28.03.2016 (washer/dryer edition)

1) There seem to be very few clothes dryers like in the states. In every house we owned, there was a vent for the air (to the outside) and we never had to worry about condensate. Here, there seem to be a) Condenser dryers - You have to empty the water yourself, b) Heat pump dryers - More efficient, but you still have to empty the water yourself, or drain it, c) Vented dryers - Like in the states, but there seem to be very few of these.

2) On at least some dryers, you don't get to choose how long it takes to dry the clothes.

3) The vast majority of washers are front loading. Top loading washers seem to be used when there's little space. There are also washer/dryers in a single machine (Like I saw in Australia and Japan.)

4) Test.de seems to be the German consumer reports company, doing appliance tests, ratings, etc.

5) Our washer/dryer will be in the basement. There's a circular set of stairs down to the basement and a regular set. I'm going to have to measure all of the doorways to see if these will fit through.

6) The house used to be three separate dwellings. The top floor has washer/dryer hookups and the basement has washer/dryer hookups. The basement also has a second kitchen. Robin wants to get Beth her own washer/dryer so she can do her own dang clothes.

25.03.2016, Good Friday edition

1) I had to ask how to use the door lock on my office. It had no key hole. It turns out the locks have a remote control. Cool.

2) At the Doctor's office, I had to be told where the waiting room was. Then I studiously ignored people who came in, because I was embarrassed that I didn't speak German.

3) I guess I don't understand the 'cross the street' buttons. I pressed the big obvious button and best case says "signal kommt" when it's about to change. Sometimes nothing happens. But I've seen people put their hand over some (sensor?) on the top too. Maybe for people on bikes?

4) I need an extension for my glasses that lets me easily look over my shoulder. I feel like I'm forever watching out for people on bicycles. Bikes are road hogs, and their bike bells always sound angry. When the next google glass comes out, there needs to be cameras all around so you can switch to a view that crams 360 degrees into 160 like in BattleMechs.

5) Salsa is so sweet here. Granted, the one we buy in the store is called "Salsa Dip". I think it's like "Cheese Food" or "juice drink" in the states. First ingredient? tomaten (tomatos). Second? Zucker (sugar). The odd thing is that I think of myself as a salsa guy. I often make my own. But I find myself REALLY liking the sweet salsa. I feel like I've betrayed my hispanic roots. Except that I'm not hispanic, I just grew up in LA. (does that make me an honorary hispanic person?)

6) I made my world famous Chicken Marsala (world famous because I've now made it on TWO continents.) I used an expensive Marsala imported from Italy. Wow was it different. I think it was a very dry one and it ended up very very tart. I still find it amazing how quickly a Marsala sauce tastes terrible until it suddenly tastes magical. Next time, it's sweet Marsala.

7) Personal liability insurance. Here you must have it in case a court finds you at fault for ANYTHING. Many people also have Legal/lawyer Insurance. It pays for a lawyer if you need one.

23.03.2016:

1) Doing business from Europe to the US is difficult, to say the least. We're selling our house in the states, and in theory, we can do it all via email and phone (and docusign.) Unfortunately, what it means is that we stay up till at least 11 every night in case something comes in via email or a call, and I'm up before 7 every morning in case I need to get on the phone with someone in the US. Luckily, we have an amazing realtor (james mcarthy at Windemere) who has been super flexible.

2) There are big challenges in moving to a new continent, but there are small ones too. It's always nice to get a win. I went to the doctor for the first time today. All in all, it was a great experience. Our doctor spoke good English, but his receptionists did not. However, we sorted out all of the new patient paperwork without too much fuss. And public healthcare is awesome (so far.) Suggestion for your first time: bring copies of your health history, medications and last test results. I went on my US doctor's patient portal and just printed out what I needed. Made the visit go much faster.

3) In the US, my doctor was rarely interrupted during a visit. Here, the doctor was harassed by his nurses throughout. smile emoticon He is an amazing multi-tasker.

