The high price of giving someone the finger in Germany… part two

In May 2015, I wrote a piece on this blog called “The high price of giving someone the finger in Germany”. That particular post has proven to be somewhat “evergreen”. I still get a lot of hits on it, even though it’s over two years old. I suspect people find it when they hear about Germany’s rules about not insulting people when driving and not cussing out the cops.

Lately, the weather over here has been pretty depressing. I think it’s starting to get to people. Over the weekend, there was a very long thread in one of our local Facebook groups about how “rude” Germans are, especially in the Stuttgart area. A lot of Americans chimed in, agreeing with the original poster that people here can be cold, insulting, and unpleasant. Quite a few Germans from other parts of the country have also written that this part of the country isn’t like the rest of Germany. Some have even said that people here… well… they can be assholes.

While I have been yelled at more than a couple of times by locals, I personally don’t agree that people here are any more unpleasant than in other parts of the world. What I have found is that Germans, as a whole, can seem uncommonly blunt and/or assertive about some things. The Stuttgart area is part of Swabia, which is apparently considered “different” somehow than other parts of Germany. Indeed, there is a dialect here that even native German speakers say can be hard to understand. Swabians, as a whole, have a reputation for being very tight with their money and uptight in general. However, reputations are really just stereotypes and not everyone lives up to stereotypes.

Trixi demonstrates how different German dialects can sound, even to native speakers.

When Bill and I moved back here in August 2014, I befriended a local on Facebook. I still haven’t met her in person, but she follows my blog and often gives me useful tips. One very helpful piece of advice she gave me was to read Your Swabian Neighbors. Written by American Bob Larson, who once served as a military liaison between German government officials and American military officials, this handy book is all about the idiosyncrasies of life in Baden-Württemberg for those who aren’t actually from this area. Larson, who married a Swabian woman and lived in Germany for many years, published his book in the early 80s. Though some parts of the book are dated, a lot of the information still holds true today. I’m thinking it may even be time to re-read that book as, after three years, I am starting to miss my homeland a little. At this point, there’s no telling how much longer we’ll be here.

Sometimes Americans in Germany advise others to “flip the bird” to people who piss them off in some way. I know this is not a good idea when driving or dealing with police officers. Nowadays, most everyone has a camera on their phones and if it can be proven that you used an obscene gesture, you can be fined up to 4000 euros (although my local friend says this isn’t the usual fine). It’s probably not a good idea to flip people off even if you’re not driving, though. Germans like their fines.

I see the original list of insults I included in my first post about this has been updated. Here’s the translated list for your amusement. Some of the insults are pretty funny.

I know it’s tempting to fire back at people who yell at you, but you might want to hold back from using obscene gestures or engaging in namecalling…

It’s not always easy living in another country, even when it’s Germany, which has some things in common with the United States. I know people get frustrated. I get frustrated, too. And I will even agree that sometimes dealing with locals can be infuriating.

On the other hand, there have been times when I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by the kindness of locals. In fact, on Saturday, Bill and I went to a grocery store and picked up just one item. The lady ahead of us saw that we had a small order and enthusiastically invited us to go ahead of her. In my neighborhood, my neighbors threw a block party and invited Bill and me to attend. Every morning when I walk my dogs, I am sure to hear at least one “Guten Morgen” from other dog walkers or my neighbors. They usually sound like they mean it, too. Sometimes they even smile!

Even the vet where we take our dogs has taken a shine to us. I’ve been having some problems wearing my contact lenses lately. I’ll wear them for a few days with no problem, then one or both of my eyes will suddenly get really irritated. Last week, I took Zane in to his vet for an allergy shot and she asked me if I was okay. It was probably because I was wearing my glasses and hating it. But she noticed I wasn’t myself and genuinely wanted to know if I was alright. That’s a far cry from the usual “How you doin'” you get in the States where the person doesn’t actually care how you are and doesn’t expect a truthful response.

