Superbowl Delay

I am not a huge professional football fan, but will get into the spirit as I do each year in the name of Superbowl parties. I knew I was going to love them when I attended my very first grown up one (you know, one that is mostly your friends rather than your parent's) in the winter of 1999 when TJ and I headed over to Kremer's college house to find our friends watching the tube and Kremer's mom making goodies for all of us. It was really fun, and whether I was at someone's house or a bar each year it has continued to be a good time. Living in Germany will be no exception! Another ex-patriot is a huge sports fan and always finds a way to get the games here, so we will travel to his place in Weinheim on Monday night. Yes, I said Monday night as there is a delay. Remember there is a seven hour difference between Mannheim and the Midwest, so it would be the middle of the night here. FYI Americans...this means that we would really appreciate it if you would not send emails to TJ or myself regarding who wins until Tuesday. In fact, we have been instructed by the host to stay away from the internet all day and the news, TV, whatever...as a precaution so no one ruins it for everybody else. OK? Thanks.
Now on to who I am cheering for. I will be sporting the red clothing this year as I am hoping the Cardinals win. I usually prefer black and gold on all occassions as I am a loyal Hawkeye fan, but not in this case as I still have a special place in my heart for all things Arizona. Also the Arizona QB graduated from my alma mater (UNI) and we also share the same place of employment through college (Hy-Vee). All of these things tip the scales to the only reason I can think of to cheer for the Steelers...they were my grandmother's most favorite team. Sorry, Dot!
We will see what happens...but remember...hush until Tuesday!
Auf Wiedersehen!

French Surprise

I love it when TJ has to go to France for work. Not because I want him to leave us for a few days, but more because I love what he brings home! Last night he arrived with a dozen bottles of wine, a fresh baguette, several types of cheese, and news that a bottle of evian only cost 50 cents in France. Who knew? The best part about the wine, was that it wasn't all wine. TJ brought back a beautiful bottle of pink champagne from the champagne region! I love champagne! Also there was a box of red wine in the mix...he told me he got it to prove that the French do drink boxed wine. Yes that might be true, but Annie hasn't drank wine out of a box since sophmore year at Iowa when Linh used to have her wine and cheese parties! Something tells me this might be a little better than Franzia White Zinfandel.
After he settled in we had a bottle of Pinot Noir and some comte cheese for dessert. It was a lovely Wednesday night!
Auf Wiedersehen

Last Class Hell

I am not quite sure if senioritis exists in graduate school as we are post seniors, but if I don't have that I have something like it. I have 4.5 weeks left of school...forever...and it feels like it is taking forever! And to make it worse, the work load in this class is far more than it has been in past classes. If I were still working it would be a mess, because I would not have time to do anything else besides school stuff! Thank God I can't work here (PS that might be the first and last time you hear that phrase). The theme of this class "research"...and lots of it! And it is not even fun research...it is the kind of research that makes you dig through a database of articles referencing businesses that have successfully aligned departmental strategies with business strategies...blah, blah...can it just be over already?
The sad part is, this is one of the classes that I have looked most forward to through this process and I think if it weren't my last one I would really enjoy it. Here is my suggestion to higher learning institutions...put the classes that are the most relevant in the middle and we will absorb more and complain less!
Auf Wiedersehen

No More Spandex!

Nice weather ended after October and I was finally able to accept men wearing capri pants here. Sure, I think it looks really silly on every man...but nearly every man seems to wear them so I have decided to put it in my "It's Euro" file and call it a day. I do that with many things- wearing only black in the winter, scarves, not matching, skinny's on men...and the list goes on. But there is one thing I can just not accept...in fact I can't even handle it. This would be the amount of men wearing spandex in this country. I am not just talking about your run of the mill running tights...I am talking shorts, capris, and tops. And the men wearing these unfavorable clothes are of all sizes. Now I know that I am a woman who has a closet full of this synthetic material as I have been teaching group fit for years, but I am not a big person and not a man so I think I can pull this off while working out. Yes, in the defense of these male spandex offensors they are working out at the gym, but they are everywhere...and it has gotten so much worse as it has gotten colder! Today was the last straw as I saw a man in an orange polo shirt and black and gray super tight, spandex capris lifting. His outfit was festive enough in color for halloween, and certainly scary enough...but the wrong time of year! At least his pants were black in the crotch area...I think the worst is when I come upon one that has a brightly colored pair on and you can see everything...EVERYTHING! I just don't see the problem with shorts...even the ones of the short variety are better than this. If I can ever snap a good picture without looking completely creepy I will share the horror.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Weekend Update

