Saturday night, I went grocery shopping for the first time at Tegut. I didn't know what most of the food items were or how to read the labels. I also didn't know what I should possibly make in the dorms in the "communal" kitchen...So, I bought a very random assortment of food. I filled up two Tegut canvas bags. For those of you who don't know, in Germany, you must bring your own bags to the store and bag your own groceries. This goes for most any store in Germany, be it the pharmacy (Apotheke), Schlecker (like a dollar tree with household goods) or anything really. You buy plastic or canvas bags for something like 15 cents. With all of my purchases in tote, and everything else I had bought for the day, I attempted to find the bus back to the Hauptbahnhof. This is the main train station, and happens to be half way to the Studentendorf (Student village). I got on the bus, and freaked out that I was on A3, not the 7. I find out later they are the same. I got off the next stop, and walked home thinking I would find another stop to get on the bus. By this point in the weekend, I hadn't really figured out the bus system, and didn't want to go somewhere I wasn't supposed to. Summary: I walked an hour home with two large bags of groceries and a big back pack full of things. I will never do that again!
On Sunday, we went to the Der Hessenpark, an open air museum . This is basically a reconstructed village that is intended to bring back to life the half-timber buildings and rural culture in Hesse of the 16 and 17th centuries. We had a tour guide, and then walked around on our own. Beginning in the 70s, original buildings were rebuilt and moved to this open air museum. It was super hot, but interesting. We all ate a late Mittagessen (lunch), with typical German food and a menu all in German! I ordered some entree with apple kraut, bread, and bratwurst. I have yet to warm up to German food, but maybe I have not found the right thing yet. The bus ride back was a nice hour long nap for most people, including myself.
Sunday night, I did my laundry for the first time. It was very time consuming, and I figured out the laundry system here, albeit expensive and complicated.
On Monday, I got internet wifi on campus for the first time! It was a glorious day. Later on, I was able to get ethernet. Now that I have a cell phone and internet that work, I feel so much better! We all applied for our residence permit, and got one of our first looks into the German bureaucratic system. This took an 1.5 hr to complete, and after sending away many precious documents, we should be permanent residents by next week! I went out to dinner with two people from the program, and we had a good time talking about the past week's events over Apfelwein.
Today I went to a local bakery and tried Schinkenkaese- a croissant like bread with bits of ham and cheese baked into it. Not too bad. We had German class essentially all day. I came home exhausted and took a nap before getting Indian food with a fellow Fulbrighter. This was my first time in an Indian restaurant- not bad. We also checked out another grocery store and managed to bring even more food back! I tried a cappuchino and Eis (like gelato). Neither was good...We asked for it to go, but then decided we wanted to sit down and eat because we had so many groceries. However, they quickly informed us that we were not allowed to sit because we indicated we wanted it to go. That was strange.
I am still hopeful that I can find something that is good here. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to buy in the grocery store or eat out?
If you skype, my user name is rludvigsen87.
I have definitely come a long way since I arrived here last Tuesday, but I have a long way to go to assimilate into this town and culture.
Thanks to all of you for keeping up with me and sending your thoughts and support!
Auf wiedersehen,
Rebecca
I am so glad things are looking up.
ReplyDeleteYour mom has been actively working behind the scenes. She was so relieved after your skype. What a neat invention!!!!! Makes me appreciate how far electronics have gone. I will check with my friend who lived in germany about food. Take care.