Living in Germany: Some of Our Favorite Things

Recently, I posted a blog about many things Derek and I are looking forward to upon our return to the United States like Mexican food and English TV. Although we are looking forward to our return home and seeing family and friends, there are many, many parts about Germany and our life in Germany that we are going to miss. Here's what comes to mind first:

Derek enjoying the tranquility in Switzerland

Weekend trips to other countries. We've heard from many of our German friends that Derek and I have explored many more parts of Germany let alone Europe than they have, living in Germany for their whole lives. I suppose when you give an American a limited about of time, car, paycheck, and wife at home, trips get planned. Derek and I have been so fortunate to travel not only to most major (and small, quaint) cities in Germany but also several other countries; this lifestyle is something I will truly miss. However, through my experience abroad, I have gained a greater appreciation for the United States and look forward to discovering our home country. It's easy to take something for granted when it's been out your backdoor your entire life; so a resolution for not only 2013 but beyond, is to seek out the special places not only in Indiana, but across the country as well.

Pastries: Happiness in every bite.

Bakeries. Berliners, apfel strudel, shoko croissants, kaffee und kuchen. I do not doubt that these delicacies have aided to my five pounds in weight gain, but bakeries are everywhere. Our little town has four within walking distance of my house. And not only do they sell delicious pastries and numerous fresh-baked breads, but many have pre-made, fresh sandwiches for a cheap, on-the-go lunch. Yum!

Public transport. Since I don't drive, I take the bus and train while Derek is working. Although it can be frustrating if the bus is late or if the train is delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, I can still get almost anywhere with public transportation. We've taken the train to Munich, Amsterdam, Prague and Paris. Europe is connected and it would be nice if the U.S. would get on board as well!

 A Festival in Salzburg

Festivals.  With wine festivals celebrating the opening of the season and then the harvest and church festivals in every German town, Germans always have a reason to celebrate. Christmas time equals Christmas markets in every town, and October not only means Oktoberfest in Munich, but mimicked festivals throughout the rest of Germany. In the main festival season, from about May to October, you'll find wine festivals all along the Bergstrasse and Weinstrasse and kerwes add another reason for the town to come together and prost with a beer. Before festival season, there are still other festivals called Fashing, or Carnival. Carnival officially starts in Cologne at 11:11 on November, 11 and goes until Ash Wednesday.

Nature. Yes, of course we have an uncountable number of beautiful places in the United States. However, the area that Derek and I live in is set among small, rolling mountains dotted with vineyards and entrances to the Odenwald National Park. I will miss the view as I walk home from the grocery store.

Our Zwingenberger vineyards and small mountains

Bergstrasse in Fall

Derek's Thoughts:


Work Colleagues, Friends and Family:
Over the past year I have had the privilege to work with many great people in Germany. One of the things that I love about my office is that it really does have a “family” feel to it. The office is an “open office” concept where only small dividers separate each desk. We eat lunch together in the Kantine (lunchroom), talk together outside after lunch (I mostly listen and try to understand as much of the conversation as possible), celebrate birthdays and weddings, and many other elements that make even a foreigner feel at home.

Marius, Caroline and Derek at Beilstein's wine fest

We've made some great friends during our time here as well and would not have had the same experience without them. We are hoping to have a lot of German visitors in America, beginning with Eva and Philip who will join us to celebrate one of America’s greatest events, the Indy 500.  

We have also had an incredible time getting to know our German relatives better. We had the opportunity to spend Easter, Christmas, and a few birthdays with them, along with numerous other times where we were invited or visited for one reason or another. It was our home away from home, and we were very fortunate to have that kind of support here in Germany.  I know our families will continue to strengthen the bonds that we have and look forward to what the future may bring. We will miss them very much.

Bier

Nothing beats a Hefeweizen

You cannot mention favorite things about Germany without mentioning the beer as well, just like I learned from Django that you can’t have a real German story without a mountain in it. I have fallen in love with the German Hefeweizen, as well as the Keller bier. Not only are these beers delicious and full-flavored, but most of them cost the same or even less than our Bud/Miller type beers and you can mix and match whatever beers you want when buying a case.  The Getränkemarkts will be sorely missed.


Autobahn
I will admit, when I first arrived to Germany after traveling for 20 hours and got into our standard transmission rental car (I hadn't driven stick for years), the Autobahn seemed like a daunting task.  That feeling quickly went away after a couple days and I discovered the joy of being able to basically travel as fast as you want towards your destination. It will be a sad day when I get onto the 465 loop around Indy with a 55 mph speed limit.




And the rest goes without saying. We've made wonderful friends here, and I don't want to say goodbye. I will miss being able to walk to the store, or ride my bike to through the vineyards, past the carrot plants and to the store most similar to a CVS. I'll miss having fresh bread, salami and local brie cheese as an acceptable meal three out of three days on a trip. (actually, that's pretty acceptable.)  I'll miss drinking wine made from the grapes in my town and admiring the red tiled roof tops of the half-timbered houses. I'll miss meeting the girls for drinks in the Heppenheim marketplatz and the way it feels to board a train or plane with only a backpack, ready for adventure and an inhale of culture. I'll miss many, many things about this place. And I'm sure I will discover what I truly miss once we are settled into our new apartment in Indy.

