Tag Archives: German trash system

German lifestyle, Hessen, services

Yea for bulk pick up service!

Featured photo is AI generated, because I didn’t think to get a photo of our pile of discards this morning…

It’s about 9:00 AM, and a truck has already come here to pick up most of our bulky discards. This excites me, because that stuff has been cluttering the house for years. I’ve been bugging Bill to get rid of the old freezer he bought from a former co-worker for at least five years. He bought it in 2017 or so, when we lived in the old house, and it quit working in 2019 or so. It probably just needed a new freon bottle, but it seemed like that was more trouble than it was worth, so we never bothered. But it was a large appliance taking up space, collecting dust, and reminding me of yet another time when Bill should have listened to his woman. 🤨

I’m kidding, of course. He listens to me all the time. He just didn’t in that instance.

We also got rid of two US spec TVs that still work, but are outdated and not quite perfect. One was purchased in 2007 or so, when we lived in the Stuttgart area. The other was purchased at a Target in San Antonio. It was fine, until last year, when it became impossible to remove graphics from the screen. It bugged me enough that we got a new TV. The old one was collecting dust in the basement, next to the broken freezer.

At this writing, we’re still waiting for the trash pick up to get our old king sized mattress. That thing was a real bitch to move out of the house, mainly because it has no handles. We’d put it in Noyzi’s room after we replaced the old mattress. Last night, Bill and pushed that thing down the hall, and down the steps. It got hung up on the downstairs ceiling, but with some elbow grease and muscle power, we finally got it out the front door.

Bill’s two friends and co-workers came and helped us out last night, getting the freezer out of the basement. Bill had already taken the door off and removed the drawers. When they were picking up the freezer, the freon bottle released a puff of gas, which got Bill in the face. He wasn’t any worse for wear.

Noyzi and Charlie were absolutely DELIGHTED to meet Bill’s co-workers. I was so proud of Noyzi, especially, because there was a time when he was absolutely terrified of men. Now, he loves everybody. He’s learned that people are mostly good. And Charlie, of course, was his usual social self. He likes men, so he was very happy to meet the guys last night, both of whom are dog lovers, too! One of Bill’s friends noticed Charlie’s eyes staring out from a crack in the door. It was so cute. I wish I’d gotten a photo.

Now, as I look around the house, I see other items that need to be ditched. Bill says we can get stuff picked up four times per year. I don’t think we’ve ever had a bulk trash pickup in all the years we’ve lived over here, but it sure is a nice service. I see our next door neighbor is also ditching some stuff today, including a mattress.

I’m not sure what will happen next year. It’s entirely possible that we may have to move next year, but that’s true of any year. It’s a fact of life, when you’re in the military lifestyle– even after retirement. But it’s good to know that it’s easy to schedule these things, and they work out so well. There’s an app that is simple to use for scheduling. I have a feeling we’ll be using it again soon!

I’m not sure if this service is available everywhere. My German friend, who lives down near Stuttgart, says that it’s not available where she lives. It probably depends on the county. I’m sure she’ll tell me the scoop.

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anecdotes, German lifestyle, Sundays

A weekend at home…

Although we had somewhat decent weather over the weekend, Bill and I decided to stay home and take care of a few chores. Or, actually, Bill did chores, and I made anti-Trump song parodies based on old songs by Blondie.

On Friday of this week, our old mattress, along with a freezer Bill bought from a former co-worker in Stuttgart, and a few other odds and ends, will be picked up and hauled somewhere. Since the freezer is tall, cumbersome, and heavy, Bill decided to disassemble the freezer as much as possible. He took off the door, and removed the drawers.

He also went out to buy more dog food, and while he was out, acquired a couple of large plastic bins. He put our Christmas stuff into the bins, and cleared out more junk that needs to be discarded or donated. Our basement looks a lot better now, and I look forward to having the space that will be made once we get rid of the freezer, which hasn’t worked since 2019.