4) No copay. (so far)

5) They have different dosages of common medications. Many are off just enough to be annoying. Trying to figure out how to get a similar dose is an exercise in multiplying and fractions. (Ok, I can get a 300mg, cut it in half (to try to get 145), or I can get a 160. 160 is probably close enough. )

6) They don't have all of the same medications, so finding something close is a weird exercise.

7) I can get 400Mb/s at my house for a very low price (compared to the states.) And I can get a static IP and a modem that bridges so I can use my own router and DHCP!

8) In the US. for cable.satellite, for all the channels, we paid an enormous amount for Directv. Well over $200/mo just on the channels. More for 'renting' the DVRs. Here, I'll pay < 80 euros.

9) There are so many options for cable and internet providers! In the US, we had one option for cable, and one option for Internet. Here, the deciding factor seems to be pricing, and they compete on that. (and high speeds.)

That's it for now. More to come.

21.02.2016

Ok, this is more about what I've learned so far in Germany.

People are people, whether here or in the US. Some are loud and boisterous, some are stoic and quiet. But one thing I've found moving is the compassion of many of the people I've met/run across.

One example was a young German man who was distressed near one of the trains. I believe he had Downs Syndrome. He was swearing up a storm (I learned some new words), but was very clearly upset. I didn't know how I could help and I felt paralyzed, but out of the blue, a woman came over, calmed him down, helped him with his packages (that had gotten torn), and helped him onto the train. Then walked off like nothing had happened.

Germany trusts it's people not to do stupid things, and doesn't legislate 'safety' as much as in the US. The playgrounds are like playgrounds from when I was a kid. Yeah, I could hurt myself, but that's what being a kid was all about. There aren't lots of railings around the train stops. Yeah, you could be hit by a train, but everyone is very rational, and is careful and it doesn't happen often.

When I was 6, I rode two public buses to get to and from school. It took me an hour to get to and from school. And I lived in one of the worst parts of east LA. These days, in the US, letting your children walk to and from school might get you arrested for child endangerment and have your children taken away.

Here, It's not unusual to find children (6 or 7?) riding the trams long distances by themselves. They are perfectly comfortable and very self reliant.

In many ways, I feel safer here than anywhere I lived in the US. There simply isn't the same menace that I feel in parts of downtown Seattle, for example.

I'm still adjusting to not having access to Velveeta, to the 2 hours of riding the tram a day, the anxiety of new restaurants when I have to make myself understood, and I try my German (which never goes well.)

But overall, I'm really happy here, and I think Robin and Beth are too.

20.03.2016

1) Taking your time in a grocery store makes all the difference. I think the first dozen times, we just wanted to get in and get out. We were nervous we'd be found out as foreigners, all of the German was just too overwhelming, and I think we assumed the food would all be very different.

Yesterday, Robin and I just took our time, looked at everything we wanted to look at, spoke English(!) whenever we wanted to while discussing various products, asked about one or two (it's surprising how much gesturing works), and in the end, we bought a bunch of good food, found some new favorites, and felt like it worked really well.

Certainly, the fact that we're learning a lot of German very quickly helped.

2) Nose rings are really a thing here. I've seen so many on young women. More so that I'm used to seeing in Seattle. Also fewer outrageous hair colors.

3) Do public cigarette machines mean a lot more very young people smoking? My observations seem to agree that there are a lot of 14 year olds walking around smoking. Granted, I'm assuming causation when it could just be correlation.

4) In the US, most cars sold are automatic (3.9% of cars sold in the US in 2013 were manual.) Here, most seem to be manual. Why the difference? I know there are differing opinions on whether or not manual or automatic transmissions are more fuel efficient. Certainly manual is more fun to drive, but it's also more work, I suppose. Maybe Americans are just less interested in all of the work a manual requires, especially when driving in heavy traffic. I know my knees like an automatic.

5) These are getting harder to write. I'm finding myself getting very comfortable with life here. But I'm sure more will come.