Where else will I find a giant sausage table/trash can!?

Or giant Ritter Sport?

The Approaching Return: What We're Looking Forward To

I never actually thought I would write about what we miss from the United States because honestly, the list is not so long. In many aspects, life in Germany compares greatly to America. The German standard of living parallels the United States; you can find almost anything you need or want, plus more. However, since our return tickets are purchased for January 26, I started to think about what we are looking forward to most about returning to the U.S. Here's my short list:

Abby (on right) visiting us in July

1. Family & Friends. Obviously first on the list, our family and friends are dearly missed. Plans to fly to Denver where my twin sister lives are in the works, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the gang at the airport when we arrive. However, we have been very fortunate to have family here in Germany that have opened their home to us, as well as good friends that already have plans to visit us in the States. Nevertheless, I'm greatly looking forward to spending quality time with our family, especially after missing every holiday gathering in the past year. (Side-note: We were very fortunate to spend a week with all close family and friends in June at our wedding in Florida and to have multiple visitors throughout the year!)

2. Food. What food do I miss? This is a common question that Derek and I have been asked, and my answer is simple: Mexican! We can make a hamburger if a craving exists (minus the American cheese) and we've been stocked on peanut butter since we moved over here. We can cook tacos or quesadillas with a little searching at the supermarket; I even know the exact location of black beans at our new grocery store. However, I miss spicy, white queso and a really good salsa. La Piedad in Indy will be our first stop; and yes, they do have Tex-Mex here, but nothing beats La Piedad! Besides spicy food at restaurants, Derek and I have found everything we need for home-cooked meals and our trips to the supermarket are always entertaining. 

The Guggenberger American specialty: 

Homemade, hand-stirred chocolate chip cookies!

3. Amenities. A dishwasher, microwave, garbage disposal, English TV and high-speed Internet will all be welcomed amenities in our next accommodation.  The lack of these features has nothing to do with living in Germany (besides the disposal), but just our current apartment in general; it is from the 1960's, literally. I even found WWII magazines under the bed. Derek and I have learned to live without these luxurious amenities since May, but still, it will be nice to open multiple pages on the browser and not wash every utensil by hand.

Our 1991 BMW

4. A Car. Yes, we have a manual car and I have yet to learn how to drive it nor have I really attempted to learn. Some things are better left alone, and so my driving will wait until I return to the States and drive my automatic, extremely large Ford Taurus. Even if the car was automatic, Derek would still have it during the day.

5. Community. Through our year long adventure abroad, I've gained a new appreciation for Indianapolis. I look forward to making the city our home by eventually finding a house, getting involved in volunteer activities as well as exploring the city's nooks and crannies that we always took for granted.


So, there's my list. I asked Derek to compile a list of what he is most looking forward to about the USA. Here's what he wrote:


1. Friends and Family. Naturally one of the biggest things that I miss are friends and family but we've been able to keep in good contact with just about everyone. We have also been very fortunate to have German relatives nearby where we have had a home away from home, along with meeting some great friends during our time here.

Nothing like a German mass of bier!

2. Drinking American craft beer. Germany is a great land for beer lovers and it, combined with our other European travels, has opened my eyes to how wonderful beer can be. The only negative aspect to German beer is how limited in variety it is, due to a history of strong government regulation of the beer industry. For nearly 500 years brewers in Germany were only allowed to make beer using barley, hops, and water (and yeast, except that at the time of the law it wasn't exactly clearly known what yeast did). This only recently changed, and so most of the German Pils and Weizen beers taste very similar. I’m excited to get back and start tasting some of the American beer concoctions.

3. Wearing an American flag t-shirt at the Indy 500. It would be tough to find one single event that sums up America so well. It’s an event where cars drive really fast 500 times around a circle, burning incredible (and other countries might say wasteful) amounts of gas and rubber to the cheers of people who have been drinking Bud and Miller Lite since 7:00 AM three days before, in the sweltering heat of an Indiana summer without sunscreen because we aren't afraid of getting a little burnt, wearing flags shaped as t-shirts, tank tops, bandannas  shorts, you name it (other countries may be shocked at this apparent “misuse” of the national flag, but us Americans know it just sign of our pride and true freedom),  and then after the nice holiday on Monday return to their jobs as doctors, engineers, pharmacists, teachers, manual laborers, skilled technicians, businessmen and women, all who were brought together and united for this one amazing event.

4. Price of well, just about everything. With gas being more than twice as expensive, a 19% sales tax on most goods, and the lack of availability of really cheap electronics and other simple goods it can be fairly expensive to live in Germany, at least on a temporary basis. Germany sells some very high quality goods that will last longer than most people will care to have them but has very few really cheap options except at times where there are sales at the discount stores. In America sometimes it just doesn't make sense to buy something really expensive simply because it is high quality and will last a long time.  If you’re a college student, someone living in a temporary location, or simply just don’t have a lot of money, with 75 bucks in your pocket you could walk into a Wal-Mart and come out with a toaster, microwave, coffee maker, and vacuum cleaner and still have money left over. All of these things might have been made in China and may not last more than a year, but for a lot of people that’s all they really need.

