Amy & Adam's European Highlights

As some of you have asked, I wanted to provide our mailing address. I will put a little plug in here for pictures or postcards as we would love to add some color to our apartment.

(Our names)
Fichtenweg 28, Nr. 108
D-72076, Tübingen
GERMANY

When you live in Germany, you must register at the town hall. We had the pleasure of doing that yesterday - Adam with his files of important paperwork and German language skills - and me with my passport and smile. As the transaction was all in German, I very much had the feeling of being an out-of-place foreigner. When the conversation involved me and my name I grew red and hot but was unable to contribute. For whatever reason, the town hall frau was extremely confused that my middle name is the same as my maiden name. Apparently, this is not a system to which she is accustomed as she seemed to then question the validity of our marriage - asking adam for our marriage certificate. It never occurred to me that we would be asked to supply our flimsy piece of paper issued by the town hall of Bristol, RI. But, alas, in order to receive permission to work in Germany (for adam) and live in Germany (for me) past the 3 months granted to all Americans, they want proof that we are married.

I met with the extremely kind and helpful Melinda at the German-American Institute in town. She told me that unfortunately they do not have any paid positions available at this time due to the timing of the semesters and that we will be leaving town in February. However, she did promise to think of ways in which I could contribute meaningfully - by volunteering. Although it would be handy to have some extra €, I also welcome the opportunity to connect and work with others. She promised to email me with her suggestions. I should have an update soon. Also, she had a recommendation of a German class for me to enroll in which I will look into. I must admit it would be much easier if I could communicate better...

Our friend Stefanie upstairs continues to be a great resource and a quick friend. She shares a love of good food and conversation and is a strong and limit-pushing woman. A East German Protestant by birth, she married an Islamic man from Morocco. They met while Stefanie was working in France and she has shared many interesting stories with us. Currently, he is home visiting his family so we have yet to meet him.

One of my favorite activities is food shopping. There is an incredible market in the old town square at least three days a week (we are still trying to figure out the schedule). Thus far we have only purchased fresh red onions there but we intend to hit the market tomorrow. There are three grocery stores near us - one discount, one regular, and one with a nice selection of "bio" (organic) foods. As we are on a tight budget here, I have become, truly for the first time in my life, a frugal and creative shopper. Also, I am learning how to cook for two people instead of the family of six that I usually cook for in the states. We only have two electric burners (no stove) and our fridge is smaller than most college frat boys beer coolers. But it is fun. It feels a bit like an extended camping trip (in part because we are using our camping bowls) and the smallness of our kitchen supplies encourages me to be able to do my favorite activity- shop for food - every day. (Except Sundays when the markets are all closed). Although I can read only part of the labels, luckily I am able to select food here as there is a fairly universal packaging system on most goods. (Tea comes in certain boxes, pasta is pretty obvious, as is yogurt)...Oh, and I should mention that we are enjoying sampling the local wines and beer. Might I add that all the wine we have purchased is under €3 and the beer is under €1? Life here thus far is surprisingly simple and wonderful.

After being in Germany for a week now, I am struck by three traits held by many germans we have encountered.

First, they speak extremely quietly. At our first dinner out in Trier, Adam and I noticed that we had to keep our "indoor voice" to a low whisper as not to dominate the room. This penchant for soft-speaking is not reserved for dinning rooms only. When an older woman asked Adam to reach an item high on the shelf at the grocery store, she came up to him so quietly that he wondered if he was being spoken to. People speaking on cell phones on the street, parents lecturing their childeren, neighbors chatting on the street, they all speak at what I would consider is a volume slightly above, if not, a whisper. Having a voice that carries, I am constantly reminding myself to keep it down!

Second, Germans love exact change. When making any transaction that involves money, the person with whom we are making the transaction inevitably asks if we have a different combination of change than we provided. Now, I am not referring to smaller bills (like giving a €50 for our €12.43 total). I mean, providing at least three cents with our €12. Perhaps this is because their change drawers are smaller than ours in America? Or, perhaps, these are just cultural differences.

Third, Germans walk really quickly. For all of you who have ever walked with me, you know that I like to walk rather fast. Although I aquired this habit as a young age from walking with my mother, it is a habit that I enjoy for both the exercise as well as admittedly the feeling of passing other people. Significantly, I have felt these little rushes of "winning" to be rare occasions here. Even worse - we are often passed by others! Luckily, we average walking around three hours a day (with a long walk home all uphill) so I am learning not to mind. But it`s truly a strange sensation for me.

Wow. Where to begin? We arrived in Tubingen two nights ago- just in time for adam to pick up the keys to our apartment. We paid our deposit and were to wait for our hausmaster to let us into our unit, number 28. We waited with our packs outside the building for 45 minutes when finally a friendly young-woman came to the door. Adam asked if she was the hausmaster to which she laughed and said she was a tenent, like us. After what seemed like a rather slow and painful conversation in german, they switched to english. i found out that her name is stefanie and she has been living in the dorm for 3 weeks already. In addition to being incredibly kind and having experience living abroad, she appeared eager for friends. Thus, she went out of her way to help us track down the hausmaster to get the master key. I was shocked to discover we have our own suite! We had been led to believe that we were sharing a bathroom and kitchen with a bunch of other couples. As in turns out, we have our own bed (two twins placed together), tiny bathroom, small dinning table with 2 chairs, 2 desks and a stove with two burners and a small fridge. Not surprisingly, the space is very well designed and everything is clean and VERY white. it feels like a cross between a highly efficient apartment and an asylum.

Our first night I completely felt like we were on a strange reality tv show. Strangely enough, one of the greatest challenges we have faced thus far is figuring out what to do with our trash. The things we dispose of need to be placed into many different categories. There is our biowaste, our paper waste, green glass, clear glass, other goods to be re-used including cork, plastic of all kinds, glass jars, etc. Then there is our remaining waste. We spend an inordinate amount of time figuring out what goes in what bin. Of course this is forcing us to examine waste at a micro and macro level. We will be getting a biodegradable bin when we return to the states. (hopefully, we will be able to talk our landlord into this)...

We are doing laundry today. Happily, that includes our brand new towels and sheets so we no longer need to sleep in our scratchy hostel bed-sacks which we have nicknamed the "body condoms."

It is a beautiful day and this city is incredibly charming - and incredibly wealthy. We learned from Stefanie that this region of germany is the most wealthy in germany. it shows. All the houses and apartments have incredible gardens and flower boxes. There is no trash to be found, BMWs, and volkswagens are everywhere.

The walk from our apartment complex to the city-center is a beautiful 30 minute walk. it is all downhill through residential neighborhoods. Combined with our tight budget, we can see the results of our European fitness campaign already.

On Monday we are going to accomplish some important business like registering at the town hall. Adam needs to check in with his professor here and I am going to stop by the German-American Institute to see what they have to offer.

Unfortunately, until we have internet in our apartment, I doubt I will be able to post any photos. I promise to do so as soon as I am able!

With love & best wishes, amy

Trier is worth a visit. We enjoyed checking out Constantine's legacy and I'm finally able to post some photos.