T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
We’ve been expats for a long time now. Trips back to visit the US are still strange, yet extremely familiar in their strangeness. There were no big moments of reverse culture shock on our Christmas trip “home”, but there was plenty of culture-based amusement.
Read moreScenes from an American supermarket, and other notes from a trip to the motherland
There are certain laments you hear amongst American expat communities the world over. “I miss peanut butter!” “Why is there no good Mexican food here?” “Where can I find canned pumpkin?” After several years out of the country, most of us learn to adapt to these grueling hardships one way or another. There are expats who lug giant suitcases full of ranch dressing and jello back from every visit to the US. There are those who just fill the peanut-butter-cup-shaped hole in their lives with exotic local sweets (Cadbury Egg, anyone?). And then there are those of us who use such deprivation as an excuse to expand our skill sets. Which is why I know how to make pumpkin pies without using canned pumpkin.
Given that there’s a big American TV event coming up, now seems as good a time as any to share this fun little morsel. Last Thanksgiving Julie was hoping to watch the Macy’s parade, but we were surprised at how difficult it was to find it live online. I did some poking around and came … Read more
And now for something completely different.
Tiring of our glamorous European lifestyle, we decided to hop across the pond for Christmas in the Deep South. It’s possible that our decision was swayed by the generous invitation of my parents to join them there, but in the end we found Charleston to be a most pleasant place to spend a few days (lack of appropriate Christmas weather notwithstanding).
Last night we decided to be true to our American roots and got creative with a pumpkin. When I first moved to Europe in the 90s, Halloween-style pumpkins were nowhere to be found, but this year we were able to pick up one at our local farmers market for only €3 (it was even labeled as a “Halloween-Kürbis”).
Found this while sorting through my photos from our recent trip to the US. Sometimes Germany feels like an absurd pit of consumer product marketing (Obama Fingers, anyone?), but the US always manages to take it a billion steps further. It also reminds me how much I love being served tap water in US restaurants … Read more
Maybe it’s all the Mexican food we ate on our recent trip to the US, but I’ve had enough of the crappy salsa offerings in Germany. Standard German grocery stores tend to stock one brand of salsa, usually Old El Paso. My attempts to find alternatives have not been good. I once joyfully bought up several types of salsa from a small Mexican store near Pariser Platz, only to discover at home that every single one of the jars had expired. A long time ago. (I ate them anyway.) And then this, the last straw:
By now you have probably heard about Obama Fingers, the tasty new frozen chicken snack food* available in Germany. Although much ado has been made over the possible racist overtones of the convenience food’s name, personally I doubt that those behind the name intended offense. I’m guessing the only reason the fried chicken strips are … Read more
Oh happy day! While I decided against attending the Munich Inaugural Ball, I definitely felt the need to celebrate yesterday. So I threw a little party of my own, and soaked up the inauguration with some American and European friends. Obama’s swearing-in was at 6:00 pm our time, perfect for some champagne prosecco toasting. We … Read more
Another first for me today: I took the first subway of the morning home, at around 4am. We got home in plenty of time to watch CNN call the election for Obama at 5am. I knew it was coming, but still I was surprised how emotional it made me to actually hear it. I barely … Read more