I am going to start the weekend on Friday afternoon as my visit by the German Polizei is too good to pass up. I had been researching my weekly paper for school and decided to take a break to watch Grey's from the night before when the bell rang. Of course I didn't answer it as I was in my pajama pants and my gym rats gone wild t-shirt, and I wasn't expecting anyone. I heard my neigbor talking to someone and then my bell rang again..."great" was my thought and I opened the door to find a pair of Polizei. They wanted me to identify my husband in a photo from Christmas as he was caught on camera in Bavaria speeding in the rental car we had. Then after I identified him, they had me fill out some paper work wanting me to check a box that said I was driving and then wanted me to sign TJ's name...I was like no way, I wasn't driving I can't do that. They wouldn't understand why I wouldn't sign his name and we went round and round for a while, until finally I offered to sign my own name after they showed me a second picture of the entire car with Tut and I pictured as well. What a mess, and a long interruption in my afternoon! I would really appreciate it if I never had a visit from the polizei again.
That night we went out with some of TJ's work people, an Irish couple, another American ex-pat, and an American visiting the company. It was great! We headed way out past Bad Durkheim to a wine bar first and shared a few bottles of wine and entertained eachother before heading a little further out to a cute little German restaurant where they serve Argentinian steaks. For those of you who don't know, it is not easy to find a good steak in Germany especially when you are from Iowa. All in all, we were out for about 5-6 hours centered around wine and food.
The rest of the weekend was filled with grocery shopping, workouts, and walks with Tut by the river. We have planned to stay home until my class is over and we go to Austria at the end of February, so we are going to be spending more time in our community rather than traveling around. The weather has been getting better here so it will be nice to hang around a little bit more!
Auf Wiedersehen

And We Have a Car, I Think.

I mentioned yesterday how I really needed a car to go and pick up fitmilsch and other things, right? So I marched my butt down to TJ's company via the tram, picked him up, and then we headed to BMW. The woman who is in charge of our lease was there and had spoken with TJ minutes before to let him know that someone was driving our car back from Freiburg as we spoke. This sounds awful, but TJ and I were secretly hoping that it broke down in some safe way as someone else drove it. Unfortunately this didn't happen. We still picked up our rental as we figured it may be a while before we would actually see it. This woman told us that they would take a look at it to make sure it was fixed and then give us a call. I will admit that sometimes I have a tendancy to become angry in situations such as these (you know, when you are paying a lease on an expensive and insufficient product and then the company doesn't care about you until they decide to), but BMW lady did not get to see my rath as my husband started in asking her questions very politely in front of a room full of her colleagues. She dodged every question skillfully acting as if this has never happened to anyone...and almost as if she had no idea what we were talking about. As my temperature was boiling he said, "So what happens? This is the third time since we have had it since November and it keeps needing repair. What should we do when this happens again?" (Or something like this). Her colleagues are all staring at him in disbelief and she says, "We are looking at it again, and this is not normal". What? Could she not understand this? It is alsmost like she didn't understand what we were asking. So, I continued to be passive aggressively short with her and we got in our rental and drove away.
FYI, when this happens again (as I am sure it will)...she will get no call. I will be at her office ready to take no prisoners and will not let her get away with any of the crap she pulled yesterday. And for those of you who don't believe me, call the Evans, Georgia Target or the Wendy's on Riverwatch Pkwy in Augusta, Georgia. They have seen my rath.
We shall see, TJ is supposed to pick up our piece of crap today. And we are also toying with the idea of going to Austria or Switzerland next weekend to snowboard again. This time we will have our dog and a hotel...just in case. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Auf Wiedersehen

Got Milk?

I think it is time that we discussed the German milk situation. I know it is not popular, but my family drinks a lot of milk...and it seems as though I am always buying it, or trying to buy it. We use it in our morning coffee, in cereal, and also drink it most nights with our dinner. There are several different brands of milk...some in cartons, some in bottles that look like the milk man brought them...and all at different fat percentages. Oh yes, and they only come in liter containers. There is even milk in the stores that is not refridgerated. This is very suspect and I don't know a single American that has braved this route.
So now that you know that background of what is available, I should tell you that I am strictly a skim milk girl. Anything else tastes like a horrible milkshake to me. TJ, on the other hand, will drink anything in date. I have two gigantic problems and then another one. One skim milk (0% fat) doesn't exist here, and the closest thing is called "FitMilsch", translated is "fit milk", and is a low percentage- under 1%, but clearly not 0%. My second problem is that the market closest to my house doesn't ever carry it. They mostly have 3.5% milk and the lowest they carry is 1.5% (hello, yuck), which is fine for TJ, but not me. The closest fitmilsch site is in Ilvesheim at Rewe, or in Edingen at Real. These are both bike rides or car rides away. Even if I did have a car (yes we still don't have one) or it was warm and safe enough to bike, there is no guarantee that it would be available! Sometimes, I will get lucky and there will be one or two liters available (two liters a little more than a half gallon). Clearly not enough. TJ could drink 4 liters all by his lonesome per week. This would be about a gallon. BTW my fridge is a smidge larger than a dorm fridge so 4 liters is a maximum situation. Can you believe the issues I have with milk logistics?
What I would give to run to Hy-Vee and grab an AE gallon of cold, skim milk! So skim milk drinkers, the next time you are lucky enough to pull out a full gallon of skim milk...do me a favor and savor it. And please don't waste it, there are small Annies in Germany that don't have the luxury of drinking skim milk!
Auf Wiedersehen