So… the moral of this post is, assholes are everywhere. I don’t think there are any more assholes in Swabia than there are in other parts of the world. It may just seem that way, especially to Americans, due to cultural differences, the occasionally harsh sounds of the German language, and, maybe, even the gloomy weather we’ve had lately.

If you ever feel tempted to flip someone off or call them names, take a minute to consider all of the awesome vacation destinations in and around Germany. Wouldn’t you rather spend 4000 euros on a cruise somewhere or a first class flight? I know I would.

Baden-Württemberg

“American food” according to Germans…

A few days ago, Bill became aware of a special sale going on at the local Lidl. They were selling their interpretations of “American” snack foods. Because Bill and I are easily entertained and we have seen some interesting European adaptations of American foods, we decided to pick up a few items and try them. Yesterday was the perfect day to do our experiment since the weather was bad and I happened to have a touch of pink eye thanks to contact lenses and allergies.

We visited the Lidl in Nagold on Saturday and picked up our “treats”.

Bill bought a large used freezer over the summer that should have been able to handle all we’d want to bring home. Unfortunately, the freezer is on the fritz and needs to be repaired, so we limited ourselves to three things. We bought a “snack box”, “Southern fried chicken”, and donuts. We haven’t had the donuts yet because after trying the snack box and the chicken, I think we were about done. Let’s just say that German style American snack foods are kind of underwhelming.

It was fun shopping for the snacks at Lidl. You never know what or who you’ll find there. Lidl is not a particularly large store, but they don’t just sell food there. I saw a smattering of different items being offered. I guess Germans would be equally puzzled by some of the things one can find in an American grocery store.

It appeared that the American snacks were all made by a brand called McEnnedy American Way, which I gather is a Lidl label inspired by our very own John F. Kennedy. A cursory Web search informs me that American week at Lidl has been a thing for awhile. I also see that plenty of English speaking bloggers abroad have also tried Lidl’s American Way stuff. Score one for non-originality.

Need socks or underwear? Lidl has you covered.

These displays were all over the store. It appeared that McEnnedy was catering to the perceived American sweet tooth.

We don’t usually eat this kind of stuff, but…

Who doesn’t like the odd chicken strip? Especially when it comes in a red, white, and blue star spangled package with the Statue of Liberty on it?

The popcorn was probably okay. They had it in salted and sweet varieties. I like popcorn, but I don’t eat it often because it gets stuck between my teeth.

Cake?

Peanut butter “flips”. I actually really like these, but I have never seen an American version in the States.

The cashier was probably chuckling. We had wine, ice cream, and various “American Way” snacks.

For your tyke who wants to be helpful when you shop. Be sure to bring a coin so you can free the buggy.

So anyway, Bill brewed his latest batch of beer yesterday. I didn’t bother to film him this time because my eyes were hurting and I needed to hide away in the darkness while they healed. He was finished brewing by about 2:00, so that’s when we tried the “snack box”.

As you can see, the box came with plastic bagged “American” snacks and a weird sweet chili sauce.

Six anemic onion rings, six leaky cheese sticks, and six pepper cheese nuggets…

Bill put them in the oven at about 375 for fifteen minutes or so, then presented them to me with a beer.

They ain’t got nothin’ on TGIFriday’s…

The onion rings were soggy, as were the cheese sticks, which were very limp and filled with some kind of tasteless yellow cheese. I wouldn’t say it was mozzarella, but more like a mild cheese that isn’t stretchy. I did actually like the cheese nuggets, which had some heat to them. They were kind of like jalapeno poppers, only the peppers were chopped up and mixed with the cheese, which had a coating on it that reminded me a little of tater tots. Except, of course, there weren’t any potatoes involved.

Bill and I agreed the cheese nuggets were almost a hit, while the onion rings and cheese sticks were pathetic. And the sauce that came with the snacks was both really sweet and kind of hot. Bill liked it more than I did, because it was rather spicy. It tasted heavily of cumin and maybe chili powder. I don’t know what it was supposed to be, but it didn’t remind me of America, for better or worse.

