Ok, I know there are many types of sausages in this world, but how many kinds of bratwurst does one country need? I was pursuing the local supermarket adds the other day, it’s a good way to learn what the names of things are because there are pictures. One store had 2 pages of bratwurst. 2 pages! I have found a few that I like, most I can do without. I do like some of the polish sausages though, I grew up eating Kielbasa, my dad loved it. Especially the spicy ones.

I tried a few bites of currywurst two weeks ago, I have found out where the barbecue sauce that is missing on the spare ribs went to. The sauce on the currywurst tastes like Bullseye. So whats on the ribs? I don’t really don’t know yet but when I make them, what ever they touch leaves an orange spot. My guess is lots of paprika and spices,  anyway they are pretty tasty. There is some beef here but the pig is the main animal. I love the cheese selections. Lots of soft smelly ones and I love the aged cheeses. I have found only a couple of cheddars (the package said Irish but I still don’t know for sure) and didn’t like them much, way too mild. I like extra sharp cheddar so I’ll keep looking.

The other day Susanne asked me which foods I missed the most. When she first got to America she missed the sour dough breads the most. America makes more yeast breads. The sourdough is king here, like the bratwurst many different kinds of it baked daily.  I have not acquired a taste for it yet, in fact just the opposite. I like the heavy darker breads with seeds. Dunkel brot. Good stuff. Lets see. the food I miss the most: a variety fresh greens year round- frozen spinach is about all I have found plus a little chard. No kale, collards, mustard or turnip greens. I miss Mexican food and the jerked foods from Jamacia, South American foods and of course soul food-southern cooking.

One great tradeoff is the hugh variety of baked goods here. I confess that I have eaten ALOT of great cakes, pastries and chocolate goodies. Goes well with coffee you know! Nothin’ better than a little kuchen (cake) after the noon meal. Hits the spot. Going to the supermarket is always an adventure, I am still doing the trial and error thing to see what I like and don’t like. I get to bring home some interesting stuff sometimes. I brought home a cut of meat I wasn’t too familiar with to try it out. I asked Susanne what the packge said about what part of the animal it came from. She read it and said it was some part of the stomach of the pig. Hmmmmm, tried it, tried to like it and then made an offering to the green can with the yellow lid (the garbage can). Trial and error can suck sometimes.  The local fruit is wonderful. I can still get local berries (organic) and I can get the local berries on cake too . I guess as time goes by, I’ll come to like a few other things, I cannot guess what they would be yet. I will have to write another food post in about 6 months and compare this with that one. Until then, the food odessy continues!

I am at a lack for a name for today’ s post, so I am calling it no name. We finally have a appointment to get physicals for the health insurance. I’ll be glad when it’s over. So what’s been going on with us this week? Still searching for jobs. Susanne had an interview for a programming job, but she would have to live away from home for up to 6 months. She didn’t want to do that. She is now brushing up on AS2  for a company who needs an English speaking programmer.

I, on the other hand, have no possibilities yet, Berlitz emailed me that they can’t use me, so much for the theory that they will take anybody. I am now redoing my small portfolio site, a friend said that my site was “too dark” for Germany. Another person who owns a small post production company said that some of my work is too “in your face”, not subtle enough for Germany. I have been looking at tv, websites trying to get a feel for work done here in motion graphics.I gotta make new stuff. It’s okay, I get to do what I love doing, which is working with After Effects. Should have did more homework on what styles are more popular here to begin with, I knew this. I am relearning the meaning of subtle. Germans takes subtle to a whole new level. There is not a lot of flash here, it’s like no one wants to stick out, especially in the smaller towns. A stark contrast to the flamboyance and wealth seen in South Florida.

We got our bill for 53 euros from the Gebühreneinzugszentrale- the Fee collections office. We have to pay for having and using a tv, vcr, radio. If we don’t pay, someone will show up at our doorstep. Really, not kidding. I have heard and read the stories about the GEZ guy showing up at the door wanting the money owed or being nosy and asking questions trying to catch someone who hasn’t paid. Here public broadcasting  and radio is not something one can choose to donate to, like a lot of other things it’s mandatory and we will pay it to not have to go through an unwanted visit. Got enough stress already!

I am starting to feel like I am really here now. I am used to hearing the language now and my German is progressing.I am really happy not to have a car, funny that I really don’t miss having one. I think that the traffic in Ft Lauderdale and Miami put me over the edge, I got sick and tired of sitting in traffic. Here I don’t have to think about parking (or the lack thereof), parking tickets, buying gas, which is expensive here or inspections. I like riding the public transport. I also like the fact that we recycle 90% of our trash. This week I realized that, despite all the rules, I am getting to like it here. Granted, it wasn’t our first choice for living in Europe, we had our hearts set on Spain but Susanne has family and friends here to help us out and now Susanne is a 5 minute ride away from her parents. I am still trying to decide if I like the food, I like spicy foods and there is not a whole lot of that here, at least not that I have found. We had a good visit with friends on Saturday. We walked to Alt Stadt – old part of town and had a nice meal at one of the restaurants there. Sitting outside(of course), looking at the old buildings, listening to the people at the tables around us, warm summer evening, it felt really good to be alive and here in Germany!

