I'd cut off my right arm for some home food right about now...

I haven't wrote on my blog in a while and decided that it was time for a new post. Chels wanted me to blog about European fashion, but I'm going to wait on that one until I take some pictures to prove my points. So what was the one thing on my mind all day so far? FOOD. I miss home food sooo soooooooo sooooooooooooo much that is almost HURTS. I don't think anyone understands how lucky we are at home unless you are a fan of this disgusting German food. We went to the food stand at Darin's game the other day and do you know what is displaying in the window? Not nachos oozing with cheese and other wonderful toppings, not Dominoes pizza just waiting to be devoured--nope. It is raw looking fish on a hard roll but about 50 raw onions piled on top. Seriously. I will take a picture next time I'm there to prove it. They have pretzels there too, hard and cold, without any cheese to dip it in. What kind of prison is this country living in?! I want Olive Garden salad. And a Chipotle burrito. I would love to walk in a store and pick up a bottle of Ranch dressing. I can't imagine living here all year with Darin without going home for at least a little while just so I can go eat good food again. I find myself getting crabby sometimes because I'm so damn hungry and nothing in this country satisfies me!

I guess on the bright side, it can be a blessing in disguise. ONLY because if I had all that good food here, I'd be eating it 24/7 and I don't move around here nearly as much as I do at home which means I'd probably come home 100 pounds bigger. I arrive home for a month December 1st and I can guarantee you that I am making every friend/family I see go out to eat with me. Possibly daily. I hope they are ready for this. Bring on the PIZZA HUT!

My Wonderful Observations About Germany

1. There are no screens in the windows here. They open their windows--and leave them wide open with no screens! It makes me uncomfortable because God knows how many spiders have crawled in. I have noticed that there are definitely not as many bugs here than there are at home. Regardless, the no screen thing is just weird to me.
2. They have ugly hair. Yes, I said it. I know I don't have the best hair. But, it looks the best over here! Call it what you want to call it, but no one here can do hair. Darin went to get his haircut last year and he got a mullet at first (before he demanded the tail to be taken off). I thought maybe it was just the city we were in. So I get here this year ready to find somewhere to get my highlights put it and I'm immediately warned by some of the women who have been here for years: DON'T DO IT. They have been to every place here. One girls blonde hair turned green. She went back 3 times to get it re-done. They don't understand the concept of highlights. They can make your hair purple. Or green. You can get spikes. Or the German favorite, the popular mullet. But other than that--you are screwed. Thank God one of the girls is a hair stylist from Jersey who brought her hair supply's here, she might have just saved my life :)
3. You're always in their way. You need to watch where they are walking. They don't mind running over you. And you don't get an excuse me or sorry.

There are many more observations, but I'll save them for another day :) OH--and the pictures of that beautiful flower car is definitely what we drive around in... very interesting, wouldn't you say? I know you are jealous you don't have flowers on the sides of your car...

A helpful hint for Germany

Deodorant was invented for a reason.

USE IT.

I'm so sick of everyone in this country smelling like B.O. How do you NOT notice it on yourself? Don't you people take pride in personal hygiene? The wonderful thing we like to call DEODORANT was invented for a purpose---so please people, start using it. If I walk by one more person who smells like a pile of shit, I don't know what I am going to do. UHHHHHHH.

Cruising along the Rhine River

The guys played away all weekend so a few of us girls decided to take a little trip. We went to Bacharach, Germany and took a day cruise from there on the Rhine River. It was by far the cutest small town I have been to over here. We started out our day in Bacharach by getting some lunch....an assorted cheese tray with lots of bread and a wine tasting carousel. You can never go wrong with cheese or wine, so life was perfect for me at that moment :) We got on the boat after that and continued our consumption of wine. It was a beautiful day outside so we went to the top deck of the boat and enjoyed the scenery from there. There were old castles all up and down the river.... you always see things like that in pictures, magazines or tv shows, but actually seeing it in person was an amazing experience. We ended the night at an Irish pub where the owner was very kind to us and showed us a great time.

