Creative Mess

Paying Bills German Style

Or it may just be European style, but I can't be positive...

 

Back in America, we paid all over our bills online and we still do for the most part.  But here, they pay bills differently since they are very anti- credit card.  You get a little bill in the mail that looks like this.

Of course it is in German, so if you don't completely understand it, you must take the time to translate it.  I must do this with this particular bill because I have no idea what it is about and they want approximately $90 from me.  

Next step is to rip off the bottom of this bill and take it to your bank.  We had to open up an account here just to pay our German bills.  The bank then makes a transfer from my accout to theirs that is listed on the bill.  I think it is interesting.  And then I think, 'isn't paying online via a credit card easier for everyone?"

 

I got another bill today in the mail that doesn't require any translation at all.  It is Keith's 27th parking ticket, so I am very familiar with the process!!

Cuteness or Weirdness

These are things that caught my fancy while on Vay-cay.

They could be either cute or weird, just depends on you.

I thought this scented toilet paper I found in Croatia was super cute and weird!  The 2 scents were peach and lavender which are grown locally.  And low lovely would it be to have your rear end smell of fruit and flowers?

Beer- in 2.5 liter plastics bottles.  They sell just as they would Pepsi in the States.  I hate 2 liter bottles of just about everything because it goes flat so quickly and I will never know about these because the ones we bought we gave away as gifts.

Olive Oil in Croatia was absolutely delicious!  And apparently everyone must think so because every single bottle had an alarm device on the top of it.  I thought it was weird.

Too bad the pic is blurry- but this wreath was at the guest house in Slovenia.  It is made out of snail shells.  I think it is weird....

It's snowing and it never ends!

So my previous post!   Ridiculous!  But was completely my state of mind so I am not changing a thing!  To include the misspellings.  So when I have my Blog Book made, I will read it just laugh hysterically.  That is the way I roll.....sometimes.

So, last year was supposedly the worst winter here as far as cold and snowfall.  My German neighbors told me so.  So now that my back is killing me because all the shoveling I have done, I asked my neighbors once again about their statement last year.  And they corrected themselves.  THIS YEAR is the WORST Winter in 30 years!  Whatever!!

The problem isn't necessarily the snow- just the roads and how fast it can be cleaned.  School delays and cancellations have been crazy thus far.

Forest across the street from my house. Everything has been 'frosted'

Regensburg Castle- one of the better Christmas Markets.

Keith standing in line to get Gleuweine. It is mandatory to drink some as you walk around and visit the stalls.  It makes your insides all warm and fuzzy.

This would be your typical Christmas Market set-up.  All these cute shacks that are dressed up to the hilt selling wares.  Doesn't it just look cold?  Hence the Gleuweine!

Melynda and Kimmey trying on hats.

Little Avery in her new sleep bag get-up.  I have never seen these until moving here and I just love them.  It almost makes me want a baby so I can buy one alone with a beautiful German Pram so push the baby around in!  lol

Oktoberfest!

It definitely was the party of the year.

It has always been on my bucket list to go to it.

I can't wait until next year where I will definitely plan to attend more than once. (wish I had more time this year...)

You definitely meet a cast of characters that come from all over the world.

These are cookies that you buy simply to hang around your neck.  I am not sure of their story, but I hear they taste terrible.  I wanted one but skipped my chance because I also wanted it to taste good.

I also wanted a fish on the stick- but my table mates voted against it!  They didn't want to smell it.  See, next year I going to find a different crowd!  LOL

We all settled on the chicken!  Here they are roasting hundreds of them!  And they are soooo delish!

There are approx 15 tents that are built on this site by each different brewery and they really go over the top with them.  The biggest tents hold 9,000 people and in the middle they each have a band.

 

Here is Keith in his brand new lederhosen.  He decided that for his birthday we would spend the money to buy us all the traditional garb.  And really, it has to be a holiday to do so because this stuff is not cheap!!  Bridger is the only one who refuses to play along!  And do we really expect anything different from a Middle School Boy?!

