More from the Newberrys

I know people think we must have fallen off the end of the earth. We have been out of touch since we got here except for a couple of short emails to my mom and sister. Our Internet connection at the hotel is spotty, and we get booted off a lot. We have yet to set up Skypes or Vonage on our computer so we can call home. That will be good to have since even local calls in Germany cost 45 cents from your home phone. We did get a “handy” (what Germans call cell phones) last night. We got a prepaid deal since we hear that getting out of contracts is really hard. Plus, we weren’t allowed to do anything more than that without a permanent address. Also, we had only about 75 euro in cash, which is what it cost us. They don’t take credit cards in most restaurants, mall stores, etc. Cash is still king in Europe.

So many things are different, either cutting edge or charmingly old fashioned. For example, while I have yet to come across a pay toilet (thank Gott), I have seen every conceivable method for flushing one. The most common, and think wonderful, is a two-choice option flusher. Usually there is la football-sized oval with a tennis-ball sized oval inside it. The big one gives a huge rush of water for big jobs (if you know what I mean) and the little one is for smaller deposits. Very practical for saving water.

If one desires water in a restaurant, it will inevitably come bottled, not from the tap. Sodas are still bottled in glass, which makes them taste better in my opinion. Everything is recycled here. Each home has a series of color-coded bins for recycling and composting. Americans must seem so wasteful by comparison. Even here, we have talked to Americans who would rather take their trash to dumpsters on base than be bothered to take the time to sort recycling. Oh dear, does that sound anti-American? It’s just that I’ve finally found a place to live that fits with my obsession with environmental conservation. In the States I often felt like a fanatic. But here that fanaticism is mandated. I love it.

Yep, if there is one thing Germans seem to hold dear, it’s playing by the rules. There are so many of them, and every day I’m afraid of breaking one unwittingly. For example, when driving, one passes quickly on the left and gets right back in the right line as soon as possible or else risk getting run over by a zealous Mercedes truck driver, middle finger extended. When sitting in a car waiting at a railroad crossing or idling looking at a map, you have to turn the car off if you are going to be more than 30 seconds. And heaven forbid you run a red light or try to turn right on red. There are traffic cameras everywhere.

In restaurants wait staff won’t bring you a check until you ask for it (“Zalen, bitte.”) Unlike in the U.S., it is considered rude to rush the customers to pay. Meals are also more leisurely, and there is no such thing as fast “fast food”. Another difference is that tipping is just rounding up to the nearest euro, usually no more than 10 percent. That makes the math easy, which is good since the tradition is also that the waiter takes your money, makes change and gives you a receipt right there at the table. When they bring the check, they stand there until the business is done and then you leave.

Children are rarely seen in public, and when they are they are expected to be quiet and well-behaved. If kids touch anything in a store, shop keepers are quick to get on to them. Dogs, however, are everywhere. They are also model citizens.

While not model citizens, our kids have been pretty good overall. Jet lag has been tough on all of us. We’ve been getting up early every day to be bounced around like ping pong balls from one office to another on base. We’ve been to housing, central processing, the credit union, the bank, the I.D. card office, child services, the schools, real estate offices, and so much more in our brief time here. We have also looked at four houses. Through it all the kids have been mostly patient, with relatively few meltdowns. But whenever they see English TV on base, they are glued like little zombies. Right now here at the hotel they are watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in German.

Today is the first day the kids and I have gotten to sleep late. Usually we are rushing around like crazy people, but today (don’t tell Dave) we didn’t wake up until 10:45 while Dave got up and went to meetings. We almost missed the awesome breakfast at the Marriott. They have a huge buffet of fresh squeezed fruit juices, teas, coffee, jams, honeys, fresh cut fruits, cereals and granolas, pastries, breads, yogurts, cold cuts, bacons, hams, sausages, roast pork, cheeses, eggs cooked any way you like, waffles with a variety of sauces, even pickles, salads and herring. Still, the last two days I have had to fight Claire to eat anything at all. She is simply too tired in the morning and I think she is fighting an oncoming cold.

A couple of funny things have happened this week. Last night Luke asked me, “Mom, how do you say house in German?”

“Haus,” I answered [pronounced “house”].

“Yeah, house.”

“Haus.”

“Yeah, how do you say house in GERMAN?”

“Haus.”

“Yeah.”

“Haus is how you say house.”

It was hilarious, a regular Abbott and Costello moment. It reminded me of a moment when we lived in South Africa when my mom was asking where an OK store was and she kept saying, “OK, okay? Okay!”

The other funny thing needs a little back story to be funny. Last week I sent my mom a package from Colorado, and in it was a cute little white soap shaped like the state of Mississippi, our home state. She called me, cracking up. She said, “You know that white chocolate Mississippi you sent me? It didn’t taste very good!”

Flash forward to yesterday. Every evening a lady knocks on our door to ask whether or not we want a “refresh” (new towels, hangers, anything). We always say no and still she hands us four new little packages of soap like they use in most hotels in the U.S. I thought it was odd that we were accumulating so much soap, especially small ones when we already had large half-cyli.nder shaped bars already. So last night when she came, I told the lady we didn’t need any more soap. She said, “Soap? It’s chocolate!” Oh man. We had a stash of delicious German chocolate that we didn’t even know about. Like mother like daughter. At least we can laugh at ourselves.

Okay, I’m going to attempt to log on and send this now. If you can read it, I was successful. Eventually.