I've been here a week now and we've been mainly spending my time getting familiar with the place, looking for an apartment and getting over jetlag/allergies to all the vineyards surrounding.
Firstly… what is with the all the moustaches over here? If you are over 40, it seems you only have right of passage if you grow yourself a healthy, bushy and slightly greying tash! All the men are doing it and I'm unsure if its a fashion thing that hasn't surpassed the 70's or the need to impersonate Ron Jeremy for the ladies…
A new favourite game I play here is "spot the non-white'y"! I played this in Japan with "spot the fatty" (as everyone there is itty-bitty-tiny!!!), but here my tally after 7 days is 3 of asian decent and 2 of african decent. Spot the tourist is a little easier - you can hear the american accent from miles away (and yes, my aussie one isn't much quieter for you americans reading this and pointing a finger at me!).
I've also noticed little things like the toilet paper squares aren't square, they are rectangle and everyone has this acquired taste to enjoy stale bread (which I also remember from my living in the UK days).
Other things to add:
They have Women taxi drivers! (high five crazy women drivers - they found a job for you)
They won't cut your pizza unless you ask (so that sucks if you are getting takeaway and have no cutlery)
You can buy cigarettes out of a vending machine mounted on a wall - in the middle of a street in the middle of no where...
They add mineral water to wine… can't figure out if it keeps the hangover at bay or its a poor mans version of champagne!
Other than my need to point out silly things in new countries, today is my first day alone without my glorified translator (my boyfriend) and I start learning a little german on my own whilst nursing a potentially broken toe (which I have no idea how it happened. It may have involved wine drinking yesterday and a bike ride home in the rain. Don't drink and ride kids).
Favourite badly translated words:
My immaturity is showing through when I mention my favourite words - so apologies up front.
New favourite word in German is "douche" (spelt dusche). It means shower. But either wikipedia Douche or use the Canadian meaning, its kinda funny when you yell out to someone IM IN THE DOUCHE!!!!
"Ausfahrt" is the other one I snigger at. The aussie fart is the exit to a highway.
Next addition I will be updating on how I've been surviving without being able to speak to anyone for 8 hours straight a day and how I've broken the 6 year addiction to a blackberry.... :) I'll also hopefully have some photos for you!
CT, love the blog, so nice to be able to catch up with the adventures of Hummer-mann and the Beuteltire. Were you driving the Audi at 210? Sorry to hear about the broken toe, you guys were missed at paintball, many fun welts resulted.
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