We live a very quiet lifestyle here and truly enjoy the fact
that we honestly don’t NEED to do anything. The first 2 weeks were filled with
hunting and gathering for household and food items I hate to be without. All in
all I can say that by now we are almost all set. This weekend we are picking up
our new stove and a new grill is also on the way. The grill that we found in our
shed was too small for 2 steaks and unfortunately was very rusty. Certain
things are very important to me in my household, for example Teflon coated frying
pans. I’m not completely opposed to coated pots and pans but once I detect any
peeling, the pans have to go. We also organized a different dining table. The
one we have is round/oval and takes up too much space with the extensions in
and without the extensions it is too small. So we switched to a square table.
Both ends extend to easily accommodate a moderate crowd if needed.
o find the foods that are important to me took a bit longer.
It was not a problem to find Coconut oil and shredded Coconut, raw Honey, Peanut Butter (for Tom) and
other little kitchen supplies. Black seed oil and Black seeds, Flax seeds, Hemp oil and seeds on
the other hand were not available on the island.
The next two weeks we spent in Kassel, Germany at my daughters house. Meanwhile the 2014 Soccer World Cup countdown has begun and every
evening is filled with soccer. From my daughters roof-top patio we can see the
Aue Stadion (soccer stadium) where the games are displayed on the big screen
for public viewing. After Germany won the first game, pretty much every car in
Kassel was on the road; people sitting on top of cars and hanging out of side
windows with flags waving, honking all available horns, singing, drinking and congratulating
each other like they already won the final game. This convoy of happiness snaked
all over the city with no cops anywhere in sight! It was a lot of fun riding around
with our grandson (a big soccer fan).
A few very positive things struck me with surprise. For one, pet dogs
are allowed almost everywhere the owners are allowed. They go into grocery
stores, restaurants, offices and on public transportation. I have to say, German
dogs are extremely well behaved and their owners are very concerned to pick up
their messes. I have not encountered any dogs pulling the owners all over
creation nor have I seen a dog barking in places where they should not. In fact, I have seen more misbehaving children than dogs. I
compare that with some dogs we owned and they could not be taken out in public.
I really like the fact that they can go where the owner goes because it
prevents dogs from getting overheated in parked cars and also don’t have to
stay home alone for long hours.
Shopping carts in all stores are chained together and are
released by inserting a Euro or a special reusable disc. After shopping, the chain plug
from the cart in front is inserted into the slot of your cart and returns your money or
disc. You don’t see shopping carts in a 2 mile radius around the store or scattered
in the parking lot. People are trained to bring their carts back, and they want
to, because they want their money or disc back.
Plastic/glass bottles and soda cans are recycled for cash
back. Every store or beverage market has a section where customers insert their bottles or cans into a machine which counts and calculates their refund. 0.25 Euro per bottle adds up and reduces your final shopping bill or provides
cash. Therefore, you don’t find many empty drink containers on the ground.
Trash is separated by bio, hazardous, paper and card board,
and compost for recycling as well. Nobody complains about taking out 3 or 4
trash bags, and collectors pick up several times a week. The residential
garbage cans are locked and occupants of apartment buildings all have a key.
This prevents dumpster diving or animals rummaging through the trash and
creating a mess.
People drink beer at any time of the day or night – in public!
What a concept. Don’t think they are always drunk, but beer is one of the
staple beverages. Most households buy it by the case and rarely will you find
the case empty. Of course there are always people that drink too much – just like in
the US.
Public transportation! This is the best way to travel! You
can go from anywhere to anywhere by city train, bus, regional train to long
distance train or airplane. You never have to wait long, the vehicles are very clean
(even though they transport a lot of dogs), and your bicycle can also be taken onto
the trains in case you have to travel from the station to your home or work by
bike. Besides the convenience, it is very affordable to use the public
transportation system; we paid 7 Euro for a 24 hour ticket for two travelers.
That ticket is good for any lines. You can get on the train in the morning and ride
from end station to end station, switch to another one and again go from end
station to end station. Take an ice cream break and do some shopping or sightseeing
and continue your trip all day long. Parking downtown is a nightmare since
spaces in parking garages are super narrow and you have to be a skinny belly
dancer to get in or out of your car. The parking fees are also rather expensive
and free curbside parking is very hard to come by.
Man-powered transportation is extremely popular. So much more walking or biking results in a population, in general, that is not as overweight as people in the US; most people are slim and trim. For many
people a bike is the main means of transportation. They have a relatively new
systemin Kassel called Konrad http://www.konrad-kassel.de/.
They distribute bikes in many different locations all over town and people can
rent them. You register on line and then you can pick up a bike in one location
and drop it off at another. It costs next to nothing and provides a great
alternative to the other transportation systems available. 99.9% of roadways
are split up into train tracks in the middle, road ways, pedestrian walk ways
and bike trails. Of course, the bikes too have to follow traffic regulations. This is the case in most inner city environments.
Now let’s talk about food. German food has an old, very positive worldwide
reputation. There are bakeries and butchers everywhere. Everything is super
fresh and delicious. Food is one of the things that irritated me a lot in the
US since it is all laden with chemicals, preservatives, food coloring and taste
enhancers. Many of the poisonous additives are prohibited in Germany and
Europe. As a result, everything comes in smaller packages. The first shopping
trip, I made the mistake of buying bulk (just for Tom and myself), to find out
that we were not able to eat it all before it spoiled. In the US I bought milk
with an expiration date a month and a half out and it was still good on that date! Not here; milk comes in 1L cartons (no plastic jugs that sit in the
landfills for the next 250 years) and you better drink it or it will spoil. Raw
honey is not something you need to search for or pay extra for the chemicals
you DON’T get, it’s readily available in any grocery store. Tomatoes also go
bad very fast too, what tells me that they are not sprayed and irradiated like US
produce. I could go on forever about the food, but let me just finish by saying
that many items that we have to buy organic in the US are not specially labeled as “bio”
since they are, without question. There certainly are exceptions to the rule.
Fast food places are somewhat rare and not on every street corner like in the
US. In Kassel we saw only 2 McDonalds, one BK and one Pizza Hut. In commercials on TV they are also not as overpowering. Fast food is not glorified
as the great food it pretends to be in the US.
We are now back on the island and will be here for several
months before we return to Kassel or travel elsewhere. Local trips are possible
but nothing it scheduled yet.
