Once we had settled into our individual apartments (I'm still working on getting a video of mine uploaded - probably by Tuesday), Mo and I decided to do a little bit of grocery shopping so that we wouldn't have to eat out all the time. I had no idea how intensely stressful grocery shopping could be. But, when you don't know the language, and you don't know what packaging looks like, it can be one hell of a task. We didn't even know where a market was! We just strolled down the street, and found one about half a mile away - since then, we've found one about the same distance, but much cheaper! The first thing we had to deal with was getting a shopping cart. Apparently, it costs 1 Euro to use a shopping cart, the logic of which I just don't understand. If it's a strategy to make more money, all it really does is detract people from wanting to use one, and therefore they buy less stuff. But, whatever, I figure it's best to just not ask questions.
When we finally figured out that we would have to carry all our groceries, we got to work going around the store. I tried to buy the cheapest of everything I bought - and was successful - but this particular store was a little pricey. We spent about 5 minutes trying to find the milk, and just could not find it. Finally, I saw a bag with a cow on it filled with liquid. Upon closer inspection, it did indeed read "Milch 1.8% Fett." Milk comes in a bag. It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen. But it's actually quite cool.
(picture coming soon!)
When looking for butter, we discovered that the word for margarine is sometimes translated to "diet butter." Which is possibly the most hilarious thing in the world. I didn't get a picture of that though, so you'll just have to take my word on that :) Towards the end of our trip to the market, we couldn't find eggs. Both Mo and I are huge fans of one eyed egyptians/eggy bread in the morning, so eggs were essential. Mo speaks enough German to ask the woman behind the meat counter if she spoke english, which she didn't... She started going on about something in German, and we just stood there feeling awkward and confused. Finally, someone who worked there who spoke English came up and showed us where the eggs were. He was incredibly sweet and incredibly German (blond, tall, jovial, and spoke great English). Checking out was pretty easy because in Germany certain things aren't considered rude, so it was ok when we only said "hallo," and "danke" to the cashier. Also, apparently you have to bring your own bags, or they charge you. So I had to buy a reusable bag, which is fine because I hate having a bunch of bags just lying around my apartment.
After the market, we hung out for a bit, made a little dinner, then joined about 25 other FU-BESTers to the bar. There is this tiny little dive bar a 4 minute walk away from our apartment complex, the literally only serves booze. No food at all (though after you've ordered enough drinks, they bring you little snacks). It was pretty fun. Ordering drinks is not as exciting as I was hoping. The drinking age here is 16, so none of us are ever going to get carded, so ordering a Sex on the Beach (my new favorite drink) is just the same as ordering a Coke. I don't think this bar was prepared for 25 Americans to show up since there were only about 4 people in there before we got there. But once they got over the initial shock, they were very nice. The next day, a group of us went on an epic quest to acquire cell phones... more on that adventure later.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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