Am I settling in yet?!

That is a very good question.  I spent the morning writing my grocery list in German, most of it I knew but there were a few items I had no idea about.  Then I spent a half hour trying to figure out what to buy for sour creme.  As noted by others the translation is Sauer Rahm, or sauer Sahne; howerver, they SHOULD NOT be confused with what I am looking for.  I have used Quark which is thicker than the sour tasting cream above but in my hunting I found that there is something called Schmand.  I will look for that and see if this part of life gets any easier.  grrr

Last night Dave and I went out with another American. I was actually feeling a bit normal. If that makes sense.  We took the U-Bahn (subway) into the Alt Stadt for a nice Italian dinner.  Well I ordered a glass of Cabernet.  Easy I thought. I knew I didn't screw that up.  The waiter brings me a Chardonnay. Hmm am I losing my mind - in my talking away (which I haven't done much of here of late) did I get distracted and ordered a white wine?  Nope the guys said I had not.  The waiter left and returned later with my Cabernet, only to tease me the rest of the night saying CHARDonnay hmm and I said back, with a smile, CABernet. I get it and actually it was kind of funny after a bit.  The older Italian waiter would be walking buy and grab my shoulder and say chardonnay, through out the evening.  I think I will go back this weekend and order a CHARDonnay just to mess with him ha ha. So...we had a nice dinner, a couple of drinks and then headed out for Gelato...good choice. We decided to walk home and stopped on the way for a nightcap. Here they open the walls on the street so even when you're inside you feel as though you are outside.  I decided to try a Caipirini or something like that. The national drink of Brazil. It too was good but did give me a bit of headache today.

So here is a rather funny story relating to the German grocery store...I think I have mentioned in an early post that it really isn't the German way to buy more than a few items at a time.  You get bumped with the cart behind you and the idea of personal space is practically non-existent.  And, they take your items and fly them through the scanner expecting you to throw them all back into your cart - don't take time to bag them in the bags you brought - you do that later, out of the way of the hurried German folk behind you in line.  Need I digress, soooo the gentleman we had dinner with came up with a BRILLIANT plan, did I say brilliant?  He scratches the bar code (not the numbers) so that the 2nd or 3rd item from the end will not scan and the cashier as to slow down and punch in the numbers, giving him enough time to load his goods and get his money out.  I laughed so hard I almost feel out of the chair.  Then get this, he told his German co-workers and they all sat their with their mouths open.  I said you have lost the respect now.  But after a moment and lifting up his jaw one of the German's indeed said it was a brilliant plan!  Oh the simple things in life.

It is rather interesting to me...I think I have way too much time on my hands. But all of this is wonderful, don't get me wrong. I am blessed to be here and able to see the world. But... and here it comes...I don't want to sound ungrateful....but...when the things in life that bring you the most joy are God and family and it is hard to find a church (in English with English speaking people) and your children and extended family are not with (and yes I mean the dog too) it can be very unsettling - To displace from a settled condition; disrupt. So maybe I am not settling in, but I am taking it all in day by day, or one dinner out at a time, and maybe at some point things well feel more "normal".


I am at least going to be a bit braver at the grocery store!


tschüss