Bite-sized

In Germany or maybe all of Europe everything is smaller, from the cars to the kitchen sink! All things are done in moderation and conserving energy is key; using less is more is the motto. Even our trash can is small so we have to take our extra trash bags to a dumpster on Base because they won’t all fit and you can’t pile them up next to the trash can like at home. The trash men won’t take them if they aren’t in the can and you will get fined. Hotel rooms are small. Our hotel room in Paris was lovely and cozy just a bit small. The lawn mower looks like a toy for Savannah that plugs into the electrical outlet. Our kitchen sink is unbelievable small with no garbage disposal, which I don’t think exist in Germany. I was literally shocked when I realized this! The refrigerator only fits food for a few days, which is nice because everything you buy is always super fresh and this makes for delicious meals. Although cooking in the small kitchen is different from cooking in a big American kitchen. The ovens are very tiny, I'm still trying to figure out how I’m going cook Thanksgiving dinner! Washer and dryers are very compact and take an extremely LONG time. For example, it takes about 5 hours to dry one load of laundry. This is no exaggeration, I promise. This is why all our friends take their laundry to the Base once a week and do like 7 loads at once using the American laundry machines. Right now we have an American washer and dryer but when we move we’ll have a German washer and dryer. Yikes! 

Seems like the only thing that is super-sized here is BEER! :) Something Rocky has enjoyed!

I have seen some of the smallest cars here too. One was so small it looked like the caboose that belongs on a child's train ride at the mall! This is also not an exaggeration.

There are no super big grocery stores like Giant or Safeway. They are all very small, like Trader Joe sized. I love this part about Germany. Big grocery stores are overwhelming to me, so our grocery, the Rewe is perfect and completely manageable. I have only seen one “all-in-one” store here, the Real, aka Wal-mart. They did build a Wal-mart here but it failed and went of business. There is a specific store for everything it seems.

Germany is very eco-friendly and energy conscious. They recently decided that all of their nuclear power plants will be shutdown by 2022. Renewable energy like wind and solar power is the future.

Gas is measured in liters not gallons, centimeters are used instead of inches, mileage is calculated in kilometers, and the temperature is read in Celsius not Fahrenheit. We’ve learned a few tricks to do the conversions faster.

We’ve been here a little over four months. Some days I love it and other days are more challenging. Everything is different from home, luckily we have access to the Base and that keeps us grounded. We’ve thankfully made great friends that we can trust and count on. That’s all for now!

Chow! XO

Elizabeth