Musings on German Life (so far…)

Hello! I apologize for not having written in over a week. I’m still getting settled into my new German home and daily life as an au pair.

In the short bit of time that I have spent in Germany so far, I have noticed quite a few similarities and differences between Germany and the US (and Spain thrown in there, too, for comparison’s sake)

I’m sure I’ll think of things to add to the list as I spend more time in Germany, but I wanted to put out what I have noticed thus far.

So, without further adieu, here are my musings on German life (so far..)

• Meal times in Germany are quite similar to those in the US. Lunch is between 12 and 1 with dinner around 6 or 7. Dinner is later on the weekends, but nowhere near as late as dinner in Spain…
• Breakfast, like the US, is either toast or cereal (muesli).
• Germans take their muesli (aka granola) VERY seriously. There are approximately 12,375 different varieties of it at the local grocery store.
• Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, comparable to the American dinner. It is a warm meal, consisting of a protein and a starch and a vegetable. (aka not very different than a supper in the midwest)
• Dinner, then, is like lunch. Literally, Abendbrot means “evening bread.” It’s generally cold, and consists of bread, cheese, deli meats, veggies, nutella, jams, or whatever you want to put on your bread.
• Germans take their bread and cheese quite seriously. Fresh rolls from the bakery plus so many different types of cheese equals a happy me.
• With that, though, I eat a LOT of carbs here. Especially due to that evening bread.
• Pretzels and wurst are as common as the stereotype makes you think…

• This is just a general Europe thing, but manual cars are the most common. Not the easiest thing to learn for someone who has never driven one before in her life, but I’m down to not killing the car TOOOO often these days.
• Kids go to kindergarten for several years. I assumed that they had one year of it like in the US. NOT! It’s more comparable to daycare, I guess.
• People are super friendly here! Forget that stoic German stereotype! I just wish I knew what they were all saying to me in line at the grocery store or walking around! 😉
• Although so many people know English, they don’t always feel comfortable speaking it. This may be because I’m in a small town now, so I will have to see once I move to Bremen in a couple of months.
• Style here is a step (or several steps) up from American style, but a step or two down from Spain/Italy/France…They are more practical with style here.
• A top sheet on the bed isn’t very common. I first thought that this was just something that my host family did, but I looked it up, and it’s a German thing. You have the fitted sheet on the bed and then a duvet.
• House shoes (slippers, more or less depending on where you are) are a big deal. You can’t wear your outside shoes inside at your house, at schools, at the gym, etc.
• Rain pants are also a big deal. In addition to your rain boots and rain jacket, German kids often wear rain pants when it’s raining or when they are playing in the sand.
• Germans are quite direct. Maybe not so much as Spaniards (who will nickname you “gordita” if you are a little chubby), but more than Americans.
• I don’t think there’s sales tax here. Or if there is, it is already included in the price. I like!
• Gas is crazy expensive here. At 1,30 euros per liter, that’s close to 6.50$ per gallon. My host dad told me today that they have more taxes here on gas to discourage so much gas consumption by cars so that people are more likely to favor public transportation in this way. In the US, it isn’t always possible to go by public transportation, and our systems in America are nowhere near that of Europe.
• Germans are serious about recycling (aka my heaven!!) They have 4+ bins. For waste, compost, paper, plastic, glass, metal… I think there may be more, but I really don’t know what else there could be!! 😉
• Sustainability in general is more of an interest here than in the US. Smaller cars, many houses with solar panels on their roofs, the gas tax, a lot of walking/riding bikes, pellet heaters…The US needs to catch up on this.
• Free bathrooms and drinking fountains (water in general) are not the easiest to come by.
• Germans are avid board game players. Even the library has a large selection of board games to check out. Der Siedler von Catan/The Settlers of Catan is one of the more popular choices. I have no idea how this one works. The older girl I au pair for has the junior version and wanted to play it one night. I’m 1000% certain that we weren’t playing it correctly.
• They don’t have a siesta here like Spain and Italy do, but store hours on Sundays are either limited or nonexistent.
• They have seriously hard/mineralized water here, and my hair is retaliating.
• Pharmacies are called Apothekes. How awesome is that??! No? Just me? That’s okay.

Oh, look!

It’s the bodensee with the alps in the background. I think that’s actually Switzerland over there.

Not a bad view for the next few months, no?

I promise, I’ll catch you up soon on what all I’ve been up to so far!

Living in the SW US

One of the best parts of my job was the location. Navajo Lake is gorgeous, but it’s location near the Four Corners also made it the perfect spot for a “weekend” getaway (our weekends were either M/T or W/Th).

I got to explore Santa Fe when I first made it to the state for my orientation/training. It was so strange to see such old buildings in America, like the below pic of the oldest house in America.

