(no subject)
i bought some bread for dinner tonight. and as i was walking back to our apartment, i began thinking about bread and germans. see, in my experience, germans are extremely serious about their bread. when andee visited me in the US, he continually complained about how disgusting it is that we only had bread in bags, and no fresh baked bread. at that point, i was unaware of the german view on bread. to give some examples, there is a bakery on almost every corner. even in the tiny towns, there's going to be at least one, if not more, bakeries. in fact, the evening meal has more than one word. one being abendessem (evening food), and the other is abendbrot(evening bread). i also read that the word for breakfast also refers to bread, but less directly than the evening bread word.
so, what does all this have to do with anything? well, nothing, really. i just wanted to share one of my more amusing cultural experiences i've had, and wanted to give a good base of understand before i went into the story.
so, this happened months ago, but i don't believe i've posted about it. it was one of the times when andee and i were visiting his father. somehow, michee wasn't there, im not sure where he was. maybe on vacation or,.. i dunno. anyways, we get there and andee's dad is babbling as usual. i fail to understand most of what they said, mainly because its always dialect. makes the visits amusing, anyways. i can just sit and watch andee's dad and have no idea what he's saying and laugh to myself at his antics. but then, all of a sudden, andee's dad starts talking about bread. and how he just bought a fresh loaf of bread. then andee's dad offers me.. something, and andee gets excited for me and says yes, i want it. i have no idea what they are even talking about. so, andee's dad goes off into the kitchen and comes back with,.... the heel of the fresh loaf of bread. i'm apparently supposed to enjoy it as some special treat. both andee and andee's dad are watching me expectantly, and i ask andee 'what is that? what am i supposed to do with it?', and andee replies 'eat it, of course! that's the best part!'. so, apparently, i was gifted the best part of the bread to gnaw on(german bread has some intense crust on it, too), and i should be highly appreciative and excited about it. so i ate it, i smiled, i tried to enjoy it, but i just couldn't really muster any excitement about it.. i mean, it wasn't even freshly warm from the oven. that and, well, i really really needed a glass of water afterwards. lol.
so, what does all this have to do with anything? well, nothing, really. i just wanted to share one of my more amusing cultural experiences i've had, and wanted to give a good base of understand before i went into the story.
so, this happened months ago, but i don't believe i've posted about it. it was one of the times when andee and i were visiting his father. somehow, michee wasn't there, im not sure where he was. maybe on vacation or,.. i dunno. anyways, we get there and andee's dad is babbling as usual. i fail to understand most of what they said, mainly because its always dialect. makes the visits amusing, anyways. i can just sit and watch andee's dad and have no idea what he's saying and laugh to myself at his antics. but then, all of a sudden, andee's dad starts talking about bread. and how he just bought a fresh loaf of bread. then andee's dad offers me.. something, and andee gets excited for me and says yes, i want it. i have no idea what they are even talking about. so, andee's dad goes off into the kitchen and comes back with,.... the heel of the fresh loaf of bread. i'm apparently supposed to enjoy it as some special treat. both andee and andee's dad are watching me expectantly, and i ask andee 'what is that? what am i supposed to do with it?', and andee replies 'eat it, of course! that's the best part!'. so, apparently, i was gifted the best part of the bread to gnaw on(german bread has some intense crust on it, too), and i should be highly appreciative and excited about it. so i ate it, i smiled, i tried to enjoy it, but i just couldn't really muster any excitement about it.. i mean, it wasn't even freshly warm from the oven. that and, well, i really really needed a glass of water afterwards. lol.