T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
The city center inMunichgets a little crazy for the last three days of carnival (Fasching). The locals don costumes and down lots of booze in one big street party (and at lots of littler parties). It’s fun to see an entire city party together. The costumes people were wearing were much more… themed than the … Read more
I almost forgot to tell you guys (although some of you have found it via the link in the sidebar) – a little while ago I started writing for the blog Europe String over at b5media. It’s the perfect outlet for the info I’ve learned after all these years of roaming around this continent (super … Read more
Who the hell convinced the Germans that orange cheese-like-food in a spray can is an essential part of the American diet? This stuff makes an appearance in every single “American Foods” section of every single grocery store in all of Germany. This is not a new thing, either – I remember seeing spray cheese at … Read more
1) Dr. Sara appeals to us all to write our congresspeople about how ridiculously lame we find it that we as Americans abroad are expected to pay taxes in two countries. Pretty much every other government in the world has figured out that this is a lame way to treat expats; hopefully this proposed bill … Read more
Yesterday evening we were honored to be guests at a traditional Scottish Burns Night, the essential ingredients for which are haggis, whisky (are you Scots out there appreciating my spelling?), and a little poetry. The men in kilts were just an added bonus. We learned a lot about Scottish culture while sipping on the delicious, … Read more
We live so close to a brewery that our neighborhood actually smells like brewing beer most days. It’s really a pleasant smell, but I’m still glad it doesn’t seem to reach all the way to our apartment. Right Said Fred is currently featured in a German commercial, performing I’m Too Sexy while shilling for Meister … Read more
After a 3-week wait (which by several accounts in quite short), Kabel Deutschland has finally deemed us worthy of giving them money in exchange for internet. Internet! In my home! Yayayayayay!!! I feel like doing a happy dance around the room, but then again that would require getting up from the computer. And I have … Read more
So as I mentioned in the last post, we are keeping busy doing all those annoying little things one must do upon arrival in a new country: paperwork, set up utilities, paperwork, get insurance, paperwork, sign up for a cell phone plan, paperwork… We decided to get contracts with the cell phone provider O2, since … Read more
Still alive, still unpacking, still no internet at home. A trip to Ikea is long overdue (at least Ikea sells the same furniture all over the world, so our new German furniture will go perfectly with our Italian, Swiss, and American furniture). Another thing we need to take care of is choosing a German cell … Read more
I think I’ve finally done it: I’ve gotten “grüezi” out of my system. After merely a week, I’m able to walk into a shop in Munich and not automatically blurt out the Swiss greeting. It’s actually not too hard here, since the standard greeting in Bavaria is “Gruβ Gott!”, which starts out a bit like … Read more