What Bridger did enjoy is the pretzels!  They are as big as your head and very yummy!  You can visit Bavaria without eating a couple of them!  And that lame pretzel chain at every mall in the States doesn't even compare.

Daddy and Jadyn walking together.  This place is full of overpriced rides that the kids were dying to leave us and get on!   After we found home base in a tent- we cut them loose.

Our friend Mic holding Jadyn's basket!  Oh cute!!!

Keith needs a baby!

Meet our cast of characters!  This is Mr. Italy having a conversation with Avery.

All these girls from Brazil invaded our space big time!  They wanted pictures of us in our outfits. We complied!  Even Jadyn.

Kyle was having a good time!  His wife was entertaining Avery a mile away!!

Whoops!  Party Foul!!!  I almost died laughing!!

 

Love this hat!

Melynda is finally back to get her husband under control, eating a pretzel and probably facebooking all at the same time!

 

Most of the characters we met, Keith and I could have been their parents!  We were attracting a younger crowd this day.  One of my first questions always is- who financed your trip to Germany?  All but one did it on their own. I have talked with many young kids who are traveling over here and I just can't help but ask how responsible they are.  I have been pretty impressed thus far.

Mr. Australia here finance his own trip to Munich.  But he might need some parental guidance still!!



The point of Oktoberfest is not to get trashed!!  It really isn't.  I view it as a place to meet people from all over the world in a great, friendly atmosphere while enjoying German culture.

While this guy was just putting on a show for us-- there are some people who just don't get it.  And they were TRASHED!

(taken via iphone)

Here is Mic trying to get  as close to possible to drunk guy on the stairs on the train passed out.  At least he wasn't driving!!!  I have a few more examples of disgustingness on the train, but I feel like I should protect their identities and not put the pictures up here.  But we definitely saw it all!

It was a GREAT time!!!!  Oktoberfest 2011! Can't wait!!!!!!!

Eggs!

Since it is almost Easter, I figure eggs are a good subject.  They definitely do eggs different here.

First, many store do not refrigerate them.  You will find them on the shelf next to the bread.  Upon asking around about this phenomenon I was told that eggs don't come out of chicken refrigerated, therefore it is not needed.  And some of these eggs really do look like they just came out of a chicken because they are not washed and might look a little icky.

Also look at their color

They yellow yolk is a factory-raised chicken egg that I got from the commissary.  It was white and came came in a 12-pack.

They orange yolk is a local chicken that ate grass and bugs that I bought off the shelf in a 10-pack and the shell needed some washing before I cracked it open.

A little internet research says that the orange yolk is tell tale sign that the chicken was raised normally and much more healthier for you.

Who woulda thought? 

Shopping

Something you might not think about often...

When you need something, say some cough medicine, you know exactly where to go and buy it.  Walgreens or Walmart.  Want some yarn and knitting needles?  Well you just run over to Hobby Lobby or a local knitting store.

Well as a foreigner, it is not that easy.  There are things that I want except I have no idea where to go.  Do I go to the Real, Rewa, Edeka, Kik, Bauhaus, Norma, Penny Markt????  I have no idea!

But this helps a little

(I am bad with this new camera!)

I am thankful when my mailbox are full of these ads.  Even though I can't read them, the pictures are always helpful! 

Trash Day

 

Well if you are doing it right, everyday is trash day around here!  The Germans are passionate about their trash and for us newcomers there is a definite learning curve to get it all figured out.  I can't substantiate this for sure, but I have heard that Germans are number 1 in the world when it comes to recycling.  AND there is a dirty little rumor that they think Americans lived a bloated and wasteful lifestyle.

German homes are way more compact than ours.  If they have a large home it is because they built it "up" instead of "out".  Their kitchens are extremely compact!  They have fridges that our about half of the size of their American cousins.  The dishwashers, washing machines and dryers all follow suite.  And there is no such thing as Urban Sprawl here.  City Limits are very defined and no one here lives in the suburbs of Parsberg.

