Flash Forward: Part Zwei

Now I'm sure you've all been waiting on the edges of your seats for me to bring in the exciting ending to this two parter.... but I'm actually going to make this quick, because I have some things that I find more interesting to discuss and this is all old news by now. SO, on that note, to wrap up my recap:

It took the family like a week to tell me that I could mess with the heaters in my room and bathroom. They had no idea I didn't assume I could switch it to my liking. I just thought they kept it really effing cold all the time. Heat is nice.

I discovered that you stop the flusher on the toilet from running after things are...washed away.

I set up a bank account completely in German. Thank god the housekeeper, Juliet, went with me and held my hand. They put 'Mrs. Amanda Stephens' on the paperwork and when asked to check the information I said, 'Everything looks great! ...But I'm not married...' The man setting up my account and Juliet both giggled and then reassured me that in Germany they don't really make the distinction or something like that. But alas, they DO have different words for the distinctions! I hopped on google translator and found out that 'Frau' means woman, Mrs., etc, whatever, but 'FrauLEIN' (doesn't usually come in caps) means 'Miss.' I'm still convinced that in the bank's eyes I'm married. But it's neither here nor there as long as I can deposit and withdraw money as I please.

I later discovered that toilets actually, in fact, turn themselves off...

I was asked to buy several things for the house not long after my arrival and I insisted on bringing the biggest bills I could find in the house piggy bank (yes, they keep an actual piggy bank for quick/small purchases like dry cleaning at the corner store and fruit down the street. It's a white, porcelain pig. I told you they were adorbs) so that I would be able to just hand the person at check out the money and not be worried about figuring it out. I can read the numbers on the sign, sure, but they say the numbers so fast and I can't understand them and people are always waiting behind me so I get nervous! So a 20 Euro bill for a 3.50 Euro purchase? Sure!

Eventually realized that I shouldn't make my room like a cave and that sleeping with the electronic blinds up instead of down would let the sun assist in my morning awakening thus help with my jet-lag. Success!

Struggled DEEPLY with the fact that I didn't check my laptop charger before leaving the U.S. to see if it would fit into my converter/adapter... It did not. Spent the entire first week using my host family's computer... Mostly in German... Including the keys... At least I could still use the internet but there is nothing like your own laptop. Took an entire week to figure out how to find a 3-prong plug adapter. The store was simply down the street, I just didn't know it.

Struggled even MORE deeply when I plugged in my straightening-iron and those little lights failed to appear. It was one thing when I plugged my blow-dryer into the dual converter/adapter first and it nearly fell out of the outlet due to sheer weight and bulky size and I thought the energy going through it was going to set the house on fire after a mere five minutes, but it was completely another thing when my flatiron just decided that it wasn't meant for Europe. Didn't start any fires. I'm happy. But also didn't straighten any hair. Not so happy. (In case you forgotten: I cut my very wavy hair off just two days before leaving for Europe. No flatiron was a BIG deal to help tame 'THE FLIP').

While we're on the topic of hair; mine is slightly on the thin side and quite finicky at times but I can usually make a good go of it and have a nice head of hair. Where I'm headed (no pun intended. OK maybe a little) is that the water here is very hard and as Juliet has described it to me it has a lot of Calc in it. I don't know what that stands for but if you look around faucets and pitchers that often hold water, on the spout or the part where the water pours out you will notice built up white residue. It's chalky yet hard to get off. Whatever this stuff is it is probably what makes the water taste so weird but my qualms are not with the taste, not in this section anyway, but what it does to my hair during my shower time. This water, in short, seems to make my hair look gross. Others say it looks fine but nay, I know better. It no longer shines nor is it full of body. It is no longer soft to my touch and this makes me very sad. While walking down the street I took note of this and looked upon other women's heads for consoling. Sure enough, their hair doesn't look good either. I hate to make this generalization and I really don't want to sound mean, but that's at least what's going on with the women's hair in my neighborhood and I hate to say it but it made me feel a little better to know that it wasn't just me. Power in numbers, right?... Right. I'm slowly accepting that this will just not be an attractive year for me. I guess Germany doesn't look good on me, and it sure as heck doesn't keep me healthy. But more on that to come.

In relation to my last thought, I quickly realized that their 'wasser' ('water,' pronounced like vah-sa) is not like our 'wasser.' It contains bubbles and tastes nasty. I feel dehydrated all the time because I have to opt for something else (when I try and choose fruit juice to be healthier when we're out and about they bring me some sort of like fruit soft drink. When we're at home they add tap water to actual juice that I'm used to so it tastes really diluted. I can't get a regular drink around here! No wonder they just drink alcohol at meals instead. (That's not a jab, most adults really do just have alcohol with evening meals and it's no big). Interesting how different the idea of alcohol is in Europe.

Alright, I think this is enough recapping. Time to move on to the present! But for now, tschüss!