A few hours later, Bill prepared the “Southern crunchy chicken”. Bill and I both happen to be from the southern United States, so we’ve had our share of good chicken. We had some hope for McEnnedy’s version.

Again with the plastic bags… Good thing we don’t live in Rwanda.

We got a couple of drumsticks, a couple of chicken strips, and a couple of wings…

After baking the chicken for a half an hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, we sat down to sample the chicken. I didn’t have high expectations and my expectations were basically met… The chicken tasted okay, although it was a bit bland. It was also covered in heavy breading. Had the folks at McEnnedy added a few more herbs and spices to the breading, the chicken probably would have been more appealing. I would say we liked the chicken more than the snack box.

Maybe next time Lidl does “American week”, we’ll get more ambitious and try some of their more exotic offerings. Or maybe not. There’s so much good food to be had in Europe that there’s no reason to bother with this crap more than a time or two. Anyway, my curiosity is now satisfied, although we still have donuts to try. I’ll wait for my next hormonal storm or rainy day for those.

Uncategorized

Bonding with our German vet over cannabis…

Since Bill and I returned to Germany, I have been spending a lot of time in the veterinarian’s office. The vet we currently use is the same one we used last time we lived here. That vet diagnosed our dog, Flea, with prostate cancer back in 2009. I never met her last time we lived here. Bill took Flea to his vet appointments because we only had one car. We also used the vet on Panzer Kaserne for routine stuff, but that proved to be a real pain in the butt since appointments were hard to come by.

These two dogs are Flea and MacGregor, the dogs we had during our first Germany tour. Flea is the one standing behind MacGregor.

Flea survived Germany and we took him with us to our next duty station in Georgia. He lasted another two months in the States before we sent him to the Rainbow Bridge. About a month after we lost Flea, Bill and I adopted our dog, Zane, from Atlanta Beagle Rescue. Zane is pretty much a bigger, sweeter version of Flea.

Zane, the tri-colored beagle… and adopted “brother” Arran.

When we got back to Germany and rented a house near Herrenberg again, we decided to use the same vets we did last time. Because we now have two cars, the duty of taking the dogs to the vet often falls to me. Zane gets allergy shots every month. I could learn to give him the shots myself, but I’m a bit squeamish. So every month, I take Zane (and often Arran) with me to the vet. She gives Zane his shot and any other treatment he needs. We’ve been in this routine for about two years now.

Many Americans who live in Germany comment that it can take awhile to get to know Germans well. Germans seem to be fairly private people, especially in a professional setting. That has definitely been the case for our German vet. Our visits have been mostly all business. In fact, until a couple of months ago, I was calling her by her colleague’s name. I made this mistake because Bill got their names mixed up last time we lived here and passed his mistake to me. Our vet didn’t introduce herself when I came in the first time, so I was assuming her name was her colleague’s name. For two years! It wasn’t until I mixed the names up in the vet’s presence that she corrected me.

Most of our visits have not been particularly friendly. There’s been a minimum of small talk. The vet has been very matter-of-fact about most things. I actually found her kind of hard to talk to, although she seemed very competent.

Both of my dogs have had cancerous mast cell tumors removed by our German vet. Arran had one taken off in July 2015. It was a very low grade bump that, so far, has caused no more issues. Zane had one taken off in October of 2016. Zane’s tumor was a little bit higher grade and it was larger.

In the weeks since his surgery, Zane has also not really been acting like himself. For several weeks after his surgery, he seemed lethargic and less social. I suspected that he was in pain. Thanks to the mast cell tumor’s presence, I started becoming obsessive about looking for new lumps. I would mention them to the vet, who was astonished that I found them. They weren’t exactly big and noticeable. One was buried deep beneath some muscle.

After Zane was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor, Bill stopped by to talk to the vet and she said, “Your wife is really good at finding lumps on Zane. She seems really knowledgable about diseases. Is she a nurse or something?”