6) Fleischsalat is awesome. I've certainly eaten much more pig (and ham - schinken) here than in the states.

16.03.2016

1) I'm used to having options for ground beef. In the US, you can find 70/30 (30% fat) and more lean options like 90/10. Here, the ground beef seems largely fat free. I'm a little disappointed.

2) The hamburger buns we buy are called American Hamburger buns.

3) There seem to be a large number of Sonne Studios (tanning salons, we'd call them.) I was surprised, but then given the weather here is a lot like Seattle, it made more sense.

4) I've been learning to surf the trams. That is, standing in the tram without holding onto anything. It comes in handy on very full trams. Then again, on those trams, falling is actually kind of difficult when people push you if you get too close. On a more empty tram, when it works, it's cool. When it's not, it's totally embarrassing.Turns out the floors of the trams are pretty gross.

5) Butter. on. sandwiches. Greatest thing since. Butter... And sandwiches.

6) There seems to be no "give up your seat for an old person" rule on the tram. When I do, their faces light up. smile emoticon

7) I'm breaking all of the tipping rules by tipping too much. Reminds me of the old joke: what's the difference between a Canoe and a Canadian? Canoes tip.

13.03.2016

1. California specialized stores are a thing here in Germany.
2. Double flush toilets are very common. A smaller handle/button for a smaller flush, a larger one for those, ehem, big flushes. Many toilets have the 'buttons' on the wall behind the toilet, and have the tank in the wall. I assume it's for water conservation. I would think a leaking tank would be painful to fix/replace.
3. Towel warmers in bathrooms are very common. Which is super cool. Except in our temp flat, the towel warmer is in the wc (water closet) with only a toilet. If you need a towel in the toilet, you're doing it wrong.
4. Most every house we looked at have radiators for heating, and not central (air) heat. In the US, on the west coast, I never saw a house with a radiator.
5. Worcestershire sauces here have been a little more fishy than I'm used to. The Lea and Perrins from the US is not very fishy at all.

Bonus toilet story: Years ago, we were in a mission trip in La Paz, Mexico to build a house for a nice family who didn't have one, and the plumbing wasn't great in the compound in which we were staying. The rule of thumb there was "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down". I like the dual button system better.

One left over from LA: I said hi to this nice little old hispanic lady, and she responded with "Howdy" in a very deep, think southern accent. It was unexpected.

04.03.2016

1. They have sidewalks for people and sidewalks for cars too. And they have a sidewalk where the car is halfway on the sidewalk and halfway not, so people can walk by.
2. Then there is a strange dance when the street is not wide enough for two cars. The driver who has parked cars on his side must give way to the driver who has a clear road.
3. We made reservations for a VERY nice restaurant at 17:00 when they opened. When we got there, three of the staff were eating, one was extremely annoyed to have to seat us, and we went on to sit, looking at our menus for 15 minutes, while the staff continued eating. And swore, very loudly. I spoke to a manager, and he shrugged and said we could eat at 17:30. We left.
4. Some restaurants will turn you away for wearing jeans.
5. Sometimes it can be hard to just get someone to take my money.

02.03.2016

1) I haven't found a toilet yet with 'head liners'. Those are the paper things that cover the toilet seat so people can feel good about not exposing their butts to toilet seat germs. Think about it though, you're sitting in a four sided box with poop spores floating around. Your butt touching plastic might be the least of your worries.
2) One of the ways I can tell my tram is nearing the office is that I pass by the grave stone store. And it's not just a single store. There are like 5 lots with gravestones in them, over the space of 2 blocks. On the plus side, I know which one I want now.
3) I cannot find Teriyaki anywhere. After having lived in a place with a Teriyaki store on every block, this is a bit odd. Although I have yet to try Sushi here, maybe that's where they hide the Teriyaki.
4) Many cars have that thing where when stopped, the engines shut off. When you touch the gas, they start up again. After having owned many cars where the engine dying means panic mode, it's a little disconcerting.