I spent several afternoons and days off at the lake, doing some cliff jumping.

We were an hour away from Durango, CO, so I went up there a couple of times.

A friend of mine went to the Bisti Wilderness, which is this badlands area between where I was and Albuquerque, and after I saw pictures, I knew that I had to check it out. It completely felt like a different planet..

One of my favorite trips was this hike near Silverton, CO. The Ice Lake Trail, although ridiculously strenuous for someone not acclimated to that altitude (MEEE!), it was utterly gorgeous. I wished that I could have made the time to do it again, but I’m so glad that I was at least able to do it the one time.

My least favorite side trip was to Mesa Verde. If you are a history-buff, I’d say to do it, but I’m more into hiking and scenery.. Hiking is VERY limited in this park. It was still nice to see, but I wouldn’t be tearing my arm off any time soon just to go again.

Lake Powell—the lake we hated to hear by boaters as the last lake they were on (it usually meant that they needed a decontamination…the lake is contaminated)—was such a fun trip. The lake itself is amazing but the area is even more incredible.

Ever since seeing pictures of the horseshoe bend of the Colorado River, I needed to know where it was. I thought that it was somewhere in the Grand Canyon but was so pleased and surprised to find out that it was just a couple miles from Lake Powell.

Favorite part of that trip, though, was EASILY Antelope Canyon. This is not a cheap attraction. I decided to do the cheaper lower canyon which is still 28$ per person for a 1-hour tour. As cheap as I am when it comes to sightseeing, I can whole-heartedly say that it was so, so worth it. The tour came closer to 1.5 hours, and I took at least 500 pictures during that time.

I think the funnest thing about Lake Powell was that there were literally SOOO. MANY. GERMANS. Here’s my breakdown: 50% German, 20% Italian, 10% French, 5% Spanish/Portuguese, 5% Asian, 10% American. I kid you not. I was in the minority.

I was at a fairly busy beach one day and I did not hear a single word of English during my time there. I thought it was just too funny because the other week I secured an au pair position in Germany and then there I was totally surrounded by Germans.

My last “big” trip was to Arches—something that I had to keep moving due to weather or something else that came up. So, my last “weekend” I drove up to Moab, UT, and got to soak that all in. I have to say, I was ever so slightly disappointed. I may have built it up in my head, and I mean, it was spectacular, but it was smaller than what I was expecting… And there weren’t a TON of hiking options (you could only go on the marked trails because of the crypto-biotic crust on the sand). I managed to see Delicate Arch—the most photographed arch in the world—at sunset, which was recommended and truly enjoyed that. At least 2-300 people were up there for the sunset, snapping away as the sun began to set and the rocks turned this golden color. Everyone trying to find the most obscure angle to get that perfect shot.

After my last couple of days and moving out of my tiny Casita RV, I made it to Ute Lake (the other location that the AIS Techs were) to spend a night before heading to Fort Worth to see some TCU friends I made while studying in Sevilla!

New Mexico

I wanted to give some of you guys an idea of what I spent my summer doing in New Mexico after graduation.

The actual pre-hiring process for this position went absolutely swimmingly. I sent in my application through neogov (super convenient since you don’t have to fill out a new application for every new job…) and expected to never hear back from them again (like the most of them).

But. I. did.

I got a call a week or so after applying. Then I had my interview while in the Smokies on a family vacation. I literally was running back from a hike and made it back in time to catch my breath before they called me.

Then the vacation went on and I heard back from them again as we were heading home.

Essentially I secured the whole thing while I was on vacation. It didn’t work out too badly, huh?!

Two weeks after getting home, I set off on a 21 hour road trip down to Santa Fe to do my training.

The route passed right through Denver, and I was so happy to see a couple of DU friends that I made while studying in Sevilla.

The title of my position is Aquatic Invasive Species Technician. It was through the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish if the title doesn’t impress you… Not too bad to have your first job with the government, no?!

What I did was essentially talk with boaters all day and make sure they knew about zebra mussels and quagga mussels. (Don’t get me started! I could write a page on them. Short summary? They’re bad news.)

I would then take a quick look at their boat and send them on their way to enjoy the lake. If they potentially were harboring AIS, we’d do a HOT water decon. Don’t ask me how many times I burned myself with that hose/water… (tooo many!)

I also got to go out on the lake to do water samples to make sure the lake was still mussel free (of the zebra and quagga variety..) which was always fun.

I think that it was definitely a good experience because I got to use a little bit of both of my majors (biology and Spanish), plus it is in the realm of aquatic conservation…always good to get a foot in the door!!

That’s all I wanted to write on that. Even if I had to deal with some unsavory folks every so often, the majority of the boaters were super friendly and I’ll miss it!

Oh, and I’ll miss the sunsets and sunrises made all the more dramatic due to the monsoon clouds!