Bill explained my education and work background to the vet. He later told me that when he explained my public health experience, it was like a lightbulb went off over the vet’s head. Suddenly, she started becoming a lot friendlier toward me. I went in to see her in late November to talk to her about changing Zane’s diet, putting him on Benadryl and Tagamet for the mast cell disease, and avoiding unnecessary vaccines. She also asked me about my background and I told her. I also used to work for a vet and spent most of my childhood working in a barn. With that knowledge, it seemed like the vet started seeing me in a different light. It was as if I wasn’t just some American hausfrau anymore.

Last month, I asked the vet about having Zane tested for tick-borne illnesses. I knew that Zane would come up positive for ehrlichiosis, because he had it when we lived in North Carolina. Ehrlichiosis can cause some of the symptoms Zane has been exhibiting. Also, Zane was bitten by a number of ticks last summer, despite my efforts to keep them at bay. He’s been chewing and licking his paws a lot. I thought it was due to the allergies, but now I think he’s been doing it because he’s been in pain. It was not enough to make him limp noticeably, but it was enough to make him not want to play or hang out with Bill and me. I remembered Zane’s previous bout with ehrlichiosis, told the vet about it, and she agreed that he should be screened.

I also told the vet that Zane was having issues with his paws. He would lick and chew the pads until they were raw. Then he would have pain when trying to walk on the frosty grass because the raw paws would be in contact with the grass. The vet had sent me home with medicated shampoo that was supposed to help heal Zane’s paws. Having used this remedy a few times on both of my dogs, I didn’t have much faith that it would be that helpful.

Coincidentally, the day after our visit, I made a big change in Zane’s regimen. I started giving him 5% CBD hemp oil. Hemp oil is rapidly becoming well-known for improving the quality of life for dogs with a variety of ailments.

Yesterday, I took Zane in for a blood test. We had a tick panel done in December and Zane came up positive for ehrlichiosis. The vet wanted to do a more sensitive test to determine if the infection was active. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been giving Zane the hemp oil and I’ve watched him become more energetic and social. He seems to have less pain. He’s stopped licking and chewing his paws as much. Now he confines the licking to one paw, rather than all four, and he doesn’t chew the pad until the skin becomes raw. It’s been nothing short of astonishing.

Prior to yesterday, I had not seen the vet since I made this change. While she was drawing Zane’s blood, we started chatting. She was friendlier than ever. I told her about the CBD oil I’ve been using and how amazed I was by it. She started telling me about other essential oils that we could use for Zane’s allergies. So far, I’ve noticed that the oil seems to make Zane feel better overall and perhaps helps him with pain and inflammation. While he’s still not quite 100%, he’s probably now at 85% or even 90% as opposed to 65% or 70%.

She asked if I was using the CBD oil for myself and I said I’d tried it. I mostly give it to Zane, though, because it tastes like hay. She laughed and I ended up telling her about how I tried marijuana for the first time in The Netherlands. She laughed and asked if we visited a coffee shop. I told her about how it was my 43rd birthday and we got a space cake from a coffee shop near our hotel in Haarlem. Then she told me about how she and the other vet went to Amsterdam with their husbands and the husbands wanted to visit a coffee shop. It may seem silly to mention this, but remember, I’ve been visiting this lady for the past two years, often more than once a month. And this was very close to a friendly conversation! In fact, it was probably the longest chat we’ve ever had.

Having lived in Germany for a total of about four and a half years, I have come to realize that Germans, by and large, can take awhile to warm up. But once they do, you start to see a very appealing side of them. As we continued chatting, we started talking about politics and the vet amazed me by showing that she knows as much or more about American politics than I do. I would be hard pressed to know much about German politics, although I did read yesterday that Germany has just loosened up the regulations on the use of medical cannabis. So we chatted a bit about that… and I would not be surprised if she was surprised that I knew about the new medical cannabis legislation in Germany (which I think is a great thing).

Another thing I’ve learned during the two times I’ve lived here is that dogs can be excellent ambassadors. I have met more Germans because of my dogs than I have in any other circumstance. That was true when we were living here last time, too. Our dog, Flea, actually got our first German neighbors talking to us after we’d lived next to them for over six months. And when Bill and I ran into them last spring, they asked about our dogs (we have different ones this time).