5. American Football, because soccer just doesn't cut it. Enough said.

The feeling goes both ways, and there are many, many things that we will miss about the lifestyle and culture here in Germany. Festivals, bakeries, markets, public transportation, connection to Europe, holiday mindset, our friends and many more things make up our list. Stay tuned for an in-depth post coming soon!

Working in Germany: Derek's Perspective

Derek has written a post that shares his life in the German workplace. Enjoy! 

Derek outside of his office in the Odenwald

While I was finishing my engineering degree last fall in Indianapolis, Courtney and I began talking about some of the opportunities that I should look into for after graduation. One thing we discussed is how cool it would be if I could get a job that would take us overseas for a year or two before returning to the States. I don’t think it was more than a couple weeks after that when I received an email from a recruiter who was looking for candidates that were willing to spend a year in Germany in a Product Design Engineering position before returning to the States. It couldn't have worked out more perfect. Four interviews and a month later, I was hired and we had to begin thinking about how we were going to pull this off.

The reason that Courtney and I were able to move to Germany was because my company, Freudenberg, is working to unify the knowledge and experience between the lead-center in Reichelsheim, Germany, and the competency center in Morristown, Indiana. I will learn what I can during the one year that I am here, and then bring that knowledge back to the United States to the plant in Morristown, along with the connections that I have made with the other product development engineers in Germany.

View from Derek's office window

Now I’ll jump forward to my first day. I first met with Dr.Thiel, the boss of the lead-center and he told me that the first important decision that I will have to make each day is what meal I would like to eat for lunch. I will get more into lunches, as well as meals in general later. We then proceeded to the office where he began by gathering everyone around, perhaps 30-40 people, and introducing me to the office, in German and English. Germans love shaking hands, not unlike Americans, and so the next half hour or so was spent walking around a shaking hands with people in my office. I discovered that unlike my office in Indiana that only has one window, which is on the door leading to the production area, my desk in Germany offers a view of a castle perched atop a small mountain on the other side of the small town. I don’t remember much more of the first day except eating at the Kantine, and then having my first experience with the after lunch routine. Every day after lunch, by custom, you must go outside and have the option of either walking a lap around the plant, or standing and talking with your co-workers. This lasts for typically between ten and fifteen minutes.

As far as the office environment goes, it is very relaxed. People are not stressed, they go to work, work, and then go home and enjoy their lives. At my work, overtime is not permitted for salary workers. In March, my boss even went so far as to send an email out to all of the salary employees, telling us that already this year there have been 17 instances of people working overtime, and that working more than ten hours in a day is not allowed; and if he discovers people working overtime again, there will be repercussions. This is something I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble getting used to. In America, it is typical to talk about work outside of work, such as with friends, family, etc., but in Germany this is almost never the case, and it fits well with their work hard, play harder attitude, where work and normal life seem to be very separate things. Germans also get at a minimum 24 days of vacation each year, and so companies that work with German companies are accustomed to having their contact go on vacation for sometimes three weeks at a time, during which work on the project pretty much stops.

Derek's Office Space

Lunches at the workplace are subsidized in Germany, and so for €3.25 I get to eat a warm meal for lunch every day. Now, if you are German, you will only eat one warm meal a day. This means that if you plan to cook dinner with your husband or wife that night, that you cannot eat anything above room temperature for lunch or breakfast, and Germans follow this rule to a T. I believe that part of their reasoning is that they believe eating warm meals (especially more than one in a day) is the way that you gain weight.  I did not know this at first, and so when my co-workers found out that I was eating two warm meals a day they were surprised, and joked about how I better make sure to workout hard or I would gain a lot of weight. Also, you must completely finish all of your food on your plate, unless the meal is unsatisfactory of course. I don’t know if this is because of a desire not to be wasteful, or just culture,  but it is different from the U.S. where it is perfectly normal for a person to not be able to finish all of the food they have on their plate. The one exception to this rule is the soup. If you think the soup is too salty, you must simply make a comment to your co-workers about it and then remove it from your tray.

Another interesting thing is the greetings and farewells here in Deutschland. Every morning begins with Morgen, Moin, Moin Moin, or something that sounds like Moisure. All are simple, and pretty much  just mean "good morning." Starting at 11:00 am (or 11:50 at my work since most people eat at noon) you will almost only hear people using Mahlzeit as the greeting, which literally means “meal time” and is used anytime you meet someone or pass someone during this time. This lasts until about 1:00 pm, but can stretch as far as 2:00 pm sometimes. When it is time to leave work for the day, there are some normal goodbyes like Schön Abend (have a nice evening), Bis Später (see you later), or simply Tschüss (goodbye, see-ya), but my favorite one is Schön Feierabend, which was translated to me as essentially "happy quitting time."

And on that note, I will leave you with Schön Feierabend and return with part Two of Working in Germany soon enough. Tschüss! - Derek