Germany - being a foreigner in the grocery store..
Hey!!
So, I'm here in Hamburg, Germany with Mira :) We've been pretty busy..but, in a really
good way! Mira's flatmates are both very lovely and extremely welcoming - I feel like I'm right at home here :)
I made a bit of spectacle of my foreign-self today at the grocery store....oops!
Mira'sat work today, so I'm hanging out at the house - getting some pics in order, chilling,emailing, reading...and I was commissioned to get some food..So, I emerged from the house into the grey, rainy day and briskly walked down the cooooold, wet street to find the grocery store.
I always love going to grocery stores when I'm in different countries - I reckon it gives
you a good look into the culture :) In the grocery store down the street there was a
TREMENDOUS amount of chocolate (mmmm!!!), German meats and sausages EVERYWHERE and loads
of different types of cheese... :) However, there was only one type of milk. In one type
of container. That's it. lol. Also, there was alcohol - liquors, wines, spirits - and
cigarettes and cigars in the aisles to just be picked up and chucked in your
baskets..hehe..So I wandered around and picked up what I needed (guessing with some
products as I dont know ANY German and there was NO English in the store)...and lined up
in the queue..noticing that they had an electonic payment machine (and assuming that
meant I could use my Visa card)
Nope. Not possible. So, here I was at the front of the queue with a bunch of people
behind me and a checkout clerk who didn't speak a word of English getting very agitated
that I hadn't known credit payments were not possible. Argh. So, as I am apoligizing for
my lack of cash and trying to communicate (with hand signals) that I would like
directions to an ATM (with everyone behind me being very agitated...oops!) a lady 1/2 way
down the line speaks up in English with the needed information. Cool. So, I wander back
out in the rain and trod down to the ATM to get out my money...returning to the same
checkout clerk who seemed friendly enough given the circumstances. All good and well,
about 1.5 hours later I was done with the groceries..hehe
The cold weather (even if it's currently grey and drizzling rain outside), winter
jackets, scarves, white lights adorning all of the trees and buildings and the brown
leaves swirling around the cold sidewalks on the street have really made it a reality
that Christmas is COMING!!! I didn't feel like I really had a Christmas last year (in
Sydney I spent all of Dec sweating and broiling at the beaches and having hot summer
nights in the city with friends...kinda diff from my traditional, childhood Christmas in
the Northern Hemisphere, but still great!!)
Mira and I spent a day wandering around the city - checking out the lake in the middle of
Hamburg(beautiful!), all of the beautiful, old buildings with their stunning
architecture, cobble-stone streets and all of the MANY traditional German Christmas
Markets around the city with their stalls, food, drinks, ornaments etc...Very
Christmas-sy!
I've had heaps of German food..Including sausages (really good curry-sausage with bread
at the Christmas Market..mmmm), Glüvine (it's like red wine thats very very hot - almost
boiled - and it's really nice in the cold as it warms you from the inside..mmmm),
different cheeses etc...We did heaps of shopping, eatting and picture-taking..hehe..
We also spent a day with Mira's mom on a road trip out to the coast to check out the
really quaint villages near the beaches with the old, traditional houses (some with the
tightly binded straw roofs) and the little shops around the squares. Very pretty! We had
a beautiful dinner at a fish restauant near the beach on the ocean...Very lovely. It was
however, very bizarre being at a beach in the freezing cold after being used to the
Australian beaches back home for so long!.. :)
I went to church with Mira and her mom (the service was all in German, but Mira
translated a good chunk of it, so that was cool). Reminded me heaps of the churches I
grew up in...very family oriented, small, warm etc with everyone meeting downstairs for
tea and coffee and a chat after the service. Pretty cool.
We baked cookies with Mira's mom and sister on Sunday afternoon! Very, very fun! They are
lovely and we had heaps of fun making a good variety of traditional German Christmas
cookies! It felt very home-y and warm and seemed very healthy in the Brady-bunch kind of
way with the Christmas music playing, crispy, cold weather outside, white lights and
Christmas decorations and candles inside :) It was really cool and made me feel 100%
relaxed and peaceful and family-oriented (which is VERY welcomed after living as a
student with housemates and being on the other side of the world from family for the past
heap of years). It was very good.
Well, I'm going to get going - still have to tackle the dishes this afternoon before Mira
returns! I'll write again soon...
