Today was a pretty typical day. We did our normal chores including cleaning out the stables, feeding the animals, gathering eggs, and painting a room in the house. After lunch we walked into Hoslwang only to find that everything was closed down until 3:30. Jenny yelled at The Count for his incessant noises and he retorted with,"Warum macht Sie nur mich keinem Heim dann schicken!“ ("Why don't you just send me to a home then!"). Later, The Count walked in on Nate in the bathroom. I happened to be in the hallway to witness it and we both had a good laugh at The Count's astonished look. All in all, it was a pretty slow day; so rather than boring you with a drawn-out account, I'm going to take some time to comment on some of the German quirks that we've noticed thus far.



House Shoes. Before our arrival here Jenny emailed me asking that we bring "house shoes." Nate and I were utterly befuddled about what this could mean. So we emailed a couple of acquaintances that we have over here only to receive completely unhelpful replies from both of them. A few days before we left we went to the mall and both bought pairs of slippers. It turned out that the slippers are sufficient. House shoes is really a pretty broad terms for shoes that are confined only to the house. These could be slippers, sandals (but not thong sandals, because you want to wear them with socks), crocks, or simply tennis shoes that are confined indoors. In Germany, or at least in Bavaria, no one wears outdoor shoes in the house. Even school children are required to have a pair of shoes that they keep in school. Why? Probably because they want to keep the floors clean, but just going stocking-footed isn’t an option because so many of the houses are old and drafty. It seems that they even keep house shoes at friends’ and families’ houses. I was quite embarrassed last week when we went to a birthday party and I didn’t have adequate footwear. I had worn my ballet-style shoes with no socks. Upon arrival to the party, everyone took their shoes off and either had heavy woolen socks or house shoes. I, of course, was barefoot. It really seemed to be quite hilarious to the party-goers. Luckily, the hostess lent me a pair of woolen socks for the night.

The Eating Schedule. Eating is quite an event here. We start the day with our breakfast which is a fruit mix with yogurt and granola on weekdays; on Sundays it is eggs and rolls. Everyone drinks coffee, usually two cups. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and always delicious. Jenny makes nearly everything from scratch, even noodles. Lunch has mostly been casseroles and homemade soups with vegetables and apple juice. Everyone eats together, the table is set before we sit down, and Jenny dishes up everyone’s plate. At around 5:00 we have a break from work when we drink coffee and eat something sweet, either cake, rolls, or bread with jam and honey. Actually, they serve their dense homemade bread at almost every meal, loaded with a thick layer of butter. Later in the evening, around 8:00 or so, we might have a small supper, only if we are still hungry. Sometimes this would be leftovers from lunch. Sometimes it is bread with various smokes meats, homemade mustard, and homemade cheese. The cheese is made from the milk of two cows which they keep in the mountains, so they call it “mountain cheese.” It’s really sharp, dry, and kind of stinky.


The toilets. The hole in the toilets is way in the front instead of in the back, and there is no sitting water. When you flush, a strong burst of water comes from the back and washes everything to the hole. The lack of sitting water makes it really stink when a person poops, because it has a few extra seconds (sometimes minutes…) to sit in there.


Heating. Most of the houses around here are wood-heated, and not very well. The furnace is only running in the afternoon and part of the night. Our bedroom has been as cold as 45 degrees Fahrenheit. (We know this because there’s a thermometer on our alarm clock.).
To make things worse, we have to open the window for a few hours a day to “let the moisture out.” To make things worse yet, I found out on the first night that I am allergic to wool. I went into anaphylactic shock and started wheezing terribly. Since most of the blankets were wool, now we only have one blanket each left to use. Also, we can only take showers in an allotted time in the afternoon or else we use up all the hot water and there is no heat in the house. Luckily, there are usually two rooms in the house which are fully heated: a kitchen and a living room. These rooms have separate woods stoves which The Count dutifully keeps stocked
Driving. The roads are very narrow and curvy, not good for me who am getting increasingly prone to carsickness. Everyone drives tiny cars with standard transmissions. Few cars have radios since they have to pay 80 Euro a month to the government for each radio they have (same for TVs). We’ve only seen one stop sign in our travels; they are mostly all yield signs.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure we’ll come up with more as time goes on. I hope that you’re enjoying reading and be sure to make some comments!