drugs! the legal kind...

Germanic pharmacies are different than American pharmacies in many many ways.

1) They are everywhere. In the small city i live in, there's one nearly every 2 blocks or so.

2) They are not open late. but one pharmacy per city is open 24 hrs... but which one it is changes every night. TO find the one that's open you need to drive to one, check the list on the door and find the new one. Not so user-friendly if you are too sick to drive or are having an emergency.

3) There is no such thing as over the counter. All drugs from cough drops to aspirin to codeine is brought through a pharmacist.

4) You don't get a specific dose when you fill a prescription. They just give you the whole box- this includes antibiotics, so you better remember how many they told you to take.

So I managed to spill an entire cup of coffee all over my khaki pants the other day at work and was talking to a coworker about how to get out the stains. She suggested I get backing soda... which I find out is not available in grocery stores here like in the states, can can only be found behind the counter at the pharmacy.

Whaaa? I mean what do they think people are going to do with baking soda? Besides you know, make model volcanoes for their kids science projects? Has there been a Baking soda overdose epidemic?

I dont get it. I guess one good side-effect is that kids need to be more creative with their science projects... and their Robitussin habit.

berlin

Just came back from Berlin a few days ago. Loved, loved, loved berlin. I would actually consider relocating there.

The public transportation is very well-connected and easy to use. Grafiti some of the best I've seen. Lots of cool architecture, museums, great music scene, great food. People seem to super friendly. Score one for germany!

extra-ordinary?

Apparently the word "extraordinary" in German doesn't have that "wow! incredibly special" connotation it does in the states. It's more like our equivalent of "devastatingly shocking"

lunch-o-matic

Lunchtime at the office never ceases to amaze me. It's the most stressful yet efficient thing i've ever seen.

The first time I experienced the cafeteria was about a year ago. We get free lunch and it's truly cafeteria style. There are 2 single file lines running into a main "food" area.
Pick up Tray- move to the right
Pick up fork- move to the right
pick up knife- move to the right
Pick up Spoon move to the right

and then walk swiftly- single file- to the salad bar. Most everyone seems to get salad. It's phase one of lunch.

If you pause for even a second in phase one, you will get a tray to the tailbone. In the land of no personal space, there is no room for error. I have these horrible visions of me fumbling with the spoons a little too long and an angry mob of people trampling me on their way to the pickled beets.

Did I mention the "salad bar" consists primarily of lettuce, saurkraut and pickled vegetables?

I gotta say as much as it can stress me out, I admire the order of that cafeteria. It takes me no longer than 7 minutes to get through the food lines and sit down to eat. That's good engineering.

crossing over

Hey kids! Let's talk about crossing the street! In Germany, almost no one jaywalks. They wait patiently at crosswalks waiting for the little guy to turn from red to green even when there is clearly no cars in sight. Note I said wait at crosswalks. Crossing in the middle of a road is almost punishable by death-(ly stares). I enjoy breaking this rule. It makes me feel like I'm from the FUTURE! Although, without fail a BMW a half mile away will see me and start driving really really fast at me - trying to either run me over for insubordination or scare me into submission.

Sometimes I do wait and cross at the light but there is no countdown or handy blinking phase to warn you to hurry up. It goes from solid Green to solid red. The first time this happened I was in the middle of the intersection. I paused and looked around at the cars parked at the intersection, wondering if the light was already green for someone and half expecting the BMW SUV to come barreling at me again.

Come to think of it, I have noticed that Heidelberg has a lot of physically disabled people milling about. Maybe there's a correlation here. I should look into how many are ex-pats with no respect for crosswalks.

scentability

Everything here is overscented. My shampoo, the people in the elevator, everything. It's either bad as in no deodorant in 95 degree weather, or bad as in overzealous flowery perfume application. Considering the close quarters here, I am truly amazed that the pungent odors don't seem to phase anyone. Unfortunately, i am not so blessed.

a glossary of favorite german terms

hallo: Definition: hello
It's pretty basic, but if you say this with a decent German accent, people tend to assume you know the language.

genau (Gah-now): Definition: exactly
This is used very often in conversation- especially over the phone.

super (zuppa!): Definition: super
I just love how it's said with such gusto.

Tschüss, Tschüs(chooose!) Definition: bye or ciao
It's always said in this sing-song voice. I love it.

endschuldigung (end-SHULI-Gung) Definition: Excuse me
I had a hard time with this at first- it's a mouthful. But once I got it down, it's kind of fun to say. it makes me feel a lot less rude. I think you can get away with "Pardon" as well.

alles klar. Definition: Well my German teacher says it means ok, but others have told me it's used just how it sounds- "got it. all is clear".
I hear this a lot in the office.

stil wasser or wasser, kein gass (schtill vassa, vassa kine gas) Definition: still water (no bubbles, without gas)
I dunno is stil is actually a real German word, but they seem to get it when I ask. This is important to know if you are not a fan of carbonated water. If you just ask for water, you'll get the bubbly kind (but they'll usually ask whether u want gas or not).

an amerikanerin in deutschland

So I've been living in Germany on and off for about 2 mths now, and started this blog to share some of my observations on the cultural differences btw life here and life in "the 'states". Since I'm here solo for work, I've had a lot of time to think and watch and be blown away at all the little "what the..." moments I've experienced along the way. I've gotten the chance to travel to some nearby lands while here so I'll thrown in some of those insights as well.

Disclaimer- these are merely my experiences and observations. I'm in no way saying that ALL Germans or Americans or ALL of Germany is like this or that- I've only seen a small slice of life here, so please, no hater tots.

Cheers or as they say here- Prost!

A pub is a lovely thing...

Whenever I'm craving a little slice of home, I head to the local Irish pub. They make excellent french fries and beef and Guinness pie and the Irish bartender, John, always remembers my name. They also have karaoke in the back room on the weekends- score! It's a favorite spot for US army peeps in the area, but until last night I never actually met any of them.

I ended up striking up a conversation with a guy next to me who was working for the Army and ironically enough, also from Massachusetts. what are the odds of that? He's been living in the area for 5 years, so I asked him about the cultural differences he's noticed. We talked about the lack of personal space as a pretty widespread issue but then he mentioned something I have yet to experience.

Him: "Have you noticed the stares yet?"
Me: "huh?"
Him: "yeah, well especially on the bus, people just stare at you. it freaks me out."

Weird. I haven't actually taken the bus yet, but when I do, I'm sure I'll be paranoid as hell.

He also took me to a local gem called "the cave" that I've been dying to go to. It lived up to it's name it was really a tiny cave-like area and the bartender looked a lot like Gandolf from LOTR- except he wears a Hawaiian shirt and only drinks sect (champagne).

So I have a new English-speaking friend here. Yay. Maybe I'll start building an sub-arsenal of my own here.