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?

Frohe Weihnachten aus Deutschland!

Heppenheim Weihnachtsmarkt

'Tis the season for Christmas music, Advent calendars and candles, glühwein and many, many Christmas markets! What I've learned so far about the German Christmas season is that every single German town has a market, whether for one weekend, one day or for every day of December, and more importantly, Advent. Derek and I have concluded that Germans always have a reason to celebrate, whether it be carnival with Easter season, opening of the wine season, summer festivals, closing of the wine season, Autumn beer fest, wine walks, and now, Christmas markets. From my one weekend of experience I've decided that Christmas markets are not just places to buy adorable Christmas decorations, but also a gathering of intense glühwein drinkers trying to stay warm. I'm also not sure that a more adorable, romantic ambiance could be created for Christmastime. 

This past weekend Derek and I took the train to Darmstadt for a meetup of Derek's colleague and my friend. As a larger city, Darmstadt did not provide the charm of half-timbered houses or quaint cobbled streets, but was a good start to our weichnachtsmarkt experience. On Saturday, Derek's birthday, we headed to our initial home-base in Germany and charming town of Heppenheim. Talk about romantic and adorable, Heppenheim had it all. We enjoyed glühwein with friends, explored the market stalls and strolled through the town. The old rathaus accompanied the Christmas tree in lighting up the marktplatz as a local band shared holiday joy. For a birthday dinner, we settled into a charming weinstube where Derek indulged in Argetentine steak and I had a schnitzel. On Sunday we ventured to the town famous for its rathaus and cuteness, Michelstadt. With fresh snow on the ground, the town was a hustle and bustle of holiday cheer. After collecting a glühwein mug for our collection (you pay about 2 Euros for a deposit), we met up with Nadine and Denis in Derek's town of work, Reichelsheim. This may be the smallest market we visit, but nevertheless, it was a wonderful yet freezing evening spent among the star-studded church. I can promise that this month's blogs will be filled with Christmas cheer (singing loud for all to hear!), so stay tuned! 

We awoke Sunday morning to snow!

Derek and I in Heppenheim

Nadine, me and Eva

Derek's birthday dinner

Michelstadt Christmas market

Derek and Rudolph

Glühwein market stall

Conversing at the Reichelsheim market

Group photo in Reichelsheim

Fun fact of the day: How do you say "Merry Christmas" in other languages?

Deutsch: Frohe Weihnachten

French:  Joyeux Noël

Spanish: Feliz Navidad

Italian: Buon Natale 

Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyiunnepeket

Our Last Week in Heppenheim

Well, the time has come for us to move out of our little Bergstrasse town among the vineyards and cobbled stone streets. We won't be moving far, however; we will be moving into another vineyard lined town with cobbled streets and sidewalk fountains, down the Bergstrasse to Zwingenberg.

On Friday evening we will meet our real estate agent, Gaby, and our landlords for a walk around the apartment and to receive the keys. However, we can't actually move in until Saturday at noon, so I am wondering if our walk-through on Friday evening will be clean, or dirty. I really don't want to see a messy, dirty apartment right before we move in, but here's hoping! Anyways, we are dropping our belongings off on Friday night to be stored at the new apartment, dropping Simba off on Friday night at the cat pension - an apartment for cats to stay at while their owners are away - and then sleeping at our place in Heppenheim until we drive to Mannheim at 5:30am to catch a 6:40am train to Paris on Saturday morning. Whew.

We will be in Paris for three nights - from Saturday until Tuesday. We will arrive back in Mannheim, pick up Simba, then head to our new place just in time for the holiday. Tuesday is Father's Day, and also a reason to celebrate spring and the vineyards. Since wine is ingrained into the German culture, most holidays and festivals have something to do with beer or wine. On next Tuesday, people will be at the vineyards in Zwingenberg (which is out our backdoor) and they walk through the vineyards to Heppenheim, all while tasting wine along the way at different wine huts.

On another note, Derek was very intrigued and really shocked by an email sent to the entire company from his boss. Through Google Translate, it reads:

Colleagues from the given occasion, I would like to reiterate that no one working day of 10 hours maximum may be exceeded.

Unfortunately, there was in the first quarter of this year already exceeded 17!

I am sure that you want to do something good for the company and therefore sometimes lose track of time.

Please take care in the future better for the 10 hours policy, we will pursue every transgression and accept no exception.

Why can't we live like this in America? Action will be taken if you work over 10 hours a day. I am not sure if every company in Germany breathes these same values, but I feel like his company has it figured out.

Last Weekend Recap

We kept it pretty low key last weekend and explored a few towns around us - Schwetzingen, Lindenfels and Michelstadt. Schwetzingen has a palace with acres and acres of manicured lawns, parks, statues, fountains, etc. We could have spent an entire day strolling the grounds, but the weather was moody and rain showers popped up out of the blue. So we spent the rest of Saturday at the mall in Viernheim. On Sunday our goal was to go hiking in the Odenwald (the forested hills around us) but after a 25 minute drive through the winding roads, I was fighting nausea. So we visited the castle at Lindenfels and toured the small town of Michelstadt, then headed home before making a quick stop at the self-cut tulip garden. Here are a few photos:

At the palace gardens

I was hoping this was a fleur de lis

Derek in the dome

A Turkish Garden

Garden walk

Fountain at the Bath House

This goose started honking and waddling towards Derek

Schwetzingen is known as a spargel town - asparagus everywhere!

Castle in Lindenfels

Overlooking the Odenwald

Castle in the Odenwald

Storm's approaching 

We made a stop at Derek's work

Michelstadt Town Hall

Famous Rathaus

Picking tulips in the "Self-Cut" field