Back in 2017, when we still lived near Stuttgart, I had suggested to Bill that maybe we should buy a stand alone freezer. That was because the house we lived in only had a tiny “dorm sized” fridge, with no freezer space to speak of. That fridge also barely worked, and though the landlady had presumably provided it, she accused us of DUMPING it on her when we moved out, and stealing our own fridge, which I purchased when we moved into that house. Anyway, instead of buying a new freezer, Bill decided to help out his buddy, an enthusiastic hunter, who was moving back to the States. He bought one of the three freezers the guy was unloading.

I was actually against that idea, since in my experience, used appliances don’t always work so well in the long run. We could also afford to get a new freezer, and I would have chosen a smaller freezer, in any case. But anyway, that freezer worked for a couple of years. It was a lot bigger than what we needed. And then, in 2019, it stopped functioning. It’s been taking up space in our basement ever since.

Aside from cleaning up the basement and dismantling the freezer, Bill also made homemade tomato sauce for pasta, which we’ll probably have tonight, and he brewed another batch of beer. It always amazes me how domestic my husband is, especially considering his background, and the fact that he actually has a wife who stays home. Some of the tomatoes were supplied by our landlord, who brought them over yesterday morning, while I was sitting on the toilet. It took me a moment to get to the door, and he was afraid he’d gotten me out of bed! Not quite! We also have a lot of cherry tomatoes from Bill’s gardening efforts over the summer.

Not surprisingly, the weather has gotten a lot cooler. That new air conditioner we bought last week is now becoming a lot less necessary, although we still use it at night, if only because the noise makes it easier to sleep. The new mattress is also an enormous improvement, although I’m finding that we need to break it in. Or maybe I need to get a new topper for it. Maybe next time Bill schedules a bulk trash pick up, we’ll get rid of the topper, along with the old sun umbrella in our garage, and maybe the air conditioner we replaced.

Bill also worked on lining up interviews for the C.G. Jung Institute. He has to go to Switzerland and have in person interviews with three analysts before he can complete the application process. Lining up the appointments hasn’t been easy, as two of the analysts are in ZĂĽrich, and one is in Lausanne. But he’s planning an overnight trip to Lausanne next week. Then, in October, he will travel to ZĂĽrich again for the other two appointments, as the analysts there have offices within walking distance of each other. I may go with him on the trip to ZĂĽrich, since it might also give me a chance to see Dr. Blair in Stuttgart and get my teeth cleaned. Bill has to pay for the interviews in Switzerland. But he’s so excited and interested in the program, that he’s willing to jump through the hoops.

The featured photo is of the rose bush in the backyard. It has a few blossoms. It’s been known to produce flowers until December, but this year, I think it will go dormant early. Our neighbor’s apple tree, which usually dumps apples all over the yard, is also pretty sparse in fruit production this year. That’s okay with me, since the apples that fall in the yard are usually eaten up by worms and such. There is no doubt about it, though… autumn is rapidly approaching.

Every German house we’ve lived in has had at least one rose bush– and they’ve all been different colors! Our first house had pink ones; second house had yellow ones; and here, we have red roses. The red ones are my favorites. I think this house might be my favorite, too, which makes sense, since it’s also the most expensive of the three!

This isn’t the most exciting post, I know… but on a more interesting note, Bill and I are going to Budapest, Hungary on September 7th, and we’ll be there until the 13th. So the travel blog will be waking up again soon.

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anecdotes

The German trash system…

I wrote this two weeks after I posted about our first two months in Germany.  I was feeling a little flummoxed about the way things are done in Deutschland.  I’m not sure I ever did quite get the hang of the trash system.  ETA: In 2020, now I know…

Five trashy things in Germany I haven’t yet figured out…

Nov 30, 2007 (Updated Dec 3, 2007)

The Bottom Line Someday, before we go back to the States, I hope I will have mastered the rubbish system here in Germany.

