Just A Quick Note For You

So I was thinking you might like to hear some of the little quirks we have experienced living here in Europe. 

We ordered pizza tonight to be delivered to the house and it made me think of the first time we did so.  I asked for a pepperoni and mushroom.  I was surprised when we received a mushroom and peppers (pepperoncini?) pizza.  It had no pepperoni on it all all.  I quickly learned that the Germans call pepperoni salami!  I even found salami in the Italian grocer several days ago.  But the pizza we ordered tonight advertised pepperoni, salami and mushrooms, so I questioned the order taker on the phone.  He said it was the meat pepperoni!  Yippee, it was meat, but wow, was it spicy!  Also, Hawaiian Pizza (pineapple, ham and mushroom) is a very big seller here.  Pineapples are called ananas!  Bananas are bananen and one is a banane.

Diet Coke is Coke Light here.  The Germans do not use aspertame, so the Diet Coke doesn't taste exactly the same as it does in the U.S.  I'll drink lots when we visit between Christmas and New Years.  Also, Coke and Pepsi are made with cane sugar, not corn syrup, so aficionados like the German soda better, I'm told.

Cell phones are called handys.

There are very few fast food establishments in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.  McDonald's is the most prevalent with Burger King coming in second.  There are no German fast food establishments to speak of, although we did dine at a Schnitzel restaurant that looked a lot like a fast food restaurant near the amusement park, Europa Park, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa-Park.  For fast food, the Europeans pack their food or buy food at a grocery store, or buy from a small mom-n-pop type place in any small town, or they can buy something from numerous bakeries in each town, which sell breads and maybe a meat sandwich or a flat bread w/ meat or veggies on it.  But no German fast food restaurants. 

Many houses have art on the side of their houses.  I've started taking pictures and will begin posting some soon.

There is a lot of Christian art or crucifixes in the towns, both large and small.  As you can see from my photo above, which is a Starbucks in Heidelburg's pedestrian district, they also place statues and other religious relics on the corner of buildings in the old parts of town.

You cannot find a hamburger in the shops and restaurants that sell food, but you can get a frickadelle, which is like a super ground beef (?) patty served on a hard roll.  Caitlin loves them and we're beginning to like them, too.

Dogs are allowed in most restaurants and shops, with the exception of stores that sell food.  Germans LOVE their dogs!!!

Germans believe that cats are free spirits and should NEVER be confined indoors!

Germans don't celebrate Halloween, but with areas where the Americans live, the Germans have embraced our traditions.  Today, Kelley, Caitlin along with Alex and Anderson Woods, our neighborhood boys, carved some pumpkins and put put 3 up on one of our 14 fence columns.  Because we live next to one of 2 village playgrounds, we get a lot of families bringing their kids to play.  Today, the moms and grandmas were lifting their children up to see the faces carved into the pumpkins.  (Caitlin always asks great questions and asked when pumpkins started to get carved and I found this great link on Wikipedia when looking for pumpkin carving: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_carving.

Germans serve sodas without ice.  Sam believes they don't like their drinks diluted by the melting ice.  The glasses have a line on them that measures out .5 L (liters) or .3 L so that everyone gets the right amount.  Americans have to ask for extra ice when ordering a drink (that's if the restaurant or bar has ice at all).

If you want catsup with your fast food, you pay for the packets, which are bigger than U.S. packets.  We have also seen the new catsup containers that are being introduced in the U.S. soon. 

You can buy beer at McDonald's in Germany, actually, just about anywhere!  There is no open container law, so you can walk down the street with a beer in your hand.

Cigarette smoking is very popular here.  The towns have cigarette machines posted on houses or poles along popular streets, so you never need to go to a store to get a pack of smokes.

Each town has a church that chimes the bells at each quarter hour. 

Milk in the German grocery store is not in the grocers cooler, it's in a plastic laminated cardboard 1 liter container and is near the cooler, but usually not in the cooler.  Aldi grocery stores are very much the same in Germany, but everything is written in German.

Germans have many, many festivals!  September starts the festival season and you can find something to do every weekend with small fests in villages like ours or large fests in larger cities, to the mondo Octoberfests in Munich and other large cities.

Many Germans ride bikes.  Up hill, down hill, while smoking, in the rain, young and old alike.  Bike riding is a passion in Europe.  The villages and towns have bike clubs that compete against each other with an eye to getting to the Tour de France, like Lance Armstrong did.

Americana is huge in Germany.  They might not sell many English version papers, magazines or books, but you'll be able to read may headlines because they love using English in ads and the like.

Sundays are quiet days, when people are encouraged to spend time with their families and keep those bonds strong.  It is illegal to wash your car or mow your lawn on Sunday.  Your dog can't bark and you shouldn't blast loud music either.  I think the villages with a heavy American presence are a little more lenient, but I don't think by much.

I added some links for places or store I've been to or places that I have patronized or will in the near future.  I hope you like the links.