Gott sieht alles...

....die Nachbarn mehr.

There is a lack of snarky signs in Germany, and virtually no one has a bumper sticker that tries to make a statement. This is an old saying that you can actually still find on signs or doormats. It means, "God sees everything, the neigbhors see more."


Although my neighbors are not omniscient, I appreciate the way they look out for each other. The other day an elderly neighbor rang to tell us to be careful, there was someone with poor German skills going door-to-door asking if people need gutter cleaning. Her suspicion prompted her to warn us all.

I feel so safe here - I know it's not entirely crime free, but the difference between here and America is something you have to experience to understand. Also, we have a cop with a gun on his hip next door (although I wonder if they really teach them how to shoot, cuz the chances are they'll never have to).

Anyway if I seem complainy at times about my weird German life, I want to express how much I like being able to let my guard down. Don't worry, I don't let the Schrotthaendler come with me if I have some junk for them - I bring it to their trucks and throw it in myself. They love my hoof rasps.

***

My Mountain Dew looks funny. I know I blogged this before but finally I understand why it is the color of urine while the bottle is the correct color. That color's not allowed. Aha, right. Although it tastes the same to me, I try not to look at it.


***

This week J had 5 other music teachers over for a dinner team meeting. He asked me to make tacos. Everyone loves tacos! For an appetizer I put tortilla chips with shredded cheese in the oven and made a taco-seasoning sour cream dip.

The Germans must think that we're animals when it comes to eating. They have a very hard time eating with their hands. You will see them with forks and knives cutting into a burger, and fries come with tiny plastic forks. So when they saw the nachos, I think they were at a loss how to keep their manners and still eat them. Forks.

I insisted that they touch their food when it came to the tacos though. One lady mentioned how much she loved Frijoles in Mexico and I had no idea what Frijoles are - I asked, "Are they a type of bean?" and she didn't know, but when she tried my beans, she exclaimed, "FRIJOLES!" so I think that's it.

Even though Germans don't eat beans like we do, they ate up all the beans I'd made, and not much of the ground beef, and about half of the lime chicken.

Oh to have green chilis in Europe *sigh*

For dessert I made a traditional peach crisp (peach/oat cobbler) topped with vanilla bourbon ice cream and a squirt of caramel topping. I gave out tiny portions (like in France) and they could barely eat it, it was so sweet. Yah, American desserts are usually way too sweet for Germans. But half the peaches were from a neighbor's tree, and they were very sour.

About manners - in Germany you never visit someone without bringing a gift. I got a bottle of wine, a box of Merci chocolates, a jar of homemade jam (scared of that), and a huge deep purple dahlia.  It made me feel good after all the trouble I went to with the tacos and various fillings.

***
On the subject of food, I had to take a photo of the last bit of cheese I brought back from England. It is to-die-for yummy. I savored every nibble. It tastes almost exactly like black-label Tillamook.

If you live in a region you can get aged cheddar, I hope you don't take it for granted.


Next time I go to England, I'm bringing a cooler with ice and filling it up with this cheese. My mouth is watering from the memory of the taste of it. Two main things to love about England: The people and the food. God Save the King.

***

And now for more randomness.....


This is what my ipod looks like. 2005 (?) model. Hey, it still works! (This is the song I was listening to when I decided to move to Germany.)



I love it when people have white/black homes and put red geraniums in the windows. I'm told it's a Bavarian thing.



Donkey tied to her hazelnut tree, investigating for the 5th time the potted plant. "It looks like a bucket but it's a trick, there's no food!"



This is one of the photos from Friday's shoot, and an example of how sometimes the photographer makes my animals unrecognizable to me. I would not have guessed this is my horse. I've always felt that this is a difficult angle for any horse to look good in, even typy Arabs lose their best features from this perspective. The muzzle will always look too big, the ears will usually too, the dish is not apparent, and the eyes must simply be huge to look OK. She wanted a picture of Mara with nostrils expanded, and I don't normally like that look. The only thing I like about it is you can see how fine-skinned Mara's face is, almost what they call "dry" with all the angles and veins. But who is this horse?: )

Please click to enlarge to appreciate how much I hot towelled poor Mara's face that day.

***

OK enough of My German Life for now: )