My husband Bill and I have now been living in Germany for about ten weeks. During that time, our bodies have become accustomed to the new time zone. Our eyes have become used to the new landscape, which actually looks a lot like the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where my family is from. Our intestines have gotten acclimated to the new water and food. I know this is TMI, but I, for one, have only suffered from a truly nasty case of traveller’s diarrhea once since our arrival. Wish I could say that about my time in Armenia about ten years ago.

Anyway, I think Bill and I have gotten used to a lot of things in Germany. Unfortunately, there are still a few things we haven’t yet gotten the hang of…

5. Our compost heap- It seems that many of our German neighbors are fond of composting their natural waste. It makes sense and of course, makes for some great topsoil for the spring. We have a compost heap in our back yard. I sort of get the concept of it. It looks like a tall wooden crate/box divided into two parts and surrounded by chicken wire. Bill says we’re supposed to put natural waste like leaves, rotten fruits and vegetables, coffee grounds, grass clippings, and animal excrement on the heap. Then, on a regular basis, we’re supposed to rotate the heap so that the stuff turns into nice soil. Well, suffice it to say, our heap is a mess. It’s not entirely our fault. It was a mess when we moved in. We thought we’d be living in an apartment when we moved here, so we didn’t bring our garden tools and haven’t gotten around to buying new ones yet. Consequently, the compost heap is close to overflowing and I’m really missing our good old fashioned trash compactor.

4. The concept of residual waste- Here in Germany, trash must be separated into several different categories. That’s different than how it is in the United States, where we have big bins to put all of our trash and a separate container for all recyclables. Our landlord was kind enough to tell Bill where he needed to go to get our container for so-called “residual waste” after he paid about ten euro for a sticker from the local government. Bill came back with a short, squatty little plastic container that looks like it can handle about twelve liters of “residual waste”. He put the government sticker on the little trash can said the container was given to us based on the needs of our landlord’s family over the years. At first, I was pretty perplexed, but then I realized the little can was only for “residual waste”, and not for paper, natural garbage, plastic, metal, or glass. Apparently there aren’t too many things that really qualify as “residual waste” and that’s why the can is so small. The only problem is, I haven’t yet figured out exactly what residual waste is if it’s not any of the aforementioned things.

3. The trash schedule- Back home, our trash was picked up on Mondays and Thursdays. The truck picked up bulk items and recyclables as well as regular trash on Mondays, while Thursdays were just for regular trash. Frankly, we didn’t really need to have our trash picked up so often. Here in our little German town, however, different kinds of trash are picked up on different days. One day, only paper can be collected. Another day, it’s residual waste. Another day, it’s plastic and metal. And God help you if you screw up and put the wrong type of trash out on the wrong day. That’s a big no no!

2. Bulk items and packaging our trash- Bill and I moved into our house about a month ago and our stuff was packed in lots and lots of cardboard boxes. It took about a week to unpack everything. Thank God we didn’t bring all of our stuff. After we were done, we were left with plenty of flattened boxes. Our landlord told us that we could order bulk items to be picked up. Bill noticed that people would leave their cardboard boxes out when it was time for paper to be picked up, but never a big pile like what we have. And I wonder, if I put out my paper, is it okay to put it in a plastic sack? Or will I get yelled at in German for that?

1. The Gelbe Sack- For some reason, when it’s time to pack up our plastic and metal trash, it’s all supposed to go in a special yellow plastic sack called the Gelbe Sack. The Gelbe Sack looks like a thin yellow Hefty bag. We load all of qualifying trash into the bag and set it out for the trash collectors on the appointed date set on a special calendar. I wonder why plastic and metal gets a special sack, but other types of trash don’t. It seems like it would make life easier for us idiots who need special help to figure out the trash situation here in Germany. I also wonder what I’m supposed to do with trash that qualifies as paper and plastic. What about those cartons that are mostly made of paper but have a plastic spout? Or worse, what if they’re made of paper and foil and have a plastic spout? Which trash container should something like that go in? Or is that residual waste?