I don’t know how long we’ll have with either Zane or Arran. But I can see that the vet really likes my dogs and is particularly fond of Zane. I could be wrong, but I think her opinion of me has changed a bit, too. Our frequent visits are now a lot less awkward than they were even just a few weeks ago. Who knew we’d bond over pot?

German lifestyle

The glory of German doughnuts and wine…

The bakery at our local Real had hot Berliners and Quarkinis today…

This morning, I had ambitious plans to find a new restaurant. I’ve been cooped up all week and thought I’d enjoy a nice lunch out somewhere. But then I looked outside, noticed the depressing weather, and decided today would be better spent in my nightie drinking wine. Bill did manage to talk me into going to the Real for a few necessary items. I tagged along while he dumped many bottles and traded in our plastic water bottles. My nose caught a whiff of something divine. The Sehne bakery at the Real was selling hot Berliners (Pfannkuchen) and Quarkinis. Plenty of people queued up to get theirs.

The Real was a bit of a madhouse today. Bill could tell I didn’t want to linger. They older I get, the less patience I have for crowds. So we hastily picked up what we needed and headed for the checkout. After we finished our shopping, I thought maybe the smell might entice Bill, but he walked right past the doughnuts. To make matters worse, while we were crossing the parking lot in the rain, the local chicken man’s stand was putting out tantalizing aromas of fresh rotisserie chicken. We didn’t get any chicken, either.

Having loaded up the car, Bill took a look at my face and asked what I wanted. I told him I wanted a Berliner. What can I say? When it comes to fresh pastries, I’m weak. He resolved to stop at the Sehne on the way home. We picked up a couple of Berliners and a few Quarkinis (which I had not tried before today). We also got a piece of cherry dream cake for the next time I get a sweet craving.

Although I’d never be able to say German doughnuts are “healthy”, I will say that they are not as sweet as what we’re used to in the States. The Quarkini, for example, is basically a fried dough ball made with quark cheese in the batter. But only the sugar it’s dipped in is sweet; the dough itself is not very sweet at all. Ditto for the Berliner, which today was filled with plum jam. Quark cheese is another food I’ve discovered since we’ve experienced Germany. I don’t generally like cheese that much, but I will admit quark is nice and mild, which is the way I like my cheeses when I do indulge.

Today’s treats! Unfortunately, these were not hot when we bought them, but they were very fresh.

As you can see, the inside of the Quarkini is not filled, but the quark cheese is in the batter itself. That was my first Quarkini and it was a hit! Just what I need… another treat to crave.

While we were shopping, I noticed several interesting German wines. I ended up picking up half a dozen new bottles, most of which were dirt cheap. German wines are a relatively new discovery for me. I have to admit that the last time we lived here, we hardly ever indulged in the local wines. That was a mistake. The Stuttgart area is German wine country and there are some great grapes here. The trick is knowing what to look for and having an open mind as well as open tastebuds.

Today, I discovered Schwarzriesling, something I never would have tried during our first German tour.

Last time we lived here, we were overly focused on German beer. While German beer is excellent, it mostly tastes the same, varying only by style rather than brewery. The wines, on the other hand, are more individually styled. And while we did have a few German wines we didn’t care for last time we were here, we have found quite a few this time that we love. For instance, we have become very fond of the Lemberger grape, which is a local favorite. We’ve gotten into Rieslings, too. I used to think they were too sweet, but I’ve found that German Rieslings typically aren’t as cloying as ones I’ve had from California.

Today, we even found a new grape to love. The wine pictured above is a Lauffener Schwarzriesling (12% ABV) and I am trying it today for the first time. It’s very fruity, but not very sweet. I love the taste of strawberries and cherries in this wine, but it also reminds me a little of cranberries. It went beautifully with my German doughnuts, and I bet it would also make a great accompaniment to Thanksgiving turkey. This wine is from Lauffen am Neckar, which is a town near Heilbronn here in Baden-Württemberg.