Talk to ya'll soon....
:)v
So, I'm here in Hamburg, Germany with Mira :) We've been pretty busy..but, in a really
good way! Mira's flatmates are both very lovely and extremely welcoming - I feel like I'm right at home here :)
I made a bit of spectacle of my foreign-self today at the grocery store....oops!
Mira'sat work today, so I'm hanging out at the house - getting some pics in order, chilling,emailing, reading...and I was commissioned to get some food..So, I emerged from the house into the grey, rainy day and briskly walked down the cooooold, wet street to find the grocery store.
I always love going to grocery stores when I'm in different countries - I reckon it gives
you a good look into the culture :) In the grocery store down the street there was a
TREMENDOUS amount of chocolate (mmmm!!!), German meats and sausages EVERYWHERE and loads
of different types of cheese... :) However, there was only one type of milk. In one type
of container. That's it. lol. Also, there was alcohol - liquors, wines, spirits - and
cigarettes and cigars in the aisles to just be picked up and chucked in your
baskets..hehe..So I wandered around and picked up what I needed (guessing with some
products as I dont know ANY German and there was NO English in the store)...and lined up
in the queue..noticing that they had an electonic payment machine (and assuming that
meant I could use my Visa card)
Nope. Not possible. So, here I was at the front of the queue with a bunch of people
behind me and a checkout clerk who didn't speak a word of English getting very agitated
that I hadn't known credit payments were not possible. Argh. So, as I am apoligizing for
my lack of cash and trying to communicate (with hand signals) that I would like
directions to an ATM (with everyone behind me being very agitated...oops!) a lady 1/2 way
down the line speaks up in English with the needed information. Cool. So, I wander back
out in the rain and trod down to the ATM to get out my money...returning to the same
checkout clerk who seemed friendly enough given the circumstances. All good and well,
about 1.5 hours later I was done with the groceries..hehe
The cold weather (even if it's currently grey and drizzling rain outside), winter
jackets, scarves, white lights adorning all of the trees and buildings and the brown
leaves swirling around the cold sidewalks on the street have really made it a reality
that Christmas is COMING!!! I didn't feel like I really had a Christmas last year (in
Sydney I spent all of Dec sweating and broiling at the beaches and having hot summer
nights in the city with friends...kinda diff from my traditional, childhood Christmas in
the Northern Hemisphere, but still great!!)
Mira and I spent a day wandering around the city - checking out the lake in the middle of
Hamburg(beautiful!), all of the beautiful, old buildings with their stunning
architecture, cobble-stone streets and all of the MANY traditional German Christmas
Markets around the city with their stalls, food, drinks, ornaments etc...Very
Christmas-sy!
I've had heaps of German food..Including sausages (really good curry-sausage with bread
at the Christmas Market..mmmm), Glüvine (it's like red wine thats very very hot - almost
boiled - and it's really nice in the cold as it warms you from the inside..mmmm),
different cheeses etc...We did heaps of shopping, eatting and picture-taking..hehe..
We also spent a day with Mira's mom on a road trip out to the coast to check out the
really quaint villages near the beaches with the old, traditional houses (some with the
tightly binded straw roofs) and the little shops around the squares. Very pretty! We had
a beautiful dinner at a fish restauant near the beach on the ocean...Very lovely. It was
however, very bizarre being at a beach in the freezing cold after being used to the
Australian beaches back home for so long!.. :)
I went to church with Mira and her mom (the service was all in German, but Mira
translated a good chunk of it, so that was cool). Reminded me heaps of the churches I
grew up in...very family oriented, small, warm etc with everyone meeting downstairs for
tea and coffee and a chat after the service. Pretty cool.
We baked cookies with Mira's mom and sister on Sunday afternoon! Very, very fun! They are
lovely and we had heaps of fun making a good variety of traditional German Christmas
cookies! It felt very home-y and warm and seemed very healthy in the Brady-bunch kind of
way with the Christmas music playing, crispy, cold weather outside, white lights and
Christmas decorations and candles inside :) It was really cool and made me feel 100%
relaxed and peaceful and family-oriented (which is VERY welcomed after living as a
student with housemates and being on the other side of the world from family for the past
heap of years). It was very good.
Well, I'm going to get going - still have to tackle the dishes this afternoon before Mira
returns! I'll write again soon...
Talk to ya'll soon....
:)v