After a few trial and error missions, we did finally figure out what to do with our glass and plastic bottles. Racks of bottles can be taken to local stores, where they get fed into a machine that spits out a receipt. The receipt can be used against the deposit for a new rack of bottles of beer, soda, water, or what have you. It’s actually pretty cool. Turning in our bottles reminds me of dumping out spare change at the CoinStar. The machine senses how many bottles there are, what they’re made of, and gives you a chit accordingly. For loose bottles and containers, there’s a neighborhood place where glass bottles can be dropped off. The drop off bin requires people to separate the glass by color. But since dropping off glass bottles can be noisy, it’s not supposed to be done during German quiet hours or on Sundays. We haven’t yet found the drop off in our neighborhood, but when we do, I hope it’s at an appropriate time of day!

Bill and I talked to our landlord about our confusion last week. He took us out to dinner at a charming restaurant in Tubingen, which is the city closest to where we live. The landlord chuckled and said that Germans separate all of their garbage, but no one knows if it actually gets recycled or someone just burns it. I thought that was a pretty funny comment.

As for now, I told Bill that we need to come up with some sort of system. We’ve got a bunch of different trash bags in our house and two big trash cans. Stuff gets all intermingled and when it’s time to take out the trash, it’s a big mess. We need one of those compartmentalized bins that will make it easier to separate everything. As it is right this moment, I’m up to @ss in different kinds of rubbish and it’s making me feel like garbage!

Another view from our yard…  I really miss Germany!
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anecdotes

Our first two months in Germany…

I wrote this two months after we moved to Germany in 2007.  As it is a personal essay about our lives overseas, it seems fitting to repost it here before Epinions goes away forever.  Hope you enjoy… and I hope I can write about a new travel experience sooner rather than later.

Our first two months in Germany…

Nov 16, 2007 (Updated Nov 17, 2007)

The Bottom Line Every new country brings with it a wealth of different experiences, good and bad.

Today is a very important day for me and my husband, Bill. First of all, today is our fifth wedding anniversary. That’s right. Five years ago today, it was a rainy Saturday morning and Bill and I took the plunge into holy matrimony on the campus of Virginia Military Institute. I re-entered life as a military dependent and Bill gave marriage another try. Happy anniversary, Bill. You are the love I never thought I’d find.

Today is also an important day because it happens to mark the end of our second month in Stuttgart, Germany. I am not a stranger to living life abroad. Before I lived in Germany, I also lived in England and the Republic of Armenia. Granted, I lived in England as a small child; my first memories are of my dad’s swan song as an Air Force lieutenant colonel based at Mildenhall Air Force Base. I lived in Armenia as a Peace Corps Volunteer, where I tried to work to better other people’s lives while I tried to better my own. And now, I’m living in Germany as my husband’s spouse. I don’t have any specific purpose for being here, other than to be a family member.

Because I had both lived abroad before and traveled through Germany, I thought I would have some idea of what to expect. But the truth is, every country is different, and with every different country one experiences, a certain amount of adjustment is to be expected. It seems to me that no matter how much I prepare for that initial culture shock, it still happens.

We left the United States on September 16th. It was just me and Bill and our two beagles, Flea and MacGregor. I was worried about flying with the dogs, but they probably handled the flight better than I did. We landed at the big airport in Frankfurt in mid morning. I was tired, hungry, and cranky. I was not able to sleep on the flight thanks to the seat kicker sitting behind me and the reclining dude sitting in front of me. I was also not able to stomach the airline cuisine served on United Airlines.

Once we got off the airplane, our first concern was finding Flea and MacGregor. Bill approached an airport official to find out where the oversized baggage was being offloaded. He needn’t have bothered. As it turned out, all we needed to do was follow the sound of Flea’s incessant howling, which could be heard all through the baggage claim. We found our two dogs being watched over by a couple of confused looking Germans who welcomed us to take the dogs out of their custody.

