Linden's Pensieve

Today was like many other Saturdays we’ve enjoyed in Germany: wonderful! Saturday is the day we do most of our fresh food shopping, and the last couple weekends, we’ve been trying some new things.

We started out at Aldi where we find cheap salamis, Gouda, potatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, cereal, yogurt, and other sundries.

Next stop, Perfetto, which is

Today is Nikolaus, or St. Nicholas Day. Last night, children all over Germany polished their boots and left them outside for St. Nikolaus to inspect. Here’s a bilingual poem about St. Nicholas Day for your reading pleasure.

Ihr Kinder, stellt die Schuh’ hinaus, / Children, put your shoes outside
denn heute kommt der Nikolaus; / because Saint Nikolaus is coming today;
und wart ihr immer gut und brav, / and if you were always good and well-behaved,

Graffiti is huge over here! And it looks much different than most of the graffiti I remember seeing in America. Instead of unreadable scribbles*, most of it is art. In fact, every time that we go to Berlin, I expect to find another interesting piece, like this one that we found one day when we walked party of the marathon course a couple months before the race. It’s on a bridge at about kilometer 3.

Today was a travel day. After packing our bags and eating a superb “continental breakfast” complete with fresh bread, we made some sandwiches for the trip and started our day by heading into Berlin. (Rob’s mom lives in Bernau bei Berlin, a district in the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds the German state of Berlin.) After a 45-minute ride on the S2 S-Bahn into town, we boarded our ICE (the fastest, most direct trains) to Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. In Kassel, we switche

Tonight is our last night in America for at least a year. During my research-filled trip, I’ve been reminded of some of the advantages/disadvantages of America and some of the advantages/disadvantages of Germany. Some of these are highly subjective (chocolate-peanut butter!),

There are lots of things I’ve been wondering about and don’t want to write a full post about. So I’m just going to put them here and call it a random day.

Random Facts about Germany

• Almost every student brings a large (1.5L) bottle of water (sparkling or still) or Apfelschorle, or a regular size bottle of Coke or Mezzo Mix (a personal fave),
  

This is one in a series of posts on ways I have discovered that Germany and America are different. See the end of this post for other posts on this topic.

When we were first married, Rob and I had just one car. However, we both worked at Bed Bath & Beyond, which is on South Glenstone, and we lived up at Glenstone and Grand. We drove each other the 3.6 miles, and the person who didn’t have to work spent time, lots of time, at Border’s, which is next door. Eventually, we saved up and bought a second car, a Nissan Pathfinder, so we had the small Honda Civic for long trips, and the gas guzzler for short trips around town. Like almost all Americans, the car was our main mode of transportation.

[caption id="attachment_761" align="alignright" width="248" caption="US and German flags"][/caption]

This is one in a series of posts on ways I have discovered that Germany and America are different. See the end of this post for other posts on this topic.

This past week was the first week of the summer semester. After 7-weeks of wonderful free days, days that were my own, school has started again.

So anyway, most German universities are on a two-semester system, unlike most American universities, which are on a three-semester system. Less semesters in a year equals more “off time” for teachers. Gotta say, I loved it. And I’m sad it’s over.

This is one in a series of posts on ways I have discovered that Germany and America are different. See the end of this post for other posts on this topic.

In 1997 my family visited Europe, and that’s when I learned this lesson. We had just boarded a train from Budapest to Neuschwanstein and we were thirsty and a bit hungry. So Mom and I went to the diner car and ordered water to start with. I remember being so very thirsty and glad to feel that the water bottle was chilled (I love cold water!). I took a big drink, but was instantly disgusted. This water was different.

It was sparkling water. Mineral water. This is a mistake you only make once. For some reason still unbeknownst to me, many people in the rest of the world prefer sparkling water. I have, in the six months I have lived here, grown fond of it, but I still want real, normal water most of the time. So, for you Americans planning a trip abroad in the near or distant future, here are some tips for asking and paying for the water you want.