We ( I should say Susanne), are trying to decide what health insurance program to get.  Since the  health insurance reform of 2007 each person living in Germany has to be on some kind of health insurance. It is a requirement for getting a permit to work and stay in Germany. So Susanne has had to read (since it is all in German)  and sift through pages and pages of information to try to find out which insurance would be better for us. It is not easy!  I still do not understand it all. We have to choose between two types of  health insurances; the Gesetzliche Krankenkasse, state health insurance, the Private Krankenversicherung, private insurance. First is the cheapest and dependants can get on it for free. The second costs more and each person pays, plus you have to get a physical complete with a finger up your butt. I think we are leaning towards the private. I wish I could write more on the subject,  but I don’t want to give out misinformation and there are resources online for people looking for information. How To Germany, Toy Town Germany, Just Landed are a few of the expat sites I have found information about health insurance on.

In America, I had no health insurance for years. Millions of people there don’t. It’s been okay, I really don’t like doctors all that much, we have used homeopathic remedies and natural healing for years. We have a great homeopath. She is in Oregon, but she has helped by phone when we needed her in Florida and here. I had food poisoning a few years back and she helped me get past the worst part of it. I absolutely did not want to go to a cold hospital and get some pharmaceutical drugs put into my body. She has helped the cats too. I could go on about natural healing, I believe that our society needs to get back to it and get away from the -pills-for-everything mentality. But I will stop, I don’t want someone reading this, taking something they did not first research and then suing me because they are now dead or something. Anyways, yet another hoop to get through here in Deutschland. Once we get our insurance, I will probably be glad I have it, then we will move on to the next hurdle, whatever that is.

Check out line that is. At the market. As slow as some things move here ” We’ll get it when?“, there are some thing move fast.
Very fast. The check out lines in the Aldi supermarket over in the Forum are lightning fast, it’s amazing! I shop, buy some stuff and get in line. Understand that I have to move quick. Get the groceries up on the belt, NOW!, not in a few minutes. There a are people waiting behind me, ready to throw their stuff up on the belt, NOW!  They will wait for a few seconds to see if I am on the ball and get the dividers in place so they can make their move. If I am too slow, they will reach over, under, around to get the divider to get their stuff up, NOW!

The sweat starts to roll. The cashier behind the counter is moving stuff through the scanner like there is no tomorrow. The cashiers in the stores here get to sit here while they work the register, their feet don’t hurt, so they can concentrate on speed. I get my money ready. Never mind getting the shopping bag ready, there is NO TIME WHATSOEVER  to pack a single item after it has been scanned.

It’s my turn. She starts grabbing my groceries, 35 items scanned in less than 2.6 seconds. Amazing! With one hand she is whipping the bar codes past the infrared light, the other hand is grabbing my cart and pulling it to the end of the lane ( which is an area the size of a cereal box). By doing this she is reminding me that I have to put my stuff back in the cart, NOW!

Here is where FAST starts. I have to grab all of my groceries, which by now, are piled in the little area at the end of the check out lane and are beginning to fall off the counter and shovel them back into the cart as fast as I possible can. She doesn’t stop either, while I am trying to throw my eggs as gently as I can in the cart, I hear “19 euro 35″ and I see a hand palm up, waiting for my slow a** to hand over my money. In about a  half a second, she has my change in hand along with the register slip  and she is telling me to take my groceries over to the a long shelf at the front of the store, NOW! (she points to the shelf for emphasis, which is good because I understand little of what she is telling me).

As schnell as I can, I grab the money from the hand that is already starting to scan the next persons groceries. Their groceries are now piling up. So I scoop whatever is left into my cart and with coins hitting the floor behind me, race the cart over to the shelf at the front of the store, where other people have their carts and are packing their bags.

Gotta get a spot, NOW!
Here at the bag packing shelf I finally get to pack my groceries into their bags, see if I got the right change, get my money put away and get my heart rate back to normal.

One time I made the mistake of not getting a cart. There are no small baskets there, and I didn’t need a big cart. BIG MISTAKE. When it comes time to check out, there is no cart to shovel my groceries into and now I am juggling groceries, bags and money over to the shelf  at the front of the store. I’ve learned since to watch other people to see what they do. The popular thing to do is grab an empty flat/cut down box. Then they put what few items they have into that and take it to the shelf after checkout. Smart.

Susanne has tried to pack the groceries as the cashier was scanning, she tried that a few times. Each time I told her “just throw the stuff in the cart, she won’t let you pack the bags!”. The cashier backs me up on this by scolding Susanne her (and pointing) to take the groceries over to the shelf in the front of the store.

Susanne doesn’t do that anymore.