A very efficient veterinary inspector came over to check the dogs’ paperwork and make sure they were microchipped. We passed inspection, but she admonished us to get bigger carriers for our dogs if we planned to fly them back to the U.S. As we soon found out, Germans love their animals, especially dogs. As long as they’re well-behaved, that is.

Bill had gone to get us a rental car and I was left with a mountain of luggage and the two dogs. Flea was pitching a big fit about being in his carrier. MacGregor, by contrast, was happy as a clam in his little portable den. He was able to watch the world go by at a safe distance. Flea was howling up a storm, causing people to give me looks that ranged from the quizzical to the annoyed. At first, I thought it would be more practical to keep the dogs in their crates so that I could keep my hands free. But Flea was so upset that I finally pulled him out of the carrier and put him on his leash. He searched the crowds of people, looking for Bill and howling only slightly less. A couple of intrepid Germans tried to converse with me about the dogs, but alas, I don’t speak the language. Thank God MacGregor was laid back in the airport.

It wasn’t long before Bill and I were ready to head south toward Stuttgart. I was plenty happy to let Bill tackle driving on the autobahn. By the time we started the trip to Stuttgart, my body was starting to give in to the need for sleep. I sat in the front seat of our rented minivan and dozed, alternately trying to get a radio station I liked. I chose a station that seemed okay and dozed off for a few minutes, only to wake up with an annoyed start.

“Every song on this station sounds like a Mentos commercial!” I snapped, as I searched for a station that would play American classic rock. Those who like German pop music, please forgive me for my initial violent reaction. Bear in mind, at this point I was sleep deprived, hungry, and decidedly irritable. We hadn’t had a chance to get a snack in the airport because we were in a hurry to put an end to Flea’s concert in the baggage claim. Peppy German pop music was the last thing I wanted to hear at that point.

We finally got to the Stuttgart area, but Bill got lost trying to find Patch Barracks, which is where our sponsor’s wife was supposed to meet us. When we did finally find the post, we found that our sponsor’s wife had stood us up. It wasn’t really her fault. We were a little later than we expected to be, mainly because we were looking for Vaihingen and it turns out there are a couple of places called Vaihingen near Stuttgart. Bill went to the military police checkpoint and called someone from his new office, who helped us find the Marriott hotel.

Flea and MacGregor were well received at the Marriott. One elderly gentleman seemed particularly enchanted with Flea. He stroked him over and over again, giving him lots of affection. We spent less than 24 hours at the Marriott, but it was long enough for us to find out that finding housing in the Stuttgart area can be quite a challenge for many people. I spoke to one lady who said she’d been housed in that hotel for over five weeks.

The next day, we moved into a German hotel, run by an affable man of Albanian descent who had grown up in Montenegro. The staff was a lot of fun to watch because they behaved like a big dysfunctional family. The Hotel Vaihinger Hof is very popular with Americans because it’s very close to Patch Barracks and relatively cheap. My initial reaction to the hotel was not a favorable one, but it grew on me quickly, mainly because I liked the staff. There was a young guy who worked there as a handyman who loved both of our dogs, even MacGregor, who is very shy and will rarely let strangers pet him. The handyman was also very fond of hanging out in the hotel restaurant and drinking a lot of the excellent German draft beer. Luckily, he was a friendly and funny drunk.

Bill and I spent six weeks at the Vaihinger Hof and over the course of those weeks, we witnessed a wide variety of guests. The most exciting ones would have to be the Polish professional cycling team who stayed an entire week. They pretty much took over the hotel and its parking lot, setting up a training area where they practiced riding on stationary bicycles. We could tell the Polish cyclists were stressing out the innkeeper because they were dumping strange chemicals into the drainage system and using up a lot of water and electricity.