Here are some pictures from the weekend, enjoy! :)

The best thing about Germany you ask?

Well, the best thing by far is the absolutely amazing kitty cat toilet seat we have in our apartment. I have never in my 24 years of life seen a toilet this awesome. I'm thinking about getting a professional artist to paint Tinkerbell Lucinda on my toilet at home!

A bar at a gym? Oh, that's normal.

Yesterday, Darin and I decided to go play Badminton at the gym. Now, I'm not really a "gym type of girl." I can't even remember the last time I was in a gym with the sole intention of working out. I'd much rather be taking a bike ride or taking a walk with some friends/family. Well, I walked in yesterday and guess what was staring right back at me? A fully stocked, huge, beautiful BAR. Even though I have a lack of knowledge about the gym environment, I know that a BAR--in a GYM--is highly unheard of in the U-S of A. I couldn't help but think, when people are done working out, sweating a ton, who in there right mind would quench their thirst with some whiskey? You naturally crave water....righhhhhhht?

Well, Darin and I started our badminton battle. And it was intense. I absolutely despise losing. He absolutely despises losing, and losing to a girl? He'd rather chew off his own arm than ever lose to me. I had never played before, so I can't say that I was good, or anything close to it. Of course he wouldn't let me come close to winning. I was ready to throw my racket straight at his head-- and anyone that knows my temper knows that I was about 5 seconds away from doing so. After losing my 6th game in a row, I was ready for a vodka drink. Now I understood why the bar was there-- those Germans were on to something with that idea...

Afterwards, as we were getting ready to leave, I needed some water before I passed out. It was the most I had moved in 2 weeks! I'm looking around for water fountains and there aren't any. I ask Darin where they are hiding the water and he tells me, "water isn't free!" It's not free--in a gym?! What kind of communism is that! So we had to go buy a glass of water. For 50 cents. Everyone at home--be grateful for your free water. You don't realize what a wonderful thing it is until you're on the verge of passing out at a gym. 

I got on the blog train....

Thanks to my wonderful friend Chelsea, I decided to start a blog about my time living in the wonderful country of Germany. Although "wonderful" might not be the best word to describe it. I can write---or rather ramble--on here as things happen instead of forgetting about them completely and not sharing my weird stories/observations with others. Everyone that knows me should know by now that my memory isn't exactly something to be proud of. So bear with me as I'm learning my way through the blogging world.

I have to share my first experience in a German movie theater. It was quite interesting. Every Monday they play an English movie. This week "Dark Knight" was playing and Darin and I decided to go with another couple from North America. We get there and we are given our assigned tickets. With assigned seats. But really, who would really follow assigned seats...in a movie theater of all places? We walk in and it's only half full, if that. We take random seats and what do you know? A couple walks in and kicks us out of our seats. Mind you, there was an open row in FRONT and BACK of us, and the fact that there were seats open on both sides of us as well didn't seem to appeal to them. But these Germans, they follow the rules and wanted THOSE SPECIFIC seats, so we moved. And laughed a little. Of course, us four North Americans didn't go to the seats we belonged in. That would just be too easy. We just moved a row back. And it's only natural that two girls walked in shortly after and we were occupying their seats too. Never mind the half open theater, apparently the assigned seats are a serious matter. We moved. Again to random seats. And this time, no one kicked us out. Halfway through the movie, it stops, the lights turn on. It's a break so everyone can go out and smoke a few darts. CIGARETTE BREAKS! None of us smoke those cancer sticks so we sat patiently waiting for the movie to return to the screen. 20 minutes later...it finally did. Now it might seem like I'm complaining. Maybe I am. But I mean, c'mon, it's complaining that's rightfully so!

The GOOD thing about this theater---yes, I did find a positive in this situation---were the seats. Amazing, comfortable, soft seats. Bravo to that Germany!