzles, torn out of an In Touch magazine. This is the life...

The lake, near Horrheim

Panorama from our nice little spot by the lake

Klein Ingersheim Fun Fact

The Columbia River Gorge is famous for wind. Wind surfing is one of the major sports. Heck, even former presidential candidate John Kerry stopped by for a little fun.

Hence the lead in to this post. Klein Ingersheim (emphasis on "klein"...) is fully electrically self-sufficient thanks to this baby:

German word for wind turbine: die Windkraftanlage. (three separate words technically: wind. kraft. anlage.).
While no, it isn't the most striking architectural thing in Europe, it is supporting Klein Ingersheim and Gross Ingersheim all by its little (big) self. I see it on my run, and just haven't gotten up toooooo terribly close to it. But it's pretty cool to know what we run off of wind power from our own backyard.