I was admittedly a little hesitant to get the Schwarzriesling because I don’t really like sweet wines, but at about 4 euros a bottle, I figured we could take the risk. As it turns out, this is not a sweet wine. We also found another Schwarzriesling that is labeled as dry (trocken). I’ll be interested to see how that one tastes. At the rate I’m going today, I’ll probably try it in a couple of hours. I don’t see myself going out in the weather today, especially since we’re going on vacation Friday.

Anyway… this little treat brightened my day considerably. May your day be similarly blessed with something yummy.

Baden-Württemberg

New Year’s in Jettingen!

I was both kind of looking forward to and dreading another New Year’s Eve in Germany. Last time we lived here, we lived in a little town called Pfäffingen, which is very close to the college town of Tübingen. When we were here last time for New Year’s, Germans were out in the streets setting off lots of fireworks. It was very intense and went on for most of the evening and into the wee hours of the morning.

New Year’s Eve in Jettingen, by contrast, seemed pretty tame. It’s my guess that the snow put a damper on the festivities. There weren’t any fireworks to speak of until just before midnight. A lot of them came from houses in the distance from ours, though there were a few set off in our neighborhood. In Pfäffingen after New Year’s Eve, there were spent fireworks and debris scattered all over the place. In Jettingen, it seems like there would be much less.

Bill and I hung out in my big room and drank champagne. We never go out on New Year’s Eve. I guess by the time December 31st rolls around, we’re a little holidayed out. I kind of wish we’d gotten some fireworks, but the snow kind of kept us out of the stores.

The snow is slowly melting and soon everything will be a soggy mess. I’m kind of ready for the snow to go away, though. I’m ready for things to get back to normal. I’m also ready to plan our next trip, which I hope will be in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, here are a few photos I managed to snap last night. I wish they were more exciting. There’s always next year, though, and God willing, we won’t have to move again.

I got more photos than these, but honestly, they aren’t much to look at.

anecdotes, housekeeping tips

My kitchen annex…

I haven’t taken any photos of our little kitchen because, frankly, it’s a bit of a mess and I didn’t feel like cleaning it just so I could get a few pictures. But I did want to post a few photos of how we used one of the little rooms on the first floor. We have two small rooms down there that aren’t really suitable for bedrooms unless you have very small kids. I decided to turn one of them into a pantry.

I bought the refrigerator last week to supplement the small “dorm sized” one the landlords supplied. It’s an AEG model and so far, I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s a good size for two people and gives us a better place to store all the things that take up too much space in a little fridge. We put all the magnets we collected on our many trips on that fridge. I caught one of the neighbor kids looking through the window at them. 😉

The shelves I bought years ago at Rose’s. They are very sturdy wood and fold out conveniently. I usually use them for books, but we didn’t bring many books to Germany on account of our 5000 pound shipping limit. They make a great place for my china and some dry goods, along with bakeware that doesn’t fit in the kitchen cabinets. And you can also see the obligatory twenty pack crate of beer…

I bought this handy little cart from Amazon.de. The top opens up so you can store stuff under it. There are two drawers, room for wine storage, and space under the rack and drawers for other stuff. The wheels make it easy to move. Although this cart is pretty heavy, I think we’ll probably take it back to the States with us.

The vacuum is a Dirt Devil. I’m not all that happy with it because it has a design flaw. The on/off button is on the side of the machine, so if you accidentally run into the door or something, it shuts off. Also, the head isn’t powered, so it’s not that great for carpet. Luckily, we don’t have much carpet in this house.

Another shot of the shelves.

The other small room we’ve turned into the trash sorting room. In Germany, you have to sort your trash by what it is. It’s not just putting recyclables in a recycling bin. It’s separating paper, plastics, metals, biodegradables, and residual trash. That means having just one trash can isn’t feasible. I don’t mind separating trash, I guess, though I really need to find a single trash can with several compartments in it.

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: German culture