I overheard the maid complaining about one room getting really trashed because a couple of the cyclists had indulged in too much alcohol. It wasn’t long before I learned the word –krank– the German word for sick. The maid used it several times as she spoke emphatically and publicly about the trashed room. The cyclists also left evidence of being krank in the hotel’s parking lot… Unfortunately, I had to restrain Flea and MacGregor from trying to help clean up the mess.

A couple of weeks after that, I became krank myself with my first nasty cold/flu. The hotel staff was very nice to me. The maid, who spoke no English, would ask me every morning how I was. One night, the restaurant staff put together a huge tray of food for us when Bill went down to ask them if he could get some food to take to me. I was too sick to eat in the restaurant. Flea and MacGregor were plenty excited that they could share our scraps. They’re still not civil enough to go to restaurants with us.

There was another American family staying at the hotel with us. They had been in the hotel since August. At this writing, that same family is still living at the Vaihinger Hof. They have found a house, but it’s not available until the first of the year. The wife in this family is a dentist by training, but now spends her days homeschooling her three kids in the three hotel rooms allocated to them. We both commiserated. Sometimes living in a hotel can make one feel a bit like a refugee.

Bill and I spent a lot of time watching international CNN at first, but for some reason, we lost CNN about halfway through our stay. Flipping through the German stations on our TV, we noticed a few familiar American shows dubbed into German, as well as some German shows that seemed to be based on American concepts. For instance, we found a German version of America’s Got Talent. We also found a fascinating German reality show called Our New Life, which featured stories about German families who moved to other countries. And we became fans of the German version of the game show, Cash Cab, which is called Quiz Taxi here. Watching German TV is not a bad way to pick up a few words of German here and there.

When it comes to finding a home, Bill and I have been luckier than some of our American colleagues. With the help of the extremely overworked and understaffed housing office at Panzer Barracks, we managed to find a beautiful home in the little town of Ammerbuch-Pfaffingen. Bill signed the lease in mid October, but we could not move in until the first of November. In accordance with German law, our new home had to be painted before we could take possession of it. By the end of October, Bill and I had found several favorite restaurants in the vicinity of the Vaihinger Hof.

We would often go to a lovely restaurant called Pizzeria Michelle when we were in the mood for good Italian food. As far as we could tell, the place was run by an Italian family. There was one lovely lady who served us every time we ate there. It was this lady who introduced me to the wonders of panna cotta, a dessert I had never experienced before we came to Germany.

We also found a great Greek place, where the owner would always greet us with a hearty Guten Abend! when we’d come in for an evening meal. The first time we ate there, I ordered an expensive fish dish. It seemed that not many people ordered this particular fish. We waited a long time the entree to come out, but when it finally did, I was very impressed. The owner brought it out, showing it off to a few other patrons as he brought it to our table with much fanfare. The fish had been slowly grilled whole and was accented with a delicious balsamic vinegar sauce. It was a wonderful treat. We would visit that restaurant again several times and each time, I’d order a different fish dish, satisfying my cravings for delights from the water.

And yes, we had a favorite German restaurant, too, where I enjoyed wonderful duck adorned with mandarin oranges and sauteed vegetables. We quaffed fantastic dunkelweizen beer, while Bill enjoyed his tender sauerbraten. We ate some good food in October, but to be honest, Bill and I got pretty sick of eating in restaurants. We both like to cook and neither of us needs the extra calories that come from restaurant meals.

Now, we’re living in our house. Our landlord is a very nice guy who speaks English beautifully. I can stand on our deck and look out over a vast field. To the east, there’s a big hill with a church atop it. To the south, there’s another hill where horses graze. I can see a riding school from my windows, which is bittersweet sight for me, since I spent my childhood riding horses and haven’t been in the saddle on a consistent basis since 1990.

At this point, we’re still trying to figure out the trash system and get used to driving in Germany. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say in the coming weeks about our cross-cultural experiences. For now, it’s just interesting to take in all of the different sights and sounds of our host country… and marvel at the fact that there’s already snow on the ground in November!

The view from our backyard in Germany.  Wurmlinger Chapel is on the hill.
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