I find this all to be very respectable and I couldn't wait to jump on the bandwagon (I also don't want to be fined for messing it up!).  What I didn't expect is how difficult it would be to recycle and do it well.  After reading everything the Army provided for me and reading even more online to make sure I got it right. I think I have it down.

If you are doing it right, you should have this many trash cans!

 

Back in the States, it is not unusual for my household to take out 2 bags of trash a day.  Definitely one, but on many days, two.  Here the regular trash is only picked up 2 times a month!!  Did you read that right?  TWO TIMES and the trash can provided is HALF THE SIZE.  If we missed the trash pick up in the states, we were hurting!

But today, I am proud to say, that the Trash Truck visited and my can was only half full with items that can't be recycled.  Who would have thought?  And Trash is one of my top priorities when cleaning house and running errands.  It has got to be done!

So what about the rest of the stuff that can be recycled?  I keep it all in different bins and I have educated my family (more than once) on where to throw it away.

We have a bin for plastic and metal.  So that include bottle caps, lids to jelly jars, chip bags, milk containers, etc.  And they must be washed out, so I think nothing now of washing my trash so it won't stink.  This is picked up ONCE A MONTH

We have a bin for clean paper.  That would include cardboard on most food products, paperwork from school and Army, toilet paper rolls.  This is picked up ONCE A MONTH

Another bin for glass.  This is glass that you can't get a refund on.  So jelly jars, wine bottles, etc.  I love this bin!!  As soon as it is full, I will put it in my car and go and find one of these.

Then one by one I get to throw my bottles in here and listen to them break!  I LOVE IT!!!  Good to do on a bad day.

Then I have crates of other types of glass.

We buy our beer and Pellegrino water in crates like this.  You pour the contents of the bottle out and then return it to this crate.  Once the crate is full of empty bottle, you need to return it to the grocery store which has a machine that looks like this.

You feed your crate of bottles in to this and then at the end it will print you out a receipt that you can use on your next purchase (or you can just get the money back at the register). On days where I have to return crates of bottles are days I am definitely not walking to the grocery store!

And lastly, there is the bio trash.  This is where you put all food scraps that are not animal related.  I guess garbage disposals are not big here but compost is!  I bought one of these to help me out.

This stays on my counter top so when I am cooking all extra scraps are thrown in here.  When we are done eating, what we didn't consume is scraped off the plates into this also.  Then at least every other day, I take this outside to a small trash can and dump it.  This is picked up every week.

One last bin.  Household cleaners, aerosol cans and batteries.  We don't have a lot of those things used up yet, so I haven't dealt with it.  But I have to take those on post to dispose of.

Since moving here, it is nothing for me to dig in the trash and make sure everything is where it is supposed to be.  We also have small trash cans in other rooms. I will regularly take clean trash out of them and make sure it gets in the right spot.  And my family LOVES the impromptu classes I hold on the importance of putting the right trash in the right spot!    

It actually makes me feel good to recycle- so it must be the right thing to do.

Do I love it yet?

NO!!  And I think I might need rescuing!!  Anyone prepared to kidnap me and take me to a sunny warm spot on earth?  School was pushed back 2 hours this morning because the snow just won't stop, but I think they have finally realized that they can't cancel every time it does snow or these kids will be in school until August.

I need someone to come dig me out so I can open my door.  Even the snowman is drowning!

That poor rosebush, it never had a chance.

But since I am locked in the house, I have been cooking some interesting things.  There is some fun food around here.

This sauce was sooooo good and if I could read the label I bet it was super fattening also.  Put is on this pasta.

I have never seen anything like it before, but thought it would be fun to eat.

I am not much of a fruit lover unfortunately, but I am forcing myself.  Made a really great salad yesterday.  The Greeks claim to eat this all the time.

For the dressing, I just added honey and orange juice---  Mixed a bit together until it tasted jut right.

And because I think it is hilarious- here are the price tags of some American Brands here in my local grocery store 

       REMEMBER- this is in Euro's not dollars!  So, for example that chocolate muffin mix is nearly $8.00 and the Bulls-eye BBQ is over $10.  It is a good thing I have other options.  Like one of you coming to get me and taking me to Target!!